#i need to find more reasons to draw wings

[catparty41]

if richie was some sort of mythical entity, what do u think he would look like?

Big fan of avians…

[jerrythebug]

It's WIP Thursday on a Sunday babes!!

[libraford]

Okay so here's what's going on with the bird crimes.

On thursday I was going to Powers Park when I saw what I thought were 2 chickens hanging out in the parking lot, and a lady watching them from the fence. I thought... they could belong to the lady, but chickens aren't the kind of pet that you just let hang out loose.

I approach.

Lady: "These aren't mine."

I look closer. Its actually 2 roosters, one of which is a very small breed and is missing his tail feathers. Both of them have an injury to their backside- like its been plucked.

So we talk about what to do, I end up calling Animal Control. The actual Animal Control officer doesn't get there until noon, I get a police dispatcher. She says she can send one of the cops to grab them until the actual professional gets there.

I tell her that the roosters are being kept by the woman I met, she's coaxing them into her house.

I post about it on the facebook group in case someone knows who they belong to. The comments are full of jokes, obviously. But no leads. Eventually the big rooster gets caught by someone running a sanctuary for abandoned and abused livestock, but they're still looking for the little black one. Evidently they got out of the lady's backyard and were loose again.

I figure he's going to be a coyote snack and don't think about it for the rest of the week.

So now it is Sunday and I'm opening up the bathrooms. I'm at Summit Grove park and as I'm about to reserve the shelter for a birthday party I see...

A black pigeon.

Pigeons are not a common animal in this area- you're more likely to see house sparrows, crows, and mourning doves. So that's odd. What's more, she doesn't seem to be skittish and is definitely accustomed to humans. And she keeps trying to bite my fingers, so she associates hands with food and she's skinny as a rail so she's been abandoned for a minute.

Why does this keep happening to me? Is this the Morrigan come to teach me a lesson in pigeon form?

So I remember the number of the woman running the sanctuary and I give her a call. I tell her I've got a pigeon here that can't fly, is super hungry, and doesn't seem to have any issues biting fingers. She says she can't take her, but she can find a home for her because pigeons have specific needs. But she won't be able to get there until 12:30. We (my work partner and I) have to deal with the bird in the meantime.

We absolutely cannot take this bird with us on our route because we are in a tiny truck cab and don't have a cat carrier to put her in. So our solution is to lock her in the janitor's closet until the rep can get here.

Around 12:15, we head back to the shelter to make sure she's still there and hasn't been disturbed... and I realize that the reason I even saw her in the first place...

...was because there was supposed to be a birthday party at the shelter at noon.

The party is strongly underway and they have shoved a table against the door of the closet.

The sanctuary lady comes by and waves, we ask the party people politely to move the table slightly because we're trying to rehome a pigeon that's inside that closet.

They move the table, but not all guests see this interaction- because it looks like a bunch of maintenance people are just here to boss folks around during a little girl's birthday party and this draws a crowd.

The sanctuary rep arrives and we open the door just a little bit to let the bird out. She bobbles towards us, hoping for food, when one of the older ladies at the party exclaims:

"Does that ANIMAL just LIVE in there?!"

I mean... sure. For the past few hours, she did live in there.

"Do you have any IDEA how many DISEASES pigeons carry?"

The rep scoops the pigeon into her arms and takes her out of the shelter area to inspect her wings, feet, and back. She shows us her breastbone and explains that its been several days since the bird ate anything, which was why it was going for fingers.

Meanwhile, Aunt Ornithophobia over here: "I can't BELIEVE you would just TOUCH a BIRD like that in front of CHILDREN!"

We take the bird away to the van so the rep can thank us and explain what likely happened- which is that someone abandoned the bird when they couldn't take care of her anymore they just let her loose.

"I understand you got one of the roosters," I said.

"Yes, the big one. But the little bantam rooster is very fast- he darted into someone's backyard and I never found him again. If you see him, give me a call."

"I've been told that chickens are legal to own here, but roosters are not."

She gets an exasperated look on her face. "If you're going to allow backyard chickens, you're going to have to allow roosters. It's impossible to sex an avian chick and they don't get their dimorphic traits until they've reached the young adult stage and chick sellers don't care about whether they're a hen or a rooster. They care about the sale. We get roosters more often than egg-layers because someone sold them a male as a female and they don't want to pay the fine. I'd rather have the laws allow both, or neither. But disallowing roosters is patently stupid."

"Hm. Well. Note to self."

"Anyways, you're heroes to this little rock dove and I want you two to know that. She's going on a trip to a bird sanctuary in Toledo where she'll have lots and lots of snacks to eat that aren't fingers."

[heraxic]

Hello :o

I just wanted to say thank you (and also thank crumb) for getting me back into thinking about Karl Heisenberg 24/7.

I really love your artstyle, from the amazing expressions (especially the peeved/angry ones) to the scribbly lineart. As someone that’s trying to learn to draw more digitally, I really like to observe your stuff o.o

Your Moldy Family comics are funny, cozy, sweet and comforting all at the same time, and they made me discover and appreciate Eveline (oh man I love how much of a goth tween she is), and the way you draw Heisenberg (his physicality if that makes sense, his clothes, his hair, his everything) is just *chef’s kiss*.

As a former Greek Mythology child, that AU is so so nice owagh. I love all the monster adaptations/designs, it’s all so clever: I love that Kyril is scaley, hairy AND has wings (which I feel aren’t depicted often nowadays with gorgons), Alina is so majestic, with the black tipped limbs and the blood soaked dress, and the daughters being harpies/sirens(?) is also so perfect.

Idk if you’ve already said it, but what is it about Karl’s character that made him interesting to you?

I hope it makes sense (I’m a bit tired) and thank you again for the excellent food :]

Thank you so much!!!<<<3333

he lives in my head rent free…. his crusty-ass hair and barrel-shaped bod gets me every time

im glad you like my scribbly lineart! I tend to get concerned whether it really looks like anything haha

I miss drawing the mold family but i think my forte has always been fantasy, especially cause i love mythology more than anything. That’s not to say i wont go back to the modern mold family though

For greek au karl i wanted him to look like someone had haphazardly stuck animal parts to him so it’d look deliberately unnatural for him to have a relatively normal human body under all that-

I’m not sure i can fully describe why Karl is so interesting. Surface level, being voiced by Neil Newbon is always a big plus and his face model Joel Hicks is awesome-looking. His character design matches his abilities and personality really well, and speaking of personality, queer-coded villains who make a big show out of everything are always going to be my favourite. His gritty, masculine aesthetic is really inspiring in terms of gender as well. On a deeper level, in spite of all the terrible things he’s done, i find him sympathetic and relatable. After decades spent in a highly dysfunctional family, not living on his own terms, completely alone, I need him to finally be okay and get better for his own sake, with the support of people he trusts. It’s the same reason i love Eveline. Morally dark-grey characters who deserved better and could’ve gotten better with a good support system.

[meanbossart]

Oh boy, VaM is kind of a trial and error experience LOL I couldn't really show you how to use the interface and stuff without a whole video or something, but it's not THAT difficult to get a hang of if you just give yourself a day or two to play around, not to mention the number of tutorials you find out there. Luckily, if you only want to use it as a reference software that makes the process far easier (to this day I have no idea how to animate on that thing, since that's not what I use it for)

As for how I use it, it's pretty self explanatory - if there's a complicated pose I want to draw but I'm either having trouble with it, or just want to double-check angles/anatomy, I will use it as a resource! I use for most of my "proper" pieces (y'know, the nicer looking ones) and every once in a while for my silly comics if I'm having trouble with a pose.

Lets use this drawing for example (the character on top of DU drow belongs to @namespara )

I don't draw a lot of mud-wrestling (shocking, I know) but I had an idea of the kind of pose I wanted them to be in. So the very first thing I did was make a rough sketch of what I was envisioning:

I often do a rough sketch first, even If I know I'm going to be pulling the program up because A) It's less tedious than adjusting the models over and over again until I pick a pose and B) because sometimes I'll decide I don't need the reference, after all, and so that's 30 minutes I'll have spared myself of playing around on the software.

Now, this is a pretty complicated pose! It's in a weird angle and the bodies are making contact in ways I'm not used to depicting, so I did choose to whip out VaM for this one. I went into the program and after some messing around, I flopped my little dolls together like this:

Now something really cool about VaM is that you can completely customize your models, and if you have the patience, I would definitely encourage you to do so! Obviously, you don't have to make picture perfect replicas of every single character you have, but as you can see here I have made a DU drow "decoy" to help me better understand some of his features when I draw him: he has a strong brow, a short nose, a square jawline - these are all going to look a very specific way from certain angles, and I might not always be sure of how to draw it right! So it's useful to have models that bear SOME semblance to the character so you can better understand how different viewpoints will affect their bone structure and mass.

Also thank fucking god for the elf-ear slider. Figuring out how to draw those shits from certain angles was a huge pain in the ass when I started drawing DnD races.

So, with the reference in hand, I go over the sketch again:

Now you may notice that I don't stick to the reference 100%. There's three reasons for this:

posing on VaM is tedious as hell. You can get something incredibly natural looking and picture-perfect to reference from if you wish, but it's going to take you hours to do. So, for the most part I just slap guys together until the results are "close enough" and use that.

In my opinion, you should always aim to ENHANCE your reference material, not replicate it exactly!

While VaM is a PRETTY DANG GOOD source of anatomical reference, it isn't perfect, I often supplement it with further reference from real life resources or make tweaks based on my own knowledge where I catch it falling short (and, antithetical to what I just said, I sometimes fuck the anatomy up further on purpose if I think it looks better that way LOL it's all jazz baby).

Then lines, color, yada yada. I don't have a tutorial on that and I don't think I could make one, because my process is chaotic as hell, but I do at times use Virt-a-mate as loose reference for lighting too when coloring - waaaaayyyy less so however, because that process is even more tedious and I feel like I often get better results by just winging it. It is a feature of the program though, and I'm sure it would be helpful for someone who has a difficult time visualizing lights and shadows. I only started using this program a few months ago, so I happened to already have a pretty good understanding of that kind of thing and just don't personally feel like I get much out of that particular mechanic.

Here's a few other examples of pieces that I made reference for (WARNING: Suggestive)

Now, for the question many of you may want to ask:

"Can I trace this junk?"

And to that, I say: Buddy, you can do whatever the hell you want with the reference material you created.

However,

If your goal is to learn and improve your art, and to recreate realistic proportions and anatomy from memory, tracing won't help you.

Developing your own style, your muscle memory, and personal technique will all be hindered by choosing to trace instead of drawing from observation, so I would encourage against it. Hell - even when tracing is employed as a technique, it's usually by high-skill realism & concept artists who are looking to either cut some corners, save time, or just double-check their own proportions in order to improve further - if you try tracing as a beginner, you will most definitely find the result to still look stiff and "off".

So trust me, there is so much more to be gained from drawing from observation. Make note of tangents, compare proportions, use all the elements of the picture to dictate where and how things should go - it will be a far more rewarding experience.

Hopefully this has been helpful! VaM is a really cheap program (you get it on the guys' patreon for I think 8 dollars, just google it!) and it's definitely been worth my money as an artist since I found it. Learning to use it can be a little intimidating at first glance, but as I said above you only really need a day plus one or two tutorials to get a hang of the interface.

A fair warning though, IT IS A SOFTWARE MADE FOR VIRTUAL SEX/ADULT ANIMATION So when looking it up expect to see a some spicy content.

[heartfullofleeches]

makariy and sleephead darling for liffeeeeee :3

Makariy and Sleepyhead Bat Reader because grumpy sleep deprived cat + sleepy bat sounds cute plus bats are nocturnal. Picturing Bat Reader "renting" the attic to Makariy's new home and him only learning of his roommate when they're climbing up on the support beams to comfort. Maybe they're in an amateur rock band which he discovers after seeing their guitar tucked away in the corner of the room one of the rare occasions Reader is able to wrestle him down for a nap with him. He has an even bigger reason to want them gone because if they find out who he was that could be another whole shit storm.

Bat Reader genuinely doesn't care about his old life and just enjoys having a warm body to sleep next to because most of their band mates are busy during the day too-

-

"You were in a group too, Makariy?"

He knew he should've burned everything from that time period. A poster of the feline's grinning, youthful face tucked away in the recesses of his nightstand - staring back at him from your hands. Suddenly, Makariy feels like a stranger in his own bed. You lazily trace his a finger along the curve of his tail before folding the poster along its visible crises.

"That's so cool.... Hey, can I have more of the blanket? You're kinda hogging it all."

Makariy's arm stiffens beneath your head. "That's it?"

Fighting the spell of sleep, you raise your head from his chest as you mumble. "Yeah.. I think that's all I need right now. Your fur is softer than this pillows anyway."

"No, that's not what I....you don't have any questions?"

With a small shake of your head, you return to your previous position - siphoning the warmth from him since he's yet to give you what you asked for. "No....Not really. If you wanted to talk about it you'd have posters hanging up everywhere or something. It's nice we have that in common, but if I'm being honest I like you more as a body pillow than as an idol."

Makariy stares up at the ceiling, drawing circles by your shoulder blades right above where your wings sit nestled against your back. You've long since fallen asleep by the time his eyes meet your figured curled up to his chest. He takes a glance at the poster forgotten by you in favor of the real thing.

"....I think I like me more this way too."

[bouncybongfairy]

felix catton x reader where felix cheats and tries to win reader back 🫣🫣🫣

Nice Try

Felix Catton x Fem Reader Smut

Summary: A week after Felix cheats, you attempt to end your sulking by going to a party. He is there and convinces you to come back to his dorm; all in an attempt to win you back.

Word Count: 2.0k+

Account Ref: @kaionyx

TW: Drunken Sex, Nasty Smut

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Things have been quite stressful lately. You’d already been struggling to keep up with all your assignments. Now with the recent infidelity in your relationship, it was near impossible to focus. Truly nothing made you cringe more than watching a man beg for forgiveness after cheating. Felix had been texting you all week, trying to salvage the relationship the two of you had. It just wasn’t happening, trying to find the respect you had for him was like looking for a unicorn. You were currently in your dorm, getting ready to go out. It was that time of the semester where parties were every weekend and the smell of hopelessness lingered in everyone's nose. Being confined to your room due to a mild depression, it was finally time to go out and be a whore. The first couple days you were feeling guilty for not responding to Felix. Now you couldn’t be more excited to go out, not even with any girlfriends. On a mission to get dicked down, you start doing your hair and makeup. Drawing on a thick wing of eyeliner and complementing it with huge eyelashes. It had been a week since the last time you wore makeup, which caused you to feel quite full of yourself. After getting dressed and making sure your purse had all the essentials before leaving.

The air outside was cold and crisp, enough to make your stomach tighten as you walked. Hitting your pen as you made your way towards the frat house. It was still pretty early so the lawn wasn’t completely thrashed with bottles and drunken students. Immediately you head towards the kitchen, making yourself a drink. Your face lights up when you see the sour cherry syrup sitting next to the Ciroc bottles. Mixing the two into a solo cup and making your way back into the living room. Felix was there, leaning against one of the walls. He immediately spots you, walking quite briskly to greet you. Asking why you haven’t been taking any of his calls or responding to messages. The fact that he was even asking was pissing you off, like he forgot he cheated on you. 

“Maybe you could come over to my place? I have a surprise for you,” he says, you could tell he was a little tipsy. When he could see you weren’t amused he started finding other reasons for you to come over, “not to mention you left a lot of shit at my place,” he says, resting his hand on your hips. You allow him to do so but not let him pull you closer. 

“Ask me again when I'm drunker,” you say, laughing and turning to walk in the other direction. 

Ending up spotting a few friends from your social science class. Grouping in with them as you drank, they all seemed quite excited to see you out and about. Knowing you’d recently been through a breakup, they were encouraging you to drink and smoke. You happily obliged, constantly making trips to the kitchen to refill your cup. Dancing on your friends, enjoying the energy of everyone around you. Like everyone was letting out their demons one way or another. However, you started feeling quite sticky, the air thick with smoke. You excuse yourself and make your way to the front yard. Needing a bit of fresh air and wanting to smoke a blunt. It was still quite nippy outside but the vodka blanket was keeping you warm. Lighting the blunt and taking a deep drag, tilting your head back and exhaling. Admiring the moon as you looked up at the sky. Suddenly you smell menthol, reminding you of Felix. Sure enough when you look for the smell, you see him standing a couple feet away from you. Just your luck you’d run into him outside while having a smoke. His eyes light up and he walks over to greet you. He trips a little on his way over, which makes you chuckle. “As embarrassing as that was, hearing your laugh really made it worth it,” he says, the cheesy pickup line made you roll your eyes. 

“Who’s dad gave you that one to use?” you joke, taking another drag. 

“Oh come one, don’t act like you don’t miss me,” he says, offering you a hit on his ciggy, “I know you love a good puff when you’re drunk,” he says, taking the blunt out of your hand to insinuate he wanted to trade. 

Due to your inebriation, you were a little more willing to entertain his foolishness. Taking a drag, closing your eyes to enjoy the fresh feeling of menthol stinging your chest. Not used to the potency of a cig, you start coughing a bit. He was making small talk with you, basically running down this past week's events. You weren’t really paying attention, instead admiring him as he spoke. The two of you had a very active and healthy sex life. Banging like rabbits, it didn’t matter where or when. When you’re used to fucking at least once a day, a week seemed like a century. He looked amazing with the porch lights shining down on him. Illuminating his massive figure, he bellowed so much smoke from his exhales; nearing incinerating the blunt into ash with just a few hits. The smell of his cologne flooding your nose, giving you a small level of comfort. 

“So have you thought about hanging out tonight?” he asks, tilting his head to the side. 

At first you were going to decline his offer, however you were in desperate need to catch a dick. It was also nice to have sex in an apartment as opposed to a dorm room with thin walls. Not to mention it would be quite dangerous to be walking alone on campus while cross faded. It was actually nice walking together while holding each other. Having his arm draped over your shoulder, hand caressing the soft skin of your neck. Running your hand up and down his arm, blushing when you felt goosebumps on his skin. Felix smoked your blunt into a roach, so you were passing the pen back and forth to each other. His apartment was only two blocks from campus, luckily because the both of you were wasted. You held onto his belt loops once you finally got to his apartment. Waiting patiently for him to unlock the door, immediately the smell of cologne and stale smoke. To some it might be gross but for you it was nostalgic; reminding you of a simpler time, when you were ignorant to who Felix really was. He was turning on the stereo, grabbing a bottle of Jewel of Russia vodka. 

“Is that the surprise?” you asked, as he filled two shot glasses.

“No give me a second,” he said, going back into the bedroom, when he came out he was holding a teddy bear with a shirt that said: sorry for being an asshole. With a box of Martin’s Chocolatier chocolates. You couldn’t help but laugh, as sweet as the gesture was, it was humorous at its core. When you’re reminded that these gifts are because he cheated. 

“Aww you’re so sweet,” you play along, acting like this made up for shit.

“Really? I don’t know if you’ve been getting my voicemails but I want you to know that I’m so fucking sorry. I’d do anything to show you how much I regret taking you for granted,” he said. 

“Anything?” you asked suggestively, letting your body weight be supported by the kitchen island. 

“Fucking anything,” he says, eyeing you like a oasis in a desert. 

You use your hand gesturing to him to come closer. Without hesitation he approaches you. Using the counter behind you to support himself, pressing his body completely against yours. You felt like fire had been ignited on your cheeks and ears. Grateful that your makeup was hiding how truly flustered you were. He was breathing heavily down onto you, the smell of liquor coming from his breath was making you wet. Both of you were testing each other, waiting to see who was going to make the first move. The tension in the room was enough to make you swell and ache. Watching him eye you down like a piece of meat. Wanting to pounce but being stubborn, wanting him to kiss you first. Suddenly, he picks you up. Now you were sitting on the counter, him standing between your legs. An involuntary gasp leaves your mouth from the sudden movement. The height difference between the two of you is now gone, making direct eye contact. Lips hovering over each other, nothing but a couple centimeters keeping the distance. Wrapping your legs around his hips, making his dick print press against you. The friction made him smash his mouth against yours. 

The kiss was sloppy and rough. Biting and sucking on each other's lips till they were raw. Wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him as close as possible. He uses his arm to clear off the counter. Shit catering to the floor, not that either of you gave a fuck. You unbuckle his belt and unzip his jeans, exposing himself. Following suit, pulling your dress and the panties to the side. Nothing could have pulled the two of you out of the moment even for a second; not even a condom. He sticks his fingers in your mouth, collecting saliva to wet himself down. Moaning as he practically finger fucked your mouth, looking at you like he couldn’t wait to rip you apart. After stroking himself for a couple moments, he was lining his head up with your entrance. Letting your head fall back onto the cold counter top, becoming impatient with waiting. He finally slid in, after having no contact for a week, the feeling of him filling you was euphoric. You pulled him down by the hair and for a while you both just embarrassed each other. Both of you enjoying each other's bodies after being apart both emotionally and physically. Once in a while you’d clench around him, enjoying the fullness; he’d rock his hips feeling you walls suffocating him with an intense heat. 

He began fucking into you, tired of wasting time. Coiling your fingering in his shaggy hair, pulling slightly as he kissed and sucked hickies onto your shoulder and neck. A thin layer of sweat starts to coat both your bodies as the pace quickens. Feeling close to coming, you push him away. Sitting up on your elbows, he pulls out and away looking confused and concerned. 

“Take me to the couch.” You said. 

He smirks and carries you over, taking a seat with you on his lap. Facing him while on your knees, he starts to knead and play with your chest. You line his cock up and sink down until you fully take his member into you. He gasps at how tight and wet you felt around him, a groan leaves your mouth. Starting to bounce up and down, slowly at first. Lifting your all the way from his tip back down to the base. His eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth hung open as he watched. Working yourself on his cock, watching him get more and more flustered. Made you feel formidable, seeing the power your body wielded over him. Moving from your knees onto your toes, allowing you to bounce faster. He took this opportunity to start pounding up into you at an animalistic pace. Even though he was absolutely obliterating your cervix, the look on his face alone almost made you cum. He was bright red with sweat dripping, putting his heart and soul into destroying your pussy. 

He stops, picking you up without saying anything and walks the two of you into the bathroom. Setting you down before lamming the lights on and ripping the shower curtain off the hooks, causing them to fly to the ground. Seeing how desperate and rough he was driving you crazy. Still carrying you he slams your back into the shower wall. Pressing his full body weight onto you, pushing himself deep into you. Now that his hips and torso were helping support your weight, he reaches over and cuts the water on. Not even caring that the two of you were still clothed. The hot water rains down as he starts furiously slamming himself in you. Wet hair covered your face slightly, fucking up your makeup and lashes. Normally you’d be insecure about how ridiculous your face looked, makeup running down your face. He was making you feel like a pornstar, like you were the only thing that could satisfy him. Fucking into you so hard that all the bottles on the shower rack were bouncing loudly. He was panting, water dripping off the hair that was flopped on the front of his face; just slightly covering his eyes. Moaning so loud it was practically screaming, tightening around him as you got close. 

Feeling you start to tighten and convulse made him cum into you. Hard thrusts as he moaned loudly into your ear. Making eye contact as the two of you came together. The way you could feel him get harder, and the last couple thrust become more slippery only made you want more. Catching his breath and turning the water off. Instead of stopping, he just walked back to the bedroom. Standing at the foot of the bed before falling forward, so that the two of you were missionary on the bed. After fucking for so long, the two of you were both extremely sensitive. Almost to the point where you wanted to stop, but when he started rocking his hip again you couldn't get enough. Cum leaking out of you slightly, making his cock slide in and out so easily. You let your body go limp and he slowly trusted, increasing his pace. Holding the back of your knees up, allowing him to frantically chase his orgasm at a better angle. Due to you having recently orgasm, it didn’t take long before you were the both of you were teetering the edge of your climaxes. Gripping onto the blanket as you felt him fill you against. Bucking and rutting uncontrollably while moaning. He collapses next to you, both of you practically half dead. While he laid there passed out, you got up. Legs shaking but still determined to take the soaked clothes you had on. Putting on a pair of his sweatpants and hoodie. Reaching out trying to cuddle you, he notices you were up; dressed and on your phone. 

“Thank you for giving us a second chance,” he said groggily. 

“Who said that?” you asked, grabbing your purse before meeting the Uber you just ordered.

[milswrites]

A thousand roses

~ Cassian X Fem!Reader

Summary: Every day you curse the books that gave you unrealistically high expectations of men. Sure you were going to be single forever until you meet Cassian. Adamant he wants to take you on a date, Cassian does his best to impress.

Warning: ⚠️ Reading this may give you unrealistically high expectations of men ⚠️

Actual warnings: Lots of sex talk and inferences to sex but no actual smut!

“And then he made her orgasm three times! Three! The last guy I was with didn’t even manage to squeeze one out of me!”

Upon finishing your latest read, you just couldn’t help but give a very detailed review of exactly what you thought about it to your co-worker. A packed cafe in Velaris during the middle of the day was probably not the most appropriate location to shout about your sex life, but you just had to share how the smut filled pages had left you more satisfied than any man had ever done.

Jadis snorted into the steaming hot tea she was drinking, liquid spilling everywhere, “I’m telling you girl, you just need to get out there, kiss a few frogs to find your prince. I don’t know how many more of your smut reviews I can take. It’s not natural to be this turned on at work.”

You hummed in response, fingers absentmindedly brushing over the pages of your book, “But that’s the problem. I’m too picky to go for a frog!” You blame the hundreds of books in your library at home for that, millions of perfect fictional men literally at your fingertips. “Real men just don’t do it for me anymore.”

This statement was confirmed as you miserably scanned your eyes over the customers in the cafe, none of the males present seeming to stick out to you meet any of your self-imposed standards. You only had yourself and your books to blame for your lack of a relationship.

“I’m just never going to find anyone! Forever reading in my house wishing I was at the mercy of one of my book boyfriends” you sighed, not wanting to seem downhearted but you just couldn’t help it. Velaris just so happened to be a haven for beautiful relationships, everywhere you turned you’d see interlocked hands, affectionate hugs and the occasional heated exchange of kisses. You could only wish that one day you’d be in the same boat as them, overwhelmingly in love with someone who you could call your own. There’s a reason the night court was so affectionately called the court of dreams.

Jadis reeled in your wandering mind, “Well darling, I hope you enjoy forever fantasising about sex rather than having it. I for one can’t wait to take Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome for a spin.”

She was referring to the moderately attractive male who had asked her out the other day during the preparation of his morning coffee. In your opinion, it wasn’t the most romantic scene. Though Jadis hadn’t been on a date in a long while and so in her own words she was going to implode if she didn’t get a good fuck in soon. So who were you to judge.

The bell above the cafe door twinkled, ending the conversation about your book and pathetic love life. Your eyes travelled to the cafe entrance and stopped when they landed on the biggest male you had ever seen. The Illyrian walked through the door, having to duck his head and draw his wings in to fit through the much smaller frame. His presence in the cafe was enough for you to lift your head from where it was sat in your palm, interest peaked.

There was no doubt that this Illyrian was one of the most attractive males you have ever seen. His long brown hair was pulled back messily into a bun. You didn’t normally like the rough, slightly barbarian-esque type, typically preferring your males to be more clean-cut. It was clear this man didn’t look like most males. No, he looked as if he had just stepped out of one of your deliciously sinful smut books.

He began to approach the counter, his body taking up so much space that he bumped into tables, displacing the drinks of customers who were grasping at the mugs and glasses to try and prevent them from spilling at the earthquake caused by this ginormous man. He apologised to each of them as he moved but kept his eyes locked ahead. Locked on you.

Your friend, noticing the effect this man had on you, spun around and immediately started acting as if she was busy with another job, leaving you to serve him in your hypnotised state.

“Just a coffee please love” he said, pulling you from your stupor as he finally came to a stop at the counter. Mother, even his voice was hot. It was resonant and also bore the twinge of gruffness which left goosebumps on your arms in its wake. There was no doubt everything about this man oozed pure sex appeal. You were too mesmerised to move, brain not registering that he had asked you to do your job. Instead, like a besotted fool, you stayed stood behind your counter, feet rooted to the ground.

“You alright there gorgeous?” The unbelievably good looking male asked, roguishly handsome smile growing on his face, clearly aware of the effect he has on you. This spurred you to move, the stacked cups surrounding you rattling at your sudden movement. “Coffee! Right. Yes, of course!” Managing to squeak a few words out, you turned around to busy yourself with making the coffee, hatred in your eyes as you glared at Jadis who left you stranded making coffee for this very handsome man who’s looks alone were doing very strange things to you and making you think very indecent things. Jadis, undeterred by your glare, wiggled her eyebrows at you, grin stretched across her face, beaming from ear to ear.

With shaky hands, you finish up with making his coffee and without turning around, afraid you’d accidentally start professing your undying love to him if you did, you ask, “any sugar?”

His honey coated voice replies, “No thanks, I’ve already got my eye on something sweeter.” You ignored the sight of your friend’s head snapping speedily to look at you in glee. Heat burning across your cheeks, you turn back to face him, avoiding the man’s eyes.

Hands still shaking, you place the coffee in front of him and wait for him to pay. The sooner he leaves the sooner you can gossip with your Jadis about him and moan about your inability to act normal in front of incredibly attractive men. He pulls out the money from his pocket and places it on the counter, pushing it towards you, but before you can take it from him he drags it back in his direction, finger holding it in place. “How about you and I go out together sometime sweetheart? You’re obviously desperate to.”

At this, the lovesick fog that had been swimming in front of your eyes since this man had entered the cafe dissipated. Rose-tinted glasses off you noticed that the smile that adorned his face was more of a cocky smirk. His confidence and tone of voice told you that he asks this question a lot and most likely always gets the answer he desires. It was clear this man wasn’t the personification of one of your book males come to life. He was just another playboy.

Not wanting to just be another name on the list for this man, you slid the money out from under his hand, sickly sarcastic smile on your face, and said, “I think I’ll pass thanks sweetheart.”

The males smirk promptly fell from his face in shock, clearly not expecting, nor used to rejection. He sputtered out a few buts and whats, flirty demeanour forgotten, a slightly pathetic butt-hurt one taking its place. This was definitely a man not used to losing.

“Have a nice day!” You enthusiastically, and very satirically, finished this interaction before walking away to busy yourself with clearing some now empty tables in the cafe. Wings hung low in defeat, the man at the counter left the cafe, bell ringing as he exited. This surprised you, having expected him to put up a little more of a fight, but nonetheless you were glad that it was over with. Cursing yourself for falling for just another pretty face, standards forgotten.

“What?!” Your friend screamed running over to you, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you vigorously as if you had lost all senses. Unafraid of scaring off the customers who still sat in the cafe, some clearly entertained by the whole event which had transpired. “Do you know who that was? Oh Y/N he was totally into you! Why did you say no?”

“Because he was looking at me as if I was a piece of meat! And no, I have no idea who he was and unlike you I don’t go jumping on every stranger who asks me out at work” You brushed Jadis off of you and started taking the dirty glasses back behind the counter to be washed, your friend hot on your heels not wanting to finish this conversation just yet.

“That was Cassian!” She continued, expression as if it should have been obvious to you who the Illyrian male was. “Good for him” you replied, no idea why it should matter to you who he was, clearly if Jadis and the few interested by standers in the cafe knew who he was he had quite the reputation in Velaris. Surely that mustn’t be a good thing.

“Cassian? Lord of bloodshed? General and Commander of the Night Court’s army?” She continued, seriously not convinced you could have absolutely no idea about him.

You snorted, “I’m sorry, no one actually has that many titles unless they’re from a book… or if they just have a very large ego”.

Jadis groaned, hands fisting her hair in exasperation, “Y/N he’s like totally hot and totally loaded and super important! And he was so checking you out!” You could tell all this was upsetting your friend who was most definitely hoping you were about to get some much needed action, but all you could do was shrug, “I’m sorry babe but I’m a romantic, it’s going to take more than pet names and a stupidly attractive face to gain my interest.”

Giving up, Jadis dropped her hands from her head in acceptance, disappointment clear on her face, “I know, but don’t come running back to me to complain how unsatisfied you are when that Illyrian god was basically throwing himself at you.”

After the topic of the male was dropped, your day continued as normal, whilst Jadis had promised not to bring it up again but you couldn’t help but notice the angry glances your friend kept throwing your way during the last few hours of your shift, distressed that you had let a man go who had seemed perfectly acceptable in her opinion.

At the end of your shift, in an attempt to get her to understand where you were coming from, you slid your book towards her, “Here. Read it and then maybe you’ll understand what I mean.” She picked it up, looking at the cover eyes bulging at the title, “Bound in chains? Really?”

“Trust me, sit down with a large glass of wine and read it. You’re going to love it!”

With that the two of you locked up the cafe, book secure in Jadis’s bag. You said your goodbyes at the door and headed your seperate ways, all thoughts of the handsome man from earlier in the day long gone. Upon your arrival at home, you wandered to your favourite room in the house, your library, wanting to select a new read to cosy up with for the evening.

Approaching your shelf that you reserved exclusively for books you had bought but had yet to read, you pulled one out by its spine, eyes glancing over the cover. The cover which bore the image of a large, well-muscled man, whose long brown hair flowed freely over his shoulders. Eyes blowing wide and blush returning to your cheeks you shoved the book back onto the shelf. Thoughts drifting back to the Illyrian with the same looks who had been flirting with you earlier. Maybe you’d be better off reading a safe fantasy book tonight. Or better yet a book that had no man in at all, although that would be a rare find in your library.

~~~~~

“I am a changed women”

Returning to work the next day, you were greeted by Jadis smiling, bouncing up and down on her feet, and holding your book in her hands.

“I take it you liked it then?”

“Liked it?”Jadis squealed, “it was like reading pure porn. I loved it”

You laughed along side her, of course Jadis would read an entire book and focus on the porn rather than the actual plot of it.

“Truly I did,” she continued, rushing about and gathering her things, “and I would love to stay behind now my shift has finished to talk about it but I have to go home and get ready for Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome, maybe tonight I can try out some of those moves I read about!” She winked at you, handing over your book before rushing out of the cafe with an excitable “Wish me luck!”

Work had been very quiet today, allowing you time to sit and read your newest book. After finishing a simple fantasy last night you were left unsatisfied by the lack of enjoyment it provided when it came to the physical romance. Needing more, you had selected one of the filthiest books you could find.

Engrossed in the pages, plot thickening by the minute, you were absorbed into the book. Only to be broken from its spell when the familiar chime rang of the bell rang out, signalling a customer had arrived. Rushing to finish the page before they reached the counter, your eyes flew over the words before you finally reached the end of the page. Enabling you to look up from behind your book only to see Cassian standing before you, lips formed into a cautious smile. As if unsure of how you’d react to his presence after yesterday.

“Coffee?” You ask, eyebrows raised, placing your book down before standing up from the stool you were sat on behind the counter.

“Please if you don’t mind, but don’t let me stop you from finishing ‘Fated Frenzy’… cauldron do women really read books like this?” Cassian exclaimed, picking up your book and flicking through the pages, holding it out of reach so you couldn’t snatch it back.

Clenching your fists together as you glared at him you replied, “well if only men knew how to actually please a woman then we wouldn’t have to.”

“Maybe you just haven’t found the right man then,” Cassian mumbled, focus still on the book that was dwarfed in his large hands. He must have reached a particularly risqué part as his eyes widened slightly, tongue peaking out from between his lips. Now as he spoke, reading from your book, he wore a large grin, “I mean not every man has a cock that looks as if it was sculpted by the gods themselves.”

You scowled, now managing to take hold of the book grasped in one of his large hands and snatched it back. “I’ve certainly never met a man like that” you replied as you slammed your book back onto the counter and moved off to make his coffee so he could leave you to read in peace.

“Don’t want to check sweetheart?” He teased from behind your back, clearly trying to get you as flustered as he had managed to yesterday. Pleased at your banter. Not wanting to give him what he wants, and definitely not wanting to turn around to see his stupidly handsome smirking face looking back at you, you replied from over your shoulder while you were busy finishing his drink, “it doesn’t take a fool to know the spymaster has a larger wingspan. Now his I’d like to see.”

You heard the catch of his breath, causing him to choke on air at what you had said, clearly not expecting your confident retort, and not saying anything at the discovery you do indeed know who he is all thanks to Jadis. Cheeks stretching into a grin of your own at his embarrassment, you turn and place his drink in front of him. Unlike yesterday, Cassian didn’t even attempt to reach for his money before asking, “Please, let me take you out somewhere nice”.

Your smile dropped, head shaking slowly, “What classes as nice in your books? Other than a quick fuck behind the back of the building.” This comment made Cassian’s eyebrows knit together, not happy with the impression you had of him. “What will it take for you to understand I’m serious? That I want to take you on a date to get to know you.” He sounded earnest you’d give him that.

“I don’t know ok! I just know that I’m not going to say yes to a man I don’t even know who asked me out while I was just doing my job.”

He stretched out his hand, trying to meet yours which was resting on the counter but you pulled away before any contact could be made. “I want to get to know you, if you’ll let me. Likes, dislikes, good bits, bad bits, everything.”

“I- I don’t know Cassian, I just don’t think this is going to work.”

“What will it take?” He begged, eyes desperate.

“For you to be like one of them” you said, nodding your head towards your book.

“An overly sexual alpha male?” He said, confused as to what you were actually referring to. This made a small laugh escape from your lips, “No that’s just a bonus. I’m sorry Cassian, I just dream about being swept of my feet by a man that acts like one of them. Romantic, sweet, not asking out every other woman they see.”

“I can be romantic” Cassian said defensively, “I can be incredibly romantic”

Wanting to get this interaction over with you decided just to agree with him. “I’m sure you can Cassian, no doubt there’s a very lucky woman waiting for you somewhere”.

You weren’t sure it was possible for his brows to furrow any more than they already were, “I’ll prove it to you. Prove that I’m all in on this. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on and I’m not going to let you go that easily.” Determined look plastered on his face Cassian grabbed his coffee and walked towards the door pulling the it open, bell chiming, and before he stepped outside he called back to you, “I’ll see you soon gorgeous, you better be ready for me” and with that Cassian left, the cafe silent apart from the bell still ringing, the sound helping you realise that Cassian was real and that interaction did actually happen.

It was only five minutes later, when your wild thoughts were tamed by another customer entering did you realise that Cassian never even paid for his drink.

~~~~~

“Y/N!” Cassian shouted bustling through the tables to reach you as he entered your work once more. Shock flooded your system, he had learnt your name from when you last spoke to him two days ago. After causing a ruckus, and spilling many drinks onto poor unsuspecting customers laps, he reached the counter where you were stood waiting for him.

“What are you-“ you started angrily, worried he would scare away valued customers. Though you were interrupted by Cassian whose arm, which was hiding behind his back, shot out revealing the largest bouquet of flowers you’ve ever seen.

He held them out expectantly, waiting for you to take them but your suprise had you rooted to the spot. Familiar with your freezing by now, Cassian impatiently shook the bouquet in your face, movement bringing your thoughts back to the present. Still not taking them, not quite believing something so beautiful could be gifted to you, you spoke, “They’re lovely Cassian but you just cut right in front of Matilda who was here first!” Cassian’s features faltered as he dropped the bouquet in disappointment.

Matilda , the lovely little old fae who frequented your cafe, leaned around Cassian’s broad figure so she could see you, “it’s alright Y/N! Take the damn flowers and talk to the man!”

Cassian thanked the older women and stuck out the flowers once more. “For you,” he said encouragingly, willing you to accept the gift, “I told you I’d prove myself to you. I’m here for a date.” By this point you had been stood there for a ridiculous time causing your Jadis to stretch her arm past you and grab the flowers smirking as she says, “Thank you Cassian, they’re beautiful, Y/N loves them. Lillies are her favourite, how did you know?” Winking as she walked off with the bouquet it was clear Cassian has been getting some insider information from the mouth of your best friend.

The Illyrian nodded his head at your friend gratefully and you finally rediscovered the ability to speak, “Thank you, but if you’re here for a date I’m sorry I can’t help you, this is my work Cas, I have to do my job.”

“Pfft bit presumptuous I’m here for a date with you”

At that your face fell slightly before you quickly returned you expression to normal, not wanting Cassian to know his words had an effect on you. Surely he wouldn’t bring you flowers just to have a date with another woman in your workplace. Was this some twisted way to try and make you jealous?

Flirty expression on his face Cassian adjusted where he was stood and flung his arm around Matilda who began to blush, “Have to find out everything I can about you from my beautiful date Matilda here! One coffee for me and one of whatever my darling date would like” he said, making Matilda giggle before asking for her usual. Relief flooding you body, your lips twitched and you began to make their order, “my, my, Matilda. I have to say I expected better in your taste of men”.

“Woah woah no need to tell her,” Cassian joked, “don’t want this hot commodity to leave me for something better” he finished, winking at Morgana who looked as happy as if it was Solstice morning. Grabbing the finished drinks you had placed before him, he headed to a table, coming back once the drinks were down to walk Matilda to her chair, but not before placing his money on the counter, saying, “Moneys there for the other day by the way, I’ll speak to you later.”

Cassian must have sat talking with Matilda for hours, watched closely by you from the corner of your eye as you worked, customer after customer coming and going. Finally when the rush had died down and your shift was coming to an end, the two who had been huddled together gossiping over more than a few coffees, hot chocolates and cakes stood to take their leave. Or more accurately, Matilda was taking her leave. Cassian had said his goodbyes bending down to give Matilda a big hug and then scooped their empty plates and cups into his arms before walking towards you.

There wasn’t enough time for him to place the items down on the counter before you watched as Matilda lay a firm smack to his backside before giggling, “I’ll see you later hot stuff.” Lucky not to break any cups, Cassian jumped, flying forwards and dropping them all onto the counter before you, eyes terrified.

You couldn’t help but chuckle, placing the cups the right way up before checking on the male, “you alright there hot stuff?”

“Oh don’t even start. That woman’s got one strong slap” he whined, hand rubbing his ass to relieve some of the pain.

“Don’t act like that’s not how all your dates end” you goaded, cheeks twinging at the effort to stop yourself from bursting out laughing.

“Trust me gorgeous, if any of my actual dates ended like that I wouldn’t be complaining” he winked at you, all the while pulling a napkin out of its holder to help you clean his mess from the counter.

As you watched him clean, you couldn’t help but admire the way his brows slightly furrow when he’s concentration, noting the way his focused mouth tilts to once side, tongue slightly poking from between his lips. He was handsome there was no denying it.

“Will you walk me home?” You blurted, snapping your mouth shut and internally cursing yourself for asking such a ridiculous thing, digging yourself into an even deeper hole you continued, “it’s only that the flowers you got me are so big… and I have all my other things…and…uh..”

“Y/N, I would love to walk you home”

“Great! I’ll just um, go and grab my stuff”

You turned, heading towards the cloakroom, only to be met by Jadis, bag and bouquet in hand. She shoved them eagerly into your arms squealing, “go get him girl!” Hands pressed against your back, she forced you to move forwards until you were in front of Cassian, “don’t have too much fun you two” she said now guiding you both from the cafe, tripping and stumbling over each others feet as Jadis’s excitement led to some very firm shoving.

~~~~~

Once outside in one piece, no thanks to Jadis, Cassian plucked the flowers from your arms allowing you to swing the strap of your book-filled bag over your shoulders. Timidness now overcame you, what were you supposed to say to him now? Had asking him to walk you home seemed too desperate?

“So what are you reading now? Not another book about a poor sexually frustrated female?” He asked, breaking your panicked thoughts as he walked side by side with you.

“No sex this time,” you giggled lightly, “this one’s about a man who sacrificed his kingdom for his true love”

“You really like that stuff huh?” Cassian spoke softly to you, he sounded like he was truly interested in finding out exactly how your brain worked, “that true love and romantic gestures shit?”

“It’s not shit” you defended, “sometimes it helps me not feel so alone. Reading about all these grand gestures and things people do for the ones they love.”

Cassian cleared his throat awkardly, his hand which was not holding the flowers moving up to scratch at his head, “and you’re into that? Romantic gestures?”

“It’s hard not to be. Pretty sure it’s every girls dream to be swept of their feet and fall as deeply as characters do in books.” Cassian was nodding along to what you were saying but his eyes showed he was lost in thought. It was your turn to draw him from his head, “you never done anything romantic for your ladies Cas?”

His name on your lips seemed to work, the clouds of thought in his eyes fading as he turned his gaze from the road ahead to you, “I guess I’ve normally always thought that just me is enough”. He didn’t say this to be cocky or narcissistic, you could tell. You didn’t mean to make him feel shame over the situation, you had been genuinely curious. Perhaps a little jealous at the thought of Cassian putting in just as much work into chasing other women as he has been with you.

“That’s ok. I think romance is more reserved for the pages of books these days than in actual reality”

Not a fan of where this conversation had turned to Cassian did his best to lift the mood, “I’m not surprised you think that if all your books were like that one I caught you reading. Heck where are you meant to find a overprotective god of war with who hates everyone but the lowly daughter of an inventor and they go on to have insane - and totally not physically possible by the way- sex!”

You scrunched your face, “Cassian there’s no way you were able to get all that from one page…Oh cauldron! You read the book! You read Fatal Frenzy!”

As if only now realising what he said to you, a flustered Cassian tried to provide you with lame excuses as to how he knew that information until it was clear you weren’t going to let it go. After about five minutes of listening to your constant prodding, poking and teasing as you walked, Cassian caved, “Fine! Fine, I read it ok. I was curious as to how he was going to put his god level cock to use!”

By this point you were full on cackling, having to stop your walking to put a hand on your stomach at the thought of this mountain of a man sitting down to read a devilishly smutty book. “I have to say”, you gasped out in-between giggles, “I’m surprised you can even read”.

Cassian acted out the most overdramatic reaction to your words, his hands flew to his heart, bouquet still in his grasp, and released loud, exaggerated noises of pain and cries of just how horrible you were. People had began to stop in the street, wondering why the Lord of Bloodshed was acting as though he had just been shot. Rolling your eyes and wanting the attention off the two of you, you elbowed his side prompting him to stop, “careful you’ll crush my flowers if you die any wilder.”

Charming grin of his face, Cassian looked down at you, “we wouldn’t want that would we? Not when a super hot guy went through the effort of finding out your favourite flowers for you.”

“You’re crazy” you said in dismissal, continuing to walk in the direction of your home.

“Your kind of crazy?” A hopeful tone in Cassian’s voice.

“I haven’t quite decided yet” you said honestly. You couldn’t deny that Cassian was already proving himself to you more than any man has. No one had ever bought you flowers before and no male had ever attempted to read a book you were reading for your attention.

“Well you just let me know when you do” Even the way Cassian looked at you made you melt.

“You’ll be the first” gentle smile on your face. Nerves building in you once more as you thought about what going further with the man next you you would entail.

Content to let you walk lost in your thoughts, Cassian didn’t try to force any conversation. A natural peace fell between the two of you, the silence not an awkward one. It wasn’t until you neared the outside of your house that you broke the silence, “Well, this is me”.

Nodding Cassian passed you the bouquet. For the first time you looked at the flowers and really admired them, admired the fact this man had gone out his way to go to your friend and make sure he got your favourite ones.

“Thank you Cassian,” you said, laying a kiss onto his stubbled cheek, “they’re beautiful.”

Cassian’s usual confidence gone, it was his turn to blush. Shyly, he tried his luck again, “so about that date?”

You walked over to your door, pulling out your key, turning back to Cassian, twinkle in your eyes, you said, “ask me again tomorrow”.

“That wasn’t a no!” He said, confidence rushing back into him. As you entered your house and peaked through the window behind your curtains you couldn’t help but watch Cassian, beam on his face, as he jumped on the spot. A small celebration that you hadn’t fully rejected him once more. A matching grin on your face as you observed him, you stayed watching until he took off from the ground, large angelic wings spread, wondering what in Prythian was this man doing to you and what sinful things you’d like to do with those wings.

~~~~~

You were sorely disappointed over the course of the next week. Since that evening Cassian had walked you home to the cafe he had not returned. Jadis tried to keep your thoughts positive, saying he was probably away on important Night Court business, being the General of its army and all. After being the one to speak to Cassian about you she was adamant that he was undoubtedly in love with you and he wouldn’t leave you hanging.

It was hard though, when the eighth day of his absence rolled round, not to think that he had found someone more interesting to pursue. Someone who didn’t make him work as hard for their affections. Your mood was so glum that you didn’t even have the heart to read. Why read about love when you’re not sure you believe in it anymore?

You had spent days wondering what you had done wrong. Had you been too forward? Or did he find your obsession with males that weren’t real a little too bizarre? You did your best not to dwell on it but it was so hard not to, the flowers you had placed in a vase on the side table in your library, right next to your reading chair, still flourished beautifully, a constant reminder of the man who crashed into your life only to leave it in shambles.

So here you were, sat on the stool in the cafe, your thoughts being the only thing to keep you busy due to your sudden lack of interest in reading. It had been another quiet day, but it wasn’t long now until Jadis would arrive, you had opened the cafe for her after she asked for a favour so she could spend the night at Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome’s, who’s name you had learnt was Arthur. Happy that even if your love life was crumbling, at least Jadis’s was blooming. However, you were thankful you weren’t actually supposed to be working today, not sure if you could survive another shift listening to her unintentionally boast about how perfect Arthur was and how good he is at sex.

So you sat there and waited for her arrival, desperate to go home and crawl into your bed. Without your typical reading to do, you found yourself spending most of your free time sleeping, wasting away the hours you didn’t know what to do with yourself in.

It was finally an hour after the time she had promised to be in for, when Jadis flew into the cafe, bell ringing aggressively at her sudden entrance. Running to where you were at the counter, coat and bags in hand, she was profusely apologising over and over for her tardiness.

“You must have had a good night with Mr Handsome” you teased, trying not to let your slight annoyance at you still being here show. Confusion flashed across her face before she quickly corrected it in realisation, “Oh yeah! Totally great sex, every woman’s dream. Hugeeee dick.”

Opening your mouth, ready to ask her about her odd behaviour, she pulled you from your stool before you could talk. Dragging you out from behind the work area, saying “Come on Y/N it’s your day off, don’t want to be here any longer than you have to be!”

Now you defiantly knew something was off, Jadis typically keeping you an hour in-between shifts to catch you up on everything that has happened since the day before. “Jadis, what’s going on?” You asked cautiously, had something happened between her and Arthur? No. Jadis would definitely tell you if that was the case, or maybe she just didn’t want to make you any more depressed than you already were. Still in that strange tone of voice, Jadis kept pushing you to leave, “Nothings wrong! I’m fine. Now leave, you still have the whole day to do something, go read one of your smut books!”

This confirmed she was definitely hiding something, knowing that you haven’t picked up a book for the past week after listening to your incessant complaining about the matter. If you weren’t so desperate to leave and go rot in bed for the rest of the day you would have stayed and forced whatever it is she was hiding out of her. You decided that was tomorrow’s job, when you had a nice six hour shift together where she couldn’t avoid your pestering.

Shrugging on your coat and promising to yourself you’d find out what she was dodging tomorrow, you left the cafe. Turning your head around to look back through the windows only to be met with Jadis and her crazed eyes watching, as if making sure you were walking in the direction of your house. Unsettled, you followed the streets leading home, praying to the Mother that your friend was alright and you weren’t about to have to kill a man for upsetting her.

Finally, you arrived at your door, turning the key in the lock you were startled to discover the door was already unlocked. You were exhausted when you left that morning but you could have sworn you weren’t so tired that you’d risk your property and your safety like that.

Fear now coursing through your veins, you quietly pushed your door open, scared you would alert anyone in your house that you were there and something bad would ensue. The fae lights in your hallway were all lit, softly casting a warm glow over your home. You stepped inside, and instead of your foot meeting the usual plush of your carpet it was met with a slight crunch.

Casting your eyes to the ground you gasped. There were hundreds of rose petals scattered across your floor, leading towards each of your rooms. Following the trail, you made it through to the entrance of your living room, if your jaw dropped any lower you were sure it’d hit the floor.

The entire room looked as if it had been covered in a red blanket, a sea of roses covering the entirety of your room to the point where you couldn’t actually see anything that wasn’t a deep shade of red.

By this point your heart was pounding in your chest and you were sure you could feel your eyes watering, the hundreds of roses placed around you getting blurrier and blurrier. But there was no sign of the man you were sure had placed them.

Turning around you sped into each of your rooms, wanting nothing more than to find Cassian and throw your arms around him. Each room the same as the last, filled to the brim with the most beautiful roses. Lillies may once have been your favourite flowers but you think the kind-hearted man, who had wormed his way into your heart, may have just changed your mind. Roses were perfect.

Still no Illyrian insight you flung open the door to your library. Room decorated just as over the top as the others. And there in the centre of it all, sat waiting for you to return home, is Cassian. He stood quickly, treading on some of the flowers placed by his feet.

“How?” You asked, voice cracking as you tried to hold the tears at bay.

“It wasn’t easy, Jadis let me in.” Cassian said lightheartedly from where he stood across the room, too far from you for your liking, “I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long. I wanted to do this the day after we last spoke but I guess I didn’t actually think about the logistics of getting thousands of roses delivered.”

You stayed silent, heart overwhelmingly filled with love for the man before you, the man who had spent the past week getting a thousand roses just to ask you on a date. Taking your silence for something bad, Cassian began to ramble, “My brother Azriel - the spymaster - he helped too…I wanted to make sure it’d be done in time. It’s a mess I get it, I’m sorry, I’ll clear it all out for you I just-“

You cut him off, tears now flowing freely down your red hot cheeks, hands trembling, “it’s perfect Cassian. Nobody…nobody has ever done anything like this for me” At the sign of your tears Cassian made to make his way towards you but was stopped by the fact he just didn’t know where to place his foot without ruining all his hard work.

“Clearly I didn’t think this through very well” he mumbled, arms out to keep him balanced and preventing him from falling. Not wanting to spend a minute more away from him after having to suffer through a whole week, you ran, roses be damned right into his arms. Throwing yourself at his muscled body as he caught you, pulling you close to his chest in midair.

“You’re crazy!” you exclaimed, head tucked into his neck as you rested it on his shoulder.

Cassian placed you down gently, arms still wrapped tightly around your waist but he wanted to look into your eyes for this, “your kind of crazy?” His eyes held that same hopeful desperation that they had when he last asked you out.

“Hell yeah” and with that you grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and connected his lips to yours.

The kiss was like nothing you had ever read before in one of your books. It was everything and more. A fire ignited within you, burning hotter and hotter and you just kept needing more. Cassian the fuel to your fire and you were sure that as long as you had him with you it was a flame that would never die out.

It was a messy clash of teeth and tongues, both of you uncaring of how sloppily and uncoordinated were kissing. All you knew was you needed each other like the pages of a book needed ink. You kissed and you kissed, hands wandering until you weren’t sure which parts belonged to Cassian and which to yourself.

The need to breathe forgotten, you continued. Hands running over his back which was rippled in muscles before reaching around his neck, holding onto him tightly as he picked you up once more.

It was only when the need for air was so overwhelming that you had no other option to pull away that you did. Heads pressed together, lips still slightly touching, a trail of saliva linking the two of you together. Cassian continued to hold you in his arms as if you were nothing but a feather, catching his breath he finally began to speak, “So about that date then?”

You giggled, pulling him even closer to you by his neck and laying a soft peck on his lips before drawing away to give your answer, Cassian’s mouth chasing after yours, “If this is how you ask me, I can’t wait to see what you have planned for our first date. Hopefully you don’t ignore me for a month whilst you prepare.”

Barking out a laugh Cassian placed you on the floor of roses, holding your hands to ensure you didn’t stumble. He looked around the room, proud smile adorning his face, he first took in the roses which he had took so long in prepping, screaming at Azriel when he hadn’t placed them down as he had pictured in his head. His gaze then swept your shelves, hundreds of books upon them.

“Ever read about this in one of your books?”

“Nope this is definitely a first”

His eyes landed on the book resting on your table, right next to the vase full of lilies he had originally given you, title in gold lettering along the front of the cover. Fated Frenzy. The book he had read because of you. You laughed as you spotted what he was staring at, his eyes travelling back to you, running up your body with hunger before finally settling on your eyes.

“You into roleplay gorgeous?”

With those words he smashed his lips back onto yours. The promise of an exciting night ahead.

Here, standing in your library entwined with the Illyrian you decided all those characters you have read about were lacking in one thing you never even knew you needed.

They weren’t Cassian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes: You have no idea how much I wanted to finish this fic with “And so Cassian did” lol

Happy Valentines <3

[di-42]

Why are we obsessed with Good Omens?

Why are we obsessed with Good Omens? And, more specifically,why are we so obsessed with Good Omens season 2? And why is this such an intense obsession? I've been obsessed with other TV series in the past: Sherlock, Doctor Who and Gilmore Girls are just a few examples. But my obsession with Good Omens is stronger. I loved Good Omens, the book. I was delighted when not only did Good Omens season 1 not disappoint compared to the book but was excellent in its own right. But after watching season 2 I was a different person. And I know I'm not alone in this.

Why is this? Why is this show affecting us so deeply? To the point that sometimes it feels destabilising?

Like I said above, I loved the book and I loved season 1. I loved the complexity of the plot, the many layers of the story, the humour of course, all the characters and in the TV show the way these characters were portrayed, especially of course our two main heroes. I loved the way the story unapologetically approached religion and teased it and played with it and made fun of parts of it, especially the bureaucratic/hierarchic part without being disrespectful to believers (I think and hope, but since I'm not a believer myself I'm happy to be corrected). I loved how much was in it and the many lenses we could read the story.

Now I'll be honest. When I started watching season 2 I... loved it. Of course I did. The way you love things you know. The way you love things that make you feel safe. The way a toddler loves mum and dad and the way we love going for a coffee with our lifelong friends. Something risk-free, something we know, something we don't need to worry about. Something beautiful but... Shall I say it? Something beautiful, truly beautiful and safe and cosy but not something extremely exciting. The plot is Crowley and Aziraphale have to hide Gabriel who, for some reason, has left heaven. OK. Nice. We get to know Crowley and Aziraphale better, we have more glimpses of their history. Truly, truly beautiful. But safe. A lovely rom com. We fall in love with 1941 all over again. Beautifully emotional. But where's the danger? Is the world really not ending this time round? It was difficult to take the threats from heaven and hell very seriously when we saw our heroes visiting the coffee shop, driving to Edinburgh and miracling rain to make two humans fall in love.

I was enjoying it, I was... yeah. Loving it, sure. We were all happily watching it but, let's face it, we all knew how it was going to end, didn't we?

And that there. That's why we are so obsessed with Good Omens. Well, that's definitely why I'm so obsessed with Good Omens. At first I thought it was just the lack of closure. But it's not. It's because after alluring you in with cosy safe tartan blankets and cocoa winged mugs it smites you mercilessly. It's because it subverts all the expectations it created in the first place. This is what is so destabilising. We've all read and watched lovely, moving, heart breaking love stories before. We've all lost it a bit over maddening cliffhangers. All the beautiful stories in our lives. But the ending of Good Omens season 2? It does change you as a person. The impact of changing the narrative so suddenly and forcefully. We were watching a comedy and now we are witnessing the unfolding of a tragedy. That's what did it, I think. That's why it stays with us and occupies a good part of our thoughts while we go about our daily activities. That's also what makes many of us want to write, draw, analyse and create. As obsessed as I was with other series and books before, it was only after Good Omens season 2 that I felt I needed to write about it and find a community where I could talk about and share my thoughts and read other people's thoughts. I know many of you are writers or artists but I also know many of us aren't and it's only thanks to Good Omens that we overcome our fears and self doubts and put our thoughts out there. Thanks to Neil Gaiman. Thanks to Neil Gaiman promising one thing and delivering another. Thanks to Neil Gaiman deceiving us. I can't wait to see how it all pans out and we do know everything will be OK. But in the meantime I'm so happy to have had my expectations taken and thrown in the bin.

[charcoaldustonmyfingers]

Kinda oddly embarrassed to send this but oh my god your art is so pleasing to look at for some reason

I think it's just the soft shapes you use and how amazingly 3D everything tends to look?? Like the angles and proportions are just so perfect that I find it easy to imagine most of what you draw as a 3D model or something

And like I don't think I could nail it like you (maybe with time!!) But I am definitely taking inspiration from it because it DOES get me thinking about how you use shapes and angles and wonder if I could practice that because oh my god I wish I could absorb your art

Do you have methods or techniques to make it look so 3D? if you know what I mean? I tend to use grids to try and map out the shapes in a vaguely 3D plane, so I was wondering if you had tips kinda like that to share with the class? or if you're just winging it and it's a lot of practice?

Thank you so much!!! It really means a lot to me when others take inspiration from my art, it reminds me of all the artists I used to look up to and emulate when I was first starting out on MSPaint with a broken trackpad for a pen, you don’t have to be embarrassed! You’ll definitely be able to harness 3D space and create fantastic work, you’re already well on your way! Having passion and a desire to learn will take you far :)

My biggest focus whenever I draw is to make the characters feel real, as though you could reach out and enter the space they’re in to sit next to them on the couch. I’m so glad that I’m able to pull it off! Thanks for the rose, I’ll be sure to cherish it :)

As for my methods and techniques…

Drawing on a 3D grid plane is definitely something I do! Its perfect for comic panels or storyboards, to set the scene and ground characters or props to their environment.

I did a lot of classical study, that is life drawing and still life drawing, but simply using reference for buildings and anatomy also helps a lot and is a lot easier to find. I’d also sketch my hands, plastic animals, and my surroundings, as well as people watch for inspiration for character mannerisms or fashion. It’s useful to know a little bit about the inner workings of anatomy, as there are places were bone makes a person inflexible, while places with more muscle or fat are affected by things like gravity or pressure that change their shape. Drawing a flour sac to act out different emotions is a great way to practice weight and character acting!

Having studied animation, I did a lot of turnarounds to get characters consistent and able to be rotated in 3D space. It can be pretty tedious for some people, but it really does help solidify the characters’ shapes and design, and serves as great reference to look back on if you need it! If you don’t want to do something so stiff as a turnaround, simply drawing expressions and poses from dynamic angles helps too. I’ve found that breaking a character down into basic shapes that are easy to draw in a 3D plane also can help my anatomy and foreshortening be more accurate.

Most importantly, find something that brings you joy to draw! Every “traditional” method of study can be applied to things you like, so don’t feel the need to burn out thinking you can only draw the Mona Lisa or whatever. I’ve done anatomy studies on the Rise turtles to figure out their skeletal structure, and friends of mine have painted some mind blowing concept art inspired by Sonic and D&D!

I hope this helps some? Best of luck, and have fun! :D

Below are a couple of examples of some of my studies:

[pit-and-the-pen]

Got it Bad- Nessian x Reader

I just reread Silver Flame and I… Listen. My bisexsual ass does not know who I love more.

Summary:  Smut (18+), Threesome (M x F xF), p in v sex, face sitting, oral (m/f receiving), spit, shy reader and slight dom! Nesta and Cassian, slight cum play, porn no plot. 

Pairing: Nessian x mated! reader

This is my first threesome that I’ve written 

Another one I wrote on my phone so only slightly edited. 

WC: 2.8k

It truly wasn’t fair sometimes, having not one but two insanely beautiful mates. The heat that had lingered over your whole body seemed to flaring up full force as you watched the two of them training. It was your turn to sit and watch, and watch you certainly did. Beads of sweat were rolling down Cassian's toned abs and Nesta’s face was deliciously flushed as she blocked every one of Cassian’s moves with expert skill. The noises coming from both of them were enough to make your face heat up, shifting slightly in your spot on the ground. The longest you watched them, the more your mind drifted.  How Cassian’s sweat would taste as you kissed your way down his stomach, the sweet noises you would draw out of Nesta. It was driving you wild. 

There was absolutely no reason for you to be wanting them this much. Cassian had already wrung two orgasms from you before you had even gotten out of bed this morning. 

“You okay, sweetheart, you look a little warm?” He said as he crouched down to get a better look at your face. He brings up a gentle hand to rest on your cheek and the gentle touch has you biting back a whine. Recognition flashes across his face, the small shift sending the scent of your arousal straight to him. “Does seeing us train turn you on, sweet girl?” He teases and it takes every ounce of your willpower to not jump him right there at the tone in his voice. That sweet voice with a slight bite in it turns your knees to jelly every single time. You find it in yourself to nod and he turns his head back to Nesta. She raised an eyebrow at him and he leaned back in to whisper into your ear. “Why don’t you show our mate how much you like it?” You blushed and caught Nesta’s eyes before sending all of the need down the bond. You're rewarded with her intake of breath and that pretty pink creeping up her high cheekbones.  She stalks over to Cassian and I and offers me a hand. Nearly stumble over myself trying to grab it, the action causing Nesta to give a small laugh. Your blush intensifies as Nesta hauls me to my feet. Your mouth dries out when you notice how close her face is to yours. When you try to angle your head to join your lips, she wraps a hand into your hair, holding you still. She runs her nose over your jaw line and down your neck. The touch pulling a pitiful whine from your lips. 

“She does feel a little warm Cas.” She pulls away from you, leaving you cold as a shiver runs down your spine. “Maybe we should bring her inside.” Your stomach flips at the suggestive tone of her voice and Cassian’s wings flare out slightly as he catches onto her meaning. He’s practically pulling you back to the house, Nesta and you laughing together at his urgency. 

Nesta’s lips are on yours the second the door is closed, my back pressed against the hall. You suck down her strawberry and mint taste until you're panting against her. Your hands wind into her braid and she nips at my bottom lip, asking for permission. You don’t hesitate to let her tongue lick into my mouth, moaning at the contact and she bites your lips again for good measure. When she goes to pull away, you use your grip in her hair to pull her face back to yours. Cassian clears his throat from the other side of the room, “Nes' ' was all he said and Nesta was unwinding your hands from her hair and walking over to him, leaving you breathless against the door. He pulled her onto his lap and brought his lips to hers. The kiss heated up and you saw Cassian's grip move down to her hip and started rocking Nesta against his thigh. You moaned almost at the same time she did and the pair broke apart. Nesta gave you a wicked smile and hopped off Cassian's lap only to start pulling off her training clothes. Inch by inch her gorgeous skin was revealed to you and all you could do was remain stuck to that stupid door, legs refusing to move. 

“Come here bunny.” Cassian cooed at you and it was like he put you under a spell, feet finally moving you in the direction you wanted. Nesta came up behind you and you stood in front of Cassian and teased at the hem of your shirt, asking permission to take it off. You nodded, whimpering out a small “please”. 

“Arms up” she said and you obliged, the material feeling too rough as it trailed up your heated skin. Cassian’a eyes darkened as he realized you weren’t wearing a bra and your breasts were on full display. Nesta made a soft ticking noise before her hands were wrapping around your front, hands going to teasingly play with your hardened nipples. It was only her contact at your back that stopped you from melting to the floor. Her mouth trailing open kisses along your shoulder and deft fingers tweaking your nipples. Your head leaned back onto her shoulder as you cried out. You could vaguely hear Cassian shuffling out of his own clothes, the various buckles of his leathers clanking as he threw them somewhere in the room. He gently pulled you out of Nestas hold, the female behind you making a displeased noise. 

Cassian laid you on your back and started to pull your pants along with your panties off in one swift motion. You gasped softly as the cold air of the room hit your soaked core. Cassian and Nesta smirked at each other when they saw the slight shine of your arousal on your thighs. “We barely touched you and you’re already soaked.” Nesta teased but the words were lost because at the same time Cassian had swiped a large finger up your folds. He pulled away, fingers glistening and you felt your face heat up. He brought his fingers up to your mouth and you gladly took them between your lips. The make above you groaning as you swirl your tongue along the digits. You sucked hard and he pulled his fingers out with a popping sound, a long string of spit coming off his fingers. Nesta pulls Cassian in for another kiss, you can’t look away from the heated moment and Cassian goes to wrap his arm around Nesta before she pulls away. She climbs into you hips, thighs straddling yours and squeezes your cheeks. You instantly open your mouth and she spits on your tongue. You can taste her and Cassian, mixed with the linger taste of your own arousal and your core clenches. She closes your mouth gently and watches with a primal look in her eyes as you swallow, sticking your tongue out to show her. She pats your cheek gently, “good girl.” She praises and you smile dumbly at her. 

The groan you hear from besides you has your eyes moving over to Cassian. His hand wrapped around his hardened length. 

You tap Nestas legs and she climbs off of you. Sliding off the bed, you take the few steps it takes to stand in front of Cassian. He leans back onto his arms, stopping the motion of his hand, as you sink to your knees. His hands are sweeping your hair off your shoulder before he’s even in your mouth. Giving a light pull so your chin is tilted up. You’re eye level with his throbbing cock and you let out a whine at not being able to have him in your mouth. “Want it that bad?” Cassian growls out, you nod as best as you can with his grip on your hair. He lets out a heavy breath and flexes his hips, letting you know you can get started. And that you do. 

You instantly take him half way down your throat, the sudden contact making him yelp which turns into a throaty moan. What you can’t take in your mouth, your hands are stroking. Following behind your mouth as you take him deeper each time. Head bobbing up and down at the fast pace he likes. “Look at my sweet little Bunny, you look so good with my cock in your mouth.” He says between grunts. You hum at the praise and are rewarded with the buck of his hips. Hands still in your hair, he uses it to pull you off of him, the question in his eyes. All you do is take him in your mouth again, letting him rest on your tongue. That’s all it takes for him to start thrusting into your mouth. Harsh thrust that pulls pretty gags from your throat. Your nose touches those toned abs and he holds you there just long enough for tears to prick in the corners of your eyes before he pulls you all the way off. You’re panting and going to lean back to him but he stops you. “I think we’ve left out our other mate. Why don’t you go make it up to her?” 

You look over to Nesta and are met with the sight of her rubbing slow circles on her clit. Her eyes lock on yours and that’s all it takes for you to raise off your knees and join her again on the bed. Crawling over to her, you lightly swat away her hand and replace it with your own. Copying her slow pace. She squirms under your touch and moans softly. You speed up your movements. “Need… need more” she moaned. You’re rewarded with her pretty scream as you sink two fingers into her, fingers already brushing that sweet spot inside of her. You’re so distracted by her pretty noises that you don’t realize Cassian coming up behind you. It takes every bit of concentration not to stop your fingers as Cassian lifts you up and crawls under you, placing your dripping core over his face. You give Nesta a particularly hard thrust as Cassian licks a long stripe up your cunt. Arching into his face, he wraps his hands around your thighs and licks lazily up and down. 

Nesta’s and your moans fill the room as you slip another finger inside of her, moving faster still. Her hips buck to meet your hand and you know she’s close. Smirking to yourself at her blissed out face. You pull your fingers out and resume the tight circles on her clit. She hisses slightly at the sudden change, eyes fluttering open. Her mouth hangs open as she moans a garbled version of your name. Small shakes rack through her as she grips onto your wrist. Her orgasm barreling through her and your hands don’t stop as you work her through it. She falls back against the mattress with a content smile on her face. 

Cassian really starts on you once he realizes Nestas finished. He pulls you even tighter against his face and thrusts his tongue inside of you. Your back arches and your hands shoot out into the sheets to steady yourself. Nesta still laid back on the mattress, eyes now watching you ride Cassian's face. Your moans raise in pitch and she pulls herself off the mattress. Kneeling in front of you, she pulls you in for a searing kiss. Capturing every moan Cassian pulls from you, she greedily swallows them down. Her hands land on your breasts again and start to kneed at the soft flesh. Cassian scrapes his teeth lightly over your clit and that’s all it takes for your own orgasm to rip through you. Hips bucking against his face as Nesta sinks her teeth into your lip, muffling the scream that tears out of your throat. You sag against her and Cassian slips out from under you. Once your breathing has settled slightly, you look back at Cassian. His face and chin coated with your release. “Nes, you go first.” You offer and she’s smirking as she crawls over to Cassian. 

A rough hand on his shoulder pushes him to his back and she’s already sinking down onto him. He roars once she’s fully seated against him and when he goes to grab her hips, she playfully swats his hands away. Instead she places her hands on his chest and uses the leverage to grind against him. His hands knot into the sheets and you can only watch the place where they’re connected. Cassian's thick length slipping into and out of her, that creamy ring at the base from Nesta’s previous release. It’s enough to make you moan. The sound only makes Nesta’s hips speed up. She finally lets him grip her hips and he starts to meet her thrusts. High pitched whines leave Nesta’s mouth as a string of curses falls from Cassian’s. You can’t stop the hand that trails down your stomach, skin itching with need. You don’t even bother to pause as you thrust a finger into yourself. Biting your lip to stop the loud cry the action pulls from your mouth. 

The pair looking over at you, eyes hazy with lust. Nesta gives Cassian a few more long strokes, slowly raising and lowering herself before she pulls off of him. “We can’t leave our needy girl out of this,” She winks at you, “As much as she does love watching me fuck you silly.” You whimper at her words. Both of them turn their attention back to you. Cassian pulls your hand away from your aching hole, ignoring your whine. He’s pushing you down to your back and Nesta is already climbing up to your head. Your hands find her thighs and help her get situated as she lowers herself onto your waiting tongue. You groan at the taste of her. Your hand gliding up to her clit as you fuck her with your tongue. 

Cassian’s fingers slip into you and the moan you release into Nesta has her cursing above you. Grinding harder onto your face. Once Cassian has stretched you out enough, he withdrawals his fingers and you feel his thighs brush against yours. You part your legs wider, silently begging him to fill you. He pushes in achingly slow, inch by inch to let you adjust. His hands wrap under your knees to push them up to your chest. 

You can do nothing but cry out as Cassian starts to plow into you. Hips digging deliciously into your thighs and you feel tears start to roll down your face. Mind already numb to anything but your mates over you. Blood is drumming against your ears, you would be surprised if the others couldn’t hear your frantic heartbeat as the three of you work to get each other off. Nesta finishes first but you pull her back down, holding her hips to your face, your tongue not stopping. She twitches against you, head thrown back in a silent moan. Her hands twist themselves into your hair and the painful sting on your scalp as she pulls only spurs you on. She moans out, “Please, don’t stop.” So you don’t. 

Cassian’s harsh thrusts are sending you over the edge before you can even process it. His own cries are muffled by Nesta’s thighs. His thrusts get deeper, pulling out less and less until he’s bucking his hips against yours. Grinding deep into you. Nesta and you come for a second time together. When she rides out her bliss, she’s tapping on your shoulder, signaling you to let her up. You can finally hear Cassian’s moans. He’s loud enough to shake the paintings on the walls. Grunting and panting, followed by strings of curses. “Such a perfect little cunt. You take me so well, take both your mates so well…Fuck. I love you. Both of you.” His hips stutter a little and you can tell he’s close. You see Nesta’s hands go to stroke that tender spot on his wings and that’s all it takes for him to fill you up. He pulls out, his seed leaking onto your thigh. You have to push Nesta away from your leaking hole as she swipes her tongue through your folds. Too worn out to have her mouth on you. 

The three of you lay panting on the bed. Limbs tangled around each other as you all bask in your post-orgasmic bliss. Cassian eventually pulls away from the bed to run a bath for all of you. Your tub almost has its own room to be able to fit all three of you, including Cassian’s wings. Both you and Nesta are wrapped in a tender kiss and Cassian joins you back on the bed, he tucks both of you onto his chest. The three of you drift off to sleep wrapped in each other. Bath completely forgotten.

[ruiniel]

Hey ho! Love you blog and writing so much!!! I wish I could write as well as you. They way you write Alucard is just magic ✨

I saw that you had asks open for Alucard and if it’s not too late I had a suggestion, maybe there’s one you might like?

Lisa never dies AU Alucard x Fem Human who’s come to study under Lisa. She’s already betrothed and there’s a lot of moral conflict on Adrian’s side as to whether he should confess to her. Reader is clueless but suffering as she feels her love for Alucard is unrequited. Could be smutty if you feel like it?

You're kind, we all have our interpretations, glad you enjoy mine enough to send an ask! Tried to incorporate most of what you wrote. Will be a longer one, here's what I have for Part I. Next part will have an Alucard POV.

Hidden

Fandom: Castlevania series (2017-2021)

Pairing: Alucard x fem!reader

Rating: T

Count: 2k

Tags & Warnings: Mutual pining, Romantic angst, Unresolved emotional tension, Second Person POV, Two people running from their feelings like their lives depend on it, for Reasons

I. Status quo

“Not yet. Wait five minutes longer.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” you stammer, placing the beaker back in its place. The laboratory is silent today, with only you and Lisa and the clink of glass and hiss of flame. You’re working together, aiding the head physician of Belmont in an experiment she sustains will bring forth a new type of medicine that might revolutionize the treatment of infection. 

Lisa smiles, always patient, and you feel all the more clumsy, and in all honesty rather useless.

Your mind’s just not in it today, and the reasons? Well.

There is no reason, there shouldn’t be. You’re content. You have someone by your side, to spend a life together. Your fleeting life, the thought beckons.

You bury down the thought of his voice, the patience he poured into teaching you the basics before his mother took you under her wing. It matters little now. You’ll pass this apprenticeship and you’ll always find work, in any place, away from the agony that takes hold whenever you meet his eyes lately.  

“Are you all right?” your tutor asks, and you shake your head, annoyed at yourself. 

“Yes, I...”

“Drifted away, I know what that’s like all too well,” Lisa adds with a smile, her attention back to her working table. “After all, we’re only human, aren’t we?”

“Yes...” Only human. 

How stupid is it to think he would ever look at you that way? Your friendship at least endures, and he does not know. 

“Mother?”

You bite the inside of your cheek at the voice, listening to the footsteps drawing near, the tread you’d recognize anywhere. 

“My dear?” Lisa asks.

Adrian pauses somewhere between your working stations. “I need a gauze and disinfectant. Sara fell during one of their usual games by the river and now sports a gash the size of Belmont’s ego.”

“Of course,” she turns to you. “Darling please will you show Adrian where we moved the supplies?”

You freeze, still with your back turned, wanting to appear busy. The dome is silent again, and the faraway laughter of children can be heard through the open windows.

He doesn’t say your name, merely waits as you face him, slowly. You’ve seen less and less of him in the past month, and you yearn to look. I have someone. Someone worthy. This would never work, him and I, even if he did... “This way,” you say, your manner betraying nothing as you disappear among the many stacked shelves of the laboratory storage area. You’ve had plenty of practice in that respect, after all.

You find the section hosting the necessary items and reach for the sliding stairs nearby while Adrian busies himself momentarily with an open tome lying on one of the tables.

“What are you doing?” comes the softly spoken question.

“I’m... retrieving what you asked for?” If there’s irritation in your tone, you can’t be bothered to hide it.

“That wasn’t necessary. After all, I could get them myself, without the use of—”

“Yes, I know, but now I’m already up here,” you say while struggling to reach for a roll of bandages.

“Careful!” Adrian warns, but your boot’s already slipped on the well-worn wood and for a second you feel the relentless pull of gravity, and your fall.

Next you know—

You’re held none-too-gently against Adrian, the grasp of his hold crushing your ribcage as you try to breathe. Without realizing you’re clutching at the folds of his loose cotton shirt, knuckles pressed into the bare skin below his collarbone. 

You dare not meet his eyes, struggling even as he places you on your feet, your heart a mess.

“I told you I can get them myself,” he says with due exasperation. His back is already turned, and he pushes the stairs aside, rising to the intended spot. 

You open your mouth to speak but can think of nothing to say that would be in any way useful. You should thank him, but decide against lingering. He seems to be in a strange mood today—better to retreat and so you do, finding your way back to the other side where his mother is still noting down proportions. Stiffly you walk, fingers curling against the imprint of familiar warmth at their tips. 

You wish it could be like before, between the two of you. Why does it feel like treason each time you meet his eyes, choking on your emotions like rags being forced down your throat? 

I shouldn’t be wasting time on this. 

And so you try to follow suit, heeding that sensible thought and smiling at Lisa as you reach her.

Two weeks prior

Your legs dangle in the air as you sit on the stony battlement with your gaze cast towards the forest beyond, sunken in thought. This is a time of celebration, but the reminder only makes you quirk your mouth tiredly and with some amount of distaste. It is a chilly night, made colder by the harsh winds reaching from the West. You’d forgotten to take your cloak, and now hug yourself to warm your prickling skin. Below, the townsfolk are steeped in song, drink, and merriment. 

You sigh. At least there is peace to be had up here. You’d left needing solitude, and so disappeared from the eyesight of any who might wonder. As luck has it, your friends, trapped in their own wiles and enjoyment, had scarcely noticed your departure. Things were already animated in the groves surrounding the village, and voices raised in joyous song dimly reach you from afar. Even Adrian had been indulging in the fragrant honey wine offered for the occasion, despite his otherwise restrained manner.

You frown. Yes, Adrian. Your friend, your dearest friend, with his sunset gaze aglow from the bonfires, cast on you like melting gold, and burning just as much. 

You wonder at these rather trying new thoughts, and why in recent years such things come to your notice as they had not in the past. He always held to himself and seems utterly disinterested in matters of the heart. Tonight, however, he’d been no less than gallant and, from what you could tell, eagerly inclined towards conversation. 

You bring your knees to your chest, wrapping your arms around them, lost in the shy moon rays peeking from torn clouds streaking the sky. You don’t know how much time had passed, and late realize someone approaches. You don’t turn to see who it is, not until you hear a shift of material, and breathe the scent you know too well. 

Adrian fluidly sits down by your side, leaning back with his palms propped against the stone.

Your heartbeat is ruthless, but still you do not turn. He’s so near you feel a few gilded strands touch your cheek as the winds blow them in this direction and that.

He follows the sight of that same moon, now layering a silvery grin over castle and forest. “I’ve never known one to flee a festivity so early.”

You snort. “Some of us tire faster.” Odd, you’d been joyful indeed and eager as the day began, and now a ragged mood confuses you more than anything. 

When you should be happy.

You feel warmth, and realize Adrian’s undone his coat, placing it around your shoulders, over your hunched form. 

You don’t move, do nothing to fasten the material around yourself, either. It has something of him warming you from head to toe. What you fail to place is the sweet ache as you drink in his scent, nearly sighing aloud. “What are you doing here?” 

Adrian looks your way, an eyebrow raised. “You disappeared. I wanted to see that you were well.”

“But how did you know it was me?” You don’t usually come here, and had deliberately avoided any of the places he knows you frequent. 

Adrian stares long at the moonlit sky. “I would know you anywhere.” His voice holds that same unflinching honesty, a simple truth for him.

Rather dizzy, your words still come bitten at the edges. “I’m fine. Of course. Now I believe your curiosity is satisfied?” 

A gentle hand is placed on your arm, but immediately withdrawn. Somehow, the gesture angers you. It shouldn’t. 

“...what’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong,” you stare away, into the black horizon. “Why would anything be wrong?”

Adrian says nothing, and a part of you hopes he’d leave you to your misery. The other hopes he doesn’t. 

“You’ve always been a terrible liar,” he tilts his head to look at you. 

You grumble something unintelligible. 

“That is good to know,” he teases, while reaching inside his tunic to retrieve an object. “This, also, was part of the reason I was searching for you.”

Now you truly wish he would go, but you cannot see your days without him for a while now, and worry over what Adrian would think if he knew.

“Will you sulk or look?”

Annoyed, you set your gaze on his palm; your eyes go wide. “What... is this?”

Adrian holds the pendant up for you to see better. “A gift, for the sulky one. Did you think I’d forgotten today was your birthday?”

You stare at the piece, shining with a light of its own. The chain is so slight one could barely tell it was there, and a small, round pendant of iridescent moonstone glows against his pale hand.

“You mean, for...” Words fail as your eyes meet his. His smile is small and sweet, and you wonder what it would taste like before hot tingles creep up your neck, reaching all the way to your cheeks. “Thank you, this is... this is kind. You know I don’t…”

“May I?” 

You catch his meaning and so turn with your back to him, his coat falling from your shoulders, looking down to see the stone nestled in the hollow of your neck. You bite on the inside of your lip when his fingers touch your skin to fasten the pendant and when you turn to face him again, a smile beyond your will pulls at your lips. “I… it’s beautiful. Thank… you.”

His hands are curled in his lap as Adrian breaks your gaze. He shakes his head. “Listen, I—”

No. You can’t, you can’t hear whatever other pleasantries he has to say. What is this? Why is he doing this now, kindly gestures like crumbs to feed the thing within you that suddenly is ravening, yearning for something that frightens you, that you’ve finally set to rest?

“Adrian.”

He looks at you then, and you stare at each other for so long you don’t even know when you’d begun to shiver with the cold again.

“Yes?” 

“As of next week, I am betrothed. To Matei.”

He is still watching you, not a line changing on his face. “That is wonderful. Matei, is it?” A pondering smile. “I’ve seen the two of you together often, but did not want to presume.” Silence falls between you. The smile is frozen on his face. “Where is he, though?”

There used to be a time when there were no secrets, no strangeness. You look down, touching the gem at the base of your neck. “Still not returned from Brașov.” A change of topic is in order, though you know Adrian has never been one to pry, and so would not ask more. 

Yes, Matei is a good man. He’s kind and honorable, and has a knack for making one forget their woes. It’s a good decision. It has to be. “It feels right,” you murmur anyway. Then why does this hurt? 

“Are you happy?” Adrian asks, rising and leaning on the stone edge with his elbows. The question is soft, but his voice lacks the warmth from earlier—maybe it’s your imagination. 

A stray cloud mists over the moon, and the night grows darker around you. “It feels right,” you repeat stupidly, suddenly needing to be away as you rise from your place. “I should go inside, it’s gotten so much colder…” You drop his coat. “Again, I thank you for your gift.”

Adrian does not move from his place, his loose hair shielding his expression. “It was gladly given. And—congratulations.”

You nod in thanks though he does not see it, wait for a moment longer. He sketches nothing, having fallen into a reverie it seems, and everyone has the right to solitude. “Good night, Adrian,” you turn on your heel and walk briskly to reach the door, not looking back. 

Part II

[cuubism]

a time of need

Hob’s having what he’d thought would be an easy Sunday, puttering around the house catching up on chores and rest, when the worst headache he’s ever had splits down the middle of his skull.

It’s worse, even, than the time he’d taken an actual cleaver to the forehead, and woken up two days later still unable to see out of one eye. Hob’s hands shake and he barely manages to make it to the couch before he collapses. He shuts his eyes in agony and—

--then he’s in the Dreaming. So fast, between one blink and the next. And he knows, instinctively, that he was called here, by Dream or by the Dreaming itself. But he’s never been called like that, with a call full of such pain.

He staggers to his feet in the throne room. The sky high overhead, usually a placid field of stars, is swirling with red star matter, like the Dreaming has fallen into the heart of a nebula. It casts a crimson sheen over everything.

Lucienne is hurrying towards him, steps clicking sharply on the marble floor. “Hob? You should not be here. Lord Morpheus has closed off the heart of the Dreaming.”

“Trust me, it wasn’t intentional.” Hob takes in the deep creases in her expression as she reaches him. “What’s going on?”

“We are under attack.” She squeezes his arm, imploring. “You must go.”

“Under attack? What, Hell?” Hob remembers Dream mentioning it had happened before.

Lucienne shakes her head. “No. I do not know the details.”

A cavernous boom! echoes through the hall, shaking the walls. Lightning streaks across the sky, jagged scars that leave harsh afterimages in Hob’s vision. He pales at the sound. “Is he taking them on – whoever they are – by himself?”

“The dreams and nightmares are helping as best suits this kind of fight. But you must go.”

Hob shakes his head. “No, he called me for a reason. Where is he?”

“Hob—”

“Lucienne. Please.”

She relents, still troubled. “He is outside the palace gates, I know not precisely where. You will be drawn to the nexus of his power, I am sure.”

That’s good enough for Hob. He runs down the palace steps and across the bridge to the gates, reaching them much faster than he thinks should probably be reasonable, but then again he is in the Dreaming. The gates open to let him out, and then clank shut behind him.

The feeling of power is much stronger out here, as if the palace and its grounds had been held in a protective bubble. Lucienne was right about Dream’s power drawing him in; Hob finds him easily, standing at the bank of a river that seems to now be flowing with lava instead of water, and he’s just— just surrounded by… creatures.

Hob can’t define them any better than creatures, they are amorphous and shifting, claws and teeth and legs and wings emerging then disappearing again. He wonders why they haven’t gone to flank the palace, attack from all sides, before realizing that just as Dream’s power has drawn Hob in, it is also drawing the creatures to him. Making him the only target.

He isn’t carrying a weapon or even wearing armor or anything, and Hob’s heart pounds as he runs to him, and—

A creature leaps for Dream’s throat. Dream reaches into the air – into a dream? – his arm disappearing, yanks, and pulls a ribbon of flames straight through the creature’s body, throwing it out across the landscape. Grass scorches, and the other beasts in the fire’s path screech.

Another is leaping at his back, hundreds of teeth appearing from the shrouded mass of it in midair. Hob’s about to shout a warning, but no need. Dream turns, flings open his coat. The creature barrels in and falls into the swirling galaxies in the lining, its shriek cutting off sharply.

More run for him. Dream disappears into a dream, then reappears seconds later, a good twenty meters from where he’d been.

On the edge of a cliff.

A cliff which the beasts that charge for him hurtle off of, a cliff which was definitely not there before, because Dream brought it with him from the dream, mother of God, how is Hob even supposed to help here at all?

Well, fuck it. He’s got to try, doesn’t he?

As soon as he thinks it, there’s a sword in his hand. Dream doesn’t make note of his presence, but he must know Hob’s there, mustn’t he? Dream called him there, though God knows why.

Regardless, the creatures are so focused on Dream that Hob is able to take out two of them with his blade before they even notice he’s there.

They don’t… die, in the way he’d expect. They sort of scream and explode into dust, drifting off in the wind. He hopes they aren’t just going to reform or something.

“You are creatures of warmth,” Hob hears Dream say, across the field, to the rest of the creatures. It seems like there are more, not less, like they’re multiplying. God. “Please enjoy my warmest hospitality.”

A vicious blizzard descends on them. 

Snow whips in wild gusts across the landscape, ice biting Hob’s cheeks. He can’t see Dream very well anymore. He hears a splash and a creature howling, and imagines Dream must have pulled a frozen lake from a dream about ice skating, or perhaps from a nightmare about drowning. 

He makes his way towards Dream, determined to stay by him so he has someone at his back, even if that someone is Hob, whose powers here are meager in comparison to Dream’s.

He finds creatures in the snow and slaughters them, all of his sword work from decades past coming back to him. They come at him with fangs and claws and tails bristling with spines, but Hob isn’t afraid. His desperation to keep Dream safe is far more powerful than that.

Irrational, to want to keep Dream safe in the Dreaming. But he feels it all the same.

“This is my realm,” he hears Dream growl from somewhere in the storm, voice reverberating despite the howling wind. “It bends to my wishes. But you? Let us see how you like the dark.”

And he turns off the sun.

The Dreaming is plunged into absolute, pure darkness the likes of which Hob has never seen. There’s no moon, no stars. Hob blinks and throws his hands out, trying to balance.

And then realizes…

He can see.

Somehow. Not with his eyes, quite. But with some kind of direction at the back of his head, like the Dreaming itself is guiding him. Neat, that. Also quite likely to drive him mad if it lasts for any amount of time.

He follows the direction of Dream’s voice and finally gets close enough to see him again. There are still so many damn creatures, where are they even coming from? They are blundering now, in the dark, but must have other senses for they’re still managing to, eventually, turn for Dream. Hob watches him turn the ground beneath a group of them into quicksand. They scream and flail as they sink.

“Do you not tire?” Dream asks, idly. “Do you not relent? That is disappointing, for I tire. Of gravity, in particular.”

The realm turns upside down.

Hob’s feet stay planted on the grass as his brain spins wildly to reorient itself, but the creatures aren’t so lucky. They go tumbling down – or up? – into the air, screaming. Hob wonders if Dream’s just accidentally done the same to the entire realm, but no— looking behind him, he can see the core of the Dreaming, the palace, all the residences, still oriented the same way. Opposite to them. What in--?

Maintaining two sets of opposing gravities at once seems to be costing Dream. His chest heaves. He flips them back over again, pushing his sweaty hair back from his face. The sun pops back up into the sky, too, which is… Hob decides to interrogate it later and just be grateful for the light.

“Dream!” Hob calls, as soon as his dizziness subsides.

Dream spins to him, seeming startled. “Hob?” 

So then he didn’t realize Hob was there, at least not consciously. By the time Hob reaches his side, the sword has dissolved from his grasp. “Fuck. That was… insane. Are you okay?”

Dream looks at him, brow furrowed. The rushing winter winds die down as their eyes meet, leaving drifts of snow behind. “Why are you here? You should not be here, it is not safe. I have closed off the heart of the Dreaming. How?”

“You… called me?” Hob says. “I think.” 

Dream’s frown deepens. “I do not… recall. Regardless, you must go. The Dreaming is not safe at present.”

“Why? Isn’t the fight over?”

“No.” Dream looks out at the horizon. A wave of sickly, mixed colors is growing there, like oil spreading across the sky. “The real fight has yet to begin.”

“What? What about all those creatures?”

“Those were scouts. Hunting dogs.” Dream huffs. “Their masters thought perhaps they would get lucky and catch me unawares, not have to dirty their hands. Foolish. They will pay for it.”

Hob looks around, horrified, as that oil keeps spreading upward from the horizon. With it, a wave of what Hob can only describe as grayscale follows across the landscape. Color leaches out of everything and disappears. Dream watches this, expression tight but measured, following the arc of the spread.

“Aren’t you going to do something?” Hob asks.

“Let them expend their energy. Color is immaterial, I will restore it later.” 

“Lure them into complacency?” Hob guesses, faint.

Dream nods. He looks even more dramatic with no warmth to his skin, all stark black and white lines. 

“What are they? The invaders?” Hob asks.

Dream hums. “The closest waking world corollary would be… bacteria. It is a sickness, of sorts. They would infect and devour us.”

Hob means to say something intelligent but what comes out of his mouth is, “Bacteria have hunting dogs?”

“Well, they hardly have teeth of their own,” says Dream. 

Hob shakes his head, as if that could possibly help to clear it. “And you’re going to fight these things on your own?”

“My dreams and nightmares are already helping me by letting me pull from them, so that I do not have to create everything from scratch,” says Dream. He watches as the oil spill completes its transit of the sky. The only color now is the swirling above them. “This is not a fight of physical prowess. You must leave.”

“I can’t die, Dream.”

“I would not see your mind shredded on my behalf.”

“Is that going to happen if the Dreaming doesn’t fall?” 

Dream frowns. “Not… likely. And the Dreaming will not fall. I will not let it.”

“Then it’s settled,” Hob says.

Dream sighs. “You are monumentally stubborn.”

“That’s what got me this far in the first place. Can’t stop now.” 

That pulls a tiny smile from Dream. “No. I suppose not.”

A shudder runs through the landscape, vibrating under Hob’s feet. Then another, like the ground itself is shivering. Hob shifts to maintain his balance, as he might once have on the deck of a ship. Dream doesn’t move at all, like the shivers travel right through him.

The air goes hot, then cold, then blazingly hot again, struggling with itself. The snow around them starts to steam. Dream’s jaw clenches, and the temperature drops violently once again, below freezing. Hob’s breath fogs in the air.

Dream is glaring at the horizon. “Stay present,” he tells Hob, in the tone one might use to call, On your guard!

Never bring a sword to a battle of minds, Hob thinks deliriously. His blade hasn’t rematerialized, and it would be useless anyway. Hob himself feels useless, but like hell will he leave Dream’s side.

“How did they even get in?” he asks.

“The boundaries of the Dreaming are porous to permit the passage of dreamers,” says Dream. “Unsavory things sometimes slip in as well.”

“Often?”

Dream’s eyes glint. “Only when enough time has passed that the folly in doing so has been forgotten.”

It’s in moments like this that Hob really thinks about how old Dream is. It’s easier to conceptualize his age in this way, funnily enough. An ancient lord once again protecting his kingdom from invaders is something Hob’s mind can grasp, even if the timescale in this case is absurdly long.

“Going to teach them a lesson, then?”

Dream smiles, slow and predatory; Hob sees in it the nightmare of every prey animal that has ever dashed through a dark forest, fleeing the gleaming of teeth. “Oh, yes.”

He closes his eyes. His fingers flutter at his side, like he’s plucking the strings of an invisible harp. Snow lifts in swirls around them, though there’s no longer any wind. Another shiver runs through the ground.

“What are you going to do?” Hob asks, at a whisper. He doesn’t know why he whispers; it just seems right in the face of the approaching power storm.

“There are known ways to destroy a waking world bacterium,” Dream says. His eyes are still shut, brow furrowed in concentration. “Burn it out, freeze it out. Take away its sustenance. Make the environment unsustainable for it. But bacteria that feasts on dream matter cannot be destroyed by something as simple as temperature; the temperature is, after all, a part of the Dreaming itself. It can gorge itself on the heat and cold as easily as on anything else.” 

“So what will you do, then?” Hob asks.

Dream’s lips quirk up in a smug smile. “I am the Dreaming,” he says, not actually answering the question. “They cannot have me. If they insist on having me, then I will simply not exist at all.”

Before Hob can so much as say wait!, Dream's power screams into being around them more tangibly than Hob’s ever felt it, the air charging up with electricity, the fabric of the realm warbling around them. His ears pop with the pressure change, a whine pitching higher and higher in the atmosphere and making him wince, and Dream’s form fuzzes in and out like TV static.

Dream’s hands rise at his sides like he’s finding his balance in the shifting world around them, or perhaps conducting the dreams in an invisible orchestra. He hums, pleased with whatever he can feel rumbling through his power. Then he presses his hands outward.

Hob… doesn’t know exactly what happens, then. 

It’s like everything blinks out, then back on again, like turning on and off a light switch. It’s so quick his body doesn’t even react until several seconds later, when a tremor of unease shivers up his spine. For it wasn’t like before, when Dream had blacked out the sun – Hob would swear that in that millisecond of darkness he felt nothing, not the ground under his feet, or the air he was breathing, or his own clothes against his skin. He’s not even sure he existed in that moment.

Everything around him is exactly the same, except that those threads of oily color circling the sky have disappeared. Just like that, gone, the bacteria dead, or at least banished, and Hob has no idea what Dream even did.

Everything in the Dreaming looks the exact same--

--except Dream.

Dream looks like he tumbled down a cliff then ran ten kilometers through bramble bushes. His hair is falling in clumps over his forehead, his long coat torn, his forehead prickling with sweat. His nose is bleeding, the red of it shockingly bright as color leeches back into the gray landscape, though he pays it no mind as it trickles over his lips. His hands are shaking where he holds them out, fingers now closed into fists.

“Any of you who have survived,” he snarls, glaring up at the sky, presumably speaking to the remaining bacteria, “carry a message home to your people. Enter my realm again, touch a single one of its inhabitants, and I will personally unmake your entire species. Do not test me.”

Is unmaking a species even in Dream’s power? Hob wouldn’t have thought so, but he wouldn’t care to test that theory right now, were he the species in question.

Dream wavers, then, and Hob just barely manages to lurch forward fast enough to catch him as he falls. He goes to his knees in the snow, and Dream collapses against him, shaking horribly. He coughs, a horrible, wet sound, and blood spatters Hob’s shirt.

Hob’s heart jumps into his throat. “ Dream —” He tries to get him down onto his side, but Dream clenches his hands weakly in Hob’s shirt.

“I will be—” he starts, and is cut off by more coughing, blood dripping from his lips. “Fine, in—” Another spasm of coughing. A tremor shakes violently through him.

“Shhh.” Hob holds him close. “I got you.”

Dream heaves for breath. He feels feverishly hot, now, sweating and shivering. “What the hell did you even do? ” Hob asks, running a hand over his back, a bit frantically.

“I unmade the Dreaming,” Dream says, each word a wheeze, “ripped it back into-- into its original grains of sand. Thus. Expelling the bacteria. Into the void that surrounds us, where it-- cannot survive. And then I put- put the Dreaming back, exactly as it was. It must--” he wipes blood from his mouth with a shaking hand, only succeeding in smearing it all over his cheek-- “must be done in an instant. To avoid causing harm.”

“What?” Hob breathes, a vast understatement for the horror and awe that he feels. “Dream, what?”

“Breaking my ruby gave-- gave me back power I hadn’t-- hadn’t seen in eons.” He coughs once, hard, spitting up more blood onto Hob’s shirt. “Nevertheless, I may be… down here for a while.” 

Hob smoothes a hand over his shivering chest. “It doesn’t seem like it’s avoided causing harm.”

“Causing no- no damage is impossible, but I managed to contain it within-” he wheezes-- “within my- aspect- and not the rest of the Dreaming.” 

“I didn’t even know you could bleed,” Hob says faintly. It’s more disconcerting than feeling the world unravel around him to see Dream shaking and coughing up blood. He’s heard that Dream was weakened when he first escaped his long imprisonment, before he’d recovered his tools, but this is on another level. 

“Usually, I cannot,” says Dream, which doesn’t help at all.

“Alright, let’s get you down, then.” Hob maneuvers Dream to lie on his side on the ground. Dream rests his head in Hob’s lap, eyelids fluttering. Around them, the world seems to waver, and then stabilizes again. 

Dream feels it, too, and says, “Worry not. The realm is stable. It is merely. Reacting to me.”

“My concern’s really you right now, love,” Hob says, running a hand through Dream’s hair. “Though it’s good the place isn’t going to collapse.”

Dream hums at his touch, closing his eyes. His breathing’s evened out, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll be getting back up under his own muster anytime soon.

It’s not long before footsteps crunch in the snow behind them, wingbeats by their side. “My lord!”

“Lucienne.” Dream’s voice is a low rumble against Hob’s thigh. “Matthew.”

“Boss!” Matthew lands on the ground beside them, Lucienne reaching them a few moments after. Matthew’s gaze catches on the blood on Hob’s shirt and he says, “You hurt, Hob?”

Hob shakes his head and nods toward Dream. Matthew squawks in alarm, feathers puffing up, and flies up to land on Dream’s shoulder, nudging at his hair with his beak.

“I am fine, Matthew,” Dream says without opening his eyes. It’s somewhat unconvincing considering how hoarse his voice comes out, and the fact that one of his ears is now bleeding.

Hob is… fairly convinced that he will be fine, once he’s rested. Fairly. 

“Just put himself through the ringer, that’s all,” he says, wiping the blood that’s trailing from Dream’s ear away with his sleeve. “We’ll go home, get some food in you, have a nice bath, and get some rest, hm?”

Dream hums in agreement. “Lucienne, how fare the dreams?”

“Everyone is frightened, but safe,” she reports, then adds, sounding fond, “They were a bit confused by the sun going out.”

“Yeah, that was an interesting party trick,” Hob agrees, and Dream chuckles.

It’s still bloody cold out here, post-blizzard. Hob doesn’t trust Dream’s usual I don’t feel temperatures excuse when he’s so drained of power, so ripped apart. 

He gathers Dream up in his arms again, wrapping his coat tighter around him. “Let’s get you in from the cold.” 

“So… we’re just not gonna talk about that moment when we all went to the shadow realm, then,” Matthew caws as Hob gets to his feet, lifting Dream up with him. “Do I want to know what that was?”

“Probably not,” Hob tells him, as Dream says, “Hob Gadling, I am capable of walking.”

“Uh-huh,” Hob says with no confidence. “Sure, love. Just indulge me. Consider it some kind of foreplay for later, if it makes you feel better.”

Matthew mutters, “Ick,” but Dream smiles and relents.

“Much later,” Hob warns him. “Mister Coughing-Up-Blood.” 

Dream rolls his eyes, but allows Hob to carry him.

Fortunately, it’s not far – the Dreaming transports them quickly back to the palace, though with less certainty in the movement than usual. “Lucienne,” Dream says as Hob divests him of his long coat and lays him in his bed. He looks like he’s about to try to pop back up, and Hob presses a hand to his shoulder, subtly keeping him down. “Please instruct everyone to let me know immediately if they find anything awry. The realm is cleansed, but I do not like to take chances.”

She inclines her head in understanding, casting a small smile in Hob’s direction, too, for good measure. Presumably for his efforts in keeping Dream lying down.

Matthew lands on Dream’s knee. “Seriously, boss, you good? I don’t know what was going on exactly, but whatever it was felt… not great.”

“I am ‘good,’” Dream confirms. “Some amount of damage is usually sustained in fighting off an illness, is it not?”

“If that’s how you want to put it,” Matthew says.

“I’ll look after him,” Hob reassures them both.

They take their leave then, Matthew giving Hob a little salute with his wing, and then Hob and Dream are alone. Hob slips Dream’s boots off, laying a blanket over him, then sits beside him on the bed, resting a hand on his chest. “Are you feeling any better?” he asks. “You have to let me know if it gets worse, I’m dead serious, Dream.” 

“I’m not certain what weight that carries when you cannot die,” Dream says.

Hob raises an eyebrow. “Try it and find out. Now, still.” 

He finds a damp cloth – thanks, Dreaming – and starts wiping the blood from Dream’s lips, and his hands. 

“I see now why the Dreaming called you here,” Dream muses. “No one else would dare speak to me in this manner.”

“The Dreaming called me?”

“I did not. Not intentionally. I would not have brought you into such a battle.”

“Well, I wasn’t much help anyway,” Hob observes. He tips Dream’s head up and gets him to drink some water, likewise manifested by the Dreaming. “You did all the work with your world-bending powers.”

“Perhaps you are a reward,” Dream suggests as Hob lets him lie back down. He finds Hob’s hand and kisses his fingertips. 

“Oh, yeah? A prize for your heroism?”

Dream tugs on his arm. Hob slips off his own shoes and discards his blood-splattered shirt, and obediently lies down beside him, gathering him in his arms. Dream cuddles up to him, giving a pleased hum, resting his head on Hob’s shoulder. “A comfort.”

Hob runs a hand through his hair and kisses his forehead. He still can't help but worry a bit, after everything he saw Dream do, but it's good to see him feeling more comfortable. “Sweet thing. You were very brave. Clever, too.” 

“You do not have to praise me for performing my function,” Dream grumbles.

“Yeah, but you love it.”

Dream mutters again under his breath, but doesn’t move away. Hob squeezes him tighter, and he softens again. 

“Get some rest, now,” Hob tells him.

“You will stay?”

“Course. Think I’ll abandon my king in his time of need?”

Dream hums, evidently pleased.

“But am I going to wake up with a terrible hangover after this?” Hob asks. “Whatever the Dreaming did to summon me felt like getting hit over the head with a pickaxe.”

“Maybe,” Dream says, sounding only the slightest bit chagrined about it. “It had to pull you through the barrier I had constructed.”

He tucks his nose against Hob’s throat, snuggling closer, and Hob just sighs, defeated. “Worth it, to be here for you,” he admits, and feels Dream smile.

[withered--s0uls]

OKAY, I think I'm done for now.

@electrozeistyking and I a little while ago talked about how GD!N would react to DAS!Cyn. They went on about in a reblog but basically he would be extremely happy bc DAS!Cyn is a separate entity to the Absolute Solver, therefore meaning she's not the one behind everything.

So at first they probably both would be extremely happy. DAS!Cyn in her own AU upon meeting N first is absolutely terrified that he might hate her after everything the AS made her do. So the fact GD!N would react very positively to her presence would be a huge a relief to her.

Now, the issue is that the "Dormant" in "Dormant" Absolute Solver is in quotations for a reason. It simply lost interest in her as a main host / had no need for her anymore. It still has admin rights over DAS!Cyn and she still has a Solver Form. Though she doesn't use it by choice bc of PTSD triggers (until possibly a specific point in Ep7 but I'm waiting for ep8 to decide).

So yeah I think that would make both GD!N and DAS!Cyn kinda anxious to put it lightly.

(More Art and stuff under cut because this crossover has been living RENT FREE IN MY HEAD)

Also fun fact

@electrozeistyking has mentioned and shown Beanie finding comfort in the sound of her fathers core.

Well funny story.

DAS!Cyn always was comforted by her brothers core back at the manor, when they first reuite at the start of Ep6 and she sees DAS!Uzi summon her Solver wings and tail, her instinct is pressing closer to DAS!Ns chest for comfort. Her memories of the Solver features are very very blurry, but she is triggered by seeing them regardless.

I thought It was cute the girls have that in common, so I decided to draw them and GD!N sleeping with the girls having their heads close to his core :3

OKAY FINALLY WE GET TO THE DOODLE PAGE

I didn't feel like fully making these so they're sketchy doodles :"

The first two are based on Zeisty saying GD!N would probably pick DAS!Cyn up and spin her around. Also you probably noticed between this doodle, the first drawing & the Tiny!N & DAS crossover post, but DAS!Cyn displays flowers on her visor to emote happiness!

The 3rd and 4th are just random interactions between the kiddos lol. I feel like Beanie probably would be happy to have another Auntie, not to mention one closer to her age so they can do silly kid stuff together. DAS!Cyn... oh boy

She would feel a whole range of emotions; grief about missing so much of her brothers life (like he has a kid ffs), guilt and self blame after finding out what happened to Uzi (she blames herself for everything the AS caused, even tho she never agreed to it) which might end up in a "slight" breakdown, anger at the AS for causing GD!N that kind of pain and eventually once she processed all those emotions she probably would be excited to get to know Beanie. Like!! Imagine finding out you have a little Niece!!

She probably would struggle to easily keep up with Beanie bc she still has motor issues like in canonverse so she's a little slower, so it'd be mostly her trying not to fall over her own feet whilst being dragged around by an excited toddler who probably even with child lock is stronger than her lmao.

Also I drew DAS!Cyn in an alternate outfit bc I wanted to actually kinda show the oil reserve canister,,,

Ok wanting to respond to the hashtags specifically bc :)) yay

Also ig this is some DAS lore fact drops lol

Yeah, DAS!Cyn kinda didn't take it well either when she first realized the AS technically can still take over if it really wanted to after she transferred bodies in an attempt to escape. Imagine getting your core nearly crushed in an attempt to flee from robo satan just to find out entity STILL can use you for their bidding. Like!!! Damn that's not fair the kid nearly fucking died trying to break free!!!

DAS!Cyn definitely would want to spare Beanie the horrors too. DAS!Cyn herself is mentally like 7-10/11 at best 6-9 at worst -- despite kids usually just saying whatever comes to mind, she repressed most AS related stuff for a reason, she definitely wouldn't share what she knows with her newfound niece

I feel things would be either super great and happy or super traumatizing depending on when in the timeline we throw DAS!Cyn at them. If she's there during ep 6-7? Oh boy. Oh no. DAS!Cyn & DAS!N have an exchange during Ep7 that would not go over so well if it was GD!N in DAS!Ns place, because it would be awfully similar to GD!Uzis death -- she doesn't die, because DAS!N can't get himself to shoot with her being so close to the AS, despite her literally shouting at him to do it and that she won't be angry, that'll be fine. -- yeah I don't think GD!N would handle that well 😭 Zeisty feel free to get the angst train rolling if you wanna add your two cents on how that'd go over -- any point before that? Probably fine. Post S1? I'd imagine also fine depending on what Ep8 throws at us (except like... look at ideas list for more info*)

I'll assume that'd be Beanie reacting to seeing DAS!Cyn having the Solver tail and possibly the glitching Solver symbol in her visor. Yeah she definitely would try to play it off and go try and hide somewhere until she can get it under control again. High stress or negative emotions causes her Solver to act up (unrelated to the AS, just her own Solver form without the entity controlling anything!!) So what I said above to her reaction to the news of GD!Uzi being dead? And possibly finding out the reason why? Yeah that might trigger her tail and wings to pop out and her to basically be reduced to a hyperventilating ball on the floor because of proceeding to blame herself for all of GD!Ns suffering due to thinking the AS actions & it being a danger are her fault

Other things I kinda wanted to doodle but didn't for now, might do at a later point;

Cyn still has a Solver Core, which is the same as a DD core (except smaller lol). So I was playing with the idea of Beanie noticing that her core sounds different from GD!Ns due to hers being severely damaged and actively leaking after the AS attempted to crush it during the body transfer. DAS!Cyn then trying to play it off

Some kind of acknowledgement of the Oil reserve canister on DAS!Cyns back, it was made by Tessa before the AS did the medurder and stuff. It's supposed to help keep the Solver in check by preventing overheating, hence why its directly connected to her chest where her core is

There was something else but it slipped my mind

Smth I'm not gonna say publicly for now until Zeisty posts something about it and/or eventually posts the chapters bc I don't want to spoil esp not bc it isn't my place to :" (if you're curious, Zeisty, lmk I can tell you in VC or DMs lol) but it partly would possibly be related to the 1st idea listed

* I have an idea for what happens to Cyns original body (the one the AS uses & that wears Tessa) post Ep8 IF Ep8 let's me do it that is. I think it could be fun to crossover that idea bc of GD!Ns ghost sight.... tho it definitely also would be fucking stressful and trauma inducing bc Solver stuff sooo yeah rip (again, if you want I could elaborate in vc or DMs on this bc I want to first wait and see what the season finale brings before I do anything "official" with this)

GD!N reacting to the information that DAS!Cyn canonly shot "Tessas" gun at the AS (well technically at its tentacles. Point being that kid fired a gun/knows how to use one) -- which again could be very interesting if we were to toss them into the same Ep7 bc that's when she does it

Possibly GD!N finding out ab the scars/cracks surrounding DAS!Cyns core bc,,, yeah

Anyways uuuhh heightbsheet bc I'm 99% sure I drew stuff inaccurate

These were actually so fun to draw and think & talk about. I'll post the GD x IC crossover once I'm done with that (yes, yes there is more than what you already saw Zeisty. Not much more but more nonetheless)

[xlovelybluebellex]

Little!Angel Dust? I think he'd regress involuntarily as a response to his work

You’re absolutely right and it breaks my heart

Little!Angel Dust Would…

🕷️As we’ve said, this poor boy regresses involuntarily. He doesn’t hate his regression, doesn’t like it either. The main reason to this is while it’s nice to feel small once in a while, he normally regresses in bad situations

🕷️He’s about 1-4 I’d say. However, when regressing, I think that he’ll either stick to exactly 1 or exactly 4. Like, either he’s in baby space, or he’s at young kid age.

🕷️He hates and I mean HATES anything that reminds him of a moth. So Vaggie makes sure he can’t see her wings when little.

🕷️Angel Dust loves cuddles, but only from a select few at a time. Normally it’s Husk, Charlie, and sometimes Cherri Bomb. However, other than them, he doesn’t like physical touch.

🕷️He’s the sassiest little guy. He’ll give the judgements looks, pretend not to hear when it’s bedtime, or tell you how you’re playing his game wrong without hesitation.

🕷️So while he’s a sassy boy, he’s also really sensitive. He’s terrified one day his friends just won’t like him anymore and get rid of him. This means he needs a lot of reassurances.

🕷️Dress up is one of his favorite games. He loves forcing Husk into the poofiest, pinkest dress he can find. And then the others will get a tiara or something, but Husk is normally the main victim in that.

🕷️Angel Dust is very talented in make up skills and that doesn’t stop when little! He loves to make Husk ‘beautiful’ with his little make up kit Charlie got him. Husk just deals with it too.

🕷️Husk is his caregiver. He’s the only who really knows how bad Angels situation is, so he makes sure Angel regresses around him at least once every two weeks.

🕷️He is SO clingy. Like, Husk can’t even go to the bathroom without this little baby spider toddling along and babbling about who knows what.

🕷️Angel sometimes speaks in Italian when little, so Husk learned a little for him. Now he calls Angel his “piccolo ragno” and “bambino”. Angel, in response, calls him “Gattino”

🕷️He loves anything that’s pink or glittery when little. Like, all his little gear? Pink. His pacifier? Both, with bambino written across the handle.

🕷️Still quite the prankster when little. But a bit more tame, as he’s not allowed to touch anything dangerous. He may just swipe something of Charlie’s or Husks, maybe even set a whoopie cushion underneath Vaggie when she sits.

🕷️Angel is very prone to tantrums. It’s not out of brattiness, but more so not wanting to regress. He just doesn’t want to be vulnerable with anyone.

🕷️However, once he’s all cried out, he’s good. He’ll even probably mumble out a little ‘sorry’.

🕷️Husk lets him try to play cards. Of course, Angel just ends up playing dolls with them. He loves pretending it’s a little monarchy with the kings and queens.

🕷️Angel makes drawings out of appreciation for everyone. He knows he can be a little tough, so he tries his best to be nice when he’s in a good mood. Normally these drawings are covered in paint and, you guessed it, glitter. However, they’re made with love.

🕷️Angel Dust still loves Fat Nuggets when little. He likes to cuddle the pig and freaks out if anyone’s ever rough with him.

Hope that was alright! Baby Angel is so sweet 🩷. Also I just need five minutes of Niffty alone with Val after Adam, just five.

[lostgirl14480]

A Not So Common Fairy (Teaser)

Summary: you're a dark fairy from the upside-down and when you see that a gate is open, your curiosity gets the best of you.

- eddie munson x fairy!reader

Nothing remotely interesting ever happened in this dimension. It was always dark with constant storms, which I didn't mind actually. But I always hoped something would change. Maybe a ray of sun, or the budding of a flower? But no, nothing beautiful ever came to this place...

So, when I got wind that Henry Creel was opening gates to another world, I decided it was time for me to leave this place in search of something more. There was nothing tying me here, only the memories of my family...

Without a second thought, I lift my multicolored wings and set off into the air, heading straight to an open gate. The only thing left behind is a small trail of black dust, but it is quickly swept away by the winds of the never-ending storms.

......................

I emerge from the gate, and for the first time ever, I see the color green. Instead of the dark decaying plants from my dimension, this one is full of life! I stare in awe at all the green leaves on the trees, the moss growing on the ground, even the small river flowing along a path. I'm about to fly over to a particular budding flower when I hear voices coming from below me. Not trusting what the noise is from, I try shrinking myself, but for some reason, being in this dimension is limiting my magic. So instead, I perch myself on a branch just high enough to be out of sight but low enough to hear what is going on.

"We need to see If there's a gate around here, It's the only way we'll be able to find Vecna and free Max from his curse." Says one of the younger humans in the group. Vecna? Curse? Are they talking about Henry? How do they know about the gates?

Intrigued, I lean in closer from the branch I'm perched on and continue to listen to the conversation this group of humans are having.

"Dustin, have you even considered how dangerous this plan is? And Eddie is still wanted for murder, we can't just go walking around town looking for a gate!" Murder!? These humans are getting more interesting by the second.

"Steve, it's our only shot, I don't see any other options..." Dustin replies. "And besides, I think Eddie should have a say, since he's the one being chased by the whole town. So what do you say Eddie?"

The one who must be Eddie stands up and addresses the group. I take a moment to look him over, and I can't help but stare a little longer than I intended, there's just something about him that draws me in.

"I say, you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you I think is a really bad idea. But uh the Shire, the Shire is burning. So Mordor it is." I'm amazed at how brave these humans are, knowing how ruthless Henry, or I guess Vecna, can be. But I guess I have a lot to learn about this new dimension, and the humans who live here.

After agreeing on what Eddie said, the group all start to follow Dustin. Eddie trails behind, seemingly lost in thought and I take the time to admire his features. In Vecnas dimension, there really arn't any attractive males, or any human like creatures for that matter, so it's hard not to admire Eddie in this moment.

But I guess I didn't realize how intently I was looking and how much closer I was leaning over the branch to get a closer look, because all of a sudden, the branch I'm perched on cracks, and I fall a few feet before my wings are able to extend. I quickly fly up to another branch, higher up this time, and behind the trunk of the tree. But I'm sure I felt eyes on me for a split second...

"Eddie! What are you still doing back there?" Dustin calls out. The group is already a bit further along the path, but Eddie is stood at the base of the tree I'm hiding in, staring at the cracked branch.

I stay completely still, not sure If he's already seen me.

"I just, I thought I saw-" Eddie starts, but stops and shakes his head, turing back to follow the group. "Nevermind."

🖤🖤🖤

A/N: This is just a random idea that I thought of, not sure if it'll just be turned into a few imagines or if I'll make it into a story, haven't decided yet 😂 But I've been in an Eddie mood lately so there's plenty more where this came from 😁❤️‍🔥