#they don’t even see that elyse is doing that

[itspileofgoodthings]

there is a point at which using your persona to make money simply invalidates any sincerity you try to put into it.

[asongofmarvelanddc]

Duty PT 5½

PAIRING: Robb Stark X Reader

WORD COUNT: 2,475

WARNINGS: none!

SUMMARY: Robb's Queen falls ill and he is not quite sure how to handle it.

PART 1| PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 4 ½ | PART 5 | PART 6

MASTERLIST | ROBB STARK MASTERLIST

A/N: This is kind of short drabble-type chapter setting up the next two! Please send a message, comment, send an ask so i can hear from you! and hope you enjoy 🥰🫶🏾 (Part 6 dropping tomorrow night –UK nighttime btw 🤭)

Robb has grown used to your company in recent weeks. He was surprised the first time you came to his study for no reason other than to talk, but he came away from that evening happy to have seen and spoken with you.

Eventually, those nightly visits became more of an expectation. Sometimes you’ll have a conversation over tea and cakes and other nights he’ll share a laugh with you over supper with a belly full of ale. Occasionally you watch him work while doing needlepoint or sewing up his trousers – because he always seems to rip the seams – providing a needed distraction whenever he gets too frustrated with the contents of his letters.

It is routine. One he quite enjoys, which is why when you don’t come to his study tonight, he’s not upset, he’s worried. He thinks to ignore it and continue on with his work, but he struggles to concentrate on any of it when his mind keeps wandering back to you.

He has enough after a few minutes and rises to his feet intending to find you and determine that everything is alright. As he walks around the Great Keep, not a single person he passes can tell him where you are. His casual stroll slowly morphs into a hurried walk as he begins heading towards your chambers. That is when he runs into someone.

Elyse.

He almost doesn’t realise it is her at first, so focused on where he is going that he brushes past her. It is only at the sound of her voice when she stops to curtsey that he recognises who it is. He spins back around as he already passed her a little, cocking his head to the side.

“Elyse,” he breathes as he approaches her slowly, “How are you?”

They have not spoken in some weeks now. It is awkward between them. It has never been awkward. He suspects that she has been avoiding him, but a part of him chooses to believe that only because he has in fact been avoiding her out of guilt.

She looks up at him, a thin yet soft smile on her lips. “I am well,” she says, though her pained eyes tell a different story.

Robb has the urge to pry her for more questions. The only reason he has stayed away from her is because things can never be as they were once. Not if he intends to honour his vows to you.

He doesn’t want her to feel as though he has simply cast her aside and forgotten her. But as soon as he’s about to raise a hand to take hers, he stops himself, remembering why he is here in this corridor in the first place. He is trying to find you.

“Have you seen…?” his voice trails off before he can say your name. He doesn’t know if that would be offensive or unnecessarily hurtful.

But it doesn’t need to be said because she knows who he refers to just by the look in his eyes.

“The Queen is in her chambers. With Maester Luwin.”

That means something is wrong, and though he wants to stay and ease Elyse’s hurt, he does not have the time for it.

“Thank you, Elyse,” he lingers for a moment, knowing there are still many things unsaid between them, before making his way to your chambers.

Just as he arrives at the door, Maester Luwin steps outside, jumping when he sees Robb.

“Your Grace,” he bows as best as he can while shutting the door, " Forgive me, I was not expecting you."

Robb frowns as he glances from the closed door to Maester Luwin, “Has something happened?”

The Maester shakes his head slowly, “Her Grace has fallen ill, but–”

“Why was I not made aware?"

"It was quite sudden," he explains, then places a hand on Robb's shoulder, "But it is nothing serious, you need not worry yourself."

Mester Luwin's voice is comforting, but Robb's heart remains unsettled. You are his responsibility now, and whatever pain befalls you – illness or injury – weighs on him. That is the only reason why he is concerned.

The only reason.

He looks at Maester Luwin and asks, "What ails her?"

Maester Luwin seems unsure of whether to answer at first, but then he lowers his voice and begins to speak, "You are aware that women pass bloods once every moon's turn?"

In fact Robb did not know that it happens every moon's turn. He thought it happened once when a girl becomes a woman. Nevertheless, he nods his head as if he did know before this very moment.

"Is that what this is?"

Maester Luwin nods, “It seems Her Grace passes her moonblood with great difficulty. But her pain and discomfort should fade in the coming days.”

Robb glances at the door yet again, debating whether or not he should go in.

“She is resting now,” Maester Luwin says, practically peering into Robb’s thoughts, “You should look in on her, put your mind at ease.”

His head snaps in the maester’s direction, “My mind is already at ease.” There is a hint of defensiveness in his tone.

“Of course, Your Grace,” Maester Luwin bows before taking his leave to return to the rookery.

Alone with his own thoughts, Robb considers returning to his solar to continue working. He knows now that no great harm has befallen you and you will be just fine, but his heart is still unsatisfied. With little hesitation, he twists the handle and pushes the door open.

One week after your wedding, Robb began to notice that his chambers smelled different. It almost annoyed him how quickly the room adopted your scent. It clung to everything, the sheets, the pillows – even Robb's own clothes. But over time, he came to appreciate that earthy, yet sweet smell. It gave him comfort.

That is why the first thing he notices upon entering the room is how different it smells. The aroma of medicine hangs in the air, no doubt from whatever treatment Maester Luwin has provided.

You're lying on the bed when he enters, curled up into a ball. As soon as Robb closes the door, your eyes flutter open, following him as he approaches you wordlessly.

"Your Grace," you begin in the softest voice he's ever heard from your lips, "I would curtsey or sit up, but as you can see, I am in no state for such."

"I wouldn’t ask you to," he smiles as he sits on the bed right beside you. He glances at the cup sitting on your bedside table, "What are you drinking?"

You tilt your head slightly to see what Robb is looking at before returning your gaze to him. "Maester Luwin gave me something for the pain," you say, "I don't remember what is in it."

"You are in pain?"

Robb's concern increases when you nod.

"Where is the pain?" he asks.

"Here."

Robb looks down at where your hand is cradling your stomach. His eyes snap back up to you when he hears you wince, clutching your stomach tighter. He hates to see you in such terrible pain, and it is worse knowing he can do nothing to ease it.

"Will it be like this for you after every moon's turn?"

You shake your head, "Not every time. It was not like this during the last one – that is why you did not know it was happening."

Even after seeing you and speaking with you, Robb's worry does not dissipate. There is still a pit in his stomach. It dawns on him that he is not only concerned because you are his responsibility. He wants you to recover quickly because…well, it is you.

He raises his hands to your face, stopping when he sees the startled look on your face.

"Do you mind?" he asks, hands still hovering over you. He proceeds when you nod.

Gently, he presses his palms against your cheeks. You remain completely still under his touch, your heart racing. After a moment, he moves his hand to your forehead.

"What are you doing?"

He looks down, meeting your eyes which are staring up at him, before pulling back from you, "I'm checking for a fever."

You chuckle lightly, an infectious sound, "I'm not sure fevers are common with my particular ailment."

"It is better to be sure."

You smile softly before closing your eyes, a comfortable silence settling between the two of you. Robb sits there, listening to your breathing and waiting for you to fall asleep.

After a few minutes, your eyes open again.

"Don't let me keep you, you ought to rest," you whisper, "Your mother has prepared the guest chamber for you."

Robb is taken aback, "The guest chamber? Why should I stay there and not here as always?"

"Because you work from dawn to dusk and I will not have you lacking sleep simply because I am ill. Besides, your mother insisted."

Robb looks up at the ceiling and shakes his head. Of course his mother would be the one to insist. But still, he does not want to bring you any further discomfort anyways, so he obliges yours and his mother's wishes.

"I will be sure to look in on you again tomorrow," he promises as he rises to his feet. His gaze lingers on you for a moment before he finally says, "Sleep well, Y/N."

***

The next night, Robb is not happy when he finds the tray from your supper untouched. It lies discarded on the floor beside your bed, not even a grain of rice has been moved.

You're asleep when he enters the room, and even when he sits on the bed, you remain still. There is no snoring however, which lets Robb know that you are not sleeping soundly. Your forehead is creased and even in your sleep you're clutching something to your stomach.

This illness seems to have gotten worse, which only serves to make Robb feel more guilty for not coming to see you during the day. He leans down and presses the back of his hand to your clammy forehead, then his palms to your cheeks. Just to be sure again that there is no fever.

You wake while he is in the middle of doing this, momentarily shocked to see him practically on top of you. Robb instantly draws his hands back when he hears your gasp.

"I apologise, I was only checking–"

"Robb," you sigh heavily and slowly pull yourself up into a sitting position, "There is no fever. I have told you, this will pass."

He nods even though his worry remains.

"I'm sorry that I did not come earlier."

You wave a hand and shake your head. "It is quite alright, I completely under–"

You're cut off by an intense and sharp pain in your lower stomach and back that makes you hold your breath and squeeze your eyes shut. Too distracted by the pain, you don't even realise when Robb takes your hand at first, but once his calloused fingers clasp around your hand, you give it a tight squeeze to help the pain pass.

"Are you alright?"

Your eyes open to meet Robb's staring back into them. His brows are drawn together and he is sitting close to you on the bed, both his hands now holding yours.

"Yes," you whisper as you pull your hand out of his grasp, licking your dry lips, "I'm fine."

He looks like he wants to say more, but instead he sits back, placing his hands back in his lap. You can see clearly that he is concerned about you, more than you expected him to be – likely because he does not understand what is happening.

In some way, it is comforting to know that he cares.

“Tell me what I can do to help you.”

Robb is not a man who enjoys feeling useless. Even more so in recent years, considering all the tragedy that has befallen his family. And seeing you this way, sickly and vulnerable – the complete opposite of how he’s always seen you – is deeply unsettling.

"Distract me from the pain," you say, offering him the smallest way to make you feel better, "Tell me about your day. What has kept you so occupied?"

He doesn’t know how talking about ledgers and reports would help you, but he does so anyway.

“I spent much of the day preparing for the arrival of some men from the front.”

“Who is coming?”

“Lord Umber is bringing back some of the men we captured,” he sighs, “Our cells down there are too crowded, and some of the men are workers whose surrenders I’ve accepted.”

You raise a skeptical brow, “You trust Lannister soldiers?”

Robb is surprised – and a little amused – that you’re questioning his decision. He’s not sure he minds, however. In fact, he appreciates your taking an interest.

“I don’t,” he chuckles, “But these are men from the Brotherhood Withou–“

He’s cut off when you grab his hand to squeeze as another cramp hits. Instantly he forgets what he was talking about and gently takes both your hands. When the pain passes, you reach over to the side table and take a sip from the cup sitting there.

You notice Robb's inquisitive stare and nod to the cup, "It's the same tea from last night," you mumble, your eyes feeling heavier, "Apparently, it is a weaker dosage of milk of the poppy."

"Milk of the poppy makes you drowsy, no?"

"That explains why I have slept most of the day," you smile weakly.

Robb chuckles and strokes the back of your hand as you lean back and shut your eyes, "I should not have woken you."

"Perhaps not."

"Shall I leave?" he asks.

"No," you answer in a light voice, barely above a whisper, "Stay."

And so he does. He watches over you even after you fall asleep. It is not until your light snores begin to fill the room, a sure sign that you are in a deep slumber, that he decides to leave. He gently places your hand over your stomach and pulls the blankets up to your chest to make sure that you stay warm through the night.

Before he leaves, he can't help but watch you for a moment, listening to your slow breathing. You appear so at peace, and the sight warms his heart. In that moment, he knows that he has let go of any residual resentment he may have had towards you.

"Do feel better soon, my Lady," he whispers, "I long for our evening chats."

*

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[knickynoo]

Hi there! Me again.

I’ve been rewatching Family Ties (thanks again for showing me where!) and noticed something about Alex’s character that i don’t care for/think you have touched upon.

What are your thoughts on his views of women?The advice he gave Jeff on his date with Mallory appalled me. Do you think it’s just a product of the time- how right leaning people were expected/did to treat women? Or is it something deeper? I don’t understand how he thinks this way after seeing how amazing Steven and Elyse are toward each other. (Even if the kids are disgusted every time they kiss lol)

I would love to hear your opinion!

Hello! Nice to hear from you again :)

Yeah, so, a lot of the words that come out of Alex's mouth regarding women are 😬😬😬

I can't recall the exact advice you're referring to, but I do know it's bonkers. Something about how women want a man to make all her decisions or something? Boss her around and take charge? It's honestly not only some of his worst advice, but I also think it's one of the more outrageous things he says in regards to women out of the whole series.

It's especially weird considering he's giving advice on how his sister should be treated by Jeff! And we know that, while Alex isn't always the nicest to Mallory, he loves her very much and wants to protect her. I mean, there's an entire first season episode centered around Alex losing his mind over Mallory going out with a guy who Alex doesn't like or trust. He's so worried about this guy taking advantage of Mallory and not treating her right, then he goes and gives bananas advice to Jeff. So...what's the deal?

Honestly, I don't know, lol. If I had to guess, there are probably several different factors at play that contribute to those moments Alex says Horrible Things.

1. He operates with a set of standards and values from way before his time. The thing is that Alex isn't even a product of his time—a lot of the opinions he holds would be considered outdated in the 80s by the majority of people, regardless of political leaning.

I can't for the life of me remember the episode or the exact quote, so I'm going to butcher it I'm sure, but there's a scene where Alex is lamenting how no one holds the same values he does, and he and Steven have an exchange like this:

Alex: "I should have been born in the 40s."

Steven: "Even then, you'd be a little conservative."

Alex: "The 1740s."

Steven: "....Even then, you'd be a little conservative."

It's something like that. If anyone knows what episode this is from or what the exact line is, lmk because it's one of my favorites.

2. Alex is an extreme black and white thinker. I think this is the number one trait of his that impacts him the most across the board. So many of his problems boil down to him just not seeing nuance. It's not that he's unwilling to. The guy just can't.

It makes Alex very rigid in his thoughts on things, and that absolutely spills over into situations like when he gives advice to Jeff or voices any other wild opinion. He's going to automatically go to the extremes because that's all he can wrap his head around. In a relationship, men should have all the control. They should make the decisions and say specific things and so on. It then leads him to make generalizations about women and their roles.

I think he also finds some security in these thoughts, honestly. Alex clings to facts and things that he feels are concrete and reliable. We also know that he has a very hard time processing and acknowledging his emotions. Putting people into two neat piles is comfortable for him, and anything that doesn't fit into either of those piles is too overwhelming. Alex's world needs rules for it to feel stable to him. Unfortunately, a lot of those rules are...not so great.

3. Shock-value: This is more about Alex the TV show character rather than the "real life" in-universe Alex Keaton, but still. A good deal of his character, especially in the earlier seasons, hinged on him saying or doing things that got a reaction from the audience. You can't have a show about ex-hippy, progressive parents without someone for them to knock heads against. The early episodes in particular seemed to really lean into this, and I feel like he gets toned down slightly as the series goes on? Don't get me wrong, it doesn't go away, but he does grow.

• The "Ladies Man" episode has him realizing that, while he may not support a particular movement, he absolutely respects the rights of the women in the movement. Him jumping up to defend the woman being heckled by a guy, and then his little speech to the women at the end are two of my favorite Alex moments.

• After a very difficult adjustment period when he gets a new job and learns his boss is a woman, Alex ends up really respecting her and becoming friends with her. (Wow, this ep is uncomfortable for the first half, though!)

• Ellen in particular has an impact on helping Alex to see those "in-between" areas, in my opinion. Some heart to hearts with Elyse help as well, and it's clear through the series that Alex loves and respects his mother a great deal.

Idk if this response was coherent, but there you go, haha. Alex is such a complicated character, and whenever I write about him, I feel like I'm trying to untangle a gigantic mess of yarn. But I do love him! Sometimes he is a menace, though!! He should, perhaps, simply keep his mouth shut a lot of the time.

(Also, Steven and Elyse don't discipline him ever, so it's partly their fault if we're being real here)

What? Who said that?

Thanks for the ask!

[sxugaryx]

Anatomy Lesson (Fanfic)

One shot 💛

Antonia gave the boy those clothes, maybe it wasn’t the best idea, as he looked so much like him, but she didn’t want to hold on to them any longer and they would be better suited for him, at least the boarding school uniform would be in good use with him.

Antonia is consumed in her thoughts, her life, the good times, her regrets, she is slowly dying and she can only look at the past, but her thoughts are suddenly interrupted.

“Pal what are you doing?!” Gemini shouted from his cage.

Pinocchio had taken off his shirt and was almost about to take his off belt and pants.

“Oh no no no dear” Antonia grabbed his hand to stop him, as he was still standing next to her, “We don’t do that, changing in front of others isn’t appropriate”

Pinocchio looked at her confused, but it made sense that he didn’t understand the concept.

“And it’s specially not appropriate in front of a Lady” She let out an uncomfortable laugh, “You can’t be naked in front of others”

“Why?” Pinocchio asked innocently.

“Because you know…” Antonia was trying to compose herself to explain, but how could she explain? She doesn’t know if the boy has… male body parts and she isn’t going to ask him that.

“Buddy don’t change in front of Lady Antonia” Gemini chirped, it was almost like an order.

“Don’t change in front of Lady Antonia” He repeated the words and seemed to get it.

Antonia smiled, “Well hopefully you have learned a good lesson, now maybe it’s best you go and look for your father”

Geppetto was still out there in danger and his son was the only one who could help him.

——

Geppetto was back at Hotel Krat, his son had rescued him from that stalker and after doing some tasks in Elysion Boulevard his son was back. He explained how the current situation was, and explained to him how his P organ worked.

He looked at his son’s clothes, why did Antonia give them to him? It was just a painful reminder, worse is that the clothes are now covered in blood and Geppetto can’t stand to look at them.

“Ah son maybe you should change,” Geppetto said, “It’s not right to wear filthy clothes like that” It would be best if he was wearing his previous clothes, the ones he had chosen for his son.

Geppetto didn’t want to look at Pinocchio, the blood on his clothes, reminded him of when he was called to the morgue, when he had to see-

“STOP IT! Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?!” Gemini was scolding him.

Pinocchio again had taken off his shirt and this time he was faster and took off his belt, leaving it and Gemini on the table.

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to change in front of Lady Antonia” Pinocchio was confused.

“You aren’t supposed to change in front of anybody!” Gemini was mortified why didn’t he understand the first time?!

Geppetto went to his son’s side, “Son Gemini is right, you aren’t supposed to change in front of others”

“Why not?” Pinocchio asked again innocently, he wanted to understand.

“Because…” Geppetto paused for a moment.

Dammit, he didn’t think he would need to explain this, he just thought that his son would naturally know, the boy already knows how to talk, knows how to read, he even knows how to fight and you aren’t born knowing all of that. But his son is so clueless about how the real world works and this is his fault for not thinking ahead, he is his father and has to explain.

Pinocchio keeps looking at his father expectantly, worse is that the lack of a belt made him drop his pants, now only wearing his underwear.

Geppetto took a deep breath.

——

“And that’s all”

Geppetto was glad that he had an anatomy book nearby, he hoped that he had done a good job.

“Father” Pinocchio was staring at him.

“Yes, son?” Oh no he has questions.

“Why do I have that?” Referring to the obvious.

“Well son, you are a boy and like I said boys have-“

“But… I’m not a real boy” Pinocchio said with sadness in his tone.

Geppetto was quiet, he was starting to feel guilty about how he had been treating Pinocchio so far. He needs to be a better father, he wasn’t a good father to-

“So um” Even though Pinocchio was sad about not being a real boy, he was curious and wanted to ask, “Where did I get mine?”

Geppetto was mortified, should he explain why? Building him was already a hard task, to have all the anatomically correct parts, to have the same height, face, and hair as Carlo. Studying anatomy was hard but he wanted to make every part of his body look just like that of a human. The eyes were particularly hard to make, probably the hardest thing to do, and for some reason, his eye color isn't the same, he gave him brown eyes and now he has blue eyes.

“Son you see…” Geppetto stared back at Pinocchio, he wanted to completely change the subject but his son had the right to know.

But as soon as Geppetto opened again his mouth, from near the door entrance faint sounds of people holding back laughter could be heard, followed by shushing.

“Antonia, Eugéne are the two of you there?!” He shouted and they had no choice but to reveal themselves.

Eugéne had personally helped Antonia get upstairs, it was hard but it was all worth it to hear the conversation. Both had huge grins on their faces.

There was another person present grinning as well, but unfortunately, or rather fortunately for Geppetto, they weren’t able to see Sophia.

“Don’t mind us Geppetto, please keep explaining” Antonia said in her graceful voice.

But then she alongside Eugéne burst out laughing.

“What the hell is wrong with the two of you?!” Geppetto couldn’t believe that they were enjoying this, this was so embarrassing.

“Father I want to know!” Pinocchio pouted, why was everyone acting so weird about this? Everyone always teaches him stuff properly why is this different?

“The boy wants to know Geppetto come on” Eugéne's grin became even wider and she and Antonia had a high five.

These women are enjoying his torment this is ridiculous!

“This is a private conversation” Geppetto was trying to kick them out he wasn’t going to explain in front of them.

“Fine, fine, we will leave” Eugéne grabbed Antonia’s wheelchair and took the woman with her, but Geppetto knew that they were just a few steps outside.

Sophia on the other hand was still in the room, she wasn’t going to miss this and for once she was actually glad no one could see her. Well, Pinocchio and Gemini can but that’s not the point.

Geppetto resigned himself, taking a deep breath before finally saying it out loud.

“Son I built you, I built everything about you, so I built it”

The sound of hysterical laughter was heard, and Geppetto’s face was red with embarrassment

Gemini was looking at Sophia while crossing his tiny arms inside that cage. She isn’t the one to have to deal with Pinocchio’s antics after all, he is the one stuck with that duty.

“Son, I explained why, now be a good boy and put back your clothes” Geppetto looked as Pinocchio grabbed the clothes he had just taken off.

“Your clean clothes Pinocchio” He gave out a sigh of frustration; if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions, you made him Geppetto, you have to teach him about this and teach him common sense. But he is starting to think common sense isn’t a concept his son understands.

Pinocchio stopped and stared at his father, he was quiet.

“Pinocchio is there something wrong?” Geppetto asked, Pinocchio was acting a little off.

Pinocchio hugged his father, he had a firm grasp on him.

“You said my name,” Pinocchio said with a few tears in his eyes.

All this time his father had only called him his son, and yes he is his son, but he only felt as if he was replacing Carlo.

Geppetto hugged him back, his son was crying with happiness just because he said his name. He really is a horrible father, but that stops now, he has to change, no, he will change.

Sophia was smiling, no longer because she found the situation funny, although it was a little amusing seeing Pinocchio hug his father while only wearing his underwear. But because she was happy to see Pinocchio be happy.

Gemini was also happy for Pinocchio, maybe they hadn’t been together for a long time but he could tell that the boy adored his father, and seeing their bond grow stronger was something to joyful about.

——

“Geppetto is good to see you”

Venigni greeted his long-time friend, he had returned from the factory safe and sound, specially since for some reason puppets started to stop attacking others, but he wasn’t going to question that, although Fuoco was giving them trouble, he hurt his beloved Pulcinella but there is nothing he as an inventor can’t do, and Pulcinella was good as new.

“I’m happy to see you too Venigni” Geppetto was glad that Venigni was okay.

Pinocchio was also there, his son had a smile on his face, and he was wearing a new outfit, thankfully one he didn’t try to put on in front of others, finally learning his lesson. His outfit resembled Venigni’s clothes and it suited him, he even had the same glasses.

Geppetto was glad that he came to his senses when it came to caring for his son.

“Son please be careful at the cathedral, there are rumors of monsters surrounding the place” Geppetto played with his son’s hair before Pinocchio left the room towards the stargazer.

Once the two of them were finally alone, Venigni spoke up again.

“So Geppetto my friend, I was talking with everyone downstairs” He got closer to Geppetto and tried to act more friendly, “From one inventor to another how-“

“Venigni if you say another word I will kill you”

That was not a threat, it was a promise, Geppetto already had murder in his eyes.

Venigni silently left the room, and as soon as he was outside he burst into laughter.

Geppetto buried his face in his hands, this was the most embarrassing day of his life.

Yet.

Outside, Pinocchio was walking, he had found a few strange carcasses and gotten rid of them.

“Gemini what are those things?” Pinocchio had never seen something like that.

“Some weird monsters, they look like zombies,” Gemin said. “What's a zombie?” Pinocchio asked.

Another round of questions followed, Pinocchio is curious about the world and Gemini doesn't mind explaining, although the boy can be a little bit of a brat, that speech he gave while they took the railway was brilliant, even more so because he improvised it all but Pinocchio was annoyed at him.

“Bad tour guide” Pinocchio had said to him while shaking his cage.

They took a small break inside one of those rundown shacks now that there were no enemies nearby and after all, climbing so much was tiring.

“Are those creatures still in your mind pal?” Gemini asked, Pinocchio seemed to be thinking about something.

“I’m thinking about the woman we helped, I didn’t want to lie but I just felt bad you know?” That poor woman, she was dying and Pinocchio at least wanted her last moments to be happy ones.

“I know, it sucks but you did what you thought was best” Gemini was trying to reassure him.

It was a hard situation but not everything is black and white and Pinocchio has lied a few times but he is a good boy and only wants others to be happy.

“Losing a child, it must be really hard, I can see that… it was hard on my father” Pinocchio was feeling sad, because he knew that his father was sad about losing his brother.

“You are a good boy Pinocchio, worrying about your father like that” Gemini is glad to be by his side, even if giving him guidance can be a little hard sometimes.

Everything was quiet, only the sound of the wind blowing was heard.

“Gemini where do-“

“Ask your father”

[umbracirrus]

WIP Wednesday!

Wednesdays seem to come around a lot faster than they used to, I swear.

I was planning on posting the WIP which I posted yesterday today, an excerpt from the beginning of my vampire Balgruuf AU, but I was just so excited about it I had to post it then. Instead, have Elyse and Hrongar preparing to fight over whose sword is better for the next chapter of The Perfect Storm.

Tagging @throughtrialbyfire, @wildhexe, @thequeenofthewinter, @friend-of-giants and anyone else who wishes to say I tagged them, though obviously there is no pressure or obligations to do so :)

“I know what we can do!” Frothar cried out, getting between the two of them before their bickering about swords could intensify to a full-blown argument. “You can have a fight against each other! Hrongar, you can use your greatsword, and Elyse, you can use your magic swords - the winner can claim that they have the better one,” he stated, looking incredibly proud of himself for coming up with that compromise. “That way, I get to see both types in action!”

Elyse had to admit… it was a surprisingly good idea. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that seeing variety in types of swords being used would likely be beneficial in teaching how to use one – she had been all too focussed on defending her own method of fighting. “I see no harm in that, but it depends on whether your uncle could bring himself around to losing to me.”

“Pah! Big talk for someone whose weapons aren’t even real,” he retorted, though the corner of his lips were clearly turning up. “You’re on, Dragonborn. But I want there to be stakes at play. Got to make this interesting so that the lad doesn’t see anything half-assed.”

There had been almost no hesitation when he brought up stakes. That, at least to her, read as him having some sort of motive. Almost as if... he had planned to gatecrash her lesson with Frothar from the beginning. Then again, this was Hrongar - the man was known for being brash and not thinking before speaking. “What do you have in mind?”

“If I win, you join me at the Bannered Mare for drinks tonight.”

Her reaction to what he wanted was one of bafflement, because it sounded very much like he was asking her on a date. Was Hrongar flirting? Was this what Irileth was warning her about when saying to not accept any drinks from him?

“And you have to match me drink for drink – and let me tell you, I don’t get drunk easy.”

It definitely had her feeling uncomfortable because she was the exact opposite to that. The last time that she had ended up drunk was back when she was celebrating defeating Alduin, and Lydia had laughed and called her a lightweight in the morning as she fought off a hangover, and that was well over a year and a half ago. Then again… that was in the nature of stakes, they were meant to make you uncomfortable, meant to make you need to win. “Fine then. And if I win… I get your greatsword. As a trophy, not to use,” she stated, bringing her hand up to her chin. “As for winning conditions… Disarming is no good, because my weapons by their very nature cannot be disarmed – how about drawing first blood to raise the stakes even more?”

“You are talking my language. No holding back either.”

“Are you certain about that? Because if I weren’t to hold back, that means that you will also have to handle my thu’um,” she taunted, stepping closer to him and standing on her toes so that she didn’t have to crane her neck as much to look up at him. “Or would you prefer me just sticking to my swords?” Based on the slight motion of his throat, she took that as agreement with the latter question. “Just swords it is.”

They had almost completely forgotten about Frothar, who was still stood by them, watching as they goaded each other on. Not that it mattered much… the boy was too busy bracing himself in preparation for what was likely going to be one of the most intense fights he had ever witnessed, and it was exciting.

[kmpac]

➸ Rated All (For part 1 at least)

➸ Summary: You have work to do, but a certain mascot keeps dropping in to brighten your day. OR how you fell for a professional football mascot.

➸ Word count: 7K

➸ Pairing: JK x reader

➸ Genre: Rom Com Meet Cute stuff, but will get spicy later

➸ Warnings: I don’t limit my language, and so my characters don’t either. Awkward OC. Takes place at a blood drive…?

➸ A/N: So this is kind of based on real life events, if they got flirty. LOL.

______________________

It was just your luck that all the parking spots on the street were already taken. 

You weren’t one to mindlessly rove the aisles to find the closest spot to park. Usually, you just pulled into the first spot you came across and walked from there, with little regard for how far away it was. However, when you were going to the stadiums, it was either park on the street or you may as well park a million miles away for how long you had to foot it. And this wasn’t an ordinary day, anyway. Forget the fact that you were at the local football stadium, which was a rare event for you anyway (not that you didn’t like attending games, but gosh those tickets were expensive), this was a unique situation for many reasons.

Parking a million miles away, you turned off your car and could already hear the wind and feel it whipping your car. Checking your watch, you were right on time, which really meant you were 15 minutes late because of the walk you had ahead of you, so you decided to pull up your big girl britches, as your mom would say, and fling the door open.

Before you were even fully out of the car the obscenities were already flying and you didn’t have the energy or the interest to check to see if anyone was around to hear you. You were here in a work capacity, but you always had that toxic trait that extreme discomfort always overrode any other considerations in your brain. 

The street parking was looking even better about now, as you flung open yet another door on your car to grab your overlarge satchel bag, the yard signs, and your backpack from the backseat. Fumbling as you normally do, you did your best to perform as though you had ten arms instead of two as you tried to hold your composure and look perfectly put together like the boss bitch you were. Unfortunately, it very quickly crumbled when you reached to grab your keys to lock your car and everything fell out of your arms.

“Great, y/n. Nothing like being bent over the dirty cement in a skirt with 90 mile per hour winds,” you grumbled to yourself. Completely on brand, you managed to drop everything 3 more times before you got fully situated to make your way to the door in your sensible heels. 

For about the 50th time since you took this job, you wondered if you would have taken it had you understood what all it entailed. I mean, sure, you worked for the leading Children’s Hospital in the Tri-State Area, for the head of Marketing and Communications, in a field and for an organization that saved people’s lives, and not just any people, but babies! It was incredibly rewarding work and meant that you went to bed each night feeling accomplished and emotionally fulfilled. That was never the problem. It was more the side effects of being a clumsy, ridiculously awkward, annoying introvert and working as the personal assistant to the most glowing and un-awkward human alive. And you swore, the harder you tried to act normal, the weirder you would act and the more embarrassing you would be. Like Elyse Meyers, but not as charming.

Today was an important day though, because your boss was hosting a blood drive in partnership with the local sports teams for an informational initiative surrounding sickle cell patients. Your hospital was the smoking gun because children always spoke more profoundly to the public. You all were expecting hundreds of donations of blood before it even struck Noon.

By the time you made it to the building your fingers were numb and your knees were knocking, but you immediately started thawing upon entry, only to be mauled by your boss.

“Where have you been?” Before you could answer she was launching into more commentary as you sat your things down on the entry desk next to your teammate who obviously arrived before you and looked smug. “The editor of the Times is already here, as are all 4 main news affiliates. You should have been here before them. You know this.”

“I’m sorry, I had to run back to the office to get all the materials. Then, I hit traffic and once I got here all the front spots were gone and I had all of this to bring in,” you said, indicating the signs and tools for the check in table.

“Those aren’t in the ground yet?” Your boss practically yelled at you when her eyes landed on the signs.

“That was the next thing on my list of to dos!”

“Please, I’m begging you. Get it done immediately and get back in here. We have interviews and I need you taking photos for our Facebook and IG pages. Go!”

You rushed off to do your boss's bidding. You knew it would be hell to pay when you got there. Your teammate, the aforementioned smug-faced bi…brat, also known as Jane, had left behind the packet of materials the last time she was in the office and called you with zero time to spare to ask if you could stop by to get it because you lived closer to the office than she did. You couldn’t argue with the logic, though you wondered how much of an “accident” it truly was. You weren’t generally a grudge holder, but you were going to watch that one.

As Jane had been assigned front desk duties for today, she sat quietly gossiping with Event staff, while you were taking 3 signs out to put in the ground to indicate to donors where to enter. 

The wind hadn’t calmed even slightly, but you only had enough time to partially thaw anyway, so what difference did it really make anyway? You found a good spot and started working the sign into the frozen ground to the best of your ability. Struggling, more like, as you also tried to hold the other two signs under your arm as you shoved the first with all your might into the ground. The cold metal burning through your skin like a brand, but you ignored the pain in favor of the goal. 

You finally decided to throw the other two to the ground as you jumped up on the cross rungs on the first sign to try to use your own body weight to push it into the ground. No dice.

With another rough gust of wind, you finally got the first sign in the ground, just as the first two took flight from the gust and began running away from you across the street.

“No!” You shouted feebly, until a hand reached down and caught the two signs and lifted them toward you.

Staring down at you from a short distance, was a ridiculously tall silent visitor with the head of an animal and giant googly eyes.

“Oh, hi Wolfie,” you said in introduction to the man in the mascot costume. This particular mascot face was as familiar to you as the team he represented. As a local for your whole life, it was a welcome and calming face to see, even frozen in a fake smile. “Thanks for your help.”

You reached for the signs and as you took them he mimed shivering to indicate that you must be cold.

“Yeah, it’s a bit chilly, but I’ve got to get these in the ground before donors show up. Are you staying for the event?” You asked. Wolfie ignored the question. Instead, he took one of the signs back from you and started walking to the other side of the street as though to continue your work for you.

“Oh, that’s nice of you but you don’t have to do that!” 

But there was no deterring him. You had to admit though, after determining the best place to put it, it took him less than a second to get it into the ground, as opposed to your own struggle to do the same.

“Wow. That was impressive.”

At that he rushed back over in his oversized shoes, with the wolf gloves on his hands to take the other sign from you and quickly march over to the other side of the sidewalk to input the third sign. He pointed to one spot and then another and then another spot again and then tipped his head in question in a way both hilarious and adorable and you showed him where to go though you objected to his help even as he was putting it in the ground. His antics had you giggling, and he seemed to enjoy it because he continued to act silly to make you laugh.

After he was done, he ushered you back toward the building with aplomb, and with a laugh you preceded him in. The staff and your teammate sitting inside seemed surprised to see you laughing and chatting away with a 7-foot-tall mascot, especially as he continued to stay silent but for the sound of his googly eyes shaking. The instant self-consciousness returned and before you even had time to mentally process it, your whole being had already transferred back to professional mode. Checking your watch and finding the nearest staircase, the anxiety of the moment returned and a To Do List repopulated in your brain. 

With anxiety in every pore of your body you remembered your priorities and went diving in your bag for your phone and clipboard of photo consent forms and talking points, so you could get back to work.

Just before you left to take the escalator behind the front desk, you glanced back and saw Wolfie there, still smiling the fake mascot smile, but somehow you read deeper thoughts going on behind those googly eyes. He had helped you, graciously, kindly. He hadn’t needed to. He simply did. You always knew you liked that adorable wolf face, but now you knew the person behind it was a sweetie too.

You smile and wave and say, “see ya ‘round, Wolfie.” And then you head off to get more work done.

_____

It is some hours later after interviews are over, donors are flooding in, photos have been taken, consent forms received from those photographed, that you are taking a quick break to get a bite to eat in the commons area. It is quiet at this time, since it isn’t anywhere near lunch time. You rarely ever eat during regular lunch hours anyway, so you feel right at home. You are watching a video on your phone about ancient aliens because you love conspiracy theory stuff even though you don’t believe any of it. You are eating a banana chip and humming lightly to yourself when you hear a crash in the kitchen/concession booth across from where you are sitting. You become aware that you aren’t alone and turn the volume down on your phone, but when you look up to see who it is, all you see is an empty room. That is until a familiar pair of googly eyes appear from above the counter to the concession booth.

You instantly laugh as he shakes his head making the googly eyes shake. The funniest part is knowing the man’s actual face is in the throat of the giant mascot head, meaning he is miming all of this without being able to see anything other than the back side of the kitchen counter. That thought alone makes you laugh harder, and his (actual) head clears the top.

In true professional mascot fashion, he plays to the laughter as he mimes one of his famous dances and rolls onto the counter. He then proceeds to fall off the counter in front of the kitchen and try to brush himself off and act cool. All of which has you in stitches, not least of which because you know it is all an act. He clearly carries himself like someone very coordinated and put together, who uses that performance gene to really play up his own physical comedy. You know this being someone who is not very coordinated OR very put together but has to actually try hard to look like you do. It is almost like a sixth sense to note the opposite trait in another person. Or maybe you are just able to pick up on his unspoken body language because you also know without doubt that he is smiling widely as you giggle at his display.

“How is your day going so far?” You ask, even knowing he won’t answer with words. He shows you the thumbs up and nods his head dramatically.

After helping you with the yard signs, you saw him often during the interviews and photo ops, because he’s the mascot, after all. He has to run around making everyone cheery and laugh and he was good at it. But every once in a while, he would look your way, and wave or do something silly to catch your attention and make you laugh. He even once distracted a group of reporters when you dropped your clipboard and scattered what felt like 100 pages of paper across the floor that you, embarrassed and ashamed, had to pick up and sort before your boss called you over for more photos. And he did that just to draw eyes away from you and let you wallow on the ground in peace.

“Gosh, you are positive,” you say in awe. “I can’t imagine it is very comfy inside that suit and you’ve been here as long as me…or longer, I guess. I don’t know exactly when you got here.”

He waves you off as if to say it’s no big deal.

“No, I’m serious! I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off and here you are enjoying yourself and being positive.”

He tips his head to his hand that rests on the table and just stares at you. It is at once unnerving, but also incredibly comfortable. A weird, unsettling combination.

“Well, anyway.” You smile widely in answer. “It’s a good reminder! And I appreciate it. I appreciated your kindness and positive energy this morning. It was a whirlwind and you helped make it less stressful.”

He stuck his hand out to give you a high five and you couldn’t help but laugh again before you enthusiastically smacked your hand against his.

As if to change the subject, he leaned across the table as if to see what was on your phone, without actually taking a peek, as if he was miming the question without actually intruding.

“Oh gosh, don’t tease me, but I’m watching Ancient Aliens. I love this show, it’s so weird and these guys really do their research, even though it is all hocus pocus…” you said as you continued to babble and showed him the phone, describing the latest episode and theories on the use of gold deposits to fuel ancient aircraft. He didn’t seem to mind, if anything he seemed quite comfortable listening to you babble, so you just kept going.

“Have you had lunch?” You ask him when you feel you’ve exhausted the subject and are probably annoying him like you do to everyone. He still makes no sound aside from the jiggle of his googly eyes, but he shrugs his shoulders in answer. “Just because you are in a mask doesn’t mean you don’t need to eat.” You pass him your uneaten cookie, “Here you can have my cookie.”

Something in your tone or demeanor seems to surprise him with that statement, as he nearly breaks character, turning his head and coughing. It’s the first indication of a voice from him and at least now you know it definitely is a male under there.

“If it makes you feel better,” you say in response to his cough, “I’ll look away so you don’t blow your cover.”

You laugh as you push the cookie across the table to him and cover your eyes. “Your secret is safe with me!” 

But the silence that meets your laughter is followed by a pair of fuzzy gloves grabbing your hands to pull them away from your eyes and when you open them, you see his head tilted to the side in question. The warmth of his hands in his gloves combined with his quiet confidence and calming presence stops the giggles and you can’t look away from where you know his eyes are looking back at you. His actual eyes, not the googly eyes. 

There is something in the silence like understanding, from both sides, that is charged with some unnamed energy that at once makes you nervous but equally makes you want to laugh, because, I mean, he’s a grown man in a wolf costume.

But is he a grown man? Maybe he’s a teenager or a college kid, or any level of immature man baby, you don’t know. You don’t even know what he looks like under there, but somehow it doesn’t even matter because the way he has treated you today has been spectacular. 

It seemed like every time you saw him so far this morning, he had gone out of his way to brighten your day, and it had worked. So did it really matter what he looked like? Not really.

“Y/n, are you in here?” You heard your boss’s voice from the entry to the commons. Your head and Wolfie’s both swiveled around together to see your boss rushing toward you in haste.

“I’m sorry, I know you are on lunch break, but the players just arrived and Channel 8 wants an exclusive interview between Paul and the players. We need more marketing coverage for the website and socials, and Jane has already left for the day.” Honestly, how does that girl still have a job, you thought, but would never say out loud. Paul, meaning the CEO of the Hospital who had arrived only a few hours ago and who literally held your entire career in his hands, waited for no one. Lunch or not, it was time to get back to work, which meant leaving Wolfie once again.

You acknowledged your boss with a “I’m done anyway.” A lie. And proceeded to throw the rest of your uneaten food back into your bag. Wolfie gave you judgmental eyes through it all, which you could feel, though you wouldn’t be able to see it, even if you looked at him. But just before you left, he waved in front of your face and when you looked at him, he drew a smile with his fingers in front of his real face, breaking character for sure this time, and you smiled at the sentiment.

Smiling widely to reward him for his efforts, you grabbed your bag to leave. Resting your hand on his arm in thanks, you took your leave in the same silence he inhabited.

____

It was another hour or so before the talent and your C-Suite level boss left and you could finally breathe. Not only were you in the presence of your skip skip skip level boss, but you were also star struck from the players in attendance. A Hall of Famer that you grew up watching on TV as well as one of the hottest new players on the current team were in attendance and donating too! It was all quite overwhelming for you and your humble sensibilities. 

You had also spent time talking to donors and hearing stories of how donations had impacted their own lives and it reminded you of why you loved what you did for a living, even as it overwhelmed you. Your boss had talked at length with you about the stats and impact of the work you all did today so far, and you could tell. It was amazing how each time a news station went live on TV you immediately felt the impact in the boost to walk-ins.

It was nearly 10 hours into the day and there had already been 4 pickups of donations when you and your boss were finally taking a load off at the front desk. You hadn’t quite kicked up your feet or anything, but you may as well have for how relaxed you both got. Your boss could be tough, but she was equally easy going when the times called for it. Slouching in your seat and closing your eyes for a while was not only encouraged at this point, she equally participated in it.

Event staff for the stadium made up the background music as your eyes were closed. Their quiet laughter soothed your mind as they discussed the autographs they got from the players who were on site. It was like a family barbecue rather than a job as they discussed different players they had met over the years and different funny anecdotes from each encounter. You couldn’t help it, but you were almost asleep after the long day, and the quiet chatter. It was like a lullaby to your exhausted mind.

“What the heck is he doing?” Your boss asked in a whisper, not necessarily to you, but close enough that your curiosity got the better of you.

As you opened your eyes, you saw her looking through the windows that looked into another entry space of the stadium where a group of people were looking around confused as if trying to find something in particular. But suddenly you saw your friend Wolfie running up to them, waving his arms and doing his signature dance moves. The group were clearly laughing and waving phones in the air in a way that meant they were asking for photos with him.

“Oh, Wolfie is so nice.” One of the staff said. “They do tours of the stadium, but Korey Ann was running late for her shift, so I think he is keeping them busy until she gets here.” 

You couldn’t hide your fondness from your smile, nor did you want to. 

“By the way, did you find his…um….gift from earlier?” The same staff asked, looking directly at you. Confused by the question, you looked around trying to find who they might be talking to but found only other faces looking directly at you and laughing.

“Gift?”

“Check your photos on your phone.” Another staff shouted from across the lobby.

Confused, you pulled out your phone and unlocked it, and immediately saw exactly what they were referencing.

Your camera app was still open because you had been taking pictures all day, but in the preview in the bottom corner you didn’t see a thumbnail of a donor or your CEO or even one of the players who came to donate.

No.

The picture was of Wolfie. Wolfie holding up two fingers like a peace sign in a typical selfie pose.

“Oh god,” you said as the room around you started laughing, even your boss. You couldn’t open your photos fast enough. What greeted you were probably hundreds of selfies of the Wolf mascot, in various locations in the stadium hall.

“You really shouldn’t leave your phone unlocked and unattended,” your boss said with a laugh.

“You knew?” You asked her. She only laughed in response. You thought back to the few times throughout the day that you placed your phone down whether to grab something, help someone, or do really anything that required more than one free hand and you immediately put all the dots together. You had long ago set your phone to have no timeout mode from inactivity, so if you sat it down without locking it, it would just remain open indefinitely. It was a setting you deliberately chose because you spent so much time reading on your phone and the timeout drove you insane. It was a setting you now instantly regretted. 

Your phone was FULL of photos of the mascot. Each one was funnier than the last. Some photos were of him alone, others included staff of the stadium or the hospital; some were posed, some candid. No wonder everyone knew about it except you. The more you looked through the photos, the more incredulous you got. And yet, conversely and somehow equally, the more you looked the more impressed you got. How did he manage to get this many photos? Your phone wasn’t unattended THAT long. Not to mention, the difficulty of using the touch screen in a pair of thick wolf gloves!

You glanced into the adjacent entryway to see Wolfie silently miming a cackling laugh as he covered his mouth with his hand and raised his shoulders repeatedly in an over-dramatization of laughter. Clearly, he was witnessing your discovery of his little present.

You over-dramatized anger back by pouting and putting your hands on your hips aggressively. This only seemed to make him laugh harder, but this time much more naturally as his shoulders and posture relaxed back and he rolled onto the heels of his feet.

The room around you laughed as well and erupted into stories of how he narrowly missed getting caught by you on multiple occasions. You couldn’t take your eyes from the man in the Wolf suit, though. He was trying to mime to you to keep looking through the photos, but you were more interested in getting him to come over to answer for his crimes. His responding miming indicated he was a bit busy with tour groups. You couldn’t help but be even more endeared by it. Damn him.

Even as he was waving his hands around to show he was busy a little girl came up tapping him on the leg to get his attention. He instantly went into entertainment mode: making his googly eyes jiggle, doing his game day dance, and patting the little girl’s adorable cheeks with his fuzzy gloved hands. 

You melted at the look on the little girl’s face, a look both nostalgic and magical, remembering your own personal feelings upon meeting mascots when you were a little kid. And Wolfie was perfect, just as he should be at that moment. He made the little girl laugh at just the right moments, and posed for endless photos with the little girl, letting her practically climb all over him as he sat on the ground to be at her level. Her parents scolded her for doing so, but he waved them off, clearly enjoying the adorable display.

You felt your (admittedly imaginary) irritation disintegrate, and you were left with only feelings of fondness and curiosity. You can’t believe you are even thinking it, but you think you have a crush on a man in a 7-foot Wolf costume.

Just as the thought enters your head, his eyes swivel to yours, but you aren’t looking at the googly eyes, you once again are drawn to where his true eyes are, hidden in the mesh at the neck of the Wolf costume. It snaps you out of your trance and you hop up. Cutting off the laughter of those around you, you act (emphasis on the word act) as though you are cool as a cucumber.

“Well, it is nearly quitting time, boss,” you say in a forced casual tone to your lounging boss, who looks back quizzically at you with tired eyes. “I’ll get the signs and forms from all the tables and the yard signs from outside. Should I grab anything else to bring back to the office? I’ll just stop there before I go home.”

“No, I think that should do it,” she answers as though she is asking a question, seeming confused at your sudden change. She goes to stand slowly, but you wave her off and tell her you’ve got it covered.

“You should head home.” You tell her. “You’ve been here since 5am.”

She nods in agreement and starts to slowly get out of the chair as she pulls together all her things and puts her coat on that was folded neatly on a shelf behind the desk.

“See you tomorrow?” She asks and you nod once quickly before she thanks all the event staff for their help and then proceeds out into the cold night air.

You decide to rush off to get the numerous remaining information materials you had scattered about in the building. Phlebotomy staff would truly clean up the drive, but all the marketing materials and additional promotions were all your responsibility. You flitted from table to table, trying not to think about the absolutely absurd butterflies in your stomach each time you thought about the man in the mascot costume. 

How sad are you, y/n? You asked yourself. Has it been so long since you’ve been in a relationship that even a man you’ve never seen, nor spoken to outside of soliloquy can make you feel like this?

Another part of your brain raised the possibility that if he could make you feel like this without words or an actual FACE, then GOD, what a freaking MAN he could be.

Your pessimistic nature wouldn’t let that sit, though. You had learned in life that things were generally too good to be true, so instead you told yourself, louder - to your inner monologue, he could be a real uggo.

At this point, though, who were you kidding, ugly or the most gorgeous man alive, it didn’t really matter. You were smitten with googly eyes!

“What a fucking weirdo.” You whispered to yourself as you turned to grab the last of your materials, only to find Wolfie standing there. Silent as ever.

“Shit.” You said surprised by his sudden appearance. “You scared me.” You said as you tried to hide your blush and avoid his eyes, busying yourself with your tasks. You felt embarrassed by your thoughts, feeling transparent, like he could read you like a book with little effort. If you had looked up, you would have instantly noticed confusion in him, though you couldn’t see his face. You somehow had become attune to him. A fact that made him not just curious but fascinated with you.

It was weird. Jungkook had been a mascot for several years. He started when his college rock band went under and he needed a way to pay his bills. He was always an athletic guy and liked the idea of it when his roommate’s brother mentioned he had the right build for it and how much it paid.

Nowadays, Jungkook only performed as Wolfie when he decided to pick up an event on the weekdays since his career as a professional dancer had really launched. Despite his parents’ predictions, he had consistent jobs thanks to his skills and his good reputation. He never wanted to give up Wolfie, though. It was fun getting to be faceless and silly with absolutely no regrets. Anonymity has an odd power to liberate, and he never felt freer. Plus, he was addicted to the stars in people’s eyes when they saw him in the suit. Not just kids either. Adults were just grown-up kids too when faced with a mascot. It was a special kind of magic that he got to wield when no one could see his face.

Today was the first time in all these years that he regretted any of it. Of all the things he agreed to when he put on the costume, he never realized that the clause about protecting the character’s mystery by not revealing his face or voice at any time during his shift would be the hardest to fulfill on this particular day. 

He had heard about the event and knew he would do anything to be there. The cause was one he was passionate about. He had been volunteering in the cancer ward of the Children’s hospital since he was a kid and his father used to bring him along to teach him “civic responsibility”. He liked going these days for story time to read or sing to the kids. So when he heard the event was for the hospital, he signed up immediately without even paying attention to how long of a day it would be.

A few hours was a long day in the costume, so originally he had been meant to leave in the early afternoon, but you had changed all his plans.

When he first saw you out in the cold and the wind, he had mostly been entertained and curious about you. He could not for the life of him figure out what you were doing as you struggled to wrestle the yard signs under one arm while forcing with sheer will to get the other in the frozen ground. Your outfit was so incredibly out of place in these conditions too, with your blazer and flowing skirt. Even your sensible bun knew that it wasn’t in the right place as it fought to escape the coif you had put it in. He had outright laughed at the vision of you. He was charmed immediately. Especially when you cursed loudly into the wind.

By the time he saw into your fathomless eyes, he was a goner. 

So by 2, when he was supposed to go home, he decided to stay instead. It was a weird thing being in the hot heavy wolf costume for 10 hours, but at least he had the locker room to himself when he needed a break or to take a leak. He just knew, with complete certainty, that he absolutely could not leave without getting up the courage to talk to you. To REALLY talk to you. Not mime at you to make you smile that gorgeous winning smile you had. Or distract people so that you could get a moment's peace and he could make your day. Because he knew that if anyone deserved to have their day made, it was you.

He had watched you all day, and it had convinced him that he had figured you out. He watched you help donors with such care and kindness as you rarely sat down for the whole 10 hours of the drive. He watched you place yourself wherever you were needed, working hard and effectively, juggling multiple tasks with an air of professionalism he admired. He had even watched you make a fool of yourself on occasion with your clumsy adorable antics as your face went beet red. So he knew you were a good sort of person, and one who was damn good at your job. He had always been attracted to people who were good at what they did, so it was no surprise that his eyes were glued to you, and not just because you were pretty.

Because you were definitely pretty.

But the most important things he learned about you were when he was up close and personal with you. As a mascot, he was used to people treating him a certain way. Not in a rude sense, but when you had a cartoon face and googly eyes, people tended to talk around you rather than to you, like you were an object rather than a person within the costume. It was one thing when kids did it, but adults would do it too. It was a weird automatic knee jerk reaction type of thing. You weren’t like that though.

From the moment you met him, with your shining eyes and beautiful smile, you addressed him like a person. You asked him questions, even when you knew he couldn’t answer in so many words. You made considerations for him like worrying if he had eaten, offering him your cookie. Though, admittedly, that particular offer had him blushing at the dirty thoughts it conjured in his head thinking of other sweet things you might have to offer him.

Probably most profoundly though was how you looked him directly in the face when you spoke with him. You probably weren’t even aware that you were doing it or how unsettling and oddly sexy it was. All his years as a mascot, people always looked at the face of Wolfie: that giant foot-tall cloth head that sat upon Jungkook’s actual head like a hat.

But not you. No, you looked directly into that obscured disguised mesh neck of Wolfie that offered Jungkook’s view out into the world. You looked directly where his eyes were, to the point you made him feel almost naked to your gaze, like you could see him in his totality. Like Wolfie wasn’t there at all.

And all day long he had been drawn to you like a moth to the flame at the absolute magnetism of that steady, kind, understanding gaze. 

Little did he know you were having the same problem as him. Feeling self-conscious, and inadequate. I mean, you were feeling silly for liking a guy you had never seen or heard speak but imagine being the guy in the suit right. Never in a million years would he imagine you would be crushing on him as much as he was on you.

But here you both were. Two fools in “like”.

You were almost done collecting your things and there was a certain energy to your movements that spoke of hesitation. Jungkook could feel his window of opportunity closing and he was nothing if not an action taker. So despite his nerves, and despite his feelings of inadequacy, he was ready to shoot his shot.

You both were in a more secluded area of the event hall that led to a narrow hallway to the suites and donors were mostly gone anyway. The only people left at the venue were event staff for the stadium and hospital staff cleaning up in the main area of the blood drive, so you were both effectively alone. The day was over, so he wouldn’t be breaching contract by speaking to you or removing his mask, though it was still fairly frowned upon to be in a public space revealing his identity while still in the wolf suit. It was a risk he was willing to take though because he knew he didn’t have time to go back to the locker room to change. If he did, you would be gone by the time he got back.

So he took a deep breath, and cleared his throat so he wouldn’t squeak or do something equally stupid after not using his voice for a full day. Your head immediately came to attention at the sound of his voice, and he knew it was now or never.

You watched in awe as Wolfie removed his giant Wolf head with a flourish to reveal a head of dark, wet hair. You had a moment only to process the thought that his hair must be wet from sweat from being in that suit all day. And then, the man attached to the head of hair looked up.

To say you were surprised would be an understatement. Looking back at you were the biggest brown eyes sparkling with what looked like galaxies within them. Beneath that was a straight nose with gentle curves on the end. Beside that were two soft high cheekbones that were currently standing out as the pretty mouth beneath those was smiling. It was a mouth full of the cutest teeth that seemed to want to escape his pretty curved lips that wrapped around them. It reminded you of a bunny somehow. You were struck by tanned skin and two beauty marks, one on the bridge of his nose and one just below his bottom lip. And you were frozen in time as you looked upon the prettiest male face you had ever laid eyes on.

Inappropriately and somehow perfectly in character, you followed the beat of silence with an awkward laugh at the completely irrational turn of events. Slapping your hand to your mouth in embarrassment instantly. You could already feel your cheeks blushing, but you rushed to explain so you wouldn’t offend him.

“I don’t know why I laughed just now, you just surprised me, I guess…?” You babbled as he opened his mouth as if to speak. But in true y/n fashion, you couldn’t leave well enough (or embarrassed enough) alone. “Like, wow. You have an actual face!”

“Yes, I do.” He rushed to get a word in edgewise, but you were really gone by now and couldn’t seem to stop the word diarrhea that had to escape.

“And what a face!” 

Great, y/n, going for full embarrassment today. Lovely.

“Sorry. That was…I don’t know what that was,” you said as you felt like your entire body was going to erupt. What was wrong with you? Why couldn’t you shut up?

But he was moving closer, tucking the mask under his arm all the while and smiling bigger with each passing word of stupidity you uttered.

“I just mean that I’m surprised! Normally, you would think a guy who wears a full body costume for a living would have something to hide, but that is definitely not true of you!” Ever your own worst enemy you couldn’t help but notice his strong shoulders and forearms too as he took off the gloves and unzipped the front of the costume to get more comfortable. GOD he was hot. Maybe that was why you were so effectively making a fool of yourself.

But he didn’t seem to mind as he giggled and extended his hand toward you, revealing a hand full of tattoos.

“Are you shitting me? Hand tattoos?! Hot AND cool, how is that fair?-“

“I’m Jungkook,” he said with a laugh as he effectively shut you up. “I’m going to save you from yourself here and just offer that we save the rest of the ego boosts for our first date. What do you say?”

His hand was still extended to take your hand in introduction and somehow your brain couldn’t process words but moved your hand to slot into his by route memory alone as you sounded out the word: date.

“Yes, date,” he said to what you thought had only been a question in your head, but obviously was spoke out loud.

“What do you think? Will you give a guy in a Wolf costume a chance at a date with you?”

“I guess that depends.”

“On?”

“Will you be wearing the suit on the date?”

“Which answer will get you to say yes?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then, sadly, the suit will be taking that night off.”

You paused for a full beat, in complete disbelief at the turn of events of the last few minutes. An hour ago, you were embarrassed to say you had a crush on a man in a Wolf costume. Now you are being asked out on a date by 2023’s “Sexiest Man Alive” winner, as far as you were concerned. It was a little too much to handle, but then again…

“So are you free this weekend?” You asked in a moment of boldness. He just smiled and told you to open up your photos again and look at the first photo he took on your phone.

Turns out he had originally stolen your phone for a purpose besides just making a joke by filling your phone with selfies. The first photo he took was of him holding up a piece of paper with a phone number on it and in a rushed script below it, he had written:

“Would love to meet you face to face. Friday?”

You huffed out a laugh but didn’t answer in words, as you navigated out of your photo app. After a few soundless taps on your phone screen, a buzz sounded from somewhere within Jungkook’s outfit. When he pulled out his phone, he saw a text from an unidentified number on the screen.

“Friday sounds great. Drinks and Dinner?”

[shipwreck-letters]

Reaping Hook, Chapter Twelve: Out of the Rain

“What have you been up to, Sooga?” 

“...It’s a long story. One that we don’t have time for.” 

“So give me the short story.”

A Sheikah teenager with uncontrolled powers, eerily resembling Sooga’s, poisoned by a mysterious illness. The “illness” in question are hands, by the way. And the teen is no ordinary Sheikah, but the chosen one of the village to protect the king and princess. Only the Yiga’s most hated enemy. No biggie, Elyse. 

Summary: Sooga comes clean about all that he’s been up to lately. Plans are made, everyone is on board more or less. All seems a little too good, but Sooga’s worries finally break the light. 

Word Count: ~2.8k

Read the Full Story

---

Esteemed Provost Fallow, 

His Majesty, I heard, will be the first one to breach the Sheikah protocols, since the age of King Drake, some 10 thousand years prior. I cannot tell His Majesty what's best, (perhaps you may be better in his court) but I believe that some things are best left forgotten. What kind of horrors lie beneath that caked earth, awaiting to be breached like a dead whale on shore. 

And when that near day arrives, I fear we will see another resurgence of that shadow of Hyrule. The Yiga Clan. Be prepared, and watch your back, as well as the backs of your kin. When one falls, we all do.

Sooga peeled the letter away, gritting his teeth at the sound of crinkling, dried paper sticking to another. His mind filled in the blanks with the context he had to mull on;

Everyone in the Clan was there when King Rhoam was crowned. They were there when Queen Zelda Persephe died. Mysterious circumstances, they said, and left it at that. Contrary to belief, the Yiga Clan had nothing to do with Persephe's death. Not that time, at least. 

Back to Rhoam...He had made a name for himself like many of the royals before; The prohibition of Sheikah technology remained divine law. But his daughter, Zelda Ivy, was more inclined to that ancient history. Sooga had even heard they were instating a new research facility for Sheikah technology. 

"Hmph," Sooga clicked his tongue at his own thoughts--He wondered who the credit for unearthing the buried tech truly went towards; Was the cranky old man having second thoughts, or was his daughter too stubborn to let sleeping dogs lie?

Sooga uncovered another letter, and carefully unfolded it, kicking himself for his messiness in retrieving the letters. He should have killed Rowley a little more to the left. 

Lord Rowley,

I share many of your fears and worries about His Majesty’s decision. Though it’s said that the Sheikah are supposed to protect the kingdom---divine duty, as ours is the upkeep of our divided sanctions. Yet I cannot keep my eyes away--our past king to keep us safe from Calamity. That foul clan is-----if something is to fall, they are surely the reason. I don’t trust the Sheikah….

The letters were faded and ink smeared too much to read.

Sooga poured through the pages again before reluctantly gathering them up into a pile of crinkly paper. As much as he hated the idea of bothering Master Kohga, someone had to make sense of it all. The date of the letters indicated they were received by the late nobleman Rowley two weeks ago. The night that Sooga completed his mission. 

The Yiga would be safe for the next week, it seemed. But time was flimsy and fickle, Sooga knew. What they think is comfort in the night could be the shadow of a trap.

Rubbing a hand over his face, Sooga pushed back from his desk and reached for his swords to tie back to his waist. 

He'd have to fill the rest of the mentors in on his findings. Again. But this time, he realized with a quiet groan, he’d have to talk to Tulsi, the footsoldier mentor. Tulsi always creeped him out. 

“Sooga? Sooga!” 

Elyse stepped into their shared room, and with a sudden fury, she threw back the curtain-door and marched in. “Where have you been?!” 

It had only been a few hours, right? A day or two, yeah? Sooga’s silence as he tried to think back to the last time he had left the Hideout only made Elyse shake her head in disbelief. 

“Are you shitting me? No one has seen you for…For at least three days! You got your new sword and dipped, you dipshit! You have forgotten all of your responsibilities, and you are about to answer to Master Kohga if you do not show up for at least one of them today.” 

Sooga blinked. “Apologies, Elyse. I have been…It is a long story. And I…” He trailed off. He had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, and Elyse took in an explosive breath. 

“You’re supposed to be teaching a class, idiot! Myself, Lareina, Adriel, Tulsi…” She counted everyone on her fingers. “And Adriel’s been covering your spot for every day you’ve been absent. Three. Days. How much longer do you think we can explain this?” 

“Apologies, Elyse.” Sooga said again, wearily. “However, I did not forget that I started something within Hyrule Castle, and I intend to finish it. It involves the entire Clan. That’s where I have been this week.” 

Elyse, hands on her hips, her shoulders slowly lowered. She tilted her head, her annoyance and irritation burning out. “At least you weren’t slacking.” She sighed. “I’m…sorry for yelling. Have you made any progress on it?” 

Sooga gestured to the letters, his mind running to other thoughts. “In an unorthodox way, yes. One that will make sense in the future.” He began. “The five of us. After training.” He decided, and Elyse stared at him. 

“What have you been up to, Sooga?” 

“...It’s a long story. One that we don’t have time for.” 

“So give me the short story.”

Elyse blocked Sooga’s way out, her shoulders tensed again. The two of them stared at each other through their masks. Elyse waited for an explanation, fingers drumming on her waist expectantly, and Sooga was debating on whether or not he should. How could he sum up the past few days without sounding completely ridiculous? Fabricated? 

A Sheikah teenager with uncontrolled powers, eerily resembling Sooga’s, poisoned by a mysterious illness. The “illness” in question are hands, by the way. And the teen is no ordinary Sheikah, but the chosen one of the village to protect the king and princess. Only the Yiga’s most hated enemy. No biggie, Elyse. 

“Well?” 

Sooga pressed his hands together-

“Sooga!” 

-And he teleported away.

"That is all for class today." Sooga lowered the practice sword, and returned a bow that the few students had given him. "Continue practicing your positions; Partner and make use of the sparring room."

A few chuckles and murmurs went around between the six or seven students. Sooga blinked, and pursed his lips, but let it slide.

As the classroom filed out, familiar faces filed in one by one. Adriel swiped a wooden stick left behind, brandishing it at Sooga with a playful jab. "En guard, Sooga! Eh, eh?" He posed like a Hylian knight, snickering at the exaggerated movements. Elyse walked in behind, scoffing.

"Are you going to teleport away again?"

"Ah, he's gotten the hang of it, finally?" Adriel replied. Elyse crossed her arms.

“Sooga’s only been avoiding my questions, like he’s been avoiding training.” Elyse’s disdain could be heard loud and clear. Adriel looked over at Sooga with a grin in his voice. 

“Now, that’s no fun, Sooga. Is that what this meeting is for? To tell us all the gossip~” 

“I will, but-” 

“Did anyone invite Tulsi?” Lareina asked. 

“I did, she scuttled away, said she had to feed Stella.” Adriel responded quickly, before turning his head back to Sooga. “Soooo…We can get started early and fill Tulsi in later. What have you been doing that’s so much more important, Sooga?”

Sooga crossed his arms with a grunt. “You must all swear secrecy. Right now. Hands in front of you.” 

The three of them glanced at each other, and Sooga knew this was not how they envisioned it would begin. But Sooga closed two eyes and opened three; He needed to know they weren’t lying as they promised. 

Sooga took a deep breath, took a seat down on the mats, and began.

“There is talk that the king will begin excavations around Hyrule. For buried Sheikah technology. Knowing the history of the last Calamity, there is buried technology here in the desert.” 

The room was quiet between them. Even Adriel had nothing to say, chin in his hand, attention on Sooga.

“We need guards in and around the village and the hideout.” Sooga explained, and Elyse held up a hand to stop him from going any further. 

“Does Master Kohga know about this?” She asked, and seemingly read his mind. “We can’t keep this from him.” 

“There’s not enough information.” Sooga replied. “Rumors and gossip is all that’s in those letters, but there is some truth in the talk. Infiltrating the castle again is my only hope to gain more insight. To know exactly when, how, and where it’s going to happen.” 

“We can’t have another situation like Faron.” Elyse announced all of their fears, confirmed by head nods. “I didn’t want to pursue it, but…I see now that I need to put my fears aside.” 

Silent footsteps came up behind Sooga, and he closed his eyes to hold back a sigh. “Welcome, Tulsi. Did you finish feeding the spider?”

“Her name is Stella. And…Yes. Sorry for my absence.” She said, and Sooga braced himself for another jab. But Tulsi moved around him, and folded her long legs down to sit on the empty mat between Sooga and Lareina. “I have already heard, no need to fill me in. I will train the footsoldiers.”

Lareina lifted her head, quiet the whole time. “I can handle the investigation.” She looked at Sooga. He almost did a double-take. He had no doubt in Lareina’s abilities, but…

“I thought you said you were not a good liar.” Sooga said. Lareina turned her gaze down. 

“That’s true, but…I want to help. I can learn.” 

“Elyse and I can take up guard duty.” Adriel shrugged. “But that means you’ll have to take up training, Sooga.” 

“Very well.” Sooga nodded. But something lingered on his mind. “There is one more thing that I have discovered. It seems the royals do not trust the Sheikah. And I….I have met one that was exiled from the castle, it seems. The way the old Sheikah was exiled long ago.” 

The others all stared at Sooga, Elyse being the first one to whisper, “What?!” 

“A young kid. I found him far away from the castle, farther than any castle Sheikah has ever gone. They are usually bound to the king or princess, but this one was injured outside of the Highlands.” 

“A spy, then.” Elyse snapped. “Did you ever think of that?”

“Of course I did.” Sooga responded. “But I know how to detect intentions. He shares the same curse as I do. He’s had multiple chances to betray me, and I have had ample times to betray him.” 

“Aaaand you’re friends now?” Adriel guessed, deadpan. 

Tulsi tilted her head, listening intently to Sooga. 

“You know as well as I do that the Sheikah and Yiga are closely related. I am not heartless, Adriel. He was attacked by a monster we’ve never seen before in the Tabantha fields. It has left him with a poison that only grows worse every night. If he were a spy, he’d have returned by now, or been retrieved. No one has come.” 

“I want to see them.” Tulsi spoke up, every word clicking in sound. “If they are Blademaster size, then you two can work it out amongst yourselves. But if they are Footsoldier size, I will be the judge.” 

Oh, no…Sooga held back a long and weary sigh. “Fair enough.” Sooga braced a hand on his knee. “Are we all at an understanding?” 

“Adriel and I will take a few students to begin guard duty. You and Lareina will work on infiltration. Tulsi will continue training, and apparently have one more student.” Elyse rolled her eyes at the last part. 

With that, Lareina, Adriel and Elyse all filed out one by one, to work on their next tasks for the night. Tulsi did not leave, instead unfolding herself as Sooga stood. When she stood, she towered over him with her height alone. The decor of her mask never helped, and neither did the fuzzy tarantula walking across her shoulders. 

“Your son?” Tulsi asked, and Sooga did a double-take on that. 

“Wha- No!” 

“Only a question.” Tulsi giggled- A chalky, gritty laugh, and her spider--Stella--Crawled up the sides of her mask to rest on her head. “I want to meet them.” 

“Why?”

Tulsi stared at Sooga. Better not to ask again. Sooga sighed, and nodded begrudgingly. “Fine. Fine…” 

He just hoped Kiso was where Sooga had left that morning. But something wavered inside of him that hinted otherwise. Call it a hunch, or…

“Do you hear that?” Tulsi froze.

Sooga stopped, and Tulsi cocked her head to the side, farther back as she turned her head side to side. The commotion grew louder; Young voices arguing, shrieking, yelling. 

That bad feeling grew. Sooga and Tulsi glanced at each other, and walked at a brisk pace through the halls. They followed the noise until Sooga rounded the corner, hand on his sword. 

“What is going on here?!” 

Kurre stomped her way past two nervous footsoldiers trailing along, her hand wrapped tightly around Kiso’s wrist with an iron grip that he couldn’t let go of. It didn’t stop him from trying, though, and the sight gave Sooga an immediate headache. Kiso’s feet dug back, but Kurre’s grasp was stronger; She was literally dragging him behind her like a ragdoll, and Kiso growled at the two footsoldiers that unfortunately wandered too close. His face was shielded by a Yiga mask, he was dressed in traditional clothes of the culture. 

He could have fit in seamlessly, if not for the ghastly, glowing miasma on his skin, now coiled around his fingers.

The footsoldiers immediately stopped and bowed to Tulsi and Sooga, nervously announcing their names in respect. 

“Let me through.” Kurre demanded. “I’m going to see Master Kohga.” 

“Can you please explain to me the meaning of this?” Sooga gestured to Kiso, and he tried yanking his arm away again. 

“I’m fine!” 

“He’s NOT fine. He collapsed in the street. His blood is infected-”

“I’m FINE.” 

“-And the corrosion has grown worse since last night. I have no references to treat this, and the other doctors in town are a waste of time. I am taking him to Master Kohga.” 

Tulsi leaned down, watching Kiso’s hand flailing. “How terrifying it must be.”

She raised her head as Kiso moved again, quickly joining his hands to teleport with Sheikah magic. A blue flame erupted from his palms, and combusted with a loud pang, and Kurre flinched- Enough for her grasp to loosen, and Kiso tore away, stumbling back into the footsoldiers.

Everything happened within a matter of seconds. 

“Woah!” They shouted, and caught him easily, and Kiso’s mask flipped up for a brief second. Sooga’s mouth fell open as he saw the corrosion had taken over half of Kiso’s face, turning his left red eye into something monstrous; He saw yellow, red, a sharp pupil and the swirling poison before the mask fell again, and Kiso grabbed at his chest. 

He saw Kiso’s third eye alight.

Kiso’s gaze whipped upwards to the walls in panic, and Sooga followed; There was nothing there, but Kiso tore himself from the footsoldiers grip and scrambled farther into the dim hall. 

“Sooga, it’s-!” Kiso shouted, before his words were cut off with a choking gasp. His back flew to the adjacent wall and was pinned. His head lifted as if something were strangling him. Tulsi snapped at the footsoldiers and they nodded and took off. 

“What is going on, Sooga?!” Kurre shouted, and Sooga quickly removed his own mask as he sprinted forward. 

Sooga closed his eyes, reaching out to Kiso, and finally saw what the Sheikah did.

All the warm lights in the room bursted with a wailing scream; A bloody creature had its long hand wrapped around Kiso’s neck, and the color of the poison matched the creature near perfectly. 

Something like blood poured down from the walls too quickly, taking shape as another hand-like creature, one with a single eye darting around before landing on its fresh target. 

“Help….Me…” Kiso wheezed. 

Sooga tore his gaze away and moved to press his palm against Kiso’s forehead; To make it all stop like the last time. But something unleashed and a flash of red across his vision made Sooga shout, and he felt his body crash into a stack of boxes nearby. 

Someone shouted; He couldn’t tell who. 

Long fingers grabbed underneath his arms and lifted, and Sooga fought against the urge to elbow a monster in the face, but Tulsi’s scarf stopped him from starting a fight. 

He saw Kurre kneel down beside Kiso, hands reaching for his neck. 

“WHAT is GOING on here?!!” 

Kiso let out a gasp, and then a rough cough as he crumpled to the floor in Kurre’s arms. Sooga tried to stand before his legs and brain connected, and Tulsi held him afloat by his arms.

“Ah,” She said with a tense voice. “Good evening, Master Kohga.” 

Oh, fuck. 

---

[mycoolwritingcorner]

Sailor Moon: Reignstorm - Chapter 9: Face to Face

“Everyone, please, stop!” Sailor Moon pleaded as she dodged a kick from Haruka, “You don’t want to do this!”

“Oh, but we do.” Haruka said, summoning her sword.

Suddenly, Setsuna put her Garnet Rod over Sailor Moon’s throat and pulled her in close from behind, choking the smaller girl.

“Do you have any idea what it was like?” She whispered in her ear, “Spending millennia in solitude? Having that responsibility thrust upon me by your family as a little girl? Do you have any idea?” She said, pulling Sailor Moon in tighter, “It was Hell.”

“Setsuna… please… I can’t…”

Suddenly, a rose scraped across Setsuna’s face, causing her to release her grip, allowing Usagi to roll out.

“All of you, please, come to your senses!” Tuxedo Mask pleaded.

“Oh, quiet, weak link.” Haruka said, backhanding Tuxedo Mask into a wall.

“MAMO!” Sailor Moon cried.

“You should be more worried about yourself!” Hotaru said as she slashed at Sailor Moon with her Silence Glaive, which the Guardian managed to just barely avoid.

Suddenly, Usagi heard Naru’s voice come from Haruka’s communicator, “I got the package, pull back for now.”

“Alright. Everyone! You heard the lady!”

And just as quickly as they arrived, they were gone.

“Package? What did she-” Usagi began to ask, before hearing a chime from her communicator. She flipped it open to see Venus, with dirt and several scrapes on her face, “Venus, what happened?!” Usagi asked, panicked.

“Naru, she… she took Ami…” The Guardian of Beauty said, defeated.

Usagi felt her stomach drop, “No… no no no no no. She… she’s…”

“Usagi, I know it’s a lot to take in, but we don’t have time to waste. Meet us at the arcade. Venus out.” 

With that, her friend’s image disappeared from the screen. Usagi turned back to normal and collapsed onto her knees, “She’s gone…”

…

Ami awoke slowly. Her entire body ached, her head was pounding. When she finally managed to open her eyes, her blurred vision kept her from fully processing everything around her. If she didn’t know any better it looked like she was in a… cave? As her vision cleared up, she was even more confused to find a small table with a cup of tea sitting in front of her.

“What the…?” She began before looking down at herself. She had been set down in a chair made of stone, which she probably would have noticed sooner if not for her already persistent body aches. What was more concerning, however, was that she was no longer transformed. She frantically began feeling around her pockets for her Crystal Change Rod, but quickly realized that it was no longer in her possession.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Ami heard from behind her, before seeing Reign walk into her field of vision, “Sorry, I wasn’t sure how you liked your tea.”

With a wave of their hand, Reign conjured a second stone chair and sat across from Ami.

“What did you do to it? Is it poisoned?”

“Miss Mizuno,” Reign began cordially, “why would I go through all the trouble to bring you here just to poison you? Oh, and also…” Reign continued, reaching into their cloak and pulling out Ami’s Crystal Change Rod, “I believe you dropped this on your way in.” They finished, placing the Change Rod onto the table.

Ami picked it up, and turned it over in her hands, inspecting it. Originally she suspected it to be a fake, or that it had been tampered with in some way. However, upon examining it, this did not appear to be the case.

“Why are you giving this to me?” Ami asked, confused.

“Call it a show of good faith. Because, Miss Mizuno, I have a proposition for you.”

“Proposition?”

“Yes, you see… I have a few components I need, and only a few short days to gather them.” Reign explained, “However, one of those components, arguably the most important one, is hidden beyond my reach.”

“And that would be…?”

“The Golden Crystal. Located in Elysion, the capital of the fallen Earth Kingdom.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I have no idea how to get there.” The blue-haired girl said, crossing her arms.

“Oh, I know.” Reign said, reaching into their cloak and pulling out a familiar object: Ami’s handheld supercomputer, “But this does.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Every drop of information possessed by the Moon Kingdom resides within this computer.” Reign explained, gesturing towards the device, “Some information is buried deeper than others, but it’s all right here. However, there’s one problem. The computer cannot be accessed without your password.”

“So you want me to unlock it for you?”

“If you could be so kind.” The masked figure said in their icy cold voice.

“Release your control over my friends, then we’ll talk.” Ami bluffed.

Reign let out a maniacal laugh in response, “Oh, but that’s the best part. I’m not controlling them. I couldn’t even if I tried.”

Ami was stunned, she couldn’t believe what she had just heard, “W-what are you talking about? Ail and An-”

“The space elves were easy. Their connection to the tree made invading their minds child’s play. You Sailor Guardians, on the other hand, are much more unwieldy. So rather than attempt to control them, I instead opted to free them. I can influence them to an extent, but ultimately? Everything they’re doing and saying is courtesy of the darkest corners of their own minds.” Reign clarified with a sadistic glee in their voice.

“What about Naru?” Ami asked, still processing what she had just heard.

“Ah, the Osaka girl, she’s an interesting one. So much potential, I thought it was a shame that it was all wasted on a mere mortal. So, I opted to correct that.”

“You’re not making any sense.” Ami replied, frustrated.

“It doesn’t matter.” Reign said, dismissively, “The point is, I cannot undo something I’m not doing in the first place.”

“Then I guess I can’t unlock that computer.” Ami said, obstinate.

Reign let out a large sigh, before rising out of their chair and causing the table between them to disappear with a wave of their hand, “I just want you to know, Miss Mizuno,” They said as they placed their hand atop Ami’s head, “I truly didn’t want to do this.”

“Don’t- what’re you- stop! I- gaah!” Ami cried in pain as her body became flooded with dark energy. In an instant, everything went black.

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

Yadda yadda, I'm not great with combat, you know the drill.

Apologies again for the long wait between updates, I am hoping to be better about that in the new year.

But what are Reign's plans for Ami? And what do they want with the Golden Crystal?

You all know by now, to find that out you'll have to keep reading (:

Come back next time for Chapter 10, and until then let me know what you all think! Comments, reblogs, etc. are very much appreciated!

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

[deansmom]

I love Elyse Myers’s idea of “go find less” and it has stuck with me since the first time I heard her say it. If I am too much for you, go find less.

I have never been a particularly loud or exuberant person, I have never been expressive in my joy or elation. Even as a toddler, my excitement, the kind that would make most kids scream & squeal, scream laugh, you know, it was much more contained. My eyes lighting up, my inability to sit still, the way sometimes those big, happy feelings steal my voice the same way that big, scary feelings do - I have been this way for my whole life.

I am loud in my heartbreak and my grief (I don’t know how to cry quietly), and it is because I feel things so, so deeply, that it consumes me & bypasses whatever volume filter is there. I don’t like loud noises, especially in my own head, my own body, but I don’t know how to be sad or scared or angry quietly. Sometimes those feelings hit me out of nowhere, and if you’re close enough you can hear me gasp with the impact. The only time you will hear me raise my voice in public is when I am fighting to be heard over someone else’s ignorance.

So people are often surprised when they get to know me, when they’re let in, and I am not this quiet, contained, palatable person that I put on for everyone else. In the safety of my own home, I am often quite loud. I will never be demonstrative in my joy, but my happy stimming is more obvious, my excited chattering about nothing is louder and my jokes are more joyful. I am brutally honest with the people I love, because I have never been anything less with myself and I don’t know how to be less in that regard. If someone is going to say it, I would rather it be me and you know that it’s coming from a place of love. I am passionate about the things I believe in, my sense of justice is mind numbing, and I will never be easily consumable when it comes to my feelings of injustice. This is where I lose people, because I don’t know how to agree to disagree about the things that matter to me (they all matter).

I am very much an all or nothing person, I am polarizing in my existence and I am unapologetic about it. The concept of embarrassment over who I am has never made sense to me. I have never looked at my body and hated it because society told me I should. I am painfully self aware & self assured, and it’s often hard for more insecure people to be around me. I’ve been told it has nothing to do with what I say or do, that it’s just me.

I mask all the time, constantly, to the point that I have no idea where the mask ends and I begin. But I also have never been able to be less than myself with people, to my own detriment. I make myself smaller, more palatable without meaning to, and then we’re alone together and suddenly I am big again & people don’t know what to do with that. I find myself indignant that anyone would expect me to make myself smaller, only to turn around and see that I’ve already Done it. People still don’t like the mask, because at the core of it, it’s just me.

So, I have words for the way I’ve always felt: if I am too much, go find less.

[robinbuckley1985]

“I love you. Always.”

Pairing: Robin Buckley X Elyse Harrington(OC)

Prompts: “I’ve got you.” “You mean too much to me.” “Kiss me.” “I can’t do this on my own.” “Please don’t go. “I’m not ready to say goodbye.” “Don’t you ever change.” “I don’t want to have to live without you. I can’t.”

Summary: One casualty that comes with the defeat of Vecna causes the biggest heartbreak no one can be prepared for.

Warnings: Character death, angst, cursing, my shitty writing of course

Word count: 2.2k

A/N: this goes hand in hand with my stranger things wattpad story. The storyline of that is NOT the same as the show.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Elyse stood in the small bedroom of her apartment that she shared with her now fiancé Robin, she started to feel anxious. Like something was going to happen. It had been over a year of normalcy after the group had finally defeated Vecna. Their lives had gone back to normal-or as normal as they could. Elyse and Robin got engaged last week, a beautiful sweet moment that for the time being only Steve knew about. They wanted to savor the memory for a bit alone, before everyone else knew.

She looked into the mirror, fixing her hair. Today the whole group was getting together to have a small dinner. In honor of normalcy for over a year, courtesy of Nancy. Elyse had honestly been dreading this. If they celebrate normalcy, the other shoe is going to drop. Something is going to happen. If she had it her way she would be snuggled up in her bed with Robin drinking wine and hiding from the world. But, she’s going because Robin wants to go. And she would do anything for her. She would live, die, and everything in between for her.

And that might be happening today. A glimpse of red smoke caught Elyse’s eye out the window. In the distance, red smoke puffed up into the sky. She thought she was seeing things. She tried blinking it away, hoping it was just the sunset or something. But it was still there. And then she felt it. He was back. And her mind went back to the conversation last year. You’re the only one who can stop him. You were made to stop him. And she knew what had to be done. Robin was still in the shower so she had about ten minutes to frantically write out letters exposing what happened. In case she didn’t make it out of this alive.

She couldn’t say goodbye to everyone, they would all try talking her out of it, saying there’s another way. Except, there isn’t another way. This was always meant to happen. She had to stop him. She couldn’t let anything happen to her friends. Her family. She sealed the letters in envelopes. She stood for a moment in front of the mirror, preparing herself. As she walked out of the bedroom, past the bathroom, the shower wasn’t running. “Hey, Robin I have to go take care of something, but I’ll see you at Nancy’s, okay!” She yelled, grabbing her flannel to throw on. Robin cracked the door open, a towel loosely wrapped around her body and her hair thrown haphazardly down from it being wet.

“Do you want me to wait for you and we can go together?” She asked, her fingers combing through her hair absentmindedly. Elyse shook her head, forcing a smile so as to not worry Robin. “No, it’s okay. It might take a while. I’ll see you later. I love you.” She said, placing a kiss on Robin’s lips, giving her a smile as she walked away and out of the apartment. She took a breath. She had a stop to make first. One that she honestly never expected to make.

As she approached the house she grew up in, she grew anxious. She hadn’t seen her parents since they kicked her out last year. And now, on what could be her last day, she’s giving them these letters in hopes that they will get to the people they need to. She had her fingers crossed that only her mother was home. While she may not have done anything to stop her father, she never added to it either. She raised her hand, knocking on the door twice. And not even five seconds later the door swung open. And there stood her father. She sighed, his anger clear on his face. “What do you want?” Elyse swallowed hard, controlling herself. “I need you or mom to give these to Nancy. She’ll know how to get them to everyone else. Don’t ask me why. I just need this.” She was pleading, his anger residing a bit. “I guess that can be done.” He took the letters out of her hands, his eyes narrowing at her. “Is there anything else you want to say?”

She sighed, knowing what he was referring to. “If you want me to apologize for who I am, that’s not happening. I’m happy. Is that so terrible?” He scoffed, his glare intensifying. “How can you be happy? You’ll die alone. No man would want a woman who looks at other women the way you do.” Elyse rolled her eyes, her sight getting caught by her mother in the back of the house. “Actually, I found a girl who is amazing. And has made me happier than I have ever been. And we’re engaged. And I wish you could accept that. But, I don’t need your approval anymore. Please, get those letters to Nancy. Bye dad.” And without giving him a second glance, she walked away. For what could very well be the last time.

As she approached the smoke, the silhouette of Vecna was visible in the distance. Her breath hitched in her throat as she prepared to do this. This was the end. Of him. Of herself. Of the pain and suffering. She hated that she wouldn’t get to have a proper goodbye with everyone, but it had to be done this way.

As everyone was gathered in the wheeler house, the smell of freshly made food filling the house, Robin sat anxiously in a chair in the corner of the living room. It had been 2 hours since Elyse had left. She figured she would’ve been done by now. Steve walked over, bringing a small glass of water. He handed it to her and then sat down on the chair next to her. “Thanks.” She said, her voice hoarse, as she took a sip of water. “Where’s Elyse at?” Robin shrugged. “She said she had to take care of something. I thought she would be ba-.” Robin was cut off by an earthquake shaking the house. As screams filled the rooms, PTSD flooded all of them from the past.

When it stopped, everyone frantically went outside to see what was going on. The red smoke in the distance caused concern to grow between everyone. And then Nancy raced back into the house. She grabbed her car keys, sprinting back out. “Robin, Steve, come with me! Now!” She said, quickly getting into the driver's seat. Robin quickly followed, getting in the passenger seat. Steve took a seat in the back. “Where the hell are we going? Nance?” Robin asks, Nancy pulling out of the driveway. “It’s called your girlfriend is about to get herself killed. That red smoke? I’m betting it’s Vecna. And I’m betting Elyse took a conversation way more literally than she should have. And now I’m hoping we get there before she does something so incredibly stupid.”

Nancy sped down the street to the other side of Hawkins, following the red smoke. Before the car even stopped completely, Robin was sprinting to Elyse. Nancy and Steve followed closely behind, however the ground started shaking causing all three of them to lose their balance. Nancy and Steve caught up to Robin as they all stated into the distance where Elyse stood, hand raised, blood flooding out of her nose. She was pushing her powers to a limit beyond what she thought was capable. She was doing what she should’ve done a year ago. Her powers surged through her body, the pressure building as she put everything she had into defeating Vecna once and for all.

In the distance, Robin, Nancy, and Steve all stood there, shock freezing them in their steps. Robin was sobbing, her voice wavering as she called out to Elyse. She tried walking forward, however, being stopped by Nancy grabbing her wrist. “Let go of me.” Robin pulled her hand, Nancy’s grip tightening.

“No. If you walk over there you're going to get yourself killed.” Nancy said, a few tears clouding over her eyes. As selfish as it sounds, if she was going to lose Elyse today, she couldn’t lose Robin too.

“I have to stop her. I can’t let her die.” Robin said through choked back sobs. She managed to free her wrist from Nancy’s grasp. Walking towards Elyse, her breath hitching as she saw it in front of her. Nancy and Steve stayed back. “You’re not going to try to keep her back?” Nancy shook her head. “No. She’s not going to listen to me.” A few tears slid down her face as she watched in front of her. The vision of Elyse stood in front of Vecna, Robin approaching from behind.

“Elyse.” She said, just barely above a whisper. Elyse heard her, and her heart broke at it. “Robin, I’m sorry. But, I had to stop him. There was no other way.” Elyse said, her voice straining as she fought against Venca. His eyes glared over to Robin, a sinister smirk forming on his face. “There’s always another way. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself. We can do this ano-.” Robin was cut off by Vecna putting her into a trance. Elyse let out a yelp, pushing against him even more. “Let. Her. Go. This is between you and me.” As she pushed her powers further, his powers wavered. Robin was let out of the trance and fell to the ground.

Nancy rushed over to her, helping her to her feet. Robin tried running forward, to do anything to save Elyse. Nancy held her firmly in place, her arms wrapped tightly around her. Robin let out screaming sobs as she saw Elyse lift into the air. “Holy shit….” Steve said under his breath. The three of them watched as the fight raged on. As she fought against him, his chest started to tear open. And after a moment it seemed as though Elyse may actually make it out alive.

However, his hand snapped up causing Elyse’s powers to falter, allowing Vecna to gain the upper hand. She used all the strength left in her to push him backwards. His body ripped more, his power dying down causing Elyse to fall to the ground. Vecna’s body went limp and then disintegrated into dust. Robin broke free from Nancy’s grip, rushing towards Elyse and falling to her knees. She gently pulled her up and onto her lap, holding her close. Tears flooded down her face, the sight of Elyse making her stomach churn. The blood had dried underneath her nose, however, fresh blood was now covering her body.

Robin gently brushed a few strands of hair off of Elyse’s face. The girl in her arms had let out a small whimper at the pain coursing through her body. “Hey hey hey, I’ve got you. It’s going to be okay.” Robin said, gently cradling Elyse in her arms. Tears were falling from her eyes, pooling on her cheeks. Elyse let out a few small sobs. “Kiss me. One last time.” Elyse choked out, her hand struggling to reach up to Robin’s face. “No no no no. You’re going to be fine. You have to be fine. Please don’t go. Please.” Robin said through choked back cries. Her grip tightened, pulling Elyse closer to her.

Elyse managed to pull herself up enough to place a gentle kiss on Robin’s lips before falling back into her lap. The moment made Robin’s heart shatter. “Don’t you ever change, Robin Buckley.” Elyse said, a small smile spreading on her lips. The same shimmer in her eyes as the day she and Robin first locked eyes. ‘Elyse….I’m not ready to say goodbye.” Robin said, her words catching in her throat.

“Neither am I. But….he had to be stopped. Yo-you gav-gave me the strength t-t-to stop him.” She said, the words struggling out. “I don’t want to have to live without you. I can’t.” Robin said, her hands shakily holding Elyse. Robin’s hand found Elyse’s, Elyse squeezing it gently.

“Robin, don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay. You mean too much to me. I don’t want this to destroy you.” Elyse said, her words just barely above a whisper. Robin let out a few sobs, her lip quivering as she looked at the girl in her arms. “I can’t do this on my own. I need you. I need you.” Robin let out, Elyse squeezing her hand once more. She gave a soft smile, tears welling up in her eyes. “You don’t need me. You’re so incredibly amazing, Robin. You don’t need anyone.”

“Elyse…..please. Don’t give up.” Robin said, pulling her impossibly closer. Elyse let out a soft sigh, her breathing became labored and hoarse. “I love you, Robin. Always.” Elyse choked out, her eyes fluttering shut. “I-I-I lo-love you, Elyse. Al-always.” Robin said as she felt Elyse's body stilled in her arms. She was gone. She felt a presence come up behind her. “She saved us.” Nancy said, kneeling down next to Robin. “She saved me that first night. When she kissed me. I’ll never have that again.” Nancy gave a tight hug to Robin as both girls started to sob. The red smoke had dissipated. Vecna ws defeated once and for all, but at what cost.

“We were engaged….” Robin said just under her breath. “What?” Nancy asked, her gaze going over to Steve who simply nodded. Nancy pulled Robin in tighter, holding her close. The only comfort she could give in this situation. The three sat there, all lost in the haze of what happened. No idea how to go on from now.

[heather-ouo]

A dream’s disguise pt 2

Fu Hua x HoC! GN! Reader

things to remind

(h/c) - your hair colour

(y/n) - your name

Kancho - captain

——————————————————————————————————

part 1, part 3 (end), alternative end

——————————————————————————————————

“ Kancho! The Overseer would like to talk to you about the strategic plan in the meeting room! ”

“ I will be there in a few minutes, thanks. ”

The Valkyrie nodded as the red haired male got up from desk then looked out the window, the sky was half red. It wouldn't be long till the last Herrscher descended to erase humanity again. Kancho let out a sigh before grabbing his cap and heading out to the meeting room.

*knock* *knock*

“ Come in! ”

Kancho opens the door to find the Leader Of Anti-Entropy, Kaslana’s ancient grandpa, some frontline leaders, Theresa the overseer and You.

“ Ah Kancho! Please, go ahead and find yourself somewhere to sit (y/n) will tell us her part of the plan. ”

“ My plan is to use The Selene to weaken her as much as it can and Theresa if you may, can you use Elysion Pedion right before The End tries to leave? ”

“ I could do that but.. what about you? ”

“ Pfft.. do you forgot what i'm made of?

Indeed not many people know what you were made of even if people know they will forget it, Theresa sighs in relief as the others share their point of view and ideas.

——— two hours-ish? before the battlefield 

“ Honkai god… you maniac. ”

“ Wasn’t destroying the last era enough for you?! “

Here you are, forced to kneel before the god that once bring your soul into this body, the living nightmare of Humanity, The Honkai god, in the last era you were forced to watch alongside the god as The End destroys humanity except The fire moths who survived.

“ … ”

“ Originally I brought you down to the earth to enlighten the boredom for me and the imaginary tree. It seems I made a wrong choice… do i need to remind you Outlander? ”

The god speak the last words sharply 

“ On another hand… if you manage to win again The End i can fulfill that question you asked in the last era. ”

“ Yet on the second hand.. if you lose against The End or get your core destroyed ‘ She ’ can take this body back, but the higher ups won’t be happy about this. ”

*sigh..*

“ As the god that humanity hates, I only allow this time and no more. ”

Right after the god finishes you are no longer in the white void nor the gravity pressure that forces you to kneel on the ground, the (h/c) gets up then heads off to somewhere.

——————-

Everyone has prepared themselves for the upcoming enemy or you could say the last threat to humanity, red and black-ish has fully covered the sky but the Herrscher was nowhere to be seen.

“ Uh… did the last Herrscher delay or what? ”

A random Valkyrie frontline leader asked, the (h/c) knows something is up…. You search and try to remember the information in your past life about the Herrschers, who was HotE..?

A click sound went through your mind… The HotE.. WAS THE REAL KIANA! You quickly turn to see the crowds of Valkyrie to find Durandal who seems to be uncomfortable and was holding her head.

“ EVERYONE MOVE OUT OF THE WAY AND BE ON YOUR GUARD! THE HERRSCHER HAS ALREADY DESCENDED!! ”

The (h/c) teleported to Durandal’s side without a second thought you magically pull HotE’s consciousness out of her body and the moment you do that, the consciousness floats to the opposite side then it starts to gather honkai energy.

And now.. the war has started.

( forgive me, I don’t know how to write an war scene ;w; )

. . . Back

 . . With

  . Hua from pt 1

“ There’s so much to do now! ”

“ No freaking outbreak and no need to face that god, old timer… say when are you two gonna get married- ”

You suddenly spit hot tea on Senti’s face while Fu Hua calmly sips tea like that old man across a parallel universe.

“ HOT!! HOT!! HOT!! ”

“ OH GOD OF HONKAI SENTI IM SORRY! ”

“ WHERE’S THE COLD WATER?! ”

Running out of choice the (h/c) activates HoI’s core and grabs Senti’s face. Thanks to the core your hands start to chill up, cooling down Senti’s face after a minute or two Senti loses feeling in her cheeks.

“ (y-y/n) i think that’s enough… I can't feel my cheeks. ”

You remove your hands away.

“ Oh… uh.. sorry about spitting the tea on your face? ;w; ”

“ It's not like The greatest Herrscher can't be hurt by that hot tea! ”

“ Yes yes, you are the greatest Herrscher..”

Normal peaceful day until Senti wants a wedding between Fu hua and you, sips in the last bit of tea she put down the cup.

“ Senti. ”

“ What. ”

“ You are grounded and no scamming people for five months. ”

“ l did nothing wrong! Why are you grounding me??? ”

Fu Hua pulls out a cloth hanger out of nowhere and gently pat it on her left hand with a calm smile on her face and the next thing you know Senti disappears.

“ That’s a little harsh don’t you think hua? ”

“ No, sometimes she just needs some discipline. ”

You can’t help but nod in agreement.

The bluish-purplish haired girl looks out of the window, the red and black-ish sky illusion is still there..  and you, your body is kind of transparent with a black and white core in the centre of your body.

Now she thinks of it.. what really happened in the war?

You were in the frontline fighting against the last Herrscher then… she blacked out and She woke up in a hospital diagnosis with amnesia.

Fu Hua wishes this isn’t a dream but the longer she stays with you the longer she can’t help to think what Welt said to her on the other day. Something is wrong and you aren’t the same one she knows, gathering up her courage she asks the question that’s been in her head.

“ (Y/n)… you put everyone into a dream didn’t you? ”

——————————————————————————————————

Part 1, part 3 (end), alternative end

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Tagging people

@azukaaa

[tiashe]

Long good-bye, my honey - Requiem 18. Elysion [Summary]

<- Requiem 17 | Side chapter ->

With the power of Hollows surrounding her feet, Rose declares that her world is, indeed, not the best. There is no reason for her to live without her sister. Strauss says they shall now purify everything and move it to a new, good world.

Rose suddenly remembers the bet she'd made with that figure in chapter 15. "You don't have to remember Elysion."

Elysion... My Elysion...

We enter a flashback in this "old world," Elysion. Two figures heal a rash on a small baby. The baby's mother thanks them. They look exactly like older versions of Rose and Rise. They both have very long hair tied from the back, and their hairstyles are almost identical, but Lumière has sideburns (? is that what they're called?) that connect to her bun, and Étincelle has sideburns that are shorter and curlier. 

A guard tells the mother that she shouldn't thank them for healing her baby, they did it using God's powers, and it's their job anyway. Vansheld appears, grabbing the man's head, and tells him that the priestesses who rule Elysion are practically gods themselves. They heal people and lead them to peace because the gods will them to, they're not tools people can use for convenience. Lumière says she doesn't mind it-- being used by people makes them happy. Vansheld says he can't stand it when people insult her, and walks away. Women in the hallway talk amongst themselves, one freaking out because she met eyes with Vansheld. Étincelle looks at her twin and gives her a knowing smile. She tells Lumière to take a break and relax, and perhaps invite someone to go on a stroll with her. Lumière immediately invites her sister, but she says sometimes she should hang out with people other than her, like, perhaps, an angel. Lumière says she knew she would say something like this, so she'd prepared a fruits basket filled with Étincelle's favorite foods. Étincelle can't reject her invitation.

We see them in a beautiful world created directly by the gods. Étincelle can't walk, so she uses a floating seat to navigate around. The two are always together. Lumière notes that the weather is great, the gods must be feeling happy.

They have what appears to be wine and some nice snacks in the woods. Étincelle says that everyone's been living such comfortable lives lately, yet the number of people who commit sins and go to hell has increased. Lumière wonders what they can do to make them realize that they already have happiness within themselves. She tells her older sister that they should keep believing in them. It is thanks to the gods that people can joyfully live hopeful lives, appreciate the crops of each season and feel rested at the end of their days. The way they try to make the best of their limited lifespans is heartwarming. Even if some people lose their ways, they can surely have good hearts again. Étincelle tells Lumière that she is the angel who understands humans best. Lumière returns the compliment. Étincelle coughs, so Lumière suggests they go back to the sanctuary and rest. 

They teleport back. Étincelle thanks Lumière for taking her out and tells her to invite Vansheld next time. She thinks Vansheld likes Lumière back. Lumière is surprised to hear that, and blushes. Étincelle says they're together so often, she can see through her emotions. Lumière hides her face and tells Étincelle that she's going to an unexplored spring to purify her body.

We see Lumière by a spring with a deer by her side. She determines that nobody is nearby. As a priestess, she has to calm herself down. She wonders why Étincelle knows her emotions so well, when she doesn't know them herself. She says she can be more like herself if she doesn't see him anymore.

She strips and gets in the water. She looks at the flowers that just bloomed and decides to bring Étincelle with her next time. She notices that, right behind her, is Vansheld's back. He's also taking a bath... Lumière looks at the beautiful feathers on his wings. Vansheld suddenly turns around and points his blade directly at her throat, asking who she is. They meet eyes and stare at each other for a bit, when Vansheld accidentally cuts Lumière's necklace and it falls into the spring. Vansheld starts panicking and asks what she's doing in such a remote region. Lumière dives into the water to get her necklace, which if proof of her priesthood. Underwater, Vansheld puts her necklace around her neck. Lumière remembers the women freaking out over seeing Vansheld and questions if she feels the same way as them. She pulls her head out of the water, but Vansheld is now gone.

Vansheld, with nothing but absolute dread on his face, stands on a balcony and watches the twins chatting in the garden. Delacroix asks why he's being so stupid despite his role as an angel who guides the dead. He looks like he'll become a fallen angel all because of the priestess. Vansheld tells him that's stupid, since the gods like her. Delacroix points out that the twins are so close that nobody can get between them. He asks if Vansheld is jealous. Vansheld asks why he's here and not in hell, where he works. Delacroix says that humans are in a tricky spot right now. No matter how many times they let them atone, most of them get corrupted again. When he goes to pick them up, they all start regretting things, saying they should have done more good things. Vansheld says humans aren't only good or evil-- they all have struggles that others can't see. Delacroix gives Vansheld a sincere smile and says he's the same as Lumière in that they both love humans.

Before long, humans started sacrificing animals not to demonstrate their fear of the gods, but to get them to grant their wishes. Like children, they were never satisfied. They kept asking for more things, getting more and more impatient in the process. Before Lumière and Étincelle could heal their hearts, they ruined their once-bountiful land, filled it with corpses and corrupted the world.

As Lumière is walking down a hallway, a group of men run towards her and start violently questioning why their lives haven't been fixed yet. One of them is carrying an axe. They're losing the war and will soon be defeated by the enemy country. Lumière is shocked. An old man grabs her arm and tries to drag her with him. Vansheld flicks three of them on their foreheahds (or shoots them? but honestly they look like forehead flicks) and the others escape. Lumière thanks Vansheld, who holds her hand and asks if she's harmed. They both freeze for a second and blush. Freaking out a little, Lumière says she's fine, and Vansheld says he's glad to hear that. He says Delac was right-- Lumière needs a guard. It's not like Vansheld can always be by her side. Lumière asks what she has to do to save those people. Vansheld says he'd thought being tolerant would be enough, but he isn't sure if that's right. He disappears, and Lumière kisses her necklace.

Two women teleport in front of Lumière and take her to another room. The humans have killed Étincelle. Trembling, Lumière holds her hand. The humans from before are standing right there, saying they decided to kill a priestess straight away since sacrificing animals wasn't enough. With tears in her eyes, Lumière says she can't believe humans have fallen so low. She suddenly hears a voice.

Lumière, the time has come for me to change the world through you. 

---

Note: Lumière and Étincelle are French for “light” and “spark” respectively. I’m actually pretty surprised to see that their names have accented-E’s, since I used to call them “Rosé” and “Risé”. A fun surprise! Also, seeing how Delacroix is also a French name (meaning “of the Cross”) perhaps Vansheld is supposed to be French too? I still have no idea what it could mean, and when you look it up on Google you only get our favorite human-hating angel, but who knows... By the way, Strauss is a German name meaning “ostrich”. Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that either.

[sheepwithspecs]

I’ve had this concept in my head for a while now where my WoL accidentally wishes for Zenos to get a second chance at life and the dynamis (along with Stigma-4) fulfill this wish in Elysion. Zenos basically becomes a little dynamis guy who is conveniently stuck in UT thanks to his new body, forced to learn lessons about being a better person through interactions with WoL and the patrons of the Last Dregs.

I can’t even call it a redemption arc because unfortunately Eachna truly is his mirror and so she’s not going to be teaching him how to hold hands and feel guilt for his actions. Her main goal is to show him that life is more than mere existence, and that fleeting moment he was chasing for so long can be found in the company of like-minded people (dare she say... friends?)

Anyway if I’m going to read wolzenos I might as well write it myself. In the meantime have Eachna suffering because she’s too polite to tell Jammingway she doesn’t like carrots.

“Isn’t it a dream come true?” Jammingway gushed. “Even the Nibirun have settled in and made themselves at home. I even caught one laughing the other day—laughing! It’s better than I could have ever imagined; the place practically runs itself. Not that I need you taking that as another sign to hibernate,” they added, glancing accusingly at N-7000.

“Fret not. Hibernation is not within this unit’s near future.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Eachna laughed. “All of it, really.” Turning, she looked again at the patrons enjoying their meals. The golden light blurred and she blinked in surprise, reaching up to find that tears were building at the corners of her eyes. She swallowed back the lump in her throat, heart pounding almost painfully in her chest.

Thanks to Meteion, she had suffered alongside these people. She had watched their destruction, felt their anguish, mourned their deaths. Their undying despair had wrenched her heart in twain more than once during her journey to the center of the dying sun. Some had inspired pity, others anger. But every last one of them had been in immeasurable pain. Even the Nibirun, who chose peaceful death over a life with no purpose, had been in pain.

To see them now, knowing where they had once been…. Jammingway was right: it was a dream come true. They deserved this second chance at life, to make right the wrongs which had led to their destruction. They deserved to learn and grow, to achieve happiness for its own sake. She turned her eyes to the vast star above the café, the wellspring of pain that had served as Metion’s nest. How many memories remained inside, trapped by the twisted dynamis of their own despair?

I want them all to have this second chance. Every last one of them.

“And anyway,” Jammingway prattled on, oblivious to her musings, “since you’re here, I thought we might have a picnic! I packed all the best foods the café has to offer. We have carrot soup, carrot salad, carrot juice, carrot cake—”

“Oh… erm, that’s… that’s great!” Eachna managed a smile, brows knitted in consternation. “I’m sure it’ll be delicious.”

“Unlike some annoying life-forms, this unit took allied unit Eachna’s satisfaction rate into account when choosing sustenance.”

“Hey! What are you saying?” Jammingway fumed. “Eachna loves carrots just as much as I do! Don’t you?”

“I don’t hate carrots, per se….”

“Allied unit Eachna’s average carrot consumption does not exceed one half of her nutritional intake. As such, this unit took the liberty of adding—” N-7000 trailed to a stop, hovering silently with one arm outstretched.

“With what!? Just what have you added?” Jammingway insisted, stomping their feet. “If you’ve squashed my carrot cake by crowding the basket, I’m going to be very cross!” 

[katoktm6]

June 17 This is Costa Brava!

There are going to be so many photos… first our dinner last night…our super clean hostal last night, then getting ready at 5:00, leaving in the darkish, walking along marina, watching sunrise…then tons of photos of our 11 mile hike up the coast. So beautiful I tried to show just a few of the coves and beaches we walked by, the terrains we hiked, and whatever else I found beautiful..then our hostal tonight and ocean swim….

Now, from the beginning…last nights dinner was tapas and wine..no restaurant would serve meals after 3:00, only tapas before 9:00.. so we each chose three….above you may or may not see, clams, calamari, sardines❤️, cod livers, cheese croquettes, carpaccio, and bread…of course. Delicious..for dessert I got a third glass of wine and Elyse got lemon sorbet covered in vodka…cheers… The dog photo is only because I am making a point. There is not one bad dog in Spain. Every dog is either on a leash or off a leash and does not react to people or other dogs. They are perfectly behaved. I do not understand. Every breed, every dog is perfection. I may move to Spain just because I want to have good dogs. Maybe not circus dogs anymore. If you think I’m exaggerating. I am not. I’ve never experienced anything like this. And we have not seen one single stray dog.

We are getting good. Up at 5 AM routine, and out the door after eating a sandwich and cold leftover black coffee and on our way. Please read or follow Elyse Gentile on Polarsteps to understand our version of time and travel in Spain…

We hiked to the coast and I can honestly say I have never climbed up and down so many steps in my entire life. Every single cove that you see every single beach that you see we hiked down to it and then across it and then up the stairs to above it and then down stairs to the next cove and then up stairs to the next cove. Our calves were on fire. But the beauty of this coast is indescribable. I cannot even choose a favorite picture to post except the cover photo for this day and the flying seagull. I may win an award for that photo I’m pretty sure.

We wanted to stop at every Cove to swim. But that would involve taking our packs off taking our shoes off taking our socks off putting our suits on …or not…swimming , getting Sand off our feet etc. so we just walked by walked up walked down.

Stopped two hours into our hike for Café con Leche. And met a couple women from Scotland blah blah blah blah blah. It was great just to talk to other women who were hikers and vacationers and maybe Elyse eexplained that story.

Our hostel here is unbelievable. We are the only ones here, of course, because there are no other hikers…the next part of this is written by Elyse….” At the end of our hike, our hostel hostess found us walking along the beach and offered us a ride. In true Katie fashion, we needed to finish (I agreed, we did) so we trudged along. Upon arrival we found out that we were the only people staying at the hostel. We have a whole house to our selves. We have two outdoor patios, a full living room, a full kitchen, a rain shower, a jacuzzi, and air conditioning. And you know the best part? It was the CHEAPEST HOSTEL IN TOWN. As I sit outside writing this and sipping my wine, our laundry is tumbling away in the dryer. It’s the little things people, the little things. “

This day was fantastic…well, except for when we laid on our bed to make reservations for tomorrow in Bergur. We found after looking for about an hour that there was not one single place available under $200 and a 10 mile radius of the city where we were supposed to go. We wasted so much time and in the end I said why don’t we just skip this next step and move on. So tomorrow we will hike half of what we were supposed to. Take a bus to the next city. We have booked a lovely hostel. And then we are one day ahead of where we were supposed to be this is going to be very confusing. But Elyse was supposed to leave from Roses. But now she’ll go one more day with me. But the dates haven’t changed. But we have a taxi for her. Anyway all of this nonsense took us two hours this afternoon. We were so grumpy we had such headaches we decided to pack it all in and head down to the beach and swim in the ocean. That changed our day again. It was heavenly. We then walked up the street bought sandwiches for tomorrow, dinner for tonight for takeout to eat in our lovely hostel, went to the market and bought wine, and here we are.

We have now booked our stays for the next four or five days. We are happy. The day was unbelievable. Oh and we may have a stalker from the United Kingdom/Spain. Unclear. Another story. Another time. But really cool guy. ….hmmmm…I did ask Elyse if she made sure her beer was not roofied.

Now we still have to get our clothes out of the dryer, finish our bottle of wine, do the dishes, fill our water, pack our backpack, and relax…#chores

[sxugaryx]

Mundanity (Fanfic)

Another Chapter of my Lies of P Fanfic

【☆】★【☆】★【☆】★【☆】★【☆】

It’s been 5 weeks since Pinocchio had been living with his father and he was slowly adapting to his new free-of-conflict life.

Wearing some of Carlo’s clothes felt a bit strange, but he had a few clothes of his own and his father promised to get him more.

As far as his appearance he only needed to take care of his long hair, Lady Antonia insisted on giving him a detailed step-by-step routine on how to take care of it.

“Boy don’t brush your hair so tight like that! Do you want to break it apart?”

He appreciated her advice, he liked having his hair long, it kept growing, now being at arm's length a bit past his shoulders.

He helped with cleaning the house and assisting his father in any way he could, although unfortunately after trying to make breakfast for him one morning and falling miserably, he was now banned from using the kitchen. He still didn’t know what went wrong he and Gemini were clearly following the recipe! But after almost burning down the kitchen he couldn’t argue about trying to cook again.

His free time was spent mostly reading books, he enjoyed reading and the house had many books for him to read, his favorites were fairy tales, he had a soft spot for such stories.

Yet lately he grew bored, he wanted to go outside more, not just outside the house, but go back to the city, explore, and talk with others. He wanted to see Eugénie again, he wanted to go to the shopping district, he wanted to go to the opera house, to enjoy all the places he couldn’t when they were all torn apart.

But father was adamant about him not leaving.

“Pinocchio just give it some time, what transpired is still in people's eyes, I don’t want you to be subject to insults or brutality from others”

He understood but it was so unfair, he also suspected that his father just didn’t want to let him go, to keep an eye on him at all times.

“Pinocchio today I need to go to Venigni’s place and I won’t be back until late at night, please be a good boy while I’m gone”

It was early in the morning when he left, he tried to read a few books but he couldn’t concentrate, he decided to lay on the couch and have some time to think.

“Gemini I’m bored”

“Me too buddy but you heard what Master Geppetto said”

“Mmm, on a scale of one to ten, how mad do you think he would be if I snuck out?”

“A hundred, if he finds out he is going to be furious”

…

“IF he finds out”

“Pinocchio no”

“Come on he won’t be back till late at night, we can come back before he arrives here”

“I swear no matter what I tell you, you always do whatever you want, why do you even ask for advice?”

“Because I want you to come with me, you always come to me”

“That’s true, I guess you are going to drag me along in your little adventure, please just return in time”

Pinocchio stood up ready to leave, there was no need to take any money, he just wanted to look around, and taking it would be stealing, he wondered if he perhaps needed some sort of weapon, if the worst came to be, but he didn’t wanna get into any trouble, he was sure that he can just convince people that fighting was pointless, besides, he did look like a human, hopefully, no one would notice his puppet body.

—----------

They decided to go to Elysion Boulevard, it was completely different than when he came first, of course, you can still see some damage but Venigni had done an excellent job of helping repair the city. Wandering around just looking at the shops in the streets, lots of cafes or restaurants, clothing stores, gift shops, book stores, and way more.

Pinocchio looked around, just the lively vibe of the place was enough to cheer him, up, suddenly he remembered that Eugénie new store was somewhere around, it took a while to find it, and many “Just ask for directions” from Gemini, he had been there dozens of times, he obviously knew the place, Gemini realizing that he could be just as stubborn as Master Geppetto.

Finally, he found and entered her shop, luckily a customer had just left and they could have a more private conversation.

Eugénie´s eyes sparked a bit and she gave a big smile.

“Pinocchio I haven’t seen you in some time how have you been?” Eugénie looked happy, excited, she was glad to see her old friend and have a chat, especially with how hard work had been.

“I’m doing good, how about you?”

“And I’m doing fine too!” Gemini chirped from his small cage.

“Good to see you too Gemini” Eugénie paused. “But, does Geppetto know you are here? I figured he wouldn’t like for you to go outside much”

Pinocchio thought to himself; I’ve lied to her before, doing it again won’t do harm, besides, if his father didn’t want him to lie he shouldn’t have given him the ability to.

“Yes, Father said it was okay”

Gemini tried to chirp to say something but Pinocchio quickly grabbed his cage from behind and shook him a bit.

“All right all right, when the brat gets into trouble I won’t be on his side” Gemini thought, usually, he didn’t mind when he lied, but one thing is lying while the world is falling apart and another is just lying to cover yourself from disobeying trouble.

“I’m glad to hear that, work has been crazy you know?” Eugénie was different, she was always a sunshine, and now that the toughest times were gone, she was even more vibrant with joy.

The three of them chatted for some time until new customers arrived and they both had to say goodbye.

As they left Pinocchio just wandered around more, Gemini saw a change in him as well, he was getting over his shyness, Gemini was happy that he was opening up more to others.

“It’s getting late, we should go back” Although Gemini had enjoyed going outside, he had to make sure to remind the boy to go home early, time had gone by so fast, Twilight was seen, the beautiful dim colors of the sky was a sight to behold, it seemed that today the perfect combination of blue, orange, yellow and red made it look a detailed painting.

“Most stores are closing anyw-“ but Gemini’s voice was interrupted by a louder one.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, come all to see! come all to participate! In the magnificent raffle, sponsored by none other than the great Strómboli!”

Pinocchio turned around, excited to see what the scandal was all about.

A tall man was handing out tickets to the crowd, on the street posters of a big man, with a thick long beard and simple red and green clothes, “The great Strómboli” it read, it looked like some sort of show.

The tall man shouted once more “Ladies and Gentlemen, this raffle is completely free, have a chance to win tickets to Strómboli’s performance, and if you don’t win the grand prize, fear not! For we have a few gifts as a consolation prize!”

Pinocchio couldn't help himself, it was a free raffle after all, no harm in trying it out, he got closer and the man handed him a red ticket, written on it a combination of numbers, 1940 to be exact.

Time passed as the crowd gathered, more tickets were given, and then the reading of the winners was held, Pinocchio didn’t win the tickets but he did win a small plushie of a donkey.

As he left, it finally dawned on him that the sky had become a shade of deep shade of purple, the yellow of the sun barely on the horizon. He gasped, realizing his mistake.

“Oh no, Pinocchio you are gonna have to run if you want to make it back home in time!” Gemini’s voice was filled with anxiety.

He rushed back home as soon as he could, barely making it in on time when the night sky was finally seen, he made it just in time, and his father probably wouldn’t be home in an hour or two.

As Pinocchio opened the door, on the living room couch, Geppetto sat, with his arms crossed.

“So care to tell me where you went?”

Oh. I screwed up, I screwed up bad.

[filozofsblog]

6 Quotes From Ancient Philosophers That Can Help You Live Better Today

By Elyse Gorman

Happiness resides not in possessions; happiness dwells in the soul. Democritus

More stuff does not equal more happiness. We buy mountains and mountains of material things, only to feel as empty as when we started. Stop falling into the trap. You know better. Happiness is not found in possessions. Happiness is found in laughter and sunshine and climbing mountains and watermelon slices and great conversations and kissing and getting lost in a good song and stargazing and running into the ocean and friends and family and sharing a pizza. Fill your life with moments, not things.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. Epictetus

They say you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. That’s scary stuff. If you frequently hang around people who are manipulative, critical, jealous or close-minded, it’s probably going to rub off on you eventually. Even if it doesn’t, you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to spend your limited time on earth with better people. Surround yourself with friends who support you, inspire you, make you a better person, and make you feel alive.

What you think of yourself is much more important than what people think of you. Seneca

Worrying about what other people think is a waste of energy. Let them think what they want. You can’t read their thoughts anyway. And if you could, you would see that they are completely pre-occupied with their own hang-ups and insecurities. There is a huge amount of freedom in letting go of the need for social approval. Judge yourself by your own standards. And go easy on yourself while you’re at it.

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life. Aristotle

Society teaches us that our purpose in life is to tick off the list of big milestones: go to college, graduate, get a stable job, buy a house, get married, raise children. The problem with this is that we put our happiness on hold until we reach the targets – and we don’t truly feel satisfied until we collect the whole set. This is a terrible way to live. Let’s see happiness itself as the purpose of our life, and then we will be more inclined to seek it out and to savor it every single day.

Waste not fresh tears over old griefs. Euripedes

Dwelling on the past won’t change the past, but it will rob you of today. When you are grasping onto something from long ago, you are not creating the space to let new things into your life — friends, lovers, experiences, memories. It may take a few weeks of consciously banning the thought from your mind. It may take a whole lot of extra self-love and indulgence. Do what it takes, because the present moment is too precious to waste lost in thoughts of the past.

Every man is the architect of his own future. Sallust

No one is going to make your dreams happen for you except you. There is little point blaming circumstances or other people or a shortage of time. You are the only thing holding you back. Take responsibility for where you are in life. Feeling restless? Unsatisfied? Like you are capable of more? Like you have barely scratched the surface of living? You need to spend some time working out what piece is missing from the puzzle of your life. Once you know, make a tangible plan to change things.