#at the beginning of this week I had no sketches and came in a day late

[eepy-buneary]

Day 3- Morning/Night

When going through Ideas for today I ended up finding a piece I did last year and thought it would be cute to complete the other half with the same game from a different point in time.

@heropartnerweek

[urmomschocolatemilk]

Simon Riley x Alternative!fem!reader

I went thrifting td with a friend and got this idea. Reminder that my inbox is open ghost headcanons and requests

If there was one thing Simon knew about you from the moment the two of you met, it was that you loved to sew. Almost every piece of clothing you owned was handmade or altered. You’d cut up shirts, using the lace or frill at the top and add it to another piece of clothing. You’d tailor dresses and shirts for your friends and family and always patch up Simon's on base uniform.  

You weren't sure what made sitting in front of the sewing machine, eyes trained on a certain strip of whatever you were working on that was so therapeutic but it was. Not only was it that you loved the art of sewing, but in-store brands never seemed to have something you liked, or fit your personal style, so being able to make your own clothing really came in handy.

Your birthday was coming around and Simon, being the best boyfriend he was, had already picked a restaurant and booked a reservation. What you didn't know however, was that he’d been learning to sew for the past couple of months because he wanted to make you a dress that you would absolutely adore. He knew nothing he could buy would cut it, and he also knew that you loved handmade gifts. So, he found that this was the perfect gift. 

Now Simon knew what you liked about your clothes and what you didn't. For example, you didn't like light tones because you felt they highlighted any hyperpigmentation you had. Or that you didn't like to wear dresses with too high a slit on the side because you felt that it caused the fabric to fall weirdly around your legs.

Even with all this knowledge Simon didn't want to get it wrong. He wanted this gift to be perfect and as previously stated, something you’d adore. So, he stole your sketch book, which contained every preview of a design you’d created in the past year and flipped through it. Taking mental notes of each similarity and alteration.  

The week after that Simon enrolled in a regularly scheduled sewing class to begin working on his project. Simon did feel out of place there, especially at the start. He was the only man there, let alone a 6’2 military buff, but the instructor didn't treat him any differently, and he didnt pay any mind to it either.

“You want this to be your first project?” the teacher asked when Simon first showed her the sketch. He nodded. “This is quite difficult for a beginner. You understand that, yes?”

Simon shrugged ‘It’s going to be a gift.”  

Every week, twice a week Simon showed up to class. He never skipped a session. He needed this dress to be perfect. It took a month for him to get it looking decent, and then another half month to get it looking perfect. It seemed he was a fast learner.  

Finally, he was able to take it home, and the first place it went was to the dry cleaners. He wasn't going to risk throwing his masterpiece, and more importantly, your gift, into the washing machine to get ruined. Then when he picked it up he folded it neatly and placed it in a gorgeous red velvet box he had bought.  

Hiding it was easier than Simon had expected it to be, considering that you lived together and every part of the house was easily accessible to you. The only thing you didn't ever touch was his desk. So, he decided to keep it there, placing it at the bottom of the desk cabinet and neatly stacking some papers and folders around it to keep it concealed.   

Finally, the day came around and you were just about ready to begin getting ready for dinner when he stopped you mid-way into the bathroom.  

“I want to show you something,” Simon said, taking your hand and sitting you down on the bed. You furrowed your eyebrows, slightly concerned.  

“Is everything okay?” You asked  

“Just wait here,” he told you, walking swiftly out of the room and into his office. Simon rarely smiled, like really smiled, but when he came back into the room, red velvet box in hand his lips were turned up in subtle excitement.  

“What's this?” you asked with a grin, taking the box from him and running your hand over the soft, plush exterior.  

“Your birthday present," he answers. Simon is nervous as he watches you lift the lid, placing it gently next to you and taking out the soft fabric in the box. Your lips part in awe as you realize what it is, and you pinch it at the top, holding it out in front of you and letting it unravel itself. He watches as your eyes glaze over it slowly, taking in every detail. You love it. 

“Where did you get this?” you ask, not taking your eyes off the beautiful piece of fabric. He swears he can see your eyes glittering in the light as you look at the dress.  

“I made it.” He states. You’re already smiling, but when you hear his answer, your smile widens. You look beautiful, he thinks.  

“You made this?” You repeat excitedly, your head turning to look up at him. He nodded. “This is gorgeous baby!” You were so touched by the length and effort he had put into something for you. You knew he didn't know how to sew so the fact that he learned to and took the time to learn what you liked and didn't like made your heart bloom with adoration.  

“You like it lovie’?” he asked. You nodded profusely, setting the dress aside as you stood and threw your arms around him. Pressing a kiss to his lips you answered.  

“I love it.” 

[plussizefantasia]

Could you do Benedict Bridgerton with wife reader? With fluff promt “I just really want to kiss you right now” Thanks!! :))

Benedict Bridgerton x wife!reader

Summary: Benedict gets inspired by his muse at any time of day.

Word Count : 0.9k

A/N: Thank you for the request, I've never written for Ben before. I hope I did your idea justice <3

It was not the first time you had woken up to your bed being empty and your husband’s side having long gone cold. You realized mere weeks into your marriage that the artist’s spirit was one that never truly rested. Benedict could be inspired at any moment and he was not one to wait until morning to work.

The light that streamed in from the window grazed your face and started to pull you gently from sleep’s embrace. You did not open your eyes yet, dearly wishing to have one more moment to cherish the night before having to greet the day. Your arms stretch above your head and you pull them out to your side, reaching for your love. You chuckle when you feel nothing and open your eyes to search for him.

Your eyes scan over the empty spot that used to hold your husband, at least you knew he had slept a little last night. The two of you had fallen asleep in each other’s arms and you had waited until his breathing had evened out to succumb to sleep.

Your husband was sweet, but you knew that he had no regard for himself. You wonder if this is a trait all artists share or if it is Bridgerton trait. You’d have to ask Kate the next time you saw her if Anthony also had a tendency to burn the midnight oil or if you were just lucky enough to get the restless brother.

You pull the sheets down to your waist and begin to sit up when a cough from the corner of the room catches your attention.

There, in your favorite reading chair sits your husband. Benedict is still in his night clothes, and the ties on his shirt have fallen open exposing more of his chest to your greedy eyes than was available before you went to bed. Clutched in his hand is a sketch pad and some charcoal. His hands are stained and the closer you look you also notice streaks of black across his forehead. He is staring deeply at you.

“Do not move my love, I am inspired.”

You laugh lightly, “When are you not inspired, dear husband?”

“How can I not be always inspired when my muse walks the same halls as I? When I wake up to beautiful sights like this I cannot help but feel the need to catch them on the page.” He nods towards you, still lounging in bed.

“You’re a flatterer and a flirt.”

“Ony for you my love.”

“How long am I to be trapped here?” You ask him.

“You vowed until death do us part.”

“I did,  and I fully intend to honor that vow, but do you truly wish for me to waste away in bed?” 

“You look far too beautiful to be wasting.”

You raised an eyebrow at the love of your life. 

“Just stay there for a few more moments my love, I’m almost finished.” He told you.

You tried to stay still for him, assuming the same position you woke up in, or as close to it as you could get. The room filled with the sounds of scratching on paper and the breaths that came from either of you. You jest with him, but you would gladly waste away in bed if it meant being able to watch Benedict for the rest of your time. The sight of your husband creating masterpieces was one that you loved dearly. Unfortunately Ben didn’t really like people watching him work, this was a rare treat indeed.

“Ben?” You called from your spot on the bed.

“Yes Love?” He did not look up from his paper.

“I do not think I can wait much longer.”

“And whyever not?” His lips spread into a grin and he looked up into your eyes.

“I just really want to kiss you right now.” You bit your bottom lip lightly and smiled at him.

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” He stood and placed the paper and coal on the seat. He slowly made his way closer to where you lie in wait. “My lovely wife needs to be kissed does she?” He asked you, climbing onto the bed and hovering over you.

“She does.” You nodded. “I fear she might not survive much longer without one.”

“We cannot have that, who shall inspire me if she is not with me?” He drew his face closer to yours, rubbing his nose along yours.

“Ben please,” you whispered.

“How I love to hear you beg.” He smiled into your neck, where he began to pepper small kisses. 

‘I do not think that I was beg-” he silenced you with a kiss. It was slow and filled with love, your lips dancing with each other perfectly. 

You sat up without breaking the kiss, twisting yourself so that the two of you were intertwined. 

Mornings like these were a rare treat indeed.

[jmdbjk]

Mental gymnastics...

I am flipping out. That's all. Just my brain doing cartwheels and whatever those things are called where you flip between those high bars and let go for a breathless second and then grab onto reality again. Or this...

Too much Olympics these past few weeks I guess... anyway.

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT! I may or may not mention scenes in detail and their outcomes during these long rambling messy posts beginning with the next sentence.

Before I get into it... kudos to the staff for keeping up with these two and for suffering many extremely anxious moments as Jimin and Jungkook drove themselves through NYC, as Jungkook and then both Jimin and Jungkook rode the motorcycle through traffic, and the few heart stopping moments when JK flipped his kayak over and then they took off down the river alone before staff caught up with them. Not to mention probably looking up the nearest ER/urgent care facility in case Jimin got too dehydrated from his bout with the stomach bug.

Seriously though, their lives and global headlines had to flash before their eyes when JK disappeared underwater under that kayak... so big applause for the staff/production crew for not shitting THEIR pants thirteen times too.

So here are some of my thoughts. I'll begin with the first episode...

Episode 1:

In the opening scene, I'm assuming this is Antoya Korean BBQ restaurant. They were talking about JK's sore throat and that he had to visit a medical facility. Jimin kept on about it. It seemed like JK's "stop babying me" attitude bubbled up a little bit. Let them be them. As you can see, JK adjusted Jimin's beanie so he could see his eyes. They were fine.

Pause and reflect: they didn't know what to expect with this idea of a travel show. The moment above happened on Thursday evening, July 13. Both of them were working. Jimin was still working on his concepts, photos, MV and whatnot, planning to finish everything for Muse in the coming months. Jungkook had a full schedule for promoting Seven which was dropping the next day. He had to get up early for Good Morning America concert in the park.

I'm stating all this for point of reference. Nothing is static. JK was in work mode: he had a performance the next day and also not feeling well himself. Jimin had been on a plane for 14 hours. Just keep these things in mind before jumping to conclusions.

In the next scene (the next day) back at the hotel after JK's done with his performance and when he's packing to go on this trip he's all in and ready to go. Hurry up Jimin!

Jimin asked him how the live performance went. As we know, the GMA live performance was mostly rained out. Before the storm came through, they quickly pre-recorded the performances before it would have been time for the live broadcast and then shut it down. Jungkook had to be driven quickly to the studio to be interviewed to fill the leftover time in the program that more of his live performance would have taken up.

Hearing Jungkook say "this isn't my first rodeo" was never going to be on any bingo card in my lifetime.

I don't know what he was scribbling on that iPad but it looked geometric. He was focused. Maybe it was something for the next week's performance, maybe it was a sketch for music show staging, trying to recreate that flower archway they saw at Antoya the night before? maybe he was doodling in Canva... we don't know.

Me either, Jimin... (this was the first of all the hilarious gems that begin to shower down on us).

They are both known to be perfectionists when it comes to their work. And we know they've also both performed when feeling less than 100% on that stage. Jungkook realized there were circumstances beyond his control and he took it in stride.

FYI, in New York City, they stayed at the Loews Regency on E. 61st Street in Manhattan. It is between Madison Ave. and Park Avenue and not far from Central Park. Swanky. The suite looks like the 2-bedroom "Park Avenue Suite" and runs $2100 a night... gasp. Yes, its the same suite where JK did his live after his rained upon GMA appearance. During this live he mentioned being poked with needles, IV's and shots in the butt as well as teasing us with what would become Are You Sure:

No, I don't think Jimin stayed in this suite with JK. Jimin's room had a smaller bathroom and a shower curtain instead of a glass shower door. Staff with camera woke him up.

To be that beautiful when rolling out of bed... anyway, I digress...

It truly was unplanned and spontaneous as if they were doing this with the idea of "let's try it and see if it can be viable." Even Jimin wasn't sure if any of this could be aired.

Once they got in the Jeep they started to find their groove. Being alone, just them, was what they needed. They could focus on what was ahead of them. The driving moments were some of the best for me.

We eventually learn that Jimin wasn't feeling well and I'm certain this is what Jungkook was telling Yoongi during that episode of Suchwita, along with the elbowing in the nose.

Seems like Jimin's stomach trouble started when they were at the first restaurant, the burger place. The bathroom visits continued at the brewery and into the evening at the campsite.

Jimin had some sort of stomach bug that kept him on the toilet a lot and he ran a little bit of a temp. I am sad that he wasn't feeling 100% when they were on the yacht the next day but he still seemed to enjoy it enough to find the humor in his situation. He was a real trooper.

It sure didn't stop him from eating. My man was very brave in that regard. Me... no way I'd be stuffing my face with a big greasy burger when at any moment I might need to make a run for the toilet.

They get back on the road and these are the moments that I wait for:

After arguing in satoori about who is the worst driver between them, they start shopping at Dick's.

And get recognized...

After shopping excursion at Dick's, they finally head to High Nine Brewery...

Jimin's first sample wasn't to his taste (again). His taste buds were probably a little off since he had the stomach thing going on... but JK's eyebrows say that his sample was pretty good.

They finally settle on a hard seltzer and a pale ale and relax for a little bit. Jungkook is still wondering what would make good subject matter to film. They are truly making it up as they go...

Jimin proceeds to explain and an interaction happens and I am not sure what to think about it:

I am going to end this post here because they are now on their way to the kayaks and that segment deserves its own post and I have too many screen shots of it to fit in this post.

[These are all my own opinions about what I am seeing and hearing them say and from what I am observing from the video. It's ok if your opinion is different from mine.]

[smallpwbbles]

She didn’t get that sketch book back

Quick fic for my Biolizard shadow au taking place pre Ark incident, just some nice fluff between Maria and Shadow

Feel free to criticise the fuck outta this, haven’t written a fic since I was like 13, did feel nice to write this though, hopefully I can turn write a longer fic for the au like I said I wanted to do

Maria was beginning to get restless, it had been a long week full of tests, resting, recovering and just a general sense of stagnation. The days were beginning to phase into a repetitive cycle and while she could manage with it, she couldn’t say it wasn’t beginning to get boring.

Her studies were just finishing up, she had once again been bested by her least favourite subject, math. Maria was quite smart for her age, a symptom of being a Robotnik no doubt, however math had such a way with turning her brain to mush. She was sick enough as it was, she didn’t need the subject doing away with her mind too.

Her notebook and sticky notes were packed away in a cute little cubby adorably stuck with a tag with her name on it, next to hers was an empty cubby addressed with the name Shadow, it was unfortunate that with the monstrous hedgehogs seemingly unending growth spurts came the ability to not fit almost anywhere on the Ark, apart for his enclosure of course.

Maria put a hand to the unused cubby, she very much missed studying in the classroom with Shadow, but her grandfather did allow for studies to be taught with Shadow in the enclosure when they were both on best behaviour, the old man may be a stickler but was an absolute softie at heart.

Gerald was erasing the algebra on the blackboard with a content smile, Maria could see he was in quite a good mood today which was especially great as the week of tests wasn’t just unfortunate to her. As Shadow was due for many tests to check on the state of his growth, Gerald and his team spent many weeks trying to get it under control right after Shadow had begun to increase in size rapidly.

The scientists had all done their best but to an ailing Shadow, who had to be okay with needles and diagrams shoved in and around him, he was at best irate and at worst, down right hostile. One of the testing scientists was still recovering in the first aid section of the Ark after a particularly vexed Shadow struck out. He was “grounded” after such an incident, which doesn’t mean much when you’re 35 feet and can kill a person with minimal effort, but it meant Maria couldn’t see him at the moment.

That wasn’t gonna stop her from trying.

“Grandfather! Studies were absolutely wonderful today, I feel maths gets easier and easier each time you teach it to me” Maria lied. Her plan was to butter him up, get him in an even better mood, maybe then he would feel lenient enough to let her stay in the enclosure with Shadow.

“It makes me glad to hear that Maria my dear, maths has always been an essential subject matter in the world of education, why I’ve loved maths ever since I was a young tot, you know I solved my first problem when I was just 3 years old-“ Gerald kept on. Oh no, she got him rambling, maybe she could shoot her shot and just ask outright. The last time he rambled it put her right to sleep on her desk, it hurt his feelings but the second she started hearing percentages her brain shut it down.

“May I see Shadow today!?” She hadn’t meant to blurt it out so outright but she felt the ramble was about to edge towards fractions and decimals and she quite had enough of those today

Gerald’s animated ramblings stopped in an instant and he faced his granddaughter who was doing her best to charm him with her childish adorable appeal

He hummed and hawed for a moment before shaking his head “Now Maria I know you miss Shadow very much but he is in trouble at the moment”

A wave of defensiveness washed over Maria as she recounted Shadow was currently punished due to actions he did in a moment of stress and anger, she felt in the same position she would have struck out or at the very least gave that scientist a good old raspberry, she was still proud she taught Shadow that, Gerald didn’t need to know that though.

“Oh but Grandfather, it’s been more than a week, I’m sure Shadow has learned his lesson” Maria begged.

“He growled at one of our scientists who came for a check up this morning, one he particularly likes mind you” he retorted

“I mean it could be a bit of that teenage rebellion you’re always claiming me to have when I’m not happy to see you in the morning” She countered.

“I-“ Gerald stopped himself and put a finger to his lip, honestly he couldn’t dismiss that. As Shadow continued to grow he picked up more behaviours Gerald could attribute to the traditional development of adolescence. It still had him flabbergasted as he recalled Shadow sticking his tongue right at Gerald one time during studies.

“None the matter, I don’t want you getting hurt in there because of the irritation he’s at right now” Gerald commanded. Maria deflated, this definitely wasn’t going out the way she has planned.

“He would never! Shadow absolutely adores us, he wouldn’t hurt us” Maria argued, she trusted this 100%. Although around most people some could say Shadow could be careless, Maria and Gerald were of a select few that Shadow handled with the upmost care and caution. Maria could just about get away with doing anything around Shadow, if not for her sickness she would most definitely use the gigantic hedgehog as a playground.

At quiet times before lights were out, when allowed she would curl up in Shadows large claws, it amazed her how still and gentle he could be, she felt like a glass doll in his hands as she deducted he was so still in fear of jostling her. It saddened her that Shadow was at such a state he felt even the slightest movements would hurt her.

Gerald put a palm to his head, “I know he wouldn’t hurt you on purpose Maria, but Shadow can forget himself sometimes, need I remind you of Steven, who is in the infirmary because of Shadows actions?” He scolded. Maria didn’t have a retort for that, she could defend shadow as much as she liked but it didn’t change that he had indeed hurt someone.

She looked down to her dress skirt and gripped the fabric of it, she knew better than to act like a brat not getting their way but she was getting irate, one more plea, and if no results she would would back down, lest she get into an argument with her grandfather and end up in trouble herself.

“I’ve just felt absolutely restless. I understand he’s in trouble grandfather but he always behaves around me, I could even go in there and get him to apologise! He’s usually nicer after I give him a good talking to” Maria gripped her skirt harder, she was honest about getting him to apologise, she didn’t want him thinking what he had done to that scientist was okay.

Gerald studied her for a moment before letting out a defeated sign, the softie in him had won, he hated seeing Maria as desperate as she was, and she was not wrong. Maria’s presence seemed to greatly improve Shadows mood the most

“Fine, you can see him” Maria almost jumped up in excitement but steeled herself, it didn’t stop her from looking absolutely giddy “but you are not to rile him up in any way, and if I feel you are in danger you are to come out, understand” Gerald instructed.

Maria gave a silly salute, she couldn’t help it knowing her plan came around “loud and clear!”

——————————————————————

He was clearly pouting when she got to the viewing windows of Shadows enclosure, he was lying on his side and had his back to the large reinforced windows, so nobody could see his face. It was cute to Maria, he always did this getting in trouble.

He was also very still, she actually couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not in that position, a second later when he turned his head slightly to notice her presence confirmed he was indeed awake. Shadow had quite the ability to sense the people around him without anyone else knowing they were there. He glared at her before immediately curling in on himself, she had no idea how someone that big could make themselves look smaller but he was managing quite well.

She put her hands to the window, the glare he just gave her hadn’t put her off, he clearly wasn’t as happy to see her as she thought he would be but that was her gigantic, hedgehog, lizard buddy in need and she hadn’t almost got on her knees and begged to see him for nothing.

3 little taps to the glass, Maria did this just to give him a warning whenever she was coming in, in response Shadow seemed to curl further in on himself, he almost looked like a gigantic spiky ball.

Maria made a small trek down a compact set of Stairs to some steel doors that led into the enclosure, there was a code box right next to the doors that needed an input only Maria, Gerald and some trusted scientists knew. Quickly putting in 4 digits, her birthday as predictably done by her grandfather, Maria bounced in excitement as the doors painstakingly opened.

The chamber was quiet and smelled of lavender, Maria had recommended a calming smell might tide over Shadow to act nicer during testing, while it hadn’t, he still very much enjoyed the smell.

Maria encountered the big ball of black and red quills and scales, he was very much still pouting and didn’t seem to want to acknowledge her. She gave a couple pats to what she could assume was his tail but it was quite hard to tell as curled up as he was.

Shadow gave no response to indicate he felt the pats so she grabbed a few quills and gave a small tug, she didn’t want to tug hard as she’d definitely get cut if he bristled his quills in response, yet he still gave no reaction.

Oh he was really having quite the tantrum today. She put her hands to her hips and gave the giant wall of quills a tired look

“Shadow it’s me! Are you not happy to see me?” Maria yelled up at him.

If he was, he gave no reciprocation. It humbled her quite intensely as it was a first for Shadow to completely ignore her.

She looked down at her shoes and decided if he was gonna be the Debbie of downers she would use other means of entertainment. She pulled out her small sketch pad that conveniently fit in her skirt pockets. It was a great source of distraction when she had nothing to do or nobody to talk to.

She walked over to some worn down chairs that were placed carefully far to one end of the enclosure, they were initially placed there for observation of Shadow but it was an overestimated idea as most scientists didn’t have the nerve to be in the same room as Shadow for more than 5 minutes. Maria abused this section of the enclosure to benefit her creative devices and made Shadow the subject of most of her sketches.

It was about 5 minutes into drawing when she had stopped drawing Shadow as doodling a curled up spiky ball hadn’t been as fun as she thought. She looked up from her sketch pad as Shadow began to unfurl, as he stretched out she heard some of his bones crack back into place, bones cracking was already an unnerving sound to her, hearing it at Shadows size was something entirely else so she couldn’t help the look that came on her face.

Shadow stopped his stretching to study her, he smirked at the unsettled face Maria made as it was quite an amusing expression for her to pull, the smirked made her a little irate considering how rudely he was to ignore her just before.

“I see you got tired of pouting” Maria huffed, Shadow simply stuck her tongue at her, she gasped in shock and stook up immediately, absolutely aghast he would use such a move on her of all people, she kind of wish she hadn’t taught him that now.

“That’s absolutely- why I never- you are such a rude-“ she couldn’t make up her mind what to say in response. Shadow sat on his hind legs and looked at her in amusement, to anyone who could have been outside the enclosure, the sight of a young blond girl yelling and scolding the near 40 foot giant beast was bewildering.

“It’s no wonder grandfather didn’t want me to see you, with you acting like such a brat I have half a mind to walk out of here, are you even sorry for what you did?!” Maria furiously turned her back to him and folded her arms, if she looked back she would have seen Shadow flinch at the question. “The scientists are doing the best to help you and you had someone sent into first aid!” She grumbled.

Maria heard some loud shuffling then the room shook for a moment, she steadied herself and looked back to see Shadow had repositioned himself with his back to her. She didn’t know why the sight infuriated her more but it just seemed like he wanted to be insanely difficult today.

She began to march over to him, about to give him a peace of her mind. However when she traversed enough to get a even look at what she assumed would be a unremorseful smug smirk, she was met with a regretful furrowed brow, his red crimson irises met her blue azure ones and he instantly looked away and brought his arms up to hold himself. He wouldn’t look back at her.

Maria began to calm herself, one look at him told her what she knew, of course he felt bad for what he did. She wanted to give herself a right slap for forgetting herself, he obviously found it hard to talk about what happened, she shouldn’t have expected him to be right and ready to talk as soon as she walked through those doors.

She slowly came closer and put a hand to his ankle, that was as much as she could reach at his current sat up stance. He dared a glance down at her tiny form and again looked away, she could feel the giant begin to tremble, she then heard as an unmistakable voice rasped out “…didn’t mean to”.

His voice rumbled throughout her body as her heart wrenched at that statement. She believed it without question, he was gentle and caring, she was tired after the week long tests. Maria could only imagine what it was like for him after being poked and prodded for hours on end.

“I know” she comforted. She really did wish he was at least a little smaller, it was really hard to comfort someone who has a hand as big as your entire body.

She could attempt to climb up his leg but she really didn’t want to risk getting Gerald upset with her if she was to exacerbate her already strained lungs. She motioned at shadow with her hand and got his attention “Shadow your hand please” she gently commanded

He knew what she was asking and took a hand off his person to reach her, only seeing his claws near her had him stop for a moment which Maria noticed. “You would never hurt me” she assured. He gently scooped her up and cupped his other hand to the one holding her.

Shadow brought up a safely secured Maria up to his face in which she at once assaulted him with a full face hug, it surprised him for a moment but he instantly melted into it. She did this when she knew he was even a bit upset. He did find the gesture embarrassing but appreciated it all the same.

Maria nuzzled into his muzzle harder, she’d be finding fur in her dress for ages but she didn’t mind, the priority was Shadow. She was glad he was remorseful, it would have been alarming if she had to explain why it’s wrong to send someone into the infirmary but Shadow seemed to grasp the consequences of the event that transpired.

“You are going to apologise once Steven is out of the infirmary aren’t you?” She left his muzzle alone finally and looked up at him, he seemed embarrassed at such a request but knew he couldn’t argue with something that was the least he could do. He nodded firmly and hoped it would be enough to satisfy Maria.

It definitely was as she once again came full force with a hug to his muzzle, he did wish he could return such a gesture properly but he’d definitely crush the poor girl with such a return, instead he just leaned his face into her arms, she was such a tiny thing to him but the action warmed his heart so immensely he’d almost forgotten why he was mad in the first place.

Maria plopped back into his palm, content with her job as “the Shadow whisperer”, as she had oddly dubbed herself in her mind. She wished she could converse with him about all the events that transpired while he had been “grounded” but it mostly included tests which was the furthest thing she was sure both of them wanted to talk about. In that moment she remembered the little notepad she was doodling in earlier.

Shadow watched as she fought to relieve her pocket of the sketch pad and as she flicked through a few pages of quite nice and detailed drawings of him and a few familiar faces he’d seen on the Ark, his interested peaked as he watched her turn to her recent pages and she chortled, Maria shakily stood up on Shadows surprisingly soft palm and held the sketch pad to Shadow, who’s interested promptly died when he saw a drawing of a spiky ball which had been nicely detailed with an annotate to tell whoever was reading the ball was a “grumpy pouty shadow”.

Maria watched Shadows face fall flat and couldn’t help that roar of laughter that immediately escaped her, this only continued to irritate the humongous hedgehog. He brought over his other hand that didn’t have a laughing Maria in it and swiftly brought it over his palm, Maria yelled out a panicked “NO WAIT-“ as he did so. He didn’t hurt her, he just gave her a quick squish to shut her up. That seemed to do the job as he opened his palms to a silence Maria who had her hair adorably scruffy from the attack “I hate it when you do that, I totally deserved it though” she concluded

He snickered at that and she gave him a quick punch to his pinkie finger

——————————————————————

Maria had lost track of the time she had been in the enclosure after 2 hours. She wasn’t worried she’d been in too long as her Grandfather had cameras in the chamber and would have called her out if he wanted her out.

She had returned to her drawings while she was cradled in Shadows palms. She was absolutely engrossed in her current drawing and hadn’t noticed Shadow wasn’t giving input or feedback on her drawings anymore.

The palm she was in suddenly jerked and she had to grab one of his fingers to keep from losing balance, her sketch pad had fallen to the ground when the motion happened. She looked up when she was steadied and saw Shadow, he seemed to have not noticed what he had done. Honestly he seemed quite out of it, she quickly realised the poor thing was fighting sleep and must have accidentally jerked back to being half awake.

“Shadow” Maria called, his eyes opened fully to address her but immediately went back to being half lidded. “Are you tired? I can leave so you can get some rest” she offered.

He stubbornly shook his head and cupped his other hand under her, normally he would have let her go off when she wanted and went back to doing as he did alone in the enclosure but she was sure it was his sleepy brain not wanting her to leave and he was acting upon that.

“Alright alright, don’t have a fuss I’m not going anywhere, even if I could” he had brought his hand close enough that she could reach a particular spot under his muzzle, she gave it a few scritches and had to steel herself when he began purring, it was an intense and loud sound that she feel sending waves through her entire body but she bared it.

He leaned into it, and began to literally lean his entire body’s forward when the feeling of the scratches began to calm his already tired mind, Maria had to stop and immediately grabbed onto anything she could, which was his ring finger as Shadow fell forward, the enclosure shook from the weight of him falling and Maria waited for the vibrations to die down, she hoped her grandfather was not watching the cameras at that moment as she could of accidentally been hurt, she could hear and feel the vibrations of Shadows quiet snores as it confirmed he has simply fallen asleep.

She hopped off his palm to trek to his face, give him a quick hug. Her mission was to now find her sketch pad, that last drawing she was engrossed with had come along really well and she wanted to show her grandfather how her art skills were coming out. Her face turned grief stricken when she realised her sketch pad had fallen where Shadow lay asleep right now, if he rolled over which she knew he was guaranteed to do, it was completely over for that drawing as well as her entire sketch pad.

Maria inhaled and then exhaled. The stories of the superheroes her grandfather read to her had to go through sacrifice, and right now as the shadow whisperer, she could definitely say she was going through sacrifice right now.

[raymantogether]

Rayman Together Community Spotlight #3 - Clairiphi

Rayman Together Community Spotlight #3 - Clairiphi

Introduction:

Have you ever made your own Rayman comic book series? Growing up, I spent thousands of hours outside of playing the Rayman series creating comics and drawings, making my own adventures for Rayman and his friends. However, I never could create something as captivating and truly unique as the Rayman Nightmarish Series. Rayman Nightmarish stole my heart and is something that I have followed since 2020. Every few weeks to months, I eagerly anticipate the next chapter. There is something so personal about the art style and original characters, which I fell in love with. Every strip is full of personality and charm. I had the pleasure of meeting Clairiphi, AKA Chiara, during my visit to Ubisoft Milan. In person, Chiara is just as amazing as her series. So when I decided to make this Community Spotlight Series, I just had to make a segment on Chiara and her Rayman Nightmarish series.

1. Please introduce yourself.

"My name is Chiara; I go by Clairiphi on the web, and I'm a storyteller from Sardinia (Italy) who dabbles into drawing to accompany her stories. I hope one day, not too far from now, to become a professional comic writer if the comic industry in Europe gives me the chance. For now, I sadly remain an enthusiastic hobbyist."

2. What are you currently working on in the Rayman Community? 

"I’ve been publishing my fan comic Rayman Nightmarish for a few years with the frequent help of my partner Francesco (@thepinna on Instagram and Cara), who is a professional illustrator and studied as a comic artist as well. Without his teaching, I would be nowhere near where I am with my skill level. He taught me how to storyboard, how to efficiently use a drawing tablet, and helped me train my writing skills. He also offers his direct artistic input from time to time, when work hours permit him (for example, while I did the storyboards and pencil sketches for chapter 11, he did inks and colors)."

3. What is your inspiration behind Rayman Nightmarish?

"One December evening I was particularly bored and haven’t been writing since the beginning of high school, but that evening I was coming from a long period of frustration regarding the school path I chose, and coincidentally, I was also back on my Rayman obsession because I was playing Legends and Origins. I had this fairy character (Waaty) and a horrific, almost lovecraftian villain (The Lighteater) in mind for a while, and all of a sudden I said, “You know what? Let’s stop daydreaming and write an actual story!” I took a huge empty notebook from my desk drawer, and a bunch of years later, here we are!"

4. For any newcomers, what is the story of Rayman Nightmarish about?

"With Rayman Nightmarish, I aimed to narrate a classic Rayman adventure, with the humor, the combats, the voyage across fantastical places... And zombies! Yeah, I love horror, and of course there was going to be a twist. But no worries! This is still a story for all ages, like Rayman always was after all.  An ancient evil called The Lighteater is rising from the depths of the sea and is going to bring a dark plague that will soon turn The Glade of Dreams into The Glade of Nightmares. Of course it is Rayman's job to save the day once again, with the help of Globox and a few unexpected friends, like Waaty, the livid dead fairy with strange clairvoyant abilities...and many others along the way! Will he be able to do it this time? Very likely knowing his records, but this could actually be more challenging than he thought."

5. Is there anything new or unreleased you can share?

"I’ve actually been working on a new original fantasy series for a while. The story is already all planned, I'm in love with the characters and every process I came across during the planning of the plot. I hope with all my heart that I'll be able to bring it to life, not as a webcomic but as a fool-blown series for comic stores’ shelves."

6. What made you fall in love with the Rayman series?

"When I was a little girl, I didn’t have much social skills, and my first ever playmate, before my brother was born, was my dear cousin, who one day came to me with a copy of Rayman 3; his parents got him somewhere during a trip. That game changed my brain chemistry because as soon as I saw the fairy council level, I was hypnotized, and I wasn’t even the one playing! The music, the scenery, the jokes—I don’t know, but every time we played it, I came home wishing I was still in that world. Then a few years later, my cousin got a PS3 and gave me and my brother his PS2, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and Rayman 3. I was so happy! My first ever “comic” was a very cringy Rayman fanfiction I wrote in middle school, kind of an ancestor of Rayman Nightmarish in a way, haha! I thank my cousin every day for showing me that game that evening, and if he were still here today, I bet he would think Rayman Nightmarish looks pretty sick (especially in comparison to his middle school predecessor)."

7. What is your favorite Rayman game?

"I think it’s pretty clear by now that it’s Rayman 3 since it comes with so many dear memories, but I really liked playing both Origins and Legends in co-op with my brother when they came out. They were really fun to play with others! While I’ve always considered Rayman 3 like an intimate journey to take alone in a fantasy world, as silly as it sounds. Haha!"

8. Who is your favorite Rayman character?

"I’m going to be very unoriginal and say it’s Rayman because it’s true."

9. Tell us about your time at Ubisoft Milan.

"It was better than Disneyland! I felt like a kid again being able to hang out with a team of professionals behind a whole videogame. Not only was I happy, I felt seen, like, “Woah! These guys know I exist and even asked me to come here, hello???” Pretty surreal experience!"

10. Other than playing Rayman, what are your favorite things to do?

"I’m going to be completely honest; I haven’t been playing a Rayman game since the dawn of time. Haha! Back when I was a little girl, I wasn't much of a gamer and only played Rayman games because I didn’t care for the others. Now I love my switch, and I found many more games I love to spend time with. Rayman still has a special place in my heart, because it’s thanks to it that I found out I was actually meant for writing stories. Two of my other favorite things to do (besides writing and drawing, which are obvious) are reading books and watching movies, and in both cases, my favorite genre is horror. I also like to play fantasy TTRPG games like D&D or Pathfinder from time to time; they are very stimulating for the imagination."

11. Tell us something interesting or funny about yourself that we might not already know. 

"I’ve actually graduated (both bachelor’s and master’s degree) from a music conservatory in classical piano and never taken a single class in any art school. Sometimes I feel stupid about my past choices, and sometimes I’m glad because learning to play an instrument on a professional level has helped me build discipline and time management skills that helped me greatly in the writing process."

12. Do you have any hidden talents?

"I don’t know much about "talent,” but I do love to sing in my car, and I can memorize the entire script of a movie if I like it a lot. Haha! I remember when I was in elementary school, I used to recite Madagascar to myself when it was past bedtime, but I didn’t want to sleep."

13. What is one thing you can’t live without?

"Besides my air conditioner, I think I would go insane if something happened to any of my writing devices. I keep all my notes scattered between my computer, my iPad, and many physical journals. While clouds are essential, sometimes I just need an actual piece of paper and a pencil to figure out a scene or a plot point."

Want to discover more about the Rayman Nightmarish series? This is my link tree where new readers can find the best social media platforms to either catch up with the story or stay tuned for any exciting news:

[genshin-side-piece]

The Hawk and The Sparrow

*Blows the dust bunnies off of this one* This one has been sitting for a minute and by a minute, I mean like the beginning of the Sumeru chapter. It's amazing what a week off of work does for the creative mind.

Characters: Alhaitham, Kaveh, GN reader (no pronouns or descriptions used for reader)

Warnings: Minors DNI, 18+, Yandere themes, Yandere Behavior, Power Imbalance, Master/apprentice dynamic, Abuse of power, Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Touching, Dark themes, not smut (sorry), angst My bad writing, Anything Else I Missed

“There you are, sparrow.” It took you a few seconds to react, but when you did, your entire body froze. While the intrusion of Alhaitham’s voice wasn’t a terrible surprise, you hadn’t expected it this soon. He had been away on business, with no word on when he might return. It had been your hope that when he returned he would be so exhausted from his weeks away that he would simply go home. As you had left the city this morning, your mind had conjured images of him standing at the city gates, impatiently tapping his foot as he waited for you to return or even him patrolling the border as you leered at it from a distance. You should have considered that he wouldn’t be satisfied with simply waiting. It was a foregone conclusion that upon his return to the city, one of the first people he would want to see would be you. If you weren’t where he expected you to be, then he was more than capable of finding you. “Thank you for making me spend most of my final day off searching half of Sumeru for you.” On instinct, you focused on the drawing in your lap. You knew better than to give him your full attention right away. Alhaitham’s acuity when it came to mind games was second to none. It was a talent few knew he possessed. For those that did, they were, well you were wary to enter into such a battle with him. It was easier to act coy or feign stupidity. At least then you would only have to endure a lecture versus accepting what Alhaitham felt were the full consequences of your actions. “A tad dramatic, don’t you think? Don’t tell me Kaveh is starting to rub off on you.” His low growl echoed across the small clearing, causing you to smirk. “Tell me, was your intention to press your luck today or are you merely interested in testing my lack of patience the instant I return?” Your smirk widened at the hint of irritation in his normally smooth voice. “Would you believe me if I said neither?” You briefly looked up from your sketch, glancing over your shoulder at him. “Since your return was open ended, I had no clue when I would see you again. I am merely enjoying the day.” Behind you, the soles of his ornate shoes brushed across the grass as he stepped further into the clearing. “Really?” There was a chuckle. “Does your enjoyment necessitate the need for no escort, no Akasha terminal, and no word to Kaveh as to your whereabouts?” He clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Do you have an explanation for me or shall I just add it to the list of infractions that occurred in my absence?” You swallowed, your smirk softly falling. In your world, Alhaitham’s absence had been a blessing. Kaveh was far less observant when it came to what you did and who you spoke to. You had more than taken advantage of the lack of supervision when it came to getting a few things done. It was improbable that Alhaitham had found them all in such a short amount of time, but it wasn’t entirely impossible either. You had long suspected Alhaitham had put a second set of eyes on you before he left, just to ensure you were behaving as you should. 

Since Alhaitham’s departure, there had been one too many instances of the same group of eremites being near you for it not to be the case. You briefly wondered exactly how many so-called infractions of his ridiculous rules had gotten back to him. Had there been daily reports or would that be too much? The trip to Port Ormos wasn’t too bad, but you doubted he was willing to pay someone or a set of someones to go back and forth everyday. Maybe every few days? It was hard for you to say. Still, a small worry began to creep its way up your spine. What did he know? What had he been told? As he said, there was a list. Your mind slowly began to spin at how long it could actually be. “The akasha shouldn’t be a terrible surprise. You know that silly thing hurts my ear if I wear it for too long. It does me no good outside of the city, so I left it behind.” The slight quiver in your voice nearly gave you away. You could see it in how his body shifted, his hips turning so he could block your only exit from view. “It’s a requirement of the Akademiya that you wear one.” You scoffed, trying to hide the unease that was washing over you. “Since when are you concerned about upholding the Akademiya’s mandates? I wonder how they would feel about your latest excursion.” You lazily drug the graphite across the page, acting like you still cared about your landscape. “My latest excursion was at their request.” Unlike yours, which was not. “I thought we discussed your little sketching trips the last time you tried this.” The discussion being that after you had successfully vanished from his sight for an entire day, Alhaitham informed you that you were not allowed to leave the city alone again. “I’m not a child, Haitham. I resent being treated like one.” You added a little bite to your tone in the vain hope that he might pick up on your displeasure. “I needed reference material for a project. Since I was refused a kamera, I decided the only way to get it was to make a few sketches.” You made the conscious choice to not elaborate beyond what you had already said. It was easier to let him admonish you for what he did know, versus adding to your troubles by telling him something he hadn’t discovered yet, which you doubted was very little. His thoroughness when it came to you knew no bounds. That’s why your efforts to keep your secrets hidden was an exhausting affair.  “The distance is trivial, it shouldn’t require an escort. Even if it did, all your favorites have gotten outrageous with their fees. I can use a stick and get equal protection.” You heard him scoff at the suggestion. “As for Kaveh, he was nowhere to be found. I wasn’t interested in searching the entire city just to tell him I was going a stone’s throw away. Though if he really is that worried, he could have asked the forest rangers. I passed their lookout on my way here and told them where I was.” “I’m aware.” There was a long pause. You could feel his eyes on you; searching, scanning, and assessing your figure for anything he might find out of the ordinary. Much too what you imagined was his disappointment, there wasn’t anything egregious. Outside of your missing akasha terminal, you were as he preferred you. The only thing he could fuss about was the amount of sun your exposed neck, shoulders, and back had seen. Then again, he might also take it as a blessing. There was little doubt that Alhaitham would probably jump at the chance to rub aloe into your irritated flesh. “Your location is inconsequential. You’ve been found.” He grated that out in what you guessed was an effort to hide his apparent relief. 

Alhaitham had been anxious about you using his extended trip as an excuse to vanish from Sumeru. There had been the less than ideal suggestion of you going with him, but he had rejected it at the last minute. Having you with him was a liability he couldn’t afford. Hence his need for curfews, boundaries, and you being left under Kaveh’s less than observant eye. The last thing Alhaitham wanted was to lose his precious control over your life and more importantly, you without having a say in the matter. You had already tried to leave his mastery and pursue other opportunities outside of Sumeru on more than one occasion. Each attempt had been met with a strict punishment and an ever tightening grip on your finances. 

Because you were apprenticed to him, he had the right to take everything you made for himself. Much to your chagrin, it was a right he exercised often. There was always a long winded speech about your lack of responsibility or your foolish ways before he took your hard earned money from you. Anything he returned to you was the result of his so-called generosity. As your master, he was expected to provide for you. But your definition of being provided for was far different than his. He viewed your needs as requiring the basic essentials and nothing more. Anything extra had to be requested and in some cases begged for. If he granted your wish, then the item would be purchased for you rather than him giving you the money. He was well aware of the danger that came with handing you a bag of Mora and letting you galavant around with it. The one and only time he had done that, he had barely caught you at the docks before the ship had sailed. 

“Though since you refuse to wear your Akasha Terminal as you’ve been asked to.” You flinched at how he drew out the word asked. “I may employ Kaveh’s suggestion of sewing little bells into your clothes or maybe I’ll just hang a large one around your neck.” Like he would a pet. The ridiculousness of that made you want to throw your sketch pad at him. You reviled that he kept tabs on you. His incessant need to hover over you was suffocating. Not wearing your accursed Akasha Terminal was one of the few ways you could insure some level of privacy from him, even if it was short lived.

“I think some would find that terribly disruptive. Most professors demand silence during the lectures. I doubt they would be welcoming of such a distraction, even if it came from the grand oiseau himself.” You heard an annoyed huff come from behind you. “Since I’m outside the city and the Akademiya, I doubt Kaveh’s precious bells would have proved useful.” Alhaitham grunted in response. “If anything, wouldn’t they draw danger to me?” “He also made mention of locking you in my study should I decide to go away again. He was quite vocal about how difficult you’ve been in my absence.” It was laughable to think you had been the difficult one. Despite your best effort to keep up appearances while going behind Alhaitham’s back, Kaveh made it especially challenging to do so. Visual contact had, at least in terms of him laying eyes on you, been impossible. If you could find him, he had been face down on Lambad’s bar or passed out on Alhaitham’s couch in a fit of exhaustion. In your desperation to not alert Alhaitham that something was amiss, you had been reduced to leaving notes in Kaveh’s hand as proof of your daily check-ins. The last thing you needed or wanted was for your keeper to come back early because he believed you had fled his ever present eye before you had actually done it. “Not that I feel it’s a reasonable solution, but why save that particular joy for your infrequent trips outside the city? You already watch me morning, noon, and night when I’m at the Akademiya. I’m surprised you haven’t insisted I enjoy that delight so you can observe me as I sleep.” Your sarcasm wasn’t lost on him. Nor did it do much to improve his mood. You could feel his eyes burning a hole in your back. 

“If I thought it plausible, I might.” His voice had a tone you didn’t like. His normally condescending manner had degraded into a quiet outrage that sent a small shiver all over your body. The last time you had heard that tone, he had shown you exactly how much power he had over your life. It wasn’t an experience you wanted to repeat. “Regrettably, I lack a cage large enough to keep you confined for any real length of time.” He had moved closer, his cape swirling the air between you. “Kaveh is as tired of your shenanigans as I am. It seems whatever sympathy he had for you has run out. He mentioned that he was all too eager to design you something before I came searching for you. Maybe I’ll take him up on it.” A heavy silence fell between you. Your mind silently debated whether he was serious or not. Alhaitham wasn’t one to jest about punishment. His one insistence was the expectation of his rules being followed.  But the notion that he would bring himself to completely confine you as a means of controlling you was a step too far, even for him. Allowing you your liberty, more importantly allowing you the chance to shine was a positive reflection on him and the Akademiya as a whole. Even if his reputation wasn’t entirely important to him, you doubted he wanted that to change, unless he had discovered your largest transgression before you had the chance to do anything about it. 

A glance over your shoulder told you all you needed to know. His clenched jaw and stormy eyes were an indication of exactly how livid he was. His fury went beyond his previously listed reasons for being here. While not wearing your Akasha terminal, having no escort and the most egregious of all, failing to inform Kaveh of your whereabouts were simple infractions. They weren’t anything you hadn’t done before. They were behaviors that Alhaitham found at worst, annoying. He had tried to curb them, but generally speaking they brought little more than being restricted to spending your free time in his office for a few days. This was different. This was a level you hadn’t pushed him too before. This meant only one thing.

Silently, Alhaitham reached into a pocket that was concealed by his cloak, pulling out a wax sealed piece of parchment. Your eyes fixated on it, your entire body going cold when he held it in front of you. “Interestingly, this was waiting for me when I returned.” You felt your mouth go dry as you continued to stare at it, your heart sinking like a stone as he ran his fingers over the broken seal. “Kaveh told me it was delivered to the house this morning.” Of course it was. You closed your eyes, grinding your jaw for a moment. Word had reached you that it was being sent. You had thought that the Akademiya might be kind enough to send it to Alhaitham’s office. Then you would have had a chance to retrieve it before he ever got word of it, but fate had not been kind to you. Instead, it had been sent directly to Alhaitham’s home, likely because that would be the first place he would go once he returned. The confirmation that Kaveh had received it meant that Alhaitham had been alerted to it almost instantly. It was probably what triggered Alhaitham’s unexpected return and his confrontation with you now. “Here I thought we had buried the concept for good. Yet-” He let out a breathy chuckle. “You are always full of surprises, aren’t you?” You slowly opened your eyes at the sound of him shifting his weight. The light clinking of ornate embellishments of his outfit broke the silence between you filling the void. “Do you have any kind of defense?” Not that it would save you. He already had more than enough cause to punish you. The letter in his hand was just the icing on the proverbial cake.

You impassively shook your head while you continued to focus on the piece of paper in his hand. He had you. There wasn't a lie in the world that could save you from him. You knew what you had done. More so, you knew the lengths you had gone to get it. The document in question was the proverbial carrot that Alhaitham had dangled in front of you ever since he had taken you under his wing. Your freedom relied on it, your sanity depended on it. Your eyes focused on the stamped seal of approval from the Akademiya. They traced every bump, every dip of the wax. Even the break where it had been opened burned its way into your memory. How could it not? It wasn’t everyday one received a graduation letter from the Akademiya. It was even less likely for you, since your master and benefactor had denied you of it ever since you had come under his tutelage. 

It hadn’t taken you long to figure out that your main roadblock to your future was Alhaitham himself. He had found you on one of your trips through Sumeru. You had set up a small stall in the streets of Port Ormos, peddling sketches and caricatures to tourists while you made a study of the port. You remembered it and him at first because he had spent nearly an hour looking over the pieces you had on offer. He had been especially engrossed with a study of the ruins near Ay-Khanoum. After three additional visits that same day, he deemed you worthy enough to speak to. His curiosity was mainly about how you had reached the ruins, but he also asked other questions; where had you learned, who you were apprenticed under, and the most damning of all, were you traveling with anyone? His reaction when you had answered no to his final question was something you should have been wary of. From that time until you were ready to leave Port Ormos, he had lingered close to your stall. Even after you had moved it to a more crowded area, he still found you.  Patrons taking an interest in you wasn’t anything new. You’d had many offers to stay in the different villages and towns that you had visited. Alhaitham was not the first person to offer to keep you in comfort so you wouldn’t have to endure the life of a wandering artist. Even if that life was entirely your choice. To him, someone of your talent deserved to have their skill honed to the highest level. It was a privilege to study at the Akademiya. You should consider yourself fortunate that such a distinguished and respected figure within the Akademiya was willing to personally sponsor the next step in your education. Nevermind that it was a privilege that you had never wanted or asked for. It was enough that Alhaitham wanted it for you and whatever he wanted, he got. The mind games he so expertly played made sure of that.

Under the guidance of your darshan, your skill had grown exponentially. Some had even gone so far as to say your skill exceeded Alhaitham’s at his current age, nevermind his younger self. The man himself was pleased with your progression. At least, you thought he was pleased. Your overall academic progress never seemed to matter to him. He instead insisted on you following his ever increasing, ever suffocating list of rules. You had thought to leave when it all started. When he first began to tighten his hold on you. In the beginning, Alhaitham had been largely content to simply observe you. It hadn’t mattered if you were in the public spaces of the Akademiya or in the privacy of one of the many art studios, those of eyes of his seemed to follow you wherever you went. You had diverged on many occasions, trying your best to shake the oppressive presence of your sponsor. The result had been Alhaitham leaving his proverbial perch to track you down. Once back in his field of vision, he tightened his hold on you, slowly and steadily trapping you in his firm grip. By the time you realized what was going on, it was far too late to do anything about it. Instead your escape attempts were thwarted, your departure from the Akademiya refused. 

It was hard to remember when his attention had changed from observational to physical. He wasn’t terribly affectionate, yet he always managed to let his fingers linger on yours whenever he would take the graphite from you to show you something. That escalated into those same fingers toying with the sensitive skin of your neck while he hovered over you in the evening. You had tried to minimize the unwanted contact by moving your studio time to earlier in the day. Your hope was to be back in your apartment before he finished work, but luck was not on your side. Like everything else in your life, Alhaitham held a specific level of control over both you and your schedule. Your class times had been optimized to fit with his schedule. The moment you had tried to adjust anything to suit yourself, it was mysteriously shifted back. When questioned why, the registrar merely shrugged. The only excuse that was offered was that the studios were a distracting place during the day. A student of your advanced capability deserved peace and quiet to work. That was why everyone was seemingly insistent that you take an evening slot. Nevermind that it gave Alhaitham all the privacy he could ever want when it came to you. In those moments, the main focus of his attention was your neck and shoulders. Delicate fingers would run along your nape and collar bones while he watched you sketch. A heavy hand often laid upon your shoulder while you practiced your writing. In the very late hours, when it was assured you were alone, his lips would find themselves behind your ear, softly pressing into your sensitive skin. You had tried to stop it, first by asking him, then by telling him, but he had refused. Instead, he got bolder. He exercised his authority over you, by commanding that you keep his favorite spots exposed for his pleasure. When you defied him by hiding them with scarves and other items, he retaliated. Your wardrobe was changed overnight. It was the first of many humiliations to come. 

“I want to leave Haitham.” Your eyes didn’t falter from their fixation on the letter. Your voice didn’t even so much as tremble. Not when your freedom was in the palm of his hand. His continued control of your life had only cemented your resolve to be rid of him once and for all. The letter meant that upon your official graduation, you would be released from your apprenticeship to Alhaitham. According to the laws of the Akademiya it meant that in some aspects, namely the financial ones, he would have to yield his control of you. Once that happened, you would be able to trigger the final part of your plan. “I’m tired of this place.” You were tired of his demands. You were tired of being a possession. You were tired of him. “I want to travel again.” You wanted to put as much distance between you and him as was humanly possible. Even if it meant living on a boat in the middle of the ocean for the rest of your life, you were prepared to do so. Just to be rid of him. “And you believe I’ll allow any of that.” His tone was like acid, burning you word after word as he disregarded your reasons for wanting to get away. It wasn’t like he was blind to them. Alhaitham was all too aware of them. This wasn’t a new conversation for either of you. There had been numerous occasions where you had demanded he let you leave, only to be thwarted by the very piece of paper that was now in his hand. As long as you didn’t have it, he could keep you.  “It doesn’t matter if you do or you don’t.” You finally tore your eyes away from the letter, craning your neck upward so you could stare into his malicious gaze. “That piece of paper severs your hold over me.” According to the Akademiya, you were free. 

The news of that went over as well as you expected it too. Losing was not something Alhaitham was accustomed to, especially when the source of his defeat was someone he viewed as inferior. He had gone to great lengths to insure that you would never graduate. The fury that raged in his eyes when he realized you had gotten around all of them was akin to a hurricane. Menacing and swirling and desperate. He was dangerous when he was like this. You knew that, yet you stood firm in both your reasons and your actions. Any punishments incurred from here on out would fall under the purview of the law. You could bring his actions up to the Matra and they would be obligated to investigate. It was one of the many benefits your graduation had brought you. More so, he wouldn’t be able to prevent it. The letter meant everything had become official. Your graduation and your subsequent release from his care had been registered in the official records. If Alhaitham tried to deny you had graduated, all the matra needed to do to confirm it was check the lists. “No.” His hand tightened around the letter, crushing the piece of paper with almost no effort. “Have I not told you countless times that you are not ready to move forward, yet you are insistent on disobeying me.” 

“If not now, when?” You stood up releasing some of the anger that had been pent up inside of you. “I know you think me stupid. I know you view me as blind.” You matched his harsh tone, spitting every word at him in the hope that they would hurt him as much as you wanted them too. “But I won’t be ensnared in your trap any longer.” You took a shallow breath, mentally steadying yourself. “I want my life back. I was fine before you tricked me into joining the Akademiya. I’ve been miserable since. I’ve had my fill of it. I don’t want anything more to do with it or you!” His lips curled into a sneer.

“Is that so?” He took a step forward, his grip tightening even further around the letter. “Did you ask for my blessing before you did this? Did I grant you my permission to do such a thing?” He reached for you and on instinct you leaned back, tossing the only weapon you had at him in the hope it would stop him. 

“I have an offer.” It worked. 

Alhaitham stopped where he stood, his eyes growing wide at that statement. His face shifted from anger to disbelief to something you didn’t recognize in a matter of seconds. He almost looked as if he hadn’t heard you correctly. But he had. You knew he had. The anger that practically radiated off his frame told you he had.

“I beg your pardon.” The tone of the statement cut right through your confidence. Admitting you had a way out had been a mistake. It had been your intention to never reveal it, at least not until you were well and truly away from him. The letter explaining your escape route, along with your packed bags were back at your apartment. Your intention was to leave the second you had your graduation letter, but that plan had been obviously foiled. Now you had realized Alhaitham’s worst fear for him, in the hope that it would deter him from pressing you any further. It was a foolish move on your part. One you would later come to regret. “I- have an- offer.” You tried to swallow the lump that had formed in your throat, but it was as persistent as his scowl. “The- the court of Fontaine. They wrote again-” The Palais Mermonia was in desperate need of a courtroom sketch artist. They had written months ago after one of your old sketches had ended up in the Palais. Alhaitham had insisted you turn it down, because he needed you here. Now they had written again, this time more urgently. They had even offered you an advance, just to tempt you with the concept of acceptance. “They increased their offer from before.” You couldn’t refuse. Not when the position and the money were your ticket out of Sumeru. “I want out, Haitham.” You said that with every ounce of force in your body, hoping to get your point across.

An extended silence passed between you two, one that was filled by the sound of the wind as it whipped around you. 

“Fine.” That answer confounded you. Fine? After years of refusals and torments he finally agrees? It didn’t seem right. It didn’t feel right. Alhaitham wasn’t one to give up, nor did he readily accept defeat. Especially when he had been caught off guard. That meant one thing; there was a catch, somewhere. You knew Alhaitham well enough to know that if there was one plan, then there were at least seven back ups. The man didn’t breathe without a contingency in place. That’s why his sudden acquiescence, especially when he was still seething from your previous conversation, seemed out of sorts. Because it was. There was a trick up his nonexistent sleeve. “I’m sorry, what?” You furrowed your eyebrows at him, hesitant to show him the confusion that was radiating through your body. “You want out of the Akademiya? Fine.” His words were clipped and sharp, lacking any real sincerity. “I’ll grant that to you. You’re out. It saves me the trouble of purging the records once we return to the city.” You gently shook your head. “I want out of Sumeru, Haitham. I want my own life.” An odd, almost all knowing smirk crossed his lips. “I’ll give you that as well.” You blinked at him, your eyes as wide as saucers. For a brief moment you actually thought your brain had broken and your ears deceived you. He agreed? “If you do one thing for me.” There it was. You wanted to laugh at how predictable he could be sometimes. “From now, until you leave Sumeru, you will wear your Akasha terminal.” He reached around behind him, pulling the accursed thing from his pocket. He offered it to you, expectantly waiting for you to take it. You would not deny that it felt too good to be true. After everything had put you through, you could not shake the feeling that you were being deceived once again. 

“That’s it?” Your eyes kept moving between his face and the terminal in his hand. “All I have to do is wear this until I leave and I’m free?” The smirk grew larger and with it, so did your hesitation. You didn’t want to trust it or him really. All you had to do was wear your akasha terminal until you left Sumeru and he would let you go free? The offer was too easy. Too simple. Two things Alhaitham never was. There was also the complete lack of a second option to consider. If you refused, what would happen? Would he drag you back to the city kicking and screaming? Would he purge your graduation as a means of keeping you? It was hard to say, hard to know. But that was the point. You were gambling on two unknowns; could you really trust him to do as he said or could you stand whatever punishment he deemed most appropriate? It didn’t matter. You were damned either way. “You’ll truly let me go?”

“Do as I ask and I will happily grant you the new life you seek.”

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You should’ve listened to your instincts. You should’ve run as fast as you could. You should’ve removed the akasha terminal before going to bed that night. If you had, you wouldn’t have had to face the horrific reality that greeted you when next woke.

A new life. That’s what he had said. Do as he asked and he would grant you a new life. You had been foolish enough to believe that Alhaitham would do the right thing and allow you the new life you had made for yourself. You weren’t to know that when he had sent you home that night, that the Akademiya would be running an experiment. That everyone wearing an Akasha terminal within a specific radius would be pulled into a deep slumber for an undetermined amount of time. Alhaitham though, through his privileged position at the Akademiya, had. It was why the deal he had offered had been so ungodly simple. All he needed was for you to be wearing the terminal while you slept. Once in the experiment’s hold, he could do as he liked to you, for as long as the experiment lasted. Which was what led you here.

It had been an odd sensation to wake up in the room or rather the cell you would be forced to call home. At the start, you couldn’t quite place it. The ornate woodwork that ran along the ceiling and the cushions beneath you were both entirely unfamiliar. Your apartment and your bed, both of which you firmly remembered falling asleep in, were much simpler. Alhaitham had refused the idea of allowing you anything remotely grand. If you wanted splendor, you could find it in his home. So you had long settled for the simplicity of your surroundings. That’s why the silks and the satins, the ornate carvings, and the gilded bars felt entirely out of place; because they weren’t yours. This was not your apartment. You thought them to be part of another dream. A bizarre image created by your mind due the stress of the last few days. Alhaitham had said he would let you go. He had promised it. Yet as the terror of reality slowly began creeping its way into your bones, you tried to lie and tell yourself this wasn’t real. He hadn’t. He couldn’t. No, you were leaving for Fontaine in the morning. Alhaitham was going to let you go. You kept telling yourself that, right up until you turned your head, finding the man himself staring back at you through the bars of your new gilded cage. 

He didn’t speak to you. Not initially. He just stared, as he liked to do in the quieter moments. He allowed you the privilege of assessing your present circumstances on your own. Of letting you reach your own conclusion when it came to what they meant. He granted you the rare right to the blinding rage that filled you to the brim after the reality of your situation finally sunk in. He had lied to you. He had tricked you. He had trapped you. There would be no escape. He had finally acted on the overarching threat that had hung over your head like a blade waiting to strike. Alhaitham had made you his. “Haitham?” Your voice quivered as your barely maintained control of it. Gods above how you just wanted to scream at him. Even if it would be deemed unnecessary at this stage, you still wanted to. If nothing else than to release the emotions that were threatening to suffocate you. “You must have still been tired from all your exertions while I was away.” The flat calm of his voice incensed you further. The sheer audacity of the man to be unaffected by the looming consequences of his actions sent you to another level where your fury was concerned. Even if there was nothing you could physically do to him, Alhaitham could have had the good manners to sound somewhat remorseful for the fact that he had tricked you. “I took your akasha terminal off hours ago.” You tried to take a deep breath to calm yourself, knowing full well it would do nothing to help. The deep, stuttering quality of the release of it matched the wrath that was vibrating through your body. “Did you sleep well?” An absurd question all things considered. “What’s going on?” You sat up fully, using the cold metal bars as a means of support when you could finally manage to stand. “What have you done?” 

He rose from his place on the sofa opposite the cage, taking one last moment to look you over before he closed the distance between you. It wasn’t a large gap, in fact, he closed in what felt like a second. To you though, it felt like an eternity. He was savoring his victory. The look of utter satisfaction he gave you when he stopped in front of you nearly made you take his face off. The only thing that stopped you was that it was well out of your reach. “I cannot admire you to my own satisfaction if you are in Fontaine, sparrow.” He confidently reached out, the pads of his fingers running down the column of your neck, daring to pause long enough at the base so he could brush his thumb over your exposed collarbone. “I shudder to think what could have happened to you had you slipped away.” You would be free. That’s what would have happened. You would be in Fontaine and completely free of him. “This is a much better arrangement, don’t you think?” 

“How is this better?!” Hot tears began to stream down your face, burning your skin more with each drop that rolled across your cheeks. “I’m behind bars because of you!” The idea that he acted on his threat to confine you to this degree was not the worst part of this, but it was the most horrifying. Alhaitham always held himself to such a high standard of logic and reason. It was impossible to believe that he would go to such a barbaric level just to maintain his control over you. “I did warn you about the cage. What a pity that you didn’t listen.” Your fingers tightened around the bars. “All you had to do was behave and I would have left you at liberty.” He chuckled. “Such a shame you couldn’t even manage that.” Behave. He meant stay. The price of your liberty was  staying in Sumeru until one of you died. Had you just done that, you would have woken up in your bed or at worst his. Instead, you had pressed the offer from Fontaine. You had demanded he let you go. You actually tried to leave. Now in his mind, you had to pay the price for your folly.

“HAITHAM” Your fingers released the bars long enough for you to slap them in pure frustration. “This isn’t fair- this isn’t legal!” He didn’t fight you on either point, he didn’t need to. You were correct on both counts, you knew you were. Confining you was not an ideal solution for him, but your disobedience had forced his hand. You had turned his worst fear into a reality and that was something Alhaitham wasn’t about to allow. “Let me out!” You hit the cage again, more for effect than anything else. “Or?” He retracted his hand from you, folding his arms in amusement, almost challenging you to threaten him. “You’ll scream?” He shrugged. “Go ahead, no one will hear you.” You swallowed, not liking the dangerous glint in his eyes. 

“We’re in the middle of the city.” Your complete lack of confidence in that statement was all too apparent. The truth was, you didn’t know that for sure. It was an assumption that he had taken the route of least resistance and brought you to his home. But you had been unconscious when he had done so. The sobering reality was, you could be anywhere. Sumeru was rife with caves and ruins alike. There were any number of places where one could hide a person or themselves if they needed to. Places that the matra didn’t know of or places they didn’t care to go. Places that Alhaitham was prepared to take advantage of, should he need to. “Are we?” There was a small smirk. “Are you sure about that?” Your only response was to look away from him. Having to stare at his smug expression was making you sick. “Would you like a hint?” 

“How is this even possible?” You turned back, fixing him with a glare, blatantly ignoring his question. “The last time we spoke, you told me you didn’t have this. The threat to lock me away was an idle one at best.”

“Didn’t I? Interesting that you know what may or may not be in my possession at any given time.” You shook your head in complete denial. He had only just forced you back from the woods yesterday. There was no way he could have gotten this in the span of a night. Either you had been asleep for a lot longer than you thought or something else was going on. “If you’re good, I’ll consider letting you out later to stretch your legs for a bit.” If not, he would keep you locked away for days, even weeks before he would consider letting you out again. Even with your exceptional capability to refuse him at nearly every turn, you could not deny that Alhaitham held all the cards. If you would not offer your compliance freely, then he could demand it in other ways. He could force it if it was absolutely necessary, but he would wear you down long before he ever got to that point. The burden of being held captive wasn’t resting on him. Alhaitham was free. He could do as he pleased and you knew it pleased him just to have you. Your presence was enough to satiate any desire he might have. He could easily lose himself in a book and be fine with forcing you to wait to the point that you were willing to beg him for a scrap of attention. Meanwhile, all you could do was stare at the door of your cell and pray that you didn’t descend into madness from the sheer boredom of it all. “I know it’s a foreign concept for you to behave yourself where I’m concerned, but perhaps you could practice it while I’m otherwise engaged today. It’s not like you have anything else to do.” The incredulous nature of his statement caused you to only be able to gape at him in horror.  

Alhaitham’s expectation of you being good, was for you to be utterly compliant to his whims. He expected your gratitude and your adoration in equal measure. Your inability to express either frustrated him to no end. You supposed he felt your current situation would fix that. To achieve an ounce of freedom, you had to do what he wanted. You had to obey. There were no more second chances or mild infractions. Alhaitham’s intentions were all too clear. You become what he wanted you to be. Period. “Kaveh will be in to check on you once he gets back from his errands. Considering he’s as irritated as I am with you, I’m sure a little obedience would go a long way mending the proverbial fence with him.”

“Fuck off.” You spat that at him the hope that it would have some effect on him. It did, but only from the standpoint that it made Alhaitham angrier. You could see it in his eyes when they grew harder, glossing over with the cold apathy that he had mastered. “Language.”  You went to say it again, this time louder, hopefully loud enough that someone would hear, but he cut you off. “Don’t doubt me when I tell you I have all that I need to correct your mistakes. Your language is one of them.” There was a brief pause. “I’ll give you a pass on that little outburst because you’re upset. Perhaps rightfully so. But don’t make the same mistake with your language again. If you choose to continue to scream obscenities at me, then you’ll do so from behind a gag until you know better. Am I clear?” You let out a slow breath, flaring your nostrils at him as you did. God you wanted to try him. You wanted to dare him to act on his threat, just to see if he would follow through on it. You half considered it, until you looked over the bars again. He had gone so far as to build you a cage. A gag or anything else he had squirreled away would be nothing in comparison. “Sparrow. Answer me, courteously.” “I hate you.” You weren’t about to give him the acquiescence he desired. Not today at any rate. “This isn’t even remotely close to fair.” Your hands came around the bars, gripping them with all you had. “It isn’t fair that you were going to sneak away either. Yet you still tried. Consider this your punishment.” He indicated the cage. “When you learn to stay as you should, then I might be persuaded to let you out for an extended period of time, with supervision.” Stay as you should, like a dog. Gods help you. Your previous fury, which hadn’t been subdued by his motives finally succeeded in escaping, launching itself at him with every ounce of strength you had in your body. The bars of the cage rattled in unison with your screams as you pounded against the door to your cell. Much like Alhaitham, it didn’t move. It held firm, keeping you exactly where he wanted you as he took in your tantrum. He watched you fail and cry and scream until you were reduced to a crumpled puddle at his feet, quietly sobbing out what was left of your rage. There was nothing more to do, there was nothing more to say. To your own horror you had to accept the truth, that despite all your careful planning, Alhaitham had still managed to find a way to win.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some time later, that was how Kaveh found you; crumpled against the cage in a broken heap. Enrant tears still fell as you couldn’t quite bring your emotions into check, but your sobbing had long ceased. The only reason it had, was because you had no more energy to do so. Whatever means Alhaitham and Kaveh had been using to keep you alive while you slept weren’t being employed now that you were awake. That meant you were reliant on them to supply you with what you needed to survive. Something you were sure would depend on your behavior and how obedient you choose to be. Knowing Alhaitham, the more you humiliated yourself for his benefit, the better. If you refused, he could starve the defiance right out of you.

“Paradisah?” You flinched at the sound of Kaveh’s voice. He had slipped in a while ago. Like Alhaitham, Kaveh was keen to observe as well. It was an annoying trait they both shared. You wished though, that like Alhaitham, Kaveh had remained silent. You weren’t ready for him. Your anger at Alhaitham, at least the first incarnation of it, had only just subsided. Kaveh didn’t necessarily deserve the tail end of it, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Had you the energy for it, you would have given him the fresh anger he had earned all on his own. Instead you limply sat there, ignoring him. It was the only defense you could muster. “Darling-” He quickly moved closer, the metal details of his outfit clinking and clanking with every swift step. “Darling, are you alright?” Out of all the statements and questions you had heard today, that took the cake on being the stupidest. Were you alright? You had been abducted and told you would stay locked in some form of a cage for the rest of your life. Of course you weren’t alright. Why would he ask that? “I only just got here. Alhaitham left a note saying to check on you. He mentioned that you might be upset.” Might be. Might be. 

You turned, your head tilting up in utter disbelief as your tired, red rimmed eyes found Kaveh’s. Might be upset. Things that might upset you were things like the coffee shop being out of your favorite blend or being denied art supplies that you needed for a project. Suggesting that you might be upset at your present circumstances was perhaps the understatement of the millenia. There was no might be about it. You had gone well past the point of upset and gone nuclear. The only thing that seemed to contain it was your own mental exhaustion. “Paradi, please don’t be like that. It’s-” He let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s not that bad. Truly it’s not.” For the first time, you were thankful for the bars that separated you from Kaveh. Had they not been there, then there was a very real chance you might have killed him where he stood. “Are you mad?” You didn’t bother to soften your tone for his benefit, not when he was acting like this was the most normal thing in the world. “I’m locked in a cage, Kaveh. A cage.” The anger you thought you didn’t have for him sparked, rapidly reigniting the ashes of the inferno that had been burning inside of you. “Why?” The question had been a rhetorical one, but the blonde scoffed, deciding it needed to be answered. “Because you gave him no other choice!” You watched as Kaveh planted his hands on his narrow hips. “Not to take his side in this, but you did it first! You-” He weakly gestured to you, letting his one hand fall back to his side. “You went behind his back! You went behind my back! By the way, Fontaine? Really?” Kaveh fixed you with a look of utter contempt. “And for so little too.” He shook his head in disgust. “You should at least get what you’re worth if you’re going to try something this stupid.” Like he was one to talk. Kaveh was Sumeru’s reigning king of foolish endeavors and stupid mistakes. The reason for his personal troubles were because he lacked the common sense he was born with. “I wanted my life back. I already live on a pittance, what’s the difference if I do it here or in Fontaine?” The difference was that Alhaitham and Kaveh wouldn’t be with you. While he tried to disguise it as pity or even empathy, Kaveh was every bit as bad as Alhaitham when it came to controlling your life. He didn’t use money or even his position to keep you where he wanted you. Instead, Kaveh’s violent mood swings often played a large role in getting you to do what he wanted. It was easier to comply with his poor pitiful me act than to deal with the outbursts that would follow should you refuse. “I didn’t think you would be one to lecture me about wanting to get away.” You fixed him with a hard look. “Aren’t you always going on about paying off your debts and getting away from him once and for all? Why am I any different? Why do I have to be the one that’s locked in the cage?” “Because you won’t listen!” The force in Kaveh’s voice temporarily silenced you. He stomped so hard his entire outfit rang in your ears. “All we want is to take care of you!” He took a deep breath, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. “Are you that ungrateful? You were sleeping in ruins and shady inns before you came here.” He let out an exasperated sigh. “We’ve offered you a life, a home. Sure Alhaitham is wretched and the whole mora thing is annoying, but does that alone constitute betrayal?” The word be slammed into you like a sack of bricks.

“Betrayal?” You could hardly voice the word. Did Kaveh really believe that? “Yes!” He pointed at you. “Betrayal. You have done nothing but lie to me for the last few weeks. Outside of one or two incidents, I thought we were getting along splendidly. I was ready to give him a glowing report so that he might cut you a little slack. Instead you betrayed me. You went behind my back multiple times to make arrangements for your new life in Fontaine. Then you scared the living daylights out of me when you took your little sketching trip into the woods. They delivered your graduation letter that morning and when I went to find you so we could talk about it, you were gone!  I thought you had tried to run. I spent my day combing Sumeru City trying to find you!” You wanted to feel guilty about that, but you couldn’t quite manage it. Kaveh’s willing participation in this whole fiasco seemed to kill any remorse you tried to have.  “Do you think so little of me that you would do that to me? After everything we’ve been through, you would just leave me behind to deal with his fury?” That you did feel slightly sorry about. You had from the beginning. 

Kaveh was as much of a victim of Alhaitham as you were. While you had to deal with Alhaitham’s wandering hands and his incessant control, Kaveh had to endure endless rounds of verbal abuse that were hurled at him on a minute by minute basis when he and Alhaitham were together. Even if it was mostly brought on by Kaveh’s general attitude, Alhaitham almost always went for the jugular where Kaveh was concerned. There had been plenty of instances where Kaveh had limped away from a fight with Alhaitham, only to lick his wounds in the tavern. The difference between you and Kaveh though was Kaveh’s continued participation in Alhaitham’s scheme to keep you in Sumeru. That’s why you only felt slightly bad about your failed escape. Kaveh deserved many things, but the one thing he didn’t deserve was to face the brunt of Alhaitham’s anger when the truth of your escape finally came to light. That didn’t mean you hadn’t been prepared to force him to suffer for the sake of your freedom.  If the consequences of you leaving forced Kaveh to realize his own hypocrisy at the hands of Alhaitham, then it was a price you were willing to pay. That at least would be some justice for what had happened to you. Now, there would be none.  

“Right, because you’re the victim in this.” Kaveh managed to look a little wounded by that. “Do you think so little of your own ideals that you would cast them aside to imprison me?” The look he gave you was akin to being sucker punched. You could see the wheels spinning in his head. You watched the guilt work its way across his face as he finally took in your situation. “I- I didn’t want you to wake up in there.” Was that supposed to make you feel better? Were you supposed to thank him for his thoughtfulness despite the fact he willingly participated in your abduction? “Even with your betrayal, I advocated that you would be more comfortable out here.” Kaveh briefly gestured at the couch that sat along the wall closest to him. “We could always lock you in later, but I felt it would be better for you not to wake up behind bars. Alhaitham- he disagreed with me. He insisted that things had to remain as normal for us as possible. Nothing could look or feel amiss. I told him I would stay with you, but-” Kaveh shook his head. Obviously that suggestion hadn’t gone much further than that. “In the end, he’s right. We had to consider all that you had done, all you could do. You could hurt yourself, or something else could happen.” Like alert the matra and try to get away. “We both felt that this was better. Safer for everyone.” Safer. You wanted to laugh. You wanted to scream. Safer for who exactly? Them? You? “I know you’re upset.” He tried to sound gentle about it. Despite screaming at you only a few minutes prior, Kaveh was trying his best to be the good cop to Alhaitham’s bad cop. He was trying so desperately to add a silver lining to an abysmal situation. You wouldn’t accept it though. No amount of honeyed words would ever fool you again. “If you listen to him then it won’t be for long. He told me he might even let you out for a while later.” Fresh tears stung your eyes as you gripped the bars with all you had. “You’d like that right? To be out, to walk around? You were under for so long. I’m sure it would feel great just to stretch your legs. Oh! Just think, we could all have meals together, just like we used too.” Like some bastardized version of a family. Despite being famished, you nearly wretched at the thought. “Wouldn’t that be grand?” Kaveh offered you a genuine smile in an effort to disguise the fact that what he had just said was completely revolting. We could all have meals together, just like we used too. As if you hadn’t been forced to eat with them the first time. As if anything would ever be like it used too ever again. How could this meal or any others make up for the fact that your life had been stolen from you? Years of work, years of training, years of studying all made useless by the cold bars that held you in place. You had been reduced to no better than their pet. Something they were preparing to mold and train into a mindless thing. “Why don’t I make you some Pani Puri? You like that don’t you? I think we-” God you couldn’t stand him anymore. You couldn’t stand his incessant need to ignore the obvious. You hated him. You hated Alhaitham. You would rather be left to rot in the prison they had built for you before you would tolerate being in their presence for one more second. “Leave.” It took him a second to process what you said. Initially you thought he hadn’t heard you or that you had only said it in your mind based on the confusion that was written across his face. His expression changed a moment later, resembling that of a kicked puppy. “Darling, I -” He took a step towards you. 

“I said-” You turned away from him, not wanting to see his face again. “Leave.” You tried to add some force to that, but it didn’t really work. The word came out as some weak, warbling thing that was barely discernible. Still though, he understood. You heard him take a breath, as if to say one last thing to you, but he refrained. Needless platitudes of encouragement or pleas for you to reconsider wouldn’t do him any good. You had already refused to hear them. Instead, the only sound you wanted to hear was the gentle clanking of Kaveh’s outfit as he slowly moved away. After what you guessed were a few minutes, he granted you that. Leaving you to the fate that Alhaitham had decided for you.

[thesparklingwriter]

misplaced jealousy

“You should have asked how I felt about this ‘tiny Childe’ before you let him take my place in your arms.”

word count: 1.2k

original ask

tags: gn reader, fluff

taglist | masterlist

When you told Childe that you planned to use your annual leave from work to get back to some crafting, he’d thought that it was a great idea. He’d asked around to find the best supplies possible, had them delivered to you in a neat little package, and waited patiently to hear whether you liked it or not. He knew he’d be at the bank when the delivery came, so he half expected you to come by and tell him about all the plans you had for each item.

But you’d been really quiet about it, and he worried that maybe the package had never made it to you, so he drops by to check it got delivered to the house. He opens the front door, expecting you to notice almost immediately, like you always did, but you don’t. In fact, for a few minutes, he’s convinced you’re not even home, until he decides to check your office.

“You know, if your inhumane ability to know when the door is opened is broken, you might have to look at locking the front door more often.” He says, as soon as he spots you hunched over your desk. You jump as soon as you hear him, but turning your attention away from your sketch seems to be a hard task.

“Jeez, Ajax, you scared the life out of me,” you say, as he reaches down to hug you. “What are you doing here?”

“I was concerned the craft supplies I ordered for you never made it,” He says. “So i thought i'd come by and check”

“You just wanted to slack off,” You laugh, putting your pencil down. “Anyway, it’s a good thing you came. I planned to come down to the bank to thank you myself, but I got totally distracted with ideas.”

“And those ideas are?” Childe asks, trying to get a glance at your paper, but you flip the paper over, glaring at him half heartedly.

“For me to know, and you to find out later.” You pull him into a hug, laughing as he tries to pull away from you and the kisses you plant on his face. “Thank you. Really.”

“Anytime,” he responds. He sits with you a little longer, trying his best to observe quietly, but failing miserably as he descends into peals of laughter at your attempt to draw a bunny. Or was it supposed to be a dog? He doesn’t know, and he never gets to find out, because you throw him out of your office and he finds himself forced to return to work.

He very quickly begins to regret his laughter at your sketch, because now he’s not allowed in the same room as you if you're making your plushies, and it just so happens that every minute of your day is consumed by your crafting activities. When he got home, you used to at least acknowledge his presence, but now, it's as if he comes home to an empty house.

To make matters worse, the only way he knows if you’re alive or not is if something goes wrong. And you seem to be so good at what you’re doing that he only ever hears you curse frustratedly once a day if he’s lucky. Sometimes you come out to eat dinner with him, and other times you fuel yourself on snacks and don’t leave your office until night when you tiredly crawl into bed next to him without a single word.

As much as he wants to march into your office and burn every single thing he bought so that you’d look at him again, he knows you deserve your own space, so he tries to find a hobby of his own. (It doesn’t work, and it only makes him miss you more.) 

After a week of feeling like he doesn't exist, he returns home, expecting to once again be met with a silent house.

“Oh, you’re back, great,” You say, getting up to hug him when you feel the sudden gust of air from the front door opening. “I need your opinion on something 'cause I think that Liyue has the spiciest food, but for some reason, my friend thinks Mondstadt does. Like has she even eaten Mondstadt’s food before?”

“So you’ve remembered I’m alive?” Childe mutters into your hair. You look up at him skeptically.

“I wasn’t that bad,” you scoff. “Was I?”

“You were horrendous.” he laughs. “But at least it’s over now.” He doesn’t dare ask you to see the finished product, in case it suddenly makes you decide to revisit the project. 

You apologise lightly, laughing at the face he makes when he’s forced to relive the past week in his mind. The rest of the night seems normal–you eat dinner together and spend the rest of the evening relaxing in each other’s company. You go to bed nestled up in Childe’s arms, the same way you usually do. 

Everything goes wrong in the morning, when he notices that you rolled away in the middle of the night, and is horrified to discover that you did so to cuddle the stupid plushie that’s been taking you away from him for the past week. He considers excusing it since the plushie is in his likeness, but in the end, he decides that it’s too much of an insult, and the minute your grip on it loosens, he grabs it and hides it in a wardrobe he knows you rarely go into.

Since it's a weekend, he busies himself with making breakfast to try and forget the ridiculous situation he finds himself in because it makes no sense to him. How is he literally getting replaced? And by a stuffed toy?

“Morning, Ajax,” You mutter sleepily, as you come down the stairs. “You’ve not seen tiny Childe, have you? He must have fallen off the bed at some point last night but he’s not underneathh it, so I have no clue where he’s gone.”

“I slept well, thanks, you?” He replies, focusing on the eggs he’s frying.

“Ajax.” You suddenly don’t sound sleepy at all, and Childe keeps himself firmly facing the stove. He quietly turns it off, just in case you decide that taking your plush is a crime punishable by death by flames.

“Yes?”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re the worst liar ever. What did you do to tiny Childe?”

“You should have asked how I felt about this ‘tiny Childe’ before you let him take my place in your arms.”

“You are not jealous of a plush right now.”

“Maybe I am.” he scoffs. “Maybe it’s silly. But I maintain that until you atone for your misdemeanours, ‘Tiny Childe’ will never see the light of day again.”

“You’re joking,” Your attempts to hide how hard you're trying not to laugh fail miserably, and you can see Childe trying his best not to laugh either. But in the face of a completely ridiculous situation, what are either of you supposed to do?

“Fine,” you sigh, pulling him into a hug. “I apologise for giving my attention to something else, and I will never, ever do it again.”

“Much better.” Childe grins.

~~~

Bonus:

“You lasted way longer than I thought you would. I half expected you to break down my office door.”

“What do you mean?”

“You really thought it took me a whole week to make that?”

author's note: once again, another guy i haven't written for in a while lol

childe nation how does it feel to love a character that's favoured by the literal game devs

taglist: @tartigglez @aixaingela @thelonelyarchon

(crossed out @s couldn't be tagged)

[kaeyas-beloved]

Holiday Happenings

Characters: Albedo, Childe, Freminet

— spending the holiday season with them is never a dull moment

CWs: gn!reader (no pronouns), fluff, modern!au, Freminet's is platonic/Albedo’s is romantic/Childe’s can be read as either-or, alcohol (Childe), kissing, petnames (love), reader is gifted a necklace in Childe’s but it’s design isn’t described, Freminet might be OOC this is my first time writing him!!

This is my contribution to the 2023 Genshin Secret Santa! @mechalily this is for you and I hope you like it!! ('m sorry for being a little late <3)

Albedo

"You're not seriously working during Christmas break, are you? I thought you finished all your assignments already?" When you entered your boyfriend's dorm room during the evening hours you really weren't expecting him to be hunched over and writing away at some chemical research… thing. Actually, you thought he’d be either sketching or reading. “Albedooo, you’re not supposed to be a slave to the education system for the next few weeks!”

Your little comment left him unfazed as he finished writing his thoughts down before glancing up at you. “This is no assignment love, just merely research I conducted on my own time from my own curiosity. It’s quite fascinating really, and I think it’s something you’d enjoy as well.” While your heart does indeed warm at the thought of him keeping you in mind during his day-to-day activities, and you'd be more than willing to sit and listen to him for hours, you came here with a purpose dammit!

Nonchalantly you stand behind him, draping your arms over his shoulders and resting your head beside his. He gives you a look, blank for the most part but you can see the underlying suspicion in them, a silent What are you planning?. You just smile like you’re not up to anything, even though you most certainly are. Subtly you move to grab something from your pocket, getting ready to reveal it along with your notorious plan.

“While I most definitely want to hear about your research, I think you should be relaxing just a little more and doing more holiday activities or your regular hobbies than something you’ve been doing nonstop for the last few months. And I’ve got just the idea for you,” and with that you pull what you had in your pocket out, holding it above the both of you.

“Kissing me under some mistletoe!! …followed by cuddles 'cause it’s cold please and thank you.” At first he blinks, then his eyes move between your expectant face and the plant and that was all it took for a small smile to find itself on his lips.

“You know,” he starts, shifting in his seat to face you better, “all you had to do was ask. There was little need to go to such lengths.”

“But that takes all the fun outta it!” You pout, still hoping he’ll humour you and fulfill your holiday wish. You even playfully try batting your eyelashes, intending to sway him.

Of course, Albedo never needs to be swayed to give you a kiss, or even cuddles. Besides, who is he to go against the ‘must kiss under the mistletoe’ rule? So, without much convincing, soft hands cup your cheek and lower you towards him, his lips soft and delicate as he gifts your long desired kiss. It’s not too short and not too long, just the right length to make you feel warm and your lips tingle with the memory of him.

When he pulled away he deftly plucked the mistletoe from you, placing it on his desk before looking back at you, his thumb stroking your cheek, eyes full of tender love. “If I recall, you requested some cuddles as well, yes? Let’s not waste any time then, as I too have been craving all that is you.”

Childe

The thrum of the music in the house vibrates deep in your chest, the cacophony of sound mushing together in your head, evoking the beginning of a headache. Leaning against the kitchen counter, you're left wondering how a noise complaint hasn't been made yet, positive everyone within three blocks of the house is ready to riot for their right to peace and quiet.

Taking a sip of... whatever juice mixed with vodka that was provided, your eyes bounce between the bodies and faces of the other university students, each having one thing in common: skipping the books in favour of having some end-of-the-year fun. There's one face you're looking for in particular though, and the moment his bright ginger curls catch your eye you're on the move towards him.

As if sensing your gaze, Childe turns and smiles, raising his own cup in greeting. “You actually came, I’m quite surprised."

You suppress an eye roll as you lightly bump shoulders with him, returning his smile with one of your own. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world. It’s been too long since I’ve gone out and had some fun.” You take a greedy gulp of your drink then, letting yourself relax now that you’re in the presence of a familiar face. Childe mirrors your action before setting his now empty cup on the coffee table, guiding you up the stairs to a quieter place. He takes you to the first empty, and most importantly quiet, room he could find before shutting the door behind the both of you.

“While I’m all for a good time, even I’m starting to get a headache from how loud it is. Hope you don’t mind.” You’re quick to dispel his worries with a smile and a shake of your head. Acting like you own the place, you set your cup on the closest stable surface and walk over to the other side of the room - a lavish bedroom now that you take a look around - opening up the balcony doors before stepping out. The cold hits you instantly, but it’s a welcoming sensation against the smothering heat of the party. Childe isn't far behind you, leaning against the banister as he gazes out at the snow-covered city, dotted with lights.

While you're more than content with sitting in silence, your banister buddy has something on his mind, so he's anything but hesitant to relight the conversation, "oh! That reminds me…” he pulls something from the pocket of his hoodie, “this is for you. Merry Christmas.”

He hands you a thin, rectangular box, red in colour and a white ribbon wrapped around it and tied into a bow. By weight and the slight noise it makes when you took it, it was clearly a jewelry box, and the moment you pull the silk off and lift the lid you’re met with exactly as you thought it’d be.

You whisper his name on a breath, picking up and examining the design that hangs on the chain. “Oh wow… this is lovely Childe, thank you!” The male smiles, glad he was able to pick out something to your liking. He watches with eager eyes as you put it on, everything about it suiting you to a T.

“Glad I still know what you like. Now..." He chuckles, a mischievous look in his eyes showcasing the clear tease he’s trying to make, "where’s my gift?” And really, he leaves himself open to your own teases. You can’t help but be a little mean.

“Nice try, but naughty boys don’t get Christmas gifts,” you snicker, crossing your arms and turning away from him. Cue the ginger’s normal antics of practically hanging off you, a smile and a pout on his face at the same time as he pesters you about forgetting to get a gift for your favourite person. These things don’t bother you one bit though, staying calm as an overgrown baby clings and pleads for the gift he knows you got him.

Finally, you give some crumbs, “Okay, okay, maybe, just maybe, I got you something. And maybe, it’s sitting at my house, waiting for you.”

When his eyes brightened, shining with pure delight as he grabbed your hand and dragged you out of the party and towards your place, you can’t help but think his joy was the best gift you could get.

And if he’s this happy over hearing he got a gift, then you can only guess how over the moon he’ll be at the life size plush he’s gonna get.

Freminet

"This is your first Christmas away from the orphanage, right?" You ask softly, digging through your box of Christmas ornaments while sparring the young boy a glance. Wordlessly, he takes the miniature top hat decoration you hand him, nodding softly as he stands and places it on the tree.

“That’s right. It’s also the first one I’ll be spending without Lyney and Lynette… so I’m very grateful that you’re letting me spend it with you,” he said, smiling softly. You huff a chuckle, handing him another decoration.

“Of course, it’s my pleasure to have you here this year. I’m just sorry the snowstorm prevented your siblings from coming home.” your words are genuine in nature and for that the young boy nods in thanks, hanging a couple more decorations with you in silence.

Over the years of knowing the three orphans you've come to notice a lot about each of them, and something about Freminet was that he was a quiet child, quieter than his sister at times. It speaks volumes about his character, and through trial and error, you've uncovered the why and how to work your way around it. He's quiet, but that doesn't mean he has nothing to say. Coincidentally, this also works in your favour, a simple segway into your little surprise.

"So, did you have any Christmas traditions?"

"Christmas traditions?"

"You know, opening a single gift on Christmas Eve, the Christmas pickle, leaving cookies and milk for Santa, those kinds of things!" As you listed things off his eyes widened slightly, lit with understanding. He makes a small humming noise, obviously thinking how he should phrase his response.

“Well, I’ve heard of each of those, but the only one we ever participated in was leaving treats out for Santa and his reindeer. I did always want to open a present on Christmas Eve though, but I never asked if we could; I was content with just getting a gift.”

Your smile widens a bit, “why don’t you open one then? How about that one, the red, perfect square one?”

“Are you sure? Like I said, just getting a gift is enough for me…”

“I insist. Please Freminet? Pretty please?” Although reluctant, the boy finally concedes and picks up the gift you pointed out. It was light in weight, as if there wasn’t much or anything at all within. One last glance up at you and Freminet is carefully tearing into the wrapping paper, revealing a bland, brown cardboard box. Lifting the lid, the blond tilts his head, pulling out one of his brother’s signature magic cards. Flipping it over reveals a simple message: Merry Christmas Freminet &lt;3

Confused, he turns to look at you for an explanation only for his eyes to widen in shock at the familiar faces standing next to you.

Lyney flourishes his hat, bowing at the waist, “and just like that, with a little Christmas magic, Lynette and I reappear before your very eyes! Merry Christmas Freminet!”

Lynette smiles softly, not as eccentric as her twin, though the love behind her words is very clear, “Merry Christmas.”

Freminet stands at a loss for words, looking between his two older siblings before shifting over to you. "But... the storm... weren't they supposed to be...?" His lips part to ask you his burning questions, but all you do is wink and lift a finger to your lips. It wouldn't be magic if the magician told their secrets after all. He doesn't need to know you pulled some strings to get them home earlier than intended, simply because you knew Freminet wanted to spend Christmas with them.

And the young boy doesn't push for more from you, instead stepping forward and embracing his siblings, glad they could be home for the holidays. Now, he gets to spend it with all of his loved ones.

Tag list: @spoopy-fish-writes // @that-enby-alien // @xenuuu // @kaeyaloml // @mariposa666haruka // @quackquackmfs // @kunikuzushiii // @ajaxstar // @genshin-impact-writings // @ventisweetheart // @lordbugs // @leena-shi // @lemontum // @akiria12167 // @ari-the-wr1ter // @dontmindmebeing // @xiaos-wife // @irethepotato // @milkwithspiceyicecubes // @stygianoir // @francisnyx // @leemidnightmoon

[spinningwebsandtales]

Imagine Mirage Introducing You To The Other Autobots

Mirage X Human FemReader

Rating: None

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.3k

Requested by Anonymous

Part 1 here

(A/N:) This was a request I had gotten a little bit ago and the requester has asked to remain anonymous. Which I can 100% respect and it shall stay that way. I wanted to get this done while I am on hiatus and after this is posted I will still remain on hiatus as I have so many things to do in time for next month plus several ideas that I need to get done. I have over 50 things in my drafts and a certain story I need to finish as well. My requests will still remain closed and my posting will still be few and far between. My family and I are still taking the loss of our cat we had over 16 years rough so please bear with me. I’m working as fast and much as I can. But anyway I really enjoyed this request and I hope the requester finds it everything they hoped for. Thank you for requesting and considering me worthy enough to do it. I really enjoyed writing this and I hope to see more Mirage requests in the future when I open them back up! Until next time happy reading! ~Countess

Mirage had been gone for a little while and you never realized how big of a part he had become in your life until he no longer came around. For a couple weeks you would go back to the usual meeting spot only for him to not show up. You would stay for a couple hours hoping that he would show up while keeping yourself busy by sketching the scenery, but you couldn’t wait forever. At first you worried something horrible happened to him, until you started to think that maybe you had made him mad and he no longer wanted to see you. The thought made you a little depressed as you couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing the goofy Autobot ever again. You stopped going for about a month now, as the disappointment at not seeing him was too much to stand anymore. But your heart longed to go once again, just to see if he had started to coming back again. You never realized how much those little moments (and even the stupid heart pounding joy rides) meant to you. 

Despite telling yourself that it was stupid, that possibly you were just delusional. That it was all just a dream and that it was a possibility that you were beginning to go crazy. But despite telling yourself these things mentally, you found yourself at the same spot gazing out at the scenery with your sketchbook on your lap. Despite the surrounding noises echoing through the air, you focused on the scratching of your pencil against the paper. Losing yourself in a fantasy that you could hear the rumble of Mirage’s familiar engine mixing in with the noisy bustle of strangers’ lives. Until you swore you heard it again, but this time closer. The movement of your pencil stopped and hit the paper as a mismatched Porsche of different colored and rusty parts skidded around the curve. A welcome honk piercing the air before the Porsche began to transform kicking up dust before revealing the mech you missed so dearly.

“Mirage,” you shouted tossing everything to the ground before racing towards him. He beamed brightly giving you a guilty wave until you clung to him tightly. Despite promising you wouldn’t cry if this day ever came, your emotions betrayed you as tears stung your eyes.

“Miss me,” he teased poking at your wet cheek.

“Shut up,” you growled not really in the mood for his teasing. Maybe you were dreaming or maybe this was just wishful thinking? You didn’t care at the moment nor did you want to think about it too hard. Mirage patiently waited for you to finish your moment of emotional release. You sniffed loudly, wiping at your eyes before stepping away. He still had that smug grin on his face which made you stick out your tongue in defiance.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he snorted. “I missed you too.”

“Stupid mech,” you muttered. “Where were you? Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”

He rubbed the back of his head, the human like gesture not lost on you, as he seemed to move anxiously with guilt on his face.

“It’s a long story,” he replied. “One that I promise to tell you in full later, but there’s something I have to do first.”

“Are you leaving again,” you mumbled as you felt the sorrow of him leaving beginning to drown you.

“Technically yes,” Mirage replied. “But you’re coming with me this time.”

“Really?!”

“Yep,” Mirage grinned. “Got some friends I’d like you to meet. Starting with my best bud! C’mon out Noah!”

You glanced at Mirage in confusion before movement caught your eye. A young man rounded the corner sheepishly waving before he glared up at the mech. He awkwardly walked towards you before offering his hand for you to shake.

“If it wasn’t for Noah here I wouldn’t be standing at all honestly. Despite the terrible paint job.”

“Shut up man,” Noah retorted.

That gave you some explanation on Mirage’s new less sleek look. After a little further explanation from Mirage, you and Noah were sitting inside Mirage’s cab cruising down the highway to a place that Mirage was being a little too secretive about. You scratched at the nylon of the seat belt while you watched the scenery go by.

“Mirage is a bit much ain’t he,” Noah spoke up causing you to jump at the sudden break in the quiet.

“Just a little bit,” you answered, causing the mech to scoff.

“I am a joy and you two know it,” he retorted.

“Hush,” you slapped his dash, “ the grown-ups are talking. Autobots need to keep quiet and watch the road.”

Said Autobot grumbled his displeasure but blessedly remained silent while you and Noah talked. Conversing eased you back into a sense of calm as you couldn’t help but be nervous while Mirage was being vague. When Mirage finally screeched to a halt in front of an abandoned warehouse you really began to get nervous. Why could he possibly want to bring you to such a place? You hadn’t seen him in forever and he brings a new friend and takes you to a place that could easily be seen as a crime scene. You began to wonder if this mech you were with was even Mirage. Which seemed silly how many talking, living, transforming robots were even on Earth let alone this city? That question was answered quickly as vehicles of all makes and colors began to drive out of the warehouse.

“Meet my fellow Autobots,” Mirage gestured. You stood there stiffly watching the vehicles transform just like Mirage. The biggest one that happened to be a semi scared you the most as you felt a tense aura surrounding him.

“This is Optimus Prime, the leader,” Mirage gestured to the bigger mech. “Here is Bumblebee, Arcee, and Wheeljack.”

“Hi,” you spoke timidly the whole group of transformers causing you to panic just a little bit.

“Okay,” Mirage sat down roughly before patting the concrete beside him. “I owe you a huge explanation.”

You plopped down right beside him, “Yes you do.”

Your mind whirled at all the information pouring forth. So far the only thing you could keep straight was something named Unicron had tried to destroy Earth and the Autobots stopped him with another team that transformed into animals and basically Mirage gave up his life. It was only because of Noah that he was here today. The other Autobots put in a few other details they thought Mirage had missed and by the end you were ready to take a nap. It was a lot but the one thing you weren’t confused was the sense of gratitude for Mirage and his fellow Autobots. If it hadn’t been for them, you wouldn’t even had a life to miss Mirage and you were glad that you finally got to meet the rest of them.

“It’s a lot to process,” Arcee spoke.

“It is,” you agreed before standing up. “But one thing that is easy to understand is thank you. Thank you all so much. I had no idea and none of you had to, but you saved our world anyway.”

“It’s the least we can do,” Optimus spoke, “while we live on your planet.”

“Hey,” you laughed, “stay as long as you want to. Sounds like we could use some protectors like you.”

Optimus nodded and Mirage’s optics began to gleam brighter in glee. He scooped you up pressing you against his metal cheek. You chuckled pressing against him in your version of a hug. Despite everything you were so glad that you met Mirage and you were glad he brought you here. You found yourself realizing that you wanted to remain here and get to know the others better. It wouldn’t take long for you to consider the other Autobots a friend as well as Mirage set you down in the middle of all of them. This was your life now and you couldn’t bring yourself to regret one moment of it.

[galebrainrot2024]

Before the Orb

Having a bit of writers block and my irl job is ramping up so I haven't been as prolific as usual, so my peace offering is this vignette of Gale and You (Gender Neutral) about a week into your journey. Angst and Pining and Fluff! Thank you all for your support, patience, and kindness as you embark on writing with me <3

As Gale reclined against the base of the tree, patterns of the leaves danced in shadow across the paper. He tilted his head up, shifting slightly so his sketch book concealed his face - albeit, partially. He studied you, his pencil flicking with quick, subtle strokes and movements as he committed your face to memory. The way the light touched your features, how your skin shone with dew as the day went on, the way your hair got swept up in a breeze.

It had only been a tenday since you pulled Gale from the unstable portal. Gale was certain it would be his demise, that he would be an inconsequential bang in the footnotes of history, destined to die alone with not so much as his own thoughts for company. 

And then you came. A hand in the dark. A smirk tugged at his lips as he thought about how you slapped his hand first, a testament to your sense of humor that he was growing rather fond of. It wasn’t a vigorous slap - it was playful, light - the intention behind it clear. When your skin brushed against Gale’s it was sheer electricity. His heart thudded dramatically as he thought of his hand touching yours and he grumbled to himself, shifting again to conceal the blood that pumped between his thighs, stirring desire to life. 

He felt ridiculous. Here he was, death a near certainty what between the mindflayer and the orb and here he was daydreaming about holding your hand. Studying the back of it to memorize its patterns, the secrets etched into your knuckles and fingertips, the long, engraved lines of your palm. What he would give to feel the warmth of yours in his. 

“Gale?” 

He started, sitting upright clumsily so his sketchbook fell beside him with a thwack. Grimacing, he rubbed the back of his neck and tried to close the book. “Yes?” 

You eyed him curiously. As he gazed up at you, your body a silhouette, darkened by the sun behind you. He inhaled, his cells quivering as he took in your smell. It was one he was beginning to know, to anticipate. 

“What are you doing?” You asked, taking a seat beside him. Gale’s body seized. Certainly he couldn’t show you what he’d been working on, and he wasn't clear why you would you take the time to come sit with him. The rest of the companions nipped at your heels like stray, hungry kittens yet you sought him out. As his mind raced with endless what ifs, you interjected, a gentle grin on your face. “I didn’t mean to pry, I'm sorry, I can leave…” 

You tried to stand but Gale’s hand reached out to hold your arm before dropping it limply to his side as if he’d been electrocuted. What was he doing? The moment he felt his fingers wrap around your shirt, your skin taunted him beneath. He was ruined. His stomach lurched with dark hunger, the sudden carnal need to be held and touched by another, to touch and hold another. 

The orb festered greedily as his body responded to you, feeding on the sudden raw emotion and he felt sick sweat bead across his brow. He hadn’t told you about the orb, not yet, but he needed to and needed to soon. Magical items were just a few paces away, but he couldn’t - how selfish of a man would he be if he stole them? Then, he'd never have a chance to win you over - win you over? What was he thinking? It was frivolous, impossible... yet Gale let his imagination take him away, just for a little while.

He had yet to find the courage, but knew he desperately needed to tell you about the orb, it's hunger - he looked into your eyes, infinite pools that felt capable of unequivocal forgiveness, and he wondered if when he told you you would send him away. He wondered if you would understand. Although he wouldn't allow himself to think it, a part of him hoped you would.

So, instead of asking for an artifact to quell the raging maelstrom in his gut, he held your gaze in the stolen moment, a profound rush of chemicals to sustain him. To be a visceral memory when you would send him away. He needed to remember every part of you. 

[featheredclover]

Orphic

Chapter Five

Read from the beginning

Also on Wattpad

Chapter Four < Chapter Six

The birds chirped along as they fluttered from branch to branch. But the day greeted the Gupta mansion with much less peace that morning.

Khushi bit into her toast, as Sumi poured juice into her glass.

“Shashi! I am getting nervous. Will Mr Raizada say something now?”

Her papa shook his head, his forehead scrunched in a frown.

“Rajiv has hinted at nothing. Even Shyam has not come up in our talks. I don’t know what to expect, Garima.”

“It would have been a milestone for us” she sighed, “ But what can we do except wait”

“Khushi, have some fruits,” Shashi said as he passed her a bowl.

————

Her thoughts were clouded with worry for her parents as she walked into Venus Designs.

She had never seen them so unsure, so worried. And she had never felt as helpless as she had today.

“Morning Leela”, she smiled at the receptionist.

“Khushi, some big client has come here asking for you!” Leela whispered.

“Me?!” She gasped.

“Yes! They are with Madhumati ma’am right now. You better go in. She told me to usher you into her office as soon as you came!”

And so Khushi found herself half-pushed inside her aunt’s magnanimous office.

“Good morning Khushi!”

She couldn’t believe her eyes. Madhumati bua was laughing! Her usually stern eyes were now soft as she looked fondly at the two men.

She looked at the well suited gentlemen, and wondered which of her previous works could have impressed them.

The men stood up.

She found herself stunned as the smirking visage of Arnav Singh Raizada greeted her.

“Meet Arnav and Aman! They are from the Raizada group of companies. Arnav wants his new office to be designed by you.” Her aunt continued jovially.

But her eyes couldn’t leave the devil’s, who had come to extract his pound of flesh!

“ But I-I have never designed professional spaces before.”

“I did mention that to Arnav, but he said he wanted his office to have a bit of domestic touch. Now, now go on. You have to work from the site.”

Rummaging through her mind to look for an excuse , Khushi looked at her aunt trying to signal her to refuse on her behalf.

“I’ll take Khushi with me Mrs. Madhumati. After all, I need the job done by next week.” 

She watched as he put on the best buttering act with her aunt. All sweet smiles and flattery.

“Hi, I’m Aman Mathur, ASR’s right hand man.”

The young man ,she hadn’t paid much attention to , shook her hand, offering her a glimmer of hope.

At least, someone is kind here.

“I think you’ll have a great time working with Arnav. He’s as clear and concise in his demands as it gets.”

“Yeah” she grumbled “Hitler pales in front of him”

Aman raised his eyebrows in amusement .

“ He is demanding, but not a dictator”

“Aman.”Arnav had already reached the door.

“Let’s get going, shall we?”

————

And that’s how Khushi Gupta found herself in a Bentley, heading towards the heart of the city.

“Why are you doing this?”

She couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

“I wanted to spend time with you “

Blushing pink, Khushi marvelled at this man’s shamelessness.

“I forgave you already-“

“That’s not enough for me”

Exasperated, she ignored him for the rest of the ride.

—————

Slouching over the desk Aman had provided her, Khushi scribbled into her notebook.

Designs, light source ideas, decor pieces and vendors all in one place.

With that out of the way,she began sketching. 

Her pencil flew across the page, as she thought of the space where he would work. 

The desk where his coffee machine would stay. The few photographs he took, that he wanted on the wall. The antique telephone he had bought from Paris.

“I have never seen a better portrait of me”

She jumped and twisted her neck, as Arnav grabbed her book from her in a split second.

Grinning, he squinted, pretending to judge her sketch of him.

“I must say Miss Gupta, you have observed me quite closely”

“Shut up! I was just sketching the office “

“And got distracted? Well since I am to be blamed for the distraction , it will only be fair of me to buy you lunch!”

He bent down and grabbed her purse, meeting her petulant face with a wink.

“Shall we?”

—————-

“And there he was, telling me to run for the damn election!”

She giggled as Arnav finished his story. She hadn’t expected to have a fun time with him. So far she had only experienced mad rage and mad lust for the man. And that had to say something!

“You left the states to come back here?”

“I wasn’t really sure about where I wanted to live. And dad really wanted to come back. After mom’s death-” he blinked.

“Are you okay?” Her hand found his.

“Yeah” he held her hand tighter “He took years to move on. The last time we were here was for Di’s wedding”

Khushi swallowed as she realised the topic was now down to his brother-in-law, Shyam. Can she ask him about the deal her parents were after?

“My papa really likes your father. Um…he invited him to brunch…”

“I know Khushi, I was there” he smiled in amusement at her sudden fluster.

“Yes, well they were wondering if Mr.Raizada had made up his mind about the deal.”

Gasping inwardly, she hated herself at that moment for blurting it out. 

She wanted to seal her big mouth forever.

Understanding that anything she said now will only push her further down the hole she had dug, Khushi held her silence.

To her dismay, even Arnav stayed quiet. No jokes, no witty remarks to erase her folly.

“Well, Khushi I can’t say much about that”

She nodded meekly.

“Let’s head back, shall we?”

And that’s how Aman found them in the office that afternoon. One deep in thought, and one mortified.

Tagging: @arshifiesta

—————-

Next chapter>>

@jalebi-weds-bluetooth @barshifan @andli @shiyaravi @muttonthings @hand-picked-star @msbhagirathi @phuljari @sankititaliya @thenainitaldisaster @thedupattaknowswhatsup @chutkiandchotte @laad-governess @laadgovernors @laadgovernorandsankadevi @leila1 @hi-this-is-permabanned @arshispyaar @minpdnim @thedustyshehnai @bigfatreader @arshiradio @simplycurlz @scorpio-smiles @bengudill @exosexosekai @0218fm

[berry-club]

- Muse -

Minors dni

Inspired by the manga "Museru Kurai no Ai o ageru"

Contains: reader x sungchan, college romance, afab reader, thigh job, virgin reader, 2.5k words

It's a new month, and as usual it's time to change the paintings exposed at the entrance of the college building. You take your painting off the wall before going into the art studio. You put it on the easel and prepare some white paint to start fresh before painting something new over it. When suddenly you hear the door open abruptly making you turn your head towards it. You see a man looking at you with his eyesbrows frowned.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Hum.. who are you?"

"That's not the question. Don't touch that painting."

"Why??"

"I took the habit of looking at it everyday, I got scared when I saw it missing from the entrance, why would you paint over it? That's terrible."

"Well, first of all it's my painting and canvas this big are quit expensive, so I'm trying to re-use it, plus I don't have enough room in my apartment to store it anyway."

"Wait.. does this mean if I bring you a new canvas of the same size I can take it?"

"Sure... I guess"

"Okay I'll bring one tomorrow."

The man takes the painting off the easel and leave the room without even looking back. You stay dumbfounded trying to understand what just happened, what a strange man, why would someone want your painting that bad. You decide to just go home early, not knowing what to do with this change of plan.

The day after, you're in the art studio doing some sketching when you hear the door opening, this time way more gently than the last time. The same man from yesterday is entering with a brand new canvas.

"Hey! I brought it."

"Thank you, you can put it on the easel."

He does as you say before turning around to face you.

"By the way, my name is Sungchan, I'm sorry for yesterday I probably scared you, I didn't think you were the one who did the painting, they were no name on it like the others."

"It's okay don't worry, yeah I wanted to stay anonymous "

"I see..."

The mood becomes awkward, you don't know why he didn't left yet, he starts walking around the room, looking at each details, the decorations on the wall, all the drawings equipment, the few sketches you just did. After taking a good look at the room, he looks at you, being the only last thing he didn't glace at.

"You didn't tell me your name."

"Y/n."

"You know I really like your painting, I usually don't have any sensibility when it comes to art, so it's really precious for me."

"I appreciate that, thank you."

"Y/n, I have a request. Can I come here again to see you work?"

"...I mean, this studio is open to anyone, I can't really forbid you from coming... there is nothing interesting to see tho."

"I'm really interested by the creative process, and I'm curious to learn more about the person who did the painting."

"You're just going to be disappointed by both."

"I'm sure not."

Sungchan smiles and head himself to the door before waving you good bye and leaving the room.

Well of course, all compliments about your art warms your heart but, what you love about this studio is that barely anyone comes, you were often with yourself. Having trouble socializing, this was a room for you to get some peace. You start thinking that maybe, you should have just say "no" to him, but you didn't really had the time to think that much.

After that day, Sungchan came almost every afternoon. Asking you a lot of questions about your work, he seemed always very interested by your explanations, looking at everything you did. It sure was awkward for you at the beginning, but as the weeks passed, you became really comfortable around him, sometimes even teasing each other. You two became really close. At one point, you realised you had feelings for him, but you quickly pushed them aside, remembering you were only seeing him in the studio. Everytime you saw Sungchan left the room, it was like he was going to another world, and he suddenly felt so far away. He had his own group of friends, sometimes you saw him in the hallway with them, but you both took the habit of ignoring eachother, only talking in the studio. It didn't really bother you, thinking that he probably had his own reasons, and you didn't try to talk to him outside the studio either.

One time in the studio, Sungchan was here and as usual, he looked at you drawing, but this time that was different, normally he was looking at your hands, the movement you made or how you were holding the pencils and the brushes. But this time, he was straight up staring at your face. You were thinking about something to say, and before you could open your mouth:

"You know, you're even more captivating than your art."

You sigh, thinking that he was probably just teasing you. "What are you saying? Stop messing with me."

"Messing with you? I'm just saying what I'm thinking."

You look away and your hand stops. Silence fill the room. You know you probably should just thank him and move on, but something about what he said really made an impact on you. Sungchan puts his hand over yours, making you look at him. A beam of sunlight was going over his face, making his skin golden. His eyes, usually a deep brown, were now the color of amber, making him the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

"Why did you stop drawing?"

His voice makes you regain consciousness, you feel your heart beating loudly in your chest, you put your eyes back in the paper thinking that if you saw him 1 more seconde, you wouldn't be able to stop the wave of feelings inside of you.

"Sorry, I have to go home."

You quickly pack your stuff and leave the room without even saying goodbye, you think you heard sungchan say something but you are so overwhelmed, the only thing in your mind right now I how you want to go as far away from him as possible.

The day after, you spend your time collecting your emotions to be able to meet him like normal when he comes back. Almost a week passes and sungchan didn't came at all, you were thinking that he finally got tired of you, maybe now you were going to live your life like you did before meeting him, you let out a long sigh, when suddenly you see him push the door. He starts speaking to you like he always did and you feel so relieved you could almost cry, then after spending some time together he says,

"Do you wanna come to my place? I have something I want to show you."

"Unh? You want to see me outside the studio?"

"Yeah? Why wouldn't I?"

"Well you ignore me everytime we see eachother in the hallway. So I though-"

"It's not like that! Everytime we see each other i'm with friends, I know you're not comfortable talking to people so I thought it was better to talk to you when we are only together."

"Oh..I see, thank you."

"Soooo, are you coming? It's really important."

His puppy eyes begging you to say "yes", you have no other choice than to agree. You leave the room together, and you follow him to his apartment near the college building. Just a few steps in his apartment and you end up in front of the painting that he took when you first met him, exposed on the wall with nothing else around it that could distract you, a light over it illuminating the canvas. You can't help but smile wide seeing that, your art being exposed in his apartment like it was the most precious thing in the world. You never thought the day would come where you could see your work being treated with such care.

Sungchan sees you and jokes around, "Oh you like it? It's by my favorite artist."

You chuckle and follow him to the living room where he makes you sit on the couch. You can see him fidgeting in front of you.

"You want something to drink?"

"No thanks, i'm good."

"Are you hungry maybe?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you cold? Do you want me to turn on the heater?"

"Sungchan. Everything is perfect, show me the thing you wanted me to see."

"Sorry... I'm a little nervous.. it's here follow me."

Sungchan tilt his head and you follow him to a door. He looks hesitant for a second and push it. The room is filled with art stuff, some sheets on the ground to prevent paint from falling on the wooden floor. You see a stool in the corner of the room in front of an easel, with a canvas covered with a white sheet. Without a word, Sungchan gets closer to the easel and slowly removes the sheet. The feeling you got seeing this painting was indescribable, like it was suddenly the only thing on earth, your eyes got lost in it, every brush stroke looked intentional, meticulously placed. Sungchan's voice takes you out of your bubble.

"What do you think? I'm sorry for not coming to the studio the past few days, I've been coming home early to work on it."

"That's... amazing"

"No.. you are amazing, you were my inspiration for it."

"Me?" You look at him, puzzled.

"Yes, I guess you're what you call a muse."

Sungchan smiles at you, you never thought a day would come where you could be a muse, no matter where you went you were always the artist. You put your eyes back on the painting, thinking that the deep connection you had with it made sense now, when suddenly you feel a hand in your cheek, making you turn your face towards sungchan, he looks straight into your eyes, slowly caressing your cheek before puting his tumb over your lips.

"But no matter how hard I try, even in a thousand years, I could never make a painting half as pretty as you."

He slowly leans over you and his lips touch yours, you kiss him back putting your hand on his cheek, you feel like you can finaly set free all the feelings that was building for him inside of you. You lose yourself in his arms and your kisses become deeper and more passionate. Sungchan takes a step back from you and stares at your face before taking your hand and bringing you the his bedroom. You sit on the bed and he starts kissing your neck, slowly going to your ears, while sliding his hand under your shirt to touch your breast over your bra. He makes you lay on the bed and raises your shirt to your neck before putting kisses all over your belly. He puts his hands on your pants, removing the button and unzipping them. Making them slide down on your legs and fall on the floor. He raises one of your legs and puts your calf over his shoulder before kissing the inside of your thigh. Sungchan doesn't lose a single seconde, going everywhere, like he didn’t know which part of your body he wanted the most, you suddenly realise how ambarrassed you're feeling.

"Sungchan... It's akward being the only one undressed."

"Oh right, sorry."

Sungchan removes his clothes and stays in his underwear before helping you completely remove your shirt and your bra. He caresses your stomach before slowly going over your cunt, sliding his longs fingers against the fabric. You grab the sheet, trying not to go completely crazy over his touch already. He slides your panty to the side and immediately goes to your clit with his ring and middle finger, you moan at the stimulation.

"Even the sounds you make are pretty."

Sungchan removes your undies before going in with his tongue, going all over your folds with more attention to the clit. Making you curl on the bed, you put your hand on his head making his tongue go even deeper and rougher on you, his thick tongue stimulating all the right places, going in and out your hole, his soft lips sucking on your clit making all kind of dirty noises and you can feel yourself about to finish, sungchan grabs you by the waist, making sure you don't get away from him while you cum on his face, he keeps licking you while your hips go crazy. Your hand grabbing his hair so hard you're pretty sure you're hurting him.

He releases you from his grip, and you can finally catch your breath, sungchan stands up and removes his hard dick from his underwear. You suddenly realise what's about to happen. You had a lot of first times with sungchan today, but you're not sure you can handle that yet. You close your eyes shut, and your body starts shaking thinking about the pain you're about to feel, when sungchan leans over you and gently puts his lips on your forehead.

"Don't worry so much, I won't put it in."

He grabs your ankles, close your legs before raising them, put his warm cock between your thighs and starts going back and forth. Your pussy was still throbbing from earlier and the movements of his warm dick against it was sending you to heaven.

"Ugh, why does it feel so good."

Sungchan smiles, happy that you feel the same way as him, he starts going faster. The sound of your skins hitting against each other and the vision of sungchan's sweating with his mouth half opened while panting loudly is starting to drive you insane. You watch his dick quickly appear and disappear in your tighs, like your legs were eating him. Sungchan groans and you can feel his dick twitching against your pussy, his cock hitting your clit at every move. He removes himself from you, letting your legs slowly fall on the bed and gives himself a few strokes to cum on his own dick while breathing heavily, you start calming down again while he whipes himself and puts his underwear back. He gently brings a blanket to your neck and goes under the sheets next to you. He makes you go on your side so he can hug you tightly, putting his face in the crook of your neck. You stay like that for a moment, none of you daring to move the slightest, almost trying to merge your bodies together.

He whispers in your ear: "You know, when I explained to you why I was ignoring you in the hallways, it wasn't entirely true.. I didn't want to bring any attention to you because I was scared that if someone was looking at you for too long, they would fall in love with you too. I wanted you to be my secret."

"Sungchan.."

You tighten the hug and put your hands through his hair, trying to convey your feelings for him, making him understand that he's the only one in your eyes.

Sungchan distant himself from your neck to look at your face. He slowly tucks your hair behind your ear and smiles.

"I should have asked sooner but, will you go out with me?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

You smile at Sungchan while looking at him in the eyes, sure that right now, no one loves someone as much as you love him.

[relgnira]

Uh week 2 of @shepscapades drawing challenge thing! Ive had this sketched for like a week and finally finished it haha

Its a Celeste au! Celeste is my favorite game ever if you havent played it please please please give it a shot its so good. These are just the first thoughts that came to me when I thought about this, so have my unrefined brain crystals ~

Transcribed the written text under the cut:

Part of Cleo (Joe)

• does actually have a “human” form but prefers to be a bird around people other than Cleo for the ~mystery~

• more helpful than Cleo

Old Woman (Cleo)

• elderly woman who lives on the mountain and seems to enjoy hasseling hikers

• very confidant in herself, once she sees how determined Grian is she helps him find his confidence

• they become good friends post mountain

Grian

• pretty much the same motives as Madeline

• heard about Celeste mountain from his best friend Jimmy

• can’t believe he’s actually doing this

Part of Grian

• extremely impulsive to the point of danger, but will begin an anxious spiral afterwords that causes the world to distort and eyes to open everywhere

• when accepted, he gives the triple jump ability with a flap of wings

Mumbo

• one of the civil engineers that worked on the now-forsaken city

• got unlucky and just died at his desk one day, but he hasn’t realized yet and keeps frantically trying to finish an already-abandoned city

• when he meets Grian, he thinks he is there to finally approve his designs and keeps trying to show him his models and plans

Scar

• claims to be climbing the mountain to get some painting inspo, but maybe he is trying to escape something as well…

• will show a fold-out wallet full of Jellie pics if prompted (or even if he isn’t)

[jimmyjims]

Day 2: Forbidden

Zelink Week 2023 ~ @zelinkcommunity

Sketch & lettering by @thismousedraws

Lines & flats by @jimmyjims

In the castle library, Zelda was browsing for a book to read for her enjoyment in the midst of her studies. Lyra, the energetic librarian who happened to be Zelda’s best friend, helped her in her search with a book already in mind. During the expansive search, Lyra finally spotted the red binding of the book that could change Zelda’s fate.

“Oooh this book was wonderful!” Lyra suggested with exaggerated enthusiasm. Zelda turned around quickly and grabbed the book from her hands.

“The Lord’s Mistress?” Zelda read, her curiosity coating her tone.

“This book is about the forbidden love between a lord and a farm girl,” Lyra explained.” I read this not too long ago. Their romance made me swoon for sure!”

“Why are you showing me this?” Zelda chuckled. Sure, she loved to read romance novels, but Lyra seemed a bit too enthusiastic about this particular book.

“I just think you will enjoy it,” Lyra lied, shrugging. “It’s not the first you’ve heard of forbidden love, so why not enjoy this one?”

Zelda pursed her lips in concentration as she read the first page of the novel. The story was written from the point of view of the lord, so she felt a sort of connection with him. This would prove to be interesting, she knew. A forbidden love…

“I will read it,” Zelda decided, closing the book. “I will let you know how I like it.”

Lyra gave her a wide smile and nodded. “You will not regret it.”

Raising an eyebrow at her friend, Zelda waved goodbye and headed to her quarters. She was acting very strangely, Zelda noted. Did she know something she did not? Shrugging it off, Zelda opened the book and read as she walked. After the first few chapters, she became enamored with the dynamic between the lord and the farm girl. She did not notice those who walked past her and greeted; her eyes stayed on the pages, and her mind racing with her imagination blocked her away from reality. 

Once in her bedroom, Zelda sat in the chair next to her bed and continued reading. For a moment, she wondered what Leon was doing but then remembered that he was helping prepare for the winter season. Satisfied with her memory, she kept reading until she came upon a scene where it was winter and the snow had made the farm girl sick. The lord noticed this and decided to bring her to his estate to receive the best medical attention—and to be beside her as her health returned to normal. Very romantic, Zelda agreed. The next scene caught the most of her attention. When the farm girl finally awoke, the lord helped her walk to the window to watch as the snow fell from the sky. Awed, the farm girl thanked the lord for his hospitality and for showing her that there is beauty within the most harsh season of the year. When she thanked him, the lord noticed that her pupils were dilated as she looked at him. A sign of love, he knew. Upon reading this, Zelda became more self-conscious about the way she looked at Leon. Did her pupils dilate when talking to him? If they did, Leon did not seem to notice nor mind. It was a bit disappointing for Zelda to think about this, but she wanted to be certain. She would devise a plan to instigate a reaction from Leon. There was a risk in executing this, Zelda knew. She would either ruin their friendship or she would create a new beginning.

~~~

Snow glittered the castle grounds, a sight that excited Zelda. She always looked forward to the cold winter days in which she could stay indoors and enjoy the comfort of the fireplace, but she was more excited at the thought of seeing Leon’s face when he saw his first snowfall—and the thought of finally being able to execute her plan. Rushing out of bed with a wide smile, Zelda tied her hair with a green bow and checked herself in the mirror. Her face was glowing with excitement and her cheeks were slightly reddened. She hoped her appearance would not give her intentions away, but she came up with the excuse of being excited for the first snow of the season. Satisfied, the Princess made her way to the door to Leon’s room and knocked. She allowed a few moments of silence before she started to make her way in.

She peeked inside with butterflies in her stomach as she slowly opened the door. Leon was still asleep, thankfully. She knew he wouldn’t wake up so early, but she began to grow a bit weary that he would not be so happy to be woken up at such an hour. Regardless, Zelda was too excited not to give him a glimpse of the snow that was piling up nicely outdoors. When she stood over him, she gave him a few taps on his shoulder.

“Good morning!” she greeted him. No response. Laughing to herself, she shook his arm.

“Good morning!”

Still nothing.

“Leon,” she called with a little more urgency. The sleepy knight shifted slightly, but he remained asleep. Rolling her eyes, she hovered over his ear and shook him as she called his name again.

“Leon, Leon, Leon!” Zelda yelled until he finally opened his eyes and rolled to the other side of the bed, putting himself into a defensive stance. When he realized there was no imminent threat, he lowered his defenses and gave Zelda a questioning look. Tradi flew out from behind him, ready to speak for him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” Zelda said, putting her hands up defensively. “I know it’s a bit early, but I wanted to show you something.” Leon raised his eyebrows and glanced at Tradi, sharing a look of confusion. Zelda smiled nervously and pointed to the windows. With a slight hesitance, Leon looked over his shoulder and gasped. The windows were covered in intricate snowflakes and the sun was beginning to give the sky a nice gradient. Zelda followed behind him to the windows and they watched the sunrise together.

“Do you want to touch it?” she asked, pointing at the pile of snow on the balcony. Leon looked at her with bright eyes and through the window again, then nodded. They opened the window doors together and immediately regretted their decision.

“Maybe we should have covered ourselves up first,” Zelda chuckled through her shivers. Leon nodded and went to grab his cloak. Zelda turned to go grab her own warm garment but, before she could, Leon placed his cloak on her and smiled. Her heart began to race and she held tightly onto the red cloak.

“Oh! Thank you,” she muttered. “What about you?” Leon gave her a small chuckle and placed a hand on her shoulder as he walked past. His warm hand caused her heart to throb. Maybe he did not need protection from the cold; he was already warm himself. Leon stood before the snow and inspected it. It shone against the rising sun in many colors, its glitter reflecting in his eyes. Zelda watched with a tender smile as he kneeled down and touched the frozen bits of water with his fingers. He laughed in satisfaction and pushed his hand into the snow, creating a handprint. Zelda chuckled and placed her hand into the snow next to his handprint. Leon smiled, his lips parted enough to show some of his teeth, sending Zelda into an internal frenzy. She had to stay focused if she was to pull this off, she had spent weeks making sure she was prepared to pull through with her plan. She began to doubt it and thought herself to be silly for trying so hard to prove the smallest thing for her own desire. Was she really apt in seeking love from her own knight? Was this love not forbidden?

Then, it finally struck. Zelda finally understood why Lyra had recommended The Lord’s Mistress to her. The forbidden love between a lord and a farm girl, Lyra had told her. Zelda felt her cheeks become too warm to bear and quickly covered her face with her hands. Leon turned his attention to the flustered Princess and furrowed his brow.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, Tradi floating next to him as he moved his hands. Zelda feigned a heavy shiver and laughed nervously.

“Do not worry! I just got a bit too cold,” she lied. Leon’s mouth twisted with worry and he scooted closer to her. Sensing her body warming more, and not from Leon’s body warmth, Zelda quickly stood and faced the sun. She heard a small noise escape Leon’s mouth as he also stood, his perplexion feeding Zelda’s anxiety. She took a few deep breaths before she tugged at Leon’s cloak and gathered her courage to follow her plan. She was ready.

Touching her chin with her index finger, Zelda looked off to the horizon with a thoughtful smile. Rubbing the nape of his neck in confusion, Leon followed her gaze, his lips pressed together. Taking one last deep breath, Zelda spoke.

“I read in a book once, that your eyes dilate when you look at the person you love,” she said in the soft, careful voice she had practiced. “I thought that was cute.”

Leon’s head turned quickly and he stared at her in surprise. Zelda glanced at him and made eye contact, her heart stammering.

“What?” she asked in a playful tone as she took in his baffled expression. She first noticed his eyes. His pupils were dilated, almost leaving no room for his blue-gray irises. Then, she saw his face burning redder by the second and his lips parting in shock. This was not the reaction she expected, but what did she expect? Unable to take it anymore, she forced herself to break their eye contact and instead focused on the sun that had finally made its way above the horizon line.

“N-nevermind that,” Zelda stammered. Blowing into her hands to warm them, she avoided Leon’s gaze and tried to regain her focus. Her plan had worked, much better than anticipated. She was sure her pupils had also dilated, so what now? She had taken a huge risk with such a small action. Zelda hoped it was worth it. Ever since Leon was no longer in a relationship, she had started to realize her feelings for him more. She felt guilty for feeling this way, and more so now that she knew their love to be forbidden. 

According to what? Lyra had asked her once after Zelda expressed her uneasiness. According to common sense, Zelda had replied after taking a moment to think. Lyra scoffed and shook her head in disagreement as she crossed her arms. It is not the first time this has happened, Zelda. Why do you think Hylia cares for her Hero so much? Lyra retorted. Zelda thought for a moment as Lyra’s question came back to her. Lyra tried to reassure her of this before her plan had been made. Maybe she was right, Zelda thought. Maybe she had a chance to prove that there was nothing forbidden about the Princess’ love for her knight. 

Finding her new resolve, Zelda broke away from her thoughts and finally looked back to Leon. He still had panic written on his face, but he looked at her with certainty.

“Can I hold your hand?” Zelda asked confidently. “My hands are very cold.”

This morning, Zelda was identifying new shades of red. The shy knight covered his face,  flustered, his tinted ears drooping. Zelda laughed at his embarrassment and patted his back.

“No worries, I can just keep my hands inside your cloak-“

 She was interrupted by his quick movements. He was still turned away from her, but he held her hand firmly. His warmth ran through her arm and warmed her heart, causing it to pulse in a new rhythm. Zelda smiled fondly and squeezed his hand in reassurance. She began to feel bad for frightening the poor man, but she also felt proud of herself for having the courage to do what she thought she never would. The last bit of courage she had left was used to intertwine her fingers with his. Leon did not pull away. 

Their shared fate was becoming more apparent to Zelda. With their hands clasped together, they began to forge what the princesses and heroes had done in the past, abolishing what is forbidden.

[poledancingdinos]

Hostile Territory - Chapter 26

Pairing: Captain Syverson x OFC (Leah Coleman)

Word count: 3.7K

Warnings: Dom/Sub Undertones, Video Chat Sex/Masturbation, Shibari

Catch up: Series Masterlist

Taglist: @amberangel112 @utterlyhopeful-fics @marantha @kebabgirl67 @littleone65 @omgkatinka @luclittlepond @athenepromachos @enchantedbytomandhenry @narnianaos @geralts-yenn @peaches1958 @avengersfan25 @sillyrabbit81 @summersong69 @identity2212 @liecastillo @lena-banena @mrsevans90 @confessionbrain-writings @eclecticfashionbookszipper @happydistraction @hannah9921 @valacircareads @toooldforobsessions @kingliam2019 @rosecentury @wa-ni @secretdream2 @missemrose

Masterlist

Day 351

Sitting down on the opposite side of the table, Ethan pulled Leah’s sketchbook out from under her pen and began to flip through the pages.

“Coleman, come on, you’ve been exclusively drawing crows for weeks, you gotta give us something different.”

“They’re ravens,” Rohan corrected, coming to sit on Leah’s left across from Ben.

Ethan frowned at Rohan, shaking his head. “What’s the difference?”

“Same family of bird but ravens are bigger.”

Leah did indeed have a book full of ravens. With forming hundreds of feathers being so intricate and tedious, it kept her mind focused on her task rather than on how much she missed Sy. The only problem was that she’d had so much practice over the last four months that they were actually becoming easy.

But that was not, in fact, the only thing she’d sketched lately and she prayed that Ethan wouldn’t flip to the back end of her sketchbook.

“Fine,” she said, waiting for an appropriate time to reclaim her sketchbook, “name an animal and make it hard.”

The boys took a moment to think before going around the table and naming their picks, beginning with Rohan and ending with Jer on her right.

“Lion.”

“Peacock.”

“Elephant.”

“Crocodile.”

The boys looked at Jer like he’d just said unicorns were real. It was an unconventional choice, sure, but it definitely met the assignment. She would have to learn the shape and texture of the skin. And, to fit on a single page, it would have to be a close up of its face which also meant teeth.

“I guess I have never done a croc before,” she said.

“That was obvious,” Ethan said, thumbing through the pages and showing off the dozens of animal pictures and the briefest glimpse of one that was much less PG. Read not at all.

Leah slapped a hand over the sketchbook. “Okay, I get it. No more ravens.” She slid it back across the table and set her small pencil case over it. “Was there a reason you guys came in here in the first place? You know, other than to criticize my artistic choices?”

“We’re going into town for a drink. You should come with.”

Leah wasn’t in a particularly social mood but she’d been waiting for an excuse to go into town and visit a post office. She had a letter to send out that she did not want associated with the US military in any way.

An hour later, they were walking through the streets of the German city they called home. When they walked past the store front, Leah held back, telling the boys she would catch up with them in a minute. They offered to wait for her but she waved them off, not wanting to risk one of them seeing something they shouldn’t.

Once inside, Leah headed straight to the section that held the shipping supplies. Double checking that no one was looking over her shoulder, Leah pulled her sketchbook out of her backpack and slid out the image she had carefully cut from the book before leaving the base.

Sy had decided to live off base for the first time ever so he now had a postal address that went to a private residence. Like she’d done the last time she’d given Sy one of her drawings, Leah put it between two pieces of cardboard before sealing the envelope and paying for everything with the bored teenager behind the counter.

Day 362

The incessant buzzing drew Leah from her sleep. She wasn’t sure who the hell decided to put up shelves in the middle of the night but she was going to give them a piece of her mind. Only, when her eyes blinked open and she looked at her nightstand, she realized the buzzing wasn’t coming from a power drill, it was coming from her phone.

“H’llo?”

“What are ya doin’ to me baby girl?” The tone of Sy’s voice made her insides flutter. It was… Leah squinted as she looked at the overbright phone screen. It was two in the morning, six o’clock back in Colorado. Leah had one guess as to what had possessed Sy to call her as soon as he got home from work, time zones be damned.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“No?”

“No.”

Sy hummed. “See, I think ya know exactly what you’re doin’ and you’re lyin’ about it to be a brat. Because only a brat would send their boyfriend a sexy little drawing of herself naked and tied up while he’s a world away and can’t do a damn thing about it.”

There was a brief pause as Leah’s sleep-addled brain processed his words. “Does that mean you like it?”

Back home, Sy stared at the picture as he repeated Leah’s words in his head. Does that mean you like it? As if there was even the slightest chance that he could not like the image of Leah laying on her stomach, tied in ropes from shoulder to ankle with her tattoos peaking out. The amount of time she must have spent getting every strand of rope, every knot perfect was unfathomable.

“Darlin’ even if there was any blood left in my brain for me to describe how much I like it, I don’t think the words actually exist.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“Do you… Do you want to show me?”

A crooked smile pulled at his lips at the invitation in her words. “You wanna see what you do to me? Maybe you also wanna watch me take care of the little problem ya caused?”

From what Leah had seen, there was no ‘little’ about it.

“Can I?” she asked on an exhale.

As Sy took his boots off—something he hadn’t done in his rush to open Leah’s letter—he switched the call to a video, waiting for Leah to accept. When the image came on screen, it was fully dark. He heard the bed squeak as she moved to turn the bedside lamp on and her face came into view.

He was relieved to see that, although a little sleepy, she didn’t look tired. She wore a thin camisole and he was willing to bet she was only wearing her typical boyshorts underneath. Making his way to the bedroom, Sy continued his study of his girlfriend.

Due to the time difference and the fact that Leah was constantly being shipped out on ops, they hadn’t had many opportunities for face to face conversations. It was reassuring to see she looked healthy and injury free.

Stripping out of his uniform one handed would pose a challenge so Sy propped his phone up on the dresser and took a step back.

“See this? I didn’t even have time to change. I opened the envelope the moment I walked through the door.”

He shrugged out of his jacket, tossing it over the edge of a nearby laundry hamper. His shirt came off next before his hands moved to his belt. Leah licked her lips, her eyes traveling up and down the screen.

His hand slid into his pants, grasping his shaft over the cotton of his underwear. “I gotta say baby girl, I’ve never had a drawing make me hard before.”

He’d also never masturbated on camera but there was a first time for everything. Apparently he’d reverted to ‘horny teenager’ status now that he had his first steady girlfriend.

“You were the one who wanted to watch. Tell me what you wanna see. Should I sit or lay down?”

“Sit.”

Sy looked around the room, spotting the phone holder he used to watch videos while he cooked or cleaned. The angle on it could be adjusted so that the phone was almost completely vertical.

Still in his underwear, Sy walked to the bedside table to grab the stand then returned to the living room. He set the phone down on the coffee table, adjusting it at what he hoped was a good distance from the couch. Before he could talk himself out of it, Sy stood in front of the camera, hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his underwear and pushed them down. His hard dick sprang up to rest against the patch of hair on his lower stomach.

Leah was silent but the slight hitch of her breath and the quickening rise and fall of her chest told him that she was turned on. His chest and thighs filled her screen, showing off his hard earned physique. 

“Makes you hot, don’t it? Knowin’ ya drive me fuckin’ wild.” He stroked himself as he spoke. There was no way he was just going to let any length of silence linger. “Bet you’re drippin’.”

Properly phrased dirty talk was something Sy had learned she really enjoyed. If she was in the mood it made her wet but even when she wasn’t it was like it reassured her to know that he could want her without acting on it. Leah didn’t always want to touch or be touched but hearing verbally how much Sy was attracted to her gave her confidence that she was enough just as she was.

Sitting down, Sy recentered the phone on the table. “You gonna help me baby girl? You gonna let me see you too?”

Leah bit her inner cheek, looking off to the side. For a second Sy wondered if that was too far but then Leah pushed the blankets down to the end of the bed and rested the phone against them.

She disappeared long enough to turn the main light on then came back to kneel on the bed. Her hair was tied in a messy braid over her shoulder, leaving the swell of her breasts on full display. The tight fabric of her white camisole left nothing to the imagination.

As Sy continued to look his fill, his hand returned to its task, slowly moving up and down his length. A groan unconsciously rose from his chest when Leah shifted her knees further apart, revealing the wet patch on her indigo boyshort.

“You gettin’ a little needy there?”

She couldn’t speak but the hitch in her breath was answer enough. In an unexpected move, Leah’s fingers trailed up her stomach to pinch her nipples through her shirt. Even if she had admitted to getting aroused when they were together, she had yet to act on it in front of him. If he’d known that having the protection of a phone screen was what it took to help her trust him, he would have suggested it earlier.

“You gonna make yourself feel good, baby girl?”

She squeezed her tits, pinching her nipples one more time before peeling the camisole off. Sy’s hand paused around the base of his shaft and squeezed. He’d missed that sight. Leah was, hands down, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“I’ll try.” It wasn’t exactly a sexy answer but it was the truth. She would only get more stuck in her head if she made any guarantees but she couldn’t find the words to explain that.

Luckily, Sy understood what she meant. He moved to pick up the phone, looking straight at Leah as he spoke. “Good girl, for tellin’ me. No pressure, okay?”

Leah took a deep breath, giving him a small nod. “Okay.”

He gave her a reassuring smile before putting the phone back on the holder and leaning back in the seat. “Take your panties off. Show me all that sweet wetness you made for me.”

Shifting to lay on her back, Leah raised her legs to show her ass off as she obeyed his order. Once the scrap of fabric dropped to the floor, she leaned up on her elbows and let her knees fall to the side.

“Fuck me.” Sy resumed stroking his cock. Her entire apex was shiny with the evidence of her arousal. “Did ya also get this wet when you were drawin’ yourself all wrapped up for me?”

“Maybe…” She had most definitely gotten wet after hours of researching different shibari patterns. Actually, she’d gotten wet just remembering when Sy had first showed her what he could do with a rope. Though she hadn’t realized it at the time, she liked the idea of being at his mercy.

Her fingers found her clit, drawing slow circles around it. Just the soft touch sent a spark of electricity down her spine. Her climax built as she watched Sy chase his own peak, the filthy words never ceasing to fall from his lips. Her mouth watered when she spotted the first drops of precum leaking from his tip which he immediately used as lube to tease his sensitive glans.

It wasn’t long before he was spilling himself onto his stomach, his abs clenching with every jolt of pleasure coursing through his body. Head tipped back, Sy caught his breath but his eyes immediately shot open when Leah found her release, moaning his name as she did.

Day 209

“Stop abusin’ that cheek, baby girl.” Sy’s thumb brushed over said cheek, pulling Leah’s attention away from a random spot on the floor. “No sense in worryin’ about what happens when we get back to base.”

“Sorry, I can’t help it.”

“Will ya let me try something with you?” he asked, putting the last of the freshly cleaned dishes away. “Something that I think ya might really enjoy and that will take your mind off worryin’?”

Leah frowned, feeling wary of the oddly vague request. Planting her hands behind her, she hopped up to sit on counter. “You’re gonna have to give me more detail than that.” 

Coming to stand between her thighs, Sy took the dish towel from her hands and draped it over the oven handle.

“I think you need to give up control and not just the way we’ve been doin’. Actual submission for a scene where ya pick a safeword and we negotiate everything before it starts. Then I want ya to give me full control.”

“How is that different from before?”

“Because before you could have said or done anything ya wanted at any time and I would have followed your lead. Here, once we start, I’m askin’ that ya let me do all the thinkin’. You let me make all the decisions knowin’ that everything I do is in your best interest and will follow exactly what we agreed.”

That did sound appealing. She couldn’t tell how many times she’d wished her brain would quiet down rather than running a million miles a minute but she wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by ‘negotiate’.

Although, she did vaguely remember the contract scene from when she’d watched the Fifty Shades of Grey movie.  She’d seen it during a weekend leave and had fallen asleep halfway through so her memory of the whole experience was rather foggy.

Plus, that movie was basically just porn with a lot of plot and she would never take relationship advice from porn videos so she definitely wasn’t going to take any from a movie that couldn’t capture her attention enough to stay awake for two hours.

Pursing her lips, Leah chewed on her inner cheek until she realized what she was doing. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips instead and she gave a small nod.

“Alright,” Sy said, running a soothing hand over her right thigh. “Here’s what I would like to do. I want ya to kneel for me while I tie a rope harness over your chest. If that feels okay, I might continue makin’ a pattern down your leg.”

“What do you want to do once I’m tied up?”

“Nothing. If I finish makin’ patterns down both your legs without ya askin’ to stop then maybe I let ya sit with the ropes for a bit but, otherwise, I’ll take ‘em off right after.”

Leah frowned, she was definitely curious even if she still didn’t know how it was supposed to help her relax… Or what Sy was supposed to get out of the deal. 

They’d messed around a few times since their little tryst on the roof and she was becoming more comfortable with him. She found that she was much more willing to engage in something sexual knowing that Sy wouldn’t push to go outside of the limits she set out beforehand. There had still been a few times where she didn’t want to do anything at all but he seemed to sense it—or maybe her behavior was more transparent than she thought—and he hadn’t initiated anything more than kisses and cuddles.

“You wouldn’t want to get off after?”

“No. Even if you said yes to me now I don’t trust that you’ll be clear headed enough to stop me if you change your mind later. If this works like I want it to, it might make you feel a little groggy.”

“Oh.” She was still skeptical but if Sy thought it would have that much of an effect then she wanted to believe him. “That sounds fine. I don’t have any issues with that.”

He asked a few more follow-up questions before sending Leah to change into leggings and a long-sleeved shirt.

While Leah did as he asked, Sy pulled a few lengths of climbing rope from where they had been stored after their hike. Leah had noticed that one of her old ropes was beginning to fray so she had cut it and put it aside to be dealt with later. It wasn’t made for shibari but he was going to stick to basic patterns that put little to no pressure on Leah’s body and her shirt should protect her from rope burn if the harness shifted as she moved.

After finding a pair of scissors in the kitchen, he climbed the stairs to go join Leah. Her bedroom door was open and Sy walked in just as she finished pulling the shirt down her stomach. The room wasn’t abundantly spacious but there was enough space on the floor for Leah to fully stretch out onto her back which was all they needed. 

“I’m just going for something decorative here so you shouldn’t feel much pressure but if anything pinches or feels remotely wrong you need to tell me. I’ll stop and fix it before I do anything else.”

That was easy enough. She already had an idea of what level of pressure was too much from aerial hammock. Sometimes the fabric could be constricting which required her to loosen it before comfortably moving on to a different pose.

Leah watched as Sy took a throw blanket from the end of the bed, spreading it on the floor then putting a pillow in the center. There was no way of knowing how she would react until they started and he did not want to risk her panicking and rolling off the bed. He made Leah test the position, confirming that she was comfortable before sitting on the ground next to her.

“Have you thought of a safeword?”

“Valkyrie.”

“Good. If you say that, I stop. If it’s too much of an emergency for me to untie you, I’ll cut the ropes off,” he explained, pointing to the scissors.

Sy encouraged Leah to close her eyes as he worked to focus on the sensations. Every step was described as he wrapped the rope and he frequently checked in before moving on. By the time he’d finished with the simple harness, Leah’s head was falling forward.

“Leah, can you sit for me and stretch out your legs?”

He kept his hands on Leah’s waist to hold her steady while she shifted onto her hip then uncurled her legs from under her. Despite putting her hands on the ground, she wobbled when her arms gave out, feeling boneless. Seeing her falter, Sy moved the pillow and made her stretch out on her back rather than sit.

The next few times Sy checked in, Leah gave him a slurred ‘fine’. The pressure of the harness was… Nice. Relaxing like a long hug. Though her legs weren’t restrained, they still somehow felt heavier with the presence of the ropes. Her head, on the other hand, felt light and floaty.

Scratch that, her whole body felt floaty, like she was being lifted in the air.

“You with me, baby girl?”

Leah hummed.

“Open your eyes for me?”

Her eyes fluttered open, finding Sy much closer than she expected. That was when she realized they weren’t on the floor anymore and she was laying over his chest on her bed.

“How’re you feelin’?

“Good. Great actually. What the hell kind of magic was that?”

Sy smiled, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “People often call it bein’ ‘rope drunk’.”

“I can understand why.”

Running his fingers under the ropes, Sy made sure that nothing was pinching her skin after the change in position. Noting that there were no danger spots, he started slowly undoing the ropes from her left leg.

“How did you get into this anyway?”

“Back before I became an officer we were out on this training exercise. They rushed us to this rendez-vous point only to tell us that we had a thirty-six hour wait ahead of us. Anyway, we had nothing by means of entertainment and one of my squad mates was a real kinky fucker so he ended up showin’ us a bunch of basic ties and shit. I liked the idea of it enough to do some more research and learned how to do it safely.”

That was typical. ‘Hurry up and wait’ was a common practice in the military. The most surprising part of that explanation to Leah was the fact that shibari required research beyond knowing how to make pretty knots.

Sy massaged Leah’s legs to make sure the blood flow returned once the ropes were off. He couldn’t help but picture the marks that would have been left had Leah not been wearing any clothing. Or how sexy she would have looked with the ropes still on. Going off Leah’s positive reaction, he allowed himself to look forward to doing it all again in the future.

Chapter 27