#ladies code headers

[dottysdokis]

i'm not seeing any posts about it here yet, but they solved the silas birchtree riddle on reddit and there's some pretty juicy lore! first, entering "paranoid" backwards nets this conspiracy board:

then, from the black letters in the corners of some of the pages people pieced together the code "connect the dots", backwards again, gets a whopping 12 page chapter about the ciphertology cult! it's...something.

so in summary, bill puppeted a guy's corpse, became a cult leader, seemingly married over a hundred people, mass-possessed his followers, tried to get them to build his portal. his lone dissenter was a spinster who made anti-bill chick tracts and started a fire. a waco-style shootout ensued, killing silas' already-rotting corpse a second time in a disturbingly detailed manner. at some point he made some of his followers drink the kool-aid too.

entering the lady's name, emmaline butternubbins, into the computer finally gets you the reward for solving all the riddles: hd wallpapers of various graphics from the book of bill. but frankly this is more interesting and fucked up to me.

(alt text under cut, wip)

[Image 1: A cluttered conspiracy board centered on Bill Cipher. Red string and pins connect various newspaper clippings, photos, drawings and pamphlets.]

[Image 2: A history-book style chapter page. Header "LESSER KNOWN AMERICAN CULTS."

"Have you ever heard of Orchard Lake, Kansas? Chances are you haven't. It was erased from every map, book, and historical record, and the US Government's official position on it is "stop calling us or we'll send a drone to your house." (I learned this the hard way.) But if you drive to the exact latitude and longitude of you'll see bullet casings, faded billboards, and bow ties strewn across the desert sands.

That's because Orchard Lake had another name before it was wiped off the record: BillVille.

CHAPTER 3: BillVille

The First Cult In History That Was Right

FIG A: A tumbillweced

As a historian of esoteric religions, I thought I'd discovered the strangest sects America had yct to offer (see "Chapter 3: Kevin's Gate") but that all changed when I found the following items tucked away in an old trunk in an estate sale on the out- skirts of Bootstrap, Missouri."]

[romanarose]

Please, Mr. Miller?

Header by and the fic dedicated to @sweetlummie . Thank you for supporting this series

Dividers by @anitalenia

DBF!Joel x Reader

Join my taglist : Masterlist

Buy Me A Coffee : Kofi : Go Fund Me

First installment is Yes, Mr. Miller? but all parts can be found on my masterlist <3

Summery: Getting ready for the labor day cookout, you reminisce on Labor day last year when things with Joel began. Ft. your dad surprises you

Warnings: Virginity loss, dirty talk, PIV sex, age gap (legal, reader is over 21 so stfu y'all), size kink, bleeding from sex (I know theres been discourse over the whole bleeding your first time, but I bled soooo. It's a normal thing to happen, don't be embarrassed.) Joel is a bit of a pain slut what can I say, reader scratching Joel enough to make him bleed,

Immersivity: Reader is fem, afab, dresses v hyperfem and cutsie, reader is shorter than Joel and coded that Joel is larger, can carry you.

A/N: My last instalment for this series, the dbf holiday fucks series as I call it, caused a whole hoopla. I didn't do memorial day nor forth of july as planned. I wasn't even going to do any more but then I thought of everyone who supported me and of course my dear Lum, and decided to write one more installment. This will wrap up the series with a happy end for our dear horny bastards <3

Everything needed to be perfect. Joel was coming over for the yearly labor day cookout your dad did to celebrate the end of the summer, and oh what a summer it was!! Joel had made this time after gradating college special, spending time taking you out of town so you could both not worry about getting caught. You even had another threesome with him and Tommy, a time that was extra special now that you belonged to Joel officially.

This wouldn't be your anniversary technically. Labor Day always falls on Monday, but your anniversary was the same date of course. You spent the "anniversary" of the first time Joel and you had sex getting fucked into oblivion at Joel's house. Today was still special, because you and him would always remember Labor Day for this.

As you apply your simple make-up, pink eyeshadow and pink blush and pink lipstick to match the dress you brought over to your dads, you think back on that day.

You had been giving Joel 'fuck me' eyes for months. Ever since him and your dad became friends the last year or so, you can't deny how much you wanted him. The barrier, however, was obvious. He was your dads best friend, and then there was the fact you were a virgin.

Still, your record wasn't exactly lily white. You'd fucked around a bit here and there with boys and girls but that was the problem. They were all just like you, inexperienced. Most were boring, most only focused on what they wanted. You need a grown ass man to teach you, to guide you, to make you cum the way your vibrator could.

Joel was that man. So, you spent months sending signals...

Signals that ended up with you pushed up against your bedroom door that fateful Monday while your dad fell asleep on the couch, his body crowding you with his breath hot against your face.

"You think you are awfully cute, don't you little lady?"

You can't help smile at that. Yes, yes you do think you're cute, thank you.

"You just think you can prance around here in these little skirts and lowcut tops and get me hard like a fucking teenager not have any consiquences?"

Despite his words and harsh tone, when Joel's hand went to your hip his grip was light, letting you know you weren't being trapped.

You look up at him. "I know what I'm about, Mr. Miller."

A small smile appears on his face, and he grind his hips against your stomach, making you feel him growing erection. "You feel what you do to me?" He waits until you nod. "I think it's only right you help me take care of it, don't you? Or do I have to fuck my fist in the shower thinking of your face again?"

"No, Mr. Miller, I think I should help you, but... you have to help me with something..." You trail off, uncertain how he'll take the news.

"And what is that?"

"I'm a virgin..."

With this piece of information, Joel's face softens and he gives you a little more space. He seems like a new person, resting his head on your forehead and you see him cringing a bit.

"Shit darl'n, "m sorry. I was come'n in strong for no fucking reasons"

But you don't want him to feel bad for assuming you weren't a virgin, most people aren't by your age... "No, no don't be sorry! I... I liked it." Joel opens his eyes to look at you, your faces so close together. "i like you being dominate."

That smile again... that damn smile and you knew you were in trouble.

"You want this? You can say no, any time..."

"I do. I really fucking do."

With that, Joel kissed you... and oh what a kiss it was. Joel devoured you like this betrayal of his friendship was sending him to death row and you were his request for a last meal. He kissed you like he was willing to sacrifice it all just for your lips, that committing this sin was worth it just to be the first between your legs. He kissed you like you were his already. Joel never stopped kissing you like that, not even a year into the affair.

He took his time with you, just like you knew he would. This, this is why you trusted Joel Miller with this part of yourself. Your vibrator was at your apartment, but Joel made you cum on his lips, humping the mattress with his arms locked around your shaking legs. Then, he opened you up on his fingers, the thick digits easily maneuvering in and out of your drenched pussy before curling them up and dragging another orgasm out of you.

When Joel finally lined himself up between your legs, your pretty dress still on and the skirt flared out at the bed sheets, he tucked his face to your neck, kissing and nipping softly to not leave and marks. "Are you sure you want this, darl'n? We can stop. I promise."

But you didn't want to stop. No part of you wanted to stop.

You grab at his ass, your done up nails gripping his asscheeks. Your body felt on fire, burning for him and only for him. You knew this could never be a one time things, even before he deflowered you, you were his to keep, his to play with. "Please, Mr. Miller?" You begin to beg for him. "I need your cock, please, please, please? I need it so badly, it's all I want, I need you, only you!"

Joel groaned at the honorific, head dropping down at he began to slid into your tight hole, splitting you open. "Shiiiiiiit baby... s'fucking good... so fucking good."

Your grip on his ass tightened as the pain of being stretched peaked, nails digging in and scrapping him, making him bleed for you as you did for him.

When he's fully seated inside you, Joel plants a little kiss on your lips, humming a little in the back of his throat. "My sweet girl... saved herself just for me, huh?"

"Yes" You lie a little. For the bit. "Wanted you to be my first, Mr. Miller."

He groans, slowly pulling out almost all the way. "Love it when you call me that." then, he thrusts himself completely into you, pounding your pussy as the gentle uh, uh, uh's begin to fill the room in time the the pleasure he brings you.

"Shhhhh princess," Joel's nose nuzzles your cheek. "Gotta be quiet, remember? Can't have your daddy finding out you let his friend deflower his little girl, hm?"

You whimper at that, the secrecy, the naughty air adding to the sin happening in your old bedroom as he thrust again and again and again until you're unable to keep quiet anymore. The pleasure is too great, too strong as your orgasm approaches and he knows it. Gentle hand a contrast the the way he cock is rearranging your insides with pound ferver, Joel cups your face and puts his thumb to your lip.

No hesitation, you open your mouth and as soon as his thumb slides inside you lock your lips around him.

"Good girl... good- fuck- good fucking girl... just needed someth'n to keep your mouth busy, huh? Something to suck on? Yeah, I know baby, I know, it's a lot isn't it? It hurts a little, huh?" Joel looks down, watching the way his cock disappears into you, watching how it comes out covered in slick. He likes looking at you writhe under him, struggling to take it all... "Awwww big stretch.... That's it baby, suck on my thumb... harder, want yuh to practice for my cock, because i ain't done with yuh after tonight. You know that, don't you? You're mine, pretty girl. I'm your daddy now."

He can feel you tightening, your cunt beginning to pulse the same it did around his fingers.

"Bite down on my thumb when you cum baby, make it hurt."

You do as you're told, biting down to prevent from screaming as you cum on his cock, waves of pleasure rushing your body like the crash of the ocean on a rock. Not holding bad, you bit him to the bone and watch as his head rolls back as he cums, reveling in the pain as he floods your cunt with his spend. Again and again he fucks his cum inside your pussy, feeling it begin to leak out and down your ass crack before his softening cock finally still inside you.

There is a moment when Joel body falls on your, covering you with a blanket of just him pressed on your dress, that you think he's just going to get up and walk out. Maybe he's wake your dad up to say goodbye and then just not speak to you again now that he got what he wanted...

But he doesn't. Joel kisses you, saying he'll be right back before getting his pants on again and going to the bathroom. He returned to clean you up, calming your embarrassment when you see the blood on the sheets, and holding you until you fell asleep.

That was one year ago.

Today, you skip down the stairs at your dads,m pink dress fluttering around your knees, and hope happily outside to where you dad was grilling. A few people had trickled in, but were talking across the yard.

"Hi dad!" You start surveying the party goers, looking out over the yard. You don't see Joel yet, but Tommy is in the pool already which means Joel is probably stuck carrying in whatever they brought.

"Hi honey!" He greets you warmly. "That a new dress?"

You give a twirl. "Sure is!"

"Looks real nice, I always liked pink on you. I think Joel will like it too."

Your blood runs cold and you freeze. You don't even have it in you to act natural or confused, you just stare at him in shock. You wonder if he's about to start yelling, although that was rarely in his nature.

"I..."

Your dad smiles at you, adding cheese to a few burgers. "Relax, honey, it's fine. I saw your car at Joel's house back in May. Yuh ain't slick." He gives you a wink.

"Oh...." You say dumbly, unsure what else to say. "Are you... mad?"

"I was a little when I first saw it... but mostly because you guys didn't tell me. Then I thought about it and realized you guys were probably nervous. I figured as long as he's treat'n you right, I'm fine." He cocks an eyebrow. "And he's treating you right, ain't he? Just cause he's my friend don't mean I'm choosing his side."

Tears of relief well up in your eyes. "Yeah daddy, he does. He treats me real good."

"TOMMY!" Joel shouts walking up the driveway, carrying several bags and a cooler. "You couldn't help?!"

You and your dad laugh, and when you sniffle he leaves his grill to give you a hug. "Good. I'm glad. I just want you to be happy, and Joel's a good guy. I'm just glad it's not Tommy."

You laugh again at that, and once he's satisfied you're happy, he goes to putting the burgers on a plate.

"So... is it serious? I don't wanna be in your business, just wondering."

You watch Joel set up the snacks and beer he was specifically told not to bring, but because of who Joel is as a person he brought them anyway. He and Tommy help a kid out of the pool, and when Joel looks up he sees you staring at him from over the deck.

He grins at you and waves. You wave back. "Yeah dad. It's very serious."

You run down the steps to tell him you dont have to sneak around anymore.

If you want more joel with fem reader since this series is done and I'm largly leaving pedro characrters, check out @sweetlummie 's work! lots of v fem cute reader, including great plus size!!

Thank you all for your love on this series!!!! the first part went over 1k notes which is huge for me!!!!

I love you all dearly.

althought im not writng pedro characters as much if you are an enjoyer of my writing, check out my tag list! i got rid of it for a while but am bringing it back

thank you!!!

@fandxmslxt69 @runa-falls @k-ra @ahookedheroespureheart @mikaelak @littlenosoul @stevenandmarcslove @pikapuff-316 @del-ightfulling @faretheeoscar @harriedandharassed @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @campingwiththecharmings @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin @milly-louise @casa-boiardi @joeldjarin @mrs-oharaxx @pedge-page @readingiskeepingmegoing @survivingandenduring

[cinnamoonblue]

MASTERLIST:

all of my work you can find here ♡ thank you for reading it ♡

©cinnamoonblue, do not copy or plagiarise my work.

PORTGAS D ACE

FANFICS:

The Neighbourhood - Modern!AU || Portgas D. Ace/Reader (angst, fluff, smut) || ongoing

"You moved to one of the biggest cities in the world - Grand Line to pursue filmmaking career. Soon enough your path will cross with the vocalist of upcoming band called “The Neighbourhood”. At first you decided to be just friends - because it would be easier, but sadly as everything in life sometimes by taking the easy path we regret a lot of things."

The Legend of the Seven Seas - Portgas D. Ace/Reader (adventurous. fluff, smut, slight angst) || on hold

The Book of Peace - an ancient book which protects the twelve cities. Stored in the highest tower in the city of Syracuse, the book stands untouched as Prince Sabo brought it home. The prosperity it brings to humanity made it a target to the Goddess of discord Eris, who intends to bring chaos to the people of the twelve cities by making a deal with the famous pirate Portgas D Ace to steal it.

“You're not thinking big enough. Steal the book for ransom and you can be rich enough to lounge on the beach of a tropical island. Steal it for me, and you can buy the beach. And the island. And the world.” Said Eris, her voice sultry as she passed by Ace, fingers brushing his face.

BLUE BANSTER - Modern!AU || Portgas D. Ace/Reader (heavy angst, smut) || on hold

Being an artist was your life purpose and you figured it out at a very young age. No one was surprised when you quickly made a name of yourself among the art communities around the world. Everything was going according to your life’s plan, until you were diagnosed with a life changing condition - Parkinson's disease. Since that day everything started to slowly collapse for you. Looking for an escaping, moving to a small, forgotten from the world sea coast town was the only solution you could think off. Buying an old beach house, which was screaming for renovation, was the greatest escape - until you met your annoying next door neighbour and his dog. A neighbour who had his own issues and demons to deal with but somewhere between the pain and the obstacles life has thrown to both of you, you found comfort in each other. All because he had the right colour of blue paint for your staircase banister.

ONE-SHOTS:

Early Christmas - Modern!AU || Portgas D. Ace/Reader (fluff, slight smut)

"It's the day before Christmas and you are exhausted from work, but your firefighter fiancé has a surprise for you."

Troublemaker - Modern! AU || Portgas D Ace/Reader (fluff, smut, slight angst)

“You are known around school as quite the rebellious girl, who makes more of her statements by wearing high knee stockings which are against the school dress code. He is the new guy in school who always sits on the back of the class and every time he puts his glasses on you find it him extremely adorable. The problem is that he doesn't seem to want to socialize with anyone and you don't know how to approach him until one lucky day you get to become his project partner.”

I forgot something - OP Verse || Portgas D Ace/Reader (fluff, slight angst)

“It's your birthday and something or rather say - someone is missing."

The 'Nice Lady' - OP Verse || Portgas D Ace/Reader (fluff)

"You have become his wife and he wants to introduce you to his reckless little brother."

RYOMEN SUKUNA

ONE-SHOTS:

It reminds me of you - Modern!AU || Ryomen Sukuna/Reader (fluff)

"You want a Labubu so bad, especially the one which reminds you the most of your boyfriend, and he makes sure you get everything you want."

writing, format, header & dividers © cinnamoonblue

[soft-girl-musings]

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - CHAPTER 5 (Something's Gotta Give)

Noir!Jake Lockley x WOC Lounge Singer!Reader

written in collaboration with + header by @mrs-lockley

chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4

cross-posted to ao3

tags: late 1940s Noir AU, Reader is WOC coded but with no physical description besides being slightly taller than Jake while wearing heels, no use of Y/N, brief mention of past injury, spanish translation at end (courtesy of @queerponcho, thank you beloved)

wc: 3.4k

fic summary: Of all the gin joints in all the world, Jake Lockley walks into yours. Unfortunately for him, it's not quite the start of a beautiful friendship.

chapter summary: immovable object? the unstoppable force would like a word.

__________

As far as peace offerings go, it’s not the worst.

At least, that’s what you’ve told yourself as you stand outside your neighbor’s apartment, your fist failing to close the distance and knock. In one hand you hold a plate of pastries you’d bought earlier. Hopefully it’s enough.

Before you can raise your hand again, the door whips open. 

Leah Mendoza, ever the force to be reckoned with, stands with arms akimbo and eyebrow raised. “Quit shuffling your feet and come inside, nena.”

You oblige wordlessly. Crossing the threshold, you immediately feel the warmth of her apartment embrace you. Not that she’s escaped the chill that plagues your building; Leah is an artist, and every flat surface serves as either canvas or easel. Most spaces are covered in surreal portraits and near-magical icons, her handiwork displayed as a gorgeously chaotic gallery. Sunlight streams through gauzy curtains to feed sprawling plants and attempts to warm the richly colored rug beneath your feet.

You leave your shoes at the door and hold out the platter, smiling sheepishly. “Hope you still have a sweet tooth.”

“It's been so long, I'm surprised you remember.” Despite her playfully icy tone, Leah’s expression warms as she peeks at the pan de mallorca you hand over.

“...But I suppose going five blocks out of your way for breakfast makes up for it.” She nudges you with her hip before escorting  you to the kitchen.

“Look what the cat dragged in, Caro,” Leah calls out to the seating area as she pours two mugs of coffee. You see your other friend’s smiling eyes light up at the sight of you.

“Ohhh, it’s been ages!” she squeals as she rushes to your side, tackling you with an enthusiastic hug.

Caroline Ngo, the youngest of your trio, has always brought a much-needed energy to your time together. When she and her parents moved in, you and Leah decided to adopt her into your early morning ritual of coffee and gossip. As her rosy cheeks beam up at you, you’re (a bit selfishly) grateful that she’s delayed her college applications by a year. You’re not ready to part with your other baby bird just yet.

Still, you pry yourself from her grasp. “Something tells me you had an early start on the coffee.”

“Maybe,” she drawls as she saunters away. Leah passes you a steaming mug, prepared just the way you like it.

The three of you sit, sipping and smiling as the room grows brighter with the sunrise. Leah regales you with the results of her latest art show; Caroline badgers you for updates about Mauricio, dimpled cheeks flushed as she speaks. For a few moments, everything feels like it used to.

Leah finishes her pastry and turns to you. “So, ‘Ms. Songbird’. How are you?”

You shrug, dismissive. “Oh, you know. The usual.”

“No, I don’t know. You haven't been around for us to see your ‘usual’.” Leah's voice is measured, but she’s clearly frustrated. “Can you tell me the last time we've heard more than a ‘good morning’ from you? Or were together for longer than an elevator ride to our floor?”

You chuckle nervously. “Goodness, maybe… August? September?”

“June.” She sips her coffee before setting it down. “Are things really so busy at work that you can't spare a moment for us anymore?”

If only you knew.

“I'm sorry, ladies. Truly. But things have been picking up at the lounge, I've even had to get outside help–”

“Ah yes, the altar boy lawyer.” Leah shakes her head. “I thought you were done with him.”

“‘Done with him?’ Leah, he's my friend.”

“Oh, I recall. So good a friend that he lets you ice his bruises and clean his cuts.” She crosses her arms. “So good, he's even bringing new friends with the same scrapes to your door.”

“The other night was an emergency–”

“How long are you going to run around with that kind of crowd?” Her voice bites. “Believe me, I know my share of the nightlife. But every time you bring home some broken man, a load of trouble seems to follow.”

This is not where you saw the morning going. “I thought we were spending time together, not berating the company I keep.”

“Please don't be upset,” Caroline pleads, taking your hand from her seat on the floor. “We miss you. You haven’t been home in weeks,” she laments. “At least, not for more than a couple of hours.”

You shift in your seat but give her hand a light squeeze. “I've missed you, too.”

“Then do something about it.” Leah gets up, crossing the room to distract herself with more coffee but then doubles back to look you in the eyes.

“You know my gut is never wrong, nena. And I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't speak my mind.”

You brace yourself as she continues. “You can spend your nights hiding behind your Songbird persona and running the lounge, but don't be surprised if the cage you're building around yourself is locked from the inside.”

With that, she turns on her heel and heads back to the kitchen, leaving you and Caroline in silence.

Slowly, Caroline slides into Leah’s empty seat, her hand still on yours.

“... I always liked your stage name.”

You don’t say anything, instead letting your eyes trail through the patterns on the rug.

She scoots closer. “Leah’s just looking out for you. Like always.”

“I know, Caro.”

You feel her head rest on your shoulder. Tough love has always been Leah’s strong suit; as hard as you are on your boys, it’s bush league compared to your friend.

Caroline’s next words are low, whispered just loud enough for you to hear. “I know that man you were helping.”

You look down at her, dumbfounded. “Really? You know Jake?”

She sits up, eyes wide again. “Well, not technically. I never learned his name. But when he was leaving your apartment, I recognized his face.” Her small smile grows as she speaks. “There were days I’d stay out late after school, and I’d catch a ride from him sometimes. He’s really kind, not like some of the other cab drivers.”

Concern suddenly sweeps across her face. “Is he going to be alright?”

You think back to the morning he left your apartment: his bruises, your stitches, the blood that still stained his coat…

His hand on your hand, your face…

You don’t feel your fingers grazing the apple of your cheek until you hear Caroline giggle. Your hand drops to your lap as your face warms. “He’ll be fine. If he wised up and saw a real doctor, that is.” You shrug, reaching for your coffee.

“You care about him,” she teases.

“Oh, come off it,” you huff, nudging her leg with yours.

“And he obviously cares about you!” She squeals, lowering her voice when Leah turns her head toward the noise. “I saw him leave your apartment, but he stood there for ages, staring at your door.” Her grip on your hand grows unbearably tight. “What happened that night?”

You’ve been asking yourself the same question from the moment he left you standing in a bloodstained gown, your apartment colder without him. Since then, there hasn’t been a moment where you’ve been free from the memory of his face.

“I did him a favor. And… he may have done one for me, too.”

__________

Jake Lockley is man enough to admit when he’s been beaten.

In this case, he's absolutely won over. Head-over-heels, and at your mercy.

Maybe years from now, society adopts stricter rules for how soon you should call on a lady. Even today, some would advise against showing your hand too early. Some men wouldn’t want to seem too eager, too desperate.

But Jake Lockley is not a liar.

If “desperate” is the word for the incessant drumming in his chest each time you come to mind; if it’s what has him cutting corners and driving recklessly, ushering customers along at double the pace so his thoughts can return to you; if it’s why his palms sweat and nerves ache at the memory of your face that night, that morning… then Jake Lockley is desperate.

It’s hardly been a day and a half since he left your apartment, cold and injured. The suit stitched him back together in seconds; the only ache that remained was at the thought of you. You, who scooped him off the pavement and took pity on him. Who stained your hands with his blood to make it stop. You, who set his skin on fire with the smallest touch and had him convinced he would burn with or without it.

Screw the three day rule. He has to see you.

Hot under the collar, Jake now sits at the bar– your bar, long before normal business hours. Next to him is Matt, whose face hasn’t untwisted from the wry grin he’s had from the moment they met up.

“It’s like a jackhammer,” he chuckles into his glass, dodging Jake’s backhand swing.

“Can it, Murdock.” Jake’s hand returns to his own drink. Downing the rest, he raises his glass to the bartender. “Top me off, Mr. Manalo.”

Teddy obliges with shaking hands. He scoops up the bills Jake slides his way before dashing off. The two men had asked for privacy, and he’s determined to stay in their good graces.

Jake knocks back the new drink, swiping the excess from his lip as Matt’s laughter grows louder.

“You really need to calm down.”

“That’s what this was for,” Jake retorts, shaking his glass so the ice clinks against the edge. It’s doing him little good, though; from the moment he snuck in here that stormy night, he knew The Paper Moon as an extension of you. Even with the house lights up and nobody onstage, the lounge makes his heart race as quickly as if you were right beside him.

Matt claps a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll be alright, you’ve been through worse.”

“Yeah,” Jake snorts. Matt’s quiet for a suspicious amount of time. “What’s on your mind, Murdock?”

“What’s on yours?” Telltale concern creeps into his voice. “How are things up there lately?”

Jake smirks, the expression not reaching his eyes. “Oh, you know. Loud… and quiet, in all the wrong ways.”

“Seems quieter than before.”

“Yeah?” Jake cocks an eyebrow. His mind doesn’t feel quieter, not the way it should. Khonshu’s been on his ass more often, doubling down when his thoughts dare to drift to anything besides the mission at hand. The god throwing a tantrum has become one of the few guarantees that remain.

“I mean it,” Matt reassures him. “It’s like night and day from when you returned stateside.” 

Jake stirs the ice in his glass, tempted to hop the counter and refill it himself. It takes everything in him to repress the memory of “before,” to not think of the bloody business in El-Alamein. To forget when the occupancy of his mind dropped from three to two.

“Must be the good old American soil.” His sneer drops as he considers his next words. “... or the fool of a pro bono lawyer I managed to snag.”

“Maybe,” Matt says. “Or it could be the little bird that's caught your ear.”

Before Jake can respond, a pair of footsteps cross onto the stage behind them.

He turns to see you and Mauricio, backs to the house, talking in rushed succession as you survey the stage. You’re in a blouse and trousers, your movements easy and unrehearsed despite the growing exasperation in your voice. 

“Maurie, I don't care how Leo feels the lights bounces off his new mustache wax, unless he can't follow my cues he's staying stage left. And–”

“No days off for you, are there?”

When you turn you see Jake, hat in hand and standing a few steps from the bar, as if he’d walked toward you but stopped halfway up the aisle. You can’t place the look on his face, but you're nevertheless pinned under the gaze of his now-healed eyes shining up at you.

“JAKE!” Mauricio startles you when he shouts, leaping off the stage to clasp hands with the older man.

“Hermano,” Jake chuckles, pulling him into a quick hug before letting go. “¿No te andas metiendo en problemas, eh?” 

“¿Parece que tu eres el que anda causando problemas, ey botero? ¿De dónde salió esa cicatriz?" Mauricio leans in, examining the pale line running through Jake’s eyebrow with awe.     

“Ah, just a scratch.” Jake shrugs as he brushes past him to approach the stage and offers his hand as you step down. You accept, hoping he doesn’t notice the slight tremor in your grasp.

“Leave the man alone, Maurie,” you chide, nodding your thanks and holding back a laugh. As much as Caroline fawns over you, Mauricio seems to do the same to Jake whenever their paths cross. It helps that he plays along.

As the three of you walk back to the bar, you notice Matt dial in to something and smile– far from his normal reaction. 

“I’m afraid I can’t offer you more than another drink, I have an appointment with Matthew this afternoon.” You cross over to your friend, whose smile only grows as you draw closer. But you brush it off, still focused on Jake.

“Actually,” he starts, his hand sliding into his pocket, “I was hoping to cut in on your consult time for a moment. That alright with you, doll?”

Matt clears his throat. “Mauricio, can you take me backstage? I should start unpacking this file.”

The drummer perks up. “Sure! But the band’s getting ready to play some poker… you feel like teaming up again? We can split the pot like usual.”

“Even better,” Matt grins. “Lead on.”

He gathers his portfolio and walking stick to follow. If you didn’t know better, you’d swear you could see a moment of panic flicker across Jake’s face.

It’s replaced in a flash with his usual smirk. “Sure you want to risk your pocket change, Matty?”

“If all my clients paid like you do, I'd be out of a job.” He collects himself and follows Mauricio’s footsteps, turning to Jake and mouthing “jackhammer” with a hand to his chest when he’s behind you.

Their footfalls fade and it’s just the two of you at the bar. You take a seat, drumming your fingers on the surface to soothe your nerves. Jake sits beside you.

“You look better.” You notice the scar Maurie was talking about: his former head wound is free of your haphazard stitches, instead healed into a light dash through his dark brow. “But I told you that would scar.”

He shakes his head, brushing his fingers past the spot. “I kinda like it. Gives me an edge,” he chuckles. Maybe Khonshu hadn’t healed his face the way he normally would as some sort of lesson. Joke’s on him.

“How did… I mean, you look really good, how did you recover so quickly?” Now that you’re closer, you realize there’s no sign he was hurt just two days ago. If not for his scar, you could pass that night off as some sort of dream.

“You told me to see a doctor, didn’t you? Looks like I’ve got the best one around.” 

You eye him, not sure what to think. “... yeah, alright.”

Your fingers drum the bar again. Maybe that night knocked all of Jake’s suave confidence from his head: when he’s not speaking (something you’re still not used to), he looks like a child about to lose his lunch. For all his urgency a few minutes ago, he’s taking his sweet time getting to the point.

Finally he sits up straight and takes something out of his pocket. “Here. For you, morena.”

A small black box slides toward you, stopping at your restless fingers. You raise an eyebrow quizzically, a familiar warmth spreading across your cheeks.

“A present? Didn’t take you for the ‘holly-jolly’ type.” You pick up the box, feeling its velvet casing and fighting back a smile.

“Nah, not really a Christmas guy myself. But I figured you could use a pick-me-up.” Jake crosses one arm along the bar, propping his chin in his other hand as he watches you open the box.

Inside, you see a delicate gold chain with a charm fastened to its middle: a small bird with its wings spread, intricate designs etched into its surface.

“Oh my…” You look back at Jake, who seems to have been holding his breath as you examine your gift. 

Your slowly unfolding smile is all the reward he could ask for, breathless laughter pushed from his chest with relief. “For the songbird,” he casually declares, relief mixing with pride at your reaction.

You take the necklace out and hold it to the light. “It’s beautiful,” you sigh. You undo the clasp and try to put it on yourself, but your fingers can’t seem to make it fasten.

“Allow me,” he says quickly, standing to move behind you and assist.

You feel his hands take over and drop your own in your lap. His knuckles brush the back of your neck and it takes everything in you not to shiver. The smell of smoke and spice dances on your senses, pulled away all too soon when he moves to stand in front of you.

“There,” he breathes, eyes going from the pendant draped below your collar to your eyes. “Looks perfect.”

Your fingers grasp the cool metal as you nod. “Looks perfect.” 

Silence falls again. You’ve come to hate the sound of nothing when you’re with him.

Jake’s the first to break it. He sits back down, his next words like a punch to the gut. “You know, now that I’m not driving Wesley around… I won’t have to take up space at your back table anymore.”

“Oh. No, I suppose not.” You toy with the charm around your neck. “So is this… goodbye?”

“That depends,” he says cautiously.  He turns to you, eyes swimming with the same unfamiliar mix of emotions from before. “Do you want it to be?”

Your fingers leave your neck as you meet his gaze. “Don't say you're going all soft on me, cabbie.”

“What if I was?” He leans forward, and for the first time you don't back away.

“Cards on the table: I haven't stopped thinking about you.”

That makes two of us. You bite your tongue to let him continue.

“Morena… would you ever want to get out of here? Just you and me, call it a truce or a… a date.” A smile plays on his lips before his brow creases. “I won't badger you after today, just… one way or another, put me out of my misery.”

The wings of the charm feel heavier with the weight of his confession. Hand to your heart, you feel the bird again, this time with Leah's warning running through your mind.

“I suppose a truce wouldn't hurt.”

When he smiles, wider than ever, you see the charming gap in his teeth. And you smile, too.  You both laugh, the heated stress in your nerves turning to effervescent relief.

You could spend an hour like this. But when you hear shouts of frustration and a bilingual litany of choice words echo from backstage, you know you have to go put out a different fire.

“I should make sure Matthew isn't in trouble,” you sigh, standing to straighten yourself.

“If I know Matt, he's the one causing the trouble.” Jake stands with you, desperate for this moment not to end but anxious for your next answer. “So when can we–”

“Sunday night,” you cut him off, starting to back away toward the stage. “I'll figure out how to slip away, but meet me under the sign at 9.”

You move to rush toward the stage at another outburst, but Jake's hand catches yours yet again.

“You can't keep doing that,” you groan, yet with a smile still on your lips as he tugs you back toward him.

“You're the boss,” he hums, pressing his lips to the back of your hand– the gesture all too routine, but you're ready to admit you've missed it.

He releases your hand and dons his cap, tipping it to you. You laugh again, a rich and easy sound he'd never tire of hearing. You bow slightly and dash backstage, with Jake's voice calling to you as you leave.

“See you Sunday, Songbird."

__________

“¿No te andas metiendo en problemas, eh?” - Not getting yourself into any problems, eh?

“¿Parece que tu eres el que anda causando problemas, ey botero? ¿De dónde salió esa cicatriz?" - Seems like you’re the one causing troubles, hey cabbie? Where did that scar come from?

note: in-universe Jake is Guatemalan and Mauricio is Cuban; as a non-spanish speaker, please let me know how i can improve in the future!

A/N: i've missed these two!! this chapter was a doozy but i'm so happy to have gotten back on track. i won't say PPP is on hiatus (we never had a promised release schedule) but after i take a wee break from writing, i'm set on finishing my Moon Knight Bingo prompts before 4/30 + starting on my OI fanzine entries (!!! exciting times). but if inspiration strikes before i finish, i certainly won't complain.

ty for reading!!

tag list: @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @mercurysjoy, @importantnightwerewolf, @cupidysm, @queerponcho, @nerdieforpedro, @fandxmslxt69, @shadystarlightgentlemen, @lunar-ghoulie, @casa-boiardi (lmk if you'd like to be added to/removed from this wee tag list)

[feral-ferrule]

Charity and Decadence

Chapter 9, Was That Who I Think It Was? A Sidequest

Word count: >6600

🎶Chapter music 🎶

Crimson and Clover Spotify YouTube

Liquid Lady Spotify YouTube

Warmth of the Sun’s Rays Spotify YouTube

Fic masterlist 🎶Spotify playlist🎶

Fic notes: lost in Star Wars isekai type of thing Earthling reader insert. Slow burn, maybe, who knows, we don’t need no stinking outline! But yes there will be smut, it’s still just day two? after getting rescued. It’s a slow moving fic in general. More of a soaking tub than a shower. A soaking tub with crack bath salts, but not too much.

Main relationships: so far we’ve got reader/clone trooper Echo, reader& the bad batch, reader & various men in the GAR canon and OC

Chapter notes: Choy continues to come out of the shell she had to live in for two years as a slave to the Seperatists. Oh, did I mention Choy is a shameless flirt? She is very Libra coded. (Hey I write what I know) She comes across as flirting without trying. But she’s aware of this and works with it. Decisions were made about fanon relationships. This fic still does not pass the Bechdel Test and I do intend to fix this but this IS Star Wars so…… it’s getting there.

The header image is getting updated with more originals of mine too

Warnings: slight spice- spicy thots and fantasizing and suggestiveness, depictions of pain and suffering, so much flirting, mentions of slavery and death, and a tiny hint of unconventional sexuality? Whaaaaat?(spoilers,darling)

Opening scene: The Havoc Marauder has just landed at Anaxes with Echo after his rescue at Skako Minor. You are disembarking with Anakin down the ship’s steps.

The crowd that was cheering Echo started catching sight of you and Anakin. Troopers pointed you out to the men next to them. Their faces turned to each other and back up at you, some conspiratorial and lusty, others dazzled and entranced, but most trying to maintain neutrality in front of their COs. Their eyes followed your descent down the Marauder’s steps. You shouldered your bag and held up your free hand, the one not wrapped arm in arm with Anakin, to shade your eyes from the light of the setting sun. You noticed several figures by Echo that had to be Obi Wan, Jesse, Kix, Cody, and-

“CHOY!?” Mace Windu was practically bouncing, pushing past everyone else to get to the front of the crowd. “Choy, is that really you?!” He strode forward straight for you as you reached the tarmac.

“Master Windu!” You let go of Anakin, dropped your bag on the ground and squeaked as he pulled you into a bear hug lifting you up to spin you around, laughing. He set you down, held your head between his hands and stared intently into your eyes. His brow creased and he backed up to look at you all over.

“What is going on with you, girl?” You looked at your hands, noticing they were illuminated again.

“Oh. Yeah, this started happening recently.”

“So what happened? How are you? Did they hurt you? Tell me everything.”

“Master Windu, I’m fine,” you laughed, an animated Mace Windu was not what you were expecting today at all. [[No one hurt me]] you said through the force.

His eyes landed on your neck hickies and his eyebrows shot up and his smile fell. [[Were these consensual, Echoy’la?]]

[[Very]] you shot back, rolling your eyes. He shifted his focus back towards the crew you showed up with, noticing all of them had kept their eyes on you. His own narrowed. Ah, now this was the Mace you knew.

“Look,” you said out loud and squeezed his shoulders. He looked back at you with concern. “I’m ok, but it was horrible and they had me in a force collar the whole time.” You looked around and everyone had given you some space so you went on, “My memory came back while the force was blocked.” You searched his eyes, he had started looking really angry when you mentioned the force collar, “Between what I remember and what I learned with the Separatists I have some things I need to talk to you and the rest of the council about as soon as possible.” You felt your stomach turn, remembering how he dies when confronting Palpatine. “But first, right now,” you pointed to Echo, who was engulfed in a multi-clone hug, “I need to go with Echo to the infirmary. He needs urgent medical attention and I will need to help the medics understand his implants and prosthetics.” He gave you an appraising look that you remembered in your lessons with him. “He will be key to getting Anaxes back, but this has to go quickly.”

You were really trying to keep your head and focus on the timeline forward, but your resolve was crumbling. Tears welled up in your eyes. “I thought I’d never get out of there, never be able to try and stop everything that’s going to happen. Until these guys came.” You stopped talking because if you went on you’d lose it and start ugly crying.

Hugging you more gently this time he said, “There now, you’ve been through too much. Go get checked out yourself, too, and come find me when you’re done. I want to hear the whole story. Do you remember your name?”

You nodded and told him, “but that’s my old name. I’m Choy now, Echoy’la. Home is… never mind,” you added sadly.

He lifted your chin. “I know you are not from here. We’ll talk later, not out here like this. Now let’s get you and your Echo,” he said with a teasing grin and your eyes widened, “sorted out.” He straightened up, chuckling, and threw his arms out, “Oh this is a good day after all, our little Echoy-LA is back!” He clapped you on the shoulder and motioned for a trooper to come pick up your bag. “Help Miss Choy here and Echo get to the Infirmary.” The unpainted, shiny trooper saluted and picked up your bag.

“Were you planning on introducing your friend, Master Windu?” said a slightly clipped but smooth voice behind you.

You sniffed and dabbed at your eyes with your sleeve, schooling your face and bottling up your emotions.

Turning around you faced Obi Wan, Anakin and a clone trooper in orange-marked armor. Cody, you figured by his scar. Obi Wan was looking back and forth between you and Mace. Anakin was smirking at the other men. And Cody was gazing at you warmly until you met his eyes, which snapped to Mace.

“Obi Wan, this is Choy. Choy, Master Obi Wan Kenobi.”

You could not help the giant smile plastered on your face. “I am so delighted to meet you Master Kenobi,” you held your hand out for him to shake and felt your cheeks warm. He felt calm and safe even though he looked significantly more serious and haggard up close than you’d anticipated. He shook your hand with a smile that reached his eyes.

“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Choy,” he said as he felt your warmth creep into his hand and make the air around him go a bit fuzzy. You noticed your hand was practically lit up like a glowstick. Anakin and Mace side-eyed each other.

“Choy is the force sensitive woman we found and then lost on Dantooine,” explained Mace. Obi Wan’s eyes widened a bit.

A trooper with purple paint on his armor approached Mace, their voices murmuring just behind you. Mace excused himself and they walked away, discussing something earnestly.

Anakin cleared his throat, “Master, may I have a word?”

“Yes, in a moment, Anakin.” Obi Wan said without looking away from you or releasing your hand. The sun had set and the area was dark but you were luminous like the sun was still shining on you. “Choy, I am very glad you have been recovered,” he said, bringing his other hand up to cover yours. “Force sensitive does not even begin to describe you, my dear.” Your light reflected in his eyes as he studied you and your halo. You felt his force presence deepen in a comforting welcoming energy. “How remarkable,” he breathed.

You smiled, feeling rather like a fancy bird in a nature documentary, “Thank you, Master Kenobi. I am so grateful Anakin and Rex made the trip to rescue Echo,” you looked at Anakin. Rex appeared just then at his side, his serious scowl softening and his eyes widening a touch when he looked your way. “I would still be enslaved by the Confederacy if it weren’t for their faith and bravery.” Rex puffed up and Anakin beamed triumphantly at Obi Wan in a ‘see I told you so’ kind of way. Cody was trying not to eye his General and you too much but you could tell he was sort of agitated underneath his calm and stoic demeanor.

Obi Wan quit glaring back at Anakin, “Choy, this is Commander Cody,” he released your hand and turned to his Commander who tensed as you both turned your attention to him.

“Welcome to Anaxes base, Ma’am,” Cody said.

“Cody, would you be so kind as to escort Miss Choy to the delegates quarters, I think that would be appropriate rooming.”

“Yes sir, General,” Cody said with a nod and hint of a smile. Well he didn’t seem agitated with that idea, you wondered what had bothered him. His eyes held a kindness that you had noticed a bit in Rex, too. Maybe it was the Obi Wan effect, you mused. Mace’s commander had seemed much more serious and mistrustful -like Mace himself. But, then Anakin and Rex were very diff-

“We will reconnect in an hour once you are settled in and refreshed. I’m sure you have quite the tale to tell.” Obi Wan said to you, interrupting your thoughts. He turned back to Anakin who was eager to draw him away to speak with him. The onlooking troopers around you drew closer as the generals walked away.

The trooper with your bag appeared at Cody’s side, looking a little confused. Cody turned to you a little stiffly, you noticed, like he was trying not to twist his body too much. “Ma’am, if you will follow me.”

“Commander,” he turned back to you, “it is very nice to meet you, too,” you said with a slow blink, “I hope you are fully recovered from your injury. And thank you for organizing this whole rescue. I’m very grateful I got caught up in what you set into motion.” The look on his face changed from chagrin to pride and then surprise as you stepped into his space more, “But now I need to accompany Echo to the infirmary.” He seemed to fluster and glanced away from you in Obi Wan’s direction. “We can make sure he knows,” you said, picking up on his rigid sense of protocol. You focused the force toward him with warmth and reassurance, “it will be ok. It’s very important that I speak with the medics before they do any procedures on Echo to ensure a successful outcome.”

His eyes softened and a hint of a smile twitched at his lips, but then he cleared his throat and tried to appear collected and serious, “Civilians aren't supposed to-“

“Commander, sir, General Windu has already ordered me to accompany Miss Choy to the medical facility.” The trooper with your bag said beside him with a nervous salute.

Cody looked from the trooper to you. “Alright, I’ll come too, but first let’s make sure the other generals are on the same page.” He motioned for you to follow and shouldered his way through all the armored bodies in the direction of the Jedi. But the other troopers filled in behind him all looking at you curiously and crowing eachother out of the way to get a better view. You smiled and said hellos to them while scanning around for the trooper with your bag. You found him and grabbed his free hand before you lost him again in the throng of identical faces.

“What’s your name, trooper?” You asked him with a smile.

He stuttered, “Um th- they call me Hoot, Miss.” He was clearly surprised by your forwardness but didn’t try to take his hand from you. “Did you notice which way Commander Cody went?” you asked him. He shook his head as you heard the troopers around you chattering.

“Hey Hoot’s holding her hand.”

“What happened to her neck?”

“Is she glowing?”

“I heard she was captured by the Seppies.”

“Move over, I wanna see the girl.”

“Why is she so roundy and curvy?”

“Cause she’s a girl, dikut, they’re pretty shaped.”

“Go talk to her.”

“No way, you go”

“Move out of the way, shinies,” a deeper and gruffer voice growled behind the group of clones. You looked over to see a bigger trooper, head and face partially covered in a tattoo, pushing through the young soldiers. He was shadowed by another with a regulation haircut and a red symbol on his pauldron. Jesse and Kix. Cue internal screaming- Jesse was indeed thicker than the average clone and absolutely exuded cockiness. They both took in the sight of your glow as they strode toward you sharing a glance at each other.

“Hi-“ you were cut short by Jesse taking your hand out of Hoot’s and kneeling down on one knee.

“Miss Choy, thank you for saving our brother.” He closed his eyes and held your hand to his forehead. Like Rex had done. You looked up at Kix who took your other hand and knelt in a similar fashion. Interesting…

“We thought he was dead all this time,” Kix said bitterly. You felt a thread of grief and guilt pull through them before they both stifled it. What an existence, never being able to fully process all the trauma and loss.

The younger clones behind them shuffled awkwardly. “What are they doing?” “Should we kneel too?” “Who is she anyway?” You heard them whisper to one another.

You grasped back at the troopers’ hands and tugged them up. “I am glad I was able to help him, but it was the guys who saved him,” you said while nodding your head toward the Marauder.

Jesse and Kix glared behind you, you guessed at the batchers. “Echo said he wouldn't have been alive to be saved if it weren’t for you,” Jesse argued, “Said you took real good care of him.” There was a bit of a question there.

“Well, I’d have done the same for any of you,” you said, giving their hands a squeeze.

“Ma’am, sorry, I’m Kix and this is Jesse.”

“It's very nice to meet you Kix, you’re the brave medic of the 501st right?” He blushed. You looked at Jesse, “And I’m glad to meet you, too, Jesse.” You let go of Kix’s hand and ran your finger along Jesse’s pauldron. “ARC trooper, yeah?” He cracked a grin, enjoying your attention and holding his head higher.

“That’s right, I’m an ARC like Echo.”

“Like Echo? Well I’m glad to have more friends like him.”

“Yeah, friends,” he said in a lower register and seemed to get closer to you while looking at your neck. Jesse emanated some strong energy. You tried assigning a word to it- pride? Prowess? Ego? All the clones, well most clones, felt valiant in the force, but Jesse had that on steroids.

You noticed a ring of redness and bruising around his neck. “Oh, Jesse. Kix, this could use some bacta,” you said and pushed the neck of his blacks down to expose more. Jesse jumped a little and you held him still by this pauldron.

“He won’t let me get near it,” grumbled Kix, “looks like you’ll have better luck.” He offered you a tube of the blue gel from one of his pouches.

“Actually save that, I’ve got this.” You smiled at Kix then refocused on Jesse. You held up your hands and rubbed them together building up a glow. You held them apart wiggling your fingers a little letting little sparks and flecks of light fly off them like gold dust. “May I?” you asked Jesse. “I work faster than bacta.”

“Sure,” he said with a little uncertainty, looking at Kix. Kix shrugged. Jesse looked back at you and lifted his chin a touch. You put your hands on his neck and worked your fingers down under the collar of his blacks, closed your eyes and focused on the muscle strain and bruising. “Oh, ahhh,” he sighed and relaxed into your touch, “your hands are cool, thought they’d be hot,” he said.

“Mmmhmm,” you hummed, “you already run hot.”

He shifted and rumbled deep in his chest, “Running’s not all I do hot,” you heard him say. Kix made a groaning sound.

“Wrecker did this, didn't he?” You dragged your fingertips up out of his shirt collar and along the abrasions on his skin, healing them with a slight tingle. “There, all done.” You opened your eyes, smiling playfully as you slid your hands down his chest. He reached up to feel and turn his neck. “Anything else need attention, Lieutenant?” you asked, derailing his question about how you knew about Wrecker.

“Well since you asked,” he began with a devilish grin, taking your hands in his.

Kix cleared his throat and gave Jesse’s foot a kick. Jesse looked at Kix who raised his eyebrows and nodded his head to the side. They both looked over at approaching voices. Jesse released your hands with a wink and they both came to attention, as did all the clones nearby.

Jesse leaned over to Kix and mumbled something. You could just make out “-comes the luckiest clone in the galaxy.”

“Well I didn’t know that was the situation. Anyhow let’s get them going, we’ve all been on this tarmac long enough.” A somewhat annoyed Obi Wan led Anakin, Cody, Mace, Echo and Rex over to you. “No rest for the weary, I hear, Miss Choy.” Rex fixed Jesse with a scrutinizing scowl, his eyes glancing briefly at you.

You really tried not to laugh.

“That’s alright, Master Kenobi,” you looked at Echo who definitely seemed weary from emotional reunions with far too few brothers. “I’m not too weary to get Echo sorted out.” You smiled at Echo, feeling a familiar attraction again. But this time it was a warmer, lighter feeling, straight to your heart. Your stomach felt fluttery as your eyes traced the sharp planes of his face that were lit by your soft light till he caught your eyes with his. He was looking at you like you hung the stars in the sky. It felt like he was restraining himself from getting closer to you. You didn’t realize your feelings for each other were this strong. It felt magnetic and sparkles of your glow drifted out towards him. Boy were you in trouble, you thought to yourself. Obi Wan looked from you to Echo, raised his eyebrows, and glanced at Anakin and Mace. Mace winked at you and you felt your cheeks burn.

“Ma’am,” Cody said, “I’ll take you and Echo to the infirmary now.”

You cozied up to Echo and linked your arm with his scomp arm. “Ready?” You felt a shiver from him so you pulled him closer to your side. “See you later, friends,” you said to Jesse and Kix as you followed Cody and Hoot through the dispersing crowd to a transport speeder. Jesse reached out and gave Echo a low five and a knowing look. You could feel eyes on you as the Jedi hung back with Rex and his men. “I won’t leave your side, my sweet,” you whispered to him, glancing back at the men. Jesse was biting his fisted knuckles and pretending to faint on Kix as Rex barked something at them till Anakin put his arm on his captain’s shoulders and steered him away. Mace took Kix to the side and spoke to him while pointing at you.

Echo looked at you out of the corner of his eye which glowed in your aura. You took a deep breath and tried willing the glowing to dim. It seemed to be using up your energy and it was a little unsettling to not be in control of it. And it was becoming a tell.

Kix hurried up to join you as you situated yourselves on the transport which had a bench down its length on either side. He looked a little shy and started to head for the far end of the transport next to Hoot. You patted the seat beside you. “I don’t bite,” you said. He smiled and sat where you offered, “usually,” you added with a wink. He gave you a crooked smirk. Then glanced past you at Echo who had turned his way with an inquisitive look. “I’m just giving your vod a hard time,” you explained and patted Kix’s knee. Kix leaned back and looked away letting go of a breath he’d been holding and ran a finger around the collar of his blacks.

“It’s not just me affected by you.” Echo stated, looking down at his hand and scomp in his lap.

“It’s just the force,” you started to reason, sliding your hand across his thigh into his. “It-“

“No,” Echo gripped onto your hand and ran his gaze up your form to your eyes, “no, it’s so much more.” You rested your head against his shoulder and rubbed circles on his wrist with your thumb. On the other side of Echo, Cody sat stock still, listening and watching your hands with a silent sigh.

The ride to the infirmary was quick. The grounds of the base were stark and utilitarian, everywhere troopers and some non-clones buzzed around, busy with some urgent tasks for the war effort. The night sky above you was full of stars and moving lights of craft too far away to hear. The little droid driving the transport beeped and chirped cheerfully as it stopped and you disembarked in front of a building with a large door and few windows. Troopers in varying states of injury and others in scrub-like uniforms filed in and out of its doors.

“There will be some sounds in there that you may find disturbing.” Kix said in a warning tone to you and the men. You glanced at Echo then at Cody.

Cody’s face was set with a grim look, “The Separatists have a new weapon that causes intense pain in clones. No one else, just clones.”

“We haven’t figured out a way to cure it besides a brain surgery that leaves the patient a real mess. They are generally fully decommissioned.” Kix explained. You knew what that meant. What a terrible way to go. Your heart and face fell. The Agonizer, you’d heard it called around the labs.

“I’ve heard about this weapon,” you said. You suspected some of the experimental subjects you’d been assigned to were part of its development. Which meant- “I might be able to help them, cure them.” You looked at the men imploringly.

“Follow me,” said Kix, “the Medic on duty and I will set you up with a room and begin your examinations. Then I’ll see about getting you to the room the men are in.”

Oh that’s right, you’d need a good once over, too. Maybe you’d be able to get a hold of a better solution to your boob situation, although you figured as a force thing it’s ultimate fix would be with the Jedi.

Your group filed down a wide hallway. You stopped at a door half way down. A ways further the hallway ended at a pair of double doors. They slid open with howls of agony and a trooper in scrubs walked out with a haunted look on his face. You felt your stomach drop and the hair raise on the back of your neck. You looked at Kix and Cody. “Is that them? They need me now. Please.” The men looked at eachother, Kix raising his eyebrows at his Commander.

“I suppose I can give you clearance,” said Cody. “Kix you stay with Echo, I’ll escort Miss Choy back there.”

“Thank you, Commander, you won’t regret it.” You looked at Echo. He had the most adorable mixture of expressions crossing his face. Admiration, realization, fear, sadness, tenderness. “You will be ok, you have to fast before they do any surgeries. And you will be good for Kix, right?” You said that last part with a mock admonishment. He huffed a laugh, glancing down then back up at you.

“Go help them, cyar’ika.” He leaned down and touched his forehead to yours. Through the brief touch you sensed his mind pulse with his patchwork alien wetware cybernetic brain. You locked eyes with his and sent him an image of you kissing him under a warm sun in a soft meadow of flowers and butterflies. He gasped as he pulled away with a look of astonishment. You smiled slyly, “He’s all yours, Kix.”

“Ma’am,” Hoot said. You looked back at him. “My- my brother is in there-“ his voice cracked. He stopped talking and swallowed, took a deep breath and looked around the hallway avoiding everyone’s eyes.

You grasped his arms between the armor. “Hoot, I promise to do everything I can for him,” you said calmly. “I’ll make sure you know when he’s ready to have visitors.” Hoot nodded and looked a little more relaxed. Kix motioned him over to himself and took your bag. He put his arm around the younger clone's shoulders. “Let’s go help those boys, Commander,” you said with conviction.

Cody had stepped away to wait for you. He nodded and seemed even stiffer and more awkward than before as you approached him. Kix, Hoot and Echo disappeared through the doors behind you as you looked down the hall at the ones you’d be going through with Cody. “Have you seen them?” You asked him.

“I have, yes. Ma’am are you sure you want to do this?” He asked.

You turned to him, “Absolutely,” you said with a renewed confidence. Your peek inside Echo’s brain just now had reminded you that you had done much harder things than what was necessary for these agonized men. “I’ve been around this kind of thing before.”

Cody nodded and led the way down the corridor, pressed a button on the door panel and entered the space with you close behind him.

You stepped up beside him and surveyed the large room. Terrible, anguished, guttural sounds and whimpers rang in your ears and through you in the force. It was dim, barely lit, but you could make out that it was similar to a post op area in a typical Earth hospital. Beds with curtain partitions lined the walls with a nurse station in the middle. Med droids monitored the vitals of three troopers all on gurneys and still in their battle-blasted grimy armor, fresh from the field. Their breathing was shallow and rapid, their bodies shaking and writhing in pain as you approached the closest trooper.

“Commander, I will have to touch him to help him, which will be painful for him at first. I may need your help.” Cody came closer to you and motioned one of the droids over.

You held your hands out to either side of the trooper’s head and focused all your energy and attention into his brain. Fire, swelling, so much inflammation. A cascade of pain -causing pain -causing pain coursed out of his brain and ripped through him along his cells lining his blood vessels all through his body. This was bad. What began in the brain was a runaway train. What a wicked and hateful weapon. So hateful of clones specifically. You knew the approach it would need.

You inhaled deeply and planted your feet firmly. Then opened your heart to the force and surrendered to it as a bridge, willing it through you and into the trooper as intense love. As you pressed your hands to his head and connected with the pain you felt it creep into you. His agony became yours, like fingers of fire clawing their way into your hands and up your arms, it consumed all of your senses and a ringing in your ears drowned out all other sounds. He screamed and his hands flew to yours to tear them from his head. But Cody was right there grabbing them back and holding them fast away from you. He barked an order at the droid to restrain the man.

As you focused [[calm cool soft LOVE]] into his brain and felt around for the main damage the pain seeped up into your neck and down into your lungs. Then you found it. The very center of the signal deep in his midbrain. You lasered your focus in on those cells, isolated them and quenched the fire. The rest of the pain signals through his body didn’t stop. They would need to be turned off cell by cell while preventing the signaling to reactivate the others as you worked. You needed more physical contact, skin to skin. You leaned in to touch your forehead to his, resting your face onto his to make as much contact as possible. He heaved his body and cried out. This would take more time, he needed more pain management. You found his main pain receptor synapses and blocked them. He calmed but his movements became erratic.

“It’s almost over, baby, you’ll be ok, I got you, just be still,” you whispered. Your lungs burned and your jaw felt like it was being drilled into. You expanded your awareness out from his deep brain, willing a growing barrier of cool calming to grow like a bubble through his brain then scalp then face, neck and down through the entirety of his body. Your breathing was ragged with effort and sweat dripped into your eyes and onto the trooper's face as your force focus reached his toes. And finally the pain was gone. You released his brain from your mind and collapsed onto him and began to slide to the floor.

You felt two hands catch you by the shoulders and turn you. Then arms wrap around you and hold you to a plastoid chest. The ringing in your ears disappeared and an electronic voice of a droid and two more voices whimpering in pain made your awareness snap to. Cody was holding you to him and murmuring.

“Miss Choy? Meshla, are you ok?”

You found your feet and steadied yourself with your hands on his waist. You could feel his breath on your ear. You turned to face him, your nose almost brushing his as you looked into his warm eyes. Eyes that were soft and worried and scared all at once, eyes that were studying you from your own eyes down to your lips and snapping back up again.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good,” you said as you sighed and forced yourself to not nuzzle him and snuggle into his arms. With a sigh you stood straighter, “that was trickier than I anticipated.” You released his waist and turned in his arms to look at the now peacefully sleeping trooper. An AZ droid was tending his vitals.

He slowly let you go, “You looked like you were on fire, I didn’t know what to do,” Cody said.

“You did great, Commander” you told him over your shoulder, “I just can’t seem to stop lighting up like that. Hopefully the Jedi can give me some pointers on glow control.”

“CT-2901 seems completely fine now, Commander. We will let him rest and give him fluids. He is now sedated from the meds we gave him upon his arrival.” chirped the little droid.

You took a deep shuddering breath, “AZ, can you help me take the armor and gloves off the other two troopers? I need skin to skin contact with them to speed up my process of healing.”

“So you’ve never been trained to use the force,” Cody stated. “I don't think any of the Jedi can glow or do what you just did. Have you alway been this…powerful?”

You unzipped your jacket and tossed it onto a nearby stool. “Oh, no. No, I've only been force sensitive the last two years.” Your shirt was next, you peeled it over your head and it joined your jacket. “I didn’t even know the Force really existed before that, or Jedi, or clones, space travel,” you trailed off. In just your pants and breast band you turned back toward Cody who had half turned away and was running his fingers through his hair, avoiding looking at you.

“I’m still decent, Commander,” you teased. He glanced at you and immediately turned back around.

“Meshla…”

You stifled a giggle, “Commander, I may need you to spot me again, do you think you can manage?” You asked with a smirk.

He pinched the bridge on his nose, nodding his head and taking a sharp intake of breath before looking over to you, but you had already moved over to the next trooper whose upper body armor and gloves the AZ had removed. The little droid was busy stripping and restraining the last trooper as you wrestled up the top of the man’s black body suit to expose his torso while he was struggling and writhing against the pain. You could feel Cody get a little closer behind you as you grasped the trooper's head, leaned down and pressed his head into the table with your own. His scream of pain was ear splitting. You focused your mind, opened to the force and dove straight into where you found the damage in the first trooper. As you quenched that fire you grasped his hands in their restraints. He was groaning now and tears streamed from his eyes. You tried blocking off the pain, but he was moving around so much you couldn’t focus enough.

“Commander, can you help me up onto the table?” You called back to Cody.

He lifted you by the waist as you swung your leg up and over the trooper, settling down to straddle him and press your bodies, faces and hands together. This was excruciating for him in the seconds after contact, but it gave you a bigger surface to focus the force through into the trooper's body and turn off the pain much faster. You weren’t nearly as spent when the man relaxed into a deep sleep. You sat up releasing his hands and tugged his shirt down. A gloved hand appeared in front of you. You looked over and found Cody looking flushed and intently studying the readouts on the monitor above the trooper. You smiled, “Thank you,” and took his hand and hopped off the table.

The next trooper was even more combative but seemed to not be as badly affected by the agonizer. He was able to muster more strength to fight at the pain- and you. You enlisted the larger med droid to restrain him at his knees and Cody to hold his head as you climbed up onto him and began your process. You licked and bit your lip to help refocus and as you took his hands you noticed Cody realizing he had a very intimate view of your cleavage as you struggled to position yourself to quench the trooper’s pain. In the glow radiating off your body you could see sweat was glistening on his brow -and you could feel his inner struggle with being very turned on.

When this last trooper was resting peacefully beneath you, you sighed and began to dismount the man. Cody’s hands were on your waist lifting you like you weighed nothing. He kept them on you as he steadied you on your feet. You felt the tiniest twitch of his fingertips pressing into you, sensed a crack in his resolve, looked up in his eyes and saw a flash of an image- of yourself.

You saw yourself from his eyes, naked, keening. Tan hands squeezed your breasts. Then two more paler hands appeared over his, a sandy-haired head and a beard behind you. Sensation overwhelmed you and you could feel their mouths on your neck. Cody removed his hands and it all vanished from your mind leaving you breathless and faint.

The lights brightened in the room. You stood there, one hand on the bed as you grounded yourself back in reality and put the pieces together from your encounters on the tarmac and Cody’s apparent fantasy. Was, was that really-

“Pardon me, please.” You were snapped out of your reverie by the little AZ droid buzzing around you to release the restraints it had put the three troopers in. Your feet felt heavy as you made your way back to your clothing, got dressed and checked yourself in the reflection of a large metal cabinet. You glanced around for Cody who had retrieved his helmet and was fiddling with it looking a little nervous.

You walked toward him and could tell he was feeling some sadness and guilt. He looked at you with a little bit of fear. “Thanks for the help. I couldn’t have done that without you, Commander,” you said, beaming gratitude at him. He set his helmet down on a counter and seemed to set his jaw.

“Why do you care about us? Why did you do that for them?” He searched your eyes.

You stepped closer and lifted your face to his with a steady gaze. “I do this because I can, Commander.” You paused then, looking down at your foot, kicking at a stray empty bacta vial on the floor, thinking about all the lost time from being captured, all the troopers you would never get to meet. You put your hand on your chest. “It hurts my heart that I was trapped and unable to use my abilities for good like this for so long.” You put your other hand on his armored chest. “I care greatly for you clones, you are just as human as I am and worthy of the care I can give. I hope I can save as many as possible.” You looked up at him, he seemed dazzled and in a bit of shock. Hoping that a change of subject will put him in a more familiar frame of mind, you added with a pat to his chest, “But right now that includes getting back to Kix and Echo. Echo is key to taking back Anaxes.”

“How do you figure that?” he asked, still a little mesmerized by your declaration.

“Because he’s seen the Separatists from the inside out and knows how to take them down with his…his hardware.” Cody’s face winced a tiny bit. You stepped back, heading toward the door, “Get your helmet, Commander,” you said in a mock order over your shoulder.

He smiled slightly and reached for his helmet, tucked it under his arm. You approached the door raising your hand to tap the panel to open it. Cody’s hand reached out and caught yours. He pulled you around till you were close enough to feel his body heat from between his armor plates.

“Thank you,” he said, his deep amber eyes flicking between yours. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for my men, for Echo.”

“You’re welcome, Commander,” you breathed with a smile. Finally, he was coming around.

“What you did for those men- were you feeling their pain? Can you read minds?” He asked cautiously.

You squeezed his hand. “Your mind is safe and sound around me, Commander. Everyone’s is- I don’t trespass on people’s thoughts, or sneak around force-peeping under their armor, and I actually can’t -like do harm with the force, it’s a mental block or something.” you felt your cheeks get hot and you squinted a little in an apologetic way. “But I do feel emotions from people and hear and see anything they want me to. Or if the thought is loud enough, close enough. And yes,” you hardened your eyes and closed them with a frown for a moment and looked up at him again, “I felt their pain. Like it was my own.”

He inhaled and seemed to hold his breath. Then he slid his hand up your arm and cupped your face. He leaned his forehead to yours pressing it there. His thoughts and emotions were roiling and pounding like high seas against the barrier he harbored them in. But he let one slip out. A flower. He gave you a flower with his thoughts. you saw his viewpoint again and his hand tucking it behind your ear. Now where did he learn how to do that? He drew back and the vision vanished. “Let’s get you back to Kix and Echo,” he said, not meeting your eyes. You could feel his flusteredness and smiled at him, the big capable warrior, Marshall Commander at that, hot and bothered and distracted- by little old you -and thinking about flowers. These clone boys were all the same deep down. And even deeper down, well best not to dwell on that.

“Thank you, Commander, lead the way,” you said.

“Call me Cody,” he said and slipped his helmet on his head. You looked over your shoulder before the doors closed and saw that third trooper up on an elbow watching you go, the AZ trying to get him to lay flat again. You waved at him and he raised his hand as the doors slid shut.

[lumilasi]

So i have been scrolling trough your blog for a while now, enjoying the lore and the many beautiful characters and designs. And i keep coming back to your blogs header image, the striking green hair, beautiful lighting, it is amazing, i haven't been able to find the full image though! i would love to see it and hear more about the character! love the design!

Aww thanks! Glad you like them! Also sorry for late(?) response, timezones and all....

This is the full image in the header: (there are 2 versions, can't recall which one it is)

It was part of my Spooktober series last year. (Here's the OG post too)

Her name is Avane Faydream, or Ava Mantis; she's mostly known as Ava by her friends. Ava is a mixed heritage Mantis Fairy-Dreameater where she has abilities belonging to both beings. (Her Dreameater heritage is why she has black wings, typically her kin have green ones. Her eyes also come from her dreameater dad)

The image above is not her "canon" design though, apart from her hair, Here's her actual ref. (Some info below miiight be slightly outdated though, I tend to develop and change things overtime, but the designs at least are up-to-date)

She also has this outfit that was inspired by a really pretty Japanese modern dress I saw online once when researching for inspo for outfits to another character: (Her OG version was Japanese, now she doesn't really have direct connections to human world, but I'd say her mother, if placed on earth, would probably be from Asia somewhere, though not necessarily Japanese.)

Ava is kind of my main lady, because she has direct connections to all of my "main" characters, from working for the Goth Dad Jurou/Alistair as a tattoo artist, to being one of Azul Samaros/ Chester Knight's friends he sometimes ask for help from. (When Azul says he knows someone, he goes "I know a gal" rather than "I know a guy" quite often lol)

She has a boyfriend, a bi Grimmhound (with some Lycan heritage) named Roman Bosco, who used to work for a human mobster (or more like was forced to/the guy was also in love with him but in kind of a toxic way....) and he's one of those absolute sweetheart, romantic teddy bear guys. (His ref here if you wanna learn more about Roman)

(Roman has vitiligo btw)

Her dad Lawrence is sort of the 'antagonist' for my main story Night City Parlor, and she sort of tends to meddle in her dad's business to try and protect people from his influence. This includes Jurou, she actually went to work for him to secretly keep an eye on him, knowing her dad would be interested in someone as powerful as Jurou. (She also works together with her uncle, who ends up becoming Jurou's love interest lol)

She loves her dad dearly, but he's somewhat gone off the deep end after what happened to his wife/her mother; he's not coping with her condition well, burying himself in his dangerous and important work, which has started to erode his moral code. As a result, Ava feels the need to protect others from her dad's worse tendencies. (Ava has some of these personality traits from her dad, where she has the capability to be somewhat manipulative and occasionally struggles with empathy. Unlike her dad though, she is self-aware of this and actively works on not giving in on her worse impulses, and will let her friends/BF/Family call her out on it and listen)

I guess I can also list couple of fun facts:

Ava's design took me SO long to get into a place where I liked it. This is kind of typical for me with ladies for some reason, but once I did manage to create something I loved, she quickly became one of my favorite characters.

Ava has a couple of friend groups; 1. the day-to-day one with her coworker and friend Claude, as well as their boss' adoptive son (and Claude's BF) Caelan. 2. Her "sneaky action" group which includes both the former and current right hand woman of her dad, Marci and Aimi. (Typically ones she goes to, when she wants to meddle into her dad's business, or alternatively do something more dangerous lol) 3. Her Girl Bestie, Taiga (A kitsune, works at a hair salon she often goes to, they do girls night hangouts)

Ava is Demiromantic/Demisexual, she basically had no interest in either until she met Roman and slowly developed feelings for him. (She was actually kind of worried her dominant personality would be off-putting to him given his history, but they had a honest talk about it and he basically didn't mind because she tries her best to be the best version of herself despite her mental hiccups)

Ava is NOT good with kids, she has no proper patience to deal with them, and tends to be awkward around children. That being said she tends to try and be a good role model to the ones she has around her in her day-to-day life (namely her boss Jurou's daughter, who's a huge fan of hers lol).

Ava has a lightning bolt tattoo (not shown on the images above, given they are timed before she got it) designed for her by Roman. She basically appeared suddenly in his life like a 'lightning from clear skies' and completely changed things for him, gave him a chance to built the kind of life he'd actually want to live, instead of being forced to work for a criminal.

This got kinda long, but that's what happens when you get asked about your characters I suppose lmao

[saintsofwarding]

WE SHALL BE MONSTERS

Header by @keltii-tea

Chapter 20: An Explosive Conclusion

The storm raged, blizzard descending by the minute, but even that wasn't enough to cow Lady Dimitrescu. She mutated, and in a few wingbeats, she, Rose, and Donna had sailed from the ruined crags of her castle and onto the far side of the crater Chris's bomb had bitten from the earth, onto the cliffside overlooking the factory itself.

The great stone bridge leading to Heisenberg's factory was crumbling away, overgrown with yet more of Miranda's calcified tentacles, bursting upward to wind around and over the bridge as if to pull it down into the ravine below. Far down, a river raged, bursting its banks; the freezing spray whipped Rose's cheeks as she strode over the bridge, Donna at her back, Dimitrescu once again in her humanoid form.

Around them loped lycans. Moreau's lycans. It was uncanny to see them there, clambering over the tentacles and ancient stones with ease, snarls and weird howls and other vocalizations filling the wind as they signaled to one another, not attacking, but...guarding. Guarding her, guarding Donna and Dimitrescu.

Her control over them, through Moreau, was a flexing tension, an omnipresent pressure in her mind.

A web.

A network.

Branching, like the roots of some great fungal colony growing, stealthily, belowground. How the hell had she done it? Easily, she told herself. As easily as she'd taken control of Heisenberg when she was just a baby, stealing his power away from him at her whim. As easily as she'd slithered into that BSAA commando's head, had killed him almost without thinking, had invaded the Embryo creature's mind to read it like a bar code.

Her mouth tasted bitter. She shook her head, shook off the pressure. But it was always there, always growing. A matrix of paths in her mind, pathways of glistening black. Blood vessels, rivers. Chains.

This is who you were meant to be. Special child. Holy child. Don't you understand?

More lycans filled the ravine and the darkening landscape of the village, the sky growing more and more begloomed by the moment as night set in. Their torches glowed in the darkness, a sweep of guttering points of firelight filling the shadows.

The lycans' yelps and howls rose into the sky, fading as Rose and the others crossed the bridge, toward the factory looming beyond. Its myriad chimneys poured black smoke, underlit with a dull red glow that must have been a furnace going at full blast.

Rose surveyed the field of dead grass past the factory gates, filled with heaps of rust that must have once been pieces of Heisenberg's experiments, the junk of decades cast-off when they proved unusable for his grand ambitions of murder and freedom.

No sign of Ouroboros out there. Had they infiltrated the factory? But then why turn it on, if their aim was stealth?

Something was wrong, here. Very wrong. She should be cautious, approach this from a smarter angle.

She didn't want to approach this from a smarter angle. She wanted this to end. Now. Tonight. In blood and tears, if possible.

One of the lycans snarled, scrambling to the parapet beside her. Rose turned. "Stay back." She sensed Moreau's feeble attempts to gain control of them. "Stay back."

It rounded on her, fangs glistening. Rose stared up at the monster; it snapped, then, with a shudder through its whole body, it backed off. Head lowered, it climbed down the side of the bridge, joining the others thronging all down the cliffside.

Rose let out her breath, then glanced at Donna, just behind her. Her expression was impossible to gauge under her veil, but Rose felt her eyes on her, felt the weight of her regard.

Angie leaned in to whisper something to Donna, and Donna nodded, slowly, never taking her eyes from Rose.

I had to, Rose wanted to scream at her. Don't you get it? I had to. But Donna would never listen to that excuse. Donna had heard it before, and had only believed it then out of desperation. Now, it wouldn't cut it again.

Rose made herself look away from the pair, her throat tight, her eyes hot. No. She couldn't stop now. She couldn't look back now.

And if your mother's in there?

What then?

Mia Winters was a shadow. A memory of a memory. How many of those memories were of her, anyway? How many of the real Mia Winters, and not of Miranda? She'd been so young when Miranda had captured her mother, less than six months old. Miranda had impersonated Mia well, but in the end it was still her. By all rights, by all memory, Miranda was her mother, not Mia.

That will make this easy.

The main factory gates looked like something from one of the many cities Rose and Heisenberg had lived in over the years, fencing off a shipyard or scrap-heap. They were orange with rust, clanging in the icy wind, loops of razor wire strung over the top. Through them, the field was silent; nothing moved save that wind, save the ripple of the grass.

"Open it up," Rose told Dimitrescu.

The gates burst open with a slash of her talons. Rose stepped through; an alarm went off in the distance, a high wailing trill echoing from hidden speakers. She drew her sword, but there was nothing- no commands, no rattle of bullets. Huge pylon towers creaked in the oncoming blizzard. The rustle of grass sounded like whispers, a crowd of them surrounding her in the snow-mist.

Rose grit her teeth, her heartbeat ticking in her throat as she and the others stopped before the main entrance to the ramshackle old factory, big weathered barn doors held shut with a stout chain. This place didn't look like the sort to birth a corpse army, an endless stream of mechanical monstrosities. But, then again, neither did Heisenberg.

"Hey!" Rose shouted. "Ouroboros! You wanted me? Here I am!"

She lifted her hand, summoning a burst of mold that writhed from the grass like a nest of snakes. "Here we all are! You find my dad yet? You wanna come talk about it face to face?"

"Child," Dimitrescu muttered, her shoulders braced, her claws still unsheathed. Her eyes were narrowed as she surveyed the factory, chest rising and falling. Smelling something. "I do not think this is-"

"Come on!" Rose's voice rang off the factory doors. The mold roared higher, becoming a tentacled barrier circling her, round and round. "Are you in there, Mom? Come and get me! I'm here! I'm right here-"

A rumble sounded from within the doors; it cut off Rose, the noise increasing in strength as she stood, tense. A split appeared between the doors, darkness within; Rose braced, like Dimitrescu, waiting for gunfire, waiting to bring her mold up in a defensive wall and send it slashing outward, destroying everything and everyone it touched.

But there was nothing. No one. No one but two shadows standing in the cargo lift beyond.

Rose blinked.

Electricity arced and snapped, blue-white in the darkness.

Rose slashed out with her mold as shrapnel sliced toward her face; it pealed off the mold shield, going wide, embedding itself in the grass around her, where it smoked and sparked, still humming with power.

"What the fuck?" The voice echoed past the pulse of blood in her ears. "Dimitrescu? How the shit are you fuckin'-"

Rose choked, "Heisenberg?"

***

The mold fell.

He was there. He stood before her in the lift, his hands raised, shrapnel and old tools orbiting his upper body. He wore clothes identical to those she remembered from her childhood: trench coat streaked with grime and grease, hat, tanker boots, and all.

Lord Heisenberg, Rose thought, somewhere through the shock. He stared at her, squinting from behind his new round shades, as if she might not be real, as if he might still attack.

He didn't. He blinked. He opened his mouth.

It took a second before any sound came out.

"Kid?" he said.

"Heisenberg-" Rose stepped forward, heart pounding. "Wait- how- what happened to you? You...you blew up...on the Osiris-"

Her pulse shocked down to her fingertips, mingled relief and dread radiating through her with every beat. She wanted to rush to him, to spring into his arms, but she forced herself to stop a few yards off. "I thought you...I thought-"

"Can't kill me so easy, kid. I see you got some new friends." Rose saw him look at Donna, heard the faint hiss of Donna's exhale. His eyes moved on, traveling up and up. He scoffed at Dimitrescu. "No accounting for taste-"

"I might say the same," Dimitrescu said, her voice smooth and cold as glacial ice. "Though we both know you always did like the broken ones, didn't you?"

Her eyes settled on the shadow behind Heisenberg in the lift, head lowered, hands in fists. For a moment she thought she was looking at her own shadow. The way she stood; the tilt of the head, the shape of the face.

Cold twisted into her heart.

"Hey, Rose," her mother said.

Rose's blood sloshed in her ears. The cold drove deeper. She understood, then, with a dark, radiant thrill. It was all gonna be okay. Heisenberg must have escaped, must have figured out Rose would go back to the village, too, had taken Mia as a hostage and come here to meet her, knowing she would want her vengeance.

"You got her, Heisenberg. Nice job." She was stepping forward, lifting her hands, her mold rising, twining up her sword's blade to dull its gleam beneath rippling darkness. Kill her, she urged herself. Mia stared back at her, not pleading, but resolute. Strangely satisfied. She screwed up your life. Don't you want this to end?

She did. It would. "Get ready to die," she snarled. "You-"

Heisenberg grabbed her by the shoulder, stopping her short. Rose gave a small gasp; she set her weight against him, but he dug his fingers in.

"Get out of my way," Rose told him.

"No chance, kid."

She stared at him. He stared back, gray-green eyes gleaming behind his glasses. His face was stony, his aura of power vibrating through his grip on her.

"You're not-" Rose looked at Mia. "She's not- she's not your prisoner?"

"Not this time."

"Have you gone mad?" Dimitrescu strode toward them, a sneer of pure, dripping disdain on her face. "Kill the mortal and let's be done with this ridiculous little reunion. There are battles to be fought, unless you've lost your memories along with your mind."

"No can do, Alcina." His fingers bit into Rose's shoulder. He still hadn't looked away from her. "Plans have changed. There's a new bully in town."

"What," Dimitrescu enunciated, "Is that. Supposed. To mean."

"You can't be protecting her," Rose whispered. "You- you can't-"

A muscle twitched in his cheek. "Listen to me, kid-"

"I did," Rose said. "For years. And you lied then. You kept the truth from me then."

"And look how well you're handling it now."

She ground her teeth together. "I never really knew you, did I? What you were. What you were capable of."

He glanced up at the other Lords. "I could say the same for you, kid. I'm curious. What do you think I'm capable of?"

"Not this. Not betraying me. Not betraying-" She shook her head, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "She make you a better offer or something? Ouroboros promise you the world? Is that what you always really wanted?"

"No. Fuck, Rose, just shut your damn mouth for once and listen-"

"I'm done with listening to you." Mold snaked around his hand and wrist, constricting down with all the force Rose could muster. Bone crackled; he yelped, releasing her. She twisted free of his grip. Mia stood before her, hands lowered, eyes on hers. She didn't move as Rose advanced, as she lifted the sword, to bring it down, to shear her in two-

Agony ripped through her. Rose screamed; the shard of shrapnel burst from her shoulder, tearing open the deltoid like a rotten orange. Her hand opened, grip strengthless. The sword spun away as her arm flopped to her side, wound spewing blood and mold.

She whirled on Heisenberg. His glasses shone blue, reflecting his lightning.

"Sorry, kid," he said.

Rose could barely breathe. White flashed through her nerves, even as warmth in her shoulder told her the flesh there was knitting back together, her arm usable again. Sickening, awful. Dimitrescu let out a resonant laugh, tossing back her head.

"You're such a fool, Heisenberg," she said. "I knew, even years ago, your little fatherly charade would crumble through your fingers. You're incapable of anything more than greed and-"

A massive gear sailed through the air and clocked her on the side of the head, so hard it sheared away part of her scalp and skull. Dimitrescu let out a howl, her upper body snapping back; she actually staggered. The wound poured blood, and she slapped a hand to it as it began to knit slowly back together, one burning golden eye staring down at Heisenberg with incandescent fury.

"Whoops!" Heisenberg said.

"You disgusting mongrel," Dimitrescu hissed. "You'll pay for that when I drain the life from your ridiculous little body."

Heisenberg splayed a hand. "Good to see you haven't changed a bit, Alci," he said, his voice weary.

With a crackle, a hum, a massive metal hammer welded together from scrap slapped into his palm. Dimitrescu's roar filled the air; she lunged, and when Heisenberg stepped to meet her, it was with an impact like a freight train.

Rose was blasted back, electricity crackling around her. She rolled, skidded, came up spitting grass.

The sky roiled with the reverberation of blow after blow. Dimitrescu cleaved out with her claws, and Heisenberg ducked each strike, weaving in to clash aside her talons with the hammer; sprays of sparks burst into the mist, illuminating it from within.

"You can't win, Heisenberg," Dimitrescu cried. "I was always stronger than you."

"Hah!" Heisenberg's grin flashed pale blue in the light from his electricity. "Keep dreaming, Alcina, might as well have something nice in your fucked-up little parody of a life!"

He smashed her next blow away, whirling the hammer round his head, bringing it down against Dimitrescu's breastplate with the crack of metal against- well, Rose didn't know what the armor was made from, it couldn't be metal if Heisenberg wasn't using it to his advantage.

Dimitrescu actually stumbled, shockwave ripping the grass from around her feet. Rose saw her wince of pain and remembered what she'd said about being hungry, about not having enough blood.

Oh, god.

Her regenerative powers were failing her. Was Heisenberg capable of killing her now? Would he do it if he had the chance? He'd stopped short of killing her before when he had the advantage, but- but now?

Now, Rose wasn't sure of anything anymore.

He brought a hand into the air. The nearest pile of junk around the field disintegrated with a crackle, soaring into the air; the scrap shot forward, stabbing into everywhere on Dimitrescu that was unprotected. She slashed away some of the shrapnel, but there was more and more, swarming her like a hive of angry wasps. Cuts appeared on her face and throat, dripping black fluid.

"More, Alci?" Heisenberg began to laugh. "You still the strongest? You still the biggest baddest bloodsucking bitch in town?"

Rose's eyes darted, frantic, to Donna. She stood still as a shadow, Angie in her arms. Rose sensed again Donna's regard.

Will you do it? Order her to attack, too?

Then she looked to Mia. Her mother was pressed against the elevator doorway, rigid, staring from Dimitrescu to Heisenberg and back again as they fought, as they tore one another to pieces. Heisenberg let out a strangled "Agh!" as Dimitrescu's claws snagged his torso; she screamed as he bashed her with the hammer. The ground was slick with blood and mutagen.

Mia's eyes were wide, bright. They flicked to Rose.

A jolt went through her.

A tide of memories.

A field, shimmering with sunlight. A little girl in a black dress. A carved wooden goat. The spiraling wolfsong in the night. Old books, and buried secrets, and a people crying out for salvation, save us, save us, bring it all back. Love, unbearable. Grief, unending. Nothing else mattered. And at its heart, as ever, the dark pit, the answers waiting within-

-This is always who you were meant to be-

Rose shuddered back into reality. Her mouth tasted of mold. She lifted her shaking hands, but they were flesh and bone, not white crystal. She'd seen- no, that couldn't be possible-

"Stop," she said. Her voice was dry, a bare whisper. She faced Heisenberg and Dimitrescu, still hammering on one another, blow after blow.

"Stop!" she yelled.

They didn't hear her; maybe they didn't care. She broke into a run, tearing her way through the waist-high grass and toward them. The hum of Heisenberg's power coursed through her head, singing in the backs of her teeth; she set her jaw and pushed on. Mold unfurled from around her as she ran, as she shoved her way between them, flinging up her arms.

A black wave of mold erupted around her. "Stop it now," Rose cried, facing Heisenberg, then Dimitrescu, her arms outstretched. "You'll kill each other! Don't you get it? That's what she'd want- stop it right now!"

Heisenberg's hammer, already on the downswing, shuddered to a halt inches from her face. Rose stared up at him, breathing hard.

"What are you doing, child?" Dimitrescu said.

Rose lowered her arms. "Making things right."

She glanced at her mother, still standing in the elevator.

"Something's wrong with her, isn't it?" Rose asked Heisenberg.

"Yeah." He inclined his head, expression unreadable beneath both his glasses and the shadow cast by the brim of his hat. Shouldering his massive hammer, he drew a short breath. "Should have heard me out, kid-"

"And you shouldn't have done a lot of things, either, so shut up." The mold fell into a slurry around her boots. "It's Miranda. Isn't it. She never really died. She's been waiting this whole time. Waiting for us."

"Waiting for you," Mia whispered.

She cut her eyes over to her mother. "Why?"

"I don't know. Just that...you're important. More than just her child. More than just little Eva." Heisenberg gave a violent shudder at the sound of the name, glove leather creaking as he gripped his hammer tighter. Mia's voice fell, low and grim as the echo from the bottom of a well. "The ceremony isn't over yet."

Rose glanced up at Heisenberg, then back to Mia, Dimitrescu, Donna, who had crept closer and now stood just outside the circle of flattened grass from the fight. Dimitrescu breathed hard; the cuts on her face were healing, but slowly, and under her poise Rose could tell she was flagging.

"You must have had a plan," Rose said quickly, facing Heisenberg. "You...you wouldn't have brought her here if-"

"Yeah, kid, I did, before you and the peanut gallery tromped in here and fucked it up."

"Well, excuse me," Rose muttered. "Will this plan of yours work?"

"Of course it will."

"Good. We-"

"Rosemary! R...Rosemary!"

Donna stepped aside as a shuddering, shambling shape emerged from the gloom, wheezing with every labored step. Moreau. He'd recovered some kind of clothes with which he'd swathed his heavily-mutated body, and from his limping gait, the pain in his eyes, Rose guessed it had taken a hell of a lot of effort to run here.

"Rosemary, it's...it's bad, it's really bad..." he managed, between breaths.

"What is it?"

"I...ohhh, oh, no, oh, no-" Moreau wailed.

He collapsed, all at once, green bile spewing from between his teeth; Dimitrescu scoffed, turning away with arms crossed, but Rose stepped in, bending to grab one clammy arm, keep him from going down all the way.

His goggle eyes slid to face her. There was suspicion, there, and fear. Little wonder. Worst, though, was a kind of sick reverence, an uncontrollable devotion. A fanatic's obsession with a cruel god, cowed by its power, chained to it by terror.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, trying to make her voice gentle. She wasn't fooling anyone, not even Moreau.

"To the...southeast..." He pointed back the way he'd come. "I saw them. Big flying machines. I tried to hide, but...they saw me...they saw me and now they're coming!"

He pitched over and retched again, acid splattering the grass. Rose let him go and stepped back, heart pounding. She heard it, then, over the sound and overwhelming stomach acid-and-rotten fish reek of Moreau's illness, over her own pulse in her ears.

Chopper blades.

Close, and getting closer.

Searchlights burst over the rise, plunging down to sweep the field. The black shapes of helicopters filled the sky; Heisenberg lifted his hands, debris heaving itself into the air as he prepared to send it toward the Ouroboros helicopters, dash them from the air.

He never got the chance.

With a splitting, screeching detonation, a burst of flame rocketed from the lead chopper. It streaked through the dark sky, aimed straight toward the heart of the factory.

No- Rose thought, but there was nothing she could do.

An instant of silence-

Then, in a great, blazing fantail of yellow-white flames, the factory exploded. Another rocket followed the first, and another, hammering the factory, turning it in seconds to a pulsing core of molten metal and raging fire.

With a crumbling roar, one of the great smokestacks disintegrated, sloughing sideways into the heart of the flames, consumed in an instant.

"No!" Heisenberg roared. "My factory!"

A rocket cratered the field, mere yards from Heisenberg; he stood his ground, facing down the choppers.

"You'll pay for that!" he bellowed, scrap orbiting him faster, faster. A second rocket exploded, showering him with dirt and charred grass. He advanced with each word, broad shoulders lowered, hair lifted by the force of his power- "I'll tear you apart- feed you to the lycans- bring you back, do it again, and again, and again, until you get the fuckin' message-"

"Heisenberg, no." Rose plunged toward him, grabbing him by the arm before the next rocket blasted him into spare parts. "They'll kill you-"

"Hah! Let them try!"

"And they will," Rose pressed. "Until we're all dead. Is that what you want?"

"Get off me, kid."

"No!" she screamed, slamming her fist into his beefy deltoid. He faced her, then, staring down with eyes lit orange and gold by the flames. "I am not watching you die."

"Rosie-" he said.

"Don't you freaking dare Rosie me. It's your turn to listen now." She wound her fist into his coat, hanging on. Making him hear her. "I came here to save you. To save you. Get that? Now come with me before I kill you myself."

Still he strained against her. Still she felt his resistance, his rage, just below the surface, as ever. She felt all of it- the loss of his factory, a limb severed, something else of his torn away and destroyed. The churn of his power, ready to explode forth in its unstoppable magnetic warp, lay waste to the mortals that had invaded his one-time territory.

Mold twined from her hand, into him, into him. His pupils dilated, hard and fast, and it was easier this time, easier even than Moreau.

You listen to me, now.

Rose reached inside his head and took control.

Make him-

She yanked him, hard. They stumbled back together, collapsing behind a pile of metal scrap in a tangle of limbs. Seconds later the grass where they'd stood burst in a spray of flames and char, a hit that would have reduced them both to ash.

Above, the choppers circled round, banking away, out of even Heisenberg's range. The factory burned before them, a raging inferno fed on chemicals and gasoline and God knew what else, so hot Rose felt her hair begin to crisp.

Despite the heat she and Heisenberg stared at one another, numb and rigid, unable to move from their ungainly tangle on the ground.

"Fuck, Rose," he breathed. He climbed to his feet, ash raining from his coat. Around them the dry grass blazed with dozens of small fires. "What the hell was that?"

"I-" she began, following him up. Her control over him was gone again, retracted almost as soon as she'd reached into his mind and forced him to move his ass. "I saved your life-"

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it." He advanced on her, and despite everything, despite her relief at his being alive, despite all their years together, she backed off. The look in his eyes was a terrible thing. "What have you done? What the fuck have you done?"

Rose had no answer, no excuse.

The searchlights swung on, choppers now circling the village. A crackle came from the speakers mounted on the fence; the sound echoed from the village, too, transmitted over the entire archaic PA system, at last tearing Rose's focus away from Heisenberg.

"People of the village." The voice was cool, masculine, English, sending a chill through Rose. "Such as you are. You may know us, or you may not. The important matter is this. We are Ouroboros, and your valley houses something we want. The organization we represent is not a cruel one, nor wasteful. We recognize the plethora of scientific marvels contained within this single mountain valley, and don't want to destroy it like the recent, regrettable loss of House Heisenberg's ancestral factory. But if another such loss becomes necessary..."

The weighty pause rang out, crackling with static.

"Bring us the corpse of Ethan Winters, and the body of Mia Winters, dead or otherwise," the voice went on, "by sunrise, or we will be forced to take action. And this time, believe me. There will be no resurrections."

The speakers went silent. The roar of the flames grew higher, hotter; smaller explosions went off in the factory depths, rumbling under Rose's feet. She stared into the inferno, then turned to face the Four Lords before her.

Dimitrescu, bloodied and shaking with starvation. Moreau, staring up at her with that mixture of adulation and fear. Donna, silent and still; even Angie was unmoving. And, by her side once again, Heisenberg.

Rose found her sword in the grass. She picked it up and slid it home in its sheath on her back. Mia watched her, arms crossed, hugging herself. Rose watched her, too. Her mouth tasted bitter, ash and blood and mold.

"They're not gonna take it," she said.

She tore her gaze away from her mother's and searched the Lords' faces, one by one. "And we're not gonna give them anything. Not Ethan. Not my mother. Any protests?"

"None here," Heisenberg said. "Besides. Never did like lying down and taking it like a bitch." He winked at Mia. "Where's the fun in that?"

Mia gave him a dry smile.

"Is there a place we can go from here?" Rose asked, trying to pretend she hadn't seen that. Shit was weird. "Hide out?"

"I won't run and hide," Dimitrescu said. "Not again. Not from pathetic mortals and man-things such as those."

"We need to regroup. No point in fighting when you're dead on your feet," Rose told her. Dimitrescu drew her lips back from her teeth in a sneer, but didn't challenge her.

Rose's gut twisted. You were made for this, a voice whispered, deep, deep in her mind. Special child.

"I know a place," Donna said, softly.

Rose nodded. "Good. Then let's move." She stepped forward, the flames roaring at her back, the hellish, spark-filled wind off the burning factory whipping her hair in a pale storm around her face. "Once we're there, we figure out what the hell we're gonna do about Miranda-"

She lifted her head, facing the village below, swept with spotlights, its skies thrumming with the  incongruous throb of rotors.

Their village.

My village.

"Then," she went on, "we figure out a way to murder those Ouroboros bastards."

[ecle-c-tic]

blog header with the aesthetic of red roses and love letters for anon

--

I hope you like it anon! Don't hesitate to reach out if you need hex codes to match things or if you want me to switch the writing/font. I assumed you're the mr. darcy anon so I used that!

I had some trouble putting these two ideas together nicely but I'm pleased with the outcome and I hope you like it! :)

--

--

return of the king ecle-c-tic celebration 🎉 (now closed)

hehe you’re being tagged bc of this post:

@lady-ofmischief @whatmarisays @thislookinyoureyes @killerqueen-ofwillowgreen @trinikins

[daxnit]

CODE DANGER

Form Order

Code : Danger

Price : 10.000

Nickname :

Username :

Backup acc :

Jumlah pesanan :

In rush : yes / no

Link drive atau send chat (photos) :

Payment : QRIS

Recolor ( free ) : yes / no

Code copal :

{ max 4 warna, ex: #000000 }

[ Replacement Text ]

Ava

Dara :

Header

Janitra :

Pretty :

Queen :

Dangerous :

Lady :

199x :

[nyoretkuy]

FORM CANDY LAND

• Code : Candy Land

• Price : 32.000,-

• Username :

• Backup account (jika ada) :

• Your nick to display on preview page :

• Photo : (link drive atau sejenisnya) / dicarikan)

• Do you want to recolor the layout, dear? : (YES / No, i'm fine) (if yes, please drop your color palette alongside with the photos)

-- Chibi Detail

- for 1st Chibi (left side) :

• Expression : (smile /^_^ / >_< / wink / angry / pout?)

• Eye color :

- for 2nd Chibi (right side) :

• Expression : (smile / ^_^ / >_< / wink / angry / pout?

• Eye color :

--

<Replacement Text>

—; on Header.

• let's meet the pretty lady :

• Younjung :

• She is sweet like a melted candy :

• Lorem ipsum ... :

• Which ava do you want to take? : (Chibi only / Real one only / Both!)

• Pengerjaan : (Slow / In rush)

• Payment : (DANA / S-pay / Gopay / QRIS)

🧸 Dearest customer, do you mind if I post the result on my timeline? : (YES / no please)

[garniers]

AUGUSTUS: RPG THEME PACK

[ live preview ♡ $10 on payhip ] After several delays on my end due to changing my mind about the aesthetic and general feel I was aiming for, I am delighted to finally introduce you to Augustus: RPG Theme Pack! Crafted with a whole lotta love and an absurd amount of pseudo-elements and borders, this theme pack over here encapsulates everything I would use for my own roleplay group and is heavily inspired, as per usual, by the works of Oscar Wilde. More specifically Lady Windemere's Fan.

I know the play is theoretically a comedy, but staying true to my storytelling essence I put the theme together with videogames such as Resident Evil and Dark Souls in mind. I have my dear siblings to thank for the inspiration and unwavering support of my late-night coding sessions and my god-awful posture. Once again you have proven yourselves to be the muses behind everything I create and everything I put out there (that's addressed to the zombies, by the way.)

You will find everything you need to know about Augustus on the Live Preview, there is a detailed list with the elements of the theme pack and a couple of extras I took the liberty to add.

Features

540px posts

Full-width header (+ an optional fade-in header menu)

4 Sidebar sections

Footer with both a statistics and pagination section

Optimized for Beta Editor (+ also Legacy Editor compatible)

A navigation page

A character masterlist page

A PSD folder with the graphic canvases (for optimal resolution)

Terms + Conditions

Please do not redistribute / claim as your own

Please do not remove credit

[ Check my Terms Of Service for more information ]

[ladiescoded]

♡

© ASHLEYBCHOl

[luv3core]

ashley icons !¡!

like or rb ^-^

[luviedits-blog]

₍ ♡ ₎ . . . eunb, ladies' code. ꒰ layouts ꒱ ʚ like or reblog if you save/use ɞ

[lovereist]

— but as always, i was late and as always u couldnt wait   ݈݇-

[footballwho]

LADIES CODE HEADERS cuidem bem desses bebezinhos é a primeira vez que faço headers não saíram tão boas mas enfim… like or credits on @kibumpretty