#they also eat sheep alive . like they get on their backs and start just eating them . it’s pretty awesome

[sculked]

she is a kea because keas are the only actively meat (not including bugs) eating parrots . please learn about keas i love them sooooooooooo much :3

[gallusrostromegalus]

Herschel Has Discovered Tool Use. Again.

In january of 2021, deep in the throes of pandemic psychosis, we acquired a Corgi Puppy.

I would like to go on the record that we did not get a Corgi because they're cute. We got a Corgi because they're criminally brilliant and enthusiastic working dogs that were bred to bully cattle, which is the exact temperment a dog living in a house with three ADHD adults should have. Herschel does commit a lot of crime, but he also does his appinted service-dog job of "make everyone wake up, eat meals and go to bed at a reasonable and consistent time" extremely well, as well as his bonus jobs of "Keep the squirrels the hell out of the garden" and "Yell every time the cat does something". I didn't actually ask him to do that last job but it has helped in the "teach the cat to stay the hell off the stove" area.

But even with having a whole pack of humans another dog, and a cat to manage, this pales in comparison to his genetic capacity to manage several hundred sheep or cattle across the fields of Wales, and thus, Herschel has decided on further intellectual pursuits to occupy himself, namely, speedrunning the early phases of human tool use and terraforming.

I realized he has the brains of an entire hunter-gatherer tribe shortly after he got fixed, and within 24 hours and still dpey from anesthesia, he'd figured out that his plastic cone could be used to monopolize the water bowl and his favorite chew toys, and within a week, had learned how to carry three toys at once while leaving his mouth open by tucking the toys behind his enormous ears and under his chin. He also figured out that he could wiggle the cone to rest against his shoulders, and started using it as a shovel by literally running the bottom edge into the ground. But that wasn't making holes effeicently enough, apparently, and I ended up watching him figure out how to rotate the cone around so the two pieces of overlapping plastic were under his chin, then use his chin and the stairs to the deck to pinch both ends into a much more efficient V-Shape that let him gouge huge strips of dirt up in seconds. The anthropologists and animal behaviorists in the audience may recognize this as Tool Creation, a behavior normally only seen in higher primates, crows, and some parrots. Once a hole of suitable length, depth and temperature had been achieved, he very carefully rolled the cone around so the digging side was over his head and the smooth side under his chin, and splooted into his hole to cool his little tummy and stitches off. It was at that point that I realized that I was going to have to teach him how to garden, or he was going to teach himself.

He no longer has the cone (He was beginning to experiment with it as a battering ram), but his morning ritual is now "Wake everyone up at 8AM by screaming, locate everyone in house and jam my nose up theirs to make sure they're alive, go outside and scream at the squirrels. Now that Yard is Secure, go get Fun Parent who has hopefully taken their meds by now, and supervise them while they rifle through the plants (this is apparently KEY to their mental health), eating any pest animals Fun Parent points out, chase squirrel AGAIN, go inside and get Breakfast cookie." and BY GOD if we deviate from it there will be much screaming and destruction. If I am not home, it has been reported that he walks round the garden beds and sniffs the plants in the order I usually check them in before he will agree to come in. He doesn't quite know what the deal with the melons is, just that they need to be checked.

But we're out of the labor-intensive parts of gardening and now into Harvesting Season, and this is a bit boring except when I give him snap peas right off the vine, and he has decided to work on the complex physics problem that is Doorknobs.

And last week, he had a breakthrough.

Sometime in 2020, my mom sort-of taught her horrible crime herding dog Arwen how to open the back door so she could let herself out as she pleased during the day and stop interrupting Mom's Zoom calls. Arwen is a Kelpie, which means she's about 60lbs with full-length legs and horrible monkey paws that are one joint away from being hands, so when Arwen wants to open the back door, she sits up, leans on the door for purchase/to push it, and uses her terrible crime hands to *push* on the knob until it turns. She can pull the knob open by pawing and catching it on her toes, but she's 11-13 years old now and has mild arthritis, so she prefers to catch it on her central pad instead. She taught Charlie, the other equally brilliant but less criminally inclined dog, to do this but he doesn't like to go outside alone, so he rarely does this.

Herschel, ever the observant student, immediately tried copying them, but even though he is actually tall enough to reach the knob, his toes are just too stubby to get a decent grip on the knob, pushing or pulling, and the first few times, gave up and sat down to scream until one of the fullsize dogs or humans came to open the door for him.

Last week, we were up at my parent's again, and I watched him hunt around the living room until he found his slightly-sticky orange rubber ball (It's clean, it's just a kind of rubber that's always a bit tacky), carry it across the house, stand up on his hind legs at the back door, put the rubber ball on top of the gap between the knob and the wall, and then push down on the ball, which caught the doorknob and turned it for him, thus opening the door. He let himself out, had a merry time yelling at the squirrels, came back in, stopped a few feet inside the door, went back out, grabbed his ball, and brought it back into his kennel, a place he can leave toys if he doesn't want the other dogs playing with them.

This means he somehow worked out how doorknobs work, how fucking levers work, and that his orange rubber ball specifically was the one that would work (none of his other toys are the correct size/texture), that he'd need that ball specifically to open the door again, and yesterday he did the same trick with the bedroom door, so he knows that the rubber ball/skeleton key can be used on all doorknobs, not just that one.

I wonder if I can teach him to sweep.

___

If you want to fund Herschel's research into Tool Use and/or get me therapy for the ensuing chaos, please feel free to donate to my Ko-Fi, or get further Dog Content by subscribing to my Patreon.

[dissentersbedamned]

that charlie redesign wanted me to redesign some others so here are some others, i was going to do husk, nifty, and sir pentious but i didnt feel like doing that

are these designs easier to animate? probably not am i claiming to be a better character designer than viziepop? yes

i might do the others but probably not i dont want to be know for this

individual characters and design notes below

i wanted to give her this soft color palette, making her stick out from the rest of hell, like an "angel" in hell

gave her a pink suit like her pilot design

gave her gold accents to give that royalty feel

her hair is now more curly/swirly to giver her a sheep look, along with the ears, kind of like how lucifer is associated with goats charlie has sheep

i also gave her ears to maker her not look like just a human

the darker pink-red color is supposed to contrast with her softer colors but not that much, it's supposed to convey that she is still a demon, the horns were also added to give that feel

bigger cheek makeup (?) and those gold "chains" were added to giver her a circus clown/ring leader look because hell is supposed to be like a circus

gave her tap shoes to convey shes likes music or someshit

darker color to contrast with charlies, a sun and moon thing going on

made her more moth like by making her hair look like moth wings, fuzzy leg warmers, and antennas (are those even antennas do moths even have antennas)

added a silver like color in her design to match with charlies gold

gave back her stocking from her pilot design and made her hand warmers mirror them

wanted to giver her a hot topic employee look

made her more look like she died in 2014 by giving her the red and black stocking + hand warmer, leg warmers, and making her x asymmetrical

her worm out shorts are suppose to give a 2014 feel but also are like that because moths just eat clothes sometimes

gave her the ribbon on her waist to mimic one of her old designs

her red is the same red in charlies pallet, they match +]

made him purple because i think limiting the main colors to each character is nice also because i think purple is a much more lust full color and to look similar to his old design

made him more spider like by adding an extra pair of eyes, fangs, two more legs and a spider butt lol

made him more fluffy and rounder to giver him a more effeminate/gnc look

gave him eyelashes for the same reason above

gave him a scar on the side that he has the golden tooth and different eyes because i think it would be cool is that was from an injury he had when he was alive

the coat was added so that it looks similar to his suit but still different enough so that not everyone is wearing one

the design on his pider butt and coat are suppose to look like a stylized spiders web

the hearts at the end of his heels are suppose to replicate the end of spiders feet

still kept him relatively skinny because i think he would have one of those arcs were a character starts off skinny but gets fatter to show that they're happy with life

still kept his suit because its such an important part to his character tbh and also so he can mirror charlies pink soft light pink suit with his dark dulled down red suit

gave him a tie so he looks more professional compared to charlies cutie bow tie

dulled down his colors so make him see older and stuck in an era

made him looked aged by giving him grey hairs, stubble, and eye bags

made his deer features more obvious by making his antlers bigger, more deer like ears, giving him a nose pike charlie, and giving him hooves

why alastor got socks on in the pool those are his hooves you bitch

actually made him black

still kept him skinny to give off that sickly skinny look

[crying-fantasies]

Walking over clouds

Masterlist

It's still a mystery how the insecticons got their human, or their "queen" as they often referred to the then young human.

Some think you got near their nest in the middle of nowhere because they don't like to interact with humans a lot, they feast on what is around and in case food is scarce they'll migrate to better areas to keep on with their big necessity of organic matter to transform it to energon, so while ones think they dragged you inside by force some think you went with them out of you own volution, because no one wants to think about a little organic being forced down by one of them, maybe some do but most decepticons still have bad memories and recharge when they remember Kickback consuming a very much alive cattle mammal whole after Sharpnel told him so, the cleanup was hell.

At first some were worried about this, no matter who you ask, everyone is going to tell you the truth: the insecticons are awful, even their former decepticon partners will tell you so with more force because they had to interact with them.

There was always someone asking you to say the word, only one, or move or give some kind of signal, blink twice or whatever, to start your rescue, you only smiled while Barrage came to you for some snuggles, poking at your side with delicacy, purring, a bloody digit hanging from his mandibles and presenting it to you, "there is nothing wrong", maybe not for you but the bot or person that tries to "help you" gets the message quick and clear while one of your husbands look at them dead in the optics or eyes.

For years, to everyone's surprise, again, you have been the only partner near them, and somehow you've given them way more less destructive manners to obtain food while being accepted by other humans, avoid authorities involving.

A production has ended and they'll burn down the remaining weeds? Your husbands can eat them for free and also burn the rest to ensure a healthy new harvest.

Are there some kind of plague? Be it animals or diseases in the harvest they can eat it in a day.

They like to see you happy, so they listen to what you have to say, and when a problem raises and you have to say: "Ransack, not the sheep" while you stop any of them in their shit you can already see the culprit almost falling to their knees, if you are near then it's better, since they can't go against your will, and if they're caught red handed, just like Ransack, he would not be allowed into your chamber for the next month if he really consumed the animal because one, the farmer wouldn't let you or them near to their farm again after the transgression, one less food resource and one more headache to you, and two, because it's every bot for himself when it comes to times for cuddles or interface and there is only one you, and if they have to kick away one or two of them so they can use the time of the disgraced one for themselves they'll do it without thinking twice before you forgive the culprit and bring him back to your open, loving and forgiving body.

You're good like that, another welcomed characteristic of a good queen of the hive, a good mother of the hive.

No one knows how it happened, but, one day, their usually awful eating behavior stopped almost to the bare minimum before it got even worse, wiping out any life on the place except for the farms because you said those are important (should've been more specific and said that they couldn't eat what is of others in general), the near cities were also assaulted, mostly supermarkets and drugstores were whipped off of vitamin supplements and food edible for humans (also baby formula), it was Chop Shop (there was no evidence but also no doubts), and then the usual once a year strange chitter sound they made was nowhere to be seen or heard for at least five years, some even believed they finally consumed something that ended up with the whole hive, only to be show with the contrary.

The Insecticons were still pretty much alive, with a new member.

Cloudjolt was born in the first days of summer, to everyone's surprise and for no one's too, being the pride and joy of the whole hive even when he is a mech, at first you believed they would be more thrilled over a femme than a male since, well, that's how other hives and insects act in Earth's nature, but no, it could also be result of Cloudjolt being the very first child born and also so small that he could be mistaken with an underdeveloped baby if not for his obvious cybertronian characteristics and the lack of a formed face or limbs that appeared with time.

And, as expected, totally protected from the outside world for most of his existence.

Did he want to go out? Not before you are 50 years old, and then you go out with someone at your side.

Did he want to befriend something out of the hive? No way, humans are trouble and animals are food, Cloudjolt had some problems with that because his carrier is a human, Bombshell's words got back at him like a boomerang and he moved awkwardly while trying to touch your hip tenderly, visor looking at you and asking for forgiveness.

Maybe Venom was being overprotective and paranoid, as usual, with so much rules (the list got to the 154th one and he was being lenient), but none of them was taking any chances, there was no way they would lose or let anything happen to your sparkling, even if all that protection ended with Cloudjolt seeing his first sunshine light when he finally reached 5 years old and his derma finally hardened.

All of that resulted in the youngling practically shouting "ENOUGH" when one of his sires gave him a piece of fruit, totally frustrated with his situation and getting his things, the ones he could take easily with him at least and decided to go out of the hive alone for the first time, all by asking his carrier for permission and taking advantage of your words to the max, taking advantage of the power your words had over your partners and running away from home the first chance he got, he was just so feed up with everything!

You were worried, of course you were when looking the giant beetle flying away to where you couldn't reach when Buzzclaw got you to the exit of the hideout and got next to the others, all your partners looking at the horizon while their wings dropped at their sides in obvious stress.

"Cloudjolt left us just like that"

"He is awful"

"He is heartless"

"..."

"He has grown to be such a fine mech, mech"

"He is a true decepticon now"

Were you surprised by their words? not really, you're more confused on where they got their napkins to dry their tears, apparently proud ones, since they were acting like that then maybe it was normal for Cloudjolt to finally go see the world for himself in this way.

Still, you totally forgot to talk a little bit more with your baby before he jumped helm first to the outside world.

"Cloudjolt, what did you say just now?"

"What?" Why was everyone looking at him like that? "I just said that I miss the warmth of my carrier's gestation chamber", the young bot crossed his arms above his chest, he was purring, or something like that, trying to mimic your EMF to bring himself some calm and less homesickness.

"You remember that-? No, of what gestation chamber are you talking about?!"

He laughs, drinking his cube as if nothing happened, "What? I came from my carrier just like any of us, isn't that right?"

"..."

"You came from your carrier..." Mariah tries to make him correct her, desperately so, while she moves her servos to form a little body, one of an average human, "your very much human carrier"

"Well, yes, of course, I only have one carrier and I'm pretty sure I came from there, I may not have the complete memory but I do remember after I came out, quite gushy and full of fluids but it's understandable with all the flesh"

"..."

"Bro" of course, only Sabersky said shit and that's what he can say from outside in his own altmode.

"Why are you guys looking at me like you don't know..." He can't even finish his question, quickly catching on what is possibly happening, "wait, where do you guys come from-?"

"Enough!" Astrotrain changes back and gets them out of him, no one wants to be crushed inside when he gets back to root mode, looking as he is having little tremors on his derma by only thinking about it in his own way of expressing physical disgust, "Why can't any of you be normal, for Primus' sake?!"

Ah, maybe Cloudjolt would visit you and demand answers from his sires, but really, what is he expecting? Answers in how he was created? How they nursed your body to top healthiness in order to have you survive the whole ordeal? How Bombshell adapted your body slowly but safe within the years? How Sharpnel got his transfluid first to create him? How all of them gave a little portion of themselves in the transfluid that helped to create his body for the new spark, slowly molding inside your body to create a new life? How his own gestational chamber is way less sterile and more functional than most cybertronians?

The insecticons are awful and everybot knows it, now Cloudjolt understands why other bots look at him like they do.

[yandere-fics]

♡ Selene Fucks Her Scared Sheep Darling In An Alleyway ♡

(Hey so apologies in advance, I swear I do NOT have a piss kink, it just keeps fitting into my Selene ficcs because she's so gross and scary and overwhelming and it just fits, please believe me, I'm normal. Also am I completely horrible and fucked up for enjoying this lmao?)

Werewolves and hybrids were a bad idea, luckily they were very rarely soulmates and werewolves rarely got with anyone who wasn't their soulmate so they didn't approach you romantically, meaning if one approached you, it was to attack and this was a very very big werewolf who had been trying to garner your attention for the last few hours so you assumed she was definitely going to eat you alive.

"So how about we get out of here together, little lamb?" She was leaning against the bar as you tried to come up with any way to convince her to not eat you, the others in the bar could smell your clear fear but no one was stepping into help you, you were so screwed, you were going to die, she could probably smell your fear too, it was all over, you bet your fear was just going to make this meal more enjoyable for her.

"I have to g-g-g-go!" You ran out of there quicker than you'd ever run before, not that if would help you if she decided to give chase but maybe she'd decide she'd prefer an easier meal and you weren't worth the effort to eat, you quickly realized that wasn't the case when you heard a very loud growl and the door to the bar fly off behind you, oh god you were going to die tonight and there wasn't a single thing you could do to stop it. She wrapped her clawed hand around the back of your neck and lifted you up, dragging you to a nearby alleyway and pining you to the wall.

"Don't you know it's not smart to run from wolves, little lamb?" She was beginning to shift, her clothes tearing off which was terrifying enough but then you felt her shred your clothes and you started to bleat nervously, letting out a wail when you felt her tug on your tail with her other hand. "Cute tail, you'll forgive me if I tug on it won't you?"

"D-don't eat me." She was fully shifted at this point and you were very high off the ground, luckily or maybe unluckily no one dared to look down the alleyway towards where you were, you couldn't bring yourself to look back at her coc which you could feel pressing against your hole like it might actually rip you apart, you had to avoid looking at any cost, just don't look-

You looked back gasping in shock and something wet started trickle down your leg and you realized in horror you pissed yourself, well maybe she wouldn't eat you now, maybe it would all be fine, maybe she'd set you down and put that scary thing away but she only readjusted her grip, one hand wrapping around your waist while the other hand forced both your hands against the brickwall before also going to your waist.

"Mate... little lamb..." She growled softly, almost like a purring sound as she began to glide you back and forth on her cock, you were grateful it didn't seem like she was going to penetrate you while you were shifted or at the very least she didn't have the focus in her shifted form to find the hole properly. You were even more embarrassed she didn't seem to care you'd pissed yourself but you could tell the people walking past knew someone had peed there because their steps sped up and they actively crossed the street at this point so they wouldn't walk by. Now you wished she'd eat you, then you wouldn't be here sobbing as she dragged you back and forth on her cock, panting in your ear with her tongue hanging out on your shoulder.

"S-stop..." With your hands pressed firmly against the wall you couldn't even stop yourself from bleating rapidly every time you felt the tip of that monster press up against your hole, holding your breath and praying this time she wouldn't get in in and only breathing again when you started to glide back down normally and it didn't penetrate this time, you were so screwed though, it was highly unlikely she'd be satisfied without knotting with how much her instincts had taken over, especially if what she'd said about you being her mate had been true. "S-tooooppp..."

"Mate... my mate..." She grunted, thick ropes of cum shooting out and landing on the wall, her instincts calming down just enough for her to angle her cock and finally thrust up into you making you bleat quickly to try to get someone to come help you even though it also felt really good. "One more... One more time..."

Sheep and werewolves really were a bad mix.

[ladyloveandjustice]

I liveblog the Odyssey (The Liveblogyssey)

'I've been listening to and reading The Odyssey (Emily Wilson's translation) and I've been rambling a lot to my partner, so I thought I would also liveblog my first impressions! I read parts of The Odyssey in high school and college but never the whole thing start to finish.

Athena spoils half the plot right off, I mean obviously I knew it already, but still. We start near the end of the story with Odysseus trapped on Calypso's island, Telemachus really upset that the suitors are EATING ALL THEIR SHEEP, and the beginning follows Telemachus around as he travels around to try to learn about his dad and if he's alive. Which... we know he is so that takes a little of the tension out of it.

(Seriously, Telemachus is very fixated on the sheep thing. I get that it's a big source of food but maybe you should be a little more concerned about your mom fending off 108 suitors bud).

Athena in disguise goes to meet and accompany him, appearing as an older man, and this translation is very simple and accessible (though there are definitely moments of beautiful prose) but this sometimes leads to really awkward lines like Telemachus telling Athena in disguise "I will give you a precious, pretty treasure as a keepsake to mark our special friendship" which like. are you hitting on him Telemachus you just said you think he's fatherly.

Telemachus is going thru it though. so you can't help but feel bad for him. "My mother says I am his son, but I can't be sure [...} I wish I were the son of someone lucky, who can grow old at home, instead the most unlucky man alive is said to be my father." Like that one of the times you feel the connection going back thousand of years so fiercely, the idea of having no connection to your father because you've never met him and he doesn't even feel like your dad, just a story, and too bad you can't be the son of someone who's around.

Meanwhile, a super unintentionally funny lin from young Mac is "The poets are not to blame for how things are, Blame Zeus." which yeah, that sums up most of Greek myth doesn't it! (also very funny of Homer to be like "be nice to poets, they're cool".) He also tells his own Mom to go back to the kitchen so he can assert to the suitors he's in charge and there's a man in this house, but we are reading a story from 8th century BC so.

Anyway he goes around with Athena travelling and learning about his dad, and honestly, the Odyssey is so funny. Love the part where Nestor is like "oh if only Athena favored you as she did her father" and Telemachus is like “Yeah Athena’s not on my side” :/ and she's just. sitting there with him and says”hmm are you sure I think she maybe is probably"

(and then she's like "btw to gods don't control who lives and who dies TELEMACHUS we can't even protect our mortal loved ones (but please ignore all the times we've actively killed people) and also! also! I think your dad should be grateful to go on a cool quest and be alive when he could have just died the second he left Troy, think about THAT!!!)

then she just randomly turns into a bird and leaves after ensuring Telemachus has good sleeping arrangements. Telemachus never reacts to this, everyone else is just like "omg Athena!!" he says nothing I assume he was just standing there in slackjawed shock for the next couple of hours and going over all the embarrassing things he said.

Also we get to see Helen! And I knew from earlier Greek studies that people today acting like she was dumb just because men found her attractive was misogynist nonsense. But now I get to be extra mad because the woman isn't just not dumb, she's really intelligent and observant!

Not only does she immediately figure out who Telemachus is because she saw him when he was a newborn (how??) and relays that during the Trojan war she was the only one able to recognize odysseus when he came to her place in disguise and gave him intel, but most importantly she talks about "the day the Greeks marched off to troy, their minds fixated on war and violence. They made my face the cause that hounded them". Just subtly calling the whole army out. She knows they didn't actually go to war for her. She knows she was just an excuse, and a weak one at that. She knows they wanted this war, they wanted this violence.

So yeah, Helen is smart as hell! Screw that "Everyone wanted Helen of Sparta I wanted someone a little smarter" shit from Epic, sexist nonsense, I'm glad that song was cut.

She also mentions that "Aphrodite made her go crazy" when she agreed to run off, which could be literally true (Aphrodite did tend to do that) or a clever way to protect her reputation after leaving her husband.

Helen also has drugs, which I imagine is a big reason everyone liked her. The total package. But uh, she also does drugs everyone's drinks without apparently telling them. With what sounds like superpowered magic weed or something, to make them mellow and calm and erase anxiety and depression. It says "Whoever drinks this mixture for the bowl will shed no tears that day not even if her mother or father should die" which uh actually seems kind of dangerous! But Telemachus is goin' thru it, so maybe he could use it. but apparently it doesn't work (or takes a long time to kick in} because Telemachus gets upset anyway and says things like "This makes it worse! Courage could not save my father's life!" and wants to go to bed. (PS she got the weed from Egypt, and it's nice that the story is very complementary about Egyptians, calling them the "healer's people").

And then we've finished Telemachus's depression session and get back to Penelope. THE SAGA CONTINUES IN PART 2.

[kirby-the-gorb]

reply roundup!

had to put these on hold for a while for personal reasons </3 they're likely to still be infrequent, but in honor of kirb2k!

(my notes would only load back to mid september so I missed a couple weeks sorry :c but be warned that this is a long one! it's 3 entire months' worth!)

also, reminder that kirb2k ends tomorrow!!! preorders, commissions, and auctions will all close at noon pst on sunday december 17th! everything is linked in the pinned post or filed under the tag kirb2k!

first is one more birthday kirb from my friend @sleepy-sheep-wizard:

Realized halfway thru that I don’t know what Kirby looks like off the top of my head, so I got funky with it. Happy birthday, thank you for being a good friend

thank you again friend <3 getting funky with it is truly in the spirit of just drawing a little guy for fun, I love his little hat in particular.

on [mirror] @shapeshifterwithafez said: uuuh is Scherben bringen Glück/ Shards bring luck a universal saying? sounfs clinky as a direct translation. anyways in germany we say that shards of stuff you broke brings luck so I hope the luck finds you or smth sorry for rambling ^^

I'd never heard this saying before, but I think it's very sweet! thank you for sharing it with me :)

on [pipefight] @hauntedppgpaints said: goalies with a skate blade and their stick in hand

big hockey vibes for real yeah lol

on [pink] @gaydiation-poisoning said: ...I wanna eat that pink

honestly same, it's sooo pleasing

on [rain] @hive-heart said: Everything alright, daily kirby guy?

not really but sitting by the window in the rain is a good thing lol thanks for asking <3

(also the person who tagged that same post myhouse.wad made me laugh)

on [photo] @ceylonsilvergirl [added] a picture of their cat and said: get adored idiot!! see the hate in her eyes? I’ll make her love me yet!!

me @ my partner's cat

@violet-dragongirl said: oh! I have been meaning to ask! Have you played Kirby and The Forgotten Lands? I assume you did but just wanted to say that I did about a week ago and I loved it and thought of your art! ^.^ And if you haven't, yes, Carby is super adorable and amazing :3

I have! I got it very shortly after it came out, I had a really good time with it. I've been slowly replaying it recently with my partner, they were kind of fond of kirby just by proxy but since we started playing they adore bandee now and say he never gets enough screen time XD I'm glad you also had fun!

on [mice] @ceylonsilvergirl said: girls like swarms of things, right?

idk bro my wife wasn't so big on it when I got a gig housing 30 mice, but maybe she's weird. I liked them. (sadly one of the best paying jobs I've ever had up until the owner lost it and abandoned them with me, yes I still took care of them for the rest of their little lives) (and yes I also got my wife's okay before I took them on in the first place)

on [covid] @mordantivore said: reading posts from when the era of covid safety was declared anathema and ended is haunting. we were so desperate to find ppl willing to help us stay alive. there are fewer of us now bc “allies” are worthless & more of us have died

yeah. fuck. I'm lucky that the people in closest proximity to me are at least moderately careful, but me and my wife and partner are usually the only ones wearing masks anywhere we go except sometimes the employees and I know they don't always wear them when they're out without me.

on [swim] @northeasternwind said: Jdjdjfkg imagining Kirby being way more bouyant than your average human so them gotta exhale REAL HARD or attach nega-floaties (sinkies?) like weights to dive

lol yeah they probably gotta try So Hard to actually get under the water. (I think diving weights/ballast is a thing that humans use too? I've never gone diving, having my face underwater stresses me out -n- )

on [float] @nickiemoot said: he has to go now. his planet needs him. *slide whistle*

I can only hear this as that one similar part from one of the asdfmovies, it delights me

@vampiricarus said: if you see this just know i love your art so much

aww thank you! <3

anonymous said: just wanted to say I love Kirby and I love your art! I’m always excited to see it on my dash. thank you for bringing a little joy to my life :) I need it once in a while like I’m sure a lot of others do too! Keep up the good work :))

thank you! drawing a little guy brings me a little joy too, I'm glad it can do the same for others <3

on [drain] @ceylonsilvergirl said: I’m sorry you’re having a rough time. Existing is hard work sometimes. A lot of the time

fuck dude it sure is <3 especially when my body keeps trying to shut down lol

on [mud] @why-are-all-the-fun-urls-taken said: Hey man are u doing ok

I am not, thanks for asking <3

on [tummyache] @hobgirl said: :o kirby the gorb why would you do that!!!!! why!!!!!

I didn't want it to go to waste!!! everyone is dumb sometimes!!!

on [wizard] @eau-the-agony said: not enough appreciation in the wizarding world for garlic salt spell. its all kung pow penis tgis and ketamine ape that. not enough of the small joys which carry us through the horrors like a dinky garbage raft

you are so right. the small joys are the most powerful of all.

on [wizard] @beepbeepdespair said: somehow didnt know garlic salt was a thing until this moment. now i really want some. i think i just found a kg of it online for 12 quid??

I am so pleased that you now have the knowledge of Garlic Salt Spell, I hope you got to try it out for yourself :D

on [zelda] @chaos-squared said: Good job!! I’ve had it for longer yet still haven’t completed it ;w;

nothing wrong with that! I only finished it as quickly and thoroughly as I did because I was basically bedridden for all of october, as long as you enjoy the time you do spend with a game it doesn't really matter how much time you spend or how far you get.

on [brave] @gudetamalover said: me tomorrow afternoon when I get all four wisdom teeth out

I'd already had several other oral surgeries on account of Weird Teeth before I got my wisdom teeth out but it still knocked me on my ass for a couple days, I hope your recovery went as smooth as possible! (altho that was also like. 15 years ago. and general anesthesia has gotten a lot better since then.)

on [shiny] @angst-and-fajitas said: Like to slap his bald head reblog to slap his bald head

bald! bald! bald! bald!

on [powerwash] @chronicdilf said: decemberb 16 im goign to walk across the damn stage get my damn diploma folder im going to go home and POWERWASHER SIMULATOR JUST LIKE KIRBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah!!! you're gonna do it!!! you might be doing it right now even!!!

on [cooked] @hobgirl said: oh mood kirby..... struggling with the very last paper i need to write before i can graduate and its got me feeling this way fr

ough, I hope you made it through your paper! lots of people graduating tho that's so cool, congrats to both of you!

on [bears] @jupiterlandings said: I get so happy every time I see Cake and the name Cake being tagged :)

it's such a good name for a bear, I'm grateful you thought of it!! especially given the best I could do for the other one was "kirbear" lol

@violet-dragongirl said: omg seeing that Fav Grobs Post you recently put up makes me so happy! over a thousand (and then some!) GORBS?! :D I'm not only impressed but so proud ya made it this far and I'm so glad you got possibly more to go of Kirby!! :D!! Really great job 🥰🥰

thank you! I'm gonna hit 2000 days of drawing kirby tomorrow, that's so wild!

on [popular] @timeturner-jay said: Op your Kirby art brings so much utter joy you have no idea <3

yay I'm glad <3 I love to draw a little guy, it's good I'm not the only one having fun lol

I got a lot of "good blaze op" on the [macarena], and you're all correct, thank you for recognizing my great decision making B) (I'd been meaning to add the music and blaze it from basically the moment I drew it, I've just been really sick so it took a while.)

(also even if I don't always gather them in the roundup there are names I recognize showing up repeatedly in the tags, some of whom have been here for years, and I'm always glad to see you're still around!)

[theriu]

River Reads Midnight Sun

Chapter 2: Open Book

In which Edward faces his fears and spends an agonizing amount of time hyperfixating on Bella.

<-Chapter 1

So we jump into chapter two AND next week, as it has been six days since Edward (shockingly) succeeded in leaving town forever (citation needed)! He is chilling (ha) in a snowbank, staring up at the stars, which are truly magnificent. Or he knows they would be, except he can't quite see anything except Bella's face. Yes, the girl has haunted him straight to (checks location on a map) oh he's in ALASKA, okay! I wasn't sure where Denali was, but I was PRETTY sure even Edward couldn't drive a car to Russia. (You'll see why I considered Russia in a minute.)

Anyway, the "unremarkable" face of this girl he's literally never spoken to directly has been haunting him for six days, which is indeed troubling. While he is brooding on this, the thoughts of a new character come leaping towards him. This is where we meet Tanya, a vampire with silver skin, blonde-but-almost-pink curly hair, amber eyes, and full lips. Mary Sue Tanya is stunning and exquisite, at least from Ed's memory, since he still can't see past the face permanently branded on his eyeballs.

So anyway, Mary Sue Tanya does a cannonball into Ed's snowbank, burying him alive with snow but not burying the image of Bella. It becomes clear that she has been crushing on Ed and is sad he will be leaving soon and doesn't return her affections, although he is very polite and gentlemanly about it.

(Honestly, I liked her well enough until we got to the "I'm not used to rejection" line, and then she starts sifting through the memories of all her human male conquests next to the actual mind reader who she is attracted to, to which I say WOMAN REALLY??? I don't think making the guy you like EVEN MORE UNCOMFORTABLE than he's already admitted you kinda make him is an effective way to gain his affections?!)

ANYWAY, thankfully they get off THAT subject quickly and have a really quite nice conversation, wherein Ed apologizes for getting her hopes up by coming to her home territory and Tanya tries to be a good friend. We see a mention of her "long-lost Russian accent," thus my uncertainty about location, and she tells him she knows he won't keep running from his mystery problem because he's the type who faces things head-on. Mary Sue TANYA then runs away across the snow, so light and fast she doesn't even leave footprints, suggesting a connection between vampires and wood elves.

Encouraged by this pep talk, Gary Stu Edward also gets up and runs footprintless across the snow, determined to be brave and go back and face those "bewildered chocolate-brown eyes," and hopefully not eat the girl attached to them.

SCENE CHANGE!

Edward's back in town, and his three vampire siblings/classmates are huddled around him as they head into the lunchroom, being quite adorably protective, honestly. Alice is trying to foresee any problematic eventualities, Jasper thinks it's funny that EDWARD is the one everyone's fretting over instead of him, Emmett is acting like a bodyguard, and Ed is just exasperated with all of them.

To his surprise, nobody at school is thinking about them, suggesting that Bella didn’t blab about his black murderstare from last chapter. After all, a normal human would have asked around about it, because humans and especially teens all like to feel NORMAL and FIT IN and be a "featureless flock of sheep" and WOW, should I be more annoyed at Ed or the author for this intense bias against high schoolers?! But of course Bella isn't like those OTHER kids, she doesn't do things like talk to people when something weird happens!

About this time, Bella walks in and Alice is all, "Act human!" To which Emmett responds by taking out the snowball he compressed into an ice chunk with his superstrength and chucking it at Alice, who casually deflects it across the room at superspeed, where it cracks a brick. This does, ironically, draw attention away from them. Everyone is annoyed at Emmett, which is fair, but also, ALICE COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST CAUGHT IT INSTEAD OF POTENTIALLY SHOOTING SOMEONE?

Ahem. So Bella's in the lunch line, and Mike Newton, Regular High School Guy And Insignificant Human Rival, is worried about her. Ed starts also worrying about if she might be sickly, what with her translucent skin. (Are we 100% sure BELLA is human?!) The vampires do a slightly better job of acting natural, and Edward decides to refer to Bella as “Bella” and not just "the girl,” "as if she were the only girl in the world," which is HILARIOUS considering where we all know this is going!

After eavesdropping on Bella and Jessica whispering about him looking at her (Bella thinks he's mad at her, after the whole murderstare incident), Bella hunkers under her hair and avoids eye contact, although Ed thinks she keeps twitching like she WANTS to look at him. Then, at long last, lunch ends and everyone starts going to class. There is another internal struggle while Ed reviews what all of his vampire family members have advised about this situation. (Emmett sounding the least helpful, as he has apparently encountered two such delicious-smelling-people incidents that... uh... sound like they did NOT go well?) But Ed is determined to prove to himself that he has the self-control to sit through biology without murdering Bella, so off he goes.

(By the way, Rosalie complains she doesn't want to have to move because they're almost finally out of high school. Again, why are you pretending to be high school students?! It's not like you'll age whether you're there or not?! HOW DOES THIS HELP YOUR COVER??)

Edward gets to Biology to find Bella at their table, doodling randomly. He decides to introduce himself. He gets briefly lost in gratuitously detailed descriptions of her eyeballs and how they are simultaneously like chocolate and strong tea, and how could anyone so frail be deserving of his unwarranted hatred last week? He's also holding his breath, but has enough air in his longs for a reasonably lengthy conversation AND a short laugh, during which Bella is... surprised/startled that he called her Bella? Because her dad introduced her to everyone as Isabella? But she's apparently told multiple people since she got here that she prefers Bella? So he probably could have learned that even without his super vampire eavesdropping powers? WHY is this weird enough to be suspicious, and HOW does it indicate she is intuitive?

Well, the book and Ed believe she is insightful and intuitive, so I guess we should just go with it. Ed does eventually needs to breath so he can talk, and even though just breathing through his mouth is like tasting the FIERY COALS of her deliciousness, and their brief moment of making skin contact is like an ELECTRIC SHOCK, he manages to continue acting normal.

By the way, along with being unconventionally if lopsidedly pretty and smelling delicious, Bella was also in advanced-placement biology at her previous school and Knows Science! Edward realizes this must mean she is ESPECIALLY intelligent for a human, which of course makes perfect sense. After all, she was the first student in two years to look him in the eye long enough to notice they'd changed from the Murderstare Incident's I'm-going-to-eat-you black to today's calmer I'm-probably-not-going-to-eat-you-except-by-accident amber/gold! My friends, may I remind you this man previously admitted he has two medical degrees, a thing that probably required some amount of physically attending college. I really wonder if Ed's standards would be more realistic if he ever once SOCIALIZED WITH HIS HUMAN CLASSMATES.

In an effort to maintain normalcy, they talk about the weather. Bella does not like the cold and wet of Forks. She clearly does not like being in Forks at all. She is vague and grumpy about why she came here, and Edward is so obsessed curious that he may implode (this is the actual word used). We learn (agonizingly slowly) that her mom remarried—and no, Edward, Bella DOES like the guy, he's nice and a minor-league baseball player; and no, Edward, her mom DIDN'T send her here, SHE sent HERSELF here so her mom could happily travel with her step-dad rather than unhappily stay home with her! Ed is certain by now that Bella "isn't like other humans" because he keeps guessing her story arcs wrong and she's just so CONFUSING and UNPREDICTABLE, and this can't possibly be because he's about 100 years out of practice having a normal conversation without a cheat code into the other person's brain.

(Okay, to be fair, there are at LEAST two moments of self-awareness where Ed wonders if he'd be this bad at reading everybody without his mindreading powers. We should give him points for that.)

But despite his difficulties, he DOES figure out that Bella is unhappy, mostly by her sending out signals that a rhino could decipher. When he confronts her with this observation, her response is, "So?" And after meditating on this for an unusually brief paragraph, Ed realizes THE ANSWER:

"She was selfless."

I'm sorry, guys, I need to break for a second, that's the first part that made me laugh out loud. Can someone lend me a combine to harvest all this corn.

(Side Note: As previously stated, I have not read the books or watched the movies, so I could be biased by the negative side of the fanbase. But my general impression of Bella has not lent itself to "selflessness." BUT, it is only chapter two and I am only going off of general hearsay! The amount of poorly concealed disgruntlement is not impressing me, though.)

Anyway, Ed guesses that she doesn't really like her situation but doesn't want people to KNOW she doesn't like it. He continues to marvel at how positively he feels towards this girl, how discerning she is, how *cough* selfless she is, not like an "average martyr" who would actually tell someone she's not 100% happy with her SACRIFICE. Bella gets annoyed, which Ed finds amusing, so there's another adjective for the list. But then she says she's annoyed because she's so easy to read, and Edward can't believe this, because he's never had to work so hard to read someone before! Again, this couldn't possibly be because she's the first person in 100+ years whose mind he can't read!

By the way, Bella also seems to be oblivious immune to the usual red flags normal humans feel around vampires! Ed tries smiling dangerously at her, but the teacher breaks up their conversation with actual classtime, so he gets to angst for a few paragraphs about why he shouldn't find this girl interesting and how dangerous this is for her and yet how MUCH he wants to know more about her. And also trying not to kill her when her thick, black hair flips in his direction and drives his vampire nose bananas.

He books it as soon as the bell rings, having survived the encounter without murdering anyone but with so many new questions about this unremarkable, shy, frail, unmindreadable-yet-highly-face-readable, delicious-smelling, selfless, quietly disgruntled human girl.

(Side Note: I have learned a new word!

"Attar—a fragrant essential oil, typically made from rose petals."

Ex: "Again, I gasped at the clean, wet air outside as though it was a healing attar."

*loud sighing noises*)

So after that brief break, he goes to class with Emmett. Emmett, IMMENSELY HELPFUL EMMETT, asks how it went, questions if it wouldn't be easier to just get it over with, reassures Ed that everyone would understand if he messed up (GIVING IN IS NOT THE SAME AS "MESSING UP," EMMETT), and then vividly visualizes a time he experienced a really good-smelling woman and ate her. Between his earlier blasé-ness about not "wallowing in guilt" over past mistakes and this section's lack of anything indicating regret about that incident, I take back any nice things I might have said about this guy. Emmett, YOU. ARE. THE WORST.

It's so bad that Ed has to bolt out of class AGAIN, although it doesn't help that Emmett follows him and continues to suggest maybe Ed should just get it over with if it's so bad, can Alice or somebody please come punch him. Ed finally gets him to leave and hides in his car. Then, "like an addict" (his own words), he searches the whole school for thoughts about Bella. From his car. My GUY, just how UNREASONABLY powerful ARE your mind radar skills???

He finally locates Bella in gym class, because Mike, who is mad about Ed talking to her, is thinking in logical, complete sentences (as one does) about how satisfied he is that Bella doesn't seem interested in Edward. He also conveniently remembers her asking "what was with" Edward last Monday (after the Deathstare Incident). So apparently Bella isn't QUITE abnormal unique enough to stay totally silent when she encounters a weird thing (not that Edward notices). Ed's response to his annoyance over Mike's satisfaction is to blast "violent music," which seems the opposite of helpful to me.

We end the chapter with Bella coming out of school and heading to her rusty old truck while Ed watches her creepily from his car. She almost hits another student's car when she locks eyes with him, and Ed has to laugh at her sudden increased driving vigilance, as if she might be DANGEROUS! Because of course it's RIDICULOUS to think that BELLA could be dangerous to ANYONE in ANY vehicle, as if the driver's physical frailty has any bearing on the damage a truck can do when crashing into cars or non-vampires at speed.

AND SCENE!

I'm gonna be honest, guys, that one was a couple degrees more agonizing than the first chapter. I dread how much more I'm going to hear about Ed's conflicting desires to eat Bella and be attracted to her simultaneously average yet fascinating allure. She's just so unusually unique and smart and intuitive and selfless and shy and frail and inspires protective instincts, you see, and she's not like ANY OTHER human he's ever encountered, even though we have evidence now that sometimes certain vampires just find certain humans irresistibly delicious, and we can probably extrapolate that those humans were somehow immune to vampire powers, too.

I also highly question Bella's above-average "martyrdom," considering she dropped her guard pretty fast around the cute stranger and basically broadcasted how unhappy she is with her decision, which makes it feel a bit like she did what she did so she could feel good about herself rather than because it was the best thing to do? Being selfless doesn't mean COMPLETELY ignoring your own needs, or justify using your good deed as an excuse to have a poor attitude. Of course, considering that half her traits that Ed notices and marvels over are actually fairly normal, I don't think any of us feel a strong need to trust his assessments of her character.

Next up is CHAPTER THREE: RISK. I'm sure it will feature Edward being very level-headed and undramatic. I think I need to build my endurance back up for this one. (And thanks for the likes and comments so far, they really help keep me motivated! =D)

Chapter 3->

[princesssarisa]

The first of the Love Like Salt tales in Cinderella Tales From Around the World come from Italy, Germany, and Sweden.

We start with seven versions from Italy:

**One version, La Sendraroeula, is basically a perfect cross between Love Like Salt, Donkeyskin, and a conventional Cinderella. After the youngest princess says she loves her father like salt, the king orders a servant to kill her and bring back her heart, but the servant kills a sheep instead, then gives the princess a donkey skin wear as a disguise. She then meets a group of good witches, who give her a magic wand and a nut: whenever she taps the wand with the nut, her wishes will be granted, although the magic only lasts until midnight. Some time later, her father finds her in the woods while hunting, doesn't recognize her in the donkey skin, and takes her home with him out of pity. Thus she becomes a scullery maid in her own father's castle, under the gaze of her own two sisters. Then Carnival arrives, the older sisters attend three balls at a neighboring kingdom's palace, and the heroine goes too in magic finery. The prince falls in love with her, on the third night she runs out at midnight and loses a shoe... and you can guess the rest.

**In most of the Italian versions, the older sisters declare that they love their father "like bread" and "like wine." To some of us, these comparisons might seem just as "undaughterly" as "like salt," but the king accepts them, because bread is essential to life, and in Italian culture the same is considered nearly true for wine. In other versions, though, the sisters are more effusive and say they love their father "better than my eyes" and "better than my heart."

**The Italian versions also tend to have the king order his daughter killed, but a few have him just banish her. In one, The Value of Salt, he doesn't send her away at all, but just resolves to never see her again and has her live alone in a separate wing of the castle.

***The latter tale doesn't have a Cinderella/Donkeyskin-style plot or a love interest for the heroine, since the princess never leaves home or loses her status. One day she just orders the cook to make a supper without salt for her father, and this teaches him his lesson.

**Several Italian versions have the heroine disguise herself as an old woman when she goes to work at the other palace. In one, she meets a fairy who gives her a wand that lets her actually turn herself into an old woman. In another, more gruesomely, her faithful nurse buys the skin of an old woman who just died and has her wear it as a disguise. Either way, she goes to work in the kitchen or in the poultry-yard, but every night in her room she takes off her disguise, and eventually the prince sees her true beauty through the keyhole, a la Donkeyskin.

**In some versions, the heroine says she loves her father "like water and salt" – not only evoking the thing that gives food its flavor, but the thing most important to sustaining life.

**Another version, The Story of the Candlestick, is a "princess hides in a hollow object" variant, and unusually, her mother is still alive and helpful. When the king orders his daughter killed for saying she loves him like salt, the queen protects her by hiding her in a giant candlestick and selling it. The candlestick ends up in a prince's dining room, the princess secretly comes out and eats the prince's food every night before he gets home, etc.

**In yet another version, instead of having the king ask his daughters how much they love them, he sets out on a journey, and of course, asks his daughters what they'd like him to bring back. The older two sisters ask for clothing, of course, but the youngest asks for salt. The wicked sisters then convince their father that she plans to over-salt his food and make it taste terrible, so in a fit of extreme pettiness he banishes her. But when they finally reunite, she reveals that she only wanted the salt to make food taste good.

**Still another variant, The King of France, doesn't have a "love like salt" opening at all, but instead mirrors the Bible story of Joseph and his brothers. The princess has a dream that someday she'll become a great queen and that her father will bow down before her. To prevent this, her jealous father orders a servant to kill her, but he lets her go. A magician in the forest takes her in as his foster child, and the rest of the story is like Donkeyskin. The book only describes this story as a footnote rather than sharing it in full, because technically it's not a Love Like Salt tale, just similar.

*There are just two German versions, one long, one short.

**The longer tale is a lesser-known Brothers Grimm tale, The Goose Girl at the Well. (Not to be confused with the more famous, entirely different tale of The Goose Girl.) This story is a very unusual Love Like Salt variant, not least because the princess isn't the viewpoint character, nor does the Love Like Salt motif appear until the middle of the story, in a flashback to three years earlier. An old woman, rumored to be a witch, and her ugly daughter live in a solitary cottage in a the mountains, tending geese. One day a handsome young count enters the forest, meets the old woman, and kindly carries her heavy bundle for her: as they walk along it grows heavier and heavier, but the woman won't let him rest until they reach the cottage. Then to reward him for his hard work and kindness, she gives him a little book carved out of emerald. The count then travels to a royal palace, where he meets the king and queen and shows them the emerald book. When the queen opens it, revealing a pearl inside, she faints, then tells her family's backstory to the count. The king and queen had three daughters, and the youngest was the most beautiful, who wept pearls and jewels instead of tears. One day, to determine his daughters' inheritances, the king asked each one how much she loved him: the older two said "like the sweetest sugar" and "like my prettiest dress," but the youngest said "like salt," and for this the king banished her with only a sack of salt as her inheritance. Soon afterward he regretted his rash act and searched for her, but the princess was never found and has been missing for three years. Yet the pearl inside the emerald book looks just like one of the princess's tears. The count tells the king and queen about the old woman and the three of them set off to find her cottage again. As it turns out, the old woman's "daughter" is really the princess, disguised in a magical ugly skin. At night when the moon shines, she takes off the skin to reveal her true beauty and wash herself at the well near the cottage. When the count arrives, he sees her do so and falls in love. The king and queen soon follow and reunite with their daughter, the old woman vanishes, and the cottage transforms into a palace, where the count and the princess live happily ever after. The narrator remarks that the old woman was probably a "wise woman" (i.e. a fairy), who most likely gave the princess her gift of shedding pearl and jewel tears when she was born– a gift that "doesn't happen nowadays, or else the poor would soon become rich."

**The shorter German variant, As Dear as Salt, is another version that doesn't have a Donkeyskin element, or a romance, or even have the princess be banished. It simply says that the king is angry when his only daughter says she loves him "like salt," but a short time later, when he gives a grand feast, the princess tells the cook to serve all the food without salt, and this teaches the king his lesson.

*The one Swedish variant is called Salt and Bread. In this version, the princess's wicked older half-sisters slander her to their father out of jealousy and make him doubt her love for him, which inspires his fateful love test. The older two claim to love him "as God in heaven" and "as my life," and when the youngest says "as salt and bread," the king has her stripped naked and left in the forest to die. But a different kingdom's younger king finds her there, takes her home to his castle, falls in love with her, and marries her. After the princess (now queen) and her father reunite in the end, the old king has the two half-sisters left naked in the forest, and the narrator cheekily says "It has never been told that a king came and married them."

**It's interesting that this princess likens her father's value to bread as well as salt, meaning that he's "the staff of life" to her, and yet her father takes it as an insult because bread is so common. It contrasts with the Italian versions where one of the older sisters says she loves her father like bread, and he approves because he realizes it means she can't live without him.

Next we'll look at the versions from Belgium, France, Spain, and Portugal.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @adarkrainbow, @themousefromfantasyland

[eggcompany]

Heart to Heart and Back Again Part 1

Count Julian Pankratz, a chronically ill man who has more love than he knows what to do with with his short life. That was until he met his new nursemaid, a mysterious new man in town, Geralt. They grow to love each other, each thriving off each other, each learning to love, to live, to truly feel alive because of each other. Geralt had been around for so long he didn't even know he could love. Julian had been convinced no one would ever love him. Soulmates, they were crafted for each other at their very cores.

But unfortunately destiny had other plans. Julian gets sick, he grows weaker and weaker, and he leaves Geralt. The white haired man doesn't know what to do with his empty heart, empty hands, and wish only to bring his one love back.

There was only one person for him in life. Julian. And he was dead.

Or is he...? One stranger's trek up a mountain a few hundred years later might just change Geralt's mind.

“I can stand, good first impressions.” Julian said as he leaned heavily on his cane. He waited for the door to open for the new nursemaid. He shooed the maid away once she dropped off some food, she laughed at him and made her way through the side doors. He was leaning on his cane trying to get other the pain that was dragging at the base of his back. 

The door did open and he was shaking, straining, heart starting to speed up. 

“Hello, welcome, hurry up and shake my hand before I pass out. Thank you” he said quickly and grabbed the man’s huge hand in his own and then sat back down in his wheelchair. He started getting some big breaths in trying to get his heart to slow back down. 

He then took in the man’s looks. He was large, strong looking, had silver nearly white hair, golden eyes, and his clothes were dirty. He was extremely handsome where his hair hung over his forehead and was held back by a small black tie. 

“It’s an honor to serve you count.” He said and bowed which Julian shushed and waved his hand at. 

“Oh pish posh, now come sit down with me. I had Lizzy bring up some really good stuff. She's a witch in the kitchen, literally but also she cooks so well I’ve cried. I personally have a sweet tooth but also I love eggs scrambled or omelets, those are French. Do you eat eggs?” Julians asked and wheeled himself over to his breakfast table, only one other chair at the table. 

Geralt was confused but followed him awkwardly standing by the table before Julian leaned over and patted the seat and removed the cloches from their plates. There were two plates of scrambled eggs, some pan fried meat, small loaves of bread, and a cup of something melted and spiced looking. 

“Do you not eat eggs? We have a large coop and a lot of livestock on the estate, feel free to explore as you please. I personally would love to get back there to see the sheep, I’ve always loved them.” Julian said as he picked up a fluffy spiced egg and popped it into his mouth smiling at Geralt. He hoped the man would stay, he felt some kind of… change in himself at just the sight of the man. Something ws changing in his heart. 

Geralt, who sat down, remained confused. There’s a plate set in front of him but… why? What? He’d heard of the “Flower” of the rich estate family but… the weak shaky young man wasn’t what he’d imagined. He’d been around for a very long time and he’d yet to meet someone like Julian. 

Julian stared at him waiting but then shook his head and looked down. Soft smile on his lips and kindness running pure in his eyes. 

“Dig in my friend, I’m a lonely man, I treat my servants well. I don’t expect you to stay for the rest of my life, I don’t expect you to feel loyalty to me. I only request you be kind. So in return for your kindness, you have free rein of the estate. Choose a room for yourself, no matter where, make food to your taste, slaughter what you please, grow what you please, just include me please.” Julian said in a sad voice that hurt Geralt's heart. He was just a boy, a kid wanting someone to play with him. 

He’d never met a count as… souled as Julian. He thought he’d be a chamber maid to some priss, to clean and be quiet. He’d never met someone so… honest and full of humanity's best quality, compassion and companionship, friendship and love. 

Geralt should have known Julian would be good. The other servants seemed happy, like a community. All chatting as they worked, some laughing and others humming tunes as they did their business leisurely. 

He was confused, though. Why? 

“Count-” He started just for Julian to groan and shake his head. 

“Julian, please.” The boy said and took another bite of food. He hated being called ‘ count’ ; it made him feel old. 

“Julian, why? Why share your wealth?” Geralt asked and watched the boy drink from a cup it looked like... milk? What wealthy person didn't drink wine with their meals?

"My father brought home a sickness, when I was younger. He gave it to my entire family, my mother, my sisters, me. They all slowly died around me. And I survived. Why? My father was one of the wealthiest counts in this entire land. My sisters were more beautiful than precious gems, my mother had acres and acres of land. I was the youngest, and most uninterested in growing our wealth and taking on more land. Why did I survive if not to share? One day I will die, I can't produce an heir, who will take care of me? Who will make sure I am happy in my final days? Who will take over this home? I'm a creature of society, Geralt, dear, I surround myself with good company. I surround myself with friends . I think you're supposed to be nice and share with your friends." Julian said and leaned forward against the table, smiling, and Geralt was shaking his head. Astonished. He was just a kid, poetic words made from a luxury life. 

"Are you quick to befriend someone like me? You have no idea where I've been, where I'm from, what I've done. Why do you welcome me like a long lost friend?" Geralt asked and Julian was huffed and laughed as his eyes glittered. He looked right at Geralt’s face, cheeks chubby and joy coursing through him. Geralt felt a bit younger himself, his boulders lifting slightly from his shoulders just meeting the kid. 

"You are my long lost friend. I can feel it here in my heart. We are meant to be together, our destinies entwined. Like soup!” Julian said and broke out in a big smile, hands coming to grab Geralt’s across the table. Geralt didn’t pull his hands back but he was nervous until Julian squeezed their hands together. Julian looked right in his eyes, solidifying how serious he was. 

“Now!" The boy said and dropped his silverware and clapped his hands together. Geralt watched him curiously. Julian rubbed his hands together excitedly. 

"Have you ever had a honey cake baked with pork fat instead of butter?" Julian asked and lifted the glass cloche off the small cake that had been sitting to the side. His bottom lip was caught in his smile, a hunger filling his eyes that Geralt only ever seen in brothels. 

"Pork fat instead of butter?" Geralt asked and Julian was quick to cut him a large piece and put it on a separate plate, handing it to him before getting a big piece for himself. 

"Yes! It'll make you cream your trousers, I've never had anything better. Now, you're being rude by not eating so dig in before I start crying." Julian said and shoved a big bite into his mouth. Geralt thought he was funny, the way the boy’s cheeks puffed out and crumbs stuck to his soft looking lips. 

Geralt lifted it up and sniffed it before taking a bite. He moaned and chewed, looking at the boy’s smug look.  It was… incredible. Sweet and indulgent and fattening oily and rich. Something Geralt hadn’t tasted since his days of stealing from royals as a young man. 

"I told you!" the boy said and they ate in silence. Until Julian leaned back in his chair, rubbing his belly, he wasn’t very round just kinda… plush. Like a feather pillow or fresh baked buns. 

He watched Geralt eat like a man starved, looking a bit starved. He hated seeing hungry people. That’s why when he went into town he made sure to fill his pockets with sweets for the kids. He liked Geralt, the way he shoved food into his mouth and flashed his eyes around like a feral dog. He had nice hair and big hands and looked strong under his tattered clothes. 

"It's a nice day out today. My last nurse, she would put me out on the balcony usually. She wasn't a considerably strong woman, usually she'd call the yard boy, Edwin, to carry me down the stairs if I needed to be on the floor of the estate. I do miss being able to be around the animals. I rather like them." Julian said and laughed and shook his head. He hadn't been able to see the animals in years since his last nurse couldn't really wheel him out in the dirt. When he was a child he liked to go run around in the sheep pens, petting them and feeding them and feeling their soft noses. He did miss it terribly… 

Geralt swallowed the large bit of egg and bread that was in his mouth and wiped his face with his sleeve. He didn’t much care about manners. He had them, just didn’t use them. 

"I could take you, easily. Even if I had to pick your chair up, it wouldn't be very hard." He said and was almost blinded by how bright Julian’s smile was. 

"Oh that would be wonderful. Not today though, today I think you need a tour and to get a good wash up and perhaps we can find you some clothes that fit you better. Perhaps we wear the same!" Julian said giddily. He loved sharing, clothes, food, anything. But it would be so fun to dress Geralt up, maybe do his hair, polish his nails, all the things that Julian loved to do. All the pampering things. 

Geralt nodded, blush burning under his skin. He couldn't imagine how... dirty he must seem. He’d not been able to buy new clothes since his own had been stolen. He didn’t think to try and scrub the stains from his clothes before coming, assuming he’d just be put to work without meeting the head of the house. 

"I apologize for my appearance I-" Geralt started to apologize, nerves ebbing into his voice. He knew most wealthy people hated the look of dirty clothes in such a pristine home. Julian just waved him off, thin hand pale, nails shiny. 

"Nonsense, If I could I'd be rolling in the mud half my days. I love the outdoors, the fresh air, I’d adore just one more walk through the orchard... but we all live life as we can. We have a large bath downstairs or you are welcome to pick a room and we can manage a bath in there for you. Though downstairs I hear is the best for baths." Julian said and smiled, he would love to go downstairs and see everyone. 

Most of the people who worked never really made it up to Julian room. Usually leaving the young count to himself and his nurse and even then she was usually preparing his medicine and his bed and such. Sometimes they’d come by to show him something or ask if they could do something with the house. Bringing him fresh fruit from the orchard or asking to repaint the lattice. He’d like it more if he could actually go see them all and talk with them, be a part of their day to day, but… well he was okay with how things were. 

Geralt nodded and stood up, dusting the crumbs off himself. 

"Do you want to give me a tour?" Geralt asked, and Julian was glad to be pushed about, cane held between his knees. He wasn't strong enough to walk but he stood for a moment a few times. He liked being able to see the house, he told stories from when his sister painted on the walls and how he once climbed onto the roof to scare his mother but instead fell and landed on her. 

Geralt smiled and listened intently, helping Julian to sit back down when he started to tremble. He enjoyed the flowery and detailed way Julian described everything, as if he was writing a poem as he spoke. Each detail being told like it held the whole story together, words mixing like perfume in the air. Geralt liked it. 

----

Geralt liked living beside the Count. He easily found a place in the home, the room next to Julian’s own. He found a schedule and stepped easily to it. He found out that most clothes Julian wore he could fit into also, though a bit snug on the shoulders. 

It was easy day to day. 

He would wake up with the sun, wash his face, comb his hair, go down to the kitchen and find something to eat, usually eating some dried meat from a very old dusty box in the pantry. He’d get dressed in a nice outfit, a coat, shined shoes, clothes too rich for someone like him. He’d go wake up Julian by knocking lightly on the door, and going to the large cushy bed and finding one of Julian’s fragile hands. 

Julian warned him that he slept heavy and that he also bruised easily so a good shake to a shoulder would… not be the best option. So Geralt would find a pale hand and give it a good squeeze and some gentle rubs and Julian would be yawning and blinking awake. 

“Oh good morning, dear, how did you sleep?”

“Good morning Geralt, dear, have you eaten?”

“Mornin’ Grlt, I feel a bit drunk still, are you hungry?”

“Good morning, dear” 

Julian always had to welcome Geralt to the day. Always had something to grumble out first thing, always started the day with words. And each day Geralt felt closer and closer, he started sitting on the edge of the boy’s bed to hold his hand before waking him up. 

Each day Julian would marvel at Geralt, telling him that somehow just seeing his ‘pretty golden eyes’ made him feel better. Julian would tell Geralt about the books he’d read, play his harp or his lute when he could, sometimes he’d ask Geralt to bring him things. Sometimes it was puzzles, or chess. Geralt found Julian was a very very good chess player but he preferred checkers. 

And his dolls. Julian had a mountain of beautifully crafted dolls. Some were wood, others glass, others porcelaine. Julian had a story for each one, where it was from, who got it for him, when he got it, everything. Julian loved his dolls, he had a few that had on simpler outfits that he occasionally liked to carry around with him when he was feeling especially bad. He liked to brush their hair and put different outfits on them. He knew all their names, Amice, Joy, and Helewis being his favorites. Those three sat by his bed and often in his bed and were often moved around and carried. 

Geralt never really had toys but when a fever delusional Julian placed a doll in his lap and told him to take care of her, well damn it he was going to figure it out. Geralt learned that you have to be careful when combing their hair and how you have to dress them so they don’t break and how to clean them when you drop a cup of tea on them. He learned how to keep them nice but also love them. 

Each day Geralt spent with the boy, each day he heard the rumbly good morning, each day he ate three meals with him, each day he helped the boy into the warm tub, each day Geralt felt like he had never before. Warm and happy and his heart… his heart felt full . And it was all because of Julian. 

----

"Geralt? Would you please get me something to eat? I'm feeling oddly hungry." Julian said as he sat down from where he had been standing against the rail of the balcony. Somehow he felt... better today. He yelled hello to Edwin who was working in the garden and had been able to walk from his bed to the balcony. He had been feeling better each day it seemed these last few months. He’d been up more that was for sure. Geralt often told him that the sun would help him but also that the balcony was boring. So he was down, being rolled through the gardens or being pushed to the end of the driveway, laughing at the way the rocks bounced him around, or he was being carried down the stairs and sat at the large dining table to socialize with the servants. 

Geralt really did help him.

Julian wasn’t usually embarrassed but he felt more comfortable asking for help with certain things. He no longer struggled to wash himself, simply asking Geralt to wash his back or help rinse the soap off his skin, he didn’t feel shy asking for the bedpan or hurrying to the bathroom, Geralt would simply put him there. He felt easy saying that he didn’t want to wear pants to bed or that it was warm and he didn't want to wear a shirt in the bedroom. 

He was just… content and happy with Geralt. The stoic man’s short comments and quiet nature. It was comfortable. 

"Do you want me to make you some eggs?” Geralt offered from where he was sipping tea in the sun, opposite from where Julian sat at the small table. The boy smiled and looked over at his friend. 

“That sounds perfect, dear” Julian answered and Geralt was slow to finish his tea and stand up, walking away only to turn back. 

“Come on, I’m taking you with me.” He said and soon Julian was in his chair being carried down the stairs. 

He felt… alive. Warm, welcomed, happy, alive. 

-----

"Geralt here gives me strength. Now, let me pour you all a drink. Do not help me." Julian ordered as he stood up from the head of the table. He left his cane behind, instead picking up a quite heavy brass pitcher. Eleven people. He just had to pour eleven drinks. 

He’d been feeling better and better, each day he saw Geralt, each day that he saw everyone and got to do something fun, he just felt stronger. 

Geralt had been bundling him up and taking him out into the snow, or at least getting him out into the patio. Julian had even made a little snowman, and Geralt had never felt happier sneaking out at night to make a whole group of snowmen, right under the balcony so Julian could see them. He had even given them little leaf hats made from old cabbage. 

Geralt was the fuel that kept Julian trying. Kept the boy from wasting away in bed. Even on the worse days Geralt would at least bring him the little dolls and keep busy nearby. 

Everyone knew it too. That’s why when Julian proposed they all have a nice big winter feast together, they all knew Geralt would be picking at them all. ‘ Be on time’ ‘Show up’ ‘Don’t help him’, That was the oddest thing. Geralt went around telling everyone not to help Julian at all. 

Now they knew why. The count wanted to show his strength and independence. 

A few of them held their cups up to the spout to make it a bit easier as he shaked heavily with each pour. His arms were aching by the time he got to the other end of the table. Geralt held his cup up for Julian who let the pitcher rest heavily against its rim, knowing Geralt wouldn’t let the pitcher fall. 

Finally as he fell back into his chair, pitcher set hastily against the table, tears streamed down his face, he smiled and nodded, fixing his posture. 

"Goodness me, Geralt's cured me hasn't he." Julian joked as his body shook and hurt horrible and tears streamed down his face from both pain and joy. Everyone clapped and raised their glasses to him. It was a good thing, to see the count so happy, so active. It was a good thing to see. 

Even as he tried to pick up his cup only to have it drop from his hand and splash over the rim a bit. 

"To my friends, who share their strength with me, who's companionship gives me life." Julian said, voice shaking. He smiled and they all raised their glasses, cheering a bit before digging into the feast laid across the table. 

The dinner went on for hours, stories shared freely about travels and chance meetings. Some stories about even the darkest of margics, Julian was enthralled. He laughed and ate and drank and enjoyed the warmth of family around him. A warmth that he had only felt the barest of with his actual family now burn warm and white around him. He stayed until everyone else retired to their rooms, except Geralt who cleaned up. 

The alcohol sparked enough confidence in himself that he started to walk to his own room, he made it halfway to the stairs before Geralt had an arm around his waist. 

“Come on, princess. Up to bed with you.” Geralt rumbled, he was dead on his feet and Julian had run off on him. Julian was happy to be picked up and carried against Geralt’s chest, a much more intimate pose than how Geralt usually carried him in his chair. 

Julian giggled and hugged onto Geralt’s strong broad shoulders. 

“Are you the dashing prince that’s come to save me? I didn’t know I was so lucky.” Julian giggled as Geralt carried him up the stairs. The boy was dead asleep by the time he was being laid gently onto his bed. Geralt just watched him, his soft face relaxed, his chest rising and falling slowly. 

Geralt let himself indulge and petted through the soft chestnut hair that fell across the boy’s face. Geralt let himself enjoy the moment for just a second longer before gently stripping Julian of his day clothes and pulling on his thick winter pajamas and tucking him in under the thick blankets. 

“Gerlt? Geralt, are you here?” Julian asked sleepily as he heard the fire being built up for the night. Geralt hummed. 

“Yes, Julian?” He said softly, in a way that had Julian smiling into the darkness. The boy snuggled back into his bed, warm and full and a little drunk. 

“Nothing, just wanted to say thank you. Goodnight dear, I love you.” Julian said before rolling onto his side and falling fast asleep. 

Geralt was a statue. I love you . Geralt felt struck by lightning. Because… well…

“I love you too, Julian.” 

----

“Geralt are you- have you- have you ever-” Julian tried to ask one night as he read through one of his more dirty novels, it was french, of course. 

Geralt was scrubbing the wine out of some shirts, it was a hot day out and Julian had knocked over the whole pitcher. Geralt was shirtless, sitting by the wash basin in nothing but a pair of light pants. Julian just… well he didn’t really know. He was feeling… a certain way. 

“What was that?” Geralt asked as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He looked over at Julian who was under the simple musin sheet, book held up so only his eyes were visible.

“Have you ever… are you a virgin?” Julian finally asked, voice turning squeaky. Geralt raised a brow at him and huffed a laugh. 

“I am not. I haven’t been for a long time. Why?” Geralt responded and went back to scrubbing, knowing Julian was a bit… timid when it came to anything sexual. He’d once said he’d been betrothed to a young countess when he was born but she’d left him when his family passed. And that he hadn’t had a girlfriend since. 

“I was um… I was just wondering. Um cause, oh you know, um… because I am.” Julian said, eyes just peaking over the top of his book. Geralt nodded, not looking at him. 

“I know.” Is all Geralt responded with. He was curious, of course, but he knew Julian was sensitive about his sexuality, or rather his lack thereof.  

“Is it… did you have sex w…with a girl?” Julian asked, hoping he wasn’t chasing Geralt away. He hoped he wasn’t overstepping; he just… he wanted to know. 

“I’ve had sex with girls, yes.” Geralt answered, his back was facing the boy now. Geralt grinned, it was just like talking to his younger brothers. Julian was just a young man, not really a count, just a teenager who wanted to know about sex. 

“Oh… have you… um… just girls?” Julian asked quietly, face burning up. He waited, staring at Geralt’s strong back, spattered with odd scars and marks. Geralt was so… fetching to look at. Strong and solid and confident and… handsome. All over handsome. Julian would bet his cock was handsome, too. 

Julian shook his head, getting that thought away from him when Geralt turned around. Now facing him, Geralt let a small smile grace his lips as he shook his head with a sigh. 

“No, not just girls. Why? Do girls not… interest you?” Geralt phrased carefully. Julian swallowed and shook his head from where he still hid behind his book. Geralt nodded with a hum and kept his eyes on Julian. He let his head cocked to the side, giving the boy a look. 

“That’s okay. You don’t have to like girls. Do you like anyone ?” Geralt asked, head tilted like a curious cat. He tried not to smile at the way Julian’s eyes flitted around the room from where they peaked over the book. 

“I um… I might.” Julian said, trying to sound confident in himself like Geralt did. He failed miserably though, ending up squeaking like a bad hinge. Geralt nodded and went back to scrubbing shirts. 

“Good.” Is all Geralt said before they fell back into a compioned silence. Julian went back to his book not really reading the kissing scene anymore, rather thought about Geralt… oh Geralt. 

------

“Geralt, do you…. Can I sit with you?” Julian asked as he made his way out to the balcony. He was leaning on his cane waiting. Geralt was confused, Julian never asked to sit in his own chair at his own table on his own balcony. 

“Go ahead?” Geralt said in a confused way but was soon letting out an exacerbated chuckle. Julian flopped down in his lap, legs thrown over the arm of the chair. He wasn’t a very heavy boy, not even half of Geralt's own weight. 

“Hmm, so much more comfortable.” Julian hummed and laid his head against Geralt’s shoulder, he loved the springtime. 

He loved how the sun was warm and the breeze was cool and how nice his heavy pants felt when they got warm from the sun but his light shirt kept him nice and cool. He loved how Geralt would pick him flowers and how the bees and butterflies were coming back slowly. He loved how in that moment spring meant that Geralt would sit on the balcony and read and had an open lap to sit on. 

Geralt set his book on the table, letting his arms wrap around the boy. He let his head fall to the side, laying against the top of Julian’s. It was… nice. 

“You’re heavy.” He said and Julian giggled and let his hand rest against Geralt’s chest, feeling the strong muscle hidden under his shirt. 

“You’re warm.” Julian said and snuggled deeper into Geralt, taking in big deep breaths of his smell, Geralt smelled a bit like horse but he always did and he smelled like dirt and blood and sweat and well… Julian liked it. Geralt smelled like living life and journey, it was nice. 

They sat there like that, basking in the warm sun, enjoying the company of each other, in silence. They each enjoyed it, both enjoying the feeling of another person pressed against them, both feeling calm companionship calming them both down to their bones. The breeze in the treetops, the birds chirping happily, quiet noise, the only small buzz of nature being the only sound around them. 

Silence though, was never Julian’s thing. At least not after his legs had fallen asleep and his heart hurt and his eyes watered. He sniffed but held still, still against Geralt’s strong body, eyes dancing across the horizon as the sun sank beyond the mountains. 

“You know Geralt… I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy. Here, now, right here with you, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.” Julian said as tears flooded from his eyes. He turned and hid his face in the soft dark fabric of Geralt’s shirt, hand clutching where it had laid. 

Geralt just hugged him, holding him against his chest, hands rubbing up and down his trembling back. Julian was so emotional, always saying flowery things and crying and laughing and… having such big emotions. Feelings always upfront. So unlike Geralt. 

“I’m happy here, with you, too.” Geralt said, truth heavy in his voice. Julian huffed a laugh and wiggled so he was sitting up looking right into Geralt’s eyes. Julian’s blue eyes glimmered like diamonds, eyes rimmed red from crying. He flung his legs around so he was straddling Geralt as a serious look painted his face. 

“You’re happy here with me?” He asked, hands coming up to rub at his face but his eyes kept on Geralt’s. Geralt let his hands rest on Julian’s hips, causing the boy to gasp and buck back away from him before relaxing. Julian’s mouth was hung open, breaths thin and faster than usual. Geralt looked him up and down and hoped he wasn’t reading the boy wrong. 

“I’m very happy here Julian. I’m very happy being with you. You make me happy, Julian.” He said quietly, barely above a whisper. He didn’t want to risk leaning the few inches forward it would take to press his lips to Julian’s own. But he craved to just get a little taste, a tiny kiss, just to get the smallest. 

Julian smiled and put his hands on the sides of Geralt’s face. Squishing his cheeks. 

“Do you mean it?” Julian asked and stared into Geralt’s golden eyes, like he could see the truth if he just looked hard enough. Geralt moved his hands to pull Julians away from his face and held them in his own. 

“Julian?” Geralt said softly and let his hands warm the thin cold ones within them. Julian swallowed and looked down at his lips before looking back into his eyes. 

“Yeah?” Julian breathed out, his heart racing in his chest when he realized how they were sitting. They were…. So close. 

Geralt leaned in, tilting his head to the side just a bit, warm breath cascading over Julian’s lips and cheeks. Geralt let his eyes fall closed and his nose rub against Julian’s. He opened his eyes after only a moment, lids heavy as his body became warmer with want. 

“‘M gonna kiss you now” He warned and Julian was nodding needily. He pressed his lips gently, so so carefully against Julian’s own. 

Julian was… not a bad kisser. Eager, pushy, but… soft and tender. Lips staying shut, just easy pushes and movements. Geralt’s hands fell down to his hips, only to squeeze gently and run up and down Julian’s soft sides. Julians own hands found their way to Geralt’s shoulders, holding on for dear life. 

His eyes were tightly squeezed shut when they pulled back. Lips kissed red and plump where he was breathing shakily. He was panting from chaste, closed mouth kisses?

Cute, Geralt thought. 

Julian opened his eyes, rimmed with tears, and grasped Geralt’s jaw. He looked into Geralt’s eyes, glowing like fire in the sunset’s light. He felt like his heart was beating out of his chest and his head was getting light but he wanted to kiss Geralt more. He felt like he could cry with how happy he was, he was nearly crying with how much love he felt. 

“I’m gonna faint. But I wanna, wanna… will you put me to bed?” Julian said as his eyes started getting a bit fuzzy. Geralt was calm and gentle as he just stared at Julian’s bright blushed face. The boy just looked sleepy and rested his head against Geralt’s shoulder, hands falling into his lap. 

“I’ll put you to bed, Julek, little bird, come on.” Geralt whispered more to himself than the unconscious boy as he carried him back into the house, back to bed. 

Geralt busied himself around. Making a small fire, sweeping the floors, lighting the candles, bringing up fresh water to make tea, and he sat and watched Julian sleep, snuggled up under the covers. 

----

They shared more kisses, Julian falling into Geralt’s lap asking for a few sweet kisses or to just sit and eat together or he’d just nap in Geralt’s lap. 

Geralt was always grateful to have the other man near, chatting incessantly about anything from music to animals to pictures he’s seen of the far east. He liked to hear the boy explain how a new poet was rising a few townships over and that he was as senseless as headless chicken, or how there’s a new author and his books are written so well it’s like you’re actually standing amongst the jungles, hearing the monkeys, swimming under the waterfalls. 

Julian would go on and on, sitting on Geralt’s lap, sometimes a blanket thrown over them. Sometimes they would sit on the balcony in a large wicker chair that Geralt had brought up from the library downstairs. Sometimes Geralt would help Julian out to the garden and they’d sit on the grass together, cuddled in the sun. Other times Julian would be so weak that they simply sat very close next to each other, feet touching or hands holding. 

And each morning Geralt would make sure to clean his mouth and chew some mint before Julian was awake. Because each morning Geralt would sit on the edge of the bed, rub Julian’s hand in his own, and tell the boy it was time to start the day. And each morning Julian would pull Geralt down, usually by a hand on his jaw, and press a kiss to his lips. 

“Good morning dear, you look lovely.”

“Good morning, darling”

“‘Morning, lovely, please close the curtains”

Every morning Julian would give him a kiss and welcome Geralt to the day. Each morning Julian opened his eyes and pressed a kiss to him, Geralt was more than just awake, he was alive. Each morning Julian brought him back to life, restarted his heart, brought breath into his lungs. 

----

"Geralt? Will you come here to me?" Julian asked as he laid in bed, body aching and heavy. Ever since Julian's fall, Geralt would stay in the room until Julian was asleep. 

The boy had gotten up after he’d said his goodnights to Geralt. He’d been feeling well, very well, so he thought he might just go downstairs and find a cookie or two and head right back to bed, right back to bed!

However after a day of playing checkers and playing his harp and going down to play the piano while the servants cleaned and worked, he was not as strong as he had been that day. 

He fell in the hallway, nearly falling down the stairs. His ankle had swollen up and he had terrible black bruises. Geralt had lectured him, marching back and forth in the room while Julian wept in bed, saying he was sorry and that he wouldn’t do it again. Geralt also brought a cookie jar up and set it on the mantle. 

But he also refused to go to his own room until Julian was asleep. So when Julian bathed and was ready for bed, Geralt bathed and got ready for bed. It was warm in the home now, no need to make fires at night, so Geralt would simply sit by the window, single candle light lit by the door, and wait until he could hear Julian’s soft snores. 

But tonight… Julian felt… something felt heavy in his chest. Perhaps it had something to do with the book he was reading or maybe it was that his one act of independence had landed him with a swollen ankle and a bruised backside. 

Geralt came over and knelt by the bed, holding Julian’s outstretched hand. Julian smiled at him, his eyes looked tired and he was pale. 

Today had been a very hot humid day, the hours taking their toll on everyone. Even the housemaid had left behind some layers, all citing that Julian would be just fine seeing their bare feet or their hair not under a cap. Julian had spent most of the day laying atop the sheets in bed in nothing but a pair of light linen pants. Now he was tucked under the sheets, pants traded for his nighty. 

Now he just looked… tired. The moonlight only working to make him look paler, his under eyes darker, his skin cooler. Geralt held his hand, the smooth soft skin feeling softer than air. 

"Come lay under the covers with me." The boy asked and Geralt looked into his eyes in surprise. Julian’s bed? It was… the boy barely kept his few dolls on his bed, yet he wanted something like Geralt to marr its appearance? 

"In your bed?" Geralt asked, bringing the soft hand up to rub his cheek against, eyes watching Julian’s as he rolled them and sighed dramatically. Such a dramatic boy. 

"Well? I'm cold and I feel weak and I want to feel close. Come lay under my blankets, come lay with me." Julian begged, eyes brimming with tears. Geralt kissed his hand and warmed it between his own. He shook his head a bit and slipped his shoes off his feet

"Okay, only because I don't want you to cry." He said and pulled his dark shirt off and folded it, leaving it behind in his chair when he climbed behind Julian in bed. 

The boy was staring. Geralt was… beautiful. Such pale skin, scars spattered across his body, muscles like the statues carved from marble. He looked like a character from one of Julian’s dirty novels, a real Adonis, all edges and strength and- 

“What’s wrong, love? Am I… I can go sleep in my own bed. I can take another bath.” Geralt offered before he touched the bed, noticing Julian staring so hard he could feel himself shrinking. Julian just blinked at him, big bright eyes filled with something… light. 

“You never told me you were the fairest flower in all the fields, that I might gp blind merely from a glance at you.” Julian muttered, pushing himself to sit up to get a better look at the scars that whipped across his abdomen and chest. He felt a bit dizzy with how his blood grew hot and swirled in his gut. Geralt was… unfair. So pretty, so perfect, how dare he ever wear clothes. 

Geralt huffed and looked away, a light flush finding its way to his face. Julian… always with flowery words and and… compliments. 

“Julian, go to bed.” Geralt said and climbed in behind the boy who rolled over to face the man. He was biting his bottom lip, hands brought up curiously but halted to wait a mere inch from Geralt’s chest. 

“Can I touch you? I’ve never seen you… bare.” Julian said, looking at Geralt with a kind of… wonder. Wonder of how another man would feel under his hands, how Geralt’s skin would feel, would his scars feel soft or are they tender still, how would Geralt react if he just snuggled close. 

Geralt sighed and nodded, looking away as his face burned up. Julian made a happy noise and let his hands gently lay on the other’s chest. Julian was taken aback, shocked. 

Geralt was so warm, and he felt so solid, and he was so… everything. Julian let his hands press and feel and explore across the miles of pale skin, fingers tracing across scars, feeling Geralt’s heartbeat in his chest. Julian laid there, staring where his hand pressed into Geralt’s chest, feeling each heartbeat as if it was his own. 

“I love you Geralt.” Julian whispered, he could barely tear his eyes away to look into the nearly glowing gold ones. Geralt smiled and let his own larger hand fall over Julian’s. 

“It’s late, it’s dark, it’s time for bed. Go to sleep, Julian.” Geralt whispered so sweetly and Julian was nodding along. He was so sleepy and Geralt was so warm and in his bed and it was… it was perfect. 

He cuddled in close, hiding himself away in Geralt’s chest, throwing an arm and leg over him. He let his eyes fall shut as he felt Geralt’s arm wrap around him, hand rubbing up and down his back. 

“You’re not allowed to wear clothes anymore, by the way.” Julian muttered into the soft skin of Geralt’s collarbone. Geralt huffed and gave Julian a squeeze. 

“Go to sleep, little bird.” Geralt said and soon Julian was drooling asleep, snores lulling Geralt into his own deep restful sleep. 

-----

"Geralt let me, let me walk. I can make it. I've been working on my stamina." Julian said as he stood up from his chair in the hallway. He gave his love a wink and got his cane under him. Geralt shook his head and allowed Julian to walk in front of him. 

Ever since they started sleeping in the same bed, they had both been getting much more sleep. Which meant Julian wanted to do everything together. They got up, got clean and fresh, dressed, and made their way down to eat with the rest of the household. Which meant going down the stairs. Which usually meant Geralt carrying Julian like a princess, or over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and then Julian sometimes walking in through the dining room doors. 

However today Julian had decided he would walk to breakfast. Well… walk to the stairs that is. He had been walking more, getting stronger, and he was feeling especially confident. 

"Sure thing, Julek, put your big girl panties on this morning?" Geralt teased and Julian blushed and didn't look at him. Geralt’s joking had grown from grunts to actual comments. And the nickname… It made Julian feel all soft and melty. 

Geralt was a Slov, Julian had learned, and he'd begun calling Julian ‘Julek’, others called him Jewel, and an older lady who came to the house on Geralt's call to see Julian's progress called him Jaskier but she also only spoke polish. But Julek , hearing Geralt’s gruff voice say the name, it made Julian feel like a new person, a new thing, something just created. 

“I sure did! And they fit me just fine!” Julian responded and took a steeling breath. 

Julian started walking down the hall finding it was easier than the last time he'd tried. Each step steady until nearly to the stairwell. His legs began to shake as he grabbed onto the railing, his heart was racing in his chest and his head felt a bit light. He was trying to take big deep breaths, but he felt like his chest was squeezing. 

Geralt was quick to put an arm around his waist, supporting him enough so he could catch his breath before scooping him up. Geralt gave him a I-told-you-so look and started walking down the stairs. 

"Yeah, eat shit, I still made it." Julian teased as Geralt grinned as they made it down to the dining room. 

-----

Loving was easy between them. Life was easy between them. 

They spent days sitting together in the sun. Geralt once set Julian out in the rain, giggling like a kid until he began to shiver a bit and then Geralt had a warm fire and a blanket to wrap around him. 

The summer was Julian’s favorite time of year. He loved the feeling of a sun warmed blanket and the scent of the gardens in full bloom. Geralt was there to bring him flowers and sit with him to watch the birds. 

Geralt didn’t care about the weather. He just loved seeing Julian so happy. He loved to tuck a flower behind his ear, he loved to trade him fresh apples and berries for kisses, he loved to go out in the rain to bring Julian a hydrangea bloom just to shake it over his head to give the boy a shower. 

Most of all he loved the way Julian laughed. Full and hearty like he had heard the funniest thing every time. He loved the way Julian smiled, bright and wonderful. He loved the way even when he was weak and sick Julian still gave Geralt shit and was a brat and gave sass. 

He loved Julian more than anything. 

And everyday Geralt was happy. Julian was happy. It was… good. Geralt had lived for a very long time and yet he’d never been so happy. 

They more often than not shared a bed, Julian cradled against Geralt's chest. During the warmer months Geralt would strip them both down to their sleep clothes. Julian sleeping in nearly see-through linen nighties and Geralt in a pair of soft pants and no underclothes. In the colder months Geralt would sleep in heavy wool pants but never had the heart to put a shirt on, knowing Julian found comfort in skin-to-skin. Julian would wrap up in his heavy nighty and a pair of thick socks. 

They both grew into their new schedule, they just fit together, like an easy rhythm. 

----

Julian got stronger, he ate more, in the nearly two years since Geralt had arrived, he'd grown able to make it down the stairs, stay awake all during the day, and even ride into town and see the people, often only needing his cane. He could pour the whole table glasses of wine with just a slight tremble. He was so happy with life, he was so happy with everything. Even on his sickest days he felt everything was okay. Because Geralt was there and Geralt was… Geralt was strong enough for the both of them. 

--

One night, he felt... viral . He felt alive and hot in belly for the first time in so long. 

He was laying in bed, just under a sheet, waiting for Geralt to get done cleaning up after their baths. They’d begun bathing together, hualing the big tub up from the first floor up so they could sit front to back in the tub. Geralt claiming he didn’t have much shame, and Julian agreeing cause wow… Geralt had let Julian touch him, sort of. He never let him touch his cock but let the boy press their bodies together, half hard cock rub against his plush ass. 

Julian had liked that feeling but they never had that… sensual atmosphere in their baths. But that night… he had a hot melty feeling in his groin and his cock ached. His head was full of images of Geralt, his body, the way he looked soaked from the rain, short hair flopping over his face, water dropping running down his chiseled muscles. The way he grunts when he has to haul something heavy around, the weak little huffs he makes when he has a bad dream, the sighs he lets out when he lays down after a long day. 

He let his hand creep down to himself, under his chemise. He was hard. Goodness... that hadn't happened in years. He could barely remember the last time he was hard and awake. He’d woken up with a wet nighty many times but never woke up… hard. Nor had he worked up to a hardon while he was awake for so long. 

"Geralt!" Julian called and heard the thundering quick steps of Geralt running to the room. Julian had his bottom lip caught between his teeth. Hand cradling the burning flesh of his cock. 

"What? You scared me, you prick." Geralt said as he saw the boy was fine in bed. He took a calming breath and put his hands on his hips. Julian had an odd look on his face and he had his arms weird across his body… Geralt just stared at him and slowly walked up to the bed. 

"My prick indeed." Julian said and pulled his hand away from himself after a quick squeeze.

"What're you on about?" Geralt asked. He was tired and just wanted to go to bed. Julian looked away from him, face turning a cherry red. 

"Geralt... can we do something together?" The count asked nervously and brought his knees together under the thin sheet. He wanted Geralt so much, just seeing the other man standing there in his thin pants and light shirt, the feeling of getting down to Geralt’s skin, to feel his warmth. 

Geralt looked down at the boy, his eyes blown big, cheeks cherry red and creeping down his chest. He wanted to pick the sheet up to see underneath, see what the boy was hiding. He felt the pull, the warmth in his own belly, he wasn’t a very sexual man but Julian was so soft. So sweet smelling and warm with the plushest body and the kindest hands. 

"What do you wanna do, Julek?" Geralt asked, letting his fingers graze atop the covers beside Julian’s arm. He gave the boy a look, golden eyes warm and open, lips practically begging for a kiss. 

"I um... not to be so forward but will you lay under the cover with me and well... l-lay with me?" Julian asked, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

Geralt grinned, pointy teeth on display and crawled up on the bed, throwing a leg over Julian’s thighs, causing his legs to lay flat. 

Julian had a nervous look on his face that was soon being washed away by biting tongue filled kisses. Geralt let himself go, hips grinding down onto Julian’s, savoring the feeling of a hard cock rubbing up against his own. He got washed away in the feeling of Julian yanking his shirt off and untying his trousers. 

“You’re stunning, my dear, so pretty” Julian said and let his hands wander, rubbing across Geralt’s broad shoulders, down to squeeze his hips, back up to cup his muscular pec. 

“Do you really want this, Julian? Do you want me to… to do this to you?” Geralt asked from where he had started sucking and nipping down the boy’s neck. Julian grabbed two fistfulls of his hair and yanked him up to face him, determination plain on his face. 

Geralt sucked in a breath and dared not move from where Julian had an iron grip in his hair, the pain of it sparking something he rather not look into. He stared down at the boy, he wanted, gods he wanted , but… he couldn’t do anything until Julian said okay. 

“Geralt, man who’s stolen my heart, man who’s the only one I’ve ever loved, if you don’t touch my cock in the next moment I’m going to cry. I can’t do much else but I’ll cry.” Julian threatened and tears already welled up in his eyes. He felt good and Geratl was so pretty and it was so so good and so so new. 

Geralt shook his head and Julian let go of his hair. He leaned down and pressed a sweet kiss to Julian’s lips. Julian sniffs as tears roll down his face, breaths hiccuping as Geralt ground down again. 

“I thought you wouldn’t cry.” Geralt said and leaned back to pull the sheet away and look down at where Julian’s cock was standing up against his belly, nighty rucked up to his sternum. He looked down and gave it a few light strokes. 

Julian moaned and bucked up, hands scrambling down to grab at Geralt’s wrists. He cried out and looked up at Geralt who had a look on his face, like a starved animal. 

“You gotta hold still for me, for just a minute, baby, just hold still, Julek” Geralt panted out and leaned back yanking his pants down, struggling just to get them down. 

“Geralt, what- what’re you going to do? I don’t… you know I don’t know how this works. Not with… not with two boys” Julian said in a panic as he yanked Geralt’s pants off his feet and flung them away. Geralt was back on him, straddling his waist, huge heavy cock covering Julian’s own. 

Julian just stared down at it… it was nearly the size of his forearm and it felt like fire on his skin. Geralt was so fucking perfect and… Julian felt so nervous, his belly twisting in a bad way. 

That was until Geralt was rubbing his hands up and down Julian’s sides, shushing him. 

“Just hold on, little bird, you just have to hold on for a second.” Geralt said and looked at Julian’s small bedside… oil. They needed some for this activity. 

He thought about it just for a moment before remembering something he’d seen in Julian’s harp case. He leaned down and kissed the boy again, sucking on his tongue for a moment when he pulled back. 

“Do you have that… that polishing oil with your harp still?” Geralt asked as he leaned back from kissing him. Julian was breathless, tears rolling down the sides of his face as he nodded, eyes unfocused and lips kissed red and puffy. 

“Yeah, it’s- it’s in the drawer” Julian answered after a moment to process what Geralt had said. He watched the larger man move to climb off the bed and dig through the drawer in the corner that held all Julian’s instrument’s tools and such. 

Gorgeous. That’s all Julian could think as he witnessed Geralt standing in the moonlight. One side of him, pale skin glowing in the light of the full moon, the other warmed by the candles. His hair was longer than it had been when he first arrived, now catching the light and casting the most stunning shadows across the man’s angular face. 

“ Julian ~” The boy finally heard as he came back into his mind, noticing Geralt was speaking. He looked at him, all tall and strong and hot and his cock and body and…

“‘M a bit dizzy” Julian said and Geralt soon returned, laying Julian back down flat, wiping tears away from his face, shushing him. 

“It’s alright. Do you still want to do this? It’s okay if you-” Geralt said and leaned down to wipe Julian’s eyes clean and looked down at him. He was cute. Plush and snuggly, adorable in his frilly nighty and his little socks. He was hard still, cock hard against his belly, dripping with need. 

“Please, I want you to do it. I wanna do it with you. I wanna lose… it … to you. Please.” Julian begged, staring up at Geralt’s amber eyes. He didn’t wanna be a virgin a moment longer; he wanted Geralt more than anything else. 

Geralt smiled down at him letting his hand go from wiping away tears to push the hair off Julian’s face. He crawled back up on the bed, straddling the boy once more, hands faced on his chest as he ground his ass over the boy’s hard cock. 

Julian let out a long moan and grabbed Geralt’s hips, thick muscular hips. 

“Be good, little bird, have patience.” Geralt whispered as he sat up straight, uncorking the bottle of oil. He looked down at Julian as he covered his fingers with the slick. Julian watched and looked confused. 

That was until Geralt was letting his fingers rub and slip into his hole. 

“I put my cock there? In you there? Won’t it hurt?” The boy asked as he watched Geralt’s hands move, one fingering himself open, the other holding the base of his cock, occasionally giving it a few tight strokes. 

Geralt was efficient with stretching himself out a bit, Julian wasn’t really that big. He huffed a laugh at the boy’s questioning and pulling his fingers away, stroking Julian’s cock a few times getting the extra oil off on him. 

Julian watched him, hands gripping the sheet below him. He stared down at where Geralt was kneeling over him, where Geralt was holding his cock to stand up. 

“It’s not gonna hurt me, sweetheart, this is just how… how boys do it.” Geralt said, breathless as he guided Julian’s cock to press against his wet hole. Julian just made sorry little huffing sounds until Geralt was easing down onto him. Both then letting out long moans until Geralt was sat on Julian’s hips. 

“You did it. ‘M not a virgin. Fucking gods, you feel amazing” Julian moaned, throwing his head back against the pillow under him, overwhelmed with the feeling. The feeling of being connected, of Geralt’s tight warm body, the feeling of them being together, matching and fitting together like puzzle pieces. They did match perfectly together. 

And they could both feel it. 

“I did, I took you. You’re mine, Julek, mine only. Promise me, promise your mine.” Geralt panted out and took Jlian’s hand, holding it to his heaving chest. Julian nodded, automatically agreeing. 

“Yes, yes my dear heart, my love, I’m all yours. All yours. Now have me, please.” Julian said, desperation creeping into his voice at the end. Geralt stayed for a breath longer, feeling how his heart felt sparked alive. 

And then the love melted away and the lust won over. He rose up on his knees till only the tip was still inside him and then he was letting himself fall back down, careful not to hurt the boy’s legs. Well as careful as he could be when Julian was clawing at his hips and moaning like he was putting a show on at a brothel. 

Julian was quick to cum, as expected, and was nearly passed out when Geralt guided his hand to wrap around his own cock. He was stroking himself more than Julian was, but that was okay, it was better than okay when he came and a single drop reached up to Julian’s chin and the boy licked it off. 

“That’s nasty, why do people swallow that stuff?” The boy said and made a face when the drop of cum hit his tongue. Geralt laughed, really laughed, as he sat beside the boy, feeling the cum drip from his hole. 

He reached back and grabbed the water from the bedside and guided Julian to drink some. The boy drank some and laid back, eyes slipping close as his hands rested against his clothed chest. 

He felt no shame laying in his bed with his wet cock out and his belly and nighty covered in another man’s cum. He only felt happy, and content, and tired, and wow… wow. 

“I love you Geralt. Do you want to get another bath?” The boy asked without opening his eyes. He missed the way Geralt looked down at him, eyes full of love and devotion. He didn’t know what was touching him either before he was being lifted up and carried down to the stairs. 

He didn’t open his eyes to see Geralt’s tears rolling down his face, or his smile, or his trembling lip. He was already asleep as Geralt filled a tub and held him close to his chest and wept as he cleaned them both. 

“môj vtáčik, môj, zostaň tu, zostaň so mnou” ( my little bird, mine, stay here, stay with me ) He whispered quietly as he tucked them both back into bed, holding and cuddling close to Julian who only sighed and wrapped his arms around the warm body open to him. 

It was perfect. So perfect. Warm and cozy and they both slept so well that night. Love was so thick in the air you could nearly see it. It was more than just perfect. It was nice. Geralt learned that nice was… so much better. So much better than being alive, than seeing, than hearing, than anything else. Nice was lovely. Nice was… alive. 

However nothing nice ever lasts.  

Julian got sick. 

So, so sick. 

He was pale, he barely ate, he was always cold, he had nose bleeds and his eyes went fuzzy and he was...

He was dying. 

Geralt tried everything to help him, gave him meds, asked the mages, asked the warlocks, he tried everything but Julian would smile and kiss and tell him it would be okay. 

"You knew this would happen when you came here. I'm sorry, Geralt. I'm so sorry I'm hurting you." The boy cried and held the man’s face in his trembling hands. He felt so terrible, not for himself, but for seeing Geralt be so worried. He could see the pain in Geralt's eyes each day when he wasn’t any better or when he struggled to breath or when he hacked up blood. He felt so terrible for hurting his beloved man. 

"No Julek, you're not hurting me. I never knew I could love before you. I love you, Julian, I love you." Geralt said as tears slid down his face, hands holding onto Julian’s thin wrists. He smiled at the pale skeleton that was once his plush pudgy love. 

He still loved him.

He’d love him a thousand times and a million times over. He’d give anything for him. He’d give him life, his heart, his body, anything. He just wanted Julian… to stay with him. 

"I love you too, my gem, my handsome man. Don't weep, my love, don't cry. You've given me more in the past few years than anyone else has my entire life. I'm so grateful for you. Please don't forget how much you gave me, I can never repay you." Julian said and wiped Geralt’s tears away with his thumbs. He was happy, he supposed. He was happy to have ever had Geralt for a moment. To have ever met him, to have ever even seen him. He could never repay the gods, destiny, or whoever brought the man to his home. He was happy to have had the man in his life. It hurt his heart to know he was hurting the strong man who wept before him. 

"You could stay. You could stay with me forever. Never leave me, please, please stay with me. I don't have anyone else." Geralt begged and begged. He’d do anything for Julian to stay. Anything. Julian only smiled and used his sleeve to pat away Geralt’s big tears. He shushed the bigger man and leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead, his cheeks, his nose, and his lips. 

"I'll stay. You're mine, I'm yours. We’re meant to be with each other. Our destinies are intertwined, our lives are melted together. Like soup." Julian said, remembering the first conversation they ever had, the feeling he had. Geralt huffed a sad laugh and nodded. 

"Like soup." He agreed and laid Julian back down. He could rest for a bit before Geralt brought their dinner up, even knowing Julian wasn’t going to eat, he’d still sit the boy at the table and sit with him. 

They went to bed, Geralt putting a nice clean nighty and socks onto Julian, and disrobing himself down to a pair of thick pants and socks. The seasons were changing and it was a bitter night. He made sure to cover Julian up, making sure he was warm. 

“Goodnight, my love, try to get some sleep, you’ve been restless for so long now.” Julian said to him with a soft kiss before rolling over to be spooned and snuggled. 

“I love you, Julek, my heart is yours.” Geralt confessed and pressed as close as he could to the boy and let exhaustion take over him. 

When Geralt woke up Julian was gone. 

He dressed him, put him in the middle of the bed, and made him look like a king. He got a cloth and washed him, ran a brush through his soft hair, and made sure he looked neat and noble. 

Not a tear rolling down his face. He needed to go away, he needed to leave before the successor came. He needed to make sure Julian was treated properly and then he needed to leave. 

He cleaned the room, face stone cold. 

He was in shock really, his chest hurt. He walked down and called everyone into the dining room and they all already knew. 

Geralt went into the town and informed them. 

A cousin would be taking the estate and the power. 

Geralt dug his grave and buried him the way he wanted to be, with his music notes and his childhood harp. He had cried over the boy when he was tasked with covering him in soil. He sobbed and sobbed, letting out the most pained sounds half the town had ever heard. He howled and cried out like an animal being shredded by wolves. 

He slept there in the dirt over the boy, refusing to leave him until the leaves covered the grave. He carved a J out of a strong branch of wood and placed it over where Julian was. 

Geralt was darker than night as he moved through the house, he would come at night and leave at dawn. Things were moved and changed, no one caring though. No one was going to question him and his grief. 

He was told Julian had given him a house in the mountains and that was the last anyone ever seen of Geralt, Servant of The Flower of Lettenhoven. Lover of the Great Count Julian Of Lettenhoven. 

No one knew where he went, assuming he had left just as he had arrived, in the darkness of night in silence. The house in the mountains had been destroyed by an avalanche years ago, no one went looking for trouble anyway.

Next Chapter ->

[changingplumbob]

Chopra Household: Chapter 5, Part 3

Mercedes practices her words, the household gets some new additions, Cassandra and Rahul get excited about the impending Chopra and the baby shower starts.

Inside, after much insistence by the twins, all the girls in the house practice potty together. Neither twin has reached level 3 yet but they’ve got plenty of time. Outside Rahul begins to plant some aubergine on his crop spots. Luckily weeks of cleaning the chicken coop has left him with lots of fertiliser he can use. All the crops get dusted with super vitality fertiliser today.

Cassandra: What flash cards do you want Mercedes

Mercedes: Nan amils

Cassandra: Animals it is. Okay little lady, what is this one

Mercedes: Bwear

Cassandra: Bear. B B Bear

Mercedes: Not bwear, bear *giggles*

Cassandra: Very good. How about this one

Mercedes: Belly wish

Cassandra: Close. Jellyfish

Mercedes: *quietly* jelly-fish, jelly-fish

Cassandra: What about-

Mercedes: I know! It turtle mama!

Cassandra: Yes it is! Well done

Here we have the newest household additions. Mini goat Turtle and mini sheep Seven. Yes, I let the toddlers name the animals, again (or maybe it was my childish brain, I’ll never tell!)

Inside Savannah and Mercedes take some time to have fun together. They both agree that a new baby is unnecessary since they exist. They’re going to try ignore it and hope it goes away. Mercedes suggested yelling at it but Savannah said that would just get them in trouble with their parents. Mercedes may still try yelling, only time will tell.

Cassandra needs some time outside so practices her guitar while Rahul sets things up for the new household members. Unfortunately something spooks Seven, not too sure if it was the guitar or the flock of chickens. Cassandra stops and takes some time to calm down and comfort Seven, just in case it was her.

Brilliant news! I hadn’t seen Binky or Boo, just a new wild rabbit. I thought, gosh darn it they passed on. I was WRONG! Here is Binky, alive and well in the garden. Also, she’s still apparently a young adult? I don’t know how rabbit aging works. Rahul pets her in delight for me.

Dinner goes much better with both parents. Cassandra has the night off and both girls happily chatter to her and Rahul between mouthfuls. Mercedes eats everything off her plate without tossing it on the floor! Savannah of course would never waste food. While Rahul clears Mercedes even blows Cassandra a kiss.

Before bed both twins get bubble baths. It’s the baby shower tomorrow so there won’t be any time in the morning.

Savannah: Watch out mama. I make wave go high

Cassandra: Very high indeed. How high can we get those arms

Savannah: All way up mama

Mercedes: Papa, you like bubbles

Rahul: I do like bubbles

Mercedes: You want share

Rahul: No thank you little ladybug

Mercedes: To late *splashes*

Rahul: Oh no, you’re much too fast for me

Mercedes: *giggles*

Savannah: Mama, can I has help with potty, I not want to be yuck

Cassandra: Of course you can. Oh, that was a kick

Savannah: I didn’t

Cassandra: I know honeybee. I mean the baby kicked me

Savannah: How

Cassandra: From the inside

Savannah doesn't understand but really doesn't care enough about the baby to ask any more questions. Potty time is successful and no messes are made.

Cassandra is exhausted after working on growing a human all day so Rahul tells her to head to bed and he can put the girls to sleep. Mercedes, book loving toddler that she is, requests a story. Savannah however is happy enough to be tucked in without a story.

In the middle of the night Rahul wakes up and wonders where Cassandra is. After checking the bathroom he goes and finds her in the hall from the kitchen.

Rahul: Everything okay my darling

Cassandra: I was hungry and craving some fruit

Rahul: Shall we go back to bed

Cassandra: Actually big guy, I was worried. We didn’t have a lot of time together yesterday with me working with the girls. Maybe…

Rahul: What is it

Cassandra: It probably sounds stupid but I was wondering if we could read to the baby. I want it to know your voice

Rahul: That’s not stupid, I’d love to

2am, Cassandra and Rahul are awake and taking some time to be together.

Rahul: Is the book meant to look upside down

Cassandra: Luna said some books are like this

Rahul: Perhaps it’s a way to fight against pregnancy brain

Cassandra: Hey, I don’t have pregnancy brain

Rahul: Well I do

Cassandra: For someone who dislikes comedy, you do make me smile

Rahul: You make me smile my darling. Now what happens after the pink dinosaur

Mr Cluckton: *crows* Hear ye, hear ye. A new dawn is upon us

Mrs Feathers: *clucks* It does keep happening

Mr Cluckton: *clucks* My keen guard chicken senses tell me the watcher has rearranged the yard. Be vigilant everyone!

Cassandra is too hungry to wait for breakfast so she has some leftovers while Rahul cooks some eggs for him and the twins

Rahul: What are you doing

Cassandra: Washing up

Rahul: You should leave that for me

Cassandra: You’re busy to, and we need to be ready for the baby shower

Rahul: You can barely access the sink over the bump

Cassandra: It does feel like I’m much bigger than when I had the twins. Maybe it’s a second pregnancy thing. I wish I could do my yoga, my back is so stiff

Rahul: I can help with that

Cassandra: But big guy, the eggs-

Rahul: Will be fine, now turn around. How’s that

Cassandra: A bit lower, yeah that’s perfect

Rahul: How is our baby doing this morning

Cassandra: Pretty active, do you want to say hi

Rahul: Of course I do. Hi little one, it’s papa here, I love you so much already

Rahul: And don’t you worry about your big sisters, we’ll keep you happy

Cassandra: I hope so

Rahul rests his cheek on Cassandra’s belly, feeling the baby kicks against his face.

Rahul: Forget athlete, I think this one might have inherited your sense of rhythm

Cassandra heads off to shower and Rahul returns to the eggs, which did indeed survive being ignored, the pros of sim cooking.

Cassandra collects the days eggs and is cleaning the coop when Seven bounces over to see what is happening. After she feeds the chickens Cassandra cleans up Seven.

Cassandra: We’re having visitors today, must look our best huh

Seven: *bleats* Clean is good

Cassandra: Have you seen Turtle? Turtle! Where are you? We need to clean you to

While Cassandra waits for turtle to appear she treats Seven to some milk. We have plenty of prairie grass but Cassandra wants to bond. She then shears off some wool to keep Seven looking sleek.

Cassandra: There you are Turtle. We really must adjust the gate locks, can’t have you wandering off. Who knows if foxes would try to get you

Cassandra cleans Turtle up and milks her to get rid of the pressure

Cassandra: I bet that feels better huh? I always feel better after pumping

Baby shower time and the weather is perfect! Unfortunately I added some gates to change where the chickens could get to and there seems to be a problem with sim visitors entering the property.

Savannah: Welcome all to our home

Mercedes: We glad you here to cel- sally

Savannah: Celebrate!

Mercedes: Even Milton *giggles*

Milton is not amused by this joke.

Mercedes: Uncle! Uncle! Play!

Alexander: Okay but go easy on me Mercedes

Devin: She’s running riot over you

Alexander: She’s just an enthusiastic play wrestler

Milton: Savannah, let me in

Savannah: What the password

Milton: Huh

Savannah: Not it

Milton: Look, the dog got let in

Savannah: Dog knew password

Milton: Dogs can’t speak

Savannah: Not it

Milton: *sighs in frustration*

Previous Part ... Next Part

[mooncakesofpan]

Love On a Wire ch.2

Eddie x Gn!Reader

Summary: With your own feelings for Eddie Munson starts to eat you up, what’s to say you’ll be able to keep lifting him up.

A/n: The reader and they're dad have a good relationship because I need therapy. also hi it been a few days i am indeed alive stardew valley may have taken over my life.

Word count: 1.3K

Warnings: angst, suggestive content (eventually) , Slight unrequited feelings, Slow burn, No pronouns mentioned  

Chapter: 2

[previous] | [next]

Stranger things Masterlist | Main Masterlist

DO NOT STEAL MY WORK

Months passed Eddie and this cheerleader I found out was named Chrissy the golden girl of the cheer team had been sneaking around. I wasn't gonna comment on it it wasn't my place but him constantly being absent from things and my own feelings for Eddie started feeling like it was too much to hold on to, on top of the repetitive schedule I had put myself on to spend the least amount of time with Eddie that consisted of work and band practice just to distract my self.

Part of me is living out my dad's dream of being a singer that had been crushed a long time ago but he liked to still produce things for himself so when he heard me originally workshopping the song to maybe come in and record. I walked into the garage, my hands shoved in my jacket. I saw Eddie pull up and hold his hand out for a girl in jeans and a hoodie with some sunglasses. making me sigh, the feeling of having a Chrissy freezone gone, honestly I really don't have an issue with Chrissy, she's a very sweet girl. it just really hurts to see Eddie with someone else and feel like I was too late to say something. With everyone setting up I spoke up,

“So my dad said he’d let us use the recording studio to record black sheep,” I say shrugging, over the past few weeks the band had really fallen in love with the song. and it was sounding really good.

“Seriously!” Jeff said voice filled with disbelief.

“yep my dad hurt me a couple of weeks ago when I workshopping it and then talked to me last night about recoding the song if you guys were down,” I said plugging in the mic. 

The thing about my dad was that pretty much no one was allowed in his recording studio, it was essentially his first child which hurt a bit being his actual first child but to each their own. part of me thinks he knew the song meant a lot to me like he knew the real meaning behind it.

 ”Hell yeah! why would we turn that down,” Gareth said 

we would record Friday night. But halfway through the practice, Chrissy had to walk home when she left there was an awkward silence in the air.

“Eddie we talked about, outsiders during practice and you know that if your gonna bring someone you're supposed to talk to the band first,” I said grabbing a dr. pepper from the table, rule number one was corroded coffin practices were members only and any guest had to be talked about beforehand.

“yeah, sorry guys she said she lived not far from here so I offered her a ride,” he said eating some pretzels.

 ”yeah okay let's just practice some other songs,” I say rolling my eyes and trying to change the subject.

Friday came quick and the band was doing really well recording their respective parts having recorded most of the things that night it was getting late. “Before we lock up Eddie Y/n why don't you two step up to the mics I want both of you to try both Hooks together” my dad had a confident look on his face something in that look said ‘set up’

I sighed as Eddie just sat there with a bit of a surprised look.

“Let's go Eddie boy we don't have all night,” I say smirking at Eddie trying to hide both the butterflies and dread setting in my stomach.

I finally get up and going Eddie got up stumbling to the mic set up.

I started building up to the hook a bit with Eddie's voice flowing out with mine.

I'll send you my love on a wire

Lift you up, every time

Everyone, ooh

Pulls away, ooh

The feeling i felt the first time singing that part of the song with Eddie came back all over again. The things have I've been trying to shove so far back down, just coming all the way back up . 

It's a mechanical bull, the number one

You'll take a ride from anyone

Everyone wants a ride, pulls away, ooh, from you

my eyes turned glassy I tried not to let the sound of me feeling like I was gonna cry come threw the lyrics.

“perfect” dad lets out as we finish, “good job kids I’ll let you know when I have everything together,” he says clasping his hands together

I quickly wipe my hand across my face. I saw Eddie in the corner of my eye looking over at me. wiping my face. I waved him off not wanting to draw much attention to the stinging in my eyes 

“well kids you better get home it is late and I wanna lock up shop, plus your parents must be worried,” Dad says getting up from the chair.

I waved to everyone leaving closing the door once they were out of sight. my back hit the wall my head tilting back to look at the ceiling

“you know you gotta tell him” my dad's voice caused me to jump. “I can't dad he's got this thing going on with this cheerleader,” I say rubbing my face down my face.

“cheerleader or not I see how he looks at you and I see how you look at him,” you let out a dry laugh

“yeah tell him and ruin everything thank you dad that feels so helpful”

“hey don't get smart with me I'm trying to help you,” he says pointing his finger at me 

“ I know I'm sorry” I let out a sigh “I don't wanna seem unsupportive he's my best friend first that comes before whatever the hell I feel for him, and he really likes this girl I don't wanna get in the way of that or make it seem like I want to wedge my self between them okay?”

 Dad walks to the back motioning me to join him so we could lock up.

“Whatever you wanna do kiddo I think you should say something,… or you can be a coward and keep yourself in whatever loop this is,” dad said Locking the back door. 

“Harsh damn,”

“Well someone gotta tell yah” he was right though I really should say something, I really don't wanna put myself in the way of what Eddie and this girl have.

my dad made quick work putting the song together bringing me in during my shift to go listen to it, the song gave me chills and the combination of Eddie's voice with mine made my heart swell for some reason. I think it's hurting me more than I care to admit that I love him this much and I can't say anything. It feels like I've lost my chance like I should have said it 2 years ago when I fell in love with the dorky guitarist. But just like now I was too scared of the repercussions, what if he hated me what if this ruined the friendship we had all those nights in his van being high and laughing at stupid shit, the times he would come and bother me for discounts on new music or the way he'd try to get me to do stuff for Hellfire despite the fact I really don't play DND anymore. 

That night I found myself on the floor listening to the cassette of black sheep tears streaming down my face with the sound of eddies voice blending with mine to accompany my own pathetic sobs.

I really tried for the next few weeks to suck it up I got the rest of the boys a cassette with the song on it. listening to it during practice to see the group's hard work come together. It was truly my favorite thing I've written, but the meaning behind the song was also still eating me, the song about the boy who had been on my mind for such a long time and the distance I still feel between us, and one that's honestly still growing. But he seems in love with Chrissy and who am I to try and split that up I but didn't think any of that would bring me to the day I walked into practice for Corroded Coffin and said,

”I'm quitting the band”

Chapter: 1 | 2 |

Taglist: feel free to reblog and/or ask to be in the taglist

@solarcoffee

[adventuretolkienlover]

CHICKEN TROUBLE! 🐔🐓🐤

(An Alchemy Bros Fic)

Introduction: First off, I'd like to tag a couple of the Alchemy Bros fans that inspired my to write this. @whitecatindisguise and @brushes-of-sage! Your fics with this concept are masterpieces to me and you're both awesome! You don't have to read this fic, but I'd just like to say thanks for the inspiration. The amount of emotion you put into your own fics brought me to tears and inspired me greatly. My fic is a bit goofy compared to those, but soon I hope to write more deep emotional pieces like you have. That would be amazing. And I'd also like to tag a couple of friends in here too! @disneyfanatic1993 @blueberrycrystalowo and @sbartdump! You don't have to check it out of you don't want to, but it's here if you do. And last but not least, the fic is based on an art piece by one of my favorite artists Cinn-a-mum! I love her art! I keep saying that, but I really do. It's this piece here! And the title is courtesy of my brother. Who is great with titles! So, without further ado, the fic! By me!

Summary: During his first farming lesson, Hugo finds himself in a scary situation with one of Old Corona's grumpiest chickens!

Trigger Warnings: NONE! This is a silly fluffy fun fanfic. Nothing even remotely scary! Unless you count grumpy chickens as scary, like Hugo.🤣

Hugo was a city slicker. No two ways about it. He didn't know the first thing about farm work. But unfortunately for him, he'd just been adopted into a farmer's family. With a huge farm. With lots of farm work to be done. And lots of chickens. Chicken as far as the eye could see. Just wandering around in a great big pen. Hugo had never seen so many chickens. At least not alive. And today was the day he was going to be feeding said chickens. He'd have to walk across the pen, pour feed into the feeder, and walk back. No big deal, right?

He hoped so anyway as him and his brother Varian walked toward the chicken coops. Hugo could hears the hens flapping and screeching like banshees. He looked out over the madness. He felt a twinge of fear. "Var?" he asked. "Yeah?" said Varian. "Can a chicken kill you?" asked Hugo. Varian looked at him quizzically. He wasn't going to lie. He was slightly amused by the question. "No? I mean a whole flock maybe. But one chicken? Nah." Varian plopped down a bag of feed on the ground and turned to Hugo. "Okay, a few things to know about chickens. They're mean. Cows are fine, sheep are nice, but chickens can be the jerks of the barn yard. And their talons and breaks are SHARP. So try not to aggravate them. When feeding them, do the job quickly and with skill. If that bag breaks and your standing to middle of it, well... You're in trouble. So just make sure you get across and back again and you'll do fine" Hugo wasn't sure if Varian's advice made him feel better or worse. He picked up the bag and walked up to the gate. He looked over his shoulder at Varian. Varian grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Hugo gave him a forced smile and then opened the gate. The mere movement of the gate opening sent a few hens fluttering into the air. Hugo flinched but kept going. He started across the pen, trying to ignore the pecking and flapping all around him. He tried to look calm but internally, he was screaming. "Just keep your eyes on the target. You're not afraid of any chickens! For goodness sake you eat them all the time. Just think of them as your prey." A rooster let out a loud squawk! Hugo jumped slightly and began to wonder if it was the other way around. He could have sworn he saw killers instinct in those beady little eyes of theirs. Finally he made it to the feeder. He tore the seam on the bag and poured in the feed. Suddenly the chicken came running at him! Hugo skittered out of the way as the chickens flocked to their breakfast. Hugo gave a sigh of relief, as now they were too wrapped up in eating to notice him. And now the pen was mostly clear to walk through, so no more flapping and pecking his legs. Mission accomplished! He was just about to walk back to the gate when he heard a loud "BUK BUKAW!" at his feet! He let out a yelp and looked down at his feet in shock. There was red feathered hen staring right at his face. It looked like it was staring into his soul. Hugo tried to walk around her, but she matched every move. Hugo began to panic. "What now?!" he thought. He decide to try acting more confident. Maybe she could smell fear. He stood tall and kept his voice unwavering and stern. "I don't fear you bird!" he proclaimed. The hen stared at him, unmoving. Hugo felt a hint of pride. He'd done it! He'd conquered his fear. He took a step. "BUKAW!" "AHH!!!" he screamed as the hen fluttered toward him! Hugo ran around her and made a dash for the gate. "I FEAR YOU! I FEAR YOU!" Suddenly he heard the sound of pattering feet. The hen was CHASING HIM! He ran out the gate and shut it! But the hen flew over and clawed at him in mid air. Luckily Hugo was too quick for her and he ran away letting out a scream that was much too feminine sounding for a boy his age!

Varian, who was turning the soil in a pumpkin field, heard to the chaos and looked over his shoulder. He was just in time to see a terrified screaming Hugo being chased into town by a very mad and loud chicken! "Hugo!" Varian shouted! He dropped his graden hoe and ran after him! Meanwhile, Hugo was dodging pedestrians and carts as he ran through Old Corona's streets! "What did I do to deserve this fate?!" he thought! "Okay, so maybe I have done some shady stuff BUT I SAID I WAS SORRY!" Hugo realized that the chicken was gaining on him! He vaulted over a pile of apple crates and pushed through a group of customers. The chicken fluttered over the crates and into a man's face! She knocked him off his feet before continuing to chase Hugo! He ran past Quirin talking with some of the other farmers! "HEEEELP!" he shouted! Quirin looked at him in shock! "Hugo?!" said Quirin! Varian came running up to his father panting. "Hugo needs help!" he said breathlessly. "No kidding!" said one of the other farmers! "Come on Varian!" said Quirin and they rushed off to help the boy.

Hugo ran into town square and clambered up a tree! The chicken ran around the trunk squawking and flapping while trying to get to Hugo! Hugo was scared. No, more than scared! He was terrified! No, more than that! "What's a bigger word then terrified?!" he thought! "SQUAWK!" Hugo yelped again and clung to his tree branch with all his might. Some of the passerbys had stopped to watch the show and we're laughing hysterically! Hugo didn't see what was so funny. What's funny about being murdered by a chicken?! Just when he was trying to remember if chickens have a taste for human flesh, Varian and Quirin pushed through the crowd to come to his rescue. "Don't worry Hugo! We're coming!" called up Varian! "Don't worry?!" shouted Hugo! "I'm in a tree! With the Bird of Death below me!" Quirin grabbed the chicken and restrained her. "You can come down now Hugo. I've got her." he shouted. Hugo wasn't so sure. But he didn't want to stay in the tree, so he slowly made his way down. He could hear the town folk gossiping already. "We should have expected that from a city boy." one whispered. "How ironic. A chicken running from a chicken!" said a man. "Did you hear him screaming? He sounded like my sister that time she got a bug caught in her hair!" another laughed. The crowd began to disappear. Their laughter faded as well. Hugo sighed and sat down on the wall surrounding the tree. " I guess I messed up pretty bad. Huh?" "It's okay Hugo. It was your first time." Varian said gently. "Of course." agreed Quirin. Quirin handed the now calm hen to Varian and sat down next to Hugo. "Maybe you didn't do perfect, but you were brave enough to try. And that's what counts." said Quirin. Hugo looked up at him and flashed small smile. "Really?" he asked. "Definitely." answered Quirin. He put his arm around Hugo and continued. "Farming takes practice. I wasn't great when I first started. You must remember that I was once a knight. I hadn't done farming before either. I learned how to farm from the other farmers here. When I first tried feeding those chickens, I made the mistake of forgetting to shut the gate afterwards." Hugo's eye's widened. "You did?" he said. "Yes." chuckled Quirin. "The next time I went outside, the whole farm was covered in chickens! I took hours to catch them all." Hugo laughed. "Wow. That's crazy!" he said. "And I once got stuck in an apple tree after the ladder fell!" chimed in Varian. "I had to wait for hours until my dad realized that I was missing!" By now all of them were laughing and talking about their funniest farming fails. Hugo was feeling much better. When things finally quieted down, Quirin took the hen back from Varian and turned to Hugo. "Now that she's relaxed, would you like to try making friends with Abigail here?" he asked. "Abigail?" thought Hugo. "I guess that's a fitting name for a chicken." Hugo reached out his hand cautiously and stroked the hen's head with his index finger. The chicken clucked contently. Hugo felt his shoulders relax and he let out a deep breath. "She's not so bad now I guess." he said as he stroked her soft back feathers. "Yeah, she just needed to get used to you." said Varian. "Well, we'd best be getting back boys." said Quirin. They began walking back to the farm. Hugo looked at his father and brother and felt better than he had in years. Maybe this farm life would be better than he thought.

The End.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Notes: So, in this fic, I wanted to capture the seer terror of a man who has literally never touched a chicken before. I hope I succeeded! I have seen so many videos of people going to pet chickens and then getting a taste of unbridled chicken rath! LOL! I don't think chickens are scary in general. It just that there are some mean ones out there! And I thought that this would definitely be a scenario for poor Hugo. That boy is NOT a farmer. 🤣 I hope you all liked this fic! It's my first one so there may be some mistakes. But overall, I think it's pretty good. I'll hopefully be writing more stuff like this so stay tuned! God bless and bye for now!

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 26

(Ella's POV)

When you think “monster island”, you think craggy rocks & bones scattered on the beach like the island of the Sirens.

The Cyclops’s island was nothing like that.

I mean, okay, it had a rope bridge across a chasm, which was not a good sign. You might as well put up a billboard that said, SOMETHING EVIL LIVES HERE.

But except for that, the place looked like a Caribbean postcard. It had green fields, tropical fruit trees & white beaches.

As we sailed toward the shore, Annie breathed in the sweet air & said. “The Fleece.”

I nodded. I couldn’t see the Fleece yet, but I could feel its power. I could believe it would heal anything, even Thalia’s poisoned tree.

“If we take it away, will the island die?” Percy asked.

Annie shook her head. “It’ll fade. Go back to what it would be normally, whatever it is.”

I felt a little guilty about ruining this paradise, but I reminded myself that we had no choice. Camp Half-Blood was in trouble.

Even Tyson...Tyson would still be with us if it wasn’t for this quest.

In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge-the size of hippos.

Just past them was a path that led up into the hills.

At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was a massive oak tree.

Something gold glittered in its branches.

“This is too easy,” Percy said. “We could just hike up there & take it?”

“There’s supposed be a guardian. A dragon or...” I said.

That’s when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once & rushed the animal.

It happened so fast that the deer stumbled & was lost in a sea of wool & trampling hooves.

Grass & tufts of fur flew into the air.

A second later the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings.

Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.

Percy, Annie & I exchanged looks.

“They’re like piranhas,” she said.

“Piranhas with wool. How will we-“ Percy started to say.

“Guys!” Annie gasped, grabbing my arm. “Look.”

She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground...the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham.

We decided there was no way we could get past the man-eating sheep.

Annie wanted to sneak up the path invisibly & grab the Fleece, but in the end Percy & I convinced her that something would go wrong.

The sheep would definitely smell her.

Another guardian would appear.

Something. And if that happened, we’d be too far away to help her.

Besides, our first job was to find Grover & whoever had come ashore in that lifeboat-assuming they’d gotten past the sheep. I was secretly hoping...that Tyson might still be alive.

I could tell that it was affecting Percy a lot even though he was trying really hard not to let it show...

We moored the Queen Anne’s Revenge on the back side of the island where the cliffs rose straight up a good two hundred feet.

Because the ship was less likely to be seen there. The cliffs looked climbable, barely-about as difficult as the lava wall back at camp. At least it was free of sheep.

I hoped that Polyphemus did not also keep carnivorous mountain goats.

We rowed a lifeboat to the edge of the rocks & made our way up, very slowly.

I went first because Percy & Annie decided that I was the better climber.

We only came close to dying six or seven times, which I thought was pretty good.

Once, I lost my grip & found myself dangling by one hand from a ledge fifty feet above the rocky surf. But I found another handhold & kept climbing.

A minute later Annie hit a slippery patch of moss & her foot slipped.

Fortunately, she found something else to put it against. Unfortunately, that something was Percy's face.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

“S’okay,” He grunted, & I was secretly glad that I wasn't the one to find out what Annie’s sneaker tasted like.

Finally, when my fingers felt like molten lead & my arm muscles were shaking from exhaustion, we hauled ourselves over the top of the cliff & collapsed.

“Ugh,” I said.

"Oof," Percy said.

“Ouch,” moaned Annabeth.

“Garrr!” bellowed another voice.

If I hadn’t been so tired, I would’ve leaped another two hundred feet.

I whirled around, but I couldn’t see who’d spoken.

Annie clamped her hand over my mouth. She pointed.

The ledge we were sitting on was narrower than I’d realized.

It dropped off on the opposite side, & that’s where the voice was coming from-right below us.

“You’re a feisty one!” the deep voice bellowed.

“Challenge me!” It was Clarisse’s voice, no doubt about it. “Give me back my sword & I’ll fight you!”

The monster roared with laughter.

Percy, Annie & I shared a look before creeping to the edge which was right above the entrance of the cyclops cave.

😩🫣....

Plsss don't kill meee!!

Anyways..hope u enjoy the chapter😌

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

[sibillascribbles08]

Tell us some behind the scenes lore about Artificial Phoenix that probably won't make it into the fic proper!

Oh lordy, there's a decent chunk, and a few things I don't wanna go into just yet because it could kinda sorta spoil some stuff later on buuut

Sho does occasionally hang around the turtles as closely as Atsuko does, but he intentionally stays out of their reach because he still partially blames himself for the path Yoshi went down.

This defo won't be in the actual fic, Amarantha is in fact still alive, but Draxum won't see her again until after the movie plot (that I sadly won't be writing out because not enough changes imo).

Lou Jitsu had quite a history with Marcus Moncrief and initially considered contacting him for help after escaping the hidden city, only to discover the actor had gone a bit off the deep end. (What he doesn't know is that Big Mama kidnapping him is partially what started Marcus's massive decline in his mental health oops). He has some books in his room about the actor to try and figure out what happened to him.

Genuinely so sad we couldn't actually visit the thrift stores in the fic (maybe a drabble I could do one day). Some of the owners got very familiar with Splinter and his sons and one of them even offered a trade system since Donnie could fix some of the stuff in their shop.

Splinter was a support pillar for Hueso when he was dealing with his divorce lmao

Draxum moms funfacts! Belladyna is the fully sheep mom, more purple in color and thick curly hair to go with it. Draxum inherited her vine magic. Camarin was built more like an ox (and she was also trans and had some massive horns which Draxum always admired). Her magic is more stone based. Their powers combined is partially why they stuck with farming.

While Splinter didn't really need to eat food or drink stuff while being undead, he kept doing so anyway out of habit. That being said, sometimes he'd forget to for way too long and sometimes his sons would notice and worry.

Carol did have some romantic feelings for Splinter at one point, but never pursued them while he kept being avoidant about certain things (particularly his kids) and now... welp

In canon Splinter has a huge trophy display, but this doesn't exist in AF, any of those he managed to recover have remained in a box since.

This MAY get mentioned but it's highly unlikely, in the back of one of the scrapbooks is an old poster that features Holly Blue that Splinter happened to find buried in the back of Hueso's ad board. It's all he had to remember her with.

Okay this is more a teaser and less a fact, there's a specific reason Draxum's magic came back and I'm excited for that reveal when we get to it

I'll stop there before it goes on too long haha

[64-jungle-planks]

Happy Doomcraft Doomsday 2022!

After the fall of the Hermitblr Discord Server back in January 2022, Demise has come back - this time on a different Server with a different name, Doomsday! The event is modded by the wonderful @ambered-glazed-sheep and their amazing mod team! This year, there are 16 players, and I'm really excited to try to hit at least everyone once or twice!

The Rules are:

You can only attack people who are participating in the event! (Of course, you can still draw characters of other people! However, that will not be considered part of Doomsday)

You can attack other participants by putting your creation of their character into doomsday-attacks and pinging them on Discord.

You can't attack the same person again until they've defended themselves from your first attack, or died.

If you are attacked, you can defend yourself (by creating art for your attacker) within a timeframe of 48 hours.

You only get one life!

You can defend for other people!

You can check whether a person is alive or dead by their roles (on Discord).

There are no specific rules about forming teams!

Attacks don't have to be murder/Halloween themed! However, they can be!

If you want to draw something more dark or bloody, please check the refs channel beforehand to see if the person you're attacking specified anything about that.

You can sign out of the event at any time, just let a mod know!

The sign-ups closed Sep 29th and the game started 8am CEST and there's already been so many attacks! I cannot wait to see how everything turns out and who will be the winners this year!

Each person was able to submit 5 characters into the game, and I put in four!

9w3n 0 (Gwen Cypher) (They/It/She)

They are a character I played on the New Dawn SMP back in Nov. 2021 (I haven't redrawn her ref in a while haha). They are very nervous and doesn't know a lot of stuff from this era and is most familiar with things from the Beta update, like Red Beds and wolves. Endermen are new to them, and whatever a stronghold is? They are very drawn to it and all the new things like Fences!!! What do you mean, they came out several years ago? And where’s her friends? What do you mean Herobrine isn’t real? They are an Allay Elf Hybrid, think BIG rounded ears with blue insides, small wings, and occasionally a tail!

Milo Fern (He/Him)

(I don't have a good photo of Milo yet) Milo is a character I made back in 2020/early 2021 from a TikTok OC challenge about mixing three DSMP creators and seeing what you make! I combined Wilbur Soot, Fundy, and Ranboo and got Milo. He’s played a part of a helpful farm boy who loves to play guitar and hang out with his boyfriend. He has a lot of anxiety and can be very paranoid. He loves redstone, but feels like it’s going to explode if he gets a small detail wrong. Milo's also a retired L'manburg soldier, but I don't really know how to work that into his story yet.

Scaps K. Pigeon-Patch (He/They)

My rip-off GoodtimeswithScar D&D character.

(This image has his backpack on, the one I posted on the Doomcraft server doesn't have it.) He’s just a halfling with elf like ears and sometimes a tail. When I originally designed him I was thinking of the Borrowers and the Littles, I wanted him to have those vibes. He likes to bite people when they try to shake his hand. My DM wrote my backstory and I won't put it here just in case someone in my campaign sees this. He likes to eat soap :)

Penelope “Poppy” System (They/She/He/It)

It's just IRL me, I wanted to add ghostbuster stuff because that's what I've been into recently and I did draw that photo of my buddy Dylan sooo... I used that photo for convenience.

I cannot wait to see what other attacks happen, and I am so glad to be a part of this, this year! I'll be posting my attacks here and @ing the people I attack, so please be on the lookout for that!