#so you get the challenge of figuring out how to fit them together without damaging either one too much
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fictionadventurer · 1 year ago
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Have I mentioned lately that creating AUs is the most fun thing ever? You get to take a story you love and then mash it against another type of story you love and fit all their pieces together like they're a jigsaw puzzle. You get to find all the unexpected points of similarity where the stories fit together really well, and see the places where their differences change and make commentary on the original stories/genres in really interesting ways.
And then once you fit the pieces together, you get to look at the new world you've made and see how these characters in this specific world have different conflicts and explore new themes, and you get to play with another level of puzzles as you figure out what this means for this story.
It's the most fun ever. It's my favorite game.
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fearowkenya · 2 years ago
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Winds of Change -
Chapter 2: The Perfect Storm
Shuuji hangs there, breathless in its grip, and everything fades away until there’s nothing left but what he can see in that wild pair crimson eyes, swirling with anger, anguish, and above all else—fear. Maybe he’s too afraid to string together an apology, or maybe it’s that he knows there’s no use in offering one.  Either way, what a fitting end, for a pair of monsters to destroy one another.  But there’s always a critic, and today it’s Ryo.
Shuuji makes it out of the fight in the waterway alive, but somehow, it still goes horribly, horribly wrong.
AO3 link in source, and, as always, extended author's notes under the cut! (:
whoops! the chapter is late. I thought I'd have time to post it before my dads wedding yesterday, but wouldnt you know it, there wasnt quite enough time to get everything formatted properly without rushing thru it.  I was super tired after the wedding and tried my best to at least do my first proofreading before bed, but i kept dozing off. so here I am. better late then never!
this chapter was an absolute blast to write! i figured that one good way to really justify the groups collective paranoia was to let wendimon get VERY close to accomplishing a total party wipe. the mood I was going for was something similar to the hopelessness of trying to take down plutomon or boltboutamon - no matter how many megas get thrown at them, it never seems like enough. that's why I made wendimon a fair bit stronger than what's typical of a champion level digimon.
as I said in my author's notes on ao3, I think this kind of situation would definitely justify falcomons behavior too, both while hes actively arguing with minoru, as well as the time he spends refusing to return to the group even after minoru apologizes. falcomon has his insecurities like the rest of them, but hes always seemed to me like the one who is the most self-assured in who he is and what he cares about.
that's not to say that the others arent, but in terms of his understanding of the world and of himself, I find that falcomon is the one whose identity has the strongest foundation, and I think watching something like this happen to arguably the most gentle member of their group shakes that foundation to its core. 
even when the professor explains that this only happened because of a partner bond sustained severe damage, i think it would do very little to ease falcomon's worries -  it's hard to tell just how messed up minoru's self-image is under the big smiley front he puts up to hide his insecurities, and falcomon KNOWS that. but that's beyond the scope of what I'm exploring in this fic lol. it might be something I circle back to later on though! minoru is the character I find most interesting on my second run of truthful; there are SO many subtleties about him that i absolutely did not notice the first time around.
anyway, the waterway. hoo boy, the waterway. choreographing the waterway fight was probably the hardest part of writing this chapter. when I first drafted it, i was very confident in the image I had in my head of the waterway battlefield, but when I went to check screenshots, it turned out that I had it all wrong! so I had to rework the whole damn thing! which was really hard, because the biggest challenge was keeping track of where every single character was placed on the field!
the goal was to spread characters out so that they weren't all bunched together, but still located conveniently enough such that I could pull them into the fight with wendimon when necessary. in order to do this, i drew a big stupid diagram on actual physical paper made one big (temporary) change to the waterway battlefield which i doubt anybody noticed unless you, like me, are unhinged enough to study the structure of the in-game locations down to the smallest details.
in the game, a little behind the place on the map where you set your units, theres a gap on the left that usually has a treasure chest on the other side, one that you have to send a flying unit to retrieve unless you want to go alllllllllllll the way around. I needed to be able to get takuma, minoru, miu, and kaito over there so that arukenimon could be all menacing on the top of the stairs, but i couldnt figure out how to make it work without having to make them go past wendimon on the central path and around megaseadramon on the top left platform. so what I did is... close that gap.
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but closing the gap created the problem where the kids could easily use that path to regroup with Shuuji and the others. which was inconvenient when i needed them to stay split up. so you can imagine how clever I felt when I had megaseadramon cut them off by destroying the stairs and putting the gap right back , which is what I meant when I said the change I made to the battlefield was temporary lmao
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speaking of megaseadramon, when i was first writing this chapter, i was very overwhelmed at the idea of having to simultaneously balance the fight against wendimon with the fight against megaseadramon. splitting the party seemed like the obvious choice, but it felt very anticlimactic to be like "oh yeah here comes the other half of the group to the rescue, they kicked megaseadramon's ass off-camera lol"
by that same token, I didnt want to put TOO much focus on megaseadramon and detract from wendimon. so once again I felt like a genius when I realized that the solution was simply to have wendimon not only deal with megaseadramon, but raise the stakes and tension by demonstrating that it is on a completely other level compared to the other champion stage digimon. (in poor megaseadramon's defense, it was not at all expecting to be attacked by wendimon, and was likely at least a little worn-down by shellmon, sangloupmon, greymon, and diatrymon. I think it would have fared much better against wendimon in a clean one-on-one match.)
as for wendimons defeat, well... no matter how much I amp up its strength, I felt that taking a point-blank giga destroyer would probably do the trick. AND give us some truly horrific imagery. I struggled a LOT with that last couple of paragraphs, and I'm still not sure if I was able to give the exact image i wanted to leave off with at the very end.
while this chapter answered a bunch of questions asked in the first one, it also raised plenty more. theres some stuff i set up here that I'm really looking forward to people catching on to (: unless they've caught on already...?? heehee (: i wonder which things will take people by surprise, and which ones they saw coming a mile away...?
on that note, id love to hear what people think of the fic so far. kudos are nice and I greatly appreciate them, but nothing launches me over the moon quite like comments. I'm so curious to know what part(s) people liked best, both about this chapter and the first, as well as any predictions people have about the stuff I'm starting to hint at as I get further into the story. i won't confirm or deny anything of course, but it will make me smile so so so big.
please look forward to chapter 3! I'll evaluate when exactly I'm posting it as the week goes on, as im currently away from home and have a bunch of busy days coming up - I'll be sitting thru a 4 hour car ride on sunday and trying to see some friends on monday before I fly home on Tuesday , so I cant say with any certainty when chapter 3 will be out other than at some point within that Sunday-Monday-Tuesday timeframe. thank you for reading, please consider leaving a comment, and until next time!
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class1akids · 3 years ago
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Why do you think Endeavor acknowledged Dabi as his son after the war in the hero conference? I thought he wanted to truly atone but his current behavior points shows he still wants to run away. Did he do it to please Dabi/Touya out of fear of facing him or taking it as a challenge to prove he can still be a hero despite his past? How much does Endeavor fear Dabi in your opinion? Love your metas and sorry to ask so many questions!
I don't contest that Endeavor regrets now his past choices. I think that the reason he was avoiding facing Touya is that he sees him in terms of heroes vs villains where his job would be to fight him and bring him down.
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But he also knows he wouldn't be able to do it. It weighs too heavily on him to just go there and start burning his son. He just can't think of a different option of for example trying to talk to him and meet him as father / son, because for Endeavor his entire family was always part of his hero project - and he never understood that Touya's obsession with training was basically his way of wanting a proper bonding with his father back.
As for the press conference, it's important to remember that the purpose was to calm down the escalating tension in society, so they can convince at least a part of the population to move into shelters.
Also, most of the framing and what was said there were Hawks' ideas,
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who presumably was trained by the HPSC in public communication. I don't think Endeavor would have denied Touya's narrative even without Hawks, but it also did fit I guess with Hawks purposes:
admit to the truth of what Touya said (it's more dangerous to lie in this situation as it could easily be verified and erode whatever remaining trust there was)
wash together a bit with the narrative of Hawks having a villain for a father with Endeavor having a villain son (sort of like "see? everyone got some dirty laundry” - it relativizes Endeavor's sins)
take the fall for the failure of the war to divert attention from Deku and shield the other heroes from the public outrage that channel the anti-hero sentiment primarily against Endeavor
but also make the public realize that even if their heroes are flawed, there is simply no better option than have them keep working.
So in this sense, the press conference gave the public what they needed - a No 1, highly visible scapegoat - but it was still done in a hero context. It's the equivalent of a public figure looking contrite on the news to try to damage-control after an accusation.
But it clearly didn't satisfy Touya, who wanted something more personal to HIM from his father. Some reaction that his reappearance shook him, that his life or death or actions can break his father the same way he was broken and make him react in a way that his attention is back on Touya only.
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But instead, Endeavor acts ever as the hero, vowing to keep on fighting, projecting that he's got the situation under control, prioritizing the citizens' safety, etc. Which is also why Touya gets more impatient and angry as time goes on, because even his grand reveal, even this big plan he put together didn't manage (in his perception) to get Endeavor consider him a big enough threat or important enough to personally try to track down, when in fact, Endeavor is still avoiding the confrontation, because he simply has no idea what he can say or do.
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holocene-sims · 2 years ago
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next // previous
june 25, 2021 2:00 p.m. newcrest counseling center
[margot] before i forget, i got you a few books…
[grant] oh really?
[margot] i give all my trauma patients books at some point. so here you are. these will get you started. the first one is a really great in-depth look at trauma as a historical and inherited process and it's called "it didn't start with you." and the second one is a new book that was recommended to me.
[margot] i'm so glad you happened to mention that the previous exercise worked for you because that second book is a thirty day challenge. maybe start on it the first of july. every day, open it up and do that day’s exercise. each one is different and targets a lot of various topics. some are pretty heavy, some of them are lighter and more fun. i thought you might appreciate that. it’s also a little bit more regimented, since you seem to like having something specific to work on towards versus doing open-ended work.
[grant] i'm actually really surprised "the body keeps the score" isn’t in here. i hear about that one all the time.
[margot] it is an excellent book, but i don’t think that’s the book for you. you’re welcome to read it on your own time, but i'd recommend you don’t.
[grant] why? just curious.
[margot] it’s a very hard-hitting book. my clients who have read it say they struggle to tackle more than a couple pages at a time. most importantly, the main theme of that book is how trauma makes us sick…
[grant] and i have an incurable autoimmune disease because of trauma.
[margot] exactly.
[grant] you know, getting diagnosed with that was the only reason i came to decide i need professional help for my trauma and mental health issues. if i hadn’t, i would have persevered on without help.
[margot] really? i didn't know that was your big reason why.
[grant] if you want the full explanation, i'll give it to you.
[margot] sure, go ahead.
[grant] i've been physically ill for a long time. i remember getting sick right after my oldest sister died. it just came out of nowhere. i woke up and my whole body was nonfunctional for a few days. i couldn’t even get out of bed. no one knew what was wrong with me, though it’s not like my parents even cared. they thought i was being dramatic.
[grant] and then i stayed sick. i can’t remember the last time my body didn’t hurt. but no one listened because i've always remained able to function in daily life until i obviously injured my back at work. then finally a doctor had to put me through imaging instead of dismissing me.
[grant] and what do you know, they were stunned to see such a severe case of my disease. they told me that people my age with my disease don’t usually have half their spine fused together already. i guess that’s more common when you get older, like middle age and up, but mine was already terrible. it was so bad they made me go see a functional medicine doctor to figure out why. of course it was trauma and inflammation.
[grant] that information didn't make me ecstatic. i've been through the ringer, some of it my fault and some of it not, but i got mad at myself and wondered i could have avoided getting sick if i'd done better and been nicer to myself and my body, or if things had been different in my life.
[margot] precisely why you don’t need that book. you already know that trauma makes you sick. all that book is going to do is make you feel worse. we can’t go back in time and undo the damage. you’ll only further resent that your health was destroyed and resentment is already such a troubling part of trauma.
[margot] there are some great passages or quotes in there, but it’s not worth it. i could easily just give you the good cuts out of it.
[grant] well, thank you so much for these. i really appreciate it. i'll for sure start on the thirty day thing first thing next month. any recommendations for how to do it?
[margot] no, you just answer the prompts or do the exercises however you see fit, and you can do whatever you need to get you thinking or ready to write. the only thing i'd maybe recommend is getting yourself a nice journal to write everything in. my clients said it was a lot more impactful to have something dedicated for it instead of typing it or putting it on a random loose sheet of paper.
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tinyjeanmarco · 4 years ago
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armin relationship hc’s!
hello! this time it’s armin’s turn! (´ω`★) look at this tiny boy ;; i love him sm. my favorite eldian coconut <3 as always, i hope you enjoy this! i’m trying to get the hang of headcanons and stuff for now, but i will eventually post scenarios/drabbles/fics! (i haven’t written in like a year :c) also, this is a long one, i just had so much fun writing it!
armin x gn!reader
warnings: none
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i think armin would have a crush on you for a long time, but be too shy to say anything at first. this is definitely in regards to early armin. he totally crushed on you throughout training, talking to you here and there and learning your personality.
you also had a crush on him all throughout training, but didn’t want to make things awkward. then, all the stuff with eren being a titan surfaced and you saw how he took the challenges head on, making decisions for the good of humanity.
this made you swoon, his big brain is so attractive, but you also got self conscious. you were worried now that if you said anything to him about how you like him, it wouldn’t go anywhere because of his big responsibilities.
you looked up to him so much, seeing him grow, seeing him become more confident, seeing him use his smarts for the better of humanity. it was so inspiring.
yet, you still didn’t confess to him, and it was after the mission to reclaim wall maria that armin confessed to you first.
he had grown more confident and sure of himself over time and seeing the damage of that fight and the losses you all suffered? he figured it was now or never to say something.
it was after he woke up atop the wall, and had the talk with hange and the rest of the survivors. all of you were resting before making your trek to eren’s basement.
in this downtime, armin went to sit by you on the ledge of the wall, overlooking all the destruction.
he told you that he liked you, and has for a while. he didn’t want to wait any longer to tell you because he’s unsure of what the future holds and wants to live in the present.
you’re floored by his confession and it takes all of your will power to not lunge on him right there and hug the shit out of him (you don’t want to accidentally knock him off the wall or hurt him since he’s still recovering).
you quickly try to come up with a response, not wanting him to take your silence the wrong way.
you’re so giddy, excited that he feels the same way about you, that you let out a small squeak when you go to speak.
he giggles, and once you’ve confessed that you too have liked him for about the same length of time, he grabs your hand, entwining your fingers.
you know the feeling you get when you hold someone’s hand for the first time and it just feels so right? like you’re two puzzle pieces meant to fit together? it feels almost as if the whole world has moved for you to be together, through contact as small has having someone’s hand in yours.
that’s what you feel when he grabs your hand. your breath is swept away from your lungs, and you just bask in the light of the sun together.
you two talk more once you arrive back home, making it official.
you share some smooches, too.
armin has the softest lips, he always makes sure to keep them moisturized because he just likes the feeling of it. having cracked, flaky lips is so uncomfortable, so i feel him on this one.
one of your guys’ favorite date ideas is to sit together in the soft glow of candles, taking turns reading together. you two have always shared the love for literature, so this is a must. 
you’ll sit huddled up against the wall in the library, limbs entwined as you share a single book, alternating chapter by chapter who will read. 
when you guys don’t feel like going to the library to read, you two will be on one of your beds, cuddling and sharing the book like before. sometimes you read pretty late and he softly asks you to stay with him for the night.
you absolutely have no resolve in you to say no to his adorable puppy eyes, so you borrow some of his clothes, and bunker down for the night. 
you cuddle like your lives depend on it, sharing gentle, loving kissess.
armin just really strikes me as someone who would love spending time with you. he really relies on those he loves in life, feeling lost without having someone with him. not necessarily just romantically. if you’re not around, he can be found with any of his friends.
can we talk about going to see the ocean with armin as your bf? he’s so freaking excited to  see it in the first place. he’s even more hyped to see it with eren and mikasa like he always told them, but with you? all his dreams come true. he’s been nearly in love with you for years and he’s wanted to see the ocean for his whole ass life.
this is a huge freaking deal for him.
this tiny boy runs down to the ocean, dragging you along by your hand. everyone’s all like,
“armin, wait! you don’t know if it’s dangerous!”
armin totally doesn’t care, he has been waiting his entire life for this moment, like hell if he will slow down.
you two splash each other and goof around for a bit. armin then turns to see you, the salty air blowing the hair on both of your heads, and he sees you holding up a pearly object (a seashell), gawking at it in wonder. 
tears come to his eyes as he takes you in, so absolutely head over heels in love with you. he takes you by the hand, pulling you into him. you let out a surprised yelp before he kisses you with all he’s got. it truly is the best moment of his life, and he forgets, even for just a second, how bad everything is, because now? you’re his everything.
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sarahandjuliesroadtrip · 3 years ago
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Exclusive! An Interview with Glynnis Campbell the voice of Julie Winters in MTV’s The Maxx!
  We here at Sarah and Julie’s Road Trip got the chance to sit down with the voice of Julie Winters herself Glynnis Campbell. A special thank you to Mrs. Campbell for taking the time to reflect on a brief period in her professional life that has meant so much to so many of us. Glynnis is a true joy and It’s safe to say she was as enthusiastic to talk to us as we were to meet her.
So ladies and Gentleman, Maxxheads of all ages, without further ado, sit back and enjoy a morning with Julie Winters.
Sarah and Julie’s Roadtrip: You have had a long and very interesting career that’s still going, spanning multiple professions that are very different from one and other. How did you get into voice acting?
Glynnis Campbell: First, thank you so much for interviewing me. It’s always a delight to make contact with people who like my work. And you’re so right about multiple careers! Sometimes I still wonder what I want to be when I grow up. Voice acting was an offshoot of singing, which I did all through school. I have a degree in Vocal Performance, so I sang opera at college and rock-and-roll on the weekends. That got me a contract with CBS Records in the all-girl rock band, The Pinups. The singing was fun, but the business was sketchy. Still, I loved the mic, so when the group burned out, it was an easy pivot to voiceover acting.
2. How did you get your part in The Maxx?
My voice coach, Johnny Rabbitt, let me know about the audition and said he thought I’d be a perfect fit. I wasn’t represented by an agent at the time, so I just went in and did a cold read for Rough Draft Studios
3. Were you ever into comic books?
 As a girl, I had a huge crush on Aqualad and the Teen Titans. Every time I visited my grandma, she’d buy me a comic book from the drugstore. I visited frequently!
4.  Did you know what The Maxx was before the Cartoon?
 I’d never heard of The Maxx. But that’s only because the comics of my youth were definitely meant for kids, so I stopped reading them. It never occurred to me that the comic audience might have changed, that current comics told deeper, more complex stories.
5.  How would you describe Julie Winters?
 More than anything, Julie Winters is a survivor. Life has left her badly damaged, but she’s managed to hold off (or embrace?) insanity with a lot of fascinating coping mechanisms—assigning characters to her emotions, finding interdependence with a fictional figure, creating alternate worlds in her mind. Her snarkiness keeps her from succumbing to depression, and her mental strength helps her battle her inner demons.
 6. Did you like working on the show?
 I absolutely LOVED working on The Maxx! It’s a rare treat to work with the whole cast while recording. Most productions are scheduled and recorded one character at a time. For The Maxx, two or three of us would be in the recording booth together, able to interact with and respond to each other. It was magical. I found Barry Stigler, who voiced Mr. Gone, deliciously evil. Since he preferred to stay in character, I cut him a wide berth! And I adored Michael Haley, who was a big, cuddly bear, so the affection you hear in my voice is real.
7. How did you prepare for voicing Julie and Lil’ Julie?
 I’ve been told I may have invented vocal fry! The truth was I wanted to give Julie a kicked-back sort of sardonic sound, like she was talking to herself. I’d heard that kind of self-assured, intimate tone from late night radio DJs. So I was channeling a male voice to a certain extent! For Lil’ Julie, it’s always been easy for me to access the little girl I used to be—innocent, pure, uncertain—so it was just a matter of reverting to that age with my voice.
8. Was it a challenge to voice some of the other, minor characters on the show like Glorie and the Cabbie victim?
 The most fun for me in doing voice work is inhabiting a wide cast of characters, slipping into the skin of someone completely different. I’ve voiced everything from a little boy to a singing tomato, from a rubber duck to the Queen of Blades. I like the challenge of changing my sound enough to fool the listener into believing it’s a completely different actor.
9. Didn’t your performance on The Maxx land you the role of our beloved Sarah Kerrigan in Starcraft?
 Speaking of the Queen of Blades… Yes, Blizzard originally wanted a Julie Winters voice for Diablo, so I was cast as The Rogue and Gillian the Barmaid. After the success of that game, I went on to voice Sarah Kerrigan and The Medic for Starcraft.
10. Did you get to interact with the rest of the cast and crew on The Maxx?
While recording The Maxx, I got to interact with other members of the cast, which as I mentioned is rare in recording. I enjoyed hanging out and listening to the other actors between my scenes. The Rough Draft directors were very warm and encouraging, and it was kind of a kick to take an occasional peek at what the animators were up to.
11. So Sam Kieth, the creator of the comic series, was heavily involved in the creation of the cartoon as a consultant. The cartoon is probably one of the most faithful comic book adaptions ever produced. Mr. Kieth is also known to be very reclusive, even with friends. Did you ever get to meet Sam Kieth?
I did meet Sam Kieth, and if I’d known how reclusive he was, I might have taken a photo. He came in one day during recording. I remember thinking he reminded me of a little boy, absolutely delighted with what all of us had done with his creation. His enthusiasm was contagious.
12. To put it lightly, the Maxx is very different and it tackles a lot of themes that are still highly controversial nearly thirty years later. Did any of your friends and family ever watch the show, if so, what did they think of it?
My friends and family watched the show, but I’m not sure they understood the story or related to the characters. Honestly, I think they were just excited that I was on MTV.
13. The Maxx’s story is very impressionistic, and it’s all intentionally left up to audience interpretation. How would you describe The Maxx cartoon and what would you say it was about?
I’m always hesitant to comment on the story, because you’re right, it IS impressionistic, and I feel like everyone takes away what they need. The thing that most surprised me, and I hope this doesn’t sound egotistical, is that despite the title being The Maxx, the main character really is Julie Winters. The series is all about her trauma, her pain, her reality, and how she manages to navigate through her world. The characters and symbolism come from her point of view and from within her mind.
14. Do you think there’s a reason Julie always seems to go barefoot?
 I don’t know for certain, but I always think of bare feet as indicating two things--vulnerability and being in touch with earth. In the case of Julie, I think that tracks. She’s emotionally fragile, and though in her head she’s exploring wild universes, she’s trying to stay grounded.
15. Any advice for aspiring voice actors?
 I think good voice acting requires two things. One is familiarity with basic mic technique, knowing about proximity and breath and the tricks of the trade. But more important is emotional openness, a willingness to expose sensitive parts of the psyche. When you don’t have the option of facial expressions or gestures, you have to be able to channel all that feeling into the voice.
16. For years there have been talks of a Maxx movie adaption, likely a live action movie. Sam Kieth has said before he’s interested in making a Maxx film and most recently, Channing Tatum has said in 2019 that he was going to direct a Maxx movie. If anyone ever contacted you to reprise your role, or even cameo in The Maxx movie, would you do it? 
I would be thrilled to have a cameo in The Maxx movie! How fun would that be? (I think I’m a bit too long in the tooth to do a live-action Julie.) But if they decided to do a full-length animated feature, I’d definitely insist on being considered for Julie.
 17. Any messages for the Maxxheads that are still out there?
I’ve been truly honored by the emails I’ve received over the years from those inspired and touched by The Maxx. Some told me the comic helped them through dark teen years. Some said they finally felt heard and understood. Some even said they felt the comic saved their life. I don’t feel I can take credit for that—it’s Sam who created the story—but I’m glad to be the conduit for his message.
 18. What do you think Julie would think of the female protagonists in your Historical Romance novels? 
The heroines in my historical romances are mostly kick-ass warrior maids, not unlike the Jungle Queen, so I’m sure Julie would approve.
19. If you could say anything to The Maxx what would it be?
 “We all need some place to go away to; some place we can be who we should have been instead of who we are; some safe place where we can escape reality. Hide. I know there are things to hide from. Shush. Just rest now. It’s okay. ‘S’okay.”
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shoezuki · 4 years ago
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Tommy's prison/revival arc isnt well written actually
Anyways ive been wanting to talk on it a while for a bit here but havent had the Time or like. The thought to. But im gonna go off now.
First off im gonna say im ASSUMING this stream and plot of tommy being in the prison with dream is written entirely by tommy and dream. Wilbur May be involved in the latest stream but im not sure.
Bringing tommy back to life after only three days of him being dead did practically nothing to progress plot, the characters, or audience's understanding. In fact i feel that it damaged Other characters' potential and plot and already established plotlines.
The 'development' aspect
A really, really easy way to see if anything has changed or developed through an arc or plotline is to straightup just compare the 'beginning' to the 'end' in terms of the barebones situation. So;
Beginning: tommy is trapped in an isolated prison cell with dream, his own abuser who has hurt him in the past, for an unknown amount of time. He's terrified of dream and being stuck there with him.
End: tommy is trapped in an isolated prison cell with dream after being killed then revived by him, his own abuser whos hurt him in the past, for an unknown amount of time. Hes terrified of dream and being stuck there with him.
Okay. This is simplified obvious. But the point stands. ALTHOUGH the troupe of 'going back to the beginning' is common in the heroes journey its. It doesnt work here. Has tommy learned anything? Has he changed as a character? Is the severity of their situation any different? Have we, as the audience, learned anything new?
Im going to expand on that last point because i think it has the strongest potential argument. Technically for progression in literature and development of plot/characters, things can Change without them being Aware as characters. It can change just by the audience's perception changing or being challenge.
Slight example: i've been reading a webcomic called Your Throne. Its a fantasy/political drama about a noble lady who entered a competition with another noble lady to become the empress. The main lady lost despite her being a better fit, and the comic starts with the main lady trying to assassinate the empress. Its assumed and stated by the main lady that she 'ruined her life' and so thats all the readers know. However, later in the novel we see flashbacks to the competition itself and find that the two ladies were extremely close friends, neither wanting anything bad for the other, but it was the emperor himself who manipulated both of them for his own agenda. Those flashbacks gave us an entirely different idea of who the real antagonist is and completely changed the two main ladies' relationship. THAT is how the audience's understanding of the plot and novel can be used to change the entire story. We dont get such here though
Some things that were brought to light during tommy being dead/revived:
Dream is capable of reviving people infinitely
This was already implicated and assumed. The book dream has being a means of reviving people has been around Technically since schlatt's death. This just 'confirmed' what was known
Time works differently/feels longer in the afterlife
This doesnt really impact much beyond emotions and implications. If we had more insight into what the 'afterlife' is like beyond nothingness perhaps so. But really it just makes it so wilbur being dead for what feels like 9 years and tommy having been dead for 2 months appeal to emotions.
Wilbur is evil
This one fuckin sucks i cant lie HSKSHSISSGEGDV. Like i was gon go on bout it and i will but it jus sucks. We have nothing to go on besides tommy's word, no examlles of what Horrible things wilbur said could make tommy assume this, etcetc. Ill most likely make a seperate post on how this feels like we're just going to get 'wilbur is a horrible villain' type with him. But still. I feel wilbur Not Being Good isnt a new development.
Dream is going to revive wilbur
This doesnt feel new either, part because phil had wanted to revive wilbur before (ill get to that more later) and that tommy had kept dream alive/initially imprisoned him with the idea of him reviving wilbur.
Dream believes wilbur will break him out of prison
Okau this makes no sense to me actually. I cwnt understand How exactly wilbur would be able to do this? Or why dream believes he even Could? Mans been dead for like 9 years and all we Know of the afterlife is that its black... nothingness. How would 9 years of that make wilbur capable of busting the prison open?
So. Yeah. All in all this plotline hasnt done anything new, developed things, or altered people's perceptions. We just ended up back at square one. Back to tommy being traumatized, dream being 'evil' and horrible and doing villain monologues, and them being stuck together.
Other characters and plotlines
Im pretty damn sure tommy's revival fucked up a LOT of other characters' plotlines and potential development. Honestly i feel this has a lot to do with the writers not communicating with other ccs well enough. But Ill talk about specific characters from least to most fucked over in my opinion:
Sam
He's the best off. He hqd been there during tommy's death, had been close to tommy, had majorly blamed himself and his own mistakes for tommy's death. His grief and self hatred was actually really heartbreaking and well done. The attached character of Sam Nook being unaware of tommy's death and simply waiting for tommy to return was a really good parallel to sam's own grief and anger. like it really snapped sam the guy who cares for tommy and wants to do Right by him back together with him as the Warden of the prison. Mixed personal life with 'just business'.
I feel it wouldve been nice to have him like. Have more time to grieve properly and come to terms eith tommy's death and his own involvement/influence over the events. Him finding tommy alive again Could be a means of him like. Facing his own grief head on if done well.
Ranboo
Mostly in the context of him and sam's argument do i feel it got screwed over. The weight of them yelling at each other and trying to find who to blame and the implications that Maybe ranboo was the one who caused the security breach that closed down the prison on tommy just.... doesnt hit so hard anymore. Because how can there be blame and arguments and a 'who done it' mystery when tommy popped up all fine again?
Puffy
I dony know much of her involvement or how she found out tommy died (besides metagaming shhhhh) but i saw her monologuing of how they 'failed' tommy and like. Her whole 'he was so young we the Adults failed him' spiel is like........... inconsequential? Now??? Like no dont worry he died but hes alright now.
Philza
BET YOU DIDNY EXPECT TO SEE THIS FUCKER!!!!!! But actually though i want to talk bout how this ties into phil. A LOT. for Zalbr ❤. But also because i see ppl tying phil to tommy's death n like nah shutup u doin it wrong. Ill go off more in a Wilbur Post. But essentially: i dont like that dream is now going to revive wilbur. I feel they arent going to tie philza into this Despite phil having originally been trying to revive his son and studying on it and Attempting and Failing. But now suddenly dream can just. Say some magic words and Poof wilbur lives? So we're just going to Kill philza's revival attempts plotline and leave that hanging? This made his efforts seem pointless and Wack like oh why didnt you just Say The Magic Words phil????
Niki
I feel really bad for niki. She hasnt been able to do a lore stream during tommy's 'death' (she tweeted she wanted to but her computer wasnt working) and considering her entire character.... that shit is important. We seen it with Jack Manifold how tommy's death impacted Him considering he literally wanted tommy dead. And since niki is in a similar boat to jack of trying to kill tommy and it being her Only goal...... thats extremely important.
BUT. i feel there wasnt any communication. Did she or anyone even know tommy would be revived? Did no one consider they could At Least let her do a single stream on it? Like jack manifold????
We couldve gotten a Really good niki lore stream. I genuinely was so excited for it and i dont regularly watch her. But we seen it with jack manifold which is why i dont feel he got screwed because mans genuinely did So Good he could pop off with anything n i think it works in His favour. But now........ for niki. Canonically she never even knew tommy was Dead. So its like nothing even happened for her. Is she just supposed to continue on trying to kill tommy with no progression?
What i think would work
This is more me being like 'hey @ the dsmp writers let me in' type speculation sbosegussgs. But i was thinkin on a Really easy way to 'fix' this without rewriting lore and the streams.
Dream should kill tommy again now that he's been revived and Leave Him Dead.
More development for the characters who are affected by his death Especially niki. More time for grief and self reflection and development
A chance for the audience to figure out what the 'afterlife' really is.
Dream is supposed to be smart and a master manipulator or something right? Why doesnt he use being able to revive tommy as a bargaining chip with sam for his own freedom?
The audience would now Know dream's intentions with tommy better, that this death isnt 'final', but we could still see other characters' grief and reactions and coping without it feeling cheap. Ive seen some 'but people dont know tommy is alive so hes still dead in their mind' but that sucks imo.
We'd know more on dream's ability to revive people and that he can just Do It on a whim (which i think sucks but hey im trying) but no one else would know this canonically
Okay. Im done. If you read this. Thankyou. I love you. Hmu.
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be-ace-write-crime · 5 years ago
Text
Lovely Bride - Third Wedding Night
Only one pillarman left who's trust you'll have to win more than any other. Unfortunately Kars may be your greatest challenge yet. You woke up having no idea how much time had passed, but you knew for sure you weren’t in the same bed. The single candle by your bedside was on a different table and these black silk sheets were not the ones you had buried your hands in when Esidisi made love to you last night. Also the light of the candle only reached the one wall the table and the bed were set up against, meaning this room had to be bigger than Esidisi or Wamuu’s rooms.
“You’re finally awake.”
The level, indifferent voice of Kars breaking through the quiet darkness made you jump, sitting upright in the bed, sheets pulled up to your chest.
“It’s only me,” he remarked, stepping into the light so you could see him. That put your mind at ease a little, but not completely. Of all the pillar men, Kars still scared you. He had a calculated coldness about him that overshadowed his more human side, which you had only caught glimpses of.
“Good morning,” you murmured, for lack of anything better to say. “Lord Kars,” you quickly added, bowing your head.
“It’s evening, actually,” he said, giving you an amused smile as he came to sit on the edge of the bed, leaning in close. You naturally pulled back upon having him enter your personal space, but with practically nowhere to go you just pulled the covers up until you were almost hiding like a child. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
You considered the question. You weren’t hurting anywhere. You considered how you were feeling emotionally and your barely awake self quickly dropped that hornet's nest and decided to ignore it for now. “I feel fine, master,” you answered.
“Good. You may go out if you wish. You may sleep here as well. I rarely do. I have no intention of consummating our marriage with you tonight. Enough damage has been done to you already,” he said.
You felt a slight sting upon his dismissal and couldn’t keep your mouth shut. “What do you mean by damage? You were the one to suggest Wamuu be my first…”
“I did, but I didn’t expect him to be so careless I would be asked to abandon my work in the middle of the night to rearrange your insides after you had fallen unconscious. Nor did I expect Esidisi to bring you into his bed and do the same thing,” he answered, sounding and looking obviously annoyed. Your eyes went wide and he chuckled dryly. “What? Didn’t you find it strange to awaken without a hint of pain after laying with a pair of gods, little one?”
“I did… a little… I didn’t know you’d had to…” you trailed off, cheeks burning.
“Esidisi brought you here, covered in blood, which thankfully turned out to be his, at least mostly,” he said, cupping your cheek and looking into your eyes as if he were searching for something. You held his gaze, like a deer facing headlights, until he spoke again. “He asked if I would consider giving you the antidote now,” he said, which made you perk up, but his expression remained unreadable. “I will not allow you to die, but you won’t receive the antidote from me just yet,” he answered, which made your heart sink.
“M-May I ask why…?” you whispered.
“As it stands that ring is the only thing binding you to me. I am not prepared to give it up. Not yet,” he responded.
“You have my word,” you said, clutching your sheets a little tighter. Kars shook his head, unmoved, but his eyes softened somewhat.
“Perhaps I could present you with something else to show you my trust? Stand up,” he ordered, standing up himself. You could feel your face burning with embarrassment as you stood before him, naked as the day you were born.
He gently tipped up your chin and kissed your lips and you relaxed thinking that was it. You should really know better by now.
“Don’t flinch, just breathe,” he ordered softly, and before the meaning of those words could register in your brain you felt a stabbing blow right to the center of your chest, knocking all the air out of you. Your eyes went wide and you fell into his arms, trying to push him off at the same time as if it might give you more room to breathe.
Your husband stood over you, studying your reaction and drawing back his hand. He’d just about stabbed you with his pinky, forcing all the muscles in your chest to contract, and you couldn’t fight this reflex, desperately attempting to force breath into your aching chest to no avail.
Teary eyed you fought to draw air into your lungs, all your strength focused on the singular task until you were finally rewarded with the blissful feeling of air flooding your lungs, chest expanding and your extremities tingling as your oxygen was finally replenished.
Kars reached for you and on reflex you slapped his hand away, once bitten, twice shy. To your horror your hand striking his left a large, blistered mark, like you’d shaved off the skin with a burning hot razor. He looked as surprised as you that you’d done it, looking at you with wide eyes. He regained his bearings more quickly than you, smirking and licking his wounds before they healed completely, as if they had never been there.
“I’m glad to see you so lively, but try not to do that again,” he warned you.
“I-I’m sorry, lord Kars! It won’t happen again!” you declared, bowing your head. Still the warmth like sunlight shining from inside kept radiating from within you.
“I studied the scrolls you brought back. Much trivial history and things we had already learned firsthand about your tribe, but this here struck my interest. A means to awaken one’s latent Hamon abilities,” he explained, taking a pitted grape from the basket Esidisi had collected for you and placing it in your hands. The pit sprouted in your hands in the complete darkness of the catacombs. “If the sun is half as bright and wonderful as you, my love, then every second we spent in darkness will have been worth it,” he whispered.
You looked down, awestruck. You’d seen some warriors forcing already budding flowers into bloom to impress girls before, but this seemed far beyond that. Probably since Kars just awakened your powers, you assumed, but you were glowing with excitement nonetheless.
“Get dressed. You are free to practice in both your healing and combat as you see fit. I have much left to do and as night falls Esidisi, Wamuu and I must depart in our search for the stone,” he instructed, tossing you a small bag from the side table behind your basket.
“Y-Yes, thank you, lord Kars…” you said, quickly taking the clothes from the bag and figuring how to put them on. You were surprised to find the soft, black garments to be a two piece set in a similar style as what your husbands preferred to wear. It provided solid covering for every part that really needed it, with translucent silk draped lavishly down your legs like a loincloth, giving the illusion it was only a dark shadow protecting your modesty underneath, as it left your legs clearly visible.
You combed your hair and arranged the jewelry Kars had added to the bag to match, blushing madly. A prostitute would not have dressed so daringly in your little village, and you could feel Kars’ eyes on you like a predator watching its prey. Thankfully Esidisi had left you your dagger and its sheath, which you attached to the waistband of your new attire.
“I wanted you to have this, as you are one of us, but I trust I won’t have to tell you not to let any humans see you like this,” he said, taking the last item from your hands and placing it on your head. It was an elaborate piece of gold chains, coming together around your forehead with a teardrop shaped diamond charm.
“I won’t, master,” you said, face red, yet feeling oddly beautiful. It struck you that he could not have stolen or bought garments like these anywhere and they seemed to be fitted to your form perfectly, meaning either he commissioned this specifically for you, or he had made you these himself. The thought made you shiver, right as his fingers carding through your hair found the shell of your ear, tugging lightly at the lobe.
“If you’ll allow me, I would like to pierce your ears. Perhaps somewhere else as well?” he purred, making the shivers intensify tenfold. “Hmm, but not tonight. I have kept you here long enough and I have things to do before night falls.”
“Yes, master,” you said, taking your candle and your basket. Kars turned around to retreat back into the darkness, most likely to some kind of workspace you couldn’t see. Hopefully you could spend some time with him just before dawn when he returned. For now you would enjoy the sunset and a little snack, one of your private pleasures which you unfortunately couldn’t share with your husbands.
You weren’t sure where you were, but you noticed you were more sensitive to the vibrations around you as you wandered the underground halls. You slowed to a stop and rummaged through the basket, picking up the bottle of wine and a silver chalice cup, pouring to just below the rim and studying the ripples in the vessel carefully.
You also fully planned on drinking this later. Never mind you had just woken up, it was evening and you had reasons to drink. The more you watched the surface, the better you were able to read the ripples as it were. You could sense Kars in the room behind you, heavy footsteps of Wamuu and Esidisi above you, and several things… skittering all around.
One was getting closer, approaching, but hovering just outside the light of your candle. As you moved, it moved with you, stalking you almost.
“I know you’re there,” you called out to it, now a good ways away from Kars’ room, but not knowing if you were any closer to the stairs or not.
“It’s a bit early to be drinking, isn’t it, (Y/N)? Though I suppose it doesn’t matter when you plan to live as a spoilt, drunken wench, just like your mother,” a raspy vampire voice sneered, dropping from the ceiling and stepping into the light.
“What the…” you muttered, less fazed by the insults than you were by this vampire speaking to you, let alone speaking to you like that! You were their superior, although you had yet to put that claim to the test. This one didn’t seem too impressed by your status.
“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Debauching yourself for the monsters that murdered our kind?!” the vampire hissed, prowling closer to you.
“I am doing what you people asked of me. Meanwhile you are one of the monsters that murdered our kind,” you responded, backing away slowly. You had the candle holder in your dominant hand, the chalice in the other. If you dropped the candle, you’d be in the dark, but you could reach for your dagger. If you dropped the cup, you’d still have the light, but you’d fumble with the dagger in your nondominant hand. You could cry out for help, but this vampire was close enough to be in the light of your flame and it would only need a split second to rip your throat out. It didn’t have to drain you of blood. It wasn’t cornering you just because it was hungry. This one had a grudge against you.
“Don’t provoke me, you disgusting little witch,” he sneered, still coming closer while you backed away. You prayed someone heard you. Your husbands, some other vampire looking to get in their good graces, but you could sense nothing. You weren’t sure how far their supernatural hearing range was, but clearly underground it wasn’t far enough.
Fear was messing with your breathing, making it shallow and weak. You hadn’t trained your hamon, barely knew how to use it at all, and even the faintest sparks of it died as you were almost hyperventilating.
“I don’t even know who you are,” you murmured, looking him up and down. His youthful face and physique were decidedly unfamiliar to you, but he must have been someone from your tribe or maybe some frequently passing merchant, but you drew a complete blank.
“I spent my entire life defending our tribe. I raised warriors by the dozens. I was the reason you had a home, only for you to whore yourself out to the monsters that killed the men who fought and died for you,” he growled under his breath and finally you recognised who you had in front of you and you couldn’t hold back a snorted laugh.
The ‘general’ of your village. He’d been old as dirt by the time you were born, and now he was older still, but the stone mask had restored much of his youth. He didn’t give a damn about the warriors he raised, and he sure as hell didn’t respect them the way your husbands did. He became a vampire by choice, betraying your people, eating them, to save his own skin.
“Right… You abandoned our tribe and begged for mercy, at the cost of their lives , but you call me a traitorous whore?!” you demanded, feeling a flare of vindication at the furious look on the bastard’s face. He was going to murder you, but knowing you got under the self-righteous bastard’s skin was worth it a dozen times over
You were out of time. With the vampire exactly one giant leap away from you, you dropped the candle, the little flame snuffed out by the fall. In a fluent motion you grabbed your blade, catching the gleam of the monster’s teeth right before all went dark around you. He tried to trick you, waiting a split second in the dark so that your reflexive swing would miss and he’d have a clear shot at your throat. What your bloodsucking enemy hadn’t realized was that you had been reading his movements with the ripples in your cup this whole time.
That brief little taste of revenge over the proud bastard looking down on you pushed down your fear enough to get your breathing under control, loading your dagger up with hamon and slashing with every ounce of strength you had.
For a moment you thought you missed, feeling no resistance, waiting to feel claws and fangs shredding your flesh, letting out the blood curdling scream you’d been choking on since that glorified leech first stepped into the light of your flame, but nothing happened.
You were breathing hard, and finally your scream seemed to have drawn your husbands’ attention. Kars was the first to catch up, Esidisi and Wamuu flying down the stairs at the end of the long hall. Esidisi’s flaming aura bathed the stone hallway in light, and you could see what you’d done as Kars locked his arms around you and jumped back with you held flush against his chest.
Your knife had gone through him like he was made of paper, burning him up with hamon. One of his arms hung charred and shriveled up at his side and a massive, smoldering gash had opened up from his shoulder, burning up his throat and going all the way across his chest.
“Are you alright, (Y/N)? What happened?!” Wamuu demanded, a stiff breeze coursing through the underground halls and the wires of his headgear dancing around his temples.
You swallowed, looking down at the vampire who’s eyes were now wide with fear, trying to shake his head, a plea for you not to tell them. As if you would treat him any more kindly than them.
“Please let go…” you murmured. Kars shook like letting go physically strained him, but did and tried to check if you were injured in some way he hadn’t noticed and was hurting you, but you shrugged off his concern. “Thank you, my masters… for the freedom and power you have given me… so that I can kill this hypocrite whore myself!” you yelled, landing a near perfect hamon kick against the side of the vampire’s skull. It exploded like a bag of dust being kicked, the rest of its body falling limp on the floor.
“Did it attack you, (Y/N)?” Esidisi asked. It was hard for them to believe. Their vampires were obedient, but it wasn’t impossible, and certainly more likely than their bride going haywire like this.
“No, it was coming in for a hug! Yes, he attacked me. He said I was…” you sniffled, still instinctively wanting to hide your tears, even in front of Esidisi and Wamuu. You looked back at Kars, who you could only guess was shaking with rage, and you regretted being a smartass with your comments again. “I’m sorry for my outburst, but…” you weren’t sure what else to say.
Without exchanging another word, Esidisi torched the corpse and Wamuu scattered its ashes as if it had never been there. Kars dragged you back into his arms, hugging you tight enough that some joints in your back popped.
“They can’t be trusted…” the eldest of the pillar men muttered, his glare focussing on his two companions. “Get rid of any vampire that was once a hamon user. I will not have our bride endangered within our own home,” he said, with barely restrained rage as he hoisted you into his arms and turned around to take you back to his room.
“Master… There are so many. It’ll be next to impossible to-”
Esidisi was cut off when his master half turned and screamed loud enough to hurt your ears. “THEN KILL THEM ALL!”
You were trembling like a leaf in his arms. Esidisi and Wamuu looked conflicted at each other before bowing and responding in unison.
“Yes, lord Kars!”
Kars took you back to his room and the oppressive darkness was less frightening in his arms, but in the dark you could hear his fangs grinding together, his frustrated, snarled breathing, and the distant screams of his vampire army being slaughtered in the pitch black caves.
“What happened?” he eventually asked. “I let you out of our sight for two minutes…”
“I’m sorry, lord Kars…” you whispered, wiling your voice to stay calm. “I guess it held a grudge towards me for… marrying you and being allowed to live…” you tried to explain.
“I understand that,” he responded tersely. “But WHAT. HAPPENED?!”
“I was able to sense him stalking me in the dark. I called out. He insulted me, my mother and the warriors of my tribe and I responded in kind… He leapt at me and I cut him with the dagger Wamuu let me have… I dropped the candle and lost control of my breathing, so I couldn’t pinpoint him in the dark and screamed and… You know what happened after that…”
“Stupid fragile human…” he muttered, making you cringe. He laid you back down on his bed and laid there with you, keeping you locked tight against his chest. “I won’t allow you to die. I will conquer the sun, the earth and all its wretched creatures if I must. I won’t let you be taken from me.”
You shivered, hiding your face against his chest. The soft mattress dulled the vibrations and this deep into the temple’s catacombs you could scarcely hear the dying screams, the crackling flames and roaring winds.
Without the vampires, who would search for the stone? How could you possibly uncover the treasure they had searched for all these centuries without the hundreds of undead that made up their army to act as their eyes and ears? Was this your fault? Would you be forced to part with your beloved in a month’s time because they could never find the stone at this rate?
It felt like an eternity, but in less than an hour it was done. Kars seemed to know when it was over, picking you up and cradling you gently against his chest as he carried you back, through the halls, up the stairs and eventually into the cool evening air. You could see the ash stained clothes of vampires who would rather take their chances against the sun than die at the hands of their masters. You remembered vividly the general’s face as your foot collided with his skull, skin burning up like a paper mask, flesh tearing and crumbling like burned up charcoal, before the impact splattered the ash like remnants into the air. You could visualize it in slow motion in your mind.
You felt proud. What you’d done was incredible! You’d never imagined you could achieve something like that, and just in the nick of time. At the same time you felt guilty. Not for the act itself, but for feeling proud of something that would inevitably snowball into such a mess.
“It is done, lord Kars,” Esidisi said. You could tell he was every bit as tense as you were, hanging back out of his master’s striking range, although he still smiled to comfort you, and so you smiled back.
“Well done, both of you,” Kars said, sitting on his throne, still holding you as he looked out over the valley. The lights of your village were still dark, and the stars were so much brighter for it, but even their twinkling was of little comfort to you right now.
“If I may say so, my lord. Our dear bride defended herself admirably,” Wamuu said, your smile widening into a grin. Wamuu admired strength above all things. Even if fighting a vampire might have been a small feat to him, he knew you had done something truly incredible in defeating such a powerful opponent.
“She shouldn’t have had to defend herself in the first place…” Kars remarked, dampening your mood again.
“You said I was free to train in combat as I saw fit just minutes before it happened…” You pointed out. Your stomach was in knots already and had been for the better part of an hour. By then you’d rather get it over with and have him snap than to endure his quiet, simmering rage.
“I meant for you to practice, perhaps spar with one of us or some of those pests who would actually obey and protect you. You realize you were inches from death?!” he demanded, fisting a hand in your hair, making you wince.
“I have been inches from death since you and those pests came here! I could have been eaten weeks ago and every second I have been here! I killed the only pest that mattered and you just-”
“Enough!” he yelled, striking at the cracked armrest at his side, shattering it completely. There was dead silence all around. “Be more mindful… of your mortality, little one…” he breathed. His eyes were blazing red and his mane seemed to bristle like that of an angered beast. You nodded as best you could with the iron grip on your own hair, which he eventually released. You didn’t need to be told to get off his lap, you got the hint, watching with teary eyes as he shook off the strands he had pulled out of your scalp.
“We’ll be back by morning,” Kars announced, disappearing in a flash. Esidisi helped you stand, and Wamuu pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead.
“You truly fought as brilliantly as the shining dawn, beloved. We shall be with you again before the first light of sunrise,” your first husband whispered, before they too were forced to depart. You nodded and bid them good luck in their search, waiting until you were sure they were out of sight and earshot before angrily kicking the ash stained rags and pebbles around.
“As if that ring you forced on me does too little to remind me what an untrustworthy little mortal I am, lord Kars! I am thoroughly humbled by your gracious gift of conditional mercy! I shall happily bear the weight of my bastard father’s deceit of thee, great and all knowing gods!” you rambled, heading down the mountain with a torch, since there was nothing left to harm you now. People knew not to tread near your village and the monsters haunting it and all the vampires were now gone. At worst you might encounter a wild animal, but those were easily chased off with a torch. Your village lay abandoned still. You felt a wave of guilt as some pets your people held flocked towards you upon seeing you, in search of food and care. Determined to be a better master than Kars and swallow your anger for now, you went around tearing open pantries and food stores. It wouldn’t last them long, but before the time on your ring ran out some humans would realize the structures had been left uninhabited and most of them would find new homes with new owners. Your food back at the temple had gone to waste in a cloud of corpse you kicked up, so for the first time in days you cooked yourself a proper meal.
Releasing the livestock would kill them, so you dutifully went around feeding them too. The sheep and the pigs and the handful of goats and cows and eventually the horses.
Many warriors kept magnificent horses. They were a point of pride and you found them just in time as many were ready to hurt themselves on the fences or stables enclosing them in search of food.
One that caught your attention most was Aries, the big black war-horse that had killed two people in the marketplace once. It was known to be an absolute nightmare, held in check with sharp spikes on its bit and sharper strikes from its master’s whip.
It was a beautiful horse, but it seemed to bristle at your very presence. You laid out food for the huffing and sputtering creature and opened the stable door, jumping aside as quick as you could. It would be both cruel and dangerous to try to herd it back into the stable again, so you decided he might as well roam free. If someone more daring or less cautious than you tried to tame it later, that would be their concern.
You did the same for any other stabled horses, hoping they would be able to live the long and healthy lives they deserved in freedom.
You gathered a new basket of supplies and with a sour expression you headed back up the mountain to await your husbands’ return.
For a while you were able to ignore the steady hoofbeats behind you, though they were easier to sense than any vampire, but after a while it got too close to be a coincidence and you searched the darkness with the light of your torch, which was nearing its end. You could just barely make out the gracefully trotting black mass, its fur shiny in the firelight.
“Aries, no. This is for me. There’s more food down there,” you said, noting the behemoth was more calm now that it had eaten. “Here, last little snack, then go run,” you said, feeding him an apple, which he took without biting or fussing.
It was obvious it was following you and you tried to stop an obvious idea from forming in your mind, but it was too late.
“The moment I put a saddle on you, you’ll kick and stagger, injure me and enrage lord Kars. You were not made to be ridden, and you were most definitely not made to pull a cart,” you told him sternly, only to have him rub his giant head against you like a massive cat.
“I chose you,” the bastard seemed to say. “I chose you, so deal with the consequences.”
“Terrible, awful, murderous demon baby you are,” you muttered absently a while later as you were cautiously brushing down the massive horse, unable to keep the affection out of your tone. “Almost as bad as the terrible, awful, murderous demon husbands I married. I love you and I love them, but they talk about as well as you do,” you said. “I would have gladly helped look for the stone. I’d have gone out during the day and actually searched, asked people, anything. Instead I’m… Well I probably spent more time on my back than anything,” you noted, red faced as you dragged the heavy saddle out for Aries to see. He neighed and you slowly put on his blanket first. Then the saddle.
“Maybe I won’t be there to wait for him come morning. Make him worry while he hides in the shade another day,” you said, laughing at the stupidity of it. You weren’t going to do that. It’d be suicide. “More likely you’re about to throw me and break my limbs and then after Esidisi is going to laugh at me for being stupid, Wamuu will carry me around like a wounded bird and Kars will mope around sneering about what a stupid, fragile human he picked up,” you said out loud, taking a deep breath and using your hamon to boost your strength as you hoisted yourself onto his back.
“So far so good…” you whispered, stroking his neck. “I wonder where they are right now. The capital, or some port city, no doubt. You know I’ve never seen the ocean before, have you?” you mused, daring to spur him into a trot with a light squeeze of your calves. You had no reigns. He’d snapped and backed away when you only just approached with a headpiece, so that was out of the question. You’d ridden an old little pony without reigns as a child, though this hardly compared. “The ocean is less than twenty miles away. You could make that in a day, couldn’t you, Aries? Or a night… We’d ride past the capital too. We could search for lord Kars’ dumb stone,” you said, steering him through the desolate streets of your hometown with light kicks and tugs on his mane.
You really weren’t dressed for riding, but you had some proper riding clothes in your old home. You wouldn’t be back before sunrise, if you made it at all, and you had never traveled this far outside your village before. It was madness, but a heady mixture of fear and spite was urging you on.
You already had that cursed ring that promised you a swift ending. Why should you spend thirty days as a plaything if Kars wouldn’t commit to sparing you now?
You were already putting on your hardiest clothes over the more delicate ones you had been given and mounting your horse again when you realized you probably wouldn’t have been able to mount Aries in the first place without your hamon. The gift Kars had given you to show his trust and how he never showed the barest hint of anger when you struck him.
He wasn’t mad at you. He was almost forced to face an eternity without you and it distressed him to the point of lashing out.
“Maybe I’ll ask Lord Kars to accompany us to the ocean when he comes home this morning.”
“Good morning,” Kars’ calm voice still startled you and your reaction startled Aries, who stomped and huffed angrily.
“Good morning, lord Kars,” you said, trying to shush the horse. Kars watched you quietly while you calmed the giant you had brought back to the temple.
“You’re quite good at that,” he noted, coming up behind you. You quirked a brow and looked back at him, waiting to see if there was something more to that statement or if it was some kind of joke you didn’t understand. Yesterday he wouldn’t acknowledge an expert kill you made, but now he was complimenting your skills with a horse? “You have a calming air about you. It puts me at ease. Your animal compatriot senses it too. I feel a sense of contentment when you’re near that nothing else brings me,” he explained and you bit your tongue to hold back another snarky remark pointing out he didn’t exactly seem calm last night.
“Please forgive my behavior last night. I meant no offense by my words and I realize your aspirations have now suffered on my behalf. You destroyed your army to keep me safe after one soldier threatened me and your search for the stone-”
“Ssshh, my sun. No sacrifice is too great for you,” he assured you, pulling you close. “The thought of being helpless to protect you while you’re out in the sun vexes me to no end. Tonight I almost lost you when I let my guard down and I could never forgive myself if I… we had lost you forever due to my carelessness…” he explained, enveloping you in the same desperately tight hold that kept you pressed firmly against him while his army was slain. “My frustration was never directed at you… and tonight gave me some time to realize that the only reason you are alive, was because I gave you the freedom to fight back and to keep you as a caged bird at my side would not serve to keep you safe,” he went on, pressing a small vial into your hand. “The antidote.”
You smiled and reached back, carding your fingers through his hair. Gods, it was beautiful enough to make you jealous.
“Thank you for trusting me, master. I shall keep it with me, until you find the stone,” you said. He exhaled sharply, taking the hand that was combing through his hair and kissing it.
“Let me take you to bed, beloved. I cannot wait any longer,” he breathed.
“Let me take care of Aries. The sun is almost up. I shall join you shortly,” you said, releasing a rather undignified noise when you were picked up and thrown over his shoulder instead.
“Wamuu, tend to our beloved’s new pet,” he ordered. You saw Wamuu appear from the shadows in the pale of dawn, smiling at you and his master, then full on grinning at Aries.
“You have chosen a magnificent steed, dear (Y/N)! I shall be glad to assist in its care,” he announced. “I am also glad to see you and lord Kars have reconciled.”
“Ah, wait! He can be quite violent, but he’s good to me. Don’t hurt him!” you called out as you were carried away.
“Is she talking about Wamuu?” Esidisi asked, only just arriving as you were carried past him.
“She is talking about a horse she brought back. Get inside, Esidisi,” Kars answered, walking faster when Esidisi snorted a laugh.
“I have not seen you retreat to your sleeping quarters with such urgency in millennia, dear Kars,” he called after you two.
You were thrown onto his bed again. It had to be his, because it was so soft and also you bounced twice without falling off the other side.
“How dare you wear so many clothes?” he asked. Now you were not familiar with their language in the least, but you were fairly confident this roughly translated into: “You have until I am on top of you to get those clothes off and whatever is still on you is getting shredded.”
“I needed something to wear when riding Aries,” you explained, getting your old clothes off, as well as the silk bottoms of the two piece attire he’d gifted you, which you were still wearing underneath. You could sense some movement a little ways away from you, then a bright rain of sparks as Kars dragged some kind of blade against the stone of a fireplace, lighting a fire inside that grew steadily until you could finally see around the dark room. There was a dragon’s hoard of treasure laid out between the stone fireplace and the bed, glimmering in the dancing light of the fire. On the walls were enormous maps of places you had never even heard of before, some covered with pins and strings, detailing impossibly long journeys. In the corner was a desk that had to be as heavy as your newly acquired warhorse, covered in fine tools, rocks and white sand. No doubt he had been carving more stone masks, but didn’t he have enough of those already? You had a hundred things to ask about every corner of the room, but you were stunned silent and motionless at the most dazzling sight of all.
Kars usually wasn’t very fond of clothes, be it yours or for himself, but for tonight’s occasion even the minimal clothing he usually wore was too much. Bared naked except for his jewelry, he stalked closer to his darling prey on the bed, the smirk on his face telling he knew exactly what your awestruck expression was for.
“Those clothes might suit you for riding Aries, but you’ll have no need for them when riding me,” he purred smoothly, sharp fangs glinting as brightly as the jewelry adorning his regal features while he grinned down at you.
You gripped the soft, black sheets, wanting to touch, but unsure if it was allowed, like hovering by a priceless artwork. You weren’t sure if he meant it, or if he was just teasing you. He always preferred to be in charge with everything. Why would he choose a position that let you take the lead now?
“Y-You wish for me to…” you trailed off, not daring to repeat the phrase. He silenced you with his lips against yours, guiding your hands to comb through his hair and caress his perfectly sculpted form.
“Ride me. Take your pleasure and serve me as your lover and master. Give yourself entirely to me as my bride,” he reaffirmed, he was already hard when he guided one of your hands to stroke him. You were a bit more sure of yourself by now, knowing no amount of strength from you could seriously hurt or injure him. It helped that Kars wasn’t as monstrously thick as Wamuu had been and gripping as firmly as you could without impeding the slide of your fingers on his skin you managed to work your master’s hard cock in a way that made his painted blue eyes flutter shut.
“Yes, lord Kars,” you agreed breathlessly, coaxing him to lie back and let you get on top with just a small push. He looked up at you with a mixture of reverence and cocksure amusement, guiding you into another languid kiss before whispering his next command in your ear.
“I want you to use your mouth on me, beloved. Let me see your pretty, pink lips wrapped around my cock while you choke on it,” he said, his words making your stomach tighten with excitement. For any human men you might have found the act far less appealing, but for Kars you would happily oblige.
Your master’s dick was as unnaturally perfect as the rest of him. It was long, straight, the plump head flushed slightly darker and glistening with a smear of pearly white fluid. Your godly mate lacked all the smelly, hairy and sweaty human traits that might have made this unpleasant, leaving you with only the challenge of how you were going to fit something so massive down your throat as he intended.
You weren’t sure how to go about this, simply doing what felt most natural and awaiting more guidance. Licking up the salty, savoury drops of precum that had gathered at the tip and continuing to stroke his length, it occurred to you this was your first time doing this. Not just sucking him off, but this was the first time servicing one of your husbands. Wamuu and Esidisi had both taken charge and been the ones to pleasure you throughout the nights you spent with them, claiming and treasuring you.
Kars desired you no less than either of your previous lovers and would not be opposed to serving you in any way you liked, but this was what he truly wanted more than anything. To be the one being claimed and treasured and worshipped. Knowing that you desired him enough to take him and obey his every command was intoxicating to him and it showed in his adoring, half-lidded eyes, clouded with lust.
He tangled a hand in your hair and pulled you down, forcing you to take more and more into your mouth, and despite your best efforts, his pushing against your gag reflex on every stroke had you choking and sputtering, struggling not to use your teeth, even if it wouldn’t hurt him.
“Finding it hard to concentrate, my dear morning light?” he asked, licking his lips as he watched you. Even without touching you much more than a few kisses and petting your head, you were starting to get wet, squeezing your thighs together to hold out against your own needs until your master was satisfied. “Your hamon can numb the pain of your muscles stretching beyond their usual limits and restore any damage that might cause. I will make sure you are able to breathe. Stay focussed now, little one,” he ordered, bracing his legs more firmly against the bed and giving you a few seconds to breathe in deep through your nose and try and get your hamon under control before forcing you down all the way to the base of his cock. He moaned heavenly, throwing his head back and closing his eyes to revel in the feel of you. By all accounts this should have hurt, but you felt nothing aside from the slightly uncomfortable pressure of his throbbing length down your throat and the slight sting of him pulling your hair. Clutching his strong thighs for balance, you could feel the faintest tremble to them when you reflexively tried to swallow around the massive intrusion.
“Centuries I thought no creature aside from us could ever be truly perfect… How wrong I was, my beautiful sun… I may be immortal, but it is you who is truly divine…” he praised, stroking your cheek with his thumb. “So good for me, my dear… Hmm, but I did promise to let you breathe, didn’t I?” he mused, letting you come up for air, pulling back to gasp for breath with threads of saliva connecting your pretty mouth to his dick.
“I know it’s a little overwhelming the first time, but you’re doing so well. You’re so wonderful and tight,” he praised, wiping tears of exertion from your cheeks and letting you breathe until you were ready to continue.
With their immortal bodies and stamina, the pace and strength levels humans fucked at were rarely sufficient for your husbands, who preferred to ravish you at their pace. Kars was taking this slow though, savouring the feeling and the sight of you sucking his cock all the way down, shyly meeting his gaze from behind teary lashes between his thighs.
“I’ll have Esidisi teach you properly sometime. You’re so eager to please,” he cooed, stroking your cheek as you tried your best to bob your head and take him down all the way. Honestly if the men from your tribe had even considered this use for hamon, you were sure all women would have been made to master it. Not that you would have cared to do this a second sooner or for anyone else.
The smooth glide of your master’s cock against your tongue, his hands in your hair, the subtle tremor in his voice when he spoke to praise you, all of it only served to drive you mad with want.
“Mhmm, so good to me, my darling,” he said, his voice a deep rumble that sent a spike of arousal straight through you as you were pulled up into another kiss. His cock, slick with your spit, brushed almost teasingly against your warm folds like a whispered promise of the pleasure you had come to crave. Pleasure you knew only your husbands could provide.
“Lord Kars… I can’t wait anymore. Please~?” you pleaded shamefully, grinding against his hard length and feeling it pulse in time with the instinctive rutting of his hips against yours.
“I gave you my permission to serve me, my precious (Y/N). I’m not stopping you now,” he said, gesturing at his flawless body with a smirk. “You will take your pleasure from riding me like the voracious mortal bitch you are. You will worship me with every whimper and cry from your lips. You are mine to cherish and adore until the end of time itself,” he purred, pulling you close and tipping your chin up like he was posing you for some erotic masterpiece.
You swallowed and looked down. You could scarcely imagine getting all of that inside yourself smoothly, let alone riding him the way Esidisi and Wamuu had taken you. Whining about that wouldn’t get either of you off though, so with another deep breath you lined up the head of his cock with your entrance and aided by the new trick you had just learned you dropped back down into his lap in one movement.
You were rewarded with the sight of your master throwing his head back, groaning and squeezing your hips hard enough you’d have bruises with his fingerprints by the end of your rendezvous. Good healing practice, he would likely tell you, though you wouldn’t mind showing them off.
“Perfect… Just perfect for me,” he growled, licking his lips while you adjusted to his size and steadied your breathing. “You are so good to me, my sunshine…” he praised, biting his lip while his hands wandered across your trembling thighs. “Oh, don’t stop now, my darling. I know you have so much more to give me,” he said, edging you on to move already. “Worship me on your knees like the first night you came to me. Ride me like your precious stallion~”
“My stallion isn’t even this big. You must be joking!” you huffed, already bracing yourself on his chest with both hands for support as your legs were shaking. Kars looked surprised for a moment, fighting a smile tugging on his lips and quickly covering his mouth to hide a genuine laugh.
“Cheeky little thing,” he chided, clearly amused and slightly smacking one of your cheeks on his lap in reprimand. Well, lightly for him. It was like a whip strike to you, making you clench down hard on his cock where it was buried deep inside you. “I suppose your inexperience is the price of your innocence. It doesn’t matter when I’ll have eternity to teach you how to serve me properly,” he said, flipping you over and pushing your knees back until they almost touched the sheets.
“A-Ah! I’m sorry! P-Please be gentle with me! I’ll learn to serve you, please!” you cried out, already worried you were in for a punishment far more brutal than a little spanking.
“I gave you power, little one, but you have shown your only rightful place is underneath me. It is too late to beg for mercy now,” he taunted, grinding his massive dick so deep you were seeing stars. “Focus on your breathing now. I won’t repair you once I leave you broken and used. I’ll mold your insides to the shape of my cock and you will remember exactly who you belong to,” he warned.
You’d try. You’d try with all your might, but with Kars’ silver tongue whispering sweet promises in your ear and the head of his cock rubbing so tantalizingly deep inside your dripping pussy, breathing was becoming less and less of a priority.
He picked up the pace gradually, with you fighting to consciously breathe in a way that could keep the god between your legs from completely ruining your tight little cunt and keep you from passing out from the pleasure that had long since overpowered your common sense.
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it? What a hopeless little whore did I take for a bride. Just aching to be fucked by any one of us, aren’t you?” he asked, his hungry red eyed gaze sweeping over the sight of you taking his cock deep enough he could see it in your stomach. “I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll fuck you till your body is in ruins and your sweet, broken heart is content,” he groaned, losing himself in your sweet cries and tight heat until he felt your hand on his cheek.
“N-No… Lord Kars~” you whined, the faintest smile painting your lips. There was only one thing you truly desired. One thing, which he could give you that would leave your heart eternally content.
“ Worship me… ”
The words had just barely left your mouth before you could feel your lover seize up, legs pressed all the way back as he bit down harshly on your shoulder and flooded your insides with his release.
Gasping a final breath, you screamed to your lover, the gods and whoever else was left to hear it. Your precious mortal body constricted around him, milking his cock as if demanding more. Maybe he had been right about what you truly craved. What your body craved, at least.
You were exhausted, floating in the fuzzy post-orgasm bliss that would usually lull you to sleep quite quickly, but Kars’ warning rang clear in your mind. You could rest once you were sure he was satisfied.
In the meantime, you were still too exhausted to move, so to be let down and pulled into a hug was a pleasant surprise.
“Don’t you know I already do, my love?” he whispered. Your mind was still swimming in a tide of pleasure, making it hard to connect those words to the correct context. “You have served me well. You may rest now,” he said. That was all you needed to let the siren call of sleep pull you under, cuddled up safely in your master’s arms.
You woke up many hours later as the sun was just setting, but Kars had already carried you to the shaded side of the mountain where he was safe. You weren’t quite sure how he’d gotten you there, but you figured there were likely some tunnels in the catacombs you did not know about. You’d have plenty of days to explore at your leisure without vampires there.
Kars leapt swiftly around the steep hillside, and up the steep cliffs of the much larger mountains lining the valley.
“Where are we going?” You asked with a soft yawn, drawing Kars’ attention.
“You’ll see,” your husband told you with a small smile.
“I want to go to the ocean,” you said, only half awake, earning a chuckle.
“Close. But if you want, I can take you there. Just not tonight,” he said. You looked up the mountain you were ascending, growing slightly worried when you saw smoke rising from the top.
“Is this safe?” you asked, clinging to Kars’ shoulders. It was getting colder. These mountain peaks were tipped with snow, even in the summer months, and you were only wrapped in a sheet you recognised from the bedroom you shared.
“You’ll always be safe with me, my dear,” he assured you, slowing to a stop by the source of the smoke. Wait, not smoke, just steam. A small spring on the uninhabited mountain top had been heated to the point of steaming on the freezing summit.
Wamuu and Esidisi were already waiting for you, with Aries in tow. Wamuu had by some miracle tamed him to the point he stood resting peacefully in the shallows, letting your first lover pour water down his back to continue keeping him warm. Esidisi was half asleep, up to his chest in the clear spring water and before you could ask anything else you were unceremoniously thrown in, sheet and all.
You screamed and kicked to get back up, glaring at Kars.
“Never do that again!” you yelled, glad Aries had taken a shine to the wind god, as that obviously startled him.
“If you want to see the ocean, learn to swim,” Kars responded, casually taking off his clothes and jewels and putting up his hair before joining you.
“I can swim. I just don’t appreciate being thrown,” you argued, pouting. “And if the spring is heating up, doesn’t that mean this is a volcano?” you asked worriedly.
“It just means Esidisi is here,” Kars answered, handing you a comb and turning his head, the implication obvious. You wanted to huff and refuse, but no amount of pettiness could make you pass up a chance to play with his hair.
“I don’t like the cold,” Esidisi explained, the water near boiling where he sat a few metres away.
“A cold bath strengthens the spirit,” Wamuu interjected.
“Well you’re welcome to go roll in the snow over there,” his master responded, splashing the younger with a wave of hot water and soaking whatever clothes he was still wearing.
“Can you two stop behaving like children?” Kars asked, when Wamuu used his winds to splash him right back.
“Says the one who can’t be bothered to comb his own hair,” you teased.
“I’ll have you know, this is a privilege and not a chore. If you don’t want to, go play with your pet. Normally we’d have sent vampires to fetch clean water down the mountain, but now circumstances have forced our hands,” he explained.
“Ah, so that’s why,” you murmured, the black silk dancing unconcerned in the warm water around you.
“Don’t blame yourself, dear (Y/N). They would have become food eventually and we can look after ourselves and you,” Esidisi assured you, sitting up and stretching. You were momentarily distracted by watching the water run down his rippling muscles, following a particular drop run from his forearm, down his bicep to the swell of his pecs and a half amused scoff drew your attention back to Kars, who stood up to form a similar display.
“Unless that isn’t what’s distracting you?” he asked, smirking down at you.
“You have my full and undivided attention, my lord…” you said quickly, red faced due to more than just the water’s temperature. Although you couldn’t help but notice he had caught the attention of your other mates as well as yours with his little show.
“As it should be,” he said, letting his hair down and shaking off the excess water that caught in the ends. “The absence of our army is negligible in our day-to-day lives, but will greatly hinder our search for the stone. The last lead we have to go on was that the raw gem was brought down to Rome, where it was cut and sold,” he explained. “I’m not sure if the hamon tribe believed to be in possession of the correct stone, or if they meant to trick us, but our time was wasted chasing a smaller cut of the same gem.”
“They were wiped from existence, save for (Y/N) and her sister’s family. Seems like an awful long way to force a bluff,” Esidisi pointed out.
“What if the rest of the stone has been cut too small?” you asked, worry making your chest feel tight. You could sense your wedding ring still there, though it felt less oppressive now. Not nearly as oppressive as the deadline approaching.
“We interrogated the man who cut the stone. He said every time the light shone directly on it it nearly killed him or destroyed his tools. He cut a large flawless stone from the raw gem and two smaller ones. He did not dare cut them any finer. He sold them for a fortune to a merchant he did not know, as he wanted to be rid of the stones for good. He did not live to enjoy his fortune,” Wamuu answered, stroking Aries’ ears more to calm himself now.
“There is only one Aja that will suit our needs, but since being sold in Rome it could have been taken anywhere,” Kars said.
“The Aja draws attention. Not just for its looks. It’s ability to refract light makes it dangerous. Anyone trying to sell it would garner attention,” Esidisi said.
“If it refracts sunlight, they wouldn’t try to sell it at night. Especially if it got out what you’d done to my tribe,” you reasoned.
“Which is exactly where you come in,” Kars said, cupping your cheek. “You can embrace the light of day. You are human. You can help us search for the stone.”
You didn’t hesitate for a second.
“Yes, my masters.”
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tiredassmage · 4 years ago
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WoLsDay 10-27-21.
A little belated because I work and go to school Wednesdays, but! This is super cool. Please check out the original post from @mythopoet-of-amaurot​ here!
Tell me about what inspirations and influences went into the creation and development of your WoL/OC. Did you have a vision for them in mind when you created them? Or did it take time and experience to figure out who they were? Feel free to go into detail!
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Astor is actually based on a mage OC I’ve had for several years now - starting as just a sort of generalized fantasy mage oc I used to RP with and then traveling with me to be adapted into the various fandoms I’ve been with over time. FFXIV being a fantasy setting, it was really only a matter of time before I brought him over. I had, actually, started my free trial with a Roe female character because I like to at least try out game-specific races when I have the opportunity to do so, but I made Astor shortly after, I think once I’d bought the full game before my Roe had even experienced Sastasha because I was already entranced, lol.
Anyway, his appearance has changed slightly, and XIV Astor is on the younger end of his 30s opposed to to the older end or even in his 40s because the timeline of things worked a little bit better for me that way for this XIV iteration, but he is, at his core, more or less the same. IIRC, “Astor” as a name has some sort of relation or meaning to hawk, and I had just been getting into the Avengers around when I made him, and Hawkeye was my favorite Avenger. So, Astor sort of started there, appearance and name wise. And then in XIV he ended up with blue eyes instead of gray like originally because I was just... I thought he was pretty, okay? And at the end of the day, what is the point if you’re not at least a little in love with your main?
I’m not sure if there was anything I specifically pulled from when I did his personality, but his core traits to me have always been empathy, compassion, and... a little too self-sacrificing for both, lol. He’s always been a bleeding heart, and he was actually always meant to have an affinity for healing magic because of it. But he very nearly started as an archer in XIV because it was my first MMO of this type, and the idea of healing terrified me. Ultimately, I caved in like less than a day, I think??? And I restarted him as a WHM because it felt wrong to his character to not go with the job that literally screamed his vibes.
And I always have to say, to an extent, of course there’s a bit of me or my wants in him, too. I think you always put a bit of yourself into characters you love, but Astor’s close relationship with his mother is probably because that’s my closest familiar relationship. I don’t really have one with my dad, but I didn’t want to entirely replicate, y’know... that part of the experience, so that’s how Astor ended up not really knowing him too well, without it being a major family dysfunction point.
And I have to crack the joke I always do before this gets too heavy for anyone, but I also like to say like... Astor is the kind of man I’d like to know and I haven’t always had a lot of male figures in my life that I felt comfortable looking up to, so... I made my own! He’s my comfort oc, for sure.
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And then Shay is like my loving callout post to my friend. Because we made Shay and Airi together to replay the story, and they originally weren’t supposed to end up together, I don’t think, and I think I just kinda... subconsciously challenged myself to make it happen, lmao. Shay’s backstory is very loosely based off an rp character I had a long time ago that I never got to use much, but... admittedly, that character was not nearly as brooding about it as Shay, lmaooo. I kinda think I subconsciously tried to fit as many of my friend’s favorite character traits into him that I knew about as physically possible and it all just fell together so well... and that’s how we ended up with the emotionally damaged angry elf!
Okay, and I also wanted to make him slightly attractive to myself because you know, again, what is the point if you don’t like them at least a little? But he’s definitely just. A loving callout post made flesh. And we love him for it.
Alternatively, his biggest character inspiration that I worked a lot from is Toothless from the How to Train Your Dragon movies. From sort of the color scheme to the whole sort of monster impression, but actually just misunderstood starting points, a lot of it kind of started with Toothless, my beloved. He’s one of my favorite characters ever, so like unrelated fun fact, child me was really distraught and basically mad at Dreamworks for a while after the first movie because Toothless wasn’t actually real and they’d made him so lovable and I was just. So upset I couldn’t actually love on a Toothless. I still low-key like... kinda want like a cuddle sized Toothless, but I... haven’t been able to justify spending a couple hundred dollars on one off of Etsy and the retail ones just. aren’t big enough or made from like. Not cuddly materials. It’s been a struggle that I’ve kinda just shoved off as a wistful dream at this point, but... I still think about it sometimes, lol.
And there’s definitely several other characters who I’ve definitely drawn more specific inspiration from, but this is already getting hella long, god...
Like, just for quickfire kind of things, Ambrose and Ysabel’s dynamic is highly inspired by Dragon Age lore, particularly mages, templars, the Circles, and a little pinch of Tevinter. And I’m just gonna stop myself there because I have... too many characters to talk about.
Which reminds me!!! I am currently very slowly in the process of doing actual character pages for them, so please look forward to that. They are actual Tumblr pages now, so, unfortunately, they won’t show up on mobile, but I thought it was the best way to consolidate information on them instead of just leaving everything up to the tagging void to solve. Astor’s is currently the only one I have finished (though there are... several typos. One day I will go back and fix that. Maybe. >.>) and I’m in the process of working on Shay’s, so there is a link in my sidebar now for that base launch page. I’ll add links to their individual pages from there as I finish them. <3
And thanks so much for these lil questions! It really does help me to be prompted to talk about my kids because otherwise I can just... all of the lore lives in my head. I love to talk about them. But do I know where to start? Not usually, lol.
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chocolateheart · 5 years ago
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Complicated
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Title: Complicated
Word count: 4651 (a lot, I know, I’m sorry)
Pairing: Dean x Reader
Summary: The hunt brings them together, the past comes back, the feelings are complicated. 
Warnings: the mix of fluff and angst, fear of love, fear of talking about emotions and feelings, tension, blood, violence, fight, body harm, wounds, dead bodies, graphic description of all that. If I missed something, let me know!
A/N: This is my one shot for @jensengirl83 200 followers challenge. Congrats again, babe! You gave me a free hand and said to go crazy so here I am with almost 5k words, hahah. My prompt was “You look like hell. How did you get in such a mess?” I got kinda lost in the middle of this but somehow I managed to finish it and I’m sorry for posting it that late but yeah, life happened. I hope you’ll like it!  
A/N: Huge thanks to my hunny bunny beta @winchest09 <3 The amount of patience you have for me, oh girl…
A/N: @talesmaniac89 thank you for those amazing dividers! <3 
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It was quiet when Y/N entered the building. The house was huge and old, wooden walls cracking every so often under the pressure of the wind. The night felt cold but single drops of sweat rolled down her neck. She adjusted the machete in her hand and scanned the large area of the first floor, flinching when something crunched under her boots. She looked down and noticed little crystals of broken glass glistening in the moonlight that creeped through the dirty window. The more she looked around, the more she acknowledged the details of the fight that had taken place right where she was standing. Damaged commode, planks strewn around, broken handrail and shattered glass. 
Trying to find any clues, Y/N carefully eyed every inch of the room and frowned, spotting something next to the dusted armchair. Crouching down she touched it and with a small sigh discovered it was a red liquid.
Blood.
Rubbing her middle and index finger with her thumb, she noticed the blood was fresh; the person it belonged to was here a couple of hours ago. Hoping the victim was still alive, Y/N stood up, brushing lonely strands of her hair away from her face. The place seemed to be empty, silence pinching her ears; the vampire's nest was never that calm before. This made her stomach twist; something was wrong. It was like she made a mistake with the location, like no one was here but she was sure it’s the right place, it had to be. Suddenly a smell hit her and made her instinctively reach for the gun. Sulfur. 
Nonsense. She was following vamps for weeks now. Was it possible that somehow she stepped on demons? Why here, why now?
She knew she should check the basement first but the blood tracks were leading upstairs. Old, dirty carpet covering the stairs was nearly soaked in it. The uneasy thought of finding a dead body crossed her mind and she swallowed thickly. Taking careful, quiet steps Y/N looked up to be ready in case something wanted to take her by surprise. She didn’t even make it to the first floor when she heard screams, muffled by the house. She rolled her eyes and cursed herself. 
Basement, you idiot. It's always the basement.
Still quiet but faster now she came back downstairs, crossing the living room and after praying it won’t crack loud, she opened the door that led underground.
Angry voices reached her ears when she got to the concrete floor. Slowing down she tightened her grip on her weapon’s helve and moved forward, alert and tense. 
“Where is it?!” The question was followed by the sound of a beating. 
Weak laugh was barely audible but it tickled her in a weird way she couldn’t exactly name; like she heard it before.
“You think I’m gonna tell you?” 
This voice. She stopped in her tracks, hidden behind the pillar holding the ceiling; listening, not believing what she had heard. Another punch, then the sound of spitting, probably with blood. 
“You can beat the shit out of me but you’ll get nothing.” Her heart skipped a beat when she finally realised who this voice belonged to.
Dean.
Peeping from behind the pillar for a quick second, she noticed three, maybe four figures standing with their backs to her and a chair, bathed in a dim light of the bulb hanging above Dean’s head who was tied down. 
Laying her head back, Y/N closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She had to be quick and effective; no second chances, no mistakes. Planning her moves she felt shivers running down her spine. Her hands fisted in irritation as she cursed the man she was about to save; no matter how much time had passed, when it was about saving his ass, she was always more concerned. 
The moment she was all ready to jump and slice, ignoring the question of why fangs were keeping Dean, something in the dark corner caught her attention and stopped her. Narrowing her eyes Y/N focused on the pile laying on the ground. It took her few seconds but finally she saw it; bodies covered in blood, heads cut off, with open eyes and mouths that showed rows of sharp teeth. 
Vampires.  
Y/N’s breath quickened. If this bunch of dead bodies was what she was looking for then who the hell was beating Dean? Her mind wandered to the scent of sulfur she smelled before. It didn’t make any sense but there was no other option - they were demons. Putting away the machete, Y/N took out her gun. She had to figure something out. Hunting demons wasn't exactly in her schedule for tonight, all needed tools were in the car; suddenly she felt weirdly naked. 
Before she could make any move, she heard steps coming from the stairs. She felt on edge, surrounded, surprised and put in a position where she had a harmed man to save. She was in trouble. 
Light panic creeped into her as she searched for solution; eyes flicking around, landing finally on a little platform she could easily fit onto. Smirking at the idea, she changed the pistol for the crossbow on her back and took out the bottle with holy water she always carried with her. Y/N disappeared into the shadows before the approaching demons could see her.
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Dean received yet another hit, straight in his jawline that was already swollen and pulsing. Spitting again he smiled; his teeth bloody, just like the rest of his face. Cut brow and lips, bruises already appearing, red streams coloring his freckled flesh. He could feel himself getting weaker; his head dizzy, muscles burning and his throat sore. Ropes on his wrists were so tight he was sure to find grey-blue marks later; if he ever gets out. 
The demons surprised him, he was expecting bloodsuckers not those dusty assholes. 
Apparently hell douches had some issues with twilight so they teared them into pieces; taking Dean’s job from under his nose. And now they thought he had some information but he knew shit - another aspect that annoyed him. He had no idea what was going on and what they wanted. But he acted like he did, hoping they would accidentally spill some tea. 
“Where is it?!” The demon hissed again, squeezing Dean’s face, forcing him to look up. One of his fingers digged into the cut on the cheek, causing more blood to pour.
“Bite me.” Dean hissed back, giving the torturer a hard, confident look and an arrogant smile.
The man lifted his fist, ready to hit the hunter again and just then something cut through the air with a whiz. The demon yelled as white smoke started floating from where the arrow got stuck in his body, burning him. It took Dean aback; he frowned confused, watching the douchebag stumbling around as another arrow flashed in front of his eyes, wounding the next demon. One by one they all were getting shot; screaming and grunting they seemed to be so vulnerable now. Then, with the corner of his eye, Dean spotted someone jumping down from a platform. Maybe this was someone willing to help him. 
It was too dark and Dean was too tired to focus on who it was but he knew they were a hunter for sure. The stranger moved fast, ably slicing the distracted demons. Using the machete the hunter cut their flesh; more smoke, more pain. Dean couldn’t tear his eyes away from the limber moves, from the facility that the weapon was used with. Even though he was mesmerised, the person's behavior seemed to be oddly familiar; his brain registered something that it had seen before, more than once.
After a few final flips of the wrist, the demons had enough; their heads tilted back, mouths opened and a black smoke flew out of them, disappearing in the darkness. The room got silent; the only sound was heavy breathing - female heavy breathing as Dean tried his hardest to pinpoint who it was. 
She was standing with her back to Dean, scanning the room, still alert and high on adrenaline from the fight. She felt her muscles rippling, hands twitching, her hammering heart pumped blood that was rushing in her veins, raising her temperature as she observed bodies laying on the floor. Wetting arrows and her blade with holy water was a quick, unsure idea but it worked; she just wished she could save those people.
A few deep breaths helped her to calm down. She tugged the weapon behind the belt and turned to the Winchester, revealing who she was. Dean’s eyes widened as he discovered the stranger's identity and his heart made a tiny jump. 
Memories hit him immediately, pelting him with the amazing time he had three years ago. It wasn't something Dean admitted out loud but he admired the badass girl from the second he laid his eyes on her. They clicked on the fight field, understanding each other without a word, they spent a couple of irreplaceable nights in bars and motels, exchanging thoughts, dreams and experiences. Dean didn’t find in her just a buddy he never knew he needed but also someone he could open his soul to without worrying about anything. Seeing her now felt like he was thrown to the past by angels; the only difference was that now, he enjoyed the circumstances.
“Y/N,” he said slightly surprised, his hoarse voice making her lips curl in a smirk. "What are you doing here?"
"Long story. Let's say I'm having a trip around the neighbourhood," she answered and took a closer look at him.
His face was damaged; cut, painted with blood and bruises, swollen in a few places. His right arm was wounded, crimson stains covering his ripped shirt. He was sweaty and breathing heavily; livid skin under his tired eyes. It's been a long time since she saw him looking like he got hit by a truck.
"You look like hell. How did you get in such a mess?" she asked as she pulled out a knife.
"Long story. Let's say I tripped." He mirrored her words, making her chuckle and grunted when she cut off ropes on his wrists. 
After hours in the same position Dean got numb so with every move a small, pained moan escaped him. Y/N helped him to get up on his legs which shook a little under him. Offering her shoulder he partly leaned on, she grabbed his waist and headed to the exit. Hearing Dean chuckle, she looked up and as she saw those soft dimples, her mouth curled upwards.
"What's so funny, Winchester?" she asked as they passed by the collection of dead vamps.
"You saved my ass again. It's humiliating." She laughed out loud, satisfaction filling her up. 
"Then we both deserve a drink."
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The gas station near the motel was their source of food and alcohol that night. Y/N bought two large hot dogs and four beers, thereupon went back to the room where she left Dean. 
Opening the door she saw him sitting on the edge of the bed; showered and clothed in a fresh v-neck and sweatpants. Cuts still red and open but his face was clean and focused as Dean was trying to stitch his wounded arm. Y/N could see he was frustrated because of his still slightly trembling hands. 
She put down the bag and approached him, taking his hands in hers.
"Hey, let me do it," she offered, sitting down next to him. 
He gave up with an irritated huff and turned his eyes away, embarrassed by his current clumsiness. She looked at him for a second and then focused on the needle in her hand. 
The silence fell between them; both lost in their thoughts, suddenly a little bit uncomfortable with each other. Y/N felt her tummy tightening and she swallowed, doing her best to not let her eyes wander, but it was in vain. 
This man looked like he was straight from the cover of a magazine. From his strong arms that could easily crush her, through to his tanned skin with a constellation of adorable freckles she swore to count one day. To his calloused hands with long, thick fingers that could so deliciously travel across her body. His firm stomach hidden under the thin material of the t-shirt; the same stomach she had stitched in the past, the stomach she secretly wanted to scratch and kiss. 
"Ouch," Dean's sudden hiss brutally detached Y/N from her thoughts and she understood she lost control over her hand, stinging his healthy skin.
"Sorry," she answered quickly. 
Y/N knew things were going to be this way when her eyes met his green ones back in the basement. She knew that meeting him again would make her weak and she was right, nothing had changed. He still had the same influence on that he’s always had. 
The huntress wasn't exactly a person who fell so easily; who would get wet without any sexual contact. Her heart wasn't such a sucker for feelings, her head wasn't so easily distracted. Yet with Dean it was different, and it was annoying because she didn’t have control over her own self.
Shaking her head, she finished the job and rolled down his sleeve as Dean cleared his throat.
"Thanks," he muttered and she shrugged with a small smile.
"Not a big deal, it's just stitching." She wanted to stand up but Dean stopped her by grabbing her hand. 
Y/N skin was so soft under his fingertips, almost like silk. He knew it had a lot of scars and marks but that just made it more beautiful. Every little imperfection of hers was perfect for him; reminding him of the angel she was, fighting to save lives. Dean was always amazed by how she was a badass hunter and warrior but everytime she wasn’t cutting heads, she seemed so small, so tiny when he held her. His body and heart instinctively needed to protect her from the evil with everything he had. 
His unsure, emerald eyes made Y/N frown, making Dean realise he froze with his fingers around her wrist, staring at her.
"Thank you for saving me," he said quietly and watched as her lips widened in a smile. 
For a mere second he thought about how they could feel against him; warm and soft, moving in sync with his, followed by the sweet taste of her tongue. Blinking he pushed away those thoughts, glad she couldn’t read his mind. Familiar fear of her finding out flitted through him, stimulating his nerves. It was pathetic; a grown ass man was scared to say what he felt but in his case it wasn’t anything new. 
"Always a pleasure to save a Winchester's ass," she said slightly amused and he rolled his eyes with a smile; this attitude. "Hungry?" she asked standing up but she already knew the answer.
"Starving." Pushing himself forward onto the bed, Dean leaned onto the headboard, stretching out his legs. 
Taking a place next to him, she pulled out the food and drinks from her bag, receiving a pleasured "oh yes" from the hunter beside her.
They ate as they talked about what had happened in the last few years when they hadn't seen each other, recalling some events from the past and trying to understand what exactly had happened that day. With time and alcohol, the atmosphere loosened and they fully started to enjoy their mutual presence. Their laughs echoed in the room just like old times and for a moment it felt like they never separated. 
By the time the birds started to sing outside, Y/N found herself in the same sitting position as Dean's, their arms brushing and legs briefly touching. She laughed as he talked about Sammy's drinking actions; she missed this giant, suddenly feeling the need to hug him. 
"Um, listen…" he started and cleared his throat.
"Hmm?" Encouraging him, she took a sip from almost an empty bottle. 
"It's actually good to see you," Dean mumbled as he rubbed his thumb on the glass he was holding. "I've missed you." She looked at him, her brows scrunching.
"Awww, Dean," she whined. "You gonna make me sob." The moment his eyes lifted up, she chuckled, trying to hide her smile in drinking.
"Shut up," he shot back with a grin. "I'm trying to be nice here." Shrugging he tilted the bottle and Y/N allowed herself to watch how his throat moved when he swallowed. Licking her lips she touched his hand, drawing his attention. 
"I missed you too," she simply said and their eyes met.
But this time was different. 
Maybe it was her slightly drunk mind, maybe it was the tiredness after a few days with not much sleep or maybe it was the usual dizziness she felt when she was with him. She didn’t know, but something stopped the time, erased everything around it and left only Dean. 
He was so close she could see gold motes in the green ocean of his eyes; crystals shining so bright that every other stone was becoming a common rock in comparison. The eyes that could hypnotize you in a second and save you from darkness the next. 
His unique smell surrounded her, warm vibrations radiating from his whole body and Y/N wasn't able to stop her mind when it created scenes she wished were real. Losing control over her imagination, his intense gaze turning off her rational thinking, she let her eyes drop to his lips and that was her mistake. Every time she yearned for him, dreaming about being his in every possible way, was nothing compared to what she felt now. 
She was scared and confused because first, she thought she had gotten over this stupid love years ago and second, she didn't know why all those feelings were so strong now. She was always weak for him but not that weak. 
Dean noticed when she swallowed, his own mouth watering. Allowing his emotions to take control of him wasn't exactly his style; especially not with her. But he felt his fingers itching and lips twitching when his mind focused on her. The soft features of her face, delicate, olive skin he would so gladly caress. Her pink lips, shaped like they were made for kissing; at least that's what he thought. The vision of her touching him the way those cheap one night stands did so many times, her warm body wrapping around him, slender palms mapping his every inch. It left him woozy, drunk on her. 
The air was thick, their breathing quickened, pulse throbbing under the skin as their heartbeats thumped in their chests, little hairs standing up as goosebumps overlaid their bodies.
But even though it was strongly sexual, the heat so high it could burn the Earth, the thing hanging between them wasn't just physical attraction. Their hearts played the main role in the performance neither Dean nor Y/N thought of taking part in. 
Years of admiration, of looking up to each other, of watching how the other person was just a good human being and then the break which made them realise how strong a connection they had; it made them fall for each other. But both of them were too scared to make a move, too blind to see the other wanted the exact same thing. So as soon as both their minds grew with the thought of leaning forward, they lowered their heads. Dean nervously scratched the back of his neck, feeling blush creeping up his skin as Y/N decided to sooth her trembling insides with the rest of beer. 
Exchanging awkward smiles they unconsciously allowed their fears to win yet another battle. Knowing so well they wanted to taste the love but being too afraid of its power. To say their relations were complicated was an insult. 
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“So what do you think happened there? What did those demons want?” Y/N asked the next evening as they packed.
“No idea,” Dean answered, closing his bag. “But I’m about to find out. Sam is already digging, trying to find anything and I’m going back there tonight.” She turned around to look at him, frowning.
“What for?”
“They smashed up the place before I got there,” he lifted the bag and headed to the door, “maybe they missed something.”
“You think the fangs had whatever they were looking for?” Crossing her arms Y/N leaned back on the table. Dean shrugged, opening the door. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Woah, woah,” he stretched his hand forward, stopping her, “you’re not going anywhere, sweetheart.” She looked at him with lifted brows and upon noticing he was not joking she huffed a short laugh.
“What?” the question was filled with amusement that rose up in her. He must be kidding.
“You’re staying here or going to Sam if you wanna help,” he stated and walked out to the Impala that was parked in front of the motel room. She looked at the empty space he stood in seconds ago, confused, with her arms open in a silent question.
“Wh- Dean!” she yelled and followed his tracks. “Are you kidding me? I’m not gonna stay behind!” 
“Yes, you are.” He closed the truck of the black, muscle car. “This case stinks from miles, Y/N, it’s too dangerous.”
“Too dangerous?!” her voice raised up; her temper was short and telling her what to do was igniting the fire, especially considering he was assuming she couldn’t handle the situation. “Let me remind you I was the one who saved your ass yesterday! And it wasn’t the first time!” She watched as he walked around the Baby, avoiding her gaze.
“That’s not the point, Y/N. You’re not going,” he repeated firmly, turning his back to her which got on her nerves even more. 
“You’re not gonna tell me what to do!” she leaned forward, pointing to the ground like it was putting the dot on her statement. 
“Yes I will!” Dean hollered, turning to her before taking a few strong steps which made her straighten. She was taken aback by his sudden anger and eyes snapping towards her. “I will because I care about you.” His stare was so intense she felt her knees giving up as he slowly approached her. “And if you go there, and something happens, I’m never gonna forgive myself…” he made a pause and took a few deep breaths. “If I lose you,” he grabbed her arms tightly and lowered himself so he could level with her eyes. “I’m gonna lose my freaking mind.” 
Y/N’s heart was banging in her chest as she searched his face, noticing how Dean’s eyes were glistening in the dim motel’s lights, shimmering with emotions. Sweat broke across her flesh as his words reached her mind. 
What the hell does that mean?
“Dean, what-” she began but Dean immediately cut her off, shaking his head, tired with this game they had been playing for so long.
“Shut up.”
He firmly pulled her to him and crushed his mouth to hers. She froze, surprised and tensed. But as her brain processed what was happening and his lips slightly moved, she melted. Kissing him back, she gave him access and feeling his hot tongue, she lifted her hands to his hair. Fisting it, she arched to him and he enclosed her in his strong arms, sneaking them around her and on her back. His lips were even better than she imagined and despite the intensity he was kissing her with, she could feel how soft they were. Her mind was galloping, her heart beating so loud she was sure it’s gonna jump out or explode. Feeling Dean’s arms squeezing her, for the first time in so long she felt safe and she wanted to stay there for the rest of  eternity.
She gave into him, leaning in, she kissed back. Dean’s mind was a mess; not only with the nerves and fear but the fact she didn’t push him away. Instead she clung to him, pulled him even closer - his heart went crazy. The relief filled him as she pushed herself flush to him, standing on her tiptoes, deepening the kiss, even moaning quietly. The taste of her lips and tongue hazed his brain, it was like a drug. But he wouldn’t let himself lose it completely; he needed to stay sober to drag her away from the idea of going with him. Breaking the kiss was harder than he expected, but he managed. Still holding her close, both of them panting, he rested his forehead against hers.
Finally she looked up, wanting to see his eyes but he kept them closed. Shivers were running over her body, she was high on the feelings that bursted between them. Dean’s cheeks moved as he gritted his teeth, deciding to spill everything while he still had courage.
“For three years I was thinking about you,” he said, his voice low. “You were crossing my mind every night and day but I couldn’t bring myself to call you. I knew you didn’t want to be here, that you needed your own life, that you didn’t want me. But that didn’t stop my feelings for you. Then when I saw you yesterday, they slapped me full force in the face. Now, when I have you back here, I can’t lose you. Leaving is one thing but getting killed is another.” 
Y/N felt him trembling, his breathing ragged and voice shaking but words steaming with honesty. Being aware of how nervous he could be, she dropped her palm from the back of his head onto his cheek. Rubbing her thumb over his cheekbone, she searched for words she needed to say.
“I’ve always wanted you, Dean,” she spoke, causing his eyes to snap open and pierce into hers. Green orbs twinkling with sparkles of happiness and disbelief. “You were always the most important, even when I wasn’t here. You were constantly in my head but I thought I was just a friend.” He chuckled. “You’re more than a friend, sweetheart.” He pulled back and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “And that’s why you can’t go with me. Promise me you won’t go,” he pleaded, his eyes begging and worried. 
“Dean, I could help,” she whispered but he shook his head.
“Promise me, Y/N.” She looked to the sky, taking a breath. She understood but her position was the same. 
“I can’t,” whispering she let her hands fall off of him but Dean was still holding her. After a few moments he sighed, let her go and rubbing his face in exhaustion he looked at her, helpless.
“Okay, fine,” he gave up and a smile appeared on her face. “Go get your stuff.”
Instead of going straight away to get her bag, she leaned up and kissed him, slowly and softly. He melted into her, his brows jumping up on an unexpected action. She was so sweet; sweeter than any pie he ever had in his life. Pulling away she stayed close, watching him blinking the bliss away.
“Is it gonna look like that from now on? You will agree on anything I’ll say? Are you that weak for me?” she whispered into his lips and he chuckled low.
“Probably,” Dean answered as he caressed her forearms and briefly entwined their fingers. She pulled away fiercely, the idea shining in her widened eyes.
“Are you gonna let me drive her?” she asked excitedly but he burst into a laugh.
“Na-ah, sweetheart. That’s not gonna happen,” he answered with a warm smile and pulled her into one more kiss.
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A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it :) Feel free to leave some feedback, don’t be afraid to message me. Every word from you is gold <3
Tags: @deanwanddamons @jay-and-dean @katehuntington @winchest09 @talesmaniac89 @roonyxx @bunkerconfessions @akshi8278 @snffbeebee @lady-pswrld @rvgrsbrns​
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All of this stems from me thinking about that time All Might punched Izuku on the beach. Also none of this really expands on how the other students of 1-A and U.A. interact with Izuku.
Hey, y'all ever think about the fact that before U.A. Izuku had never had any good teachers, (that we've seen) all of his teachers were complicit in or encouraging of his bullying. So he probably doesn't have much trust in teacher figures. I mean, sure All Might is the #1 hero and his idol, but during his first ever in person interaction with him he shattered his dreams and then flimsily builds them up again with the 'gift' of a quirk, training Izuku for the power. (Kind of telling him he needs to change himself if he wants to be worthy of having a quirk, even if All Might means in the physical sense). ALSO, All Might (who was quirkless before Nana gave him One For All) is implying to Izuku that the only reason he's worth effort is that when he is given OFA he won't be quirkless. Izuku is gifted the status of human. A quirk is necessary to be treated right, granted human rights, and considered of worth. Ok he gets into U.A. then in his first ever class with All Might as a teacher, he's essentially complicit in Bakugou's treatment of Izuku just like all other teachers he's had. (Also he has no teaching license?) (Bakugou should have been trained in the correct and appropriate usage of his gauntlets). Now Aizawa is another story teacher & trust wise. When he first meets him with the quirk test Aizawa seems to write him off, yes he doesn't have the full story of Izuku's life previously but it should be in Izuku's file that his quirk status was recently changed, Aizawa should have known. Teachers don't normally read all their students files in upper grades (idk about other countries but in the U.S. I mean). Though I know they all at least have important information skimmed. Like IEP's and learning disabilities and special needs. However because this world is different from ours and Aizawa is meant to be training these kids and that's his main focus, taking care of them, he should read all of their files, not just like extreme basics (I'm not even going into my thoughts about treatment of other students in 1-A).
During USJ I think Izuku kind of begins to develop the first dregs of trust in Aizawa, or at least kind of develop the idea that Aizawa won't just outright let him die, because of how hard Aizawa fought for the kids (and Izuku knows his fighting style and abilities so he understands what this fight is for Aizawa) but he wouldn't trust him emotionally what so ever. That brings me to the Sports Festival, All Might tells Izuku to 'show the world he is here' but he gives no Izuku 0 guidelines and no guidance for how to do that or to what extent so Izuku just tries his best to frantically fit what he thinks is All Might's standards for him are to avoid upsetting the person who gave him worth (😒). Then after his fight with Todoroki where he breaks his arms terribly, to the extent of nerve damage and permanent disability, Recovery Girl tells him she won't heal these types of injuries again. So Izuku is back to patching himself up just like he would after Bakugou's beat downs, out of his fear of angering his teachers, without any support. Isolated again. Next is internships, Gran Torino is actually pretty good, if a little harsh. He treats Izuku like he would a perfectly normal teenager but Izuku is anything but, he's got truama all over the place. Gran Torino'a prank is not funny for someone who's been told to off themself and beaten down their whole life. Then all the Stain shit happens where Izuku is literally just trying to save his friend from dying and he actually calls for back up like he should! And gets reprimanded for it (like should he have just let Iida die??? Damn). After internships is final exams. His idol, his teacher, beats him down, using him as a baseball bat to smack another student. (Why are they fighting people who should be taking care of them and guiding them, and does All Might not understand that these are 15 year olds. Like sure villains won't go easy on them but god damn dude). Not only that but while Izuku attempts to work with Bakugou, he gets punched in the face. And no one acknowledges it so he's right back to previous school experiences where Bakugou hurts him for no reason and no teacher does anything. Izuku is perfect at working with others, using his quirk ingeniously, strategizing against a wide range of foes and more, why is he being used to correct Bakugou, to help Bakugou. Why aren't they helping him better himself?? Why aren't they giving him a challenge that's right for him. It's not like he won't work with Bakugou for lack of trying, and Bakugou is his abuser so I don't think it's wrong of Izuku to not want to work with him. They had to have been watching! It's an exam. And after that is training camp, and Bakugou's kidnapping. Not only does Izuku shatter his arms saving a like 7 year old from a sociopathic mass murderer. Izuku then feels it's his fault that Bakugou was kidnapped by the League, thus he feels responsible to rescue him, and none of the teachers even give them the reassurance that they're actually doing anything to save Bakugou so they take it into their own hands. (Also, counseling, excuse me U.A. get these kids some therapy??? So much trauma, from just their time at U.A. alone not counting previous traumas). And then Kirishima basically guilt trips him into going to get Bakugou back while Ixuku is still recovering from shattered arms, yet again. So Izuku goes and then his friend (Someone he saved from becoming a murderer!!! Well, saved him from death via serial killer.), punches him in the face while Izuku is trying to, PEACEFULLY, reason with him.
Then, after they succeed and Izuku watched his idol, his teacher, his mentor, get almost killed. And Izuku meets All Might on the beach probably thinking All Might will try to comfort and reassure him, and most likely wanting to check on All Might. And he walks up to this paragon of safety and peace, and gets punched in the face. WHAT THE HELL. Okay sure All Might then goes on to tell Izuku he's proud of what he did and blah blah blah. But it's never acknowledged that All Might, his teacher and idol, punches him in the face for doing something risky??? No adult should use injury and violence as a punishment against a child. No matter how frustrated, annoyed, upset, and/or angry with the child they are. It's unacceptable.
And that's not even taking into account everything else that happens later. Like dorms happen, Aizawa and All Might come to everyone's house to talk about taking their children and boarding them at U.A together. But when they come to Izuku, Aizawa let's the man with no teaching license talk to the Midoryias alone (😒). I'm with Inko, they've failed Izuku in so many ways already! Why should she let them take him from her completely? But All Might uses his social/political weight as ex-symbol of peace to 'convince' her to let Izuku move into the dorms. So now they all move in and gather on the front lawn with Aizawa. And he basically publicly shames the kids who went to Kamino for going, even though they didn't tell them what was happening or reassure the kids that they were already planning to rescue him. EVEN THOUGH the kids didn't fight, didn't engage, they literally were all released from the hospital and out of school, under the watch and care of their parents, not explicitly told not to go, weren't told not to follow Momo's tracker, and actually acted in a logical manner to save their friend (though Bakugou is not Izuku's friend 😒😒😒). What they did wasn't even technically illegal because even if there was an attempt to charge them with public quirk usage; Todoroki was the only one to use his quirk and they could claim self defense. The school has no control over them being in Kamino, it's a place you can't forbid someone from going to a public place. So they shouldn't be reprimanded. Honestly Aizawa should have been proud of them (I think he's jealous there was nothing he could do for Oboro when they lost him during school). And next is the license exams which is a whole other thing. I should stop here because it's a lot. HAHAHA NOPE. Okay, so they develop their special moves but not really given and guidance or hints on how or anything. Like I get this is something they need to do for themselves but there should be some sort of basis. They're still kids, 15-16 years old. I understand that they're training to be heroes (which I have thoughts on child soldiers man but that's not what this is about) but still! License exam day comes and Aizawa hasn't really given them much on what they'll be doing, how it will work, and who else will be there (😒). This is about as far as my rant will go until I've watched more of the anime and read more of the manga. I'm a little behind but that stems from personal problems so. I'll update this further when I watch/read more of the story.
This was originally posted like 3/24/21 but it's been edited 3/28/21.😘
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phantom-curve · 4 years ago
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did I shatter you? pt.3
part one: you’re not my homeland anymore | part two: when a good man hurts you | part three: there’s an ache in you, put there by the ache in me | part four: my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand | epilogue: what died didn’t stay dead
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They rode the train together in silence. Side by side, leaning into each other occasionally when their car screeched around a corner. They held hands in the yellow light of the Barclays Stadium stop as they transferred from the Q to the D, and still they didn’t talk. It was another silent agreement to pause their conversation for now. They had broken through the first heavy layer of their past. They needed a safer harbor if they were going to keep digging. When Julie had shyly mentioned the apartment, she had seen the way Luke’s eyes lit up and then watched him immediately feel the devastating blow of realizing she had kept both of the homes they had shared. It was only minutes later that they were walking to the subway stop on Ocean Parkway, fingertips brushing every few steps.
The snow had stopped by the time they were climbing the steps to the West 4th Street exit. A thick blanket of white covered the ground, muffling the normal sounds of the city. Julie felt as if the universe had created this quiet cocoon just for the two of them. Their footsteps crunched in perfect synchronization as they made their way to Cornelia Street. The nondescript brownstone walkup came into view sooner than anticipated. Julie fumbled for a moment, frozen fingers struggling to jam her key into the old lock. Luke’s hand covered hers, slipping the key in easily and opening the door with a slight jiggle.
“I don’t know why this door always fights you so hard.”
The low words were murmured directly into her ear, his breath sending shivers down her spine. He was right. She had always struggled with this lock, Luke usually letting her try and fail for a few minutes before taking over and opening it in one try. The intimate reminder of the life they once shared sent a wave of longing through her. They stumbled inside together, shedding wet layers in the darkened entryway. Luke switched the light on before Julie could get to it. He sucked in a breath as the apartment was illuminated. She avoided his gaze, focusing on her shoelaces. She knew what he was seeing. This was her apartment now, hers alone, but it looked the exact same as when it had been theirs.
She had made changes to the LA house, had needed to do something to get rid of the overwhelming Lukeness of the space. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to erase him from the apartment though. She didn’t spend much time here anymore, the odd weekend when she was passing through on tour or flying in for various press engagements. It wasn’t the same sanctuary it had once been. There were too many quiet memories etched into the creaky floorboards, too many happy scenes soaked into the wallpaper. She would never be able to remove his presence here, so she had simply embraced it instead. It was the one self-inflicted torture she allowed herself to indulge in. She didn’t let herself ask Alex and Reggie for updates. Didn’t allow her fingers to type his name into any search engines. When the longing became too sharp, she simply came here and escaped into what they used to have until the pain dulled. Clearly, Luke hadn’t expected this type of time capsule to be hidden inside.
Julie skirted around Luke’s frozen form, eyes bouncing around to look anywhere but him. She wandered into the kitchen, desperate for something to do with her hands, needing some type of busyness to keep her from throwing herself at Luke. They weren’t done talking, had barely scratched the surface. She couldn’t just jump back into him without overcoming the demons that had been determined to push them apart. Not if this was going to be anything more than a single night of closure. Julie was desperate for it to be something more. Her bones practically ached with the yearning.
She flicked the flame on underneath the kettle, reaching on her tip toes for her favorite mug from the cabinet next to the stove. A larger, longer arm shot above hers, easily plucking the ceramic from the shelf. His body heat pressed in against her back and Julie fought to keep her breath steady. He reached one shelf lower to pull down her favorite box of chamomile tea and the honey pot she kept next to it. His muscles shifted and flexed, the sight sending a hot wave through her body. He reached further back into the cabinet, frowning down at her when he couldn’t locate the other mug that used to live there. Julie felt her cheeks flame.
“There were some things that didn’t survive the breakup.” She mumbled cryptically, ducking underneath the cradle his arms had created.
She avoided his eyes, remembering the first time she had returned to the apartment after losing Luke. She had cried until there were no tears left, curled into a ball in the entryway as she stared at the dirty Vans he had left behind. There had been small little bits of him scattered throughout the entire space, like Easter eggs designed specifically to break her heart. She had torn through the apartment like a whirlwind, throwing every last scrap of it into a trash bag, ripping half written songs to shreds, smashing his favorite mug against the wall in the kitchen hard enough she had needed to repair a small dent left behind. It was only when she noticed how the shattered porcelain had left little pinpricks of blood on her bare feet that she had been brought back to herself. There was no undoing the damage. Truly numb for the first time since she had left Luke on the boardwalk, Julie had bandaged her cuts, swept the mess into the overflowing bag and stuffed the entire thing in the dumpster in the side alley. It had been the last time she’d let herself go to pieces over Luke.
“You painted that mug for me for our one-year anniversary.”
Luke’s voice was broken. Julie didn’t have to look to see hurt on his face, she could hear it in his words. The kettle screamed a shrill whistle as the water boiled. Julie grabbed a plain black mug from a different cabinet, dropping a tea bag into each cup before filling them with the hot water. She kept her face down, shrouded behind the steam.
“You didn’t take it with you when you left.”
He hadn’t taken any mementos. The apartment had looked the exact same as the morning they had left it when she returned over a month later. There had still been dirty breakfast dishes in the sink.
“I didn’t think...that wasn’t supposed to be the end.”
Julie nearly dropped the kettle in surprise. Hands shaking, she forced herself to place it safely back down on the stove before turning to face him. His eyes were swimming with regret, body bowed inward as if someone had sucker punched him. He looked completely lost.
“Luke...”
She tried to keep her voice soft. It was obvious he wasn’t faking his reaction. Clearly, this was yet another miscommunication that could be added to the mess that was the end of their relationship.  
“You...didn’t think that was the end? After what you said? After almost a year of trying and failing to be what you needed?”
He was staring at her like she was challenging everything he had ever believed to be true. Julie felt the crack in her heart twinge.
“Was I just supposed to stick around as your punching bag forever?”
He staggered back a step as if her words had hit him with a physical blow. She wanted to cry. God, what an absolute disaster. So many crossed wires and not enough grace for each other had led them to this place where they were both adrift in a sea of misunderstanding and hurt. It was ironic that the one person who had known every last inch of her now stood before her as an almost stranger.
She forced herself to return to the comfort of preparing their tea. She scooped twice as much honey into her mug, added a splash of milk to Luke’s. She told herself it was so Luke could have a chance to process, not so that she could work on clearing the lump from her own throat. She kept her eyes away from his face, unable to handle the destruction taking over his features. Mugs in hand, she left the kitchen and moved into the living room. The fireplace roared to life with the flick of a switch, the mugs placed on opposite ends of the coffee table as Julie curled herself into the corner of the couch, eyes unseeing as she stared at the flames dancing before her.
“Did you really think I only saw you as a punching bag?”
Luke had finally appeared in the doorway leading from the kitchen. Julie let out a small sigh of relief. His voice was a bit stronger, not the same defeated whisper as before. She could see he had made some sort of peace with the situation, even if the hurt was still raw behind his eyes. Then his words sunk in and she flinched away from the memories. She reached out to pull her mug close, needing the burn in her hands to keep her centered, needing the extra shield between the two of them. She cleared her throat delicately, refusing to let herself lean into the swell of emotions. She stared down at the liquid in her mug, trying and failing to keep her voice even.
“You quite literally told me that my work was less than yours. You made me feel like I was less than you. You found flaws in everything I did, Luke. Of course, I felt like a punching bag. It didn’t take long to figure out that I wasn’t the one you were really mad at. Bobby wasn’t around for you to take it out on, and you couldn’t hurt the boys like that, but for some reason I was fair game. At first, I rationalized it by telling myself that meant you loved me the most. That you were the cruelest to me because you felt the safest with me. I accepted that position like some dumb ass martyr, thinking it was proof of how much I loved you. I loved you so much I would bleed for you over and over.”
Tear drops plinked into her tea. It was the only sound in the room, even the snap of the fire dying down for the moment. She finally looked up to see Luke, still hovering in the doorway, staring at her like he had never seen her before.
“One day, I woke up and realized I had bled myself dry. I didn’t have anything left to give and you kept trying to take. I couldn’t live like that anymore. I cannot believe you thought I would stick around after that fight in Coney Island. What did you expect me to do?”
Her voice echoed in the quiet space like the closing of a tomb, low and haunted. For one second there was absolute stillness.
“I didn’t think you would just leave!”
Luke exploded, springing into the room with an uncontrollable burst of energy. It was his turn to pace now, hands moving a mile a minute as he stalked back and forth in front of her.
“Jesus, Jules, I came back here to wait for you, to talk it out, and you just never came home! I finally realized all of your most important shit was gone so I booked a red eye to LA, but when Reggie and Alex came to get me from the airport they wouldn’t let me go to the house. I thought you would come to me when you were ready, so I kept waiting and waiting and you just never showed!”
His movements were becoming more frantic, arms waving around erratically, hands fisting and tugging at his hair. Tears he hadn’t even noticed streamed down his cheeks.
“When the boys came home with my stuff and told me that you said it was over I thought I was going to die. Then Andi sent us a new contract and said you had left the band and I knew it was real. I didn’t...I never...I thought you broke up with me.”
The chasm stretched open between them again. It felt insurmountable. Julie wrapped her arms around herself, drawing her knees close to her chest, shrinking further into the corner of the couch. Luke was breathing hard, staring at her with heartbroken eyes that begged her to tell him his version of events was accurate, begged her to release him from the torture of knowing he had been the catalyst to end it all. Julie could do nothing more than cry harder.
“I waited for you to come home in LA. I told Lex and Reg that I couldn’t keep being the one to go back. I couldn’t keep accepting blame for things I didn’t do.”
Frustration burned in her gut, sharpening her words. Of course, he had expected her to be the one to bridge the gap, apologize and smooth the fight over. But she hadn’t started it. And she hadn’t thrown out daggers disguised as words in any of their wars. Those attacks were Luke’s alone.
“Why would I go back to someone that kept throwing me in the trash? You started that fight. You started every fight. Why was it my responsibility to bandage my own wounds and then apologize like I had caused them in the first place? That was all you, Luke. You didn’t even see it.”
Just like when they had been sitting on that snowy bench earlier, she watched the fight drain out of him instantaneously. He dropped to the carpet in a messy heap, burying his face in his hands. Muffled sobs echoed in the room, his back shaking from the effort. She ached to go to him, wrap her arms around his shoulders, offer him whatever comfort she could. She forced herself to stay seated. This was the reckoning Luke needed to have. If they were ever going to move past this he had to recognize the ways he had hurt her. The universe had brought him back to her, forced him to be the one to show up for once. It was in his hands now to repair that damage. Heart throbbing, she sat and waited, just like she had a year ago.
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raineydaywrites · 4 years ago
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the drought was the very worst
Febuwhump day 26: recovery
Fic Summary: Time heals all wounds. But a little friendly competition can maybe help speed it up.
Or, the story of the first day that Taako and Lucretia spend alone together after the Day of Story and Song.
All three of the reapers were currently on an extended mission. They expected to be gone for a few days "four, at most" according to Krav. They'd blown open a whole network of necromancers, and hoped to eliminate them before they started whatever creepy ritual they were planning for the next week. Nothing too complicated, but apparently time consuming.
Taako was not worried about them. They could handle themselves. But he certainly was put out over the temporary displacement from three of his favorite people.
It didn't help that Magnus was super busy with his dog school and Merle was super busy with his earl duties and Davenport was off on another exploration, and meanwhile, Taako's school was on harvest break. It had been nice, for the first few weeks, and Taako was usually glad to get time to relax and chill, but he had to say that it would have been nice to have something else to do while most of his family were busy.
He probably ought to get dressed and get going for the day. He didn't feel like laying around all day, and moping around about this would eventually just make him miserable.
He picked over the offerings in the closet. They'd gotten so used to sharing/stealing each others' clothes over the century they'd spent together that they didn't even pretend to need separate closets when they'd built this place. And anyway, it was just easier to clean and hang everything in the same room.
Taako didn't feel like getting himself into anything too complicated, so he found a relatively simple sundress and slipped it on, before tying his hair up into a loose bun. Best way to look great without putting much effort into it.
He probably ought to make himself something to eat, but without anyone else to cook with or for, the biggest reward of cooking breakfast was gone. Maybe he'd be more into the idea by the time lunch or dinner came around.
Usually, Krav, Lup, and Barry would come home in the evenings when they could. Sure, they didn't actually need to sleep or eat to keep going, but they usually would choose to. It was uncomfortable to know that they wouldn't this week, to be so reminded to the fact that they were- not like him anymore. Taako would never say that out loud, but it was.
He left the closet, determined not to think about upsetting but irrelevant shit anymore, and made his way the main family room. Lucretia was there. She was settled on a couch, flipping through a book. Taako tilted his head in surprise to see her.
"I thought you would be at the Bureau today," he said. Lucretia jumped, as if she hadn't realized that anyone else was here either, which was ridiculous. Both he and Angus were on break, and he, at least, had nothing else to be doing. He was pretty sure Angus wasn't working on any cases right now anyway, so he should be knocking around here somewhere too.
"No. Avi and Killian have suggested that I'm 'overworking' myself, and arguing with them has started to be more trouble than it's worth," Lucretia said simply. Taako snorted.
"They're not wrong, Creesh," he said, flopping down on the other couch. "I'm more surprised that they convinced you to take a day off than I am surprised that you need one."
Lucretia scowled half-heartedly at him, but she was self-aware enough to know that he was right. There was silence for a moment.
"Huh. Is that my dress?" Lucretia asked, furrowing her brows as she took a closer look at Taako's outfit.
Taako glanced down at it, assessing. He really wasn't sure who had bought it originally, but yeah it easily could have been Lucretia. It was a cut and color that she liked, and it looked just about her size.
"Probably. Is that a problem?" Taako gave her a challenging look, daring her to say something.
"No, of course not," Lucretia scoffed. "I just didn't realize we were so close in size."
It was a fair point. They didn't use to be able to fit each others' clothes as well as this dress fit Taako. But it had been a while since he'd last stolen anything of Lucretia's or she'd stolen anyth- any of his clothes. They didn't have a huge overlap in style to begin with, and it had only been a few months since the whole group of them had moved into this place together.
Taako just shrugged. They'd never been too caught up in how well the stuff they took fit. The only times it was even mentioned were if someone ripped anything or when the size difference was particularly noticeable, like the times when Merle would show up to breakfast wearing Magnus' t-shirts as pajamas.
"Have you had breakfast yet?" Lucretia asked, hesitant.
Taako firmly didn't think about any potential reasons that the clothing discussion could have prompted that question.
"Nah. Just woke up," he responded.
"So you're going to make something soon?" Lucretia pressed.
"Why do you ask? So you can steal some without asking?" Taako shot back. Lucretia tensed but didn't quite flinch the way she used to when he said stuff like that. Which meant it was nearing its end as a useful manipulation tactic, and he should probably find a new one.
"I- I'd appreciate having something, yes. I haven't eaten yet today either," Lucretia said. She was manipulating him right back, and Taako knew it, but he still heaved himself up off the couch, sighing.
"Gods, Lucretia, you'd think someone as responsible and in-control as you would remember that living people have to eat things," he said.
He took the book out of her hands and set it down with the pages still open, snickering when her expression twisted in distaste at the improper positioning. When she reached out a hand to correct it, he grabbed it and yanked her upright, startling a laugh out of her. He pulled her along behind him to the kitchen.
"If I'm going to make something for you, you're helping with the boring shit," Taako announced. He let go of her hands to start washing his own, and started thinking about what to make. Nothing sounded particularly appealing at the moment, so he'd probably just stick with something basic.
"Okay? Like what?" Lucretia asked, washing her hands as well. Taako nodded approvingly. It was great when he didn't have to remind idiots -cough, cough, Magnus and Merle, occasionally Barry- about basic shit like sanitizing your hands before shoving it into something you were cooking for other people.
Honestly, Taako wasn't sure. He mostly just wanted to keep her from wandering off and forgetting to eat for longer, or getting bored and giving up on it himself, and, as an added bonus, he knew it must be driving Lucretia crazy knowing that her book was, at this very moment, sustaining damage to the spine and pages. And yeah, there she went, tossing an assessing look back toward the family room, probably trying to figure out if she could hurry back and correct the book without him noticing.
He grabbed some fruit and a knife and set them on the cutting board nearest Lucretia.
"Just cut that shit up. I'm making eggs. Eggs and fruit is a breakfast, right? I'm not in the mood for anything complicated, especially not for just you and me." Taako hoped playing it off as laziness would stave off any concern. He used to want to cook all the time, and he'd used to take any opportunity to do so.
Lucretia just hummed agreement, but Taako got the feeling that she still saw through it. After all, she hadn't always fed herself properly back on the Starblaster either, and 'Lucretia forgot to eat' used to be an opportunity that he always took, because he liked cooking and it was a great way to not have to admit to worrying about her, way back in the beginning, and a nice way to spend some time with a friend later on.
They were quiet for several long moments, just letting the sounds of cooking fill the room. The silence made Taako anxious, but he wasn't quite sure how to break it. He glanced over at Lucretia, to check on her progress with the fruit, and saw her staring off into space blankly. He went back to cooking the eggs.
When the eggs were ready, he salted them with the No Sodium salt shaker, knowing that they were good, but knowing that there would be just the tiniest tendril of worry tugging at his mind throughout the meal if he didn't.
It was ridiculous, really, that he needed that. He had never made a fatal mistake in the kitchen, and it had been a long time even since he thought he had. And this meal didn't even involve transmutation. But the thoughts that maybe he'd mess up in some different way could get stuck in his mind for hours sometimes. It could take hours, after all, for some illnesses and poisons to even show their symptoms. At Glamour Springs, it had happened pretty quickly, but if he messed up here, made some mistake of a different sort than pissing somebody off, then who knew how long it would be before symptoms would show themselves?
He shook himself, forced his mind away from the thoughts, and set the plates next to Lucretia's fruit. She didn't respond to his nearness, and when the plates hit the counter, she moved her head to look at them only after several long seconds.
Taako snapped his fingers in front of Lucretia's face a couple times, eying the knife she was almost cradling. Probably shouldn't have left her to cut stuff up when he'd realized that she was so out of it. She could have hurt herself. But, whatever, the moment had passed, and it didn't look like she was bleeding, so it didn't matter.
The snapping got her moving at a quicker pace, but she still didn't seem like she was all there yet.
Taako started to hum under his breath, hoping the sensory input would wake her up a little. She'd always reacted well to that in the past.
Lucretia finished cutting the fruits in front of her, setting the knife down and swaying back and forth a little to the humming. She plated the fruit and set it next to Taako's eggs. She made a humming noise in the back of her throat, a thanks without words, and washed off the knife.
Taako still didn't really feel like eating, but the food was made, and it would do no good to waste it. Besides which, if he ducked out of eating, then Lucretia could too, and he didn't want that. She had a bad habit of not eating when she felt bad, which always ended up with her making herself feel worse.
If they had to play Fantasy Chicken with their meals to get her to eat right, then he could play Fantasy Chicken.
They were both stubborn people, and neither was willing to back down, so the food got eaten, and the dishes got washed, and Lucretia snuck back to her book when Taako wasn't looking, but she came back with the book and a board game that he hadn't realized they still had.
"Look what I found the other day," Lucretia said, brandishing the box proudly.
Taako grinned at the Fantasy Clue box- they'd all played a lot of games together on the Starblaster, but some games had been more embraced by some of them than others- like Merle and Davenport with their modified euchre rules once the rest of them tired of playing along.
For him and Lucretia, it had been Fantasy Clue, and yeah, they'd had to modify it pretty hard to make it work with two people, but they had made it work nonetheless.
"Do you want to play?" Lucretia asked, hesitant.
Taako refused to let himself hesitate in his response, "Hell yeah, let's break that bad boy out."
Lucretia smiled widely, a smile he'd missed, that told him that he'd made the right decision.
They set the board up on the floor in the living room, so that they could spread out as needed, and started to play.
The game was intense, both of them competitive and stubborn and smart as hell, but it was fun.
They lost track of time as they played, until Angus peeked in at them curiously.
"What are you playing?" Angus asked, eyeing the board curiously.
Taako met Lucretia's eyes, both of them thinking the same thing, not needed to say a word to get their point across.
 Do we really want to try to take the World's Best Detective in Fantasy Clue?
The answer was 'no,' for sure, but they decided to do it anyway.
He trounced them, of course.
-
The rest of the family made sure to come home at the end of the week, as they each realized that they'd left Taako and Lucretia alone with just each other (and Angus, but he was a kid) for the first time since the Day of Story and Song, and they'd accidentally done it for an entire week.
Anything could have happened.
But when they got there, the only thing they found out of the ordinary were the many scoreboards that had popped up over the week, as Taako and Lucretia refused to be outdone by an eleven year old, no matter who he was.
While Lucretia and Taako discussed strategies to take down the new champion, Angus grinned smugly at the rest of them, and silently accepted his well earned money from the 'who can get them to get along again' betting pool.
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writingfromkitchenator · 4 years ago
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Logan ~ Fate
Alphabet Challenge Masterlist (700 Followers)
Masterlist
Sequel to To Break Reality
Words: 1,939
Warnings: Neutral Reader, smidge of fluff, supportive Logan, mentions of fight, loss of control, angst
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
You’d fit it so easily with the X-Men, had taken it in your stride even though you weren’t raised in this world.  It was such a relief to find others with special skills and talents, that they could also understand your own, and you felt more at home than you ever had.
Charles quickly offered a teaching position, something you’d been studying before everything had gone wrong in your life, and you took it gratefully, although not without some further study of your own.  This world was still slightly different from your own after all.
He also offered you private lessons, to help learn more about your own ability, this reality split, and apart from what you’d already taught yourself, you started to be able to focus on it more, without the headaches.
Logan had also taken you under his wing, neither of you could explain it, but something about when you got to be together, it felt right.  He was a little protective, especially after you told him about what had happened to you with your family, but he kept it in check most of the time.
It was three months on when he’d asked to kiss you, and while shy and nervous, you had agreed. From that moment on, the two of you were practically inseparable though, and you had a feeling that a few of the senior X-Men around were glad to see it.
After six months, the two of you more or less shared a room together, and you tried to get out of the mansion at least once a week to have some proper time together.  It was a little strange, seeing the world and just how normal everyone else seemed, but Logan always made sure you were as comfortable as possible.
Soon, a year had flown by and you were just starting to think of what sort of future you could build here when you noticed the first problem.
You were teaching, and while your power was within your control most of the time, there was still the odd happening that seemed to appear, although now they just seemed to be of anywhere and everywhere.  This particular one stopped you mid sentence, the children staring at you, some following your gaze across the room, wondering what had suddenly distracted you.
The world beyond wasn’t of any sort of particular interest, there wasn’t even anyone around to draw your attention.  No, it was the barrier between that had stopped you.
Approaching with caution, aware of a lot of stares on your back, you carefully raised your hand to the barrier and the long silvery crack that seemed to running along it.
Your fingers ran over it, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary apart from what you could see. It was as you dropped your hand away though, that you quickly realised how wrong that assumption was.
It was like a sledgehammer hitting your chest, sending you flying backwards, the children screaming.  You watched through fear filled eyes as the barrier began to shatter.
"Everybody get out!"  You barely remembered screaming it, focusing on your power to try and stop the shattering, not even wanting to think about the consequences of what this happening could do.
Your ability strained more than what it ever had before, hurting even more as you struggled to suck in air.
The others hurried into the room, drawn by the screaming children and Charles's warning.  Quickly, they stopped Logan going to you, the room around you beginning to flicker and shake.
You weren't sure why, but as you barely held the barrier together, stopping two worlds becoming one, you couldn't help but feel like something or someone was testing you.
Finally, the barrier sealed and disappeared, allowing you to collapse, blood dripping from your nose. Logan was quickly there, but you only held onto consciousness for a moment longer.
There was no way of explaining things when you awoke, because you had no answer.  You all instead just hoped it wouldn't happen again.
It was another six months before it happened again.  Then four. Then three.  A month.  Each time you were just left feeling like you were less prepared then the last, and that it was somehow your fault.
"We'll get this sorted," Logan said quietly to you one night in bed together when you voiced your concerns.  "This isn't your fault Y/N.  We're all working to figure this out for you.”
"I'm the only one with that gift Logan.”
“That we know of.  There could be many explanations.”
You sighed, exhausted, curling up tightly into him, remaining unsettled.
Then more started appearing, taking everyone by surprise.  You couldn’t keep up, you were sure that even if you were stronger, you still wouldn’t be able to.  It scared you that this was happening.
“The world is shattering because I don’t belong here,” You broke down one night.  “This wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t try and come through.”
Logan pulled you into his arms as you wept, holding you close.  “We don’t know what’s going on, but I promise, with all of my heart Y/N, this isn’t your fault.”
Then things started to break through the barriers, the peace you had found here was shattered as everyone tried to find someone to blame, no matter how many times you all turned up to save the day.  You barely slept anymore, and each barrier seemed to get harder and harder to close.
Then, it all went seriously wrong.
The largest opening yet had appeared and shattered, creatures pouring through, and as the others fought around you, protecting you, you tried to close it once again.
Your hands were shaking, blood dripping from your nose as your head throbbed from the effort. Something about this one was different.
Then, you felt it, something latching onto your power, making your whole body shudder, but you were too weak, too exhausted to put up any sort of fight.
Instead of closing, the barrier began to shatter further.
You’d never felt so helpless before, even as the others called to you, trying to understand what was going on, but the sensation of being controlled was too much.  Your mind shut down, your body going limp as whatever it was controlled you, and once it was done, it threw you aside like a rag doll.
The damage was done, more of the other world was pouring through.
Logan fought his way over to you, you could just make him out through blurred vision, your eyes filled with tears, and you felt completely unable to move.
“I’m sorry,” Your voice broke as he reached you, his eyes concerned as he took your hand, something you could barely feel. “We're not going to make it.”
“Don’t you think like that,” He said, giving your hand a squeeze.  “Don’t you dare give up Y/N.  You didn’t to get here so you aren’t to now to fix your home.”
It felt strange to hear him say it, but you knew he was right, only, you didn’t currently have anything left.  How were you meant to protect everything you knew and cared about when you had nothing left?
Cold laughter got all your attentions, Logan supporting you to get you seated at least, your body leaning heavily against his.  
A tall figure came through the shattered barrier.  You couldn’t really focus on him, it was like he was made from the shattered pieces himself, each part of him reflecting something different, but you knew that he was the one that taken over you.
“All you had to do was stay where you were and I would’ve never known of you,” His voice rang out clear.  “But now, you’ve made this all too easy.  I can hop between any worlds I wish and do whatever I wish.”
You shuddered, not wanting to believe it, but the power you could feel from him telling you everything you needed to know.
“Fate is such a fickle thing,” He continued, drawing closer. “And you set yours the moment you broke through here.  You weakened the barrier between the world’s, started the first pieces in motion, and I thank you for it.”
A sob left you, your chest aching, knowing he was right.
“Don’t go blaming your psychotic nature on others pal,” Logan growled, still holding you tightly.  “The only one that’s at fault is you.  I’m going to give you one warning to back off.”
The laughter sent a chill through you and you gripped Logan as tightly as you could.  “And what is it that you think you can do to me?”
Logan’s claws slid from his free hand, a growl rumbling through his chest, making you grip him harder.  “Don’t.”
He continued to approach.  “See, I have an opportunity here, one I intend to take seeing as they are just so weak.”
Logan let you go carefully, and you were a little stunned you could stay up by yourself, but your grip was still far to weak to stop him from stepping in front of you protectively.
“You’re going to have to go through me to do it.”
“Logan no!”  You screamed, even as you knew it was too late.
There a ripple of power, your power, through the air, a barrier shattering around Logan, who didn’t even have time to make a noise, before he was gone, the barrier closing behind him, making disappear.
The figure had barely moved, but you knew he was smiling. “Now then, shall we get this over with? Your power is going to be mine now.”
Anger filled you, an anger like you’d never felt before, your blood boiling in your veins, heart pounding in your ears as tears rolled down your cheeks.  Somehow, you got to your feet, facing this being, hatred and rage coursing through every molecule of your body.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
The man took another step forward and every bit of strength you had left filled you, your power bending the very world around you, and he had enough time to pause before you launched it forward.
A struggle between the two of you ensued, as he used his own ability to try and grip at yours again, to try and manipulate it once more, but your anger made it impossible.  Your gripped him in your powers, the simmering shards around him starting to fracture and break, making him scream.
Layer by layer you broke them free from him, the pieces landing, leaving small openings into other worlds, but you didn’t care.  This thing had to die.  He had to be destroyed.  It was the only thing that mattered.
It was the only way to get Logan back.
His shriek was ear splitting, light spilling forth, but still, you gripped him tight within your powers and pulled, sending pieces of him to different worlds, as far from you as possible, and once the last piece had vanished and sealed behind him, the barriers around the world began to close.
You stood, sucking in air as best you could, your body buzzing, everything feeling surreal as the world around you settled and the others began to appear, staring at you.
Your knees buckled under you, sending you hard to the ground as you tried to focus, tried to find where he had sent Logan, but you realised in quiet horror, that you couldn’t sense him.  A sob left you, everything too much, unable to say anything, and you collapsed, darkness quickly taking you, feeling very much alone.
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immortalcoelacanth · 5 years ago
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Snatcher x Baker!Reader Oneshot: A Trade
I blame my friend, idk if they’re gonna see this or not, for causing me to spiral into developing a mess of reader insert fics! And by that I mean yes, I have more planned because I’m a mess! XD
Word count: 2472
Summary: Of course, deciding to take a shortcut through Subcon Forest was not the best idea, but at least you had something to trade if you got into any trouble.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
The fall air was cool and crisp, and felt quite nice as it blew across your face. You were bundled up for the cool weather, of course, wearing a light jacket and a hat to stop yourself from getting too chilly. You were on a mission, a mission to get to a party.
… Well, it was more of a small gathering between you and your friends that you had not seen for some time thanks to work and the general distance between you all. One of your friends had moved to some island to study cannons while another had gone out into the desert to learn about architecture. This made it pretty difficult for everyone to get together, but this year you had planned everything out to the smallest detail, and made sure that everyone was able to attend this get together.
However, you had run into a complication that had led to your current situation. The meet up was taking place in a small village outside a forest known as Subcon. It was fairly secluded, few roads leading to it and as someone who did not have a car, transportation was definitely the biggest challenge you had to overcome.
Fortunately, overcoming this hurdle had been fairly easy as you managed to catch a train, the only train, that let you off at a stop right outside the forest. From there it was just a quick jaunt through the trees before you arrived at your destination. Of course, this was easier said than done when it came to navigating Subcon Forest in all its spooky glory.
The tower trees piercing the sky above you, the shadows that crawled across the forest floor. Overall, the forest was pretty cool and somewhere you would probably like to take a hike through, but not tonight.
Especially since you were one of the people responsible for bringing food.
Baked goods, that is. You were currently carrying an insulated pack full of all sorts of cookies, with some cupcakes stacked on top. All Halloween themed, too, even if it was not Halloween just yet. Your primary hobby was baking as you found it to be a great way to deal with stress, and making your friends happy with your baked goods was just an added bonus.
So, you were determined to get to the meet up as soon as possible with the food you were bringing being as intact as possible, which was actually more of a challenge than you had originally anticipated it being due to how many roots poked up from the ground, tripping you every so often. There were also some rocks you stumbled upon, and even a bush you had fallen into-
You could be clumsy at times, very clumsy.
Although, at one point as you had tripped over yet another uneven clump of dirt and fumbled to catch yourself while not crushing the food, you swore you had seen something that resembled a tombstone.
… Hopefully someone was just getting into the spirit of Halloween a bit early?
Foolishly, you ultimately ignored this foreboding sign and continued to make your way through the trees. Trees, trees, and more trees-
What was that?
Not too far away, you heard the giggling and laughter of some children. Were you already at your destination? You were almost certain you still had a ways to go, so where had those noises come from? Some kids who were exploring the forest that you had just managed to bump into, or something else…
Curious, you slowed down and crept around the trees, taking your time and doing your best to keep your steps silent until you spotted the source of the sounds.
Those were kids alright.
Decked out in strange, shadowy shawls that hid most of their bodies from sight, their short stature combined with their mischievous laughter definitely gave off the impression that they were young, and pranksters. You had to admit that their… clothes? Costumes? Whatever they were, the attire that they wore was pretty neat with the faint, purple glow it gave off.
Maybe there were lights in it or something?
You watched as they paused, whispering between each other before laughing once again. One of them turned to look at you, face hidden in the shadows created by their hood, and-
They flipped you off!
“Hey!” You immediately shouted, resulting in more laughter coming from the rude children as they rushed off. “That’s not nice!”
Of course, your scolding got no response from the duo as they vanished from sight, leaving you alone in the forest once again. You let out a sigh, disappointed in the rude behavior, and kicked at the dirt. “Little… jerks. It’s not nice to flip off someone who hasn’t done anything to you.”
In your agitated state, you failed to notice how the shadows seemed to be… closing in on you. Sharp, glowing points started protruding from the ground, twitching and slowly reaching up higher and higher, increasing in size. If you had been paying closer attention, you would have noticed that they resembled the children you had previously seen, in a way. Both shared that same, purple and shadowy glow.
Alas, you were oblivious to the ring growing around you, instead taking the time to check on your food and make sure nothing had been too damaged by your stumbling and tripping.
Nothing worse than broken cookies.
Upon seeing that everything was fine, you let out a huff, brushed off your clothes, and took a step forward-
Just in time for the shadows to spring up around you!
You immediately let out a startled yelp and stumbled backwards, tripping and falling in the process. Fortunately, your quick thinking managed to save the food, but you did land heavily on your butt, letting out a pained noise in the process.
In seconds, your view of the forest had been completely cut off as the shadowy vines surged up into the air, a purple dome forming between them. The ground beneath you glowed, and tall, shadow figures loomed in the distance with their bright eyes focused on you.
What the-
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!”
The loud, booming voice behind you caused you to whirl around, hands scrambling at the ground to help you turn faster while you nearly knocked your pack over in the process. Your eyes widened as you took in the sight of the being now looming over you, claws outstretched and glowing maw twisted upwards into a menacing grin.
Was… was that a ghost noodle?
For as shocking as the situation that you now found yourself in was, you had to admit that whoever this was, was not all that…
Intimidating.
Truthfully, while he certainly did seem to be menacing, the general appearance of his body only served to lessen the impact. Even now, as you stared up into his glowing face, you realized it resembled a smiling jack’o’lantern.
Plus the fluff around his neck seemed very soft…
You were snapped out of your thoughts when the spooky shadow started speaking. His voice was also quite nice, definitely an odd thing for you to notice at the moment, but then again the shock of the situation was probably making you process things weirdly.
Definitely the shock.
“Oooooooooh, you dared to set foot in my forest.” He sneered, leaning in nice and close. Your face felt warm from the bright lights before you.
Or perhaps you were blushing, who knew.
“I-I… I’m sorry?” You stuttered out, uncertain as to how you should react in this situation. A ghost, demon, something had just jumpscared you and trapped you in some weird shadow dimension-
You had been sent to the shadow realm.
Possibly being memed to death was definitely not how your day was supposed to go.
“You should be. But, since I’m feeling nice today, I’ll cut you a deal.” He chuckled as he snapped his claws, causing an elegant contract to appear in front of you. You hardly had a chance to skim over the contents, fortunately noticing that his name was apparently Snatcher, before he continued speaking.
A snatcher of lives? Of souls? It was certainly an ironic name and you quietly wondered if he had thought of it himself or if someone had given it to him.
“Your soul for some chores. Picking bones out of the local swamp, chatting up the nooses, and if you fail…”
His smile grew wider, and far more menacing.
“You’ve got your soul on the line, that should be motivation enough.”
But, rather than accept the shadow’s demands, you had your own plan that you had managed to come up with on the fly. You had something else that you could offer other than your soul.
So, without further ado, you opened up your pack and took out your trump card.
“... What. Is. That?” Snatcher spat as he stared at the offered item in your hand.
“A cupcake!” You cheerfully replied, the vanilla cupcake seeming to sparkle in the light due to the crystalline sugar scattered across the top. The vibrant purple icing fit in wonderfully with the colour palette of your surroundings, and the spooky spectre floating above you. “I’m offering you a trade, I’ll make you some sweets or other stuff in exchange for letting me go.”
The shadow stared at you for a solid ten seconds before a strangled wheeze escaped him and he broke down laughing, body crumpling over from the force of his cackles.
“HAHAHAHHAHAHAA! Oh that’s RICH!” He chuckled, wiping an imaginary tear from one of his eyes. “You trade me some cupcakes for your soul-”
“Or cakes!” You interrupted, causing Snatcher to look at you. “Cookies too. I’ve also been working on making danishes. Besides…”
The smile on your face turned the slightest bit smug. “Since it looks like you have a business in this soul snatching deal I bet they’re pretty common here, but how often have you gotten a professional baker to offer their services to you?”
You were definitely exaggerating with the professional bit, although you had been paid to make cakes for parties before. It was a good source of secondary income, too, and would hopefully help sweeten the deal.
Snatcher eyed you, looking as though he was seriously considering your offer, before snatching the cupcake out of your hand and inspecting it. “A professional, huh? And what if I don’t like sweets, what’s your offer then?”
“I’d make other things!” You immediately offered. “I mainly bake, but I can cook other things, and…”
You thought back to those children you had encountered earlier. “I can make food for others, too! You could give it to people you care about-”
Upon seeing Snatcher’s mouth open, probably him about to argue that he cared for no one, you quickly continued speaking. “Or you could use them to lure people into a trap, or trick them and cause them to not notice. There’s nothing creepier than seeing a plate of freshly made cookies randomly on a tree stump, or something.”
“... Ohohohohoho,” The shadow grinned, and you could easily imagine him rubbing his claws together were it not for the cupcake still being held in his clutches. “Sounds evil-”
“Deliciously evil?” Your attempt at punnery caused Snatcher to immediately freeze and glare at you.
“If you ever say anything like that again in my forest and presence, you can kiss this little deal between us goodbye.” He hissed, the genuine annoyance in his voice making you quickly nod your head in agreement.
“Yup! Got it! I fully understand and consent to these terms!” You babbled as you took a step back and raised your hands. “So, we cool then?”
Snatcher’s eyes narrowed before he bit into the cupcake, wrapper and all. “... We’re cool, for now. But first..” The contract that had been floating in front of you flashed before changing. It had been corrected to include the new conditions that you had mentioned, and featured a feathered quill for you to sign with. Seeing no other option, you quickly scratched your name onto the piece of parchment and, as soon as you were finished, it vanished from sight.  “Deal’s done! Don’t forget to uphold your end, or else.” 
With that, the shadow dove in the ground and vanished from sight. The dome around you also slowly broke apart until it was gone completely, leaving you free to go and finally get to the party.
Even if you were now one cupcake short, a small price to pay for coming out of that with your soul intact. Although, now you had another problem to consider.
How to get in contact with your new boss. Maybe it was time to finally invest in a ouija board…
Omake:
One week later…
“Okay, this should work.” You mumbled to yourself as you scanned over the book you had borrowed from the library. Within was an intricate circle with various symbols lining the edges and parts of the interior. It was supposed to be for summoning demons and ghosts.
Which was exactly what you were looking for since you needed to get back in contact with Snatcher. The circle offered protection from the summoned being as a bonus!
… Something you felt you definitely would need since you had a feeling the shadow would be pissed.
You looked up to check on the replica circle you had drawn in chalk on the floorboards, internally cringing at the potential damage that could be done to your apartment, but also certain that if you did not do this soon that bad things would happen.
Including you getting hunted down by an angry ghost-noodle-demon-thing.
“Okay, okay, let’s do this.” You breathed in and out, trying to slow your racing heart as you followed the instructions from the book. An incantation was needed, the demon’s name being the primary component.
Time to see if “Snatcher” was a nickname or not.
You had done it! You had summoned Snatcher, except-
He was stuck halfway in the floor. Only the upper part of his body was visible with his long tail probably extending down in the apartment below you. You doubted your downstairs neighbors were home due to the lack of screaming.
But then again, soon enough you were not able to hear anything other than the shrieking of the trapped shadow.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Snatcher squawked as he lashed out at the invisible barrier around him, ultimately failing to free himself. “I’M STUCK IN THE FLOOR!”
You dropped to your knees, tears leaking out of the corners of your eyes as you laughed. Snatcher, now finished with his tantrum, crossed his arms and angrily glared at you. The only thing that could be heard was your wheezing laughter, until-
“Well? You gonna let me out?”
You promptly died laughing all over again.
                                         xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have no idea if/when I'll put out more reader fics, but they could happen! Maybe! I have one in mind with the Prince... maybe....
I hope you all enjoyed reading!
- ImmortalCoelacanth
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bimboamyrose · 5 years ago
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Unfamiliar - A Metamy Fanfic (Ch. 3)
hi babes~ thanks to those of you that messaged me your thoughts on the first 2 chapters; it encouraged me to continue. just finished looking over ch 3 and thought i would post here as i still have not received my invite to ao3 (does anyone know how long that’s supposed to take?). enjoy and feel free to leave me your ideas and comments ❤️
Ch. 1-2 + synopsis here
Ch.3 – Jagged
Amy and Cream bustled around the kitchen, picking up after their lunch. Metal sat, watching and listening, occasionally looking back at the small whiteboard with his name on it. He pondered about his past silently; wondered what his relationship with Tails, Amy, and Cream had been. What little he could remember only added to the mystery, but for now their simple goodwill was more than appreciated.
“So Cream, what did you need help with?” Amy asked her.
Cream was drying the last of the dishes and handing them to Amy to stack away in the cupboard. “Oh, thanks for reminding me. Actually, I have some schoolwork I need help with. Mom was having trouble with it, too.” Cream didn’t attend a physical school but worked with a tutor occasionally to complete some remote learning at her mother’s behest.
“What kind of work?”
“Some algebra. I find it sort of confusing.”
Amy squirmed uncomfortably. She hadn’t exactly had a formal education and was more well-versed in language and history than math and science anyway. “Don’t you think this is more of a Tails question?”
“He can be so impatient!” Cream huffed.  “I asked him for help a few weeks ago but he got frustrated with me.”
“I can see that,” Amy sighed. Tails was passionate about his work to a fault. He was good-natured and caring, but a strong teacher he was not. The boy was easily exasperated when others failed to keep up with him and generally preferred to work on his projects alone. “You know he means well, Cream. He doesn’t realize what a weird little genius he is,” she giggled.
“I guess so. But do you think you could help me?” Cream pleaded.
Amy shrugged. “I’ll try. But let’s ask him if we get stuck anyway.”
The girls finished clearing up and sat back at the kitchen table with Cream’s notebooks. Metal watched them read from some worksheets and try to work out some problems. Amy guided her through the first two, challenging Cream to finish the equations.
“Okay, let me check if that’s right…” Amy wasn’t totally sure she knew how to solve it either, but was pleased when the answers matched. “It is! Good job, Cream,” she beamed at her friend.
Seeing this, Metal scraped away at the writing on his whiteboard and followed along as they read the next equation out loud.
Amy cleared her throat. “Okay, write this down. ‘5×2 + 6x = 3, solve for x.’ Hmm. Let’s take a look at your notes and see if we can figure this one out…”
It took Metal a second to solve it, and a few more to write it out on the little white tablet. He chimed at the girls, holding up his work for them to see.
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Cream looked up from her notes to examine the whiteboard. “Is that right, Amy?”
“Let me see…. Yeah! That’s the answer.” She turned to Metal with an impressed smile. “You’re like a walking calculator, Metal.”
She said his name. She seemed proud of him. That was a strange feeling- but not a negative one. He chimed again as a sense of enjoyment overtook him.
“I wish I could do that! But I have to show my work and I’m not sure where to start…” Cream returned to her notes, trying to understand the steps to take.  
Amy put down the worksheet. “What did you do first, Metal?”
He searched his recent memory for the calculations and scraped the answer off the whiteboard to make way for his response.
“Hey Cream, doesn’t that look a lot like this?” Amy pointed out a sample in Cream’s notes that used a similar structure to Metal’s.
“Oh, I think you’re right.” Cream wrote down what she understood to be the next step to solving the problem and showed it to him. “Is this how you did the next part?”
Her writing matched his earlier calculations and he nodded. It was impressive that she picked it up that quickly, he thought.
“Look at you, Cream! You already know more than I do,” Amy giggled.
She watched as Cream and Metal completed the problem together, matching up each step of the process. It took her a few minutes, but Cream matched Metal’s work exactly each time, arriving at the correct answer. Amy was incredibly relieved at his help- she wasn’t convinced she’d be able to solve it on her own, much less guide her friend through the process. The three answered a few more questions together over the next hour; Amy mostly reading from the answer key to confirm their responses.
“That was the last problem. Finally, that’s out of the way!” Cream cheered. “You guys are lifesavers.”
“I would’ve been useless after the first two problems,” Amy chuckled. “Maybe I should get a tutor, too.”
“You have Metal; I bet he knows a lot of stuff.” Cream responded, packing away her schoolwork.
“I don’t want to make a habit of it…” Amy trailed off. She noticed how dirty the whiteboard had become. Metal had been wiping his palm over it roughly and left scratch marks and marker smudges on the surface. “I think we should get you a new white board.”
“Don’t worry about it, I have another one at home. Metal can keep it! Also, this might come in handy for erasing.” Cream pulled a small cloth out of the front pocket of her bag and reached over the table to hand it to the robot.
He moved to grab it from her hand but stopped. He noticed how his sharp fingers had damaged the tablet. What if he scratched her, too? Metal outstretched his palm for her to drop it in instead.
Outside, the day had grown dim. It was still early, but the snowfall intensified over the last hour to create a dense veil that darkened the house. Visibility was low. It was a minor snowstorm, but Amy still worried about Cream’s return home.
“Hey Cream, why don’t you stay a while until the snow lightens up?” she suggested.
Cream peered through Amy’s sliding glass door off the side of the living room. “Oh! I didn’t realize it was so snowy out…”
“Why don’t we put on a movie to pass some time?”
“Hmm…” Cream pondered. She wasn’t really in the mood to watch anything. “I have a better idea! Let’s play dress up- like old times!”
Amy groaned. “Don’t you think we’re a little old for that?” It had been at least 3 years since they raided Amy’s closet for an impromptu fashion show. The girls had spent many a rainy day during Cream’s childhood arranging outfits.
“Metal’s never played,” Cream reasoned.
Amy scoffed playfully. “I really don’t think my clothes will suit him.”
Cream pouted in response. Her pleading eyes glistened in the dim light, growing ever wider. Her fist pressed to her round cheek as she made direct eye contact with Amy.
Amy rolled her eyes. “I taught you that trick.”
Cream abandoned her pitiful façade just as quickly, clicking her tongue.
“But, I guess there’s not much else to do,” Amy finished.
A look of glee filled the young rabbit’s eyes. She shot up from the table and twirled its perimeter to stop next to Metal. “Come on, let’s find you something to wear!” She tugged on his arm which failed to budge.
Surprised at the sudden contact, Metal turned his gaze to Cream’s delicate hands around his arm. After a moment, he managed to prop himself up without it, still struggling to balance as she attempted to pull him toward the bedroom.
“Be gentle, Cream. His foot is messed up.”
“Oh, right! Sorry, I’ll go at your pace,” the girl beamed at him. She dragged him slowly across the living room into Amy’s room, detailing what color scarf she thought would suit him, and adding that maybe a hat would look good, too.
Amy chuckled to herself as she took in the unusual sight of a young girl attempting to lug a clunky robot into a makeshift fashion show. She cleared some eraser shavings from the table and soon followed.
 It was as if a tornado had blown through Amy’s closet with the express purpose of littering as many clothes around the room as possible. Amy sighed thinking about how she had two messes to clean up now. Her and Metal Sonic watched from the bed; he sat at the edge while Amy crossed her legs and hugged a large pillow in front of her chest. Cream had tried on just about every dress, every blouse, and each pair of shoes that Amy owned. She’d also managed to amass a pile of silk scarves around Metal Sonic’s neck, insisting that layering was all the rage. Cream completed his ensemble by placing a wide-brimmed straw boater atop his head. He looked a bit like a hat rack.
Amy turned to address Metal. “So, how you holding up?”
Metal didn’t look at her but let out a melodic grunt. Amy wasn’t sure what it meant but his stoic gaze surrounded by dainty accessories made her laugh.
“Amy, do you remember this?” Cream excitedly held up two intertwined clothes hangers housing a long pink tank top and a matching pair of flared joggers.
“Oh, wow- that old thing. I wasn’t sure I still had it.”
“I don’t fit into mine anymore,” Cream complained.
“Try this one on then.”                                    
Cream slipped back into the closet to change and Amy took it as an opportunity to get a head start on picking up. It had stopped snowing and there was only maybe an hour of sunlight left- it was time Cream got back home.
When she emerged wearing the athletic set, Cream spun around and posed. “What do you think?”
“The pants are still a little long, but it looks great on you. Why don’t you keep it?”
The girl’s eyes twinkled. “Really? You’d let me have it?”
Amy shrugged. “It doesn’t fit me anymore anyway.” Five years had passed since she last wore the set and Amy had grown a couple of inches taller in that time. It was enough that the pants now sat atop her ankles awkwardly. “Now get changed to your clothes, you should get home before dark.”
Cream thanked her profusely and disappeared back into the wardrobe for the last time. Amy hung as much as she could on the clothes hangers that were strewn about and laid it all on the edge of the bed.
“Do you mind?” She motioned to the hat on Metal’s head. He looked up momentarily and gently lifted it from around his ears to hand to her. “Let me help you with these.” Amy unraveled each of the silky scarves from around him, being careful not to snag the fabric on his pointed shoulders. It was in vein, however, as one of the corners of a gauzy red handkerchief caught around his left side where the tear from his missing arm was jagged. “Oh, shoot…” Amy lamented softly. Metal realized this and hung his head timidly.
When Cream came out, she held up yet another hanger. “Hey Amy, what’s this?”
A bomber-style jacket hung from the plastic frame. It was made of supple black and white satin and adorned with an embroidered rose emblem over the heart.
“Oh…” Amy turned and examined it. “I thought this would made me look tough, but I could never fill it out right,” she giggled. “I just never really wore it.”
“That’s a shame, it’s so nice.” Cream gazed at the jacket, admiring the floral patch. Then she looked up and caught sight of Metal Sonic, who was still sitting quietly on the bed. “Hey, I bet it would look nice on Metal,” she smiled.
“Oh, Cream, don’t bother him with that…”
She approached Metal anyway, holding up the piece. “Would you like to try it on?”
Metal Sonic took a closer look at the soft jacket. It was padded lightly around the shoulders. He stood up then, holding his hand out to her.
Cream gasped with joy, running around the back of the lanky robot. “Hold your arm back, actually!” She had to stand on the bed to slide it over him completely. “What do you think?”
Metal limped toward the full-length mirror that stood next to the wardrobe. He’d momentarily caught sight of himself in it earlier, but this was the first time he really examined his body. He observed his pointy nose and ears. His long, sharp limbs. The noticeable scratch in the paint at the top of his head and the exposed wires that dragged under his right leg. He was frightening. More than that- he was dangerous. Metal had taken the jacket in the hopes it would obscure some of his edges. The left side of it laid limply past the shoulder, but the jacket fit him otherwise and served to soften his appearance. The girls crowded around him suddenly, singing praises.
“It fits you perfectly, Metal.” remarked Amy.
“You look so cute!” Cream giggled.
Amy reached over to zip the jacket most of the way up for him and smoothed it over his shoulders. “I think you should keep it- if you want to that is.”
They both looked up at him expectantly. The unanticipated praise had moved Metal. A sense of nervous joy overcame him and although his expression couldn’t change, he fixed his gaze on the three of them in the mirror and nodded with unquestionable excitement. Metal then placed a palm gingerly atop Cream’s head as she giggled and cheered.
Amy packed up the muffins she’d promised Cream to take home and walked her to the door. Metal joined Amy in seeing her out, imitating the girl as she waved back at the pair. Once Cream was out of sight, Amy closed the door gently so as not to worsen the crack in the wood. Metal was reminded of his strength then, undertaking that he would continue to act tenderly as long as he was going to be under the care of the kind pink girl and her companions.
Ch. 4 (next) 
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