#into destiny islands at the risk of others

[daylighteclipsed]

Y’all ever think about if Sora falls to darkness that inside his heart will look like the Destiny Islands falling again

[traeumenvonbuechern]

🐉 Dragon Books To Read If You Liked "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros 🐉

The dragon romantasy "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros has taken over the bookish community, so I wanted to give you some recommendations on what to read after you finished it.

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam

Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the 'gods' remember, and they do not forgive. Since they were orphaned, Arcady has scraped a living thieving on the streets of Vatra, dreaming of life among the nobility - and revenge. When the chance arises to steal a powerful artefact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history, they jump at it, for its magic holds the key to their dreams. But the spell has unintended consequences, and drags Everen - the last male dragon, who was once foretold to save his kind - into the human world. Trapped, and disguised as a human, Everen soon realises that the key to his destiny, and to regaining his true power, lies in Arcady. All he needs to do is convince one little thief to bond with him completely - body, mind, and soul - and then kill them . . . Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

A young Indigenous woman enters a colonizer-run dragon academy—and quickly finds herself at odds with the “approved” way of doing things—in the first book of this brilliant new fantasy series. The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit—a person in a unique relationship with a dragon. Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have different opinions. They have a very specific idea of how a dragon should be raised, and who should be doing the raising—and Anequs does not meet any of their requirements. Only with great reluctance do they allow Anequs to enroll in a proper Anglish dragon school on the mainland. If she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed. For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land, challenges abound—both socially and academically. But Anequs is smart, determined, and resolved to learn what she needs to help her dragon, even if it means teaching herself. The one thing she refuses to do, however, is become the meek Anglish miss that everyone expects. Anequs and her dragon may be coming of age, but they’re also coming to power, and that brings an important realization: the world needs changing—and they might just be the ones to do it.

She Who Earned Her Wings by Vaela Denarr & Micah Iannandrea

One does not learn to fly without taking a leap. And one has to fall to be caught. Nomi is a young druid finally taking the chance to spread her wings and leave her home. To see the world and discover its magic, beauty… and maybe love. Calia is a dragon on the hunt for angels, trying to square an old debt. That, and to get Laura, her desired bondmate, to finally return to her side, where she belongs. Nomi immediately catches the eye of the powerful dragons. Calia entices her with honeyed words and a skillful tongue. On the other hand, Laura, much smaller but equally intimidating, takes it upon herself to protect her. Despite the warnings, Nomi can’t help being drawn to Calia's charm, her power, her fangs… and the hidden gentleness in her eyes. She promises danger where Laura promises safety, and Nomi is torn between the two. Luckily there is a convenient cult out for the dragons’ heads, providing Nomi with ample distraction and at least one dragon egg to steal, hatch, and raise by herself. Perfectly normal things for a young transgender druid to get involved in! In the clutches of dragons, battling dark forces from beyond the stars, Nomi faces the questions of who she is and who she wants to be. Whether she deserves the love offered to her, and what it truly takes to earn her wings...

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

[gabessquishytum]

CW: past child abuse, past parricide

Special inspector Hob Gadling hates his job. Well, it's actually not true - he loves his job, but today specifically, he hates it. First, he was hoping for a bonus, and now he got assigned to a years-old cold case 'just to ensure that no new details emerged, and the investigation needs not to be reopened.' Second, he'll have to deal with some filthy rich weirdos.

Destiny Endless is a top-tier consulting risk manager, his services costing more than Hob's yearly paycheck. Death is the founder of a successful chain of funeral homes - after all, people always die, and rumor has it that Death is the best in her line of work. Dream is a famous writer who's able to write it all: whatever genre he sets his eyes - and pen - on, the book becomes a bestseller. Desire Endless is a porn star; the only mention of their name makes armies of fans go hard, wet, and horny. Despair founded a pharmaceutical corporation and revolutionized the world by introducing new, highly effective antidepressants. Destruction seems like the only normal person in that fucked-up family of masterminds: he had made a career in the military and then fucked off to travel the world. Last but not least, there is Delirium, an artist. Personally, Hob thinks that one needs to be constantly high to come up with such colors and forms, but hey, it's not him who's paid six figures to install some mind fuckery in amusement parks, so he doesn't get to judge.

Hob wouldn't come close to any of these freaks, but he has to verify that nothing was missed during the investigation, and so, here he goes. Mama and Papa of the Endless disappeared almost twenty years ago with no trace. Their bodies were never found, and there was no evidence of foul play. They just vanished into thin air, voilà. It was presumed that they had got bored, bought themselves new personalities, and left to live someplace else. To Hob, this seems strange yet plausible: looking at their kids, it's obvious that insanity runs in the family.

Still, Hob shows up to do his job, examine old records, and talk once again with all the Endless heirs. All goes very smoothly - there's nothing suspicious, all the kids' testimonies match. Hob would gladly close the check, but there is one tiny problem: he fell head over heels in love with Dream. Now in his thirties, he's unconventionally beautiful, insanely talented, and he's got Hob wrapped around his slender finger. Dream keeps his distance at first, but eventually, they begin dating. Hob finally closes the check for good - it's as clear as day that Endless parents must be chilling on some private island - and plunges into the relationship with Dream, learning him from the other side, as someone vulnerable, insecure, and kind-hearted. There's only one strange thing: Dream is inexperienced in bed for his age, and he's always somewhat tense during sex. Hob tries to talk to him, but Dream shuts the conversation down. Hob guiltily googles his bf and finds out that despite his high profile, there are no mentions of his exes in the media. At all.

Hob is puzzled, but it all falls into place when, one night, his lover has a nightmare. Hob wakes up from his screams and, with horror, realizes that this is more than a nightmare - it's a memory. He wakes Dream up and holds him while he cries. On the periphery of his mind, Dream's screams and pleas create a terrifying story of the siblings being abused by their parents for years.

'You killed them together, didn't you? Each of you thought you were the only one who suffered and thus kept the others safe. But once you all learned the truth…' Hob whispers into Dream's hair and holds him tighter. 'It's alright, my sweetling. I'd have killed them myself for you if they had been still alive.'

They stay like that through the night. In the morning, Hob makes Dream breakfast like nothing happened and goes to work. He's got no reason to worry about the case ever being reopened: there's no evidence, and he's determined to be the only one who sleeps by Dream's side till the end and holds him through his dreams and nightmares.

I love this so much. Poor, poor Dream. And the rest of the siblings too!

Hob doesn't want to draw further attention to the case of course, but he does all he can at work to make sure that files are carelessly "lost" or at least buried so deep in the archive no one will find it for a century. It even occurs him to frame someone else for the crime to make sure that the siblings are thoroughly safe, but... its better left forgotten. God knows Hob will spend the rest of his career making sure that no one ever goes sniffing around the Endless siblings ever again.

What's more he'll spend the rest of his life helping Dream in his recovery. He makes sure that he has private, confidential access to resources that a survivor should have - none of the siblings ever told anyone about the abuse or went to therapy because they're terrified to look like they had a "motive" to get rid of their parents. Hob changes that. He persuades as many of the siblings as he can to visit trusted therapists. Not all of them go for it, but at least someone is finally advocating for them and offering a little bit of support.

Hob loves Dream most of all of course, but he considers all the siblings as his family. He hates what happened to them. He can't fix it. But he can protect and love them as they deserve. Maybe all of them can finally breathe a little easier, with a friend on their side.

[mintydotdoodle]

*implied spoilers up until jrwi riptide 112*

I've been having so much brainrot about the theming of fate and chance in jrwi riptide so please bear with me because I feel like in our everyday vocabulary use chance and fate interchangeably. Like when someone does something and goes "eh I'll leave it up to chance" as a way of saying it is what it is or whatever happens it fated to happen as it does. BUT there's a big difference in the though process of fate and chance that keeps them from being fully synonymous.

Fate will happen no matter what, no matter how hard you try fate is something that's inevitable. Now whether being aware of fate makes it worse or better is up to interpretation. The largest part of it is the concept that no matter what this will happen no matter the odds.

Chance, like fate, is fairly unreliable. However they differ in the ability to plan and rationalize. With chance someone is able to assess the risk and reward and see a clear meaning in decision. For example I could take the chance and not study for an exam, but then I risk failure. However that failure isn't inevitable. I am not fated to fail the exam, I merely took the chance and either face the consequences of that chance and fail or do well and possibly continue the behavior.

This is the difference I see clearly displayed with Chip and Gill, especially early on in the campaign.

Gill has a clear connection to fate with his status as chosen one and the environment he was raised in. The undersea as we know it is seemingly very black and white, someone is either wholly good or bad so there's no need for chance. Chance can cause hesitance, something you don't want to see in a super soldier like the elders raised Gill to be. It was integral for the elders to raise Gill in an environment where he's taught that he can technically make a choice, but by the end of it all everything he does is for his destiny. Everything is fated to happen. The idea that no matter what he does he doesn't really have a lasting choice makes it easier for the elders to teach him how to detach and face horrible circumstances because it was meant to be and if he were to question them he'd question the good which could only make him bad in the black and white mentality of fate.

We're really seeing the effects of this in recent episodes with everything going on. He's starting to question the black and white of the world and the truth he was fed as he grew up. Despite all that's happening though I feel like Gill still feels a deep connection to fate as a way to hold on to the good in a sea of bad and the idea that he was meant to meet Chip and Jay, he was meant to bring light to all the island and cities they've helped. However in all that good of fate that logic also means that all the bad was fated to happen. He was fated to be trapped, he was fated to nearly die, he was fated to not be strong enough to save everyone, and I think we're really going to start seeing the effects of that even more on Gill.

Chip on the other hand can't afford to believe in fate. Not after everything that's happened to him. If he subscribed to the concepts of fate I don't think he'd be where he is now because he'd have to crack under all that pressure. For as much as Chip gets shit on and called dumb, he's quick on his feet and knows how to calculate a risk which is why he's so deeply intertwined with chance. Chip needs his choices to matter because if he didn't what the hell was everything for? Chip's connection to chance is further solidified by the usage of coins as a sort of motif for him in the form of Arlin's coin.

Coin's tend to connect with chance because they're the fairest way to decide something randomly with a 50/50 split, so while there are two choices that have an effect there's a way to disconnect oneself from the consequences. This split is just random enough that there's comfort if something goes wrong, but leaves enough choice to make it feel like there was a decision made and that choices were made and matter.

Though the coin is traditionally 50/50, like with all chance there's a grey area. What if the coin lands perfectly on its side? What if the coin rolls into a hard to reach place? There's always uncertainty with chance which is something Chip has learned to thrive in throughout his entire life. There's comfort in the uncertainty because Chip knows he has the choice and that those choices dictate whether he lives or dies and I think there's a part of that which invigorates him. He's able to look around at his situation and take a chance and have control, something he didn't have during the events of the hole in the sea. He took a chance on every single person on his crew, both in his co-captains and crewmates. He took a risk with the navy girl who needed to get away. He took a risk picking up a fish man yapping about destiny from the middle of the ocean.

Where Gill sees their meeting as a story he was happy to be written into, Chip sees their meeting as a story he's happy to keep writing.

Ultimately I find the places of fate and chance super interesting and I wish I could better articulate my thoughts about it because I have so many thoughts about them.

I would also like to add in a side note about Jay's place in all this because she truly does feel like the middle man in all this due to what we've learned about the fire people with the special blood that seem to connect to Jay (fate) and her work as a spy and all the important decisions she's made throughout the campaign (chance).

Once again Jay Ferin is truly the most perfect being.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hello! Do you have any fairytale/disney-esque ttrpgs you could recommend?

Theme: Fairytale Games

Hello there friend! I sure do! We've got a really nice selection here to look at - and don't forget to check out the previously recommended!

I’ll Be Taking That, by porchlightdusk.

You are a goblin, and you are what you hold close: discarded trinkets, unloved baubles, desperate comrades. These precious bits of flotsam give you courage enough to rummage through the treacherous alleys and howling wastes of this world. Venture out from whatever miserable hovel you sprouted and seek the shiny things of the world, oh little chaos beast!

I'll Be Taking That is a tabletop roleplaying game in which a narrator and several players tell the stories of rambunctious goblins in a harsh world. Play is rooted in narrative choices and collective, chaotic joy, supported mechanically by a lightweight inventory-as-skills action resolution system and overflowing random generation tables. IBTT is built on Caltrop Core by Titanomachy RPG and draws heavily on the philosophies of Powered by the Apocalypse systems, among others.

This is a game that situates you into the fiction very well in just the first few pages. Chaotic nonsense is definitely encouraged in this game, and I can feel the undercurrent of mischief sprinkled throughout the book. Trinkets are a core tenet of this game - you will accumulate them as you adventure, and risk breaking them on your worst failures. Your attachment to these trinkets will also rise and fade. If you want a game that lets you embrace your inner gremlin, you might want to check out this game, although be aware - it’s still in development!

Witchblood: Pulp Fantasy Fairy Tales, by Rose on Mars.

The Woods… …are dark and deep, but they are not lovely. Inch by inch, they close in on the villages of humanity. And in those encroaching wilds dwell the witches. Ancient, primeval, creatures from before the First Eve and still potent today.

In this world, where life is brutish and short, you stand tall. You are a witch's grandchild, or a disinherited noble, or a scion of the good folk. You are part of humanity, but also apart from it, by your own choice or otherwise. You are caught between the expectations of your birth and your own needs and desires. Run from your past, or chase it. Love freely, or not at all. Stand between the hearth and the wilds. They may not call you a hero, but your name will live on ever after.

Witchblood is a roleplaying game about who you were, who you are, and who you will become. Take on the role of a self-determined, tough-as-you-want pulp fantasy protagonist wandering a world of bloody -- but not always grim -- fairy tales. Wield the powers of birthright and destiny. Explore the darks of the forest and brace yourself against the bite of the wind. Do what’s right, or just what’s right for now.

These are the woods through which Little Red voyaged through; this is a fantasy world that might remind you of The Black Cauldron, or the brambles summoned by the witch in Sleeping Beauty. Character creation involves choosing options that look like classes, as well as pairing together identity tags that can be rated from 0-5, as well as pairing opposing Qualities, also rated from 0-5. You will roll d10s according to your Identities and Qualities.

This is a game where combat and conflict are expected, and stories can be expected to turn darker before becoming lighter. If you like traditional fantasy alongside fairytales of witches and darkness and danger, Witchblood might be for you.

Nexalis, by Cezar Capacle.

We invite you to step aboard your enchanted vessel and set sail on the ethereal ocean known as the Nectar. Nexalis calls you on an awe-inspiring journey across a universe filled with countless uncharted islands, each teeming with unique cultures, mysteries, and magical phenomena.

Nexalis is an otherworldly realm where islands drift amidst an endless cosmic ocean of magical plasma, the Nectar. The Nectar, pulsing with vibrant, ever-shifting colors, mirrors the celestial patterns that guide adventurers on their thrilling journeys. At the heart of this sea lies the Celestial Nexus, an entrancing vortex of astral energy that births islands and renews the world in a constant cycle of creation.

As you journey through the Starbound Isles and the shimmering Nectar ocean, you will encounter vibrant cultures, awe-inspiring landscapes, ancient relics, and enigmatic secrets. Guided by celestial constellations, you will brave untold challenges, learn valuable lessons, and forge lasting bonds with the people and places you encounter.

Nexalis is a bright fantasy game, a genre that focuses on themes of wonder, exploration, and camaraderie. It showcases a vibrant and diverse setting, filled with colorful landscapes and imaginative creatures. Stories in Nexalis tend to be character-driven, often revolving around personal growth, discovery, and the building of relationships.

If you liked movies such as Treasure Planet or Atlantis, this might be the game for you. The magic of this place feels ancient and yet unlike traditional fantasy. The gameplay is guided, meaning that you’ll cycle between two different modes, depending on whether you are in a high energy scene or moments of reflection and role-play.

On the Way to Chrysopoeia, by NessunDove.

On the Way to Chrysopoeia is an epistolary roleplaying game written by Morgane Reynier and illustrated by Marion Bulot. Together with a partner you will be writing a four-handed adventure, first by inventing its two protagonists and then by leading them on a legendary journey. It’s a different way to make up a story in your head: you’ll be reinventing objects and places you see every day, turning them into crucial ingredients for a Great Work of alchemy. 

Reality itself and your daily life will bleed into your characters’ fictional journey. What if your favorite museum was the headquarters for a league of mad scientists? What if the path you’re strolling along lead to an unknown city…? The journey is narrated through the exchange of letters between two characters: the Master and the Disciple. They walk the way of the Athanor— the alchemical Crucible, the pot where explorers melt their research and experiences. Each one is the keeper and judge of their partner’s progress. 

This is a great option if you don’t have a large play group but you have someone with whom you’d like to play with who lives in a different time zone. One of you plays a Master, the other a Disciple. The Disciple is on a quest. The Master is stuck at home, due to age or infirmity. The goal: to find Chrysopoeia, a mythic city full of hope and magic - although the specifics are up to you. This is a largely interpretive game, so if you like writing and world building, this is a game for you.

The creator of this game has also created a game called Chrysopoeia & All Around for group play at a table, borrowing from Lasers & Feelings!

Stormwild Islands, by Gizogin.

Welcome to [Stormwild Islands], a tabletop role-playing game. Set in the Stormwild Islands, a cluster of islands in the middle of a perpetual, continent-sized storm, this game explores the aftermath of a generations-long war and the magical damage done to the world as a result.

In terms of genre, [Stormwild Islands] fits most closely with “gaslamp fantasy”, an early industrial setting with a great deal of magic. Spellcasters are commonplace, and they work alongside new innovations like steam engines to create a world that changes very quickly. Golems - humanoid constructs with minds and wills of their own - have been instrumental in bringing about this new wave of industry, but their use in the war and their newfound push for independence might be even more significant. Alongside all of this is a world of spirits, otherworldly creatures who think and act according to completely different rules, and mixing spirits with humans or golems tends to cause all kinds of clashes.

This is a game for the folks who like moving little guys around on a map, especially if you’re familiar with games like D&D or Lancer and you don’t want to stray too far from the familiar. The cycle of play will fluctuate between combat and narrative moments, so expect your characters to be all about fighting their way towards victory. If you like combat and kicking butt, this looks like the game for you.

The player’s guide as linked above is free to download, but if you want the Gamemaster’s Guide, you’ll have to buy it.

The Fae Team, by Almost Bedtime Theatre.

Two years ago, a crack squad of the Sun Guard’s Human Intervention Division was sent to prison by the Faerie Court for a crime they didn’t commit. These woodland creatures promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Faerie Realm underground. 

Today, still wanted by the Sun Guard, they survive as freelancers. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… The Fae Team.

The Fae Team is a role-playing game inspired by The A-Team television show, but puts the players in the roles of skunks, weasels, frogs, etc. and gives them magical powers before sending them through a gargoyle-generated portal into the human world to solve problems. As one does.

The rules of this game depend on a two-stat dichotomy, similar to Lasers and Feelings. You choose a number between 2 to 5, with a higher number indicating that you are good at calm and precise actions, while a low number means you are better at wild and physical actions. There’s also plenty of bits and pieces to make your character unique, such as your faerie gift, and the item that your characters carry around.

A session of this game can be fairly episodic, with an NPC contacting the group for help and giving them a mission that requires entering the human world. While the mission (and its complications) are expected to be generated by the Story Guide, the players are encouraged to describe the world around them and create elements that they get excited about. If you want a game that is lighthearted and magical, check out The Fae Team!

Sunderwald, by Long Tail Games.

In the center of the kingdom of Realm, there exists a dark and unsettling forest. It is known as the Sunderwald. 

This is a game about how the woods change us, and how we change the woods. It features a complete, stand-alone game with character creation, enemies, advancement, the whole deal. It is also a legacy tabletop roleplaying game. During play, you will physically and permanently modify this book. Do not be afraid. Scar. The. Book. 

The fact that this book is meant to be manipulated and modified makes it feel somewhat akin to a wizard’s grimoire, or a magical artifact. This is a book that asks you to make your own pieces of the world, and might also feel like a kind of achievement system by doing specific things with the game.

While most tasks appear to be resolved with a d6, playing the game involves so much more than rolling dice. Your characters have descriptive skills, might take upon themselves physical and mental scars and consequences, and will grapple with their inventory, wound threshold, background and magic. If you like unfolding a mystery together, if you like manipulating physical objects, and if you like fairy stories or tales like Alice in Wonderland, you might like this game.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Hearts & Ravens, by Martian Machinery.

We’re All Mad Here, by Shanna Germain.

Wanderhome, by Possum Creek Games

Jack Kills Giants, by Andrew White.

[vmplvr1977]

Chapter Six is posted!!

Fate is a funny thing. Just when you think you have your life planned out, destiny sweeps in and fucks it up. And the worst part? You're helpless to stop it. Like a boat without a rudder or anchor, floating from one end of the ocean to the next with no way to impede or change its direction. Next thing you know, you're stranded on an island with no hope of escape. That is destiny. Or Clarke's, at least.

Sometimes, fate's intervention is for the best. A meet-cute, of sorts, where two people destined to be together, whether as friends or lovers, share a random moment that changes everything. Usually, it is bumping into a stranger and spilling a drink all over their new shirt. Or two people who pass each other only moments apart at the same coffee shop for years before fate finally intervenes.

Clarke's parents had a charming little tale like that. They told it at dinner parties, anniversaries, and family gatherings more times than their daughter could count. But Clarke's first meeting with Lexa was nothing like the rom-coms on TV. Nor was it a tale to share with friends and family without extensive revisions. Still, it was clear that destiny had brought them together, though the reasons remained unclear for some time...

Clarke and Lexa's love was forbidden for many reasons, notably their different natures. Their people had been sworn enemies for centuries. So, by all rights, the wolf and vampire were born to despise one another. But fate doesn't give a damn if its intervention is untimely or unwanted. Destiny blazes its own path without care for the world's rules.

It all began on a particularly gruesome night. The pack was under tremendous pressure after a string of murders within Skaikru's territory had garnered the attention of humans. Skaikru couldn't risk mortals discovering their secret, especially after centuries of carefully integrating into mortal society. So, Clarke's mother and the pack's leader, Abby, ordered her to find the killer and bring them justice as swiftly as possible.

Of course, many assumed the vampires were to blame. Each slaying had occurred near the invisible border that marked Heda's territory. Furthermore, the victims had been exsanguinated with their bodies riddled with bite marks. Naturally, the wolves were eager to place the blame on their oldest enemies.

But they had to be sure before they broke a two-century-long treaty with the Vampire Queen, Heda. Which is why Abby specifically assigned her daughter to lead the hunt. Clarke may be the typical alpha, but she is more intelligent than most and often seeks peaceful solutions before resorting to violence. Furthermore, as a physician, Clarke was better qualified to inspect the crime scenes and sniff out the killer.

Additionally, Abby hoped this special mission would grant Clarke the opportunity to prove herself as the next pack leader. If her mother had known the chaos this assignment might bring, she likely would have chosen another to take Clarke's place. Perhaps if Abby had, her daughter would not have been dragged into a fight with hontas (hunters), nor would she have had the opportunity to fall in love with a bloodsucker.

There were countless times through the following centuries that Abby wished she'd sent anyone but Clarke. But she couldn't have known the mysterious killer had set a trap. Nor did they realize that wolves and vampires were the prey, not the hunters.

Continue Reading

[mysterious-moonstruck-musings]

Destiny & Deliverance: Chapter 17

Destiny & Deliverance Masterlist ||| Dieter Bravo X OFC Smut Warning - Minors DNI New as of 8/18/2023

SUPPORT YOUR CREATORS. REBLOGGING & COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED.

Series Rating: Explicit (18+)

Series Summary: Natalia Cohen is experiencing major life changes, beginning with leaving an emotionally abusive husband. She is learning how to navigate life on her own while dealing with high functioning anxiety, depression, and mild PTSD. Everything is looking up for her. She is a highly respected consultant for a major LA firm, has her best friend, Lauren, by her side, and is on her path to healing. Everything changes when she meets a handsome and broken stranger on a work trip. He turns out to be a well-known actor, with a heart-breaking past. They quickly develop a connection that will forever alter their lives. 

Warnings: Themes dealing with mental health, emotional trauma, alcohol use, and discussions about suicide. There will be fluff, tears, spicy language, and smut. This will be a slow burn type of story. Read at your own risk.

Chapter Quote: “Can you please stop fucking teasing me?”

I could tell he was leaving the choice to me. He wasn’t going to continue unless I gave him a clear indication that I wanted to. He had always taken my lead on these things, and I was finally breaking. I pulled him down to me, our lips crashing together into a passionate kiss. Our tongues tangled together without hesitation.

He ran both of his hands up the back side of my thighs, until he reached my ass. He grabbed my flesh tightly, pulling me toward the edge of the island. I could feel his hardness pressing into my center. 

He broke away and started kissing down my neck as he palmed my breast with one hand and supported me with the other. I leaned backward to give him better access, arching my back into him. I put one of my arms back behind me for support. My hand met with the plate of food I had just abandoned, knocking it onto the floor. The sound of glass shattering not phasing us. 

Dieter slowly lowered me all the way onto the island. I was again met with an offending dish as I laid my head back. I reached up and shoved it out of the way onto the floor. It clattered loudly. He pulled the straps of my dress down, exposing me while he worked his way down my body. I reached to pull his shirt off over his head and quickly discarded it on the floor. 

He hiked my dress above my hips, rubbing roughly at my thighs as he admired the black lace. A small smirk formed on his lips. “I’ve been thinking about these damn things all night. My imagination did not do them justice.” I gave him a flirty smirk in response.

He picked up my leg, kissing and sucking at my ankle. He slowly worked his way down, eventually propping my leg on his shoulder. When he reached my knee, he used his other hand to start rubbing at my center where he found I was already a wet mess. He rubbed lightly at first, but slowly increased the pressure. He was driving me crazy. 

“Can you please stop fucking teasing me?”

He chuckled, “Yes ma’am.” 

He slid his fingers underneath my panties and sunk them in deep causing me to gasp and writhe beneath him. He continued to suck and nip at my inner thigh with his teeth, which was sending jolts directly to my core. I reached down and slid my hand into the waistband of my panties to rub at the sensitive area, eliciting a deep groan from him. He watched my motions intently as he continued the steady rhythm with his fingers, hitting just the right spot deep inside me. It wasn’t long before I was rocked with a powerful rush of pleasure. My body tensed, causing me to arch off of the counter until the euphoric feeling dissipated. I collapsed, trying to catch my breath while I continued to tremble from the pulsating aftershocks.   

Dieter lowered my leg, quickly slid my panties off, then reached to pull me back upward into his arms. He kissed me softly, giving me a minute to come down from the high I had just experienced. Once I was coherent again, I reached for his belt buckle and made quick work of undoing his pants. He discarded those on the floor, then grabbed hold of my hips, sliding me to the edge of the island again. In one swift motion, he entered me all the way. I gasped in pleasure while he paused briefly to give me a moment to adjust to the full length of him. When he began to move again, it was deep, hard thrusts that made my toes curl and legs tighten around his waist. His hands grasped my hips firmly as he pulled me to meet him with each thrust. I could feel each of his fingertips digging into my skin in the most delicious way. 

As he picked up the pace, I tangled one hand in his hair, pulling it roughly. The other hand alternated between squeezing his upper arm and digging into his back, leaving deep fingernail marks behind. He groaned from the pleasantly painful sensation it caused. I grazed his neck with my teeth, lightly nipping and sucking while he continued his movements. He dropped his head to my shoulder as he reached down to rub the bundle of nerves between my legs, gruffly insisting that I come for him again. It didn’t take long once he added his fingers to his motions. I completely unraveled on him as the prickly sensation radiated throughout my body for a second time. His pace quickened when he felt me tensing. His thrusts became more erratic as he followed with his own release.

We leaned into each other's bodies trying to catch our breath, sweaty and absolutely spent. This time had been different than before. There was so much tension that had built between us that the snap caused an outpouring of pure need and carnal desire. The roughness of it, only maximizing the pleasure. It was exactly what we needed at the moment. 

He raised his head to look at me and brushed my damp hair back off my forehead. We gave each other lazy smiles before he leaned down to kiss me again. 

“Are you ok? That wasn’t too much was it?” He asked against my lips. 

“It was fucking perfect,” I said as my smile widened against his.    

We spent several minutes gently getting reacquainted with each other. Placing small kisses and caresses anywhere we could reach. Eventually, the kisses turned into something deeper and more sensual. Dieter started to massage my thighs and pressed in closer against me.  

“You feel like going for another round?” He whispered in his husky voice against my lips. I responded with open mouthed kisses. I sucked on his pouty bottom lip, dragging my teeth across it as I pulled away. He puckered his lips slightly as he fought a grin and shook his head up and down. 

“Ok then. That was new and also fucking hot.” I smiled up at him, biting at my own lip. 

The look I gave him left no questions. “Yep, let’s go,” he responded through laughter. He slid his hands under my thighs and lifted me off the counter.  I squealed, grabbing hold around his shoulders and tightened my legs around his waist. He carried me to the bedroom in the dark, then tossed me onto the bed. I crawled over to the edge and asked him to unzip my dress.

“I swear, if the fucking zipper gets stuck again, I'm gonna absolutely lose my mind,” he muttered. I couldn’t help the fit of laughter that overtook me. He started to struggle with it, mostly because I couldn’t be still from laughing. He chuckled at me while he tried to work it loose. He eventually got it down far enough to pull the dress off over my head.

We tumbled to the bed, both of us back to business, with the deep sensual kisses we had started in the kitchen. He pulled himself above me and settled in between my legs. Slowly entering me for a second time that evening. For round two, we took our time. Savoring every movement, touch, and kiss. Furthering the emotional connection that bonded us from the beginning. We moved in tandem, slowly, gazing into each other's eyes throughout. There was no panic or fear from the intensity of it. We welcomed it this time. Craved it even. 

Once Dieter was close to finishing, he reached down between us to rub between my folds. His fingers moved in time with his thrusts, causing my body to tense for another release. As soon as he felt my muscles clench down on him, he increased speed, coming with me. Both of us moaned loudly as I arched up into him and he buried his face under my chin. 

I fell back onto the bed, my breathing ragged. My fingers were still tangled in his sweaty hair. After a few moments, he raised his head and kissed my chin. Then kissed again softly on my lips before rubbing his nose against mine. We sat like that for several minutes. Just being present and in the moment with each other. No other thoughts or feelings imposing on us. 

I realized I could no longer ignore my feelings. I had fallen for him a long time ago. Maybe it happened in New York, or maybe it happened the day he found me again. I wasn’t sure, but there was no denying it anymore. I was in love with him and for the first time in a long time, or maybe ever, I felt blissfully happy.             

Dieter eventually scooted down between my legs, so that his cheek was laying on my chest. He was on his stomach with his arms tucked into my sides. I gently ran my fingers through the back of his hair for several minutes, eventually realizing he had fallen asleep. I could feel my eyes getting heavy too, so I reached over and attempted to fold the blanket over us. I drifted off soon after. 

My alarm for work went off at 6AM the next morning. We both groaned as I blindly reached toward the nightstand to turn it off. I was feeling the events from the previous night. I had a headache and a serious case of cottonmouth. I was also absolutely burning up. I glanced down at Dieter. He hadn’t moved all night. He was still laying on top of me with the cover over both of us. 

I scratched at his head. He hummed at the sensation as he lifted himself up. We were both sweating. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep like that, cariño.”

“You’re fine. I didn’t mind.”

He leaned up to kiss me, before he sunk down on the bed beside me. 

“Ugh, I feel like death, but also like I had a night of amazing sex,” he said with a small laugh. 

“That is so relatable.” I responded with a chuckle. 

I sighed heavily, “I can’t do work. I think I might actually take a personal day. I’m hungover and my body has been absolutely wrecked, in the best way possible.”

He laughed as he laid his arm across my stomach, gently rubbing my side with his fingertips. 

“Do you know where my phone is?”

“I don’t even know where my clothes are.” We both burst into laughter. We were so ridiculous last night. 

“I’m gonna go find my phone and text Aubrey that I’m taking the day off…and also get some water. And maybe some pain relievers. You need anything?”

“All the above.”

I leaned down and kissed him, “I’ll be right back.” We gave each other a small smile before I crawled out of bed in the very dimly lit room. The only light sneaking in from the perimeter of the black out curtains. I found my robe and threw it on as I walked toward the living room. I found my phone and clutch discarded on the couch. I picked up my phone and shot a quick text to Aubrey letting her know that I wasn’t feeling that great, so I was going to take the day off. She immediately texted back and asked if I was dying because I never took days off. I assured her that I was fine before throwing my phone back down on the couch. 

I walked into the kitchen, which was still lit from the light on the hood above the stove and the dim morning sun creeping in. I just stood there staring at the mess. I could tell it was bad but didn’t bother to turn the overhead light on to see properly. I managed to make it over to the refrigerator without stepping in anything and grabbed a couple of waters. I reached around to the cabinet beside the refrigerator to grab a bottle of Excedrin. As I came back through, I noticed Dieter’s clothes on the floor. I walked back toward the bedroom shaking my head. 

When I got back into the bedroom, Dieter was coming back from the bathroom. I watched as his naked form crawled back into the bed and settled in under the comforter. I handed him a water and pain reliever before taking one myself. After we both drank half a bottle of water, I finally spoke. 

“I think the kitchen may be a disaster zone.”  He sighed heavily before allowing a wide smile to creep across his face. 

“Worth it.” 

“You may not say that after you see it in the light of day.” 

“Let's not worry about that right now, ok?”  He drew his brows down together and scrunched his face as he spoke. 

“Oh, I’m not worried about it right now. I’m worrying about peeing and going back to sleep.”

He laughed at me. I ran to the bathroom, quickly peed, then shuffled toward the bed, discarding my robe before climbing in. Dieter reached his arms out toward me. I crawled over to him and settled in with my back to his chest. He wrapped his arms around me tightly. We were both asleep again within minutes.    

I was later awoken by Dieter lightly grazing his fingers down my side and hip, then back up again. I glanced up at the clock. It was a little after eleven. I grabbed his hand and threaded our fingers together. Resting them on my hip. I twisted so that I could look up at him. He was propped up on his elbow, looking down at me with a smirk on his face. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” 

“I think you have spaghetti sauce in your hair.”

I let my head fall back down onto the pillow and sighed. I gave him an exasperated look before we both started to laugh.

“I think we both need a shower,” he said as he leaned down to kiss me.  

We spent several minutes having a small make out session before we finally pulled ourselves away from each other to head toward the bathroom. I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I looked like a hot fucking mess. And yes, I had spaghetti sauce all in the back of my hair and a very visible hickey on my neck. 

I looked up as Dieter walked in, he paused briefly, looking me over. He walked up beside me and rubbed at my hip and the back side of my thigh with concern on his face. 

“Damn, you ok, cariño?” I met his eyes, confused. He turned me so that I could see my hip and back side in the mirror. I had very obvious bruises. I think mostly from the edge of the counter digging into the back of my thighs, but some were definitely from fingers. I laughed.

“Can’t say that’s happened before.”

He looked a little upset by it. 

“I’m sorry, I was too rough.”

“No, it was perfect. If you had been hurting me, I would’ve told you.” 

I pulled him in for a kiss, catching sight of his back and arms in the mirror. He had fingernail marks and scratches clearly visible. The back of his left arm also looked slightly bruised. 

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I got a little too rough with you too it seems.” I said with a smirk. 

He turned to look over his shoulder, his eyes widened at the sight before a grin spread across his face. 

“Also, you have spaghetti sauce in your hair too.” We both started laughing at the absurdity of our actions the previous night, before continuing the kiss I had started. 

We eventually made our way to the shower and got in. Attentively washing each other, careful of the tender areas and occasionally stopping to have a brief make out session. Nothing more than that though because I was starting to feel a little sore. After we finished, I found my bathrobe and threw it on. I brushed out my hair and left it to air dry. Dieter fished out a pair of gym shorts from his bag that still sat in the bedroom.  

We both slowly wandered into the kitchen, pausing in the entryway as I flipped on the light. 

“Fucking hell,” he said as he surveyed the mess with a chuckle. 

We both moved to start cleaning up. There was broken glass scattered about and sauce splattered everywhere on the floor and lower cabinets. It was comical. 

I bent down and started wiping the floor, “Ugh, I think it stained the grout.” I could hear Dieter quietly laughing behind me.

My attention was then drawn to Lauren calling from downstairs. Dieter yelled to let her know we were in the kitchen. She came walking in, then abruptly stopped when she caught sight of us cleaning the mess.

“What the hell?” She exclaimed. I glanced up at her and grimaced. 

“In my wasted state last night, I dropped the spaghetti.” 

Her eyes scanned us. She looked like she was trying to decipher a puzzle. 

“What are you doing here? I thought you were working this morning?” I asked her.

“Well, I’m on my lunch break. I’ve been texting and calling you both all morning and you haven’t answered. I wanted to make sure you’re still alive.” 

“I’m sorry, we slept in. We just got up.” 

“We?” Lauren asked with a smirk forming on her face. I paused for a moment, realizing my slip. I hadn’t told Lauren that Dieter had been staying with me at night. 

“Yes, we. We got back late.”  

Her eyes darted between me and Dieter as an awkward silence took hold. He turned to pull the bag out of the trash can and her eyes widened as she caught sight of his back. 

“Holy shit. You guys had sex, didn’t you?”

In my periphery, I saw Dieter’s head and shoulders drop as he realized what had prompted her. I sighed heavily and ran my hand down my face. 

“It’s about damn time. It was getting ridiculous,” Lauren added. 

Dieter turned, his face tinged with red as he spoke, “I’m gonna take the trash out, because, you know, broken glass.” He grimaced slightly at his tone.

“Yeah, thanks for that. I appreciate it.” I said to him sarcastically. He was leaving me to deal with this one by myself. He gave me a nervous look and shrugged as he walked out. 

I stood as we both watched his retreating form. Lauren turned to me, a wide smile on her face. 

“So, are you guys like, together now?”

I sighed again as I rolled my eyes, “I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it. We’ve literally only been up long enough to take a shower. We had fucking spaghetti sauce all over us. So don’t mention anything and make it weird. Please.” 

“Wait, did you guys have sex in the kitchen? Oh geez, please bleach every surface. I eat food prepared in here,” she said with a snort laugh. I rolled my eyes at her again. She paused, staring at my neck. She reached over to pull my hair back. 

“You have a giant hickey. Nice. I take it he wrecked you properly, yeah?” I couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled up out of me as I felt my face heat up. 

“You have no idea.” 

She burst out laughing as that wasn’t the response she expected. Dieter came back in, eyeing us both nervously as we stifled our laughs. 

“Please don’t tell me what’s so funny, I’m not sure if my ego can handle it,” he said jokingly. 

That set us off on another round of laughter, while he silently worked to put another bag in the trash can with a smirk on his face. 

“Well, now that I know you’re alive, I’m going back to work. I guess I should say congratulations for getting laid? Happy humping? I hope you both had an orgasmic experience? I’m not sure what the proper sentiment is in this situation,” she said with a pensive look on her face. Dieter finally broke and started laughing at her. 

“Alright, that’s enough from you. Get out of here,” I said while pushing her to leave, trying to contain the smile threatening to break free. 

Dieter and I worked in silence while we continued to clean. After I was done with the kitchen, I went to check the bed. Thanks to the mess that had been in my hair, the sheets needed washing too. I quickly stripped those. Dieter helped me put some clean ones on, then immediately crawled back into the bed. I laughed at him.

I dropped the bedding off in the laundry room. I dug through the pile of clean laundry sitting on the dryer in a basket and found one of his t-shirts. I discarded my bathrobe on top of the dirty laundry pile and went to join him in bed. 

We spent all afternoon napping, cuddling, and kissing. We had sex again, twice. Though these times were a lot softer and gentler. We took our time, worshiping each other’s bodies. Memorizing every curve, freckle, and scar. It was by far one of the most intimate days of my existence. 

As the hour grew later, we realized that we needed to get up and make ourselves presentable. We were supposed to have dinner at Gabby’s. By this point, her place was on normal rotation for our Friday night dinners. I threw on his worn band t-shirt and jeans. I tried to tame my hair but gave up and ended up doing a messy bun. I had to go a little heavier on the makeup to cover a few spots on my neck, thanks to Dieter. He went with gym shorts, a t-shirt, hat, and flip-flops. We were both unusually casual, even for a Friday night with family and friends.

On the drive over, he held my hand the entire time. Occasionally pulling it to his lips as he snuck glances at me. When we got to Gabby’s, he entered without knocking. Pulling me by the hand behind him while we walked toward the kitchen. He greeted his sister when we walked in. She turned and her eyes instantly fell to our joined hands. She didn’t say anything, but a wide smile spread across her face as she came over to hug us. 

Alex was already there, leaning against the counter with a drink in his hand. Lauren arrived soon after. Shaun and the kids eventually came in from the back yard to join us. He got them settled at the table while he and Gabby prepared their plates. 

During dinner, Dieter seemed very smiley and talkative with everyone. He was completely relaxed and very affectionate toward me. Stealing glances and smiling at me every chance he got. As we sat talking to the group he would put his arm around the back of my chair, hold my hand, or rub the inside of my knee with his thumb. These actions weren’t out of the ordinary for us. We often sought physical touch when we were near each other, especially if one of us was anxious. However, it was obvious to everyone sitting at the table that the vibe between us was different. It was less about comfort and more about staying connected. I noticed the looks they were giving us and each other. Lauren of course knew things were different, but she kept that information to herself. 

Gabby was in a very enthusiastic mood the entire evening. I got the feeling that she could sense things shifting between Dieter and me. I think it made her hopeful for him and excited at the prospect that he may finally be moving on with his life. Enjoying it even. 

Even though I was a little distracted throughout dinner, it did not go unnoticed that Lauren and Alex were chatting with each other. At certain points, they had even leaned in closely to talk quietly amongst themselves. They seemed almost a little too familiar given that they hadn’t spent much time together. When I noticed it, I tapped Dieter on the leg and nodded toward them. He looked over, slightly tilting his head to the side as he raised an eyebrow in their direction. He watched them for a second before turning back to me and shrugging. I made a mental note to ask her about that later.  

Once dinner was over, we all helped Gabby clean up before heading out. We said our goodbyes and made our way back to my house. I collapsed onto the couch as soon as we got inside. I suddenly felt exhausted and sore. Dieter had noticed the occasional wince as I moved throughout the evening. Several times asking if I was ok. 

“You want me to run you a bath? It might help.” he said tenderly as he looked down at me. I don’t know why, but the offer shocked me a little. It isn’t one I had ever gotten before. It was amazing how often he surprised me with his compassion and care. I was still getting used to having that in my life. 

“That actually sounds amazing. Only do it if you plan to join me though.” 

I gave him a flirty grin. He laughed at me as he walked toward the bedroom. 

“Make sure it’s scalding please!” I yelled after him. He waved his hand dismissively as he disappeared down the hallway.  

Dieter appeared a few minutes later to let me know the water was ready. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the couch and shooed me toward the bedroom. I gave him a quizzical look as I walked toward the bath. When I entered the bathroom, I found that he had the lights dimmed and had added bubbles. He was too damn cute. I immediately peeled my clothes off and slowly sunk down into the water. It felt amazing on my aching and sore muscles. 

Dieter appeared just after I had fully submerged myself. He came bearing water and pain relievers. 

“Ugh, my hero,” I muttered as I took his offering. He smiled at me before he proceeded to undress. I scooted forward so he could settle in behind me. Once he was situated, I sat the bottle of water on the floor and leaned back against his chest, dropping my head backward against him. He rested his face on the top of my head as he rubbed and massaged at my arms and shoulders. I hummed in appreciation. 

“Why are you so amazing?” I asked him as I closed my eyes. He chuckled as he kissed the side of my forehead. 

We sat in silence for a while. I could tell something was now on his mind. He seemed to be tensing up. I draped my left hand over his thigh and drew lazy circles with my finger on the back side of it. 

“What’s going through that mind of yours?” I asked him quietly.  

He let out a small huff, “How do you always know when something’s on my mind?”

“I don’t know, I can sense it. Your energy changes. I’m sure it's the same way you sense it with me. Tell me, please. What is it?” 

He let out a heavy sigh. 

“I’m just worried about leaving again. This movie shoot that’s coming up, it’s five months. A week was bad enough. What if I’m not ready for that? I honestly think the only reason I’ve done so well is because of you. I’m not sure I can do it without you being with me.”

I sat up and twisted to face him, he looked broken again. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. I reached up to cup his face, forcing him to look at me. 

“I told you; we’ll figure it out. It’s not the full five months. I can come visit you for extended periods. You can call me at any time of the day. We’ll make it work.”

“It’s not that simple. It’s long hours and there are gonna be a lot of night shoots. My schedule is gonna be crazy. I won’t be able to call you every night like last time. My routine is gonna be fucked.”    

I turned fully facing him, pulling him to me as I slid my legs around his waist, hugging him to me tightly. He laid his head on my shoulder while I ran my hand through his messy hair. He loosely wrapped his arms around me. 

My stomach suddenly felt like an empty pit. It occurred to me that I really didn’t know how bad it could get. I didn’t know how bad he was before. It must have been worse than I could imagine, otherwise, why would he be so scared of the possibilities?  

He eventually raised his head to look at me, then reached up to pull me in for a chaste kiss. He sat with his forehead against mine for a moment. His eyes closed in thought. He leaned back and looked at me intently as he rubbed the side of my face. 

“I know this is completely out of left field, but do you think you can take Monday and Tuesday off work?” 

My brows drew down together. I was confused by the look in his eye and his tone. It was different. Determined. 

“Yeah, I’m sure it won’t be an issue. Why?”  

“I wanna take you somewhere.” 

I gave him a confused smile, “Where?”

“Sonoma.” 

“Why? What’s in Sonoma?” 

He looked conflicted about his answer. He knitted his brows together before answering.

“Can you just trust me and not ask any questions?”

I was a little stunned by his response. It was unexpected and odd.

“Of course, I trust you. I’d go anywhere for you.”  

He gave me one of his brilliant smiles before pulling me into another passionate kiss.

A/N: So, for those of you that guessed Talia was the culprit, good job! As if there was really any question. We know Dieter is a perfect gentleman. 🤣 I know this was a hot topic on the teaser post. We now know they are going to Sonoma, but not the specifics as to where or why. The location is somewhere Dieter has been to in the past. That is all you are getting out of me on that topic. You will find out the details the same time Talia does. 🤐 I'm going to warn you now. Their little get away is going to get very angsty. We are going to learn a lot of things in the next chapter. It is going to cover some heavy topics. Truth be told, the last half of the next chapter is the very first part that I wrote for the series because it's that important. A teaser will be posted on Monday (8/21). The full chapter will follow within a day or so. 😬

Next Chapter

Tag List: @rhoorl @bitchwitch1981 @readingiskeepingmegoing @runningmom94 @for-a-longlongtime @hisandsnakes @chaoticfestninja @survivingandenduring @partyofone3413 @cakipy-blog @pedrostories

Let me know in the comments below if you would like to be added to the tag list.

[anundyingfidelity]

TRUST — Talos

Summary: Barely learning about the Skrulls living among humans, you know deep down Earth is a dangerous place for them. Talos doesn't think the same.

Pairing: Talos x female reader.

Word count: 694.

Notes: Secret Invasion 1x02 spoilers, we're just 3 people watching but still. Mentions of Talos' deceased wife and G'iah.

(I had to do something quick for Talos, yikes. Sorry for the typos or any errors).

☕ if you like my writing, support me with a ko-fi !

GEN MASTERLIST!

"Have you lost your damn mind?!"

Talos sighed. "That's what Fury said..."

"He's right!"

"Listen, I had to do something. I had the chance to make the call and I did it."

You tried to laugh it off, sipping on your glass of water and putting it back into the sink.

"This is ridiculous."

"What? That we've been looking for a place to call home for three decades?" Talos snapped back.

"No! Of course not- forget it," this was your turn to sigh heavily. "I'm sorry, it's been a wild day... I didn't expect you here. Any of this."

The skrull, in his human form, came closer to you, standing by the kitchen island. He decided to see you after his small discussion with Fury. It wasn't on his plans to tell him his secret that way, but Talos understood his displeasement. So he decided to look for you, even if it was dangerous to come by your place, he still felt the need to see you again. An old friend, if that's what you could call it.

"You're the next person I trust," his voice came hardly as a whisper. You locked eyes with his own, filled with a little hope. Hope that you'd wish you had.

"I'm not Carol Danvers. And I am not Fury, I was barely behind Maria... and she's gone."

Hesitating, Talos reached for your hand, and your skin was soft and warm, as he always remembered. Years passed since you decided to be something. Something that had not worked. You left for SHIELD missions around the world and Talos was busy, either assisting Fury or looking for his own people, and now you knew. You knew why he disappeared sometimes for weeks, months even. Not to mention his daughter, who had a difficult time after her mom passed away. It wasn't going well. Somehow, Talos also had to let go of his now gone wife. Get over the grief, and until today, that was still difficult.

"There has to be something... A peaceful manner to be free, get a new place, or be here- I know it."

A bittersweet smile was on your lips.

"You know, I always admired your courage. And the faith you put on us, humans, because a lot of us lost that already."

Talos shook his head, standing even closer to your figure if it was possible. "No, you don't see what I see on them."

"Talos, humans can't stand each other. People can't tolerate different religions, skin colors, or cultures... You've seen the wars and catastrophes around the globe. We can't stand the solely existence of each other. Do you think they will see you like I do?"

Maybe, just maybe, you were getting in his head. But he was foolish, centuries foolish and he still thought humans and skrulls could co-exist. You waited for Talos to speak, but his words never came out.

"Do you, really, think this beautiful of us?" you asked again.

"I do," he said. "I do because I know you."

He leaned in to press his forehead against yours, and you'd be lying if you say you didn't miss his touch.

"As much as I love to hear that, I'm afraid not everyone is like me..."

A silence embraced both of you, in the loneliness of your kitchen. Suddenly, Talos started to think what could have been. If destiny would have been able to give both of you the chance you needed... Maybe G'iah would be here, with you – as her mother figure – and him like an almost normal family, and not joining the rebellion, risking her life.

"I only ask you to trust me like I trust you," Talos whispered against your lips.

"You're asking way too much... but I can try."

Softly, you caught his lips in a kiss. A kiss you both desired to happen since a long time ago, and you wished it would never end to stay then and there forever. His embrace was too comfortable to escape.

"Just tell me where are you going and I'll follow," you said after pulling away. He smiled, beautifully, exactly how you remembered him.

"Thank you."

[wolfiemcwolferson]

Calamar’s Club 2023 Fantasy Fest

We had so so much fun hosting the Fantasy Fest for 2023 in the Calamar’s Club Discord and we want to thank all of our participants for feeding us prime Piarles fics! I will link all of them below, please go and read them! You will not be disappointed! The Mods for this fest are:  @singsweetmelodies @boxboxbrioche @welightitup @river-ocean @duquesademiel and me - WolfieMcWolferson

Title: the blood’s run stale by the lovely @m1tchevans (7k words, complete) Summary: Charles thinks he knows everything about Pierre until he finds him on the finish line in Monaco, his eyes pitch black and his shirt stained red. Further down the street, in an apartment with a familiar red and yellow flag hanging from the window, a dog growls, and a man starts to scream. "Why would someone do that? Give their life?” Charles asks, his mouth suddenly drier than the desert. "I didn’t check," Pierre answers quietly. "But I’m pretty sure it was for you."

Title: the anatomy of us by the wonderful @pinkierre (currently 4k words, WIP) Summary: When his life at home doesn’t satisfy him anymore, Pierre boards a ship from Marseille, sailing into the open world. Charles is a terrified and lonely shifter, who loathes himself, and his shifter form, more than anything. The two meet through an unfortunate event. Can they help one another to find themselves? 

Title: if it weren’t for the everything by the sublime @gaslybottoms​ (24k words, complete) Summary: “You talk about humanity as if they are nothing more than a meal to you.” Pierre shrugs at Charles’ comparison, because in a sense he isn’t that far wrong. Pierre had his fair chance at meeting anybody he felt the desire to over the years, and they always ended up the same way: six feet under and of no use to him. “What else do they have to offer me?” he asks instead, knowing Charles’ answer before he even says it.

Title: hold your hand in mine (starlights in your eyes) by the first-rate @your-littlesecret (20K words, complete) Summary: Charles still remembers the day they found his dragon vividly, he was barely 6. He also remembers the day they found Pierre's dragon, at 15. It has been the four of them ever since, never one without the other.

Title: the cold winds that blow us together by the terrific @yukierres​ (8k words, WIP) Summary: Pierre came to Orkney to escape, to find his freedom in these strange haunted islands at the edge of the world. And to follow the pull calling him here, the inner urge that made him board the boat and find out what awaits him. It isn't until he uncovers a strange seal figurine in the dirt and gets thrown into a quest to help out a Selkie with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and 4000 years of pain in his deep brown eyes that he understands what the call was. Destiny.

Title: Slow Sips by the sensational ghostmyghosthost (9.5k words, complete) Summary: They say the best way to deepen the bond as bonded mates is to French kiss with mouthfuls of blood. Just like vampire bats do.

Title: No matter how far the paths for both of them are (Those who are made for each other connects) by the superb @forelsketparadise​ (1.5k words, WIP) Summary: Pierre is starting to feel like the universe is trying to play a sick joke on him. Why else would his mate be the future Beta of the enemy pack? It makes no sense to him. The pack from Maranello has been rivals with Pierre's pack for centuries now. Certainly life won't be so cruel to him? There is no way he can even think about pursuing his mate and put his entire pack's safety at risk. He is the pack's future Alpha. He has to put the pack before himself.

Title: the bride of gévaudan by the grand @pipitwrites​ (12k words, complete) Summary: At the altar, Charles’s hands trembled as he took the cup of sweet wine from the priest and drank. It was only a small sip, but he felt the rush of heat spreading from his stomach, making him dizzy in a matter of seconds. There was a soft tickle at the back of his hand, barely even a touch. The tip of the Wolf’s tail swayed back at Charles’s elbow. Startled, Charles met the Wolf’s eyes. They were a shocking shade of icy blue and almost human in their regard.

Title: Intret amicitiae nomine tectus amor by the delightful @chipsandnuggets (5.5k words, complete) Summary: "Do you like Quidditch?" He says this, looking surprised. "Most of the time, Papillonlisse people don't." Charles nods with happiness. "I love Quidditch! My favourite team is the Cavalli Rampanti, and yours?" "Mine too!" or: Piarles wizards who happens to love Quidditch as much as they love each other but they don't know yet.

Title: Finally by the magic @car-bo-hydrate​ (3k works, WIP) Summary: Charles, Pierre's college dorm roommate, being a vampire wouldn't be much of an issue, if it weren't for the fact that Charles needed to fuck the other person he drank blood from because he would be overcome with lust. Or, 5 times Charles brought someone else back to their room to fuck after he had drunk blood from them, and the 1 time Pierre found out from Charles why he drank from everyone except for the very person he's sharing a room with.

Title: you are the light that’s leading me by the struggling @wolfiemcwolferson​ (series, 39k words, complete) Summary: Charles gets sucked into the multiverse. Can he get home?

[misguidedasgardian]

The White Dragon (31)

31. I bring the storm

MASTERLIST

Summary: You are back, and you don't like what you find out

Pairings: main Harwin Strong x Fem!Targaryen reader

Warnings: cursing, medieval and A song of ice and Fire AU customs, dragon fire, sheep eating, death, violence, armies, death, war and all that comes with it. Might miss some warnings but you know what this is about :) 

+18, MINORS DNI

Wordcount: 3.8 k

Notes: This happens right before the events on “All roads”, and then after... hehe. Well this one came in pretty quickly, we returned tot he reader's POV, and well, all she was thinking about while she came back...

Three weeks

Three fucking weeks you had been trapped in this gods forsaken island

And today, you woke up to Vhaelar, flapping her wings, no signs of pain, no barren teeth, no grunts

She was ready

you were going to join the world of the living

For the last three weeks you had been in what it feels like to be the land of the dead, no other humans in sight, no ships passing by, no dragons flying above. Perhaps you truly were dead, perhaps you now will fly into an endless sky, and land into an endless beach and jungle

Perhaps you will not be able to land back on the land of the living.

But you had to try

You had no idea of what you were going to encounter once you came back, the worst scenarios playing over and over in your head

Had Sunfyre, Dreamfyre and Vhagar stormed Dragonstone and burned them all?

Was Aemma married to Aemond? Was she alright? Or Rhaenyra did something to anger them and the Greens killed her in retaliation?

Did Daemon finally snap and plunge the whole country into war? brother against brother? did Rhaenyra caved and listened to him?

In your mind, or in your worst nightmares, the war broke out, your children went to war, Aemma kept being a prisoner, and everything was at stake, your children at risk, risking their lives for something they didn’t even know they believed. Your children could have been safe, if you stood on the sidelines… But you chose a side, and your children’s life were at stake 

Was that the case?

Or perhaps everything remained the same, perhaps they were still exchanging letters and treaties and threats, perhaps they were gathering their men… perhaps nothing had happened

But Aemond attacked you and they probably think you are dead

The war broke out.

Where were your children? Did they stay North?

Did your worst fears come true? You closed your eyes as you ate the fish you catched in the sea… you were certain, your mind was plagued with nightmares at night when you managed to close your eyes.

And what were you going to do?

What decisions were you going to make?

What side?

Despite all your efforts, all the diplomacy, they still stole the crown, they usurped the Throne, they still took your daughter, Rhaenyra did nothing to prevent it despite your council, you did everything, you delivered your life tot his cause

And still everything went to shit

So… begs the question, again

What were you going to do?

“Politics and diplomacy won’t work”, you whispered to the air, “The only thing the want, is fire and blood”

You will do what’s best for your children, and the realm, and whoever stands in the way will burn

That was your destiny

So you gather all the things you had placed around your “camp”, and placed them in your dragon’s mount, and then, with a growl of Vhaelar, you strapped yourself to the saddle

“Sôbês Vhaelar”, you commanded, and feeling your own dragon’s satisfaction, she took off, for the first time in three weeks, she was able to fly through the air, almost purring

You weren’t dead, soon you were able to see Evenfall Hall, the seat of the Tarths, and you let Vhaelar stop in a field, and breath fire over an entire sheep herd, so she could feast, feed herself, you had been trying to feed her, but there is so much animals you could hunt to feed the third largest dragon in the world. 

Once she was fed and content, she took flight again as a platoon of soldiers tried to reach you. You will write to the Tarth Lord later.

You were certainly not dead

You flew above Tarth, watching their small villages and then over open water, you only had to fly North, helped by the compass you always carried, and it will take you to Dragonstone.

Vhaelar couldn’t stop grunting and growling, and you felt her emotion, her excitement, she could smell the war in the air, and the blood on the water, she was a war dragon, even if you haven't been to war yet.

In your travel North you saw ships, Essossi ships, and later on you saw Velaryon’s vessels ready to face them, an entire naval conflict was to ensue, so your worst fears clinged onto your chest. 

The war broke out

You finally, after hours of journey you saw Dragonstone over the water, the dark island was intact and they brought you comfort beyond your words, the pinnacle of the Blacks still stood, so that could only mean good things

As Vhaelar was descending you heard soldiers screaming, announcing the arrival of a dragon, Vhaelar was fast, so other dragons didn’t get to meet you, Vhaelar roared loudly, announcing her arrival 

This was unreal, you felt like you had left this island a lifetime ago. you looked at yourself and your own image had left much to be desired, your clothes worn and torn for being weeks in the wild. 

Vhaelar growled, and flew away.

And the look that Arryk gave you, he looked like he had seen a ghost

“Your grace!”, he said, bowing to you, “we thought you were dead!”, he said urgently, “you must go to Queen Rhaenyra, right away!”, he escorted you to the castle, you followed him closely, he seemed so nervous. Everybody that crossed your path looked at you wide eyed

Until he left you outside the war council room, to wait for him to introduce you

“Princes (Y/N) has come back, and awaits for an audience”

“What?”, Rhaenyra asked, “is this some sick joke?”, you couldn’t wait any longer, and pushed open the huge double doors to enter 

All the room, all of them, everyone who was in the room stopped whatever they were doing and looked up at you. Rhaenyra, too, looked like she had seen a ghost.

“Sister?”, she called, “How…?”, she didn’t even know what to ask, she seemed like she wanted to come to you, but she didn’t

“I gather everybody thought I died”, you said simply, “Well, not really”

“Where were you?”, asked Daemon strutting around the room

“Certainly not taking a vacation, my dragon was badly harmed and I got stranded in fucking Tarth!”, you explained, feeling hurt at the accusation on his tone, “I didn’t see any vessels from you lot searching for me!”, you looked around and you didn’t see nor Rhaenys, or Corlys, but Jacaerys and Lucerys where there, they seemed impressed 

“I’m so very sorry”, said Rhaenyra, “when we heard about your downfall, we thought the worst”, she muttered

“A war broke out, because we thought you were dead”, said Daemon

“Oh forgive me, how is that my fault?”, you asked, “I was struck down from the skies by Prince Aemond, on Vhagar, defending him!”, you pointed at Jacaerys

“And I thank you, for your sacrifice!”, said Rhaenyra, “we are so happy that you are back!”, she now came to you, and hugged you strangely, you hugged her back, but it wasn’t genuine, but tense and awkward.

“I need to know what has happened”, as soon as she released you she walked away from you, and you walked towards the painted table, you were so confused, everything felt so strange, “where are my children?”, you asked then, “where is my husband?”, you looked around, but no one met your eyes, “where?”, you asked

“It would be ebay if you took a bath, and ate something”, she invited, “you will not be able to help anyone if you are in this… state”, she whispered

“I first need to know where my children are”, you said firmly, nobody wanted to meet your eyes, “did something happen?”

“No, nothing happened”, said Rhaenyra, and you got tired, so you punched the table in a fit of rage, making all the pieces fall over

“WHERE ARE THEY?”, you asked. And suddenly, you feel your heart beating in your ears, suddenly your body was too heavy, and the floor seemed to pull you towards it, you felt dizzy, and you passed out.

. . .

When you woke up again, they had brought you to a comfortable room, your clothes had been removed, instead, only a soft linen white night shirt dressed you, by your side rested a plate filled with bread, cheeses, and fruits, without thinking, you devoured the plate whole, eating every grape, and every crumb

And you drank to the last drop of water that was left for you as well. So when you stood next, you felt so much better, your strength had been renewed. you saw the bath they had made for you, it was already cold, but you didn’t mind, if you washed once again with salt water you were going to lose it. 

You washed your hair with special oils, and you scrubbed your body almost raw. you cleaned your face from weeks of sand and dirt. And you felt your soul coming back to your body. 

To be able to find answers, you needed your strength, you thought, you had to gather yourself, you had to remain calm

But this was not the time to be calm

So you dressed in riding clothes, and you put braids in your hair, and when you looked at the mirror you found your old self… except with a tan, because you had been outdoors… and your look rougher, and the scar from the injury you had provoked yourself crossed the left side of your face. When you were hunting a wild boar in the forest, a branch had scratched over your eye in a vertical line… It was a white line now, but still, it was a miracle that it didn’t get infected.

You were a  wild version of yourself… a primal part of you had awakened, and you didn’t think it was going back to sleep.

So you grabbed your Valyrian steel sword that rested against the bed and you abandoned your room

You found Rhaenyra in her rooms, a whole day had passed as you gathered, because it was the morning, and when you reached Dragonstone it was the afternoon

A maid was braiding Rhaenyra’s hair, and she looked at your through the mirror

“You look better”, she said

“Thanks, now I would like to know… what is happening”, you said firmly. She only nodded and stood up from where she had sat to fix herself for the day

She made you follow her back to the war room, where the painted table stood right in the middle. 

“After we thought you died, the North called in her banners”, she said, “four weeks ago”, you nodded, “The Baratheons joined the greens, as the Lannisters, as you know”, you nodded, “soon Harrenhal became a point of interest, being key in the road to King’s Landing”, she explained, “You had send your sons to Winterfell, to Maekar flew back to Harrenhal, and Rhaegar flew with the Northerner army”, she said gently

“Where are they now?”, you asked

“The Stark army split in two, one faction went to the twins, with your son, and the other directly to Harrenhal”, she pointed at points on the map. In the corner of your eye, you saw Jacaerys entering the room, “As they reached the twins, they were attacked by the Lannisters and Tullys, but the Tullys turned on the Lannisters, and the Winter Wolves managed to win, thanks to your son”, you almost threw up your own heart

“He is fighting?”, you asked her, she averted her gaze, “he is marching with an army and risking his life?”, you asked her, enraged

“They decided that on their own”, she defended

“Where is Maekar?”, you asked, “what happened with Aemma?”

“Maekar is with Harwin”, Jacaerys said out loud, “In Harrenhal”

“Harrenhal is the most dangerous seat in the realm right now”, you said with urgency, “who is there?”

“The Tullys arrived a couple of days ago”, muttered Rhaenyra, “As did Cregan Stark”

“The royal army, as the Baratheons are marching on them now”, said Jacaerys

“Vhagar is marching on Harrenhal”, you told them, “my son and husband are there, who did you send to back them up?”, and you were met with silence, “Rhaenyra…”, she looked away, she didn’t face, “who, in dragonback, did you send to back up my son?”, you growled, feeling fire, rage burning all over your body

“Meleys is in Driftmark, soon to fight against the triarchy’s navy”, she sounded like she had broken glass down her throat, and you might just put it there yourself

“Where the fuck is Damon?”, you asked then, “AND YOUR OWN SONS?”, at this point you were screaming, “and what have you done to get my daughter back?”

“You don’t speak to your Queen like that”, whined Jacaerys, but no punk like him was going to tell you what to do

“Rhaenyra!”, you called, “fucking look at me”, and then she did was she always did when she was cornered, she got defensive, and tried to shift the blame

“If you hadn't disappeared, all of this wouldn’t have happened”, she said, “your sons started this..”, and then you saw red

“You are right, I shouldn’t have go missing, instead I should have let Vhagar eat your son, dragon and all, and then I should have come back”, you said, Rhaenyra opened her eyes widely, “remind me, to never save your family’s life again, and to fucking never fight your battles for you”, you bit down

“That is not…”

“Now… what have you done to get my daughter back?”, you asked slowly, interrupting her, fighting so hard to not jump her and murder her 

“She is probably married to Aemond, you know how much she loved him, she probably…”, you didn’t let her finished

“So you didn’t do anything…. You sent my sons to war, you don’t send anyone to support them, while you stand here, cozy and comfortable while EVERYONE is fighting this war for you?”, you asked, outraged

“I am a Queen”, and then you looked at Jacaerys, he was older than your sons, he was the heir of the claim you were fighting, instead… there he stood, with that self sufficient smug on his face. You didn’t want him to fight this war, you didn’t want anyone to fight this war… but why were your sons risking their lives and he wasn’t?

“The philosophers would argue that, that monarch who has to clarify his title verbally is not worthy of it”, you said firmly, looking at her across the table.

“What are you saying?”, she asked, again, in a defensive way

“Who are you sending to support my son?”, you asked, and she said nothing, “ANSWER ME”

“I said we cannot spare anyone…We are planning…”

“Vhagar, the biggest fucking dragon in the world flies towards my home, and you are doing nothing?”, you asked again, “my husband and son… the allies from the North that I got for you!”, you said pointing at your own chest, “And you will do nothing to protect them?”

“We have our own battlefront here, the Triarchy…”

“I will go myself…”, you barked

“No! pelase! you have to stay here in case…”

 “You didn’t support me, don’t expect my support in return!”

“What are you saying?”, she asked, indignant

“What you just heard”, you said back, you walked towards her until you had her at arm’s reach, she looked at you scared as you placed your hand on the back of her neck, to keep her in place. You saw Jacaerys try to get to his mother, but stopped midway, you leaned in and she stood still. “You better hope, that all my children are alive and well”, you whispered dangerously in her ear, “Because for one of my children that perishes”, you whispered dangerously against her ear, “I will take two of your dragons”, you threatened

“Are you threatening your queen?”, she asked, her voice high as you released her, but it broke as she was saying, “your sister?”

“A queen and a sister, fights for you, protects your family, is thankful for you risking your life for her”, you said firmly, “A real sister doesn’t try to seduce her sister’s husband”, you bit, and she opened her eyes widely, “You are not my queen”, you bit out, releasing her, “you are not my sister”, you started to walk out of the room, “you can fight your own war, I’m pulling my children and my allies out of this”, and before she could protest, you walked out

You didn’t know where your uncle was, you didn’t fucking care as adrenaline filled your veins with fire, a dragon could burn you right now and you were confident that you wouldn’t feel a thing… you were certain of it.

You had to get to Harrenhal, if it was not already too late.

Your family

Your heart clenched on your chest as you thought about your children, your dragonlings… alone, fighting a war. Vhaelar growled loudly, feeling your distress, but you also felt her lust for blood, for fire, and you were going to give it to her. 

Dragons had a brilliant memory, you knew it, and she wants revenge for what Vhagar did to her. 

Nothing more matters

Your children will come out of this alive and nothing will stop you to achieve that goal

Nothing

So you flew towards Harrenhal, you knew that the army was probably marching above the King’s road north, so you followed that path. Vhaelar growled under you as she sensed the presence of another dragon, you knew her, she had the instincts of a hunter, so she knew perfectly well what it meant,

As you flew amongst the clouds, high in the sky, you saw it, Vhagar chasing Aerion, your instincts flared out, specially your mother instincts, whatever was threatening your child had to go, had to be eliminated, so you just muttered a single command.

“Arghugon, Vhaelar”. you said firmly, and that is all it took for the white demon to hunt the Queen of dragons

[Hunt, Vhaelar]

So after the conversation between your son and half-siblings, it was time to gather at home… you walked towards the army that was gathered, as you looked upon the thousand of men, there was only one who stood up amongst everyone else.

“Harwin!”, you called, in desperation, as you ran towards him, he as he saw you ran towards you in turn, and you threw yourself in his arms, the collision was beautiful, embracing each other in open arms

“My love!”, he cried in your ear, “you are alive” 

“I’m alive!”, you cried, “I’m sorry I made you think I wasn’t”, he released you, only to cradle your face with his big hands, and to look into your face and realize that you were truly there, standing right in front of him

“What happened?”, he asked, “are you well?”

“I’m well, VHagar bit Vhaelar’s wing, she was recuperating in Tarth, I couldn’t get back!”, you explained, and he embraced you in his arms again

“You are not going to leave my sight ever again”, he whispered against your ear, “you hear me?”

“Yes husband, I’m sorry!”, you whined, “everyone if fighting because of me”

“No we are not”, he murmured, “we would have done it anyways”

When everyone calmed down, you returned to the White Hall, marching slowly with the army, the remains of the Baratheons, Lord Borros and the Royal army had surrendered, but still they were being taken prisoners

You walked hand in hand with Harwin, alongside Cregan, at the head of the march, your child and your half siblings behind you, speaking amongst each other 

“Cregan, you should take your army and go back home”, you said, “I shouldn’t have brought you into this”

“This isn’t over”, he muttered, “you might not want to fight for your sister, but Otto Hightower and Aegon Targaryen are still a threat, to you and to your children. You nodded, “we will see what is to come, I’m sure that first you would like to see your children”

“I would”, you answered truthfully

“We will speak more freely when we know how the current battlefronts are being fought”, he said

When you arrived home, the leaders of the armies met, Aemond and Helaena included

“They are greens!”, chanted one of the Northerners

“Not anymore”, muttered Aemond, “they lost all the leverage they had over me”, he said firmly, “i will follow my sister now”

“Good”, chanted one

“Alright, what’s next?”, asked another

“The armies that still remain with the Greens are all south and east”, said Aemond openly, pointing at a big table with a map over it, “The other half of the Lannsiter army that are still alive is with their fleet, they will make port at Old Oak and march in Highgarden from there”, he said pointing in the map, the idea is to pressure the Tyrells, because from right now they are declaring themselves neutral to this conflict, with them all the food and resources of the Kingdom will be lost to our side”, he told them, and everyone got quiet, “in addition the HIghtowers are marching from Old Town, with a force that large they will fuck up everything in their path” 

“Aemma is going there, in the Bronze Fury, with Steffon”, she said, “she wants to stop that from happening”

“Then I will go and meet her”, said Aemond

“The Hightower army would listen to you?”, you asked, and he doubted

“I’m not sure, but they will certainly not listen to you”, he said, “I’m your best choice, Aegon is missing, he left the capital, badly injured, nobody knows where he is, it is my grandfather who is behind this, Otto HIghtower”

“Then you should go”, you said in front of all of them, and they all nodded, “that force is marching north, in whichever side we stand”, you said clearly, “we need to dissolve the forces”

“Whoever of the Targaryen sits the Iron Throne that is of no consequence, but it cannot be my grandfather”, said Aemond, “he has no Targaryens on his power now, he doesn’t have me, and he doesn’t have Aegon or his children”, he said looking at Helaena,  “his reign of terror should be over”

“So we dissolve his armies, and surround the capital and ask for his surrender”, you said, “the power are of Targaryens, once we settle in the capital we will decide who will rule”

“Aye!”, chanted a lot of them.

Once the meeting was adjourned, you grabbed Aemond gently and took him to the side

“I was serious, you need a dragon”, you muttered

“You can’t find them anywhere”, he growled, reviving how hard it was for him to bond himself to a dragon in the first place

“I know where we can find one”, you muttered, “Dragonstone”

“They will kill me on sight”

“Not if they don’t see you, not if I take you and i distract them while you sneak into the Dragon mount”, he nodded

“Do you have any dragons in mind?”, he asked, and you smiled

“In fact I do”

Taglist! @tearsarcane @integra1127 @aestmilky @thanyatargaryen @tythaitie @lostinworldofdarkness @voodoogoul @wildmindedbeauty32 @lil-pudd @alicattx @electric-bloo @astaaan-lol @stargaryenx @kaitieskidmore1 @bregarc @lilpnd @jcpenneyyy @janelei @fexibau @ladyoakenshield157 @danielle-leah1997 @lady-ragnvindr @cecilyjmorgenstern @omgsuperstarg @bugheadskid @batprincess1013 @her-fandom-sanctum @holb32 @blue1006 @stargaryenx @grippleback-galaxy @mikariell95 @genesisliveson @mendes-bae @caspianobsessed @notmundane3000 @kamisunshine @just-someone11 @ietss

[silvershiningtarot]

💍PAC 18+ What Are Your Partner's Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions toward this connection with you? 😱😱😱

🌚Take your time, pick a pile that resonates with your connection. Leave the rest that doesn't. Remember this is a general reading. I hope this reading gives you clarity. Inhale and Exhale for five seconds.

Queen Of Swords, The Hanged Man, 2 Of Swords, Queen Of Pentacles, Strength, and Queen Of Wands.

Pile 1: I have a sense that their thoughts about this connection with you, seem like they are logically thinking about this can go somewhere. Before they make a move on you, think about what if this or that happens. So that means 😏 they are indecisive right now. I can get a sense they wanna make it happen, but it seems like they are always in their head. Like their ego talks. Their feelings about you though, seem very intense. Like they wanna nurture you, and help you out. They wanna be there with you whenever you cry, happy, or just cherish every moment with you. I feel like their actions are going to have the strength to ask you out. Besides they need to get out of their head. Because I feel like you give them this passion. What I mean by that is every time you are around them, they can feel that it's deeper with the connection you both have. They love it when you make them feel🥹 good. I'm hearing that song by Michael Jackson- The Way You Make Me Feel. You really turn them on. They feel like you wouldn't want to be with them because of the mistakes they made in the past. They feel like you would judge them. So they'll be walking on eggshells with you. That doesn't mean they won't be honest. But It seems that they don't like confrontation. People will talk to you about their mistakes. They just don't want to deal with that. I sense that they probably have issues with their home life growing up. But I won't go any further than that. Once you meet your FS and talk to them privately. I feel like they have trust issues because they wanna make sure that they can be able to trust someone. I feel like that's a big part of their life. They want someone to rely on. Someone who is reliable. Their actions are they wanna unplanned getting you pregnant. If you guys are having unprotected sex. So you may be delayed on your monthly cycle. But that's how they feel. They wanna do to you. They are going to take you to extremely important places. Places you never even heard of. Exotic Island and Adventures. No wonder! Haha 😂 their thoughts and feelings about you. Is that they feel forever connected to you. They always think that is why they feel pulled to you. They wanna grow old with you. You both share a past life and a connection. They feel like it's destiny between you and them. Oh my goodness, again truly connected. High vibe soulmate. Again, they felt like a burden they have been carrying. So when you two feel vibrations of y'all soul. You'll know that's your person. I feel connected to this pile a lot. When you two are in each other arms, the pain goes away. No numbness, no anything. That's a good feeling. You two complete each other. The perfect match. They feel like you two have amazing chemistry. They love talking to you. They'll be your biggest supporter. Again they'll take you to exotic places. I believe they are a traveler. Or they love to travel. Aww, they would want a happy ending with you. After everything they are dealing with. They just want to be with you. You only. So they decide to take that risk to be with you. They feel like they wanna a fresh start💕. So they'll take the initiative to start something fresh with you in this connection. They want to be your prince charming. Be your fairytale, and spoil the shit out of you. They are charming as hell. I think that they'll have the initiative to cut off these friends of theirs. Partners that don't make them feel safe. Because they felt misunderstand by their friends, family, and others. They'll ask for your help. They want to marry you. They feel like you are their best friend. Vows! It seems like they wanna marry you one day. Or give you a promise ring. Again, with the past life. You two share a past life. This is your past life soulmate👉🏾💋😱. Hahaha, omg, I can see them swirling around. Like in a happy way. So much light you bring to them.

💕King Of Swords, Page Of Cups, Ace Of Swords, The Empress, & The Devil.

Pile 2: I feel that for their thought, oh my god! They fucking love having this connection with you. You brighten up their world. With the devil card, I don't see anything bad about this. They wanna charm you with their lucky charms. Haha 😂 if you know what I mean. They are very handsome. Their thoughts are they have a lot of clarity about this connection. They wanna make you smile. They daydream about y the future together. You brought them so much clarity in their life. That's how they feel. You bring them hope. Maybe they lost hope once but the moment they saw you. It was like they wanna wipe their fingers clean. Start over a new chapter. You make them feel like they don't have to think about the past. And their thoughts about you logically would love ❤️ to sweep you off your feet. They think that you put a spell on them. You had rebirth them. It likes a happy ending with them. But I can tell you this much, the way how they feel about you. Holy snap, they got a fucking crush on you heavily. They feel free to do it with you. You give them that. It's like for some reason you are spiritually their mentor. OMG, they feel like you don't have many experiences like that. They are going to take you away. Secret getaways. Oh snap, I love it. So they will be planning on taking you away. You give them such hope 🙏🏾. They just wanna spend quality time with you. Being around you makes them feel like a flower. It's like they're the flower and you're the sun. You're light helps them blossom. They feel like you'll judge them but not judge them like that. Maybe they feel insecure about their disability. They Shouldn't be. In my opinion, they probably got a learning disability. You two have a soul contract. It's been written in the stars for both of you. I was right! You two have a spiritual bond. Didn't I say about a spiritual mentor? This contract between you two is very important to y'all. Oh yeah, you guys will secretly hookups. Ooh, I'm all giggling now 🫢🤭🤭. They feel like you are their destiny. Their actions now are to make you happy. Because you make them happy. Fate meeting. It was fate that you both meet up. They probably got some business events online. I don't know if someone is jealous of your FS. But they work too hard. I said it! They are wiping their plate clean. They wanna start a new life with you. Ending a lot of cycles. Block all ties with people who don't wish them well. They feel like you two have great chemistry and starting something new. This connection with you, they don't want to be over. Like NEVER!! They do want to take their time with you. So it likes it will be the slow pace with you two. Taking y'all time. That's not bad at all. They wanna get to know you more on a deeper level.

🌿Page Of Pentacles, Ten Of Pentacles, 8 Of Wands, Ten Of Wands, 9 Of Cups, and King Of Pentacles.

🌹Pile 3: Oh, I can see their thoughts right now. They feel like this connection is moving too fast. This is similar to pile 1 but they are carrying a lot of weight on their shoulders about this connection with you. They feel like they might sabotage it. Your FS is older than you also, but they are wealthy men. Fucking wealthy. They know that they wanna take care of you and spoil you. I see that they are fast with it. Once they make a decision they are sticking with that decision. I can see the creativity you two will create 🔨 together. They're curious about the connection with you. They want to explore it. Look at that with the ten Of pentacles. They would want a family with you. You guys are Starseed. Both of y'all probably came from the same home in the stars. They like how childlike you are. It heals their childhood wounds. You remind them so much as a child. In a good way. The innocent you have in you help them out. Wow, you guys are meant to cross paths with each other. He can't wait to be happy with you. They are their boss. CEO of their company. They feel that this connection with you brings them so much love. You will make feel comfortable at home. Your home is their home. They wanna marry you. They will take action at doing so. Gear up, they wanna marry you. Resolution. Making it happen. Look at that! WIFE! Amazing. In their mind, you are a wife to them.

🕯8 Of Cups, The Chariot, King Of Cups, and 10 Of Swords rx.

Pile 4: I sense that it's a painful connection with you because it seems like they went through a tough situation. But they are learning to walk away from this heartbreak and rest their heart ❤️. The chariot seems like you are their victory. You are their savior. You help them through this heartbreak and they are willing to go ahead and start making moves with you. This is a little bit too pile 2. You open up their hearts. So in their thought, they can be vulnerable again and start trusting that there's hope out there. For you both. I can see them meditating. Clearing their option now. The World Card, I feel that they would wanna give you the world🌎🌿✨. They like being around your energy. They are laid back. Your FS is very chill. They are like a homebody person. In the beginning, they were afraid of being alone. Making up excuses to stay with this heartbreak but when you came in. They decide to move. For a second they were stuck. I feel like you guys are Starseed Family. See! In the beginning, they were emotionally eating. Because of this heartbreak. They were a hot mess. Aw 😦 I'm sorry to them. Now they would wanna make their own family with you. Just wanna start over and move on with their life. Business Events. I feel like they would share their business with you. They wanna start their soul tribe with you🌹. You are part of their family now to them. That's their actions.

[ecoamerica]

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[chaostudee]

all i want - r.c

pairing : rafe cameron x female reader summary : rafe messes up leaving your relationship in pieces, now all he wants is forgiveness and to call you his once again. warnings : angst , swearing. words : 3.5k extras : not proofread, lowercase intended. a/n : i love him so much he's just so....ugh, also tysm for all the love on my last post..... anyways enjoy x

rafe cameron had always been your destiny. from the moment that you were introduced you knew that you wouldn't stop until you made that boy yours. it seemed it wouldn't be too difficult since he craved the same intentions. he desired you.

at first sarah tried to persuade you in diverting your longing for the eldest cameron yet her words just increased your pining. even though she outlined his excessive drug usage and his fuck-boy reputation, you wanted more to relieve him of these problems. you could give him the love that he truly deserved though that he never received.

displeased with the lack of response to the extensive repelling of her brother sarah tried to prevent the the two of you from encountering yet failed once again in that regard.

it was new years eve that changed everything for the better and gave sarah a new perspective into the undesired need for her meddling. truthfully speaking she was not wholly against the two of you, rather just the risk of losing you to a boy.

new years eve at the camerons was a tradition that involved the residents of figure 8 gathering to drink and to talk about business and whatnot, awaiting for the ball to drop.

you dreaded the day every year but were glad to have sarah accompany you though it seemed that this year would outshine the rest.

the table held about approximately twenty persons with the allowance of mere inches between each spacing. you had chosen your usual seating, beside sarah.

"don't be mad" sarah whispers adjusting the napkin on her lap as you are all awaiting the meal "i'm leaving after this". looking up from her lap she tucks a strand of her dirty blonde hair behind her ear sending an apologetic look. she hated this yearly meeting just as much as you so it seemed that allowing herself leave would be a reward.

"where are you going?" you ask using the same level of volume in your speech, your hand secure under the brim of the glass. it not so much that it angered you that sarah was leaving to your lonesome but the fact that she hadn't given a reasoning.

as of late she had been distant, disappearing and apparently too occupied with her own self pleasure than to be in vicinty of yours truly.

"um...." she hesitates as her cheeks turn scarlet. she was definitely hiding something. "she's going to see john b" wheezie says, from the other seat beside you not even looking up from the screen of her phone.

you gasp and turn to look at sarah, clearly not denying wheezie's words, instead taking a sip from her glass and trailing her eyes elsewhere as though she hadn't just been called out. "seriously?" you pause as you try to process it, "john b, really?". john b was known to most on kildare island and he was not seen in a positive view even so you were glad that your friend had found someone.

sarah rolls her eyes but a smile is now etched upon her rosy lips. you shake your head in disbelief, that she could keep something like this from something this life altering.

"wait are you guys like together?" you ask her suddenly becoming quite interested in the position of her relationship with john b.

"sarah has a boyfriend?". the voice you hear sounds strangely familiar and you look to your left only to find rafe standing behind wheezie's chair. he has his hands placed on the back of the chair, his rings sparkling in the chandelier glow, he never did seem to go anywhere without them in his possession, you had noticed this from observation.

"topper is going to be so pissed" rafe chuckles to himself as she runs the palm of the hand over his face. although the two had ended their relationship topper couldn't come to the realization that it was over.

rafe is wearing a suit, something that you rarely see him wear, he's not a fan of fancy attire nor are you, at least you have that in common with one another.

tonight you and sarah had decided to coordinate your outfits, both of you had decided to wear navy. she wearing a flowy frock beaded with pearls, you wore something similar though your dress was very tight fitting a dislikeable feature. sarah had insisted that you wear the dress saying that "sometimes you have to suffer for your beauty". her motto.

now noticing your presence rafe sends you a small smile before releasing his grip from the chair and heading off to where topper and kelce were calling him over. they too were wearing some fancy ass clothing. there was something funny about that.

as rafe walked away it was hard for you to keep your eyes off him, though you rarely talked and sarah strongely forbade it you held a strange attraction towards the eldest cameron.

"girl-". sarah gives you a kick from under the table due to her extensive staring. "stay focused" she warns with a stern glare but you can tell that she is just messing with you and she then just chuckles to herself as your eyes drift back to him.

...

it wasn't long before the meal had been served and then devoured by the guests in the matter of a half an hour. sarah had decided to stick around for the meal but it now seemed that she would be making her disappearance after. great.

"i hate you" you tell her, rolling your eyes and folding your arms across your chest. you didn't really mean it but she knew that.

the two of you are stood in the echoey hallway, sarah with her heels in hand. it was her desire to leave unnoticed and hopefully unheard.

"love you too babes" she says as she once again checks her phone. john b had apparently informed her that he would contact her when he arrived.

her head lifts upwards once she sees flashing lights from outside, torch lights. it seemed that john b wanted to be secretive in his arrival.

sarah turns back to you, reaching out for the handle. "be safe" you blurt out causing her to hesitate. "i always-". once she realizes that you were referencing a whole other topic she scoffed to herself, giving you a soldiers salute before slipping out the door. unnoticed and unheard.

"where is she going?". you shut your eyes shut thinking that it would provide you invisibility. super powers would be very convenient at that moment in time.

slowly turning on your heel, rafe stands in front of you, alone. "um she had a um thing" you tell him hoping that he wouldn't notice your inability to lie successfully. it wasn't just the fact that the truth was weighed on your shoulders but also that here you were with rafe cameron. alone, unsupervised meaning that you were the one who was going to be responsible for any wrongdoing.

he raises his eyebrows clearly not buying this lie, you couldn't blame him. "um where is kelce and topper?" you ask him wanting to not just discuss the matter of sarah's whereabouts though the topic didn't stray far from such.

rafe looks at you for a moment, not just meeting your eye line but in the way he would look at a girl that well....you know. to avoid him noticing the heating of your cheeks you turn to look downwards, pretending to examine the contents of your handbag.

"i don't know i guess they're around here somewhere hooking up". rafe shrugs as if its no big deal. this must be his tradition. having said that it seemed that he had decided to not partake this year since he was here conversing with you.

you nod. awkward silence. "um i think i'm going to go...". you point to the other exit down the opposite hallway. he nods alike you had earlier, not objective to this at it was clear there was not much else to discuss.

whilst walking past him, your shoulder skims off his due to his departure at the same time, this allows your purse to slip from your grip, tumbling to the floor.

"shit sorry" you mumble, bending downwards to pick it up. he too had decided to do the same, the gentlemanly decision. in saying this being that close to him, his hand practically a centimetre away from your own your heart clenched.

you meet his eye line, his hand placed on your purse, your hand stuck there also, unable to move. his eyes meet yours before skimming down to your lips then back up to your eyes.

your heart began to pound in your chest, louder than earlier. a heat hung in the air and you wondered if he felt it too as you both crouched in the hallway of the cameron household. you both seemed content with your presence with one another.

it all happened so quickly before he pressed his lips against yours. "fuck it" he whispered as he smashed his lips against your own nearly knocking you over in the process. the kiss displayed everything you felt for him, passion and most importantly, longing. one thing led to another and you ended spending the night with him.

as you lay beside the sleeping boy with the sheet tugged tightly around your body you pick up your phone from the nightstand. tapping into sarah's contact name you smile to yourself as you compose your text to her. "so some shit happened ;)". at that was it that was how you came to fall in love with rafe cameron. though in the beginning it seemed like a fever dream it wasn't long until sarah's assumptions proved his toxicity.

...

you sigh to yourself as you look up at the clock framed on the wall. half past eight. you had said seven and he had agreed. he had promised. promised to buy your flowers, promised to make it up to you but here you are sitting alone at a table whilst the waiter sends you apologetic looks.

once again he had broken his promise. once again he had stood you up. once again he had taken advantage of your second chances.

it is clear that you have been stood up by the glances and the whispering directed towards you. lately things with rafe have been precisely what sarah had predicted but there was no way that you could discuss this would her. you would not let her have the satisfaction in knowing that she was right.

another sigh escapes your lips, an exasperated one as you turn to the entrance because maybe there is a partial hope into his arrival. not only had he been disloyal as of late but also distant. it was rare that you even spoke.

picking up your purse from the table and dropping a twenty on the table for allowing you to stay you try to eliminate the stares as you make your way out the door.

for the outer banks it was a chilly night and without the usual comfort of rafe's coat around your shoulders you felt bare. maybe it was the fact that you felt that your relationship was over or maybe it was that the car was parked miles away or maybe it was because of the cold but a tear trailed down your cheek as you paced down the pavement.

almost immediately you wipe it from your cheek, finding it pathetic to even be crying on the street anyways. the street is quiet as is the road so once again when you feel the tears coming you just let them fall. even though this may be over a stupid boy you feel a reasoning to cry over him because he's your stupid boy.

a sound of a car approaching can be heard in the far off distance which deters you from walking this great distance any further. you wipe a few stray tears from your secret which you can guarantee has smudged your mascara also.

the car can no longer be heard so you rotate your view only to find a familiar face running towards you, jacket undone, tie loose. you catch his eye for a moment before disregarding him and carrying on.

"y/n" he calls out yet you just ignore him although there are a million things that you want to say to him but not here, not like this. "y/n" he says now coming to rest beside you giving you no other choice but to stop. he is out of breath now and raises his finger in the air to give him one minute. you scoff to yourself when you had in fact already given him plenty of time previously.

"i'm sorry" he says once he has regathered himself. noticing the mascara that had been ruined by your tears he looks crest fallen when he realizes that it is all his doing. "im sorry" he repeats, softer now.

"we're over rafe". you say it, you say exactly what had been nagging at you for weeks something that you had hoped would give you peace but after the words leave your mouth you regret them.

his face falls and then darkens. "what?" he pauses and when there is no response he laughs "you're leaving me? really? just when things are getting tough you decide to leave. you know what i kind of expected this i don't know why i'm even surprised. who would want a boyfriend who ditches her just to drown himself in alochol and get high and shit, i mean i don't blame you".

your throat closes up, your mouth dry. this is the first time that he had been real with you in months but now at an untimely moment. "you're drinking again?" you ask, your voice stern as you lock eyes with his. his eyes are filled with fury and rage as he looks at you. "as if you care" he mutters before taking a step back from you and turning on his heel.

"oh so now you're leaving me?!" you say as you feel tears brimming in your eyes. he stops for a second to turn to face you, his hands are in his pockets, his tie flying in the wind. "i guess i am". he allows himself a moment to take you all in before walking off before leaving you all alone on the street.

you force yourself to shove down all your emotions, until you reach the car at least and once you spot its red hue you feel a wave of relief. slipping into the drivers seat and resting your head on the head rest allows you to take a breather. your phone sticks visibly out of your bag and you bite down on your lip wondering if you should just give in. its not long before you dial the number. "hey....i need you".

...

"babes he doesn't deserve you" sarah says whilst stroking your hair soothingly. once you had explained what happened she told you that she would meet you back at your house and you could talk. so you talked.

"please don't say i told you so" you begged her not to say those words, she just nodded and continued to allow you to cry in her arms which brings us up to this point in time.

"but he needs me" you tell her, remembering what he had said earlier sent a punch through your heart so you cowered in the crook of sarah's arms. she hated seeing you and even though she would never defend her brother in any scenario she madly wanted the two of you to receive a happy ending.

"girl you need to stop thinking about it, about him, lemme get you some ice-cream. okay?". sarah slowly releases you from her grip and hands you a pillow to rest your head. you smile at her gratefully for both offers. heading out to the kitchen sarah smirks to herself as she pulls the tub of ice-cream out from the freezer.

she knew right well that you disliked her meddling but to her it deemed necessary in this scenario. this scenario only. sarah picks up the phone and dials but she needn't have done so since the person she wanted to contact was the one stood on the other side of the door.

the doorbell rings. unusual at this time of the night and usually you never had much callers, besides rafe. although you were pleased with your position on the couch you discarded that to ease your curiosity on whom may be awaiting outside.

when rafe was found stood on the doorstep, a bouquet of roses in hand you were completely lost for words but you were glad that he spoke first, this time he didn't begin with an apology. "can i come in?"he asks softly looking up at you with pleading eyes. those fucking eyes.

you linger for a moment trying to decide on what to do but you know right well that either way you will give in. you nod pulling the door open fully, he knows where to go so you allow him to make himself comfortable as you shut the door. honestly you were shocked at his arrival but not truly pleased.

"oh hey...what are you doing here?". sarah comes into the kitchen holding the ice-cream she promised and two spoons. sarah looks between you and rafe and then back to rafe.

"i was just getting to that" rafe says whilst rubbing the back of his kneck, "could you you um...leave us?". sarah gives you a look to inquire on your feelings on this. you nod at her and she takes this as acceptance enough, retreating back to the kitchen.

"lets sit" you instruct him, pointing the couch that had been sodden with your tears only minutes earlier. you were trying to control your anger and trying to prevent further destruction between the two of you.

placing the flowers upon the coffee table rafe stays silent for a moment before beginning to rub his hands into his jeans. he did this often when he was nervous or stressed.

"okay, i've got a lot to say, a lot to account for and a lot to apologize so can you please just let me get true this before you say anything?"

"sure"

he nods and sucks in the corner of his cheek. "what i did was wrong, no unacceptable. no one should ever be treated the way i've been treating you...and i know there is no way that i can make it up to you and i know that you are no longer mine. i know that, i know all of it. i was tempted not to come here tonight but i knew i couldn't end it like that. even though there is little chance of you taking me back part of me hoped that you would take me back. part me knows that it is wrong of me to expect anything from you because you've given me everything. in the past few months i never thought somebody could ever mean this much to me and even accept me for the person i am. you have stood by me and the truth is during all the time that we've been apart i turn to alcohol and drugs but with you i needn't do that. you're enough, you're enough for me. even if you can never forgive me i utterly understand but please at least understand where i'm coming from."

you shake your head whilst biting down on your lip. this boy knows what he's doing. "i forgive you" you chuckle as you rub your nose in the back of your sleeve.

"what?" rafe says his eyes widened in disbelief. "well with a speech like that how could i not?" you say with a shrug. rafe laughs although you can clearly see the tears in his eyes as he runs his hand through his hair.

"so um...do you think..." he hesitates as he looks pleading but you know exactly what he is implying. your answer is not so simple. forgiving was easy but the process would be long, he would have to repent to his wrongdoings and by the looks of it he seemed willing.

"come here". you pull him closer to allow yourself to set his lips on yours. this kiss brought you back to first time that you allowed yourself to accept the fact that you were in love with him. now, still true. "yes" you pull away "i take you back".

he smiles as your foreheads touch one another his arms held around your waist and you wanted nothing more than for him to never let him go.

"so when's the wedding?". sarah stands against the frame of the doorway spooning a mouthful of ice-cream into her mouth.

"where you here the whole time...?" rafe asks pulling his head away from yours though still holding you securely in his posession.

"well, i mean most of it. damn rafe i didn't know you were such a softie. and y/n such a pushover". you laugh and so does he. nothing could make you happier than this moment for you now knew you would marry this man.

sarah saw the look of your face as you admired rafe and knew exactly what you were thinking. her best-friend and brother, what more could she ask for?

[themattress]

A post looking over Kairi's actions in KH1/KH2/KH3, because curiously (and frustratingly) enough she only seems limited to approximately 10 major action set-pieces per game.

Races with Sora and Riku.

Referees a race between Sora and Riku.

Makes the Oathkeeper charm.

Goes to the Secret Place to safeguard the world's heart but is attacked by darkness.

Sends Sora a flashback of her and her grandmother from within his heart.

Saves Sora from having his head caved in by Ansem from within his heart.

Tries and fails to save Sora but still refuses to believe that he's gone, then runs away with Donald and Goofy at Riku's urging.

Recognizes Sora as a Heartless, protects him from other Heartless at great personal risk, and restores his human form to him.

Gives Sora the Oathkeeper charm and has him promise to return it to her.

Goes to the Secret Place and draws herself giving a Paopu Fruit to Sora.

Prior to Destiny Islands' destruction, Kairi as well as Riku are both, apart from their major character development scenes at sunset, simply doing things that reflect their friendship with Sora and their easygoing tropical life. There isn't anything major until the big storm strikes and they are both lost to Sora. After this, Kairi is a passive character by plot necessity, being unable to do anything because she's inside Sora's heart and for the longest time isn't even aware that she is. The moment she gets an inkling about it following the events at Neverland, she does something from within Sora's heart, and once it's outright confirmed by Ansem she immediately puts that knowledge to use and saves Sora from him. After this is her main actions everyone remembers her for - saving Sora after he becomes a Heartless and then giving him the Oathkeeper charm we see a lot more of in the following two games. While she absolutely could have stood to do more after regaining her body, she is at least given the focus in the ending FMV and (epilogue aside) does the last action seen in the whole game.

As I said here, I really like this mostly-passive-by-design role for Kairi in the first game, since as a potentially standalone title with heavy basis in fairy tales, mythology and of course Disney movies, this kind of mysterious magical damsel role is a perfect fit, plus it had a nifty twist put on it and was accompanied by an actual human and relatable character arc for her. Some may find it disappointing, but I feel for this specific entry in the series, it is perfectly justified. The only fuck-up was putting the scene where she gives Sora the Oathkeeper in Traverse Town instead of Hollow Bastion, which is then nonsensically said to be "way too dangerous" for Kairi and she'd "get in Sora's way" if she did...a fitting description for if she followed him into End of the World, not Hollow Bastion where the other Princesses of Heart are managing to get by just fine. Fix that one glaring error and Kairi in KH1 would be perfect.

Writes a letter to Sora and sends it out to sea to reach him.

Resists Axel's manipulation and runs into a dark corridor to Twilight Town with Pluto.

Befriends Hayner, Pence and Olette.

Gets away from Axel when he kidnaps her (off-screen).

Escapes her prison cell alongside Namine and is willing to fight Saix alongside her.

Stops Riku from leaving and has him be honest about his current condition.

Fights a chamber load of Heartless alongside Riku to save Sora, forcing Xigbar's hand.

Stops Riku from leaving AGAIN and reunites him with Sora.

Takes as many small actions as possible as a member of the party.*

Merges with Namine, thus saving her from fading into darkness.

* Stops Mickey from getting himself killed, points out the appearance of a Heartless swarm and the door to Kingdom Hearts, gets back through the door alongside Mickey (off-screen).

I again link to a prior post I made, where I brought up the reasons many people found Kairi in KH2 to be a disappointment. And while those reasons are and always will be valid (and always rectified in the KH2 manga; please check it out, people!), when I look at Kairi's actions in KH2 as a whole I can't help but feel that it's a major overreaction. People get caught up in either the various execution flubs that affect more characters than just Kairi or let their personal expectations for her get in the way of actually looking at and appreciating what's actually there, because what's there is a strong young woman learning to come into her own and fighting tooth and nail for every scrap of agency the villains keep trying to deny her, all while forging new bonds with others and being responsible for restoring the old bond of the Sora/Riku/Kairi trio. Her first action undertaken boomeranging back at the very end to save Sora and Riku from dying in the Realm of Darkness and bringing them home to a happy ending is just beautiful, the ultimate reward for Kairi taking it upon herself to be proactive.

Writes a letter to Sora but doesn't send it to him.

Gives herself a makeover.

Shares a Paopu Fruit with Sora.

Fights Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed alongside Lea (off-screen).

Guides Sora in corporeal form as he uses the Power of Waking to save everyone.

Kills some Heartless during the Heartless Rain event.

Fights Xion and Saix alongside Lea and Sora, but loses and is kidnapped then killed.

Re:Mind - Fights Xemnas, doing well until he saps her energy with a nil technique.

Re:Mind - Fights Master Xehanort alongside Sora then takes part in destroying him.

Re:Mind - Does everything alongside Sora in the ending FMV.

I've bitched about this a lot, but I want to specifically call to attention just how incongruous Kairi's actions added in the Re:Mind DLC are with her actions in the base game. The first two actions she takes in KH3 are utterly useless, with the actual point of her in those scenes being for Lea's sake and for the sake of pushing bad retcons. Sharing a Paopu with Sora comes out of nowhere both in the context of the game and the series up to that point and it affects nothing. We then get her fighting either entirely off-screen, shown killing a single raining Shadow Heartless, or pathetically short-lived and ending in miserable failure, with her actual major plot-affecting role being spiritual in nature and, again, out of fucking nowhere. Whatever one's issues with her in KH2, Kairi was not being built up for a combat role in that game - she was only being built up for a more proactive one in KH1, and while that role could have been executed better (like it is in the manga) she still fulfilled it. In KH3, she was very specifically being built up for a combat role, and she didn't fulfill that role in favor of a sudden, unsatisfying bait-and-switch where she's just as passive as she was in KH1, if not more so.

So that's why it's jarring when in Re:Mind, she's suddenly having no problem against Xion despite struggling in the base game, fiercely fighting Xemnas to the point of shattering his energy sabers and forcing him to drain her stamina in order to save himself, and then not only fighting and helping kill Master Xehanort but being the most OP playable character in the process which is at stark odds with her useless party member AI. Then she's inserted into literally every part of the happy ending montage she was originally almost entirely absent from until the last minute. It is such an obvious ham-fisted case of damage control after fan backlash that it only satisfies you in the moment, then you begin asking how and why the game even had to get it so wrong in the first place. And the dissonance only gets worse with the following Limitcut Episode + Melody of Memory, where suddenly it's like Re:Mind never happened as Kairi's once again a weakling who needs more training because adventuring's "way too dangerous" for her, with her main story contribution being passive and spiritual!

Character-wise, for Kairi it's KH1 > KH2 > KH3.

Action-wise, however, it's KH2 > KH1 > KH3.

[reginrokkr]

■ ■ ■ 𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐋 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.

Talking with a friend a few days ago I realized that it's been so long since I established certain things that it's easy to go unnoticed by others or that even I can forget, so for a brief refresh I'll be pointing out a few things, mainly in regards of Dain's involvement in certain aspects:

✧ During the end of the Cataclysm or immediately after it, Dain immersed himself in a samsara of memories of the past. This was done in pursuit of finding the truth about Teyvat as a means to decide what to do, after losing everything including a future to look forward / destiny. It'd entail the danger of a spiritual collapse were he receive mortal damage within said memories. ↳ This implies the possibility to interact with others that are part of that distant past of Teyvat, albeit the varying degrees of knowledge one may have of what he's doing are subject to plausibility of every individual that is involved.

✦ Besides assisting the Pari in the purification of the land, he fought alongside the Aranara too in order to subdue the effects of the Cataclysm on the rest of Sumeru. In the present, he will assist both groups to do the same he did five centuries ago.

✧ Following his journey to find his destiny and avoid that innocents suffer the wrongdoings of his people, he participated in the Sacred Sakura cleansing in Inazuma and will continue to assist in its purification in the present.

✦ In the past, he participated in the Enkanomiya Watatsumi Goryou Matsuri and he does so in the present again due to the requirement that not many find out what happens in Enkanomiya or run the risk to spread an information that the ancestors of Enkanomiya spent several generations to conceal in order to return to the surface.

✧ Sometime in the recent past, Dain took care of the affairs revolving the Ley Line disorder that took place in Tsurumi Island.

✦ The Narzissenkreuz Ordo caught his interest for some time, but he didn't act until in the present days. Given what they were fighting for and founded beliefs, this supposed a challenge of views to him.

✧ As an individual deeply connected to Irminsul, hence to Ley Lines, he helps Fujin to stop Lingyuan's land reset to what it used to be like in the past and thus taking care of the miasma breaks.

[zap-me-with-the-creamy-laser]

It is a bit of a popular saying and a bit of a cliché what one sees, within a de facto or presumed couple, one half rising and the other half falling. Yet, judging from the experience lived on the same day by Timothée Chalamet and his former colleague and friend Armie Hammer, it would seem that sometimes reality far exceeds fantasy. While Timothée paraded on the red carpet in Venice with a red suit that could only suit him, raising the attention of fans and the curiosity of the media who have been wondering for days what is the secret of this 26-year-old boy who seems to have the world at his feet, Armie Hammer also occupied the front pages of newspapers and social media, but for quite different reasons. The same day as the world premiere of Bones and All, Luca Guadagnino's film about the romantic and tormented life of two cannibal teenagers, the Discovery + House of Hammer documentary sought to reconstruct the accusations that led to the end of the actor's career , accused of sexual assault, perversions, and, dulcis in fundo, cannibalism. 

On the one hand, Timothée, fought over by Hollywood blockbusters and European indie films; on the other hand, Armie, a former sex symbol forced to take refuge with ignominy to the Cayman Islands and accused, among other things, of having caused the failure at the box office of Death on the Nile , the film by Kenneth Branagh that precisely because of the presence of Hammer in the cast has risked not landing in the room several times for fear of popular uprising. Unthinkable images even four years ago, when Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet posed for photographers in true and sincere hugs , hoping to soon revive Oliver and Elio in the sequel to Call Me by Your Name already taken into consideration by Guadagnino but which, unfortunately for them and for us, we will never see.

Cercami , the second novel written by André Aciman and set ten years after the summer that showed the first meeting between Oliver and Elio, was supposed, according to the director's original intentions, to arrive at the cinema by 2023, but something went wrong . In June 2021 Guadagnino himself, in an interview with Deadline , explained that, despite his heart will always be linked to Call me by your name , he would have preferred to focus on increasingly American and international projects, keeping silent on the sword of Damocles represented precisely from the scandal that overwhelmed Hammer who, at a guess, will never play Oliver's shoes again. All that remains is to review the old frames by Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet it makes us think that life is strange, that destiny is mocking and that even things that seem perfect are destined to end . We do not know how Hammer's fate will evolve - at the moment, beyond the documentary, he has no criminal charges against him - but it is certain that, somewhere in our fantasy, the two of them are still there, accomplices and smiling, between peaches and red carpet.

[vmplvr1977]

Chapter 5 of Whims is posted!!

Fate is a funny thing. Just when you think you have your life planned out, destiny sweeps in and fucks it up. And the worst part? You're helpless to stop it. Like a boat without a rudder or anchor, floating from one end of the ocean to the next with no way to impede or change its direction. Next thing you know, you're stranded on an island with no hope of escape. That is destiny. Or Clarke's, at least.

Sometimes, fate's intervention is for the best. A meet-cute, of sorts, where two people destined to be together, whether as friends or lovers, share a random moment that changes everything. Usually, it is bumping into a stranger and spilling a drink all over their new shirt. Or two people who pass each other only moments apart at the same coffee shop for years before fate finally intervenes.

Clarke's parents had a charming little tale like that. They told it at dinner parties, anniversaries, and family gatherings more times than their daughter could count. But Clarke's first meeting with Lexa was nothing like the rom-coms on TV. Nor was it a tale to share with friends and family without extensive revisions. Still, it was clear that destiny had brought them together, though the reasons remained unclear for some time...

Clarke and Lexa's love was forbidden for many reasons, notably their different natures. Their people had been sworn enemies for centuries. So, by all rights, the wolf and vampire were born to despise one another. But fate doesn't give a damn if its intervention is untimely or unwanted. Destiny blazes its own path without care for the world's rules.

It all began on a particularly gruesome night. The pack was under tremendous pressure after a string of murders within Skaikru's territory had garnered the attention of humans. Skaikru couldn't risk mortals discovering their secret, especially after centuries of carefully integrating into mortal society. So, Clarke's mother and the pack's leader, Abby, ordered her to find the killer and bring them justice as swiftly as possible.

Of course, many assumed the vampires were to blame. Each slaying had occurred near the invisible border that marked Heda's territory. Furthermore, the victims had been exsanguinated with their bodies riddled with bite marks. Naturally, the wolves were eager to place the blame on their oldest enemies.

But they had to be sure before they broke a two-century-long treaty with the Vampire Queen, Heda. Which is why Abby specifically assigned her daughter to lead the hunt. Clarke may be the typical alpha, but she is more intelligent than most and often seeks peaceful solutions before resorting to violence. Furthermore, as a physician, Clarke was better qualified to inspect the crime scenes and sniff out the killer.

Additionally, Abby hoped this special mission would grant Clarke the opportunity to prove herself as the next pack leader. If her mother had known the chaos this assignment might bring, she likely would have chosen another to take Clarke's place. Perhaps if Abby had, her daughter would not have been dragged into a fight with hontas (hunters), nor would she have had the opportunity to fall in love with a bloodsucker.

There were countless times through the following centuries that Abby wished she'd sent anyone but Clarke. But she couldn't have known the mysterious killer had set a trap. Nor did they realize that wolves and vampires were the prey, not the hunters.

Read more here.