#marble home decor range

[bloumiddel]

Kitchen Enclosed in Austin A small, traditional u-shaped kitchen design example with a medium-toned wood floor and brown walls, a shaker-style sink, gray cabinets, quartz countertops, a gray backsplash, a marble backsplash, black appliances, and no island.

[earth4angels]

𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫

modern!jacaerys x ballerina reader ─── first clumsy kisses on the bleachers, fluff, MAJOR FLUFF, jace is a little piece of shit in the beginning, aegon is the best friend we all need sometimes, blind date, jace acts possessive - major simp too.

summary: it takes a very braggy best friend who says he is the best cupid to ever exist for you to finally accept a blind date. however, you did not expect to cross paths with the one male who everyone wanted, a reputation of a lady-man but what could be worse? right?

a/n: this one i do want to make a series but i'll see how it's treated first so pls lemme know. listen to lovesick by laufey as you read (trust me)

jace tag list: @jacaerysgf @star611, @jules420, @gracexthoughts, @astrxq, @reyndaisy , @hxtd , @smurfelle , @nanaldy @valdezthg @littleblackcatinwonderland @nixtape-foryou @starrgurl46 @ethereal-athalia @stelleduarte @canyonmoon-2 @ambrosia-v-black

"Y/n, again. You are not lifting your leg high enough!"

You turned your head to look at your dance teacher who stood behind you, with a scolding face. You sighed, already irritated that you had to skip your friend's home welcoming party for practice.

As the music started playing again, you twirled. Your feet glided through the marble floor, the music becoming you, and for a while, you created a storyline with every bounce, and twirl you made. The final note was played as your body twirled then bent upward with your hands elegantly stretched outwards.

You looked like a painting and the few lookers that were in the room with you stared in awe. You breathed heavily through your nose as you remained in the final position until your instructor spoke.

"Amazing y/n! I feel like you hit the emotion straight in the face! I think we're done here," your instructor said, "Get out of here, enjoy the weekend off, I will see you Tuesday morning for the last rehearsals. Your audition will be on Saturday, do not forget!"

You smiled giddy that you could go early as you missed your best friend. He was finally home after visiting his grandparents, and though you and he stayed connected through Facetime, you longed to hug him.

"Thank you, Miss Royce, I will be there!" You scrambled to grab your bag; you bounced in your ballet shoes as you fell onto the floor untying the laces at a rapid pace. Your phone rang then, and you sighed in annoyance yet still picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"I cannot believe the one person that I wanted to see the most is not here. What do you take me as?" Aegon whined making you smile widely.

"Aegon!!!! I promise! I finished practice early! I'm heading over to you as fast as I can!" You slipped on your ballet slippers moaning softly at the difference between your pointe shoes and your soft slippers that relieved the pain on your feet.

"You better! Helaena and Aemond are bitching off my ear how you're not here!"

At that, you heard the voices of his siblings yelling over the phone asking about your whereabouts. You laughed at Aegon yelling, "that's MY best friend you idiots! Quit bothering!"

"Hurry! You don't have to call or anything when you arrive, the door is opened, just come to the back!"

You laughed again, hanging up after saying your goodbyes. Your velvety nude sling bag bounced with every running step you took as you ran to your car.

The house was lit up in pretty lights, you figured it was Helaena's doing along with Rhaena's, they were always the decorators when it came to parties. As you parked your car in front, you moved towards the door finding yourself hit with strong alcohol and loud music.

A scream was heard and then you were suddenly surrounded by long limbs. You huffed as the breath was taken from you, "Ooof!"

"I can't believe you are here! I have missed you so much!"

You moved your head back to see who had hugged you and when you saw their face you squealed. Both of you now bouncing, squealing together like young girls.

"Oh my gosh! Hels! You look so beautiful!"

Helaena rolled her eyes, "You are so much more beautiful! I have missed you so much, I will never leave longer than 2 months I promise!"

You hugged her tightly again muttering into her chest as she was taller than you were - how much you missed her.

"Come, the boys would want to see you!"

As you were taken to the backyard of the house you found yourself with a large crowd of people, you realized this was no longer a small gathering but rather a party. You scoffed, ah Aegon. You arrived at a ping pong table where Aegon was playing against Aemond, cheers were thrown left and right every single time they landed a shot.

You quietly stood in the middle of the table, eyeing the brothers' match, grinning softly at them throwing insults at each other. You knew it was all child's play as you knew they loved each other, but they were competitive.

"Fuck! Seven hells! You cheated!" Aegon exclaimed as he missed the shot, Aemond smirked shrugging his shoulders.

"Tough luck brother, now are you taking the shots or are you too wuss to?"

Aegon sneered, yet he never backed down, he leaned forward and grabbed all six shots, one by one they went down his throat. He shook his head and lifted his arms up as the crowd went wild. Aegon screamed with them as he was smiling boastfully.

You cleared your throat, "It's come to my attention that the jackass has not left you."

Aegon turned towards you, his soft uniquely lilac, with green-tinted eyes glimmered with joy, "Oh how much I missed you!"

You laughed as he swung you around in a tight hug, Aemond ran towards you as you were now wrapped in a group hug.

"I missed both of you idiots."

Aemond clicked his tongue, "You missed me more though, right?"

Aegon scoffed, "Shut your big chin up, again, she is MY best friend."

Your head moved from his face to Aemond as they bickered, your smile never faltering, "I missed both of you, I can't believe you guys left me for so long... I hate your mom for sending you to Oldtown."

Aegon huffed as he stuck a tongue out to his brother who did it back, "Careful babe, mom will punish you by denying you any sweet treats she bought you from home."

You gasped, "No way?" Aegon smiled as he nodded, "She bought me back treats? Why!? She didn't have to!"

Helaena who snuck her way into the group with a shot glass in her hand shoving it to your hand and nudging you to drink, "Mom loves you. I think she still wants to hook you up with Aegon."

You swallowed the tequila down, feeling the burning sensation for a few seconds before you and Aegon exclaimed together, "EW."

"She's like my sister."

"He's like my gay best friend I can never!"

Aegon stopped, before he looked at you in shock, "WHAT?"

You smiled teasingly, "Kidding," you whispered to Helaena who was grinning from the playful jabs both of you were making at each other, "Maybe."

"Okay, enough of that, let's have fun and we will catch up later, y/n sweetie, you will stay over tonight! No exceptions!"

You groaned as you got pulled into the crowd towards the homemade bar by Helaena. You did not remember much from that night besides maybe dancing too much, and accepting a body shot from some guy named Jake, or perhaps it was Jace? All you remember was how soft his lips were and how his arms held your thighs as he held you against the ping-pong table.

You groaned sitting up from the soft pillows, your head spinning in endless swirls, "Oh god... I am never drinking again."

"Sure, you're not."

You blinked, your head in your hands as you spotted Helaena next to you smiling at you teasingly. You groaned again falling back into the softness of the bed, scooting closer to her, making yourself in a small ball.

"Tell me how much of an idiot I was last night."

Helaena softly patted your hair, her finger combing through the rough tangles of your hair, "Ay. You didn't do much, you kind of deserved to have some fun. You are always practicing or studying."

"You know how badly I want to be a professional ballet dancer, I can't be a complete mess," you muttered into her chest where she continued combing your hair.

"You are perfect, not being a biased person here because you know, we're almost like sisters but I think you will be the best ballerina to ever exist, everyone will love you."

You kissed her cheek, muttering a soft thank you as you groaned again, hot flashes appearing, "Really though... how much of a clown was I?"

Helaena laughed then, "You practically made out with my nephew."

You shot up from her hold, your head spun again but paid no mind to the swirls, "Huh?! When?! I don't remember..." You trailed off mid-sentence as you forced your brain to remember said situation. You scrambled your hazy memories until it finally hit you.

You moaned in embarrassment as your hand gathered your forehead, "Oh... I remember... this is so embarrassing..."

Helaena laughed, "Relax, I think he won't remember either, both of you were pretty locked in though, until you..." She started laughing harder, "You vomited on his shoes."

You stared at her as she laughed, she was clutching her stomach from the ache that began to grow from the hard laughter she released. You sat in embarrassment, all the while you moaned from the pain and the shame that came to you.

You slapped your friend on the shoulder as she was heaving from laughing too much, "Hels! That's not funny!"

Wheezing she replied, "Relaaaax. I don't think you will ever see him again; my sister does not come around too much, she's busy running the family's business. So, chances of you ever crossing his path are 1 out of 10."

You hid in the pillow as the moaning came from the headache you were going through. What you did not expect was how quick you saw him again.

The library was calming, if there was any other place anyone would find you that was not the dance studio, you would be found in the library, reading. You slurped on your smoothie silently as your eyes scanned the words of the book, intrigued.

A rough bounce beside you made you gasp out loud, dropping your book onto the floor, your interruption grinning at you teasingly.

"Call me the best cupid to ever exist, I just got you a date!"

You rolled your eyes, picking up your book and settling back into the couch, your legs tucking under your behind, "No one asked, and no I am not going."

Aegon clicked his tongue, "I was not asking, I was informing you."

You looked up from your book, finding your best friend looking at you with mischief in his eyes, "Why would I do that? I am too busy anyways."

Aegon removed your book from your hands, putting it up in the air out of reach from your grabby hands that began to fight him.

"Exactly why! You are always practicing! You need a little spice, some drama in your life!"

You huffed as you gave up trying to get your book back, falling back to the couch and crossing your arms, "I am fine, thank you very much! I am fine being on my own, it does not interfere with my dance rehearsals, you know how much I need to nail this audition to be accepted to the ballet academy."

Aegon smiled softly, his blonde curls falling over his hazel, lilac eyes.

"I love you, y/n, I really do. But you need to get out there, you never know what you can come across with. Maybe it will be the best decision, maybe it will not. But the fact that you went through something new, is exciting. So please, enlighten yourself, go on one date."

Both of you stared at each other before you sighed, "Just one date? Then you'll leave me alone?"

He nodded rapidly, "Just one. Promise."

You leaned your head back, closing your eyes in thought, you figured, it wouldn't hurt to try having fun.

"Okay."

"Okay? Okay as in I will do it?"

You peeked an eye open finding Aegon bouncing on the couch in excitement, "Yes. I will do it."

He did a fist bump in the air as he cheered quietly, "I promise you won't regret it."

"Hopefully so."

Maybe it was a bad idea. The person who sat in the booth was in fact the person who you thought you were never going to see again. He sat with a sly smile. You were clenching your hands together in irritation, you found him incredibly annoying, yet he was so beautiful.

"Ah. I am so glad I came instead of Cregan."

You snapped your eyes up in anger, "What?!"

"Cregan was your blind date. Not me. He was just occupied sucking face with his ex-girl again that he did not come here, so I came. I wanted to see what prize I would get for being a best friend. I admit it is quite a treat for me."

Your hands itched to slap him but held back the anger that was filling your stomach, you almost wanted to cry but again, you held back. The male sitting in front of you crossed his arms, he was lean but muscular at the same time, he had very nice curls, and small but bright brown eyes that were easy to get lost in.

You were too into the drinks the night of Aegon's party to remember him but his lips... that you did remember. You blushed.

"Well," you cleared your throat, your eyes darting to the exit door of the restaurant, "this was fun, but I got to go for practice." You stood up, grabbing your bag and phone before a hand stopped you.

"Don't go. Look, I am sorry for being an ass. We can make use of the time and chat a little. If you don't want to stay after 10 minutes, I won't hold it against you. But I want to know you, I have seen you around."

You had two choices. Stay and get to know this guy or leave and swim in the shame of being stood up. You decided to hell with it, as you sat back down the booth slowly.

He smiled widely, his slight bunny teeth showing making you grin.

"My name is Jacaerys Velaryon, but you can call me Jace, everyone does anyways," he rambled, your lips quirked at the personality seeping out of him slowly. You introduced yourself, feeling a little flutter when he repeated your name softly.

The waiter came by to take your orders, Jacaerys was kind to ask what you wanted, recommending you the best choices. You felt more relaxed in his presence, he made it easy for you to open up. The food came in then, but the conversation never stopped.

He talked to you about his games, and his connection to your best friend. You found out he was in fact the co-captain of the soccer team. You heard a lot about the soccer team, how they hosted parties just to hook up with girls, or the famous captains that every girl wanted to make their boyfriends.

You grimaced at the thought you were now on the list of girls who he had dated. Shaking your head you continued to listen as you took small bites into your food, replying when asked a question.

"I have seen you. You dance very... pretty."

You choked on your pasta. His eyes widened as he reached out with a napkin whispering 'Oh shit, are you okay?' Your eyes watered but you gave a thumbs up.

"You've seen me dance?" You asked shyly.

"Have I seen you? Y/n, you are all they talk about in the halls. The next big performer of Westeros? You do not realize how much popularity you actually have do you? I have seen you once, practicing. You quite literally took my breath away."

Jacaerys muttered the last bit, he scratched his neck in shyness. You were practically red-faced; you did not dare to face him. His hand was placed on your right hand that was placed on the table, "I believe it though. You will make it big."

The flutters in your stomach made your toes curl, you wanted to hide and scream by the way he was staring at you. Jacaerys was grinning, his dimples showing slightly. He was beautiful.

"Thank... you?" you whispered, holding his hand now, watching him smile his hand now holding yours fully.

"You're welcome."

You did not want to admit it, but the date was in fact fun. You got to know him better as did he, you. You laughed at his attempt at making a whipped cream beard only for it to fall into his shirt and as he groaned, your heart fluttered. Jace, like he begged you to call him, was in fact the prime example of not judging a book by its cover.

When the check came, he quickly paid offering to take you home. In the car you sat listening to the radio in comfortable silence, you did not realize how much his hand twitched to hold yours.

"Well, we're here now."

You glanced at your home, silently cursing the time for going too quick. "Thank you for the ride, Jace. I had a lot of fun."

He smiled before it started to fade, you unbuckled your seatbelt slowly hoping that maybe... he would beg you to stay longer. He hesitated, your hand going for the door handle losing hope he was going to say something.

"Wait... y/n."

You reacted too fast for your liking, "Yes?"

"Meet me after the game? I'd like to take you somewhere."

You sat stunned before you stuttered, "As in... another date?"

His lips quirked to the side, the frat boy side slipping, "No. Just to hook up." That caused you to open your mouth to tell him off when he rolled his eyes, "Yes a date y/n."

You blushed; you did not know how much of his teasing you could take, "okay." You giggled into your hands as you closed your door, your cheek on fire holding a soft kiss made by the guy you never expected to make you feel so giddy inside. You hoped to see him again soon, and as you slept you dreamt of a curly, tall male with pretty freckles and brown eyes that looked like gems in the light.

You found yourself sitting in the bleachers surrounded by hordes of people. You had your ballet slippers on, your silk ballerina jumpsuit being covered by a skirt and a hoodie. You rushed after practice, sighing in relief when you only missed the first twenty minutes of the game.

Your classmates began looking at you not expecting to see you at a game. You never did come, Aegon begged you many times to go, to support Daeron who was also on the team. You always put practice as an excuse, but this time was different, Jace was playing, and he invited you.

You cheered whenever Jace scored, and as if he heard you, he would always throw his celebratory victories to you. Whether it was a wink or lame gun fingers. You jumped up and down as the team won their home game.

You waited by the bleachers, your feet dangling enjoying the chill of the night until you felt a jacket be dropped onto your shoulders. Jace sat next to you, his hair damped indicating his rushed shower. You sat in silence, his hands holding yours, with his thumbs caressing the front of your hands.

"Did you enjoy the game?"

You nodded, feeling too overwhelmed to speak.

"Let's make a deal yeah?" He leaned forward bending his head to face you clearly, your face growing hot when you spotted his bright brown eyes, from this angle you saw his freckles more clearly.

"Come to every single game of mine, and I will come to every dance recital, and rehearsal of yours. We will be each other's cheer squad."

Your heart grew warm, the appreciation and growing adoration for him becoming more intense. You only nodded, muttering a sincere promise as your hand reached towards his curls, brushing it to the side to avoid the droplets of water from his hair falling into his eyes. He grabbed your hand pulling you closer to him, your noses brushing.

You did not move as you did not want to seem desperate. You felt the minty breath of his, his hand holding yours as the other reached to cradle your face. You closed your eyes the moment you felt him move, your lips were wrapped with warmth, melting away every worry, growing the mass of butterflies that flew in your stomach. You met every movement of his lips, pressing yourself closer to him.

"Yo Jace! Quit making out! Are you coming to the party or not?" Cregan yelled from beneath the bleachers

You felt mutter a curse as you giggled. He pulled away still holding your hand, now intertwined with his. "Not tonight, I will be with my girl."

Cregan stopped, his jaw slacking, "Wh-at?" You even looked at him shocked. Jace only shrugged when he faced you before he looked towards his best friend, "Oh, and tell jack-ass Lannister that if I catch him sexualizing Y/n, I will beat his ass so bad he won't be able to play the playoffs."

Cregan only stood with his mouth open, shocked to see the one playboy who never wanted to commit to serious relationships in a deep make-out with a girl who he was serious about. Jace pulled you who was also stunned to his car, as both of you passed the still shocked Cregan, Jace patted him on the shoulder.

"Thanks man."

That night you sat in the back seat of his car, deep in make-out sessions, going over ice cream cones and listening to both of your favorite bands. As you sat wrapped in his strong arms you decided to question him your doubts.

"Why did you tell Cregan that?"

Jace hummed and if like he said nothing wrong, he responded lightly, "That we were together?"

You nodded, "And Lannister? What's that about?"

You felt him tense before he let out a big breath, "I plan to make you, my girlfriend. I can't stop thinking about you since I've met you. Lannister..." he huffed, "... is a jackass. A douche with no respect for anyone, if you ever cross paths with him or any of his goonies, turn the other way, and let me know if he ever does anything, promise me."

You swore you felt your heart wanting to explode, you wanted to confess your true feelings as well but felt too cowardly to do so, you only responded with a soft 'okay.' He pressed a kiss on your head, pressing you closer to his chest, you closed your eyes, hearing the soft thumps of his heart.

You fell harder for Jacaerys Velaryon that night, but you will never know how much he already loved you from afar. How when he saw you the night of Aegon's party he was shocked to see you there with a pretty light floral dress - he just did not expect to get so hammered like you were. And you definitely will never find out how Aegon texted Cregan the night after to meet you for a date when Jacaerys himself was using Cregan's phone.

You will never find out how quickly he deleted the message and went to meet you instead because this was finally his chance to talk to you, since you never turned your eye to him every time, he tried on purposely to catch your eye. You will not find out how he always stood by the door of your dance rehearsals seeing you twirl, and bounce as if you were flying in the air so prettily.

Jacaerys Velaryon has loved you deeply for a long time and he planned to love you always, you were the person he wanted to take to his mother and proudly say he wanted to marry you.

[97linelover]

Versace on the floor. - Kim Mingyu

18+ / mdi

summary: You´re sure of one thing, leaving the house with your Fiancé in a Suit, will lead to a steamy night.

content: Fiancé Mingyu x Reader, slight angst, fluff ,smut , small fight

wc: 2.8k

a/n: I listened to versace on the floor and suddenly had this idea.

Walking out of the Bedroom, your heels were clinking against the gray marble floor. You were dressed in an Emerald green satin dress; thin straps were complementing your shoulders; and a Diamond necklace was decorating your neck. Your hair was in a beautiful bun, only two strands out at the front, and your makeup was simple except for the slightly winged liner and red lips.

"The car is already here" The voice of your Fiancé rang through your eyes and you grabbed the clutch grabbing your phone "Can we take a picture Gyu?" you said "Yes, one moment love" he said, and you heard the glass and the fridge.

Guessing he put back the wine you two were drinking earlier.

When you heard his steps, you looked up. Your mouth started watering he wore a black suit, under his blazer there was a matching tie to your dress.

Mingyu's love habit was matching clothes, but not the cliché clothes. You remember how he came home with this dress and told you that he bought it at Versace. He loved to spoil you. He had the proudest smile on his face.

You always told him to stop buying those things but he always told you, that you only deserve the best and that he wants to spend his money on his favorite person.

"You look breathtaking Y/N" a soft smile played around your lips "You look handsome yourself" your thumb opened the Camera app and you stood in front of the mirror. His tanned hand sneaked around your hip and you smiled brightly meanwhile he looked down at you, smiling slightly.

It was your favorite Pose, a pose that made your heart flutter.

"I can't wait to take this dress off you tonight" He whispered in your ear and you quickly put the phone away coughing "alright, time to go, you can't let the CEO wait" You quickly regained your posture.

He grinned and guided you down to where the black SUV was waiting.

Inside the car Mingyu rested his large Palm on your thigh and you smiled at him "You look so good tonight" Your voice was a whisper, and he leaned down, connecting your lips in a soft kiss "You're the one to talk baby" he smirked against your lips. Your hand was on his trained thigh, softly squeezing, what made him groan.

When you two started Dating, you told him that one of your biggest fetish were thighs, trained thighs. Every time you both had sex you were squeezing his thighs, when you both worked out, and he was only in his shorts, you needed to calm your breath and try to calm down.

Over time, his thighs became his weak spot, because he knew how they turned you on, and just the thought of it made him go crazy.

"Okay, we need to stop before this escalates" You giggled and pulled back, and he leaned his head against his headrest, closing his eyes "You make me fucking crazy".

"I know and you do the same to me" you said softly and smiled.

-

The car door opened, and Mingyu got out first, helping you get out. You walked up the red stairs where the photographers were standing. Mingyu put his arm around your hip to pose, and you smiled shyly. You hated this, but this is just the life of being engaged to Kim Mingyu, the right Hand of the CEO of Lee Lawyers.

The biggest Law Firm in Seoul.

Mingyu kissed your cheek softly "Let's go inside," he said, smiling, and guided you carefully inside. The hand on your lower back made your heart flutter. Such a simple gesture, but sometimes the smallest things are just enough.

"I'll get us something to drink love" he pecked my cheek and walked towards the bar. The ballroom was crowded; everywhere were people talking and laughing, your feet were dragging you to the quieter corner "Y/N!"You turned around when Lee Jin came walking towards you.

"You look lovely, my dear; Mingyu did a perfect job with this dress." He took your hand and kissed the back of it "Thank you Jin! Mingyu is just getting some drinks, and then he will be yours," you said sheepishly, and he smiled. "Tonight is his special day, so he should be with you!"

"His special day?" you were confused. Mingyu came back to you and gave you the glass of champagne. "Did you not tell your soon-to-be wife the good news?" he chuckled and you took a sip of the champagne. "ah no not-" "Then Jin, why don't you tell me what the good news are?" you said, smiling sweetly.

Mingyu directly went quiet.

He knew you were curious.

"You know, my dear, Mingyu will be the next CEO. I'll retire this month, and it was clear from the beginning that Mingyu will be the new CEO." Your heart dropped.

"Wow.." you said breathlessly, "and when did you two decided that?" Mingyu could feel that you were getting disappointed. "He signed the Contract two weeks ago". You slightly gasped.

"Well that's amazing, Jin. You really need to enjoy your time with your wife and Kids so taking a step back was the perfect decision." You gulped down the champagne. "If you'll excuse me, I need to use the restroom." You turned around, hurrying towards the exit as fast as your silver Jimmy Choo could carry you.

God you were Happy for him. Finally, finally his hard work paid off; his 70-hour weeks were finally taking serious. But he did not tell you about this; he knew about it for two weeks, maybe before that, and he did not think about talking to you about this topic.

You are his fiancé, the woman he wants to marry next year, and he just signed a contract without your knowledge, which pissed you off. You asked him when your work wanted to promote you, and you both decided if this would be okay for your relationship.

"Y/N, Baby, please wait a moment!" His steps were behind you, and he grabbed your arm softly. You twirled around and bumped against his chest. "Gyu I want a moment to calm down," you whispered. "I know, but I need to tell you that I wanted to tell you, but I did not find the right situation.

"Every situation would've been right Mingyu" you whispered, and he winced when you called him by his full name, "I'm all about honesty; you know that. I want you to trust me; tell me everything, I'm your partner Gyu." He pulled you closer.

"You are my person Y/N! But I wanted to suprise you fuck. I mean I finally got us the life we dreamed of" you smiled sadly "your life Gyu, the life you dreamed of" His heart sank at your words.

"I know everything you do, you do it for us but I don't want the money I want you, more time with you and I'm afraid this will change".

His fingertips lifted my chin "You are always my priority baby, and I won't lie to you, the first months will be stressful but after that I'll try my best to be there for you!" he seemed so genuine.

You looked up and softly kissed him. "I am really happy for you, my love, but tonight you're not the one in charge," you whispered, and he smiled. "Fuck, I love you, but you will be sorry for being a little brat tonight,you know I´m always in charge" he whispered.

Oh you could not wait . -

When they were seated at the table, they listened to the speeches: "and the award for the Employee of the year goes tooo... KIM MINGYUU" you jumped up, clapping "ah my baby" you said while hugging him, and he smiled as he walked upstairs. "This means so much to me," he said. "without Mr. Lee, I would've never made this, and with my beautiful fiancé by my side,".

You smiled brightly and clapped. He then walked down and talked to Jin, you watched him with loving eyes and your eyes wandered around his body, how his shoulders looked in this suit, and suddenly you wanted to go home.

You grabbed your phone with a smirk and went on Spotify taking a screenshot of Versace on the floor by Bruno Mars.

'Y/N: this could be you as soon as we go home ;)´

She watched every move Mingyu made and smirked when he pulled his phone out of his pocket. His eyes widened slightly, but he quickly regained his posture.

His eyes looked for yours and you bit your lips when you saw how dark his eyes were.

He said something to the people he was talking to and then went over to you. "We go home now" he said inside your ear in a low, husky voice, and you felt your panties dampen.

He grabbed your clutch, and you hurried behind him. For your luck, there was no one stopping you, and when you got inside the black van, the driver closed the door. "Home, Mr. Kim?""Yes please"

Mingyu closed the window so that it was blacked out. "You knew I would leave them standing there, when you sent me this text, right?" Your sparkling eyes were making him crazy

"I hoped for it because god Gyu you look so good tonight, and I want you" you said while your palm was stroking his thigh softly. He grabbed your hand "no you get to wait until we are home so be a good girl" he grinned rubbing his bulge over his black slacks.

"Gyu that's not fair." Your voice was weak; you felt yourself leaking. "But was it fair to text me this while I was talking to some clients?" He opened his zipper, pulling out his hardened cock, not fully hard.

But his tip was swollen and you groaned. His dick was beautiful, smooth and tanned, the first time you saw it you directly went down on him because it was so inviting.

His veiny hand was taking a hold of it, pumping up and down a few times, leaning his head back "fuck" he groaned, and you let out a whine. "Gyu" you were frustrated, and he looked at you with his deep brown eyes.

He put his dick back inside his boxer shorts. "Later, baby," he said and the car came to a halt. You quickly went out, and Mingyu walked up the porch, opening the door and holding it open for "thank you" You walked past him inside the kitchen grabbing the cold bottle of wine he put there this morning.

"So should we celebrate your new position Mr. CEO?" You asked while pouring the wine into your glass, you felt his gaze not leaving you for one second.

"You're testing my patience babygirl" he said while walking towards you while you sipped on your red wine, he took the glass out of your hand and gulped the rest down. "You're not in charge baby, don't forget that" he whispered in your ear while leaving wet kisses along your neck.

His signature perfume is reaching your nostrils.

You felt his palm pulling you closer so that his broad chest was everything you felt.

Mingyus body was out of this world.

"I wanted to start slow baby but you're teasing did not amuse me" His voice was deep, his deep dominant voice. Your core started clenching, and your breathing was fast.

"I really loved you in that dress" he said while turning you around. Your hands catch you at the counter; he did not waste time and unzipped it, basically ripping it from your body.

"Gyu that was so expensive" you whined "I don't care; I would buy you millions of these if it meant I can rip them off your body"

"And you were the one sending those stupid lyrics... you wanted the Versace on the floor"

He knew exactly what to say.

And when you were left in your black Lacey thong, he licked his lips. Before you, he was a tits guy but with you he can't decide.

He bend you over the marble kitchen counter "Arms behind your back baby" he demanded and you did. He took his tie off and tied your hands.

Not only that, but he ripped the thong apart and you scoffed "I swear all off my clothes will be gone soon"

"I'll take you shopping tomorrow"

You could hear his zipper, and shortly after you felt him at the entrance, 3 months ago, you decided to go raw because you both thought if you got pregnant, it would be just right.

But you both don't push it.

"Come one CEO fuck me already" you said while wiggling your ass a bit.

"I'll fuck you baby, I'll fuck you until your lungs give out" and with that, he pushed inside you a loud moan escaped your lips. "Fuck gyu"

He pulled on the tie while thrusting in and out of you; his pace was unreal; he made you scream his name and it was just a quick fuck. By tomorrow, your voice will be gone.

"Gyu yes, right there fuck" you whined balling your hands behind your back into fists. "I want you to come, babygirl; scream my name" he said, and slapped your ass.

That little detail brought you over the edge and shortly after he pulled "on your knees@ he said. You knew he was close so you quickly obeyed opening your mouth, he jerked his dick and looked down at you, his shirt was open, his blazer gone.

His look had something so filthy to it, he did not undress only his tanned chest and cock peeking out.

His shirt sleeves were rolled up and the hand that fisted his cock was complimented by a gold Rolex. Mingyu screamed classy and hot all together and he was yours.

His hair was slightly longer and wavy.

"such a filthy slut you are" he groaned "only yours" you moaned while opening your mouth again.

"Fuck.. god" he groaned while spilling into your mouth.

You swallowed and got up still in your heels "fuck my feet hurt" you sighed and he softly lifted you on to the marble counter.

He took your feet in his hand "why didn't you tell me love" he opened the small buckle while putting them on the floor "it fitted the scenario" you shrugged and he laughed "god your unbelievable" he said while taking off the other shoe.

He kissed your foot softly and you looked at him.

"I definitely catched the best fish out there" you grinned and he smiled showing off his vampire teeth you loved "I love you so much" he kissed you while lifting you up.

You wrapped your legs around his torso and he walked inside the bathroom.

The night did not finish with one orgasm, he started eating you out on the bed and later in the shower. He fucked you countless times.

One thing Mingyu took always care of was making you cum, he never missed a chance to bring you an orgasm. Your ex partners always put themselves first. But he had joy just watching you come undone because of him.

You were sitting on his lap, his chest was illuminated by the moon and the lamp from your nightstand, his chest was decorated with read lip prints of you and he looked at you softly stroking your arm, the goosebumps on your body were out of this world.

"Wait" you grabbed your phone "I need to take a photo of you, this looks so beautiful" you said while opening the camera app.

He did not look at the camera but he looked at you, his brown eyes sparkled and he smiled, his white teeth on display and his after sex hair making him look like the highest paid model.

He grabbed your phone laughing and snapping a picture of you, your hair was covering your nipples, but you looked fucked out, cheeks flushed, red lipstick long gone and your mascara all over the place, but you looked happy, you looked genuine happy and that was what Mingyu loved.

He turned the camera in to selfie mode and pulled you down kissing you softly.

He put the phone away and continued kissing you "so you want the venue in Italy?" He whispered "we did not visit it yet Gyu" you said while kissing along his jaw.

"We can fly there and look at it, maybe look for a few more there" he stroke your hair and you looked up "but will the wedding night end with Versace on the floor?" A playful smile on your lips.

"Mhm we can kiss till we're naked" he suggested.

"Then Italy it'll be" you muttered while sitting straight up grinding your hips.

"Such a tease" he grinned turning you both over, kissing your thighs until he reached your core "you're obsessed Kim" you said while letting out a moan.

"Only with my wife" he said grinning and you both reached another high this night.

[cherrycola27]

false god

Series Warnings: Mythology!AU. Language, alcohol, drinking. Military inaccuracies. Mutual pining, unrequited love. Allusions to and full smut. Minors DNI. 18+. Individual chapter warnings will come as needed. Banner Credit @thedroneranger

Masterlist Previous Part Next Part

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

Chapter 20: Right Where You Left Me

welcome home

Your brother's words rang in your ears, catching you off guard.

Home

Olympus

You were restored

But you weren't home. Olympus hadn't been your home in a long time—if ever.

Home was Earth. Home was a house in Coronado with your husband.

Home was Bradley.

You stood there, staring at Poseidon for a long while before taking a deep breath. "Si, this isn't my home." You tell him softly. "What do you mean? You're a Goddess. Olympus is your home." He questions you.

"This place may have been my home once, but not anymore. Not after everything—" You trail off, but your brother nods, knowing what you mean. He was the only one who took your side when everything happened with Persephone.

"My home is Earth now, with my husband." You tell him. "Husband?" Poseidon asks you.

"Yes, a mortal, his name is Bradley. He's the reason I'm here. There was an accident. I sacrificed myself to save him." You say, not wanting to tell much more.

"Does he make you happy, sister?" Poseidon speaks softly. "Happier than I have ever been." You smile. "Wonderful. I am happy for you." He smiles at you.

There is a beat of silence. "Well then, I would love for you to stay around, but I'm sure you want to go back to him. Promise to visit some, or I can come see you." Poseidon smiles.

"That would be wonderful, Si." You smile at him before hugging him. He hugs you back tightly before allowing you to take a step back.

You roll your shoulders back and touch your wedding rings. "Take me to Bradley." You whisper, waiting to be whisked back to him. Instead, electricity floods your body, jolting you with pain. You cry out and collapse. Poseidon runs to your side. "Sister? Sister, are you alright?" His voice heavy with concern as he helps you to your feet.

"Something is wrong. I can't, I can't travel. I can't feel Bradley." You stammer out.

"Your husband, are you tethered?" Poseidon asks you. "Yes, I checked, see?" You say waving your hand over your wedding rings, but instead of finding the golden string that once lived there, you find it dull and lifeless. It's been cut.

"Zeus." Your brother breathes out before you can. "He had Hera and Aphroditie cut your tether. He must have forced them because they would never do it willingly." He says. "I've always known our brother was wicked, but this—this is just cruel." Poseidon breathes out.

Your lip quivers as you look at the limp string tied around your finger as tears silently fall. But soon, the sadness morphs to something else.

Rage burns inside of you. Anger fills your senses as the centuries of animosity that you've choked back explode from you in a burst of white-hot flames as you scream.

Poseidon jumps back as the flames of hatred wrap around you, turning your white dress black with smoke and ash.

"Where is he?" You growl lowly. "Court, Zeus, is hold court today in the palace." Your brother stutters out, simultaneously terrified and in awestruck by you.

You nodded before vanishing in a flash. Moments later, you were in the middle of a white marble hall. Columns stood tall on either side of you. Flaming torches of gold lined the walls, lighting the way. Ornate carvings dripping in gold, silver, and precious stones adorned the high ceilings.

Beautiful busts, paintings, tapestries, and statues decorated the hallway. You didn't take time to stop and marvel at them as you marched by, though.

You were on a mission. Each step you took had a purpose. You quickly found your way to the Great Hall. The solid gold doors were manned by two sentries who drew back the moment they saw you.

"Open." You commanded. They nodded before each grasping a handle and pulling the doors wide. You could hear your idiotic brother speaking as the doors opened, but the moment you appeared in the doorway, silence fell over the hall.

"Zeus!" You yelled out as you charged at him, feet pounding on the cool stone.

"You! You bastard!" You shrieked as you launched yourself at him. You saw terror briefly flash across his face before two strong pairs of arms subdued you. You struggled as you turned to see Ares and Apollo holding you firmly.

"Hades! Sister! Welcome home! I am so thankful you have been restored!" Zeus taunted you.

"Do not vex me with your passive-aggressive words, Brother. You and I both know you don't want me here." You seethe.

"Sister, why do you say that? I mean, after you were restored, I had Hermes lift the charm that prevented you from traveling to Olympus." Zeus smirked as you still struggled.

"Yes, and then you made sure to have him create a new one so I couldn't go back to Earth, and you forced Hera and Aphroditie to cut my tether to my husband, you bastard." You gritted out.

"Hades, darling baby sister, you must understand why I did it. You've spent so much time on Earth. I thought it would be best if you spent some time here, at home. And as for your tether, you and I both know you can't be with a mortal. It compromises your loyalty to your family." Zeus says as he pats your cheek.

You cry out as you heat your body so hot that Ares and Apollo release you as they wince in pain from you burning them.

Zeus stumbles backward and calls for someone else to restrain you, but you produce the Soul Sword and everyone backs away.

You turn and see that Zeus has he bolt in his hand, ready to throw it at you. You stalk towards him.

"Loyalty? That's what this is about? Loyalty and family? Zeus, you wouldn't know the meaning of those words if someone slapped you in the face with them." You say.

"Where was family when Persephone falsely accused me? Where was loyalty when you imprisoned me in the Underworld? You act like you are doing me a favor by letting me come to Olympus when you are the reason I was banished in the first place! You flaunt there on your high horse acting like you have changed by giving me 'freedom,' but I am still trapped! I am still right where you left me all those years ago, trapped in my own personal hell that you created by taking away the one thing that I love!" You scream at Zeus. Through angry tears.

"Hades, please, calm down. I'm just trying to be a good brother and look out for for well being." Zeus says.

"You are not my brother. You're just some bastard keeping me from my husband. And mark my words, you will rue this day, because I will have my revenge. It will not be today, and it may not be tomorrow. But one day soon, I am going to burn you and Olympus to the ground and then dance upon its ashes." You threaten him before disappearing in a could of smoke.

Zeus lets out the breath he has been holding and lowered his bolt. The eyes of the other Gods and Goddess are all on him, none of them daring to speak until Hera breaks the silence.

"You stupid, stupid man. I told you that forcing Aphroditie and I to cut her tether would end badly, and Hermes warned you that taking her traveling away would have repercussions; but you didn't listen. Now all of us are going to have to suffer. I hope you're satisfied with yourself." Hera says before turning on her heels and walking away, the others following her.

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

The sound of pots and pans rattling in the kitchen downstairs alerted Bradley that it was time to get out of bed. He'd been up for hours, lying awake, staring at the ceiling, replaying your last moments over and over in his mind again. It had been two weeks since the accident.

Two weeks since he had seen your smile, felt your touch, kissed your lips. Two weeks since he cut those ropes and watched you fall into the waves below without a trace.

Maverick had been staying with him in one of the guest rooms, trying to keep Bradley from drinking himself to death while wallowing in his grief.

Today was a day Bradley had been dreading. This morning, he and Maverick were going to meet with Cyclone to officially declare what Bradley already knew, that you'd been killed in action.

Begrudgingly, he swung his legs over his side of the bed and stumbled into the bathroom. He needed to shave. The stubbly beard he now had was well out of regs, but helped hide the way his face had thinned out some as a result of him being too sick with grief to eat.

After a shower and a shave, Bradley pulled on his uniform. The khaki material that had once hugged his frame nicely now hung loose and limp due to his diet and lack of exercise.

After trudging down the stairs, Bradley was immediately greeted by Cerberus and Hydra. He pet both of them before walking to the coffee maker and poured a cup of the scalding liquid before taking a long sip.

"I made breakfast." Maverick said, breaking the silence. "M'not hungry." Bradley mumbled over his coffee mug. "You need to eat something. You can't sustain yourself on black coffee and whiskey. Remember what Hades made you promise her." Maverick said.

Bradley turned to face his uncle and snatched the plate of eggs and toast from his hand before sitting down at the breakfast nook. Sometimes Bradley hated that Maverick knew everything about you now. He didn't mean to tell him, but the first night back stateside, Bradley had come home and drank almost a full bottle of whiskey. Maverick had come over to check on him, and Bradley let everything spill out.

Every detail about your relationship and your true identity and how you sacrificed yourself for him and the promise you had Bradley make you. Maverick was taken aback at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

After breakfast, Maverick insisted on driving to base. He and Bradley climb into the beat-up red jeep Mav had purchased on a whim a few years ago and made the twenty or so minute drive to base. It was silent the whole way there.

Bradley was stoic as he sat in the chair across from Cyclone and some other officers as they gave him the official declination of your death along with their deepest condolences.

After the meeting, he was flooded with questions about the arrangements he wanted to make for your funeral.

People were asking him what kind of service he wanted, when, and where. There were questions about flowers and speakers, but the one that broke him was when someone asked him what type of casket he wanted to pick out for you.

"Excuse me?" He spit out. "Did you just ask me about a casket?" Heat flooded his cheeks. The man sitting across from him stammered a reply.

"Why the fuck would I need a casket? My wife was killed in action, and they never recovered her body. Why would I need a fucking casket if I'm never going to get to lay her to rest and give her a proper goodbye? What kind of fucking question is that?" Bradley growled as tears streamed down his face.

"I don't give two fucks about any of this. The casket, the flowers, a head stone! None of it matters!" He roared before slamming his palms down on the table.

Maverick quickly helped him out of the room before Bradley collapsed against a wall and sobbed.

"Mav, what am I supposed to do? Bury an empty box? Am I supposed to get a headstone with her name on it and put it beside mom and dad with an empty casket under it?" Bradley cried.

"If that's what you want to do." Maverick said softly. "Do you want to put a headstone in Virginia?"

"We talked about it once. When we went other there. She asked me where I wanted to be buried, and I told her with my parents. But if I do that, I can't stay here in California Mav. I'd have to go back to Oceana." Bradley explained.

"If that's what you feel like you need to do, we can start the paperwork. I'll help you get everything taken care of with it. What about your house, though? Maverick asked home.

"I'll sell it. It doesn't feel like home without her it feels more like a prison because it's so empty. We were supposed to raise our kids there and grow old together. But instead, I'm right where I was before I met her, alone." Bradley sighs.

Maverick pats his shoulder and helps him to his feet. "I can't help you put together a nice tribute for Hades. One that she'd be proud of." Maverick gives him a half smile before walking Bradley down to his office.

A week later, Bradley is standing in a hotel room, preparing his dress blues for your funeral. He looks at his reflection in the mirror and flexes his bicep. The Roman numerals that are inked there now have a pair of angel wings beside them. He'd first noticed them a few days after he lost you. He knows that you had to have put them there as a way to make good on your promise to always be with him. He smiled as he traced them.

Bradley doesn't remember what people said about you at your service. It all passed in a blur. He'd written a speech but doesn't remember giving it. He was, and still is on auto pilot.

The realization of everything doesn't hit him until he is walking up to the empty golden oak casket that Maverick helped him pick out and pounding his his wings into it that this is happening.

As the gun salute rings out and jets fly overhead, he feels his heart shattering like a red wine glass over a white table cloth.

After the service, people disburse, but Bradley takes a seat on the freshly broken Earth and stares at the granite stone that reads your name. He stays there for hours, unmoving even as the sun begins to fade, and the first few leaves off autumn drop from the trees and collect on him like dust.

It's only when Maverick and the rest of the Daggers come back at sundown that they are able to coax him away from your grave.

Bradley gets dressed and leaves his hotel room early the next morning, getting to the cemetery just as the sun is coming up. He just wants to be alone. He hopes that maybe in the peace and quiet, he'll be able to feel your presence.

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

Despite being away from the Underworld so long, you were able to fall back into your routine as queen quickly. It helped keep your mind busy and thoughts occupied. If you were left to your own devices for too long, your mind wandered back to Bradley, and you'd cry so hard that you'd make yourself sick. Honestly, you felt sick most of the time since you'd been back. You chalked up to a broken heart.

Minthe and Hecate encourage you to go visit Bradley's parents in their piece of Paradise, but you were afraid. What if they didn't know who you were or didn't like you?

Right now, it didn't matter. You had to put those thoughts on the back burner because you had a meeting with the Council of Fates. You'd donned a simple but regal black dress and were sitting at the head of a long mahogany table. When Théama, the leader of the Council, walked in with the rest of the Fates in tow.

"Greetings, Majesty." Théama curtsied to you before shaking your hand. "I believe you know the rest of the Council members, but I would like to introduce you to my younger sister, Mantisa. She has just come into her gift of sight.

A younger girl who looked just like Théama curtsied to you before extending her hand to shake yours. The moment her hand touched yours, her head snapped back, and her body froze. Everyone stood still until Mantisa came around.

"Sister, what did you see?" Théama asked her.

"Pardon my ignorance Majesty, all of ours really. We were not aware congratulations were in order." Mantisa spoke.

"What do you mean?" You asked the young Fate with a puzzled look.

"Oh, forgive me. Are you unaware, my lady?" Mantisa asks you. "Unaware of what?" You say, a tad harsh.

"That you are with child." Mantisa says with a smile. You feel your eye twitch before you reach forward and grab her roughly by the arm.

"What did you say?" You grit out. You nails dig into her flesh. "You are with child, my lady. I saw it in my vision." Mantisa trembles out.

"How dare you say that. I have not laid with my husband in weeks. I died before being restored, plugged into the ocean from a tall cliff, and drowned. No babe, could have survived that. The words you have spoken are treason, and I could have your tongue, or better yet, your head for it." Your voice is laced with venom.

"Majesty, please. Mantisa has just received her gift. She does not know how to interpret her visions yet. She is just a girl. Please. Mantisa, take it back!" Théama begs.

"No, I'm not wrong. I saw it. I saw you with a babe. Please, Majesty. Take my hand. Please let me show you." Mantisa pleads. You battle with yourself before deciding to humor her.

"Fine. Prove yourself." You say as you let her go.

Mantisa takes your hand and places it on your stomach and puts her over your own. "Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and feel." Mantisa encourages you.

So you do.

You close your eyes and relax. You think of Bradley and the happy times you spent together. The warmth and the love that he made you feel. And suddenly, you feel it. It's no more than a flutter, but it's there. The beat of a heart that isn't your own.

You gasp as a golden light surrounds you before wrapping around your hand and lighting up your tether, restoring it.

"My gods." You whisper as tears streak your face. "But how?"

"Demigod children are resilient, that have had to be." Minthe tells you as she hugs you.

"You daughter is perfect. She will grow to be a strong and healthy princess and a wise queen." Mantisa tells you.

"Daughter?" You say. "Yes. A daughter. Strong like her mother and father." She smiles at you.

"Thank you." You tell her. "Thank you for this gift. Forgive me for my behavior. I—" you trail off. "You are forgiven. I could not imagine what you have been through." Mantisa says as she hugs you. You and the Fates decide to meet again at a later date. You have something more important to do.

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

You rocked nervously on your heels as you stood on the porch of the small farmhouse that looked exactly like the one from the photos Bradley had shown you.

After visiting with the royal healers, you found that you were around ten weeks pregnant. Once you realized it, it explained much of your sickness and feelings. You only wish you had a way to tell Bradley. But now that you tether was restored, maybe you could find one.

For now, though, you wanted to tell his parents. So, you changed into a simple black sundress and picked a bouquet of poppies and sunflowers.

You took a deep breath before knocking on their door. You could hear footsteps as you stood there waiting, going over the speech you prepared in your head again.

But the moment the door opened, and you saw Carole Bradshaw standing there, just as beautiful as she was in all the pictures you'd seen of her, you froze.

"Well, hello there." She said to you warmly.

You opened your mouth to speak, but no words came out. Carole stood there, waiting patiently with a bright smile on her face.

"I—" you choked out. "I'm sorry—I should go." You say quickly, taking a step back. But before you can leave, Carole places a gentle hand on your arm.

"Nonsense. Please, come in. Goose and I have been so eager to meet you, Sweet Girl." Carole smiles as she guides you through the door.

"You—you know who I am?" You ask her. "Of course I do. Goose and I check on Bradley every day. And did you think I wouldn't recognize my own ring?" She asks you. "Oh." You say shyly.

Carole leads you into the living room that is filled with pictures that you know well. She offers you a seat and you offer her the flowers.

She takes them and calls into the kitchen. "Goose!"

"That's me, Honey!" A male voice calls back. "Get me a vase with some water and start some coffee. Our daughter-in-law is here for a visit!" Carole calls back to him as she walks in the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Carole comes back with coffee, and Goose follows behind her with a tray of sweets. You're stunned at just how much Bradley favors his father. It's uncanny.

"Bradley looks so much like you." You blurt out before you can even think. Goose laughs. "What a shame. I was hoping he would get his mama's beauty." Goose laughs. "Goose, you and I both know how handsome he is." Carole playfully pushes him.

You stand up to shake their hands. "Now, Hades," Goose begins, "we are family, and families hug, Sweet Girl." He says to you before wrapping his arms around you. Carole joins him, and for a minute, everything feels normal.

It feels like home.

You spend all evening with Goose and Carole. They tell you stories about Bradley's childhood, and you tell them about how he is now. Carole makes dinner, and you eat with them, and it makes you feel so warm inside. You only wish Bradley were here. If you could travel to Earth, you could bring him here. Yet another thing Zeus had taken from you.

It's late in the evening when you tell them you have to leave. They offer you their extra room to sleep over, but you decline.

"Before I leave, there is one thing I wanted to tell you. It's the reason I came in the first place, actually." You say.

"What is it, Sweet Girl?" Carole asks you.

"You're going to be grandparents." You tell them. Cries of joy leave their mouths as they hug you tighly.

"Does—does Bradley know?" Goose asks you. You hang your head. "No, I found out today, and with everything I've told you, you know I can't go to Earth and tell him or bring him here. But I'm not going to give up. Bradley is going to meet his daughter." You say.

"Daughter?" Carole smiles. "Yes, daughter." You confirm. "How wonderful. Hades, you are smart. I know you'll figure something out. And we are here if you need us for anything." Carole reassures you. You hug her and Goose once more before traveling back to your palace.

It's late once you get back. You fall asleep almost as soon as your head hits your pillows. You find sleep easy for the first time since you'd returned. You were content to drift off and dream about you and Bradley and your daughter. But hours later, Minthe and Hecate burst into your room.

"My lady! My lady!" They shout, rousing you from your slumber. "What? What is it?" You ask, still groggy.

"My lady, the guards have reported a disturbance at the palace gate. You must come quickly." Minthe tells you.

You jolt up out of bed and wrap yourself in a long, flowing black robe. You run down the hall and down the stairs and through the castle until you burst out the doors. You make your way through the courtyard and through the crowd that has gathered at the palace gate.

You don't believe your eyes when you see what—well who is there. You blink a few times and a pinch yourself to make sure you are awake. Sure enough, you are. Your heart rate quickens, and your palms sweat. You place a protective hand on your stomach before opening your mouth and speaking.

"Bradley?"

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

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[hmmarble]

HMMARBLEDESİGN - DRAGON+ (5)

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Marble Coffee Table

A marble coffee table is more than just a piece of furniture; it is a statement of style and sophistication. With its elegant appearance and diverse design options, a marble coffee table can enhance the aesthetic of any living space.

One of the standout features of a marble coffee table is its unique patterns and colors. Each piece of marble is different, ensuring that your coffee table is one-of-a-kind. From deep blues and greens to classic whites and grays, the variety of marble available allows homeowners to choose a table that perfectly complements their decor.

Not only is a marble coffee table visually appealing, but it is also highly durable. Marble is a natural stone that can withstand the rigors of day-to-day use, making it an excellent choice for a high-traffic area like a living room. Unlike other materials, marble is resistant to heat and scratches, which means it retains its beauty for years to come with minimal upkeep.

In terms of style, a marble coffee table can fit seamlessly into various design themes, from modern and minimalist to traditional and rustic. Its versatility allows it to be the centerpiece of the room, enhancing both the functionality and the visual dynamics of the space. Whether you prefer a sleek, contemporary design or a more intricate, classic look, there is a marble coffee table out there for you.

When accessorizing a marble coffee table, it's essential to consider balance. You can enhance its elegance by adding decorative trays, books, or candles that complement the table without overwhelming it. A few carefully chosen items can accentuate the natural beauty of the marble while also serving practical purposes.

Investing in a marble coffee table is a smart choice for anyone looking to elevate their living space. It combines functionality with artistry, creating a focal point that invites conversation and admiration. Embrace the luxurious touch that a marble coffee table can bring to your home.

Marble Home Decoration

When it comes to home decoration, few materials exude elegance and style quite like marble. From classic to contemporary designs, marble home decoration adds a luxurious touch that can elevate any room.

One of the most popular uses of marble in home decor is through the incorporation of stunning marble pieces, such as a marble coffee table. These tables not only serve as functional furniture but also become eye-catching focal points that draw attention and admiration.

In the kitchen and bathroom, cultured marble sinks are a fabulous way to incorporate the beauty of marble into your daily life. Their glossy finish and seamless appearance offer a beautiful contrast to cabinetry and fixtures. Moreover, the durability and low maintenance of cultured marble make it an excellent choice for both style and practicality.

Another great option for marble home decoration is to use marble accents throughout your living space. Whether it’s in the form of decorative vases, wall art, or coasters, small touches of marble can enhance the overall aesthetic without overwhelming the design.

A marble fireplace surround can also make a significant impact, creating a timeless and sophisticated atmosphere in your home. Plus, it pairs beautifully with various design styles, from rustic to industrial to modern.

Lastly, lighting plays a crucial role in enhancing marble home decoration. Consider incorporating marble lamps or chandeliers to add warmth and charm. The way light interacts with marble can create stunning visual effects that further enhance the beauty of your home.

In summary, marble home decoration offers endless possibilities for creating a stunning and inviting living environment. By thoughtfully incorporating marble in various forms, you can achieve a cohesive and stylish look throughout your home.

[brightymir]

𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 || 𝐠. 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐮

》 contains: language, description of jujutsu exorcism, workaholic reader, soft satoru, long dialogues

》 genre: light angst, h/c

》 wc: 2.4k

》 satoru gojo x gn!jujutsu sorcerer!reader

》 a/n: hello! i've been away for the past three months and i'm sincerely sorry for that. acads have been driving me crazy and took up so much of my time which made me incapable of writing something new. i've been in a toru brainrot lately so here's a little something for you all. lately, i found myself exploring relationship dynamics and common conflicts between couples so i hope you enjoy this, thank you for your continued support. ilysm!

》 reader can produce waves of cursed energy like gojo's red & blue. after exorcising a curse, reader can absorb the curse's energy and convert it into her own.

"emerge from the darkness, blacker than black. purify that which is impure," you muttered and watched as the skyscraper became covered with a veil, unseen to the outside world and ordinary humans. calmly walking up the stairs and tracing the powerful cursed energy inside the building, you played with the keys of your private jet. you were about to fly back to japan when you were called back to take care of a second grade curse lurking in the west end of london.

the sun was making its way up the sky, slowly rising and providing warmth to the city. it was a little past 11 in the morning. however, you knew well that the sun has already set in tokyo, and you needed to hurry up to make sure that the plans you made for your anniversary won't go to waste.

"for our anniversary, i will not forgive you if you aren't here by 12 noon. i could be asking you to be here at exactly midnight, but i know that you're in demand there. 12 noon exactly, or else!"

you chuckled as you remembered his words over the phone two weeks ago. you were well aware that you need to fulfill this request of his since you failed to come home for his birthday (for two consecutive years) and even missed out on other events wherein he needed your presence.

stopping at the seventh floor, you were faced with a spherical creature which had massive rings around it, resembling the planet saturn. it had numerous eyes decorating the expanse of it, and two large mouths with lots of sharp teeth. it was floating aimlessly, with a trail of tiny more spheres trailing behind it.

it looked like a biblically accurate angel.

you extended your arm and with a snap of your fingers, a wave of cursed energy in a shade of green emitted from the tips of your fingers, going straight to the cursed spirit. it burst from the impact and disintegrated to pieces. your eyebrow rose slowly when you were not able to absorb its energy.

huh? not yet finished? is this not the main body?

you walked closer to the tiny pieces of the creature and laughed in amusement as you saw thousands of tiny marbles charging straight at you. the scene was both funny and cute at the same time, but you knew that they were also quite dangerous.

without wasting any more time, you snapped your fingers once again, emitting another wave which lasted for seventeen seconds before the curse was completely exorcised. you absorbed its energy and stored it within you, beginning to convert it as you walked out of the building.

you got into your car and was about to drive towards the airport when your phone rang. you grunted and had the urge to ignore it when you saw the caller id. three more calls were made before you parked in a sidewalk and picked up the call.

"what is it this time, hara?" she was your assistant of some sort, has been taking care of your personal and professional matters ever since you could remember. you could hear her ragged breathing and panting over the phone as you can hear crashing sounds in the background.

"madame, my deepest apologies. i know you must be on your way to tokyo but, your assistance is greatly needed here in rome. there are several first grades who have gathered in the colosseum." she said quickly before the call ended.

your eyes flew to the clock which read 11:32 a.m. which meant that it was 7:32 in the evening now in japan.

you drove straight to the airport and made your way towards your private jet. it will take almost 12 hours to make it to tokyo, you needed to get going now to not upset your boyfriend and be there at exactly 12 noon, jst.

you sat down and waited for takeoff, leaning back on your seat. your phone rang once, twice, thrice. all from the same caller; hara.

gojo sat on the table, and varieties of food splayed out on the table. authentic japanese cuisine were plated elegantly, waiting to be consumed and appreciated. he played with his fork, twirling it on his fingers as the food began to go cold. his eyes glanced towards the clock, letting out a sigh as a frown made it way on his face to express his displeasure.

14:07. the clock read.

he grimaced when he heard the front door open, heavy footsteps slowly getting louder as it neared the dining area and with the cursed energy he felt, he knew.

you plastered a small smile on your lips and walked calmly towards him, attempting to hide the tiredness in your voice. you stood still behind him as he sat on the table, head not bothering to turn around, nor did he stand up to greet you.

bending down, you wrapped your arms around his shoulders and tilted your head, planting a soft kiss on his temple. you continued to hug him from behind, no response or reaction coming from him.

"toru... i missed you, so much. happy anniversary." you muttered softly to try not to startle him. with his back turned to you, you found it hard to gauge his mood and moreso his reaction. arms remained clasped around his chest while your head rested on his shoulders for a few seconds before you retracted and stood up straight, walking on the opposite side of him and taking a seat on the chair.

scanning your eyes across the table, you saw so much japanese food and most of it were your favourites or the dishes that you have been craving for the past year. your eyes flew up to gojo's which were trained on the plate in front of him. he refused to meet your eyes, his lips sealed shut.

he's upset. possibly even mad. or disappointed.

"i'm sorry. i was at the airport already at 12 noon yesterday but things came up at rome so i had to rush there. i was only able to leave at 6 last night. i'm really sorry, toru. but, it's only two hours, we can still do a-"

"only? only two hours? oh, it seems like your time isn't too precious when you're with me. do you not realize how difficult it is to even have our own private time, our own time wherein we can be ourselves? do i need to pay now for your time?" he spoke up and eyes flickered up to you. the blue hues of it laced with hurt and sadness, glossed by tears he was keeping at bay.

"why do you always have to be the most powerful? why do i always have to be the strongest? can't i just be your satoru? can't you just be my lover?"

his voice began to crack along with your heart as you saw a drop of tear escape from his eyes.

he was right, and you knew damn well he was not being petty like he usually does. your toru was really hurt and upset this time, and it was all because of you and your unrelenting dedication to your profession.

he, too, is dedicated. but he always found time for you.

how about you?

you took a deep breath and reached for his hand, holding it in you grip with gentleness, wanting to sooth what he felt at that moment. his eyes traveled down your hands as he bit his lower lip to prevent more tears from falling down his face.

"i have no excuses, toru. i'm really sorry that i arrived late and failed to fulfill your wish. i'm so sorry that i have been absent in this relationship for so many times. i haven't been putting as much as effort as you do, and i feel so much remorse for that. but, love, please allow me to make it up to you, to make it right, to prove myself worthy of your love" you said as tears brimmed at your waterline, threatening to spill out anytime soon.

he stood up and knelt by your side, pulling you in for a hug. "you don't have anything to prove, baby. whether it's the you right now who's a special grade, or the you from the past who struggled with black flash, i love you just the same, maybe even more with each passing day." he ran his hands through your hair.

"you had all the time in the world for me back then, i don't know how things changed, how your time suddenly became like a treasure i couldn't afford to obtain. when did it get so hard to give me your time?"

"i just, i just want you. not the special grade sorcerer you. just you. i just don't want to feel like i have to beg for your time, i don't want to feel like i'm a hindrance to you-" you cut his words off with a light kiss to his lips.

god, how have you neglected this man so bad to the point that he begins to question himself and his worth? your damage must be too much to make the great gojo satoru question his worth.

you pulled back and saw the vast ocean of his eyes which reflected all the love he has for you and all the love he can and will give to you. gojo satoru is a man full of love, if only you knew that and were willing to take it all.

"love, you never have to fight or pay for my time. it's always yours, no questions asked. i haven't been the best partner and i'm aware of my shortcomings. i will be better, i will be the best lover, toru. your best, your only one." you said in a hoarse voice which is a result of fighting back tears, before pulling him in for another hug, planting a kiss on his forehead before doing so.

"i'm never the most powerful with you, darling. i'm the most vulnerable when i'm with you. because, you are the source of my everything, i'd cease without you. i'm so sorry that i made you feel that way, hon. i never meant to, it was never my intention to make you feel unwanted and unloved. i never wanted to make you feel like i was out of your reach" you continued and ran your hand against his back, so as to comfort him.

"no force or cursed spirit could ever rip me apart from you. over my damned dead body. my heart is always yours, love" you reassured and continued to hug him firmly, to let him know that you are there, for him.

he sniffled and played with the ends of your hair, and you could already feel a pout forming on his face, making you smile lightly. he pulled away and stood up, pulling you up in the process.

he extended his open palm towards you and quirked an eyebrow, "passport?" he demanded and turned his head to the side. you chuckled and retrieved it from your pocket, handing it over to him.

"here you go, boss baby" you said lightly and he took it, looking to see if it was your current one. he put it in his pocket and crossed his arms, a pout evident on his lips.

"not leaving til i allow you. those damned higher ups keep sending you away to foreign lands. what if you find someone bet- i mean, why don't they go themselves!" he sulked and stopped at the middle of his sentence, realizing that he was sounding jealous.

you let out a hearty laugh which made his eyes sparkle with relief and joy. his eyes then flickered down to your abdomen. he took your hand and led you to the living room, making you sit on the couch. he walked off and returned a few second later with a first aid kit.

he sat down beside you and lifted your shirt. "stupid six eyes, i didn't realize immediately that you were injured" he muttered and began to replace the bandage on your stomach. hara have already tended to it on the plane, but you let your boyfriend do what he wanted to do, giving you an opportunity to study his features up close.

unable to resist, you pulled him close and kissed every inch of his face that your lips landed upon. he let out a contented sigh as his arms snaked around your waist. a loud ringtone broke the moment of serenity between you two. you glanced at the table where your phone lit up with a call.

Headquarters, Sydney

your eyes gazed up at satoru whose eyes were glaring at your phone, while his arms remained snaked around your waist. you let out a soft sigh and grabbed the opened bottle of yogurt drink on the table. twisting the lid, you emptied its contents onto your phone, which went silent after a few seconds as the screen turned black.

his eyes went back to your form and gave you a large grin.

oh no.

gojo satoru's back.

"so, what sweets do you have for me?" he said gleefully as he made his way towards your baggages. you snorted and followed shortly behind him.

"it depends, how will you pay me back? i spent a fortune on those chocolates" you replied with a laugh. he looked at you and wiggled his eyebrows and proceeded to lick his lips right after.

"ugh! satoru!!! ew! no candies for you!" you protested in disgust and began to hug your luggage which was filled with your gifts for him.

the rest of your anniversary were spent with laughter and bliss, finally feeling at peace and ease with your person. the fatigue you experienced the day prior could never amount to the happiness and relief that was blooming in your chest at the moment.

satoru's eyes glimmered with contentment and warmth, the icy blue hues softening whenever it landed on your figure. the wide grin on his face was not a teasing one, but one that was filled with genuine joy and love.

as you were both pressed up against each other deep in the night, your loud heartbeats clearly heard, you both knew that no matter how many hours apart you were, your hearts were as close as ever.

and you both smiled into the kiss, sealing a promise of forever.

© 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐘𝐌𝐈𝐑 2023 - all rights reserved. please do not repost, plagiarize, translate, or share my work on other platforms without permission. thank you.

[sillysybilsden]

PART I

Click here to check out Part II.

Ehilà, viaggiatore

[:: Hey there, traveller ::]

Latin vocabulary:

➳ Lararium (singular)

➳ Lararia (plural)

Hey there, all! It is Sybil (fka Clever Crow) speaking!

A couple of weeks from now, I will go on holiday. This may seem completely unrelated, but it actually the reason why I was inspired into writing this post. In fact, I have decided to build a portable Lararium, and I want to take you with me on this "journey".

Before delving into the making of the shrine, though, I want to say this: even though, *to me*, this Lararium will be portable; others may use the same project to make a standard Lararium. And that 👏🏻 is 👏🏻 valid 👏🏻. Actually, your shrine could be even more modest: a candle with a bowl is as much of a Lararium as mines'. A Lararium doesn't have to be fancy in order to work.

The only reason why I made my Lararia complex/extremely detailed is because I was lucky enough to have a very supportive family who does not mind me showing my shrines (furthermore, I'm a Libra rising *and* an art history student: I adore aesthetics). I am aware that a big portion of the pagan/witchy community might not be as lucky (nor be as interested in aesthetics), and this is why I felt the need to write dowm the following disclaimer: your safety > functionality > aesthetics.

Now, without further ado, let us see what a Lararium is, shall we?

"The lararium was a shrine to the guardian spirits of the Roman household. Family members performed daily rituals at this shrine to guarantee the protection of these domestic spirits, the most significant of which were the lares." [source: VRoma]

"The Lararium (pl. lararia) altar is the sacred place of the home where offerings and prayers are made to the Gods." [source: Nova Roma]

These two quotes summarise ever-so perfectly the definition of "Lararium". We are, indeed, talking about a place where Ancient Romans used to leave offering to the domestic gods. For the sake of conciseness, I will only name them and will refrain from introducing them:

➳ Lares (that is where the word "Lararium" comes from);

➳ Penates;

➳ Vesta;

➳ Genius (or Genii, plural) loci;

➳ Personal Genius/Iuno (on the practitioner's birthday).

With the definition of "Penates" going from "deities who watch over the penus [= pantry]" to "any deity that the paterfamilias [= the father, the head of the family] felt like including in his devotional workings", deities from the public cult started to be worshipped in these private shrines as well. Thanks to this, archaeologists were able to retrieve some remarkable statues (as well as paintings) of "major" deities (Bacchus, Vulcan, Diana and Apollo, to name some) angloside imagery of domestic, "minor" deities (Lares).

Lararia were built in a wide variety of materials (wood, marble, silver), ranging from entire devotional rooms to smaller shrines depending on the income of the family. They were usually set up in the kitchen and, most of the times, they resemble a temple. Usually, they also include decorations connected to the ritual sphere in the pediment (bucranium, patera, garlands, etc).

But now, to the pièce of résistance: in Comacchio, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, a portable silver Lararium was found. This discovery is revolutionary to say the least: this is the proof that Romans used to worship their gods when abroad as well (which is what inspired me into making my own portable Lararium).

[aerkame]

I’m curious what the others finfolk forms look like, what kinda tails and colors do they have, markers, etc. I’m so excited for the au!

I am not feeling well enough to really draw so I will just give descriptions instead! I'll be sure to draw everyone at some point though, but if you want me to ping (or just message) you or anyone else just private message me or let me know in replies.

__________________________________________________________

For all neighbors minus Home:

Each and every neighbor will grow claws, teeth, increased height, increased strength, and webbed hands when fully transformed. As for clothes, they're designed to change with their form.

Wally Darling

Wally may still be the shortest of the neighbors, but he's still quite tall when compared to normal puppets (most finmen are huge regardless). When he comes off as a normal-looking puppet, he wears a blue glass colored (blue glass is a color, it is my favorite color-) clothing, or sometimes loose-fitting beach clothes if he feels like relaxing. He often keeps a red shell pendant around his neck area and a black single earring on his right ear.

When Wally is a finman however, his yellow felt turns to scales that range from yellows, purples, teals, and different shades of blue. His ears become thick and finned, each end going up into a small S-shaped curl. Underneath the clothing, his body is covered in soft red swirling and spiraling markings, something you can he on his cheeks. Unlike the finwomen, finmen don't turn into mermaids/mermen, so he does not have a tail at all and he instead grows various fins on his body, all very colorful. Oh, and don't forget the fangs and claws...those are pretty sharp.

Barnaby

Barnaby is one of the taller finmen, but not the tallest. You can usually find him wearing shorts, sandals, shell necklaces, and a sunhat. It's just so darn hot sometimes so don't expect to see him in a shirt really. If anything he'll probably be under a shady area or relaxing in some cool water.

While he does already have teeth and claws, they are pretty dull until he transforms, having his teeth become more shark-like and claws much sharper than anyone else's. However, Barnaby is the only one here who does not grow scales at all. Instead that blue felt skin will turn into something far more smoother and paler in color almost becoming grey but not quite grey. The spots all over his body stay of course, but they become darker and more larger, creating marbled patterns. Not only is Barnaby the only one without scales, but he is the only one to grow a tail and keep his legs. The once small fluffy tail turns into a strong shark-like one, being capable of causing someone a concussion or head trauma if he really swung hard enough with it.

Sometimes everyone suspects he isn't a finman, but even if Barnaby wasn't, everyone would still love the big guy.

Howdy

Being a fisherman has its perks. One being that it tends to be a good workout, another being that you can get all kinds of stuff from the ocean. That being said, Howdy is a giant when compared to the others. In his normal form, the fisherman has medium long blue hair that's often slicked back or just braided all under his hat. You'd think that running a shop and being a fisherman would leave little time for this man to tidy up his clothes but you'd be wrong. Everything remains completely clean no matter the weather, it's almost scary. Even the shell pendant he wears on his apron is constantly shining.

Obviously having double the legs and arms leaves him with double the amount of claws to tear someone up with. As a finman, Howdy's height becomes outright terrifying to anyone he meets. Forget the scary claws and fangs, his height alone is enough to scare the fear of God into anyone.

The colors of Howdy's scales match himself much like it does with Wally and the others. Green scales fade from blues to teals and tiger-like stripes decorate his body, leaving oval spirals on his cheeks.

Eddie

Probably the friendliest captain out there with the coat to match! Often times Eddie will be wearing his white captain's coat and hat, having a shell pendant pinned to the black suit he wears under. He always stays tidy, keeping his red hair slicked back under his hat.

As a finman, Eddie will also grow in size. This is when his usual friendly appearance turns more scary to some. Being large and having a giant captain's coat squaring your shoulders can look intimidating. Along that, Eddie's hair tends to get more rougher and slightly wavy, so he lets it down every once in a while.

Frank

Frank is the only one that wasn't a finman before moving in on the island, having been a normal puppet before. He still prefers to remain as his normal puppet self on most days unless it's rainy or stormy. Usually he is wearing vests, casual clothes, and colors that are muted in color, preferring to keep the shell pendant he has on a butterfly bow, keeping the bow as a reminder of his old life.

In the rare times that he decides to be more fin-like, the only things about Frank that change is that he grows teal, purple, and grey scales, square-ish finned ears, squared swirls, and fangs.

Julie

Being a finwoman (or mermaid) has it's perks.

Julie will on most days wear light colored fluffy dresses with thick high sandals, a large sunhat, and a shell necklace to match. If not a dress, then she'd be happy to wear anything good for the beach so she can go ahead and jump in the water at any time.

As a mermaid, Julie transforms her legs into a long and strong tail, being just as strong as finmen (no really, you do NOT want to get hit with her tail). Her scales often reflect the dresses she usually wears, which are deep shades of coral reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows. The fins at the end of her tail are wide and flowing, sometimes she'll even wrap herself up in them for fun.

The ears differ slightly from the others as they appear more softer and fluffy with light pink swirls and sparkles dusting her face.

Sally

Sally is sometimes nicknamed Sally Scarlet for several reasons. One reason being the clothing she wears. Everything is always extravagant or just screams passion, having everything in shades of red and black.

Sally is the only one who is almost always in her mermaid form. No really, she even has a part of her house with an indoor pool that leads to the ocean because she just doesn't feel like getting out of the water yet. Her tail is much longer than Julie's but more slim and much sharper, some scales being so sharp they can be flung or used as throwing knives. The weapon tail is made up of blood red scales with speckled black and gold scales scattered on her body.

She often wears a golden crown around her already existing crown (she's a star so duh) and dark makeup to compliment her scales. Of course, she painted her claws black to match. Dramatic...

Poppy

Poppy is probably the most colorful out of the neighbors, having literally every color in the rainbow on her. You can usually find her outside gardening with Julie, wearing nothing (because she has feathers) or just wearing a light colored shawl with a matching sunhat. She often carries her shell or clips it to a shawl.

However, Poppy is a little bit different like Barnaby when it comes to her original form, but no one questions it really. Like the other mermaids, Poppy will form a tail consisting of the rainbow, but the rest of her body becomes much larger and longer, resembling something closer to a serpent. The feathers soon turn into long spikes and sharp scales that could easily cut through steel. Her wings become giant fins and her beak grows a sharp curved end. She doesn't transform ever much like Frank due to her scaring herself and others sometimes.

Home

It is known that Home has a physical body, but no one other than Wally has talked to him. The only time anyone ever gets a glimpse of Home is when a shell is being given to a neighbor. Large clawed and black scaly hands reach out from the dark whirlpool to take the shell and imbued his magic into it before it's given back.

Sorry for any spelling errors, I'm a bit tired right now.

[lockedfighter]

ೀ  princess  alternate  verse (  heavily  inspired  by  a  couple  of  royal  -  esque  fanfictions  along  with  a  few  historical  dramas  .  both  modern  &  high  fantasy  elements  included  )

name  :  tifa  lockhart  birthplace  :  nibelheim  living  whereabouts  :  travels  between  wutai  and  nibelheim  ↳  lives  with  :  marle  ,  her  mothers  handmaiden age  :  sixteen  -  eighteen  ,  verse  dependent  appearance  :  usually  a  black  silken  yukata  with  a  single  pink  bow  ,  decorated  with  rich  reds  .  hair  usually  tied  into  a  neatened  bun  with  hair  pins  or  down  with  a  ribbon  tying  around  the  end  .  parental  living  status  :  brian  lockhart  ,  king  of  nibelheim  ,  alive  .  thea  lockhart  ,  empress  of  wutai  ,  alive  . personal  status  :  lone  heir  to  the  throne  ,  princess  of  both  nibelheim  &  wutai  regions  due  to  parents  bloodlines  . plot  ties  :  @onegil  ,  princess  of  icicle  islands  .  @earnfirst , prince of gongaga . @carrythat , knight of nibelheim .

pls  note  before  reading  !  this  is  in  no  way  means  to  diminish  the  darling  yuffie  kisaragi’s  role  or  lore  as  the  canon  wutaian  princess  /  white  rose  of  wutai  .  this  is  strictly  for  my  own  personal  portrayal  of  a  divergent  princess  alternate  universe  and  entwining  some  of  the  fan  theories  that  thea  lockhart  is  from  wutai  .

the  north  western  princess  ,  split  between  two  continents  but  residing  mostly  within  the  palace  of  wutaian  safety  yet  oft  visits  nibelheim's  palace  and  resides  in  the  manor  .  born  to  thea  lockhart  ,  the  empress  of  wutai  whom  married  brian  lockhart  ,  the  king  of  nibelheim  in  a  peace  treaty  between  two  nations  .  originally  a  contractual  obligation  ,  the  amalgamation  of  two  states  differing  much  within  cultural  and  economic  contrast  —-   eventually  ,  the  two  found  true  love  within  their  status  &  reigning  duties  .

a  little  lady  brought  up  with  the  utmost  respect  and  benevolence  for  those  around  her  .  the  princess  of  hearts  .  spent  many  hours  practicing  in  the  dojo  with  master  zangan  from  a  young  tot  to  her  present  teen  years  .  she'd  help  around  the  palace  grounds  ,  having  found  an  affinity  with  chocobos  .  pastimes  spent  within  the  comfort  of  the  stables  which  led  her  to  question  more  about  nibelheim  .  her  parents  doting  on  her  every  wish  ,  they  decided  it  was  best  to  split  their  time  in  both  regions  allowing  the  young  princess  to  acquire  more  knowledge  from  both  bloodlines  .  a  perfect  blend  of  both  ,  tifa  adapts  to  each  culture  flawlessly  .

the  embellished  decor  of  nibels  chateau  adorned  in  rich  woods  and  marbled  floors  with  ornate  style  rugs  ,  paintings  of  their  western  ancestry  throughout  the  centuries  littered  every  inch  of  the  walls  .  plush  seats  handwoven  with  velvet  &  crafted  mahogany  .  the  rocky  terrain  outside  a  flush  reminder  of  the  mountain  range  close  by  ..  a  deep  contrast  within  the  palace  walls  of  wutai  .  a  labyrinth  of  interconnecting  chambers  concealed  behind  shoji  screens  and  tatami  floors  .  jade  and  marble  trinkets  made  from  the  finest  hands  lay  ‘pon  solid  wooden  carved  cabinets  .  gardens  that  outstretched  for  miles  ,  ponds  a  tranquil  escape  to  sit  &  watch  the  koi  .

when  traversing  the  cobblestone  streets  of  the  sleepy  mountain  town  beyond  the  gates  of  her  royal  home  ,  she  opts  for  a  simple  attire  ,  vintage  inspired  floral  dresses  ,  accompanied  by  leather  bodice  ,  ribbons  to  tie  in  a  corset  like  manor  (  not  so  bone  crushing  tho  )  &  cosy  knits  for  the  winters  chill  &  boots  to  walk  comfortably  'pon  gravel  roads  .  long  inky  spill  of  cascading  locks  free  ,  often  times  curled  at  the  end  .  yet  ,  formalities  greet  her  in  wutai  .  when  not  adorned  in  silken  kimonos  ,  layer  upon  layers  of  propriety  ,  her  fukuro  obi  belt  tied  into  a  intricate  bow  —-   she  opts  for  the  comfort  of  a  yukata  .  wooden  geta  &  hair  tied  up  either  in  a  knot  secured  by  hair  pins  or  loose  aside  the  end  tied  with  a  ribbon  .

the  older  she  got  ,  the  more  she  sought  out  adventure  .  a  turbulent  mix  of  emotions  betwixt  oneself  &  her  parents  who  didn't  favour  her  wishes  to  traverse  gaia  .  a  form  of  rebellion  soon  fated  the  princess  ｡｡｡

[creaturefeaster]

most random ask I can conjure:

which characters are collectors? I absolutely love Tim’s room and all the funky things he has lying around. And that prompted the question of what other characters (if any) like to collect and keep random junk. In short, I love trinkets which cq characters also share this fascination.

As a serial collector of trinkets myself, this love has definitely been extended upon some of my characters :3. Tim has some funky stuff, but he is by no means the biggest collector out of the cast.

Gary on the other hand, who has lived alone and mostly isolated for many years, has had a lot of time to collect a lot of shit. He has a gigantic collection of beads, vehicle models (trains especially), and plenty of decorative objects that he has littered around his home. Compared to his demeanor, a lot of people would be pretty shocked to see his home and how vibrant and lush it is with decor & trinkets.

Samantha collects plushies, blankets, and a lot of art supplies she may never even touch. Her room is very soft and colorful and packed to the brim with her stuffed animal collection!!

Debbie collects cool rocks, and coins from every currency she comes across. It is what she considers her dragon hoard, coins and rocks. She also likes to collect lighters, but her dad often confiscates and throws them out so she doesn't have as many as she'd like u_u.

Michael is also a huuuge collector, he has organized jars of many different things in his room, glitters, beads, marbles, bones, and anything else that looks cool in a jar. He also likes spooky little magic knickknacks, ones that are animate, or glow, or anything interesting like that. He also likes posters and crafts a lot too, so his walls are littered with a lot of stuff as well.

TyV also collects anything and everything, and organizes it all into groups. Discarded rappers of old food and candy, flowers, light bulbs, toys, even stuff like little bags of different grades of dirt, he will collect. Oh and he also has a corpse collection. All of this is contained within his voidspace, so the whole array of stuff rarely sees the light of day.

Rede collects heads. 🧍‍♂️

Chickenstab is easily attracted to shiny things like bottle caps and polished rocks, and will just grab what he wants and runs, even if it's somebody else's stuff.

Maggie really likes overly cutesified things, like you know those modern Ty beanies with the huge glittery eyes? She loves that kind of shit so much. And anything soft, too, she will keep. This ranges from blankets and stuffed toys, to like. Living animals, if she can get her hands on one. She also collects fun and interesting planter pots, because she likes to grow plants. She has a dedicated space just for plant growing :3

I'm sure there's other collectors in the mix but this is all that crosses my mind right now.

[ratticus-writes]

1 Californian Upstart

After weeks of waiting for the rest of his belongs to arrive, Macho had finally gotten to sleep in his now fully furnished bedroom. It wasn’t quite as big as his room in his parent’s house, but it was enough for him to start with.

Especially since his Dad was paying his rent while Macho still worked on getting the boxing thing set up. His parents were a bit unsure of him moving to the other side of the country, but he assured them that he was dead set on becoming a WVBA Boxer.

Waking up at 7:15am with a groggy yawn and stretch, Macho got out of bed to start his day. First getting dressed in his running gear: Teal scrunchie, teal socks, black and white tennis shoes, black polyester shorts that go to his knees, and a teal graphic t-shirt of a golden retriever wearing sunglasses on a surf board. Then grabbing his sunglasses, black crossbody bag, turquoise bifold wallet with yellow hibiscus print, Motorola Razr V3. Gold, and his keys. He heads out, making sure to lock the door behind him.

During the weeks he was waiting for his stuff to arrive, Macho had managed to structure a routine for himself.

Get breakfast from the cute bakery down the road, jog to the WVBA sponsored gym (unless the sidewalk is too crowded), train for a couple hours with couch, get lunch, train some more, jog home if he can, heat up dinner, shower, relax, and then go to bed.

Of course that was the consistent stuff he'd kept up with, anything in-between ranged from exploring Queens to being aloud to pet a stranger's dog. Today that inconstant variable was getting registered as a WVBA contender after lunch! He asked one of the instructors at the gym about it the other day, and they told him the process was simple.

Get a form from the WVBA lobby, fill it out at home, put it in a file or envelope with two copies of your passport photo and the money for the fee, bring it back to the lobby, give it to the receptionist to send it to a promotor, and then wait for a call about your contender status.

However Macho did not have the patience to wait till lunch to get the form. He knew that he wouldn't be able to focus on training until he had the registration form filled out and submitted. Instead of waiting for lunch, he briskly walked to the WVBA building while eating a breakfast sandwich wrapped in a decorative wax coated tissue paper.

He ended up finishing that along with a latte from a locally owned coffee shop WAY before he got within 3 blocks of the building. In his excitement he failed to realize how far the building actually was from his apartment. At least he'd have cardio covered for today!

_____

Walking into the front of the WVBA building, Macho couldn’t help but be a bit giddy at the site of it. The lobby was spacious with cobalt blue painted walls and grass green carpeting, though the egg shell colored marble pillars were an odd choice. Quickly collecting himself, he continued his way to the wooden receptionist desk.

The receptionist that sat at said desk had reddish brown hair tied in a tight bun with a black scrunchie. She wore circular glasses, a cream colored blouse, a dark blue blazer, and a name tag on her blazer that said Sheryl. She looked up from the magazine she was reading and made direct eye contact with Macho. She spoke in a rehearsed tone and notably Jersey accent, “Hi, welcome to the World Video Boxing Association: World Circuit lobby. How can I be of assistance?”

“I’m here to register as a competitor for the WVBA”, Macho said with as much confidence as he could muster. Sheryl looked at him, then down at his shirt, and then back at him for a few seconds before asking, “Is this your first time registering as a WVBA Contender?” “Yeah,” Macho responded. “Alright. So you’re actually going to go over to the WVBA: Minor Circuit Lobby to fill out your registration as a rookie,” Sheryl corrected.

Macho felt a sense of dread well up in his chest, “Oh um, sorry,” was all he could say. Sheryl waved her hand in a shooing motion while saying, “Oh don’t sweat it kid, happens All the time. Just go back out the doors you came in, turn right, keep going forward till you get to the crosswalk, take another right, and keep going forward till you see then busted ‘pen’ sign in the window on your right.”

Macho nodded, “Oh. okay, thanks”. She gave a nod and he turned around to head for the doors, really hoping it wasn’t too obvious he was nervous. When he got out the doors he stealthily looked at his hands and made two L’s before heading right.

He kept repeating the directions in his head until he got to the ‘pen’ sign in the window. The ‘O’ in open was out so the sign just said “PEN”. He gingerly opened one of the double doors and made his way in to the lobby.

Not only was the door frame a bit short for him, but the whole lobby was tiny compared to the World Circuit lobby. The walls were a brownish tan with burnt umber accents, and the carpeting was dark brown. The receptionist at the desk was a scrawny guy with messy short brown hair. He was wearing an off white tee shirt, brown vest, and a name tag that said Dillion on it. He was starring at the wall with a bored expression. Even when Macho was right up at the desk, the guy didn’t seem to notice him.

The silence in the small space was kinda awkward, but it was just what he needed to calm down from going to the wrong lobby. With a quiet breath Macho nonchalantly asked, “Yo dude, which lobby is this?” The receptionist jerked at the sound of another person’s voice, and stared wide eyed at Macho. He blinked a few times before he finally processed the question and answering in a squeaky voice, “Oh. It’s the Minor Circuit lobby.”

“Rad. I’m here to register as a contestant,” Macho responds. Dillion nods his head while pressing his lips into a thin lined awkward smile, just staring.

After an awkward silence Macho asks,“…So do you work here?” This question causes Dillion to jerk again and say, “Oh yeah, sorry! Let me get the form for you,” as he starts rummaging through the desk drawers. A moment later, he hands Macho a form that says New York Department of Licensing & Regulation in bold print along with several boxes for Macho to write his information in.

“It’s recommended you fill the form out at home to make sure you have all the correct legal documents and cash… Also the manager that actually has the authority to process your form isn’t here yet. She should be in later-,” Dillion noted now looking down at Macho's shirt with wide eyes and stifled smile forming on his face.

"Right on! Guess I'll be back. Later dude," Macho said turning away without processing Dillions change in demeanor. Though he did hear what sounded like a sneeze or muffled laughter as the lobby door closed behind him. He assumed it was the former since he didn't know what would have made the guy laugh all of the sudden.

_____

Back at his apartment, Macho quickly gathered everything he needed for the registration form. He sits down at his 'dining room' fold out table and arranges his documents neatly. Thoroughly he fills in each box and reads the fine print, only taking a bit more time on two of the boxes.

The first box he stops at is the one labeled 'Ring Name'. He could just put Macho Man. That was the nickname he got in high school. Guys and girls alike used to call him that, and he really liked the name. It sounded cool, and he figured he got the name for being tall and handsome or something. Turned out that most kids called him that ironically. According to one of his actual friends, his reputation was "being the weird guy that won't shut up about fighting movies".

Even now he found that title irritating because it wasn't just any fighting movies he liked. It was Specifically BOXING MOVIE-...

He considered just using his real name, but Brandon was just too normal for the WVBA. Not really any interesting word play or fun puns with Brandon. Nah, not at all...After several minutes he decided that adding the word 'Super' in front of 'Macho Man' didn't sound too bad.

The second box he stopped at for more than thirty seconds, was because of a similar feeling of resentment. It didn't take him as long to figure out his answer for it, he just needed a moment to swallow his pride. With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, he writes 'cleft chin' in the box labeled 'distinguishing characteristics'.

[decantree]

How to Choose the Right Animal Coasters for Your Home Style

Coasters may seem like a small detail, but they play a big role in protecting your furniture and adding a touch of style to your space. If you're an animal lover, animal-themed coasters are a fun way to showcase your passion while keeping your tables safe from water rings and spills. However, with so many options available, it can be challenging to choose the right animal coasters that perfectly match your home’s style. Here’s a guide to help you find the perfect animal coasters that complement your decor and personal taste.

Understand Your Home’s Style

Before you start shopping for animal coasters, it’s essential to understand your home’s overall style. Whether your space is modern, rustic, bohemian, or minimalist, the right coasters can enhance your existing decor.

Modern: If your home features clean lines, neutral colors, and sleek furniture, you’ll want coasters that match this aesthetic. Look for animal coasters with simple designs, perhaps in black and white, or with abstract representations of animals.

Rustic: For a rustic or farmhouse-style home, coasters made from natural materials like wood or cork are ideal. Animal designs that feature earthy tones or depict animals in a natural setting can blend seamlessly with your decor.

Bohemian: A boho style is all about eclectic patterns, bright colors, and unique finds. Animal coasters that showcase vibrant designs, detailed illustrations, or exotic animals like elephants or peacocks would be a great fit.

Minimalist: If your home is minimalist, focus on simplicity and functionality. Choose animal coasters with clean lines, neutral colors, and subtle animal prints or silhouettes.

Consider the Materials

The material of your coasters can significantly impact their durability and how well they fit into your home decor. Different materials offer different benefits, so consider what’s most important for your lifestyle.

Wood: Wooden coasters are versatile and can fit into many home styles, especially rustic or traditional decor. They’re durable and offer a natural, warm look. Opt for coasters with animal engravings or painted designs to add a personalized touch.

Ceramic: Ceramic coasters often come in a wide range of designs and are ideal for homes with a more polished or modern aesthetic. They’re easy to clean and provide excellent protection against heat and moisture.

Cork: Cork coasters are lightweight, eco-friendly, and absorbent. They’re perfect for a casual or rustic style and can be found in a variety of animal prints and patterns.

Marble: If your home has a luxurious or contemporary vibe, marble coasters with subtle animal designs can add a touch of elegance. They’re durable, heavy, and easy to clean.

Resin: Resin coasters are highly customizable and can feature intricate animal designs, making them suitable for eclectic or bohemian styles. They’re also water-resistant and easy to maintain.

Match the Color Scheme

When choosing animal coasters, it’s crucial to consider your home’s color scheme. The right colors can either blend in with your existing decor or stand out as a statement piece.

Neutral Colors: For a minimalist or modern home, stick with neutral colors like white, gray, black, or beige. Animal coasters with these hues will effortlessly integrate into your decor without overwhelming the space.

Bold Colors: If your home is vibrant and full of life, don’t shy away from bold colors. Choose coasters with bright animal designs that can add a pop of color to your coffee table or dining area.

Complementary Colors: Consider the dominant colors in your room and choose coasters that complement them. For example, if your living room features a lot of blues and greens, coasters with animal designs in these colors will tie the room together.

Think About the Animal Theme

The animal theme you choose should reflect your personality and the atmosphere you want to create in your home. Here are some ideas:

Wildlife: Coasters featuring wildlife animals like lions, elephants, or wolves are perfect for those who love nature and adventure. These designs can add a sense of wildness and freedom to your space.

Pets: If you’re a pet owner, why not choose coasters that celebrate your love for your furry friends? Dog and cat-themed coasters are popular and can bring a cozy, homey feel to your space.

Birds: Bird-themed coasters, especially those featuring exotic or colorful birds, can add a touch of elegance and beauty to your home. They’re great for nature enthusiasts or anyone who loves the gracefulness of birds.

Farm Animals: For a farmhouse or country-style home, coasters with farm animals like cows, chickens, or sheep can add a playful and rustic charm.

Exotic Animals: Coasters featuring exotic animals like tigers, zebras, or tropical fish can bring a sense of adventure and uniqueness to your home. They’re perfect for a boho or eclectic style.

Functionality Matters

While aesthetics are important, don’t forget about the functionality of your coasters. Consider the following factors:

Absorbency: If you frequently use your coasters for cold drinks, choose coasters made from absorbent materials like cork or sandstone. These materials will soak up condensation and prevent water rings.

Heat Resistance: For hot drinks like coffee or tea, make sure your coasters are heat-resistant. Ceramic, marble, and resin coasters are good options for protecting your surfaces from heat damage.

Size: Consider the size of your coasters relative to your drinkware. They should be large enough to accommodate your cups or glasses comfortably. Standard-sized coasters typically work well for most drinkware, but if you use larger mugs or glasses, look for coasters that can handle them.

Ease of Cleaning: Coasters are bound to get dirty over time, so choose ones that are easy to clean. Materials like ceramic, resin, and marble can be wiped clean with a damp cloth, while cork and wood may require more gentle care.

Consider Customization

If you can’t find the perfect animal coasters that match your home style, consider customizing your own. Many retailers offer the option to create personalized coasters with your favorite animals, colors, and designs. This way, you can ensure that your coasters are a perfect fit for your decor and personality.

Conclusion

Choosing the right animal coasters for your home style is about balancing aesthetics, functionality, and personal preference. By considering your home’s style, the materials, color scheme, and theme, you can find the perfect coasters that not only protect your furniture but also add a touch of personality and charm to your space. Whether you prefer a sleek modern look, a cozy rustic vibe, or a vibrant bohemian feel, there’s a set of animal coasters out there that’s perfect for you. 

[herbeloved82]

I'm a Father

Il Cimitero di San Michele. 

A whole island designed as the place of eternal rest for many who, through the long centuries of its history, were born and died in Venice. It is a beautiful and peaceful place, built in the nineteenth century, last home for musicians and writers, politicians and heroes. It also embraced those who died under the care of another long before.

On the island, in a remote place, surrounded by flowers and the gentle lulling of the sea, was a chapel, built with the greatest care. The architects tasked to recreate the beauty and splendor of the Venetian Renaissance did an amazing job, and every day, hundreds of tourists wondered who could rest in such a beautiful place. 

Princesses of old times, perhaps? Side by side with their princes, lying together for eternity after life made it impossible for them to live out their days in love. That was one of the stories that people loved to think was true. 

Others would think about the Doges and their families. Could it be that in the cold embrace of the marble long lost secret lovers of the most prominent figures of Venice laid to rest, their names forgotten, condemned to silence and oblivion because of their sinful desires? 

People nowadays would invent such frivolous tales to escape the monotony of their lives, but all the theories he heard in their minds were so far off, he sometimes would allow a small, sad smile to curve the corner of his mouth. No one was even close to the truth and perhaps that too was okay. 

Every year, someone visits the marble chapel, usually to clean and tidy. One day every year there would be different flowers outside and inside. Where white roses and lilies once decorated,  branches of lilac now swayed in the gentle wind. 

If anyone were curious enough to find out why, they would learn that lilacs represented youthful innocence, but also rebirth and remembrance. Today would be that day in the Year of Our Lord, 2023, but something would change and be different, perhaps only for once, or maybe for eternity.  

***      

The sunset was beautiful, like always in Venice. The dying sun kissed the water with its last goodbye, coloring it with the shades of orange and pink. Breathtaking many would say, but today Marius was distracted. He wasn’t the artist who always chased beauty and perfection, or the Prime Minister tasked with keeping the brat prince in line -- even if, he had to admit, lately Lestat was behaving splendidly. Oh the power of love and having Louis back by his side really did miracles for him. 

No, tonight Marius was just a man, one among many. One who walked the busy streets of the city looking for a small shop, one that was just a hole in the wall, and unlike the others was still open, waiting. 

The small bell rang the moment Marius opened and closed the door behind himself. His senses were assaulted by the delicate smell of flowers of different kinds. The old lady behind the counter looked timeless, like the shop. Her face was mapped by wrinkles and her long, white hair spoke of someone who lived a long life and felt too many losses to let it go. 

She smiled when she saw Marius. 

“Buonasera, Signore. You are back for another year.” She greeted him like Marius was an old friend with whom she shared many secrets, and who could say what they talked about in the long years they had known each other? It didn’t matter they only met once a year, in that very same shop. 

“Buonasera Antonia.” He answered in perfect Italian, with a small smile to deliver his words. 

“You never change, Marius. It’s good to see you again.” 

Marius was the one who taught her English. She had wanted to learn for the business, or at least that was what she told him, and Marius agreed because he was a teacher to the core and it didn’t matter who was in front of him. She had been an eager student, like Bianca had been, in the very same city, centuries before. 

“It’s good to see you too, my old friend.” 

Many times Marius had thought about taking her into the blood, but he never did, for Antonia was special. She never wanted what Marius had to offer, be that money and wealth, or the dark gift. She knew what he was. She realized it on the third anniversary of their meeting. Three years after her mother died and she took over the shop, as the women in the family had done for generations.  

The shop had been in their family for centuries now, and every woman of their bloodline knew the story of how, when the cemetery opened, a gentleman came to them asking for lilacs and only that, becoming their patron and best clients.  

Antonia had thought it was just a story, but after three years of seeing Marius entering the shop with the same request, she knew. 

“I wish it could be under better circumstances. You are always so sad when you come to me.” 

And wasn’t that true? Since the first time Marius had walked into her shop, he had been the saddest person Antonia had ever met. She felt, since the beginning, a connection to this strange man who only wanted lilac as a contrast to the everyday maintenance of the tomb he required, when only white flowers would fill the vases in front of the entrance. No one was ever allowed inside the chapel. Antonia asked only once who was resting there and the answer still hurt her. 

“They are always with me, but today I remember the day I’ve lost them.” Marius answered in a  somber voice as Antonia prepared twelve bunches of lilacs to give Marius. 

“And yet you are different this year. Has something happened?” She asked when Marius wasn’t looking at her, busy signing a check that would cover a year worth of flowers and years in a retirement home, for when she would finally decide to step back and leave the business in her daughter’s hands. 

Marius looked at her, just a quick questioning glance. How could she, a mere human, realize he wasn’t feeling himself today? No one, not even the eldest among them, realized the turmoil he felt inside since he woke up. At first Marius thought it was just because of the day. Through the centuries he had felt many emotions on this day, but something inside told him this wasn’t the case. 

For hours now he felt a sense of doom, the paralyzing fear of knowing his life was going to be destroyed all over again, turned upside down, and there was nothing he could do. Not all changes are an act of destruction. He reminded himself, and yet he couldn’t remember a single time since the night of the fire in which changes didn’t mean doom in his experience.  

“You know you don’t have to give me so much. It’s not -” Antonia’s voice brought him back to reality and he only gave her a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes and a nod of his head. Too little for someone who once again had been an anchor in the storm of his thoughts. 

“You take care of my children’s home for me all year long, dear Antonia. You deserve the world for your kindness.” 

Marius left in a rush, to hide the red tears pooling in his eyes. Even if she knew what he was, it didn’t mean he wanted to make her uncomfortable. He was already walking the bridge that would take him to the island when he heard her last words. 

“I hope, my friend, that your love will come back to you.” 

This time a tear escaped the prison of his long lashes. 

***  

Marius walked among the long rows of graves and tombstones. His light steps did nothing to disturb the quiet of the place and yet he knew he didn’t belong there.

This was a place of peace and rest and his mere presence was an offense to those who rested there. He who denied death herself time and time again. Who walked among humans without being one. Preying upon them as a beast, an abomination to the eyes of Gods he never believed in. He had no place here, as he had no place with humans. He only belonged to the darkness and the Court, where he could be himself, always, save that one day when he belonged to the island. 

The path was branded in his memory and even without his powers, Marius would be able to walk it with his eyes closed. The gorgeous building appeared in front of him, majestic and silent, welcoming Marius home. The gate opened, under his mind powers and Marius stepped into the chapel, where only he was allowed. 

There, on the walls, the names of his children, carved in the marble, filled with gold. By each name a vase that was filled with lilacs. 

Marius brushed his long fingers over every letter. For every name he whispered a single Te amo, fili mi. 

There, in the darkness, sheltered by the world in the place of eternal peace where his children rested, Marius cried for everything that was taken from him, for all the love he wished he could have given them during their life, for the way they had been taken from this world by malice and hate. 

Marius was many things, but tonight he was just a father. A father of murdered sons, who still lived in his heart since that day. He was the carrier of their memories, the only one who remembered their names and the sound of their voices he was… 

“Master, please can I come home? Please Master, allow me to come home.” A beloved voice said and for a moment Marius couldn’t believe his ears, but when he looked up, his eyes still clouded by red tears, there he was, his Amadeo, his dearest Armand. Without a word he opened his arms to welcome him and in a moment, after centuries, he was once again holding the most precious of all creatures. The one he loved above everything else.  

If Marius thought he heard giggling voices, like light silver bells, he knew it was because his children were smiling at him from where they were resting now. 

END 

[coyotescribbles]

The lift was taking its time.

1 through 24, the consultation suites.

Neutrino tapped her fingertips impatiently against her thigh as she watched the numbers tick up.

25 through 40, the clinical labs.

Her energon ran cold, and she found herself swallowing against the knot of fear that formed in her throat.

40 through 49, the office spaces.

What was she even doing here again? She'd never wanted to come back after the incident in her mother's lab. And ever since she'd learned the truth about her mother and Megatron, she hadn't even been able to stomach looking at this place…

50 through 64, the server racks.

But something in the back of her mind itched and wouldn't be satisfied until…

65 through 74, the R&D labs.

The elevator came to a halt at the 74th floor, and she knew it would go no further; everything above this floor was private.

Everything above this floor was home.

"Home," what a joke.

Disembarking from the car, Neutrino stalked down the corridor that ran down the center of the floor, flanked on either side by banks of windows looking in on the various labs, all dark and silent now.

At the end of the corridor was another elevator, only accessible to those with the correct genetic imprint.

Pressing her thumb to the scanner, she waited for it to read her CNA - then stepped into the car behind the door as they slid open.

Her suite was the 79th floor.

She selected the 76th instead.

It was a completely impulsive decision on her part, choosing the floor where her parents had entertained guests and business partners. The floor that now represented, in her mind, everything terrible that her mother had done, that had led up to… this.

The static in her audials was a rushing roar by the time the elevator doors opened again, this time to a lavish open area carpeted in plush void-black trimmed with polished gold chrome. The walls were midnight blue, and the vaulted ceiling had been hand-painted with a view of the galaxy as seen from half a light-year above the galactic plane, and every star was a tiny light that twinkled even in the afternoon sun.

Every wing of the floor was furnished, too, with sets of exquisite chairs and matching tables, places for visitors to sit and admire the view of Cybertropolis while enjoying fine high-grade from cut-crystal decanters.

And the whole expansive space was decorated with art from the finest creators in the galaxy - massive paintings adorned the walls, hung between pedestals upon which sat sculptures, pottery, and hologram projectors depicting subjects ranging from the abstract to the historical.

Her mother always had fancied herself a femme of intellect and taste.

She'd never been allowed to spend much time in the space. Maybe that was why she was drawn to it now.

Now, with grief and hurt and hate and raw animal rage simmering in her chest.

Tears were welling up in Neutrino's optics as she made her way through the space, looking at her mother's most prized possessions.

She loved these things more than she ever loved me.

Her hands curled into tight fists.

I was never good enough for her, always kept hidden away upstairs where no one could ever see me.

Her vision blurred, then cleared, then blurred again.

And then an elaborate vase was swept from its pedestal to shatter against the floor, flecks of bright red enamel glittering against the carpet.

Another followed. Then another. A tall serpentine sculpture half as tall as she was fractured into a thousand pieces that she kicked aside. A whole shelf of carved marble figures was swept clean.

And Neutrino screamed, an anguished howl tearing itself from her throat in a flood of tears.

Blunt claws ripped into painted canvas, tearing paintings to shreds before smashing the empty frames against the wall. A sufficiently-sturdy piece of broken frame found itself being used as a bludgeon, smashing fragile ceramics and glass and stone. Broken material crunched underfoot (like her broken spark always being stepped on by everyone who was ever supposed to protect her) as she systematically made her way through her mother's little art museum, destroying as she went.

Her arms and shoulders ached from the exertion, her air filters burned, and her fuel pump hammered deafeningly in her ears as she took a lifetime of anguish out on her mother in the only way she possibly could now, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.

Until she came to her mother's favorite piece.

The towering marble and bronze sculpture by Tenebrous was twice her height, standing in a position of pride on a wide pedestal squarely at the center of the south-facing wall of windows, where Hadean could shine on it through the entire day, gleaming on polished metal and stone.

It almost seemed to mock her - "Look how I was given a place of honor, while you were hidden away behind locked doors."

She didn't know what possessed her in that moment, but in the blink of an optic she found herself stepping up onto the pedestal and throwing her entire weight against the damned sculpture. It was heavy, though, and she was so small…

But anger drove her to keep trying, giving her strength that she couldn't remember ever having had before as she shoved her shoulder against the smooth cold surface.

Again.

Again.

And again. Until she felt it wobble and rock on its base. Until she felt it start to tip. Until she heard stone grinding against stone as it finally came unbalanced.

She lost her footing as it fell, hitting the floor hard enough to hurt even as the sculpture hit the window behind it, shattering it into thousands of glittering stars - and then plummeting out of sight.

(Several seconds later, it would crash to the ground just as Thrust was cruising by, missing him by mere inches.)

Neutrino just lay on the floor where she'd fallen, curling up on her side and sobbing bitterly.

It was dark, inside and outside, when the hum of antigravs reached her ears.

She recognized Scintilla before she even saw him, but couldn't muster up the will to get up from where she sat against an overturned chair, or even look in his direction.

Not until carefully lowered himself to the floor an arm's length away, chirping a wordless interrogative.

Only then did she turn tear-filled optics to him, feeling a wave of fresh grief crash over her; with a broken sob, she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his midsection and burying her face against the flexmesh there as she dissolved into wordless tears.

[aestheticallyuncanny]

💀~◇ Some Creepypasta/Marble Hornets Headcanons ◇~💀

(These are not meant to be taken seriously and are for my own stupid enjoyment)

There's a gym in the basement of the mansion, and within that gym are several dummies with patches, scratch marks, and weapons lodged into them

LJ has a pullstring on his back, and if you pull it you'll get a dark humor joke

EJ has claws that extend roughly 5 inches. When he doesn't use them they're collapsed on top of his finger bones.

Jeff's specialty is knives, but with time he's collected a few throwing daggers, machetes, and an axe.

Sally has a collection of toys that range from stuffed animals, porcelain dolls, and some new ones the others "found" for her.

Helen/Bloody Painter has done full-size portraits of every resident of the mansion, and they decorate the main hall.

Ben isn't allowed to drink any energy drinks whatsoever, because it makes his powers go haywire. He's completely burned through several generators and caused blackouts.

The creeps that look the most human will go thrift for clothes for the others, with money they stole from victims.

Either that or they all steal clothes from the victim's homes if they have the time.

Whenever a creep gets out of hand, Puppeteer is usually called to restrain them while EJ injects a sedative into the aggressor.

Masky's favorite brand of cigarettes is Lucky Strikes

Hoodie knows he can use his phone to record shit, but he sticks to old video cams strictly for the aesthetic.

I imagine the sets of best friends are: Jeff, Toby, Puppeteer and EJ,

LJ , Grossman and Candy pop,

Jane, Zero, and Nina,

Masky and Hoodie (obvi),

Kagekao and Bloody Painter,

Clockwork and Kate, and Sally and Ben

[jealousveronya]

A Court of Pomegranates and Narcissi

Chapter 2

Pairing: feysand

Summary: In Rhysand’s humble opinion, nothing good could ever come out of the Spring Court, nothing worth his time would ever originate from there, and neither would something he’d consider remotely pretty. As if to prove to Prythian how much he despised the court of flowers and butterflies, Rhysand went as far as to annihilate roses, the Spring Court's signature flower, faes’ favorite flower, from The Night Court. Chances are he would continue to believe all of that had he not encountered the pretty little bride of Spring on his quest to murder the members of the Spring Court. For the first time, he may just want something from that wretched court.

Canon AU with some changes

Read Chapter 1: AO3

Read Chapter 2: AO3 or click keep reading

Ch 2: the terrible consequences

The darkness was slowly fading to an opal blue as the sun threatened to take its rightful place in the sky.

What happened last night in the Spring Court will go down in history books for centuries ahead to remember never to let a High Lord of the Night Court inside their homes no matter how handsome he may be.

But if they must let him in, that they ought to hide their brides for the danger of the High Lord liking one a little too much.

Such was the fate of Feyre Archeron, the bride of Spring, who now stood on the cold marble floor, in a pink nightgown with the Dark Lord’s jacket over her shoulders, trying to balance herself on her tippy toes as the iciness and the hardness of the floor proved rather uncomfortable.

In her pink nightgown, surrounded by black marble, black furniture and the death incarnate himself, Feyre looked like a flower in a land where flowers grew no more and maybe that was the reason the Lord of the Night picked her. Maybe he wanted a flower to decorate his land with and he just had to take one from the Spring Court as everyone knew that’s where the prettiest flowers in all of Prythian grew.

But can a flower from the Spring Court survive with an eternal night that was Rhysand?

"I need the contraceptive," she said. 

“How about,” he whispered in her ear, “a no?”

As Feyre was about to respond – or rather spit on him, Rhysand took a quick bow before picking her up by putting one arm under her knees and another one on her upper back.

He squeezed the soft skin under her knees as Feyre started trashing in his arms, hitting his chest with her fists, swinging her legs back and forth, cursing him, and demanding to be released.

However, Rhysand didn’t budge as he winnowed into a room with a big bed, a dresser, two nightstands around the bed, and a big window with gossamer curtains that allowed the sunrise to be seen in its full glory. He set her on the bed and pulled a blanket over her in a swift motion.

“Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold, darling.” He winked at her. “I haven’t used my magic in a while to warm up this place, but it should be warm enough in a minute or two. Hopefully, that works for you, I know your body is used to Spring,” he said while caressing her bare arm with his knuckles.

The sunrise rays that entered through the big open windows had completely coated him and Feyre.

His brown skin had a golden glow and his clothes were finally something other than just black. Feyre’s hair, shining in the sunlight, was looking like golden threads belonging to a faetale. The sun reflected in her blue eyes so much Rhysand could have been easily fooled that he had found two more suns in the world.

 He couldn’t wait to see her in the sunset.

To a lot of faes, sunrise and sunset were about the same, but not to him. Maybe it was due to his nature, the fact he was a High Lord of the Night, but he preferred watching the sunset. There was just something special about watching the blue sky be overcome by darkness with a transition that would range from purple to pink to gold.

If he had to guess, he’d say the Moonstone Palace was designed the way it was because his ancestors wanted a better look at the sunset.

As Rhysand got ready to leave, she opened her mouth again, “Please, High Lord.”

He smiled at her use of words and she smiled back which Rhysand registered as her feeling like she had succeeded, like she will get the damn tea, but because Rhysand was well... Rhysand,  he decided to play more. 

The knuckles of his right hand traced her bare left arm again until he reached her shoulder, then he cupped her chin.

“If you had said that the first time, I would have given it to you, but because it took you two times, it's still a no.” His smile got wider as hers disappeared.

Feyre tried to turn back, and go to the other side of the bed, but the fingers of his free hand, the one that wasn't holding her chin, found the strap of her nightgown, went beneath it, and pulled her by it. Feyre quickly glanced at his fingers. “The chances of you getting pregnant are pretty slim anyway, don’t worry.”

“The mother is known for her wicked sense of humor.”

“That she is, darling. That she is...” He snorted. “I have some business to take care of so I’ll be going now. I’ll have breakfast made for you.” He raised her chin using his right hand and leaned in before pressing a wet kiss just under it.

Feyre visibly shivered at the touch which caused him to lightly chuckle.

He instantly contacted Nuala and Cerridwen to have them make breakfast for Feyre, with his specific instructions.

Then, he winnowed away to the town house.

------------------------------------------------

 “Father heard from a prophet that your parents were going to have a third child and that that child would be born to inherit the title of the next High King of the Prythian, that he would destroy the High Lords and rule by himself. My father decided to stop it.”

Tamlin’s words rang in Rhysand’s mind over and over again and each time Rhysand had a new question.

What prophet?

How would the third child become a High King? Especially because Rhysand as the firstborn has always been destined to become a High Lord.

Would his unborn brother have killed him to become a High King? That’s what Tamlin’s words have suggested at least… Or would he have allowed his brother to rule?

Rhysand really couldn't see that happening. 

He let out a breath of frustration from how messy this all was as he rubbed his eyes.

He was certain of one thing, he needed to find that prophet and hear that prophecy for himself.

After that, he’ll probably kill the prophet for causing the downfall of his family.

But there was a problem though.

Tamlin had never seen the prophet himself, only heard about him through his father, so Rhysand did not know what the prophet looked like, or who he was. For all he knew Tamlin’s father could have lied to give his sons an excuse to kill his mother. Luckily, Rhysand knew who could find the prophet, if he did indeed exist, despite so little information.

The Shadowsinger.

Azriel.

He smiled at the thought of seeing his brother again.

And not only him, but also Cassian, his cousin Mor, and Amren – the inner circle, people he loved and trusted the most. After all, it had been 50 years since the last time he saw them and he was dying to see them again.

He instantly used his daemati powers to inform Mor that he was back and that she should meet him in the town house and now he was finally there – home.

The smell of nostalgia hit Rhysand’s nose right away.

He closed his eyes for a moment to indulge in it while taking a deep breath in.

He was in the foyer and it was so warm, so cozy, so perfect.

The foyer was decorated with a red carpet, wood-paneled walls, and lots of artworks. There was a room on each side. On the left was a sitting room with a black marble fireplace, lots of comfortable, elegant, but old and worn furniture, and bookshelves built into every wall stacked with books. On the right was a dining room with a long, cherrywood table big enough for ten people, although he didn’t need it to be that big. Down the slender hallway ahead there were a few more doors. There was a straight, wide oak staircase ahead that went to the upper level where a hall punctuated with chandeliers.

He was so stunned he almost missed the fact he couldn’t feel Mor’s presence in the house.

“Cousin?” He asked the air.

Where is she? Rhysand wondered.

Deciding not to waste time, he reached out for her mind, curious as to why she hadn't arrived yet, because, after all, she just had to winnow in.

However, as his claws found her consciousness, he realized her walls were sturdy and strong against him and the more he tried to get in, the stronger and taller the walls got, almost as if she was trying her hardest to keep him out.

What the-

Gently caressing her walls, hoping for her to allow him inside, he whispered, “I have arrived, where are you?”

He knew she felt his presence, but the walls didn’t budge, if anything, if her shields were steel before, now they were like diamonds. Why was she ignoring him, why was she trying to keep him outside?

He could still tear down her shields and go into her mind, but he didn’t want to cross that line. Not now. 

Then something caught his gaze.

There was a paper white note on the dining table.

His feet moved on their own accord until he was next to the table and the note was in his right hand. He turned it over to see a few words written in black ink.

I am not coming. I am busy.

Rhysand replayed the last word over and over again in his mind.

Busy?

It didn’t sound like she was actually busy, it sounded like it was a code for I don’t want to see you.

But, why?

He thought about where she could be. In the court of Nightmares perhaps? or in the House of Wind?

Rhysand pushed the note into his right pocket and quickly exited through the door. On his way out, his wings began to form from his black magic and the moment he was outside and the sun’s light hit him, they were stretched out behind him.

He was going to check the House of Wind since it was closer and easier to check than the court of Nightmares.

He looked over his shoulder at his wings. He hadn’t flown very high in a while so he was anxious to an extent, but he had to get to Mor fast so he flipped his wings once, then again and again, and the moment his feet were off the ground, the addictive feeling of flying consumed him. Slowly he climbed higher in the air until he was at the height that matched a thousand steps of stairs that led to the House of Wind.

While flying he admired how Velaris looked underneath him.

The architecture of the buildings was unmatched, it really did stand the test of time. The warmth the city radiated he had never seen anywhere before and he was pretty sure he will never see it anywhere no matter how hard he looked. The secrecy of this city made it special, made it uncorrupted in a way no other city was. Hybern was also isolated, but fae knew of its existence so it did not have the charm that Velaris did.

It truly was the most beautiful place on Earth.

He looked at the people in the streets as they talked, met with their friends, bought groceries…

Everything he did was for them, to keep them safe and secure and now with his newfound power, he could do that better than anyone had before.

The House of Wind appeared in his sight in its full glory and impatiently, he tried angling his hand to try to see through the windows if Mor was inside, but unfortunately, he couldn’t see her. Deciding to still go inside and check, he quickly flew in.

For a moment he couldn’t see her and got really worried, but then as he turned his head to the side, the splash of red hit his vision and there she was.

She was seated at the table at the back of the room looking as beautiful as ever with her golden hair falling from her shoulders, tan skin a bit lighter than his, and wearing a red dress with a low cut – her signature look. She had her arms crossed over her chest and her legs were also crossed with the top one swinging back and forth.

He looked her in the face, really looked at her, and although she was beautiful, there was something Rhys overlooked at first. She looked tired. She had dark bags under her eyes. Her eyes were dull and her lips were in form of a scowl.

If Rhysand had doubted that she was annoyed with him before, now he was sure of it. Not to mention she didn’t look particularly busy.

He wanted nothing more than to run into her arms, but he felt like that wasn’t an option.

Opening his arms in confusion he took a slow and steady step toward her.

“Mor? What’s wrong? Why didn’t you come to see me? I told you I was coming. I tried to reach you again, but you didn’t want to let me in. Why? What happened?” He found his voice almost breaking.

She looked at him from the heels of his boots to the top strands of his black hair before looking away toward the wall.

“I left you a note,” she said dismissively.

“A note that didn’t explain shit.”

“Well, now you know what it feels like.” She gave him a quick glance.

His eyes narrowed to slits.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She turned to him again and leaned her head forward. “Are you really that dense Rhysand? You went away. For fifty years!” She yelled at him.

“Let me explain,” Rhys tried while taking another long step towards her and now the table was the only thing between them.

“No. You don’t get to explain.” Mor got up from the chair and slammed her fists on the table with such force it caused a crack to form in the wood. Rhysand instinctively took a step back. He had never seen his cousin like this before. There were times when she was angry, mostly with her father, and her parents in general, but this was different. This was anger mixed with disappointment and she was never disappointed when it came to her father, she was just furious, angry, she never expected much of him so she had no reason to be disappointed, but with Rhys it was different, there was trust, or at least there used to be. He felt as though her firsts didn’t only cause the crack in the table, but also a crack in him. He didn’t know what to say. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes which she tried to blink away, but all that did was cause them to fall from her eyes. She shook her head in disapproval before speaking again.

“One day I wake up and see a letter from you saying how you needed to take care of old business and the next thing I know, it’s been fifty years and you are nowhere to be found. We don’t know if you are okay, if you need help, or whatever. There is no heir to inherit the powers after you die so for all we know, you could be dead. And then you just slide into my mind saying you had come back and you ask me to meet with you. What did you expect would happen? That I would just fly into your arms, happy you are back? Because guess what? No. No, I am not going to do that! You left us! You left your court! You put us in charge and you left. We had to manage the entire court by ourselves! Did you for a second think about what we should do when Keir asked to meet the High Lord? Did you consider what kind of problem we would be in when the members of your court grew curious as to why they hadn’t seen their High Lord in so long? What about what the other High Lords would think when you went basically missing!? Well, guess what they thought? They thought you were dead and that since the Night Court was without a High Lord we were trying to cover it up so we could protect our territory." She took a deep breath in. "We WERE ATTACKED! Three times! By Winter and Autumn. Their soldiers have occupied the southern part of our territory! Cassian and Azriel don’t sleep because they are trying to keep them from going further into our court. We had to evacuate millions of faes. Everything is in chaos! No one believes in the court of Dreams anymore, they all put their faith in the court of Nightmares because we are trying to keep our court standing without a High Lord!”

Rhysand only stared at her, not knowing what to say, would sorry even count for anything?

“My father is trying to become a High Lord! He is saying you are dead and that he has the powers! Do you know how many people support him?!”

He didn’t know.

He didn’t hear anything of it.

Because of Hybern’s isolation from the rest of the world, he wasn’t able to receive information about what was happening to Prythian.

He thought things we okay.

He thought that if something got really bad, Azriel would find a way to contact him.

Only now did he realize that he should have left earlier.

After he failed to kill Amarantha the first year, he promised himself he’d stay only one more, but then he failed again and he thought it’d be a waste to go back empty-handed after two years, so he stayed another and failed again. Then wasting three years seemed like a big no, so he stayed another, promising himself he’d succeed this time. Then he had a chance to kill Amarantha, but failed, so he promised he’d take that chance the fifth year, but that chance didn’t appear again, so he decided to wait another year, but Amarantha never gave him another chance, so he had to come up with a new plan and decided that the seventh year would be the last, but it wasn’t and going home with seven years wasted wasn’t an option so he promised he’d go home either way after ten years, but the tenth year he got really close, so he decided he’d give himself another five years which turned into ten, then fifteen, then twenty and before he knew it, it was fifty.

When did he stop thinking about his court? When did he get blinded by his goal of ripping out Amarantha’s throat?

When did killing Amarantha become an addiction?

He should have come back after a year. He should have consulted with his inner circle. He should have asked for help after he failed.

No.

He should have asked for help before he failed, before he left.

He should have trusted them more.

“I-“ He started not even knowing what to say next, but it didn’t matter, Mor was not willing to let him have another word.

“So excuse me If I don’t feel like seeing your face now.”

And she winnowed away.

Rhysand collapsed on the chair. His hands started running up and down his face. “Fuck…fuck…FUCK!” He started pulling at his hair making a complete mess of it.

For a second he lost control of his magic and the darkness covered the entire room in a fast blast.

The table got broken into two pieces, and the chairs hit the wall and broke with the only one still in one piece being the one he was sitting on.

He stopped for a second to see the mess he created and then he finally realized – he could fix everything. He had power now. He was the most powerful High Lord. He could return things to normal.

He will get Winter and Autumn to back away.

He will completely destroy Keir.

He will fix everything.

He had to.

And then after it’s all okay, he’ll get Mor’s trust back along with everyone else’s.

------------------------------------------------

Next, he decided he had to visit Amren so he winnowed away to her apartment. 

She was sitting on her bed surrounded by maps and scriptures written in ancient languages some of which Rhysand understood, some of which he’d never dare to.

She removed her gaze from the scripture in her hands and looked at him from top to bottom before looking again at the old paper in her hands.

“So you are back,” she stated.

Rhysand only stared at her, trying to read the room, trying to understand what he should say. He didn’t want to repeat what happened with Mor, but again, it wasn’t really up to him how she reacted.

Amren breathed out.

She leaned back on the bed, laying across the books and jewelry scattered behind her.

If this happened before he fucked up, he would have made a snarky comment about her hoarding things and being untidy, but now that wasn’t an option.

While looking at the ceiling she said, “To humans, fifty years is more than half their lifetime. To fae, it’s enough time. To me… it’s irrelevant, but I hope you made it count for something.”

Rhysand nodded.

“I did.”

Amren only stared at him through her black lashes.

Rhysand felt as though she wanted to hear about how he made it count so he decided to continue.

“Amarantha killed my father by taking most of his power with a spell beforehand and when he died, only the small amount he was left with got transferred to me. Amarantha had kept his power and I decided to get it back, unfortunately, it took me 50 years to do that.”

Amren's mouth opened.

Rhysand smirked at her. “You are looking at the most powerful High Lord ever.”

She got up and rested on her elbows to get a better look at him. “You think that or you know that?” One of her eyebrows raised.

“I can feel it.”

Amren hummed in approval. “Then you know what to do.”

Rhysand nodded again. “Where are Cassian and Azriel?”

Amren reached out for a map with her right hand. “At the Illyrian camp that is set up near the borders – the new borders put in place by Winter and Autumn.” She pointed at the place on the map.

And he was gone in a blink of an eye, headed exactly there.

------------------------------------------------

Rhysand appeared right in the middle of the camp, his boots buried in the all too familiar muddy ground, surrounded by tents and Illyrians, most of whom were obviously injured. Winnowing from Velaris to a battlefield was indeed a shock. From a lively atmosphere full of laughs and colors to a place that literally smelled like death and even though the sky was the same color, here it looked gloomier.

The Illyrians that saw him stopped dead in their tracks not knowing how to respond at first.

On instinct, he fixed his messy hair, straightened the lapels of his black jacket, and removed an invisible lint from his left shoulder.

He loosened the damper on his power. He wanted everyone to know that their High Lord was back. That he was back and ready to fix everything.

The Illyrians surrounding him reluctantly bowed on one knee. Rhysand knew that they fell to their knees more out of fear than out of respect. And although he didn't mind fear, he wanted his subjects to respect him too, otherwise, they'll never trust him on the battlefield. He was going to fix that, he promised.

More and more Illyrians came rushing in, forming a circle around him. Some didn’t even want to bow, they just stared at him. Two of those who didn’t bow were without surprise, Devlon and Cassian, who just came rushing in.

“Rhysand?” Cassian looked like he saw a ghost.

“High Lord?” Devlon worded with furrowed eyebrows.

Rhysand only stared at them, while a smirk adorned his features. He wanted to go and hug his brother, but if he was to restore his reputation, this wasn’t a way to start.

Neither of the two knew how to react. They glanced between each other and their High Lord.

“Well, at least you are not dead.” Devlon finally said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I apologize for the delay, but let’s not waste any more time. How is our situation?”

“Terrible,” Devlon answered while gesturing him over to the biggest tent in the camp. The two of them walked inside with Cassian trailing behind. Devlon rolled out a map on the table. “We are outnumbered and although one of our Illyrians is as strong as ten of their sentries, we might have to retreat and set up a different border here.” Devlon drew a line on the map that was far too deep in the Night Court for Rhysand’s opinion. Cauldron, one inch into the Night Court territory was too deep for their enemies. “We suffered too many losses, we are running out of food and water, not to mention too many Illyrians are leaving to join the rebellion,” Devlon added.

Rhysand eyes rose from the map as he registered the last two words.

“What kind of rebellion?”

Cassian slammed his fist on the map and for a second it was as if Mor was standing next to Rhysand and not Cassian.

“What do you think?” he spat out. “For years we have been basically sacrificing our people on the battlefield because your stupid ass wasn’t here! Why would they continue to fight to defend a court that its High Lord doesn’t seem to care about?! They went off to start their own army! They want to rule their own lands since someone seems to not give a flying fuck about it! You are lucky they have their pride because without it they would have joined Beron and Kallias!”

Rhysand looked at him from the corner of his eyes.

He was going to fix it starting now.

“How many Winter and Autumn soldiers are surrounding us right now?” Rhysand asked.

“Near us? About two hundred thousand. Near what used to be our border, about five hundred thousand”, Devlon answered.

“Let’s deal with those two hundred first.”

“How?” Devlon asked. “We have about ten thousand Illyrians able to fight.”

Rhysand smirked.

“Where are they exactly?”

Devlon pointed to the map.

In the glimpse of an eye, the entire Illyrian camp, with tents and all, except the one that covered Cassian, Devlon, and Rhysand, was winnowed right in front of Winter and Autumn’s soldiers.

Rhysand took a few steps forward so he was in front of his entire army. He scanned the two hundred soldiers. They were clearly in better shape than Rhys’s Illyrians.

The Winter and Autumn soldiers looked confused as they saw the camp that just appeared before them. They looked at each other until what appeared to be a general of the united army rushed out of the biggest black tent. He had long red hair and tan skin and almost looked like Lucien Vanserra.

A member of the Autumn court is the general, Rhysand noted.

Lucien’s lookalike raised his enormous silver sword out of its case and towards the sky, symbolling that the time to attack was now.

All the hesitation amongst the soldiers just vanished and they instantly got in their fighting stance and started rushing toward the Illyrian army. The soldiers from behind took out their bows and launched thousands of arrows toward them.

“Rhysand?” Rhys heard Cassian whisper in concern behind him. He was probably getting ready to siphon to protect the army.

But Rhysand just stared at the arrows that were flying in the sky, and the soldiers that were running toward them, intent on killing them. He raised his arm in the air and a powerful obsidian-colored blast covered the arrows and the soldiers. The moment it cleared up, everybody saw what Rhysand had just done.

The entire army of two hundred soldiers just – misted.

He turned back, looking at Devlon and then the rest of the Illyrians. A very prideful male. “Looks like we don’t have to retreat.

“How did you-“ Cassian started. Rhysand knew what he thought. This wasn’t normal – even for a High Lord.

“I wasn’t away for nothing. I was getting stronger.” He looked around before speaking again, more loudly than before. “By the end of this week, we are going to take back our land.”

Cheers and applause could be heard throughout the crowd.

One thing that Illyrians valued, one thing that they will always value above anything else, was strength. If you had strength they will respect you (and if you were a male) regardless of anything else and currently, the cards were stacked in Rhysand's favor. He will get back all of their respect along with his land.

He took a long step towards Cassian.

“Now if you would excuse me, I’d like to have a private word with Cassian.”

And he winnowed the two of them away to the town house.

“Brother…” He put his hand on Cassian’s shoulder, but Cassian just swatted it away. “Don’t brother me!”

“You just basically admitted that power was more important to you than us – your family!”

“That’s not the truth and you know it.” Rhysand breathed out before yet again explaining how Amarantha had a good deal of his power.

Cassian only stared at him, wings flaring behind his back.

“You should have told us before going away.”

“I know that now, but I didn’t want you to come with me, I felt as though that was something I had to do myself.”

“Well, what you felt was wrong. You were a newly crowned High Lord, people had doubts about you and then you just vanished! For fifty fucking years! Who knows what the fuck you were doing while we were being attacked! Winter and Autumn have us by our wings! Keir is destroying us from the inside trying to crown himself a High Lord! Illyrians are forming rebellions!” Cassian snorted. “Sure you have the power now, but people don’t trust you Rhysand. No, they’d rather trust Keir than us! Thank you! And to be fair, I don’t think I trust you either anymore.”

“Cassian…I will fix everything. I will banish Winter and Autumn from our territory, I’ll even make them pay for daring to do this. I will kill Keir if you want. I’ll get Illyrians to trust me again. I promise I will fix everything.”

“Not everything can be fixed.” Cassian sat on the old couch.

“I promise-“

“No. You don’t get it.” He buried his face in his hands. “Because of the Illyrian rebellions, many Illyrians told us that they will only fight for us If we did something…If we made wig clipping legal again.”

Rhysand felt his throat close up.

“About five hundred females were clipped since you went away and we can’t fix that.”

“I-“

Rhysand’s hands began to shake.

“Magic can’t fix everything. You should know that better than all of us.”

At that, the shadows of the furniture seemed to move before Azriel winnowed in.

“Hello, brother.” The last word was soaked with malice.

“Az…”

“Since we were worried that the other courts were going to attack us too, I positioned my spies in every court. Because of that I know everything you said and did after coming to Prythian, so I have a question. Did you plan on telling us about the bride of Spring you have kidnapped or was that going to be the next secret of yours?”

“What?” Cassian asked confused while Rhysand only stared at Azriel.

“He kidnapped Tamlin’s fiancé,” Azriel explained.

Rhysand’s eyes darkened.

“Tamlin killed my sister.”

“Then you should have kidnapped him, not the poor girl,” Azriel fired back.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Cassian grabbed Rhysand by the collar, but Rhysand pointed his hand at Cassian’s stomach a fired a blast that pushed Cassian away so hard he almost hit the wall, but, fortunately, he managed to regain his balance.

Azriel took a step toward Rhys like a predator would toward his prey, only Rhys didn’t plan on being prey.

“Rhys,” Azriel groaned out.

“My business with Feyre is none of your concern.” He looked between them before focusing his attention on Azriel completely. “Tell Mor, since I believe she still doesn’t want to see me, to inform her father that we will be coming tomorrow to remind him of his place. I would mist the entire Autumn and Winter’s army right now, but I am afraid I spent too much of my magic today, but don’t worry, as soon as I have enough magic, we’ll be going to the borders to restore our court to its previous glory and, Azriel, since you know everything, you know what Tamlin said some prophet said to his father. Find out everything you can about it.”

“Are you ordering me?” Azriel angled his head.

“Yes.” Rhysand stared him down before taking a quick look at them both.

“Goodbye, brothers.”

And he winnowed away.

To the moonstone palace.

Right in front of Feyre’s room.

------------------------------------------------

The door was already opened so he had a good look at Feyre before even walking in. She was seated on the right side of the bed covering her bottom half with a blanket, exactly as he had left her.

“Miss me, darling?”

When she didn’t respond, Rhysand added, “Well, I have certainly missed you”.

He stopped in his tracks after taking a few steps inside only to stare at the nightstand with a drawer next to the left side of her bed. Feyre hugged her knees tighter at that.

“I am sorry, I didn’t expect you so I have no clothes for you, but I’ll get you some clothes to wear, not to worry. Hopefully, you will like what I pick out.” He smirked at her. “I have good taste, I promise, but” He opened the drawer. “I am afraid I’ll have to make sure there are no pockets for you to hide one of these.” He pulled the knife out of the drawer.

He examined it in his hand as the light from the window reflected off its metal.

It was a simple kitchen knife. She probably got it at breakfast.

“A knife, darling, really? Again? Is this how we are to spend our eleven months together? With you trying to stab me at every turn?”

She stared at it with big blue doe eyes, as if she was on the verge of asking him how he knew it was inside.

Whether she didn't want to seem too fascinated with him or whatever, Feyre ended up not asking and Rhysand's humorless laughter filled the room as he took a seat on the opposite side of the bed.

He turned around to face her before reaching toward her his hand with which he held the knife. “Here, take it,” he said.

Feyre stared at his hand, obviously confused.

“I’ll make you a deal.” He continued. “I won’t use my magic for the next five minutes and you can give it your all to kill me. But if you fail, the next time you pick up a knife intending to use it against me, a month will be added to your time here.”

Feyre paused for a moment before answering, her eyes darted between Rhys and the knife, “Fifteen minutes.”

“You are going to bargain?” He smirked at her. “Seven minutes.”

“Ten minutes.”

He smirked again. “Ten it is.”

“You promise you won’t use your magic?” She asked while reaching for the knife.

“I do.”

Finally, she took the knife from his hand with her tattooed hand.

He waited for her to attack, but she didn’t.

“Time is ticking, darling”, he commented.

Feyre continued to look between him and the knife as if considering what to do.

She then raised her other hand and headed for the strap of her nightgown. She started pulling it down, slowly. 

Rhysand felt the strain in his pants begin to grow at that as he cursed himself for being a pathetic male.

It was an obvious trick. He wasn't that stupid. 

Keeping his eyes focused on her hands, one on the knife, one on the strap, he waited for her to stop "teasing" him and strike with the knife.

A fog of arousal was starting to snake itself around his brain and he could swear the beast that prowled beneath his skin growled, threatening to speed up Feyre's process.

The more she pulled the strap down, the more her soft breast was exposed, making it a matter of seconds before it spilled out of her nightgown.

Stop, he warned, although not in a way she could hear.

He debated looking away, but he knew she'd attack then, so he kept staring her down (or maybe that was just a cover-up for why he was really looking).

But Feyre wasn't stopping and just as the strap was at her elbow and Rhysand got to see the peak of her pink nipple, a picture of her naked on his bed flashed across his mind, the air got stuck in his throat and he practically moaned out as the beast roared inside, “darling.”

And then Feyre launched herself at him, knife first.

She got him.

In that one second, his arousal completely clouded his mind causing Rhysand not to be as fast he'd usually be. Trying to avoid the knife, he collapsed on the bed and the knife almost got to his throat before he grabbed her wrist. She was pushing forward with as much strength as she could, her hand shaking, but his grip held superior as he was a lot stronger than she was.

The blanket that was covering her fell from her body and was now a wrinkled mess beneath them.

“Smart, darling, I’ll give you that.”

Her knees were on the left side of his body

He started pushing her hand back.

She tried resisting as much as she could, but all attempts were futile.

He suddenly pushed her arm back so fast, she lost balance and he used that moment to turn them around with his leg so she was on the bottom and he was on the top.

One of his knees was in between her legs while the other was on the left side of her left leg. Her nightgown was wrinkled around her hips exposing all of her thighs and something else - something Rhysand only had to angle his head right to see.

He took the knife from her hand and threw it across the room, the sound of it hitting the wall echoing throughout the room.

He pinned both of her hands over her head with his right hand.

“Now, how about you continue what you started so we don’t waste what’s left of the ten minutes.” He pulled at the left strap with his left hand. It was decorated with daises and he was so tempted to pull one off.

“Fuck you.”

He chuckled at her.

All of this was almost enough for him to forget what happened earlier today.

He wanted more.

"What would Tamlin do if he knew it hasn't been even a day and I already had his sweet bride under me?"

Feyre tried to wiggle her arms out of his grip the best she couldn't, but he held her firmly.

“Such a pretty thing," he commented as she squirmed under him. "Too pretty for the prince of Spring." 

"Fuck. Off." Feyre spat out again as she stopped moving and, assumingly, gave up.

Rhysand's hand went to where her neck met her shoulder and he brushed away her hair from there to reveal the bruising red marks of Tamlin’s teeth against her pale flesh.

He went over them with his fingers and the marks disappeared one by one. “There, that’s better.”

"Jealous much?"

"You do realize, you are under me, right?" Rhysand stared her down. "I can have you right now if I so desired."

"I can be rough too If that's what you like," he continued. "I can rip this nightgown off and have you any way I wanted to. I can replace those bite marks really fast If I wanted to."

"But you don't want to?" Feyre angled her head at him.

Rhysand snorted. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But trust me, by the time I am done with you, you'll be on your knees begging me to be inside you."

"Never. I'm with Tamlin."

"You don't have to love me to want me inside you." He smiled. "I wonder whether you'll be begging me to be slow and loving or whether you'll beg me to turn you around and have you hold onto the headboard."

"I'll beg you to kill me."

But Rhysand ignored her reply.

"You know how now you are begging for the contraceptive tea so you don't get pregnant with Tamlin's brat? Well, with me, you'll be begging for the complete opposite."

"You'll be begging me not to return you to Tamlin," he added. "And maybe I will keep you, if you behave like a good girl should."

Using his left hand, he pulled gently at her nightgown, and from where he pulled the pink color started turning black until the entire nightgown was midnight black.

“I do think this is much better for the occasion. Now you look less like the bride of spring and more like-“

“a whore of night?”

He looked her in her blue-gray eyes with an intensity that could bring down mountains.

Feyre's cheeks heated up from his stare.

He caressed her flushed cheek with his free hand. “Not quite.” He chuckled. “If it helps, my br-general gave me shit for taking you.”

“Your general dares question you? How dare he when you are the big bad High Lord.” Feyre sarcastically said while rolling her eyes.

“That’s exactly what I told him.” He laughed out loud filling the silence surrounding them.

Feyre raised her hips and almost ground against Rhysand's thigh. “Rhys…” Feyre breathed out.

“hm, darling?”

And then Rhys felt scorching pain where he held her wrists as though he was holding fire itself. His grip instantly loosened because of the pain and the moment he did that, something hit him in the head so hard he was off Feyre in an instant. He even fell off the bed and a loud thud was heard as his back hit the wooden floor.

He opened his eyes and found that what hit him in the head was a flying knife – a knife carried by droplets of water.

It flew right into Feyre’s hand and she instantly launched herself at him.

”What the-“ He managed to groan out as he tried to grab her hands, but before she landed on him, it was as if hardened air hit him first in the chest and then formed bonds around his wrists keeping his hands glued to the bed.

The next moment her knife was at his throat.

He lost.

“Looks like I took more than a pretty bride of Spring.”

“Shut up.” She pressed her knife harder against his neck and drew blood.

He groaned from the pain. 

He lost-he lost...he fucking LOST.

He was going to get killed by Tamlin's bride.

------------------------------

“Time’s up.”

There was only darkness.

Despite the fact that it was day and the fact that the room had a big window, now there was only darkness inside.

Feyre couldn't see a thing, but she quickly threw the knife away since she remembered that now that she had lost holding it would result in another month added to her sentence.

She got up and headed toward the door - although she couldn't see anything she approximately knew where the door was.

But as soon as she took one step, something caught her wrist - no, not something - Rhysand caught her wrist.

“To tell you the truth, darling. I am impressed. You have potential, darling, a lot of it, but you lack practice – training. Perhaps, Tamlin did not see the importance of having a strong wife.”

She turned back to where the sound was coming from, but everything was still covered in darkness. A shadowy hand was holding her wrist. “You don’t know shit.” She spat at it while trying to free her hand.

“You are right. I don’t, but I will.”

And Feyre felt his claws on the edge of her mental shields.

"I knew you had great shields, but I thought Tamlin's bride had nothing to hide. Maybe some lovey-dovey memories, but I had no idea you were hiding all of this." Feyre heard his laughter from somewhere in the darkness. "So how about you open them up for me or I am going to have to tear down each mental shield of your own until I know every single thing in that pretty head."

Feyre remained silent.

"Fine, have it your way."

And Feyre felt his claws rip through her mental shields, trying to tear each one down.

She groaned in pain, pain so great she almost collapsed to her knees.

"Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. HEAD!" Feyre screamed out as she released a ring of fire around herself and it must have worked because while she hadn't heard him scream in pain, his grip on her hand disappeared.

And then she ran. 

She ran out of the room and toward the exit of the Moonstone Palace.

Her bare feet were hitting the cold marble floor and it hurt her feet, but she kept running.

She rationalized their deal over a hundred times.

“Let me take you to the Night Court,” he had said.

She just had to stay in the Night Court, she didn't have to stay with him.

And the second deal only forbade the use of a knife against him, but he didn't make a rule about anything else, about her magic.

She heard him roar from behind her, but she was already too close to the door and managed to run out.

She didn't know where to go, but she knew who did, she knew who could help her.

She had to catch the suriel.