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thewritersaddictions · 1 year

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Request: The Witcher: Jaskier - Runaway Princess

Pairing: Jaskier x Princess!Fem!Reader

Pov: Reader

Summary: The shy princess is enthralled by the bard at a local tavern. Could it be everything she was looking for?

Warnings: Almost being killed, getting caught, smut, friends to lovers, fuck the hierarchy, falling in love, sacrificing everything for someone, passion, fluff, shyness,

A/n- @ firefly-graphics for dividers

WC- 3.3 k

Requests Master List // The Witcher Master List // The Bard Master List

She was looking for something, anything that lead far away from the dimmed light of the castle. The gowns that fit to tight, for poor Y/n she may have a crown with diamonds and sapphires but her heart desired more. It yearned for something less showy, and more homey feeling. Sure she had a wonderful set of parents. A loving mother and father, but what they could not give their daughter was that true and rare feeling of walking outside the castle walls, being just another person among the streets.

Once the handmaiden had left I was rushing for the windows, as I looked over the edge the ground came close and then far all in a moments time. I shook the image from my head, and went in search of better outside attire. The sheer night gown wasn’t going to cut it if I was going to make it down the side of my window and into the village. From my room the village looked small, the hundreds of flames that flickering back and forth in the the wind.

Had I been stealing the young girls clothes that worked in the kitchen in exchange for extra coins so that I could go out in a disguise… of course I had it was the only way that I was going to be able to go without causing a very big scene. I only ever got to out once or twice a year. One of holidays and the other for any special announcements. I wanted to be where the people were, the bustle of feet on the dirty paths left dust to fall onto your shoes. I wanted nothing more then to feel normal even if it were just for one night.

The girls clothes were a bit tight around my hips and my bust, but I could care less as I climbed down the stone wall of the castle. Landing feet first on wet, dewey grass. The air had a biting chill yet it didn’t scare me away from exploring the village. I made my way around guards, and others before finally making it to the gate. A gate was all the stood in my way of the village, the people the ones that loved us without knowing why.

The side of the said huge gate was a small door, no bigger then my bedroom door. I twisted the handle, and pulled but it didn’t budge. Panic began to arise in from the pits of my chest. I swallowed hard when footsteps got louder. I jiggled the handle and with a push of my hand the door opened. I leaped through the doorway, shutting the door without thinking for another second. I was sure that I had thought this far yet standing here now. On the other side of the gate I was frozen with fear, and with the unknown ahead of me I stood there. Minutes passed by before the sheer fact that I was outside of the castle walls hit me like a ton of bricks.

My cheeks bagan to burn with a smile so great, I don’t think I’d ever smiled like this, not even for a painting of my portrait. Confidence began to grow in my chest, and with that my feet were taking me on my first adventure to the village. The streets weren’t crowded as how I had imagined it, but the flames that were ablaze in almost every window told me life was still happening just inside right now. I walked the streets for what seemed like hours until the loud banter, and laughter came from a shabby looking building not far off the path.

A wonky sign laid lopsided on the top of the building. Simply written it said ‘The Tavern’. The sounds of a few voices rang out from behind the doors, and windows. Drunken men and women stumbling out onto the path. Nonetheless the sounds of a beautiful voice dragged me nearer. The beautiful voice turned out to be singing. A tale from what I caught just the end of. “That’s my epic tale, Our champion prevailed, Defeated the villain, Now pour home some ale” His voice rang out across the tarven. He sat atop a table, a lute laid across his lap. He was so beautiful, or handsome whatever he was words could not describe, so I watched in awe. “Toss a coin to your Witcher, O Valley of Plenty!, O Valley of Plenty!, Toss a coin to your Witcher, A friend of humanity.” His riff was remarkable, and yet all I could do was stare at him from afar. Blue eyes staring out into the crowded floor of patrons in front of him.

I wanted deeply to talk to him, my bones ached for conversation with the man with blue eyes. Confidence oozed from him across the grimmy, and dirty floor stopping just before it would ever get to me. I ducked my head out of the tarven, and walked away from my growing obsession. Except I didn’t just walk away, I ran like a bat out of hell. I ran so far that I somehow managed toget myself right back at the tarven the next night, the following night after that, and so many more just hoping. Crossing my fingers that the bard would be there singing another one of his tales. Singing, drawing me in, closer and closer every night.

Just for the off chance that the bard would be there. I had gotten so good at climbing from down my bedroom window that I knew exactly when I could leave, who was posted on guard and that the small door next to the gate was always left open. The plans of getting back in were always harder, or maybe I should that they were getting harder. With every chance I was able to descend down the castle walls the more aggriant I got. With every walk on the dirt path to the tarven the nights turns into days quicker and quicker. That meant the plans of getting back into the castle walls only got harder.

Yet I cared not for as long as I got to gaze, and hear the sounds of his angelic voice ring through my ears. Most night it traveled behind me like a bird singing her morning song. It kept me calm before the morning started and the drag of the day took place. Where tight corsets, and snickering happened.

It wasn’t till the summer night cooled down, and the fall began to liter the ground it it browned and reddned leafs that I was caught by none other then the bard himself. Now let me make this perfectly clearly I’m yes a shy person, but there’s something about the way he talked to me when he first laid his eyes on me. I had talked to men before, been courted about a dozen times. Never having worked out due to one thing or another. I had danced at court with a few genetlman, but never tallked to someone from outside that proteigous realm of people. Fear had settled, and I stuff my heels in the dirty waiting for the worst to happen.

Except it didn’t, because why would the worst happen?

“You aren’t new here,” The bard said as he snuck up from behind me. Shaking me with a sort of fear I wasn’t used to. I swallowed down the fear, and the scream that wanted to come out. “No.” That was a simple answer, but all the sudden I didn’t want to talk I just wanted to look at him. I wanted to be the invisible girl behind the crowd of people that looked but never dared to touch. “I see you every time I’m in here.” I nodded, “Oh how rude of me, the names Jaskier, and you are?” In a moments time I had turned looked him up and down. Now that he was standing right here, now that he was in touching distance. Everything was blown out of proportions for me. Lean frame but built good, a fresh dandelion smell wafted from his clothes

The words that wanted to come out were stuck in the back of my very dry throat. He must have sensed my painc, “How about this we can get a drink, or we can get the hell out of this loud place maybe go for a walk?” Jaskier offered, I nodded my head, “I’ll take you meant the second thing.” I nodded again words still not wanting to come out in a coherent sentence. He lead the path through women and men standing around near the door, and out onto the dirt path. “This is better?” He asked me. “Yeah…” The words they were working now, he smiled brightly at me even though the dimmed flames and the moon light gave me little to work with I knew his face like the back of my hand. Many a night I just stare at him.

“My names Y/n.” Finally getting up the courage to answer his first question ‘Well that’s a beautiful name, Y/n.” My names rolls off his lips with a sort of grace that most people don’t even have at court. “And I must say that it fits your beauty as well.” A chamer this man is, I swallow hard trying to will the heat that grows at the edges of my cheek bones. The conversation starts to grow into something I’d never had with anyone else. His voice is so soothing that when the first sight of sun rays hit the horizon I’m not even paying attention.

When the blinding rays hit my eyes, the panic rises in my chest, “I’m sorry Jaskier I have to get going.” My words rushing out of my mouth, and Jaskier doesn’t understand what’s going on. “I’ll see you again right?’ He asks as I start to walk away. “Of course.” I say without even thinking, ‘And even if you don’t I’ll see you’ I think to myself as I run as fast as my feet with allow.

This friendship grows every night I see him, he’s there in the tarven every night. Singing about tales of the past, and then the songs they turn into something else. Songs about her beauty, oh how she must be something from the heavens. As our frienship grows so does my confidence and one night without thinking as Jaskier is going on and on about something I lean in, kissing his lip ever so gently. He shuts up almost automatically. “What… what was that for?” He barely manages to get out. “You’re just so very handsome.” I mutter. My lips are burning with a sensation I’ve never felt before.

Kissing Jaskier becomes the only thing I can think about, the only thing that I want to do. The thing that wakes me in the morning when the stray lights of morning sun hit my face, when I sit at lunch with my mother and father. It’s the driving force that has me climbing out the window even when the icy wind picks up and chills me to my bones. Summer having come and gone now that winter is here the outside conversation and little kisses become to hard to have. So Jaskier suggests we get a room, “A room?” I ask not understanding, “actually we don’t have to get it, since I’ve been paying for the room since I met you. It’s just above the tarven.” Jaskier says it as if it’s the most normal thing on the planet.

The night with the searing wind hitting the window the rooms chills and the banter down the stairs is muted by the sounds of Jaskier kissing my lips and my neck. Something turns into more, and more turns into ecstasy. It’s all I want now, I have no want to leave when the morning hits the brim of the world. I just want Jaskier. I want his hands on me forever, I want his everything he has to give me. Yet when the church bells go off I have to leave him. I hasetly dress myself, rushing down stairs bumping into people. Barely making it to the castle walls, or through the smal door. My heart is racing as I leap into bed awaiting the regular knock on my bedroom door.

“Princess Y/n, are you awake?” The small voices asks from the other side of the door. “You may come in.” I say trying to make my voice seems calm. That night I was right back out the window. The small gate and to him, “Where did you go?” Jaskier asks caring not that he had stopped his sings thrown down his lute. “I… I was…” The words can’t and won’t come out even if I tried to make them. “Did I do something? Was I too rough with you, please Y/n just explain.” Jaskier begs. “That was my first time jaskier.” I say in a whispered breath. His eyes widden, “Oh my dear sweet dove.” He says reaching over to grasps my cheek I melt into his touch. “I wish you would have said.” He mutters as he presses his forehead into mine. Nose brushing against nose.

The night takes a turn for a sweet cuddle between a set of warmed sheets. Jaskier keeps his lips to himself for a little awhile then I want him to. “I’m sorry I didn’t say…” Jaskier hushes me before I can even finish my thought. “I should have reliazed my love, that’s on me. But I promise if you give me anothe chance I’ll be gently and kind with your mind, and body.” Jaskier says before pressing kisses into my exposed skin. His hands are searching for my skin, and my hands are searching for something to ground me to him.

The moment is ripped away from the both of us, when a knock, a hard knock happens to befall the door. Jaskier looks up at me, then towards the door. “I must have forgotten my lute downstairs. I’ll be right back my love.” Jaksier says pressing a chaste kiss into my lips. He opens the door, I can see the flame shine in the metal of their armor. “Where is she?” He guard asks Jaskier. His voice booming hitting all the walls around me. Jaskier stands there dumbfounded. “Who?” Jaskier asks, and I bear witness to the fall of his expression when the guard tells him that they are indeed looking for the princess, “Princess Y/n, there have been reports of her here at this tarven. With you.”

The moment still, and everything happens in slow motion. Jaskeir turning to look at me. I’m left with my mouth gaping open. “Your the princess.” He doesn’t sound angry, or really like anything. “I… didn’t mean for…” “Princess Y/n, you have to come back to the castle with…” Guards then see the state that I am in, clothes half off my clothes and in the bed, hair a mess. The next few things area blur, the chains that end up circling Jaskier wrist, and a guards drags the both of us back to the castle.

That large gate opening. “Why?” Jaskier asks,m before a guards slaps him, and tell him he isn’t allowed to talk to me. I’m walked to the court where my father and mother are sitting there with worry written on their expression. While Jaskier is taken in the opposite direction. “My king, this man was seen with the princess. We caught him with her in bed.” The guard says prideful; of his actions.

“Why could you do this?’ My mother asks, “Because she’s spoiled rotten that’s why.” My father answers her question. “I’m not spoiled rotten.” I disagree, “You are to go to your room, and someone needs to bind her windows up. I will not have my daughter making a fool out of the crown for what a bard.” He spits venom out at me. I bit my inner cheek willing the tears to go awau but nothing helps, not when I know that I had caused all of this. Hours later a knock comes to my door, my mother comes in through the door “Sweetheart.” I cry on my side thinking that I want is a moments time with jaskier. “It wasn’t his fault mother.” I tell her through hiccups, and shear breaths.

“Oh my sweet darling daughter, do you love him?” She asks me, as she combs her nimble fingers through the ends of my hair. “Mother I do not know.” I honestly do not know, “Of course you know.” My mother says all knowing, she’s probably right but I’m not sure Ic an say the words. Say the truth outloud. “Do you think I will be able to see him?” I ask my mother, she thinks for a moment. “Your father probably won’t allow it my dear.” The ears start to bubble over the edge of my lashes. “But I’ll see what we can do.” She promises me.

With that she kisses my forehead, and she’s out the door. I sit there for the rest of the night feeling sorry for myself, and Jaskier. I feel as if it’s all my fault. This feeling sits at the bottom on my stomach for what seems like weeks. It isn’t until those weeks turn into months does my mother come back. Giving me rather good, and bad news. “Sweetheart, I need to tell you a few things.” My mother said softly. “Yes mother.” “The boy is be putting to death, but you can talk to him before he goes to the gallows.” There was no warning or anything from her. “Right now?” I asked her, she nodded her.

I had never rushed down the stairs of the hallways so fast to just get to one person. “Jaskier!” “Y/N!” I followed the sounds of his angelic voice. When I reached thebar that held him in the cell. “Oh god, you’re so… I’ll go get something to clean your face up.” I said, “NO please don’t go.” Jaskier pleaded with me. “They will be taking me tothe gallows soon. I just wanted to see that beautiful face of your before I meet the heavenly gods.” Jaskier words hushed. “Oh Jaskier this is all my fault, but I… I have a way to fix it all. I promise.” His brows furrowed together. “What do you mean?” worry seeping into his voice all for me while he was going to be killed.

“Jaskier I would do anything for you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, or for well anyone that I loved.” Jaskier looked me up and down. “What are you saying Y/n?” He asked as he eyed my hand on my stomach. “Please don’t do something so irrationally. I’m not worth your jewels, your titles, or your throne.” Jaskier pleaded with me, I scoff at him. “Of course you are Jask. You are worth it all because I love you.”

Jaskier is brought to the gallows with my father looking proud of himself, and my mother standing by his side. “Do you have any words to say before you are killed?” My father boasts. “I do.” The shock written over my fathers expression is hard to ignore. “Y/n sit down.” He demands, “No, I don’t care anymore. I will do anything for this man. Regardless of what you think I should do or not. I’m giving up my everything for him and our baby. I’d rather be happy and poor with Jaskier and our baby then be miserable and alone on the throne.” I said loud and clear, throwing my crown down to the ground. “Undo Jaskier chains, he and I will leave without a single word.” My father twitches with anger and as he’s about to burst at the seams my mother whispers into his ear.

Moments later, “Undo his chains and escort them out.” My father demands and with that when Jasker is in my arms the kiss of life brings both of us back together. “A child?” He asks against my lips. “Our child Jaskier.”

Completed on: 09/24/23

Posted on: 09/24/23

The Bard-

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written-in-flowers · 2 years

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No because I love your hotd-stuff, I would love to request something about Aemonds fiancee facing some internal dilemma. Her fiance is handsome, skilled, smart and gentle - but she can not seem to resist giving in to his brother Aegons advances

"Meet me in the North tower."

You'd found the letter stuck underneath the wine pitcher your handmaiden brought in. Immediately, you knew who had sent it: Aegon. Ever since you'd arrived in King's Landing, meant to be betrothed and married to Aemond Targaryen, Aegon made it a mission to charm you. So many reasons screamed at you not to go:

Aegon was married with two children. He was a drunken fool who usually slept in most mornings. He gambled too much. He got into fights he should've walked away from. He made lewd jokes at other people's expense; didn't care about duty or responsibilities. Family name and standing did not matter to the prince. He lived as he pleased. He is everything your parents wished you to stay away from.

Aemond was your betrothed, and you couldn't ask for a finer man. Skilled with a sword, he worked on his mind just as much. The both of you shared common interests in books and history. You enjoyed your garden walks in the morning and the tea time you both spent together every day. You've known Aemond and Aegon most of your life, since you and Aemond were betrothed at ages six and seven. Yet, Aemond was so...proper. He never made advances or tried to steal a kiss like Aegon had on occasion. He didn't leer at you, make sexual suggestions or flirt with you at all. A perfect gentleman, which you liked. Aemond made you feel like a true noble lady; the damsel to his hero. You loved him. You always have.

But, Aegon seemed so free from it all. He loosely played by court rules and etiquette, while Aemond lived by them. You liked the drinking games you both played at feasts and the times Aegon snuck you out of the city. You two never went far. He knew boundaries, at least. Yet, as you looked at the note in your hands, that boundary grew very thin.

You told your handmaiden you would be in the library for a while, and not to disturb you. It was a good choice. North Tower is near the library, so once you and Aegon finish, you can sit there and pretend you never left. Bypassing several guards and other nobles in the castle, Abandoned many years ago, North Tower is one of the older parts of the keep. Tall and facing towards the heart of King's Landing, you climbed up the spiraled staircase. Air became stuffy inside the faded red brick walls. Sunlight broke through the cracks and windows, so your way was halfway lit for you. The higher it went, the hotter the air became. You smelled the musty air when you reached the tower room. Cobwebs covered corners of the room, broken furniture and disused armor laid around like a storage place. This was where broken things went to die. Seeing the dust everywhere, you knew nobody came here.

"We're completely alone up here."

Aegon's voice made you jump. Hair cropped short, wavy and greasy, he was the exact opposite of the tall and lean Aemond. Another difference you liked.

You shouldn't be here.

You loved Aemond, and if he learned about this, he'd be so hurt. Thinking of his sharp, narrow face falling when he learns what you've done, broke your heart. Aemond pretended nothing bothered him, but you knew the pain lingered underneath the surface. It'd break his heart. He put so much trust in you; you are one of the few who have seen him open and vulnerable. You hated thinking of what might happen if he ever learned about it.

'That's why you need to leave.’

"Nobody comes up to this place," he said, smirking as he came closer to you.

Light eyes looked down your body, seeing you in the pale blue dress you'd chosen to wear. He strutted over to you through the dark room, before cupping your chin. Your lips met his gently like so many times before. You could taste the wine on his lips; smell the smoke on his clothes. Aemond only kissed you once. It’d been a chaste peck that he’d stolen before anyone noticed. He told you he couldn’t resist with you so close. Aegon, however, had no trouble fulfilling your needs. You knew you should stop, pressing into a table when you kiss grew deeper, but how could you? You’d already dipped your toes in the pool; it only made sense to dive into the water.

“Let me,” he whispered, lifting your dress slowly while you kissed, “Let me take it. Please.”

“I can’t,” you said. “If I lose my maidenhead, Aemond will know.”

“Psh, how? I doubt he even knows where to put it.” He slid his hand between your thighs, and you gasped at the fingers rubbing through your clothes. “I tried educating him once, but I don’t think he got very far. You need someone more...experienced,” he started kissing down your neck as he pushed through the layers of clothing to touch your pussy. You timidly untied his breeches, and slipped your hand inside. You could still turn back before anyone noticed. “Someone who knows how to pleasure you properly.”

“I told you,” you began stroking his half-hard cock while he rolled his fingers around your center. The sensations running through caused your body to burn; you shut your eyes as you focused on the hand sliding against your clit. “I have to save it for Aemond. I...I don’t think I could handle lying to him that way.”

“You’re already lying to him,” he called out your weak excuse. “You told him you’d be going to the library, but you’re actually up here with me.”

“I...”

Truth be told, you did not know why you came. The naughtiness of it all exciting you? The secrecy making it feel more special than it truly is? The thrill of possibly being caught at any time? You weren’t sure. You continued stroking Aegon, who began palming your breast while starting to slide a finger inside you, but you kept thinking of Aemond. Your tall, handsome, aloof soldier who’d been nothing but a gentleman with you. The man you wished you forget his morals for a few minutes and touch you the way Aegon did not. A second finger filled you, and you grabbed onto Aegon’s shoulder. Aegon’s fingers did sting for a bit. You thought you should be wet; that’s what you’d heard from other ladies you knew. But, there seemed to not be much. You felt his thumb rub over your clit, brushing the hardness in the middle and the folds around it. It brought slight pangs of pleasure like you thought it would. You needed to be quick before someone came and found you.

It took only a few more pumps before Aegon was holding onto the table, hunched over your shoulder and grunting. You felt something hot and sticky touch your hand, getting caught in between your skin and the breeches. You attempted to ride Aegon’s hand in hopes of finding some sort of pleasure, but he pulled out almost immediately.

“Aegon,” you looked at him, disappointed and confused, “We haven’t finished.”

“This is how quick ones work, my lady,” he said, beginning to tie his breeches back up, “You need to do some of the work yourself.”

“I’d never done...I didn’t know...”

“Now you do. Lesson learned, right?”

Shame immediately fell over you. Aegon’s fingers had left an impression inside you, which you tried rubbing off with your thighs. You should never have come. You felt foolish for falling for the charms of a drunken idiot like Aegon, when you had Aemond nearby.

“You’re not...” Aegon began, seeing you awkward stance, “You’re not going to tell Aemond, are you?”

“Of course not!”

“Oh good,” he said, relieved, “He’ll probably decapitate me if he knew.” He dared to kiss your lips, “If you ever want more, you know where to find me.”

You watched him leave first, the guilt starting to fester in your stomach. Aemond could never know what happened. You needed to pretend the whole mess had never happened. Even with the arousal still inside you, you could walk it off. You left the tower. You managed to keep your tears back throughout the walk to your chambers. Not even the guard at your door noticed. When you shut the door, you thought you were alone, but quickly realized you weren’t.

“Aemond!”

Your worst fear had happened: Aemond knew. You could tell from his face.

You worried about what came next.

#aegon targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #aegon x reader #aegon ii x you #aegon ii x reader #house of the dragon #house of the dragon drabbles #hotd #hotd drabbles #hotd imagines #hotd fanfiction #hotd smut

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anne-chloe · 10 months

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Trust me | Two |

Jareth/Goblin King x F! Reader

Summary : As Sarah's next door neighbour, you're often Mrs Williams' last resort as a babysitter. Sarah had never liked this, but she can be extremely unreliable at times. One stormy night, Sarah grows frustrated with her baby brother and babysitter, resulting in saying a phrase that she later wants to take back. Now, you are stuck in The Goblin Kings realm with little hope to returning home again, unless Sarah can reach the castle and defeat Jareth in time.

A breeze brushed over your body.

You mumbled incoherently, twisting your body to the side and blindly grabbing for the duvet. Instead, your hand was met with nothing. You frowned deeply, slowly opening your eyes and blinking through the candlelit darkness.

You lazily lifted your hands and began rubbing the sleep from your eyes, now blinking a little quicker as you tried to adjust your memories with the situation you found yourself awaking in.

You were lying on a cold, stone floor. Lit candles scattered the stone brick walls; tapestries depicting goblins and various creatures were strategically placed. You sat up from the floor, staring blankly at your surroundings as you tried desperately to recall the events of how you'd ended up there.

Babysitting. Yes, you had been babysitting for Mrs Williams because Sarah had failed to show up on time. But then what? You cared for Tobey and put him to bed, made yourself some tea and relaxed while watching some ridiculous show on the TV...

Sarah came home. That's right. Sarah returned home and tracked mud through the house. You'd started to clean it when, when...

Your head throbbed slightly. You winced and gently pressed your fingers into your temple, trying to massage away the stress headache that was quickly forming.

Oh. And what else happened?

Sarah had deliberately woken Tobey up and accused him of stealing her stuff. You came to Tobey's defence, which caused Sarah to lash out on you, too. Then, hadn't she spoken some funny words? A phrase that sounded poetic, almost lyrical. Sarah had pleaded with a fictional entity to have you and Tobey taken away.

Just like she had desired—The Goblin King appeared and snatched Tobey away, then whisked you away too.

You jumped to your feet, your memories now caught up in your mind. You spun around in a circle, frantically searching for some kind of indication of an exit. There was a doorway at the far end of the room, with candles lining the hallway that would only lead to an unknown place.

You had little choice, and so you went with it. You followed the hall quickly. You breathed shallow, trying to keep yourself undetected as you searched for an escape. You knew that you needed to find Tobey too. If you could find the exit first, then you could search for Tobey and make a quick escape.

A glass ball suddenly rolled into your foot. You paused, looking down at the crystal object, wondering how it had found you in this long stretch of a hallway. You frowned, feeling uncertain about its presence.

Then, you reached down and carefully picked it up. Your reflection stared back at you. You looked back at the hall in which you had come from, then in the direction of where you were heading. Nobody was stood nearby, but it was purely impossible for this ball to have just magically appeared like that.

Looking back at the glass ball, you watched with sudden interest as a white mist clouded in the inside of it. You blinked at the phenomenon. Then, the mist cleared and showed Tobey sitting in a room surrounded by goblins. His face was red and contorted as he wailed, his noise muted by the glass ball.

You gasped, clutching the ball tighter to the point you thought it might shatter. "Tobey," you whimpered, "oh, Tobey, where are you?"

You held the glass ball in your hand as you resolved yourself to continue down the hallway. If you were going to find Tobey quickly, you knew you needed to waste no time in hesitating. You couldn't imagine that the goblins would be kind enough to try and comfort Tobey, and from what you saw in the glass ball they were only taunting and making his crying worse.

You then came across several rooms that split off into various directions. Each of them held no distinction to where they would lead, and this only worried you into believing that the wrong choice would be made if you weren't careful.

You turned around, wanting to catch a glimpse of the hallway you had just come from. Only, the hallway was now missing, and in its place was a solid stone wall. You approached it in disbelief, pressing your hands against the stone and pushing against it, but it's foundation was solid and wouldn't budge.

But how could that be possible? Hadn't you just come from that direction?

You huffed, fighting back tears. You turned to face to various hallways again, a cry of despair leaving your throat as more hallways had appeared. All of them without distinction, all of them identical. You ran your fingers through your hair, trying to calm your nerves and racing mind.

It was like someone was playing tricks on you. You felt incredibly vulnerable and small in that moment. How were you supposed to escape and find Tobey if someone was altering your surroundings? No, not someone, but The Goblin King. Was he trying to slow you down? Was he finding your suffering entertaining? Did he enjoy watching you become disoriented and confused as he gleefully added obstacles to prevent you from advancing?

You picked a random hall and bolted down the stony path. You paused midway to catch your breath, eyes darting around the nondescript hall with no markings. Then, a pair of eyes drew you closer. Imbedded inside the wall, unblinking and strained; they followed your every movement, watching with a strange intensity.

You stared into the eyes for a moment longer, finding yourself stepping stupidly close. Then, when you were inches away, a trap door opened underneath your feet.

The wind billowed your hair and a frightened scream ripped harshly through your throat.

You tried to grab at anything to slow your fall, but as you neared the bottom you found yourself floating slowly. You released small noises that indicated to your fear, and as your feet brushed the ground your legs gave out, causing you to collapse in a pathetic heap.

You crouched forward, leaning into the floor and pressing your forehead into the stone.

What on Earth is going on?

You didn't like being played with. The Goblin King was actively messing around with you, making you out to be a complete fool. And the worst part is that you were falling for his unsuspecting traps. It's like he knew you were gullible, scared and curious, and he was happily playing on it.

You sat up, now sitting on your knees. You assessed your surroundings, taking note that you seemed to be trapped in some sort of well. You tilted your head back and longingly looked back at where you had fallen through, just in time to see the trap door slam shut. You flinched at the noise, whining at the idea of being stuck in a small hole.

You pushed your arms out, feeling for a way out, but found yourself completely trapped as the walls surrounded you in such a tight space.

"Hello?" You called out, voice raspy and shaky. You blinked through the darkness, listening with a wince as your voice echoed off the walls. "Can anyone hear me?"

You didn't want to admit that you were scared, even though the evidence was rather glaring. You couldn't hide your emotions very well at all. You were a completely open book. You used to love that about yourself, but how you were starting to believe that I was going to be your downfall.

A tapping against your foot caught your attention. Startled, you looked down to see the glass ball again. You curiously picked it up, watching as the white mist formed on the inside, and then cleared to reveal Jareth, The Goblin King. He smirked as you made eye contact, and you gasped at the realisation that he could probably see you.

"What happened, [Name]?" Jareth cooed rather cruelly. His fingers drummed along the arm rest of his curved throne. "Are you stuck somewhere cold and dark? Do you need help at all?"

"You're the one who trapped me down here!" You readily accused, baffled by his ability to be so cruel. You felt exasperated. Defeated. "Why are you doing this?!"

Jareth scoffed and rolled his eyes, the drumming of his fingers coming to a halt. "I didn't trap you down there. You did that yourself. You're clearly not grateful for my offer of help, perhaps I should retract it?"

"No!" You shouted before you could even consider what you were saying. Was it wrong to seek help from The Goblin King like this? You couldn't see any other way to escape from this hole, and the cold was starting to seep through your thin layer of clothes. But did you really want to depend on him like this? What would that mean? Would you therefore owe him?

Jareth seemed to sense your inner conflict. He could only smile at your distress, as if it was somehow endearing to him. "Then ask. That's all you should need to do."

You opened your mouth to do just that, to ask for help out of the dark, cramped hole, but something caught your attention. As your eyes had begun adjusting to the darkness, you could see a small hole that led into a tunnel of sorts. Your eyes flickered back to Jareth, but he was already gone.

Deciding not to waste anymore time in this dark space, you made yourself as small as possible and began crawling through the gap. It was a tight fit, but you managed to pull yourself through to the other end.

You released a triumphant laugh, suddenly feeling as though you could truly navigate this castle without Jareth's help. Even with him toying and messing with its layout, even though he said he wasn't the cause of anything, you started to believe as though you'd find Tobey and be able to leave.

Unbeknownst to you, far beyond the Goblin City, through the mystical Labyrinth at the very beginning, Sarah paced up and down in search for an entrance. Because, The Goblin King had met with her shortly after whisking you away, and Sarah had refused to believe that she'd truly caused your and her little brother's disappearance. The Goblin King offered a solution; Sarah must enter the Labyrinth and complete it within 13 hours, or else Tobey would be turned into a Goblin, and you would be forced to remain at The Goblin King's side forever.

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stay-mon-army · 8 months

Text

5 Ways to Win a Prince

Word Count: 6,283 words (wtf the longest fic I've written so far)

Warning(s): pining, kissing, light touching, secret romance, fear of rejection/being separated by parental figures, creepy suitor/bad vibes from unnamed side character

Pairing: Prince!Park Jinyoung (GOT7) x Knight!gn!reader

Requested by: @crzy-devil (sorry this took so long!)

1- Sneak in to Visit

The sun began its slow descent, painting the distant horizon in fire and gold, as though the trees on the mountains had erupted with flames. You watched the colors shift and change as you rested your back against the rough rocks that make up the walls of the castle you’ve sworn to protect.

The metal armor adorning your body kept you warm from the chilling breeze that stirs the trees, making them dance alone within the field below you. The grounds of the castle roll gently downhill into a field and garden away from the balcony you currently rest under. You were always envious of his view, despite the fact you sneak in and are able to enjoy it yourself very often. Thinking of your secret path, you glance one last time at the horizon, deciding that the lowering sun had dimmed enough to allow you to steal away up the side of the wall.

You stand, double-checking that all of your armor and weapons are properly secured to your body before turning to face the wall. The bricks were firmly secured together, but certain bricks were not properly flush or were beginning to chip, giving you perfect foot and handholds to support your travels up its edge. Months of practice had made this climb easier and easier, so now it was no time at all before you were lifting yourself over the balcony railing, slipping down gently onto the marble outcropping that led to the glass doors into the Prince’s room.

Through the doors, you could see a fire gently crackling and flickering within the giant hearth that Jinyoung loved so much. Unsurprisingly, settled deep into one of the chairs encircling the fire, was your prince, his nose pressed into a book, his legs tucked up beneath him as though he could make himself small enough to actually enter the world in which he was engrossed. Just the sight of him brought a bright smile to your face, releasing the tensions of the day full of training and drilling for the protection of the kingdom. Nothing could make all of that pain and stress worth it as much as seeing the man before you.

Slowly, so as not to disturb him, you inch to the door, sliding open the glass doors, and slipping into the room to make your way closer to his gorgeous red and gold armchair that he so favored. Finally, when you placed your hand down on the arm of the chair as though you were making him aware of your presence, he turns his warm brown eyes up to meet your face, a gentle look of surprise parting his pink lips and flushing his detailed cheeks in a way that set your heart aflutter.

“Hello, my prince.” You whisper, leaning down to press a brushing kiss against one rose-tainted cheek. Jinyoung reaches up, fingers snagging behind your head to pull you down for a proper kiss, his lips grazing yours like snow drifting against the wind during the first snow, as though he was teasing you with his presence more than allowing either of you to enjoy it fully.

That was a change that had grown over time; in the beginning, you were both so afraid of not getting time together, not being able to be together, that you would waste no time, pressing together your lips and bodies as close as you could manage, sure you would run out of chances to hold each other that way. However, as time went on, you began to see the ways in which the small, subtle, simple touches and intimacies brought forth sweeter emotions than rushing through and feeling all at once. You were glad now to be able to spend moments like this; barely touching and yet feeling more than anyone else could make you feel, seeing everything the world had to offer and knowing you could take it whenever you wanted, but being secure enough to let it come to you.

You pull away from the man, who tilts his head up as though he’s chasing after you, before he settles back into his chair, lifting the book that he had rested on his lap. He reaches to a nearby table to grab a small bookmark, sliding it between two pages carefully, before setting the book down on the table.

You grab his hands, lifting him from his seat to spin the two of you around and pull him into your lap back into the cushioned chair. He chuckles at your actions, resting a hand against your collarbone as he shifts to find a comfortable position on your armored lap.

“I know these are for keeping you safe and all, but they really could have spent a little extra into making these more comfortable, couldn’t they?” He jokes, flicking the breastplate that separated your bodies from each other.

You laugh along, taking his hand and rubbing your thumb across his knuckles, raising them to press your lips against them as well.

“Well, once you’re king, you have all the power in the world to make that change to our uniform. For now, we must suffer in silence, lest we be found out and whisked apart.” You lean in to whisper the last sentence, letting your breath feather across his ear and neck, sending a shiver down his spine that has him pressing harder against your body.

“I would never let them keep me from you. Come hell or high water, I would never be separated from you – let them try.” This wasn’t the first time he had said similar sentiments, and it brought joy to you hearing it every time. You felt the same way, but to know that your prince would do anything to keep you together – your heart beats wildly at the thought.

You pull Jinyoung down closer to you, though you doubt it’s very possible to do that, and lean your face close to him, your nose brushing his intimately as you look down into his eyes.

“I share your sentiments, Prince. I promise to you, that my oath to you and your family is not only one as a soldier, as a knight, as a guard, but as a lover, as a human, as a simple servant under an idol. My devotion to you will never waver and I will not let anything but death pull me from your side. No matter what else I must give up, no matter who I may have to become or kill, I will be by your side, protecting you and yours, until Lady Death comes to bring me across to the otherworld.”

Jinyoung’s eyes shimmer with tears as he presses his forehead against yours, his hands coming to cup your cheeks.

“And I you, my love.” He whispers, finally press your lips together properly, pulling your bodies as close as possible. He holds you close and you let yourself sink into the sensation of holding the one you swear your life to, letting life carry you where it will.

2- Save Him from Unworthy Suitors

The worst part about being in love with the Prince was that he was destined to be put on dates with others constantly in the hopes of making relations with other kingdoms to keep the country safe from the neighboring lands. Most of the lands got along well enough, so there wasn’t a lot of fighting anyway, but Jinyoung’s parents were always trying to set up the next power couple of the continent.

Many times, you were sent out as a guard for the dates, if they were off castle grounds, which meant that you had to sit and watch while someone tried to woo Jinyoung, only to be met with polite refusal and friendship. Most of those who were on these dates felt the same way and had their own lovers back home in their kingdoms. They played along well as though they enjoyed the date, but it was only out of friendship and political acceptance.

However, on occasion, a date was set up between the young prince and someone who truly wished to catch his fancy. Most were amicable and, while often pushy and intense in trying to prove their worth to Jinyoung, were quick to accept Jinyoung’s refusal at the end of the date.

One day, however, there was a young male suitor who refused to take no for an answer. After one date had gone over without any hassle, Jinyoung had gone to his chambers that night with you and told you that he felt alright about the date, and that nothing would come of it, as per usual. Unfortunately for you both, the young man was infatuated with Jinyoung and had not accepted the refusal after only one shot. He had gone to the Queen after the date and explained in detail how he was sure another date would be enough to win over her son, and the Queen had quickly agreed, growing worried that Jinyoung would end up alone until he became King, which the Queen didn’t want to happen. The Queen wanted only for her son to be happy with a person to cherish him; unaware was she of the person warming her sons bed that very night.

Another date was scheduled and prepared for the two men, and for once, you were not scheduled to chaperon the excursion. That, however, was not going to stop you from riding along with them.

The men were scheduled to ride down a ways through the woods just outside of the castle, to a small lake area to have a picnic. Jinyoung told you about the trip, knowing there was no way he could stop you (not that he wanted to) and it would be easier to hide your spying if you didn’t have to track them too closely.

So on the morning of the day, you waiting until just after the other guards had followed after the prince and his suitor before slipping onto a horse of your own and tracing their path. You knew the way to the lake, as it was a common spot for you and the prince to also run off for little getaways together, making you all the more annoyed that the Queen had planned such a personal trip for the prince, despite his assertion that he had no interest in suitors.

Not long down the pathway through the rustling leaves, wandering along the sunlight dappled trail, you spot the edge of the clearing surrounding the lake, so you pull your horse off the path and hobble it to a tree. You sneak up to the edge of the treeline to look out onto the group setting up a picnic beside the water – blanket and food spread out in the attempt at fashion simply seeing cheesy to your untrained eye. You had spent years in the castle, but you didn’t understand the need to always seem to fancy and rich. It was something Jinyoung claimed to love about you; you didn’t let the glitz, glam, and politics of the castle change who you really were at your core.

You decided to rest yourself on a fallen log, knowing that you would likely be here for a while watching.

However, not long after the picnic had been set out and the food had been eaten, the man had waved off the guards, asking them for privacy between the two. The guards had looked at each other, unsure what to do, but eventually shrugged and wandered off into the treeline, barely missing your seated figure.

You watched closely, eyebrows furrowed at the odd behavior of the young man now reaching his hand out to place it against Jinyoung’s arm. You lean forward in your seat, feeling your body heat as you realize that Jinyoung is fidgeting, looking quite uncomfortable at the situation at hand. Nothing had happened yet, but you knew Jinyoung’s moods better than anyone, and could read the emotions on his face even from yards away. Jinyoung was not happy.

Thinking quickly on your feet, you sneaked back to your horse, untying it from the tree, leading it back onto the road. You slip into the saddle, quickly kicking the horse into a canter to round the final bend and reach the lake on which the men were sitting.

The men both startled, turning to face you as they hear you call out for the Prince, reining your horse in just in time to spray sand against the young man who finally pulls away from Jinyoung to wipe his shirt and face.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Your Highness, but I must request that you come with me at once. There is an urgent matter back at the castle that requires your immediate attention, and I was instructed to come collect you quickly without any delay. If I might entreat you to climb upon my horse, I can get us back to the castle quickly.” You reach a hand down, doing your best to keep your face straight and serious as Jinyoung looks up at you with bewilderment, which fades quickly into barely hidden amusement.

“Of course, my Champion.” He raises to his feet, moving to take your hand, when he’s grabbed by the man still seated directly behind him, looking at him with confusion and annoyance.

“Why don’t you wait, Your Highness? I will come back with you as soon as we collect the guards and our things.” The young suitor gives a harsh look at you over Jinyoungs shoulder, before tugging on Jinyoung’s arm.

Jinyoung tugs his arm away, a feigned smile resting upon his lips as he steps ever closer to your patiently waiting horse. “No, I’m afraid this sounds much too urgent to wait even an extra moment. I shall see you back within the castle.” He turns without a second of hesitation, taking your arm and using the momentum of your assistance to pull himself onto the horse behind you, as he has done a million times.

He wraps his arms around your waist, burying his face into your back as you canter back the way you came, heading for the castle as though your errand was real. About halfway back to the castle, Jinyoung whispers out a soft “thank you” that you can barely make out against the wind and you relax, letting a hand rest against his fists balled against your stomach.

“Any time, my love.”

3- Flex your Strengths

The only time that you find joy other than being beside Jinyoung is when you’re in the training field. The guards all spent at least a handful of hours a day working in the field, ensuring that they keep their skills sharp and their muscles hard. You worked as a guide to the youth whenever possible; young pupils hoping to be guards and warriors were always trying to prove themselves in the field, but they always need a mentor to help them learn the tricks of the blade.

On warm summer days when there is nothing exciting happening in the castle, you often toil away your hours with a new pupil, a practice sword, and a sparing partner. Today was no exception.

You wiped away a layer of sweat threatening to drip into your eyes and blind you, as you roll out your sword arm. You had just bested yet another guard in a sparing match – you weren’t the most skilled warrior, but you had enough knowledge and skill to make you one of the top guards, tasked with protecting the royal family.

A new challenger steps up to the ring, groups of young and experienced fighters watching excitedly as the new man makes a show of stretching and swinging his sword, as though he could intimidate you into backing down or losing. Instead of bothering to “worry” about his theatrics, you continue shaking and stretching out your body, glancing over the crowd as you do so. You stutter in your stance for only a second as you spot a familiar face a few paces back from the edge of the crowd, a guard you’ve met several times standing beside them with a hand on their sword.

Jinyoung had come to see you practice. He didn’t often do this – he was the anxious one in whatever this was, always afraid of being spotted and questioned by someone who has no business in his. However, you were completely the opposite, ready to speak up about your love the moment he opens himself up to the idea. But here he was, standing with his arms crossed, a beautiful blue top tucked into tight dark trousers, his hair lightly ruffled by the soft wind blowing through the training field. He smiles softly, ducking his head slightly, almost impossible to see, if you weren’t in tune with every small movement of his body.

You smiled back, quickly turning back to your opponent as you both get into a fighting stance, preparing to spar. Both of you were wearing the standard armor and carrying wooden practice swords, but you could tell simply from the way he held himself that your opponent thought he had already won, simply from looking at you.

Obviously a newbie, then.

Someone to the side of the ring calls out the beginning of the match and the two of you begin circling each other, watching the way the other moves.

Seemingly on a whim, the man lunges forward, striking out with his sword. You step back, dodging the attack and sliding to the side, trying to pull the man off balance. He simply backs up, eyeing you and smirking, like he knows something that you don’t. You doubt it, most men who give you that look simply think that you’re afraid and running. No, you’re only bidding your time, looking for your chance to strike.

You circle the man again, watching for that telltale flinch of muscles before he lunges that you noticed last time. Finally you see it, only a millisecond before the man lunches again, this time attempting to rain down strike after strike. Instead, you block and dodge to barrage of blows, twisting and sliding your blade along his, redirecting him away from you every time. You see the beginnings of anger rising in the man; his face twisting slowly into a snarl, his hands tightening around the wooden hilt of the practice sword, his arms trembling from withheld rage. As his anger wells to a final explosion of aggression, he pulled his sword back, feinting a withdrawal before swinging his sword as hard as he could, aiming for your head.

You see this coming, however, and step to the side calmly, raising your sword with both hands to slash it across the mans side, effectively landing a “killing blow” that has the man grasping his side, dropping his sword in the process. You place your blade against the back of his neck, pulling it across it to simulate effecting a definitely killing blow to ensure your “win” in the fight.

The man growls up at you, moving to stand but you have already stepped away, being swept up by the crowd, who pats you on the back, calling out praise to you.

Another guard approaches, handing you a small letter folded up. You open it, seeing a familiar script dancing across the page with only two words written on it.

Visit later.

You glanced up to look around for the man responsible for your short letter, but he had disappeared.

You smiled and tucked the letter into the chestplate of your armor, beside your heart.

Who were you to say no to his request?

4- Show your Love

When you got off of practice that day, you went down to the market to get a small bouquet of flowers. You got his favorite, pink dahlias, which you thought fit him very well. In your kingdom, dahlia’s represented kindness and grace, something that you felt perfectly encapsulated the prince. He was equal parts of princely charm and empathetic sweetness, caring about all that he comes into contact with.

You take the flowers with you up to his room, sneaking through the corridors of the castle, since climbing the wall would surely crush the sweet petals of the fragrant plant you hold close to your body.

Finally making it to the doorway to his chambers, you look both ways before quickly opening the door and ducking inside. Last thing you needed was some random royal to see you slipping into the prince’s room with a bouquet of flowers and a childish grin on your face. Jinyoung wasn’t ready to go public, so you would keep it quiet for now. As long as you still got to be with him.

As you close the door quietly, you turn to find the prince shirtless, his pants being buttoned up by his chambermaid. You smile at the sudden look of surprise on the woman’s face – Jinyoung hadn’t seen you yet because his back was turned, but the woman could see you clearly.

You lift a finger to your lips, signaling her to keep quiet, and she quickly ducks her head back to securing the princes clothes for the afternoon. As she rises to grab the shirt for Jinyoung, you creep forward, wrapping your arms around his middle as you reach him, twirling him into the air.

He yelps, hands coming down to grab your arms, attempting to twist his body to face you. He knows instantly who it is that’s holding him, due to the flowers, the armor, and your familiar scent that has begun to wrap around him, sending his brain into a frenzy.

You can see he’s blushing, from the way his ears are blazing red under his hair and he’s trying to duck his face away from your gaze.

You drop him back onto the ground, letting your hands graze across his bare skin as you pull away, relishing in the way he shivers at your touch before he’s whipping around to face you.

“You scared the living daylights out of me.” He’s pouting, his eyebrows furrowed and nose scrunched up, but you could see the slight twitch in his lips fighting to smile.

“You really should be more on your toes. I could have been anyone coming in here. You should never let your guard down, my prince. It could put you in danger.” You lean in as you talk, ghosting your nose over his, causing him to tilt his head up, searching your lips. You pull back before he can make contact and now he’s pouting for real.

“If you weren’t such a menace, my chambermaid here would have at least given a scream of warning if it were anyone of danger. Unfortunately, she seems to like you a little more than she likes me.” He rolls his eyes, sending a playful wink back at the chambermaid who has her face half hidden behind her hand, holding the shirt in the other.

“Nonsense, no one could ever be immune to your boyish charms.” You press a kiss to the mans temple before holding out the flowers for him to see. “Even my measly pay gets wasted away on flowers for you, who needs for nothing, simply so that I can see that beautiful smile you grant me.” Said smile is already splitting his face into pure joy at seeing the circular globes of pink sprouting from your fist. He bends down to give the flowers a deep scent, pulling back with eyes closed and face softened with joy.

“No one knows exactly what I need quite like you, my dearest protector.” He jokes, turning back to the chambermaid so she can slip his shirt on, hiding his golden skin and gentle curves with a linen top of off-white cloth that looks insanely soft and comfortable.

After she secures the fabric to his body, she bows, grabs his day-clothes that need washing, and scampers from the room. She wasn’t likely to say anything – she’s the only one in the castle who knows about your relationship and has been aware of it for two years now. She had walked in on you two cuddling after you had accidentally fallen asleep one late night; she had been sworn to secrecy and had proven tight-lipped since.

You hand the flowers over to your lover before grabbing his hands, pulling him lightly over towards his bed, curtains pulled back to allow in the failing light of the evening through the windows to shine across the silken sheets you two had spent many nights entangled in together.

“What has gotten into you today, my love?” Jinyoung asks, following along pliantly, always willing to follow your lead and whims. He so rarely was able to let go, trust another, and go with the flow – only when he was with you was he able to let down his guard and truly feel.

“Nothing in particular, my prince, only my love for you.” You settle onto the edge of the bed, pulling him to stand between your legs, wrapping your arms around his waist to hold him close. He drapes his arms over your shoulders, looking down at where you sit before him with a look like sheer reverence across his features.

“I should continue to fan that fire if it leads to moments like this.” He whispers, leaning forward to press a kiss against your lips. You hold him close, relishing in the feeling of his lips pressed to yours, his tongue flicking against your own, his hands running up and down your shoulders and back, as though he couldn’t get enough of touching you.

“I would not complain.” You whisper back when he finally pulls away, a look of thought and concentration passing behind his eyes. “What is on your mind, my prince? I can see that something is troubling you.”

Jinyoung only shakes his head, smiling down at you with love and care.

“Nothing is troubling me, my love. It is only that, I have recently been thinking about how we keep our love a secret. I know that I have said that I do not wish for them to take you from me, while I still only have the power of a prince. However, the many times in which my mother tries to push me into new courtships is growing, and she has expressed fear that I will not be wed before taking the throne. I know that day is many moons off, but I begin to wonder whether it isn’t time that we finally tell the world about our love.” His face begins to glow with the idea, his voice rising with each word as though breathing life into the idea has sparked a flame that will not flicker, fed a stream that will not stop raging.

You reach a hand up, cradling his cheek as you grin back up at the prince. You had voiced several times your undying love for him, and him back to you, but you had resolved to spend many more days hidden away, sneaking your love, until he was king and no one could stop the two of you.

You had believed that his mother would be understanding – she had tried so many times to find a suitor for her son that you were sure she would be happy with nearly anyone that her son had picked to carry his heart. Jinyoung, on the other hand, was skeptical and afraid, after hearing the many mean things that other royals had said about other royals who had married or paired up “below their rank”.

To finally hear Jinyoung say that he was ready to tell the world, haters be damned, had your heart soaring out of your chest, feeling as though you couldn’t breathe with the happiness coursing through your veins.

You pull Jinyoung down on top of you, peppering his face with kisses, almost definitely crushing the beautiful flowers that you had bought earlier in the day. Nothing else mattered than being close to the prince now, showing him exactly how much his words and feelings meant to you. You knew that some part of him was already aware of your passion for him – you had shared it plenty of times in a number of ways, but you needed to reaffirm it now, in the light of the future of your relationship.

Nothing could stop you two now.

5- Tell the World

Days later, you followed Jinyoung into the throne room where his parents are seated on their respective thrones. You had interacted with both the King and Queen in the past, but not in this capacity and not when you were about to convince them into letting you have their sons hand in marriage.

Jinyoung stops before the dais on which they’re sitting and you stop beside him, kneeling and bowing to them before standing straight. You would show deference, but not weakness.

Jinyoung smiled up at his parents, who both smiled back down at their son. They truly loved him; there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do for him. You had no doubt that they would grant his wish, if he truly meant what he said.

He takes a deep breath before reaching his hand out to grasp yours. You freeze, waiting for him to explain to his parents why you were both standing before them today.

“Mom, Dad, I know that you’ve both been working very hard to find me a suitor from one of the four kingdoms who is worthy of my heart. I don’t doubt that you have worked tirelessly and did your best work to find people who are really suitable for me and who would make amazing additions to our kingdom, as they would rule beside me. However, unfortunately, the person who won and deserves my heart was in our kingdom this entire time.” He tilts his head to smile at you, his hand gripping yours tightly as if to say he would never let go. “I know that a prince and a guard sounds impossible, and I know many other Kings and Queens would never let their son marry a guard, who many deem as below us. Unlike those men and women, I know that our kingdom values all life, all people, regardless of status and blood. As long as a person is good and kind, is loving and caring, shows strength and courage, defends what they believe in and does not waver in the face of adversity or temptation, that they are worthy of the best that life has to offer. I have met no other who fits those tenants in the way that (y/n) does. They have proven loyal and kind, shown mercy and strength, done all they can to protect their loved ones while never giving up on their own beliefs. They are the only person fit to rule beside me over this kingdom when I one day ascent the throne.”

Your eyes mist over at the heavy praise you’re receiving from the love of your life. Jinyoung was always ready to share with you how much you meant to him, but you had never heard him share such sentiments to anyone else – it was nice to hear when you were alone, but something else entirely when he was telling his parents and the court guards all about his feelings. You could see his mother dab at her eyes, tearing up just as you expected her to; she truly loved and wanted the best for her son.

The one you couldn’t read was the King. He was sitting, looking over the two of you with a neutral face, as though he hadn’t heard anything that the Prince had just said. He leans forward in his seat, resting his elbows against his knees and entwining his fingers together. He hums softly, a low rumble in the otherwise quiet room, as though he’s thinking or warming up his voice for whatever he’s about to say.

The Queen is looking over at the King now, a smile on her face, as though she knows something you don’t which relaxes your shoulders just the slightest bit. If the Queen wasn’t worried, why should you be?

As though your thought sparked something in the King, he looks over at you, reaching a hand out to gesture in your direction as he finally speaks. “So, what do you have to say to all this, my knight?”

You take a deep breath, glancing over at Jinyoung, who is looking at you with those eyes that you had fallen in love with many moons again, and which always seemed to bring you to your knees before him, time and again.

“I have been raised within the walls of this kingdom, under the rule of you both, and under that philosophy and expectations that comes from this society. I have raised through the ranks to prove my worth as a guard to the royal family, to protecting those values and the people of this kingdom with my life. I have spent countless hours training to be the best person I can be, for myself, for my kingdom, for my King, but most importantly, for my Prince, who I have sworn my life to – both out loud and in my heart a million times over. I cannot swear that I have reached the point to claim those same things about myself that Jinyoung sees within me. However, I continue to try everyday to prove him right and to be worthy of him by my side. I don’t presume to be in a place to tell you how to react to our love for each other. I don’t wish to sway you by telling you lies or pressuring you with threats, or any of the things that would instantly lose me the right to stand here before you asking for Jinyoung’s hand. However, I know that you are a fair king. You look to your people to hear their stories and learn their worries, and you care about what will bring true joy back into the kingdom. I stand here today to tell you that nothing would make us happier than to be together, to have each other truly and completely, in the way that we love each other.”

You bow down after finishing your speech, showing that despite all of the things you said, you would respect whatever he ruled in this matter. It would break you to have to turn away from your Prince, but if the King truly believed it would be in his better interest not to wed you, to keep your love a secret, you would continue to spend your days hiding away, stealing glances and touches whenever the chance arose. You would not, however, let him truly be pulled from your grasp.

As you waited to hear the answer of the king, you could feel your heart beating within your chest, pounding against your rib cage as though it wished to fly back to Jinyoung, its true owner. The blood rushed in your ears and you could feel every fiber of your body thrumming with adrenaline and anticipation, knowing your whole world could crash down around you any moment.

Finally the king cleared his throat and you raised your eyes back to the graying man before you, who has a smile creasing his face which has your knees nearly dropping out from under you.

“If my son truly wishes to wed you and he has brought forth the courage to proclaim it before the courts, I see no reason to deny him the joys of love on the basis of something as trivial as status. You have proven strong in mind and body as a royal guard for many years, and the ways in which my son speaks about you shows that you continue to practice these tenets outside of the guard uniform and has me believing that you may be more worthy of the title of the Princes partner than any of the others we have brought here to woo him. I will give you my permission to court each other. Preparations can begin being made to plan the wedding to bind you two together.”

The Queen squeals with joy, leaping from her throne on the dais to raise down to her son, sweeping him into a hug. She presses kisses against his temple, stroking his hair, almost as though he was still a child that she found adorable, rather than a grown man who had just been sworn to wed. She turns to you next, pulling you into an equally strong hug, patting your back and whispering how truly happy she was and how thankful she was to have someone who could show her son the respect and love she knew he deserved.

Tears were shedding down her face, and matching ones traced down the Prince’s as he looked at you over his mother’s shoulder. He mouthed three words to you which had your throat closing up as well, your hands fisting into the queen’s dress as you try to hold back your own emotions.

You had finally won over the Prince, convinced the King and Queen to let you two be together, as you were meant to be. You had been so sure that fate would play out this way, two soulmates finding each other amongst perceived turmoil, but you still couldn’t believe that life had gone so well. You were in love with Prince Jinyoung and you swore to yourself that everyday from this day forward you would do anything to be the guard who deserved to marry the Prince.

And you never broke an oath.

#got7 #park jinyoung got7 #park jinyoung #park jinyoung imagine #got7 imagine #got7 fluff #kpop imagine #jinyoung #jinyoung imagine #jinyoung fluff #imagine

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spinningbuster98 · 7 months

Text

youtube

I must confess that, for the longest time, I did not have the best of times with Sotn.

You see for as much as people often say that this game is piss easy I used to actually have quite a bit of trouble back during my first few playthroughs. The Colosseum, Olrox, the Inverted Castle, the Clock Tower, I used to get my ass kicked quite a bit, which caused me to grow resentful towards the game.

As the years went by I gradually realised that it was mostly my fault. There was a time when RPGs were the bane of my existence, I could not get into their mechanics and Sotn's rpg mechanics were no different, moreso due to the fact that this is not a turn based rpgs but something more akin to an action rpg. I used to do some absolutely baffling mistakes. I kept forgetting what items I had in my inventory, like if I had specific armors or weapons that would be better for certain circumstances (like lightning armor to defend against the lightning attacks of Galamoth for example), I kept forgetting to use spells strategically, instead I kept trying to attack enemies with my regular weapons and sub weapons which made the Inverted Castle harder than necessary. This stuff frustrated me and when I get frustrated I play even worse

One example is my first experience against Beelzebub: I could not defeat this rotting bastard because I could not figure out how to reliably hit his head without getting pelted by his flies. I died a lot and ragequit

...then I realised I could dodge his flies by using the mist form, which I had but didn't think to use during combat encounters. And that there are a bunch of platforms in the room leading right beside Beelzebub's head. And that I could use spells like Soul Steal and Tetra Spirits to deal with him easily. Oh and that there's an Axe Subweapon right outside his room, ideal for hitting targets too high up to reach.

I, as a player, have always been shit with multiple choices. I'm the kind of player that, once he finds a solution to a problem, will keep using that solution without searching any better alternatives, and if I can't find a solution then I will keep hitting my head against that brick wall until it breaks. Sotn being a game that gives you a million different ways to approach things sort of...disoriented me you could say

But this is the reason why I've come to technically disagree with the idea that Sotn is an easy game. The game actually has several moments that can and will easily kill first time players. I'd say that Sotn is more easy to break than just plain easy

This game gives you so, SO many ways to break its difficulty in two if you have even a little sense of exploration (which is needed anyway to even progress through this game)

And I'm torn

On the one hand I technically prefer how future games will gradually attempt to better balance the difficulty, and I don't think I'd want another game that handles it like Sotn does

On the other hand however I love it when games reward my efforts by giving me overpowered tools. One of my favorite things in Classic Sonic games is abusing Super Sonic, which I love to do mainly because it's my reward for completing the games' Special Stages. You get to break the game because you were good enough to complete an extra challenge

Sotn is similar in this regard, since you usually have to either find its most game breaking tools...or they're just straight up secrets

You have to find the Holy Rod on your own if you want to break the first half of the game, you have to find Alucard's equipment in the Inverted Castle to get through that place more easily, you either have to find out on your own or look up on the Internet that you can use late game spells early on

And while most people claim that this game's difficulty is due to the developers being inexperienced with this new style...I think this was at least partly done on purpose

Do you think that putting stuff like the Crissaegrim or the Alucard Shield was an accident? Or stuff like this?

Remember: Sotn was purposefully made easier than the Classics to be more accessible, so I genuinely believe that most of this balancing was by design, in fact I think that Sotn is quite literally not properly designed to be chellenging.

Even if you go out of your way to not equip anything on Alucard to make him as weak as possible you'll find that the game just becomes frustrating, at least to me, as the enemy placement is often far too cluttered for you not to wear armor to mitigate most of the damage and bosses especially either barely try to attack you seriously (Cerberus) or their attacks barely follow any pattern and barely feel like you can reliably dodge their attacks without specific tactics. It just doesn't feel anywhere close to as deliberatly designed as the Classics in this regard, everything feels designed knowing that you're going to steamroll over everything using OP equipment

Sotn, to me, is the equivalent of a power fantasy: it's not about having a challenge, it's about doing short work of the opposition in spectacularily overpowered and flashy ways, because you're playing as the son of the Dark Lord himself and he does not fuck around (and of course Richter himself has his peculiarities though I'll probably mention him next time)

I'm personally a bit torn over how this impacts exploration: ideally you'd want to explore in a game to get more powerful in order to more easily handle challenges. But since Sotn gives you such over powered tools you can basically ignore most weapons and armors. Even stuff like Life and Heart ups can be mostly ignored, which makes exploration, partly useless

But at the same time, as I mentioned, it's through exploration that you gain some of these tools in the first place and I believe that, at its best, Sotn's exploration can actually be even better than Super Metroid's!

In that game, other than the plethora of item expansions and the mostly progression required upgrades the only truly unique stuff you can find completely on your own were beam upgrades

Here not only is it completely up to you to find the most broken weapons, stuff like the various extra powers for Alucard's transformations and the gravity boots feel more rewarding to find as they influence his movement in big ways and are generally more exciting that just having a different beam weapon

#akumajou dracula #castlevania symphony of the night #my gameplay #Youtube

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slashingdisneypasta · 11 months

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So uh.... Got in a horny mood XD and you know I'm still on a dragon patrol kick. So here's what I imagine them all acting when that time of the year strikes.

A bit of a warning for imploed dub-con/non-con, and extreme violence. I hope it's not too bad.

Imma get Greasy out of the way first because your little tid bit made me want to write this in the first place (it's terrifying, but the thought of him having to be tied down because his need is that damn strong is way too hot). As you said, Greasy gets dangerous during his heat. Before he was a part of the Dragon Family, he spent his time looking for anyone to relieve himself with. Fellow dragons as needy as him, or unsuspecting humans who had no idea what was going on. If he couldn't find anything to relieve himself, he became so frustrated, and that led to him becoming even crueler than usual; taking his frustrations out by making everyone else's lives more difficult (imagine your home gets burned down just because a dragon couldn't get his rocks off -_-). Now though, he gets chained up in the castle so he doesn't cause a rampage. The only dragons who have the strength to wrestle him down are Stupid and Wheezy (and maybe Psycho? They both are cruel feral bastards so they could go toe to toe). If any of the others come close, regardless if they had a hand in his predicament, Greasy will snarl and growl at them in anger (*cough* unless it's Smartass coming in to call in a 'favor'for them both-). If he has his own mate though, or even just a friend with benefits, Greasy will try to go after them and steal them away for the few weeks this last. Of course, he loves them so he's as gentle as he can be with them... But God damn it, they look so enticing just standing there! All he has to do is remember their existence (how they smell, how they taste, their lips and body on him), and he's already bricked up and ready to go. He might accidentally intimidate his mate/friend a bit with how much he needs them to stay, "Serás mi princesita buena y te quedarás donde perteneces." But don't let it fool you. They can easily make this dragon do anything for them in the state he's in.

Honestly, as much as he hates it, Psycho isn't really any better. Though unlike Greasy, who tries to find a partner, Psycho just chooses the path of violence straight away. He kind of acts like a hippo when he's in heat; as in you don't have to do anything to earn his wrath. All you have to do is breathe wrong in his general direction, and you either have to settle for death penalty or negotiate some of your limbs. It's bad. Psycho will even wrestle with his coven-mates. Even the giant dragon Stupid has been on the receiving end of Psycho's frustrations plenty of times (fortunately, because Stu is so hulking and huge, it barely phases him), and Wheezy has had to drive Psycho off of him plenty of times. The only one who won't receive the crazy dragons' wrath is his mate. To his chosen, Psycho acts completely different; he's nuzzling and affectionate, kneeling to them and whimpering for their attention, etc. His willing to act submissive to his mate because he loves them and trusts them and knows not to hurt them, even through his frustrated, lusty foggy head space. However, once he gets them in the nest, he starts acting more dominant; doing everything he can to keep them near and keep others away, not letting them leave the nest (unless they're with him), and being surprisingly particular about how they fuck. He'll go with any position, but he prefers having his mate down on all fours (in werewolf terms, he wants to take them like a bitch), no matter if they're dragon or human. And no matter what position, he insists on maintaining eye contact. If his mate looks away, he'll find a way to get them to look back into his eyes. All while being mostly silent; letting his hard, desperate thrusts and husky growls seak for him during these few weeks.

With those two being fucking insane, is it any wonder that Wheezy is stressed the fuck out? He's trying so hard to keep himself under control and has to intervene every time Psycho or Greasy starts shit. If any one of these dragons deserved some stress relief, it's Wheezy. But unfortunately, all he can do is find some corner for him to hole himself up, ignore the ache in his jaws with how hard he's chewing on his tabbaco, and try not to get an aneurysm everytime he hears a fight breaking out. Hopefully wherever he's at there's a window, because he will be blowing out so much smoke during this time. Even if he has a mate, he tries to stay away for their sake. He doesn't want to hurt them or scare them, regardless if they're a human or dragon (not to mention the added struggle of trying not to get them knocked up during the breeding season)... But if they approach him on their own, or the right circumstances play out for him to seek them out themselves, Wheezy is going to have a very hard time resisting the temptation that his mate is, "Fucken' hell, babydoll. 'Yer gonna be the death of me one'a these days..."

Smartass, similarly to Wheezy, is at the end of his damn tether. He's also more violent than usual during this time, clobbering his comrades if they're being idiots. Though he actually stays in the castle instead of trying to take his frustrations out on some humans. The last thing Smartass wants to admit is that this heat has gotten the better of him. So while Greasy or Psycho will try to find a village to burn down, or Wheezy will try to stow himself away somewhere, Smarty will be sulking around the place, trying to keep some semblance of normalcy despite the throbbing need to bury his cock in something hot and tight, and the way he'll snap at anyone who so much as walks too loudly. If he has his mate around, he'll still try to act like he isn't bothered by their presence at all. Though it isn't that hard to notice how his tail will curl possesively around then, or the smoldering desire for them in his eyes. Only when the others aren't around (or are just too distracted to notice their leaders' absence) will Smartass chase his mate's scent throughout his home until he finds them, "Whatevah plans you had t'night, forget 'em."

Now Stupid, despite his size, is the most friendly during this time. He does whimper and pout with the aching heat coursing through him, but he's not instinctively violent like his brother and comrades are. All Stu wants is to just make this discomfort disappear somehow. Out of all the dragons next to Greasy, Stupid is the one you'd most likely find humping whatever soft thing he could find. (He may or may not have tried approaching his friends about it. But Psycho has made it pretty clear he wants nothing to do with this, and after Stu helped chain Greasy down, Greasy isn't exactly receptive to the big lug right now). But this also means that he's the most approachable of them all during this time. Especially if you approach him with intentions on helping him. Stu is very friendly and sweet, even during this time, so you don't even have to worry about him snapping at you or trying to force you to do anything for him. So if you're in the mood for some dragon dick with no strings attached, Stupid is your best bet. Aside from the emotional strings you'll gain because god damn it, this fat dragon is just so sweet and cute even with his horniness. How can you just up and leave after a banging session?? "Can you stay? Pleeease? I don't want you to go just yet!"

Bonus for my dragoness gals. Shiny is... Well, any dragon that tries to come to her will be in for a surprise when she snaps and claws at them. Shiny knows what this time of year is for, and she is not going to let some stranger dump a sexually transmitted parasite inside her, thank you very much! The benefit of staying in her crystal cave is that the majority of dragons who try to chase her scent won't even be able to get inside without risking their wings. Yes, not even her usual fuck mate Greasy is allowed near her during this time. She loves him and knows he won't intentionally get her pregnant, but she also knows that they both can get horny enough to completely forget to be cautious. So Greasy is shit out of luck with her during this time. Shiny is torturing herself too, in a way; just because she drives any guys who approach her doesn't mean she's not aching for something to sink inside her right now. Which is why she has zero qualms with hooking up with the ladies during this time. No cock means no risk and no risk means all the fun. And if she gets with a dragoness who doesn't mind being the bottom, that just makes it even better for Shiny. Not that she'd just let them take her if her partner was a top, "You didn't really think I was going to make it easy for you? Did you?"

Poppy... Oh dear God, Dragoness!Poppy is in for a hell of a time. And not the good kind. She also doesn't want to risk a source of relief to lead to something unplanned later, so Poppy has taken the habit of holing herself up in her burrow and just counting the days until her heat passes. She'll even go so far as to hold her snout shut to try to repress her noises and mating calls to make sure no other dragon finds her. She is smart though; leading up to the heat, she'll stock up on food so she isn't starving and needing to be filled up. So any one expecting her to have to come out sometime is going to be very disappointed... Though, if Poppy was friends with Shiny or the boys during this time, she would think about possibly... Maybe... Asking them to be with her during this time? (Assuming Shiny and/or Greasy didn't hunt her down find her and asked her themselves). If she does have a mate, she won't be able to hide her want for them, no matter how hard she tries. Her will in this regard is, unfortunately, not as strong as Wheezy's, "Please, please, please! I'll be so good, I promise!"

(Bonus bonus. If Poppy was a princess cursed to turn into a dragon at sundown, the means that she has both the devils waterfall and the heat to deal with (which is a hint to her dragon side not being something that 'needs to be fixed'. Trust me, I'll expand on that more in the reblog). If it's horribly timed, she may have to deal with her monthly hell and heat at the same time. Which idk about you, but that sounds like quadruple hell to me. Her dragon heat won't let up in the mornings either, when she's human. So Poppy will still lock herself away 24/7. It doesn't help her at all when all she can fantasize about is the very beast she's cursed to turn into, and not something 'normal' like a dashing knight, or even her intended betrothed. And it is especially unhelpful when her heat is drawing near, after she realizes how alluring some of her new dragon friends are to her.)

Yeah, sorry for this bomb of dragon horny XD I hope you can still look at my profile the same way after this.

- DarlingPassion

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh oh my god you cant send this to me at this time of the month 😭🤣🤣 I

Oh my god oh my god.

OKAY. SO. I WANT TO WRITE THEM A L L AND HONESTLY I STILL MIGHT, BUT- We'll start with one XD And that one is-

Dragon!Stupid Weasel x PartDragon!AFAB!Reader || Drabble

Plot: You're only part dragon (Your father, and your grandmother on your mothers side, are dragons- so your mother was half and you're... a little more. But still not wholly a dragon.) so you're about half the size of the biggest dragon, and, up until this point- you never had a heat.

But now you're with Stupid. And you're in love❤, and you're mated💞. And something about his heat... activates yours for the first time ever.

Warnings: SMUT, dragon fucking/monster fucking, heat, mating, talk of breeding, significant sze difference, creampie, etc. Unedited.

You are not used to this feeling- you feel completely out of control. You are openly dripping onto the stone floor, creating a puddle between your thighs, your cunt throbbing with a need to be touched- stretched open- pounded. It is all you can do to hold yourself still; your forehead pressed firmly into the cool floor and your claws digging into the stone cracks. All you can think about was your sex, all thought and logic gone.

What is this. What the hell is this. I need- I need...

It is hard to pinpoint exactly what you need, except to orgasm. To cum and be filled until you're a sticky mess and you have babies. But how to get that?? You don't know, you cant think!-

"-Y/N??"

You gasp, stretching straight up again immediately and feeling dizzy at just the sound of Stupid's voice; your brain threatening to shut off completely in that lovely burning hot way it does when you cum as you turn around to search for your mate. "Stu- "

As soon as your gaze falls on your behemoth of a mate, so tall his horns graze the cave ceiling and send stone shavings tumbling to the ground. Something about that (He's so powerful. So strong, so beautiful. Perfect for making so many strong healthy pups.) makes something flutter inside you as his glazed-over eyes lower to your wetness on the ground and light up like luminescent emeralds in the dark. You connect gazes for a moment and look at each other, just long enough to agree, then you're flat on the ground underneath him; his belly heavy, comforting on top of you and his cock as hard as iron grazing your slippery folds.

He dwarfs you- you're not even full dragon so your body is smaller then even Smartass and Psycho's are... whereas Stupid's big for even a full dragon. His broad chest is wider then 2 of yours. That's what you liked about him at the start, how he towered over everyone and made your head go foggy- but now you love him and now you're in heat, and he could crush you and- you kind of wish that he would.

He's pounding his giant length into your core better then ever, sliding between your folds and ramming himself in deep over and over; both your orgasm's building up high but remaining just out of reach. Usually it takes some time to get him to fit, but you're leaking precum like a waterfall so he's able to slip in relatively easily- though not so difficult that the familiar stretch doesn't rub you the exact right way.

He's so perfect, he's so so perfect, you think, his objectively ginormous cock burying itself in your cunt and grinding against your clit. At some point you end up on your knees, your claws digging once again into cracks in the stone floor and taking Stu from behind. Its all a blur, you don't know how you got here, all you can think about is how good this feels and how much more of him you need. How you need his cum so bad, how you'll make him all the pups he wants.

Your claws carve lines into the ground as you scrape desperately at it, rolling yourself backwards into his thrusts. You're dripping so so badly. The red hot feeling in the pit of your stomach is amazing, and his snout is buried in your neck, giving the most animalistic grunts, which reminds you its him. Stu. Your Stu. And this is not his first time- he's done this before- and he's caring for you right now. He's needy and horny too but you're his little mate, his little part-dragon who's never suffered a heat before and he has to take care of you.

When finally he pours boiling hot seed into you the feeling is so warm, so sudden and so filling your eyes widen and your breath gets hotter- smoke slipping out as you breath heavily and squeeze him even tighter; cumming for him.

... After a moment Stu pulls out gently and, still insatiable, bows down to soothe you with his tongue from behind; licking gently at your used folds with his burning hot tongue.

#my fingers do not wnat to type today they keep missing keys but GODDAMNIT i was determined to write this!! XD

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ruvviks · 5 months

Note

HIIIIII asking abt thaddeus 🫡

🎮🔱(would he manage to swim away from queen mirelurk)🐷🌴💘🍝🤔🧐

oc asks for thaddeus tiberius! (NO WORRIES ABOUT HIS NAME i do also have a thaddeus but i'll answer these for tiberius only :])

🎮 VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER — what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies?

tiberius likes building, cooking, and drawing! he doesn't draw all that often anymore post-war but he does build a lot in his free time, there's always stuff that needs fixing in settlements so he will help out there a lot more than necessary

🔱 TRIDENT EMBLEM — can your oc swim? do they enjoy swimming?

tiberius is a decent swimmer but they don't like doing it all that much. they've never been a big fan of water in general since they fell out of the boat as a child one time when they were out on a lake fishing with their father :( especially nowadays with the irradiated water and the scary creatures in there he really tries to avoid swimming at all costs

🐷 PIG FACE — what is your oc's favorite animal?

tiberius LOVES deer!! that includes radstag :] one reason he likes hanging out at the castle so much is because of the radstag farm they have there

🌴 PALM TREE — does your oc have a green thumb? do they enjoy gardening?

tiberius isn't the best with gardening but he'll do it if it's asked of him when staying in a settlement. they don't like getting dirt stuck under their nails (like. literally. it's a bad feeling) so generally they try to avoid having to stick their hands into dirt. he does like harvesting crops though! much easier

💘 HEART WITH ARROW — what and/or who do(es) your oc consider the most important to them?

answered here!

🍝 SPAGHETTI — what is/are your oc's favorite food(s)?

i'm still working on a bunch of cool post-war foods but tiberius would like grilled radstag a lot, or a good radscorpion egg omelet. making fries is pretty difficult in the wasteland since there's not really any potatoes there but tiberius steals a bunch of crops from the institute to grow potatoes on the surface too and he can't wait for the first harvest so he can finally make some good fries

🤔 THINKING FACE — what are some of your oc's quirks/mannerisms?

tiberius is the equivalent of the standing man emoji. he barely gestures, doesn't fidget, is not interested enough in his surroundings to be actively looking around while idling, he's just standing there and once he can leave he leaves. if you don't know him well it can be a bit intimidating but he's really not bothered or anything, that's just his resting face and he's just vibing. don't worry about it

other than that he clicks his tongue a lot and has a tendency of saying stupid one liners after successfully sniping an enemy. they started doing it ironically but it stuck

🧐 FACE WITH MONOCLE — is your oc more logical or emotional?

tiberius is very logical and especially after the incident in the glowing sea with the children of atom he's basically just a brick and doesn't really make decisions with his heart anymore. it doesn't mean that they don't care or are just completely emotionally unavailable, but it's just a lot harder for them to express any of it openly and especially when making important decisions it's their priority to solve the problem, if feelings get hurt along the way they can deal with that later

#asks #hibernationsuit #ask:tiberius #oc asks #yes his favorite animal is also his favorite food what about it. he knows what he's talking about

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askthestans · 2 years

Note

Dear Stanford Pines.

As Stanley has Stanleymobile as his own personal transportation, do you have any plans for vehicles of you own? Or, prefer using public transport? Rather come up with a completely different solution like portable portal?

Stanford: Well, my real Earth driving license - before Stanley started getting ones made in my name - expired over thirty years ago, and my licenses to operate hoverboards, starships, mass relays, and teleporters are useless for obvious reasons.

Normally, I'd be fine just walking everywhere to keep in peak shape, but sometimes the occasional trip outside of town is necessary. I'd ask Stanley to drive me around, but ever since the Ireland incident...

Stanley: Ford, that was almost a year ago! 'Sides, I was gonna rob 'em eventually anyway. Hittin' that stumpy drunken jerk with our car was just makin' my job easier. It's not my fault he looked like a traffic cone with all that carrot hair.

Stanford: We went to Ireland to study leprechauns, Stan. Not steal from and turn them into roadkill.

Stanley: Maybe you went for nerd studies, but I followed along for the whiskey. And the pretty green hills to stare at during hangover recovery.

Stanford: Really? Because I seem to remember that somebody had the chutzpah to not only steal the dead leprechaun’s wallet, but drop it in front of his family while I was trying to apologize to them for your first thievery attempt at their pot of gold, and because somebody dropped my pistol into the ocean while drunk the night before, we had to desecrate a historical castle by stealing old bricks from it to fight said leprechauns off with.

And then, when we ran out of those, you tripped me so that they could maul me instead because, as you so eloquently put it, “Sorry, Sixer, but you’ll be thankin’ me later!” as you hurried towards the ship with the gold and not me.

Even better, we then spent the night in jail when the authorities realized who’d disturbed a castle wall, the cell of which just so happened to have a resident banshee who screeched for hours.

Stanley: Oh, Mebh! Minus the creepy wailing, that gal sure knew how to spin an entertainin' story! Too bad she didn't get to marry that medieval Lord McCrane or whatever his name was. But I liked her gumption. Best prison buddy I've ever had, and that's includin' Rico. Was the first time I realized maybe not all your supernatural creep buddies are so bad.

Stanford: She murdered that lord’s wife in cold blood, Stan.

Stanley: Yeah, reminds me of when I drove that hippy's van - y'know, the one who swiped Carla from me - into a ravine. She agreed that I was perfectly in the right for that. Asked me if I wanted her to find him and finish the job, even. I had a hard time sayin' no, but I did the right thing and said-

Stanford: You merely shrugged. Merely.

Stanley: Hey, if that jerk gets his soul sucked out, serves 'im right.

Stanford: Also, would you like to tell our internet friends what you sacrificed me to the leprechauns for? Why I got covered in bite marks, and why my sweater was ripped away in tatters and I had to run back to the ship shirtless with a leprechaun hanging off my rear with his teeth that left a rainbow imprint there for a week afterwards?

Stanley: It was for the gold, we already covered that.

Stanford: What did you spend the gold on, Stanley?

Stanley: *shrugs* I promised Mabel I’d get her some fancy yarn made of real wool. What’s wrong with that?

Stanford: Yes, two coins of the gold went towards that. The other hundreds of pieces went towards you buying rounds for a whole tavern the next night. You got drunk again. You puked. On my... trench coat.

Stanley: Pfft, you had tons more anyway-

Stanford: Nobody defiles my trench coat!

Stanley: Yeesh, I did you a favor, Ford. You’re lucky nobody barfed on it before that just lookin’ at it.

Stanford: *sighs* Anyways, I’m never trusting Stan behind a wheel ever again. I’ve been working on a mini-portal device based on some blueprints I sto- I mean, borrowed from my good friend Rick Sanchez. Once that’s up and running, I’ll have to test it.

What do you say, Stan? Want to help your old brother out by testing a teleportation device? I’ll make sure it goes right to Ireland, to a very specific spot where a very angry family of leprechauns are still waiting, and have already gotten a taste for Pines gluteal meat.

Stanley: Oh, come on, you wouldn’t actually do that to me, would you? I apologized, like, a million times!

Stanford: Of course not, Stan. I am a man of science, and I understand that petty, precisely planned and enacted at the most inconvenient of times revenge is a silly human folly that one should strive to surpass.

Stanley: Oh. Well, good. Oddly, specific, but good.

--- ONE WEEK LATER ---

*Stan is walking down the Shack hallway towards the kitchen. Dipper, Mabel, and Ford are already there, Ford having made them breakfast.*

Stanley: Tell me you made some for me, too?

Stanford: *turns around from the stove* I’m afraid not, Stan. You’ve got a big day ahead of you. You won’t have time to eat, remember?

Dipper: Is it shoplift-for-Summerween day already?

Mabel: Wait, I know! It’s National Grunkles Day, isn’t it!?

Stanford: No to both. Stanley, care to take a guess? It involves a certain show of yours.

Stanley: *face scrunches in fear* Wait, I thought The Duchess Approves’ reboot wasn’t ‘til next week?

Stanford: No, it’s today. Which is why I made sure to finish this last night.

*Ford pulls out a small device and, with a pistol-quick draw, causes a swirling teal portal to open up in the floor. Through it, rolling green hills and a group of red-haired, gnome-like creatures can be seen a little ways off.

Ford trips Stan as Stan looks to peer inside. Stan’s yelling can be heard as he falls in and hits ground.*

Stanford: Wait, Stanley! Look back up! Take my hand and I’ll get you out.

*Stan reaches up back to the portal, but just as he almost reaches Ford’s hand, Ford pulls it away.*

Stanford: My trench coat is beautiful.

*Stan screeches as a horde of leprechauns catch sight of him and take chase. Ford stands back up with a cat-like smile as he looks down upon sweet, sweet revenge, then takes his current trench coat by the collar and pops it out smugly.*

Hey, kids?

Dipper and Mabel: *look on in stunned silence*

Stanford: Now that I know this portal gun works and we have a few hours until Stan’s favorite show is done airing, care to help me find the Mothman? I have a particular dimension full of acid-vomiting, murderous bear-scorpions I’d like to send him to.

#stanford pines #stanley pines #sea grunks #well sea grunks sort of because Ireland hijinks #gravity falls #the moral of the story today kids is don't cross ford #or sass his trench coat fashion #because you'll end up mauled by supernatural creatures #askthestans

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dailycharacteroption · 1 year

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Pop Culture Builds 12: David Xanatos (Gargoyles)

Woof, sorry about the late entry, folks. Got caught up in some real-life stuff last night. Expect this entry and today’s entry both today!

David Xanatos, ah yes. A man who not only embodies the “Magnificent Bastard” archetype, but inspired the coining of another trope term, the “Xanatos Gambit”, i.e. a plan in which even failing the plan’s primary goal will result in either some objectives being fulfilled, or an entirely separate but valuable goal succeeding.

But who is he, and how can we replicate him in an RPG? Well, for this, let’s make him a Starfinder build.

Born to a humble fisherman, David Xanatos seemed like nobody special. That is, until the day he received a mysterious letter with a coin minted in the 10th century inside. This coin was worth a veritable mint to collectors, allowing David to quickly establish a financial base from which he could play the stock market and found a massive corporate conglomerate. However, the mysterious nature of that letter sparked his father’s disapproval.

Despite his wealth, Xanatos still wanted to prove to his father that he was a self-made man, and so constantly labored to improve himself and do things no other man could do.

Which is where he learned of the legend of Castle Wyvern and the gargoyles which were supposedly more than statues, cursed to remain bound in stone “until the Castle rose above the clouds”. No doubt meant to keep the curse in place forever with a seemingly impossible task.

But such curses have a way of getting fulfilled anyway, especially when a billionaire creates a money-sink project of literally moving the entire castle, brick by brick, on top of one of his skyscrapers. That must have been a hell of a boardroom meeting.

It did, however, work! The titular Gargoyles awoke from their curse for the first time in centuries, and found themselves in an unfamiliar world. David set himself up as their friend, but manipulated them into stealing technology from a competitor and betraying them, becoming their nemesis.

However, despite his unscrupulous ways, David Xanatos was not a man without principles. Sure, he was a manipulator who would lie and steal, not to mention creating an army of robot drones in the shape of the Gargoyle leader Goliath as well as a suit of power armor in a similar shape, but he would never stoop to murder or genocide, and would often side with the Gargoyles whenever a villain with such goals would arise.

Eventually, Xanatos relented in his vendetta against the Gargoyles and his more villainous pursuits. Turns out your greatest enemies saving your skin and those of your loved ones several times puts things in perspective. But a crafty man he remained.

David is human, but it’s not super integral to his build.

For this sci-fi build, we will be using the Envoy class with the Aspis Mastermind archetype. Xanatos rarely get’s his hands dirty directly, though he can when he must. However, his plans require a lot of coordination with his minions, so being able to grant planning-based buffs to allies that follow the plan is perfect for him.

As an envoy, Xanatos has both skill expertise and improvisation abilities. Among the former, Analyst, Convincing Liar, Gregarious Mien, Reasonable Excuse, Slick Customer, Stone-Faced Liar, Well-Informed, and You Don’t Say. Basically anything that can give him a social edge and get others doing his work for him.

Meanwhile, his improvisations are more for when he is forced to do things himself, such as Clever Feint, Get Em, Sow Discontent, Clever Attack, Exactly As I Would Have Done, False Flanking, Take ‘Em Alive, Hidden Agenda, and Seize the Advantage. Basically anything that improves his chances in a fight while also making him that much more cunning.

Despite being a fabulously wealthy manipulator, assuming that David Xanatos can’t put up a fight on his own is foolishness. As such, he has several feats to shore up his combat abilities, such as Improved Unarmed Strike and others to make him a competent martial artist, as well as various proficiency feats to let him use a wider range of armaments, most particularly Powered Armor Proficiency for the Steel Clan bodysuit.

Xanatos is willing to use any equipment, be it technological or magical, to get an edge, but if there is one piece of signature equipment that he has, it would be the Steel Clan bodysuit, a flight-capable set of power armor modeled after the Steel Clan drones, which were in turn modeled after Goliath. Said drones would most likely just be reskinned or homebrew robots if he is used as an NPC, or perhaps as robotic creature companions in the case of a PC build.

But maybe you’d prefer a different build? Perhaps if you want to play up Xanatos’ various technological toys, you could go mechanic (with a Steel Clan combat drone) or technomancer. Alternatively, if you want a build for Pathfinder 1st or 2nd Edition, consider the rogue, bard, or investigator classes, as well as prestige classes that offer a lot of social and economic power, such as Noble Scion.

Fabulously wealthy villains that spend their money on high-tech toys and manipulate others are fairly common, so don’t feel like you have to use this build for replicating David Xanatos.

That does it for today, but look forward to today’s actual entry later tonight!

#starfinder #pop culture #pop culture builds #pop culture characters #david xanatos #envoy #aspis mastermind

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castle-of-ruin · 2 years

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Day 1 - Movie Night

A/N: This is the first day of @obiknights wwdilfcember!! This is not my first piece of writing, but it is my first piece of writing for my new tumblr. I hope you all enjoy. It's rather short but it was fun to write. Also, I tried to be as gender neutral as possible! I am not very good at it because I am used to writing f!Readers. Either way, I hope you get as much serotonin as I did while writing this!

Pairing: Triple Frontier Boys/ Reader (platonic relationships)

Word Count:

Warnings: a few curse words, friendly banter, and teeth rotting fluff

Trying to watch a movie with four grown men turned out to be a more difficult challenge than you ever thought it would be. You sat back and watched the four of them argue over what we were going to watch. Will wanted First Blood, Santi wanted The Expendables, Frankie wanted Lone Survivor, and Benny wanted Sand Castle. You knew in the end the final decision was up to you. When their heads all turn to you, you knew it was time to make a decision. Before any of them could ask you what you wanted to watch you blurt The Expendables. Santi lets out an excited holler and pushes Will’s shoulder.

“I told you they’d pick The Expendables!” His excitement is contagious and you let out a laugh shaking your head.

“It was not an easy choice Santi, they were all great choices.” You tell him, your smile growing wider.

He nods his head and dips down to grab your dvd from its respective place on the shelf and pops it into the player. All of them scramble around like ants trying to find the perfect place to sit. Benny ends up sprawled out over the lounge chair, his long legs hanging over the edge. Santi plops down next to you on the couch and steals your blanket. Will settles down on the other side of you with a bowl of popcorn in his hands. You stare at him for a moment, when did he go do that? Frankie sits on the floor at your feet and props his arm up on your knee. You knew he wouldn’t be comfortable down there for long, eventually you would go and grab him a chair.

The movie starts and the five of you zone in on what’s happening. You had seen the movie several times, but it was still good each time. It brought you a sense of joy that you only got from specific movies.

“Oh fuck me!” You all turn your heads to Benny who sits up in the chair.

He looked exasperated, his hands pushing into his hair in frustration.

“What?” Will asks, concerned for his brother.

“The guy I was supposed to fight just backed out. Now I don’t have a fight before Christmas to make some extra money.” His tone drops at the end.

“You can make money some other way Benny, it’ll all be okay. Don’t worry.” You tell him.

“Yeah man, maybe we can become strippers for the holidays or something.” Santi pipes in, you can hear the smile in his voice.

Benny’s eyes light up like he was suddenly considering it.

“Yeah no, I am not doing that shit.” Will says, making you cackle.

You see the edges of Will’s lips turn upward.

“Oh come on! The girls would love you Will!” Santi shouts.

You shake your head, you knew Santi was fighting a brick wall on that one. You look down at Frankie who sits quietly, unphased by Santi’s chaos.

“How about we bake stuff or something like that?” Frankie suggests, still immersed in the film.

“That’s actually a really good idea. And something we can all do without having to take our clothes off.” You tell them. They all let out laughs at that.

“Well, unless you wanted to, I guess. Maybe we will make more money.” You laugh once more.

Benny nods his head in agreement. After the movie ends the five of you begin planning your Christmas bake sale and stay up into the early hours of the morning. Laughing and being together and while enjoying each other's company.

Tags- @obiknights @cyroku @all-hallows-evie @iloveyouwhiskey

@ohpedromypedro @clints-lucky-arrow @inkandbloodbound @thighs-of-betrayal-blog @star-whores-a-new-hoe @sunrise-river @criminaly-supernatural

#wwdilfcember #drabble #triple frontier fic

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lordderpathon · 10 months

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The Tower of Remorse

By Lord Derpathon

Autumn is a funny season for monster hunters. It's often the last stretch of work before they either settle down during winter or turn bandit because of a lack of work. Most enormous creatures try to eat as much as they can before hibernating, others migrate, and many rarely venture from their territory. There are always exceptions, of course, what with Mu being a hotbed for predators, but it is always a hard time for any adventuring party. And it was incredibly difficult being my first contract against a monster.

After those eldritch spiders ransacked Dawnstead, I was running out of gold again. What I "borrowed" from the Holy See had run dry. The rates of local inns and transportation increased because of course they have. Not to mention needing more potions because of my lacerations I received from said spiders. So Nippy and I drifted our way to a remote castle town of Frodrick's Peak. The castle itself was worn, but the walls were still manned, the peasantry often conscripted into a militia, and because of this, the roads were decaying. It was much larger than the last town, and I heard a rumor there that there was an occult library, so my interest was peaked. Hopefully, it could offer some clue about my affliction.

The library itself was practically a fortress, but it bore banners of a certain mage cabal called The Guardians of the Arcane Truth. Pretentious, yes, but it was my best chance at finding out more about my curse. Unfortunately, the moment I arrived there I found that they only take in fellows of their order, or those with enough coin for entrance. The total price being five hundred gold halos. That would set a normal peasant for life, for many if they spent it wisely. Therein lies my conundrum. Should I break into the library or attempt to scrimp and save until I could pay my way in?

The former option was obviously out of the question. Mage cabals are notoriously paranoid about those who would steal their hoarded knowledge. It'd be likely that traps, wards, and summoned creatures would be there to guard their lore, not including the mages themselves. So I tried to look around for work the usual way alongside Nippy, whose spirits our predicament did not dampen in the slightest. We searched local inns, meeting halls, even barracks notice boards, but because of the oncoming winter, there was little gainful work to be found. Slumped outside of a stable and at my wits’ end, I figured that we head on and cut our losses. Until I met some unexpected company.

"Hola stranger, a little bird told me that ya might be interested in some knife work what needs doing," said a voice coming down the alleyway. "Inn jobs ain't up to snuff for someone of your talents. I can tell by that armor you wear you've seen things, ain't ya?"

"Show yourself. I have no interest in talking to voices whose speakers I cannot see," I replied.

"My apologies, good sir. Come this way into the alley and you'll meet me soon enough." I had little choice, so Nippy and I set off to the alleyway. Leaning beside a thick brick wall was a man in brown peasant garb with a dark hood. I could see two green piercing eyes behind it alongside the glint of a silver tooth.

"Much better now, don't you think?" he said. "I'm Arnolt, by the way. And I know plenty about you, my Lord." He snickered after saying it.

"Yes, yes, get it out of your system. Lord Derpathon is a silly name, but it is still my name. Now, what is this job you speak of?"

"Right to the point. I like that. I represent the local baron of the keep. One Dietrich Holdest. From an old respectable line, if you believe it or not. And he's been anxious to free a guard tower in his lands for some time. Seized by the dread beast of Frodrick's Peak, it is."

"And what exactly is this beast?"

"That's the funny thing. Nobody's seen it and lived. There have been some survivors, of course, but many accounts aren't precise enough. A shaggy beast that walks on two legs in the dark moon-tide, or any darkness really. Likes to attack at night. Can't say I don't blame it. Clever thing that beast."

"Alright then. How much for its head?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but last time I heard the price was near one thousand gold halos."

My eyes widened at that. A lucrative task for a single creature. This tower must be very important to the baron, I thought.

"Oh, and you have to bring its head as proof. Stipulation from his lordship."

"I figured as much. And how can I be sure the good lord will hold to his end of the bargain?"

"Right here." He pulled out a sealed envelope. "An engraved invitation with his seal, noble crest and all."

I took the letter. It had a red vellum seal with a crowned tower crest.

"I'll be damned, it is real. My thanks... Arnold."

"Arnolt. With a t in it. And best of luck slaying that fell beast, my lord." He took a mock bow before sauntering off into the darkness. I tried to follow him, but by the time I turned the corner, he was already gone. I opened the envelope and unfurled the letter before me. It read as follows:

The bounty for the wretched beast that occupies the post of Dyrton Crossroads Tower is hereby increased to 1,000 golden halos. The beast's crimes are many against his Lordship but chief among them are the following: raiding local caravans, devouring livestock, desecration of roadside shrines of the Holy See of the Luminous Halo, and most of all the kidnapping of Lady Brittany Ul-Holdest. His Lordship has taken up regentship of the region after his niece's disappearance, whom was rightly named ruler of the lands of Frodrick's Peak by her late father Augustine.

It was official. I just needed the proof of the deed. So after scribbling down a crude map of the roadways upon the back of the letter with a charcoal "pen" I found by the roadside, I walked towards the baron's keep. Hopefully, I could learn more from him with the invitation.

The keep itself was imposing, a stone bulwark at the heart of the castle itself. Two armored soldiers protected the gate with pikes, who immediately crossed their weapons to bar my way.

"Alright piss-ant, who in god's grace are you and what do you want? His lord gave us explicit orders to slay any uninvited solicitors, wise fellows, or other rouges who are likely gonna try his patience." One shouted.

"I have an invitation to speak with your lord about a monster he's been having difficulty with." I waved the seal right in front of them.

"Oh really? If anybody could just walk up to the manse without a care in the world, I'd bu- oh shit, that's the house crest. Fine. Open the gate!"

The massive door creaked open as the guards led me through. The interior well kept and clean. Various portraits lined the halls, often of haughty nobles, all looking down at me as I entered their domain, and the flicker of torchlight illuminated the well carved furniture. Two guards and what I assumed was a head servant led me through until I reached the audience chamber of Baron Holdest. He sat upon a throne on a raised platform, a stone seat with elaborate gems carved into it. A gaunt man, but he seemed oddly sure about himself. Standing beside him was a tall warrior from an unknown land, a curved sword at his hip, splintmail armor with a pointed helm, and a large frame with a thick trimmed mustache.

"Why are you here, stranger? We are not expecting visitors at this time, so make it quick." Holdest said.

"My lo- I mean, I'm here for the bounty. The one you set on the monster at the tower."

"Oh. I had almost given up hope on that venture." Suddenly his posture changed in his seat as if I had caught his interest. "Another hunter come to slay the dread beast occupying our tower. Well, I won't stop you. Off you go. Kill it and be done."

I hesitated at first, almost dumbstruck at this rude man's apparent dismissiveness. The bodyguard walked down and clenched his sword.

"You leave now, little runt." He said.

"I am Lord Derpathon!" I stomped my foot down. "I need more information on what I'm dealing with so I can do this job right! I have emptied a town of horrid brain spider parasites but a few weeks ago! So tell me what I need to know and I'll be on my way."

At first, there was silence. The Družina, that was the guard's title I learned later, gave a silent glare until his master suddenly burst out laughing.

"Wait, you can't be serious. That's your name?! Boris, what kind of wandering warrior calls himself such a stupid title!?"

"A stupid man, clearly. Slow minded too." Boris sneered. Looking at these two at the moment, they incensed me. I tried to take a few deep breaths to keep my cool, but these two shit-lords really knew how to piss me off, it seemed. Until the strangest thing happened.

"Wait, Boris, wasn't there a Lord Derpathon nearly ten years ago? I think he was that failed rebel who died in the battle of Rikkert's Bridge. I heard they routed his entire army, and he drowned in the river. What a character. Tries to slay his majesty, our king, and dies in a puddle."

For a brief second I saw a flash, a blur of screaming soldiers and blood slick cobblestone on a wide bridge. I felt fire in my veins and fear as a sword swung for my head. Then I returned to the present, back to Dietrich Holdest and his court.

“Oh dear, we've lost our guest. Boris escort this miscreant out until he finishes the job. As the most eligible bachelor in the region, I have other work to do than humor the help.” Holdest walked off to his other attendants as his thug Boris nudged me towards the exit.

“So you wouldn't know what the beast is, would you?” I asked him.

“It kills at night with fang and claw. I'll wager a month’s pay on your dead body,” he jeered at one of his fellows. He merely shook his head.

“I'll take that wager,” I retorted. “Five hundred gold halos if I win. If I die, you get my armor and sword.”

“What good is an empty hilt-” before he could finish, I ignited the Blade Aetherium. Boris stepped back and gazed in awe.

“Alright, I accept the wager. I'll just take that shiny sword off your stiff corpse, then.” He said.

“Fine by me.” I thought I rigged the bet in my favor. Having bested a mangled body horror and a town of shambling parasites, I felt in high spirits. It's all too easy to get swept up by your own pride. It feels good, but it can blind you to the reality in front of you.

I set out alongside Nippy after leaving the castle towards Dyrton tower. We were low on supplies and the sun itself was setting, but I was assured of my victory. Let it believe us to be vulnerable and we show our true strength. In hindsight, I’d no idea what we'd be up against, and it nearly got us both killed.

The roads were worn, much of the forest land overgrown to the point even small shrubs appeared out of potholes. Nature was clearly taking back the road. Maybe the monster had a hand in it. Our journey was uneventful until we found the remains of an attack.

A wagon split in half was surrounded by metal scraps and broken crates. There were claw-marks on the ground, rending even the cobblestones. I took up a metal scrap from the ground. It had rusted from exposure to rain, most likely, and saw canine like teeth punctures through it. I asked Nippy to sit near me. He did so willingly, and I inspected his teeth just to make sure. They were similar, but the one on the plate was much larger. Then I inspected as saw that this was a shoulder plate. Someone forged the steel expertly and even had a worn house crest. This thing was a knight killer, not uncommon in Mu, mind you, yet that it could bite so cleanly through plate armor was worrying. We also looked at the crates around the wagon. They'd been broken more haphazardly, so it was likely the work of looters and scavengers. I don't blame them. It can be tough out on the road and sometimes a dead man's coin and wares come in handy.

We continued onward for a few days. Nothing really interesting happened. A few suspicious travelers met us, burning foul incense to ward off monsters. This method can be effective against certain beasts but can often lead bandits right to you. These were mostly peasants, poachers, and other commoners who went to and from the city. Few of them talked about the beast, and when they did it was either a prayer to the gods or hastily ignoring it and moving further down the road. On the fourth day, after seeing a few road wardens ride past wearing Holdest's colors, dark green and blue half pattern on their tunics, we saw a glimpse of the tower.

It was enormous, more of a monolith than a keep, to be honest. There were no battlements but many large trees coiling around its base like serpents. The woods here were thick, it segmented thorn bushes and thickets to the trees almost like a natural barrier. This would make for a great druid circle, though many prefer stone circles and natural caves to large obelisks. As we drew closer, there were a series of way-stones along the road, boulder sized and full of strange carvings. They had a pictographic language, showing what appeared to be the sun and moon, people farming, woodland animals, but some had more sinister pictures. Giants assaulting a primitive folk and devouring them, stomping their villages into the ground. The land swallowing up the giants as what I thought were druids or magi fought back against them. This was the history of a long gone folk. I wonder if any of their words or works would be remembered save for that obelisk.

When nightfall came, we camped far enough from the site, a small near hollowed out stump on the tower's side of the road, a dim fire lighting our surroundings. Nippy had been successful foraging, having caught a few fish from a nearby stream. Using a cooking pot we scavenged from Dawnstead, I boiled one, Nippy ate the other with glee. I found some edible mushrooms as well and made a stew out of both. But as the night went on, Nippy was on edge. His back hair stood up and he snarled frequently. We were not alone. In fact, something had followed us. I stood up and readied my sword.

The trees rustled, Nippy began snarling again, and I saw something move in the woods. A large shape, taller than a man but built like one, rustled through the brush with ease. I stood ready, ignited my sword, and tried to observe my surroundings. I couldn't see a damn thing, save for the campsite. As I tried to look for it, the beast drew first blood, its claws raked my back as it pierced my armor. I screamed in agony as I fell to the ground. My armor had saved my life, but it still cut deep. I grit my teeth and stood. Nippy ran out into the forest, biting a hulking shadow in the trees, only for him to be flung off into the stump. That's when I saw the beast for the first time.

Werewolves in Mu are incredibly dangerous. You might know them from your fictions. Lupine man hybrid beasts cursed to hunt in the moonlight. Silver can hurt them, and they can only turn during a full moon. There are plenty of variations across the many realities. However, werewolves of Mu are different. They earn such forms by what I can only describe as a sympathetic spirit, often to a dying traveler or somebody who has been subject to immense abuse, to name a few reasons. However, many barely handle their newfound power and often go feral, mad with their empowered blood and strength, hunting all who dare trespass on their domain. There are sentient werekin out in Mu. They lurk amongst the wild places of the world. But the werewolf is one of their most dangerous kind. A killing machine honed by natural magics and primal fury, their gift passing on only through specific ceremony or spiritual benefactors. They are some of the few creatures that can stand against the more... eldritch beings and win. And one such warrior of the wilds stood before me.

She had a jet black coat of fur, yellow eyes, massive claws, and stood nearly eight feet tall. The wound that Nippy gave her from his bite was knitting up before my very eyes. She bared her fangs at me and growled. I fell down to the ground out of sheer fear. She then turned towards Nippy, barely able to stand, and stomped towards him.

“No! You will not have him!” I screamed. I lunged at the werewolf, only for her to catch my blade with her clawed hand. It cut into her flesh, but she still held on to it despite the pain. The beast then bit into my shoulder. Its fangs scraped against my armor until somehow enough force had pierced the plate and cut into my shoulder. I screamed out. I felt it crush my very bones until I slammed a fist into her eye. The wolf snarled briefly, and I slipped out of its grasp. I raised my sword and swung at her, fighting hard against the pain in my shoulder. However, she parried the strikes of my blade with her claws.

After a failed exchange of blows, she kicked at me and sent me hurtling through the forest, face down into a mud puddle. I spat out mud from my mouth, tried to scramble to my feet, but the slick surface of the mud made it difficult, my sword slipping out of my grasp. I straightened myself up after using a nearby rock as balance, but by that time, the wolf was already upon me again. She punched me in the back and I felt more bones break. I tried to scream in pain, but all that came out was a hiss as the air escaped my lungs. I was terrified I would die there, killed in a ditch unremembered and with my poor dog as this werewolf's next victim. Then, suddenly, I heard Nippy bark at the wolf.

He stood near my sword, now only a hilt since the blade didn't ignite, grasped it in his mouth, and drew the blade. It had a cold yellowish blue color to it, unlike my orange one, and the shape had changed too from an executioner's blade to that of a Messer, a single-edged bastard sword. He charged at the wolf and slashed at her leg, unable to sever the limb but carving a deep wound. I stood to my feet and saw Nippy hold his own against this werewolf, dodging her strikes and lashing out at her in quick hit-and-run attacks. However, her wounds would simply heal, and Nippy was rapidly losing ground.

Then the wolf used the terrain to her advantage. After Nippy slightly slipped in the mud, she cut into his belly with her claws. Blood spurted from his hide and he yelped in pain. I tried to scream as I limped towards the two as she held him by the neck. I grabbed a nearby jagged rock from a mud bank and tried to jab it into her back. It merely bounced off her hide as she continued to choke the life out of Nippy. I was so desperate to free Nippy I tried punching, grabbing, doing anything to make her stop. As if out of desperation I kicked her in the privates, some weird bar fight instinct going off as I tried to break her hold. That was the key, but unfortunately for me, she threw Nippy deep into the forest and I saw him tumble into a thorn bush. The werewolf looked at me and screamed, not a bestial howl, but a pained, strained scream of anguish and fury. I met her gaze and saw now that it was personal; she didn't just want me dead. I would suffer for such an action.

Her stance changed to something more human, akin to a boxer's stance, and then all hell broke loose. With claw and fist, the wolf pummeled me near the bank of a large creek. Every hit felt like a sledgehammer or a mace denting my armor. I was all but defenseless, too winded to continue, and too injured to really fight back. She then kicked me back in the privates, and I am thankful that I always wear protection down there, but it hurt like hell. As I fell to one knee in agony, she swung again for my face, yet oddly enough, I caught it. My arm buckled under the pressure and I twisted a muscle, but out of desperation I swung my right hand at her face, one of my fingers jabbed her in the eye. The werewolf screamed out, clawing at me, cutting me across my chest and forcing me into the creek.

I got caught in the current, my armor dragging me down into the deep. The force of it carried me far off, water filling my lungs as I desperately struggled to regain my footing. I gained a breath of fresh air after hitting a rapid, but more came. It was a miracle it did not kill me. I don't know how far the current took me down the creek, only that it was far enough from the wolf. I was concerned for Nippy, poor thing suffered as much as I did, but I had to focus on surviving. Gripping an exposed willow root while floating down, I hid underneath a small muddy grotto. Then I saw raindrops pour down and felt a sense of relief. Even though I fell into the water, it'd be difficult for the beast to track us, meaning we could survive this. For nearly two hours I hid, wet and cold, under the willow. I was afraid I'd die without saving my dear dog, but somehow I survived. By causality, or simple luck, it didn't matter. I was alive. I would find Nippy and finish this. This was no longer a mere hunt, it was a battle.

Once I felt secure, I drew my secret weapon. One last, small health potion. It wouldn't be enough to heal me fully, and it would be extremely dangerous to use with this many broken bones. But I had no choice, otherwise I'd be dead. I drank it straight, and my organs felt as if they were on fire. Bone knitted together, I felt my blood boil around my shoulder and chest. I shook violently, fearing I would die. But as quickly as it began, it ended. The pain didn't subside completely, but I felt I could move again. I waded up the river as far as I could, clenching my teeth and trying not to make a sound.

I only made it up to a pool near the rocks which had dashed me earlier. Lightning in the sky flashed before a loud thunderclap bellowed, nearly knocking me back into the current. I climbed out on a nearby rock, slowly, my joints aching the whole time. I continued to follow the creek despite the vines and brush in my way, finding the old clearing. The wolf had moved on; it seemed. There was no sign of Nippy or my sword. The rain pounded harder. I tried desperately to look for any sign that Nippy might be alive. I glimpsed some bushes on the other side of the creek bank, their branches bent. He may have broken his fall, or something else moved through there. It was hard to tell in the storm. I shivered as the cold water poured down on me, my boots filling with water. I needed to find some shelter and fast, lest I catch a deadly cold from the elements.

I wondered aimlessly for a while. It seemed like a good hour or two before I found an old stone cottage. The roof was intact, but vines and thornbushes had claimed the building for nature. It would have to do. I crawled through an open window, despite a few thorns digging into my arm. I made it through. The interior was barren, save for some rotting logs, moss, and mold. A large hollow log lay inside as well. The only signs that it was a house were the foundation. Stripped out of my armor, shivering, realizing my clothes too were soaked, I removed them. I felt exposed, like an open wound. I'm not used to being naked so often. It reminds me of how fragile we are.

I curled up in a ball away from the mold and fungus, a nice dry spot. I warmed my chest with my arms. Friction helped soothe me. Rest wasn't easy that night. Between the thunder, I swear I could hear howling. The wolf was relentless, but it was a big forest with a thunderstorm. I guess I got lucky. If there were no storm, I'd likely be dead. Morning came, I thanked the Shepard god I did not dream. When I stood up, my armor stood in front of me. I hadn't heard it during the night and the pieces were scattered. It shocked me initially, but I wasn't afraid. Part of me knew this had happened before. My clothes were near as well. They had dried oddly enough. I didn't care at first. I focused on the moment at hand and dressed myself in my garb. In hindsight, this is concerning, some other force is at play and I'm unwittingly part of it.

I exited the house via the window again. I looked at my surroundings. If I lacked weapons, I would have to improvise. The house I had left had thorn like vines, the stones of the house shaped beforehand, and there was plenty of wood and plant matter nearby. I sharpened a crude stone's head into a serviceable knife, then got to work. Cutting down vines first, looking to see which ones were the strongest. I then used it to cut a healthy-looking branch off a tree. Wrapping thorny vines around it, a makeshift weapon that would have to do for now. I then remembered the old ambush site I found down the road earlier. The cart was damaged, but there could be nails there or other scrap metal. It took the better part of a day to reach it, retracing my steps from where our fight was to our old camp and back to the road, but I managed. It was still there, and better yet, some of the metal remained despite the storm. I disassembled it as best I could, taking only a meager amount of nails. The wagon's spokes were metal, so I tried as best I could to add them to my makeshift weapon. But the nails were the valuable treasure. Using some vine parts, I made six caltrops, sharpening the edges efficiently. By then it was sundown, but I had all the weapons I could scrounge so I headed towards the monolith. I was sure that was the beast's lair.

Making good time by simply going forward, I reached the monolith before the sun had truly set. I still had light enough to fight with for at least a few more minutes. The monolith stood by the roadside, oddly enough, more way-stones surrounding it. The closer I looked at it, I noticed two things: an aetheric energy coiling around it and a hollowed out stairwell leading inside. I felt a strange shiver, almost akin to goosebumps when I saw it. I then heard the wolf's snarl. Looking frantically, I couldn't find her in the brush until I looked up at the tower. Climbing down its narrow build almost like a spider with its apparent speed and force of her claws, the wolf descended the tower and growled as it saw me. I threw the caltrops outward and gave a swift salute with my makeshift club towards the wolf and stood at the ready.

My gesture puzzled her. If some part of her knew the salute or thought I was mad, I do not know, but swiftly regained her posture as she charged towards me. She evaded the caltrops with ease; I figured they could deny her valuable space for footing. Her lupine feet, while capable of quickly covering ground, might have some issues with moving to the sides, I hoped. I dodged her first claw strike easily, then struck her side with the jagged edges of my weapon. It barely left any marks, let alone a scratch. Thorns and nails were ineffective against its hide. I would have to strike at more vulnerable areas like the joints and throat in order to have any sort of effect.

The werewolf howled at me with such a force I nearly fell into the mud. Before I could compose myself, she had struck me with another claw, punching right through my armor. I hissed as my ribs broke. Blood spurted so quickly as I fell to the ground. I flipped myself over and quickly stood as she tried to bite my throat, quickly thrusting my weapon into her open maw. She bit down and barked in pain. I scratched the inside, but the weapon itself shattered. Spitting out metal scraps and thorns as we both struggled to our feet, the wolf was once again on the offensive. I dodged claws, teeth, and even a powerful kick as I retreated from the clearing. I sprinted back after a failed lunge, right in the middle of my caltrops. She howled again. My ears felt like they were going to burst as I raised my hands in front of my head as an instinctual attempt to block it. I held my footing. I felt stiff at first, but then, as I lowered my hands from my head, I saw a faint glow from my gauntlets. My whole armor had it, in fact, like steam from a boiling pot, coating my armor. In layman’s terms, it could harness residual magical energy and empower me with it, but I am not invulnerable to spells.

I took a new stance before the wolf, fists raised like a pit fighter. Muscle memory kicking in and regaining long lost techniques. I then went on the offensive. Even though I knew that one true hit would be the end of me, I felt confident. I gave two quick jabs to her side before dodging back away from a retaliatory strike. Her hair stood on end and pounced on me. Pinned at first, I struck her nose and throat before jumping back. My breathing became erratic. My wounds were catching up despite my newfound advantage. I kicked out at her leg, right at a joint near a foot, and struck her aside in the head with a followed punch. I had to be careful, though. One wrong step and I'd be feeling a caltrop pierce my boot or trip me into the mud. Both were a death sentence in this fight.

I couldn't keep fighting like this forever. However, my wound ached and my vision flickered. The wolf's shoulder checked me as I collapsed into the mud. She then tried to stomp on my head. I rolled and stabbed her foot with a caltrop. She howled in agony. Seizing the advantage, I kicked in her knee. I heard a snap as her left leg broke, and she collapsed into the mud. I yanked another caltrop from the mud and stuck it into her neck, finding a vein and slitting it. Blood spurted from the beast as she raged. Clutching her behind her neck, I continued to stab as massive arms elbowed me. I almost let go as the caltrop fell from my grip, but I still held on. I put the wolf into a headlock and desperately clung there. After a struggle, her arms wavered, she gave out an almost silent hiss, and fell limp.

I crawled my way out from under her, pulled off my helmet, and vomited. It was bloody and filled with bile, and I scampered to my feet. The werewolf was dead. Yet I felt no sense of triumph at having won. No, I felt shame overcome me while I stood there in front of the obelisk. Here was an animal, aggressive and territorial to an extreme, dead in her own home by my hands. It wasn't like I was minding my own business. I wasn't some hapless traveler. I came to hunt her, and I killed her. Shame best describes of how I felt that day, one of many sins remembered or otherwise, but this one sticks to me like no other. Collapsing to my knees, I wept. Nippy was likely dead. I was alone, and I made this tragedy happen. The worst was yet to come.

The wolf's body began to shift and change. Mangy fur faded and turned to dust, and in place of the werewolf was the body of a woman. I couldn't tell her age, either from the mud or not bearing to look at what I'd done. Her brown eyes were glazed over, looking at the sky. Tears strung down my face as I gibbered. I've done something terrible, and nothing I could do could amend the damage. Even as I donned my veil and helmet, I cried. I just stood there and wept till my eyes dried up and I looked at my bloody mud covered gauntlets.

The sun set as I remained distraught. I didn't even bother moving. I just stood there in a haze, failing to hear galloping and the twang of a crossbow bolt. It hit me straight in the back and I fell over into the bloodied mud. I could still hear the horses and a familiar voice.

“I didn't think this could have worked out so perfectly. All obstacles in my way gone in a single swoop. And to think I have that nitwit dead in the mud to thank for it all. Boris, collect my niece, would you? I think she might have soiled herself and that won't fit our cover story now, won't it?” The damned arrogance of Dietrich Holdest echoed across the area. My guilt gave way to anger, but I remained stiff still. The bolt punctured my plate, but not enough to pierce my skin.

“Benny, stick your spear into that dead errand boy, just in case,” Boris said.

“Ya don't think he's already dead? I mean, he was just standing there all blo-”

“Do it or you don't get paid.”

I heard footsteps approach me, and I saw the ground illuminate as torch fire lit up the mud. The bolt was within reach of my arm. All I needed to do was grab it. I felt my blood boil, knowing that this scum would live not only to hurt more for his ambitions but that I was a part of his sick scheme to begin with. None of them would leave this clearing alive.

I sprung up and yanked the bolt from my armor, standing before a stunned guard. I stuck the bolt into his eye as he screamed, thrusting it into his brains before grabbing his spear.

“You idiots! How is he still alive? Shoot him now!” Holdest said. I got a better look at his group. Aside from Boris and the lord, there were four horses among them all, a crossbowman on his mount, a road warden with a spear, and at least five other armed guards. I lifted the dying guard before me as his comrade fired again, a bolt punching through his lung. Throwing the body aside, I hurled the spear towards Holdest himself. I missed the body but grazed his leg. He screamed out as he fell from the saddle into the mud, his horse racing away.

The footmen charged at me with weapons raised. Boris dismounted to tend to his lord as the crossbowman rode off and reloaded his weapon. The spear wielding horseman charged towards me ahead of the others, unaware of the caltrops buried in the mud. His poor horse stepped on one, buckled backwards and throwing off its rider before galloping off. I tried to spring upon him before his mates would reach me, but with my wounds, I merely stumbled. They helped him up, and they surrounded me. I dodge a few spear blows until a guard with a sledgehammer smacked me square in the chest, knocking the wind out of me.

“Hold him lads, don't want no funny business now.” A guttural voice came from that sallet helmed thug. I tried to struggle as two others grabbed me. I threw mud in one’s face and he recoiled, trying to get the mud out of his face and beard. Tackling the other, I punched him in the neck, but before I could finish him, the hammer slammed into my ribcage. I coughed up blood as he knocked me over onto my back. The armsman with the hammer planted his boot on my neck and pressed my head into the mud.

“You're not gonna gut another one of my mates tonight, you fucking bastard!” He shouted. Then he screamed as a bright blue blade punctured through his chest. It retracted as he collapsed to the side. Over him stood Nippy, battered and scarred but still clenching the Blade Atherium in his teeth. As the other guards charged him, he leapt forward, slashing at them with the sword and slicing off one's arm. I was relieved that Nippy survived, but we had to end this before it drew out any longer. I took a sword from one of the fallen guards and, while the others were recovering, hurled it at the crossbowman as he rode for a second pass. He fired a bolt first, which struck me in the leg, but the sword impaled him and he yelled out in pain as his horse carried him off into the forest.

Nippy could see to the others as they fought. I trudged through the mud to reach Holdest.

“Oi, bastard!” I heard as a hammer once again swung towards me. I dodged the hammer head quickly and faced the grizzled guard with the sallet again. He somehow stood, wounded, and held his weapon at the ready. The hammer swung at me again, but I was ready for it. I grabbed the hilt, twisted it, and seized his weapon before smashing his right arm with it. He howled before grabbing the hilt and head-butting me, breaking my nose, and knocking me into the mud. Yet as he tried to draw a dagger, he suddenly collapsed and fell silent. Some internal injury, I guess. As I finally stood up, the smug grin of Boris greeted me.

“Looks like you can fight after all. I've been needing a worthy win since I got to this dump.” He held his sword aloft before drawing it from the scabbard, throwing aside the sheathe and raising the blade. It held a slight curve at the end. I could see faint glowing runes against the blade. I let the hammer rest on my shoulder, catching my breath while I could.

“I just slew a beast that could cut through your armor like it was nothing. What makes you think this will be a win?” I retorted.

“Simple. You're good at killing monsters. I'm good at killing people.” He lunged at me in an instant and I barely parried the blade with the hammer. I felt a jolt run through my body as he drew another blade from his back, slashing into the mud and covering my helmet. As I tried to wipe away the grime he was on me in an instant as I saw the glint of a second sword flash from behind him as he cut into my leg. Then my arm forcing the hammer from my grip. He was fast, efficient. Clearly an expert swordsman. His strikes were rapid and precise, always aiming for my joints and getting in many hits, and if I tried to parry him, his magic sword would give me quite the shock. If I didn't end this, soon he would have his win.

I lifted the veil from my face and looked straight at him for a brief instant. He met my gaze, and it bombarded us both with horrific visions. My mind felt like it was boiling as I beheld a ravenous world of mouths and tendrils and the laughter of things that should not be. It is a tactic I am loath to do since I fear one such vision might shatter my sanity entirely. While gritting my teeth and donning my veil, I bought myself some time.

“You cursed, little rat! Killing you would be a favor to this world! Fighting dirty won't save you now!”

“Said the kettle to the pot,” I retorted. I looked to Nippy and saw that he only had one guard left on his front, the others slain.

“You slow minded little bitch! I'll kill you!” Boris again pressed his attack as I ran to Nippy. I held out my hand, and he threw me my sword. Grasping it, the blade changed from the Messer to an executioner's greatsword again, brimming with orange and yellow energy. I parried his strikes with ease, his weapon no longer jolting me. Armed again, I pressed the attack, despite my aching body I had the reach to take to the offensive. Each blow hammering against his swords until I shattered the regular blade he held at the hilt.

“How the hell is this possible!? Fall over! Die! You shouldn't be standing like this at all! What the hell are you!?” He screamed out in a last desperate assault, his sword casting arcs of electric energy all over the field illuminating us both. As he moved in for the kill, I smashed the hilt of my sword against his head, staggering him. He parried my next blow as I went for the head, but I was really aiming for his sword. His sword might have been magical, but it was nothing compared to my skill at arms. I sundered the blade as energy exploded before us. Shards of metal ricocheted off my armor, but Boris wasn't so lucky and one dug into his hand. He reached on the ground to grab a spear, but I leapt forward and cut off both his hands. He hissed out in pain before I struck at his neck. I didn't decapitate him, he dodged it, but my sword still hit his neck, searing the windpipe shut. I left him to suffocate, walking away as he clawed at his own neck in vain.

I limped over to Lord Holdest. The fight long since was over. The fires from his party's torches had died out, and so did his retainers. Straining with a wounded leg, he had a boot caught in the mud and had tried to limp away.

“How is this possible? How can one man-”

“Shut up, you pathetic little worm. Why did you put up the bounty? Why send so many hunters to their deaths and worse still, put a hit out on your niece!” I almost snarled, talking to him like that. I could see aetheric energy coil to the sides of my helm, the glow illuminating a horrified look on Holdest's face.

“How did you know?”

“The moment your minion shot me in the back. I didn't pay attention at first, I thought this was some simple job. I... was wrong. So horribly wrong. How long did you try to have your niece killed?”

“That doesn't matter anymore. You killed her, after all. But it doesn't have to end this way.” He slowly stood to his feet. “Why not work for me? This whole thing can all be forgiven. I'm now the sole owner of this entire region. You want gold? I can give it to you. You want spells? Magics? I can call in favors. I'm far more valuable alive than dead. I'm sure we can work something out like civilized men.”

“Civilized men don't have their nieces murdered.”

“She was a beast!” He fell to his knees. “Under her rule, my territory would collapse. A beast cannot rule a castle. But a lord... a lord can. I should have been an heir by right, but my idiot brother wouldn't have that! He'd put my holdings at risk to the whims of a young maiden who didn't even know how to raise an army! Poisoning my brother was a mercy. But his whelp of a daughter had to leave the castle grounds and run off into the forest. I figured she'd had either died of exposure or something, but I never thought she, of all people, would become a beast!”

I was stunned by this revelation. A man who has so much would murder his own kin for the sake of titles, gold and land. I knew what the nobility often did, anybody who lives in Mu does, but hearing it firsthand was chilling. A man who willingly abandoned empathy for power and would do anything for it. I raised my sword and walked towards him.

“Th-think about what you're doing! I'm unarmed!” He said. I kicked a dagger towards him.

“Pick it up!”

“What about my family? How could you kill a father in cold blood?”

“I doubt the most eligible bachelor in the land even has a family to go back to. You already played with your hand. Now you must pay for what you've done.” I walked towards him.

“I can cure your curse! I know powerful people! Don't throw this chance away! Spare me an-” It was over in an instant. I stabbed him in the chest and he collapsed into a heap. I walked back towards Nippy. He had long since finished his fight and I simply collapsed.

For what seemed like hours, I was out cold. I didn't care about the cold or the mud. I felt numb and my wounds ached. Later that night, I scavenged around for supplies. I got lucky. Boris had a healing potion on his person. After the painful experience of my ribs and nose knitting back together, I called it a night and slept outside the obelisk. In the morning, I found what wooden debris I could and made a pyre for Brittany. She deserved a proper funeral, for what it was worth. Nippy whimpered as she caught flame. I felt the same way. We were guilty of it, after all. I uttered a prayer to the Shepard god before heading inside the obelisk for the day. I needed some sleep, after all. What seemed like hours passed, with nothing happening until I heard a familiar voice hum a tune I swore I knew, but could not remember it for the life of me.

“Good morning, your lordship. Sleep well?” it said. A pit formed in my stomach as I realized who said it.

“Arnolt.” the moment I said his name he appeared before me, I could see his green eyes glimmer like jewels in the light. I tried to stand, but could not move. I heard Nippy growl and felt him jump away from me in an instant.

“And to you what a magnificent job you have done today.” Arnolt gave a grin, revealing his teeth. Something was odd about the silver teeth. They looked so real that I don't think even a skilled silver smith or mage could create such things. And his eyes, too, seemed to have a metallic glint.

“Before you say anything, I just want to say this has gone much better than I thought it would. A whole noble line dead and gone, the leyline freed. Oh, and I saw that trick with your armor, too. You truly are one impressive warrior. And a hard day’s work is good enough for well-earned pay, I say.” I felt the coin purse fall upon me, filled near to the brim.

“You can keep it. I don't want your blood money.”

“Blood money? That's a bit rich coming from a mercenary like you, isn't it? You did this entire job on the presumption of killing a living creature. That too counts as blood money, doesn't it?”

“You...” he was right. I did venture into the forest with the intent of killing. I'm as much to blame for what happened here as any other.

“See. You get what you deserve after all and you deserve your coin. It was hard won. I assume you'll blow it on getting into a library for your curse? Anybody else would spend it on essentials, maybe a day out on the town. The choice is yours, after all.”

“Leave us!” I ignited my sword and pointed it at him. “I never want to see you again!”

“Is that a threat?” Arnolt seemed to chuckle. “I'll tell you this once. It isn't wise to threaten me. It never has been for anyone my benefactors take interest in.”

“You couldn't defeat me even on your best day. Even if you harnessed some incredible power for yourself, you'd never win. So be a good lad and lower the sword.” He was serious, and a pit formed in my stomach. Looking down at me, I saw his eyes shaded, the emerald glow as sharp as a knife's edge. I lowered my sword immediately. The blade fizzled out and left naught but a few embers. He simply smiled and walked away.

“We'll meet again, my lord. You've proven yourself useful and there is always more work to be done.” He tipped his cap and walked towards the forest. I couldn't tell if he was walking on air or if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but he vanished. Not before leaving with one last silver toothed grin.

I learned a lot on that day. I now try to learn as much as possible before really setting out on a job. Even though I've wronged others, hurt others, I want to do better. I want to be better. To aid rather than harm. That's the hard part of it, though. It's easy to admit that something isn't your fault, and sometimes circumstance can lead people down dark roads. Even though tricked, I still bear responsibility for what happened. I killed Brittany. Some of you might say it was self defense, but I knew what I wrought when I took the contract. I still fight. Mu is unforgiving and one should defend themselves, but I still strive to change not only my surroundings but myself as well. To leave this world in a better state than when I found it. It won't be easy, it never is easy to change yourself. So now I search for context before and during a monster hunt. Not all monsters are wicked, and not all people are good. That line blurs so very often, and it is up to us to learn in order to improve. Since then, I've learned an open mind is a powerful tool, not just out of guilt or shame, but to hope for a better tomorrow.

#fantasy #horror #vtuber

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