#but she still seems to think of me as weaker than her and ooo it grinds my gears

[the-dawn-star]

Ooo if it’s okay (if this is too detailed, no worries!!!)

Can I please request a Mate!Demetri x Mate!fem!newborn vampire!reader where she’s only been a vampire for a very, very short time (like a couple months or even weeks or something), one of the Cullens had turned her. She has a telekinesis powers (though she’s not trained on using them). She goes with Alice and Bella to save Edward. (Y/n being jealous when Dem is restraining Alice, accidentally blurting out that he should restrain her instead… he does lol). And when Alice and Edward say no to Aro asking them to join the Volturi… Y/n says yes + she’s Demetri’s mate

A/N: Hi! Firstly, this turned more angsty than intended but I hope that doesn't bother you too much. Secondly, I kinda picked some of the things you mentioned so sorry for letting some of them out. Thirdly, thanks for requesting and stuff!

-S

+ 600ish words.

I knew that I should not be here. I had been a vampire for three weeks and hunger had been killing me ever since we left for the airport. Every contact was itchy, and my throat felt like it was burning. Carlisle had told me not to go, but I cared for Edward too much to let him do this to himself. But I wasn’t sure if coming to the other side was worth it because of the pain I was in. I should not be here.  

Aro was talking to Edward, but I could not pay enough attention to listen. The hunger was too strong to do anything.  

I was brought back to reality when a member of the guards wrapped their hands around my arms. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to fight back when a member of the elite guard was holding me. I turned to look at my friends seeing that Bella and Alice were being held just like me while Edward was fighting with a guard. But Edward was younger and weaker than the guard.  

I turned to Alice who looked just as panicked as Bella. She tried to fight back against the hold of the vampire, but just like Edward she was too weak to overpower him. He was beautiful in the weird vampiric way that I had gotten so used to since knowing about this part of the world.  

But I was pulled away from the vampire only to be directed back to Bella and the sound of her beating heart. I was so hungry... so hungry...  

Someone said something and someone else responded to that but couldn’t concentrate on any of it. All of the sounds were so far away from me and in truth the words didn’t really interest me.  

“Y/N,” The sound was a whisper, but it made me see the room and the people in it again. Alice was looking at me confused about my change in normal behavior.  

I wasn’t held by a vampire anymore and everyone was looking at me. Aro was in front of me, his hand extended to me. I knew of his powers, but the idea was still more than terrifying. But I had no choice, and just because he didn’t take my hand forcefully wasn’t an invitation to decline the offer. So, I placed my hand on his.

“Alice, be a dear and tell Carlisle to take better care of his new vampires. Y/N here has been famished since you left to save your brother.”  

I couldn’t look at my friends while Aro spoke.  

“Tell me, why do you keep the diet Carlisle is so inclined to keep? You clearly do not enjoy it.” Aro asked while keeping his eyes closed.  

“I- I don’t think they would like it... If I drank from humans...” It was difficult to make sentences when my insides were burning and talking hurt.  

“And you have special ability too..., and they have not trained you or helped you with the powers you now have...”  

Aro let my hand go before opening his eyes.  

“I have tried to get you coven members to join the Volturi for a long time. And now I am inclined to ask you the same.”  

If my heart could still beat it would have raised.  

“Aro...” Marcus sounded bored but raised his hand, so Aro understood the invitation.  

For a few seconds Aro held Marcus’s hand before letting it go and letting out a happy hum.  

“It seems that dear Y/N’s mate has been found.” Aro smiled at me before averting his eyes to a guard.  

“Demitri, come here to meet your mate...” 

[nezushi]

kill kill murder kill (<- being physically underestimated at work)

[bellatrixobsessed1]

When A Bird Dies

Pair: Alcina/Mia

Summary: After Mother Miranda’s death, Alcina feels lost. She uses wine to cope and Mia tries to help her find a purpose.

AN: This one shot was inspired by Rosegarden Funeral Party’s Once In A While. It’s my first time writing Mia so apologies if it’s somewhat OOC. Ngl I was kind of just typing here and hoping for the best xD

Sometimes when she gets insecure, she gets drunk. And the lady is a woefully sloppy and unrefined drunk. Sometimes she drinks when she is sad. Mia doesn’t understand why she does this, the drinks only heighten her sorrow and leave her a sobbing mess.

On these nights, Mia wishes that she could carry the lady to bed. Lift her right off her feet and tuck her in. Perhaps rub her back until she comes back to herself. Her poised and fierce self. Back to the Alcina who speaks of skinning men alive and tasting their delectable blood.

But sometimes, the woman curled up and sobbing on the floor isn’t of any intrigue to Mia. She is a pitiful thing. And sometimes a disgusting sniveling thing. Really, Mia thinks that she ought to take the woman’s wine from her. Sometimes she grows tired of what it can reduce Dimitrescu to.

“You would do this in front of your daughters?” Mia asks.

“My daughters aren’t here.”

“Yes, they’re off fetching and bedding maidens.” She comments dryly. Sometimes bitterness gets the best of her. Sometimes she finds herself slipping and lapsing into something that she isn’t proud of, not even slightly. Maybe the woman in front of her is wearing off on her. Maybe it is this village infecting her just as swiftly as the mold.

“How dare you?” Lady Dimitrescu growls. She wipes her eyes, smearing mascara and foundation. Her face is twisted into a furious, almost feral snarl. Double so with crimson of blood-wine staining her teeth. “Talk about my daughters like that…” she slurs. “I’ve never said an ill word of that Rose.”

She could slap the woman. She very well should. Dimitrescu knows well that Rose is a subject not to be spoken of. Even years later it still stings to think of having to let the baby go. To think of having to let Ethan go. To have watched them make their way out of the village with only a glance back.

To know that the mold has infected and warped her so beyond repair that she had to let the two of them go and remain here amid the other freaks and monsters. And only this one, this sorry drunk had taken pity on her. Mia supposes that calling her a drunk is a bit of a stretch. She only drinks when she thinks. And lately she has been doing a lot of thinking. She says that she thinks until her head hurts. Undoubtedly she misses Mother Miranda, the wretched beast.

Without Mother Miranda she is both stronger and weaker. She is bolder, freer. Bolder, freer, and sadder. Though sometimes Mia thinks that it is merely a melodrama, that the mutant just wants attention. And with nothing better to do, Mia gives it to the woman. Most of the time she only dimly recalls having received any affection at all.

And maybe it is her maternal side that does the talking and moving. Her maternal side that compels her to help the tall lady to her unsteady feet. “You’re going to have to stop this.” Mia sighs. “You’re a lot stronger than this.”

.oOo.

Alcina shakes her head. These days she doesn’t feel much like that. Between Mother Miranda’s great fall and her own at the hands of Ethan Winters, she has found herself feeling rather inadequate.

Her weakness now runs so deep that she can’t even bring herself to go through with her vengeance. To drive a claw through one end of Mia and out the other and deliver the corpse straight to her husband and his wretched daughter.

Right now her head hurts too much to stand, let alone skewer a woman. And even if she had the ability she is coming to find that she has quite a soft spot for Mia. To think that she has fallen so low that she finds herself fancying a human. She is lucky that her daughters aren’t here to see this. She resents it with a fury, but Mia is right. She needs to get herself together.

“Sit with me?” She pats a spot on her lap. The woman hesitates. “Sit with me.” She still hesitates but climbs into her lap all the same.  “You know that I was thinking of bleeding you out? I was going to chain you to the ceiling just the way I did your husband.” She pauses, trying to detect fear or hatred on the woman’s face. It remains blank. Impassive and unphased. “I was going to taste your blood on my tongue, surely it tastes better than your husband’s. Woman…” she leans closer, hovers her lips over Mia’s exposed neck. “Women taste better. Sweeter, richer. They aren’t so dirty and stale.”

“And how does your blood taste, Lady Dimitrescu?”

She furrows her brows, admittedly, the question has thrown her. “My blood…”

“I don’t bleed.”

“Everyone bleeds, Lady Dimitrescu.” Mia seems to study her face. “You just bleed differently. I imagine that your blood tastes like wine. You drink enough of it.”

Her face colors. It helps her case very little that she is already quite tipsy. Tipsy and absurdly emotional. She understands why Mia isn’t quite so intimidated by her today. “I do not bleed.” She repeats again.

“You would hemorrhage if your daughters died. Mother Miranda died and look at you...you’re bleeding all over the place.” She reaches up and wipes a tear from Alcina’s eye. “It’s depressing and fascinating to watch.” She pauses. “I’ve looked after a mutant before. Eveline. The infected definitely bleed. The hurt and cry just the way we do. You wouldn’t even know that some of them are mutated.”

Alcina cringes, “don’t you dare compare me to…”

“Humans?” Mia asks. “You were human once.”

“That...that was a very long time ago.” And there is not one part of her that wishes to return to that feeble, delicate state. “You’d do well not to bring it up again.” Where did she put the wine bottle? But the words have already well and settled upon her, she doesn’t think that more wine can drive them out this time.

Evidently she isn’t sure what to do. Isn’t sure that she has a purpose at all anymore. Donna has her dolls and Karl has his machines. She never thought that she would find herself near the same level as Salvatore--confused and lost.

She could continue to export her wines, she supposes. But that has lost its charm now that Mother Miranda won’t be around to stop in for a taste. To dully express a fondness for the drinks.

She has her girls but they have their own lives to live and now that the weather is warming, they are out and about more often.

“What shall I do, Mia?” She murmurs.

Mia’s face softens and the woman brings a hand to her cheek. Her hand is somewhat cold but the gesture has a warmth to make up for it. “About what? Your startling bloodlust?”

“What shall I do now that Mother Miranda is gone?”

“First you can put down the bottle.” She takes it right from Alcina’s hands and puts it aside. “And then you can start living your own life again. Your way.”

She isn’t sure that she remembers how.

“You used to enjoy jazz, yes?”

“Quite well.” She nods. And she still enjoys digging out an old record every now and then.

“Well, why don’t you put a record on, we can have dinner, and discuss how to get you back into the music industry.”

“I don’t believe that I fit into the scene anymore.” And she means it most literally.

“That’s what we’ll be talking about. I’d love to get out of this village every now and again. Perhaps you can do the singing and I can do some lip syncing?”

It isn’t such a horrid plan. If nothing else, it gives her something to fantasize about. Something to look forward to. And perhaps if she doesn’t kill the woman or corrode her soul completely--they might make a fine duo.

Mia casts a smile over her shoulder.

Sometimes, Alcina loses herself. At least this time she may  have help finding herself.  

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Adventure Time Reviewed - S1E20 Freak City to S1E22 Henchman

A weaker group, ending on a sweet episode with Marceline. 

Ep 20 - Freak City

These openings with Finn and Jake doing silly stuff are my life.  Finn thinking that a homeless guy will reward him for a single cube of sugar...  The bird scene with Magic Man is really funny and the darkest scene up to this point, besides maybe Finn’s near death experiences in Dungeon. Jake got traumatized!!! 

For the record, this episode is flashing and it’s not advisable to watch with epilepsy.  

In this episode, Jake refuses to help Finn get his body back, because he seems to have a foot fetish and is living vicariously through Finn. So Finn grows depressed, and then kicks Jake’s ass. 

“Im gonna go rescue all the babies in town! Only the babies.” 

Jake throws Finn into a burning city. 

JAKE HAS A CRYDAR... he can sense when Finn is going to cry... 

Jake’s nose is brown in the firelighy. I don’t like it. 

“Kim! Get under Trudy!” “No man, please, I freaking HATE Trudy.” “Kim. I will DESTROY you!!” 

“GET HIS EYES! CUT HIM IN THE EYES!”

I love how good the reverted designs for the Freaks are. Even though they just appear for a second, they’re very creative.   

Altogether an... okay episode? Certainly not one I’m going to rush back to rewatch. The next Magic Man ep in s4 is 10 times better. 

Ep 21 - Donny 

Not the highlight episode of the season. In fact, this character sucked so much that they never brought him back until the series finale. He’s seen briefly in the final montage watching Crabbit dance!

Finn and Jake start the ep on a “safety patrol”. They are never seen doing this again. I find it sweet that they’d go around making sure everyone is being safe. Maybe Finn wanted to, so Jake is playing along with him. 

Finn thinks he’s complicated... He is a young boy with feelings! He’s not an outsider. He doesn’t even necessarily feel like one. But he’s 12 so he is confused. Finn probably feels funny about being the only human too. 

I enjoy that he and Donny become friends through a wrestle that becomes Finn teaching Donny how to fight back. It reminds me of when I fought my sister when I was little. Sometimes we needed those fights. 

The Why-wolves are a nice introduction to the ecosphere and population control... I always wished these guys would come back. There’s a sidecomic to one of the AT issues where they work with Bubblegum on a project but then reveal they’re going to eat everyone, and I think she’s already planned for the possibility, so they’re easily dispatched. 

“Our population will rise exponentially until we are eaten by the cosmic owl, so is the course of nature.”  Beautiful. 

22. Henchman 

This episode was really sweet. 

I like that it establishes Marceline has a known presence in Ooo. Honestly, I’m not sure how Finn and Jake never heard of her before, but she probably doesn’t perform in the Candy Kingdom... She has an old diving buddy, and the Duke of Nuts invited her to perform. 

Upon watching, it’s easy to brush off her so called necromancy as just yelling at the skeletons to wake up. She did use the power in Diamonds and Lemons, but that episode isn’t canon. I think it would work either way, because the Vampire Coven surely had some necromancy powers between them. 

The bow tie guy had an entire family on his walls. Even though he’s a minor character they put a lot of love into showing he has a life.  In the episode Sky Witch, much later, you see Maja’s family on the walls in her house, alongside the 10 million other objects in that episode. I love it when background designers go crazy like that. 

Marceline is acting like an enormous jerk to mess with Finn. It doesn’t seem like EVERYONE thinks she’s a jerk - or if they do, then they don’t care - but she finds Finn’s childish, heroic reactions hilarious. I feel really bad for him. She’s a bully! She even hurts his arms. But her moral code is slightly wack so it’s not as if she thinks it matters as long as he comes out of it alive. She’s certainly not going to molly-coddle him!  

And when Finn figures it out, she’s very friendly.    Finn learns a lesson of not judging books by their covers, while Marceline makes a new friend. 

What’s jarring is that even though Obsidian provides better context for Marceline’s behaviour in this ep, it’s not until her NEXT appearance - It Came from the Nightosphere - that she feels like a person. She’s still stuck in the season 1 archetypical babywriting. Season 2 is much better with dialogue and characters, other than PB and Jake, who are pretty good in s1. PB doesnt get any real standout moments in season 2, which is probably why I remember fuck all from it. Jake is really funny in s2 though.  

[starlightinhumanform]

The Art of Love: Chapter 13

Fandom: She Ra (2018)

Ship: Glimadora 

Summary: Glimmer finally answers Adora’s text and gets to spend some quality Mom-Daughter time with Angella because they deserve it 😤

Warnings (for this chapter): Some descriptions of anxious thoughts (please tell me if anything needs to be added)

Genre: High School AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Rivals/Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Fluff

A/N: Updates have really slowed down on this fic simply due to the current conditions of the world but I’m very excited for the future of this fic and I appreciate your continued support through all the ups and downs 🖤🖤 Love you all 🖤✨

Ao3    The Art of Love Masterpost    Fic Masterpost    Fic Request Info

Hey I was wondering how you were? Lmao I sound like a grandma but really. You seemed kinda out of it today and I wanted to make sure you were doing alright (it’s probably cuz I kept you up working on the dumb project all night lol) so yeah just wanted to check in cuz we didn’t really get to talk today :)

The first thing that struck Glimmer about the text was the fact that Adora had written her an entire paragraph. The second thing that hit her was that the entire said paragraph was all basically to ask how she was. It was silly and overly concerned and so very Adora. Nobody else would do something so sweet and manage to make it so ridiculous at that same time.

A wave of relief washed over Glimmer. So Adora wasn’t asking about Elizabeth and hadn’t mentioned anything about Glimmer’s crush. Glimmer could remain safe in her little bubble as long as Adora stayed within her own lines of ignorance. That would only last so long, however. For all she knew, that bubble had already popped.

Glimmer realized with a start that it was quite possible that Adora was simply leading up to that point, too polite to confront her right off the bat. Just wanted to check in... we didn’t really get to talk today.

Either Adora actually was just asking her what was up, or she wanted to “talk” to her. Glimmer wasn’t sure which option was more terrifying. Given how their past conversations had gone, Glimmer had absolutely no confidence in her ability to talk to anyone, let alone to someone she was crushing on- let alone to Adora.

She chewed her lip for a second, unsure of what to do. If Adora was still clueless and she started confessing to something Adora was completely unaware of, it would be worse than Elizabeth confessing it for her.

She thought of Adora, chilling at home, probably working away on some assignment like the nerd that she was. Glimmer started giggling at the idea of Adora pausing for a moment because she got a text and it was just Glimmer screaming: YES I HAVE A MAJOR CRUSH ON YOU EVERYTHING ELIZABETH SAID WAS TRUE ALSO WOULD YOU LIKE TO RUN AWAY WITH ME AND START A SHEEP FARM IN THE NETHERLANDS???

Yeah, ok so that option was not going to happen. She should probably just play it cool, like a normal person texting their normal friend. Her brain felt the need to interject: Yeah right- “normal person,“ that’s you. The little voice continued: “Normal friend”- that’s a funny way to put it.

Suddenly another wave hit Glimmer, and this one felt like an entire brick wall crumbing on top of her. Except it was good. It felt soft and warm and made Glimmer feel like maybe, just maybe, things would be ok. The sensation spread up from her toes and erupted in her chest until it reached the very tips of her fingers. It made her stretch her legs out and reach backwards with her arms until they were fully extended because it filled her heart up so much, she couldn’t contain it all in her small form.

Because even if Glimmer wasn’t as close to Adora as she wanted, they were friends. At least, that’s where things were hopefully pointing to. Was it perfect? No. Was it everything Glimmer wanted and more? Obviously not. But was it good? God, yes. It was something Glimmer had never thought was possible; it was something she had been actively trying not to pursue out of the conviction that it would all go wrong and she would get hurt. But this didn’t hurt. Not in the slightest.

Riding on the euphoria, she typed out a quick response:

I’m good. And yeah sorry I was pretty tired today lol Weaver has destroyed my sleep schedule. Also you sound like you ACTUALLY want me to talk to you?? How absolutely scandalous???

Glimmer let her feet swing back and forth, heels kicking against the side of her mattress. Tiny little bubbles of hope kept rising up towards her head because this was almost- very, nearly maybe- a step forward. A step towards being a little more than friends with Adora. Ha, this isn’t a step towards anything. You’re not going to get anywhere with her. Getting this high off the ground just means it’ll hurt more when this cloud dissolves under your feet. Because that’s exactly what this is- you’re letting yourself rely on cotton candy daydreams and sooner or later they’re going to dissolve beneath you.

Glimmer shook the negative thoughts off and switched conversations to scroll through the memes Bow had sent her. They were undoubtedly funny but she hardly registered the images; she had other things to be happy about.

Bow was probably going to annoy her about this later but Glimmer couldn’t resist the urge to gush:

BOW BOW BOW

SHE’S TEXTING ME

LIKE A FRIEND

ASKING ME HOW I AM

OOO???

Glimmer grinned at Bow’s quick response but she knew the real reason she was smiling.

I knoooooooow. I so happy

So you still think she hates you?

Her grin faltered for a moment before returning, slightly weaker than it had been before.

BLEH why’d you have to bring that upppppp

And I don’t know? Maybe she doesn’t hate me but she doesn’t have any reason NOT to

Glimmer i love you but you can be SO DENSE sometimes

She DOES have a reason not to hate you?? Maybe it’s possible that she thinks you’re smart and funny and talented? I don’t know tho- I’m just throwing stuff out here. Also she might actually LIKE you maybe as a friend,,, maybe more ;)

Glimmer snorted at Bow’s ranting. He was sweet and a far better friend than she could ever rationalize deserving. But he was high off his own optimistic ideals.

There is definitely nothing “more” I don’t even think we’re officially friends yet. More like uuuuhh acquaintances with benefits

OHOHO???

Glimmer immediately regretted her word choice, laughing as she buried her face in her hands.

NOT LIKE THAT. PERVERT.

She waited for Bow’s answer, laughing quietly at their ridiculous conversation. As the little dots marched to indicate Bow’s typing, a buzz and flag altered Glimmer that Adora had responded.

She texted back gotta go

Switching once more to her and Adora’s conversation, the first thing Glimmer found herself marveling at was her own stupidity. The giddy feeling that had been all-consuming now faded away as she reread her message. It sounded clingy and overly confident. It definitely felt worthy of the cringe the shuddered through her body and made her want to curl up in a ball. What had her euphoric-high brain been trying to do? Flirt? If so, she had desperately failed.

Still in embarrassed pain, she moved on to Adora’s message:

How many times do I have to tell you YES I want to talk to you.

But there was something in particular I wanted to talk to you about

The second part made Glimmer’s blood run cold. Adora continued typing but she didn’t dare respond, too frozen to type. All the stars that had been floating in her eyes crashed around her. So she did know. So Glimmer’s worst fears were reality. And there was nothing she could do about it now. After an eternity, Adora’s message finally jumped onto Glimmer’s screen.

It’s about this morning. Well and today. And last night. Kinda. I just feel like I might have made you uncomfortable last night, like I was being really clingy so then this morning I felt really awkward and I’m sorry if I came off as cold or anything. And then in class you seemed all tense and I was just wondering if I had crossed some lines or anything?

Glimmer could have sworn she heard a record scratch in her head, nearly getting whiplash from reading Adora’s message. The situation kept switching so quickly; as soon as she got one foot on the rug, it would be pulled out from under her and she would look down and it turn out she had been standing on raft in the middle of the ocean the entire time.

She squinted to reread the message one more time and gave a breathy laugh when she had determined she had read it correctly the first time. Adora was the one that thought she had crossed lines? It was ridiculous. It seemed so unrealistic, Glimmer nearly slipped into her original thinking of Adora. If only she hadn’t been forced to see that nuclear core that made up that crazy blonde. That would have made everything so much easier. She could just brush the whole message as a ploy to gain sympathy. But know she had to know better. Now, she had to acknowledge that Adora was being completely sincere.

Glimmer had no idea how to respond. Adora was being completely open, completely vulnerable; and it was terrifying. It was almost worse than when she was wrapped up in doubt. It was the difference between not knowing why someone was ill and knowing exactly what was wrong- all while being expected to find the solution. Except Glimmer wasn’t a doctor. She had no cure for the situation.

She forced confidence, pushing away all her question just long enough to respond.

Are you going to make a habit of sending me essays?

She immediately regretted how cold she sounded and hurriedly began trying to remedy the conversation.

I’m sorry but really you’re fine. I didn’t mind you... if I came across as stiff or weird about anything it’s just because I’m not really used to people getting that close that quickly

It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t the complete truth either, but it was close enough for now.

oh god I’m really sorry

What no?? I just said it was fine??

Still... that really sounds like I made you uncomfortable

Glimmer let out a sigh. She never thought she’d find herself trying to convince someone she was becoming increasingly infatuated with that it was ok to be close with her. It sounded strange when she thought about, but there was something endearing about how Adora barreled her way into Glimmer’s life and was now trying tiptoe out of the china shop.

I was a little surprised that’s all. You’re all good

Really? Even after I said I would kill weaver in class today?? You didn’t think that was weird??!

No lmao again I was a bit surprised but I mostly thought it was funny

You sure about that

Yep 100%

If you were in person right now you would hear me go hmmmmmmm

Glimmer snorted quietly out of her nose; Adora made her laugh at the stupidest things. She was entirely convinced that she would never be as funny as Adora, but she hoped she could bring her at least just a little bit of happiness.

Yeah well if you were in person right now you would see me roll my eyes and yell at you to stop being dumb

A shallow pain spread across Glimmer’s chest, a coat of lead paint over her heart; milky indigo weighing her down. If only Adora’s casual jokes were a reality. If only she were face to face with Adora. If only Adora’s face was inches from her own and quickly coming closer. Glimmer’s hands ached to run through Adora’s hair and her ears cried to hear Adora’s voice. She didn’t want to look anywhere if it wasn’t into the storm of Adora’s eyes. Her throat was hoarse from emotion but she would sing if it meant she could bear witness once more to the way Adora wove melodies out of the air.

Glimmer sat up as if startled from a dream. This- this, oh no. Oh shit. This has gone much too far. You should have stopped this before it even started. How did you even let this happen?

Glimmer had know Adora was beautiful since she saw her on the first day of school. Ignoring her and twisting her into some villain had made it a simple thing to deal with, but she couldn’t ignore the iceberg once her Titanic had begun sinking. And now she was officially sunk, water far above her head and no hope of survival to be seen.

There was a sliver of Glimmer- some crazy little fraction of her mind that had to scream to be heard- that just wanted to rip the band aid off. She wanted to stop giving all the power to other people. If someone was going to tell Adora that Glimmer had hopelessly fallen for her, it might as well come from the source.

She looked down at her phone, suddenly aware that Adora had responded.

Hey I gotta go I just wanted to check that we were ok! I’m glad you don’t mind me lmao

Glimmer took a deep breath, making an attempt to gather her thoughts. It was a hopeless effort, her mind fragmented across the room. Did Adora really worry that Glimmer “minded” her? Was there in way to describe the burning that struck in her chest whenever Adora gave her one of those soft grins- that dull ache that constricted her heart and seeped through her ribs. How could she ever reassure Adora she could never be bothersome when every one of her actions struck Glimmer with wonder? How could she even attempt to say such a thing with revealing everything, admitting her mind’s greatest fear? How could she try to convince Adora of something that she couldn’t even admit to herself.

Because the answer was quite simple. She loved Adora. Deeply and painfully. But no matter how perfect Adora was, it still felt dangerous to love her. To Glimmer, it was just as good as putting a target on her back. It was like saying HEY EVERYONE!! I’M ALREADY WEIRD AND SO SO DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND NOW I’M PUTTING THAT ON DISPLAY!

Glimmer was being pulled apart. She knew she shouldn’t show her affection to Adora. But she knew just as deeply and far more truly that she loved Adora- and keeping that inside of her would break her heart.

She threw or phone and thoughts (momentarily) aside, flopping backwards on her bed. Her body bounced slightly from the force of throwing herself down and it only added to the sensation that her head was floating away. There was just too much to tackle right now. Glimmer could tell from the growing pressure on her head that if she kept picking it all apart, the pressure would quickly shift; it would tighten around her lungs, making it hard to breathe and squeezing what she couldn’t force down to pour down her face.

Glimmer took a deep breath, through her nose and out her mouth- once, twice, three times, she lost count as she focused solely on the rhythm she was creating. These past few days had been chaotic and exhausting and good part of that had been created by her. She was tired. Her brain felt heavy as gravity retook control over her head. In fact, her whole body felt heavy; she was sinking deeper into her mattress with every exhale.

——————————————————————

When Glimmer woke up, the last hues of dusk just barely reached her window. It was obvious that the night had happily creeped onwards while she had slept. She must have been out for at least an hour.

Down the hall, she could hear voices of some TV show her mom was watching as they flickered out of the speakers.

Glimmer opened her door, peaking around the frame and looking down the hall. She could just see the top of her mother’s pastel hair above the top of the couch. In front of her, what looked like Hell’s Kitchen was playing. Glimmer was somewhat amazed that she had been able to sleep through Gordon Ramsey’s yelling.

She walked towards the living room and sat down next to Angella on the couch. She was asleep, hair mussed up in the back as she leaned up against the cushions. Glimmer felt a wave of affection wash over her. Whatever happened at school, whatever happened with Adora- hell, whatever happened within herself- she would always love her mother. Sometimes things got in the way of her remembering that.

Glimmer nudged her mom gently in the side, “Hey, wake up.”

Angella stirred, smiling as her gaze fell upon Glimmer, “Hey, dear.”

Glimmer squirmed under her mother’s softness, guilt over how she had acted earlier hitting her, “I’m really sorry. About how I treated you at dinner. I was really rude and nights like this are basically the only time we have together; I shouldn’t waste them being a brat to you.”

“You’re a teenager and we don’t exactly see eye to eye on everything- I expect this sort of thing to happen occasionally.”

“But I-“ Glimmer tried to argue but was cut off.

“But I appreciate you apologizing.”

“Mom!!” Glimmer felt like her mother should have been angrier, should have at least told her off for stomping down to her room as rudely as she had. And she had done it in response to her mom just trying her best to help. That must have hurt.

“Glimmer!!” Angella mirrored her daughter’s exasperation, “You really think I didn’t slam doors and yell and act out when I was your age? I don’t necessarily like it, but a little angsty rebellion is normal. Like I said, I expect some of this.”

“If you say so… just don’t expect to see it often,” Glimmer felt a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth. Her mom wasn’t exactly the most relaxed person but she understood Glimmer better than probably anybody else on the planet.

“Good,” Angella reached out and tucked one of Glimmer’s fluffy locks behind her ear, “I prefer when you talk to me instead of just hiding away in your room.”

“Yeah,” Glimmer laughed somewhat nervously because she totally didn’t do exactly that most of the time instead of talking to people.

“So… you want to tell me about that girl now?”

Glimmer tucked herself next to Angella’s side and turned to face the TV where Gordon Ramsey was berating a man for having rats in his kitchen, “No, not yet.”

She felt her mother shrug and smiled as Angella wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Drama could wait. And if she loved Adora? Well, she would deal with that later too.

Quick announcement that I am (FINALLY) starting a taglist for this fic, so if you are interested, please just send an ask or reply to this post <3

[wordcubed-writes]

What if Naruto’s ~Ancient Aliens~ plotline didn’t suck?

Fandom: Naruto

Fanfic: A Different World

Context: "The Uchiha and Senju are descended from ancient aliens and their mom is the final bad guy” plotline in Naruto... kinda sucks. So I’m just going to throw the whole canon out and substitute my own.

____________________

Hagoromo slew the monster. Then he ended the war. He ended the war because he said so, because he was a god, because he held the Ten-Tails and he could pull all the world’s chakra inside himself. For a thousand years, he ruled over the world, carefully laying the foundations for a just and peaceful future.

Then he died.

His sister shook her head and called him a fool. Always distant, ever aloof, she took her half of the Otsutsuki clan and left. She left for the moon, to guard the Ten-Tails’ corpse, and to watch. Hagoromo might be able to hold all the world’s chakra, but Hamura could see the world with a clarity her brother never had. She would, she decreed, give her awful nephews two centuries to make peace, and if they failed, her wrath would turn them to dust. If they failed to uphold the glorious Otsutsuki name, then she would simply ensure there weren’t any left to ruin it.

She’d never been particularly fond of the Impure Lands. They were merely a sinkhole for unworthy souls, after all. She’d humored her little brother anyway, like she always had, but now Hagoromo was dead. Worse than dead, he was stuck in the Grey Lands. What a fool.

Then she died. It was inevitable, really. Like her brother, she’d stayed for far too long in the Impure Lands. Her body became corrupted, and wasted away like a mortal’s. It was embarrassing. Also, painful. Dying was unpleasant, and she was fond of her children, however pitiful the world they called home was. Now she would never see them again.

“Have you learned anything?” he asked as she marched past him, towards the Pure Land. “That pain was only a taste of what all mortals go through. They’ll reincarnate over and over again, hurting over and over.”

“Is that why you wanted me to stay?” she stated more than asked. “To learn? I don’t need whatever it is you think I need. Not in the Pure Land. I am going home. You are free to waste your time in the Grey Lands. Enjoy watching your insufferable children ruin your legacy.”

She never spoke to him again. The Pure Land was short one god, a gap that could never be filled, but she put it behind her.

~oOo~~oOo~~oOo~~oOo~

The first time Hagoromo Otsutsuki used Creation of All Things was to put away the Ten-Tails. He found it less memorable than seeing the look on Hamura’s face. She’d tried destroying it outright, and found it was beyond even her power.

That she needed help with something was such an affront to her dignity. When she’d grumbled that they might have to work together, while looking so offended at the very thought of admitting weakness, he’d actually snickered. She’d glared at him for that. Her eyes made it a very formidable glare indeed. (It was like the whole world, heaven and earth itself, was made of eyes and all of them were looking at him at once.)

Between the two of them, the greatest monster to ever wander the Impure Lands was crushed. The full power of two of the greatest gods from the Pure Land, the twin wielders of all destruction and all creation, was brought against it. Its spirit was shredded and torn and its body rendered to dust, and even as it simply rebirthed from the Grey Lands the monster found itself reshaped and remade into something less vile.

When it grew weak from their assault, Hagoromo stayed her hand. He would not let her destroy it. Instead, he locked it inside himself. Hamura called him a fool and warned that it would destroy him. He’d looked at her and said that this way, he could try and understand it.

It was bewildering.

But she could see everything, and she watched the monster from the outside in as it changed. He tamed it, somehow, and when he let it out and created nine new shapes for it, she let herself believe that it was no longer a being of pure loathing and cruelty, of violence given boundless form but no function beyond itself.

She was a fool because she’d forgotten how foolish mortals were, and how foolish Hagoromo’s half of the Otsutsuki clan was. If the monster could be tamed, then it could be untamed.

Hamura belittled her brother’s compassion, but she was wise enough to recognize that his heart was big enough for the whole world. The problem was, nobody else could ever measure up. Strife would return as soon as Hagoromo died.

It did.

~oOo~~oOo~~oOo~~oOo~

The third time Hagoromo used Creation of All Things was when Hamura declared that he owed her for her help with the Ten-Tails, and therefore he should create offspring for her, much as he had done for himself. (That’d been the second time he used Creation of All Things.) In her image, she was careful to specify. Hagoromo had made his own children in his image, and they were every bit as foolish as he was. If her children were crafted after her, they’d at least be sensible.

(They were indeed very sensible, though Hagoromo felt that had little to do with worshiping reason and everything to do with looking down on others. It was easy to disclaim emotion when you thought yourself superior. Hagoromo held others close and grew to care too much. He liked his approach a lot better.)

Their children had children of their own—with, ugh, mortals, though Hamura found mortals tolerable enough if they simply shut their mouths and deferred to the superior Otsutsuki. Hagoromo actually liked them, presumably for the same reason he wasted his time on the tailed beasts.

~oOo~~oOo~~oOo~~oOo~

Hamura found her nephews grating, but in different ways. Asura was the younger of the two by a full century. He was a weaker version of his father, with the merest sliver of his father’s power but most of his kindness. (“Kindness” was Hagoromo’s word for it, though. Hamura called such a thing by its proper name: shameful indulgence of others.) He was weak, but never seemed to fail. He had... companions? Friends? Family? Whatever it was, Asura possessed some quality that drew others to him, and another, equally strange, quality that compelled him to raise them up, to treat them as equals, to see them thrive alongside him.

Hamura could not understand this—this drive to indulge others even when they had not earned it—but she respected it. Somewhat. Asura’s power lay, not in himself, but in the people around him, and in the world itself. Asura was a fool, but a fool in the same way as his father. He had the same heart, and as soon as she realized that, she understood that he was meant to be Hagoromo’s heir. (If nothing else, Asura respected her wish to be left alone.)

Indra worried her. His eyes were so different from Hagoromo’s and from hers. She wasn’t frightened—Indra could grow in power for a thousand thousand years and still never touch her—but she worried for her brother’s sake. Indra seemed less like Hagoromo’s son and more like the Ten-Tails’.

Indra used his eyes to destroy, like hers. But he used them poorly, and to torment. Hamura was detached from the world as much as possible, to better judge it, and to better destroy what was necessary to keep All Things in balance. Indra held some too close, much like his brother and his father, but pushed some others away, and he was cruel to them. His eyes did not show him All Things, but instead Us and Them.

He seemed driven to power, much like Asura, but only for himself and the tiny handful within his Us. Indra had approached her many times, seeking power, and on the sixth time she laid out her will. She told him that while his brother was a human seeking human power to embetter humanity, Indra was a human seeking divine power only for himself. She warned him that if he continued his pursuit of ruinous power, if he ever became a monster to replace the Ten-Tails, she would destroy him. Hagoromo’s son or not, Hamura would remove him from All Things and place him into Nothing.

She had not been looked at with such hatred since she fought the Ten-Tails. It worried her even more.

~oOo~~oOo~~oOo~~oOo~

Hagoromo Otsutsuki died and war came.

Indra failed to see what Hamura had seen centuries ago. He hadn’t realized Asura became Hagoromo’s heir the moment Indra paired limited compassion with limitless cruelty. So when he heard his father declare Asura the inheritor of his will, Indra attacked his brother even as their father lay dying.

Hamura was furious. How dare they make Hagoromo’s last sight in the Impure Lands be his own children fighting! That fury was precisely why she did not strike. Being too close to something was a mistake. It was not her way. She waited until she was calmer, until her divine will to destroy could come crashing down out of necessity and not anger.

Indra brought suffering and violence to a thriving and peaceful world. He was like a new Ten-Tails, feeding off loss and pain even while destroying others. And the tailed beasts responded. Some fled, either to the deepest ocean or highest mountains, while others became untamed, the foulness around them seeping into their very being and changing them to match.

Almost two centuries later, Indra still fought Asura at every turn. Indra fought to destroy this usurper, this traitor, this once-brother, now-deceiver of their late father. He understood that Asura was weak because he couldn’t stand on his own, because he drew on others for strength when he had none.

Asura cried and cried over and over again, begging Indra to stop. He begged because he was weak. Indra knew this. Asura claimed to fight for something greater than himself, for a world that was better and kinder than the one now at war.

It was vile. Indra and Asura were gods among mortals. How dare Asura defile that heritage. There was nothing greater than them, no principle worth obeying beyond their own greatness. Indra sought power because he alone deserved to have it. The entire world was his inheritance, it was owed to him, and if it wouldn’t be given then he would simply take it by force.

It took Indra two centuries to win, but he still won. He’d eaten of Asura’s flesh—a prize stolen in battle. Asura might’ve had the whole world’s chakra and righteous fury for countless victims living and dead, but Indra was great in a way Asura could never be. That was why Indra had the Samsara Eye and all nine of the tailed beasts, while Asura merely had mortal powers and mortal anger.

When Indra won he ate the rest of Asura’s body, too. Then he raised his hand for Divine Subjugation. He didn’t need to use it—his enemies were already defeated—but he wanted to impress upon his dominion the power he held.

Hamura Otsutsuki swept down from the moon. Indra became dust. As Indra had destroyed the Otsutsuki under Asura for being degenerate and weak, she too destroyed the Otsutsuki under Indra for being too cruel, for embracing the worst of all possible qualities and seeking to purge all they saw as less than them.

As her eyes held Indra’s spirit before her, she said to him: “I will give you eight chances to redeem yourself. Eight chances to understand your brother and learn to value others. You will be reborn once every 900 years—the length of time you lived alongside your brother in peace without ever learning anything. And when those chances are up, if you have failed, if you became a monster in all eight, if you can’t live even one life as nobly as your brother’s, I will remove you from existence, as I promised all those years ago. The heavens will fall and justice will be done.”

Hamura Otsutsuki herself died very soon after that.

She made her last divine order as she lay dying. Her eldest daughter was to come down from the moon. Her own descendants were to safeguard the world from Indra’s worst, should it ever come to that. They were to utterly destroy any new monster that rose up.

Centuries later, from the Pure Land, Hamura was very disappointed. Her daughter had died, as was inevitable. None of her great-grandchildren had inherited her eyes. Instead it was a strange, twisted derivative, no longer the Rebirth Eye but now the White Eye. What was worse, as the centuries passed, as more and more of the original Otsutsuki died, Hamura’s descendants grew more and more mortal.

Soon, the name Otsutsuki was forgotten. Hamura’s daughter’s reincarnation was left to start her own clan from nothing.

She named it after the sun: Hyuuga.

It irked Hamura, that her own descendant should forget which celestial body she came from. But the Hyuuga at least remembered their purpose, if not their name and origins. They treasured the carved stone she’d left them, which told them:

Hold yourselves apart and above the world

So you can judge it all the better

And destroy that which unbalances the world

____________________

Notes: Setup! Now the Hyuuga also have a tablet giving them terrible advice—just like the Uchiha!

(I know I said I’d post about my BNHA villain OCs, but that’s taking longer than I thought, so here’s a random thing from my big Naruto fic to tide you over.)

[razorblade180]

Lasting Embers pt21: Wariness of battle

[Menagerie]

*Blake still on the phone with Yang. Sun and Ilia are in the room.*

Sun:So, what’s the situation?

Yang:Nora got attacked in the Emerald Forest by what looked like to be at least fifteen cult members. They new when to get her, what time to take out Mercury and Emerald, and also knew about Tenzen despite them being out of the fight for so long.

Ilia:Are Mercury and Emerald okay? Those two aren’t the kind to just simply go down easily.

Yang:They were ambushed and said before they could really do anything they were overwhelmed by grimm. If it wasn’t for Tenzen then this story would have a pretty horrific story. He’s the only reason we even know about the attack; the only reason we made it in time.

Blake:Where is everyone now?

Yang:We’re all at my dad’s house recuperating. Emerald wounds were bad but not life threatening while Mercury is currently bedridden. He got pretty roughed up but he’ll pull through. Nora is up and active thanks to Jaune. Tenzen however, he’s unconscious. Things got dicey for him at the very end. I’m told he’ll be fine. Everyone should pull through.

Sun:Blake, this seems to be way too coordinated to be the acts of a dying cult. Whitley, Jacquelyn, now Nora. I hate to say it but-

Blake:We missed something huge; something detrimental.

Yang:I hate to ask but it would be really nice to have you here. Ruby’s is on edge about this and frankly so am I. Weiss already said she’ll head out as quick as possible.

Blake:As much as I would love to hop on a airship right now I can’t. The festival here is in honor of my return and I have to attend; honestly everyone knowing I’m back is gonna make everything from here on out difficult for me. I’ll show up first chance I get when it’s all over though. I’m technically not in power again yet.

Sun:That role is still on me miraculously. *making a call*

Ilia:Who are you calling?

Sun:All these attacks on families yet I’ve heard nothing from Neo in Argus. It has me concerned.

Yang:Don’t you mean “text?” Last time I checked she wasn’t really chatty.

Ilia:Oh she’s pretty chatty these days. Adam’s eye wasn’t the only thing the creation relic was used for. Neo can talk and next chance you get you should tell Mercury to roll up his pants. Seemed like a fair trade for working in our organization.

Yang:I can see why you were a team leader; you’ve been busy.

Sun:Just making the most of crappy situations.

*a hologram pops up with Neo standing there waving. There’s blood on her clothes*

Neo:Sup boss, I was just about to report in actually. The Arc family was attacked yesterday.

Ilia:WHAT!?

Blake:This just keeps getting worse...

Neo:Relax, everyone is fine. Adrian had a construction job and thought one of the buildings listed seemed a bit off. He notified me about it and sure enough 45 members using it as a place to hide until they captured everyone.

Sun:Why am I hearing about this only now!?

Neo:I’ve been busy being your top operative that’s why!

Ilia:You’re ranked number three; only behind myself and Adam because you’re a bit.....of a wild card.

Neo:Regardless, I’m arguably the best around; especially with assignments like these. My report is late because I moved the entire family to a safe place on the Atlas base then made an identical copy of their house for the cult to raid with my semblances. Shit like that takes time that can’t be wasted.

Yang:*shocked* 45 members? That’s extremely excessive and more than a few stragglers.

Neo:They were all basically fodder. The only reason for their numbers so high has to because either they wanted the family captured in one fell swoop, or they thought that would be enough to stop me. I guess they might’ve feared the military being close by too.

Sun:Where are the members now?

Neo:They walked into the decoy house only for it to be an abandoned building with me inside. All of them fought their hardest but ended up the same; tortured for information and killed. Now they’re buried deep under rubble because it “just so happened” that building was set for demolition and destroyed by Adrian. Simple as that.

Blake:You tortured and killed 45 people....

Neo:infiltration and information gathering is why I’m ranked so high. Not to mention I did it all alone. I’m a wild card for sure. I’m sort of a badass.

Sun:Focus Neo, what did you learn?

Neo:Nothing important; like I said they were fodder. Given orders by some boss they don’t even know the name of. I thought they were bluffing but annoyingly they were all just pawns. Not even an actual member here looked like they could lead for a second or even the grimm using type. Now someone like that might know something of use.

Ilia:What are chances any of your assailants are still alive Yang?

Yang:Surprisingly, exactly one. He lead the attack and Jaune wanted answers to. He isn’t saying anything though; he’s been trained real well or still in too much pain from his broken legs.

Neo:I bet I could get him to sing like a bird if I had a moment with him.

Yang:More than welcome to try. Frankly I’m tired of looking at the guy and I don’t have the stomach to do what you do.

Neo:Well you might have to because unless you ship him over here I can’t leave. The Arc family is safe for now but I don’t them alone.

Ilia:They won’t be, I’ll take your spot and you can go to Atlas to catch a ride with Weiss to Vale.

Sun:Are you really okay with that? You just got back.

Ilia:Eh, this is very important. Besides, festivals were never really my scene anyways. *smiles*

Blake:I guess it’s settled then. Let’s keep everything about this between us for now. That includes Adam; I don’t want him involved in this if I could help it.

Ilia:You’re the boss. Well, former boss. *leaves* I’ll pack my things and head out.

Neo:I’m gonna go clean up. Blood takes forever to get out. *hangs up*

Sun:Sigh, this sure kills the festive mood a bit. I’m gonna triple check all set ups and just make sure everything stays peaceful for tonight. *kisses Blake and leaves*

Yang:You want to keep Adam out the loop?

Blake:You can call me soft or sentimental but I don’t want him wondering around the world more than he needs to. His family really missed him.

Yang:I know how that goes. This whole thing is gonna blow over right....?

Blake:We can only be so lucky. Be safe alright?

Yang:You too Blake, I’ll call back later. *hangs up and starts walking through her childhood home*

Despite the countless years, things remain the same. From the scuffs on the wooden floor to the photos on the wall leading to her old room.

Yang:*slowly opens the door to peak in on Tenzen.*......

Tenzen:*laying in her old bed asleep. A purple bruise across his nose and on his left cheek. Bandages across his bare chest and slightly bruised ribs*

Yujin:*sitting by his bed on the floor. Placing the bracelet he gave her back into his hand and holding it tightly* I think you need jade dragon luck more than I do right now....

Yang:Sigh.....

Jaune:*behind Yang* She’s not gonna leave his side until he wakes up you know? Hopefully it won’t take too long.

Yang:Can’t you help speed up the process a little? I mean the kid still has some pretty bad bruises.

Jaune:Tenzen’s semblance and mine don’t really compliment each other. I’ve done all I’ve can for now; natural rest is the best thing for him now.

Yang:How’s our special guest?

Jaune:See for yourself *gestures outside*

*Jericho tied against a tree as he’s propped up on the ground as the remaining friends and family of Yang rest outside*

Nora:*watching him like a hawk*......

Jericho:You know is this really necessary? *looks at his crippled legs* I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to. You worried I might almost kill you again.

Ren:Talk to her again and I’ll snap your neck.

Jericho:That would make you really bad at interrogation. I guess your mind has gotten weaker with your body.

*Before Ren gets the chance to walk over to him he’s stopped by Nora. Quelling his anger and preventing him from doing anything he’ll regret*

Jericho:Honestly both of you are a little disappointing. I thought huntsmen where supposed be honored by civilization and feared by villains. I don’t feel very afraid of-*cresent rose wraps around the tree as the blade presses against his neck*

Ruby:If you’re gonna talk then it better be about something valuable. Otherwise I’d recommend you keep quiet.

Jericho:So the Red Reaper finally speaks. I’ll admit that you are the only one that’s worth being afraid of around here. After all, you’re the only one here with nothing to lose. *smirks*

Ruby:*adds more pressure, cutting his neck slightly*

Jericho:Ooo did I strike a nerve?

Tai:Don’t let him get to you Ruby.

*Jaune and Yang finally come walking out the house. Jaune’s sword drawn and ready to strike*

Jericho:Someone looks a little-AH!!

Jaune:*stabbing his leg* I can understand a lot of things like attacking people who are actively going after you. But please explain why the hell I was just told my family was almost murdered?*digs the blade in*

Jericho:*grits teeth* Hehehe so I guess that means they screwed up the job. How *spits blood* unfortunate.

Jaune:Honestly what the hell is wrong with you bastards!? Why rope kids into this? Why go after distant relatives and people who don’t know anything about how the world really works.

Jericho:Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one? Can you truly not grasp the simple concept of our warfare? I know one of you probably gets it as clear as day. *looks at Raven*

Raven:....Sigh, it’s psychological and emotional torture. However, I’ve never known anybody to commit to that kind of tactic for over a decade.

Jericho:True but what choice do we have? You’re all too damn strong for your own good. No well we could move the way we want to when you people are at your best. So we use fear.

Ruby:*stares him down* No one here is afraid of scum like you.

Jericho:Mmmm such hate in those eyes. We aren’t trying to make you afraid of us my darling, you’re fear lies in living another day knowing things will never be the same.

Everyone:......

Jericho:Does it haunt you often? Knowing tomorrow is another day without the intimate love you once had? The mentor’s warm embrace you grew up with ripped away from you? Are you even sure how they died?

Ruby:*eyes slightly soften as she takes a step back* What are you going on about.

Jericho:It’s a simple question I know you’ve had to talk about. I bet you like to think it was as painless as possible but that’s impossible to know. The screams of your late husband as he burned alive, or maybe it was quiet gasps as he crushed by the debris of your burning home.

Ruby:Shut up.....

Jericho:Did your Uncle put up a valiant fight and almost won? Not likely, he probably screamed as the grimm ripped him apart and dragged him into his flames! Both of them wishing you were there to save them. I bet silver eyes would’ve saved them!!!

Ruby:I SAID SHUT UP!!! *she drops to her knees crying and covering her ears*

Yang and Tai:Ruby!!! *rushes to her side*

Jericho:Oh she looked so dangerous just a few minutes ago and now look at her; far from her best.

Jaune:.....

Jericho:Loved ones, children, family, and friends. It doesn’t matter how strong you are when you have these ripped from you. Knowing that you’ll never see their face again eats away at a persons mind. Awake, asleep, everyday life, or on the battlefield of war. Even just a close call messes with people’s head. *looks at Ren* ever wonder how much your wife might blame herself for your condition? Seeing you in pain everyday thinking how she should’ve been better.

Nora:*stares at the ground clenching her fist* Someone shut him up already please.....?

Jaune:*walking over to him*

Jericho:Have a said too much? Hehehe I didn’t even get started on how this involves all of your kids.

*Everyone freezes in place for a moment*

Jericho:You do everything for them, including leave them. Believeing it’s the best option to stop people like me. Praying you don’t come back home to find them dead and not even by us. Ten years is a long time, any natural disaster could’ve happened. A simple car or mugger is all it takes and next thing you know is the person you fought ten years for died seven years ago. These plans all of you make are simply the works of people clinging on to what little hope they have. Stop us all you want; when the fighting is over you gotta live with what you lost until you die and-

Yang:*picks him up and slams him against a tree. Her eyes a deep blood red* You can stop spouting all of your crap now. You’ll have plenty of time to talk later when our friend gets the information we want out of you. Then all of us can finally move on from this nightmare!

Jericho:Are you *cough* sure you want to know how many of us are left? It could be 50 or it could be 500. Do you think you can take another indefinite journey; I wonder how your daughter would feel about her mom leaving again?

Yang:.....*drops him*

Jericho:HAHAHAHA! Oooo boy! If she doesn’t hate you now then she’s definitely going to after that! So much for coming home to loved ones; if you both live long enough to see each other that is!!! HAHAHAHA- *knocked out by a punch from Jaune*

Jaune:The moment he wakes up....knock him out again. I don’t wanna hear his voice for the rest of my life. *looks around at everyone*

Ren holds a crying Nora in his arms to comfort. Both of them obviously shaken by the man’s words. Raven proceeds to hug her daughter who’s eyes still haven’t calm down her body heaving out rage and fear of the future. Then there’s Ruby, wailing and trembling on the ground until she can barely breath. Tai holds back his tears as he holds his youngest daughter close to him. The sun is finally going down but nobody seems to care. It helps hide the pain on their face. So Jaune doesn’t say anything; he just walks back upstairs to Yujin.

Jaune:*peeks through the door*.....

Yujin:*Fast asleep and still clinging to Tenzen’s hand*Zzzzzz

Jaune:*picks her up and places her in bed* sleep tight*

Yujin:*barely awake* Dad? Hey, how is everyone doing?

Jaune:They’re....they are doing just fine. Gets some rest okay? *kisses her forehead*

Yujin:Alright dad; feel bad though. Not like I’ve been doing much. *yawns* at least.....it’s almost over....*passes out*

Jaune:........*tears well up as he leaves the room* Damnit *sniff* stay strong Jaune. You have to be the strong one right now. You have to keep things-*looks at his wedding ring*.......

*he slides down the wall and just sits on the floor*

Jaune:For crying out loud *tears finally start running down his face* she’s gonna leave again isn’t she?

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider OOO Episodes 01-16

I never expected a show aimed at boys would have THIS many scenes centered around male underwear.

The second series on my "watch all of kamen rider" madness! Yay!

The first word that comes to my mind when it comes to OOO is: weird. But it's not weird in a bad way, for the most of it anyway. I'll try best to not make many comparisons to either W or Zero-One, but just as a point of reference for this first statement, I'll mention them for a minute. W and Zero-One touch bases that I'm familiar with (detective stories, futuristic settings, etc.) while OOO is somewhat completely new to me so most of the time I wasn't ready for some of the things that were happening. But like I said, this is a good thing. I really enjoyed watching this first part, it had a few stumbles, but overall it was a great experience. To bring the comparison again, I didn't enjoy it as much as W's first part but I enjoyed it more than I'm enjoying this first third of Zero-One.

The plot of this season is quite interesting, it reminds me of Doki Doki Precure at some points (you can really draw the parallel of selfishness and altruism in both shows), though I wish some things had been established sooner and I feel like the thing with the core medals is a bit confusing, the plot is very engaging. They took a page from W's book, and most of the "weekly cases" are dealt in two episodes, but they also improve in this formula because even in the MOTW plots we can see the overall arc being formed and no episode was left without a hook for the next what makes the whole experience way better and more interesting to follow. If I was watching this weekly this structure would definitely make me excited to always get back to this season, and watching it now after the show is over makes me want to binge-watch everything in one sitting even though that's impossible. So, great stuff.

If there are things I don't like about the plot and the structure it would be, the weird commercial breaks, some of the weekly stories have characters that make them very weak, the many antagonist forces that make things feel overcrowded at times, and a problem I have with most shows when a new hero is about to come in that is when the show makes the protagonists weaker/less effective just to highlight how good the new member of the cast is. But that aside, I pretty much like everything. The comedy, the absurdness, the drama, and the action have had a very good balance so far so OOOs hold many positive points to its name.

Talking about characters, our main protagonist this time, Eiji, while not as charismatic as I would like is still a sweetheart. His lifestyle is a bit questionable, and he has a bit of the Aida Mana syndrome where he gives himself way too much sometimes, also the show doesn't make a good job on keeping his clothes on brand - I mean the dude apparently has only two underwear and one pair of pants but somehow he has many top options and we never know where he keeps all those shirts and tunics - but I really like him. I think what I like the most about him is that at first glance he could seem like the standard "dumb protagonist" but he's actually pretty smart and his smartness doesn't affect his emotional drive which is great.

Sadly his partners on the good side aren't as good. Ankh has a very difficult personality which makes him VERY hard to like, every time he opens up his mouth to babble about his medals I just wanna shove 30 popsicles on his mouth to make him shut up. My biggest problem with him is that we haven't seen him change not even for a bit in all of these episodes and I'm afraid that when they decide to make an emotional climax with him it won't work as well and it'll just ruin what could be a strong moment. Though I love how Eiji knows exactly how to keep him in check, that's another sign of how great Eiji is. Accompanying Ankh we have Hina who's just boring as hell, I don't know if this is a problem of the character or the actress but she really bores me to death, not even her quirk of being insanely strong that could be very fun works with me, which's a shame. And the last character of this group is the owner of Cous Coussier that is a very good minor character that helps to make Ankh and Hina bearable sometimes.

Moving to the antagonists, the GREED are the typical villainous team so I don't have a lot to say about them, their designs are cool and I like that each one has a very strong personality trait and their greediness makes for a very interesting plot point when Kazari decides to betray them. The MOTW are weird as hell, I'm very grossed out every time that coin slot appear on people, but I like that there are different types of them each one works on a different way and it is quite interesting to see how each type feeds on the desires of the population, my favorites are the parasite type and the Mezools' ones. It makes me sad that apparently Mezool and Gamel were the first ones to be defeated because they're my favorites, I think the group has lost a lot from their defeat.

The next antagonists are the Kougami Foundation, and I really love them. Kousei is just as charismatic (or maybe even more) charismatic as Ryuubei was and watching him is a true joy. Maybe it's just my love for baking that draws me to him, but I really think he's a great bad guy. Another great asset Kougami has is the secretary, I don't remember her name but the fact she seems completely apathetic to everything that goes on in that company to me is just hilarious, I'd love to be her friend (I'm sure she's amazing at throwing shade). The weakest link of this company is without a doubt Gotou, he severely lacks in personality and his turmoil of not thinking Eiji is suitable to be Os just because he's jealous since he wants to be the savior of the world makes him sound like an immature kid rather than an interesting character.

Coming as the (unnecessary) third antagonist we have Professor Maki who just makes me want to bang my head against a concrete wall. Like, I really don't know WHY they had to make him a villain, he makes me have war flashbacks of W when they changed the role of final villains from the Sonozaki family to that very boring, soulless guy from Foundation X. And it makes me even madder that they did this change WHEN THEY HAVE A PERFECT SET OF VILLAINS ALREADY IN GREED AND KOUGAMI. All this guy has going for him is that creepy ass doll that will definitely give me nightmares, but other than that he's just completely uninteresting.

Talking about riders, when I saw it on W's movie I really wasn't into Os design, but now I've grown used to it. The medals gimmick is also pretty fun and it gives a good variety of forms the main rider can have, though I think this thing of each Greed having 9 core medals is more complicated than it needed to be, and I really dislike how arbitrary the system of getting core medals from the Greed/O's seem to be, it's also very hard to keep track of who has each medal with how easy the lose and get new ones. I really like the gadgets from this season, I love the idea of everything being on a vending machine, the bike looks really cool, and I LOVE the candroids to death, I'd love to buy a few of them if I wasn't so broke. XD On the other hand, the transformation belt I horrendous, and not even the "sixth ranger" could save it this time because that gashapon belt is just hilarious and I can't take it seriously.

And speaking of said "sixth ranger" here's probably the element I hated the most from these sixteen episodes. Much likely Doki Doki precure, they pulled a Regina/Cure Ace thing where they build-up for Gotou to be the new rider, but comes episode 16 and Kamen Rider Birth is actually A DIFFERENT COMPLETELY NEW GUY. Do I like Gotou or his "arc" that would lead to his possible transformation? Absolutely no. But having that would've been way better than seeing an unknown guy, who came out of the ether, become the new rider. I REALLY hate new members who come out of nowhere, and to top it off the milkshake of hate they made this new guy steal that spotlight of a guy they had been building up for at least 4 episodes prior.

I usually ended these with specific points of specific episodes, but I really covered everything I had to say and If I went on each episode it would be to just point out a few unnecessary nitpicks, so I'll skip doing it this time. I hate to end on such a salty note, especially considering that I genuinely like this show so far, but there was no way to escape from it, I'll try to watch fewer videos of the NerdECrafter before I write next week's post to see if I come here with less salt in my veins, I promise. XD

And these were my first impressions of OOO, thanks for sticking with me for another week and I'll hopefully see you, folks, very soon. Bye bye~.

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Twenty-Four: Loss of Memory ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, Ebisu ] [ SasuHina, blood ] [ Verse: Like Magic ] [ AO3 Link ]

It all began in that bookstore.

Rescuing Naruto from his no-good Summer guardian (which, in all fairness, was mostly Shisui’s hairbrained idea to use his Merlin-forsaken enchanted car) meant that Sasuke and Naruto visited Diagon Alley together with the former’s elder brother Itachi leading them through their school supplies list. They’d met up with their friends - the Hufflepuff Hinata and the Ravenclaw Sakura - on the way, barely able to fit into the bookstore. A so-called famous author, Ebisu, had been there signing copies of his books...and Mikoto had begged Itachi get her a signed copy of one of his tomes.

And it was there they ran into the last people they wanted to see: another Slytherin, Gaara, and his father Rasa. After a rather tense standoff, Rasa calling Hinata a blood traitor as a pureblood mucking about with those ‘lesser’, they’d all failed to notice the book he’d slipped into her cauldron of supplies.

It was that book that would shape the coming year in terrible, terrible ways.

The first attack left the entire school shaken: the caretaker’s cat petrified, and a bloody message written on the wall just beneath her form:

“The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.”

A Chamber of Secrets…? Not an entirely unfounded idea in their four young minds. After all, Hogwarts was old, and even the headmaster had claimed there were still things undiscovered and unknown about it. But given the impressions from the staff (and some students…), it had seemed such an idea had been heard of before.

Only through their history teacher did they learn of the rumors of the Slytherin founder’s alleged secret chamber: a place housing a terrible monster to cleanse Hogwarts of those Salazar found to be ‘unsuitable’ for learning the arts of magic.

A monster within Hogwarts...and one bent on eliminating those of so-called ‘impure’ blood...a terrifying thought. Especially given that one of their own, Sakura, was Muggleborn. And Naruto himself was a halfblood.

But the strange happenings didn’t stop there.

During a Quidditch match, Naruto found himself being chased by a seemingly-rogue bludger. Only after it broke his arm (and the incompetent Ebisu vanished his bones) did Naruto come to know it was Shukaku - a house elf bent on keeping Naruto from the castle - behind several incidents thus far. He revealed that the Chamber had been opened once before.

...and the attacks continued. The school began a dueling club in hopes of preparing the students for trouble. And it was then during a typical rivalry escalation that Sasuke learned something about himself he’d never known before:

He was a Parselmouth.

Immediately, suspicion began to grow against him. Salazar, after all, had been famed for his ability to speak to serpents. And now Sasuke - part of a pureblood Slytherin-frequenting family - was revealed to have the same ability?

...could he be the heir…? The one attacking the Muggleborns? Maybe his friendship with Sakura was fake...after all, they’d been seen bickering at times.

Desperate to find the real mastermind, the group decides to use a Polyjuice potion to interrogate Gaara, figuring his family’s sketchy history may be a clue. The broken bathroom they used was always occupied by a peculiar girl ghost, who later revealed a key clue: a strange diary someone had left in her haunt.

Sasuke did all he could to uncover its secrets, discovering it belonged to a young man named Madara. He had been present during the last attack, showing his valiant capture of the previous perpetrator: the current groundskeeper.

But that did little to solve their problem. As the headmaster and groundskeeper were removed...one last attack seemed the final straw:

Sakura.

But she provided the clue they needed: in her bookish ways, she’d finally found the answer. The monster was a basilisk: a giant snake, explaining Sasuke’s ability to hear a strange voice all year coming from the walls. They then realize that the student killed when the chamber was last opened was none other than Rin, the lavatory ghost...who tells them all they need to know.

But upon their attempts to rally the last of their group...they find Hinata gone. Taken into the Chamber for her status as blood traitor. Desperate, the boys go to enlist Ebisu’s help.

...only to find him quick busily packing.

“...going somewhere, professor?” Sasuke asks, stepping into the room and drawing the man’s gaze.

Ebisu, as it turns out...is a fraud. But that doesn’t stop Naruto and Sasuke dragging him into the bathroom where Rin waits, Sasuke opening the chamber at last with a command of Parseltongue.

One ride down the pipes later, and the trio find themselves beneath the castle.

“...bloody hell,” Naruto mumbles, pointing. “...is that…?”

“A snake skin,” Sasuke replies. “And a huge one. That’s got to be from the basilisk. Remember...keep your eyes closed if you think it’s near.”

“Oh...well…” With a roll of his eyes, Ebisu simply...collapses.

Both boys give him a glance. “...he’s fainted,” Naruto mutters. “Git.”

Making to poke him with his patched-up wand, the blond gives a holler as the professor snatches it, leaping up and grinning.

“Well now...that’s better. Can’t have you two telling anyone what you know! Now, let’s see...how to spin this little story...ah, yes. We were...too late to save the girl. You both succumbed to shock and madness at the grisly sight. All that remains...is to wipe your memories. Obliviate!”

Before either boy can react, there’s a sparking glow from the split in Naruto’s wand...and then Ebisu crashes against the wall.

And then with a rumble, the chamber begins to crumble…!

“Look out!” Each skittering backwards, the boys duck for cover...and as the rubble comes to a standstill, it’s piled high and wide between them.

“Sasuke!”

“I’m all right! But...I don’t think there’s a way through.”

With a groan, Ebisu then lolls his head up to look at Naruto. “...oh...well hello. Who...who are you? And…” His brow furrows. “...who am I?”

“...I think his spell backfired, he’s lost his memory...but what do we do now?”

Sasuke hesitates. “...stay here, and try to move some of this rock, if you can. I’ll go find Hinata! And...keep an eye on Ebisu. Who knows if he’s faking again, so...be careful.”

“...right. You too.”

“Not sure there’s much point in that now,” Sasuke mutters to himself, continuing down the rocky corridor...only to find another door.

“...all right. Er…” Swallowing, he gives another murmur of Parseltongue, the ornate serpent lock coming undone and revealing a huge chamber. At the rear, a giant stone statue of Salazar, flanked by snakes.

And at the end...a motionless Hinata.

“...no…!” Heart clenching in fear, Sasuke dashes forward and crashes at her side, seeing her skin as pale as death. “Hinata...Hinata!”

“...she won’t wake.”

Gasping, Sasuke looks into the shadows, where a familiar young man walks. “...Madara…? But…? Look, we have to get out of here! There’s a monster!”

“It won’t come until it’s called.”

Sasuke pauses...and then lifts his gaze. In Madara’s hands, forgotten by his own, is his wand. “...give that back.”

“Oh, you won’t be needing it.”

“Didn’t you hear me? There’s a monster! And...we…”

“I can’t let you leave. You see...the weaker this blood traitor gets...the stronger I become. It was she who opened the Chamber of Secrets.”

“No...she couldn’t, she -!”

“She unleashed the basilisk, let it seek out the Mudbloods in the castle...and it was she who wrote the warnings on the walls.”

“But...why?”

“Because I told her to. My instructions were rather...convincing...” A smirk grows across his face. “But not to worry. It was I, not she, who was in control. To finish what Salazar aimed to do.”

“Why would you…?”

“Because I...am the heir of Slytherin. His blood courses through my veins. Veins which, soon now, will be living again. Resurrected from a memory preserved in a diary for fifty years. And very soon now...I will be reborn. And this time...nothing can stop me from purifying the wizarding world. Not even you...your precious headmaster is gone. No one is left to stand against me.”

“You’re wrong...he’s never gone. Not so long as students remain who believe in him…!”

As the pair stare each other down, a trill sounds at the front of the cavern.

“...Fawkes…?”

With a toss, the phoenix drops a worn piece of fabric Sasuke struggles to catch. It’s...the Sorting Hat…?

“...ha...so this is what your loyalty earns you? A songbird, and an old hat. Well...let’s see how it matches up against the power of Salazar Slytherin…!” Eyes wide with malice and grin bearing teeth, Madara turns to the founder’s likeness. A chant of Parseltongue sees the statue’s mouth begin to open.

“Now what will you do…?”

Staggering back, Sasuke watches with wide eyes as a rustling fills the air...and the basilisk emerges with a geyser-like hiss.

“Very soon now, the process will be complete. Hinata Hyūga will die...and I will be born anew. And by then, you’ll be rotting in the basilisk’s belly!”

Barely breathing, Sasuke does all he can do, wandless and alone.

He runs.

                                                              .oOo.

     (This is a sequel to days 28, 230, 299, and 316!)       Well this is...a lot more rushed than I'd like, but it was the first thing that came to mind. And after wasting WAY too much time reading a summary and then checking film pieces to refresh MY memory (ahaha, get it?), I couldn't back out xD I love this crossover, but obviously I need to find more roles, cuz uh...I had to leave quite a few blank, and some of these are a little...hurried, lol      BUT! We have a crossover with Chamber of Secrets. And it's valiant Sasuke off to save Hinata! Well...he doesn't look too valiant running away at the end there, but he needs to plan! And not get eaten! Not to worry, I'm sure he'll save her in the end.      I know this is an evil cliffie, but...at the same time, we all (or most) know how this goes, right? Forgive me xD Limited time and word count is a killer, lol - maybe I'll do more another time!      Buuut anyway, it's...very late, so I better go ^^; Thanks for reading!

[peasthedumb]

Arora’s story

[ this is told as if you’d asked her what her story is, and she’s answering ]

She’s also one of my own OC’s, not a undertale AU. She’s a small black dragon, roughly knee height to a human.

"huh? my story? you sure you wanna know that, it was half created by a 7 year old." she sways her tail curiously. "yeah, I'm fully aware I'm just a character. and I'm fully aware my creator is dumb. we talk sometimes. Buuut if you really wanna know my story then...sure! there are some plot holes though!"

The small dragon would shuffle, sitting down with her wings tucked back proudly, her tail around her feet. She was...quite odd. overconfident, sassy and a little bit mad in the head.

"well...all started back in the ice age in some universe. Its where my species originated. The rest of them were bigger and weaker than me. No clue why I'm like this. The early humans had figured out how to efficiently kill us though. poison berries in our food stores" she sighs in memory, " honestly we were stupid to fall for it. my parents fell to one of those traps. only reason I lived was because id ate before the humans had snuck in and poisoned the meat. Yeah, i know, 'ooo edgy orphan story', it was only because my creator couldn't be bothered to make stories for my parents too."

"anyway, after that I wondered around aimlessly for a few days, maybe years " she shrugged. " Eventually I accidentally found out i can make portals to different universes. I also learned how insignificant everything I knew was. Anyway, I went through this portal and found myself in the place i oh so creatively named 'the space between dimensions'. There was this guy, well, dragon, called Snowy. He'd somehow gotten himself stuck there and was half disintegrated. yeah, matter gets slowly destroyed in that place. Anyway I helped him out, dragged him back to his universe so his matter would reform. Lord could've known at that point what would happen after that. " she laughed to herself, shaking her head. "We both agreed to travel together. he was very very shy and quiet...he was a big pushover, but I kinda had a soft spot for him. Anyone else and i would've probably hated them. Anyway, we found this universe. Quiet, no people, just pretty wilderness, and we met a group of dragons there. They quickly put me as their leader, even though I wasn't even the biggest dragon. They just seemed to..put up with snowy though..."

"My best friend out of them was Ivy, a forest dragon. she was half my size, but mutated to have massive wings and an extraordinarily long tail. Hah, she was a goody two shoes. polite, curious, energetic, friendly. always caring too much. The other dragons were Sparky, a hopeless flirt, Trixy, the smallest bundle of the most vile bitchiness. Sparky was my size, Trixy was half Ivys size, and had tiny wings! I think she's just salty she cant fly. She essentially forced Splash to be her personal assistant. Splash...she was also a pushover...but she was also the biggest dragon. She was a little taller than your average human. She was polite though. The kind you never really interact with but still highly respect. She was kinda our guardian angel. Then there was sky..." she rolls her eyes a little, lowering her head. "hah...what a character. Just a little smaller than splash, and was as explosive as a volcano. angrier than a bull, stubborn as a mule. She'd somehow convinced herself i was being a cruel leader. Not sure how though. She decided to lead a revolt... She decided to try kill me, which lets be real, she could easily succeed at. She thought that once she attacked me everyone would join her side. NOPE. The others decided to exile her, after giving her a fair beating that is. That was the fight where i got the scar on my face you know! Sparky is a bit of a dumbass though and that's how things went south. I mean, he and Trixy would always pick on snowy, I should've known. Snowy was like my personal project to protect. He was just too innocent and kind for the world! poor snowy... Ugh, yeah basically uhm... so Sky tried to rejoin us buuuut....made the mistake of approaching sparky... who promptly told her to f right off and never come back. Reason this was bad? I wanted sky to come back! Anyway she took sparkys words right to heart and decided to try kill us all...well, mainly me." She'd look to the side, frowning a little, her wings flicking and tail swaying.

"So anyway...one night I was chilling with Snowy. We were sat on a tree branch looking up at the moon, we were getting kinda close and i was discussing his issues with him and coming up with ways to help then... well whaddya know, Sky comes swooping down, knocking us both off the branch. She immediately went to try get me but snowy..Snowy, bless his heart, decided to try be a tough guy for once. Two problems with that. He's not a tough guy AT ALL, he literally had scales so soft they could fall off if you brushed them the wrong way! And secondly... Me and Snowy are small, Sky is huge! Yeah uh." she coughs awkwardly, " yeah Snowy didn't...he didn't last two seconds. She just picked him right up, borderline crushed him in her jaws then whipped him against a cliff wall. Quite brutal really... I think...well, hope, he died quickly, cause if not, that would've h u r t... i miss that guy. Buuut also I don't hold a grudge against sky. I mean, fair enough. She did what she thought was right and got told to f off when she tried to right her mistake, and as far as she knows, I felt the same as sparky about her."

You could see her …well I suppose this is the closest to upset she gets. She looked more...disappointed than sad? But you could still tell there was sorrow in her eyes. She shook her head, shuffling her wings and getting herself back into her proud sitting posture. She'd forced a blank expression on her face.

"yeah well... I grew distant after that. Sky almost killed me that night too, but Splash was in time to scare her away. I didn't grow distant as in 'oh my friend died time to hate everything', i just got bored with that universe. I didn't really have a reason to stay, and it wasn't fun there anymore! I tried to make myself stay but one day i had enough. Ivy was pestering to know if i was okay, why id gotten so distant and I just...opened a portal and jumped through. I've never looked back since. " she gets a smug grin. "it was the best idea of my life. I've had so much fun playing around in the universes. Basically everything that could be different, of every single possible storyline or person, every single possibility, from something as small as an atom to something as important as the fabric of reality itself, there's a universe for every tiny nano-difference there is! and it always links back to the universe i so intelligently called 'real life'. Every single universe is tied to it somehow. I'm tied to it as the OC of someone there. Undertale is tied to it as a video game there. Any worlds or ideas thought of there, those ideas become universes out here. There are almost an infinite amount of almost identical universes too, so i can just go relive scenes or self insert into stories as much as i want! I've gone to several different universes, but at the moment this 'undertale' one is keeping me entertained. Did you know the entire undertale multiverse is just one universe for me. and theres infinite of em! For now this one called 'dreamtale' in these universes is keeping me happy. Love seeing all the different versions and rip-offs of them. I wonder how long it'll take for me to get bored of them like all the others though."

Yeah...you're probably confused, but She isn't going to elaborate. She's already distracted.

She's such a scatter brain.

[ugjgjhohkhgiuf I feel cringe I feel like this writing is bad I’m so sorry yall- I just wanted an excuse to tell everyone Arora’s story and also practice writing]

[indigenousgurl]

Soulmates 07

Kaya Pronounced: ky-YAAH

Genre: fanfiction, angst, fluff, romance, fate

Summary: Kaya is a knockout, the most beautiful girl in town. She’s the girl in every man’s dreams and the envy if every woman she encounters. With her high taste for fashion, carefree living and outgoing personality one would think she has it all but she’d give up all of that in a second. You see, she’s terminally ill and the doctors say she only has 3 months left to live. She’s never told anyone about her sickness, not even her best friend; in fear of too many broken hearts in the end. She’s never had a serious relationship with a guy because ultimately, they’ll both be broken. That’s when he walked into her life and knocked down all the walls she’d built, ruined all her plans and swept her off her feet.

Will she walk away and avoid breaking his heart or will she finally let herself love and be loved? 

A/N: In this chapter I’m going to use a song for one of the scenes to help set the mood and I’ll tell you when to start playing it👌🏽 Make sure you’re ready with your earbuds and have the song ready as well.                                             The Beautiful Ones by Prince

A little over a week went by and before they knew it, Jackson and Kaya had fallen deeply in love.

They were head over heels for each other and couldn’t even go one day without spending time together.

Everyday they fell deeper and harder.

Kaya’s work schedule became so irregular because of the spontaneous dates that Jackson planned throughout the day. She almost didn’t have time to properly run her coffee shop.

But she didn’t mind, not one bit,  because every minute spent with Jackson was everything she could ever dream of.

They went to amusement parks, screaming on the rides and holding each other through the haunted houses.

They enjoyed delicious cotton candy and playing all the games to win as many prizes as possible.

Jackson would take her shopping and buy her everything she so much as glanced at, no matter how many times she said she didn’t need it.

"Seriously Jackson, I don’t need this dress!" She assured

"Kaya!" He whined.                                                                                               "But it would look so beautiful on you!" He exclaimed, holding it up. Kaya was about to protest but Jackson quickly bolted to the counter to pay for the pretty floral sundress.                              

He was stubborn but in the best way possible!

Of course they went on the most romantic dinner dates with Jackson dressing up in a nice sleek suit and Kaya rocking her lacy, black, skin tight dress.

But of all the places they went, their most favorite was the beach! Something about the tropical sea air, a warm sun glowing in the sky and cuddled up on a blanket, beat all the other events by far.

On one particular day, as Kaya was cleaning up her kitchen the sound of the doorbell rang out through the house. A smile spread across her face, she knew exactly who was at the door.

Quickly drying off her hands, she made her way to the door and opened it up.

As soon as she saw Jackson, she jumped into his arms and he embraced her with a warm smile and a tight hug.

"Hey baby." He smiled into her soft hair, rocking her back and forth.

As Kaya pulled away after a moment, Jackson reached out and gently brushed the hair out of her face. "Can I come in?" He asked, still smiling.

"Yeah of course!" She exclaimed, taking his hand and pulling him inside the cool house.

Once inside, Jackson made his way into the kitchen and fixed himself a cold glass of icy water.

"What do you wanna’ do today?" Kaya asked, giving Jackson a back hug.

"As long as I’m with you baby, I don’t care." He said, rubbing her hands that were placed on his stomach.

"How about the beach?" Kaya suggested. "It would be really romantic to go at night!" She exclaimed.

"That does sound romantic, I’m down!" Jackson exclaimed, taking a sip of water.

"I can’t wait!" Kaya grinned, squeezing Jackson in excitement.

Jackson smiled at her excitement and turned around to face her. He placed his hands on the sides of her face and gazed into her eyes for a moment.

"You’re just too cute for your own good, you know that?" He said, playfully.

Kaya grinned shyly, her cheeks turning pink.

Jackson noticed her cheeks and chuckled to himself, he couldn’t get over how cute she was right now.

"I’m about to make those cheeks even pinker." He smirked

Kaya’s heart began to race as Jackson slowly leaned in, she could feel his steady breath lightly on her face as he got dangerously close.

She gripped the sides of his shirt as Jackson tilted her head towards him. Her eyes fluttering closed as his soft lips met hers.

He kissed her gently and slowly, savoring the moment.                                       Kaya pulled him closer, deepening the kiss and ran her hand through his thick hair.

It was moments like these where time seemed to stop, it felt like nothing else in the world mattered.

It was the best feeling.

They pulled away for a second, their faces only inches apart, breathing a little heavier than before.

"I love you." Jackson whispered, kissing her forehead.

Kaya closed her eyes and smiled, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.       "I love you too.” She said, her voice suddenly shaky.

"Hey, baby don’t cry." He said softly, wiping her fallen tears.

"I’m sorry" She sniffled "It’s just... I don’t know..." She couldn’t finish her sentence.

Jackson wrapped her into his arms and rubbed her back, letting her cry silently into his chest.

He knew why she was crying, she didn’t have to explain anything.

"I’ll always love you Kaya, always."                                                                   Jackson assured her. He pulled back a little and brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. "It’s ok, I’m right here."   

She looked up at him, eyes glassy and full of sadness.

Jackson hated that look, he hated it like crazy but he felt so helpless. He couldn’t cure her, he couldn’t take this evil cancer away from her and it killed him.

He wanted to be strong for her no matter how hard things got, no matter how much it hurt. He wanted to give her strength and comfort, even though this was the hardest thing he’d ever dealt with.

But most of all...he wanted to love her. He wanted to love her with everything he has and even if that meant he couldn’t love her for long, he was willing to put everything on the line and love her til’ the end.

No matter how much his heart would ache.

No matter how painful it would be in  the end

It was bitter sweet, their love.

For the rest of the day, Jackson stayed at Kaya’s house. They cuddled up on her soft, white couch and fell asleep.

Kaya was getting weaker everyday and Jackson noticed that she slept a lot more lately. He watched her take those cancer pills everyday and how her headaches were becoming more severe.

The constant heaviness in his chest weighed down on him whenever he thought about Kaya not being there one day.                                          

He tried hard not to think about it...

But as they were sleeping on the couch, Jackson had a dream.

In the dream, everyone was in black, some crying and others trying to give comfort. Jackson’s vision was cloudy but he could make out a small room in the distance. He watched as people came and left the room, paying their respects and leaving flowers. "Is this a funeral?" He thought to himself.                           As he made his way over, he could make out what looked like a coffin.             His breathing quickened and his chest felt unbelievably tight. He knew who was there and he didn’t want to see. He didn’t want to believe but his legs wouldn’t stop.

The coffin was open and he was almost there. "No no no no..." he tried to stop but he couldn’t control his feet, tears blurred his vision but he knew who was in that coffin.

He reached the coffin.

Jackson yelled "NO!" And bolted up. Sweat dripping from his forehead and salty tears stained his cheeks.

Kaya woke up, her face immediately flooding with concern as she saw Jackson’s state.

Just as she was about to say something, he grabbed her and held onto her for dear life.

"Jackson, what happened? Are you ok?" She asked, stroking his head. He was trembling in her arms.

"Yeah...I’m ok." He took in a shaky breath, trying to manage a smile as Kaya looked at him. She wasn’t convinced.

"It was just a nightmare..." He said, not wanting to go into any detail.

"Must’ve been some nightmare!" She exclaimed. "You were crying." She said, looking at his cheeks

Jackson wiped his forehead and cheeks, composing himself.                               "I’m ok, really!" He said, trying to reassure her.

"If you say so." She smiled softly, brushing the hair out of his face.

"Hey, let’s go to the beach now!" He said, pushing all those thoughts away.

"Yeah!" Kaya grinned. "Let me go put on a swim suit. Did you bring one?" Kaya asked, standing up.

"Yeah it’s in my car, I’ll go get it." He said, grabbing his keys as Kaya went into her room to pick out a swim suit.

After they got ready, the sun was already beginning to set. So they grabbed a blanket, some snacks, a portable stereo and headed out the French doors to the beach.

Kaya literally lived on the beach, it was her backyard and most favorite place to be. Since it was considered private property, this section of the beach hardly ever had any people around. Mostly just the ones who lived on her street.

Anyway, they picked a spot, spread out their beach blanket and placed their stuff down before racing into the water.

The red-orange sun cast a magestic glow on the ocean waves, making the water sparkle with gold. Kaya laughed as Jackson chased behind her, he tried to grab her but she ducked under the water before he could reach her.

Jackson soon joined her underwater and stole a kiss from her lips.

They came up laughing but quickly had to go back under to avoid a big wave. When they dove under, Jackson took her hand and they swam around together, admiring the little fish and sea life.

Kaya spotted a pretty shell and grabbed it right before Jackson pulled her up to the surface.

"Lemme’ see." He said, shaking his hair.

Kaya held out the shell and smiled.

"Ooo pretty!" Jackson exclaimed. "Want to put it in my pocket?" He asked, holding his hand out.

"Yeah!" She handed him the shell and he put it in the pocket of his swim trunks. They had zippers so the shell wouldn’t get lost.

"Watch out!" Kaya exclaimed, pointing to a huge wave.

Jackson’s eyes widened as Kaya pulled him under just before the massive wave crashed.

Jackson lost his grasp on Kaya and tumbled around a bit. Thankfully he didn’t go too far though.

"That was close!” Kaya exclaimed as they came up for air.

"Haha yeah." Jackson laughed, still a little shaken up. "You wanna’ go in now?" He asked brushing his hair back.

"Race ya!" Kaya giggled, swimming away.

Jackson grinned, following her back to shore. The waves pushed them along and Jackson was coming up close behind Kaya.

He let her win but only by a few seconds.

"That was fun!" Kaya smiled, grabbing her towel and drying off.

"Yeah!" Jackson dried himself as well, rubbing his hair and then his chest.

By now the sun was almost down, dusk setting in.

"What snacks did you bring?" She asked, combing her wet hair. "Swimming makes me hungry!" She exclaimed.

"Watermelon slices, chex mix, cookies and grapes." He said, popping a few green grapes in his mouth.

Kaya opened her mouth and let Jackson feed her a few grapes.

"Yum!" She grinned.

"Here, sit down babe!" Jackson said, patting the place next to him and looking up at Kaya.

She sat down right next to Jackson, the sides of their bodies pressed together.

They silently watched as the sun disappeared into the ocean. The little stars began to appear in the sky after a while and Kaya admired them.

Jackson found himself admiring Kaya more than the scenery, he smiled to himself and rested his chin in his hands.

After a minute Kaya looked at him.                                                                     "What?" She smiled, taking a bite of a watermelon cube.

Still smiling, Jackson pressed play on the stereo (play the song!!!)

"Come here." He took Kaya’s hands and they stood up.

Kaya looked at him, wondering what he was going to do.

He pulled her to him and smiled.

Still not saying a word, he guided her into a dancing position with one hand around her waist and the other, holding her hand.

They held each other close, hearts racing and feeling every single electrifying touch.

Kaya placed her feet on top of his and they began to slow dance to the music.

Their bodies pressed together and sharing an intimate yet comforting warmth as a cool breeze flowed from the sea.

Her neck tingled as she felt his every breath.

His hands sparked, feeling her smooth skin under his fingers.

Kaya closed her eyes and rested her head in the crook of Jackson’s neck.

They slowly stepped in circles, the dark night surrounding them like a blanket.

Jackson hummed softly with the melody, his deep voice rumbling underneath her chest.

He kissed her shoulder and stayed there for a moment, before resting his chin there and pulling her closer.

As if she wasn’t close enough already.

Kaya laced her fingers with Jackson’s and let him guide her through the music.

It was well after midnight before they decided to crash on the blanket and sleep on the beach.

With legs and arms all intertwined they fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

The next morning...

Kaya woke up to a bright morning and Jackson’s sweet kisses.

She squinted her eyes and smiled at a happy Jackson hovering over her.

"How was your sleep?" He asked, stroking her arm.

"Very good!" She giggled, pulling him onto her.

Holding him for a minute she asked "Hey what time is it?"

"About nine o’clock." He responded, kissing her cheek.

"I don’t wanna’ get up yet..."Kaya pouted.

"We have a whole day ahead of us, let’s hurry up and eat some breakfast!!" Jackson exclaimed, sitting up.

"Ughhh." Kaya rubbed her eyes.

"I’ll make you some food, c’mon!" He pulled her up.

"Ok, ok you win!" She sighed, secretly happy that he offered to make her breakfast.

They quickly packed up their stuff and headed inside.

As Jackson settled in the kitchen, Kaya took a shower and had her makeup on by the time he called her in for breakfast.

"Here you go beautiful!" Jackson gave her a peck on the lips before he set down a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of her.

"Wow, this looks amazing!" She exclaimed, surprised at how Jackson could actually cook.

He smiled proudly and sat in front of her, taking a bite of his own pancakes.

"How is it?" He asked, as Kaya ate her second forkfull.

"Awesome!" She exclaimed.

"Thanks" He gleamed.

After breakfast Jackson went back to his house to freshen up, taking a shower and changing his clothes. Then he made a reservation for dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant at 6:00pm.

After making the reservation he called Kaya, saying that he would pick her up at 5:45 for a dinner date.

Kaya was so excited, picking out the perfect red V-neck, long dress with a sexy slit on the side.

It hugged her body in all the right places and her sparkling silver accessories really set off the look.

Just as she slipped on her silver heels and put the finishing touches on her makeup, Jackson knocked on the door.

With her heart pounding in excitement, she opened the door to find Jackson standing there with a bouquet of red, pink and orange roses.

He looked gorgeous in his black suit and perfectly styled hair. Not to mention his cologne smelled amazing!

"Wow, you look stunning!" Jackson exclaimed, his eyes wandering all over.

Kaya laughed "So do you!!"

"Here" He handed her the flowers, blushing slightly.

"Thank you Jackson." She smiled. "I’ll go put these inside real quick!"

"Ok!" Jackson waited a moment and Kaya was back in the blink of an eye.

"You ready?" He asked, holding out his hand.

Kaya nodded and let Jackson lead her to his car.

He held open the door for her to get in and then sat down in the drivers seat.

As he drove to the restaurant, he held Kaya’s hand the whole time in the car, humming along to the radio.

Kaya found herself admiring his profile. His sharp jawline, the way his nose sloped so perfectly. His high cheek bones and totally kissable neck.

Jackson saw her staring out of the corner of his eye and smirked. "Take a picture, it’ll last longer."

Kaya’s face turned red and she quickly turned her head.

Jackson chuckled "I’m kidding Kaya! You can look at me all you want, I don’t mind." He kissed her hand and gave her a wink before turning back to the road.

Kaya rolled her eyes, facing the front.

"You think I’m sexy huh?" Jackson smirked, rubbing his chin.

Kaya sighed. "Yes, yes Jackson you’re really sexy now can you pay attention to the road?!" She exclaimed.

"Alright alright!" He laughed. "We’re here."

They pulled into the parking lot and got out, Jackson opening all the doors for her.

The dinner was awesome!

The food, the music, the atmosphere...EVERYTHING!!

Kaya couldn’t ask for a better night.

Jackson pulled into her driveway and let the car idle.

"This was really nice!" Kaya locked her fingers with Jackson’s.

"I’m so glad you had a good time." He smiled.

Kaya smiled and quickly pulled him into a kiss.

He was surprised at first but then let himself melt into her soft lips.

Caressing her neck with his warm hand he let her set the pace.

Just as things were getting pretty heated, Kaya’s phone rang loudly causing them to jump back.

They looked at each other and laughed before Kaya picked up her phone.

"Hello?...oh haha it’s ok."

Kaya hung up. "Wrong number." She explained, looking at Jackson.

"Oh." He nodded

"I better get going babe, it’s getting late." She said, grabbing her purse.

"Oh...ok." Jackson said, trying to hide his disappointment.

She got out of the car and held the door open.

"See ya!" She smiled, before shutting the car door.

Jackson grinned and waved to her.

He waited, making sure she got in safely and pulled out of the driveway.

He couldn’t stop thinking about her as he drove home and found it hard to fall asleep that night.

"Ah what should I do?" He sighed to himself. "I really can’t go one minute without seeing her."

Time was slipping, if only he knew...

how long they really had.

[cedar-woods]

Clitorial warming gel: our experience

For a couple of months, my SO (50F) has been complaining that her orgasms feel weaker possibly because her clit was feeling less sensitive. There was no obvious reason for either except that she's still somewhere in the middle of going menopausal and that can change all kinds of things as we've read.

On a whim, I decided to buy a $10 bottle of clitorial warming gel. There's quite a few out there on the market and most of them use a base of menthol and/or niacin and/or argine and/or mint oil to encourage increased blood flow to wherever its placed.

Ours is a menthol-based gel/lube and the effect isn't that different from using, say, Icy Hot or Vick's Vapor Rub on sore muscles except that the formulation here is less aggressive (do not put Icy Hot on anyone's clit...unless they're into that sort of thing).

The first time we tried it went something like this:

Her: Ooh, this feels really cold.

Me: blows on her clit

Her: Whoa, don't do that, I don't like how that feels.

we wait 30 seconds or so

Her: Ok, now everything feels warm.

10 more seconds

Her: Yikes, too hot. My labia feels like it's burning!

Me: mental note: do not apply to labia next time

30 more seconds

Me: Is it better now?

Her: I think so.

Me: start to go down on her

Her: Ooo, it's more sensitive. That feels...goooood.

some time later

Her: strong(er) orgasm

Despite the initial discomfort, she liked the results and we've used it the last two times we've had sex and it does seem to result in greater clit sensitivity and better orgasms. This could have just been my imagination, but her clit felt more engorged that first time but I was also more attuned into trying to see if I could detect any differences so it might have been an example of confirmation bias on my part, ha.

The main downside is just waiting for that icy-hot cycle to subside and while she doesn't love the burning sensation, she likes the eventual improvement in sensitivity enough to bear with those few minutes of discomfort. As far as I know, it's hard to get around that effect with any kind of menthol or mint oil based gel and I haven't seen anything on the market from what (limited) research I've done since the different options out seem to all use the same basic base ingredients. It may be that others have found success with a different topical gel that can increase the blood flow minus the "it burns!" effect and if so, please share!

I should add: since we've been using this before I go down on her, my tongue gets a mild second-hand dose. The gel tastes lightly like menthol which is...fine though the tingly effect on the tongue is more distracting than the flavor is. Either way, the effect doesn't last that long and it certainly has zero impact of my enthusiasm. That said, if/when we use this bottle up, we could try something like this cherry-flavored balm.

I should also add: out of...curiosity, I tried applying this to myself during masturbation to see what the effect would be. I didn't feel much, at all. I neither felt the icy or burning parts and as far as I could tell, it didn't make my erection harder or anything like that. That said, I didn't use much of it and maybe I needed to slather it on to achieve a similar effect to how my SO experiences it on her clit. I imagine it might make a blowjob feel different but we haven't tried that yet.

submitted by /u/rustywarwick [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/sexover30/comments/ebypat/clitorial_warming_gel_our_experience/

[bellatrixobsessed1]

From Chin To Yon Rah (Part 41)

I typed this chapter on mobile so it might have more typos than usual and I, a responsible fic writer, do not proof read.

Warmth. There is a sense of community in warmth and trying to stay in a state of it during the colder months. Wujing makes a celebration of doing so. And that is how she finds herself seated around the largest fire she has seen in the Earth Kingdom. She is their go to women to keep it lit until the festivities are over.

They seem to rather adore her fire and on nights like these she yearns to display a vivid blue. Perhaps one day. One day after she tells Hajime who she is. Though she isn't sure when she would tell everyone else. She hopes that everyone will take just as well to her fire when it burns blue. Perhaps if she is lucky, they will enjoy it more.

Until then she adds more orange to the blaze while Atsu shifts his weight in her arms. "My turn, Atsu!" Caihong declares.

"No-o." Atsu shakes his head, "she's my mama, go by yer dad!"

Despite the boy's protests, Azula lifts the blanket and let's Caihong crawl under it and next to Atsu. Hajime steps away from the fire and returns to her side. "I'd say that this is a promising way to start the winter."

"We've had a productive year. We have more than enough to get the Wujing through the winter." Seukhyun notes.

"No thanks to you, boy." Ojihara jests.

"I did most of the work ol' man!"

Listening to the father and son go back and forth is one more constant in her life. A thing that wouldn't feel right if absent.

Azula, to the best of her ability with to little beasts in her lap, moves closer to the fire. "Hey!" Atsu shouts, "I was com-fera-table!"

"I wasn't." Azula shrugs. Truth be told her legs are tingling from having held the same position for so long. "I need to stand up."

Neither of the children takes the cue so she tells them both to stand. She doesn't know why she expected to be met with anything other that a, "no, Rikka! We're cozy!" And an agreeing not from Atsu.

"Hajime, hold these things." She sets Atsu and then Caihong in his lap.

"These things are called children, Rikka." He laughs while Atsu folds his arms and pouts.

"They're more like chittering toad-squirrels if you ask me." She stretches her arms and then her back with a contented sigh. She makes her way even closer to the fire.

"Cider?" A man offers. She recognizes him from the market square, a clothes salesman she thinks. She can't quite recall his name but it could be Poying or maybe Poyang. The man is quite fond of telling everyone that he has a tinge of Air Nomad blood. Azula isn't the only person to take this with several grains of salt.  But he is an honest man otherwise do she takes the glass with a thank you.

"Gimme'a sip, gimme'a sip!" Caihong makes a jump or two for Azula's cider.

Poyang chuckles, "aye, lil' one we got plenty more, ya don't have to snatch Rikka's."

"You don't have to take me." She repeats smugly, holding her glass just out of Caihong's reach. The girl sticks out her lower lip, folds her arms across her chest, and gives her foot a stomp--making sure to rumble the ground for good measure.

Hajime gives her a little nudge. "Aww don't tease Cai."

"She's gonna get her drink anyways." Seukhyun dismisses just as Poyang comes back with more cider.

"Poyang has the best stuff!" Atsu declares after his first sip.

"Cause his brother's the apple man!" Caihong declares enthusiastically.

"One day we'll have to visit his orchard together." Hajime offers.

"We have a lot of one days to get to." Azula points out. But she supposes that they will have a lifetime to do them.

"It's nice to have a lot to look forward to, isn't it?" He slings an  around her waist and pulls her closer. Hot cider splashes onto her shirt. She crinkles her nose, "thanks, Hajime."

"You said that you were getting cold. I thought that I'd help you warm up."

"Won't be so warm when this cider freezes…"

"That's what you get for not sharing it!" Caihong declares smugly. That impish little earth gremlin…

That day she learns that there is a special bond, a sense of community, that comes with the seeking of warmth.

.oOo.

She hadn’t expected to outlast him, but her demise comes as a surprise all the same. And maybe it is because she had wrapped her topmost parka around him. Maybe it is because she had stripped off her remaining glove to keep a fire going for him. For the both of them.

But she is weak and grows weaker as the cold burrows into her wound and seeps deeper into her bones. She looks at the teeth marks with much hatred. Could those have been prevented?

“Azula?” Sokka murmurs. It is the first sound that he has made in a while. And she could cry. Maybe both of them will die, but at least she won’t have to watch another lover do it before she succumbs for herself. She is so terribly cold, she can’t imagine that it will be much longer now.

"Yeah?" She answers.

"What happened?" He slurs.

"First we got caught in a blizzard and then we we got attacked by wolves…"

"Where's dad?"

Azula grits her teeth. "We couldn't find him, remember." They might have fared better against the wolves if they had. As things were they had taken a good chunk out of her arm before being struck down by Sokka's boomerang. The man best appreciate her taking those teeth for him instead of focusing on her own fight. On the grander scheme of things she supposes that it doesn't matter at all. They had done more damage than even that in shredding Sokka's parka and stealing one of her gloves. If they hadn't, she might not have had to spare one if her own.

Agni, she isn't built for this weather. She isn't adapted to withstand it. And it hurts so terribly. Everything stings and tingles. Her face and toes especially. Her fingers had tingled  it that has subsided to a more than alarming nothingness. She sniffles, if only to remind herself that she still has a nose. Her cheeks are so red and she feels as though they have been slapped repeatedly. In a sense, they have. The winter slaps them with a force that a human hand couldn't possibly manage.

She had never realized just how much the cold could burn. Very resentfully, she thinks that the cold might just be higher than even her fire.

She huddles closer to Sokka, rather she tries to do so oh to find that they are as close as they can possibly be. And there is nowhere near enough warmth between the two of them.

"Take your parka back, Azula." Sokka says.

She shakes her head.

"Azula, you need it more, you're not…"

She shakes her head, "no." She won't be the weak one here. She can't allow it. She can't allow it especially if it means watching another lover die. "No."

At least now she can say with conviction that she does love him. Very much. Just as much as she loved Hajime. And more than enough to let herself succumb to the cold to give him a chance.

He tries to remove his parka anyhow so she rolls atop him, he is too weak to shove her off. Which is good because she would have been too weak to resist if he had.

The bite marks on her arm flare. She closes her eyes and shudders as another pang passes through her. How long have they been out here like this? Long enough for the blizzard to pass.it occurs to her that she and Sokka are half buried.   The realization come with a jolt of panic--a queasiness in her belly and a spinning in her head. She doesn't want to be buried in a coffin of snow. She doesn't want to be buried at all. The panic is fleeting when she recalls that she has already unburied herself in putting her body atop Sokka's. Though that isn't to say that more snow won't come to cover them up, she hopes to be hours dead by then.

"You know, I always thought that I would die in combat." She mumbles, pressing her ear to his chest so that she can hear his heartbeat. So that she can be sure that she isn't alone. "That would have been more glorious than this."

"You're not…"

But she isn't done lamenting, "but I also always thought that I would be alone when I died. So I guess that this is better." It's certainly better than dying alone and dehydrated in a grassland.

"We're not going to die."

"We're in the middle of nowhere and the rest of the village didn't expect us to venture this far out to the glacier. We've been out here for hours, my arm won't stop bleeding…"

"Yeah." Sokka's expressions darkness. "Looks pretty grim doesn't it." He is so cold that his breath no longer comes out in puffs. He is quiet for a very long while. "Katara, Aang, Toph, and I were once lost in a desert with ver little water. You made it out of several situations like this…"

"Yes, Sokka and it was mostly luck. How many times can I keep getting lucky?" She doesn't have the energy for shouting. For changing her tone and diction at all really.

She feels Sokka's hands patting her hair. "Hopefully every time."

.oOo.

There is no worse feeling than watching Azula go limp and mostly quiet. For the last several minutes, the oh sign of life was an occasional wimper. Her body is still trembling but not as violently as it had been. She is shutting down. And she still won't take his parka.

"I'm so cold, Sokka." She whispers, her voice sounding so pathetically small. But she is afraid. He can tell, if only because he is terrified too.

"Yeah, me too, Azula."

She rubs her face against his chest. She gets no warmth out of it because there is none left in him. He looks to the sky. To the glimmering cosmos above. Maybe he'll be reborn as one of them…

Azula clings to him with what can oy be the last very last ounces of her strength.

"It's okay, Sokka." She tries to smile though her face is too stiff with the cold. "I told you on the first day that I came back that I had more waiting for me in the Spirit World…"

"Don't say that." He squeezes her tighter.

"It's okay." She says again. "I think I that he wanted me to do a bit more exploring but he'll be happy to know that I got this far."

He wonders if she is thinking of Caihong at all. He wonders if that will do her any good anyways. He doesn't want to say it, especially not to her. But she is right, she is dying. He doesn't think that she will last the night even of he does force her back into her parka.

He hugs her as tight as he can. And then he rolls her onto her back. She murmurs some sort of protest, some sort of distress. But there is something that he wants her to see. Something that he needs her to see.

"Look up, Azula. Open your eyes." He gently slaps her cheeks and her eyes flutter open. They are unfocused and mostly vacant. He slaps her cheeks again until he has her at least a little more alert. “Look at the lights, Azula.”

He thinks that she might have smiled. "That's nice, Sokka." But her eyes close again and the moment is good.

She doesn't cry. She doesn't bargain or beg. She simply squints and, to the best of her ability with blackened, numb fingers and clumsy daze, touches his cheek. And then her hand falls and her eyes close once more. No amount of slapping gets them to open again.

In the distance he hears barking. Sprits, he prays that the wolves aren't back. He squeezes her hand if only to feel her slowing pulse.

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Dead Man’s Blood- Part 4

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2,099

Warnings: Typical Supernatural violence, angst, language, minor character death, blood, you know the usual

Author’s Note: I don’t know how I felt about this one. Feedback would be greatly appreciated for this one. My emotions were mixed with this one.

I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. Please, if you want to be tagged for this series, let me know and I’ll add you! If you want to be tagged for my other fics, I’ll add you! I want to hear what you guys think about this. If you want something requested, send it in!

Feedback is always appreciated

Tags at the bottom

Series Rewrite Masterlist

“Dean, what if this doesn’t work?” You bit your lip in worry.

“It will, just be confident.” Dean got out of the car after pulling to the side of the road and opened his trunk. He groaned, playing his character.

“I told you to stop when I heard that noise. But you didn’t listen to me and now we’re stranded.” You said your line, getting out as well.

“Car trouble?” You spun around and looked at a woman who smirked slightly. This was a vampire and you learned her name was Kate. You were hoping it would be her that helped.

“Yeah.” You replied. All you needed to do was stall her.

“Let me give you a lift. I'll take you back to my place.” Her smirk got wider.

“Nah I'll pass. I usually draw the line at necrophilia.” Dean said, looking at her.

“Ooo, good one.” She then backhanded Dean, grabbing his jaw forcefully, making him look at her. You were about to rush to him but another vampire came out and held you back.

“I don't usually get this friendly until the second date.” Dean said, his face squished by the woman’s hand.

“You know, we could have some fun. I always like to make new friends.” She grinned, pulling Dean closer to her.

“Leave him alone, you bitch.” You growled out. That wasn’t part of the “script” but you didn’t care.

“Is this your girlfriend? Watch and learn, sweetheart. I’ll show him how a real woman does it.” She pressed her lips to his and you grunted out in displeasure and looked away from them. You knew she was just doing that to patronize you but you hated seeing it.

“Oh, sorry. I don't usually stay with a chick that long. Definitely not eternity.” Dean said as Kate pulled away. Suddenly, an arrow pierced the vampire holding you and you were thankful it didn’t pierce you. You got out of his grasp and watched an arrow go straight through the woman’s chest. She huffed as she let go of Dean, turning to see Sam and John coming out of the woods with crossbows.

“It barely even stings.” She snarled.

“Give it time sweetheart. That arrow's soaked in dead man's blood. It's like poison to you, isn't it?” Her face fell at the mention of the red liquid and soon, she was passed out in Dean’s arms. Dean didn’t need to be told twice about where to put her. John turned to the other vampire and smirked as he brought his machete down and cut his head clean off. Now you only had to deal with one vampire.

John wanted you and the brothers to take Kate to a clearing in the woods with a fire going. You didn’t know why he wanted that but you weren’t going to question it. John and Dean were by the Impala, doing whatever they were doing and you and Sam were by the fire, guarding the area while Kate was strung to the trunk of a nearby tree.

“This seems a bit excessive. Your dad has a weird way of doing things.” You said to Sam.

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“Toss this on the fire. Saffron, skunk's cabbage and trillium. It'll block our scent and hers, until we're ready.” John instructed Dean, walking to the fire. Dean shrugged and took a whiff of the thing but reared back in disgust.

“Stuff stinks!”

“Duh, Dean. He just said skunk’s cabbage and I don’t think that is a good thing.” You watched him.

“Dust your clothes with the ashes, and you stand a chance of not being detected.” John instructed.

“You sure they'll come after her?” Sam asked, doing what he was told.

“Yeah, vampires mate for life and she means more to the leader than the gun. But the blood sickness is going to wear off soon, so you don't have a lot of time. But after this, I want you out of the area as fast as you can.”

“John, you can’t possible think you’ll take out all of them by yourself. That’s suicide.” You said.

“I'll have her and the Colt.” John said like it made up for the fact there will be a lot of vampires involved.

“Okay, but what about after? We're going to meet up, right? Use the gun together. Right?” Sam asked his father. John refused to answer and refused to look at his children.

“You’re going to leave. You want to go after this demon by yourself.” You scoffed.

“I don't get you. You can't treat us like this.” Sam said, getting angry again.

“Like what?”

“Like children.”

“You are my children. I am trying to keep you safe.” John said like it was the only reason he was keeping you out of this fight.

“Dad, all due respect but, uh, that's a bunch of crap.” Dean said, standing up to his father. You and the other men looked at Dean in shock.

“Excuse me?” John said, looking at Dean.

“You know what, Sammy, Y/N, and I have been hunting. Hell, you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe.”

“It’s not the same thing, Dean.”

“Then what is it? Why do you want us out of the big fight?”

“John, we are trying to understand you. You can’t keep things from us and not expect us to get angry.” You said, your words meaning a few things.

“This demon? It's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive.”

“You mean reckless.” Dean corrected John.

“Look... I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death... it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die too. I won't.”

“What happens if you die? Dad, what happens if you die, and we could have done something about it? You know I been thinking. I think maybe Sammy's right about this one. We should do this together.” Dean said, taking a side.

“We’re stronger as a family, John and you know it.” You said.

“We're running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area. That's an order.” John said with a hard voice.

“Fuck you.” You growled out and stomped away from him. You hated that he was acting like this. You felt a presence behind you and turned, seeing both young Winchesters there.

“Y/N, you know how he can get.” Sam said softly. He and Dean were hurt but they expected this from John.

“No, you know that’s he’s been hiding my dad from me? My dad is Bobby fucking Singer. MY dad has been right under my nose the entire fucking time and I’m just now finding this out? How dare he keep this man from my life? No, John is an asshole and he treats us like we can’t handle anything.” You got tears fast.

“Bobby is your father?” Sam asked.

“Yeah he is and I never got to know him as much as I would like to have. It’s all John’s fault.” You started crying and Dean pulled you into his chest, rubbing your back soothingly.

“We’ll figure this out, okay sweetheart? We will but we have a case to do and people to save.” Dean kissed your head. He was right. You nodded and pulled away from him, wiping your eyes. You had a case to solve and vampire to kill.

“Then what are we waiting for?” You looked at the brothers before walking off to the car.

It was John’s brilliant idea to do this alone while you, Sam, and Dean go to the nest to play the hero card. Getting into the place was easy. You just hoped that most of the vampires were gone.  John stole the leader’s mate. They have got to be pretty pissed about it.

You didn’t go through the front door because one, that would be stupid and two, there was a vampire on post there. Dean decided to handle this one. The vampire was drinking and he must have been so hammered because he never heard Dean coming. He was dead within the next 5 minutes.

You and Sam quickly made your way to the back where the cage of innocent people were. Dean and Sam got the lock opened in record time, freeing the people. But there were still other vampires and when that cage opened, they pounced.

You and Dean held them off, fighting until your limbs were sore. Sam, on the other hand, guided the people to safety. Because most of the vampires were in search for Kate, you killed the rest within the hour. Now it was time to go save John.

When you got to him, you didn’t expect him to lose control of the situation. A couple of vampires lingered around Kate who was looking much better and the leader, who was named Luther, backhanded John. John may be a pain in the ass but he was family and you always stuck around for family.

Sam and Dean got their arrows ready and you decided to help John. You didn’t think they saw him but you did. Sam and Dean started shooting vampires in the chest and you crept behind the leader, ready to attack.

Apparently, he was more alert than the others because before you knew it, you were spun around with a hand on your throat. Your back was to the vampire’s front and he held you tightly. Sam and Dean were now trying to fight but when Dean made eye contact with you, he stopped mid-air, trying to slice a vampire’s head off. They actually got a few dead.

“Don't! I'll break her neck. Put the blade down.” The vampire sneered.

“Dean, don’t do it.” Dean needed to kill the vampires but you were his girlfriend and he didn’t want you dead. Dean took too long deciding and Luther tightened his grip on your throat, cutting your air supply off. You tried to gasp for air and claw at Luther’s hands but nothing seemed to be working. Dean immediately dropped the machete down when he saw you struggle.

“You people. Why can't you leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do.” Luther growled. You were getting weaker and weaker but you wouldn’t stop fighting.

“I don’t think so.” You couldn’t see what was happening but soon, air was able to enter into your lungs. You fell to the ground, gasping and coughing. When you looked up, John was behind Luther with the Colt in hand. Luther had a bullet sized hole in between his eyes and you knew he was dead. You were just glad that the bullet didn’t hit you.

Dean rushed to you and pulled you behind him and Sam. You breathed deeply, your lungs burning a bit. A sigil appeared where the bullet hit Luther and he wobbled slightly before falling to his knees.

“Luther!!” Kate cried out in horror. A brief flash of light reflected his skeleton before he fell to the ground, dead. Kate wanted to be there for Luther but another vampire pulled her away and to the car they used. Now that their leader was dead, they didn’t know what to do. So, they ran and got the hell out of there.

Damn, you hated vampires.

The case was over and so you were packing. Well, Dean and Sam were packing. You were sitting on the bed, thinking about how messed up your life was. You remembered picking Sam up from college like it was yesterday and not almost a year ago. Damn, time passes by fast.

John entered the motel room and you stood up. You and his kids were ready for what he was about to say.

“You ignored a direct order back there.” John said but he didn’t seem upset.

“Yeah but we saved your ass.” Dean said. Dean visibly swallowed because he wasn’t used to talking to his father like this.

“You’re right.” John agreed.

“I am?”

“He is?” You and Sam said together.

“It scares the hell out of me. You three are all I've got. But I guess we are stronger as a family. So... we go after this damn thing. Together.” John looked at you in the eyes and you could see the sincerity behind them. You wanted things between you and him to be good but you were hurt. You were wounded but time heals all wounds.

Masterlist // Buy me a Coffee?

Series Rewrite tags:

@helllonearth @amyisabellal @deanwnchstr @caseykitten6 @roxalya19 @quixoticcat @supernaturalblogging @notmoose45 @crowleysminion @mina22 @tahbehonest @spn-applepie-imagines

Forever tags:

@gothic-neuromancer @maddieburcham1 @ginamsmith @mogaruke @whit85-blog @inlovewithbja @spn67-sister @kdfrqqg @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @roxyspearing @supercalifragilistic26 @mishamigose @cobrakai1967 @essie1876 @innernightwerewolf

Dean tags:

@akshi8278 @mega-mrs-dean-winchester @winchesterandpie @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester

Other tags:

@jensen-jarpad @notnaturalanahi @deathtonormalcy56 @27bmm

[bellatrixobsessed1]

The Killing Cure (Part 4)

Bela cocks her head and furrows her brows; mother is so small now. So feeble. She reaches out and takes mother’s hand if only to see how it feels to do so. Alcina sits still and somewhat stiff but she doesn’t protest the gesture.

Mother's hand is very small too and her claws are missing. Bela strokes the back of her hand. Her skin, particularly around her fingers has grown strangely dark and when Bela reaches her wrist she notices that it has gone red and scaly.

Mother flinches when Bela touches the rough red patches. Bela flinches too, she has hurt mother. Mother is so delicate. "I'm sorry, mother." Her lower lip quivers.

"It's alright dear, you didn't know. Anyways, it's just a rash."

"A rash?" Cassandra asks.

Mother nods. "Just a rash."

"Itchy sometimes painful pink or red patches of skin. Can be caused by many things like allergies, harsh chemicals, poisonous plants…" Ethan prattles. "Sometimes I think that they just happen for no reason, I once had this really bad rash on my…" he catchws a glimpse of mother's face, "nevermind. They usually go away pretty quickly unless it's an allergic reaction."

"Or porphyria." Mother adds flatly.

This comment causes the human to flinch and rub the back of his head.

"What is that? What does it mean?" Cassandra asks.

Mother only shakes her head, seeming to fall deeper into her dismay. Finally she replies, "it means that I cant protect you girls any longer."

Daniela goes ridged at this. Bela only nods. She hadn't needed mother's confirmation to know this. So far, mother hasn't stood up on her own--for more that a few minutes anyhow--since shrinking. She is under the blankets shivering, with pain or with chill, Bela can't distinguish.

Cassandra sits upon the bed next to her and pulls her into her arms. How strange it is to see mother being held instead of doing the holding.

Bela finds herself sitting on mother's other side. Stranger than seeing her mother being held, is actually holding her. It is one thing to see her so small and another to feel it. To feel mother's head resting upon her shoulder. To feel mother's body lean into hers without toppling the both of them.

Mother is weaker but mother is still comforting; she is soft. Very soft and very warm. Bela can still nuzzle her head against mother and feel safe.

Daniela reaches out to stoke her hair or brush a hand against her cheeks. And mother seems to be falling asleep again.

.oOo.

Eathan grimances to himself. They fully grown and yet they are like little children, lost and confused and terrified.

He can't help but wonder upon what would have happened if he had killed Lady Dimitrescu on the spot. How absolute terrified those three little fly beasts would be. He imagines them wide eyed and trembling just as violently as their mother is now.

He imagines his Rose shaking and terrified at his death...

He runs his hands over his face. He wishes that he could put an end to his empathy, it is going to get him killed.

And yet he has an overkill of the stuff; porphyria…he can't say that he has heard the term until now but it sounds dehabilitating. It looks dehabilitating. Perhaps he shouldn't force her to come with him after all, in this state she would only hold him back anyhow.

"Winters, I am thirsty. Fetch me a drink."

No please, likely no thank you either. He really shouldn't do it, he has no reason to. He doesn't have to, Daniela very eagerly hands a cup to the woman. And the woman greedily brings it to her lips. And then comes a look that is in equal parts horror and disgust.

When she lowers the cup he can see blood smears at the corners of her mouth.

"What's wrong, mother?" Bela asks.

"It doesn't taste right." She looks as though she is going to be sick. Whether with stress or disgust, he isn't sure. She leans more heavily against Bela and grips Cassandra's hand tighter. Ethan finds himself wincing again on the woman’s behalf, he can’t say that he knows what it is like for a cherished thing to suddenly become revolting. At the same time it comes as an incomparable relief to know that he won’t have to worry about her monstrous cravings. He tries not to look her in the eye, lest he find himself feeling bad that she can’t make a morsel of another maiden.

.oOo.

It only grows worse as the night wears on; to go with the cramping is a shooting pain in her abdomen and the sensation of pins and needles in her hands and feet. She is exhausted but her ails won’t permit her to sleep. And the pain comes with a sense of anxiety, at least she thinks that that is where the feeling is coming from. Maybe she is simply loaongbher mind.

She rubs her hands over her face, the pins and needles flare. She is alone, so perfectly alone that it is safe to cry. She feels ridiculous for it nonetheless. That’s twice now in under two days. She supposes that it is only befitting for a weak body to come with a weak mind. Though she is beginning to wonder if a it is the other way around; that she had her mind had been weak and she was given a body to match it. She wonders if she was ever strong at all; perhaps Mother Miranda had been feeding her lies all along, petting a dumb dog so that it would easier roll over and take commands.

There comes a particular potent pang and she lets out something between a sigh and a sob as she folds in on herself. And with the stab of pain comes another wave of insecurity--she is already small and she is making herself smaller still by curling herself up like this. She dreads to think of her girls coming upon her in such a state.  

She remains in such a state for some time, perhaps hours fading in and out of awareness. And in the moments where her mind isn't racing it is detached somehow. It comes with a merciful sense that she and her body aren't one. A sense of disconnect and confusion that is somehow familiar. She tries to place where from. She wonders if she is dying.

She isn't sure that it would be so bad to die…

Her head hurts.

.oOo.

"Check on mother." Daniela demands.

Ethan blinks. "Me? You want me to check on her?"

All three of them nod in uniform.

"W-why me!? She hates me." They all hate him and yet they are all asking favors of him.

“Because you’re good at healing.” Bela answers.

“So you can heal mother, right?” Cassandra asks.

Ethan exhales. He supposes that he doesn’t mind getting away from the Dimitrescu daughters for a while. At least their mother isn’t quite as chaotic. “Fine, I’ll check on her.” He gets to his feet and makes his way up the stairs. He knocks upon her door and waits for her to tell him to fuck off in her own posh and polite way.

He receives no answer at all. He considers, for a moment, marching right back downstairs and complaining about how he’d just wasted his time. Instead he forces her door open, he supposes that the worst she can do is chuck another pillow at him. Upon entering the room he finds that she can’t even do that.

She is on the floor, her body twitching and jerking. The only thing that he can think to do is position a pillow under her head to keep it from knocking her head against the floor anymore than it already has. Her entire body spasms all over, he thinks that it only does so for perhaps a minute before it tapers off and her body stills.

He lifts her into his arms and lays her upon the mattress. Her head lolls to the side but he thinks that she is awake, if only dimly so. He pulls the covers over her shoulders. Unsure of what to do next, he paces about the room. Paces until he catches her stirring.

“Did that happen a lot before your mutation?” He asks.

“Often enough…” she mumbles so quietly. “Winters…?”

“What?”

“Will you watch my daughters for me?"

He is well aware that he is openly staring with his mouth slightly agape. He isn’t sure that he has heard the woman correctly. “You want me to what?”

“They’re delicate. They need someone to watch out for them. If you can kill me then you should have no problem protecting them. They like warm rooms…”

“You’re not going to die, stop being dramatic.” But he isn’t so sure. She certainly looks as though she is dying. And with her, his best chance at finding Rose. “I’ll speak with The Duke and see if he has any medications to treat this…”

“Porphyria.” She fills in. “Don’t you think that I’ve tried everything I could?”

“Maybe centuries ago, when you were last human. Treatments are much different now.”

She sighs, he thinks that he sees a tear running down her cheek. “I’m going to die. Just tell me that when I do you will either protect my daughters or kill them swiftly.”  

[bellatrixobsessed1]

From Chin To Yon Rah (Part 38)

Being sick is very different in a small village than it is in the palace. Illness is never comfortable but it is even less pleasant when the pillows aren’t as plush and fluffy and when she doesn’t have the security of physicians to monitor and care for her nearly every minute.

In Wujing she has to walk to see Min-Min. She is lucky that Hajime is willing to make that walk for her. But while he is gone, there is no one to tend to her, no one to make sure that she is still breathing. No one but Atsu whose idea of helping is occasionally feeling her forehead and declaring, “mmhmm, you’re still sick. I dieg-nose you with not healthy” before springing off the bed to fetch her soup. Soup that is lukewarm at best and clumsily delivered--she now has several wet spots on her sheets to add to her discomfort. He stands on his tiptoes and pushes the bowl onto the nightstand, spilling even more of the broth onto it. He takes the spoon and holds it out to her, dripping broth on to her collar and nightdress.

Azula bites her tongue, it takes all of her will power and then some to not snap at the boy. The boy who is only trying his best to care for her. She parts her lips before Atsu can splatter soup all over her face. She has to admit that he isn’t such a terrible cook. If only he didn’t make great messes while doing so.

“Did I do good!?” He shouts, putting an even deeper pounding into her head.

“You did fine, Atsu.” She coughs. With each cough comes a throbbing like the strides of a soldier, heavy of armor and step. She massages her temples as Atsu holds out the spoon again. This time he holds it too far and she has to crane her neck to reach it. This is how Azula endures the better part of an hour until Atsu hums to himself and declares, “maybe I should hand you the bowl!”

She wishes that he had handed her the spoon or a pair of chopsticks to go with it. Instead--desperate for the soothing warmth and the favors it does for her sore throat--she drinks straight from the bowl. She can practically see father, Zuzu, Mai, TyLee, and everyone she had ever known balking at the unbecoming sight.

She puts the bowl aside and lays her head back all while the spills on the dresser and on her skin drive her mad. She longs to fetch herself a napkin but, spirits, she is so weak. Her pounding head is spinning faintly and she thinks that just trying to stand will leave her feeling entirely nauseous.

She knows that this is it. That this is where she will meet her end. The mighty and proud Azula will have her demise at the hands of an apparently common Earth Kingdom cold.

She bunches in on herself, her stomach does all sorts of flips and flops and she swears that she is going to throw up. She doesn’t even want to move an inch. This is how Hajime finds her. He sighs, apparently noting the mess on the dresser and her skin. “Atsu, you made a big mess!”

“Sorry dad.” He mumbles from the other room.

“Don’t apologize to me!” He rolls his eyes. “You git in ‘ere and ‘pologize to Rikka.”  He shakes his head with a small laugh. “Sorry about Atsu, he was just trying to help. He used to do that to his ma…” he washes away the splotches of soup.

Sometimes Azula wonders about Hajime’s old wife. He talks about her often enough but has never once mentioned a name. She can never bring herself to ask. She doesn’t want to open old wounds. She can’t imagine what it would be like to have a lover die. She can’t imagine that she will ever have to, not when there is no face to picture. At least there is one perk to being unlovable, she will never know that kind of pain.

And yet, Hajime makes her feel like she isn’t unlovable. The way he dabs at her forehead with that wet cloth. The way he smiles at her and brushes her hair out of her face. The way that he assures her that it wouldn’t bother him if he caught her cold while taking care of her. The way that he takes care of her.

It is very different to have someone other than royal physicians to tend to her. She finds that it is significantly less indifferent and methodical. Hajime holds her hand while checking her temperature. He strokes her hand while she drinks her medicine down. He reads to her as she struggles to find sleep.

He is not there when she wakes though. And neither is Hajime. What she finds instead is a prepared meal, her medication, and a note reading, ‘taking Atsu to school and heading to work.’

She understands but wishes all the same that she wouldn’t have to endure this alone. Her stomach isn’t quite as delicate today but the pounding in her head brings tears to her eyes. Involuntary tears, but tears no less. To think that her own body is betraying her like this…

By mid afternoon she is certain, this time for sure, that she will die. That Hajime will find her corpse, still warm, in the bed when he gets back. She sits up to take her medication and the nausea comes back with a vengeance. She doubles over, just barely making it to the sink before heaving.

Yes, this is definitely what death feels like. She slumps to the floor, mouth dry, stomach still queasy, and head still beating. Her body shakes.

She knows that it has been at least an hour, possibly longer than that even. She can’t just stay on the bathroom floor, but every time she moves she feels sicker still. Even so, she forces herself up onto her hands and knees. She takes a deep breath and tries to fight off the dizziness.

Spirits, just what kind of sickness has she contracted? WuJing isn’t exactly a peasant town--well it is in that it is a village for commoners, but it isn’t the dirty, disease riddled variety.

She feels arms under her shoulders. Arms that help her to her feet and a body to lean on. “Hajime?” She inquires weakly. But the body is too small to be Hajime. It is too large to be Atsu. “Seukhyun?” But no, it is too small to be Seukhyun too.

“Not quite.”  Replies the man.

If her nose weren’t so backed up she could have easily smelled turnip on him. Ojihara helps her into bed and uncorks the medicine bottle for her. “Your food’s all col’. I’ll fix you somethin’ new to eat.”

“Okay.” She says, her voice has been reduced to little more than a hoarse whisper.

“You got it bad, don’cha?” He clicks his tongue. “‘S a good thing I came to check on you.”

She can’t disagree. She nuzzles her face against the pillow and clutches her fingers around the bed sheets.

“I have a special remedy that my own grandfather passed down from me. S a secret one…” Ojihara calls from the kitchen. “But it works e’ry time. Seukhyun would cry like a baby when he got sick, this stuff fixed ‘im up good as new.”

Azula decides that she will have to remember to bring that up next time she sees Seukhyun. Not that she hasn’t been doing a decent share of crying herself. He doesn't have to know that.

“Thank you, Ojihara.” She mumbles as she curls her fingers around the cup. She sure hopes that this remedy tastes better than it smells.

She feels absolutely horrible and, by all means, the medications and treatments aren’t as effective in Wujing. And yet, somehow, she thinks that she would rather fall ill here than at the palace. The warmest blankets at the palace aren’t as warm as the company that cares for her here.

That day she learns that a moment of vulnerability will strengthen her in the long run.

.oOo.

The icy howling of the wind alone is enough to drive her grief out and freeze her guilty conscience. There isn’t much room to think pessimistically when the only thing on her mind is how painfully and aggravatingly cold it is.

“How do you people live like this?” She shives, wrapping her arms around herself.

“We bundle up adequately for one thing.” Sokka chuckles. “Here.” He holds out a heavier parka.

“I’m already wearing one.”

“But you’re not used to this weather. And where are your mittens?”

“In my pockets, I was having trouble picking things up.”

“You’ll have more trouble picking things up if you lose all of your fingers.” He snatches her hand and shoves it into a mitten. “And pull your hood up!” He doesn’t give her the chance, instead he tugs it over her head. So far that the fur obscures most of her vision. She slips the second mitten on and moves the hood to a more optimal resting place.

“For someone so smart you sure are…”

“I’ve never been to the Tribes before. I didn’t realize that it would be this cold.” Until now such biting weather has been entirely unfathomable to her. She had always thought that the sun was radiant enough to cast heat everywhere. The sun in the Tribes seems so much weaker than it is in the Fire Nation where it beams down upon her with the same merciless brutality as the people under its rays. “I don’t think...it shouldn’t be possible for a place to be so cold.”

Sokka laughs again. “It can’t be sunny everywhere.”

And in most places in her life, it isn’t. Most things in her life are somehow colder than even this. Than even the sort of weather that has her locks stiff and tinged with frost. She shivers. She wants her world to be warm and cozy again. She wants such in every conceivable way; physically and emotionally.

Sokka cups her cheeks, at the very least, his hands are warm. It puts a tickle in her tummy. A tickle that grows in intensity at the dull reminder that she can be warm and cozy again if she lets herself be. “Can we go inside now?” She mutters. “This snow is up to my knees and I’m tired of walking in it.”

Sokka nods. “That’s what snow shoes are for.” He gestures to his feet.

“Those look hard to walk in.”

“Harder than trudging through mounds of snow that are taller than you?” He quirks a brow.

She fights to keep a pout off of her face. He laughs and ruffles her hair before scooping her into his arms. She hadn’t imagined that, that would be the first thing that Katara has seen of her in several years. And she isn’t sure if it is a good impression or not.

Her eyes lock upon Azula. They follow her across the room to where Sokka sits her down in front of a fire.

“Where’s dad?”

“He’s out fishing with Bato. What’s she doing here.” Katara nods in her direction.

“Wweeell...I was hoping to reintroduce her to you and dad.”

Katara’s brows furrow. “You’re not serious, Sokka! I don’t want to talk to her again.”

“She’s different now, she…”

“I don’t care how different she is!” She practically spits the word care.

“You didn’t care how different Zuko was either…”

“Zuko didn’t kill Aang.”

“He tried to.” Azula points out, quite unhelpfully in the grander scheme of things. At the very least, the woman will be speaking about her to her instead of to Sokka. At least that was the hope…

“Zuko...he was confused. She knew exactly what she was doing.”

She wishes that the same could be said now. Sokka comes to stand beside her and rests an arm on her shoulder. She wonders if he can sense her unease through touch alone. She already feels like a monster, she doesn’t need more confirmation of that.

“Just give her a chance, Katara.”

“She’s already had one and she spent it trying to kill her own mother.”

Azula cringes.

“Well this time she’s ready for another chance.”

But she doesn’t think that she can ever be truly prepared. Not for something like this. It doesn’t matter how hard she tries nor how she arranges her deck. Briefly she wonders if it would be better to chance freezing to death than speaking to Katara a moment longer.

“I’m not ready to give her one.”

“Katara…”

“Why do you care about her all of the sudden, Sokka. Remember what she did to Suki?”

“It isn’t really sudden.” Sokka rubs the back of his head. “I’ve been talking to her for a while now and she’s…” he trails off. “She’s actually kind of a sweet person.”

“I am not.” She grumbles.

“Believe it or not, she’s pretty good with kids.” Azula is certain that he has sensed her discomfort this time because he shares a half truth. “Ursa, ya know, her mom…”

“I know who Ursa is, Sokka.”

“Ursa has this kid…”

Katara rolls her eyes, “I was there, Sokka.” She folds her arms across her chest.

“Well Azula gets along with Kiyi and Kiyi’s, uh, friend, Caihong.” Sokka nods, seemingly pleased with his white lie. “Azula really like Caihong and Caihong is an earthbender. And that’s good because Azula used to only talk to earthbenders if they were Dai Li agents…”

Spirts, she can’t remember the last time she had felt such an intense secondhand embarrassment. She wonders if Katara would buy that the color on her cheeks is the product of cold alone.

“Why do you care about her?” Katara asks again.

“Talk her and find out.” Sokka musters up a smile. “You’ll understand why, if you do.”