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thetorturerwrites · 4 years

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Lamb: Ch 2 - Someone Like You

***This amazing artwork was gifted to me by @elmidol. Please do not re-use or re-post it without permission from them and/or myself. Don’t be a dickbag.

Previous Chapter

Summary: “You need someone in the middle—not dead, not alive.” You arched upwards, trying to get even a bit of slack, just enough to speak. “Someone like me.”

C/N: Look - If you’re new here, this is adult shit. If you’re not new here, you know what my C/Ns are about. Be warned.

Word Count: 3.7k

A/N: Did I ever think I would be writing about Kylo and babies? No. No, I did not. Am I writing about Kylo and babies? Maybe. Its a crazy, crazy world, y'all.

Special thanks to @kylorengarbagedump for helping me edit this asshole of a chapter.

***

“Retribution.”

The word sounded ludicrous on his lips, infantile and irresponsible. Abruptly, you had a clearer picture of what was happening. In this mesmerizing nirvana, his encapsulated kingdom, you were a child, stumbling into an adult’s arena to demand attention.

Your senselessness laid bare, you stared at him, adrift in the gleam of irises that never settled on one color. The pregnant moon overhead framed him, adorning his breathtaking face with a perfect, glowing halo. He was unnaturally beautiful, the kind of king women wept for.

“Father...”

He met your whisper with a sneer, and you recoiled. He, too, thought your trek here was juvenile; you were just a witless woman wrestling with her emotions. Your heart sank at his judgment, disappointed that he thought you naïve.

Ashamed, you fixed your eyes upon a creeping succulent. You traced thick, tear-shaped leaves and winced at inch-long thorns. You could all but feel the phantom pinpricks. The red and pink blooms made for a variegated shroud to decorate the otherwise plain shrine.

It was lovely in its lethality, a fitting summation of this place.

“The Resistance slaughtered my planet, my ENTIRE family.”

You licked your lips and tugged at his sleeve, pulling yourself up to sit. Recognizing what you had just done, you wrung your hands, as though he was a walking electric current. Even so, he was the only bit of warmth in this melancholy vale, and you subconsciously leaned into it.

“You’re a fool.” He rose to an obscene height and moved away. “I care less than a whit for your holy wars. You murder on fantasy, not truth.”

The absence of his body was nearly as painful as his lack of understanding, and the resultant shout erupted before you could stop it.

“IT WAS NOT OUR WAR!”

Your exclamation bounced off shedding trees to die away in spongy, mossy hills. Sniffling, you pressed the heels of your hands into exhausted eyes. Yelling at men was an awful idea; yelling at this specific man was the epitome of lunacy.

How were you going to explain the hole in your soul to a creature who had none? To Ren, your mourning and loss were just specks in eternity, but he didn’t spend his days loving the living only to lose them. If your grandmother's stories were true, he had been this walking void since his creation.

And the brothers made themselves a land with a great vault separating light from dark. In their wisdom, they decreed the living would gather under golden sun, and the dead would gather under silver moon. Grandfather Sky Walker gave his blessing: Let them rule over these lands through all ages. Let there be day and night, and let them usher in The Balance.

He was here. It was true.

That cast his indifference into an unusual shade of acceptance. Like this place, he existed outside of the universe’s organic stream. It wasn’t a lack of feeling; it was one colored by millennia of demise.

You were struck by the understanding that he made everything here in his image, all of it immaculate, alluring, and fatal. Just as he was.

“The Resistance decimated my planet on a rumor—a rumor that we were a First Order cult.” Your voice was steadier than you expected. “But my family, my friends and everybody I knew...We were just ordinary people.”

You lifted your eyes and found him examining you, a curious look playing across his striking features. You huffed a pained breath and looked away again, fearing you would shatter under his scrutiny.

“My grandmother believed in the Balance, not in some notion of wiping the Galaxy clean of Soloists.”

His silence was deliberate, aimed to unnerve, and you crumpled forward, bending as though you could implore his aid into reality. When he moved, it was to stalk a circle around the altar. His head cocked to assess your every angle. Captured prey, you could do nothing but watch, wait, wonder.

“Belief in the Balance will not return your family. Nor will I.”

His glorious voice had bite; but where there should be an echo, there was none. Every lilting tree, every swaying vine, even the very air enveloped him, moved with him, absorbed his energy.

Hugging yourself, you fought down your apprehension.

“No, it won’t.”

You looked past him to fat carmine leaves and marveled at how they turned their faces towards The Ren, their master.

He only understood in terms of the absolute.

“I came to ask you to kill them—the people who murdered my family. The Resistance.”

His circuitous pacing ended at your front, and he speared you with such a look you felt conquered. If he was the next crusade, the holy war renewed, you would fight for him, lay down and die for him.

His long fingers slid you to the altar's precarious edge. So near to him, your comatose heartbeat increased, thudding against ribs his knuckles skimmed.

“All of them?”

You nodded, meek and uncertain. He stepped in, spreading your legs wide just by his body’s substantial design. He was the epitome of domineering, his shape meant to terrorize the weak, to endure immortality.

Uncertain if you were allowed to put your hands on him, you braced against the slab, leaning slightly away.

The scent of this place, misty and piny and richly floral, was powerful, distilled to purity in his body. It seeped from his pores, the sumptuous belladonna curling around you like tainted tendrils. He obscured what scant light there was and blotted out your senses, filling your light head with dread and longing.

With one finger under your chin, he lifted your face and beckoned you into such a trance you didn’t notice how he lazily caressed your outer thigh. One by one, he tugged upon the plum, plump bows keeping the rest of you hidden.

“What price are you willing to pay for genocide, lost lamb?”

It was hypnotic—the timbre of his voice, the delicate dance of his fingertips, the starry shine of his eyes. You blinked at his question, too caught up in the slow drag of his knuckles along your sternum and down between your breasts.

Your lips worked feebly, discarding every suggestion your brain made. What could you offer a being such as this? Prayers? He would condemn them. Offerings? Paltry trinkets. Blood? You’d already given it. Pleasure? You weren’t sure he was capable.

It was a cruel game, and the realization burst over you like icy water, flooding your addled mind and shocking you back from stupidity.

You had nothing. Purposefully divested of everything, you sojourned here a destitute fool.

“There it is.” He brushed a thumb across your lips, smirking. “She understands now that she has nothing, is nothing, of value with which to bargain.”

He collected your silent tears and fed them to you, salt in the wound. Chidingly, he wrapped stiff fingers around your quivering neck and squeezed until you felt your supernaturally sustained pulse drumming in your ears.

“It is as I said. The dying lamb has no value to the shepherd.”

Fear licked at your nape, clamoring into the rational parts of you. Your mind whirred, desperately trying to unearth some kernel that would serve your purpose. There had to be something.

The memory struck you suddenly and at full velocity. Careening, your breath stopped. The lineage of Soloists was a pastime for your brother, who made you sit through innumerable sessions and lectures.

And Solo took himself a wife, making her flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. Their union was prosperous, and she begat him many sons, the first being...

Your body shot into motion, vacating all self-preservation. You grasped his hand and pulled it to your chest. You were even so bold as to thread your smaller fingers through his. On instinct, both legs wrapped around his hips, heels digging into his legs in a feeble hold.

You were unwilling to renounce your argument without a fight. Hastily, the words spilled out, a wishful wine you weren’t sure he would drink.

“NowaitIcanbeyourvessel!”

A perfectly sculpted black brow rose over his eye. He untangled his fingers from yours, scoffing. Your face burned, impossible beads of sweat forming at your pounding temples. Not knowing what to do with your hands, you pressed them to your flaming cheeks and tried to calm yourself.

“Choose your next words carefully.”

Entertained by the toddler, he was indulging your delusions, but there was a limit to his patience. Sturdy hands slid beneath your thighs, parting and lifting them so he could draw your hips further into his. You couldn’t argue; you were the one who stopped him from leaving.

Was that an erection you felt there? Was this proof to your curiosity? The possibility sent goose flesh tingling to every inch of your skin.

“Your brother... Ah!”

Athame in hand, he gouged the tip into your unblemished thigh, raising a lone drop of blood.

“Your brother has many children; does he not? There are stories about his prolific family.”

Out sized, you spiraled into anxious desire. When he tired of your nonsense, pulverizing your bones would be little more than a snap of his fingers. Yet, here he was, still wedged between your thighs and feeling a lot like a man who could make you forget your name.

“Reminding me of my brother is not the way to make your case, lamb.”

He dragged warm lips over your pulse, lathing it with his tongue. His wide palm wrapped around your generous hip, and every single thought fled on bated breath. He was woefully seductive, a wolf in shepherd's clothing.

You licked your lips and shook your head, trying to agree and clear away cobwebs, but his hands and nipping kisses befuddled you so much you could only sputter half-formed words. Switching your concentration to the blade, you valiantly tried to keep track of it and tied yourself to it's path like a lifeline.

“But you don’t.” You splayed your fingers out wide, palms flat on the altar. "Your seed will kill a living woman, yes? But a woman already crossed over cannot carry a child."

You were about to launch yourself from the proverbial cliff. Regardless of what came next, you would be a splatter at its bottom.

“I- I can.” You begged the endless midnight sky to strengthen your resolve. “You can have me.”

He had been rubbing you up and down his rigid length, your body no more than an instrument to appease his ardor; but at your declaration, he gripped your hips painfully tight and bit your shoulder.

Attuned to his mood, the stars dimmed to a faint radiance. It was the one detail your brain could latch onto, the way even the greatest of them conformed to his will.

“You think that’s a novel gesture? That you’ll be the first person I’ve fucked here?” His voice was low but no less edgy. “How many would you wager have died screaming at the end of my dick?”

A pathetic whimper escaped your open mouth, and hunger set it to watering. The idea of him fucking you here, in this open clearing under his meticulously curated twilight, was salacious, tantalizing.

“Countless.” You couldn’t stop yourself from rolling your hips, trying to jump start his back into rhythm. “But I would wager very few of them have been willing to bear your children.”

He growled, a vicious, threatening promise. His soft touch turned angry, coiling into your hair and yanking your head back. Your throat seized, elongated by his grip and fully bared for execution. What had been a grazing scratch of your blade turned again to a harsh point dug into the skin.

You could hardly speak, reduced to gaping at his flashing onyx eyes. They blazed with a fiery hatred, and you knew it was because you were right. It wasn’t easy for him like it was his brother. He had spent eons alone whereas his brother wanted for nothing.

It infuriated him.

“You need someone in the middle—not dead, not alive.” You arched upwards, trying to get even a bit of slack, just enough to speak. “Someone like me.”

He curved around you so tight you could smell the deadly nightshade on his breath, every single part of him designed to snuff out life. You chewed the inside of your cheek, wondering how each part of him tasted.

“Someone like you?” He spat the words, fingernails digging into your scalp. “Impure? Spoiled by how many men in your lifetime? Cowed by a little death and stupid enough to make demands of me?”

He was so close to snapping your neck, and you itched for it. You would gladly die at his hand, reunite with your family. All of these morose colors blended with the sorrow in your heart, and you pictured your bones rotting to dust, anchoring you here forever.

But he held off, glaring down at you in barely-checked contempt.

Caught between wanting to die and wanting to murder, your breathing tilted into erratic, skirting panic so closely a fallen eyelash would detonate the bomb in your chest.

He looked at you in such a way, though, that your apprehension settled. He was angry because he didn’t know how to feel things. He was intended, to his very marrow, to only ever take. Anything else was uncomfortable and worthy of destruction.

You nudged his nose with yours, a mirror to his earlier gesture.

“Someone willing.” It was less than a whisper, barely a breath.

His calculating gaze roamed your face, judging the depth of your commitment. In seconds, the pointed extension of his anger sliced down your supple thigh, cutting open a large gash.

But pain wasn’t his target.

His aim was true. The rogue missile was expertly guided. And when the thing forced into your cunt, you screamed in unmitigated horror.

“I’m no gentle lover, and this is not your marriage bed. Willing or not, the lamb is meant to be slaughtered.”

You splintered into a wrecked and blubbering mess, heaving and howling. You clung to his shoulders, gouging little crescents into his neck. You had expected to die today but not by the blade cleaving apart your pussy. Offering him your womb seemed to make him only want to carve it from your body, a trophy to mark your idiocy.

“You should not offer things that don’t belong to you, lamb.” The vibration tickled your earlobe, drawing you down from your mania. “Your body was mine the moment you crossed into my land.”

You felt it then, the shift and nudge inside your cunt. Where you were certain there had been a sharp edge, there was only an ornately ridged column, handcrafted and safe.

It was the hilt.

The wave of frenzy crested, and you opened puffy, red eyes onto a lucent, luminous moon.

He had buried the knife’s handle into your cunt and was pumping it slowly. He held the traitorous blade without even a single red cell shed.

You wailed a halfhearted objection because this was a profane corruption of a consecrated relic. A particularly long drag of the makeshift phallus countered and shook loose a vulgar moan, and you squeezed tight around it.

It was shameless and sacrilegious.

And it felt so, so good.

You whimpered when he licked your lower lip, barely making contact. Your thighs splayed wide, eager, and an appreciative noise rumbled in his throat. He rewarded your responsiveness with another slow, deep plunge of the weapon, and your head lolled back.

“How is your religion serving you now, lamb?”

He shoved the handle as far into you as the guard would allow and worked it back and forth, rubbing the ridges and pommel against the sensitive spots inside. You moaned sinfully loud, and grasped at him.

He was ruthless, prodding the elusive bumpy patch until you bucked against his hand and watching you float through this immoral delirium.

You wished it was him. His mouth, his fingers, his cock. Anything but this false idol ramming into your pussy.

Your whimpers turned to pleasured cries. Your calves tensed and shook. Looking down on his blasphemous claim, you yelped and pushed at his arms, the torrent of blood splashed over your thighs and sex wrenching you from your high.

In your hysteria, you’d forgotten that he’d sliced open your leg.

“Father, please…”

He dug his thumb firmly into the wound, gripping nearly your entire thigh in the one tremendous hand. For a moment, the throb in your pussy traveled up to swirl around the intrusion, and you writhed to get away.

“If you call me that again,” he bit your jaw, raising a welt, “I will slit you open from cunt to crown.”

He played in the plasma, coating his fingers with it. You whined and grimaced, caught between salvation at your cunt and persecution at your leg. When his tacky thumb connected with your clit, you shouted, wracked with tremors. Like a savage, he masturbated you with your own blood, rubbing fast circles.

Rapture barreled down the length of your spine, working its way through every extremity. You were going to cum for him, at the end of your family's treasured athame, and there was nothing you could do to stop it.

It was indecent, and you drowned in it. You collapsed back onto the altar, arching up into a delicious bow. Your knees drew up higher, and your hips worked for him, chasing what he dangled but never quite delivered. Your fingers scrambled against the uneven stone and fisted the velvet garment.

Your insides coiled, churning terror and thirst together until you couldn’t tell one from the other. Inching closer and closer to that crack of lightning, your cries built, a tumultuous, hoarse crescendo. You thought he would make you tow that line forever, so close to bliss but never allowed to feel it.

But finally, mercifully, it came.

A blistering exaltation slid over your every nerve. Your cunt clenched and quaked, gushing a lewd prayer. The knife in his hand was the center of all gravity, and every part of you swiveled around it, rolling and bucking and shaking. You hurled a string of curses no priestess should ever know, earning a derisive chuckle.

“Such filth from that pretty mouth.”

Spent, your back finally met the slab beneath, and you fought for breath, chest stinging and throat crackly. A pained whine escaped when his torture implement departed from your slick center, but he gave you only a brief reprieve.

He climbed above you, dropped his heavy knee onto your sensitive mound, and shoved the sullied hilt into your mouth. Your eyes flew open, but he captured your jaw and kept it in place, ensuring that you held the thing upright.

Copper tang pooled on your tongue and wafted under your nose. On a muffled whinge, your eyes rolled back into your head. Automatically, obediently, you rocked your hips under his trap.

“No less than you deserve.” He was all spite and venom. “Swallow.”

You couldn’t look at him, the stars in his eyes daunting and demonic. Your tongue moved around the hilt, licking away the remnants of your vulgar display. You curled your fingers into the hem of his shirt, exhaled slowly through your nose, and complied, gulping the taste down.

A timid glance found him studying you, but you didn’t know what he was seeking. Obedience? Passion? Reverence? The gravity of the moment was inescapable. He was deciding if you died here and now, and he gagged you from making any further entreaty.

Lithe for his size, he slid from the perch and pulled the athame from your mouth. Silently, he lifted you from the slab and dropped you on the ground. Not knowing if any of the flora was poisonous, you squealed, shot to your feet, and clutched the abused blade to your heart. A second later, you nearly impaled yourself with it when he threw the hefty book at you.

Grateful that he didn’t destroy your remaining link to your family, you sunk to the ground and dug aching fingers into the dirt. It was cool and soothing, and you wanted nothing more than to lie down in it and die.

Instead, you watched, benumbed and mute, as he punched a large hole straight through the center of the altar. It should have been alarming; the crash of rubble should have scared you, but your senses were far past overstimulated.

Silently, he manipulated a chunk of the altar into a slender loop.

It was astonishing. He was literally creating something from stone that should have been unyielding. Crouching beside you, he pushed your chin up to lengthen your neck. It was then you understood what was happening. The thing he was fashioning out of the imbrued marble was for you.

Without a word, he molded it around your neck, cementing it with a pinch of his mighty fingers.

His masquerade as a man fell away. That shrine had stood for a thousand years, likely more, and he demolished it as though it was parchment. He had desecrated the altar to enslave you, spinning an infinite bondage into existence with his very will alone.

The strength, the unfathomable power unleashed a yearning you weren't prepared to address. He was something wholly beyond what you'd been taught. He was profound, unknowable.

You ran your fingertips along the jagged edges and discovered his collar was perfectly measured to your size. His fingers would fit between it and your skin, but nothing more.

Every story you ever heard about this place rang in your ears, a raucous chorus of warnings. The living could not stay here, nor could they take anything from here.

But it was too late.

By your own hand, you now existed between life and death, trapped here by this pillaged, obsidian tether and it's king.

You didn’t know if he would do as you asked or if he would make you bear his children.

You did know that you would never be leaving.

#kylo ren #kylo ren imagine #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren smut #kylo x reader #lamb

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itmighthavebeenintentional · 5 years

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Shackled - Chapter 4

Summary: After nearly ten years, Sam Winchester calls Miriam Bard to collect on a life debt. Unfortunately for Miriam, Sam leaves out a few important details.

WARNINGS CHANGE EACH CHAPTER, PLEASE CHECK EACH TIME.

Warning: Implied loss of family, grieving, depression, cursing, Demon!Dean, threats of violence, emotional manipulation, mind fuckery, psychological manipulation, questioning one’s sanity, possible hallucinations

Word count: 1656

Author’s Note: @thoughtslikeaminefield and @cracksinthewalls really poked this chapter hard, and it’s much better because of it. Also got a thumbs up from @fangirlxwritesx67 , which was the motivation I needed to get my act together and actually post. Alright, kids, buddy up and jump in! Shit’s gonna get freaky!

In case you missed it:

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3

Chapter 4

Adept fingers probed at the scars on her neck, running over the snarled flesh before circling around to the smooth skin on the other side of her throat to check for injuries.

“It’s fine, Aaron, leave it,” Miriam mumbled, swatting at his hands without bothering to open her eyes. He always worried about her after a hunt, convinced she was hiding a myriad of wounds that she was too proud to tell him about. He’d been the medic of their little team, with gentle, competent skills that surprised everyone except Miriam.

She shivered in the chill air, then sighed contentedly as the blanket was pulled up around her shoulders.

Strong hands dug into the muscles where her neck met her shoulder, worked at the perpetual stress knot she’d formed there, and she groaned with relief. Sleeping against the wall had begun to give her a massive kink in her neck, and this was-

“Can't wait to sink my teeth in,” a voice growled next to her ear. “Gonna eat you up, sweetheart.”

Impossibly sharp teeth grazed her throat, and Miriam jerked awake with a silent scream.

Her eyes tore wildly around the hallway as she scrambled to her feet, drawing and cocking her gun without conscious thought. She listened hard, but there was nothing. No one was in the hallway to her right, so she ducked through the t-junction to her left, head swiveling sharply. The long passageway stretched in both directions, and though there were doors along both sides, she’d have heard someone opening one of them.

All of the doors were closed.

Still, her racing heart only began to calm when she slid her way cautiously into the storage room, pushed the shelves aside, and found Dean sitting exactly where she’d left him. Her lungs unlocked, and she let out a shaking, relieved breath.

He took in her disheveled appearance and flushed face, a satisfied smile stretching his lips wide.

“Sleep well?”

…

Two cups of coffee and a bowl of cereal later, the tremors in Miriam’s hands finally stopped. She made her way back to her room after a quick glance at Dean, who’d stared silently right back, his expression a bland mask of indifference. She splashed some water on her face, brushed her teeth, and changed clothes all while managing to not look in the mirror. Minor miracle, but a welcome one, nonetheless.

She sat heavily on the end of her bed. Though her hands were no longer shaking, her head was almost vibrating with the force of the thoughts ricocheting around her skull.

The dream was so real. But so were most of her nightmares, usually replays of the night she lost Aaron. Then there was her massive reaction to Dean when she’d first walked into the dungeon.

Overreaction, she thought acidly, frowning.

What the hell was wrong with her? She knew better than to get that close to a monster, much less a demon. Much less a demon with the experience and skillset of Dean Winchester, backed by demonic strength and whatever else came standard.

But…

She should be repulsed by him. And she was. Terrified and repulsed and all the appropriate feelings towards something so evil, monstrous. It wasn’t as if she were trying to justify his existence. She felt no sympathy towards him, no kindness.

But she’d be lying if she said she felt no attraction.

Not sappy, romantic bullshit, she thought fiercely, her ragged fingernails digging into her palms.

Not physical, not exactly, although how she’d ever managed to miss that his face was sculpted like some sort of bygone Greek hero, and that voice…

But it wasn't even Dean’s physical attraction that drew her in. That strange mark on his arm came to mind for a moment, but, really, she’d felt it the second she’d walked into the dungeon, even before she’d laid eyes on him. And she was damned sure hadn’t felt it years ago when they first met.

Damned sure.

So what had changed between then and now? Well, Dean Winchester was a demon, for one. But what about a demonic presence would pull at her so? Surely not…

She pushed that thought aside, searching her brain for something, anything to explain why she was so...enthralled. What was different about her since the last time they’d met?

Who was she kidding? Even after a year, she was still in denial. Losing Aaron had changed everything for her, changed everything about her. The overwhelming grief and guilt, and then the smothering numbness that weighed her down, blotted out the sun. Overcast days, nightmares every night.

She was exhausted and shattered well before she’d even picked up the phone to answer Sam’s call.

She’d done her damndest in the last few months to shove down her emotions, pushed and ignored and insulated until anything more than dull existence was a system shock. The pull when she’d stepped into that dungeon, though…

Siren song. She was sailing straight towards the jagged rocks, and she didn’t honestly know if she had the strength to steer away. She wanted to help Sam...No, she needed to help Sam, to pay off at least some of the debt she owed the brothers, but…

Nothing good could possibly come from this.

Fuck me, she thought as her stomach twisted painfully. Confusion, pain, and grief washed over Miriam in a flood so intense all she could do was bury her face in her hands and weep like she hadn’t since she’d held Aaron’s mangled body in her arms, her blood mingling with his.

…

“It’s freedom,” Dean said.

Miriam sat against the wall next to the table, methodically cleaning her gun. She hadn’t used it since that last hunt with Aaron, and she’d been foolish to neglect the weapon for so long. She turned red-rimmed eyes in his direction, her hands silently continuing their work.

“You were wondering why I’d want to be a demon, why anyone would. It’s freedom from all that human bullshit. All the guilt, all the pain, all that worrying over fuck all.”

“Bet you still feel a little pain,” Miriam said, reaching towards the holy water.

She smirked when his lips drew back in a silent snarl. His eyes flashed black, and something bright and not-quite-painful flared in her chest.

“You should keep your eyes like that,” she said before she could stop herself.

His head snapped to the side, gaze sharp and focused, a wolf scenting prey. She swore silently. Half a day around this asshole and her verbal filter was shot to hell. She really had to get her act together. She was better than this.

She had to be.

Silence stretched between them to the point of snapping, Miriam staring hard into the burning darkness of his gaze. When her fingers began to shake, she hastily reassembled her weapon, gathering her tools into their zippered bag.

“I’ll be back,” she muttered defensively, not sure what exactly she was defending herself against. She stood, turning her back decisively on the demon, yet unable to make her feet move away.

“You know what I did all that time Sam was looking for me?” Dean asked suddenly.

She hesitated before turning to face him. The depths of his ebony eyes drawing her in once more, and this time, for just a few moments, she let them. She was bone-weary, so tired of battling herself, and for just a moment she admitted that she didn’t have the will to resist anymore.

Freedom.

She found herself standing inside the circle, almost toe-to-toe with the demon. If Dean were able to move, he could kick her or wrap a leg around her ankle and take her down. This was foolish, lethally so, and she knew better. But standing there, so close, she could easily reach out and-

And what?! Miriam asked herself fiercely, gathering herself to bolt. What the hell are you doing?!

“Sam searched for me for months, did all sorts of wicked things to find me, you wouldn’t even believe. And you know what I did while Sam beat his brains out, hunting for me? I drank. I fought. I fucked. I killed.”

He ground out every word precisely; tongue, lips, and teeth flashed in obscene emphasis around each syllable. How the hell did he manage to make the simple act of speaking so terribly profane?

He paused for a moment, letting his words sink into her with the weight of scripture. When he spoke again, his tone was softer, balm against the agony of her inner turmoil.

“I did whatever the hell I wanted, and I didn’t give a fuck who was hurting, who was dying, what was right or wrong.”

Miriam took a step forward, hardly breathing, fighting herself every inch of the way. She had to leave the room, to get away, look away, shut him out somehow.

“I didn’t mourn my mommy and daddy. I didn’t miss one damned person I’ve lost. Didn’t think about ‘em for a second.”

Another step. Miriam’s hands pressed against Dean’s shoulders for support. She stood over him, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps as her head spun. Though he stared up at her from his confines, they both knew he had the high ground.

“I don’t need my baby brother to cure me, darlin’.”

He held her gaze deliberately as he tilted his head to stroke his bristled cheek against the back of her hand. Miriam’s muscles clenched as fiery sensation swept through her body, searing every nerve down to its roots. He lowered his eyes just long enough to sweep a shockingly soft kiss across her knuckles with his sculpted, ungodly soft lips before turning his face up to hers.

He grinned, flashing a feral, perfect set of teeth she realized could easily reach her now.

“I am the cure.”

Miriam fled, and the echo of Dean’s words followed her every step of the way.

...

Chapter 5 is now up!

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permanent-goblin · 4 years

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Live Reading Part 2 for The Dream Thieves

So i set the book down for quite a long while and for some reason didn’t go back to it, maybe depression and the entire year that has been 2020. But i am back to reading it. Reminder there will be spoilers!!!!!!!!!

Fair warning the post itself will probably be long.

- So its good to know that Ronan can pull literal demons from his dreams

- also i am seeing more now Ronan’s attraction towards Adam even if he doesn’t quite yet.

- also also, Gansey and blue are crushing so hard on each other jesus christ.

- like these two are so in love my god, the sexual tension is so high.

- Maura....are you...what are you.

-Wonderful to know more about the Grey Man

- MAURA DON’T BE ATTRACTED TO THE ENEMY, oh wait you stole his phone so its okay- WAIT YOU BLUSHED, DON’T MAKE ME WORRIED ABOUT YOU MAURA.

-also poor ronan, his mom is literally a dream, like jesus, his father couldn’t even marry a woman from reality. Granted then we wouldn’t have Ronan but still.

- ooooooohhhhhhhhhh Ronan is the Greywarren........lovely

- omg Gansey your crushing so hard my god.

- YAY BLUE CONFESSED TO HERSELF THAT SHE HAS A CRUSH ON GANSEY

-WAIT, OMG

- NOAH YOU JUST OFFERED FOR HER KISS YOU

- AND BLUE ACCEPTED, I WASN’T PREPARED FOR THIS, I WAS PREPARED FOR THE GANSEY X BLUE SHIP NOT NOAH X BLUE HOLY SHIT I AM NOT READY FCVGBHNJMKDCFVGBHNJ

- omg they both suck at kissing XD im fucking dead right now

- aww their laughing how cute-

- “sometimes its better with tongue” NOAH NO, YOUR SUPPOSED TO BE THE PURE SOUL, LORD IF I WASN’T READY FOR A FUCKING PECK I WAS NOT READY FOR A POSSIBLY MAKE OUT SESSION, LORD SAVE MY SOUL FROM DYING!

- aww they are mutually platonic towards each other that’s so adorable

-that bloody kiss wrecked me man

- “I’d ask you out, if i was alive” DON’T WRECK ME LIKE THIS NOAH, DON’T MAKE ME SHIP YOU TWO, OH FUCKING HELL I SHIP IT AND I CAN UNSEE THE PURENESS OF THE RELATIONSHIP, IT WOULD BE SO BEAUTIFUL, NOW I WANNA CRY CAUSE ITS NEVER GONNA HAPPEN, GOD DAMMIT NOAH YOU ADORABLE BEAN, WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME!

- “I’d say okay” *crying in a corner because of these two*

- AND THEN HE JUST VANISHES, NOAH NO, I HATE WHEN YOU VANISH.

- *has to put the book down for a minute to process what just happen*

- *sighs after cried over the loss of a beautiful relationship* alright ronan, tf are you gonna do.

- okay like i don’t blame him for returning to the barns but also like, aren’t you two like forfeiting three million each, that’s 6 million dollars sweeties, do you know how set for life id be with 6 million dollars.

- NO THE OTHER DEMON IS IN THE HOUSE, PROTECT MATTHEW AT ALL COST I LOVE YOU RONAN BUT MATTHEW W IS A BEAN THAT DESERVES TO LIVE.

- oh no the Grey Man has the box

- you know what for now, i dont hate kavinsky, he just saved ronan’s ass so you know what, good on him.

- chapter 36: listen, they are both right. But seeing as i can see where Adam has come from i cant just say he is doing it the right or correct way, because in some ways he is not, in some ways he is. i think its wonderful that he tried to do things his way and doesn’t like pity from anyone, but also Adam God damn parish you are not a one man army, you do not need to do things yourself, you need to rely on your friends for fucks sake. if Gansey pities anything about you it is the way you were raised and YES THAT DESERVES PITY. YOU WERE FUCKING ABUSED ALMOST DAILY. boy you are broken, you NEED help, you need to rely on others and I WISH YOU COULD SEE THAT. you are being so stubbornly stupid about your own situation that i am getting mad everytime it comes up. Gansey isn’t trying to be the rich posh guy he was raised to be, he isn’t trying to be Dick Gansey, he is being your friend Gansey, there is a difference and you need to see that, NOT EVERYONE born with a silver spoon in their mouth is narrow minded and looks down on people that don’t have money, all Gansey has ever done is try to help you, not pity or mock you. For fucks sake, get the stick out of your ass. The worst part is is that i dont like being angry at you BECAUSE I KNOW THIS IS CAUSED BY YOUR ABUSE AND ENVIRONMENT. But....ohhh your just frustrating me by not friken listening. i know some of you will not agree and think im wrong, hell most of you might but as someone who comes from abuse and is currently doing therapy, this just isnt the way to do it in my eyes. but hey its his fown life, he makes his own decisions, fine let him to him, even if it ends in a train wreck.

-*mouth gaped after kavinsky’s reveal, looking to in invisible cameras like what the hell*

- “falling in love with maura...” WAIT WHAT YOU GENERALLY HAVE FEELINGS FOR HER.

- oh boy, i think he is going to target kavinsky, just when i started liking the boy, what a game of thrones move.

- Adamis gone, kavinsky is doing soemthign bad to ronan prob, gansey is about to bust a blood vessel, lord allmighty

- *he entirety of what happened in adam’s vanishing making me both mad and also sympathic and also like my point just got proven and so did gansey’s* *sighs* oh adam, i wish there was a way i could help you.

- like im glad kavinsy is helping ronan hone his skill, but like i dont approve of the method, feels just wrong, like the forest itself disapproves and that there will be backlash.

#the raven cycle #the dream thieves

4 notes · View notes

comicteaparty · 4 years

Text

July 25th-July 31st, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from July 25th, 2020 to July 31st, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

Where can your comic be read, what is it about, and why should people read it?

carcarchu

last one

mariah (rainy day dreams)

You can read Rainy Day Dreams on it's homesite: http://rainydaydreams.mariahcurrey.com/ Book 1 of RDD is also currently in pre-orders for both physical and digital books. This volume collects the newly redrawn and remastered first five charters. Currently not all of those pages are online so book buyers will get to see them first https://gumroad.com/mariahcurrey Rainy Day Dreams is a manga influenced, character driven supernatural story with dreamlike pacing. It follows the lives Tristin, an excitable and friendly human who becomes trapped in the Nameless World after a treasure hunt gone wrong, Mara, a reclusive retired knight belonging to an ancient lineage of psychics, and Michael, a sad vampire torn between his vampire instincts and being the soft boy he is deep down. Come for the compelling characters, interpersonal drama, and found family, stay for the underlying slow build of the cosmic machinations of the Nameless World's gods and a villain from the past bent on undoing the very fabric of reality. Reasons you should read it beyond the above pitch: - I've been told by frequently people find it's relaxing to read. We all need a little relaxation - Has a female driven narrative - I take every chance I get to put my characters in ball gowns or party dresses - Monsters! Cute monsters, scary monsters! Monsters that want to eat you, monsters that want to smooch you! - I make this comic traditionally with ink wash so enjoy all the beautiful ink blooms! - Chapter 18 starts this week

CoppertheCarutor

Oh wow, I missed out on A LOT! Dang! Well, here it goes I guess. To start off, please read with discretion, this project is rated R/17+ and for now contains: Abuse, discussion of suicide, blood, violence, queerphobia, trauma, mental illness, self-harm, mild body horror, substance abuse, profanity and full-frontal nudity. You can read my comic, The Guide to a Healthy Relationship, on it's main site: http://tgtahr.spiderforest.com/ I also have it posted on Tapas, Webtoons (nudity censored), Comicfury, FlowFo and Itch.io. The Guide to a Healthy Relationship is a slowburn character driven psychological drama about an emotionally immature alcoholic trying to make amends, and fix his friendship with his ex-childhood friend upon discovering they're not dead. Unfortunately the situation is much more complicated and serious than he can comprehend. Why you should check it out: - Possibly interesting if you enjoy non-fantastical character studies and/or Psychology. - May be cathartic if you like consuming heavy content in a controlled environment. - Has some light horror elements. - Contains an extremely flawed LGBT+ cast. - No romance. - This comic is drawn traditionally with pens and color pencils. - The story is a little over halfway finished. - Contains/will contain beaches if you like the beach. - Lots of sky shots.(edited)

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

(Ahhh this was hard to write out, i'll really miss this server) Ghost Junk Sickness is a free to read LGBTQ+ sci-fi that tackles themes of found family, accountability, and acceptance. It rated T for it's course language and violence, and can be read on it's official website, < https://www.ghostjunksickness.com/ > . Books 1-3 are available on the store (link on site) and we're currently on our way to wrap up and print vol 4! Ghost Junk Sickness is about two bounty hunters with an unstable dynamic who are pushed to pursue the elusive and deadly bounty dubbed The Ghost. It updates mondays and fridays, features an extensive cast with queer rep, topics about dealing with trauma, responsibility, and taking control. GJS has: -Space ships! -Lived in worlds/ extensive world building through illustrative backgrounds and characters - Slow burn character growth, expanding relationships, and new love -Drawn traditionally and worked on by a team of two! -Long run story that reached the halfway point, GJS has a huge buffer of over 800 pages now, so it's a time sinker! - hot lizard lady (best part)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

holy shit 800 page buffr

OH wait by buffer you mean archive omg

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

(oh YE we only have 70 page buffer now woohopps lol)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

holy shit 70 page buffer

that's like 10 months

eliushi [Keyspace]

KEYSPACE: A Winged Tale is a story about kids with wings for hair, and can be found at https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/keyspace-a-winged-tale/list?title_no=322364 https://tapas.io/series/KEYSPACE-A-Winged-Tale/ TW: Body Horror (comes with having wings sprouting from the head and more) Keyspace is my passion project about a world between portals that is dying. A Winged Tale is the first story of this series and touches upon the deeper magic that unites the work. It’s about a wingless girl trying to find her missing scientist mother in a laboratory beneath a forest, winged children discovering their origins and Machines that once ravaged the world, now lost. It’s a story for those who grew up with Studio Ghibli stories but want a little more complications and lore but still retain hope for the future. TL;DR: Come for winged hair, sad robots, possibly dragons, lots of science. The comic returns August 1

CoppertheCarutor

AH! Thank you for reminding about a couple content warnings I forgot to add.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Phantomarine is a story about a haunted ocean, a ghostly princess, and her journey to save her soul from a death god known as the Red Tide King. http://www.phantomarine.com/ TW: death, body horror, limb loss Princess Phaedra's untimely and mysterious death casts her out into the dark waters of the Candlelight Sea, forcing her to wander the world as an ethereal seaghost. Her journey toward resurrection quickly evolves into a grand maritime adventure on her ship, the Mantaluna, along with a crew of similarly-cursed friends and familiars. But Phaedra's mission has a dark undercurrent to it - a divine mystery that, when solved, will force her to question everything about her life, her death, and her world's long-dead past. If you like:

-THE COLOR BLUE (or just the ocean) -general spookiness that never gets too dark or gory -flamboyant villains of various kinds -swashbuckling pirate-y stories -fancy boats and pretty islands -big elemental animal gods fighting -friends and family fighting for each other -lots of hero-vs-villain salt and sass -DOGS

then heck yeah, this is your comic (edited)

Miranda (Into the Swell)

Into the Swell is about a Pirate with nothing left to lose but his life and a Wizard who wants more than a life of entertaining royals with party tricks being thrown together on the treasure hunt of their lives. The official blurb is: Ocean swells are remnants of storms hundreds of miles away. So do past actions cause swells of destiny on the shores of the present. Fate will always find a way. Given the choice between a one way trip to the gallows or a return to high sea adventure, imprisoned pirate Fletcher makes the obvious choice. With Court appointed wizard Kelwyn watching his every move, the two set off to reclaim a stolen treasure for King and Country. The ocean journey leads the duo through uncharted waters that hide dangers and secrets that could unravel the very fabric of their lives. Could this treasure hunt prove more adventure than they bargained for? TW: deaths? You can find it on https://tapas.io/series/into-the-swell or Webtoons It’s just starting out so there’s not much yet but you gotta start somewhere!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Heyo! For all you who don't yet know me, I work on Whispers of the Past, a fantasy comic about a farm girl and an amnesiac elf man going on a journey to learn who they really are. https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366 Age Rating: PG-13 or T+ TW: death and corpses, blood and violence, bladed weapons, profanity, depictions of racial discrimination, alcohol, miscarriage, suicide, suggestive content Magical powers can only come from the other side... When Aniya discovers a foreigner with amnesia, she sets out to help him find the answers to his nightmares. Along with their growing feelings for one another, they will uncover an identity riddled with magic, bloodlines, and betrayal. What WotP has to offer: - a unique painterly art style - in-depth world-building (including a conlang) - hurt/comfort themes - hella family drama - MAGIC - ace, bi, and POC representation - cute romance - If you like high fantasy like ATLA, this might be right up your alley

Nutty (Court of Roses)

I wanna say first of all that thank you for this server. Even if I couldn't participate often, it was a lovely place, love you all!! Court of Roses is in several places, but its main site on Spiderforest is a page ahead! Best place to read it is here: http://courtofroses.spiderforest.com/ As summer comes to an end in the kingdom of Prismal, the Bardic Festival is in full swing, bringing together musicians and minstrels from all over. But amidst the celebration, a sinister plot of murder unfolds... Follow a ragtag group of bards as they band together and travel the realm of Prismal; Merlow the Rose, half-elf, charismatic leader, bagpiper, and perpetual drunk; Diana the Fleetfoot Fletcher, human tidinit player with a heart of gold; Nocturne, brooding but classy Infernal and violinist; Sven Rockscreamer, goliath drummer and seeker of justice; and Feliks Halfdance, curious gnome who plays accordion and magically conjures their entire backup. And who knows! Mayhaps they'll solve a murder mystery together! The comic is greatly LGBTQ-friendly, and takes inspiration from both classic fantasy themes (Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, The Elder Scrolls, etc.) as well as music across all genres. Specific pages and scenes might even include their own suggested theme songs in the author notes. Contains Fantasy Violence and Alcohol Use(edited)

AntiBunny

You can as always read my comic at http://AntiBunny.net/ and is a film noir inspired story about anthropomorphic rabbits and the difficulty with coexisting with humanity. Crime and conspiracies move the plot along, but in film noir there's rarely a clear black and white. Why should you read it? Do you like stories about crime and conspiracies? Do you like bunnies? Do you want to see a contrast of cute and grim, and see relatable characters who deal with mental health issues, and fight a struggle for acceptance? Do you ask yourself the question what is identity? Well then this is for you.

You can find my other comic at http://nailbat.AntiBunny.net/. Nailbat is part of the AntiBunny universe, and deals with many of the same issues, but using a more straightforward and action packed superhero story. If you love superheroes and action you'll enjoy it, and maybe along the way get into the deeper lore of the AntiBunny world.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

Thanks everyone who I have chattet with in here, it has been a delight <3 Wayfinders: Off Course Can be read on Tapas or Webtoons (I prefer tapas ) https://linktr.ee/snackbagstudios Whats it about? You may ask. In a world where magic is as natural as breathing, and the gods are known to actually answer some prayers, a ship is sent to keep the fragile peace between 2 countries that has been at war for 60 years. But guess what? The ship crashes almost immediately. Now the 3 only survivors, a runaway monk, with unexplained powers, the noble son and peace advocate, and a chaos child with an affinity for magic washes ashore on an unknown island and is forced together by a magical compass. With navigation, and magic being broken, it is not an easy task to cross the ocean. If only they knew of the chaos which is unravelling outside their comfortable lives. If they thought this adventure was going to be uneventful, they are in for a surprise. Why should you read it? It is a mix between the Road to Eldorado, and Avatar the Last Airbender, and if that short pitch is not enough, I don't know how else to sell it. It has fun colors, anime reference, and a lot of ocean and sinister magics Thanks to all the admins for putting in so much work in this server

Feather J. Fern

Okay, I have like three comics, and the fourth one coming soon so.....Lets get the easy ones out of the way. On Webtoons, you can read Teasday or Don't you hate it when...(DYHIW) https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/dont-you-hate-it-when/list?title_no=486501 https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/teasday/list?title_no=169870&page=1 DYHIW is a gag comic, so if you want a little laugh to brighten your week, feel free to check it out. Teasday is a tea informative comic, but it's on a bit of a hiatus and ending soon. My current project is Gravitational Pull, a story about a depressed magical girl trying to save the world while also trying to get the energy to leave her bed that day. Read it if you like magical girls, space and representation of anxiety, depression, inferiority complex and learning to take each day slowly. http://gravitationalpull.featheryterrarium.com/ And when it comes out, Go Figure is my comedy action webtoon about someone who wants to use a powerful wish to cure their asthma and allergies over anything else.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

JOE IS DEAD A band of pirates are visiting an island and they discover the dead body of their astronomer JOSEPH CINNABAR. He leaves behind a will with mysterious instructions that none of the pirates really feel like following. The crew decide to send the least-liked and least responsible pirate of them all on a solo mission to carry out Joe's final wishes. If you like: - Alternate historical timelines where the United States doesn't exist - Gay, lesbian, and transgender pirates - Morbid humor, death, dying - Biblical allusion - Warm colors - Alliteration - My handwriting - Birds or anything else, you will love to read JOE IS DEAD, a webcomic worked on entirely by me that will be at 150 pages within a week or so. My background is in marine biology and satirical writing, so I promise you this comic is funny and scientifically accurate. Rated PG 13, mild violence and swearing Where can I read it Read it on http://joeisdead.com/ (the main hosting website with some functional html) or on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/JoeIsDead It's also on Webtoons but it's a couple chapters behind on there You can follow me on Twitter for information about updates https://twitter.com/sssfrs_

boogeymadam

Sink Your Hookteeth An LGBT+ Cosmic Horror/Love story about eldritch merfolk that fall for a pair of humans who are studying mermaids to cure a supernatural illness. CW: bodyhorror, gore, upperbody nudity, sickness, drowning, tryophobia, eye trauma, If you like:

-sea monsters

-big teeth

-painted comics

-nonbinary and binary transgender, lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual protagonists

-neurodivergent protagonists

-goofy friendship dynamics

-nasty and imperfect wlw couples

-enemies to lovers trope

-childhood friends to lovers trope

then this is a comic you might enjoy :D! It finished chapter 1 a few months ago with 195 pages, takes maybe an hour or two to read, and is currently on hiatus while I am building chapter 2's buffer. You can read it on Its own site https://hookteethcomic.com/ Webtoons https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/hookteeth/list?title_no=300709 Tapas https://tapas.io/series/Hookteeth/info

also i need to read more of these but joe is dead, wayfinders, keyspace: a winged tale, phantomarine, ghost junk sickness, the guide to a healthy relationship, and court of roses are all absolutely amazing and -chefs kiss- please give them all read if you aren't yet!

varethane

Comics!! Chirault A young half-demon named Teeko has been forced from her home, and to make matters worse, is now the size of a squirrel thanks to a wayward magic spell. Her only protection is the demon-hunter Kiran, who is a demon himself and lacks patience for children. Together, they must seek the help of a mage to reverse the spell on Teeko, but the journey is far from straightforward.. My first webcomic-- it's complete, it's a high fantasy adventure comic about finding family, fighting monsters, and also making friends with monsters (both outside and... inside). Check it out if you enjoy any of those things! http://chirault.sevensmith.net/ Wychwood Tiara is a delinquent who has been using a mysterious power to goof around for years without realizing the kind of attention it could attract. When a powerful organization finally tracks her down and attempts to recruit her, she has to decide what she really stands for. This is my new/current webcomic! It's a sci-fantasy genre-blender, with bits of post-apocalypse and urban fantasy thrown in as a treat just for fun. If you enjoy stories involving evil organizations, fire-flinging delinquents, and angsty supersoldiers, give it a look :U (Chapter 4 has just gotten started!) http://wychwood.sevensmith.net/

TaliePlume

Feather Cleanse (French: Nettoyage des plumes, Haitian Creole: Plim Geri) is a supernatural, sci-fi and military Shonen manga. Set in the year 2034 in the Haitian kingdom, Vérité Kindgom, the story follows 14 year old Soleil Andirans, her two older brothers and their cousin who joins their kingdom's military program to help Soleil find a wanted criminal and stopping a mad scientist from taking over the kingdom. This is a personal project that is very dear to me and I can't wait to share with you all hopefully around June of 2023. Why should you read it: -A positive Haitian representation -Strong female protagonist -Learning about a new culture - Family Bonds -Mad Scientists and experimentations - Criminal MasterMinds - Servant and Master relationships -Kings and Queens/Royalties -Dynamic and Impactful Fights Then, this is the comic for you.

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Alrighty cracks knuckles SunnyxRain, a webcomic about monsters surviving college.....BY THE POWER OF FANFICTION. Follow Sunny Dupont, a gluttony demon as she navigates college life and fanfic writing with the help of her housemates Liam (a qilin she roped in as her beta/editor) and Aron (an ocean naga as a fan). A story of trauma recovery and learning lessons about life and love. If you like: -housemate shenanigans -fanfic/fandom culture exploration -kickass but seriously flawed protagonists recovering from trauma - VOID CAT -LGBTQ+ cast because I can -coffee gremlin cryptid dudes -sweet slow burn romance -lesser known mythological creature representation Then this webcomic is for you to read, and y'all can come read it here! https://tapas.io/series/SunnyxRain/info and HERE https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/sunnyxrain/list?title_no=409335(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

Well, Here we go ^^ I have 2 comics right now, so: Millennium: A sci fi adventure featuring two best friends as they seek to help anyone and everyone they can, where we put together a bit of a misfit crew who are all intent on bettering themselves and the world around them. It's a lighthearted, LGBT+ Slowburn The sci fi is soft and so are the characters It's got found family, hurt/comfort, and gentle handling of heavier themes. It's easy to read and shouldn't make you think too much, it's just an hour or two of simple adventure between friends! It can be read a lot of places! My personal site: https://millennium.spiderforest.com/ Webtoons: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/millennium/list?title_no=110866&page=1 Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Millennium Comic Fury: http://millennium.thecomicseries.com/ and Tumblr!: https://millennium-comic.tumblr.com/ Time and Time Again: A noir mystery about time traveling vampires! We follow Adam, a vampire, and his subject of study, Steve, the first werewolf/vampire. The two of them are trapped in the 20's, looking to solve the mystery of a missing relic. It's a limited palette, scroll style comic if you're looking for a bit more action and higher stakes, and a more serious tone, then this one might be a better fit for you than Millennium ^^ I'm planning on finishing it up relatively soon, so get in on it now! (It's currently on a short hiatus while school is doing me in) It can only be read on tapas! https://tapas.io/series/Time-and-Time-again

kayotics

Ingress Adventuring Company You can read Ingress Adventuring Company at https://www.ingress-comic.com/ TW: some gore, blood, violence Saving the world is a pretty big deal, but what do you do once you’re done with that and no one needs you anymore? Do you become a magic professor? Do you study a convoluted thesis that no one understands? Maybe you relive the glory days by starting up a one-man adventuring party to gather mystical artifacts for people who may or may not pay you. Or, if you’re Toivo Kissa, you do all of those things. Reasons to check it out! - You like D&D or other stories inspired by it - It’s got bittersweet comedy - Very fun villains - Expressive art - Elves. Just a lot of elves. - Sad Dads and old men - LGBTQ+ cast

maxwestart

Poison Ivy Gulch is hosted on its own WordPress site: http://www.poisonivygulch.com/ Poison Ivy Gulch is a funny Western set in a frontier town in the 1870s. The protagonists are Lotta Doler, a gambler, and her kid sidekick Ace. Other characters include a marshal, an undertaker, a prospector and many extras. Poison Ivy Gulch is a spiritual successor to Tumbleweeds. If you like Blazing Saddles, you'll love this!

sagaholmgaard

Ahh dang, thanks for the heads up!! Here it is: https://tapas.io/series/_Reclaim_ My comic, Reclaim, is about a prince that has to deal with the aftermath of a successful coup. His father is imprisoned and sentenced to death, and he's in hiding with his dear bodyguard. Now he has to save his dad and reclaim the throne from the power-hungry witch warrior Irene, but how can the two of them hope to stand a chance against the entire force of the empire? And what was the real reason for the coup in the first place? This is for people who want a heartfelt fantasy story, with inspiration from Steven Universe and themes around being a better person than you were yesterday, and sticking together through hardships!

PiraPiranha

DEPARTURE is a story about dead brothers, hot guys and competent women! Lights! Camera! Action! The flaws of our predecessors are the burdens that we carry today! As galactic governance has been passed down from generation to generation of divine beings, the wars and insecurities of the previous pantheons are weighing down on our world. Whether it’s vanquishing your greatest enemies, or buying tomorrow’s cereal, keeping this flaming shipwreck of a universe together is going to require a little elbow grease, and a lot of flashy super powers! Follow Kovit, a space fighter turned part-time cook and his friends Casey (Cool, has a nice jacket) and Vermillion (Dumb, has stupid hair) as he tries to help the most powerful beings in the universe keep it together (Ostensibly by beating them up). Check it out here! http://departurecomic.cfw.me/(edited)

seetherabbit

Vulperra is an anthology comic featuring superheros, cowboys and regular common folk in the fantasy world of Vulperra. Most of the stories are about the hero Flash Gauntlet, who travels from place to place to solve problems with his magical gauntlets which were bestowed to him by the goddess of the land. https://vulperra.com/

NAAN

Legendary Beings Ara & Celi is about a young girl, Miyara, who is chosen to be the successor to a specific line of Angels – headed by none other than Ara–and with it, duties that extend beyond the physical world. Only one problem: Miyara has no desire to do the job! What will happen then, especially with Celi, Ara’s counterpart, is intent on causing chaos in her life?! You can read Ara & Celi at its main site: http://ac.jadinerhinestudios.com/ Here is the Webtoons mirror: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/legendary-beings-ara-celi/list?title_no=59422 Doesn't have any trigger warnings (maybe that (1) page in chapter 2 is too creepy-crawly for anyone?), and it's currently on hiatus because I'm working on chapter 4, will update again when I have completed it! So enjoy the 3 chapters so far! If you like: • MAGICAL GOILS • an old school b&w shoujo manga style (according to some people, and I don't even do it on purpose ) • on that note, since the 3rd chapter, the comic is drawn traditionally! (all covers are in color and traditional) • expressive comedy • language jokes and notes • angels and demons, yes, it's one of those but is anybody really the bad guy here • a lion and a jinn walk into a bar-- • slow worldbuilding and character development • heck if I know what else, you should just check it out and tell me what you think later like in the good ol' days

L Hornsby

Heyo, I haven't been very active. I'm not used to Discord. If anybody would like some silly comics about puppies that live in the clouds and enjoy parties (and also happen to be princesses) my comic Princess Pups has you covered. It's all ages friendly so if you have younger kids you want to get into comics, it's a swell read according to my 3 years old :) https://tapas.io/series/Princess-Pups/info

carcarchu

@L Hornsby oh i didn't know you were in this server! i actually read your comic because our comics have really similar names ahaha

L Hornsby

Oh wow hey there! :)

I usually lurk on Instagram and Twitter these days and have been crocheting more than comics lately

mathtans

What the heck, been on hiatus more than a year but there's an archive and it's not like there's any dangling plot points. I personify mathematics! Because equations are people too. The hairstyles are the graphs, and there are puns.

Main site: http://mathtans.ca/

Tapas mirror: https://tapas.io/series/Any-Q

It's called "Any ~Qs" because notQ is the symbol for irrational numbers. So anything irrational, in a sense. Very G rated - maybe PG, some discussion of biological sex and tangential politics. Enjoy, possibly.(edited)

Spring-heeled Jack

Hey all! My comic is a horror comic that features some LGBTQA+ characters in the main cast. Today is also my monthly update on public sites. I do four pages at the end of the month on Tapas, Webtoons, and my website. (Patreon gets weekly updates.) It is a story of a picturesque town with a dark secret and what will be done to keep that secret. I follow a few characters through the the twisting plot and show how the darker side of this town affects them. I think this would be PG13 mostly because there will be some blood, but there are no sexual situations. Currently Tapas has the most recent free pages as I will have to do Webtoon and the website manually later today. Happy reading and please do let me know what you think! <3 Website: https://www.iamfilledwithstatic.com/crocus Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/crocusheights Webtoon: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-secret-of-crocus-heights/list?title_no=405820 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/iamfilledwithstatic

DanielHookerArt

I have a series of self published graphic novels. When all copies of the first volume sold out I posted it on Webtoon. It's sort of a Isekai Mystery Adventure, inspired by the 1980's movie Labyrinth.

https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/line-of-ruin/list?title_no=232705

StickFreeks

Hi I'm Christy! I make the webcomic / graphic novel series EXTRA! It's about Extras in the backgrounds of a movie world escaping their fates of getting killed off... by going to go ask the Producer to stop killing them off. (Sort of like The Truman Show, but everyone is in on it.) You can read it at https://extra-comic.com/ I'm always looking to make new comic buddies! (edited)

Annausagi2

Hello! I joined right at the announcement of the channel shutting down, so bad timing. :,O I've been working on my webcomic Helix since 2012: Read from the start here: http://helixcomic.com/ Description/warnings: A street rat is given a second chance when he is dragged from the gutter and into a new life. Will he accept his position at the side of royalty, or fight every step of the way? -Rated M for sex (M/M, consensual), violence, nudity, language, and dark themes.- Warnings: -References to child abuse and sexual abuse.- If you can handle these subjects, I hope you'll enjoy the comic. :) Thanks for reading! UPDATES EVERY WEDNESDAY! ~ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Annausagi2 ~ Join us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Annausagi2

Kalli

I joined right when things were shutting down too :( Just my luck Anyway! I'm Kalli and I have a fully traditionally drawn webcomic, called World of Ruan! https://www.worldofruan.com/ It's a post apocalyptic, sci fi adventure type story, following Cait, a mutant mouse/human hybrid and Roxy, her robot companion! I update every Saturday~ And I'm always down for meeting new comic friends!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I make Children of Shadow: Ashes and Dark Wings: Eryl. Ashes is an urban fantasy / horror about teens with supernatural powers who have to team up with woodland critters to save the world from twisted monsters. It’s rated PG-13 and has mild language, graphic violence, and intense scenes. Eryl is a dark high fantasy about a fallen angel, a woman on a journey to find a dragon, and a wyvern who has been kidnapped. It’s rated 16+ and contains strong language, nonsexual nudity, and graphic violence. https://twitter.com/kickyourwrasse/status/1277315129793826816?s=21

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Only In Your Dreams! is a rom-com Drama comic featuring shoujo and future LGBT+ elements. Also a mainly BIPOC cast! Rated: PG16+ There are some suggestive language & content, and partial nudity. “Cara Luong is tired of her failed dating attempts and settles for Richie, her imaginary lover every night in her sleep. When given a chance to meet him in person for the first time, she suddenly forgets their long-term romance! Now it’s up to Cara to decide if Richie can live as a real boyfriend. That is, if she wants him to exist in the first place!” What it contains: - Dumbassery moments between a dreamer and a dream boi - Expressions that you can feel it in your soul - Main romantic interest participating in healthy masculinity and embracing femmine traits - horror elements in a romance comic? huh-- - Himbo appreciation - A mixed-Black Vietnamese protag for this romantic rollercoaster lol If you're looking something self indulgent, read it why don't you? I release pages early on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/tuyetnhip Otherwise you can check out the site! It updates once bi-weekly on Wednesdays usually! http://oiydcomic.com/ Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Only-In-Your-Dreams Webtoon: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/only-in-your-dreams/list?title_no=115046 Other links: https://linktr.ee/oiydcomic

alizarin

I joined near the end of the server but I can't wait to participate in the reboot! So many interesting comics in here * _ * I make a comic called Patent the Sun, it basically reads like a big puzzle. It's about two characters who wake up without any memory, but slowly we learn about their whole universe and what happened to them. Oh and there's also magic, aliens, murder, and crossdressing https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/patent-the-sun/list?title_no=123560 https://tapas.io/series/Patent-the-Sun(edited)

Las Pinter

It is a pity that I was not so active here. I create the Tales From Somewhere comics, currently there are two of them: The Legend and The Secret. Both of them are high fantasy stories taking place in a fantasy world. The Legend is about three adventurers trying to survive in their realm. They are aware of being DnD like characters in a cruel world, where the DM wants to kill them as fast as he can... without luck so far. It has some comedy, action, horror and weird elements. This comic is ongoing since a long time, so expect to have big changes in the style and writing. The Secret is about an elf, who begins his journey from the world's end after an apocalyptic event. Accidentally meets a human thief girl, and now they are travelling together and figuring out what is happening to their world. This comic is currently being revamped and the story is continued parallelly. I would rate them R/17+ since they have some blood, violence, profanity and nudity. Website: https://www.talesfromsomewhere.com/ Tapas: - The Legend: https://tapas.io/series/Tales-From-Somewhere-The-Legend - The Secret: https://tapas.io/series/Tales-From-Somewhere-The-Secret Webtoons: - The Legend: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/tales-from-somewhere-the-legend/list?title_no=77159 - The Secret: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/tales-from-somewhere-the-secret/list?title_no=78355 And I'm on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelaspinter

quietsnooze

Radio Silence is an award winning queer coming of age webcomic about a British rock band’s rise to fame. Hitting the road on a journey of self discovery and acceptance, this coming-of-age tale gives a backstage look at friendships and the plights of fame as experienced by a modern British rock band. On the fast track toward fame, the five members of the fictional British rock band, Radio Silence, enter into an exciting new life on the road with their best friends. As they tour across the United Kingdom, they excitedly embrace this new lifestyle and all the resulting challenges, including living in close quarters with each other with little privacy, and the overwhelming reaction of the public to their new-found success. Main site: http://radiosilencecomic.com/ Webtoons: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/radio-silence/list?title_no=35242 Twitter: http://twitter.com/quietsnooze

Tired Programmer

This is mine. There will be update tomorrow (in 10 hours). https://tapas.io/series/The-story-of-how-humanity-has-thrown-itself-into-the-scrapyard Civilization, technologically advanced in the past, is now in decline. Killer and hacker are trying to survive and find the answers to their questions among the ruins. What will they meet in this crazy and cruel world of misused technologies? WARNING: strong language, violence and nudity. Only for adults.

JUNK

If any creators or readers are looking for another webcomic server to hang out in, you can check out this one: https://discord.gg/qjWJt7

I'll post it in the general channel too. :3

sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead)

I wish we could have had a bit more time, but thanks everyone for creating such a great space for webcomic creators!! I make HANS VOGEL IS DEAD: an antifascist fairy tale with elements of historical fantasy. A German fighter pilot is shot down and killed during the Battle of Britain. When he wakes up in a fairytale afterlife, he learns what the evil he served has destroyed, and must undo the damage of fascism to become a better person. The end of Volume 1 is coming in the next two weeks, and September will be the fifth anniversary! You can read it on Webtoons: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/hans-vogel-is-dead/list?title_no=62633 and find me on twitter! https://twitter.com/chjorniy_voron

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

This was such a great discord, hopefully we can keep in touch and still chat about comics and such my twitter is : https://twitter.com/Haruh2 Here is my comic Colony Life, ive been working on this for abit and will always love making this comic no matter what https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/colony-life/list?title_no=193784

boniae

I regret that I wasn't more active in here besides occasional lurking, but I always think back fondly to the CTP chat that my comic was discussed in, it was the first time I ever got to see so much in depth feedback and analysis on my comic and I will forever appreciate this server Four Corners is set in 1995, Yokohama, as the story follows Kazuhiro Tsuchiya who now leads his deceased brother's legendary gang, the Four Corners. Kazuhiro is approached by Hideki Yuhara, a schoolmate who claims to have vital information that Kazuhiro should be wary of. The two unlikely delinquents pair up to figure out the reason as to why gangs in the city are being brutally eliminated...though the unraveling of the mystery is darker than it appears. How far will Kazuhiro and Hideki go to rest their case? If you're looking for a slow burn lgbt romance, 90s manga nostalgia, drama, mystery, and a story with a general theme of: misfits who come together against dangerous odds to protect others, especially the ones they love—come check it out! https://tapas.io/series/four-corners/ http://fourcornerscomic.com/ https://twitter.com/boniaeart

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I'll really miss having a new comic to read every week! My comic is called Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R. It's a story of a small woman from a small town who goes on adventures across a strange kingdom. Action, comedy, and very, very slow burn romance... http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/ https://tapas.io/series/sgkdr https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/super-galaxy-knights-deluxe-r/list?title_no=41795

LeahVillart

I haven't done much work or anything in general these past months because they've been utter shit for me. This year had stuff breaking in my home, my grandma died from covid, family issues, found out my 9yo dog has lymphoma (blood cancer) and I got to a break point and I'm trying to recover from all the shit. Now it's late and I'm tired so I'm gonna make a super sleepy pitching~ I make Teach Me To Kill a horror-comedy webcomic about a school of villains and killers where a new seemingly innocent teacher arrives to help the worst class become the horror legends they are "destined" to become. [IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH] If you like contradicting/opposite genres or themes you'll find it here, violence, blood, kills, but all done with a cute colorful style where nothing is as it seems. With a cast made of crazy humans, detectives, monstergirls and guys like -our sexy looking hybrid vampire Daki who didn't ask for any of the cards she's been dealt and only wants to find true love and not something attracted by her vampiric aura. - Our lil raven kid Nayla who is a sugar bomb ready to explode, but can break a mountain in two. - Kyllian, a boy who's managed to make a personality out of each of his expressions, which sometimes is helpful and others a horrible mistake. - Q.Bee, an innocent looking girl who radiates sensuality in some weird way luring her victims into her trap. You never know what she's thinking or could do at any moment. the cast and world is really huge and don't want to spoil more, but it's filled with slice of life, mystery, action, dark humor, romance, fantasy, paranormal stuff. A total mix. If you give it a read, thanks for doing so and hope you like it! <3 http://teachmetokill.com/(edited)

Comic Tea Party

This concludes our final #creator_babble chat. Thank you so much to all the wonderful creators who have participated in this chat over its existence. It has been great to see your enthusiasm for the craft of webcomics, as well as learn your unique stories of how you pursue it. We are positive these conversations have helped many other creators out, so we appreciate you having them. For this conversation, and all past #creator_babble chats, you’ll be able to find them archived here: https://comicteaparty.com/creatorbabble

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

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heller-obama · 5 years

Text

Operation Newsboy

And this is the chapter that was originally planned to be posted last night, but I just barely didn’t have enough time, so I’m posting this at 7 am before I get ready for the first day of school. Fun!

I also made a tag for what I write and a tag for this specific story (they’re the first two tags at the bottom)

Here’s the prologue, chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, and chapter five if you hadn’t read them

Chapter 6

Words: 1,207

Warnings: uhhh blood(not graphic), injuries, swearing(idk if y’all care about that), horrible jokes

Editing: grammarly + read throughs

I shifted awake in my bed, the boys getting ready around me.

“C’mon, Speedy, get up!” Race whacked me in the face with his hat.

I groaned. “Yeah, yeah, I’m up.”

Sara’s voice crackled in my ear. “Wally, this is your complimentary 5:00 AM get-your-ass-out-of-bed call. Please get your ass out of bed.”

I activated my comms, and for the sake of Race and Sara, I said “I’m up!” really loudly.

“Good for you,” Race and Sara said, almost simultaneously.

I subtly switched my comms off.

As usual, we got ready to go out and sell papers.

“‘Ey, Jack! We is leavin’!” Elmer called.

“Go on without me!” Jack yelled.

Elmer looked at me. “You comin’, Speedy?”

“Nah. I’ll wait for Jack.”

”A’ight.” I saw them disappear down the stairs, then heard the tell-tale whoops and yells that meant that the newsies were up and ready for work.

Barely two minutes later, and Jack came down the stairs. “‘Ey, is you waitin’ for me, Speedy?”

“Yeah, just finished getting up, figured I’d wait.” I lied. But how do you say, ‘hey, I’m waiting for you so you don’t get brutally murdered in the street by some magical time assassin’? Well, I could say that, but I might sound a tad crazy. Okay, I’d sound a lot crazy.

Jack clapped my shoulder. “Aw, I’m touched.”

* * * # * * *

We were close, maybe a mile away from the distribution square, when stuff went down.

Jack was talking about the girl he met yesterday, in the theater and on the street, when I got this feeling that someone was following us. I whipped my head around, but no one was there.

“What’s with you?” Jack chuckled.

I shook my head. “I--it’s nothing.” I don’t know who I was trying to convince--me or Jack. “I thought I heard someone behind us.”

Jack looked behind us. “Well, there’s no one there. We’s are all safe—” An abnormally loud sound exploded somewhere off to the side of us, and I whipped my head around, the world slowing down around me. In the alleyway next to us, on the other side of Jack, I saw a dark figure holding what looked like a modern-age gun. There was a flash of light around the muzzle, and there was a bullet flying out of it. But something was wrong. The bullet was flying fast, faster than what should’ve been possible. It wasn’t a gun from my time; this was a gun from the future. Far into the future. I cursed the people who thought they needed to make guns with faster bullets. There was no time to try and grab it, it would just shred my hand. I dashed in front of Jack, and the bullet meant for his throat made its way into my shoulder. Who knew being tall saved history?

Time unfroze, and I stumbled, the force of the bullet knocking me back as it tore through my flesh and muscle. And it burned. Damn, it hurt. “What was that?” Jack asked, and I leaned on him to catch my balance. “Woah there, Speedy.” Jack chuckled and then frowned. “Wait. Weren’t you just—” He pointed to the other side of him.

“Ow.” I groaned.

Jack finally noticed the blood streaming out of my shoulder. “HOLY SHIT!” He leaned me against the side of a building and leaned over me.

“Ow.”

“When the hell did that happen?” At least he lowered his voice.

“Goddamn interdimensional time assassins with futuristic guns,” I muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“What do I do?”

“Stopping the bleeding would help.”

“Wally, you’s got a hole in your shoulder and you’s still being a smart-ass?”

“Pain sharpens my tongue.”

“You’re delusional.”

“No, I’m dying of blood loss.”

“Wally, since I’s don’t want you to die, I’mma let that slide.”

“Gee, I’m touched. Can I stop the bleeding now?” Somehow, I wrangled the vest off my chest and ripped a long strip off. I stood up, definitely with a struggle, and tied my makeshift bandage around my shoulder. My shoulder still felt like it was being melted in a forge, but it wasn’t streaming out anymore. It was less like a river and more like a creek. And then I crouched slightly, making sure my hat and bandage were securely fastened.

“What is you doin’?” Jack asked.

“Something I might regret,” I sighed. “Hop on.”

“Youse is delusional!” Jack protested. “You just got shot. I’s should be carryin’ you!”

“Jack,” I said sternly. “Get on my back before I pick you up and carry you like a bride on her honeymoon.”

He sighed. “I don’t know why we’s call you ‘Speedy’,” he grumbled. “we’s shoulda called youse Stubborn.” He hopped on my back anyway.

“Hold on tight,” I warned him.

“I ain’t grabbin’ your wound!”

“Then hold on to my neck!” Jack muttered something about me dying of strangulation before the blood loss killed me.

“Get ready,” I said, shifting my body.

“For what?”

“This.” I took off running, as fast as I could go with the shooting pain in my arm and the pain in the ass on my back.

The aforementioned pain in the ass starting yelling, swatting at the lighting around me.

In seconds, we made it to the park where we hid the Waverider. I stopped and let Jack off my back. He stumbled and threw up in a bush. “Yeah, get it out, bud.” I patted his back as he upchucked his breakfast and dinner in the bush.

“WHAT THE SHITTIN’ HOLY HELL WAS THAT?” He cried, wiping his face with his sleeve.

“Science.”

“That ain’t no science! That’s like that book Frankenstein!”

I was expecting some comic book reference or something. And then it dawned on me. I “Damn, you don’t have superheroes?”

“What?”

“Long story.”

Jack opened his mouth to say something when a bay door on the Waverider opened. Sara and Mick came out, her bo staff and his heat gun pointed directly at us.

“Wally, why the hell are you here? And why’d you bring him?” Sara yelled, lowering her staff. Mick, predictably, didn’t lower his gun.

Poor Jack was just too overwhelmed. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed. Thankfully, I caught him before he fell.

“Now look what you’ve done!” I cried mockingly. “He’s out cold!” Sara and Mick just glared at me. “Can I come inside, at least?”

“We aren’t stopping you,” Sara said.

“Can you at least help me carry him inside, Mick?” I asked.

“Can’t you do it?” Mick growled.

“I would, but my arm hurts.” I motioned to the blood seeping through my makeshift vest bandage.

“Damn it, West, how’d you manage to get yourself shot?” Sara cried.

“That goddamn time assassin.”

“Care to elaborate?” Sara said, her hands on her hips.

“As long as Gideon stitches me up.”

“Of course she’s gonna—” She trailed off and sighed. “Rory, grab the kid.”

“Which one?”

“The one that’s passed out cold, genius.” While Mick grabbed the unconscious Jack, I walked into the Waverider, the pain in my shoulder slowly coming back as the adrenaline faded.

“I might need an Advil, too.” I joked.

Sara glanced at me, then at my wound. “Wally, you’re gonna need the whole damn bottle.”

#Jamie writes stuff #operation newsboy #superheroes weren't invented till 190something #in a comic strip #so yeah #there's your useless trivia fact of the day #these were horrible jokes I'm so sorry #Newsies #jack kelly #racetrack higgins #race #legends of tomorrow #Wally west #Sara lance #mick rory #the waverider #fanfic #fanfiction #writeblr

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wilhelmjfink · 6 years

Text

Painfully Accurate Pt. 2

WOW OKAY SO IT LITERALLY HAS TAKEN ME LIKE THREE WEEKS TO POST THIS PART sorry everyone. i bought a house!! but nah no one cares about that shit, sorry it took so long :x thank u to everyone who asked me to be tagged and reads it or reposts or w/e! this isn’t edited sooooooo.... sry

and also i didn’t even have anyone else read it either so sorry if some transitions don’t make sense?? it took me like four days to get this done lmao

enjoy~~~~ or don’t w/e

Then there was a moment of silence where you thought that maybe, just maybe, they were actually hearing your pleas; a moment that seemed to freeze in time, but yet still felt as though it had could’ve drug on forever as you waited whimpering against the tree, waiting for the next snap against your flesh. But it didn’t last, resuming to reality with the unmistakable sound of what you could literally only describe as death: a gasp, gargling, a thud. And that was it. More silence.

A gun cocked.

“Holy shit, dude!”

Shuffling, stomping. Though you couldn’t see anything your brain was making up images of it’s own: walkers, other people coming to kill your killers… you just wanted to shut the world away and bury yourself deep in your unconscious, but you just couldn’t. You were in so much pain; you were so, so fucking tired. And besides, hadn’t you just been asking for death to come to you a minute ago? You would’ve preferred something quicker than a walker, but at least there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

A gunshot, and and strangled cry.

“Come on out, asshole!”

Some how, your hands were freed, though everything seemed to be blurring together and you wondered if it was because you might be dying… but your head still pounded and you knew you were still there. The forest around you quickly became a mass of just colors and lights, splitting things in two, fading in and out. And then you realized the hands that grabbed yours were strong and warm, and very much alive.

They shoved your away from the tree you had confided in for the last few minutes or hours or however long it was and you landed harshly on your back, wailing from the impact on the swollen flesh of your back, but you just too tired to fight anymore. You were just over it.

The hands returned, and they gripped onto your wrist and drug you through the dirt and rocks underneath you, causing another scream of agony to erupt from your worn out vocal cords, the pain bordering unbearable. At a loss, you were prepared to plead again, to start begging for them to put you out of your misery, when the cold metal of a revolver was pressed against your head and you found you couldn’t even breathe.

“Come out now, or I’ll put a bullet through her skull!”

Those words woke up your senses, the situation becoming very real very fast, and you pried your tired eyes open to finally see what was going on around you. The man above you was different one than before, you were sure – one of his smaller, less prominent sidekicks. The other two members of the trio lay dead next to you in pools of their own blood.

Both of them had something sticking out of the back of their skulls; an arrow.

Any other time you would’ve cried with excitement at that sight but at that moment you were so sluggish and confused that you didn’t really understand what exactly was happening, and when those men were had died and who’d killed them – it was hard because you could still only focus on the fire that was singeing your back and tearing through your veins. It was looming over you like a dark storm cloud, not allowing you to pay attention to anything other than the pain… even the barrel of the gun that was still digging into your temple.

And you were positive you were dreaming when Daryl and Rick emerged from the bushes, hands up in surrender, eyes darkened. You found yourself blinking rapidly as if that would clear your head of the fog you had been suffocating in, you were so positive that they weren’t actually there. You were hallucinating from blood loss. And you knew you weren’t dead because you could still feel absolutely fucking everything.

Daryl’s eyes met yours and the ice blue you’d grown to love was gone, replaced with a dark grey, filled with nobody but absolute fucking rage.

“Let her go,” he growled lowly, a simple threat, but the sound of his voice made your heart race. He really did come to your rescue – just like he always did, and just like he always would.

“I really don’t think you’re in any position to be making’ threats,” the man replied. You could feel the vibration of the gun shaking against your temple as he trembled, terrified as his friends lay dead at his sides. Hell, you didn’t even care if he shot you at this point: you just wanted the fucking pain to go away. You had to have lost a lot of blood by this point – you were cold, dizzy, tired. You were teetering on the edge of consciousness, and you welcomed it, excited to not feel anything anymore.

Daryl took a single step forward and the man flinched, moving the gun to Daryl.

“Don’t fucking move!”

The world stopped spinning it seemed — the same couldn’t be said for your head and as you tired to push yourself up off the hard ground it lurched violently beneath you and you collapsed back down weakly. Daryl’s eyes were trained on you, hyper focused and ready to move, but your soft grunt reminded the man of your presence and he pointed the gun back down at you.

Daryl couldn’t show it but he was petrified; though he had already made up his mind that he would not allow this stranger to take the one thing loved in this shit world and he promised himself you’d get home safe if it was the last thing he ever did.

Rick’s instructions were simple: “Put the gun down.”

The mans eyes darted frantically back and forth between your friends and you suddenly remembered that there was a fucking arrow lodged into the skull of the man that lie next to you. You thought that you might be able to stay quiet enough and move slowly so that he wouldn’t notice you, but you were wrong. He panicked at your movement and he compromised his aim on you just long enough to kick you square in the head with his heavy work boot.

If you’d thought you were dizzy before you were horribly mistaken — now, in addition to the world around you tilting every which way, you were seeing double. There was a high pitched ringing in your eyes that felt like a drill that was being driven into your skull; you tried to catch your breath back and rolled onto your side, still unable to forget about the fresh and debilitating injuries on your back.

Two Daryl’s appeared in your line of sight and you had trouble focusing on just one of them as they drifted back and forth back into one figure that just spun around you. You couldn’t tell which one was real. But you could tell that they had pounced on your attacker like tigers, and they were pissed.

Being in the middle of a haze you struggled to keep focus as the scene played out before you — it made it even more difficult for you to keep up… though amongst the madness of trying to follow everything that was going on you were able to quickly deduct one thing that you were sure of: you had never seen Daryl so angry. He was feral, his teeth barring as he relentlessly threw punch after punch at the writhing man he had pinned helplessly underneath him. He was screaming, too, but you couldn’t quite make out the words over that fucking ringing and his words were muffled, they sounded too far away, and…

You blinked and Rick was there again; how long were your eyes shut? Your head hurt so bad – ugh, that fucking ringing…

You were confused as to why Rick was in that fight, actually. The other guy wasn’t moving anymore. Rick is on top of Daryl. That doesn’t seem right. God, your fucking head hurt.

Once again your eyes fluttered open – when did you fall back asleep? It couldn’t have been long; it was still pretty bright outside. In fact, it was too god damn bright, your head was throbbing, and something heavy was resting on your shoulders, shaking you gently but over and over, annoying the fuck out of you.

Squinting against the unwelcome light, you brought your hand up defensively and swatted at whatever it was that was holding you down. You wanted to lay there forever, unmoving, untouched, and wait for death to come to you… hopefully at a quicker rate than these guys seemed to be aiming for.

But death never came. Instead, you just got to relive your nightmare over and over again while you drifted in and out of unconsciousness. You weren’t sure which one was worse.

Eventually you swam to the surface, fully removing yourself from the treacherous waters of your mind long enough to finally breathe easily. Senses returned to your body slowly, starting off pleasant at first, but drifted slowly into a dull ache in your whole body – some places more than others. But it wasn’t unbearable, which you seem to remember it being. Remember – you could hardly remember your name until you pried open your tired eyes and actually thought about it. Where were you now? How did you get there? It was the prison, you eventually realized, recognizing the dull gray concrete that seemed to surround you – fuck, it was still way too bright. Eyes back shut. Your bed wasn’t luxurious, but it wasn’t a forest floor, either. So, how did you get here? What the fuck even happened?

“How’s she doin’?”

The noise seemed unfathomably loud in the silence you’d come to appreciate with the pounding in your head. But it wasn’t all bad, because you recognized that voice. You’d heard it before, somewhere safe, and your body reminded you with a warm calm that spread all over your body. It wasn’t the tall, looming bald man or the scrawny guy with a neck tattoo.

“Still out.”

The sound of that voice had the opposite effect as the last but in the best possible way. It was a warm, southern drawl, but it sent a chill down your spine, the hair on your neck and arms standing up with it. A voice that had woken you from so many bad dreams before – you’d begun to give up hope that it would ever come rescue you from that nightmare. Your body craved that voice.

It took every single ounce of strength that your tired body had left, but you managed to pry your eyes back open.

It took a few rapid blinks for your vision to clear. When it did, you couldn’t quite comprehend the sight in front of you, your brain lost and confused. After a moment of staring back at the two men who were looking down at you, you slowly, finally began to figure out what the hell was happening.

You weren’t sure if you’d ever been so happy to see Rick and Daryl. They were both looking down at you, expressions blank in anticipation, and when you met a certain pair of ice blue eyes all of the horrible memories and aches and pains seemed to just disappear completely. You even managed to smile.

“Hey,” a familiar voice rasped, and even in your exhausted state a chill ran down your spine -- fuck, maybe it took something terrifying like that to happen for your to really acknowledge your feelings.

Arms heavy as lead, you lifted them up to pull Daryl’s head down to yours in a kiss.

d’awwww.

what a happy ending........... enjoy it while it lasts.....

stay tuned for another gut wrenching story that will literally just make u wanna die and hate me :-) shhhhhh i just love to suffer

lmk if you wanna be tagged ILY GUYSSSSS

@dotslabyrinth @auntiebyn @crossbowking @jodiereedus22 @apossiblegentleman @mtngirlforever@sourwolf-sterek32 @winchester-angel @cococruzzmayanns @qrangr @cole-winchester

#The Walking Dead #twd #twd fanfiction #twd daryl #daryl dixon #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl x reader #reader insert #fanfiction #welp #hereweare #thanksforcoming

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sparklebitch · 6 years

Note

could you do something like lance gets shot in one of the missions and collapses and Kieth is with him and he likes having a panic attack cause holy shit his boyfriend just got shot and is bleeding out! and lance is trying to calm him down and telling him to like help put pressure on his wound but the blood loss is starting to affect him and he's struggling to stay awake? (btw love your writing!)

Aww thank you so much!

Trigger warnings are posted in the tags below.

Keith never even heard the shot. He didn’t even knowanything was wrong until they were both back in Red. Lance leaned up against thewall, out of breath, next to the controls as Keith began to pilot them out ofthere. They had retrieved some information off of a Galra ship and were now takingit back to Pidge to decipher. Lance’s face was pale and covered in sweat.

“You okay?” Keith asked after a minute. He was tryingto focus on piloting, but he was and always would be the concerned boyfriendbefore anything else.

“Uh,” Lance reached over and touched his side,wincing. “Uh… yeah?” he peeled back his hand and saw that it was coated in hisblood. He grimaced.

“You—” Keith glanced at him out of the corner of hiseye and then did a double take. “Oh my god, Lance!” he screamed. “What the hellhappened!?”

“Well… I might’ve been… shot?” he said, like he wasn’tsure. Keith’s eye practically popped out of his head.

“YOU WHAT!?” Lance waved his hand at Keith.

“I’m fine. It’s not that bad” The gesture was meant tobe calming, but the blood that dripped off his fingers was not making Keithfeel any better. “Okay, maybe I should’ve done that with this hand” Lance mumbledto himself, gesturing toward Keith with his non-bloodied hand. “See? I’m fine—”as he said the words he doubled over in pain.

“Shit- Lance!” Keith let go of the controls, prayingthat Red would pilot herself back to the castle. She had done it before.

“Keith, stop. I’m okay” Lance groaned softly and thenslid down the wall.

“Oh. Oh my god. Oh my god!” Keith rushed to Lance’sside and knelt down next to him, searching his brain for what he was supposedto do. He was supposed to apply pressure to the wound right? “What do I do?” heasked frantically. “What am I supposed to do!?”

“Relax, Keith” Lance said through gritted teeth. “Itdoesn’t even… hurt- that bad” he was gasping in pain by the end of his sentence.

“Doesn’t hurt my ass!”Keith exclaimed. Lance smiled weakly.

“Does your ass hurt, Keith?” he asked teasingly. “ShouldI be jealous?”

“Shut up, Lance! Now is clearly not the time! You’re bleeding out!” Lance tried to laugh butfound that it was too painful.

“I’m not bleeding o—” He lifted his head and saw thatthere was, in fact, a pool of blood beginning to form on the floor underneathhim. “Oh shit, I am” he said, still unconcerned. Keith was about to lose hismind. His boyfriend had a hole in his side and he didn’t seem to care.

“We need to- We need to do something. Oh god. I don’t knowwhat to do. What do I do? What do I do!?” Lance gabbed Keith’s face in hishands and pulled him closer.

“Calm. Down” he said. “You freaking out is not goingto help anything, okay?” Keith stared at him blankly. “Okay?” he repeated.Keith nodded jerkily.

“Right, right, yeah. I know that” he put his hand overone of Lance’s, which was still on his face. “I’m just worried about you” he saidsoftly.

“Well that’s understandable. I’m bleeding out” Lance replied.Keith’s eyes widened.

“Shit!” He broke away from Lance and sprinted acrossthe lion to the box of first aid supplies that was kept for emergencies. After hehad the box he undid the straps that held Lance’s armor together and pried thetop half of it off, tossing it to the side.

“Here, lay down so I can look at it” Keith instructed.He gripped Lance’s shoulder and gently guided him so that he was lying flat onthe floor. He then pushed Lance’s shirt up so that he could see where the bloodwas coming from.

“How does it look?” Lance asked, tilting his head upto get a better look. Keith let out a strangled sigh.

“W- It- It doesn’t look that bad, I guess” he said. Hepulled a wad of gauze and pressed it to the wound with shaking fingers. Lance hissedin pain. “Sorry” Keith breathed.

“’s Okay” Lance mumbled. He turned his head, so hecould see the window in front of them. “You should tell the others were coming”he said. “So they don’t worry about us” Keith nodded in agreeance.

“Yeah, uh. Yeah. That’s a good idea” he nodded again.Lance quirked his eyebrow.

“Keith?”

“Hmm?”

“You have to use your words to tell them” he teased.Keith huffed.

“Shut up” he grumbled as he pressed the button for hisheadset. “Hey, anybody there?” he asked. Lance pushed Keith’s hand off the gauzeand held it himself. Keith look at in concern. Lance mouthed ‘I got it’ to him.Keith hesitated, but stood up and crossed the room to talk to the tohers.

As Keith updated the others on what had happened,Lance let his façade drop. He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on hisbreathing. In through his nose. Out through his mouth. In through his nose. Outthough his mouth. His injury hurt more than he was letting on. Every movementwas excruciating, but he knew that Keith would freak out if he knew. He justhad to keep pretending that he was alright. Just until they got to the castle.

His breathing hitched as new wave of pain hit his body.His adrenaline from the mission was wearing off. His whole body felt like itwas on fire. He threw his head back and gritted his teeth as he applied more pressureto the gauze. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that the gauze was completelysoaked in blood. He quickly tossed it to the side and replaced it with a newone before Keith came back.

“Shiro told Coran to get a pod ready” Keith said, hisvoice tight with fear. He checked the navigation system next to his chair tomake sure that Red was taking them in the right direction. “We should be therein about twenty minutes” he said. Lance hummed in response, too in pain to answerat that moment. “I told Shiro that we got the information and—” he abruptlystopped. “Lance!?” he said in alarm. In the minute that he had been away fromLance his skin had paled considerably, and he

“No, no, no, no, no. Lance, babe, you gotta stay away”Lance snorted and rolled his head to the side.

“I’m fine” he said weakly. “I’m just resting. Conservingenergy. Micro nap” he rambled. “Also, is this babe thing going to stick?” he asked.“Cause I’m not gonna like I kinda like it” Keith settled back down by Lance’sside.

“Sure. If you want, I’ll call you babe” Lance wasn’tsure if he was being sarcastic or not, but he was too tired to ask.

“Thanks” Lance smiled. Keith lifted Lance’s free handand threaded their fingers together.

“You scared the shit out of me, you know?” Keith saidquietly. Now Lance opened his eyes.

“Yeah?” he breathed. Keith nodded. He still looked terrified.

“For a minute I thought you were going to die” hesaid. “I don’t know what I would do if you did… die” Lance pressed Keith’s fingersto his lips.

“Baby, I’m never going to leave you. Not even in death”he said with a smirk. Keith rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on hismouth. “And besides, I’m not dying”

“I know but, I don’t think I could handle it if yougot seriously hurt” he said looking down. “I mean, you’re barely even bleedingnow and look how badly I’m freaked out? I care about you too much and I—"Keith continued to ramble on about how much he cared about Lance, and howfreaked out he was, but Lance couldn’t keep up with his word. His vision wasblurring, and the room was spinning.

“K- Keith” Lance said, waving his hand in a patheticattempt to get his attention. “Keith—” Keith paused his nervous word-vomit andturned to Lance. “You- You have to hold this” Lance said nodding his head tothe gauze on his side. Keith scooted toward him and lifted his hand.

“O- Okay” Keith said, taking a deep breath. “Why? Is yourarm getting tired?” Lance let his head fall back and he squeezed his eyes shutin pain.

“N- no” he stuttered. “Don’t freak out… but I think- Ithink I’m going to pass out”

“Oh fuck. Fuck!” he started freaking out all overagain. Lance groaned. He shouldn’t have told him.

“Breathe, Keith” Lance said flatly, opening his eyesagain as his wave of dizziness passed.

“You’re the one dying. I should be telling you tobreathe” Keith grumbled with his head between his knees.

“I’m not dying” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “I’mjust… moderately inconvenienced. And, hey, I’m sure that if I actually was dyingyou would be much more helpful” Keith glared at him. “Hey, that was acompliment” Lance noticed that the new cloth they had put on his would was alreadysoaked through with blood. He was losing blood too fat. He was starting tothink that maybe Keith should be freaking out. Maybe he was being too calmabout this whole situation.

“Lance?” Keith said in concern. Lance blinked andlooked up at him.

“Wh- what?” he cleared his throat. He was having ahard time concentrating.

“Are you listening to me?” Keith leaned over Lance, staringat him, the worry etched on his face.

“Uh, yeah. Totally” Lance said. His words werebeginning to slur. He closed his eyes again.

“Lance…” Keith shook Lance’s shoulders. “Lance? Lance,come on. Don’t do this. You gotta stay awake” Keith pleaded. “Please. Stay withme. Open your eyes, do something! Lance!”

“’m… fine” Lance mumbled, unable to keep his eyes openanymore. Everything started to go numb. “I’m…” And then everything went black.

The next thing Lance remembers was falling out of thehealing pod, directly into someone’s arms. He groaned quietly.

“Lance? Lance, can you hear me?” Lance collapsed intoKeith’s arms.

“How long have I been out?” Lance mumbled. Keithsighed in relief.

“A couple of day” he answered. “Jesus, you scared theshit out of me” Keith wrapped his arms around hmi

“Come on, I gotta keep it interesting somehow” Lancejoked. “I don’t want you dumping me for the next hot alien that comes around”

“God, don’t even joke about that” Keith lightly punchedLance’s shoulder. “And don’t ever do that again. You hear me?” he said intoLance’s shoulder. Lance tightened his grip on Keith.

“Never. I promise”

#langst #langst prompt #voltron #klance #lance mcclain #keith kogane #mine #prompt #prompts #tw #trigger warning #blood tw #injurt tw #Anonymous

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stimmypaw · 4 years

Text

stimmypaw reads Shattered Sky, a late tumblr post

I just, forgot to post this for some reason. It’s me writing my thoughts on the third book of A Vision Of Shadows, I also did that with the first and second ones! Very full of spoilers, enjoy!

Omg.....meet Darktail's Kinnies... someone should name their wc kin server that its a great name, most of them seem to have wc names tho I thought he was a whole gang?? Did more of them get wc names or have already than we knew???

Oh no I barely got to see echosong :c I hope the others are okay, frecklewish is a wonderful name

Chapter one they already have all of the clans going 2 fight???? This absolutely won't go well and that terrifies me

Onestar realized Darktail has a beautiful voice :/ and he feels bad battling him /j

Yup just as I expected, awful loss. Plus Twigpaw was sure her sister was gonna kill her which killed Me

Alderheart parent mode

YASSSS ITS TIME FOR SKYCLAAANNNNNN

obviously the clans are pissed why the hell did they have this as a secret bro!!! why?? bramblestar was just ashamed now firestar???? bro WHY i seriously need to read firestar’s quest I just don’t get it

scenes of elders being cared for by apprentices is always so comforting, seeing it being interrupted and taken from violetpaw feels awful

WHO THE FUCK IS THISTLE he isn’t in the allegiances??????????????????? HELLO ah okay the rogues are showing up slowly ok

Violetpaw did a u-turn to her character here it seems?? She didn't find the elders were lecturing her at first, was Darktail's lil speech about how she was brave enough to convince her they are wrong??? A few compliments couldn't possibly be enough for that. Plus again she is seeing Darktail brutally murder someone and how despite seemingly treating each other nicely these cats are ready to betray each other anytime. Surely this would be enough for her to feel like the elders are still right and she can't trust these cats???

Hope she doesn't start seeing this violence as normal

I'm so sorry for blossomfall I can't believe she got with thornclaw of all cats

LIONBLAZE JAYFEATHER CINDERHEART AND TAWNYPELT, ALL JUST CASUALLY LISTENING TO GOSSIP. ABSOLUTELY SCANDALOUS I LOVE THEM

I love like how the book will take breaks every now and then to show for a millisecond ivypool being mad at tigerheart or vice versa and dovewing looking at tigerheart or vice versa and have the POV go "wonder what thats all about" and just proceed with the plot. Wonderful

Twigpaw :c

"A "mrrow" of welcome" has got to be my favorite line on this book

The cats complain there's already enough plots going on.

Whitewing is a very nice background cat and I appreciate her. But God Omen of the Stars only proved Starclan is just a bunch of old dead cats and that can be both good and terrible. Her argument is needed tho.

The others have a point tho, how can they leave the clan with less cats right now? I guess they would come back with more but what if they're not strong enough to defend themselves? A lot of trouble could happen with Skyclan coming as is to the territories and its understandable for the cats to be concerned

Violetpaw and Needletail cope with trauma as best they can and thats not a lot

I hope Violetpaw at least realizes how fucked up it is that they are scared of their leader who is supposedly their kin and the one who they should be the most loyal to

Oh Boy kittypets!

I love kittypets so much they're always fun. Darktail is so creepy tho I read some quotes he said to my girlfriend and she said he sounded like GLaDOS and yeah he's creepy I can feel it without Violetpaw agreeing with me that she's scared of what will happen next. Where did Darktail get that blood thing????

I like Zelda. She seems to be Violetpaw's age I hope she is so they can kiss. ALSO THIS IS KINDA LIKE MENTORING??? Violetpaw should get a warrior name

TWIGPAW PUT A PILLOW UNDER HER BLANKET SO NO ONE WOULD NOTICE SHE LEFT AHAHAHHA I bet she went to find Skyclan didn't she

PURDY

NOOOOOOO PURDYYY NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

my gf said indigestion can sometimes have those effects on a cat if its really bad i didn't know that

PURDY CANT BE GONE PLEAS

I am SO sad I knew this was coming and I hated it terrible awful

I never saw a vigil so sweet. We Are All Love Purdy.

OH RIGHT TWIGPAW GSGWHAHAH

I appreciate no one is annoyed or pissed theyre all just worried, I am too

Apparently Alderheart and Bramblestar disagree lot? They seem to get along great though. And uh I guess Bramblestar doesn't always take his advice but, that doesn't mean much they like talk about stuff and Bramblestar forms conclusions taking in consideration the stuff his son said and all. Idk, feels like a weird statement Twigpaw something tells me the Erins are failing to send a message somewhere

Fuck I hope someone finds twigpaw soon, her adventure has been fun but I'm terrified for her

Violetpaw seems to be having a hard time too, not only is everything awful and terrible plus we had a time skip of a few days so who knows what happened to Twigpaw. Anyways Violetpaw having to care for Needletail like a mentor is like a young teen having to care for a young adult's mental health and that always sucks for the kid, there's not much else that can be done though Needletail probably doesn't want to worry

Violetpaw :C

This is so sad and terrible, I wish Violetpaw could be with Twigpaw right now she wouldn't be starclan knows where if they were just together!!! I hope the other cats don't start saying nonsense about Violetpaw now. She's scared she won't be accepted in Thunderclan and doesn't see herself as worthy of acceptance, and feels responsible for her older friend. I'm :CC

PAGGDHAHAHA Zelda is a trash cat and I love her

Violetpaw is suffering so much and Darktail is absolutely brainwashing her ass and she can't understand how he is to blame for everything.

Oh boy when she does.

This is such a good story God im like very tired and in need of sleep but I can't stop reading

Oh God so much has happened, this is so terrible, I love that Mothwing and Alderheart are hanging out tho I forgot what a fun character she can be!!!

Thinking about how so much would be easier since book 1 if Onestar agreed to lend a helping paw. Thinking about the begging dying bodies piling up at his door. Thinking about onestar.

Oh scratch what I said earlier guys WHEN VIOLETPAW FINDS OUT DARKTAIL KILLED DAWNPELT OH BOY

Its terrible knowing dawnpelt isn't there and like, so far thinking she was in thunderclan, only to have thunderclan cats wonder if she's in shadowclan like oh God oh fuckle this is IT

I feel so bad for Loki and Zelda :c I would give them treats

What the fuck Darktail

Holy shit Darktail

I am noticing like, cats making seriously spot on assumptions of things that happened out of small information and idk if that really isn't realistic and just a way to make cats realize things or if I'm just too autistic to relate

I'm so glad the medicine cats treat anxiety. Last time I remember that happening was the prophecy begins but I might be forgetting somethin

The fear these cats have of the clans ending feels so real I am absolutely terrified for them and I love it

It doesn't make sense for twigpaw 2 die so I'm not buying it but wow this hurts

Violetpaw time

I am itching for them to find skyclan so bad

Violetpaw you're not Squirrelpaw or Leafpaw in the new prophecy you wouldn't have felt if Twigpaw died :P

Bro Needletail :c I miss when she was a wild free creature

This prisoner smuggling deal is so fun I am absolutely excited about everyone's plans, it can't all go well so soon though.

TWIGPAW YESSSS BABY I MISSED YOU

Twigpaw lactose intolerant moment

omg she had a vision

Vision cat be nice 2 my baby she is dying

TWIGPAW FOUND SKYCLAN YESSSS YES YES YES

OMG......HAWKWING.....AAAAAAA THATS HER DAD BRO SHE FOUND HER DAD IM YESSSS YEAYESYESYEYD

This is so good im so happy

This is so awful I'm so sad WHERES THE CLAN CATS they were supposed to show up when they were asleep right????? Fuck!!!

This is so scary

NEEDWETAIL IM

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Violetpaw definitely could have used a better friend at times, but God was Needletail good im so sad

Bramblestar: alderheart we need a point of view from thunderclan of what's happening so you're coming to the battle

OMG THEY DID IT!!!! I DID NOT EXPECT THAT WROW VERY NICE

Oh this is so exciting, how will they get Windclan back????

Twigpaw baby you always had your place here

I think they should both go to Skyclan but I understand if Twigpaw is indecisive she has always had a good life in Thunderclan.

Nononono Rowanstar, Scourge is the villain from the The Prophecy Begins here, your guy is named Darktail

Ominousnestar

I have been vaguely spoiled about Onestar being related to Darktail but I have no clue how

I can see Onestar's, Smoke's and Darktail's designs rotating in my mind its beautiful

I'm loving this story this is so cool

You dare challenge the warrior cats Fandom?

SKYCLAN, DROP YOUR CATS

RIVERCLAN, GET THE BUCKET

WINDCLAN, GRAB YOUR LEAFBLOWERS

THUNDERCLAN, GRAB YOUR LIGHTNING RODS

SHADOWCLAN, IDK MAN SAY BOO OR SOMETHING AHHAHA

I'm glad this is the prophecy this series really is Tumblr vs 4chan

Oh my god

This is so surreal

What an astounding battle wow and what an ending

I loved it

That was so so good

Everything here was fantastic, looking back its hard to believe they managed to fit so much plot into one book and like the pacing was Very Good this was just good writing wow? The development of Darktail, everything with Onestar, very fun I was on the edge of my seat through the whole thing it was incredibly fun. I’m very excited for what’s to come too, I worry it probably won’t be as fun and exciting as this since they already got rid of the biggest threat, unless they get another, but still like I really wanna know what’s gonna happen with Skyclan! And Violetpaw and Twigpaw!!!! How will the clans cope with all this loss and receive a new clan in the territories??? There’s a lot of good build up that I don’t know if it will live up to all that happened so far, but I think it can be very good and I’m excited, lots ahead of us!!! Oh boy!!

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pinksweatergettingbetter · 7 years

Text

warning, the following has mainly snarky (and possibly furious) opinions on Spirit of Justice. Reader discretion is advised.

Okay folks. this is it. part 1 of the final chapter

here we go.

trial day 2?? oh yeah i forgot they split this game up in the worst, uneven way possible

wow that cutscene was

something alright

wow datz actually managed to hold onto the snow globe. kudos?

what the fuck

i think i heard it wrong but Dhurke’s objection sounds like an old man

I'm pretty sure i heard it wrong

missed the bass

who was that no– oh Garananana

i guess she's gonna be the final boss instead huh

im so tired i cant even snark properly

“is that kosher?”

i like it

oh god

what.... what is she wearing

i mean

fuckin

TALK about madonna-whore complex. oh yeah, time to turn super evil?? bear your midriff! show off dem tiddies!

look, SOJ. theres only one bad bitch in ace attorney who can pull off floaty tendril hair, and its NOT ga’ran.

i cant believe i have to look at this train wreck for the rest of the trial

“heh heh heh. its all coming back now. the feel of my blood pumping through my veins”

this is perhaps because youre actually moving now, your eminence.

can we just dispense with the trial and have a good old fashioned anime fight? cmon apollo, spike up that hair and grab your BFS.

“meep”

WHATS WITH THE MEEPING

BONNY DID THAT TOO

SOJ ITS 2016 ...ACTUALLY ITS 2028 YOU HOLES

everyone in the court: :O what??? whats wrong with rayfa??? why is she sad???

oh i dunno maybe because her fucking Father just got brutally murdered?? maybe??

what the fuck is up with SOJ characters being dumb as a bag of bricks when it comes to other peoples’ feelings regarding death of loved ones???

phoenix: shits fucked, thats why?? apollo: OHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“seems like she's worse off today than she was yesterday”

hey game you'd better not be implying any shit

“discipline”

soj

alright, back after another longass break. i can do this.

( That’s oddly compassionate of him, all things considered )

I was about to defend Nahyuta because what kind of person wouldn’t try to spare a child from witnessing that kind of trauma... but then again, this is the Sadmad who purposefully tried to trigger someone into losing a trial so

(shrug emoji)

grana’s gone into full HORHORHOR BITCH MODE

partially I'm totally numb because i dont have any stakes in her newfound ebilness, and partially I'm tired of this weird new trend of child abuse in the new games

“Barbed head.”

oh my god

the first person she goes to after realizing that her caretaker is gone is fucking Phoenix

im gonna cry

“ive been reduced to “royal robe remover”” NO NICK YOU’VE BEEN UPGRADED TO DAD BY SOMEONE WHO’S NOT YOU

( ‘It’s like she’s grooming Mr. Wright to be Nayna’s replacement’)

I know this game is all about confusing bullshit for heartwarming moments and vice versa but guys

good lord

my heart

i really needed that

(sigh) they really couldn’t get someone who sounded like a fucking 14 year old to do her voice?? really???

rayfa: (looks like she's going to die and collapses)

apollo: this is not good...

gee apollo you really think so?

wait a fuking second

we went through the whole dance cutscene and we’re not even going to see the pool??? does that mean the priestess has to be conscious and present for the images to be visible? ...and how does that work, anyway?

i just realized, a medium could use a pool to see the dead, but how the hell could they project it for others to see?? does she literally open a portal to hell???

(sigh) i just regret sitting through that cutscene again

“cabal of traitorous lawyers”

i love that

(Seriously Dhurke? This is no laughing matter.)

this basically sums up Dhurke’s entire personality

...yknow, i know what they were trying to do with his character– i really do. i know he’s supposed to come off as a dashing, cavalier rebel who laughs in the face of danger.

but they overshot endearingly irreverent and ploughed straight into fuckwaddome. if you want a character to be charming, they need softer moments too. Dhurke isn’t a bad person, but he’s kind of an asshole when you get right down to it, and nothing so far is proving otherwise.

ok ive heard Dhurke’s Objection again and it doesn't sound like an old man– it just sounds about as overblown and ridiculous as Manfred von Karma’s (not to mention about as deep)

LET DHURKE SAY BITCH

... i guess

another perfect example of Dhurke being kind of a fuckwad: he keeps needling the queen and baiting her in ways that could get himself killed, which would be all fine and dandy if he were the brave resistance leader being tortured for information in the bowels of a dungeon.

...but here’s the thing.

IF YOU DIE, DHURKE, APOLLO AND PHOENIX DIE TOO. DID YOU FORGET ABOUT THE GODDAMN DC ACT? ITS NOT JUST YOUR DEAD ASS ON THE LINE HERE SO SHUT YOUR SASSY TRAP AND THINK ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN YOUR *AMAZING WIT* FOR ONCE.

you’ve got 2 extra lives on the line here.

...3 if my suspicions are correct.

stop calling him son please you abandoned him in an orphanage and didnt contact him for 14 years.

...and if he can’t call you ‘dad’ you have no right to call him ‘son’

coming back to this after ghost trick has convinced me that one of ga’ran’s lackeys miiiiiight be related to Cabanela, baby

“Wright... I can see we are kindred spirits, you and I! Hah-ha ha ha ha ha!!”

FUCK YOU DHURKE

“It’s pretty easy to spot the difference between a soulless man and the soulless shell of a man”

ok that did get a laugh out of me, good job dhurke.

apollo: pls dont get us killed dhurke: mmmm ok ill try but I'm not promising anything lol

://///

“But remember, son, if you truly believe in me, you should be able to prove my innocence.”

do i even have to list how many reasons thats wrong and a shitty thing to say

“Such Insolence”

You’ve been beat out, Not So Fast

Ga’ran used Gust!

Apollo flinched and couldn’t move!

“I could behead you at any time”

she's got a point; she’s a fucking despot, there’s no reason to actually hold a trial. i mean i guess she wants to shut up the rebels but just killing them would be a lot easier and its not like she has any qualms about murder

“Aw shoot, ya got me.”

again, not an appropriate reaction for whats going on buddy

lol get fucked kjudge

DGFUFUS OH COOL

WE GOT GUILTY (excited cheers from the audience)

the applause and the shots of everyone with :O faces is making me feel like i just won a gameshow

wheres my cheesy jingle

also i love how Dhurke’s like “oh shit!! my assholishness has directly resulted in my son’s death!!! did NOT see that coming!!!!!!!!!”

again the sound mixing is drowning out the background music (sigh)

“your benevolence? I’d be happy to lend an ear if you’d like to talk!”

>this is it, this is why he leaves the series guys. Apollo is too good for these sinful games.

DAMNIT DHURKE, YOUR SHIT MOUTH IS RUBBING OFF ON YOUR SON

hmm

we’ve got an april may here

“Rayfa, I shall buy you a new servant”

so Kooraheen practices slavery..? I mean, she.... she said ‘buy’, not hire.

“she would have left shoeprints”

do you know what evaporation is your malevolence

wait wait wait

that doesn't make any sense

the only prints leading out are from Inga, but the prints inside the building are from Nayna? how did she avoid leaving prints leading inside, then?? did she just long-jump over the dirt path???

the guards are not fanboying, apollo, they’re toadying. there’s a difference.

apollo: maybe the place he was stabbed and the place he died were different

(the game only continues after you carefully explain what dying of blood loss is three years later)

to be completely fair, there are actually stories of people who were unaware of being stabbed

furthermore, when you get stabbed, you’re not going to be the most rational human being on earth.

phoenix, don’t give sadmad that point, especially when he’s currently assaulting your protege

now, as i was saying, Apollo’s suggestion that Inga was stabbed in the back and then ran into the temple is perfectly plausible; running to shelter from an attacker is probably the first thing you’d want to do when injured, and the tomb was a pretty safe place, i’d wager.

tbh i really don’t know why they’re arguing about him feeling the pain as that wouldn’t really impair his movement considering he was stabbed in a place that wouldn’t affect his ability to walk???

but yeah apparently he was doped up to shit so

...i highly doubt back pain medication is strong enough to negate a stab wound. on the other hand, if it is and your back pain is THAT intense, Inga, you need to see a fucking doctor pronto.

...yeah shots straight into the spine is one step away from surgery; not to be an asshole but I'm not sure Inga was doing so well anyway before he went

huh. are they really gonna give us an actual choosable choice to abandon Dhurke and save our own skin? Cause that would be interesting; a lot like the old games where you could “”choose”” to defend a client or not.

to be clear here, though, i wouldn't choose “no” even as much as i dislike dhurke. we know (sigh) that he’s innocent, and even if i dont like him it’s our duty to defend his shitty ass

OH HOLY FUCK

THERES THE CHOICE

wow. y’know SOJ, i dont much like you, but you fuckin Did That. well done.

also thank you for the Justice pun it is much appreciated.

“And while I can’t say I’m used to it, this isn’t exactly my first rodeo”

FWHAT

>game flashes back to the Ahlbi case

DSKJFLS THIS IS LITERALLY THE “at second rodeo: this isn't my first rodeo” POST

YES OK WE’VE SEEN THIS CUTSCENE TWICE NOW ALREADY

WE GET IT, RAYFAS GOT COLD FEET ABOUT BEING QUEEN

MAYAS IN THE GAME

phoenix: allow me to mansplain how rayfa is feeling despite how fucking obvious it is. after all, we know our players have the mental and emotional capacity of goldfish!

oh hey mansplain is a legit word in the dictionary

cool!

why are they building this up?? just fucking tell Rayfa to do her stupid dance again and get on with it; we already did this at the beginning of the trial

“Hmm... Indeed. It would be problematic.”

ohohoooohohohhhihgjhgo

oh her nails are actually tiny pen

thats neat

thank goodness Kooraheeneese is an up-and-down written language– otherwise they’d have to make a whole new animation for the english game teehee

“....................But... Horn Head needs my help”

oh my heart

dan she just straight up begone’d her

see the one thing that falls flat here is that, during a regular trial, the prosecution saying “oh, ok, have it your way; you can try to prove your theory” holds up a little more since they... you know. don’t have absolute power.

where as, with Garananana, its more like she's just a huge posturing pushover. especially since every other minute she's saying “ok, I'm gonna kill you for REAL now.”

rayfa: b but if i fail you'll be killed!!! i dont get it...

apollo: i literally just finished explaining that I'm 100% ready to die for my shitty job that was like 5 minutes ago

it is sweet to see that he’s cheering her on though. good big bro

I'm finding small solace in this beautiful moment of “your foreign dad and bro are here for you babe reach for the stars”

Athena’s probably flashing a double thumbs up from the gallery too

“But... I finally know now. I know in what I can trust”

Bobby, from the afterlife: YOU’RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE

Garan: What??? my tiny 14 year old daughter is going to do a thing i don’t want her to??? fuck there’s no way i can shut her up. not even with all of my large adult man guards who could easily just escort her out of the courtroom without any resistance because they’re my fucking royal guards and I'm the Queen

oh shit she took off her own cape

im so glad i muted the game so her awful voice actress couldn’t ruin this cool moment

and now as this long ass cutscene plays out again, i simply cannot help but wonder about the poor choir and how long they’ve been on standby

where do they keep the choir during trials

whats it like singing the dance of devotion song every trial

oh finally here we go. alright, lets see what the magic party pool has in store for us this time

...o ...ok then

OH! OH SHIT

Inga’s face blind?!

Y’know I did have a few thoughts about that when we discovered his notebook but I didn’t think they’d actually go that route... though, thinking about it now, it is pretty convenient.

...ok everyone’s freaking out. maybe they’ve never heard of face-blindness? ...or maybe its not face blindness after all

im pretty sure it is though

i dont know why but everyone being like FUCK ITS GOD and phoenix being like “whoops shits trippy now” made me laugh pretty hard

ok i gotta say I'm actually a little invested now, even if its just because i think face-blindness is an interesting thing to incorporate into a murder case. again, a convenient thing, but an interesting thing all the same.

ahh fuck i keep forgetting how the stupid seance works

welp, there goes one of my souls... (sigh)

..apollo you dont need to show her the picture of her dead father to say “he had a cell phone”.

the voice was coming from INSIDE THE PHONE

RAYFA HAS A PET FROG????

WHAT

SHOW US THE FROG SOJ

SHOW US THE FROG! SHOW US THE FROG! SHOW US THE FROG!

...why would Rayfa interpret the sound of the warbaa’d (something she’s familiar with) with a lion’s roar (something she’s unfamiliar with) ??

oh i see thats why Vore Machine is an idiot

for plot convenience

Datz Are’bal, a man who throws fire crackers at children.

...sounds like an are’bal guy.

bahdum-tshh

“The joker who got a kick out of startling Ahlbi with his Dragon Snot Snaps”

...something tells me that if Datz found out about Youtube, he’d be one of those “””prank””” channels.

also WHY ARE THEY CALLED SNOT SNAPS

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

“happy-go-lucky”

i think you mean vaguely sociopathic

(sigh) ive finally been worn down to the point where i need a walkthrough. ive... been beaten...

boy ahlbi’s just a font of knowledge isn't he

DID SHE JUST BREAK HER NAILS OFF

PLEASE SAY THOSE WERE STICK ONS

HOL SHIT

MMMM LAY IT ON ME NICK

face blindness

... i mean theyre not calling it that but thats what it is

yeah yeah channeling blah blah come on! youre in the LAND of channeling !

shduhjahdjk

I'm picturing Inga running into his own dead body and flipping his shit

oh man. thats the end of Trail 2 part 1.

guess i’ll see you guys on the other side... heheh.

#soj spoilers #sulking over SOJ #ooc #its a LONG one]

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yugirl-with-dragons · 8 years

Text

5d’s Medieval AU- Sanctuary

This fanfic was written by @aceyugiohdreamer for my 5d’s Medieval AU. My friend is CRAZY and I LOVE her. With. All. Of. My. Heart. (Oh and thank you for giving me the permission to post it here <3 <3 <3 sorry if it took me some time, I had no computer! But I mean... 1) your writing is great 2) the world must kNOW it’s great 3) I wanted to keep it on my blog bc it was AU related, so I can re-read it how many times I want to :3)

I hope ya’ all enjoy it bc I LOVED IT OKAY. THE INTROSPECTION. THE DETAILS. THE SYMBOLISM. THE WAY YOU DESCRIBE STARDUST AND HIS ACTIONS HOLY SHIT. AND AKI’S. AND YUSEI’S. FFS EVERYTHING IS PERFECT AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY ANYMORE??? WHAT THE HECK IS LEFT TO SAY WHEN SOMETHING IS ALREADY SO PERFECT ????

GOSH I loved the part where Stardust carried Yusei on his back (ToT)// (for some reasons, I love imagining him sleeping) and Aki. Omg Aki on the roof. Gazing at the stars. And Stardust secrectly envying her, her magic and her human hands caressing Yusei, gOSH MY FEELS ??? SOMEONE HELP ME I’M DYING HERE ???!! ;__________;

AND IDK AKI AND YUSEI’S INTERACTION. ASDFGHJKL SOMEONE BRING BACK MY FAITHSHIPPER SIDE BC IT HAS JUST D I E D FANGIRLING AAAAAAAAA

Yusei is just so pure and so strong and so kind and so sweet and so beautiful and so sdfghjkl I LOVE. HIM. And I love how you show all of this in such a delicate scene ;____; Every single detail of his personality can be seen and I love how he talks to Stardust and dfghj all the fUCKING REST. I meannnnnnnnn. KY. I. LOVE. THIS. YOU PUT YOUR BEST IN IT AND I CAN SEE IT. YOU’RE SO TALENTED AND I LOVE WHEN YOU WRITE THINGS FOR MY AU BC I ALWAYS KNOW IT’S A++++ QUALITY WORK. AND IT FUCKING IS ALL THE TIMES. ASDFGHJK. I DON’T EVEN NEED TO BE A NATIVE SPEAKER TO BE SURE OF IT, THIS IS PURE GOLD AND I’VE ALREADY RE-READ IT THRICE FFS

TELL ME YOUR SECRET HOW DO YOU DO THIS???? AND IN SUCH A SHORT TIME???????? ASDFGHJKL *SCREECHES*

#I think in the meantime I’ll go back in my dark corner melting over and over in a puddle rereading this again bc IT’S. FUCKING. PERFECT.

The fic is under the cut (obv) <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Though the sun had drifted out of sight behind the forest’s body of trees, the sky was still colored blue and bright enough to light their way. That wouldn’t last for too much longer though, Aki knew: they were slipping into the time of year when the days grew shorter. She kept her eyes forward as she guided the massive dragon. She didn’t need to look back to know he was following, after all—she could hear the bump of each footstep against the earth, feel the soft tremor ripple out beneath her own feet. And since she wasn’t about to start a conversation with a dragon she wasn’t at all familiar with, she didn’t need to meet those solid gold eyes of his. It had been a little work pushing Yusei up onto the dragon’s back, but since Yusei had still had some consciousness at the time, and with the dragon helping as well, Aki had been able to push with enough strength to get him all the way up. He had fallen unconscious shortly after that, which was just as well, since it gave her time to think.

crunch crunch fwip crunch shwish

The collection of dried debris—leaves, bark, twigs, nuts—rustled and snapped beneath her soles, but it faded into the back of her mind as her thoughts delved deeper.

“The rest are still coming. You need to go and go now.”

How had his voice rung so clearly when everything about her in that moment had been buzzing?

“I’ll hold them off, but you should get away as fast as you can.”

Even now, recalling that moment, she felt the memory reviving the same surge of adrenaline—hot, tight ropes knotting inside her, melted iron spilling into her veins—exhorting her heart to quicken its pace. She breathed in the cool air, deep and slow, to clear it away, ease her pulse. The danger was gone.

For now.

Right?

He had done what he had said he would, giving her a chance to run to safety, unpursued. And he had flown over her without making any attempt to land and take her for himself.

She remembered those eyes, such a striking blue, boring straight into her, direct and . . .

Sincere.

If she had seen nothing of him but his eyes, she would have still felt this uncanny sense that he was honest.

Did she believe that kind of thing? That the eyes were the windows to the soul? Wasn’t it possible that someone could conceal their true feelings, or project something false?

Maybe.

But, it wasn’t all she had seen. He had saved her. Without asking or demanding anything in return. He acted like such a . . .

Well, a knight.

Or at least, the kind of knight in fairy tales, the kind who were just and selfless and dutiful. The kind that seemed too good to be true—considering that they were only human, after all.

And he was human. She sensed no magic in him, nothing ingrained in his being from birth. And she had only known him for a few minutes, total, so how could she know that what he had appeared to be in that encounter was who he really was? He could be . . . anyone.

“Yusei.”

That’s who he had said he was. And, more than that, he had asked who she was.

Her instinct told her he wasn’t dangerous—not to her anyway.

But, was a witch’s instinct worth any more than a normal human’s? Normal, flawd humans who misjudged and miscalculated so often?

Well, what about the dragon? The dragon had a good aura about him, like starlight, bright and white. And he cared deeply about Yusei, that was obvious. Could a being with that kind of heart attach itself to someone with dark intentions, shaded with malice and deception?

She replayed in her mind the moment when she had reached out her hands to his body, concentrating on the feel of his injuries: he hadn’t recoiled, hadn’t contorted his face in revulsion, hadn’t narrowed his eyes in suspicion. She had felt nothing in his aura hostile toward her presence at all—and that wasn’t something that could be hidden. No amount of masking or repression could prevent her from sensing such an emotion. Just like she could feel pieces of his body that eyes and fingers were too dull to grasp, there were other parts—inner parts, heart-mind-soul parts—that she could perceive just as clearly.

If nothing else, she trusted the magic. She relied on that trust to ease her twisting insides. She had to keep calm, otherwise that dragon would notice her nervousness—if he hadn’t already—and maybe he wouldn’t like that. She didn’t need that kind of tension between them on top of everything else. Calm down, she told herself. He’s injured, there’s no way with all that blood loss he’s going to be a threat. And she assumed that as long as she didn’t hurt Yusei, the dragon wouldn’t be a threat to her, either.

Maybe she just needed to stop thinking about it, maybe she was working herself up too much. She just needed to give him a place to rest and recover and—

“Oh.”

She looked up. They had arrived.

She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed how far they had gone. And her feet had carried her along by memory.

She hid her surprise by continuing on, all the way to the front door. She stood at the threshold, her hand on the knob. The dragon crawled up slowly behind her, moving his body carefully so as not to disturb the load stretched out on top of him, while carrying the knight’s bag by the strap between his teeth—how such razors weren’t slicing right through that thin leathery material, she had no idea. She had other things to think about right then, like how there was no way that dragon was going to fit inside the house. Which meant, she was going to have to take Yusei in on her own from here.

She opened the door before stepping up to the dragon, who had come as close as he could and turned sideways to give her clear reach. The dragon lowered itself, belly to the ground, and carefully shifted his shoulders and muscles as Aki reached up to catch Yusei’s body as it slowly began to slide down the dragon’s sloping side. Working together she and the dragon managed to keep him steady until she had him on his feet leaning against the dragon, his arm around her shoulder. From this point on, though, she wasn’t sure she could get him inside on her own. She looked at him, his eyes still closed even after being so jostled. Could she wake him? In that state?

She bit her lip, tightened her grip on his wrist. “Yu . . . Yusei?” she asked tentatively.

He didn’t move, as she had expected—she had spoken so softly.

“Hey, Yusei?” she tried a little louder, tugging at his wrist.

Nothing.

She exhaled, wondering what to do. Even if she could wake him up, admittedly she would feel guilty pulling him up into consciousness by force. Why wasn’t she stronger?

She exhaled again. Then, she felt Yusei’s body lighten. Confused, she looked for an explanation and found the dragon’s tail curling against Yusei, holding him up. She smiled, an effect of the relief washing through her. Bless this dragon. She looked up into his face and smiled her gratitude to him, then turned back to the door and slowly trudged forward into the house, holding Yusei up as high as she could with the help of the tail’s strength so that his feet dragged as little as possible. The dragon followed, moving backwards while looking over his shoulder.

“I’m turning right,” Aki called back to him, and the tail followed her guidance closely into the first bedroom until she set Yusei down on the bed. The tail retracted and she saw the dragon’s face appear at the window as she lifted Yusei’s legs up and shifted his body into what seemed the most comfortable position. And since there was no hope of getting the blanket he was on out from beneath him, she grabbed a different blanket from the small closet. She threw it open, flapped it gently, and spread it over him, pulling it up to his shoulders. She leaned back, breathing hard from all the exertion, but it passed quickly. His eyes were still closed, and she put a hand over his chest to feel his heartbeat. It didn’t seem out of the ordinary, and his breathing was calm. She smiled and exhaled with satisfaction.

Yes, good. He was settled.

She went to the kitchen and filled a pitcher with water, then brought it back to set on the side table with an empty glass, just in case he woke up on his own. She glanced to the side and saw the dragon was still there at the window, watching.

It seemed she wouldn’t be closing the curtain any time soon.

Then the pack hanging from the dragon’s teeth caught her attention again. She knew it would be safe with the dragon, but just in case . . . She glided to the window, with more care to be quiet than was needed, and opened it. “I can put that in here . . . by him,” she said, holding out her hands, but not too much, so as not to seem demanding. It was just an offer, she’d let the dragon decide what was best.

He stared for a moment, and she waited, giving him the time to make up his mind. Perhaps there was something valuable in that worn but sturdy pack that he feared she would discover and covet for herself, or perhaps it was just the simple fact that it was personal, the knight’s only possessions in the world, not anything to be passed around to strangers.

She didn’t know. She didn’t need to know. And she didn’t try to convince the dragon of anything—he could read her aura well enough on his own, something worth more than words. He would know her intentions through that.

Slowly he began to lean forward, until the pack was in her hands. It was big, and bulky. He held it for her while she examined the exterior with her hands, trying to find the best way to accept such a mass. She had a feeling it was heavier than it looked, just like that knight was stronger than he looked. Well, she didn’t have to take it very far . . .

But still. “Maybe . . . you should just set it down,” she finally conceded, taking a step back to make room. The dragon’s expression was stony, but she was certain she could sense a kind of amused snort in his heart. Well, better that than making a fool of herself trying to hold that thing up in the air on her own.

The dragon complied and poked his snout shallowly through the window, enough to lower the pack gently to the floor, then he released it and withdrew from the room.

“Ok,” she sighed. And then she took hold of the strap—she had said she would put it by Yusei, after all—and then heaved. Fortunately, it wasn’t so heavy as to be immovable. It slid well across the smooth wood floor until the settled it at the side of the bed, close enough that he could touch it if he reached down. She turned back to see the dragon still watching her closely, as she had expected, and returned to the window. She coughed softly, hesitating, then muttered under breath, “Sorry,” before she closed the window again.

It was a clean window though, she told herself. Clear enough to be as good as open . . .

She took one more look at Yusei before leaving the room. The front door was still open, but rather than closing it she went outside. The dragon was crouched by the house, and in a fleeting thought he seemed to her like the perfect guardian. No threat could touch this place, would dare enter its territory. Isolation and concealment had been effective means of protection so far for all these years, but the dragon added a marvelous presence of security.

“He’ll be all right,” she said, stepping forward. If they had been close she might have put a reassuring hand on the dragon, but, despite saving his rider, she wasn’t sure they were on that emotional level. She settled for overlapping her arms close against her middle. The dragon glanced at her obliquely. “He seems to be in good condition,” she continued. “If he gets the rest he needs, he’ll be fine.”

The dragon stared. She wasn’t sure if dragons blinked—had she seen this one blink earlier? she couldn’t quite remember for certain—but this one wasn’t at the moment. It felt like . . . he expected her to say more.

She licked her lips quickly. “I can’t say for sure how long it will take,” she offered. “He did lose a lot of blood, but . . . I’ll do what I can to . . . to help him recover.”

The dragon kept staring, and she felt the weight of his scrutinizing assessment, but then she saw the slight dip of his head in a shallow nod.

Good, good. She exhaled quietly.

“I’m about to go start dinner,” she announced. “Normally I only make enough for myself, but, if I need to I can . . . make something for you, too.” That would certainly be a new experience.

The dragon tilted its head. It was a familiar gesture, one of curiosity, like a human lifting an eyebrow when confronting an oddity. But there was more than just the gesture. She could understand him—not so much in words, but in sense. The language of magic communicating on its own terms. She stared into those golden eyes, and like a resonance, a thrumming vibration inside her mind, she comprehended meaning.

Don’t worry about me, the vibration conveyed. I can fend for myself. She nodded—that, she could believe. He had such a powerful, majestic body, sleek on the surface, gleaming like a mirror when the light caught at just the right angle, and tons of thick, hard muscles bundled beneath, rippling like currents with every tightly controlled movement. His body alone was certainly a force to be reckoned with, so much power there ready to be unleashed when needed. If she concentrated, she would be able to discern what kind of magic he possessed wound up within every fiber of his being, but she knew that was rude. Invasive. Like someone slipping a hand inside another’s clothing. The last thing she wanted was to offend such a creature.

They were at least on respectful terms now. A tense and fragile newborn thing.

And it was just as well—she wasn’t sure what a dragon ate, or, assuming she had access to whatever that was, if she had enough to feed such a massive body, even for one day. Having impractical, unnecessary offers declined was such a relief. Divine had stocked up the house with enough for her to last a while, since it was never certain how long he would be gone, but she didn’t know how long it would last with extra mouths.

“Ok, well than,” she sighed, brushing her shirt unnecessarily and putting her hands on her hips. “I’ll, uh . . . be inside.” She flicked her head toward the door and turned her body, but kept her eyes on the dragon’s until he turned away first, tail twitching at his side as he stared through the window.

She entered the house, hovered at the opening with her hand on the door’s edge, and decided against closing it. The weather was nice, and it felt . . . rude, to close the door, especially after having just closed the window in his face, even if the dragon couldn’t come through and was only interested in the view through the window anyway. With the door open it at least felt like they were part of the same space, just in different rooms.

Maybe she was just overthinking things again.

She shook her head as she scoped around the kitchen and decided on what to make.

***

Night had painted the sky and everything beneath hours ago. Stardust was returning from a short venture to feed himself, which he had only felt comfortable doing because Yusei had slept so soundly for so long, and that woman Aki had gone in to check on him a few times with no signal that anything was amiss. He had watched her press the back of her hand against Yusei’s forehead, her fingers against his throat, things impossible for him to do. It wasn’t just the hunger that had driven away him to find food, he had needed to move and flex out the frustration tangling in his body. The window and walls may be separating him from Yusei, but there were more obstacles than that.

When he emerged into the clearing, those obstacles were still there, and the frustration was still tangled and hot, but, he trusted Yusei would be well soon and they’d be back together, on their way, hopefully to find that other damn dragon that had caused this trouble in the first place. He wasn’t going to let that black brute get away with it.

He plodded toward the house, back to the window, when he happened to glance up. It was the witch—he saw her sitting up on the roof, leaning forward against her bent legs with her arms wrapped around them, he eyes turned upward to the black sky encrusted with fine glitter. He had seen a similar pensive expression on Yusei many times, always aimed upward, as if the stars called out to him in a voice even his magic senses couldn’t detect.

He knew from that far-off look that right then, and probably for a good amount of time, she wasn’t there. Not really. She had flown away to somewhere even he with his massive, strong wings could not reach. She would have to return on her own.

There wasn’t much he could do to make himself inconspicuous, but he had enough respect for that transfixed expression—such an entranced meditation with whatever things humans thought about when they got lost in that wide expanse of galaxy and soul overlapped together—that he would at least try to not distract her out of it. He slowed his movements and curled his body and limbs as he moved forward to avoid brushing against trees and shrubbery and pounding against the earth with too much force. He felt vaguely reptilian, which was a distasteful thought. Humans—he certainly had made many more accommodations for them these last ten years or so than he had ever expected to. He stopped, settling himself calmly into the cleared circular space, and aimed his gaze back inside the house. He could see Yusei asleep in the bed, and felt the phantom of that small human body pressed against his own. How strange it felt to not have him there. How strange that it felt so strange.

But, to be honest, he didn’t mind. Some humans were worth getting attached to. And as long as Yusei was getting better, he could stand the walls separating them—for a little while.

He turned his eyes again, shifting them upward. Aki was still staring, head tilted back. Yusei had always been noble-minded, saving people first and asking questions later. Fortunately, this had turned out to be one of those times where it actually earned him some benefit. It wasn’t always like that, but Yusei didn’t seem bothered by it. The guy was incurably moral, sometimes surpassing the dragon’s patience, but really he wouldn’t change a thing about him. They were partners. A team. They’d done so much together, understood each other. If he were human, or at least the right size, he would have liked to be able to put his arm around Yusei’s shoulders every now and then, like any other friend would, maybe look at the stars with him and ask what he thought about when he saw them. Maybe he would, in his own way, once Yusei was healed and they were back on their way. Nudge him with his nose or something.

He was grateful he still had the opportunity to do that, thanks to the woman. The witch. He had encountered witches before, a few, but none had felt like this one. Granted, every witch’s—every human’s—aura was unique, had its own personality in the fine details and textures, but there were similarities in currents, in the general pool of shapes and colors. He wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something in this woman he had never felt before. But even so, he could feel in the fundamental gradient of her magic that he could trust her—trust her with the person most important to him in all the world.

The person he had not been able to save himself.

He still cringed at the thought, the memory of that attack, the sensation of falling as blood leaked out of his body even as it healed on its own, the smell of Yusei’s blood and the feel of his hands holding on tight for dear life as the ground got closer and closer and closer . . . The dragon had done the best he could to keep Yusei on the right side, keep him from getting crushed in the impact. And he had succeeded in that, but he was keenly aware that if this witch had not come and used her magic to heal the wounds Yusei had sustained in the battle, had not taken him into her home to give him water and food, his companion would be long dead, and he would have sung a song of mourning for days before he could lift himself into the air again. Mired in such a thought, he cursed his own limited ability. He was a dragon! He should be capable of so much more! He should be able to do more than merely protect, to use his body as a defense and a shield, he wanted to do more, to be more. And so, though he was grateful, he couldn’t help but feel a slight burn in his heart as he stared at the woman, the smoldering lick of jealousy along the pit of his stomach.

Aki’s eyes slowly drifted across the gaps and spaces between the shining stars, linked by invisible lines her imagination provided. Sliding here, jumping there, back and forth, around in circles and spirals, traveling across the black sea to the tiny islands of light. She went so far, somewhere between flying and swimming, feeling the stars like a brush of gauze in her soul. It was something she wasn’t sure Divine could feel. He would look at the stars with her, explain to her constellations, and certain planetary configurations of power, but, when it came to the stars and planets themselves, each little speck, she had her doubts that he could feel them, hear them in his skin. That was something she had learned as she got older: he was knowledgeable, for sure, knowing so much and teaching her all of it, but she noticed little things here and there that he didn’t seem to sense.

That was ok, though. And maybe someday he would let her teach him some things. Maybe someday she could guide him enough to feel the tickling vibration of a star’s breath beneath his skin. He would like that, she was sure.

She smiled to herself, hugging her legs tighter. And so she arrived back on the roof, reconnecting with the weight of her body and the feel of time in the present, and realized she felt a bit stiff and sore from having been sitting for so long in one posture. She unwrapped her arms and began flexing and stretching, bending and twisting to loosen her muscles and joints. She arched her back and rolled her neck, and that was when she noticed the dragon had returned. He lay in a shape suited to his body’s anatomy, his head slightly raised, and because his golden eyes had no iris or pupil she couldn’t be sure if he was looking at her or somewhere else. It felt strange to be self-conscious about the gaze of a dragon, but that was only the surface logic thinking. Dragons had great depth to their souls and hearts and magic, she knew. Being around them could feel very much like being around a human, even if the language wasn’t the same, there was still a flow of communication and understanding, a sense of being of the same soul stuff. Magic aided in that flow, but she could see—anyone could see—that this dragon and Yusei had mastered that flow with each other, had knit themselves together in companionship. She wondered just how well they could communicate, if it was like talking and having a conversation, or if they caught gists and wordless meanings in their gestures and eyes and body language.

She also wondered if she should tell Divine about meeting a dragon. She was sure he would have wanted the opportunity to meet this one himself, but would it be kindness to tell him about it as best she could, or cruelty to let him know he had been unlucky enough to miss something so rare?

One more thing for her to think about.

For now, she saw that the dragon seemed even more majestic in the dark, as if his white skin was meant to be seen in the contrast, emitting a subtle glow and, in the right light, flashing with pinpoint sparkles, as if the skin wasn’t smooth but faceted, every scale cut into tiny angles too small to see with the naked eye. There might be as many such sparkles there as stars in the sky. Which was more stunning? It was hard to say.

The dragon was back in his place, his curled body against the ground, his settled head in such a way that one eye faced the window.

She smiled. She hoped Yusei could feel that guardian spirit close by. Well, maybe that was why he could sleep so well—the man barely shifted, always in the same position whenever she checked in.

She would be grateful to sleep even half as well. Knowing that dragon was there, she just might. The only reason she would be closing the door that night would be to keep the chill creeping into the air from filling the house as well.

She’d put another blanket over her charge though, just in case.

***

Mist hovered above the ground, cooling her ankles and fingers as she shuffled through the garden to collect her items. She was in the back, the night-black trees regaining their color and clear outlines in the dim dawn light. The damp smell of dew thickened the air as she sorted and plucked, following her senses, both physical and magical, to know which of the wildflowers and grasses she needed, which strands and buds were the most potent. She had been taught well to know which plants had which properties, which healed what malady, but there was still plenty of room to rely on the magic in her to find just the right auras.

She collected her fragrant bundles and stood, dusting off the knees of her skirt. It wasn’t so much a garden—that was something more intentionally directed—rather she had simply encouraged was what already naturally close by to flourish. It was perfect, always providing more than enough.

Grinding slowly with her mortar and pestle, she reduced her assortment into a paste, one that could dye her skin a rich green if she touched it. She mixed it with some fruit preserves in a bowl and then added some bread that was still young at the edge.

She entered her guest’s room, and because the window faced the wrong way it was still quite dark inside, so she set down the food by the water pitcher and lit the large candle next to it. With the light, she could see there was more color in his cheeks now. She hadn't realized how pale he had been before. A good sign.

“Yusei,” she called softly, hoping he was only asleep by now. The shadows danced on his face, creating a kind of mysterious half-mask in the spaces opposite the candle.

A knight of light and darkness.

She glanced toward the window where the early morning coated everything beyond the dragon’s white body with darkness. She couldn’t see any gold, which meant the dragon’s eyes were closed. It made her feel less self-conscious to know she wasn’t being monitored, so she put a hand on his shoulder and leaned closer.

“Yusei?” she called again, still softly, because when she squeezed his shoulder she could feel him, his aura, closer to the surface, hovering. He would arrive soon.

***

It felt like floating. Thickening. Consciousness piecing together bit by bit, within the darkness. A darkness he was becoming aware of, just as he was becoming aware of himself. He could sense things now—hear, smell, feel—his body just felt . . . heavy. All of it. Including his eyelids.

“Yusei.”

But he concentrated, the small muscles shuddering. Open, he told them.

“Yusei?”

Harder, just a little harder, he worked, until finally, slowly, they obeyed. At first it was only blurry shapes and soft lights. But he blinked, the images sharpening as his eyes adjusted, focused.

“Hey.”

It was Aki, looking down on him. Sitting on the edge of a bed that he was lying in.

Strange, he couldn't . . . The last thing he remembered . . . Soft undulation as he lay against Stardust’s back, a sensation of falling, but not from Stardust, more like, away, upward, into the sky, into a black darker than night, starless, empty . . .

“How are you feeling?” she asked softly, pressing her hand lightly against his forehead.

He shut his eyes for a moment to take stock, to run his focus through each limb, each tangible piece of himself. He opened his eyes again.

“Not bad,” he answered in a voice more rough than he had expected. His throat felt dry.

She nodded approvingly. “Good,” she said, turning to the side and reaching out. He shifted a little, feeling stiff, and as he shuffled himself upward on the bed she turned back with something in her hands: a bowl, small slices of bread standing inside against the side. “Here,” she said, holding it toward him. “I . . . made you a . . . a little something. It'll help with the blood recovery.”

He realized he was hungry. And thirsty. He pushed himself up more until he was sitting, back against the headboard.

“Thank you,” he said, smoothing his voice out. He took the bowl from her, and as he used a piece of bread to scoop up some of the fruit preserves at the bottom, she turned again and poured some water into a glass. She held it patiently as he ate—it was good, simple but good—and he took it when he was ready and downed the whole thing. Refreshing. He needed more.

He breathed deeply, catching his breath, and as if she had read his mind she took the glass and refilled it.

“Thank you,” he said as he took it and another long swig. He set it down on the small side table then turned back to the bowl in his lap.

“Was I out very long?” he asked, scooping more preserves onto the next slice.

“Just one night . . . and the afternoon before.”

“Hn,” he muttered through his nose as he bit down. Good, that wasn't bad at all.

She pinched his wrist with her fingers, a focused expression on her face, then released him some moment later.

“Your pulse is steady,” she declared gently, “and a little stronger, but I doubt you're in totally fit condition.”

He agreed. He was awake, but he could tell that might not last very long. He wasn't in any pain, but exhaustion tugged at the back of his eyes, at his whole head, like an anchor dragging him back into that empty sky . . .

It felt nice to fill his stomach for the trip.

“Thank you,” he said again. He didn’t mean just for the food, but he felt too tired to say anything more than that.

She looked at him, her eyes seeming to glow—her almond-shaped eyes, autumn brown tinted with dark red and gold, amber in the right light. They held each other’s gaze for a moment. She seemed unsure how to respond, because her mouth opened and closed a few times, until she finally said with a wry smile, “Well I doubt your friend would be very forgiving if I didn't get you back to full health.”

He followed her eyes as they shifted and found the window, where he saw Stardust curled up and asleep just on the other side. He mirrored her smile. He could laugh because he knew it was a joke—she would have saved him without the dragon’s implied threat. She had. She had offered her help when she could have just left him injured beneath Stardust’s wing where she found him.

“He's been watching over you the whole time,” she continued. “Well, except one small break when he went off for a moment, but otherwise . . .”

Yusei smiled, heart warm with affection. He could see Stardust’s body expanding and shrinking in the slow rhythm of his breathing. He could almost feel it, a physical memory from lying against that body for so many years.

“What's his name?” she asked.

“Stardust,” he answered. He turned his gaze back to Aki and saw, in the second before she turned as well, that she had been looking at the dragon with a thoughtful expression.

“Stardust,” she repeated. “That's very . . . fitting.”

He laughed. “Yeah,” he nodded.

“He's beautiful.”

He nodded again. It was true. He was also loyal, strong, powerful. Dangerous. A trait not uncommon to beautiful things.

“How long have you two been together?”

He lifted up his bread for another bite, answering first, “Since I was a kid.”

“Amazing,” she breathed.

Her eyes shone, and there was a warmth in them that wasn’t just the reflection of candlelight. She looked back to him, and as she watched him eat the wonder ebbed away into something more like shyness.

“I don't know what kind of food you're used to, but I hope it's not too bad.”

He shook his head. “It's great,” he reassured her, calling on all his available energy to speak. “I've gone days scrounging for scraps, and plenty of others foraging for anything I can find in the wild.”

“Oh,” she said, seeming surprised.

“Not to say this is like that,” he added, feeling suddenly concerned he had said something that could be construed as an insult. “This is luxury in comparison.”

She smiled and looked away. “Well, I'm glad,” she said softly. “If you . . . tell me something you like I can see if I can make it.”

He thought as he finished the last of his small meal, then shook his head. “Nothing comes to mind. I'm not picky.”

She took his empty bowl. “Interesting,” she mused. “I guess I had a more . . . lavish image of a knight’s lifestyle.”

He smirked. “Hard to do anything worthwhile surrounded by finery. Too many problems happen in the grimy underbelly. And the problems that are in the fine places,” he sighed, leaning his head back, “I doubt I'm suited to fix.”

She considered him. From what she understood, wealthy people—especially wealthy political people—weren't the kind to be straightforward and honest. They dealt more in manipulation and artifice. This man before her seemed more the kind to face a problem head on, a direct approach with force and immediate results.

She had a feeling he was good at what he did.

“We all have the things we’re best suited for,” she said softly, seeing in his closed eyes that he might slip away soon.

But he opened them to look at her. “What are you best suited for?”

She hesitated, blinking rapidly a few times. It was hard to say, since she lived a life of mostly isolation. She was well suited to magic, obviously, learning everything Divine taught, and taking care of the needs of the house. But, did she have a purpose? Something she could do with meaning? Or was she best suited to her isolation?

She laughed softly to clear away the self-consciousness.

He noticed.

“Well right now, let's hope I'm suited to patient care.”

He didn't press. “So far so good.”

She smiled again as she stood.

“You look tired,” she observed.

He nodded. “I am.”

“Feel free to sleep as long as you need. And . . . do you need anything to be more comfortable?”

He shook his head, beginning to slink down lower on the bed. “No, I'm fine. I feel . . . secure.” He glanced sideways. “And not just because Stardust is there.”

More light was filling the sky and the room—the candle was no longer needed by now.

“Do you need the curtain closed?” she asked.

“No, thank you. The light doesn't bother me.”

“Good,” she laughed. “I doubt he’d be very happy if I blocked his view.”

Yusei laughed too as he settled flat on his back.

“I'll leave the water, in case you wake up thirsty. And I'll check on you every now and then. And I'll tell him that you're doing fine.”

“Thank you,” he said softly, his eyes closing.

She looked at him, this knight, her first guest ever, her hands tightening on the bowl. “You're . . . welcome,” she murmured.

And then she walked out, thinking she had never been thanked so much before.

***

After she set the bowl in the kitchen, she went outside to find Stardust rustling awake. His attention first went to the window, then he looked at her when he noticed her coming toward him.

“He was awake for a short while,” she informed him. “Enough to eat and drink something, which he needed, so that’s good, but he's still regaining his strength so he fell back asleep pretty quickly. I'm . . . sorry you missed him.”

Stardust stared at her, and she could feel some conflict in his heart—annoyance, perhaps, that he had missed Yusei’s first awakening, and relief that he was showing signs of recovery.

“He’s going to be ok, and I'm sure he'll wake up again sometime today, so . . .” She hoped so, anyway. She could feel this was hard on the dragon. It would do him a lot of good to see for his own eyes. She resolved to open the window next time so Yusei could talk to him.

In the meantime, she would try to go about her normal routine. She still had things to do for herself, after all.

***

It was dark again, and he still felt tired, but not as much as before.

Or maybe he was just trying to convince himself of it. He wasn’t sure. His head still felt a little fuzzy.

But he felt safe—that was certain.

Aki was sitting by his side again, the candle flickering and lighting a fire in her eyes. He watched her. His vision was still a bit blurry, more so at certain internals than at others, like intermittent waves pulsing against the back of his eyes, but he could still make out her movements, the vivid splash of her hair against the neutral palette of the background.

She had brought him more food, which he had gratefully eaten, and as he did so he began thinking—he hadn’t been able to do much of that earlier—reflecting. She had brought him into her home. Made him comfortable. Looked after him. He hadn’t expected anything from her when he had saved her, and even now he wasn’t so egotistic as to be grateful he had saved her in order to be saved in return. He merely . . . felt transfixed.

He was familiar with being taken in, being welcomed into someone else’s home.

But not like this, not by a stranger.

He didn’t know her reasons, he didn’t know what kind of person she was, not entirely. Perhaps this was just her way of repaying him, but even so, that meant she felt a sense of balance, of debts and payments—of justice. And, considering what others thought of her, what so many in the world would do to her if they could get a hold of her, he couldn’t help but admire that.

He closed his eyes for a moment, his head feeling heavy. Foggy. He didn’t know her life, didn’t know her story. Why she was doing this, what her feelings were on the matter—he had so little to go on.

But when he opened his eyes, there she was, leaning over him, and there was no hesitation, no reluctance in her face, in the movements of her arm and hand as she rubbed a soft, cool rag against his forehead. Her eyes, dark amber and fiery gold swimming together, kept flicking back and forth to his, but if his gaze unnerved her she didn’t show it, and it did not impede her calm demeanor and careful movements. Did he seem fragile to her? Was she being gentle so as not to bruise him?

Despite all his training—perhaps his instinct was taking over, his instinct for sensing where there was and wasn’t danger—he let his eyelids slowly fall and his muscles relax so they could soak in the sensation of the rag and her light fingers against them.

It wasn’t often he received such touch. Not unless he was back home. The memory of Martha’s fingers combing through his hair, of her strong arms wrapped around him in a motherly embrace . . . it stung even as it filled him with comforting warmth.

He tightened his eyes to hide the tears rising up, to drive them away, but with such an observant gaze, she noticed.

“Are you ok?” she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you in pain?”

He inhaled deeply, steadying his throat and lungs. “I’m fine, it’s nothing,” he sighed.

She unexpectedly hardened her grip. “Hey,” she said firmly. “Don’t be like that. If something hurts, you need to tell me so I can fix it. Don’t just try to ignore it when I’m right here.”

He was surprised how stunned he felt. He stared at her. She was taking this seriously, her duty as his physician. If she was going to repay a debt to him, she was going to do it with everything she had. No shoddy work here. Again, he found himself admiring her.

He smiled. “I’ll cooperate, I promise,” he said softly. “If I feel pain, I’ll tell you.” She had meant physically, he knew, so he did as well. But . . . “I was just . . . remembering something.”

Her expression softened. “Oh,” she murmured.

“My mother,” he clarified. In a way. Best to keep things simple—he was still tired, after all.

She was quiet. Then she set aside the rag and asked, “You miss her?”

“All the time.”

She rubbed her hand with her thumb nervously. “Do you . . . get to see her much?”

“As much as I can,” he said. “It’s been a while though . . . since my last visit.”

She seemed uncomfortable. Not so much because of the personal topic, more because the whole thing seemed . . . unfamiliar. Like she didn’t know what to do.

He guessed she didn’t interact with people very much.

He let the silence last without exuding any expectations or discomfort. Their eyes lingered, seeing, wondering. Neither smiled, but there was nothing unfriendly in their faces.

Some time passed, and then Aki made a soft sound as she cleared her throat. But before she could speak Yusei interjected.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

She blinked, caught off guard by then sudden shift. Her lips separated as if to reply, but nothing came out at first. She brushed some of her hair behind her ear and whispered, looking away, “You keep thanking me.”

He also guessed she had never done something like this before. “You brought me into your home. Helped me.” You didn’t have to do that, he added silently. “So yes, I do. I want to thank you.”

She chewed her lip, recollected herself, and shaking her head lightly answered, “It’s no trouble.” She met his eyes. It was that same expression of uncertainty, not knowing what to do, entering completely unfamiliar territory. She wasn’t used to being a host. Probably wasn’t even used to receiving a kind word from anyone.

“You helped me, after all,” she added in a hushed voice.

The way she said it, like it was a strange concept . . .

“You were in trouble,” he noted.

She gave him a strange look. Wondering how that explained anything. “Yes. A lot. You’re the only one who wasn’t threatening me.”

He gave a half-smile. “I only threaten people who deserve it.”

She looked away again. “Everyone seems to think I do deserve it.”

He reached up. His hand moved too fast to stop, and when he had taken hold of her arm it was too late. She jumped lightly under his touch, looked down at his hand, then to his eyes.

“You don’t,” he said calmly. Firmly.

She knew that. She did. She knew she hadn’t done anything to deserve anyone’s hatred or fear.

But . . . it was still nice to hear.

“You are what you are,” he continued in that calmly assertive voice. “Being a witch—having magic—doesn’t make someone good or evil. It’s the same as any human. You are who you are. That’s what’s important. And it’s wrong to make judgments before you know someone.”

She knew that. It was so obvious from her perspective as the victim, as the one wronged, the one ostracized because of her difference. They judged her without knowing her, even considered her an object to be used for their own gain. Of course they were all the ones who were wrong.

But, why was her throat closing up? Getting tight, hard? She swallowed forcefully to reopen it.

Slowly he removed his hand

“Do you live here alone?” he asked, resting his head back down.

“Only sometimes. This is my . . .” What exactly was he to her? Like a father, but, not exactly . . . “Well, his name is Divine. He took me in a long time ago. But he travels a lot, and when he’s gone I take care of things here by myself.”

He wondered what the story was about her parents. Had they thrown her out because she was a witch? Did she run away? Or, did she lose them somehow, like he . . .

He turned his thoughts away from that. “I’m glad,” he said softly. “That you have a home.” He knew. He knew what that meant, having a home. Having even just one person to care for you.

She stared. What was that sincerity in his eyes? That . . . understanding?

“Do you have a home?” she asked.

He smiled, though it had a rueful flavor. “Yes,” he answered. “My mother’s house, where I grew up. But, I think, what’s more important to me, is my mother herself. And Stardust. I’m home with them. Because home isn’t about the place, it’s about the bonds. And that’s the world I want to create, a world where people can make bonds with each other and be happy, at peace.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. It was a nice dream. Idyllic. Just the kind of thing a fairy tale knight would say, would fight for.

Just the kind of world a fairy tale witch like her could never live in.

“I think it’s possible,” he continued, seeing her skepticism. “I think it’s possible for things to get better.”

She envied him that.

“I hope so,” she said, though she didn’t believe it. But she knew he needed to sleep, so the conversation needed to draw to a close.

Yusei began to settle down onto his back again, and when he looked out he saw Stardust at the window, one eye on him as he rested his head on his paws. He wondered how long Stardust would watch over him before he let himself go to sleep.

When he looked back at Aki she had stood and had the two bowls she had brought—one with the meal, one with water for the rag—in her hands. She wasn’t pitiable—she was too strong, too capable for that—but she deserved better. She deserved more freedom, more opportunities, more potential to create the kinds of bonds he so believed in. People like her were the reason he fought so hard. So much denied them, so much taken away. She deserved more than one small haven: she deserved the whole wide world.

He would spend his life opening it up to her, bit by bit if he had to.

***

Another day passed, and at each interval when Yusei woke, he stayed awake longer than the last. By the third day he was fully awake. He ate what Aki offered, including another mixture of her ground flowers, and decided he felt well enough to get on his feet.

Aki didn’t argue with her patient—she trusted him to know his own body. So she stood back, but close enough to offer assistance should he need it. He pushed aside the blankets, slid his legs over and planted his feet on the floor, and then pushed himself up. He felt surprisingly steady, but he attributed it to all of her care. Even if she had never treated someone before, she obviously knew what she was doing. He felt like he was just getting up from a particularly refreshing night’s rest.

“Well?” she asked tentatively. “How do you feel?”

He walked toward the window, slowly, just to be safe, and pressed his hand against the glass. Stardust breathed from his nose against him, coating it in steam.

“I feel great,” he answered, turning back to smile at her. She smiled back, and then he went to the side of the bed where his pack lay. He lifted it by the strap and swung it over his shoulder in one smooth motion.

She knew he must be feeling well if he could manage that so easily. She heard metal clanking against metal inside it, and guess there must be some assortment of weapons, the things that could fit, unlike his broadsword, which was strapped to the outside by the sheath’s belt. She had linked them together back at the clearing before Stardust had taken the whole bundle to carry in his teeth. It dawned on her there might also be some armor in there, since he seemed dressed rather lightly for a knight. Which she was grateful for. He had been heavy enough without such extra weight.

“I, uh . . . guess you’ll be leaving soon, then?” she asked, wringing her hands.

“Probably,” he answered, rounding the edge of the bed to reach her. “It’s still early so there’s plenty of daylight left for us.”

“Right,” she nodded. “And I guess Stardust is getting a little stir-crazy hanging around here.”

Yusei laughed. “Don’t worry about him, he can handle it.”

She smiled. “I have a feeling he’d endure a lot for you.”

He looked at her. “Yeah,” he agreed softly. “We both would.”

She nodded. “Bonds,” she whispered. “Right?”

He looked deeper. Into her eyes. So many rich colors and shades there. Like a forest in the middle of autumn, a kaleidoscope of varying shades of brown warmed with reds like her hair and gold like Stardust’s eyes.

He nodded. “Right.”

They didn’t move, just stared, both forgetting the golden eyes watching them unblinkingly from the other side of the window.

Until Aki bit her lip and ran her hands down her shirt, just to do something with them, and said, her tongue stumbling, “I’ll, uh, make you something, to uh, take with you.”

She twisted left and right, as if she couldn’t decide which way to turn, then with a nervous glance at him finally chose left. He watched her back as she left quickly for the kitchen, smiling to himself. He adjusted the pack on his shoulder and then made his way to the front door.

Stardust was waiting there for him, and he reached out and pressed his hand against the dragon’s forehead.

“Hey,” he said, and Stardust snorted and grumbled a greeting in return. Yusei set his pack down and unhooked his sword’s sheath so he could strap it around his body. He liked the familiar weight against his back, and he tested himself, drawing it out and slipping it back in a few times, getting faster and faster. It felt natural and easy, and the sound of the metallic slide of blade against sheath rang like a song in his ears.

He picked up his pack and swung it back over his shoulder. “You ready?” he asked, stroking Stardust’s neck.

The dragon grunted, and Yusei could feel his hot breath fill the air around them.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been bored,” Yusei laughed, which earned him a heavy nudge.

Yusei nudged back with his elbow, and Stardust gave him a sarcastic narrowed eye. Excuse me for watching over your lazy ass all this time, he seemed to mutter.

Yusei cracked a smile and rubbed Stardust’s forehead again, as if tousling some invisible hair. He leaned against his strong neck and wrapped an arm over it. “Thanks,” he said softly, resting his forehead close to the dragon’s eye.

Stardust relented and exhaled gutturally. A sigh. What am I going to do with you?

Yusei heard footsteps behind him and looked back to see Aki exiting the house with a small bundle of cloth wrapped and tied at the top. She stepped up to him, supporting the bottom with one hand while holding the knot up with the other. “Its . . . it’s not much, but maybe it’ll last you the day,” she said.

He put his hands on hers, accepting the offering. She seemed surprised by the sudden touch but managed to not recoil. She stared at him, her almond eyes grown round and wide, and with warmth he said, “Thank you.”

She blinked rapidly a few times before carefully slipping her hands out from under his and overlapping her arms against her middle. “You’re welcome,” she replied, a little easier this time.

It felt strange, confronting a goodbye that was going to be so . . . final. Unless he came back, they would never see each other again, and he had no real reason to come back, so . . .

Why did that feel so . . . sad?

“Good luck,” she said, trying to push the feeling aside. “With everything.” He probably didn’t need it, though. It seemed to her that if anyone was capable of accomplishing their own mission, it was this knight before her.

“You too,” he said. Then with deep earnestness, he added, “You’re a good person, Aki. You deserve to belong somewhere.”

Her reply came reflexively. “I belong here.” It had been a kind of mantra for so many years. Here, her home, the one place she was safe. No one would hurt her here. Divine would protect her. Somehow it didn’t feel as comforting as it used to.

“It’s one thing to have a place where there’s no threat,” he replied slowly, “and another thing entirely to have a place where you feel welcome, whole-heartedly.”

She didn’t know what to say to that.

“You deserve more than a sanctuary, Aki. A refuge is a good thing to have, but it shouldn’t be where you live your whole life.”

“It shouldn’t, but it is,” she muttered.

He put a hand on her shoulder, curling the bundle in his arm close to his side. “For now.”

Those eyes of his. The dark blue of the sky in the evening as it steadily fades to black. So firm and insistent that she could almost believe him.

She was going to miss those sparks of hope.

He squeezed her shoulder then released it, and turned back to Stardust, who crouched down to give him easy access to his back. She watched as he hopped up with expertise, even with the pack on his shoulder and the bundle in his arm, until he was straddled by Stardust’s shoulders. She stepped back as Stardust rose to his feet, and then watched as he trod away from the house. He circled in place until he was in a good position, then unfurled his large wings, and Aki had to squint against all the sparkling lights they cast catching the sun. She met Yusei’s eyes, feeling a strange heaviness in her chest, and a vision of emptiness filled her, the vision of what would be left once he was gone. Why was that so painful? She had been alone for so long, spent so many stretches of weeks and even sometimes months before on her own. Why did that feel like such a hard life to return to now?

She tightened her jaw, stared unblinkingly, swallowing, forcing the weight in her throat back down and the tears in her eyes to dry by will alone. Yusei raised a hand to her, and she returned the gesture.

Goodbye, she mouthed.

She read the same message on his lips.

And then Stardust flapped his wings. Once. Twice. Three times.

And then with one powerful leap, he swung his wings with the strength of a whirlwind, and Aki had to cover her eyes with the crook of her elbow to protect them from the powerful gust. When she looked back up the dragon was already high above her, his wings still flapping and sending down blast after blast of wind, and then with one last bright shimmer of reflected sunlight, the dragon chose north and pushed himself forward and out of sight.

The winds died down, the trees and grasses fell still around her, and Aki found herself alone, back to real life, as if having woken up from a dream—

—and felt a terrible ache, a hole in her heart, like something had just been lost. Or severed.

The house suddenly felt miserably hollow. Uninviting. Confining.

But, she took in a deep shuddering breath. She had to wash him away, clear him out of her system. Because this was her life. No matter how much hope he had, no matter how much that knight fought, the world around her was still the same, and this was her home—her sanctuary, yes. Her refuge. All she had. This was where she belonged when everywhere else reeked with danger. He couldn’t change that, and she shouldn’t get caught up in his dreams, or else she would never be able to get through each day still ahead.

Because if she thought about it, if she thought too much about how limited her life was, she might wonder what the point of living even was, or maybe . . . even . . . find a hope of her own that drove her outside, into the danger, to find something, another home, a place where people would embrace her. Where she could have a chance to build a real reputation for herself, find meaning in her work and abilities.

A place that probably didn’t exist.

A place she would die trying to find.

If she didn’t think about it, she could go back inside, go back to her routine, and stay alive. Stay safe.

That had to be enough.

“For now.”

Her hands clenched into fists.

Don’t think about it.

Don’t think.

Don��t.

She took another deep breath. Exhaled slowly. Unflexed her hands and wiggled her fingers.

It was time to wake up. She had work to do.

#my friends are great and talented and I love them all #I MEAN HAVE YOU READ THIS #the switching pov and their thoughts are perf #they're all so IC DFGHJK #ya're all spoiling me with these amazing fanfics #all I did was drawing #sdfghjk #KY #YOU'RE JUST AMAZING AND TALENTED AND I LOVE U #medievalAU #medieval AU #aceygodreamer #fanfics #friends art (?)#knight!yusei #stardust dragon #(reeeeeeeeead eeeeettt)

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