#also i will have ribbons for trade or anyone who buys something

[ravennowithtea]

I will be tabling at the upcoming Anime Los Angeles!

Come find me in the Artist Alley, table 1241. 🌿

((not too far from the ribbon station))  _(┐「ε:)_ ✨🎀✨

[shithead-123]

Kotlc collecting habits Pt.2

Basically what I think various kotlc characters (mostly the kids) would collect. other than prattles pins bc we all know everyone collects those so.

this is inspired by my own habits of picking random shit up and stuffing it in my closet.

Tam: Again like Linh, not much of a collector. I think he's the least collect-y of the group. But of the very few things he does collect, he collects things that are useful, a lot like dex. he's hyper vigilant almost. He was Linh and his own sole caretaker (Linh took care of him too but Tams internalized this wayyy more than Linh did), and anything that can protect him and Linh is something he would collect. small knives, emergency med kits, fire proof clothing even. things like that. he's ready for the apocalypse. But maybe, far down the line, when he's starting to relax, he has a small book collection. I will die on my hill of Tam being a bookworm. he, Tiergan and Wylie can bond on their shared love of Pride 7 Prejudice. Or other equivalent elven books. Linh and Prentice are illiterate and proud (not that they're not smart, prentice is literally a keeper, they just hate reading). He also has a collection of Weird shirts Linh has made him. He doesn't throw them away. He'd rather die than wear them, but he'll look into his closet sometimes and quietly organize the shirts she made him and give a small smile.

Maruca: She seems like a bead girlie to me. Like her bead box, is gigantonourmous. She has made soooooooo many bracelets and necklaces and jewelry and honestly even beaded embroidery for her friends and herself and Wylie (Wylie is not her friend, he family, so it's diff). She still has vasttttt amount of beads left over. Literally once a month she goes on a bead hunt, bonus points if it's with someone else like Biana of Marella or something. On her reoccurring bead hunt, she will say she's only buying beads to make one(1) bracelet, and then proceeds to buy the entire store out. It's so funny. No one wants to go on her bead hunts anymore bc she makes them carry shit while she hunts for more beads. Honestly queen behavior. Literally all her clothing and jewelry and everything has beads on it. side point: she seems like she would be into making lace, and anyone who's ever watched ppl make lace, or make lace themselves, know that it's incredibly tedious. so hats off to her.

Marella: Marella does not think things through, if she likes, she takes. yes. I feel like she would have a collection specifically for like fire related things. Like fire earrings, fire decorated bandanas etc. OMFG wait. COWGIRL MARELLA. PLS SOMEONE DO THIS I WOULD DIE. anyways, after like the initial shame and fear she gets from manifesting as a pyrokinectic, I think she would feel angry. I mean I know. this is canon pretty sure. She's not ashamed anymore, and wants to prove this fact with buying fire related stuff. I also think she might be into collecting ribbon. Like for her hair. She ties little bits of ribbon in it and it makes her feel pretty. She starts doing it regularly bc her mom used to put ribbons in her hair before her accident. Nw she does by herself bc no one will do it for her. :)

(stellarlune spoilers): ik most ppl have read it by now but still

Rayni: She's again, a lot like Linh and Tam. She doesn't have a the capacity to collect things because of her living situation in the never seen. All she has is her cat statue. of course, she had a life before her parents tribunal and subsequent banishing, and from that time period, I feel like she would pull a Linh and collect stickers. Actually that could be bonding, like Her and Linh find each others sticker stashes, and start trading them like Pokemon cards. It's their bonding time. Linh can yell at Rayni and Rayni can yell at Linh art various sticker deals they're making, and at the end, they have cool new stickers and they're happy. Btw Rayni does have a very large cat sticker collection. She currently on the hunt to look for a cat sticker that looks like her cat statue. She'll find it someday. again side note: Rayni never actually uses the stickers. They're in a super secret bin underneath her bed or something.

Jensi: U guys thought I forgot him huh. Plant dad. Plant boy. Exotic plants. Native plants. Invasive plants. He has a nice little garden which is periodically harvests from. He's the gnomes favorite bc he loves plants. If anyone wants a little cottage core scene they go to his house. He has poisonous plants, and like maybe sometime in the war against the never seen sophies like looking for this super rare plant that has insane toxins in it and Jensi's like. Oh yeah I have like six of those in my backyard lol. and I also bred them to be even more potent. want some? Sophie is flabbergasted. She has new respect for the Venus fly-trap he gifted her. Fintans a plant dad? wrong. He's nothing compared to Jensi. Nothing.

Wylie: I'm going full angst with this one and saying he collects hairpins/clips. Like the ones his mother used to make. He obviously doesn't use them. maybe he gives some to Maruca and other friends/family with longer hair. (wait Wylie with long hair. hmmmmm. I like it). But mostly he just hides them away. And when he's trying to remember what his mothers smile looked like, (Bc he doesn't have photographic memory, and he was very young when she died, he's bound to forget) he opens up the hair pin box and cries. he gives one of the remaining pins he has to Tiergan bc he has long hair. And they cry together. Could also be sad times with him and Prentice too. They mourn together while looking at the hair pins.

[officialleehadan]

Gossip in the Market

Hello darlings! Today's story was brought to you by Six! Darling, thank you so much for your support! It's always a delight when someone finds a one-shot to continue.

Prompt: Tears of the Moon (a continuation of THIS STORY!)

+++

Travel was always hard on old bones, and Maodu had older bones than many. He had thought about traveling in a carriage. Certainly he could have hired one. He didn’t lack for money or connections. Zaimed could have supplied one, and indeed even offered his own, but Maodu preferred to travel in a less obvious sort of way.

He had the power to command respect if he wanted to, but he found that respect came easier when he didn’t command it.

Besides, he always saw more of the world when he traveled on his little wagon with his sweet-tempered mule and a selection of little hedge-wizard charms to trade. There was no easier way to learn a town’s gossip than to set up in the market and talk to the common folk. It was usually a good way to find out who had the best apples, and who worked for who in each town.

If a powerful young mage had woken with the kind of power that a Tear of the Moon held, no one would hear about it faster than the peasantry.

If Zaimed’s youngest nephew showed his well-bred face, well, Maodu would hear about that, too. He was a clever lad, but not, Zaimed assured Maodu, particularly subtle.

Today, the market was busy, so Maodu pulled his cart up quietly, pulled down the fold-out side to make a little counter. His wares came out of the padded boxes he traveled with Little charms. Simple potions. His were much more powerful than the normal ones, of course, but he didn’t mention that. Sometimes people deserved to get a little more than they paid for. A charm that did more than promised might just be the saving of someone who didn’t have the coin to spare.

The gossip, of course, came shortly after.

“Did you hear? There’s a young lord two towns over,” one girl told Maodu as she bought a hair ribbon with a little pep-up charm on it to helper through her long days. “He’s so handsome, but none of the maids I know have gotten a bit of attention out of him. Proper as a noble lady, so I hear.”

“There are always monsters, but there’s been more than usual,” a tired young soldier said as he bought a little glass flower for his lady-love. He thought it was just pretty, but it would bring all sorts of good fortune on them both. “They’re coming from the east, I think.”

“There are rumors of war from every direction,” a young lady said Her gown was fine enough to be a noble, or maybe a lady’s maid. “Everyone in the castle is afraid. The men aren’t talking about it, but we all know there could be soldiers marching on us at any moment”

It was all the same gossip that Maodu had heard for the last week. News traveled far faster than most nobles thought, and the market was the beating heart of every town. There was no better place to get news of the world.

When the market was done, Maodu packed up, and started looking for an inn. To anyone looking, his little cart was full of cheap, worthless bric-a-brac. To anyone who tried to steal it anyway, it was very much electrical, and would deliver a nasty shock.

The inn was crowded but the food smelled delicious, and it was spotlessly clean.

There was also, it seemed, something of a fight starting off in one corner. A bard, complete with a lute over one shoulder, was backing up from a pair of drunks, with a young lady who had seen better days behind him He seemed to be trying to talk the situation down, but it wasn’t working terribly well.

Clearly, they needed a bit of rescue, and Maodu was in the perfect position to give it.

Plus, no one ever knew more gossip than a bard. They heard everything, and tended to write songs about all of it.

“Gentlemen, let me buy you a drink,” Maodu stepped into the situation smoothly. He let himself hunch a little, and trusted his white hair and wrinkled face to do the rest. No one ever wanted to take a swing at an old man and if these two caused trouble, Maodu would wrap them up like a dressed chicken with a snap of his fingers. It was nice being an old wizard. He could always trust his magic. He pressed coins into each of the young toughs’ hands with a sunny smile. “Off you go. You have fun on that coin, you hear me? Shoo.”

Before they could protest, he nudged them off and beamed as they went, grumbling under their breath the whole way.

Being old did have some uses.

“You’ve very good timing,” the bard said with a sigh that sounded like it had hurt. The girl behind him looked different enough that Maodu doubted she was his sister, and rough enough that she had been traveling alone for a good while. “Thank you, good sir. I can’t restore your coin, but perhaps your choice of songs for the evening…?”

“I didn’t do it for coin, lad,” Maodu assured him kindly and ushered them both over to his table. “But if you’re inclined to a favor, I wouldn’t mind a bit of company. I’m wandering a bit, you see, and I hear all sorts of rumors.”

“Ah, rumor is my favorite thing,” the bard said brightly, and gently ushered his lady friend forward. “This is Jinna. My name is Florian the Flowering. Perhaps you’ve heard of me? No? Ah well. Might I have your name?”

Maodu cracked a wry smile. He knew that phrase of old. “Got a bit of Fae in you, eh?”

“More than a bit, but I don’t steal names most of the time. Just a bit of protection.”

At least the bard was honest, as far as such things went. Maodu appreciated that.

“You can call me Maodu, and trust that if you try for my Name, I’ll light you on fire,” he said kindly, and patted Florian’s hand when the bard went pale. His lady friend giggled, and then looked a little surprised at herself. Her road must have been hard indeed if even a little giggle surprised her so much. “Now, tell me your story, young ones. Supper is on me for the evening.”

+++ Tears of the Moon:

The moon has wept, and her Tear has fallen into a mortal body once more. Now the race is on to find the Tear before anyone else can claim her.

Old Ghosts and New Ones

+++

More Stories!

+++

[leahseclipse]

May the show begin (Part 1)

May the show begin masterlist | Masterlist 

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Category: Angst

Warnings: Kidnapping, general criminal minds stuff, angst, cursing

Summary: While working on a case, y/n gets targeted by the unsub that kidnaps her.

A/N: Hello! This is my veryy first Tumblr fic, I’ve never written any until now! I really worked hard to write as well as possible, so I hope you’ll appreciate it-

I plan to write ~3 chapters, maybe a 4th if I can. There will be an Epilogue, who will be extra fluff, an awesome ending. You’ll maybe cry during this fic, but do not worry, the story ends well. Have a good time reading!

Word count: 5.7k

______

It finally was one of these times where we got to have a break without being interrupted. Sure, it wouldn’t last very long, but it was better than nothing.

A few minutes earlier, we played rock paper scissors to decide who would go to the coffee shop to get everyone’s orders. Guess who lost? …the one and only y/n.

I hated going out, but what choice did I have? Not much to be honest. It was that, or taking care of Morgan’s enormous amount of paperwork, so, without hesitation, I preferred getting coffee for everyone.

As I was getting out of the shop, one bag in each hand, after getting sure that the drinks were secured so that they wouldn’t open and spill everywhere, I made my way back to the building, walking fast not to make them wait longer.

In order to get back quickly, I had to pass by a small street, not many people were there, if so, they’d block the others from walking. That wouldn’t be very convenient.

A part of me was always scared to walk there, I would always make sure not to stay here more than a minute, probably my paranoia talking. Since working at the BAU, seeing all of these cases of people getting kidnapped, or even cases in Criminal tv shows, documentaries, where people would get kidnapped on their way home, would simply terrify me, I couldn’t stop but think that it could happen to me. I would be suspicious of every person that would walk in the street.

What if that guy is a psychopath?

What if he’s dangerous?

All of these worries would fill my mind in a snap. I would automatically go on defensive mode in these situations.

Finally, I was about to make my way out of the tight street, when strangely, I felt like someone was watching me. I slowly turned my head to watch behind me, walking backwards in case something would happen.

No one was there.

The street was empty.

The only people there were only walking in front of it, but not going here.

I am going crazy or something?

I really felt someone watching me, and thought I heard footsteps. I waited a few seconds, still no one.

Okay. I’m either going crazy, or someone was following me.

Oh well, I guess I won’t know.

I shrugged and made my way out of the street, walking a bit faster when I heard my phone ringing.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming, stop calling, I can’t answer the phone if my hands are full!” I said, while the phone stopped ringing after a few seconds.

A few minutes later, I made my way into the building, taking the elevator to the 6th floor, when Morgan was coming.

“Pretty girl! You’re finally there. I almost thought you got lost for a minute.” He exclaimed, while taking the coffee cup I handed to him, letting out a sight of desperation.

“Well, ‘turns out that I’m not the only one that wants coffee, so there’s a verb called 'waiting’, so I waited for my turn, and for the employees to prepare the order, because in case you don’t know, they don’t have cups prepared in advance for us.” I said, letting out a smirk.

“Okay, okay, I apologize, Mrs Reid.”

“We’re not married yet, stop calling me Mrs Reid.”

“Yeah, but that’ll be soon, you guys just got engaged.”

“Probably not now, maybe in months. But like, I’m even afraid of my wedding day, like, what if we get called in emergency while I get prepared? I can’t say 'oh, let the victims die, I have a wedding, that’s more important’, I already had to cancel two dates with Spencer because we got called. I’m even afraid to have a call in a middle of a shower now!”

“Wow, how can you live with so much stress? You’re like a balloon about to explode.”

“I can’t do anything about it, I’ve always been stressing about everything. I’m even wondering if I should take medication at this point.”

“Okay, calm down. No one will call you on your special day. In case you forgot, other people work here, and these people will replace us. We’ll be gone only one day, they’ll be able to last that long” He said, grabbing my shoulder, while talking to me like I was a toddler.

As we got to the 6th floor, several eyes got on me, the coffee slave was back, I thought, as a joke to myself.

“Sorry, apparently a ton of people wanted coffee too, had to wait” I explained, putting the bags on the table, getting the cups out, as everyone would take theirs, heading back to their desks as they thanked me.

“Well, let’s hope you’ll get luck next time.” Morgan said, as he headed back to his desk.

“I won’t do that everyday, don’t dream about it.” I addressed, which earned a few laughs from the team.

Only one cup to give was remaining, I was about to look around, when two arms wrapped around my waist, I recognized him by his scent.

Spencer.

“There you are. I was getting worried about not seeing you coming back.” He stated, kissing me on the cheek before standing in front of me, taking his cup. “I see that you thought about me princess.”

“How could I forget? There’s also a ton of sugar sticks, to add a ton of sugar into it. You don’t like when they add because it’s never enough.” I exclaimed, taking a sip of my coffee.

“Indeed, it’s never enough. I just don’t know how people can like black coffee, with no sugar, nothing. That’s weird to me.”

“Everything is weird to you, can you even name one thing that’s not weird to you?”

“Well…you.”

He knew how to make me blush. Every single time, he’d always say the right word. And as a girl that loves him so much, I can’t resist.

I glanced at him, giving him the smile that he adores. Whenever I’d smile, he would say that among all of his hobbies and interests, it was his most favorite thing.

Before we knew each other, I never really liked my smile, I’d never look in a mirror, or take pictures because of it, I wasn’t confident about it, like the rest of my body, until…I met him.

Spencer Reid.

He changed my life in so many ways, he noticed that I wasn’t confident about myself, that I didn’t like the way I looked, but to him, I was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

Every detail I didn’t like about myself, these were the ones he loved.

Whenever I’d feel down, he’d come on the couch with me and hug me; he helped me in so many ways that I can’t even name them all.

“You know I like it when you smile like that, and you know I can’t resist, especially at work.” He complained.

“I guess you’ll have to resist a little bit, in case you forgot, we have work, and work isn’t very patient, especially when Aaron Hotchner is your boss, so, sit there, and work.”

“So harsh…you broke my heart.” He said, dramatically putting his hand on his heart.

“And if I smile? Will that repair it?” I asked, smiling at him.

“Yeah. That’ll always repair it.”

“Good to know then.” I glanced at him before walking to my desk.

For the next minutes, we couldn’t stop glancing at each other every minute, I even had to swap desks with Morgan for this time, after he decided to separate us so that we could work. If I dared to continue, he even threatened me to give me all of his paperwork for an entire week.

So again, without hesitation, I chose to stop looking at Spencer, and finally work.

We still managed to send messages without him noticing, and even if he did notice, what could he do? Take our phones? He can’t even do that. We have to keep our phones on us 24/7 for work. So, he couldn’t do a-ny-thing.

After that, we didn’t really look at the time, paperwork takes a lot of time and effort, especially when it’s a case that took, several days, with several suspects, several victims, you must really have courage and energy for it.

We sometimes even trade or give excess paperwork to others, Hotch doesn’t really like it, but hey, we gotta help each other.

—-

Finally. The last file. I was so exhausted. I would have preferred sitting for hours in the conference room instead of sitting at my desk, writing again and again.

“My team, conference room, now.” A deep voice executed, as everyone was getting up the following second. No one really wanted to be yelled at by Hotch. Trust me when I say that.

Everyone made their way into the room, images were already on the screen as they took a seat, Garcia near the computer, giving the remote to Hotch.

“A few hours, local police found bodies, two women, aged 16 and 22, both found wearing a dress, heels, and a red ribbon around their necks, probably used to strangle them.” Hotch explained, before two pictures appeared.

“His first victim was Annie Evans, 16. The second one, Jane Harris, 22, both have been killed by strangulation; they also had various bruises on their bodies. It seems like they’ve been dropped at random locations, the unsub probably dropped them where he was. We’re looking for a male in his 40-50s, but we’re not quite sure yet.”

“I don't know if anyone else noticed...but it looks like they’re both dressed like dolls, in a pretty way, you know. He must have kept them several days, if he took the time to dress them up, and beat them. If you really look, they have a bit of makeup. They also found jewelry, but not real one, just the kind of things that you buy at a shop, it’s a transparent plastic string with beads on it. And for the dress, it kinda looks like it's handmade, there's a lot of strings there and there, a machine wouldn't have left that much.” I explained, as Morgan shook his head, apparently agreeing with my explanation.

“Yeah. They weren’t killed there. He kidnapped them for a bit and just killed them after.” He said, moving his hand while talking.

“We could be looking for…a doll maker, a guy obsessed with dolls or even another job, hobby, something that has to do with the art domain maybe…?” Spencer added, lightly tapping his pencil on the paper.

“Turns out we have some research to do then.” He concluded.

“We’re gonna make teams. Reid, y/l/n, go with Garcia; Morgan and Simmons, Alvez, JJ and Prentiss, you all know what to do. Let’s get to work.” Hotch ordered, everyone exited the room, going where they had to go.

As we left the room, Spencer and I quickly laughed, happy to have been paired up together again. We happen to work better when we’re together, and it’s…nice. Not that if we’re not together we do bad work, it’s just that…I really like working with him, there’s no big pressure, we understand each other, I like being around him in general, his presence reassures me.

After having enough information to have a possible lead, we were all told to go home to rest a bit. We’d probably have no sleep in the next few days due to all of the work waiting for us, so none of us complained.

“Come on y/n, let me drive you home this time, and no, you don’t get to complain, I’m driving you home, that’s it.” He said, not even letting me place a word, smiling at the end of his sentence, happy to have won this time.

“You’re such a kid. I even wonder if your brain didn’t get stuck in daycare sometimes.” I exclaimed, showing a fake disappointed look on my face.

“Actually, I didn’t go to daycare. I was too smart for that.” He smirked, glancing at me, as he started the car.

“Okay, you win. I don’t have any arguments to throw at you. I always run out of these before you do.” I added, pouting.

“You can’t even hate me, I know you can’t resist looking at my face. Come on, don’t be mad, look at me baby.”

Not wanting to make him wait more, I looked at him, as he smiled, seeming happy just at looking at me. He would always tell me that whenever he’d feel down, thinking about me would always cheer him up. I don’t really know why, there’s not much special about it, maybe it’s the glasses, I don’t know.

“Are you satisfied now?” I added.

“More than I ever have.”

“I’m not mad, don’t worry, I was only faking. I can’t be mad at you, how could I?”

“I know. I can separate your fake angry face from your real one. And indeed, you can’t be mad at me, you’d immediately fail by looking at my gorgeous face.”

“I can’t say anything about it either because, indeed, you have a gorgeous face, as you said.”

“Yep. I do.” He proudly smiled before bursting into laughter with me.

—-

After we arrived, despite insisting that I could walk to the doorstep on my own, he didn’t listen and took my hand.

“Okay, we’re here. Not a minute of your sleep will be wasted.” He said, briefly looking at his watch.

“Yeah. Hurry and go, I don’t want to wait any minute of yours. You won’t take long to drive back, but as soon as you get home, don’t take too much time to do whatever you do before going to bed, and then immediately go to sleep when you’re done.”

“Yes, mom.”

“Now go before I kick your ass.” I added, a serious look plastered on my face.

“Got it.” Spencer said, before putting his lips on mine, to which I answered by kissing him.

“Goodnight babe. I love you.”

“Goodnight princess. Love you too.”

On his sweet words, I closed the door. And to my surprise, I was still smiling. He had that strange effect on me, he’d always find light when I’d see nothing but pure darkness, in a way, he saved my life. Now that I’ve met him, I can’t imagine a life without him, I just can’t.

But being in a relationship when you work at a place like the BAU, It’s barely impossible but think about the worst scenarios. Our job isn’t without risk, so there’s always a chance that one of us gets hurt on the field, it is stressful, I won’t hide it, but we always do our best to not think about it. If it does happen, we’ll be there to support each other, I know we’ll do.

After taking a quick shower and changing into a comfortable outfit, I added an alarm for 6am, as I got into bed, falling asleep without even realising it.

——

THE NEXT MORNING

Spencer’s POV

Arriving at the office this morning, my first habit was to search for y/n. I would always see her first before starting to work on anything. If she was sick, or unable to come to work, hearing her voice was enough.

The first place she’d be at was her desk, but she wasn’t there. I searched for a note, nothing, her desk was as she left it, nothing changed, the only different thing that didn’t belong to her was some of Morgan’s files, they swapped desks yesterday for a moment, so he worked on hers. I was even wondering if he didn’t do it on purpose, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did.

I continued searching for her in all of the possible places she would usually be at. The conference room is usually calm in the morning, so she likes to go there, even if it’s not for work, she wasn’t here.

Again, I searched for traces of her, for her bag, perhaps. Maybe she was at the bathroom or somewhere else, she would have left something like files, or just her bag, she doesn’t bring it at the bathroom, even at home, on this point, she’s like me.

As I was going out of the room, I noticed Emily and JJ, talking together. I tried my best to keep a calm face, walking in their direction in order to talk to them. The two girls glanced at me as they saw me coming.

“Hi Spence!…what’s up?” JJ asked, as she noticed that something was slightly off with you, you saw her furrowing her brows.

“Um…hey. Hope I’m not interrupting anything but, have you guys seen y/n? I’ve been looking for her, basically at every place she’s usually at, but no sign. I’m starting to wonder if she’s not late..” I added, nervously laughing.

“No, we haven’t seen her. I don’t think she’s here yet, she didn’t log in this morning, her computer’s off. I noticed she always does it when she arrives, even if she stays on it for a minute. Maybe she’s late, it happens sometimes. Your alarm goes off, or you don’t hear it, so you end up waking up thirty minutes later. Just wait a bit longer, she’ll end up coming in.”

“Yeah, okay. Thank you guys.” I said, waving at them as I walked to my desk, sitting in my chair.

During the following minutes, I couldn’t stop but look at her desk, around me, through the glass of the room in front of me, hoping to see her in. I don’t usually worry about that, being late happens sometimes, but when I don’t see her, or hear anything from her, I immediately start to think about the worst scenarios, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that does.

Because when you work in the police, in my case, the FBI, seeing hundreds of cases of people that get murdered at their houses, killed while taking a run, kidnapped on their way home, you can’t help but think about these things happening to the ones you love.

That’s what I was afraid of right now.

Did something happen?

What if she’s hurt?

After an hour and a few minutes of waiting for her to come, the worries began to grow bigger and bigger each minute.

I couldn’t wait anymore, I decided to take the elevator and go to Garcia’s office. Looking at the building’s cameras isn’t illegal, so she could do that with absolutely no problem. Even if it was illegal, I wouldn’t care, I just wanted to know where she was.

I made my way into her office, not even having the time to place a word, she had apparently already heard the sound of the door, and turned to face me.

“Hey Spence, you need somethin’ ?” Garcia said, gesturing to me to close the door as I got in.

“Actually…yeah. I know it isn’t something that someone would do.. because it’s absolutely ridiculous to me, but,” I took a deep breath before saying what I needed to do, as I saw Penelope furrowing her brows. 

“… I’m really getting worried, I don’t know why. I haven’t seen y/n this morning, I’ve been waiting for exactly one hour, thirty minutes and ten seconds, so that shows you how worried I am.”

“Okay, okay. Calm down a bit…” She added, before turning to the monitors. 

“So…if I guessed well, you want me to look at the cameras?”

“…yes, please. I literally feel like my heart is about to pop out of my chest any minute with all of the stress I’ve accumulated.” I took a seat on a chair next to her, focusing on the monitors as she looked into the recordings.

“Um..I hate to say this to you, but…she’s not on the cameras, I just don’t see her. I looked everywhere I could think of, but the last time she showed up was yesterday, in the parking lot with you. Except that, nothing.” She said, as she got worried too. “Um…have you tried calling her maybe?”

“No, not yet. If she was on her way, I didn’t want to disturb her. I’m gonna try, I hope she picks up.” I explained, taking my phone from my pocket, dialing the number as I placed the phone to my ear.

…

…

…

…

'Hello, you’re on y/n y/l/n’s voicemail, I’m currently not available, so please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.’

“Her phone rings, but I ended up being directed to her voicemail. I don’t know what’s going on, it’s not her, she’s not usually late and if she does, she always sends a message, you can look at them, she never forgot to say it to me, or even at anyone else. Maybe I’m getting worried for nothing, and she’s on her way, but what if something happened? At this point, I’ve waited long enough, and something definitely feels off to me.”

“Uh…try calling again, I’m gonna locate her phone. That’s the only thing I can do right now. And I just…thought about it.”

I nodded, calling and placing the phone to my ear once again, staring at the screen.

“Uh…wait. Got it. Yeah, it’s definitely at her place. Look. It’s the right address, right number, IP, whatever. The phone’s definitely there.”

“She didn’t answer again. Her phone is always with her, she places it in her bag every night, if not, it’s on her nightstand, and she definitely sees it.” I said, getting even more worried. 

“I can’t wait here anymore, I’m going to her place. Thanks Garcia.”

“No problem…keep me posted!” She yelled as I was on my way out.

“Will do.” I said, closing the door behind me, walking to the elevator to take what I needed at my desk.

—-

As I arrived at the 6th floor, I got out of the elevator, still looking around, while rushing to my desk. I didn’t even see Morgan until he noticed me. I think he must have seen how stressed out I was and interrupted me in my race.

“Woah, hey pretty boy, what’s going on? Does it have something to do with the case? Did Garcia make you her slave today?" 

"No, no, it…doesn’t have anything to do with it.” I explained with a shaky voice, causing Morgan to ask me to calm down. 

“Look, I’m just really, really, worried that something happened to y/n, I haven’t seen her, she doesn’t answer her phone, we even traced it, and it’s at her place, I can’t keep waiting here, I have to go to her place now. Maybe I’m getting worried for nothing, but I need to know if she’s okay or not.”

“That’s not y/l/n you’re describing to me, she’s basically never late.” He shook his head, like he didn’t want to believe that something may have happened. “Okay, If you’re really going, I’m coming with you, just in case you end up passing out on the way. We never know.”

“Whatever you want, I just want to know if she’s okay." 

"Now that you’ve stressed me out, I really need to know too.” Morgan glanced at me, before exiting the office. He was about to take the elevator when I just rushed out into the staircase, not wanting to wait for the elevator. “Oh, okay, we’re taking the stairs apparently." 

I wasn’t even thinking straight anymore, all I could think of was her, it’s maybe ridiculous for me to worry about a two hour absence, when she was probably at home, safe, but I needed to know, she doesn’t answer her calls, and there’s no way to contact her away from this. The only way was to go to her place. 

I really hope she’s okay.

Please, be okay. Please.

Arriving at the parking lot, I took my keys out of my pocket, almost dropping them on the floor out of panic, while I headed towards the car to open the driver’s side door.

"Nuh-uh, I’m driving pretty boy, I don’t want us to get in an accident because you’ll be too stressed on the way.” He said, stopping me, as I made to the passenger side of the car, rolling my eyes out of frustration. “I’ll drive fast, but safely. I just want us to get there in one piece.” He said, while we both got in the car before he started the engine and drove out of the parking lot.

I quickly activated the siren before Morgan even had the time to, the sound of it blaring in the streets. I just guess I was…a bit nervous. No, a lot.

Even though Morgan was driving as fast as he could, it still was too slow for me. I just wanted to get out of the car and run there, I restrained myself from doing it by putting my hands on my lap.

I kept looking at the GPS, even though we didn’t need it because we, including myself, knew where she lived, I just wanted to keep it on to see how many miles were left until we would get there. 

As soon as we got in front of the building, Morgan didn’t even stop the car, yet, I already had taken my seatbelt off, getting ready to open the door.

He wasn’t even fully parked, but I still shoved the door open, furiously closing in behind me. Morgan eventually joined me a few seconds after, taking the keys out of the car, before locking it.

Strangely, as we went through the entry of the building, walking in the direction of the stairs (again), all I could hear was my heart beating faster each minute I would get closer. I don’t even know if Morgan talked, I didn’t even hear anything, except the wave of the worst scenarios that could have happened drowning the only hope I had before coming here.

Morgan suddenly interrupted me in my intensive thinking, as I noticed that we were standing in front of her doorstep. 

“The door is closed. You got the key?”

“Yeah, I got it.” I said, taking the set of keys from his hand, picking the key of her apartment. I could still remember the day she gave me a double copy of her keys. It was on a Sunday night, we managed to get out of work earlier, so we decided to go to her place for once.

She even let me choose what I wanted to watch, she insisted for me to not hesitate, even if it was a show she hated. And I knew that even if she hated the show, she would just lay down against me, and watch with me. Sometimes, she would either end up falling asleep a few minutes later, or try to distract me by sitting on my lap, so all I could do was look at her. 

And when she’d do that, you can already tell who lost the game. Yeah, me.

Most guys would usually try to get them out of the way, trying to gently reject him without upsetting them, but I just couldn’t,

She meant everything to me. (And still does.)

It’s weird to explain your feelings with metaphors instead of just saying that I love her, I don’t why, I can’t help but do it.

These metaphors can explain all of the feelings I have for her, in a way. I know it’s really cheesy, but to me, even though there’s more than 170,000 words that exist in the English language, not any of them is powerful enough to describe my feelings. 

She’d always laugh at me when I would say that, because let’s be honest, when you look at me, you see everything but a man that uses romantic sentences when talking with his girlfriend. Well, in my case, my fiance. It’s really recent so I tend to forget. 

We’ve been together for so long, so having to call her 'my fiance’ after years and years of calling her my girlfriend…feels really weird to me. I guess it’ll take some time for me to remember it. I’m sure she won’t be mad. 

Well, I hope…?

As I got out of my brief thoughts, I glanced at Morgan, entering the key in the hole, turning it two times before I heard the click of the door. 

I quietly opened the door, as my eyes widened at the sight of her living room.

“Morgan. Why is her…apartment in this state? This isn’t normal.”

It didn’t take long for the us to understand what happened. 

Someone broke into her apartment. 

Something happened.

Something…happened.

We both froze for a minute, as we looked at the…chaotic living room. Nothing was in the place it was supposed to be, like…someone pushed them out of the way, the question was, was it her or whoever broke into her apartment that did that? 

It wasn’t a matter of having strength or no, if she tried to defend herself, even if the couch was heavy, she wouldn’t have stopped fighting just because of that. The things you can do when in a situation of danger…are unbelievable. You never think yourself capable of it…until it happens. 

After looking at each other with panicked eyes, we quickly made our way into the apartment, Morgan heading to the rooms situated in the back while I stayed in the living room.

It wasn’t until something caught my eye on the kitchen counter. At first glance, it looked like a piece of paper, I walked to the counter, taking the paper in my hand.

“The doll has returned to the shop.” I read out loud. “The doll has..” I said, stopping in the middle of the sentence, slowly realising, that just yesterday; y/n noticed that the way the women looked were similar to…a doll. 

I made my way to her bedroom, as I heard Morgan talking.

“Her room looks the same. I think he must have grabbed her, and she tried to go away. And then he…he took her. The phone is on her nightstand …” Morgan said, with a trembling voice, touching the phone with the tip of his fingers.

“I found this…it was on the counter. And I think that we both know who did it.” I handed the note to him, as he took it, his hands trembling.

“She said that the victims both looked like…dolls.” He didn’t say anything after that, he immediately understood what I meant. 

We were both devastated by the scene in front of us. We couldn’t believe it. I think that in this exact moment, we both wished for that to be nothing, but a bad dream. But it wasn’t. We had to face the reality that was standing right in front of us.

She was gone.

“Fuck!” I yelled, as I hid my face in my hands, on the verge of tears. “This can’t be happening, no…this can’t." 

Where was she now? 

Was she even alive?

I couldn’t stop but ask myself a thousand questions. This couldn’t be real. I couldn’t believe it. 

I should have stayed with her. I should have, even if she didn’t want to. I should have hugged her, so she would have moved out of the door and I would have come in.

Why didn’t I do it.

I should have. If I did do that, I could have protected her. 

As I was drowning in my thoughts, I heard a faint sound coming from my pocket, I soon realized that it was my phone. 

Hotch.

I took a deep breath, before answering the phone, putting it on speaker while Morgan stood behind me.

"Reid, why didn’t you, Morgan and y/l/n showed up-” Hotch said, clearly annoyed, before getting interrupted.

“Y/n’s gone Hotch.” Morgan claimed. “We went to y/n’s place, and she’s not here. The guy in the case we worked on yesterday took her, that bastard took her Hotch! Now we have absolutely no idea where y/n is!" 

"Oh shit. That son of a bitch.”

“He left a note, it says 'the doll has returned to the shop’. Hotch, it’s him. I mean who else could it be? I’m all ears, go ahead." 

"No, I share the same opinion as you. Did, did you guys find anything else?”

“Except the fact that her apartment is completely turned over, no. The only thing of her that’s left are the traces of her fight.”

“Okay, um…I’ll see you guys at the office. We’ll be in the conference room, is that alright?” He asked, visibly destabilised by the current situation.

“Yeah, sure.” I said, before hanging up. I collapsed into Morgan’s arms, sobbing. I couldn’t contain myself anymore, I had to let it out. Since this morning, with all of the stress that I accumulated, I had to let everything out.

Morgan wrapped an arm around my back, as he was restraining himself from crying. He knew that he wouldn’t stop crying if he started. So he just stayed for a few minutes with me, I really needed some support.

The car ride back to the office was devastating. 

The silence of the car was horrible. 

No one talked, not even a single word.

We both were devastated by the recent news, and even more by thinking of the reaction of the team once they would hear what happened. 

I couldn’t even think about what was happening to her, she must have been so terrified when a stranger broke into her apartment to kidnap her. 

I couldn’t even say “I’m sure she’s okay.” , because deep inside, I knew she wasn’t, she was probably terrified.

———

No sooner than we had stepped off the elevator, we just didn’t want to be here. We’d have to work, while thinking about what might happen. 

We both stepped into the conference room, as we noticed the devastating atmosphere in the room. 

“Everyone. We have a lot of work in our hands right now. Let’s get ready.” Hotch said, breaking the heavy silence, probably in the room for a few minutes now.

Everybody opened their files, exchanging glances at each other from time to time. 

I just hoped…we hoped, that y/n would be safe and sound when we’ll find her.

I can’t lose her.

She’s the love of my life.

_______

Taglist: @thatsonezesty13​, @amanda-rotigliano​, @eevee0722 ,

[vinyls-and-valentines]

ohmygod flagging! do you have thoughts on the matter? in the desert? but also is there something in the city? for the juvies and such?

I have indeed many a thought, so i had to put them under the cut:

You can tell literally everything about a killjoy by their flags or lack there of. Like, do they wear mismatched gloves? Crash queen or motorbaby. If they have only one glove they’re definitely a crash queen and depending on the jewelry they have on their free hand you can tell their relationship status and also if they’re ace/aro by the color of their rings. The rings are wooden and often spray painted, though i haven’t decided yet any colors beyond the pre-existing ace and aro rings, which are a black and a white ring, respectively.

Motorbabies often trade gloves with long-term partners (and this includes any long term partner whether romantic or platonic) and safety-pinned ribbons for casual relationships. But i hear you saying: “What about people with more than one partner?” to which i reply that if you think motorbabies won’t wear several pairs of gloves at once you are disrespecting and underestimating them greatly! Motorbabies are as dedicated to their honor and reputation as crash queens are to their looks and connections. While kandi bracelets usually belong to the party and club scene, it’s become a regular occurrence to see ‘joys out and about just wearing bracelets given to them by those close to them, so they usually reflect connections in all settings. Also, fun tid bit: you can tell a ‘joys history with claps and general run-ins with BL/i by how many bad luck beads they have and their relationship with the person who gave it to them by the length and age of the string.

Microchips and wizards weave wires into their outfits! Wizards usually have them as jewelry or a part of their hairstyles seeing as City flagging is a tad bit more subtle than zone flagging, but microchips will have them poking through any rips in their clothes almost like patches or even tangled with their laces. On the topic of which- first thing you learn to buy from Tommy’s as a juvie is new laces. Unlike in the Lobby, zone lace code applies to all types of laces and there are also way more combinations. The funniest discrepancy between codes is juvie code for arson and inciting disorder being the equivalent of “Fuck off, i’m not looking to talk to anyone” in killjoy code which paired with a lack of kandi just spells trouble with a capital “T”. Not the best when looking for a crew or a job.

City specific ones are the dot system related ones and for upper class kids coming down in the Slums handkerchiefs of tie clips. I’ve talked about the dot system before, so let’s get to the hankies and the clips yeah? Basically, there’s the proper BL/i-approved way to wear them, which is white handkerchief neatly tucked in your shirt’s chest pocket + clips a third way down. Black handkerchiefs mean someone’s going down there for the first time, the different colored material signaling you talked beforehand with someone that warned you about common juvie shenanigans. White or black handkerchief with a low clip means the person has been in the Lobby before and looking for someone. White handkerchief with the clip attached to the sleeve means you’re looking for information/a service and the black handkerchief version means you are offering a service or information in exchange for something else that is never carbons (Destroya know upper city kids got plenty of those). No handkerchief and clip though? You’re fresh meat, motherfucker, so you better pray luck is in your favour. BLi generally associates these with going to the Lobby, but doesn’t differentiate between them.

There’s probably more thoughts to be had, but head empty now

[imaginetonyandbucky]

The Buy In

Chapter 2: Taking Out the Trash

by @dracusfyre

“So who exactly are these cops hassling?” Bucky asked the next day as he met up with a man called Kenton at a bodega on 6th. “The shops? Dealers?”

“The ladies,” Kenton 'call me KT' said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. KT was stocky and short, with an aggressive undercut and stud in his lip, looking more like an emo kid than a mob enforcer. “We don’t have dealers here.”

“Really? None?" When KT nodded, Bucky asked, "How come?”

When KT eyeballed him skeptically, Bucky said, “Look, it’s my first day, alright? I’m not from around here.”

“Everyone knows the boss hates drugs,” KT said, hitting the button for the crosswalk. “Like, hates. A few years ago he tried to run all the dealers out, but they kept coming back like weeds. Too much demand to keep them out for long, you know? So the boss figures, you don’t kill weeds by cutting them down, you kill them at the roots. So he started targeting the users, not the dealers. First, he bought up the local methadone clinic, set up a rehab house nearby, brought in a bunch of fancy docs. Puts the word out that anyone who wants to dry out can stay for free and gets a sweet deal when you get your ninety-day chip.”

Bucky frowned. “I remember that. The mayor cut the ribbon on the facility, right? I thought the city set up that clinic.”

“Ha!” KT said it like that, an actual ha. “The boss let them take credit for it, sure. But it was his idea and his money. Once he got the clinic up and running, he put the word out to all the dealers, making them an offer: sell him all your goods, give him your client list, and you get a new job that pays twice what dealing does.”

“What happens if the dealer doesn’t take the offer?”

“One day they find themselves on a cargo ship to Madagascar,” KT said, matter of fact. “Or Indonesia, or Kamchatka.”  Bucky doubted that but kept it to himself; it was way more likely that the dealers got dumped in the river while Stark’s organization sold the drugs at a markup. But it was a good story. “Stoners can stay if they grow their shit locally,” KT continued, “but the party bros looking for bumps gotta get it somewhere else. But God help them if they make trouble, because the boss sure won’t.”

“Huh,” Bucky said, noncommittal. “So what are we doing today? Waiting for the cops to show their faces again?”

“Pretty much. Gonna talk to the ladies, then we’ll hang around and see if the pigs come back and let them know that their behavior is not appreciated.” A few more blocks down, KT knocked on an unassuming red door and led Bucky into a whole new world. He’d known when KT said ladies that he’d meant prostitutes and had braced himself for the worst: bare mattresses on the ground, barred windows, dull eyes and needle tracks. But what Bucky walked into looked more like the Waldorf than any brothel Bucky’d ever seen during his brief tour on Vice. Bucky tried not to stare as he took in the thick carpet and tasteful furnishings around the room, with women scattered around in groups chatting. Along one side of the room was a classy bar with mahogany wood and brass furnishings that had a few customers already despite the fact it was barely 5:30. KT approached the bartender, a petite but statuesque redhead with pinup curls wearing a corset that had, if Bucky’s eyes weren’t deceiving him, knives where the boning would be.

“Evening, Widow,” KT said, and the bartender gave him a grin as she slid a beer to the man across from her.

“Evening, gents,” she said, voice pure Georgia drawl. “So did the Iron Man himself send someone down to check on his chickadees?”

“Iron Man?” Bucky echoed in confusion. “You mean the Mechanic?”

“You must be new,” she said with amusement, and KT nodded. “He’s got lots of names, honey. He likes getting them and giving them. Bet he gave you a name, didn’t he?” she said, crossing her arms and leaning on the bar to give him an appreciative once-over. The pose made her look like she was going to spill out of her corset; didn’t do a thing for Bucky, but behind them the man with the beer walked into the back of a couch. “What does he call you?”

Ridiculously, Bucky felt his ears get hot. “Blue Eyes,” he said. “Probably like Jimmy Blue Eyes, I guess, but I don't know why. My name's not James.”

“It’s cuz of them pretty blue eyes of yours,” Widow said, and she laughed as Bucky felt the flush spread to his neck. “He must have taken a shine to you.”

“We're here about those cops you mentioned,” KT cut in, giving her cleavage a glance of appreciation but staying all business. “Stop teasing the help and give us the rundown.”

Widow gave Bucky another sultry smile and stood up straight. As she picked up a glass and rag and started polishing, the Georgia peach act fell away; her movements going from languorous to brisk. “Like I said to the boss, it was Rumlow and Rollins again,” she said, and Bucky’s eyebrows went up as even the accent disappeared. “They must think they got a pretty strong krishna to keep coming around here. They’ve got some of the new girls rattled. Came in just the other night trying to get a 'law enforcement discount,'" she said with a sneer, "and the only way we got them out of here without violence is Hawkeye got them too drunk to know if they were coming or going.” Widow tilted her head towards a man at the far end of the bar who looked like he was passed out, hat drawn down low over his eyes. “I wouldn’t have asked for backup if they weren’t cops, but.” She shrugged, and Bucky understood. Low level patsani, or even higher level enforcers, could disappear, but not a cop. “They also wanted a cut of what we pay to the Boss and wouldn’t listen when I tried to tell them it didn’t work like that.”

“What do you mean?” Bucky asked. "Doesn't work like what?"

Widow and KT shared a look. “He’s new,” he reminded her, and Widow smiled.

“Around here you don’t pay up, you buy in,” she said. “You’ll see.” She stepped away to take an order before Bucky could ask another question, so he turned back to KT.

“What are we going to do about the cops when they show up?” Bucky asked. Most times dirty cops got away with shaking down illegal businesses for money because it’s not like a bunch of criminals were going to rat them out to Internal Affairs. “Ask politely?”

“I have a few ideas,” KT said, sounding unconcerned. Bucky waited for him to say something else, but he apparently didn’t seem like sharing, so Bucky grunted and turned to scan the lounge.

While they’d been talking, a few more men, johns, Bucky assumed, had trickled in and were in conversation with the women, each of which were giving every indication that the man they were sitting next to was the funniest and most interesting man in the world. Guess that was one appeal of this place, Bucky thought; a man would never strike out here, and they probably spent good money to maintain the illusion that they were getting laid on their own merits. “Are all of the Boss's brothels like this?”

KT looked around like he was seeing the place for the first time. “Yeah,” he said, lifting one shoulder carelessly. “Boss invests in his people.”

Bucky supposed that made sense. Better margins in higher end prostitution. Still, it was strange to feel like he was hanging out in a hotel bar, complete with tipsy-looking couples disappearing into elevators to hook up. It was after 9 when the cops showed, still, stupidly enough, in uniform. Bucky suppressed the urge to curl his lip in disgust; these guys represented everything Bucky hated about his job, full of arrogance and spite and a thinly veiled hunger for violence. They were bullies, pure and simple, and Bucky hoped he would have a chance to punch one in the face. He could get away with it, too, if he told his superiors it was necessary to maintain his cover.

KT saw them the same time Bucky did; as they came closer to the bar, he slid off his barstool and put himself in their path.

“Who are you supposed to be?” The lead one sneered, looking down at KT, who was a good six inches shorter than the officer. “Are you supposed to be protecting these whores? You?”  Bucky came up behind him to back him up and read the officer’s badge. Rumlow. He memorized his badge number and that of the second officer, Rollins.

“Welcome back, officers,” KT said with a faint smile. “How can we help you?”

“Last time we asked nicely for our money, and we didn’t get it,” Rumlow said, coming closer so he was looming over KT. “We also asked for some trade, and didn’t get that either. We’re not going to ask nicely again.”

“Let me buy you a drink,” KT said, taking a step backward and gesturing towards the bar. “And let’s have a conversation, yeah?”

“We’re not here for no fucking conversation,” Rumlow spat. “We’re here for our money and a good lay, not necessarily in that order.”

“Fine.” KT’s friendly tone disappeared and his posture changed, going from relaxed and open to a coiled, snakelike tension, ready for violence. Bucky had seen that stance before, in his hand to hand combat training class at the academy. “We’ll cut to the chase.” Widow was watching them intently, a throwing knife already in her hand. Movement out of the corner of his eye proved that the man, Hawkeye, wasn’t as passed out as he appeared to be; Bucky could see light reflecting off the barrel of something, aimed at Rumlow. “For you to be coming in here like this, swinging your dick around, two things gotta be true: you must have protection, some fish big enough that you aren’t afraid of the Mechanic, and that big fish knows you’re here and doesn’t care. If that’s the case, then your boss and my boss are going to have problems. But if either of those things is not true, you are in a world of shit.”

At that, Rollins stole an uneasy glance at Rumlow, who was still trying to stare down KT. It was quick, but it gave the game away – and KT knew it, because suddenly he smiled and relaxed, which made Rumlow scowl harder. “Busted,” he said. “It’s not going to be hard to find out who your protection is, officers. And I don’t think they are going to be happy that you are picking fights with the Mechanic. Am I right?”

“Fuck you,” Rumlow snarled, and swung at KT. But the smaller man was ready, and KT stepped to one side of the swing, then grabbed Rumlow’s wrist and pulled at the same time that he put a hand on the back of his head and shoved, sending the man stumbling. Textbook judo move, to Bucky's eyes. As his partner got his feet under him again, Rollins went for his gun but Bucky already had his hand on it, shoving back down into its holster.

“Let’s keep it a fair fight,” Bucky said in a low voice, and Rollins listened because Bucky’s other hand had a knife slid up under the bottom edge of his bullet proof vest.

“Don’t make this any worse than it already is,” KT was saying, Rumlow’s face bright red with fury. “The Boss will let bygones be bygones if you leave now and don’t come back, but if blood gets shed...” He shook his head.

Rumlow’s face was red and Bucky could tell that he was furious at having been humiliated by someone smaller and lighter than him. Bucky was afraid that he would go for his pistol, but instead he put his hands up like he was in a boxing ring. KT smiled faintly and just made a “come here,” gesture, and that’s when Bucky knew he was trying to piss him off. And it worked; Rumlow lunged, swinging with a tight haymaker that would easily have broken KT’s jaw.

If it had connected, that is. But instead of trying to block, KT dropped to one knee, ducking under the swing, and hit Rumlow in the dick with an elbow as he scooped his leg and stood, throwing Rumlow to the ground where he curled around himself, cursing incoherently with pain.

Bucky whistled long and low, smothering a laugh. KT laid that asshole out in seconds. He released Rollins and said, “You can have your turn now, if you want.”

“That’s assault on an officer,” Rollins snarled, trying to help Rumlow to his feet. “I should haul you down to the station for that.”

“Your buddy clearly started it,” Bucky said. “It’s not like you don’t have witnesses. I’d get out of here before he does anything worse.” Bucky didn’t know if it was the fact that Rumlow still couldn’t stand up straight or the way that everyone was staring at them, but Rollins seemed to know good advice when he heard it, because they did leave, shouting threats the entire way.

“Did you get all that?” KT called out after the door slammed shut behind them, heading back to the bar where the Widow’s knife had disappeared like she’d never drawn it in the first place.

“Every second,” Hawkeye rumbled, sitting up. The barrel that Bucky had seen was a high-end camera lens, not a gun; he’d been videotaping the whole encounter. “Uploading it to YouTube now. That should get them off the streets for a while.”

“That’s how the Boss likes to settle things,” KT said with satisfaction. When he noticed Bucky looking at him with confusion, he said, “Listen here, because this is important: the Boss doesn’t like us to kill people. We don’t do this whole ‘send our guy to the hospital, we send your guy to the morgue’ thing, got it? We send them to the poorhouse. The poor bastard gets so tied up in lawsuits, repossessions, revoked passports, suspended licenses, and investigations that he wishes he were dead. Then the Boss goes after the poor bastard’s boss, and that boss’s boss…mobsters, dons, whatever you want to call them, they don’t mind dying, but they never, ever want to be broke. You start threating their bottom line and they pay attention.”

“Seriously?” Bucky said skeptically. Stark’s file said that he had plenty of blood on his hands.

“Seriously. You might get a pass if you don’t start it, but if it happens again, he cuts you loose, and believe me, it doesn’t take the cops long to track you down. They are hungry for anything they can get on the Boss.”

“You don't say,” Bucky said blandly. "So now what do we do?"

"We're going to stick around until the ladies close up shop, make sure those two don't get any bright ideas to circle back." KT pulled out his phone and started typing in it as he got back on his barstool where the ice in his drink had barely had time to melt. "Hawkeye usually makes sure the clientele behave themselves, so you can have a drink, but don't proposition any of the ladies while you're working."

"Right." What a strange goddamn way to run a criminal enterprise. After a moment, Bucky took a seat beside him and accepted a drink menu from the Widow, whose mouth was curling like she could read Bucky's thoughts. 

"You'll get used to it, Blue Eyes," she said. "I got a good feeling about you."

[dennou-translations]

Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Chapter 6

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The Postal Company and the Auto-Memories Doll

   The current times were labeled as the era of postal business flood.

Within a continent that congregated small countries, the people who operated in the mail industry competed ruthlessly against one another. Putting it very simply, the situation of postal companies throughout the continent was of stealing each other’s customers.

Clients chose their mail agency of use and requested deliveries on their own. The reasons for the choices would be fees, deliverable areas, and of course, even the postmen’s degree of courtesy was a subject of deliberation. Taking all of those into account, they would pick one postal company from somewhere.

At present, as the management structure of postal corporations was becoming devoted to carrying the side-business of amanuensis “Auto-Memories Dolls” rather than only delivering mailed items, others were unable to establish a position in the market if their work leaned towards the latter. The more the competition increased, the more obvious the differences in services would become, and, as the superior and inferior ones would grow evident, the losing side would inevitably close down their company.

Within such harsh rivalry, in a certain country named Leidenschaftlich, located in the continent’s southern coast, there was a postal agency so-called CH Postal Service had boomed its name throughout the industry. Although it was a newly introduced company that had but a few years since being founded, its reputation was exceptional. The degree of customer satisfaction was high, and there was abundance of re-users.

On a general view, there were two motives behind its good results.

The first one was that the CH Postal Service had no restrictions to its areas of delivery. Should a client desire, it would deliver to any part of the globe. Of course, fees were imposed for remote places, yet that was the first attempt in the industry of pulling such a feat. Even existing postal agencies disputing for a leading position in the industry had determined delivery areas. The CH Postal Service delivered even to regions of conflict, therefore being a great help for customers whose family members or lovers found themselves in battlegrounds. Its patrons increasing in numbers was something logical. However, succeeding in doing such a thing as though it were extremely natural was terribly difficult for ordinary companies. The CH Postal Service was in condition to go anywhere for a client’s sake, as it had assembled the personnel and system capable of making it possible – therefore, it had managed to do so.

The second reason was that there existed a top star in CH Postal Service, who had come into sight in the Auto-Memories Doll business like a comet. Seeing her walk around the city would cause people to do double takes at her looks, and hearing her voice would paint their cheeks red out of fascination. She was a perfect beauty that seemed to have come out of a mythological legend. As of late, a play that the famous dramatist Oscar had written using her image had been announced and gained popularity, making her renowned even outside of the industry as per synergy.

People probably envisioned just what type of woman she was. Mostly, their expectations were betrayed in good ways. She was a woman that surpassed the categorical components of imagination.

Her name was Violet Evergarden.

The largest trading place of the continent was a port that served as a gate from and to the sea. It was a national interest of Leidenschaftlich’s, as well as a trigger for wars. Countless other countries had attempted to invade it, seeking its abundant resources and a privileged location.

Although the city was at financial ease with the prosperity of its economy, scars of old battles remained in some places. The symbols of long military service from the past had not been etched solely in protection walls or stone-paved roads. It could be said that the fountain built in the capital Leiden during the celebration of Leidenschaftlich’s hundredth anniversary was its most well-known marking.

Consisting of a total of nine goddess statues holding water vases on their shoulders, it worked in a way that groundwater poured out them. Despite it being a gem made by a nationally employed artist, the goddesses had their necks chopped off. It remained unfixed, for the sake of not letting anyone forget Leidenschaftlich’s disgrace in authorizing the invasion of another country’s castle town.

In spite of being a major commercial nation, it was a military state. There were armed soldiers amidst the lively cityscapes even during times of peace.

The members of the CH Postal Company had such country as their home.

“Oh, what’cha doing?”

“My.”

“It has been a while.”

Under a beautiful autumn sky, a group that rarely gathered met in front of the headless goddesses’ fountain. They were two women and one man.

“If it isn’t Cattleya and V. Have you come out to welcome the great me, unable to wait for my return?”

Leaving his motorcycle parked by the roadside and heartily eating grilled chicken was a postman clad in a glass-green shirt. His slender boots of cross-shaped heels gave out a devious sex appeal. Hidden behind sandy-blond hair, his light blue eyes were provocative. His unmanly, soft facial features were not gentle. It was Benedict Blue, who worked at the CH Postal Company.

“What’re you saying? I’m gonna ask again: what’re you saying? T-There’s no way I’d come pick you up! I just went out shopping as an errand for my beloved President. Violet, say something too. To this platform shoes man. Nobody called for you.”

The one who spoke as if to smooth things over with a moody voice was a beautiful woman of gracefully wavy dark hair. She had amethyst eyes and an hourglass shape. Brimming with enough sensuality to enslave the opposite sex, her body was enveloped in a carmine dress-coat with a waist ribbon, yet was about to burst out of it. She was Cattleya Baudelaire, who also worked at the CH Postal Company.

“You two, you are being too loud out in the street.”

Reproaching the duo with a voice of silver bells was an elegantly beautiful girl dressed up like a porcelain doll. Said person had a hairband made of embroidery lace sitting on her hair as it spread out in waves and was wearing a one-piece with plenty of such lace sewn to it, along with a chiffon trench coat.

“V.”

“Violet.”

She was Violet Evergarden, the top Auto-Memories Doll of the CH Postal Company, whose blue eyes enthralled those who looked at them, as did the emerald-green brooch sitting on her chest.

Benedict and Cattleya turned toward Violet, changing the addressee of their impressions in unison.

“What’s up with you?”

“Really, Violet, you’re pretty fired-up. You’re letting your hair down? Are you on a date?”

Pressed on by the two, the Auto-Memories Doll that the CH Postal Company had pride in, Violet Evergarden, cast her gaze to the ground. “Lady Tiffany... someone from my home arranged everything, but is it that strange?” Her voice sounded slightly embarrassed.

Cattleya observed Violet with a gentle look. “It’s not strange. You’re cute enough not to lose to me. Are you going to see the major?”

“Yes. It is still early for the meeting time, so I was going to buy a book for me to bring along.”

“That’s great; you’re looking forward to it, huh! Hey, she doesn’t look weird, right, Benedict?” Cattleya rejoiced without restraint.

“Tch,” Benedict clicked his tongue.

It had truly been a long while since the three of them had last gathered. That was only natural. At the CH Postal Company, everyone worked industriously every day. There were sporadic occasions in which they would be grouped on duty, but that was only when they managed to miraculously coordinate their schedules. They were mates who had been hired by their president at about the same time, so to say.

Benedict threw away the bones of the meat he had just eaten onto the road, peeking at Violet’s face while licking off the oil remaining on his hand. “Hu~n, well, isn’t it fine? Nice work.”

Although their faces were close, Violet stared back at him with her huge orbs without bending backwards.

Benedict flatly thrust a fingertip at her forehead in-between one big eye and another. “But the one who gets to walk you around gotta be me. As your older brother part, I can’t accept my little sister part getting eaten down by an old man. I’m better. ‘Cause I’m young and cool.”

It could be said that someone who had the nerve to say such a thing so imposingly was quite a rare type even amongst humanity.

With an aspect of irritation, Cattleya interjected, “A third party is gonna be telling you this, but Mr. Gilbert is super wonderful, is an adult man and I know Violet’s head-over-heels for him, so you’re the one who’s uncalled-for here!”

“What does ‘head-over-heels’ mean?” Violet immediately reacted to the term she was unused to hearing.

“It’s like being obsessed. Didn’t you say that the major was the only one for you?”

“I did say that, indeed.” Her brows furrowed as if she were troubled, her blue eyes slightly moist. She was most likely “embarrassed”. Perhaps becoming unable to say anything else, Violet wound up turning her face away.

The feeling of affection for that awkward girl, the envy towards her happiness and the complicated emotions from having a friend taken away by a man traveled across Benedict and Cattleya’s minds. Therefore, in order to dismiss it all, the two silently decided to ball their fists, pushing and kicking Violet left and right.

“Shit. Don’t go acting cute. You’re just a battlefield maniac.”

“Really, it pisses me off. You’re as strong as a bear! But you’re adorable.”

Perhaps not feeling any pain, or perhaps trying to figure out how to deal with such a situation, she resigned quietly and accepted the unwarranted violence. As seen from the sidelines, it looked like something close to bullying, but Violet was actually the one with highest combat capacity amongst them. When the physical strength of the three was put together, that sort of thing was no more than playing around.

“Listen, don’t let him touch you carelessly, all right? This is amazing, though. You’re like a fluffy dog. Cattleya, you try touching too.”

“Hey, don’t you go carelessly touching her with those hands either! Even the insolence of getting meat juices on a maiden’s hair has a limit! Stop it!”

“It’s fine, ain’t it? It’s not like I just got outta the toilet.”

“Eh, does that mean... you never wash your hands!? Right? That’s what it is, right? No waaay! Violet, hey, come here. Benedict, don’t you get near us! It’s my turf from beyond this point! I’ll beat the hell out of you for territory violation if you come over!”

As Cattleya swung her legs, enveloped in Suède boots, to draw a line on the ground, Benedict opposed to it in a level as low as the next person, not losing to her. He picked a dead branch from the root of a roadside tree and did the same as she had. “Haah~? Then I’ll make everything beyond this point into my turf! Speaking of which, the way to your beloved president’s head office is behind me, so don’t you go back to it either!”

“Ah~, that’s unfair! It’s. Not. Fair!”

“It’s not unfair~! You’re the one who came up with it first~!”

It was a child-like action for members of society to take. Violet, the youngest one, regarded them with interest as if she were watching a dispute between animals of a new species.

That was a short-lived period of peace before an uproar occurred.

   At the same moment, in the same country, within the same city, time flowed peacefully inside the head office of the CH Postal Company, nobody aware of the nightmare that would approach them a few minutes later.

The business firm was erected in an alley away from the main street, projecting itself in the very sense of the word over rows of small shops. It consisted of a spire with a light green, dome-shaped roof and a weathercock on display, a deep green roof that spread out as if to surround said spire, and outer walls made of red bricks that had been sunburned into a tasteful color. The iron plate on the arch-shaped front gate made known the name of the company with letters printed in gold.

Should one open the door, a cheerful-sounding bell would announce the arrival of a customer. Upon coming in, one would soon find the counter, which was the sector where the reception of postal items took place. The building had three floors, with the first being the reception desk, the second being the office and the spire in the third one being the president’s residence.

No matter how far it was from the main street, the building was quite expensive. Its owner – an individual referred by the members of the CH Postal Company as “President” and “Old Man” – was drinking black tea with brandy at a balcony that had an unbroken view of the city.

“I’m so brilliant that it’s scary.”

He was a lady-killer good-looking enough to display self-indulgent behavior. His age was around the thirties. He had droopy grayish blue eyes, red hair grown slightly long, a manly build, and although he was not young, he had soft facial traits that exuded sophisticated simplicity. His appearance seemed to earn the envy and jealousy from other men of the same generation as him. His leather boots shone lustrously without a single stain, polished perhaps out of obsession.

“President Hodgins!”

The one who had yelled into the room was a girl of innocent features. She was the possessor of velvety, evenly cut lavender-gray hair that stopped above her shoulders. She had large eyes, a small head and a petite body. It was still the physique of a young child, but the heterochromatic orbs from behind the glasses she wore bore a stunning suspiciousness that was mysterious even. She was a person who the word “lovely” fit perfectly.

“Please say so after you’ve finished work!”

However, her conduct had presence as the secretary of a self-centered chairman.

Hodgins retorted mildly, “Little Lux, what I need right now isn’t brutal working hours but relaxation time feeling the gentle autumn air and drinking tea.”

“Even if you say that with a nice voice, it sounds like nothing but running away from reality! Please; if you at least put the stamps, I’ll bring you as many cups of tea as you want! Tomorrow is the deadline! We have to clear up most papers today and submit to the concerned parties in lots of places tomorrow! It’s the Flying Letters all over again!”

“You’re already my Miss Secretary through and through. I’m so happy. You used to look like a scared little rabbit when you arrived here, but aren’t you a fine working lady now? This feeling that I was the one who raised you is exceptional, huh?”

“President Hodgins! Please! Take the stamp! If you hold it, I can move you to stamping it... I’ll also read out the documents to you...”

“Then, Little Lux, doesn’t it make no difference if you’re the one doing the stamping?”

“I’d do it if I could! All that’s left is the stuff that demands the president’s confirmation, so just get on with it!”

“That ordering tone with formal language coming from a teenage girl is giving me unbearable creeps... Hm, Little Lux, hey. You don’t look bad with a shirt-blouse and a long flared skirt, but why don’t you try changing your outfit? I think I’d recommend a black apron dress over a puffed sleeve shirt, black tights and red enamel shoes.”

“Please listen to what I say!” The figure that had once been worshiped as a demigoddess at the headquarters of a cultist organization was absent in Lux Sibyl – what was there instead was the figure of a half-crying subordinate attempting to convince her vain superior.

Lux had been working serious and untiringly ever since being brought over by Violet and hired into the CH Postal Company. Perhaps having incorporated a methodical personality, she was now entrusted with even the duty of president’s secretary, yet she always had a hard time with said easygoing president.

The competence that the man named Hodgins had for business was unquestionable, yet his self-amusement principles were extreme and he would not stop fooling around even when having piles of work to do. Keeping his day-by-day in check was Lux’s role. In worse times, she would have to search for him and pick him up at brothels in red-light districts.

“If you don’t put the stamps, the one who will die isn’t you, President, but myself.”

Lux was tired of it.

“No way. I’ll put the stamps. I’ll put them, I’ll put them. Don’t make such a depressed face. Little Lux, you’re too pessimistic. Also, you take everything too literally. I told you that eighty percent of the things I say are random, right? Poise yourself more at ease. Let’s enjoy everything. Even the troublesome stuff.”

“President... you seem like you’d say this even if you had a hole opened in your stomach... I’m jealous.”

“Thanks. I’m the type that grows through getting compliments.”

She had wanted to convey something that was no compliment, yet it did not turn into words as Lux wound up having her attention stolen by something else. Lux’s golden and reddish heterochromatic eyes caught a strange thing in the skies against the beautiful cityscape that was visible from the balcony.

“President Hodgins... Over there, something is...”

At the same time as she spoke, Hodgins forcefully dragged Lux’s body, held her up and jumped to the end of the room. Lux was squeezed tightly against Hodgins’s chest, not allowed to even scream or raise her voice in confusion.

A few seconds thereafter, the sound of an explosion ensued.

   “Do you not hear some sort of noise?” Violet’s leveled voice eventually came between Benedict and Cattleya, who were having a scuffle fight. Her blue orbs were looking up at the sky, sighting a black object that passed by in a flash.

And it struck one of the classy buildings among the cityscape of Leiden.

“The head office is under attack!” No sooner than she said so, Violet bolted from the place. She slipped through people standing still with their mouths open, their attention taken away by the explosion sound that had reverberated through the idyllic early afternoon.

“No way, no way! Eeh?! What about the President!?”

“Get on, you idiot.”

Benedict had mounted on his bike before long. After whispering lowly, he swung a hand around Cattleya’s back, all too easily lifted her up, sat her on his knees and simultaneously turned on the engine, taking off.

“Wai—! Doing that all of a sudden is scary! It’s scaryyy!” Cattleya shouted, clinging to Benedict’s neck.

“Move! Move! Y’all are in the way!”

A young woman who was selling flower bouquets with a mobile catering fell on the spot, the horse of her carriage letting out a neigh. Ignoring the situation of the traffic in the street, Benedict rampantly chased after Violet. He gradually got closer to her figure, which had already become the size of a bean grain.

Benedict stretched out his hand. “V!”

Violet had been running at an astonishing speed, but upon hearing Benedict’s voice, she nimbly hopped onto his motorcycle. The two of them, who had a mutual understanding without the invitation of “get on”, exchanged words while paying no mind to the scandalized Cattleya.

“That sound was of Leidenschaftlich style artillery.”

“Did you see the cannonball’s firing position?”

“There is no mistake that it came flying from the west side of the city. Look, smoke is coming out of the head office’s third floor. If we suppose that it was shot from somewhere just as high, we can restrict the location, right?”

“It struck Old Man’s apartment, so there’s too many suspects.”

“How can you be so calm!? The President might’ve died!” Cattleya glared daggers at Benedict and Violet, yet the expressions that two had on were different from normal times. She quieted down without thinking.

“No way we wouldn’t be worried, right...!?” Benedict spoke even for Violet’s part.

The motorcycle that the three of them rode let out a roar while going up the slope.

   Caught under a bookshelf, Hodgins was straddled over Lux with his hands so as not to squash her. Lux looked up at him, dumbfounded.

“Little Lux, you can... you can take it slow, but sneak off from under me.”

The glass of the windows had shattered and scattered all over the place. The president’s desk, which was an order-made one designed by a master craftsman, had been smashed to fragments. The carpet had turned into ember and the room was starting to envelope in flames.

“President Hodgins... I-I’m sorry!” Lux crawled out, attempting to somehow lift the shelf with her powerless arms. However, it did not even budge.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Man~, I’d been skipping push-ups lately so this is taking a toll on me... Heave-ho.”

The instant he put on strength and lifted the bookshelf all at once, he rolled away and escaped from being crushed. He was the bearer of a considerable muscle strength.

Hodgins stood up and looked around the room. The look in his eyes was no longer the earlier one of a slacker chairman.

“Sorry; you okay?” Only the gentleness in his voice was the same as always.

“Why are you apologizing, President?”

“‘Cause this was an attack aimed at me, no matter how you think of it. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t have any excuse to give your parents.”

“I don’t have parents.”

“That’s right. Then, I wouldn’t have any excuse to give you. Now, we gotta check if the other employees are all right...”

“Anyhow, let’s go downstairs; we’ll both burn to death if we stay like this!” Making a snap decision, Lux ran to the stairs that led to the lower floor.

Planning to go down through the balcony’s emergency stairs, Hodgins desperately called out to her, “Little Lux! Wait up!”

However, before Lux flew out the door, it opened automatically. Hodgins saw a brusque arm stretching before his eyes and taking ahold of Lux. She was dragged into the darkness and her frame disappeared.

“Little Lux...?”

By the moment that Lux reappeared before Hodgins, whose lips twitched, there was as a muzzle aimed at her temple. The one who pushed her forward while holding onto her shoulder was a man clad in a completely black suit. Six other men dressed the same way revealed themselves in succession. Hodgins’s gaze gradually became grimmer.

“How do you do, Claudia Hodgins?” The man referred to Hodgins by the name that he made sure not to call himself by. It was the name his parents had come up with while convinced that he was going to be born a girl.

Breaking into a distorted smile, Hodgins replied, “You’re truly one refreshing shitface, Salvatore Ridaudo.”

Salvatore smiled sarcastically as well. His hair was fixed with balm to the point there was not a single disheveled thread. He was the possessor of wood-brown droopy eyes, thick lips and skin as pale as wax.

“So, what is it you wanna do by shooting a cannonball into my office and thrusting a gun at my secretary?”

“My, good job figuring out that it was our doing.”

“I have a rough idea of it, but can’t you tell me… Mr. President of the Salvatore Postal Company? All that comes to me is that my academic background in the Military School was below yours.”

“How modest... What are you, an up-and-coming entrepreneur whose name everyone knows in the mail business nowadays, talking about? It’s very obvious what I’m after, right? The Salvatore Postal Company and the CH Postal Company. Two agencies competing for deployment in Leidenschaftlich. The fact that the other party is a nuisance certainly applies to you too, but I’m the one who’s been in this industry for the longest time. I can’t contain my frustration. Your way of doing things is... Anyway, I want you to obediently come with us. I wish to have a talk at a quiet place. If you do that, we’ll go home without inflicting a single injury on this cute lady and the rest of the employees.”

For someone running a postal firm, he was a disturbing individual. Calling him an underground chief would be more frankly agreeable. The men in all-black under his control did not seem to be respectful individuals either.

“Think you’ll get to live in peace after doing something like this? The military police’s coming over soon.”

“Seems like you have contacts in the military, but I myself have strong connections too. The military police monitoring this area won’t move an inch. I had them promise that they’d pretend not to hear anything the whole day, no matter how much noise we make. Claudia... Excuse me; is it okay to call you by your first name?”

Hodgins gritted his teeth to the point they let out a creak. “Go ahead. It’s the name that my beloved parents gave me.”

“Then, Claudia. If we keep talking so leisurely, we’ll both scorch. I want you to come along with us on your own feet.”

“Got it, I’ll go over there. But leave my secretary here.”

At those words, Salvatore went blank. He cast his gaze at Lux, who – perhaps from too much fear – had tears naturally welling up in her eyes, and broke into a smile that was rather merciful for an enemy.

And then suddenly punched her on the cheek.

His eyes open wide, Hodgins’s expression visibly dyed itself in rage. “You...! You laid your hand on a woman!!”

A man from the back gave her support as she seemed about to fall to her knees.

Side-glancing Hodgins as he shouted angrily, Salvatore wiped off the blood on his fist onto the sleeve of one of his subordinates’ suit. “I loathe women who think things will somehow work out if they cry. Sorry.”

His voice sounded as though he had not an ounce of pangs of conscience.

By the time that the trio had arrived, the people of the neighboring shops were helping put the flames down together with the firefighters.

Seeing that, Violet whispered quietly, “It is almost as if they knew there would be fire, isn’t it?”

Indeed, just as she said, the fire department’s performance was too well-executed. Thanks to it, only the third floor of the CH Postal Company received damage.

“You three! Over here!”

As they turned around upon being called, they found uniform-clad office workers of the CH Postal Company standing outside with burns showing and in a horrible state. A middle-aged man, presumably the oldest of that group, was waving his hand.

“Anthony, everyone, you okay? What’s all this?”

Anthony, the section manager of the reception desk at the CH Postal Company, had genteel facial features. He spoke with a demeanor and manner of talking that matched said features, “Every employee who attended work as of today is fine. However... the President and his secretary Lux have been taken away.”

“No way!” Cattleya let out a cry similar to a scream.

Benedict looked at Violet. She blinked several times. Her long eyelashes swaying widely displayed “shock” amongst her scarce emotions.

Her hand reached out to her brooch and gripped it tightly. “Who... and where... is the culprit...?” she asked in a low voice, still gripping it and not letting go, “Who... and... where?”

Her tone was an absolute zero.

It was so low and cold it went to the point of making whoever listened to it hallucinate that their temperature had dropped for a second. The air about her was bizarre, further enhanced by her usual robotic aspect.

Only one person moved within that freezing atmosphere. “V,” echoed the affectionate nickname by which Benedict alone called her.

Violet turned her head to the side.

“It’s okay.” That was a tone so gentle it was unimaginable coming from Benedict. “I’ll do something about this no matter what.”

Those words were almost like the ones that a true older brother would tell his younger sister.

Violet’s eyelashes once again flapped flutteringly. “I will do it.”

“You can’t. If we’re doing something, we’ll do it all together. Your plans for later gonna be okay?”

“The plans... No problem; Major will understand. Besides, Major would probably order me to rescue President Hodgins and Lux.”

Perhaps unamused by Violet’s attitude in demonstrating unwavering trust, Benedict ruffled her hair roughly. “Ah, that so?”

Her feathery, wavy streaks expanded even more. Unlike earlier, Violet protested with a “please stop” using her normal voice. The instability that had given a glimpse of her former self as a girl soldier was concealed and everyone in the surroundings exhaled relieved sighs.

“Hey, enough; I’m gonna ask about the rest. Anthony’s troubled, ain’t he?”

Having her shin kicked, Violet finally nodded.

Anthony resumed speaking, “The perpetrator is the Salvatore Postal Company. Its president who has the looks of a vampire and his followers dressed in black did this to the office… I tried to notify the military police with a detailed report of the circumstances, but they would not listen. It seems Salvatore has enormous support. I can’t think of anything other than information manipulation.”

Meaning that Hodgins and Lux had been taken by Salvatore and their whereabouts were unknown. It would seem that the employees left behind were first and foremost concentrating themselves on digesting the situation.

“When departing, President Hodgins told us, ‘I leave the rest to you’.”

“I’m so glad! They’re okay for now, huh!” Cattleya patted her own chest and welled up with tears.

“Salvatore’s the place that dispatches those postmen with black uniforms? If I’m not wrong, their head office was in Leiden, yeah? Those guys once went claiming a boundary to delivering territories, so I beat them into a pulp. Could it be… this was my fault?”

“Eh, what? The name sounds like a tongue-twist so I can’t remember just by hearing it one time. Salva… Sal… Salfa…”

“'Salvatore’, Cattleya.”

Imitating Violet, who pronounced it slowly, Cattleya uttered it as well, “'Salvatore’, 'Salvatore’… okay. Gotta be able to say it right. They’re the ones we’re knocking off into hell, after all. Well, when does the blood festival start? Of course, we’ll settle the accounts, right? We’ll go save the president and Lux, right?”

It was a crude statement, yet the people present nodded at Cattleya’s suggestion with an aspect that bore no sense of displacement whatsoever.

“Please pummel them.”

Benedict broke into a villainous smile at Anthony’s request. “Oh. We’ll do that. Old Man will be fine even on his own but we gotta save the midget.” Benedict vigorously hit his own chest with his fist.

Anthony let out a breath of relief at that attitude. “You three, what should we do, then? Should we call over the other employees? The Salvatore Postal Company owns countless branch offices, even abroad. Is this all right?”

Violet said after raising her hand, “We shall seize them simultaneously. In the national offices, there should be a spot by the windows with nothing but the reception desk. The three of us will take it over… However, the priority is to strike the head office first. Let us suppose that the location the two were kidnapped to is where the leader is. Depending on whether the people at work recruited as combatants are available, please notify them that we are seizing our neighbor agency, the Salvatore Postal Company. Hold a transmission for the combatant employees to grasp the entirety of the situation. We will entrust the information convergence… to you, Anthony.”

“Understood, Violet.”

She was the expected of a former warrior. With that, the chain of command was made clear.

Looking at Violet, Benedict asked, “V, ain’t you kinda coming back to being a soldier?”

Violet had on the same composed expression as always, yet the things she said were uncouth.

“I am not. However, counterattack for justifiable motives is permitted even during travels. We are merely going to resolve a quarrel between fellow post offices. The third floor is the one burning, right?”

Violet had a reason for confirming that.

   The trio stood in front of a thick iron door inserted unnaturally in the red brick wall at the back of the building. As Benedict squatted on the spot and dug up the ground, a small box covered in dirt appeared within not even a few minutes’ time. Inside it was a bronze key. Once he reverently brought it into the keyhole, the door greeted the visitors while ringing out a rusty sound. They took a built-in lantern and went down the stairs in the thin darkness. Soon, they arrived to their destination.

The basement illuminated by the faint light stored equipment that should not possibly be gathered in an ordinary company. They were firearms, swords, spears, axes, bows, shields and other fighting tools of all kinds. Even if that were the president’s hobby, such assortment of goods was not something an amateur could attain.

“He saw something like this coming and was getting himself ready, huh. He’s got actual self-awareness that people have a grudge against him,” Benedict said as if in admiration.

“Ah~! President got the tonfa that I said I wanted! The whip too!”

“One fist’s more than enough for you, ain’t it? Don’t go taking any more dangerous weapons other than that. V, what’cha picking? We got this opportunity so I’m gonna take the ones I’ve never used.”

“I...” Looking around the hidden weapons of the CH Postal Company, Violet reached a hand out to something wrapped in a tattered rag set against the farthest wall. “I have decided that this will be my weapon. Benedict, Cattleya.” Violet raised the object that was as tall as her with hand movements that did not allow one to perceive its weight. “Let’s go as discreetly as possible.”

The three stared at each other in silence for a moment.

“Impossible, ain’t it? I’m pissed.”

“Impossible, isn’t it? With this group, that is.”

“So that is really the case.”

As the result of a discussion, they arrived at the conclusion that leaving the enemies half-dead without killing anyone was passable.

   Salvatore Rinaudo stared down at Claudia Hodgins. The person he detested was currently on an imported bear leather carpet of his personal choice, feeble and with wrists tied.

They were in a room encircled with black furnishings. The fact that said room was decorated with the personality of its owner was apparent one way or another. There were portraits of himself and bookshelves with double glass doors that did not seem to be opened often. There were also butterfly specimens and vases filled to the brim with fresh white flowers. Quiet violin music was playing from a gramophone, but it did not relieve the restless atmosphere in the slightest. Having her cheek punched and swelled, Lux Sibyl was seated on a chair, but one of Salvatore’s underlings had a gun thrust at her head.

Lux was constantly concerned about the outdoors. From the balcony, she could see Hodgins’s office at just the same height in the far distance. Black smoke rising from it, the structure of the CH Postal Company’s headquarters and of that building were awfully similar.

There was one more thing to note about the balcony. It was the artillery that seemed unlikely to have been placed there as an antique.

“Shall I tell you the reason why I despise you?” He stretched his arm as though to embrace Lux, caressing her, who had her right cheek swollen, almost as though soothing a pet cat.

As the cheek that had been hit still throbbed, Lux shuddered as if in pain upon the touch.

“Above all, it’s you yourself. You were born to a well-off merchant family, and used to belong to Leidenschaftlich’s army. Even though you were promoted up to the rank of major, you quit the military immediately after the Great War ended and founded a post office next, succeeding splendidly at it. People like that do exist, huh? The kind that can carry out anything just fine no matter what they do. In most cases, they stomp over others’ efforts with the sole of their shoes. And with a nonchalant face, to boot. I may have all this, but I’m one of the people who face hardships, so I detest those like you.”

“If me being superior is a sin, then go complain to God.”

“My second reason for hating you is that you rebel against the principles and rules that our predecessors established. ‘The CH Postal Company delivers to anywhere’? You make me sick.”

Hodgins shot Salvatore’s hand a blazing glare. “High quality at a low price for the costumers... That’s the basics of business, isn’t it?”

“Won’t you just crush those who can’t do the same if you turn this into a standard?”

“You get tripped up because you sit on your hands like that. Y’know, I just happened to think back when I was a soldier that a post office like this would be great and am simply making it into a reality. Letters that can be sent to any sort of battlefield. Postmen who can deliver them. Auto-Memories Dolls who can come to you if you so wish, even if you live at the heart of a sea of trees. What’s so bad about doing something I like with my own money?”

“There are still other bad things... What’s that building? Isn’t it almost like claiming that you’re going to replace the Salvatore Postal Company? The fact that only the weather face stands high up is also irritating.”

Salvatore’s hand moved from her cheek to her silver hair, which emitted a glossy luster.

“Don’t touch my secretary... Yeah, that’s right, I declared war on you. I’ve known you before getting into the industry. You’re all over the country I protected, doing stuff that doesn’t favor it.”

“What, for example?”

A bundle of hair picked by Salvatore’s fingers flowed in-between them, producing a smooth sound.

“The fact that you’ve been selling weapons behind the face of post office... You were selling national weaponry abroad, weren’t you?”

“We’re a postal company that has gentleness and courtesy as our selling points, so we do deliver anything that people request. However, I don’t recall delivering anything to the North.”

“That’s not the issue. Even if you didn’t sell anything to them when battles were going on, it takes just a bit of thinking to figure that this kind of stuff makes rounds, right? It was so unbearably weird... How come the enemy had weapons made in Leidenschaftlich? How come my comrades were getting shot by the enemy with them and dying...? I finally got to investigate that mystery after the war.”

Lux’s had her hair forcefully pulled and her neck bent backwards. Her scarf was taken off, her collarbone peeking from underneath her blouse.

Salvatore took the gun from his underling and pointed it at her chest. “If you know this much, you also know that part of my proceedings went to the military, don’t you? It’s not something that I alone wished for. Some people from your country, which you’d devoted your life to, merely wanted to increase their retirement pay a little. Isn’t that a commonplace story? Can’t you drop the moralist act? It disgusts me.”

“I’m no moralist—hey... how many times do I have to tell you not to touch...”

“Claudia, it’s not like you have a respectable life style either, is it? You wagered your whole fortune on war gambles and earned a large sum, wasn’t that it? Funds gathered from gambling are a hotbed for underground organizations and black market groups. With those funds, they sell off weapons, drugs and abused women and children. Even if you’re on the side that just milked it out, from the moment you placed a bet, you also made rounds and became someone’s assailant.”

“That’s why I said... I’m no moralist! I did all of it because I wanted to. You and I are both pitch-black at heart. But y’know, my secretary over there is a respectable girl. Didn’t you hear when I told you not to touch my secretary?! If you get anxious unless you’re touching something, just hit me or whatever!”

Perhaps because such statements rubbed him the wrong way, Salvatore did as Hodgins proposed, leaving Lux and kicking Hodgins’s face with his shin. Crimson hair swaying, Hodgins collapsed onto the floor.

Regardless, he grinned. “Thanks; should I take my clothes off while we’re at it? It’d get you excited, right?”

Salvatore grabbed Hodgins’s collar with rage. “How filthy. Your company is your human nature itself. I’m a victim. I want you to give me back the clients, routes and everything that you’ve stolen from me. I think being a soldier suited you better than being a businessman. Lying on the ground like this is fitting of you. Why... I’m just going to have you write your name on a document. Promise not to trespass my routes... It’s hard to do stuff with you loitering around. Lots of stuff, you see.” He let go abruptly, Hodgins’s face banging onto the floor.

“President!” Lux’s tear-mixed voice leaked.

Hodgins immediately raised his head and smiled at Lux. He went as far as winking at her.

Salvatore harshly told his underling to call over the official scrivener who would bear witness to their contract. He most likely intended to crush Hodgins’s post office through leaving behind a legal document with unequal contents.

“Tepid; you’re tepid.” Hodgins’s tongue licked off the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. “Compared to back in the battlefields, you really are dull...” As he coughed curt and subtly, his voice reached Salvatore. “My company isn’t just mine.” Hodgins looked out the window. He checked if something was coming and waited for it.

   “Salvatore Postal Company identified ahead,” Violet whispered.

Benedict was driving his motorcycle, Cattleya behind him. Holding onto Cattleya’s shoulders, Violet was standing on the edge of the passenger seat. Running through the cityscape in the early afternoon, the motorcycle carried not only three people but also uncovered armament.

“Hey~, there’s a huge tacky cannon in the balcony~.”

“All~ right, I was thinking about forcing our way through the front gate but change of plans. V, go off on that balcony,” Benedict said with a lightheartedness that one would invite another to go shopping with.

“Understood. Cattleya, please give me support.” Violet took into her hands a thick, long cylindrical object that had been placed on the motorcycle’s luggage carrier. It was something that could be called both a rifle and a rocket launcher. She rested it on her shoulder atop the running vehicle and determined her target.

Once Cattleya clung to her legs as to secure her body, Violet shot without mercy. Explosion sounds echoed throughout the city of Leiden for the second time that day.

“Impact confirmed.”

Pigeons fled into the sky, the townspeople darting their eyes about in search for the source of the noise. Meanwhile, the motorcycle that the trio was riding on gradually drew closer to the Salvatore head office.

“Sca~ry! But ama~zing! I also wanna shoot tha~t!” Cattleya shouted in joy upon seeing the balcony destructed.

“Won’t let ya no matter what.”

“You cannot no matter what.”

Benedict and Violet shook their heads in sync. Both comprehended that it would be dangerous to let such a naïve woman hold onto firearm.

“What’s with that~?! I also wanna go wild big time~! Isn’t it okay?!”

“Then, let Cattleya be the first to charge in. Please be contented with that.”

“What’re you deciding on your own? The first at anything’s gotta be me.”

“You follow me from behind. ‘Cause the one who’ll save our captive princess of a president is going to be me. A~hn, wait for me, President! Where are you!?”

“You... As if such a huge dude could be a princess. What kinda princess is that?”

“If you were as tall as the President, you wouldn’t have to wear those heeled shoes, huh.”

“You’re wrong! That’s not why I wear them! It’s because they’re cool! You... Imma make you cry later! I’m dropping by your place today, so get ready for it!”

“Yo... Yo-Yo... You idiot! What’re you saying in front of Violet?!”

Silently listening to the exchange between the two, Violet slowly took from the luggage carrier the handle of the weapon jutting out of the tattered cloth. “Then, I shall take this opportunity and go.”

They had no idea what opportunity she was taking, yet Violet nimbly jumped midair after saying nothing but that. As she landed on the ground, the motorcycle also stopped right in front of the head office with good timing upon scoring an ostentatious drift.

“Here I go, Major.”

The one taken into Violet’s blue eyes was the Salvatore Postal Company – a building that looked exactly like the CH Postal Company. Although it was a weekday, a “closed” sign hung on the door and five postmen clad in black frock coats stood by the entrance smoking cigarettes.

The stunning woman, the man mounted on a motorcycle and the beauty behind him appeared before their eyes. Ashes fell down in lieu of their surprise at the mystery trio.

“Wh-Who’re you?!”

While the men froze on the spot at her exposed unpainted face and moonlight-colored hair, Violet swiftly tore off the tattered cloth wrapped around the weapon in her hands. A battle-axe of a size unfit for swinging around in a city road revealed itself.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am an Auto-Memories Doll from the CH Postal Company; my name is Violet Evergarden.”

The name of the battle-axe wielded by that woman as ominously beautiful as a witch was Witchcraft. It had a silver blade, and the red rain that it dyed itself in from the number of people it had killed was a manifestation of its ill-omened existence.

“Apologies for you are in the middle of work, but could you allow us upstairs? Ever since our company’s president and secretary disappeared into your agency, we have not known of their whereabouts.”

As she held onto it, illuminated by the afternoon sunlight, her frame gave off quite a sense of misplacement.

“If you will not listen to our request, we shall exercise brute force based on the guiding precepts of our company.”

But as she wielded it, her figure looked appropriate. Rather, it was the contrary.

Raising the gigantic battle-axe blithely, Violet pointed the blade at the men. Instead of opening their mouths, the men took pistols out of their coats and pants and aimed them at Violet.

“The guys from the CH Postal Company are here! Don’t let them pass no matter what!”

“Violet!” Cattleya’s scream reverberated through the city roads.

However, the beautiful Auto-Memories Doll moved at the same time as the opponents readied themselves, dealing a preemptive strike in the blink of an eye. “Negotiations broken.”

A single blow from the battle-axe brushed away the postmen. It was an attack that did not cut them and merely struck their vitals using blunt weapon essentials, yet it caused three of the men to hit their heads against the outer wall of their company and collapse.

The remaining two men, who had dodged the appearance and disappearance of the axe, frantically aimed at Violet and pulled the triggers. Without any change in her facial expression, Violet twisted the battle-axe around and repelled the bullets with its blade. Switching hands, she pointed the tip of the handle at the opponents. It produced a ringing noise.

“Please forgive my rudeness.”

The flower bud ornament decorating the tip of the handle flew out together with a long chain. It knocked the two men’s pistols off their hands. She did not give the men, who held their hands down due to the collision, any opening to straighten their postures. This time, Violet rammed the battle-axe’s arm against the surface of the building’s wall and anchored it. While extending the chain and spinning midair, she dealt a flying kick to the face of one of them, made his face into her stepping stone and roundhouse-kicked the man next to him. There was no hesitation or mercy in her series of actions.

“Bu-But I was supposed to be the first one!”

“That was me!”

Indignant, Cattleya took a sack fastened to the luggage carrier, which contained her weapons. After thorough indecision between the tonfa, whip and other armory, the one she had chosen were iron knuckles.

Before anyone noticed, Benedict’s hands were gripping two pistols. He disabled the safety catch with practiced hand movements. “V! Don’t get too serious! If you’re angry, I can get angry for you!”

As if the people inside the Salvatore Postal Company had foreseen that someone would come raid it, postmen peeked out from the windows of the floors above with rifles in position. Bullets from Benedict’s pistols pierced their arms as he spoke, creating a rain of blood splashes.

“If this is the emotion called wrath, I want to rid myself of it quickly. Cattleya.” Violet pointed with her finger at the rocket launcher that had no more remaining ammo to Cattleya, who had put on her iron knuckles.

Agilely grabbing its handle with one hand, Cattleya threw it with heightened rotation speed after drawing it back once with much vigor. “One, two, the~re!”

Together with her adorable shout, the rocket launcher struck the postmen who had turned up in the upstairs floor, breaking through the window glass. Its destructive power was the same as a bullet shell.

The one who had flung it jumped up and down on the spot as if delighted. “Kyah~! I hit them~!”

It was not a deed that an average person, let alone a young woman, could normally manage. She was the possessor of tremendously strong arms.

“As expected of the Stupid Woman – or more like the Stupidly Strong Woman.”

“Shut up, Platform Shoes Man.”

“Ah, you on?”

“What, are you?”

The ringing of the chain on Violet’s battle-axe Witchcraft drowned out the duo’s little quarrel. One of the men screamed and threw himself out the window, falling onto a flowerbed in front of the company.

“Benedict, Cattleya. By the looks of it, the President and Lux are unmistakably inside this building. President Hodgins told me that he imitated Salvatore’s agency when our company’s office was under construction. If that is the case, then the highest position is probably the uppermost floor – the third floor. I am counting on you to follow the procedures.”

The two nodded in reply to Violet’s words.

“Let’s kick their asses at once and go celebrate.”

“We’re bothering the neighbors, after all.”

Before anyone realized, the city had gone quiet.

The Salvatore Postal Company was located in a completely ordinary shopping street in the city of Leiden. However, the passersby had fled within a few minutes, and the shopkeepers of the nearby buildings, as well as the buildings next to those, had closed their shops’ windows – the so-called display windows – and pulled down the iron shutters.

The fast action stemmed from their understanding that the city had become involved in the maelstrom of a fight. It was a particularity of citizens from a country that had long been shutting off invaders ever since its foundation. The people were silently waiting for the conflict to end.

“Well, then, let’s go in.” Violet’s figure as she gave the command with a clear voice was different from usual.

   Inside the chairman’s room at the top floor of the Salvatore Postal Company, the scenery visible from the balcony – an autumn sky where cirrocumulus clouds drifted high up and Leiden’s cityscape – had looked like it was inserted in a picture frame. Yet such beauty was something of a few seconds before, and now the artillery enshrined in it had received great damage from a sudden explosion attack, smoke rising from it.

Once ornamented with delicate sculptures, the rails were crumbling, and the balcony was in a state where one could fall straight to the ground if they put a foot on it. If the artillery were loaded with ammo, it was most likely not the only thing that would have been destroyed.

In that situation of settled chaos, Salvatore Rinaudo’s pale face went even paler and his mouth fell open as he spaced out, while Claudia Hodgins bit the inside of his cheeks to kill off his own laughter and trembled in opposition.

“What have they done?”

“Ahah—AHAHAHAHAH! Aah, I can’t anymore! Can’t hold back! This is the best!” Hodgins convulsed with laughter upon looking at Salvatore’s face. “What you so surprised about, Salvatore? Isn’t that what you did to us? Well, but... you wouldn’t think we’d do the exact same thing as you, huh! There’s no helping it! Ahahahah!”

Even Lux, who had all along been shaking with a darkened face, lit up with a sparkle of hope and laughed a little.

“Is this the work of you people from the CH Postal Company?”

“Who else is there? Our corporate philosophy is ‘an eye for an eye’.” Hodgins was in such a good mood that he seemed like he could break into song right then.

A few of Salvatore’s underlings went down to the floors below. Gunshots and screams soon echoed again. The fact that the screams had come from Salvatore’s subordinates increased his anxiety and impatience.

“They’re doing this even though you might be injured... What kind of training do you use on them?”

“Basically a principle of liberalism. Most of the personnel I gathered back when I was building my company happen to be guys with nowhere to go that I coaxed and took in... Don’t know if my preferences are biased, but it turned out that lots of them were absurdly strong fellows. The ones who’re here right now are definitely two of the Auto-Memories Dolls that were off-duty and... probably a postman that was scheduled to return to town today. They’re elite of the finest kind even among us. Salvatore, since it’s you, weren’t you supposed to investigate me through and through?”

“Your company’s employees are former soldiers and mercenaries, right? If that’s the case, so are our postmen...”

“They aren’t just former soldiers and mercenaries. Benedict is an ex-mercenary who had the nickname of ‘Battle-Hungry Freak’ in another continent. Cattleya was a boxer. She has arms so strong that no one can beat her by using force. And that beautiful girl whose name you can even say everyone knows in the Auto-Memories Doll business... my adorable Little Violet, used to be Leidenschaftlich’s most powerful female soldier. It’s in the past, though.” Hodgins smiled at Lux. “By the way, my secretary is a former demigoddess.”

“‘Leidenschaftlich’s most powerful female soldier’?”

“Didn’t your patrons tell you anything? Well, she was treated as a secret in a way, so it isn’t impossible for civilians not to know about her. The military went as far as creating a troop just for her and made her work for them, but they never gave her recognition or ranks. She didn’t have a surname back then and it seems people just called her ‘Violet’. My friend found and raised her... She was the leading figure of the Great War in the shadows.”

Salvatore reminisced to the photos of Hodgins’s employees whom he had made his underlings investigate. One that had been engraved in his mind remarkably vividly was a beautiful woman. She was a girl of exquisite, suave facial features. Even if one declared her to have been the strongest female soldier, nobody could believe it right away.

“How did you make a woman like that yours?!”

“She’s not mine.” Hodgins smirked defiantly. “And she doesn’t belong to the military anymore either. From the very start, she... Let’s stop here; telling this story to you is a waste.”

The battle’s tune gradually grew closer to the top floor. By the looks of it, the fuss was escalating to a direction where even angry yelling was ensuing. It seemed the owner of the voice was a young woman. Even amidst gunshots, the conversation between those two people did not cut short.

Hodgins’s smirk deepened, Salvatore’s face becoming grim.

“You guys, give polite greetings when coming in.”

Salvatore’s underlings readied their guns all at once. The tension reached its peak, everyone inside the room paying attention to the door. However, it was time.

“Lux, please cover your eyes,” a beautiful voice that did not match such a place, which had converted into a battlefield, could be heard from behind the staff members.

A black lump jumped from the balcony. It looked like a beast at first. A stunning and terrifying beast that moved its limbs gracefully and trampled over its enemies.

No matter how much the “hunters” who had taken notice of the beast’s existence made bullets rain on it, its feet did not halt by a single inch as it bared its fangs. It steadfastly ascertained the battlefield even as it danced in the air, wielding its weapon with astonishing precision, bringing everyone to the ground.

“A-Aaaah!!”

The arm released from the battle-axe pierced and gouged the shoulder of the man who had been thrusting a gun at Lux. The beast swung the battle-axe and stationed Hodgins and Lux to behind itself.

Salvatore took a few steps back, and exactly two factions stood in position separated at his right and left sides.

“Major Hodgins, we apologize for the wait.”

“I’m always telling you that it’s ‘President’, aren’t I, Little Violet?”

The beast – rather, the woman – shot a cold glance at the one that she perceived as the enemy.

“You—What are you?” Salvatore vented his confusion at the sudden intruder who held onto the completely red battle-axe.

She had white and smooth skin like that of porcelain dolls. Her blue eyes were as glass balls. Her hair of gold seemed to waft with a sweet fragrance. The girl was beautiful to a rare extent, but that was not the only thing that made one’s eyes widen at her.

A living legend that Salvatore did not know was standing there.

“Violet.”

The loveliness he had seen in the picture was concealed by a shadow, a turbulent atmosphere similar to madness surrounding her instead. An air of lethargic strategizing as to which of them would move first flowed by, but the stagnancy soon shattered.

“PRESIDENT———! LUX——!”

“OLD MAN!”

Callings could be heard in unison from outside the room. The massive door was then broken through as if it were as thin a paper sheet. The one who stepped onto the door as it collapsed with a tremor and entered the room while holding by the collar an enemy that she had defeated with her silver iron knuckles was Cattleya.

“Aa~hn! You two~! Found yoou!” She tossed the prey that she had nearly killed toward Salvatore and his group. Being able to fling a human being as if they were an object meant her arms were simply that great as blunt weapons.

Following her, a gun barrel appeared first, and after bullet sounds ensued, Benedict revealed himself. It was a shot meant for delivering the finishing blow to Cattleya’s offensive.

Shooting the legs of all the men in black except Salvatore, Benedict clicked his tongue at the gruesome scene inside the room. “What’s this? Hasn’t V eaten out most of them?” Together with a sigh, he threw away the gun he had been holding, taking out another one. “Old Man~, we’ve left only this important-looking old dude~.”

“Lux! Violet is protecting you, right? President! You’re tied up!” Cattleya ran towards Hodgins, who lay on the floor. Without cutting them with a knife, she ripped off the ropes that had been restricting him using the iron knuckles and embraced him boldly.

Hodgins patted her back with taps and hugged her lightly. “Sorry, Cattleya. Didn’t my adorable young lady get hurt?”

“I didn’t!”

“Atta girl.” Hodgins left a kiss on Cattleya’s forehead with a pop.

Cattleya’s cheeks flushed red and she turned her back to him looking embarrassed, stamping her feet onto her happiness on the spot.

Benedict tore Cattleya away from Hodgins and stood between them. Contrary to being angry, he aggressively hit Hodgins from face to torso, confirming that the latter was alive.

“Ouch, ouch, what’s this? A new way of expressing love?”

“You’re fine, huh, Captive Princess?”

“You were worried about me, Darling?” Hodgins merely replied with frivolous talk to Benedict’s cynicism, looking delighted.

Briefly biting his lip, Benedict faced the ground. Hodgins had a feeling that the eyes Benedict had directed at him before casting them downward were moist, and was inwardly surprised.

——Huh, could it be he really was worried?

“Hey, Darling. Benedict.”

His sandy-blond hair rubbed into a mess, Benedict finally resisted energetically as if to say, “Quit it”. Nothing that resembled tears could be seen in his eyes anymore.

“Who’s that ‘Darling’, Old Man...?!”

“Could it be you were pretty worried about me?”

He was fully convinced that Benedict would deny it.

“I was. Don’t make me.” Yet the latter directed his sky-blue eyes straight at him and said, “I was hella worried. Don’t ever make me worry again no matter what!”

As it was much too blunt, after Hodgins was taken aback, his face slowly turned red. He had anticipated they would come save him, but right now was his first time learning he was cherished to that extent.

“Ah... that so? S-Sorry, okay?”

“Damn... Don’t go getting kidnapped when you’ve got that huge body! Is Captive Princess #2 all good?”

“Fairly. Little Lux needs first-aid...!”

Violet undid Lux’s binding. The latter’s body, which had been trembling in fear, and the sound of her heartbeats, which had grown noisy, were regaining their calm.

“Thank you, Violet.” Enduring the pain in her cheek, Lux smiled at the friend who had come for her rescue. “I thought you were some noble prince.”

Violet furrowed her eyebrows as if troubled. She then resentfully held Lux’s hands and helped her up. “My apologies for not being able to protect you. But I will not let you go through terrifying times anymore.” Just like a knight, she made Lux retreat to behind her.

Albeit gripping his gun, Salvatore remained unable to fire a single shot at the mere three people who had taken control of his company. As he shifted his gaze to the side, he could see his underlings collapsed and moaning in the open corridor. “There was supposed to be... fifty of them,” once he opened his mouth, his voice shook.

“Ah? Your minions? Even if the numbers are big, it’s no use if the quality sucks. Actually, were there that many of them? I was counting, but... Stupid Woman, how many did you take down?”

“Stupid Benedict! Erm... ten. I probably beat up about ten people.”

“I got twenty. The rest was V, huh?”

“I simply came here by climbing the outer walls, so other than the beginning and now...”

“Didn’t anyone run away? The math ain’t adding up.”

They were chatting carefreely, yet the contents of the conversation were the number of people they had defeated. In addition, there was an overwhelming difference in combat power, for they were unharmed and not even their clothes had scratches. That was also a difference in corporation power.

Biting his lip as if in frustration, Salvatore barked at Hodgins, “They came late, and that’s why you’ve lost! I already had you write the contract! The official scrivener went to submit the contract we exchanged to the government office so that it’d serve as a demonstration of formal legitimacy. It’s probably already been accepted... Take your leave as you please. But I’m billing you for the internal damage caused by your subordinates and the injuries they inflicted on mine!”

Salvatore had intended to wreak both psychological and bodily pain on Hodgins for a while, instilling terror on him and making him lose the will to fight back, but now he had given up on it. What he desired most – the unequal contract – was in a state of legal effectiveness. As long as he had it, regardless of what anyone could say, the fact that Salvatore had the advantage would not change.

“Salvatore Rinaudo. What’re you on about?” However, Hodgins had a facial expression that denounced he was helplessly puzzled.

“As I said, your company can no longer enter our routes...”

“So?”

“No matter how much brute force we used, that’s nothing in the face of a validated official document!”

“Again... so what? The papers were indeed filed. Seems like they also were submitted before help came. What of it?” Claudia Hodgins, president of the CH Postal Company and former major from Leidenschaftlich’s army, generally had an easygoing personality, as well as a cheerful and frivolous attitude. However, he was now glaring at Salvatore without breaking into a smile, letting a glint shine sharply in his eyes. “Isn’t it a matter that’ll be solved if we crush down your company?” He rolled up his shirt’s sleeves and took off a wristwatch that one could tell was a high-grade product. Next, he squeezed the strap with his fingers so that the watch’s case would be on his knuckles.

Anybody who was used to fighting knew. If one was battling without a weapon, the object called wristwatch was an overly useful thing.

“Salvatore, if only you hadn’t hit Lux, I wouldn’t be this angry.”

Salvatore fired at Hodgins when the latter swung up his hand, yet it did not even graze him. Oddly enough, the bullet that had failed to kill a person shot through the middle of the forehead of Salvatore’s portrait sitting inside the room.

“S-Sto...” The word that Salvatore uttered were the end of it.

The fist swung by a 194cm-tall man who weighted 85kg struck into Salvatore’s face with a wind-cutting sound. As his nose was broken without mercy, Salvatore shed a large amount of blood. A few of his teeth tumbled onto the high-quality carpet as well. He had convulsions for a moment, but eventually became completely motionless.

“Did you kill him?”

At Benedict’s question, Hodgins put his ear against Salvatore’s chest, shaking his head after simply checking the other’s heartbeat. “He’s alive. Let’s leave him be.” By the instant he turned around, Hodgins had gone back to his usual self. “Everyone, you did well. I’m so happy; my employees sure are the best. And I’m also the best for having chosen you!” Hodgins sang praises gesturing exaggeratedly, embracing the employees who had come for his aid all at once. He then came closer to Lux’s side, planting a kiss on the cheek that had not been punched. “I’ve made you go through a lot, huh. I’m really sorry, Little Lux.”

“No, I’m the president’s secretary, after all.”

Seeing as she did not appear too bashful, that sort of kiss was likely not a rare action. As the thread of tension broke, Lux crumbled and shed large tears. Hodgins frantically apologized again.

“That’s not it... I’m frustrated... It’d be great if I were like everyone else, and also had strength to protect the president. If I hadn’t been taken hostage, things wouldn’t have turned out like...”

Cattleya gently caressed Lux’s arching back as she was unable to stop crying. “What’re you saying? Lux, you have it good exactly because you’re a normal fragile girl. Ah, but it’s not like I’m not normal either. I’m strong and pretty, but I’m a super normal girl...”

“Cattleya, what you say is inconsistent.” Violet handed Lux a silk handkerchief.

Perhaps due to their heights being about the same, despite their faces not resembling one another and their body types being different, the figure of the tree as they nestled close to each other strangely made them look like sisters.

“Seeing girls huddling together is kinda nice, right, Benedict?”

“Old Man, just hurry and do something about this place.”

“Should we huddle too? Shall we?”

“Don’t play around and give the instructions!”

As Benedict dealt him a strong lateral kick to the rear, Hodgins ceased joking. “Eeh~, then, all dismissed...! That’s what I’d like to do but I have a request. Anyone who doesn’t have any plans for later, please help me destroy Salvatore’s company!”

“He~y, Old Man.”

“What is it, Mr. Benedict?”

“You haven’t checked things out so you don’t know what’s been made of it, but we left the international offices to the rest of the fighter staff. The guys who stayed at the main office contacted them. Since it’s those fellows... they’ll take them out without worries.”

“Amazing! But we don’t have fighter staff! It’s not like I hired you with that intention! Well, since there have to be people who can go into battlefields, I didn’t not have that intention, but...”

“From the very start, that was our purpose, President Hodgins. So that there will not be such happenings after this, we believed that laying waste to everything and thoroughly annihilating them was a good plan.”

“Scary, scary. Your expression is getting scary too, Little Violet. Smile! It’s ruining your cute face!”

“President~! I want you to buy me a new choker after we’re done. Look~! The pearls on it got torn off... It was my favorite too.”

“Okay, Cattleya. Be it chokers, clothes or anything, this uncle will buy it for you!”

“Hum... President. What should I do?” the non-fighting staff member Lux tightly clutched her skirt, looking nervous.

“Little Lux, let’s go back to the head office. I’ll have you be treated there too. It’s all right; everyone in the head office contacted the other employees, so there should be people gathering there. It’s safer than you coming with us. Benedict, take Little Lux to the head office, and then regroup.”

“Roger; leave some for me to mess with too.”

“We aren’t sharing cake slices... Now, Little Violet and Cattleya are going with me to crush the branch offices just like this. Let’s decide on the rules for one. No hitting girls. Hitting bastards is fine.”

“Understood.”

“‘Ka~y.”

The members of the CH Postal Company continued their strategy meeting without paying mind to the people that they had defeated lying on the floor. When they were done at last, they exited the building while making so that those of Salvatore’s postmen who had stood up once again would be beyond recovery.

Lighting a cigarette, Hodgins started walking with it in his mouth, and everyone followed him as well.

On that day, within Leidenschaftlich, gunshots echoed throughout several areas of the capital Leiden, yet no one attempted to keep them under control. Additionally, the military police did not make a move regardless of how many reports it received.

   The nocturnal darkness deepened late into the night.

The lights were brightly lit in a bar at the corner of a business district. “Fully booked for the day,” said the clumsy letters on a paper pinned to the menu board in front of the shop. The figure of a seductive female dancer was drawn on said board. By the looks of it, that was a place where people enjoyed shows along with their meals.

The voices of people laughing pleasantly and lively music could be heard leaking from inside the bar. It seemed to be the feast of some company. The men and women were at a one-one ratio. Their ages varied and all of them differed in skin, hair and eye colors.

Even amongst them, there was an attention-catching few.

A young man was displaying splendid steps on a table with heeled boots that looked like womenswear. The dancers swayed their bodies together with him and danced purely as they pleased.

On another table, a beautiful woman was smiling while arm-wrestling with a man of fiendish facial features and plentiful muscles. Seeing as she twisted his arm in a matter of seconds, it could be that he let her win on purpose. However, the man who had lost rubbed his seemingly hurt arm with a strangely believable face.

A silver-haired young girl with a big gauze on her cheek was playing a card game with a blonde person of terribly tattered appearance. It was most likely poker. She looked troubled for not being able to read the other’s expression. While everyone else was emptying bottles of alcohol, only the two of them were making cups of tea into their nighttime company. Each was fixated with their own victory, playing in earnest.

“Ah~! I won~! I won enough to buy a kinda nice pair of shoes! Ah, Lux, aren’t those winning cards?”

“Women who can dance sure are great. V, you suck at playing this, don’t you?”

Benedict, who had had enough of dancing, and Cattleya, who had grown tired of arm wresting, came to sit at the peaceful table as if to intrude on it.

Lux put the cards that she had been hiding up to her lips on the table. “Want to quit poker, Violet?”

“That is right. The cards in our hands have been busted by a third party, after all.”

They did not have the will to get angry. If anything, Lux was so happy for being able to return to that trifling daily life with her companions that she wound up laughing. Perhaps due to the spot where she had been hit aching when she laughed, she arched her back with an “ow, ow, ow”.

“Are you okay? Is it not better for you to rest already...?”

“Yu~p, but I think it’s safer to be with everyone for the day... President Hodgins is here too so I can’t go home.”

Cattleya quickly reacted and looked at Lux’s direction with momentum. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve decided that I’ll be with the President today. See, it’s because the President’s home was in the company’s top floor. We have nowhere to sleep tonight, right? I also had that experience with being kidnapped... He was worried and got me a room at a hotel in the city. It seems President Hodgins will also be staying in it for a while. Until this mess is over, I’ll also be working from there. We’re going together today, so I have to wait for him.”

While Violet replied agreeably with a, “That is reassuring”, Cattleya became beet-red. One could tell from her face what she was imagining. She grabbed Lux’s arm and shook her violently. “You! Do you get what you’re saying?”

“E-Eeh? Our rooms are separated, y’know?”

“Cattleya, Lux is injured.”

“Not a chance. Dunno how many years it’ll last, but not even he is that shameless.”

“Hey! Don’t meddle into a girls’ talk!”

“Ah, you’ve said it. Then don’t barge into when I’m talking with the Old Man no matter what.”

Since another fight had decidedly began, as an accustomed form of coping, Violet and Lux left the two and started their conversation afresh.

“Speaking of which... Violet, are you okay? You’re dressed pretty cutely today... Could it be you were going to meet up with that person... with Mr. Major?”

The moment she received such question was exactly when Violet’s gaze had fixed on the bar’s entrance. “I am fine.”

Someone was heading her way.

Perhaps due to having come in a hurry, said person was out of breath. His sweat-dampened forehead was a proof of the efforts he had been spending until arriving there. He was caught by Hodgins and came to a halt, but even so, he aimed at and went toward her as fast as possible.

That person had soon spotted Violet from the bar’s entrance, and Violet had frozen in place the instant he had arrived as well. It was almost as if there were gravity between them that drew one to the other.

Violet stood up naturally and rushed to him.

——Ah, Violet.

Lux could tell.

——I see, so that’s how it is.

Anyone who was close by would be able to tell.

——The two of you are already like that.

After all, it was as though the air about her had changed completely the moment he had appeared.

“Colonel.”

The one standing there was Colonel Gilbert Bougainvillea from Leidenschaftlich’s army. Perhaps because he was on an off day, he wore only a jacket of fine tailoring and a shirt. Inquisitive stares from the people making a ruckus in the bar fell upon him all at once.

“Violet.”

After all, he was a man rumored within the company for moving the army in order to protect Violet. His existence was made known during the hijacking incident of the Intercontinental train, after which a year had passed not too long before. Of course, that was a story only told internally and Hodgins was publicly regarded as the main leader of such strategy.

The members of the postal company who had gathered up to save her had seen in person the man who came running while carrying her princess style. Back then, they had also witnessed Benedict being entrusted with Violet, his mouth open as if he had grown senile.

“Colonel, my apologies... I ended up breaking our arrangement.”

Her cottony hair was ruined. The outfit chosen for her and that her body was clad in had become like ragged cloths. Everything she had prepared for him had been reduced to misery today.

Nevertheless, seeing her dressed-up caused Gilbert’s heart to beat louder.

“You...”

“You look beautiful” was what he had started to say, but upon noticing a stare of pressuring quality to a fierce extent from the side, he trailed off.

Benedict seemed extremely unamused. He clicked his tongue as their eyes met.

“Anything the matter...?”

“Not really. There any law that says I can’t look at the bastard who snoops into V’s general area every once in a blue moon ever since that incident like he’s a rare sight?”

“You helped me out holding onto Violet back then. I’m grateful... And, I don’t know about any such law, but if it’s about putting up a watchdog act, I’m the one on top.”

Something like an electric shockwave ran between the two of them. Benedict remained not toning down his distrust regarding Gilbert until now, peeved by that man who seemed like he could become a love rival for Benedict’s significant other had he been in the same workplace as them.

“This was the curtain rise of their muddled battle!” just as the two had opened their mouths again, Hodgins cut in with a foolish commentary.

Silence. The two simultaneously glared at Hodgins as if looking at something deplorable.

Hodgins himself broke Gilbert and Benedict apart, coming in between them, putting his arms around each and laughing stridently, “Don’t fight for me! Man~, I wanted to try saying this once.”

“Shut up, Old Man!”

“Stay away, Hodgins. You’re reeking of booze.”

It was a conversation with a magnificent explosive power. By the looks of it, Gilbert and Benedict did not seem like they would get along, but their attitude towards Hodgins was similar.

“Old Man, tomorrow will be terrible for you if you drink too much. You’re at that age, aren’t you?”

“Darling... you’re saying that because you’re worried about me, right?”

“Hey, stop. Stop. I’m not a woman.”

As Benedict stepped away from Hodgins, who was attempting to give him a kiss, Gilbert and Violet were at last able to lock eyes with each other again. Violet had a face that denounced she had gone through a hellish time.

“Any injuries?”

“Minor ones. The same level as scratching a knee.”

“That’s good...” He was truly saying so from the bottom of his heart. Seeing Cattleya and Lux anxiously observing the two of them, Gilbert spoke further, “You too, any injuries? Aah... you need a medic.”

“No, no, I’m okay.”

Lux had already received treatment, yet it seemed like her wound might open the next day.

Perhaps always carrying it in his person, Gilbert took a fountain pen and small notebook from his jacket’s inner pocket, handing her a paper sheet that contained a certain address within Leiden. “This is the clinic where my home doctor is. You don’t need to pay if you give my name, so go there another day. You’ll probably need painkillers for a while. Even in the hotel you’re staying at, please give my name to the hotelman if you need anything. We’re on friendly terms, so he’ll treat you well.”

Lux acted uncertain when accepting the paper. “Ah. Thank you very much. You’re very generous... Could it be... that the hotel reservation... Mr. Bougainvillea, erm... Colonel Bougainvillea, was made by you?”

After glancing at Hodgins, who was entangling himself with Benedict, Gilbert nodded. “That thing asked me for it. I can’t say this aloud but I’ve also disposed of... the documents submitted to the government office in the name of your company. When I use my influence in places outside of my jurisdiction... I end up losing one card that I could otherwise use in the event of an emergency, but...” Perhaps as if remembering something, he furrowed his brows a little and chuckled. “Hodgins took care of Violet. I also won’t spare any efforts for you all in case something happens. If there’s any worrisome matter, it can even be through Violet, but do tell me.”

“Y-Yes.”

Cattleya and Lux mutely let their cheeks dye pink. Was there any girl whose heart would not throb at Gilbert as he displayed adult-man-like reliance in a different way from Hodgins?

“Colonel, you’re so cool.”

“Colonel, you are wonderful.”

No, there was not.

For whatever reason, the two had their fingers interlaced in front of their chests and were striking the same pose.

Gilbert replied levelly, “You aren’t my subordinates so you don’t need to refer to me by my rank.”

Violet pulled the hem of Gilbert’s jacket ever so lightly. “Colonel, hum... would you like to sit down? You must be tired.”

“Aah, no. I’m sorry but I’m taking my leave. You too, Violet. The two are at the Bougainvillea house and we’re making them worry. I already contacted them to say I’d bring you back, so come along. It stopped by a place a little far away, but I have a carriage ready, so let’s walk there. Miss Lux. You... were together with Hodgins for today, right? Miss Cattleya, what about you? We can send you home if necessary.”

“Y-You know my name?! Mine?!”

“Of course; I heard it from Violet. So, what will you do?”

Perhaps due to extreme happiness at that, Cattleya slapped Violet’s back with quite strong vigor countless times, making merry. “I’m fine! I’ll be here with everyone until morning today!”

“It’s probably better if you’re in big numbers. Well, my apologies since we’re in the middle of a pleasant talk, but I’m taking her along. Thank you... for always being so close to Violet. Let’s meet again somewhere else. Please let me at least treat you to a meal.” Gilbert all too naturally took off his jacket and placed it over Violet’s shoulders. He began escorting her away just like that.

“Ah! Bastard! Hold on! V is my little sister part!”

“Everyone, good night. Benedict too.”

“Wait! V~! Hey—Old Man!”

Binding Benedict’s arms behind his back, Hodgins sent Violet a wink. It was true that he was drunk, but his tactic was probably to keep Benedict away from Gilbert. He might have been paying for the sin of making the two of them miss out on the time they had to spend with each other because of his kidnapping.

Hodgins and Gilbert merely exchanged short goodbyes such as, “I’ll call” and, “See you”.

“Benedict’s had an overwhelming defeat, huh.”

“Old Man!”

“Man, he’s rivaling you... but he’s also not.”

The two young women left behind spoke while still staring at the bar’s entrance.

“To be honest, the President told me a lot about Violet’s past after that incident, and I didn’t not wonder if someone like him was okay for her... but, when you meet him, y’know...”

“Yup, its different when you get to meet him, right?”

“It’s because he really did cherish her that he made many mistakes, did his best to take back a lot of things, and now they’re like this, huh,” Lux whispered, deep in thought.

   Treading through an autumn night in which the nocturnal winds were gelid robbed the two a little of the body heat provided by the warm interior of the bar. Violet, who Gilbert had put his jacket over, looked at him with only his shirt on as if to question him.

He soon noticed her gaze and their eyes met. He then smiled at her. “Aren’t you cold?”

Just from him simply throwing those words at her, as Violet was still unused to it, her heart raced. “No; Major, what about you?”

The times that the two of them met up were still at a point where they could be counted with one hand, and during such instances, the restraint brought about by his long absence would manifest itself in the form of agitation. From the perspective of others, that could almost not be perceived. After all, her facial expressions were generally emotionless.

“I’m fine. I’ve run around and sweated a lot today, so I’m still warm.”

“My apologies, Colonel.”

“It’s nothing to apologize for. I did that because I wanted to. Violet. It was also for Hodgins’s sake.”

“All right, Colonel.”

“Let’s walk a little slower. Once we get on the carriage, the way home will last a blink of eye.”

“Is that bad...?”

The one who had made the request was Gilbert, and the words Violet was about to say wound up dying out before they could take form. That was because he sweetly added, “I don’t have enough time with you”.

“All right, Major.”

Her eyes spoke more eloquently than her expressionless self. Violet’s blue orbs were glued to Gilbert’s emerald ones.

“I want to chat a little too. Is everything okay with that young man called Benedict?”

“By that, you mean...?”

“He seems to favor you.”

“He has another woman that he fancies. It seems they are in a relationship, and they themselves are hiding it but everyone around them knows.”

“That so?”

“Yes, he is... in an older brother-like... position regarding... my person, he told me.”

“Told you? That man?”

Their eye and hair colors were certainly similar, and the man could be said to be an androgynous beauty, but his speech and conduct were much too different from Violet’s.

“He himself was saying so.”

“Aah, he indeed called you his ‘little sister part’... Should I interpret that as him showing affection for you...? But it doesn’t look like we will get along very well.”

“Is that so?”

“It will probably be difficult.”

As Violet had heard the story of Hodgins and Gilbert’s past, she estimated that such assumption would be disproved. Gilbert and Hodgins were also a duo that one would not think got along well.

“It seems he’ll get in the way when I’m with you.”

Since Gilbert made a face as if he had swallowed a bitter-tasting bug, Violet did not voice her opinion in the end. “Major.”

“What is it?” As Violet called him, the middle of his brows immediately softened.

“If you had managed to meet with me as planned today, where did you intend to go?”

“Aah, I had actually made an arrangement for us to go horse-riding.”

“Horses.”

“You can ride army horses, and I think long rides aren’t bad if it’s on fine autumn weather days... Did you not like it?”

“Colonel, there is nothing that I dislike if I am in your company.”

“That answer makes me happy, but I do believe I want to learn about your tastes little by little. Kukuh.”

As Gilbert suddenly laughed aloud, Violet tilted her neck. “Is something the matter?”

“You... probably haven’t noticed it, but you’ve been mixing up ‘Major’ and ‘Colonel’ when referring to me.”

As he had been promoted from major to lieutenant-colonel and from lieutenant-colonel to colonel, it could be said that referring to Gilbert with a lower rank was terribly inappropriate.

Violet corrected her posture and apologized again, “I... am sorry. My apologies, Colonel.”

“No, that’s not it. I’m not angry... Ever since you were little, you used to call me that. The first word I heard from you was this one, too. I’m saying that if you can’t get used to it, I don’t mind the ‘Major’.”

“‘Colonel’... Colonel, I will not mistake it anymore.”

Her figure as she attempted to memorize it, in order not to forget it, was lovably stubborn. Gilbert caught a glimpse of her past self from that immature aspect of hers.

At the beginning, the two of them had had an inept exchange. Almost like how children would do it, they had told each other their names.

“Ma... jor.”

“Can you understand what I’m saying, Violet?”

“Major.”

After learning words and coming to know discipline, she had become his weapon.

“If that is Major’s order...”

“It’s not an order...”

“If... it is your desire...”

He had wound up loving the girl-weapon.

“Major’s eyes are here.”

“I wonder... what this is called.”

It had been a one-sided love.

“I will become your ‘shield’ and ‘weapon’.”

“I shall protect you.”

“Please do not ever doubt this. I am your ‘asset’.”

Even so, he had loved her.

“I love you!”

“I don’t want to let you die! Violet!”

“I love you, Violet.”

The girl-weapon had wept that she did not understand what she had been bestowed with.

“What is... ‘love’?”

No one had taught her about it.

“What is... ‘love’? What is... ‘love’? What is ‘love’?”

“I do not understand, Major...”

She had also not understood why he had said such a thing to her.

“What is... ‘love’?”

She had searched for the meaning of those words and for him, who had disappeared, encountering them by chance at last.

And so, they had reached the present time.

“Violet.” Gilbert took her artificial fingertips as she stood still.

Her index finger made screeching sounds.

“Since we’re at it, won’t you call me by my name?” He pointed her finger at himself.

The fingertips that used to be soft and have body temperature in the past did not anymore. The same applied to one of Gilbert’s arms.

“I am Gilbert. Gilbert Bougainvillea.” He pointed at Violet next. “You are Violet. Violet Evergarden.” He moved the finger both ways, saying, “Gilbert, Violet... Gilbert, Violet.”

The two who had ended up with mechanical part had grown and changed. They were not parent and child originally. Not siblings, either. They had also ceased being superior and subordinate.

“Lord Gilbert.”

At Violet’s predictable response, Gilbert smiled bitterly. “The ‘lord’ part... isn’t necessary.”

He had supposedly spoken gently, yet Violet showed him an aspect of disconcertment. “My apologies... Have you... come to hate me...?”

“No. I don’t know how to feel anything but affection towards you... It appears that...” while thinking that it was also valid for himself, Gilbert stated, “hum... you become insecure about it every now and then, but I’ll never hate you.”

“How come?” Violet asked.

How great would it be if he were able to show the insides of his heart to her? Presenting with a form that “this is love” would be so simple. However, it was due to not being able to do such a thing that people uttered words to proffer their love.

“Because I love you most.”

Violet started searching for that term within the sea of words embedded inside her. “‘Love... most’...” As they rolled out of her tongue, what appalling yet passionate words those were.

There was no other sentence more fitting of Gilbert Bougainvillea.

“Love me... most?”

“I have eyes for nobody but you. You’re the only one I’m fond of.”

“That is... to love most?”

“I will hold you dear for eternity, and continue to love you.”

She did not ask “That is... to love most?” a second time. Violet’s cheeks were rose-dusted, her heart started palpitating to the point of aching, and her field of vision blurred. She was unable to look at Gilbert’s face. Unwittingly, she cast her head down, yet he wound up peering at it. The distance between their faces was just about enough for them to kiss.

It was currently nighttime and the two of them were alone in that place, so whatever they did, no one would be looking. Maybe they could manage to keep it a secret even from God.

“I had a phase of... liking you... then I fell in love with you, and now, it turns out I love you the most. Do you understand?”

“Does it never diminish?”

“The affection?”

“The love.”

“I wonder. But I don’t want that to happen and will probably reconfirm whether I do love you numerous times, so it’ll likely intensify, not decrease. You fill me up with it.”

“With love?”

“Yes. The reason why I believe I love you is because you granted me that feeling.”

Violet Evergarden, who had been learning and copying from him – from people –, was able to take in the meaning of those words.

“I do that to you, Major?”

Again, her manner of referring to him had changed. Gilbert thought it was fine either way.

“You do that to me.” Gilbert silently planted a kiss not on Violet’s cheek or lips but on the fingertips that he was holding onto.

Silence.

Those were artificial fingers. She was unable to feel anything from them. Her arms were gone, and would nevermore return.

Placing a kiss on such a spot could transmit nothing.

Even so, he had deliberately kissed it in an affectionate manner. For some reason, that action – Gilbert’s feelings – caused Violet’s eyes to grow hot as if burning and produce tears.

Violet attempted to stop them. Those were incomprehensible tears. Why were they flowing at that moment? They would definitely trouble the man in front of her.

Nevertheless, tears were already pooling in her moist eyes until, finally, a single drop spilled down. Sure enough, the round tear that had fallen from one of her eyes left Gilbert distraught.

“Violet.” Seeing her reaction, he promptly let go of her fingers. “I’m sorry.” He stepped back, raising both hands as if to have her understand that he would not do anything else. “I’m really sorry.”

Violet did not answer. She stared at Gilbert without even wiping off the tear as if spacing out. Her attitude was not of anger. Her aspect was not of sorrow, either. He had no idea what she was thinking. She had the gaze of someone who seemed to be having a dream.

The two of them had lived separately, and he had thought that her facial expressions had become richer ever since they had reunited, but once she clammed up, he could not read her. Her lack of expression and well-featured doll-like traits did not allow Gilbert to study her emotions. However, the one thing he could fathom was that his action just now had been foolish.

——What am I doing?

He had told her that he would wait however long it took. The kiss on her fingers might have been a violation to that promise. He should have been the best gentleman for her, but he may have lost that right.

When she was by his side, she was unbearably endearing. The love towards her that lit up within his chest wound up overflowing.

“I swear I won’t do it anymore...”

The army colonel of Leidenschaftlich was losing face in front of the girl he was enamored with.

“Violet...”

What face was he making now? What did she think of it?

“Major, I...” Violet called him with her wind chime voice. She grabbed onto Gilbert’s fingers and took one step forward. The distance between them had shrunk once again. And then she took another step.

She was close enough to be embraced by Gilbert.

“Violet...”

“Major... please.” Violet peeked into Gilbert’s eye.

The emerald-green orb that had unchangeably borne beauty, kindness and a little bit of loneliness ever since they had first met was right there. Violet was now reflected in it.

Violet was inside his world.

“Do not swear so.”

Gilbert’s eyelid blinked at her straightforward words.

“Please, do not swear... that you will not do it.”

Seeing tears well up in Violet’s eyes once again, Gilbert impulsively reached an arm out to her. He caressed her golden hair as if to soothe her, earnestly listening to what she was attempting to tell him.

“Major, you explained it to me, right? That to love is to think of wanting to... protect someone the most.”

He wiped her tears with his fingertips.

Violet entrusted her cheek to his hand and shed more tears. “This has... applied to me since forever.”

She was attempting to replenish her lacking life. Rather, the truth was that the two of them could have done that from the moment they had met, for it was almost as if they made up for each other’s unskillfulness, but they had missed one another countless times and had not intersected well.

Violet’s chest was now being filled up with a warm feeling that she was experiencing for the first time.

“It always, always has, since long ago. I merely... did not know it...”

——This loud throbbing in my chest, this ecstasy, the fact that I end up swayed by your every action...

“I...”

——...the reason why I cried that I wanted to be by your side and asked you not to leave me anymore...

“Major... I...”

——...the reason why I am crying now...

“I, as of now...”

——...is that, once the “like” and the “love” fell and piled up like snow, and I became unable to melt them down, I had wanted to let you know that I wished the same to be valid for you.

“...have a feeling that I...”

People would declare it as if offering a prayer.

“...understand it better than before.”

“I love you”, that is.

[eigwayne]

A Little Spoiled (ChengQing fic)

Chapter 2 of 4: Advice from Aunty, and a Date Some advice from one of her aunties and Granny Wen convinces Wen Qing to keep her secret rendez-vous with Jiang Wanyin. He's alternately sweet and domineering and shy and infuriating, and Wen Qing wants him anyway. But first, she tells him some things he needed to hear (just... not about his core...).

Chapter 1 on Tumblr | AO3 links: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Author’s Notes: I forgot to mention on chapter 1: I'm using more romanized titles, like "gongzi", than translations like “Young Master”. If anyone needs a glossary, please check references like this. Also this fic is very closely from Wen Qing's POV, so all we'll see of Jiang Cheng's thoughts for now will be parenthetical inserts. 

I ended up rewriting a lot of the inn scene, which is why this took two weeks to update instead of the two days I originally planned. As a result, I think the chapter quality and length are a bit better, and I touched on a couple more things I think they would need to air between them (no, no golden core reveal in this fic, although it's never that far from Wen Qing's mind and hopefully that will come across at some points before the fic ends). The smut will have to wait until chapter three. I've joked about this porn developing plot on my Tumblr but that's exactly what happened.

The message technique Wen Qing uses to contact Uncle Four from the inn is supposed to be the one she used in the drama to contact Wen Ruohan. I noticed it was three lines of three characters, written in fire in the air, and couldn't get the image/format out of my head (the symmetry was beautiful). No, I have no idea what Jiang Cheng uses and the methodology wasn't relevant to the story, so please imagine what you wish.

Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng butt heads a little in this chapter and there's a couple moments of jealousy from both of them, and Jiang Cheng grabs Wen Qing's arm at one point, if you're sensitive to those sorts of things. This isn't a smooth relationship (there's so much baggage between them!) and I had to get some things out of the way. The rest of the physical contact is welcome, I just wanted to give a heads-up just in case. 

And now for the actual chapter:

“You look worried,” Granny said as she sat next to Wen Qing. Wei Wuxian had left his inventing for a bit and A-Yuan was focused on getting him to dance, which gave his other caretakers a moment of peace.

“Not worried,” Wen Qing clarified. “Just… thinking something over.” Her rendez-vous with Jiang Wanyin was in four days, and she’d found three pieces of silver that definitely weren’t hers in the hair ribbons he’d bought the week before. She couldn’t repay this, and he had strongly hinted that he intended to buy her more when they met again. He’d also strongly hinted that he wanted to continue the passionate kisses they’d shared under the tree, and she should be wary of that as well.

And yet, she’d spent time and spiritual energy the last few days, enlarging her qiankun pouch’s inside despite coming up with all sorts of arguments why she shouldn’t accept anything from him. She thought of the way the furrow between his brow eased when he was being sweet and how his lips parted when he was pleased. She thought of his arms and his kisses and the feel of his chest under her hands, and how those thoughts replaced all her other fantasies when she was alone at night.

But now, in the afternoon under the hazy Burial Mounds sun, Granny just smiled and patted her hand. “I’m sure you’ll come up with a good solution.” She was going to leave it at that. She did that more often now that Wen Qing was an adult. The difference in their status under Wen Ruohan was deeply ingrained; Wen Qing may be younger, but she and Wen Ning were the closest relations to the old leaders of the sect, the strongest cultivators. If not for Wei Wuxian, they would be the leaders of the community in name as well as function.

It was a bit lonely, at times. Wen Qing decided to speak up. “I could use an ear, Granny.”

“Of course, Qing-guniang.”

Wen Qing watched A-Yuan for a moment as he yanked Wei Wuxian around in a circle, playing some sort of spinning game. “That day in Yiling, when I came back with the baozi,” she started, “I was invited out again. I’m not sure I should accept.”

“Whyever not?”

“I’m sure you can guess.”

“I’m sure I could, but, Qing-guniang, I want to know why you’re hesitating.”

“Granny, please. We’re hunted people, living on a cursed mountain. Is that not reason enough?” Wen Qing poked at the radishes she’d been weeding. “You know I’m not the sort to caper around town when there’s work to be done.”

“I know that, Qing-guniang. But it’s all right to be a little spoiled, sometimes.”

Wen Qing blinked at her. “Granny?”

“You work hard for us. We all see it. We’re not going to begrudge you a day in town. And you deserve a chance to step out with a special friend-“

“It’s not like that,” Wen Qing cut her off. “He was kind to me, and invited me out to lunch.”

“Who did?” one of the aunties said as she plunked down next to Granny. “Does our Qing-guniang have a gentleman friend?!”

“Absolutely not! And keep your voice down. The last thing I need is Wei Wuxian to overhear this nonsense.” Wen Qing huffed and yanked up a weed like it offended her personally. Wei Wuxian would certainly remember that she’d seen his sect brother that day, and might connect the dots. She did not want to deal with that at all. He’d pestered her enough already.

“Don’t be like that! We’d be overjoyed if you had a sweetheart,” Aunty assured her. “You’re young and lovely, now’s the time to have a flirtation or three!”

“She’s worried about being spoiled,” Granny said solemnly.

“She should absolutely let herself be spoiled some! Right?” Aunty and Granny nodded at each other. “Who knows, you could make a good connection. If it gets you off this mountain-“

“I’m not getting off the mountain without the rest of you,” Wen Qing snapped. “He was kind enough to buy A-Yuan those baozi and I want to say thank you properly. And I have other friends just two towns over.”

The line about friends was complete falsehood and she felt terrible about it, but the conversation was getting out of hand. How dare they suggest she leave them behind!

“Fine, fine,” Aunty said, waving her hands. “But I still think you could stand to be a little selfish once in a while.”

“We’ll be all right for a day,” Granny assured her. Wen Qing frowned, but Wei Wuxian was looking a bit green from his spinning game with A-Yuan (really! Sometimes it was like having two toddlers), so she had bigger things to worry about.

~*~

And that was how she found herself walking side by side with Jiang Wanyin in the marketplace of trading town on the outskirts of Yunmeng territory. She was wearing an outfit he’d bought her so they would look more like normal people- not in red, but a pastel pink-orange, feminine and flowy and inoffensive. Her clothes from the Burial Mounds were stuffed in her qiankun pouch and she would have to change back into them eventually, but for now, she was enjoying the feel of soft, expensive clothes again, even if she did barely recognize herself in the dainty lady she saw in the mirror.

Jiang Wanyin had dressed down, just a little, and wore more blue than purple. With Sandu and his clarity bell tucked in his qiankun pouch, the only mark of his status was Zidian, which he would not part with.

“I’m not ashamed of who I am, just so we’re clear,” he told her in a low voice. “But I thought I should dress differently, as well.”

“I didn’t say anything,” she said.

“You didn’t have to.”

Despite his sullen words, his posture was as relaxed as she’d ever seen it. He walked close to her, and every once in a while his knuckles would brush her arm. Wen Qing wasn’t used to this closeness. Sure, she hugged A-Yuan and A-Ning as often as she could, although A-Ning was a grown man now so it wasn’t that often. But there was a normal, respectful distance between everyone else and she wasn’t used to hovering.

It was handy, though. When she stopped to admire something in the marketplace, he was right there with the silver to pay for it. All she had to do was indicate if she wanted it enough to buy. She was still frugal, but so far, she had half-filled her qiankun pouch, all of it for her family. Even the single book she got for herself was practical, a light volume on pediatric medicine so she could keep up with her practice and take care of A-Yuan.

“You can get something for yourself, you know,” Jiang Wanyin said at one point. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed what you’re spending my money on.”

“I have to take care of everyone.”

“What about taking care of yourself?”

Wen Qing stopped and looked at him, stopping just short of a glare. “I have never just ‘taken care of myself’,” she said. “There is always someone who relies on me. Many someones. I’m sure a sect leader understands.”

Jiang Wanyin glared back at her and said, “Of course I do. But if you want something for yourself, say it.” And like he did so often during the day, he pressed his lips into a thin line and glanced away from her, as if there was more he wanted to say but didn’t dare.

(He would never tell anyone, but he was thinking that a beautiful lady like Wen Qing should have everything he could give her, like Jin Zixuan gave Jiang Yanli, and he was appalled at himself for taking the Peacock as his role model in romance. Such traitorous thoughts! He would never live it down if Wei Wuxian found out.)

His offer was generous and it made Wen Qing wary of those unsaid words. People who were this giving always wanted something in return, and she already knew he wanted her and only her. But her family needed things and he wasn’t terrible company, overall, sometimes. And she wasn’t completely adverse to his kisses. Just… cautious.

That was why she allowed the hand brushing her arm, and how he came in close when they looked at wares together. She allowed it when he put a hand on her back at the hairpin stall and leaned closer to whisper in her ear.

“You turned down the earrings,” he said with a pout (not that she would call it that to his face). “You could at least take this hairpin.”

“You do know that I won’t keep jewelry? I can’t. The price that would fetch will clothe A-Yuan for the entire winter.”

He scowled, but his expression surprisingly softened when she said A-Yuan’s name. “So be it,” he said. “I want to see you in it now.” And he bought it anyway.

(He was thinking of his sister, four months along at this point and barely showing. He thought of how Wen Yuan had once been that tiny and it really wasn’t so bad if an affectionate kid like him got warm clothes on account of his money. And he thought that if he could love one grown Wen already deemed complicit, he could learn to tolerate one child Wen who was surely innocent. But he said none of this, either, and Wen Qing would never know.)

Jiang Wanyin’s hands were gentle as he exchanged her simple hair ribbon for the silver piece he purchased, as if he was doing something normal and not scandalously romantic. The salesman merely smiled and held up a small mirror for her.

“I think you’ll be pleased, madam,” he said.

“I am,” she admitted. “Thank you, Jia-“ She paused, uncertain of how to address Jiang Wanyin. Was he trying to actively hide his identity? They weren’t in Yunmeng itself but it was still in his territory and ‘Jiang-zongzhu’ would be too telling. But she wasn’t close enough to call him familiarly.

The issue was solved for the moment by Jiang Wanyin taking her arm and walking toward the teahouse, but she would have to find out before they did this again.

‘What am I thinking? When even is this? Is there even any “this” to do again?’ Part of her hoped so.

She let him buy her tea and cakes (again), and Wen Qing bought some sweets that would last to bring home. As they were walking afterwards, she put a hand on Jiang Wanyin’s arm.

“What should I call you, when we’re out like this?” she said, voice low.

“Call me? Why wouldn’t you use my name- Oh. Right.”

She wanted to give him a stern look because it was very foolish to forget about their position, even dangerous. But he was so flustered, so young, that a tiny chuckle slipped out before she could put on her annoyed older sister face.

“Are you laughing?” he hissed.

“Yes.” She wasn’t going to sooth his damaged pride over something so small. If Jiang Wanyin couldn’t take such a tiny joke, she would forget all about his kisses and strong arms, and go back to her radishes.

But while he was annoyed, he wasn’t angry. It was a definite improvement in his temper. “Excuse me if I pretended the world didn’t exist for a few hours. Maybe I wanted to enjoy being on a walk with a beautiful woman before I go back to all the old men trying to tell me how to run my sect.”

“So you’re using me to escape? Zongzhu, I am surprised at you.”

He swallowed roughly when she called him ‘zongzhu’. Interesting. Getting a reaction with a single word  was somehow powerful, and Wen Qing suddenly understood why the young ladies at Nightless City would bat their eyelashes when calling young men ‘gongzi.’ Not that she intended to do so! But the thought that even she could produce results with such a method was fascinating.

She forgot all about being cautious.

He led her to a cloth merchant, barely speaking. There was color in his cheeks, just a hint, and she knew it was from high emotion and not sun exposure. He leaned closer and whispered, “I know you’re going to be practical, but I want you to get something for yourself here, too.”

It was her turn to flush. When he spoke, his lips were close and his breath tickled her ear. She wondered if- hoped that- he would steal a kiss.

So it was only a small surprise when he pressed her against a wall later, just around a corner, barely hidden from view. From the look in his eyes, he had also been thinking about kisses.

“Come back to the inn with me,” he said in a breathy whisper.

His face was close to hers, and she almost closed the distance between them.

It would be so easy to let it happen. But it was much like trading herself for the things he’d bought her and while she had entertained the possibility, entertaining it and doing it were completely different.

He seemed to sense her hesitation. “It doesn’t have to be for… anything in particular,” he said. “But I’m not ready to let you go. I mean, it’s getting late, after all. You might as well stay.”

There he was again, that boy she’d met in Cloud Recesses, who smiled at kindness and looked at her like things were uncomplicated. For a moment, he showed through Jiang-zongzhu’s older, more jaded features.

‘You helped make him into this man,’ she reminded herself. ‘You could stay, and maybe he could be that boy again for a little while.’

It was a foolish thought, and she scolded herself for it, but she still nodded and told him, “Very well.”

~*~

They ate a light meal, back in his single room at the inn. He didn’t get a second room for her; as he told the innkeeper, they only needed one room, thank you, and let the man think what he would about it.

Once they were alone, she sent a message to Uncle Four, the old Wen method that carried her writing in flames. It only held limited characters so she was frugal with her words. “With a Friend, Staying Overnight, Back around Lunch.” Jiang Wanyin likewise sent a message by his own means to his current head disciple, Wei Wuxian’s replacement (a temporary stand-in, if Wen Qing could devise a way to get Wei Wuxian home, but for now, he was a replacement).

It was a nice enough room. Wen Qing sat at a little table, and Jiang Wanyin knelt at the desk.

“Do you have work to take care of?” she asked regarding his seat, just to make conversation.

“What? No, I didn’t bring any. I just…” He glanced at the bed. “It didn’t seem appropriate to sit elsewhere.”

After those kisses ten days before, he couldn’t even look at a piece of furniture without blushing! At least she knew her shy gongzi from Cloud Recesses hadn’t turned into a cad.

(When had he become ‘her’ gongzi? Jiang Wanyin had never been hers, she reminded herself.)

It was Jiang Wanyin’s turn to make stilted conversation. “Did you get enough? Things, I mean. At the market.”

“Wei Wuxian will probably want more paper, but besides that, I think so.” She wouldn’t admit it even if she hadn’t. She was pushing it already, allowing him to buy a few cosmetics for the aunties and that hairpin she still wore. Any other frivolities, and she feared Jiang Wanyin would rightly close his purse despite his earlier prompting.

“Hmph. He would need paper. Still designing useless talismans?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘useless,’ at least with the last batch. He’s started to make some household helpers, to compete with the Yiling Patriarch imitators.”

“I ran into one of those recently. What a bunch of stupidity! Doesn’t he do anything about them?” Jiang Wanyin snapped.

“What can he do? There will always be unscrupulous sorts, trying to cash in on a famous name. Just look at all the questionable hangers-on the sects get when they recruit.”

He scowled, but his rant subsided before it really began. “I’ve managed to weed out any truly unsuitable disciples, but yes. I know what you mean.”

She smiled slightly and came to kneel at his side. “Don’t worry so much,” she said as she laid a hand on his arm. “Wei Wuxian can handle the imitation patriarchs. Hopefully-“ She stopped herself. Did she really want to tell Jiang Wanyin that she wanted to make Wei Wuxian leave someday, to go home to Lotus Pier? He might take it as being ungrateful to his sacrifice. He might think she was politically naïve, which was less important but still galling. Or, worst of all, he might push her to do it before Wei Wuxian was ready.

But Jiang Wanyin didn’t seem to notice. His eyes flicked to her hand. Innocent as it was, he still tensed, his lips parting.

“Wen-guniang, I-“

She started to pull her hand away but he struck, quick as a snake, and grabbed her wrist. “Stay,” he commanded.

They stared at each other. Wen Qing wasn’t sure what he was thinking. She wasn’t even sure what she was thinking, her mind was such a riot. But she didn’t pull away, and after a moment, Jiang Wanyin calmed and loosened his hold on her wrist, shifting his grip. He brought her hand up to his lips until she could feel the warmth of his breath on her fingers. He looked like he wanted to say something, like the words were gathering on his tongue, damming up in a multitude, but all that came out was, “I want you.”

She should be appalled; he said it like a demand, and yes, she had entertained the notion that he would expect physical affections for the easy entry into his purse. She even thought about allowing it, remembering his kisses and aching for more.

Here, with that gentle touch at odds with his commands, his eyes dark with want but tense with- Fear? Hope? Was he waiting for rejection?

“Jiang-zongzhu,” she said, and he deflated. She slipped her hand from his, but before his shoulders could slump any more, she touched his cheek.

He leaned into her touch, hiding his expression with closed eyes. His hands fell to his lap and closed into fists. “I know you’re here for your family and Wei Wuxian,” he said before he opened his eyes again. “I’m not a fool.”

“I never said you were,” she said, tilting his face back toward her. “But I have it on good authority that it’s okay to be a little foolish, sometimes.”

“That’s not what-“

She silenced him with a kiss.

Her heart pounded against her ribs, surprised at her own audacity. But he responded eagerly, putting his hands on her arms, loose and not quite gentle, holding her close without trapping her. She wondered if he was leaving her a way to escape on purpose. And she wondered if he’d kissed someone before her; he tilted his head to keep their noses from bumping and although his kisses were a bit toothy, he didn’t clack their teeth together at all. He never had.

There was something to be said for an experienced lover. If he knew what he was doing, she could trust --well, maybe not trust, trust was dangerous-- but at least ‘allow’ him to take care of her.

Part of her was angry that he knew what he was doing. How dare he indulge himself while her family was scraping together a living from a mountain of bones! How dare he find someone else when he had been so shy with her, when she had nothing but the memory of a promise he shouldn’t have made at all!

“Is it foolish of me to ask for that again?” he said in the silence, and she was snapped back from the building sparks of her anger. Every time she started getting angry with him, he showed her that the young man from Cloud Recesses wasn’t quite gone from inside him. He was merely hiding, hesitant and unsure beneath the façade of the Sect Leader.

She was never going to be free of him, at this rate. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be.

“It’s not,” she said. He let out a small, choked noise- surprise, relief, desire, all warring in him- and swept her into his arms. But instead of kissing her again, he held her in a crushing embrace. She couldn’t reach his lips, couldn’t give him the kiss he just requested. So she laid her head on his shoulder, and waited.

“I want to kiss you,” he finally said, still holding her. “I want to do things that aren’t proper, things I should be ashamed of.”

She ran a hand over his chest. His idea of dressing down was still very fine, and her fingertips glided over the cloth.

“I would let you,” she said after a pause, decision made. “I have no reason to hold onto propriety, and you’ve been good to my family.”

“Not as good as Wei Wuxian.”

Her hand stilled. “Wei Wuxian… I was the one who asked him for help. Don’t blame him, Jiang-zongzhu.”

“My family is dead because of him.” He shifted, pushed her to arms-length, but didn’t let her go.

The mood was, of course, ruined, but Jiang Wanyin needed to hear something about this besides his own festering thoughts. So Wen Qing spoke.

“You don’t really believe that.”

“What I believe is irrelevant-“

She cut him off. “It is relevant. Because it’s not true. The Chief Cultivator was aiming for Yunmeng before Wen Chao ever encountered Wei Wuxian. You know that. At first, because he was looking for the Yin Iron hidden in the south. But also because it was only a matter of time before he went after all the Great Sects.”

“I do know that!”

“Then stop blaming Wei Wuxian! It was no one’s fault except those who organized it and those carried it out. And they are dead. You killed many of them yourself, Sandu Shengshou.”

He grimaced like his title was a curse. Good. She meant it to be.

“I know,” he said. His voice was low and soft, chastised. “But I can’t help but be angry. He ran off, abandoned his promise to me, threw away what little good name he had left. And… he’s helping you but my hands are tied.” The words dragged out of him like they were painful.

“I know,” she echoed.

“I wish the people we were protecting were the same. It would be easier if it were all of us, together.”

“I know.”

“I’m not ungrateful. But I have people depending on me, too.”

“I know,” she said again. She put a hand over his. “I’m also not ungrateful. I know what you’re doing, buying all these things for me.”

He scoffed at himself. “A lackluster effort from a lackluster man.”

“Jiang Wanyin, what do you want from me?” She didn’t bother to keep the frustration from her voice. “Why are we here today? Is it me you want, or do you just want your brother back?”

“Why talk about want?” he scoffed. “What if I want both? What if I want Wei Wuxian to make a damned accounting for himself, and I want you to be my wi- my woman?”

Even though she was so, so frustrated with him, her heart pounded when he stumbled over the words. ‘He wanted to say ‘wife.’ I am still worth something in his heart.’

He met her eyes then, and held them. “I want him back, but I also want you. If you didn’t have all those others, I could protect you.”

“If I didn’t have those others, I wouldn’t want to be protected.” She surprised herself at how true that was. If she lost A-Ning, she would walk up the steps of Carp Tower herself just to end it.

Again, he looked like he was thinking more than he was saying, his lips once more in a tight line.

(It was her loyalty that made him ache, after all. Though it was the reason they were forced apart before they really came together, her devotion to her family was what he admired in her.)

But all he said was, “I’m going to kiss you again.”

She shouldn’t allow it. He thought too much, understood too little, and said the wrong things. He was infuriating. And she had secrets that would hurt him. But he still looked at her like she was precious and lovely, and that was a heady thing.

He pulled her close and followed through with his words, surprisingly light when he had held her so tightly earlier. His hand cupped her cheek as he kissed her again. His lips and palm were warm, but Zidian’s ring was cold. Not sparking, but startlingly chill for something that had been on his hand all day. She shivered against his body. He took it for encouragement and she couldn’t say it wasn’t, not when his kisses were growing more confident and igniting such heat in her.

“Heaven help me, I want you…” He trailed off, his eyes distant. “I’m not sure how I’m going to face my ancestors again. Mother would be disappointed.”

She could understand his distraction. Family was important, after all. Aunty and Granny at least would forgive her an indiscretion or two, if they ever even found out, but she knew hardly anything of the Jiang. She couldn’t help asking, “And your father?”

Jiang Wanyin barked a laugh, and it was the ugliest sound she’d heard him make since he’d screamed at her in Yiling, when his core and heart were both shattered.

“Father would probably tell me Wei Wuxian understood our motto better, and he’d be right. I may be leading the sect but he was the one who lived its principles. I’m just making do with his leavings.”

“I had better not be included in that,” Wen Qing snapped, suddenly perturbed. As if she would let just anyone kiss her like that!

“Are you saying you’re not his?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Wei Wuxian saved us, but I don’t make a habit of offering myself up like this. Did you not listen-“

Her words were lost in another kiss, hungry and possessive, like the fact that Wei Wuxian never touched her made her even more desirable.

‘I definitely should not be doing this,’ she thought. ‘Jiang Wanyin clearly has more issues than any one human should contain.’ But he stood and swept her up in his arms and carried her across the room. It was thrilling- annoying, to be hauled around like a sack of grain, but thrilling to feel his powerful arms holding her aloft. She dug her fingers into the fabric covering his shoulder as he walked, and didn’t loosen her hold when he set her down on the bed.

He wanted her. After everything, he felt helpless that he wasn’t the one to save her, angry that she chose someone else. And those were dangerous things. She had seen the perils of a jealous man before. One didn’t live anywhere near Wen Chao without seeing it. And Jiang Wanyin desired her, which was just as perilous. Knowing she could invoke such feelings, that she was wanted simply for being her... It made her ache to get closer to him. But in the morning, he would have to leave, and who knew if he’d find a way to see her again. She’d be back to furtive might-have-been fantasies in her corner of their rickety shelter on a hill of bones.

She wanted to accept everything he gave her today. ‘I am going to be selfish, Granny. Forgive me.’

“I am not Wei Wuxian’s, but I can’t be yours past tonight,” she told Jiang Wanyin.

“I would take whatever you give me,” he said, and she was struck by how similar that was to her own thoughts. She ran a hand from his shoulder, up his neck, down his jawline, drawing him closer with her touch. He still knelt next to the bed rather than on it, the same spot he’d ended in when he laid her down, and when he kissed her again, the only part that touched were their lips and her fingers on his jaw.

He shifted to sit beside her and kissed her again, his hair spilling over his shoulder and hiding the last bits of sunlight that gleamed golden through the window. She put her arms around him and pulled him close. The sun was no longer for her. She hid behind the curtain of his hair and coaxed him into another of his searing kisses.

This time his hand wandered over her body. His touch was heavy, like he was determined to feel her entire being through her clothes. She found she didn’t mind. She wasn’t delicate; that filmy gown he’d chosen wasn’t her. He moaned against her mouth when he reached her breast and that was very nice. Gratifying, to know that she could pull more pleasant sounds from him after he’d bared some of his ugly side to her just moments earlier.

She wanted to hear more.

Wen Qing fumbled with one hand, catching his wrist before he moved farther away, and brought his hand back to her chest. “A little nicer, Jiang Wanyin,” she said, and oh, his moan at that was sweet! He obediently massaged her breast, pushing aside the top layer of her clothes and exploring the feel of her in his hand.

“Is that good?” he asked.

“It is. Your belt is digging into me, though.”

He hurriedly undid the offending belt and tossed it to the floor. He paused above her, looking down like he was drinking her in.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, and leaned over to give her a brief kiss, far more gentle than any of the ones before. “Can I…?” His fingers hovered over her sash.

“Only if you take down my hair, too,” she said. His lips parted, his cheeks pinkened, as if touching her hair was more intimate than her breasts, even though he’d put the hairpin there himself, in public.

‘Ah, but hair is something he would do with a wife, and a wife only,’ she thought, banishing the thought of Jiang Wanyin in a lover’s arms. It made her heart clench painfully. She sat up to give him access to her hair. ‘You were so determined to have him, Wen Qing, that you forgot he knew how to kiss before you,’ she scolded herself as he shifted behind her, his face still bewildered as it had been on Biling Lake. ‘Will you back out now, now that he might know more?’

He took the pin from her hair and set it safely aside. His hands went to her shoulders- and stayed there. He paused for such a long time, she started to turn to check on him, any number of situations running through her head, ranging from frivolous to dire. Was he having second thoughts? Did he notice her hair oil wasn’t as luscious and expensive as before? Was Wei Wuxian’s golden core giving out on him? Did she have something embarrassing like a hairy mole on her neck that she didn’t know about? Were her ears too big and unsexy? Had he finally made the connection between ‘Baoshan Sanren’ and her? Was he thinking about his mother again?!

But just as she was turning, he pressed his lips to the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him, shoulderblades to his chest. “I want whatever you will share with me,” he said, and the low hum of his voice sent a shiver through her. “I want you so much, right now. But I arranged for a hot bath and they’ll be up with the supplies any moment now.”

She stopped, tilted her head just a little so she could peek up at him behind her. Something strained and tense in her snapped. Her first laugh was a hard cough, like her body wasn’t used to making the sound. Perhaps it wasn’t- she wasn’t much prone to laughing in the best of times. But the chuckles bubbled up nonetheless, unbidden, a tiny bit hysterical- but freeing. Jiang Wanyin made a gruff noise behind her and she leaned back, setting a hand on his arm.

“A bath,” she tried to get out in her laughter. Her shoulders shook against him and tears welled in her eyes from the abrupt, overwhelming emotion. “You were still, for so long, I worried. But, just a bath!”

There was a short sound from him in her ear as he choked back an involuntary laugh of his own. “That’s ridiculous. You’re ridiculous.”

“Humans are ridiculous, Jiang Wanyin,” she said “Here I was, worried you didn’t like my ears and were going to leave, and all you did was remember the bath.”

“Your ears are fine,” he snapped, as if insulted by the suggestion he could consider them otherwise. She chuckled again and dabbed at her wet eyes, almost in control of herself, and nestled back against him. And there she stayed, tucked against his chest and his lower dantian and even more of him she ached to touch, until their bath was filled.

Next Chapter

[sunonyoreface]

Forest Nymph | Geralt of Rivia pt 1

Hi this is my first fanfic so take it easy on me!

Warnings: slight gore

Going into town was dangerous. If anyone found out who or more importantly what you are, they would kill you. Maybe they’d stake you up to a post and burn you. Or they could tie you to the back of a horse cart then drag you face first around town until your mouth fills with mud and shit and your flesh gets torn off your bones. Maybe they’d simply beat you to death.

Either way it didn’t really matter. If the people of Asenguard found out that you are the dryad, the forest nymph who is destroying their farm land, the first thing they would do is torture and kill you.

So, understandably, going into town is not an often occurrence. A trip once every three or four months does more than suffice. You bring rare herbs and spices to trade for coin. The local healer is especially fond of you. She is a warm soul. One of the few good humans left, with no second motive in her kind eyes. She simply wants to help others.

“Oh Briar!” she exclaims excitedly, having watched you walk down the narrow path to her warmly lit cottage “I’m so glad to see you! I was getting low on juniper berries.” She holds her hand out for the pack with childlike excitement. She’s the only human who knows what you are.

“Come in for some tea.”

“I’d like that.” She’s the closest thing to a friend that you have

The conversation stays light however you can tell there’s something on her mind. She keeps giving you concerning looks. Looks that say something is wrong.

“Is there something going on Thea?” She purses her lips and takes in a deep breath before sighing.

“Things have gotten a lot more tense these past few months. The farmers are… well they’re angry. Really angry. They’re talking about hiring someone to find the thing wrecking their land. A Witcher” Her worried eyes never leave yours. She is serious.

“I’ll be fine Thea. I always have been.”

“I mean it. Something has changed,” She paused for a moment. “The air is different. I can feel it in my bones.”

She’s right. You know it and yet its easier to pretend that nothing is changing.

“Look I’ll be safe, check my back, everything is going to be just fine.” She simply sighs in response, but what else can you do? Leave? That’s not an option. The Asenguard forest is a part of your soul. “I need to go, finish my errands.”

“Of course.”

Thea hands you a bag of coins before you leave. It is heavier than normal. You shoot her a disapproving look.

“Just take it. Keep me in mind.”

“Thank you.”

Downtown is busier than normal. People are bustling about their business. Some shoot each other dirty looks; others eye the crowd suspiciously. People don’t trust their neighbours, let alone the dirty scoundrels on the streets. Theft is rampant throughout the town.

You keep your cloak pulled far over your head. Long leather gloves pulled up to your elbows. If anyone were to see your skin, the first thing they would notice is how eerily pale you are. In the moonlight your skin glows silver and bleeds a deep emerald green. Despite this harsh skin tone, you don’t appear drained, if anything you radiate light. Your hood also hides your ears. Their pointed tips only merely poke out of your hair, but they are still noticeable. The towns folk would immediately know something is off.

The fabric shop you enter is small and crowded. Upper class women go in with their children to buy buttons and fancy ribbons. Items that most towns folk can only dream of owning. You simply need a new needle and some thread. And a couple arms worth of leather. It will come in handy for when the temperature starts to drop in several weeks.

A couple women talk to the shop keeper. They speak in hushed tones, but their excitement is loud and clear.

“Have you seen him?” A lady in a blue dress and matching cloak asks.

“He’s so handsome! The things I would let that man do to me.” Another in a pink dress replies. They laugh in unison as if what she said is the funniest thing in the world. You dread these encounters.

“My husband says he will finally kill that wicked demon in the forest.”

You freeze at her words. They really did hire a Witcher. And he is already here. Here to hunt you down and eviscerate you, leaving your entrails for the wolves. The women are oblivious to your reaction. They continue their petty gossip about the Witcher and his bard, who apparently, will be easier to lure into their promiscuous trap than the Witcher. You cringe at the thought.

You gather your items quickly and pay with the coins Thea generously gave you. The only other stop you need to make is to the silver smith. There are less women in the more industrial part of town. Their tongues may be sharp but at least they pose no physical threat. Men like to hang around the smith’s shop and drink their ale. It has made for some uncomfortable encounters in the past.

“I want to pick up an order for Briar Woods.” The man behind the counter eyes you suspiciously. His expression said women don’t belong here. But you already know that much.

“The dagger?”

“Yes.”

“You got coin?” The alcohol on his breath wafts through the stale air. You place the amount you counted out on the way here onto the counter. He slides it into his pocket before disappearing behind the storage door. The dagger was more expensive than you had expected, but it is worth it. A bow and arrows are good for long distance, but you need something that will help if hand to hand combat is necessary.

The door to the shop opens behind you and someone slips in the same time the smith comes out from the storage room.

“Here.” He drawls, handing you the dagger, “Don’t cut yourself sweetheart.”

Bile rises in your throat. You turn around without thanking him and go to leave the shop.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, Witcher.” He says to the man waiting behind you. “Bout time you showed up.” Suddenly you become aware of the towering mass of muscle and armour behind you. Your heart skips a beat at the realization.

“I Just want my sword sharpened. That’s all.” His deep, gritty voice fills the room.

I need to get out! You think. Your heart starts racing faster than it ever has before and your mouth runs dry. He’s right there. At that moment he turns around to glance at you. Can he hear my heart? Leave! Move your legs and get out!

Once you force yourself out of the shop you run. It doesn’t matter that people shoot you strange looks, you run faster than ever before, all you can hear is your heartbeat rapidly pulsing in your throat; you run until the forest swallows you whole. There’s no way you can hide from a Witcher, let alone beat him in any sort of combat. You are utterly fucked.

“Who was that?” Geralt asks the silver smith.

“No clue. Don’t remember seeing her before.” The smith answers nonchalantly.

“Hmm.”

Geralt has been getting a lot of pressure from the King of Asenguard to at least go and look for what is causing damage to the farmers’ crops. The farmers, apparently, would not leave him alone. Geralt honestly didn’t give a damn about their crops; however, the King offered a persuasive amount of coin just to look into it. After all, coin is coin.

Outside the building a sing song voice rings through the air.

“Toss a coin to your Witcher, oh valley of plenty, of valley of plenty” Geralt groans annoyed at Jaskier, the bard’s entrance.

“Well hello Geralt! Have you gone to the alehouse yet?” He burped, “There must be something special in the water!” He chuckled to himself. Geralt glared at him stone eyed. He was drunk before the sun had even gone down.

“They love us here! They already know all the words to my song.”

“Hmm”

The Asenguard forest stretches hundreds of thousands of miles across the province of Nazair, with endless hiding spots, and yet, you can’t find a single one. Nothing is good enough. Your new friend, the dagger, doesn’t give you any reassurance either. Despite this, you haven’t given up hope. Maybe he won’t even come looking the optimistic side of your brain thinks, however you know that is extremely unlikely.

It’s a full moon tonight. You can at least better your chances by finding somewhere dark. Somewhere where your skin won’t radiate back the bright moonlight. Normally you loved the moon and would spend the nights dancing with her, but not now. Not tonight when her bright embrace might get you killed.

There are several cave systems throughout the forest with only one of them being close enough that you can make it before it gets dark. You prefer to spend your nights up in the trees and don’t know the caves well, however this one likely has two or three entrances. Despite this, the thought of getting lost or trapped crosses your mind, it is always a possibility.

When you finally reach the caves, you are surprised to find a small pond has formed near the entrance that was not here the last time you were in this part of the forest. The sun is just starting to set. Every nerve of your being is on edge. You feel as though you are tingling with electricity. A swim in the pond would be really nice right now, just to take the edge off. After all, it is still light out, you still have time.

You set your cloak near the edge of the pond on top of a large patch of moss. The moss is soft and comforting under your feet. The patches under your feet slowly turn greener and healthier. That is part of being a forest nymph, things grow around you. You let the dark dress slowly drop off your shoulders onto the moss as well. The water is cool and comforting as you wade in. The ecosphere accepts you as one of its own. Dipping your head under water, you reach to the bottom of the shallow pond and let your hands sink themselves into the smooth clay-like mud. A warm energy escapes from your hands, with it a soft green light flows into the dirt. Almost out of no where a shoot comes out of the ground where your hands lay. Then another and another, dozens of Lilypad shoots are conjured out of the ground and reach for the surface of the water where they then blossom in an array of colours. When you break the surface of water, you are surrounded by the sweet and subtle smell of lily flowers. Finally, you are able to relax.

That doesn’t last long when out of no where you hear a horse’s footsteps out in the distance.

Shit! You think, if I can hear them, then they can definitely hear me. You quietly wade out of the water as to not create any disturbance. Your veins fill with adrenaline as you reach for you clothes and pack. Slipping the cloak on with nothing underneath, you quickly make your way to the entrance of the cave, not noticing the dagger which still lay on the moss. Suddenly they don’t seem so familiar. Going in doesn’t feel like the best option anymore, but the sound of hooves coming closer means you don’t really have much of a choice.

It takes your eyes a minute to adjust to the dimly lit cave. Your eyes are fully dilated, but not just because of lack of light. Fear fills your entire body. It pumps through your veins and heightens your senses. Every muscle feels stiff, and yet you are ready to jump at any noise. You need to move further in the cave system. The rocks are damp and covered in moss and lichen. The air is thick and musky, making it hard to breath. Or maybe its your current state of panic that’s making it hard to breath. Neither seem to be helping. You step carefully around lose rocks. If one were to tumble, you’d be done for. Dust and small pebbles start to fall from the ceiling of the cave, suddenly, you can hear hooves right above your head.

You reach for the dagger which had been residing in the pocket of your cloak only to find it missing. No! Oh, please not this, anything but my fucking dagger! The bow and arrow packed away in your bag will have to do.

Geralt has been riding around the forest for the past three hours looking for any signs of what could have happened to the farmers land. There appears to be an invasive species of vines growing around the edges of the crops where the tilled land meets the forests edge. Set there to warn them from coming any closer. Honestly, he doesn’t care much for the farmers. They’re destroying the forest for more fertile land because they don’t care to take care of what they already have. Senseless fucking humans if you ask him. But its an organic economy, he understands that much. That town relies on those farmers to feed them, or they all die, which is cause enough to look into it, and the coin of course.

They don’t stop until Roach needs to drink, and lucky enough, there happens to be a pond nearby. Geralt unmounts from Roach to stretch his legs. When he approaches the waters edge to splash his face, the pendant around his neck starts to faintly vibrate. Magic has been used here. Until this point, he didn’t think anything of the lilies in the water, however there is an unusually large amount of them growing for such a small pond.

His senses become more aware as he scans the area lit under the bright moonlight. Something catches his eye, a slight glint coming from a small metal object in the moss. A dagger. A freshly crafted dagger to be specific. It doesn’t even look used.

Geralt’s mind flashes back to the silver smith’s shop earlier that day. The girl who was leaving just as he arrived was picking up a dagger. One very similar to what he is now holding in his hands. He pockets the dagger and unsheathes his sword off of his back. Something is off.

A dark shadow near a clump of boulders catches his attention. A cave. As he gets closer, his pendant starts to vibrate more prominently. Something is in there, but what? Not many creatures can conjure that specific type of damage onto those crops. The first thing that comes to his mind is a witch.

“Come out. I’m not going to hurt you!” He calls into the entrance of the cave

The Witcher’s voice echoes throughout the walls of the cave. The hairs on the back of your neck are fully raised in fear. He is lying. He has to be. Maybe he doesn’t even know if you are in here. Yet, you find yourself doubting that thought.

“If you don’t come out, I’m coming in.” his voice echoes again. Silently, you raise your bow and aim it at the mouth of the cave about a hundred meters away. Still close enough to have accurate aim, but at the same time, your view is obscured by rocks and the bulging walls of the cave.

After a moment of silence, Geralt steps foot into the cave only to have an arrow whizz past the side of his face. It is so close he can feel the movement it causes in the air around him. Suddenly, he no longer feels obligated to honor his previous offer.

You quickly load another arrow and aim. Your hands are surprisingly still. The Witcher ducks down out of view. He uses the boulders to his advantage and creeps closer to you. This isn’t going to work for much longer, especially when you can’t see him. You break into a sprint going deeper into the tunnels. Sharp rocks nick at your skin, but none of that matters right now. Right now, you need to find the other exit. Wherever that may or may not be. The tunnels branch off into different, narrower tunnels that twist and wind causing any sense of direction you once had to be lost. The air is becoming impossibly thick to breath, and you can hear the Witcher’s footsteps closing the space behind you.

If things couldn’t get any worse, your tunnel starts getting impossibly narrow, your only escape running out. Your last shred of hope crushed. You can’t make it any further, the tunnel runs out. There isn’t even enough space for you to shoot an arrow. You are truly defenseless. At the hands of a bloodthirsty Witcher. Fuck

Unless…One last spark of hope flickers in your mind. You bury your hands in the dirt and push all your energy into the ground. A green light fills the air and shoots come flying out of the ground. You pour all of your remaining energy to making these small vines reach the top of the cave. The vines quickly thicken and form thorns as they grow larger and larger. Finally, they filled the entire space, just as the Witcher reached you.

You collapsed, exhausted, but safe. You were completely drained, trapped, and likely about to be murdered, but for now you are safe.

Geralt stops outside of the thorny wall, impressed with what he just witnessed. She conjured a thorny wall of protection out of nowhere with incredible speed. This is not the work of a witch, but what?

“What are you?” He asks, slightly out of breath. You don’t answer right away, too consumed with your exhaustion.

“Why?” you sigh

“I haven’t seen that type of magic in a long time.” The threatening tone in his voice seems to have disappeared, which only sets you more on edge. Of course, it has, he has you trapped here, exhausted and without any food or water. At this point growing anything more is simply not an option.

“I’m a Dryad,” You finally give in. “and you were sent here to kill me, right? The towns people couldn’t stop talking about you today.” Tears finally found their way down your cheeks.

“Hmm” he mumbled. “Well no, technically I haven’t been sent here to kill you. The king wanted me to find out what was damaging farmers’ crops, but I’m guessing once I tell him he’ll want you dead.”

There it is. You think.

“So that’s what you’re going to do?”

“That depends,” He pauses, “Why’d you wreck the land?”

“Why did I wreck the land?” You laugh, “Those farmers are the ones destroying the land. They don’t take care of it properly, rob it of its nutrients, then fuck off and cut down more of my forest. I’m only trying to save the forest. Otherwise they’ll continue until there is nothing left.” Your voice cracks and tears intensify. All you ever tried to do was the right thing, and now… Well look what it has gotten you. The Witcher hummed in response, offering nothing.

Then you hear him pick up his sword.

“What are you doing?” you ask as the first slash hits your thorny wall of vines. “No! Please No!” You beg, but the slashing continues. Your vines wither at the abuse and you don’t have the energy to fight back. All you can do is curl up in the corner in fear of what comes next. Until finally, it stops.

You look up to see the Witcher has resheathed his sword and holds his hand out to you.

“You’re not going to kill me?”

“No.” He shakes his head. His golden eyes glow slightly in the near dark cave. Your shaky hand meets his, and he helps you up.

“What’s your name?” You ask.

“Geralt of Rivia.”

“I’m Briar of Asenguard.”

---

Pt.2 is out!  Thank you all for the positive feedback!!!

https://sunonyoreface.tumblr.com/post/613171373679034368/forest-nymph-geralt-of-rivia-pt2

Pt.3

https://sunonyoreface.tumblr.com/post/613415372067143680/forest-nymph-geralt-of-rivia-pt3

Pt.4

https://sunonyoreface.tumblr.com/post/613676968381136896/forest-nymph-geralt-of-rivia-pt4

[kirinyakou]

Fan Account Summary From Touken Ranbu Utaawase

Since the DVD is being released today, I decided to post a fan experience for this since I loved this performance.

**Note This is a general fan account and not for a specific performance as I watched multiple performances spanning different cities; Fukuoka and Hiroshima. And the ad-lib and small gestures in each one is different so I am not able to recall everything per show.

Tickets

I pre-purchased all but one of my tickets before the performances online, I was lucky and was able to buy the last one at the venue. (This really depends on the sold-out status online.) I also noticed a lot of people lining up in both Hiroshima and Fukuoka performances trading tickets with the ticketing office. Some people also had signs asking to exchange tickets privately as well.

During the Fukuoka performances since all the seats were not sold out online, you could purchase the tickets before the showing started. This this was a performance during the weekday I think that might have been the reason that lots of upper seats were empty. The Hiroshima performances were during the weekend so all the tickets had already sold out online.

Buying Goods                                                                            

In Fukuoka, the line wasn’t very long as I arrived pretty early and before the first performance of the day. However in Hiroshima I arrived in the morning and the line was super long something that I wasn’t expecting. It was already a 4 person line and it was coiling from the main level where goods were sold to second floor outside. I wanted to be able to purchase the goods I wanted the first day. They did have a limit on the Hoodie Ribbons. Everyone was only allowed to buy 1. So I had to line up a few times to get the ribbons for the other characters. It was easy to do this right after a performance, as the lines at that time were really short in comparison. Only a few items were listed as sold out by the end of Day 2. I thought they generally had a good stock.

While waiting in line, they had staff hand out leaflets like they do at Comiket. It was helpful especially if you weren’t sure what you wanted or you were able to see the large banners at the front. As you get closer to the ‘entrance’ of the sells booth they will have a display with the actually products so you will be able to have a better idea of what you want.

There was also a separate line for the Gacha items and it was just as long as the regular merch line. I didn’t go for those, so I don’t have much to add about this.

Trading Goods

Around the area, you’ll find the fans of certain characters/actors will have pins/and other goods for trading. So you can trade with them if the items you got from the gacha were not the characters/actors you like. Everyone will usually carry a clear case and they keep it open so you will be able to easily see which character they are looking for. And usually they dress in the colour of the characters so that’s also another way of finding out who you want to trade with.

Performance Time

As it got close to the opening time, people started to line up at the different entrances. This was determined by where your location was on the ticket. There wasn’t definite signage for this, usually others figured out where to line up based on where others were waiting.

I had heard a lot of about staff checking tickets to see if the name matched for other types of concerts not Touken Ranbu in general. That didn’t happen to me though. However I was worried about it as the rules for ticketing in 2019 seemed to have changed compared to past years. The staff at the door will take your ticket and rip the stub. Then you continue ahead where they will check your bag for cameras. They will ask you this as well.

Once you are inside the venue, there was a table for all the promotional material for the actors. It wasn’t promotional material for Touken Ranbu but for their other works. There were free for anyone to take. Further along there were tables with boxes with each of the actors names on it for fan gifts.

Finding the section entrance wasn’t difficult as they labelled all the pillars. They had staff at various doorways who ca direct you to your seat if you are lost. I also noticed a lot of fans in kimonos and the audience age group was wide as well. This year they had a main stage and then an isolated stage in the middle of the venue. They alternated skits between the two. I was a little difficult to see the middle stage if you sat facing to the main stage, so you really had to rely on the screens.

Opening Skit

The opening skit started with Kotegiri Gou practicing for the concert. It’s the video that was released on youtube that featured Tsurumaru prior to the start of the Utawase Performances. He is then later joined by Monoyoshi Sadamune, Kunihiro Horikawa.

The skit is mainly to tell you the rules that need to be followed during the performance, such as no filming and photos, no smoking inside etc. And also to turn on and off your penlight at certain times. And Gou will ask what will happen to you if you don’t follow these and here is where the adlib starts.

The adlib of the skit changes per showing so you will usually hear something new. For one of the Fukuoka showing, the joke was about turning into mentaiko and the other was about having to commit seppoku.

One of the Hiroshima ones was probably the most memorable. Since the performance was right at Christmas, it was themed just for it. When Gou asked what would happen, Kunihiro replied back that you would turn into Santa-san.

Kunihiro: *acts like santa, bend back pretending that he was lugging a large sack on his back* HO HO HO

He then proceed to hand out a ‘Kane-san’ to both Gou and Monoyoshi. He said ‘For you’ (in English) as he handed it out. And Monoyoshi would reply back ‘For me’ also in English.

Now it was time for the real start. The performance opened with all of the swords appearing in Shinto clothing. Each one had their own emblem on the front and there were two main coloured groups. Red and Blue. Tsurumaru appeared with a torch taking center position.

The first skit was about a nostalgic sound that Ishikimaru heard. He was trying to recall where/what sound it was. First Kogitsunemaru entered and joined him. Then Tsurumaru entered asking to play a round. I guess it was Tsurumaru and Ookurihara that was farm duty as Ookurihara entered and made his complaint. Next Yasusada entered from behind. It was also quite cute that Yasusada did a called out to other swords when he entered the sage where Kogitsunemaru, Tsurumaru and Ishikirimaru played go. Whenever he did a hotscotch entrance he would pronounce the name and surprise Kogitsunemaru while attaching their motto line. For one instance he used Hizamarul and shouted A-ni-ja.

お百度祷歌 from this skit became one of my favorite songs and was quite memorable.

The next skit was Tonbokiri’s dream. It started with everyone, (Nagasone Kotetsu, Aoi, Kunihiro, Yasusada and even Tomoe) asking for conpeito. In the end eveyone was denied of the treat. I loved how Tomoe would enter and speak with a mouthful of dango.

That’s when his dream started where everything thing becomes a conpeito. During the last song, as he was holding on to the last note, Yasusada would gesture to the crowd to encourage use to keep applauding/cheering.

I personally thought camera work that aired on the large screen for this skit wasn’t very good. At the Fukuoka performances as they did a lot of extreme close up on the face, especially for this skit. Spi did make certain facial expressions but it could have been framed better. But it was better by the time I went to the Hiroshima performances.

After that were the 3 songs until the next skit featuring Aoi. This one was performed at the center stage.

Next was Akashi’s skit back on the center stage. His story on the incident with the Plum Blossom Tree. The idea was that when something bad happens people tend to lie. And thus using the incident of him breaking off the branch of the tree he was able to place the blame on someone else. Imanotsugi was his first victim and Kogitsunemaru was the second. This broke my heart right here when Kogistunemaru believed it was his fault!

Next up was the Tokugawa family. The Time Renegade would bring a sea beam and leave it at the middle stage. Nobuyasu who figured out the motive of the assassination attempt, tries to save his father with the help of Hideyasu. As each sea bream was pick up by Ieyasu, they would go and take it back. The first time was by slowing time down, second was where Hideyasu held up the sea bream covering his face and started talking, pretended to be the father of the one that Ieyasu was holding and was able to successfully get it back. In one of the performances Ieyasu dropped the sea bream before heading it back. The last one, they retrieved by shooting darts to make the two faint. They exaggerated the liveliness of the fish quite a bit when ever they picked up the sea bream. It was almost like almost rodeo-like.

Next skit two skits were on the center stage. Kanesada appeared in a yukata and was soon followed by Kotetsu and Aoi. The had a little talk on how they kept their hair. They sang 夕涼み 時つ風 and it was quite the surprise to see who was playing the guitar. It was Kunihiro! He appeared in his red tracksuit at left main stage playing the guitar.

‘Two Kistunes’ skit featured Akashi, Kunihiro, Nagasone Kotetsu and Otegine being fooled by a fox that took Kogitsunemaru’s form. And vice versa. The song in this one, was more upbeat and fun. The switch between the two Kogitsunemarus was well done I thought.

During the skit with pulling of the sweet potato, it was cute how Tomoe discovered this giant leaf and he attempts to pull it up, by just lifting up his sleeve. He maintained his graceful figure and pulled up the hem of his sleeve just a couple of cm, and took a step forward assuming that it was enough. Eventually Mutsunokami came in along with Yasusada to help. And they eventually roped in Ookurihara. However not without him saying that he was able to do it himself first!

During 百万回のありがとう Mutsunokami was at the upper left rafters, so I was able to see him up close during the Fukuoka Performances. There was a girl behind me who was decked out in his colours and ribbons so he waved very excitedly towards our section. Unfortunately Kogistunemaru was stayed in the middle ground level so I was only able to see him up close during the Hiroshima performances.

During the final ceremony performance, the new sword manifested. And it turned out to be Kuwana Gou! I had no idea at first who was playing the mysterious character that appeared.

Ending

At the end, after all the characters are announced, and everyone appeared back on stage, there was a short announcement asking us to not post or mention anything on twitter about the new appearance of Kuwana Gou. It was quite how everyone in the audience answered with ‘Hai’. And some of them on stage stared to make the ‘x’ symbol.

Then everyone did their comments/thanks.

The most memorable one for me was during the Hiroshima performance Imanotsurugis’ in which he pulled out a white piece of paper and said that he had message from Iwatoshi. The message from Iwatoshi asked that Master give a lot of presents to Imanotsrugi since it was Christmas. However that plan was quickly foiled as Kogitsunemaru pulled the paper away from Imanotsurugi and exposed it as a blank piece of paper.

I was disappointed that neither the Fukuoka or the Hiroshima performances had the silver and gold streamers dropped so I wasn’t able to get one to commemorate the performances this year. T_T

But overall I really enjoyed the skits this year and the song list was great too. I love hearing Spi sing live, so I think he parts were well highlighted this year.

FIN

[intomyshadow]

Meet Mari

Word count: 1600 (3 to 13 minutes) | Rating: T | Story: Into My Shadow

Note: Fantasy races (common and original), magic

Read Dira’s character introduction

Read Noyo’s character introduction

The Blossoming of Year 185: Dawn’s Strike Era

The streets of Garres were like veins, carrying goods and people wherever they needed to go in the city. Sometimes, to places they’d rather not be. Reliable and chaotic, the contradictory way life worked anywhere else. It made the cobblestone streets easy to map in her mind, especially with practice. Anyone could tell the sunbaked almshouse walls from the lofty towers of the governmental district, but only a local could get from one to the other without being late or lost.

Exactly why living in one place for years wasn’t so bad.

Mari knew the routes and schedules of most carriages there. Not to mention basically everyone who kept the city’s blood pumping. Not that any of them really saw her. She was known for her ties to the Union. Only the half-elf who ran their errands and did their chores. Beyond that, she was no more than one of the strangers outside. And it was incredible, the things people let you see and hear when you were invisible.

But if there was one skill she had mastered, it had to be knowing when to wait for the right moment.

The morning mail coach came soaring down the road, and everyone knew they had the run of the road. Stopping one meant paying a fine—even if you did it by mistake. Mari was in a hurry too, poised to hop across the street on the raised steppingstones the moment it went by. She was close enough to feel it rush past, and a small splash from puddles of yesterday’s rain hit her boots. Nothing that wouldn’t dry. Especially if she ran, and she always did.

Her boots barely tapped against each roughly circular stone that kept people above the water, waste, and manure, then she was on the other side. The poor ladies and gentlemen serving the country from its capital couldn’t do that in their fine heeled shoes and fluffy wigs. Their jobs seemed important with all the shouting, but pretty stifling. So long as she did hers to avoid getting yelled at herself, it didn’t matter.

Darting around frantic storeroom maids in the center of the market square, Mari made her way to the weapons and armor marketplace. The heavy smell of molten metal and coal from smithies burned her nostrils before she even saw the magic shops. All the stores there were more like workshops where you could buy goods, not like the tents and stalls of most other places. Maybe the merchants of magical wares didn’t quite belong there, but there they were. No one really wanted to see them while they picked out a new suit before the festival season or resupplied on early summer vegetables and wines.

Pulling the empty satchel up her shoulder, Mari kept her eyes up and stuck close to the wall. The only people around the weapons shops were assistants to the Guard Captain, hunters, and mercenaries. They covered the whole nation’s people: dwarves, elves, people with mixed descent like her, and even the lone chiali now and again. None of them were gifted with patience for anything that didn’t apply to their work, or none that Mari knew. All she had to be was fast and out of their way. She had to move quickly anyway since it would be hot and muggy soon, and Mari wouldn’t be up to as much running.

She ducked into the open rounded doorway of the mages’ goods shop soon enough. Could have done it with her eyes closed, but it was better that she didn’t.

“Hm?” The shopkeep frowned over the counter, glaring down at her from his stool. That sternness was just part of his expression, she learned that shortly after they first met years ago. He was framed by jars of all kinds of magical goods, some open and easy to reach and others sealed and locked on the top shelves behind the front counter. His thick, black moustache with flecks of grey twitched with his ‘tsk’. Fat fingers tied off the thin rope around some gathered stems of faintly glowing thistles that she didn’t recognize. Not yet. The dwarf was no mage, but he knew more than she’d ever forget about magic in the wild—and he liked to remind anyone who came in of that. “Just you, is it?”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod, dropping the rolled parchment on the counter. The Union’s crest was emblazoned on the outside beside the ribbon holding it closed—a precaution for all their parchment in case something important was lost, supposedly. “Got the whole Union order here.”

He kept that surprising delicate touch from the flowers when he swept up the scroll, pulling the ribbon loose to unroll it. From habit, he muttered it out loud as his dull blue eyes moved down the list.

That week’s resupply trip called for more of what Mari recognized. No Union storeroom run was complete without basic healing herbs, but this one included various roots and powders to carve into protective sigils on armor and shields. Plus some fake-sounding items like will-‘o-the-wisp dust. Mari read about them in the Union’s in-house library when most people were asleep, and she doubted they gave off anything like dust. If finding your way back to your original spot after getting tricked by a will-‘o-the-wisp only meant following a dust trail, why did people stay lost?

But if the Union mages asked for it, it had to be real. Maybe it wasn’t literal. Like sprigs of baby’s breath.

“The glass is new,” she interrupted his mumbling and pointed to the windows. Usually, just fancy clothes and jewelry stores had glass windows, but they had gotten more common in other shops with decent sales. Having the Union buying through him most of the time would do that for his profits. She heard him stomping down the ladder from his stool while she leaned to check for outside hinges through the window. “Kept the shutters. Smart.”

“Mmhm. Wait here.”

Wait, he said, like it ever took him long. Mari was barely taller than him when she did her first supply run for the Union, and she was amazed at how quickly he measured and packaged everything. While he worked, she put her satchel up on the counter and flipped it open for him just in time for him to nestle the first bag of herbs in.

“Walk gently,” he ordered as he pat down a box of packed powder.

“Understood.”

“Not how you usually dart around here.” He pierced her with another glare, tossing the tired leather flap over her bag to close it.

“Yes, sir.”

“I mean it.” Punctuating that with a calloused fingertip pointed at her, he moved the bag over to her open hands at the counter’s edge.

“I said yes,” she repeated with an uneasy grimace, not sure what else he wanted. Mari raised the shoulder strap over her head for the steadier carrying it obviously needed.

“And this.” Less gently, he brought a package up onto the smooth wooden countertop and pushed it over to her. The wrapping job wasn’t like his usual. No practical plain paper held in place with twine, but deep slate blue paper with thick silver ribbon adorning it. The contents were clearly a book. Mari softened her grimace but didn’t reach for it. In all the years she knew him, he didn’t adorn anything. If someone wanted to get a gift to a member of the Mages’ Union, they wouldn’t go through him and definitely not her. Even a surprise gift would be better off handled by actual delivery people.

“What’s this?”

“For you.” Glancing back down to it and again to him, Mari closed her hand around the strap over her chest. This just got more and more confusing. Who would give her something? Mari didn’t talk to anyone she didn’t have to, so there was no one to send her an unexpected present.

“What for?”

“A gift,” he observed, being his usual blunt self, but without any of the clarity that usually came with it. He must have read something in her glance at the present because he muttered something before offering something she could hear. “If you’ve got your mind set on working at that place ‘til you’re grey, be serious about educating yourself. Before you get killed.”

“Alright,” she asked, as bewildered as ever. No one got a nice shop with glass windows and shutters because they gave out gifts to the spry little stray running tasks for the Union. Still, she picked up the package. It was heavier than she guessed it would be… Probably two books, then. Trading the grimace for a level stare, Mari thanked the stars she was talking to someone who didn’t waste words. “But what’s that to you?”

The long hairs of his moustache ruffled in his scoff as he settled back up onto his stool. Leaning over the counter, he almost looked like he was smirking. “You have a birthday, don’t you?”

“Suppose I do.” Giving him a shrug, she continued her answer. “Not sure when it is, though.”

“In that case, doesn’t matter when you get a present.” Nodding to the book, he scooched back into his seat and reached for another bundle of glowing thistle. “There’s your gift.”

“From?” He quirked an eyebrow, clearly at his limit for questions. She should have figured it was straight from him anyway. There weren’t many people who remembered Mari and her interest in magic. Add in apparently having a reason to present her with a new book… Well, that didn’t leave a lot of choices. “Right. Thanks.”

“Mmhm. Don’t die.”

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[wehavethoughts]

Happy Homemade Home Review!

A Beautiful Mess: Happy Handmade Home: Painting, Crafting, and Decorating a Cheerful, More Inspiring Space By Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman Potter Style, New York. 2014.

This book certainly is happy! You will find lots of colors, patterns, and textures on every page. Happy Homemade Home is exuberant and encouraging. This interior design book wins points for it’s low-budget decor ideas and emphasis on creativity. Additionally it is well laid out and easy to read with lots of pictures.

Rating: I award 5 plump geese out of a possible 6 to a book that finds the beauty in the mess.

The best audience for this book is not afraid to try their own hand at something. Two-page DIY projects are spread all throughout the room-based chapters. The majority of the projects do not require tools, although specific materials like yarn or electrical tape are incorporated. The ideas are definitely oriented to include a wide survey of readers in terms of economic accessibility. It’s not a stretch to say that most people have tin cans or markers in their homes. The DIY projects do require a little pocket change, but ultimately make use of base materials one would already have in their home. Authors and sisters Elsie and Emma encourage readers to transform objects they already have mostly on the surface, through perhaps new paint, sponge-stamped geometric design, or added tassels. Most of the projects accessorize what you already have, often in a very crafty way. Some examples include a curtain made of patchworked silk scarves, ‘drawing’ with electrical tape on your fridge, and --perhaps my favorite-- using rubber dinosaur toys for book ends!!

Though not always the most refined, the approach works with what you already have, which I can appreciate for those starting out or who don’t have the time or resources to scour endless flea markets and antique stores. It’s also sustainable and anti-capitalist, which is always great. Elsie and Emma present readers with very realistic ways to brighten up or personalize items in their space, from a picnic table to a wall clock. Readers can take inspiration from any combination of the approach, the material, or the design. Furthermore, the styling can often be undone on more permanent features of a home, like walls, cabinets, even the fridge, which considers readers who rent, another plus. The most sustainable option is always second-hand, but there are many ways to get the job done, and re-styling what you have is definitely more sustainable and anti-capitalist than buying new.

One recurring section is called 9 Ways. Here, in one example, showcases coffee mugs and a variety of ways to decorate: washi tape stripes, drawn polka dots (baked in the oven to seal for food safety), wrapping twine around the handle, etc. Again, these are projects you can do with children, or if you’re not super artistic. These DIY projects don’t require complicated woodworking tools, cement mixes, or expensive fabrics. So, the trade off for economic accessibility is pieces that aren’t always the most durable or sophisticated. But they can be plenty cute, not to mention satisfying because you created it! The other items presented with multiple personalization possibilities are cloth napkins, vases, supply baskets, toothbrush holders, terra cotta pots and throw pillows. The 9 Ways part of the book offers possibilities without insisting on any color, application, or design, showing you finished products that can be taken in any direction or style you choose. The subtitle “painting, crafting, and decorating a cheerful, more inspiring space” accurately signals what readers will find beneath the cover.

The language in Happy Handmade Home transparently explains that readers should embody their own individual styles. Elsie and Emma never mandate that stripes should be ½” thick, or that ribbon should be tied counter-clockwise. The book avoids positioning itself as a rule book. The voice is non-authoritarian. The sisters dedicate the book to their father who instilled in them to be actively handy. The introduction sets the scene as a journey with three important messages: 

1) don’t be afraid to mess up 2) our ideas are only starting points, and 3) if you love it, love it.

Their welcome continues with prompts for some reflection, which is another reason for points in this review. There is an acknowledgment of one’s lived relationship with their space, that the solutions (though often physically surface level as per their ideas) engage deeply with one’s personality, desires, and sources of joy. I definitely plan on journaling through the lists they suggest. One teaser example is a list of colors you have a strong reaction to, positive, negative or mixed. Then you list what you’re reminded of with each color, then where you’ve seen positive examples of those colors in rooms or even movies and artwork.

Now for the not so good qualities: low-key white-washing and narrow assumptions on lifestyle. Most of the images come from Elsie and Emma’s own homes, and the two authors are young-ish American white women. So of course when showing their own spaces, the images will show a happy white lady in her home. However, even images in the Celebrate sections, which feature a different party-themed recipe and decorations, are close to celebrating only white kids, grandmas, girlfriends, etc. I appreciated the Celebrate sections because it’s another way of portraying decor as connected to how we actually live. Unfortunately, it’s really not diverse. Nothing varies outside of a traditional American concept of family. I cringed when I saw the Mr. & Mrs. mugs, you know, the kind of images where he has the bow tie and she has the red lipstick: it’s such a narrow and controlled expression of gender roles in a family. This limitation doesn’t present interior design as a meaningful means of self-care and personal expression for anyone, but rather as a way for white women to feel special. Which in itself isn’t problematic. Everyone deserves to feel special and to have a positive relationship between their mental and emotional self-concept and the material objects around them. But while I think Elsie and Emma’s decor is presented with a lot of possibility (‘do this in YOUR own way’), the majority of the images presented cater to a life lived by a narrow group of people. Most likely, most readers live this lifestyle, and so in a supply-and-demand mindset, the job was done well. However, if we truly consider interior design as empowering, cathartic, and simply a happy thing to do, these books need to do better.  

The ideas presented in this book are true DIY opportunities to engage with the material space around you and express your personality. Although the authors’ styles show clearly throughout the book, Happy Handmade Home presents itself as an example instead of an aspiration. I personally wouldn’t incorporate a lot of Elsie or Emma’s style choices into my home, but that’s a just taste thing! I definitely recommend some of the DIY treatments for those who want to get started or have limited resources. I’m sure readers can find at least a few ideas that they could do immediately without leaving home. I appreciate this book’s commitment to an interior design approach that avoids simply buying a thing, but instead cheers people on: you can actually do it yourself. You’re more powerful than you know.

Again, 5 precious geese out of a possible 6. Truly happy. Very hands on. Small budgets welcome. Let’s invite more people to the party.

With loving curiosity, DesignMod

[jaydenhill69-blog]

Get yourself a pleased shopping at Australia's cross stitch pattern

When we say art we need certainly to mention art within an identical verse. Creativity, designs, patterns, embroidery and poetry and truths are a few. Celts had been born tribes that were warriors and amazing way also. Celts left their footmarks around Europe mostly because they certainly were nomadic at soul and nature.If we read or know that our history well we will find that there has never become a tribe that is more famous warring futility. That their art remains living is evidence of their longevity. Yet another fantastic instance with this is we still have myths, steel cravings, and knot works; human anatomy operates are artwork layouts to remind us.They were purely nomads could be understood from the simple fact that they inhabited are as from Britain, Ireland, Spain, into regions like Italy, Turkey and Bohemia. That is the ordinary ground the reason people find that French, Spanish, English, Irish and Italians mostly have Celtic layout into their needleworktattoos tattoos, drapery together with jewellery.Cross design pattern is just actually a quite basic yet classy fashion of creating embroidery. Now we understand that cross stitch is an obsolete pattern yet it is so famous because it had been in prehistoric times. The cross design pattern is more widely common while becoming one of the most cherished form as well.What we would enjoy is the heavy colors and bright ones mixed thus giving splendor of color coded with layouts which make the last result an visual cure next to none. The principal the heart of celtic cross stitch patterns is classically over cut layouts with design patterns, spiral, inter-weaving designs, knot mechanics, animal strains, alphabets together side zoomorphic patterns.Celtic cross stitch sewing is mostly an art that we have inculcated due to the Scott's, Minx along with Irish. These complex layouts are widely put in usage by people in every day life, be it at pillow protect, tablemats the enjoys warm cozies to drape pallets decoration.And these patterns are available easily all over the world, only search the net or see the nearest bookstore in which design layouts are there in novels , design yourself kits along with art guides. Unlike other causal embroideries, Cross stitch weaving will be much better to learn. You will find several types that jelqing Celtic cross stitch patterns but exactly what you would most relish is currently trying to craft a Cross design drawings. You may start having a blueprint leading way up into the ones. Once started you will probably have the ability to produce some magnificent décor craft things for-you home.So if at any time you feel that Polynesian cross stitch design has transferred you enough to carry it up as a pastime or fire then I would advise you to usually do not spend your time at opening a style blueprint of you choice. You can start with modest layouts onto a bit cloth and then slowly if only a tad bit more confident you'll be able to cause some thing specific for yourself or for present purpose.Celtic cross stitch patterns aren't restricted by few matters you can explore with making armbands using Alphabets, and headgear sporting animal patterns. Kits are available with complete accessories like ribbons and needles along with other stuff to create the pattern.Choices are made of aplenty, some kits possess frames while some others come sans a framework, when you would want to buy. Need not go to a shop, as home deliveries really are a real benefit. Now that you would like to begin off I really would like you best of luck in this venture.If you are an avid cross stitcher then your odds are that at any point you will probably need a blueprint you could not find. Within cases like this a proven manner you may overcome this dilemma is by simply using cross legged pattern by drawing on the blueprint yourself. Regrettably there will also be disadvantages to cross stitch pattern making applications and we'll consider both the advantages and disadvantages in this article.In the past cross stitch patterns were regularly made using pencils and chart paper. This was time intensive and tedious job plus yet one that I'm sure few people nowadays would enjoy. Fortunately cross stitch design manufacturing software has speeded up the process which makes it feasible to produce your own personal cross stitch patterns a ton quicker and more easily.What I've noticed when utilizing cross legged design making software is the fact that should you're scanning an image in your pc afterward you will frequently need to be sure alterations to the colours to get it done only perfect. In addition, I like to use colors that are less as I think it is becomes complicated when using as many colors as the picture could commonly come out at. Even though these alterations could become time consuming that they are nothing in comparison to needing to draw it all out on graph paper. The most greatest advantage of cross border design making software could be that your flexibility that it offers to develop any pattern that you prefer to make. You may use any graphic or possibly draw out anything that comes into your mind and transform into a cross stitch design and you also don't need to be restricted to the patterns that can be found the market.Cross sew design making software is just a good device for any avid cross stitcher and enables one to make an extensive range of cross stitch layouts yourself. You might need to earn some alterations or require a small additional time however in the long run this will probably be worth it.Who uses graphs and counted cross stitch designs? Anyone who desires them, however you will find a number of applications for these patterns. Free cross stitch patterns are often . Some people utilize the patterns merge and to incorporate them together with different patterns and motifs to build a brand-new pattern strategy. These customized patterns can subsequently either used for private use or are advertised and marketed with a fresh title or title.A developer that focuses on free crossstitch designs is Connie G. Barwick who gifts patterns to the general community for individual use only. Also, a website named Better cross-stitch Patterns.com offers great nice, unique totally free layouts. The air is very favorable , plus so they go out of the way to create a stitcher feel in home.Large companies like DMC and several more provide patterns free of charge in their web sites to both newbies and professional stitchers. Their patterns include floral patterns lettering graphs and animal graphs. The free patterns function as an effective approach to get you in their site, download the free pattern(s), and then they are trusting you might observe different goodies you simply cannot live without which leads for the expected purchase.While several businesses have become special about your usage of the routines saying they are for private use only, the others allow one to download the totally free pattern, stitch it, and then sell the completed stitched project for your profit as long as you make the proper attribution to owner by giving a link back to owner's web site. Yet, these of you who down load those completely free patterns are discouraged from re selling the authentic totally absolutely free routine itself.People who mix legged and use completely absolutely totally free patterns also prefer to trade and switch back and forth with different stitchers on cross stitch website sites, thus developing a system of layouts that can end up with exciting variations (in hues ) according to how imaginative you are.As much as creating belongs, you can find sites on the market like Cyberstitchers.com who have free chart document that you publish off for use in developing your own layouts. Software such as PatternMaker offers a library of motifs for used in developing and creating a custom made pattern. Embroideryall across the world is thought of being a parcel of tradition. This heritage has been with us. As a talent is indeed obsolete that none people can pinpoint the accuracy of its ancientness. Since time of our mothers, grand mothers and their ancestors have followed that particular art, despite the planet be-ing poles apart.Where we live will not produce a gap most of us were introduced to embroidery as cross legged embroidery. That is since it's very simple to master. It requires the most common of supplies. So how much I go ga ga more than celtic cross legged it's going to be modest because I love its own patterns.Cross sew just isn't with no opinions of various cultures and tribes and areas. Styles of cross stitch really are a excellent mix of some primitive, cultural, contemporary and contemporary versions. While a few patterns are clear other too have their own impressions. Like Victorian cross lace is admired for its classic designs, African American stitch is famous for his or her ethnicity and Celtic due to his or her intricacy.Celtic Crochet lace is a early form of embroidery. Its patterns are properly known the diversity of its patterns are something that we can take pride in. That the impressions of their art understood no more boundaries, Due to the fact Celts have been nomads so. These routines can be seen on possibly every possession of theirs.On their possessions the motifs and design work had minute details that a job could well be a masterpiece inside our life. Cross stitch designs utilized by Celts had impressions of the day-to-day life styles. Designs like blossoms animals, styles, alphabets and a lot more. They didn't only stop with making patterns together with embroideries, even they were found of those patterns which their swords, utensils walls and walls could float with this kind of patterns.All of you would now be asking about the ways to find them gorgeous and distinctive routines. 25 odd years back I wouldn't have been at a position. But today I am blessed enough to have enough knowledge about this art to have the ability to share it with you.Simply see your nearest store or art and craft vendor to get yourself that nice Celtic cross stitch design apparel. Then you could find one in a bookshop if you are not successful on your effort to locate an crafts shop nearby. And only in case that you do not want to dispose with the relaxation of your house with this purpose I could help you here too.You can easily place an on-line order requesting your apparel. Consider locating patterns that are absolutely totally free on the Internet while in the event that you wouldn't like to spend a dime onto the blueprint. There are a lot of sites which offer these layouts. Make your decisions depending up on your own ability. I sincerely hope I have left no rock unturned you do not take up cross legged embroidery. I am hoping that I don't need to drive one. To receive supplementary information on this please see additional info. Cross-stitching is extremely comforting and concentrating pastime. Once you see your job transform in one stitch for the whole 22, the procedure for stitching could increase your spirits. And select your future work and it is leaving to check through patterns. You may find different patterns and fashions. You can produce a really big images of fine smaller pictures which you are able to hang over your own place or give them as a gift to your family and pals or all tiles. But is Cross Stitch Patterns consistently were exactly the exact same as now?Cross Stitching leaves to get a time also it shifted through out many years. Years ago girls commenced cross stitching as young as 5 years of age and did all their lifetime to it. Nevertheless, it was not just a spare time activity at that time for them. They stitched maybe not merely for their home however also they cross sew their garments to show everyone else how they mastered this particular craft. There have been days when girls throughout the village revealed in garments people may decide on which one were the optimal/optimally venture and that they stitched. Sometimes boys chose that a girls to check throughout her job. Thus stitching plaid a big role in ladies life.There ended up a lot of cross stitch designs and layouts from old occasions . however, it wasn't only a typical patterns, all of patterns had any significance and for different intention people built different designs. As an example, weddings always were more rich in cross legged designs which express fantasies of happy and very long existence for newly-married. Patterns at different places had various meanings but usually old layouts included a great deal of critters (represents independence and beauty at certain states ), bushes and sunlight (normally reflect fertility), houses and ships (at certain cultures reflect riches ). Some times that routines had been pretty easy to produce although not pointless. It means when our ancestors dressed man a fabrics they can state this man washow old and how rich he/she was, what position in culture he/she has, just how prudent he/she was and so on. Would you think about exactly how every big or small party persons dressed up in a excellent fabrics with stitching from top to bottom and using this stitching you're able to readily emptied out exactly what afternoon they observe, exactly what they stand for and that they are.Cross Stitching comes with a good heritage and a number of individuals still discover that it's exciting to make older style designs. Of this layouts look classic. But if you understand the route of each and every crossstitch Pattern work won't be only a craft, it will be an email for everyone.

[delkios]

The Beginning of Forever (ToV)

I gotta say, the fact that the game ends with all the world's blastia turning into spirits, I'm shocked and somewhat disappointed at the lack of post-game spirit world speculation. I kind of like a Shaman King-esque situation where spirits (weaker spirits) are tiny floating figures that can lend a person of their choosing their power or empower items. I also like the idea that the barrier blastia became city spirits that can act in their own interests but also protect their respective cities. Eventually. After Estelle ran around for a year or two trying to talk the spirits into being cooperative. Title: The Beginning of Forever Fandom: Tales of Vesperia Rating: G Word Count: 2618 In Responds to: Fluri Week 2019: Sweet Sunday Characters: Flynn, Yuri, cameo by Judith and a couple OCs Summary: Future fic, it's the first day of the rest of Flynn's life. Flynn wakes up with the sun, even though he doesn't have to anymore. For a moment he's disoriented, mind automatically shuffling through his schedule, making lists of all the things he has to do in order to prepare for his first meeting and stalling out when he remembers he doesn't have any today. Or for the foreseeable future. He lays in bed, even though his body is already becoming restless, and wonders how the hell he's going to survive the rest of his life. Mornings in Aurnion are chilly most times of the year so, when it's time for the markets to open and Flynn finally leaves, he pulls on a coat. It's admittedly too fancy for something as simple as shopping, a parting gift from Ioder, but it's currently the only one he's unpacked. The house is on the outskirts of Aurnion- it's current outskirts, the original wall had long been taken down as the town grew -so it's a bit of a walk but it allows Flynn time to enjoy the sun and scent of dew-laden grass and the nearby forest.

The market itself is a little on the hectic side, mainly from all the people wanting to talk to him and give him gifts, welcoming him to the town he'd helped found. Then a couple knights joined the crowd, and the town's knight commander, then the mayor and even a couple guild representatives and Flynn will absolutely deny that he ended up making some awkward excuse and farewell before taking what groceries he'd managed to buy and running. He hopes the novelty of his presence wears off quickly. As he clears the last row of houses, Flynn spots Ba'ul in the open area behind his house- part of the reason for getting it, really -and quickens his pace. The Entelexeia hasn't changed a bit, though Flynn swears he gets a bigger each time Flynn sees him. As Flynn expects, Judith is there and he takes her hand in greeting. "Ba'ul, Judith. Always a pleasure." "Same." She reaches forward with her other hand, brushing her fingertips along his jaw. "The beard suits you." Flynn laughs- he's had that beard for over a decade now. "You always say that." "And it's always true. Karol asked me to apologize for missing your retirement ceremony on his behalf." "It's alright. You were all there for the important one." The one held a week earlier in the Lower Quarter which, despite spending nearly forty years living in and working out of the palace, still felt more like home to him. It had been a sprawling, raucous party that had lasted nearly to dawn, music and lights, dancing and laughter and so many people from all over eager to tell him how proud they were and wishing the best in his future. In contrast, his official retirement ceremony was as expected for an upper class event: stuffy with decorum and full of nobles and dignitaries and politicians who pretended they'd always liked Flynn and would miss him dreadfully. Estelle and Rita were about the only people worth sticking through it for. Especially when Rita would 'accidentally' wheel over the feet of particularly annoying 'well wishers'. If anyone asks, Flynn will freely admit he's glad he'll never have to go to one of those things again. "Speaking of which, Yuri brought your gift inside already." All the people he'd known and grew up with in the Lower Quarter had decided to make him a quilt, each square a message from a person or family. It ended up being about the size of a wall tapestry and Flynn had asked Judith to bring it to Aurnion for him. She turns back toward Ba'ul and Flynn asks, "Are you leaving already?" Judith winks back over her shoulder. "I'd hate to get in the way of your reunion." That enigmatic smile and her taste in clothes are the only things that hasn't changed. Honestly, Flynn is somewhat jealous of that. He hadn't thought himself a vain man until he began to visibly slide out of his physical prime, pushing himself harder through his workouts and trying to ignore the aches and pains that lingered longer until Estelle and Ioder and, finally, Yuri banded together to knock sense back into him. But Judith didn't care about how the passage of time changed her looks, unashamed of showing off her wrinkles and stretch marks and rolls. Flynn supposed having her as a sort of role model helped him cope with his own physical imperfections. "Besides, we'll be back soon enough for your house warming party." Flynn just huffs at her in reply, waving Judith and Ba'ul farewell. Then when he enters the house he's greeted by, "Well, well. If it isn't the former commandant," Flynn's breath catches. Sure, they'd seen each other a week ago but his breath always catches, his heart always skips a beat whenever he sees Yuri for the first time. It has since they were in their twenties. "Took you long enough." Flynn can't help a fond smile even as he shoots back, "Not everyone's retirement process is as simple as telling Karol you'll be retiring in five months." Yuri just shrugs. "You get the better pension, so trade off. By the way, Estelle know you stole one of her dogs?" Flynn reflexively looks down at Thierry at Yuri's side, his tail wagging lightly as Flynn's attention. "Estelle gave him to me. She figured now I'd have time to train a dog." Thierry's young, hasn't yet grown out of his puppy stage entirely. He's also Repede's great-something grandson though, asides from his tail, there's no other resemblance. He's mostly black sable with pale tan patches on his chest and around his red eyes. Flynn isn't certain if Thierry is stockier than Repede was or if maybe Estelle spoils her pets overmuch. "Just how I wanted to spend my retirement years," Yuri sighs, all for show, "babysitting even more things." "I'm pretty sure it's usually the other way around. Isn't that right, Luna?" Yuri's right hand from just below the elbow unravels into a dark mist before reforming into a long, flat spirit, not unlike a ribbon eel whose body is made out of midnight and stars, spine rimmed an iridescent yellow. Luna's full, glowing eyes curves into happy crescents as she swirls around Flynn in greeting. Flynn lets the spirit weave between his fingers. "You've been keeping Yuri in line for me, haven't you?" She trills in response. "I swear," Yuri says in mock indignation, "she likes you better than me." From behind Yuri's thick braid of silver hair, another spirit pops out, hissing at Flynn in actual indignation. Flynn winces and chuckles. "I'm sorry I didn't wake you, Aska. I only went to the market." Aska, a three legged bird-like creature with a ring for a body and a tiny sun floating inside, isn't placated, glaring at Flynn while allowing Yuri to scratch under its chin and coo about how mean and thoughtless Flynn is. Thierry grumbles at the lack of attention directed to himself and goes to thrust his head under Flynn's hand for skritches. "How'd Zaphias take you leaving?" Yuri asks as he takes Flynn's groceries and heads toward the kitchen. "Well enough, I think." Flynn goes to stand in the entry way, watching as Yuri begins to cook, their spirits finally switching back to their preferred people. Luna fashions herself back into Yuri's hand to help him cook. "It took a while for them to understand that I'd be leaving- really leaving -and that they'd need to work with the new commandant." Zaphias resides in the Sword Stair, right where their core used to sit. It had taken both Flynn and Estelle years of careful coaxing and handling before they agreed to lend their power, under direction of Flynn and Ioder, to protecting Zaphias instead of acting out on their own. "You think they'll listen to Ilka?" "I can only hope." Flynn has the utmost confidence in the new commandant, otherwise he wouldn't have retired. "I've seen her work with the spirits protecting Halure and the ports. I'm certain she can handle Zaphias. But," he says because he knows that look Yuri is side-eying him with, "that's not anything I need to worry about any more. So what was so dire it needed Brave Vesperia's founding members to get back into action?" Yuri waves a hand and says something vague about council troubles- Dahngrest has been trying to implement an actual system of government to avoid another succession issue -which he obviously doesn't care about on top of being retired and goes into far more detail about how apparently Karol and Harry's granddaughters nearly eloped and that Karol was needed to mediate his family on the issue. "It's not that anyone doesn't want them getting hitched," Yuri explains as they finish up their breakfast, "it's just the girls don't want a big affair but Harry's the former Don and Karol's the founder of one of the biggest guilds so people keep butting in." Flynn hums, draining the last of his tea. "I believe I'm still a legally recognized officiant. Just to throw that out there." Given one of the women involved is the daughter of Yuri's -and, by extension, Flynn's -godson, he feels obligated to help where he can. Yuri laughs, "If it gets that bad, I'm sure Karol'll be happy to ship 'em our way." He gets up to let Aska and Luna out of the house, Thierry playfully chasing and nipping after them. As they clean up, Flynn talks about the weekend he spent in Halure with Estelle and Rita and their family- the Ristelle Mob, as Yuri dubbed them -as well as the trip from Zaphias, being picked up by Patty despite her technically still being a wanted criminal. She gave Flynn her obligatory threat of kidnapping Yuri for her harem in the same breath she promised to come for the house warming party. Yuri just laughs. And when Flynn mentions swinging by Zaude to pay his respects to Raven, Yuri looks both sad and fond. It had been by Raven's request- when he refused to let Rita find an alternative to his failing heart -that he be buried in such a remote place where few, even now, were allowed to go. A place, he said, where he'd no longer be bothered, his simple grave kept company by two equally simple markers, one for Yeager and the other marked Casey. There had been flowers put there recently, Flynn notes, likely by Gauche and Droite who had all but disappeared after the Adephagos. On paper Flynn had, due to their involvement with Leviathan's Claw, put a warrant out for their arrest but put minimal resources into actually finding them. After a few years with barely even rumors of their presence, Flynn had quietly shuffled those warrants to where all others would eventually forget about them. He wonders, every now and again, if they ever a found a way to be happy. A finger roughly pokes him in the forehead. "Ow!" Flynn says out of reflex rather than pain. "What was that for?" "Because you're gonna scratch up my pan if you keep wiping it like that," Yuri says. "And also I know when you're thinking about work. Or what used to be your work," he added with a very pointed stress on the word. "Sorry," Flynn replies because it's not worth lying about it, putting away the now thoroughly dried pan. He takes a moment to watch Yuri wipe the sink and then his hand dry and stretch his arms up and back until his spine curves and joints pop. "So?" Flynn asks. "Now what?" "How was your walk into town?" Flynn sighs. Yuri grins right back. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Think we'd be better off taking a nap right now." Flynn looks at him as if he'd just said something completely alien. "Nap?" "Yup. I got up too damn early to get here and I'll bet you woke up too damn early yourself. And you gotta learn to take it easy so," Yuri grabs Flynn's shoulder and spins him around until he's facing toward the bedroom, "nap." "But... Thierry-" "Can use the dog door to get back in. And if he hasn't figured out how to to use it, Luna and Aska can show 'im." Despite his protests, Flynn makes it to the bedroom with only a bit of prodding though he feels somewhat foolish changing back into his sleeping clothes at Yuri's insistence. He's much more amendable to the idea when it becomes apparent that Yuri is joining him. As they get into bed, arranging themselves around each other with practiced ease, Flynn gets startled when, instead of tucking his face against Flynn's neck as he usually does, Yuri leans in close enough to cause Flynn to push into the mattress reflexively. "What?" "When did you last spend any time in the sun? I can see your freckles again." He chuckles. "Forgot you had 'em, actually." "Your memory must be going," Flynn quips dryly, "because you said the exact same thing last week." "Can't help it if I'm not used to you being so pale." Yuri laces their fingers together, holding their joined hands up where Flynn can easily see. "You're almost as pale as me now." He's not, really, but there's no denying Flynn is not nearly as tanned as he used to be. He lets their hands drop and Yuri slides around a bit so he can prop his head up on Flynn's chest. Flynn doesn't bother attempting to crane his neck to look at him, he knows that angle is too awkward on a good day. "So how was your first twenty four hours as a free man?" Yuri asks. Flynn's mouth and brow creases as he bluntly says, "Boring." Yuri doesn't try very hard to hide the fact that he's laughing. "I know how that is. Haven't figured out what you're going to do with yourself yet?" Flynn sighs. "When I first started the retirement process, I thought I had plenty of time to do so." "But you didn't," Yuri states, apparently unsurprised. "No." He snorts, then stretches back out next to Flynn. "Good luck with that." Flynn lifts a hand up just to drop it knuckles down on Yuri's back. "You could offer suggestions." "I have a hard enough time keeping myself busy, thanks." But he hums and tilts his head to look at Flynn thoughtfully. "Is there anything you've wanted to do but never had the time?" He looks up at the ceiling, dwelling on the question and coming up blank. Yuri snorts again but doesn't turn away. After a long moment, Flynn asks, "Should we get married?" "Oh, it only took you thirty years to ask," Yuri teases. "Only because I got tired of waiting for you to." "Couldn't. Made a bet with Judy 'bout who'd crack and ask first." Flynn turns to give Yuri a mild glare. "You did not." "Didn't I?" Honestly it's absurd enough to go either way. "In that case you owe me half of whatever you won." "Yeah, yeah." Yuri scoots over to rest his head on Flynn's chest, fingers scratching through his beard. "Yes, by the way." "Hm?" "To getting married. Your memory must be going, old man." Flynn rolls them over, pressing Yuri into the bed. "I'll show you how old I am." "Good idea. I better sample the goods before committing." Flynn sighs. "I can't believe I'm marrying you." "Me, either," Yuri quips but, as they kiss, Flynn can taste the words and I can't wait on his lips.

[butyouvealwaysbeenthecaretaker]

Persistently frustrated by how rubbish local haberdashers are. It's kinda a self-fulilling cycle. Yes, I understand that quilting cottons, felt and a bit of ribbon are popular for like...people who identify as "into crafts"; and that a broad, casual range of products is evidently a better bet than catering for those whose interests are narrow and deep.

I also understand that there's some psychology in play: selling 40 crap wools made of plastic might actually earn better than 30 crap wools and 10 made of actual sheep. Cheap wools only look cheap to the uninitiated when they've something to compare it to, and most people who haven't thought about it before are used to the common textiles of modern clothes. So providing a range of wool balls at varying price points might actually put off more low spenders than the value of a wider customer base.

but its Frustrating as someone who wants to support local shops, and fondle fabrics before I buy them, and who does spend a comparatively large amount on this, my big hobby, that I'm not being sold to. I understand that it's a hard market to be an indie business in, and that haberdashery is maybe a declining industry (certainly compared to when my parents were children); and probably, this truly is the best/only way to make a profit, and there are no other shops because they go out of business everywhere outside of Berwick Street in Soho.

all the same. Anyone serious about their hobby is shut out of these places (be it fans of fancy yarn, or reenactment fabric, or going plastic free, or even having unusual textures and finishes to play with which isn't a smooth cotton). And surely, surely - given that fabric does not go off - it's worth keeping some things in stock for us too?

(our local big haberdasher has just stopped opening at weekends, I think planning to concentrate on the trade and online sales. I've asked, and they say they usually won't order custom things in - just their usual selection. I'm a trade customer with money burning a hole in his pocket for real leather, heritage mill wools, and luxury toy-making plush fabric, and I'm standing in your shop asking if there's a way I can give you money. A trade wholesaler only selling generic fabrics is, surely, only really selling to other stores: if you make ballgowns or wedding dresses or suits or toys or costumes or haute couture or fetishism gear...most tradesmen use specialist fabrics.)

I suspect if I followed my frustration and opened up a little haberdashery selling Real Fabric And Real Yarn, I'd discover very quickly why no one else does it anymore.

[kaiju-z]

Seon Adventures - Episode 8, “6, they traveled”

aka. “Amelia’s Coochie Quest”

When we last left off, the party had left Menum, gained new equipment (weapons and armor) and met up with Samson at the fortress. From there, they set off on a journey that would take them to Heraia, with their closest stop being 5 days of travel to Tereresk

During the initial journey, on the 1st day, Luck shared with the party that there would be a fighting tournament in Crystalgate, during the Spring Welcoming Festival. He would also mention that “accidents” have been known to happen.

Samson, the druid of the Forestheart Bretheren, becomes the inadvertant camp maker during their quest and Mournimar does some stargazing, keeping mental note of the sky above, while Belli shows off her artistic skill to Amelia.

Their journey through the swamps has been troublesome, but they had managed. With Amelia’s impressive perception, of the passive variety, she notices something interesting on the 4th day of journey.

Between the trees, she sees a golden shape. She points it out to the rest of the party and a chas begins, which leads the lot of them to a tree, where the shape, which they quickly realize is a GOLDEN STAG, makes it’s stop. Amelia and Mournimar, as well as Samson quickly realize what this means. As Dyunficus, the deity of  Hunting, Trade, Craftsmanship and Agriculture has often been portrayed by the masses as a Golden Stag.

A follower of Dyunificus, Samson drops to his knees and bows, while the stag keeps his attention, for the most part, on Mournimar. He snorts, bows his head and then walks towards the tree, mentioned earlier.

“Entering the tree”, it dissipates. The party quickly investigate said tree and learn, through Belli’s Identify that it, much liek the stag, were divine. Mournimar finds 20 pieces of gold and five gems:  Amethyst, Carnelian, Garnet, Onyx and Topaz 

He shares his findings with the core party, giving each of them equal pieces of gold, while also sharing the gems.

- Luck gets the Amethyst.

- Belli gets the Onyx. And puts it on her necklace????

-  Mournimar keeps the Carmelian.

- Amelia gets the Topaz.

- So Burk gets the Garnet.

After this, they continue on their way and eventually reach  Tereresk. A more trodden, small town than anything big like Bavorum, Victrum and Rorum. It’s more of a stopping place than anything else.

While Samson keeps to the carriage, with Kevin and Killer, the rest go inside a tavern the chaos siblings find by Belli carrying Mournimar on her shoulders for extra vision.

Inside said tavern, Mournimar approaches a scarred man and tries to ask him a few questions, but doesn’t really get anything out of him. He, however, recognizes Belli. And tries to ignore her, which upsets the half-orc, who ends up sitting on the table, trying to get an answer from the man’s recognition.

It soon becoems evident to Belli that this is actually the changeling Kit, from Menum and the two agree to have a conversation at midnight.

While the shenanigans with those three occur, Amelia, Burk and Luck go to the old lady bartender, who just poors herself and Amelia some good liquor, noting the handful that the party can be to Amelia.

The nicest rum.

Luck makes the old lady’s week by giving her a gold piece for whiskey, Luck asks Burk some questions regarding his quest for revenge.

Burk’s clan was called “Cragreaver” and they hailed from the western part of Ermia, the country they were currently in, since they crossed the Aetorumia border. Burk bluntly asks Luck why he’s poking around, asking about his dead family.

Luck, in turn, answers that he too understands the need for revenge. And that even if Burk didn’t make them promise to help him with his revenge, Luck would've still helped.

From there Luck buys Burk a drink and gives off a sincere smile, for the first time since the party began their travel together. Then fucks off to get some fresh air.

At midnight, Belli and Kit meet up back at the bar, while the others are sleeping. The two bond over Ficus, Belli’s brother and friend o Kit’s, discussing the party in a positive light and the journey ahead. (Also Kit is scared of octupi???)

Two two girls are the same age,with Belli being 16 and Kit being 17.

Kit seems to have some history with the Forestheart Bretheren, as she recognized Samson, when they arrived in town. Belli offers her a place in their party,but Kit refuses, as she really doesn’t want to travel with a lawman, of sorts. (The Forestheart Bretheren are basically magic sheriffs)

Besides, Kit works alone and hasn’t worked with anyone since Ficus.

“Yeah, but he’s a dick, I promise I can be much nicer.” - Belli, a legend.

Belli gives her bow (the ribbon variety, not the weapon) to Kit as a keepsake, tying it all pretty on her wrist and she makes Kit Blush.  “This is my excuse to hold your hand.” - Belli, a fucking legend.

They part ways on good terms with Belli blowng a kiss to the changeling, leaving her a mumbling awkward blushy mess. And it’s glorious.

At around 4am, Mournimar wakes up in cold sweat having the realization that Luck talked to him in infernal, days prior after they took out the cult. He shares this information with Belli and the following day-

We get the comedy act of Mournimar trying to wake Belli up. Failing, then screaming and getting suplexed for it by the half-orc girl, much to the annoyance of Burk, who kicks down their door and proceeds t oslap them both upside the head. This party is wild.

Belli writes down “0 days since our last nonsence”

While Mournimar gets everyone food, Luck goes to get Samson to join them for breakfast, quite surprised to find him having not taken the carriage to the local barn. It would seem that Samson is very awkward about barns (maybe because that’s where he slept off downing centaur moonshine?!)

Once they eat and buy supplies from the locals, they continue on their journey, with Mournimar and Belli joining forces to teach Luck all new kinds of CUSS WORDS! In other languages! Infernal, Undercommon, Orcish, Elvish and even Abyssal!

The chaos siblings successfully corrupt the angel boy.

On the first night, Mournimar continues teaching Luck all kinds of new things, with the fighter enthusiastically taking notes, mindblown by these new findings. All the while Belli sets the mood with illusionary butterflies and Amelia hearing a voice in her head, which worries the rest.  Everyone thinks they broke her.

This prods Mournimar and Belli to get Luck in on helping them with gathering food and flowers for Amelia. Make up for all the stress they put her through, right? Luck eventually agrees and the two form a pact on this matter.

Before the morning comes for them to perform said pact’s requirements, Mournimar soon gets greeted with by a Direwolf, during his turn on watch.

He speaks with the big wolf and bonds with him, learning his name is Morgan.

“Those, who find me in the forest call me Morgan.”

Luck is introduced to Morgan, as he was on the watch before Mournimar and had only barely gotten to sleep, when all this was transpiring.

Once morning comes, Belli joins the “Morgan Appreciation Squad” as she feeds him two bacon balls and basically becomes his best friend. (Morgan is a bit of a Brutus, you see).

It doesn’t take them long during their hunting trip to find and take out a deer with the expert skill of Mournimar’s archery and Morgan’s. Well. Teef. Belli picks flowers for Amelia, while the boys bond over archery. Luck had seen his master, Therodin, use the bow before, but he himself never quite mastered that. He was more of a close range fighter. A bad one. But a fighter non-theless.

Belli plans to make a flower jacket for Amelia, though sadly it would take too long to make it. So instead she makes an amazing flower crown for her (NAT 20!!!) As well as a leigh of greatness.

They return to the rest of the party and introduce Morgan.

Then Burk starts wrestling Morgan, much to Mournimar and Belli’s dismay and Amelia’s annoyance. Only Luck and Samson keep quiet and watch, while Burk has this struggle for dominance and eventually succeeds.  Burk whispers in the wolf’s ear “I’m the Alpha here.” And lets Morgan go.

Burk’s logic was simple. As the only person in the party, who has experience with Dire Wolves, his clan having used them in the past, he wanted to settle the record straight with Morgan.

As things quiet down, calm down even, Belli presents Amelia with the flower crown, from which Amelia loses all color in her face and walks off. Crying. Luck goes after Amelia, while Belli runs into the forest, followed by Mournimar.

Each duo have a heart to heart and eventually come back to the party’s camp, Luck having learned some things about Amelia’s past. Burk is bitter, Samson is confused.

From this point, the party continues their travel. Amelia can tell Belli’s still upset and, wearing the flower crown, sit beside her, having a good conversation about what happened earlier. Amelia makes it clear that Belli did nothing wrong and she had to step away, because, as she puts it:

They’re all just really messed up.

To which Samson takes offense, coachmanning the carriage with Burk.

“Look me in the eyes and listen. You didn’t do anything wrong. They’re lovely and I love them. Thank you very much.”

Belli insights Amelia. She knows she means it. Belli relaxes a little and nods.Then she apologizes for her behavior. The girls hug each other.

Luck hugs his daggers. He can’t stay mad at them. (yeah, with all the bad rolls Luck’s been having the past couple of sessions, he has been having an existential crisis of the ironic nature of it all. But he can’t stay mad at his new daggers!)

Once they reach the next small town, everyone but Luck and Amelia go to the tavern, much to the tavern owner’s dismay, since Mournimar brings Morgan with him.

In the carriage, Amelia asks Luck to help her with her hair, having taken note of how well Luck’s been keeping up with his own style. Luck agrees.

(And at this point I made my brother and mother angry at me, because shenanigans happened. Because I rolled bad on doing Amelia’s hair. And I started using all my Lucky rolls.

Once I re-rolled.

Twice I re-rolled.

THRICE I RE-ROLLED! I spent all my damn Luck for the day so that I don’t accidentally scalp Cloudmom!

With the last re-roll I succeeded on doing her hair right and had me a loud scream. At like. 1:30am??? Woke my mom up, freaked my bro out.)

Eventually the lot of them go to bed and take off the next day. It doesn’t take them long from this point to reach the township of Heraeia. The first major stop of the session!  For the first time since Menum, they reach a town with more than 12 buildings. The thing that stands out the most from a distance is the large temple. Heraeia almost seems close to bustling, you know?

The party splits in four.

Mournimar and Belli go to the local temple, a major building that stands out from a distance.

Burk and Luck go to the shady part of town for a fight club experience, asking around about their quarries.

Amelia goes to a tavern, “The Tipsy Goose inn”, where she had agreed to meet with Nelatha, the bard, and Samson chills out with the horses.

Mournimar talks with a tiefling cleric with leaf charm jewelry on her horns, while Belli gets watched over by a half-elf priest.

Mournimar discusses his life with the tiefling cleric. His tragic past involving the cult of Potencia, his blood rages, the Death Cult, as well as meeting the Golden Stag and the jewels. She is floored by Mournimar’s story about Savon giving him the bow after beating the Death Cult.Mournimar asks if this is a positive sign from Dyunificus. She answers that the gods are known to usually interfere when something’s happening on a macro scale.

Mournimar has regrets. He wishes, some days, that he wasn’t born a tiefling. But the cleric assures him that there is no shame in being born one, like them. “ It isn’t who we are, but how we react to who we are. “

While this happens, Belli talks about her religious experience with the half-elf, who’s. Well. Tired af, man. He needs a vacation, travel the world. Belli helps him more than he helps her in this instance and it’s amazing.

She  encourages the half-elf cleric to go for a walk and live his best life.

While this happens, the melee weapons boys go to the purple sector, the shady part of town, having been pointed to a particular bar. The two find a tavern, a bar called “The Leaking Spoon”. As they approach two men come flying out the window, mid-brawl. Said men laugh it off, hug it out and go back inside the tavern.

Luck and Burk promptly go in and scan the area for their targets. Who aren’t here. It’s very mid-western saloon after a bar fight. People randomly beating each other up.  12 heads snap in Luck’s direction as he says “Quite the Lively place.

Burk shouts at the lot staring at them: “ WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!”

“ A fucking dick, obviously!” he gets in turn.

Then things return to the usual with people laughing, drinking and fighting. Burk gets a fist swung at him and gets into combat with one guy, while Luck tries to get to a high ground. Only to drop off the table, for being too heavy with the plate armor.

Getting laughed at, Luck runs for one of the five guys he notices and dropkicks him off his chair.

The fight proceeds in ridicilous fashion, with Luck breaking in his new armor, but doing a miserable job at fighting, having not been used to this kind of stuff.

Burk, however, is doing amazing.

Until one racist calls him Luck’s “pet”. Which causes Burk to snap and beat the ever loving shit out of the man, leaving him for dead, before exiting the bar.  “You’re my bitch now.”

Luck, having nothing available to help the man, follows after Burk.  and Luck tries to think of a gameplan. As they walk they find the man shambling away and he begs for his life. Luck pays him off with his two remaining platinum pieces. “Nothing happened. We go our own ways. Fix yourself up, get your wife something and don’t be racist towards goblins.”

WHILE THIS IS HAPPENING!

Amelia visits Nel, who is performing in the tavern, flautisting the shit out of the scene. After her performance and money collecting, Nel opens her eyes and sees Amelia. They hug it out. Nel expected the others to be with her, but Amelia assures her taht eventually they’ll all find their way to the tavern, with Mournimar and Belli soon joining them.

Until that happens, though,the girls get drinks from Tommin, the Halfling, who is able to read the room.

The girls discuss their time apart and the job that Nel acquired for Belli. Though she would prefer to wait for Belli, until giving further details.

Amelia mentions that they took out the death cult recently and Nel is impressed.

“They may be a pain in my ass sometimes, but they all are wonderful people.”

The chaos siblings enter, discussing their temple adventure. Nel and Belli proceed to talk about the job, which will take place during the Winter Solstice festivities. And introduces herself to Belli properly.

Belli knows Nel’s name, since Amelia talks about her a lot.

“Oh, does she?”

Mournimar is having a shit eating grin over this. Fun times.

Maybe we’ll have loads to talk about after we’ve met.” Nel is grinning the same way, basically.

Everyone admires Amelia for her strength or booty. “Sometimes both.” - Nelatha.

As the session draws to a close, Amelia and Nel go to drink, catch up further and do the do.

And this ending, as decreeded by Mournimar and Belli’s players, gives birth to the episode subtitle of “Amelia’s coochie quest”.

END OF SESSION!

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