#the tories are burning the world to the ground

[tuttle-did-it]

ATTENTION UK VOTERS

Reminder that last year the gov't passed a law in voter suppression requiring photo ID.

Please watch this video from TLDR News explaining the situation, and then check if you have a valid form of ID to vote. The Tories are counting on the fact that you don't have a valid form of ID (especially if you're a student or young person, because statistically, young people are more likely to not vote Tory and not have an ID.

The Tories have been responsible for the rise of wealth inequality, more debt, the rising living costs, the dismantling of disability benefits, their intentional collapse of the NHS and privatisation that benefit their pockets, increase in homelessness, food bank use, rough sleeping, evictions, the housing crisis, the increase in student debt, the increase in hate crimes, the increase in poverty, the increase in knife crimes, the increase in suicides (especially by queer teens), scandal after scandal for behaviour of the MPs and PMs, and so much more.

The best way to start getting these Tories held responsible for their actions is to get better people in control during the election.

You cannot do this without an ID.

Please visit here to make sure you have a valid ID, and remember to REGISTER TO VOTE ASAP!

[sashi-ya]

東京 NIGHTS mini event

𝑰'𝑳𝑳 𝑩𝑬 𝑾𝑨𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ 𓂃 ࣪˖ okkotsu yuuta x fem! reader

⤹˚ synopsis. some years have passed since the incident; he moved overseas, you stayed... however, you never forgot, and you always waited

requested by: Anon ➡ hi sash, I saw you love Yuta so can I ask for our sweet boy with a fem! reader and the prompt "meet me at Hachiko statue in 3 yeas"? thank you! tw: sfw. sweet, romantic. fluffy. based on Hachiko's and his story. there might be a second part of this story, with 18+ cont. You can tell me if you want me to post it ~ wc: 1.4k masterlist

“Meet me three years from now at the Hachiko Statue” “Shibuya? Again?”

Three years have passed, the incident left your hearts barely hanging from the tiny strings of an undeveloped love.

Waiting, day after day. Night after night.

A light rain plays a soft melody against the transparent surface of your umbrella. Your lips tremble, even if you fight for your façade to look as serious as possible. The doors of the subway station feel like the holy tori of a sanctuary; after all that happened some years ago, looking at the “to Shibuya” signs still makes you dizzy.

You watch youngsters coming back from school, other enjoying themselves as they probably get ready to visit karaoke bars tonight. And you remember that you used to be exactly the same as them… even if from the corner of your eye, creatures of many different types appeared to make you late.

This time, however, there was no creature. No curse. No ghost. But only the feeling of what once happened there. How many of you have lost much more than what you could remember…

You check your phone; no message from Okkotsu still. Will he be there? At least, is he in Tokyo at all?

You swallow and swipe the card on the ticket gate; the “beep” allows you to keep walking, but the sound of your heart beating fast covers it all. Soon enough, the subway train arrives perfectly in time, and letting other people go in first, you find a seat waiting just for you.

Once again, you check your phone. Nothing.

“He is not coming, why am I doing this? he probably forgot about me and this, and I can’t blame him…”

Sweaty palms make your phone get steam marks on its screen, but you don’t mind. Your leg bounces softly, the music in your earphones have absolutely no importance to you right now.

You close your eyes, wondering how he looks like now. Does he still have those dark beautiful circles under his eyes? The little reddish hint that always made him look as he had just stopped crying? The blackest messy hair, or maybe his narrow frame… “I just hope you haven’t forget about me, even if you don’t come”  

It takes very little for the subway to finally reach Shibuya station. Or maybe it was just you lost in time, that you didn’t notice.

As you walk up the stairs of infinite steps, you begin to feel the soft breeze of the busiest crosswalk in the world. It cools off your cheeks, already burning because Yuuta has always been your secret crush.

The rain has stopped, and there are just some pools on the ground reflecting the neon lights of the newly reconstructed Shibuya… this place used to look a lot different a few years ago.

The beat of the traffic lights sounds synchronize with your heart beating; the laughter of young people, the imagery of couples joining after work, the memories of painful and bloody happenings… everything surrounds you, turning your quivering legs a lot more weak than before.

You check your phone one last time before crossing; you need to get to the statue of Hachiko. That was your meeting point. Such a curious choice you had; Hachiko waited for his owner at the station until he died, because he knew one day he would come back…

As you cross, your eyes scan for the place. Looking at the faces of every man you could find, your disappointment grows bigger and bigger. None of them are him; none of them will be either.

You decide to wait for 10 minutes. Nothing more. Nothing less.

A few tourists stop you once you get to the statue, distracting you. They need to know their way to a certain restaurant, so you take your time to help them. But when they are finally gone, you are back to your loneliness.

“I’m going to check my phone one last time…” you think; unblocking your device. Nothing; again. “Yes, you are not coming… I hope you are fine, Yuuta” you whisper, low enough just for you to hear it.

With your head lowered, defeated, you begin to walk away. The rain has started to fall again, but you don’t even care to open your umbrella. It’s ok if your hair gets wet. It’s ok if your make up fades.

You wait at the traffic light to turn to green, you only want to hop on the station of your nightmares to go back home. Once and for all.

As the mass begins to move, and you put a foot on the street, something catches your attention.

A big bouquet of purple flowers covers the face of a tall man asking to forgive him while he opens his way through the crowd.

“Ah… lucky girl. Late but at least with such a big bouquet…” you smile, with your eyes turning a little shiny from incipient tears.

“(Name)!!” he screams, the moment that flower man reaches you. He bumps into you with the flowers, and he has yelled your name. You blink repeatedly, only looking at the hand holding the bouquet. A silver ring shines on his hand, and it makes you shiver…

There, right in the middle of Shibuya cross, under now a pouring rain, the shy face of a man sprouts from in between beautiful purple flowers.

“(Name)! My flight was delayed, but I wanted to buy you this before I came. I’m sorry, I am so happy you didn’t leave” he chimes, with a soft smile that hasn’t changed. He is a man now, stronger, taller, mature… but Yuuta is still the softest little boy you once met at the academy.

Your lower lip shakes like a leaf, and the tears start going down your cheeks. Maybe the rest won’t notice because of the rain, but Yuuta does. You can’t speak, no words come out of your mouth.

Violently crying now, you let yourself fall into his arms. The bouquet hangs from his hand to the side, while you nuzzle on the crook of his neck.

“(Name), don’t cry! I am here! are you ok?!!” he desperately asks, hugging you hard against his chest.

You sniffle and nod, inhaling his sweet perfume. Another thing that hasn’t changed a bit; his skin scent has always been the same. Even if the times you were able to enjoy it were barely twice, you can’t forget it.

“I… I thought you had forgotten” you murmur, as both walk hugging back to the sidewalk.

“Wh-what? I’ve been counting the days to see you again” he whispers, with his lips resting on the crown of your head. “How could I forget? I missed you so much”

You look up searching for his eyes, a sweet beam garnishes your face. He still has those dark circles; he still has that enchanting pouty lips. “You haven’t changed a bit, Yuta…” you whisper, allowing the warmth of his embrace to protect you from anything around.

He giggles, that pure laughter that makes you melt. “And here I thought I was getting older… you did, however, change (Name)…” he says, kissing your forehead after.

You gasp, the old Yuuta would have had a stroke before even kissing you. Or at least his cheeks would have become as red as tomatoes – to say the least.

“You look even more beautiful than before” he finishes, leaving you absolutely breathless.

You swiftly look around him; you don’t want to get killed by Rika. Once you positively check you are safe, you stretch your neck to reach for his lips.

Your mouth lingers closer to his, so close they can even touch but not quite yet. The warmth of his breath caressing your lips, yours doing the same thing to his. Maybe you just wait for him to kiss you, or maybe both want to enjoy the little previous moments of something that you’ve been waiting even before than you two met for the very first time.

“Can I kiss you?” he asks, taking his hand to your cheek. The soft caress, the cold touch of the ring grazing your skin… please do…

You nod, pouting just enough to meet his crashing lips. Both closed your eyes just when your eyes could see into each other’s, just when it was time to feel rather than see…

Your first kiss, and then another, and another. And the tourists taking pictures, because what’s more beautiful than a couple joining after years right by the statue of Hachiko who waited only moved by pure love?  💖

[pixydustworld]

The room was warm, heat sticking to her naked skin. 

The girl beside her was crying, silent wracking sobs, shoulders shaking with effort to keep the sound at bay — the hum of the conversation was too loud, the lights too bright. Hermione inhaled slowly through her nose, bitter air burning her tongue. The collar around her neck was too tight for her to turn her head and that, somehow, was the worst bit. 

What if it was someone she knew? Someone she’d grown up with? Someone she had hated, perhaps. Once, but never now. 

She wouldn’t cry, not here. Not in front of eager vultures, ready to lick the salt from her skin; she would do it later. In the ever-unfolding after. After she was sold, after she was bought, after she was broken in.

After she killed the men who made the nameless girl beside her sob for a life long past, after she killed anyone who knew about what was occurring — after she slit their throat the muggle way, reveling in the mundaneness of their death. After, after, after,

 After she was done, then she would cry.

*

When Harry died, it felt as if a part of Hermione had died, too. A phantom limb, the feeling of something missing, burrowing all the way to her bones. When his lifeless body tumbled from Hagrid’s arms, she felt it like a blow to her chest, knocking her backward, and splitting her in two. 

He’d killed Voldemort. And himself. It made sense, in its own bitter way — in the end, she wasn’t sure if there had been much of a distinction between the two of them.

Then, in the chaos of death, Hermione had run.

After that, everything had disintegrated, crumbling like grand castles of sand, slipping beneath her feet. She had been captured after two and a half years on the run, long enough to begin to believe she could survive, short enough to know she never would. They had cornered her on a cliff’s edge — the churning sea to her back, an unavoidable future to her front.

Without hesitating, she had turned to jump — to be free in death, that would be enough. To belong, unabashedly, to her own choices. 

But, she had never been lucky. Always clever and bright, but never lucky. A Death Eater had caught her in their arms before she’d slipped away into the mist of the sea, arms tightly banded across her ribcage. 

“Not yet.” They had hissed. 

*

“Do you remember your name?”

The girl tensed beside her and then relaxed at the sound of Hermione’s voice, sobs dissipating, floating away like bubbles in the soft evening air of her childhood. “Daphne.” She whispered. “Greengrass. Tori was in your year, I think.”

“Is Tori here?” It felt foreign in Hermione’s mouth, calling Astoria Greengrass of all people a childhood nickname, but it was somehow grounding, too. To be reminded of all the little things that made someone whole. To know that one day (after, after, after) Hermione would be whole, too. 

“No.” Daphne’s voice trembled. “She fought back after the first round of these —” She hesitated, searching for the right word. “Auctions, I suppose we’d call it. Said it was barbaric and cruel. Managed to kill three or four Death Eaters before they got her.”

Astoria Greengrass had always been quiet, standing in the shadows of her more vocal friends — clear memories of her smile flittered across Hermione’s thoughts. Of how her nose had crinkled when she’d laughed, how she managed to wish everyone in their year happy birthday, despite their house.

In fact, the last they had spoken had been on Hermione’s seventeenth birthday.

“We’ll make them pay.”

Daphne was silent for a long time, the noise in the room ebbing and flowing around them. “Yes.” She said finally, “We will.”

*

In the cloudy moments of clarity, Hermione watched from her cell as the world crumbled around her. Unraveling, like a massive trap; a lazy predator, intent on devouring their prey with ease. Sold to the highest bidder for the prize of her virginity. If she’d had enough energy, Hermione might have even laughed — if anyone climbed between her thighs, she would rip out their throat. 

 She still had her teeth, after all. 

An aching routine of Dreamless sleep potions and blurry thoughts, sticky and stretched out, as if her mind was taffy. 

Then one night, he came for her. 

“Do you want to live?”

Hermione blinked until his face came into view.

“I think I’m already dead.” She said, brows furrowed. “Or dreaming.”

“Hermione.” He said a bit more firmly. “Answer me.”

Hermione frowned. “I did.” She whined. 

Draco Malofy was crouched before her, fingers white around the rungs of her cell. He looked concerned. Angry, even, which meant she was definitely dreaming. “I’ve got some Wideye.” He said softly, speaking to her as if she were a cornered animal. “I’m going to give it to you through the bars, alright? Don’t bite me.”

Hermione snapped her teeth at him anyway, biting his thumb. He sighed, as if he’d known it would happen, but let her nip at his flesh until she was content she’d left behind marks. 

“Always so scared of me.” She said, taking the cork off the vial with her teeth, spitting it somewhere on the floor. “Even when we were little. Do you remember? The first day of potions? I brushed your hand and you almost cried. Said I was stealing your magic with my dirty muggle blood.”

Malfoy grimaced. “Drink the vial, please. I can apologize for all that later. But I need you awake now, we have more important things to discuss.”

“Only because you’re pretty.” Hermione told the dream version of Malfoy, fondness that didn’t belong dripping across her tone. “And bright, I think. Like looking at the sun.”

“That’s very nice.” He said. The hand that she had bitten flexed and then reached out through the bars, touching a stray curl. “Drink up, now. Alright? For me?”

After, when she was awake and he was still there, Hermione scrambled away from him, all trembling limbs and furrowed brows. 

They stared at one another, their breath the only sound echoing through the darkness — she didn’t know what to say. Thank you? Why are you here? Come closer so I can kill you?

She settled with: “I know it was you on the cliff.” Hermione hissed, spit and hatred and all the anger she’d ever felt, pouring gracefully into her words. “I’ll never forgive you for that.” 

Someone would’ve caught her in the end, she knew this. An illusion of choice, snatched from her aching hands; it was a bitter thing, knowing it had been him.

“Is this you thanking me for saving your life?” Malfoy tilted his head to the side. “You’re not very good at saying thank you.”

He didn’t deny it, didn’t scramble to invent a reason for his choices — instead he simply looked at her, eyes unwavering. Unafraid of her, it seemed. All the other guards taunted her, nasty and cruel, but they never lingered. Never crouched to her level, never spoke to her, never called to her by name.

“You think you saved my life?” She laughed, feeling a bit unhinged. Feeling like a piece of glass that he’d glued back together, sharp and uneven edges, not the same as she’d once been. Different, now destined to only draw blood. “Leave.”

“No.” Malfoy was still crouching at her level, so calm and even. Had he always been that way? Beneath all the schoolyard taunts and ill-conceived prejudice? “I asked you something, Granger. Do you want to live?” He hesitated, eyes flickering across her bruised skin, the gash in her side, the determined look in her eyes. He knew she’d bite him, and he’d come anyway.

No wonder she had been the top of their class, Draco Malfoy was an idiot. 

“Do you want to make everyone here suffer?” He asked in a low voice. “Make them die slow and painful deaths? I want that. I think you do, too.”

Hermione knew what was coming. In three days she would be dragged out by her collar, forced to kneel naked before a crowd. What she didn't know was why he was in the cellar with her, dirtying his expensive pants, talking to her. “Why do you even care?”

His facade flickered, but only for a moment. She blinked, and he was back to normal, no trace of anger across his face. “Maybe I’ve decided to no longer be a coward.”

Hermione scoffed loudly. “Not good enough.”

Malfoy’s eyes narrowed slightly, looking annoyed. Good. “I want to save you.” He said tightly. “So that you can save everyone else. It’s what you do, right? Free the downtrodden?”

“You are part of the downtrodden?”

“No.” Careless in his admission of wealth and security. “But someone  — ” He flinched, turning away. “Someone I care about is suffering because of my cowardice. I want to be better. Maybe I can. I probably won’t, but I’d like to try. I’ll buy you and set you free. We can get the other girls' wands. Kill everyone involved.” 

Hermione glared at him. Words were pretty, but often empty. Whispering to her in the darkness — that wouldn’t be enough. A lifetime of misfortune had taught Hermione to never ask for more, but here, at this moment in the cellar, in the darkness, at the beginning of the end, Hermione opened her mouth. 

 “Swear it.” She bit out. “Use an Unbreakable Vow. Swear that you’ll free all of us. That you’ll help me until the very end.”

“Alright.” Malfoy responded without hesitation. “Whatever you want.” He turned back to face her, eyes glittering in the darkness. “I’ll ask you again. Do you want to live?”

“Yes.” She was still spitting, still ready to kill him. But truthful, too. Never lucky, but always clever and bright. If he wanted to free her to soothe the ache in his unredeemable soul, she would let him. “I do.”

Malfoy grinned. Soft and slow, like the sunrise, like the beginning of something wonderful and terrible. “Good.” He said. “That, I can work with.” 

And then: “Give me your hand.”

*

A voice was talking, loud and brash, echoing through the room. Hermione felt more eyes on her body, more and more people drinking in her naked flesh — other girls were brought in, kneeling beside her. Through the corner of her eye, she saw familiar faces. Ones she knew, classmates from her year, from her house, even.

This would never work. Panic was beginning to spread across her skin, flames of worry consuming her completely. She should have fought harder on the cliff’s edge, she should have tried to escape again and again, she should have bitten more people — 

Gloved fingers brushed across her skin, tilting her chin upwards. 

Knees trembling beneath her, sore from kneeling for hours — her collar shifted under his touch, allowing her to see him.

He looked different. Not like the man from before, the one in the cell who had promised her freedom. Face lit up only by the glow of an Unbreakable Vow. In his place was the mask. A creature who wore his face for comfort; almost unrecognizable, cold and distant.

“Hello, pet.” He said. His thumb smoothed circles along her jaw, a light trace of leather on her skin. Somehow grounding her, all at once. Trembling breaths crashed through her chest, heaving and unrelenting, finally remembering how to breathe. “Don’t you look pretty.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes. His eyes were warm on her skin, hotter than the room; he pushed his thumb slowly into her mouth, the taste of his leather gloves heavy on her tongue.

“Careful, Draco.” A voice from her left said. The one from before, loud and brash. The man in charge. She’d kill him last, elongated suffering and such. “This one bites.”

Malfoy didn’t look away from her face. “Oh, I know.”

*

“I’ll have to.” He inhaled, looking away. “Use you. In front of everyone.”

Hermione thought of the inevitability of it all. A series of choices had led her here, to the cellar, talking about publicly losing her virginity to Draco Malfoy. She could dwell on the missteps for the rest of her life, the moments where she chose wrong, pushing herself off the original path.

But Hermione was pragmatic, even now. She knew, with unmistakable clarity, that she would survive this; that one day, she would return to her beloved original path. That sooner rather than later, she would fix all of this — and it would be because of him, too. Because he was willing to risk his life for her own.

 She glanced up, finding his eyes firmly on her face. He never looked below, not even glancing at her shoulders — they’d taken her clothing in preparation for the evening, and he seemed determined not to notice. 

“Better you than someone else.” She said at last.

His face was miserable, so often he seemed to carefully conceal how he was feeling — but not now. “I’m sorry.” He said. “For all of it.” 

Hermione tilted her head to the side, curls brushing her skin. Shivering in the darkness, watching her only companion, someone she had hated, perhaps. Once, but never now. “I actually think you mean that.” She said softly. “How frightening for you.”

*

The evening was unfolding slowly, yawning to life. Malfoy stood by her side, thoughtfully petting her hair as he spoke to others, fingers tangling through the curls. Despite herself, Hermione felt herself begin to sag, leaning softly against Malfoy’s leg’s. He didn't even blink, simply adjusted to support her weight.

“— You have breed them well.” A Death Eater she vaguely recognized was saying, “Keep them busy and full. I’m sure you’ll have a hard time with this one, but they all soften after a while.”

“I’ll try my best.” Was Malfoy’s flat reply.

Hermione was fighting the urge to roll her eyes when she felt Daphne stiffen beside her. From the way Malfoy was still absentmindedly holding her chin, she could see the room better, see who was standing next to her. 

Theodore Nott was staring down at Daphne, frozen in horror. Hermione had given them detention once for kissing behind a tapestry after curfew. They had run back to the dungeons, hand in hand — the sound of their giggles echoing off the walls; the sweetness of youth, love ever fading. Perhaps it wasn’t all gone.

Despite the terribleness of the current outcome of her life, the swirling dread that permanently held residence in her chest, Hermione felt a moment of relief. Daphne would be alright. She knew nothing about Theodore, about the type of man he was — but she recognized the look in his eyes, understood loyalty, felt it thrumming through her veins, even now.

He wouldn’t leave Daphne behind to the wolves. 

The hand in her hair tightened, twisting gently. “Theo.” Malfoy’s voice was soft, a memory of lifetimes ago, whispering to his friends while Hermione glared at them from across the classroom. “Find something you like?”

Theo didn’t look away from Daphne, still staring down at her face. “Yes.” He said finally, voice rough, trembling around the words. Poorly concealed rage breaking through his throat, dripping across his tone. “I think I have.”

*

“I’d rather you do it now.” Hermione said suddenly. “Here.”

“Here?” Malfoy was blinking down at her in the darkness. 

“You’re going to have to fuck me at some point.” Hermione frowned. This had been his plan, had he even considered the outcome? “And I’d rather it be here.” She had thought of how it might happen — how someone might lay her down on a soft bed, trail their hands lovingly up her sides; someone like him, even. Hermione winced at her teenage crush, blinking it away, banishing it from her mind. This was not the time for thoughts like that — this was real, this was happening. 

Sort of happening. There was still a cell between them and Malfoy was still looking at her like she’d grown two heads. 

“Here?” He said again. Sounding a bit like a broken childrens toy, determined to repeat the same word over and over and over. “Hermione — ”

She blinked away the sound of her name on his lips. “You said whatever I wanted. This is what I want.” Hermione tilted her chin up, determined to win. Like she always had been, unafraid of the road ahead: “And you’re going to give it to me. You promised.”

He nodded soundlessly, agreeing without much of a fight. How much had he changed in the years of her absence? How immune she was, Hermione thought, of the idea of new growth. She watched as he Apparated into her cell, standing before her, looking down at her with a tortured expression.

“Just think about her.” Hermione found herself saying. “The one you want to protect. That’ll make this easier.” She let out a shaky exhale, allowing herself tiny niceties. “I’ll think of someone else, too.”

A lie, but he didn't need to know that.

“You won’t bite me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Hermione said. “I’d never promise that.”

*

The Auction was a blur of twinkling lights and laughter. A party, Hermione realized, anger pooling in her belly, spreading across her limbs until it replaced the surface of her skin. 

Celebrating the end of the war, celebrating the sale of her.

She hadn’t even bothered to worry about someone else buying her — hadn’t worried about the consequences of the Unbreakable Vow if Malfoy failed. Through glazed eyes, she watched as bodies swirled across the floor, watched as they reveled in their conquest — she watched as Malfoy bought her, voice firm, unyielding. The first sale of the night, the beginning of the entertainment.

Hermione ignored the voices that cooed celebrations, ignored the sharp fingers that tugged her towards Malfoy’s chair, depositing her at his feet. Kneeling, waiting for him to speak — the room had finally grown quiet, blissful in the aching moments before her life would begin again.

Malfoy was watching her through hooded eyes. Slowly, he tapped his lap, soft leather, no emotion. “Come here, pet.”

Hermione blinked up at him, limbs moving at her own accord. Pushing herself up, collar shifting loudly in the silence, golden decorations spiraling across her limbs, pretty and docile, all for him. 

Malfoy’s eyes betrayed the emotion beneath, glistening in the warm light. Watching in her awe, she felt. Watching her as she inhaled softly, breath catching in her throat. To survive, was to change, Hermione reminded herself. Persistent, like a weed twisting through the crack in the pavement, growing beyond expectations. 

He tugged on the chain of her collar, bringing her to straddle his lap, controlling her movement, a puppet on string. “Come closer,” he said, voice too soft for the world around them. “I bought you, didn't I?”

“Right.” Hermione hissed. “Apologies, My Lord.”

*

“Can I touch you?”

Hermione nodded. Her eyes were fixed firmly on the ceiling, unblinking. She could barely see him in the darkness, a shadowy shape of sharp limbs, moving above her. Suddenly, Hermione wished she could see Malfoy, if only to know it was him. A blistering reminder, a terrifying twist of fate, leading her towards a destination she’d always wanted. A blurry future, patchwork quilt of memories — the way he would stare at her in class when he thought she wasn’t looking, the sound of his laugh, how annoyingly clever he was, the way his fingers had felt brushing along her skin in Umbridge’s office —

 And of course, there had been the sweater incident in their sixth year.

“Go ahead,” she had told Harry, bright smiles, willing to give them without care, too young to ration her joy. “I’ll meet you in The Great Hall. Save some pudding for me!” She had known where to find it, hanging on the back of her chair, in its faithful place — but it hadn't been there. Instead, Malfoy had been standing alone in the room, her sweater pressed to his nose. The moment had been strange and soft, a bit like she was intruding. His eyes had lifted when she entered and they had both stood across from one another, quiet in cautious confusion. She had waited for him to toss it aside, to scoff at the belligerent way she had banged the classroom door open. Instead, he had continued to inhale, eyes closing briefly. “Give that back.” Hermione said after a moment, beginning to sense that her sweater was in danger of transferring ownership. “I’ve only got three good sweaters and that’s my best one.” “This is your best one?” His voice had been muffled by the fabric. “You should invest in some cashmere.” “Thanks.” Hermione had said flatly. “I’ll be sure to do just that.” Bravery was built in, wasn't it? She had squared her shoulders, reaching across the space, tugging softly at the sleeve, fingers brushing along his arm. “Come on.” Hermione had said.  “Give me a minute.” He had said. Normal malice lacking, stripped away, only the raw emotion left beneath. “Just one more minute, yeah?” The following week, everything had changed. Dumbledore had died, the war had begun, and, most importantly, before Malfoy had fled, he had stolen her sweater from her dorm.

 Then, as if summoned by her own desperate thoughts, he was hovering above her face. “I need to hear you say it.”

“Oh.” Hermione said. She swallowed the urge to tell him to get it over with, to insist he power through whatever gentleman-ly urges remained in his chest and to just fuck her already. “Sure, alright. Yes. Touch away.”

Cool hands smoothed up her sides, trailing across the surface of her skin. She shivered, involuntary and wanting. He grimaced at the movement, seeing it as something else; fear, perhaps. Trembling limbs at what was to come.

But she wasn’t afraid, never had been. Not of the dark, not of the unknown, and not of this, either.

Brave, like she had been during the war. Brave, like she had been in the classroom, tugging her sweater from his trembling hands. Brave like now, too. Refusing defeat, determined to survive, to kill and to be reborn. 

She could be brave. 

“I used to dream of you.” An admission, given freely. Floating through the air, settling across his skin, sinking beneath the surface. “Of this.” Hermione grimaced. “Well, not this, specifically. There was never a cell involved.” She let out a sigh, her breath fluttering the hair that hung before his eyes.

He had stopped moving, fingers frozen at their place on her skin, spanning her ribcage. “Yeah?” Malfoy asked. Hopeful, a light in the darkness, eyes flickering to meet her own. “I thought of you, too.”

“I know.” Hermione said simply. “You took my sweater.”

“It smelled like you.” His fingers began to move again, trailing down her flesh, tracing patterns across the tops of her thighs. “I still have it. Under a Stasis charm.”

“Does it still smell like me?” Hermione asked, watching as his fingers slipped between her thighs, tracing through her folds, circling along her clit. She squirmed under his touch, frowning when he stilled her thighs with a firm squeeze.

“Yeah.” He said, still looking at her. Memorizing her face, perhaps. Drinking in this version of her, determined to remember every emotion. “It does.”

“It’s you.” Malfoy said suddenly, her bravery contagious, spreading like a fire. “The one I want to protect. I know you don’t need me to protect you — that you don’t want me to protect you — that you’ll bite anyone who gets too close with your sharp little teeth, but.” He hesitated. “I can’t stop the want, Hermione.”

Hermione was quiet, her buzzing thoughts too loud to speak. Insisting to be heard, overflowing like a river swollen with rain; his touch was soft, sliding through the wetness of her cunt, still looking at her with aching conviction. “I want, too.” Hermione said after a long moment.

Malfoy nodded, blinking quickly. “Okay.” He said. “I — yes, alright.” He smiled, unguarded. Beautiful, unbelonging in the darkness of their world. The sight twisted Hermione’s heart in chest. Despite it all, everything, Hermione smiled, too. Fingers slipped through his hair, soft strands, twisting along her flesh.

“I’ll need to stretch you a bit.” Malfoy was saying, sliding down her body. 

“Right.” Hermione nodded, unhurried in her movements. Soft beneath him. Like they had all the time in the world. “Okay.”

His hot breath on her center was the only warning Hermione received before he was licking her, tongue twisting its way inside her cunt, thumb lazily rubbing her clit. She reached without thought, pressing his face closer to her center — he grunted his approval, tightening his hold around her tummy, the vibration of his appreciation skittering up her spine, muddling her mind. 

Then, Malfoy  closed his lips around her clit and sucked, his sloppy noises filling the room. Wetness was dripping from her, sliding across his face, her trembling thighs — heaving breaths were caught in Hermione’s throat, a babbling voice in her head splintering like glitter across her eyes, trapped inside.

He pressed her to his face, fingers digging into her flesh; each time she withered away from his tongue, his lips, even his teeth, his grip tightened, an arm pressed against the flesh of her stomach. When the pleasure became too much, Hermione twisted almost fully out of gasp but he tugged her back, biting her inner thigh.

“That is my job.” She meant to scold him, but it sounded a bit like a mix between a whimper and a moan.

“Don’t worry, baby.” Malfoy said thickly against her clit, “You can bite me later.”

Finally, finally, finally, she felt one his fingers slip across her folds, sliding through the wetness there. A mixture of the two of them, his spit dripping slowly between her thighs. “Alright.” He said, still lazily sucking at her clit. “Here’s two. You can take that, yeah?” He grinned, and she felt it against her skin. “Yeah, you can.”

Hermione nodded, blurry acceptance, willing to sink away into nothing. To take what was given, to live forever trapped in this moment of hazy pleasure. She could take it.

 Malfoy’s fingers were so much thicker than her own, entering her with a bluntness she wasn’t accustomed to, twisting her open. Fucking her slowly, with no clear intention of quickening his pace. 

“More.” She heard herself demand, voice foreign to her own ears. A version of herself she was unfamiliar with — “Give me more.”

“No please?” He laughed softly when she tugged his hair harder than before, twisting at the roots, tugging. “Okay, baby.” Malfoy said, slowly twisting a third finger in, stretching her open. 

He devoured her until she came with a wail, on an exhale, head tossed back. Hermione twisted and twisted and twisted away, but his hold was firm. “Can’t run from me now.” He bit her again, peppering her skin with bruises, with memories of him.

“I could.” Hermione managed to gasp. “I could run and you’d have to chase me again.” She smiled at the thought.

“I’m going to fuck you now.” He said thickly, mouth still wet. “Alright?”

“Yeah.” Hermione breathed. “Alright.”

Pain, but not unbearable. Nothing like torture, but like something else; a stretch of something strange and new, her body trembling around him. Desperate to become as it had once been, but that was the point of growing, wasn't it? Changing? A broken mirror, fractures stretching like spider webs across her skin, but beautiful, too. Like cracks across a frozen pond in the beginning of spring; thawing, coming back to life.

“I’ve got you.” Malfoy murmured along her ear, rocking shallow thrusts inside her. Inching inside, carving a home. She could feel him inside, warm and heavy. 

She felt when he slid all the way in, heat beginning to bloom across her skin, flushed and overwhelming, like the beginning of the summer, like standing too close to a flame; like his body above her.

“I know you do.” Hermione gasped.

*

A twist of discomfort as she sank down on him, a deep ache — less painful than before, but still enough to make her wince at the stretch. The room was blurry, faces mixing together, eyes open wide, drinking her full.

“It’s alright.” Malfoy’s voice was soft against her ear. His arms were a tight band around her chest, just like how he’d held her in Umbridge’s office, just like at the edge of the cliff. “I got you.”

He lifted her, movements unhurried, pulling her back down on himself.

Her naked skin rubbed across the roughness of his clothing, his leather gloves were wet — with her, she realized — and the chains from her collar clinked together as he rocked slowly into her.

 Thumb tracing her clit messily, wet circles. He didn't seem to care that everyone was watching, didn’t notice their wandering eyes — only focused on her. On his prize.

Pleasure built steadily inside her until she was twitching, a whimper caught in her throat. His thumb still moved agonizing circles, his cock hitting deep inside her, an explosion of 

Unthinking, she leaned forward and bit his neck, silencing the sounds, eyes closed tight.

“Go on, baby. Use me.” Malfoy whispered against her neck. His cock was still thick inside her, pleasure spiraling across her skin. She blinked back to awareness at the firm fingers on her jaw, tugging her to meet his eyes. 

He pressed a wand into her hand.

*

[areyoudreaminof]

This Life and the Next: A Nessian Playlist

It's finally @nessianweek! And of course for Day 3 I had to make a playlist!

We love their banter, their angst, their passion, and their deep undying love for one another. To watch Cassian and Nesta find each other despite their own personal challenges was such a beautiful and satisfying love story. For this playlist, I tried to follow a somewhat narrative structure that fell in line with ACOSF. I wanted to represent these two people finding one another and lifting the other up. This playlist also has a fun little bonus track for your fun Nessian writing needs. LISTEN HERE and take a look at some lyrics behind the cut.

As The World Caves In-Matt Maltese

My feet are aching And your back is pretty tired And we've drunk a couple bottles, babe And set our grief aside And here it is, our final night alive And as the earth burns to the ground Oh, girl, it's you that I lie with As the atom bomb locks in Oh, it's you I watch TV with As the world, as the world caves in

Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene-Hozier

Feeling more human and hooked on her flesh, I Lay my heart down with the rest at her feet Fresh from the fields, all fetor and fertile It's bloody and raw, but I swear it is sweet

Lose My Cool-Amber Marks

I was so full of pain just stuck in my head There was no one that could get me out of it Yes I think the drinking was a bit excessive Just to be frank the drinking ain't what caused me to be aggressive My heart has been taken over Everyday I get colder to 'em I realize need to let go expression from the get go to 'em Feeling it like I just need to speak my brain

Banquet-Bloc Party

And if you feel A little left behind We will wait for you on the other side 'Cause I'm on fire 'Cause you know I'm on fire when you come

Homage-Mild High Club

Please just have a laugh with me 'Cause you know I'm borrowing by now These sounds, have already crowned Come on it's a silly dream Dreaming of the imagery unfound The view sits nice from that cloud

Make You Better-The Decemberists

I'll love you in springtime I lost you when summer came And when you pulled backwards I wanted to, I needed to Oh-oh, to make me better

Andromeda- Weyes Blood

Treat me right I'm still a good man's daughter Let me in if I break And be quiet if I shatter Gettin' tired of looking You know that I hate the game Don't wanna waste any more time You know I been holdin' out Love is calling It's time to give to you

Skulls-Bastille

I don't want to rest in peace I'd rather be the ghost that annoys you I hope you can make me laugh Six feet down when we're bored of each other A match is our only light

When our lives are over and all that remains Are our skulls and bones, let's take it to the grave And hold me in your arms, hold me in your arms I'll be buried here with you And I'll hold in these hands, all that remains

Leather-Tori Amos

Look, I'm standing naked before you Don't you want more than my sex? I can scream as loud as your last one But I can't claim innocence Oh God, could it be the weather? Oh God, why am I here? If love isn't forever And it's not the weather Hand me my leather

waves-Miguel & Kacey Musgraves

Put it out, I'm on fire, fire That’s what I’m about, take me higher, higher, tonight I'm gonna ride that wave

the last beautiful thing I saw..-Paris Paloma

And I looked up, and saw the sun It separated all the colors And the ice, into my eyes It fell and left me blind That was the last thing that I saw The fractured glass and its downpour I felt the blood mix with the water And I didn't see no more

Rut-The Killers

So I'm handing you a memory I hope you understand That steadily reminds you of who I really am

This city's always breathing, I wish that it would die The kickbacks and the bachelors, the fever for the velvet rope The money from my mother's men I'm not like her, you're not like them

Tell Me You Love Me-Sufjan Stevens

My love, I've lost my faith in everything Tell me you love me anyway, tell me you love me anyway My love, I feel myself unravelling Tell me you love me anyway, tell me you love me anyway My love, I feel the darkness on my back

Eternal Flame-Saint Sister

I believe it's meant to be, darling I watch you when you are sleeping You belong with me Do you feel the same? Or am I only dreaming? Is this burning an eternal flame?

Milk & Black Spiders-Foals

Oh, I hope you can hear me All those million miles away, you'd stay 'Cause I'd love you dearly All those billion miles away 'Cause I've been around two times And found that you're the only thing I need

BONUS TRACK: Smut-Tom Lehrer

Give me smut And nothing but! A dirty novel I can't shut If it's uncut And unsubt-tle

Taglist: @asnowfern @damedechance @foundress0fnothing @foreverinelysian @gaeleria @goddess-aelin @itsthedoodle @kataravimes-of-the-shire @krem-does-stuff @labellefleur-sauvage @moodymelanist @c-e-d-dreamer @nessianweek @octobers-veryown @popjunkie42-blog @reverie-tales @rosanna-writer @spell-cleavers @sassyhobbits @separatist-apologist @secret-third-thing @thesistersarcheron @the-lonelybarricade @ultadverb @vulpes-fennec @witchlingsandwyverns @xtaketwox @wilde-knight @witch-and-her-witcher @iftheshoef1tz @ofduskanddreams @talons-and-teeth

[bluesofawriterwithcoffee]

by the willow trees

tori spring x michael holden

“Charlie, i'm going-” she says and pauses “i'm going to the shops, need anything?” 

Charlie peaks through his room door and says “i know you have a date with michael, tori” 

Tori shrugged and left her house. It's not a date date, i don't think we even think we are together in that sense…I don't know; relationships and love is so subjective and what if Michael thinks of it in some other way than i do, i don't wanna break his heart he is too good for that tori starts to spiral as she walks over to the old higgs ground. 

She sits by an stone bench and tries to text Michael to not come over because she is feeling very overwhelmed by the idea of what this meeting must be for him, as she is about to hit send michael is standing by the construction workers waiting for her to see him 

“Hello” he says 

“Hi” she replies back “So shall we go to the city or by the park?”

“The park seems quieter, if that's okay with you” he asks. 

“Yeah of course” 

Tori can sense some awkwardness but she doesn't know if she is making it awkward or was it him? Her anxiety loves to blame it on herself but she pulls herself together as they walk towards the park 

“Is everything okay? You seem low” she said

“Oh it's nothing, sorry about that” he replies and tries to be lively again 

Tori holds his hand and asks again “Its nothing, really…just my parents want me to start competing again since it's been a while after the higgs burning..i don't want to because i need time but of course they don't understand it and we just fought about it, i'm just tired” he sighed. “You could have cancelled meeting up today you know” she holds his hand tighter 

Micheal points at a bench by the willow trees and they sit there in silence him thinking its his fault for ruining the date tori asked him out on 

“I am sorry, i ruined it again” he said 

“Michael you haven't ruined anything, we are just talking about what's going on in our lives. Its okay to talk about your feelings. Okay?” she looks at him and smiles 

He smiles back faintly. 

They hold each other’s hand and exist as the wind blows and people walk to places with their pets. They love existing in silence and feeling the world around but together, they love each other and they want one and other but yet that feeling is different. It's something both haven't ever felt, they never thought they would connect so well but here they are listening to the world and holding hands without any fire or their past lives behind. 

“I dont want to go back to school.” tori says 

“But its your last year..only one year more then never again…i know sounds terrifying but i will be there to annoy you-” he sighs “while i also go competing around” 

She smiles 

“I was watching this youtube video about someone being aromantic and how they view relationships..do you wanna watch it?” she asks 

Michael stares at her in awe and nods “Yes please!!!” 

The youtuber says “love and relationships are subjective and you should do what you want with that special person in your life” 

 They both stare at each other and blush away. Michael kisses her forehead and holds her as they watch the youtube video on the bench by the willow trees. 

They both have never been this happy. 

[octahedral-chaos]

(A spoiler for DNMSaB AU)

The elder girl… the ghost simply smiled and pushed his hand away. His heart dropped as she raised it to take off her mask, revealing another fractured mask underneath it. Only this mask allowed him to see a twisted kind of magic in her eyes. An unnatural, brokenness of something that painfully did not belong. He shrinked away from her dark gaze, eyes too dark to be human. He tried to crawl away as she crouched down to his burning body that held too much magic. Too much that it burned and burned.

She reached out to him with a hand that was stained black and blue with ink. Tilting her head as she looked at him.

"Hello dear child. Are you ready to die yet?"

He shrieked, the sound cutting off as it proved to only further irritate his already torn up throat as more blood and ice tumbled from his mouth. Letting out a painful sob as each crystal forced it's way out of his lungs as the arrow continued to lodge itself painfully in his ribs.

She turned to the little girl behind him. Turning back to him she asked:

"Do you want her to die?"

Her gentleness was unnatural, but he was too out of it realize. He shook his head as best as he could.

"No? Do you want to die?"

He shook his head again. Letting out a shuddering breath.

"Alright. "

And then she seized the arrow, ripping it out as he screamed.

She murmured to it, as if speaking to an old friend. The arrow glowed blue and indigo. Then she forced it through his heart.

For a moment everything went dark. When he came to, the last cry of his scream was the only thing he heard. The fire swirling around him as he coughed up one last mouthful of blood. The ghost pushing the arrow deeper and deeper into his heart as he clawed at the ground.

"She can no hurt you here. The Queen Eternal can not hurt you here. I promise."

"LEAVE! I SAID LEAVE TORI!"

"Why would I when this realm belongs to me?"

"You know full well that you are an Infection to every world you touch."

"Just as you are not suppose to exist Valorant."

"And yet here I am, Queen Eternal. Standing between you and the start of your Reign."

That you are Valorant. But you forget. I am always in control. Just like me, you will continue to live. Long after everything is done.

DEAR STARS-

This is terrifying and I love it! Also I am in absolute love with Valorant... she sounds so cool.

~ 🔶️ [Aven]

[littleeyesofpallas]

I'm sorry if I've missed it, but have you discussed Komomura in depth here? I would love to hear your thoughts on this character and ending.

I have! But I am verymuch aware my random and erratic posting style makes old shit super hard to find and follow. I actually love getting little requests like this because it gives me an excuse to consolidate disparate thoughts on a character every once in a while. So buckle up, let's do a Komamura Sajin recap!

The surname Komamura is neat, it's made up of koma[狛] from komainu[狛犬] which are the "Liondog" statues used in Shinto shrines, and -mura[村]: "village." Straight forward, super appropriate, and tells us that somewhere out there there is in fact a proper settlement of wolf people, not just an old mandog in a cave.

His private name, Sajin[左陣] is written with "Left"(as opposed to right) and "(Battle)Formation/Encampment/Position" Which is again a play on the komainu, as they appear in pairs on either side of the entrance to a temple grounds. So literally he is the "left position stone dog" of the traditional pair. It does sort of imply there ought to be an Ujin[右陣]: "Right Position" complementary to him?

His shikai is just Tenken[天譴]: "Heaven + reprimand/censure/reproach" which is pretty straight forward but not especially descriptive. It is noticeably not the term Tenchu[天誅], which is lit."Heaven+DeathPenalty" but generally translated as "Divine Punishment" "Divine Justice" or "Divine Retribution." As far as I can tell it's meant to be pretty literally the act of being reprimanded, which is distinctly less severe than being executed...

But the big thing to dig into here is of course his bankai. Kokujou Tengen Myouou[黒縄天譴明王]

Kokujou[黒縄]: lit."Black + Rope/Cord" but refers to the Kalasutra, a level of buddhist "hell" in the somewhat elaborate layered structure of buddhist cosmological karmic penance. It is a place specifically for punishing killers* and thieves. It is so named as the monstrous torturers brand their charges with burning iron ropes/cords and then cut them along said branded lines. It is also supposed to be a burning copper plate, likely the reason Tenken's armor is the color it is.

Tengen[天譴] is still the same, the pronunciation just softens a little

Myouou[明王]: lit."Wisdom + King" is the two literal words put together but refers specifically to the so named figures in buddhist mythos. They are wrathful and often monstrous divine beings that punish those who would deviate from the path of buddha, hence Tenken/Tengen's seemingly mild use of "reprimand." There are various mythological structures that count them in sets of either 5, 8, or 10. (As it happens, one of them is Aizen Myouou[愛染明王], Aizen Sousuke's homonym namesake.)

*I could've sworn I heard that this is supposed to be a very specific subset of murderers but I cannot seem to find a specification on that now...

Initially this has a fun dynamic with Tousen's bankai, Suzumushi Tsuishiki: Enma Kourogi[清虫終式閻魔蟋蟀] as Enma[閻魔] aka "Yama" is the Buddhist king of hell and judge of the dead. In Chinese buddhist cosmology, which serves as a source of much of Japanese Buddhist mythos, he assumes the distinctly Chinese bureaucratic role of judge and not just king as he does in his earlier Hindu counterparts, and is the figure in charge of determining not only whom amongst the dead are sent to the naraka or not, but also which specific naraka they are assigned, according to their crimes in life.

The fun idea being that Tousen served as judge who determines guilt but that Komamura served as executioner to actually mete out punishment.

But with the added context of Komamura's meeting with the wolf elder, we learn some round about but really vital details about Bleach's Buddhist based world building. On the one hand, the elder's cave entrance is marked by a tori gate with shide paper wards, like the stone dogs they are all associated with Shinto shrines, and not generally Buddhism, save for when the lines between the two are blurred, which is admittedly not especially uncommon.

But when the elder talks about how the wolf clan is punished by their appearance for the crimes they've committed, and refers specifically to chikusho[畜生] which refers to "beast" or "animal" in terms of the buddhist wheel of reincarnation, and the "6 realms." It seems to confirm that Bleach's reincarnation cycle operates by Buddhist cosmological rules, suggesting that the wolf clan were all at one point souls in Hell who came back as subhumans almost as a kind of parole, not prisoners anymore but also not free to live with the full dignity of human personhood.

This in turn recontextualizes the reference to the Kalasutra naraka in Komamura's bankai, as the reflection of his inner soul as associated with a very specific place in hell implies that prior to being (re)born as a wolfman he served his penance in hell in Kalasutrea as a killer or thief.

In any case then there is his human form bankai, which retains all the previous bits but adds, Dangai Joue[断鎧縄衣]

Dan'[断]: "Abstain from..."/"Cut off..."

gai[鎧]: "Yoroi"(the specific iconic style of samurai armor)

Jou[縄]: "rope/cord" same as in Kokujou

e[衣]: "clothes/garment/robe"

Nothing special here, just a literal description as having discarded armor and now wears only ropes. Also while the "black rope" title refers to the naraka and thus doesn't necessitate literal ropes present in the original bankai design, this form does have literal black ropes, and in a sort of kabuki-esque nio-tasuki style; which i also recently went on a tangent about, which also evokes a left side and right side gateway statue imagery.

I think that covers most of the things I've ranted about concerning Komamura at different times...

[bopinion]

2024 / 18

Aperçu of the Week

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

(Mahatma Gandhi)

Bad News of the Week

It was Earth Overshoot Day for Germany. This means that on May 2, we have already used up our national share of global natural resources for the whole of 2024. In other words, we would need three Earths to maintain our current lifestyle. And we are not even the biggest "consumers" - in the USA, for example, Earth Overshoot Day was already on March 14 this year, according to figures from the Global Footprint Network.

So humanity is living off the land. Which, logically, cannot go on for long. What's more, we haven't just been doing this since yesterday and every reserve is limited. This is simply madness. The whole thing has hardly anything to do with climate change, but it all goes back to the same basic problem: "man-made". For the first time in the history of the earth, a species is not adapting to environmental conditions, but wants to adapt them to itself. But nature will not go along with this. It has lost its balance, so the imminent tipping points can be taken quite literally.

It is not yet too late. Humanity just needs to realize that it has to fundamentally change its way of life. From parasitism to symbiosis. A simple and simplified example: humans need oxygen to survive. Which they convert into carbon dioxide. The tree needs carbon dioxide to survive. Which it converts into oxygen. So it works perfectly well in a peaceful coexistence. However, if humans kill the tree by cutting it down, burning it or draining its water, they are depriving themselves of the basis of life. Pretty stupid, actually. And actually pretty easy to understand.

Good News of the Week

Preparations have begun in the UK for the controversial deportations to Rwanda. The police have arrested several people who entered the country illegally. Nationwide operations are underway, according to the Home Office. The first deportation flights are due to take place in July. The relevant law allows the deportation of asylum seekers to the East African country if they have arrived in the UK without permission. The origin of the migrants is irrelevant. The deportations can take place without the asylum applications even being examined in the UK.

Is this supposed to be worthy of a democracy and in line with European values? Certainly not. It is therefore not surprising that the High Court in London has declared the plans unlawful. The judges have doubts that the people in Rwanda will receive a fair asylum procedure. No wonder, because according to Amnesty International, the country has enormous deficits in practically all human rights. And in this ailing state, which is barely larger than Wales, the United Kingdom wants to set up a final dump for asylum seekers. A bad joke.

This joke fits in seamlessly with the Tories' government actions, which since Boris Johnson can only be described as a bad joke in general. They have now been punished for this and more in the local elections. And it is so severe that there is already talk of a "Conservative collapse". And Prime Minister Rishi Sunak may even have to face a vote of no confidence. The loss of half (!) of the seats that the Conservatives had to defend shows crystal clear that the party's shift to the right is not convincing voters either. Nigel Farage's right-wing populist Reform UK is now the real winner in third place.

And the outlook also looks bleak. According to a nationwide survey by the opinion research institute Yougov, only 18% want to vote for Tory in the general election at the beginning of next year. And 44% Labour. The Labour Party, which was significantly realigned by former Prime Minister Tony Blair at the turn of the millennium (catchwords "New Labour", "modern social democracy" and "third way"), have positioned themselves as social democrats with moderation and a middle ground. With Labor, the inhumane Rwanda deal would not have happened. Nor the protection of the rich elite. And no Brexit either. I look forward to the UK showing a human face again soon.

I couldn't care less...

...that Donald Jessica Trump continues to languish in court instead of running a classic election campaign. Even though both actually look the same: he knows everything better, he has never done anything wrong in his life, he is unstoppable, his persecution is politically motivated, unjust and the biggest scandal in history. Give me a break.

It's fine with me...

...that Venice's lagoon Disneyland now charges admission to day tourists when they are already flooding the city. Because when I'm there, I'm firstly an overnight guest who explores the city when the day tourists have gone. And secondly, I'm there for the contemporary art (Biennale di Venezia) and am not queuing in front of the Dojen Palace. And thirdly, the city needs the money to preserve its historical status. After all, if an ice cream parlor sells overpriced bad goods, hardly anything will stick for the community.

As I write this...

...it has come true: there is no longer an "imminent famine" in Gaza. Because, according to UNICEF, the "imminent" must now unfortunately be deleted. And once again, the victims are almost exclusively civilians, more than half of them children. I can't remember the concept of self-defense ever being so strained.

Post Scriptum

Freedom of the press, or rather freedom of the media, is a very valuable asset for me. Because only unhindered access to neutral information can form the basis of a sound opinion. In addition, journalism also assumes a certain control function when it observes carefully, analyzes profoundly and argues logically. It is not for nothing that many call the (reputable) media the "fourth power in the state" alongside the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Therefore, for me, an attack on media freedom is an attack on democracy.

According to Reporters Without Borders on World Press Freedom Day last Friday, 36 countries will be in the category of lowest (or non-existent) press freedom in 2023. There haven't been that many in 10 years, including, unsurprisingly, Eritrea, Syria and Afghanistan. Germany is in 10th place behind the Scandinavian countries, as there were 41 verified attacks on journalists. They tend to be associated with conspiracy theorists and the extreme right. Of course, because after all, they think the least of media freedom.

[veiledfox]

A Trip to An End

Stars. Galaxies. Nebulas. Endless vast expanse of the void of space. The tear in reality with the lake below the Tori Gate behind her closing shut, and a new one splitting existence in front. One which, by the pull of the Realm traversal, throws the Kitsune out amid a forrest. Stumbling a little, given she comes out on a small hill, Kyuushi catches herself and quickly descends to a flatter section.

Though before she could reach it, a violent rumble shakes the ground beneath her and causes the Woman to fall. Letting her ethereal flames blaze atop her head and behind the small of her back to free her Kitsune features, she catches herself into a roll by surrounding herself with her tails. Getting back up to her feet, but just seconds later having to stabilize herself again by embedding her tails into the ground around her. Another brutal quake shaking the trees and rocks around her.

"What-?" An explosion in the distance makes her ears flick to the source before she sees it. Little more than the top of the explosion visible past the tree tops, and the glow of flames peeking through the trunks. Seeing some of the folliage blown her direction, she braces herself just in time to keep upright as a shockwave impacts.

Catching only the briefest glimpse of what looked to be a small, round, pink creature blown right past her. Then a rounded brown bird of some kind. A purple rat. Then mere seconds later, dozens of creatures stampeding her direction. Deer like creatures, bugs of various kinds, some small bears. It would take a second for her to realize what they were, what kind of Realm she had landed in.

Pokemon. Rattata, Raticate, Caterpie, Weedle, Venonat, Stantler, Hoot-Hoot, Tediursa, Pidgey, Scyther, an occasional Pikachu, Cyndaquil, Chikorita, Totodile, and even an Unown or two. All rushing past her in a panic, some looking injured, others covered in suit, and others still currently fine. Though none paid her any mind, rushing straight past and beyond where she was.

It would be because of the sheer number of them all running by that it would take a moment for her to even notice that none of them were the colors she was familar with. Green Teddiursa and Stantler, an orange Pikachu, blue Unown, yellow Hoot-Hoot, they were all clors that were known to be rare variants in the version of this Realm she had been in before.

What was happening here? Lowering herself, Kyuushi leaps high into the air. Getting about half way up and out from the trees that made up the forest, she hears another explosion a ways off as she lands on embers. Jumping up again after and clearing past the top of the trees to land again and brace herself for the shockwave she knew was coming. Crouching down, wrapping her tails around herself, and raising her arms before her face before it hit, feeling herself pushed against for a few seconds before it passed.

The sight that greeted her as she opened up again afterward left the Kitsune at a loss for words. Everything was blazing, the skies darkened with clouds and smoke alike, lightning arcing across wildly. Streaks of flame hurdling across the sky in various directions, explosions too distant to hear or feel but still visible from the bright flashes. It was an apocolypse. There was no better way to describe it.

Especially as she hears another explosion, closer this time than the two before, and catches sight of it's source. The ground itself erupting, trees and stone thrown everywhere, lava spewing up into the air and crashing down onto the ground to burn anything and everything in it's path. She could hear untold numbers of living creatures crying out in pain and, undoubtedly, death throes.

What could've even caused this? It wasn't merely just a natural disaster, the world itself was breaking open. Letting herself drop again, she'd land just in time to feel the earth shake beneath her so violently that a section broke and started to move away nearby. Though in almost the same moment, she'd see a pulse of green energy surge out from the direction of the coming destruction. Hear a cry of a Pokemon ring out that she couldn't quite place right away.

It wouldn't take long before the answer of what it was would present itself to her, among the Pokemon surging past her trying to escape would be a few notable shapes. The first making it's approach that she could see being an orange furred, yellow maned Raikou. The electric Beast of Legend skidding to a stop and roaring out to deflect a bolt of lightning that came firing down from the sky above, protecting some smaller Pokemon that were hurrying past.

It would be moments after when she catches sight of the dark brown fur and black whiskers of what appeared to be Entei, leaping into the air and twisting itself to strike at a ball of molten rock that was crashing through some trees. A pale blue Suicune with a lush blue mane bounding in last, joined by the small form of a pink Celebi being last. Though they would come to a stop just feet from Kyuushi, who put up her hands in a gesture she hoped they'd understand meant she didn't wish them harm.

The Raikou and Entei joining them soon after, she would find herself surrounded by the group of four. "What's happened here?" Posing her question quickly, though as calmly as she could. Not hearing a proper reply, though thanks to her Magicks, she would understand the cry from the Celebi she received as a response while it flew closer to her.

Tell of how the 'Creator' was killed by something unknown, of how destruction began to rain down on the world. Of how entire landmasses had been wiped out already, and the destruction wasn't stopping. That all was lost, and they knew such was true, only doing their best to try and keep as much alive as possible in hopes that something, anything, could happen to stop it.

"I... shit-" To think she had arrived on a dying world, one who's end was coming so violently and rapidly for that matter, would've been unbelievable if not for the fact she was present for it. Her mind immediately beginning to race as she tried to think of something, anything she could do to try and help. But as quickly as she could think of possibilities, each one was shut down just as fast.

Except... perhaps...

"Try and direct some of the others to me, I might be able to do something..." Seeing them all nod, she watches the four disperse and start calling out to others. Doing their best to protect them from incoming danger and to direct them back towards the Kitsune.

Meanwhile, the Kitsune herself let herself become engulfed with Ethereal flame. Letting her truest self take hold in her humanoid form, her tails and horns all alighting with the same flame at their tips after it all disperses. The smaller flames growing bigger, brighter as she focuses. Calling upon as much of her Aether and Kitsune Magicks as she could to try and reach out to connect with the Tori Gate in her Realm.

It would take a moment, during which she could see Pokemon of all kinds starting to gather around her, still panicked but with a slight glimmer of hope in their eyes as they look to her. Until, finally, a connection, making her gasp as she feels it. Bringing her hands together in front of herself, their backs pressed flat, she reaches forward and plants her feet firmly in the ground. Grabbing onto what seemed to be nothing, but she could feel it. Warm, vibrating, thin edges nestled between her fingers and her palms.

Beginning to pull at these unseen edges, she can feel them resisting, urging her to exhert herself further. To call upon all her strength to pull them apart, groaning in her effort until feeling it start to give. The tiniest opening splitting in front of her between her knuckles, through which she can see her home on the other side. It would take a moment longer, pulling with all her might to make the opening bigger. Hearing the Legendary Beasts working to keep everyone safe and bring as many others as possible toward her.

Until, in a sudden burst of energy, what was little more than a baseball sized hole suddenly parted into the proper, full shape of the Tori Gate's inner space. Through which she calls out "Hotaru!" Thankfully seeing the Doll in question rushing to the front of the Tori atop the lake's surface. "Open a gateway into The Haven now!"

The Woman nodding, emerald green glow alighting from within her core and peering out from the joints that made up her body's connections. A clap of her hands, and parting of them after opening up another tear in reality on the other side. Showing, through it, the safer forests of the Pocket Dimension she had created a while ago.

"Everyone go through! Now!" Hearing the Legendary Beasts cry out after she did, after which the various different species around her began rushing through the gateway that had been opened. She could see some falling into the water of the Lake before swiming onward to get through the secondary gateway and onto land again. Others jumping through from one into the next, and others even still flying through in one smooth go.

Dozens, possibly hundreds of Pokemon were rushing through, but as she kept the Tori open for others to proceed through, she could hear and feel the destruction still approaching. It was getting closer and closer by the second, keeping Kyuushi's heart racing with nerves and uncertainty.

Celebi flies past her again, circling around and back to in front of the Kitsune, crying out as a pulse of energy surges out from it. The flora surrounding them growing more vibrant and shifting to try and form into protective formations as best as it all could at their command. Turning to face the Woman again after, and easing closer to set a small little hand on her shoulder and coo out in thanks for her aid.

"You need to get through as well, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune too. Preferably sooner than later, if at all possible." She speaks to it, feeling sweat building on her head as she does her best to keep her focus to hold the Tori's gate open. Seeing it nod it's head rapidly before soaring off into the nearby forest.

It felt like she was there for minutes before she saw the first of the Beasts rushing toaward her. Suicune, bounding her way until it drew close where it would slow and circle behind Kyuushi. Brushing gently beside her then leaping through the gateway onto the Lake's surface where it circles to keep watch of those still passing through.

An explosion a short distance away making a shockwave hit hard and fast, knocking some of the smaller Pokemon over. She could see the second of the Beasts arriving shortly after, in time to intercept another molten cluster and hit it away. Instead of proceeding through, however, it would stay close and protect her and the others from more that was starting to rain down.

Another minute passing before she hears the crack of thunder and watches the Raikou from before leap in, redirecting another bolt of Lightning. Remaining nearby like Entei had, doing it's best to protect and ensure others got through until the last possible moment. Kyuushi was just glad that she would see Celebi swoop past and circle around through the gateway to safety shortly after.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem they would be able to keep the effort going for much longer. Another explosion, even closer than the last, with the forest lighting up from a burst of Lava shooting into the sky. It was close enough that she could feel the wave of heat that came off it, and the shaking ground beneath was starting to crack and split. Part of the land breaking away from the rest and rising with magma seeping out around it.

The rain of molten rock that began coming down was too much for the Entei to stop all of it. Leaving numerable creatures getting pelted with burning hot rocks and some being injured beyond what was possible to save. Kyuushi's heart sunk, seeing the death and destruction drawing so close. It wasn't possible, wasn't reasonable to try and keep the gateway open for any longer than this.

Her eyes blurring and some tears streaming down her cheeks, she takes a breath. "We have to go, now!" Catching the attention of both the Beasts again, which both nod in agreement after quickly looking at the situation around them. The two dashing to as many of the smaller Pokemon as they could on their way to the gate, picking them up and carrying them through into safety. Though it was getting to be too much for Kyuushi to keep the gateway open like this.

Her arms starting to shake, she did her best to hold on and let what few other Pokemon were immediately nearby get through. Yet another explosion bursting from the Earth nearby making the ground beneath her split. Making her arms give as she stumbles, trying to keep from falling in, and watching the gateway shut in front of her.

She could only catch sight of one other that hadn't gotten through that was nearby, and was still healthy enough to possibly survive. A Cyndaquil, a tiny little thing having slid to a stop where the gateway once had been. Clearly shaking in fear, a scratch across it's snout, simply trying to keep it's footing as the section of earth it was on broke away from everything around it and began to rise with magma seeping forth.

Kyuushi burst into action with all the strength she had left, rushing forward in a dash for the Cyndaquil, scooping it up and hugging it close to herelf as she leaps off the rising section of ground. Only to find the ground ahead of her exploding, just before she could call upon the Tori again.

Wrapping the Cyndaquil with her tails and shutting her eyes tight as the searing warmth and brightness of the molten rock burns to look at. Then it's gone a second after, feeling herself crashing into the familiar cool water of the lake in the Shrine Lands. Quickly correcting herself and swimming for the surface to get the small fire-type above the surface to keep it from drowning, she's finally able to take a breath again as she hears it coughing as it clings to her.

Feeling Hotaru's hands grab under her arms and pull at her, she uses some tails atop ethereal embers to pull herself up with the Doll's help. Getting up and out of the water soon after, but collapsing to her knees in exhaustion immediately. Not only feeling her own body quaking violently from how much Aether she had expended and the nature of what she just escaped. But feeling the shivering Cyndaquil still in her arms too.

"Lady Kyuushi?" Hotaru's voice, concerned, confused, ringing in the Kitsune's ears as she kneels with her. "What happened, Lady Kyuushi? What was going on in that realm?" Focused more on her Charge than the blue Beast or the pink Fairy Pokemon that were growing closer to the two of them.

"The death of a world..." Kyuushi's answer is plain, simple, her eyes rising to meet Hotaru's filled with fear and sadness both. Looking aside to the Suicune and Celebi after, before she registers that the portal the Doll had made was still open. "G-Grab my Pokedex from the House, then head into the Haven and start treating any who are injured, and record how many we've taken in and their species, please..."

"Right away, Lady Kyuushi." The Woman standing and rushing across the Lake to the homestead briefly. Exiting it after mere seconds and rushing for the portal she had opened, passing through it before letting it close. Leaving Kyuushi where she was, with the Suicune, Celebi, and Cyndaquil.

The larger of the three stepping closer and lowering itself down to meet her gaze, she can understand it wishes to aid her. Reaching one shaking hand to it and utilizing it's assistance to get up onto her feet, before climbing atop. Carefully keeping the Cyndaquil close and safe the whole while, as the Beast then gently strides for the beach at her gesturing of a direction. Celebi flying close and in front of Kyuushi, landing to sit with her and the Cyndaquil who, at a gentle touch to it's wounded snout, begins to heal.

[celestialdreamer0214]

The smoke was thick and dense, waves of club-goers trying to leave after watching the fight. Andre, Cat, Beck, Robbie, and especially Trina tried to stay put so they could keep an eye on the bleeding Tori from the balcony on top, but as the fires grew and pieces of The Gorilla Club fell, they knew they couldn't. Thankfully, Jade was down at the floor Tori was on, and right as she got to her the others took that as their chance to leave, smoke filling their lungs. "Jade, please get out safe!" Andre begged. His voice was faint but Jade was able to hear it; her mind scattered, her breathe shaking, her body sore and covered in bruises and cuts as she looked at Tori's unmoving body. She grabbed the smaller girl and pulled her to her lap, trying her hardest to press on Tori's open wounds after being slashed with broken bottles. She didn't understand- how could she understand?- Why did Tori protect her?- She didn't deserve this- why her?- What did she do?- Why did she- Jades thoughts got put to a halt as her lungs grew heavy and her head started to ache; the smoke from around them grew alongside the flames, and Jade would shake and scream with every pillar and support beam that collapsed around them. "Jade, please!" Cat yelled, her voice strained. Jade looked in the direction of the scream, seeing an exit, and picked up Tori's seemingly lifeless body, her sobs worsening as she sees the girls head lazily flop to the side. Jade runs as fast as possible out the building as the world around her becomes noisier and noisier - the fires crackles, the burning wood, and the screams from others flood her ears as she maneuvers through the building. She eventually can hear her friends more clearly, seeing Beck and Trina standing near the opening in the building, and before she knew it her vision was flooded with white. It took her a moment to adjust to the light outside - despite it being nighttime the embers from the fire as well as flashlights and phones brightened the area. Her mind hazy, her body weak, her non-stop-coughing lungs were heavy and sore. She felt like she was spinning and like she would get sick. But eventually, after what felt like years, she was able to somewhat ground herself, and the first thing she realized was that Tori wasn't with her anymore. "Tori.... Tori!? Where is Tori?!?!" She begged, her voice damaged. As she looked around she realized that Robbie, Cat, and Beck were surrounding her, giving her water and rubbing her back. Cat points in a direction and Jade follows her finger, finding a fire truck, ambulance, and police cars pulling up, all while Andre and Trina tried helping Tori. "Tori!" She screamed, trying to stand and run to her, but failing as her legs gave out on her. Andre hears this, turning to Jade as tears fall down his shocked-yet-scared face, which fluctuated between smiling and frowning. "Shes alive!" He shouts back, voice cracking. Jade smiles wide, slightly laughing as her sobs deepen. All she wanted was to hear those words, and now that she was somewhat at peace, she allowed her body to collapse, before eventually passing out.

[fighting-and-drawing]

Heart of the Warrior Chapter 3: The Raven and the Wolf

Fandom: Cybird Ikemen Sengoku

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Yukimura Sanada x Male!OC

     Thai's face was scrunched up, his face flush red and his breath ragged as his lungs desperately pumped oxygen into his body. Beads of sweat ran down his face, the sweat dripping down from his hair stinging his eyes. His heart beat violently, the heat of the sun bearing down on him. His knees shook his legs, his feet digging into the dirt below him as he held a low squat with his butt past his knees, his trapezius and shoulders holding up a dense hay bale nearly larger than Thai that immediately started to fatigue him as he held his squat for what felt like hours. His hands were white as they clenched the rope that held the hay bale against his body, Thai stifling every low growl that tried to escape his throat.

     Meanwhile, everyone around him doing the same exercise seemed like it wasn't fazing them. Their eyes were closed, their faces concentrated and body still, some even holding up larger hay bales than what Thai was holding. Sasuke was the same, being next to Thai and holding his ever-stoic look. Watching over all of them was Saizō Kirigakure, the raven-haired shonin (head) of the Kasugayama shinobi, and the personal bodyguard to Yukimura Sanada.

     Ever since Thai accepted the offer and pledged loyalty to Shingen Takeda, there was nearly no time to rest as training for him began almost immediately. Just like Sasuke warned, it was nothing like he had done before. From waking up every day at 4 in the morning to doing long-distance runs in the nearby forests and mountains and obstacle courses involving rope crawling and stealth running, Thai's physique was tested to the brink of collapse every day. Not only that, his training involved learning scouting and survival techniques, and his lack of Japanese came back to haunt him with every order and instruction.

     It was only with Sasuke's aid that he didn't think of running away or giving up. Slowly, he began to familiarize himself, doing his best to study everything intently in order to survive. However, it didn't take long for Thai to notice that the others around him weren't as kind-eyed to him as Sasuke and Yukimura were.

     Thai felt like he was holding the weight of the world on his shoulders, struggling to keep the hay bale up without collapsing under it. He could feel the intense burning in his thighs, his body shaking with every breath. Suddenly, he felt something small strike the back of his knee. Thai let out a surprised gasp, his knees finally buckling under him, the hay bale dropping to the ground with a heavy thud. Thai landed on all fours, his mouth gasping for air.

     "Thai!" Saizō called out. "Get back into position!"

     He could see the disappointment in Saizō's flame-red eyes, Thai sighing internally. All eyes were on the new recruit as he quickly lifted the hay bale back up, hearing a demeaning "hmph" from behind him. He growled under his breath, going back into a painful squat even though his legs screamed at him for rest.

     "Fucking guy," Thai grunted under his breath, knowing full well who kicked that rock at his leg.

     Training was always intense with minimal rest, whether physical or mental. So, it came as no surprise to Thai that it became more difficult when others would go out of their way to bully the Japanese-deficient Thai around. Whether from the aforementioned sabotage or nearly dislocating a shoulder from an aggressive tori, the challenges that Thai faced were far greater than he could have ever thought to bear.

     "Finally," Thai muttered, his daily training done. The exhausted malandro leaned against the thin wooden pillar of the extended roof going all around the outside training hall, gulping down the entirety of a bamboo canteen of water. "Urgh...my thighs are burnin'."

     "Those hay bales weigh approximately 60 kilograms," Sasuke said, his face and hair glistening with sweat. "Approximately the weight of an average person."

     "Yeah...well, it woulda been better if that pinche güey didn't kick that rock at me," Thai complained. "Y'know last week he nearly dislocated my shoulder? The hell's his problem?"

     Sasuke threw a towel towards Thai, the latter grabbing it out of midair before wiping the sweat from his brow. "Shinobi, like samurai, are selected from certain samurai families," Sasuke said. "Because you are neither Japanese nor born from a prominent family, they most likely see you as inferior."

     "W-well, what about you?"Thai asked. "You ain't from here neither."

     "Yes, at first I was in somewhat of your position, I hypothesize that it was because I deal with Lord Kenshin every day that earned me some respect," Sasuke said.

     Thai sighed. "I would say let's switch, but I don't want to deal with no stab-happy—oh crap he's comin'!"

     Sasuke and Thai saw Kenshin's silhouette appearing from behind a corridor, hearing the characteristic "shiing" of his sword. Thai stuck close to Sasuke as the latter reached into his pouch taking out a small object. He raised his closed fist in the air, Kenshin ominously stepping towards them.

     "There you are," Kenshin coldly snarled.

     He lunged toward the two, but in a flash, smoke surrounded the two as Kenshin's sword sliced toward them. Kenshin, blinded, swung his sword around violently, slicing apart a section of a support beam that Sasuke leaned on. As the smoke cleared, Kenshin found himself alone. He spun his head around, scanning the immediate area for any signs of his targets. After a two-minute search, he sighed annoyingly, marching off back into the castle.

     Meanwhile. Thai and Sasuke were splayed out across the roof just above them a few minutes ago, the two holding their breaths. "....is he gone?"Thai whispered.

     "Let me check," Sasuke whispered back. He took a quick glance from above the rooftop, sighing with relief. "He's gone for now."

     "Good," Thai said. "Maybe, if we just keep going across the roof, we can—"

     "Well, you guys disappear fast."

     Sasuke and Thai turned around, both surprised by a new voice, seeing a third figure with them on the roof. Shrouded in dark blues and black was their raven-haired shonin, Saizō. The two quickly bowed to him, Saizō waving them off.

     "He hunting you, too, Shonin?" Thai asked.

     "I think he's hunting everyone, now," Saizō said. "It won't take long for him to realize we're on the roof."

     "Saizō," Sasuke said. "I suggest we make a tactical retreat, then."

     "You can go, Sasuke," Saizō instructed. "But, I need to speak with Thai, first. It won't take long."

     Sasuke nodded, turning to a suspicious Thai. "Do you need me to stay back?" Sasuke asked.

     "Nah, I...I've been understanding more and more. Thank you," Thai said.

     Sasuke quickly disappeared, Thai feeling a nervous rumble in his gut. Was it the fear of being berated, or the fact that he still didn't like eating the food he was given all the time? Either way, now it was just him and Saizō.      Saizō crossed his arms, his nerve-wracking expression making Thai brace for the worst. "I've been reviewing your progress, Thai," he said. "And, truth be told, it's not going well. Do you understand?"        "Yeah—yes, Sensei," Thai said.

     "Now, Lord Yukimura recommended you follow our training," Saizō continued, "I don't know if you know this, being a foreigner, but the people you train with have been selected from powerful families under our lord's banner and have been training since birth. Compared with them, you're the weakest link in our chain. Tripping on your own feet during running, falling off multiple obstacles, collapsing under the hay bales, and so on and so forth."

     "With all due respect," Thai said, keeping the frustration in his voice to a minimum. "It's only been three weeks." As much as Thai wanted to blame the others for inconspicuously sabotaging him at every turn, there was nothing he could say to convince Saizō that his shortcomings were the result of bullying. Thai bit his tongue and kept listening.

     "Yes, but already you have successfully defeated seven samurai and held your own against Lord Kenshin for almost a minute, according to Lord Yukimura," Saizō said. "So far, nothing I had seen during your training indicated that this was true. How can I expect you to be shinobi, much less a bodyguard to Lord Yukimura, if you you don't improve at all during basic training."

     "I see, but—wait?" Thai's growingly frustrated expression turned to confusion. "What do you mean by 'bodyguard?'"

     "It means you are the personal—"

     "N-no, yeah, I know what that means....sir," Thai said, catching himself from being informal with one of his many "masters," "But, what do you mean, 'I'm supposed to be a bodyguard?' I thought I was just training as a shinobi?"

     Saizō sighed. "I thought you knew this already?" he said, almost with a disappointed tone. "He specifically wanted you by his side at all times once your basic training is deemed completed."

     "...huh..."Thai softly gasped. "Did he now?"

     "Exactly. Now you see the urgency of what's ahead of you," Saizō said. "So far, your conditioning can be easily improved. What concerns me the most is combat. Your technique is atrocious. Your strikes aren't hard enough and your movement is slow, to say the least. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that you defeated those men when you saved Lord Yukimura."

     "It happened," Thai said.

     "I know." Saizō stepped towards Thai, letting out a sigh as he took his hand. Thai flinched as Saizō turned over his palm and placed his other hand over it. Thai looked back at Saizō, his fierce eyes softening up with the rest of his expression. "I won't have it that one of Lord Yukimura's personal bodyguards is an incapable soldier. I expect you to train ten times as hard as all these other men, understand?" he said with a smile.

     Saizō's sudden concerned tone eased the frustration in Thai's mind. Thai desperately wanted to tell him about the hidden sabotages during his training—upturned roots, hidden gopher holes, flung rocks—but he knew that Saizō wouldn't believe him. If anything, it would just be an excuse for his lack of progress, causing even more distrust between the two. Yet, oddly enough, he felt a sort of satisfaction knowing Saizō didn't completely think too low of him.

     "Thai," Saizō gently said.

     "Yeah?" Thai answered.

     "...inside your hand is a smoke pellet. Run."

     "What?"

     Thai looked just behind Saizō, suddenly seeing a sword rip open the paper windows of the second story across the roof. Thai nearly screamed as Saizō quickly darted away, Kenshin barging through the broken remains of the window.

     "Foreigner!! Face me and DIE!!!"Kenshin roared.

     After an hour of pure adrenaline, shock, and near-death experiences enough to make a sane man question his own paranoia, Thai finally escaped Kenshin and departed for his room. He tiredly passed a few corridors and down a hallway, finally seeing the door to his room just beyond. He couldn't wait to throw all of his sweaty clothes off and rest before dinner, his stomach growling at him. However, Thai stopped just a few feet away from his door, seeing someone come up from behind him. He turned, suddenly grabbing a bokken midair before it struck him.

     "What the—!" Thai nearly cried out. "Ah, jeez. You scared me. I thought Kenshin came back to finish the job!"

     Yukimura stood in front of him with his outstretched arm, his hand holding the bokken. He leaned on one leg as his head inclined in the same direction as his leaning leg. "If you thought that, then why'd you grab the sword?" Yukimura asked with a raised eyebrow.

     "I...took a swing," Thai answered, also wondering why he would reach out to grab a swinging sword. "Yu....Lord Yukimura....I thought I was done for today?"

     "You are," Yukimura said. "And, I told you to stop calling me that."

     Thai's eyes shrugged. "Then, what's all this, Yuki?"      "Your basic training for today is done," Yukimura explained, "But, I'm not done with you. Come on."

     Without another word, Yukimura went down the hall, Thai sighing as he followed closely behind Yuki. The bokken in his hand already told him what was coming next, but he wondered why Yuki was suddenly now training him more than what he already went through within the few weeks he was here. Still, he figured this was better than dealing with Kenshin, should he choose to show up out of nowhere for the umpteenth time.

     Soon, they made their way to a dojo within the castle grounds, both Yukimura and Thai taking off their zori sandals before entering. Save for Yukimura and Thai, there was no one else inside. The light of the waning sun cast a bright orange glow through the open windows, the smell of pine lofting into their noses with every slight breeze from the wind.

     "So, what's this all about?" Thai asked, shaking his legs, one after the other.

     Thai stopped mid-step, letting out a low "uh-ooh" and leaning back as the tip of Yukimura's bokken was now centimeters away from his face. "I figured after you dropped that hay bale three times in a row," Yukimura said with a sarcastic smirk, "You need extra training for today."

     Thai scoffed. With a quick flick of his wrist, he fanned his bokken and tapped Yuki's bokken away, Yuki sliding back before readying himself with his sword high above his head. "You saw that?" Thai asked, putting his left hand on the hilt of his bokken, holding his sword down low with the tip raised up at an angle. "I ain't that weak, trust me."

     Suddenly, Yuki dove forward, slicing at Thai with his weapon. Thai slid back towards his left, rotating the bokken's "edge" upwards before swiftly cutting upwards towards Yuki's wrist, barely missing once Yuki switched the direction of his sword. Thai's own sword met his, the sound of clashing wood echoing around the room. Yuki shoved Thai away, striking at Thai's neck. Again, his bokken was stopped just centimeters from Thai's neck. "Then, why'd you keep dropping it?" Yukimura asked.

     Thai let out a frustrated sigh. "Loss of balance," he grunted.

     He let go of the bokken with his off-hand, quickly darting outside Yuki's bokken and tapping his own against Yukimura's. He chased after Yukimura as he slid back, his bokken keeping contact with his as it slid down the length of Yukimura's sword until hitting his wrist. Yuki grunted in pain as Thai shoved him away with his free hand, Yukimura losing grip of his sword. Thai swung his bokken, making sure to swing it just an inch above Yuki's head, but the samurai caught Thai's arm and quickly threw him down to the ground. Thai landed on the ground with a loud thud as Yukimura cleanly stripped the bokken from Thai's hand before thrusting it against his chest. "Loss of balance?" Yukimura asked. "You were perfectly still in a strong position?"

     A sharp blow hit Yuki in the gut, Thai's heels planted against his stomach before kicking him back. Thai kipped up quickly putting his guard up in a traditional stance with his open hands forward as Yukimura rushed towards him. Thai bobbed and weaved around two of his punches, spinning around with a round kick that Yukimura dodged. Thai kicked at him again with a push kick, but Yukimura caught it before taking down Thai again. "You're becoming more obvious," Yukimura said.

     "I'm just tired and sore, dammit," Thai growled.

     Yukimura frowned. "Is that what you'll tell the enemy once they capture and torture you?"

     "Wha—just get off of me!"

     Yukimura sighed, letting Thai go as he stumbled back up, dusting off his attire with angered swipes. Yukimura could tell Thai was too tired to fight, the latter's breath deep. "You're bad at lying, you know that?" Yukimura said with a scowl.

     "Yeah, I bet you could read me like a book with that special training of yours," Thai said back.

     Thai rested his upper body on his knees, catching his breath as Yukimura silently observed him. Even during training when Thai's face was flush red and drenched in sweat, he could tell something was wrong through the look of his eyes alone. The same look he saw then was the one he saw now.

      "Oi!" Thai cried out, rubbing his forehead, Yukimura flicking it just as Thai got up.

     "Stop frowning like that and just tell me what's wrong?" Yukimura brazenly demanded. "Ever since you came, you weren't at all what I saw back when you saved me. You're too...tense!"

     Thai shook his head in utter confusion. "What do you mean?" Thai asked. "I'm just trying to keep up with this entire thing."

     "And, you are," Yukimura agreed, "But, something's different about you."

     "You just met me," Thai said, shrugging frustratingly.

     "But, I could tell you that you are a talented person, even though you charged at Lord Kenshin like a wild boar ready to die," Yukimura scolded.

     "I told you not to call me that," Thai said, his tone snarky with a hint of annoyance. "And, this is far different from what I grew up with. I'm just...going at it as if I didn't know anything."

     "That's...dumb," Yukimura scoffed.

     "How so?" Thai growled back. He forced himself to try to be respectful to his new master, but at the same time, he was getting fed up with all of the intense training he received. "It'd be disrespectful to do my own thing while you guys are teaching me your stuff."

     "No, it's dumb to make others perceive yourself as inadequate to the others," Yukimura explained, albeit with a scolding tone. "You're just going to act like some dumb fool not knowing anything and letting yourself get bullied by the others?"

     Thai raised his eyebrow. "...you saw that guy kick that rock at my leg?"

     "Of course, I did, dummy!" Yukimura guffawed. "They're doing the same thing they did to Sasuke when he came here."        Thai gave out a "huh," brushing back his sweat-glistened black hair. "I'm not going to pull them aside and tell them to 'cut it out,'" Thai said.      Yukimura leaned his head to the side, confused. "You're going to tell them to cut something?"Yuki asked.

     "What? No, it's a met—I'm not going to tell them to stop," Thai said, shaking his head. "That'll just make them mess with me more."

     "You're right, don't," Yukimura agreed, the metaphor still flying past his head."Instead, prove to everyone that you're not someone to mess with. Do that Kappo....whatever it is! Don't be the clueless moron I keep seeing during training. Actually fight back!"

     Thai would be lying if he said that those insults didn't sting, even if just a little. However, he knew that Yukimura was right. Thai went into this training with the mentality of a fresh start, suppressing his instinct to adapt to the training with what he knows, both out of respect to learn something new, and out of humility to not show how much he really knows. That was the mentality he had in learning new martial arts, but as he started thinking, maybe it was not the best mentality when training right out of the gate for covert warfare and sabotage, especially when he was considered a commoner who was continuously harassed inconspicuously by the born-warriors.

     Although both Yukimura and Thai hadn't really interacted like this for a while, he was the only person besides Sasuke he knew around the castle. Maybe it was that rough, brash demeanor of his, but he knew that Yukimura cared about him, something that Thai didn't think would last after leaving that camp all those weeks ago. True, maybe Yukimura owed something to Thai for saving him, but giving Thai an opportunity to train with him was something he was grateful for. Thai looked at Yukimura, again unable to keep eye contact for more than a second, averting his gaze to just the left of him. "Yuki...when I saved you back there, I couldn't count the times when I nearly died, or had my legs cut off," Thai said softly. "If I keep doing that, I'm liable to end up on the wrong end of a sword."

     Yuki nodded. "Yeah, you did nearly die a lot back there," Yukimura admitted, "But, anyone without a weapon or experience wouldn't charge into combat as you have. That's why I chose you. You have courage."

     Thai couldn't help but smile. "Yeah...maybe you're right," Thai smirked.

     "Maybe?" Yukimura asked. "I AM right!"

     "You weren't right when you said to 'throw a rock at Kenshin if he runs at you,'" Thai quipped.

     Yukimura crossed his arms and grumbled. "It helped Sasuke and I get away," he muttered. "You ended up just fine."

     Thai guffawed sarcastically. "After an hour of running and dodging? Oh yes, I was just capital," Thai smirked.

     The two shared a cheeky giggle, Yukimura patting Thai on the back, Thai's body jolted, Yukimura guffawing once more. "Again?" he asked. "Are you scared or something?"

     "It's just my reflexes," Thai grunted. "Sometimes I flinch."

     "Like a—"

     "Don't say it."

     "Wild boar."

     "And, there it is."

[am-i-sans]

dnd adventure 12

time for everyone to save dans! hopefully.

astral and cam come out of eeby deeby seeing dans fuckin dead and inferno on the ground lol

wished to ekedalen! i wrote like so much of this session i was zooming lol

world building coming in handy! healers wander the town!

Dans Backstory 1

all the shit i wrote dear god nothing is organized

taking dans to the hospital hoping for help.

undyne had to stop them from picking the death card lol

leaving dans at the hospital to search for info

cam and suzy heading to the market for gossip!

inferno, frog, and tori head to Grillbys!

undyne looking for mystical shit.

suzy hears gossip about murdered warlocks, slavers, ect.

shades hanging out at the bar~

shades joins the party! temporary pog

astral goes eeby deeby F

shades pogs out at undyne cause a paladin saved her as a kid from slavers.

old man whispers (crazy old ralsei) poggers

they get to the creepy house but none of them can read the statues plaque lol

have to restrain inferno from attacking frog.

undyne and inferno in 1 group 2nd floor

cam suzy and shades in 2 group 3rd floor

tori and frog in 3 group 1st floor

undyne found the library! inferno found my wedding ring :( give it back. undyne took the ring back :3

cam fell oh noes! their ok tho! i caught them this time tho! found the armory. nothing useful. full of skeletons. broken rifle.

tori and frog found the kitchen! gross, old, firebombed.

back to group 1! found the trophy room and the dragon head! undyne wasnt super interested though, shes in serious mode. she took the sword out poggers. inferno took the head lol

group 2! investigation check i got a nat 25 and suzy got a fuckin 0 how. we found the bathroom! bloodstained floor! bird in the sink! damp and broken tub. no working water. floor 3 is done.

group 3! they find the butlers quarters! struggle signs, bloodstains. servants quarters are a mess too. They also find the indoor garden! everythings dead and burnt. they get attacked! a vine blight? tori crit it and it left lol. 1st floor done!

everyone heads to 4th floor! inferno fell back to the 1st floor lol

we find a childs bedroom! with torture devices in it. cam and tori are having fun. we find a jar of screams! open it up, screams. suzy smashes it against the wall and releases the screams. its a kids. good job suzy. inferno could hear it from downstairs lol. cam trying to discover who's room this is hmmm.

moving on from that horror! we find a ballroom! pog! all the stained glass is broken. theres a bear! sees us and goes back to sleep. burned up music sheets. a homonuculus just hanging around. cam picks them up cause why not. broken instruments. working piano. a working record player. (everything stays) voiced by a strange woman? and an egg. just an egg. undyne crushes it lol. i take the record from the record player.

GHOST IN THE HALLWAY! disappears quickly.

Inferno finds a secret door?! OOOOOO

A religion Center. Prayer room? Idols for The Angel, The Void, and Moss. Desecrated and ransaked room. Prayer book on the floor. Lots of mysterious alchemical vials all around. Dont drink them. Papers and books scattered. Notes and attempted spells, failed resurrections.

Shades says dans and a paladin saved her from slavers years ago.

NEXT ROOM!

A bedroom! Very dusty. Broken armor in the corner. Notes in the room. A paladin letter of recommendation for...Papyrus Dosser?! OOOOO guess he never made it.

NEXT ROOM WHOOOOO

another kids bedroom. normal and dusty. kids letters on the floor! cam reads them poggers. sadge!

NEXT ROOM!

Smashed up bedroom. Fox lives in a hole in the wall. Large family portrait. Dans, Papyrus, and a child holding a ferret. A Lockbox. More letters sloppily written. Letters from an adult. Preserved Echo Flowers. Bundle of torn newspaper clippings. An orb of memories.

Undyne ripped open the lockbox wtf. Shackles covered in old blood. Never forget written on a note. Undyne puts it away lol.

Orb of memories. Shows dans murdering his parents. He stabs them to death. He burns it all down. Cam reads dans suicide note! yay! Frisk, Papyrus, Tamara. Family. they also read the kids letters again. vani the pet ferret. awwww. Undyne reads the other letter. Paladin Kris. The echo flower just says "I love you daddy" cam is crying just like i said!

back downstairs!

(in the past) inferno trying to break into the secret door. he did it. 2 more doors pog. he found my treasure crypt the bastard. and an aboleth enemy! we rush in! yep we killed it!

cam went eeby deeby

shades showed undyne and tori a list of failed suicides. God. Said. No.

the other door! its full of skeletons! a crypt! and a bone devil! shades almost died omg. frog killed it im so proud.

we all got the prizes i rolled! (rocks)

inferno and suzy try to shove the doll into dans' mouth. undyne went no. but that might actually be the plan.

dans begins to wake. he sees the doll. blue screen. hes absolutely having a mental breakdown.

inferno went back to the wizard tower but noped out of there. and burned dans mail. he went to hide at his old hut home.

AND FAKE BATTLE AGAIN

undyne kills us of course. god dammit we need a full party.

[nirikeehan]

Happy friday and dadwc!! For a prompt, I would like to submit: Raleigh Samson and, from the Tori Amos lyrics prompt list: "Just when you escape, you have yourself to fear."

WELP, this got unhinged.

This will probably go in a new chapter of nightmare au. Largely inspired by this dress I saw on Pinterest. And also the fact that red lyrium bath salts exist and I bought some.

WC: 1559

CW: Samson is a creepy mf

For @dadrunkwriting

---

Raleigh Samson had escaped many things in his life. 

He had come of age on the rough, mean streets of Lowtown. Beggars and cutpurses and scarlet women, those were his compatriots. He learned quick hands and quicker feet meant you’d eat tonight. He’d little prospects then, sitting on the docks with the scent of rotting fish in the air and wishing to be anywhere but here.

He’d thought the Templar Order would give him purpose. The day he accepted his sun shield from Knight-Commander Guylian was the proudest of his life. It meant he’d escaped the gutter, transformed himself into something better. It was a small price to pay, to swallow the glowing blue from their sacred vials. 

He’d escaped Meredith too, though not in the way he’d wanted. Standing in her office, refusing to look contrite, staring the bitch dead in the eye as she stripped him of rank and title, he imagined wrapping his fingers around her neck and squeezing. It was her fault the Kirkwall Templars had fallen into ruin. He would not flinch.

Is there anything else you’d like to confess, aside from this abominable behavior? she’d asked. Officially, it was the letter incident that’d done him in, but Meredith wasn’t stupid. There were a dozen close calls leading up to this she couldn’t explain, but suspected Samson was to blame — the lyrium stores routinely coming up short chief among them. It might do your conscience some good.

Samson had laughed in her face and turned on his heels, head held high. How tempting it had been to tell her of the times he and her Knight-Captain had indulged in stolen lyrium and shot the shit late into the night, but he was no snitch. 

It was a pity. Maybe if he’d ratted, Cullen would have been toppled from his high horse. Maybe they’d have been ground down into the dirt together. Things could have been so different. Maybe they’d still be friends, allies in this glorious quest to remake the world. 

Cullen didn’t know what it was like, to have to scrape and crawl and bite for survival. That was the problem. 

Once a guttersnipe, always a guttersnipe. That’s what Samson’s mother had sneered at him as a child, when she cared to come round the shanty called home. At first he thought she meant his father, absent those many years, but slowly, he came to understand she meant him. That he could never outrun the lot he was born into. Well, he sure showed her. 

The years spent begging and whatever else, the lyrium hunger hounding his brain, those were the worst. But again, he’d prevailed. He recalled the brilliant night he met his current boss, in a dingy back room at the Hanged Man. Gripping a singing bottle of crimson in one hand, listening to the offer of a lifetime. 

Of course he’d taken it. Why wouldn’t he take it? What sort of fool would turn down an opportunity like that? 

Unbidden, the image of Cullen as he’d been the last time Samson had seen him floated amid the steam in the air: disheveled and dirty, eyes manic, huddled in the back of his cell. I’m going to kill you. A threat so earnest Samson had felt sorry for him.

Then, on Samson’s way out of the dungeon, Cullen’s demand: Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?

“You don’t deserve her,” Samson said aloud, to the wisps rising like blood-stained ghosts. 

Cullen vanished, replaced by the girl. Thalia. Thalia, whose name lilted off the tongue in soft syllables. Whose hair burned in the candlelight: a deep, wine red a man could get drunk on. Samson could see her, close enough to touch, in scraps of scarlet silk, strips of the gauzy skirt winding around her wrists like shackles. Yes, he thought. Yes, now she’s mine…

“Ser?” 

The beautiful mirage vanished, and Samson slapped the water angrily with his palm. The voice belonged to his simpering Dalish seneschal, clinging to the doorframe.  “I said I didn’t wish to be disturbed!”

Well, now his reverie was ruined. He was in his washroom at Skyhold, in a bath colored an opaque crimson. The water had been transformed by the red lyrium bath salts his servants had dissolved in there. The fumes created an intoxicating aroma, heady and haunting. Luxuriating in the circular tub sometimes played tricks on the mind. 

“I-I know that, ser,” the seneschal said, quaking. “But I’ve urgent news from your agents in the field…” 

“Yes, Meredith, what is it?”

The elf blinked his watery eyes and coughed. “My, ah, my name is Mareth, ser.” 

Samson glared. “That’s what I said, wasn’t it?”

“Er, no, not exactly—”

“Just get on with it,” Samson growled. 

His seneschal gripped the doorframe tighter, as if for protection. “There’s been a sighting. Of Lady Trevelyan.”

“What?” Samson leaned forward, suddenly rapt. He crossed his arms over the rim of the tub, dripping pink droplets onto the tile floor. He felt as though he’d conjured her himself from his imagination. “Where?”

“At the base of the Frostbacks, on the Orlesian side of the border. She vanished too quickly to be pursued, but they’re fairly certain it was her.” 

“And the Commander?” Samson demanded. It still infuriated him that they’d managed to escape together. It defied any and all logic, yet somehow it had happened. All the sympathy he’d wasted for the girl, thinking her a helpless mage like the sort who’d hurled themselves from the top of the Gallows. 

“No sign of him,” Mareth breathed. “At least, not from the report we received.”

Samson inhaled slowly. He could scarcely hope Cullen had died of exposure after their flight from Skyhold, but it was interesting that Thalia was alone. Had the red lyrium already overtaken him? The exposure time was minimal, but Samson had seen its effect spread rapidly. Or had some other misfortune befallen him? 

Samson raked his fingers through his wet hair — ever more receding on his forehead with every passing day, it seemed. “Where is she headed?” 

“It wasn’t clear, ser,” Mareth said hesitantly. “But the nearest settlement is a hamlet called Ville Frontiére. It’s well fortified, but not strategically relevant, so it’s been left alone for the time being.” 

“An excellent hiding spot, then,” Samson said, imbued with certainty. “Thalia must be there.” 

Mareth squinted in puzzlement. “How can you know, ser?” 

The red instilled a man with many virtues, Samson wanted to tell him, but his seneschal looked sickly pale underneath his facial markings. The crimson baths were always too much for him. “I know.” Samson rose to his full height, the water sluicing off his body. “Get me a towel, Meredith, would you?” 

“It’s… it’s Mareth, ser…” 

Samson glared. “Of course it is. What do you think I’m saying?”

The elf gulped in fresh air from the room beyond and scurried into the washroom, grabbing a towel off the rack and handing it to Samson. He stepped out of the bath, wrapping it around his waist. He dared not glance in the nearby looking glass — the man who stared back looked emaciated, eroded down to nothing — but that was never how he felt after one of his baths. He felt invigorated, and, for the first time since the girl had jumped, hopeful. 

The vision of Thalia floated in his mind’s eye once more. The blood-red dress, her auburn hair loose around her shoulders, lounging in his bed with a coy smile. “Tell the lieutenant to ready my caravan.”

“What?” Mareth looked shocked. 

“You want something done right, ya better do it yourself,” Samson drawled, padding from the washroom into his bedroom. “I intend to pursue the Inquisitor on my own.” 

“Is that a good idea?” Mareth asked. “If Corypheus hears you’ve taken to the field—”

“Never mind Corypheus,” Samson snapped, waving a dismissive hand. “He’s much too busy to worry himself over such trifling matters.” A good thing — because if Corypheus had bothered to check in and learned his precious anchor was missing, Samson would probably be dead already. It was a much better idea to take to the field himself and retrieve her. 

“Right, ser,” Mareth said, defeated. “Right away, ser.” 

Samson stepped over to his wardrobe and threw open the ornate doors. Inside hung many of his own splendid attires, but he reached into the back and pulled out a smaller, lighter garment. A green dress with gold threading, Samson had found the item strangely charming when he’d come upon it. For what reason had Thalia obtained this dress, and for whom did she wear it? 

He thrust the garment into the trembling hands of Mareth. “Take this to the tailor. Tell him I want a gown made from these measurements.” 

“A… gown?” Mareth looked nauseous, an oddity as the red lyrium fumes did not carry this far into the tower. 

“A gown,” Samson repeated. “With particular specifications. You might want to get out quill and parchment for this. I don’t intend to leave here without it, and I don’t want anyone fucking it up, you understand?” 

“Of course, ser!” chirped Mareth, scrambling off to find writing implements. 

Samson smirked, pleased. It felt good to see the correct course of action and take it. Soon this unpleasantness would be over, and Thalia would learn. Oh, he’d teach her a great many things.

[areyoudreaminof]

The Rock Against the Surf: A Gwyn Berdara Playlist

If my timing is correct, it happens to be Day 2 of @gwynweekofficial , song association! So, how about a playlist of songs for Gwyn?

Just like Nesta needed Gwyn, I think a lot of us readers needed her too. To see someone heal herself through such trauma, to see the beauty and strength in the world and to be vulnerable with herself and others in order to heal was an important experience for me. I really am looking forward to Gwyn's story progressing. Listen Here! And follow me behind the cut for a deep dive!

Pegasi-Jesca Hoop

You combed out my mane I'll wear your saddle and reins With all these stars at my feet I'll stamp and tap the spring With my rider a mount I feel like spreading my wings Take to the sky like poetry

The River-AURORA

Don't forget who you are even though you are hurt You are caught in a wire and soon it will burst You can cry, drinking your eyes Do you miss the sadness when it is gone? (Gone) And you let the river run wild (Gone) And you let the river run wild

The Siren-Nadiiife

Moonlight on my skin Rising from within Taking all my wounds Mother moon my home

Here in the water My soul evolves in wrath I am thunder I am the siren's song

Little Earthquakes-Tori Amos

We danced in graveyards with vampires till dawn We laughed in the faces of kings, never afraid to burn And I hate, and I hate And I hate, and I hate Disintegration, watching us wither Black-winged roses that safely changed their color Oh, these little earthquakes Here we go again

I can't reach you, can't reach you Give me life, give me pain Give me myself again Give me life, give me pain Give me myself again

Rocks and Water-Deb Talan

Seven times I went down Six times I walked back I don't fear the dark anymore 'Cause I've become all that

I will be rocks, I will be water I will leave this to my daughter Lift your head up in the wind When you feel yourself grow colder Wrap the night around your shoulders I will be with you even then Even when I cannot see your face anymore

O'Sister-City and Colour

What have the demons done? With a luminous light that once shined from your eyes What makes you feel so alone?

Is it the whispering ghost that you fear the most? But the blackness in your heart, it won't last forever I know it's tearing you apart but it's a song you can wither

Was it the whispering ghost that left you out in the cold? But the blackness in your heart won't last forever I know it's tearing you apart but it's a storm you can wither

Cold War-Janelle Monáe

So you think I'm alone? But being alone's the only way to be When you step outside You spend life fighting for your sanity This is a cold war You better know what you're fighting for This is a cold war Do you know what you're fighting for? If you want to be free Below the ground is the only place to be Cause in this life You spend time running from depravity

notre dame-Paris Paloma

As I tiptoe Creaking over prayers Pleading with their maker Crying with the choir

I’m not immune to the sincerity Below me, makes me feel It makes me holy But the tears I understand That I do not below No I do not belong

Bishop Briggs-White Flag

Take a hit, shoot me down, shoot me down I will never hit the ground, hit the ground Playing dead, I'll never do Gotta keep an eye on you Patience is wearing thin, paper-thin Promises broke again, what a sin But it only feeds my energy So don't expect no sympathy

Oh, won't wave my white flag, no This time I won't let go I'd rather die Than give up the fight, give up the fight

Rebel Heart-First Aid Kit

You told me once I have a rebel heart I don't know if that's true But I believe you saw something in me That lives inside you too Now all I hear is the wind There's a storm coming through

Tell me what do you do I keep trying To be someone I'd never be I keep seeing her in everyone Everyone but me But I know you truly saw me Even if just for a while Maybe that's why it hurts now To leave it all behind I don't know what it is That makes me run That makes me wanna shatter Everything that I've done

Only If For A Night-Florence + the Machine

And I heard your voice as clear as day And you told me I should concentrate It was all so strange and so surreal That a ghost should be so practical Only if for a night And the only solution was to stand and fight And my body was bruised and I was set alight But you came over me like some holy rite And although I was burning, you're the only light Only if for a night

Albatross-Foals

You burnt the lungs That your ancestors created You sat by the banks Of the river and you waited Till time rolled back And the water had abated You drank your share But you still could not be sated You said you're scared Of the clocks that keep ticking over We'll find a way For a life that's worth living over Again and again

Claim Your Ghost-Iron and Wine

Our winter keeps running us down We wake up with love hanging on Killers let go, killers let go

Some kids get a handful of rain Our hope is the desperate die wise Killers let go, killers let go

Morning falls from a tree and asks for a name Claim your ghost, know the wine for what it is

Be Sweet-Japanese Breakfast

So come and get your woman (Comе and get your woman) Pacify her rage (Pacify her rage) Take the time to undo your lies, make it up once more with feeling Recognize your mistakes and I'll let you back in Realize not too late, loved you always Make it up to me, you know it's better Make it up to me, you know it's better Be sweet to me, baby I wanna believe in you, I wanna believe in something

Ready to Start-Arcade Fire

If I was scared, I would And if I was pure, you know I would And if I was yours, but I'm not Now I'm ready to start If I was scared, I would And if I was pure, you know I would And if I was yours, but I'm not Now I'm ready to start Now I'm ready to start I would rather be wrong Than live in the shadows of your song

Taglist: @ofduskanddreams @krem-does-stuff @krem-has-a-mess @octobers-veryown @melting-houses-of-gold @velidewrites @reverie-tales @c-e-d-dreamer, @andrigyn @foundress0fnothing @vulpes-fennec @asnowfern @mossytrashcan @thelovelymadone @the-lonelybarricade @shadowriel @separatist-apologist @fieldofdaisiies @stickyelectrons @vanserrass @panicatthenightcourt @iftheshoef1tz @damedechance @headcanonheadcase @cursebrkr @wilde-knight @moonpatroclus @kataravimes-of-the-shire @sunshinebingo @filthyglamdoll @ablogofbipanic @bagelfyre @thesistersarcheron @ultadverb @iftheshoef1tz @yazthebookish, @foreverinelysian, @spell-cleavers, @aldbooks, @gwyns, @bookofmirth

[shadowwolflady]

Asuma’s Death

Part 3

Rai dressed in her black funeral clothes. A black three quarter sleeve shirt and black knee length skort. The slits in the side of her skort went up to mid thigh on each side for ease of movement. There was a bouquet of flowers on the counter she would bring for the funeral. She grabbed them on the way out.

The sky started to drizzle as she walked to the cemetery. Many others made their way along through the tori and down the steps. Rai was one of them.

It hurt for her to see her friend up there by herself. How she wanted to go and comfort her. Rai stood her ground, staying in the back as usual.

The rain continued to downpour.

One by one, people turned and began to leave. Yet Kurenai still stood in front of his grave.

Years from now. That would be her. Standing at the grave of her husband. By herself.

Everyone, save several people, left. Standing there in a daze, Rai lost track of time. Cold shivers raced her body. How long had she been standing there? Her clothes were soaked.

Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward towards Kurenai. She stopped next to her friend. Bending down, she placed the bouquet near the one Kurenai placed during the ceremony. Standing back up, she took a small step back. Something brushed Rai's arm. Brown eyes looked down. It was Kurenai's hand. She had reached for Rai. Her hand now held Rai's forearm.

Rai sat on the edge of her bed, sopping wet from the rain. The image of Kurenai standing up there alone haunted her. The foreshadow of the future for her. That would be her one day.

Rai had witnessed her friend crying over the past couple of days. The pain was excruciating to watch. She could only just imagine how it felt. True to her word, Rai tried her best to be there for Kurenai. Anko, Shizune, and herself took turns staying overnight with her to keep watch and keep her company. Kurenai leaned into Rai for support.

The day that would happen, she would be up there. All alone. Few people attended to support her. More attending to mourn someone they knew. Would anyone be alive then? Probably some of his students. What about her friends? Would Kurenai be there like she was for her? Or Anko? Or Shizune? Would she be forced to go through everything alone? No one to comfort her and watch over her while she would navigate this foreign path.

The Okami would be there, to help ground and guide her. But. All Rai could think about was how she would be up there. Alone.

This was the curse of being a demon in a human world. Demons out lived humans. This was the pain that she was warned about. Until she died, she would continue to be alone.

Rai found herself playing with her ring on her left hand. It was an attempt to soothe her and remind her of the love she had for her husband.

After a warm shower, Rai laid in her bed. The image of her standing alone at the grave of Kakashi burned into her conscience.

As Rai feared, Kakashi left with Shikamaru and a team of ninja the moment they caught wind of where Hidan and Kakuzu were.

That was her future.

Rai hugged him as he went to leave. This stopped him from opening his apartment door. "Please be careful." Kakashi turned around and embraced Rai.

"I will." Kakashi told her. He closed his eye and took in her scent.

Rai leaned back and quickly slipped his mask down and placed a passionate kiss on his lips. He kissed her back. Pulling back, Rai looked at his handsome face, cupping it in her hands. "I'll be waiting."

Kakashi closed his eye and rested his forehead against hers. The cold metal plate pressed into her warm skin. "I love you, Rai."

"I love you, too, Kashi." She said his nickname. He had to peel himself away and pull his mask back on. Pulling himself from her arms was the hardest thing he has ever had to do. Shikamaru was waiting for him. Rai saw him off with his group.

Days passed, Rai had a knock on her door, it was Anko telling her that they were back and Kakashi was fine, and headed for the hospital to get checked out. They were back! Rai left her apartment in a hurry to the hospital and found his room. She raced down the halls, getting yelled at by staff.

Rai grasped her wedding ring that was looped on a string around her neck. She prayed to Kami that Kakashi would be alright and make it home to her.

“Rai?” Her name from his mouth barely left his lips before she leapt into Kakashi's tired arms as he sat on the cot. “Wha- Ow!”

“Sorry,” She said. She was just so happy to see him. He didn't have the strength to fight or complain too much, so he just let her.

He checked out fine and was given a clean bill of health, except for chakra exhaustion.

Of course. Tsunade always did this to her. Maybe she should petition the council and elders to allow her the full bereavement period.

The moment Kakashi was discharged, a shinobi came in and handed Rai a scroll. Rai's heart dropped. Kakashi hadn't even gotten up off the cot yet and the discharge nurse was still talking to him.

Kakashi knew all too well what was going on. He encouraged her to go, that the Hokage wouldn't call for her unless it was absolutely necessary. Rai nodded, taking the scroll. She turned and gave him a small peck on his forehead before turning to leave.

Previous Chapter //

[taughtdefense]

did i hurt anybody? did i hurt anybody? from devon! ( screwdecorum )

you're single-mindedly, entirely hellbent on getting devon out of this fucked up situation... preferably, entirely unscathed physically, so long as you can help it. the last thing you'd ever want is to have her blood staining your hands, resting underneath your fingernails, unable to be scrubbed clean no matter how many times you wash your hands, which is followed by the ashy taste of rot resting in your lungs. for as long as you've existed, you know by now that its never preceded by it. the rot leads to guilt, which sticks to your already heavily traumatized mind like tar, infecting every inch of both your waking & sleeping minds - human & not.

YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LOOK BACK. YOU CAN'T. LOOKING BACK WOULD MAKE IT ALL TOO REAL THAT COBRA KAI IS GAINING GROUND, THAT YOU'RE LOSING IT. there's not enough time to look back, either. every passing second counts, & you need to take advantage of it before it gets you or devon hurt, or cornered. shit. not good. there's strength in numbers, & numbers are not on your side — neither is time.

all the world will be your enemy, & when they catch you, they will kill you… but first they must catch you.

your existences have always felt the way sickly-sweet, choking, syrupy-thick honey does — persisting in the roofs of esurient mouths, overwhelming the tastebuds, clogging the throat & sealing the lungs. how fitting that this lifetime is no different.

you wonder if you'll eventually see this situation play back to you in the form of a nightmare, with more & more gruesome outcomes, whatever the reality will be. it wouldn't be the first time it's happened, it won't be the last. there will never BE a last time. not with your immortal existence. your creators will never grant you reprieve.

such is the curse of your unending existence, ethan wilson !

with every step you take away from the pack of brainwashed teenagers, they close the gap with two steps, taunting you, calling your name, & devon's, telling you that you're losing ground, that it'll be over soon. ...whatever the hell that means. nothing good, obviously. the twisted look in kenny's eyes upon cobra kai's approach had been enough for you to INSTINCTIVELY grab devon's hand in yours, in preparation to run. then nolan, your own karate rival ( in a similar vein as sam is to tory, as miguel had been to robby ), suggested they hunt you down. their reasoning involves something about getting revenge for your boyfriend ( robby ) abandoning them.

❝ go, go, go ! ❞ you shout over the burning in your lungs, over the anger & sadistic delight you can clearly sense from the cobra kai students, even without needing to use your abilities, ❝ don't stop, devon ! keep running ! ❞

the thrill of the hunt & revenge keeps cobra kai going. it backs you & devon into a corner.

you hadn't been anticipating an all-out ambush with devon by your side, spearheaded by none other than kenny... but the seeds had to have been planted by silver or that newcomer, sensei kim, no doubt. there's no other explanation, as far as you're concerned. if you were alone, that might be better so you can give into your... darker impulses... but with devon here, you have to make sure she's safe. scaring her is out of the question, too. so is revealing your eldritch secret.

fuck.

you half-push, half-yank @screwdecorum forward, so she's in front of you, watching her back while she runs forward on the sidewalk, feet pounding on the pavement. you force your legs to move faster despite the semi-faux burning in them. you barely remember that you need to breathe around her to keep up the illusion that you're human.

you run through the dark, thankfully empty streets of the valley, cursing softly as you hear cobra kai follow the two of you, hot on your heels. you need to figure out how to lose the group of at least ten cobra kai students, for devon's sake more than your own. HER SAFETY MATTERS MORE THAN YOURS, just like with all of your friends/karate allies, & boyfriend. but what worries you is that there has to be more students on the way. ten versus two seems hardly fair, but because you're pretending to be human, you can't single-handedly fight them & win. besides, you don't know if you'd be able to stop yourself from using less than a fraction of your genuine strength on them - you might wind up killing one of them on accident, & then where would you be ?

you'd be no better than terry fucking silver.

❝ did i hurt anybody? did i hurt anybody? ❞ she asks. you shake your head slightly but don't verbally reply - not yet, at least. it's not exactly safe to reply yet.

if anything, you're glad at least one of you is terrified of the outcome of hurting a human... even if it falls under self-defense, because you're literally being chased by cobra kai right now. you glance sharply at the back of her head as you exhale heavily, dark brown hues widening slightly when you hear kyler laugh from somewhere behind your current position. if you were human, you'd have felt fear. but all you feel is anger. the mounting bloodlust makes a jarring reappearance, anger broiling underneath your skin, setting every neuron in your brain ablaze. them going after you is expected. it's obvious. it's pretty much routine, at this point. YOU'RE THE ENEMY OF COBRA KAI. you always have been, being a member of miyagi-do. you're fucking dating the prince-cobra-turned-enemy. but devon is different. or so you thought. but the thing is, she hasn't hurt anyone ! why are they going after her ? is it because she left the dojo ? that doesn't make it okay. NONE of this is okay. how dare they go after her. devon is your friend, your little sister figure.

it makes you furious, & that much more determined to protect her from them.

you turn a corner into a dark alley, pulling devon onto the ground & crouching next to her - one side leads to another street, so it's not an enclosed space. your backs being literally to the wall wouldn't be good. sweat makes your brown hair limp, sticking to the sides of your face, which you stubbornly push back with your hand. your whole body seems to burn from the inside out, supernova bright, twice as intense. you exhale heavily, raising a hand to settle on devon's shoulder, attempting to comfort her from where you're crouched in the dark alley. you can't sense the enemy nearby - you think they'd gotten lost, the shadows had worked in your favor. they're getting further away, now, you think. you jump on the opportunity to speak.

❝ no, you're okay, you're okay. it's not your fault. ❞ you reply, referencing her earlier question. ❝ if anything, it's purely my fault. i d-didn't know they'd come up to us like that. i'm sorry. ❞ you're downright miserable, always so shockingly quick to take the blame for situations outside of your control. it's as instinctual & unconscious as a human needing to breathe. you quickly shove your earplugs back into your ears because they'd started falling out. you keep your eyes on hers, blinking rapidly as your mind races a hundred miles a second, faster than your heartbeat screams in your ears. you try to comfort her despite the circumstances, because of the circumstances.

❝ i swear to god, i won't let that happen. but i need you to do something for me, devs. ❞ you start, reaching a hand into the pocket of your jeans. you retrieve your phone, unlocking it, scrolling to your emergency contact list. robby is first on your list, your dad & mom are second & third respectively, sam fourth, miguel fifth, hawk sixth, mr. larusso & johnny seventh & eighth respectively... so on, so forth. you push the phone into her hands before she can speak. your hand removes itself from devon's shoulder to cup the side of her face gently, so she can look back up at you. your brown eyes are full of an intensity that you've rarely displayed before around anyone. you're dead serious.

❝ call robby, call sam. let them know what's going on. do you think you can do that for me ? ❞ you don't wait for a reply before gently squeezing her shoulder. you rise from the pavement, breathing heavily as you take a step forward. ❝ i'll lead them away. ❞ you tell her. your voice is alarmingly steady; you're not intent on leaving room for her to protest. you've already made up your mind on what you're going to do. ❝ i'll be fine. ❞ you can't guarantee that.