#Stallion Moving and Storage | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

acapelladitty · 1 year ago

Text

thinnest thread, sown together

Summary: After an accident, Cooper leaves Lucy to patch up his leather duster for him but when he returns he finds that she's used his absence as an opportunity for a private indulgence (AKA: Cooper walks in on Lucy masturbating). [3.2k words]

(tw: voyeurism, vague threats, teasing, masturbation, mentions of drug use, orgasm, coming in pants)

Fic Masterlist

Link to AO3

"Try not to fuck this up, vaultie. I'm fond of that coat, you hear me?"

"Heard you the first three times, boss."

An unfortunate and somewhat embarrassing accident involving wooden boards and a protruding scrap of sheet metal had proven too much for Cooper's coat, the leather duster having almost split in half due to the pressure of the metal cleaving its way through the material as he descended in a undignified heap.

Lucy was a smart enough girl to know not to laugh, but the noise which escaped the ghoul as he had fallen sat somewhere between a deflating balloon and a startled deathclaw so the effort it had taken for her to not bust out into a giggle was borderline heroic.

The fault was Cooper's own, his footing misstepping due to his attention being pulled away by the distant sound of gunfire - the origins of it unknown but never anything good. It had been enough to throw him off though, and Cooper had sworn up a storm as he tripped on a loose board and smashed through the rickety walkway with such an undignified noise.

Not the end of the world but the genuine distress which seemed to briefly touch at Cooper's face as he recovered from the fall and examined his tattered jacket before his eyes had moved Lucy to offer to fix it up, knowing that he already owned a rusted needle and thread among the various practical belongings he had strewn around his person.

Presumably, they were the same ones he'd previously used to sew the top of her finger onto his own to replace the missing digit she'd torn off with her teeth. She didn't regret it since he'd deserved that and worse for treating her more shittily than that dog that followed him around at times, but she was curious.

More than once her gaze had lowered to her displaced finger, the lightened tone of her smooth skin a stark contrast to his own, and she wondered how it must feel. To have her as a part of him. Did it feel any different? The sight of it made something odd roil in her chest; a stunning mixture of curiosity, vague disgust, and a pleasant warmth that no matter what he did or how their partnership ended, he would always carry that little part of her whether he liked it or not.

However, that was a discussion which she hadn't broached yet but it was always there ticking away in the back of her mind.

Despite knowing that he was perfectly capable, Lucy found her offer of her sewing skills being met with quick acceptance and Cooper had moved like hell itself as he sourced her a table and room to work, securing their accommodation for the night in an old storage unit which was little more than two rooms filled with old, empty crates and not much else.

She set to work as diligently as she had the rest of the miserable and shitty tasks he assigned to her, each designed to test her skills or teach her a valuable lesson in survival. This though, she had taken to with a small smile, the repetitive and willing task remindering her of a more simple time back in her vault. Sewing circle with the others had been a blast of fun and constant gossip and she did miss it at times.

A memory stirred as Cooper watched her from his standing position a few feet behind her turned back. He saw Barb, sitting at their kitchen table doing much the same as she mended the tears in his pants after he'd taken a tumble off one of the more unstable stallions. But, just as quickly as it arose, he banished the memory away as he often did with thoughts of his ex-wife - the hurt which accompanied them making him instantly sour and grow more volatile than he would like.

Since discovering his previous life as an actor, Lucy's attitude and actions around him had been different and, more than once, he had caught her staring at him with those big, doe eyes of hers. What was surprising more than anything was that the attention didn't irritate him as much as he thought it would and he wasn't ignorant to the slight blush that stained her cheeks when he caught her making a moon face at him.

Seemed that Lucy Maclean had developed herself quite the little liking to him and he had taken that discovery into his stride with a smug gleefullness. He had always been a proud man and to have such an attractive thing interested in him had cracked open a facet of his personality that had long since closed itself off to the world.

Cooper Howard had always been a flirt, incorrigible in his prime, and those mean little teases which he afforded Lucy punished him as much as her as he refused to follow up on them. He hadn't lied when he said Lucy Maclean wasn't ready for him and that same pride refused to allow him to take any real advantage of her, knowing that in the long run, she'd probably thank him for not poisoning her with his own bullshit.

But still, he lived for the game and this was just another way to play. A bit of fun to pass the time until they had dealt with her daddy and he had found the truth of his daughters' whereabouts.

If he were honest with himself, a feat in its own given his choices, something unfamiliar and warm tugged at his stomach every time he considered the fact that Lucy's fancies had taken root with him as he was now. Not Cooper Howard, famed movie star, but Cooper Howard, ghoul and scourge of the wastelands. It was a feeling locked away with the end of the world he had known and better left by the wayside.

Besides, it was much easier to channel that warmth into some playful teasing.

Pressing himself firmly against her as she leaned diligently over his coat, his stomach was flush against her back and he felt the shiver which rolled down her spine as he engulfed her senses. She hid it well, could have easily passed it off as a natural reaction to a monster forcing its way into her personal space, but Cooper knew better.

"Don't take an attitude with me, vaultie. Your damn fault it ripped in the first place. Lucky for you that I'm a kindly man and I ain't ripping your shirt off to keep us on that equal streak we've been enjoying these last few weeks."

Her head snapping up vertically to face him as he loomed over her, Lucy's expression was as open as ever to him as he took in the torrid mixture of irritation, focus, and mild arousal which his determined positioning was causing her.

And just like that, there was that little flush of colour, sitting high on her cheeks and making him hold back a smirk as he at played her like an old fiddle.

"My shirt wouldn't fit you." Was her impressive comeback after a few silent moments of intense consideration, her mouth set into a proud line as she made her point.

"Never said I'd be wearing it, sweetheart." Cooper answered, pushing her head even further back into his stomach with the pressure of a single finger on her forehead. "What I did say is that you would be losing it. I mean, that's your golden rule, after all. Do unto others what you'd have done unto you? Hrm?"

"I never took your jacket." Lucy defended hotly.

"Well it's between your hands, ain't it?"

"Only because-"

"Enough arguing, darling." Cutting her off to frustrate her evern further, Cooper dropped his hands to the pockets of his filthy slacks. "Now I'm gonna leave on a scouting trip for five, maybe six hours, so you get that jacket all patched up and looking pretty and I'll see about forgetting what I was talking about."

Silently seething but perking up at the thought of getting to enjoy some alone time as her back felt wickedly hot from Cooper standing flush against her skin, Lucy did everything in her power to not think about the slight bulge which pressed between her shoulder blades nor the infuriating man it belonged to.

"Whatever." Lucy announced after a pause, nodding her head forward once more as she went back to mending his coat with dexterous fingers. "Try to pick up something freshly killed on the way back because your latest batch of ass jerky tastes like shit."

Having taken to calling anything Cooper hunted and cooked 'ass jerky', Lucy had yet to actually try any of his cannibalistic delicacies and, even more surprising, Cooper had never actively offered her any; appearing to almost go out of his way to find excuses for her to be denied it.

Chuckling at the rare swear from her, a sign that she was truly annoyed with him, Cooper tutted his disapproval with a soft headshake.

"Sounds good to me, valutie. Maybe you should see about washing that filthy fucking mouth out with soap before I return, huh?"

x-x-x-x-x

Arriving back from his scouting trip a few hours earlier than he expected to, Cooper heard nothing as he silently entered the first room of the storage unit. A quick hunt had pulled up nothing too fresh so shit-tasting ass jerky was back on the menu for another night for the little food critic vaultie.

Cooper dropped his gun and holster to the top of a nearby storage box, the lock rusting and clearly having been opened through sheer brute force many years previously. Against all odds, he had found himself actively missing his coat as he traversed the vast dusted grounds which surrounded the storage unit.

So used to its presence, the absence of the familiar feel of the softened leather pressing against his shoulders had made him feel oddly vulnerable as his fingers flexed and twitched towards phantom pockets. He had been quick to the trigger, gun pulled and pointed at the slightest noise as his heightened senses refused to allow him to relax on the small trip.

And, as much as it irritated him, the thought of the little vaultie hunched over his coat and fixing it up like a kept housewife amused him in a way which he found hard to pin down.

Speaking of the little vaultie, her absence in the main room was odd; particularly since the table she had preciously occupied with his coat was abandoned. It was an absence which made him curious rather than worried as she would not have left without him or without having achieved their shared goal of knocking her daddies teeth down his smug throat.

No.

She was too smart to leave.

So that would mean...

Peering in through the rounded window which sat near the top of the door that led to the second room, Cooper had to press his lips together in an instant as his cock stiffened in his pants and his eyes widened at the filthy sight which awaited him.

Unaware that Cooper's scouting trip had been cut shorter than anticipated, Lucy Maclean had apparently taken his absence as a rare excuse for some self-pleasure and, god-fucking-damn, did she seem to be enjoying herself.

Her upper body reclined against the metallic wall, her ass resting on a wooden crate as one leg hung loosely down the side of it, the other pulled up so her foot also sat atop the crate. Her knees were spread wide, the angle enough to allow her easy access to her dripping cunt without having to bend. Head tipped back against the wall, her fingers moved quickly between her slickened folds and Cooper couldn't bring himself to turn away even as shame at his own voyeurism trickled down his spine.

Falling loosely around her shoulders, Lucy's hair was in a wild state of disarray as the constant roll of her head against the wall had messed up any sense of order in the dark strands.

The only sounds in the immediate vicinity came from her, muted gasps and whimpers slipping free of her lips as her other hand split its attention between pressing against her mouth to muffle anything louder than a whine and pinching at her breasts; slender fingers rolling across her darkened nipples as they remained peaked in the warm air.

She was fucking beautiful and, as much as filthy shame continued to creep across his skin at watching her like this, Cooper found he couldn't tear his eyes away as his gaze filtered over her creamy skin, imagining how soft it would feel under his calloused hand and blunted teeth.

He knew that she had quite the little sex drive, her crossed arms having more than once demanded time or space to indulge her needs. In those moments, where she was commanding and confident in her expectations, an aspect of her personality that she didn't indulge nearly enough, he found it maddeningly endearing and it drove him more wild than she ever needed to know.

Snatching her fingers away from her left nipple, her hand dropped to something by her side and Cooper almost gave the game away as a lustful growl was quickly caught by the back of his gloved hand as his cock jerked within his slacks.

There, clenched between Lucy's fingers was his goddamn jacket; the mended leather bunching up between her digits as she simultaneously rode the fingers on her other hand - the fingers there moving in tandem and they stroked and pinched and fucked into her cunt with a steady rhythm.

"Cooper." She muttered and a sensation, not unlike freezing cold water being shucked across his body, tensed Cooper's spine as he realised he'd been caught. However, the panicked feeling passed just as quickly as Lucy's soft voice followed up with a very breathy. "Please."

She was thinking about him and that revelation was almost enough to have him shooting off in his pants like a schoolboy. Her eyes remained closed, fingers moving even more quickly as they slipped from steadily pumping within her to circle around her clit, teasing herself as she imagined him.

Thought about him.

Pictured his fingers in place of her own.

Feeling very hot under the collar and fighting the urge to say 'to hell with it' and announce himself, Cooper dropped the heel of his gloved hand to his groin - rubbing at his trapped cock through the fabric as he watched her. Fresh shame, hot and heavy, swept across his irradiated skin as his tongue slipped free to lick as his dry lips.

There had been an old fling, a women he'd met on a hunt about a decade before the whole shitshow with Don Pedro had gone down. A ghoul like him, she was hellfire in a handbag and quicker with a gun than most of the slingers he'd met.

She'd caught him at a sloppier time in his past and he had taken full advantage of their whirlwind mess to indulge his own worst traits. The chem flowed easier in those times and the other drugs she scored made the hard days all the sweeter as they snorted and fucked and inhaled themselves into a proper mess.

However, even that didn't last and one day he had awoken from a stupor to find that she had disappeared and moved on without him.

Fuck, he couldn't even remember her name, but what he could remember was the feeling of her lips on his cock and the way she could perfectly balance a powdered line on his chest as she bit her way down his skin, occasionally drawing blood and making him gasp.

She had been as rotten as him, just two ghouls numbing themselves to the state of the world for a couple of weeks as they waited for the inevitable to take them.

Hell, some of the shit they got up to would probably blow the vaulties head clean off if he described them to her. But then, she was so different to the rest that he couldn't help but wonder how she liked it.

Would she grit her teeth and moan through the pain as he fucked himself inside her, stretching her out to accommodate his size? Or would she grin that little feral smile he'd seen playing on her lips when she achieved some bloodstained victory and push back at him to demand more?

His cock twitched against his palm, the length feeling more uncomfortably trapped as he rubbed himself through his slacks, not quite trusting himself to pull it free. It was torture but, lucky for him, he was used to that by now.

Goddamn Lucy Maclean and her wicked ways had him pawing at himself like a mindless beast. Like one of those mutated things that roamed the outskirts of the desert with nothing but base desire guiding its thoughts.

Rolling his tongue against his teeth, he could imagine how good she would feel under his mouth. Her soft skin, pillowy and firm between his teeth as he teased the strength of it; biting enough to threaten the unblemished creaminess as she arched her back and pressed harder into his mouth. The taste of her sweat, fresh and mounting, as he trailed his mouth lower, lips teasing their way along her hips and inner thighs until she was a trembling mess ready for him to consume her like she knew he wanted.

In her panicked babble as she had first offered him sex, she had tried to offer the use her mouth and he gazed at her lips now, plump and wettened by her own tongue, and he could almost feel the wicked softness of them wrapped around his cock; her greedy tongue pulling him deeper as he gripped her hair within his hand and met her eyes while he buried his cock deep within her clenching throat.

Lost in the fantasy, his thoughts boldened by his voyeurism as he watched her curl her fingers expertly within her cunt, Cooper came with a muted grunt - the disgrace of his release instantly trapping within his pants as the sticky mess quickly irritated him with how heated and uncomfortable it felt.

Lucy still wasnt finished, her casual edging of her own pleasure only making her move more slowly as she built herself back up to the point of release. Her grip on his coat flexed with each pump of her fingers as she enjoyed herself, still unaware of the struggling ghoul who observed her with heated eyes.

Backing away from the door with regret etched in the lines of his features, Cooper silently exited the storage unit once again as he recalled a nearby barrel of water - the stagnant liquid probably decent enough to allow him to clean off his mess and hide all evidence of his unexpected show.

Her innocent question rattled through his mind once more, the weeks old offer still as fresh as ever in its casualness.

Do you want to have sex?

And, after that little taste, Cooper felt a weight lift off his shoulders as he settled on the fact that, yes, if Lucy Maclean - with her big eyes and busy fingers - asked him again, then he would take her up on her very generous offer, consequences be fucking damned.

Links to the rest of the series:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

#VERY fond of this chapter ngl. voyeurism is always a beloved #lucy maclean #cooper howard #ghoulcy #ghoul x lucy #vaultghoul #cooper howard x lucy maclean #fallout tv series #fallout fanfic #fallout fic #cooper x lucy #lucy x cooper #lucy x ghoul #lucy maclean fanfic #cooper howard fanfic #fallout 2024 #walton goggins #ella purnell

164 notes · View notes

baronessofmischief · 2 years ago

Text

Because I think the Razor Crest was built more for bulk efficiency as a gun ship than it was built for speed (though it’s nothing to sneer at there), I think Mando’s ability to maneuver it is a large part of why and how he’s capable of doing so well in dog fights and running from the cops. It can take a hit and keep on moving, and Mando knows his ship well enough that he can make those split second calls and pilot how he needs to.

The N-1 is fast and responsive on the controls, but it’s got nothing in bulk or armor as far as defense is concerned, and it also has nothing by way of storage or cargo capabilities. Its defense is simply being fast enough to evade getting shot. Mando the character was designed to take a hit and keep moving forward, purposefully armored in a way that allows him to endure a fight— The Crest was designed to reflect its owner, the N-1 not so much

With that analysis in mind, I think it’s much more likely that cowboy!Mando’s Crest in an old west au is actually a mule, not a horse. The N-1 might be the fastest stallion alive, but it’s nothing compared to a mule that’s say, half mammoth Jack and half Belgian mare. I think the biggest horse on record, Brooklyn Supreme, was a Belgian if that gives you an idea of size and silhouette

Big, strong, smart, all-terrain half-draft horse that can endure a rough trail and hard work hauling outlaws is much more in line with what purpose it would serve his character. A mule has the best qualities of both animals, and it’s still going to be intimidating to come up against. Mando’s an endurance hunter, and he needs a steed that reflects and enables that

(Visual aid for said donkey and horse, respectively. ID in alt text)

#the mandalorian #Star Wars au #din djarin #Additionally #Though he’d definitely have a rifle with a long range scope #I think the Amban rifle equivalent would be a shotgun #Mammoth jacks and Belgian mares do make the best mules #It’s funny that you have to cross a horse with a donkey to make it smarter #I think a blue roan draft horse would be an acceptable substitute but it still wouldn’t have the donkey’s smarts #However I can’t find a good blue roan mule pic and that coat pattern IS the best visual for a metal gunship kind of look

36 notes · View notes

benchmarkgeneralcontractors · 4 days ago

Text

From Blueprint to Reality – Florida’s Renovation & Construction Pros

Each successful business begins with a strong foundation - literally. In Florida's dynamic commercial landscape, having a reliable team for both new buildings and upgrading can cause all differences. At Stallion Moving and Storage, we connect clients with top-tier professionals for commercial construction and renovation in Florida, ensuring your vision becomes reality.

Whether you imagine a state office, a stylish retail or a skilled industrial trait, our reliable network of experts is ready to bring your ideas to life. We believe in strategic plan, transparent communication and careful execution - from the blueprint phase to the final inspection.

Why Choose Our Florida Renovation & Construction Pros?

✅ Expertise in commercial builds and renovations across industries

✅ Partnerships with licensed, insured, and trusted general contractors in Florida

✅ Seamless project management from start to finish

✅ Customized design solutions tailored to your business needs

✅ Strong focus on timelines, budget control, and code compliance

✅ Modern upgrades that increase property value and usability

Commercial construction and renovation Florida projects are just as vital as new builds. Whether it’s a full interior remodel, exterior facelift, or workspace modernization, our team ensures minimal business disruption while maximizing long-term value.

If you're ready to take your commercial space from concept to completion, trust Florida’s top renovation and construction pros. Let Stallion Moving and Storage guide your next project—where precision meets performance.

📞 Contact Us

Ready to start planning your project? Reach out to our trusted partner:

Phone: 239-466-1590

Email:[email protected]

Address: 16836 McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers, Florida 33908

Whether you prefer a call, email, or filling out their message form, their team is ready to discuss your commercial construction or renovation needs!

#commercial #construction #home renovation contractors #builder #florida

0 notes

cryolabltd · 2 months ago

Text

How Cryolab Can Help in Horse Cryopreservation

Cryopreservation plays a pivotal role in modern equine reproduction, offering breeders, veterinarians, and researcher’s powerful tools to preserve valuable genetics, improve breeding efficiency, and support international transport of reproductive material. Whether it’s elite sport horses, rare breeds, or high-value stallions, the ability to cryopreserve sperm, embryos, and oocytes opens new frontiers in genetic preservation and performance breeding.

Cryolab supports this critical industry with state-of-the-art cryogenic storage and shipping solutions. Our CryoNest® Series of LN₂ storage tanks and CryoStork® Series of dry shippers are engineered for precision, reliability, and compliance -ensuring your equine samples are preserved in optimal conditions from collection to use.

In the world of horse breeding, genetic preservation is essential not just for commercial breeding but also for safeguarding biodiversity. Cryopreservation of equine semen and embryos allows breeders to extend the reproductive lifespan of a stallion, transport genetics internationally without moving animals, preserve genetics from top-performing horses for future generations, and protect against loss due to injury, illness, or death. These applications are especially important in equestrian sports and conservation efforts, where selective breeding is key to performance and preservation.

Cryolab’s CryoNest® Series of LN₂ Storage Tanks are designed to offer unmatched thermal stability for the long-term preservation of equine sperm and embryos. Built with advanced insulation, these tanks maintain temperatures at -196°C with minimal nitrogen loss, protecting the cellular integrity of reproductive material. The racked systems allow for organised storage and quick access, while models ranging from XL to XXXL (95L–175L capacity) are available to meet the demands of breeding centres, stud farms, and research labs. Features such as low evaporation rates, temperature monitoring, and pressure relief mechanisms ensure security and efficiency.

For veterinarians and equine clinics needing to ship preserved samples across distances, Cryolab’s CryoStork® Series of vapour-phase dry shippers offer a safe and certified solution. With five models from V2 to V10, these dry shippers provide secure transport of semen or embryos while maintaining cryogenic conditions throughout transit. Designed for both short- and long-haul journeys, CryoStork® units come with UKCA and CE certifications and a 3-year vacuum warranty. Optional temperature data loggers and protective trolleys enhance monitoring and mobility during shipping.

Cryolab’s cryogenic systems serve equine reproductive specialists worldwide by ensuring reliable preservation, secure transport, and full compliance with veterinary and transport regulations. From collecting semen in the field to long-term storage in a centralised facility or international transport for breeding, Cryolab supports every step of the cryopreservation process.

Whether you’re preserving the genetics of a champion racehorse or transporting embryos for global breeding partnerships, Cryolab is your trusted partner in equine cryogenic preservation.

For more information on how Cryolab’s CryoNest® and CryoStork® Series can support your horse cryopreservation goals, or to request a quote, contact us at www.cryolab.co.uk

0 notes

serenebeasts · 2 years ago

Text

This will probably have been in the drafts for a while by the time it’s posted because there’s a lot and I get tired SDKFJSFDKS but without further ado: the WIP rundown no one asked for.

Organised at the very least by subject matter, because while I may be out of control, I’m not a heathen.

WARNING: these won’t be spoiler-free.

Also, I’m noting this here because otherwise I’ll one hundred percent keep restating it with half the items on the list: I like angst I like to have fun :)

This is about to be so long. I apologise in advance if you’re of a mind to read the whole thing, and I thank you if you manage it.

Akash: Path of the Five

Ignatius/Aurora body painting – Ignatius asks Aurora if he can practice the art of body painting on her! Body-painting ensues, and also kissing. Aurora flirts with her man, her man loses his composure several times. Post-game, maybe post-wedding but I haven't decided that yet.

Andromeda Six

“I loved you, Vexx.” – f!Traveller/Vexx. You know that one scene in the storage room where the Traveller is supposed to interrogate Vexx but then you have the option of making things a bit emotional? Yeah.

Post-episode 5 – Because for some reason I wanted to sit in the feeling of terror and panic after Vexx gets shot. There will be content warning tags for medical procedures. I’m undecided on whether it’ll be Vexx route or Damon route, but either way Reba has a lot of love in her heart for Vexx and she is very worried for him.

Wereshark Vexx – More of a general AU idea than an actual work-in-progress at this stage, but it’s horny. Safety-for-work to be determined. Also, it has “wild stallion tamed by a teenage girl” energies, but instead of an untamed herbivore it has Vexx with some kind of metamorphosing virus, and instead of an adolescent schoolkid it has 20-something Princess Reba.

Blooming Panic

“Make me.” – xyx and lovelylola experience everyone’s favourite ‘challenge your significant other in a loving but definitely not god-honouring way’ trope, with LL as the perpetrator. A series of little moments, all inspired by the appearance of that line in the actual game.

Changeling

Ewan/Nora Build-A-Bear – Ewan and Nora go to the aforementioned store. Nora is an agent of chaos and somehow manages to create the perfect Ewan Bear despite the fact that there is no such real-life thing as Headless Teddy (trust me, I scoured the website. But you bet I'm making it work). I’m having maybe too much fun using the Build-A-Bear creation process as a narrative device.

Dragon Age

A Weakened Mind – Fenris/f!Hawke. DA2 Fenris + a combination of canonical spells that have an effect which is similar to the Feeblemind spell from D&D 5e = pain.

Gang AU – f!Cousland/Zevran. It's an Origins gang AU. She has bits of a fic but no plot, your honour.

Post-Enemies Among Us – Hawke being like “Ah. Mind control. These are the continued consequences of me not minding my own business. We love purposely not sleeping in case we were going to have nightmares.”

Twinblades – f!Cousland/Zevran. You know how in Awakening the flavour text for these default daggers equipped to a rogue Warden is like “these belonged to some guy from Nevarra for like a day but then they were nicked”? Here’s a concept: Zevran took them for his babygirl (gender neutral). Unclear how integral the daggers are to the plot as a whole, but they are very important to the beginning of the fic.

Fire Emblem

“Who is that?” – Gaius/f!Robin. An expansion on Robin and Gaius meeting in the Shepherds’ base camp, because in game it’s (I think?) Chrom who has to speak to him to recruit him, and I was like “But how does the tactician who now has to fit another moving part into the battle plan feel about this? And how does Gaius feel about the strange-looking but also very pretty tactician?”

Jeralt is Dead – Pain! Grief! Academy phase Byleth struggling to process her father’s death, the Blue Lions not knowing how to help her process it!

Kill Miklan again – Sylvain/f!Byleth. Post-game, some mage somewhere finds TOWSITD’s necromancy handbook and goes “You know what we should do with this? Bring back the Ashen Demon’s husband’s piece of garbage brother. Great plan, team! We won’t be hunted down and made to pay for our crimes at all!”

Lorenz/Marianne first date jitters – Post-game. Lorenz Hellman Gloucester puts his big boy boots on and woos Marianne von Edmund, like the newly-realised Actually A Genuinely Nice Man that emotional maturity has helped him become. We all clap for him.

Student Byleth AU – More of a collection of ficlets than one whole piece, but all of them feature Byleth as a student at the Academy rather than one of the teachers.

Sylvain/f!Byleth Hanahaki AU – The general storyline probably speaks for itself, but I ask the additional question: what if mutual pining meant double the sickness?

Sylvain/f!Byleth modern jousting performer AU – Sylvain Jose ‘I embody the Showy Horseman knightly archetype’ Gautier works for an entertainment company which I’ve described in my notes as being Medieval Times mixed with WWE. He flirts with Byleth ‘I’m a world-famous pop star but I also like swords so I have a season pass to the fake joust show’ Eisner a lot. Also, Jeralt says ‘canoodling’.

Sylvain/f!Byleth smut – There’s a bit of background to set the scene, but not much active plot once things get rolling. Sylvain has been in Fhirdiad, Margravine Byleth has been running the show in Gautier. Reunion time!

The Cat – I’m not sure if I want to finish this one, but the gist of it is that in academy phase there is this one very large tomcat which has decided to hang out in the Blue Lions classroom, and he’s in a bit of a state because he’s unwell. I’ve mostly been pantsing so I don’t know what the fuller plot is, but there will be a time jump to war phase and the big fluffy guy will come back looking strong and hearty. Something along the lines of ‘parallels between Dimitri Then and Dimitri Now, but with contrast provided by the physical wellbeing of a domesticated feline’.

The Grand Cathedral of Garreg Mach – Azure Moon. Getting fancy with the metaphors again to compare the absolute state the cathedral is in at the beginning of war phase to the absolute state of one Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd during the same time period. The cathedral gets repaired as time passes; Dimitri's mental health improves with some care and patience from those around him. Hints of Sylveth.

Greedfall

“Governor’s legates aren’t quite the same as Naut captains, my love.” – A fun little drabble about my De Sardet and Vasco having morning snuggle time and debating whether she really needs to get out of bed and attend to paperwork right this minute.

Dearest Constantin – De Sardet writing a letter that she'll never send, because she killed her cousin for the greater good.

Hades

“Am I a monster, Achilles?” – Zagreus asks Achilles for some good old-fashioned father-figure-brand reassurance because he just got his ass beat by Theseus, a.k.a. The hero king who did all of that neat stuff with killing bad guys and was granted Elysium, and his self-esteem is not high.

Hypnos/Zagreus smut – Barely any background and no plot to speak of.

Mass Effect

“Tell me something about you, Commander Shepard.” – Garrus/f!Shepard. We start during 1, with Garrus querying Shepard in an effort to foster a positive relationship between them, because at that stage he’s one of exactly two non-humans on the Normandy and it seems wise to make friends with the commanding officer. ‘Tell me something’ quickly becomes A Thing That The Commander And Garrus Do at incidental points across the trilogy.

“There are aliens on deck.” – My humble contribution to the classic ‘Shepard squares up with someone being less than polite about her alien crew’ scenario, but this time the perpetrator is also a Normandy crew member. No xenophobes allowed on this starship.

Alchera – The requisite expansion on Hackett’s assignment to collect dog tags and sight out a spot for a memorial on that one particular ice planet where Shepard, y’know. Died.

Banner of the First Regiment – Inspired by the turians in Purgatory who are looking for the titular artefact in 3. Shepard finds the banner and returns it, as one does when one is doing a playthrough where one is trying to do all possible assignments, and the officer buys her a drink, which turns into a drinking contest. As I was brainstorming ideas for it, I started drawing connections between the implied situation of the First and the Tennyson poem The Charge of the Light Brigade, so that will probably have some significance.

Everyone has heard of Commander Shepard. – From the POV of an as-yet nameless and faceless Alliance marine assigned to the Normandy after the Reapers first hit Earth. It’s had a few facelifts since I first started drafting it, but the core of it is a third-person perspective of Shepard at the beginning of 3 with a few hops forward in time up to and including the pickup of a certain turian sniper at Menae.

Garrus is… – Garrus/f!Shepard. The classic ‘using repetition to show something evolving while having a constant at its core’ technique.

Hell hath no fury like Shepard defending her crew. – Another one with not much of a plot yet; thus far it’s pretty much just some sections of one scene and that’s it. A rando on the Presidium starts trash talking the Normandy crew, and my dear darling Aspen Shepard reacts as any self-respecting Australian does when overhearing baseless trash talk about her friends: immediately starts shit with said rando about it.

Home – Garrus/f!Shepard. Truly disgusting fluff about Shepard having a bricks-and-mortar home that she owns for the first time in her life, thanks to Anderson’s gift. Kind of a collection of moments rather than a full narrative, but what’s important is that one of them involves Shepard asking Garrus to move in.

Lost But Not Forgotten – ME Andromeda. If you’ve played Andromeda then you’ll probably recognise the title because I lifted it directly from the questline about searching for the turian Pathfinder. In my outline notes I’ve written, and I quote, “I wonder if Ryder and Avitus would trauma or grief bond about them being Pathfinders for their respective races, and having become such Specifically because the previous Pathfinders intentionally put Ryder and Avitus before themselves because they loved them”, so that's more or less the gist, with a side of ‘Avitus was Macen’s second, but Ryder was just Alec’s kid’.

Post-EC ending – Shepard lives (😤) and, after a period of recovery and a lengthy negotiation during which she has every right to ensure her requests are met with no conditions, she gets a cruiser and a small crew and goes off to do something I haven’t plotted yet because all I have written is the emotionally compromising first chapter, post-game, from Garrus’ POV.

Sole Survivor – Everyone loves a good bit of pre-canon speculation on what kind of hell a character went through during XYZ backstory element, right?

Monster Hunter

Rider and Kyle being enemies – In context of the story progression of Wings of Ruin, the main character and Kyle resolve their differences fairly quickly. But what if they were only allies for the sake of saving the world, didn’t actually like each other or get along outside of world-saving tasks (although Kyle makes a half-hearted effort at first), and continued to butt heads for several years afterwards?

Pokémon

Crime de la Crime – Guzma/OC. The providence of this one can be traced directly back to the fateful day I entered my local cinema and watched ‘Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)’, to use that masterpiece’s full government name. Chaotic ‘hero versus… villain, question mark?’ AU, where Casey is the super-powered Spitfire and Guzma is the master thief known as Shadow.

First date – Guzma/OC. This is by no means their ‘canonical’ first date, as it were; it might end up being so, but I need to write out everything that comes before it in their timeline of events (specifically We Are Kings and the Kalos arc) to be confident it would go this way. As it stands, Guzma takes advantage of the fact that Casey thinks the occasion is special enough for a dress rather than her usual shorts-and-a-graphic-tee fare and makes a dinner reservation somewhere fancy enough that reservations are encouraged.

Grim Reaper AU – Guzma/OC. Fairly self-explanatory. Guzma is the Reaper, Casey is a recently deceased whose soul Guzma is responsible for safely escorting to the afterlife. I couldn’t just let it be simple, though, and there’s action and adventure involved as well as some ‘past lives’ flashback shenaniganry.

We Are Kings – Guzma/OC. The piece of writing which explores how Casey and Guzma get to know each other and catch feelings. Follows the broad timeline of Sun/Moon. One of the things about this one is that I started drafting it during a time when I was dealing with Stuff, so I used the original version as a way to vent my frustrations. Casey was only sparsely fleshed out at the time, but she’s much more so these years on, so I’ve been wanting to give the fic a major overhaul—i.e., demolishing the whole thing and maybe keeping a few scenes that would still work in an entirely reimagined version of the piece that allows Casey to shine more as a developed character rather than just as a Face for Audrey’s Self-Insert Guzma Fantasies. I had been posting the original version on AO3 until I decided to rewrite, and it’s still accessible (incomplete) Here. I might even leave it up once I get the reboot sorted, just as a fun point of reference.

Kalos University arc – Guzma/OC. I’m making myself keep this mostly in the planning phase because how it pans out is directly related to how We Are Kings goes. But, in summary: Casey, having figured out roughly what she wants out of life, decides to do her undergrad at an entirely made-up university campus back in Kalos. Guzma stays in Alola. It’s kind of a ‘long-distance situationship’ thing.

ME Casey AU – Vega/OC as well as Guzma/OC (with a side helping of @fightfortheusers' Makai), so it really could have gone either under this heading or Mass Effect, but she was a Pokémon OC first, so that’s where I’ve decided to keep the folder. Another which is more a collection of scenarios than a fic, but there is this whole thing about Casey being one of the Normandy crew members abducted by the Collectors in 2 which could probably be refined into a proper work with the amount of content it has.

Paramore The Only Exception – Guzma/OC. Requisite ‘but what if it wasn’t mutual pining’ fic, as per the angst fic writer playbook. One-sided, with Casey as the ‘side’.

Plumeria glances at her – Plumeria/OC. Just a Plumeria/Casey drabble, because Casey is my little bisexual angel baby.

Small-time Rock Band AU – Guzma/OC. Me being a dirty rotten former 5SOS diehard, I wouldn't be myself if I didn't have at least one of this flavour of AU. Casey is the guitarist in a locally renowned band of which Piers Swordandshield and Olivia Sunandmoon are also members. Guzma is in the audience one night. That's as far as I've got so far, but if I know my own mind, I'll come back to it shortly.

That being said – Raihan/OC. This one stars my Galar OC, Lottie. There is some sort of red carpet event pre-relationship, and the gym challenger whom Lottie manages (@fightfortheusers' Matteo, icyww) has managed to wrangle her an invitation to said event as Raihan's plus-one. She wants to strangle the kid, it's very funny.

Redacted Audio

Inversion – Milo/Sweetheart. The contents are pretty self-evident; I’m subjecting everyone to Inversion fic. While what I’ve drafted thus far is from Sweetheart’s POV, I think it would be fun and not at all upsetting to include the rest of the listeners whose partners are involved in the storyline. The opening will be the aforementioned Sweetheart POV, including them getting a situation report and proceeding to shit themselves in worry without reprieve until they see that Milo wound up on the outside of the ward.

Helping your feisty werewolf boyfriend shift again – Milo/Sweetheart. This one came to me before the Inversion fic, so I guess I’m working backwards? Stay tuned next year for Freelancer & Caelum baking fic, if the trend continues. With this one the intent is to put an actual written voice to how Sweetheart might have reacted to Milo “I am at my limit” Greer having a very understandable breakdown about his damaged core and unresponsive shifter magic.

When The Night Comes

“Gods above and below.” – Omen/Alkar/Hunter. Zeina has been out of town on a solo assignment, but the day she was supposed to get back has come and gone with neither word nor sign of her. Alkar is freaking out, Omen is only freaking out a bit less. But oh, what’s this? Here she comes, stumbling through the woods concussed and bleeding profusely! Basically, it’s an injury recovery fic.

The novelty hasn’t quite worn off – Omen/Alkar/Hunter smut. Without going into too much detail for the sake of the timeline, this work is Zeina being disgustingly in love with her partners while also trying very hard not to give them the satisfaction of having reduced her to begging.

Zeina dress – Omen/Alkar/Hunter. It’s midwinter, there isn’t much work to do because most creatures dislike the cold, and Zeina is losing it a bit so she decides to make herself a pretty outfit to cope.

Honourable mention for media where the fic ideas I have are languishing in the brainstorming stage: Errant Kingdom.

There are also. Several original works. I might make a separate post for those, if anyone is interested in more of my half-baked fictional projects?

@ejunkiet

#I feel you can very much see each place where I would've been like #remember how I said I like angst? yeah :)#but yes here it is #thank you and I'm sorry #personal

4 notes · View notes

oceansmelodysblog · 4 years ago

Text

A Warm Breath from the Mountains

chapter 2

A Breath of the Wild fanfiction

Authors: @quepasta & @freshbreezesworld

-----

When I woke up the next morning, I found myself in one of the comfortable Rito beds in their inns. Zelda was sleeping peacefully beside me, her face turned towards me. There was something magical about seeing her in her warming nightclothes, sleeping beside me, surrounded by majestic mountains and a pleasant cold. I took advantage of the situation to watch her sleep undisturbed and gently stroked the strands of hair from her face. My arm felt numb under her head, but it was worth it to me to have her so close. Hopefully she would never know how I felt about her, because the closer we got, the more complicated it would get with her desire to rebuild Hyrule. It was getting to be time to wake Zelda up, so a prank came to mind.

Carefully, I pulled my arm away and sat up. I had to massage and shake my arm to get the blood flowing, but I didn't mind. As long as it didn't kill me, the sarcastic thought occurred to me.

I jumped out the window and landed noiselessly on the grassy ground that surrounded the guest cottage and grabbed a stalk, climbed back in over the same window and sat down cross-legged in front of Zelda's face. One last time I examined her contented sleeping face, which she always had when I slept next to her. Then I took the stalk and tickled her nose and ears. Hectically she tore her eyes open and patted her body and face with her hands in panic. I let out a laugh and almost toppled off the bed to see her like that. She noticed my reaction and stopped abruptly and just looked at me questioningly "Link, what have you done now!"

Again I snorted, this time it was her confused look. I tried to gasp for breath and at the same time explain to her what I had done, which proved to be a challenge for me. "Link!"

„Don’t worry Zelda! I only tried to wake you up. “

„apparently you did. Great job. And never do this again, whatever it was.“ Now she was annoyed and I nearly lost it again but I needed to focus.

„Anyways. Today starts your first lesson on how to cook. We have to gather some ingredients from the Hebra mountains, so let’s get started, because the day will pass before we even reached the stables.“

As I said that, I jumped from the bed and took off my night wear to change into my Rito armor. I was so used to be alone all the time that I forgot to warn Zelda. Of course she started to squeal. „Link! What is wrong with you, why don’t you warn me before taking off your clothes!“ I smirked at her to provoke her even more. „You can see more if you want!“ I said and received a smash of a pillow in to my face. „You’re ridiculous! “ she was about to burst out by clenching her fists but I reached over the bed to her and held her wrists tight. „Zelda I am just kidding, don’t be mad at me. You can change your clothes in peace, I will wait for you at the gate to the village. “

As I walked away from the inn, on the way to the gate, many Rito villagers greeted me heartily. It seems they weren’t mad at me anymore, I guess Saki did tell them, I was a complete fool, to ease their minds. But then I bumped into the the Rito warriors and even they greeted me and apologized for their behavior. I will have to ask Saki about this later.

I talked to the guard about the surroundings and if he saw dangerous threats around this area and he said besides the already existing monsters in the mountains, the area around the stable and the village was safe for travels. When I thanked him for his advice I turned back to the stairs and my eyes caught a goddess standing in front of the goddess‘ statue. She wore a full white coloured Rito snow quill armour and looked astounding.

She had her long hair braided to a ponytail and her face was framed in gold through two thick strands of her hair. My heart fluttered at her forest green eyes shimmering like the surface of water in the incoming sunlight. Her shy smile adorned her pretty face, which was framed by strands of her golden hair.

Slowly I realized I was staring at her for too long and as a result she blushed. “Do you like my new outfit that much?” she asked curiously.

Slowly and elegantly, she stepped down the stairs while I couldn’t get out of my staring even when she stood right in front of me.

“Zelda... You... You look like a goddess.” I said without thinking twice. As I realized what I said, my eyes widened and became nervous. ‘How did I let this happen?’

“I-“ I was about to start to say, but Zelda interrupted me before I could finish the sentence.

“Link, please don’t be sorry. I appreciate your compliment… and I wish you would say what you think more often.” Zelda folded her hands in front of her chest and looked directly into my eyes. She had an intense glimpse sparkling in her mirrors of her soul while she smiled at me in a way that I couldn’t lay my eyes off. It gave me an intriguing feeling.

"Everything my princess desires," I finally replied.

Even though I had only addressed her by her title, it slowly dawned on me how ambiguous it sounded, and I couldn't help but smile. Zelda giggled adorable in response. I scratched the back of my head, which I always did when I messed up things.

"Let's get to the stables before it gets dark. We will need our horses in the deep snow to move faster. After that, we'll let them rest near our campfire so they won't freeze." I finally said leading her the way.

Zelda nodded in agreement and broke away from me. We then walked across the bridges in comfortable silence, admiring the majestic view, until we arrived at the stables.

"Link, why did you name your horse Altay? I've never heard that name before," Zelda asked as I picked up our horses.

I had captured and tamed a direct descendant of her favourite horse, before the battle against Ganon, and held the white proud mare by her reins so that Zelda could pet and caress her in peace.

My mount, however, compared to hers, was like the night itself. My stallion had black fur and a black mane that was cropped into a mohawk. His forehead had a white mark that ran to his mouth. His fetlocks were covered with longer fur - an indication that he could cope with any weather. Basically, my horse was the perfect mount for me; fearless, strong and not afraid of any obstacle.

"An old man I once met on my journey told me about a warlike people who were unbeatable on their horses. They called themselves the Altay Warriors, after a mountain of their ancestors and deities. I don't know what happened to these warriors, but I still found the story impressive. When I found my buddy, here beside me," I lovingly stroked my horse's mouth as I continued, "I knew he was just as tough as those warriors and gave him that name. He loves it when I call him by his name." I smiled and helped Zelda onto her horse, grabbing her hip and hoisting her onto the saddle with ease. I loved those tiny touches and the way she smiled happily as I did so.

"Thank you Link, a gentleman as always." She said and gave me the intriguing look again.

I winked at her and turned to my horse and mounted the saddle. We had both opted for the 'Travelling Saddle' as it offered more storage space.

“So, Link will you tell me now, where we’re heading? You didn’t tell me more than that we would camp in the Hebra mountains.” She asked as we rode our horses in a slow walk.

“You will see, when we’re there, Princess.”

“Link that’s not fair, I want you to tell me where we will go. I want to be prepared.”

“Prepared for what? You won’t need to do anything but study the flora around us.” I said as I spurred my horse on.

At a trot we rode past the felled trees as the cool wind blew through the long stalks of grass.

“Because I want to learn new things and be useful, after you injured your shoulder, you must have realised too that you can’t be always there for me. Let me at least learn how to hunt with a bow. And no – the bow of light is something else.”

The group of trees in front of us was often filled with Oktoroks, so I kept my eyes open, but we had been spared this time. I breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the huge rock face to our left.

“I will think about it, princess,” I said and immediately saw a glimpse of sadness in her eyes. She turned her head away and sighed frustrated.

‘As if I could ever refuse her wishes.’

We had barely reached the sand-coloured rock cliff when the illuminating blue light of a shrine in the near distance caught my eye and pointed in the direction. Zelda looked out for the point in the distance that I was pointing at and drew in her breath sharply. I looked to her and watched as her eyes began to sparkle like opal.

"Link, there's another shrine! And it's glowing blue too! Link! Link! Let's explore the shrine!"

"That's the Bareeda Naag shrine I entered a while ago. That's probably why it glows blue instead of orange, since I completed the trial inside."

Eyes dilated like those of an eagle, stared at me in shock.

As we trotted on, I kept an eye on the surrounding area, knowing that a camp of monsters was hiding behind the rock face.

"The shrines you wanted to explore 100 years ago turned out to be trials for the hero with the mastersword. They served to restore my original strength and endurance. Ancient, mummified monks waited for me in these shrines and gave me different tests. Which amazes me though, because these shrines were created 10 thousand years ago, with the sole purpose of helping me. How could the ancient Sheikah have known this? But if they knew about our miserable fate, why didn't they take action against it? So many questions ran through my mind as I travelled through Hyrule with no memory."

I stared at the pommel of his saddle as I moved my hip to the rhythm of Altay. Absentmindedly, I stroked through the spiky Mohawk mane.

I only realised I was lost in thought when Zelda placed a hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of my hazy memories of the devastation.

"Link, why don't you tell me what you saw in the shrine? What was that trial you had to pass?"

Grateful for the distraction, I gave her a smile.

"Activating the shrine first was a challenge in itself," we rode past the ruins that surrounded the shrine as I continued, "Laissa, the wife of Kass the poet, sang me an ancient Rito song that contained the solution to the challenge. I quickly found out that through the heart-shaped hole in the steep rock in Rito village, the sun had to shine on an illuminating pedestal and had to be shot with a fire arrow. Shortly thereafter, a shrine rose up from between those ruins and cleared the way for me to take the next test. In the shrine, with the help of my bomb module, I catapulted a huge stone ball at a huge target that was blocked by crumbling stones and floating pedestals that moved back and forth to make my job more difficult. I only had to shoot twice, once to pulverise the stones and a second time to fire at the target at the right moment. It was admittedly one of the easier tests I had to complete." As I told her more and more, her eyes lit up with fascination, but then I remembered that I hadn't even introduced her to Kass, let alone Teba, the Rito's bravest warrior. The thought of Kass led me to remember the final verses of his teacher’s completed ballad.

"Link are you all right? You looked very nervous and troubled for a moment."

"I'm fine. I just remembered one of the freaky trials."

I decided to withhold Kass' ballad from her for the time being, as I wasn't sure if it was true. I just couldn't imagine Zelda seeing me as more than her best friend.

"Do you want to tell me about it? You went through so much before you came to rescue me, and yet I can only begin to comprehend what you've been through."

A spark of admiration flitted across her face, but just as I was about to begin to tell, I harkened and halted abruptly.

Puzzled, Zelda stared at me, but before she could ride past me, I grabbed the reins of Himawari, Zelda's mare, and slowed her down. She neighed loudly in fright, but I managed to shush her with my "Ho! Ho. Hoa!" to calm her down.

Altay sensed danger nearby and flared his nostrils. Nervously, he shook his head and exhaled loudly. He was ready to face the danger.

I heard only the deafening snore of a Hinox, but I knew that if Altay reacted in such a way, there were Yiga nearby who could appear out of nowhere.

I could not hesitate for long, made up my mind quickly.

With my right arm I grabbed Zelda by her waist and dragged her from the saddle onto my lap, slapping Himawari on the back and we galloped as fast as Altay could.

Zelda cried out, constricted in my bent-over stance to brave the wind. I could hear a diabolic laugher, far behind us. I pushed Altay to run faster and quicker.

"Hold on tight!", I yelled against the wind.

Himawari galloped ahead of us, but Altay quickly caught up with her and sprinted past. We had to get away quickly, far away from any lurking danger.

"HYAH!", I yelled and spurred Altay and Himawari on.

The icy headwind whipped my face and froze my ears and nose. I hugged Zelda tighter to me with one arm to protect her from the weather while she wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face against my shoulder.

I could hear Altay's powerful lungs quivering with joy. I heard every breath as his hooves pawed into the ground. I felt every muscle he moved.

My lungs burned with icy cold, but I gritted my teeth until we reached the crossroads to the Hebra Mountains. Once there, we stopped abruptly and Altay reared back, whinnying. I tightened my legs so as not to fall off the horse and pressed Zelda against me while pulling the reins tight with one hand.

Zelda clung tighter to me as she let out a suppressed squeal.

"Ho! Ho!", I shouted to calm Altay down.

When Himawari reached us, I released my reins, stretched out my arm and grabbed Himawari's reins as she charged towards us. I concentrated, tensing my leg muscles to sit firmly in the saddle, and pulled my arm towards me with all my might to intercept Himawari's momentum. I pulled hard on her reins, keeping Altay under control, and pushed Zelda onto my lap until Himawari came skidding to a halt.

I exhaled with relief and let go of the mare's reins. I relaxed my grip around Zelda's waist so that she could relax. Her legs hung off the side of my lap and her hip was pressed painfully tight against the pommel of my saddle.

"Forgive me Princess, I had to get us away from there as quickly as possible as I sensed through Altay that this place held some danger. I hope I didn't hurt you."

I slid further back in the saddle to move her a little away from the pommel, but I bumped into the pack on my horse's back.

Zelda let go of my neck and looked up at me.

"I could have ridden after you on Himawari, couldn't I?"

"No. I can protect you better if you're right there with me. The Yiga have the art of appearing out of nowhere and attacking you with sword and bow. They could have separated us by waking the sleeping Hynox and kidnapping you quite easily."

Her beautiful face was millimetres from mine, I couldn't help but gaze into her deep green eyes. Her pupils dilated, her lips opened a crack and honey sweet breath, clouded my mind. Feeling her chest rise and fall steadily, I realised my hand was still at her waist and she was sitting on my lap.

I tried to calm my racing pulse and deep breaths so as not to take any more space from her by my strong rise and fall of my broad chest.

Silently, we sat there staring into each other's eyes. Even though I was a disciplined knight, I was only a man. My gaze fell on her slightly parted lips. Magnetically attracted by her breath, my mouth approached hers.

But suddenly a thought flashed through my mind and made me jerk backwards. I was still her knight, protector and closest confidant. I had no right to kiss her.

"Sorry princess. That wasn't planned" I cleared my throat and tried to gather my thoughts. But then I noticed Zelda's sad face.

"Princess? Why are you so sad?"

Zelda furrowed her brows and averted her face. However, it felt like I had put a rift between us.

"It's nothing. We should keep moving or we'll never get to the snow mountains." She signalled me to lower her down. Carefully I hoisted her onto Himawari's saddle and we rode along the mountain pass, following the path. A herd of wild horses crossed our path and galloped ahead of us, across all directions. At the end of the trail was a hut with a campfire and we decided to let the horses rest at this spot.

"What is this place?" Zelda asked.

"Hebra Trailhead Lodge. See that wooden ladder? If we climb that, we'll get to Rosporo Pass. From there we get to the Hebra south summit. The pass to the right of the mountain takes us past Corvash Peak Mountain to Hebra Plunge and Hebra Falls. But the way is a long one on both paths, I suggest making a campfire close to this hut, but stay at the pass.”

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

I set my foot down lightly in the snow, huffing as the snow crackled underneath my boot. I had been walking around for at least 10 minutes while trying to keep my steps silent. How did Link always walk so quietly? He could run across a field and not make a sound. How many times had I seen him scramble up the side of a building, sneaking around the townspeople while goofing off.

Link had told me to find hot peppers and wild berries, and I had found neither so far. Somehow I convinced him to let me wander off by myself, though I figured he was staying close in case I needed him.

The quiet landscape around me had been cast in a yellow glow as the sun started sinking behind the mountains. The light hit the snow that clung to the tree branches and the snow sparkled in return. The reflected light from the snow danced on the fresh snow on the ground. I breathed in the cold air while I trekked on, smiling as I took in the beauty of it all. I couldn’t imagine ever getting used to the beauty of the Hebra region.

Soon I found a group of wild berry bushes and began plucking the berries into my pack. I wasn’t sure what Link was planning to teach me to cook tonight, but I was excited that it included fruit. The peppers had thrown me off, but they would be useful in the cold region we were in. Even if we didn’t use them for dinner, it was a good idea to keep them on hand.

After collecting all the berries I could find, I continued on. I knew that peppers grew better in more open areas and that there were cliffsides near the area I was in, Hopefully there were some peppers there. I forced myself to walk faster, I was losing daylight and I was supposed to meet Link back at the campsite by nightfall.

Shaking my head, I tried to get Link out of my head. He was only going to be a distraction. Plus, I was upset with him. Well, maybe frustrated was a better word. Frustrated actually explained a lot of how I was feeling lately.

I hadn’t let Link know, but after our almost run in with the Yiga earlier today, my sense of helplessness had only grown. He could sense the smallest sign of danger and had once again had to escort me to safety. Meanwhile I had been oblivious to it until I heard the faint laugh of the Yiga member. Even then, the only instinct I had was to hide my face in Link’s shoulder while my fear frightened me in place. Truthfully I was thankful Link was there and had the skills to detect such danger.

However, it had since dawned on me that my education as the royal daughter had done little to prepare me to live in the world that existed now. Of course, no one could have predicted what would happen. But out here in the wild, there was no use for arithmetic, or table manners, or citing the favourite literature among the nobility. Life here was driven by work done with labour and skilled hands. The civilians that still lived across Hyrule all knew how to collect and make the supplies they needed.

But I knew nothing. I didn’t know how to find more substantial resources, create shelter, make my own clothes, or defend myself. This is what I had been trying to tell Link for a few days now. But each time I brought it up, he brushed it off. Saying that he knew all of those skills and therefore I didn’t need to. Which is why I was frustrated with him.

But he had already promised to teach me how to forage for food and cook. That was a start, at least. And while Link was healing well from his fall, he still wasn’t well enough to do all the work by himself. Though if someone asked him if he was, he would say yes with an annoying amount of confidence.

I set another foot down, attempting to be lighter. I held my breath as my boot sunk in the snow, waiting for the sound of the crunch. But this time my footstep was silent. A small victory, but I let myself have it.

Shifting my foot to take another step, I brought my hand to grab the bow slung around my chest. I smiled as I remembered how excited I was to wear it like Link did. It was an extra great eagle bow that Link had in his pack. He had made a joke that it was weak enough that if I accidentally shot him, it wouldn’t hurt that badly. Rolling my eyes and threatening to take him up on that offer, I had taken the bow gratefully. It had also been another tiny win in my favor. Maybe my frustrations were unwarranted.

My face grew red as I also remembered that Link had offered to show me how to use it. For some reason I accepted his offer, even though I had been taught archery before the calamity. Archery was one of the few useful skills I had been instructed in growing up, although back then I didn’t care for it much. Also, I was a terrible shot.

I felt my hands shake as I remembered using another bow. The bow of light. The sacred bow of light had been given to me by the Goddess before I went to fight Ganon. The bow had somehow felt familiar as I gripped it for the first time. I had not had time to practice using it and I didn’t need to. I had used it countless times before, in other life times. Heading to the castle, I was armed only with the bow and my sealing power to face my enemy alone.

I shuddered at the memory and I gripped the great eagle bow tighter. There were no sacred ties or unfair duties with this bow. I could use this one and just be another girl hunting. The quiver Link had given me only had a few arrows in it, but I could target practice if I wanted to. Weighing the idea in my mind, I turned my head toward the horizon. I sighed as I realized the sun was starting to sink, which meant that I needed to hurry. There would not be enough time to practice and collect what I needed to.

Luckily the cliffs weren’t too far away, but the sun had beat me. It was now dark, the stars and moon finally showing themselves. I used the light of the moon to scan the cleared area by the cliffs, my eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dark. I finally found a few peppers growing at the far end of the area and began pulling them off their vines. I smiled and felt my mood lighten a bit, proud of myself for finding them. Even if I was late to the task. Just as soon as I was done, I heard footsteps coming from around the corner.

I turned in alarm, but relaxed as I saw Link come into view. Puffs of hot air followed him as he slowed his run to a walk.

“Zelda! There you are.” He smiled, and continued to walk over to me. His face was changing from a frown to relief, as if he had been worried about me. I felt anger prickle at my hands, why couldn’t I have made it back in time instead of causing Link to worry? There went my better mood.

“Do you not trust me? I am fine. I was about to head back to the stable.” I said, letting my annoyance show. A look of confusion spread over Link’s face, his mouth tried to form words in response.

“No! I mean yes I trust you I just-” He started. But his initial response of “no” set me off.

“You must really think I’m that helpless. Maybe you’re right. You gave me an easy task and I couldn’t even complete it before nightfall.” I said, walking back towards Link. I felt my voice start to get louder, frustration taking over. “And I couldn’t even be a few minutes late without you having to run around to find me. Maybe this is hopeless and I should just-”

“Zelda!” Link cut me off. “Zelda, hold on. None of that is true.” He said, his brows furrowing in concern.

“Well then why did you come running all the way over here? Like I am just some child you lost sight of.” I huffed. Why was I getting so mad at him? It was misdirected anger, I was more upset with myself for losing track of time today. I was about to continue when Link grabbed my wrists, bringing me closer to him and closing the rest of the distance between us.

He rolled his eyes at me, but rubbed his thumbs once over the top of my hands. Warmth flowed through them instantly, and my heart pounded. “I came over here to show you something. And I was running because I didn’t want you to miss it. Now stop being so stubborn and look up.” He said, sliding one arm around my waist when I tried to pull away before he finished his sentence. But then I stopped and followed his instructions.

A gasp escaped my mouth as I glanced up. The sky was lit up in streams of green and bright pink light. The light snaked across the sky, playfully shifting down toward the ground almost as if it were teasing the tops of the mountains. Aurora borealis, I thought. One of my tutors had told me about the lights in the sky, but I never had been able to see them for myself. They weren’t viewable from the castle. I must have been so caught up in my search that I didn’t notice the show the night sky was putting on.

I felt my arms relax and I let my hand fall to land on the top of Link’s arm which was still around my waist, but Link held my other hand in place to lay flat on his chest. I thanked Hylia for the cold air, giving an excuse for the redness creeping across my face. I gave his arm a soft squeeze, letting him know I saw what he wanted me to look at. But I kept my gaze on the lights. They were beautiful, like dancers waltzing across the night sky. Sometimes the green and pink hues shifted to purple or blue, but they were breathtaking regardless of what color they chose to be.

I finally forced my gaze away from them, back to Link. He had been watching them too, but looked back down at me when he saw my head shift. For a second I just let myself stare back into his eyes, and he searched my face as always. What was he searching for this time? Did he only see his sovereign and friend starting back at him, or did he see something more? At night, did he dream of my eyes too?

I suddenly became all too aware of how close we were. Link’s arms around me, my hands on top of his. Our bodies more or less pressed against each other. Of course he had held me like this because I was trying to push away from him and I would have missed the lights if he hadn’t. But he was lingering, he technically didn’t have to have his arms around me anymore. I technically didn’t have to have my arms touching him. We technically didn’t have to be staring silently at each other for this long, but we were.

I could have died right there and been content. But I didn’t dare let myself to think that this moment meant more. But perhaps it did. I remembered the moment the day before, when we had been escaping the Yiga. Had he been trying to kiss me or did I imagine that?

“I was being stubborn again, wasn’t I?” I finally breathed, forcing my eyes to look somewhere else.

“You were. But you always are.” He laughed. I could feel the vibrations of his laugh from how close we were. I still wasn’t over his laugh. A thing that only the Link from this time did.

“Well you were right, as you always are. That was quite beautiful. I have always wanted to see the lights and I never thought I would. Thank you.” I replied, giving him a smile in return.

The corners of his eyes crinkled as his smile grew wider. He let go of his hold on me, taking a step back. My hands fell back to my side and I felt the loss of warmth immediately. But he still stared back at me, his blue eyes almost glowing in the moonlight.

“Er, do you want to practice with the bow before we head back?” Link asked. His cheeks were red, probably from the cold. But a little part of me thought maybe he was blushing.

I nodded and turned to follow him.

As we walked to find a good area to practice, I replayed the past fews days back in my head. Starting from when Link woke me up with his prank, the compliment he gave me on the stairs back in Rito Village, then when evaded danger before I even knew anything was wrong. The redness on my face deepened when I remembered being pulled into his lap as we outran the Yiga on horseback. His instincts and strength were impressive, to say the least.

And just now, standing under the lights while being more or less in his arms.

All of these were innocent moments, really. But I knew I would replay them in my head for a long time. The image of his blue eyes staring back into mine would surely keep me up tonight.

And it was then an odd thought occurred to me. Blue was my favorite color.

“Is here okay?” Link spoke up, bringing me back from my thoughts. He was giving me a smug look, and only then did I realize he had led us to the flight range.

I was surprised to see the range after so long, but pleased to see that it hadn’t changed much in over a century. I sighed woefully as I remembered the countless times Revali showed off his skills here. Taking off on an upwind with his wings spread wide and shooting all the targets in a blink of an eye. Taking a deep breath, I hoped I would make him proud with the amateur archery skills I possessed.

“Yes. I believe this will work.” I answered, pulling the bow over my head and reaching for an arrow. I looked over at Link and he stepped back with a nod, giving me space to practice.

Suddenly I felt very nervous to practice in front of Link, and I now regretted not taking the time to shoot a couple of arrows earlier when I was alone. I fumbled with the arrow. The bow of light had been so easy to use. Almost like the bow had done the work for me, or maybe the adrenaline I had back then had made it easier to use.

Link stood back and motioned for me to continue. With the arrow finally nocked, I raised the bow with my arms shaking. I had seen Link jump in the air and shoot an arrow in one swift motion, with little effort. He must have been humored by my struggle, I couldn’t bear to look to see if he was. Pulling my right arm back, I aimed for the closest target in front of me. I could tell before I released it the arrow that it would miss, my shaky arms making it a clumsy shot.

The arrow in fact missed the target, whizzing past it to land in the snow. Still, I was encouraged by the speed of the arrow. I just needed to get better at my aim.

“That was good.” Link said, suddenly appearing next to me. “Here, nock another bow. If you straighten your arms more you’ll make your mark.”

He stood behind me as I pulled another bow out of the quiver and nocked it. He reached up and put his right arm on my right elbow, raising it so my arm was perfectly horizontal. His left arm lightly touched my waist, straightening my posture.

“When you draw the bow back, one finger should be above the arrow with two fingers supporting it from underneath. And you want your right hand to be right next to your mouth. Go ahead and try.” He whispered by my ear, and he stood back.

I drew the bow back, making sure my hand was even with my mouth and arms were level. I released the arrow, sighing as the arrow missed the target again. But it was closer, barely missing.

I continued practicing, with Link stepping in to give pointers. Every once in a while nudging my waist or correcting my arm form with a light touch. Everytime, my breath caught in my throat when I felt his hands on me. In truth, he was distracting me more than he was helping me.

But I didn’t stop him from doing it, even though I felt a little guilty not telling him that I had been educated in archery. But between me being out of practice and Link making me nervous, I was fumbling like a true inexperienced archer.

Finally, I shot three arrows into the target. While they were nowhere close to the bullseye I was still ecstatic with my progress. I felt myself smile wide after each one and with Link would give me a thumbs up in approval. His face beaming at me after I made the third one, I raised my arms in the air in a cheer. Link walked over pulling me into a big hug and swung me around in a circle. I laughed as he spun me, throwing my head back and feeling the wind whip my hair around.

I stumbled as he sat me back down, feeling joy fill my heart and spread through my limbs.

“I have a confession.” I said, laughing still. Link looked at me, his eyebrows raised with a smile still on his face. “Well I, uh, was taught archery back then. Obviously I’m rusty and I appreciated the pointers. But just thought I should tell you.” I looked down at my shoes, slightly embarrassed about my confession.

“So you just let me teach you something you already knew, like a moron?” Link asked, his voice playful. When I looked up at him I could tell he had tried to look angry, but he was awful at hiding the smile he wore.

I nodded and shrugged, glad he wasn’t actually upset.

“Shame on you, Princess. Shame on you.” He chuckled, shaking his head.

“I apologize! And your tips were still quite useful, thank you. They will certainly help me in my practice.” I slung the bow back over my head.

“Good. I guess that makes me feel better.” He stated, shifting his feet a little in the snow. “I’m not really ready to go back yet. Do you want to go find somewhere to sit? We can watch the lights some more.”

I stared at him, gasping in disbelief. “I never thought I would see the day that you would push off dinner. I thought you would be starving by now.”

He put a hand to his stomach and laughed. “Oh, I am. But it’s such a beautiful night, we might as well enjoy it. Unless you are ready for dinner?” He asked.

It was late already, it had been a few hours since the sun had set. But I wasn’t really hungry yet. “No, I can wait. Let’s go.” I answered, motioning for him to lead.

But Link took me by surprise, by tucking his arm in mine and giving me a smile before leading us away from the range. My skin tingled where he made contact, and I silently sighed in my mind.

I wished I had the courage to ask him about his feelings. Did he do everything for me out of duty? Out of friendship? Out of something more? These thoughts had kept me up at night recently. I often came to the conclusion that I was okay with the way things were. Having Link around and allowing our friendship to continue to grow was enough.

Honestly, most days it was enough. But moments like this, when he would do something out of his usual behavior that I felt the need to know what was actually going through his mind. Our conversation this morning only caused me to wonder more.

However, Link’s memory was still fragile. I wanted to give him space and time to heal. Putting strain on our friendship, the one thing that was a constant for him, would certainly not be the best thing for him.

Link led us back to the clearing on the cliff. He let go of my arm to clear snow off of two rocks that were at the edge of the clearing, then motioned for me to sit next to him.

“Thank you.’ I said, sitting down. I left a small space between us on the rock. Looking up at the sky, I could still see the lights. They were fainter now, but they still danced across the sky.

“How is your shoulder doing?” I asked him. It had been a few days since his fall, and while he certainly was healing faster than a normal Hylian, I was worried he was hiding his pain.

“Oh, it’s a little sore and stiff. I should probably be stretching it more than I am. But it is feeling a lot better.” He replied while shifting his shoulder a few times for emphasis.

“I’m glad to hear it. You really had me worried there. And your head? How does it feel?” I picked at a loose thread on my pants while I waited for his answer.

“Good as well. It hasn’t really hurt since the first day I woke up. A little tender if I touch it I suppose. My ribs are still sore, if that is your next question.” He said, nudging my shoulder with his.

I nudged him back. “Yes it was. Well, like I said. I am glad you are getting better. A shame that you are such a clumsy hero though.” I teased.

His head turned to look at me, rolling his eyes again. “Hmm. I don’t think you want to talk to me about being clumsy.” He chuckled, his shoulders shaking as he did so. But then he got a serious look on his face. “I am sorry about that though, Zelda. I really am. I honestly should have been more careful. Never would I have ever wanted to cause you such distress.”

I looked back up at him and I could see the sincerity in his eyes. “I know. There is no need to apologize though.” I answered, feeling my brows scrunch on my face.

Link leaned down a bit closer. “Well, there is. And I also need to say thank you. For what you did, even if I was mad about it. You saved me, Zelda.”

Oh he was close, way too close to my face. I wanted to lean in closer, it would have been so easy to close the distance between us. And he was looking at me again like he did yesterday.

But there were things we needed to talk about. And I suddenly felt a little brave, I decided it was time to ask him a few of the questions that had been haunting me for weeks now.

“It’s what we do for each other.” I said, looking away. “Speaking of that. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but there have been a few things I have wanted to ask you for awhile now.”

Link tilted his head, waiting for me to continue.

“What do…” I stopped. I wasn’t sure where to begin. “Do you remember the first time we traveled to Rito Village together? Before the Calamity?” I asked. I decided to start small and ask him about a few specific memories.

He sighed, though I wasn’t sure if it was out of surprise or frustration. “Can you tell me a little more about it?” He asked.

“Oh yes, of course.” I said, pausing to think about which details of the trip to describe. “Well, we had traveled from the castle to Rito Village to get an update from Revali on how he was managing to pilot Vah Medoh. Along the way, we ran into some ice lizalfos on the way, but you took care of them. Later, we had dinner with Kaneli, Revali, and some others. Nothing important happened on the excursion, I just chose a random moment to ask you about.” I answered, fiddling with the loose thread again.

Link’s face scrunched up in thought, his eyes moving back and forth as he combed through his memories. Then his face fell and he hung his head. “No, I’m sorry I don’t think I do.”

“It’s okay, Link. Like I said, it’s not an important memory. May I ask another question though?” I shot a side glance at him and saw him nod.

“Do you remember obtaining the Master Sword the first time?”

“No.” He answered quickly. “I have tried to remember that. But I haven’t been able to.” He said, his voice quiet.

I sighed apologetically. “Oh. I’m sorry for bringing it up, Link. I won’t ask about it anymore.” I was worried I had pushed him too far before he was ready.

“No, it’s fine. Maybe asking questions will help remind me of something.” He said, lifting his head to look at me.

I thought about something else to ask him, and there were so many things I could have. But I decided to go a different route. “Yesterday you said you wandered Hyrule with no memory. Is that true? Do you remember anything about your life before becoming a knight?”

This caused Link to lean forward into his hands, sighing into his palms. He stayed like that for a minute, not moving. Then he pushed his hair out of his face and sat up. He glanced over at me and cleared his throat. “I don’t remember my life before being assigned your knight. Honestly, I don’t remember much, at all. Most of my memories are tied to the pictures in the slate.” He finally answered.

I closed my eyes, I had figured as much. But it was still devastating for him to admit it. I wrung my hands together, attempting to come up with something appropriate to say. But what do you say to something like that?

“So everything you did after you woke up, training to defeat Ganon, freeing the Divine Beasts, saving me.... You did all of that without remembering who you were?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yours was the first voice I heard and you helped me when I didn’t even know my name. I was told by everyone else what my destiny was and what to do. That was enough until I started to reclaim some of my memory. Then bit by bit, I started to remember you and the champions. I didn’t remember everything, and I still don’t, but I knew I missed you and the others. I knew I wanted to save you and see you again.”

He paused, and turned his face toward the sky. I didn’t think he was going to speak again, but he did.

“Seeing you safe, healthy, and smiling. That’s been enough for me. More than enough. Even if I don’t remember, I know I did the right thing.” A small smile found itself on his face as he looked back at me.

I smiled back, feeling my heart pound in my chest as I met his blue eyes again. What he said made some of his behavior make more sense. He was still the old Link in the way that he was always striving to do good and how devoted he was to his duty. But he had also changed, he was taller, goofier, and talked more. The weight he felt of being the one who wielded the sword that sealed the darkness now gone as our destiny was behind us.

“Is that what you wanted to tell me earlier?” I asked him.

“Oh that? No. I’m still not ready for that.” He said, his eyes leaving mine for the ground.

“That’s okay. I can respect that.”

We sat in silence for a while as the weight of our conversation set in. I was happy we had made some progress, he hadn’t allowed me to talk about his memory before. But we were the only people who knew what the other person had gone through and it was time we began to heal. Together.

“I’m kind of hungry now, should we head back to the campsite?” I asked, standing up and offering my hand out toward him. He looked at my hand for a second before smiling and taking it.

And while I thought he would let it go after a moment, he didn’t. So, we walked hand in hand back to the campsite, with my hungry knight leading the way.

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

I was already awake before the first morning rays of sunshine, as the issues of last night did not allow me to rest in my sleep. I lay on my back in my sleeping bag and put my hands under my head. I looked up at the clear starry sky, which slowly gave way to the light of the sun.

"Zelda." I whispered.

No reply. Just a soft breathing.

"Zelda." I repeated, a little louder this time.

"Mmhm...?" she murmured sleepily.

"Wake up please, I have something to tell you that you should know."

I felt Zelda slowly wake up beside me, but I couldn't look her in the face. Even though I loved watching her sleep and wake up, my heart was too heavy.

"I'm awake now, what's the matter Link?"

"Remember Kass the poet? He was the Sheikah Court Poet's student."

Beside me, I heard Zelda draw in a sharp breath. In my mind's eye, I knew her big green eyes were wide and her mouth was half open. Still, I was unable to look at her.

She waited patiently for me to continue speaking.

"On my journey I met Kass very often, he sang me ballads of ancient times and helped me with the song lyrics to solve problems in the respective region. But his main task was to complete his master's song. It was a tragic ballad about both of us, but it was mainly about you, to help me recover my memory. Eventually, I managed to help Kass collect ancient songs all over Hyrule, so he managed to complete the ballad."

I exhaled heavily as thoughts about the verses kept circling in my head without finding an answer.

"Link, you seem so tense... Is there something wrong with the ballad of Sakasai?"

an old, long-forgotten memory suddenly burst into my mind. A memory of Zelda and Sakasai standing close together, whispering and laughing, while Zelda had not even glanced at me. I was Zelda's appointed knight and yet she didn't want me around and always rejected me.

I swallowed hard.

"Kass told me that his master often told him how beautiful you had been - and still are. Kass said he would like to compose a song to match your beauty and wished to meet you one day."

When Zelda still didn't say anything after a while, I finally turned my head towards her. My gaze met her brimming eyes, waiting for the truth.

"Link, that can't be all that's bothering you - please tell me. What is it that you can't tell me?"

"I... I... just can't tell you it, Zelda. Please accept it. For now."

Zelda frowned but nodded silently.

“About that song Kass wanted to write about me, I hope he is somewhere nearby! I am eager to hear, what he would sing about me, and how his music would sound. Please Link, please let me meet him!”

I looked at the beautiful face next to me, stared at her, without saying a word. I brushed a golden stray of her hair behind her ear and smiled.

“Of course, I will do that, why wouldn’t I want to let my princess become a song sung for future generations?”

She giggled and cuddled onto my arm, falling in a light sleep again, while I watched over her, as I did back then, now, and forever.

Zelda and Link watching the Aurora Borealis - commissioned from @/rutisfree on twitter for our romantic scene ♥️

58 notes · View notes

ashleyswrittenwords · 5 years ago

Text

Frogs, Fevers, and Forehead Kisses

My titles are getting more unimaginative by the day.

----------

“Her Royal Highness requested that we test the specimen she found by Death Mountain.”

The princess’s knight attendant looked between the Sheikah scientists with growing confusion, the overly respectful distance only increased his worry. Robbie and Purah inched further away as if he were a grizzly bear still debating whether he wanted to eat them.

“I don’t understand,” his brow furrowed, “Is the princess okay?”

“Oh, yes,” Robbie waved him off. “Mere symptoms.”

His heart dropped, “Symptoms? Of what?”

“Link,” Impa said crisply from behind the two. He couldn’t see her face from behind Robbie, but that sternness was unmistakable. “In the frog, Purah found a strain of the flu that was thought to be extinct.”

“Is,” he tried to swallow the dread in his throat. “Is she in danger?” Hylia, it had to be the frog, didn’t it? After incessant pleads from Princess Zelda, he quickly learned he didn’t have the strength to deny her for long. That night they roasted it over a fire with as much seasoning as he could find, then they shared it and he was bombarded with her scientific analysis.

Did he feel any more energetic? No.

Could he see any better in the dark? No.

Was he ill or queasy? Not any more than one would be when they eat a charred amphibian.

And, if he were being honest, it wasn’t that bad. The spices definitely helped with the taste, though Link doubted he would do it again on his own volition.

“Historically, no,” Purah inserted, adjusting her glasses, “Unless you are a specific subrace of Hylian, the host will only experience common flu symptoms from seven to fourteen days – which is the apparent case with Zelda.”

An itch started in his sinuses and he tried to ignore it.

“And what would happen if that specific person were affected?”

“Oh, I can answer that!” Robbie pointed his chin up, airy in his demeanor. “The Sheikah would experience symptoms such as vomiting, pneumonia, and subsequent death.”

The itching came to a head and Link sneezed loudly into his elbow, leaving Impa to yelp and run down the hall. “Send him away! Goddesses, send the infested child away!”

Purah pursed her lips, “Ah, she means we have to isolate you and the princess.”

---

They had been in the same room for two days now, which wasn’t out of the ordinary. Princess Zelda had been his charge for nearly a year. However, it had never been like this. Neither of them were allowed to leave the room nor interact with anyone that wasn’t already infected – and that was restricted to Link and Zelda.

The room was isolated in the west wing due to the lesser populated halls and, until their isolation, was meant exclusively for storage. A large bed had been moved in for the princess and a smaller cot for her knight. Other than that, the room was barren and the essentials were brought up and left by the door where he was only allowed to open it once the servant had left. It wasn’t long until the castle realized the top physicians were all Sheikah of origin who feared the possible levels of contagion.

Upon his arrival, it was obvious that Zelda had been taking the brunt of the illness. The princess was already burrowed within the quilts of her new bed with a heated fever. So, through the mahogany of the door, it was decided that Link would be her main caretaker and communicate her vitals every morning.

A knock at the door snapped Link out of his daydreaming haze and he approached it.

“Yes?”

The voice was muffled yet unquestionably regal, “How is she?”

Link gave a passing glance to the girl resting in her bed and lowered his voice, “She’s resting now, Your Majesty.”

King Rhoam sighed, “I suppose it is for the better. You’re a decent lad, Link. Look after her.”

“I’ll let the princess know you came by.”

Receding footsteps signified the king’s departure. Link turned to the sleeping form under the quilts. The princess had woken up a half hour ago, shuddering from a cold that wasn’t there. He found himself being drawn to her without needing to be. With the covers drawn to her chin, her hair formed a halo around her in tangled blonde strands. Audible breaths came from her slightly parted lips and her cheeks were flushed pink with fever. Link’s rather sleepy expression upturned.

Gently, he leaned down onto the mattress. With one hand, he smoothed down the short hairs that so often fell in her face and pressed his lips to her forehead.

It was a quick show of affection and as quickly as he had indulged, he moved away to rest his exhausted head on the cot.

After all, he was sick too.

---

Four days into isolation, the princess learned she couldn’t read for long in her condition. With a lantern wicking from her bedpost, her knight had taken up the task by sitting in a chair that looked older than his father. At her bedside, he read through a novel about a milk maid who decided she wanted to travel the world and fell in love with a highwayman. Now they were at the part where she was cornered by ruffians and this masked crusader rides in on his midnight stallion. With one raise of his sword-

“You have a nice voice,” Zelda interrupted him. He glanced up from the book to see her quietly watching him, her cheek flush with the pillow below her.

“It’s the fever talking,” he simply said, caught between the magnifying green of her eyes and the following words of the novel.

She made a small motion, “No, I mean it. I want to hear what’s going to happen next, but at the same time it’s like I’m being lulled to sleep.” Then, almost predictably, she fell into a heavy cough that haunted her when she spoke too much. Link knew it sounded worse than it really was, but it made him wince regardless, “I think that means we should get some sleep.”

A whine came from the bed, “It does not!”

“It’s already late and you need to build up your strength.”

“Link, please?” Zelda paused him as he stood. There was that look again. The look that got them in this mess in the first place. Just as he was going to deny her a final time, she hurriedly said, “I’ll fall asleep if you keep reading. And tomorrow we can read over where I fell asleep so I don’t miss anything.”

Link closed his eyes, relenting and falling back into the chair. “Fine.”

She smiled to herself and briefly he thought that if she stood in the middle of battlefield with that face, she could stop a war.

He read for an hour. The highwayman had revealed himself to the former milk maid and she gasped. It was the blacksmith’s son who she had been betrothed to since they were young. She hadn’t seen him in years and fearing her reaction, he ran from her. Link let his voice trail off.

The princess didn’t budge. Her arm hung off the bed in slumber. Slowly, in case the chair decided to creak, Link rose and set the novel on the seat. He took her forearm gingerly and tucked it into the pile of covers. Although her smile was gone, the relaxed expression she wore affected him all the same. Impulsion took over and he brushed her hair aside and kissed above her brow.

Then, uneventfully, he blew the lantern out.

---

Six days of isolation passes by and now there is splashing water.

“Link, don’t look.”

“I’m not looking.”

“I know, but just… don’t look.”

“I’m not looking!”

The tub was in the center of the room and Link was buried under a blanket. He heard a loud slosh and then water dripping into the tub. Zelda sighed from the other side of the room, finally feeling clean after almost a week. It seemed as if they were on a scale. The healthier Zelda seemed to get; the more ill Link seemed to fall. Some of her blankets were transferred over to his small cot.

“Alright,” she finally said, “I’m dressed now.”

Groaning, he sat up. Link felt every bit as awful as he looked. His hair was in disarray and tissues covered his surroundings. “I don’t think I need to bathe.”

Zelda stared incredulously, “You must.”

“I don’t want to.”

She wore a simple day gown that was so soft that she could sleep in it if needed. “It’ll make you feel better.”

His eyes drooped in her direction, “Nothing can.” Then, he let himself fall to the cot.

The princess crossed the room, eyes rolling but concern glinting, “Don’t be dramatic.” From behind, she pulled him up to a seat and, gods, was he heavy. As she whispered small encouragements, he let her pull him to a wobbly stand and towards the tub. The water was bubbly and he looked at her with absent accusation.

And bashfully, she admitted it, “I prefer bubble baths.”

Link didn’t say anything and simply stared.

“What?” Zelda felt suddenly insecure.

Tiredly, he drew in a breath, “I have to undress, Princess.”

“Oh!” she spun on her heel, face aflame. “Right.”

Clothes were heard being discarded and she could make out his tired voice, “Zelda, don’t look.”

“Oh, shush.”

He laughed and the water moved as he got in. The water was still steaming when she got out and it no doubt felt nice on his skin. And, quite unfortunately, the thought practically returned the thick blush of a fever. Busying herself with the book about the milk maid, she looked through the parts she never got the chance to read herself. He had finished the book for her last night and as she skimmed the pages, she could hear his voice read the words.

“I liked this book,” she said with a passing breeze in her tone. He hummed, “I think I did too.”

A smile played on her lips, “What was your favorite part?”

Link thought for a moment, “When you would grip the covers whenever the highwayman was in danger.”

Afterward, Zelda listened as he dunked his head underwater.

“Zelda,” he sounded frustrated. “I… I can’t reach my head.”

“What?”

“Whenever I try to wash my hair, I feel like passing out. And I really don’t want to pass out in water.”

She blinked at the wall, “Do you want me to wash your hair?”

“You don’t have to. I just don’t want you to yell at me when you see that my hair is still greasy.”

“Can I wash your hair for you?”

A beat of silence went by and then, “… I suppose.”

Zelda took the back of the old chair at her bedside and dragged in over, careful to not look at the tub unless absolutely necessarily. At most, she glanced at the wood. Link sat with his back to her. Thankfully, the bubble bath was an ingenious invention because the only thing she could see was the midpoint of his torso and his knees jutting out of the water. Even if she stared, she probably couldn’t spy anything… not that she would, that is.

“Hand me the soap,” she gently commanded as she sat.

He did and she ran a hand experimentally through a portion of his hair. The locks were wet and free, partially stuck to his neck. She spilled a generous amount of shampoo on her hand and lathered it between her palms. Then she began to entangle her fingers in his scalp and brushed.

“You didn’t touch your soup last night or today,” she stated plainly, “That’s why the heat is getting to you.”

“I wasn’t hungry,” it sounded more like a weak complaint. The princess bit the inside of her cheek and tried unsuccessfully not to look down at the water running along his neck. Admittedly, he was very pretty to look at – from behind, at least. Zelda was a simple woman, she appreciated the male physique, and his back muscles were very appreciable.

Her fingers were tender and forgiving in hair that hadn’t been properly brushed in days. So much so, that he leaned into her touch. When they found a tangled knot, she worked at it without pulling until it came free. Far too soon, she pulled away.

“Okay,” Zelda pronounced. “Dunk into the water and I’ll shake the soap out.”

He nodded, sidling into the water until fully submerged. Tautly, she ran her hands through his hair and laughed as bubbles of soap and his breath came to the surface. Eventually he came back up, breathing in air.

“Thank you.”

She nodded without him seeing and went back to the book while he scrubbed up. Once he was dressed, he allowed her to know and she turned with a question on her lips, “Would you prefer the bed? I wouldn’t mind sleeping on the cot if it meant you were warmer.”

Even then, she watched him shiver out a tentative no.

“You need it more,” Link straightened out the blanket on the cot.

“That’s not true,” she moved to the edge of the bed. “I don’t have a fever anymore. You do.”

He shook his head and croaked out, “I’m fine.”

“We can share it. It’s big enough, Link.”

Of course, he hesitated. It was a large bed with comfortable pillows and a mass of quilts. Not to mention, an inviting princess looking at him with doe eyes. But…

Zelda sat with her legs tucked under her, “The door’s locked. No one would find out.”

He let go of the cot’s blanket and walked to the bed; she smiled and pulled back the covers on his side. Without words, they rearranged the pillows so she wouldn’t hoard them all and Zelda reached for the lantern.

“Goodnight, Link.”

“Goodnight, Zelda.”

For the first time in their isolation, Link didn’t dare continue his routine of sneaking forehead kisses once she was asleep. He was far too tired and the newfound comfort of a proper mattress with all too enticing. Although, as he floating into a dream, he could have sworn someone had cupped his cheek and warm lips kissed his forehead.

#i tried talking myself into making this a smut but i couldn't do it #bc as we all know im a coward #we been knew #ily anon #ashleyswrittenwords #zelink #zelda #link #loz #legend of zelda #loz fanfiction #zelink fanfiction #zelink oneshot

206 notes · View notes

misssophiachase · 5 years ago

Text

Right of Way

For @klaroline-events KC Bingo - Enemies to Lovers - On AO3 and FF

At the Palm Beach Equestrian Club, Klaus Mikaelson is the prince of the polo field and Caroline the showjumping darling. They immediately dislike each other but, at the same time, can’t seem to get out of each other’s way.

right-of-way (noun) \ ˌrīt-ə(v)-ˈwā \

1: a legal right of passage over another person’s ground

2: in polo - when a player has the line of the ball on their right, they have the right of way (ROW). Enforced to keep all players safe and avoid collisions on the field, players may only enter or cross the ROW if they can do so safely and with enough distance.

Present Day (February) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

(Caroline)

“I hate you.”

“Well, I hate you too, Forbes,” he growled, “now are you going to keep talking or am I going to have to...”

Before he could go through with his threat she’d pushed him up against the stall door, his intense gaze only increasing her desperation.

“Has anyone told you that you talk too much, Mikaelson?” He didn’t respond, just leaned in impatiently, his mouth claiming hers greedily.

Caroline pulled him closer, grabbing ample handfuls of his number 3 polo jersey. He was warm and familiar against her skin and a delicious aromatic mixture of spice and sandalwood. She’d never admit it, but Caroline loved being close to him post match. They’d just won convincingly, no surprises there, but he was always more needy and urgent and the sex decidedly more explosive.

His mouth travelled down her neck and Caroline had to bite her lip to stifle a moan. She wanted to take her time and enjoy him but given where they were that wasn’t an option. Plus, she knew from experience that he would make it up to her later.

He was trailing kisses along the length of her collar bone now, his lips teasing the swell of her breasts and his tongue close to delving into the valley between them when she heard a noise in one of the far stalls.

It startled them and broke up their kiss. They started at each other intently, panting but at the same time holding a silent discussion with their eyes. Should they risk it or should they move apart and avoid suspicion? It seemed like a fairly easy decision. No one could know they were together but the strong magnetic pull between them made moving seem inconvenient.

A further noise and subsequent horsey neigh made them realise that, unfortunately, it wasn’t going to happen. Not now anyway.

“I don’t like you that much anyway,” she reiterated, shrugging her shoulders. If he was offended by her comment he didn’t show it. His crimson lips curved into a knowing smile, a rogue dimple making an appearance in his left cheek.

“The feeling is mutual, love. Don’t miss me too much.” He was walking purposefully through the stables before she had a chance to reply.

Asshat.

Caroline hit her head against the stall a few times, hoping that it would somehow allow sense to prevail but unfortunately she knew if he kissed her again she wouldn’t resist. She was supposed to hate the guy not be rubbing up against him every chance she got.

Caroline felt a soft nuzzling against her shoulder, looking up into the warm and expectant eyes of her chestnut mare Coco.

“Don’t start,” she murmured, patting her nose affectionately.

How did she get here? How did they get here?

It had all started out so innocently. You don’t like the person, you ignore them.

Simple, right?

10 months earlier (April) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

Equestrian was the way of life in Wellington. In fact, if you didn’t ride, compete or spectate there was no point in actually living there. Home to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre and to the famed Winter Equestrian Festival, they lived, breathed and everything else horse related. Caroline’s mom and grandmother had both competed at a national level and were local legends in her hometown.

She was following in their footsteps and out of the three she possessed the most natural talent. While skilled in dressage, her forte was showjumping and there were hopes she’d one day compete in the Olympics for the USA. As much as Caroline loved horse riding, she didn’t love the pressure associated with it.

Her best friend Kat competed with her from a young age, but she maintained she only stuck it out because she couldn’t resist a hot guy in jodphurs.

It was a Tuesday, Caroline remembered because she had her private lesson. After arriving at the club, she noticed a few new faces. Two guys and a girl, all around her age. The brooding blonde was especially good looking, he looked kind of familiar but she wasn’t sure why.

He also seemed generally unimpressed with his surroundings as the director Jenna Sommers showed them the facility. Caroline hung back, but was still close enough to overhear.

“The stables were built in 2017, there are sixty 12x12 stalls, twenty wash stalls, specialty hay and grain storage, multiple dressing rooms, laundry rooms, office space, full sized kitchen and bathrooms. There are three arenas, one covered, one sand and one grass.”

“And the polo facilities,” the blonde interrupted, clearly impatient. His voice was very English and his tone incredibly brusque.

“The Polo Club is adjacent. It spans nearly 250 acres and includes seven state-of-the-art tournament fields that can accommodate multiple games simultaneously.”

“I suppose that will have to do,” he muttered. Caroline knew she was biased but the polo club was internationally renowned and held many top level national and international competitions, this guy was clearly hard to please.

“Oh, Caroline,” she didn’t realise just how close she was. Jenna was looking at her curiously and she could tell was relieved by the interruption. “Meet the Mikaelson siblings, they’re new to Florida and the States. Caroline Forbes is one of our very best show jumpers.”

They seemed intimidating from the outset as they looked at her expectantly and Caroline wasn’t quite sure what to say, until she managed to get something out.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

The good looking one’s eyes flickered over her attire briefly before looking away. Charming. Well, two could play at that game.

“Rebekah is the same age, Caroline,” she said, gesturing to the blonde girl. “Maybe you could take her out to the arena for your lesson so she can look around?” Caroline figured it wasn’t a suggestion but an order.

At first Caroline thought Rebekah was incredibly uptight. Katherine would say she had a stick up her ass and Caroline was secretly glad her best friend wasn’t part of the welcoming committee.

She found out that the family were members of the exclusive Cowdray Park Polo Club in West Sussex and Rebekah’s older brother was skilled in polo. Rebekah excelled in dressage and was quite heavily involved in competitions like Caroline.

“So, I take it this isn’t that impressive compared to your previous club in England?”

“Why would you say that?”

“Your brother didn’t seem very happy with the polo facilities.”

“Niklaus isn’t happy with anything,” she drawled.

“Niklaus?”

“He hates it but I do it just to annoy him,” she offered, a slight smile crossing her face. Maybe there was a less uptight side to her after all.

“No, I meant that name sounds familiar.”

“He’s one of the best polo players in England and beyond, but don’t tell him I said that because I will deny it,” she groaned.

Now, it was all coming back to her. Caroline didn’t play polo but knew she’d seen him on the cover of quite a few magazines. He was incredibly good looking but from what she’d seen, he was clearly arrogant and self absorbed too.

“None of us are happy that my father was transferred for work but Nik is feeling the move the most. Elijah is off to Yale so is only passing through town and Kol is Kol.”

Caroline wasn’t sure what that meant, but she was certain she’d find out.

4 months later (August) USA v Argentina Display Match, Palm Beach International Polo Club, FL

“Look at that South American stallion in action,” Katherine purred from the sidelines. “And by that, I don’t mean the horse.”

Caroline rolled her eyes although it wouldn’t be Kat if she wasn’t checking out the talent.

The annual display match was a big event on the club’s polo calendar. People from all around the country and overseas attended and it was one of the premiere fashion events of the year. Although Caroline enjoyed it, something was making it less that way. Or someone if she was being specific.

Klaus Mikaelson.

Watching him take the field like he owned the place was a bad enough start to her day. In the four months she’d had the displeasure of knowing him, Caroline had decided that he was one of the most arrogant, conceited and smug idiots she’d ever met. Of course, the other girls at the club didn’t share her feelings and were all vying for his attention on and off the field. Caroline thought they were all pathetic for not seeing what she saw.

That he was an ass.

Caroline had every intention of steering clear of the guy but it seemed as if everywhere she went, he did too. It didn’t help that her and Katherine had been spending time together with his sister. It also didn’t help that he looked so attractive annoying her. Whether it was a flash of those dimples or a curve of his crimson lips, Caroline found herself doing all that she could not to jump him. And she hated herself for that. It also meant she was moody more often and it clearly hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“The grouchy look on your face is doing nothing for that stunning Burberry dress, Care,” Kat insisted. Caroline looked down at the white, fitted ensemble thinking her friend was right that it didn’t match her personality.

“Why do we have to watch this?” She growled, noticing Katherine was about to interrupt. “And I don’t want to hear about the South American stallions."

“Well, unfortunately the club has this really annoying policy whereby all younger members need to be present. Apparently, it helps with publicity and that means more members and we all know what that means.”

“Money,” she murmured. “I don’t like it but I get it. But since when did we become the cheerleaders for the guy’s polo team? I don’t see any of them at our show jumping meets.”

“As much as you don’t want to hear this, polo is more popular and it doesn’t hurt that the club’s star player is the best advertisement they’ve got.”

“If you say his name…”

“The club has hit a gold mine with Hottie Mchottie as a member and I’m inclined to agree.”

“You did that on purpose.”

“I could have meant anyone,” she smirked. “Okay, maybe. I have to admit, I love the way he riles you up, it’s like watching live action foreplay.”

“You have a one track mind.”

“And you, my dear, are in denial.”

“I can’t stand him and his pompous ass.”

“Talking about his ass again, are we?” Kat teased. “Anyone would think you were obsessed.” Caroline gave her a look which plainly said she wasn’t interested in engaging. “Have you considered relieving some of that sexual tension with him in the nearest stable on a strategically placed haystack? You might find that helps with your general mood.”

“Well, on that rather weird and erotic novel type note,” she growled, annoyed that Kat probably had a point. She couldn’t stand the guy but there was no denying her attraction. “I’m going to get a drink and then spike it so I don’t have to deal with your wild opinions.”

“Best thing you’ve suggested all day, get me one too,” she called out to her retreating back. Caroline could hear her laughter and it wasn’t helping improve her mood.

“Why are you in such a bad mood?”

What was this, pick on Caroline day? She looked over at Kol Mikaelson standing by the buffet table, his plate piled high.

“You realise you can come back again for more, right?”

“This is my third helping,” he said, gesturing to his food. “I don’t know why they insist on these tiny plates.”

“Probably so people like you don’t hoover up the entire buffet in one fell swoop and leave nothing for the rest of us,” she offered. “I’m surprised to see you actually.”

“Really? This is my dream come true, free food and beautiful women.” Caroline fought the urge to roll her eyes.

The youngest Mikaelson had always been an enigma to her. Kol had absolutely no interest in horses. Period. Unlike his sister and brother he only attended the club on social occasions. She actually found him to be the most fun, not that she’d ever admit that.

“Of course,” she sighed knowingly. “I’m not sure why I said that. I can see the food has been a hit, how about things on the girl front?”

“Not yet, but it’s still early. I have to say Katherine is looking…”

“I’m going to have to stop you there,” she interrupted. “I love my best friend but she is a pariah and will devour you and not in a good way. Plus, she likes older guys.”

“Well, that explains her checking out Elijah,” he muttered, referring to when his older brother visited the club on a break from college a month earlier. “Any other friends for me?”

“Not any I’d introduce you to, Kol,” she joked, noticing his face falter slightly. “The day is still young though and I’ve caught April Young checking you out.” Given the way his expression changed, Caroline figured she’d buoyed him slightly.

“Of course she was,” he grinned. “So, why so glum, sugar plum?” He asked, placing his plate down and looking at her earnestly. “Usually Niklaus has to be in at least a half mile radius for this kind of reaction.”

“This has nothing to do with…”

“I’m his brother and, trust me, I know the signs,” he advised. “I assume you’ve heard about the Winter Festival then?”

“Well, it’s held every year,” she replied.

The Winter Festival was the premiere equestrian event running from January to April every year in their hometown of Wellington. It was considered the largest and longest-running competition in the world and attracted varying levels of riders from all over the US and beyond.

“Yes,” he drawled sarcastically. “I meant about you and Niklaus doing...”

“Me and Niklaus?” His face was ashen now, clearly he’d misjudged the situation and her reaction. “Doing what exactly.”

“You’re going to have to ask him,” he blurted out, holding up his plate of food like a shield between them. “I have no intention of being the messenger who gets shot, especially when I’m so young and handsome and have so much to live for.”

“Gee, how dramatic. Just tell me, Kol, “ she pressed. “Trust me, my anger will be squarely directed at your brother. If you need any proof just look at precedent.”

“He told me that you two are going to be the faces of the festival,” he mumbled. “Do all the publicity and promotional things for it.”

“Unbelievable...” she scowled. “I’m going to kill him.”

She was gone before Kol could offer any rebuttal.

45 minutes later

(Klaus)

“No need to tell me how wonderful I am, Forbes,” he smiled, walking towards the stall leading his stallion Jet.

He’d happened upon her pacing outside his stall, her white dress doing nothing to hide her delectable curves. He’d almost lost concentration multiple times during the match thanks to that particular ensemble. Klaus wasn’t one who lost concentration often but was starting to realise that Caroline Forbes did something to him that no one ever had before.

Sure, he liked to give her a hard time and revelled in the way she reacted but she’d commanded his attention for months now. No one even stood a chance when she was in his line of sight.

It started when they met. Those golden waves and blue eyes were mesmerising but if Klaus was being honest it was the slight dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose that really drove him crazy.

“I’m not one of your pathetic, sycophantic groupies,” she hissed, finally coming to a stop and placing her arms across her chest defiantly. “I hear you’ve been making decisions on my behalf.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” he said, leading Jet into the stall and removing his bridle. Klaus wondered how long it would take for the news to reach Caroline.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You can’t just go around making decisions on my behalf,” she argued.

“The festival, I assume?” He asked feigning innocence. “They needed two photogenic, equestrian talents to promote it. If anything I thought you’d be flattered.”

“Wow, you really think I’m going to fall into a giggling heap because you called me both photogenic and talented? You picked the wrong girl.”

“I didn’t pick anyone…”

“Oh no you don’t,” she shot back. “I just spoke to Jenna and apparently it was all your idea.”

“She asked me for suggestions and I obliged.” Klaus figured that at least sounded half true, even if it wasn’t.

Klaus knew that if he was going to be stuck doing publicity then the only person he wanted by his side was Caroline. Yes, it was selfish, and now, probably in hindsight, a little creepy sounding but he wanted her to see there was more to him.

“If that’s true,” she accused.

“If you do this then think of all the benefits.” She gave him a curious look and Klaus knew he had her attention. “Sponsorship, fame, fortune.”

“Just because you want those material things doesn’t mean I do,” she answered. “There’s more to life than all of this.” Klaus detected a sense of sadness in her tone, like show jumping wasn’t her only ambition in life. Before he could respond, she did. “Anyway, why would I make a pact with the devil?”

“You know, I’m much nicer once you get to know me, Caroline.”

“Says Satan,” she drawled. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Well, you’re going to have about six months to see it,” he replied.

“This is not happening,” she insisted. “I’m going to tell Jenna that this was all your hair brained scheme and I want no part of it.”

“Now, even I know you won’t do that,” he said, knowing he was right. If she backed out on this it would be frowned upon by the upper echelons at the club, not to mention her family. “Look, maybe you might even have a bit of fun. Did you ever think of that?”

“I’ve never associated you with fun,” she murmured. “More like the impediment to it.”

“We’ll see about that, love.”

“If we’re going to at least pretend to be friends, don’t call me love.”

Klaus watched her walk away, her hips wiggling hypnotically from side to side. Jet nuzzled into his neck, almost like he was thinking the exact same thing.

“Hooves off, boy, I saw her first.”

2 months later (October) - Municipal Beach, FL

“Why exactly am I wearing high heels on a horse on a beach?” She asked, as someone touched up her make-up. “I think this is up there with the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s supposed to be artistic.”

“Well, it’s not. Anyway, who asked you?” She shot back, as he held onto the reins of her horse. “You get to wear comfortable footwear at least.”

“If it’s any consolation, red is your colour,” he said, gesturing to the patent heels she was wearing. She groaned, no doubt moving around in order to get more comfortable, but given she was wearing a matching ball gown, Klaus knew it was no mean feat.

“I’ll tell you where you can stick your consolation, Mikaelson.”

“Now that’s not the way for a lady to speak, is it Jigsaw?” He spoke to the horse she was atop.

“Remind me never to agree to do this again,” she mumbled, leaning down so she could say it in his ear.

Klaus couldn’t help but laugh aloud, she’d been saying it ever since the publicity campaign began in September. Photo shoots had become commonplace for them but they’d also just finished a nation-wide interview blitz where he’d be charming and Caroline had no choice but to follow suit. He might have also held her hand a couple of times and gone out of his way not to deny a possible romance between the newest equestrian darlings. The media had eaten it up of course and Klaus was in no rush for it all to end. Luckily, they still had a while until it all wrapped up.

Her frustration with him seemed to only add to his need to be near her. Klaus knew it was a tactic she employed and that the attraction between them was not only one sided. Caroline seemed to make it her aim in life to keep her distance but Klaus could feel it in her looks and her touch.

“You secretly love the attention.”

“Not bloody likely.”

“Someone’s clearly been around me too long,” he teased hearing the ‘b’ word.

“And don’t I know it,” she groaned, then attempted to sit upright again in the saddle. In the process her left shoe fell off and landed on the sand. Klaus sprang into action, kneeling down and picking it up. He noticed her looking downwards from the saddle and held it up to her foot.

“I think there was a fairytale about this once.”

“That’s fantastic,” the photographer shouted excitedly, what seemed like a thousand clicks sounding out from his camera. “Smile, Caroline, it’s your very own Prince Charming.”

“You’re never going to let me live this one down, are you?” She asked through gritted teeth.

“Never, Cinderella.”

One month later (November) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

“That’s not the right of way,” he insisted, watching as she attempted to get the ball further down the field. “The line of the ball needs to be on the right.”

“But it’s my right of way,” she argued, moving the ball again.

“No, that’s cheating.”

“You are no fun, anyone ever tell you that?” She laughed.

“They want the faces of the festival to play in the charity polo tournament,” he said. “I don’t think the organisers would take too kindly to you breaking the rules.”

“Polo is entirely too civilised for my liking, far too many rules.”

It was at that point, her horse stopped dead in the middle of the field and no amount of encouragement was going to move her. Klaus swept in and took possession of the ball and rode the rest of the distance to score.

“Hey, that’s not fair! My horse is broken,” she shouted.

“That’s no way to talk about Scout, is it girl,” he grinned, trotting closer so he could rub her ears and mane affectionately.

“Sabotage, that’s what this is,” she growled. “I should have known when you gave me one of your fifty million horses for practice.”

“I have three and every polo rider should have a few to choose from,” he remarked. “And as much as I love Coco, she’s not a polo pony.”

“She wouldn’t cheat like this little lady.”

“Says the biggest cheater of them all,” he teased, nudging her slightly.

Caroline, not wanting to be outdone, pushed back until it became a full on play fight. Catching him by surprise, Caroline pulled at one of his stray curls causing Klaus to reel backward and off his horse completely. It had been raining overnight so the field was wet and muddy in parts. Klaus managed to fall right into one of them.

As much as he wanted to get angry and be upset, Klaus couldn’t help but think her melodic laughter was contagious and he started to follow suit. Pretty soon they were both in fits of laughter and Caroline wasn’t expecting him to reach up and pull her off the saddle and into the mud with him.

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

“Says the girl who started it,” he joked. “I don’t know, I think mud is a good look for you.” Before she could react he’d smeared it across her cheek.

“You did not just do that!” Caroline threw some back, hitting him square on the chest. “This means war, Mikaelson!”

“Bring it on, Forbes,” he provoked, pulling her into the mud with him.

45 minutes later

“I think we can safely say that our first polo practice was a disaster,” Caroline murmured.

They’d both showered in the centre’s bathroom facilities and were sitting outside waiting on some clothes to dry. Klaus was trying not to notice just how good she looked in a towel, her usually creamy skin tinged pink from the hot water.

“I don’t know, I personally thought it was a lot of fun, especially when I pulled you into the mud pit.”

“Of course you did,” she drawled. He noticed her eyes riveted by a stray water droplet running down his bare chest. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one currently distracted by the view. “I, uh, didn’t think you had it in you, to be honest.”

“Have what in me?”

“I thought you were far too into yourself to let loose and have a bit of fun,” she offered.

“Wow, you really think that badly of me?” He asked, not exactly surprised by her account of him but also slightly offended. “Talk about judging a book by its cover.”

“I’m sorry but you seemed unimpressed with everyone and everything here after you arrived in town.”

“I was homesick,” he replied honestly. “I still am sometimes. I never wanted to leave England. My whole life was there, my friends, my family. Florida is like a whole other world and I wasn’t sure how to act.”

“Yeah, it is intense.” The empathy reflected in her eyes was enough to tell Klaus she was reconsidering her views. “You do that confident, smug act a little too well.”

“Trust me, it was difficult. This place is like horses on steroids, well you know not the animals themselves.” Klaus couldn’t believe how stupid he sounded, he decided to blame it on her being barely dressed.

“I know exactly what you mean, although Wellington is all I’ve ever known.”

“You said something about there being more to life than this,” he recalled. “What did you mean by that?”

“The dreaded legacy.”

“Family pressure?” He guessed. Klaus knew from asking around that both her grandmother and mother had been champion riders.

“This life was it for them,” she murmured. “This is all they’ve ever known and they want me to follow in their footsteps but I’m not quite sure that’s what I want.”

“You mean there’s more to life than this equestrian dream?”

“I want to get out of Wellington, go to college next year and see what else is out there.”

“Have you ever considered talking it out with them?”

“Many times,” she shared. “But I chicken out every time. How do you start a conversation like that?”

“My step father is the opposite,” he offered. “Mikael thinks riding around on a horse is extremely unmasculine and that I should be doing more practical things in my life, like concentrating on college.”

“Wow, he sounds like a real…”

“Ass?” He answered for her. “I think he hoped this move would make me reconsider polo but I don’t really know anything else.”

“We are an extremely pathetic duo.”

“Maybe we need to do something to cheer ourselves up,” Klaus suggested, trying to ignore just how much he wanted to pull off her towel and play out every single fantasy he’d had starring Caroline.

“I’m not going to roll around in the mud again with you, Mikaelson.” He could tell by the way she was looking at him, biting her lower lip as her eyes devoured him, that she wasn’t opposed to it at all.

“I could think of other, more clean, ways to pass the time until our clothes are dry?” She clearly didn’t need to be asked twice.

“Now that you mention it, I think I missed a few spots,” she smiled, pulling him up by the hand and leading him towards the showers.

“I’d be more than happy to help with that, love.”

The tension that had been building between them for months finally dissipated in a shower stall. Her back up against the tiles as he moved inside her, the hot water falling down on them. Time stood still and they only emerged once the water ran out and they were forced back to reality in a cold burst.

As relieving as it was, Klaus was disinclined to ask too many questions in case the spell was broken. Caroline seemed just as reluctant. Suddenly, being near each other was all that mattered and any talk about their feelings pushed into the background.

Present Day (March) - Competition Arena, Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

(Caroline)

“Only one circuit between you and the championship, Care,” Kat smiled, giving Coco an obligatory good luck sugar cube.

Caroline barely heard her best friend or the announcer over the loudspeaker, she was too busy trying to get into the competition zone. Usually, it was easy to block out outside influences but she’d been struggling for the last few weeks.

It had all started when Klaus decided to ask the question they’d managed to avoid for months now. They’d finished their ‘picnic’ at a secluded spot they secretly visited and rather than redressing and leaving as usual, he’d asked the question.

“What are we?” She’d frozen to the spot, unable to respond. They didn’t do this, they didn’t talk about their feelings or wherever this was going between them. They didn’t do anything.

“Klaus…”

“You and I both know that things can’t continue like this.”

“Why not?” She cried. “We’re having fun, we’re enjoying ourselves. Let’s not ruin what we have.”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know what we have,” he murmured. “I know that you make me happy and that the last few months have been the best of my life.”

“So, why do we have to put a label on it?”

“Because no one knows about us, we hide away like we’re ashamed of being together. I don’t want to do that anymore because I love you, Caroline.” He’d never said that before and she wasn’t quite sure how to handle it, especially mid-fight. His gaze was as intense as it was imploring.

“It’s just…” Caroline broke off, unable to explain how she was feeling and what she wanted. She knew she had strong feelings for Klaus but it scared the hell out of her. “You’re going to Oxford in the fall and…”

“So, you’ve had enough of me then? This was all just a game to you?” She knew it wasn’t a game but it was difficult to find the words. She was expected to keep on the equestrian track in the States and the thought of him leaving her there was too much.

“Of course not,” she murmured, her gaze now firmly downcast to avoid his gaze. “I just don’t know where this is going and the sooner we realise that the better.”

He was gone before she looked up and they hadn’t spoken since.

“Caroline, hello?” Katherine asked, waving her hands in front of her face animatedly. “Where did you go? If that was a sex trance, I want to know all of the dirty details.”

“I only told you about that because you’re my best friend, but I have no intention of going into detail, even if you’re giving me those pleading, sex-starved eyes.”

“No fun, bestie,” she pouted. “So, why do I sense there’s trouble in paradise?”

“There’s no trouble,” she offered. “We’re actually not seeing each other anymore. It’s really for the best given...”

“Are you dumb or blind or both?”

“It’s not going anywhere, he’s off to England in the fall and then what? I’ll still be here doing what I do.”

“And you sound so excited by that prospect.”

“You’re going off to Columbia, Rebekah to Harvard and I’m going to Brown, not because I really want to go there but because it has the best equestrian team.”

“You need to tell your mom that this isn’t the life you want.”

“Easier said than done,” Caroline groaned. “Did I tell you that I got into Oxford?”

“What do you think?” Kat drawled. “How could you not tell me this, I’m only your best friend.”

“I only received the letter on Thursday.”

“So, I’m officially confused. You want to go to Oxford, you always have. Doesn’t this mean that all the moaning and groaning about Klaus and a possible future is redundant?”

“Kat…”

“Caroline, I say this with love, but you’re an idiot. Yes, your family wants one thing but I think you’re old enough to make your own decisions. Plus, I bet the equestrian team at Oxford is pretty good, you know if you want to keep your options open.” She did have a point.

Caroline didn’t have time to respond though because one of the guys they knew from the polo club came running towards them frantically.

“Please tell me that’s not some new and really bad dance?” Kat asked, looking at him curiously.

“There’s been an accident on the polo field.”

“What happened?” Caroline asked, her stomach dropping. It could have been anyone but for some reason she felt like it was him.

“Number 3,” he panted. “Opposing team broke the right of way, there was a collision and he was thrown off his horse.”

“Is he okay?” Caroline asked, all composure lost. She didn’t care who knew just as long as he was going to be okay.

“They took him to hospital by ambulance, he was unconscious,” he replied.

Caroline handed Katherine the reins, and they held a conversation with their eyes. The decision about what to do was the easiest one she’d made. No championship was worth it, she was going to the hospital.

1 hour and 45 minutes later

(Klaus)

“He always was the most dramatic one in the family.” Klaus heard Rebekah’s voice as he started to come to. They all knew she was the most dramatic but liked to pretend she wasn’t.

“Oh, look,” Kol exclaimed. “I guess Rebekah having a voice like nails on a blackboard has finally come in handy. Welcome back, Niklaus.”

“Is this a nightmare?” He managed to get out, his gaze trained on his younger siblings.

“Wow, you made a joke,” Rebekah cooed. “Looks like big brother is back with an even worse sense of humour.”

“Can I have some water,” he rasped, his throat dry, not to mention a splitting headache. “And as much as I love your comedy act, can we please keep the yammering to a minimum.”

“Oh, he’s definitely back,” Kol joked. “How about I get some water and you find the doctor, Beks?” She hated that nickname and her scowl confirmed it.

They both left the room and Klaus had to admit he was happy to enjoy the silence and just close his eyes for a moment.

Although he wasn’t at fault, Klaus knew he’d been off kilter for a few weeks now and might have had a slight lapse in concentration. It was bad enough he hadn’t seen Caroline since their argument but the worst part was that she didn’t even seem to want to try and make things work for them. She also seemed embarrassed for some reason and that hurt more than Klaus had imagined.

Sure, things started off fun and as much as Klaus liked that he knew things couldn’t continue that way. Yes, he was off to Oxford but he hoped that she’d offer to try rather than giving up. He even told her he loved her and nothing. To say he was hurt was an understatement.

“Oh my god,” he heard her voice, almost like he’d summoned her or something.

“Klaus.” He could hear the emotion and the slight wobble in her voice. “What have you done?” He heard her take a seat at his bedside and felt her take his hand. Klaus knew he should have opened his eyes but he was curious about what she might say.

“Please tell me the other guy looks worse and if not I’m going to kick his ass.” Klaus had to fight the urge not to smile. She was incredibly adorable when she was being jealous.

“Can you please just open those pretty eyes so we can talk? I want to tell you what an idiot I was last time I saw you.” As much as he wanted to do just that and gloat, Klaus stayed still waiting.

“Fine, if you’re going to be stubborn about it,” she muttered. “A couple of things.”

“One, I was an idiot and if you expect me to admit that when you’re conscious, think again. Two, I was scared about losing you and what we have because my family has these overwhelming expectations and I was trying to be all things to all people.” Klaus figured she was just about done and then she continued.

“Three, I want you and I want us and I love you and I really regret not saying that the other week. And finally, four, I got into Oxford and I really want to go but I don’t want you to think I’m some crazy weird stalker..”

“You got into Oxford?” His eyes flew open and he spoke before thinking, he was that shocked.

“You were awake the whole time?” She growled, squeezing his hand tightly.

“Ouch, Caroline.”

“You deserved it,” she insisted, before relenting and loosening her grip. “Yes, I got into Oxford.”

“And you love me?”

“Well, there’s no point in asking given you heard it all,” she muttered.

“And you were an idiot?”

“I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”

“Probably not,” he smiled, pulling her closer. “But I wouldn’t have you any other way. Hang on, aren’t you supposed to be competing right now?”

“I was but decided I needed to be here,” she replied. “I need to start doing more of what I want with my life. But don’t let it go to your head, Mikaelson.”

“Come up here,” he asked, pulling her onto the bed so she was laying beside him. She felt familiar, comfortable and like home. “I want to make up for the last few weeks.”

“You want to do it in the hospital bed?”

“No, but someone is clearly over eager,” he chuckled.

“I’m so glad I’m in a hospital right now because I’m going to be sick,” Kol groaned, walking into the room with the doctor and Rebekah on his heels.

His reaction was predictable but Klaus and Caroline didn't really care, they were far too immersed in each other to even respond. Not when they had a future to look forward to and, after all of the initial animosity, it was most definitely worth it in the end.

#kcbingo2020 #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline drabbles #klaroline fanfic #klaroline #misssophiachase #my writing

46 notes · View notes

scapegrace74-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Satellite Mind

A/N I can’t stop myself. I’m weak! Weak! The Saorsa-sequel is coming along, but the Metric universe just won’t leave me alone. This story takes place just after Lost Kitten and Gimme Sympathy. Previous fics are available on my AO3 page.

Oh, and mild warning for foul language, if that’s not your thing.

The song by Metric that inspired the title and a few lines is here.

January 14, 2017, Spittalfields, England

“I’m happy for you, Geillis, really. I mean... Cartagena, wow. You can, what? Dabble in the emerald market?”

Her friend saw right through Claire’s glass face to her latent fear of abandonment. Fiercely independent, a precious handful of friendships and habits anchored her in the world. Without those tethers, she lived with a nameless dread that she might spin off into the void, lost in a great emptiness.

“Dinna lie tae me, Claire Beauchamp. Ye havna left yer bed in the twenty-four hours since I told ye. Ye’re jus’ starin’ up at the ceiling. Ye ken I wouldna ever want tae leave ya were it no’ for someone truly special. Juan Carlos, he’s...”

“Built like a stevedore and hung like a stallion, I believe were your exact words,” she interrupted, smiling despite herself at Geillis’ moonstruck infatuation. The redhead had met the Columbian businessman at a New Year’s celebration and now, two weeks’ later, had dropped the bombshell that she was planning on following him back across the Atlantic in the spring, leaving Claire without a roommate just as her income was nearly halved by the commencement of her medical studies.

“Aye, he is that. Everyone thinks I’m mad, but it’s the real thing between he and I. I jus’ feel it. Ye’ll ken the feeling yerself one day. But I willna leave ye high an’ dry. I’ll see ye settled, a’fore I go.”

Claire doubted that very much. It was Geillis’ name on the lease, which meant that as soon as she gave notice their landlord was free to increase the rent. Spittalfields was moving upmarket as one dilapidated industrial building after another was converted into lofts and chic office space for the urban gentry. There was no way she’d be able to afford the new payment at their current flat, even if she could find another roommate she could stomach. And moving out on her own was equally out of the question. The ghost of her past mistakes haunted her most when she was alone.

***

February 2, 2017, Royal London Hospital, England

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” A metal spoon clattered into the break-room sink and a few other nurses glanced over, trying to decide if bloodshed between the two was imminent.

“Tis is a matter of some debate,” Geillis replied, undaunted. She’d expected this reaction, which was why she’d cornered Claire during the short overlap between their shifts when she couldn’t run away. At least the British Army had left Afghanistan, although South Sudan was still a possibility.

“James Fraser. You approached Jamie Fraser, without my permission I might add, to find out whether he still had a room to let. I cannot fucking believe you, Geillis Duncan! Where do you get off...”

“First,” Geillis interrupted the predicted tirade by holding up her index finger, “you yerself remarked on his lovely flat, and how fastidious he was. Second, tis in the neighbourhood an’ right around the corner from tha’ chipstand ye love. Third, ye’re both shift workers and will hardly see each other. Fourth, if ye do bump inta the wee fox cub when he’s runnin’ about in his skivvies, weel, thas a hardship many a lass would be willing tae face in yer place. And fifth,” here Geillis raised her palm and outstretched fingers right in front of Claire’s nose, “ye can afford it.”

Claire huffed, but was otherwise silent. She couldn’t deny that Geillis’ points were mostly valid, but she hated the idea of accepting charity from Jamie, of being seen as a burden. If she’d approached him herself, perhaps...

“Wait a second. How did you even know Jamie still had a room to let? Have you been in contact with him?” Something toxic simmered in her belly. Geillis and Jamie texting each other. Talking about her behind her back. Sharing intimacies from which she was excluded. It was a flashback of a feeling that hit too close to home for comfort.

“Och, no. Didna I tell ya? I ken the lad’s uncle, Dougal Mackenzie. Bald as a billiard cue, but tha’ man can fuck for hours. I remember one time, we were...”

“Oh my god, Geillis, please tell me you didn’t cheat on Jamie with his uncle!”

“It canna be cheatin’ if ye were ne’er together tae begin wi’,” Geillis pronounced. “Ye’re too ecclesiastical by half, Beauchamp. T’anyway, I hadna met Dougal when yon lad and I had our... dalliance. But imagine ma surprise when I showed up tae meet Dougal at Bethall Fire Station in a wee red dress tighter than a nun’s chuff, an’ standin’ right next tae him is the fox cub, face turning bright as a forge. Twas an awkward moment tae be sure, even measurin’ by my very high standards.”

***

February 13, 2017, Spittalfields, England

“Ye’ll be wantin’ tae look about the kitchen, I reckon. Twas the only room ye didna really see, when ye were here last. An’ the storage locker, but there’s nought down there but sportin’ equipment tha’ reeks tae high heaven. No’ that I dinna try tae wash out the stench, mind you.”

Jamie resolved to limit himself to two word sentences for the rest of the tour. Anything more was too great a risk to his dignity.

“It’s lovely, especially with the morning sunlight streaming through the windows. How much is the monthly heating bill again?”

It was almost Valentine’s Day and Claire still didn’t know where she was going to live come March. She’d flipped through free rental magazines and scrolled a few message boards, but hadn’t made any serious efforts to secure a new home. She told herself she was too busy preparing for medical school and working full-time, but in the back closet of her mind she allowed the idea of moving in with Jamie to take root.

Then, last night while drifting through the deep fog just before sleep she’d had a thought. Living with Jamie would finally put an end to all of Geillis’ awkward match-making efforts. If they were roommates, they couldn’t be anything else besides. Rolling over and grabbing for her phone before she could second-guess herself, she fired off a quick text to the number Geillis had added to her Contacts under Wee Fox Cub. Despite the late hour, two minutes later he texted back. And now here she was, seriously contemplating the impossible.

They were sitting across from each other on the couch, negotiating terms. Claire found herself making ridiculous demands, somehow hoping that Jamie would balk at the last minute and this perilous adventure would come to its natural end.

“I’ll be studying when I’m not on shift, so loud noise and music is a deal breaker for me,” she listed while eyeing the bowl of trail mix set out on the coffee table.

“I own a good pair o’ headphones, and my sister would tell ye there’s a reason I dinna sing outside o’ the shower. Did ye want some?” Jamie extended the bowl in her direction, but she shook her head.

“If I’m to live here, the flat will need to be ours equally. I know you lived here first, but I’d be paying half the rent. That means we share common elements down the middle. Half the cabinet space, half of the refrigerator and freezer.” She looked around the main room, where it was obvious Jamie did most of his living. “I’d want to put my desk below the window there, where there’s lots of natural light. I don’t want to always be hidden in my bedroom like some low-rent AirBnB guest.”

“O’ course,” Jamie quickly agreed. “I can clear out some of my books and such from the shelves as weel. And I was thinkin’ of movin’ the Xbox inta my room. There’s ano’er TV in there, ye ken, so ye won’t be exposed tae my tears while I’m watchin’ Six Nations matches.”

“That won’t be necessary, Jamie. I really don’t have many things. Some holdover to my years living out of a suitcase with my uncle, I suppose.”

He was being altogether too agreeable. It was time to break out the big guns.

“We need to talk about one last thing. Some might think it usual for a young woman who is single, living with a young man who is single to feel a certain...”

“Wha’ makes ye think I’m single?” Jamie interrupted, and she snapped her mouth shut in surprise.

“Well, with your history with Geillis, and I’ve never seen you with someone, I just assumed...” she trailed off, fighting down the urge to bolt.

Jamie laughed. “I’m teasin’ ye, Claire. O’ course I’m single. Do ye think I’d be contemplating inviting a bonnie lass tae share my flat if I were spoken for?”

“Well, that’s just the thing, isn’t it? People might make assumptions. One of us might do so as well. Feelings would get hurt. So I think it’s important to be very clear at the outset. You seem like a lovely man, but there will never be anything between us.”

“Because of my history wi’ Geillis, y’mean?” Jamie asked.

“Well, that as well. But also because I’ll be far too busy with work and my studies to sustain any kind of relationship, least of all with someone who, when things fall apart, would be in a position to leave me without a roof over my head. I’ve been there before, and I don’t intend to ever go back.”

“Aye, I see.” Jamie nodded absently, obviously digesting this large morsel of information and not finding it entirely to his taste.

“So that’s my final stipulation. I don’t mind if you have overnight visitors. You’re a grown man, and you can act as you please. But we need to agree that any kind of romantic relationship between us is off-limits.”

Claire grabbed a handful of snacks and popped them into her mouth. She observed Jamie as she chewed. In retrospect, this was a brilliant move on her part. If Jamie accepted, she would have solved for both her housing crisis and her ambivalent feelings towards the Scot. And if he declined, well, that would tell her something too.

Squaring his shoulders, Jamie extended his hand.

“We’re agreed.”

And that was how Jamie and Claire became just roommates.

#my writing #outlander

48 notes · View notes

stallionvanlines · 4 months ago

Text

Heavy-Duty Warehouse Moving In Alberta—Fast & Secure

Stallion Moving & Storage specializes in heavy-duty warehouse moving across Alberta. With over 30 years of expertise, we ensure a fast, secure, and efficient relocation process. Our team handles equipment, inventory, and logistics with precision, minimizing downtime. Trust us for seamless warehouse moves with top-tier service and reliability.

#warehouse #moving #service

0 notes

quepasta · 4 years ago

Text

A Warm Breath from the Mountains - Chapter 2

Zelda and Link watching the Aurora Borealis - commissioned from @/rutisfree on twitter

Authors: Quepasta (I write Zelda’s POV) and @freshbreezesworld (who writes Link’s Pov)

You can also find this fic on AO3 here

Chapter Summary: A romantic chapter in the Hebra mountains, where Link watches with Zelda the Aurora Borealis shining upon the mountains. Zelda finds out more about his life after the loss of all of his memories.

Carefully, I pulled my arm away and sat up. I had to massage and shake my arm to get the blood flowing, but I didn’t mind. As long as it didn’t kill me, the sarcastic thought occurred to me.

I jumped out the window and landed noiselessly on the grassy ground that surrounded the guest cottage and grabbed a stalk, climbed back in over the same window and sat down cross-legged in front of Zelda’s face. One last time I examined her contented sleeping face, which she always had when I slept next to her. Then I took the stalk and tickled her nose and ears. Hectically she tore her eyes open and patted her body and face with her hands in panic. I let out a laugh and almost toppled off the bed to see her like that. She noticed my reaction and stopped abruptly and just looked at me questioningly “Link, what have you done now!”

Again I snorted, this time it was her confused look. I tried to gasp for breath and at the same time explain to her what I had done, which proved to be a challenge for me. “Link!”

"Don’t worry Zelda! I only tried to wake you up. “

"apparently you did. Great job. And never do this again, whatever it was.“ Now she was annoyed and I nearly lost it again but I needed to focus.

"Anyways. Today starts your first lesson on how to cook. We have to gather some ingredients from the Hebra mountains, so let’s get started, because the day will pass before we even reached the stables.“

Slowly I realized I was staring at her for too long and as a result she blushed. “Do you like my new outfit that much?” she asked curiously.

Slowly and elegantly, she stepped down the stairs while I couldn’t get out of my staring even when she stood right in front of me.

“Zelda… You… You look like a goddess.” I said without thinking twice. As I realized what I said, my eyes widened and became nervous. ‘How did I let this happen?’

“I-“ I was about to start to say, but Zelda interrupted me before I could finish the sentence.

“Everything my princess desires,” I finally replied.

Even though I had only addressed her by her title, it slowly dawned on me how ambiguous it sounded, and I couldn’t help but smile. Zelda giggled adorable in response. I scratched the back of my head, which I always did when I messed up things.

"Let’s get to the stables before it gets dark. We will need our horses in the deep snow to move faster. After that, we’ll let them rest near our campfire so they won’t freeze.“ I finally said leading her the way.

Zelda nodded in agreement and broke away from me. We then walked across the bridges in comfortable silence, admiring the majestic view, until we arrived at the stables.

"Link, why did you name your horse Altay? I’ve never heard that name before,” Zelda asked as I picked up our horses.

I had captured and tamed a direct descendant of her favourite horse, before the battle against Ganon, and held the white proud mare by her reins so that Zelda could pet and caress her in peace.

“An old man I once met on my journey told me about a warlike people who were unbeatable on their horses. They called themselves the Altay Warriors, after a mountain of their ancestors and deities. I don’t know what happened to these warriors, but I still found the story impressive. When I found my buddy, here beside me,” I lovingly stroked my horse’s mouth as I continued, “I knew he was just as tough as those warriors and gave him that name. He loves it when I call him by his name.” I smiled and helped Zelda onto her horse, grabbing her hip and hoisting her onto the saddle with ease. I loved those tiny touches and the way she smiled happily as I did so.

“Thank you Link, a gentleman as always.” She said and gave me the intriguing look again.

I winked at her and turned to my horse and mounted the saddle. We had both opted for the ‘Travelling Saddle’ as it offered more storage space.

“So, Link will you tell me now, where we’re heading? You didn’t tell me more than that we would camp in the Hebra mountains.” She asked as we rode our horses in a slow walk.

“You will see, when we’re there, Princess.”

“Link that’s not fair, I want you to tell me where we will go. I want to be prepared.”

“Prepared for what? You won’t need to do anything but study the flora around us.” I said as I spurred my horse on.

At a trot we rode past the felled trees as the cool wind blew through the long stalks of grass.

The group of trees in front of us was often filled with Oktoroks, so I kept my eyes open, but we had been spared this time. I breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the huge rock face to our left.

“I will think about it, princess,” I said and immediately saw a glimpse of sadness in her eyes. She turned her head away and sighed frustrated.

‘As if I could ever refuse her wishes.’

“Link, there’s another shrine! And it’s glowing blue too! Link! Link! Let’s explore the shrine!”

“That’s the Bareeda Naag shrine I entered a while ago. That’s probably why it glows blue instead of orange, since I completed the trial inside.”

Eyes dilated like those of an eagle, stared at me in shock.

As we trotted on, I kept an eye on the surrounding area, knowing that a camp of monsters was hiding behind the rock face.

“The shrines you wanted to explore 100 years ago turned out to be trials for the hero with the mastersword. They served to restore my original strength and endurance. Ancient, mummified monks waited for me in these shrines and gave me different tests. Which amazes me though, because these shrines were created 10 thousand years ago, with the sole purpose of helping me. How could the ancient Sheikah have known this? But if they knew about our miserable fate, why didn’t they take action against it? So many questions ran through my mind as I travelled through Hyrule with no memory.”

I stared at the pommel of his saddle as I moved my hip to the rhythm of Altay. Absentmindedly, I stroked through the spiky Mohawk mane.

I only realised I was lost in thought when Zelda placed a hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of my hazy memories of the devastation.

“Link, why don’t you tell me what you saw in the shrine? What was that trial you had to pass?”

Grateful for the distraction, I gave her a smile.

“Activating the shrine first was a challenge in itself,” we rode past the ruins that surrounded the shrine as I continued, “Laissa, the wife of Kass the poet, sang me an ancient Rito song that contained the solution to the challenge. I quickly found out that through the heart-shaped hole in the steep rock in Rito village, the sun had to shine on an illuminating pedestal and had to be shot with a fire arrow. Shortly thereafter, a shrine rose up from between those ruins and cleared the way for me to take the next test. In the shrine, with the help of my bomb module, I catapulted a huge stone ball at a huge target that was blocked by crumbling stones and floating pedestals that moved back and forth to make my job more difficult. I only had to shoot twice, once to pulverise the stones and a second time to fire at the target at the right moment. It was admittedly one of the easier tests I had to complete.” As I told her more and more, her eyes lit up with fascination, but then I remembered that I hadn’t even introduced her to Kass, let alone Teba, the Rito’s bravest warrior. The thought of Kass led me to remember the final verses of his teacher’s completed ballad.

“Link are you all right? You looked very nervous and troubled for a moment.”

“I’m fine. I just remembered one of the freaky trials.”

I decided to withhold Kass’ ballad from her for the time being, as I wasn’t sure if it was true. I just couldn’t imagine Zelda seeing me as more than her best friend.

“Do you want to tell me about it? You went through so much before you came to rescue me, and yet I can only begin to comprehend what you’ve been through.”

A spark of admiration flitted across her face, but just as I was about to begin to tell, I harkened and halted abruptly.

Puzzled, Zelda stared at me, but before she could ride past me, I grabbed the reins of Himawari, Zelda’s mare, and slowed her down. She neighed loudly in fright, but I managed to shush her with my “Ho! Ho. Hoa!” to calm her down.

Altay sensed danger nearby and flared his nostrils. Nervously, he shook his head and exhaled loudly. He was ready to face the danger.

I heard only the deafening snore of a Hinox, but I knew that if Altay reacted in such a way, there were Yiga nearby who could appear out of nowhere.

I could not hesitate for long, made up my mind quickly.

With my right arm I grabbed Zelda by her waist and dragged her from the saddle onto my lap, slapping Himawari on the back and we galloped as fast as Altay could.

Zelda cried out, constricted in my bent-over stance to brave the wind. I could hear a diabolic laugher, far behind us. I pushed Altay to run faster and quicker.

“Hold on tight!”, I yelled against the wind.

Himawari galloped ahead of us, but Altay quickly caught up with her and sprinted past. We had to get away quickly, far away from any lurking danger.

“HYAH!”, I yelled and spurred Altay and Himawari on.

I could hear Altay’s powerful lungs quivering with joy. I heard every breath as his hooves pawed into the ground. I felt every muscle he moved.

Zelda clung tighter to me as she let out a suppressed squeal.

“Ho! Ho!”, I shouted to calm Altay down.

When Himawari reached us, I released my reins, stretched out my arm and grabbed Himawari’s reins as she charged towards us. I concentrated, tensing my leg muscles to sit firmly in the saddle, and pulled my arm towards me with all my might to intercept Himawari’s momentum. I pulled hard on her reins, keeping Altay under control, and pushed Zelda onto my lap until Himawari came skidding to a halt.

I exhaled with relief and let go of the mare’s reins. I relaxed my grip around Zelda’s waist so that she could relax. Her legs hung off the side of my lap and her hip was pressed painfully tight against the pommel of my saddle.

“Forgive me Princess, I had to get us away from there as quickly as possible as I sensed through Altay that this place held some danger. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

I slid further back in the saddle to move her a little away from the pommel, but I bumped into the pack on my horse’s back.

Zelda let go of my neck and looked up at me.

“I could have ridden after you on Himawari, couldn’t I?”

“No. I can protect you better if you’re right there with me. The Yiga have the art of appearing out of nowhere and attacking you with sword and bow. They could have separated us by waking the sleeping Hynox and kidnapping you quite easily.”

Her beautiful face was millimetres from mine, I couldn’t help but gaze into her deep green eyes. Her pupils dilated, her lips opened a crack and honey sweet breath, clouded my mind. Feeling her chest rise and fall steadily, I realised my hand was still at her waist and she was sitting on my lap.

I tried to calm my racing pulse and deep breaths so as not to take any more space from her by my strong rise and fall of my broad chest.

Silently, we sat there staring into each other’s eyes. Even though I was a disciplined knight, I was only a man. My gaze fell on her slightly parted lips. Magnetically attracted by her breath, my mouth approached hers.

But suddenly a thought flashed through my mind and made me jerk backwards. I was still her knight, protector and closest confidant. I had no right to kiss her.

“Sorry princess. That wasn’t planned” I cleared my throat and tried to gather my thoughts. But then I noticed Zelda’s sad face.

“Princess? Why are you so sad?”

Zelda furrowed her brows and averted her face. However, it felt like I had put a rift between us.

“It’s nothing. We should keep moving or we’ll never get to the snow mountains.” She signaled me to lower her down. Carefully I hoisted her onto Himawari’s saddle and we rode along the mountain pass, following the path. A herd of wild horses crossed our path and galloped ahead of us, across all directions. At the end of the trail was a hut with a campfire and we decided to let the horses rest at this spot.

“What is this place?” Zelda asked.

“Hebra Trailhead Lodge. See that wooden ladder? If we climb that, we’ll get to Rosporo Pass. From there we get to the Hebra south summit. The pass to the right of the mountain takes us past Corvash Peak Mountain to Hebra Plunge and Hebra Falls. But the way is a long one on both paths, I suggest making a campfire close to this hut, but stay at the pass.”

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

However, it had since dawned on me that my education as the royal daughter had done little to prepare me to live in the world that existed now. Of course, no one could have predicted what would happen. But out here in the wild, there was no use for arithmetic, or table manners, or citing the favorite literature among the nobility. Life here was driven by work done with labor and skilled hands. The civilians that still lived across Hyrule all knew how to collect and make the supplies they needed.