#stone: dissapears from sight

[trashanstuff]

@panic-flavored mf cant stay without his boytoy for more than five seconds

[serin316]

Acceptance of a True State (transfem tim caroline hill)

First installment

Current installment under the cut

He had tried to ignore how the name "Timothy" grated along his skin.

How Caroline was like a balm to soothe a burn.

He flopped onto his bed at the Manor, groaning as he and Dick came back from an outing with Damian for some art supplies.

He was getting into weaving.

Good for him.

It was after dinner, so they just were left to their own devices. It was a low energy day for most of the house.

The Caroline wig needed cleaning. Tim washed and blowdried it in his bathroom before trying to brush it one handed since she forgot his maniquin head at the Nest.

She grumbled before putting it on so he could brush it like a regular head of hair.

She paused when he saw how she looked in the mirror.

The collision of Tim and Caroline.

Tim's clothes and Caroline's wig and it was like seeing two worlds meld into one and she just wanted to deny it and push her head underneath her pillows and hide in their closet like a scared kid hiding from shapes made from the shadow of clothes on a stray chair during the night.

She took a breath and brushed out her hair, becoming used to the sight in the mirror.

It made sense, from how she felt ever since Caroline became part of the closet. A section just for her.

The name Caroline fit better than Tim, but it didn't feel like a name she would keep. Why would it?

Caroline was an alias, someone to dissapear in.

She wasn't meant to dissapear.

She responded more readily to Caroline because it was the lesser of two evils.

Caroline was a stepping stone thrown at crack in the wall which tears down the entire fortress.

Peices of her were in Caroline, same thing with Alvin.

Caroline just felt more right. More like her.

The color of hair she chose for Caroline looked a few shades darker than Janet's. Like her mother was passing down a revalation in place of the love she forfiet in life.

She finished brushing her hair, debating what hairstyle to test out before doing a final brushing and storing it.

She put her hair into a high and messy bun, just holding it up to see how it would look.

That was her.

Completely and utterly her.

Timothy was based off of old Greek, right? It meant honor or honoring God.

She picked up her phone and scrolled through some baby name sites, seeing Minta cross her screen while she was curled up on the bathroom floor in a newly washed wig.

She scrolled back up, reading the meaning.

Protector and defender.

She looked at the name it was contracted from.

Araminta

She tapped on the hyperlink.

One of the meanings was strength.

It fit.

Minta smiled as a wave of relief flowed through her.

She didn't want to hide it. She was done living in denial. Araminta didn't care anymore.

She had her crisis, and now had her answer.

She had her big deal.

Now? When she done and that it was true?

It's a fact of her life now.

She opened up the family groupchat.

Selected her profile.

And changed it to something stupid about her name.

Ara-Ara

Save new change?

Saved.

Ara-Ara: Was anyone going to tell me that an alias could crack an egg or was caroline just SUPPOSED to trans my gender

Where's the B: Not many people crossdress for cases so yes, Caroline Hill was just supposed to make you realize that you are transgender.

Grayninja: CONGRATS BABY BIRD!!

DamiDolls: good for you, i am robbing your drawers for cufflinks at swordpoint in an hour

Wanted Dead Or Alive: congrats kid

Goo Goobie: that's good to know! why do i have a feeling from your display name that you named yourself after an evil anime lady

Princess Cass has sent a thumbs up and a trans flag

Princess Cass: im happy for you

Brighthouse Networks: neat!

Twilight Sparkle: girls(?) onlu shopping trip when??

Ara-Ara reacted to Goo Goobie with a laughing emote

Ara-Ara reacted to Twilight Sparkle with a purple heart.

Ara-Ara: my name is Araminta

Alfred Pennyworth: Drat, I lost the bet with Miss Kyle. That is quite a fine name Mistress Araminta.

Grayninja: wait

Grayninja: we now have the abcs

Grayninja: araminta, bruce, and cass

Where's The B: Yes, a dad and his daughters

Princess Cass sent three yellow hearts.

Ara-Ara: yk i have never truely played dress up

The chat went quiet before the thundering of footsteps echoed in the hall.

Dick and Steph got through her bedroom door first before blocking everyone else off to affronted screams. Steph had clothes in her arms that Caroline wouldn't be caught dead wearing.

Araminta grinned at them from the bathroom doorway.

"Minta, want to do a fashion show?"

"Hell yeah!"

[fantasiac]

this is less of a theory, and more of a headcanon

(Deltarune Spoiler Warning (go play it godamnit, its free and amazing))

Kris made a deal with Gaster in the bunker to let Gaster control kris using their soul and make the holiday family stop spending time with the Dreemurr family so that Asriel would spend more time with Kris instead of December, Gaster made Dess dissappear, we have seen that Kris has taken extreme measures to make sure people stay (like slashing Toriel's tires) but losing dess would most likely make Asriel distance himself (as we've seen him do in Undertale, when he leaves after you try to spare him as Flowey in a nuetral run) and go to college, leaving Kris anyway, this would probably make Kris feel even more abandoned, ontop of losing Asriel anyway, the dissapearance of December would end up forcing Toriel and Asgore apart, as Asgore would be taking increasingly more extreme measures to try and find Dess (as Asgore is most likely her godfather seeing the relationship Rudy and he has), Asgore eventually getting fired and Toriel leaves him as she didn't aprove of his methods (again, we've seen this happen in Undertale), and then Kris wouldn't even be able to go back to hanging out with Noelle as she'd also be looking for Dess (looking for her sister makes logical sense, but in case it needs to be confirmed for any reason, Noelle's room is decorated with a calendar with each day being labelled the 25th because Queen based it off her search history and Noelle would probably be searching "December Holiday" online, also Spamton Sweepstakes confirms she has a blog, so asking around for sightings of December online makes sense) this action with Gaster to make their brother stay ultimately causing everyone to leave would make Kris probably never want to go near the bunker again, also when Susie scares away Monster Kid and Snowdrake, she asks "are you OK?" to Kris, kris probably looked scared or nervous around the bunker as the player is forcing them to this area with so many bad emotions, they probably looked scared enough for Susie to ask if they're alright. Kris probably shut themselves off from everyone, probably because of the "if I just don't make any more friends, I won't lose them" mentality that is pretty common in people with abandonment problems, they probably would've done it so if Gaster decides to take control of Kris whenever he feels like it, at least it can't really get much worse (also this is probably why they didn't really seem interested in becoming friends with Susie or Ralsei), and long enough that everyone eventually stopped asking if they were alright (they probably would've assumed it was because of Toriel's and Asgore's divorce) Gaster having a human soul with the power to use it's determination to create dark fountains from within a darkworld (my theory is that the bunker is a dark world) to expand his domain and threaten the darkners. (also Gaster making deals similar to Bill Cipher fits in with Spamton and Jevil, he promised them freedom (he probably promised to make them immune to being turned to stone during the Roaring or something))

this theory means that Kris has 3 layers to being controlled, Kris' own control (or lack there of) then us (the Player), then Gaster, this is why the player connects with Gaster at the start of the game, before they are interrupted by someone with a different style of speech (this theory make Kris themselves a very logical contendor, as kris would believe choices don't matter (because of the speech in the art above) and also not want to be controlled even more), and then there's Gaster, who controlls kris when The Player doesn't, like the Act options, they player can choose what to do, but neither Kris or The Player are doing it (like Hugging the Ralsei Dummy for example, you don't hald Left and walk over to the Dummy, Kris just seems to do that on their own) this would make it so Kris removing their soul and glaring at the camera mean that Kris isn't staring at The Player, but staring at Gaster, Kris would be Glaring at Gaster as a taunt for removing his control over them, and the player most likely would think Kris is looking at them because they aren't supposed to know about Gaster. now we have to address the end of chapter 2, as it seems to contradict my control layers theory, as Kris removes control from both Us and Gaster, and then procedes to make a dark fountain as if working towards Gaster's plan. there are 2 possible answers;

Kris IS working towards Gaster's plan and creating dark fountain for him as it could've been part of their deal to get rid of December, OR

Kris doesn't know that Gaster wan't more dark world and made that one to hold together the life they have left before Gaster takes it away again, in this one dark world, they can spend time with Toriel, Susie, Ralsei, and either Undyne or Asgore, there is a possibility of it being Asgore beacause maybe Toriel called him instead of Undyne as he used to be a cop and would protect Kris no matter what the cost, also a chapter with Toriel in it has a chance for Toby Fox to go more in-depth with Toriel's and Asgore's relationship, but how they acted towards eachother earlier in that day lowers the chance, and it seems like a bit early of a chapter to fix the parents in Kris's Story, so it's more likely Undyne.

The roaring would work well in Gasters favour as he is probably the King of Darkness (bc Ralsei is the Prince), he probably created Ralsei with Kris in-mind, as he planned for them to meet anyway, Also if Ralsei has been created for Kris, than why does he say he's so old, and how does he know about the Roaring? simple, Gaster probably just told Ralsei about the Roaring, and they were probably created around the same time December went missing, which seems to be a few years ago, and time could pass a little bit differently in the dark worlds, my idea is that the dark worlds take twice as long as a normal day, as in chapter 1, the whole crew is knocked out for an unexplained amount of time before Card Castle, and when they leave the dark world, it's late afternoon, but in chapter 2, kris falls asleep until noon and then spends even more time in the dark world than chapter 1 and still comes out at late noon, also Susie says "it felt like years" when talking about the differnce between Chapter 1 and 2, while it could've been a clever joke from Toby fox about how long it took to make the game, it also could've been from the time warping properties of a dark world, as this is her first time in a dark world, she would probably be experiencing some kind of time dialation? it's a bit far-fetched, but it would make Ralsei technically older than he logically should be, but we also don't know just how long he's been alone as he's only really said "so long" but it would also explain why he was so alone, is probably because Gaster left him there in the closet for so long, there is probably a connection to the Bunker like there was to the first dark world in chapter 1, and there are probably more doors to get to other dark world which explains how Ralsei got to Cyber World, but also Ralsei said "THE Door" when talking about the door in chapter 1, so who knows. Also if Gaster Created Ralsei, then he probably would've given him the power to survive in any dark world.

So in conclusion, Gaster is the Knight, but also Kris is the Knight, the cyber world and the chapter 2 cliffhanger world were created by Kris, seemingly by their own fruition, but it's probably caused by gaster in some way, and Kris doesn't actually want the Roaring, or something idk, i just felt like drawing Kris and my mind went wandering lol

[sunny6677]

Photography.

A Spooky Month x Reader.

PROLOGUE PT 1: September.

Summary:

In the late month of September, Y/N L/N decides to move back to a town they visited once in the past—with their old friend Radford helping them out with certain difficulties.

However, at midnight a few days later—Y/N decides to go out late at night without realizing how late it is, with the sole intention of using a camera they're particularly sentimental about. But they end up running into some rather spooky company—who end up being the cause of the many faces they end up meeting.

————

LOG DATE: [REDACTED]

Upon doing further investigation of that forest near the house on the hill, we found the sight of deceased [REDACTED], along with different symbols depicted on trees and stones. And certain messages we couldn't decipher. There apprared to be a long, thin passage that the man in that red robe must have left there. But it's in Latin—and as of now, we know of no officers who can understand Latin speech, so we are yet to know what any of it means until we get a translator.

However, on one particular stone, there was something else. Written in [REDACTED], there was simply written:

"Adhuc hic sum."

There will be further investigation done around the area shortly.

—————

"Sedonah, Arizona. Harboring mysterious dissapearances of children for decades. Even now, there's yet to be found an answer about any of these strange dissapearances or vanishings. And even the towns authorities appear to not know of why this always seems to happen."

An image of a strange red robe displayed itself on screen.

"However—could this strange red robe that was found shortly after the vanishing of a recent child in the town be the answer to this mystery? Could this lead to an investigation that may finally solve this once and for all?"

"We will have to see—"

Then, a hand slammed against the top half of the television box. Before I knew it, the displayed screen was gone.

In response, I stayed quiet.

..slowly, she turned to look at me—her hand still on the set as she sighed.

"Don't.. listen to this type of stuff, honey. It probably isn't good for you to be hearing about this."

I paused, swallowing. But I understood. And I nodded.

"..okay, mama."

~~~~~~

..it's beautiful out here.

That's what I think anyway, looking out on all of these different sorts of houses in the late sunlight. The architecture average, but still somehow admirable. The moment I had driven here, I felt the same warmth I did from my last visit. That same, sweat producing, overwhelming heat.

And even now as I admire the dark green front yards and divergent structures of the part of the neighborhood I'm in, I can't help but feel as if I'm drowning it. As if the very sun itself were taking its hands out and wrapping it around my thin/large neck.

Slowly, clenching the small plastic device of a camera in my hands, I lifted my head and let myself look at the building before my eyes. I heard something buzzing but quickly fading into silence. The sound of chattering and.. yelling. I saw people in blue uniforms walking in, and out of the house with boxes held in their gloved hands.

I heard rumbling, I smelt the scent of vehicle exhaust. It was.. a rather a boring scene. Simply being helped by a company to move into my new house. I had already helped move some boxes into my own house, but after a while.. they just sort of insisted that I sit this out. Perhaps I was just that weak. Perhaps I was holding them back.

..the house looked pretty in the sunlight like this.

I lifted the camera that was in my hands, and nudging my thumb against the button, I pressed it—making sure it got a good view of the house.

The shutter went off.

————

"Er.. thank you. For—you know, doing all of this."

I said with a nervous smile, chuckling softly as the sunglasses-wearing woman in the front part of the moving van just stared blankly back at me.

"It's no problem. Just make sure to give us a call if you ever need to move somewhere else."

"..I.. I will. Uh—"

I stammered, trying to think of anything else to see. But seeing how no words really met my mouth, I could only manage to flatly get out, "Well.. take care."

"You too." She huffed out.

I began to turn around, letting the winds of the warm day brush against me—even now, I couldn't talk to people normally. I didn't really understand what was with me even now. I can't even talk to people properly without coming off as some sort of—

..oh. Right. You don't know who I am, do you? Uh.. well—

"Heyyyy! Y/N!"

..I turned my head. And in a vehicle that began to slowly pull up behind the blue and white moving van, I saw a blonde-headed man with a slightly silly grin on his face.

And seeing his grin, I made a half-smile. Still—my eyes went kind of wide too. I didn't really need to be surprised. I knew he was gonna be here.

As loudly as I could, I called out while the vehicle he was in began to slow a little more and park behind the van.

"Uh.. hey, Radford. How come you're here so early? I didn't think you'd show up right now."

"Heh—I'm off for a couple weeks! Didn't I tell you?"

"Well—no. You didn't. But—it's.. nice to see you again. How—how long has it been since I was last here anyway?"

"Heh—only 2 years. Don't worry though! It's not like much has changed since your last visit here. You should get used to living here just fine!"

"..mh. Maybe. If I can even find a job around here."

"You'll find that too! There's.. actually a lot of jobs open around here already. Anyway—you ready to unpack?"

I paused, flickering my gaze momentarily to the house, and then back at him.

"Uh.. yeah. I am."

————

"Woah—this is a lotta stuff, man. You sure you got most of this?"

"Yeah.. I'm sure. I wouldn't wanna make you do all the work for stuff that isn't even yours."

I looked down at the several boxes before us on the white tiled flooring, letting out a short sigh as the cool conditioning swelled against my flushed skin. "..now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have spent all that time taking so much stuff."

"Well—hey! Gotta take what you gotta take right?" Grinned Radford.

"..yeah, sure. Whatever that means." I quietly looked down at the floor, humming to myself and placing my hand beneath my chin.

"Well—" I sighed. "If we want this to be at least a bit easier, we might as well start by taking out the bigger stuff first and then moving them so you aren't stuck here til midnight."

"Eh—maybe. I don't think it'll take that long though—not like we're moving durniture or anything. Uh—here!"

Radford bent down, pointing to one smaller box on the ground. "Why don't we start with this one?"

I set my eyes on it. It was a box that was simply marked in permanent marker writing:

"Decorations"

I looked at it for a moment.

"..er.. sure. Why not."

"Alright—let's do it!"

I felt a sharp pain suddenly rise in my arm as he raised his hand into the air, his fist roughly nudging against my shoulder in the process. Well.. not really nudging me. Hitting me, actually.

"Wh—ow!"

"Oh—shit! Sorry—I didn't.. I didn't know you were that close. Are—are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's.. it's fine." I shook my head, lifting my other hand and rubbing my shoulder. "I sort of knew you'd—"

I paused. "..nevermind."

I let out a sigh, attempting to step foward.

"Let's just get everything ready before I hurt myself furt—"

..I winced.

"..h-hkkk.."

"Wh—What? What is it, dude?"

..slowly, I looked down where I felt a sharp pain in my toe, and I raised my foot.

There was a nail. Protruding from the floorboard.

[silverwingwashere]

Battle of Gettysburg - Day 1

July 1

8:00 AM

Buford's Cavalry Defend Gettysburg

Taking cover behind low stone walls and fences, the cavalry troopers watched as the enemy began to deploy before them. There were two brigades of rebel infantry in front of them, while a whole corps lay further west. Meanwhile, there were only two brigades of cavalry troops defending the ridges west of the town of Gettysburg. The odds were clearly against them. However, they must hold. Good ground lay south of Gettysburg, ground that they must deny to the enemy. They knew that if they failed, the enemy would capture and fortify that ground and the Army of the Potomac will be forced to make devastating assaults to dislodge them.

By June 1863 the American Civil War had been raging for three years. In hopes of ending the war, and bringing away from his war-torn state of Virginia, General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, planned to invade Northern territory. His plan was to threaten Washington and prominent Northern cities such as Boston and Harrisburg. By doing this, the Northern population may urge the Lincoln government for peace.

In early June the Army of Northern Virginia began marching out of their camps near Fredericksburg, moving north through the Shenandoah Valley, through Maryland, and emerging at Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, the Union Army of the Potomac, noticing their foes dissapearance, began chasing after them.

Lee had hoped that he would have enough time to maneuver around Pennsylvania before the Army of the Potomac arrived. However, Union forces were moving uncharacteristically fast. But Lee did not know this. His main cavalry force, under General J.E.B. Stuart, was missing and had not yet reported to him. Cavalry were the eyes of the army and without Stuart the Army of Northern Virginia was essentially blind.

With the army blind and corps scattered all over Pennsylvania, Lee, on June 29, gave orders to all corps commanders, telling them not to engage in major combat until the army was massed together. He feared that once the larger Union force arrived, they would be attacked piecemeal and defeated. Beacause of that he gave orders for all corps to converge on Cashtown.

On June 30, the Confederate Third Corps was encamped near Cashtown. Wanting to scout the nearby area, Brigadier General Pettigrew's brigade moved east from Cashtown and moved towards the town of Gettysburg. At the the town, the brigade noted Union cavalry in the area. Pettigrew reported this to his division commander, Major General Heth. However, Heth did not believe that Union cavalry would be this far north so fast. He thought it was merely militia, not cavalry. However, just to confirm it, he decided to coduct a reconnaisssance in force the next day.

Little did Heth know, Pettigrew was right. What the latter has saw was the 1st Division of the Army of the Potomac's Cavalry Corps. Under the command of Brigadier General John Buford, they had sighted campfires in the Gettysburg direction and decided to follow it. Arriving at Gettysburg, they managed spot Pettigrew's brigade. Further scouting of the area told Buford that the Confederate Third Corps was operating in the area.

Realizing the importance of Gettysburg, as the town was a major road junction connecting major of areas of Pennsylvania, Buford decided to hold on to the town in order to deny it to the enemy. Sending word to the newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac, Major General George Meade, Buford then dismounted and deployed his brigade on the heights west of town, with the main defensive line being along McPherson's ridge. Buford wanted to prevent the Confederates from capturing the vital high ground south of town. However, with only two brigades of 2,900 cavalry troopers against the Third Cops composed of 23,000 troops, he would to fight like hell to accomplish his objective.

On the morning of July 1, Heth's reconnaissance in force was conducted by Archer's brigade, which marched eastward, along the Chambersburg Pike, towards Gettysburg. They soon encountered Buford's picket line, which conducted a fighting retreat back towards Gettysburg.

By 8:00 in the morning Archer's brigade reached Herr's ridge, as the skirmishing cavalry troops retreated back to McPherson's ridge. Realizing that he was indeed fighting cavalry, Heth deployed two of his brigades to the line. Archer's brigade was to deploy south of the Chamberburg Pike, while Davis' brigade deployed on the northern end. Both were to attack eastward and capture McPherson's ridge.

At 10:15 both brigades moved against Buford's forces. The cavalry troopers holding McPherson's ridge were from Gamble's brigade. Buford's cavalry troopers managed to hold the line, but the attacks were fierce. At some points, the Union lines were begining to buckle. Desperately, Buford sent out couriers, asking for any infantry corps to come and aid them.

Luckily for Buford, the nearest corps was I Corps, under the command of the brilliant Major General John Reynolds. Upon recieving Buford's messages, Reynold's ordered his corps to move quickly north to Gettysburg. With him also being the commander of the left wing of the Army of the Potomac, he also sent word for the two other corps under his command, III Corps and XI Corps, to converge on Gettysburg.

However, as I Corps was moving as fast as it could to Gettysburg, Buford's cavalry division was fighting for its life.

----------------------------------------

Featuring @temper-temper @randomgurustuffs and @askpokeeosin as members of the 8th New York Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. The 8th New York were part a part of Gamble's brigade and held the left flank of McPherson's ridge. All three are armed with Sharps carbrines, which were one of the most common breechloading carbines assigned to the cavalry. With these breechloaders, cavalry troops were able to reload their weapons faster than the muzzleloading rifles carried by infantry troops.

Behind them is the Lutheran Seminary, located at Seminary ridge. The cupola atop the Seminary was used by Buford as an observation post.

[undertale-anomaly20]

Mortal Kombat 10 x reader: Chapter 8 FINAL

after a few weeks of healing and reuniting with all her living friends (name) went back to outworld, doning a simple sleevless dress in the shade of cream as well as a tan non-seethrough shawl wrap around her shoulders to cover her from the outworld sun that she had once grown acustomed to, and approched Kotal Kahn and asked to look for something in his palace once asked what it was she replied that she didn't know only that it was from Mileena suprisingly he offered his condolences for what happened to Mileena. Kotal Kahn wished for a trade in excahnge for looking for what was left for her she must agree to be his right hand in all affairs meaning she would have to stay in outworld and that he acompany her to find the item. she agreed to the terms.

(names) P.O.V

I wandered the halls of the palace I once called home. tears pricked my eyes still as I had buried Mileena only a few days ago. I found the room she discribed to me and pressed the stone after a few moments a coloum of stones were moved aside to reveal stair leading down to a hidden room both her and Kotal walk down the stair that are lit with an od green glow that seemed familiar to her somehow and it didn't dawn on her until they reached the room where a lone tank filled with green water stood in the room lighting it all up the walls were sand stone the floor limestone a tabel with bloody tools and syringes. but what was the most eye catching was what was in the tank.

a baby

A baby that looked no older than 3 months old little bits of black hair on her head. this is it this is what Mileena left for me what she must have been working on while I was away. I ran to the small tank and opened the top of it, all the while Kotal stood there in shock once I opened it I genlty pick up the baby out of the water and held, from a close look defined it as a her, her in my arms and wrap her up in the shawl 'I remember talking to her about wanting to be a mother but I never thought she would do this'. after a few seconds she coughed up water and let our a cry "o-oh no oh come on sweetheart don't cry" I stutter trying to getly rock her which after a minute or so does. she opens her eyes my heart stopped her eyes...they were just like Mileenas so pretty and yellow. she laughed and adorable laugh making me smile the grabbed my finger I was dangeling in frony of her and started to nibble on it.

I turn to Kotal, who seemed to compose himself, and asked "Kotal I know this is...very unexpected but--" "you may keep her" My eyes widen at his response "p-pardon" I couldn't believe my ears "you may keep the...child however you are, of course, its soul gaurdian. you are to care for it alone if the need to have it looked after while you are on duty that is your responsibility to manage" "of course I would this is the last piece of Mileena I have" I look down at the aby girl nibbling on my finger as she looks up at me I then look to Kotal "I'm still surprised that you would allow me to keep her why?" Kotal turns and begins to walk away "I know the feeling of losing a loved one and if I had even a small piece of them to hold onto other than a memory I would never let it go" he dissapeared from sight leaving so many questions running through my mind about him but all of them stopped the moment I feel movement in my arms causing me to look down at the tiny baby looking up at me with her big beautiful yellow eyes with tinges of orange in them and smile "don't worry..." then I realized I never gave her a name and looked around the room to see if there was a paper, a book or something that may tell me her name but no luck "*huff* I guess it's up to me sweetheart" I try to think of a name as different and unique as her "helen? no, too common. consuela?no, she doesn't look it. alanha?" I go through a few more names as I acende the stairs and reatch the top where the light shining on us. her ebony black hair, that is still stuck to her head due to the liquid she was in, shines a little in the like her smooth skin glistens and her eyes sparkel like gems. I think back to everthing I was taught in school trying to remember any words in other langueges that mean anything that could discribe this beautiful little being in my arms "Calithea" I smile at my words and look down at her smiling "your name is Calithea (lastname) and you are my daughter" my eyes widen at my words as I felt everything stop and it hit me.

I'm a mom

I laughed as tears welled in my eyes and spilled out as I looked at her "I'm your mommy, Calithea and I promise I will protect you and never ever let anyone hurt you not like they did her" she reached out her hand and placed it on my cheek and gave me a big toothless smile with little gurgles.

"mileena...thank you"

the end

(FINALLY! it's over! the second book is finally over but now I'm gonna be working on the third one...oh boy. I hope you all enjoyed this story and hope you like the ending)

[endlesscrimson89]

FFXIV Write2023, Prompt 21: Grave.

Raha pulled the edges of his jacket - prepared by Tataru for their campaign into Garlemald - tighter around himself as he trudged through the calf-deep snow up to the edge of the cliff. The air was crisp with the promise of snow - bellying the warmth ruling in Mor Dhona he just left behind. 

This phenomenon - the ever-winter ruling over Coerthas no matter the time of the year - was one of the reasons why Senri hated this place. Another was the spot he was heading to, using his lover’s absence within the Scions' compound. 

Since they returned from the First, Senri scarcely left his side - and as much as he loved his constant presance, part of his heart ached with the idea his Warrior was scared he would dissapear if he left his sight. 

It was part of the price he inflicted on his mate’s soul - making him vulnerable to the damage that came after. 

Sometimes, when he thought of it, he was nearly ashamed about ever loving a tale of Dragonsong War - Count Fortemps' journals his favorite during his long, long wait on the First. He was so naïve then... no matter his age. Only tasting the frost those memories were encrusted with in his lover’s mind, he truly understood the level of destruction that part of his hero's story left behind. 

He understood why his beast’s mind broke down, crushing his soul in the process. 

Arriving at his destination, Raha shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, narrowing his crimson eyes at the simple grave with broken shield resting against its side. With the backdrop of sight of Ishgard in the distance, it was easy for him to understand why Senri couldn't bring himself to visit this place. 

Almost four years later, the memory it represented was still too sore. 

"It was an unfortunate mix of circumstances," he whispered under his breath while his gaze drifted toward the far-away city when snowflakes started to drift in the air around him. It was early in the day, but thick gray clouds above made the area darker than it should be. "Did you know he hates cold?" He added unneccesirly, curling in his shoulders while looking back toward the grave. "He never talks about it, scarcely think of it, I believe, but it's because he almost froze to death on the way out of the camp he grow up in. There's so much scars that place left on him... but I think the cold reminds him of shame he felt when leaving. It was middle of winter, and he completely unprepared for the outside world... And I don't know if I ever manage to express how awed I am by the sheer scope of bravery it took... Not that he can see it. I hope one day, perhaps he does... Same as I hope that one day he will stop hating you for what you did."

He sighed and shook his head, then dropped to one knee in the pile of snow and despite the chill of it, rested his hand atop the stone. 

"Thank you, Haurchefant," he breathed, closing his eyes when they prickled with tears. "You were his friend when he really needed one and I chose to believe one day he will be ready to forgive you. He can't now, because that would mean admitting he wished that spear took him instead... not to save you but because he was so painfully tired of his fate. Of the cold, loneliness and heartbreak... and shame that he felt this way. He's refusing to accept that he hated me, too, for leaving him. That he fears I will leave him again. That part of him that so fiercely wish to punish him... I think it scares him so much because he wants to punish me too. Me, you, the rest of the world... all who failed him. All who put impossible expectations on him. Who forced that mask to chafe his soul... because we couldn't see the price it took. Price it still takes... and as much as I want to protect him, I think unless he faces it, he won't be able to heal. To believe that he's as allowed to hate as anyone else. I think before he's truly ready to forgive us, he first needs to forgive himself... and I hope one day I can help him to do that. So thank you for saving him that day... and I swear I will do all in my power to save his soul."

Steeling his resolve, he stood up, then teleported back to Mor Dhona. He didn’t know yet how to achieve that - fulfilling that promise - but he hoped that one day they would be able to visit that place, together, and he liked to believe that he would be able to put that smile on his lover’s face that the dying man asked for. 

[ink-leaf-cafe]

Cult of the Lamb AU

"Lasting Wounds"

The lamb was doing it's best to dodge the Bishop's attacks, narrowly dodging every time the earth worm threw the glowing blue projectiles. The vessel of the Red Crown noticed the Bishop jumping under the ground, but too late to be able to dodge entirely. As the worm jumped back up the Lamb's left eye was caught on a spike, a yell of pain escaping it as it fell to the ground, the chaotic Bishop using this chance to finish the battle.

When the Lamb returned to its cult using the old stone pentagram it wasn't expecting to continue to have a lack of sight on it's left side. It stumbled down the stairs, moving to the nearest reflextive surface, which was a pond. It stared into the water, breathing shaky as they saw its left eye was still missing. Weren't the wounds supposed to dissapear after a death? It sighed, taking deep breaths as it headed towards the med bay, seeing as that was where the bandages were kept.

...

The next day the lamb could hear whispers from its followers, most likely due to nervousness from the fact their dear leader was bandaged up. As the lamb stood up behind the stand in the temple, it took a breath before holding a sermon, trying to make sure the followers felt safe. It decided to also hold a vacation day, letting its followers rest until the next day. It collected the devotion from the statue in the middle of the cult before heading to Spore Grotto. Seeing the mushroom loving ant would be a nice break after this.

As Lamb walked into the mushroom covered grotto, it looked around in confusion as the normal mushroom followers that were wandering around were now missing. It shrugged that off, heading to the ant's 'layer'.

"Hello? Sozo?"

Lamb looked around before noticing the ant on the ground, it's breathing becoming shaky as it noticed the mushroom split in half and the flies around Sozo's body. The lamb ran over to the ant, shaking him and trying to get a reply for a few minutes before finally accepting that Sozo was gone. It began to sob, as the ant was one of the only people it knew it could trust.

As the sun began to set, Lamb finally headed back to the cult, still narrowly avoiding things with its newfound lack of depth perception. When it arrived, all the followers were already fast asleep. It sighed, turning and following the arrows past the moss covered pentagram, going around the statue of the crown now on it's head towards the land of the Bishop Leshy. This run it was given a axe and a ice curse to work with, destroying the stone that talked about what would happen to whoever didn't follow the Old Faith.

As the lamb moved past each room, getting used to fighting without its eye, it was thinking about what might have caused this wound to not heal. Maybe it was the fact a bishop caused it, or maybe the crown was weakening? Anything the lamb thought of, it didn't like what the possibility was.

It soon arrived to where the Bishop was waiting, ready to try for a second time to finish off the first bishop to please The One Who Waits. Lamb made the first move, slashing at Leshy with more speed and strength than would be expected with the lamb's size. The bishop was taken aback for a moment before attacking back, going underground and moving in a diagonal line. The lamb first dealt with the enemies littered around the battle field, before turning it's focus to the earth worm. It quickly slashed at the towering being, being careful to quickly dodge any projectiles that came its way, a few still hitting it due to its blind spot.

After a long battle, and quite a few new wounds gained, the lamb had the bishops heart. It headed through the portal, being greeted by the imprisioned god, who laughed at how easily the bishop was defeated before sending the lamb on its way to its cult. The lamb was tired, but glad to see followers around the pentagram when it returned, cheering at the fact that the first bishop was dead. The lamb quickly ordered the trophey for defeating Leshy to be built, having it placed in the top right corner of the cult's land.

The next day, the lamb went into Anura and dealt with the first follower-now-monster created by the frog Bishop. After recruiting the defeated follower the lamb returned home, deciding to rest up before taking on the next boss. It stared at the heart that was taken from the chaotic bishop, wondering what it could possibly do with the somehow still-beating heart before placing it back into the chest where it had been hidden, leaving the area and heading to where the trophey was.

…

Lamb admired the handy work of its followers, the flowers from Darkwood now attached to the ex-bishop's crown, which blankly stared at the vessel. The lamb sighed, sitting down and just thinking. It didn't want to go back into Darkwood anytime soon, but knew one of its followers would eventually ask for some of the Camilas fresh from the overcrowded forest. It just hoped that it wouldn't be requested of it in the next few days.

After the sun rose and all the cultists woke up, the lamb fed them vegtable dishes and dishes made out of the small bits of meat gained from the pests that visited the cult at night. After doing that and holding yet another sermon, the lamb headed back into Anura, repeating the process of fighting enemies, collecting loot, encountering Bishop Heket, fighting a miniboss, and then heading back to the cult twice, which lead the lamb into the next day. This meant it got a late start on feeding its followers, which was especially important after the frog made two of the followers starve. The lamb was exhausted, using one of the unused beds for followers after indoctrinating the 5 new followers it had gained from the 3 trips to Anura. The lamb was pleasantly surprised to not have died at all throughout that, but knew that its luck had likely run out by now.

As Lamb drifted off, he thought about the god's response to Leshy's death. He didn't seem remorseful at all that his own brother had died. Would he be like this with all the Bishops? Lamb wouldn't be surprised if he was cold to Heket and even Kallamar's death, despite them being siblings, but it was doubtful that The One Who Waits wouldn't be at least a small bit sad for Shamura, who the lamb knew Narinder was quite close with before his imprisionment. With these thoughts, the lamb fell asleep.

...

The next day the lamb decided to take off from fighting, collecting the devotion from the statue before heading to Pillgram's Passage, visiting the Lighthouse Keeper before going fishing. It had found most of what the Fisherman had asked for, asides from the Squid, so it was hopeful to find that in the waters soon. It kept catching swordfish and salmon, which weren't all that useful aside from the fact that they could be sold to Narinder for a bit of money.

The lamb fished late into the night, finally returning to the cult as the new day broke. It managed to return right before the followers got up, quickly beginning to prepare food using the fish it had gained. It took a bit, but the lamb had soon gotten everyone fed and headed into Anura, not quite ready to face off against Heket after what happened the first time it tried to kill one of the Bishops.

When entering the mushroom ridden place, the lamb decided to take off the bandages covering its eye, too let the frog see what her brother had done to it. Lamb knew she wouldn't care at all, but it still removed the bandages, carelessly discarding them off to the side as it picked up the small dagger and the curse given to it for this attempt.

The lamb got through the first area surprisingly quick, slashing at enemies as fast as it could. The curse was also helpful, as it poisoned enemies which killed them quicker. The next area was one where Ratoo resided, letting the lamb heal up and take a quick break. After that the rest of the areas were battles, the lamb only getting moments of rest after killing off all the enemies in a 'room'. Lamb was glad to get healed occasionally from the chests, as the enemies in Anura were awfully hard to avoid, seeing as they were fast and some were literally armies of bugs which chased around the lamb whereever it went. The lamb was exausted as it reached where Heket was waiting, followers surrounding her as she gave a quick speech. After said speech her followers sacrificed themselves for her, as Leshy's did before he was killed. Thus, the fight began.

|•~~•|•~~•|•~~•|•~~•|•~~•|•~~•|•~~•|•~~•|

I hope you enjoyed this small bit of writing for my AU. I will eventually write more if it is requested, but currently I am trying to make an rp blog for this AU. Once it is done I will write a bit more for the AU.

Currently, I am looking for some feedback about this writing, so if you are willing to give some please do.

And yes, I just named the lamb Lamb instead of anything else. I couldn't exactly come up with any more creative names so..

Oh yeah, if you want to be tagged in the next piece of writing for this AU, do tell me and I will try to remember!

This AU is not fully fleshed out currently, so there may be plot holes and things like that. Please let me know if there are!

Tags:

@seabunnythatlikeshorror

[dongtopus]

Throat.

The arrow loosed and hit the target in the shoulder.

“Again. More to the left.” Avendal pulled the arrow free, holding it behind his back as he strolled back to the archer in training.

“I’m used to the firearm Sir, I apologise.”

“I do not want excuses. Fire again.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The archer nocked his arrow and drew again.

Shk

Avendal squinted. “Shoulder. Again.”

“Sorry, Sir. I’m still getting used to it, maybe it’s the bow?”

“Are you saying our fletchers make bad bows, Nasser? Will you give me an excuse for every arrow, Nasser?”

The archer felt the muscles in his shoulders freeze up.

“N-no, Sir.”

Another arrow nocked. As his fingers rested against his lip, something flashed in into his vision, followed by blinding pain. Nasser cried out, unable to relaxe the muscle.

Avendal plunged the arrow he had held onto into Nasser’s forearm, wedging it between the bones.

“Fire.”

Nasser cried out once again as his fingers uncurled from the bowstring.

The arrow missed the target completely, smashing against the red stone behind it and shattering.

“Nasser.” Avendal grabbed onto the arrow embedded in the archers arm and yanked at it, “Remove your wrist guard. You will learn to fire with this-” he shook the arrow once again, but the archer was in too much pain to cry out. He gasped, dropping the bow and reaching out across to his arm.

Avendal caught Nasser’s hand, crushing his fingers.

“-You will remove the brace and fire until I can see the muscle of your bow arm.”

The others in the yard had taken note of what was happening. Avendal was known for his harshness but not this.

“Remove the brace. Pick up the bow, and Fire. The arrow will not kill you.”

Terrified and in agony, the archer did as he was told. He fired under close supervision for three days non-stop.

Blood trickled from Nasser’s arm. the last half-day of agony was particularly bitter, with his body slowly regenerating the layers of skin over and over, thinner and thinner each time.

Finally, he bled. He could rest.

“s....ir....”

His mouth was dry, his will broken, his vision unfocused.

Avendal dug his fingertips into Nasser’s forearm as he turned it in the light. with a sneer, he threw the arm away from himself and yanked the arrow free from Nasser’s right arm and pointed it inches from his eyes. He was too tired to even seethe from the pain.

“Fire again. Throat.”

Nasser took a shallow breath as Avendal handed him the arrow that had been in his arm for the past three days. Torn veins clung to it and smaller, dried chunks of flesh.

Nasser slowly nocked, raised his arm and pushed out as he drew the string back.

He took a breath, and uttered a silent prayer.

Thunk.

The arrow his square between the eyes of the target.

Avendal’s lip twitched. The rings on his fingers ground together.

Avendal strode toward the target and turned it around. the arrowtip jutted out from the face of an emaciated slave, a gag browned with old blood tied around his mouth now drenched a deep red.

“He died too quickly! Untie him and remove the arrow!”

Nasser had no time to take in the suruprise as his feet moved without him.

Avendal dissapeared from sight as he knelt down and began pulling at the ropes around the slave’s wrist.

An aggrivated shout came from behind Nasser as a spear hurtled down into his throat from behind. Nasser gurgled and clutched at the shaft protuding from his windpipe and down into the body of the slave.

“THROAT.”

Avendal turned to the onlookers, who proceeded to take multiple steps back.

“Do not help him outside of dragging him to the sun!”

He pulled a handful of coins from the pouch tied to his belt and threw them at Nasser as he chocked and gargled on what remained of his blood.

[aspenlovesmedia]

So, who are the main cast of the Luna Stone series?

Luna is of course the protagonist. She spends her childhood being raised among humans, every so often catching glimpses of the magical world, yet any signs dissapear quickly, that is until her last few weeks of Primary School, where she accidentally starts a fire and discovers she’s a sorcerer. Her mother (Andrea Stone) is a sorcerer, however she married a human, and due to that it was never guaranteed that Luna would ever end up being able to control magic. As she is half human, she needs to have her magic awakened, as humans are unable to see or use magic at all, which also means Andrea has to get involved in the magical world once more, something she hoped she’d never have to do again.

Luna is a huge nerd and has always been fascinated by mythology. Of course she never believed it was actually real until she accidentally discovered her own magical abilities. She’s very head strong and passionate about her interests, and while she has a good heart, she doesn’t really have any friends. From a young age she was considered weird for her extreme and specific interest, and the fact she celebrated Yule and Ostara rather than Christmas and Easter didn’t help. When she starts at Peregrine’s Academy of Magic, she hopes she can maybe actually make some friends as after all, she may be new to the whole magic thing, but she does know a lot about myths and legends already.

Willow Redwood comes from a very long line of sorcerers, which under normal circumstances would be hugely beneficial to her social standing, however, a family blood curse means the Redwoods are thought to be dangerous. In reality the curse only affects its host, and leads to symptoms like chronic pain, and difficulty in using magic. Willow is used to people being afraid of her and that’s why she prefers to be in the company of animals. As a druid, she was born with the ability to understand them, and unlike other sorcerers, they don’t judge her based on a curse she was born with. She lives with her father (August Redwood) as her mother died from the curse when Willow was 4. She’s very close to her dad, even if he is overprotective at times.

Khumo Graves has the rare ability to see ghosts. Ghost sight runs in his family, so seeing the souls of the dead that are still tethered to the Earth is a very normal occurrence for him. In fact, Khumo gets on better with the dead than with the living. Talking to ghosts is easy, talking to alive people is complicated. He struggles with severe anxiety and is very quiet because of this. He has a hedgehog familiar named Spindle who has red spines across their back. Spindle was manifested mainly to support Khumo, who from a young age suffered from anxiety attacks. He is a huge history nerd, and plans on becoming a warden (someone who works with the Collection, a library with the blood memories of people. This is not as morbid as it sounds I’ll do a whole post on this later) when he’s older. He often wishes he had the confidence of his younger sister, Naledi (often called Nali) who isn’t afraid to tell anybody what she thinks.

And that’s the main trio! There’s a lot more I can say on these guys, but this is already a long post. I hope you enjoyed getting some more information on these guys. I’ll be doing more lore posts soon.

[potentialsandwhich]

Taste

Pairing: PowerBottom!Natasha Romanoff x Top!Reader (MINORS DO NOT INTERACT)

+ sorority!Nat and minor sorority!Wanda

Summary: Playing Spin the Bottle seemed like a good idea at that time. Who knew Natasha would get so possessive?

Warnings: 18+, Smut, jealous Nat, fingering, oral, bathroom sex (let me know if I need to add more)

The rules of the game were simple.

1) You spin the bottle

2) The bottle lands on someone in the circle

3) You kiss that person

Those were the rules.

You hadn't made them up. You had no control over them.

Yet, as the bottle you had spun just moments before began slowing itself down to a stop, you felt the penetrating intensity of Natasha's glare on you increase tenfold.

Thor...still spinning.

Carol...still spinning.

Tony...still spinning.

Wanda...

...the bottle stopped

"WoOoOoO! Looks like the bottle of fate has landed on Wanda!" Tony loudly decreed, his drunken state making his words slur thickly together, "You know what that means..." You looked up to see a stoic Natasha staring at you.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!" Tony began chanting by himself.

Natasha clenched her jaw together tightly.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!" The rest of the group started joining in with Tony.

You swallowed hard as challenge rose in Natasha's green eyes.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" All of sorority girls around you began as well.

Wanda slowly crawled her way over to you from her spot across the circle, shy smile playing on her lips, "I guess the bottle has spoken." She playfully teased, soft fingers reaching for your cheek. Gently, but purposefully, she guided your gaze away from Natasha, "And the people have too." Her thumb ghosted over your bottom lip, making the goosebumps on your arms instantly rise, "So what do you say, (Y/N), let's give them what they want?"

Your mind raced in thought.

You did want kiss Wanda … but Natasha was going to kill you.

But then again it was just the rules of the game … but Natasha would still kill you.

To be fair it hadn't even been your idea to join in the first place … but Natasha was still going to kil-

Wanda's soft lips pressed onto yours.

All the worries dissapeared from your mind.

Sensing your compliance, Wanda moved a hand to the back of your neck, pulling your face closer and deepening the kiss. Her tongue swiped against the bottom of your lips, asking for permission, and you eagerly obliged. Losing yourself in the rush, your hands instinctively moved to her waist and the brunette took it as a sign to properly saddle your lap.

The distant sounds of your friends screaming in the background was muffled in the heat of the moment.

Wanda tasted like strawberries and cream.

Suddenly, a tug on your collar pulled you abruptly away.

"Let's go." Someone demanded from above you.

You looked up in a daze, sight fuzzily landing on a very pissed off Natasha towering over you.

"I-"

"Let's go." The redhead repeated, lips pursed in absolute command.

Wanda scoffed aloud from in front of you, "Come on, Nat, it was just a game. No need to get so possessive."

Natasha's stone cold eyes flicked over to her second in command, and if looks could kill... "Thank you, Wanda, for that unasked for input. Now watch me pretend to care." The bite in her words were something to behold. Gaze settling back onto you, Natasha raised her brows expectantly, almost in surprise at you still on the ground, "Come on!" She urged, more insistently than before.

Deciding that an angry Natasha was easier to deal with one on one than in a group setting, you moved to stand up, "Alright. Alright."

Wanda rolled her eyes exasperatedly, shifting off of you, "She never shares." The Sokovian muttered under her breath.

Not hearing what Wanda had said, you quickly got to your feet, and the second you did so, Natasha started pulling you away.

"Ouch, Tasha, you could loosen your hold a little." You protested as the Russian dragged you through the crowds of people at the party.

A happy Pietro spotted you from the drinks table, "Hey, (Y/N)! Whatcha do-" The man quickly trailed off upon seeing the furious Natasha, "Nevermind. You look busy." He finished, practically running away from the glowering redhead.

"Look what you're doing, you're scaring away all the guest!" You reprimanded, trying to lighten the mood up a little.

Natasha's face remained unchanged.

Reaching a room at the end of the hallway, she roughly pushed you inside.

The bright lights of the Xi Kappa bathroom greeted you, "Umm, what are we doing here Na-"

Natasha's lips smashed onto yours.

Reacting quickly from the shock, you returned the kiss.

Unlike Wanda's slow and gentle one from before, Natasha's kiss was infinitely more domineering. She was confident in her actions, easily coaxing your mouth open and slipping her tongue in, exploring every inch as if claiming it as her own. Her nails dug into your neck as she held you close.

Then, just as suddenly as she had started, she pulled away, "Ugh." She groaned in disgust.

You frowned at her reaction, trying not to get offended at her discontent, "Ouch?"

Piercing green eyes met yours, "You taste like her." She spat out, words dripping with venom. You furrowed your brows in confusion, not following, "You taste like her - Wanda." She clarified, dissatisfaction written all over her face.

Blinking in shock, you remained silent.

A dark look passed over Natasha's, "You shouldn't have kissed her, (Y/N)."

You tried to study her face, watching her every reaction, "I'm sorry?"

Natasha studied you right back, eyes not leaving yours, "Are you really?" She challenged, pupils wide and blown under the intense light of the room.

You suddenly realized that anger may not have been the only thing the redhead was feeling at that moment. Having seen this side of Natasha before, you immediately knew what she wanted - what she needed. Moving her to the bathroom sink, you guided her atop the counter.

"Yeah, I am." You insisted.

Luckily for you, Natasha chose to wore an easily accessible outfit to the party today- the short plaid skirt she had chosen perfectly open for your ministrations. Running your hands up the soft flesh of her legs, you stared intently back at the redhead, massaging the inner of her thighs. Reaching the apex, you let one of your hands travel to her clothed core, running a knuckle against her panties. Pressing upward and into her clit, you felt the fabric start to dampen.

"I'm sorry for kissing her." You whispered, leaning into the redhead. Latching onto her neck, you sucked harshly, biting down ever so slightly. A soft moan rewarded you. At the same time, your knuckles pressed harder onto Natasha's heats, increasing the pressure on her core.

Her underwear quickly became soaked.

"You know you're the only one for me, right?" You continued, kissing down Natasha's neck and onto her shoulders. Leaning back, she gave your more access to her chest. With one free hand you slid up her shirt, palming her through her bra. With the other, you pushed aside the thin fabric of her panties and entered a long finger inside, quickly thrusting in and out without a warning. With each thrust, your palmed grazed the redhead's already enlarged clit.

"Oh, fuck." Natasha moaned, bucking her hips into you.

"The only one for me." You repeated, lost in the feeling of her tightening around you.

The redhead’s eyes had lost some of their own intensity and began becoming fuzzy. You took her reaction as an motivator, pushing another finger into her needy hole. The feeling of her stretching against you made you hum in intense satisfaction, especially when the inside of her walls fluttered at the intrusion as well.

Grinding in time to your wrist, the redhead met your every thrust.

Her bra now pushed up to reveal her perky breast, you leaned down to take one in your mouth. Sucking lightly, you increased the speed of your movements into her, using your thumb to circle her clit as well.

"God, you're so beautiful." You praised, watching red blossom on her cheeks, "Especially when you look like this. How could I want anyone else?”

A small shake started trembling through Natasha, and you knew she was getting close. Increasing your speed, you scissored your fingers into her, curling up in just the right places.

Pornographic moans filled your ears and you wondered if people could hear her from outside the door.

“Right there, yes, please- ” The Russian moaned, encouraging you on, telling you to go faster. Harder.

Her movements grew more and more sloppy with each passing minute until, without any warning, Natasha’s head threw itself back and the first wave of orgasm ripped through her entire body.

You watched in amazement at the beauty in front of you came undone.

"Lay down." Natasha breathlessly said between gasps as she began to recover from her high.

Pulling your fingers out, you tilted your head in question at the sudden instruction.

Natasha straightened her back and tried to recompose herself, "Lay down." She said again, patiently waiting for you to understand.

Still you didn't.

The hardness returned into Natasha's eyes, "Lay down." She repeated, and you gulped at the return of bossy Natasha.

Hesitantly, you obliged, settling down onto the floor. Simply watching you for a moment, the redhead bit down on her lips seductively, as if in thought. Then, jumping off the bathroom sink, she moved to hover above your face.

Your eyes widened in immediate realization.

"You can say all the pretty words you want, (Y/N), but I think your mouth has some better uses." The purr in her voice and the sight of her exposed pussy right above you made your mouth water hungrily, "You say you're sorry, but I'm still not fully convince.” The glint in her eyes was so damning.

Licking your lips you grinned up at the woman. Her subtle smile back was all that you needed before you hooked your hands around her thighs and lowered her the rest of the way down onto you.

Flattening your tongue out, you ran it along her slit, slowly and purposefully, moaning at the first taste of the Russian. Using your hands to hold her open, you kissed her folds, testing her entrance carefully with the tip of your tongue.

She was so addicting, and you wanted nothing more than to take your time with the fest before you.

Natasha, though, seemed to have already gotten enough of you being in control from the first round. And as if she could sense your ill intentions, tangled her hands into your hair, and jerked your teasing to a stop.

From above you, she frowned disapprovingly down at you, “Enough with the teasing already. Maybe instead of having you prove your loyalty to me, I should just remind of why you should stay loyal myself.”

Oh. Oh.

You might just find that prospect even hotter than taking your time with her.

Not really waiting for an answer anyways, Natasha began rolling her hips, setting a steady rhythm as she started riding your face. Accommodating her movements you maneuvered your tongue skillfully, making sure your lapped up all of her juices as she moved.

“I’ll show you who this mouth belongs to.” She moaned from above you, guiding your mouth to where she wanted.

With Natasha taking the lead, your hands were free to hold firmly onto her waist, gripping it for leverage as she began to get rougher with her riding.

Your nose hitting her clit with each roll and her pussy still sensitive from her first orgasm, it didn’t take long before Natasha came undone again, your name falling off her lips like a prayer.

A loud knock sounded at the door.

“Would you two stop fucking in there? Some of us actually need the bathroom for it’s intended use!” Someone shouted from outside.

There was a clamor of agreement as well.

Chuckling from under Natasha, you realized that the two of you may have overstayed your welcome in bathroom, “We should probably continue the rest of this in our room.” You advised, letting Natasha up from your face.

By the look on the redhead’s face, it would seem that she wasn’t done for the night either, “Let’s go to my room this time, then, it’s closer.” She suggested, fixing her skirt, but choosing to not put back on her panties.

You nodded in agreement, getting off the floor as well. Cleaning up yourself a bit, you smoothed out your appearance to make it less obvious that you just had sex on the floor of a bathroom.

Natasha only watched with amusement.

“Hey,” She suddenly started, making you look over to her in answer. Leaning in, she captured your lips into a heated kiss, “That’s better.” She announced with satisfaction when she finally pulled away.

You quirked a brow in question, “What?”

Smiling, Natasha swung opened the bathroom door, tongue swiping over her bottom lip mischievously, “Oh nothing, it’s just now, you taste like me.”

---- AN: Just a random question, what are our thoughts on a potential wandanat smut? I was playing around with the idea earlier.

[avasghost]

When We Drown Update #2

[image description: a pale blue photo of a rocky cliff, and a boy at the edge in the distance, standing on a pile of rocks and looking down. in white serif font in the centre, reads “when we drown: update two” / end id]

wip intro here. first writing update here. 

DISCLAIMER: this is my original work, please do not plagiarize in any way.

hi everyone! it’s been a while since i did a writing update (time is fast) and i’ve written quite a lot! up until about a week ago i was in a really, really bad writing slump (which lasted like,,, four months) and so that’s why there hasn’t been a crane anatomy update for a ages because (: i haven’t been writing it (:

i don’t know if i mentioned this in the first update, but this book is now non-linear which has been an ~adventure! the non-linear plotline is kind of freeing because i can just pick a scene i want to write from any time in april’s life and just ... write it? i don’t have to follow the years chronologically. i try to create some kind of causal thread between the scenes but i don’t know how well that’s working out lmao. since WWD follows an entire life story with the protagonist looking back on it and remembering her life, i try to make her memory of one event trigger the memory of the next event, and usually they’re linked by either emotion or information.

current word count: 13,228

so when we drown is officially longer than crane anatomy now, despite being the side project! fun.

anyway lets get into the chapters because i have nothing else to say. tw for death, and other trigger warnings are before the individual chapters!

excerpts under the cut.

chapter 5: faces

[image description: a birds eye view of a forest of snowy pine trees. above the trees in black serif font reads “chapter 5: faces” / end id]

this is a very short chapter (a page and a half) which is a flash forward to when april and elena live together in a cabin in the woods sometime in their late forties. elena is asleep in an armchair and april stokes the fireplace, and then goes outside and sees elias’s ghost and then it dissapears (tbh,,, i think a lot of the chapters will be like this oops) this is the second ghost sighting in the book, but at the point when april is 48 it’s almost a regular occurrence! i might end up moving it to later in the book eventually, since i might want the ghost sightings to be in linear order if nothing else is, to keep the main thread of the book in order.

I closed the door of the woodstove, and glanced over my shoulder to see if Elena had been woken by the clanging of metal. She stirred slightly, a familiar face in her nightmare, an unfamiliar face in a familiar dream. Two fingers clenched against the armrest, then became limp again. Half of me wanted her to wake up, to see me, to speak to me, to see the fire bouncing in the grate and be happy for warmth. But again, she needed rest. She needed to be alone for a while, even if that was just in her head. She’d seen her fair share of fire.

also its snowing in november and its british columbia and i know this is unrealistic but! aesthetics are more important than logic we all know that.

[image description: blurry pine trees and a light snow falling in front of them, with a ridge of snow along the bottom. white serif text in the centre reads “The snow-tipped pines that cupped the cabin sagged under the weight of unexpected snowfall. Their fallen needles jotted the snow. The sky was white, spotless, like an expanse of faraway ocean or the inside of a crystal ball.” / end id]

The snow-tipped pines that cupped the cabin sagged under the weight of unexpected snowfall. Their fallen needles jotted the snow. The sky was white, spotless, like an expanse of faraway ocean or the inside of a crystal ball. No birds flitted between the branches, no foxes slunk between the pines. All was still. All was white. I was alone.

and the ghost is seen then disappears as usual and april goes inside again.

You were gone by the time I reached the door again, by the time I stepped inside and Elena stirred in her armchair, by the time I had stepped out of my shoes and gone to stoke the fire again, which was already starting to dwindle.

i like having elias referred to as “you” because its like april is telling the story to him, but he’s not there, so she’s talking to herself, which is very in character for her to do.

chapter 6: the party

[image description: a slope of pine trees with a grassy field at the bottom. mist shrouds the trees in the distance. a dirt path leads through the grass towards a cabin. in the top right corner, reads “chapter 6: the party” / end id]

chapter 6 follows the day before elena’s fifteenth birthday, and then her party the next day. this is a traumatic time for april because she decides she should mention her first elias sighting at the party. obviously people think she’s crazy and so you can guess how that turns out (aka april goes home and cries because she’s a soft bean)

elena has a cool tree in her backyard apparently!! this seems to be a running theme.

Dribbles of leftover sunlight sifted through the branches of the elm tree that ribbed the sky, its roots furrowing the lawn like varicose veins.

i will admit i didn’t finish this chapter and haven’t written most of the party scene yet so i will probably update on the rest of it in my next update (if i’ve written it by then which i probably won’t have but! we’ll see.)

chapter 7: sacred ground

[image description: the ocean stretching into the distance, with small waves. a blurry girl with long brown hair stands in front of it, facing the water. in the middle in white serif font reads “chapter 7: sacred ground” / end id]

the aftermath of the first elias sighting, when april goes and tries to talk to elena about it. i actually don’t know if this or the party comes first and the non-linearness might be catching up to me oops but we’ll just pretend everything makes sense okay <3 

first she tries to decide who to talk to about it and her options are quite limited. she picks elena because she’ll probably take her seriously, and then goes to her house in a state of shock.

I considered my options. Elena: the calm one, either pretending to be wise or really wise. Magnolia: probably less stupid than she made herself out to be. My mother: still crying over a tragedy of five years ago and a tragedy of fifteen years ago and the tragedy of a lifetime wasted in crowded cult meetings and stark bedrooms, tears always falling, thoughts either always whirlwinding or too dead to pay attention to. I found myself winding up the jittery pathway to Elena’s house, or maybe it was me that was jittery. Maybe it was me, who made the world blurry like this. Maybe it was me who was seeing things, not those things drifting into my line of vision and then falling out of sight. The pearly birches jagged the edges of the valley, their leaves chartreuse in the wind-rustled sunlight.

and then elena rejects her plight and april returns to where she saw elias. turns out elena isn’t as accepting of april’s hallucinations as she was supposed to be! here’s a bit of dialogue i generated from that incorrect quote generator that seems fitting for this moment!

April: Bad things keep happening to me, like I have bad luck or something.

Elena: April, you don't have bad luck. The reason bad things happen to you is because you're a dumbass.

this IS april and this IS elena how does this generator know what my book is about!! anyway back to excerpts:

I ran back to where I had seen you, all slow wonderment vanished, and found the place where my old footsteps in the sand looped around. I knew you wouldn’t be there, I wasn’t surprised that you didn’t appear again, your face bobbing in a rice paper mist. I wasn’t surprised that Elena didn’t chase me out, eyes drained of tears, to apologize. And I wasn’t surprised that from that point forward, I thought of that place as sacred.

chapter 8: always falling

[image description: a blurred black-and-white close-up image of water falling. white serif font in the center reads “always falling: chapter 8″ / end id]

tw: death, drowning, blood, fantasizing about drowning

eight-year-old april and magnolia visit a waterfall with magnolia’s parents. feat. april’s dog, august!

The waterfall coiled down the cliff face, cracking the surface of the river like a thousand strands of thunder. I could hardly hear Magnolia’s parents shouting something up ahead, their voices lost in the blare of water.

shortly after:

When I heard suspension bridge, I pictured one from old fairytales I read: wooden, burlap ropes for railings. A thirty percent chance of falling in. I was reassured by the stability, but August shivered at the way it jilted underfoot. He had never walked on ground that shifted under his feet, maybe it was an earthquake, maybe the ground was breaking in.

and here’s sweet eight-year-old April fantasizing about what it would be like to drown. If you think that’s foreshadowing no it isn’t 👁👁

[image description: a slightly grainy photo, half water and half sky, both tinted turquoise. a hand lifts out of the water toward the sky. above the hand in white serif font, reads “What it would feel like to drown, water snagging in my lungs, sharp stones shattering my ribcage until the entire river turned to blood. Being sucked by the current until someone finally found my body, far from where I lost it.” / end id]

I stared over the edge, tried to pierce the thick buzz of mist that separated me from what would be the teeth of my fall. I imagined the bridge giving way, like it always did in the stories I read. One end breaking, the ropes snapping, the entire bridge swinging into the bottomless river. What it would feel like to drown, water snagging in my lungs, sharp stones shattering my ribcage until the entire river turned to blood. Being sucked by the current until someone finally found my body, far from where I lost it. Maybe it would be an old fisherman, hauling a girl in with the day’s catch, or his frail wife, who would faint on the spot at the sight of a dead child, bloodied and mangled and already tearing apart.

they cross the suspension bridge, and august unfortunately falls in! this is just a bit of april’s childhood trauma and i wish i didn’t have to cause her this pain but i do i’m sorry 😭

chapter 9: dead letters

[image description: a close up sheet of paper with a few lines of cursive writing across it. a fountain pen lies across the page. in the bottom right hand corner, a black serif font reads “chapter 9: dead letters” / end id]

a very young april and elias get caught in a hailstorm then go inside and find letters from their father, who they never met because he still lives in the cult their mother escaped from the day april was born. their mother tries to hide the letters from them but! these children do not relent. 

We tracked through the colourful forest in autumn, our rubber boots tore trails through the scattered maple leaves. Pronged pinecones crackled under my heels as I chased you, threading between the trees.

I was eight, you were faster but I managed to keep up all the same. A haze of rain sizzled on my skin, but rain didn’t phase me back then. I didn’t mind the water droplets that pearled down my neck into the hem of my bright yellow rain jacket.

they escape from the hailstorm and find their mother in the kitchen making tea (rare!) 

When we tripped over the doorframe and found ourselves panting in the kitchen, the kettle wheezed and mother emerged from her bedroom to take it off. The scent of green tea wafted through the air as she poured it, steaming, into a ceramic teacup with a crack veining down the side.

april tries to take one of the letters but her mother stops her. later during the night, she and elias get out of bed and read the letters and it turns out their father left the cult as well, and wants to meet up with them. april wants to meet him, but elias is bitter about it and doesn’t really even consider him their father because he was never there for them. 

chapter 10: frostbite

[image description: two pale hands reach towards the sky, in front of a blurry indigo background. in the top left corner, white serif font reads “chapter 10: frostbite” / end id]

tw: freezing to death

there are those weird times when their mom tells stories about her life. these incidents never end well but happen occasionally! she tells april about a time when her and a few other cult members were in the mountains and one of them froze to death. at this point april is around fifteen (which is where the main plot of the book is at right now)

She cut off there, blanched, stared out the window at the sun-speckled backyard, but I could fill in the rest of the details myself: skin a cold stone blue, frostbite jittering through the lungs and spine like a poison, eating everything slowly. Lying in the snow, letting the cold overcome them. Dead before morning. I wanted to ask if they buried the body, dug a grave of snow that would be melted by spring, or just left the corpse lying in the snow for someone else to find, or be eaten by a wolf pack, or to deteriorate, and haunt those lonely slopes forever.

afterwards, april goes outside (yes its snowing again 😭 as someone who dislikes snow i sure write about it a lot) 

On those days, my desperation to leave the house rose to a high and I would slide into a pair of ragged sneakers and a cable-knit sweater and push out into the cold. Once vibrant green leaves now greyed with frost, a snowfall months early but not unwelcome. Striking before the trees had the chance to shed their leaves. Frost brittled the branches of the oaks so I could snap them without an effort, not that I wanted to snap them. The concrete of the road was spined with ice that made it look like the ground was caving in, icicles barbed the eaves of our house like jagged teeth. Sometimes I thumbed snow into my mouth like a child, hoping no one was watching a seventeen-year-old eat snow, and let it blot my tongue and dribble down my throat. The cold shock to my system helped clear my mind of whatever mother had been talking about, helped me cope with the pain I shouldn’t have been feeling in the first place.

aaannd that’s everything i’ve written so far! this has been the worst writing slump of my life and i’m not too happy with most of the stuff i’ve written lately, but hopefully that clears up so i can update y’all again soon!

- ava

wips taglist (ask to be added or removed!) @shaelinwrites​ @august-iswriting​ @wildswrites @nodeadnarrators @annlillyjose @shaonharryandpannisim @letsgetsquiggly @strangerays @mel-writes-with-her-dragons @dallonswords @teaandtypewriters @chewingthescenery​ @kahaaniyaa @coffeeandcalligraphy @47crayons​ @writing-is-a-martial-art​​

[i-love-side-characters]

Do You See It Differently?

Pairing: Various Relationships

Characters: Various Keeper of the Lost Cities Characters, One-Time OCs

Genre: Angst

Summary:

“Once you’ve seen there is another perspective, you can never not see that there’s another point of view.”

― Ellen Langer

TW: Death, Character Death, Injuries, Blood, Disease Mention

Word Count: 1.8k words (1,817)

Additional Notes:

You should be proud of me, this is all canon!

Or at least based on canon events

Okay you shouldn't have expected so much of me

This is terrible i am so sorry

no beta we die like nixx's happiness when me and pyro are coming up with angst

Tag List: Let me know if you want to be added/removed!

@bronte-deserves-better @councillor-bronte-is-best-boy @cadence-talle @an-absolute-travesty @bookwyrminspiration​ @keefeinnit @mallowmeltz​ @ultralazycreatorfan @everyonehasthoughts @mistythegenderqueermess @imaramennoodle @rainbowtay-11 @we-need-more-empathy @catboyruy @we-wont-dissapear @we-have-no-bananas-today @loverofallthingssmart @a-lonely-tatertot @thesandsofdawn @enbies-and-felonies @fire-sapphics @jadenightthewriter @alabestrine @sunlight-in-a-bottle​ @damischs @pyrokinetic-loser @pyrarayn @towishuponashootingstar

Read below the cut!

you've read the stories.

the ones with the obstacles beyond compare.

the true loves and dramatic battles.

the heroes, valiantly fighting against evil.

they're inspiring tales, to be sure.

but have you read the other stories?

the ones about the villains?

about the families?

about the kings?

about the children caught in war?

those, my dear, are the stories that truly matter.

they are the stories that go untold.

they live and die with them.

and that, is the true tragedy in this tale.

•·················•·················••·················•·················••·················•·················•

"careful!"

her lips twisted into a smirk, dark eyes tracking her daughter sprinting through the city.

"brilla! come back here!"

the little girl laughed, turning smoothly and running back into the arms of her mother. "mommy, did you see how fast i was?"

"yes darling, you were so fast!"

she squealed, wriggling out of her arms, running back into the crowded market.

"ms. sakh?"

she spun around, squinting at the amour-clad guard. the queen seal glowed brightly, it's shimmer enhanced by the golden city. "yes?"

"if you could come with me." his voice stayed even, solid. a queensguard through and through.

she didn't move, twisting to see her daughter playing in the peace fountain. two guards shadowed her, not interrupting, but keeping a trained eye on the little girl. "what's wrong? what happen?"

the queensguard shook his head. "the queen needs to see you, ma'am." he reached out, gently steering her towards the glittering palace.

she glared at him, wrenching her arm away. "tell me what's going on."

his face darkened, eyes filled with sadness. "i'm so sorry to tell you this, ma'am. but at 4:30 today, your wife, brielle sakh, was killed on duty at an elven residence in the lost cities."

the woman's eyes widened, her basket falling to the floor in a dull thud. tears spilled over her cheeks as she stepped back, shaking her head. "no. not brielle―"

"i'm so sorry." he said, reached out again, gently guiding her toward the palace. "let's go."

it seemed darker somehow. the palace. the city. it no longer shimmered bright and gold. the shadows shifted and grew, twisting darker and darker, until they lunged forward and swallowed her whole.

•·················•·················••·················•·················••·················•·················•

he stepped out onto the stone balcony, glaring out over the city.

he could feel every pulse in his body, the tattoos scrawled across his head. they shouldn't carry weight. the elder kings decided that they didn't want the weight of a crown on their heads. that's why the tattoos became what they were.

apparently their plan didn't work.

he could feel the weight of every black swirl, every black scar.

and he could see them too.

he had already visited the hospital. he watched the shamans cover another body. children's limbs mangled, mothers and fathers crying. soldiers standing stiff, black eyes watching every body leave the room and desperately trying to convince themselves that they didn't know who was underneath the white sheet.

and now he was watching hundreds, thousands of black bodies digging at the rubble, each one helping the other rebuild.

"dimitar."

the queen walked over to him, placing a rough hand on his shoulder. "you need to sleep."

"no, i don't." he twisted away from her, feet pounding down the stone steps. the cool wind thrashed his cloak back. mud squelched under his feet, sharp bits of debris cutting into his gray skin.

they bowed as he walked by, some clapping their arms to their chest, but all looking with black, unfathomable eyes. he cut through the crowd, stopping in front of their leader. "romhil― ro."

"father."

he nodded, drawing himself tall. "get back to work."

he bent over, ignoring the ache in his back as he moved the debris. he was with his people now, not with the others. and it was a sight to see. a king, shoulder to shoulder with a peasant.

and only one thought caught the king's mind.

this can't go on.

•·················•·················••·················•·················••·················•·················•

the pages felt heavy. rough.

it was his favourite book. he had memorized it's every detail. the roughness of the cover, worn after years of use. the last few pages, lighter than the others due to a lack of paper. the gold lettering, smudged where his the oils on his skin had touched. and it was the book itself too. the way the words flowed, like music, ensnaring you and pulling you in further.

he smiled and stroked the cover, noting the ink stains from over a thousand years ago. his sister had done that. he'd yelled at her for weeks.

he stood up, nearly tripping over the stack of scrolls tossed on the carpet, wincing as the document's edge tore clean off. he'd have to get it repaired.

dust flew in the air, the delicate rolls dusted in gray. they had been sitting there for ages. maybe it was time to read one again.

he reached down, shaking off the dust and settling back in the armchair, twisting himself until the lumpy chair was perfectly supporting his body.

and then he was thrown into the story again, grabbing him and pulling him in closer, until there was no world, just him and his words.

the sun rose and fell, and rose again, and fell, and time didn't matter anymore because he was safe.

and then he wasn't.

a sharp knock sounded at his door, making him flinch and drop the newest tome. it slammed onto the ground, knocking over empty cups and crushing papers.

"uh― i'm― i'm coming! just uh― give me a minute!" he yelled, hands shaking as he stacked the books as best he could. "coming! i'm―" he gulped, hurrying to the door. "i'm here, i'm― bronte?"

"fallon." the councillor said, trying to smile. "may i come in?"

"no. i mean― it's quite a mess― you probably shouldn't. councillor."

bronte nodded, his jeweled crown glowing dimly in the evening sun.

"what do you want, bronte?" he sighed, desperately trying to comb his hair back.

he sighed, running a hand down his face. "did you know about luzia, fallon?"

"what about luzia?"

"that she's been committing treasonous acts that violate several treaties and―" he hesitated, and then, much more softly. "and could put her in exile?"

his soft, dark eyes met piercing blue ones. even though the councillor was younger, he still cowed the other. he stumbled back, slamming the door closed, turning back inside. his dark eyes scanned over the room, the piles of papers, the overturned mugs, the drawn curtains, the mess, the chaos.

how the mighty have fallen.

•·················•·················••·················•·················••·················•·················•

it was a sharp sound, echoing off the walls. she smirked, throwing another stone towards the ground. and then a deeper echo, the echo of footsteps over the hard stone.

she tilted her head, her dark hair falling over her pale face.

two footsteps. one ridged and firm, the steps of a guard trained from birth to kill. the other was uneven, accompanied by the soft clink of chains.

she shook her head, shoving the sound out her mind.

but it came back.

the footsteps pounded into her brain, her mind analyzing each shift in the pattern, a click of a chain at a different time, a step falling a second too late. a breath too heavy. a rustle of armour.

a low hiss escaped her throat, pale skin breaking as she clawed at her arms. she closed her eyes, but it was still bright, too bright, loud, too loud.

and then the smell. the sweaty, musty odor, mixed with the sharp smell of blood. but something else―something different―

she tilted her head back, lips curving into a lazy smirk. the fragrance wafted inside, the salty smell of the sea, the scent of the wind. outside.

the guard appears first. black eyes, a controlled stare. near seven feet tall. deadly weapons at his side. scars ripple down his face, down his neck, two inches wide and dark against his scaly skin.

he barely paid her any attention, turning around to motion to the others. back was the click of the chains. two more guard appeared in the door, with someone else between them.

someone new.

she watched them carefully chain him to the lumenite wall. they didn't know what they had just done. what they had just started. they just stalked away, leaving just the two of them.

their eyes met. his lips curved into a smirk, nodding at her from his own little cell. it was hard to keep herself from smiling. she had grown old here. lived and died here. seen nobody come in and nobody go out.

it seemed that would change.

•·················•·················••·················•·················••·················•·················•

she gasped for air, bolting up in bed. this wasn't new. another nightmare, more fires, more sugary smells. another night without them here.

small tears trickled down her cheeks, landing on the silky sheets.

it had been a weeks.

she threw off the covers, crawling out of the bed, letting her feet sink into the soft carpet. light streamed into the dark bedroom, moving gracefully with the watery sky. the roads of the city were empty now. everyone was asleep.

"except you." she muttered, glaring at the city.

she couldn't say she hated it here. it was gorgeous, not to mention luxurious, and the people here couldn't be nicer. but it wasn't right.

she hummed under her breath, sliding down to the floor, smiling as a large ball of fur slunk over to sit on her lap.

"hey there marty." she whispered, stroking his fur. "i bet you miss home, don't ya? they don't have temptation treats over here."

he blinked his large, dark eyes at her, meowing softly.

"yeah, it's weird for me too. but we're safe." she said, sending a commanding glare the cat's way. "sophie's got us covered, alright?"

another soft meow pierced the silence.

"mhm. i completely agree. she is definitely in love with that teal-eye guy."

the lights flicked off outside, the sounds of shuffling feet echoing through the room.

she nodded, giving the animal a small kiss. "yeah, it's very interesting. and don't be scared. mom and dad are fine, i promise."

now the lights in the streets were turning off, bathing the city in a blanket of darkness. "they'll be fine."

she climbed back into the bed, pulling the sheets tightly around her. shadows danced over the gray-purple walls, fading into the darkness of the night.

she hadn't made a wish like this since she was 6. her grandma, and something called cancer. all she had known back then was that it killed people. that was 7 years ago. and now she was wishing again.

hopefully this time it would work.

•·················•·················••·················•·················••·················•·················•

so now, what do you think, my dear?

do you still think the king is a monster?

that the recluse does not care?

that the child is safe?

do you see the others in this tale?

do you see it differently?

[shizekarnstein]

About Eren, child Eren, the sky and Reiner:

Quick notes bc I don't know when I'll have the time to just sit down and write a long post about this:

Eren feels trapped under the certainity that the future he saw is absolute and written in stone. That nothing he can do is even going to change it. He's self aware of what commiting to that vision would do, and even then decides to keep chasing that dream, bc not only it's inevitable but also theres the chance whatever awaits beyond those rivers of blood can amount to something, anything beyond doing nothing. That's his reasoning now and what he said to Falco back in Liberio.

What's Eren's dream? Freedom. It's always being freedom. A freedom without the constricts of a tall wall blocking the view. The freedom of a wide blue sky, so high and divine that nothing can ever reach those who manage to touch it. Freedom is the wonder and giddiness of the beautiful stories from Armin's book: a world without parallels and beyond one's imagination.

But that's not what reality ended up looking like. Freedom isn't beyond the walls after all, the sky continues to be high and unreachable. And going by those visions Eren's being having for four years, the price to that freedom is as high as the clouds.

When Eren thought about freedom it was a child dream. A childish dream. Taking a look beyond the ocean only let him with dissapointment bc his dream wasnt real. I would rather everything else dissapeared, bc that wasnt what I envisoned. That's the voice of a child whose views have been shattered.

And that's why while the titans crush everything in sight (the plants, the houses, people, people's dreams and futures) Eren can only manage to look at it through the eyes of a child.

He said he's as bad (and worse) than Reiner, and that's when the comparision comes to play. Not only knowing you're going to do something beyond horrible and unspeakable, but the guilt, the shame, the dirtiness you feel while doing so is so great and crippling that the only way you can manage to keep going is to shut away a part of yourself. The part of yourself that knows what you are doing is wrong and can't bear to even look at it. In Reiner's case he could do it clinging to his dream of being a hero and later by literally having his psyche split as a coping mechanism to deal with his own fault and actions. Eren does the same thing: his consciousness, that part of himself that knows better than childish stories, in other words his adult eyes that witnessed the reality of the people beyond the ocean, that knows there are good and innocents and evil and guilty parties, that are children, dreams, all the same things as in Paradis... those eyes and awareness are closed. Because even if he's commited, even if he already choose, is soul wreacking to him to witness. The embrance of a sweet, childish dream is (either by choice or as a coping mechanism) infinetly better, and clearly the only way he can endure it.

So that's why Child Eren only rejoices in seeing a wide, inmense blue sky. Free of worries, full of wonderful things and marvels. And when he notices that those clouds arent just clouds but the steam of the march of the titans, that the floor is bathed in the blood of the people he's crushing, Eren's expression changes and refuses to keep looking. He smiles again and calls to Armin, the one who shared his innocent dreams.

Eren can keep smiling and being ignorant of what's really happening, all that it takes is shutting his knowing eyes and continue dreaming.

[narrators-journal]

Chapter two

This is the second part of the dark first part I posted! It is not quite as dark as the first, more fantastical and further from real life issues.

Eve wasn't completely unconscious, she supposed. She could feel the warmth of the watery substance that she drifted through until her back hit what felt like stone. However, when she opened her eyes, all she saw was a sea of black speckled with white dots that seemed to be drifting through the water.

Despite the dark, when she raised her hands to her face she could still see her pale skin against the inky darkness. The same went with the floating skirt of the white dress she now wore instead of the unwashed hoodie and sweat pants she'd been wearing only a moment before.

Where am I? Eve thought, knowing that she wasn't dead, but at the same time, how else could she explain what this place was? There was no reason or logic that could convince her that this stone floor and void of watery black above her was anything but extra-dimensional, but she also knew that she wasn't dead. This was all too...weird, to be her afterlife.

Before Eve could contemplate her surroundings any further, movement in the water demanded her attention. So, she turned her head towards the source, gulping down a gasp of the liquid-like air when she saw him.

Sitting a distance away from her, towering over her at the height of that abandoned building she'd broken into, was a humanoid looking skeleton, sitting with two hands over its face as if it were weeping, and two more clawing into its own shins. The sight made her sit up, scrambling to her feet soon after and still having to tilt her head back to see the creature's face.

It was hard to see its face in the darkness, but the first thing to send icy terror into Eve's veins and root her to the spot, other than the sheer size of the beast, was a slice of glowing violet staring down at her from the darkness. It had seen her.

For a moment, the two of them stared at one another for a moment. Then Eve turned on her heel and bolted away from him. However, she was only met with a solid wall, forcing her to turn back and scan the area for any other chances at freedom.

While the creature was blocking a pair of large wooden doors, there was at least a stair case that curved up to a second floor. So, hoping she wasn't being insanely stupid, the dark haired woman raced for them just as a swirl of black energy began to tornado around the beast with increasing force, who gave an unearthly scream that further fuelled her mad dash away from him.

At that moment, if her veins hadn't been pumping with a painful sense of panic, Eve would've found herself rooted to the ground in amazement at the sight of the creature behind her dissapearing for a moment in the storm of shadows, then appearing at a more manageable size. Chasing her through a confusing maze of hallways and rooms once he had, until she came across some sort of bridge.

Eve had no clue how she'd gotten outside, or if she was even outside at all, but she ran for the other side nonetheless. Only to crash into the wall and nearly tip out of the arch-shaped opening into the sea of darkness if she hadn't caught herself.

With a look to her left and right, her worst fear was confirmed. So, with nowhere else to go, she turned to face the beast on her heels. Just as she turned though, he pounced on her, sending her over the edge and into the watery ink beyond it.

However, the creature didn't sink the needle-like teeth it had lining its jaws into her throat, or shred her with the razor sharp claws she felt when it wrapped its four arms around her tightly despite how its bones crumbled like a sand castle under a wave. Despite how...gentle, the creature was seemingly being, Eve still felt the watery air get into her lungs, filling it like water would. Drowning her all the same.

[joezworld]

Delta Dawn (10/10)

April, 1995

“Soooo...” Siobhan asked James teasingly over lunch. “When’re ye gonna put a ring on it?”

James, who had not been expecting such a question, spluttered and choked for a minute as Siobhan fell over laughing. 

“I’m sure that I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he said at last, his face going as red as his paintwork. 

“Sure ye don’!” She giggled. “Just like I’m sure that ye and Del’ ‘ave been shagging each other senseless for fifteen years! You’ve got ta make an honest diesel of ‘er at some point, Red!” 

“We-” James choked.

“-are no’ subtle. Everyone else is just blind.” 

“Well - I - You - we - What about you and Declan?” James eventually managed. 

Siobhan shrugged. “Deccie’s too much o’ a puss to ask me - he’s afraid ‘is parents won’t like ‘im ‘marrying down’. Which, considerin’ that his parents are like, crazy rich Indians who care only about status, I canno’ really blame ‘im”. 

“So if he’s not going to marry you, then why are you cheeking off to me?”

“Cause I’m gonna ask him to marry me.” The woman said smugly. “Deccie’s parents won’t be able to say no if I ask because it’d look bad to their friends - they just don’t think I’d do it because they think that girls are weak and subdued!”

James goggled. “They have met you, right?”

“I know, right?” She stretched out on James’ bufferbeam. “I just have to find out his ring size and I’ll do it.”

“Ring size?” 

“Oh yeah, ye lot don’ have those. It’s what you put on yer finger to say that ye tied the knot.” She pointed to the fourth finger on her left hand. “It goes ‘ere. Every girl in ma school knew what 'er size was, but blokes are hopeless.”

“Hmm...” James looked pensive. “I might be able to help with that.”

Siobhan raised a surprised eyebrow. 

--------------

Later

“Declan!” James called across the platform. He’d become friends with Siobhan’s boyfriend from the moment they’d met - the sharp-dressed Indian businessman was one of the few people who kept up with fashion at the same pace as James did, and they frequently spoke about the latest trends. 

“James! Have you seen this?” Declan smiled as he trotted over with a fresh copy of GQ.

--

Later Still

“He’s a size 11.”

“How did-”

“-And he likes coloured gemstones - apparently they’re ‘conflict-free’, whatever that means. Make sure that the stones have some meaning about you, because he thinks about you more than him. And don’t worry, he doesn’t suspect a thing.”

“How?” 

“I’m James the Splendid Engine - I can do anything.”

-----

One Week Later

Siobhan asked Declan to marry her a week later. James was away on a train when she did it, so he didn’t see it, but apparently Donald and Douglas caused quite the commotion. 

-

That Night

“-so then Donald keeps whistling even after everyone stopped applauding, and it turns out that he’d managed to jam his whistle open!” Henry had seen the whole thing, and was eagerly relaying the story to James at the coaling stage. “I know that it’s a special event, but I’m glad Gordon didn’t see it - he’d never let him hear the end of it.”

They both had a good laugh over that - much to the consternation of Gordon, who knew they were laughing at him but not why. 

-

“Have you put any thought into it?” Henry said once the laughter had died down. 

“Have you?” James asked quietly. Why was everyone asking him about this?

“Of course I have - and it’s illegal.” The green engine sighed deeply. 

“What? I thought that the Magistrate in Arlesburgh...”

“That man can do many things, but he can’t make gay marriage legal.”

“Oh.” That brought James up short. “If it were?”

“Yes.” Henry said immediately. 

No more was said. James was lost in thought, and Henry was fairly sure he knew what about. 

Gordon, who was watching them suspiciously, wondered whether the entire Island had gone crazy when he wasn’t looking, or if he had gone insane and no-one had bothered to tell him. 

-

James was somewhat more subdued than normal for the next few days. It did not go unnoticed, but he refused to say why, only insisting that he was fine, and was thinking about something. 

The Fat Controller made several attempts to discover the root of the problem, and only grew more confused as each engine claimed to have heard a different reason why. 

-

“I know that you have something to do with this.” Gordon snapped at Henry after the Fat Controller left the sheds. 

“Whatever could you mean?” Henry asked, the very picture of innocence. 

“Henry. Look at me. Look at my face.” 

“I am. Perhaps that’s why James is so upset - there’s a hair growing out of your nose at a most upsetting angle.”

“I will put you back into that tunnel.”

“No, you won’t.” Bear said, suddenly awake and interested in the conversation. Gordon had been joking, but the Hymek wasn’t, and his tone implied violence if the topic wasn’t changed. 

----------------------

A Few Weeks Later

“Psst. Psst. Miss Delta, over here!” One of the coaches whispered to Delta from the entrance of the coach shed. 

“What is it, Norma?” Delta grumbled. The coaches had been decidedly on-edge around her for the past few days, and it was starting to become wearisome.

“Can you please come into the sheds? There’s something very important that you need to see!” The second-class coach was looked like she was letting Delta in on a secret, which instantly put the diesel on the alert. 

“Why?” She said, visions of past April Fools Days fresh in her mind. 

“I can’t tell you out here!” 

“How am I supposed to get in there?” Her engine may have been running, but there was no crew in sight - and even if they were here, there was no way that her driver would run her into the carriage sheds based on some gossip. 

“You could ask Miss Siobhan!” The coach said brightly. 

Delta blinked. Donald and Douglas’ daughter/driver was not usually drawn into the coaches’ cockamamie schemes, but was clearly standing by the fuel pumps holding - but not reading - a magazine like she was waiting to be noticed. 

“Huh?” Siobhan said with faux-ignorance. “What am I doing?”

“Could you move Miss Delta into the shed dear?” The coach didn’t even bother with pleasantries, and Siobhan didn’t even bother answering, instead springing into action - throwing her magazine to the ground and clambering into Delta’s cab before the diesel had time to process what was happening. 

“Oi!” She yelped as Siobhan poked and prodded at levers until Delta started moving. “You can’t do that! You’re not qualified on diesels!” 

“I’m a smart girl, I can figure it out.” Siobhan smiled as she rolled Delta into the carriage sheds. 

“Figure it out, my buffers! If I go through the opposite wall...” Delta’s shouting faded as she entered the sheds. 

-

From across the yards, Gordon and Thomas watched as the red diesel dissapeared into the dark confines of the carriage shed, the door closing behind her. 

“Thomas, do you ever feel like there are things on this island that we are not aware of?”

“I think you must be bad at noticing things if you don’t know what’s going on right in front of you.”

“Coming from you, that’s like the pot calling the kettle black.”

“Oh really? I know everything, Gordon.”

“Tell me what the word ‘drip’ means, then.”

“It means shut up Gordon.”

“Really? I thought it meant ‘small engines who tell embarrassing stories to authors and then are surprised when those stories are published.’”

“Why don’t we speculate wildly about why Delta was just driven into the carriage shed, hmm?”

“I thought that you knew everything, Thomas. Why don’t you just tell me what she’s doing in there?”

“...”

“What’s that? Is it possible that you don’t know? How strange! I thought that you were omnipotent.”

“shut up Gordon.”

-----------

Inside the carriage shed, Delta was in the dark - literally. All the lights were off, and the roll up door had rolled down behind her. 

“What kind of Mickey-Mouse bullshit is this?” She muttered to the empty room, too caught up in the entirety of the event to realize that Siobhan had scampered back down her cab ladder and vanished into the building. 

After a moment of quiet murmuring in the dark, a small voice called out. “all right girls - on three, two, one!”

Before Delta could ask what was happening, the light over one track snapped on. A single coach - Delta thought she was Dulcie, one of Duck’s coaches - sat in the circle of illumination. She smiled at the diesel for a moment before a piano of all things, started playing over the building’s PA system. 

Delta dawn, what’s that flower you have on, could it be a faded rose from days gone by? The coach was now singing, and Delta was now thoroughly baffled. 

She's forty-one and her daddy still calls her, 'baby' All the folks around Brownsville say she's crazy 'Cause she walks down town with a suitcase in her hand Looking for a mysterious dark-haired man

It was bad form to interrupt when somecoach was singing - even if they were clearly deranged, but when this song was over there was going to be some explaining to do. 

In her younger days they called her Delta Dawn Prettiest woman you ever laid eyes on Then a man of low degree stood by her side And promised her he'd take her for his bride

For obvious reasons, Delta was familiar with this song, and was rather startled when more lights snapped on, revealing another one of Duck’s coaches - Isabel perhaps? - and Marie and Lilith, two of the first class coaches from the Express, who were all providing backing vocals. 

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on Could it be a faded rose from days gone by? And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today To take you to his mansion in the sky?

The centre of the shed was still shrouded in darkness when the lights on the edges snapped on, but Delta wasn’t really in a position to notice, as she was too busy goggling at the sudden appearance of an entire express rake’s worth of coaches on the remaining tracks, all of whom began singing the chorus of the song. 

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on Could it be a faded rose from days gone by? And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today To take you to his mansion in the sky?

A light in the back flickered to life, showing Siobhan’s fiancé Declan playing an electric keyboard. Siobhan was next to him with a tambourine. Who is doing this, and how many people are involved? Delta wondered to herself as the music built to the last verses. 

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on Could it be a faded rose from days gone by? And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today To take you to his mansion in the sky?

The lights in the centre of the sheds began to brighten, revealing a very familiar set of shapes - on the tracks to either side of hers, Bear and Henry slowly became visible, grinning like lunatics. 

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on Could it be a faded rose from days gone by? And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today To take you to his mansion in the sky?

Finally, the light in the centre of the shed turned on, revealing -

“Jamie?!”

James’ smile was threating to break his smokebox in half. “Hello gorgeous.”

“Hello yourself,” Delta said, still extremely overwhelmed. “Did you put all this on? Why?”

“Because I wanted to show you how much you mean to me.” James said sincerely, drawing an “aaaw” from the coaches. 

“That’s - Jamie - you didn’t have to...”

James smiled. “Of course I didn’t - but I wanted to. Especially because I wanted today to be special.”

“Why?”

Bear opened his mouth, seemed to realize what he was doing, and then immediately shut it again.

Delta looked at James as she began to put the pieces together. Her mouth dropped open. “Jamie. Are you...”

“Asking you to marry me? Yes I am.”

---

Across the Yard

“Are you really going to bring that up now? It’s been almost fifty years and I didn’t tell him about that!”

“Well I certainly didn’t run my mouth to every clergyman I saw running around with a notebook, so it must have been you.”

“It wasn’t! And thank goodness for that, by the way! Can you imagine the size of your smokebox if the stories were called ‘Gordon the Big Engine and His Friends?’ I can’t imagine that there’d be room on the Island for the rest of us!”

 “The only reas - what on earth?”

Thomas and Gordon were drawn out of their bickering by an explosion of cheers from within the carriage sheds. It was loud even from their side of the yard - it must have been cacophonous inside the building. 

“You know what Gordon?” Thomas said as the cheers continued with no sign of quieting down. “I take it back. There are things going on in this Island that we don’t know about.”