#roaming legendaries were cool they need to do it again but More

[ruairy]

.

[trashyswitch]

Day 12: Bites/Nibbles

Elliot goes out for Spirit's Eve, dressed up as a classic vampire. After doing some Spirit Eve activities, he sits down and takes a rest. But someone comes up and surprises him! Who in the world could it be?!

FAHCK I'M LATE AGAIN. XD I hope you enjoy! Shoutout to Drew, who loves Stardew Valley! <3

Elliot was walking around in his Dracula costume, holding the cloak up to his face in signature Dracula fashion. He smirked from behind the cloak and did his own version of Dracula’s evil laugh in the mirror. Yes…this man is a bit obsessed with the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. He had read the book countless times at this point, and had always aspired to dress himself as the legendary vampire. With the cloak over the suit and his hair slicked back with gel, he felt ready for this year's spirit’s eve. 

Besides the long hair, Elliot wanted to be true to the original Dracula. He had bought himself tons of black and red fabric earlier this fall, and had sewn together the cloak himself. The collar, and the shoulder cuts were sewn together with the help of the player’s sewing machine. It worked exceptionally well, and he ended up with a wonderful cloak he was oh so proud of. That cloak with the tuxedo he kept in his closet for ages, made the perfect costume. And of course, no dracula costume could be complete without his fake fangs! And for extra effect, Elliot had trimmed his nails into a pointy shape at the front and put clear nail polish on them a day prior. So even his nails were evil. 

At about 10pm, Elliot left his cottage with his black dress shoes in his hands. He did this because he didn’t want his good shoes to get covered in sand. He walked up the beach’s passage and headed up the bridge to the main town, where everything was covered in spooky things and pumpkin carving tables. 

He smiled brightly as he saw different people in different areas of the town. It was late at night with only the festival lanterns to light up part of the streets. It was cool to see, and it made Elliot more and more excited. 

Elliot walked around for a bit longer, and took the time to do some of the activities. He took some time to carve himself a pumpkin vampire friend, before putting it on display nearby. He took his shot at the haunted maze to get the golden pumpkin. But he only got halfway before needing to turn back. 

He also took the time to check out the shop. There, he could get a gravestone decoration, a jack-o-lantern, a jack-o-lantern recipe (He left this for the player to discover), and a witch-looking scarecrow. As much as he loved the witch scarecrow, he decided not to buy it due to how much space it would take up in his house if he tried to put it away. 

As he walked around, people complimented him on the costume. Abigail asked him to do the Dracula evil laugh, which he happily performed for her. Sebastian gave him a smile and a nod of approval as he passed him, and Penny playfully warned Jas and Vincent about the evil vampire that roamed the streets of Pelican Town on Spirit’s Eve. Elliot could not be more proud of himself for a job well done. 

Elliot sat himself down and sighed softly. He adjusted the cloak around his arms to keep himself warm in this cool weather, and looked around for a bit. It was already 10:45, and he still had more than an hour left to enjoy the evening. It was a half moon outside, meaning no one should turn into a wolf tonight. There were also some pretty bright stars out in the sky…to the point where if you tried hard enough, you could see one or two constellations. He spent a bit of time trying to find a constellation he recognized well. 

Suddenly, someone had grabbed his sides! “BOO!” 

Elliot jumped. “aaAH!” He yelled. 

But the surprise didn’t stop there…cause those same hands started fluttering and squeezing his sides and lower back. 

“HehEHE- GAHahaha!” He reached for the hands, but found that the cloak was preventing him from removing them. “Uhunhahahand meee!” He yelled. 

The mysterious tickler then brought itself up to his neck and started playfully nibbling on his neck. “Omnomnomnom.” They mumbled playfully. 

“NahaHAHAHA! WAIT! NAHAHAHA! NAHAT THEHEHERE!” He shouted. 

A few of the townsfolk turned around to see what was going on, but smiled when they saw who was causing all the commotion. A couple townsfolk even laughed at them. 

The mysterious tickler somehow managed to make the situation more evil by tickling his sides AND nibbling playfully on his neck. “Omnomnomnomnom.” The tickler nibbled. 

Trying to figure out who it was, he attempted to feel the person’s face. But the only thing Elliot was able to feel was hair and a pair of faux fluffy ears. Wait…Ears? He felt the fluffy ears a small bit more. They felt husky-esque. Was this person dressed as a wolf?! 

“IHI DEHEMAHAHAND YOU TO STAHAHAP THIS IHIHINSTAHANT!” He ordered. 

“Or what~?” The tickler asked, revealing themself through their voice. And this voice revealed itself to be a girl’s voice! “You’ll bite me?” She asked, digging her fingers into the sides of his back. “Suck my blood?” She asked next. “Turn me into a vampire-wolf?” She concluded. 

He arched his back for a moment, before doubling over and covered up his face. “THEHEHERE’S NOHO SUHUCH THIHIHING!” He yelled back through his hands. 

“Not yet, anyway~” She teased. 

“Is this a sign you two will marry and have children together?” One of the townsfolk asked. 

The female tickler paused her attack and looked around. “What?! No!” She yelled. “Who said that?” She asked.

A few townsfolk turned around and moved out of the way, to reveal the Mayor hiding within the crowd, covering up his smile with his hand. The Mayor waved his hand. “Sohorry, sorry. I couldn’t help myself. I crack myself up sometimes.” The Mayor admitted. 

When he felt physically recovered, Elliot turned around and finally got a good look at who the mysterious tickler was. And…It was Leah! And not only was Leah wearing a werewolf costume, but her face was painted into the colors of a werewolf too! And…It looked really nice, actually. 

“L-Leah?!” Elliot asked. 

Leah looked at Elliot, and blushed a bit. “H-Hi! Sorry Elliot.” She leaned on the bench. “I thought it was the perfect time of the year to play a practical joke on you.” She admitted. 

Elliot smiled a bit. “Well, you certainly made a fool of me.” Elliot admitted awkwardly. 

Leah widened her eyes. “I did?!” She reacted, suddenly showing immense guilt. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to embarrass you, I-” 

Elliot shook his head. “No no no, you did no such thing. You spooked me well, and I’m trying to congratulate you.” He told her. 

Though the words dismissed the rest of the townsfolk, Leah still looked guilty. So he took it upon himself to cheer her up a little. “Now: I suppose some tasteful revenge is in order?” He asked with a smirk. 

Leah widened her eyes and looked at him with sweat drops falling down her face. Two seconds, and she was already growing nervous. 

“But maybe later.” Elliot replied. When the townsfolk started to go back to their usual activities, Elliot brought his voice down to a whisper. “I think it’s better if the werewolf and the vampire commence such revenge in more of a private manner.” He admitted. 

Leah smiled and nodded her head before leaning in. “My cottage is always open.” She whispered. 

Elliot smiled and nodded his head. “That sounds suitable.” He replied. 

The two adults moved through the darkness and walked down south to Leah’s cottage. They met at the cottage in the pitch black, and Leah unlocked the door. She opened the door, turned on the lights while Elliot closed the door. 

With the door closed, Elliot snuck up to Leah and shoved his fingers into her armpits. “Peek-a-boo!” He declared, wiggling and digging his fingers in her underarms. 

“BahaHAHAHA! Rihihight ihinto it, ahahare wehehehe?” She asked. 

“You betcha!” He replied. “And I’m gonna make every little moment count.” Elliot declared before taking in a breath and beginning to nibble and nom at her neck like an evil vampire. 

Leah threw her head back and laughed gleefully. “HAHAhahahaha! Hehehehehe! Hehehehe- Nohohohoho!” She laughed, hugging her arms against her own chest. 

“‘No’? ‘No’ what, my little werewolf?” He asked in a teasy, dracula-esque voice. 

“Nohohoho nihibblehehes!” she said through her giggles. 

“No nibbles? No nom-nom-nommies?” Elliot asked with a smirk. 

“Shuhuhut uhuhuhup, yohohou ihidiot!” She reacted. 

Elliot gasped and placed his hand onto his own chest. “Did you just call THEE COUNT DRACULA…An Idiot?!” He reacted. 

“Yehehes! Whahatcha gohonna dohohohoho ahahabout ihihit?” She asked. 

“I’m gonna do this:” Elliot picked her up bridal style and blew a big raspberry onto her belly. 

She SCREAMED and cackled, wiggling in his grasp like a sunfish out of water. “NAHAHAT THAHAHAHAT!” She shouted. 

“Okay! Then I shall move on to my backup plan.” Elliot started nibbling and making om nom noises all over her belly and sides. “Om-nom-nom-nom-nom-nom-nom. Om-nom-nom-nom-nom. Such delicious blood from this gorgeous werewolf~!” He teased. 

“NAHAHAHAHAHA! HEHEHEHEhehehehe!” Leah continued to laugh. “Such a cute little werewolf. Makes me wanna keep you as my pampered pet.” He teased, putting her onto the couch and scratching her jawline like he would to a dog. 

She curled into the touch and giggled a little, finding his touches more tickly than soothing. When he brought his hand back, she playfully went for his finger, and tried to ‘bite’ him. But she intentionally missed his finger by a mile, showing she was playing by smirking and giggling at him. 

Elliot gave her the side eye, before chuckling with a smirk of his own. “Ah ah ah. Be nice.” He warned. 

She giggled and stuck her tongue out. “Nnnno.” She replied with a proud grin. 

He brought himself closer. “I’m sorry, what was that?” 

Leah giggled and covered her mouth. 

“I’m sorry, I still can’t hear you. What did you say?” He asked. 

Leah’s giggles turned to laughter as she uncovered her mouth and slapped her thigh. “Gohohohod dahammihihihit!” She reacted. 

“I still can’t quite hear you. What are you trying to tell me?” He asked, bringing his face way too close to hers. 

Leah was cackling by this point, and forcefully pushed his face away from hers. She clapped her hands together as she let herself laugh. She loved this feeling of just laughing for a while. It felt really good, and she wanted it to last for the rest of the night. 

After a couple hours, Elliot wished her well and left her for the night to walk back to his cottage. Leah got out of her costume, washed the paint off her face, showered, and went to bed listening to the crickets of the Spirit’s Evening night. 

[xgoldenlatiasx]

LOREDUMP TIME!!

I’ve never really talked about Blake’s relationship w/ Eternatus and how they feel abt Rose so I thought it was about time I did!!

After Chairman Rose awakened Eternatus and Blake caught it, they were instructed to keep it in their PC box until the league figured out what to do with it. At first, Blake was very scared of Eternatus because of the damage it caused and tried to forget about it for a while. (in Blake’s version of this part of the SWSH story the Eternatus battle is a bit more violent, both Blake, Hop, and their Pokémon got a few bad injuries and were sent to the hospital for a day or two after the incident)

They only really deal w/ Eternatus again after the whole thing with the sword and shield hair brothers and catching Zacian, when they’re starting to feel bad about keeping Eternatus locked away again. Despite their fear, they know that it wasn’t Eternatus’s fault and want to help it. When they secretly take Eternatus out of the PC and try to bring it to the Wild Area via the train in Wedgehurst, Zamazenta actually senses that Eternatus is free and stops them before they can get on the train. Hop catches up w/ them and tries to tell them that letting Eternatus out might get them killed, but Blake isn’t ready to give up on it just yet and brings it to a secluded part of the Wild Area where it can’t hurt anyone if it loses control.

Eternatus actually didn’t go berserk upon being let out of its Pokéball, it was angry and wouldn’t let Blake near it at first, but it didn’t tried to destroy anything. It was just hurt by how the Chairman had used it, and was scared of humans for a while. It didn’t try to attack Blake since they’d brought Zacian to protect them, so for a while it just minded its own business while Blake watched from afar. It wouldn’t go back in its ball after being released, so Blake would sneak out to the Wild Area everyday to come check on it and try to earn its trust.

My hc is that Eternatus is actually from space and fell down to the Galar region, overflowing with Dynamax energy, and thus started the first Darkest Day. It never had time to explore Earth, as it got sealed away right after arriving, so for the first few days Blake leaves Eternatus alone and just watches it finally get the chance explore and interact with the world around it. It even befriended a few wild Pokémon and started protecting them! By the time Blake starts trying to get closer to Eternatus, the legendary is a lot calmer and feels a lot more at home. It’s still wary of them though and takes a few weeks to get it to trust them.

Finally, Eternatus realizes Blake is only trying to help and accepts them as its trainer, returning to its ball. A LOT of people are shocked when Blake shows up to a league match w/ Eternatus on their team one day, but after seeing how loyal Eternatus had become to them they were allowed to keep it. Blake sort of released Eternatus eventually, letting it roam around Galar freely. They still have its Pokéball so it’s still technically their Pokémon, but they only really call upon Eternatus in emergencies

As for Blake’s feelings about Rose, they’re very complicated. Blake really looked up to him and respected him before the whole Eternatus thing. Before their gym challenge they’d been told their whole life they weren’t good enough to be a trainer by not only other kids but also their peers, but then Rose saw how much they loved and cared about Pokémon and told them at the Hulbury restaurant place that they had the potential to become one of Galar’s strongest trainers! Blake still doubted themself but hearing that from one of Galar’s most important people gave them a small but needed boost of confidence. They didn’t have many interactions after that, but Rose kinda became one of those cool people Blake looked up to and was always trying to impress (like Leon, Sonia, Hop, Marnie, etc.) JGJFNFN

So after it was revealed what Chairman Rose was actually doing, they felt extremely angry and betrayed. Trust had always been a fragile thing for Blake, and any amount of trust they had for Rose at the time was completely shattered. Not only did Rose use and harm a Pokémon just to solve a problem that was a thousand years away, by awakening Eternatus and making it lose control from the energy of the wishing stars their some of their closest friends got hurt. Leon, Hop, AND their Pokémon.

Hell, for quite some time Blake despised the Chairman. But now that they’ve had time to process the whole incident their feelings about him are a lot more complicated, they know he had good intentions and deep down he was a kind, misguided man, but he still hurt so many people and Pokémon and almost destroyed the region. They want to visit him and try to talk with him, but tbh they’re still traumatized from the Darkest Day thing and are a little scared of him. They’ve mostly tried to make themselves forget about Rose and ignore their trauma instead of trying to get help, but obviously that’s only kinda making it worse oof

So yeah!! Eternatus got the happiness and peaceful life it deserves and Blake has some unresolved trauma 😅 I really want to explore more about how the Darkest Day affected Blake in the future w/ my instagram comic Adventures in Kalos

[lieblingspulli]

The Final Lily

w.c: 3.8k

Jungkook x OC

Summary: Jungkook is a musical, artistic and Nighttime sky deity that falls in love with a mortal author. To keep her safe, he stays away and gives her gifts in order to make her dreams come true, even far after she has become a legendary playwright and has passed.

Masterlist!

-

The theater began to feel stuffy as people piled into their seats. All Jungkook could hear was the elite of Paris chatting away and the usual theater conversations. Jungkook wiped away some sweat from the back of his neck. It was hot in here.

Being packed in a theater like rats with the sweatiest people Jungkook had ever seen was not on his itinerary for today. He had seen marvels that no one had ever seen before and yet he was here sitting next to a Vicomte and his wife who sweat like pigs. Jungkook was disgusted. He tried to hide it. Jungkook wasn’t here to converse with sweaty nobility, he was here for a play. Or more so a retelling of a poem. A really long one.

The French nobility around him seemed to ignore him entirely, which meant his disguise was working. He had begged for Jin to cloak him so that he was not noticeable tonight. Tonight was deeply important to him and Jin knew why.

Jungkook recalled his conversation with Jin earlier. He was unsure about how Jin would react.

“Are you sure you want to go down there in your state Jungkook? They can see you and immediately recognize you from a mile away.” Jin looked at him, uneasy about this whole thing.

“Jin, you know I have to. Today is too special for me not to.” Jungkook pleaded and gave Jin his doe eyes. “I haven’t missed this day for almost four thousand years. I can’t do this without your help.”

“Yoongi would get mad at me for letting you sneak down there, looking so obvious. You can’t just pop up in the middle of Paris and expect not to be seen in a dark theater when you’re literally glowing Jungkook.”

Jungkook felt the frustration building in his throat and huffed.

“I won’t get caught, I promise. Really!” He waited a second and stared at Jin pleadingly who was looking a great deal uncomfortable with the prospect of letting the younger god just waltz into a human packed space when he was at the peak of his power. Jungkook knew this. He knew the dangers of going out like this, and he knew Jin knew it too. He grimaced and pleaded with his eyes to Jin as he could see the wheels turning in Jin’s head.

“I swear to myself, if you get caught, you never asked me, okay? This is so dangerous, you don’t even know how much trouble I would get in if Yoongi found out.” Jin nervously bit his fingers and gestured to nowhere in particular. Jungkook just grinned and ran out.

As the theater filled and people in unnecessary frilly dresses took their seats, Jungkook gripped the theater ticket in his hands. He felt empty, even with this ticket in his hand. He should have been happy, but he wasn’t. Jungkook stared at the title of the play for a good ten minutes before the lights started to dim and it took his vision of the ticket away from him. Jungkook heard the presenter say something in French, but he didn’t bother to learn the language so it just sounded like curly language to him. He wished he did learn it though, he wanted to hear all the praises that his Asteria would have cried over. He wanted to commit every single one to memory so that maybe one day, he could tell her how many people loved her work. Jungkook frowned and tried to keep his tears in. His heart ached but it was too early for that. Taking a deep breath, he looked up and focused on the curtain opening as two people (clearly actors) were positioned by a fake pond and started their scene.

The next two hours were like a blur for Jungkook. He knew every single word of this poem, every single breath, every single tear and every single kiss. He knew the words by heart and he knew what each cue meant. He could even give Namjoon a run for his money if he told him that he knew the exact pace at which each sentence should be spoken. Jungkook may have been a patron of writing and inspired many great writers, but none moved him as much as this piece did. This piece felt like it was for his eyes only, and Jungkook was angry that it outlived the person who should be right next to him, watching the actors say their lines with joy. The stillness of the theater felt strange, it was hot and stuffy, but each person focused intently on the actors who were fake crying and fake admiring the water. He studied everyone’s face when the main lead met her love and asked about her gifts. He smiled when everyone else did at the scene where the lead, whose name was Isidora, finally got to kiss the man who led her to happiness. Jungkook loved every part of this play.

Isadora’s eyes glinted in the theater spotlight and suddenly she was gleaming with joy. Jungkook’s unintentional aura had made her gleam like moonlight and the play was phenomenal because of it. Every careful line was read by her actor with vigor and drama, eager to show the audience the power of love. Agapinor, Isadora’s lover read his lines with fervor. Jungkook studied their faces for a while before their scene was over, not listening to their words anymore.

He knew why the lead’s name was Isidora, and it made him smile with joy but also cry tears of grief. Isidora was Greek for ‘the gift of the moon’. This poem was supposed to be a gift of the moon but really, it was a gift for him. It was a gift for the moon. Jungkook clutched his ticket tighter as he watched Isidora be ripped away from her love and never see him again. The ending always made him emotional. He could hear the sweaty nobles gasp and he almost regretted coming here. It was always like this and had been for centuries. Jungkook quickly left before the lights even turned on in the theater, away from those smelly people and snobby politicians. Away from his gift and away from the words of his love.

Jungkook briskly walked out, careful not to bump into anybody and attract attention to himself. It was enough that the full moon made him practically glow, but his presence at the theater had calmed everybody and made them emotional. He needed to leave before he was spotted. His heart burned and his eyes stung, but he made it to the edge of the brick ledge, overlooking the canal. In the water’s reflection he could see the point of the Eiffel tower, a metal marvel that amazed him every time he saw it. Jungkook thought Yoongi would have liked to see it, but Yoongi wasn’t the type to roam the streets of Paris, or any other city for that matter. He was firmly against human contact and had stayed away for centuries from them. The last time Yoongi graced Earth was when he had to come down and fix Taehyung’s last great flood near Sparta. That was also the last time he had seen Yoongi so mad. Jungkook shuddered at the thought.

He kept staring at the Eiffel tower and eventually he could see little specks in the sky, reflected from the water. It always happened like this. The play and then the meteors. Jungkook wanted to catch every meteor and cradle them in his arms. He wanted to see her again. A silver droplet landed in the water and made the canal water clear up a little. Jungkook continued to observe the blurry specks until he looked up and saw them clearly, despite his tears. The moon seemed to shine a little brighter and the meteors sparkled beautifully in the clear night sky. Jungkook decided it was time to go and see them for real now. He walked away from the ledge and pulled his trench coat a little tighter in.

-

Jungkook materialized behind a big oak tree that had been there for millenia. It was a very old oak tree, it should have withered long ago. But it was also a gift for him. Namjoon had perfectly preserved this grove in its entirety. The flowers here bloomed at the same time every year for hundreds of years. The grass never withered and the trees stayed green. The Mediterranean climate helped preserve the flora and fauna and Namjoon had even kept the pond the same for many years. It held the same beauty as it did when Jungkook was first led here. Even in the middle of the 17th century, this sacred place had remained untouched. Jungkook felt the cool breeze of the night and saw the same meteors he had seen earlier streak the sky with glittering white specks. Asteria would have loved to see the natural beauty of her special spot.

Tears welled up in Jungkook’s eyes as he carefully sat on the grass next to her pond. Little silver fish swam away from him as he touched a finger to the surface of the cool water. He tucked his sandaled feet under his thighs and crossed his legs over each other, careful not to pull the fabric of his chiton and so that the object he held in his hands could rest in his lap.

“I’m back for you my love.” Jungkook said to nobody. “Can I read to you? Just as you would to me, do you remember?” He managed to choke out, suddenly short of breath. The trees rustled with the slight breeze, but no answer. Jungkook was here alone, he knew that. But he still felt like he wasn’t. So he talked freely here, the only time he could talk to her with his real voice. Jungkook looked at the dartfish and nodded, ready to read.

He carefully opened the leather cover of his book and saw the charcoal markings inside the rough cover. This was the original book he had made her sign. In the bright moonlight, the leather and worn paper seemed gray rather than a faded brown. This relic was older than many buildings here, even older than the pantheon on the hill of Athens. It was made of real goat leather and rough scroll paper, made by artisans in her time. Jungkook ran his fingers along the paper and felt all the rough bumps. He didn’t touch the writing, afraid the charcoal would smudge as if it were fresh. He flipped the page and read the first lines of the book in his mind. He started to read out loud after he cleared his throat and wasn’t afraid anymore. His Asteria’s writing always made him less afraid. He read the first page and remembered her voice reading it. He breathed life into her words as she once did when she was creating them. Jungkook’s voice hitched at the end of the page when he read the same words Asteria had written as she began to voice her ambitions out loud. He could close his eyes and remember it like it was yesterday.

“I hope these words reach people outside of this small little village. I want them to be as famous as the classics.” Asteria whispered to herself as she scribbled some words in her newly bound book. Jungkook wanted to shout to her, “You will! I’ll make it so!” But he couldn’t. He couldn’t speak, so he only looked at her longingly from behind a thick tree, as if his words in his mind could reach her. But they didn’t. He watched Asteria continue to scribble on her first page of the book he had left for her.

“I also wonder if I’ll ever meet the man who left me these gifts. I hope it’s not Pheobos. His manners are worse than a pig’s. I want this man to be handsome and kind and loving. I hope I’ll get to see him someday.” She sighed out and shamelessly looked at the fish in the pond with longing. Jungkook was left with little restraint and wide eyes. She was so unabashed about what she wanted, he loved it. He wanted to give her everything she wanted and more. He wanted to love her better than any man could. Better than that Pheobos could anyway. Her tiny voice continued on with her proclamations.

“I probably shouldn’t be saying this but please, if anyone is out there and listening, Aphrodite, maybe? Let me see this man at least once in my life.” Asteria stopped writing and relaxed her shoulders as she watched the clear sky. “I want to see the man I’ve fallen in love with.” Her golden brown hair flew in the wind and it shined like golden thread. The breeze quickly died and she patiently stared at the glittering blue ocean, visible from her pond.

These words made Jungkook’s breath hitch and his heart flutter. His face felt warm and his ears, he knew, were red. He wanted so badly to just run out and say, “Here I am!” Jungkook listened in painful silence as Asteria waited for a sign, but Hobi had made the day too good, and nothing made a noise, not even with the wind. Jungkook wanted to throw a pebble or something to convince her that he was there and he would always be there. Asteria sighed and continued to write.

Jungkook clutched the book tightly but quickly let go in fear that it would crumble into ashes. He could feel his face still warm from his memory and he could remember how warm her presence had made him. Her entire being had comforted him, he wistfully wished for that again. He was afraid that his memories would turn to ashes along with his book, so he held it as if he were to hold her, never to let go. Jungkook squeezed his eyes as he let his tears run down his face and onto his hands. The silver droplets quickly disappeared and if anything, they made more meteors fall. He could feel the cool breeze caress his warm cheeks as if to comfort him, saying no more tears. He choked on his tears that quickly turned to sobs.

Everything in Jungkook told him that Asteria was his love and his only. Out of the millennia of him being alive, he only truly felt alive with her in his presence. Her warm smile and golden skin made him fall in love with her every time he pictured her in his mind. Her soft, delicate hands were made to write and he loved to see them work their magic. He fell in love with every part of her, from her fingers to her peach colored lips, to her eyes that held the stars. Jungkook could hear her laugh every time she smiled and he could hear it echo in his mind as he imagined her receiving the first copy of her book. He could remember her jumping excitedly as the publisher congratulated her for it. Her excited giggles were fresh in his mind as he sat here, centuries later without her.

Jungkook vividly remembered the touch of her fingers on his as they both reached for the pen she had dropped. When she looked at him, in his disguise of course, he had memorized the map of her face, the glint in her eyes and the beauty marks on her cheeks. He could paint a perfect picture of her just with his memories alone. Her insistent laugh as she apologized for being so unlady-like had been seared into his brain. Her tears had been solidified in his memories. Jungkook sobbed as he watched the meteors fall in grace. The moon mocked him with it’s glow. The meteors fell so beautifully against the midnight sky and the constellations his brothers had created that he wanted to snatch them and throw them into the ocean. Jungkook wanted to make her his. He wanted to bring her back and he wanted to show her the wonders of this new world. He wanted her to love him and he wanted to love her. He wanted to love her sunkissed fingers and her high cheekbones and her curly baby hairs and her smooth neck. He wanted to melt into her touch instead of his puddle of misery. He wanted to beg Taehyung and Jin to bring a soul back to life, even though none of them had the power to do so. He would traverse the planes of his own existence to bring her back. He would do anything for her gaze again.

Jungkook took a shaky breath and let the book float in his hands as it dematerialized into the space he called home. It would show up in his room later. Hands now empty of her writing, he felt uneasy again. Some tears made his vision blurry and he had cried enough times to know not to touch them or else it would make his eyes burn. His tears were supposed to heal him, as moonlight droplets usually would, but he found that his tears for her never did. They seemed to make his eyes burn and his heart hurt even more. Jungkook continued to observe this space, it’s natural beauty and the meteors that fell for her. He continued to wonder if he would ever see her again, in vain. Jungkook never got to hold her or kiss her or even tell her he loved her, but he just wished that she didn’t die feeling unloved. He loved her passionately and deeply, he stored her memories in his heart and locked them away for days like these. He seemed to find her face in every painting that Namjoon showed him. He found her words in every book he read.

Looking back down at the pond and the reflection of the stars in her pond, he finally spoke to her.

“I wish you were here to see how much you’ve come to be known.” The fish were startled by his voice. “I just wish I could have shown my true face to you, and loved you how you were. I wish I could have kept you with me forever.” Jungkook’s words died in the still air and he felt a tear slide down his chin once again. The meteors had slowed down and the moon was beginning to shift with the time he spent here. He never wanted to leave. He was so attached to this silly little pond, he felt like sleeping here if he could.

“Please say something.” Jungkook whispered. Nothing answered back.

The oak tree branches rustled with the slight breeze and he suddenly felt the chill. Asteria’s warmth was no longer here. Jungkook took this as a sign to leave.

As Jungkook leaned to push himself up off the ground, he spotted something glowing white in the moonlight. It caught his eye instantly, the object seemed to sparkle in the little moonlight that was left. He only realized what it was when he crawled over to it, careful not to block the moonlight.

Blossoming in front of his own two eyes was a delicate flower. It’s petals were soft, just like Asteria’s lips. The glowing white color brought Jungkook to the verge of tears. He trembled, afraid to kill it if he touched it. But he gently touched it anyway.

Right in the same spot that Jungkook watched his Asteria write her books for years was a delicate and fully blossomed white Lily. It’s leaves were strong and healthy, it’s petals soft and delicate. The strong floral scent of the lily hit Jungkook so hard, it brought him to full sobs again. The flower blossomed in the direction of the pond, but Jungkook felt like it was facing him, telling him it was okay. The healthy petals and yellow pollen spoke to him. They told him that this was it, without any words. Jungkook knew this was a sign and he sobbed into his hands, hating that he knew what it meant.

He knew that Asteria lived a long and good life. He wanted her to, so he protected her like a flower blossoming in his garden. Even after she was married and had kids, he left a white lily for her every day on this spot. Even when she stopped coming to their spot, he left her a blossom. Even after she was gone, he came here and left her a lily every day. Soon enough, he stopped coming too, too cowardly to face his grief of losing her. He could no longer see her or feel her warmth, so he no longer left her flowers. But this blossom, growing from this unchanging dirt that had stayed the same for centuries, it was for him. He could feel it. He somehow sensed that she knew he left her those things. This flower was proof. Jungkook softly caressed the petals and a silver teardrop fell on the ground beside it, making the soil become dark with fertility.

Jungkook sighed and furrowed his brows hard. Namjoon had taught him to manifest flowers eons ago, even if he did not have the power to do so. He felt like he had to, for Asteria. He needed to leave a sign for her spirit, so she could rest in peace. He needed to say something to her finally for the first time. So he tried.

Carefully Jungkook shifted himself to the space next to her flower and held his shaky hands just above the soil. Using the still fertile soil, he concentrated long and hard, imagining the scent and exact color of his new blossom. As he held his breath, he lifted his hands in a slow upward motion and felt a soft stem poke his palm. Jungkook opened one eye and saw a flower growing right before his eyes. In a matter of seconds his flower had opened and bloomed a bright orange lily with black specks on it’s petals.

The fertile soil and his heightened abilities had made the stem thick and strong, the petals seemed hearty. They gleamed with the bright moonlight. Jungkook admired his work and noticed that a vine off the stem had grown over to the white lily and curled around it’s stem. Jungkook’s burning eyes welled with more tears and he shifted his weight back onto his feet while sitting on his knees. This would be his final goodbye for her. A final gift to his other half. A final testament of his love, these blossoms would live eternally in this Eden of theirs. Jungkook slowly got up and willed the rest of his energy into one last star that shined bright in the sky. The closest one to the moon, he willed it to shine brighter than any other star in his night sky. Jungkook’s tears flowed freely as he walked away from his memory of her forever.

[fatebreaking-a]

Sorry to bother you but i am out of the loop. What did Riot do with seraphine?

// @crying-elf-lass // First of all - excellent choice in pfp, Marcille is great.

Now, trying to keep as much bias out of my post as possible... ( though there will be some, and I will miss some things! )

There are three parts to consider. Gameplay, narrative, and niche in the world.

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

First, we need to talk about the history of Sona in League of Legends.

Narrative & Niche: Sona, as a champion, has existed for many, many, many years. Her lore was 2 paragraphs and she had no short story. Her canon appearances ( excluding an Odssey short story which I will take about later ) were limited to other champion’s stories ( her adoptive mother, Lestara, helped Quinn to become a ranger-knight, she helped Ryze secure a World Rune in Call of Power ). Several years ago, Riot changed the lore of Demacia ( Sona’s current home ) to be one that denies magic. With the addition of petricite, a magic nullifying material, and several changes in lore, Demacia became the host of several magical problems ( dragons, Evelynn, Nocturne, Fiddlesticks ) and a unit of anti-magic specialists ( mageseekers ).

Throughout that time, up until 2 months ago, Sona’s lore did not receive a single meaningful change or update. This is a period of over 5 years, in which one of Demacia’s only mages / magical creatures ( Poppy, Lux, Sona, Shyvana, and later Sylas ) did not get any sort of answer as to what is happening with her. Several other champions did get an explanation of sorts, with some manner of handwaiving - for example, minotaurs are part of the Demacian army, so magical creatures are not out and out excluded. Yordles are known to be seen differently by different people, so Poppy’s existence is also possible to explain ( we learned this with an interaction between Ziggs and Jinx in Zaun ).

This left Sona writers in a general state of confusion. Is Sona in jail? Is Sona a registered mage? Not to mention that Sona left Ionia ( where a war between Noxus and Ionia occurred ) and the timing of that was unspecified.

Which led to a giant gap in terms of “what is this champion doing and what is her situation”. And each of us tried to fill that gap in our own ways. Some of us had Sona leave Demacia, some had her retreat into her mansion and play less music, some had her be defiant, and so on. Because the last thing we learned was that she was in Ionia, helping Ryze with the World Rune, some people put her in Ionia semi-permanently.

And we also had to contend with the existence of Sylas, who flipped Demacia on its head and caused something of a mage hunt. The finer details of that I exclude, it’s enough to say that certain mages were rounded up and put in prison where once they were exiled, and Lux helped some magically inclined individuals escape. There’s a nuanced conflict there between several members of Demacia ( Garen, Jarvan, Lux, Xin Zhao, Tianna, etc ) but getting into that is not the point of this.

We still didn’t know anything about Sona. So Sona writers and players and enthusiasts tried their very best to fill in the gap with what we did know, often incidentally. We did know that Sona was once in Ionia, that the Ionia-Noxus war happened, that she moved to Demacia, and that she is a famous musician with a magical instrument. Prior to the removal of the Institute of War ( a part of lore which said that ‘summoners’ were real and nations used Summoners + Champions to settle conflicts ), Sona was known globally and was basically Runeterra’s #1 musician when it comes to the etwahl, perhaps more. We also know that Sona is an extremely empathetic person, and her music is borderline spellbinding, to the point where it was easy to guess that she could affect people’s emotions and was an empath. None of that was out and out confirmed, but it was easy to make that logical conclusion.

Very recently, Sona’s lore changed. In it, a lot changed. We learned that she left Ionia with others, rather than just alone and with her etwahl, and it was to escape the Ionia conflict ( not because Lestara, her adoptive mother, wished to possess the fabled etwahl ). Essentially, this new lore painted Sona far more as a war refugee, and painted Lestara in a far better light as well. Along with this lore update/rework, we also got a short story ( that still left what she’s doing now up in the air!) 

However, this came after a several year wait. And in that time, Sona enthusiasts had no choice but to come up with answers to all their burning questions by themselves. One Sona writer followed the ‘Sona is the aspect of harmony’ track, another followed the ‘music as a means of community togetherness’ track, another put her as an oversensitive empath who uses music to heal the pain of her people - and we all tend to agree on one point - Sona is an extremely empathetic person who uses her music for the good of others.

And as we waited, several other champions appeared, some of them overlapping with Sona’s music theme. Bard, the wanderer who listens to the songs of creation itself. Jhin, the murderous theater performer and assassin who believes the world his stage. Rakan, the battle dancer who uses the songs and rhythms of people to fight and move before they do. And Sona’s niche, what was unique about her, grew smaller and smaller.

Finally, we had something that felt unique about Sona.

Gameplay & Design: 

Sona as a champion has existed a very long time... And is the aura and music champion. Her q does some damage, her w shields and heals ( and reduces damage with her passive ), and her e speeds people up ( and slows with her passive ), while her r is a rectangular ult wave - thinner than Nami’s, but still relatively wide. The kit as a whole is pretty simple, but it has a history.

Sona players are... innovators. They like to do things like buy Kirchei’s shard because it’s most efficient, or take Sona mid, top, jungle, and adc. And over the last two years, Sona has received nerf after nerf after nerf saying, “No, stay in the support role”. You can still pull off certain lanes, but it’s extremely difficult because her aura abilities give you mana back if you tag an ally... making them difficult to use in a solo lane, or to roam alone.

Also, as one of the older crew of champions ( pre Jinx when Riot started using other body types for women ), her figure is... well, she’s got an hourglass figure, and her dress does not hide her breasts much at all. And it’d been like this for ages and ages, which meant that in League’s toxic culture, being a Sona one-trick led to a variety of hateful comments which I won’t repeat here.

Sona has a history of being treated like either an overpowered support or a terrible one, in part because she lacks any form of CC before 6 ( barring her e chord passive ).

So if you’re a Sona enthusiast, a big part of you wants Sona to have agency and not just be a pretty face damsel in distress. Even I, who have a second blog where I write Sona as an extremely soft character, don’t have her be a damsel in that interpretation of her. This is made worse by the community and a lot of art that ships her with men who treat her badly, along with an endless slew of adult images that degrade her, and often make fun of her disability - that she can’t speak. It’s sad and it’s degrading. And even within the last few years, she was written in a story in the Odyssey skin line...  as a prize for Kayn to take. That is an official Riot story which essentially treated her like a prize to capture for Kayn’s own goals - not as a person, but as a carrier of a key, as an object, and she lacked agency. Thankfully over the last few years, Riot has started giving women more agency, but... it’s been a problem for a long time.

Recently, along with the lore rework, we got Sona in a skin that makes her look and feel like a badass - PsyOps, her legendary skin. She breaks free of her confines and rages against those in her way in a very Syndra-like fashion, uncaged. And this was very cool.

And now, we have Sona where she is now.

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

Seraphine as a champion has recently been revealed, along with her abilities and lore.

Narrative & Niche: 

Seraphine’s lore is essentially this.

She, born of Zaunite parents, went up to Piltover. She was able to hear the souls and songs of people ( magical empath ) and hoped to unite those around her with her music. Then, she went down to Zaun, a city full of impoverished and disenfranchised peoples, to try and do the same thing.

In other words, “This champion uses music as a means of bringing people together. She aims to aid the disenfranchised.” There is nuance there, and it’s not the exact same as Sona, but the similarity is striking.

Furthermore, several key points in her lore are things that Sona writers have already imagined for themselves. A hypersensitivity to others, for example. Having such a strong sense of hearing that she can hear things others can’t. Sona is known to be able to essentially echolocate ( or at least, she had been known to do so in her older lore ). 

I will admit that the idea of ‘hypersensitive hearing or empathy’ is not the sole domain of Sona writers. Athena Cykes of Ace Attorney has a similar problem ( as revealed in her backstory ). And similarly, she wore a special device to help her filter that out. It’s not a completely unique idea, but again - the problem is striking. Sona, a highly sensitive and empathetic person, was often interpreted to be too sensitive to others. And now it’s on Seraphine, in her lore.

Seraphine’s whole lore is that she’s essentially an extremely popular and famous musician who brings people together with music... and that’s what Sona was.

She was all those things.

So to some people ( myself included ) it feels as though Riot has reworked Sona’s lore so they can give some of the overlap to Seraphine. Empathy / soul-seeing ( a Morgana, Kayle, Neeko, and Sona special... ) and the whole music thing...

And this is leading people to say, repeatedly, “This is just Sona 2.0.”

For Sona enthusiasts who have been waiting for Sona to get content or lore for years and years, this feels like a slap in the face.

Gameplay & Design:

Seraphine’s abilities are as follows.

When she uses 3 abilities, her next ability is empowered with additional effects ( essentially repeating ). Her q does damage ( based on missing health ) and is a skillshot, her w shields and speeds up people ( and heals herself if she’s already shielded ), and her e slows people ( and roots if they’re already slowed ), while her R is a rectangular ult that charms those hit and makes them walk towards her briefly.

That’s really similar to Sona.

When Sona uses 3 abilities, her next auto-attack is empowered with additional effects. Her q does damage. Her w shields and heals people ( and reduces damage output from an enemy if her passive is up). And her e speeds allies up ( and slows an enemy if her passive is up ). And her R is a rectangular ult that stuns those hit and makes them dance in place.

The similarity is striking. Seraphine does lack the ability to heal allies ( on first glance, I may have misread ), but she looks extremely similar to Sona... which is a frustration.

This year, we got Yone, Yasuo’s brother. And the reasoning behind this, when most other champions are written to give unique inputs/outputs, is that this is an alternative choice for Yasuo players when Yasuo is banned and will improve game health.

However, I suspect the same logic does not hold for Sona and Seraphine. Sona is in a class of enchanters, where several champions can do things similar to what she does already ( with some differences, of course! ). If you can’t play Sona, you can play Karma, you can play Taric, etc - not the same, but similar. It’s my suspicion that with the introduction of Seraphine, we will instead have the problem of Akali/Diana several years ago - these champions are so similar that whichever one is stronger will be played while the other one will be ignored completely.

Furthermore, Seraphine got a lot of attention. A lot of attention. She has a fake twitter account. 

And she is releasing with two skins, one of which is an ultimate. Release. For Sona players who only just got their legendary ( with the understanding that DJ Sona exists ), this feels like a slap in the face. It’s easy to feel overshadowed, and as much of the community is saying right now, this is ‘Sona 2.0′

Now some people are saying, ‘maybe Sona gets reworked’, but that will not be a great answer. If you like playing Sona’s current playstyle, swapping to Seraphine because Riot changed Sona completely will be alienating, and only exacerbate the feeling that Seraphine is replacing and overshadowing Sona.

But it gets a little worse than that too. Seraphine is designed for mid/support, to be played in both lanes. However, Sona enthusiasts have received nerf after nerf to Sona in other lanes, which only makes this hit that much harder. There’s a theory that Seraphine’s kit is essentially a scrapped Sona rework kit. If Seraphine’s build is the same as Sona’s, it will be... tragic. It will be disappointing...

And it’s already exhausting.

Neither Sona nor Seraphine enthusiasts are without the metaphorical gutpunch, and this is likely to divide the community even further. And heaven forbid you like both.

For Sona enthusiasts, this is a slap in the face. Our favorite champion being overshadowed and overhyped by another who gets so much on release, when we’ve longed for content for years is hurtful. 

For Seraphine enthusiasts, this is a punch in the gut, for seeing their champion essentially be treated like a clone of another is unkind. Any nuance or effort put into Seraphine will be drowned underneath ‘Sona 2.0′. And the overlap between both champions and their respective abilities and character traits will wear anyone out.

And that’s not fair to anyone.

( Disclaimer: I wasn’t able to stay 100% unbiased, but if you read all of that, thank you. )

[starside-selfships]

Just Relax (Meowscles)

Author’s note: Here’s a little short story of Meowscles and I just relaxing. Soft, sweet, and fluffy with a little bit of suggestive stuff sprinkled in, nothing too saucy, as that’s for the upcoming fic I’m working on. Enjoy!

I uncovered myself by removing my hood and my mask that covered the lower half of my face to catch my breath as I rested my head on the lap of my muscular feline boyfriend, Meowscles, the two of us just taking a moment to relax on a hilltop near Retail Row under the cover of night. The sky was aglow with stars, sparkling and shining as the Earth slowly rotated, beautiful and angelic as always. Moments like these, with no conflict, no sweaty player building towers taller and more complicated than the ones in Tilted, no loud gunfire of legendary assault rifles or shotguns, not even the roar of a supercar rushing by our heads, just the chirping of crickets and soft fluttering of fireflies roaming around us. While I had my hands resting in my lap, Meowscles was brushing his digits across my face, catching the several tears that I attempted to hide earlier. Feeling his hands stroke my face like this, not only did it make my heart pound, but my face rise in temperature. He was gentle in caressing my skin so I returned the favor, raising a hand to carefully wrap around his wrist to hold, the fur tickling my palm as I listened to his satisfying purrs that were pure pleasure to my ears. I will admit, Meowscles is one of the insanely few to make me feel some type of way. What I mean specifically is that I don’t think there’s anyone else on Apollo or Athena that I would be able to enjoy a moment like this. Yeah, some pretty cool characters run around and have their fun, like Peely or Lil Whip, but Meowscles was different. A galaxy canine and a swole cat, you’d think that the two of us would hate each other, but that’s far from the truth. For months, our bond has only gotten stronger and stronger and I couldn’t be more grateful to have found love on Apollo.

“Those stars are just like you, you know,” He spoke up before looking down at me with those precious eyes of his. “Let me guess: pretty and bright?” I guessed. “Close. Beautiful and perfect.” He purred, pulling me up onto his lap and resting his head on top of mine, the sensation of his purrs roaming throughout my whole body and man, oh man, I could feel every second of it, like one of the best massages you could ever have, it just hits everywhere. “Hey, Meow?” I said, hoping to ask Meowscles a question. “Yeah, Star?” He replied and in response, I turned my body around to sit down properly on his wide lap, my legs wrapped around his so I could focus simply on his eyes. Being up close to him like this always made me smile and if my smile wasn’t enough, then my tail certainly was as it was picking up speed, my face reaching higher temps. Without wasting any more time, I pressed my lips against the feline’s, locking mine on his and shutting my eyes as my arms wrapped snugly around his neck. The warmth began filling me up, my tail reacting by wagging rapidly left and right as I was full of joy, my ears flooding with the overwhelming sound of Meowscles’ purrs. Both sides of my coat open enough for my covered upper half to press against his half-naked sturdy build, a small bit of friction but nothing too rough. Kissing him like this, it didn’t feel weird, not at all as we’ve kissed plenty before. If anything, the first was exciting and, like always, after the first, we end up craving for more. This time was no exception as Meowscles told a tender hold on the back of my head and smoothly forced his lips onto mine, sending waves of pleasure throughout my body, my eyes struggling to stay open as he began to even glide his free hand down my back, my own two hands holding onto his back for support. I attempted to hold back from digging my nails into his back and with how good he was handling me, I was having more trouble holding on as I just gave in to the growing bliss.

“Just relax,” He purred upon pulling his lips away for the first time of the night before going back to smacking them against mine once again. Unable to pull away and giving him complete control, I decided to hold onto Meowscles with all my remaining strength as he swiftly and easily lifted me off the ground with basically no problem. He had the build for it and to continue the desperate smooches that I’m pretty sure both of us needed, I was lucky as hell. With a bit of resistance, I was able to pull back for just a moment to speak. “Hang on, hang on,” I panted out with a smile, pressing my head against his. “I, hoo boy, you think we could take this to the car?” I asked, hopeful as the moon made his smile shine, but his eyes shone brighter. “Why else did you think I picked you up?” Great minds think alike. I was in for quite a ride. Literally. We refrained from kissing on the way to the supercar that sat by the road. With plenty of time, till the sun rose and the Battle Bus made its way towards the island to drop its daily dose of combatants, Meowscles and I had plenty of time to have some fun so there was no need to be in a rush. We were going to take our sweet time and something told me that Meowscles couldn’t wait like me. Maybe after our fun, the two of us could just pass out in the car together and take a cat nap before jumping back into battle together, surprise a duo by jumping out of the car, and taking their loot, like we always do. 

“I love you, Elijah.”

“I love you too, Meowscles.”

[earthpkmnheadcanons]

Pokemon Earth Story, Part 1

Ethan awoke to a light tapping noise that sounded something like his alarm. Rubbing his eyes, he slowly slipped into consciousness, realizing the sound was only, in fact, a Pikipek pecking a tree outside his dorm window. He rolled over and picked up his phone. The time flashed at him - 10:30. He’d slept through his first class. 

He silently cursed and sat up in bed. Clearly he’d forgotten to turn his alarm on last night. He looked over at his Emolga, who was still fast asleep in the bed laying on his desk. His roommate, however, had already left. Ethan wished he would’ve woken him up. Oh well, he thought. It’s just one class.

He stood up and walked over to flip on the light switch, startling awake his sleeping Emolga. Emolga gave him a pouty face as though asking to turn back off the lights and go back to sleep. Ethan shook his head. “Not anymore, we’ve got class in half an hour.” Emolga gave another try, this time putting on its cutest face possible, but Ethan just shook his head and grabbed his backpack. “Let’s head out, little guy.” Disappointed, Emolga climbed up onto Ethan’s shoulder as they walked out of his dorm room. 

Ethan had adopted Emolga back when he was ten, as was tradition. He knew a few people who’d gotten their first Pokemon at eight or nine, and a few who had never gotten one at all, but for the most part people chose their first Pokemon partner at age ten. He still remembered the moment vividly; he’d been in the middle of an electric-type phase, and was hoping to get an Electrike only to find there were none left when he arrived at the professor’s laboratory. Instead, he’d gotten Emolga. He didn’t regret his choice in the least. Ethan and Emolga had always gotten along, despite the occasional electric shock when Emolga didn’t get what it wanted. 

At sixteen, when he could, Ethan had taken the test and gotten his Capture License, which was needed to catch any extra Pokemon to add to his team. Still, he’d never bothered catching anything else. Ethan didn’t really want to be a competitive Pokemon trainer; he was fine just spending time with his partner Emolga. The gym challenge was cool and all, but it was too much for Ethan. 

As he stepped out of his dorm building, Ethan felt the sunrise wash over him. It was a perfect spring day in his picturesque university town, a small suburb located just outside of New York City. Evolution University was named by its founders in the hope that its students, just like a Pokemon, would be able to grow and change as a result of their education there. Its mascot, unsurprisingly, was an Eevee, and wild Eevee could be found roaming around campus. One, the only shiny Eevee on campus, was a favorite among students, and had an Instagram and a Twitter dedicated to it. 

Ethan began to walk along the sidewalk, enjoying the light breeze and the perfect weather. He began to hum a soft tune as he strolled along. Emolga, for its part, was even more pleased about the weather than Ethan; its earlier exhaustion entirely forgotten, it soared off his shoulder and onto a nearby tree, gliding from branch to branch excitedly. As he walked, Ethan soon came upon the entrance to his university, decorated with a massive fountain where giant golden sculptures of Vaporeon shot out streams of water. 

The entrance was packed with people, both students rushing from class to class and city residents enjoying a nice walk. He passed several people walking their Growlithes and Lillipups. Everything was peaceful; it was a perfect day. 

The peace was interrupted by a sudden scream. 

Ethan watched in horror as several Voltorb and Electrode suddenly rolled out into the crowd. That was odd; weren’t Voltorb banned in New York? Then the first Voltorb exploded and it dawned on him. This wasn’t an accident. Someone had deliberately released these Voltorb. 

He knew what he had to do. 

“Emolga!” he said. “Use Quick Attack!” Emolga wasn’t used to battling, but it quickly responded by darting at the nearest Voltorb, knocking it out in a single hit. Around him, Ethan heard screams of panic as people fled the scene, and deafening explosions as more and more Voltorb and Electrode went off. He needed to minimize the damage. “Emolga, keep going! Get as many as you can!” he yelled, though it was barely audible over the noise. Emolga dashed at the nearest Electrode, which responded with an electric shock, knocking Emolga back a few feet. Stunned but not defeated, Emolga responded with Acrobatics, knocking the Electrode out cold. By now, smoke filled the air and Ethan could hear police sirens wailing in the distance. “Emolga, get back!” he shouted as another Electrode exploded near his precious Pokemon. Emolga rushed back to his shoulder as Ethan coughed, breathing in the smoke. Realizing there was nothing he could do, Ethan began to run. The crowd had mostly dissipated, but it was hard to see and Ethan soon tripped over the curb, stumbling onto the ground. He didn’t have time to assess his injuries and get up before another explosion went off, and Ethan blacked out. 

***

Breaking News

A terrorist attack using Voltorb and Electrode occurred today at Evolution University just outside of New York City. No deaths have been reported so far, and only a few injuries… A shadowy group calling themselves “Team Rocket” has claimed credit for the attacks. Police are investigating to determine who this “Team Rocket” is and what they want… Meanwhile, Evolution U is taking steps to increase security and-

Dawn turned off the TV and yawned. “Team Rocket,” she said to herself. “That’s weird, it’s like in that game Animals.” She looked over to her Pachirisu, which had fallen asleep out of boredom. Dawn shook it awake, experiencing a small electric shock as she did. “Ow!” she said, jumping back. Pachirisu laughed a little as it looked up at her.

“Sorry for waking you up, I guess,” Dawn said. “Let’s go on a walk. I’m bored.”

“Pachi pachi!” Pachirisu said cheerfully. With that, they were off. 

Dawn was on spring break at her parent’s house, and only a few days in she had already exhausted everything there was to do. Other than homework, obviously. She was excited to get back to college and see her friends again, but the wait was so long and her parents were so excited to finally have her back home. Dawn sighed as she stepped out the door. It was no use reflecting on things; it was time to catch some Pokemon. 

Dawn was something of a Pokemon collector. Ever since she’d learned to throw a Poke Ball - even before she had her Capture License - she’d been out catching Pokemon in her backyard. Her room was filled with piles of Poke Balls of bug and grass-types she’d managed to find, but Pachirisu was the only one of any real significance to her. Dawn’s ultimate goal was to catch a legendary Pokemon, but she was a long way away - the rarest Pokemon she’d ever found was a Trapinch, and then it turned out that it belonged to her neighbor and had accidentally escaped from his house. Still, she kept trying. 

Her house backed up to a forest, which was useful for looking for wild Pokemon. The sun was setting as she crept past the hole in the fence and into the tree-lined depths. Dawn paused to appreciate the weather. It really was perfect outside. She and Pachirisu strolled along the trail, keeping their eyes out for any Pokemon they could spot. A Caterpie - she already had three of those. A Ledyba - she already had two of those. It seemed like her search was going to be in vain, when suddenly she heard a familiar buzzing sound from just off the trail. That could only mean one Pokemon. 

“A Yanma!” she said to Pachirisu. She’d only ever found one Yanma before, and it had ran away before she’d been able to catch it. This time, she wasn’t letting it go. Dawn dashed into the undergrowth with Pachirisu close behind, and soon spotted the Yanma flying above them. She lobbed a Poke Ball at it. Missed. 

“Pachirisu, use Spark!” she yelled, as Yanma began to flee. Both of them ran after it, Pachirisu climbing up into a tree and using it as a launch point to jump onto the Yanma’s back and give it a powerful electric shock. The Yanma, now struggling to fly, kept going, pushing deeper and deeper into the woods. Dawn climbed over fallen branches and thick plants, hoping she didn’t accidentally wander into any poison ivy. (She’d made that mistake before.) Soon, they came across a clearing - a small pond and what looked to be an abandoned playground. She’d never been here before, and didn’t recognize it. 

Dawn didn’t pay attention to her surroundings, instead throwing another ball at the Yanma. This time, it landed, and Yanma went inside as Pachirisu leaped onto the nearest tree branch and scurried back down to her side. 

The ball ticked back and forth. Click. Click. Click. Click! Yanma was caught!

Dawn pumped her fist in the air in excitement. She’d finally caught a Yanma. As she ran over to grab the Poke Ball, she heard a faint, ominous sound coming from the playground. 

She picked up the Poke Ball. The sound grew louder. 

Now that she took the time to think about it, Dawn realized she had heard of this place before. An abandoned playground by her house. They had meant to build a new development in the area, but were scared off by-

Oh no. 

Dawn didn’t stick around to see what kind of terrifying ghost Pokemon lurked in the area. She dashed back into the woods, running as fast as she could through thick undergrowth. Finally, she emerged on a trail, but it wasn’t the trail she’d come from. In fact, it wasn’t a trail she recognized at all. 

It finally hit her - she was lost. 

[ahgaseda]

game over | mark (got7) drabble

↣ info: smut, explicit

“Mark,” you whined for the hundredth time, leaning against the doorway. “Come to bed.”

“Mm,” was his answer.

Glaring at the back of your boyfriend’s head, currently sporting gaming headphones, you folded your arms and stuck out your hip. “When are you planning on going to sleep?”

“Yeah,” he replied, engrossed in his game.

Clearly, he wasn’t listening and you were certifiably boiling. “I wanna suck your dick,” you deadpanned.

“Hm.”

Then, you blurted, “I’m pregnant with Jackson’s baby.”

“Okay.”

“Unbelievable,” you huffed, storming into the bedroom and slamming the door shut.

When you emerged fifteen minutes later, you sauntered around the couch and moved into his peripheral vision. The lingerie set was new and you were eager to show it off, hence your annoyance at your boyfriend’s priorities at the moment.

Mark was still mashing away at buttons and didn’t even offer you a glance, but he did comment, “You’re still up?”

“Yep,” you replied.

“Cool.”

Smirking, you began crawling on hands and knees across the sofa, continuing when you reached your boyfriend’s lap and arching your back.

“Excuse me,” you crooned, making yourself comfortable on your stomach over his thighs and crossing your ankles in the air.

Not the least bit fazed by your stunt, as Mark was well attuned to your need for affection, your boyfriend lifted his arms blithely to give you room, but was finally forced to acknowledge you on top of him. It was a shame you couldn’t see his face; his expression was legendary.

“The fuck are you wearing?” Mark blurted, his headphones quickly tugged to hang around his neck.

You replied, “Black lace set you bought me.”

Mark lingered his eyes on your naked backside, running his tongue over his teeth as if a full-course meal had just been placed squarely on his lap. Smirking with mischief, he murmured, “I don’t remember making that purchase.”

“Your credit card does.”

Sufficiently aroused, Mark bit his lip and brought a hand to your ass, stroking over the flesh in appreciation and looping a finger into the band of your lace panties.

Wiggling your lower body, you chided, “No, no, no. Don’t touch me. I’m catching up on my reading.”

Mark finally realized you were holding a book in your hands, but he was damn sure you hadn’t read a single word. Shifting slightly and draping an arm over your lower back possessively, he teased, “Oh, I can look but can’t touch, huh?”

“Just go back to playing your dumb game,” you huffed bitterly, making a point. “It’s a lot more fun than I am.”

Mark growled lewdly, “Nothing is more fun than you are.”

You said nothing, but instead flipped a page in the novel.

Mark ran his palm across the bare expanse of your thigh, between the top of your stockings and the curve of your plump ass. Fingers roamed down your flesh before stroking boldly between your lower lips over the material of your panties.

Feigning anger but also shuddering at the touch of his fingertips, you snapped, “Play your stupid game, Mark. I’m trying to read.”

Mark discarded the controller and grabbed a handful of your hair, yanking you back. His voice was low when he threatened, “You wanna fucking try me?”

You giggled at finally getting what you wanted, bouncing your ass in delight. “How else am I supposed to get your attention?” you purred.

“Baby girl wants to get into trouble, huh?” Mark asked, his words heavy with warning.

“Ye…”

A loud crack resounded as his hand landed on your ass.

You squeaked and tried to turn on his lap, but the firm grip on your hair kept you in place.

Mark lifted his hand, hovering it in the air and taunting, “You want another one?”

“I…”

His hand collided with your ass again.

Your boyfriend scolded, “It’s a yes or no question.”

“No,” you blurted, though secretly you did.

Mark rubbed his hand over your ass, soothing the sting, and continued, “There are other ways to get my attention rather than waltzing out here in lingerie to get me hard like this.”

Giggling, you pretended to be surprised and asked coyly, “Did I make Daddy hard?”

The speed at which his palm connected with your ass had you reeling.

Mark groaned, “Oh, I’m getting there, you little shit.”

Breaking out of your role-play for a moment, you said with a laugh, “I straight up told you Jackson knocked me up and you didn’t even flinch.”

“I heard you,” Mark whispered, palming your sex and stroking slowly. “I also heard you want to suck my dick.”

Shivering, your breath hitched and you sighed, “Maybe.”

Mark pulled on your hair firmly, steering you backwards until your head was over his crotch. “Well, you’re in perfect position,” he said, letting his tongue linger at the corner of his mouth. “Get to it.”

Proceeding to unbuckle his pants, you glared playfully when Mark grabbed the controller and resumed his game. As you pulled out his cock, wrapped a clenched fist around the shaft, and spit on the head, you knew it wouldn’t be long before Mark would be earning himself a Game Over screen.

Hey there, beautiful! If you enjoyed this, please leave a like or reblog or follow me! Or maybe buy me a coffee so I can keep writing? Or check out my masterlist here for more stories! Thanks for reading :) - Katya

This work is fictional and for entertainment purposes only, but is licensed and protected under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives 4.0 international license. Any instances of plagiarism will be dealt with accordingly. Do not re-post or translate without my permission.

{ copyright 2018-2020 © ahgaseda // all rights reserved }

[iainwrites]

A Samhain Brouhaha

Harry Dresden, trick-or-treating with Maggie, Karrin and Mouse.  And a tie to the earliest stories I posted on here.

“Charity, you can trust me.”

“Harry, I know you’re trying to be a good man and do right, but you’re also Harry Dresden and that name doesn’t inspire a lot of trust, especially for what you’re asking for.”

“What I’m... All I’m asking for is that I can take her out for one night.  That’s all.”

“I’ve heard that request before, and we both know what came of it.”

“It was an accident!  How was I to know...”

“Yes, Harry.  How were you to know?  Something like this means you need to know, and to be prepared for whatever might happen.”

“... Mouse will be with us.  Do you trust Mouse?”

“I trust Mouse with her life.  But Mouse is just one dog and...

“Murphy will be there, too.”

“... I suppose I can trust Mouse and Karrin to keep an eye on her.  And you too.”

“Great!  Thanks, Charity.  You won’t regret this.”

       My name is Harry... Well, you know the rest.  Wizard and Warden of the White Council, Knight of Winter, Warden of Demonreach, yadda yadda yadda.  It feels like I have more titles than the Cubs at this point, and they all mean something different to someone.  After a while, it just gets tiring repeating them all, and they seem to lose their importance.

      A few years ago, none of this would have meant much for my personal life.  I lived alone, with nothing else in my life but my work and a few people kept at arm’s length that I could call my friends.  It’s funny how the years can change things.  As the world turned, my life kept getting more and more... complete, I guess.  Filled, maybe.  I found out that there are people who look up to me, then that I had a brother, got a dog, found out I had a daughter, then a sort-of-girlfriend-I-think.  Oh, and I died once, became possibly irreversibly connected to one of the greatest powers in the magical community, might possibly be losing my morality, and am currently the master of a jail that makes Area 51 look like an amusement park.  But those things aren’t as important as the family side.

      All of my history, those titles and that backstory doesn’t mean much tonight.  Everything else is pushed to the side, and tonight I’m wearing only one of those mantles.  Maybe the most valued one.  Tonight, I am Harry Dresden: Dad.  And with that mantle comes a responsibility like no other I have shouldered before.

      “Alright, Maggie.  We’ll go whenever you want to.  Charity made sure I know the list of houses that we can go to, and Mouse-bacca will make sure that anyone who's acting too spooky won’t bother us, okay?”

      “Okay...”

      “What?  You don’t believe in the Great Mouse-bacca?  I mean, he might not look like much, but he’s got it where it counts, right?”

      The walking carpet that is my dog actually manages something that sounds closer to a Chewbacca warble than his usual chuffing sound.  Matched with the belt slung around his middle and a little bit of brown dye, it’s hard to mistake him for anything other than a Wookie.  The rest of us are dressed in a way that makes it impossible to see us as anything but nerds.

      Maggie, with the help of a mother who has spent more years making costumes than anyone else I can begin to think of, is dressed up in a Rey costume, complete with a little lightsaber.  Karrin and I nearly came to blows over what we were going to wear.  I’m... well, ME, so of course I’d be the dashing and roguish Han Solo, right?  And my partner is a giant, furry thing.  It practically writes itself!  Karrin argued that I’m the dork and should be Luke Skywalker, while she’s the cool guy with the gun.  She may have also mentioned something about being able to kick my ass.  And so here she stands in her black vest and over-sized pistol at her side and looking (damn me for saying this) appropriately Han Solo-y.

      I wasn’t content with being Luke, and am not nearly old enough to be rocking the Sir Alec Guinness look, so I settled on something a little more my style.  Thanks to a mop of hair as a result of living out on a deserted island for way too long, a scar across an eye thanks to a past encounter and a penchant for flirting with the dark side of magic, I gussy myself up as an over-sized Anakin, pre-lava bath.  With a little help from Andy, we managed to make up a casing for my blasting rod that looks like the hilt of a lightsaber.  A little focus and the blade lights up with a nice shade of blue, thanks to a little help from Winter.  We couldn’t figure out how to get it to sound right, so I end up making the sounds myself.  All in all, we look like a nice, nerdy family out for some trick-or-treating.  And that’s how it all began: a nice, nerdy sort-of family trick-or-treating together.

      I was worried when we started out that all of the costumes, noise and excitement might be too much for Maggie.  I mean, there’s a lot that usually goes on during Halloween night.  For the normal people, at least.  There’s the noises, the lights, the people running around costumes that go from home-made to movie quality.  And while she starts off close to Mouse, Murphy and me at any particular time, she eventually starts to look the way she should: a little girl out on Halloween, hitting up houses for a sugar fix.  She might not be running around Hell and Creation like some of the other munchkins out there, but there is a smile on her face, and a little bounce in her step.

      Mouse, Murphy and I take turns going up to doors with her, each of us to varying degrees of success.  Mouse always seemed to be a lock for more candy, because whenever she comes back the bag feels a lot heavier.  When she goes up with Murphy, Karrin comes back with a smile on her face, with just a hint of conflict hidden underneath.  A part of me wants to ask; the intelligent part knows to stay quiet.  The detective part of me has suspicions.  When she was married to Rich, there was tension around them having kids and her staying home to take care of them.  Going up to a door with a kid for Halloween and being told that your “daughter” is cute is probably playing around in head each time.

      When I take her up, I get to experience my own brand of head and heartache.  I keep hearing them ooh and ahh over her costume, and how sweet or cute or cool she looks, then there’s the looks up to me.  And I hear them say again how sweet she looks.  And it tears a piece out of my heart each time.  Susan and I should be taking her out for this.  Susan should be here with our daughter.  Our daughter should never have had to go through everything she’s gone through.  She should be living a normal life, spooked of the costumes at Halloween because she has an overactive imagination, not because of what she’s lived through.  And I smile, try not to loom so much, thank them and squeeze my little girl’s hand when we walk back to the street.  I steel myself for the next time that I’ll hear those words, and try to make the most out of this first father/daughter Halloween.

      On my side of the magical divide, Halloween has this recent habit of being more exciting each year.  The wearing down the divide between the living and the dead, necromantic rituals, changing of mantles, and the killing of immortals seem like they’re only the tip of the iceberg these days, and there’s always the little whisper in my ear that there’s going to be more.  Somehow, I manage to trick myself for a fair portion of the night that this one will be different.  That the creepy crawlies from the other side will take the night off and give me a chance to have a well-deserved break.

      Yeah, right.  The author of my life isn’t ever going to be that nice to me.

      The first indication is the sudden jerk of Mouse’s leash.  He’s usually happy to trot along at his own pace, with the leash there to show everyone he’s a well-behaved dog.  It’s not uncommon for him to stop and smell the proverbial roses; but for him to stop because there’s something he wants to stop, that’s enough to get my attention.  The only thing that stands out around us is a small pack of costumed clowns hanging a little ways back.  They all have the shabby zombie costume that seems to keep its firm grip from year to year, combined with some cheap masks.  The clothes portion of the costumes are pretty good, comparatively; they look distressed, like there was some actual damage to them.  I know those kinds of rips and tears intimately.  They even got the blood patterns around the tears right.

      The night gets cold when I realize that some of the rips and the stains look fresh.  And have that quality that costumes either exaggerate or downplay.  I look from the costumes to the people (no, things) wearing them.  They move in sync, coordinated.  My brain goes back to my throw-away description of them and revises is: a little ways back behind us is a small Pack of costumed wolves.

      The Pack.  A holdover from an old fight some Hunters and I should have finished and buried.  They’re a roaming group of monsters who hunt together, and have been the death of innocents and those that have tried to stop them.  The legendary Hunter John Winchester worked with the fledgling Black Cats to kick their asses up around their mouths decades back.  After a misunderstanding, Karrin and I teamed up with his sons, Sam and Dean, to ring the bell on Round 2.  We didn’t finish them off, but I thought we left them with a nose that was so bloody that they’d never want to try hunting together again.  Apparently, the lesson wasn’t definitive enough for them, because here they stand, lesser in number but still a threat to everyone walking this street.

      Karrin must have realized that we’ve been left behind, because she calls back to us.  “You okay, Harry?”

      Mouse clues in that I’m clued in and goes from alert growl to “stay way the hell away” growl.  “Yeah,” I reply.  “Mouse just has to use the little doggy’s tree.  We’ll catch up with you in a little bit.”

      “You sure?  We can wait.”

      My gut starts to get wrenched around.  I want my daughter to be safe, and safe is away from these things.  But if she’s sent away, that means I can’t be there to protect her.

      But Murphy will be there, and short of Michael, she’s the one person I know I can trust to keep my daughter safe.  “We’ll be there in a bit.  I’m going to take Mouse away from the street so nobody has to get caught up in it.  Have you been feeding him table scraps again, Maggie?  Because you’ll have to clean up you’ve been sneaking taco’s to Mouse.”

      My daughter gives off a little giggle and Mouse lets off the subsonic growl long enough to give a happy little chuff.  I pat his head, wave to Karrin and Maggie and start to lead him to an alley, digging out one of the plastic bags we’ve been using for Maggie’s haul.  I see Karrin look from me to Mouse, to the Pack and unlatch her blaster.  Just like I put a case around my blasting rod, she has a plastic shell around her service pistol.  It might not be much, but it’ll sure as hell slow down anything that I let get past me.

      The Pack seem to size up Karrin and Maggie as they leave.  Their gaze stays on them for a very uncomfortable time, before slowing coming back to me.  The message is loud and clear: “We saw them, we’ll remember them and we’ll find them.”  Yeah?  I have my own message.

      “Okay, assholes.  You were dumb enough to sign up for Round 3, so let’s find a nice quiet corner so I can beat on you like I’m Rocky.”

      As they follow me, one makes its way out of the main body, to stand in front of them like a spokesperson.  I can tell even underneath the costume what it is, and a fire starts to burn through my veins.  Human sized, but not human like. Extra-long arms that end in claws.  An unhealthy color that some could pass off as make-up but I recognize as naturally disgusting.  And behind the mask, eyes that are weighing and measuring you up for its plate.  A ghoul.  A ghoul who has seen my daughter.  Ever since the Red Court was dealt with, the whole race of ghouls have been moved up to the top of my “Things That World Will Never Miss” list.  This one just reserved extra special placement.

      I take my hand off of Mouse’s lead as he and I turn in sync to stare at the Pack.  The lead ghoul stops only a few feet away from me.  The alley is barely wide enough for Mouse and I to stand side-by-side, but that also means that they’re limited by how many can come forward at a time.  It’s not my favorite ring to fight in, but there’s been worse.  “Okay.  Say your piece, then let’s get started.”

      “You assume too much, wizard,” the ghoul says to me.  I’m not sure if it’s actually speaking English or if I still understand Ancient Sumerian as a parting gift from Lash.  Whatever the case, it sounds like a snake slithering over broken bottles.  “What stops the hunters at the mouth of the alley from going back out to the street?  You?  The dog?”  Damn it.  “No.  You will hear what we have to say, you and the beast will die, then we will go out and continue our hunt.”

      “Alright, Smiley.  Let’s hear it, then.”

      “You are known, Wizard.  You are remembered.  The Pack knows your scent.  You went to ground, but have decided to appear again.”  There’s a murmur behind the ghoul that could politely described as “agreement”, if agreement was made up of growls and rumbles.  “You may have bested us in the past, but that is when you hunted with others.  The Winchesters.  They are known to us.  They are remembered.  They will be found.”

      For a ghoul, this guy is practically Shakespeare.  This is the most I’ve ever heard from one before and it all comes across as understandable.  “Alright.  So what’s your point here?  Are you just going to keep talking until I go into a coma so you don’t have to strain yourself?”  I keep my attention off of it and on the ones in the back in case they decide to amscray back onto the street like they were threatening to do.  “Because there’s actually stuff that I want to do tonight.  If that means I have to walk through all of you to get there, and this sounds weird coming from me, let’s stop talking and get it done.”

      “No, Wizard.  You do not decide the Hunt.  The Pack hunts its prey, and when it is cornered, their lives are ours.  You, a human, have no say in what happens.  Should we decide to kill you, you will die.  Should we decide to eat your beast, it will be eaten.  If we decide to hunt your mate and your whelp, they are ours for as long as we wish and for what we wish.”

      “You don’t want to do this,” I mutter, while Mouse begins to growl behind me.  The only mercy I can think of is that Karrin is away from us, and that Maggie will be safe with her.  I might even be able to take a few of them with me.  I might be able to protect my daughter from what’s to come.

      The ghoul doesn't break eye contact with me, but I’m willing to be to bet that it knows what’s going on and what’s going to happen.  The cocky bastard doesn’t even seem to care.  “Oh, I think I do, wizard.  I think I will.”  The Pack behind him shifts, the sounds of claws scraping ground, of bones snapping and reforming into monstrous forms.  I get a death grip on the lightsaber case and start to will my power into it.

      Why?  Why does this always have to happen?  I try to take my daughter out for something nice, like a trip to the zoo or out for Halloween, only for things to go sideways on us.  This life, this job, this responsibility... I’m okay with it.  But I want to be a father once in a while.  I want to try and give Maggie a normal life whenever possible, but something seems so damn set in ruining that for us.  There is always something that shows up and ruins things and keeps me from connecting with my own daughter.  Susan should be here.  Our lives shouldn’t be so... wrong.  She should be allowed to grow up with a mother and a father and never have to worry about all of these things.  All of this is happening and I’m just about ready to...

      Something around us changes.  I’m not even aware of it until I hear something shift in Mouse’s voice.  It still carries a sound of warning, but there’s something else.  Anticipation?  Excitement?  A certain reckless happiness that his human sometimes shows?  He’s ready for a fight, but there’s something that’s allowing him to relax, even in the smallest ways.  He’s not worried about the fight.  From what I hear, he might even be looking forward to it.  I do a quick scope around me to see what could flip the switch in him.  Turns out it’s a lot closer than I’d ever expect.

      It’s my blasting-saber.  A firey shade of orange is starting to appear in the core nearest the hilt.

      Its old color.  Something from years ago that has since been covered in Winter ice.

      MY old color.  A color of will, and excitement, and barely controlled power, all of it coming from me.  Not a mantle.  Not a mostly immortal Faerie Queen.  

                                                      Me.

      I bring my eyes back up to the ghoul, and I smile.  It’s not a nice smile, but it’s one with a promise.  “Let me rephrase that.  You’re NOT going to do this.”

      The remnants of the Pack shift, the faces under their costume masks shifting.  Most of them change their posture and flex their hands, getting ready for the fight they’ve been working themselves up for all night.  What they don’t understand is that the moment they looked at my daughter, they didn’t have a chance in Hades.

      “Here’s why you’re not going to do that.  In fact, here’s why after tonight, you’re never going to see each other every again.”  A few give off growling laughs.  “I am Harry Dresden.  I am a wizard and Warden of the White Council.”  “Warden” makes a few of them twitch.  “I am chosen by Mab, Queen of Winter, Air and Darkness to be her Knight.  I wear the mantle of Winter, and I wear it very damn well.”  Mouse has stopped growling by now, as though he doesn’t want to take any attention off of me.  “I am Warden of Demonreach, jailer to nastier bastards than you’ll all ever be.  Combined.”  The blue of my blasting-saber exists only on the outside of the blade; fire is making up the core and it’s becoming a brighter shade of red with my every word.  “I am Bane of the Red Court.  The one who has outplayed and overcome Death.  My ride is one of the greatest predators to ever roam this earth, and I brought it back from millennia of rest. I am Ally to Hunters and Slayers.  I know and will invoke the names Winchester and Summers.  I have been tempted by and refused a coin of the Blackened Denarius.  I have led the Wild Hunt.”  THAT gets their attention like I know it would.

      The air around us suddenly gets warmer.  Almost spring-like, like the nights you sit outside near a fire.  There might be a chill in the air, but there’s also the promise of warmth and comfort.  The snow starts to melt and the grass can be seen again, and there might even be the faint sign of flowers starting to bloom.

      Life and warmth after a snow that never seemed like it would leave.

      The various creatures in front of me start to look around, probably trying to figure out what all this means.  The quicker ones figure it out and look at me, the hostility they had been showing before beginning to melt away, revealing something almost like fear.  But right now?  Fear is not enough.  Fear can be conquered or forgotten.  They need to feel something much more permanent.

      “I am Harry Dresden.  This is MY city.  And this is MY night.  I claim it by birth and by my strength.”  The tension that’s been building in this little alleyway just... pops around me.  If there’s a pressure, I don’t feel it anymore.

      “You have threatened my daughter, and I will protect her.  Ask the Red Court what that promise means.”  I let those words hang in the air, full of meaning and threats.  “This is my city, and I will protect it.  Ask anyone how far I’ve gone to keep it safe, and what happens to the people that threaten it.”  I let my blasting-saber dip until it nearly touches the pavement, which starts to send up wisps of smoke.  “The people who live here are my people, and I.  Will.  Protect.  Them.  Ask the Heirs of Kemmler and the Black Court what that oath means.”

      I don’t make any of this a challenge, or a brag, or something to piss them off.  These are all things that simply are.  They’re all true, like that the sun rises or that water is wet.  You can argue and try to ignore it all you want, but these things are, have been and always will be.  I am who I am, and I do what I do, no matter the mantle I wear, or what tries to change me.

      “So here’s what you’re going to do.  Tonight, I curse the name ‘Pack.’”  There’s another subtle pop in the air as those words gain meaning and permanence.  Words have power, and I invest a portion of my own self into those words.  “All those who live under it do so under pain of... Well, death is too nice.  Non-existence.  Erasure from history.  I will call in every favor, from the crater of Sunnydale to the Isle of Manhattan and every road of that cuts across this country.  You will cease to exist.  You will never be spoken of and you will never be remembered.  And you will all die bloody.”  I draw my gaze from one face to another, never letting off until they look away first.  They wouldn’t need to Soul Gaze me to know what is on my mind; it’s pretty damn apparent to any of them with half a clue.  “You will never run together again.  You will not do it under the name Pack, or any other name.  Because if I hear so much as a rumor that a group of creatures attacked an innocent person, you’re done.  You will be found, then you will be gone.  This right here is your only warning.  Any questions?”

      “And you,” I say to the ghoul.  I start walking forward, the cape billowing behind me, my blasting-saber burning a line in the ground.  I get right up to its face, and lean down towards its ear.  “I really, really hate fucking ghouls,” I whisper.  “And I know how hard your kind is to kill.  I have experience with that.  But you want to know something?”  

      I whip the blasting-saber down and take its hand off at the wrist.  We both look down at it in surprise.  I was expecting some burning, maybe a little cut, but not full blown lightsaber action.  I doubt it was expecting anything at all.  We both bring our eyes back up and I stare it down one more time.  “I have one more title for you: I was the Fire of Camp Kaboom. There was a message that was sent back with a survivor.  I told it ‘Never Again.’” ��And I bring the blade flashing up in an arc and sear through its head with barely any resistance.  The head drops with a stunned look on its face as the body falls back into the hastily made space its friends make.

      “Never again.  Never again in my presence, in my city or to my people.”  I bring my gaze to each of them once again, but this time, nobody is too excited to look me in the eye.  “Do I need to repeat that to any of you?”  None of them reply. I snake out the blasting-saber again and take a chunk out of a rawhead and take out what looks to be a rugaru at the waist. That’s the sign they needed to break away and run, but not before I take a couple of slashes at their retreating asses.  I manage to down some; Mouse manages to run down another before it makes it to the mouth of the alley.  The ones I see escape split up.  When I step back onto the street, they’re long gone.

      Mouse and I take some time getting rid of the bodies, thanks to some creative uses of Ways and a few convenient garbage cans. The ghoul got some extra-special treatment, just like I promised.  I only realized how much time had actually passed when we finally caught up to Murphy and Maggie.  They’re less than a block away from the Carpenter’s home, with Karrin carrying an impressive haul of sugar filled goodness.  Even with all the best intentions, I still missed my first night of trick-or-treating with my daughter.  I try not to let my disappointment show as I lope up to them and ruffle Maggie’s hair.

      “Ha... Dad?  Are you okay?”

      “Yeah, I’m okay.  Just had to help Mouse clean up a mess.”

      “Your lightsaber is red.  Um... Isn’t red the color bad guys use in Star Wars?”

      “A lot of them do.  But remember the end of Return of the Jedi?”

      “We never finished it.  The Emperor... I don’t like what he says to Luke.”

      “He’s a pretty scary guy, and his threats are pretty serious.  But when he threatens Luke, Vader decides that his son is more important than his master.  He decides to fight against the Dark Side.”

      “So... Vader... becomes a good guy?”

      “It’s... complicated.  He did bad things, but family helped him so he could try to be good again.  He decided what to do, and that he didn’t want to follow the Emperor’s orders anymore.”

      “So, you’re like Darth Vader.”

      “... Yeah.  And the people I care about are helping me come back to the Light Side of the Force.  There’s going to be... bad things in my past, and there are going to be people who tell me what I have to be, but I decide whether that’s who I am.”

      “That’s... you’re kind of a cool guy.”

“Cooler than Han Solo?”

      “Well Mouse is cooler than Chewbacca, and he’s your partner.  So I guess that means you’re cooler than Han.”

I admit, it kills some of the cool vibes, but I squeeze Karrin on the shoulder and as she looks up at me, I stick out my tongue like I’m a kid.  I get an elbow in my hip in return, but it’s worth it.   I’ve never gone out trick-or-treating before tonight, so my expectations were pretty low.  But this was actually pretty fun.  And my daughter thinks I’m a cool dad.  Yeah.  That’s never going to go to my head.

      “Hey, Dad?”

      “Yeah, kiddo?”

      “Do you want to stay after we get back and watch Return of the Jedi?  If you’re there, I think I can make it past the Emperor this time.”

      “I’d love to, Maggie.”

      Murphy gives my hand a tug, and gives a nod of her head to let me know she wants to whisper something to me.  

      “I don’t know everything that happened, but you were pretty amazing tonight, Dresden.  And it’s your birthday.  There’s a Slave Leia costume I think we should break in later.”

      I love Halloween.

      “But you’re wearing it.”

      … Happy birthday to me.

[marielle-heller]

I’ve been talking with Julie (@marsvronica) about Tim Murphy a lot and I just feel like I need to share our headcanons so here we go, some random ideas:

so I think that most people agree that adult Tim is a paleontologist--and I want to add professor, Dr. Tim Murphy, which is very sexy--and he is extremely passionate about it. despite his experiences in the park he hasn’t been deterred from loving dinosaurs, though he does much prefer them from afar (in both physical distance and time), as nature intended them. he loves this piece of the past, but all of his dealings with it tell him that it should be left in the past

because of this, he is absolutely opposed to the idea of Jurassic World. from the moment he first hears that they want to try again, he is just incredibly angry, like there is no way this is going to be a good thing. and Julie decided that because of this he actually ends up storming into Simon Masrani’s office (who initially anticipates that the arrival of John Hammond’s grandson will be a good thing) and just chews him the hell out, though Masrani won’t budge

Tim also finds out in this meeting that it was apparently his grandfather’s dying wish to make the park work and that just adds to his anger. pal is pissed

so speaking of, Tim is typically rather calm, but when he is angry, he will go the fuck off. he just flies into a rage, comprised mostly of yelling, but combining some over-gesticulating and stomping (even once knocking things off a desk), and it’s kind of incredible just the way he lays into people for being so IDIOTIC. he doesn’t swear much normally, but many a bad word is used

so also since he’s not in the films he may not know, but if he ever finds out that that bitch was trying to sell dinosaurs for soldiers and for entertainment? oh my god the rant would be legendary. like viral on youtube worthy. he would just fucking go at it, yelling until his voice is hoarse and he’s seeing red and he has to sit down and someone has to get him a glass of water, because oh my god when will we fucking learn that man cannot, and should not, try to control dinosaurs? like how many times?

Tim is tired

anyway, Tim is actually pretty surprised when Jurassic World opens and things go well. he even manages to relax after it’s been a few weeks and it seems like no one’s died. but he keeps pretty close tabs on the place, and being Hammond’s grandson gets him good intel--even if he and Masrani are not on speaking terms anymore--so the second he finds out they’re trying to engineer scarier dinosaurs, he just knows things are going to end badly

in fact, he tries to get another meeting, and manages one with park operations manager, Claire Dearing. despite trying to be as calm as he possibly can while freaking out, he is not able to convince her it is a terrible idea

so yes he sees the park’s collapse coming a mile away, and no, no one will listen to him, and yes he is so tired

when the park is evacuated and the dinosaurs are left to populate the island without human interference, he feels like it’s absolutely the best case scenario. even when it turns out they’re going to be taken out by the volcano, he is staunchly against interference (not that anyone will listen to him). yes, he loves the dinosaurs (especially the herbivores who technically have done no wrong) but they were never meant to be alive and all they’ve ever caused is chaos and this is literally a solution to that problem but no one sees that

also, at the end of that whole debacle with the dinosaurs now just roaming free in America?? and some of them are the violent kind??? oh my god the boy is pissed. like he did not survive the park just for this bs. he literally refuses to die in a dinosaur attack 30 years later because someone couldn’t get it through their thick skull after the first time that this was a bad idea

getting into some slightly more relaxed ideas:

I do feel like he’s generally a calm dude. but an enduring quality from his youth is that he is incredibly talkative, and has a great tendency to cling to people whose work he admires, or that he’s just met but sound super fascinating. he’s just very lively and passionate and loves to talk to people! it does still scare some people away at first, but it’s endearing enough that he tends to grow on people

Julie- as passionate as he is about his own work, he's also definitely the kind of guy who encourages other people to talk about stuff they’re passionate about (ooh especially his students and they love him for it), which comes from the fact that he kinda knows what it feels like to not bring up interests when you know people will just give you grief for it. so he’s always trying to bring out the passion in others and it just really makes him the kindest guy

like he’ll go to a friend’s party and he’ll meet some new people and he’ll be trying to get them to tell him all about what they care most about in the world and it’s just so cute

this especially applies if he meets a child. he will listen to them talk for ages, and will tell them that they can absolutely achieve their dreams and they just have to commit to whatever they care about and it will happen

this makes him incredible with kids, and especially I can see him being the world’s most amazing uncle when Lex has children. like those babies are getting the most affection and love and encouragement, they are gonna grow up to rule the world

(also, he’s really good at playing with the kids and like, just getting down on their level and joining them with the toys and it’s just iconic)

so Julie added that Tim is partly this way because he remembers being the kid obsessed with dinosaurs that everybody got tired of hearing from, or else that they only wanted to know about what he went through on the island, so now he's like "just tell me whatever you want to talk about, whatever you care about, I wanna hear all about it" 

and to go off of that, people would totally hound him about the island and I feel like he’d just get so annoyed. cause like, the first few times, especially relaying it to people he knows, fine. maybe a bit taxing, emotionally, but it’s still not worn-out in his mind, and this is his family, and his closest friends, so it’s whatever. but when it’s always the first question a new person asks, he gets so tired he just does not want to discuss it

also, sometimes people don’t know who he is but they ask about the scars on his palms or his eyebrow (I can’t imagine it ever healed back to normal, or that the hair came back, so he’s just got a cool scar in lieu of the majority of it and it makes him look kinda badass even though he’s really just a soft nerd) and unless he really likes the person, he tends to come up with a ridiculous excuse to throw them off because it’s so much easier than opening up the whole Jurassic Park can of worms (which is interesting if he later comes to like the person and ends up telling them the truth at some point)

but I feel like sometimes when he’s extra annoyed with the question of what it was like, he’ll just kind of be like “well, there was a t-rex, and fun fact about them...” and then launch into like a 30 minute spiel of all the facts he knows cause it’s a loophole to A. avoid the question, and hopefully convince the person it’s not worth asking again and B. put his focus into gushing about what he loves which is much better for him

J- just like “you thought you were gonna learn about Jurassic Park but joke’s on you here's everything you need to know about dinosaurs from a paleontologist’s perspective” 

and yeah he’s the most encouraging person most people know and everyone loves that about him, which also thankfully means that he’s able to start to amass a reputation for being like everyone’s personal cheerleader rather than Jurassic Park boy, which he really appreciates. especially the first time he’s intro’d to someone new and it’s not like “this is Tim, he’s John Hammond’s grandson” or “this is Tim, he was one of the few people who got to see the original Jurassic Park” and instead just “this is Tim and he’s the kindest person you’ll ever meet, you’ll love him” like big 💖 energy

this also happens a bit with his academic work, that he reaches a certain point and he’s finally known more for his research than his family/experience. but unfortunately he is still an academic in a field of people obsessed with dinosaurs, so the topic does come up pretty easily and people do point him out

speaking of, the first time another paleontologist trashes Jurassic World in his presence, someone quickly points out who he is, and the person is in the midst of saying “oh my god I’m so sorry” when he cuts them off with a simple gesture and is like “no it’s okay, I absolutely agree” 

after that, most of colleagues know that he will not only participate in, but also sometimes lead the trashtalk, and it’s a fun time, though every once in a while if there are a few new people around, the same scene of realizing who he is and apologizing will play out

one time it happens when he’s a bit tipsy and he’s just kind of a lot less filtered and it comes out more “no it’s okay, fuck that place”, and it’s very non-malicious, but no one’s ever heard him swear when he wasn’t angry so everyone’s kinda looking at him for a few seconds worried he’s about to get pissed about the park again, but then he’s like “um... okay, come on let’s dance” and that’s how his colleagues know that they have given him too much alcohol (at Julie’s suggestion, it was only like 2 glasses (maybe even less), the boy is a light-weight)

also if you thought sober Tim liked to ramble about dinosaurs, just wait till you meet drunk Tim? he’s basically the same, but just a lot more stream-of-consciousness in a way where he doesn’t make any sense but he’s always like “ya know?” and you feel obligated to be like “yeah, I sure do”

and he also likes to make dinosaur jokes. and dance. he’s already got quite a bit of energy when sober and when he’s drunk it just all leaks out in dancing

also one final thing but a few ideas on scars:

so obviously he has quite a few, but as cool as the eyebrow is, I really wanna focus on his palms

I’m imagining them like white patches on his hands, softer, more sensitive skin, that branch out into sharp spindly lines running up his wrist? he thinks they look kind of cool, but they’re definitely a magnet for unwanted attention

sometimes they tingle a bit during a thunderstorm, and times like those he finds it a bit harder to work with his hands

similarly, if he’s been writing for too long, either with a pen or typing, they tend to ache quite a bit, so he’s forced to break more often than he’d like. he tries not to let them slow him down, but occasionally they get to him

especially when he’s working on his thesis (which, sidenote, I don’t know a thing about theses, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that his definitely had to do with the technological breakthroughs that allowed the dinosaurs to be brought back to life, as well as the inaccuracies (due to the missing DNA and a desire to make them scarier rather than realistic), and how they can have a severely negative impact since they were meant to be extinct), they can really frustrate him, but he just tries to take deep breaths, go do something simple for a while like watch TV, and eventually he’s able to get back to it. but seriously, some days when he’s in the flow and he does not want to break it, he either has to fight past the pain (which is going to leave him hurting for longer), or sacrifice that train of thought, and he just gets so frustrated sometimes

his students can usually tell when the scars are bothering him while he’s trying to write at the board. he’ll start to get a bit restless about it, moving around the room more in between writing his notes. in response, they tend to try raising their hands more, asking simple but distracting questions so he has a bit of time away from writing

when he first realizes what they’re doing he’s so appreciative he almost starts crying. he loves these kids and they love him and it’s so sweet

okay I know I said final thing but just one more and then I am finished

Julie and I talked about this a while ago so I can no longer remember who said what, but Tim absolutely has a Jurassic Park shirt

it was given to him by his grandpa a bit before the trip to get the kids really excited

unfortunately there was an order error and the only shirts that came in time were adult large, so Tim didn’t exactly fit into it

that’s fine with him though, and he basically wears it as a night-gown for the whole week leading up to the trip

afterwards, he feels a bit weird about it, and doesn’t really wear it until years later, after his grandpa’s died, when he finds it buried in his closet as he’s packing up to move out for school

he starts wearing it again to bed some nights. he likes to wear it when he really misses his grandpa. despite mixed feelings on the park itself, Tim feels close to his grandfather in that way

by now he’s grown into it, and it’s just the exact perfect fit for him, a little loose, but so well worn in and soft that it’s just absolutely perfect for him 🥰

I think that might actually be it. I love Timothy Murphy so much, this is a PSA

[eternityunicorn]

Predator and Prey: Part One

Author: eternityunicorn 

Genre: Romance/Drama/AU

Pairing: Elijah Mikaelson x OC

Warnings: Violence, Smut (*Smut chapters marked +18)

Summary: There is a legend in the forest of Mystic Falls of a legendary creature that will grant the one whom can capture it the use of it’s mighty powers for their own use. Elijah Mikealson finds this creature with the intention of using it for the protection of his family. However, what he didn’t expect was to find a beautiful, shimmering woman or to fall immediately in love with her. Capturing her, he soon finds himself in a game of predator and prey.

NOTE: OC and original elements are from my up and coming novel series!

AUTHOR’S COMMENTARY: So, I decided to post once I have finished editing each part. Therefore, I will probably have it all posted tonight instead of tomorrow, depending on how ambitious I am. Thank you so much of reading and I hope you enjoy this oneshot turned threeshot!

———————————————————————————————————

He watched. 

He waited.

Elijah Mikaelson observed from the Paris rooftops, as his prey moved amongst the crowds of people on the busy streets below. She could sense him, constantly looking over her shoulder, knowing he was there, despite not being able to see him. He could practically taste her fear and it was delicious, calling to his baser self. 

Soon, the predator would have his prey in his clutches...once more. It was only a matter of time now.

The hunt began three years ago with a legend circling in the supernatural community of a strange white beast that roamed the woods of Mystic Falls. It was said that this creature was one of great power and if one could catch it, they would be granted use of the mythical being’s wonders. Many sought it, but none could ever capture the elusive beast, as it was too clever for them, able to vanish at a moment’s notice before one could even get near enough to claim it. 

Some who bore witness to it claimed that it appeared to them as a single horned creature of legend - a unicorn. Others claimed that this mystical being appeared to them as a pale, naked woman with long white hair and large sapphire eyes - a nymph. Both groups claimed that the creature was beautiful beyond measure, leaving them weak kneed and weeping at the very sight. 

Unicorn or nymph, Elijah was intrigued by the prospect of claiming this powerful creature’s talents for himself, for the sake of the survival of his family. The Mikaelsons were the most powerful of the supernaturals, the Original Family of Vampires, but because of that status, they also had a lot of enemies. There were those who wanted to topple Elijah and his siblings, out of rightly placed fear mostly. To have the power of this fabled creature under his control, he could ensure nobody dared to cross him or his. 

Determined to claim this legendary creature for himself, the Original traveled into the Virginian woods of Mystic Falls, hunting for it, whatever it was. He traveled in the nighttime with only the light of the pale moon to guide him, as he stealthily moved amongst the trees. He waited for a sign that he was drawing closer to the strange beast he had heard so much about, knowing that there would be one according to the stories.

After an hour of traveling deep into the woods, the sign of the creature’s presence came to him in the form of a sweet floral scent. Like the predator he was, Elijah moved silently closer toward the scent, following it to a clearing in the woods, where the moonlight shone down in beams. Centered with these strips of soft light, the legendary creature sat amongst the foliage like some sort of feral deity, ethereally shimmering with graceful, measured movements that were quite otherworldly. 

The creature took the form of a woman, bare and beautiful, as the tales he had heard had described. Elijah found he did want to fall to his knees and weep at the sight of her, but he was not so weak as to actually do so. He was stronger willed than to give in to such an overwhelming and supernatural reaction. Therefore, he remained upright and dry eyed, as he hid in the shadows, watching her patiently as a good hunter does. He would wait and watch for as long as it took for the right moment to strike present itself to him. He wouldn’t let her escape his clutches.

The ethereal beauty didn’t seem to notice him there, watching her. She seemed completely oblivious to the predator waiting in the wings to capture her, as she sat amongst the flowers and braided together a flower crown, humming to herself. 

Elijah found her captivating. She was everything the tales said she was. She had long white hair that rippled all around her like ocean wave with every movement. It looked soft to the touch and reflected the light of the moon every now and again, if it hit just right. Her skin was nearly white as well, with large almond shaped eyes that were like deep blue sapphires and plushy rose pink lips that looked so damn kissable. She wore nothing for clothing. She was naked and vulnerable, speaking to his inner beast that wanted to claim her in the basest way possible.

She was perfection and he found himself wanting her for himself, so that no other could claim her. Instantaneously, he didn’t just want to secure her powers for the sake of his family, he also wanted to claim her as his lover. No...more than a lover - his wife, to ensure that she’d be his forever.

Determined to have her, Elijah made his move, using the element of surprise and his vampire speed to his advantage. He was truly the predator locked onto his prey. He moved silently though the shadows, keeping down wind so that she could not smell him coming. Closer and closer, he came with patience, unhurried and well paced. 

Then he struck. Once in range, with vampire speed, he grabbed her and pinned her against the nearest tree with a firm hand around her throat as she struggled like the feral creature she was. Without hesitation, Elijah reached into his pants pocket and slapped on a golden bracelet onto each of her wrists. 

Before trudging into the woods to search for the legendary creature, he, of course, did his research on how to properly capture it. Though there wasn’t much outside of what he heard from others, he did discovered one text that described the need for a special, enchanted gold that would suppress the powers of the strange beast, keeping it from vanishing or retaliating in any way. 

By chance, Elijah found such gold in the form of two plain bracelets that would latch onto the creature once put into place. Once he had them in possession, he had begun the hunt and now that he had her, he could reap the rewards of his victory.

“I have won the challenge set,” he told the pale beauty. “I have captured the elusive otherworldly creature of great power and you are now mine to command, yes?”

Timidly, she nodded. 

“Do you have a name?” He asked gently, not wanting to frighten her more than she seemed to be.

“E-Eternity,” she replied, her voice soft and melodious.

Elijah smiled, “Eternity, a fitting name. I’m Elijah Mikealson. Have you heard of me?”

Eternity nodded again quickly. It was obvious that she had heard of him, just by the way her eyes widened marginally in recognition. It was made more obvious when she swallowed thickly, as her fear of him grew exponentially.

Immediately, he realized the potential reason for that fear as he still had his hand around her throat. Therefore, he released her from his hold, not wanting her to be so scared of him while also knowing she wouldn’t flee him, now that her powers had been suppressed. He smiled gently, reaching to cup the side of her neck tenderly to show her he did not mean to harm her in any way. 

She flinched at his touch, but didn’t pull away from it, relaxing considerably after a moment. 

“Please, do not be afraid of me,” Elijah told her softly. “I will not harm you, given you do not give me reason to. As long as you mind me, as the reward of my victory dictates, I will treat you well. I will give you everything this world has to offer - and more.”

Eternity stared at him distrustingly, but did not protest in any fashion. Her fear was still present, but it had cooled somewhat, which pleased him greatly. He couldn’t have his future wife be afraid of him unnecessarily. It would be one thing if she had done something that warranted her fear, but she had not. 

Therefore, Elijah didn’t want her fear, only her cooperation - her submission, as the rules of this challenge dictated. He was effectively her master now and it was her duty to obey him, though he preferred a partnership over such barbarism that was slavery. So long as she minded him, when he made requests of her, he saw no reason to lord over her. He had ever intention of treating her as the equal that she deserved to be.

As a show of good faith, he removed his suit jacket and put it around Eternity’s shoulders, covering her nakedness. Though, he observed that she didn’t seem to even notice it. It was as if it were the most natural thing in the world to her to be without clothing. In fact, when the jacket fell around her small frame, she stared at it as if it were something strange or rather something foreign that she had never seen before. 

It seemed it would take some time for her to get used to the idea of clothing, something she was going to have to adjust to as he moved her from the wilderness into civilization. He couldn’t have her prancing about naked all the time, though the more possessive part of him wasn’t opposed to the idea. If he did keep her bare, then he could keep her hidden away from the rest of the world, particularly those whom would dare to try and steal her away from him. She’d truly be his alone then. Yet, the rational, level-headed part of him didn’t want to make her in a prisoner, going along with his reputation for being a noble man. In his nobility, he wanted her to be free...within reason, of course.

“Come,” Elijah said, as he put an arm around her shoulders and gently guided her toward the forest’s exit. “It is time to take you to your new home.”

Eternity hesitated at first, reluctant to leave the forest, but with his tenderness, she eventually let him lead her away. She allowed him to guide her toward the unknown of the world outside of what had certainly been her sanctuary. She was headed into the civilized world of man and it was frightening, no doubt, but he ensured that she felt safe with him.

Before long, they arrived at his car, located just outside the forest entrance. She had been quiet on the way and he didn’t push her into speaking. There would be plenty of time for conversation later, once she was settled.

The car made Eternity truly hesitate. She began to back away fearfully of the big machine, but Elijah was firm in his insistence that she get into it. At first, he cooed tenderly. However, when she stubbornly refused to obey and his gently reassurance failed, he became stern. He called her name warningly, his expression darkening with an unspoken threat. 

Eventually, the eternal beauty conceded to his insistence, letting him help her into the passenger seat. Once she was secured inside, he went to the driver’s side and climbed in, starting the black Porsche Panamera and driving off into the suburbs of Mystic Falls to the Mikaelson mansion. 

He found the woman beside him amusing as he drove her home. He found it adorable the way she held onto the seat with an iron grip, as if she was afraid of crashing - as if she wasn’t an invulnerable immortal. Upon stopping in front of the luxurious and absurdly large mansion, Eternity quickly escaped the car, backing away from it as if it were some sort of monster. 

Elijah calmly got out of the car himself and went to her side, putting a comforting arm around her as she trembled with her fear. 

“It’s alright, Sweetheart,” he murmured to her. “The car will take some getting used to, but I assure you that it’s perfectly safe. Come. Let’s get you inside.”

She went without hesitation, letting him guide her up the curved stone stairs that lead to the grand front entrance. He opened the door and allowed the ethereal woman to enter first with him close behind. He knew that his siblings would be up waiting to find out if he had succeeded in his task to capture the legendary creature of Mystic Falls. 

They all had bets that he would fail spectacularly in his quest to secure the strange beast for their benefit. Elijah couldn’t wait to see the shocked looks on all their faces, when he presented Eternity to them. He wanted to show them all that he hadn’t been chasing after a myth, a fable, a story, but a real, living and breathing being.

“Come this way,” Elijah directed Eternity, with a gentle hand on her back. “I want you to meet the rest of my family.”

She went where he wanted her to go and they headed into the common room to the left of the entryway. There, sitting on the velvet couches or standing by the fireplace, were the other Mikaelson siblings. The eldest, Freya, sat on one end of the couch to the right. The second eldest, Finn, stood leaning against the fireplace with a glass of bourbon in hand. Elijah was the third eldest, therefore, the fourth Mikealson was his younger half-brother Niklaus, whom sat on the couch opposite of Freya. The fifth, Kol, sat next to Freya, while their youngest sibling, Rebekah sat next to Niklaus. 

Before Elijah appeared in the doorway with his prize in tow, they had been engaged in friendly conversation with each other. The moment he made his appearance, however, they all went silent, as all eyes darted to the doorway to see the pale beauty they had all believed to be just a tall tale standing there before them in the flesh. 

They all rose from their seats or left their perches to gather closer with looks of utter disbelief etched upon their faces. They all gaped with wide eyes, as if they could believe what they were seeing.

Eternity backed away until she was partially hidden behind Elijah, grabbing onto his arm in needed comfort. 

“So, the tales are true, it would seem, Brother,” Niklaus said softly with an ever growing grin plastered upon his face, as his eyes remained on the pale beauty. “You have found the legendary creature that shall secure our family’s survival. I must say, she is quite splendid, as beautiful as the stories say.”

“Everyone, I would like you to meet Eternity,” introduced Elijah with a slightly smug smile.

“Looks like we owe you an apology,” Rebekah spoke up, her eyes scanning over the small woman that cowered behind him. She smiled kindly at Eternity, “Oh, the poor thing doesn’t have any clothes on! Come on with me, lovely. I’m sure there is something in this house that will suffice.”

When Elijah’s younger sister tried to come near with an outstretched hand, the ethereal woman gripped the older Original tighter and tried to disappear behind him completely. Rebekah frowned at her reaction and looked to Elijah for explanation.

“She isn’t used to civilization, it would seem,” he told his sister. “Or people.”

“Yet, she has taken a particular liking to you however, Elijah,” Kol grinned mischievously.

The older Original sighed, “Yes, I suppose she has. Rebekah, perhaps it would be best if you accompany Eternity and I upstairs in order to find her suitable clothes until it is convenient to go shopping for a wardrobe for her.”

His little sister nodded in acceptance of his suggestion. 

“Before you scamper off, Brother, I would like a word,” Niklaus said.

Knowing his brother wouldn’t let him go without speaking with him first, Elijah turned to the frightened woman and gently told her, “Go with Rebekah, Sweetheart. It’s alright. I’ll join you in a little while.”

Eternity was reluctant to let him go, but eventually did so with some gentle encouragement, letting Rebekah lead her away and leaving Elijah alone with his other siblings.

To Be Continued....

———————————————————————————————————

Tag List: @elejah-wonderland @inmylifeilovedthemall @dendrite-lover @xanderling @hawaiianohana31 @elejahforever @freshsuitcasewinnereagle @loulouisa @elizamonet @missnmikealson @x-memi12 @lolelijahishot @elijahandkollover @teekillerin 

[tinypigeonlord]

Don’t mind me, just have had a lot of thoughts on the new Pokemon game so imma write them down. There’s been a lot of posts and videos on what people wanna see or don’t wanna see in the new game too and I wanna give my own two cents to no one in particular.

So first of all graphics. I hear a lot of shit on that. Personally I don’t really have all that many expectations? Like yeah it’s gonna be a Switch game, the quality could possibly be better than we’ve seen. But also did people look over that ‘game footage not final’? Things may still improve and be further optimized. More than that, I love the artstyle atleast? Everything looks so colorful and vibrant and alive and goooood ;w; It sure got my attention. I can’t wait to see all the new areas on my big tv <3

Pokemon popping up and roaming vs random encounters: On one hand I love how lively everything looks with pokemon showing up in the overworld, on the other hand I love the random encounters? I personally liked hunting down specific pokemon, not knowing what I would encounter. I feel like this is also more fun when you’re doing a Nuzlocke; You can’t ‘cheat’ and select a pokemon from those that are currently roaming with random encounters. Aside from that, people mentioned that the roaming aspect made areas look more vacant instead because a lot of open space is needed for bigger pokemon roaming. And finally, it makes the surprise way more fun if a shiny shows up in a random encounter, instead of roaming between the rest of the ‘mon?

Pokemon following you/walking with you: PLS PLS PLS bring this back and expand on it, for all pokemon. Also the option to select which partymember you want to walk with. That was one thing that bummed me out in HeartGold/SoulSilver. If I wanted to walk with my fave, I also needed to have it in the front of the party and throw it out in battle, even in areas where it was at a disadvantage due to type or level. And sometimes I had a pokemon in front for the sake of progression but I didnt necessarily want to walk with it, but there was no option to turn walking off in HG/SS. I believe they did add these options in Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee, but I havent played these games so I don’t know for sure what the options are. I kinda also want to have the option to pick whether I will walk with a ride pokemon or actually ride it? Like, it was hella cool that you could ride arcanine, persian, haunter or snorlax, etc. But what if I wanted it to just follow me? :/ What I also want back is the national dex once you completed the main story. Let most of the pokemon which first appear be gen 8, and after you beat the main game, pokemon from other generations show up more and you can catch new pokemon that were previously unavailable. I hated how in SuMo, I couldnt see a pokemon’s national dex number, and couldnt get any data on it if it wasnt native to Alola. 

Also this is gonna sound surprising coming from a shiny hunter, but I want the shiny charm to be a reward for filling the entire national dex again (minus mythicals/events), and make the shiny rate 1/8192 again instead of 1/4091. As much as I love my shinies, I kinda feel like they’re becoming a really common thing and way too easy to obtain? I do like there being methods to find shinies easier, such as Masuda breeding, chain-fishing, SOS-chaining, etc, but make it atleast a little bit harder than it currently is, to make all that effort worth it.

Compatibility with pokebank/the 3DS titles!! I want to transfer all my precious bbies I caught over the years to come join me in the next adventure. That would make it even more awesome if walking pokemon also returns; I can walk with my faves then, not just the pokemon available in Sword/Shield. Also Cloud compatibility. I know Nintendo is afraid of people abusing Cloud to edit save files and I can see them not adding cloud for Pokemon to prevent peeps from somehow cloning or editing pokemons, but on the other hand... Right now, I have ALL my rare, valuable pokemon stored on a Ultra Sun cartridge. Every super rare shiny legendary I spent MONTHS on to encounter, every event pokemon from events that will never happen again, and every pokemon that has nostalgic value to me. If that game cartridge breaks, they’re all gone. If Cloud storage would be a thing for pokemon, I’d have a lot less anxiety about gathering all my babies on a single game with the risk of losing ALL OF THEM. Besides, I pay for online service and cloud, and thusfar havent been able to use the feature for my games :/

And definitely compatibility with pro controller. I really do not like the feel of the joycons, nor the pokeball plus, especially not after playing for a few hours, so I’m really hoping we’ll be able to use the pro controller. Considering we seem to be getting the old battle system back instead of Let’s Go’s, I don’t see why they shouldn’t add pro controller compatibility. Besides, I spent a lot of money on this thing, lemme use it >:v

Customization. The new trainers look absolutely adorable, but being able to make your trainer fit your style more is still great and makes things more personal. On one hand I’d love even more options for customization than in SuMo, on the other hand I fear I will never even get anywhere cause I’ll be spending hours mixing and matching outfits :’D I am not at all fashionable irl, but my characters in games have to look tip top. Most importantly, I want gender-neutral stuff!! As in, the option to wear clothes or hairstyles regardless of the gender you picked at the beginning. Give me a girl and the female pronouns, but the option to get the haircut that the boys get and that flannel he wears. For example.

Minigames! Not everyone is a fan of them, but personally I love things like Contests, PokeAthlon, the Underground, Missions in the Festival Plaza, etc. Especially multiplayer stuff. Give me other stuff to do besides battling. And on that note give me fun multiplayer features; besides trading and battling! The feature where you can call for another trainer in Let’s Go seemed fun to me. Being able to connect with other players and joining them in your game to do stuff together. Like how you can invite people to your town in Animal Crossing, go to the island and take on island challenges from Tortimer.

Story-wise, it would be great to have a big long story, also post-game, which doesn’t end too soon, but with the option to skip cutscenes if you so please, and more importantly, have the freedom to also explore. In Sun/Moon, you were constantly forced to go to a very specific location, everything else was blocked, and you had a cutscene every new area. Like, it was all very linear. I love the older games in that regard, where there is a story, but you figure out yourself how to progress without NPCs constantly telling you where to go and what to do. I always have this issue where after I’m done with the story, I’m kind of... lost on what to do next, so personally I love a long story to keep me busy. Give me a serious threat for the antagonists. Team Skull was lovely and I enjoyed their antics, but I want to feel like I’m saving the Galar region or even bigger, rather than just stomping on some bullies, PETA (Plasma) or fashion disasters (Flare). Also gimme an asshole rival. Lately we’ve had a bunch of precious bbies who must be protected, now bring back a rival who deserves an asswhooping and had it coming. :v As for the new gyms with gym masters instead of leaders, I have no opinion yet. I like the good ol’ themed gyms, I liked the trials. The arena thing looks pretty neat thusfar, but there’s not enough info yet for me to have much of an opinion now. I heard a rumor that this game will also have missions you can do to earn rewards & brownie points, and that would be really cool. I always really love missions in RPGs. I’m just hoping that there will be like, a combination of one-time missions AND daily missions so you don’t run out of things to do eventually after completing a whole list.

I’m also hoping that any potential mythical pokemon will come in the form of missions. The whole serial codes giveaways suck. Just entering a code for some random delivery man to appear in the pokemon center, just casually handing you a super rare mythical pokemon like it’s nothing is just bs. Give me new story, sidequests or missions DLC for a mythical pokemon instead. Like Celebi in Crystal + HG/SS, Mew in Emerald, Shaymin and Darkrai in Platinum, and then expand the missions even more. Pokemon Ranger actually did this really well; you had to go on a mission involving the pokemon before you got it.

Finally, maybe a difficulty setting. People always complain that the games are too easy and that you have to use self-imposed rules such as Nuzlockes to make it remotely challenging. Maybe add a normal or easy mode for young kids just getting into the games, including tutorials such as the trainer school so they can get used to how everything works. Make a harder setting for veterans who like the games to have some challenge but are still in it for the story, and a Very Hard/Ultimate mode for competitive players who know every in and out of the game and are looking for a challenge where you really have to balance your team out and know what you’re doing to progress, and for people who can’t care less about the story elements of the games.

[fantroll-purgatory]

@nxbulaholic

I made this one as mostly a joke, but I might as well add a little bit more to her.

Oh, this is gonna be a… a fun one. Because everything is kind of clustered in a harder to individually comment way, I’m going to talk about my theme idea here… TR suggested that she should be a Johnny Appleseed type character, and I think that’s BRILLIANT. So that’s what she’s gonna be. This legendary troll roaming and generously providing apples to the good people. 

I’m going to change her blood to lime for several reasons. Firstly, you say that nobody knows her blood color. Her operating under hemoanon makes a lot more sense if you make her a limeblood character. Secondly, green apples are pretty limey in color. 

Thirdly, you’ve given her a frankly bizarre name (that I will be altering), which fits what Calliope said about limebloods tending to have odd names. 

And fourthly, Limeade (Lime Maid) Pun. 

Name: Appple Girlie

Pumila Aplcap

Pumila from Malus pumila, the scientific name for the apple tree. Aplcap is a reference to the name Appleseed as well as the tincap which Johnny Appleseed was noted to wear. 

Species: Troll Gender: Female Age: 6 sweeps Derse or Prospit?: Prospit  Strife Specibus: axekind 

Batkind is my recommendation. First of all the real Johnny Appleseed, Johnny Chapman, died playing baseball with the Fort Wayne tincaps. Apple Pie and Baseball have also often been historically associated together as the All American Things. So I think it makes a fun joke to have her walk around with a bat.

Land: The Land of Gardens and Nice Smelling Candles (LoGaNSC)

How about the Land of Orchards and Cider (LoOaC)?

Many of the trees that Johnny Appleseed planted weren’t in fact of the edible apple variety and were instead used to make spiced ciders! The land could be full of empty orchards, all the water in the land turned to fermented cider, leaving the consorts in a drunk tizzy… She’s got to find a way to turn back the clock and create a new timeline where she’s tended the nurseries better, so she can spread the good fresh appley word!

Title: Maid of Juice (or Maid of Time to reference Minute Maid???) 

I super do want her to be a Maid of Time because that Minute Maid pun is… my favorite.

Maids are the creators of time, actively. They are ones who mess around with the timeline in a pretty significant way. Aradia, for example, actively created various timelines and versions of herself across time by destroying the space they inhabited. Remember how she created so many doomed timelines and brought her robotic selves over to help the main timeline win? It was overall quite selfish, but it helped propagate the Main Timeline. Pumila would function much the same, though I imagine she’d primarily utilize her time power to make Infinite Apples. 

Blood color: Gold (but she doesn’t know that, she thinks it’s apple juice)

Maybe now she can think it’s a green apple smoothie. 🤔

Symbol: Nobody knows (similar to Ardata or Marvus in mystery)

If we considered her Lime/Prospit/Time persuasion, it’d theoretically make her symbol

Canrist, The Vehement. Which is… an oddly fitting name for someone like her. I might play with this a little to see if I can get it to be pie-like.

Lusus: I don’t really know (can you please help me?) 

Hmm. Since I’ve positioned her as a lime, it’s unlikely she’d be taken in by a traditional lusus. Maybe she got adopted by just like, a hive of bees? She doesn’t have one independent lusus she just has a Collective Of Bees Who Raised Her. I suggest this primarily because of the Honeycrisp apple and the fact that some vegans (who don’t understand apiculture) like to make beeless apple honey. I’ve got this working headcanon that mind honey makes your mind function at “maximum capacity,” for better or for worse. So she could put it in the stuff she bakes for Stat Boosts that can have unintended side effects. 

Trolltag: crimsonOrchard

How about pomaceReprocessor? 

Pomace is the remains from cider production, and nursery planters esp Johnny Chapman were noted to pick through pomace to regather apple seeds for planting!

Quirk: She speaks the tongue of apples, usually ending her sentences with an apple. 🍏

Can I suggest also changing S to 5 and T to 7? This is mostly because apples have approximatelyyy 57000 genes, which is a pretty significantly large amount! It’s a cool apple fact she can communicate with every message! Personality: Appple Girlie is an optimistic fellow for she enjoys giving out apples to every troll she meets, but would be devastated if they would toss them away or what not, she’s absolutely obsessed with her sweet red fruit and would fight somebody to the death if one were to take one without asking, don’t worry she doesn’t have the cliche ‘evil side uwu’! It’s just what her lusus (again, I don’t know what to put for her lusus) taught her.  

Okay, how’s this… Her “lusii,” for lack of a better word, taught her to appreciate the fruit that the land bears, but she just REALLY fell in love with apples. And we know that Alternia’s pretty harsh, and maybe she hates pre-packaged food and wants to get back to FRESH, so she decides to start travelling the land along with her bee family and planting nurseries full of apple trees in various lowblood areas, to help them be able to sustainably provide for themselves! She sticks around long enough for her bee hive to help pollinate the various kinds of apple trees she plants, then continues on to keep spreadin’ the good appley word. 

And, of course, she’ll get pretty upset if people mess up her apple orchards, because she’s trying to do a good thing! So if people go trampling her saplings, she might get a little bat-swingy. More than a little bat-swingy. It’s fine. 

Since she’s a time player, she should be interested in adaptive rebellion. She’s not outright trying to uproot the system, oh no, but she’s probably trying to flex within it and help lowbloods get a little bit of their own time back. They all spend so much time doing things for others and not for themselves, taking a little bit of the labor load off their back just seems like the best deed to her.  Likes: Apples, apple juice, apple pie, apple everything, looking up at the night sky, more apples

Hell Yeah Apples. You definitely have gotta make her interested in growing apples right, so a little bit of highly specific farming knowledge. Make her have an interest in pomology! Definitely give her some interest in self-reliance and nomad living, too. 

And, because she’s got a whole box full of beefamily to take care of, maybe apiculture is good for her, too. She’s gotta know how to beekeep with the best of them! Maybe that’s even how she has a computer! She rolls her apiculture network along with her as she travels. It’s a little more power than she Really needs, but it’s also the most reliable system she knows. 

Baking and distilling’s probably two good interests for her to have as well. 

Dislikes: Bananas, trolls who take her apples without asking, people who’re rude, bright lights

Does she hate bananas because they’re an unsustainable monoculture that disrespect the practice of good old fashion farming with all that cloning crap? Because if that’s not why I think it should be. Voice Headcanon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OW8eNWPFho

I have a counterpoint for you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LKPupuh4cQ

Applejack’s voice, b…because apples. Quadrants: (Don’t really have much to put here since she’s a joke character) <3 -  <> -  o8< -  <3< - 

Wh…what if she was in a blackrom with a banana themed troll? 

Design: 

Horns: I decided to try to make them form a sort of apple shape! Curving down and with the stem sticking up. 

Hat: I made her a nice tincap, edited from Squarewave’s hat. 

Hair: Just a few more little flips. 

Face: Okay I dunno why you did that to her skin, but I changed it back. She’s not old enough to have the darker troll skin like some people headcanon the ancestors have. I also edited her eyeshines to white. I edited the glasses to lime to reflect her blood color and edited them into apple shapes! 

Shirt/symbol: I changed it to black just to provide more color contrast, and also to give the eyes a break from the vibrancy y’know. I also edited the Canrist symbol! I flipped it vertical and made it look like a pie! 

Overalls: I wanted to give her a bit more of a traveler look, look a bit like Johnny Appleseed’s iconic overalls. I made the underneath of the skirt into candy apple red! It looks a bit like pie filling and I love it.

Shoes: I changed the colors here to lime and candy apple red. It’s fun to have her hemoanon when she’s wearing lime and red. It must seem like she’s either a really incompetent lime or a highblood with an interesting idea of aesthetics. 

This was a fun character to review! Thank you for sharing.

-CD

[glympsis]

Honey was flushed.

She had been in this banquet hall many many times before, during the quarterly report to the queen, where captains, thieves, spies, and whole crews reported their spoils thus far in the year. Queen Elia wasn't particularly picky, if you had a priceless gem you wanted for yourself, she was more than willing it take its weight in gold and let you keep it. Honey had seen many a captain report that they wanted the largest jewel for themselves or their lover at the time, and then report that they'd doubled down on the Queen's "gift" to compensate. Queen Elia would nod, or sometimes pout, but she was always fair, as long as you didn't lie.

That was a mistake that many tried, but few repeated. The Queen's concubine, a taller man with lanky arms and quick, knowing eyes, would lean from behind the throne and grace the Queen's ear with his breath, and what you had been holding back the queen knew then, instantly.

They said that he was some sort of spy master, and many paranoid captains believed that he had an ear in their crew, but no one could ever prove it. Honey didn't know what she believed, just that she didn't like the way his eyes moved, like he was paying attention to conversations and signals that no one else could hear.

She didn't trust it.

The queen however was.... different. She moved like a person who not only had riches, but deserved them. She seemed to have no qualms about loaning out the Riches of the Silver Shores to its crews, as long as they came back with a bigger prize, or whatever you had borrowed back again. It made the Riches seemed shared between its captains, and it made Queen Elia their patron saint, keeping their gold safe and secure and letting them live within the walls and dock without fear of searches or legal retribution. There was no pretense as long as you declared your cargo, paid your crew, and paid the queen her due.

Honey had lived her whole life in this city, and she knew that they talked of the queen as though she were a benevolent force, a young upstart with shining eyes who's luck never ran out, who had never fallen on hard times or let her crews fall either. She had been known to sail to other countries to pay off bails and sign release papers for captains unlucky enough to be caught by the guards and navy of other kingdoms, and some said she'd even returned some treasure in order to get her people back alive. They all said she was a young queen, but Honey remembered times when the half smile had straightened, and the look of disappointment seemed hundreds of years old.

Honestly, Honey knew you could never truly tell with elves. The purple skinned queen smiled and joked like any young pirate, but Honey had seen the Crimson, the legendary ship of the Silver Crown, seen its black wooden mast and its deep red sails, seen it float from the mist like a live, flying thing, back from Fortuna. She had felt the fear of the Captains around her when they had all seen the Queen, hanging from the rigging with one hand, her fingers moving and the fog clearing as if by magic.

Honey's face heated at the memory, her cheeks turning a faint pink as she ducked her face, focusing instead on the beer in front of her, the same brand she'd been drinking since ten years old, that she'd be drinking every day if the queen provided it. Elia always seemed to care for each captain and crew immensely, knowing the captains by name and their crew at least by faces. She always hosted a feast for the crews who had been away from home for a length, giving them a suite near the castle and proper food, wine, and concubines, soothing the beasts who had been caged at sea.

Honey had always wanted a feast like that, wanted to be seen by the Queen and told she had done well as any other pirate, but now that the time had come, all she wanted was to sink into the floor and never be seen again. The dress she had gotten was the prettiest she'd even owned, and she had gotten it for the Queen to see, but the thought of those emerald eyes looking at her, no distractions, no people around to buffer, made the rogue want to slip under the table, into the shadows, and turn invisible.

Usually, Honey was smooth. She could talk or fight or sneak her way out of anything, but the Queen was a better thief, because she robbed her of that ability.

She never felt as human as she did when the Queen was around.

Luckily, she didn't see her often. When she and Slee came to pay their dues, it was a fifty fifty chance that it would just be the concubine that met them in the treasury, who looked them over and asked the questions, who seemed to know too much. It was easier when she was with Slee, when she could default to being the cool and strong and silent, and could watch for the Queen without judgement.

Now though, with Lagra and Khiva and the goblins, she was the only member of their group from the Silver Shores. She was the representative that had to report to the Queen if anything went wrong. She also had to give her percentage, and report any magical items to the concubine. She knew he was a decent warlock at least. Or perhaps simply good in bed. Either way, Honey figured the Queen had to have SOME reason to keep him around.

Giving a sigh, the rogue smoothed her hands over her dress, glanced around, and quickly decided that this was a situation that she was going to get through only if she was completely sloshed. She was finishing her third mug when a voice spoke beside her.

"I need a double shot of rum."

The seat beside her wasn't empty anymore, and Honey turned to tell the person to move away, only to find herself staring instead. Her deep purple hair was cut just below her chin, and she wore a starched white loose shirt that tied all the way up, left open at the top to reveal a large golden coin on a string that rested just beneath her collarbone. Her shirt was tucked smartly into pinstriped trousers, and those into clean black boots that laced up to mid calf. Her sleeves were loose from the shoulders to the elbows, and two simple golden bangles tinkled on her left wrist. Honey's gaze roamed from the coin, to the outfit, back up to the hair, and caught in the gemstone green eyes of the Queen, and suddenly she was choking, unable to breathe around the beer she had decided to let into her windpipe.

The Queen, for her part, looked more concerned with ordering the double, and had already shot it back before Honey remembered how to breathe.

"So, do you have a name?" The queen asked, licking her lips and turning to her.

Honey was finding it increasingly hard to breathe, like she was choking all over again.

"No." She said immediately. "...Yes. P-probably?"

The Queen, tilting her head, just looked curious.

"I've seen you before, hmm?" She asked, reaching and picking up a few grapes and popping them into her mouth. Honey forgot how to swallow.

"I- uh- y-yeah- I-"

Queen Elia smiled, and Honey shut her mouth. Suddenly, the room around them was much louder, and the Queen's gaze slid away into middle distance, her head tilting like she was listening for something.

"Crap." She said, underneath her breath, and Honey froze as the Queen's gaze focused on her again. "You got two more of those?"

Honey slid two more double shots of rum across the table, watched the Queen down them like they were mere cups of water, and then stand.

"Nice dress, by the way."

Honey immediately went red from chin to forehead, though the queen moved away before she saw. The wood of the table was suddenly much more interesting to the rogue, and she didn't even notice Lagra beside her until the large orc woman placed a hand on her shoulder

"Don't worry, we've all been there." Her words just made Honey's face burn brighter, and she didn't even have to turn her head to know the concubine was there. She could feel his smugness through the air the way she was sure they could feel the heat from her face in Fortuna.

"Smooth." He said, and Honey could do nothing more than reach her hand out, and press it gently against his face, pushing him slowly from his stool and onto the ground. She was robbed of her comfort by his laughing eyes and knowing grin, and thanked the Storm Father that her two companions left a moment later to take part in the royal ceremony welcoming the Lords of the Sunset Isles.

Sitting alone, Honey allowed herself a quick, private smile. The Queen had liked her dress! The Queen had smiled at her! The Queen had talked to her!

Holding her hands against her cheeks, Honey shifted down in her seat, grinning like a fool.

The Queen had recognized her!

[ethxndolan]

Grayson Dolan Must Die (G.D.) Part 5

Summary:  Grayson Dolan is known as the schools womanizer. His ability to make a girl fall in love with him, and drop her within a week is legendary. When a series of events peaks Grayson’s interest in Y/N, she is recruited by three of his exes to break his heart in a very public way and exact revenge for all the pain he has caused. However, nothing goes according to plan… and Y/N may be in way over her head navigating the whit and charm that is Grayson Dolan.

A/N: if you guys have an requests or anything hmuuuuu

Word Count: 1,452

Warnings: swearing

MASTERLIST

After the incident in Chemistry, I texted the GDMD group chat and told them all about what had happened. They were super excited about him asking if I was going to the party, which meant they were ready to take the plan to the next level.

I sat in front of Sabrina’s vanity as her, Rachel and Megan worked on me like I was a Barbie doll. I was basically a prisoner in my own body because they forced me to go to the nail salon and get acrylics. I felt like I couldn’t grab or touch anything even though Rachel assured me over and over again that they were very sturdy and wouldn’t come off. Whether they were sturdy or not didn’t change the fact that I was not used to having claws.

“So tonight, we really want you to toy with him,” Sabrina said. “Definitely flirt with him, touch him, stare at him, graze him… whatever, just make him think that you’re super interested.”

“No doubt he’s going to say ‘let’s go somewhere more quiet to talk’, or some shit to try to get you alone so you can hook up.” Rachel stopped applying eyeshadow and made sure my eyes met hers at she glared at me, “but under no circumstances are you to go with him. Come up with something like you’re not that kind of girl or you’re a virgin, I don’t know.”

Sabrina snorted. “Isn’t that how you got with Grayson in the first place, Rachel?”

“Yeah, because waiting for him in the backseat of his car naked was so much classier,” Megan shot at Sabrina.

Sabrina gasped in response, getting the curling iron she was welding dangerously close to my face. I could quickly see the situation escalating and I was worried because everyone of them was holding something hot or pointy, and they were all dangerously close to me. “Okay, so lets focus on how I’m supposed to flirt with Grayson.”

“Definitely mention his dick,” Sabrina said, “you give off the vibe of being a good girl and it’ll throw him off and really change his view of you.” — I walked into the party wearing an extremely tight red dress that clung to curves on my body I wasn’t even aware I had. I scanned the room for Grayson and found him in the corner talking to guys from the football team. He eyes rose and connected with me from across the room.

I gave him the faintest hint of a smile before looking away. I wove my way through the house looking for the kitchen. I was in desperate need of alcohol if I was going to get through tonight. I found one of the cooler and dug through until I found a Bud Light can.

I must have stood there for five minutes looking like an idiot, unable to open the can with my fake nails. I just couldn’t seem to get my dumbass nail under the pop tab.

The can was taken out of my hands and opened easily. I looked up and saw Grayson holding it with a smirk on his face. He took a sip before handing it back to me. “I could see you struggling from all the way on the other side of the house.” He looked really good tonight dressed in a black t-shirt, black ripped jeans and his classic white converse. I tried not to ogle.

I held up my nails inspecting them, “Yeah, these things are kind of annoying.”

Grayson cracked up as he grabbed my hand and looked at  them. “Why the hell would you get bitch nails?” He asked.

“Bitch nails?”

“Mmm,” he said nodding, “Yeah, bitchy girls wear them.” He started laughing again, “Why the fuck would you get these, lab partner? They’re so dumb and you can’t do anything with them.”

I paused for a moment, contemplating my response. “But imagine how good they would look wrapped around your dick.” I took a sip of beer, raised and eyebrow at him and then turned and walked off getting lost in the party.

—

All throughout the night I could feel Grayson’s eyes on me. I was really hoping that he would come up to me so it didn’t look like I was flat out throwing myself at him. I decided to step out on the back deck so I could get some air and come up with a way to subtly approach him.

I set my solo cup down on the railing. I was four drinks in so far, and definitely feeling some effects from it. 
 “Hey, lap partner,” I heard from behind me. Knowing that could only be one person I smiled. I quickly straightened my face out before turning around and facing him. I leaned back and rested my hands on the railing, staring at him expectantly so he would speak first. There were a few other people out here, though they weren’t anywhere near us so I wasn’t worried about being ‘alone with him’ like I was specifically forbidden from doing by Rachel. I knew they were somewhere around here at the party, potentially watching. “What are you doing out here?” He finally asked.

“Just cooling off, it was a little hot in there,” I replied.

He walked over next to me and rested his forearms on the railing. He lifted an eyebrow, “How the hell did you get hot when you’re barely wearing clothing?”

I scoffed and turned around looking over the vast backyard. “You make it sound like I’m walking around in my underwear.” I could tell by the look on his face he was about to shoot off some comment about seeing me in said underwear. “Don’t.”

“Why are you dressing differently?” His eyes roamed me up and down, like they had done many times this past week. This was more inquisitive where the other times seemed to hold at heat I didn’t want to think to much about.  “New clothes, bitch nails,” he picked up my drink and sniffed it to discover it was vodka, “drinking? What’s up, partner? I’m worried all this is going to affect my chem grade.”

I blushed at the thought of him noticing the changes. They were pretty dramatic, I just never thought Grayson Dolan paid any attention to me to notice anything other than my chemistry grade. I shrugged, trying to play it off, “I don’t know, the whole thing with Connor… kind of just wanted a change I guess? And the drinking’s nothing new, I blacked out here like three weeks ago and spent the night in the bathroom.”

He stood up straight and looked at me intensely. “Connor’s a fucking dick for what he did to you. Seriously, if you want me to do something about it I will.”

“Like you haven’t done that to a girl before?” I asked teasingly, although it was a real question.

“When I was like thirteen, maybe,” He looked a little offended as he spoke. “But I don’t like fucking around with people, not like that. I’m not saying I’m not a dick, but I’m not a liar I tell them straight up how it’s going to be. Any expectation on their part beyond that is on them.”

It sounded pretty harsh, but I could appreciate his honesty. I decided to shift the conversation back to something he said earlier. “So you would really do something to Connor if I asked? Why?”

“I told you, I need you at your best in chemistry. I can’t have you sitting around crying about him and fucking things up and making shit explode in class.” I rolled my eyes. “I need your mind,” he tapped on my forehead, “focused. Specifically on the homework for me to copy so I can pass that dumb class. It’s the only class that has the potential to fuck everything up for me and you’re the only one who can help me.”

I wondered about what ‘everything’ was, but didn’t want to ask. “I’m not letting you copy my homework, I’ve already told you 8,000 times. Maybe that’s why you’re not passing, you have a hearing problem. But, if you want I could help you do the homework so you get a passing grade,” I said.

He groaned dramatically, “Fine, I guess I can let you tutor me if you really want.” He asked for my phone so we could swap numbers and figure out when to meet up.

“Well, I’m gonna take off,” I said, starting to back away from him slowly.

“Hey, weren’t you supposed to bring my t-shirt?” He asked.

I shrugged, “Guess you’ll just actually have to show up to our tutoring session.”

[musicoccurred]

Pearl Jam -The Home Shows

Who: Pearl Jam Where: The Home Shows, Seattle, WA. When: August 8, 10 2018

I've said this before and it remains true. A Pearl Jam concert is much more than just a show. It's a celebration. A celebration of music, of a long relationship and of course, life. Very few places do I feel absolutely at home but a Pearl Jam show is one of them. Certainly we're all different people but for 3 hours we're one. These Seattle shows reminded me of a pilgrimage, I'm sure there were lots of Seattle folks there but most of the people I chatted with were from other places. For me it was a bucket-list item, to see Pearl Jam in their home city, a city that gave us so much music and so many iconic bands.

These concerts, "The Home Shows," given that name because the tour takes place mainly in MLB stadiums, had a similar feel to PJ20 the 20th anniversary shows in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin in 2011. No, there weren't multiple bands on the bill, but there were multiple activities and certainly a festive vibe. The Seattle Museum of Pop Culture, aka MoPop, had an exhibit dedicated to Pearl Jam opening on the Saturday after the shows but 10c (Ten Club, Pearl Jam's fanclub) members could gain access on Thursday during the day off between shows. London Bridge Studios where Ten was recorded also had Pearl Jam specific tours and legendary concert photographer Danny Clinch had a pop up shop with photos available for autograph and purchase. Did I mention it all took place in Seattle? Not only a great city but a city full of Pearl Jam history, we're talking The Off Ramp, Moore Theater, Benaroya Hall, Showbox, Easy Street Records, the list goes on!

Wednesday, Night 1

It has become popular again for bands to have artists make posters for concerts, particularly individual posters for each show. Pearl Jam is one of the few that's always done this. It is an expensive habit and the posters are treated as currency among 10c members. For these shows there were 5 unique posters all by artists Pearl Jam has used extensively in the past. A point of contention here, at their larger shows, the band has started setting up tents to sell merch throughout the day and even on days before and after the shows. Because they are open to the public, it's safe to say there are people there buying and going straight to eBay. The lines took many hours to navigate, there has to be a better way. How about when a 10c member buys a ticket through the band's website we get a code unique to us that allows us to purchase merch online and have it shipped to our homes? Place whatever quantity limits you want, something needs to change. A highlight of waiting around in the sun all day, I met a cool young man that had traveled from Tokyo to attend his first Pearl Jam show. There were people coming to Seattle from all over the world, this guy was in for a night he won't soon forget.

Several years ago Pearl Jam shows began lasting +- 3 hours. They always played a lot of songs but when this happened they finally shed the opening act. No complaints here. At 8:30 straight up the band took the stage to a loop of "Aye Davanita" from Vitalogy and ease into "Long Road." Now PJ's MO is that they play a quiet track or two then something noisy. Not on this night, Eddie wanted it to be an intimate gathering so "Long Road" led to "Release" followed by "Low Light" and crowd favorite, the singalong "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town." Genius. How do you transition from slow and quiet into something noisy? "Corduroy" that's how. Even though it's a song that PJ play pretty much every show it remains a favorite for me. Its long intro whips the crowd into a frenzy that continued with "Go,"  "Do the Evolution" and the Ramones-esque "Mind Your Manners." Each setlist is crafted by Ed with input from the band to fit the venue, audience and history of the band/city. Probably the most notable moment of the show was when Eddie broke down the meaning of "Evenflow." "Evenflow" is a concert staple, performed pretty much every time they play. In the 90s it was the song people liked when they didn't like PJ. Fast drums and guitars, weird lyrics just a fun rock song. But on this night, after the band had worked hard with politicians and local businesses to raise money and awareness for Seattle's horrible homeless problems Ed opened up a bit. When the band had just formed they spent a lot of time in the Belltown/Pioneer Square areas of Seattle. They befriended another Eddie, this one a homeless African-American Vietnam Veteran with mental health problems. He was known for his wild hair and wearing a tarp like a poncho. When he was mentally present he would tell them about Vietnam and his struggles with returning to civilian life. Other times, he simply wasn't there mentally. His visits greatly affected the band and when they came back from a tour they couldn't find him. Searching all over Seattle they finally found him sleeping on concrete under a viaduct. Returning from a later tour they again couldn't find him and discovered he had passed away. Suddenly "Evenflow" makes perfect sense, Ed held on to that story for 28 years. Other highlights, Ed performed a solo rendition of Jack White's "We're Going to be Friends" in honor of teachers everywhere. During the performance, his daughters danced with their favorite teachers (clad in Mariners jerseys with Vedder on the back) behind him. During the encore Brandi Carlile joined the band for "Again Tonight" a song PJ had covered for a benefit album. I love when other musicians join Pearl Jam on stage and look out at the giant crowd with wide eyes, Brandi ever the badass, threw her head back and screamed into the Seattle sky. They closed the show with "Rockin' in the Free World" and my least favorite live song, "Yellow Ledbetter" the show clocked in at 33 songs over 3 hours.

Thursday, Day Off

I snoozed on the London Bridge Studios tickets so that was out. I was looking forward to roaming around the city and attending the Pearl Jam exhibit at MoPop. Situated near the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project, MoPop is covered in tourists. Lucky for us this was a 10c event only. Jeff Ament is the de facto historian of the band keeping massive amounts of memorabilia in a warehouse. This band kept everything. I mean EVERYTHING. They have the cassettes that Stone/Jeff and Ed mailed back and forth to begin their relationship. Seeing these in person was powerful. Pearl Jam have provided the soundtrack to my life and quite literally if those tapes didn't exist I wouldn't have been standing there all those years later. Favorite moments: seeing the typed and written lyrics and loads of Ed's notebooks, the incredible statue of Andy Wood that Jeff commissioned (more on that here) as well as posters from every show. If you're in Seattle I highly recommend seeing this exhibit.

Friday, Night 2

Again starting at 8:30 PJ opens with three slow burners, "Oceans," "Footsteps" and "Nothingman" before blasting off with "Why Go" and "Brain of J." This was going to be awesome. I love the 2nd PJ shows, all of my needs are met by the first night. Nervousness is gone, just relax and enjoy the show. This show really focused on older material, only two tracks were post 2000. The band were much looser as was the crowd. The singalongs were louder and sharper, I refrained, choosing instead to just absorb the love and energy flying around the stadium. During "I Won't Back Down," a solo tribute to the great Tom Petty, Eddie asked the crowd to turn on their cell phone flashlights so Tom could see. The result was mesmerizing. The band also honored Chris Cornell by performing "Missing," a very rare deep cut. Speaking of Cornell, Kim Thayil joined the band for "Kick Out the Jams" and later joined Steve Turner and Mark Arm of Mudhoney (and Green River!) for "Search and Destroy" and "Sonic Reducer." Favorite moments: the aforementioned songs plus Ed hosing up the intro to "Rearviewmirror" to the point the band had to stop. Ed broke into "Fernando" by Abba saying that's what he was hearing. What can I say, the guy is hilarious. Other notable moments, Mike's solo on "Evenflow" was one of the best I can remember. What a beautiful night. 36 amazing songs over 3.5 hours in the glorious Seattle night.

Setlist Night 1:

Long Road Release Low Light Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town Corduroy Go Do the Evolution Mind Your Manners Throw Your Hatred Down (Neil Young cover) Lightning Bolt Given to Fly All Those Yesterdays Even Flow Help! (The Beatles cover) (snippet) Help Help Black Setting Forth Play Video I Am a Patriot (Little Steven cover) Porch Encore: We're Going to Be Friends (The White Stripes cover) (live debut by PJ) Nothing as It Seems Let Me Sleep Breath Again Today (with Brandi Carlile) State of Love and Trust Rearviewmirror Encore 2: Wasted Reprise Better Man (with “Save It for Later” tag) Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover) Alive I've Got a Feeling (The Beatles cover) Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young cover) Yellow Ledbetter

Setlist Night 2:

Oceans Footsteps Nothingman Why Go Brain of J. Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd cover) Corduroy Rats In Hiding Whipping Even Flow Missing (Chris Cornell cover) (live debut by PJ) Daughter (with "W.M.A" and "It's Ok" tags) Immortality I'm Open Unthought Known Can't Deny Me Do the Evolution Lukin Porch Encore: I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover) (EV solo) Thin Air Better Man (with "Save It for Later" by English Beat tag) All or None Crown of Thorns (Mother Love Bone cover) Kick Out the Jams (MC5 cover) (with Kim Thayil) Spin the Black Circle Play Video Rearviewmirror (with "Fernando" (ABBA)… more ) Crazy Mary (Victoria Williams cover) Jeremy Leash Search and Destroy (Iggy and The Stooges cover) (With Kim Thayil, Steve Turner, and Mark Arm) Sonic Reducer (Dead Boys cover) (With Kim Thayil, Steve Turner, and Mark Arm) Alive Baba O'Riley (The Who cover) Yellow Ledbetter

-JS