#marlow wc

[eggfeather]

marlow

[lemnnshark]

"Marlow is a ragged, scrawny ginger tom."

[shallowbreeze]

Marlow

Marlow is a ragged, scrawny ginger tom.

[rosemist50]

Designs for new cats in A Starless Clan: Thunder! They're all Cats of the Park. First is Rook and Scruff, Riverstar's No. 1 fan and an old guy that's kinda cool actually. Next is Wafflepaw!!! And... Wasp? The two that Frostpaw and Nightheart took back home. After is Bee, Frostpaw's therapist, and Molly, a cat with "a clever sense of humor". Then Chalk and Firefly, both ex-kittypets, implied to be mates but could also be taken platonically which is cool. Firefly's tag is meant to be that Minecraft firefly that was never added that was just two pixels. Firefly was pregnant and said she'd name her kits Frost and Night, so I just threw them in there too, why not. Then is Lark and Marlow, and Lark's kits Weevil and Peg.

⚠️ BIG spoilers under the cut (and in the tags): ⚠️

Finally here are four she-cats that had minor design changes relating to the plot, two aren't from the book but I thought I'd just put them in anyway. These design changes were much too minor for me to justify making whole new fullbodies, so headshots it is 👍 We got Squirrelstar (flight), Sparrowstar (Fur), and Nightstar (RC) for new/confirmed leaders, and Curlfeather with the rare honor of being a Dark Forest cat AND a woman. I think it's just the absolute coolest that Sparrowstar and Owlstar are siblings and became leaders of different clans, not only leaders but both are the 2nd leaders of their clans. You can just feel the potential!!!!

[grimtsk]

June 12th 2023

"Margaux a ses grands yeux scotchés au ciel Et ses mains dans celles d’Omar et Marlow Elle a un grand rôle dans une petite pièce Et la tête sur les épaules des autres

Puisqu’il n’y a rien de plus beau Il n’y a rien de plus beau Que Margaux, Omar et Marlow"

song : Kyo - Margaux, Omar, Marlow (Chap. I)

[antiterrablue]

Pardon the awful formatting, just reposting an old close friends Instagram story because I’m a lazy bum and cba to type everything out again

But I don’t think anyone’s mentioned the parallels between Scourge and Marlowe’s Tamburlaine

Sure, it could be a coincidence, but given how last minute the whole Scourge arc was added it’s not unlikely that one of the Erin Hunters needed a quick villain and just thought “let’s make Tamburlaine a cat and give him some angsty lines”

And ended up making everyone’s favorite emo warlord

(Story is quite old, so apologies for the waffle, it was an insomnia distraction)

[madamspellmans-met-tet]

🧁A Christmas Miracle🧁

Farah Dowling x Reader

(left image from pinterest, middle mine, right one @poetrytrashsposts)

tags: Resurrection, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Fix-It, no beta we die like Farah, Married Couple

summary: A year after Farah's death, her wife Aster tries to bring her back—on Christmas Eve.

wc: ~ 2.9 k, G rated

A/N: hiiii! this is quick and dirty since I wrote it at 5 am, but I just had this idea yesterday and thought you know what we need this christmas? for farah to come back to us. and it gave me an excuse to revisit Aster, since y'all seemed to like her a lot. Merry Christmas!:)

*******************************************************

Christmas had never been this cold—and yet, Aster didn’t even stop to put on her coat. She grabbed it in passing and followed Saul out of the cottage door and into the dark winter’s night. Her breath condensed into a translucent plume as she fiddled with the zipper of her white marlow coat while walking. If it weren’t for the hat still in her pocket, her ears would be freezing off; the tip of her nose was already numb, so that the snowflake melting on it was almost imperceptible.

“And you really think it’s going to work?” she asked, catching up to Saul, who had his hands buried deep in his pockets and his forehead in a deep frown.

“It has to. We’re drawing on the magic of every fairy at Alfea,” he said and picked up his pace. Aster could barely keep up with her short legs, but she couldn’t blame him. She was just as desperate to set the plan they’d been working on for a year now since Rosalind’s death and Bloom’s disappearance into the Realm of Darkness in motion.

“Saul?” Aster stopped. The wind blew hair into her face, and it felt as if the tears welling up in her eyes were turning to ice. It burned.

Saul, who had walked a few more steps, turned and trudged through his own footprints in the snow back to her.

“I’m scared,” Aster said when he stood before her, her lip quivering.

“I know, love.” Saul put his hands on the side of her shoulders. “But you’ve made it this far. The worst is behind us now, ey?”

-> continue

[whereischaosprincess]

Check out "First Contact"! Dedmal Collective's first show will be up at Secret Room Press through November. Secret Room Press 3225 SE Division Street in Portland, Oregon! The show features art by: @sixgills Victor Gomez Karina Perez Molly Mendoza Colin Laurel Ezra Curry @rapidpunches WC Williams Marlowe Dobbe Stevie Hale Monday Einstein Clara Emiliana Abbey St. John and me!

[glitchfang]

part of why i wanna change up frost’s character is that she feels a bit too basic compared to marlow? like the whole point is that he’s shaped his entire character around her abuse and thats why he acts the way he does towards valerie, shes a huge part of his character whether he likes it or not. but frost herself rn is just kinda…. confused, rn? like her own backstory for why shes cold to her kids even before vincent dies is kinda weak. i kinda dont want her thing to be “she didnt want to be a mom” anymore bc wc has soured me on that.

i wanna have a similar vibe where she was also shaped by her experiences and thats why shes an abusive mom. like maybe her own parents were shitty and shes just continuing the cycle and has no desire to break it. idk.

[pumpkin-bread]

Halloween hatchdate plans:

Elvira and Ichabod: romantic goth babies from dragon!Gomez and Morticia, essentially. Red, black, and white.

Cypress and Duende: Gruesome Halloween dryads of various tones

Cider and Apple: Candy apple confection coatls! apple toned, of course!

Sever and Karai: Black and orange nasty little wildclaws from a war general and an effigy-carving weaver of fates. Oh my!

And finally, we have a tossup:

[boroughshq]

WELCOME TO THE BOROUGHS, KIWI! Hope the city is everything you dreamed it would be. Make sure to send your account in within 24 hours, and don't forget to follow the checklist as you get settled!

madison bailey as phoenix “nix” marlowe **filling alex marlowe’s daughter WC!

[ madison bailey, cis female, she/her ] — whoa! PHOENIX “NIX” MARLOWE just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for 22 YEARS, working as an INFLUENCER. that can’t be easy, especially at only 25 YEARS OLD. some people say they can be a little bit MATERIALISTIC and ALOOF , but I know them to be RESOLUTE and CURIOUS. whatever. I guess I’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to MANHATTAN! — (kiwi, 27, pst, she/they, s*xual ass*ult) (filling alex marlowe’s daughter connection)

[radcliffefm]

congratulations  on  your  acceptance  to  radcliffe  university,  veronica  addams,  marlowe  hwang,  and  zach  rutherford  !!  orientation  begins  on  the  quad  at  noon  and  don’t  forget  to  submit  your  account  within  24  hours  so  student  housing  can  get  your  accommodations  in  order.  please  read  over  the  checklist  as  you  settle  in.  mimi  keene,  han  jihyun,  and  jacob  elordi  are  now  unavailable  for  applications. *micah  hwang’s  twin  sister  wanted  connection  and  daphne  heinrich’s  step-sibling  wanted  connection  are  now  filled.

( mimi keene, female, she/her ) have you met veronica addams yet? you know, the twenty-three year old undergraduate student. i think they’re a senior majoring in fashion design. ring a bell yet? every time i walk past their dorm i hear speed drive by charli xcx blasting through the door. everyone who meets them say they’re driven and intelligent but can also be a little snobby. guess when you meet them you’ll figure that out yourself. — eva, twenty-three, she/her, pst, none.

( han jihyun, cis woman, she/her ) have you met marlowe hwang yet? you know, the 23 year old undergraduate student. i think they’re a senior majoring in film & new media. ring a bell yet? every time i walk past their dorm i hear teenage dream by olivia rodrigo blasting through the door. everyone who meets them say they’re carefree but can also be a little stubborn. guess when you meet them you’ll figure that out yourself. — mai, 26, she/her, gmt+8, n/a

sports/clubs/connections: art & media club, cinema club, grey wolf gazette (photographer), micah hwang’s twin sister wc

( jacob elordi, cis man, he/him ) have you met zach rutherford yet? you know, the 25 year old graduate student majoring in business studies. ring a bell yet? every time i walk past their dorm i hear starboy by the weeknd blasting through the door. everyone who meets them say they’re assertive but can also be a little volatile. guess when you meet them you’ll figure that out yourself. — mai, 26, she/her, gmt+8, n/a

sports/clubs/connections: football (quarterback), daphne heinrich’s step-sibling wc

[kimsgoeun]

Severin/Marlow: ↕ for a scared/worried text // ♣ for a drunk text

@humangods

↕ for a scared/worried text 

[ Marlow » Severin ]: I know you’re mad at me or I’m mad at you or something... [ Marlow » Severin ]: But someone’s seriously following me and giving me the absolute creeps [ Marlow » Severin ]: Can you please come here and help me?

♣ for a drunk text 

[ Marlow » Severin ]: you're so annoyinh. [ Marlow » Severin ]: i hzte you. [ Marlow » Severin ]: why do i keep thinking qbput you?

[fallingforthirty-minutes]

I Promise

Pairing: BBC Merlin x Reader

WC: 2.2k

Request: @mythandmagik : Hello lovely! Could you do 1 and 3 from your prompt list with Merlin from BBC Merlin?

1- “Why didn’t you say goodbye?”

3. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

Warnings: angst, Merlin isn’t actually in it a huge amount but I hope you can forgive me

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long but I hope you enjoy it!

Y/N could remember leaving Camelot like it was yesterday. Granted, it was, it just felt like it was much longer ago.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Gwen asked her friend, watching them mount their horse.

“Absolutely not. But I have to go,” Y/N replied with a sigh.

“Will you ever come back? I don’t know if Merlin could cope if you didn’t.”

“I don’t know, Gwen. Speaking of Merlin, can you give him this once I’ve gone? Please?” Y/N asked, pulling out an enveloped letter from their small bag and holding it out to Gwen.

“Of course,” she responded, carefully taking the letter. “Final goodbye?”

“Only goodbye.”

“You didn’t tell him?” Gwen asked in shock, trying to make eye contact with the horse rider who was staring at their horse’s mane.

“I couldn’t. I tried, I really did, but I couldn’t.”

Gwen nodded in understanding. “I’ll wait a bit then so he can’t follow you, Lord knows he would otherwise,” she pointed out with a chuckle. “Even if you didn’t tell him, he’d look.”

“Thank you, Gwen. You really have been the dearest friend to me, I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Just send me a letter every once in a while, let me know you’re okay.”

“I will, I promise. Goodbye, Gwen. Please pass on my goodbyes to everyone else too. Good luck with everything.” And with the two servants sending each other mutual, sad smiles, Y/N was off.

God, Y/N already missed Camelot. Granted, it may just be because they hadn’t seen another person since they started travelling and only had a horse for company, as well as no bed, but the point still stood. Maybe once they got to Solagria and settled down everything would be alright.

—————

It turned out that once they got to Solagria, it wouldn’t get much better. It wasn’t that life wasn’t good there because it was: Y/N had a great time working for the royal family there and could perform magic freely, but they greatly missed everyone at Camelot. Especially Merlin. Mainly Merlin, in fact. Besides, it wasn’t like Merlin could come and see Y/N, first of all, he was busy saving Arthur’s ass, second, Y/N didn’t tell him where they were going. They knew that, despite everything, he would drop everything to see them.

“What’s wrong, Y/N? You look like a kicked puppy,” Marlowe, another servant, asked.

“I’m just… thinking.”

“If you were just thinking, you wouldn’t be so sad. You can tell me.”

“I just miss someone, that's all.”

“Family? Or a special someone?” she said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“We… never made anything official. I shouldn’t be so hung up on it.”

“You’ve been here for 6 months, Y/N, and you never tell us anything about your old life, all we know is that you’re from Camelot and you haven’t visited since you came here. We all know you want to.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Painfully,” she said with a giggle, though Y/N only returned the laugh with a sigh.

“I can’t go back. If I do, I don’t know if I’ll come back, and I can’t stay in Camelot.”

“Have you written to anyone there?”

“Yeah, my friend Gwen.”

“Any interesting news?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary for Camelot, no,” Y/N said with a smile.

“You’ll tell me to shut up, but that’s the biggest smile I’ve seen you have since you got here.”

“Shut up…” Y/N mumbled, causing Marlowe to laugh more.

“Y/N, Princess Idony has summoned you,” then called one of the Princess’ handmaidens, interrupting the current conversation, though Y/N was not complaining. They were, however, fairly shocked, though complied and followed the handmaiden to the throne room.

Once inside, Y/N politely greeted the Princess. “How may I help you, your majesty.”

“Please, drop the formalities, call me Idony. It has come to my attention that you are from Camelot?”

“Yes, y- Idony.”

“Then I assume you are aware of the ball they are holding?”

“I am.”

“Will you accompany me on the journey then? I understand that it is a rather unorthodox request, though none of my handmaidens or other staff have ever visited and it would be rather useful to have a guide, and you would be able to see your loved ones.”

“I would be honoured.”

“Thank you. I will have someone give you the details later. You are dismissed.”

The second Y/N left the throne room, Marlowe bombarded them with questions. “Did you get fired? Banished? Did she promote you? Ask for your hand in marriage?”

“Lower your expectations, Marlowe. I’m accompanying her to Camelot next week.”

“Wow, isn’t that a coincidence? We were just talking about that. What a funny little world.”

“Are you implying that you had something to do with this?” Marlowe’s only response was to tap her nose knowingly, earning a scoff from Y/N.

“Do you think you’ll come back after?” Marlowe asked, a lot more earnestly.

“I have to try to force myself.”

—————

This was it. Camelot. After several days of travelling, Y/N was back.

“Is it as you remember it to be?” Idony asked sincerely.

“Not a twig has changed,” Y/N said proudly.

“Do you want to say hi to everyone? I’m sure we can find our way to the castle from here,” Idony offered.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind showing you the way.”

“I insist. I’ll make sure there’s someone to take your horse. Just make sure you’re not too long.” And with that, Idony and the rest of her servants headed towards the castle. Immediately, Y/N headed towards Gwen’s house. They had no idea if she was home, but just in case.

However, instead of Gwen, Y/N stumbled upon Gaius, looking for people to try and heal. “Y’know, they have some pretty unique healing techniques in Solagria. I could show you sometime.” At the sound of the familiar voice, Gaius turned around and smiled.

“It’s good to see you again, Y/N.”

“You too, Gaius,” said Y/N, climbing off their horse and embracing the old man. “How’ve you been?”

“Same old, trying to keep Merlin out of trouble.”

“I don’t envy you then,” teased the servant.

“Have you said hello to him yet?”

“No, I literally just got into Camelot.”

“What’s the special occasion?”

“I work for Princess Idony of Solagria now and I’m the only one to have come to Camelot before so she asked me to be her guide.”

“Please tell her I hope she has a wonderful visit then. It was nice seeing you, Y/N, but I have to do some work. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye Gaius!”

After departing from their conversation with Gaius, Y/N knocked on Gwen’s house’s door. They weren’t sure what they were expecting, but they were met with no response, meaning they had nowhere left to go but the castle, so they mounted their horse and sauntered over as slowly as possible. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to see everyone, it was that they were scared of how he - Merlin - would react. After all, they left without a word and then never contacted him in six months.

Eventually, they reached the castle, immediately went to the stable, and formulated a plan. Merlin would be wherever Arthur was, so they just needed to avoid Arthur. How? Y/N had no idea. Besides, facing Merlin was inevitable with the ball coming up. They would just have to try to put it off for as long as possible.

“Y/N?!” came an excited, very familiar feminine voice.

“Gwen!” The two ran to each other immediately and gave each other a huge hug. “I missed you so much.”

“So did I. I loved the letters, but they weren’t anything like our real life conversations. Speaking of which, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?!” Gwen asked, playfully hitting her friend.

“I only found out last week, I was asked to come as the Princess’ guide.”

“That sounds so nice.”

“It was a nice break, yes.”

“So… have you seen him yet?”

“Who?” Y/N asked, pretending to be clueless.

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Don’t play dumb with me, you know I mean Merlin.”

“No, no I’ve only seen Gaius. Do you know where Merlin is though?”

“Probably with Arthur, greeting the Princess.”

“Ah, right. That means I can avoid him a bit longer.”

“You have to face him eventually.”

“I know, but for now, could I just say hi to Morgana?”

“Of course, she’ll be thrilled to see you.”

—————

It had been a few days now since Y/N’s arrival back in Camelot, and so far, they had been surprisingly successful in avoiding Merlin. That being said, it was also the day of the ball. And Y/N had no idea if Merlin knew about their whereabouts. Arthur knew, as Morgana had told him, and the two had a rather nice, though brief, reunion, though whether or not he told Merlin was a mystery. On one hand, he may have, because Arthur’s a little bitch like that sometimes. On the other, he might have wanted to see Merlin’s reaction at the ball, because, again, he’s a little bitch sometimes.

“You still haven’t talked to him, have you?” Gwen asked.

Y/N shook their head, embarrassed. “Haven’t even seen him. I don’t know what to say anyway.”

“Just explain, I’m sure he has questions.”

“Right. I better go, I have to get ready for the ball.”

“I’ll see you there.”

—————

It turns out that balls are a lot less glamorous when you’re a servant. You don’t get the grand entrances or extravagant costumes, only to watch. At this point Merlin was unphased though, with the amount he had to watch from afar. However, something just felt different about this one, and Merlin just couldn’t put his finger on it. It wasn’t the fact that they were much blander without Y/N there to make fun of them with him, no, he had also gotten used to that now. Just as he was trying to figure it out, Arthur broke him from his thoughts.

“You’re thinking, I don’t like it when you think. Is this about Y/N again?”

“I don’t know… something’s just different.”

“Okay, so the answer is yes.”

“I think about other things, Arthur.”

“No you don’t. You don’t know, do you?” Arthur asked, amused.

“Don’t know what?” Instead of replying, Arthur put his hand on Merlin’s head and turned it to look at Y/N. Merlin immediately felt his heart jump, and then again when he and Y/N locked eyes. The two stood staring at each other for a good 30 seconds, before Arthur pushed Merlin to tell him to go over. Merlin glanced at the man who pushed him and saw the amused look on his face.

“Shut up,” Merlin mumbled, walking away from Arthur and towards his estranged… whatever they were.

“Hi Merlin,” Y/N meekly greeted.

“I- I can’t believe you’re really here.”

“Me neither, honestly,” they admitted, chuckling nervously.

The two kind of just stood in another stunned silence until Merlin spoke up once more: “Why didn’t you say goodbye? You just disappeared, and then weeks later Gwen gave me a really vague letter that was supposedly from you. So why could you tell her and not me?”

“Because you’re different, Merlin. Saying goodbye was much too hard, and I am not a brave person. It wasn’t that I never wanted to talk to you again, it was that I couldn’t stop thinking about you. If I talked to you again, I knew I would want to stay here. With you.”

“But why did you even have to leave?! All of this would have been avoided then!”

“I didn’t have a choice, Camelot was no longer safe for me!” Y/N slapped a hand over their mouth, silencing themself before they could spill anymore than they already had.

“I could protect you though, Y/N,” Merlin argued passively, his hands resting on Y/N’s upper arms.

“You already have someone you need to protect. Your focus needs to be on him. For our people.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our people: magic users,” Y/N whispered, and that reveal of Y/N’s secret made something click in Merlin’s brain: Y/N had to leave because they were scared of their magic being revealed. Merlin quickly grabbed Y/N’s hand and led them to a quiet spot where no one could hear them.

“You have magic too?” Merlin asked in awe.

“Yes. I managed to hide it mostly, but it was getting stronger and I couldn’t safely contain it here anymore. I had to go, and it killed me inside, because it meant I had to leave everyone. I had to leave you.”

“It’s okay. Now that I know you don’t hate me, we can write to each other. And I’ll come visit you whenever Arthur lets me. I’m not letting you go again, Y/N,” promised Merlin, moving a hand to cup Y/N’s cheek, damp from crying slightly. The two stared into each other’s misty eyes and slowly moved closer together until their foreheads were touching, when Merlin finally fully leaned in and kissed Y/N gently.

“We’ll make it, I promise."

[jinkicake]

All Jean Needs is a Little Push

Jean x Reader

Hi~~ I love Jean! I wanted to experiment with a jealous!Jean, I even tried to add a confession scene... I like writing jealous!reader so I thought, might as well switch it up!｀∀´ Also Marlowe is best boy, such a sweet thing. أ‿أ

WC-1469

~~~

“Hitch huh?” Connie smirks at his snide remark and Sasha stifles her laughter into her hand. You throw an arm around Marlowe’s shoulder, peering up at him with the same teasing glint in your eyes.

“You guys are you know…” You trail off, dating?, a knowing look etched into your features. Marlowe only glances down at you before quickly looking at the other two beside him.

“I don’t know.” Marlowe replies and you quickly unwrap your arm from his shoulder, sending a confused look towards Connie. He can’t be that dense, can he? You only gape at him before hearing Eren sigh on the other side of the table. 

“I don’t either.” Eren replies and the table falls silent, the density of the two boys too overwhelming. As a result you lean forward and let your forehead slam against the wooden table. 

“I’m so sorry Mikasa.” You mutter painfully, dramatically ignoring a distressed Jean who’s trying to pull you up in an effort to check out your now bruised head. His hands wrap around your shoulders and force you to sit up straight. Your face is warm against his hands as he pushes back your hair, Jean lets out a sigh of irritation at the redness on your forehead. You narrow your eyes up at him and purse your lips in concentration as you try to swat his hands away. Beside you, you can hear Connie and Sasha letting out playful snickers and you turn to look at them. You only get so far before Jean grips your jaw to turn you back to him. Only after the noise settles down does Marlowe turn his attention back to you.

“Oh, that’s right. (Y/N) do you mind showing me around the stables after we finishing eating?” Marlowe asks politely and you glance at him out of the corner of your eye. Giving him a soft smile you nod and Jean pushes his hand against your sore forehead in response before sitting back down at the table. 

“Why don’t you have Connie show you?” Jean mutters childishly and you stare at him with an eyebrow raised, your hand clutching your now aching forehead. 

“Why don’t you just go with them, Jean?” Sasha offers and Connie nods his head in agreement, staring at the boy who lets out a noise of confusion.

“Clearly you want to go so badly.” Connie eggs on and you can’t help the amused smile on your face. 

“Huh? No?” Jean tries his best to act uninterested and he forces himself to listen to Mikasa and Eren’s conversation beside him. Had he known that the next day you and Marlowe would become buddy-buddy he would have gone with you, no hesitation. Now all he gets to do is watch as the two of you trail around everywhere together. The next evening Jean watches the two of you talk freely in the mess hall and his face scrunches in irritation. Leaning his cheek into his palm he continues to stare you down, wondering when did you become so interested in someone from the military police? Jean knows you didn’t like those guys. His face must be exposing his true emotions because you, once again for the fourth time that night, send him a raised eyebrow. One that dares to ask him what? All Jean does is continue to hold your stare. Letting out an irritated growl you place your hands on the table and stand up from your seat. 

“Jean.” Your eyes narrow at him before you wrap your hand around his wrist and drag him out of the mess hall. The rest of the table falls silent and watches in amusement, Connie leans over to give Marlowe a congratulating slap on the back.

“Maybe you aren’t so dense after all.” The bald boy laughs and Sasha places her hand on Marlowe’s arm.

“Who knew all Jean needed was a push?” She laughs cheerfully and even Mikasa is watching the scene with interest in her eyes. Armin looks at Eren who still looks lost and the blonde-haired boy furrows his eyebrows at his friend.


“Eren you know Jean likes (Y/N) right?” Armin asks and Eren snaps his head to his friend before looking at the rest of the table with shock all over his face.

“Huh? Jean likes (Y/N)?!” He damn near yells and the table falls quiet, staring at him with defeated faces. Eren is too blunt, poor Mikasa. 

You ended up dragging Jean out to the stables, letting go of his wrist when you end up in front of the building. Immediately you turn your attention to the horses and give one a gentle smile, rubbing their nose softly. Jean only stares at the ground, starting to feel the embarrassment from his actions wash over him.

“Well Jean, say what you want to say.” You face him head-on but still focus all your attention on the horse in front of you. The large animal calming your racing heart. Jean feels like an idiot but even at this moment he is jealous of a horse, what he wants is your attention and he wants all of it, like a possessive little toddler. You turn and glance over at him, noticing his fists are tightened and a hard look is resting on his face. You remove your hands from the horse and turn to him, resting one of your hands on his bicep. “Jean? What’s wrong?” You ask him and genuinely start to feel worried. 

“Since when are you friends with the military police.” He mutters, his eyes still trained on the ground, unable to look at you. You find it hard to mask your laughter and you let out a soft chuckle at his words.

“Huh, Jean? Last I recall you wanted to be apart of that section, did you not?” You taunt lightly and Jean grits his teeth in response. That had been true but that’s before Eren got into his head and before he knew you. When he saw all of you standing there, staying for the corps he knew he had to too. 

“T-that was b-before…” He stutters, clearly flustered with your teasing. Quicker than his brain can process, you wrap your arms around his waist before resting your head against his chest. “(Y/N) p-please wait until we get married.” The words fumble out of Jean’s mouth before he can stop them and when he sees that glint in your eyes he knows it's over for him. 

“You have no reason to be jealous Jean.” You lightly scold him like a child, he’s too easy to rile up. “You should have just come with us last night as Connie said. You could have listened to us talk about our feelings, Marlowe was telling me about Hitch and I told him about you.” You let out a little hum before unwrapping your arms from the taller man’s torso. “Well,” You pause and tilt your head at him as you shrug before turning around to walk back towards the dorms. Jean following behind you, hot on your trail.

“W-what do you mean feelings?” He sputters like an idiot and you softly laugh. 

“Must I spell it out for you Jean, or will you just tell me already?” You ask, wanting to hear him confess to you first. The taller boy only darts his eyes over to the side before lowering down to the ground, confusion etched softly all over his face. 

“Tell you what?” His bratty, defensive mode finally appears and you sigh while rolling your eyes. Turning around to face him once again, you cross your arms over your chest as you stare him down with a frown. 

“I don’t know…” You trail off, looking up at the night sky in a fake thought. “That you have feelings for me.” Softly the words leave your mouth and you can’t look at Jean, too embarrassed by your words. “Because I adore-“ You're cut off as your breath hitches in your throat when Jean wraps his arms around your shoulders. The action makes it impossible to see his red face, instead, you get a face full of his clothed chest.

“I might as well be in love with you.” His words are quiet and you barely hear him. The only way Jean knows you heard him at all is by the subtle movement of your hand clutching his jacket in your fist. “Yes I like you (Y/N), so much.” Jean confesses and you wrap your arms tighter around him.

“Really?” You breathe out and look up to see him already staring down at you, nervousness written all over his face. It’s endearing. “I really like you too Jean.” You whisper and rest your face back against his chest. You love him whole-heartedly and never want to let him go, as you squeeze your arms around him you do just that.

[pollylynn]

Title: Fabulist WC: 900

“We, Mr. Castle?”  —Victoria Gates, Castle, P. I. (7 x11)

Nicole Morris does not have a daughter. Nicole Morris does not have any children at all. Nicole Morris with her black eyes and implacable silence, does not appear to be parent material.  It’s not a sin that really makes the highlight reel, given that Nicole Morris is a murderer for hire. She is an operative whose mission was not merely to take one life, but to ruin another in the process. But she doesn’t have a daughter, and lying about having a daughter to Shana Baker seems especially . . . villainous to her somehow. 

Certainly this fixation has something to do with Shana Baker herself. It has to do with a well-appointed, but rather generic apartment she doesn’t seem to have spent much time in, and her single-minded devotion to Sparkles the Shedding Machine. 

It has, particularly, to do with Shana Baker’s office, with its artistic alphabet prints running all around the perimeter and its carefully framed blocks of construction paper and tiny handprints made with poster paint. It has to do with the fact that the woman had a decidedly odd vocation, and yet, given the office, the meager bank account, the long, long hours she dedicated to the children of New York’s rich, famous, and difficult to deal with, vocation seems to be the only word for it. And Nicole Morris lied about having one of those children, about being—or at least wanting to be—one of those difficult-to-deal-with parents. That seems, to her, especially villainous. 

She’d like to leave it at that. She’d like to file her Nicole Morris–related baggage in one of Shana Baker’s meticulously organized horizontal cabinets and get over it, but the baggage might not be about Shana Baker at all. It might still be about Shana Baker’s office. It might be about a particular moment there, with him crouched down in front of those meticulously organized horizontal cabinets and tossing the absolutely casual comment over his shoulder. People do insane things for their kids. You’ll see. 

And she had seen, of course. Brian Whitman’s unhinged recorded message had absolutely nothing on the look of abject fear on the man’s face when he thought the deal for his son’s admission might be unraveling. She’d seen the long line of Type-A, high-powered moms and dads holding their kids’ hands on the way into Eastborne, not leaving it to the Nanny, to the Au Pair, to the hired help every one of them most definitely has. 

She had seen herself in that line, or one like it. She had seen him in that line—astral projections or ghosts or simple inevitabilities of the not-too distant future—and she had felt . . . a thrill. She’d felt terror, too, of course. That’s eternal when this subject swims up into her conscious mind. She had felt the rib-kick of conviction that she will never want alphabet artwork or framed handprint butterflies, that her not-a-baby-person status is just the tip of the iceberg and she will be an absolute disaster when it comes to children. She’d felt all that in Shana Baker’s office, but she’d felt a thrill, too, an eagerness for the challenge. 

She doesn’t know how they’ll do it. She thinks about their madcap life and the fact that they have just mutually agreed that it’s not going to get any less madcap any time soon, because he’s going to keep on with the PI thing and hijinks are more or less a certainty. She sort of envisions him in a Philip Marlowe–style trench coat with a baby Bjorn strapped to his chest beneath it. She’s sort of a puddle of goo after she envisions that, and this is not the time to be a puddle of goo—not while she’s still  dotting her Is and crossing her Ts on the Shana Baker Case. So she blots out the image. She tries to, anyway. 

It helps to think about Nicole Morris and her villainy. That’s a good blotting-out strategy. It’s excellent for focusing her mind on something other than jumping him and getting started with this madcap adventure immediately or sooner, and she needs to focus her mind on other things. The thrill in Shana Baker’s office is one thing. The Nicole Morrises of the world are another thing, entirely, and there are too damned many of them running around free for the two of them to go careening down that path right now. 

Plus . . . she likes their life at the moment. She likes savoring expensive wine and spontaneous Sherlock Holmes role play. She likes the idea of making out at will in his shiny new office. She likes their wedding rings and the way life is ineffably different since they slid them on. 

And there’s still the terror. There’s still the conviction. Those are exaggerated enough that she knows they’re ridiculous. But beneath that layer of hyperbole, there’s still the dead-serious worry that for all the work she has done with Burke and without him, the cracks in her psyche are just too many, too wide, too structural for her to love the way a parent needs to love. 

There’s all of that, but there’s also the thrill. There’s also the fact that she thinks Nicole Morris is a black-hearted villain, and she—Kate Beckett—would never lie about having a daughter. 

A/N: The murderer must have been lying about having a kid. That’s a thing. This is not a thing. 

images via homeofthenutty