#except for the animal crossing villager. i have to assume.

[midnightliar]

just got jumpscared hearing my name in a book and of course it's someone's mildly homophobic mother... add it to the list!

[gejo333]

For the Dancing and the Dreaming

Viking Miguel x Female Viking Reader

Summary: You were the chieftains daughter of your village and you had just turn the age for men in the village to begin courting you in hopes of having you as their wife and becoming the next chief. However, no man caught your eye until your childhood best friend comes back home from battle to make you his.

I’m sorry for the lack of updates my schedule is beyond crazy! But I promise to update “An Unexpected Match” and get the sequel of perfect picture out too.

But as an apology here is a fluffy random Miguel Oneshot🥰

Inspired by this song I haven’t heard in a while on TikTok.💕💕💕

I apologize for any grammatical mistakes. I didn’t read over this yet. 😅

Enjoy!💕

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Today was officially the start of your adult life as you now were old enough for the unmarried men in your village to begin courting for your hand in marriage.

As you finished getting ready you head downstairs to see your parents and younger siblings.

“Good Morning.” You smile at your parents as you head down to the kitchen to help your mother with separating the herbs.

“Good morning y/n. You must be excited for today. You’ll definitely have quite a few prospective suitors from what I’ve heard.” Said your mother with an upbeat in her voice.

“I’m definitely excited, but nervous too. Hopefully it’s not too hectic.” You chuckle nervously as you put the finished separating the herbs into the wooden bowl and began to mush them.

“It’s definitely exciting my beloved daughter. But those men will have to be brave enough to stand against me. No man is perfect enough for my daughter.” Your father huffed as he helped lift the meat to hang over the fire.

You chuckled from your father’s words. You did feel a bit bad for the poor souls who had to go through not only your father but the chieftain of the village to have a chance at courting you.

“So, any men in the village that you hope comes knocking on our door?” Your younger sister teasingly elbowed you in your arm, trying to get the juiciest gossip for the nosy villagers. You roll your eyes as you try to hide your smile on your face. You then pass the wooden bowel to your sister to continue mushing the herbs as you make your way to get the bucket to fill for the animal feed, one of your daily chores.

“I think I know who.” Said your younger brother in a sing song voice as he helped with making the bread with your mother.

“Wait who?!” Your sister asked eagerly.

“Not telling you.” Your brother smirked which made your sister puff out her cheeks in annoyance as she threw a bit of flour at him, which he did in return.

“Knock it off you too.” You loved your younger tween twin siblings, but they definitely got on your nerves sometimes. More like all the time.

“Just tell me!” Groaned your sister as she wiped the flour off her face with a rag.

“I’m actually curious too now.” You chuckle as you cross your arms with the bucket hanging on your arm to the side.

“It’s Miguel O’Hara.” Your brother said proud of his answer. Your eyes widen and cheeks redden.

“Now that’s a man I could see as chief and be a good husband for you.” Your father said as he kept on eye on the cooking meat.

“It’s a pity he is off at war. And it’s been five years since he was back home. Who knows when the men at sea will be back.” Said your mother with a small frown on her face. You internally sigh at your mother’s remarks. Miguel was your childhood best friend. He was three years older than you but the two of you were inseparable when your were kids. The last time you saw him was five years ago when your were still a kid and he was just barely old enough to be an adult.

As the years went by you eventually became use to him not being around, except for every once in a while you got the painful reminder of the lack of his presence. You did wonder what he would look like now after five years. You assumed the same boyish person you grew up with.

“Bye.” You say to your family, not wanting to partake in your future suitor gossip as you walk out of your home towards the farm.

Of course you didn’t think this through when you walked outside as countless men were waiting for you.

“Y/n!”

“Y/n, I brought you your favorite pastries!”

“Y/n, look at this wolf coat i made for you!”

Overwhelmed by the vast amount of gifts and men flocking around you in competition to gain your attention, you quickly walk back into your house as you close the door behind you.

“Y/n? What’s wrong?” Asked your mother as your entire family looks at you, curious and startled by your sudden reappearance back inside.

“Is it possible if I don’t do chores today? There seems to be a sea of men in front of our house.” Your words perked your families interest as they all got up and moved passed you and through the front door. Taking a deep breath you joined them outside.

“It’s the chief!”

“Chief, can I speak with you?”

“Chief!”

“Leo go do your sisters chores. She has more important things to attend to at the moment.” Said your father as he gently took the bucket from your hands and passed it to your brother who groaned in annoyance.

“Don’t start Leo.” Your father gave him a stern look to which your brother straightened up and went on his way to the farm to complete your chores.

“Go back inside the house y/n and I’ll bring one man at a time and tell me if you want to marry him or not.” Your father smiled at you as your mother gently guided you and your sister back in to the house to the main area.

As the hours passed the line of suitors made outside of your house grew smaller.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t see us getting married.” You say to the disappointed man in front of you as he lowered the array of flowers gathered in his hands. You tried to seem remorseful for him, but your response felt automatic as he was, what it felt like the hundredth man you have turned down today.

“Darling, is there anyone who you see fit? You’ve turned down almost the entire village.” Your mother said with concern in her voice.

“We want you to make the decision, but you also need to find someone.” Said your father as he shared the same concern as your mother.

“And I understand that, but I just couldn’t picture standing by any of their sides for the rest of my life as future leaders of our people. How many men are still outside?”

“Three.” Said your father. You bit your lower lip as a nervous habit as anxiety and worries of not finding a suitor began to consume your thoughts. Your mother placed her hand over yours as she smiled at you.

“Try not to worry. We’ll figure it out.”

Your father let the next suitor walk inside the house, but before he could speak a loud horn echoed throughout the air. It was the rest of the men returning from battle. You felt your heart beat out of your chest as the sound of the horn echoed inside your head. They were back which means… so was Miguel.

Ignoring the man before you, you quickly grabbed your sweater as you ran out of the house towards the beach. You weren’t the only one who decided to head to the beach as the entire village left their evening suppers to welcome back loved ones.

By the time you made it to the beach, it was crowded with joyous laughter of reuniting families and couples as well as mournful tears of loved ones lost in battle. Your heart began to ache as you were starting to lose hope on seeing him again. Your fears were washed away when you heard a familiar voice, just deeper. Turning around your froze as your gaze met a familiar pair of warm ruby brown eyes.

As he drew closer to you, you noticed the stark differences. His height. He was significantly taller than you, not the couple inches five years ago. And his build was bigger too, massive even. Guess being in war for that long can make you build a lot of muscle. He was so different yet so familiar at the same time. He placed his hands on your waist when he reached you, lifting you up and twirling you before setting you down again.

“Gods I missed you.” He said as his large coarse hand gently caressed your cheek, which you leaned into his touch as you placed your hand over his.

“I miss you too. I was scared that I never would get to see you again.” You smile up at him as you couldn’t break away from his loving gaze.

“I was scared when I came home you would be married to another man. I hope I’m not too late.” His gaze shifted to different parts of your face to try and guess your facial reaction.

“No your not too late. Just in time in fact. And I passed up quite a few proposals today.”

“You did?” Miguel chuckled.

“Yes, I was hoping for certain man.”

“And has this man proposed to you yet?” Miguel smirked as he lifted your chin slightly, his thumb grazed your lower lip.

“No he hasn’t.” You smile as you shake your head.

“Well let me change that then.” Miguel leaned down as his lips met yours in a loving kiss, which you happily returned. Your lips separated from his, both needing air.

Miguel took your hands into his larger ones as his facial expression turned serious.

“Y/n, my love. I’ll swim and sail on savage seas with never fear of drowning, and I’ll glady ride the waves of life, if you will marry me.” His words made your heart glow as you couldn’t hide your excited smile.

“Yes, a thousand times, yes.” You wrapped your arms around his neck, jumping into his arms as he holds you in a loving embrace. Miguel twirled you around one more time before placing his lips on yours again.

“I think our daughter has found her suitor, dear.” Your mother smiled as she leaned on her husband’s shoulder who loving held her by his side.

“This cause for a celebration!” Your father roared in joy across the excited crowed, as the cheers grew from the chief’s announcement.

…

“And that’s the story of when your father proposed to me.”

“That’s so romantic!” Said your daughter as she hugged her wooden doll.

“Did the line of suitors really go across the village?” Said your other daughter who sat next to her younger sister.

“It did. And even after I officially courted your mother, I still had to shoo away suitors hoping to steal her away from me.” Miguel chuckled as he walked in holding your son and your youngest, well for now.

“You know, no one could steal me away from you.” You say as you rub your large round belly after feeling the baby kick.

“I know, my love. And it’s too late now to try. Your stuck with me forever.” Miguel chuckled as he wrapped his free arm around your waist as he brought you close to his side and gave you a loving kiss.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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I hoped you liked this little oneshot🥰

[everlasting-rainfall]

ok but imagine Shanks and Benn poly relationship where both of them are trying to court the reader ?

Could be a normal au , a new au or an au that follows the pages where the protagonist and his right hand man fall for love interest , both of them end up looking for the reader hoping to make the ending a reality 💍🛌~

love to see what u come up with XD

Ok so because you said that it could be a new AU, I’m gonna surprise all of you with something that I don’t play around with much but I do play around with occasionally in my head. It doesn’t really have a name but I guess you could call it One Piece Crossing.

Basically it’s One Piece mixed with Animal Crossing like imagine picking up a knockoff Animal Crossing game where you get to interact with One Piece characters (whether or not they’re anthropomorphic animals can change).

This AU typically acts like a normal Animal Crossing game just with added features like more in depth relationships and a more unwholesome environment but you’ll see what I mean when I talk more about this.

Let’s get into it!

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT FOR ANY REASON

-Potential Trigger Warnings-

Noncon, Forced Pregnancy, Childbirth, Threats, Sentient Video Games, Stalking

-Potential Trigger Warnings-

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT FOR ANY REASON

So imagine that you bought this game and it’s almost just like Animal Crossing except with Pirates, Marines, and shit like you assumed it was a rom hack and it was pretty fun to play so you kept playing it everyday with your little customized character

You even got to choose your starting villagers and after a while of hitting Random, you got two villagers that you were happy with known as Shanks and Benn. You picked your starting area and the game started

The game played exactly like how you would expect it to with a tutorial that told you what you needed to know but when you went to your house, you found that there was a phone in your characters room that when you picked it up. You were taken to a settings menu

One of the options was called Immersive Interactions and you thought it would be neat to be immersed in this game so you turned it on and turned the game off for the night after saving by putting your character to bed

You weren’t able to pick it up for a while after that but when you did, your character woke up to a new villager checking on you while you were asleep. Their name was Hongo and they were happy you were alright as you had been asleep for days on end

It was a little surprising but when you left your house after a quick checkup from Hongo, you found that outside the Immersive Interactions were really good at making characters more interactive as they acted more like people instead of characters

Shanks or Benn would constantly be coming over to hang out with you like you were fishing at one point and Shanks came over to sit by you with little text bubbles popping up as he talked to you and made conversation about all sorts of things even eventually getting up to lend you a hand when you caught something big

You were even in the middle of redecorating your in game house at one point when Benn showed up and helped your character pull an object to the other side of the room before practically demanding that you take it easy and let him take care of things and surprisingly it wasn’t irritating trying to tell him where to move things

The two of them would show up practically anywhere in the game where your character was like if you went shopping whether it be for clothes or for items then one of them would walk in, Benn even critiqued the quality of the axe that you planned on buying one day

Eventually other people started moving into the town like Lucky Roux or Yassop and Banchina. They were friendly but they never acted anything like Shanks or Benn did, the most that they did was hang around when you were talking to a random traveling character

But hey, it was better than Shanks and Benn’s reactions to you talking to a traveling character as they would literally insert themselves into the conversation and almost seem very hostile if not jealous of the character that you were speaking to usually causing you to end the conversation prematurely

You even passed by Benn and Shanks having a conversation a few times but before you could see what they were talking about by entering the conversation, they would always end it as soon as they noticed you or turn out to be talking about something that really didn’t suit their actions

Eventually you managed to connect with someone else who had the game, a friend of yours who had actual Animal Crossing managed to hook up to your game and visit you which turned out to be a huge mistake

If you thought that Shanks and Benn were hostile with traveling characters then you haven’t seen shit as neither would leave the two of you alone, they would constantly be trying to pull you into conversations about “Oh? Who’s that?” or the most random of shit when trying to request your help with things didn’t work

Plus your friend told you that your villagers were constantly getting in their way even with Shanks going so far as to seemingly trip them but eventually your friend just straight up left your town like high tailed it

You tried to ask them what was wrong but they refused to elaborate or even speak to you for long periods of time and you had no clue what was wrong as even trying to ask your villagers questions, they wouldn’t answer and simply said that they thought your friend was weird

As the year in the game progressed, you went through multiple different holidays and events that were all pretty fun with Halloween being your favorite as all the characters dressed up in their own fun outfits but Christmas was a bit strange as Shanks almost seemed to be trying to get your character drunk

Eventually New Years came around and there was a big celebration for it in the town square, it was a ton of fun as all of your villagers hung around and had tons of fun until there were mere seconds left on the countdown to the New Year

Once it was the New Year, you had your character set off some party poppers only to notice that Benn was coming directly towards your character and as soon as he was close enough a cutscene started

Suddenly things were much more detailed as Benn pulled your character close and kissed them deeply in a very detailed scene, you were in shock and it only grew when Shanks came up behind you and began to bite on your characters neck

The sounds of kissing were prominent as they came through your speakers but not only that, you could hear some cheering and whistling coming through the speaker as well, you could only stare at the screen though as eventually Benn pulled back with a string of saliva between your character and him

“I love you so much, stay with us forever… Never leave…”

“I’m with Benn, you should stay here forever… Forever with us… We make you so happy after all, don’t we? Why would you wanna leave?”

The cutscene finally ended and you were returned to normal gameplay, a text box popped up telling you that your character had entered a relationship with Benn and Shanks. It was a little weird to you as you didn’t even know that you could do that and you should have at least had an option to decline but regardless you kept playing

Continuing on with the game after entering a relationship with them made things a bit odd as the game made your bed bigger and had it so that the two characters moved in with you which wasn’t too bad as they wouldn’t change much in your house

However they did usually stop your character and your character eat breakfast with them before leaving which usually sparked a conversation at the table with them

You also gained a new option for interaction with them which was kiss which would usually result in a rather passionate scene although you also noticed that when you had your character go to bed to save while one of them was in bed then there was an option for “Spend some time with Benn/Shanks” below Save the Game

You selected it out of curiosity once only for the screen to fade to black only for it to fade back on a rather graphic scene that made your eyes go wide and your jaw drop, the scene was of your character on all fours being pounded from behind by Shanks as they had their mouth fucked by Benn

Loud moaning came through your speakers along with the clear sounds of sex like a creaking headboard and loud wet slaps, it was graphic and detailed but what truly caused you to pull yourself away was when you started imagining that was you

You swore that you could practically feel them pounding your holes and you almost let out a moan but you came back to reality and after hearing Shanks moan out your name, not your characters name but your name and how you felt so good. You shut the game off without saving

Attempting to just forget about the game and continue on with your life didn’t work as the scene remained ingrained in your head no matter how hard you tried

You got such an urge to play the game again that you even tried to throw the game away but you couldn’t as it wouldn’t come out of the console

Eventually you couldn’t resist anymore, you picked up the console one late night and decided to play one last time but as soon as you turned it on. The game glitched and you found yourself in a waking nightmare after a bright flash of light

You were inside of your characters house laying on the bed, Shanks and Benn weren’t currently home which was nice but you attempted to pinch yourself awake hoping it was only a nightmare but it didn’t work and you soon heard the front door open

They were home and you had a feeling of dread, you tried to pretend to be asleep but it didn’t work as you were found out almost immediately

Both of them were overjoyed to see you up as you had been gone for so long and based on the way that things looked, you wouldn’t be able to leave them ever again as you weren’t beyond the screen anymore. You were in the game with them forever

An attempt to escape didn’t do anything as they caught you and told you that you were here to stay forever and seeing as their last attempt to enjoy some alone time with you got interrupted, they figured that they could enjoy some right now

Maybe expand the town just a little bit if you knew what they meant by that

Trying to fight was no use as your clothes were quickly pulled off and they began to prep you as they talked about how they’ve been trying to get you to love them ever since you had started playing the game and turned on Immersive Interactions

They simply couldn’t take their eyes off of you and they wanted to stay with you forever but seeing as they couldn’t enter the real world, they would have to hope that you could be brought to them

And sure enough, here you were now. You were here and never leaving and as they made passionate love to you all night long, you prayed that this was just a nightmare and hoped to god that you would wake up soon

As the months rolled by and your belly began to grow with a life inside of it, you still had hope that you would wake up and that everything would be ok

When your water broke while you were visiting with Yassop and Banchina, you still had hope that you would wake up very soon

But when you sat on a bed with Shanks holding your hand and encouraging you as Benn held your other hand and helped instruct you when to push. You officially lost all hope

And watching as your newborn daughter, Uta blissfully nursed from you without a care in the world as your husbands celebrated that you were a family

You knew that you were going to be here forever

[leam1983]

Disney Dreamlight Valley - Thoughts

It's like staring into a portal into an alternate dimension where Disney and fucking Gameloft are actually design-conscious devs in their own right, and will somehow package the Most Corporate Shit Ever with the single strongest distillation of the Life Sim formula I've seen yet.

I'm shocked, seriously. The premium elements are strictly cosmetic, the required commitment is minimal and none of the Valley's inhabitants adhere to a schedule that hampers your progression. Goofy's downed something like sixteen Adderall and cannot stop pacing up and down the central plaza, when he isn't stuck in a stumbling loop while fishing in one of the meadow's three lakes. The last I spoke with him, his shop was open and fully available by 3 AM.

Everything's accessible. Nothing's gated, except what should be gated in the context of a Life Sim, to induce a sense of progression. You've unlocked pathing tiles for the Village? You're free to cover the entire plateau in cobblestones, if that's what you want.

What the actual fuck. Coming out of Gameloft, devs who consistently paywall parts of their offered content, this feels like a Twilight Zone episode in its most positive form.

I mean - Yes, the quest-givers don't shut up and pester you for a constant downpour of menial shit that supposedly ties into reviving the Valley, but that's only if you do decide to interact with them. If you don't, you're free to spend entire days tweaking the Village's layout.

So, how different is it from Animal Crossing, exactly? Well, first of all, the whole damn thing has a Copyrighted symbol in full-view. If you're one of the staunch anti-Disney posters on here, this is a definitive mark of avoidance for you. Past that, it's basically a name-swapping affair: Tom Nook is split up between Scrooge McDuck (for personal housing needs) and Goofy (for exterior farming resources). Isabelle is more or less handled by The Sword in the Stone's Merlin, and Mickey eventually serves as your Blathers analogue. The one outlying mechanic is an Energy system, which asks you to either keep some food on you at all times to keep topping off, or that simply suggest you return home for a few seconds. Considering how most of the game will take place within walking distance from your personal plot of land, this is an extremely generous implementation of that mechanic.

If I had to dock Dreamlight any points, I'd mention the lack of obviousness of certain quests. I've reached one of the themed Realms in my current save; Realms being tiny instances themed around characters that aren't part of the House of Mouse's main stable. Take, for instance, WALL-E, from the movie of the same name. I've ended in his tiny little pocket world, and was asked to find something to repair one of his treads. I went looking and only found scrap that the game did define as quest items, but never specified what I should do with.

I'd assume this is just a matter of taking five to go check out a walkthrough online, but I really shouldn't have to do this. Even Crossing's most annoying event, like Gulliver's visits, typically include clear cues in the character's dialogue. WALL-E only spews "Directive?" at the player and disengages. Your 'toon somehow immediately grasps what's going on and realizes the robot needs repairs, but the process involved is never made clear. There's a crafting bench nearby, but no amount of fishing around got me close to anything resembling gear or tread blueprints.

Past that, color me pleasantly surprised. The farming mechanic is even more forgiving than Crossing's, the game's client-side currency is generously doled out, and the server-side token is actually not accessible in a Cash Shop!

At this point, it's sort of hard to figure out what the game is doing online. Apart from analytics, the occasional ad served in the Store page - which you can entirely miss - and the gatekeeping of Dreamlight (the currency, not the game itself) to structure player progression and avoid abuse, it behaves entirely like your average PC offering, complete with a flawless response rate on the Steam Deck and a gaggle of easy exploits accessible with a trainer. Can't pay back Scrooge's loan fast enough for your liking? Just pick a trainer producer of your choosing or hex-edit yourself a berjillion coins, and move on right ahead! No online-only bullshit as you would've expected from Disney and Gameloft!

It's a very pleasant surprise, overall. Skip it if you're allergic to remixes of When you Wish upon a Star or if Disney's older stable feels so saccharine to you that you'd rather jam sporks in your eyeballs - but it's actually a very competent Life Sim that's surprisingly lenient and pleasant. It's the most pro-consumer flex I've seen the Mouse pull off in a long time, and a great alternative if you're looking for something to fill in that Tom Nook-shaped divot in your heart, in the absence of a Nintendo Switch or a copy of New Horizons.

[movedtodykedvonte]

hot take: i don't think monty is usually that angry.

this is based on the theory that animatronics get their personalities based on what they are programmed to do.

for example, roxanne is a race car driver, ergo she is competitive and slightly egotistical.

sun is a daycare attendant meant to play with children, so they are hyperactive and engaging.

moon is supposedly tasked with keeping children in line, so they would presumably be more strict.

monty plays golf. it's his whole thing. golf is a laid back sport, that has somewhat complicated rules (? i don't play golf im just basing this off the vibes). so we would expect him to be chill, with perhaps a stricter side. (also have you seen that picture with the core four where he has his glasses off? that man is a lazy animal crossing villager. the first one to open the barbecue. he hangs around the office water cooler. he will look at your kid's baby pictures and pull out his own, except they're like. pictures of his dog when it was a puppy. there is only one thought behind his eyes and its golfball)

let's assume that the glitch virus not only causes victims to be subjected to glitchtrap's control, but will also exacberate the negative flip side of their behaviour.

roxy has self esteem issues from the competitive need to stay in the limelight.

sun is too intense with his energetics ('we can drink faz fanta until our heads EX-PLODE-' )

moon is... y'know.

we could expect monty to get more aggressive, because golf is still a competitive sport and stuff, but it's not as much of a logical leap as the others are? going from being a mostly laid back guy to 'will bite you if you look at him the wrong way' is quite a big step.

so, this new personality shift could have come from external factors, i.e the bonnie incident. for whatever reason, bonnie apparently left for monty's golf course, and then wasn't seen again. i don't think monty necessarily killed him, so much as he went '🧍‍♂️. wh. what are you doing in my house'. (and then stood by out fear of whoever killed bonnie??)

or maybe he did kill him, not out of jealousy, because he perceived him to be a sudden threat (as in bonnie got infected by the virus because glitchtrap felt nostalgic?? idk)

whatever happened, it may have traumatised him. he could have additionally absorbed Bonnie's own angry and terrified feelings as he died (can these new animatronics leave remnants of their own???)

from there it could have snowballed. anger at himself for whatever he did (or didn't do) to bonnie, anger at freddy for being so perfect (those feelings aren't so much 'i already took down bonnie and you are a stepping stone that is annoyingly out of reach' so much as they are 'i have very strong imposter feelings and you seem to be doing better than me, so therefore i will unfairly project these feelings onto you' cus like.

as he replaced bonnie there probably was some uproar because bonnie is an og.

and monty's envy could be 'take your place -> take ur fame' while stubbornly ignoring the fact there would be even more uproar against him and his imposter syndrome would get worse.)

either way, monty is a bastard and i love him

I like this a lot because Bonnie is my favorite animatronic overall in the series but I really like Monty (and Sunrise) in this game.

I do believe Monty had something to do with Bonnie's disappearance but how much of it was malice is questionable. My biggest thing against Monty not being fully responsible is how the notes never mention Monty ever going to the stage or showing hostility until AFTER Bonnie disappeared and he got the upgrades. You'd think he'd be more hostile BEFORE, not after reaching his goal. Monty is never pointed out to show jealousy or odd behavior towards the other performers at all before this. The only odd behavior he does show is being up in the catwalks which are notoriously dangerous but have a good areal view of his golf course.

My first theory is, Bonnie could of had a genuine accident in the golf course, Monty heard but did not see it and stakes out on the catwalks because he's both looking for Bonnie or what caused the accident. The second theory is Monty saw what happened to Bonnie and does not feel safe in his course anymore and stays up high to see possible threats. The third is Monty was tampered with and his first sign of aggression was towards Bonnie who just happened to roam into the golf course and it just got worse.

Whatever the case, I agree that Monty is a bastard and I love him as well <3.

[babylooneytoonz]

The Vessel [Pt. 6]

Pairing: Geralt of Rivia x Fem! Reader

Summary: Yennefer doesn't like you, and now you know why. Are you going to do something to make her believe that it's not how she thinks like, or are you just going to go with it, because secretly you know that what she just said to you, is in fact, the truth? Geralt is finally beginning to open up to you, but for how long?

Warnings: None

[My Masterlist] [My Witcher Masterlist - Read the other parts here!]

"How about this, [Y/N]?" Yennefer stood in front of you, her fingers running through the fabric of a pale, cream coloured silk dress, with dark red borders. If there was one thing that you could bring yourself to commend Yennefer for was her taste— the dress she was looking at was fit for royalty.

Yet, out of spite, and out of the fact that you had been dragged out on early morning, woken up from your sleep to accompany the mage on her quest to get you a nice dress, when she had the power in her to magically do those things pissed you off. And then, there was the fact that you were to be presented, on full display, at a celebration she had organised. You— the vessel— a ruined woman— who was carrying a Witcher's baby, for her.

You had a lot of clothes that you still somehow managed to fit into, as your belly was a little rounder, and one could see the outline of a burgeoning baby bump, if one was to look carefully. But tell that to the Mage, who was right now standing in one of the village shops, looking for a dress for you.

"Um, it's good," you whispered, crossing your arms over your chest— you just wanted to leave.

"Good that you like it. Once my baby grows within you, you're not gonna be able to fit into those shreds anyway," she said, eyeing your plain dress in an almost distaste, and you suppressed the urge to scoff.

"We'll take it, how much for it?" She then turned towards the woman, curling her lips, regarding the older looking woman who smiled wide, excited that she was getting some business as she informed the Mage that it would be ten coins.

Once Yennefer had paid off the woman, she tossed you the dress, and you groaned, catching it midair, and just like that, you began following the woman again, like a lost puppy.

Finally, the two of you were out of the shop, and you felt like you could breathe again. You waited a few seconds, for the way she had brought you here, you assumed she will do the same— open a magic portal, grab your hand and pull you in. When she didn't, you frowned and turned towards her, questioningly, only to find her staring at you, studying you.

"Uh, what?"

"Nothing, love."

There it was; that fake sweetness, once again, ringing at the back of your mind, prompting you that something bad was to come.

"I hope you know that Geralt's never going to look at you the way he looks at me, right?"

You glared at her, your lips parting in surprise but she placed her index finger to your lips before you could even say anything. To her, you were like a little lamb, taking their first steps.

"I don't want you to end up falling in love with a man that doesn't know how to reciprocate those feelings."

You pursed your lips together, your eyes unwavering when Yennefer looked into them. Her fingers still rested on your chin, holding your face. In truth, you felt like a cornered animal.

"Don't worry, Yennefer. I won't. Geralt is.." You thought for a bit, your mind suddenly turning off, and the words that you chose next somehow popped into your mind just randomly— words that you regretted saying almost instantly the minute they escaped your lips, "Used goods."

Her eyebrow shot up in amusement, and her lips curled into a side smirk. Her thumb began to run along the side of your face, your neckline and she smiled, her other hand reaching out and rubbing over your belly lightly, "You're funny. You're very funny. Big words coming out from a woman's mouth, when you practically tossed your body to the Witcher for some coin."

"Yennefer, to be fair—" Your breathing hitched, as you took a sharp breath, and jerked her hand away, taking a step away from her, your hand protectively latching to your tiny bump, as you began stroking over it as though comforting it, "I tossed my body for some coin. You tossed the man you claim to love to fuck another woman. I think we both know how similar the two of us are, in many many ways."

Even the beautiful woman standing in front of you couldn't hide the scowl that formed on her face for a second. She lost it and immediately, turned away, flustered, still scowling, for you could hear her breathe heavy as she began to conjure up the portal, so the two of you could get back.

You felt odd, like a fish thrown out of water amidst the flurry of mages, all around you. You knew many of them, mostly by name— you could see Tissaia de vries— you had only heard about her, and now she was right there, in front of your eyes. The funny part of it all was, that this celebration was for you, or for the baby you were gifting them with, but no one even bothered as to give you another look. It was all Yennefer.

You reached out, your fingers clasping against the glass of sparkling water in front of you on the table, where your plate of exotic freshly cut fruits lay untouched. You pulled it up to your lips, your eyes circling around, mostly in distaste at what you saw around you. Women— which you weren't sure if they were just illusions created by spells, or real, dressed in nothing, their naked bodies on display — walked around.

On one end of the hall, you saw Jaskier. He was surrounded by a flock of richly dressed older looking women, and you rolled your eyes at him, listening to him as he sang the infamous ballad, toss a coin to your Witcher, which suddenly reminded you of the brooding Witcher you knew. You looked around, your eyes scanning through the crowds until you spotted the familiar white hair, standing out from the rest of them.

He was standing in a corner, drinking ale from a silver pitcher, looking as bored as you were, which was ironical as this was technically his celebration too. You stood up, your glass of water still in your hand as you gracefully made your way to him, pushing your way through the naked women, frowning at the casuality of it all. Geralt spotted you making your way towards him so he shifted slightly so he he was now directly looking at you.

"Not enjoying your own celebration? It has naked women." You asked, giving him a ghost of a smile, trying to make small talk with him as you fixed yourself right next to him, leaning against the wall.

He grumbled something under his breath, typical Geralt of Rivia style, and you couldn't help but smile to yourself as you started looking around.

"You don't think I agree with Yennefer on everything?" He suddenly said, his voice low and heavy, that caused your head to turn towards him, "This is a waste of time."

"Well, Witcher—" You smiled, tight lipped, bringing your glass up to your lips as you took a sip, and started looking at Yennefer, who was in the center of the hall, mingling with the guests, and nodded, "If there ever is anything that you and me both can agree upon, it's this. This indeed, is a waste of time. Although—"

You eyed Jaskier; who was now laughing at something one of the women said, however his eyes were fixed on a naked woman standing by the table, her finger stretched as she beckoned towards the bard to join her, "Jaskier seems to be enjoying himself."

Geralt grunted, his gaze following yours until the two of you were watching the bard, and the whore disappear through one of the hallways in the back, and Geralt shook his head.

"Why? Does your friend embarass you?" You smirked, your hand flying to the side of your face, pushing the loose strands of hair behind your ear.

"I thought Jaskier's your friend," Geralt smirked back at you in retaliation, and this time, he didn't even try to hide it.

"Yes, he is but he doesn't embarass me, at all."

"Hm," Geralt brought the pitcher of ale to his lips and took a sip of it, a droplet of ale running down the side of his lips. For some reason, he found himself wanting to smile, but he had trained himself over the years not to.

"Well, I'll let you be. I need some air," you waved off, as you whispered, letting the empty goblet you were drinking water from rest against the table where Geralt was as you pulled yourself away from him, your arms instantly clothing around your upper body. Geralt nodded his head, as he watched you walk off.

If it wasn't for the moon shining right on top of you, you wouldn't have been able to see a damn thing as you stepped out of the structure from the back. It was silent, except for occasional high pitched screaming from somewhere inside the stone structure, and you wondered if it was Jaskier, not that it was your concern.

Crushing the dried leaves underneath your feet, you stepped out until you were standing by the cliff, staring at the village at a distance, looking like glitter scattered over a black canvas, the tiny lights glistening.

You unknowingly took a step backwards, only to turn rigid and almost freeze, when your back hit something sturdy, yet you knew it wasn't a wall, it was strong but it felt soft against your back and you could feel someone's breath on you, signalling you that it was definitely a person.

You almost screamed, when Geralt grabbed a hold of both your arms, in an attempt to steady you to your feet, for you were technically, on a cliff , and one slip of your footing can lead you to tumble all the way down the humongously high mountain.

"It's just me."

You didn't realize how your breath had accelerated, your chest heaving up and down, and it was only the Witcher's voice that finally managed to calm you down a bit. You took a slow step around, turning so you were face to face with him, your bodies almost touching; at least you could feel your tiny bump rub against Geralt's abdomen, but he didn't seem to mind.

"You're not immortal," he murmured, in a husky voice.

You raised your brow, but did not attempt to step away from him. You didn't know what it was— maybe it was the warmth that his body was radiating, that you seemed to find comfort standing so close.

"Do you think there are any monsters on a cliff top?" You asked, looking up at him, wondering how his eyes were so — bright — you could literally see them glowing in the dark, the moonlight falling over his face, highlighting his features.

"Not all monsters are dangerous, some people are too."

"Touche," you smiled, still looking up at him, until there was silence, and Geralt cleared his throat, stepping away as whatever the moment was, finally ended.

Geralt kept standing by the edge of the cliff, his back now turned towards you, giving you a clear view of his sword as you lowered yourself against a rock, both your hands resting on your lap. After a few seconds of silence, the Witcher finally turned, his eyes meeting yours as he turned, but only for a brief second until he had walked up to where you were, and he was looking down at you. Almost silently, as though he had asked you to shift, you scooted slightly to your right, and the Witcher sat down too, his side brushing against yours.

"How are you?" He asked, in a low voice, the gentleness in his voice urging you to draw your lips into a smile as your fingers began toying with each other.

"I'm okay. I needed to get out. All that, I can't tolerate it. Makes me want to throw up. Not because of the baby but—"

"Hm, she can be a little too much at times," Geralt interceded, almost immediately, and you nodded, engulfed by the famous Witcher silence once again. Involuntarily, your hands flew up to the side of your arms as you began rubbing them, staring at the sky above you until you felt an urge to look at him.

"Geralt?"

He turned towards you, regarding you with a bit of glimmer in his already bright irises.

"Where would you go? I mean, where would Yennefer take the my baby.. your baby after the birth?"

He frowned a little, parting his lips slightly, letting his head tilt to one side, as his hand flew up to his temple, his index scratching it briefly, until he relaxed once again.

"Well, Yen, she would be staying here. You can stay too. If you want to be close to the baby. I'm sure Yen would appreciate the help."

"No, I guess I'd go back to my own life, take care of my shack back in the village. I'll maybe get a job at the tavern, will bring in some coin—" You drawled, staring at a distance when Yennefer suddenly walked up to where the two of you were, her dark eyes fixed on the two of you.

"Geralt, my love. There are people that would like to meet you. Am I interrupting something?" Yennefer was almost glaring at you, and Geralt cleared his throat, rather loudly, as he stepped up from the rock he was sitting next to you, and walked up to her, taking her hand in his.

"No, I thought something was wrong. Just wanted to make sure—" Geralt turned towards you, "— that everything was fine. Cliffs can be .. dangerous at night."

You pursed your lips, your eyes falling to their entwined hands, and when you looked back up again, you saw the sorceress regard you with a tiny smirk egging against her lips.

"Yes, Witcher, everything's fine, I don't need you following me around like I will need help all the time," Bitterness laced your words, and you swear you saw a look of hurt flash in his eyes just for a second before the usual broody look took over and he regarded you once more before the two of them turned around and started walking away.

Well done, [Y/N]. You frowned as you kept watching them walk away, Geralt's arm wrapped around Yennefer's waist, her head resting against his bicep.

The Vessel Taglist:

@kawennote09 @viking-raider @raspberrydreamclouds @pterodactylterrace @singeramg @historianwithaheart @miss-emilia-cavill @ayamenimthiriel @crazynocturnalkiki @xxxkatxo @coffeebreathy @fanaticnae @kmuir1 @little-jana @pineapplemama @auds24 @sassy-pelican @bitchynicole @cavillsim @ragamuffin285 @hista-girl @oliviali0930 @introvertedmouse @madbaddic7ed @libbymouse @nerra75 @maxineswritingcenter @superawesomegeek @waifu4lifeu @funalpaca

Want to be added to the list? Plz let me know via my ask box, inbox or comments. ✨

P.S There are a few blogs I'm unable to tag for some reason. Many apologies for that. 🥺🤍

[gottawriteanegoortwo]

Reader & Actor!Mark - Birthday!

... Okay, so it wasn’t my plan to write today. But I played Animal Crossing this morning for the birthday event and discovered C.hadder hosted the party. (I’ve included a photo for reference under the read-more.) For anyone who knows me with this game, they’ll know two things. Not only is he basically my favourite villager on my island, he’s also who I have decided is my Actor!Mark (since the day I met him. He decided by himself he was moving in). So inspiration slapped me HARD! 

(Because of this, I’ve written this as a platonic relationship, but I’m tagging it with the ship in case others wanna use it as such :D )

Word Count 591 -

There was a loud knock on the door. For a day that had been fully booked with "TAKING IT EASY", you were unimpressed at an early morning intrusion. As you debated on what to do, you heard your name through the door.

"C'mon, sport! I know you're in there!" Ah. Mark had arrived. You tugged on your dressing gown over your pyjamas before opening the door. There, dressed in a red hoodie and dark jeans, was Mark. His excitement dropped when he saw your attire.

"Why aren't you dressed? You're hardly presentable like that. C’mon, chop chop!” He clapped his hands together as he stepped inside. When you didn’t move, he proceeded to put his hands on your shoulders and push you in the general direction of your bedroom until you got the hint and walked independently. Your personal plans would have to be scrapped as Mark’s impulsive behaviour had seemingly kicked in.

To your surprise, Mark was not lounging on a couch like he normally would when he arrived unprompted. He was loitering by the front door, idly tugging the hoodie’s strings to try and get them at a matching length. You called his name, snapping him out of the daze. When he saw you had indeed made an effort to dress up, that dazzling smile returned. He snatched your hand and dragged you outside.

“Hey, let’s do a trust walk! That’s where you follow me and don’t ask any questions.” You locked your door, pondering your current situation with worry. Mark’s spontaneous adventures always started with a detailed plan of what was going on. If he was refusing to elaborate on where you were going, it must mean something bad happened that he didn’t want anyone else hearing. Not seeing a better option, you agreed and readied yourself to follow him. 

Mark didn’t have a car outside. That meant it was somewhere close by. Your best guess was to his home. If that was the case, why not tell you as much? At first, you debated about asking questions anyway, only to change your mind. Then, you tried to have some small talk, but he was oddly tight-lipped about that too. Not even you asking about Mark’s latest rehearsals got a response out of him. It was far from reassuring, and only made you grateful to see your destination appear when you turned a corner.

Except, the downstairs rooms had all the curtains closed. Had he even been at home last night? Concern switched to panic as you belatedly realised that Mark had unlocked the door and shoved you into the darkness.

This was it. Your imminent doom that flashbacks from another life tried to warn you about.

“SURPRISE!”

A burst of light blinded you as a crowd of people jumped out from behind various articles of furniture. All the egos that you had gotten to know had made it. You were tugged back into a hug.

“Happy birthday! I’d hope you didn’t assume I forgot! I had to be sure to go the extra mile this year! I was up half the night decorating this place to have it nothing less than perfect.”

“With a bitta help from me, of course!” A pink blur struck and joined the hug with such force that you and Mark toppled to the right. Only that Wilford had quick reaction times, he safely prevented either of you from hitting the ground. “Gotta make sure ya know yer super special!”

“Yeah! We got the whole gang here, so let’s get down to celebrating!”

-

This was the ominous setting my star child OC Sirius woke up to this morning:

[ratsoh-writes]

animal crossing... pls I just wanna know which of your skellies beat up the ugly villagers its so funny jahsjsbsm

Dang guys lol. Anyways here’s my animal crossing guys with some bonus extras!

Sans:

Honestly he just maybe pops on once a day to see the new recipients but doesn’t really care that much about his town.

Instead he’s all about getting the ugliest possible things and just dropping them at random.

His town looks like a dumpster fire and sans couldn’t be happier. Even the villagers are ugly, except for Raymond who he got by chance and kept because he knew it would piss off honey and peaches

Papyrus:

Papyrus was just a casual player until he unlocked terraforming

After that he went absolutely nuts and put tons of hours into turning his island into the ultimate maze. Every inch of land. All of the buildings are on the beach lol. They had to move to make room for the maze

In his clusterf*ck of an island, there are a few little themed patches that you can find like a little Alice in wonderland cafe and a library. The maze is really detailed and designed so that each area only has one entrance.

Star:

He turned his town into a beautiful little modern city with streets and backyards for all the houses.

Half the town that is lol. Like with most things, star hyper fixated on the game for about a week and then found a new hobby and never touched it again

If he ever did pick it back up, he’ll be furious to find that honey robbed him blind

Honey:

His town is gorgeous yet random. He has a different theme for each section of the island! He wanted to do an organized island but he couldn’t decide on what was his favorite

Honeys proudest part has got to be the theme park. By collaborating with all the other skellymen, honey has managed to get all the black and white pieces to make a boardwalk theme park on the beach

He’s also a secret thief. He’s stolen fruits, flowers, recipes and even all of stars bank savings in order to get the best island. Everyone just assumes it was either cash or red and honey won’t ever hiring it up lol

Red:

Ya you better he’s only here to hit villagers with nets. No villager is safe from him. Every the ones he likes. Of anything it’s worse for them since he won’t let them leave lol

Red also don’t really decorate the island. He just planted a sh*ton of flowers to improve the rating and left it at that.

He also likes burying “presents” on other peoples islands. It’s like playing Russian roulette. You might get a rock or it might be a nice piece of furniture. You never know

Edge:

His island does have a consultant theme. NASCAR racetrack!!!! Edge terraformed to make the whole outer edge of the island a racetrack and used that forced perspective trick to make it super far away with the villagers houses acting as the audience

The rest of the island has a more woodsy and wild feel. Edge doesn’t really care about the weeds and keeps them for aesthetic

He judges his villagers based on thier interior designs. If they have ugly houses, edge will mail them trash until they leave

Mal:

He decorated almost exclusively in antique and golden furniture with the occasional zodiac piece as decoration.

The only flowers you see are red, white, black and gold roses. Mal likes to keep the island as fancy as possible.

Funnily enough, all his villagers are the uglier ones. He winds up getting attached to them and won’t let them leave lol. He makes it a challenge to gift them better furniture so he can eventually turn their houses into something more stylish

Cash:

Funnily enough, cash is only chaotic in other peoples islands. He actually takes pride in his and even though it’s weird and covered in cursed objects, you can tell cash out thought into the decoration.

When he visits others, he always booby traps the island with pitfall seeds. Papyrus actually likes having cash over because it makes his maze more interesting.

Cash will also steal all the fruit. Without fail. If he can’t fit all the fruit, he buries it surrounded by pitfall seeds so no one else can enjoy it lol

Oak:

His favorite part about his island is the fish! Oak has his aquarium already completed and he spends most his time scuba diving

While fishing comes easy, for some reason he always clicks the button too early or too late. Oak always winds up loosing the tree bugs.

Oak hasn’t done much with decorating but there are a few tables scattered about

Willow:

Willow went full on survival mode with his island. He designed it with self sufficiency in mind! The orchid and pumpkin farm are the biggest parts of the island.

Willow also made a sushi bar on the big rocks by the beach. It’s complete with fish tank tables.

He also never forgets to mail his villagers a piece of fruit each day. Nobody goes hungry with mama willow around

Bonus!!

Sugar:

Literally all his storage is taken up by his closet alone. Sugar adores the clothing and can’t help but to buy a new outfit every day.

He even buys his favorite pieces in each color! Sugar is also that guy who dresses up for the weather. If it’s raining, he’s got a dozen rain specific outfit to put on.

Sugar is addicted to going through other peoples codes and downloading patters. He’s already run out of space and each new pattern must be weighed heavily against all the others before he decided to write over one

Pluto:

He’s all about gathering those fish and bugs! Pluto has all the fish caught but is still missing some bugs. The gopher cricket will forever elude him

He had just finished the museum when the redd update came in. Finding out there was a whole art section to complete gave him a near aneurism

Pluto only has one outfit. His little safari gear and the bug tshirt he got from the little big lizard guy

[remmushound]

Curse of the Clan part 8! @brightlotusmoon @scentedcandlecryptid @digitl-art-monstr @selfindulgenz

Michelangelo didn't have the slightest idea where he would find a time seamer. He wasn’t even sure he knew what a time seamer was! He assumed it was something to do with time, since it was right there in the name, but beyond that he had no idea. When he was faced with the possibility of having to do such a daunting task alone, his brothers all busy with their own missions, it only served to make his mind even more blank. He couldn’t do this alone— not something as important as this! So he decided to call the most knowledgeable yokai he knew to help.

“DRAXUM! HI!” Michelangelo ran forward, hugging Baron Draxum’s bony body and giving quick, excited chirps. almost like a kitten who wasn’t quite sure how to meow yet.

“Hello orange turtle child.” Draxum sighed and brought his hands to rest on Michelangelo’s shell, though it wasn’t quite a hug. “What’s the problem this time?”

“How do you know there’s a problem?”

Baron Draxum raised an eyebrow. He pulled away and crossed his arms, tapping his right pointer finger on his left bicep as he waited. Michelangelo, knowing he had been called out, decided to just get to the point before Draxum judged him even harder.

“Okay, sooo…” Michelangelo explained everything quickly, which seemed too fast for Draxum to keep up with. Several times he asked Michelangelo to slow down or repeat words. Both parties were relieved when Michelangelo finally reached the end of his story. “...and now I need to find a time seamer! Do you know of any yokai it might be?”

“Hm…” Draxum tapped his lip, his eyes staring off into the distance as the cogs churned in his mind. “The… name sounds familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. There are so many yokai with so many variations that it would be impossible to deny such a creature’s existence. Some yokai are known to be able to manipulate time, but such creatures are the old yokai and they still live in their homelands. There are certainly none here in the city that I know of, but I doubt I know every yokai.”

By then, Baron Draxum was practically ignoring Michelangelo as he started to pace, lost in his own thoughts. If Michelangelo hadn’t moved out of the way, the faun would have trodden on him. The box turtle was used to the lost look and calculating eyes, so he just stood by and patiently waited for Draxum to get his words out.

“Hm… I am of no use to you on my own without knowledge of such creatures, but I suppose I could aid in your search by increasing your chances of accidentally running into someone who does know...” Baron Draxum’s eyes sparked to life quite suddenly and he snapped. “And I know just the place!”

***

Donatello had wanted to fly in a helicopter, but he always imagined it would be with his brothers and April and Splinter. Not alone thousands of feet in the air with a bunch of armed guards he didn't know and didn't dare try to. For all his confidence and ambition, he was just as anxious as Raphael was in new environments, except without the violent outbursts of uncontrollable aggression. Donatello had his fair share of outbursts, sure, but his were more controlled than the snapper turtle could hope to achieve, and he only ever let himself stoop so low once or twice in his life. He tried not to think of that.

They passed over an ocean, the Pacific from what Donatello could tell. After hours of waiting, ocean turned to mainland as they passed over villages and cities that shined even brighter than New York. Though Donatello had no anxiety looking down upon the cities far below, his hand still went to grip at his carapace to reassure himself he had the hover shell with him in case he did happen to fall. He leaned as far over the edge as he dared to watch the blurred, bright buildings, and he felt sad when they passed over the city and came to a forest blanketed in beautiful white snow.

Donatello leaned back inside. His hand went, of course, to grab for his bo staff before he remembered it wasn’t his. Even if it was his by ownership, the wood finish almost as smooth as his tech bo had been, he still forced the bubbling hatred of the weapon to the front of his thoughts. This was a primitive weapon from a culture lost to time! Why should he be stuck with something so old, something so simple? Something that was such a downgrade from the tech he knew!?

Donatello gave a loud, long sigh and slumped. His hand went to his neck and gripped at the necklace hanging down over his plastron. A sea-turtle shaped chamber protected the fragile and beloved memory chip within. The heart of his dear Shelldon. He could feel the gentle mystic energy pulsating from it and closed his eyes to better feel the life energy within.

“Soon…” He whispered to the necklace, bringing the chamber up to press it gently to his lips. “You’ll be back soon, Shelldon…”

The journey took another half hour before one of the armed guards stood up to address Donatello, yelling over the scream of the blades as they worked to keep the helicopter in the air.

“This is the drop point!” The voice called.

Donatello peered over the edge of the helicopter. “I don’t see any places where we could land.”

“Exactly!” The guard called.

Donatello turned to the guard just as a parachute was shoved against his chest.

“Put this on! You’ll have to jump! When you reach the drop zone, there will be a path. Follow it toward the mountain until you reach a cave.”

“What do I do when I get to the cave?” Donatello easily slipped into the parachute.

“You wait for us to come back to get you.”

“Aight, bet.” Donatello went to the edge.

“Wait— let me make sure you’re properly secured—“

“BON VOYAGE!”

Donatello fell backward out of the helicopter. The rush of air and adrenaline was always one of Donatello’s favorite sensations. He closed his eyes to enjoy the rushing chill, one hand holding Shelldon’s Heart securely while the other groped for the pully of the parachute. He pulled it after several passing moments and his body immediately jerked up as the parachute bore him into the air. Only then did he open his eyes, his free hand going to grab at the wires holding him.

Donatello looked down at the forest under his feet and up at the helicopter still hovering in place. Once he was sure the brunt of the wind was over, Donatello dare let go of his necklace to grab the wires on the other side of him to help guide his path.

By the time his feet touched down, his entire body was already numb from the weightlessness and the chill of the atmosphere. He was used to flying, sure, but not for so long without landing. He was relieved for a moment when his feet touched down, but quickly became just as uncomfortable with the cold wetness of the snow. Before heading off, he opened the supply bag that Bishop had provided him with. To his relief, tucked safely inside was a hoodie and hats and gloves made specially for his hand. He wished he had put them on before he had started to freeze, but it was better late than never. More importantly, there were shoes. He suited up and swung the supply sack over his shoulder, abandoning the parachute in favor of traveling light.

He supposed he had deviated a bit from the intended drop site, since it took a while for him to find the path that he had been told about. He did find it eventually though, and he followed the instructions to head toward the mountains. The trees reaching up to the skies blocked out most of the light around him, but the trail seemed surprisingly well-kept for something so hidden from the rest of the world. He couldn’t imagine anyone would spend their time coming out here to trim this one particular trail in this one terrifying forest. It was something so surreal it made Donatello get tingles up the spines of his shell and he grabbed once more for Shelldon’s Heart to comfort himself.

Donatello almost screamed when the silent forest rustled. Something jumped onto the path, and Donatello grabbed for the bo staff. No matter how rudimentary, it could still get the job done if it needed to. Then Donatello was almost glad that his brothers weren’t around to see him scream, because the creature certainly wasn’t scream-worthy.

It was a fox. A small, ginger fox with black ears and legs, it’s underside and muzzle as white as the surrounding snow. Eyes of amber stared back at Donatello, the fox hardly reacting to the shout beyond tilting its head in a question.

“Ugh.” Donatello scrunched up his nose, pulling his bo back to his body and waving his foot at the fox trying to get it to run away. “Go away. Shoo.”

The fox stood up. Donatello immediately pulled back, grabbing his staff and holding it in a ready position as the fox advanced on him. Yet, even as it continued to get closer, Donatello made no attempt to hit it. He fell against a nearby tree, still holding his staff out in front of him. His eyes squeezed shut and he pulled his head deeper into his shell as he tried to keep the fox away. He opened his eyes after several long seconds and blinked the tears away. The fox was just sitting there innocently, head still titled it stared at Donatello like he was insane.

“Oh uh… hello.”

Donatello yelped as the fox jumped to prop its legs on the bo staff, snapping at Donatello’s head. Donatello covered his head with his hands trying to protect himself, but he soon realized the fox wasn’t after mauling him. He realized it a few seconds too late, however, as the fox snatched his goggles from off his head and ran off with it.

“Hey! My tech!” Donatello jumped up to chase after the fox as it disappeared into the forest. The minute he stepped from the forest trail, two heavy weights landed on his shoulders. Donatello screamed for the third time, trying to swat whatever the animals were away. The animals gave what could have almost been a mocking giggle as they grabbed the shoulder straps of his battle shell and lifted it off of his back. “MY BATTLE SHELL!”

The tanuki gave another chuffing giggle as they disappeared deeper into the forest with the precious gear. Donatello was near tears— no, he realized, he was crying. He hugged his supply sack tightly to his chest and rubbed his thumb across the smooth chamber of Shelldon. He fell into the snow, hugging both supply and his precious drone’s heart and praying his brothers would hurry.

[stainedglassfish]

ok guys i am once again posting this story i wrote but this time with a fancy tumblr thing check it out under the cut (reblogs greatly appreciated)

At the very end of the universe there was a town. Not a large town, just an average sized town. Don’t ask how it got there, nobody knows and it’s possible there is no answer. It floated gently on the endless cosmos, drifting towards infinity and destruction. A gigantic wall surrounded it, 30 feet tall. Nobody had ever been over the wall. Nobody had ever tried. 

Life went on. Everyone knew they were very close to their own demise, but nobody really minded it. Life was rather bleak when you were with the same 300 people your whole life and had no concept of exploration or curiosity. Everyone went about their business and society made no progressions. 

Now, one day something very odd happened. In a dusty alleyway a man appeared in a bluish flash of light. He stumbled slightly and leaned against a wall, gasping for air. He was a time traveller, from way back in a distant age. In fact, he hadn’t meant to come here. He had technically died, but all his tamperings with the space-time continuum had brought him here instead. Brushing himself off, he wandered out into the main street. Everything froze. People around him stopped halfway through words, mid-step, and all eyes turned to him. The only one who remained oblivious was a woman who seemed to be mopping the grass. The newcomer strolled down the street with a slight swagger. He had no idea where he was or the importance of it. At length one of the villagers ran off, returning with two others. One was the mayor of the town. She was short and businesslike, and she appeared struck dumb upon seeing the man (whose name was Fread. He hated his name, as it reminded him of bread, which he despised), in sharp contrast to the man next to her. He was rather long and gangly, and his eyes had a misty, sad quality to them, as if he was only half in this world. He was the town scholar, the only one there who still had any passion towards knowledge.

“Who- what-?” The mayor found her voice and stepped closer to Fread, peering up at him.

“My name is Fread. Where the hell am I?” He was utterly perplexed by this reaction to him, as nobody had even seen him appear.

“You mean… you mean you don’t know this place?”

“I think maybe we should go elsewhere…” Fread had a few things to explain. He was silently led away to a building in the far west. 

The room was startlingly empty, and out the window Fread could see the wall. He still couldn’t see over it though. He had haphazardly explained his predicament to the mayor, who had since scurried off looking dazed. Fread was left alone with the scholar. Outside life was returning to normal. The people had already brushed aside what had happened and had gone back to sluggishly working on things that did not matter. Turning to the scholar, Fread tried to think of something to say.

“So uhh….. What do you do?” Fread had never been much of a conversationalist, but he wanted to know more about this place and about the man standing before him. He saw within him something he couldn’t quite place, a sort of twisted despair.

“I am the scholar here. Everyone else has rather… abandoned the arts and literature. They do not seek knowledge or enrichment,” replied the scholar. He seemed to be avoiding getting any closer to Fread.

“Why?”

“Everyone’s lost hope. Nobody knows when all this is going to end, nobody sees any point in improving.”

“Oh,” Fread wasn’t sure what to make of this. This was the fate of humanity? To give up when growth and development was such a crucial part of society? “By the way, what’s your name?”

“Peter.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Fread. With an A,” He added with distaste. He was beginning to realize that he didn’t know how to get back to his own time, “Uhh, Peter, I don’t know exactly how to say this but…. I’m not sure how to get back.”

“Back?”

“Back to my home. To my--” He paused, tears suddenly springing to his eyes, “Y’know, there’s not a lot back there for me.”

“I am sorry. If you would like, you could stay with me, in my house,” Peter’s voice took on a quality of near excitement, but he still looked mournful as ever.

“I think I’d like that,” but Fread was crying, and though he looked forward to getting to know Peter more, he wished it didn’t have to be at the end of the universe. Hesitantly, Peter approached him, and Fread fell into his arms, trying to focus less on his predicament and more on the sensation of Peter’s hands rubbing his back gently, on the sound of his heart beating lightly in his chest. Eventually they broke apart, and Fread was feeling significantly better. 

They dined together that night. The house was filled with books on shelves, in towering stacks, scattered about. At a desk, papers and art supplies littered the surface. Peter made incredible soup and bread, and Fread found that he hardly missed his life back home. Peter explained the wall to him, and Fread was extremely curious.

“So nobody knows what’s over it?”

“No, nobody. It has never been crossed as far as I am aware.”

“But who put it there? Why?”

“I do not know. We assume it is there for a reason, and nobody here is brave enough to cross it.”

“I’d do it.”

“You would?”

“I don’t have much to lose, anyway. And you never know, maybe there’s a whole world out there.”

“But how would you get over it?”

“I saw that water tower near the wall. I could climb that, and then take a rope down,” Fread was getting excited. This was an adventure, and it was true, he didn’t have much to lose. Except Peter, and that’s what got him.

“Could you…. Do you think you could come with me?” He asked Peter, who looked down at his soup thoughtfully.

“I do not think so. The people here need someone to hold them together, to keep anything alive. You would have to go alone.”

“Oh,” Fread said sadly. He was still going to do it though. He was filled with a burning need to find out what was behind the wall, and he could tell Peter was too.

The next day he spent with Peter. He was risking a lot, and though he felt it was important, he was not ready to go after just one day. Peter never seemed to run out of things to talk about, and he told Fread about plants and animals and space and literature and though Fread didn’t really understand it, he liked listening to Peter talk. 

After a while, Peter fell silent, and they both ruminated on their time together and what was ahead. Fread had his head on Peter’s shoulder, curled against him and nearly falling asleep.

“Peter?” Fread asked quietly, unsure what exactly he wanted to say.

“Yes?”

“I’m scared.”

“Of what, exactly?”

“I don’t know. I just have, like, a bad feeling. That there’ll be nothing over there, or- or that it’s dangerous or I won’t be able to get back, or-” he trailed off. Peter, putting aside the book he had been reading, pulled Fread into his arms and held him tightly, humming a tune Fread didn’t recognize. Eventually Fread fell asleep, and Peter stayed there, not wanting to disturb him. He smelled nice, anyway. After about an hour he picked Fread up and carried him to bed, and they slept that night cuddled together.

In the morning Peter made eggs and toast for breakfast. Neither of them had much to say, but they were never more than five feet from each other. Fread enjoyed the food, but he couldn’t eat much as his trepidation grew. Peter read a few poems to him from a large leather-bound book, but in the end grew silent and just hummed to himself, running his fingers through Fread’s hair.

At last the time came. A crowd gathered around the water tower as Fread prepared to climb up and over. He had a rope slung over his shoulder, and he was trembling slightly with nerves and excitement. Peter stood at the front of the crowd, his brows knitted slightly. Fread was resolute, and though his emotions ran high, he did not cry and he felt no need to. After steeling himself for a moment, he prepared to begin the climb. As he was about to begin, Peter rushed forward, grabbing him by the arm and wheeling him around. Almost under his breath, Peter spoke to him, sounding slightly choked.

“If you… if you don’t come back from this, I want you to know that you are the best thing to have come here in all my time. You’ve… you’ve given me new hope and new motivation and I- I love you,” And Peter kissed him, gently, but lingering just long enough for Fread to know the feeling behind it. But it was over too soon, and Fread had to turn away to climb, murmuring a goodbye that did not feel like enough. He could taste Peter’s tears on his lips.

And when he reached the top, and looked back, he could not find Peter in the crowd. He could not have, as Peter had returned to his home, unable to watch as Fread disappeared over the edge. Fread tied his rope to a rung of the tower, and began his descent. Reaching the bottom, he rubbed his eyes, confused. Before him was an endless expanse of nothing. Not a single sound, no color or rocks or sand. Fread couldn’t decide if it was black or white or some color that he couldn’t even comprehend. As he stared into it, trying to make sense of it, he saw something on the horizon (or what he supposed was the horizon, there wasn’t exactly a sky or land.) It was getting bigger and bigger, and Fread felt his heart leap to his throat as he watched it. It was a sort of swirling mass, at once misty and sharp. It advanced upon him, and Fread found that he could not move. He watched as it advanced, and when it reached him he knew no more. He was swept up and torn apart, and the mass crushed the wall as if it were made of paper, devouring it and shortly after, the town. Nothing remained, no color or light or earth or buildings, no consciousness or thoughts or emotion. And the mass, having finally won out against the town at the end of the universe, expanded until it was everything, and then nothing was at the end of the universe.

[weavingthetapestry]

"Scotia is so named after the Scottish tribes by which it is inhabited. At first, it began from the Scottish firth on the south, and, later on, from the river Humber, where Albania also began. Afterwards, however, it commenced at the wall Thirlwal, which Severus had built to the river Tyne. But now it begins at the river Tweed, the northern boundary of England, and, stretching rather less than four hundred miles in length, in a north-westerly direction, is bounded by the Pentland Firth, where a fearfully dangerous whirlpool sucks in and belches back the waters every hour. It is a country strong by nature, and difficult and toilsome of access. In some parts, it towers into mountains, in others it sinks down into plains. For lofty mountains stretch through the midst of it, from end to end, as do the tall Alps through Europe; and these mountains formerly separated the Scots from the Picts, and their kingdoms from each other. Impassable as they are on horseback, save in very few places, they can hardly be crossed even on foot, both on account of the snow always lying on them, except in summer time only; and by reason of the boulders torn off the beetling crags, and the deep hollows in their midst. Along the foot of these mountains are vast woods, full of stags, roe-deer, and other wild animals and beasts of various kinds; and these forests oftentimes afford a strong and safe protection to the cattle of the inhabitants against the depredations of their enemies; for the herds in those parts, they say, are accustomed, from use, whenever they hear the shouts of men or women, and if suddenly attacked by dogs to flock hastily into the woods. Numberless springs also well up, and burst forth from the hills and the sloping ridges of the mountains, and, trickling down with sweetest sound, in crystal rivulets between flowery banks, flow together through the level vales, and give birth to many streams; and these again to large rivers, in which Scotia marvellously abounds, beyond any other country; and at their mouths, where they rejoin the sea, she has noble and secure harbours. Scotia, also, has tracts of land bordering on the sea, pretty level and rich, with green meadows, and fertile and productive fields of corn and barley, and well adapted for growing beans, pease, and all other produce; destitute, however, of wine and oil, though by no means so of honey and wax. But in the upland districts, and along the highlands, the fields are less productive, except only in oats and barley. The country is, there, very hideous, interspersed with moors and marshy fields, muddy and dirty; it is, however, full of pasturage grass for cattle, and comely with verdure in the glens, along the watercourses. This region abounds in wool-bearing sheep, and in horses; and its soil is grassy, feeds cattle and wild beasts, is rich in milk and wool, and manifold in its wealth of fish, in sea, river, and lake. It is also noted for birds of many sorts. There noble falcons, of soaring flight and boundless courage, are to be found, and hawks of matchless daring. Marble of two or three colours, that is, black, variegated, and white, as well as alabaster, is also found there. It also produces a good deal of iron and lead, and nearly all metals. 'The land of the Scots', says Erodotus, 'in the fertility of its soil, in its pleasant groves, in the rivers and springs by which it is watered, in the number of its flocks of all kinds, and its horses, where its shore rejoices in inhabitants, is not inferior to the soil of even Britain itself'. Isidore tells us: 'Scotia, with respect to the wholesomeness of its air and climate, is a very mild country; there is little or no excessive heat in summer, or cold in winter'- and he has written of Scotia in nearly the same terms as of Hibernia. In Scotland, the longest days, at midsummer, are of eighteen hours, or more; and, in midwinter, the shortest are of not fully six; while in the island of Meroe, the capital of the Ethiopians, the longest day is of twelve hours; in Alexandria, in Egypt, of thirteen; and in Italy, of fifteen. In the island of Thule again, the day lasts all through the six summer months, and the night, likewise, all through the six winter months. The manners and customs of the Scots vary with the diversity of their speech. For two languages are spoken amongst them, the Scottish and the Teutonic; the latter of which is the language of those who occupy the seaboard and plains, while the race of Scottish speech inhabits the highlands and outlying islands. The people of the coast are of domestic and civilized habits, trusty, patient, and urbane, decent in their attire, affable, and peaceful, devout in Divine worship, yet always prone to resist a wrong at the hand of their enemies. The highlanders and people of the islands, on the other hand, are a savage and untamed nation, rude and independent, given to rapine, ease-loving, of a docile and warm disposition, comely in person, but unsightly in dress, hostile to the English people and language, and, owing to diversity of speech, even to their own nation, and exceedingly cruel. They are, however, faithful and obedient to their king and country, and easily made to submit to law, if properly governed. Solinus, the historian, in describing the manners and customs of the Scottish nation of olden time, says:- 'In its social observances, the Scottish nation was always rugged and warlike. For when males were born to them, the fathers were wont to offer them their first food on the point of a word, so that they should desire to die not otherwise than under arms, in battle for liberty; and when, afterwards, they are grown up and able to fight, the victors, after drinking of the blood of the slain, besmear their faces with it. For they are a high-spirited race, of sparing diet, of a fierce mettle, of a wild and stern countenance, rugged in address, but affable and kind to their own people, given to sports and hunting, and to ease rather than toil'. 'The Scottish nation,' writes Isidore, 'is that, originally, which was once in Ireland, and resembles the Irish in all things- in language, manners, and character. For the Scots are a light-minded nation, fierce in spirit, savage towards their foes, who would almost as soon die as be enslaved, and account it sloth to die in bed, deeming it glorious and manly to slay or be slain by, the foe in the field; a nation of sparing diet, sustaining hunger very long, and rarely indulging in food before sunset; contenting themselves, moreover, with meat, and food prepared from milk. And though they are, by nature, a people of generally rather graceful figure, and goodly face, yet their peculiar dress much disfigures them.'"

Chapters 7-9 of the fourteenth century ‘Chronica Gentis Scotorum’ by John of Fordun, edited by W.F. Skene and translated by Felix J.H. Skene, 1872.

There is a reason I have quoted these chapters at some length, and it is not just for their interesting description of the mediaeval Scottish landscape. The last paragraph (Chapter 9) in particular is an infamous passage, and it has frequently been used to summarise the so-called ‘Highland/Lowland divide’ even in the modern day. In fact, it is a passage with a complex history and should be taken with a large pinch of salt, especially since Skene’s translation, though the most famous and widely used, is itself very much a product of its Victorian context.

John of Fordun was probably a priest who hailed, as his name suggests, from the village of Fordoun in the old county of Kincardineshire (now Aberdeenshire). His ‘Chronica Gentis Scotorum’ (’The Chronicle of the Scottish People’) is perhaps the earliest surviving example of an attempt to write a comprehensive history of Scotland from its mythical origins. Traditionally the entirety of the work edited and translated by the two Skenes in the nineteenth century was thought to have been composed by John of Fordun some time in the late 1300s, but recent research suggests that he only composed the first five books, covering the history of Scotland from its earliest times to the death of David I in 1153...

John of Fordun’s views on Scotland would be interesting because of his status as the country’s earliest surviving ‘historian’ alone, but chapter 9 (the last paragraph quoted above) in particular has a long history of its own. This firsthand description of Scotland by a fourteenth century Scot, who grew up in the Mearns only a few miles from the Mounth, is invaluable. Many have taken John of Fordun’s words in Chapter 9 at face value, and the first half of the chapter is frequently quoted in modern history books, though historians have often then reinterpreted the passage to fit their own preconceptions. For Victorian historians, his depiction of linguistically distinct, mutually antagonistic, peoples with markedly different dress and lifestyle seemed to confirm their heavily racialised view of Scottish history, with “Noble Savage” Highlanders and canny Lowlanders locked in an eternal struggle. More recent historians, less concerned with simplistic ethnic categories but still seeking to establish the roots of the so-called Highland/Lowland divide, have taken the account as evidence that the fourteenth century witnessed the birth of the Highlander as a distinct entity to be reviled by the ‘Lowlander’. 

However some have argued that Fordun’s account might not have been entirely original. He references several Classical authors, which is not particularly unusual, but in some sections he seems to rely more on the accounts of these authors than the experience we might assume he had as a Scot himself. It has therefore been suggested that this part of John of Fordun’s history may have drawn on an earlier account, perhaps one composed by the author of Gesta Annalia I- this was possibly Richard Vairement, a thirteenth century Frenchman who acted as chancellor to Alexander II’s queen Marie de Coucy, and who would certainly have had cause to rely on classical accounts of Scotland. This raises further questions about whether the views of Scotland expressed in John of Fordun’s chronicle really reflect his own fourteenth century experience, or if they perhaps reflect an older viewpoint, perhaps that of a French immigrant in the 1260s.

Even if the account is John of Fordun’s original work, there are issues with both his viewpoint and the way it has been interpreted in the modern era. It is worth pointing out that the chronicle never uses the terms ‘Highland’ and ‘Lowland’- Skene’s use of the term ‘highlanders’ above is actually his own interpretation of the original Latin which seems to refer instead to the people who inhabit the islands and mountains. Instead of ‘Lowlanders’ we have the ‘people of the coast’, who speak the ‘Teutonic’ language- probably to be identified with what we now call the Scots language, which, like its close relative English, is a Germanic language. The people of the mountains are said to speak the “Scottish” language, presumably Gaelic. However despite first impressions, the people of the coastal plain and the people of the mountains cannot be easily equated with the modern concepts of Lowlanders and Highlanders. If we are to see the divide between the two peoples as linguistic, then it must be pointed out that, during the fourteenth century, Gaelic was widely spoken in many areas which are not generally considered to be the ‘Highlands’- notably Galloway and Carrick in the south-west of Scotland, but also parts of Fife and other areas. 

If we are to see the split as geographic, with Lowlanders inhabiting the coastal plain-then it must be pointed out that areas which some people now consider to be ‘Highland’, such as Easter Ross, fall into this category, while many areas of southern, Scots-speaking Scotland, such as the Southern Uplands, are hilly and remote. And even if we decide to abandon the somewhat anachronistic terms ‘Highlander’ and ‘Lowlander’ when referring to Fordun’s account, I would argue that the ‘division’ of Scotland between two separate peoples was a lot less distinct, and a lot more fluid and complex in the fourteenth century than the chronicler suggests. Thus, although a fascinating source, we should beware of stereotyping ‘Highland’ and ‘Lowland’ Scotland during this period, especially if these stereotypes look rather like a Romantic fantasy of Barbarian Highlanders and Civilised Lowlanders. 

Some additional notes:

- It seems that John of Fordun means Hadrian’s Wall when he says ‘Thirlwall’, and it looks like he associates the wall of Septimius Severus with Hadrian’s Wall as well, though the location of Severus’ wall is actually a bit of a mystery. 

- The Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland were not officially part of the kingdom of Scotland during the fourteenth century, which is why John of Fordun says that Scotland stretches as far north as the Pentland Firth, which is the strait between Caithness and Orkney. The whirlpool he refers to may be the Swilkie.

- Since Fordoun is only around ten miles from the Cairn O’ Mounth, a well-known pass through the Grampian mountains which was used by several armies in history, it is interesting to note that John of Fordun describes the mountains that “formerly separated the Scots from the Picts” as “Impassable (...) on horseback, save in very few places, they can hardly be crossed even on foot, both on account of the snow always lying on them, except in summer time only”.

- John of Fordun’s description of the upland parts of Scotland as "very hideous, interspersed with moors and marshy fields, muddy and dirty; it is, however, full of pasturage grass for cattle, and comely with verdure in the glens, along the watercourses” is intriguing. The ‘romantic’ appeal of Scotland’s upland scenery does not seem to have been widely appreciated in the Middle Ages, and although the first part of John of Fordun’s description, regarding the ‘hideous moors’, reflects this, his other comments are not wholly negative.

- The account of Scottish diet and agriculture seems to be accurate- peas, barley, and oats were common crops, while wool was an extremely important export. Certainly the country was rich in fish and, although the Scots were not able to exploit the herring to the extent that others did (the Dutch for example), Scottish salmon was a notable export. Highland hawks were also much sought after by the nobility.

- ‘Thule’ is a mysterious location often mentioned by mediaeval and early modern writers- theories as to its identity include Iceland, Shetland, Orkney, and Greenland.

-  When John of Fordun states that the people of the mountains are ‘unsightly in dress’ we cannot necessarily assume that they wore what we consider to be ‘Highland’ dress nowadays- kilt, plaid, e.t.c. Kilts came into use in the later Middle Ages (it’s worth noting they are not likely to have been in use in William Wallace’s time) and even then they looked very different from the neat modern version.

- The statement that the people of the mountains are “hostile to the English people and language” raises a couple of questions. For a start, late mediaeval Scots speakers often used the term ‘Inglis’ (English) to refer to their language, rather than the Middle English spoken in the south of Britain, which was sometimes called southron instead. However Middle English and Old Scots were still often seen as being the same or similar languages, so should we assume that, by the ‘English people and language’, John of Fordun is stating that the people of the mountains hate the people of the coastal plain (i.e., that so-called Highland/Lowland divide?). Or should we interpret this as meaning English in the modern sense, and that the people of the mountains hate the English even more than their fellow Scots on the coastal plain? Since the next phrase talks about how they don’t like people of their own ‘nation’ either, this might be the case, but in the aftermath of the Wars of Independence, there was no shortage of anti-English sentiment among the people of the coastal plain either. 

-  “They are, however, faithful and obedient to their king and country, and easily made to submit to law, if properly governed.” - this is a sentiment which would not have been out of place in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, but it must be remembered that it comes from a very different, mediaeval context, not a time of kilted Highland regiments fighting for the Empire. There was some feeling in late mediaeval Scotland, however, that one of Robert Bruce’s successes had been his understanding of the west. 

- The last part of chapter 9 is taken up by two passages from the ancient authors Solinus and Isidore and, although they are used to prop up John of Fordun’s own account, it would be wise to remember this before they are used to draw conclusions about the behaviour of fourteenth century Scots. 

All in all, these chapters, and especially chapter 9, are an important and well-known source. Even though I would caution against taking the whole work at face value, it is certainly worth becoming familiar with, since it has influenced so many subsequent accounts of Scotland, for better or worse. For further reading, I would also recommend perusing Martin McGregor’s article “Gaelic Barbarity and Scottish Identity in the Later Middle Ages”, and Dauvit Broun’s “Attitudes of Gall to Gaedhel in Scotland in Scotland before John of Fordun”, both published in the book “Mìorun Mòr nan Gall: 'The great ill-will of the Lowlander'? Lowland perceptions of the Highlands, Medieval and Modern”, ed. McGregor and Broun.

If anyone has any questions about any of the statements made here, please feel free to fire them my way!

[ohmyasmodeus]

𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 (𝐈) ☾ 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴

i feel like we can all agree that we arent over the paws event ! i couldn’t stop myself from writing something self indulgent and more like the fantasy fiction i primarily write ♡ these are a little longer than what i usually do so be warned!

lucifer + mammon (i)  ☾  leviathan + satan + asmodeus (ii)  ☾  beelzebub + belphegor (iii)

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

♡ 𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙧

Wrought iron. The dark woods that surrounded your reclusive village were like wrought iron palisades of tangled branches. You’d grown up with the stories. The heavy mist that obscured the distant trees quietly suffocated those in its reach, the thorny brambles flayed flesh from unlucky limbs, and there was no way out of the labyrinth of the hinterland. Or so they say. You were more than sure that these rumours were nothing but hamfisted attempts by your elders to make you and the rest of the villagers stay. As if you would let them. You were sick of it. One day, you were going to find a way out of this backwater village. You were going to explore the world beyond flimsy folk tales and primitive traditions.

However, there was one thing that kept you wondering— howling outside your window. You would hear them at night, eerie howls that almost crossed into humanlike screams of agony. They would come in the middle of the night, freezing your breath in your chest and you would stare out the window with your wide eyes, gazing at the moon through the mist that obscured the distant treeline. It was the worst in the winter, when the howling chilled the blood in your veins and the winter air stripped you from any warmth.

By the next winter, you had long since gotten sick of your suffocating village. You had long forgotten about the howling as well, and only remembered as you were in the middle of booking it through the woods on impulse. All you knew is that you had to leave, to finally cut yourself free from the ties that bind. The mists parted for you, the brambles crunched harmlessly underfoot while your breath escaped in light clouds of steam, but you couldn’t stop thinking about the howling. You had always assumed a wild animal made them, just to put your worries at rest. But alone in the cold… you wondered.

Alone in the cold, you were so easy to corner. Lucifer had sensed the intrusion from the moment you stepped into his enclave. Through your terrified tears, you could barely see the dark skies past the massive shoulders, the raven-black fur that ruffled with the winter winds. You were nothing like the humans he’d encountered in the past. Humans that intended to hunt his kind came with knives and war cries, but you held yourself innocent with nothing but a half-filled knapsack on your back. Curiously, Lucifer smelled you, nudging your tears away with his wet nose.

“You must be lost,” he says in his silken voice, quiet to keep you calm. He rises to sit before you in his full height, and gently nudges you with his nose once more when you shiver and wipe your eyes. “I won’t hurt you. Tell me, what’s your name?”

And you tell him. Then you tell him through your now frustrated tears all about your village, about everything you have been trying to run away from, and his thick fur keeps you warm as you walk together through the night. He warns you that the way is long and the night grows dangerous, but nothing hampers your determination to leave the life that you once knew. Lucifer finds himself obliged to follow as an escort.

✧   A proud wolf, Lucifer is an natural leader. He dedicates himself to fiercely defending his territory and his pack, which over time seems to grow to include you as an exception. You see it in his eyes, the way his hackles raise and his eyes narrow by the firelight when he senses trouble in the vicinity, the way he curls around you when you settle down like a shield against the harsh winter. He talks to you by the fire, curious about your experiences and destination. Though, make no mistake— he nips at you when you try to stroke his soft fur or ears. He refuses to be treated like a pet. (Although it’s fairly easy to try to ease him into it. Toss him a slab of cured meat from your knapsack and he might just let you scratch behind an ear.)

✧   Do not forget that his treatment of you is a privilege. An exception. The stark contrast of crimson that drenches into the pale snow reminds you of it when you forget. Lucifer spares but a moment before viciously sinking his teeth into any other humans not as a killing blow, but a warning. There is no hesitation before he tears people apart, spilling bile and gore in front of you, the wild look in his eyes making you stumble backwards. You steal the shotguns from the bloody corpses with shaking hands. You hear his chilling howl in person for the first time after a fresh kill, the harsh sound a warning for other predators. This is his territory.

✧   He is there for you when the nights grow long, and your heart grows so heavy that all you can do is bury your face into his fur and feel his steady breathing. He hunts for you, bringing you fresh fish as the lakes slowly start to thaw out. One time, he drags you an entire elk carcass that has you balking at the sheer size, and sits by it proudly with a wagging tail as if awaiting your praise. He lets you reward him with a kiss on his snout, but just this once.

✧   Lucifer doesn’t care to subscribe to the moon’s cycle, defying it by haughtily wearing his wolf pelt across his shoulders like a mantle in his human form. In his human form, you see the scars that still dig into his flesh, revealed by gaps in his collar and clothes. His large hands are calloused, tipped with obsidian nails that almost resemble claws. But they never touch you. Lucifer never touches you with anything but the firm affectionate touches of a lover. His teeth remain deadly sharp, but they only nip playfully to rile you up.

✧   “Stay. You don’t have to keep running,” he mumbles as he drapes the pelt across your shoulders and kisses your neck. You sink into his warmth. “Not with me.”

♡ 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙤𝙣

A simple life had always been enough for you. There was a great pride to be taken in the life you had built for yourself, a great escape surrounded by lavender and wheat fields and mountainsides smattered with wildflowers. Your farm stood proud, tilled fields thriving in the welcoming sun. There was nothing you would want to change, not the wonderful solitude, nor the hard work you set aside for yourself. Not even the wildlife bothered you. You welcomed the creatures you often found wandering through your fields, completely naïve to human contact. And the nature that surrounded you welcomed you in the same way.

Though the fresh blood you soon found spilled only a little beyond the livestock pens made you think otherwise.

A predator, surely. The sheep had been startled but only a few had gone missing, a sign of a desperate animal. You shook the instinctual fear away and decided to trek across the property to try and reinforce some of the fences you had built to keep most of the wildlife out. But once you found the large hole that had been torn through a wire fence that separated your farm from the rest of the wilderness, you weren’t sure how effective your reinforcing would be.

No matter how strong your fences were or how high you built up the fences that kept the sheep in, every now and then, you would notice a lamb or two gone. It was far from a devastating amount, but those were your livestock… Yet, life persisted. The predator never seemed to cause too much of a ruckus or tried to break into your home, so you were confident in your ability to continue farming. The charming landscape and the work you had put into your farm were things that you simply couldn’t give up on.

A lazy hand wipes the sweat from your brow as you set your tools down for the day. Darkness fell across the fields and bathed you in its cooling winds, the receding dusk tinting the velvet skies a charming pink. All is well once more. You stand and stretch, before leaning back on the wooden fence behind you to watch the bright stars wink into appearance. Everything seems so different from the city life that you had known before… and you’re happy. Well, up until you decide to turn to see how your sheep are doing.

You don’t even register the danger you’re in before you start yelling.

“What the fuck are you doing? Put it down!” Silvery fur stands on end when you yell from across the fence, the large wolf looking at you like a deer caught in headlights as it tries to drag away a helpless struggling lamb. You jump the fence and land loudly. “I said put it down!”

The wolf stares at you for a tense second before reluctantly opening its jaw. The lamb kicks it in the snout as it desperately wiggles away, and the wolf whimpers softly before putting a paw over its snout as if to soothe it, and it strikes you as so odd— its eyes are too smart, too aware to be just any animal. Its ears pin themselves back in shame, just like its gait as it gets up to try and weasel away from its crimes. And you’re pretty sure you just heard it mutter an ‘Oh, shit’.

✧   Mammon is more than aware of the power he has. It would be easy to kill all your livestock in one night and kill you along with them, but that’s not something that interests him very much. He honestly just wanted to see how much he could steal without you coming after him, and whether he could steal from right under your nose. He still is a greedy wolf, after all, but he leaves all the territorial business to Lucifer, much preferring to mess around with unlucky humans.

✧   And yet, for all the power he brags to you about having, he’s about as dangerous as a teacup puppy. He isn’t a fan of hurting humans, and the only thing you really have to do to get him to stop stealing your sheep is to feed him slabs of meat every time he comes by. Pavlov him enough and he’ll come running when you yell his name out the front door expecting dinner and a nice side of milk to accompany it. He likes the company too, and the way you two can watch the moon while having dinner in your fields together.

✧   “Aww, aren’t you the hungriest puppy!” You coo over him as you toss him slabs of raw meat, thankfully from cattle that you decided to cull this time, and he catches them expertly midair. “Good boy!”

“I ain’t a damn dog! I’ll eat you next!” Mammon protests. He could easily stop indulging you, but he’s immediately leaping the moment he sees you throw another hunk of meat. Your praise makes his ears perk up in the sweetest way and his tail wag so hard you’re almost afraid it might fall off. For all his whining about being one of the most terrifying werewolves, he instantly melts the moment you dig your fingers into his thick silver fur and give him a scritch. He rolls over without hesitation just so you can give him a good belly rub, letting you see how adorable he is when he kicks his leg in enjoyment.

✧   Mammon definitely has a habit of covering you with his scent. He nuzzles his face into you at any opportunity, often leaving your clothes dusted with his pale fur, just because you bring out his need to mark his territory. He won’t have anyone else putting their dirty paws on you!

✧   For as much as he acts like he’s already domesticated around you, he loves dragging you along to see the wilder side of things— running through the fields with you desperately clinging to his back at midnight, finding himself caught up in the adrenaline as he playfully bites at you and pins you down when you two play fight. He’s still a wild wolf at heart, and loves it when you two howl at the moon together. The woods is where he first pulls you into a heated kiss once the sun peaks over the mountains and turns him human.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

context for mammon’s love of sheep ♡

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

[casualdadnomad]

modern hc for every possible atla ship

Alright, I said I’d do it and now I’m doing it. We will not be arguing over ships because it’s impossible to argue if I include..... all of them. I’ll include some nice ship things and then rate the likeliness of the ship happening in my au.

Kataang: my babies. soulmates. they would be that adorable couple that has been together since the eighth grade. they work well together because they’re both kind hearted and care about each other deeply. they hold hands in hallways, call each other pet names (the infamous “sweetie” that makes sokka want to die), and always try to give each other little surprises to brighten each other’s day. they’re very into valentines day. would it happen? yes. 100/10. 

Sukka: my babies part 2. sokka comes to every football game to cheer her on during halftime. he also goes to every winter guard competition. Suki goes with him when he does his graffiti. she insists it’s to be a lookout in case the cops find them, but she just loves watching him make his art. they don’t go out much, and are just as happy watching anime in suki’s room as they would be on a date. would it happen? YES. 10/10.

Zukka: the hottest ship of the ATLA renaissance. probably the best ship of all time. they just have this perfect dynamic. sokka is a genius with terrible ideas and no impulse control. zuko is just a guy with anxiety. sokka would definitely help zuko come out of his shell a little bit. and iroh loves his nephew’s boyfriend. sokka helps out for free in the jasmine dragon if zuko is working. would it happen? maybe. i do love them a lot. 8/10.

Zutara: okay. everyone has an opinion on zutara. my opinion is that i don’t like it unimportant. they stay up late on facetimes and talk until like 3 am. they play a lot of games and katara is super competitive, so zuko lets her win a lot. she’s cute when she’s convinced she’s the king of gamepigeon 8 ball. would it happen? unlikely. 4/10.

Taang: i don’t hear about this ship a ton. it’s not one i ever thought about. they’re both super protective, even though neither of them really need to be protected. aang is definitely more affectionate than toph, but toph can and will beat the shit out of anyone that hurts aang. would it happen? they’re the only two freshmen, so maybe, but still unlikely. 5/10.

Tokka: i’ve always thought toph’s little crush on sokka was adorable. they would skip school, go break the law for fun, that kind of nonsense. this is one of those rare instances where sokka has the most common sense. they would be more of a “what’s up you ugly idiot” kind of couple than a “hey baby! :)” kind of couple. would it happen? I could see them getting along. it would be pretty chaotic. 6.5/10.

Mai Lee: MY GIRLS. they’re perfect for each other. Mai is peak alt girl. She’s a goth queen, eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man, chains, little shirt big pants, and a nose piercing. ty lee is the exact definition of cottagecore. strawberry dresses, lots of blush, makes her own earrings. ty lee even gave mai a pair of earrings she made to look like knives. they walk down the street holding hands. if anyone throws them a weird look, mai throws a knife right back. would it happen? HELL YES. 1,000/10.

Tyzula: here’s the thing. azula never did get that sweet sweet redemption arc, so in my au she’s still a bit of an asshole. if they got together, i can see azula really trying to improve herself as a person for ty lee. i see ty lee really trying to sell the idea of including azula to the rest of the friend group. i’m really into the idea of instead of ty lee “fixing” her, having azula work on herself with ty lee as some extra motivation. would it happen? if azula put in effort to be a better person, sure. 7/10.

Maitara: what, did you think i was going to forget maitara? i did say every ship. katara vibes with the softgirl aesthetic while mai is on the egirl side, and honestly i am living for it. would it happen? this one is definitely a rare ship. but i think it could work. 5/10.

Maiko: ah yes, the canon one. zuko’s not quite as edgy as mai is. he’s like, if you diluted the eboy aesthetic a little. but i think it would maybe work between my two emo babies. they’re a couple that you never really see engaging in any pda so you just assume they’re friends until someone tells you otherwise. they’re very cute together, but dare i say kind of boring...? would it happen? goth x goth solidarity is cool, so maybe. 6/10.

Azutara: dude, there’s not a lot to say for this one. it’s been a little while since i’ve even seen an azutara shipper. are they extinct? (azutara babes pls tell me if ur not extinct). yeah so if this happened i think it would be because azula put in the work to be a good person and was welcomed back into the group. once she was in the group, katara would have gotten to know her real personality and liked her. but katara also holds her accountable for her actions. she puts up with no bullshit because she knows her worth. would it happen? i don’t think so. 2/10.

Sutara: this seems like chaos. these ladies would be the power couple of the century. i think with two women so strong and powerful, they’d butt heads a lot. they would be out in the world and actively changing it. would it happen? they’re both badass awesome women, but i’m not sure. 3/10.

Zukaang: uhh... i can’t say i ever thought about zukaang before now. but i guess you would have this bright ball of energy and a dark brooding type, so i can see how it could be cute. would it happen? um... no. i’m not sure if opposites attract that much. 0/10.

Tophko: another one that has literally never crossed my mind! i’m not sure how i feel about angry + angry as a dynamic. i think they would make great friends. okay, i think they would be a couple you mostly wouldn’t want to mess with. they can mess with each other, but no one else is allowed to mess with them. would it happen? no. i’m a slut for height differences, but not at the expense of a good personality match. 0/10.

Jetko: ah, the infamous jetko. the thing about jet in my au is that he’s kind of a sports boy. jock vibes. i guess i haven’t thought about his personality much except that he’s, well, a cocky sports guy. even if mans was bi or gay, i think he would have too much internalized homophobia to openly be in an gay relationship. would it happen? here’s the thing. i could maybe see them having kissed once or something, but not together currently. 4/10.

Jetka: okay i see a handful of people saying jetka rights so i thought i’s include it. i think the most likely scenario would be, maybe, they kissed once or twice and then sokka got ghosted because jet was closeted and scared. since jet obviously didn’t try to burn down a village, maybe that could be the reason sokka doesn’t like him. would it happen? maybe they never got together but jet could have been sokka’s first dude crush or something. 2/10.

Jetara: my immediate thought was that jet asked her out and they went out for like a week but katara quickly realized hey, he’s an asshole. ALTERNATIVELY, katara recognized him as the guy who hurt her brother or zuko and never went out with him at all, because hey, i don’t need all that drama. would it happen? maybe awkward exes. 3/10.

okay these took soooo long! if you have another ship, questions, or headcanon ideas, my ask box is always open!

[cottage-babe]

Burning Scars part IV

Previous | Chapter 4 | Next

Masterlist

I’ve been watching haikyuu and Nishinoya is so cute :(((

This chapter is going to fill in pretty much EVERYTHING related to Y/n’s past. also i feel like this shorter than my other chapters idk

Summary: Y/n, a werewolf from a hidden village, comes across Zuko and Iroh after being exiled. How has fate intertwined the wolf into the avatar's destiny?

*****This chapter takes place on Season 2 Episode 11*****

___

“Thank you,” Y/n said as she accepted the cup of tea from Mushi. 

The boys were surprisingly welcoming to her. Lee had begun to ask questions as soon as she came up to them, but his uncle had told him to stop and let her speak. He set up a pot of tea and had now given some to the young teens. 

All throughout the wait for the drink, Y/n’s mind was racing. Where does she start? How much does she tell them? The girl desperately wanted to come clean, but her loyalty to her pack deterred her. However, she knew that she had no obligations anymore, so why was she still so stuck on them?

Mushi took the spot next to Lee and quietly sipped his drink. His eyes weren’t on her, but she could feel that his desire for answers was just as strong as Lee’s. 

She took a deep breath and started her story.

“So I’m a- uh- werewolf.”

Silence. 

The girl knew that she probably should’ve continued from there, but she couldn’t help but wait for their reactions. Or rather, lack thereof. 

Y/n didn’t want to look up at their faces. If she did, she knew that their facial expressions would cause her to assume things and she didn’t want to guess their emotions; if they felt something, then they would need to say it. 

“Oh, well, we know that much!” The uncle laughed lightly, breaking the obvious tension. 

“But Uncle, I thought you said they were only myths; fiction.” Lee questioned.

“What more proof do you need? She’s a living, breathing piece of evidence!”

The teen nodded his head as he thought about that logic. Y/n assumed that it would be hard for him to process; just yesterday he had heard the story and now there she was, telling him that it wasn’t a myth, it was completely real and in front of him. 

“So, are you the only one? Or are there more?” Lee thought for a moment. “Wait, no, you mentioned a town before; there’s a whole village of werewolves?!”

I have no obligations toward my pack. I have no obligations toward my pack. I have no obligations toward my pack. 

“Yes,” she said confidently. It was about time that she went past her fear of her pack. They could no longer control her, she was her own person who could make her own decisions. 

But they’re your family.

Y/n shook the thought out of her head. Family doesn’t treat family that way. 

“Don’t ask me where they live or anything, because I won’t speak it.” Y/n succumbed to her guilty side slightly, hoping it would soothe her small feelings of regret. 

“We won’t, we promise,” Mushi said while sending a stern stare toward Lee. The boy nodded his head once again. 

Lee continued with his questions, though. “Why aren’t you with them then? You came to us two days ago, alone. Did something happen?”

Why does he ask so many questions?

She supposed that if she wanted to maintain their trust, she would have to wipe the slate clean; no more lies and no more hiding. They already knew that her kind existed, so there was no way that she would let them leave her behind. 

“In my pack, there’s a rite of passage that we must do when we turn 16...”

___

This was it. The day that everyone in the pack was waiting for. 

The L/n children’s Days of Trials. 

The morning had started wildly; their mom had helped clean the fur of all five of her “pups” while they watched decorations and food being prepared from afar. The village was quite small and had wooden huts for each family. Each one had a large leaf door that slid close for privacy; they had evolved a lot since their original days. Almost everyone in the pack was helping set up, except for the male Alpha.

That man just so happened to be their father; the exact reason why everyone was making such a big fuss over today. The Alpha’s children were going to be doing their trials to prove their worth to the pack. Some of the other wolves were excited and curious to see how the days would pan out; recently, there had been a spike of children who couldn’t complete the tasks assigned. 

However, there were many members who didn’t quite care for the right of passages. Every time the children of their leaders undergo the trials, they pass with flying colors. Never has there been a “royal” family child that didn’t meet the standards that were put up. 

Half of the workers around were in their human bodies to put up the decor while the other half were using their wolf’s to carry heavy things. It was a beautiful harmony that Y/n enjoyed on the Days of Trials; no one in the pack was looked down on for using their human skins. People would only use what was convenient. 

The five teen’s mother changed down to her human form. Her children copied her actions.

Their mother had long, overgrown hair and lively eyes. She was the kindest mother that the kids could ever dream of having. The wrinkles that surrounded her eyes not only showed age, but her strong, wise experience. She was absolutely perfect. 

Mother sighed as she looked at each one of her kids in the eyes.

“I want all of you to know that no matter what happens, I am proud of you,” she smiled so sweetly. “You worked so hard to be here and no amount of trials can take that away.”

Just as she said that, someone called for her aid and she had to leave, but not before leaving a kiss on all five of her kid’s foreheads. 

Soon, the siblings were left alone. 

“I-I don’t know if I can do this,” Fen spoke while trying to even out his erratic breaths. “It just feels so wrong to lie like this.”

Ayano rubbed Fen’s back to try and calm him. Then, Binu spoke up.

“I hate to agree with him, but he’s kinda right. Mom’s worried about our safety while we’re here with a secure plan? It feels sick to let her be so scared.”

Shong crossed his arms with a glare. “Don’t be dumb, guys. Our plan makes it so we all come out alive. If anything, we’re doing her a favor.”

They’re tall brother spoke some truths. The siblings had devised a scheme a long time ago to ensure that each member completed their tasks efficiently and met the bare minimums. 

They’re first task would be to go out and hunt a total of three animals before the sun rose to the center of the sky, signaling noon. Y/n and Binu were the best hunter’s of the family; while Y/n took hiding in the shadows easy, Binu was fast enough to outrun any animal. The two would use their skills to help the other’s catch their prey and make it back before their time ended.

Then, their next task would be working as a group to capture something that belonged to an opposite group (sort of like capture the flag). It was meant to see if the group could work together nicely and form a strategy. Luckily for them, Shong was very smart and him with the combination of Ayano would be able to easily make up a plan for any situation. 

Lastly, the five siblings would have to fight head on with each other and gain a total of two wins. They weren’t aware of the line up, but the siblings knew that no matter who went up against who, they would stick to the plan.

If they didn’t, then members of their family could be gone forever. 

___

“Ahh, I see,” Mushi said once the girl took a pause in her story to drink her tea, “Your plan didn’t work, then?”

Y/n shook her head softly and spoke quietly. “No, no. It did work. We made it past the first two trials so quickly, we almost broke a record.” A frown slowly set upon her face. “It was just at the third trial that things didn’t go as smoothly...”

___

“I think a congratulations is in order!” Ayano yelled as she held her wooden cup up into the air. 

Y/n let out a laugh and grabbed her sister’s arm. “We haven’t even finished everything yet. The last Test is tomorrow, so maybe you should get some sleep.”

Her siblings were, to say the least, drunk. 

One of them (at this point, Y/n couldn’t remember who) had stolen some liquor and brought it to the brothers and sisters. They all had a couple drinks, but Y/n and Fen seemed to be the only ones smart enough to remember what tomorrow was. 

They had finished the first day of the Trials; they had assumed that it would be the hardest due to the randomness of it, but it had seemed fairly easy. 

Many say that the Days of Trials were never meant to be hard, they just weeded out the absolute weakest of a bunch. Y/n wasn’t entirely sure how other’s had failed the tasks, but she didn’t like to think much of it. 

There were rumors of what had happened to the werewolves that didn’t pass. Some say that they were forced to live in solitude for the rest of their lives... others say that the pack’s fighters chase them down for fun. 

It was a little alarming that not even she, daughter of a family who is ranked so high, knew what happened to those poor wolves. 

Ayano clumsily transformed into her wolf skin and whined softly. Y/n sighed before looking at Fen. 

“You can take care of the other boys, right?”

He gave her a small salute. “Yup, I got it.”

She was about to help her sister out before Fen began to talk again. Y/n turned around to see Binu on the floor, but Shong was no where to be seen. 

“Uhh... you wouldn’t happen to know where Shong is, Y/n?”

The girl groaned in exasperation and dropped her sister onto the floor. 

Just as the brother and sister were about to leave their hut to search for him, the man in question pushed his way passed the hanging door and paused when he met their stare. 

“Dude, we were about to go look for you.” Fen groaned out, then went to the passed out Binu on the floor. “Help me bring him to our room.”

And with that, the two semi-sober siblings completely ignored Shong’s time of leave, despite knowing that no one else in their pack was awake that late into the night. 

The next afternoon, the five of them rushed to a big, open center where the rest of the pack was surrounding. Almost everyone was in their wolf skins, so they copied the actions of their fellow members. It was there that the children learned of the order that they were fighting in. 

There would be ten matches: each teen going against each of their siblings. A battle would be won once the victor gets their opponent outside of the circle. This trial was supposed to be the easiest for the five brothers and sisters. Emphasis on supposed.

Their fights went semi-smoothly.

At first, it was hard for the wolves to pretend to fight. They attacked each other like it was their dying wish, but in reality it was all a part of their plan. 

Just two wins each, that’s all they needed. 

By the time seven matches finished, Binu had already received his two wins; the rest of his fights ended with him losing dramatically as if he were in a play. Shong also had his two wins, but he still had to fight two more rounds and give his opponents the victory. 

The eighth battle was between Shong and Fen.

Fen only had one win under his belt, which meant that Shong would need to lose. Y/n knew what her tall brother’s tactic was when he need to lose the fight; he would put on a huge show to demonstrate his strength, then would pretend to make a misstep that costs him the win. It was extremely entertaining for the crowd. 

The siblings waited on the outskirts of the circle with the rest of the pack. The wolves around them were howling and barking in excitement. It was going to be such an amazing fight; Fen was seen as a weak asset and it seemed like Shong was going to completely destroy him.

The two sisters shared a look that said exactly what they were both thinking: if only the pack knew what was really going to happen. 

And with that, the teen’s father let out a bellowing howl; the signal for the battle to begin. 

Shong began his usual wolf dance. He skirted around each of Fen’s attacks and landed soft, teasing blows to his brother’s hide. He would only let Fen hit or bite him every once in a while, his only goal being to feed the crowd’s desire for a difficult fight. 

‘Okay, this is it.’ Y/n thought to herself, ‘Right about now, Shong should let Fen win.’

Just as the thought crossed her mind, her tall brother stopped his antics. It was a bit too sudden and the crowed around them let out a confused noise. It seemed as though Shong was... looking at someone. 

The girl followed his gaze all the way until it landed on their father. From her position, she couldn’t quite see the silent conversation they were having, but it seemed important. 

It was then that Fen struck. 

He pounced on his brother and shoved him straight out of the circle. 

It was silent for a moment, but eventually the noise flew up and cheered for the weaker sibling. It was a true display of power, even of the two hadn’t planned it. 

The look on Shong’s face was indescribable. It was a mixture between sad, angry, happy, and... something else. It was like every contradicting emotion was running through the wolf’s system. 

‘Why is he acting like that? This loss isn’t any different from the other ones.’

___

“I should’ve seen what was coming next,” Y/n spoke. “With the way he was acting... I just never expected him to be the one that broke all of us apart.”

___

It was the middle of the ninth match. 

Shong was up again, for the final time, but was against Ayano. 

Now, their sister wasn’t a force to be reckoned with. There were multiple times that she had fought one of the pack members for bullying a sibling (mainly Fen or Y/n). She wasn’t the strongest or the smartest or the fastest, but she made up for her weaknesses with her quick thinking. Her mind connected dots faster than all of her siblings combined and it’s what made her standout. Ayano’s passion and fast brain made her a threat to some of the strategists that lead beside their father. 

The duo’s red eyes glared at each other, circling the edges of the ring while they waited for the other to pounce. In this round, Ayano would receive her final win from her brother and complete her trial. 

But why was that look still molded into Shong’s face? He had death in his eyes instead of the playfulness that should’ve existed there. Something’s not right. 

Y/n desperately wanted to warn her sister, but if she mentioned anything about their plan, then they would all be banished for treason. It was best to just let it all play out. 

Maybe their brother just got really good at acting. 

Shong then jumped at Ayano, but the girl dodged it with milliseconds to spare. The brother almost slid out of the circle with the velocity of his jump, but slowed down in time. They both growled at each other.

The same actions repeated itself for the next couple of minutes; one would jump and the other would dodge. It really seemed like they were trying to kill the other, even with Y/n knowing who was supposed to win. It was terrifying. 

The brother and sister looked as though they were evenly matched. They predicted the other’s movements like it was their own; they danced as if they had practiced this for hours. 

However, the two weren’t the same. Shong was strong and had a everlasting stamina. Ayano didn’t.

The entire crowd could see that Ayano was growing tired. Her movements were turning sluggish and it was taking her longer and longer to dodge any attacks. 

Why isn’t Shong letting her win yet?

By now, Shong should’ve done his “misstep” and lost, but he seemed so persistent on his jumps.

Then, as some twisted, sick peice of fate, their brother pounced and Ayano was too exhausted to move out of the way. She let him drag her out of the ring, her body falling limp. 

Shong had one, which meant he got three wins; effectively stealing it from Ayano. 

That meant that in the last round of Y/n vs Ayano, one sister would be met with the doom of banishment for the rest of their lives.

___

“And so we fought. I let her win. End of story.”

Y/n set down her empty tea cup and looked at the two men in front of her. They were so invested in her story that they had forgotten about their own drinks. Steam and heat no longer rose from the small cups, it instead being a cold, lifeless collection of flavored water. 

“Is that- Is she the reason you got hurt?” Lee asked, his voice hoarse from not speaking for a while.

“Uhh, yeah.” She wrung her hands. “Its a rule in my pack: when someone’s banished, they have to have something like that visible on them, so they can never come back. It was only a coincidence that my sister was the one that gave it to me.”

“I am so sorry you had to go through that, Y/n,” Mushi whispered with a frown set on his face. The girl shrugged her shoulders in response.

“I mean, it’s better that it was me and not her. Her navigation skills are subpar, so she would’ve been so lost out here,” she forced a laugh. 

Mushi just his head in disbelief while Lee stared at the ground, lost in thought. It made her wonder what was going on in that head of his. 

Y/n really hoped that she had made the right decision by telling them the truth. It’s not like anyone would believe these two random travelers if they ever mentioned it. But still, the thought of them telling a town and having her pack torn apart made her shudder. 

Lee stood up suddenly. 

It surprised the two other people, but they quickly regained their focus as the teen began to speak. 

“I think you should stay with us, like for the long run,” he said confidently. “You could help us out a lot, and I think that we could help you.”

“Okay!” She stood up excitedly as well. This was the exact thing that she had been hoping for.

“And, of course, Lee,” Mushi interrupted, “shouldn’t that mean that we tell her the truth about us as well?”

Y/n was almost certain that whatever secret they had couldn’t be as bad as hiding being a werewolf. 

The boy puffed out his chest and nodded his head. 

“My real name is Prince Zuko and this is my Uncle, General Iroh. We are both from the fire nation.”

Silence.

There were many things running through the girl’s head, but the main one being Oh, so that’s why Mushi yelled out Zuko yesterday!

It took her a moment, but eventually she found something to say.

“You’re a prince? Should I bow or something?”

Le- or- Zuko deflated slightly at her words.

“Is that really all that you have to say?”

Iroh let out a hearty laugh at his nephew’s reaction. He quickly picked up their tea pot and cups while the two teens talked. 

“And that ‘fire nation’ stuff, does that have to do with that magic thing you did yesterday?” The girl asked with a tilt of her head. This cause him to shrink even more.

“Y-you mean my bending?”

“Bending? What is tha-”

The girl paused as her ears caught a soft thumping sound; almost identical to the one that awoke her that morning. 

Those people must be coming back.

She quickly warned the duo and helped them pack up their things. Just as the noise grew closer and closer, the three of them jumped on their ostrich-horses (in the same positions as they had the day before) and rode out before the group of men could find them again. 

Iroh laughed from his horse beside them. “Maybe I should’ve stayed, it was nice to see old friends.”

“Too bad you don’t have any old friends that don’t want to attack you.” Zuko groaned front his seat in front of Y/n. 

The three of them were riding pretty fast, so Y/n had her arms gripped around the boy’s torso. He had stiffened at first, but slowly relaxed at her touch. 

“Hmm... Old friends that don’t want to attack me...” 

___

thanks for sticking w me guys <3

even if you skipped past the memories like i know some do, i appreciate you reading this :)

anyways might actually have some cutesy stuff next chapter so wait till next week to read it <33

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Masterlist

Taglist: @bucky-blogs @hopefuloperaangelnerd @simplyfandomish @oddlypointlessescapes @lozzybowe ((bolded couldn’t be tagged))

[pufferfishtrash]

The Dragon and its four Bastards

Inspired by: https://biggest-gaudiest-patronuses.tumblr.com/post/639693856032620544/a-dragon-finds-a-clutch-of-goose-eggs-and-attempts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Start of part one The eggs   It was late at night when the dragon decided to do its sheep raid on the wool farmers within the town below its lair. The dragon always chose to strike at night as to not bother the farmers' work in the morning and evening, as the dragon knew that it's the prime time of day for sheep care and the possibility for more sheep in the future. For the rest of the town, it did not care for them other than to keep it from being damaged, knowing that if the town were harmed, who would care for their delicious scrumptious snacks?   As the night went on while the creature swooped down and caught a sheep within its maw, killing it with a quick movement of its jaw. It flew a bit further away from the rest of the sheep in silence, as to eat in peace without having to deal with bleating creatures. As it began to bite and tear into the wooly beast below its sharp teeth, its eyes began to wonder, keeping a look out for anyone who may disturb its weekly treat. As it gazed around in between bites, its observant sight caught something a bit odd not too far from it. Curiosity seemed to spark within its large eyes before it finally scarfed down the rest of the sheep in a hurry as to allow it to investigate the curious thing in the dark.   It slowly stalked in the dark blanket of the night as its eyes focused in on these glowing white orbs in the moonlight, and not long after, it approached these… things. It sniffed and gently nudged them with its snoot and to it, seemed like eggs. It only knew this as in the earlier years of its life, it saw these eggs but they didn’t meet a happy end as they were either eaten or trampled by creatures and animals alike. It glanced around once more before carefully picking up each egg into its mouth to carry it away back to its home.   Once arriving, it placed the eggs within its nest of hay and other shiny soft things, opening its maw and carefully letting the eggs roll out onto the fluff of bedding it had made a while ago. Looking at the eggs more, they were large compared to the ones it had seen with the humans… but it didn’t matter, this dragon was determined to keep them safe and hopefully to hatch them. It never had to deal with something so delicate before other than sheep and shiny trinkets that it came across, but eventually one would be eaten and the other tossed onto a pile of other things. But this… these were eggs, eggs are delicate and could easily be smashed to bits underneath this dragon's weight, so it couldn’t possibly lay on them like a bird.   Then an idea came to the dragon… It would simply lay next to the eggs after gently placing some soft bedding over the said eggs, it hoped that being near them was enough warmth for them. And so, it laid down for the night, carefully wrapping itself around the eggs and slept. It would repeat this as many times needed before absolutely having to go out to get more food, which wouldn’t be for at least 2 months. The town found this odd but at least more of their sheep would be spared, than having the dragon come once a week.   Time went on and eventually, one fateful morning… it heard soft cracks and quiet chirps coming from the pile of fluff that it surrounded. Its eyes opened and looked down at the fluff, watching it move around before a tiny creature popped its head out, then another, and another… So many tiny weird looking creatures. They stared at each other before the dragon gently blew on them to have the fluff flow away from these tiny things, just so they could move more freely.   It watched them sit there, and they looked at the dragon. It was strange, but it felt proud to have four of these things. Then, said things began to peck and nip at things around them, they then began to peck at the dragon and it let out a tiny huff. It stood tall and carefully walked away from these tiny creatures, making its way out of the cave and flew away, leaving them behind.   The dragon soon returned, having something for them to eat. Thus began the dragon and its four little goslings' relationship between mystical beings and fiends. As the weeks, months and years went on, the geese left home to live on their own, leaving the dragon in its lair alone, allowing the geese to do whatever they damn pleased. The dragon simply raised them to be fearless and to show them what to do with the power of flight and so on… teaching them to be their own goose. And they were their own goose… causing mayhem on the town near the dragon's lair. End of part one ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Start of part two Where it starts   The geese were a bit smarter than their parent but they respected their elder, the dragon did raise them after all. As the geese stepped their web-foot out onto the world, it was a different game… and they were the game changers. They waddled around for a while, exploring their new area with its brethren. Exploring and seeing how things worked. That's when the goose gang came across two humans talking, they couldn’t understand their language but they saw one of them holding a picture of their beloved dragon with its eyes crossed out and a sword through its chest.   These two humans were talking before one nodded their head and the other shook their hands together in some sort of agreement before they were handed a bag of gold. This wasn’t gonna fly with the geese… not one bit. All four could only see red before one went and flew up, snatching the bag of gold and flying off, while another snatched the picture and tore it up in anger… while the other two geese let out a mighty honk before attacking the humans, biting and pecking them as much as they could. They drew blood. When the humans retreated, the people who were in the streets to witness such an act of anger, began to run and scream in terror as the gang of geese began to fly around in search of anything that might even hint at harm towards their parent. They were on a warpath… and they were going to win. End of part two ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Start of part three They are geese, who are also bastards.   After causing months of rampage on the town below the dragon's lair, news spread to other towns and villages of flying creatures terrorizing the people in this strange town. As word of mouth is, things began to change and eventually it was said that there were dragons terrorizing this town. Eventually this news came to a knight one fateful evening as he was called upon to deal with the issue. He arrived on horse back to an empty, almost abandoned town. Looking around, it was odd, the silence almost deafening except for a few flapping sounds in the far distance. He could only assume it to be those pesky dragons he’s heard so much about.   He then stopped in front of a tavern to tie up his horse by the trough and entered. He glanced around and sat down, as he did, another man approached him and sat across from him “You’re the knight, correct?” the lesser dressed man said. The nicer dressed man answered “I am, and you are?” He raised a slight brow in confusion. “I am the mayor of this town, I was the one who sent for you, to help us with the… four bastards” He said with a frown. “There's four of them?!” He said rather shocked. “Yes, I thought you knew… but that's alright, if you could, I’d like to take you to them so you could… you know… do what you do”   The knight looked perplexed and then chuckled. “You mean slay the foul beasts” He said before standing up with a smirk as he rubbed his chin in thought. “I think I could take on all four by myself… but I’d like to know… what kind of beast are they? I need to know so I can deal with it properly” The mayor simply gave him a strange look. “Before I answer, what kind of ‘beast’ do you think I sent you for?” He crossed his arms as he looked up at the now standing man. The knight squinted his eyes a bit before lightly shaking his head and letting out a light sigh. “You sent for me because you had a dragon problem? Or is this some other crazy beast in your midsts?” The mayor groaned lightly as he tilted his head back in his seat before he looked back at the other. “We do have a dragon, but they’re not the problem… they do take a sheep or two once a week but they don’t do anything really other than that” He paused and took a deep inhale. “Listen… don’t laugh at this until I’m done explaining. See, our problem is the four geese that suddenly appeared in our town a few months ago” The man before him looked… curious and sat down and crossed his arms and legs as if to say ‘go on’ and so, the mayor did. “They attacked a few of the townsfolk, we haven’t really found out the reason as to why but their attacks were so vicious that we had to hospitalize a few people besides them” He shuddered. “They didn’t stop at the attacks… they would work together and cause issues for people all over town, like a craftsman with his harmer on the roof, he couldn’t get to it because they took his ladder and placed it in a middle of our lake… and then took his boat and put the boat in his tallest trees” The knight listened, eyes closed and nodding until the last bit with the craftsman. He looked almost impressed as he opened his eyes and furrowed his brow. “And have you really tried to do everything you could to get rid of these… geese?” He asked with almost a laugh in his voice, but he forced the laugh down and tried his best to act serious. “Yes, we actually tried to form a hunting party but these geese are nothing like we've seen before… they were always a step ahead of us” He explained. “The night before our hunt, they somehow got into our houses and took our weapons, tossing them into the lake as well as… well, there was bird crap everywhere… even on the ceiling for God's sake! And as for our hunting dogs… lets just say they are afraid of any kind of bird in our area” He shook his head. “I see…” He looked down at the table in front of him and shook his head with a heavy sigh. “Fine, I’ll slay these geese, but I request to keep them as trophies along with the pay” The mayor smiled and nodded eagerly and stood up, grabbing the other man's hands with both of his and shook it furiously. “Of course, of course!! We don’t want anything to do with these damned bastards anymore, you got yourself a deal!” What the knight didn’t know… was what he just signed himself up for.   As soon as the knight was paid, the mayor led the man out of the tavern and he was going to grab the horse before the mayor stopped him. “They would attack anything, I recommend not to bring your horse” He gave him an annoyed look before sighing and turned around to face him. “Fine” He then marched after the Mayor all the way until they reached a barn house that was the closest to the mountain. The barn looked abandoned and looked heavily damaged… The mayor stopped far away from it and looked anxious. “You go ahead… once you’re done here, come back to the tavern…” And then, he ran off, leaving the knight alone at this strange place.   He took a few steps forward before drawing his sword out… slowly making his way to the barn house, looking around. The tension in the air was thick as everything fell silent once the mayor was out of sight and earshot. He didn’t hear the flapping in the distance as now it was nightfall, the sun going down and the light almost gone. ‘These are simply geese… I should be finished before the sun is fully gone for the day’ He thought rather confidently. Once he stepped into the barn, it looked empty except further down across from him was a nest and inside he could see black, white and brown feathers… ‘Bingo’ he thought as he crept his way towards the nest.   They were asleep, or at least that's what he assumed ‘This will be easy..’ He raised his sword, nearly above his head as he took his last final steps to the nest with the supposed sleeping geese… He only paused when he stepped on a stick, a stick that was astray from the nest. The cracking sound it made, echoed within the barn and then darkness fell upon it. The sun had gone down sooner than he thought as he held his breath. He then heard a loud flapping sound of wings behind him, he turned around and came face to face with a goose. He jumped and dropped his sword as he let out a loud shout in surprise. This awoke the other three geese who were in the nest behind him.   It was time. The goose in front of him let out a warrier cry like honk and charged forward to protect its brethren. The knight, being trained in the arts of battle, he was quicker than the goose sadly and ducked as it flew over head, missing him barely. He rolled and grabbed a hold of his sword again and stood quickly from his position off the floor, then… he charged the goose as it turned around in the air to go in for another attack. He swung his sword and slammed it against the goose, knocking it out of midair, causing it to let out a loud honk of pain as it fell onto the floor. He ran over to it and raised his sword to go and stab it, just before he could, he felt something tugging on his hair, on the back of his head. It was another goose! How could he forget that there were four of them??! ‘Damn it!’. He gritted his teeth and chose to attack that goose for now and slapped it away.   The goose then simply bit his hand. HARD. Biting a finger off and flying away as another goose came to attack him. He shrieked in pain at the loss of a finger but at the moment he had to focus on the fight. So far, he had counted 3 geese… ‘Where was the fourth?’ That didn’t matter for now… as the third one attacked his head, he turned back to the first and stabbed down with his sword and his eyes closed. He heard a shrieking honk of pain before it died out into silence from that goose. The goose attacking his head then bit his nose and he shouted before now randomly swinging his sword around as he backed away. The attack from the geese ceased as he backed into something behind him, it didn’t feel like a wall, and so he turned around quickly with his eyes open now.   He gaped at the creature he saw in front of him. Taking a few quick steps back as he stared up at the beast… It was the dragon, It stood tall with three geese on its shoulders, staring smugly down at the knight. The fourth goose had gotten the damn dragon from the mountains. ‘How was that possible??? What the hell is going on anymore??!!!’ The large dragon stared down at the knight with a cold stare as it simply glanced between him and the goose who laid motionless a few feet away… The dragon's eyes seemed to gloss over, seeing this poor goose… Its baby. It then looked back at the knight with a stare that could kill and it moved forward towards the knight with a loud roar, the geese moving into formation to attack when ready.   The knight also moved toward the dragon, but he wasn’t expecting its attack as it swung its tail around, hitting the knight into his side, causing him to go flying and slamming right into the barns wall. He then kept going as he broke through the wall and hit the ground, his sword out of hand. The wind was knocked out of the man as he laid wheezing on the ground… While the knight was recovering, the dragon quickly made its way towards the goose who was on the ground, not moving. It let out a low and soft sound as it tenderly nuzzled its child with its snoot, the rest of its children gathered around, looking worriedly at their brethren.   After gently moving the goose around, the dragon's heart broke as it let out a cry of agony at the loss of its gosling… Suddenly, it heard footsteps rushing back and a loud war cry as it felt a sharp pain within its side. It lets out a mighty roar in pain as it was stabbed by the knight… it collapses in sadness and in pain… feeling its emotions hit it over and over again. The knight cheered in victory but it was short lived as the dragon, in its last attempts to protect the rest of its loved ones… attacked the man with its claws, piercing the man in his chest. It pulled back and stared at the man, both in the same state of pain. The man's smile fell to a frown as he fell to his knees and held his chest, wheezing.   He looked up at the dragon, his vision getting blurry as he began to speak. “Eye for an eye… heh… damn geese” He then collapsed to the ground, not quite dead but he wasn’t causing damage anymore. The dragon then simply curled around the lost gosling and let out a soft breath before closing its eyes. Its other goslings let out a few quiet honks before leaving and heading off somewhere. The dragon felt tired… in fact, so tired that it fell asleep. The battle was finished and it was won, but at what cost? End of part 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Start of part 4 The ending  The dragon awoke to a strange sight before it… it glanced around, seeing that it was still within the barn, the knight was gone and so was its gosling. It began to panic and moved to fly but it was stopped by something holding its wings in place. It looked at itself and saw that it was bandaged up… then right beside it was a young man, who had stood up from his seating position with his hands up. The dragon squinted its eyes before settling back down with a slight scoff, but kept its eyes on him. The human then spoke. “I’m the witch from the forest near your town… these geese had brought me here to you and… the other goose” He paused for a moment “They found me while I was looking for herbs in the nearby area…” he explained. “And when I came here and saw all of these” he gestured to the barn “I figured out what to do… I saved the goose and you, and the human as well” The dragon tensed at the mention of that human, it sent the witch a deathly glare.  The man gulped and let out a nervous laugh. “I’m sure he won’t bother you anymore… I promise, just relax and take it easy, I’ll go get your geese” He said before leaving the area to go outside. The dragon listened quietly to the honking outside and a few flapping sounds before the small gang of geese came in honking excitedly as they reached their parent. The man then came in with its gosling that it thought it had lost. The dragon smiled, seeing that the goose's wing was the part that was stabbed as its wing was wrapped as well. “Here’s your goose delivery” The witch smiled, he placed the healing goose next to the dragon. The other geese joined the dragon except for one, that one went to the witch and gave him a bag of gold The witch gave a rather confused look between goose and gold, ‘How did this goose get a bag of gold?’ but he wasn’t one to complain and hummed lightly before turning around to leave.  “I wish you five good luck… you’ll be fine by tomorrow, rest well” The mysterious witch left and disappeared out of sight.  The geese and the dragon had survived this attack… What happened in the end was the knight retired, the town gave up on any attacks or future plots against the damn geese and dragon as they later found out what started the fights in the first place… The dragon and the people made a somewhat agreement with the help of the witch, he helped translate loosely as to what was to be done. The deal was that the geese and dragon were to be left alone, as well as having sheep and other foods given to them once a week, in return the dragon and geese would protect the village from creatures and other things. That is the end of The Dragon and its four Bastards. I hope I did alright, I don’t write fighting very much. And I hope it was to everyones liking... If you have any critisism, or advice, please do share them with me :D

[kotas-dump]

There’s something about the crescent moon that seems mocking as you stare up at it through your bedroom window. Perhaps it’s the dagger in your chest, just shy of your heart but making every breath a painful one. Or the body of your human lover Emilia drapped over your naked chest, hands still wrapped tightly around the hilt of the dagger. It could even be it’s light glinting off your sword, imbuned with magic and bound to you that hung above your head, dripping her blood on your cheek.

There was pain, a lot of it from your chest, but you knew you’d heal just fine from the physical wounds. Still the tears burned in your eyes. It had only been months ago that the two of you were swearing the rest of your lives to each other as you brought down your kind’s hold over the humans. You swore your allegiance to Emilia, the strongest of the vampire hunters. You helped her slay your own family for the future of humanity, for the hope that you’d have a future with her. A bastard of a vampire and a vampire hunter would set the example for the rest of the world...

And for what?

You sat up, her body slumping down into your lap as you pulled her dagger from your chest with a grunt. The wound started to close and you tossed it aside. How had it ever come to this?

You weren’t sure of the time that passed as you lifted her up into your arms and laid her down in your bed. Leaving to go wash yourself of the overwhelming scent of her blood.

It was there, in the moonlight of the river you felt the moon mocking you the most. It was waist deep in icy water that you broke down and howled like a wounded beast. Naked and hurt standing in a river in the dead of night. Ashamed at yourself for not letting her just kill you.

The moon was setting by the time you reached your mansion of a home. The icy water numbing you to what you must do next.

You posted her corpse up outside, hanging from chains over your archway as a warning. As the rising sun stained the sky red you scoffed and retreated back into your home.

—

Time had passed since Emilia’s death but you still found yourself talking to her on your steps in the dead of the night. Her body had long since fallen and scattered by the wild animals. Living in isolation like you did you wondered how long before you too were just some wild beast. You should have let her kill you. This wasn't living.

You had taken up walking and ventured into the nearby village at dusk and only for spices and things you couldn’t get yourself. Even after closing the woman selling the spices talked to you. She was nice...for a human. But you never stayed any longer than a handful of minutes. It had become a ritual on every full moon to check on your nearby village and make sure they were safe.

Today was no exception. She talked as she bagged up your items. Commenting on your good skin despite the dry fall air. Sweet as ever you smiled and nodded. Reminding yourself to keep your distance.

“Just this tonight?” She wonders,taking your money and holding out your change. As you went to take it she grabbed your hand. “Is your husband hurting you?”

The question shocked you, took you by surprise. “I..I’m not married.”

“Oh.” She released your hand and leaned back. “I’m sorry.. I thought.. I mean.. You always look so sad... and you always leave in s hurry... Well there I go sticking my nose where it don’t belong.” She smiled as her own husband came out from the back.

You watched with a forced smile as he wrapped his hand around her waist, chuckling. “She giving you trouble? I keep telling you not to bother the poor girl. We can’t afford to loose our best customer.”

She slaps his chest and scoffs. “I ain’t troubling no one. I was just chat-“

Turning you quickly mutter. “It’s getting late I’ll be going now.”

“Now wait a minute there little lady.” Her husband calls.

Little? You hadn’t been called that for almost 300 years. “I really can’t stay..”

“I won’t keep ya. We were just wondering. Wouldn’t it be easier to get these things delivered to ya? I mean you must live a ways a way what with you coming so late at night and all... so I could deliver em to ya so ya don’t have to make the trip.” He offers. It’s intriguing enough that you stop. “Ah see I knew that would get your interest. Just give us the directions and I’ll make weekly delivery’s.”

Would save you from leaving the mansion..and the trouble of travel. You sigh and quickly write it down. “I’m leaving now..thank you.”

“Thank you! See ya soon sugar!” The woman waves and you nod and quickly make your way home.

The weekly deliveries were nice and kept a better supply of fresh spices in your pantry even if you met them on the edge of your property. But one week they were late. It was well into night and they still hadn’t arrived. So you went out and started walking.

Most vampires and werewolves knew better than to venture onto your territory but mountain lions didn’t really understand. You felt foolish for worrying but when you saw a horse laying dead on the side of the road you froze. that wasn’t a good sign at all.

Rushing over you could see claw marks and bites all over the horse.. the faint scent of the shopkeeper still clung to the warm carcass. Following it you ventured far into the forest. The stench of blood overpowering you as you close to a thick set of brush. A feral looking vampire looked up, soaked in blood and growling you sigh.

“You...complicate things.” You snap, grabbing their throat as they lung and throwing them into the trees. “They don’t make them like they used to.” You sigh, grabbing a branch and snapping it from the tree. “Didn’t your master tell you not to go near -“

“Richard? Honey? You out here?” A familiar voice.. the WIFE?! Snapping around the vampire makes a run for the voice.

“I swear to fuck shit... get back here!” Chasing after them you tackle them to the ground.

“Honey?” She calls, venturing toward you.

Not good not good. You look up and the slippery vampire throws you off and runs for her. It’s to late, the lantern light she carries catches their eyes and you tackle them to the ground as they lunge for her.

“Oh my god!” She gasps, covering her mouth as you two fight.

This was to complicated the smell of blood wasn’t helping either. It was making your stomach turn. They claw at your face, your shoulders and the stench of the blood only gets stronger. Pinning the feral vampire down you stab into their chest with the branch, piercing their heart as they scream in pain.

Breathing a heavy sigh of relief you stand up and brush yourself off. Blood covered your face were the feral monster had clawed you, dripping onto your shirt.

“That was...” The woman is shaken, the light bouncing in her quivering hand.

“It’s fine. You’re safe.” You try to give her a reassuring smile but she recoils and screams.

The lantern clatters to the ground as both of her hand fly to her mouth. “V-V-Vampire!” Turning she quickly ran back the way she’d come.

“That went well don’t you think?” You ask the rapidly disintingrating vampire. Snatching the lantern you set it upright and head back home. It was only a matter of time before the pitchforks and torches. “Fuck me.” You groan. All you could do was hope they had better aim than Emilia.

You’d gotten your door baracaded and a collection of wine on your table. If you were going to get angry mobbed you needed at least one bottle of wine in you. But.. there wasn’t one. You’d stayed up all day expecting it. Going through half your store of wine before giving up and heading to bed.

Even in the days that passed the mob never came. You ventured back into the village to see how they faired, passing by the spice merchant’s home only to hear her sniffling sobs. You knew that pain... well... kind of. So you gathered a bunch of wild flowers and left them on her window sill.

It became your new ritual, leaving flowers, sometimes money, for her every night. Even in the winter you managed to leave her gifts. After a while though you stopped. You weren’t sure why but it just seemed.. wrong to keep doing it. Having gifts from a vampire probably wasn’t comforting when that same creature was the one that killed your husband.

Instead you didn’t bother going into the village at all. You made your rounds, watched from the dark shadows of trees as she learned to smile and joke again. Good. She’d be fine. She was older now, maybe mid thirties? But she still ran that little spice shop. Every now and again she’d look out around sunset like she was looking for someone but only flipped the sign to close and turned off the lights.

You stopped visiting the village. It was painful to watch the humans age and it only made you envy them more. Mortality. Tonight was a clear and calm night. Not exactly a night you’d expected a knock on the door.

No one knocked on your door.

Curious you get up and open it. The spice woman standing there in her shawl wrapped tightly around her. “He-“ You slammed the door. This wasn’t... no. Opening the door again you expected your age to be playing tricks on you but no.. she still stood there, eyes slightly wider than before.

“It’s not polite to slam a door in someone’s face.” She chastises.

“I- what?” She’s indeed older now. Small wrinkles beginning to form at the edges of her eyes and nose. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting any visitors.. I uh..”

“Well with the skeletons outside I’d assume not. It’s not very welcoming.” She smiles and you just stare. Dumbfounded. “May I come in..?”

Right! Manners those were a thing. Opening the door you motion her inside. Suddenly regretting not dusting the last.. 10 years. “ Tea? I mean.. would you like some.. tea?”

She looks around before her eyes settle on you and soften. “That would be lovely.” Crossing her hands in front of her she raises her brows. “Are you alright sugar?”

You’re staring again. There's a faint scent of blood on her and it's a bit distracting” What? Oh! I’m fine. I’ll get that tea.” You rush towards the kitchen, setting the kettle onto the stove.

“You really haven’t aged at all.” She says as she steps into the kitchen.

You’re not really sure what to say to that. Why was she even here?

She sits down at your small table and watches you. “I’ve been meaning to come talk to you for a while. I just.. I couldn’t find the courage after that night I had been so shaken..”

Again, you’re not sure what to say so you just nod and glare angrily at the kettle hoping it would heat faster. “I- I am sorry about your husband.. I mean your loss. I’m sorry for your loss. Losing a love one.. must be hard.” You wouldn’t know you killed all of yours. Argh did your brain ever shut up? The kettle started to scream and you quickly grabbed it and poured the hot water into a cup for her. Placing it in front of her you catch her gaze and look away. “Right. I have some cookies around here somewhere..”

As you’re rummaging in the cabinets she laughs and you turn, old cookies in hand. You hadn’t been to the village in years so the last time you’d bought cookies.. You threw them back into the cabinet and shoved the door shut as things crashed inside. “Probably not good anymore anyways.”

“You seem scared.” She says, swirling her tea in her cup. “Hard to think I’d scare a vampire.

Well.. not you but the angry mob yes. Also why do you smell like blood? Well I guess you are full of it.. “Ah.. I don’t mean to come off that way. I just... Well the only guest I’ve ever had was Emilia and well..” I murdered her when she stabbed me through the chest in an extra spicy lovemaking session.” She’s gone now.” Clearing your throat you sit down across from her. You can’t help but notice all the dust everywhere.

“I don’t blame you for Richard you know.” She says softly, taking a sip from her tea

Who? oh right. Dead husband. Well you actually hadn’t killed him so you didn’t feel guilty there. “That's...good.”

“I figured you felt bad you didn’t save him from that other vampire.. the one you killed that night?” Her voice was so soft and she sounded like she wasn’t trying to upset you.

You hadn’t felt guilty though. Was that bad? You’d killed more significant people than the spice delivery man. “I...should have gotten there sooner.” You say, rolling with it. Not exactly like you could admit you didn’t care.

Setting her cup down she took your hands. “I know you left those gifts. No one else would have. You don’t have to be scared of the village. I didn’t tell anyone what happened and they ruled his death a moutain lion attack.”

Oh god she was touching you. How long had it been since you felt the warmth of another’s skin? Oh that’s creepy you’re being creepy. Pulling your hands away you chuckled. “That’s good." You said that already. Clearing your throat you try again. " I uh.. was worried you hated me for it.” Not really though I watched you for years. If you were going to rat on me you would have done it. Looking away you wring your hands, you could still feel her fingers.

She sighs. “I suppose I should but to be honest I don’t know why you saved me that night. Why you never came back to the village. I always figured you’d been punishing yourself for not being able to save him. I mean compared to other villages we’re much safer, we don’t have as many animal attacks or any other attacks. One person in 10 years is rare for a village...” Looking over she glances over to you and you quickly look away. “It must be lonely though.”

Lonely? You shoot her a confused look, “Why would I be lonely...?”

She shifts but smiles. “Well.. you stopped coming to the village,-“ not true. Ok kinda true. “You killed that vampire so you must not get along with your own kind-“ Okay that was true but for a whole different reason,”-and you live alone. Doesn’t that become lonely?” Her eyes are piercing and you turn away again.

Laughing you shrug. “I never really thought of it that way..” I mean i killed everyone I loved so it seems fitting I’d be alone. “I guess? It doesn’t really bother me often.” Only on you know, every major holiday. “I got used to it. I mean it has been...” When did Emilia die again? You shrug. “ It’s been a long time.” You force a smile and glance over to her.

There’s tears in her eyes and she wilts like a flower. “You poor thing. I’m so sorry. Here.” She pulls out a handkerchief and hands it to you.

Taking it you give her a confused look.

“You’re crying sugar.” She gives you a sad smile and takes it from your hand to wipe at your eyes. “I never meant to bring up any bad memories. I’m sorry.”

“What?” You rub at your eyes and take a deep breath. “That’s embarrassing.” Laughing you wipe at your eyes again.

“Everyone always talks about vampires like they’re beasts but.. you seem more human than any beast.” The woman dabs at her own eyes and takes a sip of tea. “I never imagined how they lived. I kind of assumed they lived in pairs or families.”

Right. “Most do. I uh.. Don’t have any. It’s not sad though. I-“ Killed them myself? “Made that choice myself.” Nice save. “It’s better for me to be alone.”

She nods. “I envy your strength. I keep trying to tell myself that. I still miss him though. It’s scary being a woman on her own. Having powers must put your mind at ease.”

Was that what this whole thing was about? Well she’d be heartbroken to hear you wouldn't turn anyone. The sterile mule of the vampire world. No kids no minions just eternity. “Ah well. I envy your ability to die.” You mutter. The silence that followed made you realize you’d said that..out loud. “I mean. Eternal life Isn’t something I’d give away even if I could. This isn’t really living.” You force a dry laugh and clear your throat. “Like you said I’m always alone and even if I wanted a family I could never have one so it’s not really...”You cough. “Living. More tea?” You stand up quickly but she catches your wrist.

She’s staring at you, eyes piercing into you. “Is that why you always look so sad? You’re cursed to be alone...forever?”

You bite your cheek. This was not were you expected your night to go. “I look sad?” She’d mentioned that before, years ago but to bring it up now? “It’s not like I’m not used to it. Just how i imagine you humans live knowing you will die one day. I live knowing.. i will be alone. it’s just.. how things are. No use being sad over it right?” You can feel your eyes watering again. “ Ah my eyes again. This is embarrassing. I never have this problem.” You laugh and turn away but her grip only tightens. You don’t have the heart to pull away even as her chair squeaks across the floor and she stands.

“Would it be so bad if for one night you weren’t so alone?” She whispers, arms wrapping around you. “If for one night you were loved again?”

You fold in on yourself and your jaw clenches. Her body is warm against your back, her heart loud in your ears. You wanted to. Oh how badly you wanted to. She wanted to, you could smell it as her hand pulled you into the other room, through the foyer and down onto the dusty old couch. Did you trust her? Not really.. but your sword was nearby should things so south. But to be honest... would it be so terrible if the night ended up like your last night with Emilia?

Her lips crash onto yours and your brain shorts out. Warm hands roam your body, pulling at your shirt and untucking it from your pants. It’s up and over your head, tossed carelessly across the room. You never wore any sort of binding undergarment so she’s got free access to your breasts and she’s taking advantage of it.

If your heart beat you were sure it’d be racing faster than hers. She wasted no time pinching and playing with you, only venturing down when she herself got bored. You were at her mercy. Off your pants went, and she was back on you. Her fingers teased your folds and you arched into her hand so hard it made her laugh. She toyed with you and made every lewd noise spill from your lips before finally slipping her fingers into you. It didn’t take her long to have you writing, nails tearing into the cushions as you whimpered and moaned.

“You don’t have to hold yourself back. Cum already we have all night.” Her breath is hot on your ear and it tickles your neck. Your mouth opened, a growling moan escaping into the air as you came right on her hand. She didn’t stop there, she kept going until you were jerking and wiggling away from her hand. “Oh no no. You don’t get to stop there. I scratch your back you scratch mine.”

You were to high off your own climax and the scent of her to care. Blood and desire was one hell of an aphrodisiac So when she pulled you on top of her there wasn’t any shyness as you pushed her skirt up, yanking her underthings off only to throw them to the floor. You dove in face first only when your tongue met her folds did you understand why the scent of blood was more prominent than before. You had forgotten humans did this. Still, you didn't find yourself complaining but when you looked up she just gave you a sly smile.

It had been years and your tongue wasn’t as agile as it used to be but her hand tangled in your hair all the same. Keeping you in place as she grinded helplessly against your face. You pulled moan after pleasured moan from her until she was gasping for breath, her grip painful as you sucked and licked her clit. She gasped, tensed and you kept working until she cursed and pulled your head up like a trophy. Cheeks and mouth covered in a lewd mix of cum, saliva, and blood.

She laughed and you smirked with her as she threw you backwards. Climbing over you she wiped your face roughly only to lick up your neck. She kissed her own way down your front, stopping when her lips hit the scar near your heart. Her eyes caught yours and she kept going. Leaving that for later.

And later it was. You kept going until she practically begged you to stop for the night. Now the two of you laid naked, sweaty, and tired on top of one another. Her check rested on your chest and she traced the raised scar as a shiver raced down your spine. “What happened?”

It wasn’t exactly a story for pillowtalk. Even you knew that much. “I got stabbed. Terrible aim though.”

She looked up you could feel her looking at you and refused to meet her gaze. “Your face isn’t scarred though... When the other vampire attacked you...your face was all bloody. “

You frowned. “It wasn’t a normal blade. Do you really care to know? It’s not exactly a happy story." Snorting you close your eyes.

She snorted. “I doubt you have many of them sad eyes.”

“Sad eyes? What happened to sugar?” You huff, stroking her hair. It was nice to have the warmth. Even if it wouldn’t be here come sundown tommorrow.

She hummed, eyes closing. “More fitting to call you sad eyes.”

You kept petting her until her heart slowed into a steady beat and your own senses faded

—

When daylight began to fade you woke with a start. Still surprisingly warm. A blanket had been thrown over you. Groaning you shuffle towards the kitchen and pour water into the kettle for some morning tea. Your hair was a mess, no doubt her doing with all that pulling and tugging. Running your fingers through your hair you turn to sit at the table, A piece of paper catching your attention.

Picking it up you scanned over it. “Dear sad eyes, I’m sorry for prying last night but I had a lot of fun. I hope you did too. I'll see you next month? P.s. You sleep like the dead. ” Clicking your tongue you shook your head. It wasn’t love...but it had been fun. Looking out the kitchen window you grinned back at the crescent moon. "Next month? Pfft." You break out into laughter as there kettle starts to scream.

P.S yes I did write a story based on what the lesbian said to her vampire gf joke. Hope you liked it and as always if you know how to put a read more on mobile let me know.