#INTERRUPTED BY YET ANOTHER GIANT CREATURE

[oflgtfol]

YAYYY ragnar gets his proper water ceremony thingy in the actual waters of mandalore :)

[radiance1]

The members of the Justice League sat in silence, joined by a few members of Justice League Dark.

They were almost ready to start their meeting.

Almost.

"Where is John Constantine?" Batman stared at those gathered around the table, one spot currently vacant. Zatanna spoke up. "He's coming."

Batman narrowed his eyes.

"I don't know how," Zatanna nodded. "But he's coming."

The table was silent for a few moments, before Superman hesitantly spoke up. "Maybe he's running late?" At Batman's look Superman felt the need to add. "You know, he could've gotten stuck up with another magic user, or something."

Superman brought a hand up to rub at his neck as he laughed awkwardly, before promptly shutting up at the look Batman sent with an even more awkward smile. The silence was notably loud, such that it made it quite easy to determine who and where the sound of crunching came from.

Flash swallowed. "What?" He dug his hand in the bag of chips, only to pout at it being empty. He quickly ran from and to his seat in, well, a flash. Laying down his armful of chips, he picked up one and opened it, back to stuffing his face. "It's not like we're starting yet or anything."

Batman's eyes narrowed.

Flash blinked, looking down at the chips in his hand, the one on the table, and then back at Batman. He picked one up and held it out in his direction. "Want one?"

Batman glared.

Flash hesitantly brought his hand back down, before sticking his hand in his chip bag and eating some more, this time quietly.

Minutes passed by with the various League members gathered around sitting ramrod straight. A few more minutes passed, and they started to relax (except batman), a couple more and some of them started up conversation with each other, with some others joining in.

Batman took the time to work through a few files, giving the occasional grunt and hm whenever Superman and Wonder Woman tried to drag him into their conversation.

It was then that a noticeable heat spread inside the room, rising in temperature with each passing second until it was no longer ignorable. Just then, when the heat reached its highest point, with the members of the League already standing from their seats, a wave of black flame appeared in a circular pattern and the League tensed, magic gathering at the fingertips of some and battle stances being fallen into by others.

The circular flame shot up, high enough to reach the ceiling and not a second later, in its place was a giant mass of flaming feathers curled into a ball.

A groan came from the middle of it, and a few seconds later-with what sounded like a huff- did the mass uncurl just enough to see the owner of said groan.

"Ello." John Constantine raised a hand and gave a two fingered salute. Everyone in the room blinked at the man currently leaning against the- creature? Being?- in just pants. "I would say this isn't what it looks like, but its exactly what it looks like."

Zatanna's eyes narrowed, before she inhaled sharply. "Constantine." She hissed out quietly, as if trying not to draw the being's attention. "What is-" She gestured at the creature. "-He of all beings doing here?!"

"Being used as a living heater."

Zatanna blinked again in surprise as she stumbled over her words. "I- what-?"

"You heard me. It's colder than Santa's tits in our house, and I'm not paying even more money for a heater when I have a living one right here." Constantine deadpanned, very shamelessly sinking back into the mass of feathers behind him and giving a most certainly exaggerated sigh to prove his point.

"But- But he's," Zatanna gestures at the phoenix again, this time with both hands. "Him. How are you okay with this!?" That time she spoke to the phoenix, rather than Constantine.

The being in question peeked open an eye, before huffing in annoyance and closing back its eye.

"So uh," Flash spoke up, rubbing his hands together. "Not to interrupt, but uh, do you mind explaining for the rest of us not in the know?"

Zatanna blinked, staring at the other League members in surprise as if she forgot they were there. She awkwardly coughed into her fist. "Right, yes." She cleared her throat, before gesturing towards the giant mass of feathers. "That being is one of the more infamous of those heralding from the Infinite Realms, because that's its goddamn Duke." Zatanna rubbed her head, as if she were getting a migraine just thinking about it. "Constantine, how did you even-"

"We met on a rainy night, and he lit up my cig and proposed his love for me." Constantine said simply.

The League stared in bafflement. Zatanna had a skeptical look all over her face. "I'm not believing that. It's too much of a stretch, even for you."

Constantine shrugged. "Okay so would you believe me if I said I sold like half my soul and conned this other guy by swearing my soul to this big guy for his protection?" Constantine deadpanned.

"Yes, actually." Zatanna matched Constantine's deadpan with a look of her own.

[lokigodofmyheart]

The Secret

Loki x Female Reader.

Summary: Y/N and Loki had been best friends for a long time now. After the fight in Jotunheim and Thor’s banishment, he had been distant with you after discovering he’s a frost giant and afraid she will hate him when she found out. - 2.774 words.

Y/N had checked everywhere for Loki. The library, kitchen, gardens, training fields…the only place left it was his chambers, so she makes your way through the halls, towards the Prince’s Chambers. Loki’s quarters were usually very quiet. However, now it seemed way too quiet, colder than usual. She approaches his door slowly and knock. 

“Go away…” Loki mumbles from the other side. 

“It’s me.” Y/N says. She knew Loki hated when people interrupted him, but he never mind when it was her. 

Loki remains silent. She doesn’t hear him get up from his bed, but the door slowly creaks open until he’s facing her “Go away, Y/N.” Loki mumbles again, still not looking straight at her. 

Y/N had a smile on her face when he opens the door, but it quickly vanished when she sees the state he is "Hey, what happened?" 

He doesn’t say anything, but his gaze finally meets hers. He looks exhausted, there are bags under his eyes and he’s paler than usual. He mumbles again, this time louder “I said go away.” 

Her hands found his face, holding him to look at her “You're not okay...” 

Loki pulls himself away from her grasp, moving back into his chambers and sits down on the edge of his bed again. He buries his head into his hands. There’s so much he’s been trying to process lately, but now it’s finally catching up to him. He mumbles yet again, this time she can make out what he’s saying “Please...go away…I’m fine…” 

She follows him, closing the door behind her before she sits by his side, sighing “You  know you can't lie to me.” 

He looks up at her, a little annoyed by the way she’s insist on staying. However, his expression softens “I know you’re persistent…” He mumbles again, hiding his face in his hands again “Please…can we drop it…I’m fine…” 

"If you don't want to talk about it, I won't press you." Y/N puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. 

Loki leans into her touch, finding a small sense of comfort in the gesture. He lets out a deep sigh, “Thank you…” He mumbles, a quiet and almost defeated tone to his voice. He seems like he still wants to talk, but can’t bring himself to say the words. 

She gives him a small smile "But I hope you know that I'll listen to you if want to talk about...you know that, right?" 

Loki finally moves his hands from his face, looking straight at her “I know, I know, I just…” He trails off, there were so many things he wanted to share with her. So many things that had been bugging him, but he couldn’t bring himself to bring them up “Just thank you…” Loki remains silent for a little longer, closing his eyes and thinking to himself. He sighs and then finally turns to look at her, once again “Hey…can I…tell you something?” 

“Of course.” Y/N says to him. 

He takes a deep breath, preparing himself for what he’s about to tell her “I…I just want you to promise to not tell anyone, okay? No one can know what I’m going to tell you…” He looks away, taking another breath.  

“I promise.” She says. Loki takes another sigh, trying to find the right words to say. He’s unsure of how she'll react, but she’s one of the only people he can trust.  

“I…I found out something and I…well…it’s not a good thing and I just…” He trails off, unable to express exactly how he’s feeling. He takes another deep breath and closes his eyes for a moment as he tries to work up the courage to tell her. Loki takes another deep breath and stares at the ground. “Do you know what a frost giant is?” 

Y/N nods at him “Yeah...big, blue and cold creatures.” 

Loki’s face turns ghostly pale as he continues, still not meeting her eyes “What if I told you…I was one…?” 

She thinks for a few seconds "Is this one of your pranks?" 

He looks up at her, finally making eye contact again. He shakes his head, unable to hide the seriousness in his expression “No…No. I swear it’s not…” 

“Oh...” she keeps looking at him “Okay.” 

Loki’s body suddenly tenses up. He’s waiting for her to react, waiting for her to judge him. He’s expecting nothing but scorn in her voice, anger and disgust. However, when she only give him a simple “okay” instead of saying any of those, Loki’s heart stops for a moment. “A simple okay…?” 

"Sorry, I'm still assimilating what you just said..." Y/N says calmly. 

Loki is still shocked by her lack of judgement. He keeps staring at her, trying to make sense of the lack of reaction after she just found out something so shocking. “You’re…you’re not disgusted?” 

"I'm a bit shocked, that's all..." She smiles slightly at him "Is that why you been distant after..."  

Loki nods as she mentions the fight and Thor’s banishment, but he doesn’t really know how to explain everything to you. Everything has been a lot lately and he doesn’t know what to do, this is all new to him as well. He just looks down at the ground as he mumbles once again “Yeah…” 

Y/N chuckles again, shaking her head "I thought I had done something to you..." 

He sighs as you chuckle. It’s not funny to him “No…no, you didn’t do anything. It’s just that…I’m…it’s just...” He trails off again, not able to get the words out. 

"I get it." She smiles, holding his hand into hers to comfort him. Loki looks down at their hands together. She holds his hand so gently, so tenderly. It’s an unexpected touch, something he’s not used to. He looks back up at Y/N, unable to hide the small smile that’s formed on his lips. Y/N is the first one to break the silence this time "Can you....hm...turn blue?" She asks carefully. 

Loki chuckles at her question; it definitely caught him off guard “Yes…yes, I can.” He says, his hand still in hers. She notices that his touch is cold.  

"Can I see it?" She asks again. 

Loki hesitates for a second, unsure of if she actually want to see it. He’s never shown his true side to anyone, not even Y/N. He’s scared she won’t accept him for who he is… He nods slowly, letting go of her hand. “Okay…” He says, standing up from the bed. Loki takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He focuses on his powers for just a moment. 

 When he opens his eyes again, his skin is now blue, his veins clearly visible as they’re now a light shade of blue and his eyes are red. The chill of his presence feels more profound than before, with a cold breeze seemingly circulating around him. Y/N looks amazed at his new form, standing up to get closer to him, seeing the marks that he has in his blue skin. Loki stands still as she get closer to him, staring at her face the entire time. She looks fascinated, as if she’s staring at a rare and magnificent creature.  

Y/N looks at all his exposed skin before she looks back at his eyes "Can I touch you?" Loki doesn’t say anything, just stares at her with a slightly raised eyebrow. After a few seconds, he slowly nods, allowing Y/N to touch him. Her hands trace the marks on his forehead, before both her hands found his cheek. She had a small smile on her face. 

Loki can feel his cheeks warming as her fingers trace the marks on his skin. He remains still as Y/N touch his cheek, unsure of what to do. He’s never had someone do this to him…no one has touched him quite in this particular way before. 

"Are the marks sensitive?" She asks curious realizing the way he’s reacting. 

He shakes his head slightly, her fingers on his cheeks making it difficult for him to focus. His cheeks feel like they’re on fire, he feels oddly embarrassed right now. “No…”He whispers, trying to remain composed. 

“Okay.” Y/N replied with the smile still on her face. 

Loki knew that if his skin wasn’t blue, he would probably be so red now. He continues to stand still as her fingers run across his cheek, trying his hardest to distract himself from how his body feels while her skin is touching his own. However, it’s impossible; he feels too vulnerable and exposed right now, he’s never been touched in such a familiar way before… He’s a bit lost for words right now. 

"You're skin is cold, but I guess that's normal, right?" She asks looking at his eyes. Loki nods at her question. He can’t help it, her touch is making him feel all sorts of ways. He keeps his eyes locked on hers, trying to read what she’s thinking. Y/N smiles at him and notices that they’re really close "I liked this form of you." 

Loki’s heart feels like it’s going to burst out of his chest. The way she’s smiling at him…it all makes him feel like she’s looking at him as something more than his friend. His eyes keep staring at hers, unable to look away. He moves his head just a tiny bit, a few inches closer to her, but Y/N doesn’t move back. Loki’s face is only an inch away from hers and he feels like he’s being drawn in by her gaze, closer and closer. 

Y/N kept her hand in his cheek while she moves closer to his face. Loki’s breathing grows heavier, his heart beating wildly. He can practically feel each pulse as it runs through his body. He doesn’t know what came over him, but he decides to act upon his growing desires. His face moves that tiny bit closer to her, until their lips are just millimeters apart. Y/N leans in, brushing her lips slightly against his. 

Loki freezes. The second their lips actually touched, his body reacted almost instantly, and he pulls Y/N into his arms. His head meets hers, their lips locked in a passionate kiss. She kiss him more passionately and Loki returns the kiss with equal, if not more, passion. His arms are wrapped around her. Y/N can feel the chill that’s radiating from him, her heat matching his cold. 

He was taken off guard by her sudden boldness when her tongue asked permission. The touch of her tongue made him shiver in a good way. He opens his mouth, allowing her tongue to slide into his own. Everything feels new, everything feels strange and unfamiliar, he never thought this would happen to him, but he can’t fight it. He just lets the sensation wash over him, not allowing himself an inch to resist her. 

Eventually, Y/N had to break the kiss to breath, and she do it smiling at him. Loki also need some air, keeping his eyes locked with her when she pulls away. A shiver runs through his body as the heat leaves his skin, but he only keeps looking at her with passion.  

"I thought you were push me away..." She chuckles. 

Loki just shakes his head as he continues to look at her. His smile from before is wider now; he’s never felt like this before. He had never felt this close with someone, never felt this…passionate. He likes it. He wants more. But, he wants it with her. 

"Can you go back to your 'normal' form?" She smiles "I know you're blushing, and I can't see with your blue skin.” 

Loki chuckles a bit at her words. He moves his hands from her waist, and slowly his body changes. His skin slowly changes back to its usual pale color, and so do his eyes. Loki smiles back at her and his cheeks are still a very light shade of pink. “Better? Now you can see my blush?” He says jokingly. 

"Uhum" Y/N nods with a smile. 

He chuckles again and runs his fingers through his hair “I…that…you caught me off guard back there…” He says as he shifts his feet a bit. 

"When I touched your face?” 

Loki nods, now looking away from her gaze as he speaks “And when you kissed me…I just…I didn’t expect it…” 

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Y/N looks down, realizing she might had screwed their friendship now. Loki quickly moves his hands on her chin, forcing her to look back at him.  

He’s still smiling, he’s not upset or anything of the sort. On the contrary, he looks almost delighted. “Don’t be sorry…” He chuckles, still smiling, but then his smile shifts into a smirk “I enjoyed it…” 

"You did?" she smiles. 

Loki chuckles and nods once again “Yes…I very much did…” He says as he shifts back, looking around the room momentarily before looking back at her. “But are you sure it’s alright? I just…don’t want you to see me any differently…” 

Y/N laughs and shakes her head "I just kissed you in your frost giant form and you're worried that I'll see you differently?" 

Loki chuckles and looks down for a moment. He’s actually enjoying having this conversation with her, it’s making him feel less awkward. “Well, it is…unusual for friends to kiss one another…” 

“It is.” She says with a soft tone. 

Loki laughs and shrugs his shoulders. He’s not sure how they got to this point, his sadness long forgoten, but he’s not particularly complaining. Maybe it was the kiss, maybe it was the whole frost giant thing, but Loki’s feeling pretty good about the situation. “So, what now? Do we just...ignore that whole kiss thing and continue our friendship...?” 

"Is that what you want?" Y/N asks him.  

He thinks for a moment. “No…I don’t think I want to go back to how things were before.” Loki smiles a bit when he says this, and his eyes lock onto her as he leans towards Y/N again. She smiles, leaning in too and kissing him again. His hands reach to her waist and grip her against him. He kisses Y/N once again, passionate, like he had before, but in his usual form this time. He moves his hands from her waist to her hips, trying to stay as close as possible. 

When they break the kiss, they don't move. Y/N smiles at him "I don't want to go back to how things were before either..." 

Loki feels relieved at her words and he smiles, his smile a bit wider than before. “So, you really don't mind that...that I am...” He says, starting to stutter slightly before he collects himself and continues “...a frost giant?” 

"No, Loki. I don't mind." She smiles, caressing his cheek. 

He stares at her with disbelief for a few moments before he nods slowly, seemingly accepting her words for what they are. He smiles back at Y/N. She doesn't treat him like an alien. 

"I also wouldn't mind you being blue sometimes, you know." Y/N smiles at him. 

Loki blinks a bit and stares at her for a moment. She's not afraid of him in his frost giant form...she actually like it... He tries to hide his shock and delight, but it shows on his face anyway. “You wouldn’t...?He says incredulously. 

"What? You're quite handsome in both forms." She chuckles. 

He laughs a little too, your comment catching him off guard. “That's the first time I've ever heard that, actually...” Again, his cheeks blush. 

"That you're handsome?" Y/N asks confused. 

Loki nods, feeling strangely vulnerable. “Yes...you're...you're the first to actually compliment my appearance...” 

"I found that so hard to believe, Loki." She laughs, her arms going around his neck. Loki chuckles at her comment and wraps his arms around her as well. "You have to promise me something, though..." She says serious. 

Loki’s heart sinks a little at her sudden serious tone, his grip around her slightly harder. His eyes are fixated on hers, eager for whatever it is she’s going to say. “Yes?” His voice is almost a whisper. 

"Whenever you blush in your frost giant form, you have to turn back. I can't see you blushing like that.” Y/N laughs. 

He chuckles as well, his smile growing. "You almost gave me a heart attack just now." He says lightly. 

"Sorry.” Y/N laughs and Loki follows her. “So...” She smirks at him “Can you turn blue again?” 

Loki chuckles at her smirk, but then nods his head and do as she asks, his form changes back into his frost giant form. He remains still for a few more seconds before he speaks once more. "Test away..." 

[carionto]

Aliens are floored by tardigrades

Life is pretty resilient. It has to be, especially if the rest of the Galaxy thinks we're from a Deathworld. In comparison then, if their planets are not as demanding, would life there ever be under enough pressure to survive to go to the extreme lengths that some Earth creatures do? I think one of the most profound things aliens might learn from Earth and Humanity is just how powerful life itself can be.

That itself could shake their understanding of themselves - a billion year old civilization could never even conceive of a thing we accept as simple fact, ushering a revolution in thinking not seen in eons.

___________________________

The Galactic Coalition scientists are busying themselves with obtaining, analyzing, categorizing, and integrating the libraries of information Humanity has brought with them as they incorporate into the greater space faring matrix of civilizations.

A good grasp of Physics, though lacking in certain fields for now; unmatched Engineering doctrines, they really do think of everything, although, perhaps, better to say - they really do attempt everything, then take notes and improve for the next attempt.

Chemistry is another fine addition to the collective knowledge base, a disproportionate part of the catalogue is comprised entirely of explosive reagents and combinations - always good to know more about what NOT to do.

And Biology. Oh boy. What a chaotic but beautiful but also disturbing mess. Life on most planets has a long period of just chugging along, surviving as best it can, until eventually something has the bright idea to evolve the ability to have bright ideas. Then in almost no time at all (on a cosmic scale) a dominant intelligence emerges and civilization alongside it, and in the blink of an eye it finds itself exploring the stars.

A similar pattern happened on Earth, but interrupted alarmingly often by utter catastrophes. Humans call them Mass Extinctions. It is exceedingly rare to find life that can talk about its own extinction events. Kind of deflates the term a bit. Life on planets as inhospitable (by Galactic norms) as Earth tends to be found only as fossils, and almost always on the microscopic level - very rarely do they get the chance to form more complex and advanced lifeforms before the planet with its harsh conditions and scarce resources kills it just as randomly as it spawned it.

We were incredibly saddened to learn from the Humans that the biodiversity of Earth had dwindled by roughly 85% since they accidentally created that giant hole on their planet, and that it had already been on a steady decline before then. Even so, when they revealed there were still 2.4 million species alive on Earth was a shockingly high number. Most are on the brink of extinction, yes, but the fact remains that Earth is easily one of the most biodiverse planets in the Galaxy.

Then we started looking at each individual species and learned about the Tardigrade.

what

It is literally the toughest creature ever discovered, and it's not even close. At least, so far, we haven't looked at absolutely everything Earth has or had yet.

It can just... basically turn itself off and then back on again when the outside becomes livable again - Cryptobiosis, or suspending their metabolism, something we considered only possible through artificial means. And the levels of various extreme they can endure and still be alive would just be utterly ridiculous if they didn't give us samples to confirm for ourselves.

Then we came across the term Extremophile and just decided to take a day off.

[shadow-is-now-sinning]

As a Ganon fan for some time (started with twilight princess he looked so fine man) it surprises me the low quantity of fics for him (same with Bowser) at the same time there isn't a doc where thxs to magic Ganon mom's come back. Like imagine meeting twinrova and them being super excited because FINALLY their son got a s/o who doesn't care if he's victorious or not. Or even they don't care if he's in his human form or not. Please could you write a fanfic where Ganon is embarrassed by his mom's being excited over his s/o? Like it would be so fluffy

Ganondorf and Bowser seem popular but it doesn't seem like it considering you have to traverse the entire internet for mere crumbs. Took so long cause I really struggled with ideas plus writing on your phone kills your fingies.

Content: Third person pov. Gerudo Ganondorf leaning towards Twilight Prince per mention in request, Ganon calls s/o dear and beloved. Mentions of marriage. Pretty short around 500 words.

S/o: s/o is written gender neutral with they/them pronouns. No physical descriptions

-

As feared as Ganondorf Dragmire was, it was an immensely amusing sight to see his surrogate mothers baby the giant man. Kotake and Koume were on him the microsecond he stepped into the dwelling.

“My handsome young man,” the twin with red accents holds up her hands to the large man’s face. Similar to a grandparent squeezing their grandchild’s face to ‘see them better’

“Mother Kotake, we have a guest,” Ganondorf says, seemingly unbothered by what’s happening, moving the twins’ attention to his partner. The twins zoned in on them before looking at each other.

"Sister, I think our son has finally grown up," Kotake says, earning a huff from her son. Koume nods enthusiastically.

"Come in, Come in!" Koume guides the two further inside. The building was old, obviously just some place they chose just out of necessity. It looked well loved with rustic-worn furniture filling the space. Mystical objects and potions also filled the shelves. Along with miscellaneous creatures and substances. Ganondorf promptly guided his partner away from them, pressing lightly on their back.

Kotake waves Koume away, getting a pout from the glacial witch as she goes back to what they were doing before their son's arrival. Without prompting Ganondorf settled down, the chair creaked with protest but held up nonetheless. Sitting next to him they didn't have much time to get comfortable before Kotake offers a teacup containing something. Decidedly it wasn't tea. Ganondorf had received his own cup, miniscule in his armored hands. Looks like he's using a child's tea set Feeling his partner's eyes he looked at them with a slight tilt on his head.

"Is something the matter my dear. Are my mothers making you uncomfortable?" Ganondorf's voice carried a slight worry of the thought.

Shaking their head, Ganondorf releases a sigh of relief. Placing the now empty cup down. Kotake lingered nearby not wanting to interrupt the couple.

A few moments of silence filled the room before Koume spoke from across the room.

"So Dear, are you going to introduce your partner to your mothers?" Kotake nodded eagerly at her sister's words.

"Yes, yes, introduce them to their in-laws."

Ganondorf sighed, "We aren't yet engaged." This is why he waited so long to introduce his mothers. Koume took this time to hurry over grabbing his partner's face between her hands before her son could stop her.

"Yet, so you plan on it?" Koume says. They try to remove themselves from her grasp but she has a mean grip for an elderly woman.

"I've thought about it, Mother Koume. We haven't discussed the concept of marriage." Ganondorf relents.

"It's been ages since another monarch sat on the throne. Such a dashing pair you two would be." Kotake says with a pensive tone. The knuckle of her index finger resting on her chin.

"Come Koume we have plans to discuss," Kotake starts walking away before pausing to talk over her shoulder, "as the elder sister I will be handling wedding planning."

Koume had moved to follow a sputter in her walk at Kotake's words.

"Why I never. Lying to our son's partner. I'm the eldest by 5 minutes." Koume resta her hands on her hips and Kotake turns to give her sister a glare. Ganondorf stands holding his hand out for his partner to take.

"They are going to be a while, beloved." he says, guiding them out of the house. The twin witches squabbling louding as they did.

"So, about our marriage," they looked up at Ganondorf who refused to make eye contact.

-

Rest assured more Ganondorf content is coming. Headcanons and fics alike.

[sourtomatola]

Taking Candy for a fool chapter 10

You looked down into the dark room where three giant gift boxes sat.

“E-eclipse, I don’t think that’s a good idea, they said Marionette reacted weird to them the other day…” Sun frowned.

Eclipse waved his hand before making the friend’s sign to you.

He shook his head and took you hand, bringing you into the room where the taffy creatures resided. He tapped on the puppet’s box rhythmically. The puppet popped out cheerfully and waved at you.

You waved back nervously, seeing the second box of the marionette peeking out at you, like they did the other day.

You anxiously looked between Eclipse and the peeking golden eyes. Eclipse smiled and said they liked you. You found that a little hard to believe, but they haven’t attacked you yet, so you supposed it was a good sign. When you and the marionette locked eyes, they quickly hid away again. Which was surprising consider the last time you two locked eyes, they came out and stared at you unabashedly.

“they’re shy, but they like you.” Eclipse signed.

While you were staring at the box, soft sticky arms came around and hugged you from behind. You yelped in shock as a tacky feeling pillow closed around you.

You face flushed at the feeling of gooey taffy hugging you and you resisted flinching when the puppet mask came down and looked at you in the eyes. “H-hey there…p-puppet…” You said nervously.

Puppet, to your surprise, began to sing softly. At least, you think that was what was happening. You heard another voice from somewhere and looked back to see Marionette peeking out again. They were singing softly as well.

You a deep dark feeling filled you when the Nightmarionne’s box stirred. It wasn’t’ like the other day, with a jolt and bump here and there though. It was a slowly moving as the lid bloomed open like a deadly flower. Out sprouted black and white stripped tentacle’s, smooth and thin, shimmering with smooth chewy sugar.

A whimpered slipped out of your mouth but Eclipse quickly stifled it with his hand. You flashed your eyes to him in shock, but he soon silently explained.

“Don’t interrupt the lullaby, it’s what’s keeping them nice.” He motioned out and pointed to Nightmarionne.

You watched anxiously as Nightmarionne showed themselves, tentacles and sharp hardened bits of taffy fingertips formed dangerous claws that waved in a dance to the lullaby the other taffy being’s sang. His monochrome mask decoration matching the other doll’s, but he was gangly, sharp, with tiny razor teeth in his gaping mouth.

You stood motionless as you watched the soft gentle dance and song of the taffy puppets.

Masterpost | Prev | Next

[ghostofskywalker]

Poe Dameron vs. The Claw Machine

Poe Dameron/Reader

Fictober Day 23 of 31

Words: 824

Summary: [Modern AU] After splitting away from your boyfriend at an arcade, you're shocked that you can't seem to find him. Or, at least you were until you actually saw what he had been doing.

Poe Dameron Masterlist

Your boyfriend was missing.

Well, he wasn’t missing in the sense that you would need to file a police report, but you had spent the last ten minutes searching for him and hadn’t yet been lucky enough to find where he’d been hiding.

The game room was loud, dark, and crowded, which was probably why you were having a hard time in the first place; it would be difficult to find anyone in here if you didn’t know exactly where they were or what game they were playing. And unfortunately, right now you knew neither of those pieces of information about Poe.

The two of you had first split up in the arcade when you challenged him to competition on who could win the most tickets, and you absolutely still wanted to keep that bet going, but it had been a little while and you also wanted to order some food. The whole point of this outing in the first place had been a date, so spending time with your absolutely wonderful boyfriend was another line on the list of things you wanted to do here.

He didn’t answer your text, so you set out searching for him among the crowds of people. You passed dancing games, dexterity games, shooting games, and even ski ball, all with no sign of the telltale curls you were looking for. You knew there was no way he would have left without you, but it was certainly confusing that you hadn’t found him yet.

It was a last ditch attempt to walk towards where the prize case was, and it just so happened that in order to get there, you had to walk by a row of claw machines.

And of course, that’s where you found your boyfriend, in a little bit of a compromising position (or at least, that’s the phrase you first thought of to explain the visual of him laying on the ground with his arm up the slot of the machine).

The two of you locked eyes, and you couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Am I interrupting something?”

Poe however, did not seem to find the situation as funny. “I’m not stuck, if that’s what you’re asking.” As if to prove his point, he pulled his arm back out and stood up.

“I wasn’t, but it’s nice to know you’re okay,” you said, a giant smile crossing your face. “I’m really just wondering what happened that led to you putting your arm up the slot of that machine, and I’m also trying to figure out how lucky you are that none of the staff here caught you.”

Instead of answering right away, your boyfriend turned and pointed at one of the stuffed toys through the window. “That’s why,” he said, and you immediately understood why he did what he did.

Sitting atop a small pile of plush creatures, was the prettiest stuffed animal you had ever seen. Not only was it of your favorite animal, but it looked like it was made of the softest material in the entire world. “You were trying to win that?”

“For you,” he said. “I blew all my tokens on trying to grab it and then had to resort to different tactics when i ran out of arcade money.”

He was absolutely right in the fact that was absolutely something you would want to bring home, but you had no intentions of sticking your arm up the slot like Poe did to get it. “Why don’t I give it a try?” you said, pulling out two of your remaining tokens and dropping them into the machine.

Once the lights began to flash, you moved the joystick to hover directly over the stuffed animal you wanted before pushing the button. The arms went down, and curled directly over the head of the creature.

You and Poe both waited with bated breath as the claw managed to grasp the animal and bring it towards the chute. But luck was on your side today, and you were soon hugging it while Poe looked on in shock.

“I can’t believe- I tried so many- what?” he said, clearly having trouble believing what was going on.

“Aww babe,” you said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. “I really appreciate that you tried to steal it for me, but sometimes it’s just best left to the experts.”

He rolled his eyes playfully as he turned to you. “And you’re an expert?”

You just smiled as you pulled some of the tickets you had won out of your pockets. “You were saying?” you said, feigning innocence. “Unless you have more tickets than I do.”

Silence.

You just laughed, and soon the joy on your face had spread to his. “Come on hotshot,” you said, reaching out to take his hand. “Why don’t we get something to eat, and then I can teach you how to do the claw machine correctly.”

“Shut up.” 

- the end -

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[mariamakeslemons]

In which Lilac might be the only one who knows what's up with this bitch (König, I'm talking about fae!König). Or, maybe not... @ghouljams

Lilac thought the pretty woman who had been chattering to Miss Witch was strange. She had shown up as Miss Witch took Lilac out of the cottage for a shopping trip, looking like a Barbie in all her pink glory. Humans turning into fae was something told of only in legends, yet here the woman is, with another fea’s shadows clinging to her as she changes. The woman had been excited to talk to Miss Witch, mentioning a ghost and a union. Her mentor seemed amused and a little proud, although she mentioned someone called Mal just wanting some man to use a door. Lilac was a little too far behind to really understand what they were saying, but the woman would turn her head enough to give some really pretty smiles. So, Lilac was fine following behind them.

She thought the Shop Keeper was strange too, especially when they entered the shop and she immediately turned to them with a sharp look. Lilac thinks she might be a seer, but there’s no real way to tell. Shop Keeper says that she’s called Liebling, but it feels like a Name, so Lilac just sticks to Shop Keeper, although Florist might work with all the flowers blooming in the store. She had wandered among the flowers as Miss Witch and Shop Keeper talk about something or other, eventually leaving the sales floor.

There are other customers, some fae and some human, that wander around as well. There’s a very pretty fae who is frowning at some roses, mumbling about making use of a lifted ban and making someone fall in love. Then there’s a fae that strolls through the decorations, fondly tapping at the butterflies and the goofy cockroaches, going so far as to stick them together. A woman is fretting over a bouquet, something about her reminding Lilac of the Changeling from a while back. It’s pleasant, nothing like the flower shop Granny would drag her to, where the witch running that shop would yell at her every time she’d stop to look at a particular flower.

However, nothing could have prepared Lilac for the looming creature staring down at her. It was an accident that she walked into him, but the dread pooling in her stomach tells her that the mistake may be her last. She shakes under the being’s gaze, her eyes flicking around for someone to help her escape his grasp. Miss Witch and Shop Keeper disappeared into the backroom while the strange lady is out of line of sight. She’s too scared to create a tether to ask for help from either of the fae nearby, and the human woman would probably not be able to do anything against the giant. Lilac squeaks fearfully as he leans down, forcing her to make eye contact with the being.

“Ḩ̴̡͕̤̰̺͚̥͓̬͌͊́͂͂̌͂̾̓̒͆͛̐̋͐͐̂͆̇͘̕͜͠͝͠ͅą̵̝͖̗̜̫̦̟̹͓̞̲͎͍͖͇̯̰̅̋̂́̔̊̊͒̏͆̀̂́̓̀͋̑̄͊̎̂͌̓̒̉͗͂͊̕͘̕͝ļ̸̭̫̬̞̼͚̠̙̼̭̹̥̼͉͙͚̪̤̓͜ͅͅl̸̨̗͕̩͔͎̜͉̜͎͚̻̾̍̈́̂͒̀̄̓̓̈̄̿̍͊̏̚̚̕ö̶̲͓̳̟̱̥̘̝̩͉̩́̃̉̑̀̑̾̈͂͒̈́̃͛̀̋́̚͜,̸̡̡̛̟̝̹͈̪̗͈͇̭͔͈̌̓͑̋̾͝ͅ ̷̢̨̢̢̡̖͔̩͚͉̙̟̖͉̩͇̼͓̹͖̥̰̦͉̪̜̀͗͜ḷ̷̡̨̨̟͈͓̦͉͍̤̳͕̘͗͗̋̿̀̚̕ī̸̡̡̢̘̭̩̠͚̟͍͈̬͓̮̝̳͍͖̝̩̒͑̐̐̒̽͐͂̒͒̀͑͌̏̓́͋̽͗͜͜t̴̡̢̥̫̮̯̮̬̰̙͉͕̰̮͍͚̥̝͇͙̑̇̔̈͐̈͘͠ͅţ̵̨̭̦̳͙̩̩̩̞̥̲̲̤̗͖̟̟͙̫͈̲͔͇͈̠̪̯̘̯̰́̿ͅļ̴̛̺̲͚̭͎̳̻̙̰̖̗͖̬̣̞̙̺̠͐͆̽͂̌͒̄̔͆͒̊̉̉͛̆̒́̈́e̶̛̝͕̖̟̝̻͓̦̤̠̫̥̫͔͐̀̄͂̋͛̊͛̐͂̀͊͑̈́͐̂͑̃̚͘͠͝͠ ̸̨͎̞̜̲̰͉̫̬̪̲̂̌̓̅̇̿̽̀̍̈̚w̷̡̧̩͉͙̮̘͎̺̝̦̜͓̼͖̓͗͑͂͛͛͒́̾͆̃̎̏̀̀̾̒̒͌̍̈́̕͘͠͝͠i̸̯̭̦̖͖̮̘͕̰͙̐͑͆̈́̌̀͐͒͌͗̒̏̉͗̓͋̅̂̐͆́̊͋̇̚͘͜͠͠t̴͓̯̙̫͚̬͇̼̘̻͎̺̱̥͖͇̼̫̔́̂͊̋̍͐̐͂̍̀̆́̓͘͝͝͠ͅc̸̢̨̢̤̣̣̳͓͖̣͙̫̦͔̞̠̥̭̝͉̣̰̮̞̪̼̤̝̠͖̥̱̄͑̄̑̈́̉̂͛̒͗̕̕͜͜͠h̵̨̟̞̘̘͓͉̯͚̼̱̼̤͚͙̅̈́̓̿̆̔,” he rumbles, distorted by something unnatural. Lilac hiccups as tears well in her eyes, trembling as he cocks his head. The being blinks under his mask and takes a purposeful step toward her. Unable to hold back her terror at this thing’s presence, Lilac wails. ——————————————— You jump at the piercing scream that interrupts your conversation with Witch, causing both of you to turn to the shop floor. Your first thought is König just killed someone in your shop, again. Then you realize the scream was a young girl’s and your stomach drops at the look on Witch’s face.

“He better not have hurt her,” the woman beside you snarls. At any other time, you’d try to tease her about her mother hen behavior with kids. But right now, there is a very real possibility that your giant idiot may have hurt a child.

You both rush out, to see Love holding a sobbing Lilac while glaring up at König, who seems to be watching them. Witch is obviously livid, and as annoying as he is, you love König enough to get him out of this situation.

“Out!” you snap, catching his attention immediately. He whines like a wounded dog, but you just point to the door of the shop. Once he slinks out the door, Witch is kneeling down beside Lilac, coaxing her to let go of Love and hug her instead, going so far as to run her hand through the kid’s hair. Carefully walking around the pair, you sit down beside Love.

“What happened?” you ask, looking at your self-proclaimed-best-friend curiously.

“I don’t know for sure,” she admits, a frown marring her usually smiling face, “She started screaming and I hurried over, only to see your fae standing over her. Once Lilac saw me, she started crying and holding out her arms for a hug.” You frown at that as well, glancing over at the window. König is practically pressed against the window, staring at you with his puppy dog eyes. You have to turn away, looking at Lilac’s tear streaked face as Witch coos and soothes her. The woman looks over at you and Love and offers a grimace.

“She’s more sensitive to fae than most witches, and something about… him set off her fight, flight, or freeze reaction,” Witch explains, her hand still combing through her trainee’s hair. You click your tongue, mulling over what to do. While Lilac stays with Witch, she’ll be a customer, thus having König in the store would be a bit of a problem if this is her reaction. But, it’s not necessarily König’s fault that he’s… whatever version of fae he is, so banning him would be too much right now.

“You’re thinking awful hard, sweetie,” Love teases, poking at your cheek.

“Don’t call me that,” you reply thoughtlessly with a slap to her hand, still mulling over a compromise. Eventually, you look at Lilac and ask, “Was it only when König was in front of you or did you feel it when you entered the store?”

“… Wh-when he was in f-f-front of me,” she answers with a stutter. You hum, thinking how you could keep König in the back of the shop while Witch and Lilac would come in for shopping. You look out the window again, only to see König doing his version of a pout as Ghost and the two fae that were in your shop earlier speak at him. Probably making fun of him, from the looks at König’s posture.

“Would you be okay coming by if König stays in the back while you’re here?” you offer, avoiding eye contact from both Love and Witch. You don’t give this kind of consideration to most customers, but Witch is a friend-ish and Lilac is her trainee as well as a kid. It’s more common curtesy than anything else. Lilac looks up at her before looking down at the floor.

“I-it doesn’t matter,” she answers, “I’m th-the one in the wr-wr-wrong.”

“You aren’t,” Love chirps, even though you can see that she’s absolutely furious at whoever told the kid that. The look on Witch’s face matches her sentiments, but you just focus on the more pragmatic thing to do.

“Would knowing he’s in the shop with you make you uncomfortable, even if you don’t see him?” you try again. Lilac looks back up at you, blinks and shakes her head slowly, maintaining eye contact the whole time. You offer her the best smile you can, before standing.

“I’m going to let him know, okay? Then, I’ll be leading him in through the back door,” you tell Lilac. She nods again, seemingly going mute. Witch gives you her own smile while Love just beams. Huffing, you turn from the trio, hoping your face doesn’t give away your embarrassment.

Opening the front door, you’re not surprised at König hunching over, obviously defensive.

“Y’ really know how t’ cause trouble, y’ big dolt,” Ghost huffs out, turning his attention over to you, hefting Karma in his arm as he asks, “How’d he fuck up this time? Need a good story f’r the lads.”

“For once, it wasn’t his fault,” you tell him bluntly, ignoring the shroud of death that linger around him to see Love’s husband chuckle. How you’ve been able to finally look past that dark specter he hides in, you don’t think you’ll ever really know. But Karma might be helping, her fingers shoved in her mouth as she stares past you, into the store and at the flowers. You turn to your- boyfriend? Fuck buddy?- roommate and tell him, “You can come back in through the back, but you’ll need to stay back there while Lilac is still in the store.” He pauses his dramatics and turns to look at you, like you’re prey.

“…Very well,” he agrees after a drawn out pause, sliding past you to go to the back door. You huff, only to jolt as the other three fae look at you with pity.

“You better stock up on bandages,” the very pretty fae recommends. The other fae nods rapidly and moves his hand in sign language, too fast for you to even try deciphering. However, the other two fae seen to understand as they nod solemnly.

“…I don’t think I wanna know,” you decide, throwing your hands up in the air. Although…

“Thank you for the reminder,” you tell the pretty fae, making a mental note to restock your home’s first aid kit. König has been getting a bit biteier recently.

[honest-moth-of-silver-grove]

I can't wait for the next part of the trio saving werewolf!reader it was so good!

Ask: I can't wait for the next part of the trio saving werewolf!reader it was so good! 

Ask: Hi! Just read part one of what is hopefully a mini-series of the trio x werewolf reader, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. If you like some suggestions on how to continue: maybe part two could be about the Reader learning how to be free, or perhaps the Trio helping reader recover enough to be able to shift back to being a human? Either way, can’t wait to see what else you have planned. Thank you so much!

[Combining the two asks here.]

A/N: My toxic trait? Answering asks for Part 2s of something I wrote over a year ago and then promptly abandoned lol. (To Read Part 1 to refresh your memory, like I had to do, click here [x].)

✥ ✥ ✥

“Do you think they’ll ever be able to turn back?” Sypha asked from where she stood, in one of the many rows of bookshelves lining the Belmont hold. 

Several levels below her, Trevor grunted as he hauled large pieces of shattered support beams to the base of the main staircase. “It’s impressive how sentient they are now, being a were-creature and all.” 

“Yes, but they don’t want to stay a creature for the rest of their lives.” 

“Well, life isn’t always fucking fair,” Trevor cursed, half-out of breath, as he began lugging the large beam up the stairs. 

“I’m fairly certain she knows that,” Alucard intervened, entering the main chamber, having just arrived fresh off the newly built lift he installed. “Speakers see far more suffering than most people, seeing as they believe it is their duty to help the less fortunate.” 

“How’s the lift?” Sypha asked, coming over to the railing. “Does it work? Were the calculations correct?” 

Alucard nodded. “I needed to modify a few measurements, considering the potential excess weight load-”

“We’re not that heavy,” Trevor interrupted. “Or do you plan to start bringing villagers in by the dozen and give tours?” 

Alucard narrowed his eyes at Trevor. “I was considering the repairs that need to be done for all the damage the night creatures inflicted. Unless of course, you’d prefer to drag that thing up yet another hundred feet.” 

Trevor huffed, refusing to show his fatigue. “What? This old thing?” He locked his knees to keep them from buckling. “Can barely feel it.” 

Sypha rolled her eyes. “Could the two of you stop competing for one second?! We’re supposed to be looking for ways to help our friend!” 

Admitting defeat, Trevor dropped the large piece of timber at the next landing. “Sypha, we’ve been at it for months. Every book says the same thing: only the shapeshifter can cause a shift at will. Outside of whoever cursed them with the affliction undoing it themselves. Or killing the shapeshifter and using death magic to alter their form post-mortem, there’s nothing any of us can do.” 

Accepting her friend had a point, Sypha took one of the adjoining bridges, healing toward Trevor as he stopped to catch his breath. 

“I could freeze that beam and toss it out you know,” she gestured to where Alucard currently stood. 

“The last time you did that, we ended up with a giant hole in the ground.” 

“That wasn’t me, that was the night creatures.” 

“But you did break the castle,” Alucard countered. “All of the gears were melted.”

“I did not! I do not break things. I am a Speaker, I fix things!” 

Alucard chuckled, sharing a knowing look with Trevor. For as knowledgeable as she was, she certainly had a hard time admitting when she was wrong. 

“In either case, it will take years to repair, even with my vampiric speed and strength. Dracula engineered those cogs and wheels over several centuries, often hiring the best blacksmiths around.” 

The trio boarded the lift together, Trevor having decided to leave the broken beam behind for another day. 

“They worked here? With him?” Sypha asked. 

“The castle’s forge is quite extensive. And no matter their level of skill, I doubt any local blacksmith’s forge would be large enough to mold such immense gears. They could only manage such creation within the walls of the castle.” 

Trevor scoffed. “Did they know who they were working for?” 

“I’m certain they had suspicions, but I doubt my Fath-, Dracula ever told them the truth.” 

“That’s-” Trevor started.

“Sad,” Sypha finished for him. “To be alone all that time. To not be able to tell anyone who you are.” 

The ingenious pulley system lift finally came to a stop as it became level with the forest ground outside the Belmont hold. 

“Is that why you wish to help them so badly?” Alucard asked, referring to their new werewolf companion. “You feel they’re lonely?” 

“Well they were lonely, back in that cage, in that life,” Sypha reminded her friends, as Alucard locked the lift in place.

“They seem better now,” Trevor remarked, being the first to disembark. “After all, you keep bugging them every day, they’re hardly lonely.” 

Sypha elbowed him, lovingly. “I do not bug them. They enjoy my company.” 

“You keep forgetting Speakers are used to traveling in large groups,” Alucard reminded Belmont, once again, as the trio made their way back toward the entrance of the castle. “It’s shocking how much you've forgotten, the two of you being companions and all.” 

“The three of us being companions,” Sypha placed a reassuring hand on Alucard’s shoulder. 

The dhampir gave a soft smile at the Speaker’s action before averting his eyes. Stepping out of her embrace, he started to ascend the many stone steps at the front of the castle. 

“It’s about time for dinner. Let me see what I can cook up.” 

✥

It had been a few months since the trio and their newfound companion arrived back home at Castlevania. Most of that time was spent with Sypha and Trevor bickering over how best to treat their new friend, while Alucard dedicated his time in between assessing the broken mechanisms of the castle to reading all of the tomes his father had collected on shapeshifting. Unfortunately, all roads pointed in the same direction: it was up to their friend to shift themselves back. 

At the present moment their werewolf friend, or Wynn, as they liked to be called, was resting in one of the many castle bedrooms. Their furry body was sprawled out over the entire length of the mattress, as they lazily tracked falling specks of dust around with their big puppy-dog eyes. 

Despite spending so much time resting, they felt exhausted this evening. It was as if the last few months of recovery meant nothing! 

‘I don’t know why I’m so tired,’ they thought, shifting to curl up in a tighter ball. 

Finally shutting their eyes, they made one final wish before drifting off to sleep, the same wish they had been making every night for god knows how long. 

‘Please let me be human when I wake up, please.’ 

✥

The sun had barely peaked over the horizon. Trevor and Alucard had woken up early to finally start clearing the major debris from the Belmont hold using the newly designed lift. So far Alucard had cleared twelve large beams while Trevor had managed to remove seven. Not that it was a competition or anything. It was at this point that Sypha had come to join them. 

“Well if it isn’t Sleeping Beauty, finally come to grace us humble footmen with her presence,” Trevor ribbed. 

“Nice pile,” Sypha gestured to Trevor’s lesser stack laid out next to Alucard’s. 

Trevor snorted. “Nice comeback.” 

Sypha crossed her arms. “I had a very long night last night. Which was entirely your fault by the way.” 

“My fault?” Trevor guffawed. “No no, I believe that last round was your fault.” 

Alucard, who had been watching amusedly from the sides, chose this moment to step in. “No, she’s right, I recall you were the one enticing us into that last round.” 

“Well, it’s not my fault if- hey,” Trevor suddenly straightened his back, and pointed to something in the distance. “Who’s that?” 

Both Alucard and Sypha turned around to see who Trevor was referring to. Almost immediately, Sypha clasped her hands together happily and began running over to meet this ‘stranger’. 

“Looks like Sypha wasn’t the last one to wake up,” Alucard nudged Trevor to come along. 

“No, but seriously, who the hell is that?” Trevor asked Alucard, keeping his wits about him. 

“You’re joking.” 

“I’ve never seen that person before in my life.” 

“That’s because you’ve never seen them before as a human.” 

Sypha, having finally reached Wynn where they stood, proudly and excitedly in their human form, pulled them in for a big hug. Clasping each other in a tight embrace, the two companion’s eyes began to water. 

“It’s so good to finally see you, my friend!” Sypha laughed, hugging Wynn closer. 

“It’s so good to be seen!” Wynn answered back, clearly overjoyed. 

After a good long moment, Sypha finally let go, turning around to face the boys. “Look who it is!” 

Wynn gave a polite wave, suddenly overcome by shyness under the focus of all three of their friends. “Um, hi? It’s nice to finally meet you.” 

Alucard stuck his hand out for a handshake, which Wynn eagerly accepted. “Likewise.” 

Sensing Trevor’s hesitation, Wynn outstretched their hand to Trevor. 

Shaking his head, Trevor grasped Wynn’s hand and pulled them in for a hug, nearly knocking them off their feet. 

Speechless and touched by Trevor’s gesture, Sypha shot a knowing look at Alucard. 

Despite being their gruff, sarcastic, and sometimes slower friend, Trevor really was like a teddy bear deep, deep underneath that jaded exterior. Sure, very few would ever come to know it unless they were close to him, but that made the trio’s relationship all the more special. And it was a very telling sign that Trevor was able to let his guard down for the sake of their new friend. 

It was as if at that very moment, the trio had become a quartet. And Wynn couldn’t be happier to finally be a part of it. 

[superbattrash]

Bruclark Week Day 4: Everybody Can See It But Them

Alternative title: Not NOT a date night 

OR: that one bridal carry fic I promised to do months ago. Thanks @bruclarkweek for making me keep that promise :3

“No,” Bruce says firmly. He’s trying his best not to wince as he puts weight on his bad foot. It’s a matter of principle. It’s nothing an icepack and one of Alfred’s cocktails won’t fix. If only he can get Clark to back off; but of course, Superman doesn’t leave anyone behind. Even if that someone wants to be left behind.

“B-” Clark shuts his mouth and starts over when Bruce glares at him. They have codenames for a reason. “Batman, come on."

“I said no.” It’s like trying to convince a wall to go for a walk. Clark isn’t budging. But neither is Bruce – and they both know which one of them is more stubborn. Although, judging from the hard set of Clark’s eyes, it’s going to be an evenly matched fight today. Bruce doesn’t have the patience for this; he’s in pain.

“Your foot is very clearly broken,” Clark says as he mirrors Bruce’s stance. He looks very Superman-y with his arms crossed over his chest. And he can put his entire weight on both his feet. The asshole.

“Don't x-ray me, it's a sprain,” Bruce grumbles as he tries to shift discreetly on his feet. Clark’s eyes zero in on his foot instantly and if it wouldn’t actually get broken from it, Bruce would’ve kicked him in the shin. Stupid invulnerability.

“Either way you shouldn't walk on it!” Clark exclaims. He instantly closes his mouth like he didn’t mean to speak so loudly, and Bruce knows him well enough to know that he didn’t. He’s frustrated and it’s not like there’s anybody who can hear him, but of course Clark feels bad. He doesn’t like yelling.

Bruce doesn’t care if he yells loud enough to alert the entire planet. Let Clark be frustrated; it doesn’t change the fact that Bruce will not give in. He’s not a child; he doesn’t need help. He’s never needed help (the kids don’t count), he has 20 years of experience doing this sort of thing. Okay, perhaps the giant alien creatures aren’t exactly an every-day thing, but he’s adapting.

“That's not up to you,” he says instead of voicing all his thoughts. There’s no reason to cause a scene and he knows Clark would catch onto the ‘no help needed’ thing instantly. God, you have one or two (or five or six) sidekicks and suddenly you’re not considered to be working alone.

“Oh, so my teammate's wellbeing isn't something I should care about?” Clark asks, sarcasm dripping from his voice. It’s not like him to be this pushy. Or well, maybe it is.

“That's-”

“I should just leave you here then,” Clark says as he throws his hands up in mock defeat. “I know your comm is busted, you can't call A- agent A for help.”

Bruce doesn't comment on yet another close call of those codenames. He knows Clark is merely worked up. Which is also why Clark is interrupting him; poor Martha Kent, all her parenting is thrown out the window the second Clark gets worked up. Bruce elegantly avoids looking too closely at the fact that 9 out of 10 times it’s his fault that Clark is upset.

“I'll figure something out,” he responds, despite Clark’s point being valid. His comm is more or less busted, Alfred won’t look for him for hours seeing as he’s out on a League mission and he’s usually safe on those. As safe as one can be when you’re battling aliens and super villains.

“You'll do no such thing,” Clark huffs. “You'll hopple to the bat mobile - which by the way is five miles away - and then try to drive home with that broken-”

“Sprained.”

“-foot, and you'll have made it even worse and yet still refuse anybody's help and you'll be in constant pain for the next several months because you're too stubborn to take the help you're being offered.” Clark ends his speech with a triumphant what-do-you-say-to-that look. He should know better by now.

“I can make it to the car,” Bruce insists. He’s starting to feel the ache all the way up to his knee which is never a good sign. He doesn’t shift his weight onto his good foot though, that would be admitting defeat.

“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Clark huffs. “But you’ll put extra strain on your already b- injured foot. You can’t see the damage; I can. You’ll tear a ligament and you’ll be forced to take a break from patrolling, is that really what you want?”

“Do you always take your lectures this far?” Bruce mutters, most of his stubbornness being replaced with exhaustion. Why is Clark always so worried about him? He’s a grown man, this is ridiculous.

“Only when talking to stubborn asshats,” Clark retorts.

Bruce doesn’t comment on Clark’s attempt at cursing him. It’s always weird hearing Clark curse, but mostly because he’s not very good at it. Martha must be a proud mother on this front, but it leaves Clark’s name calling with something to be desired.

“Would you rather I contact the rest of the League?” Clark asks when Bruce doesn’t respond. He points towards the nearby city, where the spoke is still rising towards the sky from their latest mission. “Have them come here when they’re done cleaning up the city?”

“You-”

“It’s not like Diana would rather actually go home and rest; it’s not like Wally has a day-time job and I’m sure they’d gladly throw everything in their hands to come help you to your car-”

“Alright, alright,” Bruce mumbles in defeat. “I get it.”

Clark obviously knows him too well. There’s no reason to trigger his already huge pile of guilt by dragging the others into this.

“Do you?” Clark asks and he looks really pissed.

“Yes,” Bruce says with a roll of his eyes. “I would like help getting to my car.”

Clark doesn’t move.

“I would like help getting to my car, please.”

“That’s better.” He’s more bark than bite and in the blink of an eye he’s stopped frowning and he’s back to being bright and smile-y. Bruce almost despises him for it – if not for the fact that Clark is everything Bruce wants to be as a person. Bright and warm and heroic. Something special, someone strong. Someone worthy.

Clark reaches a hand to grab at Bruce’s legs and Bruce jerks away. He lands on his bad foot and nearly falls over. He grabs Clark’s shoulder for support and can’t keep the pain entirely off his face. Thank God he’s still wearing the cowl; at least Clark can’t see his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Clark asks worriedly.

“Can’t you just carry me normally?” Bruce ignores his question.

“Normally?” Clark sighs. “Br- Batman. You’re a grown man, a human man. I can’t just grab your arm and fly off. Do you want me to throw you over my shoulder or can we do this my way?”

The mere thought of being seen thrown over Superman’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes has Bruce want to die of mortification. He gathers his cape and then crosses his arms over his chest again. He’s not going to actually choose out loud. Clark will have to read his body language. Clark does, obviously, because he always knows exactly what Bruce means which isn’t usually annoying (it works well on missions), but today everything Clark does is annoying. Bruce might be in more pain than he’s willing to admit.

Clark reaches for Bruce’s legs once again and since Bruce doesn’t resist this time, he swiftly lifts him up into his arms. Bruce ignores the swoop in his stomach at how easily Clark manhandles him. He’s not fourteen anymore, he shouldn’t feel giddy at having a strong guy being able to carry him. He’s also trying not to feel silly, being carried like a newlywed bride. Maybe the potato sack position would’ve been better, after all.

Clark taps his communicator and opens the link to the League. At least Bruce can still listen in, although there’s a lot of crackly on the line. He’ll live.

“I’ll make sure Batman gets to the batmobile and then I’ll come help you guys,” he says.

“Of course,” Diana’s response comes at the same time Wally’s does: “Of course, you will. Why not just leave that thing so you can keep cuddling all the way home?”

There’s a very audible slap, followed by an “Ow!” and Bruce is forever grateful for Diana’s everything. He’s also feeling slightly humiliated which isn’t a good look on a man in his forties. He harrumphs and shuffles further into Clark’s arms – just to be able to cross his arms tighter, obviously! He does not, in fact frown, despite what Clark’s stupid grin is saying. Bruce actively avoids meeting Clark’s eyes. He knows he’ll find more joy and teasing in them, and he can’t take any more of his brightness right now.

“Flash is right,” Diana says. “Take Batman home, we will take care of the rest.”

“What about the batmobile?” Clark asks. He’s already lifting off the ground.

“Can’t you just pick that up in your other hand?” Wally suggests with a laugh, which is then promptly followed by another “ow!”

“Flash will make sure it gets to the cave in one piece.”

“What?!” There’s a small pause where no doubt Diana is glaring at Wally before his voice comes through the comm again: “I’ll make sure it gets home safely.”

Bruce opens his mouth to object – Wally is not driving his car anywhere! – but Clark chooses that moment to shoot off into the sky (probably on purpose, the jerk).

“Thanks, guys!” Clark says before disconnecting.

“You can’t seriously be letting him drive my car,” Bruce shouts over the air flying past them. He’s about to move his cape up to cover the lower part of his face when Clark does it for him.

“It’s just a car, Bruce,” he says, because he can. They’re in the air, nobody can hear them past the noise of the wind. He’s taking advantage of the situation and he knows it. Bruce can’t even be mad at him.

“It’s my car,” he mutters but turns his head into Clark’s shoulder. The wind’s cold and he’s already given up most of his dignity – what’s a little more? It’s not like Clark will hold this against him either way.

--

They arrive at the cave twenty minutes later. It’s the longest it’s taken Clark to get anywhere since… ever. At least that’s what Bruce tells him. Clark says it’s because he doesn’t want Bruce to be entirely frozen by the time they got there, while Bruce argues that Clark just likes to torture him and prolonging his suffering several hundred feet in the air is Clark’s dark side rearing its ugly head.

It’s obviously about the cold, although the chance to have Bruce close is always nice. Not that Clark’s going to tell Bruce that; he likes being alive, thank you very much. It’s just that Bruce isn’t exactly touchy-feely and Clark… is. With some people. With Bruce, mostly. Having a best friend who knows everything about you has that effect on people though, it’s not just Clark being weird. He thinks.

Clark foregoes the cave floor and flies through and up the stairs, so Bruce has no excuse to sit at the computer and work instead of getting treatment for his ankle.

“The med bay’s in the cave,” Bruce mutters, because of course he knows what Clark is doing. He always does. He’s too clever for his own good – either of their own goods – sometimes. It doesn’t stop him from faux mind-reading everything else in Clark’s head. “I can bandage my own foot, Clark.”

“Well, I’m sure Alfred won’t mind doing it for you up here. Where you can rest.”

“I’m not a child,” Bruce objects but there’s no real heat to his words. He’s already given up on fighting Clark, which is a good thing, because Bruce may be the more stubborn of the two of them, but not when it comes to his own health. Clark knows how to play Bruce just as well as Bruce knows how to play Clark. Nearly a decade of friendship will do that to two guys.

“Stop acting like one then and let me go get Alfred.”

Bruce doesn’t answer which means Clark has won. It’s nice to be able to read Bruce without seeing his actual face. Speaking of…

“And take the cowl off, you’re not on a mission anymore.”

“Someone didn’t let me get changed in the cave, remember?” Bruce taunts. He’s probably thinking it’ll get him a free pass to the cave, but Clark knows better than to take that obvious bait.

“Well,” Clark says and super speeds them to Bruce’s bedroom. He dumps him (carefully) on the bed. “You can change now, here. I’ll wait.” He stands in front of the door for good measure.

“Pervert,” Bruce accuses when Clark doesn’t turn around, but he does as he’s told.

It turns out it’s a good thing Clark doesn’t turn around because Bruce nearly falls over trying to get his uniform off. He really can’t support his weight on his foot at all anymore and Clark feels awful. It’s not really his fault but he hates it when Bruce gets hurt on mission. It always leaves him feeling like he could’ve done more. Should’ve done more.

“Stop blaming yourself,” Bruce mutters as Clark helps him out of his undershirt. Of course, he picks up on Clark’s silent misery. “This isn’t on you.”

“Feels like it,” Clark says softly, looking over the many cuts and bruises on Bruce’s torso. He’s hurt so often, so much, and he still keeps going. Clark doesn’t know how he does it.

“I know.” Bruce’s voice in gentle in a way it only is when it’s just the two of them. When they’re somewhere safe and he can’t help but wanting to make Clark feel better. It’s been happening a lot more often recently. “Doesn’t make it true though.”

“Are you really comforting me when you’re the one who’s hurt?” Clark asks, trying for a smile.

“Are you really helping me take my socks off?” Bruce counters.

“Alright, okay, I’ll get Alfred,” Clark says and this time the smile is real. “Call when you need help getting down the stairs, okay?”

Bruce doesn’t answer because he doesn’t want to agree to needing help. Clark lets him have this one. He’ll notice when Bruce needs help. He’s not nearly as quiet as he thinks he is when he’s in pain. Besides, who can’t hear an old man hoppling down the stairs?

--

Alfred is in the kitchen with Tim and Jason. Clark can hear Dick’s heartbeat somewhere else in the manor and he knows Damian has art classes on Thursdays. The thought has something warm and safe settling in his stomach. Bruce’s family is safe and close by. He’s going to be just fine.

“Alfred,” Clark says with a nod of his head and Alfred sends him a small smile as he stirs something on the stove.

“Hi Clark,” Tim greets without looking up.

“Hey Tim.”

“Is it date night already?” There’s teasing tilt to his smile.

Clark laughs. “No, your- Bruce got injured today.” He always has to make sure not to call Bruce their dad, but especially Tim. It’s a touchy subject and Clark doesn’t want to cause any issues between the kids and Bruce.

“What else is new?” Comes from besides the fridge.

“Hello Jason, nice to see you,” Clark says earnestly. It’s not often that he gets to see Jason at the manor, but he clearly still feels at home here. He’s shoving a cookie into his mouth even as he speaks.

“Supes,” he says with a mock salute from his seat on the counter. He’s watching over Alfred’s cooking and Clark has never seen anyone else allowed this close when he cooks. It says something about the bond the two share.

Clark is surprised over and over again by how calm and collected Jason seems these days. He really doesn’t mind how he has taken a liking to the nickname Bruce uses for him in the field. Not all the time, obviously, this is Batman we’re talking about, but often enough that apparently Jason has heard it enough to grab onto it.

It’s better than ‘alien’ anyhow.

“Are you staying for dinner, Master Kent?” Alfred asks.

“Alfred, please, I’ve told you a million times-”

“Let it be a million times more, Master Kent,” he interrupts gently but firmly. “So. Dinner?”

“If it’s alright with Bruce-” Clark starts. He doesn’t want to step on any toes and maybe Bruce would like a quiet evening with his family. Although if Clark leaves, he’s pretty sure Bruce will just limp into the cave to do some bat-work, even if he can’t physically go on patrol.

“Of course, it’s alright with Master Bruce,” Alfred says with a small huff. It’s the closest he’ll come to rolling his eyes at anyone outside the family.

“Yeah, B would have you move in yesterday if he had his way,” Tim comments.

“Oh, uh,” Clark says because he really doesn’t know what to say to that. He knows he’s been over a lot these past few months but if he’s outstayed his welcome somehow, he wishes Bruce would’ve told him so.

“Tim,” Bruce’s voice calls from the doorway. He doesn’t look happy per se, but he’s not truly angry either. He’s dressed in sweats and a t-shirt; it’s a look Clark loves on him. It makes him looks so soft and comfortable, even with that almost-frown on his face. Also, how did he get down the stairs on his own?

“Bruce,” Clark says with a frown. “I told you to call for me.”

“And I told you I’m fine,” Bruce says with a wave of his hand. “Shouldn’t you boys be getting ready for patrol?”

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the wedding?” Jason shoots back even as he hops off the counter. “Timmy wants to be a flower girl.”

“You want to be a flower girl!” Tim calls as he chases Jason out of the kitchen. He’s still a few inches too short to keep up with Jason’s 6 feet, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to tackle his big brother in the hallway.

Bruce mutters something under his breath that even Clark can’t make out (it could be “children”, although Clark can’t be sure because he’s sort of busy looking over Bruce’s ankle while he’s not being watched – it’s a sprain as Bruce said) but Alfred chuckles warmly.

“What are we going to do with them?”

“I suggest proposing,” Alfred says. Clark gets the distinct feeling that the bat boys have some on-going joke running. And that joke includes Alfred, but Alfred always knows something Clark doesn’t, so that’s nothing new.

“I need the compression bandages,” Bruce says like Alfred hasn’t just spoken. That’s how he has conversations most of the time. Ignore and continue; it works with some people but usually not Alfred. He seems to let this one go, though.

“Master Kent, would you be so kind?” Alfred asks and Clark instantly nods. He knows where they are and he’s back before Alfred has time to bring the heat down on the stove. “Perhaps you’d do me the favor of applying the bandage as well? I’m awfully late picking Master Damian up.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Clark says. He’s seen Alfred do this enough times to be able to do it himself. He thinks. “Go get Damian, I’ll take care of Bruce.”

“I don’t doubt it, Master Kent.”

Alfred leaves shortly after and despite Bruce’s protests (“I can bandage my own damn foot, Clark!”), Clark finally gets him to sit down in the living room long enough to get his ankle wrapped up properly.

“How long do you think it’ll take before Alfred stops calling me Master Kent?” Clark asks conversationally as he wraps the bandage around Bruce’s foot and then up his ankle.

“Forever, probably,” Bruce says. He quickly mellows out at Clark’s pouting face. “If it helps, he refers to you as Master Clark when you’re not here.”

“Why won’t he do that to me though?”

“Respect,” Bruce instantly says. “This is how he is, Clark. Give it a few more months and he’ll come around. It’s not like he calls me Bruce much.”

“But he does call you Master Bruce more than Master Wayne,” Clark points out.

“Not when we’re in public,” Bruce reminds him. “At home, yes. I’ve known him for quite a bit longer than you have though.”

“He likes me better,” Clark teases as he secures the end of the bandage. He gets kicked in the shoulder by Bruce’s other foot as a thank you.

“He does,” Bruce laughs, despite his actions. “Who wouldn’t?”

“You’re being too hard on yourself again,” Clark says as he sits down next to Bruce on the couch. “Even if you are right about me being fantastic.”

“I don’t think I used that word.”

“It was implied.”

“Of course, my bad,” Bruce laughs, and a quiet happiness settles in the bottom of Clark’s stomach. He loves making Bruce laugh. “Are you staying?”

“Alfred already made up a bed for me,” Clark says in lieu of answering.

“A bed?” Bruce raises an eyebrow and he’s not even trying to hide the smirk on his face.

“Fine, he made my bed.” Because somehow in the last few months Clark has stayed over a lot and Alfred feels bad that he doesn’t have a room of his own. Or just a proper place to sleep when he’s there. Clark always tells him he’s alright with a couch or just flying home, but Alfred insists. The kids usually roll their eyes and say he’s going to sneak out of his room anyway, so why bother making his bed? Clark still hasn’t quite figured out where they think he goes, although he has had to leave a few nights because of trouble in Metropolis. He is Superman, after all. “I didn’t ask him to, B.”

“I know you didn’t, he makes it every night,” Bruce says with a shrug.

“Do you think he’s trying to tell us something?” Clark asks carefully. He’s not going to over-step or push anything. He’s barely sure of his own feelings, he’s not going to put pressure on Bruce to know his.

“Who knows with Alfred?” Bruce shrugs again. “So. Tea and a movie?”

“I’ll get the blankets,” Clark says as he jumps off the couch.  

Because Clark knows where those are too. In fact, Bruce has three homemade blankets from Clark’s mother and they’re on the top of the blanket pile. The kids fight over who gets to use them, but tonight both Bruce and Clark are wrapped in the soft material as they sip their tea and watch mindless movies.

Bruce falls asleep halfway through the second one; head falling to rest on Clark’s shoulder and Clark shuffles down into the couch a little further to make sure he doesn’t hurt his neck. If his shuffling brings him a little closer to Bruce too, well, nobody has to know.

[descenacre]

On the way back to my ship, the previous sunset, I had discovered the location of a vital component to my Dolphin.

Today, I set out to retrieve my Gravity Jumper. As I set off, I was of an unusually cheerful humor, I felt my anxieties wash from my mind as I absorbed the beauty of this planet.

The Pikmin and I passed underneath a grand veil of thorns, a particularly prickly obstacle I had yet to learn to tackle. They were too sharp for me or the other Pikmin to break apart, which made them quite a frustrating impediment that led to nothing but costly detours.

But then, as if a response to my problem, on my way to the part, I discovered a new type of pikmin in distress!

Their Onion was trapped within a giant egg, surrounded by the same thorns! Yet it seemed as though these Pikmin might be unfazed by these bristles, as they naively whacked away at their roots to no effect.

I directed the Pikmin, and threw them to its Gall in order to focus their strength, and it was finally pulled down, freed from its captivity--although, unlike the other Onions I'd encountered, this one did not activate immediately upon my approach.

It instead retracted its legs, and promptly fell to the ground, dormant like a rock. Did it sense the incoming danger?

My confusion was interrupted by a grand, transparent beast unlike anything I had ever seen! Could this be what terrified the Onion?

It appeared as though it's form was part of another dimension entirely...in the spatial sense, that is, though it had otherworldly looks to match.

I attempted to knock it from the sky, but it floated, unconcerned, just out of reach of even my Yellow Pikmin.

It started to lash out, with a brightly colored whip like tongue! I feared for my newfound friends, but quickly discovered the beast could not handle their prickly nature, and spat them out immediately!

I quickly ordered the Pikmin to pull the beast from the sky, and despite it's incredible scale, the creature appeared almost weightless, near powerless to wrestle itself away from just a few Pikmin!

In its vulnerable state, I destroyed the egg sac that lay on its back, and the beast seemed to lose its tether to this world, fading into nothingness.

With the specter gone, the Thorned Onion quickly awakened, and I was finally able to take down the massive Thorned Gate and retrieve my Gravity Jumper.

What an exhilarating world! Even the most delicate of beasts have their bite.

[radiance1]

Danny and Vlad are now mythical creatures.

They don't know exactly how- their bets are on Desiree. Which mean someone in Amity Park had to wish for this to happen.

Except it extended to the whole of Amity park, and not just them. Danny became a dragon, while Vlad became a phoenix and not those small ones, but he's a very big one.

Like, bigger than a person big.

Everyone can switch between from a creature back to their human selves, with the catch being that some of their beastly instincts and traits carry over into their human side.

Anywho.

Danny is just minding his own business, resting in dragon form in the deepest part of the Far Frozen, until a phoenix busts through and interrupts his haze, fire blazing behind him and hits him with.

"Pariah Dark is missing."

And if that didn't wake Danny up faster than one of his parents inventions exploding then he doesn't know what would.

So they go to his abandoned castle, see the coffin missing, proceed to freak out for a few minutes, then remember that Clockwork exists and races over to his lair, leaving a trail of ice and fire in their wake.

Clockwork tells them that Pariah Dark was summoned to another dimension.

"Ghost King he is no more, but powerful ghost he still is."

So now they have to jump to different dimensions to try and find Pariah Dark before something goes down.

Meanwhile with Pariah Dark:

The 10 year old sitting at the edge of the summoning circle staring at the Sarcophagus that just appeared in stunned silence.

Also said child walking forward and poking at it curiously.

Also said child when he summoned something in his parents basement from a really old book he found not expecting it to work but it did: Neat.

The kid then opens the Sarcophagus, found it stupid easy, and then what is obviously a groggy giant man pulls himself out of it.

So he obviously dragged him upstairs and sat him down on the couch.

Meanwhile with Danny and Vlad:

Both of them are going through portals looking for the ex-ghost king, landed in some medieval dimensions, accidently became legends based on sightings alone, landed in some present day dimensions, alarmed their governments.

Yet none of them contained were wrecked and enslaved by Pariah Dark, nor was there even any signs of him.

they spent a few years looking in different dimensions, then they felt a tug about someone summoning them, not just one of them, but both.

Probably didn't get the memo about a new king.

Meanwhile with Pariah Dark:

Showing pictures of the kid who summoned him to other aunties and gossiping about the new gangs and drama in Gotham.

Meanwhile with Vlad and Danny:

Looking at the stunned faces of cultists as they stand menacingly in their mythical creature forms, just staring done at them as if they were mere ants.

In reality they just want this over and done with so they can go back to finding Pariah Dark and finally call it a day.

They're waiting for the cultists to finally speak and tell them what they want, only for them to be interrupted by people in colorful spandex who beat up the cultists.

Did they stay after that?

Nope.

They left the summoning circle to look for Pariah if he has any chance of being in this one.

They also went intangible to avoid them if they decided to chase after them, Vlad went one way and Danny the other.

[loftylockjaw]

TIMING: Current LOCATION: The woods PARTIES: Wyatt & Ahmed (NPC penned by Caitlyn!) SUMMARY: NPC Ahmed is out hiking and stumbles upon Gator!Wyatt during a meal. Wyatt decides he’s still hungry and gives chase. A cleverly hidden pit is Ahmed’s only saving grace, and Wyatt is now trapped. CONTENT WARNINGS: Creature death (lamia dinner)

—

He stared at the strange thing, his massive crocodilian head cocked to the side. It stared back, silent and unbothered by the lamia’s presence, somehow. Most creatures that didn’t attack on sight were instead prone to fleeing from the reptilian beast, and for good reason—he was always hungry. This one, though… maybe it couldn’t run? Its back half seemed covered in the plant life it was nestled amongst. Was it trapped? Why else would a lamb just lay there when confronted by the likes of Wyatt? The staring contest continued for a few moments more before the lamb let out a loud, startling bleat. Wyatt winced away from it, waiting for the other shoe to drop, but nothing happened. 

It bleated again, and the lamia parted his jaws in a toothy grin. Wow. What an easy lunch this had turned out to be! He was still curious though, not quite content to eat the thing just yet. So instead he lowered himself onto all fours and began nosing around the lamb’s hindquarters, trying to find the roots or whatever it was that were holding the pathetic thing in place and assess the damage. If there was rot, he might want to avoid its back half. What he found instead were fruits growing on whatever kind of bush this was that had ensnared the creature, and they smelled terribly sweet and delicious. Curious and not particularly cautious, Wyatt bit one from the bush and swallowed it down, releasing a pleased rumble in response. Delicious! He bit off another fruit, munching happily and rooting around for more while the lamb continued to wail, not sounding very much like it was in pain, but just disturbed. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to you,” he muttered as he gulped down another fruit. Dessert was coming first today.

—

Ahmed didn’t mean to get himself into sticky situations. Honestly, he didn’t. But they kept finding him. One minute, he was enjoying his walk on the trail, a few miles out from where he had started. The next, he heard bleating and decided to check it out. Big mistake. He was greeted by the sight of a giant crocodile creature about to chow down on it. Ahmed blinked a few times, trying to figure out if what he was seeing was real. When he realized it wasn’t disappearing after a rapid succession of blinks, he took a step back, then another. Before he knew it, Ahmed was backpedaling away from the scene and promptly tripped over a root sticking out of the ground. He made a loud noise as he fell onto the ground with a loud “Oof!” 

The strange creature turned its attention to him, and Ahmed’s expression turned from fear to embarrassment as he slowly raised his hand up into the air and waved awkwardly and slowly. “Uh. Hi?” He called out to the creature, then to the lamb stuck in the brush, then back to the obviously hungry crocodile. “I… didn’t mean to…” Ahmed trailed off as he scrambled to his feet, backing up a bit more to put more space between himself and the creature. “I’ll go.” He insisted with a sure nod of his head as he turned to leave but then locked eyes with that sad, pathetic lamb. “Uh.” He uttered dumbly before pointing to the creature. “What’s uh, what’s he doing all the way out here?”

—

Humans sure were good at interrupting his meals, weren’t they? And after he’d been so polite, choosing creatures over sapient beings for his lunch. God. His yellow gaze fell upon the stranger, permanently bared teeth parting as a low hiss rumbled out of his gullet, a warning to back off. It wasn’t needed, of course, the human tripping over himself to get away… but he messed that up too, of course. The raised hand and awkward greeting was unexpected, and Wyatt had to wonder how many other bizarre things this one had seen to illicit a response like that. 

No matter, he was leaving. 

Or, he was supposed to be, but then he stopped, turned, and asked about the lamb. The gator grumbled to himself, thinking that of course it couldn’t have been that simple. Of course.

“Bold of you to assume I was smart enough to answer that question,” Wyatt started, sounding annoyed. His gaze then flicked over to the lamb, who was bleating pitifully and trembling where it sat. “And I dunno. I found it here. Stuck or somethin’.” He glanced back at the human, dragging his long tail across the forest floor behind him to partially circle it around the lamb. “Finders keepers, mon cher.” With a snort, he craned his head back to face the lamb, who now seemed to realize the peril it was in and began wailing even louder. Annoying. Wyatt didn’t feel like making such a huge mess this time and was pretty sure that he could swallow this little guy whole, so instead of snapping off that hollering head, the gator bit down on the lamb’s middle and started to pull, trying to free it from the brambles that covered its back half so he could gulp it down. 

—

Ahmed felt frozen in place, none of this felt real. But the gator… thing didn’t seem to be keen on attacking him so much as it was keen on making a snack out of that poor lamb. Ahmed decided that it was better the animal then him in that situation, not wanting to risk the thing’s ire more than he already had just by being there. The creature hissed, and Ahmed was glad he was already backpedaling away. No way did he want to see what those teeth were capable of. 

The creature could talk, and that was enough to shake Ahmed to his core. Of course he’d spoken before, but this time it was directed at him. “Just… are you sure it isn’t a trap?” Ahmed questioned as the creature took a big bite out of poor lamby and tried to pull it free from the bramble. He winced and turned his head, not wanting to bare witness to the gruesome sight. “I mean, really. What if it’s a trap?” He then questioned again as the creature struggled to free his meal from the bramble. The lamb hollering was going to replay in his head for quite some time. 

Ahmed looked around, waiting for something bigger and angrier to show itself. There was no way it wasn’t a trap. In a town like this? Oh yeah, Ahmed was finally catching on. Ahmed took another step back, brows raised in worry as he continued to look around, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for anything to happen. 

—

A trap? That was ridiculous. What kind of predator would be setting a trap, besides… a hunter? Maybe? But weren't they against the killing of innocent creatures? This lamb was practically the poster child for innocence. It was cruel to use it as bait, but maybe hunters were just cruel people. It made enough sense to Wyatt. He eased up on the animal, letting his jaw slacken slightly as his gaze darted around the area, looking for any obvious sign of something or someone lingering in shadow. 

Nothing made itself readily apparent, and the lamia bobbed his head to get a better grip on the lamb again, who was now bleeding rather profusely and making one hell of a racket. If there was anything laying it wait, they ought to have sprung out by now. It was probably fine. Wyatt huffed out a breath and then bit down hard, thrashing his head from side to side to rip the creature free from the brambles that held it in place, only to realize that it wasn't so much tangled in the plants as it was a part of them. Surprised to see vines and leaves instead of back legs, Wyatt still gulped it back, muffling the pitiful thing's final, muted cries in the back of his throat. 

“Wasn't expecting a side salad,” he spoke as soon as his mouth was clear of lamb and vegetation, and his focus then turned back onto the human who stood there in.. shock, maybe? Abject horror at how he could ruthlessly devour such a cute, helpless critter? The cute ones tasted best. That being said…

“Too small, though. Could do with more.” He rose up into a standing position, glaring the human down. If he could smile while like this, he would have. As it was, his teeth were permanently bared, slicked with blood. “Bet you'd hit the spot…”

—

Ahmed was busy trying to get away while the creature took a look around to see if it was safe. Then froze like a deer in headlights when they set their sights on Ahmed as a snack. “Oh, you really don’t want to eat me. I’m lean and gamy. No good for eating.” Ahmed waved their hands in the air, quick to backpedal away from the scene. “Really this was just a bad place for me to be and if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just leave you be.” He insisted, taking another step back, not wanting to take his eyes off of the creature. The sight of the creature’s bared teeth was enough to spark some survival instinct in Ahmed, going from afraid to downright angry. “I’m getting really tired of being tossed around and beaten, so if you wouldn’t mind, I’m going to leave.” A hand went to the knife he kept in his pocket, suddenly not afraid to use it as he had been in the past. 

It wasn’t a special knife, it wasn’t big. But in the end, it got its job done when it mattered, especially in a town such as this. Ahmed took another step backwards, getting far enough away that the creature was becoming smaller and smaller in his vision. “You want a real meal, find a deer or something.” Ahmed added before turning and breaking into a run. It was a long shot, and that creature was probably fast, but Ahmed couldn’t be a sitting duck like he felt he was. He ran, and looked over his shoulder to see if the creature was following him, grateful that he kept up with running that he had gotten into when he was in middle school. Thank god for track and cross country, at least he was fast.

—

“You keep sayin’ it, but you ain’t doin’ it,” Wyatt snapped, hunkering down, preparing to leap forward. He didn’t usually just go after innocent bystanders like this, but he was hungry, tired, and cranky from a lack of sleep… and they were alone. No chance for witnesses (though his shrewdness in this regard left something to be desired, lately…). It was too easy a setup, and runner or not, Wyatt had a feeling that this guy couldn’t outpace him. 

The man bolted, and the gator charged after him, crashing through the trees and young foliage that was just saying its hellos to its first spring. He was quick, and smaller than Wyatt, so he had an easier time threading through closely clumped trees. A few times, Wyatt had to race around such thickets, annoyed that this meal on wheels seemed to be smarter than the average deer in his attempts to lose the predator. Still, his gait was long and his powerful limbs carried him swiftly over the earth, slowly gaining on the human as a stretch of flat land greeted them. And to Wyatt’s delight, at the other side of this swathe of even ground was a hill, stretching as far as he could see in either direction. He’d definitely catch the stranger on that hill, humans weren’t built for inclines like he was. You’d have to be part goat! 

With the promise of a big, satisfying meal on the horizon, the lamia basked in the chase. There wasn’t a care or concern in his large, empty head as they reached the foot of the hill, and he opened his jaws to better scoop the human straight up into them. Craning his neck, he was focused on the man, not watching where he was stepping, and—

Something creaked, groaned, and snapped. The bouncy patch of earth that Ahmed had run across without issue gave way under Wyatt’s hefty weight, sending the creature tumbling down into a deep pit. He roared in surprise, twisting in the air and landing with a heavy thud on his side. The little knapsack that was secured to his back spilled its contents all over the dirt floor of the pit—a change of clothes, his phone, and keyring scattered around him while he himself lay still, breathing but unmoving. 

Ow. 

—

Ahmed felt like his heart had leapt into his throat as he ran, the creature gaining speed on him. He had to get out of there, he had to– something felt strange as he ran over a patch of earth, it felt as if he bounced off of it rather than ran across it. He didn’t stop to investigate, he didn’t have time on his side. Then, a crashing sound. Ahmed skidded to a halt and turned around to notice that the patch of earth he’d traversed was now a large hole in the ground. What? 

He took a hesitant step toward the hole, peering down it with a blink. Sure enough, there was the creature at the bottom of the hole, unable to escape. A breath Ahmed had been holding escaped, and he took a step back, heavily debating leaving him there. After all, he was about to eat him, was he not? Ahmed swallowed thickly, breathing heavy as he struggled to catch it. He thought about it for a while. This creature was sentient, obviously. It had been talking to him, conversing with him. It had the head of a giant lizard, but the body of a man. The whole situation was strange, but then again, he was starting to get used to the strange. He let out a deep sigh before peering back into the hole, silent as he waited for the creature to say something.

He noticed a phone, some clothes, and a keyring. So this guy had a life, a car at least. “You always have the whole gator thing going on?” Ahmed questioned, brows furrowing as he assessed the creature. “Like, are you able to look human? I’ve never seen an alligator with a cellphone before, that’s all.” 

—

His whole body ached, head spinning as he picked himself up off the dirt. Still on all fours, the creature angled his head skyward to see the human peering over the edge of the pit at him, and felt an immense surge of anger and shame at having been caught like this. “Oh, fuck off!” he shouted, crouching low and attempting to leap up to the ledge. His claws raked through the dirt but it was no use, the pit was too deep and the earth too soft for him to get any kind of traction. He fell back to the bottom and began a rapid, circular pace on all fours as he tried to think his way out. 

First, his would-be lunch needed to leave. Then he would get his phone and text someone to come get him. Caleb came to mind, but he didn’t want to stress him out… Charlie came to mind next, who would probably find the whole ordeal pretty funny, but was likely to keep it between them if Wyatt asked. Of course, Charlie didn’t know he was a lamia, but that might not need to become part of the conversation. 

He looked up again, squinting his eyes against the light of midday. “You won, all right? Get lost.”

—

Usually, Ahmed would go out of his way to help. But how many times could he do that before it wasn’t worth it anymore? Ahmed thought of all the moments his life had almost been forfeit in a town such as this. He shuddered, then backed up away from the hole. He’d won, the creature was right. Ahmed shook his head, a tremor starting as he realized just how tired he was of having to run away or get hurt to learn his lesson. 

Bewilderment clear in his face, Ahmed took another step back away from the pit. He’d never left anyone to die before. He’d never thought he’d had it in him before. But there he was, letting his feet carry him away from the scene with his brain on autopilot, away from the creature, away from another almost untimely death. One day, Ahmed would stop getting lucky. He just hoped he was well-equipped until that moment came. “Sorry, man.” He mumbled under his breath as he got back into his car and drove away from the path he’d hiked in from. 

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter Ten

January limps by without anything much to show for itself. The days are long in NCAD, and it seems to me as I trudge up the stairs towards my classrooms and studios in the mornings that time is actually slowing down. The windows cast weak morning light as the sun only begins to rise a little before nine and then dips out again before I leave college in the late afternoon. I feel brittle and pale, deprived of the sun on my skin like some creature doomed to exist perpetually at night. 

February brings with it a sliver of the faintest hope and a freshness in the air that I’d forgotten was possible. Gone is the dampness, the dullness and the grey, and now some mornings when I wake up early enough I’ll walk to college rather than cycle just so I can go through the green and look at the little snowdrops that have poked their way up through the soil, the stalks of the daffodils not yet bloomed but fertile with the promise of spring. Life becomes repetitive in these months though, they feel like purgatory, like you’re stuck in some waiting room somewhere just holding on for the next thing to happen, and the weeks slide by like that.

I still hang out with Marnie, of course, who by now has dumped Ulysses for an equally gormless alternative, the only discernible difference between them is his name. Ferdia. Apart from that she could have switched them out and I would have never noticed. I’ve stopped even making an effort now, because not a single one of them has ever looked me directly in the eye when I’m talking to them.  

Sometimes we hang out with Dean too, whenever he isn’t working, which means it’s either not often or incredibly late at night when he emerges from Primo looking vampiric, all pale, wan skin and a shock of blonde hair, those hazel eyes always looking a bit deranged and manic. He prefers to hang out in places outside of the main drag where the drinks are cheap, because he drinks a lot. Not in the way my father drinks, where he slowly gets through a whiskey, and then another, and another over the course of an evening or a night until he’s accidentally drunk. With Dean there’s this deliberate recklessness to it, like he’s interested specifically in getting twisted using the most efficient process available. It still takes him a long time to do it, I’ve noticed, and even after drinking a staggering amount he manages to just sit there at the table and look normal where I know I’d be hospitalised if I attempted the same. 

We’re at a pub near Mountjoy Square some Tuesday night in late February when he turns up, loping in the door in his work trousers and this oversized fleece. I can see he has his apron rolled into a ball and stuffed into one of its giant pockets. 

“You’re late.” Marnie says. 

“I’m worth waiting for.” He replies as he pulls out a chair next to Fiona at our table and plonks himself into it. “Just the three of you tonight?”

“Yes, is that satisfactory?” 

He smirks at her. “Where’s your boyfriend tonight?” She shrugs and fiddles with her hair in a way that she thinks is nonchalantly, because she doesn’t want to tell him that Ferdia’s not coming out with us anymore as long as Dean keeps saying things to him that make him feel insecure. If he notices or cares about her reaction he doesn’t show it, and instead grabs my empty glass off the table and points at me. “Drink?” 

“Yeah.” I say. “White wine.”

“Okay posho.” he says and then asks the others what they want. When he’s not looking at me anymore I’m free to stare at him. His hair is growing out a bit at the roots now and it’s the same dark, black brown as his eyebrows. I try to visualise what it would look like naturally, and think that maybe it’d suit him, it might make him look less severe. My eyes skate down to where the silver chain around his neck just peeks out from the top of his fleece and glints under the lights of the pub… 

“Anything else? Packet of crisps?” My silent observation is interrupted by Dean abruptly turning back to me and locking his eyes on mine again. 

“Oh, um. No, just the wine would be alright.” 

He gets up, the chair scraping behind him and heads to the bar and I watch him go, walking with that broad, wide legged stance that small men do when they want everyone to think that they’re big. 

“Evie Kilbride!” Fiona puts her hand on mine and forces me to look away from him. She’s using her faux-outraged voice on me and for a horrifying moment I assume she’s seen me checking out Dean. “You never told me it’s your birthday next week! I can’t believe I had to hear this from Marnie.”

“Oh.” I say awkwardly. I didn’t think that Fiona and I were in any way close enough to be sharing our birthday dates with each other. The only thing we have in common is that we both hang out with Marnie so I’m surprised she’s even bringing it up. “It’s on the fourth of March.”

“Twenty?”

“No, nineteen.”

“Oh right, well I thought you looked young.” She looks at her reflection in the window and smooths down her hair. “Do you have a plan?”

“My housemate is taking me out to dinner, actually.”

“Oh, nice. And after that?”

“I don’t know, I suppose we might go to a pub for a few drinks. It’s on a Sunday, so it’s kind of an awkward day.”

“Well what about the night before?” Marnie pipes up. “We could organise a thing with the people from college, book out a section of a bar and have a little bit of a celebration.”

“Oh, no, I-”

“Come on, you’re only nineteen once, let’s make a night of it. I’ll bake a cake for it.”

“You cannot bake.” Fiona scoffs. “I know by the cut of you, you’ve never used an oven in your life. You couldn’t even fry an egg or make a slice of toast.”

Marnie snickers. “Well, fine, alright, perhaps that’s true. But I’ll have one made for her then, I’ll go down to the bakery in Blackrock and order one.”

“That all sounds like a lot.” I protest. “It doesn’t have to be a big deal, it’s not like it’s a significant birthday or anything.”

Fiona rests her chin in her hand and stares at me. Something about her is very feline. “Well, did you have a big eighteenth birthday bash then? Tell us about it.”

I purse my lips as I think back on last year, and how I insisted I didn’t want to acknowledge my birthday for the whole day, even though Claire made a big deal of bringing eighteen cupcakes into school for me with little stripy candles in each of them. I made her light them on the benches at the far side of the hockey field so that nobody in my class would know. Later on we drove to McDonalds and talked in the car. 

“It one of ye’re birthdays is it?” Dean says with minimal interest as he rejoins our table laden with drinks and I immediately scoop the wine glass towards me and take a drink from it to hide my face as Marnie points at me. 

“Evie’s is next week.” She tells him. “And she was trying to hide it. The only reason I found out is because I saw it on Ida’s class list.”

“You shouldn’t be looking at that.” I say, and it makes her roll her eyes. “If she leaves it down on the table I’m obviously going to look at it, babe.”

“Yours?” Dean swivels in his chair to face me. “The big one-nine?”

“What were you doing at nineteen, Dean?” Fiona says. “All those decades ago.”

“Hilarious.” 

“Crazy, growing up during World War 2 I’d say.”

“Yep.”

“How’re the knees?”

“Right, I get it, I’m old.” He rolls his eyes and looks at me as if to say Can you believe how much of a head-wreck she is? Which makes me laugh furtively with him, because I get it. Fiona really does think she’s being funny even when she isn’t. With his full attention on me then he asks me directly. “What are you doing for it?”

“That’s what we were trying to discuss.” Marnie tells him. “I was thinking we’d hire out the back room in a bar and invite a load of people from college. We were just discussing the cake part when you interrupted.”

“Sorry.” He says, non-apologetically.

She turns to me with hands on the table like we’re having an important business discussion. “Do you prefer Chocolate or Red Velvet?”

“I’m not telling you because I don’t want to do this.”

“Oh, Evie, why not?” She whines. “Can’t you see it’ll be fun? When do we get a genuine excuse to celebrate something anymore?”

“Why not for your birthday?”

“Because I’m going skiing in Switzerland for it.” I catch Dean giving me a sidelong glance from the corner of my eye but I know I can’t look at him in case I start laughing. 

“Well,” I say. “It’s still not happening because I’m not able to afford any of that stuff. The venue alone could cost a few hundred euros, and that’s just not possible for me.”

“Don’t be silly, I’ll pay for it.”

“Marnie-” She holds a hand up to silence me. “I literally don’t want to hear about it. It’s whatever. It’s my gift to you.”

I look over at Dean for some support but she’s shrugging. “I mean, if she wants to do it…” He’s saying.

“For God’s sake.” I say, becoming weary from this conversation. “I don’t even have enough friends to fill out a venue, it’d just be empty and embarrassing.”

“You have us, and the twelve others in our class.” Fiona supplies. “Then we have Ferdia’s friends from the poetry nights, and I could ask along some friends from school, your housemate and her boyfriend? Their friends?”

“Yeah, I guess we could ask them.”

Marnie points at Dean. “Are you working that night?”

“Yeah, so I’d be late.”

“Okay so bring your pizza boys.” She leans back in her seat victoriously. “That’s heaps of people. There’s more than a reason to have this party.”

“You’re making it impossible to say no.”

“So say yes.”

“Hmph.”

“Is it a yes?”

“I won’t be able to stop you, will I?”

“No.”

“Then there’s your answer.”

Prev // Next

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

okay so warning to everyone: MAJOR ARCHON QUEST SPOILERS so if you haven't done it yet, scroll away!

---

It had been months since you've last heard of your dear Harbinger, no news and lots of rumors that he had perished in battle would flit in and out of your hearing range. You've decided you had enough, and proceed to leave for the city of wisdom instead and maybe distract yourself (who are you even kidding, you want answers and the first place to get them is in the city renowned for wisdom)

You take in the Akasha terminal and go on about your usual routine.

But something is... off.

You wake up, prepare breakfast, Childe comes by and gives you your morning kiss before settling down to eat and talk about your plans for tomorrow. He leaves and you go on about your business and work, the sun sets and he's home once again, greeting you with another kiss. You both skip making dinner and head out to eat at Third Round Knockout before some dumbass makes rude gestures at you and Childe puts him in his place. You were both giggling like lunatics when you head home and sleep soundly in his arms and to the long tune of a beep and--

You wake up, prepare breakfast, Childe comes by and gives you your morning kiss before settling down to eat--

But then your morning was ruined by a giant moth monster clambering your table, ruining the delicacies. You turn to childe only to find him missing as the monster whimpers and beeline for you.

Scared, you run and run and hide from it--

You wake up to a horrible nightmare of something chasing you. You sigh and turn to your side only to find your ginger lover missing.

And then your door is knocked down by the same moth creature--

It whimpers pathetically and you pause your terror and act at the weird noise. You have a feeling you know it, that you shouldn't be scared of it and against your better judgement, you approach it. You see fear and relief in its lone eye as it rubs its head awkwardly and affectionately at your thighs before making a lonely shrill and hugging you.

Its very familiar.

Suddenly you feel it tense and look at your in panic as a loud beep goes over your ears and you swear you could hear it scream your name--

You wake up feeling tired.

---

When Childe had learned of your departure towards Sumeru, he immediately went straight to the city of wisdom to search for you. What he was greeted with was a city in lockdown and the sages apparently doing some shady stuff.

He contacted one of the Harbingers regarding this matter only to receive no answer and a stern "don't interrupt"

So he interrupted.

It took long, long resets before he managed to find your space where you were the host. It didn't help that he had to navigate with his Foul Legacy and a monster in an escapade of dreams just spelled disaster. The few times he had reached you, he was immediately seen with terror and confusion.

You don't know that you are in a dream.

But Childe wouldn't give up, even if he had to keep reminding you slowly, if he had to beg just for you to look at him, he would do it.

Afterall, how long had you waited for him? He thinks that in comparison, this little loop is nothing to your patience with his own.

OHOHOHOHOOH THIS IS ABSOLUTELY *CHEF'S KISS* SCRUMPTIOUS THANK YOU ANON <333

you wake up feeling tired.

in the past it'd be hardly unusual, but ever since you began sleeping next to Childe your sleep has been deep and restful, wrapped in your lover's embrace, so to wake up with an air of exhaustion hanging over your head makes you blink in confusion. you shake your head, slightly dazed. it's nothing, today will be a normal day aside from the tiredness, you're sure.

but you're not sure. something feels off. although Childe is by your side, he's strangely wooden and flat, eyes even more dull than usual. he does nothing unless you tug him along, trailing behind you, his hand cold in your own grip, and when you ask him to give you a moment alone he simply nods and walks away.

the word "lifeless" crosses your mind, and you shiver, rubbing your eyes tiredly. something- a dream, or perhaps a memory- pulls at the corners of your mind as you slump onto a bench, massaging your temples and wincing when pain sparks through your head.

you're... so tired, so tempted to just lay down and fall asleep on this uncomfortable bench, but you're yanked out of your stupor when you hear a very strange, very familiar chirping sound and an enormous moth-like monster emerges from the city and darts towards you. it slows when approaching, holding its claws up like it wants to hold and reassure and comfort you, shield you from the world. but it doesn't touch you, keeping a fair distance while looking at you with a shining, pleading eye, the color of the deepest sea.

your body yells to run, but your mind tells you to stay, and on a whim you extend a hand and brush the creature's palm with your fingers. the relief in the croon it emits makes your heart ache as it wraps your hand in its own, holding you like you're something delicate and precious.

tentatively you ruffle the monster's ginger hair and it weeps, leaning into your touch like a lifeline. you sweep aside a single lock of white amongst the copper, and something sparks and clears the miasma in your brain.

"...Childe?" it's near-silent, the way you say his name, and full of hope that's just waiting to be dashed to the ground, and when he nods and kneels to meet your height so you can properly hug him you feel like crying, too.

your fingers are gently ghosting over his mask-like face when you hear a beep, too close to your ears, and Childe screeches and desperately wraps you up in his arms-

you barely muster the energy to wake up.

[lamemaster]

Thank you! I’m not sure what kind of description your looking for but I’ll give it my best. This is for the ship event. Also I really enjoy your writing it’s always fun to read!

I am an introverted woman who is great at pretending to be an extrovert in public but I get tired of people very quickly. I have a slight anger problem and get snappy (it only happens when I start to feel a little sick not an excuse but that is the most common thing.) To try and fix this I asked my friends and family to call me out on my attitude and stuff so I can better notice it and apologize.

I am mostly a calm personality until I either get really excited and passionate about something (I talk fast and get loud) or I am really anxious and nervous (take a lot of deep breaths and my shift around a lot).

I am sensitive to animals getting hurt I have to hug my animals and squeeze them good if I hear about another animal getting hurt. And I once tried to help a insect feeling really bad for it until I remembered that it’s actually the kind of bug you want to kill. Not a good example but kinda funny on my end.

Lastly I love to read, write and play video games.

I apologize for this being really long.

Reading your post, I felt like we were made from the same prototype lmao (snapping included).

Based on your description, I ship you with the gentle giant of Gondolin,❤️‍🔥 Rog❤️‍🔥.

Introvert with extrovert abilities, bubbly passionate being with a strong (uwu) love for animals, slight temper, sign Rog up.

My cannon Rog is a 'go-with-flow, it's fine, no problem' kinda elf BUT with you, it is not fine. How dare that elf look weird at your elf? Taking a stand for your elf is your birthright and nothing stops you from it ever (Rog thrives in his male wife era).

(Credit to the artist whom couldn't find)

The Lord of the House of the Wrath of Hammer does not believe that love knows no logic.

Every reason, every logic has only ever made him love you greater. You, who is willing to care for injured animals, a trait that deeply resonated with him. It wasn't uncommon to find you cradling some wounded creature in your arms. You seemed like a Maia of Yavanna herself, with the boundless love you had for the flora and fauna of the land.

However, your love wasn't limited to animals and plants alone. You were the life of social gatherings in Gondolin. Your spirited voice had the power to delight anyone fortunate enough to be in your presence.

Rog vividly remembered the first time he met you at one such gathering.

In a grand hall, filled with the entire population of Gondolin celebrating the annual feast, Rog found himself surrounded by other lords. Everyone was reveling in the joy of another new year. You were in the company of Lord Ecthelion, the Lord of the Fountain, but somehow, fate had led you to the same group of elves as Rog.

At that moment, Rog's thoughts didn't linger on your presence. Instead, he felt the overwhelming pressure to fit in, to be a part of the group, and to contribute to the witty conversations that flowed among the lords from the West. He had never felt more out of place. He couldn't help but believe that maybe he truly didn't deserve his lordship. He wasn't like them; his very name meant "monster," setting him apart from the rest.

Throughout the evening, Rog had attempted to interject his thoughts into the conversation several times, but each time his voice was drowned out by the bustling chatter of others.

"I-"

"Glorfindel! Come here, you oaf," someone interrupted him yet again.

Forcing a smile on his face, Rog tried again, "The harvest-"

"Did you see Salagant?" Glorfindel, who had just arrived, whispered excitedly, and once more, Rog's voice was lost in the cacophony.

"What about the harvest, Lord Rog?" a clear voice cut through the noise, and Rog's heart skipped a beat.

There you were, looking at him with the most earnest gaze. In a group that had overlooked him the entire evening, you listened to him with the utmost sincerity.

Maybe that was the reason Rog found himself walking you home that night, talking to you about everything that had gathered in his heart, mind, and soul, finally able to share his thoughts with someone who truly cared to listen.