#Ori really said I WANT A BABY

[areyoudreaminof]

Working on a little Mother’s Day treat because I love MILFS. I also love kids who say out of pocket shit.

“Aunt Gwyn, are you gonna have a baby?” Oriana asked.

Aunt Gwyn laughed, her pretty blue eyes sparkling, “Maybe one day.”

“Well, could you have one now so I have someone to play with? Nyx went to the camps and Cricket and Froggy are at the Day Court. So, I want a baby cousin to play with.’ Oriana clasped her hands together tight and bounced on her feet. “Please.”

“Don’t you have friends at school and your art class?” Aunt Gwyn giggled.

“Yes, I got lots of friends but I want another cousin.” Oriana thought for a moment. “A girl or a boy. Just a cousin who's fun.”

“Well, when Uncle Az and I have a baby you’ll be the first cousin to know.”

“You’re having a baby?” Mama asked as she walked into the room.

“Yeah, Aunt Gwyn’s gonna have a baby so I can have another cousin,” Oriana announced, “But not right now.”

Mama and Aunt Gwyn just started laughing.

[petertingle-yipyip]

BIGGER PERSON - BILLY RUSSO

Pairing: billy x castle!reader (established relationship)

Word Count: 1,741

Summary: When Frank’s sister finds out that a) her brother’s alive and b) her boyfriend is supposed to kill him, the conversation quickly turns bad.

Your brother, Frank Castle.

Months had passed and his death still didn’t feel real. You had seen the headstone, found a church that was willing to give the infamous Punisher his last rites. Even though Frank didn’t really care for religion towards the end of his life, your parents would’ve wanted it done so you made sure of it. You sent them the blessed crucifix from the private ritual.

You were frozen in place as the news story played out on your TV. The job Billy was working for the senator, the one he claimed was to protect from the unknown bomber, was also intended to protect him from Frank. Frank, the alleged accomplice to the bomber, was being framed - yet again - as public enemy number one.

You paused the screen when the channel was playing video from a cop car that very clearly showed your brother’s face and pulled your phone to text Billy. But as your finger was finding the conversation, you realized he would very likely lie to you again. He lied about the job to begin with, so why would he owe you an honest answer now.

So instead, you paced your living room until he finally made it home.

When you heard the door open, your grip tightened on the remote and you felt the urge to throw it. Either at Billy or close to it, you didn’t care, but you refrained from either. He walked in and said his usual greeting, moving in to kiss your cheek but you shoved him off.

“Tell me you didn’t know.” You said tightly, hoping the anger in your stare was enough to burn him.

“What do you mean?” He asked, a slight nervous chuckle pairing with the words.

“The bombings. All of it is being blamed on Frank.” You continued.

“Frank?” His brows furrowed and you had the urge to shove him again.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid.”

“No, I- I’m not.” His hands went up in surrender. “I want to finish this discussion, really. But honestly, baby, I’m too damn tired. Can it wait till later?”

“So my brother is alive and I find out by chance from some news story and you want to talk about it later?” You said angrily, gesturing to the paused screen that still displayed the photo captured from a police car’s dash cam.

“Can we not do this, Y/N?” Billy sighed and dropped on the couch, covering his eyes.

“No, I think we should.” You snapped. “That is my brother, Billy. If there was even a rumor that he was still alive, you should’ve told me!”

“It was just a rumor.” He enunciated, still not looking at you. “I hadn’t heard from him so how was I supposed to know it was true?”

“You still should’ve told me!”

“I’m sorry!” He shouted, standing suddenly and. pausing you to take a small step back. “What am I supposed to do about it now? What- What- What do you want from me?”

“Jesus.” You sighed and put your hands up in surrender. “Nevermind. It’s just my brother, right? Who cares? Not like I had a right to know but hey.”

You stormed off to the bedroom and ignored Billy’s muttering as you left. You didn’t even need Billy to confess that he knew or that he was helping Frank hide. All you wanted was an honest apology, but he couldn’t even do that.

The days went on and you still said very little to Billy. You still did your usual routine, breakfast and coffee ready before he went to work. Dinner either on the way or finishing on the stove when he got home. But outside of that, or answering a direct question he asked, you were busy with a book or a new TV show. Anything really that meant you didn’t have to say anything to him.

It was right before his TV interview about the attack on Senator Ori at the hotel, which they were attributing to Frank. He had came out and asked if his tie looked okay and you said “Sure, it’s fine” without facing him.

“Jesus, Y/N/N. How long you gonna act like this?” He complained.

“I shouldn’t have to be the bigger person.” You spat back, still keeping your back to him. “I shouldn’t have to bend to keep us on track. Let me ask you this, Bill. That guy with the- the eye thing. He having you go after Frankie?”

“Y/N…”

“I swear to God I will walk out that door.” You threatened and turned to face him. You watched his eyes dart between yours as he took in your expression. “Everything you’ve been doing lately, was it all about Frank?”

“Yeah...”

“Catching him?”

“Yeah…”

“Killing him?”

You didn’t even know how you managed to get that question out but you did. It felt as if your throat had tightened and the three short syllables were rung out of your voice box like water out of a towel.

“Yeah…” He answered, voice barely above a whisper.

Your heart grew heavy in your chest and it nearly felt

like it had stopped beating.

“And you wonder why I’m pissed off.” You said flatly, pushing past  and leaving him behind you.

“Baby, it's just business, alright? Nothing personal.”

“It should be personal!” You turned and shouted. “That’s my goddamn brother!”

“You want me to apologize for doing my job?” He asked sharply.

“Yes!” You threw your arms forward. “Apologize for trying to kill my brother!”

“It’s my job!”

“Well excuse me for thinking you cared about me more than a fucking paycheck.” You put hands up in surrender and turned away, back into the kitchen.

“C’mon, babe.” He sighed, hurrying after you. “It’s not like that.”

“It’s always up to me, even when it shouldn’t be.” You complained. “You want me to take the blame for a fight and I do. I do because I love you and I always think it’ll be the last time.”

“Y/N…” He said your name softly, confused even. As if he had barely realized what the routine with you had become.

Argue about something, sometimes petty and sometimes not. Then you’ll make up when you apologize, but nothing changes. It was a vicious cycle that Billy was completely oblivious to, until now.

“I think that maybe next time you’ll be the bigger person cause I’m sick and tired of carrying the burden of every argument.” You shrugged, tears forming in your eyes that you ignored. “Keep moving my boundaries so you don’t cross lines, keep quiet when you yell. All cause I thought I had to to make it last between us.”

“I… I didn’t realize.”

“Yeah, I know.”

He took a moment to think over his next words. It felt like a very defining moment for your relationship. He never meant to make you feel that way, and knowing he had was arguably the worst pain he’d ever felt. How did he not notice? How could he do that to you?

“Tell me how to make this right.” He said softly, gently reaching to take your hand. You looked up at him while you let your hand sit in his. He looked at you with wide, soft eyes that were begging for forgiveness. “I’ll do anything.”

“You think it’s that easy?” You countered with a small challenge. “Billy, you’ve been hunting down my brother for a man who doesn’t care about you. That guy will throw you under the bus as soon as he needs to, just like everyone else. But my brother? You know damn well Frank would’ve done anything to protect you. He never would’ve don’t this to you.”

“No… He would’ve.”

“Why?” 

He looked towards the ceiling and sighed heavily. Your stomach felt tight and your blood ran warm with anticipation while you took a step back, taking your hand away from his.

“What did you do?” You urged.

“The carousel.” He began and that knot in your stomach grew tighter.

“You were there?”

“No.” He looked back to you, a silent plea in his expression. To hear him out, to believe him, to forgive him. “No, I wasn’t, I swear.”

“You didn’t shoot him? Or Maria? Or the kids?”

“No, I wouldn’t do it.” He shook his head and you could’ve sworn you saw tears in his eyes. “I said no.”

You were quiet as things began to click and you knew it reflected in your eyes as Billy’s expression changed.

“But you knew… You knew they were coming after my brother and that’s why we went out instead of me going with them.” You realized and the thick weight of betrayal slammed into your chest so hard you thought the bones would break. “How fucking dare you stand in front of me.”

“No, Y/N, please. Let me-“

“Let you what?” You cut in sharply and your hands tightened into fists at your side. “Let you explain? What is there to explain when you just admitted to knowing that your worthless fucking friends were gonna kill my family and you did nothing?” Your voice grew to a scream as you rambled.

His eyes shot to your hands and he took a step back from you.

“My niece and nephew, Billy!” You shouted. “They were kids! And Maria, she loved you. And you just let it happen.”

“I couldn’t do anything.” He spoke quietly.

“You’re kidding, right?” You laughed in disbelief. “You could’ve warned him!”

“He wouldn’t have believed me!” He reasoned.

“Y’know what.” You took a deep breath. “Just get out.”

“Y/N..”

“Aren’t you late for your interview?”

He opened his mouth to speak but the glare you gave him kept him quiet. Instead, he collected his things and went to leave.

“I didn’t want all this.” He called from the door. “It wasn’t supposed to end up this way.”

“Yeah, you worked so hard to keep it from me.” You countered. “Good luck when Frank finds out.”

The door closed soon after and you found your phone. You scrolled your contacts until Karen’s name popped up. You had met the woman when her friends were defending Frank in court and you two had stayed decent friends. You texted and said you had seen the news about Frank and asked if she could help you get in touch with him.

karen (lawyer): just put flowers in the window

[v1olentdelights]

The hobbit

Reader is from are world, joins the company yada yada.

Reader as always had there beanie hat on, it’s a bit baggy, a nice dark green hand made beanie. They don’t really take it off around the company, no reason, it’s just the uses it too keep there hair out of there face.

So when the yarn starts to come loose, ori offers to fix it, the company see you take it off, more importantly, your hair.

It’s long, like past your ass down to your calf’s long, what’s the reaction to your long human hair?

(If you don’t want to write this it’s cool, but if you do could you make it so the reader is taller then the dwarfs? A lot of stories have them shorter then them and still human, I have long legs Dame it!!)

Hello! Sorry for answering so late, I haven't been accepting requests, but I really liked this one, but couldn't figure out what or how to write it. Also, we love long legs, I didn't make it a big piece, though there is like 1 comment, and I totally imagine the reader being at least a foot or so taller than the dwarves. I hope you enjoy!

The journey with the company was enjoyable to say the least. But it was demanding, a lot of moving around, jumping out of the way of falling objects and such. So you had to find some way to keep your hair out of your face, and obviously braiding it meant something very different to the dwarves. Not wanting to come across in the wrong way, you decided to use a hat to keep it out of your face. It was a beautiful forest green yarn hat that was made by one of the women in your home village. 

You were fairly good at keeping your hair tucked into it, only a few baby hairs coming out here and there. But after a particularly big branch came flying back at you, because Kili had decided not to hold it out of the way any longer, you fell backwards with such a force your head hit the ground. As you began to sit up you could feel that some part of your hat was caught on something. Thinking it was only a small piece you decided to rip it, hoping the yarn wouldn’t come undone. Though you weren’t so lucky. A few hours later, you and the company had settled in a spot near the edge of a wooded area. 

“Your hat is falling apart!” Bilbo noticed as he reached to grab the now loose string. 

“Nooooo,” you practically whined. What were you to do now? Obviously the hat wouldn’t be able to hold your hair back now. 

“I can fix it really quick, if you want.” Ori offered with a kind smile. You had to admit, you were a bit surprised he knew what to do, or at least seemed to. 

Setting down your bowl of food, though keeping a close eye on it because some of the dwarves were known to take whatever was left lying around. You pulled off the hat as you stood up and made your way to Ori. But all the usual chatter stopped as your hair fell out of the twist it was in to keep it all underneath the hat. You noticed the silence immediately and took note of the way they watched you walk by. If you hadn’t spent weeks with them already, you’d have assumed it was because of your height, but they were no longer interested in the few inches you stood over them. 

“Your hair…” It was Thorin who spoke first, the stoic and somewhat abrasive dwarf was lost for words. You subconsciously ran your hand through your hair as you looked around the group. The only person who didn’t seem surprised was Gandalf, though he was not phased by much. 

“Yes, what about my hair?” Now you were somewhat self conscious, did having long hair mean something? You knew braids were important, but was the length a tell of something? 

“It is just so long, and smooth.” Nori who, though you’d never admit it, was your favorite said. You smiled at what you hoped was a compliment. Though as you were about to talk he cut you off with an agitated comment “Why have we never seen it?”

“Well, it really is just too much work to try and maintain it when we are always on the move. I don’t want things to get all caught up in it. Human hair is much more delicate than dwarven hair.” You stated, watching Ori finish up the patching on the hat. It took you a long moment to twist your hair back up into your hat again.

“I think, if you can, you should let it out again sometimes.” Fili added. 

“Um, thank you. I appreciate the… compliment from you all.” you took your seat back around the fire and continued about the evening with a new found confidence and love for your hair.

[kit-williams]

First "I Love you"

This fic will have multiple short POVs of both the male lead which will be by name and also the female lead which will be denoted by their pet names/nicknames Universe/AU: Warhammer 40k/Yandere Space Marines Canon Status: Yeah boys this be canon (unless I contradict myself later)

(If you all want the rest of the boys not included here feel free to ask)

Palion He thinks it as soon as he sees her scars and the fear in her eyes as her old master goes to put her down like some unwanted creature. He holds it close to his chest until he sees his Muse smile at him... a genuine thing she gives to him without expecting something back. It falls from his lips like a bottle of wine shattering on the floor... an accidental thing to smash out on the white marble. But it is not rejected and the stain of that spilt confession remains stained into the white marble.

Muse She doesn't know when she first thought of her feelings for Palion became love. But she remembers when she first tried to tell him that she loved him. He stopped her halfway through saying it... somehow he knew she didn't fully mean it. He would stop her every time she would try to say it... but finally one day... she hardly remembers what led up to it but it was after he had given her something handmade... she loved it and it slipped out that she loved him too. It was when she learned when Palion truly cried he was an ugly crier.

-----

Harram He firsts thinks it when he sees Ori hold her baby just cooing to Farum and Harram feels a desire well up inside of him that he wants to see her holding something of his... seeing Farum and this non existent baby just be siblings. He nearly says it after she begs for him to leave his touch where the xeno's left their own touch. He finally tells her when she tries to head home to leave him alone and she asked why she couldn't and he blurted out that is was because he loved her... and much to his surprise... she stayed.

Ori She is surprised when she thinks it... when she sees Harram holding Farum when he is fussing somewhat fiercely. Harram having the same somewhat calm face that her husband once held even if he was in pain or annoyed just that calm smile. She tells him after he confesses it to her... after the sex they have after he tells her is when she tells him and it hurts because the way his eyes sparkle remind her of her man... but he was never one to want her to dwell on the past.

-----

Ghosk He cannot exactly remember when he first thought it... it just happened... the way she would sleep against him no matter whenever they would go she no longer struggled when wrapped up in his wings. He remembers more of when he first said it... him keeping her warm as she slept cold to the bone a tiny fire popping as the rain outside trapped them in some hovel. He had made an enemy of the last warband he was apart of... they really needed to stop trying to touch his rabbit. But he was holding her closely before he realized he was kissing her neck and it just slipped out. How ironic he was the first to let it slip and like a typical Night Lord he was a coward about it... telling her when she couldn't reject his confession. He told her when she was awake after she told him but he always knew he told her first.

Rabbit She doesn't remember when she thought it but remembers when she told him. He had gotten himself so very hurt that he was with the apothecary of the warband they were with for a long time... she just remembers it slipping out when her came back and she hugged him because she had gotten scared he had died. She was happy he didn't tease her for her impromptu confession.

-----

Spaseniye She first thought it one night after drinking... the way his arms wrapped around her tightly and with how warm he was. She almost slurred it out but he stopped her. She slurred it out without thinking as the two of them laid together panting in the heat post sex some other night. She didn't realized she had said it nuzzling his soft chest feeling the black carapace just underneath the layer of fat... not seeing the look in his eyes.

Zul He thought it when his Spaseniye had first said it... as the sweat of a long built up desire finally broke free rolled down their skin. He nearly said it back but he didn't. He was something that didn't deserve her love. He finally said it after their second child together after she tried to figure out what they were and he reassured her what they were. He still tells it to her in the moments no one can steal from him or use them against him.

-----

Tulio He thinks it when he sees her again. He so wishes to boast it was love at first sight... Tulio realizes when he looks for her and sees her he knows he's seen her in the market and by that fountain so many times... He can't pinpoint when he had first glanced at her face in the crowd or how often he would see her in passing but he only started observing her. He says it the first night she is truly his and he finds himself unable to stop.

Psychi She thinks it after a picnic... after the buzz that his mouth brought to her... how she laid under him just blushing and dazed from his kisses. And the amber necklace he ties around her throat all of that dazes together. She says it after he pours his heart to her feeling truly valued.

-----

Zhur He tells Dolli that he loves her after Thallos is born. Years of work and lives spent to get to this far and finally he tastes the fruit of his experimenting. There was a tiny wriggling life in his hands... he looks to her pale and sweating as her eyes keep looking at the baby and when offered she takes him without a thought. This is when Zhur feels it on his lips. He finally says it to her when she is asleep as Thallos sleeps on her chest, her aquilia wrapped around her hand that rests on the baby's back. He knows he's a coward for whispering it to her now when she is asleep... but he eventually does tell it to her when she is awake and she looks at him like he is insane with the way he told her. He laid a heart bare to her... and while she didn't eagerly take it... she didn't stab it and that was good enough for Zhur.

Dolli She would like to have said that she never told Zhur that but she did. She thought it after Naxos was born and seeing the large man coo to the babe when they were safe behind closed doors. She said it when sobbing on the bathroom floor when she was pregnant with Zekyr as she was held by him trying to calm her down. Thallos and Naxos crying in their room as another space marine laid dead in the threshold of the bathroom. Zhur's blood dripping into her hair and smearing on her skin. He replied with "I know" at first before it hit him what she had said and he got her to repeat it. And he vowed to always keep her safe.

-----

Bäckerin She thinks it when she still back on her planet as she watches Roland protect her from one of the Xeno's leaping at her. Watching the creature slam into his shield before he drives his sword into the beast. She nearly screams it when she is caught in the shelling with Roland as he is above her crooning words to soothe her. She finally says it when he comes back from his month of penance for his sin of stealing her away.

Roland He thinks it when he is praying to the God Emperor about the mortal that smells of memories long forgotten. He prays for her death to be quick and painless... but he prays that should she survive that it be the sign. When he says it... he says it nearly every day of his month long exile and separation from the rest of the black templars... when he tells her? When he returns letting it slip out in tandem with her confession... he never stops saying it... chanting it as he loves her that very night.

Fluffuary taglist: @bispecsual @the-californicationist @egrets-not-regrets @libraryshadow @bleedingichorhearts @liar-anubiass-blog

[unknown-lifeform]

Also more on the asgzc dragon au, two main more plotty scenarios I do have for it:

The Aerith Disaster:

Genesis and Cloud one day went to attack some rich traveling humans in order to take their riches all for themselves. Among them they found Aerith, a human princess. Aerith was being sent off to marry someone, which she really didn't want, and asked Genesis and Cloud if they were perhaps interested in kidnapping her for a while. They asked her why the fuck would they do. Aerith said well, I'm a princess, I am one of the most important people around, I'm sure I can be a valuable addition for any dragon's hoard :) Genesis and Cloud were like do we look stupid to you

Angeal: why is there a human in the cave.

Zack immediately made very good friends with Aerith. So did Cloud. Genesis started liking her because of the sheer drama keeping her caused. Angeal was extremely dubious at first, but then humans started coming to try and free her, and well that was free treasure for his hoard wasn't it

Sephiroth did not like Aerith. He was neutral on her at first because whatever, it's just a human. But then he saw his hoard starting to get attached and he was very much not happy about it. How dare she monopolize so much of their time. He can and will be jealous of this little soft pink thing. And angry that she keeps sassing him despite the fact he can literally swallow her whole

There were a couple interventions staged to make Sephiroth calm down about it. Reminding him he is a dragon and she isn't, he is the strongest and most good looking, lots of either exasperated reassurances or rolling around and showing belly. Sephiroth learnt to sort of tolerate her

In the meanwhile, there was a regular stream of knights coming around to fight the dragons and promptly getting eaten or chased off. Aerith found it all very entertaining. Sitting around on Zack's tail watching Genesis chase people off a mountain and all

Among all the various knights was Tifa, who is a traveling knight without any particular allegiance, and had decided to come save Aerith. She was very determined about it. Kept managing to escape being burnt to a crisp and then coming back. Aerith liked her, honestly. Determined. Strong. Hot

Cloud, being landbound, usually saw the knights coming long before the others did. After a while, he started kind of just hanging around in his burrows watching this happen. His own personal show. He also saw a whole lot of Tifa showing up and then running down the mountain very fast with new scorch marks on her armor

Cloud, laying outside of his hole to bask in some sun: you again? Give it a rest buddy

Eventually Aerith started saying she kind of liked Tifa. Wouldn't mind going off with her. The dragons all thought well, in that case, Tifa should court her properly. Show off she could be a proper mate. Except they're dragons so obviously they have no idea what humans want

Cloud, relaying the information to Tifa: you should... Alright, no scales to shine, obviously, but whatever, make yourself look good for a human. And you can't roar to show off either. Do you have a hoard? Something to impress her? Anything at all? Can you at least catch a deer or something?

Tifa: is like a couple pheasants ok? Because I don't think Aerith can eat a whole deer

Honestly killing the dragons might have been easier than trying to prove to them that Tifa was a good prospect mate

Aerith and Tifa eventually rode off into the sunset to marry and everyone was kind of sad they wouldn't have to bully knights around to protect her. Except Sephiroth Sephiroth is still a jealous ass. Everyone get here they're having an orgy to celebrate the human being gone

The other scenario is the Baby Denzel scenario:

So wyrm packs sometimes overlap in territory with dragons. Cloud is grumpy around other wyrms, but he could accept some being in the general area so long at they didn't come bother him. The combined territories of three dragons + a wyvern are massive, after all, and Cloud originally showed up in Zack's territory so that's where most of his burrows are. When Angeal told him one day a couple wyrms had settled in his territory, Cloud didn't think much of it

But then one day there were some large landslides in Angeal's territory, and he didn't see the wyrms around after, so he got Cloud to come and see if they were alright. Turned out the landslide had hit their burrow, and they had ended up dying in the cave in. But digging about, Cloud did find one intact egg, and he couldn't in his right mind abandon it there

Of course everyone was dubious about it because if the egg hatched then they would all be responsible for a baby, but Cloud just couldn't abandon it to die

He took it to his own burrow and made a nice nest and got to trying to care for it. In a wyrm pack the parents (and eventually older children) would take turns caring for eggs, but Cloud's mates were all too big to fit in his burrows - well, they could in human form, but it was less than ideal and also dragons and wyverns can be a bit claustrophobic in a dirt tunnel - so Cloud was mostly doing the caring while the others hunted for him

Egg eventually hatched. Baby wyrms are extremely tiny. They mostly stay in the burrow for the first weeks, and when they start coming out they are small enough to be vulnerable to a lot of predators. Cue baby Denzel taking his first steps in the grass with five extremely apprehensive parents around him ready to roast anything that gets a little too confident

Denzel learns very fast the joys of sunbathing while lying on top of a very warm parent. Especially those with darker scales, they absorb the eat better. True bliss. Meanwhile Angeal is lying with his son on his flank and never moving from here ever again

First winter was a bit of a problem, because Cloud generally spends it in Sephiroth's gave, but Denzel was still too squirmy to safely transport and too young to understand what exactly was happening. So they had to hibernate in Cloud's burrow. Cue other four apprehensive parents periodically showing up outside the burrow to check if everything was alright

Cloud, getting woken up for the tenth time this winter, barely warm enough to form words: let me fucking sleep

After that they started bringing Denzel and Cloud over to Sephiroth's cave for the winter. Much better that way

Now once wyrm children around grown they either go their own way or stay with the pack. Denzel probably did go off on his own at some point to start his own pack, he was a very independent young wyrm, but he still comes back from time to time to see the good old parents. Which is way more than Zack, Angeal, Sephiroth, or Genesis expected, dragon and wyvern kids leave the cave and never come back as grown ups

[dreadnoughtus]

Liveblogging after taking an edible and watching

game awards

I don't know what these games are

Oh wait assassins creed VR??

Got distracted my friend texted me.

The dress is kinda flapper ish you know not in a bad way it's fine

What did Forza just win

Oh that's cool good for them I don't drive cars

The height differences......

This would freak me out being on live TV I would hate it ohmygod

Wait huh hometlstuck

This is such strange vibes

Sign language is so sick tho

Why isn't there a general neutral version of mommy and daddy

Oh here come the names I don't know

I'm playing Sandrock while I watch this

Would it be weird if your kid immediately called you by your name like would that fuck them up or

Was told to use beepbo

Alright I'm back

Jk gusher break

BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY

I'm fucking clappiny

Ok but this game fucks

This is about persona 3 btw

I'm absolutely freaking out over her writing

Wait is it a bit

Who

Oh

She's in a silly goofy mood

Omg

Oh never mind I wanted more burning things in a fireplace game

Cool if you're into goo.

I'm a googetter myself

?????????

Omg remember this

Ok but I'm hype

HORNS

I'm gay

Hell yea hell yea

Remember when Rocco was sitting all by himself on camera

Guys I really don't hope someone says some dumb shit on stage again

Geoffs walking out music is cracking me up

Get you a mans who sends you two chairs and a table through the mail

Omg remember his speech last year lmao

Oh it's a bit

Damn

What is this lol

Is this a roast

My fucking boyfriendddd

Idris where you at

Idris you're missing the fanciest night in gaming

Our boyfriend won!!!

.....what is he wearing lmaoooo

Security BEEFY this year

Aww omg

He wore his armor I'm dead

I need to replay baldurs gate NOW

That's right baldurs gate!!!! You can fuck a bear!!!!

Geoff relax

Huh lol

Immediate fanservice

...I'm dying

Turned him on??????

Is he gonna fuck us????

Interstellar?????

This isn't interstellar

Damn bro

Wet Chair :/

Daddy's back

Oh free dayum ok

Geoff has the air of a man who presents this as if he himself made these games

Goose guy 2

Wait this is great

This is my kind of game

I love this

Fuck gta6 I got Big Walk

HUH

Is this fornite Lego????

What the huh

Took a break for ice cream

I just got the news Wonka will be presenting

They give them less speech time than on the Oscars

Oh wait this is the cool lady

FINALLY GONZO

Gonzo has good taste

Cocoon was good

Ok Sega ok!!!!!

Hold up anime game I'm awake

Oh nice ok I'm into it

Alan Wake sweep

Apparently the site you have to login into to get a steam deck for whatever is crashing crazy lol whoopsie

I liked venba!!

Wtf

His boy

I'm scared that's just a video

Not the fog machine

His broach is wild

I'm so glad kojima is finally making the movie he wanted to make

Is this wrestling

Huh

This is a WILD collaboration

They have my support

Movies and games!!!!

Ohhh dinosaurs?? I'm too scared to play this

Everything is fortnite now we are all assimilating into fortnite

Monkey 👍👍👍

I cannot escape suicide squad

Nooooot a fan of the remix

NICE CLAWS

Where do I aquire claws

What is Warframe sorry

Acab

Good games!! I loved tchia

This looks sick, ori vibes

So many cool looking games

Man with ponytail?????

THIS IS EVERYTHING TO ME

I want to play rebirth so bad

SHUT UP STOP lol huh?????

Sea of stars was meh sorry I said it

Omg I forgot about hades 2

Cutting to ads from ads is so funny

Holy shit he almost killed the camera guy with one kick

Anthony Mackey doing crowd work lmao

Fortnight

He's zooted

Thank you for the meme s

Thanks for the memeorys

Steve Martin looks different

There's 3 genshins now

Hell yeah democrazy

Are these guys a big deal I just don't know

I feel like I need to have played Alan Wake I guess

BOOGIE DOWN WHITE BOY

Ok but they are shredding

Ok I'm ready for bed how much longer

Stop flirting on stage

Gamer snax

We get it you're a voice actor 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Ok wait the armor??? Ok nice

It's funny tho cause the last thing I liveblogged was last of us, good show

BAGGU REPRESENT

The PR glowup for no man's sky was impressive no doubt

No mans sky 2!

We're always talking about mountains

Dragons so I'm in

Can I be a wolf man

Badass title

Stretching this is what I'm always saying unironically to everyone

I love tonberry king

Omgggg monhun!!! Chocobo

Huh what modded controller???

He flutin

Gotyyyy let's goo lol

Bg3 🫡🫡🫡

I sleep 😴

I'm not reading this back

[navree]

Last one and then I'm done! :) And take your time answering this too, no rush. What are your thoughts on the relationships that Orys had with his half sisters? They obviously trusted him deeply, and if I remember correctly, he fought side by side with Rhaenys. Do you think he mourned with them for Rhaenys? Any headcanons on how their lives were thru the years? If Aerion had claimed Orys, would he have been married to Rhaenys?

Never apologize, I'm an opinionated person and as you can no doubt tell I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this crop of people that I'm never going to be able to shut up about.

This is mostly just pure headcanons and vibes because if there is one thing that's chronicled even less than Aegon's personal feelings on his relationships, it's Orys's. But I actually think they had a good relationship, if a bit stilted. Visenya and Orys were probably the most distant, just because she seems like someone who wasn't really reaching out to people that much and, depending on how much Visenya chafed against gender roles, she might have been jealous of the way that her two younger brothers were allowed to be companions and learn things that she wanted to learn and wasn't allowed to. Rhaenys seems like she was genuinely personable so I can imagine that she was probably at least friendly with Orys, but at least in childhood it seems like he gravitated closer to Aegon and it only branched out to the rest of the family once they were in their adulthood. And in that I think Rhaenys and Orys are the ones who bonded the most, though not to the extreme that Aegon and Orys were close, and I like to imagine they played that sort of Little Pair to Aegon and Visenya's Big Pair, constantly willing to be the younger siblings dynamic and having each other's backs no matter what, especially during war. They spent significant time together sieging the Stormlands, in my mind they spent late nights together just hanging out and each thinking that they're not going to let anything happen to the other person. I also like the fact that Orys and Rhaenys fought together, just because I like to think it was Aegon and Visenya looking at the two of them and going "we need to protect the babies" and deciding that they'd be safer together rather than splitting up.

I do think once the Conquest was over and we got the Dragon's Peace, pre-First Dornish War, things really settled for them. While the Conquerors' dynamic has a lot of different people in love with and lusting after different people (well, mostly Aegon and Visenya loving Rhaenys for the number one girl that she is), adding Orys to the mix is probably when we would get a lot of sibling vibes. Aegon and Orys, of course, were always going to be close, and in my mind Rhaenys and Orys's battle experience together made them genuine friends even beyond the brother-sister thing, and as the oldest Visenya was certainly going to be giving her babiest brother a lot of advice about how to do his job, and only smile indulgently when he complained about being smothered. In my head, Orys was absolutely stoked when Aenys was born, not just for Aegon but also for Rhaenys, and made a lot of boisterous, Baratheone patented type of promises about being the world's best uncle. I also like to think that, while Aegon might not have said anything publicly, Orys was one of the people who pushed back the strongest against rumors that Rhaenys was unfaithful as well as any questions on Aenys's parentage, in that sort of "those are my older siblings you're gonna shut your mouth about them" kind of way. And while Aegon was probably the one most determined to get Orys back after his capture in Dorne, he had two co-administrators who would have made it known if they didn't approve of the ransom he paid, so Rhaenys and Visenya were probably just as on board with trying to rescue their brother as he was. I think he and Visenya got the closest during the First Dornish War though. When Deria's delegation came to King's Landing, they were two of the voices urging for violence done against her and her group, especially when Visenya felt that the delivery of Meraxes's skull was an insult. I think they bonded over their grievances with the Dornish, Orys with his hand and Visenya with the attempts on her brother's life and the murder of her sister, and I think they definitely both didn't like that Aegon ended up agreeing to peace (especially since he seemingly did it without consulting anyone, making Orys and Visenya feel out of the loop on something that affected them too) and bonded over how frustrated they were. I don't think it lasted, again because it seems like everyone in this family reacted super badly to that fucking war and Visenya became the most solitary in the aftermath, even as Aegon and Orys might have tried to stay close. While Aegon was trying to keep it together for the sake of the realm, and more importantly his son, Orys and Visenya found a kindred spirit in bitterness and anger, and they let that bond them the same way that Aegon and Visenya let their grief bond them.

I absolutely think he also mourned Rhaenys, even when he was in his crabby era. After all, he fought with her, he knew how formidable she was, so it must have felt impossible to imagine that she was gone. And more than that, he grew up with her, he was the youngest and he'd never known a world without her light in it, and suddenly it was just out? In my view of things, Rhaenys was the glue that held the family together, she was the one none of them could help but love, something about her just felt like the center of the universe for everyone and they all adored her in their own ways, and then one day she was just gone. Orys was just as upset as Aegon and Visenya, probably even more because of the impotence of his grief. Aegon and Visenya were losing their shit, yeah, but they were able to hop onto their dragons and set the entirety of Dorne on fire for two years in order to express it. Orys had one hand and no dragon, nothing to do to get revenge on the people who'd killed Rhaenys or to even express his anger in the way he would have wanted, so his grief, to me, was compounded by this helpless rage that no one around him could understand. This probably only made the issues I talked about in this response worse when it came to any distance between Aegon and Orys, because Orys was feeling something he felt Aegon couldn't understand, unlike the way Aegon and Visenya bonded in their mourning, and thus wasn't able to offer any of the comfort that Aegon likely needed after, you know, his wife and baby sister was full murked and his son had a mental breakdown that left him worried that his toddler was going to die too. I also think that Orys didn't entirely know what to do, because this is his older brother, and what do you do when someone you've looked to as the elder who knows what they're doing is suffering and needs someone to comfort them? It's different than being his Hand, because he didn't ever actually need to protect Aegon physically, seeing as Aegon has a dragon and was a capable fighter in his own right. Maybe Orys also kept his distance even after the immediate feelings subsided because he just wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, especially when you factor in Westerosi gender roles and how men are expected to behave.

I think that there might have at least been a betrothal, depending on how much of non-issue bastardy was to the Valyrians. It seems like it was less of an issue, considering Aegon doesn't seem to have thought it insulting to offer Orys's hand to a princess, so it's possible, if Aerion had claimed Orys as a Targaryen by blood, he might have tied him and Rhaenys together just to keep the bloodline strong. But it also depends, I think, on whether Aegon would allow it. We don't know a whole lot about what led to Aegon and Rhaenys getting married beyond the fact that Aegon wanted to be married to her and was willing to throw out a lot of rules to make it happen. Aerion is likely the one who pushed the Aegon and Visenya marriage, and in my own personal headcanon is that Aegon agreed, got married to Visenya, and then waited however long he needed to, either until Aerion was dead or at least until Aegon was strong enough and Aerion old enough that he was passing "head of the family" duties to his son, and then made arrangements to be wedded to Rhaenys and add her into his marriage. It's all heavy conjecture because again, all we know is that Aegon knew he needed to marry Visenya to ensure his own succession, since she was his elder, and that he also included Rhaenys because he loved her. So while there would have been plans and a pre-contract and whatnot (assuming that there were betrothals even involved in this kind of inter-familial marriage), those would probably have been scrapped as soon as it was possible. And I don't think Orys would have minded; if Aegon confided in anyone about things like his feelings or who he'd fall in love with, it'd be Orys, and he would have been aware of what Aegon and even Rhaenys wanted long enough to know that Aegon would be willing to do whatever it took to make it happen.

Anyway this is The Dynamic.

[mcyt-things-ig]

Outsiders, Owen's POV, episode 22, first episode of season 2. (I'm hoping to get over halfway by the end of this week

recap of episode 21 done by Apo

Those in the running are Owen, Gracie, Red, Guts, Oeca, Silvia and Ori.

Owen is considering Gracie, he thinks he could, but he should remain humble about it.

He's made a flute, which triggered a flashback of a crying baby, which I assume is him, and a woman, assumedly his mother.

Owen is crying, he wants to go home. My heart. He's playing the flute, really badly, but he's playing it.

Owen has given Mohwee the spikes who placed them down, Oeca has jumped onto the spikes and has asked for some as well. What a change in emotion

Apo is getting blamed for pulling the lever. He isn't sure if Squidney is dead, only because he doesn't want anyone going into the maze after her. Apo said he went in after her to stop her getting hurt.

Owen has asked if he pulled the lever, Apo said no, Owen believes him. Apo saw Squidney pull the lever and that she was acting off. It's the first time she's entered the maze, and she was acting weird before she went in. She didn't have her goggles on.

Apo and Owen trust each other with their lives.

They are looking around her house to see if there are any clues. Maybe she ate something and got ill, or lead poisoning.

Mohwee punched Gracie. Now Ori is threatening to break Mohwee's legs. What is with people and going for the legs?

Rasbi thinks there should be two leaders each. So two for runners and two for the clearing

Mohwee thinks they're doing nothing to get Squidney and that him and Oeca are the only two doing anything productive.

Owen is going to talk to Mohwee to try to calm him down. Oeca doesn't think Rasbi done it, but he needs confirmation on who he thinks did do it.

Mohwee says he pushed Gracie because she said he didn't care about Squidney. Owen has managed to calm them down, very good leadership skill right there

Mohwee thinks they need to build a bunker, Owen agrees.

Spidey and Owen are going to do something together to help her feel better. They're having such a cute moment. He's such a good person. Oh, I love him, he's make a great leader

Election day, this is nerve racking, and I'm not sure why. He's put Puddles in his workshop

Apo is also running. Mohwee is in a wacky, goofy mood and tried to shoot Rasbi.

Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.....okay this is all going to go fine. Nothing bad will happen

[thelibraryoferebor]

Oneshots... again

The aim is a regular posting schedule (once every week or fortnight or so), but right now I have just a mega amount of one shots (like seriously you guys aren't prepared for what's coming. So enjoy! ~H

Put Me Down! By Resacon1990

|| general - 1.8k - completed ||

Bilbo groans as Thorin continues to yell insults up at Beorn.

"You giant oaf!" he calls, "put him down! He clearly doesn't want to be hanging from your meaty claw!"

Notes: I feel like most everyone knows this fic, but if you don't then you definitely need to read it. It's so fluffy and funny and wonderful. Thilbo centric.

Clementine by TenTomatoes 

|| general - 6.4k - completed ||

In which Bilbo Baggins left a hobbit lass behind him when he joined them on this quest and Thorin doesn't care until he does.

Notes: This is also Thilbo centric and is a great example of just how much of an idiot Thorin can be. I love it so much.

Back, and There Again… by HiddenKitty

|| teen - 8.3k - completed ||

Belladonna has been waiting for her only son Bilbo to join her in Yavanna's pastures for many years, but it doesn't quite turn out the way she'd hoped. It seems love and adventures can change a hobbit in quite different ways.

Endless, endless thanks to H. Savinien for their wonderful beta-ing!

Notes: I haven't read this one too many times cause it's a little angsty, but I do like it a lot, all things considered. Thilbo centric.

Adventures in Prince Sitting by Lumelo

|| general - 4.1k - completed ||

Looking after your nephew for half a day isn't that big of a deal, really. Except when said nephew happens to be a prince of Durin's line, second in line to the throne, and really quite the destructive little beast for something that's only known how to walk for a few months. His Highness is lucky he's cute, really.

Nori really isn't sure why Ori thinks he can handle a baby. Fortunately, he can always make Dwalin help him, or else.

Notes: Nwalin focused, with a side of Fiori and Thilbo. I can't ever decide if I like Dwalin/Nori or Dwalin/Ori more. Maybe we should have a vote... But either way, I love this fic, especially since it highlights two characters that don't typically get the limelight (also baby dwarrow).

Trouble with Faces by Resacon1990

|| teen - 3.6k - completed ||

A quick trip to the elven traveller of the month was enough for the entire Shire to realise that Belladonna and Bungo Baggins had a face blind son.

Notes: This one isn't as well known as some of the others on the list, but it's so soft and I adore every bit of it.

The Age of Miscommunication by SilverSkiesAtMidnight

|| teen - 6.6k - completed ||

“It’s got such a presence to it, even from a distance,” Bilbo says softly, and there’s a general murmur of awed agreement from the others. “Why, in all my fifty years, I never thought I’d see such a thing, and we haven’t even arrived yet!”

Thorin’s sword hits the ground with a clatter, and Balin chokes on his pipe. 

The hobbit doesn’t look at Thorin, too busy thumping Balin on the back. Once the dwarf seems able to breathe again, he looks up, to find thirteen wide pairs of eyes fixed on him. 

“What?” he says defensively, though he’s not sure what he’s defending.

“You’re how old?” Kíli squeaks. 

Bilbo frowns at the young dwarf. “I’m fifty years old. Well, fifty-one, come springtime. Though it is not very polite to ask someone their age so bluntly,” he tells him primly. 

Fíli makes a choked sound, and Nori lets out a vicious string of swears in Khuzdul.

Notes: CLASSIC ALERT. All I can really say about this fic is that if you haven't read it, that's a crime, and you must. This fic is a gen-you-ine staple, and I adore it. Thilbo.

All That Shine as Moonstone Leave a Discernible Mark by kay_cricketed

|| teen - 2.9k - completed ||

After the Battle of Five Armies, Thorin Oakenshield is determined to secure Bilbo's place in the world, even if he must make him a husband and a widower in the same hour to do so.

Notes: This one's simultaneously funny and saddd. All the feels, especially the faith Thorin has in Bilbo (this is Thilbo btw). Everything ends up fine, but it still destroys me.

To Choose a Consort by Thevaen

|| general - 5.1k - completed ||

''You really ought to look more interested, or at least pretend.'' Bilbo started, giving the Dwarf a slap against his arm at the look he received. ''And stop being such a child.'' Thorin smiled. ''They don't know me the way you do.'' A flutter exploded in the Hobbit's chest at the words. ''I doubt if there's anyone who is quite so skilled at interpreting expressions as you Master Baggins.''

Thorin had to choose a consort. He knew that, and he also knew he didn't want a consort that was not the Hobbit. He doesn't, and instead stubbornly waits for a sign that the Hobbit himself would be willing to be such. Bilbo in turn, knew he was more than a little envious of those that got the chance to present themselves in front of the Dwarven King, and that he was more than a little relieved when time after time, they were kindly rejected. He also knew that if he was being really honest, he really wanted to take on the spot himself.

Notes: This one's another classic and I love it too much to handle sometimes. The pining is lovely and it ends up so happily, and I just love it so much.

The Fine Print by airebellah

|| general - 6.3k - completed ||

It had been many years since Bilbo had seen his Dwarves. Driven by his loneliness and nostalgia, one night he decided to re-read the contract he had signed so many years ago, hoping to find catharsis. Instead, what he found was burning rage at all the ridiculous clauses the Dwarves had slipped in without his notice. In the end, Bilbo knew there was only one thing to do. He would travel to Erebor, and have very specific words with the King.

Notes: LMAO, this fic tho... It's just hilarious, and so very Bilbo. I love it so much, you guys have no idea.

Customary by an_odd_ducky

|| general - 3.4k - completed ||

Hobbits rub noses to greet each other - a fact the dwarves don't know until they arrive in Rivendell and Elrond greets a surprised Bilbo by rubbing their noses together. Some of the company find it quite amusing, but Thorin is less than pleased. Fluff! Fill for the Hobbit Kink Meme.

Notes: This one is so soft and fluffy, and Elrond (we love Elrond here) being knowledgable about Hobbit culture is such a vibe and we love that. Thilbo.

And another list done, the satisfaction is real you've got no idea. But anywhoooo, I hope you enjoyed! Any requests, just shoot me an ask or something. I'm also thinking about doing single fic in depth honest reviews. If that's something you'd be interested in seeing, just let me know! The Library is officially off of hiatus. Love you all!

~H

[daandyli0n]

Shut Eye, Act One: Uneven Footing

chapter three: an eye for an eye

you guys are about to find out why i haven’t drawn Hickory’s Act One design yet :]

here comes the angst boys!!

@northern-loner

(warnings: eye injury, violence, a bit of gore)

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

It’s been a week. The “pranks” didn’t stop.

And Hickory had approached his breaking point.

So when Signal and Coyote finally showed up to the cabin, Hickey decided that today was the day he had finally had enough.

“Slate? Vex? Could you two go and play in the woods?”

While Vex looked up with anxiety written on her face, Slate looked up with joy. “Of course we can! Any reason-”

“And could you take Elliott with you?”

Slate’s smile dropped, and he turned to glance at Vex. “Yeah…we can do that.”

Hickory squatted down and handed the tiny infant to Slate. “Be careful, will you?”

Vex nodded. “We will. Please be safe too.”

As the three young children made their way to the back entrance of the cabin, Hickory took a deep breath, grabbed a few splash potions, and walked to the door.

With a sigh, the door opened, and he stepped out to confront his visitors.

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

Soft, running footsteps echoed through the forest.

They had to have been running for about seven minutes.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Vexen questioned.

“Of course he is! He-he has to be.” Slate stammered out.

He was trying to hold his tears back. He didn’t know what he’d do if Hickory wasn’t okay. Hickory had practically been his whole life along with Vex. But Vex had come later, when he had been two. For Slate, Hickory was, like, 75% of his life! 

What would happen if he lost that 75%?

Vex could tell he wasn’t doing too well. “Hey, it’s Ory! I’m sure, okay or not, we’ll see him again, alright?”

Slate sniffled. “Ye-yeah…”

The pair kept running through the woods. They didn’t fully remember the way to the main area, and Vex was starting to get worried that they were lost.

“Are you sure we’re still heading to the main area?”

“I-we have to be! I remember going this way for the tours!”

“But we’ve been in the woods for, what, hours now? And we still haven’t seen anyone, Slate!”

“We have to be getting close, at least-!”

They heard footsteps approaching. They swung their heads to the sound, seeing a rather tall figure emerge from the trees.

He looked to be a wolf hybrid, but…different. He had a skull mask on his face, long, dark brown hair, and the eyes were glowing bright blue rings. He was wearing a black tank top and some cargo pants. He had a skull necklace.

He was looking down at them. “Uh, are you…three okay?”

Slate stood, looking up at this stranger in wonder. Vex quietly spoke up, “Um, our brother said for us to go to the main area of the server because something dangerous was happening. But I think we might be lost.”

“Ah, I see. Well, my house is in the main area of the server, so if you’d like me to walk you over to the main area, then I won’t mind at all.”

Vex looked at Slate, who was eagerly nodding. “Okay…”

The Stranger introduced himself, “My name is Cerberus, by the way.”

Slate cocked his head. “Cer-bus?”

“Cerberus.”

“Ce-brus?”

He laughed. “You know what? Call me CB.”

As they were walking, Vex piped up, “Are you sure you’re not a murderer who wants to kill us?”

The stranger laughed. “No, no, I’d never hurt some little kids. You’re both too sweet for me to wanna kill either of you. Nope, just a lonely Hellhound going through life.”

Vex looked up in confusion. “Hellhound? What is that?”

Slate, however, gasped. “You work for Lady Death?!”

Cerberus chuckled. “Not anymore, unfortunately. ‘Retired’ is a pretty close term to what happened.”

Slate began chatting with him, holding up Elliot for the man to hold the baby. Vex followed pretty close behind. She glanced behind her, nervous.

She really hoped that Hickory would be okay.

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

Hickory strode across the yard. “Hello gentlemen.”

Signal and Coyote looked up to the approaching sheep. They both almost looked as though they were expecting him to show up.

“Ah, Hickory! Pleasure to see you this morning!” Signal called over to him. Coyote kept his eyes trained on him. He didn’t speak. “Surprised that you’re up this early in the morning.”

“Well, you know how it is. Gotta make sure all the animals are still here and such. Can’t be too careful after…y’know.”

Coyote huffed. “You’re really never going to let that go are you? Look, we haven’t done it since that day in the woods. You act like we’re just gonna do that again all of a sudden after, like, a week.”

Hickory shrugged. “You never know, right?”

The silence between the three was deafening. The chirps of birds, the rustling leaves, and just general nature were the only sounds that could be heard. And, if you listened close enough, the sound of Hickory’s heartbeat quickening. The suspense was growing. He didn’t just want to act out of nowhere. He had a point he wanted to make. Only this time, he wouldn’t just be verbally delivering his message.

It was like a figure from urban legend had once said.

Sometimes violence is the only universal language.

Signal finally broke the silence. “Where are the little lambs at? Still in bed, I assume?” He was glancing at the window.

Hickory narrowed his eyes at him. “None of your business.”

Coyote stared at the window as well. “So are they in there or not?”

“What part of “none of your business” did you two not understand?”

Signal turned back to him. “We have a feeling that you wish to speak with us. Is that true?”

…well, he wasn’t expecting this. He thought that this conversation would’ve gone on a bit further. But y’know what? This worked.

“Actually, I do. I have something I want to say to the two of you.” He pulled one of the splash potions of harming out.

“And maybe it’ll actually stick this time.”

He threw the bottle at the two people outside of the fence. Coyote jumped back, but Signal was caught in the splash. The two of them looked at him in shock.

Hickory stepped closer to them, another potion in hand. “Just because you,” he gestured to Signal, “are this server’s admin, that doesn’t mean I have to have an ounce of respect for you!”

He turned his glare to Coyote. “Same for you.”

Signal simply looked at him, blinking, before turning to Coyote and saying in a voice that was surprisingly non-robotic, “Coyote, if you will.”

The next thing Hickory knew, not only was Coyote rushing at him with an ax, but he also felt pain.

A lot of pain.

In his right eye, specifically.

Out of reflex, Hickory struck Coyote with a splash potion, only hearing a yelp as Coyote scrambled backward. He heard a growl, but then heard Signal call out, “Come on, Coyote. It isn’t worth it. Let’s go.” They were walking away now. Leaving Hickory bleeding out on the ground.

In his haze of pain and general adrenaline, he managed to stumble to his bathroom and look in the mirror.

And what he saw scared him.

There was a gash on his eye. A bad one.

But that wasn’t really the thing that concerned him at the moment.

He needed to find the others.

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

When he finally managed to make it to the main area of the server, he saw Slate and Vexen sitting on the ground with…a wolf guy in a skull mask?

He struggled to stay upright as he walked over to them, and as soon as he got close, the wolf guy looked up at him. But his face suddenly shifted into one of extreme concern. “Oh my Primes- are you alright?!”

Slate and Vex suddenly looked up, and Slate beamed. “Hickory! CB, that’s him! That’s our brother!”

This wolf man, CB, looked even more concerned somehow. “I’m-how did that even-you need to see a doctor man!”

Hickory didn’t know why but he felt…fine. Nothing hurt anymore, and if it weren’t for the blood that was practically pouring down his face, he wouldn’t even know that something was wrong. “Really? I feel okay. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to-”

“No no, that looks…very bad. I’ll take you to Basil’s office. You really need to go there. Seriously.”

He felt someone grab onto his right side and flinched (why couldn’t he tell that someone was there?). He felt someone drag him off.

“Hickory?” he heard Slate quietly call. 

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

It was three days later, and Hickory was sewing something. He had been in that office for about a day, where “Basil”, who he was assuming was either a naga or some kind of snake hybrid. They kept him there as they tried to heal him, and even bandaged up that side of his face.

Apparently his right eye was f**ked up. Great.

And the “wolf” guy was actually a hellhound. Named Cerberus.

Well, he seemed pretty nice, anyway.

Hickory had asked for an eyepatch. Because he was pretty sure that no one was going to want to see his messed up eye.

He was stitching an apple onto it.

When Slate had asked him why he was sewing an apple, Hickory just shrugged.

“I mean, then we can really match, right?”

As he finished the last stitch, he put on the eyepatch and looked in the mirror. He smiled.

It looked nice.

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

poor boy Hickory :( he was just trying to get those two to stop messing with them and got his eye whacked in the process :(

but hey! at least he has a cool eyepatch now...right? :D

[longplaza]

Ori and the will of the wisps screenshots

#ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS SCREENSHOTS SERIAL#

Some people in the world don’t want to be saved. Well, she chose to remain in the darkness. At the very end shriek was given an option, remain in the darkness or embrace the light. And personally, I think it worked out pretty well. So they went with the “villain doesn’t get a happy ending” trope. Sure, Shriek’s ending left more to be desired. It’s like giving the murderer of your sibling a cake out of kindness.įinally I’ll go into Shriek’s character a bit more and her ending. The fact that he even tried to be nice after that should be insane. She ripped, essentially, Ori’s sister from his life. The reason for this is that Shriek killed Ku. I think the one time after getting Sier was enough. Secondly, I think it didn’t make too much sense for ori to be nice to Shriek. He didn’t try to save Shreik because I think to him it wasn’t as important as his own family. It was to save Ku and potentially saving Niwen. One of the reasons why he didn’t seem to care was because saving shriek was never his goal in the first place. Next I’m going to talk about ori and why he didn’t seem to care about Shreik. She was shamed and ridiculed for being different. It sounded like some edgy name an angsty teenager gave themselves to sound cool. When I first heard the name I wasn’t impressed. Let me explain my point of view.įirst off, I’m going to start with the name. I do really agree that she should have had more to her story, however, I really did like her ending. Instead of living a life in agony and forever blinded by shame and hatred, she was released. Shriek dies, but it was for her own good, as well as the forest's. Just like how a baby wants a hug from their mother when their sad. She wanted to feel the love and safety from her dead parents when she was hurt, so she craved for their the warmth of their embrace. In my opinion the ending was 100% perfect on Shriek's part, because it showed her TRUE colors an outcast shamed and hated by her own kind.

#ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS SCREENSHOTS SERIAL#

It's like when a kid grows up to be a serial killer or a psychopath. After spending such a long time isolated knowing nothing except that everybody hated her, how could she ever understand that what she is doing was wrong. Shriek however doesn't know anything about compassion or love, nobody protected or cared for her. Kuro was blinded by the hate and grief of her dead children, but she still knew about love and compassion which is what unfolded her in the end to change her mind. It wouldn't make sense if she got redeemed, because how could she. She grew up hated and alone in exile and killed anything that disturbed her. She had noone to teach and care for her, or so to say "no parental figure", AT ALL. Plus, all she cared about was her isolation. Tldr Shriek may have been seen to similar to Out I from the first game if also given a redemption arc. Overall, I agree with your sentiment and hope in the future some level of expansion for Shriek or something is revealed. However, if Shriek were to have a change of heart similar to Kuro and sacrificed herself to become the new Tree of Light for Niwel, I think the writers may have thought the plots were too similar and cookie cutter. Shriek, in my opinion, is better designed and just as motivated as Kuro was. In the first game we were given an amazingly written and motivated villian with Kuro. But, considering how Ori's story ended, I'm not super hopeful. I am saying this because of how open the ending of the story was (no spoilers here, if you know you know). They are saving a redemption arc for a definitive release or some kind of story expansion. I have two reasons why I think she didn't have a redemption moment in this story. Ok so I agreed with everything you had said.

[a-bang-for-your-bucky]

The Devil Between Us

Chapter 5: Where Were You?

read GHOST here.

Warnings: ANGST, so much angst, miscarriage, medical tests, mentions of D&C, explicit language, emotional distress.

A/N: This chapter was hard to write, but I'm so glad I did. It was so cathartic for me, and I'm sorry if it wasn't where you guys wanted this to go. I also apologize about Matt. I'm a firm believer that Matt Murdock would be ecstatic about having a kid, but this is season 2 Matt, when all he cared about was being Daredevil. With that being said, I hope you don't hate me after this. <3 Thank you @acrossthesestars for beta-ing. You are the best!

You were sitting in the aftermath of the shootout in Senator Ori’s hotel room. Detective Sergeant Brett Mahoney was going through your statement, combing through each and every word of what you remembered. He knew you helped Castle escape, but couldn’t do anything about it, not while New York was painting Frank as a terrorist, saying that he was working with Lewis Wilson. 

“It’s funny how you and Castle keep crossing paths. What was he even doing here?” Brett asked. 

You shook your head, “I think he was looking out for me. Sergeant, you and I both know Frank Castle isn’t a terrorist.” You were absolutely sure about that. You listened as Brett tried, and failed, to put together a picture of what happened. A cramp had your face scrunching up in pain, your breath a sharp exhale as you breathed through the sudden pain. I shouldn’t be cramping, you thought. You knew immediately that something was wrong, your hand flying to your belly. “Brett-” you gasped as another spasm had you doubling over. “I think I need a doctor.” The officer rushed over to you. Looking down, you saw blood seep through the seam of your pants. “Brett, I’m serious. I think– I think I’m losing my baby.” 

“You’re pregnant?!” He shouted the question, calling for a medic over his radio and reaching for your hand. He tried to comfort you as uncontrollable sobs clawed their way up your throat. What were you doing? You had put the life of your child at risk to follow up on a story. 

“I– I– I wasn’t– I didn’t– I didn’t expect to be held hostage.” You stuttered as you wept, holding your stomach as if your touch would magically stop this from happening, as if your own two hands could keep your world from falling apart. A medic entered the room with a gurney and helped you onto the stretcher, strapping you in. Brett wished you well as they rolled you out of the room, but he didn't follow.

The emt's asked you a million questions. How far along? What happened while you were in the hotel? Has this ever happened before? Is there anyone you can call to be there for you? You only had so many answers. The hospital ran test after test. Urine, blood work, ultrasounds. Every single one pointed to one thing. You were losing your baby - Matt’s baby. 

You called Matt over and over. Each call went straight to voicemail. Eventually you gave up and called Karen who showed up at the hospital almost immediately. Foggy wasn’t far behind her. It was nice having them there, but it didn't help to ease the bone deep ache of loneliness that had settled over you. The one person you needed, the only person you wanted, was nowhere to be found. Karen and Foggy both tried calling him, but still no answer. 

The doctor came in to speak with you. Karen pulled a protective Foggy out of the room to give you your privacy. Your levels of hcG were slowly depleting, he said stiffly, and they were just waiting to see if you would need a D&C. It was all so clinical, so matter of fact. You barely had time to grasp the fact that you lost your child and that Matt was AWOL. You tried calling him one more time before they wheeled you to your overnight room. 

“Hi, you’ve reached Matt Murdock. Please leave a message.” Beep. 

“It’s me. Again. I don’t know where you are or if you’re even alive.” You sniffled, “But I could really use you right now. Um, something happened today. I was– Fuck, I was doing an onsite interview. There was a bomb.” You let out a choked sob, “I was taken hostage, Matt. I don’t want to leave this on your voicemail. Answer your phone, asshole.” You hung up the phone, tossing it at the foot of your bed with a frustrated scream. 

A nurse came in with some paperwork for you to sign before they could move you. She took the papers after you scribbled your signature, telling you it wouldn’t be too much longer. Her face was kind and her eyes were sad and it took everything you had not to scream at her, at the injustice of it all. You just laid on the hard hospital bed, staring at the white walls. One more time. You told yourself as you reached for your cell. One more time. If he doesn’t answer, I leave it on a voicemail.

One ring. Two rings. Three. 

“Hi, you’ve reached Matt Murdock. Please leave a message.”

The air decompressed, and the hospital doors opened with a hiss. Hurriedly, Matt, still bruised from his fight the night before, used his cane to make his way to the front desk. The nurse looked up at Matt, seeing the contusion on his face. "Do you need help sir?" 

Matt shook his head fervently. "No. No. My girl– my girlfriend. She came in for a possible– shit. Sorry. A miscarriage." Matt stammered over his words. He gave them your name and then his. 

"I'm sorry, Mr. Murdock. You aren't listed on her paperwork. I can't tell you anything." Matt ran a hand down his face, before thanking the nurse. 

He whipped out his phone as he walked away from the desk. He called Karen, knowing she would know where you were. She picked up after the first ring. "Where the hell are you, Matt? We've been calling–"

"Where is she? I'm at the hospital but they won't tell me anything. Where is she, Karen?" Matt cut her off, begging for answers. 

Karen scoffed on the other end. "She doesn't want to see you. She needed you, and you were off God knows where, doing God knows what." Karen didn't get angry often, she was the more understanding one of the bunch. "I held her hand though, Matt. So at least she wasn't alone." Click. 

He cursed under his breath. "Excuse me," he turned and said to the nurse. "Can you at least tell me if she's here? I'm the– I was the father." A sad smile crossed the nurse's face. 

"She was discharged a few hours ago." The nurse whispered. Matt's lip quivered as he thanked her. He exited the hospital slowly, before tossing his cane haphazardly. Taking off at a sprint, Matt made his way to your apartment. 

You were curled up on your couch, drowning in the silence. The doctor told you the pain would subside over the next few days. What they didn't tell you was how you'd feel so empty, so broken, so lost. Ellison made sure you took substantial time off work, ensuring you'd have a job when you felt ready to return. 

There was a knock at your door. You ignored it, like you had many others before. Then you heard him, "It's me. Please, let me in." Matt's voice filtered through the thick wood of your door. You rolled over on the couch. "I know you're there. I can hear your heartbeat. Please." His soft begging pulled at you, sinking claws into your chest, urging you to open the door. 

Slowly you rose, your legs feeling like concrete. Undoing every lock on your door, you opened it. A very distraught Matt rushed in, pulling you into his arms. 

"Get off me" You mumbled, pushing him away. He released you instantly, stepping back. "What are you doing here?" You said, more hateful than you intended.

Matt listened as you shuffled around, placing yourself back on your couch. "I went to the hospital–"

"I was discharged this afternoon. They kept me overnight." You snapped at him. He came to sit next to you. 

"I should have been there. I should have– Fuck, I am so sorry." The pain on his face told you he was sincere. "What were you doing in that hotel?" He asked, worry thickly laced in his voice. 

There it was; the inevitability of blaming you, the accusation that this was your fault. It was your job to provide a safe place for your baby to grow, and you failed. "I was working, Matt. It was an onsite interview. I didn't expect to be held hostage and almost blown up." You were despondent, cold. “I would be dead, too, if it weren’t for Frank. As if you even care.” 

“Castle? The Punisher?” You could hear the disbelief in his voice. “Only you would get caught in the middle of his bullshit.” Matt huffed, annoyed. 

You scoffed at his words. “At least he was there for me.” A low blow. One you felt Matt deserved. “Where were you, huh? Where were you when I called? When Karen or Foggy called? When I was–” You gasped for a breath, “Where the fuck were you, Matt? When I was losing our baby?!” You exploded, tossing one of your couch pillows across the room, knocking a picture off the wall. 

Matt flinched as the glass shattered, hearing the anger, the hurt, the disappointment. He reached for you, wanting to console you, wanting to grieve with you. You slapped his arm away. “Where. Were. You.” You asked again, pausing between each word. 

Matt sighed deeply. “I was fighting. I was with Elektra. We were–”

“Get out.” You cut him off, not wanting to hear anything else he had to say. It wouldn’t change anything. At the end of the day, you still lost your baby. You still lost Matt. 

He ran a hand down his face, wiping away tears. “Please, just let me explain.” 

You stood, pointing toward your door. “Get out. I have my answers, Matt. I was having a miscarriage and you were off fucking your ex. Now leave.” You said through gritted teeth, trying to hide the hurt in your voice.

Matt stood, walking slowly toward your door. He could hear the teardrops falling off your lashes, catching in the fabric of your shirt and hitting the floor. How did it come to this? All he wanted was to make Hell's Kitchen a safer place. He never wanted to hurt you. He never wanted to make you cry. He loved you. He loved you more than anything. Except he didn't, did he? He chose to be Daredevil. He chose to chip away at Matt Murdock until the only thing left was the man in the mask. He closed your door behind him. He heard you get up and flip the locks into place. Then he heard the sobs.

He slid down your door until his ass hit the floor. He listened to your cries, your struggle to  breathe in-between. His heart shattered when he heard you whisper "I'm sorry" over and over, like this was your fault. That's how he made you feel. He did this to you. With a heave, Matt willed himself away from your door and away from you before he caused you any more pain.

A/N: I'm so sorry.

tags:

@mylifeisactuallyamess

@shakespeareanwannabe

@writeroutoftime

@aleksisok

@afuckingshituniverse

@sofphe

@hellskitchens-whore

@accountdeletedpleasedisregard

@two-unbeatable-beaters

@starry-night-20

@toomanystoriessolittletime

@inpraizeof

@myownwutheringheights

@bugwritesstuff

@morganflo

@v0idl1nq

@marrigold-2002

@mrbillymontgomery

[i-did-not-mean-to]

Kissing Booth

This beautiful drawing by @myselfandfantasy has inspired me very very much...

I really wanted to write something short and sweet about it 🙈

Words: 3 k

Characters: @fandomfaeryreads x Kí, @laurfilijames x Fí, Ori

Warnings: kisses (?), promise of potential smut?

“Come on, don’t be such a wuss,” Fíli laughed, all but dragging poor Ori across the hallway to the – gaudy but not unattractive – kissing booth he and his brother had devised.

“Fí,” Ori muttered, “I am begging you, don’t do this to me.” His dark eyes shone pleadingly and suspiciously wet as they shot from Kíli – stretched out comfortably – to his older brother and back with the haunted desperation of a trapped animal.

Fíli merely chuckled; in their role as princes and heirs, it had been up to them to find something fun for the annual fair to celebrate Durin’s day.

Now, Thorin most probably had something else in mind, but their mother kept hounding them about finding a wife and Kíli – brilliant but utterly chaotic savage that he was – had thought up the ludicrous plan to pocket coins and gems – depending on the generosity of the customer – in exchange for a kiss.

The people were entertained, money was won for the rebuilding of Erebor, and they could scout out the dams available for romantic courting; Fíli had to hand it to his baby brother, he truly had his moments of undeniable genius.

Shame that they were so few and far in-between.

“Why me?” Ori whined, convinced that nobody would sacrifice so much as a rotten potato or a piece of stale bread to get him to kiss them; he knew that for a fact because he was available for kissing every other day and nobody had ever made any inquiries to that effect.

“You’re cute,” Fíli replied with a broad grin, “and you’re just as painfully unmarried as us.”

“This will not change anything,” Ori grumbled; he could imagine dams – giggling and shoving each other – vying for the attention of two actual princes, but he was rather convinced that his own person would not make much of a splash.

Fíli did not reveal to his friend that the court intrigue behind this went much farther than the pure-hearted scribe could ever imagine; as a matter of fact, a dam of his acquaintance – dare he say a friend? – had approached him after hearing from a friend of hers about Kí’s hare-brained plan, and she had betted that she’d best him in a stupid race.

It still stung his pride that she had – indeed – won said race; money changed hands and – when Fí had asked whatever she needed that much coin for – she had confessed that she planned to hand the small pouch to yet another friend of hers at a strategic moment.

“You make sure you get stupid Ori into that booth, are we understood?”

He could hear her sensual purr even now and – ever eager to make a dam happy – Fíli had agreed to her own convoluted strategy to get her bookish friend – apparently very much smitten with Ori, who didn’t get the hints of ‘lost’ books and ‘dropped’ handkerchiefs – to be a little more forward.

“What are you doing?” Ori was aghast.

Kíli was generously slathering a substance that looked an awful lot like strawberry jam onto his mouth.

“Mother refused to give me any of the balms she uses to make her lips look inviting,” Kíli pouted, “but I want this to be pleasant for the ladies – and maybe even gents, who knows? – who want to be snogged by us.”

“Nobody wants to be snogged by a sandwich, Kí,” Fíli grunted, “wipe that nonsense off your mouth this very instant!”

As bodies – dwarven as much as human – started filing in slowly; they took their places and waited for customers.

“You are a disgrace,” Dís hissed as she passed the small booth, “I cannot believe you are my sons.”

Her eyes were alight with humour though and she let a few coins fall onto the narrow counter with a cheerful clinking sound.

“The things one has to do to get a kiss from one’s own sons,” she sighed dramatically and let out a peal of pearly laughter when both her boys pressed wet, smacking kisses on either one of her cheeks.

“Oh, Ori dear, did they drag you into this?” she then asked – her voice full of compassion – as she looked down on the young dwarf who seemed so utterly miserable and uncomfortable that she was tempted to take him away with her.

“Yes,” Ori sniffled, “and much good it shall do them.”

Dís, who knew everything about everyone and who – unlike Ori himself – had definitely noticed the small dam crossing his path on the regular, sent a small prayer to Mahal for strength and courage. It was an invocation meant for battles, but what could be fiercer and more dangerous to body and soul than the intricate dance and ferocious combat of courting?

“You’ll be fine,” she cooed, patting his bearded cheek tenderly, “don’t mope; it’s not very inviting.”

“Thank you, Milady,” Ori sighed and folded in on himself a little further still.

For the next few hours, they smooched their uncle, Balin, Dwalin, other kinsmen, the odd human girl who wanted to take advantage of this rare chance, and a few random drunk dwarves who thought it was all a big joke.

The ladies they had been waiting for made no appearance though and – no matter how much Fíli strained his eyes and puckered his brow – he could not make out the fair face of his beloved friend anywhere in the crowd.

Meanwhile, Ori – miserable but loyal as he was wont to be – had sat down on the floor and moped in silent defeatism.

“Fí,” the well-modulated voice of the woman he had been waiting for so patiently resounded, cutting through the noise and the chattering of the crowd effortlessly.

“I see, you’ve made a few coins,” she laughed as she dropped her own into the small bowl.

“Mother was our first customer,” Kíli declared proudly, but then his face fell.

“I am not sure people take this very seriously,” he mused, his pretty face scrunched up in an expression of heart-breaking disappointment.

“Would it comfort you to know that we just had two tankards of ale to steady our courage?” the beautiful dam – long chocolate hair carefully braided and green cat eyes alight with amusement – replied and shoved forward another small dam with startingly blue eyes that looked like oceans within the white sands of her beautiful complexion who had hitherto been almost hiding behind her much more courageous friend.

“Oh,” Kíli’s eyes lit up, “I had hoped that you’d come.”

He bit his lip in a translation of his urge to bite his tongue; he truly had dared to pray that the quiet and dignified daughter of one of Thorin’s courtiers would find the courage to stroll over. Just seeing her would have been enough, but the way she clasped a small purse to her heaving chest seemed to indicate that she at least considered becoming a customer.

Fíli watched his ‘friend’ closing her hand around yet another dam’s wrist and dragging her from the crowd into which she had tried to blend before slipping away like a thief in the night.

“Where is dear Ori then?” she asked sharply, still holding the dark-haired dam with the startled eyes.

“He’s under the table, hiding,” Fíli laughed. “Come out, Ori, you have a customer.”

“Oh, but you all have,” his friend grinned and – grabbing all the ready purses resolutely – dropped them into the bowl without any further ado, “go ahead, amaze us, oh heroes of Erebor, slayers of the dragon, and survivors of the Battle of the Five Armies.”

Kíli snapped out of his relaxed attitude; he had thought that this would be terrible fun – a lark, nothing more – for he had never truly believed that the dam of his dreams would turn up – purse in hand – to claim a kiss.

“For you,” he winked, “it should be free of charge.”

“You strike me as a bad businessman,” she chuckled and twisted the hem of her light overcoat nervously, “I have paid the demanded price and – upon your honour – I now demand to be handed the wares I purchased.”

He had not thought this through, Kíli realised, as her eyes closed in expectation and he frantically wondered where to go with his hands as he bent forward, brushing his lips gently across hers.

No, that was wrong.

One kiss, it said, no sliding and brushing.

Trying again, he pressed his mouth upon hers like Balin slammed stamps onto Thorin’s documents, causing the fragile dam to sway backwards slightly.

“Is that…strawberry?” she asked – the confused expression on her face making the freckles on her nose dance like tiny stars – as she touched her lips absent-mindedly.

“Do you like it?” he grinned, not even bothering to deny her accurate assessment of the situation.

“I do,” she sighed; despite all his rather silly ideas, she was very fond of Kí. If there was one dwarf in the whole mountain who would have made an effort to make his kisses more interesting, it would have been him and she should have known it.

“Want some more? I see you’ve donated a generous sum,” Kí invited with a wink and all she could do was to lean forward ever so slightly to express her willingness without compromising her decency.

Every doubt and question were resolved within the span of a single heartbeat then as he half leant out of the booth, encircling her delicate frame with his arms and pulling her closer into that tender, warm kiss he wasn’t even trying to end.

“Oh Kí,” she whispered, “you are ruining me. That was all the allowance I had left for the week.”

“Hmmm,” he hummed back, leaning his forehead gently against hers, “I am a prince, remember? I think it is my royal duty to provide everything my subjects may need; truly, Thorin once said something quite like that.”

And so, dutiful to a fault, Kíli sank back into the kiss. It had been a good idea and – finally – a successful enterprise. He was well pleased with himself and thought that it might be time to enjoy the festivities; thanks to the new swell of coin lining his pockets, he would buy some treats for himself and the lady by his side and just enjoy Durin’s day the way it was supposed to be celebrated.

“I’ve waited for you,” Fíli grumbled in mock-annoyance, but the dam opposite him merely cocked an eyebrow.

“Good.”

 She grinned when she saw his face go from surprise to vexation.

“I said I’d come and here I am,” she then purred, “my friends needed some convincing. Apparently, it’s not decent if you want a real kiss. Will we get a real kiss?”

Fíli looked over at his brother – evidently engaged in gnawing off the poor dam’s face – and shrugged.

“How much do you take for you to kiss me?” he teased, taken in all too easily by her playful mood. He knew that she had known misery and loss galore, but the light within her heart shone so bright that – during his recovery and beyond – he had grown to need that resilient strength to face whatever challenge lay ahead of him yet.

“Forget it,” she laughed, “I’ve paid already. Where is my kiss, dearest crown prince?”

Seeing Kíli hang out of the booth like a sack of grain, Fíli decided to have a tad more grace and decorum and stepped out.

His worries about Kíli’s idiotic idea and about what impression it would make on his people, his preoccupation with Ori’s comfort, as well as his own petty sorrows fell away as his hand slid around the back of her neck to pull her closer slowly, only to have his mouth plundered by her lips.

Her impatience flattered him but – before he could bask in this tiny victory of passion over good manners – his thoughts flew apart like exploding stars when the tip of her tongue trailed – deliciously and indecently – along his lower lip.

With a small groan of astonishment and emotion, he pushed back, arching her back until she lay suspended in his embrace.

He would not let this one kiss he would get away with under the pretence of a silly game be stolen from him; slow and steady as the river, he plastered all the words he couldn’t say onto her skin by touch alone.

“That was one hell of a kiss,” she praised him when he finally retreated but an inch or two to be able to look at her and see the meaning of the world swirl in the depths of her emerald eyes.

“Worth your money?” he asked quietly, unable to keep himself from spreading teasing little pecks along the outer edge of her lower lip as she pondered her answer.

“Hmmm,” she smiled deviously, “as the last customer of the day, could I maybe buy up everything you didn’t sell? Would be a shame to let the unsold wares go to waste, no?”

“You’re right,” Fíli chuckled, his pupils dilating in response to the dark invitation trembling just beneath the surface of that seemingly playful exchange, “why don’t you come with me to the storeroom, and we’ll see what I can do for you?”

As she followed him into a quiet corner behind the booth, she made a great show of looking around in mock-puzzlement before turning back to him with a feline grin.

“Let me have it all,” she purred sensually, “I’ll pay you later.”

“In kisses?” Fíli grinned.

“Me?” Ori popped his head – flushed with a strange mix of embarrassment and anticipation – over the counter of the booth.

“Oh hey,” his face softened as he recognised the dam who shared the quiet library with him on many a rainy day; she always had a smile and a greeting for him and – as he knew her – the nervous energy thrumming up his spine somewhat abated.

“Hi,” she greeted him with the same demure smile he knew and loved so well, “I am here for that kiss that’s advertised.”

“Are the others busy?” Ori looked around and found that the princes were indeed already engaged in rather inappropriate looking kisses with his acquaintance’s companions, “I’m sure if you wait a bit…”

She cocked one eyebrow and shoved the small purse her fingers had been clenching and unclenching around for minutes over the counter.

“I did not come for either of the princes,” she confessed – much too fast and a bit breathlessly – as she nudged the leather satchel another few inches towards him.

“You did not?” Ori cocked his head in confusion.

“No, for a dwarf that well-read, you can be really thick sometimes,” she huffed, all but pulled him up by the collar of his nice woollen cardigan and planted a resounding kiss on his cheek.

“No, wait,” Ori exclaimed, “that’s all wrong.”

“How would you know?” she asked mockingly, her fingers still buried in the warm fabric that released the comforting smell of dust and herbal tea at this proximity.

“I’ve read it in a book,” he laughed and – touching the tip of his nose gently to hers – he covered her cheek with a gloved hand and her lips with his own.

“Hmmm, tell me more about that,” she slurred without opening her eyes when – much too soon – he retreated.

“Well, it said that I am to hold you,” his hand slid down to her throat – feeling her pulse thundering beneath his palm – and he couldn’t help caressing the smooth skin with tiny flicks of his thumb, “like so, and then…”

Holding her breath in anticipation, she cocked her head to the side ever so slightly, a sigh escaping her loosely closed lips as the warm velvet of his kiss plucked – featherlight and tender – against them as if to draw it out against her will.

“Oh, why don’t you show me that book the next time we cross paths in the library?” she chuckled, reticent to let the moment bleed into the shadows growing ever longer; would that night had already come so he could kiss her under the stars.

“I shall,” he promised, “even though it is not bound in leather but in flesh.”

Now, her eyes popped open – flickering like candles in a draught – and her intense gaze burned on his flushed face.

“Right about here,” he whispered, lifting her trembling hand to the spot he suspected his own heart to be in.

“Oh, we have pooled all our resources for the purchase of this one kiss,” she sighed, “if only I was a richer woman.”

“Hmmm,” Ori hummed pensively, “I have known deprivation before and – now that my table is well-laden so to say – I shall not deny a soul.”

Pulling down the makeshift shutter of their booth, he invited the young dam in.

In the dusty darkness of that wooden sanctuary, his smell and the sound of her blood rushing in her ears eclipsed the rest of the world as his hand – steady and warm – came back to espouse the curve of her throat where it melted into her shoulder.

“They were right,” he sighed, “this was an amazing idea. They’re good princes and even better friends to have!”

And then, he let the sons of Durin be whatever and wherever they wanted while he returned all his attentions to the dam who stayed so statuesquely calm under his touch as if he was truly holding her in the palm of his hand.

“One more,” he swore to himself and to her, knowing full well that there was a distinct chance that he’d never be able to stop until the sun came up again or the world was remade.

Special thanks again to @myselfandfantasy, @fandomfaeryreads and @laurfilijames for indulging my stupidity...

I hope this is worthy of this lovely piece of art 💖💖💖

I love you all very much <3

Taglist:

@blairsanne

@narniaandthenorth

@fizzyxcustard

@legolasbadass

@linasofia

@lathalea

@midearthwritings

@guardianofrivendell

@mismaeve

@middleearthpixie

@clumsy-wonderland

@fckmini

[thecandywrites]

Zorroku and Peaches Part 5

That is really, the third part of part 3. Because part 3 is ENOURMOUS. There’s still a part four to part 3! People reading this right now are going- Wait! This isn’t what you originally put in these different parts! But I’m adding a LOT of new fun and tragic backstories! Also some Earth History to give this more depth and realism. Also face claims! So, of the three babies in the middle. Top left corner- Ori, under her is YakYak, look at that hair! Yalak and Grat’s son and that Hunky Baby is one of Silug’s sons. But also this black and white picture in the bottom right is to show how tiny Ori is when Peaches first meets her. For reference, that is a newborn, and Ori is supposed to be three months old at this point and was supposed to also at least double in size by then. So obviously, little baby Ori is very sick. And our reader is here to save her life. 

Part 5

“Hey, Glasha, could you please help get my tent flap, would you?" You requested with a giggle of your own as she helped you into your own tent where Razor was still happily chewing down on his horse steak.

"Ok, everyone on the couch." You urged and they obeyed before you sat at your new desk and got some paper and a quill and an ink well and got ready to write some correspondence.

"You can stay and hang out if you want." You offered to Glasha, wanting to keep some company just in case you got any visitors in the form of Yotul and her sons who didn’t like you, you'd have a witness to whatever would happen.

"Well actually I was going to go get some snacks for the ravens, but when I come back I'll hang out with you." Glasha offered before she quickly left and tried to get as many scraps left over from dinner together as she could. 

Then she returned with a bowl of them before she pulled up a chair across from the couch where all the ravens were perched on various cushions and such when they weren’t outright playing on the furniture. And the others were outright wandering around and inspecting the tent themselves. She fed the ravens as you called them each by name over to your desk to take the messages in the little holders off the raven's legs to read them, and then write down your reply on the back. You talked to the ravens and they talked back like parrots. 

Glasha was completely tickled to witness and giggled even more. Especially when they talked to her too and said 'thank you' to her for feeding them, before talking to her the way they talked to you. You insisted to them that she was a friend to them as they hopped up on her lap and shoulders and arms and soaked up her affections in the form of pets and scratches, the same way they often laid on their back to get tummy scratches from you with one hand while your wrote from the other.  

"So what do they say?" Glasha asked curiously as she nodded over to the correspondence.

"They're all asking the same thing, ‘if your family has mistreated me yet’." You answered honestly as you soon got tired of writing the same thing over and over again.

"And what's your answer?" Glasha asked cautiously.

"The answer is of course 'no'. I mean Yotul doesn’t like me, and I completely understand her feelings towards me. Some of your brothers hate me so much they refuse to talk to me. But that's fine by me. If they keep their distance, it would be ideal and what I would prefer them to do." You answered honestly before you cooed to the ravens. 

"No, they haven't mistreated me at all! They've all been so good to me! Yes they have!" You cooed to ravens in the same cooing tone you would use with an infant. You pet the ravens affectionately as they soaked up your affections like a sponge as the others hopped around your tent, cawing 'big tent!' and 'nice tent!' the whole time which had cracked Glasha up when they first started doing that.

"What?! Which brothers?" Glasha gasped in horror.

"Uh well, I'm pretty sure I'd be raped by Winag and Silug if they got half a chance- by the way they keep staring at me like a hungry dog looks at a steak. Yalak, Grushnag and Murnag refuse to say one word to me at all. Which I get and understand. Your father told me I could choose whoever I wanted without asking them. And most, if not all orcs, or at least all the ones I’ve met before today- think and feel that humans are inferior. And I'd be pissed off too if my father agreed to have me married off to people I viewed as inferior without asking me first." You explained, feeling you could be safe with being yourself and being blunt and honest with Glasha.

"Ok, you're right about Winag and Silug. They are my half brothers and they look forward to demanding sexual intimacy from their conquests the most. And every bedroom servant they have has been a past conquest that they’ve liked enough to keep around. And they keep insisting it isn’t rape because they pay them all very well for thier “service”. But honestly, I don’t see them giving any of them much of a choice about it. Especially when every time they do it, they get a kid from it. But neither Winag or Silug will marry any of them and none of the servants are orc and no woman in the clan will go near them. They claim they just like to have intimacy with smaller women because they like the feel of it better. Or at least, that’s what I’ve told them tell my father when he’s asked them about it. And my father doesn’t approve of them doing it. And it was only Yotul’s demands that Silug be a Warchief that he was made a Warchief at all, otherwise my father claims that only Zorroku has earned that status. Because otherwise my father had refused to promote them because he didn’t feel that their behavior outside of battle warranted the promotion.” Glasha explained as you nodded and hummed in understanding. 

“Honestly, I don't think they know how to fuck unless it's that way. They love to make their bedroom servants beg for it too so they can get paid to care for themselves. Because Silug and Winag only like to pay for their servants' bare minimum needs like clothing, food and shelter. But anything extra, they have to earn. As if those girls bearing them sons and daughters isn’t enough. Honestly it’s all Yotul’s influence. My mother Sharn, had she lived beyond giving birth to the twins, never would have put up with it. And she refused to have any man even accused of taking a woman without her freely given consent in her tent. And they had better be a full blown woman and not anything remotely girl like. And my mother and my father agreed against not letting such men be kept as a captain or a commander or anything like that in the clan’s army.” Glasha proudly revealed. 

“But that changed when my mother died and Yotul became the Clan Chieftess. It’s like slowly but surely, her influence has seeped into her children, especially her sons and then the rest of the clan. And to hear those servants of Silug and Winug beg to have that intimacy delivered nicely and softly too- makes my skin crawl. Because I know my mother would be rolling in her grave if she knew what was really happening. Otherwise I’ve overheard those poor girls whimper and cry because of how rough my half brothers can be. It's honestly so disgusting. And I would advise you to stay away from them as much as you can and never be alone with them. I mean, they're my half brothers- and they look at me like that sometimes and it's so gross.” Glasha shuddered as she gagged and made a disgusted face. 

“My father doesn’t approve of them and thier lifestyle off of the battlefield. And he’s tried to set the matter right and he’s tried disciplining them but Yotul gets in his way and insists that they never do anything wrong. Because so far Yotul has allowed it because most of them have been human so far, but she insists that they never treat an orcish woman like that. And she has told them that ‘no son or daughter of hers should ever marry a human’ and they’ve listened to her. But because of it, no other orc woman will go near them- because of their overabundance of bedroom servants and overabundance of half orc children. My father has made them all recognize as their children even if they refuse to marry their mothers. And my father specifically makes sure that the ones who have given children are at least taken care of better than the ones who have not. And that all their children are taken care of very well by recognizing them as his grandchildren to the clan and recognizing their mothers as the ones who beared those grandchildren to him. And honestly I think it’s only because he has done this that they stay at all. He treats them and their children with the same love and care he does my sisters in law and all of their children and my other nieces and nephews.” Glasha confirmed. 

“I see.” You nodded in understanding. 

“But where you're wrong is Yalak and the twins- Grushnag and Murnag. None of them hate you. The truth is they're all scared and intimidated by you." She elaborated and you blinked in surprise at that which prompted Glasha to explain.

“Really?” You asked, not quite believing her. 

"So Yalak is naturally really quiet and actually quite shy. Because he likes to watch and observe a lot and try to figure everything and everyone out before he does or says anything. So he's still trying to figure you out by observing you. His wife Grat had no idea he was even interested in her- until he had to outright explain why he was chasing off every guy who was interested in her. Because he secretly loved her and had a crush on her but was too shy to say anything to her. But once she got him to open up, then he wouldn’t shut up unless she shut him up by kissing him. And they have two sons and a daughter now.” Glasha related. 

“I see.” You nodded. 

“Grushnag and Murnag, the twins, they’re my baby brothers. My mom actually died trying to give birth to them because both of them were huge babies. And Yotul had just given birth to Yalak like a few days before. So Yalak and the twins have actually been raised as triplets by Yotul. They're just really shy, even more shy than Yalak ever was. And the twins know they're kinda ugly, and they have low self esteem because of it. And you're beautiful, and they think they're unworthy of you. Because not only are you smart, and clever, and talented, and gifted, but you're really beautiful too. And they're really insecure. They're the ones who picked out your bed and the furs and a few of the interior decorations where Zorroku got the tent and the rest of your stuff that didn't come with you. Nar got you the desk and all the books though. Because he insisted that you have a library. But the clan as a whole doesn’t usually go after books and usually the books are discarded when whole chests are taken. So he collected all the ones that the horde had.” Glasha explained as she pointed to them. 

“And Grat was the one who insisted on you having as many dressers and armoires as she does. Because again, she’s a Marfu Daughter, just like you. And when she married Yalak, she wasn’t used to the way my father treated her or especially the way Yalak treated her. Because he has adored her for so long and once he was free to show his adoration, he very quickly and easily overwhelmed her with gifts. Like just daily, almost hourly gifts. So my father asked her and my other sisters in law to help you not feel so overwhelmed. Which she very happily agreed to as did all the others. Especially since Grat and all the others came from other clans too. And none of them were used to women being treated so well as my father demands women be treated well in his Clan. Because he claims that ‘a man who can not treat his wife with honor, has no honor himself’. And she and the others were shocked when you brought so few clothes with you. So she made sure that you got a lot of dressers and armoires and fabric to make new clothes with.” Glasha explained as you were relieved when that part of your dream was false. Because you had met Grat and she was awesome and just as much of an easy and quick friend to you as Glasha was becoming and had hugged you and called you ‘Marfu!’ when she got to greet you and made sure to point out all the other Marfus in the family who greeted you just as happily and warmly and really made you feel welcome and they helped this whole situation feel much more normalized and more real instead of surreal. As if Crowthu and his sons regularly just rode all night just to find daughters in law. 

“So the twins will be doing the furs of your bucks and wolves for you. Because they're awkward talkers, but they're better at showing their affection by doing nice things for people. They really are nice and they don’t have any bedroom servants. But either of them could get just about any other woman in the clan if they wanted to. And the few who have expressed an interest in them, they feel like it’s not genuine. And that it’s only because they’re the sons of the warchief and the last sons of my mother that they get the interest at all.” Glasha revealed. 

“I see.” You nodded in understanding as you made a mental note to make an effort with them and at least draw them out and help them with their self confidence the way you had with Nar and Shuzug. 

“But you have to get under all the awkwardness first. And if you have genuine feelings of affection for them, make sure to tell them and show them that explicitly. Even if it’s friendship. They’ll appreciate anything and everything. Especially since Yotul has usually saved her heart and her affections for her own sons she gave birth to. So while she nursed them, she didn’t quite love them the way she loved Yalak. And the twins have always felt like they’ve been a burden to her and they never wanted to be a burden to anyone. And while they’ve struggled with a lot of guilt, because my mother died trying to give birth to them. My father has made sure to never tell them that he ever blamed them for her death. And that women die from childbirth all the time and it was just as honorable and glorious as dying on the battlefield. And he has always told them that they were the best and last gifts my mother ever gave him. And just like with Zorroku, he has made special efforts with them and my other sisters that my mother Sharn gave birth to.” Glasha explained, her voice going soft with a bittersweetness in her eyes. 

“I take it your father still misses Sharn.” You ventured. 

“He does, every day. He claims that I look just like her and that’s why he has chased off every man who has ever taken an interest in me and my other full sisters, because he feels I and my full sisters are the last but biggest pieces of her left. And he still tries to honor her and her memory by honoring us. He always gives me, and my full sisters the very best in everything he ever takes in raids. He makes sure we are always fed until we’re stuffed, always clothed in the best fabrics and the best shoes and the best…everything.” Glasha related. 

“My father worked so hard to earn my mother’s love, and respect and loyalty. And he gave those things so freely to her. She was from the Mountain Blizzard Clan. They’re a clan known for their ice blue skin and white, light blue and light green hair, like I have. That clan always keeps itself up in the mountains. And they actually met by a total accident on a hunting trip when my father’s hunting party and my mother’s hunting party were hunting the same grounds. She was hunting from the back of an giant ice dog. A breed that the orcs in the mountains have bred to be especially large, large enough to ride. And fast enough, even when pulling a load, that they could get from one side of the mountain to the other in just a day. And the moment my father saw her, he did everything in his power to do whatever he could to court her.” Glasha sighed dreamily at the memories of her parents telling her all about it. 

“It’s why we have so much pink salt from the mountains. Because it’s the one clan my father happily does trade with as often as we can, and never raids on. I have a grandmother and all kinds of cousins and uncles and aunts in that clan that are my mother’s mother, and her old brothers and sisters and their children. And the reason our clan treats women so well is because in the Mountain Blizzard Clan- women are seen as very magical creatures, owed every respect and dignity because they are the ones who bear and nurse offspring and keep them warm and are the spiritual heads of the family. Men just hunt and kill food and get furs. But women turn those furs into clothes and take a house and turn it into a home. It’s women who can take those kills and make real food out of them. It’s women who give men a reason to live and a reason to get out of the bed to do anything. It’s women who provide children and provide a man with a family and help him grow spiritually and draw closer to the gods. And it’s women who can never be replaced.” Glash revealed as she couldn’t help but get misty eyed just talking about it. 

“And it’s women like Yotul who tear down everything that women like my real mother build up. She is the only one in the entire clan who doesn't like you. I don't know what her problem is. Just ignore her, she'll get over whatever problems she has and it’s not on you to prove her wrong assumptions about you either. I mean her problems have to be with humans in general. Because she has no reason to be that hateful towards you. She shamed and dishonored my father and the rest of the family and the clan by not giving you a proper greeting. And by just outright stealing your spice without asking. And you should be getting an apology from her sooner than later.” Glasha insisted. 

“It’s ok if she doesn’t apologize to me. I understand her reasons for not liking me.” You assured her. 

“Well, do you know what they are? Because she won’t tell anyone what they are. All she has said is that ‘if you’re who she thinks you are, you’re dangerous’. Which Arob keeps repeating that you’re not, but she won’t believe my grandma. My grandma told us all that ‘you’re family found’. And Yotul spent all day making sure the tent was spotless, making sure the best incense was burning in all the incense burners.That the best horse was butchered and roasted to perfection and the biggest onions were roasted with it. She was wearing one of her best dresses and she was so happy and excited all day. But my father said that the moment you walked in, all her joy and happiness was immediately switched to hate. Why is that?” She asked you. 

“It’s not my place to say. And if she is not comfortable talking about it, I won’t do her the dishonor of revealing anything she wants to keep private. But if she hasn’t talked about it. Please don’t push her. She has every reason to hate all humans. And she has every reason to hate me if that’s what your grandmother told her. Now I can say, I am not who she probably thinks I am. And I do not mean this family and especially Yotul any harm whatsoever. But I will not force her to see that. All I can do is prove who I am over time so that she can see it for herself with her own eyes. But until she’s ready to know who I really am. I’m not going to try to convince her. And right now, if I tried, she’d probably wouldn’t believe me anyway. And that’s ok. I’m content to give her all the time and space she wants and needs. She deserves that. And she deserves to have her feelings validated and respected. Even if she wasn’t a Clan Cheiftess. Even if she was just a clan member, she deserves that much.” You gently insisted. 

“But that shouldn’t excuse her rudeness.” Glasha frowned and shook her head no. 

“Please, just, I know you’ve only just met me. But trust me on this. When and if you ever find out about the matter, you’ll understand. But only when Yotul is ready to discuss it herself. Not a moment before then.” You urged her as your pen was already writing Bula about Yotul because if anyone needed to know the truth, it was Bula, Khagra’s wife and Clan Chieftess.  

“Well, still, my father told us about the special conditions you have. Which is fine, it shouldn't have been a problem to begin with. But I understand that you've met and hosted almost every clan on the continent and even some farther than that. And every orc clan is different and if all you knew about us was our reputation, I could see where you would draw certain conclusions..." Glasha explained.

“Well I’m happy to be wrong. But I am curious about how Yotul came to be in this clan and came to be it’s Clan Chieftess.” You prompted. 

"Oh, um about 20 years ago she was traded into this clan from the Yellow River Clan. But she doesn't speak their language well, she's taught us Yowl and often slips into Yowl when she's angry or upset or worried. But I don't know who else speaks Yowl so maybe she was traded to them from somewhere else. I don't know. She's like an onion, she has many layers of...I don't know, she's a hard woman to get to know because she just doesn't like to talk about herself or her past before coming into the clan." Glasha answered and you nodded in understanding.

"Could you tell me more about about your mother?" You asked her hopefully.

"Oh my mother was my father’s Warcheiftess under his father when his father was the Clan Chief. And when my grandfather stepped down, and appointed my father as Clan Chief, that made her his Clan Chieftess. She was his first wife and she’s the mother to Zorroku, myself, my sister Morn and the twins. But again, she died giving birth to the twins. And when my mother died and Yotul immediately took on the twins, that's when Yotul became Clan Chieftess and adopted Zorroku, myself and Marn too. And my father has never remarried again." Glasha informed you as you realized she had an accent you recognized.

"Your mother was Sharnarrah The Magnificent of the Mountain Blizzard Clan wasn’t she?” You concluded. 

“Yes! You knew her?” Glasha asked excitedly. 

“I didn’t know her personally, but I knew of her. Is your name really just Glasha or is that short for something else?” You asked her. 

“It’s Glashnarah!” Glasha revealed excitedly as her mother’s native tongue’s accent became thicker and put such a beautiful accent to her speech as your eyes got bigger in realization as you realized what Sharn had done. 

“If you’re Glashnarah, then would Marn be short for Marnasta?” You asked as you tried not to cry again but kept your tone light and curious. 

“Yes!” Glasha practically squalled. 

“And Zorroku is actually Zorroushku?” You asked, not quite wanting to believe the coincidence.  

“Yes!” Glasha nodded excitedly. 

“And the twins names are Grushnaga and Murnagah?” You asked. 

“Yes! How did you know that?” Glasha asked in awed wonder. 

“Your mother was Sharnarrah The Magnificent, so named because she rode a white major wolf named Lightning who was just as white as the snow and especially large. And she was both a magnificent beauty and a magnificent warrior and protector of all women and children. She was the most beautiful warrior of the whole clan. I know of her, because when the Mountain Blizzard Clan came and made an alliance with us, or at least with the Black Wolf White Rock Clan and specifically with Khagra's father for that same pink salt from the mountains. Khagra did everything he could to woo her. Even though he wasn't of age yet and already had his Clan Chieftess, waiting to grow up and mature to be ready to be married too. My mother, Regina, was one of Shanarrah’s servants, Shanarrah’s mother Jaseen saved my mother when she was a girl, and helped raised her, almost like she was one of her own. And my mother fell in love with my father and stayed in the Black Wolf White Rock Clan with him, much to Jaseen and Shanarrah’s disapproval. But my mother has always remembered her really well and has always spoken of her in awed reverence and my full name is Belladonna, I’m named after Shanarrah’s favorite flower because not only is it a beautiful flower, but it was deadly, just like my mother claimed Shanarrah was. How did your father manage to woo Sharnarrah?" You asked in awe.

"Oh he got her a herd of silvery white draft horses once her wolf, Lightning, died. And he taught all of them to take a rider and all of them to obey the same commands my mother was used to giving Lightning." Glasha revealed and you nodded in understanding.

"So how well do you speak Ragash?" You asked in Ragash, the native dialect of the Mountain Blizzard Clan and Glasha visibly lit up brighter than the sun and practically bounced in her seat and started going on and on and started talking so fast you could barely keep up with her as you finished up your correspondence and simply listened in amusement.

“That’s how you’re family found! Your mother knew mine! You speak Ragesh! Oh my father is going to be so happy!” Glasha squealed in delight before urged the ravens to go home while Glasha and yourself continued to talk and get to know each other better, using Ragesh which was your mother tongue because it was your mother’s native tongue as you never thought you’d speak this beautiful language again. 

You realized it must have been fate to bring you here and to bring you to Crowthu and his children by Sharnarrah and while you were heartbroken that she had passed. This felt just as wonderful when Sharnarrah’s brother’s came to do trading in the clan and talked with your mother and you and your siblings because Jaseen was so hurt by your mother’s choosing your father over her that she refused to leave the mountain until your mother would “come home” to her. But your mother had a family of her own and her own place with Khagra and his family and his clan and insisted that she was just fine where she was.

But Jaseen often asked about you and what little, meager possessions you brought with you from home had been gifts by your adopted grandmother Jaseen who you had never met. Jaseen insisted on not giving you anything too big or too rich because she didn’t want Khagra or his family or anyone else to take it from you. And when you had been technically made a Borgan, you had been invited to come to her and her clan. But by then, you were too close with Khagra and his family to do so. You wanted to find a way to send a message to Jaseen and her family to tell them where to find you now. And to come to see you since you doubted you were free to go and see them because Crowthu did trade 32 servants for you and their weight in pink salt and adopted you as his daughter. One you doubted he’d be ok with letting go just as he secured you. 

“How often does the Mountain Blizzard Clan come here or does this clan go up to the mountain to do business?” You asked her. 

“Oh our winter grounds are at the base of the mountain that the Mountain Blizzard Clan calls home. I can send a message tonight to them to tell them that you’re here. They will come as soon as they can. I had no idea your mother was so close to them. They will be delighted to know that you’re a Marfu daughter here.” Glasha insisted. 

“Thank you.” You thanked her before she beckoned you to her tent and immediately wrote a note to her grandmother and all of her uncles and aunts and told them that ‘Balladonna, daughter of Regina was now her father’s latest Marfu Daughter from the Black Wolf White Rock Clan and that you wanted to see them and speak with them as soon as they were able to and that you spoke Ragesh fluently’. Once she was done with the message, she put it onto a messenger pigeon and sent it off to the Mountain. 

“There, they’ll get that by sunrise for sure and we’ll hear back from them by midday at the latest.” Glasha giggled gleefully before she hugged you. 

“Oh it’s like I’m hugging another sister! This is awesome! I’m so happy you’re my family found!” Glasha almost cried as she happily hugged you as tight as she dared. 

“Likewise Glashnarrah.” You cooed back to her. 

"So, anyway, back to my father’s clan. In the Thunder Herd Clan we have four meals a day. A late breakfast, because we usually like to stay up late and sleep in late, lunch, dinner and the midnight meal, which is our biggest meal of the day, think of it as a second dinner and it's the one that’s being prepared right now," Glasha said. 

“Well let’s go.” You urged her before you followed Glasha into the kitchen tent as she brought you around the kitchen itself and showed you what was what and what they had to work with. You began to find your bearings again as well as show you the small mountain of peaches from home. Then you pulled your ingredients out from your food satchel. And showed your new 'sisters' what you've brought and what you used to make that spice blend you made earlier. 

Suddenly Zorroku and his brothers came into the kitchen, carrying a cut up horse carcass and put it on a leather blanket in the middle of the cooking tent and at least with the skin off, it kinda of looked like a cow....with a giant neck... and a horse's head…. But thankfully the hooves and everything below the knee had been cut off already. You put the back of your hand to your mouth to keep from vomiting at the thought of a baby horse being slaughtered even though this was clearly an adult. You could only hope that it had lived a good life and that its death was as quick and painless as possible.

"Did you sleep ok Peaches?" Zorroku asked you hopefully and you were surprised to hear him speak to you again.

"Yes, thank you Zorroushku." You answer as you nodded and tried to smile bravely in the face of a dead horse on the floor in front of you. 

“How did you know my full name?” Zorroku asked in awed wonder as his other siblings, except for Glasha froze and stared at you with the same, wide eyed wonder. 

“My mother is Regina, she was a servant of Shanarrah The Magnificent and she grew up in the Mountain Blizzard Clan. But your mother’s mother- Jaseeneh, who when my mother left that clan, was the Clan Chieftess, took my mother in when she was very young and raised her as her own and my mother was close to both Clan Chieftess to Jaseenah, your mother Shanarrah, her brother’s Dastaneh, Justinough. My full name is Belladonna Gardiniah, both were your mother’s favorite flowers, not because they were just beautiful and have beautiful scents, but Belladonna is especially poisonous and deadly. My twin sister’s name is Lillyannah Valleyah, also a beautiful but deadly flower. My baby sister’s names are Hyacintha and Callalilliannah, Jaseeneh’s favorite but also deadly flowers. My brothers are also named Dastaneh and Justinough after Shanarrah’s brothers because they were like brothers to my mother also. We call them by simply Dastan and Justin though, and I’m simply Bella, Lilly, Scintha and Calla. My father is a twin, thus my brothers, myself and all my sisters are twins too.” You explained in Ragesh as Zorroku’s eyes and his siblings eyes got bigger and wider as smiles bloomed on their faces. 

“So it would make sense that your mother named you Zorroushku,” you nodded to him before you turned to his siblings. 

“Glashnarrah, Marnausta, Grushnagah, Murnagah.” You listed off as you made sure to look each of them in the eye as you said their names as the boys were already quickly washing the blood off of themselves. But the moment you started speaking perfect, fluent Ragesh to them, they turned to you and came closer but you didn’t feel as if you were being surrounded in an attacking sense but soon encompassed before they all came in and hugged you tight as the twins and Marn were outright crying while Glasha and Zorroku were laughing as you were in the middle of a group hug. 

“Thank you so much for coming! Thank you so much for speaking Ragesh to us! Yotul doesn’t like it when we speak it because she doesn’t and she doesn’t like it that she can’t understand everything we say so we have had to speak either in Pregu, Yowl or the common tongue since Mom died! You speak it so well!” Marnasta bawled into your shoulder. 

“See! That’s how she’s family found! She’s family found to us!” Glasha insisted as Marnausta especially was hugging you the tightest and crying on your shoulder because it felt like having a piece of her mom back as the twins were in a similar state. 

“Hey, as much as I love this, I need to breathe.” You squeaked as the air was literally being squeezed out of you before they let go but stayed close. 

“Sorry.” They all apologized as they wiped the tears from their eyes. 

"If you need or want anything let me know, ok?" Zorroku offered before the twins volunteered the same thing, asking if you wanted the alters to the gods the Mountain Blizzard worshiped to be brought to your tent which you happily accepted before the twins and Marnausta immediately left and got things that their grandmother and uncles and aunts had given them and that they had kept from their mother to bring to your tent to reconnect you to your true roots. 

"Actually I brought you a guitar because you like music so much." Yalak offered as he pushed past Zorroku and presented you with a guitar that was wrapped up in a little blanket as you watched Zorroku's face scrunch up in jealousy which was curious to you.

"Oh wow, uh, thank you," You thanked him graciously as you took it from him, not wanting to offend him by refusing it from him. 

"Uh, I just don't remember Clan Chief Khagra or my father telling you that I played guitar...out loud." You mumbled under your breath as you unwrapped it, realizing it was actually a very fine one.

"Wow, this is exquisite, thank you." You thanked Yalak earnestly, this was so surreal to you as you put the guitar's strap over your shoulder and tested the chords before Nar made his way to you too.

"But I brought you a little one." Nar said as he came forward and offered you something else. Being the youngest and the smallest of them all, he looked to be about 12 or 13, just reached maturity and his full height. The beginnings of facial hair seemed to bloom on his face too.  

You carefully took the guitar off and set it down on the counter gently and carefully and took what he offered you, it was also wrapped in a nice little blanket and when you unwrapped it, you found a violin case. Inside the case was a very fine violin with its bow and a thing of resin for the bow strings.

"Oh my goodness, it's a violin! Thank you so much! I love the violin." You beamed, this was...so not real. But as much as you wanted to panic, you kept repeating the words ‘marfu daughter’ inside your head as an explanation. 

You put the violin to your shoulder as they all looked at you curiously as you ran the bow over the strings. You began to play a melody before they all lit up as they recognized what you were playing, a very old lullaby that Sharn always sang before you moved from that one to another old lullaby Yotul always sang to them in her native dialect Yowl. Nar left and fetched his mother who came into the kitchen tent and stared in shock as you played the song so well. She hadn't heard it played on a violin in a long time, since she herself had never learned the instrument.

"Where did you learn that song?!" She demanded as tears welled in her eyes and you dropped the violin to your side and hid it behind you to save it from her smashing it. Since it seemed she was now angry with you as if you had been caught doing something wrong. You watched as her sons and daughters moved between the two of you to keep her from getting close to you.

"You are Yotul Koddeth of the Great Typhoon Breaker Clan from the high North. Your mother is Veggo Koddeth and your father was The Great and Mighty Clan Chief Krul Koddeth, a family name that had lasted four generations. He was a king among Clan Chiefs and it was he who had taught Clan Chief Khagra and his father the art of alliances over war when Clan Chief Khagra was a very young boy.” You began to explain as Yotul was too stunned to argue with you when her mother and her father’s name was spoken with so much reverence on your tongue. She couldn’t be upset by your praise of her father. Or that you were speaking Yowl so beautifully and fluently. 

“But it wasn’t until Clan Chief Krul Koddeth was betrayed by his brother and your uncle Tangir The Bone Splitter who earned that name by splitting your father's skull in front of you and your sister and your mother because she had not given your father any sons yet. And just because your mother had not gotten the chance to give your father sons- was the biggest reason your piece of shit uncle had for overthrowing your family’s dynasty. Especially since he had three sons but by three different women, all of whom were human. And their own jealous hunger for power over your mother- pushed them to push Krul to muder his own brother despite not having the blessing from his father or anyone outside of his own warband. Since he had not even been promoted to Warchief. Only leader of a warband. He then must have sold you off, until you came into the Yellow River Clan before you were then traded to the Thunder Herd Clan. But that is all anyone here knows of what has happened to you since your father died and you came to be here.” You explained. 

“But after that piece of shit Tangir sold you, your uncle sold your sister Bula to Khagra as a wife when he was only six and she was only five so you must have only been seven when you were sold. Your own mother was sold as Khagra’s family’s babysitter and caretaker and medicine woman. It is your mother and sister who taught me your mother tongue Yowl. It is they who have taught me your culture and this song and many other songs and legends from the Great Typhoon Breaker Clan and so many seafood dishes. Even though seafood is hard to come by inland. I played this song, hoping to remind you that you are not alone. And that your past, even as hurtful as it has been- is important and should be embraced rather than buried. Just because of your piece of shit uncle and his family. Your family is not forgotten and lives on and is thriving!” You announced as Yotul gasped softly but began crying tears of joy to hear it as she slowly weaved through her children to get closer to you to hear everything you would say. Not wanting to miss a single word. 

“I know that Crowthu’s mother has told you that I am ‘family found’. And I know when you first saw me and saw that I was human, I know that you must have assumed that I was a descendant of your waste of orcish flesh uncle. But I can say with a clean conscience and full faith that I am of no relation at all to him. Because not one of them has remained alive- since Khagra claimed Bula as his wife. And his wedding present to her was to put Tangir and all of his wives and all of their offspring to death. So that only your father’s bloodline has survived and will walk on the ground and bless it with it’s presence. Khagra himself has seen to it and was his first act as Warchief. And Bula is his one and only wife and was his Warchieftess when he became a Warchief for his father. And then when his father and the entire clan appointed Khagra as Clan Chief, Bula became his Clan Chieftess and she is the most revered woman in the clan, the strongest and most powerful in the clan. The most amazing, and wonderful in the clan. And Khagra drapes her with as much luxury as he can afford and loves every child she has ever bore him, no matter the gender because she and all of their children are his most precious possessions. To the point that he happily let me go to an unknown clan, just to keep Bula and their family in safety and in peace at home. And I am so blessed he did because this was the only way for me to find you. It is you who is Clan Chieftess Bula’s- family found. It is you who is Dowager Clan Warchieftess Viggo’s- family found. Clan Chief Khagra has no other children other than the ones Bula has given him and their children are your own nieces and nephews! Clan Chief Khagra does not even take female slaves for himself just to protect all of his affections to keep them purely for his most beloved wife. He wears them as his armor for his heart, mind and soul.” You earnestly revealed, a proud smile on your lips as you knelt on the floor and bowed your head respectfully. But you felt it was now or never for you to tell her the truth. 

“I have helped your sister birth your nieces and nephews. I have cared for them as if they were my siblings and they are my dearest friends in the world, especially the youngest Shuzug. I have even helped deliver your own nieces and nephew’s children, Bula’s own grandchildren and your mother’s great grandchildren. Everything that I know about food, childcare and medicine I have learned from your own mother’s hands and mouth, and your own sister’s hands and mouth. I have helped care for Clan Chieftess Bula and her family since infancy. And knowing about that piece of shit Tangir- I understand your hatred for humans must be because of him. And I understand why you have forbidden your own children from taking a human as a mate. Because Bula has done the same. To guard against the past repeating itself. And I swear on the life of your sister and your mother, their children and grandchildren- that I too will guard against that part of your past repeating for either you or your children, whether you have birthed them or not. Or even for your grandchildren and great grandchildren, may you be blessed to see them some day.” You swore. 

“Even though I am not of your blood, I have been placed in your family. Both your past family and your current one. I know I am unworthy of the honor that is being in your family. Your mother and your sister have never once stopped hoping you had survived and done well and they offer prayers on your behalf every worship day and I have grown up hearing your name and knowing it as well as I have my own. Your mother has remarried, to one of Khagra’s older Warchief’s when his father appointed him. Dowager Warchieftess Veggo is the second wife of Warchief Tatcha. And she remains his one and only wife since he too lost his first in childbirth and she took on his baby. And thus took him and the rest of his children on as well. You now have a half brother and a half sister in the Black Wolf White Rock Clan from Warchief Tatcha. However I don't believe your sister knows that you are now the Clan Chieftess of the Thunder Herd Clan. Because Clan Chief Khagra and Clan Chief Crowthu never mentioned who they were married to and other than Khagra introducing your sister only as his Clan Chieftess, I don’t think Bula recognized any of your sons as her nephews. And I don't know if your own sons recognized their aunt or their cousins. They didn't seem like they did when they met them.” You explained as all of Yotul’s sons groaned when they realized that they were looking right at their aunt and didn’t see her resemblance to their own mother. 

“Now they do.” Zorroku muttered to you with a happy smile to see Silug, Wing, Yalak and Nar groan as realization seemed to hit them like a ton of bricks. 

“But I know your mother and sister will be very pleased to know how well you've done by getting this far. But if you also hate me for other reasons, I understand. Just because I was able to make one good meal, things are being handed to me whereas you've had to work hard for everything you have. Please, understand I have had no choice in this and am trying to make the best out of everything. But with your permission I would like to tell your mother and sister exactly where you, their lost daughter and sister can be found." You bravely professed in Yowl, as you knelt down and bowed your head respectfully.

You were half expecting her to cut it off or for her to call you a liar or that you were actually Tangir’s blood. You could hear small gasps from Yotul’s children who had gathered around you to protect you from their mother as you closed your eyes.  Tears fell from them as you tried to embrace death. You had connected all the dots from everything your new father in law told you and one look at her you knew exactly who she was. Even if she did not want to admit it.

"She's a Clan Chieftess too? Bula is a Clan Chieftess like I am?" Yotul asked in Yowl back. She couldn’t help but laugh in delight as she just couldn't stop smiling while crying tears of joy and relief. It surprised you greatly, having expected to be cut down where you knelt or screamed at for defaming her native tongue by presuming to speak it to her based on her reaction to you earlier. 

"Yes, she has four daughters and had- had, five sons. But the oldest two unfortunately died in the last raid. So now she only has three sons. The middle, who is now considered the eldest, by the name of Grecko, he has two wives, they're twins themselves and both orcs and he has 4 kids, two sets of twins, a set of girls and a set of boys who are almost a year old now, their names are..." You began to list off all her family from the Black Wolf White Rock Clan before she came nearer to you. Yotul’s children warily parting for her before she gently picked you up to stand on your feet before moving your chin to look up at her as she couldn’t stop smiling and couldn’t stop crying either which got you to cry as you continued to talk and tell her about a family which she never knew she had.

"And your youngest nephew, he's ten now, Shuzug, has a penchant for peaches, he can eat a whole bushel all by himself." You finished off before she hugged you tightly and started sobbing and laughing herself.

"Gods I usually hate it when my mother in law is right and I’m wrong. But I am so happy to be wrong about you, my beloved daughter! If Bula called you her daughter I will see you as my own to, if at the very least, my niece. And you are now just as beloved in my heart as my own daughters are. When Arob said I would be getting family back as a daughter in law, and when I saw you were human- I did think you were my uncle's child or grandchild that just didn't look very orc. Which was why I was so inexcusably rude to you and I was so scared that you were going to do to my sons what that piece of shit’s bitches did to him! And I am so sorry, I should have asked. I should have let you explain who you really were and the whole situation instead of jumping to the wrong conclusions. I am so sorry! Thank you so much for telling me all of this. I never imagined it would be like this or could be like this. Just for you to tell me about them makes me feel whole and less lonely and closer to them now than I have since I parted from them." Yotul cried happily as she was almost squeezing the breath out of you again. Glasha took the violin and its bow from your hands so you could hug her step mother back fully.

"Next time your husband goes there, go with him. They'll all be very happy to see you again." You offered as you hugged her back as tight as you could.

"You and your sister look a lot alike, you'll have to forgive me if I call you by your sister's name by accident." You admitted. 

That got Yotul to laugh and her kids to relax before they went to their father and reported how you had revealed you were family found to Yotul and why she hated the sight of you because you were human and what past you had uncovered. Crowthu felt like an ass for being so hard on Yotul without letting Yotul explain her reaction either. 

Then Glasha revealed to her father and her grandmother your connection to her own mother, Sharnarrah. And the fact that you also spoke Ragash too and guessed all of their full names correctly. Crowthu literally cried at hearing that. You were family returned to all of them. And he felt closer to being whole since Sharn's loss.

"I would be ok with that. Please tell Bula and my mother where I am." Yotul chuckled. 

“Ok.” You nodded, happy that you had gotten that out of the way. 

"Again, I'm so sorry for being so rude, I honestly thought you were my uncle's granddaughter or something and I'm so relieved you're obviously not. I'm very happy you're here with us now, daughter." She offered as she held your face and placed her forehead to yours. Of course after she kissed it and your cheeks affectionately as the two of you continued to speak Yowl to each other. 

You felt so much relief wash over you and you felt you knew she was telling the truth and that you could trust her and that you were very dear to her. Which made you want to have her dear to you in turn. You could only imagine how Bula would be reacting by now. Bula would most likely be screaming her head off in utter delight and waking the whole clan up just reading your messages. And want to ride at once to

"Actually what you may not know is Tangir was overthrown by not just Khagra, but the effort was supported by your other uncle Wuglat. Who is now the Clan Chief of the Great Typhoon Breaker Clan. Wuglat and Khagra brought back the law of only full blooded orcs could ever be a Warchieftess or Clan Chieftess and be allowed into the family as an equal. And only concubine or lower could ever be allowed to be human or non orc. A law I thought all orcs had accepted and implemented before and after this incident. Which is why I'm shocked I'm here and why your sons are all trying to court me." You confessed.

"Oh, well yesterday I would have agreed with that. But you'll find, you'll be the exception to the rule. And if you look at any of my son’s other human lovers and if you see that they will not do what that piece of shit’s bitches did, then I will give them my blessing and will lift it that law of no humans in the Clan Chief’s mates because if you have sworn on Bula’s life and the lives of her children. I trust you to make good on your promise. And I no longer fear for my son’s and their future on your account. For I can feel and know that you do not mean them harm, or especially me. Because you obviously know the hurt and trouble all of that caused.You are one of us and a full fledged member of this family now. And if you were not a Marfu, I would be demanding for Crowthu to make you one this instant anyway. You'll be treated as such from this moment on, come meet my grand-kids." She invited, before she took your hand and led you out of the kitchen tent into hers where Crowthu and his sons were playing with their grand kids on the floor and was happy and relieved to see you with Yotul and especially to see both of you smiling.

"Oh good, when I wasn't Clan Chief Khagra's personal cook I was their babysitter for their kids and grand-kids." You informed her proudly which she was really thrilled to hear before she went around the room to introduce you to all the kids who you met happily.

“This is Silug’s son, Grog.” Yotul said as she picked up a baby who was wider than he was long as a human woman was holding him and playing with him. 

“And this is Grog’s mother Tiana.” Crowthu introduced. 

“Hi.” You both greeted each other sweetly. 

“Hello there Grog.” You cooed to him as you smiled at him as he simply looked at you dismissively and then looked at his mother and curled into her chest. 

“He’s shy.” Tiana excused. 

“It’s fine, most babies are.” You reassured her. 

"This is Yalak's son, YakYak," Yotul introduced as she picked him up and kissed his super chubby cheeks and handed him to you. 

"Oh my goodness! Look at how handsome and fierce you are!" You cooed to him which got him to laugh and babble to you, you put him on your hip because he was so heavy, even though he was only a year old. He was just so round and had so many rolls which was the supreme sign of health for all babies. His thick straight blue and black hair stuck straight up on top of his head like a natural mohawk. YakYak was absolutely precious, but you couldn't say that about a male baby orc. Handsome was ok, but usually fierce or frightening or something along those lines were the preferred complimentary terms while Yalak beamed proudly that you took to his son readily.

"Which one is his mother?" You asked as you swayed in place to keep him entertained as you tried to match all the girls in the kitchen to the guys since you hadn't seen who was with who yet.

"Grat." Yotul answered and you nodded in understanding as you mentally checked Yalak's name off your list. You weren't especially keen on coming between any couple, especially one that already had children. You didn't particularly want that kind of competition because of the competition that was always palpable between Grecko's wives. So now the options were narrowed down to Zorroku, the twins and Nar. 

"And this fussy girl is Ori. She’s Zorroku's only child. Her mother Medowne died giving birth to her this past winter, so Grat has been nursing her. But she is, as you can see, very fussy." Crowthu offered as he did his best to keep the little girl happy in his arm with a few toys between his fingers on the other hand, trying to distract her and keep her from turning that fussiness into full blown crying. Ori was incredibly fussy and looked extremely small for an orc her age. She looked the same size as a human newborn. You didn’t think orc babies could be so small. She even looked quite sickly which made you furrow your brows in concentration at her. Zorroku had been practicing play fighting with very blunt wooden axes with his older nephews from Silug and Winug while Silug and Winug practiced playfighting with blunt wooden swords with the other boys. But Zorroku’s attention split between his nephews and you. He hoped you would take to his daughter too but stopped and had his nephews practice their skills with each other so he could come over to watch Ori react to you closer. 

"Here, trade." You offered Yak Yak as an exchange as Yotul took YakYak away from you so you could get Ori. 

“Hello Sweetheart, it’s lovely to meet you. Is…Ori her full name or is it a nickname for a longer name?” You asked as you took her and your brow furrowed in concentration as you looked her over, trying to see why she was so sick and so small. 

“Yes, my mother kept repeating the same name when she was dying. Orianna…” 

“Oriannaregina Azalea?” You supplied as you looked surprised yet almost saddened to hear the name as you looked from Ori to Zorroku as your eyes looked just a bit pleading as they began to grow glassy with tears. 

“Yes, do you know who that is? My aunts and uncles simply say that she was a childhood friend of my mothers.” Zorroku asked as you smiled bittersweetly to hear him say that. 

“I know who Oriannaregina Azalea is. That’s my mother’s full name. She simply goes by Regina. My mother was the one that picked out Azalea for herself since she couldn’t remember what her last name had been. Only that her name was Oriannaregina. Jaseeneh always called her by her whole full name though. But Sharnnarrah asked for my mother as she was dying?” You asked as you laid Ori to your chest and swayed in place as you rubbed soothing circles into her back which immediately calmed her despite your heart was going out to this little one that had been unknowingly named after your own mother. You could only imagine how your mother would have wanted to be there. How if she had, maybe Sharnarrah wouldn’t have passed since your mother also missed Sharnnarrah something awful. 

“But you said your mother was my mother’s servant?” Glasha asked. 

“Yes and no. My mother was the first to discover how to grow breadseed from the poles in the mountain tops where the Mountain Blizzard Clan called home. And so she was in charge of planting the seeds and growing the crops. And she found it out by complete accident. But it was because of that, the Mountain Blizzard Clan survived harsh winters when there were a mass movements of peoples settling in the other unoccupied mountains. Thier movement and settling there drove away the natural prey items since the mountain clans’ diet consisted mostly of meat and mountain herbs that naturally grew there. And once my mother was able to cultivate breadseed, they had bread that didn’t need fields in the valleys to grow the wheat.” You revealed. 

“Sharnarrah and my mother grew up together from the time they were children. Sharnarrah’s mother Jaseeneh saved my mother and adopted her as her own and the two were raised as sisters. But to save my mother from being prey to other clans and specifically, other humans, Jaseeneh and Sharnarrah had to call my mother their servant and had to treat her as such in front of anyone outside of their own clan. My mother regrets leaving Sharnnarrah and Jaseeneh and Dastaneh and Justinough, who were effectively her adopted family- for my father. And she regrets that Sharnerrah, nor Jaseeneh could buy my father from Khagra since my father was Khagra’s servant and friend for most of his life. Khagra and his father had hoped if they lured my mother to their clan, Sharnnarah would follow. But Jaseeneh refused to let Sharnnarah come to the clan with my mother. Because Jaseeneh saw my mother as one of her own and in her mind in heart, they had already taken one of her daughters and did not treat her well enough for Jaseeneh’s taste, or Sharnarrah’s. And Jaseeneh was not about to let Sharnnarah do the same and suffer the same and was convinced that if they treated my mother as a slave and a servant that they would treat Sharnarrah the same, no matter how much they tried to say or at least do otherwise in her presence but with just a few words from my mother’s mouth, Jaseen and Sharnarrah knew not to trust a single thing they said because when they weren’t around, Bula was especially fierce towards her because Bula saw my mother as Sharnarrah’s sister and felt the need to be domineering towards her and remind her that ‘because she married a servant of Khagra, that made her a servant too along with all of her offspring’. And it didn’t help that my mother was human and reminded Bula of her own past with her uncle.” You confessed as you just closed your eyes and held Ori and swayed with her as Ori was perfectly happy and content to have you hold her and soothe her as she settled right down and immediately stopped being so fussy in your arms. 

It was probably a good thing you had closed your eyes because the look Zorroku and Crowthu shared spoke of their quiet rage about the matter as even Yotul blushed and looked away guiltily as she remembered how difficult she made Sharn’s life because of her own jealousy and worried about how Crowthu was going to view her sister and her mother over this.  

“Jaseeneh has never once come to see my mother because of how hurt she was that my mother chose my father over her and her family and her clan. Jaseeneh tried to make my mother a Visla, which is their clan’s version of Marfu. But my mother was already in love with my father and would not leave him for anything or anyone. Jaseeneh has never even tried to meet me or any of my siblings. I only know of her through her sons, Dastaneh and Justinough and their families when they come to sell and trade pink salt from thier mountian and we talk and serve as their “translators”. Everything that I have that is important and sentimental to me that I brought with me, has been a gift from Jaseeneh and her family. But she always insisted on not giving me or any of my siblings anything too big or rich because she feared Bula’s jealousy or any of her daughters or daughters in law taking it away from me or my sisters because we were servants after all and of course according to Bula- ‘no servant should have anything greater than their master’. Bula wouldn’t even let my mother have any alters to her gods. My mother and my siblings have tried making small totems of wood to be either worn or placed very discretely in our home but every time Bula has seen them, she has smashed them, and rebuked my mother for worshiping human gods, even though they weren’t human at all, they were Mountain Blizzard Clan gods. But Bula would never hear of any argument and any attempt was always met with severe discipline. And Bula hates it when we speak in Ragesh. She insists that we speak only Yowl or Kitch.” You revealed as you closed your eyes tighter as tears escaped them as Crowthu looked to Yotul who put up her hands in defeat. 

“That’s Bula’s business. I had nothing to do with it. I will never do anything like that to Belladonna. She is free to speak any language she wants and is free to worship who she wishes to, if Dowager Clan Chieftess Jaseeneh tried to make her mother a Visla, I will see her as one too and anything that was Sharnarrah’s that her daughters have not claimed will be hers as well. For I know Sharnarrah would be happy to have her niece back home.” Yotul quickly and readily assured her husband who smiled and nodded before Yotul ordered her servants to get everything that was Sharns that had been put into storage, to be delivered to your tent immediately. 

“I’m so sorry. If Sharnarrah had told me where your mother was, I would have reunited them.” Crowthu apologized. 

“Did Sharnarrah ever tell you where my mother was?” You asked him. 

“No. She never did, even on her deathbed, she wouldn’t say where she was. And no one in the clan has said anything about Oriannaregina. Only that she was once a close friend of Sharnarrah’s.” Crowthu shook his hand as tears came to his eyes at the memory. 

“That was probably to protect my mother and my father and my siblings because if Sharnarrah said that my mother was a sister, you would have no doubt killed us because we were not Mountain Blizzard Clan orcs, just humans, hiding in plain sight as Clan Chief Khagra’s personal servants. But the fact that Sharnarrah spoke of my mother at all, shows she must have forgiven my mother for leaving her, at least a little bit. Sharnarrah, according to my mother, was heartbroken and actually quite bitter when my mother fell in love with my father- to the point she became a servant right alongside him to stay with him. And leaving Sharnarrah and Jaseeneh were my mother’s biggest and deepest regrets. My mother was allowed to pilgrimage to the closest mountain to grow breadseed in the winter. And she could only look from that mountain to the other where the Mountain Blizzard Clan resided. Knowing she was so close but still so far away from them. My mother owed Jaseeneh her life and had repaid it by saving Jaseeneh’s and the rest of the clan from starvation several times. And it broke Jaseeneh’s heart that my mother would choose to love my father more than her, more than Sharnarrah, who was like a sister to her. Even when Jaseen’s other clan members adored my mother and tried to court her, but she did not return their feelings and politely refused their proposals.” You explained. 

“What did my grandmother save your mother from?” Zorroku asked softly before you reached up and you held a handful of your red hair before you went back to soothing Ori. 

“Your mother was born with red hair like you and was treated badly for it?” Zorroku asked with a deep frown as you sniffled and nodded yes. 

“Why? It’s just red hair, it’s not…” Zorroku asked.

“Because red hair was seen as a curse to the people where my mother’s family resided with. They came from an area of the home world that humans came from- four hundred years ago, when the spheres converged. They all associated red hair as being a child of the devils. And they claimed it was ‘red headed devils that brought the plague and then converged the spheres’. And when my mother was born it was a light reddish blonde hair, they took it as a sign that the devils were close and that the blonder the hair got, the farther away the devils were. So while it wasn’t obviously apparent, she was immediately made the object of suspicion by her whole village.” You revealed lowly. 

“But it’s just hair! It’s not something anyone can control.” Zorroku contested as the rest of his family was frowning too because this was the first they were hearing of such preposterous things. 

“But it was just a belief they brought over from the home world. The older my mother got, the darker her hair got and the more pronounced the red was. Especially in the winter when she wasn’t in the sun so much. Because her hair got lighter in the summer when she was out in the sun more. Even though her skin was very white and her skin would turn as red as her hair and then freckles would dirty up her skin. The whole village saw my mother’s freckles as her skin always being dirty. And my birth grandmother tried to scrub her skin raw trying to scrub them off so that she and her family were not seen as filthy and something to be avoided.” You explained. 

“But they’re so cute.” Zorroku blurted out as he argued which got you to smile and laugh through your tears. 

“Then you’re the first to see them and think that way.” You answered him. 

“According to the rest of my mother’s village, they associated every bad thing that happened to the village with my mother, and her family. To the point that when the green plague swept through, they put her on the sacrificial altar to their god. Since it was seen as a sign that the reason the plague came to them was because my mother was left alive and hadn’t been put to death at birth. But Jaseeneh and her clan were hunting in the woods nearby on that day. And when they heard my mother’s screams and her immediate family’s cries and screams, they came upon the scene to see my mother tied upon an alter and her family at her feet, being put to death. Their blood being splattered on my mother and the alter. Jaseeneh was incensed to see a child be put to death. So they interrupted the ceremony. And Jaseeneh cut my mother’s bonds with her own knife and took my mother as her own when she saw that my mother was only a small child and clearly too young and too innocent to be guilty of anything that deserved a punishment of death. And because Jaseeneh was the Clan Chieftess at the time, she ordered for the entire village to be put to death. Since they had already put my mother’s family to death for trying to stop the sacrifice. And they started with my mother’s mother and then her father and had started to kill off her siblings, starting with the eldest ones first, leaving my mother the only one left.” You recounted as more tears came from your eyes. 

“My mother’s father’s name was Zorroushku, and my mother’s- mother’s name was Glashnarra. Her brothers were named Grushnagah and Murnagah, and my mother’s sister’s name was Marnausta. So you are all named after my mother’s slaughtered family. All because they either bore or were a sibling to one with red hair.” You explained as Crowthu and his children felt like someone had just stabbed them through the heart to hear this.

“Fuck.” Crowthu breathed as he didn’t realize the significance of his children’s names, he just thought they were Mountain Bilzzard Clan names. 

“From that day until the day my mother left to marry my father. Jaseeneh saw my mother as her daughter. And Sharnarrah saw her as a sister and her best friend. And for Sharnnarrah to…” Your emotion cut off your words. 

“To say my mothers name. Something Sharnarrah swore to my mother the last time they saw each other and got into the worst fight they had ever gotten into. Sharnarrah insisted that if my mother wanted to be a slave so bad, that that was her choice and that she was going to forget all about her and never speak of her again. And that her name would never pass her lips and told my mother that if she spoke hers, that the gods would bring calamity upon her for not only abandoning her and her family but them too. But for Sharnnarrah to never reveal where my mother was, means that she still loved my mother enough to try to protect her. And my mother will be so heartbroken to hear it, but so proud to have Sharn’s own granddaughter named after her. Oriannaregina.” You cooed to Ori as you kissed the crown of her head affectionately as Yotul, while she had always felt competitive towards Sharn, to know this truth pulled at her own heartstrings as she herself felt so bad for not befriending Sharn herself and making her life hard enough that she missed her friend so much to call her name out on her deathbed. 

Zorroku couldn’t be more offended hearing this. He thought your red hair was so beautiful and so unique. But to hear that other humans thought it was a curse? That made no sense. Orcs loved everything red. Red was the patron color of Zighorh, the god of war. It was meant to show the blood spilled on the battlefield and every orc wore red warpaint when they rode into battle so that if they were wounded, either they or no one else would know until a warrior fell to the ground dead. Red was the color to signify for boys. Red was the color of honor and glory. And you had a head full of red. And it only seemed to awaken his need and want to go raiding, if only to provide more for you. It was such a beautiful shade of red, with deep oranges that reminded him of fires and the flames and of the sunrise and sunset. He needed to prove to you that such a wonderful thing should never be seen as a curse but a blessing! And he was grateful his grandmother put your mother’s village to death. Because if she had not, he would want to raid and destroy such a place himself at sunrise. Because righteous anger was blazing in his veins and in his heart. And he felt he needed to exterminate everyone who thought and felt that way. And from now on he would be watching every human when you were around them because if they even hinted at such a thing, he would make sure they never bothered you, let alone said such lies out loud.

[subtle-edge-of-rot]

Hey there Payton! I hope you're having an amazing day and congrats on almost 800 followers, or maybe you already have 800, idk lmao.

Anyways, I have come with what may be the last update I have with Work Guy. Saturday was unfortunately the last day that I get to work with him until probably August/September. Unless my boss can find someone to work the position that I have to fill in.

So, on Saturday he shared a lot with me. A lot of it was personal and cute family stories. He even showed me photos of his baby pigs since neither of us really have the time for me to go out there and look at them. It's kind of busy for us both, but I don't mind since he showed me pictures 😌 He remembered that I wanted to see them at least haha

He was also telling me about these motorcycle trips that he wants to go on, and that got me real excited. I love motorcycles, and I plan on learning this summer(I think I already said that before lmao.) But he was telling me about them and I told him a few that I wanted to go to. I said that I wanted to find a friend or two that would be willing to go with me, but didn't know if it would be too weird to say that we could go, maybe. Especially since we haven't hung out outside of work, yet.

Then his riding lawnmower that he was using kept dying on him. So he would come to look for me to get me to help him jump it. He was so freaking cute when he would come over. He would have his head ducked down, watching his feet until I stopped weed eating, then he would look up at me and give me a half smile and ask me to help him. I swear he looked like a lost puppy. He did catch me singing away to Stone Temple Pilots. I don't know if he actually heard me over the weed eater, or if he just saw me bobbing my head. He was smiling all goofy at me though 😭

He did end up looking for me again. I wandered off to weed eat the other side of the camp ground and when I was heading back to the truck to put more gas in it he was looking around for me and it was so fucking cute. He saw me and came over to me to ask me if I would help him jump the mower, again. The battery is shit, honestly.

Then when we were leaving for the day. I did tell him, "If you ever wanna go fishing, just let me know." Because I got nervous and I know he likes fishing even though he says he never has the time to. I didn't wanna say something that would be like- idk weird or lame. He just smiled down at me, since we were walking side by side to our vehicles and was all "Oh yeah?" And I got nervous and just nodded my head and said "Yeah, I could always use more fishing buddies." Which he just chuckled at and nodded. He didn't really say much so I hope I didn't say the wrong thing.

He does have to drive by the Pay Booth that I'll be working in starting tomorrow. So we'll see if he actually stops and talks with me for a bit, or if he just drives by like he and the guys last year did and just give me a quick wave. I don't really blame them since last year none of us really knew one another. Work Guy trained me last year for the Booth, but that was it. I was really awkward and he was too so we never tried to be friends until this year when we worked together every day for a little over a month. I really hope he comes to talk to me, but idk we'll see. I'm not really trying to chase a guy ever again or look needy, I don't need to be used again 😭 I'm hoping since I offered to let him go with my friends and I to the movies a couple weeks ago, also that I offered to go fishing with him if he ever wants to then he'll end up trying to reach out. Idk, we'll see. It has reached the waiting game era.

Hi Ori! I hope you’re having/had a good day! I’m not to 800 yet, still hanging out at 799! Hopefully we get to the big 800 here soon, I’m so excited!

Nooo this can’t be the last update!!! I love these updates so much.

I’m glad he opened up and showed you his piglets and he looked out for you. I think he’s gonna miss having you around, considering how often his battery died and he specifically asked *you* for help. I bet he can’t wait for August/September rolls around so he can see you at work again.

Definitely invite him to go fishing sometime! Don’t give up or anything. It sounds like he was happy you offered.

I’m sure he’s gonna say hi to you at the pay booth. It sounds like you two hit it off!

[jamaisjoons]

what is your fav thing about joon?

how he’s super respectful and always wants to shake people’s hands even though they don’t always reciprocate, and how he refers to people as sir/maam

he once said ‘i like peace, my favourite bird is the pigeon’ but he’s an idiot and he meant dove

going off number 2, alternatingly, how he got pigeon and dove confused but calls fruitflies by their scientific name aka drosophila 

how he thinks about love inclusively, not just the romantic kind but the friendship and familiar kind too

how he released mono because he wanted to be a source of comfort for all his fans and give them a hug even if he cant physically do it

how he said ‘mono’ means monster no more, meaning he’s let go of all that pent up rage and anger and all the negativity he had while being a teenager and how he’s found peace within himself, and how he’s grown emotionally and mentally and no longer feels angry at the world

how to spoke openly about going to therapy and getting help when you need it

how he speaks softly a lot of the time, and when he pauses and its almost like you can see his brain working, see him thinking and he’s completely beautiful

how his voice is low, and deep, and silky smooth, and how when i hear it its that feeling of drinking hot chocolate on a chilly day, just something so comforting

how he prefers sunset to sunrise (just like me) but how he likes being out at dawn when everyone else is asleep (again like me)

how he wrote moonchild for the people who feel most happy at night, for those who felt like ‘they can’t breathe during the day’ and how he believes the night sets him free

how he enjoys just,, being, in nature - going on walks, taking bike rides with jimin down han river

how he looks when he has no make up on and his hair is falling in front of his eyes and he just looks so soft and adorable

how he likes using filters on his vlive, especially the really cute ones and how i will deadass fight that fan who told him to stop using them because on god he deserves happiness in the little things and if filters make him happy then you BET he should use them

how his entire face lights up when he’s happy, and the way it scrunches when he sees things that are cute

how he’s so big and yet so gentle with everything - the way he picks up crabs, and frogs, and any small creatures - but he handles them with utmost care because he knows his strength and he would never willingly hurt any living creature

how he likes ryan from kkt and has a bunch of merch but freely admits he prefers brown from line jfsjfjsjfjd and how he has a collection of both of those as well as K.A.W.S. like he’s really just an adorable little nerd

how sometimes when he laughs he buries his face into his hand or his shoulders, and how sometimes his eyes are wide and his mouth is open and you can see his tongue

how he dressed up like an astronaut for the 2018 MAMA performance and did his little move and then fell on the ground in the most cUTEST way possible - and then his legs were all stretched out but he stayed on the ground

how he can be hella petty - like when he admitted his sister pissed him off one day and before they were going to school, it was raining, and he took all the umbrellas in the house so she’d have to walk to school in the rain

how when he was younger his dream was to be a security guard because it shows just how sweet he is and how much he wants to protect people, and how he does it every day just by being him and encouraging people to continue on even if they’re struggling

how much he loves his mother

how he gets annoyed with rap mon for not remembering who he is even thought monie is named after him

how even though he’s not a major vocalist, his husky, low-toned voice sounds so beautiful and calming

how he sings in the shower but gets clowned for it

how when he gets excited he physically can’t contain himself and runs around with a little bounce and the happiest expression

alternatively, how sometimes he just bounces in place instead of running around

how frustrated he gets when people aren’t listening to him and he throws a soft tantrum

how quick his mind works and how unbelievably intelligent he is

how he’s big but his sneezes are soft and quiet, and his face scrunches up and then his entire head shakes

how sweet he looks when he’s sleeping, all nestled in the covers and his cheeks full

how he has a mole on his neck just below his jaw

how clumsy he is and how easily he breaks things as if he doesn’t know his own strength

how he takes care of the members as much as he can, but how he equally needs to be taken care of

how he is a hazard to himself and is so smart yet doesn’t know basic things like how to use a knife or to NOT touch boiling pasta

how he’s so big but if he curls up into himself he looks so small

the way his nose wrinkles when he’s confused

that stupid ahahAHAHAHA laugh he does

the fact that he grows bonsai and has named them - ‘cherry blossom baby’ ‘jjin jjin’ ‘cherry’ and ‘orihime’ who he calls ori as a nickname and that he also talks to them

how he said he will wear whatever - regardless of ‘gender’ stereotypes

how he’ll sit on the side and simply watch the rest of bangtan with the proudest, sappiest smile because he knows they’re happy and because they’re his entire happiness

how he does aegyo and then immediately gets shy afterwards

how gentle and delicate his features are, and yet so unbelievably handsome and sexy he is at the same time

how he’s the gentlest giant to ever exist

how he lets bangtan do whatever they want to him - like wipe cake onto his face, or squish his cheeks, and he accepts it all with the patience of a saint

how he gives love freely and loves freely but never asks for anything in return even though he deserves it and everything

how he has a sweet tooth, and eats spoonfuls of sugar, and how he believes that even when the world ends people who make cotton candy should continue existing

how humble he is, despite being in the biggest boy group in the world, but how he never fails to thank the staff, the people who work with them, their dancers, the stage crew, the directing crew or whatever

how he can’t take a compliment without getting incredibly shy

how he learned to love himself over the years

how he’s so willing to let people use him for them to learn to love themselves

how he made me fall in love with the world again, and it’s beauty, and reminded me that there is good in the world

how he is my source of strength and happiness

how his words and existence bring me comfort

how he saved my life

and a whole bunch of other reasons that i cannot remember because i’m crying