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yikesimonfire · 3 years

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Misery Loves Company || Alfie & Mina

Timing: Last week. Location: Residential woods near Dark Score Lake Parties: @drowningisinevitable & @yikesimonfire Summary: Alfie and Mina have more in common than they realize, but it’s probably for the best. Content: internalized homophobia and mentions of domestic abuse

Ever since Bex showed her pretty little face, Alfie’s life had taken a sharp decline for the worse. It wasn’t her fault — he understood that on some level — but he needed someone to blame. These days, Alfie couldn’t stand being in his own home. Their laughter haunted him from the adjacent apartment, echoing incessantly at all hours; reminding him of how unimportant he truly was.

Eddie had gone years (their entire time as neighbors, in fact) without dating anyone. Suddenly, she was there all of the time. There was no longer any room for Alfie to be a part of Eddie's life. At least, that's what he managed to convince himself. The truth was that the lovebirds did try to include Alfie. It was he who shut them out, unable to bear being around them.

Alfie would never admit it, but he was heartbroken.

What good would it do to confess? What difference would it make? Absolutely none. He was in love with someone who, for reasons beyond their control, would never love him back. Alfie knew he would be forced to make peace with it eventually, but it was all so… sudden.

He'd taken it upon himself to evacuate his apartment as Bex and Eddie’s sickening coos seeped through the paper-thin walls; seeking comfort instead from the disheveled cabin he'd come to possess. It was an older building, unkempt throughout the span of his life — this life. Twenty-six or some odd years ago, the house was probably in its prime. But rot had since set into the wooden beams. The porch creaked, threatening to collapse under Alfie's weight as he traipsed the threshold.

By some miracle, the place still had electricity. The water pressure was almost nonexistent; not that Alfie had much of a need for it. However, in light of recent events, the bare minimum was no longer sufficient.

He intended to stay — at least more often.

With a hammer in hand, Alfie attempted to pry corroded nails from the patio’s dry-rotted boards. The metal fought against him, breaking under the pressure, and left fragments of the rusted nails tightly embedded in the wood. Great. First he can't stay at his own apartment without being reminded of his grief, and now he has to deal with this?!

"Mother fucker," Alfie grumbled, striking the porch with the hammer. "Can't I have one good thing for once? Just one!" The platform quivered beneath him, ignoring his plea, and Alfie collapsed onto his back in a pathetic heap. "Fine. Do whatever you want. I don't care anymore," he told the house. "I could set you on fire, you realize that, right? It'll look like an accident… I could probably collect the insurance payment." An idle threat to an inanimate object was pointless, but at least it made him feel a little better. The house wasn't insured, anyway.

The house was stuffy from disuse, but Mina found that she didn’t particularly mind. She opened up the windows. It would be fine. Her dad, when he first found the place, hadn’t signed the lease for her because he thought it was quaint or because it was modern. It was livable enough, it was close to a water source, and it would be a good base for the two of them when he returned to White Crest for them to set up shop. Well, now, at least, it was still livable enough.

Mina didn’t particularly care about livability. She was just looking for a place to sleep that didn’t remind her of Bex. The house was small and barren, save for a few clothes that she’d left and a tiny amory’s worth of weapons in the spare room. She had the windows open to allow fresh air to come in, and she was sitting at the small kitchen’s counter, sleeves rolled up while she was wrapping bandages around her arm. She encountered a chimera in the woods the night before, some wretched conglomeration of an actual wolf, a cockatrice, and a flederprey that had managed to get a few good hits in before she put it out of its misery. It hadn’t even been hard. She hadn’t even thought about it.

That was kind of the goal, these days. Mina just wanted to work and fight and run until exhaustion took her, sometimes in the middle of the night, crashing face first into a stream. She’d ruined a lot of clothes, recently.

The sound of cursing from the usually empty house next door startled Mina from what she was doing. She pulled her sleeves down and looked outside. It was a young man, about her age, that she’d seen a few times over the last two years. They’d waved but never really talked. He didn’t stay for long. She didn’t mind. She wasn’t overly good at socializing; it had been years since she’d practiced good neighbor etiquette.

But he seemed to be having a hard time. Sighing, Mina headed outside, walking the distance between their little houses. She made sure to make plenty of noise, so as not to startle him too bad when she called out, “Everything alright?”

Alfie hadn’t meant to attract attention from the neighbors. In fact, he didn’t even realize the young woman from the house over still lived there. The few times he’d been over recently, the other house seemed entirely vacant; not that it was any of his business. As the brush crunched underneath her feet, signaling her approach, Alfie bolted upright.

Nothing was alright, he wanted to state. But the girl was probably less concerned about his personal relationships than his assault on his porch.

“Oh, sure, sure,” Alfie lied with ease. “Just trying to fix the place up is all. It’s, uh… not going too well.” That was evident from the fact that he was trying to remove a board while he was sitting on it. He had no idea what he was doing.

A heavy sigh escaped him before he tossed the hammer to the side, maneuvering himself to sit on the edge of the porch. “Actually— that’s not true,” Alfie admitted. “I mean… it is true to an extent. Mostly, I’m just taking out my frustration on the woodwork.” Why did he just say that? She didn’t care. She couldn’t possibly care. Yet, here he was, unloading his baggage onto a complete stranger because he found himself without a single friend in the world that he felt he could air his grievances to.

“Everything’s shit,” he added with a shrug. After a moment, Alfie realized the weight of his words and offered her a small, apologetic smile. “Sorry, that’s… probably not something I should have shared.” His hand reached behind him, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, as his eyes shifted to her own house. “I haven’t seen you around recently. Didn’t know you were still living there.”

“I see,” Mina said slowly, looking at the young man as he attempted to… she didn’t know what he was attempting, actually. Something with the porch. It didn’t seem to be working in his favor, more a cause of frustration than proper work. And then he got to the problem, and she nodded her head in understanding. “Ah, that makes more sense. Things are actually going quite poorly for me, too, but I’ve been going out most nights in an effort to try and exhaust myself into sleeping.”

That wasn’t what Mina wanted to say. At all. Frowning, she rocked on her heels a bit. That amount of open honesty wasn’t what she wanted to share with this guy that was practically a stranger, but she hadn’t been able to stop the words from tumbling from her lips in an uncharacteristic overshare.

“I’m sorry that it’s like that,” Mina said, trying to start again. She rubbed at her arms. “It’s okay. I mean, if you’d like to talk about it, I have no one to tell.” She followed his gaze, looking at the place that she couldn’t call home. Not now, not really. “I’ve been staying with some friends, actually. I got hurt pretty bad a couple of months ago-- fell off a cliff, I don’t recommend-- but.” She felt like she had to physically stop herself from saying too much. She cleared her throat. “I couldn’t stand to be there because it reminds me of someone I miss, and I don’t want to feel like a burden, so I decided I should stay here more often.”

Something was definitely wrong, Mina decided. She couldn’t stop blurting out the truth. “I apologize. Now, ah, I seem to be the one that’s oversharing,” she said, trying to laugh off the intense embarrassment that she felt.

Alfie raised his brows in concern as his pseudo-neighbor shared her own woes. Unfortunately, he understood the lack of sleep all too well at this point. A sad smile tugged at the corners of his lips as she continued. Interrupting her would have been rude. Instead, he nodded along, making minimal eye contact. His heart sank deeper into his stomach as the young woman explained why she’d returned to the little house in the woods. It was all too similar to his own reasoning for being here now.

But then she was apologizing and the emptiness he felt on behalf of both of them mixed with guilt. “No, no!” Alfie quickly interjected. “There’s no need to apologize, really. I, uh… I hate to hear that.” He wanted to assure her that he was going through something similar. That she wasn’t alone in her grief. That he understood how it must have felt that her entire world was falling apart because so was his. But he couldn’t bring himself to say any of it.

Instead, Alfie scooched over before gingerly patting the spot beside him. He wouldn’t have blamed her for not taking a seat, but at that moment, it seemed like the right thing to do.

“That’s why I’m here too,” he croaked feebly. “I mean — sort of.” Alfie cleared his throat; his eyes fixed on the ground. It was probably strange, but he felt obligated to share the source of his own misery with her now. “I live— I have an apartment downtown, but… I can’t stand being there anymore.” His brows knit together as a tight knot formed in his throat, threatening to choke him. Before he knew it, his nose stung and he let out a strangled sigh, preceding a sniffle. “Because I hear them, you know? Talking — laughing — and I just… That should be me.”

Alfie’s voice cracked and he forced a terse laugh. “Sorry… I sound ridiculous, don’t I? Unloading all of this while you’ve got your own things to worry about.” He hadn’t told anyone about this until now. “I’m glad you’re okay. I mean, y’know… after the whole cliff thing. That obviously doesn’t help what you’re going through now, but…” Say it, he mentally berated himself. Just say it already.

“You’re not alone,” he added finally.

“I usually don’t talk this much,” Mina said. “I seem to be having trouble with-- with my words.” The last time she’d gotten like this, she’d been young, and she’d lied about things to the point of being quite sick, and then she just overshared everything. It had been embarrassing and ridiculous, and she’d had to find new ways to get around the constantly spouting out the truth. She hoped that wasn’t happening now; it would just be the icing on top of the cake of how bad things were going.

She moved to sit beside him, lowering herself onto the porch gingerly. Mina was bruised all over, and it wasn’t broken bones, but she still ached. She ached in her chest, too. “It’s better out here. I’m not reminded of-- of everything.” Of good times and bad times and all the little moments in between. Of sitting by the pool, and doing homework in the kitchen, and falling asleep on the couch.

Breathing out a sigh, Mina shook her head. “You hardly sound ridiculous. That sounds-- sounds achingly familiar, wanting to be away from somewhere that you can’t stand.” She wondered who these people were that made the young man beside her so sad.

“Would you believe me if I said the cliff feels like a rather minor thing, all things considered? Which, now, that sounds ridiculous because the water would have killed me, and I can’t even drown but I was drowning.” Stop talking, Mina told herself, but she couldn’t. “But this just feels so much worse because I knew the cause of that pain, but now I’m in pain, and it’s so stupid, it’s utterly stupid because I didn’t think I could feel like this.” She cleared her throat. “Now that’s ridiculous,” she finished softly. “But thank you. I appreciate that.” Even if she was alone. Even if she was making herself alone.

“Yeah, me neither,” Alfie scoffed. For the most part, Alfie preferred to keep to himself. He was meticulously careful about what he said, how he said it, and who he said it to. Not even his family knew much about him. At least, not the developments over the past few years; more than half a decade now. The only two people that could contend this were Nell and Eddie. Even then, there was still a lot he couldn’t bring himself to tell them.

A deep frown etched into his features as he listened to the other speak. He might not have been aware of her situation, but it eerily mirrored his own. Alfie missed his friend — his best friend. He missed the sound of Eddie’s laugh when he said something stupid, whether intentional or not. He missed sitting beside him on the sofa and the feeling of their shoulders pressed together. He missed hearing the balcony door creak open. He missed Bucket. In retrospect, only a handful of days had gone by since Alfie started pulling away. Bex took everything from him in one fell swoop.

Alfie didn’t know what the girl sitting beside him had (and was) going through, but it wasn’t unreasonable for her to feel that falling off of a cliff wasn’t as crushing as her current situation. “Not ridiculous,” he spoke finally; his voice small. Her confession of not being able to drown didn’t even register — at least, not in the way she meant it. Alfie was all too familiar with death-by-water that the passing comment hardly struck him as odd. He wanted to comfort her. To let her get everything out. It helped to talk about things that upset you. Or, so he’d been told. But in the same regard, he wanted to selfishly do the same. Maybe he could do both…

“It fucking sucks,” Alfie emphatically stated as he threw his hands into the air before letting them drop back to his lap with a light thud. “To hurt so badly and know that there’s nothing you can do to make it any better. To not be able to bear being in your own home because everything reminds you of this person. Because you know you shouldn’t love him the way you—” There it was: the precise feeling Alfie tried so desperately to not put a name on.

Alfie swallowed the knot that formed in his throat. His shoulders drooped, eyes still staring at the ground, and he leaned forward with a sigh. “Not that— I don’t mean that I think you’re hurting because of some guy. I—” Slowly, Alfie dragged a palm down his face before he cupped his chin. “Projecting, I guess.”

“It-- Yes, yes,” Mina agreed because it did. It fucking sucked. “And it’s not like being out of the house helps. Being here is nice, but it’s a temporary solution.” The only thing that truly helped was moving, constantly moving, fighting and helping and protecting and moving until she couldn’t move anymore. She was so exhausted that it was weighing her down like lead, but even the exhaustion didn’t make it go away. The scrapes and bruises didn’t make it go away.

Mina looked at this guy, this young man that she’d only ever really talked to in passing, and she couldn’t help but think of what a pair they made. But of them so utterly dejected and hurt and unable to feel comfortable in their own homes, both of them aching.

Leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, Mina shook her head and laughed, but there wasn’t any joy in it. “Not a guy, no, just a girl who I gave my heart to without realizing it.” And she hadn’t realized it because she hadn’t thought it was possible, really, to care about someone that much. She couldn’t. She couldn’t. But she could, apparently, and it just ached. “It just aches,” she said out loud. “And I don’t even blame her for it. I’m not mad, just… I’m not mad.” Being mad would be pointless, and it wouldn’t make this stop. Nothing would.

“Do you want to talk about this guy that you were trying to project onto me?” Mina asked, trying to keep her voice light but genuinely concerned. He seemed to need to talk, and she didn’t want to risk even more words spilling out without her wanting them to.

Alfie gave a knowing nod. As much relief he found here, there was just as much sadness. To a certain degree, he hated it here more. The weight of his self-proclaimed curse lived within those four walls behind him. At least back at his apartment he had means of distraction.

When she explained what her own pain was linked to, Alfie’s head turned slightly towards her. They were in the exact same boat. "Yeah," he muttered, an empathetic frown flashing across his features. "Me too." It wasn't Eddie's fault that he didn't reciprocate Alfie's feelings. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't care for him in the exact same way. Eddie cared — of course he did. He offered Alfie friendship without hesitation. And even when Alfie tried to keep himself at a distance, Eddie never relented. How could he possibly be mad about that? If anything, it only made Alfie love him more.

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” Alfie sighed. His feelings for Eddie were years in the making. Where was he supposed to start? The beginning? The first time they crossed paths as new neighbors? The first time Eddie dragged himself home from a shitty part-time job, pizza box in hand, and offered it to Alfie? The first time he crossed the boundary between their balconies and let himself into Alfie’s apartment? “He’s straight, for one thing. Not exactly fair of me to be as wrecked as I am, huh? I always knew that— that it would never work out.”

“I thought I’d made peace with it until he started seeing someone. A girl… obviously. Since… y’know… straight.” Alfie fumbled over his words, wringing his hands as he spoke. “Then, everything just sucked. I— I knew why it upset me pretty immediately. Not that I could tell him that. He’d probably resent me for it. And besides, it wouldn’t change anything.” Because he’s straight, Alfie almost reiterated. “So now I’m just some gay cliche; pining after my best friend.” Losing him because of it. He’d lose him either way. There was no winning.

“I’m rather of the mindset that nothing’s particularly fair,” Mina said, her voice dry. It wasn’t fair that she was unable to be comfortable in her own skin. It wasn’t fair that Bex felt like she had to go back to her parents when she wasn’t safe there. It wasn’t fair that Mina was stuck on her when Bex clearly didn’t feel the same. “It’s very hard to stop yourself from liking someone once you’ve started doing it, even if that was never the intention. Not like that, at least.”

Or maybe it was just that Mina couldn’t stop once she thought it was reciprocated. She’d been able to stop herself before, from caring about people. It hadn’t been hard; no one had ever cared about her. Not like that. And everytime she thought she might be genuinely attracted to one of the younger hunters that she and her dad had worked with, she reminded herself that she couldn’t and that they’d never feel that way about her. It helped when they confirmed these thoughts. They always did.

But Mina allowed herself to fall, hard and fast and reckless, and it had been wonderful, and it had been devastating, and, as soon as she came to terms with it, it had been hell. There’s nothing quite like seeing that the person who you’d do absolutely anything for already in a serious, public relationship with someone else.

“I don’t know much about cliches, unfortunately,” Mina said, “but, if it makes you feel any better, I’m in love--” in love, in love, in love, and even the thought of it ached in its sincerity because there was no lie, “-- with someone that moved on so fast I think it gave me actual whiplash.”

Alfie’s heart ached at her words. He tried desperately to not have feelings for Eddie, but they always crept back up at the most inconvenient times. It was never anything more than attraction, or so he thought. But as time went by and he opened himself up to the other man, it was impossible for Alfie to deny that he’d formed a crush on his neighbor. To hear that this feeling was not exclusive to him was almost comforting. At least, as comforting as two forlorn and pining people could be to each other.

“You were in a relationship, then?” Alfie asked, trying to maintain a steady voice. That seemed worse than what he was going through. No matter how much physical affection Eddie gave him, it never came with a label. Why would it? That was just how Eddie was; physical.

Alfie recalled the first time he met Bex and how quickly he assumed she’d spent time canoodling with Eddie on the couch. No matter how much he tried to push the idea aside and brush it off as something that Eddie usually did with friends, he couldn’t help feeling jealous that he wasn’t the only one to receive that sort of attention from him. The moment Bex showed up at Eddie’s doorstep with a gift, Alfie should have known that it would lead to something more than friendship.

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how that must feel,” Alfie stated. But he could. He did. All too well, in fact.

He thought about reaching out to give her a consoling pat on the shoulder. That’s what people did, right? Used physical touch to make someone feel better? Alfie didn’t know much about that. He usually just wanted to be left alone when he was upset. Maybe she shared this feeling, too. Instead, Alfie decided to ask more questions that might help. “Have you talked to her about it? I mean — that’s a dumb question, huh? I’m sure you have if you were in love.” Are in love, he remembered.

“We… didn’t really call it anything,” Mina said. And they hadn’t. I want you. They wanted each other. Bex had hurt someone for her. “I mean, we kissed and we spent a lot of time together, and I don’t know how to fall asleep without her around, but we never-- We didn’t call it a relationship.”

Bex was Mina’s best friend. She was one of the most important people in Mina’s life, and she’d worked her way into that position in a very, very short amount of time. It was terrifying, how much Mina cared about Bex. It was terrifying how much she’d do for her. Having a name for it didn’t make it any easier. Sometimes, it made it worse.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize.” It hurts. It hurts. Mina said, “It hurts, but I don’t think I would trade it? I wouldn’t trade it, actually.” It was devastating, but there was a part of her that was in awe over the fact that she could feel something that she just hadn’t thought was possible for her entire life. It made the hurt worth it.

“Absolutely not,” Mina said. “She doesn’t-- We’re not really talking. About that. Any of that. I don’t know if I could, really, at this point. It’d probably just make this worse. That tends to be what I do, most of the time. Make things worse. It always feels like I make things worse.” She swallowed back words, all of them too much, just wanting to spill from her throat without her permission. She changed course instead. “I didn’t introduce myself. I never have, actually, despite how long it’s been. My name is Mina. Wilhelmina Fitzroy, actually, but that’s rather long, isn’t it? Just Mina is fine.”

“Oh,” Alfie said, pretending to understand how two people could kiss without “calling it anything”. It was normal, right? One night stands. Friends with benefits. Then again, he supposed those were labels. Maybe there was a label that applied here — not that it was any of his business. Just because he liked to assign words to things didn’t mean everyone else had to.

Whatever their relationship entailed, it baffled Alfie. Clearly, she was emotionally suffering. Why wouldn’t she want to trade that if she could? Given the chance, Alfie would have easily traded his feelings towards Eddie for a normal friendship with him. That’s what Eddie wanted, after all — for things to be normal between them. For his best friend to not disappear the second his girlfriend came around. If he could give Eddie that kind of friendship, he would; even if — especially if — it meant no longer having feelings for him.

Alfie frowned when she mentioned feeling that she had a knack for making things worse. Admittedly, he doubted that was true, but he couldn’t exactly tell her that she didn’t. He didn’t know her, aftall. So when she offered a proper introduction before he had a chance to find the appropriate thing to say, Alfie was grateful. “Mina,” he repeated as he flashed her a smile and extended his hand for her to shake. “Alfie,” he stated simply before elaborating. “Actually, if it makes you feel any better, my full name’s Alfonzo Ramirez. Just as much of a mouthful. But, uh… It’s a pleasure to officially meet you, Mina.”

“She was my best friend,” Mina said quickly, the words coming out in a desperate attempt to try and explain. “And then she was more, and now she’s everything and nothing at all.” And that’s somehow what Bex had become. Because Mina would still do anything for her; that hadn’t changed. But Bex was unreachable. Even if they still talked sometimes. Even if she still acted like she cared, sometimes.

Did the explanation even help? Honestly, Mina didn’t know. It didn’t change anything. It wasn’t any sort of revelation that finding out that she was actually in love had been. It was just undeniable truth. She knew it to be true like she knew mathematical theory, like she knew most of Einuadi’s pieces by heart, like she knew the sting of cold iron slashing and burning through skin. She knew it intimately. It wasn’t a groundbreaking thing, to say the words out loud. It just made her sad.

“It’s nice to meet you, officially, Alfie,” Mina said, shaking his hand. It was warm, hot, even. She wondered if he had a fever, but he seemed alright. “I wish it was under better circumstances for both of us, though. “What about you and your friend?im sorry about the girlfriend, and all of that, but… I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself, for falling in love with him, or for feeling like you can’t be around him. If he’d resent you for your feelings, then I don’t know if he’s a good friend at all.”

Who knew a simple phrase like “she was my best friend” could hit Alfie so profoundly? Eddie might not have been anything more than that — his best friend — but the sentiment resonated more than Alfie wanted to admit. Would the same ring true for their friendship soon enough? Would Eddie somehow become “everything and nothing at all” for him? He didn’t want that. He wanted his best friend. No girlfriends. No boyfriends. He just wanted Eddie. Why couldn’t it be that simple?

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Alfie assured before releasing Mina’s hand and wiping his palm against his pant leg. He hadn’t realized how clammy he was until his skin came in contact with hers. With any luck, she didn’t notice — or if she had, he hoped she wasn’t completely repulsed by him now. The fact that she continued the conversation by asking him more about his situation was probably a good sign, right? “My friend,” he reiterated with a forced chuckle.

“It’s complicated.” Far more complicated than Alfie knew how to put into words. As it turned out, Eddie didn’t resent him for having feelings for him. It would have been easier if he did. No matter how hard Alfie tried to pretend that his relationship with Bex had little to no effect on him, he failed. Miserably. It didn’t take long at all for the other man to piece everything together; he read Alfie like a book. Eddie still wanted to be friends, that much was certain, but he needed it to work out with Bex. Whatever that meant. It would be good for him. It was what he wanted. So, Alfie had to accept it no matter how much it killed him.

“But, uh… thank you. It means a lot, really. It’s not that—” Alfie allowed himself to trail off, his shoulders drooping once again with a deep sigh. “He doesn’t resent me, though. I wish he did, but… He’s a really good guy. He doesn’t get enough credit for just how good he is, actually. In fact, I don’t think he even realizes it. I should have told him more, y’know? Before… before all of this. And from what I can tell, she’s a really nice girl.” As he spoke, Alfie’s eyes wandered further away from Mina, deciding that the tufts of grass, dirt, and leaves around the porch were somehow interesting. “He deserves someone good — someone like him. I was always shit to him, anyway.”

“Complicated is… familiar,” Mina murmured in response. Because things had never been not been complicated. There had never really been a moment when things had been going well. There had always been something. Warden ex-boyfriends, out of control werewolves, homicidal selkies, houses falling down, a mother that treated her daughter like prey. Nothing had ever been easy. And then it was gone, and all that was left was feelings and hurt and dreams that lingered and shifted themselves into nightmares. So Mina tried not to sleep much. She was always so tired.

“You don’t have to thank me,” she said quickly. Even if Mina didn’t know how to twist people’s thanks into favors, it was better to play it safe. “Please don’t. Thank me.” She glanced over at him, tired and as sad as she was, and she rubbed at her injured arm hidden under her sleeves. “I’m glad he doesn’t resent you, and that he’s kind and good, though I know that doesn’t lessen your pain. Trust me, I know.” She knew all too well. She knew what it was like to just want someone to be happy.

Alfie’s words were cutting, even if he didn’t realize it. Mina also thought that Bex deserved someone good. And the Youtube guy (Eddie, his name was Eddie) seemed good. He seemed kind. He was funny and probably really easy to be around, and he probably didn’t keep things from her. He was probably human. He could probably give Bex more than Mina ever could. “I--” Her voice was higher than she wanted it to be. She cleared her throat. “I get that. I do.” She did. She did. She did.

Eddie’s goodness did not, in fact, lessen Alfie’s pain, just as their conversation the day after the fateful karaoke night hadn’t. Everything was confusing. He’d never been more uncertain of anything in his life and he’d… well, he’d lived more lives than he cared to admit. He wondered if it was ever simple for him, but highly doubted that was the case.

On the other hand, Mina asking that he not thank her was also not something that Alfie was able to successfully process. “I mean it, though,” he continued with a gentle smile. “Talking with you… it’s been nice.” He hadn’t even been this forthright when it came to talking to his sister, Leah. She knew more specifics than Mina did, but until now he hadn’t allowed anyone to really know how the entire situation made him feel — Eddie didn’t even get an actual confession.

“It’s gonna get better, Mina. Things suck now, but it’ll get better. For both of us. I promise.”

Mina managed a small smile. “It has been nice. All the same, you shouldn’t thank me. It’s-- This has been nice for me, too, in a weird, kind of painful way. There’s nothing to thank, truly.” And maybe that was a bit more information than was needed, but still. It was true. Of course it was true. All she could manage was the truth.

Eyes widening at the promise, Mina stood up. “No. I release you from that promise. Don’t promise things like that.” There wasn’t much of a chance that things were going to get better than they already were. Not for her. She was stuck like this for the rest of her life. It was luck that she’d managed to do it once, fall in love. She didn’t want to do it again. She couldn’t do it again. She couldn’t.

“I hope… I hope it gets better for you, Alfie. I really do.” Mina gave him a sad smile. “But you shouldn’t make promises to people that can’t be kept. It’s dangerous. Especially around here.” Especially with people like me. “I-- It was really nice talking to you. I appreciate you talking with me.”

Alfie should have known better than to go around making idle promises to strangers in the woods, but here he was. As soon as Mina interjected, giving him a proper scolding all the same, Alfie’s eyes widened. Fae — she had to be. No one could grow up in the Ramirez family without learning how to keep themselves safe from all harm. Nevermind how disappointed his parents would have been if they knew, Leah would be upset enough for the both of them. The thought made him chuckle, although his timing wasn’t so appropriate.

“Sorry, sorry… I— mmm…” Alfie pursed his lips together as he carefully rose from the porch. The less he said the better, right? “I hope everything works out for you, then.” Were wishes a fae thing? Shit, he couldn’t remember. Even so, that couldn’t have counted as a wish, right? “Sorry,” he murmured again. Fae or not, she seemed alright in his book. Granted, his knowledge was far more limited than other studious members of his family. For all he knew, Mina would sneak into his cabin while he slept and turn him into a tree.

He almost reached out for a parting handshake but instead gave a timid wave goodbye. “Yeah, of course.” Anytime, Alfie stopped himself from saying. “It was, uh… a pleasure to meet you, Mina. Maybe I’ll see you around, neighbor.” Even now, while he was desperate to escape his life outside of these woods, the word didn’t sound quite right. He wouldn’t last the night in this cabin.

#c: mina #writing #wickedswriting #misery loves company #internalized homophobia tw #domestic abuse tw

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etheshadowlord · 3 years

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UNPROFESSIONAL REVIEW OF EVERY POWER RANGERS EPISODE I CAN FIND PART 3!

Spoilers ahead for episodes 11-16. It's been a while I hope this post finds you...I don't know what state it will find you in but it could be Connecticut for all we know. Anyway, it's been a long time so I had to back up pull these out of the drawer and dust them off. I"ve mostly finished season 1 already at this point and started season 2 because the filler was getting to me and then I realized, life is far too short to get impatient. So time to slow down and reflect.

As well as subject ourselves to this madness.

Episode 11: No clowning around.

We start the episode off with Kimberly, Zack, Billy, and Jason at the Angel Grove Fair with Zack showing his hip-hop stilt dancing....yeah no it doesn't really work that well and he takes a short spill only to quickly reveal today's Villain, evil imposter clowns. Meanwhile, we see Trini bringing the kid of the day....her cousin.

Kids are cute, clowns are wholesome and nothing bad could possibly happen. Right.....so short fact I love clowns. I hate evil and monster clowns because they give the noble profession a bad name anyway whoever Pineapple the clown is, the clown council is probably greatly displeased with them.

Bulk and Skull enter the picture to tease the main team and get egg on their face. The eggs came from Billy attempting to juggle eggs on offer from the villainous clown Pineapple...Not sure but it's the thing today I guess.

So we get a segue to hearing the Gloriously Evil plan for her repulsiveness. Magical Pineoctopus that turns people into cardboard cutouts and....a...fake....fair? You know if magic stuff wasn't involved I would question how the fuck the police aren't shutting these stunts down before people get hurt. I wonder if there's just an "it's not my problem" field on these things.

So the monster of the week flattens Sylvia and the rangers convince the park goers to leave thus begins the fight. Meanwhile, Trini saves Sylvia with some water and then rejoins the Rangers in time to Put this clown down....for good. Okay, he's a fruit cephalopod but that's beside the point. End of the episode Vignette and we learn never to go with strange clowns.....or strangers period.

Fun: * * * - -

Rita: Mad

These Clowns: Failures.

Episode 12: Power Ranger Punks

We start this episode with a reminder that Baboo...

This person is actually capable of evil as well. Though not skilled at the practice of monster molding, his specialty seems to be making potions. In this case, ones to make Kimberly and Billy into....Punks.

Meanwhile, Rita unleashes the Terror Toad while they try to figure a way to correct their friends' bad behavior. Through an antidote. It works they beat the toad with a well-aimed arrow to the mouth and save the day. Sorry Baboo, no villain star today for you.

Baboo: Great alchemist....also where'd you get the Rattlesnake Lips? Share your sources please and thanks.

Drinks: Don't leave open drinks Also don't drink open drinks if you're a hero. Even if it was fine earler.

Punk: Not dead.

Episode 13: Peace, Love, and Woe.

So we start off with both Bulk and Skull causing chaos and with Rita demanding Finster to make her....Madame Woe, who is apparently almost as evil as Rita herself. Huh... also love strikes when you least expect it. Billy ends up falling for Marge who asks him to the dance and...Marge gets mistaken for a Power Ranger.

Clearly, because Rita didn't give her loyal servant the proper intel. So yeah Marge and the rangers get zapped into Madam Woe's funky dimension of Woe where she is all-powerful and send the Blue Ranger back to beat her in One on One combat, Madam Woe is defeated and we get a vignette of learning....that Bulk stores his money in his shoe.

Knowledge: Cursed.

Fun: * * * * -

Woe: - - - - -

Episode 14: Foul Play in the Sky.

We start the episode by meeting Kimberly's Uncle Steve who is a pilot and a sleeping potion.

Rita, if Monsters can't kill the power dweebs then what about flat-out gruesome murder. In fact, why hasn't she just poisoned them with a deadly poison at this point? Is it the fact she wants to look upon them as they despair? Is that the game here?

Anyway, Steve is put to sleep and Kimberly lands a plane all the while Bulk and Skull are in the back passed out because obviously you'd faint hearing that the pilot is out like a light and you're probably going to die. Rita's monster of the week is a snake man thing that fires power-draining snakes.

The plane lands and Kimberly shows us some real archery skills with a regular William Tell signature move. And we end the episode on a light note of Shakes on Bulk and Skull.

Fun: * * *- -

Plane controls: * * * * -

Rita: Wanted for attempted murder through sabotage.

Episode 15: Dark Warrior.

So another family member makes a one-time appearance. Trini's Uncle Howard is a brilliant scientist. He even made an invisibility formula. And Bulk and Skull decide to pick on Billy for....quarters for a dumb arcade...game?

Actually, we've seen Billy do some really stellar martial arts so why is he putting up with this? Seriously?

Uncle Howard shows up and....isn't wearing his glasses as he's looking for his niece. So he dumbly puts the formula on the counter. This will cause trouble later I can tell. Also, Rita sends a new monster out to find this formula. The labeled Dark Warrior. Looks more like Camo with a scarf to me. I mean invisibility can also mean camouflaging.

So Dark Warrior being a sadistic monster captures Howard, then tries to extort the formula from Trini. They fight the dark warrior and defeat him with the combined power of friendship and giant robots. Then we see Bulk and Skull get a taste of their own medicine as Uncle Howard shows off the invisibility formula that apparently can be drunk and affects your clothes as well? Weird.

Science: - - - - - WE DON'T WATCH THIS FOR ACCURATE SCIENCE!

Fun: * * * * -

Boxes: Marked with TNT Like this was Minecraft.

Episode 16: Switching Places.

You'll never know a person until you walk a mile in their shoes is usually how the saying goes. I think it works better if they were them for a week. You really get to know someone's life after a week of having to do things the way they do things.

Anyway, we start this episode with Squatt being the little Gremlin he is messing with Billy's Invention....the machine in question is a Machine to allow someone to read your mind...

So first mistake not going through the line of making sure everything is right before the experiment. Secondly, human experimentation is a bit....questionable in ethics.

Anyways, Kimberly and Billy get Switched. Like you know....body swapped. THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CHECK THINGS BEFORE THE EXPERIMENT!

....The same also happens to Bulk and Skull.

All while this is going on Squatt unleashes a mighty Genie to fight the rangers. Guess it doesn't subscribe to the classic Genie Rules. However, the true power of the genie is in the lamp...obviously and Alpha defeats the genie by zapping it to...wherever he zapped it to. We close out the episode with everyone getting their minds back in their own bodies even Bulk and Skull sorta learn their lesson.

Switch: eroo

Genie: Wished out.

Skull: Pretty dull still.

Thus ends part 3 of this synoptic unprofessional review of every power rangers episode that I can get a hold of at least on Netflix. The next part will be the Green With EVIL special. Hence why I went with six episodes for this part because it's a five-parter coming up. Until then, see you in the next post.

#Power Rangers #unprofessional review #this is for fun #The show is campy and I haven't done these in a while and was bored #I still like the Power Rangers #really these are more like me giving my own commentary on these episodes but that's fine I'm allowed to post what I want on my blog

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tabloidtoc · 4 years

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Star, March 1

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Humiliated Jennifer Lopez used for money and fame by Alex Rodriguez

Page 1: Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank, who is a UK ambassador for George Clooney and Rande Gerber's tequila brand, welcomed a son on February 9 at London's Portland Hospital

Page 2: Contents, Robin Thicke in front of a piano at Gold Diggers studio in L.A.

Page 3: Star Shots -- Serena Williams honored late Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner by rocking a one-legged Nike catsuit at the first day of the Australian open, Chrissy Metz brought some vibrancy to the virtual SCAD aTVFest where she discussed This Is Us and was honored with the Vanguard Award, Olivia Culpo checked out the view before heading to the Shaq Bowl in Tampa

Page 4: Inside Britney Spears' nightmare -- a shocking new documentary exposes how Britney was used and abused by people she trusted -- Britney's unable to communicate with fans directly without permission -- fans flooded Justin Timberlake's Instagram to demand an apology for what one called profiting from trashing a woman

Page 5: Facing a lawsuit from her estranged older sister has rattled Mariah Carey -- Alison Carey alleged to a NYC court that Mariah had intentionally inflicted emotional distress by writing about her in the 2020 tell-all The Meaning of Mariah Carey and Alison is seeking $1.25 million after the singer accused her of, among other things, throwing boiling hot tea on her and trying to sell a 12-year-old Mariah to a pimp -- now Mariah has become wary of even those in her inner circle and is making longtime employees re-interview for their jobs -- Mariah's always been on the paranoid side but everyone is a suspect now and she's grilling everyone from bodyguards to chefs to stylists and household staff who have been with her for years and if anyone pushes back they are shown the door -- her great fear is that people could cross over and spill secrets to the enemy because she's been caught off guard before by those she trusted

* Catching ZZZs has become a real problem for Kelly Clarkson -- between her gig as a daytime host, trying to sell homes in Nashville and Encino, and battling her ex Brandon Blackstock over custody of their two kids, she is beyond stressed and she can't sleep and nothing works; the most shut-eye she gets is two to three hours -- it's gotten so bad she's even tried hypnotherapy but her workaholic brain outwits it -- meanwhile her legal woes including a lawsuit with her husband and ex father-in-law's talent agency are getting nastier and Brandon has told her in no uncertain terms that he's not going to stop until he gets what he wants which is a ton of money and time with the kids

* She was the most loathed mother in America and now Casey Anthony wants her say -- 10 years after she was acquitted of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee, Casey is making a documentary about the trial and she thinks she can clear her name -- she's not looking for sympathy but she believes she's a victim too and was unfairly convicted in the public eye -- she is planning on dropping bombshells in the doc including her take on the theory that the toddler accidentally drowned in the family pool as well as shocking secrets about her own abusive upbringing but don't expect much remorse

Page 6: Just over a year after her father Kobe Bryant and sister Gianna Bryant perished in a tragic helicopter crash, Natalia Bryant who is Kobe's oldest daughter, has signed a modeling contract with IMG Models who also represent Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid and the just signed Inauguration standout poet Amanda Gorman

* Rumer Willis was heartbroken when her months-long relationship with Armie Hammer fizzled out in December but after harrowing reports of Armie's alleged abuse of women including asking to barbecue their ribs and carry their severed toes in his pocket, Rumer is telling friends she feels lucky -- she wanted to defend him when the cannibalism stories first came out because she thought they were outrageous and now she feels badly for all of the victims and she's really grateful she didn't get caught up in the Armie nightmare

* Star Spots the Stars -- Eva Longoria, Mandy Moore, Demi Lovato, Dan Levy, Dorinda Medley

Page 8: Star Shots -- Meg Ryan wore some wide-legged trousers and a cute cap on a nature walk in Santa Barbara, Gavin Rossdale wore pink socks while playing tennis in L.A., Ciara holding six-month-old son Win during a family getaway to Hawaii

Page 9: Delilah Belle Hamlin and Love Island's Eyal Booker removed their masks for a quick street smooch during a coffee date in L.A., Sofia Richie enjoyed some PDA with shipping heir Gil Ofer in Miami

Page 12: Kate Upton doing yoga, Tia Mowry-Hardrict and her husband Cory Hardrict shared dishwashing duty after cooking at home, Robin Roberts tasted a treat on Good Morning America in New York City

Page 13: Pregnant Brittany Cartwright brought her dog along to retrieve the mail in L.A., Victoria Justice showed off her toned tummy post-workout in L.A.

Page 14: Goldie Hawn turned quality time with granddaughter Rani into a workout toting her in a backpack, Madonna and Guy Ritchie's son Rocco Ritchie waded in during a vacation in Tulum in Mexico, Lucy Hale on a stroll with her dog Elvis in L.A.

Page 16: Chris Noth put in a day's work on The Equalizer in Paterson in New Jersey, Flavor Flav and Flo Rida at The Super Glow Super Bowl kick-off party in Tampa, Bradley Cooper kept daughter Lea close as the two ran errands in NYC

Page 17: More than a week after celebrating 18 months of sobriety Lily Allen enjoyed a snack on-the-go in London, Jessica Alba lifted her son Hayes while riding scooters with husband Cash Warren in Beverly Hills

Page 18: Normal or Not? Cody Simpson got physical with new girlfriend Marloes Stevens during a romantic getaway in St. Barts -- normal, Selling Sunset's Christine Quinn picking up a portrait of herself in L.A. -- normal, Jack Black raised Thor's hammer in a parody posted on Instagram prompting Chris Hemsworth to call it the greatest thing he's ever seen -- not normal

Page 19: The Crown's Emma Corrin looked intrigued by a leafy object she stumbled upon during a stroll in London -- not normal, Sarah Jessica Parker kicked back in heels during a break from assisting shoppers at her flagship store in NYC -- not normal

Page 20: Fashion -- stars look sweet in tiered dresses -- Maude Apatow, Logan Browning, Margot Robbie

Page 21: Julianne Moore, Camila Morrone, Saoirse Ronan

Page 24: After months of quietly dating, Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley are ready to marry and they announced it in the most low-key way possible and the couple are madly in love and feel unequivocally that this is the real deal -- Aaron and Shailene were friends long before sparks flew in August last year and having to endure a long-distance romance during football season actually made their bond stronger -- Aaron and Shailene are already planning to start a family and they're at that stage when they feel ready to be parents and are keen to have a baby

Page 25: Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles have found another dynamic duo to spend their downtime with which is Florence Pugh and Zach Braff -- the foursome hit it off on the set of Don't Worry, Darling which Olivia is directing and in which Florence and Harry star -- they have the best time together and know how to forget the world outside -- as it turns out bearing witness to Florence and Zach's happy relationship despite their 20-year age difference played a part in Olivia taking a chance on dating Harry who is nine years her junior following her split from Jason Sudeikis and seeing them together inspired Olivia to go for it with Harry and she's so glad she did

* While some couples are overwhelmed being with their kids 24/7 in lockdown, Prince William and Duchess Kate have enjoyed the extended family time with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis -- having the kids at home during the pandemic has given Kate baby fever and she loves being around them and wants to have one more and she and William are trying for another, with Kate saying she's hoping for a girl -- as for raising four young kids, the pair are up to the challenge because Kate's a pro at multitasking and William is a devoted dad and they'll split parenting duties

* Matt Damon is hoping a change of scenery will save his rocky 17-year relationship with wife Luciana Barroso as the couple and their three girls have set up house in a lavish $7000-a-night rental in Australia's tony Byron Bay while the actor films Thor: Love and Thunder -- the beachy new surroundings are just what the couple needs after hitting a rough patch and Matt is working overtime to make sure Luciana enjoys herself Down Under by arranging date nights and buying gifts for her to open every day and even when he's working he's got time set aside for just them and the gestures seem to be working and it's the shot in the arm they both needed

Page 26: Cover Story -- Jennifer Lopez humiliated and used -- shocking cheating allegations rock J.Lo's world as fiance Alex Rodriguez's mistress Madison LeCroy tells all -- while Jennifer is putting on a brave face the affair rumors are devastating to her whether she admits it or not -- after revealing she and Alex exchanged DMs Madison said she doesn't want anything bad for his family or for hers -- Alex says it was innocent and that nothing happened but Jennifer is not fully buying it -- Jennifer and Alex's relationship is personal but it's also business; together, their fortunes have doubled

Page 30: Chip and Joanna Gaines -- inside our farmhouse reno -- Chip and Jo are expanding and renovating their Waco home and it may be their toughest job yet

Page 32: Celeb Parenting Fails -- these celebrity moms and dads share their hilarious hapless moments -- Anne Hathaway, Brad Pitt

Page 33: Willie Geist, Mila Kunis, Pink

Page 48: Parting Shot -- Despite it being her first concert in over a year, Miley Cyrus was ready to rock while headlining the TikTok Tailgate Super Bowl pre-show event in Tampa -- the show treated 7500 Florida-based healthcare workers to a set that included guest appearances by Joan Jett and Billy Idol, who both collaborated on Miley's latest album

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lordofcrowns · 4 years

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DRUNKEN SAILOR // ARCHIVE LINK

Despite the encroaching night, the docks were still bustling. Burly workers milled about, sailors and merchants alike going about the last of their business for the day, the latter hawking wares and seeking to crack open the coin purse of any passerby they could convince.

This far north, the leaves on the trees grew a medley of color ranging from rich indigo to bright cobalt blue, now dusted with a sugary coating of peach and amber sunset lighting. Speckled between the deep blues were flames of orange, brightly burning street lamps that marked the way up the cobblestone steps from the docks into town. Thick clouds hung over the shore, tinged the same colors as the sunset, save one heavy grey cloud that threatened rain. A watercolor painting, all reflected in the mirror of the sea.

On a cliff overlooking the scene was the local inn and tavern. Oil lanterns and tattered banners swayed in the wind, beckoning travelers and locals alike inside, out of the biting cold. On an icy northern night like this, few could resist the comforts of a warm hearth, strong drinks, and good company.

[ MUSIC // AMBIANCE // ARCHIVE LINK ]

Unsurprisingly. The tavern itself was seething with activity. After all, any who were willing to keep the peace were welcome here. Many even hung their weapon belts at the door - trusting the town guard to see to their safety. Red cherry wood was stained purple, drenched in the shade of the cool evening. The building was old - a big, open space with two floors and several hearths, built of stout timber and set upon a sturdy stone foundation. Rugs covered the stone floor, thick curtains kept the draft out, and soft furs were draped over furniture.

In the center of the main hall, down from the ceiling grew one of the local trees, a great spectacle of vibrant blue foliage and inky black branches - limbs that stretched down and had been tied and trained to hold the many, many lanterns flickering brilliant gold and crimson through old, smoke-stained glass, that together made a chandelier. A blend of different tongues, all overlapping and fighting to be heard over one another, caused a din that made it difficult for the innkeeper and her customer to hear themselves.

“Iyrngybet… what you’ve given me here is not even half of what you owe.”

“Aye… that is the right of it, lass.”

The burly Roegadyn man awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and avoided the eyes of the innkeeper. The woman was smaller than him practically by half, but her no-nonsense air had him shuffling his feet and pouting like a schoolboy being disciplined. She sighed at him with rather evident disappointment, but did not seem angry.

“Well… I have horses that need grooming and stalls that need cleaning.”

The Hyur woman hardly had the time to finish her sentence before the brawny man was wrapping his arms around her and picking her up in a tight bearhug. Luckily for her, the rafters in the ceiling were high, so she did not risk hitting her head despite the way he twirled her around.

“Oh, yer a gem, Maude! A right gem!”

“Yes, yes…” Maude did her best to sound exasperated, but the laughter in her voice was palpable. “Put me down, please.”

“O’course.”

He very gingerly set her down, and the freckled woman brushed her skirt free of the many wrinkles the unexpected hug had put in it.

“I will expect you bright and early tomorrow morning, sixth bell. Do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly!”

Maude, the innkeeper and tavern’s owner, felt a good deal older than her twenty and six summers. A hyur woman with a sharp wit but a kind heart, she opened the tavern and inn to any who would keep the peace, and who agreed to comply with the local guard who watched her door.

Her dress was a layering of mismatched petticoats, cream linen, and an old, many times mended hempen bodice, laced haphazardly with fraying jute cord. Her auburn brown hair was tied back in a long, loosely plaited braid that reached her hip in total length, wrapped about her temple and tying underneath her long hair was the one fine thing she owned - a vivid blue silk sash.

As the tavern’s sole proprietor and the only staff she could truly afford, Maude had her hands full filling and refilling drinks, fetching dried meat and loaves of bread, and assigning rooms to the sailors and travellers as they came and went.

She didn’t mind, though - she liked to be kept busy, and in her handful of years living here, she had grown to love the town, the tavern, and its people. The majority of her customers were regulars she knew by name, the other sailors she vaguely recognized when they passed through during certain months.

There was, however, one figure present this evening she did not recognize at all. He was mild-mannered, unobtrusive - he spoke to the guard before entering and even agreed to leave his sword belt at the door. And much to her delight he paid his coin without hesitation, excuse, or flimsy attempts at bartering. He was garbed in a dusty matte black coat, layered over a simple leather doublet and creamy, low-cut white shirt. Brass buttons had been worn down over time, seams stretched and quilted lapels scuffed from wear and tear. He had introduced himself as a sailor, and he had the look of one. He had thick brown hair and one piercing, gold eye, the left - the right was covered with a leather patch, a relatively common feature amongst sailors. His skin was tan, the corners of his eyes wrinkled, but only in a way that really showed when he smiled.

There was little unnatural or unusual about the Miqo’te, save perhaps a certain lazy grace with which he moved and carried himself. As the evening carried on, she found herself paying him more attention. There was a brooding expression on his face, an almost alarming focus that furrowed his brow and tightened his jaw, that with a suave charm was instantaneously covered once he felt eyes on him. It took him no time at all to warm up to the locals and join in with the drinking.

He held aloft a full tankard, by nature of his height towering over most of his newfound company. He had a gruff, guttural, but still somehow charming singing voice.

“Hey ho, to the bottle I go! To heal my heart and drown my woe. Rain may fall, and wind may blow, But there’ll still be many malms to go! Sweet is the sound of the pouring rain, And the river that runs from hill to plain. Better than rain or a rippling brook, Is a mug of beer that brings me luck!”

This unfamiliar sailor had enough of a boom behind his voice that it filled the room right up to the brim, but even it threatened to be drowned out by the laughter and chorus of voices that joined in alongside it to sing the familiar diddy. A beat rose up, a mix of boots stomping against the wood and fists slamming into tabletops. Maude was sure she had never seen the tavern so full, or so lively.

Iyrngybet was perhaps the loudest and rowdiest of all those drinking, though despite this he always handled himself well. He was the friendly, rambunctious sort - even without the drink. And much to Maude’s relief, he and this new stranger seemed to get on rather well. They were clapping each other on the back and toasting tankards together between verses. The last note of the stranger’s song faded out to thunderous applause and hollers. The Roegadyn wasted no time then in striking up a new rhythm and bellowing out the words to a new ditty. Another popular song, an age old warning about pirates and thieves, the ones that come for naughty children in the night.

“My mother said he listens My father’s seen him walk Stay in bed, asleep at home Be spared the slaver’s lock.

With whip he’ll bind your ankles Blind your eyes with sash and cord And if you cry out in the night Alone he’ll take you aboard.

The slaver snake, he waits With coiled whip and black clad hand Beware the viper's bite, my son Fear Captain Stacy's brand!”

Iyrngybet drained the last of his tankard amidst many cheers, and resounding boos for the pirate in question that the song had referenced.

“Haven’t heard that one since I was a wee child, eh?” A patron said to her as she refilled their proffered glass.

“Indeed,” She replied. “I fear much to his dismay, dear Iyrngybet ages himself by nature of his song choice.”

Though her feet ached and she longed nothing more than to sit down and enjoy a moment’s quiet, Maude couldn’t help but smile and readied herself to pour another round of drinks. At the very least, this stranger and his charm with the crowd made for good beverage sales.

Still, his charm left her with an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. She brushed it off as the excitement of having a new face in town, for after all - it was a rather rare occasion.

Down on the docks, five score sailors were disembarking an unmarked sloop, leaving behind the now pitch black sea and heading up the hill towards the wintery blue forest, and the tavern itself. They moved swiftly and silently, light footsteps barely seeming to touch the ground they tread upon. They wore matching colors of black and gold, and not a word was spoken between them. Hand signals were made, and packs began to peel away, moving through the town and into the woods. All the while, that grey cloud still lingering in the midnight sky grew darker and darker. A storm was imminent.

“Hail to you, good ser. If you seek accommodations for the evening, I have beds for rent.”

The Miqo’te leaned gently from one side to another, fighting to keep himself even slightly upright, before simply nodding. Maude bowed her head and made every effort not to smile at his drunkenness, lest the stranger take offense.

“A room is five-hundred gil. Have you the coin to pay?”

Before she’d even fully finished her question, the Miqo’te had set down a small leather satchel of gil on the bar. Maude pulled the coin purse towards her, counting out what was owed to her swiftly and returning the excess, as well as the pouch, to their owner. She tucked the gil away in the safe kept beneath the counter before straightening up and tossing her scarf back over her shoulder.

“Right this way, then…” Maude used a small key she kept on her person to open a wide, flat drawer beneath her bar, within which were nestled many similarly shaped keys. She selected one and extended her arm.

“I will show you to your room.”

The man simply nodded, pushing himself back a pace from the bar before falling in behind her. He wobbled precariously now and then, after a time deigning to reach his right hand out to trace fingertips along the wall in an effort to steady himself. They ascended a flight of steps, walking at a leisurely pace around the upper level of the atrium of the tavern, where the Miqo’te had to transition to leaning against the wooden banister to keep himself upright. Maude walked slowly, leaving her guest ample room to catch up without rushing him, and meanwhile glanced down at the still drinking and dining patrons below. Laughter still bellowed upwards towards the rafters now and again, but a few - like the Miqo’te she now escorted - were content to begin finding their ways to their beds.

Along the balcony of the atrium they walked, to the far side of the brilliant chandelier and blossoming tree branches, and down a hallway that provided some small shelter from the loud volume of the guests, was the available room she’d chosen for him. She unlocked it and pushed the door open, stepping back and meaning to hand off his key to him. But when she turned around, she could only stifle a small chuckle. He had stopped perhaps five fulms behind her, and was now leaning with his elbow against the wall, head nestled into the crook of his arm. She cleared her throat, swallowing her laughter before addressing him.

“Ser...?”

Maude’s voice trailed off as she noticed he seemed to be very quietly humming yet another drunken ditty. His mumblings could hardly be considered lyrics, but she recognized the tune as one of the ones sung earlier in the night.

“My mother said he listens My father’s seen him walk Stay in bed, asleep at home Be spared the slaver’s lock…”

She smiled to herself, thumbing over the key in her hands and simply hoping the man would find himself just enough to make it to the room he’d paid for. His voice replying to her snapped her out of thoughts.

“How old were you the first time you heard that song?”

“Hm? Why, I suppose I was just a girl when I-”

Maude glanced back up towards him, eyeing him curiously. For perhaps the first time the entire night, she stopped and truly looked at this sailor. She noted the cleverness present in his face. The odd, unsettlingly crooked smile hovering at the corners of his mouth, the dangerous alertness visible in the one, glittering eye she was permitted to see. The way his body wasn’t shaking or swaying at all anymore.

He had been deceiving her all night. This man was not drunk at all.

Now that she was up close to him, Maude couldn’t help but squint at the way she could swear his entire presence seemed to flicker. His thick brown hair seemed to catch the lantern light in bright flashes of turquoise blue, the dusty brass buttons of his coat giving way to brilliant gold.

The longer she studied him, the colder Maude felt. But he just smiled at her, slowly straightening up to his full height. Having regained control of her tongue enough to stop staring dumbfounded, she took a respectful step back, once more offering his room’s key to him. It took every ounce of strength and self control not to stutter or give away her discomfort. She didn’t know who she was dealing with, or why he would lie, but it made fear grip her cold. She knew to be careful.

“You make strange conversation, ser. I think bed rest would do you well. If you need anything else, you need only ask.”

“Or perhaps you are like me.” Though she attempted to change the subject, the Miqo'te overrode her. “Placing little stock in such fanciful tales.”

He spoke slowly and softly, but this did little to dissipate the Hyur’s nerves. She realized immediately that this man had her backed into a corner, and out of the line of sight of the other patrons for the moment.

“Pray, rest easy.”

His voice was like a purr. A quiet rumble deep in his chest. It was as if he’d read her mind, or perhaps he had seen her eyes flick momentarily over towards the hallway behind him.

“I do hope you will forgive my belated introduction.”

Something translucent like scales seemed to ripple and fall from his body as the glamour dissipated. Brown hair instead shone a seafoam teal, worn long save for the short buzz on either side of his temples. The dusty, worn-in coat was now shed for a clean, elegant looking black and gold uniform. There was not a single seam or wrinkle out of place. Polished gold at his shoulders emblazoned with a calligraphic “S” denoted his rank. His hands were covered with a pair of oily black gloves, and adorned with gold rings. One such hand went behind his back, the other in front of him, as he gifted the innkeeper a formal bow, still smiling.

“Captain Cyril Stacy, a pleasure to meet you.”

The Hyur caught her breath a moment, eyes tracing over the man now before her, unsure if they could even be called the same person. As was quite common among some Miqo’te, his breeding was written practically in ink along every sharp line of his face, in his imposing silhouette and broad shoulders. And, despite his casual, perhaps almost jovial demeanor and the superficial camaraderie among the tavern folk earlier in the night, his voice had the immistakible, careless authority of someone wholly accustomed to being obeyed.

She knew the name, she knew the song, she knew the stories. She knew exactly who this man claimed to be.

“Are you mad, or brilliant?” She whispered. “Drawing attention to yourself all evening like that, my good Captain…” She spat his title at him with contempt crisp against her teeth, a mixture of mockery and disbelief. “Among my patrons there is no shortage of bounty hunters. Adventurers who would be eager to claim the prize you proclaim yourself to be.”

Cyril merely chuckled quietly and shook his head.

“You think me more reckless than I am, love. Your patrons will hardly remember the evening.”

Confusion was plastered all over the innkeeper’s face until she took a few moments to listen carefully. It was quiet. The laughter, the chatter, it had all died down.

“What have you done?”

Worry boiled over into panic and Maude picked up her skirts, shuffling sheepishly a few steps aside from Cyril. When he made no move to stop her or block her path, she darted back towards the atrium. She grabbed the banister and leaned over worriedly, taking in the disturbingly quiet scene before her.

A lucky few had made it to the comfortable, fur-draped chairs that surrounded the crackling hearth. The others dozed at their tables, slumped over with heads resting atop folded arms or even one another. A few of the most unfortunate simply collapsed, sprawled out over the bearskin rugs or slumped down in a heap against the wall. It was as if they had been put under a spell, none of them so much as twitched or shuffled in their sleep.

Heavy, slow footsteps behind her alerted her of Cyril’s approach, followed closely by his still quiet voice. As he stalked up behind her, he pulled a kerchief from his breast pocket and wiped the sides of his neck clean of the rum he’d splashed on it to make him smell intoxicated.

“Rest assured, they are not harmed.”

These were her patrons, her people - when they came to her establishment they were in her charge. That this man had so easily weaseled his way in and drugged every drinker was a thought both terrifying and humiliating. Anger boiled in her blood, and without thinking she whirled around and pulled her hand back to strike the man in the face. In the middle of her motion she seemed to realize what she was doing was unwise, and in that split second of hesitation, Cyril reached up and grabbed her wrist before she had the chance to slap him. He still spoke softly, even as he threatened nonchalantly to crush her arm in his grip.

“You ought to be thanking me. I may very well have rescued your floundering business from the softness of your heart.”

Maude grimaced and attempted to tug her arm away, to no avail.

“I beg your pardon?”

In one fluid movement, Cyril spun her around - holding her arm behind her as he marched her back over towards the railing. He reached his arm about her and rested his free hand on the banister while he directed her attention to the dozing patrons.

“Look at the sorry lot of them. Drunkards and beggars. Doubtless, some wretched sod lies in a heap behind the building, threatening to drown in his own vomit. Those that can stand up leave the next morning without paying what they owe, to return again the following eve. Such people are worthless if left to their own devices.”

Maude’s bright eyes darted from one sleeping form to another - Iyrngybet, Damien, Eliza, Ihri'a, Bardi, Oshonne… She knew them by name! They were her townspeople, her friends, her family. And to hells with it if they couldn’t always pay in coin! They paid her back in other ways, helping her tend to the establishment. To her, that was more than enough.

“Rapacious man! Does your black heart beat only for coin? A man drowned in the drink is more honorable than you’ll ever be.”

“Oh, my darling. You wound me with such harsh words. I am not an evil man. You should know...”

As he spoke, his hand left the bannister, gloved fingers sliding up to caress and curl about Maude’s bare neck.

“I do this for you.”

Maude snarled and wrestled herself free of the Miqo’te, scrambling a few paces away from him and whipping around to face him. Again, he made no move to hold her in his grasp, nor to stop her from wriggling free. And even as she glared at him with fire in her eyes, she was well aware her efforts to free herself of his hold were only successful because he allowed them to be.

“Wh-what in the world? How dare you insinuate I would do business with your kind!”

“Abandoned by an unfaithful husband.” The pirate began. “A beloved sister, dead so young.” He took a step towards her as he spoke. “Aging and ailing parents, to whom you send every small amount of coin you can spare…”

Maude’s heart was racing. How much did this man know? So beside herself with shock was she, the innkeeper didn’t realize she’d been shuffling away from him until her back hit the wall. He brushed her hair back behind her shoulders, tracing his hand along her cheek to her chin and tilting her face up to look at him.

“And a kind heart. One far too soft for business. But you need not worry any longer. I will look after you.”

He smiled softly at Maude, keeping his one eye on her as he brought his other hand to his ear just long enough to tap the receiver of his linkpearl.

“Move in.”

There was a bright blue flash of light and almost instantaneously a resounding boom as what was surely lightning split the sky above the tavern. The door to the tavern flung back on its hinges, the guard that should have been watching it absent from his post, as uniformed sailors filed into the building. Maude yelped and shrunk back in surprise. Through the glass windows she could vaguely make out the silhouette of a massive airship, shrouded in a thick, unnatural fog that it seemed to use as a cover, teetering precariously close to the cliff.

And at the sixth bell of the next morning, Iyrngybet - like so many others - was nowhere to be found.

#IT'S DONE I DID IT SLAPS IT DOWN #my writing #drabbles #captain cyril stacy #normal disclaimers for Cyril being a jerk #writing on tumblr #ffxiv #ff14 #Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #ffxiv balmung #ff14 balmung #balmung #balmung server #balmung rp #ff14 rp #ffxiv rp

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welcometoels · 3 years

Text

Session Thirteen - Zanthia

After a decidedly mixed few hours in the unfriendly city of Monthend, the party has found themselves in the much more agreeable company of Zanthia, a perky Halfling who works as a waitress-cum-entertainer at The Wayward Alchemist.

It is under her guidance that the team now finds themselves upstairs at the Alchemist, as she leads them past the rooms where the staff entertain their more discerning clientele in private. She also tells them of the tradition wherein particularly satisfied customers purchase lanterns to be hung on the walls next to the rooms of their favourite workers.

Zanthia’s room is the last, the largest, and the most abundantly illuminated. Inside, the floors and walls are bedecked with expensive and peculiar gifts from all over Toltirgis.

Also present in the room are three Elves, whom Zanthia introduces; admiring himself in the mirror is the High Elf, Jof Suffers; trying their best to be unnoticed is the Wood Elf, Anemia Rixme; and perched on the edge of the four-poster bed is the Drow, Cailynn Coldcloud, with her clockwork wyvern Moo.

While the first two show little interest in the party, Cailynn takes a moment to introduce herself - perhaps because she sees in them a common yearning to solve the mysteries that have plagued them in life, but more likely because she is played by an actual human person (welcome to the game, Alex!)

Cailynn is an artificer, specialising in alchemy. Purple of eye and skin, she cuts a dashing figure in black studded leather armour and candyfloss pink hair - though, due to certain magical causes, this changes on a day-by-day basis.

As the team settles in on a plushly cushioned corner of Zanthia’s room, she fills them in on why she has brought them all upstairs. It transpires that a close friend of hers has been taken hostage by a dangerous group of people - of whom dragon hunter Herrington is a member. She needs a group of seasoned adventurers to assist in setting them free.

To help pique their interest, Zanthia suggests to Talion that he may well find useful information pertaining to the people who may be tracking him down. Talion is surprised by how much she knows, but, with a coy smile, she points out that she makes it her business to know as much as she can about new arrivals in the city, and he and his party are the most interesting people to have arrived in a long time.

At this juncture, Jof drops off a hastily scrawled map of the building where Zanthia’s friend is being held, and leaves cautiously. Zanthia explains that he used to be a member of this dastardly group of kidnappers and dragon killers, and has provided a layout of the building at great personal risk.

There is more to the plan too. Downstairs, in the back room of the Wayward Alchemist, the guards who form tomorrow night’s shift are playing a friendly game of cards. Zanthia feel confident that she can get one more player into the game, potentially allowing them to incapacitate the guards somehow, thereby allowing the party to take their places.

Cailynn has just the thing. Rummaging through her alchemist’s kit, she quickly concocts a mild poison - not enough to kill a person, but certainly sufficient to cause them great intestinal discomfort the next day.

And so, a plan is formed: Kadis will pose as the player, whilst Oddsock sneaks around dog-style, checking out the other players’ cards and mentally transmitting them using his eldritch powers. Talion will offer musical distraction, Cailynn will stand ready with the poison, and Julius will be an adorable otter.

In order to help them prepare for this ruse, Zanthia opens up her various closets, with an instruction to take anything they need, but to stay out of the bottom drawer.

Talion is in first, tarting himself up with various ruffs and powders, and perhaps taking it too far. Oddsock keeps it simpler, with just a top hat, bow tie and monocle. Julius dons a jaunty poncho, and Cailynn takes feather boas for herself and Moo. Kadis changes into so smart but comfortable red gear, better matching his new eyewear.

Before they head down, Zanthia bestows a quick blessing upon them, making them all harder to spot when sneaking. You never know when it might come in handy.

Downstairs, Zanthia has a quick word with the Tiefling bar manager Tabitha - firstly about the game, and secondly about the sleeping man she left at one of her tables. Tabitha nods, and mutters the words “clean-up on table twelve” into her necklace.

At this, the hulking Golem doorman Stopdick folds himself in through the door. A path is quickly cleared before him, and he picks up the slumbering lecher and carries him out of the door. There is a soft clattering of a rubbish bin, and nothing further is seen of heard of either of them.

Inside the back room, the team finds six High Elves around a table, with a jug of booze and a deck of cards. Kadis strides up to them with unusual brazenness, inviting them all to find out how it feels to be beaten by a blind man.

Amused by his chutzpah, they allow him to join the game. Kadis sits himself down - successfully feigning blindness, despite his beholder companion being secreted in his eyescarf - and is dealt in.

The game is Raktika Hold’em - a simple poker variant involving two cards per player, five in the river, four rounds of betting and a buy-in of a single copper coin.

The dealer hands out the cards to the players. Around the table sit Melch, Punsie, Rimothy, Elbothan, Gunnannonnimon and Talion’s nemesis Herrington - a fact that does not go unnoticed by the bard.

Kadis’ hand is promising:

Jammy git.

He throws in his copper, and matches a raise from Herrington - as do the other players. The river is dealt, revealing an all-important King. Off to a strong start.

Oddsock does a good sneak and ogles the cards of Melch and Punsie - nothing much going on, though the presence of some diamonds in their hands could be an issue.

A round of betting follows, while Talion begins performing a rousing (and hopefully distracting) song for the players. As he does so, he can’t help put spread a little magic, conjuring up an unpleasant smell from Herrington’s direction. Gunnannonnimon wrinkles his nose and shifts a little further away.

The fourth card is dealt into the river - a Two of Clubs. Oddsock can see that this offers nothing to help either Rimothy or Elbothan, both of whom are holding absolute rubbish - not that one would be able to tell based on their bets.

The players go in bold for the next round, and even Kadis allows himself to put in a raise now that four of his six competitors’ cards are in his mind.

The final flop seals the deal - it’s only the bloody King of Spades. Though he is now sitting on a Three Of A Kind, Kadis does not let this break his poker face, even after Oddsock confirmed that Herrington and Gunnannonnimon have nothing to threaten him. Delivering a new magical smell into Herrington’s lap, Oddsock returns to Kadis’ side for well-earned scritches.

Emboldened by his sneaky knowledge, Kadis puts in a large raise. Several players bow out, but Herrington holds fast in the mistaken belief that his pair of fives will bring him anything but embarrassment. Already troubled by the looks he is receiving for his odour, he puts in a raise of his own, which Kadis matches and raises further with a handful of gold.

A disturbance ensues, with much grumbling about “limits” and “poor manners”. Between this, the stench and the increasingly raucous music, the stage is set for a sneaky poisoner. Cailynn sets Moo into flight with a tiny vial, the contents of which he successfully deposits into the jug unseen.

After Moo has returned to his partner, the fracas begins to die down, and somebody proposes a toast to help clear the air. Drinks are poured from the jug for each of the players - including Kadis.

Ruh-roh.

Seeing this happen, Julius beckons Oddsock over and asks him to connect with him mentally. Minds linked, the otter tells the dog that he has a certain spell that can remove the effects of poison. Oddsock passes this intel across to Kadis, who raises his glass and sups with confidence.

Now that the mood is once again convivial, the group excuses themselves to return to Zanthia’s room, wherein Julius lays on his paws and removes the poison from Kadis, thereby avoiding a day of severe intestinal distress.

Settling back into the room, the gang tries to relax - which is easier for some than others. Julius is uncomfortable with all the skullduggery, and takes a quiet moment in a corner to contemplate the blue pebble that used to be a glowing gem, but which now hangs from his necklace.

He runs his paws over its surface, and tries to recall the intense feeling he got when first he held it, but the emotion of that moment evades him. Drawing the pebble close to his mouth, he whispers to it:

“Pa...?”

At that moment, each of the former gems and lanterns - even the one in Kadis’ pocket - emits the same sound:

“Pa...?”

Everyone looks at Julius, who looks back with confusion. A further mystery - albeit a useful one - has now come to light.

With his mind on the gems, Kadis dips his hand into his pocket and withdraws the golden gear. Taking a bit of a punt while riding high on his modest poker win, he hands it over to Cailynn. As her fingers meet it, she

Hears the voices of her family for the first time in many years

Hears them pleading with their pursuers

Hears them no longer

She sinks to the ground as the golden gear affixes itself to her silver skull necklace, and becomes very quiet.

After some tentative support from the team, she tells them about the murder of her parents and her 50-year-old sister - still just a child by Elven lifespans - at the hands of a violent group who had been blackmailing them. Still being young herself, her magic was not enough to save any lives but her own, and she has lived with the guilt ever since.

Talion sympathises and shares his own story of familial woe, as do the others, all of whom have lost family in one way or another. The mood becomes bleak, so Zanthia opens up a Dragonborn statue, withdraws a very expensive brandy with several crystal glasses, and proposes a toast to them all, to their friendship, and to the success of their future endeavours.

And with that, to bed. Most of the group settles right down onto the cushions, though Oddsock has a quick, very educational snuffle around the forbidden drawer, while Julius fidgets nervously, unable to catch sleep.

Zanthia takes to her four poster bed, leaving space for company, and tipping a wink to Talion. Never one to turn down an opportunity, he joins her as she draws the bed's curtains. There follows an experimentation with bardic inspiration that shall never be explicitly discussed.

The dreams that follow reflect the day that they’ve all had: Themes of familial loss and gambling abound, but at least there aren’t any tentacles.

In the morning, breakfast is brought up - sausages and regular, non-mimic eggs. Zanthia asks the group all to be here in her room in the afternoon, but otherwise they have the morning to themselves.

Talion immediately tries to pursue a monetary reward to help refill their dwindling stocks, and speak to Tabitha about a slot performing in the Alchemist. She requests a sample of his music, and his performance is sufficiently good to earn him a spot onstage during happy hour. Satisfied, he settles in to hone his art.

Oddsock heads out a-sniffing, to see if he can find any trace of his homeland. A familiar scent is on the breeze, so he follows it, passing by some priests desperately scrubbing their steps, and finds a barrel storehouse. Further in, two men are operating brewing equipment, and the scent of hops and malt fills he air.

Oddsock approaches them, and the nearest - a simple fellow named Brando - approaches. After a deployment of the canine charms, he becomes besotted with Oddsock, and asks his companion Kevinge if he can keep him.

Kevinge is less impressed, so Oddsock delves into his mind and tells him that belly rubs are his only road to salvation - or, at least, that’s what he means to say. Oddsock is not so good with the long words.

Mistaking the voice in his head for god, Kevinge begins rubbing his own belly and muttering the word ‘salamander’ to himself. Pleased with his morning’s work, Oddsock trots away.

Also out on the town is Julius. In an attempt to reconnect with nature, he goes out looking for foliage. Though the city is very built up, there are a couple of trees here and there, and it is towards one of these that he strays.

Resting a paw upon it, he channels his druidic magic and begins to speak to it. The spell works, though the tree does not have much wisdom to offer. It has stood for long and seen much, but its only concerns are the soil, the water and the sun.

It turns out that this is just what Julius needed - a few calm, relaxing words from nature to soothe his anxious soul. He meanders in the sunshine, a much happier otter.

Cailynn is on a natural quest of her own, but for nothing quite as pure as Julius. The poison she made last night depleted her mushroom stocks, so she is hunting around for something unpleasant for future efforts.

Though mushrooms and toadstools are nowhere to be found, she does finds a promisingly thick collection of mould behind some bins. Scraping it into a little container, she adds it to her alchemy kit for later perusal.

In a nearby library, Kadis is sat with a stack of books on the topic of local history. He is trying to read up on his old home town of Amberstall, and anything that may have happened to it after the event that robbed him of his sight and his family.

Unfortunately, the only books he can find are too old, and the entries only refer to Amberstall as the modest farming town he remembers from his youth. He does also find an entry about Thornhelm, the town he helped defend against bandits, though again, there is no mention of that event.

Mostly, he is just happy to be reading again, and takes his time leafing through a few tomes in peace.

As the team members begin to return to the Wayward Alchemist, Talion starts playing. Though his audition was just adequate, his afternoon performance is exquisite. Even the taciturn Tabitha pauses her work to watch him, and once he is finished, she hands him a purse of gold and a little bottle of good brandy as a tip.

All together again, the group heads upstairs, where a strange woman awaits. Long of ear and sharp of uniform - just like the guards of last night - she stand just shy of five feet tall in her stacked but professional boots.

The adventurers are cautious, but Oddsock catches a familiar whiff of perfume.

This is Zanthia. And she’s ready to get to work.

#dnd #dnd homebrew #5e

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jbbarnesnnoble · 4 years

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Leap Day

Summary: Leap Day is approaching and you have your eye on a guy from accounting. You work in a research capacity with the Avengers, scouring intelligence reports and doing research on localities where missions pop up, which means working closely with Captain America. When you’re overheard talking to Natasha about asking out the guy from accounting on Leap Day, Steve and Bucky go to great lengths to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Features/Warnings: Dark!/Grey!Stucky. Elements of manipulation, potential dubcon (not so much in this part but in part two if I write a part two)

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes/Reader

Notes: This fic has elements of manipulation. Steve and Bucky are underhanded and manipulative in getting what they want and if I write a part two that incorporates smut it will be dubcon. While I read dark!fic I don’t typically write it. This is me dipping my toes in that particular pool. Please let me know if you’d like to see a part two.

Word Count: 2896

You sat in the kitchen of the Avengers living quarters at the compound. You were the resident researcher, the one who went through intelligence reports to compile details for briefings, the one who did research on the places the team would be going on everything from the government to local customs and the general lay of the terrain. Your job meant you worked closely with Captain America--sorry Steve, as he insisted you call him. Two years into your job and you still had a hard time with that one, even if you did consider him a friend. It had been at his insistence that you had moved into their section of the compound six months into your job there.

Natasha was sat across from you, the two of you locked in a discussion on your love life, or rather the lack thereof. It was a Sunday and most of the team was scattered. It was a day off, except for light training, no mission on the horizon.

“So just ask him out. Leap Day is Saturday. You know there’s that whole tradition where women ask out guys on Leap Day,” she said. You laughed.

“He doesn’t work on Saturdays…besides I thought that was proposals,” you said. She smirked.

“You can still ask him out. Worst case, he says no, you move on with your life,” she said. You sighed. Rick worked in the accounting department. You crossed paths once in a while and you were smitten. You knew he had been flirting with you. There was no misinterpreting it. But neither one of you had made a move yet.

“Easier said than done. Rick’s just so...he’s the guy who all the girls would swoon for if this was high school. I don’t know that I can just ask him out,” you said.

“Just do it. One of you has to,” she said. In the living area, Steve and Bucky both tensed as they listened to your conversation with Natasha. It wouldn’t do to have their girl going out with someone else, especially someone from accounting who could never protect her the way they could.

“I think we need to pay the accounting office a visit tomorrow,” Steve said, his voice low. Bucky nodded in agreement.

“I think we do,” he said. The two sat in silence for a while longer, listening to what you and Natasha were saying. You’d see how wrong Rick was for you, and how right the two soldiers were. They just had to show you first.

Monday morning you headed to the accounting office, two cups of coffee in hand. You handed one to Rick as you found your way to his desk, a smile on your face.

“So, I was thinking. Maybe we could go out tomorrow?” you asked him. His smile fell. You could already feel the sting of rejection settling in.

“You’re a great person, a good friend, but...I don’t see you that way. I’m sorry,” he told you. You felt the sting of tears in your eyes. How had you misread the situation so poorly? You were sure he’d been flirting with you, sure that he was into you.

“Oh...I...okay, yeah. Um, have a good day?” you replied, unsure of what else to say before turning on your heel and heading for your office. You shut the door as soon as you were safely inside, letting the tears fall. Stupid, stupid, stupid. You chastised yourself. It was high school all over again. Of course someone like him wasn’t into you. You had been foolish to think otherwise. You were pulled from your thoughts by someone clearing their throat. You let out a startled yelp, seeing Steve and Bucky sitting in the two chairs across from your desk.

“What’s wrong?” Steve asked you. You shook your head.

“Nothing you need to worry about Captain Rogers,” you said. You saw the look of concern on his face as he stood and strode over to you. You were surprised when he brought a hand to your face, wiping away the tears that were still falling. Bucky was quick to join him.

“You’re our friend, doll. We’re going to worry when you come in looking like someone just broke your heart. Who do we gotta go have a chat with?” Bucky asked.

“No one. It’s nothing. I was foolish for thinking someone like him could like me. That’s all,” you told them, pulling away and heading for your desk. You had had a crush on both soldiers once upon a time when you started. But once you settled and got to know them, it passed. They had become good friends, after some insistence on their part.

“Someone like who, sweetheart?” Steve asked. You shook your head.

“You two aren’t here to talk about my relationship woes. What did you need?” you asked, your tone slightly clipped. The sooner you got them out of your office the sooner you could have your breakdown in relative peace.

“We wanted to go over the latest intel report with you, about the situation in Ottawa. But that can wait. Why don’t you take the day off?” Steve asked. You shook your head.

“I have far too much to get done today to do that,” you replied. The soft expression on his face hardened. You had never seen that look directed toward you.

“You’re taking the rest of the day off. No arguing. You report to me. And I’m telling you, it can wait until tomorrow,” he said, leaving no room for you to argue. Bucky gave you a small smile.

“Besides, we’re done with our work for the day. This was the only thing we needed to do today. We can go out and you can tell us what’s bothering you, doll,” Bucky said. You sighed. You missed the look the two shared as your shoulders sagged in defeat. There was no getting out of doing what Steve wanted, not when you knew he had no issue picking you up and forcing you out of your office. You stood and gathered your things, still missing the silent exchange between the two men.

“Good girl. Now, why don’t you go change into something more comfortable? We’ll go to that Italian place you like in town, hm?” Steve asked. You bristled at the first part of his comment. You took a moment before answering him.

“I think I’d rather just stay in. Have some time to myself tonight,” you said. His expression changed to something you couldn’t quite read.

“If you’re sure...you know where you can find us if you change your mind. We’ll always make time for you, doll,,” Bucky said as the three of you exited your office. The door locked automatically behind you, thanks to FRIDAY. You just nodded at him, before heading for the residential building that housed the team. The duo headed in the opposite direction, toward Steve’s office. Once the door was closed, Steve gave him a look of annoyance.

“You should’ve insisted she go out to dinner with us,” he snapped. Bucky shook his head.

“Too much, too soon. If we want her to want us, we need to do this right. Push just enough. You almost had her running like a scared rabbit with your good girl comment. What happened to “let’s ease her into this”, or was that never your plan?” Bucky asked. Steve ran a hand through his hair.

“You’re right. I got ahead of myself. She makes it so easy to want her,” Steve replied.

“We just have to be patient. We handled the Rick problem. Now we just have to wait for her to seek us out,” Bucky said.

By five in the afternoon, you found yourself looking for the two. You found them lounging in the living area, Steve reading over a mission report and Bucky reading a book. You leaned against the wall, not wanting to interrupt the two. Steve glanced up and smiled when he saw you.

“Change your mind?” he asked, causing Bucky to look up as well. You nodded.

“Yeah...I was thinking I could go for some Italian,” you said. They both stood up and walked toward you.

“How about you go shower and change into something nice. We’ll make a night of it,” Steve said. While it was phrased like a suggestion, his tone was commanding. You felt your face warm and a fluttering in your stomach. You nodded at the two before heading to your room to take a quick shower. You chose a simple dress, one of your favorites for the time of year, slipping on a pair of flats. You opted against putting on makeup. It was a dinner with friends, you didn’t need to go to that much effort. You headed to the common area, to find they were already there waiting, both men wearing dress pants and button downs. You shook your head, reminding yourself to get a grip.

“Ready, doll?” Bucky asked offering his arm for you to link yours with. You smiled.

“Yeah,” you said, linking your arm with his. Steve came up along your other side, wrapping an arm around your waist. You could only assume what others who saw you would think.

Dinner was nice. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say it was a date. As far as you were concerned, it was two friends taking you out to cheer you up to take the sting out of the rejection you had faced.

They walked you to your door at the compound when you returned. You stood outside your door and turned toward the two men.

“Thank you. I was feeling pretty low. I thought...I really thought he liked me. I don’t understand where I misinterpreted things,” you said. Steve brought a hand up to your cheek, tilting your head so you were looking at him.

“His loss. A guy like that? He doesn’t know how to treat a woman like you,” Steve said. You weren’t sure who made the first move, but his lips met yours in a gentle but demanding kiss. You were breathless when he pulled away, acutely aware of Bucky’s presence beside you. You were turned around suddenly to face him. Unlike Steve, his kiss wasn’t gentle. When he pulled away, you looked between the two men.

“I don’t...I don’t understand I thought,” you said trailing off. Everyone had their suspicions about the two.

“Doll, we’ve liked you for a while. And if you’re willing...we’d both like to take you on another date, see where this thing goes,” Bucky said, ducking his head a little. His eyes met Steve’s. Things were clicking into place.

“I...people will talk,” you protested. You felt the fire ignite inside you at the thought of being with them both, but you knew what people would say.

“Forget what others will say, doll. We can make you happier than some accountant,” Bucky all but growled. You paused. You had never mentioned that the guy you had asked out worked in accounting.

“How did you--,” Steve cut you off with another kiss. You tried shoving him away but you knew it was no use. You were confused.

“Don’t you worry about how we know doll. He wasn’t right for you,” Bucky said. Steve pulled away from you.

“Now, sweetheart, why don’t you go on, get ready for bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,” Steve said. You nodded, still a bit dazed from the kiss. You missed the door handle at first, drawing chuckles from the two supersoldiers. Once you were inside and the door was shut, you let the events of the day play out. Maybe they had overheard you and Nat at some point. It was the only explanation that made sense.

In the apartment they shared, Steve and Bucky sat down on the couch. They were quiet, both relishing in the fact that they had gotten to kiss you.

“We could’ve had her tonight,” Bucky grumbled.

“Weren’t you the one telling me to be patient earlier?” Steve asked with a grin. Bucky groaned.

“I take it back. She’s so...she’s perfect,” Bucky said.

“Soon. Like you said, Buck, we need to take this slow.

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The next morning you were up early. You were briefing the team that morning on the mission they’d be leaving for that afternoon, Steve and Bucky included. You had given thought to the previous night, deciding that while you liked both men, right now you couldn’t put yourself in that position. You slipped into the conference room, coffee in hand. You were startled to find Steve and Bucky already there.

“Careful doll,” Bucky said, plucking the coffee from your hands and setting it down. You set the folders down beside it, each one marked with a name. You pulled away when Steve moved to hug you.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, a frown on his face. You sighed.

“I thought about it. You guys are great but...I don’t think I’m in a position to well, put myself in that position,” you said.

“Was it something we said?” Bucky asked, concern laced in his tone. He tried to think about anything that could have put you off. He and Steve didn’t account for this.

“No, no. It’s...you guys are well, you. I’m me. You might not care what people think or say but...I’m not in a position where I can’t care. I don’t want people to think I have this position because of who I’m with. I don’t want to ruin our friendship either,” you said. Steve moved to say something, to argue, but stopped when he saw the subtle shake of Bucky’s head.

“If that’s what you want, doll. It doesn’t change how we feel. You know where to find us if you change your mind,” Bucky said as the door opened, Natasha shuffling in with Sam and Wanda.

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You found yourself on Tinder in the absence of the team. Your only company was FRIDAY. Three days into the mission, you found yourself on a date with a guy named Wes. He was charming and funny. He was a school teacher, you had learned, teaching US history at a local high school. The team was due to be gone for the month, if not a little longer. The mission had taken a turn and you were working through the intel. In that time, one date turned to three turned into the two of you putting a label on things.

You weren’t at the compound when the quinjet landed. Steve and Bucky shared a look of concern while Wanda handed Natasha several bills. Natasha smirked.

“How did you know she wouldn’t be here?” Wanda grumbled.

“I checked her Instagram. She’s out with the guy she’s seeing. Spending the night from the looks of it,” Natasha said. Steve’s shield clattered to the ground, drawing the attention of the team.

“Must be more tired than I thought,” Steve said, picking up the shield. He wasn’t happy with this development and he could practically feel the tension radiating off of Bucky. They headed to their apartment in silence. Once inside, Bucky went to shower without saying a word as Steve pulled out his laptop. He found your Instagram with ease. For someone who worked in intelligence, you left your social media wide open.

He was quick to find out all he needed to about this Wes Everett you were seeing. A background check came up clean. Parents still alive, three older brothers and a sister. Youngest of five. And decidedly not good enough for you. No one was. Only he and Bucky could give you what you needed. Bucky entered the room, sweatpants slung low around his waist. He seemed calmer, but still on edge.

“Wes Everett, thirty years old, school teacher and the youngest of five kids. Not a single thing wrong with him on paper,” Steve grumbled.

“When are we going to pay him a visit?” Bucky asked.

“Tomorrow, once she’s home,” Steve said. Bucky nodded. It was in your best interest that things with Wes end before you got hurt. Because he’d hurt you in the end, they were convinced.

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Like clockwork, you were in the communal living room, crying. You had a movie on that you weren’t paying attention to. Bucky sat down beside you.

“What’s wrong doll?” he asked, concern on his face. You let out a sob.

“I really thought it would last. He was a good guy,” you cried.

“Whoa, whoa, let’s back up, who?” he asked.

“I’ve been seeing this guy, Wes. He was so good, so sweet. He broke up with me. Things seemed fine when I left his place this morning. He didn’t have the balls to break up with me to my face. I was really starting to fall for this guy,” you said.

“Come here, doll,” he said, opening his arms. You had no qualms about sitting on his lap and crying into his shoulder. He was Bucky, one of your closest friends there. He ran a hand up and down your back in comfort. Steve entered the room and a small smile emerged on his face as he took in the scene. Your crying had reduced to small whimpers here and there as Bucky whispered words of comfort in your ear.

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ofdelrio · 4 years

Text

what’s up, beautifuls ！ this is mickey again, she / her, twenty-six, yada yada ！ i bring to you ricardo, mapleview’s local drug dealer who also is a mechanic at the auto shop. unlike my other character, i don’t have this guy’s stats, wanted connections, or pinterest up and running yet, but please feel free to check out the bio down below ！this is also a sideblog, so follows will be from @linkoln.

『 manny montana. thirty-four. cis male. he/him. 』 oh heavens, is that RICARDO ‘RICKY’ DEL RIO from CHESTNUT DRIVE i see roaming around mapleview? minnie may’s always calling them -SECRETIVE & -FRAUDULENT. i happen to think they’re not that bad! they’re a pretty cool MECHANIC at FIX-IT-ALL REPAIR SHOP while also a DRUG DEALER on the side, and every time i’ve seen them, they’ve always been +LOYAL & +SELF-SUFFICIENT. i hope i see them around again!

BIOGRAPHY

his story originated in albuquerque, new mexico, where the sun was ablaze and the bad often mixed with the good, those friendly smiles he saw on street corners just a clever way of hiding a loaded gun. the fear on the other end of the trigger something ricardo learned to mask with a sharp gaze and a clenched jaw.

he grew up on a whirlwind of credit card debt and social workers, his father unable to hold a job due to his inability to stay out of prison, habitually leaving ricky’s mother to raise two boys on her own. not a dime in her name and not enough food stamps to put food on the table. but even so, like any other family in their neighborhood, the del rio’s still managed to get by.

ricardo being the oldest of him and his brother, took it upon himself to help with their financial woes. thirteen years old, jeans buckled way below his waist. drifting through the grapevine until he came across a friend of a friend at school who sold prescription drugs. hesitant of the risky business at first, but after seeing the pocket money this side hustle could offer, ricky bit the bullet and soon climbed his way to the top of the dealer’s pool.

the thing about the drug trade, however, was once you were in it, there was no getting out of it. a fact ricky had to accept the hard way when he tried dipping out at seventeen, his efforts resulting in a threat and a knife to his throat. that fear he once had after seeing a gun for the first time returning, swallowing him whole, chaining him to a hustle he didn’t want a part of anymore.

senior year, and ricky’s secret revealed itself before he could stop it, his brother witnessing one of ricky’s trade offs on his way home from baseball practice. this bomb dropping as soon as they were behind closed doors, where an argument and an ‘ i want in ‘ quickly turned into his brother following in ricky’s footsteps and joining in on the buying and selling — he looked up to ricky, after all, and it only made sense to take after him despite ricky’s protests against being anything like him or their father.

they became respected business partners, learning the ways of the street and adapting to the different clientele, bringing home the dough in fat stacks. both of them in too deep. wasting their opportunities for a higher education and instead focused on moving up the ranks, diving into seedier business by the time they hit their twenties.

one bullet was all it took. a drug deal gone wrong. that loud bang once the trigger was pulled forever stained in ricky’s memory, the shootout lasting three seconds before everyone was dispersing and his brother was left bleeding out on the alleyway floor.

ricardo knew then that he needed to get out of dodge, escape the mess he dug for himself — not only for his deceased brother, but for his mother’s innocence too. so packing a bag at the height of his adrenaline, he left his mother a note along with a good chunk of cash. maintaining a bit of anonymity of where he was headed before he hopped in the car and drove far east.

mapleview, north carolina. ironically the place his car decided to breakdown, and he hated it. at first. everything seemingly too picture perfect for his rugged past, his stomach twisting at the fresh smell of fallen leaves everywhere he turned. unsure of the smiles that didn’t have a loaded gun underneath.

though his views changed when he slowly began to settle. altering himself to this peculiar way of life as he got a job at the auto repair shop where his own car needed fixing. keeping his past well hidden from those who wanted to know too much, sustaining a low profile. well, until...

like it was stated above, the drug trade wasn’t something he could simply walk away from. no. he should’ve known he’d be found, and the packages delivered to his front doorstep were just the starting point of albuquerque coming back to bite him. and the product inside? pills upon pills upon his brother’s thumb.

jump to today, and you have ricardo selling what continues to show up on his porch, wearing his brother’s dog tags as a reminder of why he had to and why he couldn’t stop. managing to squash the rumors of this hustle to prevent himself from getting fired from his auto repair job — besides, what his boss doesn’t know won’t hurt him, and that was that most of their customers were there for the pills and not just a simple tune up.

AESTHETICS

missed calls at two in the morning, burnt matchsticks, loose dollar bills hidden inside shoeboxes, knowing what you want & how you’ll get it, grease stained jeans, the smell of gasoline, don’t ask & don’t tell, dog tags hanging around the neck, a cigarette propped atop the ear

HEADCANONS

ricky knows how to serve his lies on a plate, okay. he’s good at building a facade without letting his armor crack, and if that means being a schmooze with the old ladies and hardass to someone’s husband, he’ll do it.

though he sells drugs, he does not partake in them. the only thing he indulges in on occasion is a cigarette and some cold beer. but other than that, he’s straight, and will refuse someone trying to mess him up in that sense.

he lives out in the farmlands, and probably has never invited anyone back to his house. one, because of the packages that keep arriving, and two, well, he’s never been vulnerable enough to let anyone become that close to him. he’s super guarded, and with good reason!

i don’t think he’s ever properly grieved his brother’s death, and honestly, he wouldn’t even know how. but it’s something i would love to explore!

he’s got plenty of tattoos and will gladly tell you the stories behind them over a glass of whiskey and a nice cigar, so don’t be afraid to ask even if he can come across as intimidating at first.

#mapleviewintro #drugs tw #death tw

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herrings · 4 years

Text

letters to bergliez.

10th of the verdant rain moon, imperial year 1170

today is the day. today is the day where asmund comes to collect the mail! oh, he’s been desperately awaiting for this moment since his wednesday lessons concluded, to where ink would soon splotch upon his little hands and mother would scold him for being too wasteful. the days dragged with the consistency of molasses; as miraculous as slumber was did its magic become ineffective against infinite minutes and painstaking days. by the time monday’s dawn breaks upon the hevring estate, linhardt’s already finished three-quarters of the week’s assignments in his restless state, only accompanied by the dreary drone of hevring’s ceaseless showers and the restless shaking of an impatient leg.

that’s to say, all that waiting pays off the moment the grandfather clock strikes five o’clock! it takes a miracle greater than what the goddess can accord for the small heir to rise and an even stronger will for him to wiggle out of his makeshift cocoon. a hand pats his bedside drawer, searching until the tips of his fingers brush against the creased edge of an envelope. the touch instantaneously summons forth the rise of a thrilled grin and linhardt feels his heart run, the anticipation of a furtive plan wards away any remnants of slumber. a seal of verdun green glistens in a near sunless room (it’s the wax seal that he’s stamped himself!), beneath the insignia of house hevring lays the woes of a boy separated by land and political disputes from a friend he dearly misses. but not for long, because father’s back at enbarr and he’s figured out the bergliez’s address, which means nothing will stop him from speaking to his best friend now!

well, except for if the letters go to ervin. but he doesn’t really care about ervin and ervin knows he doesn’t really care about him, so why would he want to send a letter to him? and why would ervin want to read it? he’s made sure to put caspar’s name in gigantic script on the back and even the front, to make it clear that the letter is for caspar von bergliez.

the treasured note is slipped into the pocket of his jammies. the occasional droplet of water hitting against the windowsill implies an incoming rain which means he has to keep the letter dry before delivery. his favorite blanket, wool dyed a deep pine green, is thrown over his shoulders and wrapped as a makeshift capelet before the small heir creeps out the threshold of his room and heads to the grand staircase. he has to be careful or else mother or one of the servitors will wake up and shoo him back to bed. if he goes back to bed then he’ll go back to sleep then, if he goes back to sleep, he won’t be awake by the time asmund comes to collect the mail and that means he has to wait another week before he can talk to caspar. he’s already waited enough!

it’s freezing outside. it takes about thirty seconds before linhardt starts shivering, fingers weakly grasping around his blanket tighter. mist falls heavily upon the territory as the sun shyly begins to peak over the mountains; it’ll be a while until asmund arrives. caspar’s letter has to be the first letter asmund collects though since it’s obviously the most important, so that eliminates any desire for the little hevring heir to escape back into the warmth of his family’s manor. burning nostrils aside, the young boy stays outside and gives an experimental huff, watching as his breath condenses. he wishes asmund could arrive faster.

. . . .

5th of the verdant rain moon, 1170

to my best friend caspar,

did you read that? it says caspar, not ervin. if ervin’s reading this, do give the letter to caspar. it’s not for you.

if caspar is reading this, hi. it’s linhardt, your best friend. i wanted to talk to you again. do you know how to write a letter? i don’t think you do but that’s okay because i do and i’m going to help you! you say the letter is for me, linhardt von hevring, on top. that’s the greeting. then, you make some space and write what you want to me. that’s the body. then you make some more space and sign your name. ‘your best friend, caspar’ because you’re my best friend. then you put it in an envelope and send it back to me.

does it rain a lot in bergliez? i want to go to bergliez but father said i can’t because your family are ‘barbarians.’ that means you guys are stupid. i don’t think it’s nice for him to say that, even if it's true about ervin. i heard it's very green in bergliez. i want to see what it looks like because it’s very grey in hevring, but i don’t think father will let me because your family is stupid.

i wanted to go walk to bergliez, but it’s a very long walk and i’ll get tired even if i want to see you again. if i get tired, i’ll go to sleep. if i go to sleep outside the estate mother says i’ll get kidnapped, which means i’ll get stolen. if i get stolen, she’ll cry and get her tears all over me. i guess since i’ll be kidnapped it won’t be me but she’ll get her tears all over someone and that’s rude. i don’t want my mother to cry and be rude so i can’t see you until father says i can. can you make your family less stupid so i can visit? you can start with ervin. tell him to read a book.

from your best friend, linhardt

P.S. by the way, this means ‘postscript.’ it’s supposed to be an ‘afterthought’ which is your thoughts after what you wanted to say. do you have pheasants in bergliez? they’re birds that taste good and have long tails. did you know they only live up to a year? that means we’ve lived the life of six pheasants so far! they’re birds but they can’t fly either. they like to run. i think that’s why they only live up to a year. birds are supposed to fly not run. maybe if they flew more, other animals wouldn’t eat them. @tabarzin

#( ' IT'S GOING TO BE A LIGHT AND SHORT THREAD ' i said. )#━━ ✰ THREAD ⋮ letters to bergliez.#tabarzin #( gonna give u an exclusive tag soon 😔)

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grither55 · 4 years

Text

The Princess and the Peasant - (An Azula Epic) - Chapter 65 - Continued Travels

Hours later.

The waves crashed upon the shore as Team Azula made their way out of the sandy dunes once more.

For the briefest of moments Elle stared over her shoulder with sentimental amber eyes while her friends gazed back at her.

The pilot trudged along after having reunited with her leader.

While the royal woman released a heavy sigh as she stared down at her handmaid's bummed out face.

"There will be other beach days Elle." Ty Lee assured in a gentle voice as she gazed at her little sister's back in sympathy.

It really pissed her off knowing that those two assholes ruined Elle's day out.

"I know…it was just nice to see the ocean…" Elle mumbled as she chewed on her lip only for a warm hand to interlock with her own once more while she turned to peer up at her master's gorgeous face.

"Ty Lee is right Elle. You'll see it again." Mai soothed with a frown on her lips as she clenched her fist in revived anger towards the boys.

"There are thousands of beaches in the Fire Nation. If the ocean is what you wish to see then I shall take you to my personal beachfront property on a daily basis." Azula spoke with her stronger hand covering her pet's smaller hand while Elle's amber eyes sparkled in excitement.

"Really Azula-sama!" The blonde-haired girl squeaked as she pulled on the older girl's hand while her master scoffed above.

"So long as you never forget that I am your goddess. I don't see why we couldn't incorporate it into the daily worship." The princess remarked in a haughty voice as she smirked smugly as she gazed down at her swooning girlfriend while all but her pilot rolled their eyes.

"The daily worship Azula?" The brown-haired woman repeated in a wary voice yet even so she still smiled over how adorable her little sister was.

"O-oh Azula-sama. My fire goddess…" Elle swooned with a hand on her blushing cheek while her dominant girlfriend pulled her along.

"That's right my peasant. And don't you ever forget it." Azula scoffed as she strode with her hand over her little admirer's while the young girl flushed under her strict gaze.

"I would never Azula-sama." The blonde-haired girl replied in a timid voice as she padded after her master while the others followed after them.

"I still can't believe that anyone was insane enough to bully you." Nako commented in a comical voice while Elle smiled sweetly up at the three highborn women.

"I'm over it! It's all over now. Besides. Azula-sama and my oneesans had a talk with them. So, I don't foresee it being a problem again in the future!" Elle chirped in an innocent voice as she strode with her backpack over her shoulders while all but her master sweatdropped.

"Neither do I." The markswoman commented with her arms crossed over her breasts while the acrobat growled in agreement.

"I must say though. It pleases me that you were ruthless enough to attack back. Good job Elle." The princess purred with a charming smile on her red lips while her little intended averted her eyes in the manner that she has come to adore.

"Yeah! Good work little sister!" Ty Lee complimented with a grin while Elle continued to blush adorably.

"He was no match for me oneesan!" The blonde-haired girl boasted with innocent pride in her voice as she puffed out her chest while her friends smiled in amusement.

"Clearly not." Mai stated with fondness in her voice as she cracked a smile while Elle clumsily began swinging her fist in the air.

"You should have seen his face after I gave him the Elle strike!" Elle piped as she punched the air while the group raised a comical brow over the silly name.

"The Elle strike?" The royal pilot asked in a puzzled voice while the royal woman rolled her eyes down at the blonde.

"Mhm! I learned it from Azula-sama. She's so amazing!" The blonde-haired girl exclaimed in a worshipful voice while her girlfriend's lips curved into a smirk once more.

"So, I am. However. It has come to my attention that you will need more than the 'Elle strike' to defend yourself when we are not present. But fear not little girlfriend. My brilliant mind has already formulated the perfect solution to your woes." Azula spoke in a conceited voice with a sadistic smirk on her lips while all but her young girlfriend shivered in fear.

"Azula…you're starting to worry me again." The brown-haired woman attempted to reason while her childhood friend still smiled widely.

"I shall not allow to be said that the Great Princess Azula left her own girlfriend unable to protect herself. Which is why starting tomorrow you will be joining Zoe and I in the training room." The princess announced in a merciless voice with her serving girl now trembling in terror while the others members of her team fell over in horror.

"W-what! Elle can't train with you and Zoe both! You'll kill her!" Ty Lee blurted out in a voice of sisterly horror while Nako shivered in agreement beside her.

"That's insane Azula. The doctor just told you that she has to avoid strenuous physical activity. And you're going to subject her to that?" Mai pondered in an incredulous voice as she stared at Azula in annoyance while her leader released a prideful scoff.

"Please. It's not like we're going to kill the girl. We're just going to teach the tiger monkey how to better defend herself should the need arise." Azula insisted with a regal wave of her hand while she still held onto her girlfriend's dainty hand.

"I understand what you are trying to do Azula but still…" The brown-haired woman protested in a scared voice.

"I trust you Azula-sama. If this is what you think is best. Then it must be so." Elle agreed with a sweet countenance about her as she held onto her girlfriend's hand while her big sisters sighed behind her.

"Hm. Just you wait Elle. I'll shape you into a conqueror before you know it." The princess boasted with a smug smile as her little handmaid smiled up at her while her childhood friends shuddered in renewed fear.

About a half hour later…

A royal carriage sat in the street while Azula stepped inside and seated herself while found herself gazing back at Zoe seated opposite of her.

"Where have you been? You've wandered off several times now." Azula inquired in a smooth voice just as her serving girl plopped down beside her.

"Nowhere in particular princess. I just spent last night with my subordinates at the bar." Zoe answered in an impassive voice as she shrugged her shoulders while Azula rose an inquisitive brow.

"You go bar hopping with your soldiers?" The princess taunted in a snobbish voice while the pilot stepped in and seated herself beside her strongest soldier.

"Do you have beach days with your serving girls?" The captain retorted with a sliver of sass in her voice while the royal woman's eyed twitched in annoyance over the jab.

"Hello Zoe!" Elle greeted in a joyous voice as she waved her hand at the soldier's mildly amused face.

"Hello Elle." Zoe responded with her arms crossed over her breasts while Azula scowled down at Elle's cheery face.

Just then the door to the other side of the carriage opened up as Mai took a step in.

Only to release an angered cry when she nearly tripped on a conspicuously placed jagged rock.

"Mai! Are you alright!" Ty Lee asked in a compassionate voice as she watched her friend bend over to nurse her cut foot while Azula rolled her eyes.

"Who put this stupid rock here..." Mai trailed off in an irate voice only to glance up when she heard a familiar voice openly mocking her.

"Watch where you step House Lin. You almost tripped." The captain quipped in a mocking voice as the two noblewomen now glared back at her while her monarch smirked in cruel amusement.

"You bitch!" The markswoman snapped as she stepped into the carriage while the acrobat glared back at the chuckling noblewoman.

"If you can't even defeat a rock Mai. Then I must say I am beginning to question not only your loyalty but your ability to hold your own in combat." Azula remarked in a pompous voice as felt Elle lean in to put her head on her toned belly.

"Shut up Azula." Mai replied in a moody voice as she sat down beside her smirking leader while Ty Lee seated herself beside Nako.

"Princess…." The blonde-haired girl whined as she adorably clung to her girlfriend's midriff while the monarch glanced down at her with cold golden eyes.

"Don't get too comfortable peasant. I don't need you passing out on me for the third time today. Got that?" The princess ordered with a prideful scowl on her regal lips while she glared down at her handmaid's radiant face.

"Wakarimashita Azula-sama!" Elle chirped as she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's toned bicep while her big sisters cracked a smile as they gazed her way.

"Humph. Cheery tiger monkey." Azula snorted as she rolled her lovely eyes as she sank back into her seat with her young girlfriend hanging onto her arm.

"Aww. You two are so cute together." The brown-haired woman cooed with a grin on her lips while her childhood friend now glared a hole through her skull as she sat over her blushing little sister.

"Say that again Ty Lee and I will destroy you for all time!" The princess barked as she narrowed her golden eyes in a terrifying glare while the acrobat giggled back at her.

And with that the six occupants of the carriage sat back as it moved through the streets while the captain gazed out the window with hidden aggravation in her hazel eyes.

Her annoyed hazel eyes gazed out at the many faces that the carriage passed by.

Only for her eyes to widen ever so slightly when she caught sight of a strange figure moving in the crowds.

Is that…

"Princess look out the window…do you see that?" Zoe pondered in an abrupt voice as Azula turned to her with a mildly curious look in her golden eyes before gazing out the window.

And the others naturally followed suit.

"See what Zoe? All I see are a crowd of peasants walking by." Azula replied in a dry voice as she lounged in her seat while Zoe still stared out of the window.

"Really? Because I could have sworn that I just saw another one of that puppeteer's contraptions moving in the crowd." The captain commented in a stony voice as her words prompted a sense of alertness from those who had encountered the mysterious puppeteer.

"What! Where in the crowd? I still haven't paid that wretch back for burning the boats." The princess demanded with anger in her callous eyes while she now glared out of the passing window.

"You mean the woman that you encountered on the island princess?" Nako asked as she stared in confusion out of the window beside the others.

"It was only for a fleeting moment. Now it's gone." Zoe answered as she frowned with her arms folded over her chest while her monarch scowled out the window.

"Keep a close eye out for any further activity. I'll have the Dai Li search the city upon our return." Azula ordered with a fist against her cheek while Elle lay with her head upon her arm.

"Right. And before I forget. When we return to the ship, I need to have a talk with you in private." The captain remarked as she turned to meet her leader's cold gaze while the royal woman glanced back at her.

"Fine. I suppose I could work you into my schedule." The princess spoke in a haughty sigh while the weapons expert rolled her tawny eyes beside her.

"What sort of person would be suicidal enough to stalk you Azula?" Ty Lee inquired as she gazed back at Azula's now smirking face.

"I don't know who this puppeteer thinks she is Ty Lee. But if she is foolish enough to follow me. I can assure you that she will regret it. No one challenges the Great Princess Azula and lives to tell about it." Azula scoffed in a supremely egotistical voice as she scanned her fingernails with a cold sneer on her full lips.

"All except for Elle that is." Mai quipped with a small smirk on her lips as Azula spun around to glare daggers through her skull while Ty Lee giggled across from them.

"Be silent Mai! The tiger monkey has already fallen prey to my unstoppable conquest!" The princess huffed as she breathed fire through her nostrils while her young girlfriend swooned against her bare belly.

"T-that's so Azula-sama and I wouldn't have it any other way." The blonde-haired girl swooned with a lovesick look in her innocent eyes as she blushed adorably when her girlfriend's possessive hand slid down her bare back.

"Hm. Such a good pet. You belong to me peasant." Azula declared in a spoiled voice with a conceited smirk on her red lips while her hand glided down her serving girl's small back.

"Azula-sama." Elle sighed in a worshipful voice just as she felt Azula's hand grasp her ass while all but Zoe gazed away in discomfort.

"Mhm. Mine." The princess growled in a domineering voice with her hand on her pretty handmaid's tight ass cheeks while the petite girl burrowed into her muscular belly.

"P-please not in the carriage Azula." The brown-haired woman attempted to plead only for her words to naturally fall on uncaring ears.

"I am the master of this carriage Ty Lee and I will touch my pet as I please. And I suggest you remember that." Azula retorted in a pompous voice with a smug smirk on her lips while Elle began to curl up in her lap.

And with that she sunk back into her plush seat with her hand still squeezing her serving girl's ass cheek while the younger girl never once protested her exploratory touch.

If anything, the teenager seemed to accept that her employer could and would touch her as she pleased.

"M-my princess…my master." The blonde-haired girl mumbled in a devoted voice as she lay in the older girl's arms while her girlfriend smiled in approval over her.

"That's right peasant. You know who owns you." The princess boasted in a possessive voice with her hand still on her young girlfriend's soft ass while a content sigh escaped her beautiful lips.

There were no words for this pleasure.

Just none.

This little peasant of hers certainly made for such a lovely pet.

And she was all hers she mused with a pleased smirk upon her red lips.

Another forty-five minutes later.

The vast warship sat in the Fire Mountain port while workers and soldiers alike loaded the vessel with supplies for their continued journey.

Zoe had left to oversee the loading of equipment and to order a search for the elusive puppeteer.

While Nako had departed for her personal cabin.

That just left the four core members of Team Azula to have some more time to themselves.

The four now stood on the balcony of the monarch's royal cabin that overlooked the sun lit harbor while all three highborn women gazed at their young friend with unhidden fondness in their eyes.

"Despite what happened…I still had a good day! It was fun!" Elle exclaimed in a sunny voice as she smiled sweetly up at her three older friends as they leaned on the rails of the ship.

"Good! I'm glad!" Ty Lee exclaimed with a grin as she patted her adopted sister's shoulder while Azula lazily glared at her from over her shoulder.

"Azula-sama?" The blonde-haired girl queried in her usual adorable voice while the royal woman rose an inquisitive brow.

"What is it now Elle?" Azula responded in a stoic voice as she leaned on the rails while Elle chewed on her lip in the way that she has come to adore.

"Can we share a group hug? All four of us?" Elle inquired with a hopeful look in her amber eyes only for all but the acrobat to stiffen in unhidden discomfort.

"Ugh. A group hug?" The princess repeated in a distasteful voice with her golden eyes twitching in annoyance when the acrobat shouted in approval beside her.

"That's a wonderful idea Elle!" The brown-haired woman yelled in a cheerful voice while their young friend smiled bashfully.

"I don't do group hugs. And I don't generally hug Azula." Mai stated in a deadpan voice as she sighed when Ty Lee pulled her in.

"And I don't hug traitors." Azula retorted in a sneering voice only to growl when Elle's small hand tugged on her wrist.

"Come on Azula-sama! Let's form a team huddle!" The blonde-haired girl chirped as she pulled on her much taller girlfriend's arm while the older girl glared down at her.

"Don't you give me orders servant!" The princess protested in a prideful voice as she scowled down at her little serving girl's happy face while the acrobat still grinned her way.

"Don't be such a snuggle prude Azula! Come form a team huddle with us!" Ty Lee giggled with an arm over Mai's shoulder while her fellow noblewoman sighed in defeat under her arm.

"Shut up Ty Lee!" Azula scoffed with a haughty roll of her eyes yet even so she allowed her young girlfriend to take her place under her right arm.

"Let's try to keep this short…" The markswoman trailed off in a monotone voice as she leaned on the acrobat's shoulder.

"Get your breasts out of my girlfriend's face Ty Lee." The princess demanded as she pulled the smaller girl underneath her armpit while the acrobat still smiled back at her.

"I am so happy that we are together minasan." Elle spoke in a radiant voice with her face pressing into Azula's breast while the acrobat grinned down at her from over her other shoulder.

And the markswoman too cracked a small smile as she gazed down at her with fondness in her cold tawny eyes.

"So am I little sister. We are so glad to have you here with us." The brown-haired woman agreed in a tender voice with her arm around her adopted sister's shoulder while the smaller girl smiled against her bicep.

"Yeah. It wouldn't be the same without you kid." Mai remarked with affection in her voice while Elle adorably blushed between all three of them.

"No. It most certainly would not. Who would wait on us hand and foot if we didn't have our team peasant?" Azula snorted in a smug voice with a smirk on her lips while she wrapped her arm around her handmaid's much smaller frame.

"A-arigatou gozaimasu…my family." The blonde-haired girl stuttered in a lovable voice with her face being squished between the three highborn women's taller bodies.

"Yeah! Your family!" Ty Lee cooed with a warm grin on her lips while she leaned on Elle's shoulder while Azula rolled her golden eyes.

"Ty Lee is right. You're family now." The markswoman stated in a fond voice with a gentle smile on her lips while she allowed the grinning acrobat to lean on her shoulder.

"Let's just get this stupid hug over with already!" The Princess complained with a snide roll of her eyes while her serving girl pushed her face into her breast.

"Y-yes princess…" Elle agreed in a timid voice with a shy smile on her lips as she felt Azula's strong arm squeeze her closer.

"Hm. That's my girl." Azula spoke in a possessive voice with a softened smirk on her full lips while her childhood friends leaned into the hug.

"Azula-sama…" The blonde-haired girl swooned with an innocent grin adorning her features while her girlfriend held her under her arm.

"And our little sister too!" The brown-haired woman shouted in delight with her arm around the smaller girl's neck while her adopted sister smiled up at her.

"Yeah Elle. Our little sister." Mai agreed with a tender smile on her lips as she wrapped her arm around the blushing serving girl's shoulder.

The four stood with their arms around one another while they all smiled at each other as they gazed off into the sunset.

Even Azula herself managed to crack a grudging smile.

Only for the silence to be broken when the young girl peered up at her three highborn friends with the most adorable smile on her lips.

"Azula-sama? Do you think that we could all partake in a group snuggle later tonight?" Elle pondered as she chewed on her lip while Azula's golden eyes now twitched in comical aggravation.

And Mai just released a heavy sigh while Ty Lee's cheerful grin now grew by tenfold.

Only for Azula's voice to swiftly shut down the snuggle before anyone else could speak on the matter.

"No! There will be no group snuggle! And that's final!" The princess boomed with her beautiful lips pursed in a regal scowl while she now glared down at her pet's pouting face.

"Aww! What a snugglebug!" Ty Lee gushed before she pinched Elle's flushed cheek while Azula rolled her elegant eyes at them once more.

"Of course, you would think so Ty Lee." Azula snorted with another pompous roll of her eyes yet even so she continued to hug her girlfriend's petite shoulder.

And just like that the four would all smiling once again while they savored all leaned into a shared embrace.

It was but a fleeting moment and yet to the four friends it was timeless.

Soldiers and workers moved about as they continued to prepare for their next voyage.

All the while the Dai Li bowed in understanding after receiving their latest orders from Zoe.

"Go sweep the city and search for any sign of the target. And report your findings afterward back to me." Zoe ordered with her usual impassive countenance while the earthbending assassins nodded in response.

"Understood." Tadao answered in an emotionless voice before he leaped off the rails of the steel barge with his comrades jumping after him.

And then the captain turned away as she sighed under her breath while she started to walk to her personal cabin.

Only for her hazel eyes to widen in surprise when a familiar voice called out to her from below.

"Zoe…" Sia called out from where she stood on the deck as she gazed up while her older sister turned to stare down at her.

"Sia…" The captain stated in a mildly softer voice as she glanced down at her little sister's slightly softer countenance.

"I came to bid you farewell." The younger sister announced with a sigh as she watched the woman begin to walk down to meet her.

"You came here to see me…" Zoe muttered in a relieved voice as she strode down with the barest hint of a grin on her lips.

"I just said as much didn't I?" Sia replied in a snort as she gazed up at her big sister when Zoe came to a stop before her.

"Thank you…Sia." The captain spoke before wrapping her arms around the teenager's shoulders while her little sister sighed against her chest.

"Yeah. Don't mention it." The younger sister sighed as she leaned into her older sister's embrace while the soldier held onto her back.

"I'll be back soon. I promise." Zoe assured in a quiet voice as she held onto her little sister's back while Sia sighed in her arms.

"Just don't do anything stupid." Sia mumbled as she gazed off into the ocean's waters through the corner of her eye.

"I won't Sia. I won't." The captain chuckled as she closed her eyes while they stood there for the briefest of moments.

And with that the two siblings embraced one another for a time.

Before long they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Meanwhile…

A lone cloaked figure sat high upon one of the largest structures in the city of Fire Mountain.

Stolid blue eyes gazed out of a bizarre mask as her cloak swayed in the winds.

"Fools. As if they could ever trail me." Silah remarked in a prideful voice while she turned to watch as one of her mechanical constructs dashed up the side of the building.

A machine-like quilled chameleon quickly scurried across the floor of the rooftop before it abruptly came to a stop before the mysterious masked woman.

"The Forgetful Valley? So that's where their headed. Interesting…" The puppeteer muttered in a distorted voice with her hand resting upon her now motionless puppets back while she gazed intently over the edge of the rooftop.

Before she wordlessly pushed herself to her feet not a moment later.

"I suppose I should follow." Silah sighed as she lazily retracted her puppet into her open hand while moved towards the rooftops edge.

All the while a breeze blew through the air as her emotionless eyes continued staring down at the city below.

"Shouldn't I…Component?" The puppeteer spoke in an intrigued voice before she bounded off the edge of the rooftop.

And with that the bizarre puppet master jumped across the rooftops before quickly vanishing from sight.

All while evading her pursuers with an uncanny ease.

About two hours later that evening…

While the princess was preoccupied with a personal meeting with the captain.

Given that the day was at an end.

The two noble girls and their young friend were now all wearing comfortable lounge clothes.

The two noblewomen had been tasked with looking after their young handmaid.

Although at the moment it seemed to be the other way around.

"Can I get you something to drink oneesans?" Elle pondered in a doting voice as she watched the two older girls take a seat on the sofa.

"You don't have to wait on us Elle." Mai reminded in a sigh for about the tenth time while the acrobat plopped down with a grin beside her.

"We're good little sister! But it is sweet of you to ask." Ty Lee exclaimed in a cheery voice as she smiled back at the younger girl's now pouting face.

"Are you sure oneesan?" The blonde-haired girl asked once more as the markswoman sighed again from her seat.

"Super sure! Why don't you come have a seat with us?" The brown-haired woman replied with a still present grin while she patted the seat beside her just as her adopted sister jumped down between them.

"Of course, I'll sit with my oneesans!" Elle chirped as she plopped down between her two big sisters' while they gazed at her with a shared fondness in their eyes.

"Actually, there may be something that you can do for us little sister." Ty Lee commented with a hand under her chin as Mai rose an inquisitive brow while Elle eagerly peered up at her.

"What can I do to help you oneesan?" The blonde-haired girl asked in a lovable voice as she sat with her hands in her lap while the acrobat grinned down at her.

"Are you still up for that group snuggle?" The brown-haired woman questioned in a playful voice while the younger girl's amber eyes now sparkled in delight only for her fellow noblewoman to groan alongside them.

"No Ty Lee…" The markswoman complained as she sat with her arms folded over her breasts only to glance fondly down at her adopted sister when the girl cried out in approval.

"I would love to snuggle with my oneesans!" Elle cried out before she adorably leaped into Ty Lee's lap while her grinning big sister wrapped her muscular arms around her back.

"Well aren't you going to join us Mai?" Ty Lee asked with a bright grin on her lips as she plopped into the sofa with the brightly smiling teenager in her arms.

The noblewoman scrunched up her nose as she sat staring down at her two friends while the young serving girl smiled sweetly up at her.

"I don't do group snuggles." Mai attempted to explain in a stubborn voice while she tried to avert her eyes from the smaller girl's adorable gaze.

"Come on oneesan! Come snuggle with us!" The blonde-haired girl cheered in a chipper voice as the acrobat held her against her breasts while the weapons expert sighed above them.

"Fine. Kiddo. If it will make you happy…" The markswoman sighed as she scooted closer before she plopped down beside her two friends.

"Yay! Snuggle time with my oneesans!" Elle squealed in an overjoyed voice as she smiled bashfully when Mai's breasts pressed against the side of her face.

And the two noblewomen soon found themselves sliding in even closer while they affectionately took to snuggling their cherished adopted sister.

All while the smaller girl blushed happily as she lay there with two pairs of breasts pressing upon each side of her face.

"How can anyone say no to such an adorable face?" The brown-haired woman inquired in a warm voice as she lay on her side with the small serving girl's face being squished between their taller bodies.

"I was going to..." Mai insisted as she gazed down at Elle's peaceful face with a flicker of fondness in her stoic tawny eyes.

"No, you weren't." Ty Lee spoke with a beaming grin while Elle adorably snuggled up between them.

"I…love you oneesans." The blonde-haired girl mumbled in a serene voice as she cuddled up against her big sister's while they laid down beside her.

"We love you too Elle." The markswoman assured in a softer voice while she placed an arm around the younger girl's petite back.

She has said it before and she'll say it again.

Even if it is only for a few months…

She is really going to miss this kid.

"Yeah little sister. We do." The brown-haired woman cooed in a tender voice with a loving grin on her lips while she patted the now yawning girls back.

"O-oyasumi nasai minasan…" Elle murmured in a sleepy voice as she began to close her eyes in comfort in knowing that her siblings were there to lay beside her.

"Oyasumi nasai little sister." Mai responded as she cracked a small smile while she the teenager began to breath peacefully in her chest.

"Oyasumi nasai…Elle." Ty Lee replied in a joyful voice with a grin still on her lips when she heard a soft snore from the young girl beside her.

The two noblewomen glanced up from their young friend with a mutual affection in their eyes before they lay their heads down on the luxury sofa.

And before long they too fell asleep.

Meanwhile.

Azula sat with a cup of wine in her hand while she gazed at the woman seated beside her in mild annoyance through the corner of her eye as Zoe took another heavy swig of an open bottle.

"What do you mean she evaded capture?" The princess questioned in a displeased voice that would make even the best of men and women wet themselves in fear of provoking her wrath.

All except for Zoe that is.

"She has been following us since we left the island. And she is quite adept at evading capture. We're not dealing with an ordinary target." The captain remarked as she sat back on her chair while her monarch's lips pursed into a deep scowl.

"There was no trace of her at all?" Azula answered in a ruthless voice while Zoe gulped down another generous gulp of liquor.

"The Dai Li report that they were chasing the target. But when they got close, they realized that what they thought was a living person…was just a wooden puppet." Zoe stated in a composed voice while Azula's golden eyes flashed with a flicker of surprise.

"Interesting…she controlled it remotely…" The princess trailed off with a finger under her chin before she took a graceful drink of her wine.

"At any rate she is still following us. If I had to guess…it most likely has something to do with Elle." The captain commented as she sat back with her calm hazel eyes gazing back at the royal woman's now violently possessive face.

"The girl and her power belong to me. I own her. And that…is not up for debate. I see that I will just have to teach this puppeteer a lesson that she will never forget." Azula declared in a merciless voice as her callous golden eyes narrowed into slits.

Only for her eyes to twitch in annoyance when the other woman slapped a hand on her back.

"Congratulations on scoring such a lovely little prize! I'm proud of you princess!" Zoe announced with a grin on her lips while Azula's frigid eyes glared a hole through her skull.

"I don't think I care for your choice of words Zoe. Or your hand on my back." The princess snarled in a voice of absolute authority as she narrowed her eyes back at the soldier's playful face.

"No but seriously. She's a marvelous catch. You couldn't have picked a finer woman." The captain complimented with her hand still on her annoyed monarch's back.

"Watch yourself Zoe! You are treading on thin ice!" Azula growled with blue fire escaping her nostrils while she took an angry sip of her wine.

"Not only is she the holder of the Avatar's greatest weakness. The girl practically worships the ground that you walk on." Zoe remarked with a lazy wave of her hand while Azula's lips soon curled into a gratified smirk.

"Hm. Of course, she does. I am her goddess after all…" The princess trailed off in a smug voice as she gazed down at her fingernails with her wine glass in her other hand.

"I have no doubt about that. She'll wait on you hand and foot every day for the rest of her life. She's that head over heels for you." The captain conversed with her bottle in hand while the royal woman's lips curved into an even larger smirk.

"Humph. Tell me something that I don't already know. The power to destroy the Avatar runs through her veins…and yet she has no desire to use the power for her own gain. Instead…she would rather empower me even more." Azula purred with a finger raised in the air as she smiled in approval over her serving girl's undying loyalty.

It was true.

Elle could venture out on her own to claim power for herself.

And yet the peasant girl would rather remain as her servant…under her command.

Ever loyal to her master…

The girl was a true servant. That she knew for certain.

She was a fine pet indeed.

More than deserving of a place at her side.

"She would rather serve you than gain power without you." Zoe agreed with her usual wit while Azula's smirk grew by tenfold.

"Exactly Zoe. Elle craves my dominance. All she desires is to live out her little life as my servant. Out of the kindness of my heart I have decided to grant her heart's desire. The girl will make for a splendid submissive." The princess sighed blissfully with a hand in the air as she took a content drink of her wine.

Such a lovely little pet.

She will have to make certain that she continues to take good care of this one.

Nothing but the best will do for this one…

'Elle…is a good girl. She's a faithful servant…she deserves to be treated well.' Azula thought with a rare sliver of fondness in her callous golden eyes as she gazed down into her wine glass.

For the briefest of moments her frigid eyes gave way to a thawed countenance.

As she found herself subconsciously twirling a long finger in her dark hair while her thoughts drifted to her pretty little handmaid.

A softened smile began to curl onto her full lips when she recalled all of her little handmaid's great many tributes in her name.

And strangely enough a barely perceivable blush formed on her regal cheeks when she found herself longing to have her serving girl tucked away in her arms once more.

Curse this little peasant for making her feel such weakness.

Only to find herself torn from her reverie by her soldier's almost glumly sighing voice.

"What's gotten into you Zoe?" Azula asked with a sliver of something akin to concern in her cold voice as she studied her soldier with a more composed gaze than before.

Despite her best efforts…

She has actually grown fond of her strongest soldier.

Dare she say it?

That she actually just might be beginning to see Zoe as a friend?

"I am not sure I understand what you mean princess." The captain replied with a blink of her eyes while the royal woman rolled her eyes in response.

"Don't play dumb with me Zoe. You have been…off ever since yesterday." The princess remarked in an ever-observant voice as she stared hard at her strongest soldier's oddly depressed face.

"It's…nothing. I have just realized that there are some things that I am good at…and others that I am not." Zoe answered as she sat back beside the perplexed Azula while her leader gazed at the back of her head.

"What do you mean? Is this about your sister Zoe?" Azula pondered in a bored voice as she glanced over at her soldier's contemplative face.

"I am an exemplary soldier…a skilled warrior. But…. I am a piss poor daughter. And…an even shittier sister." The captain trailed off as she sunk forward with her bangs hanging in her eyes while the monarch gazed at her in a bewildered silence.

It took a great deal to take Azula aback.

But hearing her most powerful warrior express even a hint of vulnerability took her by surprise.

An unsettling silence passed over the cabin as the princess set her wine glass down on a coffee table before rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Zoe you…have your merits. And your value on the warfront cannot be overstated." The princess assured in an awkward voice as she gazed at her soldier's now surprised face when the woman turned to meet her gaze.

"Right. Of course." Zoe mumbled in a slightly more upbeat voice than before while Azula cast her a pointed stare.

"Don't worry about your family. I need you to keep your focus. You're no use to me otherwise. Understand?" Azula commanded in a practiced coldness that almost verged on guidance as Zoe numbly nodded her head.

"I do…thank you princess." The captain spoke in a moved voice as she nodded her head with a returning grin while her leader sighed as she gazed back at her.

"Just see to it that you don't disappoint me." The princess sighed as she sat back in her chair while her soldier nodded her head with renewed determination in her eyes.

"I won't. In fact, I am ready. More than ever before to return to the battlefield and win this war." Zoe declared in a steely voice as she clenched her fist in her lap while Azula turned to her with approval in her golden eyes.

"Really now? I am delighted to hear that you are eager to bring us victory." Azula purred in a satisfied voice with her red lips curving into a lethal smile.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Victory…and glory." The captain stated with a resolute expression in her hazel eyes while her ruler's pleased smile grew even larger.

"Go on." The princess urged in a dominant voice with a wave of her elegant hand while her soldier set her bottle down.

"This time there will be no tricks. I am through with indirect tactics. The anti-earthbending mines were a worthy maneuver but there are too many variables beyond our control. My mother supported the strategy so I gave it a go. But this time…this time I will take a more direct approach." Zoe commented as she stood up from her seat while the flames of the candles accented her stoic image.

"So…what then?" Azula asked in a curious voice with a still present smirk on her red lips while Zoe turned to gaze back down at her.

"You and I…we are going to win this war." The captain answered in a dedicated voice while her monarch's pleased smile grew by tenfold.

"Of course, we will. I will accept no other outcome." The princess remarked in an egotistical voice before she took another graceful swallow of her wine.

"We will win. And you…you will sit the throne. You will be crowned Fire Lord…or Phoenix King. Call yourself whatever you please my princess. And be assured that I will fight to my fullest to see you take your rightful place upon that throne." Zoe spoke in a devoted voice with a fist clenched before her while Azula's lips curved into a gratified grin.

"I am greatly pleased by your devotion Zoe. For that my loyal soldier. You shall always have a place beside me." Azula stated in a supremely authoritative voice as she leaned back in her seat as if it was a throne with her fist against her beautifully smirking lips.

Although if you asked her.

Anything a princess sat on became her throne.

And it went without saying that she was not surprised to discover that Zoe knew of her father's plans to crown himself as Phoenix King.

As she previously surmised…

It had to be Chancellor Terak that brought the news to Zoe and her mother.

And just like that her callous golden eyes narrowed in renewed rage while a puff of blew fire escaped her wrathful nostrils.

Any annoyance that she felt towards the scheming chancellor was immediately squashed by the outrage that she felt knowing that her father planned to make her into a puppet king!

But before she could become lost in her rage she was once more brought back to focus by her soldier's voice.

"You honor me with your words princess. Know that I am your proud captain and that I will serve you until my dying breath." The captain responded with her hand on the hilt of her sword while she bowed at the hip before her ruler's approving gaze.

"Very good Zoe…you truly are worthy of being called 'Azula's Captain'." The princess drawled in a smooth voice with a sophisticated smile on her full lips while she gazed at her loyal soldier's bowing form.

"Again, Your Highness. You honor me. However, let it be known that there is…one thing that I want. One thing that I must have at all costs." Zoe began in a voice of undying enthusiasm as she gazed at Azula's intrigued face while her ruler held a curious finger to her cheek.

"You have but to name it Zoe and I shall grant it. So long as it doesn't involve my servant girl." Azula assured with a trace of fondness in her cruel eyes.

And curiously enough.

She once more found herself longing to have her pet bowing at the foot of her throne with her little head propped up upon her thigh.

'Where she belongs…' The princess thought with a refined smile on her full lips while she pushed a fingernail into her lovely cheek.

"You my princess…you get to become the ruler of this world. But the glory of the battlefield…that belongs to me." The captain announced in a passionate voice as she drew her sword while her princess stared at her in confusion.

"Zoe you already have the glory of the battlefield." Azula snorted in a dry voice as she stared at her soldier in unconcealed amusement when Zoe adamantly shook her head.

If nothing else.

The very thought of sitting upon her throne as the ruler of this world with her little love seated at her feet was a vastly pleasing thought indeed.

"The one who will kill Avatar Aang and Princess Ling…will be me." Zoe insisted as she held her blade before her while Azula's golden eyes now flickered in surprise.

"You want to claim both for yourself?" The princess inquired with an edge to her voice as she narrowed her eyes at her soldier's steely face.

It was a brazen statement.

One that only Zoe would have the gall to say to her face.

"The only way for me to become immortal…is by killing both the last Avatar…and the final heir of the great Earth Kingdom monarchy." The captain answered with great determination in her eyes as she gazed back into her monarch's cold golden eyes.

"I must say Zoe. This is a bold request. Even for you." Azula complained with her callous eyes flickering in aggravation as she mulled over the demand.

She had been looking forward to showing off her strength against this rival princess.

If only to make a suitable impression on her intended.

Yet at the same time. It would be unwise to spurn Zoe…

"Let me fight for you Princess Azula…. let me be your right hand in the wars to come. What better way to show the Avatar and this rebel princess that they are beneath you? That their rebellion is undeserving of your time." Zoe explained in a faithful voice with a hand over her chest while Azula's arrogant smile began to return.

"True. They are below me. It would not be befitting for a woman of my stature to ever consider such nothings worthy of my time." The princess scoffed as she smugly examined her well-manicured fingernails on her balled-up fist.

"Precisely. All the more to demonstrate to the people that your rule…your reign is legitimate in comparison to your brother's feeble willed rebellion." The captain agreed as she gestured with her hand in the air while her princess's red lips curled into a giant smile.

"You make a good point Zoe. Although I hope you know that even if I do say yes to your request. That there are other…factors to be taken into consideration." Azula sighed in a refined voice with an arm on the side of her chair while Zoe nodded in understanding.

"I am well aware." Zoe replied as she stood faithful before her seated princess while Azula took another drink of her wine.

"My servant girl…she is the Component…the Avatar's opposite. It goes without saying that the girl will play a critical role in defeating the Avatar." The princess continued in a regal voice as she swallowed her drink while she gazed at her soldier with domineering golden eyes.

"I understand that." The captain muttered as she watched her leader stare down at her fingernails once more.

"When we begin our training sessions…I am going to have the girl join us. She must learn how to fend for herself." Azula commanded in a voice that brook no room for argument while Zoe glanced back at her in surprise.

"What? You want a thirteen-year-old pacifist…might I add a girl with a lung condition…to train with us?" Zoe asked in a deadpan voice while Azula rolled her golden eyes in response.

"Please. We aren't going to use our full strength. When we work with her…we are going to train at her level." The princess snorted with a fist against her cheek while her soldier relaxed in understanding.

"Oh. I see. But even so…" The captain trailed off with a sliver of uncertainty in her voice while her monarch rolled her eyes once more.

"Don't be so dramatic Zoe. The girl will be fine." Azula grumbled with a dismissive wave of her hand while Zoe offered her a nod of agreement.

"Very well. If that is your will princess then I shall obey the order." Zoe assured with her hand clutching her blade while Azula sat back upon her plush chair.

"If you want it Zoe. Then you had better be there on the battlefield to receive it when the opportunity presents itself. Is that understood?" The princess remarked in a voice of absolute authority as she gazed hard at her soldier's hurriedly nodding face.

"Yes! I understand princess!" The captain exclaimed in a devoted voice with a fist over her chest while her monarch set her glass down.

"Kneel Zoe." Azula demanded without warning in a spoiled voice while she smirked in gratification when her soldier quickly dropped in a low bow.

"I await your order princess." Zoe stated as she knelt with a hand on her knee while Azula stared down at her with a vastly pleased look in her golden eyes.

"From this moment forward Zoe. I hereby pronounce you my second in command." The princess announced in a strict voice with her icy golden eyes gazing down at her loyal soldier's astonished face.

"Your second in command?" The captain repeated in a stunned voice while her monarch rolled her eyes above her.

"I will not repeat myself. You'll just have to decipher the rolling of my eyes." Azula scoffed as she stared down at Zoe's kneeling form while her soldier inclined her head in a show of reverence.

"I will not fail you Princess Azula! I swear upon my honor that we will be victorious!" Zoe shouted with her sword clutched in hand as she sprung to her feet while Azula smiled broadly in approval.

"Good Zoe. Very good. I approve of your spirit in our nation." The princess commented with her hands folded in her lap while her soldier cracked a small smile as she sheathed her sword.

"Come princess. Let us toast to our victory to come." The captain responded as she grasped her bottle while her ruler eyed her with amused golden eyes.

"A toast?" Azula questioned in a regal voice as she rose a lovely brow while she turned to watch her favorite soldier seat herself beside her once more.

"That is if you want to…" Zoe trailed off in a mildly deflated voice while Azula sighed beside her.

"Fine. You are exemplary soldier. So, I suppose I will allow it." The princess spoke in a spoiled voice as she grasped onto her glass before she lazily clanged it against her soldier's bottle.

"By this war's end my princess. We shall be immortal." The captain declared in a passionate voice with a confident curve of her lips while her monarch's smirk grew even larger.

"That's right Zoe. Immortal." Azula concluded in a voice that almost verged on fondness before she took a refined drink of her wine.

And her loyal captain did the same.

The two smirked back at one another while they sat in the flame lit cabin.

Immortal…

Azula couldn't help but muse that she liked the sound of that.

Not even an hour later.

The tired princess loudly yawned beneath her hand as she sleepily strode down the halls in her sleep robes of the royal barge to collect her sleeping companion.

Before she soon came to a stop before their lounge room.

And then she cracked the door open…

Only for her golden eyes to twitch in aggravation when she found herself gazing in upon a sight that had her snorting out a puff of blue fire through her nostrils.

Her serving girl was passed out snoring with her face between both of her childhood friends' breasts!

"I don't recall authorizing a group snuggle." Azula growled with fire escaping her nostrils before closing the door quietly as she made her way into the room.

And then her lips pursed into a regal scowl as she plopped down on her robed posterior beside her three slumbering friends.

And then the monarch sunk back into the sofa with her eyes narrowing in annoyance as she glared at her friends through the corner of her eye.

"Nor did I tell you that you two could steal my girlfriend for the night." The princess grumbled under her breath as she lay on her back with her arms stubbornly folded over her breasts.

And yet even so she turned on her side with her possessive eyes never ceasing in observing her intended's snoring face.

"Such an unforgivable insult. A princess should not have to sleep on the side…" Azula complained in a moody voice as she began to close her eyes.

And strangely enough.

Despite her annoyance over the situation she found herself unwilling to venture to her chambers without her young companion.

And soon enough…

She too fell asleep.

Content to at least be in the same sleeping area as her girlfriend.

Even if she wasn't laying directly beside her.

They were together.

And that…was all that mattered.

#Azula #Avatar The Last Airbender #yuri #ty lee avatar #mai avatar

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thebiasrekkers · 5 years

Text

Make It Right [BTS Mafia!AU]

Plot: “It’s always darkest before the dawn…” It’s a dog-eat-dog world in Seoul, South Korea. One has to dwell in the shadows in order to reach for the light. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to feel the sunlight on your face? What will it take to drag you back into darkness? How long will the journey be to make it right?

Rating: M // NSFW

Genre: Series | Mafia!AU | Crime!AU | Angst | Romance/Fluff

Pairings: Jin x OC | Taehyung/Hoseok x OC | Yoongi/Jungkook x OC

Warnings: Graphic Violence, Heavy Language, Angst, Smut, Slow Burn

Previous Chapters: Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Links: FAQ || BTS Masterlist || Admin E’s AO3 || Admin E’s WP || [ REQUESTS ARE OPEN ]

Word Count: 2,451

Chapter 19: Mikrokosmos

"Each person has their own history. Each person has their own star."

© thebiasrekkers (Admin E). All rights reserved. Reposting/modifying our work is prohibited. Translations are not allowed. Plagiarism/stealing is not tolerated by any means. Legal action will be taken in instances of theft.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

A chorus of “A-men” resounded throughout the sanctuary and Jimin joined in with his fellow parishioners. His head was bowed low and he clasped his hands together in prayer, hoping that he could commend his spirit unto the Father whom he so desperately believed in. He wished to leave his burdens on the altar and rest his mind as easily as he would dare.

But even in that act, Jimin was a sinner.

Every Sunday he tried to leave his pain and worries and everything that afflicted him at the altar of the Lord – at God’s table. But he selfishly took something back with him every time. He did not fully relinquish his burdens upon God because he also knew that the Father would never put on him more than he could bear. He believed that his anxieties were seemingly petty. They were the young and foolish woes of a man who barely knew what it meant to live his life.

And yet, despite his hypocrisy, Jimin continued to return to the House of the Lord. He continued to pray diligently; not for himself, but for his brothers. For the people he cared about and for the people they, in turn, cared for. It was a never-ending cycle, a seemingly bottomless pit. Or was it more appropriate to say that the connections that people had with each other could literally number the stars?

Would it be that way for generations to come? He wished for it; for the pain and suffering to end. For a true and lasting peace to be obtained.

He truly wasn’t meant to remain in a world of darkness.

Halfway through the reverend’s sermon, the doors to the sanctuary opened. A few parishioners turned their heads and bowed politely, their smiles warm and inviting. Jimin continued to focus on his prayer, Bible turned to Romans in his lap. However, a shadow was cast over the pages and he couldn’t help but to lift his head and see who was now standing beside him.

Jimin’s mouth fell open slightly and he blinked when he realized it was Eden.

Her hair was pulled back, a low braid draping over her shoulder. She wore a dark green dress with long sleeves and the skirt just barely touched her knees. Simple, black pumps adorned her feet and she was holding a black and gold clutch in her hands. A frown touched her lips before she sat down gently beside him, reaching toward the back of the pew for a Bible.

“What book are we in?” she whispered while opening the book.

“Wha—oh, we’re in Romans. Romans, Chapter twelve.”

Nodding, she turned to the book of Romans and followed along with the reverend as he continued to preach his sermon. No other words were spoken between them and they both sat together in companionable silence. They sang together, prayed together, and even participated in Holy Communion together. It was when Jimin finished off the wine that he realized why Eden decided to show up.

It was First Sunday. No matter how busy or how upset she was with the world, Eden always made time to come to Holy Communion.

After the morning service was finished, fellow parishioners invited everyone to enjoy a meal together. Jimin often declined since he had other obligations during the day. This morning would be no different.

Both he and Eden politely bowed to the others before exiting the church.

Her heels clicked along the stone walkway leading to the steps that fanned out toward the parking lot. Jimin’s longer legs kept pace with her the entire way. However, instead of returning to her vehicle or even out onto the main street where she would have taken the bus, Eden turned and walked along the path leading toward the church’s expansive back garden. Jimin followed since she didn’t seem to protest his company.

When she reached a stone bench, Eden sat down and fished around in her clutch. Jimin couldn’t help the smirk that touched his lips as she pulled out a cigarette. Shaking his head, he sighed and took a seat next to her.

“Really?” He couldn’t help but laugh. “We just finished with service.”

Eden pointed two fingers at him, the cigarette perched between them. “Don’t start, Jimin-ah,” she said while pulling out a lighter. “The Lord will be happy that I showed up for service at all.”

He wasn’t going to argue with her on that. After everything that happened, he was almost positive that Eden wasn’t going to show up to church ever again. Jimin understood why she was upset, and he didn’t blame her for doubting him or even Jungkook. But it would have been a lie to himself if her mistrust didn’t hurt him. It did. They’d known each other for the better part of three years now. Despite being a devout Christian, the path he walked often forced him to go against the teachings of the Lord.

Jimin felt so dirty when he entered sacred ground.

Like Jungkook, Jimin did not hide his affiliation with the criminal underworld from Eden. She accepted it and didn’t even look down on him for his status. She even once told him that the fact that he went to church meant that he felt some semblance of guilt for what he was doing. He always prayed in earnest and Eden knew that he was genuinely kind and decent human being. At least that was how she saw him. At the end of the day, however, it was how he was seen in the eyes of God that mattered the most.

Being reminded of that by her lifted his spirits even just a little.

He waited until she exhaled smoke from her nostrils to speak. “Eden Noona,” Jimin prodded softly, “about Yoongi Hyung…”

“If you’re about to give me some kind of excuse for what he did, then don’t bother.” She tapped a bit of ash from the end of her cigarette. “I’m not in the mood.”

Jimin sighed. “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

She crossed one leg over the other, cradling her arm as she held her cigarette away from her face. Eden’s eyes cut sideways to look at him and he could see a mixture of anger and hurt swirling in her eyes. “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.” She took a long drag from her cigarette, flicking off an ash as smoke exhaled from between her lips. “Thus saith the Lord.”

“You can’t hold onto that forever, Noona. Him aside, it’s not good for you.”

He watched her crush out the cherry on the ground by her shoe before tossing it into a nearby waste basket. She saw her smirk, but it was a mirthless gesture. “I bet you don’t even know how long he and I were together, do you?” Eden turned to look at him. “Or how we even met?”

Jimin shook his head, his brows furrowing. “But I can listen, if you’d like.”

She scoffed, a hand reaching up to finger at her braid. “We met in the States six years ago. I guess you could say we were friends. But considering that everything I’ve known about him has been a lie, now I’m not so sure.” Sighing, she let her hand fall to her lap. “I came here a year after that. We started dating then. And we continued to date for three more years.”

Jimin’s heart thumped heavily against his chest. Five years ago?

It was an absolute madhouse in their world and yet Yoongi continued to make time for a woman he cared for? There was a part of Jimin that could hardly believe what he was hearing. The Yoongi Hyung he knew was deemed as The Lightning Claw for a reason. He was swift and deadly, striking without provocation and leaving devastation in his wake. The world they entered nearly ten years ago was at its peak of violence and chaos back then. Blood splattered across the streets and sometimes the aftermath was so terrible that not even the police would step in.

“For three years, I believed he was keeping me away from his friends and family because he didn’t want them to know he was dating some half Korean orphan girl. He would leave for days, supposedly on a business trip, and then come back like nothing happened.”

But now that he thought about it, there were days that Yoongi would just take off. He would disappear and come back a few days later. Even after he started making more international moves, he would never be gone for more than a week or so at a time. And when he came home, he would do his standard debriefing before heading out again. They all assumed he was with someone, but he never spoke up about it. Jimin even remembered Yoongi almost coming to blows with Taehyung when he wouldn’t ease off with his incessant teasing, prodding Yoongi to introduce her to them.

“I never knew where he lived but he always came to my house. We hardly went out in Gangnam and when we did, it was always late. We mostly would just take trips together out of town. It just didn’t make sense to me.”

When the fighting was especially bad, Yoongi waited until all his injuries were completely healed before disappearing again. While Jimin couldn’t imagine what persona his brother was attempting to portray, he knew that he never wanted Eden to worry over him because of how bloody and disgusting their world actually was. Wanting to push her as far away from that madness as possible certainly wasn’t unreasonable.

But he knew that Eden wouldn’t see it that way. She’d been damaged by his dishonesty which, as a result, caused her current trust issues. Now, after finding out the truth, he honestly couldn’t be upset with how standoffish she was being. Who wouldn’t be?

“All this time, I thought he was just bored or was too busy to be with me. But the truth?” Eden scoffed, then laughed. “He was ashamed.”

“Eden Noona,” offered Jimin, causing her to look away from him, “I’m sure it wasn’t like that. In fact, I know it wasn’t. We all bothered him constantly about who he was always running off to go see, but Hyung never wanted to give up any details and we respected his privacy enough not to get involved.” He lifted his hand to touch Eden’s shoulder. “You don’t understand what life was like back then. Turf wars were happening all over Seoul and we were just fighting to keep a leg up in the game. I’m sure he just didn’t want you to get mixed up in all of that or even get hurt.”

He saw her roll her eyes. “The path to hell is paved with good intentions.” She rounded on him. “That wasn’t his choice to make, Jimin-ah!” Her eyes narrowed. “Do you even realize how much danger he put me in by keeping me in the dark? What if a rival gang decided to kidnap me? What if they tried to use me to take advantage of you guys?”

Jimin averted his gaze, realizing that she wasn’t wrong either. He knew that going into a situation blindly was just as dangerous as knowingly walking into enemy territory. Had that very scenario occurred, there was a good chance that it would have ended badly. The times were not so forgiving in those days. Even Jimin transformed into a monster, seeing red and spilling blood as easily as a child spilled milk.

“I understand why you’re angry, Noona, I do,” he said, his hand sliding off her shoulder, “but there’s no way for us to determine if what he did was the best choice or the worst choice.” He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Can’t you just forgive him this once? Not for his sake, but for yours?”

He didn’t move his eyes from hers, hoping that his sincerity would come across as best as he could. It was no secret how Jungkook felt about Eden and while he wasn’t sure if Yoongi still felt the same, he wanted there to be peace between them all. They were so close to finally walking away from the darker parts of their past. They were finally going to be able to step out into the light again; to feel the sun on their cheeks and the rain on their skin. They could stop hiding and go back to being the people they used to be before willfully walking onto the road of darkness.

“I don’t want to see this eating away at you anymore.”

Eden sighed and stood from the stone bench. Jimin immediately followed, watching her flatten out the skirts of her dress in the front. A soft breeze pushed against them, blowing his hair in different directions. A pained expression crossed her face before she took a breath and looked back at him. Her eyes seemed less angry, yet they appeared more hurt than they had been just a few minutes earlier.

“…I need time, Jimin-ah,” she finally said, causing a small ache to form in his chest. It was the softest he’d ever heard her speak in all the years he’d known her. “I just need some time to finally let it all go.”

Then she smiled at him, her hand reaching out to ruffle his hair a little bit. He gave a weak smile in response before watching her turn to head down the rest of the path and out of the garden. Jimin stood alone, waiting until he could no longer hear the clicking of her heels going down the sidewalk. When he turned his phone back on, there were a couple of missed calls, four text messages and one voicemail.

It was from Hoseok.

“Jimin-ah. I know you’re in service, so you don’t have to call me back. Come home as soon as you’ve finished. I’ll give you all the details when everyone is back.”

Sliding his phone into his pocket, he saw the small cluster of dark clouds beginning to form through the canopy of trees. A storm was coming.

“So,” Jimin said, his voice quiet, “it’s finally happening.”

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magicianapprenticelyra · 5 years

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(Birthday question) Who is your favorite child to write?

Mun: No matter what I say, there is a version of Lyra who is aware of the existence of her other children on all the timelines that will look at me, aghast at my answer, because she absolutely adores all of them.

Let me say what I like writing about each of them though, to give you a better idea.

In no particular order:

Junior:

To be precise, he is the first of Lyra’s children that sprung into my mind. He’s the son of one of the most infamous men in Vesuvia. Paired with his mother, to say the least, Lucio and Lyra make an odd couple. We don’t know, as of yet, how Lucio’s upright ending shall go, but my prediction is that there is a possibility that Lucio might have to leave Vesuvia. There’s a lot to be said about the man that helped Vesuvia into one of the region’s most disastrous moments in history. It wouldn’t be good to stay in Vesuvia… hence why he and Lyra leave to make a life of their own. Junior, growing up, only knows a few details here and there about who his father was in the past. However, he’s learned from his mother that the past doesn’t define anyone: it’s what you do from then onward is what’s important. Overall: Junior loves the shit out of his family, and they do so in turn. Woe be to anyone that speaks ill of this group. Junior might get his ass beat, but he’ll always say it’s worth it in the end.

Iris:

For starters, from when she was a little girl, Iris wanted to be as big and strong as her Papa. She grew to top off at 6 ft tall, and is decently muscled. She wants to get buffer, but it’s a work in progress. Out of all my apprentices, she’s probably the one that can navigate The Forest the best. She found her familiar out on one of the rocks near the top of the mountain, where Muriel casts his runes. While her papa was doing that, she heard some squeaking off to the side. She looked, and there was Flower, the pika that would become her familiar in time. She just loves, love, loves, loves her friends and family. Funny enough, she’s also the almost too-spoiled niece of the Satrinavas. Iris is best friends with Navra, and often explores/gets lost in the Marketplace with her whenever she visits. Even if she is muscled/could split a log in two with her bare hands, she loves dressing in feminine things. Dresses with the poofs and ruffles, the works! Muriel, despite thinking that sort of stuff isn’t necessary when getting dressed up for special occasions, is fully in support of her tastes.

Noor:

Asra’s kids were the last ones to pop up in my mind for me. Noor was the first of them, being the elder one of the twins. She is very adept at water and fire magic, but instead chooses to spend her time learning the multitudes of dances across the world. Growing up, she never was into entering competitions: the dancing is the best part! Why put so much worth into it, only to be pitting each other against people? Dance in and of itself is an expression of love for the craft, in her opinion. She’s best friends with the Stove Salamander at home, and is a lover of people watching when she travels with her parents all over the place and on her own. With her brother, she was the one looking out for him all the time because Hải almost never stood up for himself. He’s better at it now, and she’s so proud of him. Her grandparents, strangely, don’t seem to be much older than her Zaza. Maybe it’s in the genes or maybe magic something. Her patron would be The Star, and time to time she travels to the Lighthouse in the Arcana realms to pop in and say hello.

Shiloh

He gets into the most trouble out of all the kids. He’s like his father before them, though the unfortunate thing is that Shiloh is a bit more mean spirited about it. He was born a little early, which made his parents a bit more protective than they should’ve been over him. The kid’s the most fire magic inclined of the whole bunch. One time he coincidentally summoned the rains in Nopal by dumping a bucket of water into the sand, and then shouted to the sky IT’S NOT THAT HARD. The shit-eating grin he had for the rest of the day when it rained buckets was legendary. Along with the fire magic, Shiloh is the second-most combative of all the kids, with Avery being the most adept. He butts heads with his mom and dad a lot. Mazelinka can only do so much before she resigned with ‘the boy is on his own now’. There have been points where he’s run away, only to return within 24 hours. When he’s about the age of 18, he took off on a ship. He didn’t return home for another five years. He always wrote his parents, to say the least. Lyra ain’t happy he became a bounty hunter, but that’s his route in life now. At least Julian taught him how to run when necessary.

Avery

She’s adopted into Lyra and Lucio’s family when she’s five to six years old. Her village was razed to the ground, leaving Avery behind with a burnt little Lykoi cat named Marcus. These two joined their family about a year to two years before Junior was born. The difference between them really is that Avery is the outgoing sibling and knows when not to fight. Junior on the other hand, fought a lot. Sometimes, he fought for no good reason at all. Avery does still have her biological mom: Leora. They find Leora again a few years after Junior is born, and they recognize each other right off the bat. She’s a part of the family too, though Leora often roasts Lucio, much to his chagrin. Because of that wherever Leora is settled in, Lyra, Lucio and Junior moved in nearby so that Avery could have all her parents nearby. As an adult, Avery becomes either a bounty hunter or a mercenary. Leora and Lyra are very nervous about her chosen path, but Lucio can and will show her all the ropes in order to protect herself and how to kick ass. And she does very, very well.

Hải

The younger sibling of the Alnazar twins, he felt he was always running leagues behind his sister. They didn’t have a sibling rivalry in any sense of the word, but at times Hải felt like he was inadequate in a family full of powerful magicians: his grandparents with alchemy and water magic, his Zaza with water magic, divination, and so on, and his mother’s strange ability to learn some magic and being able to get a handle on it quickly. Because of that, he hardly tried to make any friends. He wasn’t lonely, per se, but his social skills aren’t the best. Then one day, when he was thirteen, he flubbed making a simple recipe. Hải was so angry he threw the spoon, only to be startled by the fact it suddenly magnetized to the kitchenette, scaring everyone in the house and the poor Stove Salamander. Asra always recounts that day proudly to customers, happily pointing out that the metal spoon is still magnetized to the kitchenette. After that, Hải began an apprenticeship under his grandfather. This also gave him an unexpected friend and mentor in the Countess, who often helps Hải with his personal projects.

Thomas

The last, but not the least! Thomas is actually the son of one of the Palace staff. Regardless of timelines, Thomas is gonna be a part of Lyra’s family somehow, someway. He never knew his father, but he knew his mother, Callista, only spoke of him fondly. One day, his mother suddenly passed away, orphaning him. All of the Palace’s staff took it upon themselves to help raise the boy. In the timeline where Lyra and Portia end up together, Thomas often tagged along with Portia whilst running errands for the Countess. When Portia couldn’t mind him, Lyra took it up on herself to do so. Her warmth and occasionally silliness, combined with Portia’s antics, made for great fun in his childhood. In the rest of the timelines, Thomas ends up in Lyra’s orbit somehow, someway. Apprentice timelines, even if she doesn’t know why, Lyra is very fond of children. It was only natural of her to gravitate to one that she was within close proximity with at the Palace. His magic style is focused in the vocal: he sings in order to do magic. He is forbidden to sing at the Rowdy Raven because he accidentally enchanted a good portion of Barth’s stock to walk out the door and into the canals.

#The Arcana #fan apprentice #Count Lucio #lucio x apprentice #Muriel #muriel x apprentice #Asra #asra x apprentice #Julian Devorak #julian x apprentice #magicianapprenticelyra #The Seeker: Junior #The Forthright: Iris #The Heart: Noor #The Lioness: Avery #The Mind: Hải #The Singer: Thomas #answering the mail

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rallis-fatalis · 4 years

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The Price of Freedom

Wanted to try something a little different and give my RS3 dragon an origin fic. Get a feel for the character and maybe think about doing more content about them. Who knows where this will lead, if anywhere, but for now please enjoy the first story of Astrath the black dragon.

The sun had not begun to rise yet. All of Ardougne was quiet. Even the ever-screeching monkeys in the zoo down the way were silent. One creature began to stir, however, in this silent city before even the sun woke. In the greatest mansion money could buy, with the most grandeur zoo you ever did see, one creature crawled out of their bed of dead grass and filthy shredded garden trimmings. The dead and dying plant-life created a nest that could hardly fit a fat hen, and yet a whole dragon managed to curl into a ball small enough where only their tail stuck too far out. The dragon was as shadowy black as the night sky and just as beautiful. They blended into the darkness of the morning perfectly save for a tacky bright gold collar emblazoned with the serpentine sigil of House Krawley, one of the oldest and richest families of East Ardougne. They were avid rivals of House Handelmort in their goal to create rare exotic collections no one had ever seen before, but while the Handelmorts procured material items of great wealth and rarity, the Krawleys collected creatures to put on display, and they weren't as shy to show it off.

It was here in the Krawleys' expansive manor yards the black dragon began to awaken. They brushed the bits of grass off them and quietly got ready for the day, not that they had much to do anyway. Being treated like an animal meant no clothing or any amenities one would consider the standard for a person. The best the dragon could do was shine their scales in the water bin. Their breakfast was whatever foul leftovers they hadn't finished for dinner the night before, disgusting meat more akin to carrion only a monster could stomach. They waited by the entrance to their cage when they were ready, and soon a young lady in a maid's outfit tiptoed over to open the doors. Despite being a dragon, the maid wasn't much shorter than the beast. The dragon only stood a few inches under six feet and walked on two legs instead of four. Their seven regal horns made them seem taller than they actually were. They looked more like a dragonkin humanity so feared and despised than an actual dragon, with its two arms, legs, and wings, and its pointed draconic face. Though this dragon had a tail, one advantage it had over those towering terrors of a monster.

The maid held open the cage door. "Good morning, Astrath," she whispered. She was a charming young lady with a sweet face framed by an adorable red bob of hair. "You're supposed to stand guard in the dining hall today when Lord Sirius' guests arrive. I'll escort you to get changed. And here, I snuck this from the kitchen for you. Today is going to be a long day."

The maid pulled a wrapped slice of melon out of her pocket and discretely handed it over, looking around in fear she would get caught. The dragon's blank face cracked the hint of a thankful smile as they took the treat. "Thank you, Mari. What would I do without you?" The dragon scarfed it down hungrily and followed the maid to a shack down the way. The two passed by many sleeping beasts; wyverns, proper dragons, basilisks, and more slept soundly in their cages, all with the same tacky gold collar around their necks. This was the reptilian part of the zoo, and every beast's collar held dosages of a taming agent. Should the animal try to escape or fight back, they were sedated using a mechanism in their collar. If they were too out of control, the collar could also send enough of that agent into their bloodstream to kill them. This was especially true of the reptile enclosures, where most collars contained hints of dragonsbane within the sedative. Astrath hated their damned collar.

The maid, Marianne, led the dragon to a small guard shack and unlocked the door. Inside were uniforms, weapons, and all sorts of equipment the guards of the house regularly used. Astrath had a set of clothes and pair of swords in there as well, having been promoted from animal attraction to animal attraction that also guarded their captors. Normally, Astrath would stay in their cage to be ooh'd and aah'd at by the fellow rich that paid to see such wonderful creatures, sometimes being forced to put on a show or show the patrons how they knew how to speak Common and act like a person. But today was different. Lord Sirius Krawley had guests dining with him this morning and wherever he went a guard was meant to follow. And what a perfect chance to show off his very own talking dragon than today when the beast was meant to shadow him.

Astrath's things weren't placed upon a hanger or neatly folded on a shelf like all the other uniforms. The other guards made a point to tarnish the dragon's attire in hopes the Lords would reprimand and punish the beast. More often than not, they were. Astrath found their clothes on the filthy floor, covered in dirt and stepped on. They dusted the dirt off their outfit as best they could before putting it on. It was a black cloth top stitched with the golden sigil of House Krawley on the chest, a serpent coiling around a gem with its fangs sunk into the top, colored the Krawley colors of black and gold. Black metal pauldrons lined with gold sat on the shoulders. A black metal skirt trimmed with gold sat around their waist, and regimental black boots climbed up to their knees. The boots were the worst part. They were awkwardly made and bent Astrath's claws in painful ways and made them clumsy. Trying to force their wings through the shoddily stitched holes in the back of the top was almost just as bad.

Marianne checked in. "Are you ready?"

Astrath grunted with a nod and swung their two crystalline swords over their back into the sheaths. Those were always uncomfortably heavy when combined with the weighted bindings that held their wings shut.

"You be careful today," Astrath muttered. "Lord Sirius is always more strict when he has guests. And his son... Stay out of sight and mind."

"You be careful too. You have a much shorter temper than me. Whatever you do, don't insult his guests. I don't want to watch you go without food for a week again."

"I'll try my best." Astrath gave her a compassionate touch of the tail and the two made their way to the manor. Through this horrible life as a servant and pet, at least they had one person they could think of as a friend. Astrath didn't know what they'd do without Marianne.

The inside of the manor was disgustingly rich. Nearly every object was trimmed with gold, from the cloth rugs and drapes to the marble dining table and mahogany chairs. The room was heavily perfumed, making Astrath want to gag. The woes of having a sensitive nose. The dragon stood silently and waited for Lord Sirius to make his way downstairs for morning tea, as still as the gold plated statues behind them.

Slow footsteps broke the morning silence. Lord Sirius Krawley made his way to the dining room where his servants waited for him to be seated so they could pour him tea. Astrath stood as formally as they could, ready to move should the Lord need anything. Despite his age, Lord Sirius was an imposing figure. Not for his size, no, but for his wicked eyes and bone chilling stare that bored into your soul. His greying beard and hair were always meticulously managed, and his mustache greased to a point. Even his morning robe of black and gold held no wrinkles and flowed elegantly and perfectly. A servant waited for him to be seated before pushing his chair in and serving him tea and cookies. Another retrieved the morning news for him to peruse. The servants bowed and left to ready the grand meal that would take place in only another short hour. For a while all was quiet save the occasional sip of tea and munch of cookie. As Lord Sirius finished the first page of the news, he huffed and put down the paper.

"Astrath," Sirius said without even looking at them.

The dragon stood even straighter.

"Your shirt is wrinkled. You understand I have very important guests arriving soon, yes?"

The man's rough voice grew rougher as he spoke. He was not pleased. "Yes my Lord, I do. Someone had taken my clothes and thrown them to the--"

"I don't want excuses," Sirius silenced them abruptly. "I want solutions. Fix it before my guests arrive."

Astrath bowed and waited for the Lord to finish tea before escorting him to the next group of waiting servants and rushing off to heat the wrinkles out of their shirt.

Time passed, the sun rose, the dining hall was packed with food and servants waiting to greet the guests that would soon be arriving. Lord Sirius stood at the ready, and his son had come down as well, Lord Franz Krawley. The son was far worse than the father, an absolutely demonic human being. He adored his father's creature collection growing up and knew he would make it his own one day. Even as a child he made sure every creature knew who he was and made sure they respected him. If they didn't, he would find new creative ways to make their lives hell. Sometimes he did it anyway even if they did respect him. The boy lived to cause suffering and pain in others, and despite being 22 he acted 20 years younger than that.

Franz smirked as he strode up to Astrath. He enjoyed teasing them the most since the beast could actually think and he knew they had a short temper. "Good morning, lizard," he sassed. Astrath did not show their offense, staying poker faced as ever. "Wow, you won't even greet your master? How rude."

"My apologies, my Lord. Good morning, Lord Franz."

"That's better," he smirked. "Don't make me tell you to greet me again, lest I get offended."

"It would never be my intention to offend you," Astrath replied. "I will not forget."

"I know you won't. Because if I get upset, you might be too." The young man brought his hand to the dragon's collar and grinned as he felt the beast stiffen nervously. "I will be watching you the whole time today, just waiting for you to give me an excuse. Give me a reason to play with your life today, I beg you." He fiddled with a small contraption on his belt, a runic mechanism that activated the collar.

"Franz," a stern voice called. "Come greet our guests."

Franz smirked and strode to the front entrance, giving the dragon enough time to steady themselves and mentally prepare for the breakfast that was about to get underway.

House Krawley entertained four guests that morning, the Lord and Lady of two other notable Houses nowhere near as wealthy or important as Krawley. Even still, Sirius put on his best face and treated them like kings and queens. They too were avid collectors and it was his goal to have them part with some of their beasts for his own collection. Sirius sat at the head of the table with his son at his side while the other four sat on the sides. Another seat remained empty for Lady Krawley who was currently away on a trip. The couple from House Merille were fat and spoiled, eyeing the food hungrily and hardly giving their host the time of day until they began to stuff their faces. Their overly stuffed puffy clothing bounced as they ate. Or was that their obscene obesity? It was hard to tell. The couple from House Darry were far more sophisticated and polite, making conversation before beginning to eat. It seemed mosquito-like noses were a must in that family. Astrath wondered how they didn't get in the way of eating. The five of them discussed mundane things as Franz eyed the stoic dragon guard that watched the discussions unfold, fingers always resting on the collar mechanism. The dragon listened intently but didn't show it. They were meant to stand like a statue out of sight and guard, so they did just that. Soon they breached the topic of buying and trading for their collections, discussing their monstrous menageries.

Lord Merille spoke up. "Let us get to the point now, yes? You desire a pair of my kurasks. They are quite large and require much space and food and from what I've seen your menagerie is quite full. Where would you be putting such beasts? Perhaps you would be willing to trade some dragons. You certainly have quite a few."

"I have no dragons to trade. Not until the reds breed again," Sirius informed.

All four guests deflated. "I thought you had some black dragons to spare," Lady Darry said.

"Had is correct. I traded them for a pair of shadow drakes."

The four muttered in awe over the mention of such beasts and how good a find they were. Lord Franz piped up. "Good trade indeed! They were that thing's parents." He pointed to Astrath standing guard nearby. "The only good thing about their offspring is how unique it looks."

Lady Merille gasped. "Oh my! That's one of yours? My goodness I thought it was a statue! May I take a closer look?"

Lord Sirius motioned as if to say "of course."

Lady Merille bounced over and got nose to nose with the black dragon, completely unafraid by the fact that the beast could spew fire. "The beast is stunning. Those jet black scales and bright purple eyes, and such a regal looking crest of horns, how beautiful. I see why you have this one on display."

"How did you come across a bipedal dragon?" Lord Darry asked. "I thought they could only happen between those lizard beasts and they can't even breed!"

"There are a few ways," Sirius started. "I won't pretend I know the origins of this one's line, but I had an easy time. Both its parents were bipedals as well."

"And you sold them off?!" Lady Darry exclaimed. "What an outrage! You could have controlled the market on them and created the line for generations to come!"

"No we couldn't," Franz laughed. "That thing is infertile. All children that come from those two would be. They're useless!"

Astrath ground their teeth. Their parents were not useless.

"Oh well at least you kept this one," Lady Merille said. "What a beauty."

"Oh they're more than beautiful," Sirius smirked. "Introduce yourself, dragon."

"Greetings Lord and Lady Merille and Darry," they began. "My name is Astrath, guard, servant, and pet of the Krawley household."

The four guests' jaws hit the floor. "It speaks!" Lord Merille shouted. "How did you teach it to speak?!"

"Does it truly understand what we're saying?" Lord Darry questioned.

"Do you take this House as a joke?" Franz snapped. "Of course it does! Dragon! Tell them about yourself!"

"My name is Astrath, as I previously said. I was born here 33 years ago to my mother Rela and my father Kolkaria. I am a descendant of royal dragons, hence my ability to speak. If you wish to know something, I will answer your questions as best as I can."

The three at the table gushed about how incredible it was to see a talking dragon in person. Offers for a trade were made and immediately denied. Lady Merille continued to look the dragon over.

"Such a wonderful voice as well! So handsome. It's a good thing dragons live for so long, you won't lose this beauty any time soon. What a treasure to pass down in the family. He is wonderful!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"They..." Astrath muttered.

Lord Sirius threw the beast a glare of death. Lady Merille piped up. "I beg your pardon?"

"They," the dragon repeated. "Not he."

No one quite knew how to respond. They? What did that even mean? And had this beast really just spoken back to someone of higher standing? Sirius gripped the fork in his hand, visibly bending from his rage. His guests had been insulted! Lord Franz spoke up, silencing them all.

"Did you really just disrespect your betters?!" he snapped as he rose from his seat. Lady Merille backed away and returned to her seat. "Did you really speak when not asked to? And you insulted our fine guests?!" He grabbed the dragon's chin roughly. "You will be called whatever we want to call you! He, she, it, whatever we like! You exist because of us! You continue to live because of us! You will give us your full respect at all times! Do you understand?!"

Franz let go and waited for his reply. "Yes, my Lord," Astrath said defeatedly. "I apologize for my insolence. It will not happen again."

"For your sake, I hope not," he whispered to Astrath. "Give me an excuse, I beg of you."

Astrath grew still at the threat and stood straighter, looking ahead blankly as they tried to quell the burning rage inside them.

"My apologies," Lord Sirius quietly spoke. "Sometimes the property forgets its place. He is still a beast after all and is still learning where he stands in life."

The dragon closed their eyes and quietly took a breath. How insulting and insufferable these humans were.

The rest of the morning moved on, discussions were had, deals were made, food was eaten. The final treats were brought out, a lovely assortment of cakes and sweets, along with some tea. A maid provided for each person, delicately placing the sweets down and pouring tea. Marianne was set to serve Lord Franz. She flashed Astrath a small smile before pouring the tea. The dragon smiled back and quickly returned to a blank stoic countenance, but not fast enough. The wicked Lord smiled at the exchange, a devious idea forming in his head. As Marianne went to pour, Franz caught the woman's leg with his own and tripped her. She yelped as the teapot went flying, spilling all over the table and ruining the sweets. Some splashed on Lady Darry down the way and she gasped and sputtered as if someone had just thrown a dead dog into her lap. A pool of tea spilled into Franz's lap and stained his trousers. Astrath paled. This was going to end horribly.

"Oh Saradomin, my Lord I am so sorry, I did not mean--!"

Franz slapped the woman across the face. It split her lip open, blood beginning to drip on her skirt as she bowed her head. "Cease your quibbling you pathetic maid! How dare--!"

Astrath growled and sprinted over to the table in the blink of an eye, startling the guests and making the ladies scream. They grabbed Marianne and pulled her away from the situation with a snarl, standing defensively between her and Franz. The young man smiled devilishly.

"Astrath, no! I'm fine!" Marianne cried. Her friend was about to be in a lot of trouble.

Lord Sirius snapped. "Astrath what are you doing?!"

"You do not hurt her!" the dragon snarled.

"It snarled at me!" Lord Franz shouted. "The feral beast! You have done enough damage today. Now you will do no more!"

Franz activated the mechanism attached to his belt, the runes inside setting off the spell and activating Astrath's collar. The dragon whined and yipped as needles dug into the cracks between their scales and injected them with sedative. Immediately, their hold on the maid was lost and the dragon staggered back. Their body felt heavy, they couldn't keep their eyes open, everything was growing blurry and numb. They soon hit the floor, knocked out cold.

____________________________________

A week had passed now. A week since Astrath once again let their emotions show and get the better of them. If there was one emotion they struggled to hide it was their anger. It was beyond frustrating. That was one of the few lessons they remembered from their parents; never show your feelings lest they be used against you. Astrath tried their best to hide their emotions, to not give Franz or anyone anything to use against them, but rage always managed to break through eventually. Astrath sighed and curled on their dirty nest. At least their punishment had only been no time in the sun for a week and two days without food. That was better than usual.

It was late that day, the sun nearly completely gone, when Astrath heard footsteps coming their way. They thought perhaps it was Franz coming to torment them again. The man had come every day since the dining room fiasco to take out his frustrations on the dragon. His father hadn't appreciated the scene Franz helped cause, so Franz beat the poor beast or stole its food whenever he could. Astrath was very surprised to see it wasn't Franz who came to visit, but their friend Marianne.

The dragon ran to the gate of their cage and grabbed her hand. "Mari! I hadn't seen you all week. I was getting nervous."

"I'm fine. Thank you for worrying. I just came to tell you goodbye."

Astrath growled confusedly. "What do you mean?"

"I've been fired. The incident last week didn't settle well with either Lord Krawley and so I've been laid off. I just finished packing my things and I'm going to return to the Servants' Guild in hopes of getting a new job."

Astrath was heartbroken. They didn't know how they would handle being without their only friend. Mari had been there for them for nearly seven years. "I made you lose your job, didn't I? It's my fault."

"No, I promise it isn't your fault," she said. "We both know whose fault it is. At least now I won't have to deal with him ever again."

The dragon sighed in relief. "That does bring me comfort. You deserve so much better and should never be hurt again."

"The same could be said for you. Which is why I give you this parting gift." Marianne handed three keys through the gaps in the cage bars. Astrath looked at them in confusion. "I'm giving you your freedom, but you must be careful taking it. If you do this wrong, I don't know what they'll do to you." She held up two silver keys. "These open the gates to the cages and the lock on the guard shack. There's clothing, food, and your swords at the ready. You may need the armor too." She held up a gold key. "This unlocks your collar, it unlocks all of them. Use this one last. The moment you unlock your collar an alarm will sound."

Astrath was in shock. "How did you get these?"

"I've worked here long enough to know where they're stored when not in use. I was just sneaky about getting them. You don't deserve to live like this, none of these creatures do. Free yourself so we can be friends on the other side. I only ask you wait an hour so I can be far away from this place and not be under suspicion."

"Mari..." They hugged the maid as best they could through the bars. "Thank you. I'll see you on the side of freedom soon."

"Good luck. Now I have to go before anyone sees me here. See you soon."

Marianne quietly ran off into the darkness and out of sight, leaving the dragon to think of a plan.

Astrath stared down at the keys in their hand. Would their freedom really come so easily tonight? Was this it, after 33 long years of being harassed and abused? No more being a servant. No more being a jailer for their own kind. No more wasting away in a cage for the rich to gawk at. What was life even like beyond the confines of this prison? They couldn't begin to imagine it.

An hour passed, or perhaps more as Astrath grew lost in their daydreaming, and the dragon had a plan. They carefully looked around for any guards and opened the gate. They quietly slithered out and slunk over to the guard shack. Inside was indeed everything Marianne had said there would be. There was a large sack full of clothing, food, and a small pouch full of some sort of gold discs. Astrath had seen those before only a few times. It was money! They had never been allowed to touch it. They stared at the shimmering gold coins wondrously.

The dragon changed into the armor save for those atrocious shoes, threw their swords on, and tied the pack on. Now was the hard part. The perimeter of the mansion and its massive yards were unique. If any creature with a collar that wasn't deactivated tried to pass through the borders, it activated and knocked the creature out immediately. Despite having lived here for all their life, Astrath still didn't know where the borders actually began. The best plan would be to take it off as close to the border as possible and hop over so they had a head start from the alarm, but one wrong step meant this escapade was over. They'd have to take it off now.

Astrath slipped the gold key awkwardly into the collar hole at the back of their neck and twisted. The collar fell of with a thunk and a hiss. The dragon brought a shaky hand to their neck and gave it a rub. The collar was gone. It was really gone. They felt so light, so free. The dragon smiled and laughed for a moment and sped off for the perimeter wall.

Lights quickly began to turn on in the mansion. That was faster than expected. The other creatures of the collection began to awaken and crawl to the edge of their cages and look around. Some squawked in alarm at the sight of Astrath running outside of the cages. The dragon felt bad they couldn't release the rest of the creatures trapped here, but the zoo was far too large for one dragon to free on their own. One day they would come back and free them all.

They reached the final set of pens, right before the perimeter wall. Beautiful shrubbery and vines decorated with flowers of the colors of House Krawley stood as a barrier to the outside world. Behind that was a thick stone wall, completely impenetrable and spiked at the top. Astrath hissed. It would be so easy to just fly over and be free, but that wasn't going to happen with their wings still bound. The bindings weren't something they could take off themselves either. Careful climbing it was.

As Astrath gripped the vines crawling up the wall to begin climbing, a quiet coo caught their attention. A young male drakeling was pressed against the gate of its cage, watching the black dragon curiously. He stood out sharply against the night, his fiery red and orange scales lighting up the darkness. The dragon let go of the vines. "You're that fire drake Franz found, aren't you?" The baby fire drake was Lord Franz's first catch on his own. Astrath remembered hearing about the adventure for weeks, how Franz had tracked and killed two fire drakes and stole the newly hatched baby for his collection. If Astrath remembered correctly, the male's head was currently stuffed and mounted over the fireplace in the parlor. It made the dragon sick thinking about another poor dragon being forced to grow from a baby here in this horrid environment. The drakeling had only been here for around three years and its growth was already stunted from improper care.

Guards were on their way now. Astrath could hear them searching the premises. They needed to leave this moment. But they couldn't leave the little one behind. Out of all the creatures that called this prison home, this one wouldn't likely live well if at all. They unlocked the gate and undid the collar and gave the little drake a pat. The top of its head barely reached Astrath's chest, and with its wingarms bound the creature looked even smaller.

"Alright little one. Grab on and let's get out of here."

The drakeling reached for their shoulders and hung off their back as Astrath began to climb again. The two reached the top without being spotted. The guard spikes at the top were terrifyingly sharp. They could cut through a dragon's hide with no problem. Astrath wouldn't be able to hop over with the extra weight. They shrugged the drakeling up higher until the beast was nearly sitting on their head.

"Hop over, little one. Don't worry about the fall, you'll be fine. I'll be right there after."

The drakeling nervously chirped and wiggled before launching off the dragon and landing in the grass below with a thump. The force pushed Astrath back down the wall a ways, so they continued to climb back up.

"Over here!"

Something whizzed through the air and shot Astrath in the foot. The jolt caused them to lose their footing and they slid farther down with a yelp. The dragon hissed and shook out whatever was in their foot. A dart. Likely filled with sedative. That wasn't good. It was only one small one though and it hadn't been in their foot long. Hopefully they wouldn't pass out, or at least not immediately.

More guards ran over and aimed. Astrath leapt down as they fired, darts harmlessly bouncing off the shrubs and walls. The lot of them quickly began to reload, and for a moment Astrath froze. A part of their mind told them to stand down and surrender so they wouldn't get hurt. Don't disobey the people that own you. But they quickly shook that voice away. The collar was gone, they were owned by no one and there was nothing anyone could do now.

They couldn't hold the dragon back any longer.

Astrath screeched and opened their mouth wide. Fire illuminated the darkness, an infernal sea spewing forth from the dragon's maw and burning the guards alive. They all screamed and panicked, running off to roll in the dirt or find water to douse themselves in. The closest ones dropped dead quickly. Astrath staggered back in shock. They had never done that before, nor killed anyone before. The sight of the fire melting the black metal into the guards' skin, the smell of roasting flesh, the sound of dying screams, it was horrible.

But also so satisfying.

Lost in the shock of what just happened, the dragon hadn't noticed another person stride forward, only this wasn't just another guard. A bolt, not a lousy dart, shot the dragon in the shoulder. It cracked the metal pauldron and bounced away. Astrath had clarity enough to mentally thank Marianne for her suggestion to put on the armor. Through the flames stomped Lord Franz, crossbow at the ready.

"Well if it isn't Astrath. My family gives you life, raises you, feeds you, teaches you, trains you, gives you a place to stay, is the reason for your pathetic existence! And this is how you thank us? How disrespectful you are, lizard!"

He fired again, bolt bouncing harmlessly off the wall as Astrath dodged. Their head was back in the game now. They unsheathed the two crystal swords given to them for guard duty and leveled them at the Lord. "Your family kidnapped mine, abused us, stole my parents from me, starved, beat, and tormented me, and left me to fend for myself in a stinking cage as a hatchling at the age of five! You dare call me disrespectful!"

"Using the words my family taught you against me? I'll cut out your tongue before I throw you back into that cage for good!"

Franz fired once more, Astrath ducked and slid closer. Franz bashed the end of his crossbow into the dragon's face and dropped it for a better weapon given the situation. He yanked his longsword free and swiped at the dazed dragon. Astrath gracefully slid out of the way and swiped with one of their swords. It connected, leaving a shallow but painful graze in Franz's side. He hissed and swiped at the dragon again. His sword connected with theirs with a clang, and Astrath connected again with the other blade in their hand, leaving a deeper slash along his stomach. Franz yelled and doubled over. He wasn't used to his property fighting back.

Astrath aimed for the man's head, hoping to end it all. Franz ducked and barreled into the dragon. He slammed his boot on the beast's foot, wounded and bleeding from the dart. The dragon cried out and Franz stabbed them in the side. Astrath howled and Franz drew closer. He brought his face up to theirs, wicked smile glittering in the spreading firelight. "Nothing a few stitches won't fix. You'll still be just as nice as I need for my collection."

The dragon snarled. They were not going back to their damned cage! Astrath's mouth began to glow red and Franz realized too late how badly he had just messed up. He reached for the control at his belt and pressed it instinctively to trigger a collar that wasn't there. Astrath let loose dragonfire with a ferocious roar, burning the man across the face. He howled and screamed and cried as he fell to the ground, gripping his face as he rolled in the dirt.

Someone shouted in the distance. It sounded like Sirius. Astrath quickly threw the swords back into their sheaths and scaled the wall, jumping down to the worried waiting drakeling on the other side. The drakeling squawked at his new friend's wounds and at the sound of guards coming around the corner from the entrance of the mansion. Astrath picked the creature back up and ran as fast as they could, not looking back to watch their fire spread to the mansion and start to set it ablaze.

Soon the sleeping dart began to take effect. The two had run north as far and as fast as they could before that. Astrath hadn't the faintest clue where they were when they fell unconscious, but they could hear water and smell a great deal of salt before they descended underground. They found a series of tunnels that led underground, and in those tunnels another small crevice that no human with their lack of night vision could ever hope to see. Astrath and the drakeling curled together in the tiny hole behind the wall and fell asleep, the sounds of the guards' shouts and footsteps long gone.

________________________________

The morning came, not that anyone could see, and Astrath opened their groggy heavy eyes. What a dream they had. Escaping their cage, burning their owner, running free with... a... drakeling...

There was a bright red drakeling in their arms, sound asleep. There was rock all around them, not the metal bars of cages. Two stolen crystal swords were strapped to their pack, painfully poking into the sack Marianne had packed for them. None of it was a dream.

"Mari-ow!"

Astrath jumped up at the remembrance of their friend and how they were supposed to meet up once the dragon escaped, and their wounds reminded them that wasn't a good idea. The drakeling woke at the noise and nuzzled the dragon worriedly. Astrath settled back down and pat the small dragon on the head.

"Looks like we made it. No one came to catch us."

The drakeling chirped happily.

Astrath smiled. "You're a cute little one. I never caught your name while we were escaping. Too caught in the moment I suppose. My name is Astrath. What is yours?"

The little dragon squawked excitedly.

"Rojaw. That means the fangs of fire. A wonderful name. It's nice to formally meet you, Rojaw."

The two carefully crawled out of the crevice and pondered what to do. Astrath stripped the Krawley adorned armor and slipped on the simple black attire Marianne had packed for them. They then stripped the cloth from the armor to create a bandage and wrapped their wounds. They had never been hurt like this before and as such didn't really understand how to make effective bandages. But the shoddily torn cloth scraps definitely felt good on their wound so they must have done something right. The lovely maid had also packed food, which they split with Rojaw. Although neither of them had any inkling of where to go, they felt ready to continue their journey of getting as far away from House Krawley as possible. Astrath felt awful they were going to leave their friend behind and make her wonder and worry, but they had to get away from Ardougne for a while. They had to keep moving and hoped she would understand. But before the two of them got moving, there was one important thing to take care of.

Astrath laid Rojaw down and carefully held out his wingarms. The dragon bit down on the metal bindings holding his wings shut and shattered them with a crunch. With both bonds broken, the drakeling was free. Rojaw screeched happily and jumped around the cavern in glee, spreading the wing webbing wide. The drakeling's pure joy was making Astrath smile. "Can you do mine now?" the dragon asked. "I can't reach them."

Rojaw carefully bit down on the metal binding and weights holding Astrath's wings shut. The broken pieces fell with a clatter and a weight was lifted from them. Astrath couldn't help but gasp in awe at how much lighter they felt. They carefully stretched their wings, timidly at first. Realizing nothing could hold them back any longer, they threw their wings open. Rojaw sat in amazement and Astrath couldn't help but cry and smile. They flapped and stretched their wings, something they had never been able to do before, and admired how beautiful they were. Speckles of a brighter color shimmered underneath when the light hit just right, creating the effect of stars against the night sky. They were beautiful.

Astrath sighed contently and folded their wings comfortably. They scratched Rojaw under the chin before packing everything and slinging it in place. "We're still too close to the mansion for my taste. We should keep moving until things calm down. Perhaps there is a place out there that can help us stay safe in this world so we never have to go through this again. And perhaps there is a way to free everyone else as well. We should find those things, don't you agree?"

Rojaw chirped and bounced excitedly.

The two carefully left the caverns, wary of any suspicious characters that would drag them back to House Krawley. But no one was around, not a single soul. Astrath breathed a sigh of relief and the two continued north. They could finally live in this world as free beings, and soon they would make sure all creatures could feel that same freedom too.

#runescape #rs3 #my writes #oc tag

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argylemnwrites · 5 years

Text

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment - Chapter 13

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (Canon Divergent from Book 2, Chapter 15)

Word Count: ~4800

Rating: R (adult language - like too many f-bombs to count, here)

Summary: Drake tries to process his most recent decisions in regards to Liam and Riley, but some of the palace guests and residents make that difficult.

Author’s Note: So, yeah. I’m back at this story. I never intended to take so long between chapters, but this content here is basically the reason I didn’t just write Chapter 1 as a one shot, but instead turned it into an actual fic. Well, it turns out getting this all out of my head and into words was a real struggle. I could keep playing around and tweaking this indefinitely, but y’all have been patient enough, so without further ado, let’s get back into things here. We last left Riley leaving Cordonia to return to NYC while Drake stayed for Liam. Meanwhile, Olivia had just discovered that her aunt was involved in the recent attacks. This picks up that same afternoon.

This series diverges from TRR canon, where instead of waiting to discuss his relationship with Riley until their last night in NYC, leaving her a note while Liam is proposing to her, Drake tackles this topic as soon as possible after Tariq makes his statement and Riley’s name is cleared. To catch up on this series, you can find the previous chapters in my masterlist (link is located in my bio).

The Cordonian royal palace had a total of six different lounges, but only one of them was truly a private lounge, tucked away in a back corridor of the royal family’s residential wing. It had been the location of many nights of drinks and cards over the years. The group in attendance had varied, starting with Leo and Bertrand years and years ago. Tariq and Rashad both would drop in if they were in the capital. And more recently, Maxwell had hustled Drake out of more money than he cared to admit over hands of poker. But really, the only constants at these private card games had been Liam and Drake himself. It was strange to sit there now, alone in the middle of the afternoon. But Drake had wanted a drink and a smoke, and it was the only place in the palace where he would find both whiskey and an ashtray and be likely to be left alone.

Drake didn’t know how he felt, exactly. Not that he was ever great at putting his feelings into words, but today was even harder than usual. He didn’t really feel sad. More empty. Hollow.

He took the last drag from his cigarette as he kept rooting through the bar until he found the bottle of Yamazaki 18 tucked behind several other bottles of scotch and whiskey. If there was ever a day that warranted the good stuff, today was that day. Drake poured himself a double on the rocks before carrying his glass and the ashtray over to one of the armchairs by the fireplace. He knew he was wallowing, but he figured he’d earned it. Today just plain sucked.

The drive back from the airport had felt kind of covered in this sort of surreal haze. Had he really just let her get on a plane and leave? But what else could he have done? He had to stay. For Liam. And he couldn’t ask her just to hang around while he dealt with all that. It wasn’t fair to her. She, unlike him, actually had a life in New York. Asking her to abandon all of that just to sit around as some sort of fucking emotional comfort for him was selfish.

And truth be told, her being around would probably be counterproductive. It seemed like the three of them being in the same room was just a recipe for awkwardness. If Drake was actually going to be there for Liam, Riley’s presence would not make things easier. Even though Liam would never say anything, it was clear to anyone with half a brain that seeing him and Riley together was just adding stress. That he wasn’t coping with their relationship as much as he wanted to project that he was. And Drake certainly wasn’t going to stick around just to throw his happiness in Liam’s face. That was the opposite of his goal.

Still, watching her walk away from him at the airport had torn something deep inside him. It felt wrong, and he missed her already. God, he was a pathetic mess. He took a sip of his whiskey before lighting up another cigarette, but was interrupted by the sound of the door creaking open.

It was Leo. Of course he would be the only other person at the palace looking for a stiff drink well before cocktail hour. He strolled in, whistling to himself until he caught sight of Drake, his eyebrows shooting up comically.

“Hey, what are you still doing here? I thought your flight was today.” he asked after a moment, continuing over to the bar and grabbing the bottle of whiskey Drake had left out.

“Yeah, well… I decided to stick around for a while.”

Leo looked up from the bar, seeming to stare at Drake with those words. “You’re here by yourself?”

Drake swallowed roughly, tapping his cigarette against the ashtray’s edge. “Yeah, Liu flew out.”

The only sound was that of a glass being set on the bar and the splash of liquid as Leo poured himself a couple fingers of the whiskey. He took a sip of his drink before he stepped around the bar, raising his glass toward Drake is if in a toast. “I can’t say I’m not a little relieved.”

Drake took a drag off his cigarette, trying to gauge how pissed that should be making him. Leo didn’t always think things through fully, so he probably didn’t mean much by his statement. Still, for him to be the one to give him shit about sticking around? Well, it was pretty damn annoying.

After another sip of his drink, Leo chuckled as he continued, “I thought I was going to have to fly out and track you down again for a moment, there.”

Okay, maybe Leo did mean something. Drake bit his lip, trying to control his temper. He knew he was already on edge, and at the end of the day, Leo really wasn’t worth it. But his patience was tested as Leo continued, “I mean, I get it, the whole ‘following some girl halfway across the world’ thing, but I’m glad you finally came to your senses.”

“My senses?”

“Well, yeah. I know, chasing skirts is fun and all, but at the end of the day, you gotta admit that you belong here, right?”

Drake swallowed, trying to find his words before he spoke. He was trying to control his temper, he really was. But today had sucked enough without having to listen to Leo spout this bullshit.

“I mean, you did have me worried for a minute there. That pussy must be truly spectacular for both you and him to lose your minds over it.”

Drake heard a loud rushing in his ears and realized he as out of his chair and striding over to Leo before he could even think about what he was doing. Leo’s eyes widened and he maneuvered himself behind the bar, the fear evident in his eyes.

“Relax, man. I didn’t mean anything, really. I’m sure she’s a great woman. All I was trying to say is that I’m glad you’ll be here for him.”

“Right, because otherwise you might have to act like his actual brother, not just some drinking buddy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Leo. You’re not gonna stand there and act like you’ve been the brother he deserves, are you?”

Leo scowled, taking a long drink from his glass before he responded, “Just add it to the list. One more way that Leo is a fuckup who could never measure up to his perfect, saintly little brother.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up!” Drake groaned, rolling his eyes. “Nothing you can say will ever make me feel sorry for your irresponsible, hypocritical, entitled ass.”

“You have no idea what the pressure is like! You have never had to carry that weight, knowing you would never be able to-”

“I’m not talking about your abdication, Leo!” Drake yelled, smacking his hand down against the top of the bar. “That’s a whole other thing, and I don’t really want to get into right now. I’m talking about the fact that you have been a shitty brother to him since day one. And guess who always had to be there to pick up the slack?”

“Ah, yes. Drake Walker - a modern-day martyr. Your life has been sooo difficult, what with the living rent-free at a palace, drinking top shelf whiskey, going horseback riding on private trails whenever you wanted. Tell me again of the great woes and tribulations that were thrust upon you because of your burdensome friendship with His Majesty. I know he asked so much of you.”

“Classic Leo, deflect away any real criticism. Nothing is ever your fault, is it? Your father expected too much. The world just didn’t understand you. You weren’t cut out for this life. It’s your own fucking greatest hits album, and I’m so goddamn sick of it. But you know what? Play the fucking victim. Tell me again how fucking hard your privileged little life is. I honestly don’t give a shit. But I’m not gonna stand here and listen to your bullshit tales of how I was somehow the one who mistreated Liam.”

“Let’s see - you fucked the woman he loved and left him alone while terrorists tried to kill him. Am I leaving out any other recent developments?”

“Are we just gonna pretend that the first 28 years of his life didn’t happen? Because last time I checked, you haven’t exactly been some beacon of brotherly support. And rich of you to give me shit for choosing one woman to be with when your whole life has been nothing but a string of girls you claimed were different that all the ones who came before. First there was Charlize, then Fiona, or did Katrina come before her? Then Gigi, and that redhead whose name I never did find out, then-”

“Liam wasn’t in love with any of them. Besides, it’s not like you were some celibate monk all those years.”

“Yet someone I was able to find a way to sleep with women and be there for Liam. You on the other hand, were always just a bit too busy to find time to call and check in.”

“I love my brother, and I tried to be there for him. I’m sorry if my best isn’t up to the impeccable Walker standards,” Leo sneered, finishing his drink and slamming his glass down on the bar.

“You tried? Really? Leo, you took a fucking private jet and dragged me away from my life because you couldn’t handle his actual emotions! Then you dumped the crown on him without a backwards glance! I was always the one who had to clean up the mess!”

Leo opened his mouth, undoubtedly ready to defend himself, but the door to the lounge swung open, stopping the two men in their tracks. There was Liam, a scowl etched across his face, “I thought it might be best to inform you that approximately half the palace can hear you right now.”

Drake swallowed roughly, trying to control the anger rolling off him in waves. Fucking Leo. At least he had the decency to look guilty, dropping his eyes to the bartop and taking a deep breath before he spoke again.

“How much did you hear, Liam?”

“More than enough, Leo. Would you mind giving me a moment with Drake?”

“I should have known you’d take his side.”

“You and I will talk later. Right now, I need to speak to Drake.”

Leo stared at Liam for just a second before shaking his head and brushing past him on his way out the door. Drake waited until his footsteps trailed off before he spoke.

“If you had heard some of the shit he was saying, Liam, you-”

“I did hear ‘some of the shit’ he said. I, along with numerous palace employees, heard many things that both of you said. That really isn’t important at the moment. What I’m most interested in is your statement that he dragged you away from your life.”

“Liam, come on. Let’s not do this.”

“Do what, exactly? I am merely asking you to clarify the circumstances under which my brother-”

“Cut the diplomatic bullshit. If you’re going to fight with me, don’t talk to me like I’m some foreign dignitary.”

Liam just shook his head, “I’m not trying to fight with you, Drake. I didn’t even know you were still in the country, so imagine my surprise to hear you and my brother with raised voices, airing what seems to be years of personal grievances loudly enough for all the staff to hear. I’m simply trying to figure out what set both of you off. Leo isn’t usually one who angers like that, so it strikes me that this might be serious.”

“Oh, so you’re saying I'm the one who flies off the handle? The hot-headed commoner can’t control his temper, huh?”

Liam’s eyes widened and he took a beat before he continued, “What the hell is going on with you, Drake? I’m not even sure why you are here, but you seem determined to be furious with someone right now. Why don’t you just take a deep breath and try and-”

“Don’t you dare try to tell me to calm down. Don’t fucking placate me just to fucking keep the peace. I’m not some foreign diplomat, Liam. I’m supposed to be your friend. So don’t fucking treat me like we’re in the midst of a treaty negotiation.”

Liam sighed heavily. “Drake, all I want to do is figure out what is bothering you. I care about you, and I know whatever transpired between you and Leo-”

“Cut the bullshit; you came in here with a purpose. You had a question for me.”

“That’s not important right now. Hearing the way you are getting upset, seeing you here at all, I just-”

“Ask me your goddamn question, Liam.”

Liam hesitated for just a moment. He was clearly trying to gauge whether Drake was past the point of no return here, some part of Drake’s mind could sense that fact. But right now, his blood was pumping. His frustrations from the past few weeks had boiled over, and he was pissed. At Leo. At his life. At himself. And Liam must have realized that, because he decided to feed the beast, knowing there was no other way for Drake to have any sort of rational discussion if he didn’t do him the courtesy of granting him this.

“What did you mean when you said Leo dragged you away from your life?”

“Did you really never figure out how I was able to afford a last minute flight to Cordonia when I was a broke university student?”

“Leo bought you your ticket back?”

Drake let out a harsh chuckle. “Try Leo fucking showed up on campus, took me in a towncar to a private airplane hanger, and put me on the fucking royal jet.”

A range of emotions rolled rapidly across Liam’s face. Confusion. Shock. Deliberation. But finally, a firm hardness settled into his eyes. Liam was in full-on negotiator mode. It wasn’t a role he had to play often, but when he did, it was always a sight to see. He was poised and calculated and sure. It was great to watch him corner people who mistook his kindness and compassion for weakness. Or at least, Drake had always reveled in it before, when it was directed at presumptuous foreign leaders or entitled and under-prepared nobles. He’d never felt it directed at him.

“So would it be fair to say that it was out of obligation, not friendship, that you returned to Cordonia?”

“No, I came back because I cared about you and I was worried about you.”

“But you never would have returned if it wasn’t made clear to you that I was struggling to cope. You weren’t worried about me. Leo, the fucking flakiest man on the planet, was worried about me. You just served your role. Well, consider you obligation to me over.”

“Liam, stop it!” Drake tried to cut it, but Liam was far from finished, his words piercing through the room like a dagger.

“I now understand what you meant about you being the one who had to clean up the mess. I was just some liability punted from Leo to you.”

“Come on, that’s not-.”

“No, you ‘come on,’ Drake. It was obviously in reference to me. In what ways was I such a burden to you? In what ways did I hold you back from your real life?”

“I didn’t mean it like that, I just-”

“How did you mean it Drake? Anyway I can fathom you meaning it undercuts years of friendship, does it not?”

“No, it doesn’t! This is a two-way street, Liam. I know for a fact that I’ve been a burden to you at some points, too.”

Liam paused, swallowing roughly before he continued. “I never saw it that way. I was grateful to be there for you, someone I consider to be family. You were never a burden to me.”

Drake sighed, “I’ve never been as optimistic as you. I’m sorry that my phrasing is harsh, but you know me. I’m not saying that your friendship is some drain on me. But it is a fact that I had to walk away from some things after that assassination attempt. And I don’t regret doing it; but yeah, I left some things behind.”

“Are you sure you don’t regret it? Because listening to you now, it certainly seems like you hold some resentment there, if it still affects you years after the fact.”

Drake rubbed his face. How had this spiraled into some discussion of his decision years ago? “Look, you needed me then. Everything else kind of fell by the wayside.”

“I may have appreciated your return, but I certainly didn’t need you. You didn’t even realize that I was struggling. I would have been perfectly able of coping on my own.”

Liam paced away from Drake at that, trying to put some distance between them. Honestly, it somehow pissed Drake off even more. This was fucking revisionist history bullshit, that Leo was some intuitive brother, a saint who tracked down a comfort for Liam out of the goodness of his heart, not some responsibility-phobic asshole who booked it the second things get hard.

“Liam, I don’t know whether you needed me or not. But the fact is having me here was helpful, so I stayed. Not just because Leo asked, but because I cared more about your struggles than my own.”

“But I never asked you to do that! And now, years after the fact, you somehow still find a way to hold that against me.”

“What are you talking about?”

Liam spun around and stalked over towards Drake. He had a burning look in his eyes, but he kept clenching and unclenching his fists, as if he were trying to hold back this raging fire of anger and pain inside of him.

“I always looked past the fact that you were envious of me, understanding that some of the privileges of my station might appear to outweigh the burdens from an outside perspective. But now, hearing all of this, I just wonder if…” Liam trailed off, seeming to gain control of himself once again before he continued speaking. “Nevermind, it’s not important.”

“No, go on and say it.” The anger churning inside Drake wanted, no needed, to hear whatever thought Liam had apparently had decided was worth censoring from him, the one person he was never supposed to have to censor himself around.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“That’s fucking infuriating. You started the thought; you might as well finish it.”

Liam closed his eyes briefly before opening them and staring Drake down. “Fine. I wonder if you didn’t pursue Riley as a way to get back at me.”

Drake paused for a moment, trying to wrap his mind around the absolute insanity he was hearing. “What the fuck, Liam?”

“Maybe not consciously, but yes, since you clearly have some sort of resentment you hold against me, I just have to wonder if you maybe you went after her because you knew how much I liked her.”

“Went after her- God, do you really think so little of me that you think I toyed around with some poor woman just as part of some misguided revenge against you? I don’t even know how to respond to that, Liam. It’s so fucking insulting.”

Liam dropped his gaze at Drake’s statement, having the good grace at least to realize that statement was pretty horrible, but Drake felt more and more words coming up. It seemed like once he and Liam started down this road, he just couldn’t stop the thoughts from flowing out, unchecked and without pause.

“And not just to me. She is a grown ass adult who is perfectly capable of making up her own mind about her own relationships. It’s not like she just sat around, staring off into space, waiting for one of us to come along and convince her to be with us.”

“Stop putting words in my mouth, Drake. It isn’t fair and you know it. I have never treated her with anything but the utmost respect and hospitality.”

“That’s how you treat a distant relative who needs a place to stay for a few days. It’s not how you treat someone you want to marry!”

“Well, I don’t think open disdain is the best way to treat a romantic partner, either.”

Drake knew it was an earned dig. After all, he hadn’t exactly held back with his early cruelty towards Riley when speaking with Liam all those months ago. But to have his first impressions thrown in his face, when he had eaten so much crow and opened up to the woman in question so much? When Liam seemed to be stuck on his own first impressions of Riley? It just pissed him off all over again.

“I at least always treated her as an equal. I didn’t put her on some impossible pedestal she was bound to crash from.”

“I did everything in my power to show a woman that I was falling for her, that I adored her, and somehow that is a problem? I respected her roots and her background with kindness and gentleness. I tried to arrange ways to make her feel comfortable in a new country. I researched how to woo someone who had never been part of the nobility. I did everything I could think of to welcome her into this world. I courted her the best way I knew. In fact, I showed her far more affection than any of the other women here for me, even though it weighed on me that I wasn’t treating the rest of them fairly. Explain to me, Drake, how that degree of romance is somehow less desirable than sarcasm and condescension.”

“You are so fucking blinded by your cloud of royal entitlement, and you can’t even fucking see it. ‘Here for you?’ News flash, Liam - Hana and Maxwell figured it that we were together. I’m pretty sure Bertrand did as well. Hell, my sister claims she knew something was going on between us, and she met Liu for all of an hour. Why is it that you are the only one who didn’t see that something was going on between us?”

Liam opened his mouth to retort, but Drake kept pushing, “I’ll tell you why - you like to think you’re this down to earth royal, but the fact of the matter is, you could never envision a woman willingly choosing to be with me when she had the option to be with you. And maybe I’ve been a shit friend to you in some ways, but guess what? That makes you a pretty shit friend, too. Because you’re willing to sit here and imply that my love is not real, just some petty revenge because you were more important than I could ever be. And you know what? It’s bullshit.”

“Tell me, Drake - what is the appropriate response in your mind when you find out the woman you were pursuing was sleeping with your best friend and neither one of them saw fit to clue you in?”

“She tried to clue you in. Sure, she could have been more blunt, I guess. But did you really not notice that she stopped sneaking away to meet up for all of your little secret rendezvous? Or how about the fact that she stopped kissing you? But you kept after her. Because of course she was into you. What woman wouldn’t be? Who would choose to be with the lowly commoner instead of the handsome king?”

“Instead of playing the victim here, you could at least treat me with enough respect to acknowledge that you, while claiming to be my best friend, lied to me and let me look like a fool. You could have saved me a lot of pain and heartache. You made the conscious decision not to, and yet you have the gall to stand here and act like I was the one in the wrong.”

Drake glanced away, taking a swig from his glass, but unfortunately it was empty. He couldn’t even get a little distraction as Liam let him have it.

“You always see the worst in people Drake. You claim they see you as less than, that you are somehow treated as worse than others around you based simply on the fact that you were born a commoner. But you never take ownership of your own actions. You expect to be treated with respect when earning your respect is a monumental task that almost no one could ever hope to achieve. You write people off simply for having the misfortune of being born to a different social class, not acknowledging that they have as much control over their heritage as you do over yours. And you expect to be treated with dignity without offering any in return.

“And I tolerated it, because I knew that there were some people that did treat you as second class, and because you always respected me enough to be one of the few people in my life who granted me complete honesty. But now, that is called into question, because you lied to me, repeatedly. And I have to wonder if you ever cared for me, how you could be so callous in the way you treated me in all of this?”

The question hung in the air, sitting there. It smothered the lounge in thick layer of suspense, neither man able to move forward and speak, yet at the same time unable to look away from each other. Drake felt equal parts guilty and damaged. It seemed like for every critique he’d had of Liam, Liam had his own to hurl right back. Neither one of them held the high ground here. They both were metaphorically beaten and bruised. Eventually, a sharp knock on the door broke the tense silence. After a few more seconds of staring at each other, Liam finally spoke.

“Come in.”

“Of fucking course,” thought Drake. Who else would be here but Olivia fucking Nevrakis?

“Your assistant told me I might find you here, but he looked awfully uncomfortable about that fact. Did he send me to interrupt a lover’s quarrel?”

Drake refused to dignify her with a response, but the complete silence from both of them clearly spoke volumes. Olivia rolled her eyes slightly before she spoke again.

“As much as I would like to stay for the inevitable brawl and see who wins this, I have something to discuss with His Majesty that’s rather time sensitive. Liam, do you mind?”

Liam turned to face Olivia, but even in profile, Drake could sense him plastering on his diplomatic mask once again. “Of course, Lady Olivia. Let’s head to my office.”

And without a backward glance, he was off, falling in stride with Olivia as the two of them exited the room. As soon as the lounge door swung shut, Drake sank into the closest chair, letting out a long sigh. He felt like he had just thrown up, but in that way when you’ve been nauseous all day from a stomach flu, and then when you finally puke, you somehow feel awful but somehow better all at the same time.

Telling Liam all these thoughts he’d kept to himself. Telling him the thoughts he didn’t even realize he’d been keeping to himself. Well, it was damn cathartic. To have it all out in the open felt like a relief. Even if Liam had his own issues to throw out there. Hell maybe because Liam had his own issues with him. Finally, they were talking. Really talking, not just beating around the apple tree. And that had to be progress, right?

Sure, as the adrenaline from the fight wore off, some of Liam’s barbs sunk in. And boy, did they sting. But at the end of the day, Drake somehow felt that this was better than their stilted half conversations and awkward small talk. At least this was real. And quite frankly, today kind of felt like rock bottom. That meant things could only improve from here. Drake just had to figure out how.

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