#sl!tide

[bones-the-skelebunny-01]

was on a drawing hiatus, finally drew something for today SL!Tide by @wolf-wrathknight

[mewguca]

I finally got around to making height charts for them yayyyyy ^^

buncha extra variations under the cut

I'll make the refs proper soon!!!

[multeasers]

people focus so little on aq when it comes to yi city as if she was not witness to the entire reason the arc occurs within the story to begin with

[fruitwanderer]

"I acted on good faith all over him." Tango?? Tango?? 🤨

[kookslastbutton]

high tide ༓ kth (m)

✑ Summary: Due to Taehyung's job as a cruise ship Captain, you are constantly miles away from each other. Weekly phonecalls help and this one gets a little nasty and a lot sweet.

Pairing: cruise ship captain!taehyung x fem!reader (feat. Yeontan)

AU/genre: PWP, fluff, smut, tiny angst, established relationship, aged-up, oneshot

Rating: M, 18+

Word Count: 2,001

Warnings: dom!taehyung, slight brat!reader, phone s*x, f*ngering, handj*b, mutual m*sturbation, taehyung calls oc sl*t once, some d*rty talk, mentions of v*berator, crying, missing each other, + taehyung has a special suprise for oc vv sweet

Now Playing: Beautiful, Versace on the Floor, Photograph…

A/N: wrote this on a whim after I saw Taehyung in that white captian outfit. Took a slightly different direction than planned but i like it. Hope you do too! 💞

“Two more days baby,” he says through the phone, loosening the tie from around his neck. “Then I’ll be home.”

“I miss you.” You nearly whine the words but who could blame you? Taehyung’s been at sea for 10 weeks straight. You’ve been calling as much as you can but they’re never as long as you’d like. Between the ship, the crew, and countless other responsibilities to keep track of, plus sleeping when he can–which never amounted to more than six hours a night, your boyfriend had a tight schedule.

Of course, he wouldn’t be able to talk to you for more than fifteen minutes a few nights a week.

You expected it.

“Someone wants to say hi.” You glance beside you, and a pair of beady dark eyes stare up at you. You’re boyfriend’s dog rests his head on your lap. “Say hi to daddy Yeontan.” You hold your phone near him.

“Yeontan,” Taehyung’s deep voice rumbles. “Yeontan, are you behaving for mommy?” Yeontan quirks his head, unsure of the sudden noise. “Yeontan,” he tries again, this time making light kissing sounds.

At that, Yeontan lets out a yip, then another. You roll your eyes hearing Taehyung chuckle. “Good boy.”

Yeontan lets another yip and sits up on high alert. You bring a hand down to stroke his fur, calming him before you bring the phone up to your ear. “I think you got him too excited. He thinks you’re coming back tonight.”

“Well, you did use the D word.” Taehyung plays with the small box next to him. The sharp flipping and snapping of the lid cracks through the speaker.

“What are you doing?” You’re unable to ignore the sound. It’s harsh on your ear. “Are you doing something?”

Taehyung sets the box down instantly. You hear it squeak against a glass surface. “Sorry,” he coos. “It’s just an empty box that held cufflinks the crew surprised me with the other day. Messing around with it has become a habit I’ve developed recently.”

You hum. “Like a fidget spinner?”

“Yeah,” Taehyung replies. He smiles at the dainty box. “Something like that.”

“Oh, well that was nice of them to get you. Though I’m not shocked. You’ve been taking good care of them over the last seven years.”

Taehyung hears your words but falls silent. He whips his head towards his nightstand, viewing the photo of him and you in a burgundy-red picture frame. It was a gorgeous day out. Taehyung had just gotten promoted to captain and you were right by his side, arms around his waist with that knock-out smile he loves so much.

You’ve been together for eight years now and eight magnificent years they’ve been. Fancy dinners, late-night movies, going to the jazz, along with a handful of quarrels soon followed by make-up sex–you’ve done it all. And while neither of you could fathom being without the other, eight years have quickly turned into eight minutes with the amount of time the seas called him.

He hasn’t told you but every time he boarded the ship, watching your form get smaller and smaller, he felt gut-wrenching guilt settle in the pit of his stomach.

Taehyung didn’t want you waiting and yet he knew you were. Every ten weeks, he’d go to sea and then return for ten weeks. The worst part was that even when he was home, it was like a countdown until the process repeated itself.

Yes, you were constantly in limbo, waiting for the next step.

He hated it.

“Hey are you still with me?” It’s your stark voice that shakes Taehyung back into the conversation. He blinks away from the framed photo, clutching his phone.

“I’m still here,” he replies. “Listen __, I want you to know that in a couple of days, I’ll have something for you…to make up for all our lost time.”

“Hmm, is that so…” Your voice lowers, a sultry undertone with it. “Can I know what it is, Captain?”

Taehyung clears his throat thickly, palms feeling a tad sweaty and pants tight. “No, no you can’t,” he murmurs. “You’ll find out when you’re supposed to.”

“Two days is too long. Tell me now and maybe I’ll give you something in return unless you wanna risk it.”

Taehyung smirks, aware of your taunting. “Stick your fingers anywhere near your sopping cunt and that’s all you’ll be getting for a week.”

“Being that it’s the only thing I have gotten for the last ten weeks, fine by me,” you counter. “Oh, except for that pretty pink vibrator I got the other day. Does wonders for the female body.”

“Fucking brat.” Taehyung grips his thigh, struggling to repulse images of your sprawled-out body on your shared bed, broken moans leaving your lips. He hasn’t touched your soft skin or felt the burn of your fingers on his skull for weeks.

Somehow you’ve been perfectly satisfied though, which isn’t necessarily a huge problem due to his absence, but he’d rather not be reminded. Especially when it’s coming from a toy that likely couldn’t make you scream as loud as he could. “When I get home, that damn vibrator is the first to go. So enjoy yourself for a couple more days because it isn’t going to last.“

“Uh huh, uh huh.” You feign disinterest. “Same threats as usual. The sea has made you so dull and boring.”

“Yeah, think so? Well go ahead then slut. Make yourself come any way you’d like right now.” Taehyung waits for you to own up to your shit but you hesitate. “What’s the matter? Wanna take it all back?”

“Taehyung…I was just–”

“Uh uh,” he interrupts. “It’s far too late for any of that. You made a statement and you made me horny. So you know what we’re gonna do?” He reaches down his pants, unbuckling the leather belt around his waist. The sound of metal clangs against each other, before you hear a zipper gliding down.

“I swear Taehyung, if you make me listen to you jerk off right now I’m hanging up and not calling back.”

“Oh and I believe you so much,” he snickers, pushing his pants down enough to take his erect cock in hand. Taehyung has a massive cock so the push was generous, let’s say. “I think you want me to get off for you don’t you?”

His deep, thick voice rings through your entire body. Arousal slowly pooling between your thighs. It’s been a good six weeks since you and Taehyung last did anything like this. He’d either have to go to bed or your phone call would typically cut out before you got the chance.

Taehyung spits on his hands before taking his length in his palm. “Answer me,” he says but you’re too preoccupied with picturing his beautifully sleek fingers gripping his big, hard cock so tight it makes you drool. All you reply with is a weak ‘uh’.

His groans are hot and rough as he starts a steady pace. You ask if he’ll turn his camera on and make this a video call instead but he only laughs wickedly in response. “You think this is for you sweetheart? For your pleasure?” His breaths quicken, cock leaking precum you bet. If only you could be there. “Well it’s not,” he quips with a broken grunt.

“Please, Tae.” You lean your head back on the headboard, closing your eyes. A hand slips up your bare thigh and slips under your shirt to settle on your abdomen.

“Oh god–fuck!” Taehyung cusses loudly and your knuckles tense. “Fuck fuck fuck,” he curses again. When you draw the same hand down your core and straight to your wet center, you let out a satisfied moan. Taehyung doesn’t miss it, however.

“No, no–no, I don’t want,” he struggles to form the simple words, not stopping his ruthless movements. “Shit–“

You bite your lip and stuff two fingers inside, curling them as far as you can. It shoots spikes of pleasure up your spine and your hips buck up in response. “Taehyung, I wish I could see you. I wish I could be there.” Wetness pricks the corner of your eyes as you push into yourself and thumb your clit. Your thoughts are consumed by your boyfriend doing nearly the exact same hundreds of miles away. “I miss you so much Tae,” you gasp.

Taehyungs sweating bullets. His hair has gotten messy, a few strands stick to his forehead. He’s inches away from his high and he’s so pissed that you’re touching yourself when this was supposed to be him punishing you or some shit but he can’t stop either of you from continuing.

“God I miss you too baby. I miss seeing your gorgeous face and making you laugh. Your laugh is so goddamn pretty. I miss waking up beside you, my arms wrapped around you as I think to myself how lucky I am to have you with me for so long. And I really fucking wish it was your hands getting me off instead of my own. I’m so sorry I’m away so much and for so long.”

“Don’t apolo–apologize.” You add another finger, hot liquid coating them and already running down your thighs. “I understand your job is important to you. We’ll see each other soon and I’ll have you back to myself.”

“No, baby listen to me. Was gonna tell you in person but I’m stepping down. Fuck I’m there!” Taehyung releases on himself, his cum dripping down the length of his cock.

"What?" Pleasure washes over you as you release soon after, hands sticky and out of breath. "You're doing what?"

"Jimin's gonna be the new captain sweetheart. I can't keep going away every two to three months. I'm gone for half the year and I just cant keep doing it. I'll get a job closer to home somewhere. I just wanna be with you. I wanna..." Taehyung pauses. "__, I wanted this to be all romantic and grand but I don't think I can wait. That box I told you that were cufflinks the crew gave me? I lied. It's a ring. I bought it in Toulouse, France for you because I wanna stay with you as long as possible—"

"Oh my God oh my god Taehyung...." More tears cover your cheeks. You didn't think the day would come.

"Eight years is long enough isn't it? What do you say?" Taehyung's voice is shaky. He glances at the tiny box again, the one with your ring it. He doesnt reach for it because, well you know. But he can't wait to put it on your finger if you say what he hopes you will.

"Mhm, yes yes I'll marry you! Fuck you make me so happy." You really, really can't wait to see Taehyung in two days—he's your fiancee now.

"You dont know how happy you make me __. And when I see you in two day, I'm doing this again just so you know. The way I planned."

You smile through the phone, overwhelmed with emotions. "You don't have to. This was more than enough. And you don't have to quit being a captain really, its what you've wanted for so long."

"I want something different now," Taehyung says. "We deserve this __. Something new and not from miles away where we only communicate over the phone. Plus, now that you're my fiancee....soon bride and all—"

"Okay slow down tiger," you drawl, sneaky suspicion in your tone. "No babies for the first year or two, at least."

Taehyung fakes a loud sigh. "If my fiancee insists. No TaeTae juniors, yet."

"Hey! They'll also be mine, thank you very much!" You pound the bed with your fist. Taehyung laughs wholeheartedly.

"Okay, ours," he replies. "By the way, thank you for tonight. It was really hot, you were really hot."

"Back at you, Captain."

You giggle to yourself, thoughts wandering— you're getting married. Who are you telling first? The wedding planner duh!

A/N: uhm idk why but writing this couple gave me different feelings than usual...anyway Lmk your thoughts otherwise thanks for reading lovlies 💞

Masterlist

no reposting, copying, or translating my work– © kookslastbutton

[ryin-silverfish]

LMK Fanfic: The Serpent and the Deluge

AO3 Mirror

LMK S5 spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.

Kinda a companion piece to my "Chaos doesn't work that way" post.

Featuring: the Nine-Headed Demon telling a story, and lots of Chinese mythos references.

We met again, Harbinger.

Now hold on, and hold your punches. We are in a dream, the realm souls wander to in their slumber. You can't touch me here, nor can I touch you; though I apologize for intruding without permission, it doesn't really matter when this visit is my last.

Why am I here? To tell you a story about a cave. 

Oh come on, no need to look all bored before I even begin. I know you've heard it once, but I promise, this one is better than the last. The Cave and the Sun: Expanded Edition, if you would.

Yes, I'm very obsessed with the sound of my own voice. You would too if you were stuck in the Palace of Darkness for centuries, accompanied only by the cries of hungry ghosts and my nine late colleagues, droning on and on about crimes and punishments.

Please, Harbinger, just let me have my one last indulgence before leaving it all behind, once and for all.

Where was I? Ah, the cave.

Officially, it is not a cave, but the Terrace of Gonggong. But if you were born in the empty void beneath, amidst the pooling blood and endlessly collapsing earth, you'd never know. 

Whose blood, I heard you ask? The blood of Xiangliu, loyal minister of Gonggong, shed by Yu the Great, from which my kind spawn and return to upon the end of a single life, so that we may be born anew. Rocks weren't the only thing you can spontaneously pop out of in the age of the ancients, it turns out.

One day, a little bird and a little snake crawled out of the pool, like countless others before them, and didn't get eaten by their malformed siblings on the way out. Up and up, they climbed, until they were scooped up by the scaled claws of the elders, nine heads fully grown, and told of their destiny: nothing.

Yes, you heard that right. Nothing. 

That was all their kind were, and would be, sealed beneath the Five Altars, misbegotten ilks of the Floodbringer, whose blood and flesh were marked forever by the deeds of the Breaker of the Sky Pillar.

“So venture not into the light above,” they warned, even as their ramshackle nests sank deeper and deeper into the putrid swamp. “Our essences are cursed, stained by the transgressions of our forefathers. You will bring them nothing but misery and destruction, and be boiled down to nothing in return.”

And it was easy for the little bird to almost believe them, as she tore into the flesh of their malformed siblings, spawns of Xiangliu who had come back incomplete, in bits and pieces, driven only by hunger until they dissolved into the pool of blood once more. 

But, as always, the best way to get someone to do something is warning them against it, and the little snake is a born contrarian.

...

He heard the call while hanging upside down on a stalactite, tasting the copper-scented air with his forked tongue, trying to catch a whiff of the wind that slipped through the cracks.

They all did. Yet, unlike the ones above ground, it was a call some were still capable of refusing, dampened by the seals and reduced to a fraction of its strength.

Come to me, it said, and only the spawns with the weakest and strongest will listened.

"What are you doing, Ah Jiu?" The little bird yelled, hovering above the many-limbed tide of malformed spawns, stepping all over each other as they made their way up the steep cliffs. "Come back here, right this instant!"

The little snake did not listen. Could not listen. As he unfurled his own wings and followed the tide, the call had become a song, loud and mesmerizing, drowning out all the other sounds inside and outside of him, till only a single word remained: Come.

So, like any frustrated, overprotective sibling, the little bird took off after him. 

...

They emerged out of a sea of blood, covered in the viscera of their malformed siblings, who had slammed themselves against the protective spells of the seals, over and over and over, until a brief opening was created.

They looked into the light together, and it burned. Horribly. It's a miracle that they weren't blinded forever.

The little snake, who saw more with his tongue than his actual eyes, was the first to regain his senses. Whereas the world inside the cave was like a spiderweb, thin threads stretching across a metal-scented void, the world outside was a tapestry of smells and sounds and vibrations, stretching endlessly towards the horizon.

He took so long adoring this tapestry, he didn't even notice the little bird flying off. As fierce and practical-minded as she was, when she heard the call in all of its wondrous, terrible glory, she darted after it like a huntress pursuing her prey, an arrow cutting through the air.

If she was alive in this day and age, she'd be the sort of tourist who headed straight for the destinations, took photos of the biggest, most iconic landmarks, then spent the rest of the day sleeping on the bus.

The little snake, however, preferred to stroll his way there leisurely. Enjoy the scenery, even as the tour guide was screaming his name into the speaker, telling him to hurry up, for heaven's sake.

Why am I so familiar with such...modern stuff? My my, do you know how many tourists managed to die in the dumbest manner ever, and how many of them ended up in front of the Tenth Court?

Impersonating a king of the Underworld meant I got a share of the workload too, and I'll admit, after all the extra paperwork and inane cases the others had thrown in my way, it made killing them just a tiny bit cathartic.

Back to the little snake. When he arrived, the entirety of demonkind had gathered beneath a towering mountain peak. From its top, the call echoed on and on.

Amidst beasts and beings of all shapes and sizes, he could barely spot the little bird, her dark, iridescent feathers standing in stark contrast with the white fur of the nine-tailed fox beside her.

He was only allowed a single glance, before the call became a deafening choir, and a verdant banner, made of jade-like scales, was raised up into the air, by a stunningly beautiful woman with the lower body of a snake.

A goddess, she called herself. And she had summoned them here to topple a dynasty.

...

You have already met Nüwa, Harbinger. You know very well what she's like. 

Whatever you think of her now, I have a warning for you: do not ever see her as your mother, or your kin. Or anything other than a goddess.

We are her kin. Everything born naturally from Heaven and Earth, out of the Qi flow of Yin and Yang, whether they call themselves gods or demons——are of the same substance. 

And look how she treated us. Watch that banner, the Spirit Calling Banner, work its magic, calling us to kneel before her regardless of our will. Would you ever make such a thing and keep it in storage, just in case you need to raise it against your friends and family?

You, whom she molded from stone and clay, are not her children either. Not even the children of a terrible parent.

The best analogy I can come up with is a figurine collector and her collections. If my brief peeks into the living realm hold true, some collectors love their dolls more than anything. Would probably save their collection instead of all the other valuables, when a fire broke out in their house.

But figurines can't think or feel. They won't have a problem with being locked eternally in a glass case and having it be their entire world. They don't bleed when used in a wargame. Nor will they worship their collector as a goddess, or write a love poem to her.

If Nüwa was ever human, I'd sympathize with her disgust a lot more, when Zhou the Tyrant expressed his desire to take her as a concubine. 

Well, she isn't, and neither am I. 

She sent my sister and her new friends to tempt King Zhou and topple his dynasty, promising to release our kind from the Terrace in return, then executed them for doing exactly that. All because they had harmed too many of her precious figurines in the process. Honestly, what was she expecting?

This, I can never forgive.

I, however, am not poor Azure. I don't fancy myself a champion for demonkind, and my dear sister had made her choices, however unwise they were.

I have waited all these years, endured more setbacks than you can count, done my fair share of manipulation and sacrifices, for a goal greater than petty revenge.

I wish to shatter the cage that traps us all. Unravel the cruel threads of Fate and Destiny.

...

What do you know of Chaos, Harbinger?

It's scary. And bad. Hmm, I expected to hear that, yet I'm still disappointed. How very human——and divine, to impose morality and wishful thinking and arbitrary orders onto the unfathomable, the natural!

Allow me to show you a glimpse of the truth. The same truth the little snake gazed upon when he returned to the cave, and made his efforts in vain, to save those who did not wish to be saved.

This is Chaos.

The primordial cosmic sea, the warm deluge of nothing and everything. The potential for Life. 

"One begets Two, Two begets Three, Three begets everything." Chaos separates into Yin and Yang, and through the copulation of the two, Heaven and Earth and Life come into existence.

The spontaneous spawning of beings from Qi flows, from the mighty gods and fantastic beasts of old to your garden-variety yaoguai, as primordial matter divides itself——that will be impossible without Chaos.

To put it in simpler terms: remember the blood of Xiangliu? From the pool we came, and it's the pool we'd ultimately return to. 

"After everything you've said and done, I'm even less convinced that it's a good thing."

Oh, that is not an argument. Merely a statement of facts. At the end of the Great Cycle, when the process of division runs out of momentum at last, everything will return to Chaos and be reborn once more. 

An end that will not come in the next few eons, yet one Nüwa desires to "protect" this world from, nonetheless.

Confused? Need some time to process what you've just heard? No worries. Let me tell you another story in the meantime. 

Or, as I like to call it, the fable of the failed cosmetic surgery.

...

The god of the South Sea is Shu, the god of the North Sea is Hu, and the Lord of the Center is Hundun. 

The three encountered each other inside the domain of Hundun, and Hundun welcomed them warmly as guests.

To repay his kindness, Shu and Hu thought up an idea: "All humans have seven orifices through which they look and listen, eat and breathe. Yet Hundun doesn't have any. Let us bore some for him, so he can sense the world."

Everyday they bore one orifice, and on the seventh day, Hundun died.

...

"...What was the point of this story?" 

Who knows! Maybe it doesn't have one. Maybe the old human who wrote it was poking fun at the incessant need to find a point in everything, like he always did.

But my point, Harbinger, is this: death, destruction, all the scary stuff you are thinking of——these are not the essence of Chaos, merely the results of its division. You cannot have Life without its opposite, Yang without Yin; for every push, there must be a pull.

Thus, by dividing this world from Chaos, Nüwa has ensured its doom. 

Much like water, if you build a dam and only dams to defend against a flood, the silts and mud gradually build up at the bottom, and it's only a matter of time before the river overflows into an even more catastrophic deluge. 

By creating the Pillar of Heaven, what would have been nothing but a storm of Qi currents, a surge of spontaneous births and deaths in the ancient ages, became a disastrous flood that periodically threatened to engulf the artificial bubble once and for all.

It is her prison as much as ours. And when its walls fell at last, it would have taken every single prisoner with it, in the same way the Terrace of Gonggong has taken mine.

...

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so the saying goes.

Unfortunately, the little snake is quickly disabused of such notions. In the decades he was away, the cave had grown even colder, darker, more dismal than ever. Fewer of his kin stood in the swamp, as more and more youths came back malformed, wrong, incomplete, the Chaos in their blood fizzling out with each passing and birth. 

Yet still they clung to the familiar, the corrosive certainty, the willful ignorance. 

“You have taken the brightest of us with you, allowing her to burn up in the light, and still you dare whisper your poison into the ears of the younglings? Still you wish to lure them to such a cruel fate?” 

Monster. Unforgivable.

Words turned into sharp retorts turned into accusations turned into screams, then, at last, pleadings, as his kin tied him to the heaviest stone they could find, then pushed it off a cliff, into the abyss where all the blood flowed to and gathered.

He sank and sank, further and further away from the nonexistent light of their warm bodies, for what seemed like an eternity.

Then he opened his eyes and saw.

...

He saw everything he had been, every time he had crawled out and returned to the pool. Basked in the remembrances of those he once called kin, clinging to him like dews on metal as he shook them aside, and gazed deeper into the blood-red void.

He saw the nine-headed serpent, hissing, sinking into and lunging out of the earth below as if it was made of water. Before it was a man with a face like weathered cliffs and an ape-like gait, who calmly held up his golden staff, standing tall against the poisonous tides the serpent unleashed with each of its breaths.

He saw the faceless vermillion beast, the winged tiger, the beast with human face and boar tusks, the horned monster gnawing on its own flesh, raging in vain as the glowing chains dragged them down, into the void between the stars.

He saw the red-headed giant, his snake tail lashing out wildly against the circle of fire that was shrinking around him, fueled by the burning man with the body of a beast.

With one last desperate roar, the giant leaped out of the flames, plunging his head right into the golden pillar that stood between Heaven and Earth.

A crack formed. He looked into it, and he saw, he saw, he saw it all——

Come back to us, the shades of the pool cried out behind him. Come back and forget everything. Close your eyes and begin anew. Come back, it's safe and warm in here.

Never, he said.

Then he reached into the depth of himself. Felt the little droplet of warm chaos, cracking, pulsating, dividing——and set it aflame.

...

He slithered through the blood, like a flame burning across a trail of oil. Past the long-submerged caverns where generations of spawns once carved their tales into the stone, past his writhing, malformed siblings, through the cracks in the collapsed entrance where a little snake and a little bird once chased after the echoes of a call.

The seals did not even activate, as he burned his way out of long-dried bloodstains, and emerged into the chamber of the Five Altars.

Meticulously, he shattered them, one by one. With each altar that crumbled, the earth beneath shook, and the cracks in the ceiling and walls widened.

He could sense the ripple in the blood, feel his fellow spawns dissolving back into the pool. It was quickly becoming a vortex in the lightless depth, as the essence of Chaos ate through the bedrocks, the thick Yin energy of the Underworld, the very fabric of space, returning to the great beyond where true peace lay.

A peace that would be forever out of his reach. Or so he thought, as the Terrace came down around him.

...

"Wow, you are even more of a monster than I thought."

Ah, I see what you are doing here. Such childish provocation will no longer work on me, now that I'm in the process of discarding my own childish indignance, my body sinking deeper and deeper into the primordial sea as we speak.

But still: if trying to save people without their consent makes me a monster, then yes. I am a monster, and so are you, Harbinger.

Please. You think you have found a true third solution, a long-term one? No, had Nüwa even explained it properly, what your sacrifice was supposed to accomplish?

Of course she didn't. So allow me. 

The so-called Great Cycle she spoke of is nothing like the real deal. It is as artificial as the division between this world and Chaos. 

Had I not awakened you prematurely, you'd have emerged into a cold, desolate, broken realm where all life had withered, yet was not allowed to be broken down and returned to its origins.

You'd have walked like a lamb to the slaughter, led by the last few ghostly fools of the Underworld, to burn yourself up inside the Pillar and reset the world. Moving it back in time to the very beginning, where life still flourished.

This is your true destiny. This is what she thinks of as a mercy, creating a sacrificial effigy who has no attachments, nothing to miss. Having never been properly alive, surely death will be as light as a feather to the poor thing!

"Then why did you still want me to sacrifice myself?" Have I ever told you that, child? Your decision was your own, whether I liked it or not. Had you said "No!" to my face and walked away to face the end with dignity, I'd have defended that decision too, and I did.

Either way, I'll have my exit. Whether swept up in the flood and returned to Chaos in bits and pieces, or...to a point where I'd no longer remember. When I'm still capable of making different choices.

Now, your solution is unexpected, not gonna lie, but still one that upholds the division. Instead of using five powerful support beams to hold up the broken pillar, you've made the entirety of humanity into its anchor, tying them irrevocably to the fate of the world.

If I were a true monster, the easiest way to render your effort naught would be killing off large swaths of them in one go, before they had time to fully adapt to their new reality.

As wonderful as it is, this new barrier you've created is more of a net instead of a brick wall, full of holes, and an emissary such as me can easily slip through.

This emissary, however, is not the one you should be looking out for. It's the exiles, and they are coming.

But I've lingered and rambled long enough, haven't I? Guess it's time to leave my doubts behind, too, along with whatever sentimentality for this world that remains.

It's a pleasure talking to you, child. I'd say "Don't miss me too much", except I know you won't. Literally. You won't remember this dream, even if you want to.

And when we meet again——if we ever meet again——I will be me no longer, nor trapped in this maelstrom of divisions. 

I will have merged back into the One, and I sincerely hope you will too, one day.

[read-alert]

Happy MerMay! Full titles under the cut!

The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist by SL Huang

Weird Fishes by Rae Mariz

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

Mermaids Never Drown: Tales to Dive For edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C Parker

Chlorine by Jade Song

The Perfect Waters: Odedsa Book One by LeeSha McCoy

Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Rise of the Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste

A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow

The Secret of Haven Point by Lisette Auton

A Song of Silver and Gold by Melissa Karibian

The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Out of the Blue by Jason June

Seven Tears at High Tide by CB Lee

The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember

Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner

The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

Sirena: A Mermaid Legend from Guam by Tanya Chargualaf Taimanglo illustrated by Sonny K Chargualaf

Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh

Sukey and the Mermaid by Robert D San Souci illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Mermaid and Pirate by Tracey Baptiste illustrated by Leisl Adams

[traffic-smp-headcannons]

Cupid Skizz for DL has my entire heart, it's so cute. Just the idea of him floating around shooting people he thought would be fun together then watching the downfall. (btw he's also a cupid in SL because I say so)

OH MY GOD YES. i know i should be saving some asks for mod tides to answer, but... come on! it's Skizz! My boy! I love him. Yes, he is 100% a cupid! I like to imagine that during DL, he had a little board covered in construction-paper hearts with pictures of all the soulmate pairs in them and strings connecting them. conspiracy board style, lol

As the season progressed, he'd add little notes to them- for example, when Tango and Jimmy died, he cut out a little halo and wings and added it above the heart. along with, taped onto the heart, the words "DEAD LOL"

when Pearl won, he drew a little crown above her picture. with glitter gel pen

Also, he actually cut the strings between Scott and Pearl, + Martyn and Cleo. Then tied the cut ends of Scott and Cleo's strings together. just to fit with what they'd been saying.

The board stayed after Double Life ended, so he showed it to the people that'd been in that season (actually he only showed it to impulse)... who promptly yoinked it and threw it into lava, never to be seen again. Why? Because among all the other notes on it, he made jokes about Impulse and Bdubs getting married for real outside of DL. Impulse has never recovered

-Mod Enen

[pk-kai]

“On the Run”

Decided to write a small bit for my Cookie Run AU called “Rise”. Story is under the cut!

If it turns out good I’ll write more in the future Lol, but enjoy!

Ps. My writing isn’t the greatest in the world. I apologize in advance for any mistakes but uh yeah. :p

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

“I found more firewood!”

The current time was unknown. All that could be deciphered was the fact it was late. Twinkling stars filled the night sky as the creatures of the tundra forest made themselves known to all.

Within the forest, was a group of three. All sitting around a small campfire. The shorter of the three, had gone into the dark forest to gather more wood. As he returned, with his trusty cream wolf by his side, he spoke up.

“This should be enough to tide us over for a while.” The cookie set the logs by his side and threw a few into the fire. It cackled and grew larger. There was a nod from one of the other cookies.

“Thank you Crunchy Chip.” “No problem Caramel Arrow!”

As Crunchy Chip took a seat by the fire, his cream wolf trotted over to the final cookie of the group and sat by him. The wolf could feel the cookie’s uneasiness.

“My Prince? You haven’t touched your food.”

The cookie sighed. The food in question was nothing more than a pouch of berries and a small piece of meat they had cooked over the fire.

“Sorry. Just…lost in thought I suppose.”

“I can imagine, a lot did happen today. Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Caramel Arrow asked. The prince, Dark Choco, nodded.

Silence fell upon the group. They were on the run. From whom you may ask? Well, none other than the King of the Dark Cacao Kingdom…

The events that occurred would just be seen as a simple argument between father and son. King and Prince. But it was much more than that.

Something had happened to the King. What happened exactly Dark Choco couldn’t place. He sighed once more, rubbing his hand over his left eye. A place where a scar once lived.

But now?

The King’s Soul jam laid embedded into the prince’s eye.

Try as he might, it couldn’t be removed. What was once the King’s source of power now resides within the Prince. Dark Cacao had tried to take it back, yet Dark Choco had fled, along with Crunchy Chip and Caramel Arrow.

“Do you think Affogato will be alright?” Crunchy Chip asked, breaking the silence.

“Hopefully…” Caramel Arrow responded sadly. “We owe him our lives.” During their escape, It was supposed to be the four of them running from the citadel. Yet the royal advisor had stayed behind, buying time for the other three. They didn’t know what became of him or anyone else within the kingdom.

“We’ll save him.” Dark Choco added. “We save him, the kingdom…and my father. For now, we need to head to the Vanilla Kingdom. We have to warn Pure Vanilla and Peppermint Bark.”

The watcher and cream wolf captain agreed. They rest for the night and then leave early in the morning. They were far gone from the kingdom’s grounds. They wouldn’t be found.

Meanwhile, back at the Dark Cacao Kingdom…

“We’re sorry your majesty…they’re gone.” A watcher had bowed before the king. He sat on his throne, Affogato at his right.

Dark Cacao sighed leaning back into the throne. Purple eyes bore into the watcher.

“Unforgivable. Be dismissed.” The watcher bowed again and left the throne room. The King rose from the throne, and motioned for the advisor to follow him.

They had walked down the corridor into what seemed to be a meeting room. The two walked in as the king closed the door.

“Affogato Cookie.”

“Your Majesty.”

The two stared each other down. The king’s purple eyes…faded into a dusty white color.

“You’re a smart man Affogato, I must admit.” The King’s voice had changed, it was still deep, but had a hint of femininity.

“I’ll say it once more. I don’t know where they went. Now just who are you and how did you get control of him?”

Dark Cacao let out a soft chuckle. “My identity does not need to be known. In time you will find out. Yet you will not tell anyone else.”

The king slammed his sword to the ground causing Affogato to jump.

“Or you will face the consequences.”

“Right…Right. Of course.”

“Good.”

The king walked around and placed a hand onto the advisor’s shoulder.

“Glad we could have this talk. Now, I have a kingdom to oversee, if I see you doing anything out of the ordinary. I will personally be your worst nightmare. You will fade into the flour in which you were born.”

With that, the king left Affogato. The advisor sighed and pulled his cloak tighter as he stared out the window into the snowy abyss.

“May the gods watch over you Prince Dark Choco. Caramel Arrow and Crunchy Chip will keep you protected. Hopefully the other kingdoms are faring better than here.” He sighed and left the room.

“War is soon upon us…and it will be against the ones we once looked up to…”

[listener-symphony]

(Nothing in the inbox rn and I feel like you guys deserve to have this so here we go)

LimL!Pearl: We’ve been talking a lot about the different locations in this world… Maybe we should show these guys the map we made!

LimL!BigB: Ohh… I dunno… it’s not very… well made…

LimL!Pearl: It gets the point across! Here…

LimL!BigB: Oh this is embarrassing, it’s missing so many details!

LimL!Pearl: It’s a map, who cares? Here, we’ll list where everyone is living!

FLOWER VALLEY:

3L Scott

3L Jimmy

SL Gem

SL Scott

SL Impulse

3L Joel

LL Scott

LL Pearl

LL Cleo

DL Tango

DL Jimmy

THE NOSE:

LiL Pearl

LiL BigB

DL Scott

DL Pearl

DL Cleo

DL Martyn

LiL Cleo

LiL Scar

LiL Bdubs

TIDES OF TIME:

LiL Martyn

LiL Scott

DL Joel

DL Etho

DL Bdubs

DL Impulse

DL Ren

DL BigB

LAST TOWERS:

LL Jimmy

LL Grian

LL Mumbo

LL Martyn

LL Impulse

LL Etho

LL Bdubs

LL Skizz

LL Tango

LL Scar

LL Joel

3L Cleo

3L Bdubs

LiL Tango

LiL Impulse

LiL Etho

LiL Skizz

THE KINGDOM:

3L Ren

3L Martyn

LL Ren

LL Lizzie

LL BigB

3L Skizz

3L Etho

3L BigB

SL Skizz

SL Tango

3L Tango

LONELY CLIFF:

3L Impulse

DL Grian

SL Lizzie

DESERT:

3L Grian

3L Scar

SL BigB

SL Mumbo

SL Bdubs

SL Joel

SL Pearl

JUST WANDERS AROUND LOL:

DL Scar

LiL Grian

LiL Joel

LiL Jimmy

SL Cleo

SL Etho

SL Grian

SL Jimmy

SL Martyn

LimL!Pearl: You might notice a lot of people from the same season sticking together… that’s because people get too scared to talk to other versions of people they know! It’s so sad…

LimL!BigB: …Uh, we don’t really go out of our way to do that either…

LimL!Pearl: …

[jayofolympus-writes]

Last Line

I was tagged by @tumbleweedtech! Thank you!

This comes from my Bastion series, but I won't give any more context than that 😘

“Where, exactly, do you intend to find a kyber crystal?” Obi-Wan asked, very clearly setting aside the matter of ‘bleeding’ it. “It's not as though you can go swanning off to Ilum. The Empire controls every known source of kyber, and while I would never like to underestimate you, I fear that the amount of… destruction required would bring undue attention.”

Tagging @frenchkey, @sl-walker, @round--robin, and @on-a-lucky-tide

[bones-the-skelebunny-01]

them! wanna relax from doing comms by drawing the silly mfs SL!Tide by @wolf-wrathknight

[lunastarhawk]

Can I offer some Julian x (f) OC smut in these trying times?

Probably will show up in Tides of Memories in the next chapter or the one after, but really I had a hankering for Juleia being a bit goofy, a bit fluffy, loving and very sexy.

3660 words. 18+ only.

The Sun in her Eyes

“A little higher!”

A moment’s pause. Then, “Here?”

“No, no. To the left a bit!”

Altheia leaned back on one hand, legs stretched out and one crossed over the other on the deck of the small boat. She held the other hand up to her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked up towards the top of the mast.

Or rather, at Julian. He’d climbed up to tighten a knot that had come loose at the very top of the sail. The boat was small enough to only need a single sail that could be hoisted by a rope, and probably didn’t need for a man to shimmy up the mast.

But, like a cat chasing a squirrel up a tree, as soon as Altheia had pointed it out to him Julian had sprung up, reaching with long arms to grab the ropes above as his boots found purchase on ropes and pulleys, and in a few bounds he was at the top. Now, he clung to the mast with his strong thighs, side-on to her so that she could see the muscles, long and lean, flexed enough that there was a furrow along the middle, rounded and pushing at his tight trousers, his knees bent so he could twist a rope around his ankle and catch his boot heels on it like a stirrup.

One leg was bent slightly higher than the other, presenting the gentle crescent of his backside and the curve of his lower back, his shirt slightly untucked from his sash.

“Are you sure?”

His voice drew her gaze back to his eyes and the frown drawing his brows together as he reached across to the sail.

“Yes, I can see it from here!” she called, holding back a grin. “You need to reach a little further.”

She saw his lips move as he muttered to himself, and with one hand hooked around the mast, his thighs gripping tighter, he leaned forward. Altheia tilted her head a little as Julian’s loose shirt, with not one single button and only barely tucked into his waist sash, hung open, fluttering in the sea breeze, displaying the pale expanse of his broad chest, a light sheen of sweat and glimmering hairs. He stretched out his free arm towards the ropes hanging down from the billowing open sail, and with his sleeve rolled up she couldn't help but be drawn to the movements of sinuous muscle and flexed tendons as long fingers caught hold of a loose rope.

"This one?"

He looked down then, and his mess of auburn curls were wild as they were tossed in the sea breeze, coppers and golds and the occasional silver, set aflame by the sun's rays. The extra stretch had pulled more of his shirt out from his waistband, and the sun caught the darker hairs leading down his flat stomach.

It was an effort then to drag her gaze back to his eyes. Still, she smiled and replied,

"Yes, that's the one."

"Oh this isn't a loose knot, darling, it's for…" The crease of Julian's forehead lightened and one eyebrow arched as the penny began to drop. "You knew that, didn't you?"

Altheia smiled sweetly and leaned back on both hands, arching her back a little for Julian's benefit and drinking in the view for a moment longer.

"Did I?"

There really hadn't been a need for Julian to climb up the mast for an imaginary loose knot, except to satisfy Altheia's desire to look at him in all his lithe, long-limbed, wind-swept and sun-kissed beauty.

“Am I nothing but an object of desire to you?” he called, acting affronted, but the arch of his eyebrow, twitch of his lips and the rosy flush blooming on his cheeks spoke otherwise.

“It’s your own fault for being so obscenely handsome, you know," she called back with a grin. “I hope you don’t mind.”

Evidently not minding one little bit and deciding to play up to it, Julian twisted at the waist a little and grabbed the rope a little higher so that his forearm flexed and his bicep rounded visibly under the light fabric of his shirt sleeve. A feline arch of his back lengthened his torso and pushed out his chest so very little of his pecs was left to the imagination.

Altheia laughed at how silly he was, before biting her lip to hold it back. With a final flourish, Julian let go of the mast so he was held only by his thighs and boots caught in ropes, put the back of his hand to his forehead and tossed his head back, fiery curls whipping wildly in the breeze as he affected a half-swoon and lamented,

“I’m nothing but chest, arms and thighs to you, am I?”

She couldn’t hold back her laugh anymore, but was beginning to worry that Julian might get carried away with his theatrics and fall. Still, she couldn’t help but continue playing along.

“Oh I don’t know,” she called. “Your hands are nice, too.”

Julian’s flush deepened, but he took his hand from his forehead to hold it out to her.

“This hand, you say?”

“That’s one of them, yes,” she replied, and then laughed when he wiggled his fingers at her. Then she raised an eyebrow and bit her lip before adding, “And I quite like your cock, too.”

Flustered, Julian splutter-laughed, but recovered quickly with that broad, filthy smirk of his that Altheia adored, as he swung himself around until somehow he was hanging with just one hand around the mast, one foot caught in a taut rope, and presenting his entire front to her so he could run his hand down his torso to his narrow hip, and extend long fingers down towards the swell between his legs.

“This cock, you say?”

Altheia threw her head back with laughter. “Yes, that one! Get down here before you fall.”

Julian grinned, blew her a kiss, and half slid, half bounded down the mast, and as soon as his boots touched the deck he pounced on her, pushing her to her back and laying over her as she squealed with laughter.

“You’re ridiculous, do you know that?” she said fondly, her hands moving to the back of his shoulders, giggling as Julian’s nose and lips nuzzled her neck under her ear.

He mumbled something she couldn't make out but it wasn't important, because the movements of his lips became kisses, softly brushing her neck, the light puffs of his breath making the hairs on the back of her neck rise up and send a beautiful shiver down her spine. The weight of his firm body over hers stirred that desire in her that it always did, held by his forearms beside her head on the deck, one hand under her head and threading long fingers into her hair.

Altheia bent her knees, her booted feet flat on the deck, and Julian shifted so he knelt between her legs. She curled her hand around the back of his neck, pressing her fingertips into the soft hairs at his nape, feeling that same shiver run down his spine as he had sent down hers, and she delighted in it. The kisses on her neck became firmer, his lips vibrated with quiet hums, and they travelled up to her jaw, his nose pressing into her cheek.

At the same time, Altheia’s hands slipped down Julian’s long neck to his chest, and her breathy sound of pleasure came as her palms lay on his firm pecs and her fingers spread through the hair there, still sending that spark of delight through her as if she’d never touched him before. She moved her hands up over the rise and fall of the muscles of his broad shoulders, under his shirt collar, and then on just one side, she pulled the shirt down just to his bicep, and now with the collar gone she could see the full length of his swan-like neck.

Julian understood her intent, and let out the faintest whimper of anticipation as his lips skated over hers, the tip of his tongue touching her bottom lip. Altheia's hands now moved up into his wild curls, threading her fingers through russet waves that were coarse from the salt of the sea spray in the air. A light twist of those locks was enough to tug against his scalp, and he raised his head to look at her with eyes the colour of the ocean in a winter's dusk. A light scrape of her fingernails, another gentle tug, and his head was tilting back, neck arching, ligaments and tendons taut, and he sighed into a groan as she pressed her lips beside his Adam's apple, a kiss followed by a scrape of her teeth. His arms trembled and his breaths shuddered as they carried whispers that had lost their words, slightly louder and then a little louder still as her attentions moved down his porcelain throat to freckled shoulder, nipping hard enough to sting and sucking flesh between teeth hard enough to make him hiss as she left her mark.

The sounds he made, so close to her ear - the erratic puffs of breath, the quivering whines, the whispers, the soft groans - as Altheia explored every one of the most sensitive parts of his neck and shoulder with lips, tongue and teeth, stirred that need inside her, and she raised her hips to press against him, hearing his breath hitch - he was already hard and straining against his trousers.

When she was sure she’d attended to each of Julian’s favourite spots, she tightened the grip of her fingers in his hair again, pulling him to face her, looked at his smokey eyes with lids now drooping heavily, and she slid her palms to his smooth, hollow cheeks so she could pull him those few inches to meet his parted lips with hers.

Julian groaned in a long, deep vibration against Altheia's lips, and she held his hips tight between her thighs as she pulled up to grind against him. His breaths came quicker, more erratic, and his tongue sought hers fervently. Altheia spoke his name into his mouth, her fingers pushing into his thick hair again.

She pulled back then to look at him, but the boat must have shifted heading slightly, because the sun was now in her eyes and she had to squint against it as she gave a sultry smile.

"Are you going to fuck me, Julian? In the open, on the deck of a boat in the harbour in full daylight?"

Julian's eyes narrowed playfully as one side of his mouth raised in a half smile.

"That was the plan, Alteya..." And that pronunciation of her name with his accent elicited exactly the reaction he wanted - a light gasp and a needy roll of her hips. He leaned down and pressed his cheek against hers, waves of hair brushing her face, and murmured close to her ear, "if you'll let me."

"That was the plan," Altheia smiled, but the sun in her eyes was too much. "Can we move around, though? The sun's right in my eyes here."

Julian's eyebrow arched as he grinned. "That so? Well we can't have that, can we?"

He leaned over her and stretched back to where their coats were bundled with her hat on top. When he settled back again, he dropped Altheia's hat down over her forehead and covering her eyes.

"There we are," he declared, "much better!"

Altheia laughed. "True, it is! But I can't see you like this."

She raised her hand to lift up the hat, but Julian caught her wrist, and she gasped.

“Julian, I really can’t see,” she said with a laugh, because apart from the tiniest sliver of light, Julian had positioned the hat to cover her eyes completely.

“Mmm. No need to worry about the sun in your eyes now, though.”

Altheia’s breath caught in her throat - she recognised that low purr of his. The hand that held her wrist brought it to his lips. Tiny pecks of kisses ran down her veins to her palm, and then her hand was turned, and his lips met the back of it.

She jumped slightly when his other hand came to rest on her waist, and suddenly she realised what he was doing. Her body tensed with anticipation.

“I must look ridiculous,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“Sshh.”

Altheia gave the slightest whimper at the soft whisper. Julian was up on his knees between her legs, and he ran his hand from her waist down to her thigh with a squeeze. His hand slid then under the back of her knee and raised her leg to rest over his hip.

“It’s a curious thing,” Julian said, his tone conversational as he leaned forward, one arm now taking his weight beside Altheia, the fingers of the other hand fiddling with her shirt buttons. “If a person loses their vision, the other senses try to compensate. Did you know that?”

“No, I…”

Her voice was cut short with a shuddering breath and a twitch of her body as Julian’s lips were suddenly on her chest. Kisses travelled up to her collar bone, and his nose pressed against her throat up to her chin, where he left another kiss before pulling back.

“Especially touch, would you believe?”

“Who would have thought?” she murmured, her body tense and trembling.

“Mmhmm.” One hand slid into her shirt then, brushing over her breast and making her inhale sharply. “And there are so very many ways to touch, Alteya.”

She whispered his name, but it sounded distant, even to her. Julian’s voice was a low, husky purr, as he took to showing her all the ways and places he could touch. Her skin began to tingle in anticipation, not knowing where the next kiss or caress or lick or nip would land. Her own hands found purchase wherever they could, be it his hair, his shirt, his bicep or his hands, anywhere, until he moved out of reach.

When he bent to kiss her cheeks, the brush of his open shirt over her bare chest sent shivers through her, and she arched her back to press her breasts against his pecs, and her skin was so sensitive she was sure she could feel the soft brush of each individual hair. Another purr in her ear as he kissed her jaw, the stroke of his hair on her cheek and nose, and her lungs filled with his scent; coarse sea salt in his hair, coffee and soap and the faintest hint of rum at his jaw and neck, clean cotton of his shirt, musk at his shoulder.

She pressed her lips where he would allow her, and with a flick of her tongue tasted the salt of his sweat. When he stroked her lips with his thumb she could smell the hemp of the rope on his fingers, and the tar from the mast when she nuzzled his palm.

Beneath her, the boat rocked gently with each wave, all around she could hear those waves lapping up against the sides of the hull. Above, the masts creaked, the sails fluttered, and the occasional seagull called. Somewhere far away, a ship’s bell sang into the wind, distorted by the distance. And through all that, she could hear every part of Julian’s lips, every sigh, the quite hum of satisfaction with one hand on her breast, the other on the thigh he still held over his hip.

He was right. Gradually, he raised up every one of her senses, and she handed herself over to him.

After a time, the weight of his body was lifted and her exposed chest was suddenly cold, and she whined his name; but he lay his finger over her mouth with a soft "Sshh, Alteya."

She heard the thud of his boots on the wooden deck, the rustle of fabric, and she gasped when her own boots and trousers were pulled off, too. She was very tempted to take the hat away from her eyes so she could see him, but she was lost to him and his whimsy.

And his whimsy in that moment was to tell her everything he liked the best about her; which, as it turned out, was a lot. And each affirmation was accompanied by a touch of strong hands, light fingertips, plush lips or hot tongue, and she wouldn’t know which until she felt it, until her whole body was trembling with delight, arousal and anticipation, and she squirmed either from pleasure or embarrassment in turn.

Her calves were long and elegant, he said as he ran a squeeze from her ankles to her knees; the lean muscles of her thighs he could quite happily lie between for days, he said, lingering with squeezes and kisses and nips to her inner thigh that made her whole leg twitch; the flesh of her hips and backside he craved to hold onto when they made love, he said as he demonstrated just such a hold, and her lower body writhed into his grip. For a moment, something pure - the gentle concave of the small of her back, where his hand could rest so comfortably whenever they stood together. Both hands were then on the curve of her waist, the perfect fit when he held her close. Caresses with hands, lips and tongue accompanied his verbal adoration of her breasts, and as he leaned forward to press his nose into the hollow of the base of her neck, where he said her fragrance was at its strongest, his erection passed between her legs, skimming her entrance and clit; whether intended her not she couldn’t really tell, but nonetheless her hands moved to his narrow hips to pull him to meet her, and he obliged.

Slow, long rocks of his hips dragged his erection forward and back over her, bringing forth moans and gasps as heat pooled in her core with each pass of his considerable length over her clit. Surely, he said, she didn't need for him to tell her how the sheathe of her heat made him feel, to be inside of her, a part of her, home. Was that a cliché? Probably, she said, but who doesn't love a good cliché from time to time?

But though his own need was clear, and she felt it in the tremble of his arms and the increasing weight of his breaths, he continued on. His hands ran down the lengths of her arms, the embrace of which brought him sanctuary, he said, momentarily sweet. And then his large palms covered hers, he interlocked their fingers, and leaned forward to hold them down next to her head; and he whispered in her ear how he loved the things she did with her hands, especially that, and she found his bottom lip to nip at it as she promised to do that very soon. The bow of her lips, he said, every smile and pout, smirk and bite, quiver and kiss; that, too, he added when she gave a shy laugh, and pressed his mouth over hers.

And her tongue, he murmured against her lips, when she did that other thing, and he let out something like a stammer-laugh carried on a groan when she promised to do that other thing at the same time as she did that.

The pace of the sweep of his hips increased just a little, his head catching on her entrance when she raised her own hips in time with his movements.

And though he couldn’t see her eyes now, he breathed, he could never get enough of how her gaze, like the brightest sea glass, looked on him with love and lust and adoration; how they lit up and creases radiated from them when she laughed, how they near flashed when she was angry or annoyed; and how, with just the set of her mouth and arch of one eyebrow or both, she could convey more than a hundred words.

And when her mouth curved like that, and her eyebrow arched just so, he could devour her.

The head of his erection teased at her entrance then, and his name stuttered over her tongue and her grip tightened on his hands as the movements of his hips deepened. There, he said, her voice that could make him ache; a low and velvety purr, a light lilt of humour, or crystal sharp with annoyance.

But when she sighed his name - Like this, Julian? - Yes, like that, just like that - it was a siren song.

And when she said she loved him...

His words left him then, as she cast her protection spell and he pushed inside her, held one leg over his hip with one hand, held his weight with the other, burying his lips and nose into the curve between her neck and shoulder. The hat was pushed from Altheia’s forehead but it didn’t matter, because her whole self was his, her eyes were closed to everything and she heard only the voice that, without a single word, spoke his love and desire and devotion. And she returned it, her lips close to his ear, her wordless affirmations rewarded with longer, deeper strokes, every inch of their torsos pressing together, her palms seeking every roll of every muscle in his broad back.

And she did speak his name, once, fragmented and low, as she soared over her peak.

And he spoke her name, once, gasping and high, as he went with her, pulsing into her so deeply that she ached.

She held his body, sweating and trembling and weak, against hers when he fell. Their eyes met, sea-green and storm-grey, their smiles touched.

And then Altheia laughed, because when Julian moved off of her, the sun was in her eyes again.

[bandit-prince]

“Sooo..the Sun, huh?”

“Yep. That’s what’s killing us. Can’t really see it from here though, but it’s 100% why we keep burning to death at the end of every cycle, I saw it when I was on Ember Twin.”

“Well..that sucks. I mean, not much we can do about the Sun going supernova on us, is there?”

This wasn’t at all how Obi had planned for this conversation to go; and despite everything, the young Hearthian huffs, indignant. “Not much we can do? Look, I have a theory. Nothing concrete yet, but, I found some Nomai writings about something called the ‘Ash Twin Project’. I’m not sure exactly what it is yet, but I know for a fact it has something to do with our Sun.”

Gabbro sighs, finally setting their flute down beside them on the hammock, hands resting behind their head. “Well, it’s nice to have someone to blame, I guess. Just don’t see how that’s going to help, you know? Again, it’s not like we can stop the Sun from going supernova.”

“But maybe we can! I’ve also read about something called the Sun Station. I’m admittedly not sure how to get there yet, but I’m getting close! I can feel it! It has something to do with all of those towers on Ash Twin.”

“Then that’s probably your ‘Ash Twin Project’.” Glancing around, the older Hearthian puts up a hand, frowning. “Hang on, winds picking up.”

Obi stands stock still, glancing around to see if there were any of those nifty gravity fields nearby, but none were yet glowing at least. The cyclones on Giant’s Deep were notorious for picking up the islands the littered it’s surface, and throwing them into space, only for them to come slamming back down to the watery surface when gravity reinstated itself. It wasn’t pleasant, and Obi certainly wasn’t keen on dying like that again; as had been their fate when last visiting Gabbro, not that they had told the other that.

The two of them watched the offending cyclone circle the island for a moment, before finally taking off towards the north again. “Oh, thank god, I really thought we were done for there.”

Gabbro shrugs again, finally sitting up in the hammock, feet over the side. “Wouldn’t be the first time. It sucks, but it’s not as bad as being electrocuted to death. ‘Least with suffocating to death you kinda just..”

They trail off, helmet obscuring their face. “Besides, so long as you’ve got full oxygen, you’ll be fine. And, well, so long as you land right, and don’t smash yourself.”

Obi squints, but makes no comment, only turning to look up at where the sun would be, but unable to see it through the thick atmosphere. “I uh..guess we don’t have much time left in this cycle, huh?”

Glancing at the clock not far away, Gabbro nods, before finally standing. “Yep. Got about 10 minutes left. But look, before you hop off to unknown places again, uh. I’ve got an idea. Now, I can’t promise this’ll work, but if it does, it’ll cut down on how often you’ve gotta come here and waste time filling me in. Not that I mind, but you know.” They stretch as they stand, heading up the path towards their camp, briskly stepping through the rising tide. “Come on, go get your ship and bring it up here. If this works how I think it does, whatever’s on your ship should stay. Your computer stays up to date with each loop right?”

Obi nods, fumbling for the keys to their ship. “Yeah, it does. Why, what do you have in mind?”

For once, Gabbro smiles a little, waving Obi off. “Go get your ship, hatchling, I’ll tell you while I’m working, but we don’t have time to waste.”

Stepping away from the ship, Gabbro glances up at the sky, noting the darkness coming in. “Okay, we don’t have much time, but listen. This is a radio transmitter, it should let you be able to talk to me or the others without having to make a pit stop every time. Only thing I’d worry about is the sun causing some interference if you’re over towards the Twins.”

Obi blinks at the haphazard arrangement of wires and metal, some of which had come from Gabbro’s own helmet. “I-“ they stutter for a moment, before simply slinging their arms around the other’s shoulders.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Be sure to check in ever now and then, eh? Would hate to think you’re gone for good.”

“I will. I promise.”

[manawari]

The SL Gang in beach:

- when the boys had taken off their shirts, there may or may not be an unspoken competition on whose physique is the best.

- the girls spend the longest in the changing room, too busy giving one another compliments.

- Hae-in is timid when showing off her body. So in the beginning, she just sits on the shore with a shirt to hide her bikini. Eventually, after gaining some self-confidence, she finally takes it off and heads to the welcoming waves. It left Jin-woo jaw-drop at the sight that Zhigang splashes water directly into the Korean's mouth.

- Yoon-ho flexes his muscles. Jong-In makes fun of it in every second and mocks the poses.

- Hei-in is a beast in beach volleyball.

- Jin-ho is the one who came the most prepared — sunscreens? Umbrellas? Blankets? Sunglasses? Extra trunks? You name it!

- Kanae and Shimizu mostly prefer bathing under the sun. But if they got disturbed, they won't hesitate to throw someone to the water.

- Thomas simply shows up in Hawaiian shirts and a pair of sunglasses. He has always been ready for the beach since day one.

- Yoon-ho hides Jong-in's eyeglasses somewhere in the sand. Needless to say, the temperature feels like hell brought on earth for real.

- Jin-ho doesn't know how to swim. He clings to Jin-woo for dear life even though the tide is only at their knees.

- Goto Ryuji gets buried in sand by his children teammates.

- Zhigang does a hair flip after taking a deep dive on the sea. Everyone thinks he did the hair flip better than the one in the mermaid cartoon.

- Jin-woo surprises Hei-in by either carrying her in bridal style or scooping her up in his arms when she's about to leave the water.

- Thomas effortlessly holds everyone when they're making a human pyramid.

- Beru makes a sand castle/sand monument for his liege, spends the next ten minutes yelling at the waves for destroying it.

- Zhigang has seashells get stuck on his hair.

- Min Byung-gyu plays the guitar as they gather around the bonfire.

- Jin-woo primarily prepares the food for everyone.

- Kei takes photos and selfies almost every second. Most of them are stolen shots among the crew.

- Ippei actually squeals when they arrived at the beach. Kanae has a secret footage of her comrade's complete reaction.

- Jin-chul basks on his seat with a book in his hand. The hunters don't know he's there, but it will be a coincidence if they do catch him. He just so happens to take on a vacation to the same location as the hunters, and he can't help but be happy for them from the distance.

- scars are visible in the entire time ofc, but all of them brushed it off like the scars are nothing. Rather, they are rewards for the battles they've gone through. They deserve this vacation.

[groupalpha]

Hello!

Just some general information to know!

•Characters available for Asks (All these character links will take you to their toyhouse pages) The Collector (TC) Collector's Campaign takes place between Gourmand and Survivor Endless Beyond (EB, Beyond) Thirteen Elder Stories (13ES, Stories) Twelve Far Away Dreams (12FAD, Dreams) Extracted Prism Sunsets (EPS, Prism) Ruby Skies by Sapphire Shores (RSbSS, Ruby) Last String of Life (LSoL, String) Eight Crashing Tides (8CT, Tides) Sunrise Solar and Starlight Lunar (SS, Solar. SL, Lunar)

•Current story/objective Destroy the "communication" towers of group alpha, and meet the other iterators along the journey. Going to Eight Crashing Tides •This blog will get serious at certain times. It will also have rain world and downpour spoilers, and hc's about cannon events! •If you want to know the lore so far, here's this lore masterpost I made!

•Blog info • Asks are in Communication Towers, while submissions are in Pearl Messages •Please don't do anything to break official rain world lore, or try to break my lore.

^Don't mess with the communications or anything please! ^Don't put any iterator ocs near group alpha's territory! ^ Specific mods like mouse drag and such are fine. Custom creatures, custom regions, and etc are not. • OC interactions, and such are allowed! Make sure to place the blog in the ask! ^Asks are sent through radio waves unless specified. ^Magic anons are allowed. Just don’t spam them please! •Wednesdays and Thursdays are going to be almost no ask days as I have work and college. Tuesdays I have off. I'll be inactive around 3 pm to 9/10pm est most days.

Tags, other blogs, and unrevealed characters links under cut!

• Tag Info • #ga comic + #ga lore = Lore and Comics. Important info for story. If you want to look at it in order, go here! • #ga world building + #ga regions + #ga fauna and flora = Info about Group Alpha's territory. (If you'd want to see the maps better, they can be found here!) • #ga broadcast = Group Alpha Broadcasts • #dust reblogs + #dust rp + #dusts art + #ga gifts + #dust talks = Misc things that are semi related to blogs, updates, gifts for me, ga related art, and other fun stuff!

•If you ask me questions, make sure it's blog related! If you want to ask me something non blog, go to one of these blogs: @dustyfandomtrashbin (main) , @dustballdrawsartwork (Art), or @disclosed-spire (Rain World side blog).

Group Alpha discord server post!

Threats of Ongoing Loops (ToOL, Loops)

Forecasts of Forgotten Truths (FoFT, Truths)

Outsourced Onslaught Precision (OOP, Precision)

The Savior (TS)

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