#rosalind land

[books-and-tings]

so excited to start foul lady fortune by chloe gong! it's a spinoff her These Violent Delights/ Our Violent Ends duology!

I finished that duology a couple weeks ago and it was incredibly heart wrenching and so captivating, loved it to death!

Have you read any of chloe gong's books? what did you think? ❤️

[grimm-pitch-salisbury]

“Bug like an angel” is just Orion Hong after lady Hong left, his father was accused of being hanjian and his “injury”.

[widespot]

"We don't have to do homework tonight. Too many birthdays." "That's not how it works." "Well, it's just going to have to."

"You're not wrong, robotics would be fascinating to study. I'm pretty sure giant mecha are impractical, though."

"So, you want to play rock-paper-scissors?" "That's a silly game."

Rosalind brought Delwina Sharpe home with her for Flavia's birthday, but she's kind of hard to entertain. "So they get an order for fiftyteen gallons of baby oil, but they don't know where to find that many babies -"

"Mom says maybe we could get a violin."

[holdoncallfailed]

Throughout all this women everywhere tended their children, milked their cattle, tilled their fields, washed, baked, cleaned and sewed, healed the sick, sat by the dying and laid out the dead—just as some women, somewhere are doing at this moment. The extraordinary continuity of women's work, from country to country and age to age, is one of the reasons for its invisibility; the sight of a woman nursing a baby, stirring a cook-pot or cleaning a floor is as natural as the air we breathe, and like the air it attracted no scientific analysis before the modern period. While there was work to be done, women did it, and behind the vivid foreground activities of popes and kings, wars and discoveries, tyranny and defeat, working women wove the real fabric of the kind of history that has yet to receive its due. For the unremarked, taken-for-granted status of women's work applied equally to their lives, and both combined to ensure that what women did went largely absent from the historical record. Official documents might carefully note the annual output of a farmer, for example, his total of milk, meat, eggs or grain, without ever questioning how much of that was produced by his wife's labor. The question itself would not apply—since the wife belonged to her husband by every law of the land and by her own consent too, then her labor and the fruits of it were also his. Consequently the idea of a separate reckoning would have been laughable. By definition, then, the only women whose activities were so recorded were not typical of the working majority—widows, for instance, seeking legal permission to carry on the trade of their late husbands, or deserted or runaway wives forced to fend for themselves. [...] For even the most cursory survey of women's reveals that its range, quantity and significance has been massively underestimated, not least by women themselves. In every era, they have simply got on with the job, whatever it was. Women have never questioned, for instance, the fact that, already burdened with an unequal share of the work of re-creating the race, they have had to work in fields and factories as well—nor that their role as wives, mothers and homemakers entails a disproportionate amount and variety of other kinds of work—domestic, social, medical, education, emotional, and sexual.

— Rosalind Miles, Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World (emphasis in original)

[celiastjamesoscar]

Devil in the Details

Pairings: Tara Carpenter x fem!reader

Summary: Tara accidentally runs into on campus, and she’s immediately enchanted by you and asks you for help. You give her the wrong advice and she holds it against you.

Warnings: angst, hurt/comfort, slight drinking, mentions of sex, Frankie, mentions of Tara’s family issues. If I missed any, let me know!

AN: not my best work but oh well

Word Count: 12k (im sorry)

The fall leaves gently drifted onto the ground as Tara bolted across the Blackmore campus. She was already running late; her alarm was set for pm instead of am, and she had no idea where she was going. The sky was dark, and Tara could hear the distant sounds of thunder as she rounded a corner and smacked right into someone, causing her to fall to the ground.

“Are you okay?” The stranger said as they let out a small chuckle and reached out to pull Tara off the ground. When Tara finally opened her eyes and made eye contact with the stranger, her heart fluttered.

The woman was undoubtedly gorgeous-there was no denying that-and she simply towered over the more petite girl. Tara was enchanted by the girl’s eyes that shined through the gloomy weather surrounding them and how her features contrasted with the outside world.

She spoke with the voice of an angel that sang in Tara’s ears, as Tara just stared blankly at her.

The girl shifted from one foot to the other, clearly not expecting this to happen, “are you okay?” She questioned again with her arm still extended.

Snapping out of her trance, Tara eagerly grabbed the stranger’s hand and stood up, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going. I was supposed to be at my class ten minutes ago and don’t know where the room is. I just ran from the other side of campus, and I’m lost,” Tara rambled on as she talked with her hands. She was getting ready to talk more, but the stranger interrupted her.

“Okay, slow down,” she said with a soft smile that caused her eyes to crinkle, “what class is it?”

Tara let out a defeated sigh. She hated having to rely on people for help, especially strangers. She felt they had a mysterious power over her, and she hated not being in control. “Chemistry with Mrs. Rosalind in Franklin Hall.”

The stranger turned slightly to her left before pointing towards a brick building, “Franklin Hall is that way. Just go past this building and make a sharp left. It will be on your right past the giant water feature; you can’t miss it.” She finished with a mischievous smirk that Tara mistook for a flirtatious one.

“Thank you so much; I owe you!” Tara yelled with a smile as she had already started to jog away from the stranger, but she mentally slapped herself for not asking the girl her name.

The stranger smiled as she watched Tara slowly disappear, her heart fluttering at the more petite girl’s smile. Once she lost sight of her, she turned around and went to Franklin Hall.

——————————————————————————

“I met the worst fucking person on the planet today!” Tara exclaimed as she walked into her shared apartment before violently throwing her bag onto the floor and kicking off her shoes. She stomped to the couch and flopped onto it with a huff.

Sam tried her best not to laugh at her sister’s antics, as she always met ‘the worst person on the planet’ at least once a week. “Who was it this time?” She questioned as she walked into the living room and sat on the chair opposite Tara, but upon closer inspection, Sam noticed that her baby sister was a little damp. “And why are you wet?”

At Sam’s question, Tara sent her a deadly glare before taking off her shoes and socks, throwing a sock at Sam. “I will get to that in a minute; just let me rant about Satan.”

Sam quickly threw the sock off that landed on her shoulder with a disgusted face, “Okay then, tell me about your encounter with Satan.”

Tara lays back on the couch and laces her fingers together as if she was getting ready to talk to a therapist before speaking gently, “As you know, I woke up really late this morning, so I didn’t get to eat breakfast. Because of that, I was already in a bad mood and somehow ended up on the opposite side of campus. So I had to haul ass to return to the other side for my class when I accidentally ran into a woman.”

Sam ignored how Tara’s eyes seemed to sparkle when she mentioned the woman and how her eyes seemed to dance. “So you physically ran into Satan?” Sam questioned with a slight chuckle as she received a death glare from Tara, which resulted in Sam moving uncomfortably, “anyways, continue.”

“Before I was so rudely interrupted, this woman helped me up, and my god, Sam, she was so beautiful it almost made me cry. And she spoke with a gentle voice that sounded like angels. She also had these beautiful eyes that pulled me in. And that smile, I can’t even begin to describe it; it was the most perf-she’s a fucking bitch is what she is.” Tara ended with a hateful tone after realizing she had been daydreaming about the mysterious woman. “So I asked her where Franklin Hall was, and she pointed me toward it. So naturally, I took off running because I was late, and as soon as I rounded the corner, boom! I immediately fell right into a pool. I was shocked and forgot I had to swim, so someone had to jump in and save me. It was so embarra-stop laughing!”

Sam had a smile on her face since Tara started talking about this she-devil, trying to fight back a laugh, but she completely lost it when Tara said someone had to save her from drowning. She shouldn’t find her sister's near-death experience this funny, but she couldn’t help.

After a few minutes of Sam laughing, she eventually dries her tears before speaking with a small laugh, “I'm sorry, you can continue talking.”

Tara stared at her for a few seconds before returning to the story, “Anyways, this woman drags me out of the pool, and of course, I thank her. She asked me why I decided to swim, and I explained the situation to her. Naturally, she finds it funny and helps me find my class because we miraculously have it together. So we walk into class soaking wet, and guess who we sit by?” Tara finishes with an eyebrow raised.

“Who?” Sam questioned with a knowing feeling of who it was.

“The fucking devil. She has this devilish smirk on her face and doesn’t even look at me; she just leans past me and asks the lady I was with, ‘Decided to go for a swim, Anika?’ God, I fucking hate her.” Tara stated with a groan as she clenched her fists into the air, making it clear she hated this woman.

Sam couldn’t help the small chuckle that left her lips. “So, did you guys talk at all or just sit in awkward silence?”

Tara scoffed before sitting up on the couch. Clearly, this was something that angered her deeply, “oh, no, we did not talk. She talked. Talked the entire fucking class with that same fucking devilish smirk I just wanna kiss off.” Tara finished before realizing what she had just said, “Kick off, I meant. Anyways, the professor forced me to get my notes from her, and she gave them to me. But every five minutes or so, she would lean over and draw something on my paper. Look!” Tara exclaimed as she got up and grabbed her backpack, pulling out the piece of paper and handing it to Sam. The paper did indeed have little scribbles all over it.

The drawings varied from squiggly lines to stick figures sword fighting to even a tiny detailed drawing of Tara. “What’s this right here?” Sam asked as she pointed to beautiful penmanship that said ‘Y/N x Tara’ with a heart drawn around it.

“Oh, the devil wrote that after she asked for my name,” Tara said with a shrug of her shoulders as a slight blush crept up her neck, “she just tapped on my shoulder, asked me what my name was, and wrote that down before turning back to her book.”

Sam looked between Tara and the heart, wondering why Tara even kept the piece of paper as it didn’t have any notes on it. “Why did you keep it then? If she bothers you so much.” Sam questioned, hoping to catch her sister in a lie.

Caught off guard, Tara quickly stumbled over her words before snatching the paper out of Sam’s hands while grumbling, “Mind your own business,” as she stomped off to her room.

———————————————————-

Chemistry class continued like that for a week; Tara would mind her business while Y/N occasionally drew on Tara’s paper. By the week's end, Tara had a small collection of Y/N’s doodles. Still, her favorite one remained the drawings from the first day; the one with the heart wrapped around their names and a small drawing of herself. Tara could help but smile at the thought of it, but her smile quickly dropped every time she saw you.

“Good morrow, Tara,” Y/N said as she placed her backpack on the table and sat in her chair. Tara rolled her eyes at Y/N before speaking, “It was until I saw you.”

Y/N scoffed at her words as she swiveled to face Tara, “Why must you wound me?”

“I don’t know, maybe because you made me walk half a mile in the wrong direction and caused me to fall into some water?” Tara asked with an annoyed tone as she looked Y/N in her eyes. She wanted to strangle the girl, especially when Y/N laughed when Tara mentioned the water.

Wiping the tears away from her eyes, Y/N laughed, “Yeah, I forgot about that. That was a gas, wasn’t it?”

“No, it wasn’t a ‘gas,’” Tara exclaimed as she kicked Y/N’s chair, causing the girl to roll slightly away from her, “someone had to jump in and save me. Where is she, by the way?”

“Anika? She stayed home; she woke up with a temp this morning, so I made her some soup and promised to fill her in with everything we did today.” Y/N said as she pulled out a notebook and pen, preparing to take notes instead of writing all over Tara’s paper, which caused Tara to look at her with an eyebrow raised, “Sorry, beautiful, no drawings today.”

Tara rolled her eyes at Y/N’s comment but quickly faced away from the girl to hide her blush as the lecture started. She wondered if Anika and Y/N lived together, as the girl mentioned she made her soup this morning, or if she just woke up early and made her friend something; either way, she figured that was the one good deed she did in a year.

Once class was over, Y/N politely held the door open for Tara, which earned her a scoff and an elbow to the side. “I don’t know why you dislike me, Tara. I haven’t done anything to cause you harm,” Y/N said as she jogged to catch up with the shorter girl who tried her best to speed-walk away from Y/N.

“Are you serious right now?” Tara asked as she continued to walk quickly; for every three steps she took, Y/N took one.

“Okay, that was not my fault. You should have been paying more attention. And I can’t believe you are still upset about that,” Y/N stated while looking down at Tara.

Tara quickly stopped her movements as she looked at Y/N. “I am not explaining this to you again, as your pea-sized brain cannot seem to comprehend why I am furious with you!” Tara finished as she shoved her pointer finger into Y/N’s chest.

Y/N just smiled at the girl before reaching up and wrapping her hand around Tara’s finger before pulling it close to her lips as she gently kissed the back of her hand, right where Tara’s scar was. “Sei bellissima quando sei arrabbiata.”

When Y/N’s lips touched Tara’s hand and landed on her scar, electricity shot throughout her body; it almost caused her to shiver. Her body reached before she even had time to think; her hand quickly pulled back before her fist made its way right into Y/N’s face, and the sound of impact filled the air.

Y/N was slightly taken off her feet as she stumbled back a bit and reached up to feel her nose. She felt liquid drip onto her hand and brought her hand down to find crimson blood on her hand. She could already taste the copper in her mouth as the blood flowed easily. She couldn’t tell if it was broken, but she had a gut feeling it was. She quickly straightened her poster and stood there in silence as tears began to form in her eyes, and a slight trickle of blood ran from her nose, down her mouth, and dipped onto her clothing. That's the thing about getting hit in the nose; no matter the circumstance, you always cry. It could be because of the humiliation, the shock, or the sharp pain that followed. But no matter what you do afterward, you always have tears in your eyes.

“Okay.” Was all Y/N said before she turned away from Tara and started walking, tugging on her backpack straps. For some unknown reason, Tara felt shame quickly replace any sparks she had felt, which made her heart shatter.

When Y/N arrived home, she quickly sat her pack down and went into the shared bathroom. She wiped away the blood and waited for the flow to stop. Once she did, she popped her nose back into place. She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror; she already had purple bruises forming under her eyes, and her nose was swollen and bruised. Y/N then turned off the bathroom lights, entered her room, and sat on her bed.

The moment to herself allowed her to think back on the harsh conversation she and Tara had merely an hour ago. She could still feel the sting of the punch every time she thought about it. It’s not like she didn’t apologize for sending Tara in the wrong direction; she brought the girl a small bouquet on the second day of class that had a small note that said, “It is I that is full of sorrow, for I doth bestow no harm onto thy lady of beauty.” Tara didn't say anything when Y/N handed her the flowers with a small smile, but she let out a dry chuckle when she read the note. Y/N believed they were on good terms after that, but sadly, she had assumed wrong.

The next day, Y/N walked in, sporting a pair of black sunglasses, as Tara was already in her seat. Y/N placed her bag on the table and sat down, entirely ignoring how Tara’s eyes burned into the side of her skull. Anika had not overthrown her illness yet, so it would just be the pair again. Tara could see the nasty purple that had formed underneath Y/N’s eye even though the girl still had her sunglasses on. She felt awful for what she did to Y/N and wanted to apologize, but she knew words couldn’t fix this. She didn’t know what could. So, they sat in awkward silence until the lecture began.

Hoping to ease the tension, Tara drew a small stick figure holding some flowers with the words “I'm sorry” in a word bubble. She slid it over to her left, praying Y/N would accept the peace offering. Tara did not expect Y/N to draw a stick figure holding garden shears, cutting the flowers in two before sliding the paper back to Tara. She stared blankly at Y/N before taking the piece of paper and shoving it into her bag with a huff.

The weekend arrived and passed in a fly, and it was Monday again, but Tara silently screamed for joy when she saw Anika to the right of her seat. She was so glad to have Anika back and hoped it would make her feel less bad about Y/N. The two joked the entire class while Y/N sat silently, too interested in what Professor Rosalind had to say. However, after class, Anika pulled Tara off the side once Y/N had left.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Anika whisper-shouted at Tara, burning holes into Tara’s eyes with her own, “Why did you punch Y/N?!”

“Because she kissed my hand, and I freaked out! I told her I was sorry, but she’s still mad at me.” Tara defended with slightly frustrated eyes as she clenched and unclenched her fist.

“Of course, she’s going to be mad at you, you broke her nose, and she was out of commission all weekend!” Anika replied, not phased when Tara said that Y/N had kissed her hand; she liked to do that to people she found attractive.

Tara looked down at the ground in shame, not knowing how to respond. Anika sighed as she rubbed her hands on Tara's triceps, “I’m sorry, Tara. I shouldn’t have yelled at you earlier; I just get protective over Y/N. Trust me; I know better than anyone that she can be an asshole. I've wanted to strangle her several times, but you eventually warm up to her.”

Tara scoffed at her words and rolled her eyes, “She cut up the fake flowers I drew for her; I am not warming up to her anytime soon!”

Not wanting to argue, Anika dropped the subject, “anyways, let’s not talk about Y/N. Would you like to work together on this chemistry project?”

Tara beamed at the mention of the chemistry project; She had already figured Anika would work with Y/N since they were best friends, and she was a little skeptical about working with her as she didn’t want to upset Y/N even more.

As if reading her thoughts, Anika voiced, “Don't worry about Y/N; she’s already finished the project. She prefers to work alone anyways.”

Tara nodded, “Yeah, I’d love to work with you on it.”

“Okay, good! We can start on it next Monday around five. I’ll send you my address.” Anika said with a smile as she walked towards her next class. Tara was just grateful she had a partner for this project, so she smiled as she went to her next class.

——————————————————

Sam’s car slowly pulled up to the apartment complex Anika had sent her; it was reasonably pleasant, with eight different levels. “Okay, this is it,” Tara said as she grabbed her backpack from the backseat and opened the door, but Sam placed her hand on Tara’s arm, causing the girl to stop her movements.

“Call me if you need anything, Tara. I’m serious,” Sam stated as she looked at her baby sister. She worried about Tara like a mother. Her protectiveness knows no bounds. But she wanted Tara to have some form of a social life, so she allowed Tara to go to a friend’s house for this project. She’d never tell her sister, but Sam’s stomach hurt when Tara was away.

Tara placed her own hand over Sam’s, “Don’t worry, Sam, I’ll be safe. I’ll text you when you get to Anika’s room.” Tara slowly climbed out of the car and was getting ready to close the door but stopped, “I love you, Sammy.”

Sam smiled at her sister, her heart filled with joy at Tara’s words, “I love you too. Now be safe and nice!” Sam knew that Tara could sometimes be an angry little dog that liked to bite ankles, so she felt it necessary to warn her sister.

Tara rolled her eyes at Sam’s words as she closed the car door and approached the complex's entrance. She turned around and sent Sam a wave before entering the building.

The elevator was broken-to her demise-so she dragged herself up five flights of stairs. Out of breath, she sauntered over the door that had ‘237’ on it. ‘Great, I’m going to get murdered by the ghost of Lorraine Massey after climbing up seven thousand steps,’ Tara thought to herself as she knocked on the door.

When the door flew open, any air Tara had managed to keep trapped in her lungs flew out. Standing before her was Y/N in nothing but a sports bra and shorts. Tara’s eyes raked over Y/N’s body, She had sweat glistening on her chest and stomach, and Tara admired her abs and subconsciously reached out to touch them as she licked her lips. Y/N quickly slapped Tara’s hand away while glaring at her with narrowed eyes, snapping Tara out of her fantasy.

“What do you want? You aren’t welcome at my mojo dojo casa house,” Y/N stated as she crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway. Tara could hear her heart beating in her ears, and her palms started to sweat. She had sworn to hate Y/N, but the girl made it so hard.

Tara was at a loss for words; not only did she have to climb up five flights of stairs, but the Devil herself was standing in front of her in all her beauty, shirtless, and had just caught her staring at her chest and abs. “A-Anika.” Tara managed to mumble out.

“Anika, your weird pervert friend is undressing me with her eyes,” Y/N called out into the apartment room before turning her attention back to Tara with a mischievous smirk.

“I-I’m not-” Tara stuttered, too ashamed that Y/N had caught her checking her out. “No,” she finally whispered.

Y/N glared at Tara, not saying anything. She enjoyed watching the smaller girl squirm under her gaze. Y/N studied how Tara refused to meet her gaze and kept shifting the weight on her feet.

Tara heard a muffled voice yell from behind Y/N, causing the shirtless woman to look behind her and walk a little bit into the apartment. Y/N said something that Tara couldn’t make out, and Anika responded to her, but by how Y/N tilted her head back and let out an angry noise from the back of her throat, Tara only assumed it wasn’t good.

She stomped back to Tara and crossed her arms as she leaned against the doorframe. “Anika is in the shower. She’ll be a couple of minutes,” Y/N said with an irritated tone as she glared down at Tara.

“Oh, okay then. Would it be alright with you if I came in then?” Tara asked with hopeful eyes and a slightly awkward smile, causing Y/N to let out a small laugh. She didn’t say anything in response, and Tara was getting ready to shove past Y/N, but the taller girl moved to the side, uncrossed her arms, and made a welcome gesture.

“Thank you,” Tara said as she walked into the apartment with her head down. Tara followed Y/n into the living room and sat on the couch with her hands in her lap. She could feel more comfortable if it was just her waiting on Anika, not her and the shirtless devil.

“Just make sure your gremlin attitude doesn’t seep into the couch and ruin it,” Y/N mumbled as she walked into her room and shut the door.

Not knowing what to do, Tara quietly sat while looking at her phone, patiently waiting for Anika. After what seems like hours, Anika finally comes out of her room, “I am so sorry, Tara. Y/N and I carried some slushies, and she tripped on the stairs. Anyways, long story short, the drinks landed on me, and I had to take a shower,” Anika said as she walked over to the couch and pulled out a binder for their project.

It seemed a little too convenient that Y/N had ‘accidentally’ tripped and somehow managed to get all the drinks over Anika and none on herself, and then after Anika had told Y/N that Tara was coming by, she started to work out right after. It also seemed a little too convenient that the hot water stopped working a few minutes into her shower, causing Anika to wait for it to return and extend her shower even longer.

“That’s okay. I’m just glad we can get started on this project,” Tara replied as she scooted over so Anika could sit beside her.

Anika sat beside Tara with the binder on her lap and opened it, flipping through the papers as she spoke, “I hope Y/N wasn’t too mean. She likes to hold grudges.”

“She wasn’t too much, just her normal self,” Tara said shyly. She was not about to admit to Anika, let alone herself that she thought about fornicating with the much taller woman. “So, let's get started on this project then?”

“Let us,” Anika replied as she read through the instructions. The two worked together peacefully for thirty minutes, joking back and forth with each other and making little progress on the task at hand. Thirty minutes then turned into an hour and a half of gossiping, their project long forgotten.

Y/N had been halfway listening to the two girls outside, waiting until the perfect time to leave her cave. When she deemed the time was right, she did enough push-ups and enough squats to work up a decent sweat and sauntered out into the living room, still in her shorts and bra.

Tara's eyes instantly snapped towards the door that flew open, and her heartbeat immediately picked up. Her leg began to bounce, but Anika noticed and placed her hand on the girl’s leg, giving her a look of disbelief.

“What are you doing, Y/N?” Anika called out with a slight hint of frustration while pressing Tara’s knee down.

Y/N scoffed as she walked into the kitchen, “I'm getting some water? Am I not allowed to be thirsty?” She asked with a playful smirk she sent toward Tara. She knew Tara was checking her out and loved watching the girl fight her urges.

“So you’ve been working out for two hours now and finally decided that you might need some water?” Anika questioned, not believing Y/N for a second. She knew that Y/N loved to tease people, especially Tara, who would knock back and argue like a match made in hell.

Y/N grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and then walked toward the couch, “um, yes? Why is that so hard to believe?” She asked with sass as she placed a hand on her hip while holding the bottle in the other.

Anika stared at Y/N with a look that said, ‘I seriously cannot believe you right now.’ She then blinked, rolled her eyes, and said dryly, “Because you went to the gym this morning like you do every day. And you never workout at home because you said ‘I don’t have enough space to sculpt this perfect body’” she used air quotes when she spoke.

“What are you getting at then?” Y/N questioned, refusing to back down from this challenge.

Anika just shrugged and returned to her project, refusing to give in to Y/N’s challenge. Disbelief took over Y/N’s face; usually, Anika argued back with her, but for some reason, she didn’t, which made Y/N sad.

With a frown, she shuffled back into her room. She grabbed some clothes and walked towards the shared bathroom. “I'm taking a shower. Please don’t use the water,” she announced as she closed the door.

“Whatever,” Anika mumbled as she went back to the project. She asked Tara a question, and when she didn’t get a response, she looked up to find Tara staring holes into the bathroom door.

“Hey! Snap out of it! This isn’t you!” Anika commanded as she snapped her fingers in front of Tara’s face. The girl was quickly pulled back into reality when Anika snapped her fingers as if in a trance. She mumbled a quiet ‘sorry’ as she returned to work.

Every Monday and Friday for two weeks were spent like that; Tara would come over for a project, and Y/N would miraculously be working out simultaneously. She would walk into the kitchen, grab a bottle of water, grab some clothes, and shower. And every single time, Tara could not pull her eyes away. And every single time, Anika had to snap Tara out of it. Tara wanted to stop staring at Y/N, especially after everything between them, but she couldn’t.

Of course, Y/N and Tara did not talk during their chemistry class. Sometimes, Y/N would ask Anika to relay a message to Tara, and those messages were, ‘You look dreadful,’ ‘You look decent today,’ ‘Your appearance isn’t assaulting my eyes,’ ‘Ouch, that hurt. Please don’t kick me again.’ Sometimes, they were helpful messages, ‘Your shoe is untied,’ ‘The answer is C,’ or even, ‘Your hair isn’t braided evenly.’

Tara would try to speak to Y/N, but the girl would uphold her head and side-eye Anika. Then Tara would have to lean over to Anika, tell her whatever she wanted to say, and then Anika would have to lean across Tara and talk to Y/N. It would have been entertaining if Anika had sat between them and not Tara, but she took what she could get. The class continued like that for a few weeks until it was time for the labs to begin. Of course, Professor Rosalind made her students work in groups of three, so naturally, Anika, Tara, and Y/N worked together.

Anika and Y/N were messing around with a Bunsen burner while Tara actually tried to do the project. They were supposed to be doing an ion flame test, but Y/N kept on getting distracted by the different colors the flames would emit.

“Oh my god, guys, look at this one!” Y/N exclaimed as she held a small wire loop in the Bunsen burner flame. The flame below the wire was blue, but the flame above it was a blue-green color. Anika looked over at Y/N and was utterly fascinated by it, but Tara could have cared less.

“Which compound is that?” Tara asked with a bored tone.

“Copper,” Y/N replied, matching Tara’s tone. Tara just rolled her eyes at Y/N as she wrote down ‘copper=blue/green”.

The lab continued like that; Y/N and Anika would mess around with the fire while Tara wrote down the answers. Tara had completely blocked them out of her mind until she heard Y/N say, “Anika, I will throw hand sanitizer on you if you do not stop.”

That one sentence pulled Tara out of the daydream, and she was instantly alert. Tara’s head was immediately filled with the screams of her ex-girlfriend, Amber. Her eyes darted around the room, afraid that Ghostface would come to finish her story at any moment. Y/N gently placed her hand on Tara’s lower back, and she quickly remembered where she was.

Y/N looked at Tara with worry as she rubbed the girl’s back. “Is everything alright, Tara?” She asked with worry in her voice.

Tara just nodded her head, “Yeah, I’m good. Just got a cold chill.” Y/N gave Tara a weak smile, one that ‘I don’t believe, but I won’t pressure you about it.’ Tara smiled back at Y/N as the taller woman pulled her hand off Tara’s back.

After their moment in the lab, Y/N quickly left the building, saying something about needing to return some video tapes. As Anika and Tara walked out together, Anika said, “So, one of my buddies is throwing this Christmas party at his frat house. Would you want to go to that with me?”

Tara thought about it for a moment; she really wanted to go out and possibly find someone to hook up with; god only knows her sex life has been lacking lately. “Sure, when is it?” Tara asked after a few beats of silence.

“It’s on Friday, the 15th, so in a couple of weeks, at the Sigma Nu house. I can pick you up and take you with me; I’m already taking Mindy,” Anika suggested.

“Okay, sounds good. Is there a theme?”

“Ugly sweater, but that's fine if you don’t have one. It starts at six, but I’ll pick you up about ten minutes before.”

Tara smiled at Anika’s words, “Okay, sweet. Sounds good.”

—----------------------------------------------------------

On a Tuesday afternoon, around six, Tara went to the library to find any books she might need. As her eyes grazed over the names of authors, she slowly rounded the corner and went to walk over to the next aisle, but someone caught her eye. Her eyes drifted over to Y/N. She was sitting by herself with a book in hand. The cover was red with different patterns, and Tara laughed to herself when she read the title.

“‘The Devil and Tom Walker.’ It's a good book and it suits you,” Tara said to Y/N, who slightly lifted her head out of the book to look at Tara. Her eyes locked with Tara’s, and Tara swore that she could see a hint of sadness in them, along with hurt. But it was only there for a second, as the sadness and hurt quickly turned into anger.

“It would be a good book if my pea-sized brain could comprehend the words,” Y/N said dryly, refusing to meet Tara’s piercing gaze. Tara felt her heart break slightly at those words, but just as Y/N’s eyes did, her chest filled with anger.

Tara walked closer to the table Y/N was sitting at, causing the girl to look up from her book, “Look, I am sorry I hit you, okay? I apologized, yet you still insist on being rude to me.” Tara huffed out as her hands rested on the back of the chair across from Y/N.

Y/N looked up from her book, glaring at Tara with narrow eyes, “You broke my nose and insulted my intelligence, asshole. Unless you’ve already forgotten that.”

Tara laughed dryly, “You made me late to class, fall into some water, and cut up my apology flowers!”

Y/N stood up from the table and threw her book into her backpack before walking with heavy footsteps around the table and towards Tara, “Well, at least I had the decency to give you real flowers as an apology, you fucker.” She finished as she pushed Tara.

She stumbled back a bit at the force, but Tara quickly recovered. She clenched and unclenched her fist, trying not to hit Y/N again, no matter how much she wanted to.

“You are an insufferable, miserable, pretentious idiot who only causes harm.” Tara belittled as she poked Y/N’s chest.

Y/N remembered it all too well the last time this happened, but she wanted to be the one with the final say.

“At least my family hasn’t left me. At least I know what it’s like to have a functional family. Something you will never know.”

She regretted it as soon as the words left her lips. Tara’s face instantly reacted to the words, as if she had been shot. Tears began forming in her eyes at the mention of her family’s troubled past. Her chest began to heave, her vision got blurry with tears, and she turned away from Y/N. She pushed away Y/N’s hands and ignored the words that were being said, “Tara, I'm sorry. I didn’t mean it.” She didn't want to be around Y/N; she didn't want her to see her this weak and pathetic.

“You had no right, Y/N. No right at all to say that. I confided in you with that information,” Tara muttered, her voice laced with venom and hurt.

She started to walk away from Y/N, slowly, then quickly. Once she left the library, she sat on the stairs and broke down. Her quiet sobs filled the air as she tried to regain her breath, but nothing seemed to work. She stopped crying momentarily when the library doors swung open and hurried footsteps stopped behind her.

She wiped the tears from her eyes as someone sat beside her. “Tara, please. I'm sorry. I didn’t mean it.” Y/N whispered gently as her voice began to break, along with her heart.

She never meant to hurt Tara. She just wanted the girl to leave her alone. All she’s ever wanted in life was to be left alone, but now she can't stop herself from wanting to be alone with Tara, which terrified her. She hasn’t wanted anyone in her entire life, no one except Tara. And now, she had mentioned Tara’s traumatic past of failed family relationships and knew that Tara would never forgive her.

Tara didn’t even mean to tell Y/N about her family issues; Y/N had overheard the smaller girl confide in Anika one day at the library. Tara talked about her father leaving during Christmas, her mother cutting her older sister out of her life, then her older sister leaving one day without a trace. She also talked about how her alcoholic mother practically left her alone as a child. She then mentioned that Sam only returned when Tara was attacked; she didn’t go into details, but Y/N knew it pained her too much to discuss. Anika and Y/N both picked up on the meaning behind her words: no one has ever loved me enough to stay, so I will live and die alone, just as I have my entire life. When Tara was done talking, Y/N didn’t say anything; she just pushed a drawing toward her and smiled when Tara looked at her. It was a drawing of three people: Anika, Tara, and Y/N. They were all sitting on the floor next to a Christmas tree, opening presents and smiling. There was a fireplace that they sat in front of, and on the mantel were the words “Found Family.” They still weren’t on good terms, but that drawing made Tara feel slightly better about herself and Y/N.

Tara was pulled from her thoughts when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders. Tara didn’t fight back when Y/N pulled her into her chest. Y/N placed her right hand on Tara’s head while rubbing her thumb against the girl’s head. Her left arm held Tara against her chest while she rubbed her back with her hand. She let Tara cry into her chest. She didn’t say anything as Tara took hiccuped breaths. She didn't say anything when Tara repeatedly said, ‘I hate you,’ with a weak voice. And she certainly didn't say anything when her own cheeks became wet with tears. Instead, she leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on Tara’s head, saying, ‘I know’ as she rubbed the girl’s back.

Once Tara had finished her sobs, she pulled back from Y/N’s chest. Y/N expected the girl to hit her again, to scream at her and tell her to die in a hole; she expected everything. She everything except what happened.

Tara let out a small, dry chuckle. She stood up from the stairs, wiped her eyes and cheeks, and looked down at Y/N. She had the most honest look in her eyes, something that Y/N had never seen in the girl before. “Thank you, Y/N. Thank you so much for showing me the real you. I am so glad that I didn’t waste my time on you. Seriously, thank you so much for sparing me the misery of knowing you beyond just an acquaintance,” Tara said with such an honest tone that Y/N had a hard time believing that Tara was insulting her.

“Okay.” That was all Y/N said. She stood up from the stairs and looked at Tara. They both had water-stained cheeks, red eyes, and noses, but one only felt relief while the other felt pain. Any friendship that they might have rekindled died that day. Tara said nothing as Y/N walked away with her bag over her shoulder. Y/N felt nothing but pain as she walked away from the beautiful girl she just made cry; tears of her own began free falling from her eyes the further she walked away.

Once Tara could no longer see Y/N, she slowly returned home. As she walked home, her heartbeat picked up, and she subconsciously walked quicker. She didn’t know why, but she had a gut feeling something terrible had happened. She pulled out her phone and called Sam, hoping her sister was still around. Y/N’s words cut deep, and she was terrified that Sam had left her again. When Sam didn’t answer, Tara started to hyperventilate. Her fingers began to shake, and her vision became blurry with tears as she clicked on Sam’s number and called her again. When Sam didn’t pick up the second time, Tara lost all hope. She started to sprint as she sucked in her breaths, trying to keep some air trapped in her lungs.

She burst through the apartment entrance and flew up the stairs, ignoring how her lungs screamed for air, her chest tightened, and breaths began rare, and she ignored how her once broken leg started to hurt.

Her shaky hands fumbled with the keys to her apartment as she tried to unlock the door quickly. Her breathing was still trying to catch itself as Tara pushed herself through the door and slammed it shut. “Sam? Sam! Are you here?” Tara called out into the empty apartment.

She searched through every room in the apartment, checked every bathroom and every closet, trying to find her sister. She screamed out for Sam in hopes that her sister might hear her pleas wherever she ran off to. She even looked under every bed to ensure Sam wasn’t pulling some disappearing prank on her like they did when they were kids. Once Tara had ransacked every nook and cranny of the apartment, she stumbled into Sam’s room and called her again. When Sam didn’t answer the third time, Tara cried herself to sleep on her sister’s bed, believing she genuinely pushed away the one person who had returned for her. She cried herself to sleep, believing that Y/N was right; no one would ever love her enough to stay.

When Sam woke up early in the morning, she gently pushed Danny’s arm off her waist. She rolled over on her side and immediately shot out of bed once she read 3:33 am on the clock. Sam quickly picked up her clothes and got dressed. She never meant to sleep over at Danny’s apartment. She worked a double and needed some sort of distraction. She ran through the apartment as she hunted down her phone and felt her heart shatter at the thirteen missed calls from Tara.

Sam didn’t tell Danny bye as she ran out of his apartment and returned to hers. She didn’t even need to use her key as she pushed open the unlocked door. “Tara?” Sam called out as she ran to her sister’s room. When Tara wasn’t there, she moved to her room and quietly pushed the door open.

Tara was sound asleep in Sam’s bed. She was curled up with a stuffed animal Sam had won her at a carnival earlier in the year. Sam turned off the overhead light as she walked over to her bed. She turned on the bedside lamp as she got under the covers, “Tara, wake up, baby,” she cooed gently while wrapping her arms around her sister. She saw her little sister’s smeared mascara and the dried tears on her cheeks. “Tara, I’m here now,” Sam said as she saw Tara start to stour in her sleep.

Tara slowly opened her swollen, red eyes and found herself in Sam’s arms. She let out a dry laugh before burying herself into Sam’s body, trying to get closer to Sam than she already was. Sam gently ran her fingers through Tara’s hair while whispering sweet words in her sister’s ear, trying to comfort the girl. Tara gently cried into Sam’s chest while she had a death grab on her back, scared that if she let go, Sam would disappear.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Friday the 15th, Tara dug through her closet for a sweater. She tried her best not to find one too ugly, hoping she would get lucky tonight. She groaned as she looked at her options: a ‘Hereditary’ one with a cartoonish drawing of the husband on fire or a black one with ‘Big Gift Energy’ on it with presents at the bottom. Tara decided to go with the latter. Once she put on her sweater, she did her makeup and hair while waiting for Anika. And just as promised, Anika arrived ten minutes before six.

Tara opened the door for Anika and Mindy and laughed when she saw their sweaters: Anika had half a scissor on hers, while Mindy had the other half. “A bit on the nose, don’t you think?” Tara questioned as she followed them out to the bottom floor.

“Eh, I think it gets the message across,” Mindy says as she throws an arm around Anika’s neck, pulling her girlfriend into her side. Tara laughed at her friend’s words as they walked onto the street.

“Does Sam know about this?” Mindy asked, even though she had a feeling what the answer might be.

“Uh, no. She does not.” Tara mumbled.

Mindy just looked at Anika, and they both decided they didn’t want to get into a fight with Tara about Sam, so they just kept quiet as they walked toward the frat house.

When the three arrived, they instantly smelt the alcohol. They could even see smoke seeping into the outside air. They walked up the house steps and quickly entered the kitchen. Loud music played over the speakers, rattling the house. The three find a bottle of SKKY. Mindy picks it up with a mischievous smirk, “Shall we?”

Anika and Tara smile at the girl as they pour each a shot and then another. After three rounds of shots, the girls call it quits.

“We are going to go sit on the couch,” Anika said to Tara as she and Mindy walked toward it with beers in their hands.

Tara waved at them and went to find herself a drink, her throat felt a little scratchy, and she let out a small cough, ‘probably from the vodka,’ she thought.

As she grabbed herself a beverage, a man approached her. “Hey, I haven’t seen you here before,” the man says with a sly smirk.

“Yeah, I’m just here with some friends. I’m Tara, by the way.” Tara slurred out. She was worse off than Mindy and Anika, as she was much smaller than both girls.

The man noticed that Tara was in a drunken state already and decided he would take advantage of that. He shook Tara’s hand, “Hi, I’m Frankie. So, are you a part of the Omega Beta Zeta sorority?” He asked with a cooky smile.

Tara grabbed a beer from the ice bucket and said, “No, but I’m thinking about rushing.”

“Well, if you need any help, I can always put in a good word for you.” Frankie said as he leaned toward Tara and opened the beer bottle for her, “Would you like to come up to my room?”

Tara looked around; she desperately needed to get laid tonight, even if it meant she had to hook up with an asshole. “Fuck it, yeah. Let’s do it,” she said as she downed her beer and followed Frankie toward the stairs.

As they started going up the stairs, someone called out to them, “Hey, Tara, why don’t we call it a night?”

Tara turned her head at the sound of the soft voice; Y/N was standing at the bottom of the stairs. She had an unreadable expression with narrow eyes. Her body was tense, and her fists were clenched. She wore a red sweater with a white Budweiser logo and had a Fanny pack across her torso. Tara almost laughed at how cute she looked.

“No, I think I’m still going to hang out here. You can leave, though,” Tara slurred out. She missed the way hurt flashed across Y/N’s face.

“Tara, you’re good down here; come on,” Y/N tried to reason with the girl. Even though it’s been a couple of weeks since their fight, she still cared for Tara.

Tara was going to respond to Y/N, but Frankie butted in, “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.”

Y/N ignored Frankie’s attempt to get a rise out of her. She looked at Tara as she spoke, “Tara, please. Let’s go.”

Tara walked down a few stairs, standing closer to you, “No, Y/N, it’s fine. I want to go up with him.”

Frankie walked down too and got close enough to Y/N’s face that she could smell the liquor on his breath, “See Y/N? It’s fine, the girl said she wants to, now fuck off,” he said as he roughly grabbed Tara, practically dragging the girl up the stairs.

“Get your fucking hands off of her,” Y/N stated as she pushed Frankie into the wall. Frankie let go of Tara as he hit the wall. When he turned around, he quickly tackled Y/N off the stairs and onto the floor.

Frankie went to straddle Y/N’s waist, but the girl quickly pulled out a switchblade from her boot, opened it, and held it to his neck, “Fucking try me, I dare you,” she hissed out, her eyes never leaving Frankie.

She pressed hard enough to draw blood, and with that, Frankie quickly pushed himself off the girl. “Fine, you can keep the little shit! It wouldn’t have been good anyways,” he said as his voice began to break before stomping up to his room.

Mindy and Anika reached down toward Y/N and pulled her up. Y/N ignored all the glances and stares sent her way as she moved toward the stairs to check on Tara.

Tara was breathing heavily as she pushed past Y/N and went out the door. Y/N quickly followed Tara, “Hey, Tara. What's going on?” Y/N called out, hoping the girl would slow down.

Tara’s breaths became labored as she approached a tree adjacent to the house. She pressed her back against the tree and slowly slid down to the ground. She clutched at her chest and tried to take deep breaths, but her throat seemed closed. She pulled her legs up into her chest, hoping she would disappear if she could make herself small enough.

Y/N jogged towards Tara and crouched down so she was at eye level with Tara. “Tara, love. What’s wrong?” Y/N asked; her voice quivered with worry. She didn’t know what was wrong with Tara; Y/N knew she wasn’t leaving the girl until she was breathing normally again.

Panic started settling in Tara as she realized she was having an asthma attack. She tried to get the words out, but only short, ragged breaths left her lips.

Y/N noted everything going on with Tara: clutched chest, sucking in breaths, can't breathe. Can’t breathe. Y/N quickly took off her Fanny pack and dug around until she found her own inhaler. Tara’s eyes lit up as she snatched it from Y/N’s hand. She shook it violently before removing the cap and taking a puff.

She waited thirty seconds before taking a second puff to be safe. Once her breathing slowly returned, she noticed Mindy and Anika staring at her worriedly. She also noticed that Y/N had one hand on each of her knees.

“Are you okay?” Y/N asked with such a gentle voice it brought tears to Tara’s eyes. Tara nodded while wiping away her tears with a small smile, “thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome, Tara,” Y/N said as she looked back at Mindy and Anika. The three had a silent conversation, then Y/N turned back to Tara, “Do you want to head back to your place or stay here a little longer?”

Tara looked up at Mindy and Anika. She was afraid that the girls were disappointed in her or angry with her, but she only found worry and concern on their faces. She looked down at Y/N before speaking, “I would like to stay here for a moment; I need to ground myself.”

“Is it alright if I sit beside you?” Y/N asked. She wanted to comfort the girl more but didn't want to overstep. This was the first time they’ve talked since their fight, and Y/N didn’t know where she stood with the girl.

Tara nodded, and Y/N stood up momentarily and sat down next to Tara, resting her back against the tree. “You guys can go. I’m okay to stay here with Y/N,” Tara gently said as she looked up toward the girls.

“Call me if anything happens, both of you,” Anika stated before walking off with Mindy.

Once they left, Tara looked over her right shoulder at Y/N and chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Y/N asked with a light smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Your sweater is ugly,” Tara said with a voice crack. She still had tears in her eyes. They weren’t from her asthma attack but from Y/N seeing her put herself out there for an asshole.

Y/N laughed as she leaned against the tree and looked at Tara, “My sweater is ugly? Yours literally says ‘big gift energy!’’

Tara joined in with laughter and gave Y/N a fist pump. But when it came time for them to pull their hands back, neither moved. Instead, Tara slowly moved her hand and slightly opened it, hoping Y/N would catch on. When Y/N saw what Tara wanted, she opened her hand and intertwined her fingers. She then pulled their laced hands into her lap, causing Tara to rest her head against the taller girl’s shoulder. Y/N ignored the quick picture Anika took of them as she and Mindy walked away.

“You wanna talk about it?” Y/N asked after a few moments of silence. She didn’t know which ‘it’ she was referring to: their fight, Frankie, her asthma attack, or something else. She just knew that they needed to talk.

Tara nodded as she pulled away from Y/N’s shoulder; they both instantly missed the contact. “I have some things I need to say to you,” Tara husked out. Y/N nodded her head, waiting for the girl to go. “You are evil and vain. The first day I met you, I called you Satan and still call you that behind your back. All you are is mean, and a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life, and mean.”

Y/N slightly winced at Tara’s words, “You said ‘mean’ twice.”

“And I meant it twice,” Tara said but gently squeezed Y/N’s hand, showing the girl that she was joking. “I also think you are the most intolerable person ever, but I would love to be the one to tolerate you.”

At that, Y/N’s ears perked up. Her heartbeat quickened as she looked around nervously. It was just her and Tara outside, but she couldn't help but feel eyes on her. Looking back down, she realized Tara was staring at her with yearning. “Tara, come on now. You’re drunk.”

“Nuh-uh,” Tara said as she let go of Y/N’s hand and cupped the girl’s cheeks. Y/N placed her hands on Tara’s wrists, trying to pull them away from her face. “Tara, you’re drunk, and I just helped you avoid making a mistake, let’s not make one out here.”

Tara whined at Y/N’s words and looked up at Y/N. This was the girl who made her life hell on the first day of school and made her have an emotional come apart at the library. But this was also the same girl that saved her from making the biggest mistake of her life, the same girl that helped her with her asthma attack mere moments ago. This Y/N in front of her was the same one who brought her flowers as an apology, and this was the same Y/N who drew pictures all over her papers. This was her Y/N that gave her a drawing of her and her found family. This was her Y/N, who came back to her after she broke her nose. This was her Y/N; no matter how hard Tara tried to push her away, Y/N would never leave her side.

Eyes darting between Y/N’s, Tara leaned up and placed a chaste kiss on Y/N’s lips. Y/N was taken aback but kissed the girl back. Only when Tara went to deepen the kiss did she pull away. “Tara, I won’t kiss you or touch you right now, you’re drunk, and I will not take advantage of that,” Y/N said against Tara’s lips.

“Okay,” Tara replied as she stood up and held out her hand for Y/N. She accepted the hand and stood up. “Will you walk me home?”

“Of course, let’s go,” Y/N replied as she walked with Tara. They didn’t speak the entire walk back to Tara’s apartment, but their minds were running wild with thoughts of the other.

Tara was the first to break the silence when they arrived at the Carpenter apartment, “Thank you, Y/N. I hate to think about where I would be without you right now.”

“You wouldn’t have even been at the party if I didn’t send you the wrong way,” Y/N said with a slightly guilty tone.

Tara thought about Y/N’s words for a moment. If Y/N had actually walked with Tara to class, then she wouldn’t have met Anika right away and formed a friendship. Sure, she would have still seen her, but they might not have been as close as they are now. Tara wouldn’t have punched Y/N in the face, and they also wouldn’t have had their fight in the library. Tara probably would have convinced Y/N to do their chemistry project together and bonded over it. Instead of going out tonight, she might have stayed over at Y/N’s apartment. She would have stayed up with the girl and probably kissed her as she did tonight. It seemed that no matter what roads Tara took, they all led right back to Y/N.

“All roads lead back to you, Y/N,” Tara said with a soft smile and an honest tone. Y/N wanted to kiss the shorter girl but refused to do so as long as the girl had alcohol in her system.

“Goodnight, Tara,” Y/N said as she leaned down and kissed Tara’s forehead, “get some sleep, cara mia.” And with that, Y/N returned home and went to sleep.

The last week before Christmas break had arrived: finals week. On the day of their Chemistry final, Y/N walked in with an ugly gray Christmas sweater with a picture of Julius Caesar in the middle. Above his head were words, “What are you gonna do, stab me?” And underneath his picture was “Julius Caesar 44 B.C.”

Tara let out a small laugh as she read the words, “I might do just that,” she said as Y/N sat down.

“Mhm?” Y/N questioned with an eyebrow raised. It was their first conversation since Tara kissed Y/N, and they both hoped it would go smoothly.

“Your shirt,” Tara said as she motioned towards it. Y/N looked a bit confused, then looked down at her shirt. “Oh, yeah,” she mumbled with a frown. “I kinda deserve it, don’t I?” She asked with a smile, but Tara saw right through it. Y/N was trying to make a joke to cover up the fact that their dynamic had changed.

Tara looked at Y/N, and the two made eye contact. For the first time since they’ve known each other, this was their first time actually seeing each other. Tara saw the frown constantly pulling on Y/N’s lips and how Y/N’s eyes spoke a thousand words for her. Those beautiful eyes that Tara got lost in on her first day were now full of hurt, regret, and love. Hurt: she hurt herself when she made Tara cry; Y/N hurt because she let a small moment of weakness destroy Tara. Regret: wishing she could take back everything she said to Tara, hoping she could start all over again. And love: Y/N wanted to wrap her arms around Tara and never let go; she wanted to protect the smaller girl from all the evil in the world. Y/N would give anything to feel Tara’s lips against hers, even for a fleeting second. She would live and die for the girl.

Y/N saw how Tara rubbed her left hand whenever she was left alone with Y/N as if she was afraid the taller girl would hurt her. She also saw how Tara seemed to please everyone, no matter how hard she had to work to get their approval. Y/N watched Tara push people away who weren’t from her hometown. Her heart broke when Tara looked at her like Y/N was someone who was only interested in her just to break her heart. Y/N had to act like she wouldn’t carve out her own heart to prove her loyalty to Tara.

The two sat in awkward silence until Anika arrived, and even then, it was still awkward silence. Once the final started, Tara would occasionally look over her left shoulder at Y/N and see the woman frantically writing down answers as if she went any slower; the answers would be erased from her mind.

When they completed the test, the three walked out of class, and Y/N placed her hand on Tara’s back. Surprised by the contact, Tara turned around to look at Y/N. She had a guilty expression on her face, something Tara was not used to seeing on the girl. “Can I talk to you?” Y/N softly asked while maintaining eye contact with Tara.

Tara searched Y/N’s eyes for anything dangerous but only found guilt and hurt. “Sure,” Tara gently said. Y/N nodded before leading Tara out of the science wing and into the parking lot.

“Where are we going, Y/N?” Tara questioned as she followed closely behind Y/N. Snow had started to fall, and Tara was more than ready to begin her Christmas break.

“Just a little further; I need to get something from my car,” Y/N replied as she faced Tara. “Don’t worry. I promise I won’t try and kill you.”

Tara didn’t find the joke funny but followed the girl nonetheless. When they reached Y/N’s car, the girl walked over to her passenger side door and opened it. She pulled out a large gift bag with the words ‘happy birthday.’ Tara went to see what was in the bag, but Y/N’s hand gently grabbed hers, stopping her. “Don’t look at it just yet. Wait until you get home. Please.” Y/N pleaded with gentle eyes and a soft smile.

Tara had a confused look as she asked, “Okay? Why do I have to wait?”

“So you don’t hate me,” Y/N replied with a smile.

“Why would I hate you?”

Y/N let out a small laugh before she replied, “Well, so you don’t hate me more than you already do.”

Tara’s heart dropped the girl’s words. All Tara wanted to do was tell Y/N that she could never hate her, not anymore. The girl has seen her at her worst but still decided to stick around. “I could never hate you, Y/N. Sometimes I want to kill you, though,” Tara said with a smile as she looked up at Y/N.

The taller girl gave Tara a soft smile as she cleared her throat, “Would it be alright with you if I walked you home?”

Tara didn’t respond; she switched the bag to her left hand and reached for Y/N’s with her right. She smiled at the girl’s hand before intertwining their fingers as they returned to Tara’s apartment.

The two walked back in silence, enjoying each other’s company. Y/N broke the silence, “So, what do you like to do?”

The air around them quickly filled with laughter. “There is no way you are trying to small talk me right now,” Tara asked between laughs while squeezing Y/N’s hand.

“Don’t judge me. I would like to know you on a more personal level. I hate the one I’m at right now,” Y/N said with a shrug of her shoulders, “But only if you want to know each other better.”

Tara bumped into Y/N’s side as she laughed at the taller girl’s words, “I would also like to know you more personally, Y/N. So then, what’s your favorite color?”

Both girls laughed at Tara’s question, but Y/N responded. The two talked about their interests and hobbies and shared a love for horror movies. Y/N never asked Tara about the scar on her hand, afraid that it would ruin whatever they were giving a chance. Tara never mentioned the kiss they shared; she was terrified it might push Y/N away if she told the girl she wasn’t that wasted and could still taste her lips.

When they arrived at Tara’s building, Y/N followed the girl to her apartment. “Follow me. I have something to give you,” Tara said as she pulled Y/N by her hand. Y/N smiled as she followed Tara mindlessly up to her apartment. She said nothing as Tara unlocked the apartment door and told Y/N to follow her inside.

The apartment was cozy, and it reminded Y/N a lot of her apartment with Anika. She followed Tara into her room. She watched Tara place her gift bag on her bed before she shuffled around in her closet and pulled out a small box wrapped in Christmas paper. “Here, this is for you. Wait until you get home to open it, though,” Tara said with a smile as she handed Y/N the box.

“Okay?” Y/N said as she accepted the small box; it was relatively light, and some moved inside when she shook it.

“Don’t shake it, you barbarian!” Tara said as she led Y/N back to the entrance of her apartment.

“Is it a bomb? I feel like that’s something you would do,” Y/N asked when she was just outside the doorway. Tara smiled as she leaned against the door frame, “Not telling.”

Y/N gave Tara a cheeky grin as she started to pull on the wrapping paper. Tara’s hand latched onto Y/N’s as she hissed out, “Not here, Y/N! Wait until you get home!”

When Tara’s hand landed on her own, Y/N felt her entire body heat up and could not contain the smile across her face. When she looked at Tara, she also had a giant smile plastered on her face. Tara’s eyes never left Y/N’s, while the taller girl’s eyes drifted down to Tara’s lips. The smaller girl caught this and decided to retake the extra step.

She slowly reached up with her left hand and cupped Y/N’s cheek, giving the taller girl time to pull away. When Y/N didn’t, Tara stood on her tippy toes and kissed the corner of Y/N’s mouth. Y/N’s cheeks instantly warmed as she grabbed Tara’s waist, she wanted to kiss the girl for real, but she didn’t want to rush anything. She wanted to know Tara before anything romantic happened between them. And Y/N could tell Tara wanted the same thing by how she looked up at her. They would both wait a thousand lifetimes for each other.

When they pulled apart from each other, they both had love in their eyes. “Okay?” Y/N asked as she started to move away from Tara.

“Okay,” Tara replied, waving at Y/N from her door. She watched Y/N round the corner and disappear.

Tara shut the door to the apartment with a smile, but it dropped as soon as she turned around. “Jesus Christ, Sam! You can’t just sneak up on me like that. You almost gave me a heart attack,” Tara exclaimed as she clutched her chest.

Sam just laughed as she followed Tara into her room. She noticed the bag on Tara’s bed and the giant smile that refused to leave her face. “So, was that her?” Sam asked with a sly smile.

“Who?” Tara questioned as she took off her shoes and sat on her bed. She was dying to open her present, but she was afraid that it might be something she didn’t want Sam to see.

“The devil you ran into on your first day.”

“Oh, yeah. That was her,” Tara said while looking down at her feet and playing with her fingers. “Wait, how’d you know?”

Sam smiled as she started to leave Tara’s room. “Because you have that glint in your eyes right now, just like you did when you first talked about her,” Sam said as she sent Tara a soft smile before leaving her room and shutting the door.

Tara groaned as she picked up the gift bag. Her curiosity couldn’t contain itself; she reached in, her face became beet red, and her heart rattled against her rib cage as she pulled out a picture.

It was a picture of her and Y/N leaning up against the tree just before Tara kissed her. They were both smiling in the picture while holding hands. Tara was looking down at their hands while Y/N was looking at Tara. She could see how Y/N’s eyes spoke for her, and she saw the love in Y/N's eyes. Tara flipped the card over and let out a small gasp.

In blue ink were the words, ‘I am sorry for how things started between us. I am sorry for the things that I have said to you; I should have treated you better. You deserve better than me, but if you would give me a chance, I would like to make it up to you. If you don’t want to, I completely understand and will respect that. But if you want to, you can text me whenever you like.

Your devil,

Y/N

XXX-XXX-XXXX’

Tara smiled as she finished reading the words. She checked to see if anything else was in the bag. She pulled out some tissue paper and found a stuffed bear. The bear had tan fur with black boxers and tiny hearts on them. The bear had on red devil horns with a red cape while holding a red trident. Tara grabbed her phone and went to send Y/N a picture of it to thank her, but she found that Y/N had already texted her with a photo.

The picture was of Y/N holding up a reversible angel+devil plushie, but with the devil side showing. The plushie had a frown with furrowed eyebrows, and Y/N was making the same face. The text said, “Thank you for the gift, Tara. I also appreciated the note you gave me that had handwritten lyrics to ‘Mean’ followed by your number that said ‘I would really like it if you texted me-or not. I don’t care,’ It kinda sends a mixed message, but I loved it either way. Happy belated birthday, Tara.”

Tara smiled at the words before replying, “I expect the devil side always to be showing <3”. She then turned off her phone and slept with her devil in her arms.

[biancadjarin]

Looked up at me

with honor and truth

pairing: knight!eddie x princess!reader

18+! Smut and adult language.

a/n: I started reading @allthingsjoeq ‘s knight!eddie story and my mind immediately took a turn down a horny side street. Art by @mcbeanzontoast 🗡️

As you and your royal escort reach the end of a particularly long stretch of forest, the soft sound of lapping water tickles your ears. The setting Sun has casted a coral pink hue over the cloudless sky and the moon is starting to become visible.

“I think we should set up here for the night, trying to keep you alive all day is exhausting.” Eddie mumbles at you curtly. He begins to lay out a blanket and drop his satchel and sword on it, spreading out to take a sip of water from his canteen. You watch as a drop misses his lips and trails down his chin onto his shiny chainmail. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and tosses the canteen, laying back onto the soft blanket and with a content sigh.

As the sky turns darker, the ombré of colors fading from pink to purple to blue, stars beginning to twinkle in the distance. A soft breeze blows your hair around your shoulders, the first breeze you’ve felt after a long, hot day. You’re feeling sticky and uncomfortable, wanting to bathe before you retire for the night.

While Eddie rests his eyes you wander off toward the water you heard earlier. Not having to walk far before you come to a small ravine, a jagged short cliff above it pouring water into the mouth of the stream. The winding crystal clear, blue water stretches far past your line of sight, tall trees lining each side. You see a deer in the distance lapping a drink out of it’s edge. You bend down and touch the water and it’s a comfortable warm temperature. You head back to your makeshift camp and grab your things for your bath.

Eddie opens his eyes at the sound of a crow cawing in the distance. He looks around and his heart starts beating faster when he doesn’t see any sign of you. The looming threat of being beheaded nags at him as he starts to panic. He shimmies off his heavy armor and grabs his sword as he begins to search for you.

You’re sitting waist deep in the little river holding your apothecary jar of rose scented oils. The soft lapping around your hips and splashing spray against your back has you feeling relaxed. The early night sky smiles down on you, the full moon casting an ethereal glow over your naked body. You close your eyes and breath in the sweet scent of your oils as you rub them all over your body.

Eddie stumbles out of the trees and finally his heart rate steadies when he sees you. Until he sees your nude breasts and his heart starts hammering twice as fast. His round doe eyes grow wider and you squint your eyes when you see his silhouette.

“Uhhh..” he turns his back to you “Forgive me, princess. I got worried.” You giggle at his sudden manners. And his boyish shyness. “Tis not safe for you to be out here alone.” He chastises.

“But I needed to bathe Sir Edward.” “And you couldn’t wait until the morning?” He asks with his back still to you. “I like to bathe under the moon. Mother always says the most beautiful creatures come out at night.” Eddie shakes his head at your lighthearted tone. “I usually have Rosalind or one of my ladies in waiting help me. But since you’re all that’s here, you’ll do.”

Eddie peeks over his shoulder with raised brows and you smile at him, finger beckoning him to you. He walks towards you, bare feet crunching the grass beneath them. “Princess I don’t think it would be appropriate…” You shush him and toss the sea sponge at him. It lands in his hands with a wet plop.

Eddie takes a deep breath, he’s never seen someone so beautiful. You look like one of the mermaids or sirens he’s read about in his fantasy novels. The moon and stars are sparkling against the water that surrounds you and reflects in your eyes. He wades into the water and walks up to you with a grin that’s impossible for him to hide.

You wordlessly hand him the small glass bottle as you watch his eyes trail over your body. He pours the thick oil onto the sponge and begins to rub your shoulders with it respectfully. Of course you’re capable of washing yourself. Did a pretty good job of it before Eddie showed up. But this opportunity is too good to pass up. You feel your head lull back and let the waterfall cascade over your hair and shoulders. Your chest heaves up towards Eddie’s face and he forgets about the sponge, dropping it and using his hands to massage the oil into your breasts. A few rose petals cling to your skin as his fingertips squeeze the soft flesh. His thumbs settle over the perked curve of your nipples, teasing and tweaking them.

You moan as you feel his hands trail down your sides with a featherlight touch, caressing and squeezing every inch of you like he’s committing it to memory.

“Sir Edward?” He hums in acknowledgment as you pull his attention away from your curves. “When was the last time you had a bath?” You ask knowing full well most knights only bathe once a week, even royal ones. He looks up at you with a devilish grin, knowing where you’re going with this question.

He pulls off his thin cloth top and tosses it into the grass. He is toned and tanned, the body of a man who grew up doing farm labor and then began training and fighting with the royal guard when he hit maturity. The smooth planes of his chest lead to a softly toned stomach, the taut skin pulled over his flexing muscles. He looks down at his pants and hesitates for a moment. “Princess, I don’t want to offend you. But my body has a mind of it’s own. And I’ve had this” he grabs at the bulge in his crotch, “since I first saw you naked.”

You softly swat his hand away and pull his pants fully off, throwing them toward his shirt. His hardened length slaps up against his lower stomach and you bite your lip. His eyes are worried as they wait for your reaction, his cheeks tinted the same soft shade of pink as the head of his cock. Your warm, soapy fingers trail down his chest and stomach and grasp his length, you curl your fingers and begin to pump him.

“Fuck, prin-princess.” His voice strains. His eyes squeeze shut as he focuses on not cumming immediately. Your free hand gets lost in his curls, nails scratching at the base of his skull making him preen and purr like a kitten. You place a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth, his soft lips parting and chasing after yours.

You moan into his kiss while his hands pull your waist towards his, his strong hands squeezing your hips and ass. You feel the waterfall around you as he pushes you behind it, your bodies hidden behind the curtain of water.

“I could be killed for doing this.” He smiles against your lips. “If you want to stop?” You suggest. He laughs, “I’d rather die than stop.” His hand slips down between your wet bodies and settles between your thighs, where you’re wettest. Your forehead rests on his shoulder as his fingers slip around your folds and begin to circle around your delicate nub. The splashing sounds muffle your cries of pleasure.

Eddie’s mind is racing with thoughts. The feeling of your tight heat around his fingers, your soft body pressed against his, your breasts pressed up against his chest so close he can feel your heartbeat. He hasn’t bedded a maiden in a fortnight, being busy with his knight duties. But the maidens he’s used to are a pale comparison to you. Especially your lack of body hair. Only royalty can afford hair removal.

“Want you to take me Eddie. Deflower me.” You moan into his ear. He shakes his head, “Princess you know I can’t do that. Your husband must deflower you.” He whines. “I don’t care. I want you. Only you.” You say as you lean against the smooth, curved rock and wrap your thighs around his hips. You guide the long, curved length of him into your heat and you both shudder at the slight resistance.

Eddie holds you close as he rocks his hips gently, easing in inch by inch, feeling your tight spongey walls hug his cock like you were made for him. He kisses your neck as you whimper softly, pleasure taking over the stretching feeling. Eddie bottoms out and holds there for a moment, his balls pulsing against your asscheeks. He sets a fast pace as your walls pull him in with every grind of your hips. Every delicious ridge of him hitting all the spots deep within you that you never knew were there, his fingertips dig bruises into your waist while he holds you in place.

His grunts and moans sound like the wolf that almost killed you earlier and you smile as you watch him lose control. Your brave, daring knight, protective and kind, even behind the veil of indignant indifference he’s been showing you all day. He takes one of your nipples into his mouth as your legs start to shake around his waist, the force of your orgasm hitting you suddenly. You squeeze his cock tightly with each roll of your hips as you ride out your high and his movements become sloppy until he presses his hips flush to yours. You feel his hot seed shoot deep inside you and you hope he plants a beautiful flower there. He looks up at you through his wet bangs and smiles, the first real showing of emotion he’s shown you all day.

🗡️

🗡️

MASTERLIST HERE

[armoricaroyalty]

Morley Cottage was the final test for prospective new members of the royal family, simultaneously a beloved familial retreat and a blood-soaking proving ground where ‘suitability’ was formally assessed. Frederick spoke of the moldering old house often, golden-tinged nostalgia dressed up as gripes about frigid showers and forced togetherness. He had no idea about the impending divorce and Emily didn’t want to be the one to tell him.

It was more than six hours from the capital to Morley. A lengthy car ride up the coast, a ferry across the channel, an hour’s drive inland. Frederick insisted that they make the whole journey by land and by sea. Tradition, he’d said, and although he’d spoken in the same dour tone he’d used to lay out his grievances about the antique boiler and the interminable family meals, he’d been grinning. He was excited to bring her there, excited to share this part of himself, his family, and his childhood with her.

Sitting beside him in the car, listening to him chattering obliviously, she wanted to throw up.

Previous | Chapter Start | Beginning | Next

author's note: Thank you to @sirianasims and @hannahssimblr for the help choosing screenshots for this post, I really appreciate it!

Transcript under the cut.

Elise, alone in the sitting room at Morley Cottage, stares morosely at a display of family pictures. She hears noises outside, where two of her children have arrived with their romantic partners in tow. FREDERICK | ...seriously? ROSALIND | What? FREDERICK | You brought her with you? Are you insane? ROSALIND | [ sighs ] Hello Frederick. MARY | Hey Freddy. How was your drive? FREDERICK | Yeah. Hi. Great. Good to see you, Mare. FREDERICK | Roz...aren't you in enough trouble already? She wasn't invited, Dad's going to be pissed. ROSALIND | Dad can get over it. I invited her, and she's not going anywhere. FREDERICK | No ring, no bring. That's always been the rule! ROSALIND | [ offscreen ] I'm not going to argue with you, Freddy. FREDERICK | [ offscreen ] Yeah, because you know I'm right! It had been years since they had all lived under the same roof, but Frederick and Rosalind were still keenly attuned to their mother. When Elise emerged from within the old house, they fell silent at once, their argument temporarily forgotten. The Queen was dressed entirely in gray. The one spot of brightness on her person was the diamond engagement ring the King had given her thirty years before, which flashed like cold fire even in the thin light of an overcast February afternoon. To Emily's eyes, she looked ol: thin and tired, pale and gray as smoke, her gaunt face a mask of exhaustion. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse. ELISE | All of you, keep it down. Your father's resting. [ sighs ] Hello, Mary. MARY | Your Majesty, I'm sorry I've turned up unannounced. I hope it's not a major inconvenience. ELISE | [ sighs [ Stand up. You know we don't bother with protocol on vacation. ELISE | ...I think it's for the best that you're here. ELISE | Come on inside, then. ROSALIND | ...did you say Dad was already here? ELISE | [ sighs ] I said he's resting, Roz. You'll see him at dinner. ROSALIND | Well, when's dinner? I need to talk to him before then... EMILY | [ quietly ] Hey...I need to tell yo something. MARY | [ quietly ] Hm? EMILY | [ quietly ] I need your advice. MARY | [ quietly ] Why? What's up? EMILY | [ quietly ] No, not here! Inside! MARY | Wow, must be some secret. EMILY | You have no idea...

[atlas-of-a-human-soul]

A little danger, pt. 16

A little danger - Series Masterlist

Pairing: Sky of Eraklyon x mind!fairy

Warnings: angst, fluff, swearing, violence, sexual innuendos, descriptions of blood/wounds/death

———— PART 16 ————

Laying on the bed, Y/N is silently staring at the ceiling as Sky sleeps. She spent hours trying to retrieve his memories, to bring them forth from darkness but it only caused them both pain and nosebleeds. After the fifth try, Sky insisted it was best to stop. Y/N agreed. 

For now, at least.

Stella texted her in the morning, letting her know Queen Luna had arrived. Surprisingly, she informed her that the students don’t remember Bloom’s role in Rosalind’s death, but the Queen does. She succeeded to some degree, after all. Not as useless as she believed she was. 

The girls will try to convince the Queen to release Bloom later in the day, Stella acting as a layer of defense. The others will find where Farah was buried. 

That should go over well.

Part of her wishes she could seek her grave as well, to get some much needed closure, but Sky is here. He’s alive and Farah isn’t and the person who did her harm is already dead, so what is the point. Revenge is off the table, all that remains is sadness and Y/N has plenty of sadness in her life. 

Glancing at Sky, she envied how peaceful he seemed. Not even an inkling of worry or heart-wrenching sorrow as he’s asleep. It’s ridiculous, but it angers her. How is it she’s the one saddled with all the rage, sadness, and worries? Somehow, Y/N is meant to take the brunt of this horrible thing that’s happened to them and she will. As long as there’s a chance to bring Sky back, the actual Sky she knows and loves, she’ll take anything life has to offer. 

“I feel you staring,” Sky murmurs and she sighs.

“Here we go again.”

“I don’t mind,” he smirks, eyes still closed. “I know I’m easy on the eyes.”

“Is there an off switch for the cockiness?”

Chuckling, he raises his brows and glances at her before his gaze falls to his hardened member. “There might be.”

Rolling her eyes, she gets up. Head in her hands, she groans. “I can’t believe the dick is back.” It felt like they made some progress after their talk last night, but this made her believe it was all an act. 

“It’s a natural process,” Sky defends.

“How do you even know that? You remember pizza and morning wood, but I’m not even a footnote?”

Shrugging playfully, he smirks, “Food and their dicks, kind of the most important part of any man’s life.”

Turning away, she pinches the bridge of her nose. “Guess I’m the idiot thinking I was an important part of your life too.”

Heading into the bathroom, she slams the door behind her. 

Licking his lips, Sky sits up. “Guess I’ll just…handle it myself.”

Yanking the door open, Y/N glares at him. “If you jerk off anywhere near my bed I will lobotomize you!”

Rolling his eyes, Sky scoffs. “You’re all bark and no bite.”

Filled with anger, Y/N’s eyes glow with a soft, violet light. Sky cocks his head at her determined expression, raising his eyebrows as she extends her hand toward him. As if caught in a gentle breeze, he feels himself lifted from the ground, his body floating weightlessly in the air. Holding his breath, he looks down, marveling at the realization.

“I’m flying!”

Clicking her tongue, she scowls before pushing him against a wall. “Actually, I’m biting.” Adding light pressure to his neck, she smirks. “I’m not one to be played with.”

Instead of fear, a sense of wonder fills Sky’s heart as he gazes at Y/N. The way she commands the room, the tempered way she speaks even in anger, and the gentleness of her power despite his arrogance is mesmerizing. He’s captivated by the purple hue surrounding her, wishing she’d release him and allow a single touch just so he knows he’s not imagining things and this is real. That she is real.

When she finally lowers him to the floor, he lands with a soft thud, his eyes never leaving hers. Without any words, he closes the distance between them, cupping her face with a tenderness she missed greatly.

“I’m not playing with you, I promise.” Licking his lips, Sky’s eyes flicker to hers for mere seconds before focusing on the remnants of purple in her gaze. It’s dear to his heart despite reason, as if it speaks to some part of his soul he’s lost.

Swallowing thickly, she closes her eyes. “It hurts.” Returning his gaze, she sighs. “You have no idea…the weight of what we lost last night is suffocating me. And you’re here, but not really. Sky, you’re a stranger with a fascination, not the man who loves me.”

“You can reverse it,” he shrugs meekly as her hands pull his away from her face. “You’ll bring me back to who I was and it will be fine.”

Looking away, she covers her mouth and he realizes she’s holding back tears. “Would you want that?”

“What do you mean?”

Letting out a heavy breath in response, she sits on her bed. “A lot has happened to you Sky. A lot that I know you’d rather not have to deal with. Maybe that would be the best thing for you?”

Frowning deeply, he shakes his head lightly. “That can’t be true.”

“It is,” she responds instantly. “I’ve never seen you this carefree before, not since we were kids!”

Getting on his knees, he rests his hands on her thighs carefully, as if awaiting her reaction. “You say I loved you.”

Nodding, her lips quiver. He’s right before her, he’s touching her and his eyes are filled with confusion. Somehow, she’s managed to break him in less than 24 hours…he was a clean slate, happy! If he went with Stella, he’d still be content instead of lost like a child.

“If I loved you as much as you say, I don’t think any amount of heavy shit that would come with loving you would matter.”

“You only say that because you can’t remember what it was. It broke you. I broke you.”

Before Sky can say anything, his phone rings, startling them both.

“What the fuck is that?”

Taking the phone from his jacket, Y/N answers, putting it on speaker.

“You’re calling a guy who has no memories. That’s a new level of stupid even for you.”

“Figured you’d fix him by now with your fairy shit,” Riven remarks. “Saul’s calling all the specialists. The Solarians found Sebastian’s hideout. It’s not far from here.”

“And he clearly left Sky out for obvious reasons.”

“His memory might be wiped, but his muscles remember the training,” he clarifies. “We have to take these guys out. End this war before it begins. If he’s capable of fighting, he should come.”

“How do I know if I can fight?” Sky asks, ignoring the disgruntled look on her face.

“Have Miss Sunshine bring you down and we can check it real fast.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea. Saul won’t let him come anyway,” Y/N insists. “Even if he can fight, he has no idea what he’s fighting.”

“Blood witches are evil, control people like puppets whilst enjoying killing us and the fairies. There, now he knows.”

Grimacing, Y/N shakes her head. “It’s too dangerous. If he’s coming, I’m coming too.”

“No!” 

“No!”

Raising her brows, she sets her lips in a thin line. “Since when do either of you think you have any choice in the matter?”

“Since they nearly took your magic last time, which would have given them all the power they need to kill us all!”

“Listen,” Y/N licks her lips, “I’ll bring Sky, but if he goes with you, I’m not staying behind. So, it’s really your choice.”

Once they got to the grounds, Y/N was hoping Sky wouldn’t show any physical capabilities. If he was just an ordinary man, he’d stay with her away from the fight. This would make her life so much easier, she’d be able to breathe again and maybe find a way to have him fall in love with her all over again – without the memories of their past that so deeply affected their lives. She’d force herself to let it all go and just enjoy him as he is, to truly live this time around. 

But that didn’t happen.

Sky successfully blocked every attack Riven utilized against him, having Riven pinned to the ground so effortlessly that it seemed as if he was better at this than before.

“He’s coming with us,” Saul states. “He’s perfectly capable of fighting, and you can do the same here.”

“What?”

“Bloom is gone, Y/N. Her sentence is harsh and she’s out of the picture for now.” Staring at Sky throwing Riven over his shoulder, Saul shrugs. “Unless you save her.”

“But Sky –“

“Will be with me. I will keep him safe as I’ve always done in the past.”

Wrapping a protective arm around Y/N, Saul kisses her temple. “Queen Luna is a powerful fairy, but your power is ancient. She can’t fight you and Bloom openly, so she’s manipulating events to take you out of the game one by one.” Giving her a pointed look, Saul raises his brows. “Do not let her.”

Glancing at Sky, Y/N nods. “I have to talk to him first.” 

“I understand.”

“And if something happens to him, Saul, I swear to you I will burn The Otherworld to the ground.”

Despite the severity of her threat, Saul smiles. “I’d help you.”

Shielding her eyes from the sun, she draws in a shuddered breath as catches Sky’s gaze on her. It wasn’t an accidental glance or a shy glimpse, he was staring at her unapologetically as if he knew she was undeniably his. 

Yours truly.

Sky frowns in confusion, rubbing his forehead. His eyes widen slightly before putting his shirt on, hastily walking toward her.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Saul taps her shoulder, reassuring her he will protect Sky.

With his shortened breathing, Sky places his hands on his hips. Towering over her, he quirks an eyebrow. “You know, I could have sworn I heard you just now.” There’s a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes, a glimmer of bewilderment dancing in the blue-green depths. “But your lips weren’t moving,” he manages a wry smile. “More like…your voice echoed in my head? Does that make any sense?”

A pang of guilt tugs at her heartstrings, her lips parting slightly. “Yes,” she sighs. Biting her lower lip, she struggles to find the right words to express her remorse because she’s done it again – Sky hated intrusions of this sort, so how does she explain she messed up without him running from her.

“I’m sorry,” she decides an apology would be most sincere. “It’s not a conscious thing most times. Seems like it happens with you often though, I still don’t know why.” Pinching the bridge of her nose, she turns away from him. 

Curling his fingers around her wrist, Sky turns her to face him. There’s a subtle, but undeniable intimacy in the gesture, one that sends a shiver of warmth coursing through her veins. “Don’t turn away from me like that. Okay? I don’t like it. In fact, I really don’t like when you decide how I perceive things. I don’t know how I reacted to stuff before, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to be the same. You said it yourself, I’m a stranger right now, so don’t assume I’ll go off the rails about things I don’t even remember.”

In response, she moves her hand, mirroring his gesture, holding onto his wrist, their position resembling the solemnity of making an unbreakable vow.

“I’ll stop assuming,” she promises. “I’m sorry I keep projecting all my problems and insecurities onto you. I think I’ve always done that and it’s exactly why we broke up.”

“See, some things are best left forgotten. I don’t really want to remember that. Sound painful as fuck.”

Pursing her lips, she tugs at the zipper of his jacket with her free hand. “Yeah. It is.”

Narrowing his eyes at her, he cocks his head ever so slightly. “What is it?”

“Hm?”

“You’re trying to say something. Just say it.”

Exhaling as she smiles, Y/N drags her palm into his hand, holding it tightly. “Saul wants you to go with them. He’s the closest thing both of us have to a father. I trust his judgment.”

Raising his eyebrows, he chews his lips. “Alright. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

Nodding, she forces a smile. She has to be strong and project confidence and assurance for Sky’s sake, but there’s nothing other than anxiety in her heart.

Her lips curve upwards, but the smile doesn't reach her eyes. It's a facade, a mask she wears to hide her true emotions. She can feel the tension radiating off Sky, his sharp gaze probing her facade, searching for the truth hidden beneath her carefully constructed facade.

“I won’t be coming with you.” 

“Oh.” Inhaling sharply, he nods. “Well, that’s understandable. You’re a fairy, I’m the specialist. Riven made it pretty clear my role is to protect fairies.”

Summoning all her strength, she steadies her trembling breath and nods in affirmation. “That’s the bare basis of it. But there are layers to it. Plenty of layers, especially for us.”

“Peel a few for me before I leave?”

Cupping his cheek tenderly, she holds her breath as he leans into her palm. “I’m your fairy, Sky. It’s not just a random pairing they made in class, we are connected in a deeper way. When we have to defend each other, we are deadly.”

“Do others have their fairy?”

“Some do,” she shrugs. “It’s a rare thing.”

“Are other fairies joining this fight?” Sky tightens his hold on her as she shakes her head.

“Mind fairies are the only ones effective against Blood witches, but we don’t have many at this school. One of my friends lost her magic the last time we faced them…I nearly lost mine and we cannot afford mine to be taken away, no matter how much I wish it.”

As the words sink in, Sky's eyes widen in disbelief, his mind struggling to comprehend the gravity of what Y/N has just revealed. For a moment, he is frozen in stunned silence, his heart clenching with a mixture of shock and anguish. 

“You wish for that?” He can't fathom the idea of Y/N willingly giving up her magic, the very essence of who she is. It's as if she's offering to sacrifice a part of herself, a fundamental aspect of her identity, and the thought fills him with a profound sense of sorrow.

“Why would you –“ With a heavy heart, Sky reaches out to Y/N, his fingers trembling as they brush against her cheek. He searches her eyes, silently pleading for her to reconsider, to see the beauty and wonder of her magic in the way he does. He’s barely seen a fraction of it and he’s already hooked. 

Riven’s voice interrupts the exchange. “Get your ass going! We are leaving!”

“We’re not done talking about this,” Sky states firmly, but there is a glimmer of understanding, a flicker of empathy for the pain that must be driving Y/N to such drastic measures. He can see the weariness etched into her features, and in that moment he realizes that wish stems from a place of profound desperation - a longing to be at peace. If he’s part of the reason, then he can’t imagine what a dick he truly is to have her questioning this beautiful part of her soul he’s inexplicably drawn to. 

“NOW”, Riven shouts.

Huffing, Sky frowns as she pulls away from him. “Stay safe,” she smiles. 

Come back to me.

Glancing over his shoulder, he drags a hand across his face before accepting the sword Riven holds out for him. “We’re coming back in one piece, right?”

Riven scoffs, “I sure hope so.”

Watching them drive off, only catching a small wave from Sky, Y/N feels as if her heart might give up. They’re not good apart, especially not in a fight. Together they survive, but apart? It’s never a good thing.

“Now that they’ve gone, could you spare a few minutes for me?”

Y/N's breath catches in her throat as she lays eyes on Farah, her mind struggling to process the impossible standing before her. A ghost of her past in the flesh, returning to haunt her.

“This isn’t real.” Shock and disbelief wash over Y/N in waves, leaving her trembling and disoriented. She blinks rapidly as if trying to dispel the illusion before her eyes, but Farah remains steadfast and real, a reassuring smile playing on her lips.

“I’m here.”

Unable to find the words to express the emotions raging within her, Y/N simply reaches out to Farah, her hand trembling as it brushes against her arm. It's a gesture of disbelief, a wordless acknowledgment of the miracle that stands before her. Embracing her, she lets the tears flow freely.

Holding her tightly, Farah runs a soothing hand over her back. “I’m sorry darling, but we don’t have much time.”

Pulling away, sniffling, she frowns. “What does that mean? I just got you back!”

“You didn’t. Not truly.” Brushing away her tears, Farah smiles sweetly. “I did not survive the attack. When I realized what Rosalind was going to do, I drew on as much magic as I could, and called on the natural world to preserve me.”

With trembling lips, Y/N shakes her head. “I don’t have long, but I do have time for one final lesson. For both you and your friends.” Farah turns around, waving her hand lightly. The girls followed shortly after, forming a tight circle. Bloom’s with them, much to Y/N’s confusion. Didn’t Saul say she was gone? Isn’t that the reason she was told to stay behind?

“When I was your headmistress, I shielded you from the harsh truths of the world. I believed that positive emotions were the cornerstone of powerful magic. Rosalind felt the opposite. That strength was only forged in those harsh truths. We were both wrong. To unlock true magic, you must make peace with all your emotions. The reckless joy of the positive and the despair of the negative. There is beauty and power in both. I'm so proud of each of you. And of the women you're becoming.” 

Tucking her hair behind her ears, Y/N folds her arms. “Using my emotions in my magic has only ever caused others to get hurt. It’s not that simple.”

“Y/N, shall we take a walk?”

Walking toward the woods, Y/N grumbles. “Are you sure it’s not Bloom you meant to invite?”

Farah chuckles. “Bloom has gotten all the wisdom she needed from me. You still need a little more.”

“It’s always been this way,” Y/N remarks. “She’s the star pupil, even when she sets someone on fire. I’m the one needing extra lessons and work no matter what I do.”

“Darling, you’ve got it all wrong.” Farah stops. “The reason you needed extra care is because you’ve locked yourself in a shell out of fear. You’ve been so afraid of your powers, hating it, running from its potential, but this kind of power can’t be locked away. The shell cracks eventually and you have extremely powerful magic escaping it in terribly, uncontrolled ways. Y/N, what happens when a dam begins to break?”

“The water trickles through the cracks, slowly at first…but then there are all these pressure leaks that increase the speed damage to the structure of the dam…and when it breaks and the water comes out all at once, it’s certain to take out everything in its vicinity.”

Tilting Y/N’s chin with her index finger, Farah smiles. “Don’t you understand? You’ve created a dam that’s breaking and instead of letting the river run free, in its natural state, you’ve created a dam and pressure leaks, and when it breaks entirely, it will annihilate everything.”

Clenching her jaw, Y/N trains her gaze on her feet. “So I’ll explode one day...like I always thought?”

“It’s never too late to detonate,” Farah wraps an arm around her, moving her forward as they continue the walk. “Embrace your emotions, even the ugly ones. The fear, the anger, the grief, all of it is a part of you and you are in control. Those emotions do not control you or your magic, not if you don’t let them.”

Biting her lower lip mercilessly, Y/N looks up at Farah. “I’ve been so angry at you. So, so angry.”

“You couldn’t have known –“

“I’m a mind fairy, I should have seen it! If I was in control, I’d have known…maybe I could have even stopped it.”

Grabbing her by the shoulders, Farah frowns. “Stop! You are very powerful, darling, but you’re not all-powerful. There are things we can’t see coming, no matter how hard we try. You can’t save everybody. It doesn’t work like that. Don’t ever blame yourself for what happened to me…I don’t.” Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Farah sighs. “You are my favorite student. I know you’re afraid of your power, but you have to use it. One way or another, those you love will need you to fight.” Offering a smile, she takes a step back. “I believe in you. You have the power to protect this realm, to save it from those who wish chaos upon it.”

“Rosalind said something similar to Bloom once,” Y/N presses her lips in a thin line.

“How about this, then? Don’t think about saving the world. Focus on saving your world. When you have that in your heart, you can’t go wrong.”

Sniffling, she nods. “You waited until they were gone. He would have loved to see you.”

“Saul would understand. Our friendship was dear to me, you can tell him that.”

Lifting her head to the sky, Y/N wipes the tears slowly forming their path on her cheeks. “I hate saying goodbye.”

“I’m glad we have the chance to do it properly,” Farah wraps her arms around her, letting her cry while the sun goes down. As the last ray of light dies down, Y/N’s arms wrap around herself, realizing Farah is gone…this time for good.

FINALE

[xxfaggatronxx]

COD Modern Warfare incorrect quotes:

-> Soap: *dreamy sigh* I love you, Simon.

Ghost: … you do?

Soap: We’re married???

Ghost: Answer the fucking question.

-> Laswell: Can you all stop fucking each other?!

Price + Nikolai:

Farah + Alex + Gaz:

Graves + The Shadows:

Alejandro + Rudy:

Soap: Hey! Not all of us, Ghost is a sex!

Ghost: *whispering* …. It’s asexual, Johnny.

-> Valeria: Whoever you fucked, I got to them first! Marcus, Pedro, Lily, Rosalind…

Alejandro: HAH! Jokes on you, you didn’t have sex with Rudy, he’s a bottom!

Rudy: …. *blush* Ale-

Valeria: I USED A STRAP ON!

Alejandro: DAMN IT-

-> Price: So you’re all gay?

Gaz: Nuh-uh!

Gaz: Farah is Bisexual, Alex is Pansexual, and I’m Bisexual!

Price: …There are different kinds of gay?

Farah: you’re married to NIKOLAI-

-> Nikolai: Happy 35139th hour anniversary!!!!

Price: …. I love you

Price: I don’t love this *gestures to cake that says ‘I love ur phat ass’

Nikolai: ….but I’m being honest-

-> Graves: In the name of America, the land of the free and home of the brave, I claim this territory as American homeland!

Shadow 3-2: *pulling pants back up* …and that’s the last time we do roleplay.

[writergeekrhw]

Were there any DS9 recurring characters, like Nog, Garak, Kasidy, Keiko..., who you wished you got to write more stuff for? Did you have any ideas for them that didn't get used because they weren't main characters?

As I've said before, in retrospect, I wish we'd had Ziyal on the station from the very beginning and gotten to see her grow up with Jake and Nog (and been able to land a consistant actress to play her). We did try to do more with Keiko here and there, but from what I remember, Rosalind was pretty busy back then and a bit hard to schedule. I think we did right by Nog, Garak, and Kasidy. I can't think of anyone else we wanted more off. Mostly, if we wanted more of Leeta or Rom, for example, we just wrote them more stuff.

[beautifulmars]

Well-Exposed Layers near the Rosalind Franklin Landing Site

The Rosalind Franklin rover from the European Space Agency is expected to arrive at Mars in a future year, to study ancient layered bedrock in the Oxia Palus region about 80 kilometers to the northeast of this image location.

This observation (with enhanced-color cutout) is part of a stereo pair of a 1.5 km-wide crater with excellent exposures of the bedrock layers, that will help reconstruct the stratigraphy in the region. (Enhanced color cuotut is less than 1 km across.)

ID: ESP_082685_1970 date: 17 March 2024 altitude: 283 km

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

[supercap2319]

"Wow. Now that's what I call a nice view." Y/N grinned as he entered the specialists' locker room. The male locker room Various specialists were in different states of undressing and dressing. Some were fully clothed, having just showered, and ready to return to their dorm rooms. Others were naked, half-naked, or in the process of becoming naked.

Y/N made his way further into the locker room as it smelled like sweat and guys. Some of the guys were whispering to each other about why a fairy was here. To the far left, Y/N saw Riven talking to Dane and Luke. Both Riven and Dane had fluffy white towels around their waists. Luke, on the other hand, was naked, and his frontal package was in full view.

Riven saw him looking at them and smiled as he winked with a laugh. Dane and Luke turned around and chuckled as well when they saw him ogling them. But the real prize came out of the steaming showers as the golden boy, Sky, walked out of the showers in nothing but a blue jockstrap. probably specialist issued. It outlined his cock perfectly and made it look big and tight, as it matches the color of Sky's eyes. When he saw Y/N, the specialist put a hand over his junk and blushed.

Riven, Dane, and Luke chuckled as Sky blushed. "Y/N? What are you doing in here?"

The ice fairy smiled as he got closer to the blonde specialist. "The new headmistress asked me to bring these files to Silva." He held up the files for emphasis as he walked around Sky and examined his almost naked frame. Specifically, his plum white ass in those tight straps hugging his bum "I thought I'd take a shortcut through bare-man's land." He indicated this to all the half-naked and naked specialists.

Sky flushed again as he tried to compose himself. "Right. So, I assume you'll want to get there? Bye." He tried to walk away, but suddenly he gasped as he felt like someone was touching his cock through his pouch and felt like fingers were in his asshole. He moaned softly as he turned around and saw Y/N looking at him with eyes flashing bluish-purple. "What are you doing?" Sky tried not to moan as the other specialists behind him chuckled at what was happening between him and the fairy.

"A trick I learned from Rosalind I'm helping you out. I'm sure you need to unwind after such a hard practice. A guy needs to take a load off. Blow his load."

"Y/N, please?" Sky begged. The invisible hands were all over his body, and he was panting with desire.

"I'll stop. But you have to fuck me. Deal?" Y/N told him, increasing the power of telekinesis Rosalind had taught him as Sky moaned loudly, catching the attention of the entire locker room.

Sky nods. "Deal! I'll fuck you. Just please stop this."

Y/N's eyes went back to normal as he smiled at the young man. "Excellent. Let's get started then." He opened his pants and dropped them around his ankles in front of the Specialist boys.

[kaeru483]

Who is the main character of your wip and what can you tell me about them?

Thank you so much for asking!! I love to talk about my sweet angry angel <3

Thalia Blackthorne: 22 years old, born near the beginning of winter. Daughter of King Alaric and Rosalind Blackthorne, sister of Ash and Linden. Favorite color: green Favorite food: bread of any kind Favorite hobby: exploring and gardening

Growing up, Thalia lived with her family in the town of Windfell, the capital city of Gaeloria. Alaric was a high-ranking military official who was away from home often, leaving Rosalind to care for the three children. Thalia, the youngest, loved spending time with her mother in the garden behind the apothecary, which was run by Rosalind and Imema Sunlow. Rosalind and Imema were best friends, so it was fate that would make their daughters, Thalia and Needa, as close as sisters. Needa and Thalia spent their childhood exploring the woods outside of Windfell, imagining their futures as explorers seeking adventures in new lands.

Thalia's father has always harbored a deep hatred for Mystics, or magic-users, but she's never understood why. They lived among them as standard citizens, just with gifts that others didn't have. Imema was a Mystic, with a keen gift for creating elixirs and potions that would sell at the apothecary. While Rosalind taught Thalia how different plants and herbs were used as medicines and poisons, Imema was also able to create powerful healing potions that could aid any of the wounded that came through their doors. How her father could hate someone so warm and kind was beyond her.

The coup was led by Alaric and an army of his Mystic-hating compatriots, which led to chaos through Windfell. Alaric overthrew the sitting king, King Eamon, and established himself Iron King of Gaeloria. His first order: all Mystics were to be eliminated. Some were able to escape, but others were not so lucky. People Thalia knew and loved were being hanged in the streets, and it wasn't until her mother was led into the gallows alongside Imema that she learned that she was a Mystic as well.

After watching their mothers killed in a public display of gruesome power, Thalia and Needa took over the Apothecary. Thalia now lives in the apartment above the store, while Needa stays in her family home. Her brothers stay with their father in the castle, but after a year of his rule Thalia is fed up with her father's reign of terror. She has sworn that she will never forgive him for what he has done, and plans her escape.

Her escape comes earlier than anticipated, however, once she learns that she herself has now been chosen by the Magics to be imbued...she is a Mystic and now that she has been gifted with power, she must learn to use it in secret in order to survive her father's new order and protect the people she still has.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

taglist: @thecomfywriter @the-golden-comet @gioiaalbanoart @sunshineshadowcast

[makeitastrength]

Into the dark

Chapter 1

“Seven-adam-nineteen, we have a possible distress call, 1888 Elmwood Lane. RA and Fire are en route.”

Lucy flicks on her turn signal and then reaches for her radio as she slows at the next intersection and turns right. “Seven-adam-nineteen, responding.”

She’s only a few blocks away, and she pulls up to the house just as an LAFD vehicle turns the corner from the opposite end of the block and makes its way up the quiet residential street. Bailey and two others – Kayla and Marlon, she recalls from a car crash she responded to a couple weeks ago – hop out, and Lucy radios it in as the four of them make their way inside.

A voice calls out as they enter, and Lucy draws her weapon and motions for the others to stay back so she can clear the house. The main room is deserted, as are the next two she enters. In fact, the entire house appears uninhabited, the unmistakable smell of musty fabrics mingling with the layer of dust coating what remains of the furnishings.

“Help me,” says a voice again, and Lucy whirls around, following the sound through an old, lopsided curtain into yet another empty room.

“Hello?” Lucy calls, looking around and finding it empty. “LAPD. Is someone in here? Hello?”

She makes her way around the edge of the room, but there are no signs that anyone is here – or has been in recent months. There are no closets, no doors or other nooks that she can see, and she pauses, straining to hear any further calls for help but finding only silence. Huh. 

“Downstairs is clear,” she calls out as she makes her way back toward the entryway, cutting across the middle of the room this time. There’s a rug spanning the floor, and almost before Lucy knows what’s happening, her right foot is sinking into the fabric and the ground is falling out from under her.

She lands hard, her legs collapsing from the force of her fall and her body crashing down onto something metal. Lucy cries out, a combination of surprise and pain, and she’s just barely managed to press herself up into a semi-seated position when Bailey’s head appears above her.

“Lucy, oh my god! Are you okay?”

“I don’t…” Lucy stammers as she takes stock of herself and her situation, grimacing as she straightens her arm and pain shoots through her shoulder. There's an ache in her left ankle and her left hip is throbbing, but she doesn't think any of her injuries are serious. “Umm. I think I twisted my ankle. What…?”

Before she can say more, a metal grate slides across the opening, clanging shut with a harsh clatter.

“Lucy!”

She staggers to her feet and looks around, searching desperately for an escape. She’s in some kind of giant metal cylinder with a single narrow glass window along one side, beyond which appears to be a dark room. There’s a light on the inside and an array of electrical wiring and cameras above her. She turns, eyes scanning every detail of her environment for any clue as to what this contraption is – or why it exists – and that’s when she spots it scrawled across the metal above her head.

GOT YOU.

The large black letters are neater than the last time she saw them but it’s unmistakably the same script, and Lucy feels the horror settle over her like molten lead. “Rosalind.”

Read the rest on AO3

[chiefdirector]

Conferring | Tim Bradford | The Rooke

Act Two| Chapter 30

The dim morning light barely came through the half-drawn curtains causing Angela to sigh as she flipped through the files before her again. Despite knowing the case off by heart, she knew that she had to review the content again, especially since they had discovered what Rosalind’s motives were. She knew that there had to be a pattern somewhere but she couldn’t see it. 

It felt like yesterday that she received the news that (Y/N) had failed to report to her case worker. She, Tim and Bishop had still been working together as T.Os at the time. The rookie she had then was useless, she couldn’t count the times she had to reprimand him throughout the investigation. 

Her and Tim, alongside their boots, had taken to the streets, searching all the places where she had been reported to be or where a report from the anonymous tip line had sighted someone who fit her description. Talia had been the one to stay back at the station, working with Sargent Grey and the detectives. She would’ve heard everything as it happened. 

Quickly, Angela lunged forward to grab her phone off the coffee table, wincing slighting as she landed on the surface much harder than anticipated. She soaked the number without much thought, the combination on the keypad was still ingrained into her memory. 

The phone rang thrice before groggy Talia’s voice flooded through the speakers. “Go for Bishop.”

“Hey, it’s Lopez. You got a minute?”

“It’s five in the morning.” She huffed. Angela could hear her shuffling around in bed before she spoke again. “But shoot. What’s up?”

“Do you remember working on (Y/N)'s case when she disappeared. Because you were at the station with Grey… did anything stick out to you as odd?”

“Not off the top of my head… why? I thought it went cold years ago.”

“It did. But we closed it a couple of months ago. We found her during a raid on the drug cartel operated by Regina Diaz.”

Talia sighed at the information, he had heard talks of a Detective Bradford operating out of Mid-Wilshire but had brushed it off as a false rumour. To know that her friend was home lifted a deep-rooted burden in her mind. Still, there was a task at hand, and no matter how relieved she was, Bishop would not allow herself to grow distracted. “Regina Diaz? We had information on her. She’s been harbouring illegal firearms, allegedly anyways. What’s it got to do with Bradford?”

“Revenge. But the link I’m looking for is suspicious. Ties to any other criminal or affiliations..”

Angela could hear Talia moving again, this time followed by the sound of pages turning. “Anyone in particular?”

“Rosalind Dyer.”

Talia was silent for a moment as she processed Lopez’s words. She had seen Dyer’s reign of terror play out in her time at the LAPD. Tim had told her what had happened with his rookie. The idea that Dyer was further intertwined with her former station sent a chill throughout her spine. 

“I’ll- uh see what I can do.” Talia paused again, trying to piece together the right words. “Tell her I’m glad she’s okay.”

“She knows.”

“I know. But I’m sure she would like to hear it. I’ll get back to you soon.” 

The phone clicked as Bishop hung up. Sighing, Angela tossed the phone onto the sofa as she once again flicked the files to the start. 

—---

Talia rubbed her eyes after hanging up the phone. It had been a while since she had been in contact with the LAPD, let alone anyone at the Mid-WIlshire division. When she left, she knew that she needed a clean break. Maybe it was Nolan that gave her the final push because even though she had her heart set on being a detective, she knew that she had made the right decision to leave.

It didn't mean it wasn’t hard though. She had left an entire life behind to become a part of the ATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives), and she left her friends behind with them. Talia wanted a clean break entirely, as she knew how easy it was to get tangled in the mess that seemed to follow her former colleagues everywhere they went, but she couldn't seem to do it. Now it has come back to her, biting her in the ass. Lopez knew that she wouldn't turn her down, not after all this time. And with Rosalind Dyer in the mix, Bishop knew there was no way that she wouldn’t give it her all.

She knew that things were never going to be the same. She wouldn’t return to Mid-Wilshire, and she wouldn't rejoin the police department. But maybe, this favour she was asked for would help rebuild the bridges she let fall down. 

As the thought lingered in her mind, Bishop unlocked her phone again, lifting it to her ear and the dial tone rang out.

—---

The knocking against the front door woke (Y/N) up far earlier than she had expected. She had been scheduled the morning off to go see a therapist, Commander West citing it as imperative to her transition back to work, even though she had been working for a while now. 

Groaning slightly, she rolled out of bed and slung on one of Tim’s hoodies as she went to the door. The jumper provided much needed warmth as she moved through the house with Kojo trailing behind. It didn’t take long for her to reach the front door, swinging it open to find an old friend on the other side. 

“Bishop.” (Y/N) breathed, not expecting to see the former officer at all. The surprise led to (Y/N) forgetting herself for a moment before she snapped back to the present moment “What are you doing here? Come in. Come in.”

Talia entered as (Y/N) moved to one side, closing the door behind her. Wordlessly, (Y/N) gestured for Talia to follow her through to the living room. 

“I had to see for myself. Lopez called me earlier, she mentioned that you had returned…” Bishop let her words drift off, no longer finding herself in the once familiar report the two of them had. “I thought that you would have called. Let me know that you were home.”

(Y/N) blinked, the idea of calling Bishop had not even crossed her mind. She hadn’t thought of their friendship in months. Guiltily, (Y/N) cast her eyes down as she spoke. “I’m sorry. It didn’t cross my mind. I’ve been busy.”

“I heard. That’s why I’m here, it isn’t a social call. It’s about your… situation.”

“Right…” (Y/N) trailed off. “What do you know?”

“I know how Regina Diaz and Rosalind Dyer connect. I know how it all started.”

Masterlist

Tags: @xceafh @kmc1989 @buba424 @salty0cracker @iamasimpingh0e @malindacath @agentred27 @hufflepuffwhore13 @tessalynni @anaferreira-4 @starstruckchopshoptyphoon @alessiamargaux @rexit-mo @ladespedidas @omg-its-vixen @agentcable @rookietrek @fluentmoviequoter @wonderland2425

[randomnameless]

Land 3 and 4 done!

Elves and furries!

Or the worst double standard with Alcina's tragick backstory while Gary eats scraps, and Reimann puts devoted Fodlan fans to shame with his bias against subhumans!

Elheim was...

Very green compared to Drakengard lol, however the interactions between the characters felt... stale.

I mean, compared to the constant back and forth + exposition from Virginia about how cities are different from Cornia, who is Gilbert, the people living in the desert and all, for the first part of the plot, we just follow Rosalinde, a dark elf, to meet her sister so she we can save her from the bad guys, and ask her where is the second magic mc Guffin ring.

Sure, we rescue some villages and characters along the way, but they aren't, imo, as integrated in their setting as the Drakengard ones. Still, we find former thieves/brigands/bandits Alain decided to spare in Cornia - and apparently they want to turn over a new leaf, so when their old gang wants to sell elf ladies (young and not so young) as slaves, they rebel and we deal with them.

I guess the difference in setting/atmosphere is due to Drakengard, well, being conquered by the bad guys, but it feels like they just conquered it and left it there, not really caring about it.

In Elheim, they're still around - it can be sort of explained by the fact that Drakengard was conquered 6 years ago (Cornia, Alain's home was done in 10 years and Bastorias was subjugated 8 years ago) when the conquest of Elheim is supposed to be more recent? - but I guess it plays/is due to the main boss of this area's agenda -

Unlike Cornia and the small villages here and there, or Drakengard and the large cities sprawled on mountainsides, here the cities are located kind of far from each other, with a lot of forests/green/lakes/small mountains around - it makes for long maps without a lot of stuff to seize, but at the same time, it means you have to check your stamina more frequently so it's different enough to be a regional difference compared to the previous setting.

The units are... something - all jokes aside, having units deal both magic and physical damage was a nightmare for my poor 0 res armors lol, but I reckon they can be kind of useful with the proper setup, too bad the "proper setup" was something I never found and actually, I like how the game still gives you "human classes" enemies too (from the evil empire, like a red loldier) so you're not only fighting against elves, but also against the same kind of enemies (albeit promoted) than you did before, and they use mixed teams like ones with elves and humans, to make you sure have to still rethink your strategies and can't send the same team you used in the former land and expect the same results.

The BGM though... is sort of there - a bit disappointing compared to Drakengard's but I got a newfound appreciation after hearing the final boss' theme The Witch's World, it's not the banger Heir of the Dragonlands was but the fantasy/dream TWW conveys made me realise what Elheim was all about (hell those titles have a meaning lol) :

Drakengard's final theme is all about Gilbert reclaiming his castle and being the true heir of his country, not by birthright but when push came to shove, he stood up and restored the country. Which is why Drakengard had some exposition and character drama centered on Gilbert, his family and helping him.

Elheim is, as sad as it is... all about Alcina's fantasy/dream, her downfall and a sense of tragedy, both because of what she used to be, and what she actually did for the sake of her dream.

Regarding Alcina, I'll try to keep the sodium levels to minimum but :

@megafan1993 I know your comment wasn't under an Unicorn Overlord post lol, but this is basically my feelings regarding Alcina, and the comparison with the boss of the following arc stings even more, all things considered.

Who is Alcina?

A witch who acted as the court witch/mage of Cornia (MC's land!) who has the "uses magic to not grow old too fast but will eventually" syndrome, and was around during the time of MC's grandpa, a dude named Gerard.

King Gerard knew how to use his sword very well - to the point of being called a sword saint! - and liked to use it "for the good of the people", but he was the kind of guy who didn't like doing King work, found his coronation a nice distraction and didn't like when his PM modified his bills/papers etc etc. Pissed with the life of a King, especially since he felt like he couldn't do what he wanted, he left the land, without warning anyone, to explore "Cornia" and see what her people needs, only taking Alcina with him : effectively ditching the country - but no worries, his father was still around !

Exploring the land, Gerard finds himself in an ambush/skirmish against Drakengard - the neighoubing nations with whom Cornia has had border issues/problems for centuries - and takes an arrow meant for Alcina, thus dies unceremonously.

Alcina returns to Cornia and people are starting rumours, like how she had been the king's "favourite" and how the situation sucks, because now Gerard left his kid daughter* (whom he never mentionned even once in all of his voiced lines) Ilenia (MC's mom) alone to assume the role of the ruler of Cornia**.

Now, Alcina was pretty much in luf with King Gerard, so much that when Ilenia faces a rebellion (aka the prologue) and asks for her help, Alcina accepts to help her, because Ilenia is King Gerard's daughter.

Then...

Ilenia is supposedly "dead", Cornia has fallen and the Gharnef-like Baltro tells her (or she deduces it herself?) that his magic doesn't turn people crazy, but use people as mediums to put foreign/other souls inside them and take control of the bodies. It's more like a channeling magic.

Seeing the possibility to be reunited with her Gerard-poo again, Alcina switches sides and joins with the evil Zenoiran Empire, but she has her own agenda you see?

Alain lived peacefully on a small island because Alcina, who knew where he was, never told anything to the evil Zenoiran Empire people. It's not out of the goodness of her heart, hell no. Alcina had an interest in keeping Alain alive... because she planned to use him/his body to channel Gerard's soul inside - with the added bonus that Alain is a pallet swap of his grandpa.

She knew Gerard would most likely despise her for using his grandson as a medium to bring him back (from the lines we got spoken by the guy, I doubt it, he never mentions his kid!children not even once, why would he suddenly care about his grandson?) but she just wanted to hear/see him one last time sad uwus

(which raises a fucking giant red flag, Alcina who knows this and knows Ilenia's body isn't around, would obviously have guessed she was too, used as a medium for a Zenoiran soul much like Renault and Hodrick! So, with that knowledge, she wouldn't have tried to find a way to save her? Especially since she came to her in her "direst time of need" in the first place! I guess seeing Gerard >>> saving his daughter, after all the man himself never gave a fuck about said daughter...)

I don't have the exact timeline, but Alcina then accepts to march on Elheim - which resisted the Empire because they elves protect their land with a magical forest, and only taught a select few humans they are friendly with and trust a lot how to cross it, but could never have guessed that Alcina would later turn on them! - and leads the evil empire there with a dude named Gary, the land is conquered and while Eltrinde, the current elf leader (the eng/european script comes up with a lot of "exclusive" elven words, in the script she's called a turenos (??) but the jp!audio just has her be a "miko", I guess mikos don't sound elvish enough to the western lolcalisers and of course they couldn't translate her title by the word "sibyl", aka her class name :/) surrendering to avoid casualties...

Nothing is heard about her, save for Rosalinde (Eltrinde's twin sister!) who worries about her, and we believe when we face her that she's also possessed like the other people we used to fight against (by, and it'll later be revealed, ancient Zenoiran souls channeled by Baltro's magic in those bodies) but no, Eltrinde was possessed by... Alcina herself!

"But why would she need an elven body? She already has hers!"

Apparently, given some clues here and there (Yana - Alcina's apprentice - rapport conversation with Rosalinde), we can surmise that Alcina wanted an elven body to get a longer lifespan without needing to use the dangerous "rejuvenation aka turning from a dried old fig to a stripper" spell.

Tl;Dr : Alcina wanted to have her romance/spend time with Gerard again, using Alain and Eltrinde's bodies as mediums, even if it means dooming the elven kingdom and the world in general -

And oh boy do we see the elves being doomed, because while the two other human countries had a suspicious "plague" going on, here Baltro - like our beloved Riev - drops any sort of subtelty behind his title as a necromancer, and revives elves he previously killed to fight the party, which enrages both Eltrinde and Rosalinde (a feat, because so far their plot mandated interactions where very lackluster, their reunion scene had no pathos or similarity to the Drakengard brothers or even Virginia reuniting with her long lost cousin!) and they swear to take him - and Alcina - down.

Ultimately, after Baltro rewarps away like the good dark mage he is, we fight Alcina - who saved both Alain and Eltrinde from Baltro and prevented a game over lol because she still wants their bodies for her uwu ritual - and both the map song (witch's world) + her various FB's and ultimately Yana asking her to rest in peace after she's killed participate in selling us the "tragic/doomed by love" vibe about Alcina, like, the tragedy is about her, this arc is about her, hell, the entire Elheim plot is about her.

I guess I already let some salt flow lol, but even if this isn't as hamfisted as Hresvelg Grey, I felt like this was a disappointment and a bit of a letdown compared to Drakengard's story.

Double-standard hour : I was loitering on redshit to find some stuff and I saw so many people trashtalk some dude called "Gailey" that I wanted to know what was his story and...

(FR-wise at least, "Gailey" is Gary lol.)

So, Gary was Unicorn Overlord's take on FE8's Carlyle, without the sympathy he had for Joshua.

Gary was very devoted to Queen Ilenia and part of her guard, when she "died" - pretty sure that if Alcina knew, she would never told him the truth - to him Cornia died, because there's no Cornia without Ilenia as its ruler.

So Gary accepts to work with Zenoira because his queen is dead, apparently he does this conquering stuff well enough to be distinguished during the Drakengard campaign, and is sent to Elheim with Alcina.

Alcina however is the main villain while Gary is a sidekick, and is relegated as such which pisses him - and he knows she is the one possessing Eltrinde! - but our party arrives, and he wants to take our head.

It doesn't work, apparently Galvius (the evil emperor who conquered everything and is the red emperor !) doesn't like it when his troops lose and Gary knows that if he returns to him, he'll be executed, but also can't remain in Elheim else the rebels will kill him and can't escape from that land due to the magic forest surrounding it (the one no one could cross save for elves and their trusted friends!).

To get rid of the magic forest, Gary thus decides to burn the "super magic tree" that gives power to the forest and fairies living inside who are also the source of power for the elves.

Alain's party finds Gary and kills him... or at least planned to do so, because he runs away after we rekt him and is actually killed by one of his soldiers (who wanted to bring his head to Galvius and explain that if the rebels got them, it's only because Gary was incompetent!). He has last words not to Alain, but to Jeigan Joseph and the other former members of Cornia's knights - they ask Gary why he betrayed and it's here that he tells them that he never betrayed Cornia, because Cornia died when Ilenia did, thus he had/felt no attachment/reason to fight for Alain.

He has the last word to Joseph though - who pulled a Finn when he escaped with kid!Alain while Ilenia fought (apparently to her death) to give him an opening - saying Joseph has no right to judge him, because when Ilenia was fighting for her life (and apparently died), Gary was by her side until the end (he was in her team) fighting for and with her, while Joseph ran away.

And we know - after Virginia's sidequest - that Joseph still feels guilty about having left Ilenia and escaped with Alain, wondering if their places couldn't have been reversed and if she should be the one alive, but he listened to her orders back then (something he doesn't reveal to Gary!).

In a nutshell, Gary had most likely unrequited feelings for his queen, did his best to save/protect her and fought with her, but when she died he felt like his world did and from that point dgaf about the world or what it was supposed to become.

Alcina... most likely had (unrequited ?) feelings for her king, felt like trash when he died and she couldn't save him, thus abandonned her job and while she did help his daughter at one time, in the end she was willing to see the world and her king's family burn to get another chance to live her love story with him.

They are pretty similar, but somehow treated differently when both did horrible stuff, however only Alcina gets the "tragedy sad uwus" framing when Gary dies unceremonously.

Yeah :/

Not find of that plot arc.

In their rapport conversations, the elves are more interesting than what their plot interaction led to believe and I liked the devs adding maybe like 70% of the elven npcs around being sort of assholish and quite biased because Alain'n'pals are "humans" and have a huge superiority complex regarding the rest of the continent (watermelon time for that one NPC who calls Bestrals "unclean" or "corrupted" like dude, what do you have against bunnies?).

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I heard Vanillaware rushed the ending of the game because they had a money problem or something, and well, Bastorias shows it lol.

We have maybe 5 plot quests - sidequests you are supposed to unlock way way later lol - and a cast of 3 characters who talk in turn, but don't really exchange or interact with the NPCs or the rest of the cast found there.

So yeah, I can see where the rush was lol

And yet, I still prefered the Bastorias arc -

First because while the maps are also as empty as the Elheim ones in cities and all, well I sort of prefer the "vast snowfields" vibe to the "large forests" one, even if I confess I really liked seeing/talking to the various people around - even if it was only for a sidequest (tfw a dude wants to sell Laguz slaves).

Second, because the BGM is both relaxing and yet foreboding/mysterious enough to keep you focused, even if I confess, I pressed + during some fights when wereowls were busy giving each other blue points lol

Oh, and werefoxes were... I won't judge people based on their kinks, but personnally, I was kind of weirded out by their sprites, like when I can crack jokes at F!Elven Fencers like "if they fall on their back they can't stand anymore like turtles if you flap them over", werefoxes are just... uh yeah. Not my cup of tea.

Plot-wise, Alain wants to get rid of Zenoira in this region too so it will diminish their forces (ludonarrative point : if you don't do Bastorias and go to the final map, Reimann pops us as a reinforcement unit with the feral plot characters you're supposed to meet in Bastorias, aka feral!Ramona and feral!Morad :( I guess Yunifi died alone, I hope she wasn't killed by her adoptive parents !) but everyone realises that there's some "illness" or stuff that makes some Bestral go mad/feral (does this remind you of something?) and while some pop up as yellow units who attack everything on sight, through the plot we later learn that it's not "illness" at all!

Much like the best Gharnef out there (sorry for your poll @crushednugget, but I believe science should have won!), Reimann - a former Cornian noble who was part of the band of traitors who sided against Ilenia in the prologue - uses his science + a magic rock to turn the animal people in feral versions of themselves to control them, and calls himself a genius while also revealing that this magic rock that those lowly subhumans only thought was a shiny rock that belonged to the lion (thus royal) tribe was actually the magic rock that makes people able to control the Bestrals (the subhumans).

We even have one rapport conversation from Joseph, that suggests that Reimann might have been involved in trafficking/enslaving/experimenting on subhumans before the game's events, as he was already trying to get his hands on Bestrals during Ilenia's reign!

Unlike Izuka though.... Reimann is betrayed by one of his "allies" - much like Gary! - who was... under his suit of armor... a bestral himself!

(Cucumber lolcalisation point : Eligor, when first met is talking to this place's Batta the Beast and at one point is pissed/haughty/upset and calls Batta a human - but in the jp!audio, I didn't hear any "ningen" mention at all. Eligor blows his cover in the us/eu script, but not in the jp version!)

Eligor is a rat bestral, and Bastorias has some sort of hierarchy/class system based on which kind of Bestral you are - cats are fishermen, owls are the "wise mayors", bears, foxes and wolves are fighters (but polar bears are selling weapons!) goats are innkeepers etc etc.

While it's upsetting that we never hear anything from the numerous NPCs around about the "rat tribe", given how Bastorias is presented we it's not that farfetched that rats were indeed seen as lesser or not as important/valuable as lion bestrals.

The Rat Tribe was captured by Baltro who used them for experiments to make them sturdier/stronger, everyone lost their mind save for Eligor who seems to be thankful to Baltro-sama to give him the means to reach his dream : become the King of Bastorias even if he is a member of the rat tribe.

As Morad (a lion!) tells him though, while his dream and ideals about making Bastorias a place for everyone to live with pride etc etc, he still tells Eligor that he resorted to stupid/ridiculous methods (aka mind controlling and sending hundred of bestrals to death fighting against each other and being a fucking member of Zenoira!) and would have prefered if they worked together, to which Eligor tells him that he dgaf, because even if it only lasted for the duration of the final battle, he finally got what he wanted being the King of Bastorias and commanding people thanks to the shiny magic rock.

No uwu sobest for Eligor unlike the gallons of tea we had to drink for Alcina though, maybe that's why i can appreciate this arc more lol

I think the nod to the reveal about Eligor being a rat and this arc wasn't the lolcalisation adding shit, but the sidequest with the... Rock Rats - former bandits Alain spared in Cornia lol - when you recruit/want to recruit the leader who's basically Robin Hood, he tells you that even if Alain started his quest with 5 people and thus isn't like the other evil Nobles (tm), you should always worry about someone who started from scratch and managed to become a leader, because they will cling to power and forget why they wanted it in the first place.

...That's basically Eligor's story, as told by another, metaphorical, rat!

Battle theme a Fleeting Dream is the general Bastorias overworld theme, with imo, the earlier feelign of something ominous being played/schemed and its climax - it's the same mystery/foreboding feeling we got in the overworld map, but with a feeling that "something is going on". A good catch for Eligor's plot and this arc in general, even if it was rushed.

Anyways after his death, more plot reveals - Morad the friendly (uhh) lion we met who acted as one of the main characters from this arc was actually a human changed in a lion with the power of the shiny magic rock, and the human girl, Yunifi, who was adopted by Ramona (owl mom) and Morad (lion dad) is very heavily implied to have been a lion princess herself, but turned in a human!

Nod to Fodlan discourse : upon finding Reimann's notes and researches about how to use the shiny magic rock to control bestrals - everyone in the cast agrees with Ramona's suggestion to burn those notes!

No "uwu censorship BaD" or "creature masquerading as a human is attempting to hide knowledge to keep humans ignorant!" -> those "researches" are basically some "how to perform mindcontrol and turn people against each other in 5 steps" lessons, so they are destroyed for the sake of everyone, the shiny magic rock will forever remain a shiny magic rock, and not a tool to control the minds of anyone else.

Gameplay wise :

The Bestrals have a gimmick where they are more powerful/get more mobility during nighttime, but some of their classes are more similar to the human ones than the elven ones.

I still have to use/play around the werefoxes and the werewolves, so far I only used the lion, the bear and the owl and while I know Yunifi has an unique class and can be built in a certain way to be completely broken...

I don't have enough medals to make more than 3 teams of 5 characters rofl - but I'll definitely try to play with some builds!

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Oh and in general, I guess i forgot to mention in the "this was rushed" part, but while we can see the rush - I still am flabbergasted at some details the devs added like, hm, the fact that when you use a skill that summons rain in Bastorias - aka tundra land - you don't get rain but snow!

Or the completely random stuff I just noticed today (tfw after 50h you still notice and learn something knew), when you pick a squad captain, the sigil/banner for that squad in the "battle screen" is the one of the "captain" of that squad!

So yeah, even if they're fighting in Alain's Liberation army, some characters still retain their identity and banners - Gilbert's team has the Drakengard sigil, Eltrinde/Rosalinde has the Elheim one and... Travis has the Tricorns (his bandit/merc group!) one lol

*Given how Virginia is Alain's cousin and Ilenia's niece, it means Gerard must have had two kids, assuming primogeniture works, Virginia's parent, must have been younger than Ilenia which means Gerard basically left his two children and role/duties as a king behind him because he was upset that people were disappointed in him/kept on meddling with his duties as a king.

**Through various supports and lines popping up here and there, we learn that while some people loved Ilenia and thought she ruled wisely and justly, some other people were very critical of her, given how she became Queen young and wasn't as battle-hungry as her dad before her : Tl;Dr, dying like a moron after ditching his throne, Gerard abandoned his daughter who had to face the same adversities - if not more - than he did, but she pulled through. I'll have to check the audio when I'll reach that moment to see if there's hidden salt, but she has a line to Alain in the True Ending where she's basically all "I'm not going to miss my son's coronation" and, well, with the knowledge that Gerard was crap, I wonder if Ilenia resented him a bit lol