#maybe not successfully and probably against her own will but whatever

[iamumbra195]

If Ashlyn Banner was a character in a typical magic manhwa she would be the cool mage that remained isolated in the tower for over a decade without any sort of human contact until they were forced to due to the MC’s stupidity or in her case, Aiden’s shenanigans.

She would subsequently be roped into the chaos against her will, all while trying to figure out how to properly interact with real people after all this time and trying to protect this rag-tag group of people with varying backgrounds from certain death.

Aiden would be the crown prince who hated his position and responsibilities after the war so much he decided to become an explorer. It was a risky business with so many unexplored magical lands so it was right up in his alley but his parents only agreed to let him go if he brought his cousin Ben with him as a companion. Ben would be the powerful knight who was heavily traumatized and rendered mute during the war, working on finding himself once more while he and Aiden explored the world together.

Tyler would be the promising young knight who's trying to gain some prestige in order to take care of his family. Taylor would run the repair shop their dad left them but struggled to find a lot of customers due to the stigma that a woman couldn't possibly be strong enough or smart enough to do good repairs. The repair shop was incidentally right across the flower shop Logan's parents ran while he studied something with math or science at a fancy school and occasionally came by to help.

And the Crane Cult are the Big Bad™ that are using a blood sacrifices to call on the power of a higher being or something like that. And they wear bird masks of course.

Ashlyn vs Maverick in a magic duel, when?

Kinda Part 2: Here

[xazse]

Hello! I'm a new reader and I fr love your writing, especially the scara x bunny girl!! Please need more🥺

Maybe when bunny girl got in heat while scaramouche is on a business trip. She kept touching herself but she can't cum. The best she can do probably is hump the stuffed toy scara got for her so she calls scara. However, scara kept on ranting about his day, making bunny needier so she continues her shenanigans while scara is talking. He catches her eventually and punishes her. You can be creative with it.

(I can't really depict scenarios I'm so sorry shshshshshh)

SCARAMOUCHE X BUNNYGIRL!READER

Notes: HI IM SORRY THIS IS SHORT I DIDNT WANT YOU TO THINK I WAS LIKE IGNORING YOU ITS JUST BEEN IVE BEEN IN A WRITING BLOCK SORTA 😭 I’m sorry I didn’t exactly follow the prompt I just wanted to get this out to you, again I’m extremely sorry for the lateness.

I’m so happy you love my writing and our cute bunny girl reader and scars

Pairings: Scaramouche x BunnyGirl!Reader

Tags: Humping, Scara being mean and bossy, just really filthy, hybrid!reader, Fem!Reader, NOT PROOFREAD

It’s been pure torture for you, your body feels like it’s constantly on fire and like you’re carrying a heavy weight as you go from room to room smelling various things Scara owns whilst he’s on his trip. He left you because the doctor assured that your heat wouldn’t come for at least another two weeks, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

The only things keeping you comforted and relieving your body is the stuffed animals that you insist stay on the bed when you and Scara are sleeping, he despises the things but keep them as to not upset you. So they things are filled with his scent, his lavender hair wash and woody smell lingers. You can’t help but inhale the scent in the plushies every so often.

You’ve already called him and told him about how it came earlier and the sneer that came upon his face did nothing but make you twitch, you know he’s enjoying how you’ve been suffering, he is ultimately getting off on the fact that you can’t have his cock to fill you up, it’s so frustrating but he looks so good while scolding you on how you did this on purpose, even though you literally can’t control when your heat decides to come.

One night you’re tossing and turning, when your heat finally hits you full on, moans slip from your lips as your clit throbs with need, you get a whiff of Scara again in the stuffed animal you’re currently whining into, and instantly your horny mind shifts to dirty thoughts, thoughts of his long cock battering your sensitive walls whilst he groans in your ear.

A few moments later you’re dragging your whole cunt against the poor stuffed animal, you feel bad but your hips won’t allow you to stop, won’t let you stop feeling that slight drum in your little clit. You reach your fingers down to add a little more stimulation to find your completely soaked. By now you should’ve cum, but you’re left whining into the pillows as you keep trying to hump away. His smell isn’t nearly enough your heady head deems.

You successfully managed to grab the phone and call Scara, already begging him to accept the face-call. He does and props his phone up so you can see him completely in his element, buried in paperwork with a scowl on his face, so pretty. He’s already ranting about how he hates this place and all the people in it, angry about the annoying escorts they keep sending to his room that he’s meant to fuck, he’s already said he wants nothing to do with them because they think he’ll eventually change his mind.

His eyes glide to the camera, seeing you flushed and naked? He can only see your face and shoulders.

“Are you clothed woman?” He says while closely inspecting the camera again.

Did he completely forget about the fact that you’re literally in heat?

He laughs a little and gets up, the lights in whatever room he’s in goes dark and you’re graced by his appearance again.

“What are you up to bunny?” He questions, you respond with a slight mumble under your breath but the mumble comes out too breathy. The only thing lighting up his face is the lamp by his side, it gives his skin a pretty golden gleam and that makes your cunt twitch.

“I’d forgotten about your little issue, m’sorry, do you want my help? Poor thing.” He’s doing that fake voice where it’s filled with concern but once again hes getting off on your suffering but that spurs you on too.

You hear some slight shuffling before the camera is moved downwards, where you can still see his face until his thick cock is seen, he’s fully hard: even from your conversation earlier he had been thinking and waiting for you to call him. He starts slow when he strokes himself, precise hands slide up and down while he maintains eye contact with you. You feel weird, a good weird.

“Nu, uh, bunny, don’t you dare, keep doing what you were doing before” he manages to get out inbetween stuttered breathing. He knows you were about to touch yourself using your fingers, but no he wants you to keep humping your stuffed animal.

“Won’t work, Kuni” you whine out, god he squeezes his tip, he loves when you get like this but he won’t tolerate you disobeying. “Do as I say” he gives no room for arguments with his sharp tone. Your ears deflate but you do as you’re told and start gliding your messy cunt back and forth. Scara seems pleased to see you further ruin yourself: you can see him start stroking himself faster, saying your name over and over through clenched teeth, calling you a good bunny for listening so well to him.

He tells you to show the mess you’ve made, you don’t protest as you shift to sit up and spread your legs in front of the camera, you really are dripping. He fantasizes about just how good you’ll feel wrapped around him, how he’s going to make you cum so many times on his fingers then you’ll be able to have his cock. Your fingers trail down, he’s about to scold you but you use your fingertips to pry your pussy so he can really get a full view.

Loud moans slip from his lips as his balls tighten hard, and he’s cumming with thick spurts. You don’t hear a few words but you do make out how he’ll be back shortly.

[hxltic]

Hello! I have a request!

Could you do something where Kenma isn't really giving the female reader any attention because he's busy streaming so the reader sneaks under his desk where the viewer's can't see her and she pleasures him until he eventually cums down her throat?

:) I un-ironically love writing bjs

The shared house was silent anytime after 5 o’clock. Kuroo had just left— his afternoon business management classes calling him in, and Bokuto’s practice overcrowded his schedule to the point where he went twice a day with some gym sessions in between. That leaves you alone with Kenma in your 4 bedroom home off campus that was supposedly his father’s apology gift.

The bills are mainly kept satisfied with Kenma’s profit as his streaming allows you all to live as you do. Of course, there was a sense of independency by your own jobs regardless. There has probably been twice where everyone was in the living room at once, but it’s like there’s a tacit agreement each of you have your own goals.

You can’t be mad at the man for being busy when his job supports his friends and himself.

Kenma has been your friend, now boyfriend, for the longest out of all of them, next in line being Kuroo. Kenma took computer engineering and coding related classes, despite having already perfected building PC’s just out of pure experience. The work is hard. You’ve seen it.

You’ve witnessed him stress first hand about a single error in a strenuous, long line of codes—and you ask him why he doesn’t stop doing it if it bothers him to the extent it does. His determination has grown for activities he enjoys over the years; 12 year old him would have quit.

Kenma’s way to deal with stress is isolation. The entire day he’s been crammed in his room, and with being the only other person in the house majority of the time, you bring it upon yourself to feed him. He gets focused and forgets to eat.

The reminder has you clicking your Ipad off from whatever distraction show you had playing. It was so boring most of the days, Netflix couldn’t even fulfill you. You toss the covers off yourself, then bounce downstairs into the kitchen.

It was so quiet that your feet patting against the floor filled the air. To cure the ennui you felt, you’d take the time to have fun with this culinary experience.

By the time there was fluffy white flour messily coating the kitchen and dishes stacked like game cards in the sink, your dish was plated for two. Maybe you’d keep him some company?

Careful not to fall up the stairs, you prod at his door in attempt to knock with one hand. Somehow you turn the knob successfully.

The fan cuts through the air, every click of Kenma’s pen accompanied with a glance to the paper beside him. He won’t even look up at the waitress bearing goods.

“Hi Ken,” you grab his attention but his slim eyes only dart up at the smell of cuisine. “Have you eaten?”

You know the answer. His hair is pulled back into a ponytail, so when he shakes his head the usual strands that follow aren’t there. You place the plate on his desk, next to the two cans of some energy drink and a diet Dr. Pepper.

“Thank you,” he speaks softly. There was a hint of edge to the sound, like he hadn’t used his voice all day.

“Mhmm.”

You turn on your heels to his bed, then sit criss cross as it squeaks and dips. “Do you mind if I just stay in here? It gets lonely in the house.”

To be honest, you forget he’s there sometimes.

“I’m kinda busy,” he replies. He loves you, and your presence, but he just knows he won’t be able to focus. “I’ll be done soon.”

The pout you flaunt deepens, “You’ve been stuck in here for almost a week now! Come out; I miss you Ken.”

He refrains himself from turning to look at you because he knows when he weighs his options, you’ll always come out on top. The chances of you getting picked multiply with your pout.

“Soon, I just need to finish this.”

“Please?”

He doesn’t even have a valid response for that, so he forces the spoon into his mouth. You’re actually a great cook, but since you all eat so much takeout, nobody’s at the dinner table at the same time to enjoy it.

You huff and negotiate to just sit in silence, as long as you’re in his presence. As long as you know he’s there.

This only lasts about fifteen minutes before you’re whining for him again. You completely understand the heavy load of schoolwork, and that it has to get done, but he genuinely has been at it for so long it cannot be healthy.

“I’m done,” he announces coincidentally, his soft fingers coming up to brush a tendril of hair back as he gathers his things on the desk into a neat pile.

Your head perks up like a puppy at attention. He arises from his chair after closing the laptop, pulling his rubber band from the hair connected at his nape as he steps towards you laying on his bed. You giggle in expectancy when he smiles gingerly at you, reaches his arms forward around your feet to plant his hands on the duvet, then crawls up your body. The hair tie wraps around his wrist to join all the other colorful bracelets and bands.

He makes you swoon by just giving you attention.

His hands grew into proportion as he aged, so now they were relatively large. Large enough to connect at your hips as he kisses his way up.

Stomach, chest, then an abundance on your chin and around your face, just for his thumb and index finger to hold your cheeks in position for his softer, slower kiss right on your lips.

You wrap your arms around him like he’d just disintegrate any second. You can feel his body slump, leaving you with most of his weight to carry and his head withdrawing from the kiss to between your breasts. With one hand massaging the round muscle, Kenma was in his element.

Black with barely-there blonde crowds your vision. His soft skin felt warm as you two lay intertwined in the still house, and if you were to fall asleep it would greatly help that Kenma never keeps the big light on. He moans in satisfactory below you.

You lift your hand to rest over his face, the bigger part of your thumb gliding gently over his cheek.

“I love you,” he mutters.

“I love you too Ken.”

After a while of Kenma following your heartbeat and breathing, you would’ve guessed he was asleep. He clarifies he isn’t when he groans lowly.

“I have to get up.”

The words rest tensely in the air, and maybe if you pretend you didn’t hear him, he’ll lay there and forget about it.

He attempts to raise himself from you, politely grabbing your hand and locking your fingers when he comes to a hover above. His pink lips come to the corner of yours as you blink open your eyes.

Truthfully, he wants nothing more than to be with you, here, resting—but he hasn’t streamed in a solid week because of school. You were completely his priority though, so he would make sure to give you equal attention as his stream.

He finds the little willpower to come off you and the bed. He was genuinely hoping you’d stay there and sleep peacefully, that way he’ll come back to join you and it will feel like he never left.

He flips a blanket over your body before he strolls to his setup usually beaming with bright lights. He takes a seat, making sure to turn the brightness down of everything, refraining from playing music, and ultimately deciding not to turn on any light not connected to his PC anyway.

As much as you hate that he’s not cuddled up next to you right now, you love the fact that he’s a steamer overall because he looks so damn hot doing it. Especially the way his muscles on his forearm flex as he quickly types or plays. His hair that’s usually up is down, because he isn’t wearing his mic.

Or like the way every now and then he’ll pop a piece of gum in his mouth and manspread in his gaming chair to shoot a quick message or check his feed. Or like the way he’s so attent, making call-outs, or whenever he gets angry his brows furrow the slightest bit and his face displays whatever he’s actually thinking. You find it hilarious when his eyes roll.

At some point, he hears you come up behind him into view, and his head relaxes into your two hands sliding up his neck to his jaw. You crouch into the screen and the chat immediately multiples. It’s too quick to read them all. Knowing his viewers, Kenma takes the responsibility of closing it with the click of a button, so fast that it seems he never even did it.

“Cracked, 130,” he calls.

You stood there for a moment to watch him play. He and his team beat the level, game, you don’t know, but he releases his focus from the screen and mindlessly cracks his knuckles.

A donation comes in that’s read aloud. Kenma tenses, but you’re excited to hear it.

“jump1nnit donates $70. ‘girl to girl, is it big?’”

Kenma’s head drops back in your hands, eyes closing in annoyance.

“Jesus Christ,” he mumbles. Where were his mods?

All you were thinking about was how much Kenma was actually earning. 70 dollars in a single donation? How many of these does he get a day? How much more do people pay that’s over 70 when you aren’t here?

You shake these questions away. You knew he was famous. This was not new information; his fans see you sometimes in the background, and they adore you. It’s why your instagram has so many followers and people saying outrageous things in your comments. Ken begs you not to check them.

You find it amusing honestly. God knows what he’s being sent despite his DM’s or what they’re saying in his chats. You know there’s girls all over the world after him, but he doesn’t entertain them, so you don’t either. You trust him completely.

Brought back to reality, you look down at Kenma.

He starts, “Are you-“

To rile up the scene, you nod at the monitor with a mischievous smirk on your face. You bend and kiss his forehead.

“Can I sit right here?” You ask quickly, already pulling up his desk stool because he has no reason to say no. He takes your momentary absence to mute the computer.

“Yeah. yeah, Definitely.”

The blonde’s tone is a little off, but you chalk it up to what just happened. He was just surprised you’d actually respond. He ignores them so he doesn’t get demonetized.

So you sit next to him on your phone playing games, or watching him, or laying on his shoulder. It made it a little difficult for him to play with the last one, but he doesn’t mind. He places a kiss to your forehead, matching earlier actions, and the way you two looked at each other after will definitely reel in some fan edits.

You return to gaming on your phone until you drop it. It tumbles down and under the PC, into the jungle of wires below.

At least with everything included in the setup, that’s what you expect to see, but they’re all neatly accounted for. The seat moves back against the carpet to accommodate for your body, the space you’ve created to retrieve the device. The problem is, you and Kenma occupy this space. You won’t fit.

Kenma heard your phone drop, so he had an idea why you’re down there. He even chuckled a little. Once you pick up the phone, you use his thigh as leverage to turn yourself around, causing him to flinch, and immediately an idea pops into your head.

You could stay down here.

You press the heart of your palm into him once more, the same reaction procreating ideas like a lightbulb.

His voice from above makes another callout.

The lightness of your fingertips glide across his thigh and up to his waist, slipping past the barrier of the thin shirt he’s wearing. Kenma is not ticklish, but his abdomen turns concave to your touch.

By now he has concluded what is happening, or going to happen, and just the thought has him hardening in front of you. Of course it’s something he’s thought about. He hasn’t asked because it feels unnatural—like you would only do it because he suggested it.

His poker face remains stone cold, but the rest gives him away. With every touch you only got closer. You trail your whole hand up the shirt, running this one along the dips of his pale skin, while the other goes back and forth along his thigh. Inwards, then back out. Your phone was long forgotten.

You run the length of your fingers over his center sneakily before meeting both hands in the middle and fiddling with his waistband. He shivers, but continues to play.

He hadn’t been purposely edging himself, and he definitely knows that you would help him whenever he asked, but with all the schoolwork piled on top of him, it never crossed his mind. It was now though, and sensitivity was at its highest.

“No, why would you do that; that’s stupid,” Kenma replies to what you assume is a donation. The technological voice isn’t there anymore for you to hear.

The tips of your nails dive past every ounce of clothing settled at his hips.

He shifts in his seat, whether to allow you to pull the band down just enough or to calm his nerves, you don’t know, but the opportunity was right in front of your face. Literally.

You don’t even do anything but hold his length before you start the up and down motions. It’s enough to turn him on more, having him grow in your hand. You can’t imagine the faces he’s making while his viewers’ minds were already polluted.

“Keep going, push,” he exclaims. Voice still soft, but with some sense of urgency.

He was not speaking to you, but you listen anyway, and do as he says. Maybe you could play a game: see how long it takes before he realizes you’re taking orders.

With this, you stroke him a little faster, then run your fleshy thumb over his tip. It began dripping, a single bud threatening to fall. After swiping it away, you disperse what little you could, then wrap your plush lips around his head.

He wasn’t expecting it right after your slow pace.

“Ugh, fuck- third party.”

The groan he emitted was covered quickly by a call, as if that’s what “frustrated” him.

You pop off as quickly as you came, spread your saliva, and now slide your enclosed hand down his cock steadily. Silky smooth, it took no energy to glide along him. Your unoccupied hand squeezes his thigh through the cotton.

“Down, he’s under and one shot.”

You jerk him off as his breathing barely picks up, occasionally coming down to wet him some more, but you see a significant difference when your hand consistently twists just the tip. You’d swirl your tongue around the reddening, most sensitive part of him before dropping even farther to take his balls in your mouth.

You tug and pull harmlessly.

“Hmm...”

Despite what was going on, the streamer was clever with how he hid it.

He asks, “Hey, what do y’all want to hear?”

The viewers were astonished they were being asked; Kenma has previously told them he likes his music and would play whatever he felt like hearing. He did a stream for song recommendations and half of it was him hating on their music and the other half was his viewers attempting to find songs he would like.

Regardless, he unmuted the sound on his computer and turned on the playlist, only slightly louder than usual.

You took this opportunity to actually wrap your lips around his cock, not having to worry about the sounds. You start on the slower side but it didn’t take long to get comfortable. Whatever you couldn’t fit, you jerked off.

His abdomen showcased whatever his face wouldn’t, stuttering every now and then with his hips correcting their position. You brought the wet hand to his balls once more, and attempted to fit all of him down your throat. There was a deep sigh above you.

You closed your eyes and went again, trying to go deeper. You didn’t gag, but your throat made sounds that was enough implication of what was going on. That’s okay though. Some random band one of his mods recommended was playing.

Once more, you tried to go deeper, actually sputtering this time, but once you got past the uncomfortableness of it all, you could go the same depth over and over. You did, breathing through your nose. He could hear your throat, but chat couldn’t. If they could, they would be saying something.

“Oh shit, oh shit, he’s on me,” he huffs, “I’m gonna twist around to cover.”

You remove yourself, partially to breathe, and take two hands to twist on top of each other in opposite directions. His belly button caves in with some more muscles, pure evidence of his pleasure.

This was the second he knew what you were doing. What game you were playing.

If you wanted to play, he could too.

“Where is she?” he reads chat calmly. “I think she’s downstairs eating.”

Was it calm enough—you’re not sure, because he was fidgeting excessively in the leaning chair.

The double entendre has you giggling silently. With a deep breath, you’re back down on him again. It’s not long until you sputter.

“Do you want me to tell her to come back up?” You hear him spit out quickly.

You do as he says, but not without the price of your fingers doubling speed at his head.

“Yeah, I’ll tell her. Hold on.”

With quickness, he mutes and turns his camera off.

He was sweating and physically overwhelmed. Pushing back on his heels, his chair rolls from under the table with you following, finally in his sight. He could already imagine how you looked.

Red lips. Glowing face. Glossy eyes, smiling and happy. You were ethereal. Your hands are working him, but now with his cock down your throat too? Oh my god.

He held a soft touch at your cheek and caressed your face with his thumb. Picking up speed, you smile.

The other hand of his would do the same, brushing a loose stand of hair behind your ear. Faster.

“Just like that,” he breathes.

“Mhmm?” you deepthroat him.

His head drops back involuntarily. His mouth does the same. The heavy breaths that he was holding from the stream let loose.

One last look at your flushed features and-

He groans heavily, adam’s apple bobbing and cock tightening. Skin usually pale but red with desire, he stills.

You close your eyes. It was so fulfilling with your throat stretched and his hands on either side of your plush face.

Warmth seeps past your tongue and down the cavern. It causes you to choke but Kenma definitely doesn’t mind. His sounds flow into your ears, plus some faint praise as he soon begins to release from his high.

You couldn’t taste anything as you slowly raise yourself from him, leaving his cock glistening with saliva and pink, but the taste just barely started to form once it caught your tongue on the way down. You swallow anyway—it wasn’t bad.

You use the back of your hand to wipe your eyes and breathe freely. You lay your cheek on the driest part of his pants, even though you’ll have to get up. You just aren’t ready to see the red wilts on your knees.

“You are amazing,” Kenma catches his breath. He looks back down with his eyes glossed over and tired, but he still runs his finger over your wet lip. You softly kiss it.

. .

“Are you getting back on?” You climb into his fluffy bed, throwing the covers back.

Kenma shakes his head and follows after you in a fresh new set. He grabs the covers and returns them over you both, pushing his hair back and holding you close.

©️ hxltic

[randomfoggytiger]

Collector's Fic: Mulder, Scully, and Courthouse Weddings

Mulder and Scully and weddings-- do they or don't they? In this case they do and they don't.

Tagging @pookie-mulder, who inspired this idea!

Loose chronological order below~

@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls’s

in another world - Chapter 22

it happens in vegas, of course, and it happens because of langly and melissa.... it’s directly following mulder’s breakup with diana, and he’s been moping around the hotel room the entire time; dana is in the midst of stressing over a big test for medical school, and has refused to leave the hotel room so that she can study to the point of driving melissa crazy. 

AU-- Pre-S1 Mulder and Scully meet and marry in Las Vegas.

I wish you would write a fic where Mulder and Scully are married and domestic af. AU, obviously.

...Mulder and Scully are married on August 16, at a courthouse in Virginia. The date has no significance, no probable reason to get married then—and that, Mulder says, is why it's perfect.

AU S7 Scully is appalled at her and Mulder's shamelessly gooey "married" behavior.

#32: It looks good on you.

He says, “Wanna get married today?”

She lifts her head to look at him, her eyes wide with surprise and maybe an ounce of caution. She says, “You're kidding.”

“Dead serious, Scully.”

AU S7 Mulder and Scully get hitched on a spur-of-the-moment October day.

Five Moments Mulder and Scully Shared (And One They Didn't) (Tumblr)

The new weight is unfamiliar on her hand, but not in a bad way. She grabs his hand and presses a kiss half against his finger and half against his own ring as they huddle together on the steps of the courthouse. 

AU Post S11 Mulder and Scully get a second chance at their entire lives; and determine to make better choices with each other.

@silhouetteofacedar/SilhouetteOfACedar's Pearl, Ch. 1 (Ao3)

Scully shakes her head. “Sorry, no. I’m just nervous.”

“We can keep holding hands, if you want,” he says quietly. “Play the part of a happy couple for a few minutes.”

She glances at him to see if he’s joking. He’s not; his face is strangely serious.

He should be joking, she thinks.

AU-- Mulder and Scully wed after her cancer diagnosis.

@mchalowitz's (Ao3) chain reaction, part 5

Mulder doesn’t bring up the proposal for three days. He figures he should mention it before the weekend because after two days apart, the seriousness of it will wear off. It’ll just be an awkward occurrence, not a real offer. 

“Should we get you a ring?” 

Scully coughs out a laugh and glances at him briefly from the filing cabinet.

AU-- Between Scully's cancer and Teena Mulder's drama, Mulder and his partner are able to find a brief, bright spot: their marriage.

@leiascully's (Ao3) Mulder told Scully he would do whatever he could

They get married.  It’s a quickie courthouse wedding with Maggie and Tara as their witnesses.  Bill refuses to be any part of it.  

AU-- Mulder and Scully get married and leave the FBI to adopt and raise Emily.

@myownsuperintendent/MyOwnSuperintendent’s

All a Family

They get married at the courthouse. They bring her mom.... But she smiles during the ceremony, at least, and Scully does too, a little shyly, and Mulder knows he does, in a way he can’t contain.

AU-- Mulder tells Scully about her ova after her remission; and the two have successfully begun an IVF pregnancy and started the adoption process for Emily when they decide to wed for better chances.

Ficlet: “Marry Me” (Ao3)

She stops where she is.  “Are you serious?”

He pauses a moment to consider, and then he says, “I’m serious.” 

...She’s next to the bed now.  “Yes, then.”

AU-- Post Requiem Mulder asks Scully to marry him.

Readjustment

She feels a little bit guilty that she can’t give her mom what she wants, when there’s so much she’s missed out on. Maybe she would have wanted it herself once, but not anymore, now. “We just…we don’t want to wait, Mom,” she says, and maybe that’s silly, since they’ve already waited quite a while. Since they already have a child together, a life, love. But that is how they feel.

AU-- Mulder, Scully, and William are readjusting to life as free citizens no longer on the run... well, Mulder and Scully are, anyway.

@scully-loves-ruthie's Better Call Scully

“Mulder, look at me.  He faces downward eyes locked on hers.  “Do you really believe that you’ll never stake someone thinking they’re a vampire only to find out too late you were wrong... again?”

He stares at her weighing his response before offering a playful smile as he pulls her toward the courthouse

“That’s what I thought.”  She mutters quickening her pace to remain in step with him.

AU-- Post Bad Blood Mulder and Scully get married for "practical" reasons (of course.)

@cauldronoflove/thegoodthebadandthenerdy's All I Need's a Fraction of Your Happy Heart

(Mulder had meant his proposal, sure, but in the end it was Scully who proposed. Neatly and to the point, but so full of an unrestrained want and sincerity that Mulder had covered her hand across the crayon-scribbled tabletop without even checking left or right.)

AU-- S7 Scully reflects on the journey from her recent marriage to Mulder while she and her partner are on a case.

AU/Married/ISTJ reflects how banter had turned to serious convo/duo both proposed/courthouse/giddy together on case-- All I Need's a Fraction of Your Happy Heart - [Archive]

@msrafterdark's (Ao3) MSR // Ficmas Day 30 - Fireworks

Their belongings are all in storage save for a few toiletries and some clothes for their honeymoon next week. They're signing for a house next month. A simple but beautifully elegant wedding dress hangs on the back of the door of Scully's childhood bedroom. A bundle of wedding presents from relatives and friends--including a rather suspiciously-wrapped gift with the initials "TLG" scrawled on it--sit on Maggie's kitchen table. Even AD Skinner is stopping by for the courthouse appointment tomorrow.

AU-- S7 Mulder and Scully enjoy the night before their wedding together.

beduini/Beduini's Legitimate

The baby moves again and he smiles, a wide, cheek-splitting smile. After a few more minutes, he raises up on his forearm once more and looks down at her with eyes shining, as if he'd just solved a case. "Hey Scully, we got married today."

Her lips turn up in a slight, amused smile. "Yes, Mulder, we did."

AU-- Post Vienen Mulder and Scully hit up the courthouse.

Vickie Moseley’s (Ao3, Gossamer)

Mother of the Bride

"Dana," I whispered, holding my breath and hoping my suspicions about this 'appointment' were correct. "Can you tell me what this is all about?"

Suddenly, Fox was on the phone. "Call it an early birthday present, Mrs. Scully. And maybe a late Mother's Day Present, as well."

Post Existence Mulder and Scully wed at the courthouse.

@aloysiavirgata’s (Ao3, WBM, Gossamer, LJ, Alt. LJ) A Tent of Shelter (Ao3)

She smiles at him, her lopsided grin. “Mulder, what can change, really? The taxes. The health insurance. But I think we’ve reached some point of terminal commitment, don’t you think? And you can hardly imagine I’ll be Doctor Mulder. So do I like the idea? I do, very much. But it’s hardly shocking.”

“Scully my love, you need to read more romance novels.”

Post IWTB Mulder wants to get married for his birthday.

@agentscully/agent_scully2084's Important Traditions

With minimal protest, Scully allowed Mulder to carry her over the threshold, laughing as Mulder explained the symbolism of the ancient tradition and appeared to take seriously his duty to protect his new bride from evil spirits.

Post IWTB Mulder and Scully get married in khakis and blue.

@scully/humancredentials's "Did you just call me 'baby' in front of my mother?"

She looks like she’s about to say that yes, something is wrong and that he shouldn’t antagonize her brother that way and even though they’re living together now, even though they’re ink on the paper official, sworn to each other in a courthouse in rural Virginia in front of her mother, her God, and all of their ghosts, it still makes her anxious when it’s on display.

But she doesn’t, doesn’t say any of those things, realizes she doesn’t even really want to.

Post IWTB Mulder is prone to slipping up with pet names after he and Scully tied the knot.

amorfati3215/Amorfati32’s (FFN) AU head canon - Mulder and Scully never separated...

Mulder and Scully marry two months later in a small service at the county courthouse. Scully’s mother gives the bride away while Skinner agrees to be Mulder’s best man. It’s a quiet affair, formal too but it’s exactly what they wanted. 

AU-- Post IWTB Mulder and Scully vacay, wed, and stay together during the hard times.

@broadcastnews1987/audries/@kennedyandheidi/inkspl0tchess's (WBM 1/ 2/ 3) Unnamed

“you’re my wife,” he says, over and over. her fingers are tugging at the tie she’d made him wear to the courthouse. he hadn’t really minded. “you’re my wife, scully.”

Post IWTB-- Three moments are Mulder and Scully tied the knot.

@m0lderitsme's Just a post MSIV fluff piece.

A big wedding was most definitely not for either of them. Plus, they didn’t really have anyone to invited anymore. Sure, Scully could have asked her brother Bill and his wife and son, but she didn’t really want them there. They decided that they’d get married in a very, very quick ceremony with a Justice of the Peace.

Post Revival Mulder and Scully marry with Skinner as their witness.

@flukemen/@pinebluffvariants/pinebluffvariant's Barrows

On a Friday afternoon, Mulder and Scully get out of a cab just a few blocks from the basement where they used to eat hotdogs at midnight and argue over evidence, when they were young. The streets are cleaner than they used to be, back then. The air is too. At least it feels that way today.

Post Revival Mulder and Scully wait in line outside the courthouse... and watch Skinner skip right on through.

@kateyes224's (Ao3)

Unchained Melody

Scully wiggled her small toes on the hard-wood floor, glad to be barefoot.  Her pale ecru dress shimmered in the darkened kitchen, her face half shadowed. She looked up at Mulder, and something in the way she was sitting, staring up at him, her cerulean eyes luminous in the dark, niggled at his brain like deja vu.

After the courthouse ceremony, Mulder remembers one moment when his parents looked really, truly happy with each other.

Honorable mentions:

amorfati3215/Amorfati32’s The Proposal (Parts 1/, 2/, 3/, 4/)

jeri’s (Gossamer) Vulpecula (Gossamer 1/ 2/) (post here)

@rationalcashew/RationalCashew's Dark is the Way; Light is the Place (Tumblr)

Vickie Moseley’s "My Dearest Son"

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

[alisha-on-arcane]

My plot prediction for season 2, Act 1: Ambessa steps instantly into the Piltover power vacuum created by "your Council is dead". (Maybe Jayce is in a coma? Scenes of a badly injured Viktor sitting by his bedside in a parallel). She brings in the Noxian war airship and troops that we see in the trailer (maybe they're the only forces still loyal to her, as the Medarda family has lost power in Noxus, but Piltover doesn't need to know that. There's desperation under the steel). She declares her intention to carpet-bomb the undercity to avenge her daughter. Caitlyn: no! I'll lead a strike force with specific objectives. Vi will help. Vi: whuh Caitlyn, frantically, aside: please help me she's going to kill everyone down there if we don't do something. Vi is presented with two horrible options: turn on her own, who are the ones who are actually guilty, or watch a lot of innocent lives destroyed. A parallel to the situation that made Vander turn on Silco, and Vi is Vander's daughter. The strike team strikes. It goes very wrong, Zaun being Zaun. Zaun excels at meeting violence with violence, and whatever else the man may have done, Silco enhanced those capabilities. (Possibly Singed is brought back to Piltover alive. Ambessa: "what an interesting person, I hear you are currently without a sponsor for your scientific endeavours? Maybe you should have a look at this unconscious Council member, he was such a fine young man.") After the strike team's failure, Ambessa declares Piltover under her protection, and sets herself up as a warlord. Piltover falls without a fight. Vi and Caitlyn are left traumatised, horrified and probably split up by how badly the strike force went. Vi takes to drinking. Caitlyn finds herself in the Grayson role: trying to be a good cop in a bad system, working for bad masters. Jinx and Zaun, meanwhile, see no reason why Piltover being taken over by Noxus should change anything. Jinx destroys or steals Ambessa's airship (she always wanted one of those) and repeatedly and successfully hits the overcity. She taunts Vi and Caitlyn maliciously with their failure and subservience. The Noxian forces make absolutely no headway against the disorganised violence of Zaun - Warwick, Smeech, the unholy Sevika & Jinx combination, random people off the street inspired by Jinx. Even in Piltover, when people are sure Ambessa's forces aren't listening, Zaun's resistance is spoken of in terms of approval and respect as well as fear (for Jinx's attacks frequently kill Piltover civilians too). Zaun is free and Piltover is not. And then the timeskip; maybe Act 2 is the other characters attempting to team up to oppose Ambessa in a more coordinated way. (Maybe Jayce comes out of his coma, to find that Viktor has been driven away back to Zaun and become the Machine Herald, and his only ally is Caitlyn). This proves... complicated.

[creative-caramel-coffee]

could you please do teacher r with a really obvious cold during an important staff meeting and afterwards weems is like oh honey, you should not be here right now. She brings her tissues and everything she’ll need before lets her lay down in her room for the day?

Schedules and Sicknesses

Pairings: Weems x Reader (platonic)

Word count: 2.1K

Summary: your sick and in a staff meeting principal weems was quick to notice and take action.

TW: sneezing? fever,

A/n sorry this one took so long I wanted to do it justice. I also love how I described Lars place hehe.

You just had one more class, one more class to teach, a staff meeting to sit through and then you could collapse into bed, curl up and die from whatever horrible cold your students had kindly infected you with. The steady growth of the number of tissues in the bin beside you was successfully kept hidden behind your desk as you worked through classes. But it was getting harder to hide the sneezes.

When the bell finally rang you heaved a sigh of relief which quickly turned into a groan at the realisation of the looming staff meeting. You packed up your sketchbook and teaching materials before shoving them hastily in your satchel which you swung over your right shoulder and stood. The world tipped for a second and you held onto your desk, maybe you were sicker than you realised. After steadying yourself on the table for a few minutes you stood on your own again. Checking the time, you had just enough time to get to the staff meeting before it began. How long had you been slumped against the desk?

After haphazardly making your way through the halls you entered the staff room and gave a sheepish look to the principal as you made your way to a spare seat. You sat down hard and without any grace at all earning a raised brow from Ms Weems, but you lacked any energy to care at this point in time.

Gently pressing a hand to your temple, you attempted to massage away the headache that had sat there for the better part of the day. You barely paid attention to the meeting, simply trying to keep yourself awake was taking all of your focus and energy.

The one thing that did wake you up and gain a lot of looks from the teachers around the room was the loud sneeze you let out. Your cheeks flushed from embarrassment as all eyes were on you. You missed the concerned gaze of the headmistress, too busy studying your own shoes and avoiding all eye contact.

The meeting started up again after the short pause in the principles speech before you felt another sneeze building in your sinuses. You did your best to stifle it. The slight duck of your head was the only indication of the sneeze at all. However, it didn’t go unnoticed by the principal who spared you a glance before continuing.

You tried your best to pay attention now people had seemed to notice you were there and you could no longer fly under the radar. You sighed softly and tried to focus.

Ms Weems was talking about a rise in student detentions most likely due to the approaching full moon and a majority of the delinquents being furs.

She continued onto another topic, but your brain spaced out again. The lights were too bright, and it made your head pound more and there was some faint buzzing somewhere you couldn’t quite place through the fog of your headache. The throbbing under your fingertips, where you continued to massage your temples, was only increasing.

You sniffled softly hoping nobody would notice and missing another concerned glance from the principal. You felt another sneeze building and quickly stifled it in your elbow, looking sheepishly at the few faces that had turned to look at you. You felt your cheeks heat further, maybe from the fever or maybe from the embarrassment. You shuffled down in your chair to try and seem small and insignificant. Not wanting to draw any more attention.

Larissa was growing more concerned with each stifled sneeze and sniffle; your eyes were squinted in what was probably an attempt to stave off a headache from the bright strip lights. She took pity on you, knowing that this meeting could wait for another day when you staff were all well again. She made the decision to tie the meeting off early.

When the principal ended the meeting, your shoulders sagged in relief. Now you could go home. You grabbed your bag but froze as you heard the headmistress speak.

“Ms L/n could you stay behind please?” She asked.

Crap. You thought. She probably could tell you weren’t paying an ounce of attention and felt bad about chewing you out in front of the others. You could almost cry at the thought of being kept from your sick nest you had to pull yourself out of this morning for class.

As the last of the staff left Larissa walked over to the door shutting it softly and turning off the light.

You heaved a sigh at the lack of headache inducing light and the faint buzzing of the electricity also disappeared. What could you do about it though, the school was just old.

Larissa came back over to you and stood behind your chair, turning it on the swivel to face her she crouched down in front of you.

“Oh honey, you. should not be here right now.” She said with a sigh, and you looked panicked some fever-addled part of you thinking you were going to be fired.

The principals gaze softened, “Ms L/n you do know if you are feeling unwell you are allowed to skip these meetings. I can send you my notes at a later time.” She said softly.

“Sorry Principal Weems.” You said with a sniffle.

“Darling don’t apologise for being sick. But do blow your nose.” She said procuring a pack of tissues from her pocket.

You flushed red and Weems brow furrowed. Taking the tissues from her you turned your head and blew your nose, throwing the tissues into the bin she led out for you.

“Now,” she said with her matter-of-fact teaching voice, “you look a bit warm and i think you may have a fever darling. Would you rather I come to your quarters to set you up with some medicine, or we go to mine or even the infirmary?” She asked.

You looked at her and blinked not expecting anything more than a “get better soon” and to be on your merry (sick) way.

“Y/n?” She asked laying a hand against your cheek to check for a fever and frowning when she found one. “Where have you gone darling?” She asked gently stroking your cheek with the back of her fingertips.

You blinked again, vision refocusing. “Sorry.” You mumbled.

“There you are.” She said with a smile, and you grinned back sheepishly.

“Let’s get you to bed.” She said offering you her arm to take. You stood and she grabbed your bag before you could, slinging it over her shoulder. She left the room and locked it behind her and set out for her own quarters, with you leaning heavily into her side. Her strong arm wrapped around your shoulders your eyes drifting shut before rapidly blinking to stay awake.

You paused a few times to sneeze, each time Weems offered her blessings which, through the fever made you giggle.

Weems smiled at you fondly, hiding her concern at what she was sure was a growing fever.

Gently she guided you into her office and past it to her own room. Mentally you thanked her for the invite to her private space. As since you had been sick, your own quarters look like there had been a bomb go off, which surely wasn’t a good look in front of your boss.

After depositing you on her expensive looking couch you sat and waited as she disappeared for a moment.

You doubted many teachers had made it this far beyond her office and looked around in wonder.

In front of the expensive white couch was a large expensive looking flatscreen TV.

Either-side of the flatscreen were dark mahogany bookshelves with what looked like old and classic Literature which looked old and fancy enough to be the originals. Spaced intermittently between the books were various healthy looking green plants which cascaded over the shelves like a waterfall of green leaves and vines.

The room had a few old, and much like the TV and everything else, expensive looking paintings which were seemingly straight out of the renaissance or at least very good replicas of famous paintings from that same time. You recognised a few as an art teacher and appreciated her fine taste in aesthetics.

There was a mahogany coffee table which matched the bookshelves and a small set of brown leather coasters.

Looking down the hallway from where you sat, and Larissa disappeared to you saw portrait after portrait of what must have been the previous headmasters and mistresses of the school. At the end of the hallway closest to you was an amazing portrait done in oils which captured Larissa in all the best ways. Her hair, for once, was down for the portrait and the near-white, blonde locks fell naturally down her shoulders. She looked regal and important which she was, in your opinion. You were so wrapped up in admiring the painted beauty of it you missed her return.

Feeling the couch dip next to you, you turned to look at her.

“It's an amazing portrait.” You gushed as she raised a brow.

“The one in the hallway?” She asked moving your head to face forward with her hand on your jaw, so she had access to your ear.

“Yes, it’s beautiful.” You said as she slipped a clean cap on the thermometer and placed it in your ear.

“Really? I always thought it was as bit pretentious to have a portrait of yourself hanging up in your own room.” She said.

“Not at all. I have several i have done over the years, although nothing as impressive as that one.” You said with a nod towards it.

“Keep your head still darling.” She reprimanded softly and you suddenly felt like a student who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Sorry.” You mumbled.

“Hmm.” She said pulling it out now it had beeped. “You're a bit too warm for my liking.” She said turning the screen to face you. It showed a little 101.3 on the screen and you frowned.

“I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“To be honest neither did i. And I’m glad I brought you here it saved us both the trip.” She said with a smile.

“What do you mean?” You asked confused.

“Darling, I’m not leaving you to fend for yourself with a fever that high. Weather you were here or there you would have come back with me for the night so i can keep an eye on you and your temperature.” She said softly.

“Oh… well thank you Ms Weems.”

“Darling you're on my couch after five pm on a Friday, you can call me Larissa.”

“Oh… well thank you Larissa.”

“Anytime darling, now let's get to work on that fever.”

She grabbed a cloth and dipped in the the bowl of water she had brought with, wringing it out before guiding you back into the pillows with a hand on your shoulder and laying it over your brow.

“Now, I’ll give you some pain killers and turn down the lights so you can rest. If you need anything at all give me a yell or text me. I’ll put my personal number in your phone.” She said popping out two white tablets into your outstretched palm. She quickly handed you some water and you took both.

She took your phone from the coffee table and punched in her number into a new contact she had put in named “Lars” her cheeks heating ever so slightly at the old nickname it had been quite some time since she made room in her day for friends.

Handing the phone back you smiled at the contact's name. Larissa straightened dusting off her skirt and looking down at you.

“I’ll have the cook package and send up some light dinner as I’m sure you missed lunch as well.” She said and you flushed and nodded. “Alright darling, close your eyes and rest now. If you need me, I’ll be just next door. Text or yell. Im old but I’m not hard of hearing yet.” She winked and you smiled back.

“Goodnight, Y/n” she said and turned out the light.

“Goodnight Ms We- … Larissa.” You correct and she smiled, closing the door behind her.

MASTERLIST

[sunsafewriting]

Do A Flip - chapter 5

After leaving St Michael’s, Ava does everything she can to support Diego, including taking him to extracurriculars. Beatrice is his aikido instructor, and it changes everything.

chapter excerpt:

Miguel. 

He finds Ava sitting in the shade under a large tree. She’s slumped back against the trunk, arms folded over her chest, legs stretched out in front of her. 

He drops down beside her — leaving a gap, because they’re both kind of gross and sweaty from the last few hours of manual labour — and follows her gaze. She’s watching Beatrice and Diego across the courtyard, where they seem to be embroiled in some kind of debate. If Miguel had to guess, he’d say it’s round two of the can I climb the trellis? negotiations that Diego has already lost once. 

Ava seems content to rest in silence, but Miguel’s been waiting patiently for his opportunity to tease her, and he’s absolutely not going to let it slide. 

"How’s your foot?" he asks, all innocence. Okay, maybe half, one-third, one-quarter innocence. 

Ava elbows him in the ribs — more gently than he deserves. And she’s smirking, so he knows that he’s not really bothering her. "Sore," she says. "But fine. The flowerpot wasn’t that heavy." 

He grins. He’s not going to let her live this down for a while, and he suspects that Mary won’t either. "And how’s your pride?" 

"Just fine," she tells him. "It may surprise you to hear this, Miguel, but today was not the first time something like that has happened to me." 

"Maybe you should do a better job keeping Beatrice away from the fifty-pound bags of gravel, then."

"Unfortunately, she can look hot doing anything," Ava complains, plucking a piece of grass from the dirt and tearing it in half, then in half again. "I’ll never be safe." 

"Tough break, Silva."

"It’s rough."

"Yup. But I’m told that God never gives us more than we can handle," he says. 

It’s the sort of mildly sacreligious joke that would normally go down well with Ava, but he doesn’t get a response. 

In fact, she’s frowning, attention fixed on where Beatrice has successfully distracted Diego from the trellis, redirecting him by showing him how to plant one of the new baby saplings in the ground. They’re kneeled down together, on opposite sides of the plant, and Diego’s head is tilted in careful concentration while Beatrice explains what they’re doing. 

"Ava? Are you —"

"Do you think he does, though, sometimes?" Ava blurts. 

"Huh?"

"God. Like, I don't believe in any of it, but — but say that I did." She squirms nervously, twisting the material of her shirt in her hands. "Do you think that sometimes God, or the universe, or whatever, really does send you more than you can handle?"

And they’re obviously not talking about Ava's inability to be chill about Beatrice's biceps anymore, but he has no idea how this got away from him. 

Apparently Ava doesn’t either, judging by the humourless way she laughs, how she waves a hand vaguely. 

"Sorry," she says. "I feel a bit weird. Maybe I have heatstroke." 

And that would be easy to turn into a joke, and probably Ava even wants him to, but he won’t. "What do you mean?"

She draws her knees up to her chest and winds her arms around them, as though it’s important to be as small as possible for this. "I just — for a long time, I didn’t have anything in my life go well. Like, at all. And that’s — I get it. Luck of the draw, right? You keep rolling." She shrugs. Sharply. "But this last while, it’s like things can’t seem to stop going well. I have Diego and Beatrice and my friends, and the bar, and college, and it's all working out for me right now."

"Sounds like maybe you earned a break. And you're getting it," he replies.

She puffs out a breath. "And how long does the break last?"

"Ava —"

"I have, like, everything I've ever wanted. Do you know how crazy that is? What if I fuck it up?"

"You won't fuck it up," Miguel assures her. "You might fuck up, every now and then, but you're not going to fuck it up. Your life, I mean. You know that it's going well because of you, right, Ava? Because you're great, and people love you?"

She fidgets, then cracks a deliberate smile. "I am pretty spectacular."

"Yeah. And besides, not that it's really the point, or whatever, but you don't have everything you ever wanted, actually." It’s likely not the best approach to take, but Miguel’s not a licensed therapist. Solve the most obvious problem in front of you: that’s his motto. 

"You and I both know that the odds of a Jurassic Park ever —"

"Not that," he says, rolling his eyes. "I mean Beatrice. And your — well. That whole thing. Pretty sure you wouldn't be dropping flower pots if you'd sorted that out."

"Nah, I still would be," Ava declares, with so much exasperated confidence that he doesn't question it. "But you make a good point, I guess. I just — sometimes it's like I can feel this whole awesome future hinging around me. And if I drop the ball, it all goes away."

"It wouldn't," he promises. "If you dropped the ball, Beatrice would pick it up. Or I'd pick it up. Or one of your other friends would."

Ava nods. "I know that. In my head of heads." It’s an odd expression, but Ava's full of odd expressions. 

"And I can prove it to you. Sort of," Miguel says, because right at that moment, Beatrice is past them. She’s holding a watering can, making her way towards the garden tap, and looking over at them far less than she would look over at Ava in any other context. 

He hopes that one day, once she and Ava are together for real, she starts to like him a bit more, because he really likes her. 

"Hey, Beatrice!" he hollers. 

She stops, turns to them. "Yes?"

"What would you do if Ava blew up your apartment?" Arguably the most substantial dropping of the ball it is possible for one person to achieve. 

Beatrice’s eyebrow arches up. "We don't have the necessary materials at our apartment for an explosion. The most she could manage is a reasonably-sized oil fire."

"Just say she blew it up. The whole thing. Everything in it."

"Is this one of those riddles?"

According to Ava, Diego has been going through something of a trick question phase lately, so perhaps Beatrice is right to be wary. 

"It's not a riddle," he promises. 

"Well, I suppose we'd have to get a new apartment, wouldn't we?" she says. "And new things. Although Ava tells me her Loch Ness monster ladle is irreplaceable."

"Just because you can buy another one online doesn't mean it's the same," Ava insists. 

"And we'd also have to make sure you didn't go to prison for arson or insurance fraud or whatever inspired you," Beatrice lists off. 

Ava grins. "Are you saying you’d have to get me off on charges of — wait, that I’d have to get off on — okay, give me a second, I’m nearly there —" 

"That’s what she said," Beatrice supplies, in a tone so dry that it takes Miguel a beat to process that she’s being playful. 

Ava experiences no such delay: she glows brilliantly, all at once. "Oh my god. I’m such a good influence on you. Twelve years of Catholic education can’t touch this," she declares, preening.

Miguel can think of about six comments in response to that , but even though Ava would certainly find them hilarious, he doesn’t think Beatrice would. 

[vernblr]

Birthday Blues

Summary: Raise your hand if you've ever felt terrible on or near your birthday before. Well, I sure hope I'm not the only one. You were doing pretty well this year, until now. But as your birthday nears and you glimpse at something on Chan's phone you probably shouldn't have, guilt and paranoia begin to consume you until you can't bear it anymore. But luckily for you, you have a loving boyfriend who's got more than birthday plans up his sleeve.

WC: 1.5k

Established relationship, depictions of anxiety, light hurt and comfort.

A/N: This is the second part of a birthday gift for @bitchlessdino!!! NANA BELOVED I'M SORRY FOR MAKING THIS SAD I HOPE THE ENDING WAS CUTE ENOUGH TO MAKE UP FOR IT </3333 You can find the first half of her gift here!

Buzz. 

You groaned, turning over in bed and pulling the blanket over your head to stay as comfortable as you can. You don’t know what time it was, but it was too early to be awake and you didn’t want to be. You just hoped that whatever was causing the noise would stop soon. 

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. 

You realize after a while that someone’s phone kept going off next to you, and if it was yours you were going to fling it at a wall. Or, more realistically, put it on Do Not Disturb mode so you can get more precious sleep. But as the phone kept buzzing with notifications, you finally gave up the battle against wakefulness and pulled the blanket off your head.

It wasn’t a bad sight to wake up to, the soft sunlight filtering in through the curtains as Chan snored next to you. You blearily looked over at the phone that was still buzzing at you, annoyed to see that it was Chan’s phone that was buzzing and not yours. Oh well, you guess you can’t throw it at a wall today, but you could still silence it. Leave it to him to be able to sleep through all the noise, even as his phone sat charging next to him. It should’ve been a quick thing to do, to turn on the phone and press a few buttons before leaving it again. But you made the mistake of allowing yourself to glance at the messages as they flew by, Chan’s very large friend group chat enjoying (or suffering from) a boom in activity. You could barely read what the messages said with how fast they moved, but all you could glimpse at was your name being mentioned a few times and something about a birthday. Even in your sleep deprived state, you could connect the dots. Chan and his friends were planning something for your birthday, which was very soon according to your calendar, and now you were curious about their plans. 

But just as you were about to unlock Chan’s phone for a sneak peek, he started shifting in bed, a sure sign that he would be waking up soon. So you quickly turned on the toggle for Do Not Disturb and snuggled against Chan’s arm right as he started yawning and stretching. But you couldn’t stop the pounding of your heart at almost being caught looking at something private, and you could feel it starting to gnaw at you before you decided to push the feeling away. 

“G’mornin’.” He mumbled sleepily, pulling you into his embrace and half laying on you.

“Good morning to you too.” You grunt at the sudden weight on you. “Your friend’s group chat is blowing up your phone again, and I had to silence it because it was bothering me.” 

“Aw, I’m sorry it was bothering you.” Chan consoled, kissing you lightly on the forehead. “Maybe keeping my sound notifications on at night wasn’t a good idea.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Who even keeps sound notifications on for their phone anyways?” You teased. 

“I’m a heavy sleeper, it doesn’t bother me so it’s never been a problem for me before.” He whined at you, burying his face in your neck.

“Yeah, but you’re not living by yourself anymore, I’m here too now. So you can’t charm your way out of this one, now move I need to get up.”

“You’re so mean to me, I'm not making you breakfast then!”

“Then I’ll make my own.” You stuck out your tongue at Chan as you successfully shove him off to get ready for the day. “It’s not my fault my boyfriend is weird and has sound notifications on.”

“Hey! You’re being mean to your boyfriend! I think you should apologize to him with a kiss.”

“Only after he brushes his teeth.” You laugh at him over your shoulder as you go. 

Chan still makes breakfast for you both even as he continues pouting at you. But you give him all the kisses he asks for in return, so you think you’re even. But even as you both go about your days, you still can’t take what you saw off your mind. Part of you was excited to see what Chan and his friends had planned for you, but you still felt a little guilty for trying to look at his phone without him knowing. So you mentally agreed with yourself that you would leave it alone, let them plan in peace.

It was easier said than done though, the days passing by at a sluggish pace even if it was the same in every other aspect. And the guilt of seeing something you probably shouldn’t have was beginning to eat away at you even more now, despite your continued efforts to try and brush it off. The more you pushed the feeling away, the more ingrained it became in your consciousness, to the point where it constantly plagued your mind now. 

Chan noticed you getting antsy about it, you were impatient and nervous about something even if he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. He mulled over the possible sources of your anxiety, he wouldn’t just leave you to suffer in your own feelings if he could help it. Work seemed okay for you, he wasn’t having any problems with you as far as he knew… But maybe it was time to ask you, just in case.

The night before your birthday, he sat down with you on the couch in your living room, thumb smoothing over the back of your hand in an attempt to reassure you. He knew that this might not have been the best time to ask you about this, but he wanted you to have a good birthday and if he could alleviate any of your stress then he would gladly try to do so.

“Hey, I noticed you’ve been acting really anxious lately, is everything okay?” Chan asked gently, trying to meet your gaze. 

You kept your eyes averted from his though, unable to bring yourself to look at him properly. You hated the fact that you couldn’t let go of your feelings, and now you feel like you’re making Chan worry about you for no reason. “I…” You trailed off, gripping his hand tightly in yours as you tried to compose your thoughts. “I’m sorry. You know how I told you that I was trying to shut off your phone’s sound notifications when they were bothering me a while ago? Well, I think I might’ve- no, I definitely saw something I didn’t mean to in the process. And I know it’s something really small, but I also feel bad because I got so curious that I almost wanted to look at the messages on your phone properly to figure out what your friends were going to do about my birthday. I know I shouldn’t have, and I didn’t know how to tell you this.”

Chan sighed softly before pulling you into a tight hug, rubbing your back. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s as you said, it’s not that bad. I’m not upset about it. And I appreciate you telling me this now. If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you see?”

“Not very much, just passing mentions of my name and something about my birthday. I… realize now that this really wasn’t a lot to get worked up over, was it?”

“Even if it was, your feelings about this still matter. I really wanted to keep this a surprise for you, but if it’s affecting you this much, then I don’t mind telling you.” 

“No! It’s okay.” You quickly reassure him, pulling back to properly meet his gaze now. “You and all your friends probably spent so much time working on this, whatever it is, and I won’t ruin it now just because I was getting paranoid over something small. I trust you, and I always will. I’m feeling a lot better now that I got to talk to you, so now I know I can celebrate my birthday tomorrow with a lighter heart. Thank you so much for being here for me, even when I’m being silly.”

Chan shook his head firmly at your last remark. “You weren’t being silly at all. But I will always be here for you too. And I will put the same amount of trust in you as you do in me. Now come on, we have a big day tomorrow so let’s get plenty of rest.”

You laughed lightly as Chan gently pulled you up from the couch, taking your hand to lead you to your shared bathroom so you could start your nightly routines. The domesticity of your actions didn’t escape your notice, especially the way Chan would make silly faces at you in the mirror while brushing his teeth. No matter what your birthday held in store for you the next day, you knew that you had everything you could ever want with you right now. And despite all the worry that plagued you for the past few days, you knew now that you could sleep with a smile. At least until Chan wakes you up at midnight to obnoxiously sing ‘happy birthday’ into your ear. But it’s the kind of rude awakening you would gladly embrace. 

[chirpsythismorning]

What do you think about the possibility of El and Will not being exactly twins but half siblings? Maybe Lonnie was in the MK Ultra project for money and had an affair with Terry Ivis, so El was born. His sperm was affected, and Lonnie had another child with Joyce, who was born with repressed/hidden powers (I'm considering Jonathan was already born when Lonnie's balls were chernobyl'd). Then Lonnie took Will to the Lab a feel times for test, but they concluded he was born powerless, because he appeared to be a normal kid.

Upon coming across twelvegate, I did initially go down this rabbit hole! I made a shit-post about the possibility of Lonnie being both Will and El's dad, but more recently I've expanded on that evidence in an ask, discussing why I basically don't think that is the case anymore.

The main thing that makes me so confident about this, is that I'm certain Terry isn't El's 'mama'. Like pretty much 100% certain.

There are a few posts where I discuss this (here, here, here) so definitely check those out if you want a deep dive to better understand where I'm coming from with that claim.

To be fair, I did not subscribe to this up until recently. It was as if my brain blocked me from even merely considering the possibility that Terry isn’t El's mom because of how tragic her whole situation was. And so it felt almost insensitive to even speculate, I guess?

But as of now, after actually going back and watching her scenes for myself, as well as flashbacks featuring her that resurface in future seasons, I think that if anything Lonnie is a roadblock to the truth, in the same sense that Terry is. Because the evidence that Terry isn't El's mom is too alarming to ignore. Like, once you see it, it becomes very obvious they've always been trying to hint this to us, as subtly as possible, and they did it successfully bc it went over everyone's heads.

And so since Terry isn't El's mom, and there are certain details tying Terry to having some sort of connection to Brenner (ie Papa/Mama, Bonsai trees, Hopper's line about Terry's 'relationship' with Brenner), then it's very likely that, in the original timeline/universe or whatever we want to call it, Terry could have worked closely with the lab in some capacity, though ended up supporting Joyce’s claims over allegations about the lab and experimentation, ie. the article at the end of s1 including Joyce/Terry's testimonies. And so she was basically a confidant to them who went against the lab and was lobotomized for it and placed in a scenario that blocked out the truth very conveniently for them, while also essentially punishing her.

And when it comes to Lonnie... That is where it gets very complicated. Because I think it's likely that in the OG timeline, Lonnie was not the greatest guy. I think there was a lot of scary subtext surrounding him harming Will in s1 and it's possible that this dude has been given the role of their father in this timeline, which in the original timeline he is not. He's essentially Stranger Things' very own Biff.

This does make me very intrigued about what is going to be revealed in 'The First Shadow' play coming soon. We're said to get the backstory for not only Joyce and Hopper but also Lonnie and Bob (and Henry) apparently, so that is making for some interesting potential Back to the Future parallels from Marty’s parents’ 1955 timeline vs Willel’s parents’ 1959 timeline. Also the synopsis being young Joyce Maldonado and Jim Hopper dealing with the shadows of the past...

Arguably, it is crunch time. We're approaching the final season and this is a revelation that a lot of the audience are probably not going to be ready for, despite a lot of the hints in the details. I presume they wont have much time in s5 to rehash the mysteries of the past, beyond glossing it over, and so this was honestly a perfect way for them to go back and give context for what is to come in a really unique way that is canon, but without having to cram too much into s5 like they had to for s4.

I do think that Lonnie is very likely to return in s5. Though he referred to Hawkins at its most tame as a hell hole, so idk if he would be running back there during an apocalypse, seeing as everyone else seems to be trying to get out ASAP. It is possible though, and yet I just really don't think his arc is about this series long secret that he is both El and Will's father. If anything I think the revelation is much darker in relation to what truly happened to him and El, possibly in relation to the lab, as he could indeed have been an MKUltra volunteer like you said. It could also help to go read up on some of the cases/allegations put against MKUltra back in the day bc, though it is quite disturbing in parts, it could very well hold the answer to at least some secrets seeing as this is partially based on a real life program that did exist back in the day.

If Lonnie was their dad, I think he would have been a lot more prioritized in the overall story over the seasons, and yet they kind of introduced him in s1 with only a couple references to him in passing since then. If anything it's giving we do not want to give this character too much acknowledgement in the story.

I think a return for him would perhaps look like the storys way of revealing to us that he is not actually their father. Either via flashbacks to the og timeline or perhaps vecna visions at a point when we’re still assuming this is Will’s dad. I do think he very likely is connected to the darker secrets behind what really happened though, related to Will and El's original disappearances, leading up to them in the lab presumably.

I won't claim to understand the memory/time-loop nonsense, because I think that it could also have a lot to do with Will's powers related to time and therefore probability perhaps, which ties really well into the whole X-Men 134 reference. And yet, obviously, I feel like it's too much to try to be certain about which angle go at it, despite having a lot of the pieces to perhaps figure it out? Bc we can guess all day what Will's powers will look like, but we still don't really know for certain? And so going too far beyond that feels like too much guessing to me.

I will say that what makes me even more confident about this theory, even more than the Terry evidence, is just the heaps of evidence connecting Will and El from the very beginning, and how that also connects to Joyce and Hopper more often than not.

If you're open to looking at evidence related to the whole Joyce + Hopper = Willel twins + Jon ? gate (?), or even just how byler also fits into this, bc tbh a lot of the evidence connects, these are a few posts below that might peak your interest. And this isn’t even all of it.

This is the MAIN one so if you read any of them, read this (first and foremost)

Twelvegate Evidence going back to s1 and oh so many unanswered questions

Twelvegate Evidence going back to s1 + Willel Twins

Deer Imagery following The Hoppers/Byers Family

David Harbour cryptically changing his IG pfp to twins, multiple times before S4 dropped:

The fact that Star Wars' big plot twist was that Luke/Leia were twins... That the Duffers are twins... That Noah Schnapp is a twin... 'IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT (MIKE), THEY'RE IDENTICAL'...

El: Me? I'm twice as happy now *cut camera to estranged twin Will opening van door for him and El*

The Wright Bros

Parallels between El being confronted, with Will standing by frozen

"She missed her dad. We all do."

El and Will reuniting at Nina and the remaining timestamp is 12:00

"Mom!"

I will alway say that I am subject to be wrong. The only thing I'm very confident about now is that Terry isn't El's mom, and it just so happens that everything else sort of falls into place after that.

[another-clive-blog]

I'm thinking so much about Claire going ah fuck gotta save Clive

Did he realise who she was? Did he knew?

I'm also so fixed on French version Claire saying to luke that she's an angel who got down with her wings and not a witch. I think concussed Clive would remember her as such((or for more symbolism as a white dove- who depicted to be peace-bringers))((((also personal hc that Clive got few ribs broken))))

THIS. Omg this- when I first noticed the difference I went "...Oh", like that was so mean and for what ?? Claire you are killing me why would you say that

Btw I wrote a little something based on that, it starts angsty but quickly becomes funny because Clive and Claire are the comedy duo of the time trio (Dimitri and Clive are too, but it's not intentional lol). I hope it's okay with you !! Also if you want to talk more about the French version I am here for it. =) Literally like please do.

Writing under the cut !! Usual TW for mention of death, injury and discussion of injury (still no graphic description)

Clive didn't know where he was. His vision was blurry, his ears ringing, his everything hurting. The pain was overwhelming to the point where he couldn't even pinpoint its origin- his chest maybe ? God, he could hear the professor or Luke say something stupid, something like 'it's your heart that's hurting actually'.

They wouldn't say that though, mostly because none of them were even here with him. Or, well, Clive hoped so, at least : he hoped that they were far, that they wouldn't look back for him.

They probably wouldn't. He didn't think he would have.

He tried to sit up, but it seemed impossible with the ground moving under him. Ah- yes, right... he was in the fortress. Had been... working. And then he got hit by... whatever.

Had he lost consciousness ? How long had he been out for ? Where was everyone ?

He couldn't stand on his own, but patting the ground, he felt his fingers graze against the bottom of the control board. After that, it was really a matter of holding onto it, and then pushing himself up, come on, get up-

He was panting as he leaned on the panel, using it as support but standing nonetheless. He was up and he hoped that his arms wouldn't let go of the panel on their own, that his legs would stop shaking so hard.

He forced himself to focus on the outside instead.

The control room was a mess. Pipes resting on the ground, broken shards of glass everywhere and- wait.

He narrowed his eyes.

Oh. That was the Laytonmobile, somehow- flying away from here. He didn't know it could fly. Funny.

He was definitely having hallucinations, then.

Clive let go of the control panel, swaying for a moment but not falling back down : he brought his hands to his head, trying to- to what ? Hold his head, supposedly. Massage his temples. Contemplate his misery. What was left to do after all ? They were all gone by now, flying away or dying or whatever, if any of this was even real.

Maybe he was dying, or hallucinating, or dreaming. Oh, maybe all of this had just been a- a fear-induced nightmare after that one stupid lab incident. Maybe none of it had been real. Who could say ? It sounded crazy after all, to have one man successfully level the city just because he had the spite to try to do so.

He heard a crunching sound, and it took him a few seconds to locate its origin, raise his head, focus on it enough to see clearly what had caused it : when he did however, he saw Claire standing in front of him.

She looked serious, upset- concerned maybe ? She looked like a million things, but real wasn't one of them. Of course it wasn't. If Claire was ever here, she would have left with the professor. She wouldn't have stayed or- or come back for him. She hated him for using Dimitri, or something.

"Wha- What's going on ?" He asked, because even though this was an hallucination, he would actually really like an answer to this question.

She took a step closer. "You're hurt," she said as if she was just assessing the situation. "I think you may be concussed."

"...Oh," he simply said. That actually did explain the hallucinations and the pain. "What- what about you ?"

He saw her perplexed face as she looked for an answer, at least he thought she was perplexed, he wasn't sure anymore- and then everything went sideway.

Claire yelled as she caught Clive right before he plummeted to the ground : she herself hit the floor and hissed in pain. To say she saw white wouldn't be a lie, as her unstable body lit up with the shock of it, quite literally glowing.

Clive was so out of it that he didn't even react to any of that.

"This- is an hallucination," he said matter-of-factly, ignoring how Claire rose an eyebrow in surprise. "Am I dying ?"

She gently placed him on the ground, turning to look out of the window. No sign of Hershel yet. Good- then she had time to fix whatever was wrong with him and her.

"I don't think you are. These injuries shouldn't be fatal : at worst, you may feel great pain and dizziness." She explained patiently.

"And the hallucinations ?"

"No hallucinations."

"You're glowing," he snapped back.

Claire almost answered with the truth, but stopped herself. She... wasn't sure that this was the concussion talking. Did he know about her situation ? She couldn't remember him ever witnessing this before.

Maybe it was better to just... not tell him. Especially in that state. "Alright, I am an angel who came down on Earth to save you."

For someone meeting an angel, Clive's reaction was really underwhelming. "I think you're still a bit too high up. London is down there and people might need you more than I do."

"These people need the hospital. You need guidance and a slap on the back of your stupid head."

He narrowed his eyes. "Guidance ? I think it may be a bit late for that."

"It's never too late to start over. The energy and ideas- and quite frankly money, you put in this plan could be used to do so much good instead !" She said, honestly a bit frustrated. Why was she always surrounded by hypocritical men who only cared about themselves ?

Except that she saw him consider it, his unfocused eyes staring up at the ceiling. Or maybe this was the concussion.

"I am just going to jail," he finally said.

"You can still do plenty while in jail."

His gaze moved from the ceiling to the window, carefully avoiding eye contact with her : she had a feeling she was glowing a bit too brightly for his eyes right now. "Maybe I've done enough." He said.

Ah, he was being difficult. "Well, I think you should do all that you can to right your wrongs. And if you can't do much, then maybe doing what little you can do is good enough in your case." She wasn't talking to him anymore. She- she just wished she had more time. She hoped she had used it wisely, at least. She hoped she had made a change, meant something, before it was too late.

He chuckled slightly. "You know, I'm starting to believe that maybe you're really an angel."

It was pleasant talking to him when he was being calm and reasonable like that. It was such a shame that he never cared enough to make this effort, instead behaving like an insufferable child. "Don't expect me to fly us out of here," she joked.

He only hummed. "Constance would always make that joke."

Const- ah. Hershel had talked about Constance Dove, Clive's caretaker.

She didn't want to think too much about his childhood. "She seemed like a fun lady," she simply said, hoping he wouldn't talk about things she couldn't change.

He didn't. "A dove would be too on the nose," and with that nonsense he closed his eyes. Claire immediately showed concern, because she was no longer glowing so it couldn't be the light bothering him.

She should get him out of there, and fast.

When she turned around, she was relieved to see the Laytonmobile appearing in the distance.

[w0rmdahl]

the snow ; day two — ilyily

gif ©: earthgif, theseulgis

film: i love you i love you (au)

synopsis: after successfully evading the lunes who'd been hot on their tails through the night, samir and yuna awaken to a shocking discovery and find themselves against an even tougher set of odds during their second day.

word count: 5.1k

featuring: (oc) yuna min, (oc) samir devgan, oc secondary characters

warnings: descriptions of animal mutilation (sounds horrible i'm sorry but that should be it for this one!)

a/n: whew this one just kept going idk what happened anywaysss here is day 2! not proofread before posting because i took a melatonin gummy sorry <3 but also today (5/20) is my birthday so i wanted to make sure i got something out :) hope you enjoy!

yuna was the first to wake. the sweet birdsong of day warbled outside the confines of the cave as she lifted her head from its perch on samir's shoulder and turned to check the world separate from themselves, eyes immediately squinting at the sunlight beaming off of the pearly white snow. if not for the sleepy squeeze around her waist revealing the aching muscles in her back, yuna would have believed they truly had perished through the night, with the blinding light beckoning them into the peaceful heavens. but as she blinked away the sleep from her eyes and groggily moved to sit up from the hunched position she'd slept in all night, it became apparent that they were still very much alive, a groan emitting from her throat as now she felt the painful buzz in her feet.

"prin—yuna" sam stirred awake now with a gravelly voice, probably disturbed by the loss of warmth due to her movements. his fingertips danced over her spine as he too readjusted upon waking his sore muscles and looked up at the grimacing girl in his lap.

"good god, my back," she grumbled and braced her hands on his collarbones to straighten out "i think we missed first light."

samir whipped his head to make the same fatal mistake as yuna had just a second prior, a yelp bouncing off the crystalline walls whilst he turned back to her with eyes squeezed shut.

"at least we survived" he'd mumble as he rubbed the blur from his vision. yuna painstakingly pushed herself off his lap and onto her back against the harsh stone with a content sigh.

"could've done without the pins and needles, though."

"i agree with you there," he wheezed as he reached for his toes "my feet are asleep."

yuna sighed more exasperatedly this time, her top lip snagging to the side as she whined "and now we have to walk alll the way back home." she couldn't see the smile on sam's face before he'd pushed himself to his numb feet, edging toward the cave entrance and brushing his curls from his eyes with a jovial chuckle.

"maybe you could give me a piggyback ride — since my feet are numb, and all."

"you're hilarious." the princess now begrudgingly pushed herself up to follow behind him, the cape around her neck trailing behind while he lent a hand to aid her step into the outside world. "if anyone's getting a piggyback ride it's me — with your new big muscles and all."

sam statued the moment the words left her mouth, eyes sparkling in the snow instantly going wide as he stared down at her with the faint outline of a smile imprinted on his lips. she seemed to realize what she'd said only after witnessing his astounded reaction and, chuckling nervously as if to hide the obvious blush blossoming on her cheeks, gave him a soft shove to the shoulder she'd claimed as her bed last night before turning away to face the tree line. samir couldn't stop the grin that then had his own face feeling hot, contemplating on what to say for only a moment before stepping forth to reassume his place beside her.

"what about half and half?" he teased, almost hurt by the lack of response from the princess as she continued staring forward, nodding shortly to whatever had caught her focus.

"look."

as prompted, samir redirected his gaze according to her gesture and felt the fuzzy warmth in his chest run cold upon the sight of a dead deer in the snow. not just dead, however; decapitated — windpipe and vertebra visible as its stiff bloated body lied in the blood-soaked snow that surrounded, a discernable path of crimson trailing their journey home. the most alarming, however, was not the haste in which this mystery person senselessly killed the deer, but the discernable footsteps that had been plotted up to where they stood now. sam's hand instinctively grabbed hers to take a step back.

"we should go."

running hand in hand and red nosed as they ducked through the trees, samir and yuna yanked each other back to their feet after one stumbled in the snow, further venturing into the wood and away from the castle. they could still hear the hammering feet behind them as clear as when they'd first noticed it; far too close for comfort and yet not close enough to locate through the natural sway of the earth around them.

samir helped her down as they came to a drop-off in the dirt and quickly surveyed the new ground before picking a new direction and running with it. with this new path before them they could see the end of the tree line waiting before them with a great wide-open expanse of light to better locate their pursuer. all they had to do was make it — just continue pushing a little bit further than they already had — just a little bit longer.

the trek back home hadn't started this way. originally they decided to embark on the longer path home following along the outskirts of the tree line with their guard high, sam's fingers brushing the pommel of his sword at each and every bump in the woods. but the further they went on their journey to avoid whatever had visited them during their time in the cave, the larger this gnawing feeling of something being off grew. yuna had a rock in her stomach the longer they walked through the woods, and eventually, she started to mask this eerie sense of danger with insignificant babbling.

"ooh! or," yuna and samir both checked over their shoulders before their attention was back on the other "we could grab a pint from the tavern and try to see the constellations from the north tower. i've always wanted to find the big dipper."

a wide-eyed look of disbelief had his brows raising as he surveyed the red, peach fuzz laden skin of her cheeks. "you can't see the constellations?" he asked with a smile creeping to his lips.

"you can?"

then, before he could respond, yuna would walk headfirst into an indistinguishable brown form dangling unseemly in the middle of their path that left a red blotch on her temple. further examination of this malformed object she'd unwittingly bumped into revealed the gruesome sight of a decapitated deer head hanging from a noose tied in the branches above. they only had the time to connect the dots before sudden crunching of snow under rapid footsteps had samir yanking her in the opposite direction as they took off into the woods.

the unfortunate pair now emerged from the trees with hope in their eyes on the new scenery other than the wide expanse of the ellyn forest they'd been lost to for the last hour. but, to their dismay, this treeless stretch of earth was no easy feat, nor a safe haven for them to pause and catch their breath in wait of whatever was in the woods; it was the frozen briar lake.

samir looked down breathlessly at the similarly panting girl beside him, "well?" he asked. she shook her head.

"i don't think this is a good idea."

"it'll hold."

"you don't know that!"

he edged closer toward the ice despite her pull in the opposite direction. "we'll go slow. all we have to do is get across."

"it's not that easy, sam" yuna whined, her features falling into an anxious frown as she dug her heels into the solid dirt below "if we fall in—"

"i'll go first." samir blurted with his toes already edging onto the ice "i'm heavier."

the perturbed princess now stepped closer to him and subsequently the frozen river below, her fingers clamping down on his whilst he treaded further onto the ice without another glance — like it had already been decided. so, with a disgruntled whine escaping her throat and obvious stress creasing her features, yuna would step onto the ice using sam's steady hand to keep stable. the slick ground under her boots brought her jaw into a tight clench before she pleaded once more through gritted teeth.

"please," she trailed off, unsure of what exactly she'd wanted in substitute. sam would conjure the most utterly reassuring smile he could while extending his arm to build distance between their weight on the ice.

“it'll be okay, yuna."

he spoke knowingly, tenderly as he slowly released her hand.

"trust me."

it came out like a plea of his own.

and so; she did. yuna suspended her disbelief and placed her trust in the soft brown eyes encouraging her now as she eked forward, shoulders tensed and back rigid as if to lessen the impact on the royal blue ice. the incessant wind biting at their noses hissed across the lake like a devilish laugh-track to the divine comedy these inept teenagers found themselves starring in, roaring louder at the pounding footsteps in the snow growing in proximity. yet sam remained steadfast in his comforting exterior for the tense girl tailing behind his meticulous footsteps.

"that's good," samir cooed, taking sliding steps backward with his eyes only on hers, working one foot at a time toward the midway point. "just like that. you got it." his heart would ache at her short nod despite the anxiety in her brow growing more apparent.

"just a little further, okay?"

she'd respond like a child fighting tears; voice high and wavering as her eyes bore into his. "okay..."

the pounding steps behind them grew to be near deafening in their ears as it perpetually inched closer and closer, instigating the heavy thrum of their weary hearts though neither would even dare to peek as the other side of the shore waited only a few more steps away — just a few seconds longer of feigned bravery and it would be over.

"we've almost got it yuna, just keep your eyes on me."

his only reply would be the restrained whine caught between her lips pressed tight together.

and then, while shifting his weight onto his left foot just a tiny — mere — few feet from safety, a ghoulish groan seeped through the sliver of a crack under sam's boot. he stilled instantly in order to quickly assess the situation they'd found themselves in, but as this tiny splinter in the ice began to crack outwards around him, he found himself stuck in place without any idea of what to do next.

crack.

sure, he could probably save himself, but yuna was really the only thing on his mind. what about yuna?

crack.

should he move? should he toss her to safety? could he even execute that?

crack!

knocked like a bulldozer in the ribs sam gasped in anticipation for the numbing waters that lurked below — but, instead, found himself gasping at the impact against his back into unforgiving dirt. his fingers would fist the snow below as he sat up to find a hole in the ice where he once stood that revealed the hellish black depths lurking underneath the frozen lake, the silhouette of yuna gone and replaced with the animal hunting for them on the other side.

there, wide-eyed on the shore from which they'd came, stood a bestial man adorned in lune-style armor heaving with the bloody axe in his white-knuckled grip. a taunting smile grew as his eyes made contact with the knight-to-be and he would offer samir nothing more than a hoarse chuckle before turning away and disappearing back into the wood.

"yuna!"

his focus was back on her in an instant. samir dove chest-first into the edge of the shore to plunge his arm into the water, icy depths searing the flesh up to his bicep when his fingertips carded through a cascade of hair, now submerging himself further until the numb met his shoulder. suddenly he was clamping down on the cloth meeting his palm, and then he was dragging her out by the wrist, pulling her soaked form into him while simultaneously throwing themselves back ashore.

upon looking down at the princess tucked into his side, samir would find yuna's skin to be alabaster white, lips purple and wet eyes struggling to focus as she shivered. if not for the dire circumstances they'd found themselves in she could've been mistaken as the world's greatest art piece — like a greek sculpture; with monotoned skin akin to stone that displayed her perfectly-sculpted features in the bright midday light. but the short, labored breaths just barely raising her chest would work to spur samir back into action as he hooked his arms around her shoulder blades and under her legs to lift her. "i'm so sorry, yuna."

he was already pleading, with the princess or the gods — he wasn't sure.

"just — just keep your eyes open," braving the wood once more he pushed onward with shuffling footsteps through the snow and past the thick trunks that surrounded, puling over the abrasive sound of the crunching ice. "i'm gonna get you warm, just keep your eyes open. can you do that for me?"

yuna's complete and utter lack of response was more than enough to pick up sam's pace. at this rate he needed to find a solution — and fast. the subject of his lifelong devotion was actively running out of time with each second that passed and the longer it took to get her warm only brought the heavens closer to reclaim one of their angels. this thought made his stomach turn in tandem with the swirling anxieties in his mind and urged him further to pick up the pace, his frantic eyes scanning for anything and everything that could be of use.

it all looked the same, to his dismay, but as he searched through the nearly identical landscape of ice and trees around him, he could see what looked like another clearing in the woods. the fearsome yet courageous boy seemed to be offered hope once more as he now broke out into a full sprint — or as much of a sprint as he could muster considering the circumstances — and held the frozen girl tighter as if to hold on to this hope.

'it'll be different this time,' he thought 'it's going to be different this time.'

samir always did have a way of willing things into reality. yuna used to say that he had magic inside of him that brought his wishes to fruition — though she stopped saying this after one of the nuns became suspicious. the point is; strange phenomena had occurred around sam all of his life as long as he believed, so he snuck up on the second clearing with undying optimism housed in his calloused palms.

and there it was; the relief to the harshest struggle he's ever had to face. like an answer to his prayers, samir stumbled into the clearing to find nothing more than an innocuous looking house whose chimney was already billowing with grey clouds, a middle-aged woman sitting inside the window looking down at something.

"fair lady!"

although he was too far to be heard and likely seen as well, samir didn't waste time in willing his way to get help from this red-haired woman in the house, walking all the way up to the front steps before she'd noticed him. he'd watch with wide puppy dog eyes put forth as her eyebrows furrowed, then turning to say something over her shoulder before she moved to open the door.

"hello there." she said cautiously. the mysterious woman stood at a meager height in the doorway closed against her side, obviously on guard and yet still strangely warm towards the amateur adventurers on her doorstep.

"i apologize for disturbing you, fair lady, but the princess is in dire need of aid. i'm afraid she may freeze soon if not warmed up."

suddenly the door would open further, a large hand wrapping around the wood above the mysterious woman's head to reveal a much taller lady hidden behind her. she did not read as kind or welcoming as the first, with her furrowed brow and lips pressed into a thin line at the sight of these two teens. and yet, the ginger woman would offer a short nod as she analyzed the celebrated princess in the arms of this lanky, floppy haired boy before her.

"alright, but leave your sword at the door."

samir nodded fervently. "of course. here," turning the stained metal on his hip towards them, he offered the blade with a tightening grip around the princess in his arms, watching as the shorter woman went to grab it before the latter stepped in front of her. she made direct, intimidating eye contact with him as she took the pommel in her hand, unsheathing the sword to then place it against the wooden wall.

"follow her."

the ginger woman now turned on her heel for sam to follow after, his full attention on the broad lady shadowing his heels while they passed the kitchen to enter the den. a strong fire crackled in the hidden corner of this room where a comfortable and home-y looking lounge chair sat, motioned to by the ginger woman.

"lay her here."

samir obliged instantly and carefully laid yuna down on her back, only now noticing her sickly color. she looked like nothing he'd ever witnessed before — like a being from nowhere that had blue-hued skin and icicles for lashes. a firm hand landed on his shoulder.

"listen," said the short woman, "i need you to go upstairs and find clothes that would fit her. we need to take off the wet clothes."

sam's guard began to raise again, shaking his head at the request from the mysterious woman he'd deemed as asinine. "no, i have to stay with her." now the curly-haired lady spoke up from behind him.

"you're needed elsewhere for this, devgan. upstairs on the left."

there was a moment where he nearly turned — almost instinctively reached for the sword missing from his hip — but the kind green eyes of the frail woman before him made him pause. of course they knew who yuna was, everyone in elora had to know their royal family, so when the divine day of her birth came it had been announced far and wide for all to hear. — but him? that he wasn't so sure about.

the kind woman nodded back towards the stairs they had passed with a reassuring smile, "she's in good hands. women's linens are worse than a maze. i'll have amina call you down once we're done."

it was only then that samir understood why exactly they wanted him out of the room, not because he had something to worry about, but because they worried about him. with a short breath he'd inhale the musky fire smell to settle the lingering pit of suspicion in his stomach before conceding to the task laid out before him, ultimately abandoning yuna with these peculiar strangers to explore the second story of the home in search for fresh clothing.

their house was rather incredible to be quite frank. not only had the wooden walls been built tall enough to accommodate the broad woman, amina, but the tables in the den had actually been made accessible for the shorter of the pair. it seemed that they had been the ones to build this home in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by the thick foliage left formerly un-adventured by the ellyn wood natives, yet almost perfectly cleared into a circle of short grass around the home. it was like a kingdom of their own, really.

by this point, samir had spent countless hours analyzing the space around him as he sat with yuna beside the warm fire, noticing even the smallest of details like the worn-in footsteps leading to the garden. every so often he'd look up again to check on the sleeping beauty who'd been swaddled in a wool blanket by the ladies of the house, and a smile would curl his lips once more as he reminisced on the summers they'd spent watching butterflies emerge from their cocoons.

fortunately, the princess's natural color had come back by now, and though their kind hosts said that she would likely be fine by morning samir still couldn't sleep until he saw that she was okay. so here he was; well into the darkest hours of the night just waiting for the beloved girl to wake.

which is why he nearly leapt from his seat on the floor when a hand met his shoulder. if he hadn't been a little more careful he swore his skeleton would've jumped right out of his skin. samir whipped his head over to look at the owner of the hand — only to find the groggy looking eyes of yuna staring back. he was turning to face her in an instant.

"hey," he cooed with a tender smile, fire-warmed fingertips reaching to touch her rosy cheek. "hey, yuna. how are you feeling?"

after a few more slow blinks her brows would furrow as she noticed the room around them, the sturdy wooden walls far homier than the cave they'd slept in last. she'd groan and grumble for a moment while squirming in the blanket before finally unraveling it around her waist so she could prop herself up on an elbow. "where...?"

samir readjusted to help un-cocoon her legs from the wool as he explained, "it's okay, we're safe here for the night. the two generous ladies of the house said we can leave with their map in the morning."

yuna was now pushing herself to sit up, aided once more by the gentle hand on her spine and attentive eyes on her every feature. she took just a second longer to really survey her unfamiliar surroundings with narrowed eyes before then looking back to samir on his knees before her, dark circles under his eyes despite the blithe smile on his lips. she reached out to grab his shoulder again.

"are you okay?"

"am i okay?" the tired-eyed boy would chuckle "you're the one we're worried about, yuna. how are you feeling? any numbness? cold? confusion?"

yuna sighed and pulled away to rub her eyes, "no, nothing...well — confused about how we got here. and where we are."

samir's lips would part just before he began to fill in the gaps, but the soft tapping of footsteps on the other side of the room would catch the princess's attention, subsequently pulling his own gaze to peer over the side of the couch. from the doorway separating the den and the kitchen stood the red-haired woman from before with a steaming bowl in her hands, the motherly smile on her face emphasizing the wrinkles at the edges of her eyes under the fire light.

"you're just a few miles south of the kublai river, your highness. this is my home."

the frail woman would dutifully tip her head towards the princess in a short bow before taking careful steps closer to offer the bowl in her hands. "amina and i prepared a hearty stew for your quick recovery." her warm grin would grow brighter as yuna accepted the dish, "it's a pleasure to meet you, your highness. i'm orla."

the now-embarrassed princess offered a meek nod in return, both hands clutching the warm bowl as she thanked the kind woman stood at the edge of the lounge chair. her lounge chair.

"thank you very much, orla. i'm glad to make your acquaintance — and i appreciate your generosity."

"oh, no matter" orla waved her off with a jovial chuckle "i'm delighted to be of help. you can finally put our guest bed to use."

yuna would hum offhandedly and mutter "you're very kind" in passing, only to be met with an overwhelming intentness within the older woman's response. it was the most off-putting samir had seen since their initial meeting with the way her smile fell and her brows raised, her tone so matter-of-fact he would've thought it was a popular saying.

"you can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force, your highness."

the teens seated before this peculiar ginger woman, orla, would share a not-so-subtle look with one another before either decided to speak. and when samir's lips would part just prior to his follow-up question, 'is that a publilius syrus quote?', orla would speak again with a resumed motherly glow in her eyes.

"the two of you have a long day ahead, so i'll leave you to it. please don't hesitate to knock if you need anything. i hope you rest well, your highness."

and once again, in the manner she always had when growing up with an image to uphold, yuna would thank her graciously with a genuine smile on her face that met her sparkling brown eyes. orla offered the final tip of her head before exiting the den and the puzzled pair now whipped to look at each other.

"that was...odd..."

sam nodded in agreement, "yes. yes it was."

yuna would then shrug as she fished the spoon from the bowl, always pointing out the silver lining in every situation. "still got some stew out of it, though." she was honestly thrilled just to have something in her stomach after not eating for a full day — even if it was mostly liquid. so much so, in fact, that she wouldn't notice the fond eyes watching her every movement; notably massive mouthfuls of stew being ingested. it was only when she finally felt it hit her stomach that she looked up to find samir's loving gaze on her, cheeks growing red as she wiped the broth dripping down her chin.

"want some?" she offered to cover the embarrassment she felt. sam would simply shake his head. "no thank you, i ate already."

he'd watch the princess nod politely before looking back down into the bowl — away from his eyes — and giggle sheepishly to herself while she scooping another spoonful. then, just as she began to lift the utensil to her mouth, yuna looked back up at him.

"so, how'd we get here, again?"

sam smiled. "i'll tell you before bed."

"she kept the pot boiling just for me?"

sam tossed the comforter over the mattress. "yep. i told you; orla has only been extremely kind. i would've expected that stunt from amina if anything." he then traveled to the foot of the bed to tuck the blanket in, the view of the back of his head unfaltering yuna's questioning as she stood by the doorway wrapped in the wool.

"but why? what does it mean?"

samir, though exhausted and running entirely on fumes to continue providing her with answers, then turned to motion to her now-made bed. "i'm not entirely sure yet, yuna, but i think a good nights sleep may help."

the princess, who stood barefoot in a nightgown only covered by the blanket around her shoulders, would giggle as she picked up on his totally subtle hints. she'd offer a short nod in acceptance of bed time and ambled to the left side of the bed before climbing on top of the covers — a movement that kicked samir right back into autopilot. he'd tip his nose to offer their version of the customary bow for royalty and turn on his heel to exit her 'chambers,' stopping only when yuna called his name.

"where are you going?"

sam turned back with his lips in the shape of an 'o' indicating that he, too, was puzzled by this compulsion of routine. though, expecting to lie in bed with the princess was...impossible — presumptuous, even. he didn't even stop to consider it being a possibility, so as naturally and nonchalant as he could muster, samir pasted on a chivalrous smile. "i'll just be downstairs. sleep well, yuna."

he wasn't given the chance to move even an inch before she was responding, "wait — why? that's a horrible idea."

"huh?"

"you're gonna sleep on the lounge? so you can be strangled in your sleep by whatever beast is out there looking for us?"

sam's shoulders slumped inward on himself. "you think i'd let that happen?" even from his disappointed stance by the door he could see yuna as she sat forward to catch his eye before responding in a sickly sweet tone that made his ears hot under the dark strands of tousled hair.

"i think you're tired, sammy."

sammy. it nearly made his knees weak — though that could also be the impact of the day finally taking its toll. no one had ever called him that, not his father nor anyone else in elora, it was always the proper and prudent samir. only sometimes did he get called by sam, though the vast majority of those times were from the one and only yuna who'd began when they were 11. but this one was special — why? he didn't know — but it made his insides warm and gooey, and his lips sweet like candy as his tongue darted out to wet them.

"i'm well rested." she continued with a sweet smile on her face like she knew his current ailments. "i could keep watch for a while."

sammy couldn't help the nervous chuckle that had a goofy grin on his flushed face. "your hi — yuna...what are you suggesting?" her quiet giggles in the silent home would only have his cheeks growing darker.

"we're not in the castle, the rules don't apply here. remember?"

honestly, he did not. by now he could barely keep his eyes open so it wasn't far fetched to believe he just forgot what he'd been calling the princess, though the wonderful thought of sleeping beside said princess was heavily outweighed by the anxieties of having laid with the princess. if the king found out —

yuna spoke up again. "sammy." she called. his attention was back on her. "it's alright. come on. it's my turn to take care of you now."

and so, with a breath caught in his throat and his heart hammering against his chest, samir would apprehensively walk to the right side of the bed before taking off his shoes. he'd undress his outer clothing with a nervous gaze locked on the princess sitting patiently in her own undergarments, finding her eyes to be looking up at the ceiling until the moment he slid under the cool covers. she'd then do the same with a beaming grin.

"see? you didn't combust into flames or anything!"

sam chuckled and looked over at her through the dark lashes of his heavy lids. "i think i'm already in heaven."

yuna paused. 'he must be really tired,' she thought 'he probably didn't even mean to sound that fond.' with a chaste pat to his chest the princess would feign ignorance and swallow the feelings welling in her throat.

"get some sleep, sammy."

[anbu-legacy]

after the last anon asked about minato and raidou/genma/kurenai i was reading that chapter and kurenai mentions she thinks he mightve noticed genma and raidou acting differently at the palace and guessed they were involved, do you think he actually noticed? and would their superiors have a problem with it? cos i feel like in the more recent chapters in suna no ones really being subtle abt their relationships lmaoo like i remember kakashi saying raidou made up the rules abt fraternization but would they really not care abt two differently ranked officers in the same team dating each other?

I maybe went a little too in-depth into the research/re-reading to answer this question, but in my defense, it's a good question and I love rereading our own writing. :)

Raidou sets out the fraternization rule in Take the Mask: "No ANBU agent is permitted to fraternize with a senior officer. Same-rank liaisons are allowed but not encouraged, particularly within your own team." But he admits in Eight Hundred Eyes Are Better Than One that it's an unwritten rule, "intended primarily to protect rookies," and there's certainly no rule against fraternization between officers.

Dropping further back: in Heaven's Got a Plan For You, when Raidou confessed to Minato and Sagara that he'd had a one-night stand with Ryouma six months before Ryouma was assigned to his team, Raidou was a lot more concerned about that potential issue than either Minato or Sagara were. Partly, of course, because he's the one who'd have to deal with it; probably also because he'd seen Ryouma's potential emotional instability, and they hadn't! But I think for both Minato and Sagara, their primary concern is the smooth functioning of the team and the accomplishment of the mission. As long as those aspects aren't impaired, whatever the team members do in their private life is their business. And so the only important question for Raidou, as a captain, is whether he can set the appropriate boundaries that he himself thinks are important to successfully lead his team.

Given all of that, and given that a captain and a lieutenant must necessarily work together more closely and rely on each other much more than a captain and his newest rookie, I suspect Minato would be not at all surprised to learn that any particular set of differently ranked officers in the same team was fucking/dating/planning their wedding. Fraternization is only a problem if it actually causes a problem.

As for whether he noticed anything between Genma and Raidou when they visited the Palace, as Kurenai suggested in You Have That Effect on Me, I think Kurenai probably was biased by her assumptions at that point. As Raidou points out, he and Genma behaved in a perfectly professional manner while visiting the Hokage's apartments, and there was nothing for Minato to notice. Minato's suspicions really were only (mildly) activated by encountering the threesome at the festival.

(His thought process probably went something like: Huh, Yuuhi? Wouldn't have expected that. They seem to know what they're doing. All right, let's get Naruto out of Shiranui's hair...)

-- Ki

[wafflechocobo]

Ballad of Never After Bonus Chapter Barnes and Noble Exclusive.

I couldn’t take good pictures so i typed it up to. The chapter starts below:

written in a note.

I heard you wanted a chapter from my point of view. I’d tell you to enjoy it, but I doubt you will. -J

Note ends

I don’t know what you’r hoping to find, but I guarantee, whatever you discover in my head, you won’t like it.

You might have heard stories that say my heart has started beating again, and while that may be true, a heartbeat changes nothing about who I am. If I had a choice, I’d rip my heart out entirely.

If you’re looking for pure motives, good reasons or anything else that has some sort of virtue attached, your not going to find it here. You’ll just end up like her—sweet little Evangeline Fox.

If I had any of those virtuous feelings, I might feel sorry for her as I follow her down another hall of this wretched castle. It’s dark and her movements are tense, flitting between mousy and rabbit quick. I think she senses i’m near, but she probably imagines if she ignores Ill go away.

I won’t.

I want this too badly and she’s not that lucky.

In fact, Evangeline might be one of the unluckiest people i’ve ever met. I told her that heroes don’t get happy endings. But watching her now, I’m fairly certain she’s trying to be heroic again.

Evangeline stops in front of a door that i know much better then she does. If she knew what was behind it, she wouldn’t be here.

It makes me wonder what she thinks is locked away.

I take a heavier step, loud enough that she should hear it. Her delicate shoulders stiffen. She pauses before the door and then turns around.

Her eyes find mine in the dark.

she sucks in a frightened breath.

I can’t help smiling, I doubt she cant see it with her fragile human eyes. But maybe she can because I hear her mortal heart pound.

Slowly, I step out of the dark.

“Go away, Jacks. “ Evangeline clutches her lantern like a sword. It’s almost cute that she things anything she says or dos could scare me off. “I know what you did, I don’t want to see you.”

I shove my hands into the pocket of my trousers. Human emotions can be so tedious. Although, for someone who says she doesn’t want to see me, Evangeline is doing a lot of looking.

She watches my every move. Her mouth clamped tightly. shut, but i still see her struggle. I see her taking me in, hoping she can find something good inside me. But perhaps she’s run out of her precious hope. The unguarded way she looks at me doesn’t last long. After a quick second, her eyes harden— or they attempt to. Even when Evangeline was stone, she was still soft. She cares too much, hopes too much, forgives too easily.

I cant tell she wants to hate me, she’s not quite there. I consider pushing her over the edge— I could easily make her hate me, which would make this dull night more interesting.

But I still need her willing blood. I make an effort to sound more human, softening my voice to something i hope sounds apologetic. “I understand if you’re upset—“

“If,” she cuts in. “You poisoned my husband!”

Im tempted to laugh. But I doubt she’ll be happy that I find her anger entertaining. Instead, I merely shrug.  “I didn’t kill him.”

“Thats not something you earn points for.” Her voice cracks, anger disappearing as quickly as it came. Hurt flashes across her face.

She thinks I hurt her. I didn’t . Any hurt she feels is her own fault. I’ve repeatedly told her what I am. But it seems she needs another reminder. “You need to stop holding me to human standards. I’m a fate.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t want to see you.” I think Evangeline wants to sound angry, but her voice hitches as if she’s about to cry. “Since I met you, my first love was turned to stone, I was turned to stone, Then I was turned into a fugitive, multiple people have tried to murder me, you poisoned my husband—“

“You already said that one.”

I sigh and lean against a nearby bookshelf, which successfully angers her again. “I’m not going to apologize for being what I am. And you’re conveniently forgetting that before we met, you were a sad orphan with a broken heart, a wicked  stepsister. After I stepped in, you became the sweetheart savior of Valenda, married a prince, and became a princess.”

“Those things only happened because they served your twisted interests. Children treat their toys better then you’ve treated me.”

Her gray eyes rake over me as if i’m a monster she would never touch. If that were true, she’d be better off, but I want her free hand betray the truth. It clamps into a fist. She’s angry enough to hit me—to hurt me. Either way, she still wants to touch me.

I can’t help taunting her now. I narrow my eyes, lowering them a little. “Then why didn’t you stab me, Little Fox? The other night in the crypt I threw you a dagger and I was close enough for you to use it.”

I let my gaze drop even lower, Down her slender neck, stopping on the exact place i put my mouth around three nights ago. If vampires weren’t such parasites, I would have bitten her. and I wouldn’t have felt bad about it. In fact, I know I would have enjoyed it. I bet good little Evangeline would have enjoyed it too. I almost say this out loud, but she already looks as if she’s in enough pain—for now.

I drag my gaze up from her neck. Even in the dim light, I can see her cheeks blush a delicious shade of red.

I watch her attempt to  banish the color as she dares to look me in the eyes again. “I made a mistake that night in the crypt. But give another chance and I wont hesitate to stab you.”

“I’m almost tempted to test that claim.” Now that there’s no risk of me becoming a vampire, it would be more fun to bite her and see just what she does. I can’t decide if she’d gasp or moan or forget to breathe altogether. But unfortunately, I’m not here fo fun. “You’ll have to do more then wound me if you wish to get rid of me.” If you really want me out of your live forever, help me find the missing stone and open the Valory Arch. Then I promise you’ll never see me again.

“As mush as i’d love that, I’m never going to open that arch for you.”

“What about Apollo?”

Evangeline glares, and for the first time her face looks truly hard. “Don’t you dare say his name.

I’m tempted to meet her glare with one of my own. I know Apollo far better than she does,  and I don’t like this protectiveness she feels for him. But talking her out of it would be counter to my goal.  “If you agree to help me, I’ll wake him from his suspended state.”

“If you actually believe I would do that, You’re delusional. I don’t need you to save Apollo. I’ve found another way.” She defiantly lifts her chin toward the sealed library door.

Her rebellious confidence is truly entertaining. I can’t help laughing at just how wrong she is. “You think you’ll find a cure for Apollo in there?”

“I know I will,” she says, but her defiance slips for just a second as she curiously eyes the apple in my hand. I was unaware I’d taken it from my pocket, but it’s a good reminder I need to leave soon. I sink my teach into it while she watches. Then I smile as I say “Let me know when you change your mind, Little Fox.”

[panlight]

Everyone has that 1 fav book they re-read. So my question is, what book do you think that is for each cullen? What book would you assign to each cullen? And if you don’t wanna do books or don’t think books are a particular persons vibe, maybe movies?

I’ve been looking at this in my inbox every morning and being like “tomorrow I’ll have more time to really ~get into it” but then I don’t. So I think I’m overthinking this, and so I’m just gonna go with my gut and see what happens. 

Carlisle - first thing that popped into my head was Paradise Lost, but then I think his vibes might be more with the less-famous Paradise Regained. The story of Jesus successfully resisting temptation might resonate more with him than the Fall of Adam and Eve. (Edward is more the Paradise Lost type). I could see it being a source of both spiritual comfort but also (slightly-blasphemous?) inspiration for his own struggles against temptation. 

Edward - Frankenstein. It’s not comforting, exactly, other than some people find comfort in their misery and I think he just really relates to this story but then if anyone suggests that makes Carlisle Victor Frankenstein Edward is all aghast like “No! Because he didn’t abandon or reject me! It was I who once, regrettably, rejected him--” and everyone rolls their eyes. I think his real comfort book might be some children’s book he read as a boy in Chicago, though, or even that his mother read to him. The Secret Garden was published in 1911, for example. So maybe something like that? 

Esme - I think she likes love stories. Not necessarily romances (although sometimes!) but more the like, sweet, gentle love stories. She probably has read The Notebook like 50 times, but I don’t know off the top of my head that the equivalent of that might have been back in the 1920s or 1950s or whatever. 

Rosalie -  She reads a lot of non-fiction and biographies/memoirs of women who have survived and thrived. But there might be a part of her, like Edward, who re-reads some of the stories from her human childhood too. I think Nancy Drew books first started being published in the 1930s? Maybe those are comforting to her? 

Emmett - Not really a book guy, but I could see him liking adventure and survival stories. Maybe post-vampiring he did get into reading a bit more and enjoyed like Treasure Island or later he Hatchet series by Gary Paulsen and re-reads them. He tells everyone his favorite book is Dracula though he probably hasn’t actually read it. 

Alice - The Wizard of Oz, maybe? I don’t know, just the first thing that jumped into my head. Something about a girl finding herself in a strange world of magic and having to set out on a journey to find ‘home.’  

Jasper - Really dense historical fiction that gets into the nitty gritty of battles. Can’t think of one off the top of my head. 

[eparch]

​Multi-Timeline Lore !

Part 1... maybe?

I don't know if I'll ever have the energy or brain power to actually make a comjc or a Big Damn Fic abt this so I've just written up some BIG LORE rambling that probably won't make sense to anyone + made a sketchy cover thingy for it-

I have multiple timelines/AUs and the main thread that ties them together is Scillareth's timeline (her people call it the Dawn world) allowing their Elder Dragons to rip open rifts through the Mists and into the other worlds to go eat their magic instead. They've dealt with the Elder Dragons by turning them into anime boys girls and enbies giving them new vessels to inhabit that Scillareth has some power over and for the most part, they're kind of okay with the arrangement (it's complicated feelings for everyone involved) but mostly because they get to do whatever they want in other worlds.

And naturally the Commanders and the Pacts and the Dragon's Watches of the other worlds are not gonna let this happen without fighting back, to varying degrees of success depending on the Commander and which dragon went for their world. Story wise this would start out focused on Lucilaeh's timeline ("Dusk") first, where they're fairly successful at holding a line against Dawn Zhaitan who is invading Sylvan Orr and manipulating the Risen once more.

Things suddenly get personal for Luci because Scillareth starts sending her brother Clerestion into various worlds to assassinate other Commanders, but rather than go for Luci, he kidnaps Benedicuore—her beloved brother—for unknown reasons instead. At this point though they don't really have a good understanding of what's happening and Ben just goes missing—what changes that is @/icebrooding's commander, Kaushue from "Gloom", falling through a rift with Dawn Trahearne in tow being chased by Awakened. Luci helps fight off the Awakened, closes the portal, and then finally gets answers out of Dawn Trahearne about the sudden return of Zhaitan and where Ben was taken to!

(Dawn Trahearne defected from Scillareth's Pact after years of being puppeted by her, disgusted with the way she used the Pact to forcibly "unite" the five races and how she went behind his back on killing Zhaitan. A few rising heroes of the Dawn world—Malyck, Braham, Rox—helped him escape and go on the run. Kaushue had been world hopping for Reasons, encountered him and then the two of them were discovered by Awakened soldiers...who are there because Scilla "teamed up" with Joko—)

Luci won't stand for all of this of course. She wants her brother back but she also very much does not like what Scilla's doing with the Elder Dragons on principle. Especially since the Dusk timeline successfully ended the Dragon Cycle, so she knows how things could have gone, could be better, despite all the sacrifices her world had to make. So Luci decides to use Dawn Zhaitan's portal to jump into the Dawn timeline and start her new heroic quest.

The Pact launches an assault, she and Kaushue and whoever from Dragon's Watch sneak behind enemy lines, etc—they successfully subdue Dawn Zhaitan and make him open a rift. But when Luci and Kaushue go through (DW stay behind to keep an eye on Zhaitan), they find themselves in the Mists instead, which is where they discover they're not the only Commanders officially caught up in all this.

This is where they encounter our other Commanders! So far that'd be:

Bikki (Isekai Commander) and Lily from "Prism", time travelers in their own world from 1000 years in the future who were sent back to become co-commanders by an unknown person. They are there because they found an unattended rift and went through to investigate. These two are pretty much the most level headed Commanders present and are fairly enthusiastic about getting to work with other Commanders and get to the root of the inter-timeline problems. Lily a little more than Bikki. Their world, strangely, was not attacked by any of the dragons, so who knows where that rift came from?

Nepenth (@/icebrooding's courtier) and Ardant from "Torment", our horrible courtiers who hate each other and can barely work together, from their commanders AU—their world was attacked by Dawn Mordremoth and they're here because Dragon's Watch hates them both and someone (Jory. It was 100% Jory) pushed them through a portal in the hopes they could both go away permanently and also take care of the problem at the same time. Ardant is mostly interested in getting out of there and saving his own skin. Nepenth frequently has a gun pointed at him and likely chained themselves together again (first time was in HoT) and has figured he'd see the entire thing through to the end.

Dosa (Branded Salad) from "Crystal" who is probably the strangest one to be here, being a Sylvari Commander who was somehow Branded (answer: was Awakened first). She's here not out of a sense of heroism and stopping the world ending threats, she's here because Dawn Kralkatorrik is encroaching on her world, where her Kralkatorrik won and she's been working with him to eliminate the remaining dragons while he continues to eat up the Mists of their timeline, and she wants to put a stop to the external forces.

This list isn't wholly complete because it'd definitely grow as I get more ideas for Commanders and it is skewed heavily toward Sylvari at the moment and I want to fix that, but these are what I have at the moment.

It's not too fleshed out past this point but the idea is that this group spends a little time in the Mists between worlds, working on finding a way into the Dawn world (Luci has realized that Zhaitan likely tricked them). They do meet various familiar faces along the way but they only make actual progress when they rescue and meet one more Sylvari who calls himself a Commander too—Yulan, a powerful Chronomancer from "Midnight" who lost his sister to the Dragonvoid, and has been traveling the Mists between worlds for some time now. Yulan explains that he's seen each of the Dawn timeline's dragons as they travel to and fro, always coming from the same locations within the Mists, and suggests using the next dragon's rift (probably Jormag idk yet) to finally enter the Dawn timeline.

and...that is pretty much what I've got plotted out other than some vague ideas of where things might go: they probably meet Dawn Joko somewhere in there—could he retake control of Branded-Awakened? Especially one from other timelines the way the Elder Dragons have been taking control of other timelines' dragon minions? Who knows!!! Dosa will find out. They'll also meet the Dawn timeline's group of heroes that do not like what Scilla is doing, basically the Destiny's Edge + the would-be Dragon's Watch + Malyck. They can't explicitly fight the Pact since things seem to have generally gone for the better with the Elder Dragons under control, but most of them just kind of feel like...this isn't right. And with Malyck, they'd definitely meet his mom tree in this timeline because I have that character planned out. Also Malyck is Vlast's Champion here btw and Vlast is probably around? Maybe? I still need to work out too what's going to happen to Aurene but I definitely want her to be involved somehow!

What I do know for sure is that they will eventually discover that Scillareth and her Elder Dragons are in fact being manipulated by someone else who will be the real final boss, but who that is...is gonna have to stay a mystery for now :V

[thmgau]

CHAPTER 12 - NOTHING'S SET IN STONE [wattpad link]

---

“Natalie?!”

There stood Natalie, holding her squeaky hammer. She seemed as surprised to see the group there as the group was to see her.

“What are you doing here?!” “I could ask you the same thing!” “Well,” Natalie hummed. “I just wanted to see what was up with this auction. Maybe steal a thing or two. I saw that banana guy upstairs though, & I got suspicious.” “Oh, of course he’s here.” “You’re never gonna believe this, but this asshole-” Juniper pointed toward The Auctioneer’s body on the ground. “-was gonna TURN US INTO STATUES!” “WHAT?!” “He was gonna auction us off! As statues! Real fucked up if you ask me!” “That is fucked up. Even I wouldn’t go as far as turning people into statues, & I’m your worst enemy.” “You are?” “Whatever. We should probably get outta here before this guy wakes up.” “What do you mean before I wake up?”

To everyone’s surprise, The Auctioneer was very much still awake. It probably didn’t help that Natalie used a squeaky hammer to hit them.

“YOU’RE STILL AWAKE?!” “You used a squeaky hammer. Of course they’re still awake.” “You think I have the budget for a real hammer?!” “They’re only, like, $10.” “Does it look like I have $10?”

While Natalie & Cherry argued over the price of hammers, The Auctioneer quietly (but swiftly) snuck away from the group, running up the stairs.

“Everyone has $10! At least, they should!” “Well, I don’t! I work at a Dollar General for minimum wage, what do you want me to do?!” “GUYS! They’re getting away!” Juniper yelled, pointing at The Auctioneer.

The group started running up the stairs in an attempt to catch up with The Auctioneer. He did have the head start, though, so he was way ahead of the group.

Successfully making it up the stairs, The Auctioneer ran through the doors leading into the main room & slammed it shut. The group heard a click, indicating that the door had been locked.

“Shit!” Cherry hissed. “That asshole locked the door on us!” “Well, we can’t just burst through the door,” Juniper said. “Sorrel’s out there. How would we explain this to them?” “Preferably, we don’t explain this to them at all. But, when push comes to shove, I’d rather my sibling find out about.. the magic thing.. than getting turned into a statue.” “We’re still not busting down the door though.” “Oh, yea, I don’t wanna have to pay for property damage.”

The group looked around the room for anything that could help them escape.

“Hey! A vent!” Leslie pointed up toward a vent on the wall. “One of us could climb through there, maybe.” “Like in Among Us?” “Not like Among Us.” “Whatever. Who’s climbing through the vent?”

Everyone turned to look at Natalie.

“Wh- ME?!” “You’ve committed crimes before, & you seem to have no regard for safety. Climbing through a ventilation shaft should be easy for you.” “Wow, way to assume. I.. suppose it couldn’t hurt, though.” “Alright! Let’s do it!”

Since they were the strongest (physically), Juniper lifted Natalie up to the vent. She took out a screwdriver & started unscrewing it.

“Do you just have that on you at all times?” “Of course I do. You don’t have one?” “No??”

After around 30 seconds, Natalie had gotten the screws off & pried the vent grate open. She hauled herself into the shaft.

“Good luck!” Leslie smiled, giving Natalie a thumbs up.

-

Sorrel was just minding their own business. They weren’t really expecting that girl to come back from where she went, but she seemed confident enough. Sorrel assumed she would succeed in whatever plan she had.

A slam from across the room alerted Sorrel. They looked up to see the guy running the auction (They had introduced themselves as “The Auctioneer”) leaning against a pair of doors, locking it. Maybe that girl from earlier was right about this being suspicious. Nobody slams a door shut, locks it, & leans against it like that unless they’re up to something nefarious.

Sorrel shifted closer to The Auctioneer to ask something, but before they had the chance, The Auctioneer started speaking.

“We’re having some.. problems, currently! But don’t you worry, everyone! We should be back on track within the next hour or two!”

“Uh.. if I may ask,” Sorrel started. “What sort of problems are happening?” “Um. It’s.. uh...”

The Auctioneer paused for a moment, seemingly thinking.

“It’s spoilers! For the auction!” the banana guy said, poking his head around the corner. “YES! Spoilers for the auction!” “Spoilers for the auction?” “Well, you don’t want the surprise of the auction to be ruined for you, yeah?” “I.. guess not, but-”

All of a sudden, the vent that was right above the door fell off its hinges, hitting The Auctioneer in the head.

“Ow!”

A girl hopped down from the vent. It was the same girl that was talking to Sorrel earlier!

“ALRIGHT!” she yelled. “Listen up, everybody!”

Everyone in the Auction House turned to look at her.

“This fucker right here-” she pointed at The Auctioneer. “-is TURNING people into STATUES to auction them off!”

Everyone (including Sorrel) gasped.

“Wh- That’s not true!” The Auctioneer said. “It is! There’s a freezer down in that basement that turns people into statues!”

People in the Auction House started mumbling among themselves. Personally, Sorrel couldn’t believe it. A freezer that turns people into statues? It just didn’t seem possible.

“Hey! That’s the girl who threw a squeaky hammer at me back at the restaurant!” the banana guy pointed toward the girl. “& I’ll do it again if you’re not careful!”

Sorrel suspected a fight was about to break out, & apparently so did The Auctioneer, because they took out a megaphone (from seemingly nowhere?) & yelled, “ATTENTION, EVERYONE! THE AUCTION WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE DELAYED UNTIL TOMORROW! WE’RE OH-SO SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. PLEASE EXIT THE BUILDING NOW.”

One by one, everybody in the Auction House just mumbled & left the building. It was now just Sorrel, the girl, The Auctioneer, & the banana guy in the building. The Auctioneer turned to look at Sorrel.

“Are you gonna leave, or am I gonna have to call security?” he asked.

Sorrel probably should leave, but they didn’t just want to leave this girl alone. Helping her out would be the right thing to do, they thought.

“Uh.. no thanks.” Sorrel responded. “What a shame. Guess you’ve just gotten yourself a one-way ticket to becoming a statue!”

-

“What if.. we lockpicked it?” “I am not lockpicking anything ever again.” “Someone else could lockpick it then!”

The group was standing around the door, thinking of ways they could unlock it. They knew busting it down with Cherry’s sword wasn’t an option, because Sorrel was at the auction. Going through the vent was also not an option, because they wouldn’t be able to get everyone through it.

“We could just wait until The Auctioneer unlocks it himself.” “As if they’re ever gonna do that?” “Natalie’s out there. She could probably force them to unlock it.” “She also has a squeaky hammer as a weapon, so who knows how well that’s gonna work out.” “Didn’t she say Pim was there too? It’s a 2v1 situation out there!” “As much as I mildly dislike Natalie, I suppose we should help her. We are heroes, after all.” “& that loops us back to the original problem: how do we get out of here to help?” “What if.. we... bang on the door until they let us out?”

All of a sudden, the group heard some keys jangling from outside the door. They readied their weapons.

The door opened.

It was Sorrel, holding the keys, while Natalie was fending off The Auctioneer & Pim in the background.

“Nora?” “OH- Sorrel! Funny seeing you here..!” “I thought you weren’t interested in the auction. & what’s with the outfits?” “It’s.. a long story.” “Yea, long story. We’ll explain later.” “..Alright.”

The Auctioneer turned around & spotted the group. “YOU!”

He approached the group.

“You five have ruined EVERYTHING!” “We didn’t do anything.” “You foiled my boyfriend’s plan, you broke out of the freezer, & your little friend forced me to delay the auction! You could have been world famous!” “We don’t wanna be world famous. We just wanna graduate college.” “Wh- GRADUATE COLLEGE?! You should be aiming higher than that! Don’t you see? You’re perfect for the auction! & you just threw that chance away!” “What, the chance to be a statue & never see our loved ones again?” “No! It’s more than that! It’s the chance for fame! The chance to be recognized! Adored!! Wanted!!!”

The group looked at each other, thinking about what The Auctioneer had just said. Being wanted sure sounds nice, but they did prefer being alive.

“Sorry, bud. We’re already wanted.” Nora shrugged “Whuh?” “We are?” “We’re wanted by our friends, & our families.. & each other.” “Oh, we’re not wanted by the government?” “I’m not. Are you?” “Maybe.” “That’s off-topic, though. The point is, Auctioneer, there’s already people in our lives who care about us.” “But- the auction! You’re absolutely perfect for the auction! We want you!!” “That’s not true, & you know it. You’re just saying that because you want to avenge your boyfriend.” “I-”

The Auctioneer paused, taking a step back.

“You know what?” he said, pulling out his cane (from nowhere??). “You’re right. There are so, so many other people out there better suited for this. However, you 5 ruined my boyfriend’s plan, & now you’re gonna pay.”

The group readied their weapons. This was gonna be a rough fight.

Kalani blasted a magic shot at The Auctioneer. They dodged out of the way, & the magic shot hit Pim (who was still fighting with Natalie).

“Ow!” he yelled. “Oops! Sorry, babe!” The Auctioneer yelled back.

Juniper took this opportunity to take a jab at The Auctioneer with pheir spear, but he grabbed a hold of the pointy bit before it hit him.

“Seriously, how are you doing that?!” “Yea, dude. Doesn’t that hurt?” “Oh, bold of you to assume I can even feel pain!” “What do you mean by that?” Juniper asked, trying to tug the spear out of The Auctioneer’s hands. “C’mon, feel my hand! You’ll see what I’m talking about!”

Reluctantly, Juniper touched The Auctioneer’s hand. Even through the glove on her hand, the hand was freezing cold.

“Jesus christ!” Juniper hissed. “How are you that cold?!” “Being locked in a freezer for about a year will do that to ya!” The Auctioneer winked, grasping onto Juniper’s wrist & flinging zaem across the room.

“WOAH!!” Juniper yelled, landing against the wall. “Juni! Are you ok?!” Kalani asked. “I’m.. fine! Ow..” Juniper put his hand over his forehead.

“Don’t worry!” Leslie grinned. “I’ve got this!”

Leslie ran up behind The Auctioneer, & slashed them in the back with their scythes.

“YEOWCH!” “Hey! How dare you?!” Pim yelled, running toward Leslie. Natalie bonked Pim in the head with her hammer, making a squeaky noise. It didn’t really hurt him that much, because it’s a squeaky hammer.

“..did you really expect that to-”

Before Pim could finish his sentence, Cherry flung their sword at him, only for it to be intercepted by The Auctioneer.

“I have really got to stop throwing that thing.”

The Auctioneer grinned, tossing the sword aside. “Well! This has been a very exciting fight, I’ll say that much! It is time for it to end now, though, as you clearly have no way of beating us-” “HEY, IS THAT THE IRS BEHIND YOU?” “HUH?!”

Pim & The Auctioneer quickly turned around. Natalie quickly grabbed a chair & hit the both of them with it, knocking them out.

“Well.” Nora hummed. “Guess that takes care of that.” “Nice thinking with that chair, Nat!” Leslie grinned. “Oh, uh.. thanks!”

Now that Pim & The Auctioneer were dealt with, the group felt that they had successfully saved the day once again! Satisfied with the ordeal, they all pulled on their ties & poofed back into their normal clothes.

“Alright,” Sorrel said. “Now that that’s dealt with, I think I’m owed an explanation.”

The group froze. They had completely forgotten about Sorrel.

“Wait, you know this guy?” Natalie asked. “They’re my sibling,” Nora said. “Oh! I wish I had known that before roping them into this.” “Anyways.. long story short, turns out we’re.. uh... prophesied heroes who have to save the world?”

The group put on a fake grin as Sorrel stared at them.

“Prophesied heroes?” they chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “Yup!” “It sounds silly, but.. it came with a book & everything, & you clearly just saw us in action, so..” “No, that’s cool as fuck!” “It is?” “Yeah!”

“Well!” Nora smiled. “You took that a lot easier than I thought you would.” “Well, I am a tad bit confused about how this all happened in the first place, but magical powers are cool.” “Y’know what? I’ll tell you all about it when we get home.” “Whatever happened to keeping the magic thing under wraps?” “What, are we not allowed to tell my sibling?” “Ok,” Cherry rolled her eyes. “I guess Sorrel can be the exception. Who wants to go get ice cream?” “Ooh! Me!” “Ice cream sounds good right about now!” “Can I come too?” “N-” “Of course, Nat!” “Awesome!”

& so, the 7 of them went off to get some ice cream. A good end to a rough day, they thought. Hopefully nothing would happen with Pim & The Auctioneer within the next few weeks. They needed some time to rest.

Besides, the play was happening next month anyway! They had to be ready for that!