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ruthoakenshield · 4 years

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The Lady in Black Leather

It was 3pm and you were bored. You were tired of sitting around the apartment. You called Scarlet and asked her to come over. The two of you purged your wardrobe and then she decided to take you out. "You need a makeover and a new wardrobe. Come on!" and off the two of you went.

Your doctor had FINALLY given you permission to do what you wished now that you had healed completely from the surgery. You had spent the last three months not doing much. You weren't allowed your normal walking routine and you couldn't exercise, lift much, nor have sex. That last one not being much of a problem cuz your boyfriend dumped you when you told him you needed this surgery because of your Uterine Fibroids causing you so much pain.

He was livid and called you all kinds of horrible names, told you that you'd be less of a woman if you had the surgery, and told you no man would ever want you if you told them you could no longer bear children... not that you would've been able to anyway. The doctor told you that the fibroid was so large it took up nearly all of the room in your womb and he recommended you have the surgery soon before the fibroid got much bigger. He told you that if you didn't have this surgery, you might become pregnant, but would most certainly lose the baby due to the fibroid. You decided you didn't want to risk that and was tired of the agonizing pain you endured every month when your period rolled around.

Well you had the surgery just after Christmas, spent New Years alone at home recovering. Your friends checking in with you and helping you with basic household chores, dressing, and shopping for you.

Scarlett, your best friend, saw you nearly every day. She would come in the morning before she went into work, would help you in and out of the shower and helped you get dressed. Then she would return in the evening to help you get ready for bed. One day she noticed you weren't as happy as you usually were and asked what was wrong.

You spilled your guts out to her. Telling her everything your now ex-boyfriend had said to you and how you just feel unloved, hollow and empty now. You cried because you always wanted to feel what it was like to have a baby inside you and now you'd never know. She tried to comfort you and encourage you but could see as the time went on, that you were slipping into depression.

Finally on the day you were cleared by your doctor to resume your usual activities, she took you to her favourite salon to cheer you up and give you a boost of confidence. She scheduled you for a makeover and then took you out to get you a new wardrobe after the two of you purged your old one. You got rid of almost everything that wasn't black. She chuckled and thought it was just a phase you were going through. You two walked through the stores and looked at all kinds of different outfits. You tried some on, but only ever purchased black.

The two of you giggled at the lingerie store and she held up a black leather underbust corset with silver buckles across it and shoulder straps. The corset laced up in the back. Your eyes lit up and you snatched it out of her hands. You found a black peasant style blouse with cutouts at the shoulders and another one that you could pull down so the neckline circled your upper arms and came across your back and chest, exposing lots of skin, or you could pull it up over your shoulders to be more modest if desired.

You found another underbust corset that was black and made from a pretty brocade patterned satin, this laced up in the back as well. You tried them both on and instantly fell in love with them. You came out of the dressing room with your black leather pants on, the black peasant blouse and the leather corset and went to look at yourself in the mirror.

"HOT DAMN!" Scarlett said as she saw you come walking out! "GOD! Don't come anywhere near my Sam dressed like that!" She teases. You look in the mirror and grin. Your long, dark, straight hair has really grown out and now hangs just below your waist. Now that it has had a proper trim and conditioning treatment, it shines like a raven's feathers. Your makeup is a lovely dark smokey eye and light pink lipstick and blush.

You grin again at how you look and feel in the corset. You enjoy how it hugs you and gives your abdominal area the extra support and you feel more confident and carry yourself with a straighter posture.

You head back into the fitting room and put on the other corset and the black high-low ruffled skirt Scarlett had found. It looked nice with the brocade on the second corset and you came out with the cutout shoulder black peasant shirt on under the corset. Again Scarlett's eyes about popped out of her head. "GOD, Harley, you look smashing!" She tells you. How about we go out for drinks and dancing tonight to celebrate your new look and your doc releasing you back into the real world again?!?!" she suggests.

"Ok, Scarlett. That sounds like it might be fun!" you say with a grin. "Which one should I wear?" you ask.

"Go put the black leathers back on, but leave this top on and put on the other corset." She tells you. You go and do that and then come back out.

"YES! That is your look for tonight! now we just need to find you a jacket to wear!" she tells you.

You ask the clerk if you can just wear this out of the business and she nods. "Here, let me just snip off the tags for you so the cashier can ring them up." she says.

You pay for the purchases and the two of you head out into the spring sunshine.

"We need to find you some sexy boots and a jacket!" Scarlett says and then her eyes brighten. "I know just where to go to get both!" she exclaims.

She takes you to a shop a few doors down and the sales men are almost falling over trying to help you find the right boots. You settle for two pairs. A higher heel boot that goes just above the knee, and a flat pair that goes to mid calf... both in black.

You pay for the two pairs and wear the higher heeled one out of the store. The two of you are laughing and joking and aren't paying attention when you suddenly bump into a big, burly, balding man who almost knocks you off your feet. He reaches out and catches you before you fall and apologizes for not paying attention to where he was going. He has a warm, scottish accent and smiles at you with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

You blush beet red and he chuckles. "You gonna be okay, Lass?" he asks as he steadies you. You nod and grin. "Thanks, sir, for catching my friend." Scarlett pipes up, seeing you all flustered. He chuckles and nods. "My pleasure. You two ladies have a nice day." he says as Scarlett pulls you towards the store selling the jacket she wants you to get.

The big, burly, balding man watches you two walk away and he grins as he watches your long, raven hair sway from side to side as you walk. He chuckles again and shakes his head. "Damn, she was hot!" he tells himself as he sees you two walk into the store.

You and Scarlett look around at all the different types of jackets. You both select a few and you go to try them on in front of the mirror. Scarlett hands you a black high low jacket with a royal purple lining. You try it on and grin. It has a fitted chest with three flaps that cross the chest and snap closed, the bottom of the coat flares slightly at your hips and does the typical high-low lay. You turn and show her. "What do you think of this with that skirt I bought?" you ask. She claps and nods. "Oooohhh Yes!!!" she says.

You take off the jacket and set it aside. Then she hands you another one. This one was a patent leather gothic style trench coat with a huge hood that you could fold over your shoulders when you weren't wearing the hood. You liked it immediately. It was comfortable and yet form fitting to your hips, then flared out as you walked. You decided to get that one too and the best part about it was that it was waterproof.

"Now I just need a short one for going out on the town." you tell her. She holds up a couple and you grab the one with a double collar and an asymmetrical zipper across the chest. You try it on and grin. "Yes!" Scarlett says. That looks great with your current outfit!" she exclaims.

You take all three jackets to the cashier and pay for them. You decide to wear the short one for the day and the clerk carefully puts the other two into a bag for you and clips off the tags for the short jacket. Scarlett carries the bag out after you paid for everything.

"Now to find you a little black dress and some more cute tops and some more pants and skirts." Scarlett tells you. The two of you are laughing as you leave the store and the big, bald man looks up from his phone and smiles.

The two of you walk from store to store and shop for clothes. One of the stores, is right near where the big bald guy is standing. He sees you looking at black dresses and skirts. Scarlett is holding up a couple and you frown and shake your head. Then you hold up a gorgeous long black number that makes him want to beg you to try it on. He grins when he sees you drape it over your arm to try on. You grab a couple knee length and another high-low skirt and head for the dressing room. He has a clear shot of the mirrors and waits for you to come out.

You and Scarlett head to the fitting room and you ask her what you should try on first. She tells you to leave the top and the corset on and to try on the skirts first. You do and come out in the knee length one and bare feet. "OOOOhhhh! I likkkkkkeeeeee!" she says excitedly "Very sophisticated!" she tells you. "But you need a nice pair of black dress shoes for that look." she says as she looks around. "Hang on!" she goes and finds a pair of simple black pumps in your size. She helps you slip into them and giggles as you are now taller than her. You turn and look into the mirror and grin. "Come on, do a twirl and the catwalk." Scarlett teases.

You chuckle and give her a catwalk strut down the walkway towards the windows, you twirl around at the window, not noticing the bald man standing outside in the hallway staring at you with great appreciation, and you catwalk back to Scarlett who is clapping and her firery red curls bouncing as she bounces in her seat. "Great! Go try on the high- low skirt!" she tells you.

You go back into the fitting room and come out a moment later in the high low skirt. It has a royal purple lining in it that matches the jacket you bought. Scarlett squeals when she sees you come out in it and pulls out the jacket. "Here! You gotta try it with the jacket!" she exclaims and helps you into the jacket.

You look in the mirror and turn this way and that. "I don't know, Scarlett, I kind of want to stick with just the black." you tell her. She laughs, "Aww, come on Har, ya gotta have a LITTLE pop of color now and then!" she teases. "Come on, do the catwalk with this one too! I think that guy you bumped into seems to be enjoying your little fashion show." she teases.

You glance up and notice him standing outside the windows talking to someone on his phone occasionally glancing in. Your face gets pink and you say, "I don't know, Scar, now I'm nervous." "Aw, come on! Harley! Show 'em what ya got! He seems to be enjoying it, let 'em look. It's not like you're gonna take 'em home with ya!" she teases.

"Fine!" you relent. You strut down the walkway towards the windows and do your little spin, making the tails of the jacket fly and strut back to Scarlett, who is giggling.

"And now for the finale! The little black dress!!!!!" she exclaims with glee. You roll your eyes and head back into the fitting room. You remove the corset and the blouse, the skirt and then put on the dress. It looks all right on you but then you wonder how it'll look with the corset. You put the corset back on and voila, you look amazing! You grin and slip on the black heels again. You step out of the fitting room and look straight down the walkway to see the reaction of the man standing just outside the windows. The bald one you bumped into's eyes get wide and he grins at you. You glance over to Scarlett who pulls you over in front of the full length mirror and makes you turn slowly.

You admire how flattering the dress is on you and how the corset gives your girls just the right amount of support. "Har, why did you put the corset over it?" Scarlett asked.

"Because I need the support and the dress looked better with it on." you explained. You strut down the walkway slowly and give the guy a good look at you. When you reach the window, you smirk at him to let him know you saw him watching, and his face turns pink and he glances away, continuing the conversation on his phone. The moment you turn he glances back to admire your rear in the dress.

"HOT DAMN! She is SMOKIN HOT!" he grins. He is distracted and suddenly hears Aiden on the other end of the phone. "Now, Martin wants to know if we are meeting him up at The Squawking Raven's Bar tonight. He needs to let them know how many to reserve tables for. You two comin' or what?" Aiden asks.

Graham is still watching you interact with Scarlett and isn't paying attention. "Earth to Graham... You coming to The Squawking Raven's tonight or what?" Aiden asks again. "Yeah, I guess. I don't have anywhere else to go tonight." he replies as he watches you head for the dressing room.

"Out of your league, Graham... Out of your league." He tells himself. Then turns his attention back to the three way call he was on. The three of them talk about what time to meet at the bar and Graham spots you and Scarlett heading for the Cashier. He grins when he sees you pay for the dress and both skirts and the shoes. The two of you head for the doors and start walking towards him. As you walk past you pause and whisper. "Hey handsome, hope you enjoyed the show!" and then kept on walking, arm in arm with Scarlett who was looking back and giggling.

Graham grinned

FAST FORWARD TO THE EVENING

"Come on Har! Hurry up!!!" Scarlett says, annoyed. You come running out of the bathroom and then ask. "What should I wear? I got so many cute outfits with you today."

Scarlett picks out the leather pants that are almost like leggings they fit you so tight, the peasant top without the cut outs, and the brocade corset, then thinks and grabs the high-low skirt with the purple lining. "Here, wear this." she says.

You quickly get dressed and she pulls the neckline down around your shoulders exposing your shoulders more. "There. Now find a necklace and get your knee high boots on so we can go!"

You quickly find a black lace choker, with a silver circlet at the throat. There is one long, silver chain coming down off the center of the choker and it has a black pearl on the end. There are two slightly shorter silver chains, one on either side of the longer one, and they too have black pearls on them. There are four small pendants containing black pearls each one flanking the longer chains. You put it on and then put on the matching earrings.

You dab on some Ylang Ylang essential oil you use as perfume.

You look at your hair and say, "Scar, can you quickly braid this for me into one of your rope braids?" she looks at you and grins. She pulls half of your hair up and braids it into her signature rope braid then wraps it around your head several times. Pinning it in place with hairpins. She takes some of your hair jewels and puts them in throughout the twisted hair crown. "There, now let's go!" she says and grabs your arm.

You pull on your boots and grab your hooded trench coat and put it on. You dig out your ID and debit card and cash from your wallet and put it into a small leather pouch and ties it to your loop on the bottom of the corset on your right side.

The two of you dash out the door and Scarlett drives you two to The Squawking Raven bar. You both walk up to the bouncer and he grins. "Hi Scar! Who do you have with you tonight?" Joe asks. "Joe, this is my best friend, Harley. She is celebrating her first night out since having major surgery and we're gonna have a good time if you let us in." she teases. He holds out his hand and you hand him your ID. He looks at it, gets a surprised look on his face and hands it back to you. "You sure don't look your age, Honey! Scar, you sure she is over 21?" he teases. Scarlett giggles, Yes, Joe. We have been friends since we were toddlers." she tells him. "Damn!" he replies. "Well you two ladies have fun!" he tells you two as he holds the door for you both to enter.

The music and the bass hit your bodies immediately and you grin. Yes, this was exactly what you needed after the last four months of life dragging you down.

You both head for the coat check and then once your coats are safely stowed away, you go to grab a drink. You both come up to the bar and Lacey glances up. "Well lookie here! It's Scar and someone new! How are ya tonight?" He asks.

"Hey, Lacey! This is my best friend, Harley. Harley, this is Lacey." she tells you both. "Nice to meet you Harley! Welcome to The Squawking Raven. Can I get you two ladies anything?" he asks.

You look up at the selections. "Jameson on the rocks, please." you ask. He looks surprised and Scarlett just grins. "Screwdriver for me, Lace." Scarlett says. You two turn and watch the dancing for a minute and look around. You see there is an upper deck where people are seated in booths and some are standing by a railing looking down. There is a spiral staircase at the front and center end of the upper deck.

"Here you are ladies!" Lacey says as he hands you both your drinks. You both grin and Scarlett tells him to put the drinks for tonight on her tab. He nods and the two of you head for an empty table by the dance floor.

You giggle as you watch Scarlett's curls bounce in time to the music as she jams out while you two walk. She is in a bright green leather steam punk vest with a high collar and chains hanging off it. There are little gold hooks holding the vest closed and she has black jeans on. She has her usual ankle boots on and her red hair is reminding you of Merida from the movie Brave.

You order food and wait for it to arrive before downing the alcohol too much. Once you both have eaten and drank your first round of drinks, you both are ready to hit the dance floor.

___________

Graham is standing by the door outside waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Martin and his wife were already inside and up in the upper deck's booths. Finally he sees Richard's and Aiden's cars arrive. They join him at the door and Joe lets them in. They are heading across the floor for the spiral staircase when someone dancing bumps into Richard, causing him to bump into someone who is in front of him and slightly off to the side, nearly knocking them off their feet.

He reacts quickly and steadies the person. His left hand grabbing her upper arm and his right hand steadying her as he grabs her waist to keep her from flying forward too far. His hands land on soft leather and he feels the person's body stiffen momentarily.

He rumbles an apology close to the person's ear so she could hear him over the music. He has to resist letting out a groan when the scent of her perfume hits his nose. It was like a sweet intoxication and he was hooked instantly. The woman frowns and looks up at him with her big blue eyes and long, black lashes. At first she didn't recognize him, then it dawned on her who he was and her eyes widen and a blush creeps up her neck.

"OH! I'm sorry!" you say. When you realize who just bumped into you.

He chuckles and lets go of your arm, keeping his other hand on your hip. "I'm sorry for bumping into you." he apologizes. "You ok?" He asks. You stare at him for a moment, then lower your head shyly and nod."I'm fine." you tell him.

He grins. "Ok. Just wanted to make sure you were all right." he replies with a panty melting smirk. You have to bite your lip to resist groaning audibly. "Damn, he is so frickin' sexy in that blue shirt and silver grey pants! His hair was longer than you had seen him wear it in a while. You follow his tumblr and twitter pages. His silver streaks in his hair were a little more noticeable now and you grinned. You reached up and hesitantly brushed a strand off his face, making him grin more.

"Thank you." you replied. Suddenly Scarlett was grabbing your hand and pulling you further into the dance floor, completely oblivious to your exchange with the handsome actor. You looked over your shoulder as she pulled you away and mouthed, "Sorry" to him. He chuckled and headed for the spiral staircase where the others were gathered.

You and Scarlett danced for a while and when you got thirsty, you sat down at the table while she went to get you both drinks. You looked around, beaming at all the fun you were having. They were playing great dance music tonight. You glanced up into the upper deck and gasped. You saw the bald man from earlier in the day standing at the railing with Richard Armitage and suddenly there was Aiden Turner and Martin Freeman along with another woman who you assume was Martin's wife.

As you were looking up, Scarlett came back with your drinks. "Here's another Jameson on the rocks for you, Harley!" she said as she plopped it down on the table. "What'cha lookin' at?" she asked when you glanced back up at the upper deck.

"You'll never guess who is here." you tell her.

"Who?" she asks. You tilt your head up to the deck. "Along the railing..." you say as you take a swig of your drink.

"Oh my GOD!!!" she squeals excitedly. "I knew I recognized Baldy from this afternoon! That's Graham McTavish!!!! Oh my God, you were flirting with him!!! And he flirted with you!!!" Scarlett teased!

You blushed beet red. "Look who else is up there." you replied.

"Oh good Lord! It's Aiden Turner and Mr. Oakenshield himself, Mr. Armitage!" she squealed. Then she saw Martin turn and face the dance floor again after talking to someone behind him. "Bilbo is here too?!?!?!?!" she squeaked! "Oh my dear Harley! We hit the jack pot tonight!!! Eye candy everywhere!!!!" she exclaimed!

You just covered your face and laughed. "Scar, PLEASE don't embarass me tonight!!! They are just normal people like you and me, just a lot richer." you tell her.

"Come on! Let's go dance some more!" she squeals and pulls you out on the floor. You bring your half drunk Jameson with you so no one can mess with it. You quickly realize you need to down it due to the number of bodies around you. "Hang on, Scar, I gotta go finish my drink!" you tell her. She nods and keeps dancing.

You head back to the table and take another swig of your drink. You don't notice that Graham spotted you on the dance floor with the redhead from earlier in the day and pointed you both out to Richard and Aiden. You finish your drink and pop one of the small ice cubes in your mouth and chomp on it, liking the feel of the crunch in your mouth. you pop another in your mouth and crunch on it too.

"You know what they say about Lasses who eat ice don't ya?" You hear from behind you. You grin and recognize that accent and the warm voice. You pick out another small ice cube, turn and pop it in your mouth as you raise an eyebrow.

You see Richard swallow hard and you smirk. You roll the cube around in your mouth for a moment teasing the two men, and then give it a satisfying crunch.

"What do they say about Lasses who chew on Ice, Mr. McTavish?" you tease.

He smirks, then says, "They haven't gotten any in a while." he chuckles, pats Richard on the back and turns to head back to the upper deck. You giggle and look at a stunned Richard. "You want a drink?" you ask when you see Aiden approach Scarlett to dance.

Richard snaps out of it and chuckles, "Sure, what are you having?" he asks as you both make your way to the bar.

"Jameson on the rocks, please Lacey, and something for Mr. Armitage here." you tell him. Lacey's eyes open wide and he grins. "Sure! What'll you have?" he asks Richard.

Rich looks at you surprised when you order a Jameson on the rocks. He should've known you'd order something like that from how you were dressed. He tells Lacey what he wants to drink and then turns to you.

"So, you like the strong stuff?" he asks teasingly.

"Yup!" you reply bouncing to the beat of the music. "Jameson, Jack Daniels, Captain Morgan" you list off. "But I like stuff like Screwdrivers and champagne too. Just depends on where I am at and what mood I'm in." you reply. "I'm almost always willing to try new things."

He hums.

"Here ya are Harley," Lacey says as he passes you both your drinks. "Want me to put it on Scar's tab?" he asks.

Richard raises an eyebrow, "Scar?" he asks you. You giggle. "Scarlett, the red-head I came with tonight. She's my best friend." you explain.

Richard nods and takes out his wallet. He pays for the drinks and then puts his wallet back in his pocket.

You both take your drinks to the table and sit. You watch Aiden dancing with Scarlett and chuckle. "OOOHHHH Sam isnt gonna like that if he finds out she was dancin with a guy instead of me!" you chuckle.

Richard looks at them then back at you and raises an eyebrow. "Who's Sam?" he asks.

"Her Boyfriend." you reply.

Richard coughs from his drink. "Why is she out with you instead of her boyfriend?" he asks.

You grin. "We were celebrating and he didn't want to join us." you explain.

Richard looks at you confused. "Celebrating?" he asks.

You nod and take another swig of your whiskey. "Yeah. I just got cleared by my doctor to resume normal activities after being on strict limitations. I had major surgery right after Christmas that practically put me on bed rest." You explain. "I was ok'd today to go back to my normal activities, So we went shopping for a new wardrobe, she got me a makeover and we came here to celebrate." you tell him.

He chuckles. "I can understand you coming here for celebrating, but why the makeover and shopping spree?" he asks as the two of you watch the dancing out on the floor and nurse your drinks.

"My boyfriend of 3 years dumped me like a hot potato when I told him I was having this major surgery. He got mad at me and degraded me and said a lot of horrible things to me that made me feel like crap. I've battled depression and poor self esteem for my whole life. Scarlett was just trying to help me out of a bout of it that i had after the surgery." you explained. "She tried to get me to feel pretty, sexy and confident." you tell him.

"Ah." Richard nodded, understanding the self-esteem part all too well. "And did it work?" he asked

"Sort of." you reply. "I'm definitely not pretty or sexy, but I do feel more confident with my new corset on." you tell him.

"Well it's his loss." he tells you as he reaches across the table and puts his hand on yours.

You look at him confused, "Huh?"

"Your boyfriend, he was a fool for leaving a beautiful and incredibly sexy woman like you like he did." he replied as he stood and came to stand in front of you. He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear that had come loose. You stared at him in disbelief.

"Would you like to dance for a bit?" he asked.

You grinned and downed the rest of your drink, smirking at the shocked look on his face. You let him pull you out to the dance floor and the two of you danced the night away as Graham and Martin and Martin's wife looked on from the upper deck.

"Graham, who's the lady Richard is dancing with?" Martin's wife asked. Graham shook his head. "I don't know who she is. I only saw her and that red haired lass that Aiden's dancin' with when they were shopping at the mall earlier today.

"Is THAT the woman you were watching when I was talking to you and Aiden on the phone?" Martin asked, flabbergasted. He looked down to the dance floor when Graham nodded at him.

"Damn!" Martin said, earning a smack from his wife.

He looked up at her confused and she smirked at him. "Look, but no touching!" she reminded him.

He grinned mischievously, "Sweetheart, the only one getting touched by these mitts is you!" he told her and grabbed her to give her a passionate kiss.

Graham chuckled and teased, "Get a room you two!"

Martin's wife teased back, "Aw, come on, Graham, you know what it's like to be in love! How come your wife doesn't join you on your travels?" she asked.

Graham sighed. "She hates flying. And she takes care of the kids and grandkids while I'm gone. She doesn't want to be in the spotlight and wants to keep her anonymity." he replies.

"Unlike somepeople..." Martin teases his wife and gives her a squeeze. She chuckles and looks down at Richard and you dancing.

"She has an unusual beauty to her. I wonder what attracted him to her?" she pondered.

Graham chuckles. "Hmmm, a mysterious, beauty, dressed in all black leather with long, soft raven hair... gee, I don't know what he was thinking..." he tells her teasingly

She rolls her eyes. "Men." she snorts.

They both just chuckle.

--------

After a while, Scarlett and Aiden come over to you and Richard and the four of you head back to the table. Scarlett goes to get drinks and brings them back. You are feeling pretty buzzed by now and happily take the Jameson from her.

You take a swig and sigh contentedly as you let it sit on your tongue for a moment before swallowing. Aiden chuckles. "I don't think I've met someone who downs whiskey like you do!" he teases. "How many have you had now?" he asks.

"Four... i think." You grin and finish the glass in two gulps. Savoring the flavor before you swallow each one. Both Richard and Aiden's eyes open wide and you smile, popping the small ice cubes into your mouth one at a time. "I like to enjoy the flavor on my tongue before swallowing it." you tease and wink.

"I'm amazed you aren't totally hammred!" Aiden replies with a mischievous grin and winks at Richard. The two men talk for a couple minutes about a coworker who liked whiskey, but you ignored them.

"Scarlett, you better be careful and make sure Sam doesn't find out about tonight." you whisper to her as Aiden and Richard talk. She giggles. "I don't really care at the moment, he can go pound sand for all I care. I'm tired of his controlling nature. He never wants to do anything with me." she tells you and you shrug. "You might want to let Aiden know so he isn't caught unawares." you tell her.

Richard asks you if you'd like to dance some more and you nod. The two of you head out onto the dance floor.

"What was with all the whispering?" he asked. "I was just warning her to be careful with Aiden. I don't want him getting hurt. Scarlett is dating a guy who is very controlling and only wants her for one thing. He refuses to do anything outside of the bedroom with her and she is getting tired of it. I have had my doubts that they would stay together for very much longer. She is an outgoing person and loves to socialize. I just don't want their breakup to be blamed on Aiden." you explain.

"Ah." he says.

The two of you dance for a while then head back to the table. You sit and lean against the table. Popping another ice cube in your mouth to suck on.

"Would you like another drink?" Richard asks. You shake your head. "No, I better lay off the whiskey, it's gettin late and we are gonna have to head out soon." you tell him.

Richard frowns. "You sure?" he asks.

You nod. "Yeah. Thanks tho for the one you did get me."

He nods.

You look around for Aiden and Scarlett. "Where did they go?" you ask nervously.

Richard looks puzzled. "Who?"

"Aiden and Scarlett. She's my ride home." you tell him.

"I'm gonna go check and see if she is in the Ladies' room. I'll be right back." you tell him.

You head to Lacey and ask him where the Ladies' room is, he points to the back wall and you nod and thank him.

You stumble across the dance floor and over to the restrooms. You go to open the Ladies' room door and find it's locked. You put an ear to the door and hear two people having sex. You knock on the door and holler, "Scarlett, you in there?"

You hear them pause and a lady replies, "No one in here by that name, hon."

You apologize and head back to the table you were at. You look around for Richard and don't see him. You look up into the upper deck and see him up there talking to Martin and Graham. He sees you down on the floor and heads back down to the table.

"Graham said they left when we went back onto the dance floor." he tells you.

You sit down on the chair, rub your forehead and groan." Ugh! I hope they went to Aiden's place and not hers or there could be problems." you tell him.

"You gonna be ok?" he asks you. "Yeah. I'll just call one of my other friends to come get me." you reply.

"I can give you a ride if you want." he offers.

"Thanks, but I'm not entirely comfortable with that yet. No offense. I just haven't had the greatest luck with guys i just met knowing where I live." you tell him. He raises an eyebrow.

You sigh. "I'm sorry, I gotta go." you tell him. "Thanks for the dancing and the drink." you tell him and turn to head to the coat check.

Richard stands and watches you head out. He frowns, something was bugging him about your reaction and he couldn't put a finger on what it was. He watched you put your coat on and flip up your hood. He followed you at a distance and watched as you started to walk out the door. You stopped to thank the bouncer for letting you in and then you began to walk down the block.

"She surely isn't going to walk home?!?" he thought. He frowned again. Then realized he didn't even get your name or your phone number. He facepalmed annoyed with himself. He watched you disappear into the darkness and prayed you got home safe.

He turned to head back in and Joe looked at him. "You just gonna let her walk home alone?" he asked.

"I offered her a ride, but she declined. Said she was going to call her friend for a ride. Maybe they live nearby." Richard replied.

Joe nodded. He opened the door and let Richard back in.

The rest of the night, Richard thought about you, worried, and wondered if you made it home all right.

By the time he got home, it was early morning. He knew he was going to have a headache and had to be up in 6 hours for makeup and hair.

Groaning, he stripped out of his clothes took a couple of aspirin with some water and climbed into bed. He set his alarm on his phone and plugged it in. Then drifted off to sleep dreaming about the mysterious woman in black.

@fizzyxcustard @thetherianthropydaily @emrfangirl @midnight-reader-morning-sleeper

#richard armitage #Reader #woman in black leather #night out at the bar #ditched #scarlett #harley #graham mctavish #aiden turner

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wardencommanderrodimiss · 4 years

Text

the branches and the roots

post-Spirit of Justice. Maya, still in Khura’in, looks in old records hoping to learn a little more about her family.

[on ao3]

----

The heavy wooden door, when it creaks open, dislodges pounds of dust from its frame and its intricately carved face. Maya sneezes into the sleeve of her robe. She lifts her face up out of it, stares into the dark windowless room ahead of her, and sneezes again.

“Just wait a moment, if you think it is dusty now,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi says.

He told her to call him Nahyuta, so there’s a teasing Cuz or Yuty on the tip of her tongue, because family is family however distant, and family she calls things like Sis and Pearly and Nick. But she can’t quite access it. The tip of her tongue hits the back of her teeth and her jaw sticks shut and she’s avoided addressing him as anything. Plus he still calls her Miss Fey so it’s not like he’s figured it out either.

She covers her face with her sleeve. “Okay,” she says. “I’m ready.”

Prosecutor Sahdmadhi arches one perfect eyebrow. He reminds Maya of what all the hanging scrolls of the former Masters depict; the old portraits are consolidated in the manor, a forest of women whose flaws are brushed away as they are enshrined in traditional inked artistry. He, and his mother, unreal, beautiful, the kind of elegance that Maya was told all her life to emulate and never could. The kind of regal grace that Pearly performed as soon as she was able to walk.

(Poor perfect Pearl, such a prodigy, but of the branch family, forever damned to be nothing. Morgan was the only one who acted on making Pearl the Master, but Maya knows with the way other elders of the family looked at her when she started spending longer and longer stints down in the city, months at a time with Nick, that they hoped she’d be just like her mother and never come back. That the city would eat her too.)

They step into the darkness, their only light a flashlight that Maya holds, and a lantern Prosecutor Sahdmadhi brought. “I wonder when it was someone last came down here,” he says. His voice is muffled a little by his scarf pulled over his face to shield him from the initial wave of dust. The orange-ish lantern-light turns his skin and his hair and his clothes gold, all gold, and warm and alive, a reminder that this is not a tomb and they are not buried. “I suppose I can get estimate a range…”

He turns to the shelves on the left, closest to the door, and picks up the first scroll-container there. This dusty room in the basement of the palace - Maya kept calling it the dungeons, and Nahyuta didn’t laugh, and she felt a pang of homesickness for the family that laughs at all her stupid jokes, and then she wondered if there are actual dungeons that Ga’ran and Inga used and that’s why he didn’t laugh, and her homesickness turns to sorrow - is an archive, of a sort, but the only information they are keen on recording in here is geneaology. Carefully preserved scrolls sit stacked on shelves around the room’s walls, a number she can’t estimate because she can’t see them all at once swinging the flashlight all around. A solid-looking wooden table stands in the center of the room. Prosecutor Sahdmadhi sets his lantern down there and spreads out the scroll.

“How did anyone do anything down here before batteries existed?” Maya asks. She shines her flashlight up at the ceiling, almost expecting to find eyes or a face leering down at her, like this is a horror movie and not still part of a very lived-in palace. Much as this room hasn’t been lived-in, or walked in, and certainly not vacuumed or dusted in.

“There are oil lamp holders on the walls,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi answers. “And candles.” He doesn’t quite sound disparaging but he’s pretty close to it.

“And risk setting everything on fire?” Thousands of years of the royal line up in smoke because someone was clumsy. Someone like Maya, who makes movements too quick and too big and takes up space in an unrefined manner.

Prosecutor Sahdmadhi doesn’t answer and moments later he’s murmuring, almost to himself, “So it’s been at least fifteen years since someone cared to come here and update anything,” he says.

“What do you mean?” Maya lowers her flashlight from examining the lamp holders on the walls so she won’t shine it straight in his eyes and approaches the table, to where he is pointing at something. The names are tricky to decipher, even after two years of extremely immersive study of Khura’inese, but one she knows is Ga’ran’s even without the little crown drawn above it, and the other is very, very long, so that must be Inga. A family tree.

Prosecutor Sahdmadhi taps his fingers between the two names, where a line is drawn between them to signify marriage, but no other line extends from that one, no other name beneath theirs. “They never put Rayfa down as their child, or as existing at all. There were rather more pressing matters when kidnapping your sister’s daughter, and forcing your sister to live as a nursemaid and your double, else you’ll kill them both.”

He says it all so dry, deadpan, because he must have gotten used to living with that over his head, become resigned to the reality of that, the way Nick almost laughs when he’s talking about his poker-playing years even if it’s an obviously bitter laugh, and like with Nick, Maya wants to hug him, but she doesn’t think he’d appreciate that. Certainly she would ask first but he’s already saying something else and the time for asking is passed. “This will have to be redone afresh on a new scroll.”

“Why?” Maya asks. “They didn’t write the princess down at all, so you could just add her under—”

Under your parents, but her eyes follow his fingers brushing across the parchment and all the muscles in his hand tighten when he reaches his mother’s name and the blackened, burned holes next to and beneath her name.

“Another reason candles are so practical for this work of genealogy,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi says, and this time he isn’t dry or deadpan. His voice is dripping, anger barely contained, not swallowed and barely held in his mouth to stop him from spitting that fury that’s justified if unbecoming of a monk and prince regent. (Unbecoming of a Master, too. Maya’s spent two years in Khura’in trying to learn to be the Master, and she’s a stronger medium than ever but she still only sometimes knows how she’s supposed to act, how to become the Master and not Maya. Maya has too many feelings, Maya has too much righteous indignation to be as calm as the Master is supposed to be, but Her Benevolence Princess Rayfa is also full of fury and still a beloved princess, so maybe that’s okay. To feel things. To be angry.) “Fire right at hand to burn out the sinful heretics.”

“Cut off the branches,” Maya says. Morgan tried to do that literally, with her last plan, pruning the tree violently, and Ga’ran literally used fire to burn the Sahdmadhis out of the royal family. “You were a baby. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were as much the queen’s child as you were Dhurke’s.”

“I’m sure there would have been some contention over my expulsion from the family had I been a girl,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi says. “You can’t turn a potential medium loose into rebel hands, after all. But I wasn’t, and so the only blood of mine that mattered was that of my allegedly criminal father.”

“How did you ever become a prosecutor like that?” she asks. She asked to come down here searching for something about their family long ago, wanting to find the place where Khura’in and Kurain broke apart forever, but the affairs of a thousand years ago suddenly pale in importance to what happened a month ago. What happened fifteen years ago, and twenty-three years ago. Living family more important than the dead.

(Especially since she hasn’t ever gotten the chance to speak with Nahyuta one-on-one before. Not even talk with him and Princess Rayfa and Queen Amara together. Prosecutor Prince-Regent Sahdmadhi seems to be everywhere at once, trying to do everything all at once, the way his brother is trying to take up every criminal and civil defense all at once. Maya’s spent more time with Apollo than she expected to, but she’s got more legal experience than Datz and Ahlbi who are also trying to help him run his law office, and they need someone who knows all about it. Putting on the skin of co-counsel and legal assistant is easier than trying to find the skin of Master. And she wants to help her family, and Apollo is family, two different ways. Via Nick, and via her distant Khurainese cousins.)

“When I emerged from the woods claiming to renounce the rebels and wanting to work as a prosecutor to bring an end to them” - Prosecutor Sahdmadhi snorts, his hands curling tight around the edge of the table - “Ga’ran made a great show of being a benevolent queen willing to forgive the child of her sister’s murderer and integrate him into her regime’s legal system. And then she dragged me out of earshot of her guards and snapped a leash around my neck and told me it would be Rayfa’s noose if I ever dared step out of line.”

Maya thinks of Shelley de Killer. A sword hanging overhead to force the desired result. Her mouth is dry. She nods. Prosecutor Sahdmadhi isn’t even looking at her anyway. “Her claims of forgiveness changed the minds of no other prosecutor, and there is a reason I started prosecuting internationally. Not just because there was no fear of facing my father’s friends on the stand and damning them in this farce of justice, but because my colleagues would not be cruel for my name, and because the leash choked me a little less when I did not have Ga’ran’s eyes constantly on me. Do you know, some of the other Khura’inese prosecutors called it favoritism that she had for me. Special treatment, that she often called me to the palace, tasked me with giving the princess a cursory understanding of the legal system or assisting her at crime scenes - it was all a sick game to her. I could spend time with my sister and no one must ever know it. I imagine she enjoyed watching me try to stay detached. Watching me squirm.”

“She’s a monster,” Maya says.

“Unfortunately not.” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi rolls the scroll back up, his fingers tight around it crumpling it, because this sheet is already tainted, already wrong, and it doesn’t matter if he ruins it. “She’s human, just as the rest of us are.” He sets the scroll aside, near his lantern, rather than put it back. There’s no reason to put it back when it needs to be redone. She wonders if he’ll burn Ga’ran and Inga out of the tree in retaliation. Like Pearly splattering gravy on the hanging scroll of her mother - destroy the records of the family that some other family didn’t want around. She doubts it, somehow, that Prosecutor Sahdmadhi would do that.

“Now,” he says, curtly, businesslike, like a prosecutor, “this ancestor of ours who founded your channeling school, how long ago did she live?”

There is not necessarily a guarantee that Ami Fey will appear anywhere in the genealogy of the Khura’inese royals. It may have been her mother or grandmother who left for Japan, and simply Ami who once there decided to turn their spiritual power again into real power, not as a queen but as a Master. A wise woman with the wisdom of the dead in hand. Or Ami Fey may not have been known as Ami in Khura’in; it may have been a name she took upon leaving.

Or she may, as they come to realize, have been a branch burned from the tree for leaving and taking their spiritual secrets with her.

“I suppose this must be her, then,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi says, “as we have been through everything else and…” He gestures at the shelves on either side of them. They have searched the generations that lie around the era that Ami should have lived, finding no trace of her name or a Khura’inese equivalent. What they have found, what Prosecutor Sahdmadhi concludes is the junction where their families broke apart, is another searing burn, blackened edges of a hole through the parchment, the sole person to have been stricken from the family in half a dozen generations on either side. A daughter; in the scorch marks, when they squint, the light right on the page, both of them hunched over it and struggling to keep their long hair out of the way, they can see that this disavowed disgrace was a daughter.

“Her,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi repeats, “or whoever came to bore her, and taught her of the powers of our bloodline. Perhaps she had only some limited knowledge some mothers before her carried out of our homeland, that she came to make her own.”

Our homeland. Does he mean that Khura’in is home to her? It is tradition in the village for the Master to study in Khura’in; did her mother think of it as her homeland? (Did she keep secret her blood’s connection to the royal family? It would have been Amara’s mother on the throne then. How did she rule - did she lay down a hand of fear that would have left Misty cautious to confess her identity, as Maya had been?) What is home - is it Kurain, or Khura’in, or Los Angeles? Is it the village she grew up in, or the city where she found her truest self? She and Apollo share a fond longing for the perks of the city, of one kind of home, and the confusion of not knowing whether to call that place home, or instead consider home the place in the mountains where each of them formed their first memories.

“They disowned her for leaving, then,” Maya says. “They - they do that too, in my village. If you’re gone for twenty years, you’re considered dead and stripped of your rank and titles and - everything.” That’s what they say, anyway. No one has actually fully disappeared like that to test it. Her mother almost had, and then Maya would have found out whether the elders truly meant to erase Misty from the halls of the manor and the scrolls of the Masters, or simply, finally, pass her title along.

“Spirit channeling is a powerful tool, jealously guarded by individuals who want to hoard that power for themselves,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi says. “For there to be some outsider who know the secret undermines its exclusivity and its power. It does not surprise me that the act of leaving would so be considered a betrayal, enough to leave one little more than ashes.” He touches his fingertips to the parchment.

“Or gravy,” Maya says. Prosecutor Sahdmadhi’s eyes dart suspiciously toward her. “Never mind,” she adds hurriedly. “So then, um, we read these right to left, when it comes to ages?”

Prosecutor Sahdmadhi nods. He taps his fingers along all of the other names in a row with the burn mark, the siblings of this persona non grata, and then the row up above, their mother’s siblings. “Yes,” he says. “And our subject here was the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter, and each of them with several sisters. Ami - we will presume, for ease of referring to her, that this was your Ami who has been stricken from the tree - had nothing in her future, no position of prestige or power waiting for her.” He sighs, stepping back, closing his bright eyes and pondering for a moment, as though he may begin a recitation. “Our royal line and our country was founded on a story of two sisters - the elder, a medium so powerful she was revered as a goddess by the people she led, and the younger, who lacked the power to channel spirits but nonetheless stood as the country’s loyal and beloved protector.”

His eyes open. “It should be a position of honor, even to be a younger sister, or even to be one who could not channel. But somewhere that was lost, and being unable to channel or become queen became a source of great shame - as though the only worthy and admirable position there ever is to hold is Queen.” Shaking his head, he continues, “My aunt should have been our people’s great protector, our country’s loyal guardian. Instead she nearly destroyed us, out of jealousy, because our family has come to be such a way that for younger daughters such as Ga’ran and Ami, no future awaits.”

The equating of the two of them - Kurain Village’s revered founder, and the evil queen - makes Maya uncomfortable. Yes, they were both the younger sister, as was Lady Kee’ra, and Lady Kee’ra the younger of two as Ga’ran was, but that is all that Ga’ran shares with either of them. And that is all that Ga’ran shares with—

“I’m the younger daughter,” Maya says. Prosecutor Sahdmadhi looks at her straight on again. Honestly, even Maya has gotten bored sometimes - often - with Kurain Village genealogy and whatever else, even while she’s come to be curious about Khura’in. She wouldn’t blame Prosecutor Sadhmadhi for not wanting to hear it. But he appears genuinely intrigued by what Maya has just said, to be waiting for her to continue telling him about her family tree in Kurain. Something in his eyes urges her to continue, but she can’t get more than one more sentence out through the tightness in her throat. “And so was my mother, the Master of the village before me.”

“What happened?” he asks. She wonders what his guess is. It would be reasonable to assume that they both had older sisters who died - reasonable in any other family, but they are not any other family, the Feys and the royals. If there’s anyone in the world who could make a guess that lands close to the truth of all that Morgan Fey did, it would be Nahyuta. He could know.

And she knows when she tells him, he’ll understand. “Aunt Morgan, my mom’s older sister, wasn’t a very powerful medium. So when the elders convened, they passed her by and gave the title of Master to my mother. And Aunt Morgan had been counting on the power and status that being Master would give, and her husband had too. Her - her first husband.” The implication there tells the rest of that story. It’s exactly what Prosecutor Sahdmadhi can assume it is. “And then my mother was consulted on a murder case, and was disgraced, and she decided that should mean that she should disappear—”

“That was the DL-6 incident of 2001, yes?” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi asks. Maya blinks. “After we witnessed your channeling prowess in your trial, and I returned to Los Angeles, I researched Kurain Village and your family.”

Yes, she was going to tell him about it all - but something about the fact that he already knows it feels like a betrayal of trust. Like she was going to welcome him into her house and then he pushed past her and pulled out a copy of her front door key and used it because he’d stolen it from her a week ago and had a copy made. Except in this analogy her key is a matter of public record. “So you know about all about that ton of murder cases we’ve been caught up in,” she says, and the words still fall out of her mouth bitter.

“Your aunt tried to frame you for murder,” he replies.

“Guess why.” That sounds bitter as well, but she didn’t mean it to. Morgan’s motive wasn’t part of the actual case as was presented in court, as became part of the transcript. But Nahyuta could know.

“I suppose I may reason that she had, at that point a daughter capable of channeling, whose only path to inheriting the title was through you.” He speaks with confidence, but his expression is puzzled. He wouldn’t know why she has suddenly soured on the conversation. She shouldn’t be mad - it saves her at least ten minutes of explanation if he knows DL-6, and then the incident in Kurain Village, beforehand - but that emotion reared its stupid head anyway.

“My cousin Pearly,” Maya says, shaking off her frustration. She can’t stay mad at one of the few people who can truly understand. “She’s about as strong as me and ten years younger. A real prodigy. But she was - we call it the branch family, the ones descended from whichever sisters didn’t become Master. And branch family meant, she’d be nothing. She doesn’t care about the titles, but Aunt Morgan sure did.”

“And your aunt was the older daughter,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi muses. “And passed by despite it. She acted as she did because you were the one to inherit the title - yet you are, as you said, the younger daughter, who should not have had that in her future.” He doesn’t ask a question, but his tone and his eyes make it clear that this is an inquiry.

“You said you researched my family,” Maya says. His family too, at a distance. “If you dredged up every court case with a Fey involved, you know why. You know why this younger daughter gets the title, and it wasn’t anything about who was the stronger medium.”

“I am sure I do,” Prosecutor Sahdmadhi says, “but please, I would like to hear from you - tell me about your sister.”

Maya swallows the lump in her throat and blinks to dispel the burning behind her eyes. “She was amazing,” she says. “She was - she left the village, for me. To try and find our mother, and so she wouldn’t have to compete with me to be Master. So we wouldn’t end up hating each other like our mom and Aunt Morgan did.” Her eyes burn again, after a few seconds’ respite. “I hated her sometimes anyway, for leaving me alone, but that was different than hating her like - like our moms and aunts.”

The plural emerges from her lips without really thinking, but when she does think, she realizes she doesn’t know how her mom felt about Morgan. Did she hate her for all she tried to do? Or did she love her older sister with both pity and anger instead? How did Misty and Morgan feel about each other when they were children? Did Ga’ran love her older sister or spare her only out of the practicality of needing a stand-in to channel spirits?

“She was a defense attorney,” Maya adds, knowing that Prosecutor Sahdmadhi knows it, but now he can hear it from her, like he asked. “She was Nick’s mentor, and she saved him, and she taught him all of his tricks that he used to beat you.” She grins, despite herself. A faint shadow of a smile crosses Nahyuta’s face. He’s glad he lost. She knows that now. “I wish you could’ve met her.”

The smile fades. “Do you?” he asks. “I put you through hell, and that I did it because I thought it the only way to protect my sister is no excuse, one I cannot imagine her tolerating, not when I am sure that she too must so have loved her own sister.”

Maya runs her hand over the beads of her necklace. Mia wore a magatama until the day she died, and every day she returned after; she kept that connection to a home that she abandoned not because she hated the place, but because she loved who remained there. “I’ve been accused of murder a lot,” Maya says. “Like, a lot, you know.” She glances away from him, doesn’t see if he nods. “And you know, some of the prosecutors who did that, tried so hard to get me convicted of murder because they had perfect win records to maintain?” Tried to act as heartless demons like Nahyuta did, because it’s easier that way, easier to turn cold, to never feel. “We became friends. And are, still.” Edgeworth paid for the flight, after all. “I forgave them. I forgive you. I’m sure Sis would too.”

“You think so?” Nahyuta asks. He sounds honestly concerned that a woman who’s been dead for more than a decade wouldn’t like him.

“Yeah,” Maya says. “She - I mean, she had experience with the blackmail thing. She spent years on a case like that. Building a case against the horrible man who leaked the news of our mother’s involvement in DL-6 to the press, building up evidence of all of the people he blackmailed to suicide and ruin. She knows you have to strike at the top. And she’d know that you loved your sister. That - that does mean something.”

They didn’t talk about it, really, but Maya knows that, like she herself did, Mia forgave Godot-Diego for his stupid, prideful plan that ended with him killing their mother. People with good intentions and hurting hearts do ugly, painful things for love. People get trapped and can’t see another way out. She’s forgiven Tahrust Inmee for framing her for murder. People do desperate, mad things for love. Khura’in is a country of mountains and on another mountain on the other side of the sea, years ago, Maya learned a lot that she carries with her.

“Did she ever find your mother?” Nahyuta asks softly. She thinks he must be thinking about his own lost mother who he only just found. She imagines the anguish he felt when she was shot, not knowing if he would ever see her again to catch up on the lost years. She remembers lying on a courthouse couch, her sister with Pearly’s robes smoothing Maya’s hair back from her face and telling her that their mother is dead. Maya remembers not knowing how to mourn a woman she never knew and couldn’t recognize. Nahyuta knew his mother for a time when he was old enough to remember; his situation wasn’t the same, and it didn’t end the same, and Maya is so glad for it.

“No,” Maya says, and Nahyuta’s eyes sadden. “She - she didn’t. Sis thought, I guess, that -

that if she could find out and expose that blackmailer for everything he’d done, then - then our mother would come out of hiding, I guess. Would come home. And instead, that horrible, horrible man murdered my sister, and tried to frame me, and Nick, for it.”

There it is again, the pain behind her eyes of sharp tears gathering. “Nick and I took him down but it was too late for Sis. And she was so - she was so young, I keep thinking now, because I’m - I’m older than she was when she died. Does that make me not the younger sister, anymore? I’m older than my older sister. Am I - what am I, then, by birthright? Of course I’m going to be the Master someday, because I’m - I’m the oldest daughter now, aren’t I? Only because I’m the one that lived.”

Nahyuta doesn’t say anything. What is there to say? More than almost anyone else in the entire world - more than anyone but Queen Amara herself - he understands, has lived such a same awful nightmare, and there’s nothing to say. There’s no consolation.

“Sometimes I think I shouldn’t have kids,” Maya adds. “Most of the time I think it. And if Pearly didn’t either we could just - put an end to this. Is it worth it? For the world to have this - us, to channel the dead, is it worth it if it keeps ruining the living?” How many more neglected sons and dead daughters will their bloodline see? Why are they the sacrifice for this power to continue to exist? Why should the dead be prioritized over the living mediums who call them back?

“Maybe I’ll adopt,” she says. “If I ever want kids. Like - Nick adopting a kid worked out really well for them both. Then I could get to have kids without perpetuating this - this cycle.”

“Our shared blood spilled again and again,” Nahyuta says.

“One of my cousins, who can’t even channel, still became a nun because our family is so fucked up,” Maya says. And that’s a bit of a simplification of Iris’ choice and situation, but it’s also exactly what happened, isn’t it? Shut herself away to atone for the crime of loving her sister and also those other crimes - willing to do whatever it took to protect Maya from Morgan’s plot because she knew no other way to atone for the sins of herself and her sister and mother. “I don’t know. Am I overreacting to say that we need to swear a pact, like you and me and Pearly and Her Benevolence, to not have any biological children so that we can end the bloodline? Like is that - is that blaming the wrong thing? The blood and not—”

Not us?

“Is our family always so damned to turn out this way?” Nahyuta asks, rephrasing her fumbling questions so elegantly. “Do we have a choice in what we become? Or say perhaps we should swear to do better - and perhaps we do, for a generation or two. And then what? The Holy Mother and Lady Kee’ra gave us the best example they could of how to protect Khura’in, how to rule and serve its people while loving each other, and look how that became corrupted. Look how Lady Ami left, and her descendants set out across the sea, and still in your faraway village older and younger sisters go to war with each other.” He gives her a sad smile, his eyes even sadder. “Of course it seems the inevitable fate of our bloodline, given what both your branch and mine have lived through, Cousin.”

“Shit sucks,” Maya says. She needs to ask Datz to teach her some good curses in Khura’inese. All she knows is how to damn people to various hells, and sometimes that just isn’t the vibe she’s going for with her swearing.

Nahyuta laughs softly. “Indeed it does.”

Maya reaches out and pulls the scroll back closer to her. Ami, the daughter who founded her branch of their ancient family, nothing more than a nameless scorch mark. What else should Maya have expected to find? She knows how her family is, home and here. Why not a thousand years ago, the same? She should have expected it, the fire and the pruned branches. Then and now.

“Does that mean you’re on board with the no-kids pact?” She glances back at Nahyuta. “Or do I just like, really not want kids actually and I’m just trying to find justifiable excuses when ‘I don’t want kids’ can be its own excuse?” She’s babbling. The Master is not supposed to babble. “Have you ever thought about if you want—?”

Something dark and sad crosses his face. “I have no idea what I ‘want’,” he says, making a sarcastic quotation mark in the air with one hand, and Maya almost laughs because that’s some of the most informal expressiveness she’s ever seen from him. “Until a very recent time, all I could hope to ‘want’ for the future was that I would die before I was thirty and be freed of this, for no hell in death I’ve ever heard of could be worse than the one I lived.”

Maya regrets asking. “Oh,” she says. “I’m sorry.”

“I suppose that is some argument in support of your suggestion,” he continues, like the way Nick talks about being disbarred, where he blithely talks past anyone’s sympathy or acknowledgement of how fucked up it was. “Given that it was a hell my own aunt made for me. Is there anything else you wished to examine down here?”

Nick talks past it because he can’t let himself pause to consider how fucked up it was, because he’s treading water and has to keep moving and if he stops to think he’ll drown. Maya knows this because she’s done the same. She kept a smile on her face and kept moving because she had to keep Pearly’s head above water, again and again. Nick has Trucy. Nahyuta has Rayfa and the entire country of Khura’in. “No,” Maya says, rolling up the ancient scroll to return it to its place. “That’s all I was looking for down here.”

Nahyuta nods. He points her to the spot on the shelves, the carefully ordered archive of their family’s burdensome history, the spot where Ami was excised from. They stand there, after, silently, eyeing the shelves in the gloom, as though both reluctant to leave it. “I suppose,” Nahyuta says softly, barely more than a breath, “that it is not quite true to say that I have never given thought to the matter of children. What I want, I do not know. But that I am regent now, I have wondered too, as we said before, what will be next? Holy Mother forbid my sister ever become a tyrant, but what of her potential future daughters? What of - what, perhaps, of mine? How shall we safeguard our country from our own descendants?”

“I hear democracies work okay sometimes,” Maya says. And sometimes there are the Paul Atishons of the world who commit murder in the course of running for a village council position. Sometimes, there are people - greedy, selfish, ambitious people - and everything goes wrong.

Nahyuta’s mouth twists in a small smirk. She’s certainly hedging her bets with her phrasing, she knows.

“I guess even if you decided to not have kids so they or your grandkids or great-grandkids can’t ruin everything for everyone again,” Maya says, “you and Her Benevolence would still have to restructure the entire government because—”

“Because our entire line of succession is based on spirit channeling, yes,” Nahyuta says. “Thousands of years of tradition and direct descent, and we stand poised to overturn it all.” He shakes his head. “My most immediate concern has been piecing our legal system back together and undoing all the false verdicts that Ga’ran’s rule has wrought, as you and my brother are well aware, but I have had some discussion with my mother and sister about introducing a parliamentary system.” He folds his arms behind his back, shifting his wait like he is about to start moving, and then he doesn’t, and they remain there in the dark. “Even if our family should play out its bloody feuds again, we may at least limit the casualties. Our people should not suffer from a despot’s unilateral decrees just because one sister so envies the other.”

Envy, yes - it was jealousy, and ambition, and selfishness, and people died. It was Morgan expecting that she was owed her birthright and unable to cope when her more talented younger sister overtook her as Master. It was Ga’ran expecting nothing and wanting it all the same, desiring for herself the admiration that Khura’in’s people had for her older sister, the beloved queen, but only able to make herself feared, not loved. People are dead because one sister got what the other wanted.

Kurain Village teaches that channeling is a gift from the gods, but a gift shouldn’t come with a price to pay.

“What does Her Benevolence think of that?” Maya asks. She respects Rayfa, the princess wo held too much responsibility at such a young age and now has had her world shattered several times over and stepped up from it stronger, and she never should have had to live any of this. She should not have had to learn that her mother was not her mother and was a monster, and her father who was not her father by blood was a monster, and the other father she could have had was already dead. Like Pearly, if such a tragedy ever had to befall her, why did it have to be when she was so young? Everything Princess Rayfa went through, Maya thinks, might make her understand the same facts that Maya and Nahyuta understand.

“She agrees,” Nahyuta says, as Maya thought she would. “Lady Kee’ra and the Holy Mother were Khura’in’s great protectors. Perhaps this is what protecting our country means now - protecting it too from the worst of ourselves.” He sweeps a strand of hair back behind his ear and the shiny gold earrings there. “And I owe a great many thanks to Phoenix Wright, and you, for first helping Rayfa on the path to understanding these such matters. For teaching her what I could not.”

“I’m glad we could,” Maya says. “I really am glad. I think Khura’in is lucky to have you both now.”

Nahyuta glances away, like he doesn’t really know how he’s supposed to respond to genuine concern and compliment. How long was he under Ga’ran’s thumb? How many years of being unable to have a heart, because it was his heart that Ga’ran used against him - how many years was he in a pit of vipers with no one who was allowed to care about him? If Maya knew she doesn’t quite remember.

“I will do whatever I can to support Her Benevolence, and to repair all the wrongs that have been done to our country,” Nahyuta says stiffly, forcing the words out. “I owe - for all I stood complicit in, I—” He is still staring at the far wall, and he squeezes his eyes shut and takes a moment to compose himself. “I owe my father so much more, but this much I am able to do. This I may change.” He blinks his eyes shut again and twists his beaded prayer necklace around his fingers. “I cannot make it up to him, but I will try.”

Maya’s stomach sinks.

Only once has Apollo ever broached the topic of the three days she spent channeling his father, and that was just to know if she had any awareness of what was going on while she was channeling. The answer is no and a noncommittal vague shrug, because her soul vacates her body but spirits leave behind traces of feelings on their departure. When Tahrust left her she felt at peace, a sense of justice imparted and no regret remaining, for about three seconds until she remembered where she was and that she and Nick might be executed depending on what the high priest did or didn’t say.

After Dhurke left, she was exhausted, mostly, and a bit confused why he was already gone because she didn’t think he had yet accomplished all he meant to - but more than that sense of unfinished business, there was love. Love for all three of his children, love for his wife, love for his rebels and his country. Everything he did was for love, and for once, the choices made for love weren’t stupid and messy. And still they ended with such pain.

Talking to Apollo then, she remembered how much Dhurke loved his son, enough that for a moment she couldn’t breathe with it. (She wondered if this was how much her mother loved her.) And talking to Nahyuta now—

“You don’t need to make anything up to him,” Maya says. Nahyuta turns his head so that she can’t even see the pained expression on his face, but she can see his hands curled up to his chest, clutching the dragon tattooed on his palm close to his heart. “He loved you. He forgave you from the start. He understood why, and he loved you.”

“Don’t,” Nahyuta whispers. “You can’t say that—”

“I know he - hey!”

Nahyuta spins on his heel, heading for the door. Maya runs after him, grabbing onto his arm and hanging firm even as he twists in her grasp and slams the heavy doors behind them with a thunderous thud that makes the floor beneath their feet shudder. Nahyuta scowls at her; Maya scowls back, and when he breaks eye contact first, his shoulders slumping a little, Maya risks releasing her cousin’s arm. He studies his boots instead of leaving.

“I’d channel him so he could tell you himself,” Maya says, “but for one thing, I don’t know if that actually - helps. With getting closure.” Nahyuta looks at her from the corner of his eyes. A question. She goes on, her eyes stinging as she does. “Me and Nick with my sister, that whenever I’d channel her, or Pearly would, I wondered like maybe we were just picking at a scab and it’d never heal because she was here again, but she wasn’t here, not enough. She was always just out of reach, even when I got to hug her and tell her I loved her, I - I don’t know.”

She never considered asking Pearl to channel Misty so that Maya could talk to her mother for the only time ever in her life. Both because she thought that Pearly would find the guilt unbearable, and Pearly feeling in any way responsible for what happened on that mountain is the last thing Maya has ever wanted, and because she doesn’t know what to say or how to get closure with a woman she never really knew. She had never come to terms with her mother’s disappearance, really, but then just the knowing - knowing that she was dead and no longer somewhere just at the tips of Maya’s fingertips if she reached far enough and looked hard enough - was the closure. Not closure enough, never enough, but the best Maya figures she could ever get in that situation.

“Ask Lady Inmee if she felt the chance to say a final goodbye to her husband made the loss any less painful,” Nahyuta says. “To hear from him one last time that she loved him, when she knew that, and to tell him one last time that she loved him when he knew such.”

“Yeah,” Maya says softly. When Nahyuta resumes walking, it is to set a pace that she can easily keep beside him as he leads her through the maze of halls. She swallows her nerves, shoves aside the little bit of her mind that is convinced she is overstepping bounds, because when has she ever cared about that, and she already did once this conversation so why not finish it off?

“And for the other thing,” she says, and Nahyuta turns his head sharply, his hair swinging, to look at her, like he’d forgotten that she started talking in a way that signaled that she had more than one point about channelings and closure, “I don’t think it would really change that much about how you feel, for you to hear your father say he’s forgiven you.”

Nahyuta stops, but doesn’t make to flee. He just stops, waiting for her to finish before they ascend to the ground floor of the palace, out of the records of the dead and back to their living family who still need their help. “I think you need to forgive you,” Maya says.

He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t say anything as they stride through the palace, passing guards in the lived-in halls, and she expects when they reach the front gates that he will throw her unceremoniously out. But he instead steps with her into the sun, out into the colorful, bustling streets of the capital, where here in the land of the living the people they pass have nods and bows of acknowledgement - for Nahyuta, mostly, of course but Maya too, and it never fails to amaze her. She spent two years here coming to know the people while hiding a part of herself, and now they know, and that and so much more has changed.

Nahyuta stops to chat with a sweet bun vendor, and through the quick conversation Maya gathers that the woman was one of the Dragons. They come away with a pastry for each of them, and it seems like Nahyuta has waited for her to take a bite and be unable to speak for him to finally say, “You make it sound so simple. As though it is easy to - how? How am I to...?”

Joke’s on him; Maya can easily talk through a mouthful of bun, even if it’s not helpful. “Wish I knew.”

Rather than stuff it in his face, Nahyuta breaks off a small piece of the bun and pops it into his mouth. The delicate, refined mannerisms he sometimes shows almost make Maya snort when she thinks about him learning manners while living in a shack in the mountains, that chaotic, feral childhood that Apollo has described a few times. Instead of laughing, she swallows her mouthful and says, “No, really, trust me, I do wish I knew.” How to forgive oneself a guilt of the kind so deep and painful it could drive a person to consider choosing death instead - that would be a power far greater than channeling spirits. Maybe that would be a gift that didn’t come intertwined with pain, but it isn’t the one Maya has. “I wish I was any help at all.”

She waits a moment to see if Nahyuta will reply right away, and when he doesn’t, she takes a large bite of her sweet bun again and raises her eyebrows in the best disdainful look she can muster, in response to Nahyuta watching her shove pastry down her face in the most undignified of ways. He rolls his eyes. She is still chewing when he says, “You were. Thank you, Maya.”

This deserves more dignity than talking with her mouth full can merit. The delay is at least two seconds until she can say, “Oh,” a reply that still surely lacks dignity. “You’re - you’re welcome.”

A warbaa’d roars and they both jump. A dog barks, and then another, another layer of noise over the loud bazaar. Maya closes her eyes to take in the ambience, all the voices chattering, catching up with neighbors and bartering for their groceries. “It feels different here now,” Maya says.

“What do you mean?” Nahyuta asks.

“I didn’t notice until it wasn’t, but there was always - this kind of tension, in the air, here. Even when everyone was trying to act normal, we were all - not. We were scared and - and hiding things.” Rebels, rebel-sympathizers, secret police, and Maya the spirit medium from abroad. “It feels like I can breathe now. It feels like - well, it doesn’t feel like home. My village is so damn quiet. Not like—” She waves a hand at all the bustle around them, looking over the shop storefronts, and then she is hastily halted when Nahyuta throws an arm out to stop her from walking into the path of a yak. “But it feels like it could be a home, more than it ever did before.” Even when before had the Inmees’ lovely hospitality. How hard as that is to look back on now, with all that happened since. “The thing I miss most though, besides Pearly and Nick and everyone - I wish I could get a burger. And ramen, but mostly a good burger.”

She watches the yak trundle of sight. Nahyuta looks briefly offended on its behalf until he asks, “Have you ever been to Burger Barn?”

“I can’t,” Maya whines. “The lines. I go in and I’m hungry and I smell everything and I’m so much hungrier but then I have to wait so long, and by the time I’d get to order I’d probably have eaten my own sandals, so no, I’ve never actually had one of their burgers.”

The law office comes into sight down the street; Maya has had trouble remembering where it is, and then Datz redid the outer walls yesterday and she barely recognizes it, but she can find her way now by the dragon he painted on the wall, to go with the office sign. Nahyuta’s eyes widen and he comes to a halt, and Maya realizes that he must not have been down here yet. She gives him a moment to take it in; she’s not going to try to get used to this visage yet, not when Datz is talking about redoing the roof too. “So,” she prompts when Nahyuta tears his eyes away and they resume walking, “you’ve been to Burger Barn?”

“I recommend going before you are hungry,” he says. “Then by the time the wait is over you are not positively famished. But I find it surprising that the wait would prove to you a challenge - it should pale in comparison to activities such as meditation beneath a freezing waterfall. The Burger Barn is only slightly cold from too much air conditioning.”

“I cannot believe you went to Burger Barn before me,” Maya says. “I can’t believe this! Was it as good as they say or is it overrated? I guess you probably haven’t had enough burgers to know—”

“I made it a point to visit several other burger joints in the time while I was in America, intending to make such a comparison,” Nahyuta interrupts, and Maya cackles at the thought, remembering Apollo lamenting his brother’s habit of obsessively over-researching anything that may tangentially cross his path. Like all the trials Maya has been involved in. Like burgers. Nahyuta raises his eyebrows at her outburst but continues, “From the samples that I have experienced” - experience a burger, that would be a great restaurant tagline, and Maya nearly laughs again - “I would rate it as the best.”

“Huh,” Maya says. She’s spent years convincing herself that they have to be overrated. “I guess we’ll have to go. And with Pearly too, it can be like another dimension of our training. I can’t believe I never thought of that trick before! Just treat it like training. I’ve been locked in cold mountain caves before, like oh no, the burger line is difficult somehow.”

“Oh Mystic Master of Kurain, cousin of mine, all your wisdom yet you missed this simple fact.” He says it so deadpan, only the corners of his eyes turning up with amusement.

Maya sticks her tongue out at him. “Nick’s got a challenger - that is the most sarcastic way of calling me wise that I’ve ever heard. But I’ll—” She stops as something occurs to her. “You - you will come back to LA someday, right?” He isn’t running from an evil queen any longer. He has a home to stay in.

“Of course,” he says. “I have people there I must ask forgiveness of, and I should like to visit your village someday, as well, to meet our cousin Pearly.”

She’s called her that so much that Nahyuta not knowing her doesn’t know that isn’t quite her name. She smiles. Maybe once she goes back to the village, she can convince Pearl that his name is Yuty and watch what happens when they meet. That would be funny. “And I would like Rayfa to be able to meet her, as well,” Nahyuta continues. “And for her to see more of the world beyond Khura’in.”

Pearl is only four years older than the princess, has had her world upended in much the same way to learn that her mother was not what she seemed, and by following her instructions Pearl was not doing right by the people she cared about. “That’d be good,” Maya says. They stand on the doorstep of the office, stare together up at the hand painted sign above the door. “I bet Pearly would love to meet you and show you around. Go to Burger Barn. Have a fun cousins hang-out. Get to know each other a little better.”

See if together they can find a way to do better than their mothers and aunts. Change the fate of their family.

Nahyuta smiles. “I would like that.”

#roddy fanfics #ace attorney #maya fey #nahyuta sahdmadhi #the fey family and the khura'inese royals pass down 1. the ability to channel spirits and 2. trauma #and sometimes their descendants don't even get the ability to channel spirits #i've been poking at this on and off since september but wrote the back half in the past two days. the working title was 'younger daughters'

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prettylittlebrownskingyal · 5 years

Text

🎂☆ Jason Todd Birthday Week ☆ Aug 16th - JASON’S BIRTHDAY

Dickface Grayson: what do u want for ur bday baby bro?

RedNerd: a big booty hoe

Spawn: same

Wiffle: sksks DAMIAN

The family group chat is usually rather annoying. No one sleeps and no one has boundaries or tact so there’s always three hundred messages and long ass tangents (courtesy of Tim, Damian and sometimes Duke) for Jason to read over his morning coffee.

It’s a big thorn in his ass.

But it’s routine. He’s grown to expect it like he anticipates sunrise, it’s become one of those things on his mental checklist that he can never forget. Those morons keep finding more and more opportunities to weasel their way into his life and it’s so goddamn irritating that he loves it.

Which is why the lack of notifications he wakes up to makes his skin itch in an unscratchable way. His first instinct is to assume something’s wrong because there’s nothing beside that one question from Dick. But as he replies, Damian and Stephanie’s responses follow immediately— he finds relief in knowing their fine but his confusion grows.

He realizes he’s bored.

He has a three day stretch of no plans and he’s so freaking bored he kind of wants to claw his eyes out.

Dickface Grayson: i told y’all asking him wouldn’t work

Dickface Grayson: i. told. y’all.

Timbits: stop with the y’alls

Wiffle: y? cuz it reminds u of connor?

Timbits: fuck off

Wiffle: bite me

Babs: I say, we go with the original plan

Duke☀️: but how are we going to get him to go willingly go to a party?

Spawn: we could knock him out

Timbits: NO

Spawn: and just carry him there

Timbits: Damian I swear to GOD

Dickface Grayson: why can’t we do the surprise party

Wiffle: cuz he’d hate it

Wiffle: and he’d kill us

🐥Cass: let’s just get him a cupcake and call it a day

Spawn: i second that

Spawn: or we could get him an escort

Babs: DAMIAN

Spawn: put it on father’s card

Timbits: as much as I would LOVE to see that

Timbits: we can’t

🐥Cass: add it to the list for next yr dames

Babs: I have work to do, you guys plzzz come up with something.

Dickface Grayson: good luck babs

Dickface Grayson: I say party

Wiffle: i’m going with Cass and the cupcake

🐥Cass: ^^

Dickface Grayson: Damian I see you typing. Don’t say it.

Timbits: he’s Jason guys. he doesn’t want the attention of having to blow out a candle and listen to us butcher happy bday

Timbits: we need something he’d like

Wiffle: let’s just give him his presents

Wiffle: they’re all books anyway

🐥Cass: books and cupcakes

Spawn: no that’s stupid

🐥Cass: ur stupid

Spawn: ur stupider

Wiffle: Tim’s stupidest

Timbits: blocked

Dickface Grayson: CHILDREN

Dickface Grayson: babs will murder us if we don’t come up with something

Timbits: I mean…. she’ll muder you

Spawn: muder

🐥Cass: muder

Wiffle: STUPIDEST

Jason calls Alfred, texts Bruce and leaves a long winded voicemail for Barbra. She replies with three smiley face emojis and then a voice note of her reminding him that his has three days off for his birthday specifically for resting, to stop worrying about everybody else. She’s stern and sure and he knows it’s pointless to argue.

Alfred had been vague too and Bruce hadn’t replied— with all his sources dry, Jason’s left pouting in his apartment, bored out of his mind. He keeps opening and closing his apps to see if there’s been updates.

There isn’t.

RedNerd: why are you guys so AWOL

Timbits: we’re giving u a break hbd loser

RedNerd: shady

Timbits:🙃

Timbits: i’m disowning Steph

RedNerd: i’m on her side whatever it is

Timbits: traitor

RedNerd: 🙃

Jason sighs languidly. He flicks his phone to the side and watches it bounce off the couch. There’s a full five seconds in which he allows himself to release his boredom in a long, guttural groan and then he’s diving after it to check the screen. It’s not broken. He resolutes himself to reading as all else fails.

Timbits: Jay’s getting antsy

Dickface Grayson: ughh

Wiffle: what r we gonna do?

Spawn: yk

Wiffle: Damian

Spawn: shut up Brown, I was going to say that Duke had an idea.

Wiffle: oh

Wiffle: what’s ur idea sunshine?

Duke☀️: I never volunteered

Wiffle: I’m starting to like the escort thing so plz

Duke☀️: fine

Duke☀️: I’ll invite him to the manor to play PUBG

Duke☀️: no party

Duke☀️: and then we do family dinner and have Alfred make a cake

Dickface Grayson: that’s simple enough

Wiffle: and Alfie makes the cake he’ll have no choice but to accept it

Babs: good work team

Duke☀️: team?

Babs: Good Work Sunshine ☀️💛💛

He’s cleaning his kitchen for the third time when his phone vibrates. A plate is almost dropped in his haste to get to it.

Duke☀️: PUBG. Pizza. Manor?

RedNerd: yessss

The manor’s dead silent when he steps into the threshold. Alfred slips out of the kitchen to bid him a quick hello, hands him two boxes of pizza (one extra cheese and the other sausage and peppers) and shoos him up the stairs.

“You look like shit,” is what Duke says in greeting. He already has the controllers and television set up. Jason feels a little like he’s found bliss.

“I’m losing it, man. No patrol and shit for three days? I’m going to die. Again.”

“Yeah cuz I’m about to kick your ass. Hand me my pizza and sit down.”

“It’s on, sunshine.”

Dickface Grayson: Duke has him in the den. we’re jist gonna ease in one by one. Alfred’ll bring the cake, we’ll do presents and then it’s done

Wiffle: sounds good chief

Timbits: is my pizza here?

Spawn: no one ordered for you

Duke☀️: yh it’s in the kitchen.

Timbits: right, expect me first.

They play four rounds until Jason’s spent most of his pent up energy on killing opponents. Duke gets better every time he plays and he works well with Jason’s style. It reminds him that they should team up more for patrol.

Damian slinks in on his toes right as they start the fifth. He’s got a box of pizza balanced in one hand and Alfred the cat tucked under the other.

“Todd,” is all he says before plopping down on the opposing sofa.

Tim wanders in after, barefooted and rumpled. He opens his mouth to say something, spots Damian and snaps it shut. He makes a noise that reminds Jason of a busted engine. He doesn’t know what that’s about, he doesn’t want to know either.

“Timbo, take this.” He passes him the controller and yanks his skinny frame down with one arm. “Play for me so I can eat.”

“Cheating,” Duke intones.

“It’s my birthday, I can do what I want to.” They all visibly stiffen at the words. He continues, speaking quickly around a mouthful of pizza. “And also. You guys have been really weird all day. What have you been up to?”

The response is a three tiered chorus of, “Nothing.”

“The group chat was dead quiet.”

Tim is stuttering something out when Damian drops a “I wish it was,” under his breath.

Nobody says anything. He chews, swallows and waits for them to fill the silence.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Do you guys have another group chat?”

“No.”

“Why would we?”

“Yes.”

Jason’s braces himself to be as offended as he possibly can when three things happen in the space of a minute.

Tim throws a slice of pizza at Damian while Duke ducks between the cushions. The ensuing fight is so loud Jason can’t hear himself think.

Dick and Cass come stumbling through the doors with Stephanie tailing behind them— their all singing “happy birthday.” Alfred— bless him— is following along with a small sponge cake adorned with lit candles. He makes it one foot into the room before there’s a loud splatter, a scream and shouted curse.

There’s a controller in the cake.

Dick and Steph are on the ground trying to pull a shocked Damian and Tim apart while Duke sinks further between the upholstery.

“Jason,” Cass crosses around the disaster zone. She offers him a hand and gives him a firm shake. “Happy Birthday.”

“Thank you.” He’s still stunned, gaping down at her like a confused goldfish.

“These are for you.”

It’s a pile of hard copy classics secured by a gold ribbon. A tiny bite size cupcake sits on top.

“Thanks Cass. I really appreciate it.”

She hums, casts a glare at Damian and sways out of the room.

“Well,” Alfred snaps. “I’m going to clean this buttercream off of me while you all fix this ...mess. Master Jason, it appears I owe you a cake.”

“It’s fine, Alfie.”

Dick slams his fist to the floor, fuming. “ It’s not.”

“It’s ok—“

“Jay we’ve been trying to plan something special for you all day. This was the best we could do— just us, just a cake and some presents— and we found a way to screw it up.”

“That’s what the other group chat was for.”

Tim chimes in, rolling out of the chokehold Damian has him in.

He sees the guilt hanging around the dropped corners of their mouths like anchors. So that’s why they were so unattached, they were just being annoying amongst themselves.

“This is….it’s great actually. That,” he points to Damian on the ground. “Was quality entertainment. Duke is still a PUBG genius, which it was nice to be reminded of and this—,” he raises the books and cupcake. “—is really all I need.”

He and Dick split half of Damian’s pizza out of sheer spite. Bruce comes in at some point to let them know Alfred’s making another cake and then he somehow gets sucked into a game of Super Mario. Later, they’ll all gather around in the kitchen to force feed Jason cake and watch him open presents. It’ll be quiet and intimate and just right for him.

He’s not bored to death anymore.

Tomorrow, he’ll wake up to four hundred messages in the group chat and the world will right itself.

Wiffle: We’re all going to remember what we’re getting Damian for his bday next yr, right?

Duke☀️: lessons in decorum

Timbits: tickets to the Crayola Experience?

Timbits: tickets to Sesame Street live?

Wiffle: no

Wiffle: a trip to Home Depot to get him a big ass hoe

#no editing we die like mne #jtbdayweek #jtbw19 #lilbrowngyal writes #not an imagine #fic #i kinda hate this #but i did it last night so i was a difference person down #jason todd #duke thomas #dick grayson #damian wayne #stephanie brown #barbara gordon #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #tim drake #cass cain #haha i hate myself

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fayn3ko · 5 years

Text

My interpretations on the new Rammstein album

Alrighty, I think such ‘here’s my opinion how much I liked this and not’ are boring so I’m just gonna write what I think of and read out of the songs. I let out Deutschland and Radio cuz y’all know about them, I guess. Idk even if anybody is interested in this but here we go

Weit weg (far away) - one of my faves

On the first sight it seems to be kind of a love song because till sings about two people - a man watching a women undress and seeing her naked. Actually, it’s about Voyeurism. He is standing at her window, presses his face against the glass, there’s no interactions between them and she is the 'queen of his fantasies’. 'Ganz nah - weit, weit weg von mir’ (really close - far, far away from me) - he is incredible close to her and sees intimate moments, but he isn’t supposed to, they probably don’t even know each other. So, actually, emotionally they are far away from each other.

Diamant (diamond) - only sad song, big fave

Kind of a love song, Till is mostly singing about how beautiful the other person is, how bright her eyes shine, “how clear and pure” she is. It already sounds like as if he were in mad love with her, but he also wants her to finally 'let him go’, he wants to leave tho she is so marvelous 'like a diamond, but also just a stone’. He tried to reach her heart but wants to 'love someone who is able to hate’ - is she too perfect? Are they even together, or is it just him who struggles to let his love for her go? Maybe she doesn’t feel anything, doesn’t have anything except her beauty and is cold-hearted, diamonds “are just stones”.

Zeig dich (show yourself) - a fave, its really nice

Obviously a song about the church, unlike Hallelujah (which is about the child abuse of priests) this one is about the church in general. Most of the text are enumerations,“[they] do crime … forgiveness of all crimes, burn, … tracking, … accidentally abuse children” (Irony, damn that’s fore sure provocating) always ending with 'in the name of god’ which describes the long history, mostly the negative aspects and how the church allowed themself to do anything if they say they do it in gods will - a lot of people believed that. The dramatic choir underlines how much power the church had and how often it abused its power. 'Show yourself … we lose the light’ - religion gives humans hope and something to believe in, exploited by the church, but all these things are hidden behind a mask.

Puppe (doll (sometimes also puppet, toy)) - probs most interesting one

The protagonist is a child, who got a doll as a gif from his sister (he calls her 'Schwesterlein’ so he is probably way younger?). Her workplace is in the room next to his, he sees men coming there, 'sometimes it’s even two [men]’ - she is a prostitute. While she works, he is looking at the sky, taking his medicaments [like a good boy] - so he must be sick in some way. Since he 'rips off the head of the doll, bites off the neck of the doll’ and sings 'I really don’t feel good’ it’s probably something mental. Later, he watches through the keyhole how his sister gets beaten to death, he continues ripping of the head and biting off the neck but now 'he feels finally good’. No parents are mentioned, so the sister seems to be the only relative, probably being responsible for him and buying him the medicaments (one of the only details we get so they have to me important in some way). Maybe he didn’t like her and he imagined the doll is her? Being unhappy because she is still alive and after she got killed, finally being happy? Maybe, he is happy that he won’t need to take medicaments anymore, he looked the whole day outta the window and seemed to do nothing, bc the meds blocked him)

Was ich liebe (literally 'what I love’, in this context, “the things I love”) great song

Fans who heard through some demos should know this one because it’s the demo of Pussy. They used the very different lyrics and refreshed them (changed the 'will die’ to 'will verderben’) , making them into a song about a person which doesn’t want to be happy, doesn’t want to enjoy and doesn’t want to love. A lover of him will 'verderben’ - it’s a prediction, he doesn’t even think it just 'could’ happen, it will happen. He will be unlucky at some point and suffer, 'in luck is also ubglück’, he fears to be hurt so much that his lover 'must’ verderben. Though, he still talks about a lover, so next to this fear, he still does and wants to be happy, enjoy and to love.

Tattoo (tattoo) - I like the music and singing but the topic is boring to me

Pretty simply, it’s about tattoos. He compares paper with his skin and describes noticeably often the pain “when the pain hugs the flesh…” you feel while getting one and how much he likes them on his skin. ‘Show me yours [and[ I’ll show you mine’ it sounds more like a demand as if it were something intimate. Also, after gettin the name of the lover tattooed - in case that the partner would end the relationship - he would prefer to find another partner with the same name instead of erasing the tattoo. He’s just crazy for tattoos.

Hallomann (is norwegian and a word for moderator or similiar) - pretty good?

It sounds kinda as if he would like to spend his time with a little girl. He’s telling a her to “just get in” and to “dance for him” but he doesn’t want her to speak. They go together to the sea, he buys stuff for her. ‘You are alone’ - the girl is alone, maybe she was walking around alone? - and he is ‘all alone’, this sounds more like on an emotional base, being lonely. Not sure of in a romantic or a platonic way. After the dancing would come the Hallomann to her - I really don’t see the connection. Later they sunbath, do something with skin and sand. She has to ‘give her word’, take his hand and afterwards it won’t be the same. ‘Perl on the ring’ - a wedding ring? I’m not even sure if the person himself is an adult or maybe just a boy. In the end he says ‘don’t ask for the meaning’, maybe he just wanted to spent a nice day with her. It got some pedophile vibes at the first sight but nothing really indicates it. Maybe I just don’t see the methaphors lol okay everybody says it's about a pedophile and I guess;; he used phrases pedophiles often use

Ausländer (foreigner) - sounds like Schlager Urgh [german trigger] but good

Simply just a Gigolo jumping from one bed to another and fucking his way through the whole world. He doesn’t even “stay over night, just for 1 or 2 hours.” Anyways, it’s practical to speak many languages so he can talk with the foreign women. In that way he tells us that he’s good in these and speaks a lot, but the last sentence means something like ‘you coming with [me], I’m you doing goodd’ which is pretty bad in grammar but it’s enough to let her know what he wants.

Sex (sex) - love the melody and riffs, really good one

Uhm also pretty much just about sex? Sex without feelings tho. He ‘gets sick when he looks at you’ - it’s really just about the act - ‘mine is yours and that in you’. This is underlined by ‘better slovenly than again not’, he probably put the ‘again’ before the ‘not’ to let it stand out, again, so they already did it at least a couple of times, or better said, didn’t do it. Maybe they are in a relationship? But he can’t look at her anymore, he just wants her body for sex - and only the important parts. The contrast to that is the refrain, ‘We live only once, we love the life, we love the love, we love sex.’ The last sentence is ‘We live because … sex.’ So, he sings often they love the life and in the end it’s they only live for sex = they love just the sex.

#i could go deeper into the material but oof who even wants that lmao #some songs confuse me anyway #rammstein #personal #song interpretation #r+#if you see grammar mistakes just eat em i didnt watch it too much to b correct everywhere #if theres anything strange or in german just at me bc i dont see it then

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96xie · 5 years

Text

2019

a whole summary of this difficult year

2019 was full of unexpected good and bad surprises along with lessons and experiences.

january

spent good time with mocha, wayo and brian

had such a good time with guildies from our game

met up with some other ppl from the same game and didnt feel too good bc i was never good with crowds and/or groups that were already well established

tried tinder for the first time because i thought it would be nice to put myself out there for once

feburary

continued my tinder journey and actually had fun with it. it was pretty scary at the same time because it was such a new experience talking to other people and to have them notice you? because i always knew and felt that i wasnt really the desirable one.

actually hooked up with a guy from last months meetup and hung out twice. thought it was going somewhere because he, too, showed signs to progress further ((was wrong because he lied and showed red flags later))

one major red sign to me: no response after genuinely saying thank you for rides and dinner. im the type of person who always says thank you because im honestly grateful for the little and big things. he basically shrugged it off.

also, a huge liar. yah, big no

i brought him to my friends birthday bc they and himself wanted to meet each other, it was fun while it lasted but stuff happened

towards the end of the month, i cut my ties off with him for being awfully mean to me and also cut ties with my “friends” for having really bad assumptions of me.

i was frustrated with myself at that time bc his cats gave me a bad breakout and i felt super ugly. also i wasnt sad over him, but over the fact that i let myself be treated like a second option. eventually i learned that it was good that i didnt let things go further and that i only deserve the very best.

even though i was hurt, i thought it was a good experience, esp since i havent really been in the “dating game” for years. like it was a just a small step to putting myself out there once again

a week later after that a classmate asked me out and got tons of compliments from him and wondered “the universe really works in crazy ways”

march

met some cool people through the same mobile game on a discord server and they were much better than the first group.

also met this really funny dude in the same group. like he was so fun to talk to and he understood my dumb lingo

remember when my classmate asked me out on a date? it turned out a bit weird. but considering this was my first date in YEARS i thought it was a cool experience. got some carne asada fries outta him

i had the dude i was talking to call me so i could leave the date tho LOL ((he helped me lots, esp how to deal with awkward situations with my classmate. also at this point, i really liked talking to him but i wasnt rly sure if i wanted to date other guys bc i had been hurt previously)

this month was pretty much dedicating most of my time talking to him and i enjoyed it alot

also went to pubs for the first time to hangout with my coworkers. such an interesting place

april

tried rollerskating for the first time ever, ended up with a bunch of bruises but it was cool!

also tried 7leaves for the first time and instantly fell in love with mungbean

also went clubbing in sf with my friends and it was such a fun time like i had SO much fun

i got auctioned off of SAD! that phase was just a crazy ride. while there was many that dm’d me, there was only one special person that i only replied to and continued to talk to him on a daily basis

((honestly, i was scared that i was taking things a bit further with him because a part of me was like “are you ready for this?” and “have you really recovered from that guy?” or “can you give this guy your all?” just alot of overthinking))

spent 4/20 at sf with my friends, and overall had a GREAT time. took too many hits and drank so ya gorl was crossfaded. not sure if i wanna do tht again tho

unfortunately woke up with a swollen face and it lasted for a LONG time.

may

so my face is still swollen, still bad, red as a tomato and at this point i was really hesitant to meet up with the guy ive been talking to. i mean!! my skin was SO bad. i felt like i was gonna make a fool out of myself by scaring him away

but,,,, he was still willing to see me despite my appearance and : ( he was so accepting and typing this makes my heart ache bc he is SUCH a good man : (

i met up with the guy towards the end of the month in sj and first thing he does when i walk up to him is give me this great warm hug and so many smooches !!!!!!! like my heart is melting

eventually we became official !!! he got us an airbnb for the night and we jus spent time cuddling on the bed and honestly i : ( i like him so much

june

my birthday wasnt rly that like “wow” it was actually kinda annoying

my bf flew up to sf where we met up, explored the city and slept the night in at an airbnb. next day went to oakland where i introduced my friends to him!

went to my first festival with several with my friends, including ppl from our same guild from our game and it was SO fun

rolled for the first time and it was SUCH an experience. redosed like twice and ended up hallucinating which is something ill def not do again

also i really wished my bf was with me at that time : ( while i had an extremely fun time, i wish i shared that moment with him : (

july

went to vegas for my cousins 22nd bday. shit was wild

also rolled there.

also threw up for the very first time

a fight broke out at the club and that shit was fuckgin CRAZY and it was RIGHT next to our table

also used alot of my money for the whole trip in which nobody really told me about so …. i was like ok.. fuck …

also my skin was still bad during these past months so it was pretty hard masking it

like really hard. with someone with terrible eczema, its just extremely hard to hide it

august

bf flew to sac!!! he met my mom for the first time and we explored the city and stuff

and went on an ikea date! and! honestly i just really loved spending time with him :c

we also spent time with my friends! they came over also! and ate some fuckgin bomb ass waffles

and then took bus down to la to meetup with some friends from our guild towards the end of the month!

it was pretty nice to be able to stay with my bf in his apartment !!!!!

also some scalding tea but thats rly for another time

to make it super short tho: our friend that we’ve known much longer than the girl he met (less than 3 months) dropped our friendship SO quick lol

september

cousin bonding @ beach, too cold for tht doe

towards the end of the month, my bf flew me down!!! so i spent the weekend with him and like always, only had a good time with him!

AND ALWAYS EATING GOOD FOOD!

october

during this fall semester, i took online classes and one of them was a 8week class. there was a topic about mental health and how we can take care of ourselves better and i just thought it was such an important thing to cover. i feel like its not talked about enough

november

spent thanksgiving with my family down in morgan hill and ate good food! honey ham has a special place in my heart.

went black friday shopping first at walmart, lowkey disappointed in myself because i was bummed out the apple watches were sold out. the materialistic part of me jumped out oof

slept at my cousins then went to the mall! didnt get anything besides really good bulgogi fries. i hated going into stores tho cuz everything was literally crowded. hated it !!!!!!!

went to a small festival in sacramento with my friends at the end of the month and this time is 7 of us (than the usual 5)! it was sososo fun.

also took my coworker with me, it was actually amusing to see bc our group were all asian and he’s the only tall white guy

made hotpot at home and we also went out for milktea and waffles again! sooo good.

december

flew down to see my bf again and only had a good time! went to this garden with beautiful lights and ! ugh! SO pretty!

cried in his bed before my flight back, cried on the plane, cried at home and cried before i slept. i miss him

also racked up alot of hours so i could pay for my tuition and my family’s bills. kinda sucks bc im pretty tired but i gotta do what do i gotta do.

christmas was a bit lonely bc my mom went to the philippines and i dont rly talk to my brother but my kuya came the next day and we ate n watched stuff

overall, it was a whacky year. but im so glad to have met ed. he means SO much to me. a part of me was so hesitant to date him because i mean, he’s man with his life set. i dont have a car, im still in school, i have this part time job where im giving my mom all my paychecks and which the only money im keeping is just my tips (not much), i still have issues with myself and other conflicts and honestly theres much to do, learn and grow from. but he’s so supportive, understanding and loving and i love and appreciate him from the bottom of my heart. most of the time i wonder if im doing and if im being enough for him. i worry about that alot but he’s so patient with me. i laugh alot when im with him and i feel so happy.

did i mention that we are long distance? him being in la and me in sacramento. so the only thing thats connecting us is facetime. maybe once every two months will i see him in person but yep. when i had my first panic attack, i really wanted him right next to me. at that moment i felt even more sad because of course you’re gonna want you’re significant other during a moment like that. but anyways, i always miss him and i always want him next to me and i always love him. i want to hurry up and get my education done with so i can be with him. not to sound like omg im so madly infatuated with him type of thing tho. he’s someone who understands me and knows how to love me.

i hope 2020 treats me well despite all the challenges ahead of me.

#phew #old mutuals im on twtr! keep in contact with me there!

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thefallenarbiter · 6 years

Photo

READ ME!!!!!

>>>>>>> NOTE!!! DRAWING WITH EVERYONE's CHARACTER WHO WAS NOTIFIED TO THIS POST IS TOWARDS THE MIDDLE!!<<<<<<<<

SPEED PAINTS/ PROCESS OF ART

---------HERE 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ZxtQ6RhA4 HERE ---------

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vys4D71bgAw&feature=youtu.be

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=592zJhAAFok

STORY WITH DRAWING DOWN HERE

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

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Midnight Trick and Treat

“This is the perfect chance to take all those snacks,” Olive said with such glee that I had to glance over to make sure they didn't hear her. Evia hushed her before she could let out another booming cry of desire. Olives ears quickly perked down, a pout was on her face from being hushed. I watched as Evia rolled her eyes but gave a quick lick to her ears. The fur on Olive's cheeks somehow turned a rosy red from blushing. But her ears perked back up, a wolfy grin was on her face again.

I held in a groan. This was was not a good plan. We were hidden between the grass, its long blades kept both me and Olive hidden but Evias horns poked through when she shifted her weight. Looking back at the ground I watched as they chatted between one another. I noticed a pattern as one would move their mouths and the others would laugh not long after. Olive followed my gaze but her eyes were stuck on the unguarded bags of treats.

A devilish grin formed on Olives face, ”We gotta get those treats. Ill split all the bags with you two.” she said.

“I dunno Olive, It doesn't sound like a very good-” I stopped when I looked back over at Olive. A grin was placed on her mouth while her eyes tarted between me and the treats. I nearly shivered when I looked at Evia. Half her face was hidden behind Olives but I could see her eyes narrowed dangerously at me with a scowl. When our eyes met she started to mouth something to me. I stared at her mouth, what is she trying to say to me-..Oh. Her claws began to tap the ground impatiently.

I laughed softly, ”Oh god Olive, I knew leaving all the ideas to you was just a fantastic idea! Nothing will go wrong!” I said with the biggest, fakest smile I could muster. You couldn't blame me for lying. You really couldn't when you were stuck between pleasing a giant warrior and a tiny dog who could make you regret anything if you upset her.

“S-so what's our plan?” I asked, the tapping stopped. I held back a sigh of relief at least one of them is pleased with my answer.

“Oh it's pretty simple, we're gonna sneak up right up to them and they won't even notice a thing! It's gonna be great!”

Oh my god, we're going to die. Were so dead. Dead,dead,dead. She's going to get us killed! I laughed nervously. Maybe I can eat a few candies before they catch us. Yeah, that sounds less bad than dying on an empty stomach I thought. The panic I was feeling felt less bad when I thought of this.

“Well, we better get this over and done with! I'm just DYING to get all that candy.”

Olive must have agreed with me because her face lit up but quickly disappeared in the mass of grass as she crawled away.

Evia smirked at me, ”If all hell breaks loose and I have to choose one of you, I'm choosing Olive.” her smirk widened when my eyes grew in size with my mouth agape. She quickly slithered after Olive. I stayed where I was for a moment before following suit. The grassed softly brushed my sides as I crawled through slowly. When I lost sight of Evia I peeked my head out to see a large white wolf sitting on a bench. I tilted my head as a bag of candy was right under them. They were distracted by the messages on their phone. I peered at the candy and nearly sighed in relief. The wire was under their leg to keep it from falling which meant one less person after us during the run.

I quickly hid back into the safety of the grass and proceeded to follow the scent of both Evia and Olive. My ears tilted towards the left at the sound of rushing water. I suddenly felt thirsty but pushed on. I spent a few seconds crawling before stopping. Evia was facing me and when she saw me she pushed me past her. When I was right next to Olive she stopped, I glanced around than stared at Olive puzzled.

Her eyes moved to the area ahead of us, I followed her gaze than wished I had made them both upset. The group was right in front of us, each one chatting away as their bags laid helplessly on the bench closest to them. I looked back at Olive who looked at me expectantly. I quickly looked away so she wouldn't see my panicked expression.

I slowly began to crawl forward and paused when one of them shifted more than 60 degrees. When I made it to the bench safely, I observed the bags, each had different animals which held the candies inside. I slowly moved my head forward, grabbing of the largest bag which Evia helped me put down. Once it was released she had a firm hold on the end. I then grabbed ahold of two sets of strings, I pulled softly until the bags were softly nestled on the ground. Olive reached forward, bit onto the wires and held them in her mouth like Evia.

I glanced at the last bag, it's pumpkin eyes staring intently at me. I gulped nervously. I

slowly took a step forward with my head outward to bite the string. With a snap, the twig underneath my claws broke in half. Any conversation that the group had halted, they all turned towards me all at once to see the source of the noise.

I smiled nervously, ”Hello! My name is Sona. It's nice to meet all of you-” I paused when Olive and Evia made a run for it. The group let out shocked cries looking between me and the runaways. I bit into the wire and made a dash for it. The sounds of feet stomping and yelling were right behind me. This is all Olives fault.

Birthday gift for @Spoopy-snek

Don't kill me pls

So For your bday, I decided to draw a group picture that involves your friends. Side note I'm sorry if I forgot anyone. I tried finding everyone and drawing them but again I'm sorry if I forgot anyone.;n; But If I did miss any close friend go ahead and comment saying that you were forgotten so when I do something big like this again I can add all her friends.

Happy Birthday old lady!!!! I hope you have a fantastic bday and get to celebrate it, friends and family. DONT DO DRUGS. Drugs are restricted on your bday and I will steal all dem drugs for myself >: ) BUt ANyway… Happy birthday to my closest buddy! <33333 You mean so much to me and always got to use your bday as a way to spoil you with love and art cuz you deserve it!!! Even tho you're a major butthead but two can play with fire!!! I really hope you have a fantastic day!! you so much. I'm so thankful to have met you and I can't believe we've been friends for 6 years???!!! Wow, time really flies I can't believe we're so old now. You meet me when I was basically a smol gorl. Like much wow were both getting so freaking old. (as my lollipop decides that falling is a better idea than living,,,) But again I'm so freaking thankful we're friends, you've been there for me for so long and I can't thank you enough for sticking with my ugly butt. You helped me through much whether it be mentally or with anything. You've been there for me and when I get money I'm gonna try to repay you for everything that you've helped me through with gifts. You're my closest friend Olivia and without you, I would be in a different place. I doubt I would be the same if it weren't for you. You always had my back no matter once. Every time I lost someone close to me whether it be family or relationship wise you've helped me stay strong and keep going. Honestly ilu so much you big softy and I'm so sorry we don't hang out enough. I really want to return the favor and help you in any way I can because you're my best friend Olivia. Were both total nerds and goofballs who love videos games way to much and basically kill our characters lmao. I can't wait to spend the rest of our life as besties. We need to seriously meet in person tho. We have been friends for so long but I only ever see you through your photos. We have to meet eventually because your my best friend and we've been through thick and thin together. If we don't meet I'm sending the squirrel after you!!!! I'm so glad we have each other even if we lost all our other friends through time even tho I miss them, I can't wait to spend our time together through hell and heaven. We're gonna kick life's butt and get through everything together. Hopefully, we both can hang out more often because we're both busy bees and never get the chance ;n; I still can't believe we both happened to join DA around the same time and managed to start talking right after. If it weren't for you I would have been dead on that website a year after I joined. Anyway, ilu and I wish you the biggest Happy Birthday you spoopy butt. I would attempt to give you the biggest hug I can muster but my arms are too short :,,,D

Explanation of each drawing

Golden Skull Zayn with Olive ----- When I did the three doodles in the speedpaint I was planning a creepy vibe with each one. So for this one I wanted to show off the fact that parts of Zayn are indeed made of gold. It was meant to go with his design just to fit the color combo but I decided that any character that has future sight have gold parts to them. It would be very rare for a kaian to have all gold bones but I figured it would fit the prophet when they start to loose their mind to the visions. There's always a price to pay when you can see into the future. Poor Olive just happened to be around when he ripped the skin off during one of his major visions. But don't worry she lives and he gets his face back.

Sona and Loch ------- I wanted to have Sona soothing one of Lochs sessions of pain. Not much to say here other than I wanted to have her kind of grumpy looking and comfort him since in our story for them she kinda uses him for bad to get what she wants so she gets a body.

Olive's Secret Protector ---------- Again not much to say other than Evia is using her dark powers to blend into the shadows to keep an eye on olive.

Run Run from the Scary Mob ------ The main drawing that I spent the most time on that comes with a speedpaint. For this one I wanted to show off our main characters plus a side character that she loves. When I made this I realized I wanted to make it big just for Olivia so I decided to include all her friends that I could think of or find. Each character is dressed in something to show off the fact that each one is trick and treating for Halloween. I'm pretty proud of how everyone turned out and how most the background turned out.

Experiment Brewing ------ A little sketch where I had an idea that maybe Olive wasn't a real Kaian and was actually a experiment made by the banished shadow go. I like the idea that maybe he made her so he could put himself into a form onto the home planet of the Kaians than seek the other gods out for revenge. This was before he used Evia as a host even if she's in control. He hoped that when Olive was ready he could take her body over. Sadly the scientist who made her on the home planet did not complete the project and Olive had gone missing when the lab was destroyed. Funny thing is that not long after Olive was found by Evia when in a field of flowers. The god believes Olive is dead but I like to think that he takes over Olive during the final battle to use her to summon him when the other banished god is summoned by Calla. If he did succeed in taking her body over than she would look like her portals. I like the idea of the gods portals and powers looking like this but his are purple. The crystals on her help power the portals and powers she uses which are basically just like the gods expect weaker since she couldn't handle all his power in her body.

Selfie ----- A head doodle to show off Olives looks frontview. First concept sketch of how she would look. Also based on one of Olivia's doodles of Olive with crystals imbedded in her body. I decided to expand on that.

Design ---- A design for Olivia to repay the design she made for me >:0

Thirsty as heckles ---- Olive ready for some Evia but decided on the way to bed that she also likes Zayn a lot. Evia stops what they planned to go find Zayn.

Official Design for Olive as a experiment ---------. I wanted to show off the fact that she would be constantly dripping from the gods powers that she barely holds in her body.

This is War ------- Zayn has a vision in a different timeline where Olive chooses Evia over him and betrays him by killing him. He mistakes it for it being in this timeline and plans to repay the debt by killing them first. Looks like everyone has to fight with the person they love eventually.

Left to right are the corresponding characters belonging to their creators

Big brown and green wolf, Evia dressed as Dracula belongs to me

Tiny yellow doge, Olive wearing snake onesie belongs tp @spoopy-snek

smol purple and blackbird, Sona dressed as a messed up Egyptian belongs to me

spooky dog on a broom, Ney dressed as a witch belongs to @neyzilla

Purple dragon in sleeping wear, Hobbes dressed in a dragon onesie belongs to @hobbledragon

Tall skelelly boi being attacked by hungry doggy, Calabaza dressed as a skelly belongs to @anxietywithaspook

The white dog that shakes, Milk belongs to @milkfake

Mummy that is so done with you, Wilhelm dressed a mummy belongs to @wilhelm-the-undead-man

A woman who wants her candy back, Shaman dressed as a literal Shaman belongs to @missmcgregor

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paradoxidolatry · 6 years

Text

Brotherly Love

@birdhole , @beatconductor a lil bit

TG: hey TG: sup

TT: Hey. TT: Not much. Lunch break at work. TT: Sup?

TG: oh thats sweet TG: sucks theres no free pizza in it when you work as a cop huh TG: i guess its overall kind of a step up from the pizza gig tho

TT: Right? Free donuts though. TT: But nah, yeah, not so bad. TT: Didn't get a chance to tell you about it but I figure Dave or whoever's already spilled those beans. TT: Kinda weird, right?

TG: yeah dave told me TG: donuts just like a real cop huh TG: still cant quite wrap my head around this cop thing tbh TG: i can see you working as a LOT of things but a cop? thats wild

TT: Yeah. TT: I mean, I figured. Got all that military experience, right? TT: But I didn't want to go back to the military. TT: Plus, working as a cop is an equal mix of 'keeps me active' and 'allows me to work around certain roadblocks in regards to the acquisitions business', so it was a good compromise. TT: Better than fast food and skin flicks again, at any rate.

TG: i mean i guess that makes logical sense n all TG: still fucking wild as shit to me TG: guess you can still wear a uniform even its obviously not as sweet as the fast food ones

TT: Yeah, I really miss that old greasy apron. TT: But what can you do?

TG: the grease just made your eyes pop in that special way ykno TG: chicks love it

TT: They fuckin do, don't they? TT: But somethin tells me you didn't message me to talk about the chicks missing my pizza funk.

TG: you sure about that? its a pretty great topic you could write a book on it become rich quick with your pick up tips

TT: Hey, I'm already on chapter 7: the Sausage Party. TT: But really though. TT: What's up, boss?

TG: nothing TG: i was just TG: thinking about you is all

> Heart, squeeze. TT: That right? TT: Cool, cool. TT: Was thinking about you earlier too, actually.

TG: oh? any reason or

[Dave txt @ bro] im watching u [Dave txt @ bro] > that chicken image

TT: Just, y'know. TT: Was outside on a smoke break and I saw a couple of pigeons hanging out, eating some sandwich or some shit on the sidewalk and like. TT: Got me thinking about you, and like. TT: I spent the past 13 years thing you're dead or some shit, and now you're alive and it's. TT: Just fuckin buck wild. TT: Pardon me for sound fucking sappy but it's kind of like a dream come true.

[TT > Dave: I'm behaving, dad.]

TG: ...am i a pigeon now? tho i do admit i would eat that floor sandwich(edited) TG: yeah its...its fucking wild huh? TG: kinda thought id never see you again even after TG: i got away and shit TG: idk why not like you up and died but? after looking for you and you werent there i dunno i guess TG: i thought you just TG: werent going to come back TG: ...you didnt even see my wings yet you dont get to relate me to birds just yet dude

TT: I mean, I saw them in a picture. TT: One of you and Dave and a bunch of trolls and some old dude in front of a candy cane dildo? TT: But also you post about birds and shit all the time, so I figured that was sort of your Thing now. TT: And ... well. I dunno. TT: Almost didn't. TT: I was just gonna stay on Earth, maybe pop in to visit every so often. TT: But then all that shit happened and Dave wasn't answering my messages, so I thought he was dead too, and...well. TT: I guess I'm, uh... grateful to the apocalypse for. I guess bringing you back to me? TT: Well, no. TT: But like, at least letting me know you're alive.

TG: oh...yeah thats TG: thats my sisters actually and uh..shit what even is grig? grandpa i guess TG: already know mr d after all TG: i mean... im not sure how i feel yet TG: i guess im sorta glad because TG: i mean it has been my embarrassing dream to play family with you again for a while TG: i want to be a family again TG: a lot TG: its just TG: hard

TT: Sisters, huh? Well damn, you got the whole family package with these folks, huh? TT: Nice. How long you been with them? TT: Yeah, I figured. TT: I didn't, and don't, make it easy. I know. TT: A lot easier when you were a baby, even if our folks were shit, just cuz, y'know. TT: Everything hadn'tt happened yet. TT: Hadn't started to completely fuckin lose my mind and treat you like dogshit. TT: But I mean. I dunno. TT: I'm not gonna force you or nothin. TT: But if you ever wanted to come backto the apartment and chill for a day, see how you feel about it? TT: That'd be uh. TT: That'd be really nice.

TG: 3 years TG: as long as ive been TG: away from scratch... TG: i..yeah i guess maybe TG: can you even handle seeing me get gay with dave tho

TT: God. You were with Scratch that whole fuckin time? TT: Fuckin sonnuvabitch refused to tell me what he did with you. TT: Anyway. TT: Handling y'all and your homogay is a small price to pay at the end of the day. TT: Even if it's still. TT: Kinda really weird from my perspective. TT: But I respect y'all and he takes good care of you, so I can't complain too much, right?

TG: ...yeah like ten years TG: kinda fucked up huh TG: ill..ill think about it TG: okay so im gonna be real with you here for a sec okay TG: i TG: messaged you because i was talking to dave and i realized i missed you and TG: that i TG: kindawantahugiguess

TT: ...Yeah? TT: I can do a hug, yeah. TT: Where are you? I can meet you, if you wanna.

TG: ...workin TG: at [coords] TG: dont arrest me mr officer these drugs are prescription

TT: I'll leave the cuffs in the car. TT: What happens off-duty stays off-duty, though, so. TT: See you in five.

TG: kay > Try not to freak out. Freak out anyways.

> Pull up by the curb a short walk away and park. > Look, you even pay for the parking meter and everything. > Step out of the car in your full uniform and approach Sock, one hand in your pocket, the other raised in a wave hello.

> Oh god, he really fucking is a god damn cop. That's so damn weird. God. > Not as weird as randomly meeting up with him for a hug though. Damn it that was the dumbest idea. > You wave back, trying hard to look cool and not like you are dying on the inside and failing miserably.

> You stride up alongside him and... ...well, now what, actually. > Neither of you are very good at this kind of planning, are you. > Damnit, Striders. "Hey." > Now just to... > ... > Open your arms up? > Yeah. That's how hugs happen.

> Oh god, he's going right for it.Oh god. Not even small talk or anything really bro? > Maybe that's better anyways because god know you don't know what to say. "Hey." > You take a deep breath and you...Go for the fucking hug. Squeeze that big bro tight.

> Aww shit here it comes and here he is. All up and hugging you. > Actually, that's uh. > That's real nice. > You wrap your arms around him and pull him in for a good, tight hug. > It's probably not the most comfortable thing, what with your radio strapped onto your chest and name plates aand shit, but. > At least for you? This is a fucking good hug. > (Don't you dare tear up in public.)

> You don't really care about the cofort level of this, it's something you've been craving for 13 years now, a little radio isn't going to stop you from enjoying it. > It's nice. It's familiar, like all the good parts of Bro you've been missing wrapped up for you in one big huggable form. Easy to forget all the shit for a moment. > But the moment does end and when you pull away you have to wipe at you eyes like an idiot. "Uh...Th-thanks."

> Aww, shit goddamn. He's teaaring up too under those glasses. > You swipe one knuckle under your shades, and you take a steaadying breath. "Hey, yeah, no problem." > Breathe easy, Strider. You glance up for a moment as you see a fatass snowflake come drifting down, then you look to Sock again. "Hey, you wanna maybe grab some lunch with me? Haven't eaten yet and it's still my break, so."

> Well at least you are both sappy motherfuckers now. > Oh. You didn't expect that. You think about what Dave told you earlier "Stay in control" and promptly decide to fuck that advice because shit. You are already here. You already went for it like an idiot. "Yeah sure. Gonna have Donuts like a proper cop?" > You make such a face at the snow. Ugh, you didn't really prepare for that kinda weather, fuck.

> You snort a laugh and give your flat stomach a pat. "Gotta work on that signature cop gut, don't I? C'mon." > You gesture behind you with a jerk of your thumb. "Hop in up front. You can pick the place."

"Hell yeah you do. You look like a fake ass striper cop dude." > You get into the car and immediately get the seatbelt. Doesn't feel safe otherwise. You don't really like cars still but you can't pin point why. It's just a weird personality quirk yeah? But you are used to being in one at this point of your life. > Just drive carefully. Please.

> You hop in and buckle up too, both pleased and a litttle saddened that you didn't even need to remind Sock to put on his seatbelt. > Poor kid. > Luckily, you are an impeccably safe driver, and the drive to Wherever is smooth and uneventful.

> Old habits die hard. > You feel kind of awkward in the car with him, it's too silent for our tastes. > You get out of the car at whatever this amazing food place he's taking you is. Fingers crossed for fast food- "Y'know kinda funny. Always figured my first frive in a cop car would be because I'm getting arrested."

> You snort a laugh. It's Sock's old favorite pizza place. > God you hope he still likes this shit. > Also this wasn't a Pizza Pimp before, was it? It was Gino's-- > Wait. > Ugh, well, maybe Dave's not at work. "If you're planning on getting arrested, you're doing this pushing thing wrong, kid."(edited)

> Oh the Pizza Pimp. Fucking score. Maybe Dave is there, that would be rad. "I didn't say I was, I said I didn't think I'd ride a cop car otherwise. Your hearing getting bad?" > You immediately freeze after saying that. Oh man, actually sassing Bro though? Please don't hit me.

> Dave is unfortunately not there, but he sure would love to.

> You catch that freeze, and you... > You snort a little, before pointing to your ears. "Too many concerts and phat-ass beats. Knew I shouldn't have gotten all up and personal with those speakers. Who knew the grown-ups were right about that?" > You smile, and it's a little awkward cuz you sure as hell have never been the smiling type, before you hold open the door for him. "C'mon, before we freeze our asses off."

> Oh. Okay. It's cool. It's chill. In a quite literal sense even so you get your silly ass inside. > A smile though? You haven't seen your brother smile in...far longer than you haven't seen him for sure. > That little scare knocked the speech right out of you though so you just awkwardly sit down at the next best table, suddenly really not sure how good of an idea this was.

> You take a seat opposite him, and when the server approaches, you order yourself a water instead of a soda. > Who are you, even. > You glance over the menu, humming softly. Some of these item names... fitting for a place called Pizza Pimp. "You wanna split one, or do individuals, or?"

> Who is he indeed. You order a black coffee instead of apple juice though, so maybe the traditional Strider beverages are just staying outside today. "Uhhh..Not super hungry honestly I don't mind sharing one." > You haven't been able to eat a whole pizza at once in a while but you don't say that.

"Alright. We'll split a medium and you can take the rest home if you want." > You let him pick the toppings too. This really is a strange Strider day.

> The strangest. Do they have nuggets as topping because you want that.

> They might have like, baked chicken, which is kinda like nuggets and also? Is Carro-approved.

> Do you think the pizza pimp doesn't have a nugget topping what kinda fool do you take Dave for.

> A big one. >:3

> LISTEN Nuggets have been added like at least two months ago. Cock Special.

> Goddamnit, Dave.

> Sock loves Dave and the Cock Special Pizza. Prepare ya taste buds Bro.(edited)

"One Cock Special with extra cock please" > Yes, this is exactly how you order.

> Oh your face. > You're so fucking proud. Dave sure is your little brother, and so too is Sock. > Bless these fucking kids.

"Hope you like it, it's my fav." > Both the pizza and you know.

> Yeah. Yeah, you know. "Sure I will." > Snort a laugh. "This sure isn't Gino's anymore, huh. You remember that place?"

"Oh yeah. Man..That's been a while. Clover gifted the place to Dave what? 2 years ago?" > Back when you were on a no homo basis. Memories.

> [Clover: nya face]

"Used to be your favorite, but maybe that's because it was free when I worked here. ...Clover?"

"I'm always a slut for free food but I still digged their shit later. Oh uh..Yeah. Little green guy? 4 of the Felt?" > Should..You now have mentioned that?

> [Dave] Oh no.

> There's this shift in your face. It's not a frown, but a certain tightening of your lips as you're hit with the full brunt of what Sock just said. "...Dave's...doing business with the Felt?"

> WHOOPSIES >Oh. Oh, oh, oh shit. You fucked up. You didn't really think about that when you said it. At all. Shit. Fuck. Damn. "Hahaha whaaaat? Noooo. Of course not! He'd never uh...Clover is just y'know his uh... Sugar daddy yeah. Cash money man, can't say no to that even from a greenie right?" > Well it's not entirely a lie. You are sweating though.

> You paw at your face and you sit back in your seat, eyebrows knit together tightly. > Looks like you're going to have to have a little talk with Dave when you get home. "...No, guess not. Desperate times and all that, right?"

"Yeah exactly! Haha..." > God this is uncomfortable. You are going to warn Dave but you already feel like shit. Fuck. "Don't...Don't hurt him okay?" > There's fear in your eyes now. Not for you but for your boyfriend, which is so much worse in your eyes.

> That snaps you Right out of your bad thought spiral and you quickly wave your hand. "Hey, no, no. Not gonna hurt him. It's chill." > There's that smile again, even if it's uneasy and a bit green around the gills. Your brother and the Felt... "Really. Just surprised he hadn't mentioned it before now."

> [Dave] GUESS WHY.

" 'kay..." > He probably hadn't mentioned it for a reason. You couldn't have known Dave wasn't supposed to do business with the Felt but you still feel like shit. It makes sense in hindsight and considering your history of course but...You just plain didn't know. > The Pizza arrives but you suddenly don't feel very hungry at all, sipping on you coffee awkwardly instead.

> You're, similarly, not hungry, but you've got to salvage this. Not telling when or if Sock will agree to see you again after this. "Sorry, I just... Y'know, getting offered a gift by those guys. If they had snatched Dave too..." > You shake your head, and sigh it off. Out with the bad. "But they didn't, and that's that. So." > You take up a slice of the pizza and you point is casually at Sock, an eyebrow quirked. "What're you out there peddling?"

> Oh. You'd really rather not follow that line of thought, yeah. Smooth topic change. "Dude, don't think I should be discussing that with a cop in a pizzeria. Mr D would murder me man."

"Hey." > You make a show of taking off your badge and laying it upside down on the table. "Off-duty, not a cop. So is it the good shit, or is it like, oregano in a dimebag being passed off as weed."

"We're still in public man." > And you don't want to piss off your Dad on top of the shit you just pulled.

"Yeah, yeah. Weren't you in public anyway?" > You chuckle a little and you point toward the kitchen area. "Your big bro used to sell shitty dimebags out of there, way back. Dealt to all the line cooks."

" Course you did." > You roll your eyes behind your shades. "What you want an inventory list? Okay I'll just tell you my favorite product aight? Kinder Überraschungseier......The surprise is Cocaine." > Huh, sure did slip into your mother tongue there. Welp..

> Okay. You actually laugh then. "You're selling Kinder Überraschungseier full of Cocaine. Shut the fuck up, seriously?" > You're nodding approvingly now. "That's a fucking great idea. Where the fuck'd you get the chocolates, though? Make them yourself?"

> That makes you feel..really proud? Huh. You can't stop the big dorky grin from spreading on your face. "Best idea I ever had, honestly. I'm importing them from earth, duh. Along with a bunch of other banned sweets and shit. Who the fuck thought peeps are illegal anyways?"

> You balk at that and you laugh again. "Peeps are illegal here-- wait, shit, right." > Smack your forehead. "That's my job to know that now. Wow, fuckin fire me now."

"Maybe I should show you my stock, just as a reminder. A fucking lot of dumb shit is. Fucking Lattes were banned man. Until the King unbanned them just for Jude which is honestly so fucking stupid. Way to play favorite, just like royalty should am I right? Not that I'm complaining, love me a big fat Latte." > Man it's...Nice to be able to make that kind of shit tier level german dick joke and to know you're gonna be understood just fine.

> You snort your water and you pull a face,but you're clearly goofing around a loving it. "Fucking nasty, dude. I don't need to hear about your love of big hot fuckin Lattes."

"Aren't you glad the prospitian monarchy digs a steaming hot Latte too? What a life that would be otherwise." > You snort yourself.

"Jesus christ. Fuckin whities, dude." > You stuff some pizza in your mouth and you talk withyour mouth full like the fat nasty trash you are. "Can you believe I have to work with them? Like what the fuck."

"The Queen gives me the creeps with her I love everyone bull. And the King seems like a huge fucking idiot so...Congrats man. Jackpot."

"Not had the chance to meet either, but this is the closest I've gotten to infiltrating the corrupt government yet. Maybe if I keep my shit up, I can finally overthrow them from the inside." > You are entirely dead seriouus.

"What's the masterplan? Shoot them in public?" > You aren't but you also don't mind the topic. Not a fan of these guys.

"Nah, nah, nothing like that. Too messy. Besides." > You gesture at the scar that runs oveer your eyes. "Never been a fan of guns."

"I know." > Hell maybe you should be grateful he ain't. Swords fucked you over bad enough. "Seems like a popular approach is all. Like historically or whatever. But I guess you gotta go for something less stale huh?"

"Of course. Flashy's the only way to be when you're taking out a corrupt system of government."

"Looking forwards to the show Bro." > Except you hope he's fucking joking.

> You totally fucking aren't. > You toss him a wink, which of course he can't see all that well behind your shades. "Hope it's a good one. You gonna eat any pizza, lil bro?"

"Oh, right." > You finally grab a piece too. "How's the Cock Special?"

> Stuff the rest of your piece into your mouth and brush the crumbs off of your fingers. "It's not big hot Latte, but it's nice and tasty all up in my mouth, so it'll do."

"I mean we can grab a Latte next time-" > Did you just say next time. Did you just imply you want to meet up like this again? Shit. > Stuff your mouth with Pizza real quick.

> Oh. > Oh... That makes yourr heart do the smiley emote. > You grin a liittle bit about that and you say, voice kinda soft, "Yeah... alright. I'd like that."

"Me too...I think." > If you don't hurt my boyfriend tonight that is, is what you think.

> Don't you worry, Sock. Not gonna hurt your boyfriend tonight. > You're not gonna be home, so Dave gets to go unhurt for another night.

> Or any other night Bro.(edited) > Or day, or ever:

> Well, at least you'll try to keep your cool when you talk to Dave about it later.

> That's a good start.

> Fuck yeah. Before you all finish up here, you nod back to the streets now lightly coat with snow. "You going back to your corner, right? You need a jacket?"

"I mean, I'll live..." > But it's pretty obvious that you don't have any especially warm clothes on you, you know like an idiot.

"Yeah, and you'll get sick, doofus." > You shrug off your jacket--it's a plain black windbreaker, while you wait for your city issue polcie jacket to come in--and you ball it up, handing it over to him. "Here."

> You open your mouth to respond but the Jacket is already in your hands. Oh. That's..Oh. > Is that what it's like to have a caring older brother? "Thanks..." > The Jacket is far too big for you and smells like Bro. It's a weird feeling to put it on. Like a hug you can wear. > Your heart is doing several emotions.

"Hey, no sweat. No good to go out there to work if you're just gonna freeze to death, yeah?" > You have the server bring you all a box for the leftovers, and you give those to him, too. > You stand from the stand and stretch. "Alright, my lunch is about over. You ready to go?

"Uh, yeah." > You are still trying to sort your feelings over all of this. It's weird. It's nice. > It's what you wanted all along. > Except for the part where you are scared about Dave. > You get up too feeling like a huge fool.

> You, very very carefully, put your hand on his back and lead him out back into the cold. > Look to him, then to your car. "Back to tthe same corner? Or you got anywhere else you need to be?"

> You tense up just a little at the touch but let it happen anyways. "Y-yeah same place." > You just get into the car quickly to cut off the awkward moment. Not without putting on your seatbelt of course.

> Always seatbelt first, kid! > You buckle in and drive him back to the street corner you found him on, putting the car into park but not getting out. "Alright. Don't get into any trouble, alright? Oh, and patrol comes past here in about 30 minutes, so be cool when they pass, yeah?"

"Oh uh..Okay. See you, I guess." > You wave an awkward goodbye, overwhelmed by a lot of conflicting emotions.

> You're about to drive off, but then you open the door and, hanging halfway out, you call to him, "Hey! Love you, Sock."

> That just leaves you starring for a moment. Did he just-? Does he? What. Can not compute. "L-Love you too Bro..." > You are not sure if he heard that with the way you mumbled that. You are not sure if you want him to or not. > It's only getting weirder. > But it also warms your birdy little heart.

> You heard it--you've actually got pretty good hearing still, despite all tthatt music and shit. > You smile and wave again before ducking back into your car and driving off.

> The patrol driving by half an hour later doesn't find a drug dealer, just a crying kid in some back alley. > This absolutely kills the bird.

#borgatabent #ic #story post #rp thread #birdhole #beatconductor #ft mentions of:#fouramour #starlight-iridescence #sunlight-magnificence

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qtsp00k · 3 years

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I Need An Easy Friend

Last Night I Had to Resist the Urge to Call/text an Ex Friend Man, I'm craving S6. My head is killing me, I don't wanna talk to anyone at all. And still I'm just consumed by the thought of him. Which is ironic cuz he's got about as much substance as a thought. (God love him he's just ate up) When I framed it like he's under my skin or in my skin I realized I might be able to approach this same as addiction. And so I'm trying to ride the wave. Just like not drinking booze or taking oxy. In the hope that the next time I get this craving it won't grip as tight or as long. I'm breathing thru it. This is really new to me. It's crazy making.I just go over the whole ship when I can think about things. But there's no analyzing happening ATM. I'm sick as a dog and have a bad headache. So it's just like this dull throb that's repeating his name. I don't even know what I'd text him. I de f y wouldn't expect to hear back at all. Sending it would somehow give me my fix. Told Alexa to play korn so I'm listening to songs of theirs I've never heard, never cared to hear tbh. It's weird. I can recognize that I want a distraction from facts I can't face right now. But it's not that which motivates this. There's this like glowy feeling that only he did that for me. I want that glow back. And I feel like knowing people is no different than the elected tragedy of pet ownership. Oo I wish I had him in a cage. He should be caged such an animal. Anyway, so feeling like I'm just done knowing people removes any possibility of feeling that way again. Or feeling better. As if that were possible. So it does make sense I'd have the urge to run back down that path; not getting it in the future, so backward it is. Never experienced love in this diseased addiction way before. (maybe cuz I’ve never been capable of this level of love I’ve unlocked with sobriety) And boy have I prayed on it. And I've done a bunch of witchy stuff cuz its just like second nature to me to be witchy & praying isn't working. But yeah man. It's downright dangerous for me to interact with people knowing how easy it is to get someone under my skin. I kinda shoulda known. Cuz I spent one night with my friends boyfriend & we talked like 12 hours without realizing time existed. And everytime I used or even thinking of cinnamon I'm like "C is allergic to cinnamon" & it's been like 5 years to get my brain to cut that out from being 100%. I don't even want anything to do with him tho. He left my place to go do porn in Vegas so like f that. Completely done. He's a sad story. And T6 is under my skin. Of course. But him I think fondly of & adore. And fn MISS & look so forward to seeing again. Oh such plans we has. I think about T6 too much. I love T6 too much. But it doesn't make me want to beat my head against the wall like this maddening S6 shit. It doesn't feel diseased. I don't know how exactly. Dots are not connecting right now. But like cut myself to stop craving him? Yeah sure that seems like a good thing yup. Maybe I need to give myself permission to play with him in my imagination. Oh or voodoo dall? Hmm never made one of those before. Have u? The problem I’m running into is that I don’t know what he looks like, so I can’t put a name to a face to a body, to voice, to soul... I let him create himself. Whatever he told me to believe about him I just rolled with it. Even when I knew no doubt the truth was starkly different. I wanted to give him a chance to embody the role & walk the path built not by his bricks of bullshit. Be as good as you want to be & I’ll buy it. I feel like my job was just to witness the light ya know. Don’t play games. I kno i kno. But God’s plan & my games are like literally legit the exact same thing, so I don’t know how to navigate. And then there’s of course the second hand psychic meth high I could have been getting from being on the line with him. Oh great the spiritual argument for landlines geez. Ok. T6 is mad at him & wrote him off, but I just continue to love S6 with my all. WIsh I could hate him, but I really don’t.

#qtsp00k personal #love addiction #attachment disorder #traumatic brain injury

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humans-are-seriously-weird · 7 years

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The Time I Almost Decapitated Someone While Trying To Surf

Brace for a whole lot of pain and stupidity. It starts off a little slow but stick around for the AHHHHHHH As some of you may know, i am an intense klutz. As in I-Will-Trip-Over-Absolutely-Nothing-And-Probs-Knock-Over-The-Crown-Jewels kind of klutz. A Would-Trip-And-Fall-Off-A-Cliff kind of klutz I really need to drive this point home ok this is v important to this story So this is back in Peru (yes the same trip the chicken chased me off a cliff). Work is over for the day, the sun is starting to set, and all 40 of us Canadians are headed to the beach for our very first surf lessons So we show up and our instructors hurl wetsuits at us. I do mean hurl like mine wrapped around my face like a squid i nearly died before i even hit the water smh We get separated into groups of five and head off with our instructors. All the other groups had these young Peruvian guys and girls, all smiles and gentle teachers My instructor was a cranky 80 year old who never spoke and stared at us until we figured out what we were supposed to do Before we even get to go near the beach we start learning the technique on land. We lay down on these fake boards and pretend paddle and pretend stand, all in complete silence because who needs words right Im at the point of assuming our instructor doesnt speak english, which is totes cool cause we’re getting the message anyways. We’d spent three days working around the language barrier, now was no different. Moving on Our instructor finally deems us worthy of hitting the water so we all gleefully make our way to the beach. We were all sunshine and laughter, expecting the warm sand between our toes Not happening The beach is not soft like we had thought. It was rocks. Thousands of rocks and pebbles that sent us skittering as we descended the steep incline to the water First off: No one told me how freaking exhausting this crap is All those movies of people surfing like haha look at me this is so easy and majestic be one with the waves dude were straight up liars ok i was panting and heaving like a 90 year old race horse by the time i made it out far enough to catch a wave Cue twenty frustrating minutes of trying and failing to paddle fast enough to stay on a wave I thought i looked like Dash Incredible, majesticly spearing across the water from a horde of bad guys, my arms windmilling at break neck speeds Yeah no I was more of a drowning sloth if im completely honest Id make it maybe two feet by the time one wave passed and the next was already approaching Here’s where my surfing attempt took an unexpected turn Water splashed behind me and i didnt bother turning around. Probably one of my classmates heading for a better wave area “Need some help?” The voice was definitely not my classmates My instructor sat casually on his board behind me I was so shocked to hear him speak that i just nodded dumbly, not aware of what i was agreeing to. He hops off his board and bobs in the water for a second. He casually puts on hand on the back of my board like he was keeping me from floating away Behind him a wave approaches. I lay back down and get ready to paddle. I figured maybe he’ll tell me when to start paddling so i can actually catch this one but the wave is getting closer and closer and there was still no word from him. I was long past when I started paddling before I hear this soft intake of breath and then, “BRACE!!!” I obey blindly and grip my board in terror wondering if there was a shark lurking beneath me Instead my 80 year old instructor absolutely freaking catapults me forwards i swear that man could launch Niel Armstrong into orbit single handedly NASA who??

Im rocketing along along, too stunned to move Im on a wave!! Im on a… wave????? I scramble to my feet thinking somebody better be seeing this cuz i will not be doing this again By some miracle i manage to stand ok i do not have great balance on land so sticking me on a board in the middle of the ocean was in no ones best interest So im whizzing along feeling like im flying and just generally trying not to face plant on my board or topple into the sea ok i just got up here no way i can manage it a second time Something about the water ahead of me doesnt look right The sun is glaring off the water just enough to block whatever that thing is. Im squinting, praying im not about to hit a rock It was so much worse It was a man He was casually chillin on his board, a set of headphones in his ears, looking to the world like he was asleep Im heading straight for this guy at top speed and as i get closer i realize two very important things I dont know how to stop … … Or turn I think of the wicked looking fins on the bottom of my board I remember mildly thinking this is gonna hurt before reality truly set in I very well might kill this man if i dont figure something out fast I start screaming and flailing with as much strength as i can muster “MOVE MOVE!!!! UNLESS YOU WANNA BE FILLET LIKE A FISH YOU GOT MOVE I CANT STOOOOOP” He casually lifts out one ear bud and looks at me with a barely audible “que?” “YOU GON DIE MOVE!!!!” Clearly he didn’t understand english, but flailing and screaming is pretty universal He leisurely lays back and paddles forewards, moving him ever so slightly out of the danger zone My board hits his as i pass so close i could have flicked his nose My board launches off his and by some miracle i manage to not only stay on it, but stay standing I twist and stare back at the man I definitely did not kill as he casually lays back down on his board Good. That would have been troublesome to explain to immigration officers on my way home I face the beach again and prepare to enjoy my calm landing and– I am less than five feet from shore going full speed SHIT I do what any sane person would do I jump ship

That was the biggest mistake of my life

See just as i jumped for dear life the wave hit its crest and i landed right in the middle of it

Suddenly i was a soggy pair of Canadian socks in the worlds worst dryer

On a very important side note, i am attached to the board by a long thin cable that is velcroed around my ankle, meant to keep the board from drifting and keep me safe

That cord is the bane of my existence

In my Horror Dryer Extreme experience the cord had managed to wrap from my ankle all the way up to my thigh, digging cruelly into my skin even through the wet suit

I slam into shore like a beached whale

Remember kids: shore is not my friend shore is OW

I slam into the rocks and lay there dazed for a moment, gasping for air. No way im going back out there ill just let the water wash over me im done surfing im done with the ocean

But the ocean wasnt done with me

Suddenly im getting dragged by the leg down the beach. I sit up, ignoring the stones slowly filling my pants.

My board had gotten stuck in the out take and was dragging me out to sea once again

I go through another round of Angry Dryer Mama Ocean and get slammed mercilessly back into shore, this time hitting my face so hard i split the skin above my eye. I still have a scar hidden above my eyebrow from this

At this point i am done

I try to stand and grab my board but the cord was still wrapped around my leg

Our teams guide who just so happened to be a surfer comes running over to see if im ok. “hey! Get up! Another wave is coming!”

I try to shout back “i cant, im stuck!” But that’s not what comes out of my dizzy mouth

Instead i lift my leg in the air like a dog and scream “I cant! It’s winding!”

My guide took this as “I cant! Im drowning!”

He runs over looking like a stern third grade teacher “you’re fine just get up!”

“You think im not trying??”

Another wave slams into me from behind and im washed out and washed back in. Lil me cant catch a break

Somewhere in the time id been brutally slammed back to shore my guide vanished. Fine then

I quickly unwrap my leg and scramble to my feet

Screw this, screw the board, im leaving!!

I start sprinting for my life up the hill to safety

SPLAT

My leg is yanked out from beneath me and i face plant hard

I didnt take off the velcro strap

Washed out

And washed back in

I rip the velcro from my ankle the second i hit shore

My guide appears out of nowhere and grabs my board and starts shouting at me to run

I ask no questions as I scramble up the side

Now, my guide, carrying two 50lbs surf boards makes it to the top of the hill just fine

Not me

A wave sucker punches me and drags me out again

Washed out. Washed in.

At this point im just accepting my fate to be forever bound by the sea im like the opposite of a selkie except the sea has my foot and i cant stay on the freaking land free me from my curse

Eventually i make it up to the top and collapse like sweet releif i am free of this hell

My guide sets my board down and looks at me. “Rekina. Stay here, the others are having a hard time too. Dont do anything stupid” trust me pal im going no where this is my home now tell my mother i love her

(Honestly Never tell me not to do something stupid. It’s a sure fire way to make sure i do the absolute dumbest thing possible)

I shoot him a weak thumbs up as he takes off down the beach, cackling at the poor idiot Canadians floundering in the surf.

Youd think my Adventure was over

Not a chance pal

I sit up and notice one of my classmates in the same predicament i was in

There wasnt even another option for my next choice

I stagger back down the hill and help him up. I grab his board and all but shove him back up the hill and somehow we both made it up safe and sound

Until we see our teacher not moving on the beach below us, her body getting battered and tossed around by the waves

Our guide is nearly a kilometer away down the beach, too far for us to call for help

I look at my classmate and he’s shaking his head like i am not going down there again are you crazy

I pop to my feet and race down the hill i am not letting my teacher die on my watch ok im not that kind of person fight me

My classmate groans and follows behind

I grab the teacher who was thankfully just stunned and unhurt and help her to her feet. My classmate grabs her board and they both start staggering up the incline far too slowly. I stay behind them to make sure they dont fall and hit the surf again. Happily they made it up just fine

Not my ass

Im slammed face first into the ground courtesy of a massive wave that just loves me too much

The ocean gave me a friendly love tap as it dragged me down the hill and slammed me against it one more time for good measure

I finally make it back to the top and swear to never surf again in my life (but let’s be real even near drowning cant stop me from trying again)

All in all a pretty successful first attempt

#Adventure Time With Rekina #Sorry for the long post a lot of crap happened #Hope you enjoy #not my best work but you know what we only have another month for Adventure Time With Rekina until i leave soo

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xxxthe-grammar-nazixxx · 7 years

Text

Durin’s Heir

Part two - The Big Party

The day of the feast was finally upon them. Freya spent the morning putting the final touches on the gown she had been working on, before heading back down to the kitchen to see to lunch. Engrossed in cutting the carrots for stew, she didn’t realise she was being watched until she heard a cough from the doorway. Thorin stood on the threshold, his shoulders almost touching the frame on either side. He seemed to be holding something behind his back. ‘Are you busy? Is this a bad time?’

‘No, just preparing lunch. Gretchen had the breakfast shift.’

Freya was intrigued. This was the second time he’d deliberately sought her out since the previous morning. Practicing for talking to real girls, perhaps? She might have been older than him, but she was still the right age to be a young, hip aunt. Not really that different from the girls he’d be surrounded by later that evening. Freya tried not to think about that. It wouldn’t do to get jealous.

‘I have something for you. I was just in the garden and I saw something that … made me think of you.’ He walked around the large preparation table and produced his hand from behind his back. In it were three long-stemmed white orchids. ‘I hope you like them.’

Freya was struck almost speechless. What was going on here? It wasn’t the habit of male dwarves to bear gifts. They usually had to be reminded of birthdays, anniversaries or any other special day, never mind giving flowers for no particular reason. Never mind that he wasn’t courting her …

Or was he?!

‘Uh … yes, of course I do. I love orchids. Thank you. This is most …’ Peculiar? ‘Unexpected.’

‘I know,’ Thorin admitted. ‘I just … Can I be completely honest with you, Freya?’ He took a step forward, still holding the flowers out to her. She accepted them, feeling a little charge when his fingers brushed hers. She gazed up at him, hoping she didn’t look like all the girls she’d ever seen him speak to in the past – in other words, completely star-struck, hanging on his every word.

‘Yes.’

‘I’m not looking forward to tonight, at all,’ he almost whispered. ‘You’ll be there, won’t you?’

‘Yes of course I’m going. It’s one of the biggest events of the season. I’m certainly not going to hide out here in the kitchen.’

He sighed with visible relief. ‘Would you do me the honour of a dance or three?’

It was almost a relief for Freya, knowing all he wanted to see was a familiar face. And yet she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit disappointed that she was relegated to the role of safety friend. ‘If you don’t mind me treading on your toes,’ she joked. ‘I’m not much of a dancer.’

‘Well we can tread on each other’s toes, because neither am I.’ He reached out and took one of the orchids from her. Shortening the stem, he leaned in and slid it behind her ear. Freya knew she shouldn’t misinterpret the gesture – he was just being a gentleman - but it was hard not to feel a little shiver as his fingertips brushed her cheek. ‘There,’ he said. ‘I thought that would suit you.’

‘I don’t think you have anything to worry about, tonight,’ she told him. ‘I think you’ll do just fine.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re still dancing with me! I’m holding you to that.’

Trust me, honey, Freya thought, with a secret smile as he turned and walked away. You can hold me any way you want!

Gretchen was almost beside herself with excitement. She’d joined Freya in her chambers to get ready and was wearing her favourite red dress, which cinched in her waist and looked great against her blonde curls. But she gasped when she saw what Freya had been working on. ‘Wow, Cuz, you look amazing! And that deep green really suits you.’

‘Are you sure it doesn’t show off too much skin? I was in two minds about making it off-the-shoulder.’ Freya admitted.

‘No, it’s perfect! You are so going to find a man tonight, I just know it!’

Freya stifled a sigh. Maybe so, but there was only one man whose affections she was interested in. And he thought of her as little more than a safety friend. The person you rely on to rescue you from the bore of the party, or to act as a pretend girlfriend if your ex shows up. ‘Well, whatever happens, I plan on having a good time, and drinking far too much wine,’ she joked. ‘Are you finished with that hair brush? I’m thinking of wearing my hair up, tonight.’ As she stood trying to decide whether to go with a bun or a chignon, she remembered the orchid Thorin had placed behind her ear so delicately. Would it appear too obvious to wear it again? Too much like a signal saying, “I’m yours for the taking?” He was right: it did suit her. It complemented her complexion and also the dark green of her dress perfectly. She made an executive decision. The orchid stays.

By the time the two girls hit the cavernous ball room, the tables were beginning to fill up. Couples were received at the large, arched double doors and asked to show their invitations. The entertainment for the night – a string quartet – were tuning up near what passed for the dance floor. Freya scanned the room for the prince, her heart in her mouth. Instead she spotted the rascally brothers, Kili and Fili, over by the punchbowl. Hmm, she thought. Those two are far too young to be sampling the rum punch! Ratbags!

‘Look at those two little buggers,’ Gretchen gasped, with a giggle. ‘Their mother will string them up if she catches them.’

‘Well, that’s for her to do, not us,’ Freya reminded her. ‘We can chase them out of the kitchen, but she brought them. She can deal with them. I’m not babysitting tonight.’

‘Me neither,’ Gretchen agreed. ‘Besides, won’t it be a laugh if they wind up a little bit sozzled and barf on her shoes?’

Freya was used to the animosity between Gretchen and Thorin’s sister. The girls had been friends once upon a time, but had fallen out over something – probably a guy – and hadn’t spoken since. Gretchen was forever commenting that Dis needed to remove “that gigantic stick from up her butt”. Freya didn’t think she was that bad, personally. A little haughty, but so was Thorin, and it turned out that his cold demeanour was nothing more than a disguise for genuine shyness. Perhaps Dis’s was, too.

Speak of the devil …

‘Ooh, there’s the prince,’ Gretchen breathed. ‘Lance my boils, he’s looking fine tonight!’

Doesn’t he always? Freya thought, but followed her cousin’s eye-line eagerly. There he was, heading for the punchbowl and his nephews, presumably upon orders from his sister. He was wearing the tunic that had so brought out the blue in his eyes, with a dark shirt underneath and black britches. He looked like he’d taken the time to trim his already short beard, and his hair wasn’t as windblown as it usually looked.

‘Yeah, he looks nice.’ Freya replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

Gretchen glanced at her. ‘Nice?! What, are you blind?! He’s gorgeous.’

‘Okay … I wouldn’t kick him out of bed. Is that an appropriate response?’

Gretchen seemed okay with that. ‘Oh Blimey … he’s coming over here, now! How do I look?’

‘Great. You look great,’ Freya assured her. But as he drew closer it was obvious who Thorin’s brilliant blue eyes were trained on. Freya suddenly wished her décolletage wasn’t so … exposed.

‘Ladies, you both look incredible,’ he said, with a nod. But he’d barely taken his eyes off Freya to notice what Gretchen was wearing. ‘Thank you for coming.’

‘We wouldn’t miss it, now would we, Freya-girl?’ Gretchen replied, nudging her cousin.

‘No, of course not,’ Freya said, her mouth a desert. All of a sudden she needed a drink. Badly.

‘Can I get you something to drink?’ Well what do you know? He’s a mind-reader, too, thought Freya.

‘Oh, you’re just too sweet,’ trilled Gretchen, ‘but you’re the guest of honour, you shouldn’t be playing waiter! Here, stay and keep Freya company and I’ll go and get the drinks.’

As soon as Gretchen was out of earshot, Freya complimented Thorin on his outfit. ‘But I thought you were going to wear a white shirt underneath,’ she added.

‘I tried it. I looked too much like a pirate,’ he explained.

‘Yeah … I guess it would, wouldn’t it? Anyway, black is your colour. Black, and blue.’

‘And green seems to be yours,’ Thorin pointed out. Freya liked the way his eyes didn’t stop at her exposed shoulders. He didn’t regard her like a piece of meat. He actually seemed to be checking out her dress. ‘Did you make that gown yourself?’

‘Yes. Do you like it?’

‘It’s beautiful. You’re very talented.’

‘And you sound nervous,’ she told him. ‘Don’t be. It’s just me! How long have we known each other?’

His lips turned up. ‘Since I was as old as Fili and Kili, and you were old enough to kick my butt.’

‘And I did, quite a few times, from memory.’

‘Don’t I know it.’ The intense way he was staring at her was making it difficult to meet his eyes. Freya felt a blush coming on. I should have worn a shawl, at the very least, she thought. He probably thinks this is my way of saying, here I am, come and get it!

‘There are so many dwarf maidens here. How do you feel about being on the auction block?’ she asked, lightly. ‘See anyone you fancy?’

Thorin still hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. ‘You could say that.’

Freya blanched. ‘Thorin, I …’

‘Don’t, Freya. Don’t spoil it.’ His voice sounded husky; strange.

He can’t mean me, can he? He can’t possibly … For one thing; his father will have a stroke. For another, he has his pick of hotties tonight! Why me? Not that she was complaining. This was exactly what she wanted, in her heart of hearts, wasn’t it? Even if it was going to ruffle a few royal feathers.

Just as Freya was trying to think of something else to say that would bring things back from the brink of awkward, Gretchen returned with their drinks. Ale for Thorin, and wine for herself and Freya.

‘So, got your eye on anyone, yet, Your Highness?’ Gretchen joked, and Thorin almost lost the mouthful of beer he’d just drunk, swallowing it just before he managed to spit it everywhere. ‘Not yet, no,’ he lied. ‘None here compare to either of you.’

‘Oh, listen to him. What a charmer.’

‘He is, isn’t he,’ Freya agreed.

He watched her over the top of his beer stein. She, in turn, played with the stem of her glass, sliding her fingers up and down it slowly, as if she didn’t know what she was doing (she totally did). Every now and then she’d take a sip, between breaks in conversation, which admittedly, Gretchen was leading, but mostly she used her glass as a prop. It was Flirting 101, and pretty soon even Gretchen caught up with what was going on. She stopped, mid-sentence, and made an excuse to drag her cousin away from the prince.

‘All right, spill,’ Gretchen demanded. ‘If there was an event for Eye-fucking in the Olympics, you two would get the gold medal! Is there something you’re not telling me? Are you two sweet on each other? Are you two … You know …’

Freya gasped, pretending to be horrified. ‘Gretchen! Ease up! I’m not about to rob the cradle, here.’

‘He’s only ten years younger. Actually, nine and a quarter, to be exact.’

‘And your point is? Newsflash: He’s royalty, and I’m The Help. Not gonna happen.’

Gretchen narrowed her hazel eyes. ‘But you want it to, don’t you?’

Freya tilted her head. ‘Well, he is gorgeous.’

‘I knew it!’ crowed Gretchen, triumphantly. ‘I knew you had a thing for him!’

‘Keep your voice down, will you? If King Thrain hears you, I’ll be picking crops for the rest of my days. Far away from the kitchen; and you.’

‘And the prince.’ Gretchen added, helpfully.

‘Well, that would be the whole point of the exercise, wouldn’t it?’

Freya followed Thorin’s form over to his father, who was with a group of people Freya didn’t recognise. Introductions made, it looked as though Thrain was trying to convince Thorin to ask the young maiden in the party to dance. The band had begun playing a lively polka, so it wasn’t as if they were likely to get too up close and personal, but still, Freya felt a pang of jealousy. Until she saw Thorin dance. Oh boy, she thought. He wasn’t kidding when he said he had two left feet!

Luckily, Gretchen was too busy eyeing off another likely prospect to notice Thorin’s apparent lack of grace on the dance floor. Freya needed a break from obsessing over the one love that would never be hers, so she took herself off to find something to eat. A little while later, she was standing by the dance floor when a cousin or other distant relative of Thorin’s – whose name she could never remember – asked her to dance.

Why not, she thought, spotting Thorin leading a busty redhead around the floor in a vain attempt at a Viennese Waltz. She let Ori or Nori or whatever his name was with the funny star-shaped hairdo lead her into the fray, and had to stifle a grin a few minutes later as their paths crossed with Thorin and the redhead.

Poor baby, thought Freya. He looks completely lost! He did seem to be watching the couple in front quite a bit. But it all came undone when he spotted Freya and Nori – that was it, Nori – and promptly stamped on his partner’s foot!

‘You were jealous,’ Freya laughed, when at last she was in his arms. The music changed to something much more manageable for the young prince, a ballad about lost love, although the lyrics, sung by a dwarf with a falsetto, were difficult to decipher. Thorin pulled Freya close and shook his head. ‘I was not! I merely lost count.’

‘Whatever you say.’

‘You’re not going to let me live this down, are you?’

‘Probably not.’

She liked the way he held her. The slower dances were much more his style. ‘You weren’t lying though. You are a terrible dancer,’ she joked. ‘Much worse than me.’

She half-expected him to pout, but he laughed, instead. ‘Yes, yes. Make all the jokes you want. But seriously … some of those dances must have been invented by Torquemada himself. Put me in a room with the person who came up with the Viennese Waltz, for just five minutes. I’ll teach him how to dance.’

‘With sword in hand, no doubt.’

‘You know me too well.’

Freya gulped. That I do, she thought. How can someone you’ve known for so long, someone you’ve only really thought about in passing, come to mean so much in such a short space of time? It was ridiculous how quickly she’d gone from occasionally giving him a favourable glance to not being able to stop thinking about him. And it all began because I happened to catch him without a shirt. Has it really been so long between drinks that I fall for the first male with a set of decent abs?

‘What are you thinking about?’

‘I’m thinking that your dad probably won’t like us dancing together, two songs in a row,’ Freya lied, spotting the King on the edge of the dancefloor, looking more than vaguely pissed off.

‘Too bad,’ Thorin decided, and tightened his hold on her. She breathed in his ultra-masculine cologne, her lips perilously close to that little hollow between his collarbones. He rested his chin on the top of her head. Despite her worry about what the king would think, she never wanted this dance to end.

‘Seriously, though,’ she murmured, ‘you should probably pick another partner for the next few songs, just so he doesn’t get suspicious.’

‘What are you afraid of?’ He asked her directly. ‘My father can’t make me marry someone I don’t love.’

‘I’m more afraid he’ll disapprove of you and I,’ Freya confessed, looking up into those eyes she could never get enough of. ‘You’ve got to admit, there’s something happening between us. Or am I imagining it?’

‘You’re not imagining it,’ he replied. He lifted a hand and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. ‘I felt it – hell, I knew it, the minute I spotted the orchid in your hair. I took it as a sign. Was I wrong?’

‘No. I have feelings for you, too,’ Freya told him, shyly.

The song ended. ‘Let’s get out of here.’ Thorin suggested.

‘Won’t your father come looking for us?’

He sighed. ‘If you’re that worried about it, we can leave separately. I’ll meet you in your chambers. He’ll never look in there – he’s far too worried about etiquette. He’d be much more likely to come crashing into my room, mid- … well, whatever.’ Thorin’s cheeks took on a hue that was frankly, a complete and utter turn-on for Freya.

‘Okay, my room it is. But … just so that it’s not obvious, maybe we should have a couple more dances with other people.’

‘You flirt,’ Thorin joked. ‘You’re just trying to make me jealous.’

‘Is it working?’

‘What do you think?’

****

‘Freya, I just ran into King Thrain. You and Thorin should probably cool it down a bit,’ Gretchen whispered. ‘He’s not happy.’

‘I didn’t figure he would be.’

‘He wants Thorin married into a noble – i.e rich – dwarf family. Not for the money, more for the power and prestige, and the alliances it can bring.’

Freya favoured her cousin with a reproachful look. ‘Gee, Cuz, no shit.’

Gretchen had managed to catch Freya in the hallway by the huge iron and gold staircase. There was no one else about but she still kept her voice down. ‘You two were pretty hot out there! If he held you any closer, you’d be pregnant right now!’ Gretchen grinned. ‘Half your luck! I knew you’d strike gold in that dress! I just didn’t imagine it would be with the Prince of Erebor, himself.’

‘Neither did I, believe me,’ confessed Freya. ‘It’s all happened so fast. One minute he was asking me for advice about what to wear tonight and the next … I feel like I’m in some kind of alternate universe, or something. This sort of thing just doesn’t happen to girls like me.’

‘Yes it does, and you deserve it,’ Gretchen stated. ‘Now, here … take my key, and go wait in my chambers. I’ll get a message to Thorin to meet you there. Now, go!’

‘Are you sure?’

Gretchen rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, I’m sure! I’m going to have to change my sheets, and possibly burn my mattress, too, but I’m sure.’

Freya took the key and hugged her cousin. ‘You’re the best.’

Stayed tuned for part three: A night of passion.

#Durin's Heir #Thorin Oakenshield #the hobbit #Richard armitage

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