#the two of them live in a poem and i will not tolerate anything else

[pridewon]

@ymagishi​ said:  nodding off… for tadashi<3 (nodding off meme)

Tadashi has always liked travelling by train. Even for short distances, even for a day walk in the countryside with his parents or Tsukki’s family; youthful hazel eyes catch on the landscape flying by with the easse of sand slipping through clumsy fingers. The late afternoon’s warm glow ripples at the surface of soaked rice fields, and it seems as though the whole coach has fallen under the moment’s spell. The gentle rumble of the train has lulled some of the passengers to sleep; and Tadashi peels his eyes off of the window when a light weight gently bumps into his shoulder.

Yukako is asleep on his shoulder, and Tadashi asks himself if he has ever seen anything moe beautiful than the way the fading sunlight gets caught in the waves of her hair. Probably not. Colour spreads to the tip of his ears, lights up a small smile across his lips -- the day has been a long one. Tadashi has been exploring universities in the area, in anticipation of next year, and Yukako had accompanied him to today’s open day (to prepare for the inevitable? to try and picture what it would be like, if he were to attend a university a bit further away from their usual treading grounds?); and gratitude and affection had bloomed in his chest every time she would ask the professors and staff and students questions he had not even thought of, and gratitude and affection blooms in his chest still, as he slowly moves his hand to lace their fingers together (hoping not to wake her, not before they reach their home destination). 

It doesn’t hurt to think about it, but --- Next year is not quite there yet. Next year can wait a little longer, while they nod off on a train at dusk.

[writing-whump]

Maybe something with Rip and Dylan in their new place in the nearby? With Rip wanting to prove (himself and everybody else) that he is fine and capable of taking care of himself... and failing miserably, because it's still too early. 👀

(I imagine it could be overwhelming/hard for him to be on 'foreign' terrain for so long, pinned to the bed (I remember him enjoying walking on the roofs), with 'so much' other wolfes (even if he tolerates Dylan and is thankfull to the rest of them) - as he is more accustomed to be mostly on his own, only. And now, having some independency...

You know. Small steps. 🐾 )

This is a perfectly fitting prompt for Rip! I love it so much!!

In the absence of fear

"What are you doing?" Seline asked, descending the stairs at the late hour of 11 in the morning, only to find Dylan and Matthew sprawled on the couch in front of the TV.

"Chilling," Dylan said in his best bratty teenage tone.

Seline blinked at him in disbelief. It was the tone she was the most familiar with, but she hadn't heard it in the last three weeks. Not since Rip.

"Did something happen? How is Rip? What are you-"

"Hey, Sis, do something for me? Chill out. Too many questions." Dylan rubbed his eyes, slumping back to occupy most of the couch.

Matthew looked completely unbothered. He had been running and sparring for so much the past week it was a wonder he was even awake. Seline got the gist he was trying to tire himself out from feeling anything that could upset his shadow.

"Is Isaiah awake?"

Dylan threw his hand back towards the kitchen. "Prepared us breakfast. Asked about you and then went to his room to work on some papers or whatever."

Seline bit her lip. Summer break had thrown her weekend routine out the window. Her disciplined schedule of early mornings and socializing had given way to lazy starts. She now woke up at 8, lingering in bed to listen to music and daydream, scribbling poems and story beginnings until hunger finally drove her out.

She was glad Isaiah hadn’t come to get her. Despite their occassional mutual confusions and misunderstandings, he understood when she needed space. Perhaps because he often needed it himself.

Seline went to get the two eggs in glass and the ham and small tomatoes, wondering what emotional mood Dylan was in. Enough to ask about when he was gonna visit mother? Was this a teenage mood of "let me chill and watch TV cause I can't do that at home" or something else?

It was a wonder how much you could lose touch with one another after just a year of living apart.

Seline came back to the living room with a steaming cup of coffee, leaning against the back of the sofa.

"Any plans for today?"

Dylan didn't look up, staring at the screen with intent that the ad for chicken prices couldn't warrant.

"Did something happen?" she tried again.

"Oh nothing," Dylan's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Just that mister Grumpy woke up, bit my fucking head off-"

"Language."

"-for asking him what he wanted to eat. He wants to be alone so much, he can be my fucking guest."

"Aha." Problems in paradise, huh? She was surprised the boys had lasted that long. When it wasn't so serious, they were still just a couple of teenage boys with heightened emotions and cranky shadows.

And Dylan, for all his good qualities, was very easy to offend.

...

It was so quiet.

Rip, feeling the rare sensation of having both strength and space, began to cautiously explore the new place. He could not, by all means, consider it his, but he could also not relax if he didn't inspect every corner on his own.

It had basic furniture. A living room and two small bedrooms and a kitchen. It was the biggest and cleanest place Rip had been in undisturbed for a very long time, if not ever.

Isaiah rented it and his pack and Dylan helped clean it up. The disinfection helped get the foreign scents out so they could get used to it more easily.

It smelled like Dylan. Which wasn't an offensive scent, just a reminder of how incapable Rip currently was of leaving his own trail behind.

He made himself shuffle from one corner to the next. Touch a wall, go to the next one. About time he made himself walk.

His side burned at the movement, but it was just a patch of pain instead of it shooting up his stomach and chest and paralysing him all the way. Progress, no matter how small and frustrating.

He ended up perched at the window still in the living room, opening it ajar so he could breathe the fresh air in eager gulps.

Rip craved the outside.

He wanted to escape the walls of protection, of this locked-up feeling. He wanted the roofs, the heights, the wind in his face. The feeling of his legs when running, to tense his hands when he climbed up a railing, the view from the top of a building, with the world bustling beneath him.

This place was just so quiet, it was deafening.

It was never like this at his place. The familiar sounds of the streets, footsteps, and wolves that could appear at any moment, but followed certain patterns in the early morning, after sundown, and always after midnight… now that he was aware of himself and his surroundings again, it felt wrong not to have them around.

Rip leaned against the wall, legs folded underneath him. He could smell rain in the air. Thunder would be a welcome sound, something to pierce through this neutral, nothing saying grayness.

A growing pressure inside his skull hinted at the approaching storm, making it hard to concentrate. These days, exhaustion overtook him quickly; a few steps left him breathless and his eyes heavy with sleep. He had learned not to fight it, knowing it would only bring more exhaustion.

Rip unglued himself from the window, moving carefully to let his legs down onto the floor. He made the last few meters to the couch and collapsed on it.

Rip struggled to recall why Dylan had left that morning. Did they have a fight? What about? Yes, Rip was getting frustrated and cranky and he wanted Dylan to leave him alone, to let him breathe, just for a second. He didn't mean for the other boy to leave, but now, with the quiet enveloping him, he was sort of glad he did.

There was relief and peace in the silence. To not being watched all the time like some invalid. To not being reminded of everything he could not do, that he had to get help for. At least now he had an illusion of not needing it.

Rip was eternally grateful and obligated to Dylan anyway. Was there a point in pretending he was happy about it? Why could Dylan just not leave him alone, like everyone else did, like he deserved? How long would he have to wait until Dylan got fed up with him—of how much of a burden Rip was?

Rip curled up on the couch, shivering with a sudden coldness. His shirt was itchy against the stitches. It was Dylan's shirt, too. Dylan brought with more clothes from his childhood home, clothes he didn't need than Rip ever owned in his life.

He closed his eyes, pulled into a restless sleep, guilty and undeserving as always.

An axe came down on his head.

Rip woke up with a start, covered in sweat, breath hitching. The room was dark, twilight behind the windows. His heart was beating harshly against his ribs.

He shifted on the couch to move to the bed, when he realized what had woken him. A bone-splitting pain, as if struck by a dream axe, radiated from the left side of his forehead up into his hairline. Rip doubled over under the weight of his own head, fists clenching at his sides.

This was a new pain, one he didn't know. The knife-wound was worse at its time, but this was debilitating in its unexpectedness. What was going on? The dull pressure he felt turned into this while he slept? What did he do?

He slowly dragged himself to his feet and swayed immediately, having to catch himself on the couch. His sense of balance was shot. Thank god the room was so dark, because he couldn't open his eyes more than to slits. The pain pounded through his head in synch with his heartbeat and he was breathing harshly, like he had just stopped running, like he was still capable of running. His stomach leaped and jumped unhappily.

Nope, with the split in his skull and the stitches, all he could do was shuffle forward, one painful step at a time. He managed to get all the way to the kitchen and had to lean with both hands against the table to stay upright. The pain made him dizzy, a heavy piece of iron in his head being slammed in by a hammer.

There was a slimy feeling slithering behind his teeth. As the room span dizzily around him, he realized it was nausea. Jesus Christ, what was this?

Rip took deep breaths through his mouth, waiting till the room settled back to try new steps. He had to calculate his path carefully, cause he didn't think he could walk straight. He dared a couple steps from the table towards the wall. His brain was rattling in his skull and he pressed his forehead against the cool steady surface until the dizziness died down. His teeth tickled, something heavy against his throat.

Halfway through the next impossible step, he realized he better aim for the bathroom instead. His stomach was positively churning and twisting, making his toes curl up.

Half-blind from the pounding thoughts-melting pain and the nauseating dizziness, Rip finally made it to the bathroom, in front of the toilet. That was about all he managed before he was vomiting, head exploding with pain that had him seeing stars.

...

Dylan really didn't need Seline telling him he was acting childish.

So what if he was? If Rip wanted to have a day for himself, because Dylan's fussing was annoying or whatever, then he could have it. Dylan was doing Rip a favor, not himself.

Plus, spending the day on the couch with Matthew, switching between Netflix series, was a welcome break after the admittedly tough three weeks he had just gone through.

At least he was getting to know Seline's pack better after barging in on them with a favor. Favour for stupid Rip. How come that even when he was doing his best not to think about the guy, he still ended up circling back to him?

When Dylan stepped into their shared apartment, he expected it to be quiet. Rip was always quiet, when he wasn't growling at him in frustration to chase him away. Of course Dylan knew that was just another way of Rip doing so. He tried the dying and the "I can't pay you back" crap before, so this was a logical next step.

Should he announce himself or let the injured wolf sleep? Maybe they could end the day not talking and start afresh tomorrow.

There was a faint coughing sound that stopped him in his steps though. Dylan listened, pinpointing the direction. It was coming from the bathroom.

Dylan frowned, but went to investigate. The door was half-way open and he was confused, so he stuck his head in...and opened it all the way immediately, running inside.

The bathroom was a mess. There was vomit everywhere. On the floor, around the toilet, on the seat, under the sink...and Rip was in the middle of it, face pressed against the tiles, both hands wrapped around his head from behind, gasping for breath.

"Holy fucking shit-"

Rip made a noise, somewhere between a sob and a keening wail. Dylan immediately shut his mouth, sliding to his knees beside him. "What happened? What's wrong? Rip?"

Dylan struggled to get a look at Rip's face. His throat was bobbing loudly and he was shaking all over. "Rip? Rip, talk to me!"

Rip shuddered at his voice near his ear, curling into himself. "M-my head..."

"Your head?" Dylan said incredulously. What? That had nothing to do with the stitches. "Did you hit it or something?"

"N-no-..." Rip coughed and swallowed heavily. He was covered in sweat, black curly hair plastered to his neck. "Hurts...like an axe is splitting it open-" he whimpered. Actually whimpered. Dylan hadn't seen him whimper like that since the first day after the injury, when his shadow returned and Rip got his sense of pain back.

"I-I don't understand," Dylan said helplessly, reaching for Rip's shoulder. "I'm gonna- I'm gonna get you up from the floor, okay?"

Rip winced, hands going around his stomach as if to hug himself, but didn't protest.

Dylan took him by the shoulder and gently straightened him up. He wrapped his arm around Rip's back and pulled him to his feet.

The reaction was immediate. Rip shuddered and coughed, his stomach expelling a fresh wave of vomit down his front. Dylan had to hold on to him as the sick wolf's legs buckled underneath him with another wave of watery vomit right onto the floor.

"Okay, not the brightest idea," Dylan said, fighting back a gag of his own at the horrible scene and smell.

"S-sorry, I c-can't-"

"It's alright," Dylan said through gritted teeth, waiting till the waves tampered down. Rip stayed bent in half, dry-heaving for a good half a minute before the fit ended, only to immediately slump back. Dylan barely caught him with a curse.

"Can you move?" Which really meant if he could walk without vomiting again.

Rip just whimpered, hands clutching at the left side on top of his forehead like he had a cut there.

"Christ, when did this start? Did you feel sick to your stomach all of a sudden?" Dylan dragged him away from the messed-up bathroom, realizing that every room they went to was at risk of becoming the same. It worried him out of his mind that he didn't know what this was. Could Rip really get an infection, after all this time? Did he eat something outside the broths and soups Dylan, Sel and Isaiah made for him? They had a supply of them in the fridge, surely Rip wouldn't risk eating something else, so soon after the IV?

Dylan opted to maneuver them to Rip's room, hoping his own space, however new, would bring him some degree of comfort. He helped him up on the bed and onto his back, gently trying to pry Rip's hands out of his face. "Let me see, buddy, come on."

Rip let out a pitiful whine, reluctantly letting go. His hands were curled up into fists again and his face was scrunched up in a pained grimace, shirt all wet up from his chin to his middle.

Dylan inspected the place Rip kept pressing against, careful fingers sliding up and down, but there was nothing—not even a bump, a cut, no bleeding.

When he retracted his hands, Rip immediately went to hold the spot again, curling up on his side with a whimper.

"Wait, man, we should get you out of that shirt..."

Rip keened again, obviously beyond caring about the vomit on his clothes, the pain riding out everything else, whispering desperate little: "Make it stop, please make it stop..."

Dylan crouched down beside him, planting one hand on Rip's shoulder again. He wrinkled his nose at the stench before fishing out his phone. He could not do this alone.

...

Rip was wiggling on the bed in agony. He didn't know he could feel pain comparable to the stab wound, but he was proven wrong.

He never had headaches in his life. It was the most unlikely place to get injured, really, if you weren't falling down or getting it bumped.

The bite marks on his neck and arms, the hot piercing feeling of an enemy shadow sliding through his body, body punches — he was used to that. He could handle it.

This pounding pain in his forehead — why the specific spot anyway ?— was unexpected and foreign, and it scared him all the more because of how unpredictable it was.

Not to mention the accompanying dizziness and nausea and the way it messed with his equilibrium and senses. He couldn't think, he couldn't feel anything else. Vaguely he realized he wasn't alone, that Dylan came, that the cold bathroom tiles weren't digging into his knees anymore, but that was about it. His stomach muscles hurt from heaving, his stitches burned, but it was nothing against the hammer driving spikes into his left temple.

And then suddenly the Executioner was there, kneeling by his bed with a small crease etched between his eyebrows. Rip shivered at the sight, but really, what worse could the Executioner do than put him out of his misery?

"Rip. Rip, I need you to focus on me. Have you ever had headaches or migraines before?"

Rip thrashed, struggling to stay still and meet Isaiah’s gaze. Focusing on one spot intensified the pain, making Isaiah's face a blur and nausea rise in his throat. He fought down a retch. "No."

"Is your shadow hurt?"

Rip's lips quivered, a sob threatening to come out. "No." His shadow tried. It tried running through him, to heal him, to help, but it managed nothing against the pain. Its grief over it echoed in Rip's chest.

He saw more than felt Isaiah reaching over to his side. Ah right, it was the Executioner after all, who 'operated' him. Without flinching, the older wolf lifted the hem of his stained shirt, looking over the stitches, his expression dissatisfied.

"What's wrong with him?" Dylan's voice sounded anxious, somewhere to Rip's left. He didn't like his fear. Dylan was supposed to be optimistic, calming him, reassuring him that everything could be healed. Dylan's worry made Rip's lips tremble, eyes burning with tears.

"Dylan, get me two large towels, one wet and one dry. And a mixing bowl, if you would be so kind. If you could take care of the bathroom, that would be great."

Isaiah sending Dylan away instead of providing a solution felt alarming. Like he was about to do something Dylan wasn't supposed to see. Maybe Rip really was dying this time.

"I'm going to lift you up, okay?" Isaiah said it more like a warning than a question, cause he pulled Rip up by the arms, before Rip could think better of it. It ushered up a new dizzy spell and a gag, Rip slumping in Isaiah's arms like a rag doll. His breathing was erratic, fast and painful to his own ears, though he couldn't feel any pain past his head.

Isaiah peeled the filthy shirt off matter-of-factly, holding Rip up until Dylan came with the towel. The oldest wolf put the dry one under Rip's pillow before letting him lie down, then positioned the wet one over his head.

Rip sighed in appreciation at the cool sensation against the digging, bleeding spike that should have, by all means, dug its way through his brain by now. It brought a smitten of relief, though send shivers down his spine and exposed arms.

Isaiah drew the covers over Rip's trembling chest. He stayed seated on the bed beside Rip's head. "The bowl is right here. If you feel sick, it's okay."

Rip wrapped his hands around his sore stomach. He rolled to his other side so he could press his forehead into the towel easier. "D-do you know w-what's wrong with me?" He hated the stumble in his voice, but he also couldn't care less in the face of the debilitating pain.

Isaiah gave a long sigh, leaning against the headboard. Rip didn't understand the proximity, but at least he didn't have to talk loudly. "I have an idea, yeah."

"Can't you make it stop? If it's t-he injury-"

"It's not. And if your shadow isn't working, I doubt any painkillers will, though we can try it, once you feel less pukey."

Rip unglued his eyes, making himself look up at the Executioner leaning over him with a calm expression. Few more stress tears slid down his cheek from how intensely he had to focus to keep his eyes open.

"It's the stress," Isaiah said after a moment, his gaze fixed on the opposite wall. "Or rather, the lack of it. When you stay in an intense, painful situation for a long time, your body adapts to survive. But once you relax, everything catches up to you."

Rip sniffled, scrunching his nose. That sounded like total bullshit.

"For real, kid. Migraines are just one of the ways your body can react."

"H-how do you know?" Rip couldn't help the growl in his voice. What kind of nonsense was Isaiah spewing? He could not be getting this hurt from relaxing, for Shadow's sake.

Isaiah was quiet for a while, his voice strained and tense as it pierced through Rip's headache. "When I left my pack for the first time, I went through something similar. Knowing I wouldn't have to get hurt anymore, that I was safe — it made me sick for weeks. Hurting in places I never realized, places I'd never been hurt before. It was like the years of pain suddenly crashed over me, demanding their toll all at once."

Rip took a hitching breath. He wasn't sure if this was information someone should know about an Executioner without their life being at risk. His head couldn’t fathom why Isaiah would share something so personal and revealing, or what horrors his pack could have inflicted to compare to Rip's life as a street stray.

Yet, something in Rip's chest unclenched at the words. A mix of relief that there was an explanation, that someone understood, that he wasn't alone in feeling pathetic, weak, and in pain. Isaiah shared the information so easily, admitting something Rip had to be in agony to confess.

The flood of confusing emotions and thoughts had the hammer coming down a bit more forcefully. Rip groaned at the sensation, giving up the fight and squeezing his eyes shut. "F-few w-weeks?"

"No, kid. I'm sure it won't last that long for you." Isaiah's hand twitched towards Rip, but then he let it fall to his side.

Rip wasn't sure if the Executioner was telling the truth or lying to comfort him, but he would take the lie with all he had.

[365runesoftheamalgamations]

The Not Yet Forgotten Introduction

hello and how are you?

This has been far too long since we have been active and we've wanted to get back into the flow of things! And we believe it is time for a Reintroduction! So, without further ado,

A Proper Introduction

Welcome to the Writing Blog! We are the Not Yet Dead Authors, the Natsume Rune! You may refer to us as Natsume as a whole, or say hi to any of the specifics who run the blog/do the writes! Our pronouns are we/they, and we are an aromantic/asexual genderfluid cluster of whispers drowning in the Void for more than two decades. So just another set of Wanderers who wish to reach out and touch the Worlds in a more pronounced way!

Full Writeblr Introduction under the cut!

Getting To Know Us

We are most comfortable writing and conversing in italics! It just feels like it speaks with our souls, so please be aware that most of the posts and such will be within that realm of writing.

Our most comfortable sense of writing is in third person present tense! We also write in first person (sometimes) and second person (rarely) but our comfort lies in others and their present.

We write mostly fantasy but also dabble in horror, science fiction, dystopian and other works and writing styles. We do hold our own universe, the Storyverse, that we will hint, note, and talk about, depending on things, as well as a multitude of Worlds that will be given over to the Stories happening within in. Hardcore about both worldbuilding and storytelling, so we will probably have a lot to say about both the Worlds and Stories that come with our hyperfixations.

Our writing forms include: fanfiction, short stories, drabbles, flash fiction, novels, poems, and role playing! We enjoy rolling through forms and trying out different ways of telling and sharing stories, so please note that there will be a lot of everything on here.

We follow from the System's Blog, @365runesofthesystem, and will try to be really active in the community, so if you see us around, then feel free to indulge us! We love to be tagged in games and sent asks and the like and will try to get to all of them in due time. [ yes, we do hoard Tag Games, shut the fuck up about it. ]

If there is anything else anyone would like to know, do not hesitate to ask or message us! But be aware that we are not afraid to deal with anything impolite or inappropriate, we have a zero tolerance standard and we will keep it without hesitation.

The Amalgamations of our Creations

We have a lot - and yes, we mean a fuck ton - of Works and Stories that we want to tell at some point in our lives, so this list will definitely grow and expand and shift as we go through our journey.

If you want a full list of all of our Works, check our both our Original Works Masterlist and our Fanworks Masterlist!

All Links to WIP Pages and Intro Posts will be added as we get things sorted and settled!

But here are a few of our more pronounced Works, [ yes, they can and will probably shift and change. No they are not in any particular order, we hate figuring out orders. ]

Grayland's Shadow

Original Work | Fiction, Low Fantasy, Horror Elements First, Second, Third Person | Second Drafts

Ecstasy. The screaming, the struggling, the pleas for mercy, he loved them all. He loved the way they always seemed to think that he would set them free. That, if they were good and tried hard enough, he would just let them live, bleeding and knowing. As if he would ever let anyone go. He never did. He never wasted an opportunity either. So when a girl, around her way into adulthood, sat down next to him on the bench that day, he had no intention of letting her go. None.

Constellations By Orion

Original Work | Fiction, High Fantasy, Action and Adventure Third Person Present Tense | Scene Drafting/Worldbuilding

Orion is the first one she goes for, as he always points North. "I am just saying, your little stowaway is pretty cute." "I don't need a man Orion, I need directions across the sea." "Trust me, if you want a purpose, you should find Ursa Major. She's the guide of adventure, new life." "And where can I find her?" "At the heart of the ocean. She is the Guardian of Polaris and her baby, Ursa Minor."

The Queen & The Heir

Short Story | Fiction, High Fantasy, Medival Third Person Present Tense | Scene Drafting/Prompt Response

She hates herself for hesitating. She stares at the note, gentle cream instead of stark white in order to hold the same connotations of the maid notes that she, and more importantly he, was accustomed to seeing. She glances at the Guard, barely catches the door closing completely, locking her in with the words that would prove herself justified. Or truly and quietly mad.

The Rapunzel Witch

Short Stories | Fiction, High Fantasy, Fairytale Retellings, LGBTQIA+ Third Person Present Tense | Chapter/Scene Drafting

Vibrant and sharp, it is another small check to his identity; the Queen is staring at him, though instead of the hard determination of a leader, he stands before the soft gentleness of a person unused to such direct contact. Something shifts in those eyes; the Royal Majesty frowns more before he lets his eyes drop to the ground between them. “Well, that’s that then, isn’t it?” The Knight feels a soft pang; he almost takes a step forward, hand twitching at his side before the Royal spins around and walks away from him. “Your obligations are fulfilled; the Rapunzel Witch lives.”

The Plague Begins With Me

Original Work | Dystopian, Horror Third Person Present Tense | Scene Drafting

Lost to the devastation of the Plague and destroyed by the aftermath of Humanity’s Fall, the World of Zeomia holds nothing but the dystopian devastation of disease and decay. Shouldering a responsibility that no one else is allowed to know, Zero tries to give mercy to those who have fallen from her own twisted fate.

Main Tags of the Blog

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[mrsvalbaker]

Poppies in October

DISCLAIMER: This story is fanfiction, names you recognize I do not own. Thems of tragedy are throughout the story, this chapter has mentions of suicide, self harm, smutty scenes, maybe bad judgment. The childhood background of the Black Brothers is influenced by @sufferingstarlight . Not proofread.

Pairings: Eventual Jegulily, right now it's Regulily.

Do not read if you're under the age of 18.

"It is no night to drown in:

A full moon, river lapsing

Black beneath bland mirror-sheen"

Lorelei by Sylvia Plath

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

Chapter I

I felt so dizzy with anguish, I felt like teeth and fangs tore at my flesh ripping it clean off of my muscles and bones. I felt as though my blood dripped from my heart down the corridors, I couldn't see, tears blinded my vision. I couldn't breathe, oxygen was stolen from my lungs.

Everything felt meaningless, not even my usual comforts from Sylvia Plath or Anaïs Nin's words could save me from my own suffering.

I didn't even desire to pray at my altar to Cerridwen, for I think no one, not even the great Goddess, had a cure for heartbreak.

I've loved Marley since I was thirteen.

She used to always ask me what I was reading, I told her about my muggle books I carried with me everywhere as she would play with my auburn hair. She'd lay her head in my lap and I'd recite poems from Sylvia word for word from memory, as I played with her cropped hair.

When that bludger hit her, I healed her, not Madame Pomfrey. She kissed me under the bleachers and carved our initials in the wood, and I lost my virginity to her that night when Gryffindor beat Slytherin. We snuck out and she surprised me with a tent by the lake. She knew the squid wouldn't harm us, no creatures attacked when I was around.

Things did begin to get a little rocky after a bit, like when I asked her why she wouldn't tell her parents I was her girlfriend. Despite being perfectly nice people, and tolerable of me as just a friend of their dear Marlene, Malcolm and Elspeth McKinnon didn't like the idea of their youngest daughter having romantic ties to a Muggle-Born. It would ruin their perfect image as Scotland's strongest Wizarding family.

Yes, Slytherins aren't the only prejudiced wizards. Everyone else is just very good at hiding the arsenic in the sugar, most wizard folk aren't very comfortable with any sort of connections to the Muggle realm, they're terrified of exposure. As if there weren't superstitious muggles, my Nain used to tell me all sorts of Welsh folklore and superstitions. She lives in an old cottage in Gwynedd, a pagan lady who taught me of what people call the old Gods, Gods I know to still exist.

This world acts as if muggles are so ignorant of the existence of magic, clairvoyance is even something that is passed down from my mother's side of the family, The Castells are even rumor to have lineage that goes back to Pelleas, Nimue, and Rhiannon. My middle name is Nimue and my sister Petunia's is Rhiannon.

Marley didn't let anything convince her to go against her parents, I should have known then she didn't love me. I stopped hanging out with Sev for her, I started being mean to James Potter for her, and Cerridwen, did I feel guilty for that. Even though he was never nice to Sev, I found myself getting along with James and the Marauders, it's not as if Sev jumped to my defense when his friends called me a mudblood. For Arawn's sake, why am I always the one to have to make all the compromises and sacrifices?

Marley made me feel like a slag for finding James attractive, never did I think more than that or try anything, and James never tried to seduce me, just flirty comments here and there. But tonight, tonight I learned from her own lips, the lips that used to console me and make love to me, that she and Dorcas, my friend Dorcas, slept together. And to add insult to injury, she dumped me in front of all the girls in our dorm.

Two years I pledged my love to that fucking quidditch obsessed, Don Juanita.

I leaned my body against the castle wall, only to have one of the bloody paintings bitch at me that my crying is keeping them awake. What do they need sleep for? They're dead.

I threw myself off the wall and headed up to the Astronomy tower, desiring deeply to suffer and lick my wounds alone.

I didn't even want to sleep there anymore, I felt homeless.

I ascended the tower, tears flowing freely the moment my senses touched the fresh air of the sky. I ripped off the amethyst bracelet with a delicate M charm dangling, Marley got me that for our first anniversary. I stomped on it and watched it shattered into a thousand pieces like my heart.

What about me is so hard to love? Was I not supportive enough? Was I not always available whenever she wanted me? Am I not pretty enough? I thought of Dorcas's smooth, chocolate skin, her wide bedroom eyes the color of pure caramel, her waist length, dark coils and her elegantly slender body as if she were part elven. I can't compete with her, she's so even tempered and cool and elegant. I'm strange, erratic, crazy is what Marley called me after I just decided to chop off my red locks to a bouncy bob. I hate being called crazy, I can't stomach it. She prefers her girls to have long hair, well I'm not her girl anymore.

"Crucio!"

My heart stopped, my blood froze. Hearing one of the unforgivables was like nothing you can prepare for. My instinct was to stop it, stop that person from inflicting pain on the other. But when I ran to the scene of the crime, my eyes widened in horror for there was no one inflicting crucio on another, but none other than Regulus Black, inflicting pain on himself.

Crumpled on the ground, hunched over, sleeves of his black jumper rolled up to expose his arms, his distinct dark curls falling over his face. There was no mistaking the prominent cheekbones, his wand pointed to his wrist where blood dripped from slashes and now the word empty was brutally edged and woven into his alabaster skin.

Tears splattered and mixed with the seeping blood from his wounds. I held up my hand "arresto!"

Messing around on my own, I have discovered I can perform a little wandless magic. I have also discovered my ability to simply create the spell arresto , which can stop movement.

I was glad to see Regulus drop his wand with a gasp, shock colored his gray-green eyes as his head snapped up to stare at me in astonishment and then anger. I panted, that particular spell takes a lot out of me.

"Why?" He spat, his eyes darkened. "What in Merlin's name possessed you to do that?" He growled. "And how-"

I'm friendly with Sirius, and Sev, meaning that Regulus has always been around. I've attempted many times to greet him but he shied away from me often, probably because of my blood Status. Blood supremacy couldn't stop me from empathizing with the younger Black brother.

I understand what it's like, to feel the need to harm yourself to make you forget about the horrors of your reality. During the dark days, I'd burn myself by any means, there would be freedom in pain. But that isn't right, and to see him so unhappy and desperate enough to crucio himself….I felt protective of him, whether he wanted it or not, I will protect him, even from himself.

I made my way over and fell to my knees, taking his arm in my hold. "Evans, what the hell do you think you're doing? You stupid bitch, you've ruined everything!" He snapped.

I know he's upset, but my emotional wounds from Marley were still raw, and I selfishly wallowed in them. "I know." He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Vulnera Sanentur." I spoke it softly, watching the word heal and gashes disappear into faded scars.

Regulus stared at me in bewilderment, his lips fallen open in awe. I felt myself blush. "Please, please don't tell anyone I can do that." I begged in a whisper.

His eyes bore into mine, his wet and red and glassy. "As long as you don't tell anyone I used an unforgivable." His voice was hoarse, no doubt from his screams of pain.

"How did you find me?'' He asked suddenly.

"I heard you." I said softly. His eyes widened. "That's not possible, I used muffliato, I'm no novice at charms."

"I know, you've earned the reputation as brightest of your year.'' He's a year below myself but i know what hes capable of, everyone does, plus I'm in the Slug club with him.

His eyes narrowed into slits in suspicion. "Not possible…"

"Well I heard you." I pointed out before inspecting His slender arm. "I understand, maybe that's why…maybe I heard you when no one else has or will because…I used to…"

His eyes searched me. "Go on." He urged.

Surprisingly I did, I couldn't stop myself tonight. "I used to burn my thighs…with enchantments, I can make my fingers hot enough to do it..smelling my burning flesh satisfied me like it was confirmation or something…"

I couldn't look at him as I said it.

"Why?" His voice was pained, I saw his hands reach, but I don't know for what. "Why would you ever do that to yourself?"

"Same as you, pain I couldn't possibly expose…" I swallowed salty tears and took a deep breath. "I missed Wales so much that first time, when…well, this woman would watch me while my parents were at work. She never paid attention to Tuney, my sister…just me. Always touching my hair, telling me how pretty it is, how pretty my eyes are, she liked giving me baths too much." It physically pain me to say this. I risked a look at Regulus, his expression horrified as if he knew what I was going to say. "Lily…"

I took a deep breath. "She did it all the time, touched me all the time. Guilted me saying my parents can't afford most sitters, she's the cheapest one…if I told them they'd feel like horrible parents. So I didn't say anything…" I choked out the last word. "Tuney was supposed to be at her friend Kim's, but she forgot her roller skates. She walked in on me on the couch, my knickers around my ankles…she was on top of me." I felt myself crumple just remembering it. Suddenly Regulus gathered me in his arms , I felt too clogged to cry. "I begged her not to tell mum and dad, she didn't but we had to get rid of her. " I looked up at him "Petunia told her if she ever returned she'd tell the police. We never saw her again but Regulus, I wish we told the police." I sobbed out.

"Oh Lily…" somehow, the sound of his voice, his long, dexterous fingers stroking my hair, and the smell of him calmed me. He smells like wintergreen, rose geraniums likd my Nain grows in her garden, and freshly fallen snow. I rubbed my nose into his jumper further. I balled my fists in the cable knit material that he no doubt spent galleons on, only to have the tears of a poor Muggle-born dampening it.

But he seemed to not mind, his lanky arms enveloped around me pulling me closer, making me feel warm and safe when I should be comforting him. "I hate…hate my life so much. My parents make it very clear that they never wanted children, that the purpose of having Sirius and I was only to prolong the noble house of Black." He sneered. "One toe out of line, any inkling of disappointment…you think this is my first time I felt the white hot pain of crucio? Mother has done it so many times its almost her way of giving a maternal kiss on the cheek." He spat.

My mouth fell open in horror to know a mother was capable of something so…evil.

I felt his body shake as he held back a violent sob. "Regulus…" I had forgotten all about my pain, looking up at this beautiful boy in so much anguish, I lifted my head and gently, slipped my fingers up his jaw, cupping his face gingerly. Our foreheads pressed together, his prominent nose brushing against my smaller one. His tears and mine dripped onto one another's skin. I took a deep, shaky breath. "You don't have to–"

"No, you shared your tale…you deserve to hear mine--y-you're the only one...who deserves…" I blinked back tears as he struggled to get the words out. I tenderly stroked his cheek with my thumb to wipe away the falling diamonds of tears. I licked my lips because the salty drops spilled onto my mouth, we were that close and Regulus seemed to notice. His eyes flickered to my mouth before looking down into my eyes. "I don't blame Sirius for leaving me behind. I'm angry at him for it, so angry that it consumes me as I watch him move on with a new family leaving me behind to deal with them." He hissed as more tears spilled. I wondered if Sirius was aware of his brother all alone and left behind. I felt angry for Regulus, this boy I hardly know but empathize with bone deep.

"But I don't blame him because…because I saw" he choked out. "I saw what my father did to him." I furrowed my brows in confusion, my lips parted. His eyes fell to my lips again and he parted his.

"Make me forget Lily, make us forget." He begged his ghostly verdant eyes pleading in desperation and distressed beseeching.

"What do you mean–" he cut me off with a desperate kiss, his mouth on mine so desperate it was almost violent in its mission.

It was the strangest thing but I felt like I could breathe again, as I inhaled this boy, as he swallowed me whole in the process of consuming me. I ached suddenly for something I've never had, his lips were bruising mine despite them being so soft. I tasted sweet spearmint on his tongue, and although it was slow it didn't make the kiss any less demanding.

His large hands grasped my hips and held my lower back, his fingertips brushed beneath my blouse, eagerly stroking my skin and I shivered violently. I moaned as he had me on my back and suddenly he was on top of me but it felt like he was everywhere all at once. His teeth gnashed on my lower lip, tearing at the skin releasing oozing red blood staining my teeth and spilling into his mouth. He moaned loudly and it was muffled by our starving mouth. I felt inhuman like some wolf-girl, sucking my own blood off of his tongue with ravenous behavior. I liked it, no, loved tasting myself on him, I did something to me.

I squeaked into his mouth as his large hands sank into my leggings to cup, possess, grope, my backside. I was too inspirit to feel my usual lack of confidence with my bum, it's known to be ample and I hated it. But The way Regulus almost painfully grasped and fondled it, while using it to leverage me closer to his body, convinced me he didn't mind in the least. I felt light headed, dizzy, like I my consciousness was fading and my breath was robbed from me. With a gasp from us both, he tore his mouth from mine panting heavily, looking feral, his eyes as wild as his curls that were usually tamed and slicked back. He looked like a man on the verge of what… I do not know..

He released my backside reluctantly, now palming my buxom breasts through my oversized blouse. His nostrils flared and he kissed my neck emitting a squeal from me, going right for my weakness, straight to my Achilles heel. I made the most embarrassing of moans as his tongue, teeth, and lips made a meal of my poor sensitive neck. My eyes rolled back and he murmured almost in tears against my skin. "Merlin, you smell so good. Why do you smell so good?" He begged.

I couldn't give him an answer, I didn't know or understand. I just tugged in his Apollonian ringlets with another pathetic cry from my lips as I felt his teeth clamp down on my flesh as if he were a vampire and not Regulus. He made me feel desired and wanton when I wasn't, making me forget the ugly characters of my supposed childhood, replacing my thoughts, my senses with just him.

Suddenly, he had ripped my blouse off, the loud clatter of buttons hitting the wood made me painfully aware that my breasts were no longer hidden and that there was something hard and large pressing into my inner thigh. I've never done anything with boys before, James Potter was the first boy I felt attracted to and thought of when alone. I usually feel attracted to girls more, soft, pretty girls and hard handsome girls. But when I pushed my hand beneath his thick jumper, and I slid my hand up his flat stomach, stealing a shiver from his throat, and there were no peaks, no breasts blossoming there, but flat plains of pectorals. It piqued my sexual curiosity. "Oh…" I made a soft sound of wonderment. "I've never….not with a boy…"

He looked down at me, his angelic curls falling in his statuesque face,a thick and beautifully arched brow bent elegantly up in an intrigue arch before a soft, rakish smile stretched across his mouth attractively. Was it strange to find it pairing so nicely with his bloodshot eyes? Scarlet veins appeared from the result of bloodcurdling sobs…just like me. "I've never been with a girl before…" he gently brushed my blouse off my shoulders, the crisp October Scottish night kissed my skin, leaving behind paths of goosebumps. My sun-kissed color of summer is fading away into my peaches and cream complexion. His gaze hungrily gobbled up the sight of my exposed flesh, eating the appearance of my large breasts that never are bound by a bra. He grasped them, his breath tickling them causing my rosy nipples to harden and pebble. "So perky and…" he squeezed, ripping a gasp from me. "Soft." The word disappeared in my bust, his soft, wet mouth buried my cleavage. I wrapped my legs around his waist rocking my hips against his, our groins rubbing eagerly together in desperation. His pink tongue licked around my breasts, sucking now as if he were starving for months. He rutted into my clothed center. I heard a tear and looked down to see where his hidden hardness was, the material of his trousers now had an obvious rip and revealed the gray of his briefs.

But I didn't have much time to look, I cried out his name when he suckled my nipple into his wet, hot mouth as he twisted the other. The pain that had me cry out turned into a euphoric sensation that reached my core. He switched his mouth to the other, his teeth clamped down on my sensitive buds and I let out a sob of a mix between pleasure and pain. I rolled my hips feeling such intense throbbing and electricity betwixt my thighs.

"Oh, oh, oh!" I couldn't even form words.

"No!" He growled and before knew it he flipped me over, onto my stomach. "Not yet, you're not going to cum yet." He pulled up my hips so that my arse was in the air and with his bare hands, he ripped open my leggings revealing my lack of knickers. I could feel my click dripping down my folds down my inner thighs and I heard him whine, actually whine, fuck it was so hot. "Merlin, you're dripping, you're actually dripping." I gasped with a cry feeling two long fingers one with a ring, rubbing and swiping against my slobbering bits.

"Hngh!" My tongue lulled out of my mouth, I was drooling and my eyes rolled back.

Regulus gripped my backside and spread my cheeks before burying his tongue inside of me. "Fuck!" I whined. With that he penetrated his tongue deeper inside of me, wiggling it around inside of me. I grasped for something anything to hold on to as he sucked my labia inside of his mouth, slurping lewdly. My breasts scraped against the floor as I screamed in wild abandon. I felt like a maenad at a bacchanal, participating in hedonistic rituals to please her God. My very own Dionysos was drinking and slurping my essence like it was the wine of the Gods. Not even. Marlene ate me out with this much enthusiasm, he was going so fast. I felt his aquiline nose nudge inside of me and his teeth grazed my bundle of nerves. "Fuck, i-i can't!" I choked out.

He rolled my clit around in his mouth and I was begging in a language I didn't understand and neither did he, it was informable words after all. My eyes crossed and he didn't stop torturing my bud as he sank two ring-wrapped fingers knuckle deep inside of me. He went right for it, pounding deeper and and deeper hitting my spot, his fingertips grazing that spot aggressively almost painful. "Ow-ugh-yes! Yes! YES! PLEASE!" I begged. I was actually begging for his permission like my pleasure wasn't mine, but completely his. It felt so nice to have someone else responsible for me.

"I'm going to let you cum Lily, you know?" His voice was soft but had an edge to it, like he was doing everything in his power to restrain himself. "Because you deserve to feel good for once, we deserve to feel good for once." He hissed, angry for us, someone was angry for me. He grasped my throat with his other hand, the cold metal of his rings hit my throat and he squeezed gently. My heart raced as his other pair of fingers pounded faster inside of me as he rubbed every part of me down there. With his grasp on my throat he forced me to look up at him. I stared up at his intense expression, high on the emotional rollercoaster of the night and the pleasure of this moment, intoxicated by him. "Open."

I knew he meant my mouth and I did so. "Such a smart girl." He gently squeezed my throat and I fluttered around him, squeezing his fingers at his gentle praise. He hovered his mouth over mine and dripped his spit into my mouth. I swallowed and he brushed his lips against my ear. "Cum." As if I was imperio'd, I released on command, flooding his fingers. It was like a spillage, a waterfall, so much spilled I could hear it make a mess on the floor.

I collapsed, falling into the comfort of darkness.

---

@sufferingstarlight @meetmyothersouls

[thirdpowersa]

anonymous wrote: 1, 9, & 10 (from romance & relationship headcanons ; accepting.) -> for jordan.

1. what is your muse's sexual/romantic orientation?

okay, so, basically, up until jordan was 26, he thought he was bisexual. his only other relationship has been with a cis woman, and he, well, he liked nat well enough that he assumed it had to be love. he didn't mind being around her, and as a teenager, he'd never had much tolerance for other people, so .. he had to be into her, right ?? they kissed, went on dates, had sex, everything was nice enough. nothing to write home about, and jordan really thought all the songs, poems, books, and everything else about love and sex were greatly exaggerating the hype. it wasn't bad by any means, and he thought marrying her would be okay enough, but. everything was a bit muted. nothing really felt the way he thought love should probably feel, but maybe he was just broken. then ... he met sasha. it's a whole long thing about having his first crush ever at 26 and realizing just thinking about sasha looking at him made him feel giddier than anything ever had, and a few crises about never feeling like this before, but eventually jordan realized he was just ... gay. i could talk about this for ages, honestly, because it's such a change for him. he knew he found masculine people attractive, but often confused it for gender envy and has mostly been with women (which, generally, was an extremely underwhelming experience for him). but ... yeah, he's just, like, super gay. like mega gay. there was a lot of daydreaming and fantasizing he almost died from embarrassment over before they started dating.

9. is your muse monogamous or polyamorous? would they be interested in a polyamorous relationship?

he's strictly monogamous, and would never consider polyamorous relationships. he doesn't share.

10. has your muse ever been cheated on? would they ever cheat on their partner(s)?

oof. he's been cheated on, yeah !! his long-term girlfriend, natasha, was cheating on him for two years with his "best friend" ryan (they were together for about four, and she kept pressuring him to propose). him discovering them together after the last fight he had with his parents is also why he ended up completely disappearing from everyone's lives, and has created a lot of trust issues overall. he would absolutely never cheat.

[doolkat]

G5 SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

My thoughts! (cute pic added so it wont be just boring text)

So I just saw the movie.

I been waiting for this ever since it was announced. I gotta say I was skeptical about it first but now Im like 'huh I see"

General : lighthearted movie with good music.

Plot : mediogre, I wanted to know more what happend!?

Questions :like SUNNYS DAD??? he died HOW??? HOW.. WHY WERE THE placements in his house..? Why did everyone start hating each other? What happend to Twilight and her friends?

Im sure everyones ASKING these question and I feel like movie should had covered this but maybe its a work for the show.

Thoughts : I really loved the animation! outstaniding and so many refernces and little clues every where that Im not sure I picked these up. So much to notice! The FREAKING pinup calender of Hitch.. GAY... and yeH This leads me to thibk that they are adults like in their 20s? like why else would there be that kind of joke or idk. After all Sunny lives alone too and Izzy? Also Sprout literally has the man child vibes so I doubt they are really young. Late teens at max I think! THE GUARDS were so cute and funny.Dont mind if i SHIP em lol. Also Sprout lowkey gay we all know that. Their worlds were really pretty and I liked how funny sterotypes they all had of each other. The music was so good. Sprouts song is the best!! The ending makes me think SUNNYS wings and horn arent permanent. They were see threw so yeah that wont be a thing in the show so I dont think non of us need to scream about that. Really have so much questions and movie answered so little that it makes me think what did the movie told us? I did really enjoy it but did it explain enough about their current world to us? No absolutely not!

Unicorn/Pegasi/Earth pony:

Another intresting thing to note is how unicorns who use to be higher class ones in g4 are now primitive nations. They live in woods and didnt seem to have any tehnology ? They seem to be like this "hipster" society that lives in woods and collect crysthals and read poems. Anything to just get their time off. Earth ponies have a powerful propaganda going on. A very dictatorship kind of way of thinking. They all work as a little town society like all the tribes but earth ponies propaganda to hate and be scared of unicorns and Pegasi seems much stronger. Their society seems to me like a little town community kind of. They have some technology- doesnt seem to have smartphones but they have movies and other things. Pegasi seems to be most obssed with tehnology and celerbtiy and gossip media. Much like canterlot use to be with lots celebrities and higher class ponies. I guess they just needed soemtjing cuz they lost their abilty to fly so they all came obssed with royal family and celebrities and gossip culture. What im saying each tribe had their own way of coping with things. To unicorns this seemed to be the most hurtful because they had no "fake" hope like the Pegasi had who thought royal family only could fly.

Characthers: Im gonna get hate for this but I really liked Sprout? like I know he is man baby but I thought the dictator ship kind ruling was pretty funny and well he just wanted to make his mom proud. I liked that his mom wasnt insane either? like she saw that the power was getting to his head. Speaking of moms Queen Haven is icon. I like her. She just likes glamour and camera. Nothing wrong with that. I LAUGHED WHEN I SAW THAT THEY HAD GOLDEN JAIL. Pegasi are clearly very wealthy. Zipp to me in this movie was the weakest characther? she barely had any moments of her own. Pipp had more mean energry than i thought like I thought she was gonna be literally like OMG SLAAAY QUEEN YASSS all the time but she gladly wasnt. Im looking forward more to see both of the sisters and their differnces. Kinda reminds me of me and my sister tbh one is all about fashion and expensive things in life and I am well.. I like more earthy things. So im lookin forward seeing those two interact the most.Hitch was pretty cool. He is like mix of applejack and fluttershy. I like him, not bad at all but very charming and clearly adored in town. Ok now the best SUNNY AND IZZY!! they are kinda... fruity hehzhejdjej I MEAN NOT STRAIGHT but also I love how I could see them as literally soulmates in friend way.. the latern thing.. that was so sniff.. I CRIED OK.. SHRED SINGLE TEAR. anywayd Im glad Izzy isnt RANDOM XD RAWR kinda pony I thought shed be. Will see how they are treated later. SUNNY is just precious also SOCIALIST AF.. bruh zjejs idk how I feel about that like she has that vibe love and tolerance to all but it could go so wrong. But Im glad she didnt loose optimism fully in end! She is previous.

The plot is how it is so ILL give this movie solid 8/10. Enjoyable!

Anyways in general I think the movie was good! Go watch it. if not for anything else then the visuals and songs are really good!

[didnt-want-to-be-a-halfblood]

Kitten Me This

Heyyyy, so I know some people that have weak wifi connection and can’t access Ao3 so I decided to post my fic here, too.

Summary: "No, no, you don't understand. Lou..." Will took a deep breath, petting the cat gingerly as if afraid it would suddenly shatter in his hands. "This is Nico."

"Nico... di Angelo? Your boyfriend, Nico? Son of Hades? That Nico?"

"Yes! That Nico! He's been turned into a cat!"

***

"Lou! LOUUU!" Shouted Will as he practically broke down the door to the Hecate cabin.

"What??" Lou Ellen opened the door, irritation evident on her face. Her dark hair was rumpled, and her winged eyeliner was slightly smudged on one side as if she'd just woken up from a mid-afternoon nap. "You do realize that this cabin is built with magical stones? If you dislodged one with all your yelling and banging-"

"Yes, I could explode or turn into a tree- That's not important!" He moved past her and collapsed dramatically onto the nearest bed. "This is an emergency! Look!" He lifted up a small bundle of black fur.

"What's that?" Lou Ellen stepped closer to examine the bundle. The fur twitched and two brown eyes looked back at her. "A kitten? Did you bother me during meditation-"

"You weren't meditating, you were sleeping-"

"-To try and get me to take care of this scruffy thing? Will, my cabin is too dangerous to house an animal like this. It'd be getting into potions, ruining spells, and my younger siblings will try and do transformation experiments on it. Leave it here and it'll be a piglet by tomorrow."

"No, no, you don't understand. Lou..." Will took a deep breath, petting the cat gingerly as if afraid it would suddenly shatter in his hands. "This is Nico."

"Nico... di Angelo? Your boyfriend, Nico? Son of Hades? That Nico?"

"Yes! That Nico! He's been turned into a cat!" Will set the kitten on the bed, and the little guy stretched before laying down, curling up into a perfect little fuzzy black circle. It was admittedly a super cute cat.

"Are you sure that's Nico?" Lou Ellen hesitantly reached out to pet the kitten. Immediately, the cat perked its head up and hissed at her. It wasn't particularly scary, but she got the message: No touching.

"It's okay, Nico." Will cooed. "This is Lou Ellen? Remember her? She's our friend." He gently ran his fingers through its fur and cat-Nico began to purr softly.

"Okay, maybe he is Nico." She admitted. "What happened, exactly?"

Will shrugged, "We were sitting by the campfire, just talking! And I was like 'Oh, by the way I was thinking instead of going to normal lunch today maybe we could go someplace special to celebrate our anniversary.' And I searched through my bag to find my coupons for 'Benedetta's Pasta' which is this Italian pasta place in New York, and okay yeah it's not the fanciest pasta place in the world, but they do have a guy who knows how to play Taylor Swift songs on accordion and-"

"William. Focus." Lou Ellen snapped her fingers. "The longer this takes the harder it could be to transform him back."

"RIght! Uh, and when I looked up Nico was gone! And this little guy was sitting on the log, just staring at me!"

"You didn't see anything else?"

"No, I was looking for coupons."

"No magic sparks or incantations or flashes of light?"

"No, I was busy looking for coupons!!"

"Will, there's only so much I can do if I don't know how he turned into a cat. He needs the same kind of magic used to transform him into this to transform him back."

"Oh gods." Will put his head in his hands. "You're the most powerful, talented sorcerer we have at camp. If you can't do it then it's hopeless." Will sniffed as if beginning to cry.

Lou Ellen sighed. "You really think I'm the most powerful?"

"And smart, too." Will pouted up at her, hitting her with puppy-dog eyes. "If anyone can figure out how to save Nico, it's you."

"Ugh, fine. Alright. Let's talk to the satyrs and nymphs. They can talk to animals. Maybe Nico himself can tell us what happened."

So, the daughter of Hecate and the son of Apollo walked through the forest until they wound up by the riverbank. All things considered, it was a beautiful day. Hopefully the day was perfect enough that all the nymphs would be in a good mood and willing to help. Will stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Hi! Hello! Um, I was wondering if someone could help us? We're trying to communicate with this cat." Will lifted the black kitten above his head like baby Simba in the Lion King movie.

No response.

"Please?" Will tried again. "He's actually my boyfriend and I'd really like him to not be a cat anymore by the end of the day, y'know? Isn't there anyone here who knows what it's like to be in love? To have that love taken away from you?"

No response. No movement. The trees and bushes and plant life didn't say a word.

Lou Ellen put a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled sweetly. "Why don't you let me try?"

"Sure."

"Hey!" Lou Ellen shouted harshly. "Listen up! This here is a child of Apollo! If someone doesn't give us five minutes of their time then he's going to start reciting some of his dad's greatest poems of the 20th century! And Apollo wrote a lot of haikus in the 80s." It was definitely spoken as a threat.

The trees and bushes began to rustle as if talking with one another. Will nodded to Lou Ellen in approval. They waited for about two minutes before she spoke again.

"Okay, Will! That's it! From the top, the poetry reading begins now! Don't say I didn't warn you all-"

"Wait!" Juniper hastily walked toward them. "I'm here! It's okay, everyone. I'm here now!"

"Hey, Juniper!" Will smiled, happy to see a friendly face. "What's up?"

"Will." She smiled back. "I was just out talking to Rosemary. She needed relationship advice." Then her voice dropped to a whisper. "A lot of shrubs are envious of my stable relationship with Grover. They find most satyrs to be... unreliable in showing consistent affection. Grover and I? We're the satyr-nymph power couple. I'm kind of like the local marriage counselor nowadays."

"And I'm sure you're wonderful at it." Will said sincerely. "Can you talk to cats?"

"Hmm, well, my feline might be a little rusty. We mostly get squirrels and birds out here, but I'll see what I can do!"

"That's all I ask." Will leaned down and carefully set cat-Nico on the ground. The kitten curiously sniffed at the grass.

"Cute little guy." Juniper grinned. "Tell me little one, what's your name? How did you come to be like this?" The cat gave a little meow-squeak in response. "I see..."

"What?" Will looked back and forth between Juniper and his feline boyfriend. "Does he not remember who he is?"

"They go by the title 'The Ruler of All Darkness.' Claims to have come to the mortal realm to 'incite fear into my enemies.'"

"Nico is always so dramatic..."

"You're one to talk." Lou Ellen rolled her eyes.

"Juniper, can you ask him if he remembers me?"

Juniper asked.

"'Yes, the one who smells of sunshine. Indeed, he is tolerable.' And... something about being worried you're going to abandon it?"

"What, just because he's a cat now? Nico, I would never!" Will leaned down and let the kitten nuzzle his hand. "Neeks, we're going to change you back. And- and if for some reason we can't, that's... that's okay. Alright? You'll stay with me, you'll be the most pampered and taken care of cat in the whole world. You..." Will got choked up at this point. "So what if the love of my life is a cat now? So what if... if... We can't do any of the things we planned to do together? So what if at the most you'll only live to be another twenty years?" Will started actively sobbing. "I won't abandon you. Ever. I'm sorry, Neeks. I should've payed attention. I should've stopped this from happening. I should've-"

"It's okay, WIll." Lou Ellen hugged him. "Shh, it's okay. Maybe we still don't know how to change him back yet, but we will. I promise."

Will leaned into her and cried. "This is all my fault."

Juniper joined in on the hug. "I can ask around and see if any of the nymphs saw what happened. We have eyes and ears everywhere, surely someone saw something..."

And who knows how long Will would've kept crying when suddenly they all froze at the sound of a familiar voice.

"There you are!" Nico's voice rang out from behind them. "Will, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

They turned slowly to face a very human, very not-a-cat Nico di Angelo. He was dressed in a nicely tailored suit and his hair had been neatly brushed. He was holding a bouquet of flowers, but they were beginning to wilt as Nico's anxiousness caused them to decay.

"Why... why is everyone crying?" Nico awkwardly tugged on his suit. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"Nico! You're- you're human!" Will stood up, glancing down at the kitten.

"How nice of you to notice." Nico said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I mean..." Will frantically looked to Juniper. "But he said 'Ruler of All Darkness.'"

"Hmm... To be fair, most cats talk that way."

"She said." Lou Ellen corrected, examining the cat, much to the kitten's displeasure.

"What?" Will asked.

"She. This cat is female. Animal transformations can sometimes change the sex of the person in question, but not usually. That's, like, basic shapeshifting 101."

"I..."

"Can someone explain to me what's going on?" Nico crossed his arms. "Will, I thought you wanted to go out for lunch? We're going to be late."

"Uhh." Will took the cat from Lou Ellen. "I got us this cat for our anniversary!" The black kitten stared at Nico and gave a pitiful meow.

"You what?" Nico sighed. "I tell you 'Hey, babe, give me five minutes and I'll shadow-travel to Italy to find us a real Italian restaurant for lunch.' And I come back to find this?"

"Ohh, is that what you said? I didn't hear you exactly because I was... busy looking for coupons." Will sheepishly avoided eye-contact with Lou Ellen. Still, he could feel her death glare.

"Will, I love you, but you are not using coupons at a restaurant for our anniversary. I'm rich. Just let me pay." Nico walked up to Will and traded him the flowers for the kitten. "Where did you even find this thing?"

"Uhh..."

The kitten reached out a paw and booped Nico on the nose. It gave another soft meow.

"Oh,' Juniper giggled. "She said, 'You smell like death. Perhaps we shall form an alliance, bathe in the blood of our enemies. Together, we can destroy them all.'"

"You got us a homicidal kitten?" Nico laughed. Gods Will loves it when Nico laughs.

"Only the best for you, babe." Will casually winked, ignoring his eyes were slightly swollen from crying.

Lou Ellen huffed. "I'm going back to bed. Will, you useless homosexual, you owe me." She marched away. Juniper politely nodded to Will and Nico before following suit. She probably had more couples counseling to do.

"C'mon, Solace. Let's get you dressed. We can go shopping for our newest little family member after lunch." Nico cooed at the kitten and she snuggled up against him. "Or maybe we can sneak her into the restaurant. Would you like that, piccolina?" Nico proceeded to call her a series of cutesy names that Will didn't understand.

"Nico?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"Interesting. You know what, Will?"

"What?"

"I love you, too." Nico gave him a peck on the cheek. "C'mon, let's go..." They walked together in silence for a moment. "So, you thought I turned into a cat, huh?"

"Okay, in my defense, weirder things have happened!! It was a perfectly reasonable conclusion to come to, alright!! You absolutely would've done the same thing-"

"Ha! Yeah, right-"

"You totally would have! Look, I'm just saying-"

The End.

[caspia-writes]

Letters!

Totally not copying @sleepy-night-child's idea or anything... but here's a letter exchange between Ernst and his parents!

Word count: 1,700+

Content warnings: Mention of animal sacrifice, less-than-loving parenting, mention of drug abuse

Ernst's Letter

Dear Father and Mother—

I’m very glad to hear that you are doing well and staying warm! As best I can, I try to listen to the weather reports for Neue Lüdersen. It seems the winter is colder than usual this year, so far as I can recollect at least, and I was beginning to worry that there might not be enough firewood so far north.

Did Sigfred and Sonja go through with their marriage? From the occasional letter I’ve received from Sigfred, it seems the two of them get along well. I still regret that I couldn’t try and attend. If there’s anything I could send to them as a more thorough apology for my absence, I would be happy to do so.

More than that, if they are married, how are things going for them now? Sonja seemed an honest woman, but of course I’ve never met her myself. I hope that she hasn’t become a headache for Sigfred now that he’s married her. And are they planning to have children soon? Even if I wouldn’t be able to really meet them for another few years, I would be very happy to hear that I’m the uncle to their children.

If this year’s schedule at Gehardtschule is like last year’s, the results for the national exam should be back by now. Did Pieter also get invited to Universität Altenstadt with a scholarship? The results for Nordpreußisch schools aren’t posted here and I couldn’t get anyone to tell me whether Pieter was given a scholarship or not. I very much hope he was, and that he accepted it—having someone else from Nordpreußen here would make this place a little less miserable. Perhaps we could board together?

And if he wasn’t accepted here, then what is he planning to do once he finishes with his schooling? Surely he still intends to attend somewhere, with his academic record and being a few months from his Abitur.

As usual, tell Gertrud that I remember her and that I look forward to seeing her again when I can. Has she written anything for me? Or has she written any new poetry? She seems to have taken quite the shine to trying her hand at that, and I thought her last poem was quite good.

My studies are going well enough, but I wish more than anything in the world that I could come home and tell you both all this in person.

I’m still boarding with the Braune family in Altenstadt. They are only just more tolerable than the Schulleiterin back in Gehardtschule. The food here is awful—all the meat is cooked to brown leather and none of this venison is anything like seal meat, despite the butcher’s protestations to the contrary. Even the fish here taste all wrong! Every meal is an ordeal in not gagging on these wilting bouquets of foul flavors.

The other matter is that their daughter seems to have taken an affection to me. Worse, she has a key to the attic room I live in, and has taken to letting herself in as she pleases and pestering me with questions about what I’m reading, what I’m writing, if I would like some coffee or maybe an apple, whether I intend to watch the latest film at the cinema or not. If it weren’t so disruptive to my studies and felt more conversational than interrogational, it might be halfway endearing. As it stands, it is a nuisance, and more than that a nuisance from which I suffer daily.

Romantic affections have been cruel to me as of late besides. There was a particular girl—whose name I see no point in mentioning, given the conclusion of this story—who I had begun to develop a fondness for. Perhaps she would have found some similar feelings for me in time, had I not embarrassed myself so in front of her.

She had come to meet me in the university library so that we could have a short midday meal together. In my excitement to go greet her, I tripped down the stairs. Luckily, I fell backwards instead of forwards, so that I wasn’t hurt too badly and neither broke my glasses, but it caused enough of a commotion to gather the attention, I think, of every soul in the building. The girl who I was going to meet was kind enough to try and help me up and inquire as to whether I’d come to any harm, but I was unfortunate enough to sneeze on her as I tried to get to my feet and recollect myself. Not just one small sneeze, which might have been forgivable, but two or three sneezes the likes of which would have made me fall down the stairs again if I hadn’t been at the bottom of them already.

I have thus far been unable to convince myself that ‘disgusting mush-mouthed Arktischer barbarian’ was meant as a term of endearment under these circumstances.

And, while I’m telling you about one misfortune I’ve had from sneezing, I’ve had a terrible cold for weeks now. The filthy air here seems to make it worse—when I’m inside, with the windows closed, sometimes I can go an hour without sneezing, but I can’t go five minutes near an open window or outside without having a sneezing fit that makes my eyes run and my head spin. I’ve sneezed my glasses off more times than I care to count, and I was very nearly dismissed from one of my labs when I started a small fire on account of my sneezing. And this is to say nothing of how difficult it is to learn anything with a throbbing headache and a stuffed nose.

Regardless of my own misfortunes, I hope things in your lab are going better than they are for me. Have you made any progress in your research, or any progress in discovering why your assistant was breaking so much equipment? It could be a difference in our experiments, or in the climate, but I’ve found it rather easy to keep from breaking as many beakers in the last few months as you reported your assistant breaking in a week.

Please let everyone know I’m thinking of them!

With warmest and sincerest regards,

Your son,

Ernst Schneider

Parents' Reply

Ernst—

The winter is like every year. Your mother and I will be fine, as we have always been. Focus on your studies instead.

Yes, Sigfred married Sonja this March. The wedding was totally unremarkable as far as weddings goes, but your brother also expressed wishes that you had been able to attend. He understands, of course, the impracticality of you returning to Nordpreußen in the middle of your studies. I believe they would both appreciate it greatly if you would write them a letter, belated as it will be.

As for the newly-weds, they seem to have settled into their new lives comfortably, and they seem every bit as happy now as they were before. I suspect you will be an uncle soon. Possibly in fewer than nine months; your brother was very enthusiastic to wed, and neither he nor Sonja has come by for a meal in the weeks since the wedding. If I don’t, I’m quite certain your mother will write you when we know.

And do not sacrifice a rabbit for them, under any circumstances. The last thing any of us need is for you to be dismissed from your studies over such nonsense. If it’s needed, your mother or I are perfectly capable of doing it ourselves.

Unfortunately, Pieter did not get a scholarship to Universität Altenstadt, but he’s trying his luck with the more local universities. He asked me to send his regrets that he won’t be seeing you for a few years yet.

Gertrud would like you to send her a postcard sometime. She wants to see what the city looks like and what you think of it. I expect she will write a poem about it at any rate.

On the further note of your sister’s poetry, she wrote one that warranted publishing in the local paper. At the urging of both your mother and Getrud, I’ve sent a newspaper clipping of it with this letter. On an amusing note, your mother noted that the paper misspelled her name—it was printed as Gertrüd, not Gertrud—and wrote in a complaint about it. I hardly understand what she expects to accomplish, but she insisted.

Your remarks on the Braune family disappoint me greatly. They are doing you a large, unfounded service on nothing more than the request of the Schulleiterin who you tormented with your constant insubordination. It would serve you to be more grateful, even if their cooking is not to your preferences and their daughter is rather too interested in your activities.

Furthermore, it is a very good thing that you embarrassed yourself in front whichever girl you were fawning over! I cannot approve of any romantic activities on your behalf in Altenstadt. You should be patient and wait until you return to Nordpreußen to begin a family. The women there will have blood too thin to withstand Nordpreußisch winters, and we are both perfectly aware that you intend to return here once you finish your studies. Such a marriage could only result in death or divorce, and any children from it would be too weak to survive in our climate.

However, your mother and I both suggest you consult a physician in regards to your cold. It does sound a thoroughly unpleasant experience, and if it’s interfering with your studies, something ought to be done for it. Your mother sends her sympathies.

To answer your question, my research is going well insomuch that the lab has not burned down around us. In other words, I can’t report any significant progress since you last asked, other than relieving myself of that assistant. He’d taken to synthesizing and imbibing in ether—at last I caught him in the act and could relieve him of his duty without guilt. Hopefully working with a sober assistant, once I find a new one, will yield better results.

I will pass on your regards.

In turn, we all send our regards and, as always, would be interested to know what progress you are making in your studies.

With best wishes and warmest thoughts,

Dr. Mikael Schneider

Hilda Schneider

Tagging: @sleepy-night-child, @thelaughingstag

[thegracelessfaceless]

If you are still doing matchups,, I'd be interested in a creepypasta one. I'm coming over from Elise blog.

So my name is Shay, I go by Whiskey because it's a preference in liquor on my end. I go by they/them pronouns, AFAB and I'm bi and omniromantic, I do have an mild preference for men or masc aligned people. I'm a Libra sun, Virgo moon and Aquarius rising. I'm also introvert (INFJ-A) and I'm constantly sleeply. I do have C-PSTD, Bipolar II and GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder).

I'm Caucasian/White and I stand at 5'9. I have celtic and Danish heritage, My family where vikings. I'm really tall and legs double the size of my torso, as in my thighs are as big as my torso in length, same with my calves. I call myself spider legs because of that. I have this natural like wolf cut going on that is this dark green with my roots be my natural dark chocolate brown hair. My eyes are hazel with gold flecks that shift in color which I found out is normal for people with hazel eyes. I paint my nails black a lot because I find the color pleasing. My build wise is like a rectangle like shape with broad shoulders. I'm pretty strong and I'm proud of my strength. I'm currently starting to get into shape and lose weight so I have fit shape but not like over for. Just the right amount of fat over my muscles. I have a lot of stretch marks,, mostly around my waist and my biceps. I call them my stripes or lighting marks. I have plans to get snake bite piercings and wear like the ring ones in them. I'm getting an tattoo soon that is like this and then I want a burning match tattoo on my color bone. My ears are piercing and I like wearing fake gauges, spirals and then the ratings that have the dangly stuff and cuffs with them. I also wear like those stereotypical hot topic chokers. I wear a lot of long sleeves and skinny jeans, I do like ripped skinny jeans. I also love flannels and black boots like doc martins or converse.

I think you can assume by the statement of me liking whiskey I am the rebellious sort which is true. I have drank a bit and tried weed, I don't do it anymore tho.I have been told if people don't know me and see me from afar I'm intimidating to approach. Even being spooky and intimidating, I promise I'm just a big softie. I usually assume the mom friend of the group with my friends. I always worry about them and make sure they take care of themselves. Sometimes I do it so much I forget to take care of myself. I'm really gentle and compassionate, along with being extremely empathetic. I can be stubborn and bit judgemental at times, mostly working off first impressions myself when getting to know each other. I have an hard time being insertive and putting my foot down with my boundaries, scared to lose people even if the hurt me. I'm an introvert through and through, liking to watch from the back and observe the way things go on around me. I do my best to be an optimist because I can't see the point in see everything wrong in this world, it helps me to see the good. I love going on adventures with my close friends and love being a chaotic bastard with them. My dnd alignment is chaotic neutral and I'm Hufflepuff. I do live by the saying do no harm but take no shit. But I won't hesitate to fight someone for the right causes.

I do always constantly look like I am going to funeral of some sort because I own nothing but black. The color makes me feel really comfortable but it's not my favorite color. My favorite color is green but I like sage green, forest green, mossy green, etc. The earthy greens are my favorites. I have a love for the forest and woodlands, finding a sense of home in the woods. I do love archery and something I'm definitely going to be picking up along with playing the drums. I also smoke herbal cigarettes as well as alternative to smoking.

I often get called a cryptid and at this point, I am just one. Cryptidcore, Midwest Gothic, and Pacific Northwest Gothic are my favorite aesthetics. I have a huge love for cryptozoology (the study of cryptids), parapsychology (the psychic phenomena and other paranormal claims), original creepypasta stories and to be honest anything like spooky and creepy. I want to be a mortician and I'm attending school for that. I also really love the dark, especially if I have some good music blasting through my earbuds. I am a sucker for long road trips and seeing things, filling the adventure heart I have. My favorite animals are coyotes and I also like horses. I like to write a lot as well.

Okay, first off, you sound so cool?! Like we should talk more 😃.

I match you with...

Hₑᄂₑ𝚗 ₒ𝚝ᵢ𝘴/ Bᄂₒₒ𝚍y Pₐᵢ𝚗𝚝ₑᵣ

(Not my art, unknown artist. Contact me with credit info!)

Helen gets the they/them pronouns. For the longest, the thought he was a weird girl. Then he had body dysphoria for a long time, and then he came to terms with his identity.

Helen is a Virgo to your Libra. Virgos admire Libra's clear mindedness and their drive for balance in all areas.

However, Virgos can have some trust issues. Just be there and patient with Helen. He'll get over those hurdles eventually.

Helen gets being an introvert, being one himself. He never had many friends growing up, his only close one being killed by bullies who then tried to blame it on him. Helen would be perfectly content if you two were the last people on Earth.

Helen loves how you look, like you're just 'classical' beautiful? He loves painting your eyes, trying to get that perfect mix of green and gold.

He recites Robert Frost to you because your eyes remind him of this poem:

"Nature's first green is gold/ Her hardest hue to hold/ Her early leaf's a-flower;/ but only so an hour./ Then leaf subsides to leaf/ So Eden sank to grief/ So dawn goes down to day/ Nothing gold can stay"- Robert Frost "Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Helen would enjoy painting your nails for you, maybe even painting little designs on them if you'd like

Helen would be so supportive in your fitness journey. He just doesn't want you to feel like you have to lose weight to please him or anyone else. He thinks you're perfect just how you are, just like he'd think you're perfect 50 pounds overweight or 50 pounds underweight.

Helen loves your stripes. Whenever you feel self conscious about them, he reminds you that the things that make a person attractive are groupings of flaws that work well with each other to make a beautiful face

OR

He tells you how the Chinese fill in cracked china and pottery with molten gold because the cracks make the piece more beautiful since it has more character.

Helen would love to design tattoos for you

He thinks it's sweet that you're Mom Friend™, but he's not going to let you drive yourself into the ground taking care of everyone else. So, now, you can't lift a finger around Helen. He waits on you hand and foot

He'll help you learn to be more assertive and stand up for yourself and what you believe in. He'll help you set boundaries and limits and he'll help you enforce them. One of his more important lessons is that you have no room in your life for people who hurt you, use you, or make you miserable.

Anyone that hurts you will be subjected to The Wrath of Helen Otis™

I feel like Helen wasn't a huge outside person before meeting you.

But between pictures on your camera roll of you and your friends' adventures and just listening to the way you speak about the Great Outdoors? He's intrigued as hell now and goes on a nature walk with you on an easy forest mountain trail, nothing too challenging or taxing.

And suddenly he just understood everything you'd been talking about.

A special activity he likes to do just the two of you is this: you think of and describe to him a cryptid and he paints it following your description. Then he listens to any stories or folklore for that cryptid.

Its normally exactly the way you pictured it in your head (it's actually pretty uncanny).

Thinks it's cool that you're going to mortician's school. He's always been interested in medicine, but can't tolerate all the patients. But a mortician... They do medical things and have the quietest patient that are just so agreeable! What a genius career path (seriously, I'm on a wait list for an interview with the coroners office (Low turnover rates 😑)

Helen also likes playing in paint worn you (but I'm thinking that deserves a whole post of its own)

Helen also likes to paint while you write (sometimes he paints you writing about him painting). Its beautiful, really. Just two people who love each other enjoying their hobbies together in companionable silence 😍

[jackyjango]

Perfection!

Cherik Week- Day 7: Free

Written for this glorious gifset! :D

I wanted to end this with a happy (and crack) fic, because they deserve to be happy ever after!

---------

If Erik were a poet, he would have written elaborate odes to Charles’ plush arse. Lines and lines of flowing poetry dedicated to the softness of the skin and the firmness of the flesh- the way the tender skin dimples sweetly under Erik’s possessive fingers. If Erik were an artist, he’d fill canvases with the round contours of Charles’ --glorious, might he add-- half globes and his thick, meaty thighs. He’d capture the rosy tint that rises to the skin under the press of Erik’s palm with masterful brush strokes and immortalise the constellation of freckles that dot his skin beautifully. If Erik were so spiritually inclined, he’d build an altar to the sweet flesh, kneel in front of it and apply his tongue to worship. But Erik, fortunately or unfortunately, is none of those things, so all he can do now is simply ogle the marvelous in front of him- Charles’ round ass and thick thighs, and the way it fills his jeans. The fact that it wiggles in the air now and then from where Charles is bent over to search something behind the mantle is only spurring on his endeavour. So he stares some more, mouth agape and throat dry, and marvels to himself, ‘Perfection!’

‘What was that?’ Charles asks, turning sideways towards Erik.

Erik doesn’t find the need or mood to answer that question, so he goes back to ogling his boyfriend’s arse.

Charles turns to him after a minute or two of searching. He’s panting, hair beautifully tousled, cheeks deeply coloured and eyes twinkling bright in the golden candlelight. For a moment Erik’s breath catches. Now, Erik’s not a poet, but if were-

‘I couldn’t find any more candles,’ Charles says, cutting Erik’s musings short. ‘What about the generator, were you able to fix it?’

‘No,’ Erik shrugs. ‘The battery inside the generator has corroded and the plastic coating has melted into the canisters. It’ll take me at least a day to repair it.’

‘Okay.’ Charles drawls, no doubt weighing in their options. ‘How far is the nearest town? Maybe we could get some help.’

Erik had already considered that option. The nearest town is a three-hour trek downhill. A three-hour trek which is a waste of time and energy. Time and energy which can be spent in more… productive endeavours. 

Charles overhears that thought. ‘What are our other options here, Erik?’ He asks, sighing heavily, ‘The wires are out, so is the generator, and we can’t even get help.’ He looks around the small space of the cabin that is lighted in patches by the three candles they were able to unearth earlier. The candles will last them till daybreak at best. ‘Did you have a plan for the evening?’ Charles asks hesitantly.

‘Plan?’

‘Yes,’ Charles says slowly now, his eyes widening with every word. ‘I thought this was meant to be a surprise for me, so I didn’t pry earlier. But I thought you had a plan for the evening.’

Why would Erik have a plan for the evening when the whole point was to have no plans at all? 

The last three weeks had been extremely difficult for all of them, between the mid-terms and the festivities and the birthday celebrations, both of them had been extremely busy-- Charles with teaching and grading, and Erik, well, with… everything else. Erik hadn’t been able to hold a proper conversation with Charles without one of the brats dragging Charles away. Erik hadn’t been able to take a quiet smoke break without one of the younger ones pulling on his trouser legs. It had been tolerable in the beginning, adorable even, but it had begun to lose its charm sometime during the second week. And Erik was sure to go ballistic by the end of the third. All he wanted was to get away for a day or two from the brats, have a quiet night away from the kids and the mayhem of the mansion. He’d all but kissed Raven when she’d mentioned a cabin upstate that could be rented this time of the year. Of course, he’d expected the said cabin to have a working electrical system and dry logs resting in the fireplace, but that isn’t a huge setback as far as Erik is considered. He’s lived worse.

Of course Charles overhears that thought. His jaw drops and his eyes go wide as saucers. ‘You made me trek three hours and brought me here just so you could get away from the kids?’

Erik doesn’t see what’s wrong with that. 

Charles is all but glaring him down now, his sharp, blue eyes throwing daggers at Erik. Erik should be intimidated by the look, but Charles’ overall appearance doesn’t support him all that much. He’s panting lightly with pinked cheeks and hair sticking out in places. If anything, he looks extremely adorable. Now, Erik’s not an artist, but if he were-

‘I thought you brought me here to celebrate our anniversary,’ Charles says finally, glaring intensified.

‘Anniversary?’ Erik asks dumbly. ‘What anniversary?’

Apparently, it’s the wrong thing to ask, because Charles is practically seething now. ‘Our third year anniversary. Since when we began dating.’

‘Oh, has it been three years already?’ Erik asks, and it only serves in adding fuel to the fire. 

In Erik’s defense, though, the period between the time they met, and they settled into a relationship is all very hazy. Erik doesn’t know exactly when he’d been charmed by Charles to call him his friend, he doesn’t know exactly when Charles had wormed his way into Erik’s heart, he doesn’t know exactly when the school they’d started with a few students began to feel like family, and he doesn’t know exactly when he’d begun falling in love with Charles. Though Charles terms them as thus, all those chess matches played every night for months on end and taking private dinners away from the congregation of the students hadn’t felt like ‘dates’ to Erik. Partly because he didn’t know or have experience with dating and partly because he’d had no clue what love felt like before Charles. Besides, he’d no idea whether or how they’d celebrated the first two-year anniversaries.

Of course, Charles overhears his thought, for his anger abates slowly. ‘Oh, what do I do with you, Erik?’ he asks, tone exasperated and fond; like he does when one of his younger students refuses to eat their greens.

‘Marry me.’ Erik shrugs casually. ‘Simple.’

Charles gapes at him like a fish while his mental fingers rummages through Erik’s brain for signs of a joke or a prank. But Erik isn’t joking or pranking. Granted that he was slow to realise that he loved Charles, but there was no doubt in his mind that he’d marry anyone else once he did. He’d end up marrying Charles one way or another. So it doesn’t really matter when or how that happens. Does it?

And of course, Charles hears all of it.

‘We don’t even have a ring,’ Charles says at last, a little lost.

No. Erik doesn’t. He could always fashion a ring out of one of the nails holding the wood planks in place, but Erik doesn’t want to make a ring out of rusted and cheap metal. Charles deserves only the best. 

‘No,’ Erik agrees. ‘We don’t. But we do have this.’ He removes the silver chain that permanently resides in the pocket of his trousers and moves towards Charles, cupping the chain and the locket in his palm. Each curve of the locket bears a black and white photo of his father and Mother. Erik falls to one knee in front of Charles and holds out the chain in one hand. If Erik were a poet, he’d write elaborate love poems describing his love and affection for Charles, but he isn’t. So he simply says, ‘I promise to make you tea just the way you like it and give you scalp massages every day for the rest of our lives.’

‘Yes, you idiot. I’ll marry you,’ Charles chokes out and throws himself into Erik’s arms.

Later when they’ve dragged in all the ragged cushions and rugs from all parts of the cabin and made love in a warm nest (and after Erik worships Charles’ and his arse with all the reverence he deserves) surrounded by three grand candles that Erik asks Charles, ‘This is not so bad as anniversaries go, is it?’

‘No, my love’ Charles says, gazing adoringly at the silver locket on his chest and looks up at Erik. ‘It’s perfect!’ he says, kissing Erik sweetly on the lips.

-

[strangefable]

Firefly drabbles, mayhaps?

Ah, my old love. My dear love. Browncoat forever, etc. I kid you not, I once wrote a poem about Kaylee and the strawberry. It was for a class in college, and I felt very clever at the time, because none of my classmates caught on to what it was actually about, but they found it profound, if I’m remembering correctly. Alas, that was at least two computers ago, so I don’t have a copy now.

Haven’t written anything in a long time, but here’s a thing from 10 years ago (I cannot believe it’s this old, oh hell someone help me, I’m OLD.), where things get a little... unconventional. Or too conventional, depending how you look at it. I called it “Have A Little Faith”:

The crew each had their little quirks that everyone else had grown to tolerate. Wash playing with his action figures, Book’s religiosity and his close-vested secrets, River being a little off, Inara’s interest in hygiene, Kaylee’s unstoppable cheerfulness, Jayne’s... well, Jayne, and so on down the list. As a general rule, you had to learn to live with the eccentricities of others when you spent months stuck on a boat deep in space together. It was the strange, little things that got a body through it in one piece. A body had to to do whatever it took to get through space, through Reaver territory, or through the grayer areas of society, or at least of one’s moral conscience.

Granted, Mal’s conscience didn’t get much of a workout these days; he’d been in the business too long and liked things like eating, or breathing, just a little more than always being on the up and up. However, even he had little things to help him cope. His U-Day brawl was an annual observance, as well as taking any opportunity to make life harder for any feds to cross his path on a bad day. Or a good day. It certainly put a smile on his face, but that wasn’t necessarily what got him through it. Serenity flying and her crew at least relatively close to being in one piece were always Mal’s real answer to that question, if not out loud.

Today, however, he was seriously considering finding a new answer. They were all making it mighty difficult for a man to want to protect them when they kept gorram giggling. This job had seemed easy enough at the time, but he was having second thoughts just now. The expression of disapproval sure to be on Book’s face sure as hell wasn’t likely to help. Mal did his level best to stare straight ahead and, with every shred of dignity he possessed, ignore the sudden arrival of the shepherd.

Inara tugged at the fabric near Mal’s shoulder, then brushed off a remnant bit of dust with a quick sweep of her hand. She looked up to meet his eyes before taking a step back. After a moment, she frowned. “Well, I suppose you’ll have to do. Zoe?” Inara turned away from Mal to help his first mate, and his lingering gaze caused him to accidentally meet Shepherd Book’s eyes.

To Mal’s surprise, it was not exactly disapproval he found there. If anything, it looked more like amusement. Actually, it wasn’t that surprising; the shepherd always seemed an anomaly in more ways than one. Book cleared his throat and dropped his eyes first. “It’s interesting,” he began, “I never--”

“Shepherd, keep your mouth shut. Wearin’ this get-up won’t give me any pause about shootin’ you,” Mal cut off the older man in a rush. His hand reached reflexively toward his hip and his glare was one usually reserved for Alliance officials.

Book let out a low laugh and shook his head. “That’d be quite a feat, Captain.” His gaze dropped pointedly to Mal’s hip.

Mal’s fingers touched nothing but air and he cursed under his breath. “It’s just for the job. Don’t be gettin’ any ideas, preacher.” He turned quickly on his heel, making a hasty retreat.

It was not hasty enough for the gathered crew to ever forget the sight of Malcolm Reynolds in a shepherd’s habit.

[punkandsnacks]

Between Wolves & Doves, Chapter One; Lifeblood.

Author: @punk-in-docs​ and @adamsnackdriver​

Also on AO3

Trigger warnings; This is a slow burn story. NSFW comes later, but there is gory descriptive violence in this later on- I’ll tag the chapters with warnings-

Synopsis: Vampire!Kylo x OC love story. Inspired by BBC’s Dracula. Also inspired by Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.

He’s been stalking this earth long since civilisations can possibly fathom. Before records even began. He sneers at the fact that this pitiful young world has only just begun to see his reign of it. 

He’s dined with moguls, emperors, princes. He’s consorted with bloodthirsty ruthless Queens in their courts, and whispered into the ears of powerful King’s, whose names still echo through millennia. 

In his myriad of centuries gifted to his immortal self he’s been many many things. He’s been a lowly pauper. A crusading knight. An assassin. A sell sword. A soldier. A wanderer. A simpering suitor and a voracious unyielding lover. Aimlessly lost in time- besieging this earth. Ripping it apart and drinking what’s left.

He was made in the hinterland between snow and dirt and pine trees. Crusted with ash and blood and gouged from battle. Born anew. Sired from the hell-mouth of war. He was made in 789 AD.He’ll come undone, one bitter winter night, in England, in 1816.

   ~  ~  🥀 ~  ~  

 Hampshire, England. 1816.

Winters here were always of the bitterest kind.

Everything hardened by frost. All of nature slaughtered and gnarled and made ugly by it. Everything deadened and driven away until yellow spring sunshine butters it all up. The ground wintry solid and as unyielding as the bite of stinging chill in the air.

Every loud footstep from under her cracked boots crackled and crushed with ice-crusted mud. Her treads echo off about her in the oppressive silence of the air.

Iris Ashton walked along the lonely pale road. The path ahead scattered with linen-white snow, thick like cloth, settling down in ghostly sprinkles - like fluttering ash.

Snow comes from a sky as thick and as soft as a eiderdown. Graphite grey smeared all over the horizon signaling the worst yet to come. Sky is heavy and blotted with it. Flecks already kiss and cling at her hair and her blue wool coat collar.

She can feel them land and melt on her cold numbed lips. Feels her raspy silver breath run them away.

The trees in the dark wood surrounding her on either side of the ribboning track and the pallid ground; stand majestic and strong. Like a darkly Prussian-blue swathed army standing silent attention. Frost crawls determined up their sturdy trunks. The horizon peeping through the trees is white, like a puff of spilt flour. The craggy black tips of the regimented trees scrape at the thick churning sky.

One hand laden with her heavy wicker basket. Hanging solidly down by her thigh. Handle creaking so under her glove from it’s heavy contents. Her elbow is locked straight and aching fully from the strain of it.

Mother had sent her off on one of her errands; paying calls to give some wrapped linen food parcels to the church. Cold meats and half-loaves of day old bread to give to the poor and needy. And on the way back she’d stopped and called for tea with her doddery great Aunt Lavinia. A more belligerent old dragon never drew breath.

Iris was her favourite of all the Ashton girls. All three of them. Unfortunately the lot of being the eldest and families general paragon of hope, fell onto Iris. Next was her sister Flora who is fifteen, and then there was Posy, at sixteen.

A whole compliment - a bouquet - of Ashton ladies. As the gossip columns always so proudly and wittily declared.

Iris was the level-headed, sensible elder sister at three and twenty. The one who was seen and never heard. The one with unremarkable grey eyes and fair skin. Her teeth were supportable, and her conversation was, well, fine, really.

She didn’t have dazzling honey blonde hair or a sultry head of brunette curls. Her hair was brown. Not chestnut. Not sizzling auburn blaze. Just. Brown. Like mud. Like bark. Like flat Turkish coffee.

The sensible Ashton girl, with eyes as dull as dust, and hair the colour of twigs.

She was pale, with a oval face and a stout figure that was passably pleasing. She had a fine bosom that some men liked to gawp at, and mother insisted she had a touch of child bearing hips. Which would strongly come into her favour when she’s married. As she had once said;

“Your future husband will be much delighted with such a valuable commodity, Iris.” Her Mother remarked once when she was a young girl and she was tugging and yanking her long hair into a plait ready for bed.

Iris can remember how badly she wanted to do something out of spite purely to ruin that chance. But really she couldn’t alter the shape of her skeleton with much ease.

Maybe she wasn’t a diamond of the first water. She’ll never be one of those girls who glide elegantly through a ballroom like a bevy of silk swathed swans. Preening, poised and primly perfect.

To her own mind and credit she was just - plain. Tolerable.

Adequate.

She is sometimes remarked to be too acerbic with her tongue, or her remarks. She’s certainly got a backbone and another quality that stumped men of the ton - a mind of her own making. She doesn’t suffer fools and she likes to venture that she is a blue stocking with a decent and level understanding of this world.

She’s sufficient- she supposed. Simply that and nothing more. She’ll never have poems written about her, or have a man declare he fell wildly in passionate love with her with one glance.

It suits her well enough. The fact that she looked like a dusty dull unrefined ornament next to her polished preening sisters. She’d rather fade into the wallpaper than be a dazzling spectacle of ridiculousness, like that of her two siblings.

Her simpering, inane sisters. Who flirt with any man donning a scarlet coat in the Militia. Flora and Posy, who worry obsessively about ribbons, and seek to pay no mind to anything, of any real consequence.

Iris is never one for fits of jealousy, but she is sometimes envious of their light-hearted puerile, worries. About making up their bonnets or, the next ball, or the most unbecoming stain on their new pelisse.

Aunt Lavinia greatly despised the merest sight and intimation of the younger Ashton ladies too. Iris is usually requested to go to tea with her Great Aunt, alone.

“Silly chit of a girl. The pair of them.” Was her relative’s most favoured and overused phrase.

She’d cackle it as one of her clawed elderly hands - talons - gripped her teacup. And she wouldn’t be happy until she’d griped and moaned and complained about every beast and man put on this earth. For they’ve all been put there with the sole purpose of vexing her greatly -Naturally.

Tea today was no different to any other occasion she pays a visit.

Iris sits with the sniping old matron in her freezing-cold front parlour with a piffling fire barely going. Her Aunt is always bedecked in enough black muslin to cover all of Hampshire.

A black lace matron cap staunchly on her head. Black fichu covering at her shoulders. An inky shawl on her arms and on each of her skeletal fingers sit glimmering gleaming rings which clackclackclack and scrape when she moves and points that every disapproving finger. Big fat stones of amber and ruby and topaz weighting down her frail claws.

Iris always teeters politely on the most uncomfortably hard settee opposite her. Cradling the hot spode bone-china cup of tea that her Aunt shoves in her hands. Sugar staining sickly saccharine on her lips - she never let her guests have unsugared tea.

Quite why she is the favourite Ashton, Iris has no clue. She is always interrogated by the woman as she barks nosy question after nosy question at her.

“Yes, Aunt. No, Aunt. I don’t believe so, Aunt.” As the harridan gripes about beef or sugar or candle taxes, or the local Reverend, or the gaudy new fabric on display in dressmakers window.

A whole ream of grudges being spewed out that wrinkled puckered mouth. Face pale, craggy and screwed up with lines like a sheet of crumpled parchment paper.

Her dark eyes shine forth like raisins sunk deep into scones. Glittering black and always always always dissatisfied with the whole world, and determined to find fault with everyone in it.

Iris brings her the ointment her Aunt asked for. She was suffering a hacking cough that worsened in the winter. Lavinia insists its a damp affliction brought on by unclean air.

Iris bought the woman a bottle of liniment rub, spiced with rosemary oil, camphor and spirit of wine. Her Aunt harrumphed at her offering. Stabs her walking cane into carpet in disfavour. Shoves the bottle away and insists Willow bark tea is what will cure her ailment.

Next she’ll be insisting on leeches and blood letting to balance out the humours-

Iris doesn’t fight her stubbornness - it’s a battlefield over which she will never win or hoist a flag of victory.

She drinks down three more cups of the cloying tea, interrupts the interrogation and insists rather bravely that she must be on her way - for Lord and Lady Hearst are throwing a ball this evening. On their vast estate. And she needs to scurry home to ready for it. That earns her another harrumph in response. Lavinia detested balls.

“Breeding ground for senile men and stupid women. And all that inane leaping about they now call dancing...” She grimaces.

The whole county is in uproar for this ball - little else to recommend or appreciate in this bleak dull midwinter. Whispers flourishing around town seemed inclined to favour that a mysterious Lord from the continent is in attendance tonight...

A Lord. From Bavaria no less. Apparently he owned a vast castle high up in the snowy forest smothered mountains.

Quite why he’s bothered to travel the length of Europe to this savage spit of society in the Hampshire countryside, she cannot fathom. If she was lucky enough to live in a castle, she’d never be seen again.

She recounts that scrap of gossip about the prospective Lord to her Aunt. Who thunks her cane loudly on the floor and scoffs in derision;

“Foreigners are always a grave source of disappointment - and they are so riddled with lice and ill bred manners.” So wisely declares Aunt Lavinia.

She says that about anything to do with anything and anyone not born or formed on good british soil.

She had said the very same thing last week about the pews at Church-

She leaves the little bustling hamlet. Shuts her Great Aunt’s warped cottage door. The wood shuddered, catching on the doorstep. Her arm shot through with needles of pain. Aches slipping up her back, her neck and sparking her shoulders. She hooks the heavy basket onto the crook of her elbow and sighs as she plods homeward.

Away from the small tudor, mouldy mustard walls of Lavinia’s cottage. A pretty little house. Always cold. Formed of thick stone walls and mahogany creaking stairs. Austere bare furniture sparsely filled every room. Wedged into a street with crossed glass windows and a petticoat brown tiled roof.

It was a meagre six miles from here to home. And she appreciates the walk. Or atleast she might be more inclined to favour it, were her coat more substantial.

As it is the blue wool thing is possibly a might too small for her now. It tugs and pinches so across the shoulders. And the hem ends right up her calves. Pebble-grey Kidskin gloves on her fingers, knuckles knotted stiff and her fingertips are tingling with cold.

The hem of her plain cotton voile dress, is dark with damp from the snow. The bluebell cobalt of it leeched darker at her hem. She’s shivering because her stockings aren’t the warmest wool. Her legs are trembling cold and she only wore her lightest chemise. However she is glad she bothered with the scarf.

She hadn’t put on a bonnet today. She can’t stand the fuss of one. Ribbons flapping at her ears. It was uncommon - but she went without.

Simply tied her hair back into a low coiffured bun secured with a snip of wheaten muslin. By now and with lugging this basket across all of the Hampshire countryside, some straggles of hair have come loose. Flopping uselessly to her shoulders.

She ducks her chin into her scarf to escape the exposure of a battering bitter gale, and continues trudging on with wearied, aching determination. She always trudges on. She has too. Is always the one who must endeavour to continue, no matter how bleak she feels.

It gets tiring, carrying great tonne boulders of expectations on her shoulders. She likes to think she bears the task nobly.

As her Mother takes great pains and lengths to always endlessly remind her; she is the vessel in which all hopes for the survival of the Ashton family, are stored.

She will make a good marriage match; to a gentleman of high rank or fortune - preferably both. She will save the estate from destitution. Her sisters from ruin. And her father from debtors prison. She will be the one to keep her family in the moneyed style to which they are accustomed. They will not lose Westwell to the bailiffs.

They have risen far within the ranks of society. And they will not lose their clutch or their pride. Or their respected place among it. Her fathers estate is not a vast one; but it is more than his father before him had. A meagre merchant selling spices and furs out of Putney during the Restoration.

Now the Ashtons are country gentry. With a modest dwelling of an estate, abutting a working farm. Westwell. A manor house of not much splendour and merely thirteen rooms.

Built of gold cotswold stone with huge white windows looking out onto a self-effacing garden of some prettiness. There was a pond where swans flocked in summer. Enclosed wilderness all around. A plank of wood swing hanging off one big oak chestnut that stooped over the front of the house. To the back the garden is walled, full of sculpted beds and privets and the wide green lawn is rather uninspiring in this decimating winter

They had one gardener. Two maids. A cook and a Housekeeper. They live comfortably and hardly ever exceed their income.

Her mother hopes to change that this calendar year. She wants her eldest daughter promised to someone upstanding and rich.

Iris thinks her shrew of a mother would settle with wedding her to any man . So long as he looks pleasing in a cravat, and still has all his own teeth.

She treks on through the snow. Hoping. Dreaming. Dreaming for so many unattainable things.

Wishing her basket was lighter. Wishing her parents had sired a son. So that this evening she wouldn’t have to be bound into a pinching dress, and paraded around the Hearst’s ballroom as if she’s some prized slaughter pig at a county fair.

Wishing that she could instead stay home in her untrimmed, plain nightgown. No laced stays crushing her ribs. With a hot brick at her feet. A dog-eared Swift novel in her hands. Cracked open to the good passages. She’d read by tapered candlelight and be perfectly contented, poised to encounter spinsterhood.

Instead, a painful evening of savage society awaited her.

Poison filled smiles from nasty debutantes or their matronly mama’s. Sniping at her dress or her hair or her pale skin, or her lack of fortune. Crushed mangled toes from dancing with some portly red-faced Lord-whoever-from-wherever. One who stank of port, had bad breath, and tried to pinch her bottom with fat lecherous sausage fingers, when he thought no one was looking their way.

She has no aspirations for marriage or love. She’s not a fool. She doesn’t have her head swimming with fancies from novels. No rapturous desires of tall, sable-haired men, with chiseled marble bodies seducing her astray. No cloaked villain sweeping her away in the dead of night to send her to ruin, to then have her dashing savior ride in on horseback to rescue her.

If she’s one thing at all - it is sensible. She doesn’t like to reflect on the proposition of marrying some stranger simply to arrange the business of money and bearing him heirs. She’s not a broodmare-

She’s a woman. She has a thumping proud heart and a strong-working brain and she hopes there’s more measure to her life, than submitting her body and weak will over to be governed and quieted by a future, faceless husband.

She’s sure many girls of three and twenty have felt this way. She’s sure many generations upon generations of them will continue to do so, until women cease to be sold like chattel - or like cattle at market.

Sold solely to men for the priceless untarnished commodity that lay between their thighs. And based and viewed purely on that frail scrap of fleshed dignity, alone.

She wraps her coat tighter around herself. Distinctly feeling a sense of dread starting to slither sickly cool up her spine from the prospect of the evening ahead.

Mother will wrangle her into her finest restrictively crushing silk gown. Have the maid tug and pull her hair and wrench it into a pleasing style. Jabbing hair pins in her head. Mother will see to it that she splash plenty of Yardley’s water of jasmine blossom, orange and lavender on the pulses at her wrists, and at her neck.

Then, she’ll be practically shoved into the chest of every single eligible gentleman in the room tonight in the hope they deign her to be pleasing. She’ll be pushed and prodded and maneuvered and pummeled-

And she’s exhausted. She only hopes she finds the strength to endure such torture-

She kicks through the frosted ground. Pebbles scatter and skit in her wake. She nudges the sparkling white stones with the toe of her cracked brown boots. Her feet were slowly growing numb. Toes stinging with cold. She should have worn some thicker stockings. Then again, money was not exactly a moderate opulence at home. They had to husband their resources as a family very carefully- which meant Iris couldn’t have some new leather half-boots for romping about the wilds of the countryside.

But she could have as many new hair combs, fans, or gloves and embellished stockings as she wanted. Anything that might help snare a man into visions of matrimony. Not wasted on such a thing as a new wool coat to help keep her warm in winter; or boots that didn’t let the muddy puddles seep in.

For appearances sake, the Ashton’s wealth went solely into ballgowns, perfume and finery for their girls. Some household money of course went into sensibilities like candles, meat, flour and soap. Iris was taught that she should be hugely grateful for everything that was lavished upon her.

Flora so often griped at her that she was so lucky to have such amounts spent on her. She got new gowns of printed cottons and muslin and silks and whatever she wanted. Where her and Posy had to make do with alterations and hand-me-downs to their dresses and bonnets.

Flora was so blinded by jealousy and immaturity that she didn’t quite look - really look at her sister - and realize that Iris didn’t really want any of those things-

She ruminated on all tonight might bring her. She wondered what kind of state her silly sisters would both be in when she gets home. Already donning their paper curls, lacing each other into their stays and chemises already. Arguing over who wore the best pair of silk slippers they had between them.

Mother will be in one of her bitter moods. Trying to determinedly order all her girls ready for tonight.

Moods sour with each other already and they’d be seething and spitting nasty fury at Iris. She had new things especially for this ball tonight. New pair of satin gloves and a printed silk dress. They did not. They never did.

Iris would lend Flora her old reticule - the one Mother had bought for her from Bond street. And she’d give Posy her pearl hair comb to slide into her auburn coiffure. A little balm to both of them to gently encourage some sisterly affection. She didn’t want to be at war with them all night.

She’s halfway down the narrow pale road, kicking snowy stones, when an almighty sound kicks up over the horizon, barreling in her direction. She turns her head back and hears the distant rhythmic rumbling of hooves hitting track and the clack and creak of enormous coach wheels.

Hardly surprising when this is the biggest road leading back to Pembleton, her little village.

She sees through the fog of snow, a huge black shape dominates the road. Moving fast. She lifts her skirts and steps onto the crunching grass so that the raring coach might pass her safely by. At the tremendous speed it’s going she reckons she didn’t have long before it caught up to where she’s walking.

She hears it gaining, closer and closer. Wood and hooves and snorting horses eating up the distance of the road. She dares a glance at the impossibly loud and fast carriage.

It’s a beastly thing. All looming black wood. A black liveried driver in grey wool coat. Two footmen clad the same, on the back stand. Black sturdy luggage safely stowed on the roof. Two hulking beasts of shimmering onyx shire horses are stamping and galloping and heaving the great thing along with no difficulty. Silvery wisps of air pour from their nostrils and the dripping whites of their eyes look nearly devilish past their full cupped blinders. The tack of black leather lost on their gleaming coal coats.

The noise is deafening now. It’s almost passing her. Kicking snow and frosty gritted mud out from under the churn of the hungry wheels.

She’s curious as to who could possibly be residing in such an opulent coach. No one from these parts, she’s certain of it. The richest Lord from here was two villages over on a vast estate. Lord Hexham. Who was one and eighty and had a hunched back. And he was a doddery old recluse. He hardly went raring around town in such an imposing manner.

When it draws level with her she dares a vertiginous glance up at the small arch of the door. A crest is splashed there in gold and scarlet. Like a splash of blood on a gold sword scabbard. Or a healing wound.

It’s no shock that the crest there is unfamiliar to her. It’s entwined with wolves and scarlet banners, and a shield crossed with swords. Some monstrous carnivorous coat of arms perhaps? Maybe this person’s ancestor’s had won victory in some ancient bloody battle dating back to the Normandy landings.

She looks up from the door and to her very great shock, she glimpses a man’s face.

It was a dark carriage, drawn to privacy with scarlet velvet curtains covering at the windows. But the one this side closest to her is peeled back.

Her heart thumps loud in her neck and her chest claws with slight panic and embarrassment having caught this gentleman’s eyes.

Such savage, unyielding eyes.

Bitterly black. Slicing outwards from an alabaster pale face. She barely made out features of a full proud face. A blunt roman nose, full pouting lips, and raven sable hair. Length; rakish.

It makes her inhale a sharp breath. Quickly averting her gaze. Embarrassed. Lowering her eyes.

Gawping openly at the upper echelons was never a good idea. They probably held her in the same standing as that of the mud on the bottom of their very polished boots.

He was probably some uppity Duke or Earl who didn’t wish to be gazing at the common stock. She looks to her feet. Feels the wind whip at the tendrils of her hair. Unfolds them from her scarf and whips them back over her face. Baring her neck. Snow lands on her skin. Flecks of it melt ripping like bee stings onto her hot throat.

Pale, corded, thrumming throat. Bared to the wind and the snow and the cold-

He can hear her pulse and it’s like a sweet sirens call.

She feels the strangest sensation then; no one was looking at her. But it feels like they did. It feels as if eyes are pinning her down. Raking over her skin and assessing her.

When she looks back up, dazed, the rattling loud coach is past her now. Off into the distance, into the snow.

Foggy white and smeared and blurring into the horizon. Roaring away up the track road. Away from her sight. She blinks after it’s wake. Snow tangling into her lashes. She’s shivering now if she wasn’t before, and she can’t fathom why.

She switches the basket into her other arm. Let’s it take the painful strain of the still heavy thing. Items within clunk and thump around. She steps off the crusted grass and back onto the stony pave of the hard road.

She continues on; winding homeward. She thinks about her silk gown, and new pearl earrings. And then of darker things; like devilish horses, and eyes. Eyes darker than inky shadows and deeper rich, like charcoal.

As the coach thunders off into the snow. Rutting and cracking over every bump on the road, Kylo shifted back on the scarlet bench seat. He lifts the curtain on the back window with a suave flick of his fingers, and set his black gaze once more back down the track road.

Looks back upon the lone girl in the blue coat who was walking there.

The scent of her still cloyed up in his throat - Oh, and in all the best ways.

He scented her from a mile down the road. Lavender, clary sage and sharp heat of bursting peppermint on salty skin.

The musk of her made him pant and his chest ragged. His arousal and bloodlust stirred in his chest. The drooling gnashing hell hounds of his appetite waking up and baying to be fed.

He watches her hair sway over her neck. A big gust of frosty wind blew her flavour right into his path.

His eyes rolled back in his head as he savoured her.

It made his mouth water. He’d all but outright moaned. It’s been a few moons since he last fed. His nails dig into the upholstered scarlet bench. Muscles strained. Veins corded tight in his body. Pulled taut.

His butler, Jomar. Speaks up from where he is sat opposite.

Blue silk Dastar covering his silver hair. His goatee beard was arrowhead shaped and always neatly trimmed. It stood out all the more from his bronze skin. His Punjabi cadence Kylo always thought was like cinnamon dashed in milk. He had a comforting warm voice.

“I wonder, shall you like the society hereabouts, your lordship?” He seeks curiously. Melting walnut eyes finding Kylos over his gold half moon spectacles, and looking past the small red leather backed Voltaire, open in his hands.

Lord Ren smirks. His eyes glimmer. Cool and hungry. Silver black like daggers.

“Absolutely.” He wets his lips. “The local cuisine looks delicious.”

     ~  ~  🥀 ~  ~  

[purplesurveys]

1170

survey by purplehugger

Would you ever get a tattoo? I would love to get one, and plans are definitely set for that. It’s just a matter of knowing when I’m finally finally FINALLY ready to have something permanent placed on my skin.

Can you live without your phone? Technically yes, but I would have a very hard time since I use it for a lot of things, if not all the things I do on a daily basis; and I imagine I’d grow cranky very fast.

What animal do you resemble? I’m not so sure about resemble...I can tell you my personality matches best with dogs, though. I always have a great time with them.

What is your best friend’s name? I have two of them, Angela and Andi.

What is/was your favorite subject in school? History, followed by honestly any social sciences course out there...geography, anthropology, political science, etc. I definitely hogged those classes in college as much as my curriculum allowed me to.

Would you ever adopt a stray puppy? I would adopt every single one I see if I could.

Do you like chocolate? Chocolate-flavored sweets, yes. Actual chocolate or chocolate bars, not so much.

What is your favorite word? Poignant always seems to hit me straight in the feels.

Have you ever done something really stupid? Erm, of course? I do it at least once a day.

What was the worst mistake you ever made? Y’all have heard it a million times by now, but it’s tolerating shit I knew I didn’t deserve. Also, touching a plugged clothes iron when I was 7.

Can you say the alphabet backwards? I did at one point, but I didn’t practice it and now I don’t know how to do it anymore.

How high can you count? Any number as long as money is involved, hahaha.

You are very loved. True or False? True.

Do you like Taylor Swift? Not so much.

Do you want any piercings? Yes, one on each of my ears; I got pierced as an infant.

Have you ever stolen something? Random lost pens at school.

Do you like seafood? Looooooove seafood. I literally have 24 pieces of sushi right next to me right now; just a lil Friday treat for myself heehee.

What is your least favorite name? That seems a bit harsh. I don’t think I hate any name that much so as to call it my least favorite.

What do you want to name your child? Olivia or Mia is still on the table for me.

Do you like the color green? Just the olive shade. Otherwise it’s my least favorite color.

Do you have lots of friends? I would say I have enough to be happy. I don’t know what exactly ‘many’ means.

Are you listening to anything right now? Yeah, my friend group put up a Discord server just tonight and Jo proceeded to start a BTS playlist earlier. Everyone’s since hopped out for the night, but the playlist is still on so I’ll be staying around for the meantime and vibe. :) Just me, BTS, and my sushi haha.

What time is it? 10:04 PM.

Are you hungry? No, I’m taking bites every once in a while as I take this survey.

What was the last thing you ate? Sushi. I got 3 kinds for tonight: Singaporean Roll, Dynamite Roll, and Mount Fuji Roll. All so good. 

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? I never did.

Do you know any gay people? Many.

Do you have any pets? Yes.

Would you ever own a monkey? Probably not. I wouldn’t be equipped to care for them.

Do you enjoy reading? Essays and memoirs, yes.

--

survey by xxbieberburnham

Do you know anyone who has been attacked by a shark? Not to my knowledge.

What is your best friend's mom name? Girlie and Ria.

Have you ever made out in a movie theatre? No.

What part of your body do you wash first? Hair.

Do you have an innie or an outie? Innie.

How do you think the dinosaurs died? Giant asteroid.

What's your favorite flavor of Pringles? Just the original one. But tbh Pringles are so addictive anyway, I’ll always take more than one of any flavor if they were ever offered to me.

What was the last thing you got grounded for? Low grades, which was really the only reason why I ever got grounded.

Did you go to a water park last summer? No, and I doubt anyone else did either...

What shoe do you put on first? Usually the right.

Finish the sentence: Girls... Are powerful.

Have you ever had a song or poem written about you? Poem, yeah. I don’t think I would particularly appreciate an entire song being written about me though, I think that would just make me cringe lol.

Did you have a nickname growing up? Nothing like an affectionate pet name. My longest-lasting nickname is just a shortened version of my name used by family, but otherwise everyone calls me by my first name.

When was the last time you played the air guitar? Never.

Have you ever bitten your toenail? Only as a kid.

How often do you clean out your ears? Every other day.

Do you scrunch or fold your toilet paper? Fold.

Have you ever been dared to do something that you regretted? Nothing major. One instance I can remember is when I was dared to pick up food from the ground, and when I bit into it it already had some tiny tiny stones and some debris on it D:

Favorite website? Twitter, probably. Or YouTube.

Worst thing that has ever happened to you? Losing two relatives I was close to in the span of four days to Covid. I am so fucking glad we made the decision to celebrate Christmas with extended family last year, no matter how ignorant it was. It absolutely sucks that I will never see them again.

Best thing that has happened to you? Recovering from my depression last year and choosing to stay. I’m living a really happy life rn.

If you could dye your hair any color, what color would it be? Dark green.

Do you have a Wii? We used to but we threw it out a few years ago since it wasn’t working anymore.

Most used phrase on IM? I think I just say “Hahahahaha” excessively lmao. Picked it up from my bosses.

Have you ever heard of The Beatles? Yes.

[secret-engima]

Hibari Kyoya reborn into the FF7 universe??? Who is he reborn as??? Cloud??? Sephiroth??? Zack??? AERITH????

*stares off into the distance*

*stares even more*

*cackles evilly*

Genesis.

No, come back, sit down, lemme explain (oh no a new ramble). My first impulse is Sephiroth, but if that happened the world would burn in fire and law of the wild allegories and no one would be able to stop it because Cloud probably wouldn’t even be BORN yet or something. Gene-bari grows up as an eccentric child of loving, rich parents, and promptly decides that his home town of Banora needs more discipline and set off on a one-bby rampage to take over his town. Which he succeeds at, because Science Experiment With Hibari’s Soul.

Meets Angeal, a young boy already filled with dreams and morals and ethics and honor and generally all the things Hibari has no time for and decides that Angeal would make a GREAT replacement for Kusakabe.

Angeal is just pleased to make a friend that will spar with him (even teaches him things, because he quickly realizes Gen is a GENIUS and knows way more than he lets on to the adults).

Banora quickly learns to fear Genesis and praise Angeal because Angeal is literally Genesis’s only non-violent braincell here, and Genebari is fond of the omnivore and so can actually be talked out of a lot of things by Angeal (Fluffy Carnivore has rubbed off on him, much to his annoyance, and now he WANTS a ... what’s the herbivore word for it ... FRIEND at his side and will do anything to keep Angeal there).

It’s a really good thing Angeal has ironclad morals from like- age 4 because otherwise the world would Burn.

Hears about Sephiroth, the darling war hero and weapon at age way-too-young-Hojo-you-hack and of COURSE wants to meet and fight another potential predator. Angeal takes this to mean Gen wants to join Shinra. Gen bares his teeth at the thought of taking orders from anything, but if it means more fights ... and Shinra is already powerful, once he gets in, it wouldn’t be too hard to work to the top and be able to TRULY reinstate the disciplinary committee of his previous life....

Very well. He will deign to join Shinra. From there he will take it over (Angeal just laughs at Gen’s declaration, because Angeal is a boy and hasn’t QUITE figured out yet that Genebari can do quite literally whatever he intends to do.

Somewhere along the way between that event and joining, Angeal tentatively suggests that Genesis learn to use terms other than nature ones when talking to other people. Angeal understands him but some people might get confused and a commander is always clear, right?

Genesis, not wanting to learn but seeing the logic, randomly picks up a book to read because reading words is more tolerable than listening to blithering herbivores. The book he picks up turns out to be an epic poem called Loveless.

Years later Angeal will quietly tell Sephiroth that the frequent poetry quotes is Genesis ... attempting to speak somewhat normally. When Seph gives Angeal a look that is befitting that statement, Angeal shrugs and just says that Gen has always been a ... off the wall thinker.

They leave and join Shinra the day after their birthday that makes them the eligible age and all of Shinra’s lower ranks quickly learn the new order of life. Namely that Genesis is Terrifying and can and will fight anything and WIN (after terrifying all his classmates, the Soldier 2nd drill instructor decided to try sparring with the brat to humble him, the Soldier 2nd ended up getting both arms and his nose broken before Angeal could drag Genesis off. This gets Attention.)

Genesis nearly murders the entire science division over the mako treatment thing, but Angeal talks him into it. Genesis, who’s soul still has Cloud Flames, enhances his immune system during every injection to the point that would normally make his immune system eat his body from the inside out, but instead just steamrolls right over the Jenova parts of the formula and subsumes the mako to make his Cloud Flames EVEN STRONGER.

Live in terror Shinra, this monster is thine own making.

Of course, with Genesis leading the way, winning people over through terror and awe left and right and Angeal gaining a horde of devotees through his ability to keep Genesis from murdering them all, the two rocket up to first class in a timeframe that almost rival Sephiroth’s. Sephiroth is, obviously, curious.

He challenges Genesis to a fight.

It is only AFTER he finds himself wheezing on the floor of the utterly demolished training room, bruised and cut all over and with one arm that is Very Definitely Broken does he understand why Angeal solemnly, seriously said he would ensure Seph got a proper funeral.

To be fair, Genebari is only slightly better off, because what Seph lacks in experience he makes up for in talent and stubbornness.

Yes, Genesis decides as he grins past his bleeding nose, split lip, and multiple lacerations, THIS new minion will do VERY nicely.

To sum up a VERY long story short, Genesis ends up climbing the ranks and then cheerfully manipulating, murdering, and charisma-ing his way to the president’s position of all Shinra by age 23. Casually plops Vice President Shinra into the ruling chair on the unspoken (threatened) agreement that Rufus can have the money and glory and run all the usual stuff, but only on Genesis’s guidelines. Genesis would take the chair but that would mean no more fighting and well ... HIBARI. Kusakabe did all the paperwork for a reason in the last life.

Also Cloud ends up being Genesis “secretary”. Angeal, Seph, and Angeal’s new puppy Zack all know that Cloud is really Gen’s apprentice/pet and thus the Smolest, deadliest thing on Gaia to ever breathe, Tonberry included.

Genesis gleefully murders Hojo and Hollander and puts a moral scientist in charge, adopts all of Deepground as his “pups”, and saves the world when he signs off on giving Reeve complete control of HOW Shinra electric gets its power and Reeve promptly starts a slow but stable transition away from Mako energy and to alternate sources.

Also Genesis tracks down Jenova’s corpse personally after finding Hojo’s references, sets it thoroughly and totally on fire (Cloud Flame enhanced materia, so no surviving that) then backtracks to the Mansion to investigate and finds Vincent.

Genesis takes one (1) look at what is CLEARLY an immortal vampire and lunges, because he’s always wanted to fight one for reals and this is his chance.

Vincent, after nearly being murdered by Genebari, somehow ends up following this madman home where he finds Lucrecia’s son happy, stable, and in charge of his beloved SOLDIERs (Lazard is now vice president) and his old friend Veld still running the Turks, this time with actual failsafes in place to prevent corruption in Shinra. Vincent ends up getting smacked repeatedly over the head by Veld (who’s family never died btw) and dragged off to become co-head of the Turks because DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH PAPERWORK YOU LEFT ME TO DO. DO YOU???

Aka that time Hibari got reincarnated and proceeded to save the world by accident because he wanted to Fite People and reinstate his Disciplinary Comittee.

Also Genebari takes one (1) look at Aerith and immediately declares her a “Baby Omnivore Sky” and dotes on her like a distant big sibling. Aerith just rolls with it because the planet is basically sobbing in relief for all he’s done, and besides that he introduced her to Zack (more like dragged Zack down to the church, plopped him at her feet and declared that “I have been informed that females enjoy doting mates, so I have brought you a suitable one. He is well trained and very affectionate, but needs to be exercised several times a day or else he gets bored. I recommend sending him on errands or monster hunts to make him more placid and suitable for your smaller home”)

So yeah, that’s how Aerith got her boyfriend.

[fiction-fun]

Manchurian Gold: The Great Escape

@creedtheconquer @theconfusedleo @friedrich-the-gay @hamiltimes @braidedchallah @haha-gunsgoburrr @alexanderdamnhethin @rthoney @andpeggy21

Fandom: Man of Medan, Dark Pictures Anthology

Pairings: Alex/Julia, Conrad/OC, Brad/OC

Words: 13262

Warnings: Mentions of Guns and Knives, minor violence

THIS IS IN COLLABERATION WITH THE AMAZING AND WONDERFUL @2-pints-of-sam-adams1776

Reading Key:

Bold: Narrator

Regular: Laurens

Italics: Me

Oh hello and welcome to my repository, if you choose to stay may I offer a story to keep you entertained? 

Fantastic, now where should we begin? Oh yes this one is one of my favorites, shall we begin?

"Jesus there you are, we are already running late as is." Alex slightly scolds his brother's best friend, a young lady by the name of Cheyenne.

"Sorry Alex kinda got lost or did the fact that we are in a different country escape your understanding." She fires back causing Alex to raise his arms in surrender.

"Julia and Conrad will be there any minute we need to head out now." He says grabbing the things they need and he starts to head out.

"Be nice Alex I'm pretty sure if they get there before us it won't be that bad." Brad interjects giving Cheyenne a sympathetic look.

The 3 friends climbed into the rental car and they headed off to their next stop, where they will be spending the next few days.

"Conrad, there will be plenty of beer, would you relax?" Julia called from the front seat of the car.

Conrad looked back and waved her off.

"Seriously Jules, you'll get to see your lover boy soon. If Lil ol' Connie wants to grab a drink let him." Julia's friend Kaley said looking at her from the driver's seat. 

Julia sighed and looked at where Conrad had disappeared too.

"I'm not worried about that, they're going to be waiting for us!" Julia said with a huff.

Kaley stifled a chuckle and looked at her friend critically.

"Julia, are you sure they won't mind my sudden appearance?" She asked, watching her friend closely.

Julia waved her off much like Conrad had moments ago.

"Yeah, they won't care. Alex is cool and from what he says his brother is pretty chill too." Julia said just as Conrad jumped into the back.

"Alright you two, enough gossiping let's get on the road!" Conrad called with energy.

Kaley shook her head and put the car in gear, the three heading off towards the docks where they'd meet up with the others.

"Can you go grab that last case of beer while we get set up here." Alex asks Brad and his brother nods leaving the boat and going back to the car.

"So we finally get to meet this Julia you've said so much about." Cheyenne teases, taking a seat and Alex shakes his head ignoring her and starts to unpack some things.

"So Julia." Brad says setting the case of beer down.

"Did you take those diving classes like I asked you too?" Alex asks and Brad shakes his head.

"No I didn't." He responds and Alex sighs.

"How are you going to get in the water." He asks and Brad shrugs.

"Just wing it I guess." Brad responds and Cheyenne snorts biting back the laughter threatening to spill out.

"Brad, Julia and Conrad don't mess around with this kind of stuff we are swimming with the big fish now." Alex states and Brad rolls his eyes, "I shouldn't have let you tag along Julia just wanted to meet you."

"Tag along? Last I checked I was invited." Bred fires back and Alex instantly regrets his choice of words.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean that I'm just a little stressed with Med school and this whole long distance thing with Jules." Alex says apologizing to his brother and Brad nods.

"Don't worry man I understand." Brad says, offering a small smile to his brother to reassure him.

The three of them pulled up and Conrad jumped out, phone in hand.

"What are you doing now, Connie?" Julia asked, looking at him.

Kaley just sighed and grabbed her bag, before walking over to the other side of the car.

"Seriously, Conrad? One track mind much?" Kaley asked, moving to stand a bit ahead of them.

Conrad gave a smirk and jumped forward,wrapping his arm around her.

"Come on, Kaley! It's a vacation! Live a little." Conrad said with a little laugh.

Kaley and Julia just shook their heads and the three of them started walking towards the pier.

"They are here." Alex says clicking his phone off as the other two look towards the dock and see 3 figures moving closer to them.

"Julia hey." Alex says to the girl with dirty blond hair and bright blue eyes.

"Alex!" She squeals, pulling him into a hug.

"This is my brother Brad." He says pointing behind him.

"Brad oh my god it's so nice to finally meet you, this is my best friend Kaley and my brother Conrad." She says introducing the ones behind her.

"And who is this?" Conrad asks as Cheyenne comes up from below deck.

"Oh this is…." Alex starts but she walks past him.

"I'm Cheyenne, and you are?" She asks, sticking her hand out to Conrad and a ghost of a smirk appears on his face.

"Conrad." He says and she nods with a smile as they shake hands.

Kaley smiled at the gathered group and moved off to the side to look out at the ocean, noticing that Brad moved towards the side as well. Then Conrad walked up.

"Hey, man." Conrad said looking at Brad.

Brad nodded.

"Hey." Brad said looking to the side.

Conrad being his normal self, wrapped his arms around him and dragged him towards where the beer was.

"Come on, share a cold one with me!" Conrad said, moving to pass Brad one.

Brad shook his head and put his hands up.

"No, trust me, you don't want to see me blowing chunks!" Brad said.

Kaley smirked and grabbed the bottle that had been held out to Brad.

"Then I will just take this." She said, moving to sit on one of the seats.

Conrad shrugged before turning his attention back to Brad.

"So have you ever done this before?" Conrad asked motioning towards the dive gear and ocean beyond.

Brad shook his head again.

"No, I never have."

Conrad smiled, and Kaley who noticed shook her head knowing Conrad was going to say something stupid.

"Ocean virgin nice! We'll pop your cherry, together!" Conrad said with a determined look.

Brad looked distinctly uneasy. Kaley leaned forward, grabbing her tablet from her bag.

"Hey Brad, want to come look at some of my photos from my last free dive? I think you'd be interested." She offered sliding over to give him room.

"Yeah, thanks." Brad said, moving to sit by her.

"If you're handing out drinks I'll take you up on that offer." Cheyenne says coming up to Conrad and he smiles handing her a cold one.

"Tell me, how do you know Alex and Brad?" He asked leaning against the frame taking a swig of his drink.

"Me and Brad have been friends since middle school and well Alex tolerates us." She says sitting down on the seat next to where Conrad was standing.

"Is this your first dive?" He asks, casting a glance over to Brad and Kaley.

"Not my first dive I've done but it is my first one of this magnitude." She says and he looks pleased as he turns his attention back to her.

"Awesome! Glad I'm paired with someone who at least knows somewhat, what they're doing." He says amused and she nods as the captain boards the boat.

"Looks like you and I are a pair." Kaley says softly as the captain boards.

"I'd say make yourselves at-home but….anyways we'll be leaving shortly." Fliss, the captain of the 'Duke of Milan' said as she headed towards the controls in the front.

Brad looked at Kaley, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry you got paired with such a noob." He said softly.

Kaley just laughed lightly shaking her head.

"Don't worry, everyone starts somewhere. All these pics were taken mid range free diving. Swimming but a bit deeper. I need more pictures anyways so if you want we can just chill up in the upper water." Kaley said reassuringly.

Brad smiled happily.

"Yeah, that'd be great." Brad said excitedly.

"Finally we can get going, felt like I was about to bake out in this sun." Cheyenne groans finishing off her drink and she places it in the trash as Conrad takes a seat next to her.

"What do you like to do for fun?" He asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Oh you know the usual, watch movies, listen to music. I also love to read and write but that's more of a guilty pleasure past time." She says, sitting criss cross and she turns slightly to face him.

"What kind of stuff do you write?" He asks and she laughs slightly looking down at her hands as she feels embarrassment start to bubble inside of her.

"Nothing really just little short stories and a few poems here and there." She says and he playfully nudges her shoulder.

"You should let me read some of your stuff some time." He comments and she laughs nervously again.

"Maybe but only if you tell me a little bit about yourself first." She says finally looking back up at him and he nods.

"I like diving, watching movies, uhhhh can't really think of anything else." He says and she nods.

"Alright what do you do for a living." She asks and he smiles slightly.

"I just finished college, I'm trying to become a bartender, what do you do for a living?" He turns the question on her.

"I also just finished college, I'm trying to do something in the history field but haven't found anything yet." She says and he looks somewhat impressed.

"Damn...you're interesting." He says softly.

"So Brad, what do you do? Just, in general?" Kaley asked, adjusting to look at Brad.

He paused and pushed his glasses up, before adjusting to look at her too.

"Well, I'm still in school, studying history with a large focus on world war 2. I love learning all of the different aspects that no one really teaches anymore. Beyond school...I study and read, I work too, I'm a battlefield archeologist. Basically I get to go explore and dig at old battlefields, but I'm only a junior member." Brad said, looking embarrassed as he finished.

Kaleys eyes widened, and a smile split her face.

"That's so cool! I love what you can find in and around battlefields. I myself am studying oceanography with an English secondary and a little bit of a history minor... although my area of expertise is in the civil war. Beyond school I read different things Shakespeare, Homer the  iliad and Odyssey, and a bunch of other stuff. As far as work goes? I work at the aquarium by my school, it's peaceful and relaxing." She said, smiling still.

Brad looked back at her with shock registering as he digested the similarities between them.

"That's...so cool." He said with a bright smile.

After that no one could disturb them for a while as they began debating the differences of their chosen wars and discussing other aspects and things they had learned.

"We're here." Fliss says bringing the Duke to a stop and she lowers the anchor.

"I'm so excited!" Julia squeals zipping up her wet suit.

"If there was a wreck here this place would be swarmed with people like you." Fliss states with a hint of anger in her voice.

"There is a wreck here, if Brad says there is I trust his judgement." Alex says fighting back an eye role.

"Have you ever dove before?" She asks, crossing her arms.

"Yes I have a few times." Alex responds, zipping up his wetsuit.

"Well if you have you should know regulations, if this is an undocumented wreck we need to turn it in….now." She says and Julia sighs getting annoyed.

"Look we paid you ok we can handle this don't worry." Julia snaps and Fliss shakes her head as she walks off.

"Julia, relax ok? She's right. We know regulations, we need to turn it in." Kaley said with a sigh.

Julia looked like she wanted to keep arguing but Alex cut in.

"So what you're saying is that we shouldn't dive? Come on! You even said you wanted to get in the water!" Alex said, trying to get her to their side.

Kaley put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, I do. But I want to freedive and only take photos for my oceanography course. Not mess with world war 2 era fighter planes. You guys are treading on dangerous territory, who knows what is on that plane!. Long story short I agree with Fliss, we need to report this." She said crossing her arms definitely, daring them to argue more.

Alex opened his mouth to continue, but paused when Fliss walked back, looking frustrated.

"Just don't touch anything. Take pictures if you want but don't touch anything. Otherwise we all will be at risk of being arrested." Fliss says, with a hard glare.

Kaley turned and looked over to Brad.

"Let's go get ready and I can show you some cool stuff." She said walking away from everyone else.

Brad nodded.

"Yeah, alright." He said with a small smile.

"I agree, we should call this wreck in." Cheyenne speaks up, throwing her 2 cents in.

"At least there are a few people on this boat who have their head screwed on straight." Fliss says under her breath as she starts to set up the diving gear.

"Lets go get ready." Cheyenne says giving a nod to Fliss before turning towards Conrad.

"Alex are you ready?" Julia asks making the last connections on her rebreather and he nods, "Alright let's go."

The pair jumped into the water and they started to descend to the wreck.

"Hey Fliss, I'm sorry about them." Cheyenne says coming up to her.

"Thanks." She says not looking up from what she's doing.

"No Fliss, she's right. They were totally in the wrong. Julia's one of my best friends and she can be a major bitch sometimes. Conrad's not a lot better when he gets his mind on something but he at least tones down to a loud jerk while Julia just steam rolls you. Long story short they should have reported it." Kaley said walking over to get her and Brad's flippers goggles and a couple underwater cameras.

Brad walked up behind her, gently taking his goggles and flippers from her.

"Thanks, and both Kaley and Cheyenne are right, Alex can be a big jerk when he wants to be." Brad said as he got his flippers on.

Kaley smiled and moved to sit on the edge of the boat by Brad.

"Don't worry Fliss, we'll follow guidelines and stay in the upper waters so you won't have 2 sets of misbehaving people." Kaley said as she finished getting her flippers and goggles on.

Brad looked up and nodded with a smile.

"Ready, Brad?" Kaley asked as she stood on the small platform that hung off of the boat.

Brad gave a last small smile to Cheyenne and Fliss before moving to stand by Kaley.

"Yeah, yeah I think so!" He said as he pulled his goggles down.

Kaley passed him a camera and with that the two of them leapt into the water and dove a bit to get a better distance from the ship to see the animals and plants of the area.

"Could your first mate interest you in a cold one?" Conrad asks walking up to Fliss.

Fliss turns with a slight disgusted look on her face, "You're not my first mate."

"Cabin boy?" He questions and she shakes her head causing Cheyenne to snort watching his failed attempts.

"Not even close." Fliss says crossing her arms and Conrad takes a deep breath.

"How about if your dashingly handsome well paying client has asked you to join him for a frosty amber colored liquid?" He asks again and Fliss shakes her head.

"I'm only taking this because you people give me a headache, now would you please go I have work to do." She says and he nods handing her the bottle.

"Aye aye captain." He says turning and he takes a seat on the deck.

"Wow that was almost embarrassing to watch." Cheyenne teases Conrad as she takes a seat next to him.

"Hey I'm a man of many talents." He says and she laughs shaking her head.

"Oh are you now." She says back and he nods looking down at her.

"Yes I am, I can show you if you'd like." He quips and she side eyes him.

"Charm must not be one of them." She says looking him over and he shakes his head.

"That is where you're wrong, it's like a boomerang once you think it's gone over your head it comes back and hits you." He says with a wink causing Cheyenne to look away from him as she feels a blush creeping up her neck.

He was right at first she was unfazed by his advancements but as the day has dragged on she's found herself falling little by little and she hates it.

Kaley and Brad slowly swim a little lower in the water. Brad swims a bit ahead of her just to test his flippers and Kaley shakes her head before grabbing him and pulling him back quickly. Brad wide eyed looks at her. Kaley waves her hand through the water in the direction Brad had been headed, causing Brad to look and see a small shark slowly approaching.

"Ahh" Brad bubbles out in surprise.

Kaley smirked a bit and carefully covered his mouth before holding up her camera and pointing at him then the shark. Brad shook his head frantically, so Kaley shrugged and pointed to his camera before starting to swim over to the Shark. Brad, shocked that she had reached it and was carefully resting a hand on the dorsal fin of the shark, slowly raised his camera up and snapped a few pictures. Kaley smiled as he gave her a thumbs up before pointing behind Brad. Brad turned slowly expecting another shark but saw just some flowering sea plants, with a nod and a smile he swam over to them and Kaley captured a few nice shots. An hour or so later they both surfaced and climbed back into the ship.

"I can't believe you grabbed that shark!" Brad said amazed.

Kaley, who was looking over her pictures paused on one of Brad by a coral structure and shrugged lightly.

"Brad, it was a baby reef-back. They aren't dangerous, not even the adults are. The only sharks even less dangerous are nurse sharks." She said as she finally put her camera down and slipped her flippers off before moving onto the slow process of extracting herself from the dive suit.

"Still, it could have been risky." Brad muttered softly, slowly pulling out of his suit.

Kaley plopped onto one of the benches and pulled the suit off her legs, before looking up at Brad, she offered a little sigh.

"Brad, I know sharks and I know the species that are in this area, I was safe. But I thank you for being worried about me." She said smiling softly as she pulled her wet hair into a high ponytail.

Brad sighed and looked up, eyes going wide for a second as he saw her in just a pair of short swim shorts and a tight tank top.

"I...I was worried that you'd be ripped apart. But you do know what you know." Brad said finally.

Kaley smiled and sat next to him.

"Thanks Brad, honestly one of the best free dive partners I've had. Let's look over these pictures." She said smiling brightly.

Brad swallowed before nodding and grabbing his camera to pull his pictures up. Kaley tore her eyes away from Brad with a soft blush, Brad made a sight in only swim trunks.

"Hey is that a boat coming our way?" Cheyenne asks as she scans the waters.

"That must be what was popping up on radar ...I don't think that's the coast guard coming to arrest us, I've got a bad feeling about this." Fliss says picking up the binoculars before glancing back at the others.

"So what do we do?" Conrad asks, crossing his arms and Fliss glares at him.

"We aren't doing anything, I'm the captain so you be quiet and let me talk." She warns and he nods holding his hands up in surrender.

Not even 10 minutes later the boat comes racing by and hits the dive line before it comes to a stop.

"You have to back up, we have divers in the water!" Fliss calls out as the guy that looks to be the quote unquote captain looks over the side of the speed boat.

"Look what you did to our boat." He says pointing at the very obvious indentation on his speed boat.

"Look man we're sorry, how much would it be to fix that? 10." Conrad says bringing out money and he flicks a 10 dollar bill into the water, "No? How about 20?" He flicks another bill into the water, "30?" He flicks another, "Here take it all." He finishes throwing all of it in the water.

The men speed off and Fliss looks up at Conrad, "You're an idiot." She says harshly before walking away.

"What the hell was that, they could have been pirates…..good job." Cheyenne scolds walking away from him.

"You guys are right, why don't I start up the grill." He says walking over to the grill and he starts to put the starter on the charcoal and he lights it, but it blows up and catches on fire.

"Shit." Fliss says rushing to grab the extinguisher and she rushes over and puts the fire out.

"Fuck, Conrad are you ok." Cheyenne says getting up and rushing over to him and she looks him over to make sure.

"Yeah I'm fine." He says letting her examine his arm.

"What the hell was that?" They hear Julia say from the water.

"Some guys ran into the dive line." Fliss informs and Julia nods looking at the money floating in the water.

"Who decided to pay the ocean?" She asks and both Fliss and Cheyenne look at Conrad.

"I don't know, ask your idiot brother." Fliss says and Julia shakes her head.

"Connie I swear to god you can be stupid sometimes." She says shaking her head before holding up her hand, "Anyways everyone shut up and look."

"Oh my God congratulations you guys!" Cheyenne squeals as she gazes at the ring on Julia's left hand.

"Well damn this is cause for celebration." Conrad smiles as he helps bring them in.

Brad and Kaley who had been down below deck until then came up in time to hear Conrad.

"What's the celebration for, Connie?' Kaley called out as they walked over.

Julia squealed a bit and jumped up onto the little platform, before shoving her hand in Kaleys face.

"LOOK!" she squealed happily.

Kaley upon seeing the ring smiled a happy smile for her friend.

"Congrats, I guess Conrad is right. This time." She said muttering the last bit.

"HEY! I heard that!' Conrad called with a smile still plastered on his face.

Kaley rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"That was the point. So how are we going to celebrate? And before Conrad says alcohol, why don't we let Julia and Alex choose since it's their celebration." Kaley said, and the rest nodded, Conrad looking properly chastised.

"How about food? That is if Conrad didn't break the grill." Julia suggested.

Everyone agreed to that and before long everyone was seated with food and all except Brad were drinking a beer, Brad had a soda.

"Why don't you tell us a ghost story Brad." Cheyenne says relaxing back against the bench she was seated on next to Conrad.

"Yeah I agree, come in Brad." Julia says taking another sip of her drink.

"Alright, this is the retelling of a true story." Brad started but Alex cut him off.

"Woah wait a true story? Where did you hear it?" Alex asked.

Brad gave him a little look.

"An old man, on a beach." Brad said pausing.

Alex seemed to settle back down, Kaley leaned forward, getting into the story.

"It was a long time ago on a cloudy day, an old lighthouse keeper was walking the beach, when out of nowhere a frantic woman ran up to him begging and pleading for help. The lighthouse keeper asked what the problem was, and she said her parents had been murdered. Now the lighthouse keeper, realizing the gravity of the situation, started back with her before asking where she was taking him. 'the old lighthouse, I've lived there for years' the women responded. Now the keeper knew that wasn't true because he was the only one to live there in several decades. He tried to tell the woman this, but she wouldn't listen and instead lead him up the stairs. When they reached the top, there were two bodies splayed out in a bloody fashion on the floor." Brad paused for a second to take in the reactions knowing the best part was coming up.

Julia looked freaked out while Fliss looked interested, Kaley leaned even further trying to fully take in the story, he almost felt bad knowing the ending would probably make her jump and fall off the bench. Conrad and Alex looked marginally unimpressed. He continued.

"The man turned to the woman and asked her 'who did this?' she looked at him and said  'my husband, and he's still here, in the closet' she pointed to the old closet and the keeper looked at it before cautiously making his way over to it, he took a second to take a breath expecting to be attacked. The lighthouse keeper opened the door and sure enough, there was a man in the closet and in the shadow the lighthouse keeper couldn't see his face, so he leaned closer, and closer until finally he could make out the man's face. And….it was his OWN FACE and before the keeper knew what happened the man jumped and his eyes bulged out and "WAHHH"" Brad lunged forward, lightning cracking at that moment and Brad's face went creepy.

Julia laughed, Alex looked impressed and Kaley, as expected, fell off her chair in shock.

Fliss looked the slightest bit impressed, Conrad laughed giving Brad a nod while Cheyenne yelps instantly clinging on to Conrad and she hides behind him.

"Alright as much as the story was interesting, I think it's bedtime." Alex says standing and Julia follows him.

"I agree." Fliss says as she too stands up and walks off.

"Was the story really that scary?" Conrad says looking behind him slightly at Cheyenne.

"N-no, just the lightning caught me off guard." She says letting go of him and she fixes her shirt.

"Whatever you say sweetheart." He responds with a wink and a smile and her jaw dropped slightly.

Kaley stood up and stretched lightly.

"Scuse me love birds. Hey Brad, nice story. I was wondering if you wanted to come chat a bit before bed?" She asked side stepping Conrad and Cheyenne.

Brad smiled at her lightly.

"Yeah sure, wanna talk down in my room? So we can sit comfortably?" He asked her as they started walking.

Kaley nodded.

"Yeah that sounds good." She says and follows Brad down and out of sight.

"I would actually like to get to know you better." Conrad says relaxing back against the bench with Cheyenne.

"I would like that too." She says softly looking up at him and he smiles.

"Let's start with the basics, how old are you?" He asks and she nods playing with her hands.

"21, how old are you?" She returns.

"22, do you have any siblings?" He asks the next question.

"Yeah 3 actually, an older brother and sister and then a younger brother." She replies and he nods.

"You know you have beautiful eyes." He whispers and she feels her face heat up.

"Stop you're just saying that to say it." She responds and he looks confused before he shakes his head.

"No, I'm serious it's true." He reassures and she smiles slightly.

"Thank you. If my eyes are beautiful yours are otherworldly." She responds and he smiles happily.

"I could go on with the compliments but I get the feeling you really don't want to hear the truth which is a shame because you deserve to know." He says and she feels her heart stutter at his words.

After a beat of silence, she clears her throat and looks away from him, "As much as I'm enjoying this and your company I think I'm gonna call it a night." She stands and he follows stopping her.

"I mean you can join me, I have the top bunk but we can work something out." He says and she smiles nodding.

"Alright, lead the way." She says moving out of his way and he walks them down to his bunk.

Kaley ducks into Brad's room, looking around before joining him, sitting on the bed. She leans her back against the wall next to him and they sit quietly for a few minutes.

"So...so uh what did you want to talk about?" Brad asks, breaking the silence.

Kaley smiles a bit and looks over at him.

"Well we know each other's majors, and what we enjoy and do for work, but that's all. So tell me about yourself, how old are you?" She asked him, turning to him a bit.

Brad shuffles and looks at her.

"I'm 21, how old are you?" He asks her softly.

Kaley smiles a bit.

"I just turned 22 last week." She said softly.

Brad smiled and nodded.

"Do you have any siblings?" Brad asked her.

Kaley nodded and offered a small smile.

"An older brother and a younger sister." Kaley said softly, slowly slipping down the wall.

She let out a yawn, one that Brad mirrored a few seconds later.

"So, have you always been interested in world war 2?" Kaley asked softly.

The two of them had slid down and we're facing each other on the bed barely awake. Brad nodded, his glasses pressed up.

"Yeah, just seeing the….the differences that have happened have always intrigued me." He said voice, soft.

 Kaley smiled and nodded.

"You're intriguing." She murmured.

Brad laughed a bit.

"So are you." He whispered as they both dozed off.

"Shhhh, we have to be quiet, the children are sleeping." Conrad teases pointing to the bottom bunk where Brad and Kaley are sound asleep.

"Duly noted." Cheyenne whispers climbing the ladder and she settles into the sheets.

"If you want me to, I can sleep on the opposite end with my back to you." He whispers and she shakes her head patting the just big enough space for him to lay next to her.

"I don't mind…..might actually help me sleep better, never was really good at falling asleep on boats." She whispers and he nods, settling next to her closing the gap between them with an arm around her.

"Goodnight." He whispers against her ear and she smiles to herself.

"Goodnight." She whispers back and they too are sound asleep within minutes.

Barely 2 hours later Cheyenne is shaken awake from the force of a random guy pulling Conrad off the bed. She sits up right as Conrad smashes a bottle over the guys head and she jumps into action and she kicks him sending him flying back to the wall, "Are you ok, are you hurt." She frantically says climbing down from the bed and she starts to look at the cut on his forehead.

"I'm fine, are you ok?" He asks and she nods looking over to the other bunk and seeing the two that were there previously are gone.

"Where is everyone?" She asks and Conrad shrugs.

"Both of you shut the fuck up." The man, her and Conrad had tagteamed shouted standing up holding a knife and the two of them held up their hands.

The man ties their hands behind their back and he tapes their mouths before leading them into Alex and Julia's room. When they enter they see everyone there but Brad.

The man pushes them down to the ground harshly and when they land he takes a swing at Conrad but luckily Conrad dodges before he can land the punch as both Alex and Cheyenne kick the guy sending him to the floor. He stands up furious but storms out of the room quickly.

When he leaves Conrad moves to take the tape off of Cheyenne's mouth and she does his before they slowly start to remove the others tape as well, "Is everyone Ok?" He asks and most of them nod when the guy from earlier comes back and takes Fliss.

"What the fuck do they want?" Julia whispers and Conrad looks down.

"I think those are the guys I may have pissed off on that boat earlier." He says softly and a sympathetic look washes over Cheyenne's face.

At that moment the door opens again and the guy drags Conrad out.

Kaley shoots a glare at Cheyenne as she tries to work her socks off. The others watching between the two girls.

"Look at this mess your damn boy-toy got us into!" Kaley hissed in frustration before turning to Alex.

"Alex, weird thing, but pull off my left sock would you?" She asks as she shuffles a bit.

Alex looked at her before turning so both hands were visible.

"Uh sure, but...why? And where's Brad?" He asked as he pulled her sock off.

Kaley smirked with triumph and grabbed the pocket knife that had fallen out of her sock with both feet.

"Because I have a habit of sleeping and existing with a pocket knife in my sock." She says smirking.

"The fuck do you mean boy-toy last time I check he's her brother and your friend." Cheyenne snaps as she wiggles free of her restraints.

"Guys seriously where's Brad?" Alex asks again as she unties him.

"I don't know, maybe you should ask Kaley here, she was getting a little friendly with our dear Brad last I checked." Cheyenne says leaning against the bed again, her head in her hands.

Kaley rolls her eyes before getting Julia to cut her ropes and then cutting Julia's ropes in return. Alex looked at her. Kaley sighed and shuffled against the bed behind her, hiding the pocket knife in her bra.

"I don't know, one minute we were talking and getting to know each other, relaxing before bed. I had planned to go to my room and sleep there. We must have fallen asleep cause a bit later I'm getting grabbed and tied up by these damn goons that CHEYENNE'S boy toy pissed off earlier. My only hope is that he heard something and managed to hide. They didn't see us earlier so maybe we just keep his existence quiet as long as possible. And yeah Connie is her brother and my friend but if anyone was getting friendly with someone it was you and him." Kaley says in a quiet huff, worry etching her face as she talks about Brad.

"I agree about keeping Brad's existence secret. But what exactly do you define 'getting friendly' do tell the class please." Cheyenne huffs looking up from her hands as a shout can be heard from outside.

"So you're saying you didn't grab onto Connie cause you were scared earlier? Or maybe that you haven't been staring at him every chance you get? The flirting you're both playing off as subtle, it's not subtle." Kaley says rolling her eyes as she pays attention to the door.

"Me grabbing onto him earlier during the story was pure coincidence, had anyone else been sitting there I would have grabbed on to them. And in regards to me 'staring at him every chance I get' I'm getting to know him he's the only one that's even bothered to get to know me. You haven't even tired, Julia has given it a little try, same with Fliss. So of course I'm going to naturally gravitate towards him since you have been spending every chance you get with my best friend and Alex, the only other person on this damned boat I actually know has been spending this time like he was supposed to with Julia. So forgive me for looking for a little bit of company. And fuck I'll admit Conrad is one hell of an attractive person you happy." Cheyenne fires off before sinking back into herself.

Kaley pauses and takes a deep breath before letting it out slowly.

"Look, yeah maybe you're right. I have been monopolizing Brad, but can you blame me? We have so much in common...I haven't found that with anyone else. And sorry I haven't been trying to talk to you as much, truth is I suck at talking to people and groups freak me out. Julia had to practically beg me to come on this trip because I'm so crowd-phobic. And the only reason I got the ability to be friends with her and then Conrad is because our English professor paired us together for a research paper, and she introduced me to her brother. But to be fair yeah I've been monopolizing Brad but you've got Connie wrapped around you so hard I haven't been able to say more than 10 words to the guy. As for getting to know each other, that's all me and Brad have done, is get to know each other. But alright, you admitted what you think of Connie, Brad is an amazing, wonderful, gorgeous guy and why he's still single is a damn mystery to myself." Kaley said before leaning back from where she had leaned forward to look at Cheyenne, and turning to look out the window.

Cheyenne goes to respond but the door swings open and they shove Conrad in with the side of his head bleeding and an obvious black eye, "My god are you ok?" She asks standing and she notices the tip of his right ear missing.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Julia asks and he shakes his head taking a seat.

"Alright, we need to come up with a plan. When they come back we get them." Alex says and they all nod as the door opens again and they drag Julia out faster than anyone can react.

"Fuck." Conrad shouts as Alex pounds on the door.

A few minutes later Julia returns and she looks fine, "What did they want?" Alex asks.

"They were asking about our parents. They want money." She says and Conrads sighs.

Kaley shoots a little glare at Conrad.

"Way to go Connie. How's your ear?" She asks the fight, leaving her as she fails to find a solution.

Julia sits looking sad but looks up at her question.

"My ear is fine, doesn't really hurt any more." He says moving to sit by the window as the storm starts to roll in.

"Look, Kaley I'm sorry for going off on you earlier it was uncalled for." Cheyenne says trying to ease the tension in the air.

Silence falls over the group when a clap of thunder erupts in the sky making everyone jump slightly. Another bolt of lightning flashes and Conrad starts to softly count to himself, "8 seconds, that means the storm is 8 miles away." He says and everyone looks at him confused.

"I'm not following you." Alex says standing and walking over to him.

"If we time it right I can sneak out and steal their speed boat and try to go and get help." Conrad says and Alex nods, processing what he was saying.

"Won't they hear you hitting the window?" Julia asks and Conrad shakes his head.

"Not if we time it with the sound of the thunder." He informs her and everyone agrees, "Ok on my count."

On six both Alex and Conrad hit the window and it pops open allowing Conrad to slip through right before the men come back in.

Conrad breaths in deep and holds his breath as he hears the commotion going on in the room when one of the guys sees him. He grabs the knife next to his foot and he takes off along the side of the boat before jumping back onto the deck completely forgetting the escape mission and he holds the man that tied him and Cheyenne up at knife point.

The guys in the room with the rest of the group stop when they all hear a thump on the main deck. The big one turns and walks back upstairs.

"Damn it, Conrad." Kaley mutters knowing he didn't get away.

Before too long they are all led upstairs, where Conrad rejoins them.

"What happened to the escape?" Julia asks voice low.

Conrad shrugs and glares at the guys.

"He gave it up to try and get them away from us." Kaley whispers back.

"Put the knife down." The big one says and Conrad shakes his head, his grip on the knife tightened.

"Get the fuck off our boat." Conrad shouts back and the guy shakes his head.

"I won't ask again." He says pointing a gun at Kaley and Conrad freezes and a look of fear flashed in his eyes but he doesn't let up.

"No." Conrad says calmly and the big guy shakes his head again.

"I must have threatened the wrong one then, how about now." He says pointing the gun at Cheyenne.

With all backs turned to her, Kaley slowly reaches up to grab her knife.

"Bitch-boy you want my knife where?" She growls and she jumps, and cuts the big ones forehead/cheek.

He grabs her and throws her down repositioning the gun on Cheyenne even as the blood from his new wounds runs fast down his face. Kaley lays on the ground virtually unconscious from the impact blood slowly trickles from her forehead and arm.

"One more time, put the knife down or say goodbye to your girlfriend." The man snarls as he cocks the pistol and places it directly against her temple.

"No, stop please don't." Conrad says shoving the guy he had away and he throws the knife on the ground as they throw him on the ground with the rest of the group.

Kaley comes to, as they drag her back to the group, groggy and unfocused,she slumps gently against Cheyenne where they drop her.

"Sorry, I'm getting you bloody." Kaley mutters softly as she tries to gain more focus.

"It's fine look at me." Cheyenne says holding up her bloodied and scraped up hands.

"I'm sorry I caved, I just couldn't let them shoot you." Conrad whispers and Cheyenne gave him a weak smile, "And I'm sorry I kinda got you knocked out Kaley."

"It's ok." Cheyenne whispers back reaching up and she places her hand over his and he turns his and holds her's.

"All of you shut the fuck up." The guy Conrad had at knife point shouts as the boat hits a rather hard wave and it rocks everyone forward harshly.

"Why are they taking the boat?" Alex whispers and everyone shrugs.

"They say that sign you guys brought back talking about the Manchurian Gold." Fliss hisses glaring at Alex.

"You know what doesn't seem right? How they had you up there nearly this whole time and there is not a scratch on you. I think Fliss is working with them." Alex accuses and everyone looks shocked.

"With them? Are you that stupid, why would I be working with them? Fuck you Alex." Fliss snaps back shaking her head in disgust.

Kaley hums trying to sit up as her head spins.

"Conrad it's fine, not your fault, you know my training...Alex seriously no starting….shit when we have idiots trying to kidnap us." She murmured softly as she tried to look around a bit, but the waves shaking the boat didn't help her with her dizzy head.

Conrad watched her as she swayed trying to focus. Julia looked around as well.

"Manchurian Gold? What the hell is that??" Julia demands in a low whisper.

Fliss just shrugs a bit.

The group falls silent after a few minutes, Julia clings onto Alex, Cheyenne clings onto Conrad as she shakes slightly, Kaley trying not to fall unconscious again and Fliss just stays off to herself.

After about 30 minutes the boat is rocked hard as it hits something else about 4 times before it comes to a stop, "Alright all of you up, now." The guy says and he leads them to the deck as another takes the distributor cap.

Kaley sways violently as she's shoved up onto the ledge to jump into the other boat.

"Hey man! She can't make the jump!" Conrad and Alex both shout, the girls having already jumped but were watching from the door.

Kaley stuck her hands out in front of herself.

"I got it, don't worry." She mutters as she sways again.

She bends her knees and everyone holds their breath, Kaley jumps and just misses the ladder falling into the cold rolling waves below.

"KALEY!" Julia and Conrad scream out, as they rush to try and get down to her.

The guy with the gun points it back towards the girls, causing them to freeze.

"On the boat." He says demandingly.

The guys don't fight trying to protect the other girls. What they didn't know is hitting the cold water had woken Kaley up and snapped her out of her daze. She managed to find a small air pocket below the small platform and she took a deep breath before swimming lower under the boat to avoid their captors detection.

"Keep moving." They shout pushing the 5 remaining group members along.

"Take my hand." Conrad whispers to Cheyenne and she takes his hand holding it tightly.

The guys lead them to a room and they lock them inside in the pure darkness, "Hey can you at least give us a light it's dark in here." Fliss shouts banging on the door and it opens and one of the guys hands her a flashlight.

"We need to find a way out of here." Julia says as she lights an old lamp and she starts to look around the room for something.

"Hey, are you ok?" Conrad asks Cheyenne as she sits in a corner shaking slightly.

"Scared and cold is all." She says looking up at him and he nods sitting down next to her and he pulls her in close and she lays her head on his chest.

"We'll get out of here alive, it'll be ok. When we do, what do you say we spend a little alone time together just the two of us." He whispers, placing a kiss to the top of her head and she nods.

"I'd like that." She whispers back as she feels the shaking starting to die down, "Thank you."

"Hey I found a vent, help me get this open, someone." Alex shouts from the opposite side of the room.

"Someone needs to distract the guards as we get this open." Julia whispers and Fliss nods walking over to the door and she starts to pound on it and shout random things as the other 4 work on getting the vent open.

"It's open come on let's go." Alex whispers and they all sneak out.

Meanwhile back on the Milan, Brad finally walks slowly upstairs to see if the coast is clear. He hears a slight splashing and a slap sound. Before Kaley pulls herself up.

"Brad?" She says as she tries to pull herself all the way on, still weak from before.

"Kaley!" Brad says rushing over to help her.

Kaley lands on the deck and coughs a bit trying to get air back into her body.

"Where is everyone? What happened?" Brad asked as he looked at the navigation system.

Kaley pointed towards the large boat, as she scooped up her knife, and grabbed the first aid kit.

"We got boat jacked and kidnapped, they pointed the gun at me, and then at Cheyenne and I jumped and tried to stab the main guy. He threw me into the control panel which is how I got these, and the rest are on the ship." She said as she cleaned and bandaged her arm.

Brad reached over and took some of the cleaning solution and wiped the wound on her head, before bandaging it.

"Now what?" He asked softly sitting next to her.

She sighed and leaned against him, before looking at the big ship.

"We gotta go after them. The kidnappers don't know about you and they think I'm dead, everyone thinks I'm dead. But if we can get on there and catch up with everyone else, we can work through and maybe get the part they stole." She said quietly.

Brad nodded and after a few moments where he sat and held Kaley softly he stood up and walked over to the side by the ship. He went to step up before stepping back and bouncing a bit.

"Shit! Fuck fuck fuck fuck shit! Come on B you can do this!" He said psyching himself up.

Kaley stood and walked over to him and looked at the ladder they'd have to catch. Brad looked over at her with a small smile.

"Hey, if we survive this, you wanna get food or something?" He asked her.

Kaley paused, not thinking this was the best time, but knowing Brad was too adorable to say no too, nodded.

"Yeah, I'd like that a lot." She said happily. 

Brad whooped in joy before running and jumping onto the ladder and scurrying up to the door. Kaley sighed softly before running and leaping barely catching the ladder this time. She climbed up and Brad pulled her in.

"Now what?" Kaley asked looking at Brad.

Brad looked around, before shrugging.

"Keep walking? Try to find them?" He asked her.

Kaley nodded and feeling adventurous, grabbed his hand.

"Alright, let's go." She said and together they walked down the corridors.

"Alright there's the distributor cap." Fliss says pointing to the deck below them, "I'll go down and get it."

"Be careful." Cheyenne whispers and Fliss nods dropping down to the bottom deck.

Things go south and Fliss gets captured and the other four get split up.

"Where did Alex and Julia go?" Cheyenne asks and Conrad looks behind them.

"I don't know, hopefully they find a way out. Now stay close ok." He says, pulling her closer to him and they continue to walk down the corridors.

"Conrad!" Cheyenne shouts as the floor gives way underneath her and she falls just barely catching herself on a beam.

"Shit, no no no." Conrad yells trying to find a way down to her but to no avail.

"Keep going I'll find my backup to you ok." She shouts back up to him and he nods reluctantly to himself.

"Just be careful ok." He responds.

"You too!" She shouts before she heads off trying to find a way back up.

As she's walking the winding corridors she starts to hear odd noises and see things from the corner of her eyes. She rounds a corner and comes face to face with a clown and she shrieks taking off in the opposite direction.

Kaley and Brad keep walking the corridors, trying to avoid the kidnappers and find their friends. Suddenly they hear a shriek.

"That was Cheyenne!" Brad says and Kaley nods. They pick up the pace and run towards where they heard the shout.

Kaley jolts to a sudden stop, her breathing picking up and her shaking all over the place, Brad looks at her concerned.

"Kaley? Are you ok?" He asks her softly.

She shakes her head and points, but when Brad looks he doesn't see anything.

"There's nothing there Kaley." Brad says gently.

"S-s-spiders." Kaley whispers before backing up and turning racing away from the scene, Brad trying to keep up behind her.

"KAY STOP!" Brad yells as he trips and she races towards an open ledge.

Kaley skids to a stop and shakes her head a bit, taking a deep breath and looking at Brad.

"Brad? What happened?" She asked, still looking pale.

Brad wraps his arms around her and holds her close, pressing a soft reassuring kiss to the top of her head.

"You got spooked, said you saw spiders." He said softly.

Kaley shook, and buried her head in his chest.

"Brad I can't do spiders. There was this thing in summer camp back when I was like 7 and long story short I got trapped in a building that was basically a huge spiders nest." She whispered shakily.

He nodded and held her.

"Don't worry, I won't let the arachnids get you." he said softly.

Kaley giggled softly at that and nodded. The two started to move forwards after that, trying to find their friends again.

"Come on Conrad get it together." He says to himself as he walks the corridors after having a few unexplained experiences since he parted ways with Cheyenne.

He's found his way into a room when a door slams and he turns, coming face to face with what looks like a hag. When he sees this he takes off running but the hag is in hot pursuit and after a few near death experiences he gets outside and looks behind him and sees the hag still chasing him.

After Cheyenne's run in with the clown she somehow found a door leading outside and she takes a deep breath and she feels a weight lift off of her. She looks around and she spots a set of stairs leading up to the next floor and she smiles going up them and finally stepping back inside.

She walks around for a few minutes before she spots Conrad walking, "Conrad!" She shouts trying to get his attention. He turns to her but he takes off running when he looks at her.

"Come on Conrad get it together." She hears him say to himself as she chases him to a room when she hits a loose pole and it slams a door behind her.

He turns again and sees her and yet again he takes off running again and she runs after him calling out his name. They both go through a series of near death experiences before she follows him out onto a ledge, "Please Conrad it's me stop!" She pleads and he turns back to her and a look of panic flashed in his eyes as he looks for a way to escape.

"Connie please!" She shouts and he blinks looking at her again and a look of confusion comes over him.

"Cheyenne? Is that really you?" He questions and she nods her head, tears filling her eyes.

"Yes it's me Connie, now please come here." She says reaching her hand out and he takes it.

She walks him back off the ledge and he just looks down at her, "It's really you." He repeats more for himself than anything.

"God you really scared me." She whispers, hugging him tightly.

"To be fair you scared me too, but you called me Connie." He says and she looks up at him and he smiles.

"Shut up idiot." She smiles and brings him down for a kiss to which he happily returns, "Don't ever do something like that again ok." She whispers and he nods hugging her again.

"Brad, there's a door." Kaley says pointing after what feels like hours of walking.

"Yeah, let's see where that goes." He says quietly.

They walk to the door and shove it open taking a deep breath of the fresh air the small deck they had found offers. They walk to the railing and lean against it for the support. 

"We should keep going." Kaley says standing up.

Brad turns and looks at her, noticing now that they have light, that she has blood running down her cheek again, and she looks pale.

"Hey, are you feeling ok?" He asked, softly wrapping her in his arms.

She sways a bit but nods.

"Yeah I'm fine, why?" Kaley asks looking up at him.

He doesn't respond but reaches up and swipes her cheek a bit, before showing her his thumb.

"Your bleeding again." He says gently.

She sways again, and nods.

"Yeah, I have been for a bit." She tells him quietly.

"What?" Brad asks looking at her.

Kaley nods.

"Yeah, since the whole s-spider vision thing." She says softly.

Brad sighs and leads her over to a pallet in the corner, and pulls her down to lean against his chest. Kaley softly sighs and snuggles against him a bit more.

"Why don't we wait here, I'm sure they'll find us soon." Brad said softly.

Kaley nodded and let her eyes slide closed, resting softly but not really sleeping. Brad rubbing her back and shoulders as they waited.

"Hey is that Brad and Kaley?" Cheyenne asks when they reach the deck.

"It looks like it, HEY!" Conrad calls out as they get closer.

Brad leans forward jostling Kaley awake, before helping her stand.

"Hey!" Brad calls waving.

Kaley waves dazedly as she leans on Brad.

"Hey guys." She says quietly.

"Thank God you guys are ok." Conrad breathes a sigh of relief as he and Cheyenne sit down next to them.

"Hey guys." Cheyenne says softly, laying her head on Conrad's shoulder.

"If you want to sleep you can." Conrad whispers moving slightly so she can lay her head in his lap.

"Thanks Connie." Cheyenne whispers laying down and she relaxes slightly when she feels him rubbing her shoulder softly.

Thankfully about an hour later they hear the door open and they see Alex, Julia, and Fliss walk out holding the distributor cap, "Come on, let's get off of this shit hole." Fliss says climbing down the ladder and she jumps onto the Duke and the others follow.

"What exactly happened to you guys in there?" Cheyenne asks the others.

"After we got split up from you two Alex and I got split up briefly but once I found him there were so many things that had Alex's face…That's one memory I do not want to relive ever." Julia says as a shiver runs down her spine.

"Nothing much, escaped those pirate assholes then met back up with Alex and Julia before finding you guys." Fliss chips in.

"I'm not sure about you guys but this calls for a frosty." Conrad says coming back with a drink in hand and everyone groans.

"What happened with you guys?" Julia asks leaning against Alex.

"Well we got split up after we lost you two but then found each other again after whatever that gas was made Cheyenne here, something entirely different than she is but she was able to snap me out of it….." Conrad says, still trying to understand what exactly happened.

"Before you get too comfortable I'm gonna need to clean your ear." Cheyenne says turning his head so she can look at it now in better lighting.

Kaley sat up as Brad grabbed some of the antiseptic, and looked around.

"After I fell in the water it woke me up a bit. I managed to find a pocket of air, and stayed under water until the coast was clear. Brad helped get me on the...ye-ouch! Careful...he helped get me on the boat and then we talked for a few minutes before getting on the boat." Kaley explained her part.

Brad smiled apologetically, before continuing to dress her wounds.

"I had heard something during the night, and it woke me up. So I climbed out of bed to see what was going on, but when I saw the other boat, I just freaked out and hid. After everything settled down I snuck upstairs to see if anyone was up there. And I saw Kaley trying to get on the boat and rushed to help her. After helping her we got up into the boat and wandered around trying to find you guys. Kaley freaked at one point and ran off but I kept with her." Brad explained as he finished up and Kaley snuggled into his chest.

"He broke me out of whatever gas induced nightmare that was. And after that we kept walking around the boat to find you all. After a few hours we found the deck and intended to keep going and find you." Kaley said, explaining more.

Brad wrapped his arms around her and nodded.

"But I noticed Kaley was bleeding so I decided it would be best to sit on the deck and wait for you all." Brad finished.

"I'm just happy everyone is ok." Julia says breathing a sigh of relief.

"Me too, as much as you guys can be idiots I can at least trust you." Fliss says smiling for the first time since the group had met her.

"Alright Connie come on gotta go get you bandaged up." Cheyenne says holding her hand out for him and he stands following her back.

Cheyenne finds the first Aid kit Brad must have found and she places it on the counter, "Can you sit in the chair please I kinda need to reach your ear to clean it." She says looking up at him and he smiles taking a seat.

She cleans the wound and he hisses slightly wincing at the burn but the small amount of pain is gone as fast as it came and she places the bandage over the wound and cleans up her mess, "Am I done doctor?" He teases and she nods.

"Yes you are free to go." She smiles returning to him.

Kaley rests against Brad the entire way back, the two talking softly to each other. 

*A year and a half later*

Kaley walked towards the dock before turning and smiling gently at Brad. She put her hands on her hips and smiled a bit brighter.

"Bradley come on! We're going to be late" she says and Brad shakes his head before running up to her and wrapping her in his arms.

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her check, before releasing all but her hand

"That fast enough?" He asked jokingly.

She smiled and nodded with a laugh.

"Yeah, perfect. Look! The Duke!" She said turning away from him a bit.

Brad looked up and they both froze slightly as the memories hit them in a rush. Brad gave Kaley a small smile and a hand squeeze.

"Come on, the others are going to be wondering where we are." He said softly.

She shook herself and nodded.

"Yeah you're right let's go." She said softly.

Before long they reached the boat and climbed on, not seeing anyone they settled onto one of the benches.

"We can't be the first ones." Brad says softly.

Kaley nods but shrugs shortly after.

"They could be below deck, who knows for sure. Just relax for a few." Kaley said looking up at him.

"Come on Connie I think I hear Kaley and Brad." Cheyenne says sitting up in bed and she stretches climbing over him and then down the ladder.

"I think all we are waiting on now is Fliss." He says climbing down too and they walk above deck.

"Yeah Alex and Julia were first here." Cheyenne says squinting as the sunlight hits her eyes.

"Hey guys!" Conrad calls to the two on deck.

"Hey look here comes Fliss." Cheyenne says pointing as Fliss steps onto the Duke.

"I see some things never change." She teases starting up the boat.

"Alright we are all here." Conrad smiles relaxing on one of the benches.

Kaley and Brad offered Cheyenne and Conrad smiles.

"Hey guys, hey Fliss. I'm guessing Julia and Alex are downstairs then?" Kaley asked them.

Brad pressed a kiss to her head before wandering off down the stairs.

"Yeah they were here when we got here, Alex said Julia wanted to rest because you know the baby." Conrad sighs opening his arms up for Cheyenne to cuddle in next to him.

"How far along is she again?" Fliss asks from over her shoulder.

Cheyenne cuddles up to Conrad and she sighs, "6 months I think." She says looking up at him and he nods playing with the ring on her finger.

"Yeah that's what they said at least." Conrad responds as she lays her head back down on his chest.

"So when are you guys getting married?" Fliss asks, finally turning to them.

"Next month." They both say happily and Fliss smiles at her friends.

Kaley watches the three talk, smiles softly. Happy that her friends were happy. She leaned back and watched everyone, smiling the whole time.

"So, how's it feel to be this close?" Kaley asked the happy pair.

Cheyenne looked up at Conrad before looking at Kaley.

"It honestly is the best feeling in the world, I love him so damn much." Cheyenne smiled at Kaley as she brought Conrad's hand up and she kissed it.

"Best thing to happen to me, I love you too." Conrad says softly and he kisses the top of Cheyenne's head.

Kaley smiled sweetly at the sight as they started to hear voices coming back up stairs. Brad and Alex both emerged from the doorway leading to the lower deck.

"Hey, so that's where you disappeared too? Hey Alex." Kaley said, turning slightly.

Brad smiled a bit and walked back over to them.

"I actually went down to put our bags in our room, and I ran into Alex on the way back up." Brad said as he sat back beside her.

Alex waved and gave everyone a smile.

"Hey everyone." He said sitting down with a small yawn.

"How's Julia?" Cheyenne questions as she sits up from Conrad.

"Tired but she's perfectly fine." Alex smiles leaning back relaxing.

"I guess the real question now is when are you and Brad going to get hitched." Conrad says sending a knowing look towards Kaley and Brad.

Brad instantly turned beat red and rubbed his neck. Kaley sat up and smiled at him, from where she had leaned against him.

"We will, when we're both ready. Right now we're just enjoying each other. No stress, no rush. We know it's an option and when the time is right, it's on the table, right?" Kaley said with certainty until the end when she turned to Brad for confirmation.

Brad sat up and wrapped his arms around her from the side.

"Of course it is, you'd have to probably kill someone to get rid of me." He said jokingly.

Everyone, even Brad gave an involuntary shudder before laughing at his joke.

"Don't worry, I have no murderous plans." Kaley said, smiling innocently.

Conrad looked at her and shook his head.

"That look says otherwise." He muttered.

Kaley and Brad leaned back and Kaley gave a short laugh.

"No, really the only thing I plan to kill is maybe a fish if we fish, otherwise hamburgers." She said smiling happily.

*Two years later*

"Careful you know how slippery these docs are." Conrad says holding on to Cheyenne's arm softly.

"Connie, I'm pregnant, not fragile." She warns and he nods.

"I agree, I just want you to be careful ok." He says softly, placing a kiss on her temple and she smiles.

"I will, I promise." She says as they reach the Duke and Conrad breathes a small sigh of relief.

"There they are." Julia smiles and she hugs her brother and Cheyenne as her and Alex's son clings to her.

"Hey there buddy." Conrad smiles at him and takes him from Julia.

"Where is everyone else?" Cheyenne asks, smiling slightly at the sight before her.

"Alex had to make a quick run to get more drinks, Fliss is almost here she just texted me and I'm not sure about Brad and Kaley." Julia says sitting back on a bench and Cheyenne follows, "How's your little one?"

"Oh she's perfect, but her and me both are ready for her to come out." Cheyenne laughs and Julia nods knowing all too well how Cheyenne is feeling.

"Come on, let's go back to mama." Conrad coos softly to the little boy in his arms before he walks back over to the girls and he hands him back to Julia.

"Looks like someone loves his Uncle Conrad." Cheyenne teases and Conrad nods with a smile.

Brad parked the car beside the other one.

"Looks like Conrad and Cheyenne are here, I wonder where Alex and Julia are?" He muses lightly.

Kaley laughs softly.

"They do have a son now, maybe it takes longer to get ready with kids? Besides Fliss isn't here either so, all things considered..." She says with a smirk and sent a small smile towards Brad.

"We made pretty good time." She finishes grabbing her bag, the sun glinting softly on the silver band with the purple and blue stones adorning her finger.

Brad nodded smiling and blushing lightly.

"Right, but some of the delay was traffic." He said, grabbing his bag.

Kaley nodded and looked at him holding out her hand.

"Yeah, but traffic wasn't the only reason. Now come on, let's go see what this crazy group has been upto in the last few months since we've seen them." She said smiling happily.

Brad nodded and grabbed her hand. The two of them walked slowly over the small parking lot, crossing the beach before hitting the dock.

"Oh, Julia is here, where's Alex?" Brad muttered softly.

Kaley shruggs before giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

"Maybe he ran to the store?" She suggested.

Brad nodded accepting that answer.

"Hey guys!" Brad called as they stepped down onto the deck of the Duke.

Kaley smiled and waved as best she could with a bag in her hand, and her other one occupied by Brad.

"Hey everyone." She said smiling happily.

"Hey there they are!" Conrad said standing up and he meets them both with a hug.

"Hey guys." Cheyenne and Julia both say from the bench with a small wave.

"All we are waiting for is Alex and Fliss." Conrad sighs moving to go sit back down next to Cheyenne.

"Alex just got parked and Fliss is 5 minutes out so we should be getting out on the water here soon." Julia says checking her phone and everyone nods.

Brad takes Kaleys bag with a small smile.

"I'm going to go take the bags down to our room, you relax a bit." He said kissing her softly, before moving downstairs.

Kaley smiled and nodded moving to sit on the other bench.

"Alright, but you need to relax too." She said laughing a bit.

"So, how are you guys?" She asked looking at the group at large.

"Well to be expected." Cheyenne teases pointing to her baby bump.

"Tired but good." Julia sighs cradling the little boy in her arms.

"We are good, how are you and Brad?" Conrad asked, offering up a seat for Kaley.

Kaley smiles softly at both girls and nods in thanks to Conrad.

"We're good, we've been busy with work and travel. I actually got the opportunity to dive down and see sharks and rays up close. It was fantastic." Kaley said excitement radiating from her.

"And of course I had about three heart attacks when she said she was diving into a school of sharks." Brad said walking back up and settling down on a chair.

Kaley laughed and pressed a kiss to his check.

"Like, you not telling me the battlefields you were digging in were dangerous didn't cause me my own heart attacks, dear." Kaley said with a small eye roll.

Brad laughed a bit and nodded.

"Yeah, that's fair." He said.

 Brad turned to the others and giving a smile started to dive into a tale from their trip.

"So I'm exploring this old battlefield and I get a text, 'hey by the way diving into sharks! See you later' I thought the rest of the crew were going to have to pick me up off the ground." Brad said waving his hands around.

"That's Kaley for you, leaving something probably dangerous to the last second." Julia laughed softly.

Kaley shook her head and smiled gently.

"I was perfectly safe!" She exclaimed.

"Hey looks like the gang's back together!" Cheyenne exclaimed as both Alex and Fliss walked up.

"Is everyone ready?" Fliss asks with a smile and everyone nods.

"How's my little man?" Alex says sitting down next to Julia.

"He is perfect." Julia smiles at Alex and he nods happily.

*Three years later*

Brad pulled in and parked the car, before shutting it off and running around to get the door for Kaley.

"Brad relax, I'm not going to break." She laughs as she takes his hand to stand up.

Brad nodded and makes sure she was standing ok, reached and grabbed the bags before taking her hand.

"I know, I just want to help." He said smiling and pressing a kiss to her cheek.

Kaley laughed and nodded walking along with him, she let out a small giggle before resting her free hand on her belly, and smiled gently. Brad smiled and reached over rubbing her belly.

"Is little one tossing and turning again?" He asked, smiling.

Kaley laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, but not as much as usual, just a little bit of a floppy." She said smiling.

Brad laughed and rubbed her belly gently.

"You be nice to momma." He said softly and gently.

They continued talking as they walked up the beach, Brad carefully helping Kaley on the deck. She let out a loud laugh.

"Really Brad! I'm fine!" She said giggling.

Brad nodded and helped her down.

"I know you are, but...still." he says as she helps her settle into a bench.

Kaley sighs and settles back, Brad setting the bags by the steps.

"I'm going to run the bags down to our room, you relax for a bit." Brad says smiling.

Kaley leans forward and presses a kiss to his lips. And nodded.

"Alright sounds good, I wonder where everyone else is? Usually they beat us here." Kaley mused, as she settled back.

Brad shrugged as he reached down to grab the bags.

"Maybe it took longer to get ready with the kids?" He suggested as he started down the steps.

"Come on Lily let's go." Conrad said happily, picking up his daughter as the three of them arrived at the docks.

"Connie, I can get some of the bags since you also have Lily." Cheyenne smiles stepping out of the car and he nods handing her 2 bags.

"Looks like Kaley and Brad are here." Conrad said pointing to their car and Cheyenne smiles happily.

"Hey Kaley!" Cheyenne says happily, carefully giving her a hug when they reach the Duke.

"Why don't we run down and find Uncle Brad yeah?" Conrad asks Lily, setting her down and she nods her head happily, blonde curls bouncing.

"How are you?" Cheyenne asked Kaley, turning to her after watching her husband and daughter go below deck.

Kaley laughs and settles back again rubbing her belly.

"I'm as good as can be expected, wore out and I think we're both ready for her to come out. And I feel bad, because Brad has to pick up all the slack that I can't do anymore. But enough about me, how are you doing?" She asks as she refocuses on Cheyenne.

"They always say baby number 2 is easier so like you as can be expected but he's been good and not giving me a hard time, but Connie is always right there acting like I can break at just the smallest of wind gusts but he's super excited to meet our little man." Cheyenne smiled, placing a hand on her belly.

"Hey everyone." Fliss greats stepping onto the deck and the two girls smile and wave at her.

"Hey Fliss!" Cheyenne said happily standing and hugging her friend to which Fliss returned the hug.

"Where is everyone?" She asked looking around.

"Conrad and Lily are below deck with Brad and uh Alex and Julia are almost here." Cheyenne responded when the three from below come up.

"Look Lily it's Aunt Fliss." Conrad whispers to his daughter and the little girl's face lights up and she runs as best as she can over to Fliss.

"Hey pretty girl." Fliss smiles picking the little one up.

"Hi." She says softly hugging Fliss.

With some assistance, Kaley stands and carefully hugs Fliss.

Brad smiling right by Kaley offers a wave before helping her back down. 

"How are you doing Fliss?" He asks looking up from his wife.

"I'm good, it's nice seeing you guys again, like always." Fliss smiles at him as Alex and Julia step onto the boat.

"Aunt Fliss!" Noah shouts and runs over to her hugging her leg.

"Hey little man." She smiles down at him and he giggles.

"Hey guys, how was the drive?" Cheyenne asked and Alex smiled.

"Long but we are here now." Alex said, helping Julia sit down.

"And how are you sis?" Conrad asked, taking a seat next to her.

"Tired but happy to be here with everyone." She smiled at her brother and he nodded.

"Shall we get going?" Fliss asks, setting Lily down and the little girl runs back over to her father.

"Yeah I think we are." Alex sighs, relaxing back a little.

Kaley sighs and looks around with a smile.

"What's up?" Brad whispers to her with a small smile, giving her hand a squeeze.

Kaley smiles at him and rests their joint hands on her belly.

"Just happy, who knew that kind of terrible trip those years ago, would lead to us all having and being one big family?" She said softly as she watched the kids run and play on the deck, while Julia, Alex, Cheyenne and Conrad talk between themselves.

Brad smiled and nodded looking around again.

"Who knew." He agreed.

Cheyenne took a seat next to Conrad and he smiled at her leaning over, placing a kiss on her lips and she smiles relaxed.

"I can't believe all of us are here right now. It feels so good to be surrounded by all this joy when not so long ago it could have been so different." Cheyenne whispered and Conrad nodded, placing a hand on her belly.

"Yeah but we are all here now that's what matters." He whispered, placing a kiss to Cheyenne's temple and she nodded.

"I love you." She said and he smiled wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close.

"I love you too." He said kissing the top of her head and he sighs softly.

And that concludes our little story, our group of friends luckily got out of everything alive and they lived happily.

I hope you like our story, but be sure to come back soon there are many stories to be told and it's all up to you.

[80sfern]

teacher’s pet

okay so. this is my first michael fic and i originally wrote this ab someone else and never finished it so i changed the name to michael and finished it, so if there’s anything that doesn’t really match up thats why. i’m putting a read more bc its lo send me an ask if u want more!!

word count: 4k

warnings: smut. lots of smut.

You don’t have any reason to be here except you’re trying to decide if you want to go to college and sit through classes all the time or try and do as many online classes as you can and avoid talking to shitty professors and getting called on even when you don’t know the answer. You’re sitting next to your best friend in her English lecture with one of your legs lifted resting across the desk, picking at the dry skin on your cuticles while you wait for the professor. They need to be redone, it’s been at least two weeks since you’ve gotten them done, it’s a wonder you didn’t break any yet.

You’re waiting for the professor to begin his lecture but as you look around the room you can’t find the Professor at his desk, only the student teacher standing next to the podium swiping through a pile of papers. He passes a stack to the first person in the row and the papers get passed around the room with each person taking one.

You’re still waiting for the Professor to arrive when the blond looks up and looks right at you and your friend, “Miss Lett, would you let your friend know I do not condone feet on my desks?” It hits you that the young man with curly hair is Professor Langdon and before your friend can pass along the message, you slide your leg from the desk. Your expensive boot clacks on the ground and the chain on the ankle jingles at the movement. The rest of class goes off without a hitch, he reads a poem off the paper he handed out and asks the room to analyze what the poem possibly means and annotate it and state various characteristics of it. He calls on students afterwards to ask their input on what they think the poem is talking about and then mentions an online assignment to write their own poem that would fit in the same genre of poetry.

By this point you’ve decided you quite enjoy the class, despite not having had an English class for the past two years you correctly guess what the speaker is talking about and you know the era that it comes from. The class is silent, everyone working on the new assignment the last few minutes before they’re dismissed when your phone goes off. Your cheeks flush as you hurry to shut it off as the other students glare at you for interrupting the peace. It’s silent again for a moment until Professor Langdon breaks it again, “Whoever’s phone just went off, see me after class you should know by now that I do not tolerate phones interrupting my class.”  

When he dismisses the class, your friend starts walking towards him and you grab her arm. “Paris, let me talk to him, it isn’t your fault.” She shakes her head but when you insist on talking to her professor she agrees to wait outside. You knock on the door of his office and before he can question you, you apologize. “Sorry for the trouble I caused you Mr. Langdon. It was my phone that went off, I really didn’t mean for it to, this is usually the time I wake up, so I had an alarm set and hadn’t turned it off.”

Mr. Langdon laughs lightly, it quickly dies out when he realizes you’re serious, “Your alarm? It’s almost two in the afternoon...Just make sure if you come back it doesn’t happen again; you aren’t a student here so I can’t punish you and give you an essay to write.” You nod and leave before it gets awkward, your fingers wiggling a wave as you pass through the door and return to your friend in the hallway.

++

A few nights later, you go to a bar off campus with your friend, hoping to get drunk but avoid annoying frat boys at the bars closer to the college. Your friend finds someone to hook up with in an hour and leaves you after you promise her that you’re safe and you’ll keep her updated through texts and if you really need her you’ll call her. It helps that you’ve met a cute boy with curly brown hair and a nice smile, who offered to buy you drinks but didn’t push for you to accept.

You keep talking to him until you feel a tap on your shoulder, and you turn around, your eyes widening as they come into contact with Paris’s professor. “I thought that was you, wasn’t sure with the lighting though.” You can’t help but check him out, his appearance now is so different from days before. Now he’s in a faded Coca-Cola shirt and a leather jacket, ripped blue denim on his legs, hair curly and flopping on his forehead rather than styled liked it was previously. “I didn’t get your name,” he adds and sits in the bar stool next to you.

Your cheeks flush as he flags down the bartender and orders you both another drink, “Her, Mr. Langdon.” You turn back towards the guy from earlier to apologize but he’s gone, you hadn’t even realized he left.

Michael sips his drink, “Call me Michael, what can I call you?” You bite your lip and hesitate before you tell him your name, holding out your hand for him to shake. Somehow, you end up flirting with him, leaning on your arm and you can’t stop staring at his lips and his Adam’s apple bobbing when he drinks and then licks his lips before he keeps talking. He has all your attention and he isn’t even doing anything particularly amazing, but his biceps look good wrapped in faded red after he took off his leather jacket and he keeps running his fingers through his hair and god everything he does is attractive.

You don’t remember moving but at some point a new group comes in and complains that there aren’t enough seats together at the bar and you offer yours and Michael in exchange for a booth and a minute later you’re sitting next to him in the vinyl seats and you’re so much closer now, your thigh is brushing his and you can feel his breath on your when he leans into you and laughs at something you said. The bar goes quiet for a minute, the band playing settles down between songs and you can’t stop staring at Michael, he’s talking but the alcohol is clouding your mind and you’re lost in the way his lips are moving and he keeps licking them and occasionally  biting.

Michael catches you staring and goes quiet, he knows you aren’t listening anymore so he slowly brings one hand to cup the back of your neck and he leans in until his lips are brushing yours and you can taste the alcohol on his breath and he leaves it for you to finish. It only takes a moment for you to get the hint, your right hand moving to rest on the back of his head as you push forward and kiss him, a moan falling from your lips at the contact. When he pulls away you chase after, your free hand pressing into his thigh to stop him from moving away, so he settles for resting his forehead against yours. “Fuck...I shouldn’t be doing this,” He mutters as you brush your lips against his, your fingers petting the back of his head.

You shrug and rub your nose against his, “I’m not one of your students, Mr. Langdon.” You kiss him again and he groans, one of his hands shifting to hold your waist as your lean further into him.

He pulls away as you’re thinking about crawling into his lap, wondering what sound he would make if you did it. “I hope this doesn’t sound bad, but I live like a block away.” You don’t want to seem desperate, but you think you might as you nod and press another kiss to his lips while pulling him out of the booth. He reminds you of his tab that needs to be paid and while the bartender takes care of his tab and yours after Michael insists, you both sip on cups of water courtesy of the bartender.

You clutch his arm as he leads you out of the bar, you shoot Paris a text that you’re safe and going home with someone and you’ll see her in the morning and ignore the pang of guilt as you let Michael lead you to his apartment. His hand finds yours as he leads you around the block, keeping you steady as you complain about the heels. His hands find your waist in the elevator and he pushes you against the wall so he can kiss you again, his lips rough against yours and you melt into the kiss, your fingers tangling in his hair to pull him closer.

A whine leaves your lips when the shaft halts and he pull away to guide you to his door. You wedge yourself between him and the door as he works with his keys to undo the two locks, your lips finding his neck and distracting him from the task. The door falls open without warning and you stumble back, the door no longer supporting your weight and he catches you with his hands on your waist, holding you against him and laughing.

You kick your heels off as you step into his apartment, his door shutting behind you and he lifts you up, wrapping your legs around his waist so he can easily sandwich you between his body and the wall. Michael grinds his hips against yours and your moan into his mouth, your hands working to push his leather jacket from his shoulders. He breaks the kiss to take off your shirt and you switch to kissing his neck before he can reattach your lips. Your legs tighten around his waist as he pulls away from the wall and carries you into his bedroom, leaning forward when he reaches his bed until your back is pressing into the plush surface.

You crawl up the bed until you hit the pillows and he follow after kicking his shoes off and pulling his shirt off over his head. You take a moment to admire him, absentmindedly biting your lip as he crawls up your body with that fucking smirk on his lips. Michael starts undoing your pants before you even ask, pulling them down your legs and pushing them off the edge of the bed as quickly as he can. He kisses his way back up your body, his hands guiding his mouth until they reach your hips and slide up your back to the band of your bra. He fingers the clasp for a moment before looking up at you, “Can I-“ You nod and mumble a please, or try to the best you can but it comes out a strangled plea that causes Michael to giggle as he undoes the clasp and finally pulls your bra away from your body. His lips find yours again for a short kiss before he’s kissing back down your body. His right hand twists your nipple slowly between his fingers while his mouth sucks on the left, biting and tugging the bud until he decides he should give the right the same treatment. You wrap your legs around his hips and bring your hands down to his belt buckle, only half your focus on the task as his mouth distracts you but you manage to get it undone and his button and zipper soon follow.

Before you can get his pants pushed down, his hands are grabbing yours and pushing them above your head. “Keep them there,” he demands, biting down on your chest to punctuate the order and you nod and grab the pillow your head is on to anchor them. Michael’s lips trail down your body until he reaches your panties and he moves to kiss your right thigh, sucking and biting at the skin all the way down your knee then repeating the process on your left. You can feel the wetness on your thighs, and you wonder if he can smell you. He smirks up at you and softly presses a kiss to your center through the panties, it’s a chaste kiss at first and then he does it again, this time an opened mouth kiss and he brushes your clit with his teeth through the fabric. You gasp his name and tighten your grip on the pillow as he loops his arms around your thighs and pulls you closer to his mouth. He teases you until you’re begging, hips grinding into his face as he sucks on your clit through the soft material and he finally gives in to the urge to really taste you.

Michael is in awe of how wet you are as he drags his finger through your folds before pushing it into your mouth. He only leaves it for a moment before he’s retracting his hand to use so he can slide your panties to the side. He licks a stripe through your folds, wiggling his tongue against your clit and then he sucks the bud into his mouth, rolling his tongue against it. He can’t get enough of the moans falling from your lips and he’s wondering how long you can last with your hands above your head and he hopes it isn’t too much longer because he really wants to feel you pulling his hair while he makes you come on his tongue.

You last until he curls two fingers inside of you and nibbles on your clit, your resolve crumbles and without thinking your hands are reaching down to pull his hair. He moans at the first tug, encouraged by the sounds you’re making and the way your thighs keep twitching by his head and clenching around his fingers and knows you’re close. He sucks harder on your clit, dipping his tongue down between his fingers before he flicks it over your clit again, moaning when you pull his hair and press him closer to you. You can’t help but grind your hips down onto his face as the knot in your stomach tightens, fingers curling and back arching as you chant his name. You rock your hips up and you feel his hand leave your thigh and a moment later it’s slapping down on your ass, the sensation pushing you over the edge as he massages the skin.

He teases your clit with his tongue and lets you rock your hips against the muscle as the pleasure takes over your body until you slump back against the bed and push him away. He laughs and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before he pushes himself back over you, softly kissing your neck and shoulders as you catch your breath beneath him. You giggle as his lips finally reach yours, your fingers trailing up his arms until they wrap around his neck and you pull him closer to deepen the kiss. You keep one arm draped over his shoulders and drag the other down his chest until you reach the waistband of his jeans, hooking your fingers into them and pushing them down his thighs the best you can.

Michael laughs at your struggle when you only get them down a few inches and pulls away from the kiss to take them off. Before he can settle back on top of you, you push him over, so he lays on his back, crawling over him to straddle his thighs. “My turn, Michael.” You lean down to kiss his neck, sucking light marks that’ll fade over the weekend before he has another class. You flick your tongue over his nipple and bite down, a shocked moan escaping his lips. The teasing continues until you reach the band of his boxers, snapping the band against his skin before pulling them down his thighs. You can’t hold back the moan when you finally see his cock, his thighs twitching when the cool air swarms his cock and he looks so pretty. You slowly rub your hands along his thighs, “Is it weird if I say your dick is pretty?” You giggle and he laughs, nose scrunching as you kiss his hip and before he can respond his breath is leaving his chest when you wrap your fingers around the base of his cock and your tongue flicks over the tip. A groan is punched out of his chest when you wrap your mouth around the tip and start jerking off the rest of him.

It’s his turn to wrap his fingers in your hair and he watches you begin to bob your head on his cock, his lower lip tucked between his teeth as you hollow your cheeks around him. You’re only sucking him off for a minute before he’s pulling your mouth off him, “Wanna fuck you,” he explains and pulls you back up his body before wrapping his arms around you and flipping you underneath him. You breathe in a gasp and watch as he pulls your panties down your legs, throwing them down onto the ground and he rolls the condom on.

Michael teasingly rubs the head of his cock along your folds a few times, tapping your clit and sending little jolts of pleasure through you. Just when you’re ready to beg him to fuck you, he pushes in slowly until he bottoms out, you whimper at the stretch and involuntarily clench around him. You’re seeing stars and he hasn’t even done anything, but you can feel him deep in you and you’re pretty sure if you tilted your hips just right you could see a soft bulge just above your mound. You shift your hips up to let him know he can move but he grips your hip in one hand and pushes you back onto the bed. A smirk blooms on his face, “Come on pet, tell me how bad you want my cock.”

You whine and pull him closer, trying to grind your hips down on him for some kind of friction but his grip on your hips is tight. “So bad Michael, just move already. Please, please, please move already baby.” You beg and he pulls his hips back, cock dragging against your walls and you moan at the feeling.

And then he pulls all the way out and rubs the head of his cock through your folds, “You can do better than that pet, let me hear you.”

You tighten your fingers in his hair and huff, “Come on, you couldn’t punish me earlier so do it now, wreck me Mr. Langdon.” The moment the words leave your lips, his hips snap into yours and he finally sinks into you again. He builds up a rough pace and neither of you can hold back the moans spilling from your lips, so he presses his lips to yours to muffle them, swallowing your moans in the kiss. Your hands move from his hair to his biceps on either side of your body, nails digging into the skin for a moment before they move to his back and scratch along the skin. Michael loves it, he can feel the red marks blooming on his skin and moans into your mouth before pulling away and pressing his lips to your neck.

He grabs one of the pillows next to your head and slows his movement enough to use one hand to push your hips up enough that you get the hint and raise your hips so he can push the plush pillow under your ass. The new position forces the breath from your lungs, and you can feel him so deep in you, hitting all the right spots. His lips are all over you, moving from your neck to your chest and back to your lips, sucking and biting everywhere they go. He can feel you getting closer, your moans getting louder and your fingers pulling his hair harder. Michael drags his fingers to your center to flick his thumb over your clit, moaning into your skin when you clench around him and arch your back into him.

You wrap your hand around his wrist and pull it towards your neck, placing his fingers around your neck and whining, “Please, Michael.” He presses his fingers into the sides of your neck, and you press yourself further into him, silently begging for more. Your fingers replace his on your clit and you’re so fucking close, you can’t even form words to let him know. You’re blabbering as he fucks himself into you roughly, his hips smacking against yours, cock dragging against all your best spots and the head rubbing your g-spot with every thrust. Within moments you’re coming around him, his hand leaves your throat as your orgasm hits you and the sudden rush of oxygen makes the pleasure so much more powerful.

Michael slows down as your orgasm washes away, your body still tingling with the aftershocks. You run your fingers through his hair and pull him closer, pressing your lips to his in a slow kiss. You know he’s close as his pace falters and pull away from the kiss to gasp, “Michael, wait. Want you come on me.” He groans into your neck, a low fuck falls from his lips at your words and a moment later he’s pulling out of you, sitting back on his knees and tugging the condom off then dropping it on the ground.

You wrap your hand around his cock before he can, a moan pulled from him as you begin jerking him off with one hand while the other remains tangled in his curls. You like seeing him like this, sitting above you with his eyes closed and lower lip between his teeth as he whimpers from your touch. He rubs his hands along your thighs as you jerk him off, his grip freezing and tightening when you twist your hand around his tip. He’s so close, his abdomen and thighs twitching as he gets closer. He looks so pretty like this and you’re pretty sure he’ll look so much better when he comes, you can’t fucking wait to see him come. “Come Michael, come on me.”

Michael groans at your words and a moment later when your free hand scratches down his chest, over his left nipple, he comes without warning. His head falls back and his fingers dig into your thighs, his come coating your mound and lower stomach as his hips jerk into you hand. You don’t let go until he pushes your hand away, his own hands shaking from the power of his orgasm and he nearly comes again when you swipe your fingers through the mess on your stomach and bring them to your lips.

He pulls your fingers from your mouth and leans down to press his lips to yours for a slow kiss before he gets off the bed, reaching down to pick up the condom before he goes to what you assume is the bathroom. Moments later he comes out with a washcloth, wiping it over your stomach before moving it between your thighs and cleaning you up. You can’t do anything but watch as he leaves the room and comes back minutes later with two bottles of water, just as you were almost ready to leave.

You had been sure his absence was a silent plea for you to leave without him asking but after he put the bottle on the nightstand next to you and pulled back the blankets after shutting off the lights, the only light in the room coming from the window. A moment later, you join him under the comforter and tug the blankets closer to you. “You should know, I’m a total blanket hog, I get cold easily.” You’re joking a little, but mostly serious as you cuddle into the blankets.

He laughs before reaching out and pulling you closer, “Good thing I’m warm then.”