#idk if that counts cause technically he didn’t die

[azuree1733]

I’ve started to realize that my favourite type of characters are the ones that die (or “die”) and come back worse 😭

[fan-goddess]

Helloooo love! I'm a fan lurking in the dark with a request idea for Aemond x Reader. Would love to see your take on Aemond trying to win Reader back (his wife) after she found out about Alys. Maybe this happens after the "Dance" , Aemond survives and they have to deal with the aftermath of Alys. Reader loved him with everything she had so she feels betrayed and turns cold to him and maybe because of Alys, something also happened to her (idk lost pregnancy perhaps but PLEASE exclude this if you don't feel comfortable writing it). Basically take everything you find interesting from this request and work your magic - I trust you like no other!!! Thank you I send you all the love there is - you are very very talented and please know there are many like me that think you are truly brilliant, I know it!!! :*:*

Authors Note: Oh my god thank you this is so freakin sweet! 🥺 I’m happy to take the request and spin my take on this, hope you enjoy it! :)

Also, some of the stuff Is made up like the time between Daemons death and end of the war. I don’t know it so I made it up. If you don’t like it take it up with my dms

Word count: 2.6K

Warnings: Cheating, miscarriage though it’s not explicit, she’s kinda depressed? Not sure how to describe it,

Taglist: @blue-serendipity

The Sequels: The Depressive one, The happy One

—————

If Aemond ever regretting not killing anyone throughout the war he technically started, most would’ve immediately assumed that he wished he never killed his nephew. Though they were wrong. Yes, Lucerys’ death became one of the many causes of the war and in turn deaths of so many people, but his death didn’t result in the loss of you and your child.

Alys’ death could’ve though.

When he first met Alys, he had been nearly immediately enraptured and enamoured by had. She was quite different to you. While you had always been headstrong and never afraid to tell Aemond what he needed to do or to be, Alys had been more docile and had no issue in telling Aemond all the things he wanted to hear.

He regretted the first time he laid with Alys in his bed. Though that regret went away the more time he spent with her and the more times he laid with her. He begun to think of possibly taking after Aegon the conqueror, thinking he’d have both you and Alys by his side when Aegon most likely drank himself to death.

That fantasy was soon ruined when he got that letter.

Dear Aemond,

Do you think of me as a fool? I know about that fucking woman Aemond. I know about Alys. I don’t know why you have decided to betray our marriage and honestly, I don’t think care I can bring myself to think about it nor care anymore. This letter was originally going to be happy. A letter letting you know what we prayed near everyday from the seven had finally come true and been answered. I was with child. Our child made purely of what I had thought was love. Though that changed when I was informed of what you had done. I mourned for what we could’ve had. I cried and refused to believe it at first, though soon I came to my senses. Yet it was too late. Our child is dead Aemond. I woke up a few days ago to heavy blood staining our bedsheets. The child was barely two months according to the maester. I wish for you to know it is your fault Aemond. I do not wish to ever see you again. I wish to never hear from you so if you attempt to reconcile or send a letter I will pay for our child’s blood with your own. You have dug your grave Aemond. Don’t try and dig it deeper. If you are to die in battle, I hope it is painful. I hope you suffer like I have.

From, your wife

From your former wife

Aemond had felt his heart plummet to the floor when he read that letter. He could not stop the tears that fell to the floor and stained the letter he still was holding. The ink blotting and staining the page so much the words were becoming near illegible.

He attempted to head into battle with the faint hope that you’d forgive him if he killed his uncle. Though even he knew deep down that no amount of deaths could fix anything. Yet even still he tried. He defeated Daemon, with blood of which Targaryen man he did not know staining and pooling on his ripped armour.

Aemond came home where he was met with his mother and brother, who both congratulated him on his victory. Though even with their congrats he could see the disgust that lingered in his mothers gaze as she looked at him. It made his shame all that more prominent.

He would’ve gone to see you, but Aegon stopped him before he could, claiming he was holding a feast in his name for the defeat of Daemon. He tried to look for you in the amount of people that came, yet he couldn’t. And he didn’t dare ask his mother if you would be coming in fear of her glare and disappointment.

That night he wonders something. Maybe it would’ve been better if he did die by the hand of his uncle? Then it would’ve saved him from all this torture. Though he can’t say he didn’t deserve it. Aemond can only wallow in his drinks that he keeps being given and his own sorrow.

Aemond was back home. The words the maids said echoed in your head. He’s here, and no doubt going to attempt to reconcile. If there was one thing you ever learnt about your husband, was that he never quit at anything he started.

You already made bets with yourself on how he’d attempt to do it.

Maybe he’ll try flowers? No that’s too much of a common move for Aemond to pull… Maybe he’ll bring you some jewellery? No that’d make him feel like he was buying for your forgiveness. Like he was buying something for a mistress. Well… he’s been there and done that…

There is always the chance Aemond will not even attempt to reconcile. Hopefully becoming too overcome by the grief and pain of the loss of his and your child that he’d respect your wishes after reading your own pain on paper. The maids still look at you worriedly, especially when they find you sitting near the window. You know why they worry, you mourned Helaena and Jahaerys and you know you will not become like her.

Aegon was also the one who told you about Alys, and when you lost your child and screamed for the whole of the castle to hear, it was Aegon who ran to you to mourn with you and hold you while you cried for a life you may have been able to have. He held you in the way a brother would hold a sister. He even cried with you and helped clean you of the blood. Oh the blood…

———

It’s been a few long months, but the war between the greens and the blacks is finally over. Aegon is celebrating by holding a massive banquet and all the lord and ladies who supported him are invited. Even though Aemond knows it will not happen, he secretly hopes you will come to celebrate.

Though as he keeps sneaking glances at the door all night he eventually comes to term with the fact you’re not coming. He can only swallow more bitter wine and ignore the fact he’s drinking it like a fish in water now.

He’s attempted to reconcile from a distance ever since the incident but everything he has sent to your chambers has come back in shreds. The flowers from the garden you loved to look after, heads torn from their stems and cut into a thousand pieces. The books he sent on your favourite topic, you had more restraint on them and simply chucked them from your window onto unsuspecting bystanders bellow.

Aegon told him delightfully how after he delivered the books to you, they were seen immediately thrown from the window and one had supposedly managed to hit one knight straight on the head, effectively knocking him out cold.

Though if anything those small acts of defiance made Aemond wish to reunite and return to you even more. It reminded him just why he fell in love with you in the first place. Your wit and your wisdom made him fall head over heals for you, literally.

He had tripped in front of you and some other ladies of the court due to the load of books he was carrying. He had not yet gotten used to the visual impairments the loss of his eye provided and did not see the thrown goblet in his path. Aemond had effectively turned scarlet when the ladies began to mockingly giggle at him, it nearly made his heart beat straight from his chest when he saw you come to his help. “You need to get some help with those. It’s not that bad to ask for help you know? Means you aren’t a stubborn twat.” You grin.

He wished he could go back to those days. They were simpler. They held no knowledge of the war they would face. It held no knowledge of the bastard from Harrenhal.

Aemond had not tried to reunite with you in person. He knew you’d most definitely follow through with your threat and spill his blood. It’s why he attempted to send you items instead through the maids. Though it’s very obvious those weren’t working either. That’s when he got the idea to write you letters. There was easily a chance that you would burn them or tear them the moment you saw the writing. Yet even then Aemond knew he had to try…

———

“Princess. I have another item sent from the prince for you.” One of the maids said as she carefully approached your bed. The sun had already hit its peak that day, though you could not bring yourself to get out of bed. The only time you could bring yourself too was either with the help of your maids, or when Aemond sent a supposed gift to you which you’d immediately destroy.

“What is it this time?” You sigh. “Is it something that I am supposed to eat? Because if it is i’d like it if you took to the servants quarters and give it to them and not-“

“It’s not food related my princess. It’s a letter.” When you look towards the maid you can see the sad expression clear on her face. This maid has brought you many of Aemonds attempts at reconciliation.

“What is your name?” It does not give you any sort of pleasure when the maid looks shocked at the fact a princess is asking for the name of a maid. “Its not a trick question I want to know your name.”

“Klarisa my princess. My name is Klarissa.”

“Klarisa do you think I should read the letter my bastard of a husband as written to me?” You look carefully at Klarisas face, the decision of your lifetime hanging in a mere maids hands.

“To be honest with you my lady…” Klarisa takes a deep breath and puts on a sympathetic face. You appreciate that she wishes to give you honesty, though that sympathetic face makes you want to punch her. “What the prince did was inexcusable after the way the two of you acted before… her. You got to have a husband who loves you and cared for you, that itself is much more than most of the women who are forced into a marriage can hope for. The prince is trying to make up for it and is also respective your boundaries. Not many could say that they got to have a husband who did even one of those things. So yes my princess, I believe you should read the letter.” You take a deep breathe and loosen your hands, which seemed to have clenched so tightly your nails all but pierce into your palms.

“Give me the letter then leave. If you see the prince, do not tell him that you for once got me to think about even looking at his weak apologies. Just put your head down, and walk away. Do you understand Klarisa?”

“Yes my princess.” Klarisa moves swiftly to the doors to your chambers, opening it and moving forward, only to stop for a moment and turn on her heels towards to. “I hope you get what it is you seek my princess. For your own sake.” She turns back to the door and closes it behind her, leaving you alone with the letter in your hand which already feels like it’s burning you. Yet you prevail, and slowly open the letter to read it.

Dear ñuha jorrāelagon,

I will not waste my breath in attempting to gain your forgiveness. I know better than anyone that when you stick your mind to something you keep it that way. Though what I will say is the truth, which I know will hurt you and anger you more than anything but i know it’s what you wish to hear.

Alys was a woman I believed to be falling in love with. She was something what I believed I needed in my life. A woman to be docile and to whisper all the things I needed to hear in my ear. Though after your letter, it became my wake up. I cut off all contact with Alys after realising how much I hurt you. I regret that woman everyday I have not been with you. You are the only woman I need to be with. I love that you are not docile and will not take any man’s shit (as you so clearly and often tended to put it). I love that you challenge me and encourage the debates we so often hold. I love you Rhaella, more than any woman before in my life. I’m sorry it took another woman and the life of our child for me to realise it. I understand wholeheartedly if you wish to never speak to me again. But I hope with this letter, if you ever do decide to read this, which after all my other attempts seem unlikely, you at least know that there will not be a single day that I do not wish that I did not kill that woman when I killed all the other strongs. You are my life. My world. And I hope you know that.

From, Aemond Targaryen

You’ve never felt like you wanted to cry this much since you lost your sweet baby. You can feel the tears leaking down your face the entire time you read Aemonds words. Some of your tears drip onto the page, leaving some of the words to blur together into illegible blobs of black ink.

You feel the urge to destroy the letter. The same urge and desire you felt when you got into contact with all of Aemonds other gifts. Though you resist this time, and instead of destroying the letter, you smooth it out and place it delicately under the mass amounts of pillows that seem to always near take over your bed. That night, for the first night of the many you’d stayed in your room during your isolation period, you slept the whole night in your bed with no nightmares to wake you screaming.

———

When Aemond was standing in the corridor in the shadows and hadn’t picked up on any whispers from the maids passing him of any destruction or damage coming from your chambers, he assumed you must have kept the letter.

He does not hold though any hope that you read it. For all he knows you’ve simply just ignored it or ripped it and used it to keep your fire alight.

When he is waiting for the maid to come out of your room though, he could not help but feel hopeful when the maid takes longer than usual to come out of your room. “Well?” He asks as he steps from the shadows when the maid eventually comes out and nearly passes him. He does not dare to actually ask whether or not you took it. Even though he so selfishly wish to help hold her down and demand for

It surprises him and angers him when the maid looks at him and yet does not acknowledge him. What did you tell her? What does she know?

Aemond grabs the arm of the maid as she attempts to pass him without any real acknowledgment. “Your prince asked you a question.” He growls. He nearly felt sympathy for the woman when she looked at him with fear in her eyes. But he is not Aegon. He can control his desires towards the maids.

“The princess asked that I not speak to you. Please let go of my arm, my prince…” The maid half begs. Aemond lets go of her arm reluctantly after a moment of thinking. Why would you tell the maid to not talk to him? Maybe you really read the letter and do not wish to appear weak to him? Though only if you knew that you could never be weak in his eyes, his strong independent wife.

[room-temperature-orange-juice]

Listing off Odysseus’s crimes in epic the musical

- starting off strong, infanticide: just a man

Dropping a baby off a wall is probably (?) illegal, but I’m not a lawyer so idk

- Disturbance of the peace, harassment: open arms

Odysseus threatens the lotus eaters for food and tells them he can and will burn down their home, mostly unprovoked. (The lotus eaters said ‘welcome’ and he immediately pulled out a sword)

- breaking and entering, thievery, killing a pet: Polyphemus

Yeah Odysseus kinda walks into this cave, kills an animal, takes food out, and only then notices that someone lived there. Credit where it’s due, no one else noticed, and he immediately backtracks, but it’s still probably illegal.

Assault? : survive

They do attack Polyphemus, but I’m not sure if I’m counting this, since it could be considered self defense.

Assault, maiming: remember them

Once again, not sure if I’m counting this, since it could be considered necessary force. Still marking it down, since he does blind someone and still their sheep

The ocean saga:

Fun fact! The ocean saga is the only saga where Odysseus doesn’t do anything illegal!

Drug possession laws, drug free zone laws: Wouldn’t you like

Odysseus takes and is in possession of drugs, that are likely not legal.

Breaking and entering, assault and battery: done for

While under the influence of Moly, Odysseus breaks into Circe’s palace. (I didn’t hear her invite him, so I’m assuming he just walks in unprompted) Odysseus also threatens Circe on her private property and summons a cyclops. I don’t know if summoning a cyclops is illegal, though?

Disturbance of the peace: no longer you

He just yells ‘WHO’ really loud, someone probably filed a noise complaint.

Murder on several accounts: Different beast

He kills several sirens here, to the point it is definitely considered premeditated murder

(Idk what he did in Scylla is technically illegal, but I’m still writing down manslaughter)

Assault and battery: Mutiny

Although it may be considered self defense in some courts, he definitely fights Eurylochus with swords, undoubtedly causing injuries

Manslaughter/murder: Thunder Bringer

“But we’ll die.”

“I know.”

Disturbance of the peace: Love in paradise

Threatening to kill calypso, although it’s definitely justified, and most courts wouldn’t hold it against him. Still likely illegal.

And that’s all the sagas for now. Tell me whatever crimes I missed, because I probably did miss a lot

[brucewaynehater101]

Quick clarification, I always assumed they would only do defensive wars so their didn’t really need to be a discussion on “is war a good option?” Cause the other options for the Timpire are 1. Death or 2. Being conquered

Maybe they sometimes face planets who want to join the Timpire but for cultural reasons would only do so if they lost a war to them, so that could be where they get the “do we actually go to war with them?” debate (Tim would probably try every diplomacy available or to convince them that loosing in the YJ war simulation game totally counts as loosing a war so that no one has to actually die over this)

TW: war, death

They absolutely would only resort to war as a very very last option for the best outcome for their people.

However, that's still a horrific decision to make. That typically involves a ton of deaths.

The timpire is more likely to have YJ sneak past enemies lines and some how blackmail/trick the other leader into surrendering. The war game is also a very viable option. Tim the emperor is fantastic at negotiating/communicating/planning.

I see Tim, even with the enemy on the horizon, struggling to internalize war as a necessary measure. Fighting is fine, but having his people fight for him (technically themselves, but he's their leader) with a high chance of casualties? Tim, the self-sacrificing person he is, would hate that so much.

If the enemy has thousands of fighters in their troops and refuses to back down (and they are declaring they are gonna slaughter timpire citizens), there wouldn't be an option but for the citizens to fight.

Tim would struggle with that idea and would try to come up with countermeasures. Cassie doesn't want to go to war either, but she would come to terms with it sooner. It thus falls on her (though Bart and Kon would be there for the discussion too) to convince Tim that they have no other options. This is what they have to do.

Idk if I'm explaining this right. Does that answer that better?

[moreespressoformydepresso]

This post right here has inspired me to create this AU. What if Felix didn’t die, and Gaul set the snakes loose. There is no justifying it, and while only Lucy Gray survives the games the capitol is so shook by being forced to confront what they are that it topples the dominos that cause the games to be cancelled?

And, because I’m a hack who does not want to deal with the pain caused by the deaths of these fictional characters, I’ll tack on a time travel fix it. Time is set back to right as the countdown begins (idk if Lucky did the counting live but he doesn’t in this) and the people force Gaul to stop the games before they even begin. The tributes, who are the only ones that didn’t retain their memories, are Very Confused when the countdown stops at 5 and peacekeepers come flooding back into the arena to drag them back to the zoo. They’re not complaining, but they are scared that this is a dream or that an even worse fate has somehow been thought up for them. For about an hour, which is how long it takes for their mentors to make it to the zoo to explain everything (they had to figure out a few things like where to let the tributes stay while the technicalities are being handled).

[thecoddaughter]

Lungs by F&TM as Empires S1 Characters

*disclaimer I only have watched a few perspectives so they are biased around those characters and those characters interactions and the wiki page*

*also this is a longer album than I thought, so this is a LONG post (hence collapsed post) and there are some character repeats*

Dog Days Are Over - The Ocean Queen

This song reminds me of what her mindset would be like while losing her memory

Rabbit Heart - Gem the Wizard

We’ve been over this one, there's a beautiful piece of art by @happyrome0 for the cover <3

I’m Not Calling You a Liar - The Copper King

Idk why really, kinda because of the cod alliance but befriending the twins. Not really his mindset, but what people think about him? Again, not really sure.

Howl - Shrub Berry

Her whole wolf vibe kinda falls under this song. "If you could only see the beast you made me" and "Like some child processed, the beast howls in my veins"

[note: this song immediately makes me think of Flower Husbands, but the context isn’t in this universe {“be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers’}]

Kiss With a Fist - Emperor Joey

I feel like I don’t need to explain this one… but I will with one word: Xornoth

Girl With One Eye - Dark King Sausage

Um, I am just gonna leave this quote “I took it home and watched it wither and die” and “my reputation's kinda clouded with dirt”

Drumming Song - The Codfather

I feel like it could be about the Cod constantly talking to him and his inevitable destiny, also “as the water fills my mouth, it couldn’t wash the echoes out”

Between Two Lungs - The Mezalean King and The Ocean Queen

This song gives soulmates vibes and those two are forever married in every universe (even when they aren’t)

Cosmic Love - The Mezalean King and The Ocean Queen (again...)

After the memory lose… sorry

[note: there are a lot of love songs on this album (some can be made platonic or singular) but I only ship like 3 s1 ships...)

My Boy Builds Coffins - Lady Katherine

Totally not bc I couldn’t think of any other song for her… totally… anyway next song! No but seriously, it fits her head-collector vibe a bit.

[Note 1: I was gonna make this the biggest supplier of wood but Joey is the only one who exported wood according to the wiki and the vibes didn’t fit]

[Note 2: I thought the lyrics were ‘my brother’ not ‘my boy builds’ for a good few weeks]

Hurricane Drunk - The Codfather

This is how I imagine Jimmy would’ve reacted to Scott being a part of the Wither Rose Alliance. 1. the water metaphors (which this album has a lot of!) 2. this quote "And in the crowd, I see you with someone else. I brace myself cause I know its gonna hurt but I like to think at least things can't get any worse"

Blinding - King Scott of Rivendell

He's just a guy living in the wrong time, not getting to be with the boy he loves… “no more calling like a crow, for a boy, for a body in the garden” Come on that’s flower husbands! But also his pov of the rapture is captured in this line "And I would hear the thunder and see the lightning crack and all around the world was waking, I never could go back." !!!!!

You’ve Got the Love - The Codfather

The date… “When food is gone you are my daily meal. When friends are gone, I know my savior's love is real”

Swimming - The Seablings

So this is before they remembered who they were and just that they felt like they were missing something.

Heavy in Your Arms - Count fWhip

I feel like this is what would play as fWhip found Sausage’s body in the Blood Circle and obviously blame himself… So technically it is sung from Sausage's POV. I am going to give big quotes for this one:

"And is it worth the wait, all this killing time? Are you strong enough to stand? Protecting both your heart and mine... Who is the betrayer? Who's the killer in the crowd? The one who creeps in corridors and doesn't make a sound."

"This will be my last confession 'I love you' never felt like any blessing. Whisper it is like it's a secret, only to condemn the one who hears it with a heavy heart."

[note: I wanted to say Jimmy cuz the river metaphor but as stated before there are a lot of water metaphors in this album]

Falling - Queen Pearl

The falling without fear metaphor reminds me of the Xornoth fights, but this line “This is a song for a scribbled out name and my love keeps writing again and again” reminds me of her feelings toward Sausage)

Are You Hurting the One You Love? - King Sausage

This feels just right… here are some of my favorite lines: “you say you’ve found Heaven, but you can’t find God” “bite your tongue til it tastes like blood” and “was it something you could not stop”)

Addicted to Love - Queen Pearl and King Sausage

All about Xornoth…

Pearl: “you like to think that you’re immune to this stuff. Its closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough.”

Sausage: “The lights are on, but you're not home. Your mind is not your own. Your heart sweats, your body shakes.”

Bird Song - The Codfather

This is about killing all the Cod and the Godfather head drama. Not sold on this one though, but it fits Jimmy's crazed and frantic tone when things go wrong.

[note: this song reminded me of Monster Hunter Katherine and I almost put that bc I had my seasons mixed up]

Hospital Beds - Queen Pearl and King Sausage

Oh, come on! The song is about fire and dying friends! “I did not choose him, he did not choose me. We have no chance of recovery” and “Put out the fire on us. Bring your buckets by the dozen.”

Hardest of Hearts - The Codfather and King Scott of Rivendell

This is all about love that hurts you because you are emotionally unavoidably (which is both of them). “the sweetest of words have the bitterest taste” “Darling heart I loved you from the start, but that’s no excuse for the state I’m in” and “my heart swells like the water at a wave, can’t stop myself before its too late”

[wench-and-jezebel]

Dark Angel Reaction: Hit a Sista Back

Jezebel (@typicalopposite) reacts [with occasional asides by Wench (@scripted-downfall)]

Oooop 🙂

[Immediate OMax content]  Yus

Bruh Cindy 😂😂😂 tell her what you really think  [oof fair]  I’d hate for her to see me  [Ma’am, don’t even start; guarantee your skin looks better than mine]  Hah! HAHAHA! No

[Zach be back ‘sigh’]  😂😂😂😂😂

“Something like that” WHY NOT JUST TELL HER WHAT’S GOING ON?? SHE KNOWS?!  [Because Max has to be bitchy and mysterious or she ain’t Max]

Oh nooooo 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[Max, don’t fuck up her life please]  I mean she’s not in the wrong to bring it up tho.  But also 🥺🥺🥺  [I feel like there’s a difference between “you’re in danger; you don’t know me but the people who took your wife are dangerous” and “your wife/the mother of your child is not who you think she is and you’re all gonna die”]  True

Oh boy… Kid’s gifted!  Dads like ooop

Noooooo Lintlicker gonna want him! 😤  ‘sigh’ I say nothing

[Oh, look.  Lintlicker.]  DAMN IT ALL WHY THEY GOTTA KEEP BRINGING KIDS INTO IT 😂😂😂😭😭😭😭

Ugh the dreaded oooOoOooOo!  It’s almost worse that the spinning baby  [skdlafjlaksjdf wait til you hear the voiceover]

Oh boy.  “Since I be broke now”  Logan’s gonna be regretting coming out with the info

[Oh, no, not the hiding-things storyline]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️

[“[Tinga]’d do the same for me” bitch, no she wouldn’t?  You tried this.  Multiple times.  She was like, yah, no, I’ma dip]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️ 😂😂😂 “one of them would surely do the same for me… I’mma keep trying til I get the right one”  [YEAH.  BUT IT’S ALEC.  AND SHE GIVES LESS THAN TWO SHITS ABOUT HIM]  ☠️☠️☠️ his not a sibling maam! It doesn’t count!😤😤😤  [You right, you right.  Sorry, I forgot we just meant siblings and not generic discussions of Manticore folks]  😂😂😂😂😂😂

Oh, so Tings has told them, just a different way  [:)]

Lie!  No kid falls asleep that easy!  [He’s gifted thus falls asleep quickly]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️

[“These guys never learn” Max, ma’am, nor do you]  Ooop

[“I don’t do guns” MA’AM.]  Lol  [Isn’t this the same logic she used against Logan?]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️  [“You have access to money, thus it’s stupid to give it up out of a sense of justice/nobility”  “You have access to a gun, thus it’s stupid to not use one out of a sense of… idk”  Same argument, so why ain’t she listening to her own strategy???]

[Things were not safer this way]

Max is so emotionless I swear to god [I know!  And we know for a fact that’s not a Manticore thing because Ben, Tinga, Alec… they have emotion.  Too much emotion, technically.  It’s just a Max (and kinda Zach but kinda not) thing]

Ack I hate herrrrrr  [Renfro?  She pisses me off so much]

[Tinga is.  Very pretty.  Just saying]

Oooop mama bear!  And dad’s an idiot I see  [alsfkjaldkfjlakdfj]  Like the red flags that should have already been going off…

And you get your head shaved and a tattoo and meticulous training  [“can my mommy be there” as;lkdfj;alkdfj;lkj Yes, actually, that’s his whole plan]

[I’m starting to think JamPony won’t be in this much :(]  Oh noooo 💔💔💔

[Max, you’ve been there, but only ‘cause you’re not clear about stuff.  OC woulda rolled with it and you know it.  Kendra… less clear, but still.]  Well tbf she did straight up tell them both once and they laughed  [She didn’t really try, ma’am.  If I wanted you to believe a story, even if you initially laughed, I could make you believe at least that I believed it]  Well she didn’t try to explain but she flat out told them ☠️  [Yeah, but that’s what I mean by her a) not being clear and b) not really trying.  She’s trying to get cred for not having been able to tell people because they’d not understand, but she literally never gave them the opportunity to.]

Tf!  [Not sure that’s how physics works]  The anxiety that gave me and it didn’t even show it  [That was a very springy rope for tightrope walking, I feel]  ☠️☠️☠️

Ma’am! Give them a — ok fair kinda but Hmph

[This poor dude tho getting sucked into it all]  I know

– – – 

Jezebel: Soooo! I have a feeling somethings gonna go bad! And either husband is gonna die or Tinga is gonna die!  Mainly cause I highly doubt kid is gonna die

Wench: All this death!

Jezebel: So much!

Wench: I don’t fully remember how this shakes out — I know some, not the rest — so: You do know that them going back to Manticore is an option.  We’re nearing the finale.  It’s possible that they’re trying to rescue the kid

Jezebel: Yeahhhhh but idk! Unless they get the kid and he goes back! But they would never let that happen so again. Deth.  When’s the last episode? Next one?

Wench: No, two left in the season

Jezebel: Ooooh!

Wench: But I think the last two are together?  Iirc?  idk for sure

Jezebel: Well, I’m trying to think of more past that, but this has been a very one-themed episode

Wench: No JamPony :(

Jezebel: I know… Is sad.  But I’m done!

– – – 

[Did.  Did she say “objective: offspring” alskjdflaksjdf]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️

Oh lord, big bro.  Well.  Big “bro.”  Hubby better watch him

At least their not real or half- ooop 🙂

“They made me young again.”  Enough to make any woman switch sides  [“they brainwashed you.”  Max, why are you surprised by this?]

Ooop!  Max actually losing!  [btw.  Max winning any fight against a Manticore transgenic is so stupid.  This woman has been out of the game for ages.]  ☠️☠️☠️  [She beats Ben; okay, yeah, that makes sense becuase they’ve both been out for ages.  She doesn’t beat Tinga: MAKES SENSE.  She beats a number of other “true blue” Manticore soldiers: WHAT?!  She should have some degree of advantage from knowing street fight moves but otherwise she should Very Much Not Win]

“He’ll get over it….” Um he might not  [Some people actually value interpersonal trust.  And don’t lie to their S.O.s]  Exactly

I meannnnnnn Zach’s not wrong, but also they would need the protection too  [Agreed]

“And then her prince peaced out cause she’s a liar” ☠️  [asldkfj]

💔💔💔

“No, we’re not “not like that” because she’s a transgenic; it’s because we are emotionally constipated please leave it alone” ☠️😂  [askldjflaksdjflkjadsf This kind of thing kinda annoys me though.  Like… I get being pissed that someone lied to you.  And I get that things might need to adjust.  But.  person is the same?]  Exactly

Oh shit  [Ruh roh]  Well shit

[Zach is a dick btw]  *simultaneously* Aight that was out of line Zach.  Agreed until then

Damn  [Yep.]

Don’t like Lintlicker anymore.  At all  [This virus is called foreshadowing (I’m not telling you of what, but it concerns Max.  And Logan.)]

BRUH SHES NOT A BREEDING MACHINE  [You haven’t seen s2 Dark Angel yet and it shows]

I’m so mad sweet lord.  They fucked with the kid.  They really fucked with the kid! 😤  [I didn’t remember this, for what it’s worth]

Good!  Fuck off, zach

Nooooo!  Watch the blonde lady want the kid so she kills Tinga!  [I confirm nothing]  Cause blonde lady has the murder drone

I hate himmmmmmm.  Lintlicker- hmph.  I don’t how much of a change he makes

Hmph, his fucking shit eating grin

Oooop look at that you have been double-crossed, asshole!

Oooop look at that! Zach is back... asshole

She’s not one of them; she’s one of THEM!  LE GASP

[Guess 656 is Tinga]  

I’m confused… Is Brynn dead, or just knocked out?  [Knocked out]

Ewww sibling hug  [...]  Pssssh I know it means more than that.  To him at least

Breeeeeeding machine 😦

💔💔💔💔  [“I get why she didn’t tell me.  If she had, I would’ve gone the other way.”  Yeah, dumbass, that’s why she didn’t tell you.  Congrats: you’ve leveled up your empathy stat]

[Max, haven’t you learned about making promises?]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️

I’ma be honest; I’m not sure the King is the one they should be worried about… I’d be concerned about the Queen

– – – 

Jezebel: I feel so bad for Tinga omg!  That fucking suckssss

Wench: Yuppppp.  And I can’t say it gets better!  You get no spoilers beyond that but ye

Jezebel: 😭😭😭😭😭 Honestly, though, this one was kinda boring.  I guess setting up for the two-part finale. So I don’t have much to say past what was said

Wench: I don’t know for sure it’s two parts btw.  But I think it is because I’m pretty sure they’re both centered around helping Tinga

Jezebel: “Helping” tinga

Wench: Aight… next episode(s) sometime soon, then?

Jezebel: YES

[7-wonders]

The Betrayal (Adrian Chase)

Summary: You find out the truth about what happened to your brother, Rick Flag, at the worst possible time.

Word Count: 2.0k

Notes: This is my first actual Adrian fic! Very angsty, of course, because writing about death is always going to come with angst. Um, warnings for Peacemaker's racist father, talks of death, Adrian being his sociopathic self. Let me know if you guys liked this, wanna see more, or whatever. Would love to chat more about Vigilante; my inbox is always open!

Also should I do an Adrian taglist? IDK let me know that too ig

You've tried to keep your emotions in check in this truck that's stolen from a veterinarian's office, knowing that there's a time for settling personal differences, and that time's not while you're technically on the clock. But as Adebayo tries to apologize about the betrayal of planting a fake diary among Peacemaker's trailer, the words from butterfly-Locke's press conference continue to play over and over in your head.

"In the diary, Smith also confesses to the murder of decorated US Army Colonel Rick Flag, whose death on a covert mission in Corto Maltese was originally believed to be accidentally caused by the collapse of a building known as Jötunheim."

You need to know. A part of you already knows that this is true, what with the way that Chris has been avoiding directly talking to you since the press conference aired. But still, you need it said out loud. Did Chris kill Rick? Was his death not what you were led to believe?

"Actually Chris, I give a fuck," you say, speaking up for the first time all afternoon. "Let's keep talking about this."

Adebayo rolls her eyes. "Not you, too."

"Shut up. Is it true?" You turn your attention on Peacemaker, who looks like he doesn't know what you're referencing. For a second, you think that maybe this was also one of many lies that the diary contained. "Is it true that you killed Rick?"

His face falls, and the breath escapes you all at once. Suddenly, it feels like the day that you found out Rick died all over again.

"It is. Oh fuck, it's true," you say.

"He was going to expose Project Starfish to the world," Peacemaker explains quietly, "and my mission was to make sure that information didn't get out."

"You murdered my brother!" He stares straight ahead, and the only sign of any emotion is the slight trembling in his jaw. "He trusted you. You were his teammate, his fellow soldier, and you murdered him."

Adrian says your name gently, putting a hand on your shoulder to try and defuse the situation from where he's sitting next to you, but there's no going back now. Not when you're seeing red and staring at the man who ripped Rick from your life.

"How did you do it?" you ask, standing up and shoving him in the chest. He doesn't move, but it feels good while you do it. "Did you look at him while he died? Actually, no. I wanna know his last words. What did he say while you watched him die?"

"If it makes you feel better, Rick called Chris a joke," Economos mutters from the front of the truck in what he must think is a reassurance.

Harcourt groans. "Dude, seriously?" You can hardly hear it, though, over the ringing in your ears.

“Oh my god. You knew?” Your voice doesn’t come out nearly as strong as you want it to be, so you walk up to the front to make sure you can confront them directly. “You knew that Peacemaker killed Rick, and you didn’t say anything to me?”

Economos is the first of the two to speak up. “We were given direct orders to—”

“As if you haven’t disobeyed Amanda Waller’s direct orders before. In fact, you disobeyed her orders on that very mission! That's how you ended up here in the first place.” You scoff before turning on Harcourt. “You’re my roommate, Emilia. My friend. You’ve comforted me when I’ve cried about how much I miss Rick, and this whole time…”

"I wanted to tell you," Harcourt says, finally looking at you, "but it just...was never the right time. When was I supposed to bring up that Chris did what he did?"

"I don't know, maybe when I started to trust him? I've been on the same team with the fuckhead who killed Rick without any sort of remorse, and you guys just—just let me go along without knowing the truth!"

They want to try and apologize, you're sure, or at least try to redeem themselves, but you're done. You're completely and utterly done. Turning on your heel, you ignore the way that Adebayo tries to get your attention, and how Chris still refuses to look away from the point on the wall that he's been staring at, and even Adrian when he grabs at your hand. You don't know who knows or doesn't know, and at this point you have no choice but to assume that they were all in on this. Instead, you sit at the very back of the truck, as far away from everybody else as you can be, turn your back on them, and cry as silently as you can.

The team awkwardly tries to resume their regular banter once you arrive at the farm where the cow's being kept, but it's a little hard for humor and sarcasm to land when you can't even look them in the eye. The only one that you're not mad at is Eagly, and even he pisses you off when he naturally doesn't follow commands and drops Peacemaker's sonic boom helmet in the middle of the woods.

"So, how did you find out?" you finally ask Adrian as the two of you work at searching your designated area to find the helmet, the team paired together in twos to fan out through the forest. "Was it as accidental as you joining the team? Or was it something funny for you and Chris to laugh at when he recounted all the people he's killed in the name of 'peace'?"

"I didn't know, actually."

"Oh." You sigh. "Sorry for assuming you knew."

"It's okay. Kinda seemed like I would know, considering Peacemaker's my best friend and all."

You laugh sharply. "Don't tell me you're bitter about not knowing my brother was murdered."

"Yikes, sorry, that was—" he grimaces, "that didn't come out the way that I meant it."

"I get it. My attempt at a joke, I guess."

It's quiet for a few minutes, both of you focused on finding a glint of chrome among the leaves. Finally, you feel like you need to speak. Be it the silence or the fact that Adrian's the only one you can still trust: once the words start, they don't stop.

"It's been a hard few months since Rick died. And then I go on this mission because it's the type of thing that Rick would do, and I start making connections and bonding with the absolute weirdest fucking people I've ever met. Soon enough, I can make it through the day without crying, and it feels like I can finally breathe again. And smile again. And laugh again.

"And now this shit, with the butterflies attacking and Peacemaker's Nazi dad trying to kill us and finding out that my friend killed Rick and my other friends knew about it. I should be mad, but I just keep thinking that I can't be mad, because Rick wouldn't be mad. He was always infuriatingly calm, even when he had every right to get angry."

"Hey, don't cry again," Adrian says awkwardly, removing his mask in what he probably thinks is a comforting way. "C'mon, stand up."

You're about to question what he's seeing when you realize that you're crying again, on your knees in the middle of the forest. Of course, the one person who knows nothing about emotions is the one that you're having a breakdown in front of. Naturally, this makes you cry harder.

In a repeat of earlier, Adrian makes stiff movements and pats your shoulder. "Gentle, nice touching."

"It didn't work with Chris, and it's not gonna work with me," you say, smiling up at him. "Thanks for the effort though."

"Your brother wouldn't want you to be sad." You know he probably saw this on Fargo, but it surprisingly does help.

"I know. But he's also the one who's dead, and he doesn't have to deal with this," you wave your hands in front of you, "this mess that he left behind. He left me here, and now I have to watch my mom be a shell of a person, and how my dad can't say Rick's name without crying. I don't even have Rick to confide in."

"I know what it's like to lose someone," Adrian says, finally sitting down next to you. "My dad left my mom for a dude. We haven't really heard from him in years."

"Damn," you let out a low whistle. "That's rough."

"It's okay, they're very much in love. The whole divorce was really rough for my mom, though. I know it's not the same as someone dying, but I lost my dad, and then I had to watch my mom deal with that. It sucks. I wish I could say something better than 'it gets better', but I can't, because it does. It just...gets better, for everyone involved."

"I'm not forgiving Chris," you say adamantly.

"Nobody said you had to forgive him, or the others." Somehow, that makes you feel better than anything else Adrian's said. You've already been feeling the pressure to forgive him for this heinous thing, and forgive the others for lying about their knowledge of what Chris had done. Even though the outside party giving you permission to feel your feelings is a sociopath, he's still someone whose opinion you care about.

"Thanks, Adrian." Adrian stiffens next to you when you lay your head on his shoulder in thanks, and you stifle a laugh. He's been helpful today. You'll laugh about it tomorrow. "Y'know, you're actually pretty good at giving advice."

"I learned it all from Fargo."

Now you do laugh. "Knew it."

Your comms suddenly crackle to life, and Harcourt gives the news that she and Peacemaker found the helmet. Adrian hops to his feet and, after a moment, offers his hand to help you up. "You ready to go?" he asks.

Dusting yourself off, you look up at him while he slips his mask on and nods. There's a time and a place for you to continue to work through this mess, but that's after getting out of the other, more deadly mess. "Let's go kill us a fucking cow."

[jupiter-river]

Rainy Day- Sugawara x male reader

Word count: 804

Possible tw: brief mention of death, Idk if it counts as intrusive thoughts, but intrusive thoughts, cussing technically, just one though.

that’s all I can think of, let me know if I missed anything.

You never did like rainy days, they made you cold and sad and would cause your thoughts to completely overtake you, and then leave you with a feeling of dread. Your boyfriend, Sugawara, knew this.

He had left you a text earlier reminding you that he will come over soon and that he will be there as soon as he can, armed with food and movies to watch while you cuddle.

You wished he would hurry up as the rain was coming down harder, but you knew he was busy since the volleyball team had practice today for their upcoming match with Nekoma, although it didn’t stop your thoughts from completely taking you in, it did slow down the process for a bit. The thought of getting to spend time with Sugawara, no worries other than how you can take care of each other, no volleyball, no school, just you and Suga in bed, wrapped in blankets and just relaxing,

You read books, you scrolled through your socials, you watched tv programs, but nothing was really interesting to you and the rain was just getting louder and louder. You were getting worried, Was suga coming? What if something happened to him? Is he in trouble? You could faintly hear the front door open and a male voice speaking Is it an intruder? Am I going to die? Here, now? There was a hand on your back rubbing it soothingly, the male voice from before was whispering calmingly, “hey, shhh, it’s okay, I’m here now love. Sorry, it took me longer than expected.” …..Suga? You had finally noticed the take-out bags on your dresser, the movies laying in front of you on the bed, and Suga, your loving boyfriend, alive and well, sitting next to you on the bed, rubbing light circles into your back and your hand. You had completely forgotten you had given him a key. You finally looked into his eyes and he sent you a light smile “Hey there handsome, I’m here now” he pulled you into his embrace and you spent what felt like an eternity in his arms, even though it was probably like thirty seconds, but it was enough to warm you of the previously felt cold coming into the house from the rain. “Let’s put some movies on, get you to eat cause I’m not letting your ass starve” he paused to give you a pointed look, knowing you probably haven’t eaten today and daring you to argue with him about the matter since he knew you seldom had the energy to on days like this “and then we can just relax today! okay?” he helped (dragged) you out of the bed, and out of your bedroom holding your hand in one of his and using his other hand to grab the take out bag. He led you to your kitchen and got the food out on the counter. You both sat down to eat. Once you had the food in front of you, your stomach rumbled, missing the food it was supposed to have gotten today. You both ate slowly, savoring the food. It was better than allowing Suga to cook, that was for sure. Granted, with meals that require a lot of talent, he’s amazing, but let him near the toaster and your kitchen might be in flames.

After eating, suga just put the dishes into the sink to be washed later, and you two went back into your bedroom, Suga pointed at the bed signaling you to get back into it while he picked up the movie at the top of the stack and put it into the DVD player. After pressing play, he brought the remote with him and placed it on your nightstand by the bed before getting in bed himself. He sat next to you and moved the blankets around to cover you both comfortably and put his arm around you as you leaned into his embrace once more as the beginning of your favorite movie played on the screen. Suga rubbed your arm as you started to close your eyes a bit, your exhaustion finally catching up to you. He whispered into your ear, “My boy” “I’m here love” with the occasional kiss to your forehead as he lulled you to sleep. Once you fell asleep, he laid you down on the bed, and after he lowered the volume of the still playing movie, laid down next to you, smiling and trying not to laugh and wake you up at the picture in front of him as you unconsciously cuddled into his side. He pulled the blankets over the both of you and was soon fast asleep, joining you in your dreams, the once heavy rain in the background now light and barely making any sound.

[mxvladdy]

Ey, could you make food source reactions for Mammon & Levi like you did with the others?

I've read it like 3 times now, they're all so sweet and believable you did a great job!

You got it Fam! Glad you like them so much lol. (I got a lot more angsty with Mammon than I thought I would but I love him sooooo)

Mammon

This poor man. He gets to spend so little time alone with you. He has to make every second count. Between the hustling, modeling, and running from Lucifer, he’s a pretty busy guy. 

So he plans date nights. Just you, him, and his leather couch. Ya ain’t goin’ nowhere, ya hear? He looks forward to this every month. He pins it on his calendar too just so he doesn’t double book himself. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. Just cause he plans this doesn’t mean he necessarily has a plan. Not that you care. Most of his activities turn into trouble anyway, even when he is not trying.  

 Sometimes he teaches you how to play cards (also shows you human ways to cheat-just in case you need it). The hours are spent pleasantly sitting in his lap while he teaches you how to count cards.

But, most nights, he just wants to talk. He enjoys his time with you. You and him cuddling and chatting away the hours before passing out for the night. 

He has a lot of things he wants to know about you. To him, he feels like if he knows you better than the other brothers he’s won. 

Won what? Idk, your affection? Approval? He already has it, but he is insecure about his place in your heart regardless. 

This evening starts out like any other. Mammon dashing to the kitchens to pilfer some snacks and drinks before Beel can steal them all, and you bring your cute self over to his room. 

You two toss back a few drinks and spend some time looking over his latest photo shoots before going on to the main event. Tonight you brought one of your favorite human card games. It was like 20 questions, but some questions were more risque than others. Was it meant for more than two players? Yes, but whatever- Mammon wants to play it so you are.

You both are relaxed and drowsy by the time you start playing. Your stomachs are full of junk, and the morning moons are just on the horizon. It’s the perfect mixture for loose lips and secrets, before falling asleep in each other's arms. 

You pick easy cards first, jumping from silly innocent questions to one that made him blush from ear to ear. The hours pass quickly and Mammon’s answers become more slurred and accented as he tires out. 

He was on the verge of sleep when you ask,  “What’s your favorite dish?” 

It was a slip of the tongue, a long-lost memory pulled up from the dregs of his exhausted mind. He remembers a savory dish Barbatos use to make way back when. He can still smell the savory smoky spices mixing with the fresh vegetables and meat- Oh shit.

He feels you stiffen and he ain’t sleepy anymore, that’s for sure. Immediately up and apologizes. He stumbles over himself in his haste to explain himself. 

You spend the rest of the evening with him in your arms trying to comfort him as he tearfully swears he hasn’t eaten a person in a couple of hundred years. 

Mini Fic

He regrets it the moment the words slip out. His sleepy remark hangs out in the chilly air of his room. He feels you jerk in his arms as if punched. “Shit! I-I didn’t mean.” Mouth agape, he backtracks, tongue working faster than his overtaxed brain. He looks down at your head on his chest. 

Your eyes are wide. Their surprise reflected in the bright blue moonlight. His heart sinks to his stomach. Gods, he ruined it. “I’m sorry- I.”  Pushing you off of his chest he goes to grab his shirt and redress, ignoring the prickling heat growing at the corner of his eyes. He could sleep somewhere else tonight. You could have the room if you wanted, or at least give you a minute to flee in terror from the demon that masqueraded as your friend. He can’t look at you. Hells, he was too ashamed to even glance in your direction. What kind of idiot let’s slip that? They even had a council meeting about this very thing before you arrived. 

So lost in his panic he doesn’t notice you trying to get his attention. It wasn’t until you forcefully grab his arm did he hear you. “It’s ok Mammon.” You engulf him in your warm and comforting scent. Strong arms dragging him back to the crumpled sheets of his bed. Your soft fingers wipe at the silent tears streaking down his cheeks. 

He dislodges himself from your light grasp to rub at his own eyes. “How can ya’ say that?” Where was your sense of self-preservation? Ain’t humans supposed to be aware of such dangers? The irony wasn’t lost on him though. Being your ‘protector’ and all.

You shuffle closer, hellbent on comforting. His pack mark hums gently on his chest when you touch it. As much as his body wanted to run, your pact mark cemented him to his seat. He sits while you fuss over him slowly breathing through his mouth to calm his racing heart. He can’t help but drift closer to you when he feels your hand on the top of his head. When had he become so weak for you? 

“Well-How can I not?” You shrug. He closes his eyes when you start ruffling his fringe. “You’ve been nothing but sweet to me. Yes, you have,” You cut him off firmly before he can object. “Always my number one anyway.” That pulls a wet chuckle from your demon. His eyes clear up at your admission. “I trust you Mammon, honestly. I mean, I kinda knew that you’ve probably eaten a human or two in your life. Knowing, and knowing are more different than I thought.” 

 Mammon cages you in his arms, his nose brushing along your neck and jawline. “Damn-.” He huffs covering you in his warm body, arms tight around your sides. “I’m sorry. I ruined tonight.” Mammon sighs into your skin. 

You hug him back. “Nonsense, if you want to get technical I think you won this game. I can’t top that answer.” You push away with a wide yawn. “Now can we go back to bed?” With a nod, he flops over pulling you down with him. You bully your way into his arms again. Sighing constantly you snuggle in for the night, ready to drift off. His eyelids began to feel heavy again too. Your soft weight on him like a security blanket. He listens to your slowly beating heart, matching his breathing to yours. The rhythmic thumps working to calm him better than his noise machine. He basks in your presence, rubbing his broad hand down your back for a moment before you speak again.

“Hey, Mammon.” 

“Hmm?” 

“Do you think I would taste good?” 

Leviathan 

Awkward boy. Of course, he has had his fair share of humans. Not particularly his favorite through. A lot of the time it wasn’t on purpose. His demon form is big and sometimes more than just fish and other demons get swallowed up. Course when that happened, they weren’t exactly fresh either. Bleh-just thinking about it makes his stomach turn. 

No, he never got a taste for it, even when it was served in the royal palace. The memories of the sea are still pretty vivid. It never really crosses his mind anymore. Till you bring it up.

He invites you over for a game night. A new VR game he had been saving up for just dropped and he had to play it with you.

It was a horror stealth game. Heavy on critical thinking and solving puzzles in real-time.

Your two characters were on a race against time against a flesh eating cult that had invaded a small village. He thought it was a fun concept and you both liked horror games. He didn’t notice how quiet you had gotten until you had set your controller down. 

You ask during a loading screen after a pretty graphic cut scene of a npc getting caught. How realistic was that cut scene? Had he ever eaten a human before?

Boy is a brighter pink than Ruri-chan’s signature outfit (and twice as cute lbr) 

He gets so flustered that he misses the start of the next round and gets you both eaten. 

He doesn’t take conflict well. Like at all. He much rather slink off into his fish tank and hide than answer you. In fact, that sounds like an excellent idea.  

He slithers back out of his tank hours later thinking you had left or found a better brother to hang out with. Yucky people eaters like him aren’t good company for humans. 

You jump him the minute his feet are back on solid ground. Have an answer now you must! Yrssss. 

Mini Fic

“L-Let go!” Levi shrieks, caught in your sneak attack. He locks up when you jump him, all four of your limbs wrapping around his soaking body like an octopus. 

“No!” You squeeze him harder taking full advantage of the fact that he won’t remove you himself. You feel the heat of his blush through his soaked clothes as you cling closer. If he could blush any harder you were pretty sure steam would be wafting off of him. 

“Why do you want to know anyway?” He wiggles gently, trying to loosen your tight grip. 

“Morbid curiosity.” Well, at least you were honest. He was still going to say no, you didn’t need to know that about him. He opens his mouth to shut you down but makes the mistake of looking at you. The words die when he catches the pout growing on your face. Oh no- his one weakness. Your way your lower lip pops out adorably, accompanied by slightly puffed-out cheeks. It was a one-two punch to his defenses. 

“I-they weren’t on purpose.” He pleads. Nevermore in his life did he wish he could turn into a mist-like his brother. He feels you slip off of him. Your bare feet don’t make a sound on his carpeted floor. “It just happened sometimes.” He admits. You accept it for a few seconds before his words fully hit you.

“Wait? How do you accidentally eat someone?” You ask incredulously. “All though- that’s something Beel might do.” You ponder the logistics and step back to give him some space.

He rights himself, wicking the moisture from his coat and pants with magic until he is completely dry again. You start asking a dozen more questions in rapid fire. It was enough to make his head spin. You were too curious for your own good. “Ever heard of basking whales?”  

You blink. 

Levi sighs and waves a hand to himself.  “When I lived in the ocean… I’m big ya know. I kinda would just open my mouth and swallow. Whatever I caught I ate.” He waits for you to get the jest. Most of the time it was smaller fish and aquatic mammals. When a demon encroached on his territory he would eat them too. The dead were meant for his army, but sometimes they got sucked into.

Instead of nodding in understatement, you cover your mouth with the palm of your hand and snort. His eyes grow big and his blush turns brighter. You were spending way too much time with Asmo. “No-Not like that!” His flailing only makes you laugh harder. Great, as if he didn’t want to die of embarrassment already.

“Well word it better, nerd.” You laugh retreating back to the mound of pillows you claimed for gaming, VR headset in hand. “Come on, we have to start over now- thanks to someone.”

“You started it!” Levi shoots back grabbing up his gear as well. He fiddles with it for a moment before glancing back at you. You were oblivious to inner turmoil over this admission. A naval admiral was one thing. Humans had them too, that wasn’t too much for you to comprehend. Being a devil was easy enough to understand too, at least in his mind. But eating people? Shouldn’t you be more concerned? “So-that’s it?”

You look up questioningly. “What’s it?” 

He raises a purple brow. “You have nothing else to say? I just admitted to eating people!” 

“Not really.” You shrug. “I can’t get too pressed about it. It’s not like you are human. I’m like what-at the bottom of the food chain to you, right?” Levi nods. “See! So no point stressing over it. ‘Sides, you haven’t munched on me yet.” You turn your attention back to the screen, flicking your controller to wake his flat-screen back up. “Unless~” He gulps at the sly eyebrow wiggle you throw at him, the shit eating grin that accompanied it only made him worry.  “Perhaps you just have an appetite for seamen.” 

Your peals of laughter mix with his shrill yelps of objection, as he tackles you. His previous worries were completely forgotten by your teasing. 

[emsvegetables]

|11.53pm|

kuroo has never wanted someone to be his new year’s kiss this bad before. (this is a no corona virus world :”)! happy new year, everyone! (technically this is new year’s eve but FUCK IT)

it’s the new year’s eve gathering thrown by bokuto, and kuroo’s lounging on the sofa nursing a can of beer. normally, he would be happily sauntering around and talking to people, but this year’s different. he’s been having this weird feeling in his chest the entire time, and so he decides to sit his ass down and just chill for the night.

and just as he’s about to take a sip of his beer, he hears a loud, familiar laugh, and his eyes instantly looks for the person whom the laugh escaped from, and the weird feeling in his chest intensifies.

it’s you.

you’re looking as pretty as usual, with the casual slip on dress flowing just a little at the bottom from the air-conditioner in the room, and the little dangly earrings hanging on your ears swinging slightly as you animatedly talk to bokuto and tsukishima about something.

kuroo watches you, the beer in his arms forgotten, and the weird feeling in his chest just becomes a whole lot worse when you let out another one of your laughs, the ones that make his chest feel warm, and that smile on your face is just so beautiful, and he realises that he’s never ever seen someone as beautiful as you before.

maybe he’s biased, speaking as your childhood best friend, but really, nobody was as amazing as you.

and then it clicks for him.

the weird feeling in his chest suddenly makes sense to him, and kuroo wants to shout and yell at how unfair this all was, because why did he have to fall for his best friend out of all people? he loves you, and he can’t do anything about it because he’s going to ruin the friendship between the both of you and he doesn’t want to lose you.

and yet, there’s never been someone he wanted to kiss so bad before.

he continues to stare at you, and eventually you realise that someone’s eyes are on you, and you turn your head to meet his eyes with a smile, and raise up a hand to wave at him to stay put.

kuroo raises an eyebrow slightly as you turn back to say something to both bokuto and tsukishima, and bokuto grins at you and shoots a thumbs up, and tsukishima rolls his eyes and says something back at you that causes you to punch his arm.

he wonders what the hell tsukishima said to you to cause you to react like that, but before he can try to think further about it, you’re flouncing over with a skip in your step, and that pretty smile on your face, and kuroo wants to die.

“hey, tetsu,” you say, and tap his leg to get him to move it so you can slide into the space beside him, “what’s up?”

kuroo wants to tell you what’s up. he really does. he wants to tell you that he just realised that he’s been in love with you for ages, and that he really, really wants to kiss you, but he can’t, so he merely shrugs, “nothing much.”

“you alright?” you’re leaning closer to him, and he can smell your perfume, and you smell so good, and he wants to yell because how the hell was this fair to him?

“yeah,” he breathes, and leans away from you slightly, not catching the confused furrow of your brows when he does.

“are you sure?” you’re looking at him with this look in your eyes, and it almost makes kuroo have the hope that maybe, just maybe, you’re in love with him too.

“tetsu?” you say, and you’re looking at him with that look again, “you’re really quiet today, and you haven’t been talking to everyone like you usually are, are you sure you’re alright?”

kuroo wants to swear. because darn it, how the hell could you read him so easily?

you take his hands and you clasp your hands around his, and his breath hitches slightly because your hands felt really soft and they just looked so right with his, and he feels his heart speeding up just a little faster when you look at him again, “you know you can tell me anything, right?”

kuroo sucks in a deep breath, and forces out a smirk, “yeah, of course, (Y/N).”

you smile a relieved smile at him, and kuroo really, really wants to kiss you.

“one more minute to the new year!” bokuto’s excited yell sounds across the room, and everyone around kuroo and you start to chatter and some start to count down, and kuroo blinks when you pull him up from the couch, and you grin at him with that smile of yours, and he smiles back down at you.

“ask me what i want for the new year,” you suddenly say when bokuto yells that there’s thirty seconds left, and kuroo tilts his head at you, and you’re looking away from him, but are you—are you biting your lip?

“what do you want for new year?” he decides to not question you because he knows all too well what would happen if he did, and he raises his brows as you look back at him.

“i already have everything, actually. a good job, a good apartment, good friends like bokuto and the rest, a good life,” you say, and kuroo tries not to feel hurt that you didn’t exactly talk about him, “but i want to have the balls to tell my best friend that i think i might be in love with him.”

kuroo blinks.

“ten seconds left!” bokuto yells, and kuroo snaps out of his daze, and he looks at you to make sure that he heard things properly, and you’re biting your lip slightly as you look up at him, and god, you look so, so beautiful right now.

“5!”

“4!”

“I’m going to give you three seconds to pull away,” kuroo says very quickly, and he watches your eyes widen in surprise, “and if you don’t, i’m going to kiss you.”

“3!”

“2!”

you’re still staring at him, this time, a small smile quirking up at the side of your lips.

“1!”

“happy new year!”

and kuroo sucks in a deep breath before he pulls you close and leans down to press a kiss onto your lips.

“you’re an idiot,” he mumbles against your lips when he finally pulls away from you, a small smirk surfacing onto his face when you look at him with offense, “i’m in love with you as well.”

is this good?? yes?? no??? idk??? i hope u like this :)

[prismadog]

Found Family AU character facts/background (part 7)

well, folks, we've made it to the last one of these posts - minus the upcoming master post. these just seem to get longer and longer, or maybe it's just because the past two have been about siblings? idk, all I know is that I'm a bit tired of writing these atm.

this last one should - SHOULD be shorter, but we'll see. this one will feature our last two characters - Mr. there's-no-such-thing-as-a-demon Joel Smallishbeans and good ol' Copper Dad Pixlriffs.

*did you know that Mesoglea is a word? I didn't until I kept trying to type "Mezalea" and my computer kept wanting to change it. Mesoglea is a gelatinous substance between the endoderm and ectoderm of sponges or cnidarians, or something. there's your word of the day and it's all thanks to the red squiggly line that appears every time I type "Mezalea"

*edit: guess what? y'all get two of these in one day because I felt like writing this last one! [technically, it's already Saturday but to me, the next day doesn't start until the sun comes up so yeah...two in one day! whoo!] the master post will be tomorrow sometime but idk when.

Joel

Joel is the only child to the Mezalean King and Queen, and was less born to them and more born from the Mother Tree - they couldn't have children so they begged the Mother Tree for an heir, She granted them a child who they raised as their own.

he was often alone growing up, never really played with the other children, but he wasn't lonely - so he and others would say - because he had his terracotta clones. he built many of them with his own two hands and the Mother Tree gave them life. he was raised as a prince and often went to the Gathering of the Empires with his father.

he got on well enough with the other children but kept mostly to himself - that is until he met the princess of the Ocean Empire. he noticed the other noble children seemed afraid of her so he took it upon himself to befriend her - plus, she was so different from the humans/clones around him, she was interesting with her pink hair and pearlescent skin and unnaturally blue eyes.

they would meet at the Gathering and spend the whole time together talking about their kingdoms and their hobbies - Joel was really into building and playing pranks on people, Lizzie was into raising axolotls and has a brother who she looks after. the short meetings weren't enough and Joel talked to his parents about visits with the Ocean Empire - it only makes sense since the two empires boarder each other. unknown at that moment, the Oceanic rulers proposed the same thing to the Mezalean rulers.

visits began between the two kingdoms and Joel found himself in love quickly enough - he loved Lizzie, he loved her little brother, he loved the Ocean Empire itself. but he kept his feelings to himself for fear of rejection, that is until he was about 16 when Lizzie came to him with talk of marriage - their parents had been discussing it but didn't want to force their children into it. he and Lizzie talked it over then went to their parents together and promised a future wedding, he also promised that Jimmy could be his best man.

life was peaceful, there were plenty of long visits between kingdoms, him and Jimmy often got into trouble - then the King of the Ocean Empire was killed. Joel tried to be there for her but found travel between kingdoms difficult due to the ongoing storms surrounding the Ocean Empire, he still managed to write Lizzie and once was able to visit - though getting back was just as difficult as getting in.

then several months later the storms stopped and Lizzie wrote to him about her taking the throne - she had said the Queen returned to the sea, though, he didn't really understand what that meant. he returned to the Ocean Empire and was there for Lizzie's coronation. he started visiting regularly for a time and each visit seemed to last longer than the one before it - he was there so often that Jimmy suggested he just move in. he did, with both his parents' and Lizzie's permission.

two years after that, he asked Lizzie to marry him and she said yes. they had two ceremonies, a proper land-dweller one in Mezalea, and another smaller Oceanic ceremony. being King now to the Ocean Empire meant he was basically a trophy husband but he didn't mind, he was happy as long as he was at Lizzie's side. if there was a Gathering, he or Jimmy would go with her, though usually Jimmy stayed home to watch over the kingdom - but he made sure to bring him plenty of stories and food from the Gathering.

Joel received word from his parents that an illness had struck Mezalea and the King and Queen had caught it. he returned home immediately to help where he could, Lizzie often sent aid to him, as did the kingdom's ally Pixandria - he had hardly ever spoken to the Copper King but he was glad for the aid. his parents unfortunately didn't survive and he lost a good number of civilians to the illness. but it was cured, with the help of the Mother Tree and magic from the Crystal Cliffs, and he became King of Mezalea.

with the illness cured, visits started up again between Mezalea and the Ocean Empire, though there was a lot more time spent apart than together but he and Lizzie made it work. Jimmy sent messages and gifts between the couple, often getting some for himself, until of course Jimmy became of age and wanted to travel the world.

Joel and Lizzie saw Jimmy off - it never ceased to amaze him how his two best friends could turn into giant sea creatures that could wipe out a fleet of ships. they managed visits on their own and sometimes he got letters from Jimmy. the letters stopped for a time and Lizzie grew worried, worried enough that storms nearly threatened the kingdom - but then Jimmy finally wrote them again and things were okay, he was in a swamp settlement and the people were taking care of him.

he and Lizzie went out right away to see him and found him at home in the swamp amongst a bunch of fish-human hybrids. he watched as Lizzie lectured her brother then babied him, then helped set Jimmy up as the ruler of the swamp settlement - the Cod Empire. they left Jimmy sometime later but saw him again at the next Gathering.

Jimmy got on well enough with the other rulers, despite the cod head he wore, though Joel noticed some rulers picking on him. he helped Jimmy from time to time, just so his brother wouldn't be alone, but didn't worry too much since Lizzie wasn't worrying - she was extremely protective of Jimmy but if she wasn't stepping in, then there was no need to worry.

Joel had met many of the rulers when he was a child so he knew pretty much everyone there. the only ones he hadn't met before was Count fWhip of the Grimlands, Wizard Gem of the Crystal Cliffs, and King Joey of the Lost Empire. Gem was all right for a mage, he ended up becoming frenemies with fWhip due to the teasing of Jimmy, and Joey was just weird so he didn't really talk to him unless need be. he got to know Pix a bit more when Pix decided to ally himself with Lizzie and Jimmy, and he started calling the man "Copper Dad" since his main trade was copper.

Pixl

Pixl was found by a pair of miners in a cave beneath the sands and was taken back to a large desert village, nobody really knew where he had come from, only that he was gifted with visions of death - of those around him and of rulers of the kingdoms outside of the desert. the villagers thought him odd and a bad omen, at first anyway, because he always knew who would die next and would light a candle for them when they passed.

they accepted him after a time, once they realized that he wasn't actually the cause - he would preach to them about Lady Death sometimes and how she would care for their loved ones. everyone in the village had a hand in raising him, as well as raising other children which was their way - it takes a village to raise a child.

Pixl learned how to farm and mine and care for animals, and he learned to build. his first build, guided by his visions, was the Vigil - it stood tall in the center of the village and was home to 12 different colored candles - only two of which were lit - one for Elfking Scott of Rivendell and one for Queen Katherine of the Flower Fields. the rest remained untouched. these flames never went out and the villagers often questioned him about them - he told them that there will be 12 mighty rulers that would change the world, for better or worse he didn't know.

over the years, he continued building up the village, he watched over the Vigil as Prophet of Death, and started working with copper and trading it for other goods. the people began to go to him for help and looked up to him as a leader, they named him the Copper King - a new candle was lit for himself when he was crowned, something he hadn't known would happen.

he continued leading his people and made a few alliances with other kingdoms - with Queen Katherine and the King of Mezalea. there wasn't a lot of contact between the kingdoms other than the Gathering, of which, he never failed to go to. over the years, he watched rulers age and die and watched their heirs take over. it took a long time for him to meet the children who would one day have their candles lit.

the next candle to be lit was for Pearl of Smallholding, though, he didn't know who she was at the time, he didn't even meet her until many years later. the next few happen fairly quickly - Queen Lizzie of the Ocean Empire, King Joel of Mezalea, and a couple years later Dwarf King Sausage of Mythland - these three he had watch grow up through the Gatherings. shortly after Mythland, Wizard Gem took over as the ruler of the Crystal Cliffs - he had known the previous Wizard and through them, knew of their protégé. a year after Gem was her twin brother, Count fWhip of the Grimlands - a new kingdom that managed to rise up from its own sort of desert. a few years later was King Joey of the Lost Empire and Codfather Jimmy of the Cod Empire - Joey's kingdom had once been named Maztec but had been in hiding for so long that it lost its name. due to his alliance with Joel, Pix decided it best to ally himself with Lizzie and Jimmy as well, somewhat through association but mostly because he liked them.

one candle remains unlit and no matter how much Pixl prays, the answers as to why remain a mystery. he still watches over the Vigil and keeps a count of each rulers' deaths - for some reason, the 11 rulers are allowed to revive themselves every time they die. he finds this odd as well, and a bit concerning.

[alovesongshewrote]

Almost A Thousand Years - 1930/40 | Hisirdoux Casperan

Plot:  You’ve known Hisirdoux Casperan for almost a thousand years.  You’ve hated him for almost a thousand years.  And for almost a thousand years, you’ve been cursed to feel each others pain.  But somewhere in that time, things changed.  [Hisirdoux Casperan x Mostly Gender Neutral but Probably Female Presenting Based on How Historical Men Treat Them!Reader]

Word Count: 1,248

Warnings:  world war 2, nazis are mentioned, swearing

A/N:  im just trying to make you guys emo.  also, sorry about the taglist, idk what happened there

Tags: @furblrwurblr @rainningdoom @fluffydmonkey @blondie0458 @sitherin-mxschief​

Back | Next

As much as you hated to admit it, Douxie was right.  By the thirties, things had started to get better for you.

You’d returned to healing, treating everyone you could.  When the depression hit you became a favourite of the people, giving excellent treatment for free.

The government didn’t like you, but you shrugged that off.  Authority never liked you.

While you practiced medicine, Douxie practiced music.  It was an evolving art and he was there for it.  He continued his work for Merlin as well, doing what he had to.  But Douxie, unlike Merlin, had regard for human life.  He looked out for other people, doing whatever he could to help them.

You found it very attractive.

But neither of you accomplished that much in the decade.  

Bular did.

He’d sent three changeling spies after you in the twenties, and they’d done their job, finding you drinking in a speakeasy.  They would’ve made a move, but the wizard had foiled their plans.  

Bular was very tempted to kill them upon their return, but he held off, just for now.  These changelings knew your face.  He would bide his time, and when the right opportunity came, he would send out his forces, guided by the changelings, and you would be brought back to him in chains to pay for your betrayal.  And if the wizard got in his way again, he would die too.

For now, he built his forces.  In the years to come, he would destroy this world and bring his father home.  He had absolute faith in himself as a leader.  He was ruthless, taking his anger out on anything that wasn’t a changeling spy.  He wished he could, but they still had a part to play.

All the Gumm-Gumm prince had to do now was wait.

--

Then there was another war.

Just as you began to heal from the last one.

You cursed the moon, the stars, the sky, but there was nothing you could do other than punch walls, cry, and maybe drink some more.

It didn’t take Douxie too long to figure out something was wrong.  The bruising pain in his hand wasn’t caused by anything he did, and that meant it could only be one thing.

You were too tired to answer the knock on your door, electing, instead, to yell a greeting at whoever it was.  Douxie opened the door.

Your apartment was small, and pretty cute if not for the surplus of alcohol bottles gathered on your counter.

“Fuzzbuckets, (Y/N),”

“I’m not drunk this time!  I promise,”

You didn’t hear a response, just a sigh and the crash of glass breaking.  You sat up off the floor to see Archie sitting on the counter  looking down at a pile of shards.  

“Archie?  Why?”

The familiar shrugged, jumping onto Douxie’s shoulders.

You covered your face with your hands before getting up to clean the glass.  Douxie helped you.  You worked in silence.  As you picked up the shards, the wizard and his familiar could see the bruises on the back of your hand.  Without thinking, Douxie took your hand, trying his best to be gentle.

“What happened?”

“Punched a wall,”

“Why?”

“Oh, don’t act like you’ve never done it.  I can feel it when you get hurt, remember?”

“I’m not denying it, I just want to know why,”

Douxie’s voice was gentle.  No one had spoken to you like that in a while.  You wanted to cry again.  You didn’t, but you wanted to.

“It’s just-I was finally getting better, you know?  I wanted to get better, but now there’s another war and I… I can’t just sit back and let innocent people die,”

“(Y/N), you don’t have to go,”

“But I do!  I have to do this Douxie, I can’t-” you let out a shaky breath, “If I don’t do this if I don’t help the people who need it, I’m going to let my mentor down.  I’m going to let myself down.  You know what that’s like, right?”

Douxie thought of Merlin, and how he’d always tried his best to make his mentor proud.

“I understand,”

“I thought you would,” you put your head in your hands again.  Something soft and fluffy moved against your leg.  You smiled a little at Arch, who rubbed his little body against you, doing his best to provide comfort.  Familiars still made excellent company.

“What about you?  What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know,”  

“I guess we’ll figure it out as we go,”

“That sounds like a plan,”

You got up to throw the glass away.  Douxie watched you, contemplating the war, “What if I went?”

“Hmm?”

“If I went as a medic instead of you.  I could help as many people as possible, and you could help out back here,”

You bit your lip.  It was a nice thought, but that was all it could be, “That’s sweet Doux, but you don’t have the same medical experience.  It’s better if I go,”

“Then what if we go together?”

“What?”

Douxie stood, walking over to you and grabbing your arms, “We go together.  That way, if anything happens I’ll be right there,”

You blinked a few times.  You would appreciate that.  A lot.  The battlefield was a lonely place.  You just had one question, “Why?”

Douxie didn’t answer.  He stared into your eyes, trying to come up with a good reason.  He couldn’t find one.  He just felt a drive to protect you, and it didn’t stem from self-preservation.  He wanted to keep you safe for your sake, not his.

But he couldn’t say that to you.

So you squeezed his arms and said, “Thank you, Douxie, but I can’t ask you to do that,”

You bit your lip and let go.

“Are you sure?”

You nodded, leaning against the counter, “There are just some things we have to do on our own,”  you stared down at your hands for a few minutes before you realized just what you were putting not only yourself but Douxie through.

“Oh god, I could get you killed, I-”

“Don’t worry about me (Y/N).  If you need to do this, you need to do it, and I won’t stop you.  Just,” he paused, lifting his hands to your face, “Come back to me when it’s over,”

You moved your hands to rest over his, “I will,”

And you did.

It took a few years, and you were a little messed up when you returned, but that didn’t matter to you.  What mattered was that you got to come home, and you got to see Douxie again.  That was the first thing you did when you got back.

You were a little nervous knocking on his door.  By technicality, you were still enemies, but neither of you really believed that anymore.  You took a deep breath, and the door opened.

“Hey, Casperan,”

He didn’t say anything.  He just put a hand on your shoulder, silently asking for permission to hug you.  You didn’t say anything either.  You just hugged him.

“It was worse this time,”  you whispered.

“I know, and I’m sorry,”

“Fuck nazis,” your voice was muffled, but you were and still are right, and you should say it.

“Agreed.  They’re monsters,”

There was silence for a few moments.

“I don’t-” you broke the hug to look him in the eye, “I don’t think I can do that again,”

“You won’t have to,” he said, both of you returning to the hug, “I promise,”

[porcupine-girl]

Untamed Fic Rec List

Look, most of these are reasonably popular fics already, so if you’ve been in this fandom for a couple months you’ve likely read them. Which is not how I normally do rec lists, but I’m new enough to Untamed that I’m still reading through all the fics by authors I know from other fandoms plus ones that have been personally recced to me, so I haven’t made it into the deep dive of underappreciated fics that I normally like to rec.

It doesn’t help that one of these recs is 445K, so for like two weeks straight it was basically all I was reading.

BUT if, like me, you are rather new to this fandom and its fics, here are some good ones:

The Same Moon Shines Series by sami

This is the 445K behemoth, made up of 23 works, and is technically made up of three interrelated series. The first fic, which establishes the whole universe/multiverse, is 139K on its own. Basically, decades into the canon future, WWX invents time travel.

He goes back to being born, but is reborn with all his memories intact. And he fixes, like, fucking everything and it’s so, so fucking satisfying. Everything’s not perfect though - for example, he like lowkey (highkey?) traumatizes LXC by showing him his previous life via empathy and that has some consequences eventually. Featuring ace poly JC/LXC/WQ triad.

Then in a cracky subseries, appropriately called “ridiculous future bullshit”, we assume that the main six from this universe (WWX, LWJ, JC, WQ, LXC, JYL, & Lan Sizhui) all achieve immortality and find out what they’re up to in the modern day, where they’re revered in the Five Nations (this does a great job of staying in the canon world instead of ours) but of course white Western assholes do things like try and make a disney movie called Hanguang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch where they marry LWJ off to a girl.

And then in a third subseries, which so far has only one WIP fic, we go back to the canon universe, find out that JC and LWJ were stuck there watching WWX disappear in his time machine array (so WWX actually split off into another universe, he didn’t rewind his own), and so they get into the array having no idea what it will do but wanting to chase down the asshole they love. And so a third universe is born, where they are both born with their memories but WWX is not. I absolutely love seeing how different their priorities are from WWX’s in terms of what they want to change in their new life.

(Also: This is technically a MDZS fic that usually goes with novel canon over show canon if there’s a discrepancy, so if like me you haven’t read the whole novel you might need to look up some plot points now and then.)

The Vermillion Ribbon by @unforth

AU where Wei WuXian was taken in by Wen Qing and Wen Ning’s parents instead of the Jiangs. LWJ (who is the POV character) is a super DUPER dick to him at first, like even moreso than in canon, but the speed with which he regrets his choices is breathtaking and extremely satisfying.

LWJ is a VERY unreliable narrator. He has absolutely no idea what is going on with himself or anyone else at any point in time. Eventually he at least becomes self-aware of this fact, and can at least go wait am I missing something? I think I’m missing several somethings but fuck if I know what. Wei WuXian not understanding this about him leads to some miscommunication, because WWX doesn’t get that LWJ needs absolutely everything spelled out to him in single-syllable words with crayon drawings and y’know, WWX isn’t going to be straightforward anytime he can pretend he’s TOTALLY FINE :D :D :D instead.

LWJ’s friendship with NHS is magical, and NHS in general gets 810% more opportunity to scheme and plot pre-time-of-NMJ’s-canonical-death than in canon and is honestly living his best life. It’s also valuable for LWJ to have a scheming friend because, aside from realizing he misjudged WWX, this is how he starts to figure out that he’s a dumbass who has no idea what is going on ever. But he can count on NHS to always be ten steps ahead, so it’s okay.

(ETA: I’m sorry, I made unforth feel like maybe LWJ was too dense, and no, he’s very much not stupid in general. Like, honestly the fact that he becomes so self-aware of the things he’s bad at, and does things like trust NHS to always understand the stuff he’s missing, makes him come off as very intelligent. It’s just in the specific realm of understanding anything that people say or do that isn’t 100% honest and straightforward that he is just entirely hopeless in a rather relatable way, and like I said, WWX’s go-to is hiding any and all pain so that is a bad combo.)

The Fire Lapping Up the Creek by notevenyou

This diverges from canon when WWX is on his way to Jin Ling’s one month celebration, but doesn’t bring Wen Ning along. So when Jin Zixun attacks it goes very poorly for him, poorly enough that Jin Zixuan thinks he’s dead and it’s reported back at Carp Tower as such. Sending LWJ into a dissociative state. He manages to break through to reality just long enough to find out that Jin Zixuan took WWX’s body back to the burial mounds and left it with Wen Qing, and to get on his sword and go directly there. Thankfully, it turns out that WWX is not dead, but only just barely so.

So LWJ stays there, because now that he spent some amount of time (he isn’t really sure if it was like five minutes or two hours, because dissociation) thinking WWX was dead he now knows that he should never, ever be anywhere but with WWX.

Honestly, it almost feels like a spoiler to say WWX doesn’t die, but there’s no major character death warning while there IS one for graphic violence so it’s not a chose not to warn either, so that’s technically not a spoiler. But things are touch-and-go for him for a very, very long time. And the romance is a slow burn with pining galore. And you get to see LWJ teaching A-Yuan to play the guqin, so like imagine being WWX and you wake up from almost dying to see that going on in your cave.

Velle: to will, to wish by @aerlalaith

This one is actually canon-compliant, and as it’s both quite a bit shorter and more straightforward, plot-wise, than the others, my writeup will be short but that doesn’t mean I loved it any less. Basically, it’s the process of LWJ deciding to adopt A-Yuan in the aftermath of WWX’s death. It starts just after he’s been beaten for turning against the other cultivators, and at first it’s mostly his grief and both physical and emotional pain. A-Yuan starts slipping in to visit him. and LWJ isn’t sure if he’s really okay with that at first.

Of course he becomes very okay with it, but the Lan elders and Lan Qiren and all aren’t just going to be like “ok sure you can barely walk you should def adopt a four-year-old of unclear origins who may or may not have something to do with your demonic dead boyfriend and the evil people he helped, that’s cool,” so it’s not that simple.

There’s a followup fic where, years later, LWJ chooses the courtesy name Sizhui and Xichen gives him shit for it.

save a sword, ride a socialist by sysrae / @fozmeadows

Continuing on my grand tour of Untamed fics by my fave writers from other fandoms, I get to enjoy having overlapped with foz on a third straight fandom which is just fabulous. I totally thought I wasn’t gonna read AUs and then this asshole comes along and writes AUs, which is not playing fair.

I especially love this because it’s modern day but much like ridiculous future bullshit it’s modern day in (more or less) a canonish world, not our world. So like, they fly on swords, but not long distances because it’s easier to take a train or drive rather than use up all that spiritual energy.

Lan Qiren and Jin Guangshan miss the old ways, though, and they think the best ancient tradition to bring back is arranged marriage! Because that will go over well with today’s youth. They try to make LWJ marry Mianmian but he’s like “um I’m gay” and LQ throws a hissy fit about that so Jin Zixuan (who is LWJ’s bestie and is fucking hilarious) hatches a plot for LWJ to cause LQ to stroke out by bringing WWX to Lan Xichen’s birthday party as his fake date.

But when LWJ and WWX meet up to talk this over, LWJ is instantly fucked because WWX has a small child with him and it turns out that this small child is the orphan he adopted. He doesn’t notice he’s fucked until a few days later, though, when WWX comes over for “kissing practice” and they fuck and he calls Jin Zixuan all “I think I caught a feel, what do?” and JZX is like idk, you’re a moron, don’t ask me to clean up your moron messes. And the next day LWJ buys a car seat.

Lan Wangji heard about Jack 110% Zimmermann and said “challenge accepted,” is what I’m saying here. And now I’ve written as much about this 33k fic as I did about the 445k, so I’ll shut up before I just recount the entire plot.

[deltas-writing-corner]

Warmth: Prologue (2/3)

Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku

Disclaimers: Besides the prologues, I will be posting the first 1000 or so words of every new/next chapter.  There will be a link to my AO3 at the end of the post, where the full chapters are at!

Warnings: mentions of blood

Masterlist: (coming soon)

"Here, let me help with-"

"It's alright!" Fuku shouts as she lifted several rolls of fabric with ease.

To say Fuku was doing a little better is an understatement. She was fantastically better. When Yuki and you came into work the morning after her accident, she didn't greet you both in her usual polite and quiet manner. Fuku had loudly welcomed you both in as if the shop were suddenly a bustling restaurant.

You were mending a ripped seam in the back room when Yuki suddenly enters and whispers, "Please tell me I haven't gone crazy, or is Fuku much more lively than yesterday?"

You resist the urge to smile. She got her spunk back indeed.

"I quite like this sudden shift in her character," you say.

"I do too, really! I haven't seen her like this since I was a kid. But the sudden switch from sweet to sassy is…" her mind trails off with uncertainty. She looks over her shoulder to make sure you two were alone still. "Do you think her accident yesterday had anything to do with her personality change?"

"They say your life flashes before your eyes in an instant when you come close to death. Maybe she decided to drop the quiet act and be true to herself."

"Yeah, that's it isn't it?" Yuki asks more to herself than to you. "But should she really be carrying all those fabric rolls? Those things are heavier than they look."

"Perhaps her back is doing better?"

"In a day?!"

She was getting more confused, more frustrated as she tried to wrap her head around everything. You put your needle and thread down and turn towards her. "Do you remember what I said yesterday?" you ask. Her tense shoulders relax a bit and she nods. "Then trust me on this. She's going to be fine. Would I ever lie to you if I didn't think she would?"

She shakes her head. "I don't know why, but you saying she's going to be okay somehow reassures me that it will be."

You give her a pat on the head, but she pulls you into a tight hug. You would hug her back if she wasn't squeezing your arms against your body. It was strange. Her hugging you like this almost makes you feel as if you two had truly become…

You don't finish that statement, for fear that your rival would hear it and use it against you. You nearly forgot that you could never truly make friends, not when you're still in the midst of a never-ending battle with a damn snake that targets the people around you. One of these days, you're going to get rid of it for good by any means necessary. Even if that means you would have to die with it, so be it. Anything to make sure it doesn't come out victorious.

You won't take away the people I love again.

 _______________________________________________________________

The last time you took a vacation was...never. You've never been on vacation. Your 50-year lone journey could technically count, considering you don't work and essentially goof around most of those years. It wasn't to relax from the stresses of work though. It was merely to pass the time before you could integrate back into society without causing a fuss. It would also help you forget about the people you had gotten to know.

You look over to your co-worker and boss. "Can't I just relax at home? Do I really need to go all the way out to…"

"Kyoto," Yuki finishes your thought.

"Right. Do I really need to go out to Kyoto to relax?"

Fuku shakes her head in disbelief. "Honestly, all you ever do is work! You'll go stir crazy if you don't switch up your surroundings every now and then."

"Besides," Yuki chimes in. "If anyone deserves a vacation, it's you. I don't think you understand how much you work. It's admirable, but also very concerning."

Seeing their worried expression, you feel a bit bashful. They were only looking out for you, thinking you to be tied down to the same limitations they have. You badly want to just bite the bullet and tell them the true nature of who you are. Surely they would understand, right? They would accept you for who you truly are, right? The coiling of the snake around your arm keeps your confession at bay.

Apparently, a vacation for you meant a vacation for it as well. Tormenting you must be such a demanding job after all.

You made sure to sharpen your axe real well the other night.

The chugging of the train grew louder and louder. You and a few other people, mostly fellow travelers from outside your town, walk up to the yellow line on the ground and stand to wait. The train begins to slow down into a complete stop. Once halted, a hiss of steam is let out and the doors creak open.

You turn to give your farewells to your friends and surprisingly find yourself in the middle of a group hug. You give Fuku and Yuki their own pat on the back and they squeeze you a bit harder.

"Have fun! Don't forget to call me and take a bunch of pictures!" Yuki demands.

"And bring a man home," Fuku adds.

You laugh at her comment. She really was a feisty one.

Adjusting the bag hanging from your shoulder, you step onto the train cart and take a seat. After a few minutes, the doors close and you begin to depart from the station. As you look back out the window behind you, you see Fuku and Yuki still standing there, waving you off even as you gradually disappear over the horizon. You swear, they both looked ready to burst into tears.

A tightness against your arm grabs your attention. After wriggling about from under your sleeve, the snake finally pokes its head out and turns its head towards you.

"So," you whisper, as to not attract any attention from your fellow passengers. "It took you awhile to come back. Did I cut you up that badly?"

It hisses at you for mocking it. Uncaring of it feelings, you uncoil it from your arm and drop it in the seat next to you. Should any of the passengers have watched you, they would see you moving nothing. You were actually grateful they couldn't see it. If they did, they would all certainly panic. You did not want to be known as the traveler who carries a deadly snake with them.

You cross one leg over the other and sink in your seat. "Y'know, I should give you a name. It's starting to become annoying just referring to you as 'the snake'."

It seemed surprised that you were speaking to it on neutral terms. Usually, your interactions were hostile and more or less ended with you chopping it into fine bits. It slithers back onto you, this time coiling around your neck. You nearly flinch at the familiar sensation you felt as it tightened its grip to gain stability.

I felt this in my first memory. Go figure.

You pull out your phone and quickly search up an image of a color wheel. You take care to lift the screen up to the snake's eye level while not appearing odd from any lingering gazes. You tell it to tap on a color, and from the one it selects, you would refer to it as that henceforth. It was unimpressed by your naming process but you tell it that it was either this or you give it the most insulting name you can think of.

It looks at the screen for a minute. It then presses the tip of its mouth against the glass and selects the color black.

"How original," you sarcastically say. It responds by tightening around your neck. "Alright. I'll call you Kuro from now on. It'll make cutting you up all the more personal."

Your one-sided chat ends with Kuro, who turns his head away and settles around your neck. You pull up your phone's built-in navigation app and look at the expected arrival time, 3 hours. You lean forward and prop both elbows on your knees. For the next few hours, you just sat there and waited, not bothering to look out the window and marvel in the passing scenery. Your focus was entirely on Kuro, making sure that he wouldn't try to sneak off of you and attack any of the other passengers. He usually only goes for people you had grown attached to or spend most of your time with, but you weren't going to take any chances.

You give yourself a bit of comfort by sticking your hand in your duffel bag and squeezing the familiar handle of your axe.

________________________________________________________________

The city still amazes you. It was hard to believe that in just a couple hundred years, humanity would evolve so rapidly. As amazing as the advancement of humanity was, the air quality has gone to complete shit. Along with sleeping and eating, you didn't need to breathe either. You're thankful you didn't have to subject yourself to the polluted air and spare yourself from burning your lungs. Kuro seems to hate the air as well, as he makes a sort of gagging noise once you step out of the station.

Finally, we agree on something

You robotically push past the crowds, flag down a taxi, and check into your hotel room. You send a quick text to Yuki to let her know you arrived safely and thank her again for booking the room for you. Once you set your belongings down and relax against the plush bed, you get a text back.

'What r u going to do?'

That's right. This was supposed to be a vacation. You were supposed to be going out and doing literally anything other than work.

What the hell are you even supposed to do?

You text back, 'idk.'

'Seriously??? There's a ton of stuff you could do in Kyoto!'

'Like what?'

'I heard shrines are lovely this time of the year'

________________________________________________________________

The fact that you, a god, are visiting a shrine to be very, very hilarious. Kuro hates it apparently, which made it even funnier.

"Aww, don't be like that," you jokingly cooed at him.

You used the ladle from the shrine pavilion to scoop up the so-called purified water and bring it close to him. He hisses so violently that the shrine maiden that acted as a guide for you and your fellow visitors flinched and looks around to find the source of her scare. Deciding to spare him any more stress and reason to go on a frenzy, you put the ladle back in the basin and catch up to the departing group.

The tour was simple, a mere walk around the temple and it's public areas while the guide explained the history behind each building, important figures, and various rituals the worshipers practice. It wasn't the most exciting way to spend your first day on vacation, but you found still found it interesting and very educational.

Near the end of the tour, the guide leads you all up to a statue of a woman. Her skin is as white as milk, half of her black hair twisted up in a bun while the rest flowed down her back. It was a hairstyle your mother would style on you and even taught you how to do it yourself. Her kimono was a faded gold color from years of natural degradation. The pattern on her stone clothing reminded you of flames.

Your tour guide stops and turns back towards you all. "This here is a statue of the sun goddess, Amaterasu. She is a central deity within the Shinto religion. The Japanese nobility claim their divine right to rule by claiming to be her descendants."

Your tour guide went on about the shrine's methods of worship for Amaterasu, but you completely drowned out her words. You found yourself completely enamored by the statue.

Something about it was...

Hearing that name was…

Your body was...

"Miss?" One of the tour-goers waves her hands in front of your vision in an attempt to gain your attention. "Is everything alright?"

As you slowly regain your focus, you notice a wetness on your face. You had shed a tear. You quickly wiped it away and gave the concerned woman a reassuring smile. "Allergies."

She seemed relieved and without a second thought reached into her bag to pull out a bottle. She pops off the cap, shakes out two antihistamine pills and hands them to you. You take them and hide them under your tongue before taking a gulp of water from your plastic bottle. You thank her, waiting for her to walk off with the group before spitting them out.

Kuro gives a condescending flick of his tongue against the cheek your tear descended on. You slap his head away and growl, "Not a word."

You take a moment to gather yourself before heading back with the group. Before you turn the corner and lose sight of the statue, you spare it one last glance. When you looked at it again, you were certain what you were feeling wasn't just a fluke.

You felt warm.

________________________________________________________________

The tour ended not long after you all saw the statue of the sun goddess. You didn't leave until night, when the Shrine closed to the public. You spent the entire day just staring at the statue, basking in the familiar warmth that filled within your body.

"I know you don't care, but that wasn't some coincidence," you say to Kuro. "That warm feeling. It's similar, no, the exact same warmth I summon when I heal people!"

You yank him off your neck and plop him on the nearest surface, a stone tablet of sorts with writing carved into it. It was monument for some historical figure, but you didn't care about it. He looks at you as if he was actually considering your words for once. At this point, you could care less about this ingrained rivalry between you two. If there was anyone else in the world that could ever relate to you, it would be him.

"Who the hell am I? What the hell are we? Who the hell made us so hellbent on screwing each other over? Actually, let me rephrase. Why are we so hellbent on screwing each other over?"

You kept rattling on question after question. Contemplating the meaning of your existence to a snake that no one but yourself could see. In your confused frenzy, you fail to notice the grey clouds engulfing the sky. The loud roar of lightning and sudden rainfall put a halt to your pacing.

So much for clear skies.

The sound of footsteps approaching your figure brought your attention back down to earth. "Are you alright ma'am? Do you have an umbrella?" a man in a lab coat and glasses looks at you with a blank stare, but his voice indicates that he was worried for you.

You shake your head. "I didn't think it would rain today."

The man opens his mouth to say something when suddenly, your eardrums are assaulted by another clap of lightning. This time, it struck the space right next to the both of you. You frantically search your surroundings to locate exactly where it struck. The monument that your rival was on had been completely shattered into pieces.

Shit, I put Kuro on that!

The bespectacled man kneels down towards you and offers you his hand. You didn't realize that you had fallen over until you finally registered the stinging on each of your knees. You reach out towards his offered hand. Before you could place your hand in his own, darkness suddenly enveloped your vision followed by a wave of dizziness. You instinctively shut your eyes and nurse your head in your hands.

The wet and cold air of the rainstorm was suddenly replaced with a suffocating heat. You manage to open your eyes and find yourself in a completely new setting. You were on the balcony of a building, currently blanketed in flames and billowing smoke. You accidentally inhaled due to your shock and began to cough as your lungs fill with black air.

Your fit alerts a figure in the room of your presence. Seeing you, a defenseless woman all so suddenly, they found themselves frozen in shock. Your vision began to slowly clear up enough for you to notice the familiar sheen of metal. Whoever it was that you were looking at had a sword in hand, tip aimed to the floor where a man lied unconscious at his feet.

Instinctively, you reached into your handbag and grabbed your axe. You put all the force you could muster into your grip and threw it at the man with the sword. He gave out a cry of pain, indicating that you had landed a hit on him. He suddenly backs away from the body and you think you hear him mutter some sort of apology before running out the room. With the threat now gone, you make your way towards the man on the floor. He was still unconscious, so you took a firm hold of his shoulders and began to shake him awake. He wakes up with a sputter before taking notice of you.

"Who are you?" his booming voice asks

"No time for introductions! The building is burning and we need to leave! Now!"

You didn't give him a chance to get in another word. Grabbing his forearm and hoisting him on his feet, you pulled him out of the fiery room. You make sure to grab your axe, wedged deep into the wood of the door frame, on your way out.

Miraculously, you manage to find a way out the building. As soon as you're lungs fill with fresh air, you double over into another coughing fit. As you try to calm your breaths, you turn back to building. It was a temple, but not like the one you visited earlier in the day. This one seemed more rustic. It was hard to fully picture what it might have looked like due to it being quite on fire still.

If you hadn't escaped in time, the man you dragged along with you would have perished. If not by the stab of the sword looming over him, then by the flames. Speaking of him, he looks out towards the burning temple with you. Instead of worry or panic, he seemed to be rather annoyed.

"Someone tried to do away with me as I slept? Audacious, but foolish. Killing my guards and managing to get so close to me is another matter."

Who cares if you were asleep or not?! You almost died!

He then turns towards you, taking notice of your grip still on his arm. "You there," he addresses you. "Let go of me."

You let go of his arm and he rubs it as if your grip was uncomfortable. He took in the person standing before him, his apparent savior.

"You may be mere entertainment the monks brought in, but you saved my life nonetheless. You have my thanks."

Did he just insinuate that you were a prostitute?

"I must have missed all the monks among the fire. I don't have a clue how I ended up in there," you tell him.

It's now that you begin to take in your surroundings. You were no longer within the city, not a single skyscraper obscuring the night sky in sight. The air, despite standing next to a burning building, wasn't as disgusting to breathe in. The man you rescued had striking features. His hair black and eyes a carnelian hue. He wore armor sporting colors of black, white, and red. You remember seeing such attire way back when your parents were alive. He was some sort of soldier.

"What are you staring at? Surely you know who I am?" He asks. You shake your head, being at a total loss for words. This genuinely confuses him. "You saved me not knowing who I am? Not expecting reward or favor?" He gives a deep chuckle that echoes throughout the night. "So be it, I shall tell you my name. I am the man who will rule all under the sun-"

Your silence is broken by your faint laugh. Was this man seriously going to monologue and create some sort of suspenseful build-up over his own name? After he just escaped the clutches of death?

He lifts an eyebrow. "Have I said something amusing?"

You cover your mouth to stifle your giggles and shake your head once more. Surely, he must have thought you rude.

Instead, he lets out another round of laughter, this time louder. "You're a curious one. No one has acted so impudently to me before." He takes a step closer to you and you take half a step back. "You intrigue me, which is almost as worthy of praise for saving my life. I am the Lord of Azuchi Castle and Daimyo of Owari, Nobunaga Oda."

Your head involuntarily tilts to the side. You look up at him and say, "...Who?"

His brows furrow. Now he was getting frustrated. "Do you truly not know who I am?"

You fiddle with your thumbs. "Noooooo?"

"You are indeed a strange one. But I have given you my name. Now, give me yours."

You hesitated, but decided it was safe to give him your name.

"I see. A good name befitting my savior"

Was that a compliment? Hang on, where the hell are you?!

You shake your head as if to clear your mind of its confused state. "Now that we got the introductions out the way. Tell me, where are we?"

"We are at Honno-ji. The building before you is-"

"A temple. I can see that. What year is it?"

He seems taken back by your question and of the fact that you interrupted him. "It is 1582. Why?"

Ah, 1582………WHAT?!

Before you could understandably freak out, the galloping of hooves grabs both your attention. The man at the front of the small group heading in your direction shouts, "Lord Nobunaga, you're safe!"

Once he reaches a safe distance, he hurriedly dismounts and approaches you both on foot. The others that rode alongside him turn their attention towards the building and begin shouting out orders to put out the flames.

"Mitsunari," Nobunaga turns to him. "Why have you come? Where is Hideyoshi?"

"Lord Hideyoshi sent me ahead. He should arrive here shortly," Mitsunari explains. He then takes in the sight of the smoldering temple and frowns. "It would seem the information we received about your assassination attempt was correct."

You feel another coughing fit coming and try to muffle it. It is then that Mitsunari takes notice of you.

"Oh, who might you be?"

Nobunaga calls out to you. He gives a nod to Mitsunari as an indication that you were no threat and then commanded, "Present yourself to my subordinate."

"I'm- Ow!"

Something pierces your ankle and you nearly fall over yet again. Mitsunari pulls you towards him and swiftly draws his sword out. As your eyes search the ground for what could have bitten you, you notice the familiar black scales of your rival hidden between the blades grass.

"Kuro! You bastard, I thought the lightning fried you to a crisp!"

As much as you hate to admit, you were glad to see the serpent is alive and well. However, as Mitsunari took notice of the snake, he pulled you further in until you were between him and Nobunaga.

"A snake?! Please stand back!"

He firmly planted his right foot on the ground and raised his sword. You immediately went on the defense and shoved him into the Nobunaga's chest. They were dumbfounded as they saw you place yourself protectively in front of the snake as if they were the threat, not it.

"Stop! He's with me!"

"My lady, the snake could potentially be venomous. Please walk carefully towards me,' Mitsunari beckons you to him.

Oh, he's much more than venomous… hold on.

You look down towards Kuro, then to Mitsunari, then to Kuro and back to the grey-haired man again. "You...You can see him?"

"Of course I can! Now please, get back!"

You glare down at him. "You bastard! You can make people see you at will can't you?!"

Unsurprisingly, he plays dumb and slithers back on you. Like before, he situates himself around your neck before turning his gaze towards the two armor-clad men. He sends an almost condescending gaze at the grown men panicking before him, a tiny viper.

"Ok, before you panic let me explain. This is Kuro. Say hi." You roll your eyes as he hisses at them. What else did you expect? "Lovely. He's my…we've known each other for a long time."

"You say that as if the snake were a person." Nobunaga notices.

Man don't even get me started!

"He's more aware than most, but he isn't harmful. So long as you don't annoy him he won't try to lunge at you." You shift your weight to the foot he had bitten, reminding you of the fact that he sunk his fangs into you just moments ago. "Except me. He'll only bite me."

"He's not venomous, is he?" Mitsunari asks.

"He has venom," you stupidly say, but quickly backtrack on your statement. "But he never shoots it in me, I swear! like I said, you just have to be cautious around him and not give him a reason to bite you."

"A woman with a venomous snake as her companion. There is no end to your amusement, is there?" Nobunaga speaks up, impressed, and not at all ashamed of feeling so, "Mitsunari, this is my savior. Remember her well."

"I thank you for rescuing our Lord," the man, clad in purple armor and a singular beauty mark under his right eye, bows deeply towards you. "My name is Mitsunari Ishida. I serve Nobunaga's right-hand man."

You wave your hands frantically to stop him. "Ah, no need to be so formal! Despite the circumstances, It's nice to meet you as well."

you properly introduce yourself to Mitsunari, who instantly perks up at your more welcoming demeanor. "Is your foot alright? That bite must have hurt. Though now that I've gotten a better look at you, you don't appear to be a nun. Are you perhaps from abroad?"

You look down towards yourself and realized you were wearing nothing but a t-shirt, capris, and some old worn out sneakers. You must look like a clown to them. Also, what were you even supposed to say in this sort of situation? Hey, I'm from 500 years in the future. Did I forget to mention I'm actually a 300 year old deity? Life sure is crazy!

Not knowing what is safe and not safe to say, you remained quiet. Mitsunari takes notice of your hesitation and looks back at Nobunaga for some guidance. The man, now over your rude behavior, steps past his subordinate and towers over you.

"Were you not taught to speak when spoken to? You may have saved my life, but there is only so much disobedience I will tolerate. Tell us where you hail from, and quickly."

You and Kuro glance at each other. Like most of your standoffs, there seems to be a mutual understanding between you two without the need for words. Remain silent. Do not tell them of your origin or of the nature of your being. Even if he decides you aren't trustworthy and strikes you down where you stand, you will survive the blow.

You kept your mouth shut. He seems more disappointed than angry towards your answer and turns towards Mitsunari. "Restrain her. She is now officially a suspect in the assassination plot on my life"

"My Lord. She's clearly disoriented from the chaos-"

"Restrain her," he ordered with finality.

Mitsunari, hesitant but not one to disobey orders, grabs a length of rope from his horse's saddle and walks back towards you. "Please give me your hands,' he politely demands of you. You do as you're told.

"It's alright," you whisper to him. "If it makes you feel better, my reason for being silent is just for my safety. I mean you all no harm. You have my word."

"I…" he appears caught between his orders and trusting in you. "I will trust you. No person with ill intent would risk their life to save Lord Nobunaga."

You thank him by giving his hand a comforting squeeze. He makes sure to tie your hands in a manner that would make escaping impossible, but not tight enough to hurt your wrists. You're escorted away from the temple, to a camp not too far away. You're led to a nearby bonfire and told to sit and not make any sudden moves. Mitsunari steps away from you and is replaced by two of the soldiers he brought with him.

"Hey," you try to whisper as quietly as you can to Kuro, "I have a suggestion. Care to hear it?"

He slithers around your neck until he's facing you head-on. It seems he's willing to listen. "Let's call a truce," you simply state. "The only conditions are that we look out and help one another until we find a way back to our time. After we return, we can go back to despising each other for the next hundreds of years."

Were you seriously offering an alliance with your sworn enemy? Yes, yes you were. As much as you both detest the idea of having to tolerate each other, the current situation made it clear that the only way you two are going to manage to get home is to put your heads together. Maybe even get along for a change?

Ugh, the thought of befriending this slithering asshole is deplorable.

"If you agree to those terms, bite my neck."

He doesn't hesitate to sink his fangs into your throat. You're sure he's wanted to bite you until your body was littered in duo puncture marks. The guards are alarmed at your cry of pain and go to kneel beside you to see what was wrong. They both took notice of the black snake around your neck and bleeding wounds. They look at each other and then nod. "Don't move ma'am. We'll take care of the snake-"

"He's a pet! No need to draw your sword," you immediately explain to them. "Could I maybe get a rag to press against my wound?"

The guard on your right seems hesitant, but his fellow soldier nods in assurance. He leaves in search of a rag, while the guard on your left seems to get closer to you. He's probably keeping a closer eye on you until his partner returns.

Two new people enter the camp. One is clad in blue and white armor, hair a pure white color. The other in green armor with red accents, hair a natural brown. You try your hardest to listen to their conversation. So far, both new figures seem to be concerned for the well being of Nobunaga. They question him on how he managed to escape unscathed and soon the attention is turned towards you.

"This is my savior. Due to her lack of answering my inquiries about her person, I've placed her under custody until we return to Azuchi."

"That one, sitting by the fire?" the white-haired one gestured towards you. You gave him a wave with your tied hands. "What a slender thing, but appearances aren't everything. Shall I pry answers from her mouth?"

The threat of torture puts you both on edge. You more than Kuro as you would be the one subjected to it.

Nobunaga seems to notice your fear and revels in it. "Once we return home, if she refuses to explain herself again, I will leave her in your hands. For now, we prepare for our departure."

The white-haired one nods in understanding before sending a spine chilling grin towards you.

Note to self, watch out for that one.

The brown-haired one comes towards you. While he isn't as scary as the other one, his height makes up for it. He's nearly twice your height and taller than anyone in the camp. He glares down at you and says, "Whoever you are, if you have any plans to harm Lord Nobunaga, I will make you regret ever having such thoughts."

Threat after threat after threat. You were getting pretty fed up with it. You were about to give the man a piece of your mind when suddenly, Kuro lunges at him. His fangs were bared and spurted liquid out of his mouth. That wasn't a warning bite. It was an honest attempt to bite and kill.

"Kuro!" You scold him. "That's not going to help the situation!"

"A snake?! Why haven't you noticed and gotten rid of it?!" The green armored one questions your guards.

They stutter over themselves before you finally speak up in place of them. "He's my pet."

"Pet or not. Allowing such a dangerous animal around Lord Nobunaga is a risk I won't take."

He reaches down to his waist to unsheathe his sword. In your panic, you shot up on your feet and you kick him right in the diaphragm. His arms wrap around his stomach and he nearly falls to his knees over from the blow.

"The next person that points a sword at us, I'm going to hold you down myself and let him pump you full of venom!" you scream. Gods, were you so on edge that you were now threatening people?

Your suddenly thrown face first down onto the ground and pinned from behind. You turn your head to see who it was that had restrained you. It was the white-haired one. The empty barrel pointed at you keeps you still.

I smell gunpowder. That's a rifle no doubt. Father used to have one in the house in case wolves came by at night.

"Those things have a tendency to accidentally go off," you tell him.

He smiles down at you. "Indeed. You'll forgive me if it does, yes?"

Second note, I hate this guy.

Angered by his cockiness, you try to wiggle out of his hold, but it utterly fails. In fact, you actually help him get a better grip on you and make it harder for you to escape. Great job, you dumbass.

"What shall we do with the snake, my lord?" The one pinning you down asks Nobunaga.

He stood over your defenseless self and stared at you with indifference. "It is clearly a hazard, but it has yet to leave it's master side and only struck when it perceived her to be under an immediate threat. Leave it, but keep your distance."

"My Lord, that is too much of a risk. Removing the threat now would be the better option," the brown-haired one protested. Slightly bent over in pain from your hit.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Hideyoshi," the white haired one says. "Even a moment of vulnerability on our part will result in her releasing it on us."

The one you hit is Hideyoshi. Noted.

Nobunaga smirks at him. "If you're so concerned, Mitsuhide, then I suggest you put your sharpshooter skills to good use and keep an eye on the damn thing. Now, if you're both done bickering, let us head out."

Mitsuhide didn't seem to like his new orders but answers with a practiced "yes sir", before helping you up to your feet. Without any more to say, you're escorted to an large crowd of horses and lifted onto a saddle. Mitsunari is your apparent rider and you quietly thank the heavens for your one saving grace.

"Sorry," you whisper, "I sort of made things worse for myself."

You feel him tense, immediately feeling bad for making him worry even more.

"Once we return to Azuchi, you'll be in a secure place and can speak your truth without fear of lingering ears," he tells you. The horse beneath you suddenly kinks into a speedy gallop and you hold onto him for dear life.

You travel for a few minutes before the steeds around you slow down into a complete stop. A man with an eye patch and blue and gold armor appears with another unit of soldiers. Perhaps he was back up? He sure is late though.

"Lord Nobunaga. I see you're unscathed," he says, a more casual hint in his voice.

"Physically, yes. But my pride has taken quite the hit. We're returning to Azuchi. Have your men follow."

"Damn, I guess I was too late to see some action," he answers disappointedly. He turns back towards his reinforcements and shouts, "You heard the man! It's back home for us!"

His soldiers all let out groans of equal disappointment. He laughs at their expense before maneuvering his horse to join with the rest of the retreat. It's when he and his men fully merge that he takes notice of you and your bound hands. "Who's the lass?" He shouts over to Hideyoshi.

"They're under suspicion for the assassination attempt tonight. She has a snake around her neck and it will strike if you get near."

"A woman with a snake, huh? I like you already. The name's Date Masamune. I hope we can get to know each other well."

First I get called a prostitute, then this asshole flirts with me while I'm tied up! So much for a relaxing vacation!

________________________________________________________________

Kennyo watches the retreat of the Oda alliance with rage. His chance to exact revenge was in the palm of his hand but had been slapped away in a mere instance. The rustling of bushes gains his attention and he turns to see Ranmaru knelt before him, sweaty and disheveled. He's now porting a gash across his normally pristine face. "Are you alright? We need to tend to that wound to prevent it from becoming infected. It'll likely scar."

Ranmaru is on the verge of tears. "Master Kennyo, I failed you. All our efforts to eliminate the head of the Oda have gone to waste because of-"

The monk shushes him. "You've done well, Ranmaru. You've demonstrated how well the devil king trusts you. That alone is enough to be the cause of their undoing."

Ranmaru flinches at the mention of the word "trust." Kennyo turns back to look at the retreating forces once more. He turned back just in time to see that the they had a prisoner in their midst. He becomes even more enraged once he realizes that it was a woman.

"They would go so far as to blame a woman for the fire and hold her captive. The Oda couldn't stoop any lower than they have now."

Kennyo begins to walk away into the darkness of the forest. He gestures for the boy to follow, and he does so without hesitation.

________________________________________________________________

Another set of eyes watch the retreat of the Oda alliance from the sidelines.

"How disappointing. Though perhaps this is a blessing in disguise," Kenshin, initially unhappy seeing Nobunaga escape unharmed, immediately perks up at his own thoughts. "I still have an opportunity to drag the devil king out to battle and strike him down myself."

Shingen shakes his head in disbelief. Although he was frustrated as the rest, seeing the Oda pull out victorious and without a single loss, hearing Kenshin retain his bloodlust was reassuring. "He truly earned the title of devil king. Only a demon could have such twisted luck on his side."

"Lord Shingen," Yukimura suddenly notices an unfamiliar figure among the retreating forces, "look at who is riding with Mitsunari Ishida."

Shingen searches out for the familiar tuff of grey hair. He was in a bad mood, but now he's pissed. That was a woman, bound by the wrist the same way a criminal would be. "Unforgivable," is all the Tiger of Kai could growl out.

"Yes," Yoshimoto nods in agreement with his cousin, "Such a small thing. She must be scared to death."

Kenshin doesn't make any comment at the revelation, but he notices the panic that overtakes Sasuke's face upon hearing that a woman had been taken prisoner.

"I've grown bored. Let us return to Echigo and reconvene another day."

Kenshin doesn't wait for an answer. He turns away and the rest of his allies follow without a word. "Sasuke," Kenshin calls out to his ninja who had yet to move from his spot, "Do not keep me waiting."

He snaps out of this train of thought before following along. "Yes, my Lord."

________________________________________________________________

You had remained quiet the entire trip. A few people called your name, but you were so lost in your thoughts that you didn't even acknowledge whoever was speaking to you. You failed to realize that night had turned into morning. Your surroundings had changed from foliage into a massive fortress-like castle.

Kuro paid attention to your surroundings in your stead. Anyone that had gotten even a little close was hissed at and had transparent venom spat at them. Even Mitsunari, your one and only ally as of now, was not spared of the serpents radar.

You finally speak your first words after hours of silence. "If you keep threatening every man that so much as looks in my direction, I might start to believe you actually liked me all this time."

You're once again bitten, this time on the back of your hand. Blood quickly pools in the twin punctures before rolling down and staining your skin.

Mitsuhide had witnessed the snake sink its fangs into you. "Oh my, such a temperamental pet. Are you sure you have it under control?"

You roll your eyes. "Of course I do. Hey, Kuro," you look down to him. "If things turn ugly, pump me full of whatever you got left."

The snake nods, pleased at the privilege you've given it. Mitsuhide narrows his eyes at you, concerned over your order. You make sure to pat Kuro's scaly head while maintaining eye contact with him.

The entourage heads towards the stable. Stable hands awaited their return and began to board and tend to each steed. Mitsunari eventually dismounts and offers his hand for you to take. You gratefully accept his gesture and he helps steady you on the ground.

"How are your hands? If they feel sore I'll redo my bindings," he offers.

You shake your head. "I'm alright. What's going to happen to me now?"

"Lord Nobunaga requested an immediate council upon his return. It will likely be about the events that took place at Honno-ji and will take some time to inform and gather everyone needed. Until then, you...you will be…"

You didn't rush him. He was clearly having a hard time trying to muster up the courage to tell you what will happen to you until the meeting. You already have an idea what it would entail.

"You will be held in a prison cell until your fate is determined."

There it is.

"Will Kuro be allowed to stay with me?"

He nods. "Hideyoshi requested that the snake remain on your person at all times and visible. I hope his request isn't too unreasonable."

"If it puts the people here at ease then I can live with it. I'd feel safe having him close by anyways, so I'm quite thankful he didn't call in some expert snake hunter or something."

Mitsunari smiles at your words. "Even when the odds are against you, you find the positive within. You are truly admirable, my lady."

You return the smile. "Thank you, but I'm sure I told you before not to be so formal!"

"Very well. I agree with the condition that you address me with familiarity too. Is that alright?"

You nod and, for a brief moment, you forget that you were technically still a prisoner.

Previous chapter | Next chapter

[zozophoenixxx]

Friendly reminders about The Flash⚡️

Things I had forgotten or little details I just noticed on my rewatch, maybe even Unpopular Opinions 🤭👀

✨Season 3✨

Flashpoint... oh gosh I used to hate this episode, I literally always skipped it but this time I'm gonna watch it you guys I promise😂

Nvm this episode might not be so bad, we get to see Barry all happy and with his mom and Dad and i-🥺

Omg do y'all remember in season 2 when Barry, Cisco and Harry went to E-2 to stop Zoom and Cisco said that he thought his doppelganger would be like a rich tech genius or sum like that... Not Cisco from flashpoint being a rich tech genius 🤭😃😂

Caitlin... She's a pediatric eye doctor🤭🥲😂 (flashpoint)

Wow wtf I had completely forgotten about Julian 😳

I swear I hate it when they mess so much with the timeline, I just can't keep up

West-Allen kiss count (approximately): 30😘

⬆️ approximately bc I might have messed up 😅

Wow I thought season 3 was all savitar, I did not remember alchemy

Rival, Magenta (portrayed by Joey King, we love her),ɹǝʇsɐɯ ɹoɹɹıɯ and top, monster, shade, plunder, abra cadabra

OK Y'ALL I JUST NOTICED THAT IN THE MAGENTA EPISODE *breathes in* Barry and Iris go on their first date and electric love was playing... The fact that that's the song used in the trend where you kiss your best friend seems rights

Jesse got her powers 😃 we stan Jesse Quick⚡️

CECILE AND JOE I-🥺

Bro HR 🥺

Julian really was a b*tch at the beginning of this season, but his accent tho🥴🤤🥵

That height difference between Cecile and Joe is what I need in life I love them 🥰

Iris is such a badass bro I love her

Savitar is apparently the Hindu god of motion 🤭

Killer frost episode 🤭😃 I love the fact that Caitlin got powers but I still felt so bad for her like she didn't want that, she didn't want to hurt anyone 🥺

She really said some pretty hurtful things to Barry, he messed up everyone makes mistakes 🥺

Barry tricking Killer Frost into turning back into Caitlin was 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 and then when she wanted to apologize and Cisco just hugged her and Joe too i- 🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺 I think that was the first time when we saw Joe And Caitlin hug 🥺

Julian's such an ass bro he really forced Barry to quit and he really did just to protect Caitlin

Y'all ever get chills or just overall goosebumps whenever the music from the other shows start playing in the crossovers? No? Just me? Cool just wanted to know 😅

Felicity fangirling is me

Also Diggle throwing up every time Barry takes him from somewhere is hilarious or just him being done with anything that's not normal 😂

Bro supergirl I- 🥴🤩

NO AND THEN SARAH AHDHAHHAHAA she really said "it's kinda hot" (referring to Supergirl being a bad ass) when they were training lmao I cantttt

Cisco was getting visions of Dante, who was actually Savitar, and was manipulated into opening the box which brought Savitar out and really if it hadn't been for Caitlin, Barry and Wally would've been killed

DANG CECILE AND JOE JUST KISSED WOWWW😁

Their apartment i-

HR really got them a turtle named McSnurtle y'all i-

GYPSY

That scene where they told Joe that Iris was meant to die in the future was so🥺😞😩 I don't even know how to describe it

wally and Jesse were cute 🥺🥰🤌

Cisco and Harry were kinda mean to HR🥺

Grodd just tried to kill Joe and Harry and Cisco came up with a way to see into Grodd's memory through Joe and Istg Joe's face lmao, he's just so done with everything 😂

Dang Grodd's plan really was to kill everyone with nuclear missiles by controlling that military guy and Barry had to try every password combination to stop it just like he did in season 1 or 2 (idk lmao) when he was helping Snart and his father with a robbery

Y'ALL BAHSHHHAHAHA I love GYPSY she really just straight up kissed Cisco and went like "even if I did [like you] you couldn't handle me"

AND CISCO was all like "I'll marry that woman"😩😳😂💀

BARRY DID NOT JUST PROPOSE

Y'ALL WHAT I THOUGHT THIS WAS WAY LATER

I love that scene where they tell everyone 🥺

Bro why was Barry always so mean to Wally like I know he was stressed out about Iris but bro it wasn't Wally's fault 🥺

OMG JULIAN JUST KISSED CAITLIN🥺 they're adorable

Wally did watch Iris die

Jesse moved to E-1 when she was dating Wally for a bit and she stayed at Joe's house with the both of them

Savitar used The Greek myth of Atla to explain why he needed Wally to get out of the speed force ➡️ Atla can't let go of the sky without having someone take it from him.

Ok so by taking a part of the philosopher stone before it was thrown into the speed force, Caitlin technically kept Savitar from coming back. So if Wally hadn't had those visions where Savitar manipulated him into throwing that little piece of rock into the speed force... He wouldn't have been able to escape

That was kinda hard to explain. Idek if it made sense I'm sorry y'all I'm not good with words 😂

I love Harry 🥺

NOT EDDIE IN THE SPEED FORCE 😳

Ok y'all but whenever y'all watch it or rewatch it, there's this very cute and funny scene in S3 E16 min 17:00 between Caitlin And HR where she takes away his drumstick and he just takes out another one but it's very adorable because they keep messing around🥺

Bro the speed force was really being b*tch to Barry when he was trying his best to save everyone and change the future 😩😞

And Jesse was so mean to HR on Ep16🥺

Jay saved them 🥺

Ok relationships are so confusing wtf

THE MUSICAL EPISODE, MON-EL, SUPERGIRL OMG ITS BEEN A WHILE WTH!! Imma rewatch supergirl too😃

Melissa Benoist is so gorgeous 🥴🤩

The way Barry looked at her when she was singing I-

I love their friendship but I kinda ship them too🥺

OH I REMEMBER! this guy was trying to teach them a lesson about love, because they were both having relationship problems

He was also on glee. THE 3 OF THEM! I-

Darren Criss, I didn't know his name

I love this episode

Cisco and Winn And Malcolm singing and dancing, this couldn't get better

Omg I would love to see a Winn-Cisco-Felicity trio. I feel like they would work so great together 😁

IRIS AND MON-EL well actually Tommy Moran and Millie

Their fathers being gangsters is hilarious and their accents 😂

Everyone's facial expressions when John revealed that he was also an Alien 😂

Millie having 2 dads and those being Stein and Joe is great lmao although I never knew if it was because they were hay or it was more like Barry's situation 😂

JOE AND STEIN SINGING AND BARRY IN THE BACK Y'ALL IM🤭🤩🥺

I never thought I needed this 🥰

THEIR DUET IS COMING VDXHSBFVDHA

THEY'RE DANCING 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

This is officially one of my favorite episodes 😃

When they got shot they were very worried for each other and I just love their friendship

HE'S ABOUT TO PROPOSE, HE'S SINGING AHHHHH

COME RUNNIN HOME TO YOUUU 🎶🥺

I really liked how in the episode where Caitlin gets hurt when Abra Kadabra throws a bomb, Julian's the one to operate on her and Iris is right there with him trying to help out, even though they weren't truly friends until later on it shows that they're all really a family

And also Wally and Barry carrying her to the room 🥺

Also the fact that it was Caitlin guiding Julian through her own surgery shows how strong and amazing she is I love her 🤩

Caitlin (killer frost actually) is the 1st to know who Savitar is

BRO CECILE JUST TOLD JOE SHE LOVES HIM AND HE DIDNT- this got too ~umconfy~

Bro killer frost's outfit is pretty hot 🤩

Cisco was afraid of killing Caitlin on accident and that's why he didn't shoot her whenever they were trying to get her🥺

"She's my best friend... And I'd rather it be me than her"

I love him. And I love their friendship.🥺😞

BAHSHAHHA do y'all remember when they erased Barry's memories?

He's hilarious

JAHSHAHAJAJ and now they left him alone with Wally who told him they're basically brothers AND BARRY STRAIGHT UP GOT HIS HAND OUT OF HIS POCKET AND LOOKED AT HIS SKIN COLOR I-

Barry loved anime

He's so happy without his memories, he's gone through so much 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Snart prevented Barry from killing King Shark

HR and Tracy 🥺

The way HR blamed himself after he told Savitar where Iris was and the fact that he does end up saving her at the end is...🥺

Bro I felt really bad for Savitar later

But then he betrayed and 🙂

And now Barry just left

I swear I hated this cliffhanger sm

Cause whenever I started watching it this was the last season and I-

Also Iris killed Savitar