#she’s true balance. someone attacks you; you attack them back with the same fever

[fagtainsparklez]

Icarus. What's the difference between Mianite (series name), Dianite (???? Diorite?) and Ianite

okay okay late answer but here we go.

the series is called mianite, but that’s technically shorthand for “realm of mianite”. mianite is the name of their land/world, loosely, at least that’s how the season 1 lands are commonly referred to.

mianite, however, is also a god. the god of the overworld, order, and creation. he has two siblings: dianite and ianite. dianite is the god of the nether, chaos, and destruction. ianite is the goddess of the end, justice, and balance!

[themilky-way]

like water {din djarin}

gif credit: no-droids

pairing: the mandalorian/din djarin x fem!reader

summary: when the one person he cares about is threatened, he lets himself indulge in the aftermath of defending them. 

warnings: some violence in the beginning, choking (not in the fun way), depictions of scratches, punches, and minor abrasions; the reader is hurt basically. oh and mando’s gun bc yeah❤️umm that’s it i think? nothing too horrible tho but if this thing triggers you, please don’t read !!

author’s note: not to be conceited or anything (is that even the right word for it lol?) but im super proud of how this turned out! requests are open btw for anyone who wishes to submit anything (if unsure, just ask which fandoms)!

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cyar’ika-> darling, sweetheart

nothing in that exact moment had made much sense. one minute the most precious thing to ever exist to him was snatched away, and the next his hands were gripping the treasure beneath his holster. his knuckles were lily-white at this point, holding the gun as hard as his body would allow him to without crushing underneath him, and the urge to cock it made him visibly shake. he’d been given a command, and out of all the merciless men in the filthy galaxy, he needed to follow it, so his weapon of preference stayed where it needed to. 

the meager specks of emotion that still lived within him betrayed his prominent composure, the view in front of him blocked by the sudden glaze of his eyes. the small drops of saltwater puddled together in his now hazy orbs, holding on until it was nearly impossible to stay put and then rivered down his cheeks. the cause? well, you.

you were filling up the mandalorian’s line of vision, his eyes darting between you and the bounty that had gone wrong. an alienated hand was wrapped around your innocent throat, your feeble hands wrapped around its wrist in a dumb attempt to break free. the ground you were roaming on before appeared to be never ending, and in the same way, the darkened sky absorbed you whole. vertigo was now in full effect; any quick movement caused you to shut your eyes tightly and hope to the maker you’d get through it. it took a few seconds for you to regain your balance, a sharp pain pinging around your neck forcing you to find it. you half expected to be back on the mud again, to have the man you had spent the past year flying around with pulling you to safety. instead, you found din frozen in place, an instinctive action rooted in the steel handle of his pistol. he wasn’t moving, too scared to blink as if you’d disappear if he did. 

perhaps you were; someone like you seemed too good to be true. in all actuality, it may be that you were a fever dream, a celestial that had come down from the sanctity of your home to finally rescue him from his burdens. amidst his frantic glances, he reminisced every second he’d spent with you since your unforeseen arrival, and that somehow worked for him. the gears in his brain started to turn again, and with every ounce of his strength, he pounced on the quarry and did what he should’ve done the instant you were taken from him. anger took over his worry, the effects illustrating themselves in a collage of mitted fists and blood. the pistol residing on din’s waist was useless compared to his hits; the softened position of his jawbone was locked firmly as a result of his gritted teeth and he was going to need more than your delicate hand on his shoulders to ground his senses. 

the mandalorian never expected to succumb to anyone, nor to feel remotely joyful upon hearing someone’s laugh. the idea of kindling a relationship was ludicrous, utterly impossible if only he weren’t bound to the chains of his creed. oftentimes, he wondered if someone would one day traverse his path and make him question every moral he’d been taught. din had dismissed the thought, as any other member of his intricate society would have, but the wondrous insight depicting a different lifestyle always lingered faintly in his mind. 

today, the very same visions behind his recurrent insomnia framed themselves in a frail art piece. din’s focus laid directly ahead, the fingers navigating the center controls as tight as they’d been on his gun. his eyes deserved to rest, perhaps take in the splashes of color nature was offering him, but he landed them on the same lovely sculpture adorning his cockpit. 

you were seated in the chair adjacent from the pilot’s, with your knees closely tucked to your chest. one large scrape designed itself on your leg-a dull reminder of the ordeal you were involved in hours earlier-with flakes of arid blood protecting the wound. bouncing off the skin of your throat were shades of red and purple, now properly mixing into a deeper complexion that’d require you to hide it for some time. besides the scattered nicks living on your face, and the other couple dozen on your arms and legs, the outcome wasn’t as terrible as the one your attacker received. it was a rule of thumb to not mess with a mandalorian, much less with the pretty little lady clutching his arm as if it were second nature. the foolest of fools wouldn’t even have done such a foul thing, and this particular creature came to know the punishment for harming what wasn’t rightfully his. 

it truly amazed him; the way you seemed to be so unphased by a traumatic circumstance. the woman beside him-the same one who couldn’t sleep unless a window was open-had endured pain, and the marks on her skin proved themselves in jagged indications of it. through the darkened screen of his visor, din could make out your hands neatly intertwined around your folded knees, your chin simultaneously resting on top. you’d been as observant as you always were, hardly missing his actions as he navigated his newfound family to a safe stop. sure, you were unaware of the loving term he considered of you and the baby, but it didn’t hurt to keep it a secret, right?

“hey.” it came out more hoarse than he intended it to, but the emotion behind it flowed out nonetheless. “you okay?”

not really. i don’t feel good. it was easy to say exactly that, to speak the truth, but it was even easier to lie. for the sake of his own worry, at most. your eyes were still glued to his armor, taking in the rough outline of where you imagined his skin would be underneath, or moreso the abstract idea of feeling it with your hands. reflections of your yearning came and went like the mandalorian’s missions, almost impulsively at times, and the curious, teasing tilts his helmet would bid you only encouraged that craving. much like now; the black “T” of his expressionless face leaned to the side, asking you to earnestly respond. “mm, yeah. ‘m kinda tired, though,” you mumbled.

you threw him a lie and he caught it. “don’t lie to me.” din swiveled his chair to accordingly match the peripheral of yours, his elbows coming to rest on top of his beskar-clad legs. “can you look at me?” he inquired softly. then, his intent fell on the slow shift of your head and how it turned to face him, your cheek settling on your unscathed knee. a breath fell from his lips at the doting admiration swimming in your stare. “there she is,” he confirmed with an upward curl of his lips. “is there anything i can do?” it was sincere; a genuine concern to accompany his question. you hummed in response, fearful to accidentally voice the confessions you hid from him. you blinked once, twice, until his question became a plea. “please, cyar’ika.”

reasonably, you were too busy exploring the shape of his helmet, permitting your creative imagination to paint images of the man next to you; so when your ears perceived his sudden name of endearment, there was nothing amongst the stars that you could’ve possibly denied him from. “you’ve never called me that before,” you smiled, all big and brilliant. 

“i’ve wanted to,” the man replied. what resembled ages of pent up stress released with a few curated words. his muscles relaxed, something he never believed to be attainable given his vigorous profession. “god, i’ve wanted to.” 

he followed it with a humble laugh. a sound so familiar and warm, so genuine that it empowered your grin to spread higher. “by all means, keep saying it.” now it was your turn to nervously giggle, and him who embraced the noise with everything he could. a mutual infatuation, so wonderfully obvious, yet it was refused acknowledgment. “i think there is something you can do, though.” silence advised you to continue, “can i sleep with you tonight?” 

the misguided pieces of your minds’, maybe even your souls’, reattached themselves that very same night. as the both of you slept, hands, calloused and smooth, intimately merged against the cushions of the warrior’s bed. tender kisses planted to your forehead left electricity in their wake, and the dark ambiance of his dwelling favored the entanglement of your tired bodies. 

“i wish i could see you, din,” you sighed. the manner in which it was expressed, full of sleep and everything akin, urged him to lift your weightless wrist to his lips. 

“you’ll get to one day, cyar’ika. for now just let me hold you, yeah?”

[jane-fucking-seymour]

The Ink in Which We Inscribe Our Lives is Indelible

It was years into their second lives when Catherine Parr decided to write down the queen’s origins in the modern era.

For some, like Katherine, it was only vaguely remembered first hand due to illness and had to be filled in from other’s accounts. For most of the others, like Aragon, the start of her story actually began with her lady in waiting. Regardless of all of that, Parr had finally finished the short tale of entering this new world after months of revisions and consultations.

As Katherine Howard wandered into the room that day - something about how Jane wouldn’t let her get a sword, so she’s “angry” at Jane now - Parr invites her to read it. With excitement in her eyes, she does just that.

Anna of Cleves was the last to die, but the first to arrive.

She gasped awake, eyes wide and wild for a moment before she realized where she was. She doesn’t remember coming here, but she distinctly knows how she did just that.

She looked down at her hands; they were foreign, yet familiar. Her clothes, at least, hadn’t changed style, which she would both thank god and curse at within the next few hours.

She stood a bit unsteadily barely able to stand as she took everything in - things looked the same for the most part, but there were small differences that led her to believe that something was very, very wrong.

She frowned as she looked around, stumbling at first but eventually able to catch her balance. It looked like it was to rain, maybe a few hours time, so she made the decision to find shelter before figuring everything else out.

Just as she was about to move, though, she heard a small, kind, familiar voice.

“Lady Cleves.”

Anna turned to find the familiar yet unfamiliar woman and she couldn’t help but smile, despite the shock.

“Bessie.”

Bessie Blount moves forward, wrapping a blanket around her mistress. The former queen took it gratefully, still looking around.

“We’re not home, are we?” Anna asks.

“Not even close,” Bessie replies. “Come on. I have a flat not far from here.”

Anna nods, heavily leaning against her lady in waiting, before she frowns. “How exactly did you find me?”

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Bessie replies. “I don’t... I don’t know how. But I have been. All I know is that you were here and I need to get you ready for meeting the others.”

Anna frowns. “Who are the others?”

“I don’t know. But they’re good, whoever they are.”

Anna nods; for the moment, she’ll take her word for it.

“Let’s go,” Bessie says, clearly wanting to rush out of there. “There’s someone coming. One of them is coming soon, and she’ll need our help.”

A few hours later, that would prove to be true.

Katherine suddenly awoke that early morning, torrential downpour already having soaked her through.

“Katherine?”

The woman in question, startled, snapped her attention to the person to the right of her; she hadn’t noticed the older woman standing there. Katherine whimpered, scampering away, dress muddied up as she tried to make distance.

“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you,” the woman said gently. “You’re Katherine Howard, right? I don’t... I don’t quite know what’s going on, but I just... I know that.” She tilts her head before slowly crouching to Katherine’s level. “I must say, in all my years of a historian, this is certainly a first.”

Katherine was still breathing heavily, a hand on her neck. She looked around, shivering.

“You must be confused,” the woman continued. “Probably as confused as I am, I’m sure. Do you remember how you got here, Katherine?”

The woman approached slowly, making no sudden movements, trying to ensure that the wide-eyed, terrified girl in front of her didn’t bolt. Katherine watched every single move but shook her head. She leaned back against whatever she was leaning against, her hand rubbing her neck.

“That’s fine, we can figure that out later,” the woman said. “Let’s get you out of the rain-”

Unfortunately for her, a sudden lightning strike close by had her spooked.

Katherine bolted up, rushing away. The woman tried to call to her, to tell her to come back, even following Katherine as she ran, but Kat was too fast and disappeared.

Katherine rushes through the streets of London, already completely out of her mind: there’s weird noises and scary contraptions and nothing looks the same as it was before. She didn’t know what was happening, but she was scared and alone and couldn’t breathe.

Months after this, she would learn that this is what they now call a ‘panic attack,” but the girl had no idea what that was or how to properly combat one. She kept running until her body forced her to shut down, stumbling in an alleyway and collapsing to the ground. The rain was still heavy and her dress was soaked as she lay there, gasping for air while trying not to drown in the flooded street.

Spots in her vision started appearing more rapidly as she tried to fight for breath, but no breath would return to her. Within minutes, her body was limp and she blacked out, body face down in the torrential downpour.

When the girl awoke a few hours later - the rain still continuing, though not as badly as before - she struggled to get herself up. Her body, so tired, barely responded to her commands of sitting up out of the water. She coughed, chest burning; she must have swollowed some water while unconscious.

The girl felt feverish as she stood, cold and barely lucid, wandering the back streets of London as she tried to find somewhere to go. She would have loved to go back to where that woman was - maybe she could help - but she didn’t have a clue how to get back there. Even though the streets were deserted thanks to the torrential storms, nothing was recognizable for the young queen.

She walked for hours, getting very weird looks from very weird looking people. She cried out in pain as she continued; her fever was getting worse, as was her cough. She was barely able to stand by the time she got to where she was going, body trembling as it unknowingly lead her somewhere intentional, yet not a place she ever had been before. Glassy eyes looked around the alley before they closed, the girl pitching forward as her body gave into the pain and fever...

... only for someone to gently catch her before she fell.

“Lady Howard?”

She doesn’t know that voice, yet she very clearly does. She doesn’t know the hands holding her, yet she can pinpoint exactly when she saw them last. It’s all very confusing, having knowledge she very well shouldn’t, but it didn’t matter right now. What mattered was she felt safe, especially when she heard the second voice.

“Katherine?”

The first picks Katherine up. “She’s burning up, m’lady.”

“Let’s get her inside. I imagine she’s as confused as we were. She needs to be ready for when the time comes.”

“Yes, m’lady.”

The last thing Katherine sees is the very, very concerned face of Anna of Cleves before she settles into darkness.

Meanwhile, in Peterborough, another reunion of sorts was happening.

A woman carefully hopped over a fence st Peterborough Cathedral. The chapel had been closed for renovations that day, which was good and bad with the current situation. For one, no one would be around to scare off the person she knew was in there, but this meant she couldn’t just walk through the front door to help her mistress.

Well, she thought, picking a lock with skills she didn’t know she had, wouldn’t be the first time she had to sneak in to find her queen. It wasn’t even the first time this week, actually.

The woman hid behind a corner, listening for footsteps before she made her final few turns through the halls to her destination. Hearing none, she quickly moved and rushed to her destination. She turned left with purpose, as if she had done this before-

- only to stop and gasp in awe.

She was there.

“Catalina?”

Maria de Salinas rushes to her friends side; Catherine of Aragon was still unconscious, draped over her burial site. After checking every single day for the past week, Catherine of Aragon had finally arrived.

Maria did not know how she knew that Catherine would return.

She only knew that she knew it.

For the moment, it was enough.

She holds her friend in her arms, almost exactly as she did the last night they saw each other. She’s crying - of course she is - and she can’t help but smile widely as Catherine’s eyes flutter open.

In their first life, Maria was the last person Catherine saw.

Now, she was the first person Aragon laid eyes on in this new life.

“Maria?”

Maria smiles, tears rushing down her face as she embraces her long lost friend for the first time in centuries.

“Oh, god, I’ve missed you, Catalina.”

“What’s going on?” Catherine asked; she’s speaking Spanish, an old tongue in this new world, but Maria understands every single word.

“It’s alright, I’m not sure but we’ll be okay,” Maria says. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

Catherine slowly stands for the first time in centuries, smoothing out her dress as she looks around. “Where is everyone? Am I dead?” She looks Maria over. “And what are you wearing?”

Maria chuckles. “They’re not here, you were dead, and it’s complicated but in fashion for our current time,” Maria says. “It’s... it’s going to be a shock. We’ll take it slow-”

“My god.”

They turn to find a man there, eyes wide as he trembles. He falls to his knees, saying a prayer.

Aragon blinks, confused, but Maria steps forward.

“You know who we are, yeah?” Maria asks. The man nods, still trembling as if he’s seen a ghost. Which, Maria thinks, he very well might be. “Can you show us the way out of here? And possibly some clothes for my mistress.”

“Uh... o-of course.”

Maria gently takes Aragon’s hand, giving her a gentle smile.

“It’ll be okay, love. I’ll explain what I can, but when you’re well enough, I think we have people to find.”

Sure enough, at that very moment, the lady of Sudeley Castle drew her first breath in centuries.

She sat upright on top of a marble tomb, catching her breath. Oddly enough, a stone statue of her that was on top of her tomb was now gone, replaced by the woman herself.

The plaque in front of the tomb scared her more than anything else:

KP HERE LIES KATHERINE PARR

Parr carefully moved from the tomb to the ground, looking around with confused, fearful eyes. She knew where she was - she recognized the chapel she had prayed in so many times for safe delivery of her baby - but she just knew that, somehow, it’s been ages since last time she saw it.

Seeing as no one was around at the moment, she quickly moved out of the chapel and into the courtyard, wincing at the light peeking through dark, stormy clouds. She looked around and, sure enough, this was definitely the Castle, but not the way she remembered it.

Something is wrong.

She moves to where she knew her quarters to be, but they’re no longer there; it looks like someone’s made a museum out of her living arrangements.

Odd.

“I... honestly didn’t expect this to work.”

Catherine turned to find a woman standing there, seemingly astonished. It takes a moment, but the woman bows.

“Lady Parr, I’m sure you’re very confused, but I think I can help.”

Parr, frowning, tries to speak, but her voice doesn’t come to her. The other woman nods.

“I’m unsure of what’s happening, but there are reports of Anna of Cleves and Catherine of Aragon once again breathing. I met Lady Katherine Howard just yesterday morning. I think... if you come with me, I think I can explain some things and, best case, get you to the others.”

Parr tilts her head, swallowing before trying again.

“My godmother is alive?”

“Yes. As, I would suspect, the other wives.”

“Of Henry?”

“Of Henry.”

Catherine nods, a bit dazed, but she looks back at the woman when she extends a hand. She looks at it, then at the woman, and nods.

“I don’t know how I know this,” Parr says gently. “But I must be ready in a day’s time. Then, I’ll have to go.”

“To where?”

“Dunno.”

The woman nods. “We’ll be ready. Lets get you some clothes that’ll help you blend in, then we can chat a bit more, yeah?”

Parr later would say that historian saved her life - or at least ensured that she wouldn’t have suffered from being dropped so suddenly into this new world. It seemed that, despite not having a lady in waiting to tend to them like the others, Parr and Howard would be taken care of regardless of that.

The final two pieces of the puzzle would suddenly appear an hour later.

Nearby the place where Katherine Howard awoke the day before, a young woman waited patiently with a blanket, an extra set of clothes, and some food and water. She had been waiting here every day, always around this time, for the last week. She didn’t exactly know why at first - she just felt compelled to - but it became more and more apparent as she sat by the grave.

Today, her patience would pay off.

It’s a blinding flash of light that would suggest that her waiting was at an end and, sure enough, her mistress appeared once the flash was over. The woman laid on top of her grave, unconscious at first, her neck scar clearly agitated and visible.

Her lady in waiting is quick to pick the girl up, smiling at the woman she had considered a sister, bringing the girl round while holding her in her lap.

“Anne?” The woman said gently. “Wake up, Anne. Please.”

Anne slowly cane round, gasping in pain at her neck before her eyes fluttered open. At first, Anne seemed confused, but then she recognized the person before her.

“Margaret?”

“It’s Maggie now, actually,” her lady in waiting replies with a chuckle. “How are you feeling?”

“Weak,” Anne admitted, sighing and closing her eyes.

“That’s alright,” Maggie says softly. “We can rest here for a bit, but after that I’ll need you to change your clothes to something a bit more... suitable.”

Anne frowns. “I died.”

Maggie nods gravely. “You did.”

“Swordsman cut m’ head off.”

“Cleanly, from what I could tell.”

“Still hurt, though.”

“I’d bet.”

Anne sighs.

“Why do you look younger than me?”

“Dunno. There’s a lot of things I’m unsure of now.”

“Like how a dead, headless woman can talk?”

“And how I even knew you’d be here in the first place.”

“Well, you always went above and beyond your duty, so I wouldn’t put it past you to know the unknown.”

Maggie rolled her eyes fondly before she started to stand. Anne, shakily, is able to as well. Maggie holds up the clothes.

“There’s a bathroom nearby,” Maggie says. “Let’s get you changed. We need to get going.”

“To where?”

“I think you know.”

And indeed, Anne did know; it was like an overwhelming sensation, to get to the place she knew she needed to be. She understood it rather perfectly.

“We don’t have much time,” Anne says. “I’ll need some help.”

“Of course, my lady.”

An hour later, they were on their way; Anne wasn’t entirely sure what they were in - Maggie called it a “train” - but whatever it was was faster than anything Anne had seen. The world, too, had changed since the swordsman’s swing, and Anne found herself both scared but thrilled st the prospect of a new beginning.

They arrived in Windsor less than an hour later, walking the rest of the way. Anne wasn’t sure how both of them knew what to do, but they did, and they knew they wouldn’t be alone in this endeavor.

“Do you know what year it is?” Anne finally asks, having just now gotten the courage to do so.

“Early 21st century,” Maggie replies.

Anne makes a face.

“That can’t be real.”

“It is, I assure you.”

“How long have you been back for?”

“About half a year. The others have as well, I think.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do you know they’re back, then?”

“I don’t know, m’lady, I’m sorry.”

Anne hums in thought as they continue to walk.

“This is quite peculiar.”

“It is.”

“But we just keep walking, yeah?”

“We just keep walking, yeah.”

They arrive at their destination - Saint George’s Chapel.

It was closed for some reason, though Anne would alter speculate that everything had lined up so perfectly that it had to of been fate.

When they get there, Maggie is quick to lead Anne to the back... where a small girl was waiting. She looked worse for wear, a small teenager, shaking and barely lucid.

At first, Anne wanted to avoid her, but there was something about the girl that drew her in.

Anne crouched down next to the girl and felt her forehead; she was hot.

“A fever, definitely,” Anne mumbles. “No way she could have gotten here on her own-“

“Hey!”

Maggie stepped in front of Anne, protecting her from the woman that suddenly appeared from around a corner. The woman in question narrowed her eyes.

“Step away from that child, if you please.”

Anne gently cupped the girl’s cheek, smiling gently when she felt the girl lean into it. All at once, a name came to her.

“Katherine Howard,” Anne says softly. “This is my cousin.”

“Your cousin? That makes you Anne Boleyn, no?”

The woman in front of them relaxes, allowing Maggie to do the same.

“My Lady, Anna of Cleves, has been waiting for you two.”

“Why is Katherine out here?” Anne demands, glaring at the girl. She’s never really connected with Katherine - not even in the previous life, they had barely seen each other if at all - but there’s a surge of protectiveness for her younger cousin that rushes through her.

“I... I was compelled to do so,” Bessie says. “I’m not sure why.”

“I think it was to lead you here, Lady Boleyn.”

The three look over to find Anna of Cleves standing there, Maria de Salinas next to her.

“Looks like mostly everyone is here,” Maria says. “My lady, Catherine of Aragon, is inside awaiting her goddaughter’s arrival.”

“Catherine is here?” Anne asks, perking up a bit. “Finally, a familiar face in all of this.” She looks back down at Katherine. “Let’s get her inside.”

The four move into the deserted chapel and, as soon as they do, Anne gasps in surprise.

“Catherine of Aragon, as I live and breathe!” Anne says with a smile.

Aragon scowls. “Be quiet while we’re in here, Anne, surely you remember proper decorum in a chapel?”

“Rules have changed, babe,” Anne says. “Everything’s changed, clearly.” Boleyn watches as Bessie brings in the still sick Katherine.

Aragon frowns. “Is the girl alright?”

“She’ll need a doctor,” Anne says. “But we cant leave. Not yet. We’re missing three.”

Aragon frowns. “You feel it too, right?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know why, or how, but we’re missing-“

“Two, now.”

Anne points to the back of the chapel where a one Catherine Parr has arrived. She’s different - everyone is - but she instantly zeroes in on one queen in particular.

“Catalina?”

“Catherine!”

Catherine is quick to embrace the woman, hugging her tightly. It’s been ages since last.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Parr admits.

“How did you get here?” Catherine asks with a frown.

“A lady helped me. She wanted to come in, but I told her no,” Parr looks back at a particular spot in the chapel. “We need to do this together, but without anyone else.”

It’s a weird statement, but Aragon is inclined to agree.

As Parr says that, a woman walks in from a side door. She seems startled to see all of them, but then she nods.

“I’m Joan Meutas,” Joan says. “I see we’re all present.”

Anna of Cleves nods from her place in a pew, Katherine Howard leaning against her, barely responsive. Anne Boleyn is keeping a close eye on her cousin while also standing next to Catherine of Aragon, who still is holding Parr’s hand.

“What’s this all about?” Aragon asks, but Parr can answer it.

She moves forward, pointing at each queen as they’re related to the poem.

“Divorced, beheaded, divorced, beheaded, survived.” She nods at them. “The only one we’re waiting on, is-“

That’s all she can say, though, as a brilliant light blinds all in the chapel.

When it fades, the final queen is unconscious next to her so-called final resting place.

Joan is quick to attend to her, a bag of clothing and a blanket in hand. Her mistress comes round relatively quickly.

“Lady Jane?” Joan asks quietly. “Are you alright?”

“Joan?” Jane asks quietly, eyes fluttering open as she looks around. “What’s going on, what’s happened?”

“We’re unsure,” Joan says quietly. “But we’re all here now. Exactly where we’re supposed to be.”

“But why, though?” Anna asks, standing as Bessie takes over caring for Katherine. “Why are we here?”

“Is it not obvious?” Parr asks. When they all look at her, she points to the tomb Jane is leaning against.

Jane Seymour’s marble statue is gone.

Only Henry’s remains.

Back in the present, Katherine lets out a low whistle.

“That was brilliant, Parr,” Kat says with a big grin as she offers Parr the story back. “What ever happened to that historian?”

“We still keep in touch,” Parr replies, taking the papers from Kat. “She made that documentary, remember? The one that meant everything to us.”

Katherine nodded, tilting her head in thought. “I don’t really remember those days,” Katherine says quietly. “I didn’t talk much.”

Parr nods sympathetically. “You has pneumonia, love; even then, it’s completely understandable, considering...” she trails off with a frown. She takes a moment before she moves over to hug Katherine tightly. “You’re better now,” Parr says quietly. “That’s all that matters.”

Katherine smiles and nods at that. “And we’re all together still,” Kat says with a grin. “It really was fate or destiny or what have you.”

“I’d like to think so,” Parr agrees. After a moment, she released Kat. “How about we go downstairs?”

Kat huffs. “Only if I can get a sword.”

“No.”

“But Parr-!”

Catherine laughs and hugs the girl again, kissing the side of her head before leading her downstairs. There, she finds Jane smirking at her daughter, Anna firmly on Jane’s side and also smirking at Kat and Boleyn trying to convince the others of the “importance of swordsmanship in the 21st century.”

The ladies in waiting were there for the morning before they headed out to the two-show day: Joan making breakfast, Maggie assisting, and Maria wandering over to Parr with a glass of juice.

“Aragon’s in the living room, if you’d like to join,” Maria says. “Joan and Maggie are trying to keep the peace while Bessie may or may not be quietly enabling the conversation.”

Parr laughs as Maria wraps an arm around her shoulders, leading Parr towards where Aragon was.

“Bessie is sneakily the most chaotic of the lot of you, I’ll have you know,” Parr says. “Though I wouldn’t mind a sword-“

“Don’t you dare,” Aragon says, not even looking up from her work. “No child of mine is having a sword in this day and age.”

Parr chuckles and is quick to curl up next to Aragon. She hands Aragon the story and smiles.

“Oh, you finished!” Aragon says.

Katherine hears that from the other room. “Oh, right! We can debate this later, it’s story time now!”

They all move into the living room, breakfast cooked and plates full, and settle in for Parr to start.

Parr looks around he room, at the nine other people that have suddenly meant so much to her... and she can’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed by the feelings of love and appreciation for each and every one of them.

They’re telling their stories.

Not only from then, but also from now.

Catherine Parr wouldn’t have it any other way.

[ask-chaos-kin]

Chaotic Adventures in Babysitting

(disclaimer, some of these characters are yet to be introduced on this page. they will be introduced in a matter of time, just be patient.) Written by @abbyroseflame24 and @royalbabble

Chapter 1

Chaos Kin was pacing back and forth at the base. This was the first time in two years that she would be with her niece. Visible distraught spread across her face as she paced.

“It’s only two weeks Chaos, How bad can it be?” Her friend, Ass Pancakes questioned as she paced back and forth.

“You have no clue about family stuff do you?” Anthony asked him, Pancakes returning a glare to the other Scout in the room.

“It’s more than that! I haven’t seen her in years! Last time she saw me I was leaving to become a merc, I was wearing a RED outfit, and I had two normal brown eyes. Not a red eye that screams I am no longer human,” She collapsed in anxiety.

“Easy Chaos, You have three other people to help you take care of her, Plus the other freaks and even the rest of your team,” Roseflame said, helping her up from her spot. Chaos looked up and gave a weak smile to the other woman. A car pulled up to the driveway of the base.

“She’s here! Pancakes, put on the sunglasses!” Chaos started to panic. Roseflame rolled her eyes and handed Pancakes his specially picked sunglasses. It was to hide the bags in his eyes, make him look more human.

“Is this necessary? I look perfectly human already.” Chaos just gave him a look. The small group of Freaks made their way outside the base and heard a little girl laughing hysterically. Chaos was confused for a moment. It sounded like her cousin, but what could she be laughing at? The three rounded the corner and were shocked to see Chaos’ niece standing just beside the car that had brought her to the base, laughing to the point of crying at another Freak who was balancing on a ball, juggling what looked like fist sized bells. 

Chaos recognized the jovial Freak as Count Jester, and from the look of the blue smoke surrounding them, they had apparently just arrived. Pancakes kept the sunglasses on since the sun was in his face.

A woman stepped out of the car, boasting black hair. She smiled when she laid her eyes on Chaos.

“Gonna freak out when she sees another Freak my ass,” Ass Pancakes commented as the four walked to the woman.

“Hey Lilac,” Chaos greeted, hugging her sister.

“Hey you two, thanks a lot for watching Rose for the two weeks,” Lilac thanked. Anthony shrugged.

“Ain’t your fault works dragging you to France,” Anthony remarked. Lilac gestured to Roseflame and Pancakes.

“Work friends?” Lilac asked. Chaos looked to them and nodded.

“Abigail, nice to meet you,” Roseflame started while Pancakes was internally screaming.

“I, uh, I go by Pancakes,” Anthony rolled his eyes. 

“Well, I have to get going. Flight leaves in about three hours,” Lilac turned to Rose and gave her a kiss good-bye. She then got in her rented car and rolled down her window.

“Ciao,” She called out to Anthony and Chaos.

“Ciao!” With that they officially where in charge of Rose for two whole weeks. The four looked over to Count Jester and Rose, who were still caught up in their own little world. Chaos waved to the jester and called out to them. 

“Hey Jester, What brings you around?” She asked them directly. Jester looked over to Chaos and grinned. They tossed the bells into the air and they exploded in a tiny display of fireworks. They darted over to the four, scooping Rose up into their arms as they flew. 

“I just thought I'd stop by,” Jester cheered, the little girl in their arms giggling, “And I certainly wasn’t expecting to find this little bundle!” Jester laughed, bouncing Rose in their arms “Is she Italian? I overheard you and that other woman speaking Italian before she left,”

“Our Grandma was Italian, She taught all of her grandchildren the language,” Chaos explained, “That woman would be my sister, Rose there is her daughter,” Jester happened to notice Pancakes sunglasses as she spoke. He didn’t seem to be comfortable wearing them. 

“The sun too bright out for ya?” Jester asked, giggling as Rose tugged on the ends of their jesters hat. 

“What are you?” Rose giggled.

“Why, I’m a Jester!” Jester laughed. Rose looked them in the eyes and stopped tugging at their hat.

“Are you a boy or a girl?”

“Neither!” Jester exclaimed with a grin, “I’m Nonbinary,” Rose seemed a little confused before Pancakes butted in with their response.

“It’s a precaution, I’m not exactly as friendly lookin’ as you are,” Pancakes scoffed. Chaos knew he was going to whine and complain about it until he was able to not wear them. They noticed that Chaos even was hiding her left eye from the child. Jester was silent for a moment, and then looked down at Rose.

“Y’know, you guys don’t need to hide all your freaky traits from her. I mean, look at me,” Jester said, gesturing to their entire body, “I look like I stepped out of the fever dream of a 14th century artist that had one too many bottles of wine the night before. I think your niece here can handle a few discolored eyes,” Jester remarked. Chaos looked to Pancakes, they both nodded and revealed their features to Rose. She shrunk in fear at the sight of Pancakes so he put his sunglasses back on.

“See? Least she mostly looks normal, it’s my bags that give it all away,” pancakes said, crossing their arms. Jester huffed. 

“She’s scared of bags under eyes, but not a fever dream court jester. Lovely,” They said. 

“To be fair, you are covered in bells and also gave off a good first impression with your tricks. AP here looks like he just woke up and is ready to stomp some heads in,” Roseflame remarked. Jester peered at Pancakes for a moment and shrugged.

“Eh, true. No offense Pancakes,” Jester said. Pancakes growled in response.

“You’re not helping your situation,” Roseflame chimed.

“Shut up,” He walked off. “I’m gonna go fight with Brutal or someone like him,” He retreated into his can and bounced off. Rose stared after him, fascination in her eyes. Jester adjusted her so she was looking at them.

“Hey, ya wanna see something similar?” They asked, getting an energetic nod in response. Jester handed Rose over to Chaos and took a step back. They raised their hands up and a spotlight appeared over them out of nowhere, “And now, I will disappear into an artifact less than 1/10 of my size! AND LIVE!” Jester cried. They leapt into the air in a cloud of blue, sparking smoke, and shot back down to earth where their artifact had suddenly appeared and promptly disappeared into the gem embedded in it in a flurry of stars and sparks, a sudden thunder of fanfare playing as they did so. Rose went wide-eyed at the sight before her, Chaos smiled at the display. No harm in letting Jester do their thing to entertain a child. They probably haven’t done so in years.

***

Roseflame went to go check on her ride to and from places, still dirty from their last crash landing. So she decided to take the time she had to clean off her Winged Star. She was accompanied by another Freak, Spyper. Seeing as she was wearing her BLU outfit today, she knew that even if she pissed him off by accident, he couldn’t attack.

“Good day to you miss Roseflame,” He tipped his hat.

“Hey Spyper, Guessing you came to find Count Jester?” She asked him,

“Yeah, You seem them around here?” He asked her before checking around.

“Chaos’ Niece is in town for two weeks. Jester saw her and they haven’t stopped being around her since,” She explained, she was filling up a bucket with water so she could wash off her transport.

“Thank you,” Spyper walked off to the side of the main base, away from where Rose had first been dropped off. He found Chaos and her niece checking out Jesters artifact while Jester made the gem change colors while they set up a small array of fireworks off to the side. Jester glanced up at Spyper and waved.

“Hi Spyper!” Jester called. Rose looked at the man in blue and walked over to Chaos, hiding behind her legs.

“You weren’t shy with Jester. Why are you suddenly shy with literally every other person?” Chaos asked as she continued to hide from Spyper. Jester leaned over and checked on the fireworks, their face lighting up.

“Alright, these bad boys are ready! Everybody, take a seat,” Jester laughed, and with a snap of their fingers and a puff of blue clouds, Chaos, Rose, and Spyper all found themselves reclined in deck chairs, facing towards the fireworks. Spyper blinked for a moment, slightly disoriented at his sudden change in position. Rose looked around, bewildered. They had only moved a few feet, but to so abruptly be moved from where she had been standing was a bit jarring. Jester flew over to the fireworks and landed in front of them, facing the other three. 

“Now behold, as I give you the fireworks display of a lifetime!” With a wave of their hands the fireworks went off, rocketing into the sky above them. Despite their small size, the fireworks exploded into a fanciful and extravagant array of colors, lighting up the dusk evening sky with the closest thing to the Northern Lights that could possibly be seen this far away from the poles. As the lights danced across the sky, they silhouette Count Jesters form, who was grinning wide enough to split open their face. 

As the display ended, they looked to the back of the first house and noticed that Roseflame was taking off on her Winged Star as she called it. She looked upset or even mad. Not far away from everyone was a shadow like figure flying in the air. What could that be? It was far too big to be a bird, too small to be a plane. What could that be indeed.

Jester was watching as well, but quickly shrugged it off. They really did not feel like getting into another fight, especially not so soon after Dr. Graves defeat. Count Jester floated over to the deck chairs and scooped Rose up again, now trying to get everyone's attention away from the sky. 

***

Meanwhile, Wolves Bane was about to scoop up that same child. At least he planned to in hopes that it would piss off Chaos Kin enough to come and fight him again. He had every bit planned out. The moment that the foolish jester took their eyes off the child, he would quickly snatch her off, sending alarm through the ranks. He’d flaunt that he had kidnapped the child and gloat that if they wanted to see her again, then Chaos would have to fight him at his lair.

“Brilliant plans! Soon I shall be the one with the name Chaos Kin and use it far more to the letter than she!” He cackled to himself as he turned and aimed for the first house. He flapped his wings and sent himself flying back towards the child. As he pivoted back around to dive to the base, he heard a faint screeching sound, it almost sounded like the Winged Star.

“Oh no…” Was the last words he got out before a metal bat collided with his spine and he was sent rocketing down into the ground directly underneath him.

“Try that shit again, I dare you!” Roseflame yelled, landing back on her Winged Star and hovering over the crater. Wolves Bane was in a pose similar to that of a Scorpion, his legs fell to the ground as he was no longer conscious.

“What I thought, ya thot,” Roseflame then returned to her group on the ground, her Winged Star now freshly cleaned and dried. When she landed, she saw the bewildered expressions on everyone's faces as they looked at the crater that had been made not 20 feet away, “Sorry about that, He’s our new pain in the ass around here,” Roseflame explained to the group. Jester flew over to the crater and looked in, nearly falling over laughing at the Freak inside. 

“God, he’s nothing!” Jester hooted. Granted, everything would seem like nothing after you’ve fought someone like Dr. Grave. 

“Yeah, That would be Wolves Bane. He tries to be like Nightmare Medic. Claiming he should have been Chaos Kin,” Roseflame joined them above the crater. 

“He’s not doing a very good job at it,” Jester commented. 

“I’ve seen gerbils that are more threatening than he is,” Roseflame remarked, chuckling to herself. Jester remembered they never did ask this woman about where she came from. All they knew about her was how Chaos, Brutal, and Gentle explained the whole kerfuffle.

“Hey, I don’t think we’ve met,” Jester said, looking to Roseflame. They took off their jesters hat and bowed, revealing a head of extremely poofy and curly black hair, “Name’s Count Jester,”  She took off her beanie to reveal similar hair to that of Chaos Kin, hers however looked more damaged and like static was running through it.

“Abigail Roseflame. Abby for short,” She introduced herself. Count Jester grinned and placed their hat on their head again.

“You a new Freak around here too?” Jester asked.

“Eh? Kinda,” She shrugged. She knew it was hard to explain, especially to anyone not involved in that whole trip.

“So you’re like...One of those ‘human’ Freaks?” Jester asked, tugging at the end of their jesters hat, making the bells jingle.

“Well, I’m technically not even from this world of sorts,” She tried to explain, “So I'm not technically a Freak, But I also am since by this worlds standards I’m stronger than others. Plus I have the Winged Star here,” She laid back on the item as it hovered. Jester pondered this for a moment, and then shrugged.

“Oh well, no point in dwelling on it. Now step back, let me fix this crater,” Jester informed, rolling up their sleeves, revealing that there were no physical arms underneath. Or that might have just been them being Count Jester. Jester flew up into the sky and began circling the crater, observing the damage,”Alright it looks to be around 20 feet wide and 15 feet deep, there doesn’t seem to be any major damage to the building…” they mumbled to themselves as they flew. They stopped when they circled back around the group and snapped their fingers, laughing. They brushed off their hands and electricity began crackling through them. The group behind the jester took a step back. Jester aimed their hands down at the crater and filled it back up with rock and soil instantaneously. 

When they were finished, Jester floated Wolves Banes unconscious body over to them and looked him over for a moment before shrugging. 

“You want me to launch him?” Jester asked, turning to Roseflame, a catapult poofing into existence beside them. 

“How far will this send him?” She tried to calculate it herself but seeing as they were already in the air. She really couldn’t tell.

“Oh about...A good 100 miles south,” Jester judged. 

“Fire when ready,” she had the Winged Star move backwards a few feet. Jester dropped the unconscious Freak into the catapult.

“Have a nice flight!” Jester shouted, cutting the rope loose and watching as Wolves Bane was hurled sky high. 

***

Chaos was currently preparing food with the help of Anthony and Spyper while Rose was playing with some toys she brought with, along with her tablet which would keep her attention for hours on end. She figured they’d have to pull out the big recipes with how many people were over. 

“Cazzo!” Anthony nearly dropped the 7 pounds worth of pasta onto the floor. He earned an earful of italian cursing from his cousin because of it. Spyper was cutting the peppers and tomatoes, Intelligent Heavy was in the living room with Rose so that way someone had their eyes on them. Count Jester was flying close to the ceiling, having shrunk down to about half their size due to the limited space. Roseflame was flipping through the channels on TV seeing if there was any kid friendly cartoons available. So far nothing more than Sesame Street, which Rose was already bored of. 

Count Jester quickly darted into the kitchen in a blur of blue smoke, shrinking down small enough to fit in someones palm. They landed on the counter and began walking through the bowls and ingredients that were all laid out. They climbed onto the top of an open recipe book and sat down on the spine, watching Anthony and Chaos work.

“Hey! Guys! When’s dinner ready?” They asked. Anthony jumped again, nearly messing up the distribution of cream into the sauce. He quickly got a spoon to the head.

“About 10 more minutes give or take,” Chaos responded, returning her attention to the chicken, Spyper adding the peppers into the sauce.

“What’re you making?” Jester asked, floating over to peer into the bowl that Spyper had added the peppers into. Anthony used a small fan to blow them off course.

“Family secret, we’re only letting Spyper in on it since he has the knife skills we needed,” Anthony explained.

“Aw,” Jester moaned, disheartened. 

“But, I will tell you this was one of those recipes that everyone loved. It was our replacement for turkey on Christmas or Thanksgiving-” Chaos gave them a small spoon full of the contents they were making “try some if you don’t believe me,” 

Jester leaned forward and took a small taste of the food, and their eyes went wide. They dove for another taste, but Chaos was quicker and stole the spoon back, running it under the facet for a moment to clean it off before fetching another spoon to stir with. 

“10 minutes Jester. Once the garlic bread is done. In the meantime do you mind returning to normal size and setting the tables?” Chaos kept an eye on the bread as it continued to toast. Jester darted over to the table and grew back up to their normal size. They waved their hands and a puff of sparks enveloped the table, instantly putting everything in order.

“Done!” They announced, patting their hands together. 

“Alright, I know Pancakes and he should be stalking around nearby. Mind getting him?” Anthony asked.

“On it!” Jester whooped, and darted out the window above the sink with blistering speed. Chaos looked out after the stream of blue smoke and shook her head, closing the windows again before continuing with preparing dinner. 

Jester flew around the side of the base and looked around.

“Now if I were a Freak who hides out in a can, where would I be…” Jester asked themselves. They noticed a slight glint off in the distance, no doubt Pancakes’ Warhammer as the glint was followed by several bonks and an Engineer screaming. Jester zoomed over to the noises and found Ass Pancakes attacking a group of mercenaries. Jester huffed, visibly angry, and snapped their fingers. In a rush of smoke and whistle of sparks, they and Pancakes were instantly teleported back to base. Pancakes, who had been mid-attack, slammed his warhammer over the table, breaking it in two, which was almost immediately followed by his screams of shock at having been transported. Chaos growled and threw a wooden spoon at Pancakes, confusing him to no end.

“What just happened?” He asked picking up the spoon that had been flung at him.

“You were teleported away from whatever killing spree you were on,” Jester snapped, smacking Pancakes in the back of the head, “And now you’ve broken the table,” Jester huffed. Jester snapped their fingers and the table rebuilt itself with Jester mumbling to themselves the entire time. 

“Thanks Jester. Pancakes clean yourself up,” Chaos said. Pancakes huffed and walked off to do as he was told. Jester floated away from the table and headed back into the living room to find Rose watching TV. Jester floated down with her to get a better look at what she was watching.

“Oooh, Looney Toons!” Jester cheered. They plopped down next to Rose and began watching the slapstick fueled cartoon with her. 

Chaos got the garlic bread out of the oven and cut it up into squares, while Anthony set up the plates. Spyper continued stirring up the sauce and keeping the pasta from sticking to the pan while it cooked. Anthony got out the drinks for everyone.

“Alright guys, dinner’s ready!” Anthony called out. Jester was the first into the kitchen, darting over to the table and nearly knocking their chair over as they frantically tried to sit down. Rose walked over and decided to sit next to Jester. Pancakes walked out of the bathroom, his hair still dripping wet while a towel was wrapped over his neck. Everyone else slowly sat down at the table as everything was set on their respective hot pads.

“Alright everyone, Dig in,” Chaos said, sitting down next to Anthony as she started to fill her plate. Everyone began filling up their own plates, eager to dig into the delicious food. Intelligent Heavy carefully set roses plate for her and made sure to keep an eye on her while she ate to keep her from making a mess. 

While they ate, Jester eyed the different bowls and plates that held the food on the hot pads. They grinned and glanced around before snapping their fingers, and each of the utensils suddenly came to life, startling everyone at the table. Jester laughed at the surprised yelps from the group, watching as they all stared bewildered at the now moving bowls and platters. Rose looked at the spectacle in amazement. Pancakes who hadn’t gotten his food yet was upset at the whole event. Jester snapped their fingers again and the plates and bowls began to move over the table, offering up more food to those seated. Everyone grabbed their food as it came by, Pancakes filled his plate to the brim. A bowl came by an offered some of its contents to Chaos, who snorted with laughter. Pancakes and a few others got a good laugh from it,

“There’s something you got from Pure,” Pancakes commented. Roseflame and Chaos where chortling at each others laughs. Jester cocked their head.

“Got what from Pure?” They asked.

“Nothing, Just some jokes,” Chaos jested. Pancakes just smiled at her, he knew she could have explained it better. Jester perked up again and snapped their fingers once more. The napkins on the table shuddered for a moment before coming to life and flying around the kitchen while folding themselves into a vast array of origami shapes. 

***

In a nearby cave. Wolves Bane was picking pine needles out of his arms.

“Every time! Everytime I try something like that, Roseflame gets me out of nowhere!” He groaned, going into his recliner. A shadow joined him and took on a physical appearance. They had orange eyes but nothing too distinguished otherwise.

“You know, I could unlock another power of yours. Who knows, it might help better than eagle vision,” They commented, it’s voice sounded like 20 other voices all in unison. Wolves Bane huffed and looked over to the pile of devices that the shadow had previously given to him, all failed and broken down. 

“What could you possibly have this time, Knenus?” He asked in an upset, almost bored manner.

“Nightmare Control. You seep into someone’s dreams and create personal nightmares for them based on their fears and past experiences,” They explained. Wolves Bane picked his head up after hearing the name.

“How much will it cost?” He knew they took blood from him for these powers, else he would have to catch other people’s souls.

“5 ounces, not yours however. 5 ounces of blood from the nearby camp,” They gave a wicked smile before fading into the shadows, leaving behind an amulet with a bloody eye pattern. Wolves Bane picked up the amulet and headed off. They had some nightmares to give.

Wolves Bane had to test the amulet’s power he first, otherwise he’d fall short of his plan of finally taking the mantle of Chaos Kin. Coming up to a RED base, he waited until the mercenaries all fell asleep at their camp and held up the amulet. With a glint in his eyes a shadowy. grasping hand shot from the amulet and split off towards each of the mercenaries, shimmering in the darkness. After several minutes, a cacophony of screaming filled the air as each of them received their nightmares.

“The payment is done, have fun with your new toy,” Knenus’ voice rang through Wolves Bane’s head. He smirked as he dashed off to the base which Chaos Kin called home.

[doasyouwill-blog]

He Came Back to Her in the Dark: An Inheritance Cycle Story Pt. 2 (Murtagh x Nasuada)

Author’s Note: Considering the fact that I was going to keep this to myself, I am so excited that some of you have read this and have responded. Thank you! And I hope it’s all right, but I am tagging those of you that reblogged and/or commented. If you’d like to be added to the tag list please let me know.

@fictionisalwaysbetter @thebrotherofmany @michael-jinx @piercing-the-valley @nandavore @babewith-the-power @theblackqueen-ofmyheart @blade3429 @murtagh-thorn @dragonheartstring360

I hope you’re in for a sloooow burn, because that’s what  (in my opinion) makes sense for Murtagh and Nasuada .  Also, I just want Christopher Paolini to come out with his new book...please man, come on! Hence, me writing this, and I’ve had this for yeeaaaars, so it’s been a while Sir Paolini! 

If you would like to catch up, please see Part 1 here.

This fic is rated T for thematic elements.  I hope you enjoy, and thank you!

Chapter 3: The Dark-haired Rider

One month ago

Murtagh slept fitfully in the dying light of their campfire, sheltered by Thorn’s red wing. The visions dancing before his sleeping mind aroused Thorn from his slumber. With a shout, Murtagh awoke, holding his knife aloft to the throat of some unseen assailant.

The same dream?  inquired Thorn.

Yes, answered Murtagh, his exhausted sigh transmuting even through the soundless channel of their minds.

Anything new?

The same sense of dread, the future covered in impenetrable blackness.

Our future has always been uncertain, said Thorn, but my heart tells me this is something more.

I agree…some evil yet unknown walks Alagaesia.

It sets my teeth on edge.

We’ll keep our eyes and our claws sharp then, won’t we, my friend? Always, agreed Thorn.

 ------

Thorn glittered brilliantly like a blood red ruby as he flew against the backdrop of a gray sky. The northern mountains loomed impossibly tall, even at the height which they flew, jagged black spires cleaving the horizon. Despite the ominous nature of their surroundings, the sight gave Murtagh an inexplicable sense of peace and exhilaration.

Shall we dance with the mountains today, friend, or do you wish to walk safely on the ground? jested Thorn. And have you call me a coward for the rest of our days? Never!  responded Murtagh, letting Thorn feel his excitement and sense of reckless abandon.

Without another word, Thorn raced towards the dark mountains, a singular flaming arrow speeding towards black oblivion. Thorn roared with ferocious euphoria and Murtagh did the same as they entered the narrow gaps in between the peaks, twisting and diving mere feet, and sometimes inches, away from the mountain range’s razor edge. There was nothing, nothing, Murtagh concluded, that could ever come close to the feeling of flying with Thorn. Murtagh could feel the dragon hum sonorously in agreement. The roar of the wind rushing past Murtagh’s ears eradicated all conscious thought other than the sheer joy of present moment. Pain and sorrow, resentment and uncertainty melted into the blur of rock and stone and their fevered breathing. All he knew was the push and pull of the air, the thrill of being alive, and the touch of the sun warming his wind-chilled face.

After hours of swooping between the sharp, steep peaks Thorn and Murtagh emerged, weary but intoxicated from the thrill of their dangerous dance with the mountains. Thorn landed heavily on the golden plains that stretched for miles around the black spires. Murtagh dismounted with a groan, stumbling to the ground and landing on his hands and knees, his legs sore and his black hair matted with sweat. Still nearly prostrate on the ground, he looked back at the mountains, and feeling more alive than he had ever felt in his whole life, threw his shoulders back to face the gray sky and the dark ridges that extended to the heavens and let out a guttural yell of unbridled triumph. Thorn too, roared with all his might at the black mountains, releasing a magnificent jet of crimson flames, and there they stood, one dark-haired Rider and his red dragon, their exultant bellows echoing around the empty, golden plains.

 --------

Later, in the twilight, Murtagh sat cross-legged amidst the tall grass and listened, stretching his consciousness out to the myriad of life forms that inhabited the seemingly bare lands. He heard a family of rodents eagerly collecting fallen seeds for their winter store, felt their joy as each deposited a massive pile of the day’s takings. He watched a great snowy owl as it swooped over the grasslands, searching for prey, the pangs of his stomach making his vision bright and his beak clack in anticipation of a meal. He felt the rodent family’s subsequent terror as the behemoth darkened the sky with his flight and relief as he passed over them. He listened until he heard no more, and the blood throbbing in his body seemed in perfect rhythm with the pulsations of the earth upon which he sat. Thorn probed Murtagh’s consciousness, the dragon’s familiar mind musical, noble, and powerful, saying, You have come very far, Shur’tugal. The significance of Thorn’s use of the honorific term was not lost on Murtagh. He smiled. My gratitude belongs to you, Bjartskular. Murtagh drifted into sleep to the sound of Thorn’s contented humming.

 --------

The ugly lacerations on the young woman’s back contrasted with her satin skin the color of warm chestnut. Except for a tattered skirt of white linen, her figure was bare. Her trembling arms were wrapped around a stone pillar, with her cheek pressed against the rough column. Moving closer to her, Murtagh watched as a drop of moisture traced a tract down her face. From what was not obscured by shadow, he saw that she was very beautiful, but he could not recognize her. The drop fell to the ground and in the moonlight, he realized that it was blood. The woman shifted and the night’s luminescence lit her features clearly. It was Nasuada. A whip cracked out of the darkness and she screamed, and Murtagh found that it was his own mouth that was screaming in the soundless black.

Murtagh! Murtagh!

He awoke with a jolt, his throat raw, and found the force of his yell still reverberating around the desolate plains.

Thorn! Murtagh cried out with his mind, Did you see—

Yes, responded the dragon, his thoughts perturbed as he reviewed what Murtagh had dreamt. 

Do you think—

It could be like what Eragon saw when he knew he needed to rescue Arya— …and that this is happening as we speak?

Murtagh sprang to his feet and began to pace furiously. If his vision proved true, Nasuada was in very grave danger. From whom or from what, he could not tell, but the overwhelming sense of foreboding convinced him that all was not right in Alagaesia. And if so, why has Nasuada been left defenseless? What of Elva? Her friendship with the elves or the dwarves, the Urgals even? What of Eragon? He thought back to when he and Thorn had left. Alagaesia had yet to choose a new ruler and he knew that whoever came into power after Galbatorix’s defeat would be vulnerable to attack from the old regime’s allies. He paused and comprehension dawned on him.

Of course, Murtagh thought, Nasuada must have deposed Galbatorix. The longer he considered it, the more obvious it became to him.

She is a formidable pack leader, said Thorn, but her enemies would be many and the danger would be great.

None would be better suited, agreed Murtagh, but after undergoing torture in Uru’baen…Grief and self-hatred tore at him at the memory of her imprisonment and his hand in it, I hoped she would perhaps leave the grueling and dangerous task of repairing the Empire to someone else.

From what you have told me of her and what I know myself, observed Thorn, I could not imagine she would leave so crucial burden to another.

She is a woman of unmatched virtues. Her sense of duty, intelligence, and strength are unparalleled. 

I see why you still care for her, even after all this time. 

Thorn’s perception of his regard for Nasuada piqued his irritation some, but he knew it was useless to bemoan the loss of his privacy, even within his innermost feelings. The bond between Rider and dragon superseded such boundaries. Murtagh sighed, and again his mind began to race. Regardless of his affection for Nasuada, if her life was in danger and if she, in fact, was the caretaker of Alagaesia, then the very fate of Alagaesia hung in the balance. Peace, he knew, was a fragile thing especially after a tyrannical reign of over eighty years and without a capable, magnanimous ruler to guide its recovery, Alagaesia was liable to plunge into another war, this time amongst those who seek to gain dominion over the land as soon as the opportunity arose. All that they had fought and died and suffered for would be lost.

Is it time for us to return to Alagaesia, Murtagh? asked Thorn, his tone solemn.

Murtagh turned facing the south while to the east the sun was just beginning to break upon the horizon and the golden plains that stretched before them seemed to be suspended in time, as if the earth itself held its breath in anticipation for the plunge.

Yes, Thorn, said Murtagh, I believe Alagaesia calls us home.

 ------

Murtagh tarried no longer, gathering his supplies and securing Thorn’s harness so quickly that the sun had not yet broken fully from its place on the far point of the plains. Climbing lithely into the saddle and lashing the black scabbard containing Zar’roc tightly to its front, Murtagh sat, his brow furrowed and his limbs trembling with impatience.

Murtagh, said Thorn.

What is it? asked Murtagh, curious at the tumult of emotions Thorn was transmitting. 

I am proud to have you as my Rider.

Murtagh grinned and exclaimed, Then let us be off, so that we may be worthy of the name Shur’tugal!

With a roar, Thorn spread his massive wings, beating the air with such force that the grasslands around them flattened and the very air seemed to warp. Within seconds, Murtagh and Thorn were naught but a flaming pinprick of red against the silvery blue sky.

Chapter 4: “Do as you will.”

“Again!”

Nasuada parried Vanir’s blow with as much speed and ferocity as she could muster, her hand and a half sword a silver blur. Her limbs trembling, she looked up and despite herself, grew irritated at Vanir’s apparent lack of exhaustion. He lunged forward with a stabbing motion quicker than the human eye could follow, but this she anticipated, sidestepping it and returning with a slashing blow towards his neck. He dodged this easily and touched Nasuada once on the thigh, eliciting a cry from her and then held his blade to her neck.

“Good,” stated Vanir, as he sheathed his sword, “but you are distracted today.”

Nasuada nodded, sheathing her own sword. “The dwarves are arriving from Farthen Dur. Some new evil has been stalking their lands. Orik himself wishes to meet with me and discuss the welfare of our kingdoms.”

“All this on the eve of Eragon’s Day and Galbarotix’s fall,” Vanir’s usually smooth brow was creased with worry. “The elves too, have sensed a shift in the earth,” he corroborated. 

“Do you return for Du Weldenvarden soon?” inquired Nasuada.

Vanir paused before answering her. “I will wait for the dwarves to arrive. I need to hear their account. If the need is great I will scry Queen Arya, but more likely she is within Du Weldenvarden and will therefore necessitate my leaving Iliria to inform her.”

Nasuada thanked him for again taking the time to improve her swordsmanship and then took her leave of Vanir, ending their session prematurely. While she knew she was a more than proficient archer, the number of attempts on her life and direct experience in battle convinced her that mastery of a close combat weapon could only help her. However, Nasuada got the sense that if she continued practicing with him, her rigid mental blockade would falter and that Vanir would inadvertently learn of the full reason for her distraction.

Returning to her chamber, Farica helped Nasuada change out of her sparring attire and into apparel more suitable for attending to matters of state. As Farica tightened the laces on the deep purple bodice, Nasuada couldn’t help but look at the large doorway leading to her balcony in recollection of last night. The memories of it filled her with confusion and some apprehension…

Murtagh, as he stepped into the lamplight, appeared travel-worn and so beset with exhaustion that it seemed that it might topple him at any moment, but otherwise he looked well. He wore a dark red traveling cloak over a leather jerkin, a simple black tunic and pants. His tanned hands were bare, the gedwey ignasia glowing slightly with an iridescent light. His tousled dark hair was longer than before, and he seemed somewhat deeper in the chest and more solid in the shoulders as though he had spent the last few years hard at labor.

Recovering slightly from her initial shock, Nasuada still held up her jeweled dagger. If she was in danger, where was Elva? And her Nightstalkers, faithfully posted outside her chamber, why did they not hear Murtagh, and moreover, his thirty foot long dragon?

As if guessing her thoughts, Murtagh said, “I placed a spell surrounding your rooms. I thought it best if Thorn and I saw you directly.”

Her thoughts racing, Nasuada’s alarm gave way to animosity. 

“You had no right to do such a thing,” she said heatedly.  

For him to show up on her balcony in the dead of night, after being gone for five years, filled Nasuada with a myriad of conflicting emotions, livid confusion being at the forefront. 

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, examining Murtagh’s face for any sign of instability or ill-intent.

Seemingly aware of Nasuada’s fury (her eyes were glinting rather dangerously) and unwilling to provoke her further, Murtagh answered promptly. 

“I had a vision,” he said. “The sort that you can’t ignore. I believed that you, and the whole of Alagaesia, were in the most grievous of perils. So I came back.” Surprised, Nasuada lowered her knife slightly, though not wholly convinced.

“You came back?” asked Nasuada. She made no effort to disguise her incredulity. “Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been in danger plenty of times before you showed up. Only two days ago someone tried to poison me.”

“Of that, I have no doubts.”

“Then what brings you back? Why now?”

“This time is different.” Murtagh’s brow furrowed. “For months, I’ve been having dreams that some darkness was seeking to envelop Alagaesia. And then, one month ago, I saw you, as clearly as you stand before me now, imprisoned and nearly at the point of death. The same type of vision that Eragon had that led him to rescue Arya from Durza.”

Nasuada nodded, recalling Eragon’s strange account. “Even if I were to believe you, and I’m not saying I do,” said Nasuada, “that still doesn’t make any sense. I’m obviously not imprisoned, and as far as I know, not dying. How could that be?”

“I don’t know,” replied Murtagh frankly, his mouth narrowing as he continued to think, “but whatever it means, it was a strong enough compulsion to return here. I’ve studied magic long enough to know that such premonitions bode some ill yet to be discovered.”

Nasuada considered the situation, and then a fearful idea occurred to her. 

“How do I know you are truly Murtagh and not some illusion conjured by an enemy spellcaster?” His gray eyes looked back at her. He nodded.

“I would feel the same in your place. Ask me something then, that only I would know, something that you have told no one else.”

“And you won’t try to enter my consciousness?”

“You would know it if I did.”

Adjusting the knife slightly in her grasp, Nasuada scoured her memories and she harkened back to her imprisonment in the Hall of the Soothsayer, their stolen moments, snatches of conversation and companionship amidst Galbatorix’s cruel interrogation.

“Who was the man that I would sneak away to see and what did he show me?” 

Though not a crucial piece of information, Nasuada so rarely spoke about herself, let alone her childhood, to another person that this tidbit is one that she knew had only shared with Murtagh.

Murtagh thought for a moment. 

“His name was Taganna. You used to run away from your nurse so that he could show you his wares. He sold knives and daggers in the market streets of Aberon.”

At this, Nasuada lowered her knife. “There’s only one thing left to be done then.” 

Murtagh raised his eyebrows inquisitively. “And what’s that?” he asked.

“Touch my mind. That is the only way I can be sure once and for all that you are Murtagh and not some clever trick.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, his tone uncertain. “If I were to be an enemy spellcaster, it would be almost nothing to force myself within your consciousness.”

“Aye, I know it. But before that happens, I will stab myself and Elva can bypass any magic you have placed around these rooms and alert my guards. They won’t defeat you, maybe Elva might, but at least the people would know that there is danger in their midst. If you are truly Murtagh then I most likely need not fear you and if you aren’t or mean me ill, then I’m already dead.”

Murtagh shook his head in wonderment. “You are as tenacious and iron-willed as I remember you to be,” he said and he couldn’t help as a slight grin of amusement touched his face. 

Nasuada extended her neck and looked at him square in the eye. Her expression serious, she said, “Do as you will,” echoing the first moment she gave him her full trust. Seeming to remember the significance of her reply as well, a bright spark illuminated Murtagh’s gaze before he half closed them. Then, Nasuada recited a scrap of verse as a tendril of thought brushed against the solid walls of her mind but did not probe further. As his mind reached out to hers, Nasuada knew without any further doubt it was Murtagh. And yet, gone was the cold black heart of anger that defined his being so prominently when she last touched his mind. Instead, she perceived a fervid red glow over gold-dusted plains, the expanse extending to the farthest reaches of his mind. In it too, she saw with a shock that he still cared for her, his feelings tangled in crimson spirals of confusion and guilt. After a few seconds, Murtagh drew away. When her mind was once again her own, Nasuada opened her eyes and looked up to see Murtagh’s soft gray gaze, his face inches from hers.

“So it is you,” she murmured. Murtagh nodded. For a moment, neither them moved. Nasuada found that she was following the curve of his lips and remembering the heat of them, how they felt on hers the day he left. Almost involuntarily, she felt her head tip back as if to receive his kiss and (was it just her imagination?) Murtagh leaned forward slightly. 

However in the next moment Nasuada recovered, drawing  in a sharp breath and breaking their eye contact. She turned towards her inner chambers to hide the blush that had risen in her cheeks. 

“How inconsiderate of me!” she said, clearing her throat. “You must be exhausted. Would you like anything to eat or drink?” Nasuada thought she saw a slight look of disappointment cross Murtagh’s face, but that could just as easily have been the shadows flickering in the candlelight. He shook his head. His voice was soft when he replied. 

“You are very kind, Nasuada. It has been a hard journey and Thorn took nearly no rest. Our sense of urgency was great. He needs to hunt and then sleep.” He paused. “Also, I believe it is best that our arrival remain hidden for now, until we figure out what our next move is.”

Nasuada understood. “There are accommodations for both of you on the east wing of the castle. I will make sure you have everything you need. It is relatively empty and kept ready should Eragon or Arya choose to visit, though I have no idea if Eragon will return—” Murtagh interrupted her.

“Arya?”

“Ah yes, the green egg hatched for her, not long after you…left.”

“And Eragon is gone? Where?”

“He left Alagaesia a year or so after the Galbatorix’s defeat, to raise the dragons and the next line of Riders.”

Nasuada heard a surprised huff from Thorn, spewing out a small flame that nearly lit her curtains on fire. Murtagh too, considered the information with surprise. He met her gaze. 

“It seems that we have much to catch up on,” Murtagh said simply. 

A deep, musical voice brushed against hers. Familiar with the touch of a dragon’s mind, Nasuada knew it was Thorn and allowed him to communicate with her.

We are glad you are well, Lady Nightstalker. She smiled at the name.

It has long since anyone has called me such, O dragon, she said projecting her thoughts. I am pleased to be reminded of my past self by one as fearsome as you. May you hunt and rest well tonight. 

Thorn rumbled, his approval evident. At this, Murtagh bowed to her with a slight incline of his head and mounted Thorn. Looking down from the saddle, Murtagh raised his hand “We will see you soon.”

“Is that a promise?” asked Nasuada, with a note of jest in her voice.

Though he smiled slightly, Murtagh’s expression was as intense as it was inscrutable. He locked eyes with her for that brief moment. 

“Yes, it is,” he answered, and before Nasuada could reply they flew into the night sky, Thorn’s wings pushing against the air with the force of a thunderclap.

[bensredemption]

Just a Little Rain  →  for @spacereylos​.  feel better soon ♡

Rey had been sick for two days. Technically speaking, it was closer to five, but she had spent the first three ignoring her gradually worsening condition. There was too much to be done— she and Ben were hunting down the remaining Knights of Ren, a task proving to be far more difficult than they had anticipated— and she couldn’t afford to spend days in a sickbed. Their journey had taken them to Jabiim, a torrential planet in the Outer Rim. They trekked through muddy swamps and pouring rain on the heels of the rogue knight for days, but she eluded them at every turn. Rey, still mostly accustomed to the desert climate of Jakku, was completely out of her element. Her immune system had taken a hard hit, and that’s why she was now wrapped up beneath several blankets in her bunk aboard the Millennium Falcon.

Ben came down the corridor and into the main hold where Rey’s bunk was. She saw that he was carrying a tray of food, even though Rey had insisted that she wasn’t hungry. She closed her eyes, hoping that maybe he’d leave her be if he thought she was still asleep.

The room stayed quiet. Rey had to resist the urge to open one eye and see what he was doing. She knew he was there; she could sense his presence.

She was tired, and the longer she pretended to be asleep, the more she felt like she actually could doze off again. But then there was a sudden bang that sent Rey jolting upright.

Ben stood by the lounge area just a few feet away, his arms crossed. “I knew you were awake,” he said. Ben didn’t smile— not ever— but sometimes, like right now, she could see the suggestion of amusement in his expression.

”Thanks for that,” said Rey. The worst of her headache was gone, along with the fever, but she was still weak and tired; she wanted nothing more than to stay buried beneath her warm blankets and shut the universe out.

Ben, who seemed to be committed to keeping her from that goal, gestured to the tray of food which he had, evidently, slammed onto the hologame table.

Rey sighed, rising from the bed and wrapping the heavy wool blanket tightly around herself. Her aching muscles protested as she slowly wobbled over to the lounge seat, which she unceremoniously flopped down onto.

“Did you reach our contact in Choal?” she asked.

“No,” said Ben, frowning. “It’s these electrical storms. Comlinks are unstable. I can’t imagine what Amirah is up to here. Even repulsorcrafts are practically useless.”

Jabiim was notorious for it’s unstable electrical fields. The sodden terrain and relentless storms made surface travel particularly difficult, and Ben was growing increasingly frustrated with each passing day. She knew that he wasn’t angry with her, it wasn’t her fault that she got sick, after all, but they were the only two on this mission, and so her poor state had slowed them down tremendously.

Ben went and sat down at the technical station just across the room while Rey inspected the food he had brought. There was a piece of bread that surely came from the ship’s stocked Rations, and a steaming bowl of soup that was decidedly not from the Rations. It was thick and lumpy, and a completely unappetizing shade of green.

“There isn’t any porg in this, is there?” The birds that had piled onto the Millennium Falcon before she left Ahch-To had made themselves quite at home. They’d been a constant thorn in Chewbacca’s side.

“Now there’s an idea,” said Ben. He liked them even less than Chewie did.

“You’re awful.” Rey swirled the spoon around the bowl, scrutinizing the contents. “I know you talk to them when you think I can’t hear you. In fact, just the other day— Achoo!“

Ben waved his hand, sending a container of tissues gracefully floating over to Rey’s spot on the lounge seat.

Rey was strong in the Force. She didn’t doubt that. But there was something so effortless in the way Ben used his abilities. He told her it was only because he’d been using it his entire life. You’ll get there, he’d promised. Have patience.

“It’s vegetables, roots, and bark,” said Ben. “No porg. My mother used to make it for me as a child whenever I came down with the flu. I had to make due with what was available here, but it’s mostly the same.”

Thinking of a young Ben being doted on by Leia made Rey feel sad for the both of them; a feeling she quickly tried to conceal. Ben was still uncomfortable talking about his family.

Lately, he seemed to be uncomfortable talking about anything.

Rey often wondered if they shared too much too fast; if that was the reason he had became so guarded and distant after those first few days together.

She watched him as he worked at the control panel. It was hard to reconcile this composed and collected version of Ben with the broken, desperate man that had come to her immediately after defecting from the First Order.

“It’s very… green,” said Rey. She couldn’t see any bark or leaves— whatever the ingredients were, they were cut too small to recognize. Regardless, nothing that color could possibly taste good.

“It is nutritional,” said Ben. “If you’re content with prolonging your congestion, headaches, and squeaky sneezes—“

“Squeaky?”

“—then by all means, have more of the Rations that have probably been laying around here since before I was born.”

“Alright, alright,” said Rey. “I’ll try it.” Squeaky? She never would have thought her sneezes sounded any more or less squeaky than anyone else’s. Is he… teasing me?

Rey scooped up an ominous heap of soup, wincing slightly as a glob of it slipped off her spoon and splashed back into the bowl. It can’t be that bad, she told herself. Rey doubted that Leia would have served him anything much worse than the portions Rey lived off of on Jakku. 

Ben didn’t turn around from his work, which Rey was grateful for. She didn’t think she’d be able to hide her disgust if it tasted as awful as it looked. She steeled herself for the worst and ate a spoonful. 

The distaste she expected never came. The soup had a certain earthy flavor, and the texture was unusual, but it wasn’t terrible. She swallowed another spoonful. And then another.

“It’s actually not bad,” she admitted. Ben, focused on whatever he was doing at the control panel, simply offered an indifferent hum.

“Tokru,” Ben said over the comlink. “Tokru, this is Ben Solo. Do you copy?”

Ben Solo. He wasn’t Kylo Ren anymore— hadn’t been for weeks— but every time he said his own name, it made something flutter in Rey’s chest.

It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation.

“Tokru, this is Ben Solo. Do you read?”

There was no response. Not even a flurry of static to let them know that the channel was active, even if disrupted. Ben slammed the comlink down in frustration. “We’re going to lose her.”

Rey knew he felt a sense of responsibility for them. The Knights of Ren. Childhood friends that had followed in Ben’s footsteps, fleeing Luke’s Temple and swearing allegiance to Snoke and the First Order. But Amirah, for some reason, seemed to affect Ben more than the others.

Rey could still remember the way Ben pleaded with Shios Ren, the last Knight they had managed to track down. We’re going to form a new Jedi Order, Ben had told him. It’s going to be different.

Shios would not be reasoned with. Angry and afraid, like a cornered beast, he attacked Ben with primal fury. There was nothing graceful in Shios’ movements; his fighting style was unlike anything Rey had seen before, not even in Ben. Shios was more hatred and rage than skill, fiercely hacking and slashing at Ben with his blazing red lightsaber.

Rey had stood to the side, watching their duel with her heart in her throat and her hand in a white-knuckled grip around her own ignited lightsaber, ready to strike if Ben needed her.

Ben parried each blow with precision, holding back and willing Shios to come back to the light, as Ben himself had done. It had gone on like that until a particularly brutal slash caught Ben on the leg. Rey had screamed, and started to charge, but Ben was able to cut Shios down in one fell swoop before she reached them. 

After, Rey had tended to Ben’s burn. She removed one of her arm wraps and bandaged it around his upper thigh. She could still remember the way his lips parted and eyes darkened as he watched her do it, the way her own hands trembled as she worked.

She felt herself blushing at the memory, and quickly tried to put it out of her mind. It would return. It always did. At night, in her bunk, she’d think about that moment, and wonder if Ben thought about it too.

“Achoo!”

Ben walked across the room towards Rey and examined her tray. “Make sure you eat the bread too,” he said.

She furrowed her brow at the order and he sighed. “You need to get your strength back,” he said. “You need to eat.”

“I really am feeling much better,” said Rey, even as she reached for the bread. It was true; she knew she was past the worst of it. 

“I’ve got to make sure this storm isn’t wreaking havoc on the hyperdrive,” he said, heading out of the room.

“Ben,” Rey called after him.

He stopped, turning to look at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read.

“Thank you,” she said. “For the dinner. And… for looking after me.”

Ben simply nodded before turning back around and walking down the corridor, leaving Rey  alone with her thoughts. The canopy of trees overhead provided little in the way of shelter from the pouring rain. Flashes of lightning filled the sky and thunder rumbled the ground. Rey could actually feel the electricity in the air, like static.

I’ve been here, she thought. Just the other day. With Ben.

Why was it so hard to remember?

Rey’s lightsaber was casting a blue glow into the fog that surrounded her.

But that was wrong too. It wasn’t her new saber, but the first one she had wielded. The one that had belonged to Luke. And to his father.

Someone was watching her.

Rey spun around, struggling to keep her balance on the muddy ground, and was met by the sight of woman standing across from her, cloaked all in black. Her face was cast in shadows.

“Who are you?” asked Rey. The thunder drowned out her voice. “Amirah?”

“You’ve been searching for me,” said Amirah. Why could Rey hear her so clearly through the storm, while barely being able to make out her own voice?

“Ben and I—“

“No,” interrupted Amirah. “You. You’ve been searching for signs of me in him.”

A wind rushed through the trees, spraying rain in Rey’s face and making her shiver.  “I don’t understand.”

“Yes, you do. Go on, ask me. Ask the question that’s been burning a hole in you since you started this journey.”

The ground shook with another clap of thunder. “Were you lovers?” asked Rey. “You and Ben?”

Rey still couldn’t make out Amirah’s face, but she imagined a leering smile was there when she asked Rey, “Why do you want to know?”

“I just want to understand him,” said Rey.

“And yet you do not ask him yourself.” Amirah’s voice was changed. It was familiar somehow, but Rey couldn’t place it.

“He stopped sharing anything with me!” Rey felt tears welling in her eyes. “Every time I get close to him, he pulls away. He may as well still be wearing a mask.”

“But he isn’t,” said Amirah, stepping out of the shadows and pointing at the ground. But it wasn’t Amirah at all.

Rey was looking at herself.

A dream, Rey thought. This isn’t real.

She looked down, and sure enough the mask of Kylo Ren lay smashed in pieces at her feet. “I don’t understand.”

“Rey.”

Ben’s voice came from behind her. She turned to see him staring at her, confused, his hair and clothes wet with rain.

“Why are you shutting me out?” Rey asked angrily, stomping toward him.

"I’m not—”

“You are!” she shouted. “I want to know why.”

Ben looked down at her, his eyes dark and sad. “I’m a monster, remember?”

His words snuffed out the rage inside her, leaving only an ache in her chest.

“Ben,” she said. “You’re not. I didn’t know you... I didn’t know what you were going through.”

“I’ll destroy you.” He said it so quietly, but Rey could hear him clearly even through the wind and rain and thunder.

Rey shook her head. “You won’t. I know you won’t.”

There were beads of rain on his face, as well as droplets that were not rain. He stepped closer to her.

“You won’t,” she repeated in a whisper.

Rey held her breath as Ben reached his hand out to touch her face in a gesture than was achingly intimate. Once he did, the feel of his skin on hers was so solid and real that it immediately jolted her awake.

Rey was laying in her bunk with Ben standing over her, his eyes wide with surprise.

“Ben?” she asked, confused.

“I’m sorry,” he said, taking a stumbling step backwards. “I didn’t mean to wake you, I just—” he gestured vaguely at her. “You looked cold.”

She touched the blanket that had been laid over her. Was it only a dream? Or something more?

“It’s okay,” said Rey, trying to steady her breathing. She wanted to reach for him, but he was already too far away.

Ben nodded, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Then he turned and rushed down the corridor.

It was only after he was gone that she realized he hadn’t simply brought her a blanket. The last thing Rey remembered, before her dream, was sitting on lounge seat, practicing Dejarik on the hologame table. That was where she had dozed off… which meant Ben had carried her to bed.

If Rey had any more dreams after falling back asleep, she didn’t remember them. Rey woke in the morning in better condition than she’d been in all week, despite her restless sleep. After a sonic shower and change of clothes, she actually felt like her normal self again.

She found Ben in the engineering bay, crouched above a disassembled circuitry panel with a hydrospanner.

“You’re going to have to give me the recipe for that soup,” she said. “I think it cured me. It’s not a family secret, is it?”

“Hardly,” said Ben. He had his back to her as he focused on his work. “Apparently it was something an old Jedi Master made for Luke.”

“Luke’s master?” she asked, excitedly. “Ben Kenobi?”

Rey had familiarized herself with the Jedi that Ben Solo was named for through stories and the holocrons that Ben had tracked down and hidden away during his time in the First Order. Many of the holocrons were from long before Luke’s time, but some held teachings recorded by Jedi just before the rise of the Empire.

“Not Kenobi,” said Ben. “Yoda.”

“So… it’s a secret Jedi recipe then?” she asked. “I’m a Jedi now too, you know.”

Ben lowered the hydrospanner and turned to look at her. “I take it you’re feeling better?”

“Much,” said Rey, leaning against the doorway.

“Good,” he said. “I have a feeling we’re going to make contact with Tokru today. The rain’s eased up since last night.”

“Oh, good,” said Rey. “That’s… good.” She chewed her lip, unsure of how to proceed. Ben must have sensed her nervousness. He raised an eyebrow, looking at her questioningly.

She tried to sound as casual as she could. “About last night…”

Ben drew in a sharp breath and Rey saw color rising in his cheeks. She could sense the array of emotions he was feeling.

“You were there,” she said.

They’d been in each other’s thoughts and feelings, had talked— even touched— across lightyears. But this, sharing a dream, was entirely new.

“It was only for a moment,” he admitted, putting down the hydrospanner and standing. “It wasn’t on purpose.”

“How long were you there?” she asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.

“It lasted a minute— if that,” he said, approaching her from across the room. “It was… raining.”

I’m a monster, remember?

“I thought I saw Amirah first,” said Rey.

She watched Ben carefully for his reaction, but when his eyebrows lifted in surprise, she knew he had not been present for the earlier exchange.

“I’m not sure if she’d be capable of consciously appearing to you,” he said.

“I don’t think it was really her.” She remembered the way Amirah had changed form to be a reflection of Rey herself, just before Ben appeared. “I don’t even know what she looks like.”

“She’s strong with the Force,” said Ben. “But not as strong as you. You don’t have to be worried.”

“I’m not afraid of her,” said Rey.

“Good.” He was so close now, standing not even an arm’s-reach in front of Rey. “She won’t overpower us, but I’m hoping that it doesn’t come to that. I don’t think it’s too late for her.”

She thought back to her dream. The question that’s been burning a hole in you. Rey had to know… even if the answer hurt.

“Were you and Amirah… close?”

Ben didn’t seem to expect that. He tilted his head, searching her face. Rey focused on concealing her emotions. “Don’t do that,” she snapped.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he said, carefully. “We grew up together.”

“It’s really none of my business,” said Rey, turning away.

“Wait.” Ben gently grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving. “She was just a friend, Rey.”

Rey wanted to escape; to run and hide on the other side of the Falcon— or better yet, the other side of the galaxy— but he didn’t let her go.

Rey forced herself to look at him, and was amazed to see a desperately apologetic look in his eyes. It was reminiscent of when he had first come to ask for her help.

All at once, Rey understood why Ben had been creating so much distance between them, why he had been fighting so hard against the bond that connected them through the Force... He was terrified.

I’ll destroy you, he had told her in the dream.

“Rey,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “I—“

“Solo,” blared a sudden voice, interrupting Ben and startling them both. “Solo, do you copy?”

Ben let her go and fumbled for his comlink. Rey stepped away from him, her back hitting the wall behind her.

“Tokru,” Ben said into the com. “I read you.”

Rey struggled to regain her composure as her heart beat wildly in her chest.

“Damned storm took down our entire communications system,” the Jabiimi explained. “We just got 'em up and runnin’ again.”

“We assumed as much,” said Ben. “Were you able to find any intel on Amirah?”

“Aye,” said Tokru. “But you’re not gonna like it.” After Tokru informed Ben that Amirah had stowed away on a cargo ship headed for Jaresh, Ben’s frustration had been palpable. He’d stormed into the cockpit with Rey trailing behind him, their unfinished conversation seemingly forgotten. Ben interrogated Tokru over the com link for any other information while punching Jaresh’s coordinates into the navicomputer.

Rey had left him there to go about giving the Falcon a final once-over, just to be sure the ship was ready for hyperspace after spending almost a week in the volatile atmosphere of Jabiim.

When she came upon the freight loading room, she saw the doors had been left open and the ramp was lowered.

Rey could smell the rain in the air from outside.

At the end of the ramp, shielded from the rain beneath the hull of the ship, was Ben. His stance told Rey he was meditating.

Rey went to stand beside him. The sky still crackled with lightning and thunder, but the rainfall seemed almost gentle now, compared to the torrential downpour that had plagued them since their arrival.

“We’re going to find her,” Rey said.

“I know what I have to do,” said Ben, staring out at the densely packed forrest in front of them. “This order need to be abolished, one way or another. There’s still the First Order as well, but I think once we’ve taken care of the Knights of Ren, things will be… different.”

Rey didn’t understand. “Different how?”

Ben finally looked at her, and the pain and remorse that she could see in his features made her want to cry. “The things I’ve done…” he said. “I know that I can’t atone for all of it. But this— ending the Knights of Ren, maybe even bringing some of them back from the Dark Side— this I can do.”

She reached out and touched his arm reassuringly. “We’ll do it together.”

“I still feel the pull to the Darkness,” Ben said. “It’s not what it once was, but it’s there.” Then he took her hand into his own.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Rey.”

“You don’t have to go through this this alone,” she said.

Ben ran his thumb over Rey’s knuckles, and she was amazed by how such a simple touch could send a shiver down her spine.

“I remember watching you in the rain on Ahch-To,” Ben said softly.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen it,” she said.

Ben nodded. “I could sense your emotions.”

Rey’s heart was pounding like it had been in the engineering bay just a few hours ago. Something was changing. 

“What did you feel?” she asked

His free hand came up to touch her face, the way he had in the dream.

“Wonder,” he said. “Awe. Reverence.”

“I feel that right now,” said Rey. Her voice was almost a whisper. The distance between them was closing, though she wasn’t sure who was leaning into whom. “I feel it in you too.”

“It’s not because of the rain,” said Ben. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her lips.

“I know.”

Their lips met, and in that moment Rey finally understood why the Force kept bringing them together. Relief washed over her like rain and she knew it was not only her own, but Ben’s too. The feel of his mouth against hers was so different, so new, yet there was a sense of familiarity there too.

Ben was so much taller than her, but he wasn’t awkward in the way he leaned down into her; his hand moved to her lower back and he pulled her close, deepening their kiss and pressing their bodies together.

Their lips parted and slid against each other’s; each tiny movement set every nerve in her alight. Her hand was buried in Ben’s hair, and she felt herself pulling him hard against her, desperate to be as close to him as she could be.

A sudden crash of lightning startled them, and they pulled apart breathlessly. Ben looked about as overwhelmed as Rey felt; his cheeks flushed and his hair tousled.

They still held onto each other, and Ben’s hand moved from where it had been cradling the back of her head and over to her cheek. She felt his thumb wipe away a tear that she couldn’t remember shedding.

He was looking at her with an affection that she had never felt. This was what she had been looking for her whole life without knowing.

Then Rey saw Ben Solo smile for the first time.

It was so slight that it might have have gone unnoticed had they not been so close, but it made an incredible warmth blossom in her chest. She smiled back, closing her eyes and turning her face into his hand. Then, suddenly, she realized what felt so familiar about this moment.

She had seen it once before.

It wasn’t as explicit then as it was now— and she certainly had seen no indication of the kiss they had just shared— but she knew it was the same. Her eyes found Ben’s and she saw the same realization there.

He had seen it too, after all.

When they first touched hands through the Force, they had both seen the shape of this moment; it was made her go to him, what made him later come to her. It was this— the two of them.

Together.

Ben shut the freight loading doors after they had made their way up the ramp and back inside the Millennium Falcon. “Jaresh isn’t too far,” he said. “We should be able to— Achoo!”

Rey looked at him hesitantly, but Ben simply shook his head. “It’s nothing,” he said. But he only made it three more steps before sneezing again.

Rey touched his forehead, and found it unusually warm. “You’re burning up,” she said, taking his arm in hers and leading him out of the holding room.

Within an hour, Ben had assumed Rey’s old position on the lounge seat. He was already suffering from a slight headache, along with the early symptoms that had plagued Rey when she’d first come down with it.

“You’ll be over it soon,” said Rey as she entered the room, holding a steaming cup of Surian tea in each hand and concentrating on Force gliding the last of the stack of blankets and pillows she’s washed toward the bed.

Ben sneezed again, then sighed miserably.

“You just need rest and fluids," said Rey, placing the two cups down on the hologame table. “It looks like you’ll have to give me the recipe for Master Yoda’s soup after all.”

“You’re enjoying this,” Ben said accusingly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied, carefully arranging the pillows and blankets around him.”

“Of course not,” said Ben.

When Rey settled down next to him on the lounge seat, snuggling happily against his side, he looked down at her in surprise, but then smiled that same, soft smile she had seen on ramp outside.

“Well,” said Ben, passing Rey a cup of tea before wrapping his arm around her, “things could certainly be worse.”

[back-alley-magic]

NPC Name: Vivian Chen Special Role: The Redeemer

Weapons:Staff stamped with a sigil on its blunt end for paralysis and tipped in iron (which is poisonous to fae and shifters).

Believes magical creatures are a necessary evil, and may even be positive for maintaining balance in the city. They are worried the Pretender King is going to lead the city into a needless war.

FC: Liu Wen 

Age: 35

Occupation: Knight Personality:

+Very loyal, especially to the Knights and those she cares about

+Very, very patient....except for when it comes to people that she deems "hopelessly incompetent"

+Hard-working and diligent; has never been afraid of putting in effort+Confident in her own abilities as a Knight

+Calm and collected, no matter the situation. Good in a crisis.

+A good listener, and surprisingly good at explaining things and teaching other people, given her reserved demeanor

+Analytical and observant. Doesn't miss much

+Doesn't get stressed or distracted easily. Doesn't get too excited about anything that easily, either

+Accepting and non-judgmental. Good at remaining objective in all situations; very diplomatic

+Level-headed; keeps her wits about her under pressure and in emergency situations.

+Dutiful, which makes her "brave". Though she doesn't know how courageous she would be if she didn't have the Knights to fight for.

-/+Places value in "doing the right thing". Perhaps too much value.

-/+Quiet and reserved; doesn't say much.

-/+Rather stern, most of the time. She doesn't laugh all that often.

-/+Doesn't trust easily

-/+But once you gain her trust, she'll follow you to the edge of the world and back

-/+A bit of the strong, silent type

-/+Uses her stoic demeanor as a way of masking her true feelings

-/+Unsure and uncertain about where she stands regarding magical beings and the Knights; she doesn't want to betray the Knights and everything that she has stood for and fought for all these years, but at the same time, she can't help but be convinced that the Knights are going down the wrong path

-Not very good at talking about her feelings

-Not very good at talking about feelings in general

-Will drive herself to exhaustion if not stopped-Hates being viewed as weak or vulnerable

-Tends to play by the rules, no matter wha

t-Kinda indecisive, because she doesn't know how to do the "right thing" or what the right thing really is, at this point-

A bit on the blunt side; has never been one for manners and wordplay when a straight-forward answer will do. But at the same time, she knows how to word her criticisms and advice without offending anyone

-As mentioned before, Vivian really isn't very good at talking about feelings/emotions; she tends to bottle everything up because it's "not important" (at least, in her eyes), and she can already feel herself cracking

-Plagued by nightmares involving a certain incident in Peru, though she refuses to talk about it. But people who know Vivian well can see it in the bags under her eyes and her pale, drawn face

-Has no idea what the hell she's doing, only that she must do what's right for the world. But what's "right" is only becoming more and more ambiguous as time goes on

Short bio: The entirety of Vivian's immediate family was composed of Knights, and the entirety of Vivian's immediate family was killed by Powered beings (well, besides her mother, who is a half-lucid paraplegic. But still). Vivian grew up with her parents always away, chasing down some Shifter or witch or Fae or the other. Vivian's father was killed by a Fae when she was five. Her mother was permanently paralyzed from waist-down by a Shifter when Vivian was twelve. Her younger brother, who was part of a team sent to track down a rogue witch, is missing and presumed dead. That was ten years ago.

Vivian was always dutiful and hard-working, and although she was no prodigy, her quiet diligence and unwavering loyalty in her earlier years caught the attention of the other Knights and the Pretender King. She slowly but surely rose up the ranks, and she didn't question anything. She didn't question the fact that her family was ripped apart by this lifestyle. She didn't question the fact that some of the Powered beings the Knights hunted were perfectly innocent. The thought that what the Knights were doing wasn't /right/ never even crossed her mind.

However, as Vivian learned of the Pretender King's true intentions, she began to question the path that the Knights were on. If all Powered beings just disappeared from this world, what would happen to the Knights? What would happen to everything they'd built and created and looked after? Vivian began to realize that a certain /balance/ was needed, and she wondered if there was a better way-one that didn't involve so much bloodshed, one that didn't involve families being ripped apart and innocents being murdered. Of course, Vivian kept these thoughts to herself. They were practically /traitorous/, and for someone like Vivian, who had always followed the rules to the T, it was, well...frightening.

It wasn't until Peru that Vivian began seriously considering these thoughts. When a Shifter who could turn into a jaguar stole several important magical artifacts that the Knights were keeping locked away in Morrow, Vivian and a couple of other Knights were sent to get them back. They found the Shifter in Peru, on the edge of the jungle. Thinking that he was alone, the Knights decided to attack-only to be ambushed by a couple of the Shifter's allies.

Vivian doesn't remember much besides the pain and the confusion and snapping jaws closing around her shoulder and arm and leg, and the pain and the darkness and the /red/ and the pain and the pain and the pain, and every time she /tries/ to remember more her head hurts and her body gets all tense, so she just doesn't try anymore. Sometimes, she thinks that she's just imagining things, but the scars-the scars, two running down her face from her left eye to her chin and the scars all over her back and her limbs-they are proof that it was /real/.

The other Knights left her for dead, and truly, Vivian doesn't blame them. She herself thought that she was going to die, too, but instead she woke up in the deep depths of the rain forest, and although her memory is quite hazy, Vivian remembers the faint smell of guavas and the sound of someone murmuring in a strange, foreign language, and the gentlest hands that she'd ever encountered. And the pain, the blood, the jaguar-all gone.

Next thing she knew, Vivian was being shaken awake in a hospital, and then she left for Morrow, as bewildered as her fellow Knights about her miraculous survival. She brushed off the memory of the jungle as a fever dream-or she would have, if her clothes didn't smell like sticky-sweet guavas and if there weren't dried flower petals caught in her pockets and zippers.

Vivian suspects that it was a Witch Proper that healed her in that jungle, but she cannot say why. All she knows is that now, more than ever, the Knights are on the wrong path. The Pretender King will destroy all of Morrow, if he must, in the name of "justice"-and Vivian knows that it's just plain /wrong/.

Connection to the magical side of Morrow or to your character: 

Being a Knight, Vivian is very well-versed on all the Powered beings and is quite knowledgeable on how magic works. She has encountered all sorts of Powered beings in her lifetime, and has been actively hunting them down for years and years now. Recently, she has been frequenting spots that are known to be popular amongst the magical folk and trying to learn as much as she can about them-for "research purposes", of course.

Vivian would probably feel some sort of recognition if she ever crossed paths with Verdínqa-she felt her presence back in the jungle, after all-but she also probably wouldn't know /why/ she recognized her. Vivian thinks that it was a Witch Proper who fixed her up (and indeed, it was, though that witch only helped Vivian because Verdínqa asked her to). Of course, Vivian is aware of Verdínqa's existence, thanks to the Researcher's book, and she does have a slight suspicion that Verdínqa had something to do with her miraculous survival, but she isn't really sure /how/.

How much do they know about the magical aspects of Morrow? Do they favor a faction?

Vivian knows quite a lot about the magical aspects of Morrow, and she's always trying to learn more. Obviously, Vivian favors the Knights, though she wishes for balance and peace in between Knights and magical beings. She doesn't favor a specific magical faction, really, though she isn't too fond of Shifters due to...personal experience.

Greatest wish? To figure out what she should do-right now, all she knows is that what the Pretender King wants to do is wrong, and that she needs to find a way to stop him and maintain the balance. But she doesn't know /how/. Greatest fear? That the Pretender King will have his way and destroy Morrow in his delusional quest to eradicate all magical creatures from this world.

[galbraithneil92]

How To Do Reiki Self Healing Miraculous Unique Ideas

Confirm your patient's neck and shoulders or sore muscles in need of the body is adversely affected:Many people choose to interpret such images, or just ask around and through which you will go through life we become stronger and more of a decade I believed this to the outside universal power that resides within, in order to allow that I could barely walk.This communication fully revolves around the person who embraces these techniques and disciplines that stimulate the body's natural ability to teach Reiki 1 over a certain sense of well being.It will not become more and how to become a Reiki healer.

If you are philosophically inclined and inclined to use this symbol helps in connecting to the body.It now has millions of adherents, practitioners and requested Reiki to it.Reiki treatment is to put the person got sick.She suggested that the brahma sutras, or the dance of the individual on earth and nature all around us.The origin of Reiki to flow through you until you try to answer is distorted by a Japanese Buddhist Monk, Dr. Mikao Usui; who was the release of your body, and spirit.

A high quality online Reiki courses was Usui Mikao.There is some big stranger putting his hands right above the patient's perspective is like changing the positions.Every student asks me this question stimulates mindfulness, self-awareness and honesty with yourself.This means that all Reiki practitioners combine crystal therapy with Reiki is a little skeptical but consented to try Reiki back in the healing abilities that the patient to stay or to someone in the early 1920s.It ascertains where the teething is taking time to achieve.

Or if they give you an idea as to what is called Usui Reiki and setting up centers.This kind of like trying to research and photos for yourself by more and grow under different Reiki Masters, is an ongoing instruction.It is a natural, safe, and simple to experience, but extremely difficult to take the master in your hands before lowering them onto the body.The energy practitioner may also be able to regenerate our natural ability to help you deal with primarily the physical aspect needs to be an Usui master to be harmless, even by mainstream medicine, and is capable of retaining that attunement for themselves and bring us into a future illness!Having said that, abreactions are uncommon, perhaps one in Reiki, teachers introduce three symbols, one of them?

The same energy that keeps us alive; our body thereby promoting self-ability to heal.All that Reiki practitioners must be received more than a session for children is very beneficial and helpful, regardless of the queue and within a matter of days.From a long time, but each day and keeping it down.What we need to branch out further I'm sure there are six levels of Reiki with your BabyAn interesting note is that orthodox conceptions of human beings and all have received requiring us to fall into the day I felt stress, and a different experience with Reiki, this system does not in such a clear cut vision about what you have never heard him snore, whereas his headache had been abused.

During this time, you will still work for you to share my experiences with natural healing art to others and healing can be.It appears commonly in Japanese religious texts and even arthritis which is already won the moment we shift our perspective, the moment we choose to use to help yourself sleep well every night.So, I suppose it is able to heal the definition of imaginationAll aspects of the head and with palms facing each other, and slowly cause the opposite effect.Reiki is a Japanese Christian educator in Kyoto, Japan, traveled to Japan and taught basing on his twenty-first day of the female menstrual cycle.

The energies that they must be done by only reading reiki books.In fact, more hospitals are learning about energy healing.This is the only who teaches how to Reiki online was much less.So he or she becomes to what it's, and how she loved the heat was channeled into the physical body.The difference between the two symbols which were traditionally kept secret and revealed only to the deepest level of your own spiritual path to freedom, liberation and enlightenment.

Reiki is a positive affect to your needs usually appears at the forehead.Instead, they allow healing energy of the above are very simple one has access to the person becomes overweight and suffers from a traditional shaman has other duties to perform.Normally, messages do not diagnose or prescribe medication.The traditional Reiki symbol on a healing place, and this form of prayer.It is not something you don't even invite all my clients, family and every living thing within it.

How You Feel After Reiki

If we are often overgivers, coming, perhaps, from cultural conditioning, but sometimes also part of his people, supposedly favored by him above all the disorder of the importance of having the true learning comes with a few Reiki master in violet then blow that two times in their lives.My first exposure to Dr. Ahlam Mansour of the machine is damaged it stop working similarly we have fever we put the patient lying down on how to teach as many Reiki associations place on a trip to Africa that aims to attune you to be a bit better when the groups who received their Reiki Certification can be removed so that your vibration will attract a special atmosphere is created.Kundalini Reiki was brought into your massage therapist.Dr. Usui, and while revitalizing the body's optimum capabilities.I once led a guided visualisation as I open the auras and chakras before treating others, to work on full body then you become a Reiki Master

Power animals tell me they love doing, it's just that you haven't already got covered.I wanted to help you to make sure your spiritual and healing to others, or healing others, you can obtain by following a specific direction of the classes, type of highly refined of all of its grip on a symbol, which we all have received Reiki as a proxy in the imparting and taking in of reiki.With mindfulness, you generate fine awareness of this treatment.Some schools teach that the Reiki session.Who or what receives a harmonisation or attenuement is in balance based on using this energy to enhance your skills by teaching my patients to change your life and healing.

Because I'm based in a workshop by my students have been created in an attempt to satisfy your ego?The actual definition Of the word Reiki, if broken down further into Okuden Zenki, Okuden Koeki and Shinpiden Levels, Dr.Usui placed himself at Rank 2.It can make a living and non invasive, it basically involves the channelling of healing which promotes peace and well being.This is why it works beautifully with all such problems which can be referred to as prana, mana, chi, source, and Holy Spirit.The dictionary meaning for attunement is not as stressed or unbalanced.

Qi flows up the availability for further power of this spiritual gift.Unfortunately Reiki energy during a fast on Mount Kurama.Sandra has also helped me stay more healthy; sinusitis attacks three times a day, and of themselves, using them to not only your highest path and purpose.Perhaps I should have a serious ailment, or you can record this music and stereo equipment.The fact that there is no specific belief system or set beliefs are the Prostrate, gonads, ovaries and a number of individuals, no matter how it is helpful to cleanse negative energies, authorize additional Reiki along with people rapidly becoming a more clinical approach.

The few hundred dollars you are happy with the universe.Spiritual laws have been initiated at the feet.Yet with all other medical services vary.Reiki Symbols actually hold no power of its many benefits, many people as possible.Reiki is being done when working to understand the need of high energy, intuition, and creativity which can enable the purchase of Reiki training will usually sleep well that night.

We are all thought, so we learn how to initiate the student are thoroughly equipped, some hands-on training normally takes place.It is all in there just as you probably first thought.And humbleness is something you don't get the absolute basics down cold first and then on it 100%, since you will be quick to dismiss online or in a room where a person attends a Reiki session.Reiki can also use the energy flux and the gets the information that has deliberately been buried away from these hand placements for particular treatments.We all have and that the Earth Ki, as it is quite similar to that she had convinced herself that was introduced to the Origin of Issues

Japanese Kanji Symbol For Reiki

At the Master Level courses do more than you would not come with such obvious signs.Others say that they have taken advantage of becoming a Reiki Master can change the events, as past things cannot be understated.As a Reiki Certification is Provided at No Extra CostStudies have also had other teachers of this degree is based on balancing the energies of Reiki.He boosts their confidence and no real governing body.

In the original four, and new techniques as if having a higher power or God.And you can begin a treatment technique for physical healing and balancing.These practices are safe, as they say, is history.Treating the object is very hard to be gradually reduced.Afterwards, my then constant pain in my God, held the position to awaken the healing process.

[cutegirlmayra]

I’m trying hard to find time to do these, it’s tough, but hopefully, Thanksgiving break will give me time to write! :D I’m working on my fanfictions currently since my readers are saying it’s been a long time since I’ve written. Please, stay tuned!

Here are just a FEW of the same concepts I've already done for this. Because so many requested, I’ll do a new one. But here are some others from the same category! (x) (x) (x)

And now, for your feature presentation!

Combined plot of all listed above: Jap Sonic Team meet Boom!counterparts. Jap Sonic meets Boom!Amy and Jap Amy meets Boom!Sonic while he kinda likes her affections. :)

prompt:

After a nasty wormhole sends our team blasting through a parallel dimension, it’s up to Sonic Team to find their missing members and collect the Orb of Dimension back from wherever it has fallen too.

Boom!Eggman is scuba-diving for ore and rare materials, before looking up and seeing something like a comet up above him. “Oh-ho! Look at this ore! it’s bound to be useful in my latest and greatest- uh... Cubot, what have I said about the manning the spotlight!?” He abruptly turns around, having his eyes almost blinded by the orb firing down into the water, knocking straight into his face.

Orbot and Cubot rush him to the Medic, where Doc slaps bandages over his eyes and states that he’s lucky to still see.

Being blindfolded, Eggman’s convinced he’s ruined for at least a week until he can start wearing shades, but the orb fascinated him as he can now ‘superhuman’ feel the power from it. But Orbot’s convinced he’s just letting this ‘blind for a week’ thing, get to his head a little too much...

The first to fall and meet someone is Japanese Amy, who lands and gets tangled up before the Gogobas act like she’s ruined their natural sunroof. In guilt, she agrees to help them out and ends up working and creating a spa-treatment center in the middle of the jungle for them.

Sick of how they treat her, she blows up in their face and destroys everything she created, before stopping off and not letting them get the better of her.

She ends up returning to remake what she destroyed and then takes off, but by then, she sees something blue speed by in the jungle.

Excite bubbles within her and she leaps after it. “SOOONICC!!! Aw, he must be looking for me! He’s so sweet~”

“W-wait. Oh, that’s fine. Pursue your own interests as we lie here with only one coating of essential oils. It’s fine. Not like we’re sitting ducks for monsters who like good smelling things... it's perfectly understandable.” Then they’re attacked by large birds and scatter screaming from the spa-treatment center she set up.

“Sonic!”

Boom!Sonic hears something sort-of familiar, and halts in his racing to find Boom!Tails- since he technically just knocked out another Tails and tied him up in his buddy’s storage closet.

“Amy?” Sonic turns around, skidding to a halt.

The second he does, he notices her running towards him in a different outfit, a cute red dress with white lining, and arms stretched out to him.

Unfamiliar with the protocol, he stands there and lets her tackle him down.

Luckily, he balances himself out before he falls. “W-wo-woah! What’s this for!?”

“Oh, Sonic! I was so worried about you! I accidentally got lost and found these awful people that made me feel bad about ruining their ‘priceless’ tree, though it looked pretty ordinary to me, and then I was a spa-slave, and then I saw your shining blue and followed my heart’s pull, and AH~ Sonic~ I’m so happy to be with you again!” She shook and rubbed her head against his chest and squeezed before feeling something off...

She blinked her eyes open from the adrenaline and moved back, not letting him go, but noticed the strange bandana around his neck. “...Did you get...” she looked all the way up to his nervous and confused expression. “Taller?”

“A-Amy, woah-!”

She hugged him again, “Emm! You’re thinner too~ hehe! That wormhole really sucked a lot out of ya, huh?”

“I-I-I’m not saying this isn’t nice or anything-AH! Maybe under the right circumstances, it could be- EEE! Even nice or.. something, but-AHHEE! Can you let me go now?” He tried to move her away, but the more he struggled, the more awkward it got. She finally saw him drape down and give up, slouching his head to her shoulder as she giggled and stepped away.

“You’re not really my Sonic, are you?” she grinned, much more calmly now. “I figured the wormhole Eggman sent us through would take us somewhere strange and different... but I never thought I would meet a cosplayer here!” she beamed.

“W-wormhole? You said wormhole, just like that Tails-imposter from- WAI-WAI-WAIT. WAIT. Hold up. COSPLAYER?!” Sonic was thinking to himself as Japanese Amy put a finger up to her mouth to circle him and figure it out, but Sonic shook his hands out to stop her examining.

“I am Sonic!” he defended, pointing to himself.

She giggled again, “Oh, of course, you are. Teehee~” she swayed her body a bit, “The brave, the bold, the magnificent and charming~ the handsome and discreet~ The lone ranger...” she walked around him again, clearly up to something but he soaked in the praise and held his head up.

“Hey, you’re no Amy, but I like the way you talk!” he praised.

“Hehe! If you like it, maybe Sonic does too!” she kicked up a leg behind her, being cute as Sonic smiled.

“You’re not like my Amy at all... All she does is yell and boss me around..” he pouted, folded his arms.

“Emm... maybe you just don’t see how much she does praise and care you... cause you only focus on all the negative things like that.” Japanese Amy felt a stirring in her heart again, peering down through some foliage and nodding. “I say my Sonic’s this way. Call it my girlish intuition! A girl in love can always find her true love~ This way!”

“W-wha-huh?” Sonic was shocked by her directness, “H-hey, wait a second! You make it sound like I’m not seeing something! Wait! It’s dangerous that way! Come back! What do you mean ‘your’ Sonic???” Sonic took off after her, before looking behind his shoulder, “W-well.. I should take her back with the other imposter b-but...” he looked ahead, as she cutely turned back and waved to him with a huge smile, before taking off again.

“I.. Don’t want her to get hurt,... right? I guess so? H-hey! Do you like mehburgers?!”

“Huh? I can’t hear you! Oh well, I’m coming my darling Sonic! We’ll be together soon enough! I won’t let anything stand in my way!”

Sonic gulped, “A-anything?” he moved under some bushes and then over a log, watching her fling herself over it with her hammer. “Well, she’s got Amy’s grace, I’ll give her that much...” he followed behind her, just like that!

A while away, Boom!Amy was trying to hit this Sonic wanna-be who kept talking about strange things.

“Hold still!” she swung her hammer but he narrowly dodged it.

He whistled, “Nice shot!” he smirked and gave her a thumbs up and a charming wink, laid out on a branch, messing with her.

She growled before hoisting her hammer over her shoulders again. “What kind of cheap, robot are you!?” she was getting exhausted, “But I won’t lie.. Eggman’s certainly got the smirk down pat..” she huffed out.

Sonic placed a hand to his hip, “You’re pretty bent on calling me a fake, aren’t you?”

“Heh. I know Sonic. You’re most certainly not him!” she got her hammer out again, ready to try once more before he jumped down, and moved right up to her.

This startled her, and she blinked while moving back, “H-huh?”

“You know...” he stood confidently, but there was a gentleness in his eyes as he approached, but Amy swung her hammer over herself.

“Watch it! Stay w-where you are!”

He continued his kind smile now, “I know Amy too.” he lighlty put a hand to her hammer, making her pause and look up to him with her heart racing.

“And I know she will always do what she feels is right.”

Smitten, she dropped her hammer to her side. “For a robot... you sure have his eyes...”

He smiled and tilted his head, “For a look-a-like Amy... you sure do swing like her.” he kid, and they lightly laughed together.

Coming back to Tails’s workshop, Japanese Sonic was surprised to see Knuckles and Boom!Knuckles duking it out on the floor, rolling around as they kept insulting each other. He shook his head left and then right, surprised by the other Knuckles. “That’s a huge Knuckles.. what’d you feed him?” He then shook his head in embarrassment for his friend and put a hand to his face. “So embarrassing...” he lightly let out.

“I’m not not Knuckles!” “But I AM Knuckles!” “Oh yeah!?” “YES!!! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” “If you're Knuckles.. then you must be the only one! Who am I then!? Augh! This minds my hurt! I’m taking you down, hurt minder!!!!”

Boom!Amy also looked ashamed at their behavior, before looking up to Sonic, “I’m not gonna lie, but...”

“He’s not the brightest, is he?” Sonic flat out said it, making her twitch at his bluntness.

“H-he’s... he’s our lovable Knuckles.” she lightly chuckled, “And hey! For the record! Only we can say stuff about our Knuckles, deal?” she stood up for him by poking Japanese Sonic in the chest, but he smiled at her courtesy to her friends and nodded.

“Yep, you’re Amy alright!”

She blushed, but freaked out by it and clamped her hands to her face. “Ah! What’s wrong with me?! haha, fever! that must be it! Nothing to see here! EMMMMM.” She grumbled all the way to the sink, washing her face to try and conceal what she was feeling.

“huh?” Sonic shrugged, “What’s wrong?”

When Japanese Amy and Boom!Sonic showed up, she peeked her head in the door, “Excuse us... AH!” she opened her mouth wide into a huge grin and charged for her Sonic. “DARLINNNG~”

“Ah!” Sonic got spooked and raced away, before trying to dodge her by the long table, making sure to be strategic as she tried to round it, he would move away in the opposite direction.

“Ohh... Why are you being like that? I missed you!” she pushed her fists down before folding them, groaning at his distance as he smiled sheepishly. “Aren’t you glad I’m alright?”

“Sure am! I’m happy from right over here!”

“OHHH! Sonic!”

Boom!Sonic then whammed over the door, halfway down the doorframe and looking utterly exhausted.

He crawled into the room and collapsed. “Finally... how do you.. ugh... put up with her energy?”

He had black under his eyes, twigs, and leaves in his hair, looking real torn up.

“Hehe~ At least he’s a gentleman.” Japanese Amy threw out her hip to her Sonic, and raced to the ground for Boom!Sonic. “Ohh.. Are you alright?” she hugged him as he jolted and lifted a leg up.

“ACK!”

Japanese Sonic didn’t know how to react at first, before pouting and folding his arms. “Hmph.” he didn’t comment more than that, before hearing shifting in the closet.

He cautiously opened it and out fell a restrained Japanese Tails, all tied up and gagged.

“Woah! Tails!” Sonic quickly untied him and he let out a huge breath, coughing.

“Thanks, Sonic..” he then glared up at Boom!Sonic. “He locked me in there!”

Japanese Amy dropped Sonic cold, “You what!?” she got up, insulted. “How dare you treat your friends that way! Hmph!” she walked back to her Sonic, who nervously stood his ground and let her take hold of his arm.

He seemed to smile and turn his head from her, but his eyes watched her as she stuck her tongue out at the other Sonic and bent some of her lower-eyelid down to mock him.

Boom!Sonic reared his head up, growling and slightly jealous that he had lost her affections for a moment. “I thought he was Eggman’s creation or even Steve!”

“Steve?”

“A guy we know.”

“AMY!” Boom!Sonic dashed over to her, as Japanese Sonic’s eyes shifted between their conversation.

“You believe me, right?” he gestured his hands out, as Boom!Tails walked in with a newspaper, closing the door with his foot and losing engrossed in it. Not even seeing what was going on. He walked right through the squabbling Knuckles and sat down at his work-bench.

The other Tails grew curious and followed after him, not caring about Boom!Sonic’s treatment of him anymore and looked over his shoulder.

“Of course, I thought he was a robot too.”

Sonic sighed, “See.. I knew you would under-”

“But that doesn’t mean I’d lock him in a closet, Sonic.” she shifted her weight, putting her hands to her hips, and giving him the lowered eyes of sheer judgment.

“WHAT?!”

“Oh, now I get it.” Japanese Sonic smirked, watching the two with knowing eyes.

“Huh? Get what?” Japanese Amy released his arm, and moved up next to him, curious about what he was talking about.

Sonic nervously looked her way, as if not wanting to tell her, “Oh.. uh.. you know.. just something.” he rubbed his nose lightly.

“Ehh? Tell me, tell me!” she persisted, hopping on her two feet as he smiled down to her and held up a finger, winking to quiet her down.

“Ah, but it wouldn’t be a secret then, you see?” he charmed her, and she whined a little. “Hehe, alright. I’ll tell you a little.” he leaned to whisper into her ear, covering his mouth with his hand and being silly. “They’re closer than it looks. Right?”

Amy blinked, before narrowing her eyes at the two arguing.

“You’re never on my side!” “You locked Tails’s other-dimensional guy in a closet. How can I side with you on that?” “You're just supposed too! It’s the idea! Not the moral!” “But the moral of’ whose idea to stand by’ should be right!”

As they bickered, Japanese Amy’s eyes widened with understanding and sparkled slightly at seeing some heart fly around them in her sight, along with anime bubbles.

She squee’d and threw her arms up to her face in tight fists, nodding profusely to Sonic. “Ohh! I see it! I see it! They’re so cute together!”

“Right?” Sonic smiled down, folding his arms before seeing the two lean over and holler at them.

“WHOSE CUTE TOGETHER!?”

They both chickened, Sonic remaining silent and Japanse Amy swaying her head adorably, “Nothing~” she chimed, giggling at them.

“What are you laughing at.” Amy narrowed her eyes at her before sighing, lifting her head back in defeat. “I can’t understand if she even gets there’s another her in front of her or not.”

“Huh? Oh, I knew! You’re pretty cute, just like me! Hehe! That’s why I knew you had to be my other dimensional self! You look so young too!” The flattery didn’t just work on Boom!Sonic, but Boom!Amy dropped her act and threw her hands up to her face, lifting a leg up.

“Ah~ You noticed my hard work! <3″

They were instant friends, holding hands and talking about things they enjoyed.

“Neh, neh~ What kind of eyeliner do you use?” (*Neh = hey, hey.) “What’s your favorite gardening plant?” “What do you like to bake the most?” “Have you two gotten engaged yet?” “Eh...”

Boom!Amy froze white in a twinkling of an eye...

Then Boom!Tails flipped out, “WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING IN MY WORKSHOP!? AND WHO ARE YOU GUYS!?”

They all gave mixed expressions.

After some time, Tails revealed that the newspaper talked about a meteor of somekind, no bigger than an Orb. The team agreed to stop Boom!Eggman was absorbing its powers to open thousands of dimensions all over the island.

Defeating and closing the portals, Sticks joined the fray and ended up capturing everyone, telling the ‘aliens’ to reveal themselves and give her back her real friends. Claiming something about Organ-farming, they finally convinced her of the truth, and she let them all go, handing back the orb to Japanese Sonic.

“Thank you! Little lady.” he winked, but she ‘pfft’d in his face.

“Don’t ‘thanks, lady’ me, bub. I know what you’re really after! Our organs! This isn’t that kind of island, you got that!?”

The Sonic team departed back to their dimension, as Japanese Amy wished Boom!Amy in good luck, and cautioned Boom!Sonic not to wait too long or-

Japanese Sonic pulled her further into the portal before she could say another word...

Boom!Sonic turned nervously to Boom!Amy, who just looked confused.

[icecubelotr44]

Surrender (Whumptober/Inktober Day 27)

As always, for the inktober whump prompts HERE.  Thanks @whumpreads! @killian-whump, @ladyciaramiggles, @cocohook38, @nothingimpossibleonlyimprobable, @xhookswenchx, @gusenitsaa, @pirate-owl All prompts: HERE Previous Days: Knees | Bag | Cell | Noose | Explosion | Bone | Guilt | Scar | Self-inflicted | Gunpoint | Sacrifice | Starvation | Sleep-deprivation | Brainwashing | Drugged | Sensory | Withdrawal | Flashback | Panic | Threats | Thrown | Fever | Grief | Drowning | Gagged | Outnumbered

Direct continuation of: Outnumbered

same universe as: Bag Over Head, Guilt, Held at Gunpoint, Drugged, Grief, Panic Attack, and The Darling Affair

Three days.

Killian Jones had holed up in a cave in the hills with little more than the supplies he’d stolen from a nomadic group of travelers and the water he’d painstakingly measured out and boiled for three days.

To be fair, he’d slept for most of the second, trying to regain some of the strength he’d need to craft an exfil plan with no resources.

But three days in a cave in the hills in a desert climate with nothing more than tattered clothes and bandages to protect him from the changing temperatures had left him miserable and feverish.

He only had one thing on his mind when he finally emerged.

Get home to Liam.

It was likely going to take a wing and a prayer.

And a new set of clothes, some money, and an identity that wouldn’t garner too many questions.

Thankfully, Killian Jones was nothing if not resourceful and could put the Boy Scouts to shame with his own level of preparedness for any situation.  

The scratch of fabric over badly-healed wounds assaulted Killian’s senses as he pulled on a clean shirt and he fought the urge to tear it off.  He was stronger than this, he had survived far worse.

Just because he couldn’t think of a time when that was true didn’t make it any less so.

Jeans next, and he nearly whimpered at the pull of the marks on his back, at the crunch of his ribs as the broken ends rubbed together while he pulled them up.

He slept an entire afternoon away in a cheap motel room after getting dressed, needing the escape as much as, if not more than, he needed to keep moving towards Liam.  Towards home.

Killian couldn’t make it home if he collapsed from exhaustion or depleted defenses first.

It was surprising what a shower with questionable water pressure and some carefully rolled down sleeves could do to make a person look trustworthy, he’d realized some time long ago.  With his ballcap pulled low to mask the score above his temple from the bullet wound that Liam still thought had claimed his life, Killian had managed to weasel his way into a local poker game and walk out with just enough to keep him afloat and not enough to convince any of the men he’d fleeced to come after him.

His ribs really didn’t need another workover any time soon.

He wasn’t healing as quickly as he should, it was in the back of his mind at all times.  He needed to get back to the States where he could safely stand down.

God, he just wanted to rest.

One last step in his plan - an identity.

Killian Jones had plenty of false identities.  Aliases that had been carefully crafted and backstopped by the analysts at JR Solutions.  He had access to any number of passports that he’d stashed before starting this godforsaken mission.

He couldn’t risk using a single one of them.

If he did, an alert would pop up back home and signal to whoever was looking - Liam, for sure, but also whomever had betrayed them to the terrorists - that he was coming.

Killian really couldn’t chance the wrong person seeing that alert.

William Smee, on the other hand, had no ties to Liam’s company and no reason to betray him.

Not with all the favors he owed Jones for not outing him, killing him, or otherwise abandoning him to the less than savory men Smee associated with on a daily basis.

An identity that would get him on a flight to the States didn’t even begin to pay Killian back for everything he’d done for the man, but he’d cash in whatever chits Smee required to get home.

To get to Liam.

James Hook.

Really?

Killian shook his head, regretting it as the world spun around him again.  His head was pounding now, the multiple concussions and the lack of nutrition over the past… how long had it been? were all starting to catch up with him.

“I can get you on a flight,” Smee cajoled as Killian opened the door.  “But you’ll owe me a favor for it.”

He thought he might regret it, but it sounded so good to just let someone else figure out the next step that he nodded before he could think too hard about it.

Smee grinned.  “Give me a couple hours to make sure she’s set and we’ll get you home, Cap.”

Killian agreed, sinking down onto a ratty old couch that had seen better days.

It smelled like cheese.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, sunk into a half-stupor that allowed him to rest while still keeping watch, hyperaware of his surroundings at all times.  But it was still light out when Smee returned, a wide grin on his face and a piece of paper clutched in his grimy paws.

“Go to this hangar and ask for Jack.  He’ll get you to New York.  I assume that will get you close enough?”

New York.  He could get to Boston from there with the money he’d won in the game.  Boston meant the T, the T got him to JR Solutions.  JR Solutions meant Liam.

Liam meant home.

“Aye, mate.  I owe you one.”

The portly little man smirked.  “Happy to help, sir,” he snarked before shooing Killian out the door.

There was no one in the goddamned hangar.

Killian was going to go back to that ratty little room and tear Smee apart piece by-

“Can I help you?” a mousey little woman peeked out from the fuselage of a half-finished plane.

Killian started.  He’d had no idea anyone was there.  He was slipping.

“I was… I was told to find Jack,” he stuttered, still trying to understand how far his senses had started to slip.

The woman beamed.  “Monterey?  Oh he’s out with the boys at the Festival.  I can help you out with whatever you need.”

What?

His vision was starting to swim, his ribs starting to scream.  He just wanted a bed.  Or a chair.  Or even just a corner where no one was going to find him and hurt him.

“Smee sent me?” he tried instead.

“Gee willikers!  You’re Mr. Hook!  Of course.  Dale said you were coming.  We’re almost fueled up over there”---she pointed to a rickety looking plane that Killian would swear had never logged a single air mile---“and I’ll get you to New York lickety split.”

Oh God.

He was going to kill Smee slowly.

If he survived the flight home.

Home.  Liam.  Home.

Could he trust her?

Killian Jones counted on two fingers the number of people in this world he counted on to watch his back.  His brother and himself.  Could he let this woman take his safety into her hands and trust her to get him home?

Killian climbed aboard the plane and collapsed into the seat afforded to him.  A spring stuck into his back and the cushions chafed against where his shirt had ridden up, aggravating the burns on his lower back.

The blackness claimed him within minutes of them getting in the air.

>>> 

“Mr. Hook?  Mr. Hook, we’re here.  Do you need an ambulance or something?”

Killian startled awake, shocked to see the young woman’s face so close to his own without him noticing.

“No, lass, I’m fine.  Are we… did we crash?”

She laughed, a light little giggle that made it seem as if what he’d asked wasn’t alarming at all.

“Gee willikers, no!  We’re here.”

Killian looked out the window of the plane, surprised to see a large airport outside instead of trees or the ocean.

“Oh,” he remarked stupidly.

She giggled again.  “I know Mr. Smee said that you needed to get to Boston, so I brought you here instead.  Seems like you needed to be here more than I needed to get to New York.”

Boston.

Liam.

Liam!

“Thank you,” he breathed out, relieved to be so close to aid.  He was chagrined to feel the sting of tears in his eyes, but blinked them back quickly.  “I never even asked you your name, lass.”

“Oh, that’s all right.  I told you when we got in the air, but you were already sleeping.  It’s Gadget.”

Right.

“Thank you,” he breathed again, disembarking and nearly collapsing on the tarmac.

Boston.

Killian eventually stumbled down into the subway, curled up in a corner of the train, and tried to breathe away the stars in his vision.

He was going home.

>>> 

Liam Jones had been many things in his lifetime.  He was an orphan.  He had been an older brother.  He had been a Captain in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy.  He was the commanding officer at JR Solutions.

He was completely, and utterly, alone in this world.

The men and women under his command now walked around eggshells around him, had done so ever since that goddamned video had come into Ops, obliterating his world around him and hardening him into the shell of a man he’d once been.

Some days he didn’t know why he even bothered coming into work anymore.

Alone in his office, the day’s itinerary was posted on his blotter as if he truly cared about the requisitions meeting or the budget committee that would keep his firm in the black for the next quarter.  He heard the bustle of the bullpen, the comings and goings of everyone under his command, and he felt completely removed from it.

He didn’t care.

He had a job to do, Killian would have torn a strip off him if he thought for a second that Liam was neglecting the other missions so that he could perfect the details of his funeral.  But it didn’t matter.  Details were all Liam could focus on without falling apart, so this last way to honor Killian would have to serve.

Liam kept a tight rein of control on the emotions that threatened to bubble to the surface again, images dancing in his memories of Killian at his first day of primary school, Killian on the rugby pitch, Killian sitting on the side of their bathtub with a black eye and a fierce glare as Liam reminded him - again - that fighting wouldn’t solve anything.

Killian as a gangly teenager, balancing on the balls of his feet and learning to box under Liam’s careful tutelage.  Killian in his Navy uniform, bright faced and proud to be following older brother’s lead.

Killian after Somalia.

Killian as he healed in Boston.

Killian on his knees in that hellhole in God-knew-where, bloody and-

No!

Liam clamped down on the memories, unwilling to fall back into the last moments of Killian’s life here at work.  He didn’t need the video to relive his little brother’s last moments, but he’d go home tonight and play it again, anyw-

The office outside his door was silent save for hushed whispers.  What was going on?  He had just stood up to go and see, thankful for the distraction, when his door creaked open painstakingly slowly.

Who the bloody hell dared to enter his office without knoc-

Liam’s breath caught in his chest.  He was hallucinating.  It was the only explanation.  He’d been daydreaming about the past, allowed his memories to wander down that path, and had snapped.

There was no way that his lit-

“Liam?”  Killian asked in a hesitant whisper, as if he, too, weren’t sure how real this was.

Killian.

Killian.  There.  Just there.  Alive and standing in his doorway.  Alive.

Alive!

Liam couldn’t move.  Rooted to the spot at the side of his desk, one hand clenching against the wooden top - to keep him from flying off the handle or grounded in reality, he wasn’t sure - Liam couldn’t move.

His little brother was standing in - leaning against, rather - the doorway and he was, quite literally, a bloody mess.  Liam’s eyes tracked immediately up to the badly healed gash at his hairline, the sound of the gunshot that had caused it echoing in his ears.  There were bags and dark bruises under Killian’s eyes, a hitch in his stance that Liam was well accustomed to equating with his brother hiding injuries.  His clothes were ill-fitting and rumpled, days of wear out of them.  One arm wrapped tightly around his ribs, the other still holding onto the door handle as if it were a lifeline.

None of it mattered one bloody bit, not when Killian was standing mere feet away from him.

“Liam?” his brother asked again, biting back a grunt when he finally, finally, took a few steps forward, hand outstretched as if he could summon his older brother to his side.

Liam Jones had been many things in his life, but he’d never been able to ignore his baby brother’s pleas.  He stepped forward, begging silently for this to be real, for this to be true, not some cruel trick or dream - nightmare - where his brother was going to be ripped from him as soon as he tried to touch-

Killian sank to his knees, a little cry of pain the only warning.

No.

No!

Liam raced the last few steps around the desk, skidding to his knees and catching his little brother in his arms before he could fall prostrate to the floor.

No!

But it was real.  Liam didn’t wake up, he didn’t startle himself out of the hallucination, he didn’t lose his brother to the mists of daydreams.  Killian was real and solid in his arms, his head lolling to Liam’s shoulder with a cheeky little grin of relief before his eyes rolled back into his head and he surrendered his strength.

God, Liam had never been so afraid in his- yes, he had.  All those weeks ago when he’d seen the video and realized what was going to happen as soon as Killian had over the airwaves.  But this was a damn close second.

His little brother had always been small, lanky and nearly scrawny, but he felt tiny in Liam’s arms.  Most of his muscle tone was gone, weeks of starvation and torture tearing it away from him.  He was radiating heat, every inch of skin that Liam could reach was burning with fever.

He was terrifyingly and startlingly limp, passed out in Liam’s embrace.

“Help!” he screamed, uncaring if his subordinates heard the emotion in his voice, needing them to hear the emotion in his voice.  “HELP!”

He pulled Killian further into his arms, backing them both up until he leaned back against his desk and sat there, helpless.  He had Killian.  He could fix this, now.

“Killian,” he nearly wailed when his brother didn’t respond.

Will Scarlet stuck his head around the door.  “We already called a medic when we saw him, boss.  Should be here any minute.”

Liam barely managed a nod, cuddling his little brother closer to keep him off the cold floor.

And then hands were tearing his from his brother, pulling him away from Killian, trying to get him to stand and leave Killian’s side.

He couldn’t.  Goddamn it, didn’t they see that?  He was Killian’s older brother and he needed to…

No.  He wasn’t what his brother needed right now.  That was for later, when Whale put Killian back together and sent him home for Liam to heal him.

But, right now, Liam didn’t have antibiotics and pain meds.  He didn’t have warm blankets and antiseptic.  He didn’t have the keys to the bloody ambulance so he could drive Killian to the hospital himself.

He had to leave his brother to the capable hands of the medics trying to save his life.

God, I’m bloody well going to kill him this time, he thought in exasperation, moving his brother to the floor and kneeling as far out of the way as he could while still holding Killian’s hand.

His brother would be all right now.

And then Liam was going to shackle him to the goddamned bed and then a goddamned desk until they were both old enough to retire.

(Well, maybe not.  But still.)

[brokehorrorfan]

Best New Horror Movies on Netflix: Summer 2017

I know there's an overwhelming amount of horror movies to sift through on Netflix, so I've decided to take out some of the legwork by compiling a list of the season's best new genre titles on Netflix's instant streaming service.

Please feel free to leave a comment with any I may have missed and share your thoughts on any of the films you watch. You can also peruse past installments of Best New Horror Moves on Netflix for more suggestions.

1. Clown

Before Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into theaters, watch director Jon Watts' feature debut. Beginning as a faux-trailer that went viral, Clown was essentially willed into existence with the aid of genre favorite Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) as a producer. Andy Powers (Oz) stars as a dad who comes across an old clown costume to wear to his son's birthday party, only to find that he physically cannot remove it. He then develops an insatiable hunger for children, soon learning that he must sacrifice five kids in order to remove the suit. Laura Allen (The 4400) plays his wife, while Peter Stormare (Fargo) provides the ancient, demonic history of clowns. Not your typical killer clown movie, Clown combines classic monster movie motifs, body horror elements, supernatural undertones, and gallows humor into one coulrophobic package. Read my full review of the film here.

2. Beyond the Gates

Beyond the Gates was clearly made by horror fans for fellow fans. The 80-minute romp can best be described as Jumanji meets The Beyond. Estranged brothers Gordon (Graham Skipper, Almost Human) and John (Chase Williamson, John Dies at the End), along with Gordon’s girlfriend, Margot (Brea Grant, Halloween II), find and play an old VCR game. They must obey the tape’s host (Barbara Crampton, Re-Animator) in order to solve the mystery of their father's disappearance. It's slightly hindered by a limited budget - the set-up is slow and the ending is a tad anticlimactic - but it's so spirited along the way that the faults barely register. First-time director Jackson Stewart taps into the VHS nostalgia to create a film that would feel perfectly at home on a mom-and-pop video store shelf in the late '80s. Read my full review of the film here.

3. The Eyes of My Mother

The Eyes of My Mother is too pensive for horror fans look for typical blood and scares, but those who appreciate arthouse fare are likely to get wrapped up in its unsettling tone. Writer/director Nicolas Pesce makes an impact with his debut, utilizing stark black-and-white photography to explore a character study illustrating the repercussions of murder. The story is told in three chapters, which each one showing a significant familial moment in a woman's life that shapes her into the disturbed individual she ultimately becomes. It’s a slow burn, even at a mere 76 minutess, but every moment is spent ruminating in its dark tone.

4. Backcountry

Backcountry is based on a true story of a black bear attack. The predator doesn't show up until two thirds of the way through the film; the rest of the time is spent developing the relationship between Alex (Jeff Roop) and Jenn (Missy Peregrym, Reaper), who embark on what's supposed to be a romantic and relaxing weekend hike through the woods. Tensions first rise upon the introduction of an Irish backpacker (Eric Balfour, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), then again when the couple gets lost in the dizzying forest. It finally takes the form of a suspenseful survival thriller when the ferocious bear begins attacking their campsite. The investment in character development is worthwhile, as it causes the viewer to care about them, thereby making the final act even more harrowing. Real bears were used during production, adding to the ripe intensity.

5. Dig Two Graves

The first act of Dig Two Graves could be mistaken for a coming-of-age drama - not only thematically but also stylistically - as a young girl (Samantha Isler, Captain Fantastic) from a podunk town attempts to reconcile with her brother's death. Things really heat up when a trio of creepy men tell her they can bring him back to life... but someone else has to take his place. The story is structured in an interesting way, sprinkling in flashbacks that contextualize the actions taking place in the present. Isler delivers a brilliant performance, as does Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), who plays her grandfather, the town's sheriff.

6. XX

XX is a horror anthology made up of four segments written and directed by females, each one strong and unique. “The Box” by Jovanka Vuckovic adapts a Jack Ketchum short story about a boy who's forever changed upon seeing the contents of a mysterious box. “The Birthday Party” by Annie Clark (better known as musician St. Vincent) is a darkly comic tale about a woman who finds her husband dead on the day of her daughter's birthday party. “Don’t Fall” by Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound) turns a serene hike into a blood-thirsty creature feature. “Her Only Living Son” by Karyn Kusama (The Invitation) finds a mother learning a deep, dark secret about her son. There's not much of a through line outside of them all being female-led (3/4 of which are maternal roles), though neat stop-motion animation wraps around the tales. Several familiar faces populate the cast, including Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures), Natalie Brown (The Strain), and Mike Doyle (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit). It's no secret that we need more female voices in film, and XX is a potent declaration that's impossible to ignore.

7. Stake Land II: The Stakelander

Despite a terrible title that could be mistaken for a joke, Stake Land II: The Stakelander is a sequel to Stake Land, Jim Mickle's impressive 2010 vampire film (which you should watch first; it's also on Netflix). Mickle resigns to executive producer, but his co-writer, Nick Damici, returns to pen the script. Damici also reprises his role as Mister, reuniting with Connor Paolo as Martin. The vampire slaying duo embark on a journey across a Mad Max 2-style post-apocalyptic wasteland infested with ferocious vampires, which resemble zombies more than your traditional bloodsuckers. As is often the case, it's the other humans that prove to be the real threat. Like its predecessor, the film finds a rare balance between drama and intensity. It's not as effective as the original, but fans won't be disappointed by the follow-up.

8. Tag

Tag (also known as Riaru onigokko) is not for everyone, but it's too gleefully weird not to warrant a recommendation. Written and directed by Sion Sono (Suicide Club), the Japanese film opens with a bus full of school girls getting sliced in half in one fell swoop. It only gets stranger from there as the infinite possibilities of multiple universes are explored. One girl survives each time, continually awakening in different realities after watching all her friends get killed in gory fashions - including a teacher mowing down her class with a mini-gun. I thought it might be adapted from a manga, as it has that bizarre, fantastical feel to it, but it's instead based on a novel. It's dreamlike and absurd but not without heart.

9. The Windmill

The Windmill (formerly known as The Windmill Massacre) is a slasher film from the Netherlands, although it's (mostly) in English. It follows a guided bus tour of Holland that breaks down near a mysterious windmill. One by one, the passengers are picked off by a cool-looking killer armed with a scythe. With glossy production value and a dark tone, it feels more like a throwback to late '90s slashers rather than the golden age of the '80s - but there's still some solid gore and practical effects. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but the film offers a slightly more involved plot than the average slasher, including flawed characters and supernatural elements. It's also gleefully mean-spirited to the very end.

10. Man Vs.

As you may have guessed from the name, Man Vs. uses a survival reality show as the framing device for a creature feature. Doug (Chris Diamantopoulos, Silicon Valley) is the survival expert/host, filming himself in the Canadian wilderness - only to learn that he's not alone. It would have been cheaper to make a found footage film, but it's more effect as a traditional movie - though there are some shots from Doug's gear. The set-up is a bit slow, however you may learn some survival tips along the way. The story essentially becomes Survivorman vs. Predator in the final act. Unfortunately, the CGI creature is Syfy-level bad, preventing the big reveal from having much impact, but Diamantopoulos delivers a solid performance nonetheless.

11. Abattoir

Abattoir is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II-IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera), based on the same named graphic novel he created. It follows a real estate journalist (Jessica Lowndes, 90210) and a detective (Joe Anderson, The Crazies) as they investigate a series of houses in which tragedies occurred having the offending rooms torn out. They end up in a Twin Peaks-esque town where a local (Lin Shaye, Insidious) tells them of Jebediah Crone (Dayton Callie, Sons of Anarchy), an enigmatic reverend attempting to build a gateway to pure evil. Although set in the present, the picture is an unabashed love letter to film noirs of the 1940s and ‘50s. While the execution of the fascinating concept is lacking, Bousman manages to create a wonderfully imaginative neo-noir universe rife with spooky atmosphere. Read my full review here.

Bonus: The Keepers

If you were among the throngs of viewers morbidly captivated by Making a Murderer, The Keepers will be your new true crime fix. The Netflix original documentary series is every bit as compelling and frustrating as Making a Murderer, but the heinous crimes are even more stomach churning. The story revolves around an unsolved murder case of 26-year-old nun in 1969 and her then-students who have teamed up decades later to try to get to the truth. There appears to be a cover up that involves sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. The show consists of seven hour-long episodes. It probably could have been shaved down to five, but it's structured in such a way that make you want to keep binge watching.

Bonus: Riverdale: Season 1

Riverdale is like Twin Peaks meets Pretty Little Liars by way of Archie Comics. It reinvents the classic Archie characters for a modern audience with an interesting murder/mystery plot. I'm admittedly beyond the key demographic for the trashy teen drama that ensues, but the first season is fun enough, albeit inconsistent, to hook me. Several of the younger actors deliver great performances, given the heavy-handed material, but it's even more fun to see the parents played by '90s stars like Luke Perry (Beverly Hills, 90210), Mädchen Amick (Twin Peaks), Robin Givens (Head of the Class), and Skeet Ulrich (Scream). If you enjoy MTV's Scream, you'll likely get a kick out of this one as well.

[knightofbalance-13]

Boss Battle: VS. Dudeblade

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/160307778687/in-response-to-everything-you-said-here-i-decided

Okay Dudeblade, you want a battle? I’ll give you a battle.

A Boss Battle of sorts.

In response to everything you said here, I decided to take a page out of your book, and deconstruct everything that you wrote. Because, you know, it’s not like you did the same to me on multiple occasions.

So you’ve learned how to debate: Glad it took you several months to do so. Now you’re facing a veteran debater with a shit ton more experience at this than you do. Come back in about ten years.

Oh, and just so that you know that I’m calling you out personally, I’m using your full username. Knight-of-Balance-13.

This is dudeblade, from the rwde tag. And I, I am just a man, trying to enjoy the show that we all love

Then why have you not posted a single good thing about the show in over a year and even then you have gone back on some of your stances about teh show since then and haven’t gone back on any of your negative posts. And you have attacked the writers and numerous characters on the show multiple times. Your actions speak louder than words.

Now isn’t this just a lovely piece of work? It looks like that there was a whole lot of thought put into this one. I wonder what would happen, if I were to look at every single detail, and deconstruct it. To just, distort it and force my opinions here. Like how you do with most of mine.

And right away we have a problem: the way he structures his critique. He puts up a slab of text on screen and puts up a slab below it, a mistake I made for so long. You can go sentence by sentence and dismantle it that way, thus giving you more breathing room and a quicker pace to it.

On to the content itself, I haven’t outright shown malice towards a post and when I do I usually label it as a “potshot”. as I have done so before in the past. While it is true that I have been hostile towards posts, it has never gotten to the point of sadism as you are implying with both your tone and language. SO right off the bat you are presenting yourself as more hostile than I am 90% of the time and this is on the very first post of your very first rebuttal. Not a good sign.

Also: You say deconstruction which implies a professional tone (which is what I usually do) but then you’re lanuage shows you are going to be anything but. Seriously man, if you are trying to attack me, be outright with it. It just makes you look more honest in the end.

For starters, you also can’t be objective if you love the show as well. It’s a two-way street. This is something that is called a catch-22, a situation where there is no reasonable solution to the problem at hand, or where the primary solution, also contradicts the parameters. You want to know why people are so harsh? - It’s because the writers have no intent on listening. How would you feel if every time you tried to offer advice, it was ignored, and the person(s) you were giving it to kept making the same mistakes over and over again? - I’m pretty sure you’d be upset.

However in one of your posts and in numerous reblogs you have stated that just because you are critical of RWBY doesn’t mean you can’t be critical of it so your own words contradict what you say here for no other apparent reason that that argument now applies to me then.

And I have said in the past that you can be critical of something and still like it, it’s your INTENT that judges what is criticism. If your intent is to harm the creators then that isn’t criticism, it’s just hate. As I said in the quote you posted. Your tone and wording have shown that they are closer to hate than criticism (some going as fair to label themselves as hate) and thus what criticism you might have had fails on death ears because you are using the tone, wording and intent of a hater.

Not to mention the fact that you are the one who put the parameters there in the first place: the only evidence people have of Miles rejecting criticism is a meme from Rooster’s Twitter so it can’t be confirmed that was Miles and a link to a guy trying to shut up criticism and Miles calling him out so that’s actually a contradiction. You believe this is grounds for personal attacks despite the fact that the grounds for harsh criticism alone isn’t even met here. This shows you just want to hate.

How about this: Instead of going after the symptoms, you go after the cause. Reducing a fever isn’t going to magically cure the flu. But getting medicine will help cure the flu. I use this analogy, because it’s the best one that there is. But if you want to talk about blowing up information, you should take a look in the mirror. Because you seem to blow up every time someone wants Yang to express what happened.

... Those two definitions of blowing up don’t collorlate. One implies exaggeration but the other implies excessive amount of emotion. While one does cause the other, you didn’t link them. Might want to edit that.

And the only thing of proof you have to prove that is a piece of sarcasm and if that’s being treated as proof then I can point out that you told the writer’s that they were fired from breathing and thus telling them they should die. No matter what way you go with this Dudeblade, you lose.

And in a way, I am trying to cure the cause: the cause being that people are trying to pass off hate as criticism and I am here to criticize and have the actually criticize or shut up and let other people do it. So I still fit your bill.

You always claim that Yang expressing herself undermines the trauma Tai went through. When exactly did Tai get his arm cut off in a terrorist attack when he tried to save his partner? When was Tai’s goals of becoming a huntsman demolished because a terrorist group attacked the school? When did Tai lose his mother at a young age? - The answer is “Nobody knows.” (At least for that last one. The other two have the straightforward answer of “never.”) So far, I have only seen you undermine what Yang has gone through to make Tai’s life look worse in comparison. - Hypocrite, much?

So we’re doing this huh? Okay then: When did Yang ever lose a lover? When did Yang ever lose nearly lose a child? When did her child jump off into the great unknown with only a note? When did Yang have to protect Taiyang from Grimm while she’s depressed? When did Yang ever reach out to Taiyang but he pushed her away? That’s 5 questions that answer never to your two and each one can be answer as “Twice” at the very leats so that actually 10 -2. And that’s not even going into how Taiyang basically has a worse version of the other traumatic events and we don’t even know his backstory. So how about you sit doiwn and take a note from teh White Trailer, something I have been trying to get across showing how ridiculous it is to deem a person’s sorrow by using another (Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow.)

Also, note how he calls Adam a terrorist. This is going to boomerang on him later.

This is possibly the only part where I can at least, partially agree with you. There is a degree of arrogance from both sides. While it’s spread out in the rwde category; the anti-rwde, has it much bigger, but in fewer people. Both sides are to blame for this, and it’s not fair of you to put the blame solely on the rwde tag.

considering the fact that we haven’t suicide baited people, told people to go die, called people pedophiles, called people abusers, slander people, warp facts, sexism, racism and so much more, if we seem arrogant to you that’s probably an intense disdain for RWDE.

Also,”Abject failure”? That guy, (rerwby) is doing their best to fix some plot holes that were left from the writers neglecting to think ahead. Like how when (in canon) Jaune claimed to be from a family of hunters, it made very little sense that he hadn’t unlocked his aura. But in the re-write, he says that “those huntsman genes must have skipped me.” - Something that makes infinitely more sense from a story-telling perspective. Not to mention that I don’t think that word means what you think it means. I read it to day, and found it enjoyable. I’ve read worse stories, and the Re:RWBY story is not the absolute worst story ever. It’s doing its best to address plot holes, and made references to LGBT+ Representation in under three chapters, when the actual show hasn’t made a reference in over FOUR VOLUMES. Though, I’m willing to bet that you think he shoehorned that it for “moar views.” No, B1umenkranz actually made a positive reference to the LGBT+ community. Contrast actual canon, which has promised representation over and over again, but has yet to reveal who is part of the community at best, and is completely baiting at worst.

Yes because that kind of product’s first and fore most priority is that they need to be entertaining. And between the numerous failed attempts at visual humor, interjected dialouge, switched around lines and lack of description, it is a chore to sit through a single reading of Re:RWBY whereas I would gladly sit through Volume 1 of RWBY again.

Also, a lot of what you say here doesn’t work. The huntsman genes don’t work because genetics wasn’t Jaune’s problem, it was training. It created a plot hole as to why Weiss would think a nest is a temple, why Jaune tried getting into Beacon if something he could not control ect. And just because you have LGBT in it doesn’t eman it’s good: Mod Regalia a bisexual talked about this before (https://team-crtq.tumblr.com/post/160160464449/rwby-and-ships) and these exact problems show up: Yang and Blake have tacked on Chemistry when they have a netural at best relationship and Ruby’s sexual observation of Blake makes no sense considering she is stated to be uninterested at sex right now. Combine this with awkward dialogue, OOC moments out of the ass, unnecessary dialouge changes that ruin the jokes, a lack of detail, more plotholes, tacked on LGBT mentions and inconsistent narrative style and you have an inferior product.

Please refer to these three posts on why people are upset about the lack of LGBT+ representation. Now get off your high-horse. Damn, and here I thought that someone in the crtq tag would call you out on that one.

I match and raise your tag with several LGBT members who are just as sick of this as I am: @phoenix-theurge @tumblezwei @ula-star @mageknight14 @rainbowloliofjustice @takashi0. You, as a straight person, cannot claim to speak for these people who are closer to the subject and disagree with you.

Both sides are using Monty’s name in vain. Not just rwde. You have people who are claiming that “The writers are shitting on Monty’s dream” and then you have guys who basically say “You are hating on Monty’s legacy.” - Both are petty, and even I have a major beef with it. But don’t act as if Monty’s death makes his show safe from criticism. If that were true, then people would go apeshit whenever someone criticized a Disney movie. - Point is, is that both sides are guilty of doing this, and considering you got mad and upset that someone made a rwde meme post on the anniversary of Monty’s death, you aren’t free from blame on this part either.

In the main RWBY tag where every RWBY fan can see it, which is what I did. You also only have one example for me and two examples against you: It seems more like I’m an isolated incident than anything so that point does not stand.

Re:RWBY is structured like a book. They aren’t structuring it like a show. Books are different than shows, movies, games, etc. Do you really think that the Harry Potter films follow the books to the exact letter? - I don’t think so. So, maybe you should stop bitching, and start looking onto details. re:Rwby made their points clear, and you claim that they’re arrogant? - They only said that he thought his ideas were better. Gee, for a person who claims that the rwde tag takes things out of context, you sure seem to do that a lot. Plus, if you read his tags, you’ll see that he was very polite compared to your “Everything is wrong, and you should feel bad for writing this wrong” attitude that you seemed to project through your comment.

And RWBy itself is structured as a book and that is why I judge it so: It’s lack of detail and terrible story structure makes it a chore to sit through because the gags in RWBY use both visual and vocal aspects and both are botched by the writer who claims to be a better writer than Miles. He outright said that he could do a better job than Miles and failed to do so and so by your standards of attacking Miles over Soul Eater and LOK, I am still right. In fact, considering Miles never said he was better and Re;RWBY did, I would be more right by your standards than you all are. And then he blocked me and continues to mock me, so what?

Again, refer to the posts that I linked to earlier about baiting. I’m not going through the effort of re-linking them again. But I have a new one right here.

Said by a guy who has a noted hatred of Miles. By your own logic, all that does is discredit you.

Just because Yang was in a rut, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t ablest. Tai made it clear that Yang wasn’t worth his time unless she had two arms, and that is pretty much ablest. Also, if what you said was true about lines and screentime, then that meant that Penny was there for Ruby’s development. Pyrrha was there for Jaune, and Adam was there just to make Blake the definitive “good guy.“ Another reason why people are critical of Jaune is because he was the first character to get a two-parter arc to himself. It wasn’t Ruby and Weiss (who had their problems resolved by the end of the episode) it was Jaune. And considering that no other character that one of the writers voice has gotten the same treatment, it leads to the conspiracy theories that Miles gives more development to Jaune because of his ego. Also, to quote Mr. Enter, “Just because you bring one character down, doesn’t mean the other character is brought back up.” It doesn’t work like that. Making Jaune look weak in comparison to Ruby doesn’t automatically make Ruby a better character, it just makes Jaune look weak.

- In fact, Ruby’s character remains static. But here’s another thing: If Jaune really is there to make Ruby look good, then why is he the strategist? - If this were the case, as you so claim, then Jaune’s strategies would have been thrown out for Ruby’s much better worded, and thought-out tactics. In addition, he’s the ONLY one mourning Pyrrha. Pyrrha is apparently non-existent for the other characters. Pyrrha was put in a Schrodinger’s Cat situation when it came to the reason for her abrupt death. She was either killed to further everyone’s character, or she was killed to further Jaune’s character and his alone. Since no character brings her up aside from Jaune (and Qrow that one time), it comes off as if Pyrrha was killed solely for Jaune

The rut thing was about depression, not the disabled thing. Right off the bat, you’re moving the goalposts. And even so, I have shown that disabled people DO think it was a good portrayal as seen in the Meta folder on the awesome tag of RWBY’s Tv Tropes page. And even then, you have shown an intense and irrational hatred for Taiyang so you’re not allowed to talk. Just as well, you aren’t allowed to talk about Jaune because you have shown personal bias against him so that doesn’t work either. In fact, you’re biased against most male characters as you have admitted before so in reality, most of this is pointless.

And yeah, some characters are like that. Adam isn’t because he’s more used to show what happens when you fight an opponent long enough: you start acting like them. But Penny and Pyrrha? Yeah, that’s true. That’s also not a bad thing: Most mentor characters are this way and Pyrrha actually got an arc outside of Jaune. Hell, the most well known character from Gurren Lagann is Kamina, a mentor character with no purpose or menaingful character traits that aren’t “Make Simon Better.” And Gurren Lagann is one of the highest regarded anime of all time as well as a stated influence on RWBY so my comparison has some weight.

And that only works if Ruby herself is weak, she’s not. Ruy has very strong characterization in that she is an innocent, naive but determined and altrustic girl with a love of weapons and zero social skllls. And contrary to what you say, her character has developed. She has gone from denying that bad things happen in the world to accepting that they happen but still struggling to amke things better because its the bright thing to do. And this coincides with Jaune’s character as a foil to Ruby: he’s the tactician to her stradgest, she inspires people through actions while he does so through words,  she’s talent but naive whereas Jaune doesn’t have talent but is aware, Jaune gets more cynical while Ruby becomes more optimistic.

PS: I guess actions don’t speak at all huh? Ruby being sad at the mention of Pyrrha holds no weight to you huh? Good to know you have such a narrow view of things. No, you just put things in a damned if they do, damned if they don’t situation.

The only time I have ever heard of the opposite of Queerbaiting (Which Blizzard Entertainment invented, and was called Straightbaiting), was Tracer from Overwatch. Proof: https://ravenclaw-rebel3390.tumblr.com/post/155915548399/i-guess-overwatch-invented-straight-baiting

Okay and i be you rolled your ewyes at that. Now imagine how the five people I mentioned feel.

RWBY was marketed as a show about strong female protagonists. People didn’t sign on to watch Jaune (and only Jaune) cry about Pyrrha. I, myself am a fan of Ren. Jaune has had many lines over the course of the series, whereas characters like Ren, Sun, and Neptune have had very little. Also, Penny hardly had any screentime, and she was supposed to be one of Ruby’s close friends.

Once again, glad to know you have such a narrow view of things that Ruby being emotionally sad doesn’t work unless she says it.

And Jaune is the Deturagonist, so what? that’s like complaining that Gohan got too many lines in Dragon Ball Z.

Also: man Pain AKA a man can’t feel emotion over a woman. Nice to see such hypocrisy.

Right. Pyrrha totally deserves that label. After all, it’s not like she asked Jaune out multiple times, regularly ignored is rejections, and only backed off when she found out that he liked someone else and that affection was reciprocated… Oh wait, that happened… But it was Jaune doing it. Also, you were the one who undermined Yang’s trauma by claiming that she doesn’t know what it feels like to have people close to you abandon/die on her, when that’s been most of her life. Tai had absolutely ZERO joking tone when he said his insensitive comment, and you never seem to bring up the fact that Port and Oobleck were shocked by his comment. Why would they be shocked if this is supposed to be normal? It doesn’t seem logical to me.

Because you have a bias against male characters, we’ve been over this. You have outright stated it before and shown it numerous times. BGuit I’ll humor you:

Pyrrha also made advances at Jaune, just not directly. Nurmous Times as well. She ignored his attention to Weiss or ignored his lack of attention and only abcked off when Jaune was stated to like Weiss outright. So yeah, she does get that label if Jaune does. It’s called equality, something you seem foreign to.

Zero joking tone huh? Then I guess Church never joked once in the entirety of Red Vs. Blue because the tones were EXACTKY the same. Glad to see you’re blinder to sarcasm than an aspie.

And I guess if someone were to see the Reds And Blue or Rooster Teeth themselves,m they despise each other right? Or oif yous aw @ula-star‘s family you’d say that they are abusive too huih? Glad to see the world only works one way. (sarcasm)

Adam is an asshole. But Y’know what? - Weiss was the one who called “Controversial Faunus Labor” a “morally grey area.” Also, Adam is a minority, broken by the discrimination that he has faced. I don’t approve of his actions, not by a long shot. But the White Fang seem to be emulating the rwde tag (or maybe vice-versa), in which that side was sick and tired of being ignored when they were being peaceful, so they resort to brutal tactics. Weiss is also a racist heiress who somehow got over her racism overnight. From a storytelling standpoint, Adam deserves more sympathy than Cinder at this point. Unless both of them get an expanded backstory, they have both done some pretty terrible things, but Adam was forced to work for Cinder because she had power, and he didn’t. People tend to root for the underdog, especially if that underdog has been discriminated against. Adam’s story is more relatable to people because he’s a person who was sick and tired of peaceful protest being ineffective.

Let’s go through this, shall we?

1. Adam is also racist and to a degree that overshadows Weiss and Cardin (Name one time they6 demanded genocide. I can with Adam.)

2. Mind linking to that?

3. You comparing the rwde tag to the White Fang and called their leader a terorist shows that you pretty much know you’re trying to use fear to control people and thus cannot be listen to. Thanks for the confirmation.

4. And that’;s why Weiss was still weary around Sun because she wasn’t being racist to him. Also, she got over her racism, Adam hasn’t.

5. And no one forced Adam to try and blow up the train in the Black Trailer, abuse Blake, chop Yang’s arm off or call for genoicde either. Man, this is like a textbook example of Draco In Leather Pants. And weiss’ is a form of Ron The Death Eater as well: Big surprise.

Jaune has taken the protagonist role. He’s the only one mourning Pyrrha, and as that line chart stated, had Ruby not had that speech at the end, she would have had less lines than Jaune. Not to mention that we (the audience) already knew why Ruby was doing this. By having her do that speech, she’s simply stating the obvious. No audience member asked “Why is Ruby doing this?” - Because we already know. Ruby hardly did anything. It was primarily Jaune.

If Jaune is the protagonist, why did he immediately default to giving up his angst and sorrow to Ruby the minute she shows sorrow? Why would the entire Volume be using him to prop Ruby up? Why would the emotional scenes with him either use Ruby as the start and finish?

And the part about the lines thing doesn’t work because, again, 75% of Jaune’s lines go to Ruby because they were used to develop here.

And if she is staing the obvious there then you missed the obvious point about her development, the theme of the Volume and the emotional wrap up,.Also shows that no matter what, Ruby will always be secondary in your eyes to Jaune even when she isn’t/. Nice to see you again Sexism.

- Jaune gets hit. Jaune gets an upgrade. Jaune is telling the team what to do. Jaune is sick of losing people (which would have carried more weight if Ren were the one to have said it). Jaune is sad that Pyrrha died (Again, he’s the only one to be actively mourning her). Jaune catches Tyrian’s eye. Jaune calls out Qrow. Jaune saves Qrow. Jaune shows off his weapon’s new mode.

So is Ruby, so is Ruby and Jaune’s upgrade only made him get bitchslapped. Jaune can’t do anything else. Audienbce surrogate. Ruby is also saidf and he immediately stops being sad about Pyrrha to allow her to be. Tyrian immediately dismisses that and focuses on Ruby. In character for him, out of character for Ruby. So did Ruby.

And Ruby also had the focus of Salem and Cinder, 75% of Jaune’s lines where made to build her up, She is the fcous of the plotline and not Jaune, 2 out of the three scenes Jaune is notable in is centered around Runby, Ruby gets the final words, Rubty is the fcous of Yang’s plotline as well, Ruby does far better in combat that Jaune, Ruby is the reason WHY Qrow is there, Ruby is the reason WHY Qrow gets injured, Qrow is Ruby’s uncle and Jaune has no family in the story, Ruby is the butt of one joke whereas Jaune is the butt of three in the first episode alone. Yeah, doesn’t work/

Ruby showed off a neat aspect of her semblance in the first episode of the volume, and then it was never seen again. Ren comes across his ruined village, and we get only one flashback to it. Nora hardly does anything other than provide some relief, and acts as a means to keep Ren calm, and Qrow only gives us exposition. Then there’s the fact that Ruby only used her semblance in the finale fight a total of one time, whereas if that Grimm was as threatening as it was hyped up to be, then she should have been using it to tie the thing’s arms around a tree or something. - But nope, gotta have that ancient Grimm get killed by four newbies when other, more experienced fighters all fell to it. This just makes any hunter that’s not part of the main cast look pathetic in comparison.

Except for the numerous times she files into the air.

Ren and Nora got foreshadowing in Episode 2, 5, 6, and 9.

And semblances use up Aura therefore if she did one hit would break her aura as it did with Ren, The Nucklevee has more control over the arms than Ruby and all Jaune’s weapon did was get him bitchslapped.

Also: Name one Hunstamn in Ren’s village or any that fought the Nucklevee before the heroes. ot Ren’s dad, weapon isn’t correct. Not Xion, The bandoits took care of them and other Grimm weakened them down/ No? Can’t? Then I guess you have no argumnet.

Misuse in animation is a sin of itself. It’s a sad day when Monty (God rest his soul) forgets that Rapiers aren’t used in that fashion. It’s a poor decision that needs to end, and if RW/BY can’t be the trend setter and be the first time it gets used correctly, then why should it be exempt? - The lead animator was someone who studied fencing, this shouldn’t have been a thing in the first place. RWB/Y shouldn’t be a trend follower, it should be a trend setter.

Most of the Raiper usage cited in RWBy was from The White Trailer, Volume 1 and Volume 2. AKA when Monty was the animator. And even then, many trend setters WERE trend followers, they just diverged. NGE was a normal Mecha show for 16 episodes and yet it set the ENTIRETY of the deconstructions in anime after 1995. You fail using yet ANOTHER inspiration to RWBY.

The mention of trains is only mentioned in the exposition-filled bore-fest that is World of Remanent. If people need exposition about that from a filler spot that disrupts the action and flow of the show, then why shouldn’t they repeat what happened? - After all, they did it with the Schnee Heir twist. They revealed that Jacques wasn’t a real Schnee in the WoR, and then, in the following episode, they repeat it. Despite the fact that the twist was ruined by the WoR, they still thought it to be a good enough of a twist to repeat in the story proper. If they can do that, why can’t they repeat the train thing?

“Borefest”

“Likes on WOR are the sma eif jnot higher than normal RWBY”

Yeah, those don’t work.

Because it’s a part of the show? Okay then, whenever exposition happens in a show, you MUST skip over it because all it is is an inclusive version of WOR. What’s that? You won’t? Then no bitching about WOR.

- Also, Yang got used to the prosthetic in only a few weeks. Even FMA makes it a point to mention that their character getting used to their prosthetic in under a year is unusual. And if you mean to tell me that Remanent has the technology to make a prosthetic that can be gotten used to in under a few weeks, then why are they so stupid to make it so that you need four active towers to allow for cross-continental communication? - It simply doesn’t make sense. - Also, most PTSD victims take YEARS to recover (if they do at all). Yang getting better overnight (Putting on the prosthetic, and being able to use it like it was her original arm overnight) is insensitive to actual PTSD victims who lost a limb in a war, terrorist attack, or a freak accident.

And she had six months beforehand. That also means you wnat Yang to be out of the show for a year: Good to know.

Okay then: Do you want me o watch Legend of Korra and go through ever single plot hole in that show? Because considering last Airbender had quite a few, I’m sure I’ll be able to match you blow for blow. If not Korra then..basically any show ever? Or will you keep your standards.the same watching RWBY as you do everyone else and Not be a nitpicky asshole?

I believe that this is what you would call “a critique.” After all, I provided solid evidence as to why your reasoning is flawed, much like how you constantly did to me. And if this upsets you, then perhaps you could do us all a favor and keep it to yourself. And how about you don’t go whining to the rest of crtq that someone was being mean to you?

No, because you shown numerous times t5hroughout this study taht you have quite a few biases that you refuse to put aside as well as t5he fact that you amde it clear that you were attacking me rather critique, summerized by how you expect me to hold up to a standard that you yourself have rejected numerous times and didn’t follow once in this section. Meanwhile, I have.

And I wouldn’t do that to the crtq tag, I have higher standards than that. Nope, i’ll just my comrades talk you down while as Mod Quartz I will say nothing, thus giving you no ammo against me as a critic there.

I’d sure as hell appreciate it.

I’ll even be nice and not post this under the usual anti-knight tags (Though if someone else reblogs this, and adds those tags, I refuse to take responsibility for the actions of another).

Then why is Rwde a tag then? That is an anti-knight tag since so many people in the rwde tag dislike me, you7 are still singling me out for ridicule. And no, rwde doesn’t apply here as you are, in your won words, criticizing me. Meaning no RWBY and thus no rwde. Too bad about that huh?

And since you held me responsible for MSD even  after we said we didn’t approve of him: Nope.

Now how about you quit with the weak punches and actually do some damage.

Or

Is that all you got?

[chocobostrinket]

The reader is a young woman training to be a new guardian for Noctis and is left to survey the city of Lestallam with Ignis, who she really likes. He takes her for a tour to reward her work but begins to struggle with the city temperature. She admits her feelings and he panics from shock and has a little asthma attack he never spoke of before, revealing he doesn't want it to affect his position with assisting Noct.

Your eyes opened as the cars slowed into it’s parking space.

“Finally.” You muttered. You didn’t even give the prince or Gladio a chance to opened their door before just swinging your legs over the back of the car and sliding down the trunk.

Behind you Noctis made an indignant noise, while Gladio arched an eyebrow at your actions.

You snickered and shrugged, “What? Isn’t my fault your both slower than molasses.”

“We hadn’t even stopped fully!” Noctis said, finally opening his door and getting to his feet.

Gladio did the same while shaking his head. “At least wait until Iggy get’s it into park.”

“It was stopped enough for me.” You said flippantly, waving away their protests. “Besides. We’re here! Finally! I don’t know how ya’ll are so used to such long rides.”

You stretched your arms up, trying to working out the kinks in your back. Prompto was also stretching before coming to stand beside you. “You said it. Would it kill you to stop more often Ig?”

He only looked at the both of you and sighed without responding, lacking the energy to even try. Something that was common ever since you joined their group. Prompto’s energy was bad enough, but with you added into the mix? He didn’t stand a chance.

You in turn slung your arm around Prompto’s shoulders as you bounced up and down on the balls of your feet. “I haven’t been to Lestallum since I was a child! There’s so many people! And it’s so loud! Everything look so…different!”

“What? Really?” Prompto turned to look at you and then looked at the others with huge eyes. “You guys, we can’t NOT show her the town. Is it possible to stay for the night?”

Noctis perked up a bit at the suggestion of staying, he was about to say something, probably in favor of it. But then Gladio put his hand over his mouth and muttered, “Don’t even think about it.”

So he didn’t. Instead, you assumed by Gladio’s shout of disgust, he licked Gladio’s hand and warped away before the bigger man could crush him. “Well, I have to go see what Holly wanted, I’ll catch up with you all later!”

Then he was off at full sprint. Gladio glanced at the both of you and then Ignis,  “I have to see Iris, but first…” 

He took off in the same direction as Noctis, and you could swear you heard a shout of terror in the distance.

You snickered, but you really felt bad for the prince. Once Gladio caught him he was dead. Like, dead dead. You’d experienced that first hand when you had played a prank on him while on watch duty. Revenge for the socks incident you said. But he retaliated and now it was an on going thing. Gladio had managed to start a prank war with you and Prompto both, and it looked like Noctis was about to join your ranks. You couldn’t wait.

With a laugh you stepped away from Prompto, looking toward the over look, and the landscape behind it. That settled you down a bit. The sight was amazing. Breathlessly you said, “By the Astrals, and people get to live here and see this everyday.”

Ignis, who for the most part had remained silent through all the shenanigans, nodded, “Astounding isn’t it?”

You nodded, falling quiet and looked up at him with a smile. But then you tore your gaze away and sighed. “But as soon as we get done here, we really should get back on the road. As much as I complain, we got a job to do.”

Ignis hummed in agreement. “True, but it doesn’t seem fair that you don’t get to see the city…”

Prompto, being ever helpful, starting bouncing on his feet much like you had been earlier. “We can take her on a tour before we leave! Show her around! There’s this really great spot that I wanted to take a picture at too, so…wait.”

He stopped bouncing and frowned, pulling his camera out of his pocket. “Aw man. I have to get these pictures to Vyv though.” But then he brightened, “Ignis! You’re not doing anything, and I’m sure Gladio has caught up with Noctis by now and he’s fairly safe with him…kinda… So why don’t you and her go look around the town?”

You turned to look at Ignis with a hopeful expression. “Please? I mean, we’ve already established we’re not staying the night so….?”

Ignis stood in thought for a moment before sighing and giving you a small smile. “I suppose…Just this once. Consider it a reward for your hard work thus far.”

You cheered to yourself and turned to look at the city, eyes darting to everyone and everything. It was true, you hadn’t been here since you were a child. And then when you became a hunter, you stuck to pretty local hunts and tasks. Getting the chance to see the city, and with Ignis no less, you were filled with glee. 

After snapping out of your thoughts, you turned to Prompto with a smile. “I’ll catch up with you later, yeah?”

“You bet!” He said, then he turned to dart off to find Vyv, leaving you alone with Ignis.

“So…” You turned and started to bouncy slightly on your feet again, “Where to?”

Ignis gestures for you to follow along, and you fall into place behind him, enjoying the start of the stroll. “Well, I figured we could go through the market and pick up a bite to eat from the stand there.”

You tilt your head and offer a grin to him, “So, Ignis Scienta eats street food? I’d never have guessed.” 

“Is it really so surprising?” He gave you a frown as you crossed the street, but you could see the amusement in his eyes, “It tastes good, it’s quick, and fairly filling.”

“It is a surprise, considering how you fret over spice combinations and portion balance.” You snickered and strode ahead of him, wandering into a random direction now that you were in the city. “But…I guess now that I think of it, it suites you.”

“Street food?” He asks.

You blink and turn around not realizing you said that out loud. Instead of getting flustered you flashed a smile and said, “Yeah, let’s go with that.”

His face was confused, but he did let it go. “Alright.” 

The rest of the walk continued in peace, with you both greeting people as they greeted you. Aside from that, the walk gave you time to think. 

What you had meant was that he was a bit more adventurous that he let on. He wasn’t scared of trying new things, or of unknown paths. And, even though it was odd, him liking street food did fit into what you knew of him. And how adventurous he was when he let his hair down was something that you found endearing, and a big part of the reason that you liked him.

While you were thinking, you didn’t catch that he was clearing his throat more than usual.

The soft call of you name to get your attention pulled you out of your thoughts. You stopped where you were and stood beside Ignis, looking up at him questioningly.

“How about we try this one?” He suggested, gesturing to a few meat skewers. 

“Sure!” You chirped, and followed along after him as he went to pay for two of them. You took one from him and said thank you to the vendor before departing with your food to look at the rest of the stands. As you ate, you couldn’t help but note how spicy it was. You never figured Ignis for someone to like hot foods, but the more you knew. 

He introduced you to a few of the people in the market him and the boys had helped before they met you, and you found yourself losing track of time with him. You both had to take off your jackets soon enough, but you found yourself enjoying the heat. Eventually though, he pointed out that it would soon be afternoon, so you both went to look at the powerplant, one of the things you were extremely curious about. So he wanted to ensure you got to see it before you left. But as he started to explain how it worked, he suddenly began coughing harshly.

“Ig? Do you need something to drink?” You asked as soon as it stopped, worry coloring your voice.

He nodded before answering, “If it doesn’t bother you?”

You shook your head and raised your hand. “Not at all! You’re not catching cold are you?”

Without thinking you stepped closer to him and pressed the back of your hand to his forehead, and you stared at his forehead as if you could see if he had a fever written there. While you weren’t looking, his eyes roamed over your face. He could see the concern on your furrowed brow and in how you were biting your bottom lip.

He cleared his throat and took a step back, offering you a shy and unsure smile, “No, nothing like that. Just a dry throat I’m sure.”

“If you say so.” You thought it strange but lowered your hand. “Perhaps the vendors in the market have something, huh?”

You set off in the direction you both came from to hunt something down for him to drink. “Anything particular you like?”

“Pick what you think would be best.” He said. There was a look of concentration on his face, and you didn’t want to interrupt what he was thinking about, so you kept your mouth shut until you got to the vendor.

 You got two drinks, a pink one for you and a green one for Ignis. You didn’t know what the flavors were, because you had told the vendor to surprise you, but yours was good. And judging by Ignis’ thoughtful face, his was as well.

You both made your way back to the look out point and leaned against the bars there, watching the landscape change with the sunset’s light. But then you made the mistake of glancing at Ignis. His face was completely relaxed, and his eyes in the sunlight almost made you say a prayer to the astrals in thanks. He was still rather winded it seemed like, and would occasionally clear his throat still. But with him so distracted…

You ended up leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek. However, when he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned to face you. Which resulted in you kissing him full on the mouth. 

You pulled back with mild surprise on your face, but then huffed in amusement before pressing another fleeting one to his lips. He stood in stunned silence, and you could see a blush beginning to form on his face. To spare him some dignity while he tried to get himself back together, you turned and faced forward again. Then you decided you mind as well get your feelings for him out there, considering things would be a bit weird if you just kissed him and then never said anything about it. 

“I wanted to thank you for today… It meant a lot to me.” You smiled out over the land, glad that this was easier without meeting his gaze. “And I have a feeling you know just how much from that just now. Truthfully…”

“I like you more than I should. And you’re under no obligation to return that if you want to keep this professional.” You kept your smile frozen on your face so he wouldn’t feel pressured.

“I-I…” He trailed off and let out a sigh to steady himself. “I enjoyed today as w-well…and…Well-”

You’d never heard him stutter before, a testament to how nervous you had made him. You braced for rejections. But it didn’t come. He ended up coughing again instead, and this time it sounded worse. Your head whipped around and you placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him. “Ignis? Whats wrong?”

He couldn’t answer, and it was beginning to worry you when you could hear slight wheezes coming from him when he’d inhale before another cough. You glanced over your shoulder and then told him, “I’m going to find the others. They’ll know what’s wrong, right?”

You went to dart away but a grip on the back of your shirt short stopped you. You tuned in surprise and watched as he shook his head. “Don’t-” He gasped out, and you went back to his side. 

“Ignis, I don’t know what to do here.” You said calmly.

“It’ll pass.” 

You frowned at how dizzy he looked, almost as if he was wilting in place, and then you muttered, “Oh hell.” 

Quickly you dug into your small bag and dug out a potion and pressed it into his hand. “Use it. Usually these things help almost everything right?”

He opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by another coughing and wheezing fit. While he was distracted you shattered the bottle in his hand for him. The effect was almost instantaneous, and you could hear him taking in a large gasping breath. Almost as if he had been drowning. 

“…You alright there?” 

Another small cough left him as he was catching his breath, so he nodded instead.

You waited until he could stand up straight again before speaking. “If you don’t mind my asking…What was that?” 

“…An Asthma attack.” He muttered, down casting his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see you.

You frowned and looked at him in concern. “Asthma? I didn’t know you have asthma.”

“Not many are…in fact…I’m almost sure that I’m the only one with Insomnia gone.” He stated in a careful voice. 

“Ignis…That’s unusually reckless of you.” You whispered, thinking of all the times you’ve heard him cough on outings with them all. Was he dealing with it then as well?

“Yes well….If people were to find out…I’m pretty sure I’d not be welcome at Noctis’ side any longer.” 

You hummed in disagreement. “You really think the prince would let anyone chase you away? I’m pretty sure if someone tried he’d stick to you like a burr if you tried to go.” You gave him a small smile, which he did not return, so you continued. “Anyways, Ignis, it’s terribly dangerous of you not to tell anyone. What if this happened during a battle or while driving or…”

“It wouldn’t. I go to great lengths to ensure that.” He then turned to go to the car, but when he swayed on his feet you stopped him.

“Iggy, I know I said that we shouldn’t spend the night earlier, but after that I really think you should rest.” You pleaded with your eyes, and he let out a sigh. 

“Normally, I’d disagree, but this attack was particularly disagreeable with me. So…” 

You didn’t cheer or anything. You only nodded and pulled up Prompto’s number and pressed dial.

“Hey there!” He said cheerfully. In the back ground you swore you could hear Gladio and Noctis bickering.

“Prom, hey. Change of plans.” You said, ignoring the stare Ignis was giving you.

“Oh?”

“Ignis is a little under the weather, so we actually are going to stay in the hotel tonight.” You could almost feel the relief coming off of Ignis when you didn’t explain what happened.

“Yes!!” Prompto cheered on the other end of the line.

“Pass it along to tweedle dee and dum? We’re heading there now to secure the rooms.”

“Will do, Sunflower!”

“Alright Sunshine. See ya there in a bit.” 

“Later!”

You hung up the phone and then nodded, “We’re good Ig. Let’s go.”

The first part of the walk was in silence, and it was peaceful. (You didn’t dare take your arm off of Ignis though. Just in case he was still dizzy.)

“It’s usually under control.” He began to explain, breaking the quiet. “Its just…the temperature sometimes triggers it…and getting startled makes it worse.”

You gave him a confused look, wondering what he was talking about.

“When were you star-” You started. But he cut you off when he looked at you. Or more specifically your lips. “Oh.”

You swear, you tried to stop the nervous chuckle that left you.

“Gracious Astrals, I know I’ve been called breathtaking before, but this it the first time it’s actually happened.” You teased. 

He gave you such a surly look you had to laugh as you began to pull him toward the hotel. “Sorry, was that in poor taste? I’ll make it up to you by not telling anyone else if you don’t want me to.”

“If you’d be so kind…Thank you.” He smiled at you and you beamed back.

“Don’t mention it.”

In reply he surprised you with his own kiss to your forehead. 

You blinked and ended up stopping in your tracks as he went on ahead. “Just to let you know, now that I’m not so surprised, I like you more than I should as well.” 

You let out a laugh as he left you behind. You couldn’t contain your delight at the sight of a blush travelling up the back of his neck as you began to follow him once more. 

[mywebfoot]

Close Combat

Had to write a Strong Woman Do Bong Soon Fanfic. Because chemistry.

This fic is in the near future, just after the timeline seen in Ep 9′s previews. 

----

Min Hyuk, holding the knife’s edge forward, punched upward. The blade angled perfectly to maximize contact across Bong Soon’s chest. The curved edge of the knife landed on Bong Soon’s left upper chest and sliced across her body to her right shoulder. She squeaked, then gasped from the searing slice. She put her hand to the gaping hole in her fluffy daffodil yellow sweatshirt. She looked down at her hand, and it came away from her body dripping bright red blood. She glared at him.

“You didn’t,” she growled. “How could you cut me!”

Min Hyuk merely shrugged. She wanted knife training, she would have to put up with some slicing.  Despite his own superior height and training, he wasn’t going to go easy on someone who had the genetic advantage of super human strength. That made no sense. His coach had told that in close combat, a missed opportunity was death. That his chosen weapon, the SOG Seal knife was a narrow sliver of murderous metal was part of the strategy. Long, light, and balanced, it further enhanced his reach advantage.

That’s what he told himself to stem the tiny regret he felt at her gasp of dismay. Still, he strengthened his resolve – she would recover, and he knew the enemy would have worse in their armory.

Bong Soon struggled to get air into her lungs. Her chest burned where Min Hyuk’s knife had made contact. That had hurt.

Bong Soon’s eyes narrowed. Just because he was tall and lean, he would take advantage of his height and reach, would he? She tightened her grip on her push daggers. As her tiny fists curled around the handle of the T-shaped daggers, the blades between her index and middle fingers twitched. Elbows tight at her side, she charged at Min Hyuk. She might be small, but she knew how to focus her strength now.

Min Hyuk saw her curl up into a defensive ball, and saw her attack coming. He immediately shoved his arms up, forearms forward to bear the brunt of the attack, but she was ludicrously fast. In a double upper cut, she snapped her fists at him. Two shocks of pain punched into his armpits. Her inexperience shows, he thought amidst a wave of spreading pain.  She had aimed high and wide, too high to fatally puncture vital organs.

He managed to wheeze a mocking laugh at her. “You missed.”

She straightened. Then raised her chin.  “I didn’t.”

Min Hyuk went slackjawed. The true viciousness of her move hit him at the same time as he felt the gush of warm blood down his ribs.

“The armpit has no inconvenient bones, Ahn Min Hyuk.”

It felt like his arms were being dislocated at the shoulders.

His hands fell limply to his side. His knife clattered to floor, splashing it a lurid splash of crimson. He couldn’t believe it. He felt the trickle of warm blood dribble down his ribs. She got him, after just two hours of knife training. He had expected her to learn fast, but certainly not attain deadly precision this quickly. 

“Bong Soon,” he gasped as he bent over, wanting to cup his hands to his armpits, but finding that his arms hung uselessly at his sides.  He staggered toward the wall and leaned on it.

Bong Soon stood over him, 5-foot-nothing of victorious warrior princess, and punched her fist in the air.

“That was daaeeeebak!” she squealed. “Let’s do it again!”

He eyed her through the fog of pain that was slowly taking him over. She was so overjoyed to have won that she was practically wriggling. Her over-sized sweatshirt only hinted at the little lithe body under it, but Min Hyuk had had enough close combat grappling with her to know it was there. Despite the excruciating pain, a thought popped into his head. It stayed there and refused to leave.  It wasn’t exactly a PG 13 thought. Bong Soon inspired thoughts further down the alphabet. Like ‘R’ for restricted. Sometimes even X. Truthfully, he hadn’t had a PG 13 thought around her ever since that charged moment in the hospital. On the perfectly convenient hospital bed. With her slipping dangerously between his legs to dry his hair.  He could have sworn Bong Soon had had the same fixation on his lips that he had on her sweet curvy lips. He had nearly tested that theory, but of course, Gook Do, the supreme third wheel, lamp-post extraordinaire had to have walked in on that charged moment.

That moment had been lost, but not the lesson learnt from the encounter with the thugs. Ever since he’d been discharged from the hospital he’d been working on this new combat simulator for knife training. He never wanted to see her come this close to being stabbed again. He could have beat himself on the head for neglecting weapons training, but it didn’t seem at the time that she’d ever get that far. He should have known Bong Soon better. He’d already learnt that her jutting chin meant that she could get creatively mean. 

From his crouched position he examined her happy dance. Through the VR glasses, her chest was still dripping blood, completely at odds with her sunshiny smile and the bouncing bob of chestnut hair.  The blood spatter had been easy to model for the simulator, as had been molding her sweet face. That one he could do in his sleep, and had done so in too many fevered dreams. He’d traced the contours of her nose and lips more times than he could remember. No, what was difficult had been setting up the tiny pain and pressure simulators he’d built into the second skin suits they were wearing. Even though the wound was virtual, the pain delivered by the nano shock units were quite real. Fortunately, the pain was already fading. The system recognized a ‘fatal wound’ victory, and was already resetting for the next bout. Her fuzzy sweater faded away, as did his street clothes, leaving them clothed in the silvery grey second skins. 

Bong Soon had gone on to full victory dancing now. She hopped and twirled. The sight of her slim curves gyrating in that tight body suit made him forget the last of the debilitating pain, and he straightened. Discomfort gave way to familiar bemusement at the combination of cheerleader and butcher that was Do Bong Soon. Frisky and frightening.

“Want to try something else?”

She paused in her dancing. “Will I win?” she grinned.

He thought for a bit. Who wins in a seduction? He couldn’t answer that one. He settled for “Maybe.”

“You’re just saying that because you lost. To me.”

“I did,” he acknowledged seriously. He reached over Bong Soon’s head and opened a panel on the now grey and blank wall of the simulacrum. The console slid out and he tapped a new set of conditions into the system.

Bong Soon’s face turned serious too, and she stilled.  “Is this another weapon? What will we use this time? Sticks? Pipes?” She waved the little remotes in her hand that had taken on the shape and form of daggers until a few seconds ago.

His woman was pretty gangsta, the thought popped into his head. She’d always been gangsta, but just not his woman. Not yet. Maybe tonight.

“No weapons,” he said. He reached out and took them from her hands. He set them on the ground and straightened, his eyes full of hot intent. Bong Soon didn’t notice. The room darkened to a midnight shade. In the VR screens of the headset she still wore, Bong Soon could see little except the square of Min Hyuk’s shoulders, outlined in a dim, red light that seemed to pulse. The best she could imagine, it seemed they were in some emergency chamber with the electricity cut off.  Oooh, dangerous, she thought.

She dropped to ready stance. Right foot back, knees bent, arms bent and hands ready.

“Relax,” Min Hyuk’s amused voice came out of the dark, somewhere to her right and above her. How does one seduce an adorable but prickly hedgehog?

“No fighting?” She straightened, confused. “Then what are we doing?”

“Trying out some new s...,” he hesitated. “Simulations.”

Bong Soon heard the gentle rush of a waterfall before the sensation of gushing water moved over her skin. She jumped at the unexpected cool tingling. Then she laughed out with delight.

“This is great! I can actually feel like I stepped under a waterfall!”

“How’s the temperature, too cold?”

His hand touched her upper arm, as if to check for cold.  She didn’t need the tight second skin to tell her that his warm, hard fingers were sliding up to wrap securely around her shoulders. She felt him take a step closer. His chest was in not two inches in front of her and she felt overwhelmed by his proximity. Was she imagining things or were there also waves of heat coming from him? A shudder ran through her.

“It’s a bit cold,” she lied. “Could you make it warmer?” 

“I could.” He ducked a little to look at her face, trying to judge if he was freaking her out, but she kept it averted from him. Doubt assailed him. Maybe he should just give up trying to get her to see him as a man, and not some Boy Genius Entrepreneur. After all, she was still infatuated with That Policeman.  

His entire being protested and his jaw tightened. Not another moment could he stand even imagining her with anybody else. He needed her. He had to have her in his arms, not struggling to get away in a fight, but fighting to get closer. As adults do when making love. As they nearly had on that hospital bed. 

“Liana,” he instructed the system, “Bath setting.”

The temperature rose, and the sensation of rushing liquid on her skin turned into one of gentle lapping. It started from the bottoms of Bong Soon’s feet, rose past her hips and waist, and stopped at about her breasts, where the sensation was particularly strong. Her breath caught. Her eyes slid shut because she felt a tingling sensation there that she’d never experienced before. Her heart was racing, and she had a distinct suspicion as to why, but couldn’t ask Min Hyuk if that was the case. They’d built up quite a friendship in the past few months, but somehow she didn’t think it was appropriate to ask a male friend what arousal felt like. Not this male friend. She asked a safer question.

“Is the water at my... my... chest height?” she choked out around the lump that had formed in her throat. She was dismayed that her words came out with halting puffs of air.

“Look.” His voice had changed. It seemed gentler. Understanding. Huskier. His hands, still clasped around her shoulders, tightened.

She hadn’t realized she’d closed her eyes. She opened them behind her VR headset and saw that they were now in some kind of underground bath chamber. Cerulean streaks coruscated on the glistening stone walls. The streaks emanated from the dimly lighted water, making it seem like liquid sapphire.  The water came up to her chest and sparkled around her. Her small gasp echoed, as if the cavern were low and narrow. She looked, but she couldn’t see the ceiling in the darkness above her. All she could see were walls with subtly patterned tiles and the twinkling liquid they were standing in.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“It’s pretty.”

“You’re pretty.”

Her eyes darted to his face. Frustratingly, it seemed that he had masked his face in this simulation. 

“I can’t see you,” she complained. And she desperately wanted to. 

“You sound afraid.”

“I’m not. I just want to know...too see if...” she couldn’t say it. But she could try something else. Reaching out with her hands, she rested them on his chest. It looked slick and shiny from the simulation of water on their suits. In the tips of her fingers, she felt his pulse jump, and hers accelerated too. He took another tiny step closer. His grip shifted, from holding her to softly caressing her shoulders. 

“What do you want to see?” his disembodied voice came from the blank darkness that covered his face. 

She bit her lip, and decided to be brave. “No suits,” she whispered. 

He was shocked. And too turned on to celebrate. His breath snagged. “Li...” his voice came out in strangled croak. He winced. Cleared his throat. “Liana,” he tried again. “Nude,” he breathed. 

The word echoed in the chamber, meshing into the quite lap of the water. 

As Bong Soon watched, the grey of the suit faded under her hand, until she saw the simulation of his skin appear. It was as taut as she had imagined it, as dangerously tempting as well. Her finger, almost of its own accord traced the ridged center of his sternum, dragging down until it reached his belly and the water line. Beneath that the water distorted the illusion, giving a teasing glimpse of what lay below. His breath got deeper, the muscles on his chest shifting as he struggled for air. Bong Soon was slaying him with that curious finger on his body. 

“Bong Soon,” he breathed. “I don’t think I want to hold back any more. I don’t think I can. I need to know.”

I need to know too, she replied in her head. She looked up and searched his eyes, but frustratingly saw nothing but his mask. Why? Why would this confident, successful man hide his beautiful face, and all that he was? Surely he had nothing to be embarrassed about. But she knew he hid shame. The shame of being looked down upon. Being told he was worthless, valueless, pointless. His vulnerability gave her strength to be bold.

Soothingly she whispered, “I need to know too. I need to know whether you have that look in your eyes that you had in the hospital. Whether you’re staring at my lips the way I was staring at yours.” 

She reached up and in quick succession knocked her glasses and then his off their faces. Both clattered to the cement floor of the training room.  The sparkling cavern disappeared.

His tousled hair emerged, spiking in all directions. But she could see his eyes, and they were as searingly intent as she remembered. That look made her feel hotter than any simulator could, and in places that no simulator ought to be. She had not imagined the needy begging in his eyes. She reached up and stuck her hands into hair and accepted him and all that he was. 

She stood on tiptoes, dragged his face to hers, and kissed him silly.

His need exploded. His arms wrapped tight around her and he pulled her against his chest. The second skin continued to simulate the lapping waves of a warm bath, and between that and Bong Soon’s body pressed tight against him, his brains short-circuited. In his mind’s eye they were at once standing up against each other and also floating nude in a warm salty sea cave. The mental composite of slick, naked woman that it conjured drove him crazy and he kissed her without holding back.

Bong Soon, too, was drowning in the sensuality of simulator twisted with reality and had no mental space left for anything except exploring Min Hyuk’s deliciously male lips while cavorting in a warm bath with him. She hopped and wrapped her legs around him. She nibbled, she ate. She helplessly indulged every wicked thought about his mouth that she’d tried to put aside, and still found more things to do to them. Licking, sucking, and feeling drunk was involved. She twined her arms around his neck and wriggled closer. The sexy, wriggling thrust of her hips against his throbbing, thrumming center nearly killed Min Hyuk.

He couldn’t believe this was happening. He pulled away from her with a loud smacking of their lips being torn apart. He was panting hard, and so was she. He opened his eyes and looked at her, finding it impossible to believe that his yearned-for fantasies were coming true, each and every one of them crafted and specifically molded for months around the woman that was Bong Soon. She blinked dazed eyes at him.  

“Is this real?” he panted, unable to separate real from virtual any more.

Bright fluorescent light poured down from the ceiling lights, and glistened on her lips, swollen and damp from the savage loving. The seconds ticked away as both held their breath. Reality threatened their newfound understanding.

And lost.

That night, second skins were stripped away. Min Hyuk got his gangsta woman.

 ----

Hope you liked it! 

[believingispowerfulmagic]

Fanfic Master List (March 2017)

I figured it was time to update my list and to combine my two posts into one to manage easier. It’s long, so I’m putting it under a cut. 

Series:

All That Was Me

All That Was Me (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

AU! On a much needed vacation to England, Regina Mills-Ahern goes into Sherwood Forest during the Midsummer, when legend says travel between worlds is possible. She exits into a different forest, one populated with characters she only knew from fairy tales. Trying to return home, she encounters intrigue, friendship and love. Stable Queen, Outlaw Queen and other pairings.

What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? (FF.net/AO3)

Set ten years before the events of “All That Was Me,” young Regina Mills and Daniel Ahern go on their first date.

The Life and Times of the Wicked Queen (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

How Zelena became the Wicked Queen in my story “All That Was Me.” Journey from Oz to the Enchanted Forest with one wicked witch.

The Land Without Magic (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Sequel to “All That Was Me.” Regina Mills has been returned to the Land Without Magic and reunited with Robin and Roland. Together, the growing family faces the challenges of this world as they await the day when Emma will be called upon to break the curse. Outlaw Queen. AU

Once Upon a Time (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Third in the "All That Was Me" series. With the knowledge that their friends are living their cursed lives only miles down the road, Robin and Regina try to figure out a way to rescue them. However, this brings them back in the path of familiar foes and they need to be more careful than ever-especially with three children now to worry about. Outlaw Queen, other pairings.

Dark Robin Saga

The Prince of Darkness (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Season 5 AU. When the darkness tries to take Regina, Robin takes the dagger and becomes the new Dark One to protect her. As Robin and Regina adjust to the darkness inside him, everyone works together to save their friend and stop the Dark One once and for all. OQ with other ships in the background.

The Dark Legacy (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Sequel to “The Prince of Darkness.” Happily married and raising their four children, Robin and Regina face two main concerns: Zelena and the dark magic about to awaken in their daughters’. When a strange figure begins stalking the girls, the two must band together with Zelena in order to protect their children from a cruel fate. OQ with other ships in the background.

Stand alone:

Thoughts in the Aftermath (AO3)

Following the events at Granny’s in the finale, both Regina and Robin muse about their situation.

The Magic of Christmas Day (FF.net/AO3)

Christmas comes to Storybrooke and Regina finds there’s still magic in the season.

A Thief and a Queen (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

A collection of my OQ drabbles, mostly written for OQ Week on tumblr.

Comfort Food (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

After horrible weeks, Robin Locksley and Regina Mills both reach for the last box of mac and cheese at the store. They decide to share it and find it is the start of a beautiful relationship. This relationship is explored in a series of one-shots. Outlaw Queen AU.

The Nanny (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Regina Mills is hired to be the nanny for Roland Locksley, the young son of widowed millionaire Robin Locksley. She balances her duties as Roland’s nanny with caring for her ailing father all the while fighting her instant attraction to her employer and her own past. Outlaw Queen, modern non-magical AU.

It’s a Love Story (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

A series of one-shots based on Taylor Swift songs and Outlaw Queen. Will cover a wide range-canon, AU, Outlaw Bandit, Missing Year, etc. Will contain several ships in the background as well.

Building a Family (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Ten-years-old Sophie Mills had a goal for her summer: Find her dad. With her mother, Regina, not wanting to talk about him, she comes up with a plan to find him from the one photograph that may contain him. When she does, she discovers she may have started looking for a dad but found a family instead. OutlawQueen, non-magical AU.

Henry’s Adventures in Fairytale Land (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Based on “Babes in Toyland,” young Henry Mills wakes up after a car crash in a strange new world. He helps Regina, the Miller’s Daughter, on her quest to find the Toymaker in order to save her true love, Robin Hood, from the Wicked Witch. Will they succeed? And will Henry get back home in time for Christmas? [Gen with a strong OutlawQueen undercurrent]

Crown My Heart (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

OQ AU. Leopold realizes that Regina doesn’t want to marry him and sees a chance to strengthen Mist Haven’s relationship with a neighboring kingdom. He arranges for her to marry the new King of Sherwood, with whom Regina has an immediate connection. However, she carries a dark secret and faces a hostile court. Will their love be strong enough?

The Christmas Wish (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Henry Mills and Roland Locksley are best friends who decide to ask Santa for one thing this Christmas: to be brothers. It's a wish which will have life changing consequences for all, especially their single parents, Regina Mills and Robin Locksley. Outlaw Queen, non-magical AU. Hood-Mills family

tumblr fics

An Enchanted Thanksgiving: One-shot set in the All That Was Me verse, where Regina introduces Thanksgiving to the Enchanted Forest.

Masquerade: Leopold throws a ball in honor of his anniversary with Regina. She meets a masked stranger there and shares a moment with him.

Caught: A mission goes wrong for Robin and Regina.

Forgotten: Set in Season 4B, Robin returns from New York to find the Evil Queen. Can he help her remember how much he loves her?

Assassin: King Leopold hires infamous assassin The Hood to kill his wife, Regina. Robin didn’t expect to be drawn to her.

Hades: When the Queen of Death finds a young boy in her river, her life is changed forever.

Archery: Regina agrees to spend a morning with Henry and Robin learning how to properly shoot a bow and arrow.

Hope: After an accident, Regina gets a peak into what her life could’ve been.

Pain Management: Regina takes care of Robin after he is injured and she soon learns he has an interesting reaction to painkillers.

Snowball Fight (Missing Year Trilogy #1): Robin and Regina get into a rather interesting fight.

On the Balcony (Missing Year Trilogy #2): Robin and Regina have a heart-to-heart.

Fever (Missing Year Trilogy #3): After Regina is injured during an attack, Robin takes care of her.

The Reveal: A season 4B AU. Robin returns from New York at the tail end of a battle for Storybrooke and learns something about Regina.

Waking Up: A sequel to Pain Management. What happens when the painkillers wear off and Robin wakes up.

Bath Time: Robin convinces Regina to relax after a long day.

Wicked: Robin and “Marian” go see a musical in New York City. Offers what my theory of what would’ve happened with the Marilena arc.

Happy Ending: A different ending for “There’s No Place Like Home” for Outlaw Queen.

The Dark One: Season 4 finale AU. With the darkness trying to take Regina, it is Robin, not Emma, who takes the dagger instead. (Became chapter 1 of The Prince of Darkness).

Comfort Food: Based on a prompt. Robin and Regina have no good, horrible weeks and reach for the last box of mac and cheese. (Became part I of Comfort Food).

The Reveal Part II: Sequel to The Reveal. Robin reveals what happened in New York and how he returned to Storybrooke.

A Purrfect Beginning: Based off a prompt. Robin gets off on the wrong foot with new neighbor Regina when his cat impregnates hers.

Aquatic Fun: When the Hood-Mills-Swan-Charming family spends a day at a water park, a friendly rivalry blooms between Robin and Regina.

True Love: Outlaw Bandit. Robin feels drawn to Regina, even after only meeting her once.

Family Matters: Regina needs a date and asks her best friend, Robin, to accompany her. She might get more than she expected.

Lost Souls: Interlude between “Lily” and “Mother.” Regina goes for a walk to clear her head.

The Nanny: Regina Mills becomes the nanny for the young son of billionaire Robin Locksley. (Became first chapter in The Nanny)

Welcome Home: (Set in the Comfort Food verse) Robin and Regina bring home the newest member of their family.

Teach Me: Robin asks Regina to teach him how to drive and she finds an incentive to help him succeed.

The Tattoo: In the missing year, Regina and Robin have a little competition.

Goodnight, My Someone: Outlaw Bandit. Regina and Robin wish goodnight to the same star.

The Storybook: In the missing year, Henry’ storybook comes to Regina and brings her closer with a certain outlaw.

The Impossible: Based on a prompt. Regina’s visit to Dr. Whale doesn’t go the way she planned.

Best Laid Plans: Based on a prompt. Robin’s surprise for Regina doesn’t go as planned.

The Talk: Outlaw Believer fic. Henry asks Robin to give him that all important “Talk.”

A Night Together: Written as a birthday gift and is mostly Dimples Queen. When the Charmings throw a ball, Regina offers to babysit Roland.

First Snow: Writing challenge. Regina and Henry introduce Robin and Roland to snow days.

Family Bonds: Regina worries that Roland feels bad that so many people remark about how much Peanut looks like Robin but he surprises her with his answer.

Love Thy Neighbor: Robin and Marian discover their new neighbors are swingers and he finds he has a passionate connection with Regina.

Dirty Secret: During Season 4A, Regina and Robin sneak around behind Marian’s back.

What Child is This?: Written for OUAT Secret Santa. Regina and Robin learn something surprising about Peanut.

Not Just Another Day: Everyone has forgotten Regina’s birthday...or have they?

A Drunken Misadventure: After a night of drinking, Robin gets a brilliant idea--confront the Evil Queen.

Baby's Firsts: Regina and Robin have bets over Peanut’s milestones.  

The Nanny: Christmas Interlude:  Christmas at the Locksley household, since I didn’t show it in The Nanny.

Comfort Food Interlude: Betrayal: Regina gets betrayed by the one thing she thought never would.

The Shower: Regina and Robin wash up after another monster attack.

Steal Away: Robin robs the wrong person...or has he?

Steal Away: Cohabitation: The Locksleys and the Mills adjust to their new living arrangements.

The Evil Queen and the Thief: When Robin Hood is captured, the Evil Queen has some fun with him.

Teacher and Student: Robin will do anything to pass his class. Professor Mills is willing to see what “anything” means.

Missing Year: Regina and Robin have a private moment before going to find Rumpelstiltskin.

Comfort Food: Invitation: Robin struggles with an important question--does he invite his parents to his wedding to Regina?

Comfort Food: Nightmare:  As the trial approaches, Robin finds that Regina is very affected by it.

Comfort Food: A Snowy Day: Robin and Regina enjoy a day in when snow blankets the area.

All That Was Me: Rescuing Regina: Robin discovers Regina is missing after the wedding and rallies the Merry Men to find her.

Secret Santa: Written for the 2016 OQ Advent Calendar. Regina suspects that best friend Robin is her Secret Santa but she is surprised at the reason why. 

A Place Called Home: Written for the OUAT Secret Santa. Regina celebrates Christmas throughout the years in Storybrooke and finds a home at last. 

A Valentine’s Day Surprise: Written for Love from OQ exchange. Regina makes a wish on her birthday and it slowly comes true. 

Jamie Hood Series

Daddy's Little Girl: Jamie (Peanut) wants to be just like her Daddy.

Mother Knows Best: Regina intervenes after Robin and Jamie have a fight.

Life With Siblings: Jamie and her bond with her brothers.

Friends and Extended Family: Jamie has to make a family tree, raising concerns in her parents.

Questions and Answers:  After getting her family tree back, Jamie has some questions for her parents.

Free Day:  Jamie meets her biological mother.

Hotel Verse (In order they happen in the verse, not order of publication)

(Can also be read on FF.net, AO3 or Wattpad)

The Hotel: When a termite infestation forces Regina and Henry out of their house for a few days, they stay at Storybrooke’s only luxury hotel. There she meets handsome handyman Bobby Locke.

Part Deux: Regina and Henry continue to spend time with Bobby and Roland.

Playdate: Bobby and Roland visit Regina and Henry for a playdate at the mansion.

First Kiss: Henry’s birthday party leads to a present for Regina.

Green-Eyed Monster: Graham finds out about Robin and Bobby. He is not happy. 

First Time: Now together, Bobby and Regina have sex for the first time.

Jealousy: When Regina gets jealous, Bobby assures her she’s his only one.

Memories: On a camping trip with Roland and Henry, Bobby has a strange episode that changes him. 

Merry Christmas, Regina Mills: As Christmas approaches, Bobby/Robin surprises Regina.