#cause naturally they do take up residence in places/homes that been abandoned

[delightfullygiddy]

I can fix them vibes, and by them I specifically mean abandoned / stigmatized properties that have fallen into complete disrepair. Let me in, I can deal with djinn better than people please you have to let me try im begging- BEGGING YOU-

[keylovesstuff]

Omg guys stop what you're doing I actually wrote instead of just playing out scenes in my head lmao!!

Can I offer you guys a little update on this fine Monday?

Little events Ch.2

AO3

FFN

"Why don't we just let her stay here with us?" Questioned a Green toad from the opposite end of the table.

Toadsworth looked up from an unsearched area on the map and fixated his companion with a perplexed look. It had been three months since the little girl they decided to call Peach wandered through the pipe to their little village. Naturally there were questions from others upon seeing the child the next day and the scouts answered. Toadsworth, being the leader of their group, felt a sense of obligation to get her back home safely. They started their search going through the pipe directly from where she came only to find the town completely abandoned. They weren't expecting to find the area like this and Peach didn't seem to have much of a reaction to the place. Nevertheless they decided to hang around for a while in hopes they would encounter someone looking for the child.

The day came and went without anyone showing up and Peach had started to grow restless as the day grew later. There were only so many things around to keep her entertained. The group returned to their village and for the rest of the week, they came back to the deserted town, even going as far as visiting during different hours of the day. When they saw that routine was going nowhere they pulled out their map and looked for areas where humanlike creatures resided. This method proved to be better but not by much as people who were willing to hear them out didn't know who she was. Now here they are and there is only one place left to go. If nothing comes out of this visit could they really just raise her on their own?

"Absolutely not" Toadsworth raised his voice slightly after causing everyone's eyes to widen "We face enough challenges taking care of our own. The needs of humans are too much" he rationalized to the group and to remind himself.

"Well what do you propose we do if we don't find her a home today?" One Toad raised a hand and asked.

Toadsworth thought about it for a minute and couldn't come up with anything. Before he could say as much another Toad spoke up with an idea.

"We could take her to an orphanage or something... She'll be around other kids and someone who wants her will adopt her" The toad finished and added "Maybe her family's looking for her at one of those places you never know" they added.

The mustache toad considered it for a minute with fingers on his chin. On one hand the thought of just leaving the child alone to be given to just anyone scared him a bit. There was always a chance that the people who would take Peach, not being able to give her the love and life she deserved. Then again, the toads themselves were pretty much taking their own chances with each person they approached offering to give her to because they 'supposedly were or knew her parents' so to an extent the solution was similar. On the other hand no one has done this in their three months yet so he had some faith that whoever would take her would give her the world.

Maybe it had to do with how short of a time they have been caring for her but, Toadsworth has been growing rather fond and protective of Peach. He was starting to think that the longer she resided with them, the harder it would be for him to let her go and return back to his old routine. With that final thought, he came to the conclusion that today had to be the day they found her a new home and family.

"Very well, I'll keep that in mind as we go about our day." He nodded to the toad's suggestion, adjusting his glasses. "Be prepared to leave in thirty minutes. I'll see you gentlemen at the gate" After everyone was dismissed, Toadsworth followed heading straight to the area where all the kids gathered every morning.

Bright blonde hair stuck out like a sore thumb but at the same time she looked so natural sitting in the circle chatting and laughing with the smaller toads. Peach's blue eyes met his beady ones as he approached the group. Wide smile she hopped up from her spot and skipped over to him while nine other kids followed.

"Good morning Mrs Toadsworth" they all greeted him happily. Peach wrapped her arms tightly around his body as if she didn't just see him an hour ago and did the same thing.

"A pleasant morning to you kids as well" he replied while rubbing the top of Peaches head. "You all go back over and finish your breakfast now." He told them after noticing half empty plates of fruit and crackers where they once were.

"Are you taking Peach to another place today?" One of the children asked him as they walked back over to their spot. He nodded in response.

"Can we come too? Peach says you guys always have fun." Another one chimed in with a question of their own.

"Certainly not, you all must stay here and tend to your work." He shook his head as they all sat down in their places. "Besides we don't go to have fun, we're taking her home today" he finished explaining.

"You say that all the time Mr.Toadsworth but she always comes back" yet another child stated in between bites of apple slices.

"Yeah 'sides Peach says she likes us and wants to stay here" a purple spotted toad spoke up as well and Peach nodded along eagerly.

Of course Toadsworth knew that. Days where they didn't go out searching, Peach would always come to him expressing how much fun she had that day with her friends. She'd tell him how she wished she could stay with them all forever. Everytime he bought up the idea of her maybe being happier with people like her, he'd always get a nonchalant 'maybe' before she returned to playing and talking more about the day. He always chalked those moments up to that just being an excited child's attention span but she'd give the same answer when settling down for the night. The kids were still talking to him while he was lost in thought and he only focused back in when another voice joined the conversation.

"Alright kids, let's finish up and stop bombarding Mr.Toadsworth with questions. We got a big day ahead of us." Toadannie sweetly told them while handing over Peach's clean clothes to Toadsworth. "Wouldn't you guys want someone to get you back home if you got lost?" She asked them. Some of the kids shook and nodded their heads.

"No, because my mom and dad always make me eat gross vegetables and go to bed early. My new family wouldn't do that" One of them said and the whole group laughed, some of them agreeing. 

"Ok I hear you all. I'm sure Peach will come and visit us with her family. Right honey" Toadannie asked her and she nodded. "See? Her hair has already been brushed" she directed the last statement to Toadsworth who was going to ask that question next.

"Thank you Ms.Toadannie. let's go now Ms.Peach, we have a big day ahead of us." He cleared his throat and offered his hand to help Peach up. She took it and they waved the other children off as they left to go about their day with Toadannie.

"Do I really have to go home today?" Peach looked up and asked Toadsworth as they headed back to his place.

"That's the plan my dear. We all have a good feeling about today. You're going to love it." He told her in hopes of getting her excited. The desired effect wasn't given.

"If you say so. I love being here with you all more" Peach told him staring straight ahead.

"We all love you being here with us too but we also want you to be around others that can give you what you need. You'll understand it when you're older, I promise." He finished as they made it back to his house, opening the door. "Now you go get changed, we have to meet up with everyone in fifteen minutes time." He looked at the clock on the wall and handed her her clothing.

Once she disappeared into his room he gathered some extra snacks from his pantry like usual and placed them in the bag by the door. He did some last minute thinking about the future really hers to himself. Are they really doing right by Peach with the lengths they are going to when it comes to wanting her with her own kind? If they were willing to give it a try, could they actually be enough to raise a human child into a proper adult? While he had many doubts about these things, there was a little trust that it all could work out. If only her guardians wherever they were would just show up, take her home, and care for her. He was once again pulled out of his thoughts by her voice.

"I'm ready" she called out to him. Toadsworth gave a once-over of her appearance and there was only one thing out of place.

"Your shoes are on the wrong foot my dear Peach." He chuckled, bending down to help her fix them. "There we go, now you're ready." She giggled and reached out to his hand and he took it.

They held onto each other tightly and left the house.

__________

The search went by as it usually went. Five minutes in from the moment they entered the town, of course Peach had a million of things she needed that they all had to attend to. After a few potty breaks, some lunch, and getting her to take a nap they were finally able to talk to the locals asking their usual questions. Toadsworth asked an additional question to those who were willing to listen about places that housed and took care of abandoned children. Turns out the place wasn't too far from where they were and people had nothing but positive things to say about it along with the staff. While the words did make him feel good about maybe leaving her there, he wanted to see this place with his own eyes. 

That's exactly what he decided to do around two in the afternoon. He left Peach in the care of his two companions at a park along with a few other kids. The place was about a five minute walk from the playground. That was a pretty good distance he thought and surely they don't let the smaller children roam about on their own without some sort of supervision. The building itself was pretty tall, about three stories as a matter of fact and well taken care of on the outside. The lawn was well-kept as the grass was short, bushes were trimmed, Flowers scattered about, and with what little he could see of the backyard looked pretty much the same.

There's more to things than just the outside, that's what he told himself. Toadsworth wanted to see and talk to those on the inside. Before he had a chance to knock, the door opened and out ran a boy that looked older than Peach, though not by that much. There was an older woman behind the desk who greeted him with a smile.

"Good afternoon sir, how can I help you?" She asked, standing up from the seat and approaching him.

"Ah yes well you see we have this child and we aren't sure where she belongs. We were referred to this place and I wanted to learn about how you all run this establishment. If you don't mind" He told her. 

It took a little minute for the women to say something. The longer they stood in silence, the more convinced he thought she would decline his offer and turn him away. Instead after what seemed like forever she led him to the office behind the desk. The door was left slightly ajar as they both took a seat, her behind a computer. Toadsworth learned a lot more things from the worker after explaining the events from the past three months. Apparently a lot of kids of all species were brought here by others after stumbling out of pipes. Although she never saw someone take care of a child for this long before bringing them here.

"We thought we'd find them or even a lead by now but nothing." He told her "We just think she'd have a better chance of finding someone better fit for her needs." He added with a thoughtful smile.

The women seemed to understand him fully and gave him a brief rundown about how things were run around the place. Everything Toadsworth was told made him feel even better about the decision of leaving her there. They make sure all the kids are provided with a balanced three meals everyday and have availability to get snacks throughout the day if they want. All kids are well supervised throughout the day, especially the smaller ones who aren't allowed to leave the premises alone without an adult. There are plenty of things for them to do both inside and outside in the front and backyard for them to do. They do their best when it comes to teaching the smaller children reading, writing, and math skills before they are old enough to go to the school they have them all go to. All of that sounded really good to him but his next questions went along the lines of how they make sure the kids who do get adopted are going to live with good people.

Again she gave him an answer that was great to hear. They make sure to do routine background checks on adults prior and during the adoption process. They make sure the condition of the home is up to satisfactory standards. Once the process is complete they send in random wellness checks on these kids to make sure they are being treated well.

All questions answered, Toadsworth felt that Peach would be in really good hands staying here and even after leaving. They have plenty of clothes for her however long she stays. He told them all about her little quirks he's noticed throughout his time with him. They did some paperwork before he left to go get Peach and bring her here to meet everyone. Along with saying his final goodbyes to her.

Toadsworth returned to his companions at the park where he left them. One of them was pushing Peach on a swing while another one was sitting on a bench. Spotting the older toad he shook his head silently communicating to him that they still hadn't found anyone willing to take her during his time away. That was something he was used to by now but, today is different and he was ready to share what he learned from his little visit. They too felt good about leaving Peach in this place's care and while they were also feeling a bit sad about seeing her go, they knew it was best for her future.

After having Peach get acquainted with some of the adults at the place and asking him one final time if this is what they all really wanted to do, they were getting ready to say their goodbyes and head back home. Toadsworth told them to keep their farewells short so as not to cause a huge scene. While the other two toads were waiting patiently, he was the one who's been hugging Peach for almost an entire two minutes.

"Remember to be nice and use all your manners that I taught you ok?" He reminded her. She sniffled out an 'ok' nodding her head. "You just be your little bubbly self and everyone you meet is going to love you. Yes?" Again she nodded against him and he pulled back with arms still wrapped around her.

"Will you come and see me?" She asked him while rubbing the snot from her nose.

That question broke him just as much as her red face and tear streaked cheeks. He had to be truthful even if it would hurt her more. The thought of coming to visit her for a little while a few days out of the week till she was gone crossed his mind a couple of times. In the end he concluded that it would be more detrimental to her finding a home. Peach wouldn't want to go with anyone cause she'll always be looking forward to spending time with him and that was far from what he wanted to happen.

"I'm sorry dear but, I won't be able to do that." She cried harder after he finished saying that and she immediately wrapped her arms back around him "It's better that way. You'll understand it when you're older.ok?" He promised. 

It took a little minute for her to calm down but once she finally did, he pulled her away again and reached out to wipe her face and held her hands in his.

"Hey now, we'll see each other again one day. I'm sure about that." He told her with a smile "you're far too pretty to have that look on your face and I don't want to leave you like that. Can I see your little happy face before I go?" He asked her hoping that would be enough for her to comply. 

Instead of doing so she reached out and touched the red bow tie he wore around his neck. A silent request that he could easily give in...even if this was his favorite. He reached behind himself to loosen and pull off the tie.

"Now you make sure to take good care of this." She nodded as he wrapped it while not too tightly around her wrist. "When you don't have that blanket around your neck you can have someone help you properly put it on. " He chuckled and she giggled with him, finally giving him that smile he would always remember.

Satisfied he gave her one last hug before leading her up to the steps of the place to the person waiting. The pair waited at the door as Toadsworth headed to the others. Both sets of people waved one final time before the toads took off in the direction of home. 

They began to walk. The other two toads made small talk about random stuff and looking forward to getting home for the day, Toadsworth was quiet. Peach was finally the one step away from getting the life she deserves and yet here he was with an empty feeling in his heart. He knew that with time this feeling would dissipate but how long would that take? How could something or someone being in his life for such a short amount of time cause him to be feeling like this? If he was willing to put in the effort could he have been the best guardian for her?

For the umpteenth time that day, he was lost in his thoughts and not paying attention he bumped into one of the toads who stopped suddenly. Toadsworth was about to ask why they stopped until he heard her crying and footsteps right behind him, the woman slightly behind calling out her name.

"Daddy! I want you" she called out to him jumping into his arms when he turned around. He easily caught her and was only shocked momentarily before he tightly held onto her. Peach continued repeating the second statement.

Toadsworth was caught up on what she called him. He felt that his heart would leap right out of his chest. The other toads stood there watching the scene in just as much shock. 

"Peach" was really the only word he could say as she clutched tightly to the back of his vest.

"I think she already knows where she wants to call home" The woman said aloud with a smile.

"Hmm... Peach, is that true? Do you want to stay with us?" Toadsworth asked, trying to pull her away to face him. A futile effort as she held on tighter in order to stay in place. She nodded her head frantically.

At her age, she seemed to have complete trust in him to do right by her and wouldn't take anyone else for an answer. He still wasn't sure if he could do it all alone and was about to return her to the lady when another thought came to mind. Like all the children in their little village, everyone did their part to make sure they were well taken care of. They would adjust accordingly as she grew and she would surely be fine. They could only really give her their best so that is what they would do if she would allow them. 

"Alright dear I hear you loud and clear. We'll honor your decision." He said, patting her back in a soothing motion. 

[sabineelectricheart]

Cherry Blossom Morning

Summary: Rosalie wakes up after an important, and improper, first for an young woman. Her date is glad to have her at his home.

Rating: MA - Content is only suitable for mature adults. May contain explicit language and adult themes.

Words: 1700

Notes: I don’t remember when my first time on a bed was. I know it wasn’t on my first ever, nor my second... And perhaps not the third one either.

The daylight is filtered through the thin drapes on the little abandoned hovel that once served as the Sallow home. It is a bright springtime morning and the bustle at the street beneath is starting to pick up for the day.

Rosalie does not usually think of herself as the sort of person who would expose herself like that, given the small size of Feldcroft, but Sebastian and her had business to attend to and they would need more privacy than they were afforded at most places. Deek is bound to the school, she could not trust him to keep a secret, so the Room of Requirement was out. The dorms are shared, Vesters and Vernum had Fastidio to contend with and Sirona would not let indignity take place under her roof.

The Sallow residence was the best option. Fortunately, her aunts made sure to teach her a few techniques to secure those sorts of encounters, from discretionary spells to potions to avoid any undesirable outcome. All Beausoleil secrets she would eventually be teaching her nieces and daughters, as well.

A gentle hand brushes stray hair from your face as her eyes blearily blink open, squinting against the morning light until they adjust. His own eyes crease adorably at the corners with that warm, genuine smile that has only ever been for her.

He shifts closer to her on the bed and slides an arm around her waist as she stretches her back and shoulders. The sight only causes his smile to broaden.

"Morning, gorgeous.” He says softly, pulling her to his taller frame.

"Morning...” She mumbles, managing a sleepy but blissfully happy smile of her own.

The golden light from the nearby window positively glows in his thick locks of hair and across his fair skin. Charming freckles scatter across his shoulders, now accented by the occasional dark pink love-bite. He wears them well, she thinks with a grin, though she can still feel the distant sting of the marks he had gifted her in turn.

Her admiration is cut short when his hold at her waist tightens and he draws her into a slow and tender kiss. The softness of his lips still sets her heart thudding in her chest, though now they both fall into a natural rhythm, one practiced extensively the night prior.

Her hands rest on his chest, and Rosalie swears that she can feel the pounding of his heart matching hers. Sebastian barely parts from his paramour, his lips still brushing hers as he nuzzles her nose playfully with his own.

She gives a short laugh. "Wow. Do you spoil all of your lady friends like this, or am I just lucky?"

He scoffs at her words, his hand at her waist now trailing up her side and along her back, cradling her to him.

"Hardly. They do not often stay the night.” The bitterness in his tone melts into something almost bashful as he adds, "I was... Honestly relieved when you said that I could."

She rests her forehead against his, brushing her fingers along his jawline. "If you are always this sweet in the morning, I would not mind staying over with you again."

The young man nearly laughs. "Are you kidding me? You looked so cute sleeping there next to me that I was not sure my heart could take it. I would spoil you rotten for the chance to wake up to that again."

Sebastian kisses his date for the night before again, more deeply, his tongue flitting across her lips. With a contented sigh, she parts them for him. His hand is warm as it cradles her face, and he leans into the kiss until he is nearly turned her onto her back.

Soon enough, their bodies are pressed to one another, his torso strong and firm against Rosalie. His teeth nip gently at her lower lip, his hands wandering her curves with obvious hunger and adoration. Then, she feels the distinct heat of his cock stiffening against her thigh, pulsing as it gradually hardens.

She breaks from his kiss with a smirk. "Are you still not satisfied, even after last night?"

"I can never have enough of you, babe.” He says, the rasp in his voice surprising her, sending arousal plunging through her centre.

Biting at her lip, Rosalie suddenly urges Sebastian onto his back and sling a leg over him to straddle his hips. He gives a pleased groan, greedy hands running up her thighs while his eyes devour the sight of the woman he adores above him, wearing only the shirt he had leant her to sleep in.

Her hips grind her lower body against him, the wet lips of her pussy pressing along the stiff length of his cock. He whispers her name, his voice low and heavy with lust, and his body thrusts against she, rutting his thick cockhead against her clit. The stimulation forces a gasp from her, and she steadies herself with her hands on his abdomen.

"What was that before about spoiling me rotten?" She manages between hushed moans.

"Why do you not let me show you?" The black-haired boy replies.

He phrases it as a question, though he is already guiding her into position above him with a hand at her hip. It only takes him a moment to align himself with her entrance, his hand gripping her body tighter as he feels her soaking wet folds around him.

Then, very slowly, Sebastian begins to guide Rosalie down onto his cock, the head driving into her squeezing cunt inch by inch. Her face flushes, her lips parted in a silent sigh as her lover fills her. It is every bit as incredible as the prior evening; feeling his member gradually opening she around him, dragging against a thousand over-sensitive nerves. It has already set her legs trembling around him.

"Mmm... You are so tight, babe, and so nice and wet for me..." He groans.

Both of his hands now firmly at her hips, groping plump flesh as he begins to thrust into her. It takes her a moment to regain her senses enough to coordinate with his movements.

Truly, his expertise is more than enough to send ripples of pleasure through the witch with each buck of his hips. He knows exactly the right angles, the right pace, starting her slow yet gradually pushing deeper, quicker, until she finally manages to catch up and match his rhythm. By then, she is already gasping his name, letting out moans and whimpers shamelessly into the bedroom, knowing how he loves to hear those sounds of bliss.

One hand moves to the front of her shirt, where he somehow undoes the single button holding it closed, all in the while never once easing those expert thrusts into her drooling pussy. Then, that hand wanders around her waist, pulling her down to him.

"C'mere, you.” He murmurs, drawing her into a deep, erotic kiss.

Rosalie feels that she can barely keep up. His tongue teases hers, his hands squeeze and caress her all over, and his cock… Goodness, his cock pistons into her at that steady, luxurious pace, filling her again and again until her head starts to spin. The pleasure is maddening, and without a single thought, her body moves of its own accord, forcing herself down onto his throbbing length and grinding it deep within her.

"Sebastian! Fu-Fuck, I'm…!"

"That's right, babe, cum for me, I've got you.” He groans, his voice hoarse as he holds her close.

The tension and heat suddenly burst at her core, her pussy clinging desperately around his manhood, coating him with her overflowing arousal. A potent shiver runs up her spine, and Sebastian urges her through her orgasm all the while his member pulses inside, massaging her inner walls. She takes a shaky breath as the aftershocks work through her, trembling in his arms.

"Merlin, Rosalie.” The overwrought wizard whispers against her ear. Without warning, his cock drives into her once, then again, and he is quickly panting along with his date. "Watching you cum like that just for me... It is too damn hot!"

"It is because you spoil me, Sebastian." She says softly, cradling his face even as he fucks into her, so near to his own release. "And because I... I adore you.”

Rosalie half-moans, feeling his grip tighten at her hips. With the final worshipful sigh of her name, Sebastian buries his cock into her once more, the full length of it flexing within her as he pours his cum deep inside.

The swelling sensation stretches her almost painfully, but the thrill is far more potent. She clings to his lean body as his muscles tense with each wave of his orgasm, nuzzling his neck until he is spent. After these long moments of mindless pleasure, she feels him relax onto the bed all at once, panting as he comes down from the high of his climax.

Still breathless, he runs a hand along her cheek, meeting her eyes with something strangely heavy in his gaze.

"I love she.” He says at last.

Her face burns almost as hot as the rest of her, and for a moment, she is forced to look away.

"You are seriously going to say that with your cock still inside of me?" She asks, sarcastically.

He laughs, and gently nudges the young woman back to face him.

"I could've said it while we were fucking. Nearly did, actually. Last night, too.” His affectionate smile melts right through her pretend-pout, and he adds, "I would have meant it then, too, of course, but it seemed better to wait. I love you, Rosalie, I really do. Do not go around thinking this is about anything else."

'I… Well, I...” She stammers, but eventually manages, "I love you too, obviously. But we, uh, we should clean up."

At long last, Sebastian acquiesces, easing his member from Rosalie and guiding her down onto the bed beside him, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep before they head back to the castle.

He kisses her forehead gently. "Sure, sure. Just figured I'd convince you to stay another night, first."

[walkingdummie]

Modern Heaven rough notes (with docs link in the end)

The summary of the story so far:

For the sake of simplicity, I will be telling this story in a chronological order. It all began in the second layer of reality, when Angels decided to try and take a shot at expanding their influence into other, “lesser” realities, where beings were not able to obtain such quantities of power as them. Yet one Angel, named Melido, was against that plan, as even they had no clear idea of what might happen to them or the residents of other layers. That gave the rest of the Angels, who were the only very few residents of said reality, an idea, to banish Melido to another layer of reality with their combined efforts. Ever since, Melido has been living on the third layer of reality. All while that was happening, a boy named Akira, resident of the fourth layer of reality, was hanging out with his best friend in an old, seemingly ancient, abandoned house, capturing the footage as they were exploring a place someone used to call home. At some point, they came across a comfortable-looking room to stay in. It was trendy during those days to stay in abandoned buildings for a night, but the boys knew that there wasn’t anything to be afraid of, because there are no such things as ghosts in real life. Eventually, they settle down and start drifting to sleep, but before they could allow themselves such a privilege, a heavy crack, followed by a thump, could be heard. This woke them up instantaneously, adrenaline pumping through their veins. As they got up, the floor started collapsing and all they could think of was to run for their lives, leaving even their camera behind. It would turn out, after Akira had made it out of the now collapsed building, that even all that running wasn’t quite enough to spare both of their lives. All Akira could do was realize what all this meant, not only to himself, but everyone who knew his dear friend - his family, his friend group, his classmates were all bound to mourn over this, all because Akira wanted to follow a stupid trend and drag his friend into it. A few years after all that had happened, Akiras parents decided to sign him up to online school, as his school environment had become a little too toxic. Not because he was bullied or anything like that, but because Akira was convinced that everyone secretly hated him for what had happened. After all, everyone had heard about it - who could ever forgive a murderer?

TL;DR what happens next is Akira is supposed to be pulled into the third layer of reality, after he’d been chronically online for some time, but in a freak accident, he is electrocuted by his computer and because he does so during when he was transported, he splits into 2 of himself, one “half” spawning 20 years earlier. Once he realized he woke up in a different world, he instantly tried to see if he had gained some sort of superpowers, which ended up in tragedy, too, because he caused a massive, football field sized circular hole in the ground (fortunately enough this was in a remote place). After he recovered and found himself in the hospital, asked for identity, he decided to go by Jokai, because he saw this new world as a fresh start. This means Melido and Akira Jokai are on the same level of reality, now referred to as Modern Heaven. What happened after Melido came to this world, though, was that he had discovered, that even this reality has its own Angel-type people - they weren’t quite human, as they were missing some essential body parts due to how much the power had taken from them. Melido, himself, was a white-haired tall dark skinned guy. He looked as if his right eye didn’t exist - and looked like it was a totally natural feature for him, as if he was just born this way. Most angels have similar features. At some point in history, the third layer Angels were weakened - parts of their powers were separated from them and placed into various objects and hidden from them by Melido, so they wouldn’t kill the humans Melido had observed and/or dragged into this reality. This ended up backfiring, as the God of Water went to war with the other gods, after finding the gemstone his powers were sealed off to. The Goddess of Nature and Goddess of Creation managed to seal him off, though, sacrificing themselves. This resulted in a giant mountain, that breached the 10 000 meter mark. Society evolved into what we would consider equal to our own, though. That’s when Jokai was placed into that world, at around the year 2000. Akira would come later, at 2020.

Karls pursuit for success can also be a story of the protagonist chasing a convenient alternative in stead of their passions and then regretting it (which also makes things worse for people around him because Joseph wouldn't have been ridiculed if Karl had advocated for LGBT rights in stead of pushing for a conservative agenda like he did)

Karls and Joseph's love was exposed in the early days of Karl's politician career, which made him deny it in public and also in his own mind - this could be used as a story of accepting someone's romantic orientation

Melidos way of trying to unite humanity is forceful and it fails initially but the true collaboration of the human race will come to shine when the Elder Angels have won and Irisviel is dead in an uprising against mentioned angels

The beings Melido is trying to protect Modern Heaven (and all other realities) from represent biblically accurate angels (1 of each) they attack while Irisviel is taking down the artificial gods (a system that Melido set up). All the angels disguise themselves as citizens.

Joseph is the one who thinks with a "just" heart and ends the life of the leader of HLLE (while accompanying Akira, Caroline, Luke, Grizz and Fumi) (HLLE being the monopoly ruling over the Modern Heaven world), after which Jokai kills him, which motivates Akira to chase Jokai.

As Jokai corners Connie - he dares her to read his mind, see what happened in the past and that would be the first time she uses her voice (over a very long time) to scream of horror (and after that she'll start talking to people, with her voice, something she didn't do before because of her ability (because she didn't need to use her voice))

Caroline, dubbed the Fire God (because gods typically have empty pupil-less eyes, which is a design choice on her mask) is an excellent fighter, but due to orange adding the effect of explosivity to the power, it creates a weakness, where, although explosive power can be generated, fires outside of the users control cannot be manipulated - this can be shown where, after a streak of victories, Caroline ends up in front of a burning house, on a rooftop opposite to it. The people inside scream for help and a child inside yells out for "the god of fire" but alas, she is unable to help. (After the streak of victories, she was unable to continue using her powers too, as her energy was completely depleted) (Maybe this can show how her overworking eventually leads to her limits, as she collapses, hearing the screams of children, before falling unconscious)

Probably mentioned this but some people have a hard time imagining their abilities (because that's how the powers work in MH - on imagination, whatever you imagine, how clearly you imagine, becomes real - this will cause awkward fight moments where people start talking to themselves about their abilities

One of the HLLE leaders should be a pupil of another (leader), with a traumatic past, that seriously haunts them - a person on the brink of breaking, embracing madness. The trigger will be the death of their teacher (leader).

Everyone is different - not to be confused with being special, a terrible mistake, that is.

Akira is the protag and Jokai the antag, but due to Jokai being a villain due to personal hate towards Akira and Joseph and the latter having destroyed the largest supplier in said universe, theyre seen as the villains who hurt the world as some sorta revenge (which is somewhat true for Joseph) and Jokai as the hero who wont let anyone else get hurt anymore, but they do not know how much Jokai hated the world and how dirty his hands were (because he just sat at the top, undeserving of the title)

Technically, the entire story is that of Carolines and then her raised "step-"son Grizz - and the offspring of his, Irisviel. Irisviel being the one to wage war on the gods, ending Modern Heaven.

The POINT of Modern Heaven is to teach people of the things I, personally, didn't know and of the suffering brought by everyday life and how some people may be able to find meaning in said suffering - essentially a study in absurdism.

Someone needs to represent cynisism; denial; naiveté; pacifism; communism; depression; tyrantysm - and last, but not least, the actual guide through such an answer - someone, who has realized who they are, not only personally, but in the grand scheme of things. It needs to be someone who has realized what they want and actively work towards it, accepting their faults and mistakes, using them to improve and make purpose to their life and to their words and actions. I think the latter could be Caroline.

At first, Jokai tried to befriend Akira, as they were both the same person - though, when Akira spilled the beans about Joseph still being alive, Jokai decided to find him. He did, during the takedown of HLLE and then killed him, which made Akira hate Jokai, making Akira bent on getting revenge.

The government of Modern Heaven is chosen by the people, but otherwise its an Oligarchy.

Jokai has two katana, which he keeps, handle faced to the right (just because he's a weeb lol)

Caroline will be faced with unbelievable amounts of grief and denial - to a point where she blindfolds herself to live in an imaginary world, where she can convince herself that Akira is alive - during one of these "delusional episodes" she is confronted with a grown up Grizz, who attempts to break her out of the delusion, even if he realizes that the one who must do that is herself, because only the individual can rid themselves of their faults. Eventually, she heals from the death of Akira and accepts it.

Therefore, Jokai has 2 katana, Joseph has 2 ninja swords (not bent) with multi-purpose things in them (making them easier to break, but also making the sword itself multi-purpose, like having it used as a ladder) and Grizz uses his staff as a spear.

Theres no communication between the gods and humanity. Also, just wanted to throw this out there, a wolf could represent one of the people working in Quindecim, or perhaps, Quindecim itself, as in baltic mythology, wolves are smart, but not to be trusted. A good english example would be "a wolf in a sheeps clothing".

Also during the final conforntation between Jokai and Akira (and all of Akiras friends who are still alive, after Caroline was hospitalized), Caroline will fly high in the air to represent a Phoenix, which represents the rebirth of the story, making clear that Caroline is the true protagonist (not the main character, Akira) and the way the story is headed. Jokai will be reborn, realizing his sins after killing Akira and being hit with the blast from a mighty phoenix, courtesy of Caroline, and Grizz will be the next to carry the title of a main character, being the son of Jokai. Later in chapter 2, Connie will give birth to Irisviel, the one to kill gods in the last chapter.

In Modern Heavens V-World, there is a made-up chemical element, which is a metal, that has a melting temperature of 1°C, but if it reacts with electricity, it turns into a solid, which can not be molten - the element, when solid, has properties similar to diamonds. Depending on the amount of electricity applied, it can be softer or more solid. That also means that with a low input of electricity, it can react like really thick gum. It is found because of how small the world is. There are new elements in the elementary particles, is what im saying. It originates from the crystals mined in that world. You can also find it inside the inhabitants of any world. It is submissive to the source of origin - hence why people have different colors and different elements as "abilities"

This explains Xeno and what the "magic" people use is really made of.

Also also, the reason why Akira and Jokai both have immense amounts of power in the start is because everyone who got in the world without The Messenger had saved their real life energy from foods and such - that also means natural disasters where people spawn in and their powers are let loose isn't all that uncommon.

Power tier list:

Anything white (pure)

Anything black (impure collaboration of everything)

Pink - Side effect (Poison, acid, burning, coldness)

Green - Power, physical (healing, growth boost)

Yellow - Cosmic (time, gravity)

Purple - Manipulation (of matter and/or magic, with space limits)

Red - Manipulation (of people, with time limits)

Blue - Hyperintelligence, foresight

Cyan - Matter manipulation

Orange - Explosivity (strong orange would be able to control the weather, weak would be able to pick rubble up and throw it)

Water - Manipulate all water (god tier) or change the humidity of the air

Creation - Can manipulate most materials or specific ones (and efinitely the made-up material)

Fire - fully fledged flames or heat control

Nature - create some sort of (resembelance of) life

Electricity - (High) charge electricity in body or outside of body, can charge up, released on users wish

The chapter after Akira's death focuses on Jokai - realizing his mistakes, being challenged mentally, having to cope with his past and protect Caroline. The latter proves to be his final test of character - he has to fight Irisviel, alongside Caroline (which also reminds her of Akira, because, after all, Jokai is Akira)

As for Irisviels battles - she is basically overpowered to the point of ridicule, because she's able to take on god's head on in a one-to-one battle, unarmed.

"I love being in nature, it reminds me of simpler times, when me and my friends used to go outside, not a worry about a thing in the world, free of a digital grasp"

"... I never had such a life."

(Akira

Caroline)

Job infrastructure with tiers (5 tiers, increasing with responsibility - leaders have 1 tier above employees (6th tier for ultra responsible people)) 

Jokai wants Joseph to die and sends subordinates his way (Grizz and Saki) who are fended off by Akira and Caroline, because Joseph rarely ever hangs out with them.

Joseph should show signs of having a few screws loose in the start of the story.

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

Modern heaven

1. Land of Common (common japanese shōnen show)

2. Land of Greed (horror fiction)

3. Land of Lust 

4. Land of Myth (Inscryption-ish)

5. Land of Gluttony (creating Void due to itself being placed between wars of gods and gluttonous people) (land of the rich, idk any good reference - government maybe)

6. Land of Void (self-reflection) (re:zeroique)

7. Land of God (tales of the Bible, death of Akira)

7 layers of hell

7 sins

7 continents

Each layer cast gets larger

They get closer to truth

Closer to hell

To enter heaven you must go through hell

What is hell without heaven

What is bad if you know not good

Connie and Jokai in the Café

Connies mind-reading cut off by horde of fans confronting Jokai

Connie barely manages to escape without being noticed

Jokai is like Gojo in the sense that he has perfected his technique (in the end he has complete control over knockback - so much so that he can alternate between abilities)

Caroline and Akira discover a lot about the largest monopoly(which is also tied to the government, healthcare, etc) (that company being HLLE)

Said company didnt start out malicious, but to help the people, they manipulated a small village of "low-lifes" near the mountain of creation, which is located on the land of gods. Those people have powers like Luke. 

You know how colors have their reverse colors?

You know the feeling when you dream but you wake up but you keep imagining the dream so you cant tell if youre awake or dreaming?

Basically imagining so hard you have lost touch with reality

So

That

In Modern Heaven

Creating the reverse color effect for the user

So basically because Akira has been a shutin for some time and he IS in his teenage years i thought of a character flaw he could have which would make a lot of things more tragic and Saki more understandable

So basically Akira is easy-to-get, which would mean, for example, that he is a simp for any slightly attractive woman who shows even a little interest in him, which would make him, for example, "spend a night" with Saki before, lets say, Caroline and Akira were realizing that they werent just FWB (not explicitly stated but hinted at enough so mature readers could understand). Creating both inner conflict in Akira, more guilt for the death of Saki and a real reason for Akira and Caroline not to be together at the end of the Akira Phase of the story

Melido, obviously, isn't the only one to come from the third level of universes (MH being 3. and real life being 4.) There are multiple other angels such as him too.

Irisviel wants to destroy what Melido has founded - a society based on magic "taking poor souls into a new reality and giving them a false new shot at life" because it destroyed any potential they had in real life and depressed the people who cared for them.

During the war with gods, old Jokai and Caroline should die. Thw only last person to represent what Modern Heaven used to be is Grizz (one of the five main characters from the first chapter), who should end up dying, to symbolize the birth of a new Modern Heaven and the death of the old system.

Melido is afraid of the other angels and thats why he pulls people from the fourth layer of reality, not the second.

Melido likes painting (and creativity in general) and before the end of the last chapter (where Irisviel brings down the gods) Melido's old "friends" from his universe come to "visit".

"My power (color) is black, like all the colors in a painting, mixed into one." He said, completely sure he's secluded in what he calls "home" - yet a voice interrupted that thought:

"And ours is all the light (colors), blended into one, old friend"

Everything about the gods was destroyed.

"0" came and (nearly) destroyed this planet, forcing the inhabitants to retreat into the mountains of America. 

People who still live, have no imagination, but MH ends on a scene of a person starting to make cave art.

After all this, a missing poster is shown, as the end of Modern Heaven, the tale of a young boy, who was lost.

"Don't try to change the rules of the world, when you want to bring everyone else with you. Everyone sees the world differently and you cannot change that. They must join you with their own consent and understanding." 

Saki deals with envy, specifically, she envies others around her, since starting from when she was little, she never noticed the things she was good at and was, instead, envious of her little sister, Miki. Eventually she was envious of Caroline for "taking" Akira away from her. Then she transforms her body into that of a mechanical one and develops depersonalization- derealization disorder (see: google).

Decim is revived by Grizz and then instantly gets "Sweet Manipulation" from Saki, turning him into a troublesome enemy against Akira and Caroline, but after a long battle and an unfair disadvantage (for Grizz) of Decim being an Undead person, with a weakened structure and a manipulation effect on, Akira and Caroline manage to beat him, Caroline being the one to best Decim.

Grizz is tasked with overcoming self-hatred from getting bullied for having healing magic and being crushed by his parents expectations. Jokai offers a way to deal with both, offering a crystal AND The Golden Skull, which is located in The Mountain, where Decim was buried, that he gets to keep IF he beats Jokai and whoever defends him. Grizz gives his best to kill them and with a little help from Saki, he almost succeeds in taking out Akira, but, well, he does not. Akira and Caroline have a long talk with the kid as the kid is being sent to court to be judged. After being in jail for some time, he is more or less submissive to Akira and Caroline, while also being less depressed and rather pleased with his abilities.

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

Joseph is part of the Allagés family, who has been living in “Modern Heaven” for 2 generations. His Originator, William, made his way to the program via his addiction to the newly-released technology called “the microwave”. As he was experimenting with the newfound technology, he made a mistake that would forever change his life. William, like any other man who has set foot to the project, was baffled by what had happened to him. In the space he found himself in were, to him, an astounding amount of other individuals. Him and the other residents of this realm were the founders of the society as we will get to know it in Modern Heaven. Joseph’s mother and father were, to his grandfather’s disappointment, just a few ordinary cogs in the machine. His mother was nothing but a regular house-wife and his father, an electrician. Yet, despite the normality of his predecessors, Joseph was a very special man.

The boy grew up in a neighbourhood with many people who possessed remarkable skills with their abilities, specifically those of supernatural origin. In those terms, Joseph was quite the late bloomer, as he found himself unable to deal with things he didn’t understand. Nevertheless, when he awakened to his powers, he was introduced to blue energy.

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

Jokai did not sacrifice anything and was punished for it by God

Akira, on the other hand, did sacrifice

Jokai is like Cain and Akira is like Abel

He who has the "why" can bear any "how"

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

Akira Jokai

This is the main character of phase 1 and 2, hopefully explained in one of my infinite docs about this.

Diane Callahan had an interesting video about fleshing out characters, and for my own memorys sake, ill apply this here.

MEMORIES

Something happy that Akira remembers is from his past life – his mother, his father and his older brother. They loved him to bits and for who he was. Granted, his parents didn’t always know what to do and his brother wasn’t always available, but Akira could understand and forgive that to them. His mom and dad were a bit too soft on Akira, though and he wound up spending most of his free time online, eventually holing up in his room. His parents still loved him, though. But it was a mistake for them to enable this sort of behavior. This causes some form of entitlement and also loneliness – because akira was so used to being loved and with those he loves that its hard for him to readjust. Akira needs to learn to open up again in this new world. Fortunately, Caroline is a good starting point for that

Something sad Akira remembers is that one day, his older brother was knocked out in the middle of a drug exchange – his brother the dealer and some punks the receivers. That was all it took to ruin his brothers promising career and to put him in a wheelchair. Due to this, Akira fears the underworld, the mafia, the people behind the black curtains, whatever you want to call it. He is afraid of that, which is unknown.

(NOTE FOR LATER: THIS IS WHY JOKAI, AFTER THE BATTLE WITH JOSEPH, WOULD TAKE A SIMILAR ROLE, DIVING HEAD FIRST INTO THE UNDERWORLD, MAKING HIS WAY TO THE BOTTOM UP AND STARTING TO ASSASSINATE EVERYONE WHO ACTS WRONG ACCORDING TI HIS OWN COMPASS  AN INTERESTING INTERACTION WOULD BE IF ONE OF SAID PUNKS ENDED UP IN MH AND RECOGNIZED AKIRA AS A YOUNGER BROTHER AND STARTED SMACKING BACK HOW HIS OLDER BRO WAS NO BETTEE AND NOW JOKAI IS HERE, MURDERING PEOPLE. WOULD ALSO SHOW THE TRAUMA THE KID GOT FROM PARALYZING THE BROTHER.)

Something Akira keeps a sercet is his past life, he refuses to talk about it and only the viewer can piece it together, if they pay any attention to the story (plus he is ashamed of his lazy, inactive lifestyle at the end, which goes to show, in the start, where he is relatively unfit). But because that’s some pretty lazy stuff, something mysterious is the reason he holed up in the first place. Something that makes him feel like a hypocrite is the fact that he is convinced he had killed someone. A student, completely by accident. He had a single best friend, someone close to him, like a brother. One day they went exploring in a “haunted house” of sorts, something really old and waiting to fall apart. While they were preparing to make a low budget low effort video onto their social media channel about a challenge teens would do all over the world, he put some small rubble in his friends shoes as a prank, pretty harmless, just annoying. Little would Akira know that it would become fatal for his friend, as when they were in the middle of said challenge, the floor under them started collapsing and his friend couldn’t get his shoes on, so he just threw them away, but the small lag of time behind Akira was enough for the (icy) floor to crack and give. All Akira could hear was a gasp, a thump and something equivalent to a stabbing sound, but more woody. Ice and rubble making noise, as Akira fled the scene.

Due to all this, Akira wants to evade causing as much trouble as possible (but progresses, slowly realizing he should prioritize himself first and foremost). Jokai, having neglected the trauma, thinking he has overcome it, “accepts his fate, blaming it on God that it is his fate to just be a murderer, a man who takes lives and that destiny was just predetermined to be the way it is.

When questioned about it, Akira would shut down, to his own bubble, starting to fidget and overflow with guilt, although depending on the part of the story, he might just have a more serious tone than before or might just become less talkative. At the end he has come to peace with it.

—--------------------------------------------------------------- https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSRfePOVx62jFVBiGrgYbnZju2CHqhTDyJ5CObbQQgzbD69oGHkTXS6P4KmNe-s-L5jxah-_dGRGthm/pub

[husbandohunter]

What they love about you (part 2)[Genshin Impact]

Synopsis: It was as if the universe had changed when they saw you.

Characters: Zhongli, Childe, Albedo, Kazuha. Part 1 here

Genre: fluff

"Poetry for my hopeless romantic heart 🥺 and Kazuha, he was the perfect candidate for this. I decided to put Zhongli first of course, he deserves it after saving my ass in Baal's fight."

=================================

Spirit flows through the Immovable rock (Zhongli)

Nations fall, truths be told, iron rusts and earth erode

Through six centuries these were stories he watched unfold.

He sees you and the archon knew that you shall too grow old

But despite it all, he loves you for your existence, as nothing can compare to your intransient soul.

The purpose of contracts were made to ensure there had been a fair trade between two parties. Like merchants striking business deals for a favourable outcome, like mother nature maintaing the balance between life and death, like how you and your beloved said your vows and whispered promises to one another as evening bids farewell by the warm welcome of the moon's gentle glow. Those days were the most treasured that you couldn't help remisicing them-- when Zhongli appeared in your life. Your mortal life. How time can fly so fast.

Perhaps this had been a common notion among human standards. That to be connected, both sides must share the same factors in order to proceed the contract. Clearly your placement proved to be mismatched. Unlike Zhongli there could be a day when your legs gave up and you can no longer walk. He will go on without you, continuing to drift in places where you cannot reach, where time was out of the question, further and further away until the mist begins to seize your field of vision and soon your eyes were too old to see.

The difference in age can truly make someone feel alone and Zhongli knew it well. Thus he smiled softly like he always does and held you close, speaking with so much kindness:

My dearest.

Your soul existed like an evergreen tree blooming through all four seasons, unwithered and everlasting, even against the cold storm of white. And it could be as soft as the sunbeam cascading through the mountain peaks while they dust the land with their ethereal hues and emitting the warmth that breaths absolute serenity. If artifacts were a piece of what someone left behind then maybe everything you made was considered an artifact-- a treasure. A piece of you in those handwritten letters, the beauty in your fingertips after knitting him a scarf which caused scars to mar them, and because of how heavy your spirit weighs through everything you did, it became evident that the one he had fallen for was not your skin nor your body but the person who resides in it.

And sometimes he wonders if he had met you once upon a dream. What else could explain the mysterious feeling that made you seem so familiar, even when he only saw you for the first time? Or perhaps you were an old friend from the long long past, someone he stargazed with upon the infinite mounds of grass and glaze lilies, someone whom he shared the taste of osmanthus wine, someone he came to cherished just like how he cherished his own nation. Regardless, whether you were that someone or not, he wouldn't hesitate to relive those times all over again.

If there was a day when the world around you decided to cave in, where time inevitably caught up and you succumbed to change, he would still be yours. After all, the immovable stone was meant to be the symbol of constancy. He already sworn to you that his devotion and affection will never waver, they were solely held towards your essence for you had touched him through the things he could not touch, and left a mark that would last longer than his ancient self can last. Zhongli may have lived through many lifetimes but meeting you was the beginning of everything. You were a mortal immortalized in the world his heart, etched so deep that it stirs him apart, there was no room for anyone else.

~xx~

Drowning in the ocean flames (Tartaglia)

There was a man who fell deeply in love with war

They raged inside of him like the spontaneous battlefields he came to adore.

Consumed by desire, pain became an addiciton

And he eventually surrenders to the heat of your passion.

While many fear death, Childe learned to dance with it.

He revels in the way his heart pounds endlessly, as if new life had been born from the inside and then bursted like thunder, sending trembling sensations through his veins, bringing him to the peak of euphoria. The feeling was a drug in which Childe hesitates no more when he confronts it, rather he deliberately seeks it. He seeks thrill in the most dangerous situations since they were the moments that made him feel so alive.

Henceforth the Harbinger sought you out. He inches closer and ever so close, those deep cerulean eyes trapped in your hypnotizing ones. Childe loves how you look at him like you were about to devour him, consume him as the flames in hell would, perhaps destroy him completely to the point there was no turning back and yet...he would not mind.

Childe had been so drawn to you like a moth to a light. No. Rather, Adam and the devil, tempting him to sin because the things he would do for you were undeniably impetuous. It was too late. It was too late when you told him you wanted to stay. Too late when you pulled him down, with arms around his neck, stealing away his breath in one swift manner as well as a kiss. Curse you for having so much power over him, from then and there he was no longer the mighty harbinger everyone knew but a man foolish in love. Take him higher. Higher. Take him far. To say you were alluring would be an understatement. The scent of you brings all his senses to disarray and the taste of you-- by the archons-- had never made him feel so starved. All he thought of was mindlessly running his hands over your small back, reveling in the shape of you, exploring every inch and curve in attempt to make you completely his.

This was the reason why he grew accustomed to dancing with death. Because it was you. You were going to be the cause of his downfall and you were the cause of this insanity. Even though you constantly reminded him how risky the situation was due to being a wanted criminal in his homeland's eyes, Childe pays no mind. Didn't he already tell you to trust him? Anyone who threatens you would be an enemy of his, much to their misfortune. Whether it'd be conquering the world and laying it beneath your feet or walking through the depths of the abyss all over again, he'll make sure to have it all and no one can say otherwise.

~xx~

Shelter (Albedo)

Your warmth was his hearth

Like stars falling onto the earth

Gracing the plains in an empereal bliss

As they trembled under the touch of heaven's kiss

Closing his eyes, you are the first person he sees.

The sound of snow chasing the wind fills the silent night once again while it's whispered blows continued to echo just by the cave's entrance. Albedo had planned to take you back to Monstadt that day but Dragonspine was not the place to be merciful with the weather. No one else except the two of you occupied the abandoned space and a singular camp fire to serve as a source of warmth. You place your hand on your lover's forehead, brushing away his ash coloured strands while he seeps into slumber. Albedo sighs contentedly. Despite the world being engulfed in sheer cold, here he felt safe and sound.

Before meeting you Albedo never really had that. People regularly held him on a high regard and had a hard time matching his pace. He was a born genius to the point that he practically stood out like a swan out of the ducklings' crowd as they admired his brilliance. Truly Albedo was a perfect human being. But when turns around to see the rest he noticed how distant everything seemed. He was so focused on his pursuit towards the universal truth that he hadn't given the time to consider; where is he going with this? And what for? Everyone else looked so happy living in their mundane routines and Albedo soon grew curious about such thoughts. Out of all the places in Monstadt, exactly where does he belong?

Opening his eyes, you are the first person he looks for.

"Welcome home, Albedo!"

The answer was obvious. Home was the sound of his name on your lips. When you were side by side with him while he sketched the landscape from the far distance. In places where the lights were on as he entered the room, knowing you were inside. This feeling couldn't be describe with just a word. Home was not a nation nor was it a destination. Home was in your touch where he felt the most protected.

I'm home.

A sky filled with stars and he only saw one; his Starlight. Your warmth held the emotion similar to the kind where there had only been one cande lit amidst an infinite stretch of darkness. But it also brought the joy of flowers blossoming into the vivid future of new spring. There was no place he'd rather be than the shelter of your arms because with you, Albedo believed he truly found where he belonged.

~xx~

Pirr against the Scarlet Leaves (Kazuha)

Silencing the world

My heart begins to find peace

Soothed by your presence

- For my beloved, (Y/n)

I remember how the first petal of spring drifted by as it had flown into the crossroads of our path. Subconciously my entire being began to still. This particular flower... it must have come far and wide for the wind to carry such a pleasant scent. Although I had intended to continue my venture onwards but the air ceased to sound and I knew that this way was true. And so nature beckons me to the shore where the waves lulled back and forth under the moonlight's entrance, only then I began to sharpen my vision to see what was before me. You stood there on a rock with your face looking into the sparkling sky, singing a tune that drew me near. Just the mere sight was enough to stir my heart alone.

My beloved, do you know why I named this poem 'Pirr against the Scarlet Leaves?'

Watching you was like witnessing the ephmereal birth of a flower sprouting amongst the slums of an abandoned nation. A fleeting miracle where snow falls from the summer sky. I am compelled to capture these feelings in this poem yet there are moments where my thoughts scatter as if the autumn wind had whisked them away and out of my grasp until a singular leaf is only what was left. Perhaps it wouldn't be necessary for me to keep a notebook of ways I can describe your presence, instead a few simple sentences would suffice. Nevertheless, I only wish to express my feelings for you.

When you're with me it seems I have nothing to think about. The aura around you can silence the world alone, speaking louder than thunder cries, weighing heavily to those around you in ways it would feel empty if you're not here. Yet I could breath as if alleviated from the burdens of my past. This had me realize that this must have been the will of the wind. You were the greatest gift to have ever bestowed upon me and I confess, sometimes my chest aches because of how much I cherish you, it pierces me like a sharp blade but even if my heart bleeds it will continue to bleed only for your sake.

So wherever you are, wherever you may be, I can feel you in the breeze. Return soon my beloved, I'll be here, waiting.

[lilkermit14]

Lavender & Mint

Fem!reader x Pero Tovar 

Synposis: In the conventional village of Cullfield lived an unconventional woman who served as an apothecary for the townsfolk. Stubborn and set in her ways, the woman of three tens remains unmarried and childless and plans to continue as such for the rest of her life, much to the horror and confusion of the village. But this unconventional woman has some surprises in store for her when an unconventional man named Pero Tovar rides into town, an event that will change both her and his plans forever—and may flip Cullfield upside down too.

Notes: Idk why I kept mentioning poop complications this chapter but I’m sorry and enjoy. It’s been a while but the CHAPTER is here. Please reblog!!!!

General Warnings: minor injuries, slow-burn, eventual smut, blood, childbirth

For this chapter: Non-sexual references to poop, mention pregnancy, murder, implicit brief reference to infanticide or child abandonment, pre-marital pregnancy and it’s complications in the 1400s, religious “morals”. 

Chapter 5: Garlic 

Last chapter // Next chapter

“When was the last time you passed bowels, Mister Ashdown?” you inquire, pressing on the old man’s stomach knowing you have found the root cause of his stomach issues. He blinks for a moment thinking as he lays on your observation table, before telling you, “quite some time I’m afraid.”

“I see,” you move your hands away putting your hands on your hips, “well, it seems that you just have a case of constipation––burdensome but not something hard to fix or that will have you laying on your deathbed.”

“You sure?” he asks, almost confused, moving to rise up from the table by himself only for you to come to his assistance. You clarify yourself, “Yes, you have many signs that point to it. It can be caused by a lack of competitive foods in your diet and is more likely with old age.”

“I’m not that old,” He interjects, but you compete, “Yes, but you're old enough for a blockage sir––you’ll be glad to know you’ll live to be truly old as long the burden is treated.”

He huffs now in a sitting position with legs dangling from the table, “so what do you have so i’ll shit.”

You huff at his language, “standard garlic will help move the process along, and I’m suggesting you make sure to eat more greens and berries to clear your system.”

You always assumed that you were let free to discuss any matters with your patients when they were the only ones in the shop, as no one else resided in your residence besides you. But that arrangement had changed and you were not the only one that resided in your home, “If my cock and bowels stop working just have someone put me out of my misery.”

You turn rigid and scandalized to see the face of Pero Tovar standing in your back entrance of the shop—entered unbeknownst to you through quiet steps and a lack of clear view. Mister Ashdown has no qualms defending himself, “I’m only five tens and if my cock doesn’t work how is my wife pregnant?”

You want to scream having to hear this conversation and did certainly not want to be reminded of the conversations you were subjected to by Farrah Ashdown. When the woman at four tens and five found out she was pregnant she spared no expense in telling you how it happened. You opted to rush him along before you could get his account of what he does with his wife, “okay sir here’s your supply get going now.”

“Enjoy the shit,” you hear Pero say and before mister ashdown can respond he is out your door. You turn to Pero fury and rage evident on your face as you are prepared to let the flames of hell loose on him. All he has is a stupid look on his face as he lets out the word, “what?”

“You bastard,” you begin pointing your finger at him moving towards him with menace in your voice towards a man that stands unbothered, “you do not talk to ANY of my clients in such manner especially in my shop.”

“Why is that hermosa? I would be rude to that man outside of your business, what makes your apothecary different?” He queries again with that name, only increasing your anger and distaste for him at the moment. With clenched teeth, you answer him, “I don’t care what you say to Mister Ashdown in town, but my shop is a place of respect––a place where anyone can come for health problems even if they are embarrassing. I want people to know they won’t be judged here because if they feel like they will be, they will come when it’s too late and I can’t do anything for them.”

Pero raises his brow at you, but lets you continue your rant uninterrupted, “When my mother was still alive, a young woman at ten and six came to us complaining of diarrhea, something she was embarrassed to talk about because it was gross and she did not want suitors to find out. Turns out she had sickness from a miasma––we took one look down the town well and discovered a deer had fallen in and died overnight.”

“That was lucky,” he comments, still invested in your story despite the vile nature of talking about excretion. You continue, “Yes, and we may not have caught it so soon if she didn’t come to us. The sickness is fast acting, in hours many more villagers could have been sick, but it was only her––and she lived.”

“Lived?” you smile at his question feeling pride at the healing powers your mom had and hope you live up to, “Yes, the sickness causes dehydration quickly but if you keep the person well hydrated and area clean to prevent reinfection––they will live. This summer she gave birth to her third child at my aid.”

“So their trust is important to you?” you give him a simple nod, glad he is understanding what you were asking of him. You turn to clean up the materials you had brought out to examine Mister Ashdown, not realizing that Pero was not done with questions, “Like how that woman came to you the other day crying in distress?”

You freeze––you had really thought the interest in Mariam had ended when William had first asked you about her the day after asking if she was okay. You nodded and told him it was just feminine needs and didn’t serve much interest in men, something that usually turned men away from asking questions. Well not Pero Tovar I guess, “Why was she crying?”

“It’s a complicated matt––”

“Things of safety are something I have to worry about you know,” He interjects, and you turn your head looking at him to see something serious cross his face, “I have to keep everyone in this village safe––you in particular hermosa––and I want to know if theres something you need to tell me.”

“Part of gaining trust is not telling personal information,” you counter, pulling together to formulate a lie, “It’s nothing of safety she was upset about something––she’s a friend of sorts to me.”

You can tell he doesn’t buy it––he can probably pull the full story together even though you doubt he’s heard a single thing about Mariam’s husband beating her––but he accepts, slouching and learning against a table in thought, “William and I may go for a short hunt––there's not much action in this town I’m afraid and we could use some fresh game.”

You nod, “If you catch any pigeon, I know how to handle it so it's not gamey.”

He huffs, “We're not very good hunters I’m afraid, so you’ll probably only get that or rabbit.”

–––––––––––––––––––

Pero Tovar had useful traits to him––like getting you pigeons––but he was mostly an annoyance. His mere presence always had you on edge, as you waited for something, something from him. It was usually something he said but if not it was his scent or stench rather of pine and something that was him. It was also his sloppy manner, the way he seemed raised with no table manners as he ate all your meals. He spoiled Mite, petting him and feeding him table scraps much to your despair. He was also too loud, his boots filling up the cottage and shop with noise, something that never usually happened.

You lent some time today to make more bread for the household, settling at your dining table and working the necessary ingredients for dough together. Mite lays in the corner, not doing his job as per usual and watching you with some sort of interest in the mannerisms of bread making, but he was likely just hoping for more food in the future. Kneading dough you begin to imagine the dough is Pero kneading your frustration into it. You press and it is his stupid broad shoulders that take up too much space. You pull, it’s the curls on the nape of his neck that are too unruly and untidy. You slam it down, it’s that stupid smile that appears on his face when you have entertained him. God you hate Pero Tovar.

“You may want to stop before you overwork the dough sweetheart,” You stop and see Mildred Becker staring at you with an amused look on her face. You huff Jesus, what does she want, “Sorry for my state, I didn’t hear you enter.”

“Don’t worry I understand too well––I always work out my anger into the dough,” you chuckle a little thinking about how a woman with too many children works out anger the same way as you––you definitely hate Pero Tovar, “I just stopped by because I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”

You perk up, “Is Cateline suffering from baby blues again.”

“No, No thank the lord––we’ve been watching over her better this time,” Mildred rounds off, and you remember despite the grievances she gives you, she is a good mother to her children. She was the first to notice that something was wrong with her daughter after the birth and came to you to talk about it. From there Cateline was able to recover and enjoy motherhood, “Something with your house guest Pero Tovar has come to my attention.”

“What did he do,” You ask, prepared to beat Pero Tovar with your broom, but Mildred settles you, “nothing he did, just something someone is doing around him.”

You raise your brow at her beckoning her to continue, “You know Stanislava Rolfe?”

“Of course,” you affirm, surprised she is asking you such a question when you have treated everyone in Cullfield five times over. Mildred continues, “Yes well, She has begun to work at the Inn as a barmaid––she did well with charming Balthasar I guess.”

You were wondering why a poor farmer's daughter’s career path interested you, but you didn’t interject, “I happened to take a quick ale there with my husband, when I noticed something with her and Pero Tovar. You see she appeared extra flirtatious with him––and although barmaids usually are flirty with men in hopes for extra coin, it was more intentional.”

You frown, how could such a beautiful young girl be interested in such a disgusting brute, “Why is she interested in him?”

“Who knows? Many of the girls around Cullfield were excited to see unfamiliar battle-hardened men I supposed,” She ponders for a moment, “all we do know is that she is likely interested in him.”

“I don’t think he is interested in taking a wife,” You contest, brushing aside that Pero would have feelings for the young girl of two tens. Mildred just gives you a hardened stare, “He doesn’t have to be interested in matrimony to want something from her.”

Oh

“Was he showing interest back?” you dig trying to figure out the full extent of what you are formulating must be a whirlwind romance. Mildred hums, “no I suppose not, but sometimes men take persistent interest as a way to have a good time.”

You bite your lip remembering that Pero did not fornicate with prostitutes but barmaids, and feel a ball of ache and pain in your stomach at the thought. Mildred instates, “I came to you about this because I want you to try to stop it.”

“Stop it?”

“Yes, make it clear he is to not have such guests,” Mildred explains, and you can tell by her tone and expression you are in for some sort of story, “You know well enough that things go arigh when an unmarried woman gets pregnant, right.”

“Of course,” you remember the chaos that erupted in families when one of their daughters ended up pregnant, and the hasty weddings that came from it. But Mildred had a different story, “although most of the time it gets swept under the rug with a quick marriage and everyone just chooses to ignore it––horrid things can happen when there's not one.”

Mildred sits down at the nearby table, in clear thought of something dark and you go to sit down at a nearby chair, “When I was about ten and eight, and old enough to understand these things, a girl was taken advantage of by a soldier in our village. She was ten and six, and him far older so he should have had the wisdom not to mess with her. What mattered was after it happened, he left with his troop and was never seen in my home village again. She got pregnant, and tried to hide it at first––her mom was dead and she had no older sisters or aunts to go to, so she was afraid to go to her father. When it became too obvious, hate inspired awful things in the leaders of the village, and by the time she gave birth it accumulated.”

Mildred takes a moment to pause, emotions brewing inside her and you feel yourself frozen in place, “she tried to talk to them, pleading, saying he pressured her––persuaded her, but they all pointed and said witch and condemned her son too. She was burn’t at the stake, and her son––well he was never seen again.”

A pause fills the air as you sit in shock, digesting what Mildred has told you, “I’m sorry you had to witness that.”

Mildred huffs, “I’m sorry too, I made sure to get a husband that would get me out of that village and landed a good one on the way––I had seen what that village did to women and children for the sake of moral value and did not intend to stay so my daughters could see too. Adultery is a two person crime that only one party, the feminine one, receives punishment for.”

“So that's why Pero and Stanislava are of such concern to you?” You assume, and Mildred nods, “Although I think Cullfield is of better standing, I don’t desire to find out what they would do if such a case erupted. The girl may be doing this because she intends to capture a man with a better job, but mercenaries rest for a few women and not those of ten and eight.”

“I can understand her intentions I suppose,” you contemplate, believing that she doesn’t hold much true interest in him, but for a better life. Mildred hums, “so is there a chance you can talk to Pero about it?”

“I already established that he is to not bring guests into my home, and I doubt they would find a secluded enough place otherwise,” you reassure, standing up, “I can even remind him today if you would like.”

“That would be good,” Mildred agrees, joining you in standing and allowing you to guide her to the door, “be on the lookout too if you see her come preying––even though he lacks true interest.”

“I will,” you say, and somewhere in your heart you feel prepared to beat Stanislava Rolfe with your broom instead of Pero.

________________

Gardening was no easy task but it was the most necessary task the runner of an apothecary and a household had. Today your tending to crops was more focused on your food supply rather than collecting the necessary ingredients to keep your shop running. You're pleased to see that the last of your harvest grew well, and know that your winter stock will last even with your house guest. You had already pulled out all the carrots, and beets, and had shucked the vines wounding your house of beans and brussel sprouts. You were now left to work at the tough vines of the gourds and squash, planning on leaving the single pumpkin for Pero to handle––who should be on his way home from helping Balthasar with something at his inn.

Standing up with the final gourd in hand––you see something that fills you with immediate displeasure and sickens you to your core. Pero is walking up to your house pursued by Stanislava. You don’t quite know why you feel this angry at him; maybe it’s because you gave him explicit reminders on conduct or maybe––something else. Seeing the near, and well hearing Stanislava, you attempt to think fast to try to get her to leave. Greeting them both in an unnatural kind manner, “Pero, Stanislava, greetings.”

Pero gives you an immediate strange look while his shadow is oblivious and greets you back, “I was just telling Pero this wonderful stor––”

“Oh I must ask how is your rash healing up,” You feel like clapping your hands over your lips the moment the words fly out of your mouth. Stanislava stops in her tracks staring at you blankly, “what?”

“The one I gave you the ointment for––on your groin,” Oh my God what were you doing.

Stanislava turns bright red, “Good thank you––I––I have things to tend to at home, good evening you two.”

Stanislava hurries off, and an amused smile erupts on Pero’s face, “thank you for finally scaring that crow off––she’s been yapping my ear off with nonsense for weeks––I guess you're my scarecrow.”

“Excuse me?” scarecrow, you were going to kill this man. He smiles, a genuine smile, “Yes you scared off my crow––like a scarecrow would. Plus you're covered in leaves right now.”

“Do not call me that”

“Fine mi espantapájaros”

“I swear I’ll smother you in your sleep”

“Is that a true promise for you? Like how you promised not to tell customers private information yet just shouted about the crow’s crotch rash,” at that your body works on it’s own, taking the gourd in your hand and flinging it at Pero’s chest. It was a magnificent shot, and caused the vegetable to break and splatter it’s internal organs onto Pero’s chest and neck. Pero steps back from the impact and looks down on the goop he’s now covered in, “Now, no good espantapájaros does that.”

You press your palm to your face, “Just cut the pumpkin for me and bring it inside, you could use a good bath anyway, your stench is disgusting.”

“I do not smell,” he retorts, and you ignore him, bringing inside your harvest. You really do hate Pero Tovar.

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

Apothecary’s feelings––hate or nah yall?

Garlic is use to treat a lot of ailments in Arab traditional medicine, including  heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, toothache, infections, and––as seen in this fic––constipation. Listen, I know the constipation part is true because I ate a pesto made with raw garlic and LORD did I shit. Anything else, not quite sure but hey worth a shot if you are desperate. 

It is also seen as an immune booster for colds and coughs––in fact if you are congested from a cold putting a clove of garlic in each nostril can clear that shit OUT.  

Garlic is also believed to help asthma symptoms. IDK if it actually is true but that’d be iconic because my mom loves garlic and she has asthma. 

Garlic is my favorite seasoning. I put it in my soup. I put it in my eggs. I put it in my ramen. I put it in my burgers. I put it in my cooch––

taglist:

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[prof-peach]

Out of all of the pokemon you have taken care of, which one do you think it was the hardest to deal with? Be cuz they were in a pretty bad shape, or just personality wise?

We get rumbunctious and rowdy Pokemon all the time, our works nature brings them to us probably more than any other issue, outside of grass Pokemon care and management. Anger and nervousness is something we have a good hold of here, and try to help iron out of various species. I do a lot of that work, and on occasion, Grey will do the odd water type with these problems, as I tend to shy away from those. For the most part, they are short stint stays, a couple months, to a couple years helping them to rewire their anger into a more productive feeling or energy. That being said, there’s alwasy the odd Pokemon who comes our way who’s just a step above the rest. So here’s some stories of the ones who have had to stay with us, for their temperament and behaviour.

On the north side of the island, we house the biggest, meanest Pokemon, and the individuals who are very timid and nervous around people. We do this to ensure they have space to live undisturbed in peace, but also to protect guests and visitors from being eaten, crushed, blasted, or otherwise harmed. Some of the northern residents are difficult yes, but most are just stroppy or uncomfortable with the majority of humans, but there are a handful that are actively engaged in harming or hunting people.

One such Pokemon is a rather nasty tempered Drampa, he came to us about five or so years ago now, kindly donated by being abandoned on our shores, it’s original trainer leaving the ball and hopping on a boat without alerting us, or letting the individual know. We figured it would be possible to rehome it, they’re usually a rather reasonable Pokemon to handle, considering their typing. We were wrong. This Pokemon when let out of the ball, went on a monsterous rampage for four days, destroying forests, toppling buildings, blasting holes in the mountain to try to burrow away, and picking fights with anything it’s size or bigger, often causing great harm to others. The island didn’t rest for that entire time, most Pokemon cowering from it, bigger species trying to halt them, all in vain. It took an entire troop of grass Pokemon using sleep powder to knock it out, the Drampa moved about so fast, one single grass type didn’t stand a chance to produce enough spores in time. It took a lot of work but we knocked the old boy out, and got a good look at him. His body was riddled with arthritis, not medicated, he would thrash about and cause himself so much pain and discomfort. He had overgrown nails, the feet hidden in the fur they have around their torso, often overlooked, and it’s ability to fly was limited because of its general condition and state. We began helping it, medicating it’s aislments, aiding it’s inflamed joints, but it never really calmed down, so now it chills out alone on the coast of the north side, left well alone, it doesn’t even like the company of other Pokemon.

We’ve done our best to interact with it, to socialise it, to generally get it use to people enough to do medical checks, but it’s still very resistant. We have decided that after two years of hard work, and it being tolerant to me, at least to check it’s health and wellbeing, that it’s best to let it live it’s life unbothered. Many would push a Pokemon to be a perfect social being, but we don’t believe it’s necessary for happiness. Some species are happy to be away from others, I wouldn’t push a human to be social, I know how awful that can be, so we didn’t force the individual to be around others either. It’s not that it’s unhappy, we spot it from time to time sitting on the rocks by the ocean, humming to itself, and the small pidgey and tailow that come by don’t bother it, and even give mild brief conversation. He seems ok, the medicine given means he’s in less pain, despite still having stiffness, and in the winter we’ve built him a unique space, rocky cover much like a cave, just above a Macargo hide where they lay eggs. The heat from those Pokemon keep its cave very hot, and help in the cold to ease the joint aches. The two species have different entrances, making sure they never meet within the hide at any point. There’s a good slab of rock dividing them, so it’s not an issue, and saves us having to pipe hot water over that far for him. He eats well, has a few items he’s kept from the labs, a toy sentret, and a large red ball, and generally is in a good place to live out his life in peace now.

Another difficult member would be a particularly timid Slazzle, gifted to us by a police member who had confiscated it from a rather mean individual close to her home town, they had been hurting the poor Pokemon, forcing it to produce an insane amount of poison liquid, throwing water on the poor thing every time it tried to ignite to retaliate, generally abusing the poor thing for its life, apparently it had been locked away since it was a young unevolved Pokemon. They’d been harvesting the poisons from the Slazzle and dropping it into various water sources to try to control the local Pokemon population, as they blamed the wild ones for the state of their land, and diminished crops yield from their allotment. Jokes on them, that water poisoning affected them too, and their garden died very quickly, and made the man quite sick through consumption of the crops he grew there. The slazzle is still very skittish, will hide at any given moment, we’ve seen her ignite an entire building in one move, and then bolt away through the flames to lose our line of sight. She managed to stay hidden for two weeks on the island, before we caught sight of her again. Generally she’s just a case fo neglect but we have been working with her now for a long while, 3 ish years, and her temperament is at least manageable amongst our staff. We have found her others of her kind to help her settle, and she’s become good friends with a Wartortle who came from the same area, they bond over memories of the place, and seem very happy in each others company.

We’ve found ways to keep her grounded, but she never goes near people when we have open days, slinks off through the big fence to the north side, and waits out the visiting hours until night. They’re not usually nocturnal but she likes the night, and spends her time looking about, foraging and feeding in the later hours. If you’re quiet you can catch her moving around the forests and the base of the mountains here, talking with the occasional individual, she seems to enjoy Murkrow too, their company seems to keep her quite social, as they usually move in large flocks here. She may never be rehomed, but for now we try to socialise her, we don’t battle her, and she has a very calm and peaceful nook to go to when she’s having a rough time. We make sure to provide support where possible, and though she’s a little skittish she’s somewhat happy to have myself and Grey, even Pari take a look at any wounds or scrapes she may gain while living here. She’s become trusting enough to come to us if we call, and who knows, maybe someone will come our way who she takes an interest in. There’s hope for her yet, we have however become quite fond of her, and she’s part of the furniture now. It may end up that she never leaves, and lives her life in peace here, surrounded by people and Pokemon who love her. Her panic makes her very difficult to pass to another trainer, and she’s prone to spitting up huge quantities of toxic liquid when spooked, and bolts at a slight bang or rumble.

One I have kept back for a number of reasons, is a rather mean tempered Aerodactyl. Normally we get Pokemon sent to us, but this one I ended up finding myself, some circus had her chained up in a box hardly big enough to turn around in, an attraction to the masses as they travelled through the area. The leader of that troop was particularly awful, treating Pokemon as commodities, items to be bought and sold, used as toys in his big performances. Boiled my blood. We called her Zeplin, and after 12 years she has still got a nasty temper on her, when not focused on a task. Her condition when we first found her was quite something, tattered wings, unable to fly straight at all, and she was littered with cuts and bruises, not in good health. Val has melted the chains that bound her, and the lock in her cage, and she just went, like a bat out of hell, flew off, blasting the tent that hid her quarters, burning a lot of the circus as she went. Little did I know, my foot was in one of the chain links, and I got dragged off with her, the ground, Val, all my other team mates, falling from my pocket, or being left on the floor where we had once been standing. She flew, and kept going, not aware I was still attached, you could see her wings were having a hard time catching the breeze, littered with holes and tears, she went for about two hours, I nearly froze that high up, trying to get a good grip on what chain was left so I didn’t come falling from that height. We came to a very sudden crash landing, she hadn’t had much chance to practice the whole take off - land thing from the feel of it, we both ate dirt, and she became very aware that I was there all of a sudden.

I had about three seconds while she assessed my presence, to get out of the chain, and dive behind a rock that gave me cover from an almighty blast of energy, chipping away bits, catching my arm a little. Trust me when I say, it’s terrifying coming face to face with something that stands a fair few meters taller than you, with more teeth and claws than you’re comfortable with dealing with, with none of your Pokemon, no weaponry, no real plan or cover other than a rock. How she didn’t eat me, I don’t know. Perhaps she knew it was me that let her go, maybe she just ran out of energy, but for whatever reason, she made a few bits and tail lashes at me, missed the lot, and gave up, turning to stomp off into the forests around us. She was still shackled with heavy irons, one on the neck, two on the legs, and was in serious condition, so I did the stupid thing and followed her, tried to sneak my way behind, though every now and then she would look towards me, and try to focus on my form in the dark of night now. It was a few days, she had stalked some prey, fed, and was starting to ooze from some wounds. Though the circus was unkind, they were providing her with medication that stopped further infections occurring, perhaps a scarred beast of great size drew more punters, maybe they were just making sure she survived to make them money, I still don’t know.

I hunted herbs, dug out roots with rocks, used river water, and common berries and managed to fashion some kind of salve, nothing amazing, especially back at that age, but it would work, I knew it would because I used it on my own wounds first. Just had to convince her it was a good thing to let me get close. Not an easy task. We physically brawled, she was clearly spent, not able to use any attacks, just thrashing about, I managed to trip her with the chains still attached to her legs, and once downed, you can jump on the head of these Pokemon to keep the jaws shut, just long enough to lather the wounds you can reach, then bolt fast. It was a small act, but she took off running again. With some wounds sort of cared for, I followed again, fishing for dinner, forraging roots to chew on. It wasn’t much but it kept me going, then one night, where I had climbed to a crook of a large tree, using my jacket to tie myself in for a nights sleep, I was awoken by loud rustling, thudding of feet, and a mighty huff.

Below where I sat, the Pokemon had returned, being no doubt well aware of my presence, following the smell of human, she had noticed the salve do a good job on the wounds I managed to reach, but the ones I couldn’t get near had become far worse, red, inflamed and weeping terribly, no doubt hurting and itching. I’d seen her rubbing her sides in the day, itching gasinst rocks and trees, smearing blood and ooze along her path as she trudged. So here we were, alone in the woods, I veeeeery carefully climbed down, staying in cover as much as possible, and over the space of an hour or two, she let me come out into the open, teeth bared yeah, but she hadn’t attacked, and other than a very uncomfortable, low growl, she allowed me to creep closer, some more of that salve made more for my own wounds than hers, being sniffed at, she licked it too, but wasn’t happy with the taste, very bitter, and I was cautiously optimistic, allowed to help her heal the rest of the cuts she had acquired from her old home. So we began our....I want to say friendship but that wasn’t it, it was a collaboration to survive.

We had landed somewhere far from others, I missed my team, and she had never experienced anything outside of the cage, and so we banded together, tentatively. We caught dinner as a team, and climbed for fruits, foraged for berries, reapplying what loose form of medicine I managed to make, before coming to some kind of comfortable companionship together. A week passed, wandering without a clue where we were, before a path was found, she seemed to want to avoid it, and while I wasn’t keen on people much either, it was impossible not to want to find my team again. They needed me, and I needed them. If they had been found, a police officer or the likes may have sent them to my original professor, waiting to be called from the PC system again, but knowing Val, she had grabbed the balls, my things, and bolted to hide, waiting for my return. In desperation I tried to explain this to the Aerodactyl, who had not experienced a trainers care before, and seemed reluctant to return.

It was only upon mentioning revenge, to burn the circus to the ground, that I regained her attention, and we came to a slow agreement to get aid, gather items, and return to where she had been released from. She waited in the forest while I went to town, checking my PC space to see if my team had been handed in, which they had! It was lucky, I was reunited with Val (vulpix), Booker (teddiursa), and Potato (bulbasaur) who I took back, and returned to the woods with.

We had to get some revenge, and in turn we devised a plan to free the Pokemon first, sneak in and pick the locks, melt the chains and gates, and then finally, let the aerodactyl do her thing once the vulnerable individuals were loose. I did my best to hold back my own personal rage, and simply aid the demise of a group who were awful towards Pokemon through this one big flying type. I wint go into details but no one perished in the fire, they were arrested and charged for unsafe work conditions, and abuse towards Pokemon, not to mention false advertising, having no worker’s Compensation in pace for injury, which many staff complained of, and several incidents of sexual harassment in the work place that were brought to light.

Once one started to talk, the others all joined in, and the fire was put down to unsafe working conditions and a lack of health and safety. From what I heard, the whole circus worth of Pokemon were rehomed, helped and generally lived much better lives after that. However now we had one very mistrusting angry Aerodactyl on our hands, a Pokemon I had not worked with before, who had seemingly become quite tolerant of me, but would snap at just about anyone who clocked eyes with her. So I kind of just kept her, no ball, not for a fair few years, we both didn’t think it was important. She was nursed back to health, and we had to go through a lot of training together, she bit booker once quite badly, but we’ve all put that in the past, and have worked on it together.

She is still testing, she won’t be ridden by anyone else, she doesn’t care for other Pokemon much, crowds will spook her, she doesn’t like when people talk with raised voices or hostile tones, and gets real irritable if you come at her in any kind of way that isn’t open handed, calm and slowly. She’s now a very capable flier, wings healed up, spending her first half of life locked up made her long for the open sky, so now we take time together to go off and ride winds when work is slow, and she’s helped in many ways to make the island functional, by moving logs, clearing paths, helping lift building materials around, and generally being there for me when I’m full of rage, which is actually annoyingly often. We’re anger buddies hah, kind of get on the same level with it. She’s become so much part of my family, and I feel like i’m part of hers now too, so I doubt she’d be rehomed, but should she find somewhere she would rather be, we wouldn’t stop her going. She is difficult, angry, snappy, tempermental, difficult, won’t be touched by strangers, likes to fight, but I’d not change her, she’s our testing monster, who we love and adore.

Went off a bit, but I figured why not, I know her, and can write more about her life and story than the others.

[summonerscenarios]

So, mc adopting at least one of each of the Child mobs, how would that go?

IT MAY BE 4AM BUT THAT'S NEVER STOPPED ME BEFORE LETS DO SOME MF HCS.

Sadly I was only able to work on two of the mob kiddos as I didn't want this to get too long but I still hope its okay~!

Also just a heads up a lot of this is a pure waffle of information based on my own interpretations of the mobs so here's hoping I did a good job with them lmao.

---------

It wouldn’t have been the first time you’d ended up inadvertently adopting someone, nor will it be the last knowing your luck. It’s not like you intentionally do anything to draw people to you, it just so happened that the things that you did and situations you got wrapped up in led to you getting to know all kinds of people in the process. And those people saw you in all kinds of ways - most saw you as friends, others saw someone else in you, more than a few made no attempts to hide their blatant flirting - and, rarely, a few would even see you as a role model,a mentor or parental figure to look up to.

You honestly have no idea why, after all, it’s not as though you go out of your way to make particularly responsible decisions (if anything, you get yourself in enough trouble that you’d imagine you’re anything but a role model) but a lot of the younger transients and students seem to flock towards your presence, looking for comfort, advice, or just someone who respects them. At first it was just the younger members of your guild that you technically took under your wing - as the Guildmaster you assumed it was only natural to look out for them, and you’d long gotten used to protecting Agyo and Kijimuna, wanting to make sure that the only thing they had to worry about was having the chance to be kids rather than getting dragged into the Guild’s app-based affairs. It’s not like responsible parental figures are easy to come by in this world of app-battles and fighting, so that’s perhaps why when you start taking a more protective, nurturing role with the younger ones that more of them begin popping up.

Surprisingly, the ghosts are some of the first mob children that you noticed began flocking towards you. Roaming spirits are unusual but certainly not rare, and it honestly breaks your heart a little to see so many young ghosts lingering around in the unexplored corners of the city, searching for one thing or another. Things feel...off, for a while before you can pin down the issue - you start feeling as though you’re being watched when you’re in the guildhouse by someone other than your teammates, and when your attempts to shake off the uneasy feeling doesn’t work, you decide to bring it up to your fellow Guild members in case it’s someone trying to spy. You want to make sure it’s not someone who can bring danger to the guild, but you don’t have much of a chance to set up a search of the building when the D-evils come tottering into your field of view, screeching up a storm and motioning towards an otherwise unassuming corner of the window.

Turns out you weren’t the only one noticing the other presence, as Shiro’s D-evils seem to have picked up on it to - and when your attention snaps over to the window to see what they’re pointing to you barely catch a glimpse of the flickering figure of a ghost child as they disappear from view. From that point on you start spotting the child more often - he’s shy or wary, always lingering someone just out of the corner of your eye but never getting any closer almost like he’s afraid. He seems to have taken an interest in you though, especially whenever the younger guild members come around to spend time at the guild, and it isn’t long before you notice that he’s intently watching the way you watch over and care for the kids of the guild - he looks almost sad in these instances, but never dares to get any closer and disappears as soon as you turn to look at him. Over time it becomes almost normal to have a resident ghost at the guild (though Agyo still shudders at the mention of ghosts despite having seen the kid plenty of times since arriving). He seems to be more at ease after a while of watching you, and things finally come to a head one day when you’re playing videogames with Hanuman and the other kids, noticing that the little ghost has wandered far closer than he’d ever done in the past, watching the small screen setup on the floor with an avid interest that seems far happier than the forlorn looks he’d had before. Taking a chance you tilt your head to look over at the ghost child, motioning him to come over and join; he disappears for a moment, startled, but right as you start to worry you may have scared the kid off he rematerializes, inching hesitantly closer and closer till he’s hovering beside the rest of your group, eyes fixed to the characters on screen with a child-like wonder.

You aren’t quite sure how this ended up with you adopting the ghost child yourself. It’s just one day you were talking about how you were pretty much adopted by the teachers at school and how you’d like to pay it forward some day, and the next you were talking about ‘son’ this, and ‘might as well take the kid under your wing’ that - you were practically acting like an impromptu parent for like a fifth of the people you knew anyway, so what was actually adopting a child? Toji had just about choked to death when you’d made the unfortunate decision to announce that fact mid-drink, and Shiro spent more than his fair share of time probing you with the legal questions surrounding a student adopting a child, ghost transient or not. Ryota seems incredibly excited by the idea however, gushing about being an uncle and wondering if your new son can eat and if so what his favorite food is - plenty of questions for a later time.

Ghost is certainly the most clingy of the children you end up adopting, and it’s clear from the get go in the sense that the poor little one is essentially glued to your side from the moment you take the venture to actually adopting him. With few things remaining in the physical world to cling onto, the familial bond is something that the little one cherishes and he absolutely refuses to budge on letting it, and by proxy, you, go. For a while he actually fears you’re going to leave him and take back what you said about protecting him and being a good parent. He of course had parents once, and their lack of presence at his side now paints a tragic picture no matter what way you look at it, so the kids got more than a few attachment issues you need to work through. Ghost doesn’t really talk too much, instead relying on gestures and interacting with things around him to talk to you and others - it takes a little bit to get used to if you’re unfamiliar with some of the gestures but it’s easy to pick up as time goes on.

Definitely one of the more well behaved children of the bunch, given that once you’ve convinced him that you’re not abandoning him he’s dead set on making you proud. He gets antsy when you’re not around, spending most of his time at the guild when you're at classes, but he takes to following Agyo around instead during these times. Agyo’s more than a little startled at first, and is a bit awkward about the whole situation as he processes it, but before long Agyo’s not only getting along with your ghostly son, but he’s also teaching him the ‘lion dog duties’ that he’s been teaching you - you’ll never quite forget walking in to Agyo giving the poor kid a detailed rundown on the upkeep of the guildhouse and all that it pertains.

It was supposed to only be the one child, you swear, but damn if you haven’t got a bleeding heart and a knack for attracting trouble. Word travels around fast about your adoption, and as more people learn about your impromptu push to parenthood people start coming to you for help - namely, kids with nowhere else to go. Maybe it’s your bleeding heart or savior complex, but before long one kid becomes two, and then two becomes three, and soon enough you’ve got four kids on your hands.

There’s no denying that things get a little bit rocky when you start taking in other children. Despite the other kids in the guild, Ghost has technically been the only child up to this point, and with your attention shifting from both him and the other children at once it’s a sudden change - one that you thankfully discussed with him first to make sure he was okay. Even with the okay though, Ghost is more than a little anxious when you bring the second child, a nether sprite, ‘home’, especially because of how loud she is by comparison. Nether sprite is an absolute ball of energy and mischievous to boot, so she more than makes for an interesting parallel to the otherwise quiet Ghost you’ve been taking care of the past few months.

She’s a handful, especially during the first few weeks that she’s settling in - it takes her a while to really start seeing the place as home, and even longer for her to even consider you a parental figure (she’s seen you as more of a babysitter till you proved you were willing to stick around and put the effort in to be a good parent). Once she does settle in however she takes to the place quickly, and, to your surprise, your two kids become thick as thieves. The Nether sprite catches on quickly to how Ghost communicates, and given his penchant to linger around those he’s close to and follow them around she’s more than happy to drag him all over the shop from one activity to another - it’s a surprising development but one you actively encourage. Unfortunately as I mentioned she’s still mischievous, though tones it down from anything too troublesome if it’ll cause you too much grief.

However that hasn’t stopped the amount of times you’ve gotten calls from someone about the kind of trouble you two little ones have wound up getting themselves into - looks like they both picked up your knack for getting intentionally and unintentionally dragged into the weirdest events (sure, it’s fun when you do it, but having your kids doing it only serves to give you grey hairs from the stress.) And things only get crazier once the other kids end up coming along, for both better and worse - but that’s a story for another time.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Dungeon: The Wall in the Wyldrwood

Over hill and stream the kings’ wall goes/ 

Its heavy bricks stacked, rows upon rows/

Taller than the trees, from sky to floor/

Only ghosts know where to find the door/

Setup: Its a well known fact that the deeper you go into any fantasy world forest, the more likely you are to stumble into the feywild, or encounter cursed temples to forgotten gods of roots and revelry, or some semi-mythic beast sent by the gods to punish you for some unacknowledged hubris. Better to do away with all that kingdom-destabilizing whimsy thought King Rabadyr, wall it off for all time and get back to the business of running a sensible kingdom free of from the interference of primal forces. 

In hindsight the task was easier said than done, much like trying to use sand to hold back a river intent on spilling over its banks. Rabadyr poured lives and treasure into his great work, scouting out miles and miles of uneven wilderness and emptying his kingdom’s quarries to supply the stone. Two generations and three monarchs later, the wall was complete, mortared with spellcraft and wards to preserve the structure and prevent anyone from crossing over the boundary. 

Now the Wyldrwood is reaching out again, the forest having regrown to encompass all of Rabadyr’s work, making his barrier a part of its own mystery. 

Adventure Hooks: 

Numerous entities control access in and out of the Wylderwood, taking control of secret smuggler’s tunnels, natural caverns, and places where the enchantments have failed and caused the walls to crumble. In particular, a gang of bandits, malicious fey, and other forest lowlifes have taken up residence in one of the many fortifications that dot the edge of Rabadyr’s wall. Led by a sadistic bugbear named Snagglehook, these outlaws kidnap innocents to sell to fey lords in exchange for enchanted fairy goods and other treasures of the feywild they pass on to discerning mortal patrons. 

A fearsome creature with red eyes and leathery hide stalks the wall, taking advantage of its enchanted architecture to ambush travlers who use it to navigate, Fretful of the sun, it emerges only in the dark through veiled doorways to hunt the forest before returning to its lair. When a merchant’s daughter is kidnapped by the beast while traveling through the wylderwood, the fearful and desperate mother promises to reward the party handsomely if only they can return their darling girl to her. Their best chance of finding the girl? Let one of their own number be snatched, and follow the creature back to its lair. 

Though Rabadyr intended for his wall to be impregnable, he still built a gatehouse for it: a fortress in its own right with multiple defenses on either side of the barrier, and living accommodations for a whole crew of guards and workers to live there year round. Since the wall has been abandoned, the gatehouse has become the home of wild denizens, ruled over intermittently by fey and forestlord alike. Currently unoccupied, it provide a prime target for a group of adventurers who’d like to explore a bit of the wall’s wonder without diving into the dangerous inner forest completely. 

Background: The creature that haunts the wall is infract a powerful and malicious fey that calls itself “Mister Goodneighboor”, an entity that feeds off the fear people have of the wall and the lands it contains.  Those it snatches are brought to a hidden place in the wall’s foundations, where the fey subjects them to all manner of minor torments before releasing them on the far side of the wall, as it has no real interest in actually KILLING any of its victims. 

Rabadyr’s granddaughter, Queen Rhysilla knew her ancestor’s project was an unmanageable disaster, draining money and resources away from the kingdom that could be spent on art, armies, or critical infrastructure. Honor bound to keep the construction going, she was eventually approached by one of the very fey she was trying to contain with a solution to her problems. Though fearsome in mien, Mister Goodneighbor, offered to miraculously speed the wall’s construction, with the caveat that he would take ownership of it once the wonder was complete. More than happy to wash her hands of the situation, The Queen’s builders somehow completed the wall before the next year, and returned home well paid and content to let the hulking structure be forgotten in the depths of the forest. 

Further Adventures:  Mister Goodneighbor is inherently tied to the wall itself, able to traverse its circumference in an instant and to see anything from the eyes of its many gargoyles. Should the Players slay it, the wall’s many enchantments will begin to unweave, unleashing a tide of primal magic and whimsical chaos upon the unsuspecting surrounding kingdoms. 

[chipper-smol]

Vanilla 2 Chain

Prompt: Hollow experiences phantom limb syndrome 

is more angst time

( https://twitter.com/Perfidy19  )

Nothing lasts forever.

That was the last lesson the Hollow Knight received from their father upon being sealed away in the Black Egg Temple.

Nothing lasts. Not Hallownest. Not the Radiance. Not Father.

Not even the Void, as they had discovered during the time they were sealed away, watching as the Infection searing within their arm at last tore away the final, stretched strands. A silent snap, and the detached limb fell to the floor, sinking into the ground in a pool of writhing ink.

It was then that they had realised, finally, the irony of their predicament, the stump left behind burning with the searing rage of the Old Light.

If even the all encompassing Void did not last, then Hallownest’s perpetuation was truly an impossible wish.

They lamented the irony of it all once again, now as they sat hunched over in their current resting spot, in the corner of an abandoned village home. Ironic, how the very one who had wished the most fervently for an eternal kingdom, would also be the one to teach them the inevitability of the end.

The stump where the Infection had once burned now throbbed.

Yes. Nothing lasts forever. Not even the knowledge that they had once believed timeless meant much in the end. The court manners? Hallownest’s upper class was dead, rules hardly mattered anymore. The training their father, the Pale King, had bestowed upon them? Pointless. They barely even had the strength to stand up. The only, right way to deal with the Infection?

Clearly, that information had been wrong from the start, seeing as how their rejected sibling had found another way to do away with it entirely, while they had only managed to buy time.

“Do you want something to eat, Hollow?”

They raised their head at the sound. Hornet scuttled in through the door, her needle clenched in her fist, a bundle of… something wedged under her arm.

“I did not know what your preference was,” she tipped the contents of the bundle onto the floor. Two speared tiktiks and some baby gruzzers rolled onto a bed of dried nuts and grass. “So I brought a bit of everything. But the gruzzers need some treatment before they can be eaten, so-“

Hollow listened as she talked, her bustling, business-like manner reminding them strongly of the late Queen of Deepnest. Hornet had changed since they had last seen her. No longer the scampering grub that they remembered, she had grown up into a fine hunter, perfectly capable of defending herself.

To think that she had once been no taller than the hilt of their nail, wielding a toy needle made of shellwood. It had been amusing to watch her run around the White Palace, full of energy and free from the stiff formalities of the Royal Retainers around her.

Endearing. Inquisitive. A bit of a troublemaker, but her mischief never put anyone in harm's way. They fondly recalled the days when she would take their nail and attempt to swing it around in the same fashion as the Great Nailsage, her little legs teetering under its weight.

Father had never liked when she did that. While Mother merely watched in amusement, he would personally confiscate the nail, then proceed to sternly lecture her on the dangers of sharp, metal objects. Not that she listened.

Father had not liked it either when Hollow was about to learn the way of the nail. Clumsy, he had called them. Without a mind, he claimed, it would be difficult to teach them to properly balance and swing the weapon, let alone fight with it.

And he had been right too. A long time they had spent practicing alone in secret, repeatedly thrashing the heavy training nail up and down, up and down all through the night, trying to imitate the way the Great Knight Dryya had done it.

Up and down, up and down, the weight of the training nail dragging heavy on their arms, the pain of lifting it twisting at their spell hand, the strain tearing through their shell, through their Void, through the bright, bright orange light that-

“-can you even eat?”

Hollow twitched in surprise, shaking their head clear of the pained haze originating from the stump of their arm.

“No? Well…” Hornet stared down disappointed at the small pile of food she had collected for them. “I suppose I’d never seen the little ghost eat before.”

The look of hurriedly concealed distress on her face was familiar, and made them feel ashamed of worrying her. They raised their a- ... their other arm from where it had been resting on their nail, and picked up one of the nuts. Delicately, they pretended to nibble on it, then hid it away within the Void inside their shell.

Hornet visibly brightened up.

“Oh! So you can. I was worried for a moment there. I’ll go get some more supplies, make this place more comfortable. Then, once you’re well and rested, we shall find a way up the well for a more permanent residence.”

Hollow nodded, then slumped back into their thoughts as Hornet ran out the door.

Thoughts. It was frightening to think that they had been… well, thinking, this whole time despite trying their best to stay empty. The one expectation from their father had had towards them had been simple. Do not think. Yet the act of thinking had become so natural to them that the idea of not thinking had become a notion in itself.

Perhaps that was why their sibling had succeeded where they had failed. They had not been empty enough, not pure enough. Where the Radiance’s angry cries should have fallen on deaf ears, they had instead listened, endured, resisted.

And then when she noticed, oh, she had been so very angry.

And so very pleased.

They could almost see it now, the glaring orange dreamscape blazing with her ancient fury. The floating pavilions bathed in flames, the endless fall through the burning sky. Her booming voice screaming down at them from above, echoing through the infinitely stretching space. Cursing them for all the things their Father did, and Hallownest did, and the moth tribe did.

Through the burning hellscape, her cold, glaring eyes stared right into them, chilling like ice, bright like the lighthouse down in the Abyss. Her eyes shone such cold, piercing light into them, through them, exposing them and their falseness.

I WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN.

They lifted their arm to fight back, to chase her away. They conjured glowing daggers at their fingertips and thr- no, they didn’t throw the daggers. They tried again, but they couldn’t throw the daggers, the daggers were still there, at their fingertips, in their fingertips. They were right there, building up soul energy focused into their hand, but they couldn’t let go, and it was there, building up, that searing white bubbling to molten orange and burning and burning right up to their shoulder and the world was burning and they were burning a-

“Hollow?”

They were once again torn away from their thoughts and the pain in their stump by Hornet gently shaking their arm (Their sword arm. Their spell arm was still gone. Still gone yet it was still there hurting, but it was gone).

She was worried now, that was bad. How did she know, when they had never uttered a word, had never been able to utter a word? Their mask was still expressionless… perhaps their body language? They realised that they had been shaking this whole time. Simply distracted from that fact by the persistent, burning throb in their shoulder.

They dipped their head. How shameful. To think that they used to be able to wait through days of longing for Mother and Father’s company, without displaying signs of being anything but empty. To be able to continue through their training under a facade of normalcy, despite their mask being on the verge of cracking. They had been able to endure years of the Radiance’s torment, all her terrible dreams and her screaming voice.

Yet now? It was just a lost arm, an old wound nonetheless, but it was already tearing them apart to the point of showing such a weakened side of them.

“You seem upset,” Hornet’s voice was gentle, a tone that they had not heard in a long time. “Are you alright?”

They began to shake their head, then nodded. Then slumped over.

“Yes? No? I don’t know?” Hornet sighed. Then, to their surprise, came to sit down next to them. “Are you lost?”

A sigh.

“I certainly feel lost, Hollow. Hallownest was gone. Now so is the Infection. And the little ghost, I… I can’t find them anywhere.”

Hesitantly, they patted her back.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore.”

Me neither.

A moment of silence. Then she glanced up.

“But you’re back.”

Hollow tilted their head.

“And that’s good, isn’t it?

Nothing lasts forever.

“You’re not the Pure Vessel, and I’m not the Princess of Deepnest.”

Not Hallownest.

“You don’t have to contain the Radiance anymore.”

Not the Radiance.

Her voice turned shaky.

“I don’t have to… put our siblings to rest anymore.”

Not… Father.

“We can do whatever we want.”

Nor the mindlessness of Void.

...

But none of that really mattered in the end, did it?

“That’s right. It’s alright. It hurts. All of it hurts, but...”

Hornet smiled, and put a hand on their shoulder. For a moment, it did not hurt quite so much anymore.

“We’ll work this out together, won’t we?”

( @hawaiianbabidoll​ )

( @alaska-ren​ )

Falling. Flawed. Forsaken. Forgotten. And that sickening, sweet glow of orange.

They deserved this punishment. Every damn second of this madness. It is their sin, it is their lie that caused all this. If they had come to their father and confessed, they would die. But death was a much better fate than ​this.

The irony. Their end was much like their other siblings’. Falling, eternal, until the inevitable crash.

They only wanted to save their father’s kingdom. Only wanted to make them all proud. Only wanted to be who they were supposed to be.

A failure.

It’s a sea. A constant sea of faces and expectations, with two becoming larger and larger as the years passed.

One pale shining light crowned with horns. One small shell with betrayed, black eyes.

It’s their fault. Gods, it’s their fault. It’s their fault they deserve this it hurts father pleaseithurtsIdon’twantthishelphelpfaultmyfaultmYFAULTIT’SMYFAULTFATHERIT’SMINEF ATHERFATHER F A T H E R

End        Me

                Fathe-

The Hollow Knight shot forward and reached for their nail, only finding a warm hand holding their wrist. Flowing, gentle red filled their vision and the warm hand placed theirs back on their lap.

“Sibling,” Hornet called out again, softer this time. “You’ve been dreaming.”

Hollow lowered their head, the void inside them pulsing and making their shell cold and trembling. Hornet hesitated, and with Hollow’s nod, sat beside them. Hollow stayed still, and would have placed a calm air if they could ever do it again at all. They had no more need to hide, so why...

“Sibling!”

“Troubled mind?” Hollow huffed and looked away when Hornet chuckled. “Care to let me in?”

My mind is a dark place, sister. I do not want you to be here.

Hornet’s eyes softened before crossing her legs and hugging her knees close. “Silent as ever, sibling.” The wind crawling through the dark caverns served as her only response.

“Do you regret this? All of this?” Hollow twisted their head and their wide eyes met tired ones. Their chest squeezed in anguish, sorrow, and grief. They were not the only casualty in this war between gods. They copied Hornet’s pose, and placed their head on their only arm.

... There are many things I wish I had done, but if I were given the choice to sacrifice myself once more for our future, I would do so in a heartbeat.

Perhaps it was their shared wyrm parentage, or their bond as siblings, or just pure intuition, but Hornet more than felt Hollow’s unspoken reply. “Oh, no,” she chuckled and shook her head, “No, no, no, I won’t let you do it again.” Hornet turned her body and fully faced the sibling she grew up with for so many years. “You will not sacrifice yourself again. Not to me. Not to any of us. Not to yourself.”

Hornet stayed quiet, eyes never leaving Hollow’s lowered head. Hollow didn’t have the energy to look at her anymore, to even lift their hand anymore. Both Hornet and they were born for a purpose. With that purpose stripped away, what are they?

“We were both children, sibling,” Hornet’s words carved through the silence, and struck right into Hollow’s soul. “Children are not meant to carry something as heavy as... this.”

“It is much easier to disappear, isn’t it?” Hollow’s eyes rose to look at Hornet’s cloak, too tired to look her in the eyes. They nodded, it is easier. If they disappeared, they wouldn’t think, wouldn’t feel. They’d be so much closer to being ‘pure’.

“You know, when you were sealed in the egg, when you disappeared... When... my mother disappeared,” Hollow swallowed a lump in their throat when a tiny crack shattered Hornet’s voice. She stopped her words and looked away. Hollow watched as she swiped at her eyes and took in deep breaths.

“I have watched this kingdom grow, fall, and die. I stayed when everyone left. I could have chosen to disappear as well, it would be so easy.”

“But that is not what it means to ​live.”​ Hornet moved and placed herself in front of Hollow, her red cloak billowing around her.

“Hollow, I want you to live.”

I do not know how.

Hollow’s silence was disturbed by the rustling of fabric. They watched as Hornet dusted herself off and in moments looked as the Princess Protector of Hallownest she always was.

“Then, do you think you can walk with me, sibling?”

The tilt of her head and bright determined eyes took hold of something in Hollow’s chest. Something warm.

I think... I can walk with you, sister.

Hornet stood and offered her hand, “Together?”

Together.

( @snakeyarts​ )

( @nonbinary-ghost​ )

Hornet let out an almost imperceptible sigh as they reached the hot springs, the damp air warm against her shell. The journey from the Black Egg Temple to the Crossroad’s Hot Springs was not a long one, but it had taken her more than a day to reach it given her… charge. 

Hornet glanced back at her sibling, something twisting in her shell at the sight of their battered form leaning heavily on their longnail by their one remaining arm. Their whole body shook as they panted for breath, bits of void leaking from the deep wounds in their side and the crack down their mask despite the bandages of webbing Hornet had applied. They way they slumped weakly, like an old rag doll with the stuffing worked out of its joints, made Hornet’s heart ache. They looked scant inches from death.

Hornet did her best to mask her worry, trying to exude an air of calm confidence as she stood upright, ever ready to dart forward to catch them if they stumbled. She urged them forward with a hand wave, hesitant to touch them for fear of causing them more harm. Sometimes, when hurt so gravely, it was best for one to move for oneself if possible, since one knew what ways would hurt.

The tension in Hornet’s shoulders eased only once she helped lower the once Hollow Knight into the warm waters of the hot spring, offering her hand for support as they unsteadily waded into the water. She watched in wonder as they visibly relaxed into the warmth, the flow of void leaking from their injuries slowing as white flickers of light began to float around them. Hornet was relieved to see that the graveness of their injuries did not render them completely immune to the regenerative properties of the hot springs and she finally allowed herself the tiniest glimmer of hope. Maybe…maybe they would be alright. 

She glanced down at the hard, cloak-wrapped bundle clutched under her arm. Carefully, as if afraid she’d break it further, Hornet unwrapped the shattered mask from the tattered grey cloak she’d swaddled it in. That strange, twisting feeling again clawed at her chest at the mask cracked perfectly in half cradled in her hands.

Ghost…

When she had swooped into the Black Egg Temple to aid them against their sibling, Hornet had possessed little hope for any of them to survive. At best, she’d hoped to defeat the Radiance, to vanquish the infection once and for all. At worst, she knew a slow, painful fall to the void or infection would be their only end as the Radiance’s calamity continued to blaze through what little remained of Hollownest. To be perfectly honest, she had thought hardly anything at all. She only knew there was an opening for her aid, a way to give Ghost the chance they needed to enter the Hollow Knight’s dream as they had with her mother. Survival had been, frankly, the last thing on her mind. 

Yet, when she had awakened once more in that temple, soft white light seeping in through the shattered ceiling to replace the fading void and haze of infection, that traitorous emotion had crept into her shell. The veins of orange infection lacing the walls of the temple withered and died, fading to black before crumbling away. That almost painful stab of hope only grew sharper when she discovered her sibling, the Hollow Knight, sprawled across the cracked ground, void dripping from their missing arm and the deep pits in their shell, but somehow, miraculously, still alive. 

Ghost, however, had not been so fortunate, and the nail of remorse that had lanced through her at the sight of their shattered mask had nearly brought Hornet to her knees. It wasn’t fair. The three of them had done it. They had won. They had beat the Radiance and her infection. Together. So why, then, had she and the Hollow Knight survived, but Ghost had not?

Knowing it was futile but still harboring that foolish flicker of hope, Hornet lowered Ghost’s broken mask into a shallow edge of the spring. Maybe, if their mask was whole, Ghost could come back, as the Hollow Knight had.

The white shards stayed sharp and jagged in the murky waters, as inert and still as stone.

Hornet’s shoulders slumped and that childish hope sputtered and died in her chest. 

The quiet slosh of moving water brought Hornet’s attention up to the Hollow Knight, surprised to find them moving about already as they carefully, hesitantly, shifted toward her. She blinked at the way the glowing light of the hot spring coiled around them, and for the briefest of heartbeats she imagined that light held a more yellow tinge, splaying out behind them in the Radiances starburst. She could almost imagine their eyes again alight… but no. No, the light was white and wispy, nothing more than steam, and the Hollow Knight’s one uncovered eye was a steady, empty black. The Radiance was gone. Hornet’s sibling was cured. 

For a moment, Hornet put aside her disappointment over Ghost’s mask and allowed herself to revel in the relief and joy that zinged through her at the sight of the sibling she had long assumed lost to her alive, if not completely well. She searched their void-black eye for any flicker of light, as the mental image of their glowing-orange eyes seeping tears of infection refused to fade. She cringed as she recalled the way they had turned their nail on themself in a desperate attempt to cut that infection away, to prevent their body from being puppeted into hurting Ghost. She reached out a hand, not quite touching their white mask still half covered in bandages. She was not sure if her touch would be welcome, or if it would only cause her injured sibling greater distress. 

“Hollow –“ she choked, surprised at the tightness in her throat. She swallowed. What was she going to say? ‘I’m glad you’re alive’? ‘I’m sorry for everything that happened’? Somehow, everything that came to mind felt inadequate and she fell back on the security of practicality. “Are you alright? Do you still hurt?” 

Her sibling stared a moment, as if processing her words. Slowly, they lifted their sodden cloak to glance down at the bandages wrapped around them. Their right arm was still missing, long since eaten away by the infection and well beyond the hot spring’s ability to heal, but the dark void no longer bled from under the bandages. Hornet reached forward, intending to unwrap the webbing to take a closer look, to be certain they were no longer hurt, but the way their sibling went absolutely motionless at the movement froze her in place. She abruptly recalled that they were completely unaccustomed to such care, even prior to becoming the Hollow Knight, and the only sensation they had experienced for all this time since they was pain. Did they fear her touch, worried it would bring harm?

“I promise, I will not hurt you,” she assured them gently. “I wish only to remove the bandages. May I?”

Stare.

Then, ever so slightly, the barest nod of their mask.

Hornet carefully, oh so carefully, removed the bandages to reveal the scarred shell underneath. No longer open, bleeding wounds, the Hollow Knight’s injuries were little more than slightly duller grey scars along the perfect black of their carapace. However, when she unwrapped the bandage over the Hollow Knight’s eye, Hornet had to stifle a flicker of sorrow to find their mask still cracked. She gently cupped their cheek, staring into their eyes as a confusing swirl of emotions eddied through her. The sharp ache of hope in her chest was only sharpened by the dark coil of fear twisting and untwisting in her belly – the fear of doing too little, too late; of potentially discovering that her sibling was actually hollow after a fashion; the fear of them not. There was an uncomfortable itch of confusion somewhere in there too, at their shared survival, and a warm flicker of gratitude tainted with sorrow that they had, even if at Ghost’s expense, though it pained her to admit as much. But most of all was shame, and a steady, burning anger that pulsed in the pit of her belly at what had been done to her sibling, at what trials they had endured.

“I am so sorry,” she whispered. For what, she couldn’t quite find the words to say. How did one apologize for anything that had happened to her sibling? She knew none of what happened to them had been her fault – she had been far too young, too small, to prevent their binding. But she still felt the deepest shame at her continued inability – nay her refusal -  to brake those bindings herself, at the role she played in even preserving them. A cold, fracturing pain broke her heart as she fully comprehended just how much they had suffered in all the time that had passed. How could one ever adequately apologize for that?

She could feel the Hollow Knight begin to shake slightly under her touch, their shoulders trembling as their breathing became labored. For an instant, Hornet feared something was wrong, that she’d hurt them somehow, that they might vanish in a cloud of void just as Ghost had. 

But when dark tears of void began to spill from their eyes, and their quick breaths quickly dissolved into silent sobs, she realized they were probably only just beginning to process what had happened to them. She went to withdraw her hand, intending to give them space, but their own hand quickly covered hers and they leaned into her touch. Surprise pulsed through her at the motion, at the clear assertion of want without her prompting. An instinct Hornet had long thought dead had the spiderling wading into the water with her sibling and wrapping her arms around their shoulders. They were so much bigger than she that she had to stand to give them a hug, even as they remained seated. But the way they clung to her as shuddering sobs raked through them made them feel so small and fragile in her arms, and she blinked away tears of her own. She gently stroked their back as they cried, holding them tight as if her arms alone could keep them from falling apart. She found herself murmuring that it was okay, that they could cry now, they could let themself feel. The Radiance was destroyed, her infection gone. They had done it - they had kept their oath despite it all. She promised them they were safe. They were free.

For how long they remained like that, Hornet could only guess. Her back and arms had long since begun to ache at holding her much larger sibling aloft, but she steadfastly refused to be the first to draw away. Her sibling needed her, and this time wyrm damn it she was going to be here. 

After a time, the Hollow Knight’s breathing slowed, and their shaking lessened. She let them draw away at the slightest tug. The last thing she wanted to do was make them feel trapped. Their white mask was stained with dark streaks and she retrieved one of the bandages to wipe it clean. Her sibling pressed their mask into her hand as she worked and she got the sense that they were trying to express a form of gratitude. Relief and joy had begun to overwhelm all the other emotions that still twisted in Hornet’s chest – not quite replacing them but at least quelling them. Her sibling was alive, and this time they were free. It felt a wonder that such a thing could be possible, and some small part of Hornet swelled with pride at the knowledge that she had helped make this happen, even if mostly unintentionally. She vowed that this time, she would make certain they got to live fully and freely. 

Her thumb brushed the jagged edge of the crack in their mask and Hornet’s mind began to search for ways to make things better for her sibling, needing to prove to them through actions that they truly were safe now. That she cared.

“I wonder if the Mask Maker could repair this,” she mused, her thoughts drifting to the strange recluse who lived above her home in Deepnest. She knew he had been the one too craft the Hollow Knight’s mask as they grew up, since the vessels were incapable of molting like an average bug. If he was still alive, maybe the Mask Maker could help heal her sibling.

A thought occurred to her with a cold prickling across her shell and Hornet turned to Ghost’s mask still sitting broken in the water.

Perhaps…

Hollow let Hornet pull her hand away and she carefully plucked those white shards from the water, re-wrapping them in Ghost’s old cloak. Her motions were quick with a new purpose and the Hollow Knight stared at her, their confusion clear in the tilt of their head. 

“I have an idea,” she admitted, tucking the bundle in a silk bag under her cloak. A fragile hope had begun to rekindle in her chest. “There might be a way to get Ghost back.”

She paused, then asked, “Do you want to come with me?” 

( https://twitter.com/RannHKnight )

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[foilfreak]

Beauty and Her Beast: Chapter 7 (aka the ‘big boobie vampire mommy’ and ’mutant servant girl that is very horny for her’ chapter)

WARNING PLZ READ BEFORE CONTINUING: This fic is rated NSFW and contains graphic depictions of things some people may find disturbing or alarming, including, but not limited to: violence, gore, unhealthy family relationships, Oedipus complexes, gratuitous amount of pornographic literature, ableist language, physical, mental, and emotional abuse, etc. If you are someone who does not enjoy fiction with these elements in them, then I suggest you refrain from reading this, because this fic will have all that, and probably a lot more. So, this is your first and final warning to turn around and go somewhere else if stuff like this just isn't your vibe, because from this point forward, your emotional wellbeing is in your own hands, and I will not be accepting blame if you disregarded my warnings and ended up reading something you didn't like. Idk why I feel compelled to write one of these despite this being Resident Evil fanfic, but I figured I'd cover my ass just in case.

(AO3 link below:)

“Good evening, sir. Is there something I can assist you with, tonight? It’s quite late, and my mistress has already retired for the evening due to the strenuous nature of today’s events, so while I’m sure the good Lady Dimitrescu won’t be too terribly displeased if you’ve come with urgent news that requires her immediate attention, I’m afraid anything outside the realm of absolute importance will have to wait until morning, when my mistress will be better rested and therefore better able to address whatever concern you’ve brought” The low and smooth voice of an older teenage girl said, staring slightly downward at Salvatore with a level of such blank indifference that he would have wondered if the girl hadn’t seen him had she not outright greeted him upon opening the door.

With piercing red eyes, dark skin and long, black curls tied up neatly and carefully into two thick buns on either side of the top of her head, and dressed in a pretty, but still practical dress, the older teen looked every bit as much the role of a dignified estate’s head servant as she acted, right down to the pencil straight stiffness of her body. Despite how uncomfortable the stiff position looked to Salvatore, the subtly bold way she carried herself did give the older teen an air of confidence and reliability, however what it didn’t do was answer the multitude of questions flying around in Salvatore’s head about who she was, and more importantly, where she came from.

And then it hit him.

“Y-you’re… Alcina’s g-gift… aren’t y-you?” Salvatore asks aloud, though seemingly more to himself than the girl standing in front of him. Said girl furrows her brows in confusion for a moment before huffing in, what appeared to be, mild offense. Though what on earth Salvatore could have done to offend the young teen, he had absolutely no idea.

“I have no idea what you mean when talking about these so called “gifts”, however I think it's important for you to know that I am a very busy woman with a great many things to do, so if this is all some kind of sick game you’re playing to waste my time then I’m going to have to politely ask that you take your rotten whale behind and go throw yourself into the nearest body of-”

“Anastasia?” a low, feminine voice booms from somewhere behind the older teen standing before him. The girl immediately stiffens, her skin around her nose and cheeks darkening even further, her eyes growing wide and her breath catching in her throat as she turns around. Immediately abandoning Salvatore at the still open front door, the young servant clumsily made her way further into the room before disappearing out of the narrow view the hooded man had been given of the castle through the crack in the door.

Taking a step forward and opening the door enough to slip inside, making sure to close it securely behind him, Salvatore lingered along the walls of the room, merely observing the events before him unfold as the young girl, Anastasia, quickly moved to stand in the center of the circular design on the floor of the entrance hall. Waiting for her on the landing at the top of the stairs was none other than the lady of the house herself, Alcina Dimitrescu, standing as tall, proud, and intimidating as Salvatore last remembers, though it would appear that the disfigured man’s fear of the much larger woman was not shared amongst everyone in the room.

“Y-yes Lady Dimitrescu! Is there something I can do for you this evening, my Lady?” Anastasia asks, hands clasped together in front of her and eyes blown wide at the gargantuan woman leering from above, like a lovesick puppy dog waiting for a command from its beloved owner. Eager to perform. Eager to please.

“Why yes, my sweet, I was just wondering what on earth all that racket was and if it could wait until morning to be finished? The girls and I have had quite the taxing day and I do so wish to retire to the sound of peace and quiet” Alcina coos warmly, causing Salvatore to pause in confusion.

“Oh goodness, I apologize, mistress. It’s just that there was a visitor at the door and despite my repeated attempts to convince him to come back when you were rested, he insisted upon making a nuisance of himself. Please forgive me if my attempts to preserve your restful evening were for naught” the girl said sadly, bowing deeply in apology as she continued to speak.

Alcina practically purrs in delight at the teen’s polite, but genuine behavior. “Fear not, my dear, I had only just taken off my earrings when I heard the commotion. I came out here merely to see if things were getting out of control, but it would appear as though you’ve handled things perfectly.”

The girlish blush on Anastasia’s face only darkens in color as the young teen casts her adoring gaze to the floor, joyous glee from having been praised by her mistress evident all over the younger girl’s body.

Not wanting to stay here any longer than absolutely necessary, especially if this is what he’d have to witness the whole time, Salvatore gathers all of his strength and uses it to clear his throat and take a step forward, revealing himself to both women as he gingerly comes out into the light.

“YOU!” Anastasia yells, immediately turning on her heel and making a beeline toward the increasingly anxious Salvatore. “So not only have you made enough of a nuisance of yourself to disturb the lovely Lady Dimitrescu just as she’s about to retire and rest from a very long and taxing day, but now you’ve decided that you’re so above everyone else that you can just waltz right into someone else’s home without even the slightest hint of respect or admiration for the incredible woman living in it, how dare you be so crash and selfish you overcooked blowfish, exit this castle immediately, or I’ll shove my boot so far up your rear end you’ll be fishing around for it for weeks you-”

“Anastasia, calm yourself, dear” the loud, but calming sound of Alcina’s voice said, causing the young teen to pause in her angry scolding of Salvatore.

“My Lady?” The young teen asks, dutifully awaiting orders.

“Let the wretched man inside, he’s the furthest thing from a threat to us, even if he is an annoying little manthing. Although, I’d be lying if I said a visit from you at this hour of night is something I’ve come to expect of you, dearest elder brother.”

The disfigured man swallowed thickly as he stepped past Anastasia to fully face his other younger sister, who looked all the more intimidating from her looming perch upon the upper story.

“I-I know this is s-sudden…” Salvatore begins, hoping he’d at least be able to explain himself before Alcina tossed him back outside on his ass.

“I’ll certainly say” Anastasia bursts in angrily, but she’s quickly silenced and sent away to tend to her other duties by Alcina, who motions for Salvatore to ascend the large set of stairs leading up to the rest of the castle and join her on the landing for a moment.

“Spunky little thing, isn’t she?” Alcina says when Salvatore finally makes it to the top of the stairs, panting slightly as he follows the much taller mutant’s gaze to the door that Anastasia had just exited the room from.

“Th-that’s certainly… one way… o-of putting it” Salvatore stutters, not wanting to offend Alcina by calling her servant rude, but clearly not seeing what’s so great about someone who just yells at you a lot the second you walk through the door.

“Yes! She apparently received a strain of cadou that was quite similar to mine, however her need to consume blood to maintain herself is far more similar to that of leeches. Rather than having to consume it regularly in smaller doses, like myself, she’ll only require one feeding every few weeks or so, which I thought was quite interesting. The only issues Mother Miranda brought up was the fact that her hunger, if it gets bad enough, can trigger both her transformation, as well as some sort of feral and animalistic meltdown that only ends once she’s finally had her fill. Apparently more than a few villagers were lost in the process of learning this information” Alcina comments casually, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Mother only brought her over earlier today, just before dinner, and yet she’s already managed to carve quite the little space for herself here. I hadn’t realized how dirty this place was without any girls left to take from the village until she went through and washed all the walls in the west wing spotless. It was like night and day, I could hardly believe how open and bright the halls looked” Alcina stated.

“W-wow… so th-then… d-do you think y-you’ll keep her a-around… long term?” Salvatore asks curiously, craning his neck so he could get a better look at his sister’s face.

“Perhaps. I’m certainly thinking about it. Not only is she an incredibly hard and fast worker, but she’s also got such a lovely spark of energy and excitement to her, and she’s always very polite and respectful, if a bit obvious in her “admiration” of those she looks up to… not that that’s a bad thing, necessarily. It’s quite sweet, actually!”

“S-she did look… q-quite taken… by y-you” Salvatore comments, having noticed the girl’s far-too-eager-to-be-innocent disposition when Alcina was in the room, vs. when it was just him. Not that it was a terribly surprising turn of events. Alcina, for all her monstrous height and sheer mutant bulk, was still a very beautiful, and very desirable woman at the end of the day, meanwhile Salvatore was only about 2 rolls of the genetic dice away from sharing a more recent common ancestor with the blobfish than he did humans.

“I know, isn’t she adorable? She came exactly like this, too. Mother Miranda has no idea if this is a result of the mutation process or if it's merely her former personality finally returning now that she’s awake and out of containment, but I suppose the logistics of things aren’t really important in the end. I'm so glad I chose her over the other two, I don’t know what I would have done had such a promising and delectable little morsel like her go to waste on the rest of you imbeciles” Alcina coos in amusement. “Regardless of what Mother Miranda said however, I was almost certain this whole “gift” situation was going to be nothing more than a pile of useless drivel that I’d be left to clean up all on my own once the novelty wore off, however after having Anastasia here for these past few hours, and seeing all that she’s willing and capable of doing, I’m beginning to wonder if perhaps I’d been too hasty in my final decision.”

“Funny… K-Karl thought m-much the… th-the same thing i-initially… w-when I t-talked to him… th-the other day… th-though… knowing him… I doubt h-he’s having q-quite as much… of a ch-change of heart… as you a-are” Salvatore said suddenly, more than anything due to the incredible shock that was the concept of Alcina and Karl sharing a similar opinion, at the same time, while both occupying the same dimension of reality.

Alcina’s face immediately turns sour at the mention of Karl. “Oh, did he now? That’s an unfortunate thing to learn,” she says in annoyance, clearly displeased by the notion of agreeing with Karl on anything.

“Y-yes… he… he th-thinks that maybe… M-Mother might b-be using the g-gifts… to d-distract us w-while she’s g-gone away… o-on her mission… b-but that maybe… sh-she also wants… s-something else out of a-all this… something… th-that she isn’t t-telling us… f-for some reason” Salvatore explains, unsure if he should be revealing all this information to Alcina, notorious and open critic of Karl and quite literally everything the younger man has ever done and said, is doing and saying, and will do and say sometime in the span of his chaotic lifespan.

Contrary to what Salvatore assumed, however, instead of looking bored and uninterested in what Karl thought about this whole situation, Alcina looked just the slightest bit… intrigued, if still clearly wary. “Really? And what, pray tell, does our dear sweet little brother Heisenberg believe will come of this whole situation then? Did he say?”

“H-he… he never m-mentioned anything s-specific… but he th-thinks that the g-gifts… might p-play a l-larger role… in all th-this… than M-Mother has been l-leading us to believe.”

“I see,” Alcina says, remaining silent for a moment as she thinks, looking almost concerned by what she’s heard. “And what do you think of this whole mess, Salvatore?”

“U-um… well… I-I think it’s nice… th-that Mother trusts us e-enough… to g-give us her p-previous experiments… and u-use them however w-we want… b-but I’d be l-lying if I s-said… that I d-didn’t think Karl… was o-onto something… I-I don’t know w-what I believe to be t-true a-at the moment… but I d-do know… th-that I’d like t-to give… g-give a gift of m-my own… to Nadine… and that… and that y-you might be… s-someone else who c-could help me… w-with that” the hooded man explains nervously, hoping that Alcina was in a good enough mood to feel like humoring him and his sudden request.

“Nadine?” The tall, pale woman asks in confusion, before suddenly nodding in understanding. “Ah, your gift…”

Salvatore nods. “D-Donna… is f-fashioning a n-new dress… for her… a-and even gave me… this b-beautiful nightgown… to hold h-her over until… until the real one is c-complete. I th-think she w-will… e-enjoy the nightgown b-but… but I’d like to… l-like to get her something else t-too… like a… like a necklace… a-a gold one… o-one that w-would… c-complement her skin tone… j-just right.”

Alcina briefly stares at Salvatore with a blank expression, momentarily making the hooded man worry that he’d overstepped his boundaries and said something to offend the much larger woman. His nerves are thankfully calmed when Alcina turns and orders Salvatore to follow after her, which the disfigured man happily does if it means what he thinks it means.

The two siblings arrive at Alcina’s personal chambers just as Anastasia is exiting them, her arms filled by a large basket of blood soaked towels and clothes, some collected from Alcina’s room, the others likely from either Bela, Cassandra, or Daniela’s rooms.

“Good evening, Lady Dimitrescu! Are you finally retiring for the evening?” Anastasia asks, bowing cheerfully as she finally notices her mistress approaching her. “I’ve already gone ahead and prepared your bed for you, as well as collected all the soiled laundry from today’s harvest. Is there anything else I can do for you tonight?”

“Thank you, my dear, but not quite, I have one more matter to attend to before I fully turn in. Since you were so kind to offer however, I would greatly appreciate it if, once Lord Moreau and I are finished with our affairs, you would be so kind as to escort him to the front door and bid him a good night, for me. You are free to retire to your own chambers for the evening once he’s left” Alcina orders softly, which the young girl obediently nods her head to.

“Of course, mistress, thank you very much! And I’d be happy to see Lord Moreau out for you, so please don’t hesitate to call me once you’re finished with your meeting” Anastasia says, bowing lowly to both Alcina and Salvatore before wordlessly skittering off to do… whatever it was she planned on doing to those dirty garments.

“Now, about that gift you were talking about” Alcina says upon entering her personal bedroom, immediately striding over to her vanity and beginning to sift through several boxes worth of jewelry, “you said you wanted gold, correct? And a necklace specifically?”

“Y-yes! I-if you have anything y-you’re willing to… g-give away… of course… I’d feel t-terrible taking something i-if it meant a g-great deal to you” Salvatore answers, standing awkwardly in the doorway as he waits for Alcina to return to him with whatever she finds.

Of all 3 of his siblings, Alcina was the one Salvatore was easily the least close to, despite having been the only two around for a considerable amount of time before the eventual arrivals of both Donna and then Karl. It wasn’t that Salvatore was displeased when Mother Miranda first informed him that he’d be getting a “sibling” all those years ago, but Alcina’s natural personality, coupled with her terrifying size and strength from the mutations, had made the very meek and timid Salvatore hesitant to reach out and form any kind of sibling bond with the younger woman, like he had with Karl.

Karl was a royal pain in the ass to deal with on even his best days, but at the end of it all, there’s still only so much a 6 year old can do to you, anger issues and mutant metal bending powers or not. Alcina was both a royal pain in the ass to deal with more often than not, but also a fully grown adult when she first joined the family, so needless to say the 2 oldest siblings hadn’t been given very many appropriately opportune moments to bond or get along.

That being said however, the simple but elegant golden locket that Alcina procures from one of her many boxes of jewelry has Salvatore wondering if maybe he had misjudged Alcina, having never expected her to show him something as luxurious and real-looking as this, especially when the understanding was that she’d be giving it away whatever item of jewelry Salvatore took a liking to.

“This is an old locket I received for my 3rd birthday from a relative who died long before I was old enough to care about who they were, though all those diamond star details on the front do make me think they could have been close with us at one point, or perhaps they just had that much money to throw around? It’s an old and well-loved piece of my collection, but Duke has been bringing back such wonderful treasures from his travels that I just have to start getting rid of some of these old sentimental trinkets so I can make room for all the new additions I plan on purchasing once he finally returns” Alcina explains, gingerly handing the necklace over to Salvatore, who could do nothing but gawk at how extravagant and, to be perfectly honest, expensive the necklace looked.

With 4 small diamonds, likely real knowing Alcina, embedded into the surface of the locket’s front cover, surrounded by small engravings that give the glimmering stones the appearance of stars in the night sky, the necklace looked like it belonged upon the neck of a fair and noble princess, into which the radiant beauty could then place the photo of the man who’d stollen her innocent heart. Nadine wasn’t actually a princess and Salvatore all but gagged at the idea of a picture of his face, mutated or not, being put somewhere for anyone to see, however the necklace was far too perfect for the hooded man to possibly turn it down.

“So what do you think? Will something like this do?” The taller woman asks, curiously. “I could continue looking if that isn’t quite what you’re after, however if that is the case, then I would like to politely request that you come back and look at them tomorrow. It's already so late and I’d have to have the rest of my collection fetched from the vault downstairs.”

“N-no no… th-that’s alright… this i-is perfect… thank y-you… Alcina… this w-was very k-kind of you to do… f-for me” Salvatore says, carefully tucking the glittering necklace into the bag Donna had placed the nightgown in.

“Don’t fret about it too much, I only did it because I had a bit of time to spare prior to going to bed, and you happened to catch me in a good mood. That’s it” Alcina states firmly, though something in the back of Salvatore’s head can’t help but take the taller woman’s words with a grain of salt, feeling as though there was more to Alcina’s sudden generosity than just pure coincidence. “Besides, who knows what gaudy thing you’d have shown up with had you not made the surprisingly wise decision to invoke Donna’s and my vastly superior knowledge of the feminine experience. I don’t even want to think of what tacky little trinket you’d have tried to gift her. Why the thought of that alone is enough to make me want to run for the hills, how on earth do you think your poor little gift would have felt? I’d have had to murder you on the spot if I found out you tried to pass some disgusting pile of garbage off as an appropriate gift. In fact, if I didn’t know that Donna was working on a more fitting dress for her already, I’d have half a mind to skin you alive for only having a flimsy nightgown to take back with you, but I doubt any of the dresses I have, that would be appropriate to wear with that kind of necklace anyways, would come close to fitting her, and I really do want to start making room for some newer, more exciting pieces. So, with all that in mind, count your blessings that the stars have aligned in your favor tonight, dear brother, because I won’t be doing this for you again… unless, you’d be willing to do me a few favors in exchange for some of the other pieces of my collection, that is.”

Aaaaaaaaaaand there’s the Alcina that Salvatore knows and secretly likes. In vehement denial that she feels anything positive for her 3 siblings and also actively trying to get someone else to do her dirty work for her. It's certainly not how the hooded man prefers to operate, but he supposes that if Alcina can somehow convince everyone around her to do all of her work for her, why wouldn’t she take advantage of that as much as possible?

“I-I think that’s e-enough… for t-tonight actually… maybe i-if I decide I’d l-like to get her s-something else… I’ll c-consider that offer y-you brought up” Salvatore says, bowing politely to his sister as he makes his desire to leave obvious.

Thankfully, Alcina seems more than happy to send her older brother on his way, calling Anastasia to come lead Salvatore back to the front door so he could finally begin making his way home.

“Th-thank you again… Alcina… I really a-appreciate this… an-and I'm sure Nadine w-will love the gift t-too” Salvatore says just as he’s about to bid Alcina goodnight and begin following the young servant girl.

“Yes, yes, you’re very grateful of my wondrous kindness to you, I know, you’ve made that fact more than clear already, brother” the taller woman says with an only mildly annoyed roll of her eyes as she stands just outside the door to her chambers. “Just make sure you don’t waste the opportunity my graciousness has afforded you, do you understand?”

Salvatore stiffens nervously as Alcina shoots him a pointed look that screams ‘don’t fuck this up or I’ll fuck you up’, a threat which the hooded man knows she’ll make good on, should Salvatore make it necessary for her to do so. Salvatore wasn’t sure how Alcina had picked up on the nature of his budding affections for Nadine so quickly, or how she seemed to instinctively know what he was planning despite having never asked directly, but clearly she’d noticed something and was now in the process of making the matter of whether Salvatore successfully courted his gift her business.

Heavens above have mercy upon whomever is unlucky enough to have their problematic situation noticed and meddled with by Alcina Dimitrescu.

“Y-yes… I u-understand… an-and I’ll be s-sure not to w-waste... waste the g-golden opportunity you’ve g-given me… OH! An-and Donna w-wants her mannequins b-back... too… sh-she wanted m-me to tell y-you” Salvatore replies, his anxiety only mildly calmed when Alcina makes a face at the mention of Donna’s yet-to-be-returned-still mannequins.

“Oh for goodness sakes, I always forgot about those stupid things. Anastasia?”

“Yes, Mistress?” The young servant dutifully answers.

“Please make a note to remind me to have Heisenberg come by so he can collect and return the manequins Donna leant me while I was commissioning some dresses from her earlier this month. That foul-mouthed mutt owes me a favor, and so if all goes the way I’d like I’ll be making this his problem in the morning” Alcina says devilishly, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Of course, Lady Dimitrescu, I’ll be sure to remind you of that first thing tomorrow morning” Anastasia replies warmly, though her amicable grin is quickly replaced by a flush and a girlish giggle when Alcina waves and turns on her heel, swaying her hips in an obvious fashion before bending down to enter through the door of her chambers.

Salvatore passed exceptionally confused glances back and forth between his sister and the young servant standing in front of him, totally clueless as to what just unfolded a moment ago as a feeling of disgust, the kind you get when you see something you wish you hadn’t, began to curl in the pit of his stomach. Whatever it was that was going on in the Dimitrescu house, and more importantly with their new servant girl, it was clearly none of Salvatore’s business. Not that he’d wanted it to be in the first place.

Salvatore had enough problems to deal with regarding his own gift, he didn’t have time to worry about whether or not Alcina was already making moves on hers.

“Have a safe journey home, and do make sure to stop by with Nadine if things turn out well between the two of you. Based on how today played out, it would seem as though things are about to get a lot more interesting around here… and a lot more fun too. Goodnight, Dear Brother” is all Alcina says before gently closing the door to her chambers, effectively ending their conversation without so much as a single word from Salvatore, not that he minded being handed the chance to finally get out of here, especially after… whatever the hell that exchange between Alcina and Anastasia was.

Best not to think too hard about it, probably, especially when there was another woman back at the reservoir who was much more deserving of Salvatore’s lustful and impure musings.

“Uuum… the front door is this way… Lord Moreau,” Anastasia says suddenly, her face still dark from embarrassment, though whether it was from her earlier treatment of him before she learned he was another Lord and not just some random man from the village, or from… that thing he just saw that he doesn’t feel like thinking about anymore, the hooded man couldn’t tell.

Nor did he particularly care to find out.

[anchoviesinthenightsky]

Here’s something that came to mind from seeing tangled the series that lives in my head rent free I don’t know what to do with:

Following a year after the movie, Luca comes home for early spring holidays. Alberto’s mood is oddly kinda down in a way him and Massimo hadn’t seen before. Luca and Massimo worry what could be troubling him, as Massimo reveals that he’s been down for a few weeks now since spring really kinda started. Massimo decides to take the boys fishing, thinking it would cheer him up to keep him busy, as Alberto had said he doesn’t know why he’s sad, it just happens every spring and it’ll pass, like seasonal depression. Though while out near the good fishing spot Alberto and Luca had shown early, they couldn’t get Alberto to focus much as he just focused on the island he use to reside from, like a trance.

Is it abandonment issues? Yes. Feel free with whatever ending or style, I know it’s not really Luca x Alberto but I am not good with romance plots I’m so sorry 😞 hope you enjoy it anyway

AN: What a GREAT prompt. I had so much fun writing this. I'm not sure if you meant this, but I took this to imply that Alberto's dad left in the spring. And I was thinking about why that memory would be triggered for a full season, and I landed on the idea that something in the environment (like a particular scent) that Alberto associated with his dad leaving, could make an entire season difficult. So I was playing around with that idea!

______: *✧･ﾟ:*___ >><(((・> ______ >><(((・> ____ _: *✧･ﾟ:*__

Spring was in the air, sweet and verdant, and flower petals floated through the air as Luca stepped off the train and into the Portorosso train station. School was on break for a week for the Easter holidays, and Luca had opted to spend the time back home, while Giulia stayed with her mom.

Luca heaved his travel bag off the train steps and looked around the platform. He saw Alberto and Massimo standing in the corner of the station. Alberto was looking off into the distance, not focused on what or who was in front of him. Massimo was lightly patting him on the shoulder and pointing to Luca.

“Beto!” Luca shouted, trying to get his attention.

Alberto shook his head, like he was clearing his brain of fog, and then locked eyes with Luca. “Luca!”

Alberto’s arms were strong and warm as Luca crashed into them. Luca wrapped his own arms around Alberto and squeezed. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Alberto whispered, hugging Luca tight.

And Luca noticed that something felt off about his friend. Maybe it was in the way he seemed to cling onto Luca for the hug, but barely touched him once they let go.

Maybe it was that there was a hollowness in his voice and a distance in his eyes. Like he was here physically, but not mentally, when he told Luca that he could stay in Massimo’s house, if he wanted. And that he’d already asked Luca’s parents if that was okay, and they said it was.

Luca picked up his bag and followed Alberto and Massimo out of the station. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about his friend.

[continued below the cut]

___

“Aren’t the flowers beautiful?” Luca asked. He and Alberto were walking under a trellis lined with wisteria and roses. The flowers wept through the openings, trailing down to brush the tops of their heads as they passed. Luca picked one of the wisteria buds and tucked it behind Alberto’s ear. “They’re almost the same color as your scales.”

Alberto pressed his lips together and took the flower from behind his ear. He looked at it for a moment before turning to Luca and putting it behind his hear. “Maybe you should wear it then, so we’ll match.”

“Oh, well,” Luca touched the flower. The delicate petals mixing with his curls. “We could both wear flowers.”

Luca reached up to grab another one, and Alberto stopped him from reaching the wisteria blossoms.

“Please don’t,” Alberto’s voice caught in his throat. He cleared it with a cough. “I don’t really like how they smell.”

“Oh.” Luca said, retracting his hand. “I didn’t know.”

“’’Sokay,” Alberto shrugged. “I’d never told you.”

___

The rocks beneath Luca’s feet clicked together as he followed Massimo away from the boat. He watched Alberto check the fishing nets. From a distance, he looked sure of his actions, like they’d become second nature to him.

“Luca,” Massimo said, putting a hand on Luca’s shoulder. “Have you noticed that Alberto hasn’t been himself?”

“Yeah,” Luca responded slowly. “It’s like he’s not totally here.”

“Yes, exactly.” Massimo said. “He’s been like that for weeks.”

“For weeks?”

Massimo nodded. “Do you know anything that might cause him to be like that?”

“Not that I know of. Maybe it’s seasonal? He was never like this in the summer.”

“Could be.” Massimo said.

‘Do you think it’s something else?”

“I do not know what to think, ragazzo.” Massimo took his hand off Luca’s shoulder. “I just want him to feel better.”

____

Water sloshed around the sides of the Giulietta, as the boat came to a stop at a particularly good fishing spot. Massimo lowered the net into the water and waited for Alberto to drop anchor. When he didn’t Massimo said, “Luca would you mind dropping the anchor.”

“Of course.” Luca stood up, his leg brushing against Alberto’s, and dropped the anchor gently over the side. He imagined it sinking down and the plume of sand that’d follow as it hit the ground.

He sat back down next to Alberto, who was looking toward the island they’d meet. The island looked different in the spring. It was more colorful than Luca remembered. Flowers dotted the island, and on the side of the island opposite the tower, there was a wisteria tree. It was close enough to the water, then some of the branches floated on the surface, rolling with the gentle waves that came to shore.

Alberto’s eyes were unfocused, and Luca nudged him with his shoulder. “What are you looking at?”

Alberto blinked hard, squeezing his eyes shut, before looking down at the water. “Nothing.”

“It didn’t seem like nothing,” Luca said quietly. He placed a hand on Alberto’s knee. “You know you can share things with me, right?”

“I know,” Alberto’s eyes flicked up to Massimo and then back down to the water. “Everything is fine.”

Massimo shifted in his seat, like he was about to speak, but Luca held up a hand to stop him. “What do you say about going on a swim, Alberto?”

“We’re in the middle of fishing.”

“It’s a good idea,” Massimo said. “I can handle the fish.”

“Come on Beto,” Luca tugged on his hand. “The water’s nice.”

“Luca, it’s May. The water’s cold.”

“For humans maybe,” he teased. “Come on.”

Luca slipped into the water, feeling scales shimmer over his body. He splashed his face to finish the change. “It’s really nice Alberto.”

“I don’t know.” Alberto leaned over the edge of the boat to look at Luca.

Luca flicked some water at his face, purple dots appearing where he hit.

“Hey!” Alberto rubbed the scaled away. “What was that for?”

“I just thought it’d be funny.” Luca said, unsure.

“Well, it wasn’t funny, and I don’t want to swim.”

Luca watched as Massimo looked between Alberto and the island. “Alberto,” he said. “You can go swim. I won’t go anywhere. I promise. I’ll be right here when you’re ready to go back home.”

Alberto’s shoulders dropped. His lips pinched together, and he nodded slowly. “You promise?”

“Of course.” Massimo replied.

“Thank you, papa.” Alberto said. He slipped out of the boat and dipped his head under the water, before popping back up to face Luca. “Where to?”

Luca grabbed his hand and pulled him down.

___

They didn’t go so far down that they lost sight of Massimo’s boat, but they were deep enough that the sky distorted under the water and the currents would carry their bodies if they left them.

Luca flipped on his back and put his hands behind his head, letting the water roll over him. Alberto stayed curled up, his tail curling around a leg.

“So, what’s really going on?” Luca asked.

“Nothing, I told you.” Alberto glanced behind him at the island. Luca could see branches of wisteria floating on the water.

“Beto,” Luca flipped over and put a hand on Alberto’s arm, “you’re a terrible liar.”

“I am not.”

“You are, and that’s okay.” Luca smiled a little. “But you’ve been acting out of it, and it seems like something is wrong. You can talk to me. I’m here for you.”

Alberto pressed his lips together and looked off to the side of Luca’s face, as if he couldn’t look him in the eye. “You know my dad?”

“Massimo?”

“No, the other one.”

“Oh.” Luca squeezed Alberto’s shoulder, hoping the touch was reassuring. “What about him.”

“He left in the spring.”

Luca nodded, afraid saying anything would stop Alberto in his tracks.

“It was,” Alberto turned and pointed to the floating petals on the water. “there.”

“Under the wisteria?” Luca asked. Heart dropping as he recalled trying to give Alberto a flower from that same plant.

“Yeah.” Alberto dropped his head. “We were sitting there, under the flowers. It was a nice day, where the weather was finally starting to get warm again. He told me that he was leaving, and that I could watch after myself.”

Alberto’s eyes watered. “And then he left. And I sat under those flowers until the sun went down. I slept under that tree the first night too, and I thought— I thought if I didn’t leave then maybe he’d come back.”

“I’m so sorry Alberto.”

“Me too.” Luca pulled Alberto in for a hug, “You should tell Massimo. He’s been worried about you.”

Alberto shook his head, hiding it in Luca’s neck. He mumbled, “What if I tell him and he thinks my dad was right and leaves me too.”

“No.”

“What?” Alberto lifted his head a little.

“Massimo isn’t like that. You know that.” Luca put a hand on Alberto’s cheek. “You’ve got a Bruno in your head.”

Alberto gave a wet laugh. “Yeah, maybe I do.”

“I know you do.”

[quokkacore]

son of wolves III [park chanyeol and byun baekhyun]

summary: your entire life, you've fought bravely to defend the walls of your home from the evil forest spirits of the spearwood trying to destroy it, alongside your family, friends, and your betrothed, baekhyun. until you're infected by the evil that resides in one of these spirits, and you run away from home, before it can spread to those around you. it's in your exile, wandering through the spearwood that you meet the wolf prince, a tall man of hardened eyes, few words, and a fiery temperament, raised by these spirits you've so grown to resent. it's here that you begin to question everything you've ever known, and wonder whether the evil was out here, in the forest, or inside the walls of a place you once called home.

pairings: hunter!baekhyun x reader, wolfprince!chanyeol x reader

genre: reverse princessmononoke!au, ANGST, fluff, slow burn, enemies to lovers, fantasy epic, war au, wolf!au

warnings for this chapter: love bombing, emotional manipulation, non-sexual nudity, themes of infidelity?, mentioned child abandonment, gaslighting, guilt tripping, language, chanyeol is not in this chapter :(, baekhyun is an asshole and has huge mommy issues, reader makes No Good Decisions, mentions of gun violence, baekhyun is a bit forceful with reader at one point, threat of physical abuse(?), emotional abuse, blackmail, reader is drugged, possible non-con? (reader is drugged and baekhyun gives her a kiss on the lips)

song recs: fool of me - say lou lou & chet faker // blinding - florence + the machine // all my pride - black honey // king and queen - exo-cbx // power is power - sza, the weeknd & travis scott

word count: 5.8k

a/n: i’m sorry. i just had to!!! this isn’t the final chapter, i had a last minute idea of giving you guys ONE LAST CLIFFHANGER kjdkfjdk please don’t hate me!! thx to my irl best friend for all of the feedback (if ur reading this hi queen ily) and to @riajae​ for all of the help <3

disclaimer: i do not condone baekhyun’s actions in this chapter and i don’t believe that the real baekhyun would act like this in real life.

story masterlist // main masterlist

chapter three: the return

When you awoke, it felt as if you had never known peace in your life. Because your thoughts were jumbled when they should have been slow and sluggish as you were roused from your sleep. Despite the warmth of the quilts, you felt numb, as if you were still stuck in the cold. 

Your eyelashes fluttered, body stretching across the bed. You’d never felt more out of place in this bed. 

What you should have done was sighed in satisfaction at the bunches of quilts keeping your toes warm. You should have sunk further into the mattress, and buried your nose into Baekhyun’s pillow and taken in his scent after being deprived of it for so long. But as you recalled what had happened, you felt yourself sinking, but not because you were finally in your bed after so long.

Immediately, you understood where you were, what had happened and what had led you here. To a degree, you had an odd sense of coherency you weren't sure a person who had almost died of hypothermia could have. 

You could hear the murmuring behind the door. The sound of Baekhyun's voice mingling with Yixing's coasted through your ears, but you were only able to catch bits and pieces. Your thoughts were too jumbled to latch onto the conversation. 

"When you… was she...?"

"Delirious… didn't understand… anything she said."

"I need to… anything else?"

"No, I think… let you know."

You sat up slowly, when you heard the front door close. Your eyes squeezed shut, and you let out a quiet whine as you stretched your arms.

Your eyes fluttered open, head immediately craning to the pristine, white gauze wrapped around your arm. The bandages made their way around your fingertips, and all the way to your shoulder now. Aside from that, someone had changed your clothes, and now you were wearing clean clothes, at last.

You swallowed harshly, clenching your jaw. As you sat up, the sound of the front door closing made its way to your ears. Then, came the sounds of feet padding across the floor. You tried to move your legs, to stand. They wouldn’t budge, slightly weak. 

The bedroom door opened quietly, as if whoever was trying to open it didn’t want to disturb you. However, once the familiar pair of brown eyes settled on your sitting form, it swung open.

“Y/N,” Baekhyun sighed in relief, striding towards you. You tried to stand, needing to feel his embrace. “Baekhyun—”

Your knees buckled, but he caught you just in time. His hands grasped your waist, and you gasped, bracing to hit the floor facefirst. But you didn’t, instead coming face to face with the man you had so longed for for so long. His face was inches away from yours, his breath slightly ragged. Baekhyun’s eyes seemed to be painted in disbelief, and your heart twisted at the thought—that he seemed to be shocked that you were here, in your home.

The next thing you knew, his lips were on yours, bruising, desperate. He hummed softly against your lips, out of relief, out of exhilaration, out of heartbreak. Your shoulders slumped, and you almost sagged against him before wrapping your arms around the back of his neck. He lowered you back onto the bed gently, lips not leaving yours. Carefully, his body hovered over yours, cautious to not pin you down or press his weight down on you. 

His hands came up to cradle your face, before gently pulling away. “You idiot,” He huffed lovingly, pressing kisses all over your face, “Do you have any idea how worried I was—”

“Baek—”

He cut you off with another soft kiss before pressing more kisses to your face, “Thought I would never see you again, love…”

“How did you find me?” You murmured, finally gripping his chin and pulling his lips away from your forehead. You met his eyes, which were full of mirth. He caught his breath before finally speaking. 

“Ivan marched right up to the gate a few days ago. We did our best to track his prints in the snow, and branched out when the snow covered them completely. You walked right into our search party the next morning.”

“Wait, how long was I out?” You asked, pushing a stray strand of hair out of his face. His lips turned downwards, eyes turning serious. 

“Y/N, you were out for about two days. We only got back here late last night. You were asleep that entire time. We were all scared we wouldn’t be able to keep you alive long enough before we could come back here, but we managed it, somehow.”

Eyes not straying away from his, you let out a shaky breath. “Baek, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“That doesn’t matter now,” He shushed, quickly rolling off of you. He gathered you in his arms, lifting you like a man would his new wife. “What matters now is that you’re home, and you’re safe, and we’re back together again.”

You nodded, stomach heavy with guilt. Your small smile didn’t seem very convincing, even though you hoped it was. 

Baekhyun led you to the washroom, setting you on the wooden chair, before telling you he’d be right back. He was gone for about fifteen minutes.  

During that time, you crossed your hands in your lap, twiddling your fingers as you sat in silence. Quietly mulling over everything you’d been through for the past few weeks, you leaned back in the chair as emotional exhaustion overtook you.

The curse. The isolation you’d subjected yourself to willingly, at your naivete, the pride that you could negotiate with a god. The cold, the hunger, the loneliness… Chanyeol. Everything he’d said to you, the sensation of his skin on yours... his revelations from that night. Your natural distrust of his words. The uneasiness at the idea that they might be true.

Even if you’d been asleep for just about two days—the sensation of being tired seemed to have seeped into your bones, permeating the air worse than any hate curse ever could. It seemed to wrap itself around your neck, choking you until tears began to fall down your cheeks.

Baekhyun returned some fifteen minutes later, carefully carrying two buckets: one of boiling hot water, the other of cold water. He filled the small basin with both, testing the water with his hand to make sure it wasn’t too hot or cold. 

When he finally turned, he seemed to realize that you were crying. “Oh, my darling,” He said, kneeling in front of your chair, “Come here.”

As if it was second nature, your face buried itself in Baekhyun’s chest, his damp hand coming up to rub up and down your back, the other petting your hair. “I’m sorry,” You sobbed brokenly, hands gripping the white linen of his shirt, “Baek, I’m so sorry. I was wrong, s-so wrong…” 

Baekhyun pressed a soft kiss to the crown of your head. “Maybe you shouldn’t have,” He murmured against your hair, causing a pang of guilt to rack through your chest. “But you’re alive, okay? As long as you’re alive, everything else doesn’t matter. Come on, love, we need to get you cleaned up.”

He pulled away from you, wiping away the tears streaking down your cheeks. His eyes were glassy, and that made it even worse. Your body shook with every cry, vision blurring and lips trembling. 

His voice was gentle. “Don’t cry, Y/N… you’ll make me cry, and then you’ll cry even harder, and then I’ll cry even harder…”

A soft laugh made its way past your lips between your blubbering, and Baekhyun mirrored your laugh. “There’s my girl,” He said lovingly, “Come here. Can I take your clothes off?”

You nodded, not trusting your voice. Wordlessly, he began to undress you. You lifted your arms when he pulled off your shirt, and wiggled your hips when he pulled down your pants. His actions were gentle, tender, intimate, and the familiar hands tending to your body, lifting you up again and placing you into the bath, calmed you substantially. Automatically, you brought your knees up to your chest when he stood up, getting ready to wash you. 

“Can you get in with me?” You asked quietly, voice scratchy and weak. You pouted up at him, eyes still teary, and he put his hands on his hips. He nodded, smiling sympathetically.

“With that look in your eyes, you make it hard to say no."

Quickly, he shed his clothes, setting them onto the chair next to yours, before motioning you to scoot forward. He sat down behind you, placing a soft kiss on your shoulder. You craned your head back to lock eyes with him.

“You keep kissing me,” You murmured.

“Well, I wasn’t able to kiss you for three weeks,” He replied, pressing another kiss to your shoulder, eyes not leaving yours, “I need to make up for lost time.”

“Yeah, well I haven’t been able to bathe in three weeks. If there’s anyone who needs to make up for lost time, it’s me.”

He chuckled at your quip, cupping water with his hands to let it run down your skin. Picking up the soap, he got to work helping you wash. Running the bar down your arms, on your back and around your chest, touch never too heavy.

A few seconds after he started, you opted to speak. With a heavy sigh, you told him just about everything. The first week alone, Chanyeol attacking you, your meeting with the gods. 

“So he is still out there,” Baekhyun muttered when you described Emyr, “Who would have thought.”

You left out certain things, nervously swallowing the urge to question your loyalties. The story about removing the bullet from Sehun was left out.

So was what happened at the hot springs. You remained silent as he washed your hair, which was greasy and matted from weeks of not being cared for properly. You sighed in quiet satisfaction, eyes fluttering shut at the sensation of his hands massaging your scalp. When he was finished, he spoke again. 

"So they just made you follow them around all night?" His voice was quiet, tone unreadable. “Love, I don’t think they ever intended on healing you. It sounds like they were stringing you along.”

You nodded, unsure of what to say. In another life, you would have believed him. 

“Baek?”

“Hmm?” His hand grabbed yours gently, rubbing his thumb over your knuckles. 

"Would it be so crazy if I thought they weren't?"

He hummed pensively, his grip on your hand tightening ever so slightly. He remained silent for a long time, and you tried to keep your breath steady. "I wouldn't say… crazy. Maybe a bit too optimistic. It's not… we've been enemies for how long now? Not crazy. Maybe a bit naive. Which I wouldn’t really expect from you, but...”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You murmured quietly, turning your head. Your teary eyes met his unreadable ones. He pursed his lips, shaking his head. “I’m not trying to be mean, love. It just… You have to understand that I told you not to go, and you went anyway. I lost my mind when I woke up that morning. And I’m still… I don’t know. Never mind.” He shook his head, frowning. 

“Baekhyun…” You sounded defeated, turning your torso further back to get a better look at him. 

“Y/N, I just want what’s best for you,” He answered earnestly, straightening the chain of your necklace, “I was worried. I’m sorry if I’m taking that out on you now.”

Looking down, focusing on a mole on his bare chest to avoid his downtrodden gaze, you shook your head. “It’s alright,” You whispered, “You have every right to be angry at me.”

He didn’t rebuke you, shame bubbling in your chest when he pressed a kiss to your forehead instead. “Let’s get you into some new clothes. The Council wanted to see me after this, I’ll bring you along too.”

Wordlessly, you obeyed. He dried and dressed you, hands tracing over your body as if you were gentle porcelain as he draped clean, warm fabric across your skin. When he finished getting himself dressed he walked back over to you and kissed you again. While a few weeks ago you would have killed just to have one of these kisses, now it has simply left you hollow.

You weren’t sure if it was because of the guilt gnawing at your insides or because every time his lips met yours, all you could think of was Chanyeol’s; his skin on yours, the piercing blue of the water, everything that could have been but ultimately wasn’t—because you were both too cowardly to face the truth.

“You ready to go?” His hands made his way to your cheeks, gazing at you tentatively, warmly. Like he was scared that at any moment, you’d break away and run off even if he begged you not to. 

And you nodded, too exhausted to argue, even though all you wanted was to curl up in bed and ask him to hold you while you cry. Maybe if he held you for long enough, these feelings would go away and you would forget about everything that happened to you in that forest. But you didn’t, and he didn’t ask you if you wanted to stay. 

So you took his hand, and he helped you out the door. 

To say the Council was furious was an understatement. You thought you’d be given a reprieve when your father rushed to you and crushed you in a hug. He didn’t say anything, but when he pulled away, his eyes were glassy. 

But that seemed to be the extent of their mercy. You were berated for a good fifteen minutes, going on about how your escape was an insult to the military prowess, about how you had disobeyed a direct order, that if it were anyone else, they would have been tried for treason and abandonment. 

You let them go on, not finding the energy within you to protest. You were already feeling as low as you thought possible, and doubted they could make you feel even worse.

Oh, how wrong you were. 

“You say you met the old gods?”

You sighed, nodding. “I was forced to work for Selyne’s sons when I did find them.”

“What of the wolf rider?” One of the men asked, “Does he speak? What did you find out about him.”

Clenching your jaw, you decided to test the waters. “He told me his name and the names of his brothers. His name is Chanyeol.”

“He can communicate with the wolves?” An elderly woman asked, and you nodded tentatively. You needed to be very careful with your next words. If you revealed you could communicate with them also, you were done for. You would be tried for treason for sure. Maybe even witchcraft. 

But you couldn’t shake the idea that you were wrong. Not because of everything you’d been through, but because of what you’d told Baekhyun. That you were wrong to go out there. With every word spoken, you felt a growing sense of unease, an urge to protect the wolves, the Spearwood, and everything it stood for.

“From what I saw and heard, yes. But it’s… strange. He spoke out loud to them, and I couldn’t hear their responses. I asked him how. He said it was because he’s connected to the she-wolf, and as a result, to the other creatures of the forest as well.”  

They asked if he was from here or from somewhere else. You knew it didn’t matter. At the end of the day, they saw him as human, so it didn’t matter. He would be considered a traitor regardless. 

“He told me he was born in the forest. That’s all I know.”

There was a pause in the conversation, only perking up when Jongdae spoke up. “He said he’s connected to Selyne,” He pointed out, “What would happen if she were to die?”

Suddenly, the air in the room changed, and your stomach dropped. 

“He would have to lose his connection to the forest.” Minseok seemed to catch on to what Jongdae was saying. “On top of that, we get rid of one of their leaders. It would be a huge dent in their morale and strategy. That could give us the upper hand.”

Your father nodded. “Y/N, you know the forest better than any of us now. If you worked with the wolves, you must have seen their den.”

“I was with the pr—her sons. She lived in another den… I didn’t see it.” 

“Still, you’re our upper hand,” Baekhyun said, looking slightly hopeful. It made your stomach churn. “If you were able to survive for so long on your own, we could plan a military campaign and invade. We’re stronger in numbers.” 

  The chatter started up again, discussing possible strategies, and it became too much. You felt a ripple in your arm, but you managed to hold it back. 

“No.” 

The chatter died down as quickly as it had started, and everyone turned to look at you. Your heart began to pound in your chest, your palms turning clammy. “They… they said once they’d be willing to negotiate a truce. They’re just as scared as we are, as tired of the war as we are, and they just want peace—”

"We have an opportunity to get rid of them once and for all, so we can finally expand our home and reap the benefits of having the forest for ourselves," A man told you, "You wish for us to let it slip through our fingers?"

Swallowing, you shook your head. This wasn’t what you wanted to happen. "I don't think it's wise for us to simply invade, when both sides want the same thing—"

“Hold on, so they want peace but then they decided to ambush us one day?” Baekhyun said, sounding a bit louder. You didn’t like the accusatory tone in his voice.

“They wouldn’t have ambushed us if you hadn’t shot Sehun!”

Baekhyun’s head shot back, eyes widening. He was silent for a moment, eyes darting back and forth before he could speak again. But your father beat you to it.

“Y/N, who is Sehun?”

“The wolf that bit me that day,” You admitted. “He got shot. The wound got infected, and that’s what he spread to me. I pulled out the bullet myself—they forced me to.” 

Your head turned to Baekhyun, who had interlocked his fingers and whose eyes were dark and unreadable. “Chanyeol said that you were the target that day, because you were the one that shot him.”

“So you’re just going to take that—that creature’s word over mine?” Baekhyun’s voice was low, bordering on angry, “Really, Y/N?”

“I’m not saying that I believe him, I’m just saying that if one of us hadn’t—”

“It sure sounds like you do,” Jongdae snapped.

“—Provoked them, we wouldn’t be—”

“Enough!”

Your father’s voice rang through the room, and suddenly, you could hear a pin drop. The look on everyone’s faces gave it away. You had just made a fatal mistake.

“We’ll take a recess,” Your father said, glaring at you, “Baekhyun, take Y/N back to the house. Keep her there and when you return we’ll resume discussing strategies. Clearly, three weeks of wandering through the cold have made her unwell.”

“What?” You cried, incredulous. Baekhyun stood, walking towards you, cautiously gripping your arm. "Come on, love, let's go."

"No!" You tugged your arm out of his grip, "You can't do this, it's not safe and it's not smart—"

“Clearly, she’s gone mad from the cold and the isolation! How can we believe anything she says?” The old woman from before you was scowling at you, “Get her out of this room. Immediately.”

 “How dare you,” You fired back, “After everything I’ve done for this Council you would just—”

But Baekhyun was pulling you away anyway, and within a matter of minutes, you were back inside the walls of what was once your home. Baekhyun didn’t let go as he tugged you over the threshold, leading you towards the bedroom. 

“Baekhyun, let me go,” You demanded, still trying to pull away, “Byun Baekhyun, let me go! You’re not listening to me—”

“Why should I listen to you?” He snapped as he shoved you into the bedroom, pushing you to sit on the bed. 

“Because I know what happened to me in there! I’m not crazy! I’m—”

“We will discuss this when I come back from the meeting. My word is final.”

He looked furious, which completely caught you off guard. He seemed to be sneering at you when he slammed the door, shaking his head.

Then, you heard a soft click, and your blood ran cold. You shot up, darting towards the door, jiggling the knob.

He had locked you inside. You banged on the door. “Baek! Baekhyun, let me out! Let me out, please, Baek.” 

You heard the front door slam, and the next thing you knew, you had collapsed to the floor, sobbing, clutching the knob like a lifeline. 

  How long you stayed like that was a mystery. Eventually, your tears dried up, and your wailing quieted. What you were left with were a hollow interior, a growling stomach and a pounding head. You craned your neck to look at the bedroom, which was slowly getting darker as the afternoon stretched into the evening. 

Your eyes landed on a chair you hadn’t previously noticed in the morning. Draped over it were the clothes you had worn for the past few weeks, undoubtedly dirty. Making your way over to the chair, you picked up the shirt. When you lifted it you crinkled your nose, the smell of dried sweat and blood making its way to your nostrils. Had you really smelled like this the entire time?

Shoving the thought to the back of your mind, you looked in the pockets of the shirt until you found it: a small opal dangling from a chain of gold. 

You weren’t sure what to tell Baekhyun. Hell, you weren’t sure if you should tell him at all. He’d always been quite sensitive when it came to his mother. 

And to tell him now, with the way he was acting… 

You stared at the small stone, silently cursing Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s father. If you hadn’t been such a dick, I wouldn’t be in this situation.

Thinking over everything that was said in the Council meeting was painful. It didn’t help the pounding in your head. How you’d been called mad, and you’d been effectively silenced by the people who would easily listen to you in the past. 

You considered what they might be discussing right now. Because you knew they wanted the forest for themselves, to strip it barren and use it to build an empire. Your hands tightened around the necklace when you realized it.

This war wasn’t being fueled by fear. Not on this side, at least. It was greed, pure human greed, and it wouldn’t stop unless a major change happened. 

You didn’t hear the front door open, but you heard the padding of feet headed towards the bedroom door. You shot up, shoving the necklace into your pocket as the lock clicked, and then the door swung open.

Baekhyun’s eyes fell on you, standing right across from you. There was an odd mix of contempt and satisfaction in his eyes. You’re not an idiot. You knew which one of those emotions was reserved for you.

“I brought you some food,” He murmured, “I figured you might be hungry.”

Nodding, you sheepishly put your hands in your pockets, and trudged over to him. Baekhyun led you to the small dinner table, where he’d set down two bowls of soup, which he must have bought from Mrs Yang’s tavern. He was silent the entire time, watching you as you scarfed down the soup. The taste was as rich as ever, but this time there was a new kick to it. You also ate the bread roll you’d picked up from the basket in the middle of the table. The meal was warm and hearty and while it filled your stomach, the void in your chest was still there.

“We’re leaving early tomorrow, before dawn,” Baekhyun said finally, “We plan to go as far in as we can.” 

Your heart just about stopped, the stones on your chest and in your pocket weighing you down, stopping you from shooting straight up. “Why?” You croaked, eyes filling with tears.

Baekhyun sighed and scowled at you, pushing away his half empty bowl. “You were wrong.”

“What?”

“Today,” He clarified, “You said that the old gods were just as scared and tired as we are. You’re wrong. We’re not afraid of them. We haven’t been for years.”

Your hand grabbed his. “Baekhyun, you can’t,” You pleaded, “Please. Listen to me. There’s no need for all of this, this violence. It can end tomorrow if you’re just willing to negotiate with them.”

“We don’t want to negotiate.” He spat out the last word as if it was offensive. His hand pulled away from yours. “That forest is ours for the taking and we’re not about to let it slip through our hands.” 

He stood, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “We’re expanding our home. This is for the greater good, Y/N. Can’t you see? A future for us—”

“I’m going to die soon.” Your voice was trembling now. You couldn’t blame yourself. “There is no greater good for me, no greater good for us. For how long would it last, anyway? If the forest is gone, how do we hunt? It’s provided for us for generations, and all we do is take and take and take and we never give it anything in return—”

“Why the hell would I want to give anything to that forest?” He yelled, slamming his hands down on the table with a loud bang, causing you to flinch. “Over the years, they’ve killed hundreds of us—”

“And we’ve killed thousands of them!” You had stood now, chest heaving. “I know it’s hard for you to think there’s good in there, but there is, Baek. It’s calm and quiet and peaceful and that’s all—they—want. To keep it that way.”

He shook his head. “There’s never been good in that forest. Not since we left. It’s evil, and it corrupts anyone who stays there for too long. I-it corrupted that rider—Chanyeol or whatever his name is—and now, I’m starting to think it’s corrupted you too.”

“That rider will die if you don’t convince the council to stand down.” Your hands were trembling, but somehow, you mustered up the strength—the courage really—to throw the necklace down onto the table, just as Baekhyun was asking why he should care so much about Chanyeol.

At first, he didn’t understand. He probably thought it was his necklace, the one he’d given to you. His eyebrows furrowed, his lips turned downward, and then he looked up to see your face. Only when he meant to look back down at Chanyeol’s necklace and began to lower his gaze, did he realize that there was more than one opal necklace.

His expression turned uncertain, blinking a few times in disbelief. “Where… where did you get this?” He asked, breathless. Your voice wavered, uncertain of what would come next.

“Chanyeol gave it to me,” You said, staring at the necklace, “He said… He said it belonged to the woman who gave birth to him. His… his mother.”

Baekhyun looked back up at you, mouth gaping. “That can’t be possible,” He murmured, shaking his head. You shrugged. “I didn’t believe him either, Baek. Not at first. But… I don’t know.”

“What exactly did he tell you?” He murmured, gritting his teeth. “I need to know.”

So you did. You told Baekhyun the same story Chanyeol had told you, the same story Selyne had told him as a child. Of a young woman who died of frostbite after running away from her husband, who gave birth to a baby boy with wide brown eyes and big ears, who begged a wolf goddess to raise the baby as one of her own. 

The entire time, your gaze remained trained on him. His eyes turned glassy but his tears didn’t fall, and you felt your chest ache when you finished, and he took a shaky breath. 

“So that’s where she went,” He whispered, “I had always thought…”

You shook your head. “I’m sorry, Baekhyun. I wish I could have told you under better circumstances.”

Hands trembling, he picked up the necklace, and traced over the stone with a delicate finger. You saw a tear fall, but just as you were about to comfort him, something in him shifted. His breathing became heavier, his top lip twitched, before twisting into an angry sneer. His fist closed around the necklace, right before he threw it across the room. You heard it hit the wall, but you didn’t see where it went.

“No.” His teary eyes met yours, and you knew that something had taken over inside of him; some deep rooted pain he had locked away for years upon years. “I’m not helping him. Not after what he took from me.”

“Baekhyun—”

“Why do you seem to care so much about him, Y/N? Huh?” He leaned forward, voice dangerously quiet. “Did something… happen while you were out there? Is that what this is?”

“Nothing happened,” You growled, tight lipped.

He scoffed, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

Baekhyun walked towards you, once again gripping your wrist, this time even tighter. He tugged you towards the bedroom, you protesting every step of the way. Where you found the energy, you didn’t know. Because you were so tired.

“You’re hurting me,” You told him, but he didn’t let go. “Baekhyun, please! If you could j-just hear me out, o-or let me out so I can talk to the people in town—”

 “What, you think they’ll believe you?” He snarled, slamming the bedroom door shut and finally letting you go. He stepped forward, but you refused to concede. “Doll, you just spent three weeks wandering around in the wilderness because you didn’t want to die. At first, everyone felt bad, you know? Poor little Y/N, all alone in the woods because she wants to live a full life.” 

He stepped forward again, this time grabbing your face. This time, his grip wasn’t painful, wasn’t even tight. You didn’t pull away as his eyes filled with mock sadness, lips twisting into an exaggerated pout. “But then they watched as I, your poor, poor fiance, walked in and out of that forest for three weeks trying to save you. Because I thought I could,” He let out an empty, humorless laugh, “I thought I could still bring you back and take care of you until you died. Maybe have a less elaborate wedding, but a wedding nonetheless. They watched me do that and then they realized that maybe, just maybe, you were being a selfish little brat and only thinking about yourself. So tell me, my love, who are they going to be more inclined to believe, huh?”

Yanking yourself out of his grip, you stared at him in disbelief, but he didn’t stop. He seemed to be caught in his own little reverie, monologuing as if he were the one who had supposedly gone mad. “We were supposed to get married and lead these people to greatness. It was our destiny. But now you’ve gone and ruined everything.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t shot the damn wolf,” You hissed. His eyes flashed, and he shook his head. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “No. I suppose it wouldn’t… but I guess it’s better this way.”

He put his hands on your shoulders, and you jumped. “How?” Your voice was barely audible. 

“If you hadn’t gotten bitten, we wouldn’t be here. But that means I never would have found out that you were so… susceptible to the forest. We shouldn’t have such a weak leader running around. Wouldn’t want that, would we? But we are here, and now I know. So here’s what’s going to happen.”

His hands pushed down on your shoulders, forcing you onto the bed. You glared up at him as he put his hands on his hips. “I’m going to leave with the other soldiers in a few hours, and I’m gonna kill myself a she-wolf and her little bastards. You’re going to stay right here.” His condescending tone wasn’t missed, even as he got more sentimental.

“I’m going to come back, and we’ll get married, and we’re gonna be happy until you die. And when you do, since I, as your widower, will have married into your family line, I’m going to lead my people to destroy that forest once and for all. How’s that for a plan?”

 You couldn’t answer. You didn’t want to play the hero and say that he would never win. Because the truth was, he very much could. The gods and their followers didn’t understand the guns or how to treat bullet wounds. Even worse, Baekhyun had a sort of magnetism that drew people to him, that made them hang on to every single word he said.

You had no more cards to play. Every single one you had tried had backfired, horribly. 

Pursing your lips, you sighed. “...Fine. I’ll stay.” 

You refused to concede. It wouldn’t end this way. But right now, you were too tired to fight back, and your muscles seemed to be getting heavier and heavier by the second. 

“That’s my girl,” Baekhyun murmured, gaze beginning to warm. “Get to bed, love. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

You nodded, holding back a yawn. You tried to kick off your shoes, but quickly realized your movements were sluggish. All at once, despite the slowness of your body, your mind snapped to the conclusion. 

The soup tasted differently. You were tired. Your movements were slowing down. Baekhyun had spiked the soup.

“Baek,” You slurred, “What did you do?”

“What was necessary, love.” It sounded so twisted, the way his voice was so warm. “I needed to make sure you wouldn’t fight back.”

But maybe this was how Baekhyun had loved you all along, and you had never realized; in his own sick, twisted way. Maybe he had never loved you at all, maybe he just wanted to own you. The realization came as he removed your shoes for you, before guiding you under the covers. Your fists weakly came up to hit at his chest as he did, but they did no damage.

“You’re vile,” You whispered. You heard Baekhyun chuckle. “Maybe I am.”

He tucked you in with a kiss on your forehead, one you barely felt. You were already beginning to slip away. “Yixing will be here in the morning to check on you. You’re still recovering, you know.”

You couldn’t respond, too groggy to do so. But you were aware enough to hear his final words, whispered into your ear before he pressed one final kiss to your lips.

“If you try anything, I’ll fucking kill him,” He said, voice saccharine sweet, “Family or not. He stole something from me once.”

Your eyes fluttered shut, but not before you heard him open the door. 

“I’m not going to let him do it again."

taglist: @delightpcy​ @chanyeolscoon​ @xxbluestrifexx​ @imsoba​ @chogiwhy127​ @always-wishing-for-rain​

[rebellionbeach]

The Usami brothers and whole family as a whole are really interesting characters.  Due mostly by the fact of how different Haruhiko and Akihiko are yet similar in many ways as well.  Let’s start with rabbit boy.

Not only is this man extremely sexy but he’s also one of the most popular novelists in Japan believe it or not (not in real life guys)  Akihiko is the presumably biological son of Natsuko and Fuyuhiko and younger brother of Haruhiko Usami.  Growing up, he had always yearned for the attention of his parents, wanting to impress them and make them happy.  Haruhiko had actually been introduced to the Usami household at the age of 12 so Akihiko was 10 at the time and significant development seemed to grow from this change.  As shown from volume 21, everyone had been cheering Akihiko on as the legitimate heir of the Usami family meaning to take over the family business however he had never gotten this support from his parents before.  As a young child he had believed that if he just tried harder and became good at everything, then his parents would finally recognize him.  However, this wasn’t the case unfortunately as shown in the same volume once a young Akihiko came home from school gaining full marks on a test, eager to show his father when he caught him telling Haruhiko that he truly intended to make him the heir of the family business.  This impact was further felt once his mother, who had also witnessed this, declared that she should have never bore Fuyuhiko’s child which in the eyes of a young child must have been completely shattering.  An important seed was planted however and I believe that it was at this moment that Akihiko had started to evolve into the person he is today.  He poured all his emotion, pain, loss, suffering into his notebooks, his stories, proclaiming it to be his entire world.  Overtime we see that Akihiko grows to be very adept at the talent, being one of the top-selling authors from debut which occurred while still in high school and becoming a full-fledged novelist.  Doing this, he completely rejected his family and any connections he might have had to take over the business.  

Looking as Akihiko today it is very clear the type of individual he is, independent and self-serving, he’s his own boss and does only the things he wants to do.  From the first episode of season 2 we see this as there is a key event that takes place between the two Usami brothers in which a confrontation between two escalates into a full-out argument over Akihiko coming back to, as I assume, take over the lead of the Usami company and or serve there.  I will note later on Haruhiko’s tone and content of his language but it’s Akihiko’s response which truly stuck out to me as he stated that he had no inclination of going back to that house and if that Haruhiko truly didn’t like being there then why doesn’t he just leave as well.

This point may seem entirely irrelevant but I actually believe it highlights an essential part of Akihiko’s character that not only serves as his strength but also a blind spot in that of his independence.  Akihiko is the type of person who is able to do the things he’d like to do and encourages the people he cares about, basically Misaki, to do the same such as in episode 2 of season 3 where he is actually the one who encourages Misaki to enter into Marukawa after Misaki dismisses those thoughts as just a fantasy.  This is a thing for his relationship with Misaki as he allows the man a different perspective and in a way allows him, or at least encourages him, to be more selfish.  However this can also be seen as a flaw of his character as it can be interpreted that the only reason he has this lax and independent personality in the first place is because of his more well-off family and the fact that he’d had connections from the start.  In all honestly though, this part of Usagi-san’s personality is one of the main reasons why I actually enjoy his character, along with his thoughtful nature, as I believe that it’s a pretty unique and well-suited trait.

Let’s get into Harry Potter or the eldest brother of the Usami residence, Haruhiko.  Haruhiko isn’t Akihiko’s direct brother as stated before but rather a product of an affair that Fuyuhiko had with his mother.  For the first 12 years of his life, Haruhiko had actually been raised by his single-mother whom he loved very much.  During these times he had been seen to be much more happy despite living in poorer circumstances.  This is a large aspect that is pretty big onto why he is the way he is today.  After his mother tragically passing on, Fuyuhiko took him into to live in the Usami residence.  Now this in itself is absolutely devastating, living with a father-figure that had never truly been there for you with a new mother-in-law that despises your every existence because you’re the proof of the infidelities of her marriage and a new younger brother who seemed lifeless from the rest of this.  Top it all off with the devastation from losing the only person you truly loved and was there for you and damn I’m surprised that Haruhiko didn’t full out lose it.  

Now going back to the scene originally discussed with Akihiko’s backstory, let us switch perspective onto Haruhiko during this situation.  Your new dad just stated that the person he had truly loved in his lifetime was your dead mother and that he intended to make you, a 12 year old child, the heir of their family company that you had just learned about.  Not only this but everyone around you is your enemy as shown through all the people cheering on Akihiko to become the true heir and saying that Haruhiko stole his position.  There is basically no one there to support you, similar to Akihiko, and unlike Akihiko he actually was not used to this new circumstance making the situation even worse. 

I’d like to discuss the scene stated before during episode 1 of season 2.  Here, Haruhiko is visibly angry as Akihiko’s lack of care for his role in the Usami residence.  This is something we’ve never actually gotten to see ever since with Haruhiko barely showing any emotion at all.  However, if you take in the full context of his upbringing and circumstance to that point, you can see a fuller picture of what the man has gone through to become the stoic chosen one we know today.  Akihiko, after being hoisted by Isaka to finally start publishing his works, his entire being, finally achieved success independent from the Usami residence, marking himself finally as an individual allowing him to finally see that he only needs himself.  I think this is what caused Akihiko to cut most connection from his family, despite the occasional visits, and totally puts himself away from the idea of succeeding and become the heir of his family’s company.  This leaves Haruhiko with the burden of shouldering the entire Usami company’s future, something he never truly wanted to today with architecture being his main priority.  What he see’s in Akihiko is this lazy, selfish person who only thinks of himself, abandoning all his familial duties to a brother whom he barely batted an eye to during childhood.  This is what he hates in Akihiko, but also envies.  A very interesting point that season 2 makes with the connection between the Usami brothers is the inherent jealously Haruhiko feels toward Akihiko, with him trying to steal things from him during their upbringing together according to Akihiko.  Even Misaki finally has this revelation during episode 8 I believe when he was distracting him from Kaoruko.  I think his jealously mainly stems from the fact that Akihiko got his independence while Haruhiko is still confined to the Usami gates.  With all of Akihiko’s absent-minded behavior and to quote Haruhiko, “having the eyes of a dead fish”, Akihiko in the end still achieved that sense of independence that Haruhiko could only dream about having.  Add onto the fact that everyone around you hates that you got this position, lobbying for your younger half-brother who barely gives in the effort to succeed you, then baby that’s a recipe for childhood resentment if I’ve ever seen one.  

So what does this all mean, well nothing since this is an over-analysis on a yaoi manga but in a reality I think it comes to show the clear dynamic Haruhiko and Akihiko have on one another.  In recent chapters it is shown that Haruhiko is more and more aspiring in his own pursuits in architecture, even accepting his position as lead of the Usami household and accepting the fact that he’ll never get Misaki, wanting to stay as his ally instead (which is a lot more than I can say for a CERTAIN manga author).

I love Haruhiko AND Akihiko, they both are really great characters and I’d think it would be nice if in the future they could perhaps reconcile their relationship and kind of start to get along.  The Usami household fucked up a lot of kids but they are still going strong and who knows, maybe Haruhiko might get a lover in the future (AKA Todo)

Thank you and now I implore you to go listen to Nelson’s After the Rain album, 10/10 made me cry.

[obae-me]

The Demons Inside- Part 3

Part 1 (Lucifer)     Part 2 (Mammon) 

Word Count: 2185

Description: Levi’s Part of the request “The brothers reacting to an MC crying suddenly in front of them and then trying to act as if nothing happened”

Levi had been waiting for tonight. He’d been antsy about it for days, anticipating it so immensely, he was jittery. Although, it’s entirely possible his twitches and little shakes were thanks to the many energy drinks he had downed today. No matter. He needed to be fully awake and aware in the present. Today he would be spending every hour with the resident human. His Henry, MC. 

Envy had nearly driven him mad these past few weeks. MC had done nothing but spend seemingly every precious moment with one of his brothers. Everyone but him. And he knew why, it wasn’t hard to guess. Lucifer was perfect in every way. Mammon--despite his general scumminess--was fun to be around. Satan was vastly intelligent. Asmo was gorgeous and friendly. Beel was strong and supportive. Belphie was relatively calm and clever. And him? Well, he was an eccentric shut in. But despite all that, MC had made sure to hang out with him today, on a day where they both knew no one would be around to bother them. 

He jolted out of his frantic thoughts as soon as a knock could be heard from the door. Usually, he’d have his visitor answer, but he was aware of who it was, and he was so excited to get on with their activities he had no patience for his many passwords. Swinging the door open with quite a wild look in his eyes, MC appeared a bit startled. Levi, feeling embarrassment seep into his bones over his eagerness, had his face flush a bright red. Adjusting to his normal sheepish behavior let MC smile, holding up some grocery bags he could see were filled with a plethora of snacks and drinks. 

“Sorry I’m a bit late,” MC apologized as Levi held the door open for them to enter his room. “Not only did I buy some snacks, but I had to shoo away my chauffeur.” 

Levi shook his head, his long bangs threatening to cover his vision. His core sin threatened to burn at the thought of, again, any sibling other than himself hanging out with MC. Maybe he had wanted to go to the store to buy snacks, so why did MC not ask him? You hate the grocery store, you know that, he reprimanded himself. “No worries, it gave me time to clean my room a bit!” Levi pushed his intrusive thoughts to the back of his mind as he gestured proudly at his now immaculate room. Trash was devoid from the floor, old clothes were put in the laundry bin-- “And I even dusted off all my figures!” To prove his claim, he snatched a frilly figure off one of his many shelves, holding it out to MC as they observed it. 

They beamed at him, forcing a persistent flutter in Levi’s chest. “It looks great!” Levi noticed something lacking from their expression, like they seemed a bit drained. This urged him to take the items from them and shut his door before the human could think of leaving. Was that faded smile due to him? Had they not been looking forward to this as much as he had? Did they not want to be here? Panic made it hard for him to breathe, but he handled it as best as he could as he pulled up a second chair to his desk for the human to sit in. MC’s eyes flickered over his fancy monitors and equipment, slightly transfixed by all the pretty lights. 

“I’ve got lots of things planned, if that’s okay,” Levi told them, the confidence in his voice wavering. The last thing Levi wanted was for himself to blow this fun day with something stupid. 

They nodded to assure him, and while their smile might’ve still shown hints of something more, Levi’s panic melted away. “Of course! What’re we doing first?” 

Too giddy for words, he opened a game on his desktop, doing his best to explain the rules to MC as he handed them a controller. It was some kind of online fighting fantasy game, and while there were many like it, Levi promised that this was the best of the bunch. They both settled in, picking their characters. Without a second thought, Levi picked his; a bright colored female character with a glowing staff and too many bows on their clothes to be considered natural. 

“This is Luma, she’s my main! Who’re you choosing?” Levi squirmed in his seat, ready to get started. 

“I don’t know...there’s so many to select from...I’ll just pick someone random for now,” MC shrugged, clicking on the first character that caught their eye. Not wanting to waste any more time, Levi set up a lobby for their matches. 

Everything had gone fine...at first. Of course, MC kept dying, but Levi assured them it was their first time playing the game, and the character they had picked was set at a larger difficulty than others. The human nodded and pushed forward. The first match ended with MC getting no kills, stacking up the most deaths, and looking at Levi’s score in shame as the demon had racked up more K.O.s than any other player combined. 

MC laughed sheepishly, letting the controller settle languidly in their hands. “Guess I’m no good at this game.” 

A pang of something familiar flashed through their eyes, and Levi felt the pain. “Not true! Here, try this character, they’re ranged and a little op, so you’ll be just fine!” They started again, Levi bursting forward from the starting point, already landing a triple kill. Meanwhile, all MC got ten seconds away from base was a magical explosion to the face, killing them rather instantaneously. The further they went forward, the more MC’s shoulders slumped. The more they died, the more the fun light they had started with drained in their eyes. At one point, after MC had gotten nuked right after they respawned, their character stopped moving. Levi glanced to the side, watching as MC placed the controller away from them on his desk as they used their hands to cover tears starting to drift down their face. 

Panic flared in his chest again, his skin prickling. He practically threw his own controller away from him, turning in his fancy gaming chair as he placed his hands on their knees. “What?! What happened? What did I do? Oh no, you hate me now, right?” As they sniffled and sobbed, his lungs felt themselves shrink smaller and smaller, air struggling to get in. The match ended, and before it could automatically have them play again, he turned to the screen to leave the lobby. Fumbling with the cursor, he ended up closing the game altogether instead of trying to remember where the Leave Match button was. Swiveling back to look at the human, he blinked in confusion when their eyes were dry and their grin was fully repainted on their lips. 

“MC? But you were--” 

“--Oh, it was nothing, I had an eyelash in my eye. Want more snacks?” They interrupted him as well as quickly changing the subject. They lied to him, right to his face. Something was up, and yet they would rather do anything else than tell him. Despair overtook his thoughts as MC refused to look at him, opting instead to reach for a bag of puffy chips. 

Speaking low, the demon of envy clutched the fabric over his heart as he felt it breaking. “You can’t stand me now, is that it?” Levi brought his arm up to cover his eyes as his mind swirled in dark reasoning, coming to the wrong conclusions out of self-depreciation. “You didn’t even want to hang out with me in the first place?! You came to my room out of pity?! You’re so ashamed to be with me you had to cry?!” His demon form slid into view, his tail slinking against the cold tiles of his floor. Hot salty drops of tears streamed down his own cheeks, his fingers moving up to wrap themselves in his hair as his Envy began to spiral out of control. “Of course you’d rather be with my brothers, of course. Why would you want to hang out with someone like me when...when…” 

“When you’re a demon? When you’re a powerful ruler of hell? When you have extraordinary powers?!” Levi lowered his hands and opened his eyes at MC’s escalating volume. Their lip quivered, the bag of snacks fell from their grasp, now abandoned on the floor. “These past few weeks since I’ve been hanging out with your brothers really just drove home how...useless I am. I’ll never be as put-together as Lucifer. I’ll never be as cool as Mammon. I’ll never be as smart as Satan, as pretty as Asmo, as strong as Beel, as witty as Belphie. And I--and I thought maybe hanging out with you would make me feel better but--” Their voice cracked, resulting in the demon nearly flinching as the pain in their voice almost physically hurt him. He expected them to list the many reasons they couldn’t stand to be around him, how he had done everything wrong. Expecting the worst, he curled up in his seat. “But I can’t even play a game correctly...I can’t do anything...I just wanted to be fun like you…” 

He had seen so many shows and anime, read so many perfect fantasy romance novels, played so many dating games, he knew exactly what to do. He’d wrap them into his arms and say some gushy poetic speech that would make sparks fly and every bit of doubt in each of them flow away. And yet...all he could bring himself to say was, “H--huh??” A few lingering tear droplets let themselves drift down his face as he attempted to process the words he had just heard. They both sat in a painful silence for a moment, both blubbering messes, both ashamed to be looked at by the other. But as Levi finally comprehended what MC had told him, he began to laugh. “You were envious of me?!” Falling into a giggle fit, MC stared at him, jaw agape. “I was worried that--that you thought I wasn’t good enough for you!” 

MC briefly wondered if they had broken him. “But you’re a powerful demon!” 

“You’re an amazing human! You watched me dance in cosplay for four hours the other day!” The mental image of the situation bubbled in MC’s brain, causing their tears to transform into laughter alongside Levi. The two of them chuckled uncontrollably, drying their cheeks, thankful they were alone in the room, far from judging eyes. 

“You made a cute magical girl,” MC grinned, no malice or intent to harm behind the teasing words. “But...I still don’t see how you can possibly think I’m amazing. I have little talent, no grand prospects for my future, no powers to speak off, a plain personality, and I have the obvious penchant for crying over silly things.” 

Biting his lip, Levi slid his own chair closer to theirs, the armrests brushing side by side. “Umm...well...the--the way I see it, you have things that are almost impossible for demons to have. Compassion, empathy, an open mind, it takes a lot of effort for demons to feel those things. It’s something that is rare to find in any living being nowadays, except for maybe angels, but even then you’ve heard Luke’s opinions on demons. Angels do like to condemn. I don’t know what’s typical in the human world but you seem rather extraordinary to me.” Taking a deep breath, he gently used his thumb to wipe away the last stray tear on the human’s face. With a single finger, he rubbed absentminded circles into MC’s knee. “Anyone different would’ve taken one look at my brothers and I and ran away as fast as they could...and yet you stayed. We’ve done everything we can to push you away, and yet you never gave up on us...on me...You’re wonderful, more than I could ask for, I--” He cut himself off, cheeks burning red as he bit his tongue to stop himself from speaking. He’d almost let something embarrassing slip. Racking his brain for something else to say, he felt the tips of his ears start to burn as MC grabbed his hand and let it settle in their palm. “I don’t think,” Levi blurted, recalling and nearly quoting a line from a Ruri-Chan anime, “that worth is defined by power and popularity. I like you just the way you are, isn’t that enough?” 

MC initiated it first, almost fully sliding into his lap as they moved from their chair into his to hug him. To prevent them from falling since his seat was only made for one person, he wrapped his arms tightly around their waist.  Both of them felt the heat and warmth from one another. It made Levi want to melt and yet explode at the same time. MC pulled him close, his face pressed against their shoulder. “Thank you, Levi.” 

[apollos-son]

✎ ❝Won't You Stay By My Side?❞

Rating ; 13+

Pairing ; eventual poly ot8 ateez

Genre ; fluff, slight angst?

Tags ; painter Yeosang au, old au, nothing but sweet romance, poly ot8

Summery ; Kang Yeosang is a painter from the big city who recently moved away to a little port town very far away from any place he knew. With a determination to paint the scenic views, Yeosang hastily tries to settle in but finds that he can't get much work done because there happens to be some... distractions around the little town that seem to grab his attention in ways that other things couldn't.

Note : There are tags that might be added later on, and in specific chapters there may be trigger warnings, however if there does happen to be anything triggering in chapters that I have mistakenly not labeled with a trigger warning - please let me know so I can add a warning in, the last thing I want is to trigger somebody.

Also: something I should point out is that this fic will be tackling things such as homophobia and sexism purely because of the time-zone it's set in, so if you don't want to read about that then please don't read this. It won't be overbearingly obnoxious but it will be mentioned continuously throughout because it's a big part of the story.

I know this is unlikely but I do ask that you do not copy my work under any circumstances. Do not repost, translate or use my work without permission. Thanks :)

<- previous chapter • next chapter ->

chapter 1 ⇢ ❝I Can't Tear My Eyes Away.❞

The sun had recently risen, shining over the industrial buildings and bathing them with its warm light. As soon as that yellow luminescent glow flooded through the curtains of his apartment, Yeosang's eyes fluttered open slowly. The young painter pushed his body up with his palms until he was sat up completely. He rubbed his eyes gently with the sides of his index fingers and yawned quietly.

His small hands gripped the plush duvet carefully as he shifted his body to get out of bed. The loose button-up that hung onto his body covered most of his hands, right up to the knuckles. It was sheer, translucent even, and his soft, tanned skin could be seen from underneath. Not that anybody would be looking, of course, he lived alone. He had been living in the city ever since he was small. His bare feet thumped gently across the floorboards as he tiredly made his way to the small kitchen. His eyes were barely open, but when they had drifted to look at the old calendar that was fixed to the wall he grunted, and then when they gazed at the clock ticking away on the other wall next to his window they widened comically.

"shit! I'm late!" he cursed as he quickly slipped back into the bedroom to change.

Kang Yeosang wasn't somebody who considered himself anything more than "average" person. He was alright-looking, nothing special about his personality or anything like that. It had been his dream to paint beautiful scenes since he was a child, and yet the industrialism that overtook the entire city didn't seem to have any good spots for painting. Thick smog and old, dirty bricked buildings weren't really his taste. And that's exactly why when his uncle had made the offer of giving Yeosang his old home in a port town away from the city; there was no way he could refuse.

He was supposed to take a taxi ride all the way out there, but he must've gotten caught up with quitting his old job, because he hadn't even packed yet! In a quick flurry, he grabbed his clothes and threw them onto the bed. Thoughts of folding them and staying tidy immediately went away after he glanced back at the clock in the kitchen. Two leather brown cases that had golden clasps on the front were filled with clothes, the little self-care products he owned and his art supplies. Yeosang quickly hopped to the door, luggage in hand, before realizing... "aishh, I'm not even dressed!" he gasped, looking down at that flowy sheer shirt and shorts.

This was going to be a long day.

*

Far, far away from the bustling cities and the hassle of factory work, a quiet little port town hid. It was quite the overgrown place, seeming to look abandoned and yet was still full of life. It was a town of peace and tranquility, where everyone knew everyone. Clearbrook Port was one of the lesser known ports on the map. It didn't have those busy markets with exotic products from all around nor did it have any 'one of a kind' services. It attracted sailors not for its popularity, but for its quietness and its friendliness. A place of harmony; that's why it attracted Yeosang so much.

He recalls his uncle describing it as so different from the city he grew up in that it may take him a while to adjust, which was the only part of this experience that really worried Yeosang. He was typically a very shy person and also particularly quiet. He never really got on with any of his coworkers because of it, but he never really let that bother him.

He had been in the taxi for roughly an hour now (after having apologized at least twenty times for being late) and he was still staring longingly out the window. The smaller of the two brown cases he has brought was sat face up on his lap with his hands delicately laid over the top of it. The other case rested in the footwell of the seat next to him. The taxi itself seemed old, as it's colour wasn't a vibrant yellow, but rather a faded one. Despite the car's old appearance, the driver seemed to be quite young yet not chatty. Which was great for Yeosang, because he could just calmly stare out of the window. They had passed the threshold of where industrialism met nature a little while ago, he thought, so now he was merely gazing at old paths that had pretty flowers adorning the boarder. It was clear to him that these paths were still designed for horses and carriages because of how bumpy it had been.

Cars were a recent addition to society, so he assumed that this distant port town wouldn't have any use for them because it was small, right?

His train of thought was interrupted as the vehicle suddenly stopped. Yeosang's eyes flashed towards the driver and then back out of the window. Oh! They had arrived! He was so deep in his thoughts that he must've lost track of time. "ah! Thank you very much, sir," Yeosang thanked the man politely and gave him the money his uncle had provided him for the car ride.

He had just stepped out of the car and already there were people ready to greet him. A few older people, it seemed. Not that he was in a position to judge of course, he was here for the scenery of the town, not to belittle its residents. He glanced at each person briefly, a couple of sweet women with even sweeter smiles on their faces, an older man who seemed to be dressed in a much different manner to the rest of the people, it was.. richer almost? He didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the townspeople, or the whole vibe that the town gave off.

Yeosang may have had his eyes on the man longer than the others, but when his eyes drifted to the boy standing next to him, he let out a small gasp before covering his mouth. A short male, wearing similar clothing to the man he stood next to; it was far too posh. Yeosang could feel his cheeks flaring up just by how gorgeous the boy was. He wore a silk shirt that just so happened to have the top button loose, a pair of tweed trousers and a jacket that looked too big for him that protected him from the slight cold breeze that was drifting from the ocean's direction.

The boy smiled at him politely, his soft brown hair dancing in the gentle breeze. Oh, gosh, that smile. What a beautiful one it was. The way his eyes crinkled up just a little bit made Yeosang's heart flutter. "welcome, sir! I hope you had a safe journey!~" The boy chirped, his voice relatively average in pitch. He stepped forward and held his tiny hands out to hold one of Yeosang's, which caused the other male to press his lips together into a thin line. "My name is Kim Hongjoong, it's a pleasure to have you here in our little town, mister...?" he tilted his head a small amount, waiting for an answer. "Mister K-Kang Yeosang, sir!" The flustered male replied.

At Yeosang's shy tone, Hongjoong's bright smile only seemed to widen "Yeosang.." he hummed quietly, his hands squeezing Yeosang's jittery one. "What a pretty name," he complimented. The man that Hongjoong had once been stood next to cleared his throat obnoxiously to grab the younger man's attention. "Hongjoong, my son, you have other things to be getting up to rather than shamelessly complimenting our new resident, yes?" The man, now identified as Hongjoong's father, said with expectancy. The young man's smile dropped almost instantly and his hands immediately let go of Yeosang's hand. "You're right, father, my apologies," he hummed. "Well, Yeosang, I hope you settle in alright," he said kindly before turning around to leave.

Yeosang looked down at his hand slowly, blinking and replaying the scenario that just happened back in his head. He cupped his own cheek in an attempt to hide the redness that was displayed there. "Welcome, Mister Kang," Hongjoong's father spoke. Yeosang flashed the man an awkward smile. "We were actually expecting you earlier than this and unfortunately there are few people available to show you around, but I can trust that you'll eventually find your way, yes?"

*

It turns out that Yeosang couldn't find his way after all. He had stumbled around the town for an hour now at least. It was a pretty little town with cottages dotted around the area. None of them were too close to each other and none of them were too far. It was gave off a very home-like feel. The scenery was cause him to become very enraptured, it was quite new to him. There were a lot more plants and greenery than there were in the city. A lot of the buildings were made from stone and wood, too, which contrasted to the cities firm brick apartments. The stone itself looked to be quite worn down, especially the walls and some of the archways that lead out of the town and toward the open fields that resided behind. He was definitely going to go out there when he had the chance.

He had reached the far end of the port by this point, and his eyes were set on the cottage that was nestled right in the corner. That was the one, he thought. His uncle had told him that it was the most pretty one, and now that Yeosang's eyes had settled on it, he could easily agree. It was one of the medium sized homes, it wasn't small yet it wasn't excessively large. None of the homes seemed to be very large apart from the one that sat at the top of the hill near the town's entrance. The house was compiled of stone bricks, none of which were the same size and some of then were remarkably bigger than the others. Wooden boards seemed to frame the house in almost a perfect way. The roof had shingles that lead right from the roof's peak down to where it met the stone of the building.

Thin curtains of vines seemed to cover the front of the building, and plants were growing uncontrollably around it. Next to the cosy cottage, a small waterfall flowed into a pond that was surrounded by a few stones and moss.

"excuse me, sir?" a sweet yet deep voice came from the town's west exit. "oh yes? Can I help yo-" Yeosang turned around and his eyes widened softly at the sight before him. Another young male who was quite tall and very handsome. "Heh, my name's Song Mingi and I remembered that we were having someone new move in so I was just wondering if you needed any help at all? I've finished my shift at the general store so I'd be happy to help," Mingi offered, his brown eyes sparkling kindly.

Yeosang blinked a few times before sending the boy a shy smile "A-Ah, would you mind? I didn't bring a lot with me but.." he began "two is company, right?" Mingi offered, his fluffy red hair bouncing as he stepped closer. "R-Right, two is company," Yeosang repeated in a quieter tone.

*

"So you're a painter?" Mingi asked delicately as he watched Yeosang take a wooden easel from the bigger of the two suitcases he had brought with him. Yeosang gave him a quick nod "yes, I've always loved to paint. I used to work as an office worker and I would paint scenes and portraits for people on the side, that's part of the reason why I moved here," he explained to the taller male lightly as he set the easel down in the corner of his new bedroom and turned to his smaller suitcase that held all of his screwed up clothes ("did you pack at the last minute or are you just messy?" Mingi had asked him in a playful tone,) and he took the articles of clothing out, folding them neatly.

"You moved here to paint for someone?" The taller man inquired curiously and Yeosang shook his head "well, not exactly. I wanted to paint some scenes somewhere that wasn't.. In a bustling city. So my uncle offered me this home out here. It's far more scenic.,"

They stayed silent for a moment and Mingi watched as Yeosang sorted his clothing and his other items and smiled warmly. "Well, I think that we're lucky to have you here, if I may be so bold, you are very pretty," he said confidently. The compliment had Yeosang's ears turn red almost instantly. "Do you th-think so, Mister Song?" The stuttered comment caused Mingi to laugh just a little bit. "I do think so, Mister Kang," he replied playfully.

*

After Yeosang had unpacked his belongings, Mingi had offered to take him out for a walk to show him around, which he had graciously accepted. The two walked side-by-side as the afternoon sun shone upon them. Mingi took the time to properly show Yeosang the prettiest parts of the town. The harbor seemed to be newer than the rest of the town, which made the painter wonder if it was a new addition or if it had been destroyed or damaged prior to his arrival. At the docks, a young man who looked small but appeared to be quite muscular caught the young painter's eye. He was carrying a heavy looking barrel by himself. "Yah! Jongho-ah!" Mingi called "be careful! I wouldn't want you to get hurt, you hear?" he scolds the seemingly younger male. The male in question turned to look at Mingi, a cute smile coming over his face "Thanks for your concern, Mingi-hyung, but I'm fine, I promise!"

The tall male quickly became distracted by Jongho and started talking to the younger boy, distracting him from his job. A voice had come from the opposite direction "Mister Kang?" that familiar voice rang. It was the elder man, Hongjoong's father. "ah, I'm glad to find you out here again, have you settled in okay?" The man asked, but he didn't give Yeosang a chance to reply before continuing "I heard from someone that you are a renowned painter, yes?"

"renowned? I.. I don't know about that, sir! I do paint yes.. b-but-" the young male was cut off immediately "perfect! I need somebody to craft a wedding portrait of my son," the man announced. Shocked, the young painter stared at the elder male for a moment. He hadn't been commissioned by anybody in a while, and to make a portrait no less? "w-well... I could.. b-but.." he tried to speak up again, only to be cut off short "wonderful! Please come by to my manor tomorrow,"

As the elder man strode away, Yeosang sighed to himself. If he remembers correctly, that man's son is Hongjoong.. and he isn't sure if he was confident enough to talk to the male properly let alone paint him.

Out of all of the things he was expecting out of this little town, he certainly wasn't expecting that.

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