#like yes you really truly ARE engaged to that little prince

[haetero]

all mine.

PAIRING: aemond targaryen x afab!reader. WORDCOUNT: 1.9k

CW: jealous sex, mating press (hehe), unprotected sex, breeding kink!!, creampie, kind of angsty but its porn w a little bit of plot. use of high valyrian + a sprinkle of aegon bashing! mdni <3

AUTHOR’S NOTE: this was originally a 500 word drabble and then... i went a bit nuts.. if you enjoyed the fic, pls lmk! not proofread we die like literally everyone lol.

ABSTRACT:

aemond gets caught up with his royal duties and finds himself spending less time with his precious lady wife. determined to take matters in your hands, you make some silly choices involving another prince, which only makes things worse. till it gets better :)

this time, you think you deserved it.

what begun as a harmless jest to get aemond to pay attention to you quickly led to letting aegon drunkenly sweet talk you at supper. and yes, pretending to flirt with your husband’s brother in front of him might not have been the best decision, but you were just having fun right?

wrong.

you were perhaps the stupidest woman in all the seven kingdoms. really, there was no rationale for choosing to engage with aegon for more than ten minutes at a time and yet here you were, ‘giggling’ at his piss poor jokes and pretending to listen to his made up tales of something you couldn’t care to remember.

you could only chastise your past self for your poor decision making skills as aegon whispered into your ear, far too close to your liking. he stunk of the rich, dornish wine served earlier in the evening and his eyes lazily stared at the expanse of your chest. but regardless of whether he was drunk or not, aegon had enough wits about him to realise his brother was furious.

a sly grin on aegon’s face, he seemed to understand the predicament you were in and leaned in to plant a wet kiss on your cheek, before loudly announcing his exit with a parting “my lady”, to further enrage aemond.

internally groaning, you waited till aegon left before daring to take a peek at aemond. but he wasn’t even looking at you.

the complete lack of response terrified you. in fact, you’d almost convinced yourself he didn’t care at all, until you noticed his blanching knuckles gripping his silverware. “aemond, i-," you begun.

in an instant, aemond had gotten up out of his seat and finally looked at you with a look in his eyes that only meant one thing. he mumbled out a quick excusal for the pair of you, before extending his arm towards you with a pointed stare.

you were well and truly fucked.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

before you can realise what’s happened, aemond’s dragged you to your shared chambers at a pace you’re struggling to keep up with. quickly dismissing your maids, he shuts the doors firmly, before turning his back to you and shucking off his outer clothing. you dejectedly do the same, struggling out of your dress. you leave them in a heap on the floor, stripping down till you’re in your underthings.

the sounds of aemond changing have quietened down, spurring you to take a peek at him. he’s left in his pants; his broad shoulders and back on display for you to admire. maybe he'll listen to you if you explain yourself, you delude yourself. tiptoeing over to where he stands, you attempt a sheepish half smile, grabbing onto his bare arm to direct his attention to you.

“please, i’m sorry, i wasn’t thinking, i just missed you,” you start, attempting to make eye contact with aemond. he’s yet to talk to you, pointedly ignoring you. he simply stands there, jaw clenched, refusing to acknowledge you any further.

you feel stupid, really. doing all this to gain the attention of the man standing in front of you and even then, he doesn’t even spare you a glance. you wait for a few more seconds before deciding to save yourself the embarrassment. with a sigh, you turn back to your shared bed and sit yourself down.

you rush to unpin your hair, readying yourself for sleep. the dull throb of want in your stomach has you frowning but you know the only person who could satisfy you is aemond. in your distracted state, you don’t see that aemond’s turned back to face you.

“do you take me for a fool?” you freeze, not expecting that of all questions. you start to respond when he cuts you off with a glare. aemond huffs out a curse and walks over to stand in between your legs. a part of you think he looks majestic from this view, but you’re quick to silence your thoughts as he slightly lowers himself till he’s level with you.

“you missed me, so you thought it best to what? throw yourself at my brother?” the affronted look in your eyes tells aemond he’s wrong but he’s not feeling very charitable as you try to come up with right thing to say. “and you thought i’d just let him have you?”

“no! i swear, i was being childish aemond,” you try to reason with him. the longer you think about it, the faster you realise how childish you really were. but it doesn’t change your intentions. you were unsatisfied and tired. but you also hadn’t been this close to aemond without someone else being nearby in a while. the dull throbbing sensation in your cunt was starting to spread and you fought the urge to rip your underthings off and let aemond have his way with you.

“if you wanted something, all you had to do was tell me, not run off to aegon,” he muses, his right arm coming up to trace the veins in your neck. aemond can feel the way your breath stutters; he takes note of the way your lips quiver and fingers curl up slightly at his words. you not-so-subtly push your thighs together, trying to alleviate some of your lust by yourself.

a satisfied grin curls at his lips and aemond, finally, leans into the slope of your neck. you shiver at the feather-like sensation of his lips pressing into your skin, grabbing onto his arm to steady yourself before he pushes you onto your back. “aemond, i need only you,” you shyly mumble, before reaching up on your elbows to undo the clasp of his eye patch.

aemond lets you do as much before throwing it behind him, fixing you with a lust-filled gaze that has you whimpering within a second. he leans over you, and makes a show out of dragging the fabric of your underthings down till he’s rid of them, throwing them to the side. you’re shaking as you watch him eye your cunt with a starving look.

calloused hands grab at the fat of your thighs, kneading the soft skin there before pushing them to your chest. you mewl as cold air fans over your wet cunt, catching the way aemond eyes your hole greedily twitching around nothing. “this is what you wanted, right?”

“yes, yes, please,” you beg. if you weren’t so desperate already, you would have gagged at the sound of your whiny tone. but aemond seems to like your desperation. aemond undoes the string of his pants, before palming himself with a squeeze that has him sighing in relief. your mouth waters at the sight before you.

aemond gives himself a moment before he climbs over you, his frame gently pushing onto your knees in the position you’re in. your eyes flutter shut at the sensation of his warmth enveloping you.

“no, look at me, ābrazȳrys,” your silver haired lover grunts, as he goes to drag his cockhead over your slit. “i should get aegon to pleasure your whorish cunt instead.”

your immediate protests brings a smug grin to aemond’s face. of course, he would never let his brother anywhere near the ethereal sight beneath him, but seeing the tortured look on your face brings him a sick sense of pride. he plays with you like this for a moment, rubbing his cockhead over and over your clit till you’re nearly crying out in want.

after what feels like a lifetime, he decides to push into you. aemond intently watches the way his cock catches at the rim of your pussy before he slams into you. your resulting gasp has aemond’s chest tightening as he loses himself to the feeling of your walls clenching around him immediately.

letting out a strangled moan of your name, he sets a brutal pace from the get-go, ploughing forward until you’re clawing at his neck and shoulders for a reprieve. you’re a quivering mess under him, a mix of moans and cries escaping you. you can feel him everywhere.

a light flush rises on aemond’s cheeks and upper chest, a pink hue that matches the fine dresses you might wear to a banquet or a tourney. your teary eyes trace the faint red lines peaking up on his broad shoulders, evidence of your passion that has your core clenching tighter around him. aemond catches your stare, mouth agape in a euphoric state of mind and pushes your knees down even further, if it was possible.

his wife, his lover, his, his, only his.

"it's okay, sweetling," he vows, fat cock bullying your walls as he moulds himself into you. he bends down to leave a path of kisses trailing down your neck, assuming a steady yet punishing pace into your sopping core. "for me, remember? you can take it for me, right?" aemond groans, drunk on the way your pussy sucks him in, eyes squeezed shut in the pleasure you both share.

leaning back, aemond watches you grip the sheets tightly, he feels the way you soak his cock every time he rocks into your pussy. you've gone half mad, tongue lolling out as you chant his name as a mindless mantra. he drags your knees down to instead wrap around his hips, bringing you closer to plant wet kisses down your neck, nipping at the salty skin. you keen into his ear at the change of position, untangling your hands from the sheets to cling tightly to aemond.

"feel good, love?" he murmurs, trailing his arm down till it lights presses onto your stomach as he drives his cock back into you. "tonight's the night i'm filling you up. that way, my fool of a brother will know to stay away from you.”

you don’t even think you’re making sense as you blabber your agreement. you want, no, you need him to give you his heir. you need him to drive himself further into you till you feel him in your chest, in your heart.

the thought of a miniature aemond targaryen running around has your heart swelling in your chest; the life you’ve always wanted but never let yourself dream of for too long. your lives were far too cruel for such a precious being to be born into it, yet aemond seems hellbent on making it come true as he bullies his cock further and further into your cunt.

aemond slows to a dangerous grind and bends down to capture your lips, his lean torso catches on your clit as you arch up into his mouth. "aemond pl-please, i want it," you whine, your hips buck as his languid thrusts reach a spot deeper than you thought possible. "you're mine," he groans into the heat of your mouth, skilled fingers come down to rub taut circles on your aching clit. he feels the telltale signs of your trembling walls and your greedy eyes beg him for release.

“fuc-fuck, nyke’m bē konīr,” aemond huffs, feeling your cunt swell around his cock as he rams deeper into you. you’re scrambling to hold onto anything; his shoulders, his wrists, the pillow, the sheets.

when you start twitching around his cock, walls fluttering at a pace aemond can't keep up with, he thinks you're the most divine creature in all the seven kingdoms.

and as you cream around his cock, aemond finds himself pushing himself into you one more time, filling you with his hot seed and the unspoken promise to cherish you for as long as you'd have him.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

high valyrian translations:

ābrazȳrys - wife. nyke’m bē konīr - i’m almost there.

[hazelfoureyes]

HAZELLLL OH BOY DO I HAVE A GOOD IDEAAAA

OKOK so what if doe! Reader is with vox and readers in heat right right????

But vox can't help reader break it (he's been trying for hours)

So he has to call alastor to help you since he's the only deer vox knows of

Oh my goddd

Hohoho good night awquar 💖

Cucking Vox

「warnings/promises: Vox x Female doe reader, Alastor x female doe reader, smut, Cucking the TV man, knotting, heat, pussy flooded, Alastor says “good girl”, hell is heaven now, you’re engaged but meh, drones were not made for this, Breeding???, humilation of the flat headed prince, Vox loves you, but your pussy love Alastor」

Minors I stg! DNI!

It had been all morning. He didn’t mind the stamina required, but his love was still suffering. Nothing was satiating your needs, even when he went out of his way to transform his typically human male prick into something more akin to the wider based cock you needed …. It was still not enough.

As you laid supine and open, the artificial knot full and stuck in you, the whines didn’t stop. It didn’t have the heat your cunt knew a proper mate would have. His load was too small, your womb quivering in need with every pathetic release he buried in you. A real knot would pulse with the heart rate of the buck claiming you. 

“Nothing?” Vox’s voice was high and worried. 

“I mean… it’s something.” Grumbled into a pillow. You ground against him but it was useless to calm your burning walls. Ever hour that passed without being properly fucked became torturous. 

“What does it feel like? Not getting, ya know,” suddenly he felt shy, voicing the thing he was lacking, “knotted.”

You considered sparing him the truth but your animal brain said it before your human one could stop it, “It hurts. It feels like my pussy is on fire. Do you know how sometimes the roof of your mouth itches and you can’t scratch it? That. For fucking hours.”

Seeing you in pain hurt him, deeper than he could handle. How could he have so much money and power and feel so worthless for you now?

Did he truly have no resources? No recourse? No remedy? 

As he watched your large doe ears press back into your skull, the solution came to him.

“One minute babe, you just…” Vox halted as you rolled on your side, fingers coming to your center to have some friction, “Keep doing that…”

· · ─────── ·📺📻· ─────── · ·

When the drone approached his patio table,  he didn’t look up. 

When Vox’s voice crackled through the small speaker, he didn’t look up.

When the question, “How much for you to fuck my fiancée?” was shouted at him, he admittedly choked a little on his coffee and finally acknowledged the device.

“Why on earth would I do that?” Alastor set the mug down to keep from breaking it in his hand.

“To humiliate me.”

A beat.

A hum.

A twirl of his staff.

“Well in that case, for free!”

Vox blinked twice as he stared at the monitor, “Wait, really?”

Alastor mulled it over seriously now. Did he want to have sex right now? No, not really. Did the idea of making Vox’s future wife scream his name sound hilarious? Yes absolutely. 

He shrugged, getting up from his chair as the drone spun around him, “Shit, I didn’t expect you to agree.”

“So you don’t want me to bed your gal?” Alastor smiled, “Then I’m definitely in.”

Vox chewed on a claw, “Fuck! Fine just get down here. And I don’t owe you any favors for this, so don’t even fucking ask.”

“Oh Vox, favors? You’re hardly the one I’d go to when in need. You’re not even the first Vee I’d approach! Ha!”

Before he could crash the drone directly into that smug face, he heard your whimpers from the bedroom down the hall and paused. 

“Just”, Vox cradled his screen in his hands, “hurry up.”

It became immediately clear why his former partner had called him of all people when Alastor exited the elevator into Vox’s personal floor.

The living quarters were swimming in the heady scent of arousal. Specifically, a doe. 

Alastor rolled his eyes, of course Vox found one of the few other deer demons in the pride ring to marry.

“Ooh, you are in a pickle, huh?” He leaned against the door frame, taking in the sight of the overlord rubbing your back as you groaned. His eyes fell immediately to the downturned tail above your bare cheeks. “Poor thing.” He cooed.

You couldn’t find the will to turn your head to look. A growled, “Voxy?”

“He’s here to help, babe.” His hands sped up their massaging swirls.

“Who, exactly?”

“Alastor! The radio demon. A plea-,” He began but couldn’t finish. 

Vox laughed nervously, “He’s a deer demon! Like you!” 

“You grabbed a random deer demon off the street to-,”

“No! Not at all! Though, admittedly, the only other deer demon I know.” As you made a noise of disapproval, he added, “He’s an overlord! An old pal, even.”

You heard the strange man guffaw. Finally, you rolled over to lay eyes on the supposed cavalry your beau had summoned.

Oh. 

“Hmm.” Something in you unspoken yet still demanding made you roll into your back and drop your knees open. 

He hadn’t anticipated a fellow deer in heat. Vox had offered him more than just fucking his girl, it turned out. Alastor had come mostly expecting to laugh in Vox’s face as a second best humiliation and head to cannibal town, but seeing how Vox was so desperately in love, well, how could he say no? What more delicious of a meal could exist than splitting open Vox’s ego while splitting open his doe with the same effort.

Still on the bed, Vox felt the air shift as he stood between Alastor and you. 

“Well, I uh, guess I’ll leave you two to it.” His screen flashed a pink haze of embarrassment.

“Oh? Abandoning her already?” With a snap and a flourish of his fingers, a plush reading chair materialized on the opposite side of the bed. “Take a seat, old chum.”

“You can’t be serious.” 

Alastor loosened his bowtie, “You’d really leave your vulnerable and needy betrothed all alone with a man? Tsk tsk.”

Vox laughed, “You’re not a man.”

“Ooh, correct.” Alastor reached the bed, undoing his belt, “I’m a buck, right little one?” When his hand reached out and slid down your calf you trembled. Even his skin on yours felt different than Vox’s. “Now take a seat.”

His flat face turned to you, who could only nod as a long claw dragged down your shin.

Vox settled into his chair and crossed his arms. He wanted to say something snotty about how he would make more money on his cell during the little romp than Alastor could dream of, but the sound of Alastor’s zipper made his throat close.

“I’ll need a little assistance to catch up to you, sweetheart. Mind lending me a hand?” Alastor rested his knees on either side of your thighs,  body hovering over you as he knelt.

You briefly considered arguing, but as his other hand pulled his still soft cock from his pants and the scent of him hit your heightened senses, you found your body sitting up. Your hand went into his as he placed it around himself. His fist around yours as he showed you how to stroke him.

“Is that really necessary?” Vox’s voice seemed to glitch.

“Of course! I’m only capable of knotting when in rut. And a rut can only be triggered by a doe in heat. I’ll need her touch and scent to … get the show started, so to speak.” Alastor’s hand left yours, index finger coming to lift your chin. The first eye contact of the evening, funnily enough coming after skin met skin. 

Deep red eyes shone down on you behind a widening smile, “Good girl. I’ll take care of you.”

“You’re obnoxious.” You slurred, a second wave of his uniquely virile musk rolling off his heated crotch. “Good girl? You just met me you….Old timey…”, the lights in your brain shut off, “fuck. Fuck.” Your mind was a blank piece of paper, the word ‘breed’ scrawled haphazardly as your hand felt the weight of his erection. 

Vox had never seen you make that face, nor your eyes lose focus and dilate quite like that either. He couldn’t help but glance at the thick appendage in your fist.

A look shot to his own lap, he hadn’t considered girth into the equation… 

Your mouth opened, saliva pooling in your cheeks as you brought him to your lips. Alastor’s hand snaked back to grab you by the hair and gently keep you off of him, not needing someone’s spit slathered on his skin. 

“Okay now-“ As Vox interjected Alastor’s hand sat still on your head.

“I’ll allow it.” The radio demon had a change of heart at the upset tone of his former friend.

Your tongue blanketed your bottom lip to welcome Alastor in, cheeks hollowing from the size of him alone. Why did he taste like that? Like someone you should only view from your knees? A power to his sweat that made your pussy clench. 

Just a few bobs of your head and he was pulling you off, the job done when Vox seemed to slouch back into the chair in resignation. Large and warm hands guided you onto your back and then onto your right side. Your line of sight was your husband-to-be, claws digging into the fabric of his summoned chair.

It was nice to be handled in your heat. To have strong hands move you around your bed as they wanted you, that alone nearly distracted you from the throbbing of your pussy now showing behind your thighs. Alastor lifted your left leg and used it to pull you to him, a wanton whimper from you when he lined up.

His chuckle was more than annoying, but you were in no position to argue. The sound of impatient tapping momentarily took your focus away; Vox’s foot hitting the tile floor. Your eyes followed up his body to meet his stare just in time for you to let out a loud, shakey gasp. Another came before you could catch your breath, the stretch burning as Alastor pressed in.

He began small incessant thrusts, your slick lubricating his intrusion with each withdrawal.

Vox watched entranced as your body seemed to melt into the bed with every snap of the deer man’s hips. You had spent the morning tense and sweating, so to see you so lax and comfortable was momentarily reassuring. But as your head lolled back with Alastor bottoming out, a flame of jealousy began to roar in sincerity. 

“Fuck,” you tried to keep the commentary down to spare your love, but you could feel your walls spreading around Alastor in a way you’d been praying for since you woke up aroused and pained. When he was fully sheathed you had to grip your pillow to keep from rolling onto your back and spreading yourself wider for him. The baser part of your brain urging you to give yourself over to the more-than-suitable mate. 

“You sweet doe, you’re burning up inside. And so swollen. Feeling better?” Alastor said it with such a clear voice you wondered how he was unaffected by your twitching pussy. 

With a nod you buried your face into the pillow clenched in your fists. His thrusts slowed. “Yes,” you ground out. The rhythm picked up again.

“Better than Vox could manage?” He side eyed Vox.

Your left foot came up and pushed at his chin, “Shut up and fuck me.”

“Hmm, afraid I can’t do both,” Alastor pulled out entirely, lower head rubbing side to side as he spread his own precum along your folds. 

Closing your eyes to not see Vox, you mumbled, “Yes.” He wrapped his arms around your left leg for leverage and thrust back into you with a single push. With a shift of his hips his cock hit against your g-spot with every entry. Your breaths quickly devolved into raspy gasps.

You felt a rush of slick as your body responded to the stimulation. The sound of Alastor’s cock sliding in and out of your arousal reached Vox despite being a ways away from the bed. The previous flame in his chest began to lower. Watching your body rock along with the obscene sounds of you being fucked was having an unexpected effect on him. With a gulp he let his hand rest on his lap, a gentle pressure as he palmed his growing erection.

The deep reach of the radio demon’s cock churning up your insides was felt by you and seen by Vox.

“You’re doing so well, dear. Look how wet you’ve gotten.” One hand came down to run past your clit, “I promise to have you dripping.” He turned his head fully to Vox now, “That’s why I’m here, after all. To breed you.” Vox opened his mouth to shout when Alastor rolled you onto your stomach. The curve of his dick resumed hitting your inner spot, wide cock dragging against every inch of your walls. A pleasured cry, your pillow lost. Bringing your legs up and out you let instincts take over.

The yell died in Vox’s throat. His hand shifted to rubbing his cock through his pants. “Are you done yet?” He saw the swelling bulge at the base of Alastor’s own cock.

You didn’t hear the question, only processing sticky flesh slapping together and your own loud moans.

“My knot needs to be bigger. I want to make sure I plug her up well.” Alastor knew he could finish now but he just needed a few more moments of fucking with the overlord. His eyes came to watch himself disappear into your seemingly too small hole, “Is that what you want? To be stuffed with my knot?” 

You vaguely registered his gaze had moved from where you two connected up to your face. A hand coming to tug at your tail and grip it from the base tore an answer from you, “Please. Please, Please.”

“Do you remember my name in that brain fog?” He took both ankles now and pushed your legs as wide open as they’d reach.

Vox could see the shine on Alastor’s growing knot as he seemed to push more and more in with each thrust. His palm felt the slight damp of his precum soaking through his pants.

He had a name? Right. Yes he had a name. You dug through the mess of your thoughts, an empty room of smoke and sensations, and found it. “Alastor. Alastor please!” Vox had entirely disappeared, it was just the thick cocked buck pounding into you in your bed now. 

“Aww, that’s a good doe. And are you ready for my knot?” Your legs struggled in his grip as you attempted to thrust back onto him to take all he had for you. He hummed, hips slowly as he fought back the pending release, “But you’re still so tight… did Vox even try to fuck you?” 

Vox cried out a small, “Oh, come on. Jackass.” It didn’t stop his hand though. He couldn’t argue Alastor was thicker than he was, even his knot seemed unfairly large.

“Fuck you,” you managed, stomach muscles tightening and drawing your body toward him as the pleasure ratcheted up by leaps and bounds. 

Alastor pulled out entirely again, releasing your legs. The whimper you let out momentarily softened Vox’s cock. “I’m sorrrrry,” you pouted, “Come baaaack.” You thought you would cry, as soon as he was out of your cunt the painful throb was creeping back in. You needed his skin on yours. His body in yours. 

You were rolled onto your stomach, his hands wrapping around to pick you up by the hips. On all fours, he sunk back in. “Shh,” big palms stroke down your back, “don’t forget to breath, sweetheart.” Your body was meant to take a knot during heat and you knew you were capable of taking it, but a small panic made you crawl up the bed as the large, throbbing bulb threatened to tear the delicate skin of your opening. Those same powerful hands you praised before now dug fingers into your hips and held you still. Bruises he hoped Vox would have to see for days. 

A small sob as he mercifully forced the rest of himself in with one harsh thrust, his crotch finally coming into contact with your ass. Again, without thinking, you pulled away and saw stars. It took just a second though for your brain to flood your body with the feel good chemicals it had been withholding all day. The pulsing knot vibrating against your puffy g-spit, wide cock head just barely breaching your cervix and flooding your womb and walls with thick cum; it was everything you needed. Your vision went white as your orgasm made your thighs give out, body going limp entirely.

Vox knew very well what it meant as your entire body trembled, hips stuck against Alastor as the rest of you went boneless.

Alastor took a deep breath. It was oddly refreshing, a form of stress relief he hadn’t considered before. Long claws made barely there lines up and down your thighs.

Pressing his chest into your back, he carefully grabbed your body and rolled you onto your side again to face Vox, him still behind you.

Vox stood up, saw the tenting of his pants and sat back down, throwing one left over the other, “Well! That’s finally done with. You can get the fuck out as soon as your freak penis goes back to normal.”

Alastor laughed, your mind entirely having checked out in your blissful state. Your stupid and content smile spread wide as his body shook slightly behind you. He propped himself up on his elbow to look at Vox.

“You went through all the trouble of finding one of the few other deer demons in hell to replace me, yet didn’t bother to learn about her biology.” His grin morphed into a smirk so wide his black gums were showing, “Heats last several days, Voxy.”

༻Masterlist༺

Added July 15th Luci x GN!Angel reader - Yes (Continuation of Lucifer x GN!AngelReader (fic based on Griftwood by ghost))

Added July 14th A Very Hazbin Happy Birthday imagine (Alastor, Luci, Angel, Charlie, Vaggie, Husk, Vox, Valentino)

˖ ݁𖥔.Summoning the Horny Little Deer Cult.𖥔 ݁ ˖

@eris-norwega @reath-solia

@cxrsedwxrlds , @nonetheartist , @tsunaki , @janchei , @moonmark98

, @readergirlstuff , @berry-demon , @chirimeimei , @fairyv-ice , @olive-frog ,

@thonethatflies620 , @tiredkiwiii , @ilikemyteawithmilk , @whateverlololo , @psipies ,

@howabouticallyou , @roxxie-wolf , , @fizzled-phoenix , @whateverlololo

, @a-case-of-attachment , @multifandomfanatic02 @watereddownmilk , @bontensbabygirl

, @hoebihoeshi , @pansexual-opera-house , @polytheatrix , @lorddiabigmommymilkers , @backinthefkingbuildingagain ,

@harley2223-blog , @poinappel , @midnightnoiserose , @spookieroz , @missmidorima a ,

@ivebeenthearchersstuff , @downbadforfictionalppl , @xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx , @sleepylittledemon , @aether-th3-enby ,

@dontfuckbutimfab , @breathlessaura , @aperfectidiot , @certainlygay , @jth12 ,

@star-kujo-platinum @ivebeenthearchersstuff , @rubyninja1 , @simphornies

,

[igotanidea]

Empty promises: Nikolai Lantsov x reader

A/N: first of all, sorry to everyone wainting for "Traitor", but I felt the need to write something sad and heart wrenching so here;s that. For now. Angst coming right next. Oh, and you have been warned, this is sad. And got spoilers for ep.4/5.

***

„Alina? Are you decent?” Y/n peeked through the door the very second the queen’s seamstress left the room.

“Y/n! Please, come in. It’s so good to see your face.” Alina struggled in the dress “I wish I could greet you properly but I can’t, quite, move in this.”

“Oh, yes, I’ve heard some rumors about certain Saint and the outfit trouble.” Y/N laughed wholeheartedly ”I don’t think it’s really your style, no matter what the queen mother may have to say about that. I may have an idea to save you from that torture though. If, you let me, that is.”

“Please. Anything.” Alina shook her head

“All right then. You know, a tailor would probably be better with the fitting, but as an Inferni I can surely give you something to boost your confidence” Y/N started turning around, picking another outfit for sol koroleva.

“Y/N.” Alina said and the timbre of her voice made the other Grisha stop in her track and look up “How… How are holding up? With me and Nikolai….?”

“I’m fine” Y/N assured quickly. Too quickly to make it believable. “I just ….” She sighed deeply, gathering all the strength she had to finish that sentence “I just wish he told me sooner, you know. Not just leave me like that. Given all we have… had….” she corrected and covered a little tremble by coughing “But he just left me as surprised as any other Grisha in the room when he announced your engagement and  it feels like betrayal, Alina. “ she went silent for a minute “but yes, apart from that I am perfectly fine. Now, let’s focus on the suit.”

“Y/N” Alina grabbed her hand gently “I am sorry for what you are going through right now.”

“Well, we all have our burdens to carry, right? I suppose this is mine.”

“I know it does not make anything better, but I know about heartbreak and making tough choices. Nikolai loves you in a way he would never feel about me. And I feel that for Mal. This is all just a political alliance, nothing more.” Alina assured.

“You know, sancta, when Nikolai left to be Sturmhond I spend two years searching for him, east to west and south to north. And when I did and we got together this was the best time of my life. And I shouldn’t have enjoyed the sea so much, but with him, I did.  And even then I always had this little tingling inside my head. A sneaky voice that was telling me, that we would not last. Turns out I was right. And truly, no one is to blame for that.” The Inferni smiled sadly “This should do the work” she raised the garments she prepared for Alina “I should better go before the seamstress came back. Just for now pretend you’ll wear the dress , all right? Can’t show all the cards at once.” And with such words, she left the chamber, unnoticed by anyone.

The next person to come to Alina was not even remotely as welcomed as Y/N. Vasily came for a little chat coated with veiled threat and perhaps a bit of a warning, but Alina was too strong to let him beguile her.

And then, when time came Nikolai appeared at the door for a little pep talk.

“Well, you look lovely” he smiled eyeing Alina already up and ready in her second army regimentals.

“Y/N came and helped me put this little thing together. So much better than….” Her gaze focused on the dress nearby and the girl rolled her eyes.

“She’s been avoiding me.” The prince said sadly “not that I blame her, but how can she not miss my company even a little? Am I so easily forgettable. She really acts like I’ve grown a pair of horns or started breathing fire…..” he tried to keep his cool and joke around but Alina knew him well enough to see through it.

“She’s an Inferni. A little fire could never discourage her.  But she’s hurt. Twice as much since you kept her in the dark about this whole arrangement.”

“I wanted to save her pain. And possibly myself.”

“’You failed at that.” Alina pouted

“Anyway, I got something to complete the look.” He took a step closer and reached inside his pocket retrieving a green gem “the Lantsov emerald….”

“Nikolai, we don’t have to do this, if it’s too hard. “

“Let’s just keep the pretenses up, shall we? Just remember, shall you decide to punch me, you will probably take my eyes out with this on, and I would not like that.”

***

 “Have you seen Mal?” Alina started spinning around, searching for the one face she so desperately needed to see “It’s not like him to be late.”

“Perhaps your little tracker is not such a fan of festivities as you.” Vasily approached the pair from behind, with some drink in his hand and Alina immediately excused herself, leaving two brothers alone.

“You know, my little brother” Vasily started “I always knew you would not end up with that little Inferni. Why settle for a commoner when there’s a living saint in the palace.” He laughed and took a sip on his drink. “now you will get fire from someone else! I’m sure the Sankta had a lot of it, judging by her actions. And Y/N. Waste of time. She was always a challenge, even when she was a kid.”

“Don’t you dare talking about her like this.” Nikolai hissed, but still kept straight face in a prince-like manner

“Why do you even care at this point, brother? From what I know, she’s been avoiding you, am I right? But look” he pointed out in the crowd, where Y/N was talking to Nadia and Tamar, laughing for the first time in a while “she’s right there. Don’t you wanna talk to her. If has any dignity, which I doubt, she would not cause a scene in public.”

Even though Nikolai knew his brother was only goading him, his brain shut off when legs carried him towards the other side of the ballroom, straight to her.

“Y/N.” he spoke and all three girls turned around, each one of them showing different expression. Tamar was curious of what was going to happen, Nadia a bit stressed out about her friend, and Y/N…. Y/N was just in pain and nothing could have hid it.

“Moi tsarevich”  she bowed, avoiding his eyes

“Please, stop it. Can we… can we talk for a minute? Please.”

“We are  not going to interrupt you….”Nadia started, but Tamar was on the other side of the barricade in the matter.

“I will. I’m not leaving her with you in this state, Nikolai. You know, you are both my friends, but she’s the victim not the other way round. “

“Tamar” Y/N put a hand on her shoulder “it’s all right. It will be just a minute to clarify this little misunderstanding . I’ll be with you before you notice I was gone.”

“I still don’t like it…” Tamar muttered, but let Nadia drag her away to have a little chat with Adrik and watch Alina. When they both left Y/N took a deep breath and before Nikolai was able to say a thing she took the lead of the conversation.

“Nikolai. I don’t really think it’s appropriate to leave your fiancé alone. Especially with Vasiliy acting like a predator tonight.”

“Vasiliy is drunk.”

“He’s been drunk since the age of 18. Remember that time when we played a prank on him and had to run through the palace in the middle of the night?” she smiled

“And when we ended up squeezed in the cupboard to avoid his wrath? Yes, I remember that.” Now they were both laughing outloud “I also remember what happened later on….”

“Nik. Stop it” she warned, her cheeks getting a bit flushed. Of course he had to refer to the moment they shared their first kiss “this is not the time or the place.”

“My feelings for you did not change.”

‘And do you think mine did? But you are engaged now. And I get it, Nik, I really do. You did what you though was right, as always and I can’t blame me for that. We are all pawns in this crazy political game and the point is to minimalize the  damage. If that means you getting with Alina then I cannot interfere. I still be there for you both. Even if it is in the sideline.

“Y/N…. I….”

“It’s all right” she raised her hands almost embracing him, but stopped herself in the last minute. “You should probably go join your family, your mother has been eyeing us for a while now and she knows we have past. Can’t risk anyone getting suspicious, right? Moi tsarevich” she bowed and went back to join Tamar, Adrik and Nadia, who pulled her into a hug.

From then on, everything started happening extremely fast. Vasiliy came onto the podium to gave some mockery speech about his brother, the man of the hour, but in the middle of it, Darkling’s shadow monster decided to drop by and well, cause a little havoc, killing the speaker and some other gathered people. It was chaos. Alina, Tamar, Adrik, Nadia and Y/N were trapped on the one side of the room, while the Lantsov (or rather whatever was left of this family) where stuck on the other.

“They have no heart, no pulse, no nothing!” Tamar exclaimed trying to use her heartrender powers

“Every creature has a weakness” Adrik spit, observing the monsters carefully from behind the table they used as some sort of shield, Y/N following in his steps.

“Those are shadows” the girl said “Look, Adrik, you were right, they have to be in their full form to touch and hurt someone!”

Before another shadow could attack Nikolai and his mother, Adrik came from one side throwing a gust of wind his way, Nadia doing the same on the other. Y/N used this as an opportunity to grab a spark from the nearby candle and throw a fireball straight into the middle of it. For a second, when the monster was tearing apart her gaze met with Nikolai’s who was just frozen like a deer in the spotlight.

“GO!” she yelled at him “Take whoever you can and GO!”

“Everyone into the tunnels!” Nikolai ordered, but before he himself rushed off, he just threw one last glance at his one true love and moved his mouth silently.

“Come back to me.”

***

“You three go find Alina, I’ll go check if there’s anyone lost in the corridors to get them to safety” Y/N commanded her friends ready to run the other way

“Have you lost your mind!?” Tamar spit at her “You are not going anywhere alone.”

“I’ll be fine Tamar.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that from you hundreds times before.”

“And I am still alive. A little bruised and scared but alive. Not planning on dying today, I swear. Alina needs you three and there’s no time, so I’ll just see you downstairs. GO!”

***

 She was running one of the palace corridors, stating with the greatest relief that all the Grisha that were not killed were off the palace and probably on the way to the tunnel. She almost reached the entrance, but mere meters before, another shadow monster blocked her way.

“Oh, Saint!” she hissed annoyed and focused her energy to gather just a little bit of flame since sadly, there wasn’t any external source of it anywhere near. It was always harder to get fire from nothing, but it used to work for her. Most of the times.

Not this one.

The fire that came out of her hands were so weak it barely reached the shadows let alone cause them any harm.

“Oh, shit…” she mumbled when darkness enveloped her whole and tried once again, this time fueled by fury and worry about her friends. Maybe Tamar was right and she shouldn’t have left them. Nonetheless that was not the time to dwell on the past mistakes, since it was extremely hard to breath inside that fog the monster were created from. It was like all of a sudden she found herself in the fold again, broken and scared. “Hell no! I am not dying today” she put her hands up causing a flare and dissipated the shadows finally getting herself free.

If only it wasn’t for that cut with sharp, thorn-like edges on her  leg, which she did not notice or feel.

***

“Is everyone safe?” Nikolai came from one entrance to the tunnels, meeting with Alina and Tamar coming from the opposite.

“Adrik got hurt in the arm, Nadia is with him.” Alina explained “the healers are taking care of the injured. What about the ones you came with?”

“Saved as many as possible” Nikolai turned around “where is …..?”

“That idiotic girl left us and came for the rescue. I told her she should not….” Tamar’s voice broke a little

“Where is she, Tamar?!”

“We… We don’t know…..”

“I’m here!” all the emotions he felt upon hearing her voice where just too much to handle and not caring about anyone  or anything or whether he was acting like an engaged prince he took off running towards her, wrapping arms around her and pulling her close to his chest.

“You’re safe, love. You’re safe.” He whispered again and again caressing her back, tangling fingers In her soft, messy hair and just getting lost in her.

“Nik…” she gasped taking a sharp inhale “I… I don’t really feel so good….” She stumbled a bit and this made him worry.

“I know, darling, but you were so brave up there. You saved my life with that little trick of yours. And you always said you couldn’t do fireballs. Guess me being in danger enhanced your…..”

“Nik, I really do not feel good” she mumbled and all her strength suddenly left her when her legs gave up and she collapsed into his arms, the embrace being the only thing shielding her from falling straight to the ground.

“Y/n? Come on, tell me, what is it, where does it hurt?” he started panicking just in the slightest.

“My leg….”

“May I?” he hesitated before lifting the material of her pants.

“Saints! Stop being a gentleman now! ” Tamar hissed and started tearing the pant-leg “I wish you were this polite at all those night on the ship instead of giving the crew sleepless nights “Oh….”

“How… how bad is it?” Y/N asked, raising her head from where It laid on Nikolai’s chest and he quickly turned her head away.

“It’s gonna be fine” he assured, grabbing her righter and kissing her temple “I’ll get you to a healer, all right?”

“Mhmmm……” she mumbled, slowly losing consciousness.

“I’m gonna lift you now, ok?” one of his hands sneaked around her back, the other went below her legs when he moved her from the ground “you’re gonna be ok, just don’t close your eyes, love.”

Out of instinct Alina wanted to join them on their walk to healers, but Tamar stopped her.

“Don’t” she shook her head, eyes a bit glassy.

“No.” Alina just stated. “Please tell me it’s not….” bus since Tamar was a heartrender there was really no point in arguing.

***

“Nik…. You smell so good.” Y/N hid face in his chest, locking arms around his neck

“I am all sweaty from the fight and running, honey. As much as I love what you are saying I do not smell good.”

“You smell like the ocean.” She smiled lightly “Like the sunny day on volkvolny”

“We’re going to have a thousand more of such days so you could dwell on the smell.”

 “I…. I don’t really think so, Niki.” She hissed in pain when he reached one of the makeshift flop and called upon the healer

“Always a joker, aren’t you?”

“I wish” she started coughing, a little blood appearing on the hand she tried to cover her mouth with. “Tell me the truth, Nik. How bad is it. Cause it hurts like hell.”

“I don’t want to look. I;m not a healer, I don’t have any experience…..”

“You…” she gasped “are a trained soldier. You know about wounds. Tell me.”

“It’s not good” he closed his eyes almost like those words caused him unimaginable pain and grabbed her hands. “but the healers…..”

“The healers have too much work on their hands. And judging by your voice….” She coughed  a bit more

“Sh, don’t say anything more. Let me just… Grigori!” he called upon one of the corporalki “she needs help.”

“Immediately, moi tsar” Grisha answered and it was probably the first time Nikolai realized that he was the king now.

“Moi tsar” Y/N smiled faintly “it suits you so well, lapushka. Auch! It hurts….”

“I’m sorry Y/N, this wound is unusually deep and it seems like there’s some kind of venom in your veins, going straight to the heart and…..” Grigori started slurring

“There’s nothing you can do, right?” she asked simply

“I’m so deeply sorry, Y/N, moi tsar.”

“Not your fault.”

“Leave us.” Nikolai hissed through gritted teeth and Grigori practically run away trying to avoid king’s fury “Y/N….” he leaned toward her, cupping her pale cheek and caressing it gently “I don’t want you to go….”

“Selfish. As usual. You don’t want me to go, mhm. Do you think I…. auch, want to die like this?”

“I need you with me….” He kissed the top of her head

“Selfish. Again. You got the sun summoner now."

"You are my sun."

"Stop flirting with me on .... on my .... death.... deathbed" she squirmed trying to lift herself up but it was too painful “Help… me….” She panted and Nikolai grabbed her waist with one hand and supported her back with another “I don’t have much time left… I feel it almost in my heart….”

“I don’t want to go on without you.” he whispered

“I know.” tears started showing in her eyes and he wiped them away breathing heavily “I’m scared Nik” she admitted trembling “I feel so cold. Can you just hold me? I don’t….” she gulped “I don’t want to go alone….”

“I’m here with you. No matter where you go, afterlife, I will find you, I swear.”

“Not if…ekhem! Oh, saints, it hurts so much” she cried and his heart broke at that sobbing coming from her. The sounds he would never recover from. Reminded that he failed to protect the only person he ever truly loved. And to think she was dying in his arms, while he was about to marry another woman. This was like a punch in the guts “not if I hunt you first.”

“I love you” he just had to say it. Maybe it was selfish again, but he needed to know that were the last words he said to her “I love you and I will always love you.” he kissed her knuckles, looking straight into her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Nik. And I’m sure you will….” Her voice was becoming so small, so quiet, almost audible in all commotion “… have a long, happy and fulfilled life. You’ll be great king. And a father…. I….” she closed her eyes “I’ll see you later, Nik…..” and just like that there was silence.

And this was the exact moment Tamar clenched her fist and faced the wall, her back to other Grishas so no one would see single tear falling from her eye.  

She said she’ll be fine…….  Empty promises always hurt the receiving end  of those.

***

“Nikolai? We need someone to get everyone together and ….” Zoya was blissfully unaware of the tragedy that just fell upon the king and was her usual self when she entered the part of tunnels were healers were stationed “what… what happened?”  she stuttered at the view in front of her eyes.

Nikolai was not a king at the moment. He was just a broken man who just lost the love of his life. Not crying, just sitting next to her still figure, holding and caressing her cold hand, unable to stop. Almost like he was in a trance. For what he cared the world could stop spinning and it would not make any difference for him. But for her…. He was going to do anything to avenge her death. But he would do that in a second, for now, he just wanted and needed to stay with her a bit more, even if that meant just watching her face, surprisingly peaceful and running a hand through her hair.

If only he could indulge in that greedy need.

“Goodbye, my love….” He whispered planting one final kiss on her forehead and tugging at his hair stood up to protect and guide his people, his subjects.

[we-are-maladaptive]

Scraped Knees & Silk Sheets

Prince!Shouto ♡ Maid!Reader - Chapter 1 out of ??

-> You've always been kind, wanting nothing more then to spread warmth into a cold castle. When you were a child, you had given some of your kindess to a boy in need. It was because he recognized your kindess, that you live to tell this story today.

fiction contains: fluff, angst, romance, reader is almost executed because endeavor is a piece of shit, eventual smut, eventual pregnancy, assassination, pining, shouto is a little too in love with reader, shouto is also an extreme romantic, reader is almost killed again because, you guessed it, endeavor is a piece of shit, pining, izuku + bakugou are shouto's right hand men, little bit of violence chapter contains: nothing extreme worth mentioning, shouto n reader are so cute omgomg PROLOUGE

COMMENT ON THIS POST TO BE ADDED TO THE NEXT CHAPTER'S TAGLIST.

chapter word count: 4.4k

Flowers fall salubriously over the skies of Venora, the sun’s warmth spreading over the fingertips of anyone sauntering outside to perform their duties for that day…or to any of the many children that decided to skip around their village knee-level of the citizens with flowers in their hair, engaging in anything that excited their blooming curiosity. Venora is one of- if not the most flourishing of countries, being outstandingly large, and having one of the most capable and efficient militia. It is a strong belief here that everyone has their purpose in life, and everyone has their own “talent” or gift given to them to serve that purpose. Many people are aware of their gifts from an early age, some without, and have hairs turning silver and still letting life lead them in whichever direction the wind blows. All in all, it’s a safe country to live your hopes and dreams in.

Besides, you learned the punishment for breaking some of the laws can be quite severe, and said punishments are severe enough to strike terror into the citizens who consider tampering with them.

“Really?? We get to visit the palace??” A little child squealed into their mother’s lap, that child just so happened to be you. Playing princesses with your friends was entertaining, yes, but it couldn’t compare with the real thing. It played over and over inside your feeble brain, the diamond chandeliers, the gold-plated statues, the doors, the throne room. Just the thought would make any insouciant child like yourself shake with anticipation.

“You mustn't make a scene when we get there, dear. As much as I understand your excitement, the palace can’t be mistaken to you as a place of fun and games, it’s quite serious. Your father is attending a meeting, so you and I get to stay for a while to attend the holiday. If you’re lucky, you might be able to attend the ball with me.” Your mother almost immediately regrets the last few sentences of her speech, now having to deal with a squealing 5-year-old who cannot control their emotions any longer. After a long sigh, she scooped you off her lap, walking over to the bedroom to place you into bed. There were paintings with stars and sparkles adorning the ceiling above your bed, and you convinced your mother to help hang stars from the faded paint spots. The dim lighting in a shade of dark blue truly did make the stars sparkle, including the ones hanging in your room and the stars that dance together in the sky. It made you wonder if they had the same paintings on the palace walls, maybe even more. With a kiss to your forehead, she tucked you in your bed and tried to step away, but failed due to you reaching out your tiny hand to grab onto her yellow sundress. “Do you think I can be a princess? Like the ones in the big palace?” “I'm sure you can, and I bet you’ll be the prettiest princess ever. However… I'm afraid princesses get beauty sleep, and at this rate, you’ll turn into a gremlin with baggy eyes!” She smiled when your body immediately went lax, and you flopped onto your bed sheets and snored as if you’d been sleeping for over a hundred years. With that, she left your room.

Your father was in a state of alamort, putting in as much effort as his soul allowed him to move your family higher status and reputation, but to no avail. His majesty had barely spared a glance at him, and he hoped that this ceremony would be an opportunity to bring his family higher. Your family was by no means struggling with money or bringing food on the table, more so struggling to maintain the reputation that's been withheld in your bloodline for generations.

Nobility was a hard bargain. Your surname was well known in the village you lived in, but it didn’t advance any farther than that. The family’s worth compared to that as a bystander you’d see in royal events, just slightly over a commoner, nothing to ever be placed near the grand royalty of the Todoroki bloodline.

The annual Crescent Moon ceremony was taking place in just a small amount of time, a celebration to symbolize family, fertility, empowerment, and to appreciate life’s lavish graces. It most certainly wasn’t the most important of events, but the meaning behind it gave reason to be very…lavish, and thriftless. A perfect event for a child to witness, as it romanticizes royal life to the utmost degree.

So, in the restless dreams of a 5-year-old girl, you’d be sitting on a throne adorned with diamonds, and a version of yourself that you would assume is an older you. A crown so shiny that if angled towards the sun, would blind anyone looking in your direction. It sits atop your perfectly placed strands of hair, not a single one out of place. Maybe if you thought hard enough, you’d be able to visualize a chromatic ring wrapped around your 4th finger, followed by the lips of a handsome prince pressed against the front of your hand.. is there a prince at the castle? Even a little girl can be bashful sometimes, maybe he’d be like the books, with a prodigious sword attached to his hip and weighty boots that slammed against marble floors, signaling his arrival earlier than his presence could. So.. speaking like a 5-year-old girl, this place is gonna be super duper awesome!!!

This… however..was not very awesome. It'd been almost.. 5 hours now? The sun is still high in the sky, burning down at the wooden carriage you rode in. It was hot, and your mother said that if you whined one more time about the heat, she’d make sure you’d get none of the palace desserts when they got to the capital of Venora, also known as Solaris. It was the diamond of the country, and where the tremendously large castle stays solemn. It’s where the royal family of Venora has resided for years. There are neighboring castles, much smaller, reserved for the high nobles, and your mother promised you’d get to see them when the carriage reached Solaris. Some were located on the way to the main castle, but some were buried deep in the wispy green forests, lakes, and hills that were outspread in Solaris, practically smothering the land. The only exception being the main village, which is said to be the largest city in the country. Your mother said that it’s not the best or most habitable place to live in. Tourists, and merchants, all of them practically suffocate the city, leaving little to no room for long-time inhabitants. If you want to live close to the castle, it’s best if you build your own place.

“Are we there-”

“Don’t even start, missy.” Your mother quipped before you could finish your childish statement.

“But-”

“You know, princesses are very calm and patient people. They ride in royal carriages all the time, simply waving at passersby. How could you be a princess if you can’t even make it to the castle without whining, dear?” Comparing you to a princess is the only way she knew would always get you to behave, it always worked well, proven by the silence the rest of the trip.

However, the mind of a little girl never stayed quiet, and as you peered out of the lights that the wood would allow, you could see your father’s carriage right in front of your own. It seemed that he was a quiet man, always thinking, but never speaking. Unless it was towards your mother about mundane things, he was always in his study, thinking. You couldn’t fathom what he could be up to, what could be so interesting or demanding that a simple nobleman as your father would be locked up inside the silence of his stone-walled office.

Sometimes at home, you’d see fathers - laughing and playing with their children, but that was never the case with yours. In fact, he never really spoke to your mother either. In contrast, your mother was as warm as a white fur blanket, like the ones she said were common in the palace, but rare and expensive to find in your own village. She always spoke with you, seeing as you had no other siblings. Speaking of which, you asked her about that idea once, having siblings. Quickly your mother hushed you of the idea, saying that it wouldn’t be happening anytime soon, almost looking hurt at what you said, so you never mentioned it again.

Having many children was a miracle at this age, why was she so against it-

The sound of faded cheers and chatter dragged you out of the deep reflection of your thoughts. Are we there yet-?

You slammed a hand over your mouth when you realized you had said that last part out loud, slowly turning your gaze over to your mother, who narrowed her eyes at you. Yet the look on her face quickly softened as she sighed, and announced; “Yes, we are here!” Even she couldn’t contain her excitement, yet she quickly had to compose herself and grab you, as you were just about to leap out of the carriage. “We are in Solaris, not near the castle yet. I can’t let you go out into the village, it’s filled with people for the ceremony and you’d surely be trampled. If you want to view the commotion, simply watch through the carriage.” She simply grinned at you as you whined, and pressed your face to the carriage glass.

The sun was still in the sky, but much lower. You had made it to your temporary estate, and you were astounded at the sheer size of the exterior. It was nearly thrice as big as your regular estate, with gardens on each side with their own unique plants, your favorite being the dazzling lilies on the left side, and the charming gladiolus on the right. There was even a butler waiting for you, and you scampered up to him with a smile, which he gladly returned to you. Your mother was, discreetly, also amazed at the size, simply internalizing her emotions, with nothing but soft upturned lips and a slight sparkle in her eyes. Your father, though, had the exact opposite emotions. He looked rather displeased, evident with the slight scowl on his face, what could he be so upset about? You decided to tug on his suit pants, directing his scowl at you, but he loosened his angry face at the sight of your frown.

“Why are you sad, pa? This place is so big!” He lost his scowl completely, opting to look at you with a neutral face instead to not upset you anymore, and walking towards the front door of the estate, lamenting to himself instead “It could have been bigger.”

The inside was just as impressive, ancient paintings with gold plated frames, silverware decorated in intricate patterns and designs carved into the metal. The thing that caught your eye the most, was the stunning piano in the foyer of the estate. You had half the mind to climb the piano stool, and mash your little fingers against the keys, you were almost successful too, if it weren’t for your mother holding the collar of your dress. …

Much to your mother’s delight, the length of the trip ended up giving her a tuckered-out 5 year old. This was good anyway, the ceremony was tomorrow evening, and they wouldn’t be leaving the estate for another 3 weeks, anyway. This part seemed to be the only thing that pleased your father, maybe it was because this gave him more time to talk with The King himself.

Your mother had a very difficult pregnancy regarding your birth. Infact, the birth itself was a blur in her memory. From what the midwives had told her, the bleeding was what almost caused her death. Luckily, her having held onto the strings of consciousness for just a few moments longer was what caused her to recover just enough for the healer to arrive intime. Due to the heavy bleeding, it was highly encouraged, almost demanded of her, that she never conceive again.

This had angered your father to no end. He had at least one child, but it wasn’t a male..an “heir” to his legacy. No matter how many times you had promised him to carry on his legacy, he wouldn’t listen. His anger got so severe, he had almost forced himself onto your mother- completely disregarding her safety, all for the chance of an heir. From what little bit of morals he had left, he stopped.

This was the reason why he was quite desperate in his attempts to raise his family’s status and reputation, but in this day and age, a daughter and a title can only get you so far. He watched as his once peers outgrew him in their own rankings, no longer speaking to him and throwing away their companionships as if it had only been brought together by a scroll, waxed stamp, and word from the king.

Deep down inside, he wanted to be able to disregard people like that- and throw them away. He’d never admit it, though.

The sun hadn’t even risen yet, but the whirlwind of activity never slept on a day such as this one. Your estate was over a mile away from the bustling city, and yet the cheers could be heard as loudly as the chirping birds outside the windowsill. Your mother must have heard it too, as she appeared in front of your doorway.

“I'm glad that trip wore you out enough to have you sleep in early, I'm afraid that was all the amount of soundful sleep you're going to get until the cheers die down in a few days.” She smiled at your little pout, walking over to you and gently pushing your fists away from your eyes as you rubbed them.

“Nonetheless, I bet you’ll be glad to hear that we get to enter the palace early, so it’s best you get yourself ready now, that is if you want to be princess material.”

“…Do I get to pick out my dress?”

“Of course you do.”

The sun was now peeking above the horizon, almost as if it was hiding from the beautiful chaos to come. The fear collides with the sky in an ethereal array of colors, the exact same array of colors as your dress. A shimmering light yellow, something lighter and purer than golden honey, but just as divine. It’s adorned with coral-like pink colored designs, and the prettiest golden shoes to go along with it. A dress, truly, fit for a princess.

The maid finished the final touches of the curls in your hair, so defined that they bounced on your head whenever you jumped in delight, much to the maid’s displeasure.

The sun had finally crept from its hiding place, now sitting lowly in the sky. It’s still well before noon, and you were stepping outside the estate with your mother’s hand holding your own. She wore a dress similar to your own, but fully yellow. Your father stood in front of you both. He was..suspiciously quiet, to say the very least. It was one thing to be in your own head, but his eyes seemed dark, like he was thinking about one thing only.

However, he snapped out of it when he realized the carriage wasn’t coming as soon as he expected it to.

People with high reputations get invited to the castle far far earlier than commoners get the chance to even get close to it. The earlier you get in depends on your status, and clearly your father thought he’d be escorted by now, and his pride would not allow him to go back inside to wait. Even the butler was starting to get concerned, it had now been over an hour waiting outside. Your mother had tried to persuade him 30 minutes ago, but was met with a rather harsh lecture, and didn’t dare to press further. He wouldn’t allow you two to go back inside either.

Finally, after about an hour and thirty minutes, the carriage arrived at your estate. Luckily the sun still wasn’t high enough in the sky, and the air still had a slight chill to it, so you didn’t overheat too much, it was just a little bit too warm for your liking.

The carriage was beyond anything you’d ever seen. It was laced with gold and diamonds beyond comparison to anything you’d ever seen. It was lavish, and the seats were laced with cold silk, much to your delight.

There were no words to describe the castle, none at all. Well, if you could explain it in one way… large. It took nearly 30 minutes to just get out of the carriage, due to the huge lineup at the side entrance. That was another thing your father hated, that he wasn’t “noble” enough to use the grand front entrance. You couldn’t even register his anger though, as you stepped out of the carriage the only thing you could think about was the sheer size and elegance at the massive structure standing proudly before you eyes. You clutched onto your mother tightly, as it felt as though you’d get lost if you so much as moved an inch from her body.

This was the moment you separated from your father, as though he had other plans, and stuck to your mother, heading towards the ladies’ hall, a portion of the castle where all the noblewoman and their ladies-in-waiting sat together for tea, from what you heard. It was strange though, why didn’t your mother have her own lady in waiting?

When inside the hall, you followed you mother to the room where the commotion was coming from, and were surprised by the sheer elegance of the woman inside. Did they go to galas all day? The ballgowns and tiaras they wore told you so, there was no way they could sit in such attire all day without dying.

You were almost intimidated by them as the silence built up and your mother walked in with you in her grasp. However, a breath of relief washed over you as some of the women smiled at you and your mother with a courtly wave, and a small portion just simply decided to ignore your existence, and go back to whatever conversation they were having moments prior.

Your mother seemed even more relieved as you did, surely feeling the anxiety building up about her own place in the room. She was older, but still had the girlish tendencies of wanting to fit in.

One of the noblewoman was very welcoming, opting to stand up from her loveseat and make her way over to your mother with a warm smile and curtsey. She even smiled down at you, which made your heart leap at the thought of being greeted by a princess.

“I see you’ve come right on time, and you’ve brought us a gift, too.” notioning at you, “she’ll fit in well with all of our children, the little girls out in the garden. It’s safe here, if she wants to play with them.”

Your mother curtseyed back, “I’m sure she’d like that, do you want to go [Y/N]?”

“Mhm!” The lady in front of your mother giggled at you, and notioned her head towards the entrance of the side garden. Your mother nodded at you, giving you permission to go, and so you skipped off.

The garden was filled with children playing and flowers of all colors blooming from every direction. Some children opted to go a little too high on the large garden swing, others chased butterflies, which is what you did. You got along well with a blond-haired blue-eyed girl, her hair tied up in pigtails and wearing a bright blue dress with gold accessories on it. She had some freckles on her face too, as she proclaimed to be “the professional of catching butterflies”. She taught you how to do it as well, and ushered you to catch the white and red colored butterfly, what an interesting color.

So you followed it, as it fluttered away into the forest-like part of the garden, with trees for what felt like miles. There were no children here, except for you and the childish butterfly slipping from your grasp at every chance.

Well, you thought you were the only child, until you heard crying from a distance.

A boy, about 8-9 years old, was sitting under an oak tree with tears in his eyes.

You hated it when people cried, you always ended up crying with them, but you’d try to keep your composure for the sake of this boy.

A light tap on his knee had him flinching, looking up at the person who had just dared to disturb him and his privacy. Almost regretting it, as he didn’t want to scare the intruder with the horrid scar on his face, but to his surprise, you didn’t flinch or widen your eyes at all. He was even more surprised at the person who was in front of him-

It was just a child.

“…What do you want?”

“Why are you crying?”

He didn’t answer your question.

“Is it because you're lonely?” “..No.”

“Are you nervous about the ceremony? I know it’s pretty scary, but can’t you believe how big this place is? As long as you have your parents by your side, you won't get lost! What’s your name?”

You didn’t know who he was, he was sure of that now. Giving away his last time would reveal who he was. He’d never had an outsider talk to him like a normal person before, and he wouldn’t admit it, but he enjoyed it. He enjoyed the informality, in contrast to the formality that he was forced to drown in all his life, up until now.

“..Shouto. This place is big..but I am used to it.”

“Oh! Do you come here often?? Oh- and my name is [Y/N]!! Unlike you- I am TERRIFIED! I feel like I might get lost here! Like I might get sucked up into a painting or something!”

“..You can’t get stuck in paintings.”

“Of course not silly! I’m just joking!”

“Oh.”

“Uhm.. is it because of your injury? Does it hurt?” you pointed at the scar on his eye. Clearly this wasn’t the best thing to have said, as the boy looks like he’s going to cry again.

“No.. it doesn’t hurt..well..not in that way I don’t think.” His voice is wobbly.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry Shouto. I hope it doesn’t hurt at all. When you grow up, though, I’m sure people will respect you alot with that super duper awesome scar!

“…What?”

“Well..your scar, it looks cool!”

“It..does?” He looked at you like you had grown a second head. He’d never been told that his scar looked cool before. When the incident happened a few years ago, the only thing he was ever met with was horrid looks and fear.

“Of course it does! It’s like you battled one of those big dragons and came back to tell the story! Or- or you're an amazing knight who battled an entire army!”

“A dragon..an army.” He wasn’t frowning anymore, and maybe it was just your imagination, but you swore you saw his lips turn upwards just slightly, thinking about the idea.

“Yeah! Even better if you saved a princess along the way!” That striked an idea to your head, and you began to climb up the tree he was curled under a few moments prior. Only making it to the middle of the tree, you started to faux cry.

“Heeeelp me Shouto!!" The dragon is going to eeeeatt me!!! I’ll become dinner to a hungry dragon!!!”

He looked at you, “There’s no dragon?”

“You have to pretend, silly.”

“Oh, okay.”

He tried his best to climb up the tree, and to your surprise, he did it alot better than you did. He grabbed your hip and pulled you out of the tree, placing you back on your feet.

“You saved me! You are a true heeeero, knight Shouto! The king will surely reward you for your greatness!” with that, you attempted to flash him your best princess smile, you’ve been practicing.

He giggled at you, which nearly surprised himself. It’d been years since he genuinely smiled, let alone laughed at anything.

His laughter was cut short though, with the sound of someone calling your name, in a rather panicked fashion.

“Oh… I have to go..or my mama will be soo mad at me, Shouto.”

“That’s… okay.” He frowned. “You're going to the event, right..?”

“Mhm!” You beamed up at him.

“..What’s your family's name?”

“Uhm.. my last name?”

“Yes.”

“Ohh! It’s [L/N].”

“I see. [F/N],[L/N] is it?” He thought to himself for a moment, then looked at you.

“Yep! That is mee!” You smiled once, again this time he smiled back.”

“[Y/N]!!!” The voice that was calling you got louder this time, startling you both.

With a final wave and a “Goodbye Shouto!! I’ll see you at the ball!” you ran back in the direction you came from, or, where the voice came from? You hoped you were running in the right direction.

“..Goodbye..[Y/N].”

Now he was left by himself again.

Shouto had his own fears and insecurities, all bundled up inside his broken heart and he didn’t have the strength to piece them back together alone. The people alongside him didn’t do much to help, not even his own prestigious family, the ones who were always supposed to be incharge and handle the country with diamond crowns on their heads.

He knew that the same neglectful family would come looking for him soon after they found out he wasn’t isolated in his room like they had thought he had been doing.

And he didn’t think that the one who would even try to piece his heart back together would be a girl 4 years younger than him. That she would make him happy.

Shouto Todoroki was happy with you, and you alone. Even if it was just for a moment, he remembered it well, and he would for the rest of his life.

AUTHORS NOTE: aerhsbdv eliusbfdv awilsubdf fkdbv its 12:34am please i want to be tumblr and a03 famous i put my whole constanceussy into this

IF YOU WANT TO BE APART OF THE TAGLIST FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST!

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Where did William being abusive towards Catherine come from?? The squad always say this🙄

There are a few groups of royal watchers that believe William has a terrible temper and that Kate is a battered wife.

Their evidence is, in my opinion, shaky:

A few stories over the years that the Waleses fight and argue (like every normal couple...)

Kate’s submissive/deferential behavior when she’s around William (as the protocol expects of a consort…)

Kate shrugging off William’s hand in the Mary Berry Christmas baking special (because PDA isn’t workplace appropriate…)

William wearing his anger on his face in certain events, like after the nude pics were published - he had a face like thunder (as wouldn’t anyone be when their privacy was egregiously violated…)

William yelling at the one pap that he caught recording the family (as would anyone do when a strange person is recording minor/underaged children…)

William’s obsession with privacy means dirty skeletons in his closet (but it’s okay for Meghan to keep her children private…)

The way Louis acted towards Kate at the jubilee parade/pageant - misbehaving, putting his hand in her face, taunting her, not listening - is learned behavior from William (and not, you know, typical 4 year old behavior…)

Kate’s unexpected absences and pulling out of events last-minute “for the children” are coverups (because kids never get sick and nannies never deserve time off…)

The dog bowl incident with Harry

Allegations about William’s temper has been around for a little while before Meghan came into the scene but they really picked up steam once she started dripping info/rumors and Sussex Squad picked them up and made them a bit more mainstream on social media.

Something to remember about Meghan is that she’s big into projecting and deflecting. A lot of the rumors we’ve heard about William, particularly regarding his temper and hotheadedness, don’t fully match up to what we see of him/his character in public…but does match up to what we know of Harry:

As a child, Harry held pets too tightly and had to be told off by Charles and Diana to let them go

Harry engaged in classic bullying behavior while at school (he describes this in Spare)

Harry rides his polo ponies so hard they’ve bled, and one died shortly after being ridden by Harry

He shot a polo ball at a gaggle of press photographers

His temper/frustrations have been witnessed publicly - telling off Meghan, telling off reporters, fighting with paparazzi

Harry calls his anger “seeing red” and he writes frequently/often of it in Spare

In these cases it is a classic Meghan move to hide or debase these stories about Harry/herself by creating, and spreading, identical rumors about William and Kate, many of which are so random they come up out of the blue. There’s been a few of these over the years.

The caveat to all this is that yes, we don’t know everything about William so yes, it’s entirely possible that he does have a hot temper and he could take it out behind closed doors. But I don’t think it’s likely: after 30+ years being in the public eye constantly followed by press and cameras and 20+ years with his wife, it absolutely would’ve come out already/by now if he had a dangerous, physical temper. This isn’t a matter of the Crown protecting him and sacrificing Harry instead. This alleged version of William truly does not exist. I guarantee you, if there was even a sniff of a hint that William was anything less than Prince Charming, the rabid press of the 90s and 00s would’ve been all over it.

[cielcreations]

Rancher Duo DND AU [Revised]

First off, I want to credit @rainbowchaox and their "Roll Initiative" AU! It's also a DND AU and I just want to give them credit as their story is really nice so make sure to check them out! Added more detail and changed a lot of the OG prompt to hopefully better separate our AUs :)

Grian and Jimmy are brothers who go to the same college and share a dorm room. Grian is a DM for DND and Jimmy was never interested in it, so he would just stay in his room while Grian DMs. However, after a lot of begging persuading, Grian manages to convince Jimmy to join because they lost a player and really needed a new one.

The people at the table are as follows:

Grian: The DM who does have a DMPC, but they're more their to give quests/push the party in the right direction. His PC is the prince of the kingdom that is the party's hub. Again, he doesn't fight/play with the party, just their for NPC quest giving. Also, his character is engaged to the head of the Royal Knights, Scar.

Jimmy: A Human Rouge because he wanted to play as something easy for his first time. He always tries to talk with the enemy first before fighting, and so far it has only worked about 10 times out of the 30+ fights they have had. His character does have canary wings because Jimmy thought it'd be cool. Grian accepted, but under the condition he cannot fly and he rolls at disadvantage with stealth. Jimmy agrees. (little does he know, Grian gives him an advantage in acrobatics because he is a nice older brother)

Joel: A Half-Orc Warrior who has seduced and slept with three nymphs in game (Lizzie, Sausage, and Etho). He likes to "force" Grian to roleplay flirting because Grian doesn't like flirting and he likes to make the DM suffer (ongoing joke between them, Grian will and has let Joel know if he's truly uncomfortable and Joel'll stop).

Ren: A Changeling Druid, he mainly likes to change into a werewolf/wolf. Is actually the leader of an (in game) changeling tribe that were really affected by the evil BBEG. His character's story is he finds the party and joins them in hopes of saving the world. Also, he marries a fey in game (Bdubs).

Scott: An Elf Cleric who mainly plays support/backup for Jimmy. He does heal/help the others, but Jimmy rolls so low sometimes, it's hilarious. Also, his character has a crush on Owen (in game character), a normal human shopkeeper. Scott has tried several times to take Owen on a date but always ends up rolling 10s-15s, literally just out of reach from "success". Scott has joked multiple times that the game is homophobic. (Also, yes, Grian could give Scott the date, but he jokes that "if Joel can somehow roll a Nat20 not once, not twice, but three times to sleep with three different nymphs, you can roll higher for just a date.")

Anyways, as the new player, Jimmy is clearly not the best, but he's not terrible. He's just decent.

As the game and story progresses, Jimmy learns more about the BBEG. The BBEG is Tango, a demon king who has a base in a volcano and has opened up the world to release all the monsters/demons the party has to fight. However, Jimmy has seen the art Grian commissioned and Tango looks really hot. His hair is a bright blonde that will turn into actual flames when angry, he has blood red eyes, and he's super confident, sassy, snarky, and Jimmy is in love. Any time someone at the table points out, Jimmy argues "I-I'm playing my character as someone who tries to negotiate first, shut up!"

Anyways, the party gets to the point of confronting the BBEG and Jimmy rolls the highest in initiative.

"Okay, Jim, what do you do?" Grian asks.

Jimmy hesitates, "...Can I try to talk to him?"

"Do you want to talk or flirt?"

"...Flirt."

"JIMMY!"

"JOEL SLEPT WITH THREE NYMPHS, I SHOULD BE ABLE TO FLIRT WITH THE BBEG!"

"Joel is the reason we can't have nice things!" Scott yelled.

Grian hums before he shrugs, "Honestly, you've been rolling kinda low. I'll let you try. Roll for persuasion."

Jimmy does and screams, "NAT20!!!"

Everyone bursts out laughing and Grian screams in frustration because "HOW CAN YOU FLIRT WITH THE BBEG AND SCOTT CAN'T GET ONE DATE?!?!"

Grian sighs and goes, "Okay, Timmy, you managed to roll a Nat20, what do you say?"

"Okay, so I step forward and tell Tango that we're not here to fight and that I've read a lot about his history! I know about how lonely he was growing up, but that it's okay now! I'd like to be his friend-"

"Boyfriend!"

"Shut up Ren! B-But, yeah... U-Um, I also say that a cute demon shouldn't be alone and that I really want to help him!"

Grian rolls his eyes, "You are awful at flirting. Anyways, Tango blushes and looks away, embarrassed by your words. He says 'No one has ever spoken to me like that before. People usually just want to kill me. I'm just a disgusting demon.'"

"Noooo, he's not disgusting-"

"ROLEPLAY DUMMY!" Scott teased.

"O-Oh, right! Uh, I say 'No, you're not disgusting, just misunderstood! I can help show you how amazing you are!'"

"Tango blushes more and goes, 'You're quite... strange. But also really nice... and handsome. Um, what's your name?'"

"Solidarity!"

"'Solidarity... It's nice to meet you. You're... very bold, aren't you?'"

"Only when it comes to handsome demons!"

Grian gags playfully before he hummed, "Tango laughs shyly and faces Solidarity with a smile, 'You say you want to help me? You want to show me I'm amazing? Then... Solidarity, will you marry me?'"

Jimmy gasps, "WAIT REALLY?!"

Grian shrugs, "You rolled a Nat20 and, honestly, I think it's fitting that the campaign that is full of Joel sleeping with 3 nymphs, Ren marrying a fae, and Scott constantly trying to get one date with one guy, ends with the BBEG getting married to a party member. So, do you accept?"

"YES!" Jimmy nods, everyone else laughing.

Grian rolls his eyes playfully, "Okay, so Solidarity and Tango get engaged and Tango undoes everything, putting the world back in order. SmallishBeans goes back to the forest to live with Lizzie, Sausage, and Etho. No, I don't care what headcannon you make up, Joel, I'm not roleplaying another flirting session. Anyways, Rendog goes back to his tribe and, of course, his husband Bdubs comes with him and they live happily ever after. And finally, Smajor goes back to town to continue flirting with Owen and, this time, he actually does get a date because I am merciful, thank you very much."

Everyone laughs and packs everything up. It's pretty late, so the rest of the night is spent in the living room and Grian orders pizza. It turns into a sleepover, with Scott on one couch, Joel and Grian on another (opposite sides), and Ren and Jimmy fall asleep on the floor on a pile of blankets and pillows.

In the middle of the night, Jimmy wakes up to a weird noise. He groans and sits up, looking around. He sees a weird light coming from the dining room table, where they played DND. He walks over and sees the light is just the table glowing. He touches the table, confused. As he does so, a hand seems to grab him and he screams before he is pulled into the table.

When Jimmy wakes up, he is in a weird mansion. He looks around and gasps, confused.

"Are you okay?"

Jimmy turns and is face to face with... Tango.

The demon smiled, "Oh, good, you're okay!" He gently cupped the other's cheek, "The gods weren't lying, you are way more attractive in person. Welcome home, Solidarity."

Jimmy just stares and blushes because Tango is so much hotter in person than the art Grian commissioned.

"...Are you okay? You didn't hit your head too hard, right?"

"You're pretty." Jimmy blurts out.

Tango blushes and laughs, "Charmer, aren't you? Come on, let's get off the floor, we have a wedding to plan."

Ji- Solidarity nods. He can question this weirdness later, preferably after the wedding.

[brandwhorestarscream]

Despite lacking any autonomy, is it possible for Thundercracker to be spoiled? Like, he's highly treasured and could get anything he wants except freedom. So if Megatron starts a book/poetry club with him, only joking a little bit, maybe he could calm his house? Again, this all depends on how he's treated inside the aerie. Please let me know how he's actually treated!

And yessss Skywarp just going 🤩 upon realising it's actually the Megatron. I'm just getting this mental image of him nudging Starscream and going, "If I bond with you, does he become my concubine too?"

Ok ok hear me out 👀 the grand matriarchal trine of Thundercracker's family are his grandparents, and the trine leader is his grandmother. Let's just call her Permafrost (name not final), with her two mates Whiteout and Cirrus. Permafrost is typically an ice cold, incredibly shrewd, and strategic woman, but when it comes to her favorite grandsparks she's very protective. She loves Thundercracker very, very much, and only wants what's best for him: she won't have her favorite grandson being trined to someone who won't treat him with the love and respect he deserves, title as the crown prince be damned. And if the little upstart that's to be future Winglord can't be trusted not to stick it in a ground pounder, like hell does she want his tainted hands on her precious grandspark.

So yes! I like the idea of Thundercracker being very spoiled and doted on, but being unable to be free or truly control his life has him suffocating. The only way to salvage the engagement at this point would be to have him tell grandma Permafrost that he wants to trine to the prince. If he really, truly wanted it, she would concede, but as it stands now she's planning to call the whole thing off. If Megatron started a book club with Thundercracker 🥺 I think he'd be really happy. All high caste seekers are well read, naturally, but none really share TC's passion for it. He's an S-class bookworm and devours anything he can get his servos on, from adventure novels to sci-fi to horror to romance. A lot of it is considered improper or low-brow reading, so there's hardly anyone he can talk to about it.

Then Megatron comes along and recognizes one of the titles he's engrossed in--probably slipped away from the ball to get a break and finish the most recent chapter he was in--and they immediately hit it off. Thundercracker has stars in his optics pretty much the entire time, and when the two of them are found hours later, he's practically glowing. He's never had anyone to talk about his interests with, and certainly not someone who matches his enthusiasm. They lose track of time getting lost in their conversations, and when they're found, Thundercracker is practically walking on air. He's elated, the conversation was so invigorating and he leaves with a radiant smile on his face.

Permafrost has never seen him like this, no one has, not since he was very young. Thundercracker asks her to hold off on canceling the engagement, leaving them in a state of limbo. They're not out of the woods yet, he's not sure what he wants, but agrees to let Megatron (and Starscream) continue trying to win him over. It's a really weird reversal, of the royal line having to court and petition someone of lower status for their hand, but their relationship so far is anything but the norm 🤭 it's shaping up to be a proper courtship, and Thundercracker let's them set a date to meet with him again (for a coutship date, totally, definitely not the beginnings of a book club with Megatron, oh no, never 👀)

...

Now, for Skywarp. Starscream firmly tells him that no, Megatron wouldn't be their shared concubine. He's not some piece of shareware for them to pass around! That's the carrier of his children, thank you very much, and he won't have him disrespected and pawed at! Skywarp pouts about it, but takes it in stride. Says he'll continue the engagement if he gets access to Megatron too, as company if nothing else. They’re both aliens in the world of high society, so he feels smthn of an understanding kinship between them. He wants to hang out with his favorite gladiator, and even offers to keep him entertained while Starscream is schmoozing with Thundercracker. Little does he know TC wants to see the new concubine too 🤭

[greatideas-badwriter]

SasuSaku: Sacrificed To The Banished Prince Chapter 4

Sasuke’s eyes shot open, and he gasped for breath. There, on the floor in front of where he was sitting with his back to the side of the bed, was Lady Haruno. He didn’t move a muscle. Instead, he stared in disbelief while recalling what he’d helplessly watched transpire last night. Never in his life had someone tried to speak with The Curse other than him. The fiance he murdered years ago only screamed. The sound would forever plague Sasuke’s mind. His chest tightened as he snapped back into focus. 

‘...Is she breathing?’ Sasuke’s spine straightened as he looked over the woman’s thin body, a sigh of relief becoming stuck in his throat when he realized she was alive. ‘That demon didn’t even try to help her after she collapsed! He just sat down and waited to see if she’d wake again. He truly is a monster. …I’m a monster.’ 

The Curse was right about him. He was a coward and a selfish one at that. How dare he feign concern for this woman when he didn’t even have the courage to end his own life and effectively render the threat null? 

A knock came at the door, and Sasuke’s eyes lifted in time to see Sai enter. That was when he was reminded of Yamamoto’s demise because the butler had to step over the corpse to approach. “My Lord, are you well?” 

The prince’s mouth was dry. He felt sick to his stomach as his gaze fell onto Lady Haruno once more, “Tend to The Lady before anything else. I fear she may have suffered internal injuries.” He didn’t dare touch her to determine for himself her condition. These were the same hands that caused her torment in the first place. 

Sasuke rose to his feet as Sai lifted the unconscious woman, gritting his teeth when he recognized the bruising around her slim arms. The Curse really knew little restraint. 

Long pink hair, dirtied with blood, fell over Sai’s arm as he faced his master, “I’ll send men to take care of Yamamoto’s body. I’ll personally inform his family while the maids and doctors tend to The Lady.” 

“Yes. Thank you,” Sasuke muttered. The guilt may eat him alive. 

While his room was being tended to, the man locked himself in the baths, overcome with angst. Just when he was sure things couldn’t get worse, The Curse became obsessed with Lady Haruno. Never before had such a demon spared the life of someone whilst being physically unrestrained. Sasuke could feel The Curse’s desire to tear her limb from limb, to feed into his lust until her body could no longer withstand the pain. Indeed, he’d viewed her as little more than an item or slave to be used for his amusement. 

‘What should I do to remedy this? Is there anything I can do at all?’ 

Dark, tearful eyes darted down to his hands, recalling how cold his fiance’s skin had been to the touch. Her hair, long and the color of cherry blossoms, was soft between his fingers. Yesterday, when he caught a glimpse of her tending to the walkway outside, he hadn’t managed to see her face. 

‘She’s like a doll. I’ve never seen such features-’ For some reason, the prince couldn’t finish the thought because it felt untrue. Surely, he’d recall seeing someone with such eyes of emerald. 

More than her appearance, Lady Haruno’s behavior was startling. Sasuke had been under the impression that she simply wanted to escape her family like many other noble women, but he’d been incorrect. No, she wanted to die. She begged The Curse to do it. He’d only ever seen such desperation in the faces of the women who died as a result of their engagement. 

‘And her name is Sakura. I wasn’t aware Baron Haruno had a daughter by that name.’ She’d mentioned her illegitimacy, which led the prince to believe it when she insinuated her family had knowingly sent her to her death. He still wanted to know more about her background before proceeding with any responses. 

That afternoon, upon being informed by Sai that the woman hadn’t suffered any serious injuries and was simply malnourished and exhausted, he sent an order for the Haruno family to be investigated; to find out anything and everything about the pink-haired creature sleeping in his manor. 

Two days passed, and The Lady still had not woken. Her handmaid, a promising young woman named Ino, appeared at his door. He stepped back to give her a wide berth, “Do you have news?” 

She bowed, nervously avoiding his gaze, “The doctors believe she’ll soon wake, but that isn’t all I believe you should know.” 

‘I feel an uncomfortable aura coming from this girl that isn’t akin to what I usually perceive.’

“As you know, I’ve been tasked with caring for My Lady during her stay,” Ino swallowed, bowing her head again. After pausing, she seemed to force herself to simply spit out what was on her mind, “My Lord, her body is littered with bruises and scars.” 

Sasuke’s chest tightened. He nodded once, turning his gaze toward the closed closet doors across the room, “Yes, well, she was put through quite the ordeal.” ‘I truly am a monster. How will I ever make amends for something so atrocious?’ 

“No, My Lord. You misunderstand,” Ino bravely met his eye, tears welling in her own, “I fear many of these markings are aged by days, months, or even years.” 

“...I beg your pardon. Are you suggesting The Lady has suffered abuse at the hands of Baron Haruno? Do you understand the consequences of making such an accusation?” Sasuke warned the blonde girl, unable to believe such a prominent man would allow a child of his, illegitimate or not, to be treated so poorly. 

Ino lowered her head and begged, “P-Please believe me, My Lord! I would never make such an accusation if I wasn’t sure! You’ll understand if you see them for yourself!” 

“It would be highly inappropriate for a man to view an unwed lady’s bare skin, especially without consent.” 

“Oh, you’re absolutely correct! I apologize for my insolence!” Ino’s face turned red as she bowed further. 

Sasuke thought for a moment before gesturing down the hall in the direction of the staircase, “We will ask Lady Haruno about this matter once she awakes. Until then, do not mention what you’ve seen to anyone else.” 

“Understood. Excuse me, My Lord.” 

The prince shut the door behind him, running his hands through his hair with a sigh. A week had barely passed since the noblewoman’s arrival, yet she’d already experienced so much suffering by his fault. Usually, he was quick to come up with resolutions to problems, but this time he couldn’t think straight. 

Each dusk and dawn, The Curse would threaten to stop being so docile if Sasuke dared to do anything to separate him from Lady Haruno. ‘How can I sit aside and let that beast torment an innocent person?’ But there were so many at risk if he disobeyed. Yamamoto already died trying to help, and the prince didn’t want to try calling The Curse’s bluff a second time. 

‘Am I really considering marrying this woman just to appease him? She truly would be a sacrifice if I allowed it to happen. Can I simply sit aside and let her suffer just so everyone else can have a chance at remaining unharmed? There’s no guarantee The Curse will behave just because he found someone that amuses him.’ 

That evening, his voice met his ears as he cuffed himself to the wall, “I wish to look upon her face. Leave me free.” Sasuke bit back for the first time in years, “No. You’ll only hurt others.” 

“What if I promise to behave?” 

“The words of a demon mean nothing to me.” 

A cry of pain left Sasuke before he snickered, his skin crawling with electric aches, “What if I make a deal to only enter my sacrifice’s room?” 

The type of deal he was speaking about wasn’t able to be broken. It was a well-known type of magic where if one breaks their vow, they’re soul will be forced to submit to those on the receiving end of the promise. This was the first time The Curse had ever tried to reason with Sasuke without the threat of blood and violence. That alone made the prince hesitate. 

“...You’ll truly make a deal with me?” 

“I vow to forever obey should I bring harm to another this night and break the deal. Do you accept?” 

It didn’t matter if Sasuke accepted the deal because The Curse had succeeded in distracting him long enough to take complete control of the body before the second cuff could be latched. As the prince’s consciousness sank away, Akuma smiled and began freeing himself, “You should’ve accepted while you had the chance.” 

As soon as Akuma left Sasuke’s bedroom, he ran into two butlers, who froze. He chuckled and walked right past them. When he made it to Sakura’s room, he didn’t bother knocking and simply entered, only to stop in his tracks when the two maids freshening up the unconscious woman screamed in surprise. 

Red seeped into his vision as he stepped closer, “Who did this!” 

Sakura was on her side with her front covered, but her back was bare, so he could see the dozens of scars and bruises that littered such pale skin. 

The blond woman whom he recognized as his sacrifice’s handmaid motioned for the other one to back away with her, “The bruises are from the incident earlier this week.” 

Akuma sat at the edge of the bed and brushed Sakura’s long hair away from her back, “And the rest?” 

“We’re unsure.” 

Fire lit his rage, and he glared at the cowering women, “What?” 

“I-I said we don’t know! We’ve only known Lady Haruno for a short time, and she hasn’t opened up to any of us.” 

With his enhanced senses, Akuma noticed a change in the thin being lying on the bed and barked, “Leave us if you value your pitiful lives.” 

“...You’ve awakened,” he said quietly, turning his gaze onto Sakura. She groaned, curling slightly into a ball with a grimace. He frowned, “Will you not answer?” 

Bright green eyes crept open, hazily at first. They quickly focused before turning onto him and widening, “Its Akuma?” 

Sweet satisfaction warmed his chest, “You recognize your master. That pleases me.” 

When Sakura noticed her state of dress, her face turned red, and she fumbled to cover up while turning onto her back, “I-I feel….” 

“You’re unwell,” he remarked. She stared in bewilderment before nodding, lowering her gaze from his and saying nothing. 

‘Her spirit is even weaker than our first meeting. Has she not been resting these past days?’ 

“Will you really not kill me?” 

“Use my name when speaking to me, Sacrifice.” 

“Akuma.” For whatever reason, hearing that word on such pure and innocent lips seemed sweeter than honey. 

Despite knowing she wasn’t healed from her injuries, he skipped the useless human formalities and went straight into trying to gain the knowledge he desired, “Was it your family who marked your skin so carelessly?” 

The color left Sakura’s face as she sat up, holding the thin blanket to her chest, “....” 

Anger made Akuma’s tone and volume harden, “Answer when I make inquiries.” 

“I-Its only because I deserved it, Akuma! They were punishing me for not benefiting the household as I should have been.” 

He scoffed, “This being the same family that sacrificed you to me, correct?” 

She nodded, fingers tightening their grip on the blanket as her head turned away so he couldn’t see her face. 

In truth, Akuma didn’t care about humans. He only cared about himself and preserving the vessel that walked while the sun was in the sky. For that reason, he became confused by the intense bloodlust that overcame him when he imagined what filthy creatures this girl must be the offspring of. He found himself reaching to hold strands of soft, pink hair. An unfamiliar sensation met his chest when Sakura’s eyes squeezed closed. She swallowed anxiously but made no move to pull away. 

‘This mouse is frail, but she’s not ignorant.’ 

Neither moved for a very long time. He simply studied the way her uniquely-colored locks flowed between his fingers while lost in thought. 

For ten years now, he’d laid relatively dormant within that useless prince. Though he’d never admit it aloud, the vessel was too strong for him to take complete control. Until now, Akuma had been content to preserve his energy for an opportune day. Perhaps the secluded prince would fall severely ill or would be the victim of an assassination attempt from the crown. Either way, the body being weakened was the only way for Akuma to completely eradicate the consciousness of Sasuke. 

Such an event had yet to come. In fact, the prince was diligent in training his body to become and remain strong. For dozens of hours weekly, he’d spend time practicing swordsmanship and horseback riding. Akuma’s brow lifted as an idea occurred to him, ‘Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to gain complete freedom.’ 

Before being bonded to a twelve-year-old Sasuke Uchiha, he was one of Satan’s strongest knights. Out of hundreds, he was selected to govern purgatory. It was there that he witnessed countless memories of pathetic humans. At some point in the eons of performing duties, his curiosity became strong enough that when a strange-looking wizard appeared from a black portal that’d formed out of thin air, he stupidly agreed to a summoning contract. 

‘If I can get this woman to fall in love with me, she may be convinced to murder the prince.’ Humans were fickle and easy to manipulate. All Akuma had to do was behave in a way Sakura found appealing, and she’d eventually do his bidding without hesitation, no matter the request. ‘I’ll only have one opportunity to ask. If I do it and she refuses, I’ll have to kill her so she doesn’t tell the prince of my plan.’ 

“I wish to rest,” he said bluntly. ‘This woman is still pure. I can tell her interactions with men has been minimal. Her scent is mind-numbing.’ Coming on strong to someone shy and inexperienced was a sure way to get things moving. 

“Would you like to use my bed, Akuma? I’ll find somewhere else to-” “Silence.” 

He tore the covers from her weak grasp and slid under them beside the thin woman. Immediately, she began to shake in fear. Though it was annoying, he pulled her into his chest so she couldn’t see the hungry, lustful expression on his face, “Sleep. I’ve vowed to destroy any who would lay a hand on my belongings, haven’t I?” 

The amusement in his bones melted when sniffling met his ears. He didn’t pull back but growled, “You’re weeping? I have no use for a cowardly sacrifice.” “N-No, um, it’s not that, Akuma….” 

Sakura’s hands held onto his shirt. Confusion swept over Akuma, “Then what is it?” 

“You mean it, right?” This time, he had to pull away because he had no idea what thoughts were passing through her head. The woman’s tearful gaze met his, and she wiped at it with trembling fingers, “For the first time, I think I truly believe no harm will come to me in my sleep.” 

Akuma couldn’t find any words. Stunned, he blinked when the woman’s sobs strengthened, and she re-buried her face in his shirt. An odd, protective feeling overcame him. Cautiously, he placed a large hand on the back of her head to keep her close, “...Yes, of course. No one would dare test my rage.” 

Sakura cried for the better part of an hour before falling unconscious. All that time, the demon absently soothed her hair and waited for the trembles of her body to cease. Once she was asleep, he found himself unwilling to leave the bed. Irritation made him uncomfortable, but he said nothing aloud and tightened his hold around the tiny woman. 

‘There’s nothing wrong with preserving a sacrifice, is there? She was given to me, so I’ll do with her what I please.’ 

[libraryfag]

feel free to pick & choose if this is too many, but merrily (as well), trc, and hamlet for the ask game!!

holy trinity of media that makes me insane about tragedy!

Merrily:

Favorite character: a tie between Charly and Mary.... i literally cannot chose between them Second favorite character: Frank, to complete the trio, he's such an asshole but i do love him

Least favorite character: Not a proper answer because I really don't have a least favorite character but gussie was honestly done a little bit dirty by the show.i understand that it's a very easy way of showing how the friendship collapsed overtime but the show makes it seem like it was all gussies fault and i feel so bad for her because it wasn't as if she was deliberately doing it it just sorta happened but whatever.

The character I’m most like: hm. i think maybe Act Two Frank specifically just bc im so so in love with theatre. merrily is so so special to me bc it really captures that magic. not a character but i really really relate to Opening Doors bc thats just what writing a show is like or making any art reallly.

Favorite pairing: Frank/Charly/Mary not just platonic not romantic not sexual but a secret fourth thing (including all the above) they loved each other so much!

Least favorite pairing: theo I totally agree with everything you said about frank and meg. i cant think of anyone else i could say so i might as welll copy your answer

Favorite moment: Opening Doors which has grown on me since i heard that Sondheim said it was his only autobiographic song. as well as the previously discussed reliability of it, it's such an earworm, like ive had it stuck in my head basically alll year its crazy. Also it shows how close they were together which makes it incredibly heartbreaking also

Rating out of 10: 9/10. its one of my favourite musicals ever! obligatory point reduction for whatever was wrong with the original production (Hal Prince wtf were you doing casting children??)

The Raven Cycle

Favorite character: Ronan Lynch <3 Second favorite character: oh god. im just going to say chainsaw bc i love her so much and i don't want to single out any of the other protagonists bc then i feel bad.

Least favorite character: Maggie Steifvater is such a great author I cannot name a single character I'm not 100% invested in, even ones that would be so easy to get bored by, like Mr Gray or Greenmantle I need to learn everything about them ever.

The character I’m most like: gansey tbh. to the point where i try not to think about it

Favorite pairing: all of the guys (aka blue, gansey, adam, ronan, noah and maybe henry, i don't know him so well yet). basically the same as my merrily answer, labels don't really matter: what matters is they all love each other so so much its insaneeeeeee. im also a big sucker for whatever ronan and adam have going on

Least favorite pairing: tbh i wasn't so invested in maura and the gray man at first.

Favorite moment: i love it when ronan is protective of chainsaw.. he loves that bird so much

Rating out of 10: 11/10 aka so good its literally having a detrimental impact on my school results and mental health/sleep :)

Hamlet

Favorite character: Hamlet Thee Dane. truly the character of all time

Second favorite character: i think about ophelia every single day

Least favorite character: depends on the production tbh. like i used to not care about laertes and polonius, but i became obsessed with the former either last year or the year before, and the version i read this year (Nicki Greenberg's graphic novel which i would recommend) had a really engaging interpretation of the latter which was so good i got sad when he died.

The character I’m most like: hamlet is literally me btw.

Favorite pairing: tragic danish boyfriends is a classic and brilliant but hamlet and laertes also upsets me so so much. like they are literally perfect foils

Least favorite pairing: ugh. gertrude and hamlet sexually. freud suck my dick

Favorite moment: yes ive seen/read it 5 times now. no, i've never not been emotionally destroyed by the ending

Rating out of 10: 10/10. one of the best pieces of fiction ever. which is a totally subjective statement but also im right.

[naminethewriter]

Cursed Woods

Is it really already the last day of @roceit2023? It was a very fun event to participate in, thank you very much to the organizer(s)! 🥰 So let's end this week of pure fluff with some angst 😈

Here on Ao3

Masterpost | Roceit Week 2023 Masterpost

Summary: Roman is almost home! If only he could convince Janus to go with him.

Content Warnings: Off Screen Physical Fighting, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Hurt No Comfort, Near Death Experience, Flashbacks

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

Roman broke through the tree line, panting. Before him rose an archway of stone, otherworldly in its construction. Well, otherworldly to him at least. Stones drifted through the air, and a wild energy buzzed around the clearing.

This was it. He was sure of it.

Yelling from behind him startled him out of his awe. Janus was still behind him, engaged in battle with whatever creatures had attacked them this time. He couldn’t leave him to fend for his own.

~~~

“Who are you and where have you taken me!”

“I haven’t taken you anywhere. You were already here when I got here.”

“Lies! I wasn’t in the woods, I was…”

“Can’t recall?”

“Shut up! I was… What have you done with my memories, snake!”

“Nothing at all. I simply found you sleeping, my prince.”

“Aha! How did you know I was a prince? You are holding me for ransom, aren’t you?”

“You wear a crown, stranger. It was simply a guess.”

“I demand you bring me back to my country this instance!”

“I can help you get home, your highness, but it is not something I can just make happen. It’s a long journey to make, through treacherous lands.”

“Why should I trust you to lead me anywhere?”

“What choice do you have?”

~~~

“I found it, Janus!” Roman called. He spotted the snake-man not far away, avoiding the claw strikes of a monster, then cutting it down with his sword.

“Wonderful!” he answered once the beast wasn’t moving anymore, though he continued to look around for more attackers. “Then leave!”

“I’m not leaving you to fend for yourself!”

“I can handle them. You’re their prey!”

“I will not abandon you!” Roman cried as he jumped on a creature running up to him.

“Foolish!” Janus hissed as he took on a monster of his own.

~~~

“As much as I hate to admit it, you are a reliable fighter.”

“What high praise! I’m honored to have your approval, your highness.”

“I was giving you a compliment, no need to be so passive aggressive.”

“Maybe you should rethink your own tone then.”

“Tsk. Whatever. I still don’t trust you.”

“I am well aware.”

~~~

“I think that was the last of them.”

“I can’t hear any more at least,” Janus agreed and wiped his sword clean on the hide of one of the creatures. “Let’s get you to the portal before we’re proven wrong.” Roman nodded and lead Janus to the spot he found earlier. He watched his companion as they entered the clearing and saw a look of recognition in Janus’ eyes.

“Yes, this is it. This will lead you to where you need to go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I can feel it.”

~~~

“Why are you helping me anyway?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I’m a stranger and we’ve been attacked daily because of me. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that they are aiming for me more than you.”

“No, it’s true. You are their target.”

“So why are you helping me if it puts you in danger?”

“Isn’t it the right thing to do?”

“You don’t strike me as the righteous type.”

“Maybe not.”

“Then why?”

“I’m not sure. I feel like I know what it’s like, to be lost in a world you know nothing of. And there’s something that’s telling me to bring you to safety, though I don’t know what it is.”

“What do you mean you feel like you know what it’s like? Either you have experienced it, or you didn’t?”

“I wouldn’t know. There’s little I remember from before.”

“Before what?”

“I don’t know. I know there was a before but… I don’t know when that was. I think I wasn’t always here, but I don’t know how long it’s been. I also don’t think you’re the first one like you I met but I also can’t remember if I truly did.”

“That’s… weird.”

“It’s what I’m used to. Maybe one day it will make sense.”

“You don’t sound that worried.”

“I’m not. It wouldn’t get me anywhere anyway, so why bother? I know there will be time when I remember but that time isn’t now.”

“And you just accept that?”

“Yes. It’s all I know, after all.”

~~~

“Janus, come with me,” Roman pleaded, holding on to Janus’ hands. The other shook his head.

“I can’t, my prince.”

“You don’t know that!”

“I do know.”

“No, you don’t! At least try! Please? For me?”

“I wish I could, Roman, but it’s not where I’m meant to go.”

“Who cares about that? I want you with me. I want you to go with me. I love you. So please, just try. I can’t leave you.”

~~~

“Janus! Wake up! Don’t you dare leave me alone!”

“Don’t cry, my prince. Everything will be alright.”

“You’re hurt!”

“Yes. And I will heal. I always do.”

“The… the scales? They’re glowing?”

“They’ll grow over the wound. Just give it a minute.”

“So… all the others?”

“Yes.”

“You scared me!”

“I didn’t mean to, my prince. I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t you dare jump in front of me like that ever again.”

“I will protect you if you are in danger.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I was an asshole to you. Why would you want to safe me?”

“Why are you crying for me, my prince?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you crying?”

“Because I care about you! Why else?!”

“Then you understand why I wish to protect you.”

“Wha-? Why would you care for someone like me?”

“How could I not?”

~~~

“Roman,” Janus mumbled, holding the prince’s face in his hands. “I know this is hard for you, but you need to go. Without me.”

“I don’t want to. If you don’t come with me, I’ll stay.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not? Why do you have to be left here all alone? Why do you insist on enduring this by yourself?!”

“You have people waiting for you, Roman. Your brother, your friends, your kingdom, remember? I’m not done here. I need to stay.” Roman was crying. He held on to the hands cupping his face tightly, afraid that Janus would vanish if he let him go.

“You don’t even know why you’re here! You’re sacrificing yourself for a simple feeling?! I can’t allow it! I won’t let you.”

“And I can’t let you interfere. I’m sorry.” Janus’ eyes started to glow and Roman quickly realized what he was attempting. He tried to break free of Janus’ grip, to break eye contact but he was too late. Janus’ spell was already taking effect.

“Don’t! Janus, please, don’t make me leave you!” he begged but despite Janus starting to cry as well, he didn’t stop.

“I am so sorry, my prince, but this is what needs to happen.”

“No! Please!”

“I’m sorry.” Janus took one last moment to take in Roman’s face before he spoke the command Roman wouldn’t be able to ignore: “Go home. Now.”

“Janus!” Roman cried as he was let go and his body moved by itself towards the portal. “I will find a way to get back to you, I swear!”

That was the last thing he said before he vanished in the swirling colors that had gathered in the archway. Janus watched the magic dissipate, still crying.

“I love you, too, my prince. I hope that if we meet again, I will be allowed to remember you.”

[queengiuliettafirstlady]

hi hi 🥰

4, 13 and 25 for ikepri julie, D for you

Hello darling and thank you so much for the question. 🤗

4 How easy is it to earn their trust ?

OH this. Good luck with that I honestly think that.

Luke is the only one who has gained it, outside her family, Julie may seem kind and easy going and it is, speaking her mind and opinions even at the cost of mockery, helping others but going to the extra miles only for the ones she loves.

But trust ... she learned to never ever give it to anyone no matter what.

What she truly cares about, her story, her insecurities, her vulnerability, are all bound to be enclosed forever in her heart never to be shared with anyone except Luke.

Someone must really impress her to gain a crumble of it, only after he or she proved to be trustworthy, with actions and words, then she may begin to revel a glimpse more of herself, but never the full story that is reserved to Luke alone.

13 What color do they think they look best in ? Do they actually look best in that color ?

Answered Here. 🤗

25 What are their thoughts on marriage? 

The only thing she could picture about her future, she was raised to face marriage and children, was that she wanted to marry for love.

Both she and Luke aren't aware of their own love toward one another until they arrived in the palace, but there they kept telling everyone they were only best friends, mostly afraid to ruin their relationship with a feeling no one of them knew if the other reciprocated.

The mere idea of seeing him away from her, and of marrying another man breaks her heart.

This makes her fully realize her love for him, starting to think that maybe just maybe he may feel the same, little did she know that he came to that conclusion picturing the exact same scenarios she had, but was determined to protect her even though the idea of sending her away broke his heart.

Then, after his plan got brushed away, he confess his love for her and she did the same, thus without further ado they got engaged, after that she starts dreaming of it, picturing how sweet it would be ... but then the idea that she may be the only one looking forward to it breaks her heart and so she puts it aside, hiding her desire, until they get back together.

It was only when they got to live in town that they start to think only of their own romantic relationship, deciding it was time to push thing forward he prepare everything as she likes it and propose to her, thereafter they put all of themselves into thinking about every detail of their own wedding, sparing no effort to craft everything exactly as they both wished it to be.

The day itself was a dream for them both, it was like the happy ending they both yearned and sweated so long for.

It was a private elegant ceremony with only friends and family the reception lasted until evening in a little room of the palace next to the garden, before they could settle down for the night Jin decided to lead them away for a surprise ... that is no less than a cozy cottage amidst the forest, to give them much needed alone time and space be themselves, ready to fill it with love they thank him, and all the princes that joined him in that present, and prepare to enjoy their first night together showing of to one another the full depth of their love.

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

Yes, more or less she always had the same appearance since I created her, actually the only thing I was a bit unsure about was her eyes, I did not know if it could have been better grey or green, then I decided for green to match Luke ones. 🥰

Tagging @itsmyara @bicayaya @kissmetwicekissmedeadly @lordsisterxotome  @aquagirl1978 @violettduchess @natimiles @nightghoul381 @dragon-liquorice @candied-boys

[theladyragnell]

For the three sentence ficlets: ACoFaF, the bird cousins and "The Baroness' Revenge", should that strike your fancy

(I didn't have much to say about this one that wouldn't have gotten into Explicit Land, which I wasn't in the mood for tonight, so have a ficlet with some of that implied!)

Chirp’s first sign that something has perhaps gone wrong during her visit to her family in the Mortal Realm is that she tries to take a drink of wine and tastes only sea water. In the spirit of science, she takes another sip. “Cousin,” she says, turning to Squak, who’s grimacing his way through his own glass, “it seems to me that perhaps someone has sabotaged your bottle of wine.”

“Just keep drinking,” he says, waving a hand. “It still gets you drunk, I have discovered over the past few days, it just tastes like the sea.”

Not just one bottle, then. If Squak had been on the same bottle of wine for three days, something truly would be gravely wrong. “Perhaps we could buy something new?”

“Oh, I’ve tried that. Then I bring it back to the next, and it’s sea water.”

Chirp considers that in silence for a moment. “Do you think that perhaps, cousin, this has something to do with, well. With the Seafoam Court? Or people within it?”

“Perhaps, cousin? Certainly, I would say. The first bottle of wine came with the compliments of Baroness Alven.”

“Ah.” Chirp puts her glass down. She’d like to be drunk, but not at this cost. “Your suitable but not suited match. She intends to hold you to your promise? Grandfather may have given us leniency, but I don’t know if he’ll allow it if she sues you for breach.”

“Blackmail would add a certain spice or our relationship,” Squak says, and they both consider that for a moment. He isn’t wrong, really. Still, it would be inconvenient at the orgies, if they were caught in some kind of vengeance duel. Squak seems to come to the same conclusion, because he sighs. “No, it will never do. I’ll simply have to fake my death. Do you think Grandfather would rename me Viscount of Peckerton?”

Chirp frowns. “That doesn’t seem likely to help. I don’t suppose you could, well, do as I did with Prince Andhera, could you? That is, put her off while making her think you care? You could tell her, quite rightly, that everything about Apollo was simply a ruse. Surely she would appreciate a ruse! Especially as he’s dead.”

“Then she might ask why I haven’t written to arrange our wedding.”

“You could at least talk to her. Esmé is a great believer in talking about things, and it does seem to work.”

Squak sighs and finishes his glass of salt wine. “I suppose it’s the only option I have left.”

*

Chirp stays around, partly to make sure Squak doesn’t ruin the beverages in the nest for the next several centuries and partly because she does love a good scandal. As soon as the baroness gets the message Squak sends (with a tern, of course, Squak wisely considers that a sea bird might soften her heart), the thing with the beverages stops, so at least it’s not too onerous waiting.

Baroness Alven, when she arrives, is dressed to kill, enough to make Chirp sigh a little over being married. “Lady Featherfowl,” she says, barely inclining her head. “I hope you have been well since the Bloom.”

“Oh, you know me, always in the beak of health!” Baroness Alven raises her eyebrows. “Do go easy on him, won’t you?”

She sniffs a little. “I haven’t once expected fidelity. Why should I? But I expect respect, and I expect information. And now I expect an apology. On bended knee.”

“I do hear he’s very good on his knees,” Chirp says encouragingly, and leaves them to it.

*

Chirp doesn’t see or hear anything about either of them until Baroness Alven comes out to drink tea for breakfast, looking very self-satisfied. “I do hope that our families can be on better terms again, after whatever negotiations you and my cousin engaged in last night?” she inquires.

“Negotiations were satisfactory, yes. I have an invitation to the next orgy. Perhaps I’ll see you there, Lady Featherfowl?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Chirp assures her, toasts her with her teacup, and moves on to discussing other gossip.

[beatrixutoniumx]

✫⌒ NEXTGEN : UNA-JULIE’S BIO

!! full factsheet HERE ( includes connections and more general info )

“ And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. ” — the little prince.

full name. una-julie dimalanta ( pronounced : oona-julie ) faceclaim. kate valdez age. 22 (1 year old technically) dob. 21 june occupation. private investigator assistant

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:

long dark hair, stylishly tied back or pulled back with a sweet headband

her style is currently a mix of brynne and beverly’s outfits that she’s seen in photos

height is   5' 4"

small but strong, not muscley though. she has an airbender’s build.

> una-julie’s origins:

when bria utonium decided they wanted to prioritise on important work, they decided to make someone who could work on everything else. the small stuff, the lesser priority tasks. una-julie was born for this purpose, and not much else. it was very much a “fuck around and find out” decision, and oh, boy, did they find out.

they weren’t even born with a name.

entrusting their aunt trixie with the secret of the experiment, bria and trixie worked on how to help this new human adjust to the world. sure, she could whip out an essay and put together an assignment and recite all the numbers of pi, but how else was she meant to be? could she be anything else? should she even try, would she even want to?

the experiment wasn’t born with much, and that was the first (and ongoing) struggle.

bria and beatrix decided that it was best for beatrix to take the main responsibility as guardian of the experiment. she brought the experiment to townsville, where beatrix was now based as a superhero and somewhat investigator. bria visits sometimes, along with bryson utonium, and it was through these three that the experiment was meant to learn how to live.

the first order of business was giving them a proper name. beatrix suggested “una” , which meant ‘first’. the experiment didn’t seem to mind and smiled when they realised they now had another name, one that was all their own.

it was beatrix who first realised that una tended to mirror and copy them rather than actually display any individual personality, and she quickly remedied this by setting up a bunch of movies at once for them to watch.

beatrix’s thinking : well … how else do we get a personality ? if not through movies ? ://

it was a silly and last-minute attempt ( don’t worry, beatrix eventually bought some ‘toddler parenting’ books ), but surprisingly it worked. beatrix observed as una watched everything. she was disappointed to see that they didn’t seem to like top gun as much. okay. no matter. but the experiment was truly enjoying musicals. and when una finished watched ‘the sound of music’, she came to the kitchen bench where beatrix was eating sugary cereal and said:

“ i want my name to be una-julie. like julie andrews. ” “ oh, cool, you want a middle name ? rad. ” “ no. it’s my name. una-julie. ” “ una-julie ? your whole first name ? ” “ yes. my name. ” “ hmm … aight. ” “ aight. may i have the sweet cereal too ? ” “ for sure. ”

as for her surname, beatrix’s neighbour at the time was a kindly old filipino woman, who noticed una-julie sitting on the fire escape for hours on end, watching life below. the woman invited her up to eat food, and found herself engaged in a conversation in tagalog for the whole afternoon. una-julie never wondered how she could suddenly speak a new language, but she liked that it made the woman happy. the woman told her she reminded her of her grandchild. una-julie took her surname. dimalanta.

> una-julie, life & powers:

UJ has the ability of aerokinesis, but seldom uses it intentionally. 

she’s quite a still creature. she’s generally unfazed by things. i hesitate to say ‘gullible’ because it’s not really that she believes anything, it’s that she’s ready to accept it if it seems right. when everything is new, nothing is a surprise, so her thought process is just to accept anything new as fact and then scrutinise and question it as the conversation goes on.

to understand her relationship with her powers, first it’s important to understand how she sees life. her powers seem kind of secondary to her.

OOC, when creating una-julie, the backbone of her character is made up with these statements:

she’s grappling with her ‘purpose’. bria created her to do all the boring things they didn’t want to do. so does that mean her existence is as boring and meaningless as the tasks she’s given to do?

bryson brings forth the idea that the people in your life don’t need labels, they just to need to be fulfilling to you somehow. and this applies to the things you do in life as well.

there’s also this new goal to find a new way for her to experience existence in a way that’s not uncomfortable. ever since she was born, she’s been very sensitive to weather and the natural world. maybe this is in connection to bria’s weather powers, or maybe it’s a cosmic message from the universe telling her she doesn’t belong here … that’s what UJ believes, at least. she feels the wind as sharp as knives, she feels like swimming will drown her, she feels like the rain wants to wash her away. she obsessively watches the weather forecast just so she’s prepared. but just in case, she wears multiple layers at all times — especially during winter.

she feels like a guest in life. like a visitor or a tourist who can be evicted at any time. she believes life is inconstant, and while this is also a blessing in some cases (she loves to learn new things and meet new people!), she also fears losing things. she fears one day bria will not want her there. she fears if people find out she’s an experiment, they will also not want her there. this is partly why she loves movies and taking photos so much, because it feels like a way of capturing life so it doesn’t change. she will take photos of things that make her happy, she will also take selfies of her being happy, so she can look at them in the future and stare at it and wonder: how did i get so happy?

the world can be so overwhelming, and una-julie is feeling everything for the first time so she documents her emotions. it might seem strange to find photos of herself angry or sad in her album of physical photos, but it’s important for her to also see it and not just remember it. she usually also writes down the context of the emotion. 

there’s also a more private list of the strong emotions she feels bria feels. the connection was stronger when she was first born, but UJ can sometimes feel what bria feels — especially the strong emotions. 

her powers feel more like a talent. like being able to whistle. she can use them, there’s no mastery required. but she doesn’t find them important.

> una-julie in elias:

SHE’S NOT MEANT TO BE HERE RIP (not just like … in life … but in elias hehe)

over the past year of taking care of UJ, beatrix really began to care for the girl and even love her. she had never wanted to have children of her own, but she’s glad now that she’s there to take care of UJ. ever stubborn, she doesn’t believe UJ should be kept hidden away forever. she stuck to the rule that they should stay in townsville, and she was happy with that, but now seeing how enamored by life UJ is, beatrix wanted to finally get her out.

so beatrix packed their bags and took them on a little vacation to elias.

whoops.

una-julie, however, is happy to be here. she’s nervous and curious. she has her trusty camera with her (it’s a digital camera and she meticulously archives and organises all her photos, the same time each night). she has her phone where she takes notes. she knows what she’ll say to introduce herself to people (she worked on this with trixie a lot).

“ hi, i’m una-julie. what’s your name ? ”

she wanted to add ‘it’s lovely to meet you’, but trixie advised that she shouldn’t say that unless she actually feels it is lovely to meet someone.

but for a not-a-girl who was born last year … it IS lovely to meet everyone :(

> random things:

she can remember anything told to her, her primary purpose was to do homework and other little tasks. like a little task rabbit rip. she views bria utonium as her creator and twin.

she always has her lil camera with her!

she keeps secrets like a locked vault. bria and trix told her to never tell anyone how she was born. 

by the end of the nextgen event, she’ll probably add another name(s) to her name, probably someone she really connected with :3 

[mvalentine]

so im just sitting in jfk thinking thoughts and ignoring cam and catching up on our trr2 replay and my mind is wandering to the land of wasted potential… like an Olivia spin off backstory whatever because the TENSION in bk2 where she’s like ‘Hes marrying her and in love with you etc etc’ and she runs off hurts my heart 💔 if we got to choose how the story played out in a true choose ur own adventure doo you think liam/adam x Olivia could be a thing? Do you think they ever were???

And in that camping scene pls give me ur hc on Audrey x Drake bc my girl Anya still hasn’t kissed the bloke by then and is she horny on main 🥲😅

LMAOO as you should good to know you have your priorities in check <333 but nah fr dom i hope you’re feeling alot better now!!

also omg YES both me & audrey in the camp of feel bad for her because you can tell that liam is the only person she’s ever loved & omg she’s loved him for AGES crown or no crown it’s always been liam for her. & im actually in the camp of people who believe that yeah, olivia x the prince could be a real thing!! i really like their fire & ice dynamic, & i would totally live for an au where olivia moves on post engagement fail but was liam’s biggest support system post his heartbreak but then liam starts seeing her in a different light & starts get jealous and shit & then is like wait why am i jealous oh no….. oh wait…… it can’t be…… i want HER to be pined after i want the one who’s pined their whole life to be the one who’s pined for (a la loml pen <333) but yk at the end of the day im maddie & olivia ride or die. but tell me your thoughts!!!! i need to know 💗💗💗

also AHHHHH the camping scene another one of my fav scenes honestly the writers were truly feeding us drake romancers in book2 <333 but also BESTIE anya has more self restraint than me or audrey because goddamn. no but like the way he takes it so seriously & is giving out orders is so adorable to her like is this man fr. and that scene where she goes in the tent she’s kinda like wtf am i doing the prince im supposed to marry is literally right next to us have i lost my mind?!? & then he’s all like wtf are you doing here & this bitch is just like i need body heat <333 and he’s just like shit oh yeah true (like WHAT. i can’t tell if the choices drake knows that the mc is being fr or nah. kinda like the vibe of drake taking camping & the mc’s well-being so seriously that he’s just like yup! okay valid!) —- but anyways the scene where the mc is like you take it so seriously you were barking out orders & then drake is like wait did i ruin it :( with his sad face AHHHH i swear audrey wanted to kiss that adorable little pout from his face she’s like nah it was cute & he’s like cute? and she’s like yeah 🥰 & then he’s all like what else can i do to make your experience more memorable miss huntzberger like shut UP they’re such dorks!! but also i SWEAR mr. walker was down to fornicate (the true meaning of dtf btw!!) in those woods like if fuckin maxwell ugh i really dislike him more & more each play hadn’t interrupted i swear they would have fucked like this man was really like yeah next time we’re coming to the woods alone im gonna go down on you all night you can be as loud as you want baby. but yeah the whole time anya was just thinking of how much she wants this simple life with him how easy & right it feels how right he feels ugh she’s so in love it’s actually sickening to witness.

[welldonebeca]

The Duchess and the Bastard (VI) - The Scoundrel’s Kiss

WC: 1.6k words Warnings: Fluff. Victorian AU. Cliffhanger.

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Masterlist

“Rey…” Ben exhaled the moment she rushed into their hiding place, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Oh, how she dearly missed. Grandfather hadn’t gone anywhere for a whole week, and she was both stuck at home and unable to sneak out to find him.

Her lips searched for his in hunger, and her lover hummed into their kiss as his big hands searched for her waist, cradling her closer.

It all became their little routine of theirs. Every time grandfather left her home alone, Ben came home to visit her.

Some nights, he brought her books and read her poetry under the light of a single lamp. On others, they had little picnics, with fruits in honey.

But he always kissed her.

“I missed you,” he spoke as she stepped away.

“Grandfather wouldn’t leave,” she pouted a little. “And Rose is on a trip, I couldn’t go there.”

“It’s alright,” he reached for her hand, kissing her knuckles. “It’s not your fault.”

She kissed him again, and Ben rested his free hand on her face, caressing her cheek.

“I have to talk to him,” he watched her face closely. “I have to ask for your hand.”

Rey’s lips curled in a little smile.

Yes, yes, yes.

They had talked about this. Ben had spoken so many times about wanting to marry her and make her his wife, about wanting to be her husband.

But she was so afraid.

Grandfather had never liked Ben. He always spoke of how much of a disgrace his very existence was, about how his mother had stained the name of the royal family by getting involved with his scoundrel father, and not even bothered to get married before their child was born, to make him at least atrue prince.

He always spoke of how he wanted her to have a happy marriage with a man who truly loved and adored her, but would he really accept a proposal from him, the royal bastard?

Ben’s lips travelled to her neck, touching her skin softly, and her thoughts escaped her mind.

“Ben…” she sighed.

“I want to show you something,” he held her waist, pulling her slowly to the nearest bench.

“Now?” she asked, a little confused.

Ben guided her along, sitting her down, and knelt in front of her.

“I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” Ben spoke slowly. “And even after, even when we are engaged… do you think your grandfather will leave us alone?”

She shook her head, smiling a bit, giddy with the idea.

“He won’t leave us be until we are married,” she giggled.

Ben knelt in front of her.

“He is very careful,” he smiled gently. “He loves you very much.”

Rey smiled a little bit. Yes, he did.

She was his only family, and that was probably one of the reasons for his overprotection.

“He was to keep me safe,” she spoke.

Ben watched her face slowly, and licked his lips.

“And to protect your honour,” he added.

Her cheeks heated up under his eyes, watchful and interested, and Ben slowly touched her ankle under her dress.

“What if I’m eager to defile it?” he spoke softly.

Her lips parted, and her heart raced as surprise filled Rey’s chest. Did he mean he wished to lay with her?

They weren’t engaged yet, they couldn’t!

“What do you mean?” she spoke slowly. “We aren’t married, we can’t…”

“I know,” Ben spoke quickly. “I know, and we won’t. I just…”

He licked his lips and moved his hands over hers.

“I want to show you something,” he explained. “Something my father told me about.”

She sat straighter, curious, and Ben’s cheeks became pink, and he chewed on his lower lip.

His father?

Rey had never met Han Solo, but had heard a lot about him. People spoke of him being a man of many lovers and many talents, who can’t keep himself in a single bed, and that was why he hadn’t married the princess - or she had refused to marry him, even pregnant. Apparently, he visited Ben and his mother, but he was always such a rushed presence that she didn’t even think anyone knew what he looked like.

“What is it?” she asked, curious.

What could he have taught Ben that made him so eager to show?

“My father calls it a lover’s kiss, but he says my mother calls it the scoundrel kiss,” Ben explained, smiling a bit. “It’s… a kiss that made to be given to your lover.”

A kiss?

Well, they had kissed plenty already. How different could a scoundrel kiss be from their normal kisses?

“What is that meant to be?” she asked.

“I want to show it to you,” Ben told her, half mysterious and half eager. “If you let me.”

Rey swallowed down, unsure, but nodded after a moment.

He would never do anything to hurt her.

“Okay,” she answered softly.

Ben licked his lips and moved his hands, slowly spreading her legs and pushing his fingers up her skirt, and Rey gasped, grabbing his arms.

“Ben!” she hissed. “What are you doing?”

His hazel eyes sparkled in something she couldn’t quite read.

“I’m going to kiss you, my lady,” he whispered. “Don’t worry.”

Ben lowered his head and put himself between her legs, hiding under her skirts.

Rey was shocked.

He wasn’t…

Was he?

His fingers moved on her thigh, caressing it slowly a moment before reaching for the apex of her thighs, causing her heart to race and her skin to shiver. Her nipples were suddenly growing sensitive, rubbing against her corset.

Suddenly, she just wanted him to touch her there too.

Rey had never touched her body, not her chest nor the place between her legs. Before the night she had met him, and even before Ben had sneaked into her garden, it was very rare that she ever felt like she wanted to touch it.

Now, however…

Each of Ben’s kisses lit a fire inside her that was completely new and utterly his.

Every time he kissed her, every time his big hands held her, touched her face and squeezed her waist, so eager for her lips, and when he buried his nose in the curve of her neck or her wrist, she couldn’t help but think of him buring his face between her breasts, sucking bruises into her skin.

Her whole life, she was taught to be a good girl. And good girls don’t touch their breasts or the place between her thighs. They were placed that should only be appreciated by their husbands, to produce their heirs.

But the nights she dreamed of him, she woke up with her thighs damp, and had to fight herself in order to keep her hands away from it.

She couldn’t. It was unpure, sinful and…

Ben’s fingers spread her folds, and she was about to squirm when something distinctly soft and wet touched her skin, interrupting her rushing thoughts.

“Oh,” she gasped, surprised as something familiar sparkled inside her.

All of a sudden, she felt just like her dreams. His kisses her already done something to her, but much greater. He squeezed her thighs gently, and passed his arms under them, keeping her spread and pining her hips down, his grip not so strong as to bruise her skin, but enough to keep her in place.

“Quiet, my love,” he spoke, low voice vibrating on her skin and sending heat all over her stomach. “You don’t want us to be caught.”

Rey chewed her lower lip, nervous and excited. Somehow, the thrill made her even warmer, and the place between her legs wetter.

Ben kissed her with the same softness of the first kisses he had placed on her lips, and she felt as his fingers teased circles a little under where his lips were kissing. She didn’t know what was happening, but whatever he was doing with his lips was spreading that fire in her, the hunger that always teased her whenever his lips were on hers.

His tongue licked her, wet on wet, and his finger made a circle on her wet spot, making her hips twitch and her eyes to fall closed as her blood pumped, completely focused at the spot he was kissing her.

And then, his lips wrapped around the little bud Rey knew she had but had never dared touching, and her jaw fell slack, and a little uncontrolable moan escaped her lips

“Ben,” she whimpered. “More, please.”

Ben complied, sucking and touching her, making her eyes cross and her body to tremble over him.

Her breath slowly picked up as her legs shook, and her hands clenched on her dress, and Rey peaked before she could understand what the feeling of being on edge meant, having to cover her mouth with her hand to stop herself from making any loud sound, and when Ben moved away, getting out from under her skirt arching up to kiss her lips, she couldn’t help but sigh at the salty taste on his lips.

“That, my love,” Ben exhaled, moving his face back and looking at her face. “Is a scoundrel kiss.”

His eyes were full of affection and adoration, something deep she had never quite seen before, and never knew how much she wanted to see and feel before now.

Rey giggled, throwing her arms on his shoulders, blushing red, and Ben’s cheeks were just as flushed as hers as he lifted her and made her stand on the bench, kissing her lips with the two of them finally standing at the same level.

She pushed her fingers into his hair, feeling them tingling to pull on him.

Her legs were still wobbly and her heart was still pounding in her chest, but somehow, she wanted more.

Ben had made her feel so good. Couldn’t she make him feel good too?

Before Rey could even voice that question, they were interrupted by a big light, and Ben was quick to put himself in front of her, shielding her body.

Her eyes widened, and her heart stopped in her chest.

Her grandfather’s assistant was standing with a lamp just a few steps from them, looking completely shocked.

“Lady Palpatine!” he exhaled. “What is happening here?”

. . .

"The Duchess and the Bastard" was posted on my Patreon back in April! To read the full story before anyone else and have early access to all of my works, subscribe to my page! It's just $2 a month!

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[sacred-stanning]

Chapter 21 Part 1: A Gift

Vanessa was making final preparations to her wyvern's pack when she felt a tap on her elbow. Without looking, she knew immediately who it was. Only Lute ever got her attention that way.

She turned around. Lute was standing there, looking up at her with her hands behind her back.

"Hey!" Vanessa said brightly. "Are you ready to go? Prince Ephraim said we're going down into the main area of the temple as soon as everyone's preparations are complete."

"Yes. I am ready," Lute responded. She stood there for a moment, and then continued. "Do you remember what I said outside?"

Vanessa thought for a moment, and then remembered. "Oh, yeah, you said you needed to talk to me about something."

"Yes, and I kept my promise and did not put myself in any risky situations, even when the Elder Baels came out of the woods. I really wanted to get a better look at their mandible structure too..."

Vanessa smiled weakly. She was too stressed and worried about the next battle to really be truly relaxed, but it comforted her that Lute was still thinking about studying monsters, even as they were about to go and fight the Demon King from the legends!

"So what is it that you wanted to say?" Vanessa asked.

Lute looked down slightly and shuffled her weight. Then she abruptly put out one arm and held up a piece of paper to Vanessa.

"As you know, I am not very good at talking unless I am explaining about something I read in a book. So I thought about it, and I decided to write down what I wanted to say. Please read it. We are going to face the Demon King, and we might die, so I want you to read this first."

"What in the world is this about?" Vanessa thought to herself. She took the piece of paper Lute had handed her. As soon as she had, Lute awkwardly raised up a hand, as if to say something, then stopped.

"Um, I need to go get ready. I will talk to you later." And with that, Lute walked off.

Vanessa looked down at the piece of paper. She realized that it was folded up. Unfolding it, she found that it contained some sort of letter.

Dear Vanessa,

I greet you on this day of the 13th of Elysia, in the year of the Stone 803. I hope that you are in good health and that the blessings of the Sacred Stones have been granted to you in abundance.

Vanessa stopped reading for a moment. How like Lute to start off a letter so formally! She felt like she was reading and official military missive rather than a letter from a friend.

"Also, did Lute really write this 2 months ago?" she wondered for a moment. Then she remembered, "Oh yeah, some of the month names are switched around in Renais. I think Elysia is this month, so I guess this is from just yesterday, when we were still at Rausten Castle."

I am writing this letter to you to inform you of my desire to initiate a romantic relationship with you, if you would have the same feelings as I do.

"Wait...what!?" Vanessa read the sentence again. "No, it really does say that: 'Initiate a romantic relationship'." Vanessa lowered the letter for a moment. Was Lute being serious? Sometimes her sense of humor was a little hard to parse, but even so, this didn't feel like a joke. She raised the letter up again and continued to read.

I realize that this may come as a surprise. Perhaps you only consider me to be a friend, and if that is the case, then please know that I do value our friendship. With that said, I would like to outline the reasons why I have come to this conclusion.

First of all, this desire of mine is genuine. I have considered deeply what my feelings were, and while it took me a long time to understand it myself, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that I love you in a way that is something other than friendship.

As evidence of this, I use the example of my good, childhood friend, Artur. While I am very fond of Artur, and his company gives me great joy, I do not have the desire to hold him in my arms or to engage in any other sort of physical intimacy with him. The same cannot be said of how I feel about you.

Vanessa had to put the letter down again. She could feel her face flushing, and she quickly looked around to see if anyone was looking at her. But everyone else was busy with preparations for battle, or praying for success.

Vanessa thought to herself, "This is totally genuine. Lute really means this." She wasn't sure what to think at first. Vanessa had pretty much grown up as a Knight of Frelia, so she was used to fellow knights being in relationships. But she hadn't ever even thought that it was an option with an outsider! Lute wasn't even from Frelia!

But the more Vanessa thought about it, the more the idea started to feel right to her. How did she really feel about Lute? Vanessa hadn't honestly thought much about romance up until this point in her life. She had been too busy trying to become a good knight and trying to catch up with her sister. But if she was honest with herself, she knew she liked Lute in a way that was fundamentally different from how she had felt about anyone else before.

Vanessa hurried to read the rest of the letter before they had to move out and attack. Why had Lute waited until now to give this to her?

Furthermore, I have also considered the practicality of a potential relationship between us. When I first started to realize what I felt for you, I did not admit it to myself. This is because I was unfamiliar with any social custom of 2 women engaging in a romantic relationship with each other. It is not a practice that I have ever encountered in my hometown. However, I have since learned of the custom of Hippolyta Marriages that you have in Frelia, and while I was initially concerned that the custom was only allowed within the ranks of Pegasus Knights, upon consultation with Syrene...

Vanessa closed her eyes and felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her. Lute had talked to Syrene about this? How much had she said to her? Is this why Syrene had been asking Vanessa about Lute so much? "I'm a full grown adult. I don't need to be embarrassed about this" she said to herself. "But Syrene just makes me feel like a child again, I can't help it..." she thought with frustration. She opened her eyes and continued to read.

...upon consultation with Syrene, I learned that the custom of Hippolyta Marriages is extended to non-Knights in some cases. When I inquired into the situation, Syrene related an example to me of such a relationship she had observed in her early days as a Knight.

"Oh stones!" Vanessa thought. "Syrene knows all about this, I bet. Lute's not exactly subtle."

Finally, I wish to list some reasons why I find you attractive and why I think that you would be a good match for me.

1. I think that you have a beautiful face, and I particularly enjoy it when you smile. This is why I sometimes say strange things to you. I am teasing you because I hope to make you smile. I hope I have not caused too much trouble.

2. I have always meant it when I say that I enjoy watching you when you fly, either on a wyvern, or on a pegasus. You are strong and graceful, and this is especially relevant because I am neither strong nor graceful, though I am extremely adept at memorizing things I have read and using magic, so I think that we compliment each other well.

3...

Vanessa realized that the letter was folded multiple times. Unfolding it, she saw that there was a long list of items--numbered all the way to 24--why 24?--still to come. Lute and her lists!

Vanessa knew that she didn't have time to read the entire letter right now. She could already hear around her that preparations were wrapping up. But as she had unfolded the letter to check the length of the list, another piece of paper had dropped out to the ground. She bent over and picked it up.

It was a drawing. Vanessa recognized her own face. Lute had drawn her--at some point!--beautifully, staring off to the side. "Maybe she did this the other night after dinner, when I was writing that letter to my parents? I didn't even notice her drawing..."

In the drawing, her green hair shimmered. It looked like Lute had used some glistening material to color it? To the side of her own face, Vanessa saw Lute had also drawn herself. The drawing Lute was looking towards the drawing Vanessa with a look of...what? Longing? Respect?

Vanessa noticed that Lute's purple hair was made of flower petals. She had just seen flowers like that recently. Where was that again...?

Vanessa carefully placed the drawing back into the letter and folded it up again. Then she stuck the whole thing into an inner pocket of her shirt. As she did so, she felt the warmth of the magic talisman Lute had made for her before as it pressed against her chest under her shirt.

She felt herself tearing up. The letter was needlessly stiff and formal, and the list of reasons was way too long and thorough, and the drawing was amateurish and showed Lute's lack of formal portrait drawing education...

But it was so honest! And she had taken the time to make this for Vanessa! When had she even found the time? They were marching almost every day, and fighting battles constantly! When had she even found the time to collect flowers and draw and write all of this?

"No one's ever given me anything like this before," she thought.

She walked off in the direction she had seen Lute go.

As usual, Lute had set herself up in a corner, a little ways off from anyone else. She was busy arranging the packs on her horse.

"Hey," Lute heard Vanessa's voice from behind her. She turned around and saw Vanessa standing there, with her hands on her hips and a serious expression on her face.

"Oh no," Lute thought. "Did I misjudge the situation after all? Is she angry?" She suddenly felt very vulnerable.

"Lute...How dare you..." Vanessa started to say, and Lute prepared herself for the worst. Vanessa sniffed, and Lute realized that her eyes looked slightly red.

"I may have really upset her..." Lute thought with a sinking feeling.

"Sorry, I just..." Vanessa continued. "No one has ever given me a gift like that before. And...and how dare you give that to me and then just walk away! Don't you want to hear what I have to say!?" Vanessa threw her arms up as she spoke.

Lute stood, frozen in place.

And then before she knew what was happening, Vanessa had grabbed her in an embrace. Lute was so surprised, so tensed up and her arms hung at her sides.

"Thank you so much! It really was the sweetest thing I've ever received. And, and the drawing! And where did you even find time to do all of this?" Vanessa was rattling off questions too quickly for Lute to keep up. She also seemed to be crying. "What exactly is this reaction?" Lute thought.

"...Are you upset?" Lute asked.

"Upset?" Vanessa said, as she released Lute just enough to look her in the face. "No! Not at all!" She wiped her eyes with one hand. "It's 'cause I'm crying, right? Sorry, I just got really emotional. The letter, everything, it was all really sweet."

Lute relaxed some of the tension in her shoulders. Ok, good. Vanessa was not upset. "Do you...How do you feel...Um, I wrote in the letter..."

"Yes!" Vanessa said and smiled at Lute. "Yes! I feel the same way you do! I'm sorry, I just never thought you might feel that way about me, so I never even thought to...I'm just surprised, but...it feels right."

Lute let the words settle in in her mind for a moment. Vanessa had said "yes". That was "yes" as in "Yes, I feel the same way about you as you do about me", right? So she was saying...why was language so imprecise sometimes!?

"Just to confirm," Lute started, "You are saying..."

But before she could finish, Vanessa interrupted. "Yes. I'm saying I love you too!"

"As in romantic attraction?"

Vanessa laughed. "I'm not sure what else it would mean in this case, but yes, that's what I mean. Are you asking for proof, my dear scholar? I can kiss you if you'd like?"

Lute was silent for a moment as she realized what was being asked. She answered quietly, "Yes. I would like that."

Vanessa, who still had her hands on Lute's shoulders, closed her eyes, leaned down, and gently placed her lips on Lute's. Lute felt warm. She felt Vanessa's lips on her own. She heard Vanessa's breathing, and she smelled Vanessa's scent. For a moment, that was her whole world.

Then Vanessa pulled back and smiled at her. They both laughed slightly awkwardly. Lute felt the hot flush on her cheeks.

"Also," Vanessa continued, "I'm sorry, but I totally did not read that whole list of reasons why you like me yet. I promise I will, but we don't really have time now."

Vanessa thought for a moment, then grinned mischievously at Lute. "Maybe you can read the list to me like you've done with your books before. I think I'd like to hear the words from your own mouth!"

Lute felt herself blushing. She looked down at the ground slightly, but she couldn't help herself from smiling. "OK," was all she could manage to say.

A voice rang out in the entrance hall of the temple, "Move out!" It was Ephraim.

"We have to go now," Vanessa said, suddenly serious.

"That's her knight face," Lute thought, looking at the expression on Vanessa's face.

"Promise me again, just like you did before outside, that you won't do anything risky while we're in there." Vanessa looked at Lute intensely. "I couldn't bear it if something happened to you."

Lute nodded her head. She felt her head clearing. Vanessa's serious expression helped her to get back to focusing on the task at hand.

"I promise I will stay safe," Lute said to Vanessa. "And I want you to stay safe too."

"Yes," Vanessa responded. "We both will get through this battle."

It was time to go and face the Demon King.