#thus he gets kidnapped and put in a trap

[gatogotica]

shawn spencer would escape a saw trap with time to spare

[moondirti]

Your ghostsoap x preg!reader!!??? I'm in love I need more of this. You have more thoughts for that universe? I just fell in love with your writing.

Let me camp in this corner of your blog, I'm friendly and don't bite (⁠~⁠￣⁠³⁠￣⁠)⁠~

they're all i've been able to think about all day. of course i have more to say <3 if you're curious, anon is referring to this, which should be read before this part.

tags: DARK FIC. manipulation. vehicle tampering. planned abduction. pregnant fem!reader. established ghostsoap – who are not the fathers but would definitely like to be. mentions of somnophilia

Delusional as they might be, it's hard to justify something as egregious as blunt-force kidnapping. Though it briefly occurs to Simon – to pluck you from the parking lot and drive off the hour after they decide to keep you – the logistics don't iron out. Of chief concern, you're six months pregnant. What they'd typically use for POW's thus become's inconsiderable for you; Johnny's the wiz, but even he knows the effects chloroform can have on a foetus. The alternative isn't any better, either – his partner just balks at the idea of tying you up and throwing you in the trunk. (She'll never git ower it, Si. Dae ye want her tae hate us?)

So, things unfold in a far subtler manner.

They go home that night they first meet you. Can't coordinate without resting on it, they rationalise, without scoping their place to assure it's suitable for their soon-to-be-mother. They tuck away the knives laying on random countertops, air out the quilts gifted to them by Johnny's ma in an attempt to make their room cozier. And when they sleep, they dream of you tucked in between them, knocked out, sex-drunk. Dressed in nothing but a shirt, cunt bared for either of them to toy with throughout the night.

Hours upon hours later, well into noon the next day, Simon wakes to find his boy rutting into his thigh, still somewhat comatose, and sneaks a rough hand into his boxers to tug the tension out of the poor thing. They only get up as the fissures of dusk begin to spread across the sky, loading their car with a toolbox and making the drive back to The Dahlia, staking out in the parking lot as they wait for you to arrive for your shift.

(Johnny had deployed the old charm as you brought out their food in two baggies last night, disguising the trap with a lilting laugh as he audibly wondered why you picked up such a late shift.

You’d only shrugged and said you preferred to work nights.)

Sure enough, you pull up in a beat-up Kia at 2200, fussing with your bag as you stumble to the back entrance of the roadhouse.

"Forgot to lock it." He mutters, following your form until it disappears from view. Johnny only frowns, tightening his fingers over his thumb. A little nervous tick.

"Should we be doin' this?"

"And what is this?" Simon turns to appraise the scotsman, larger hand enveloping his, calloused fingertips smoothing over scarred knuckles. "Y'think they'd be kinder to 'er? The type of scum we know grace this earth? It's a wonder she made i' this far, Johnny."

He isn't convinced.

"Look a' me." Blue eyes widen to meet his, dark as their owner battles intuitions that have always been straighter than the Ghosts'. "Wanna give 'er a good life, yeah?"

"Aye. The best."

"Would she be so convinced?" But he knows the answer. They both saw the way you withdrew after being hit on, losing the effusiveness you initially greeted them with. Avoidant. Classic case of hyper-competency, perhaps the very reason you put up with such shitty circumstances to begin with. A stubborn knot they'll have to undo themselves.

And Johnny likes the challenge.

"Lass's got something tae prove." Moments pass in silence. Then: "Ah’ll get th' wire."

"Atta' boy."

They only enter the establishment an hour before the end of your shift. It’s 0600 and space is sleepy. At a point that had escaped their notice, someone had made the choice to shut the overhead fluorescents, and so all that functions to illuminate the dinette is the pale dawn outside. Johnny finds he prefers it like this, grumbling a tired endorsement, before branching off in search of the bathroom, hand rubbing the sore column of his throat.

The softening mass in his pants jumps once Simon catches sight of you, balancing two trays in one hand as you wipe down the serving hatch. He doesn’t need to say anything. You catch the dark blur of him in the corner of your eye, shuffling into a booth, where he occupies an entire side with the mere spread of his legs.

“Hello again. Just you today?” You’re twirling your pen, cradling your belly, and he notes the perpetual shadow cast under your eyes. Poor pet.

He shakes his head, then cocks it toward the loo. “Think he’ll have a go at the toastie today.”

“Good choice. Hard to fuck up.” You give him a tired smile. “And for you?”

“M’good.”

“You sure? Look like you’ve been on the road again, and-" You pause, the water of your eyes rippling as you appraise his mask. Something seems to click just then, because you nod and tuck your notepad away. “I’ll ask again at the end. Maybe you’ll want something to-go.”

In the end, they do take something to go.

Not as greasy as the toastie Johnny spends the hour tearing into, glossing the pads of his fingers with oil. Nor as sour as the coffee he sipped on last night, burnt and way past freshness, just like you’d warned them about. But a much, much sweeter keepsake. Something that’ll sate them for much longer.

You’ve already clocked out once they leave The Dahlia, faces grim but as innocent as they can possibly muster. Sure enough, you’re out standing by your car, wiping tears with the back of your hand. They’re close enough that they can catch snippets of your conversation on the phone (No, I don’t– and It is old but never–).

They wait until you grow desperate, hiccuping – Don’t have that kind of money. Please – before intervening.

“Hey. What’s the matter, hen?” Johnny approaches first, concern no faux thing, smoothing a hand down your arm. What Simon said earlier comes back around (Wanna give 'er a good life?) and his chest tightens at the sheer despair he sees etched across your face. You shouldn’t be this stressed about anything this far along, should have someone taking care of you.

He, they, can be that for you. Could give you everything you ask for and more.

“M-my car. I-I don’t– I don’t know what’s wr-wrong with it, and–”

“Shhh, issalright. Not starting, eh?”

“No. And I have to- to get home before… before–”

Simon steps in, crowding you against the side of your car. You don’t have it in you to look for the red flags; the glances they throw one another, the subtle crinkle in the masked one’s eyes as he smiles. No, you don’t– can’t consider it dangerous. Not when these two wonderfully kind men, who tipped you 100% of their bill both times they came in, are one of your only means of getting help.

“Where do you live? We’ll drive ya if it’s on our way.” A lie. They’ll drive you regardless, and you won’t be taken home.

“Oh- no. That’s okay, really. I’ll just a-ask my boss if I can get a sub on my pay, and–”

Johnny smooths a finger across your cheek.

“Nonsense, hen. It’ll be a skoosh.”

next part

[juanarc-thethird]

IS NOTHING!!!

Cinder: *Writing* I didn't want to eat with him, but I didn't have a choice

- Day dreaming -

Cinder is sitting in one of the dining room chairs. The room is decorated with the finest things she has ever seen. Across the small table from her, sat the most heroic knight, Sir Arc.

Jaune: You look beautiful~

Cinder: FUCK YOU! (Of course I look beautiful)

Cinder was wearing a beautiful black dress with hints of red. Just the size of her, a gift Sir Arc gave her. Cinder, feeling "pressured" by the gift, had put it on him.

Cinder: (How I'd rather wear my clothes, and not this silly pretty dress)

Cinder looks at her food and a question leaves her mouth.

Cinder: I bet you poisoned this

Jaune doesn't say anything, but takes a piece of her food. Thus proving that the food is actually safe to digest. Cinder then tastes the food.

Cinder: (Damn~💕 The food is just as good as it looks!)

But that thought only makes her angrier.

Cinder: (Who does he think he is! I don't need his fancy food!)

Jaune smiles at her. A sexy evil smile that highlighted his sensual jawline.

Cinder: *Blushing* (Damn it! I can't keep thinking like this. He literally kidnapped me! I mean, I was trapped in that tower with that evil Witch, but I never asked for this! I don't need him! His beautiful home! His delicious food! Or his beautiful dresses! Or the fact that I finally felt loved for the first time in years!!)

Jaune: Something bothers you, my love?

He says as he takes her hand, touching it lovingly.

Cinder: *red* (Damn it! I don't need this!)

she says to herself

Cinder: (I'm an independent warrior! I hunt for myself and I always will. I'll plot my escape... Just as soon as he stoops looking at me with those piercing...)

Jaune: *Worry* Cinder, are you ok?

Cinder: (Beautiful...)

Jaune: *Gets closer and puts his hand on her forehead* You're very red, do you have a fever?

Cinder: (Eyes~💕)

Jaune: Maybe you should lie down.

He lifts her in his arms like a princess to her bedroom.

Cinder: *Hold on to him tightly with a blush on her face* (God damn it!, I hate him...

- Back to Reality -

Salem: Cinder, what are you doing in your room?

Cinder: *Panics* NOTHING!!

She screams while trying to hide what she was writing

[artemis-fowl-incident-report]

Canon divergence.

Its a small detail in the first book that I've never seen anyone bring up, but when Artemis is setting up his trap for the LEP he makes... a mistake (pause for shocked gasps).

The joy of Artemis's plan is that he wants the fairies to blow him up as cover for his escape, but if there had been one truly pacifist member of the LEP, things could have gone very different.

Artemis, book 1. chapter 6: "You do that. But remember this, none of your race has permission to enter here while I'm alive"

It's generally accepted that the fairies follow the word, if not the spirit, of the law. This can be seen in chapter Chapter 3 when Holly uses a child's cry for help as an invitation into the restaurant. This means that the implications of the words Artemis uses are more important than what he actually means.

"Race" is specified language for an individual species of fairy (elves, Goblins, Dwarves). "Fairies" is the umbrella term. And thus, Artemis saying to an elf "none of your race can enter" could have been taken as "no elves allowed" from a legal POV.

This means they could have, under fairy law, sent in sprites, gnomes, pixies. Hell, it means Mulch and the Troll being sent in wasn't even illegal!

So imagine if, in the middle of the kidnapping, a platoon of sprites flies into Fowl manor. They take down Butler from on high before he even realises what's happened. They extract Holly, since under the "no elves aloud" thing she shouldn't even be there, or they mesmerise Artemis into setting her free. They mind wipe them all, and Artemis forgets all about fairies.

This moment affects everything else in the series.

Holly would have probably been fired, since she got kidnaped and wasn't able to justify that she got half the gold back, since this would have all been handled before Artemis got anywhere near the gold.

Opal and Cudgeon would have taken over Haven, and its doubtful weather they would have been able to get back Artemis Sr safely without fairy assistance.

The Demons would have still been floating in Limbo until their island fell apart, or until Minerva came along and put them in a zoo.

Turnball Root would have escaped prison with no one to stop him as he tried to keep his wife alive.

And it all would have hit the fan if the "peace loving" fairies had actually been as pacifist as they had claimed.

[sistemshock]

Ranking Saw traps by whether or not my dog would survive them

Part 1: Saw 0.5 and Saw (2004)

This is Camo, my 2.5 pound 11 year old tea cup yorkie. And today we’re going to be ranking saw traps by whether or not he could survive them.

Saw 0.5

The Reverse Bear Trap

This is an easy trap for Camo to beat. He is simply too small for this trap to do anything to him. He would slip out of the contraption very easily. Should he stay put he would also easily survive this trap. The device would completely miss him as it went off. Right over his head. It would scare him tho.

10/10 survival rate

Saw (2004)

The Razor Wire Maze

This is a very easy trap to survive if you are a very tiny doggy. Camo would easily fit right under all of the razor wire and not get hurt. I am a little skeptical about escape however. As the exit is up a staircase. And he is very scared of climbing steps. But otherwise this is very doable for him. I’m gonna give it a…

9/10 survival rate

Flammable Jelly Trap

This is a hard no right off the bat. First of all there are way too many moving pieces. Not only can he not fiddle with the lock as he has no thumbs, but he also would not be able to reach the flame. The numbers on the walls would startle and confuse him and the broken glass would hurt his paws.

0/10 survival rate

Reverse Bear Trap

Re: saw 0.5 rating

The Bathroom Trap

This is an interesting one to rank as it involves the participation of other people. Camo would very easily escape the chains as they would be much too big to contain him. He would slide right out. However he would be of no aid to the other person in the room. Assuming he is in Lawrence’s corner then the lights would never get turned on as the switch is very high up. If he is adam’s corner then he is too small to do things like look through the toilet tank. This is of course assuming he was not placed inside the tub. As he is a very poor swimmer and would be too small to climb out. He would also not figure out how to work or use the cassette player. However like I said he does have the upper hand with being free of any chains. Thus all he has to do is wait for someone to open the door. Either Zepp or Jigsaw. Then he can quickly dart under their legs. He will of course still be trapped in a vast series of underground tunnels. So I’m not sure about that. I’m giving this trap a dubious

6/10 survival rate (if in Lawrence’s corner)

0/10 survival rate (if in tub)

The Drill Chair

It’s difficult to assign a true rating to this trap as it was not shown in its full capacity. However from what we see I think this is an easy trap to survive for camo. As he is much too small for the drills to reach him. To him this trap is just a another chair. As for escape I believe Rigg would take him home with him.

10/10 survival rate

Quadruple Shotgun Hallway Trap

Another easy trap for camo as he would not be able to set off the trip wire. He is far too small to reach the trip wire. Also the hallway is located at the bottom of a staircase and camo would never voluntarily go down a staircase.

10/10 survival rate

Zepp Hindle’s Test

Camo would not be able to kidnap nor threaten anyone. He only has three teeth. Also I doubt Jigsaw would be able to accurately estimate how much poison to dose camo with. As it would need to be a very very small amount. Perhaps Allison and Diana could take him to an emergency vet? If Jigsaw is lying about being the only person with the antidote that is. Much to think about.

5/10 survival rate

[fotibrit]

Spider-Man is very protective of his identity. Nobody thus far has been able to identify him, not by voice or build. None of his adversaries has been able to pinpoint his identity.

Until now. Theres someone new in town, someone hellbent on discovering Spideys identity and exposing it to the world, making him pay for the horror in the world.

Once Spider-Man is trapped, kidnapped, and put in a machine which displays memories on a screen, the villain is sure he's about to learn every little detail about Spider-man's life. The screen cannot lie. Memories cannot lie.

But... they must be. Because the name that Spider-Man remembers as his own does not match up to any official document. The person shown on the screen does not legally exist.

And as the screen keeps playing, the villain gets the explanation for why Peter Parker does not exist. Only then does the villain realize that Spider-Man shouldn't have to pay for the evil of the world.

He already has. He's already paid more than enough.

Now, the villain is forced to decide what to do with the boy trapped in his lab, clearly starving, homeless, and alone.

[tenkos-heart]

tenko/tomura and fenrir: similarities

Welp. I consider this my proper post for the MHA fanbase, as I've been a lurker because the fanbase can be... something! If you wanna know more about me, pinned post!

Anyways, I've been thinking over the past couple of days of how strikingly similar Tenko is that of the figure of Fenrir in Norse Mythology. Also, if I DO get anything wrong in terms of Tenko, please let me know! My memory is shit and this manga is 400+ chapters long.

The thing with Fenrir is that his fate was already pre-destined, in a way. One of the seers told Odin that Fenrir would be apart of Ragnarok and being told to "swallow the All Father," as so as been told. Fenrir's tale already starts with tragedy. Being separated from his mother, his sister Hel was taken to... Hel, to be imprisoned in there, in a way. His brother, Jörmungandr, a regular snake was tossed into the sea, with hopes of drowning him. Instead, he grew so large, he became the Midgard Serpent, or World Serpent. For those who don't know, Midgard is our world within Norse mythology. But, the Gods had a different plan for Fenrir.

They decided to take Fenrir with them and to keep an eye on him. The one who took care of him the most, and cared for him the most was the God Tyr. The God of War, and even Justice. He was formerly apart of the Æsir. Also, something to note of, Tyr is also a God of Justice. So, Fenrir is raised in Asgard, home of the Gods and Goddesses, and fallen soldiers. Fenrir was a very happy, excitable pup who loved having a lot of fun. However, the wolf pup seemed to grow quite larger and larger. This worried the Gods, and because of the prophecy that Fenrir would eat Odin, they put together a plan to trap the wolf.

The Gods disguised their efforts as a game for Fenrir. Fenrir, the excited wolf he was, loved playing games. So, for this first "game", they chained him to a rock. It was a contest of sorts to test his strength. Even then, Fenrir broke through the chains. The chains weren't strong enough to hold the wolf down. So, the Gods turned elsewhere.

To the dwarves. They asked the dwarves to make the strongest chains, ever. This chain was quite different from the others. It looked more something like a ribbon. In some different stories, this happened twice before the ribbon idea. And naturally, the third time this happened Fenrir is suspicious and isn't sure what's going on. The wolf agreed to only be chained, IF only one of them would placed a hand in his mouth.

Tyr, the closest God to Fenrir to him offered his own arm up. Then, Fenrir couldn't be freed. He couldn't get out of his bindings, and thus, bite off Tyr's arm. Then, they teleported the wolf far away, and placed a sword within the wolf's mouth so he couldn't use his jaws. Then, it's said that the only way Fenrir will be free is during the destruction of Ragnarok. Odin confronts the beast on his stead with 8 legs, Sleipneir.

He will swallow Odin whole. However, Odin's son wouldn't let this stand. Vidarr would slay the wolf with his magical boots, splitting the wolf's mouth in half, thus his fate had befallen him.

I promise, there's a reason why I gave a lot of the backstory, we'll get into it!

If you haven't read up until MHA chp 425, spoilers will be here!

Tenko, since birth, had his entire life planned and trapped by literally one of the most awful people to ever exist. It didn't help that his father would emotionally berating him, leaving him outside. Even physically abusing him when he was 5 or the people in his life who were suppose to protect him, being bystanders. While Tenko does love his family, the bystander effect is very real. Or no one on the streets helping a bloodied, orphaned child on the streets.

Wondering for days and many nights without shelter, home, and food. That is, until All For One "found him and took him in." I.e. kidnapping his grooming victim, and then molded and neglected this kid for literal years until the LOV came around. I could go on about how much of a brillaint character Tenko is, but so many people have done that already and I wanna get into the meat of this.

Tenko and Fenrir were both happy, hopeful people who were molded and shaped by the very environments they were made in. Even before birth. For Fenrir, he was destined to be this destroyer of the world, and bring an end to a mighty King of Gods. While Tenko was going to be All For One's next vessel. The next Symbol of Fear. Both Tenko and Fenrir were molded into being their own separate Symbols of Fear.

Fenrir and Tenko never had a chance. Fenrir and Tenko never had a chance since birth. Fenrir and Tenko's destinies were already pre-determined. Both were left to rot by the societies they both were in, and no one bothered to give a helping hand. With Tyr, he did give justice, in a way. He had to deal with the consequences of his own inaction when he placed his hand into Fenrir's mouth. They both got something the other wanted, in a way.

Fenrir got some semblance of justice. While Tenko did gain friends, in the end. All Fenrir and Tenko (before his hatred was destroyed) thought they could do was bring destruction, violence, and chaos onto the world. I mean, fuck. They weren't taught anything else. I remembering reading a comment on a YouTube channel going over Fenrir's mythos and some others, and it perfectly sums up their situation.

The Gods just created their self-fulfilling prophecy. That is something that can absolutely be applied towards the heroes. Instead of trying to PREVENT Fenrir from being this symbol of destruction, and treating him nicely because of the prophecy, they decided that Fenrir was evil from the get-go and already plotted of leaving him to rot when he was a fucking pup. It was said of being a hopeful, happy pup who just loved to play games with his family. If someone had stepped in and actually HELPED Tenko, he wouldn't be dead.

(Or supposedly dead, with that one mysterious guy.)

If someone didn't ignore and just swept the problem of a stumbling, scared, child, they could have prevented so much. And now with Tenko being dead, they just created a self-fulfilling prophecy of another Symbol of Fear being groomed again.

Fenrir and Tenko were just two kids who were happy and hopeful of their world, and their innocent got snatched away from them from their respective societies. At the start of it all, they were just kids who loved their families.

[that-one-i-think]

MCD Scifi AU Game Quests! (Part 1)

Given how my scifi au is partially based on video games such as Mass Effect and Starbound (my beloved), I feel that it is only right to add quests and side quests. A way for me to write out the plot in a fun ways. (PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR OPINIONS AND IF YOU LIKE I'LL MAKE MORE!)

Main Quest - Molded to Perfection

The S.S. Phoenix Drop are now transporting top researchers of THE RED (otherwise known as the Shadow Knight infection) to what is believed to be its origin planet. Or, they thought they were escorting living researchers when in reality they are escorting the robot drones of Kenmur and Emmalyn, who are piloting them a galaxy away.

They have to protect these million of drones as they navigate the thick red mushroom jungle of planet NETH-35, also known as the Nether planet. This quest will feature the group killing mass amounts of Shadow Knights (The pitch black and blood red zombies) and mold chimeras (the hobbled together pieces of organisms) with few rests in ruins where it will reveal the history of the planet and the start of the infection. It will end with a boss fight of a SHADOW LORD aka a mega chimera. Classic alien boss battle.

Optional Side Quest - May Sparks Fly

After this quest, Kenmur and Emmalyn become semi permanent on the ship and their bots are now possible companions when needing to research. That being said, the crew finds out that they are rather smitten with each other and try to set up a virtual date between the two. it will also provide an exploration of Laurance's past as he and Kenmur grew up together.

Main Quest - Bionic Where Arth Thou

This is an overarching story plot that gets picked up throughout the story. Essentially, the S.S. Phoenix Drop is going to have constant back an forth between Zane and Garroth where Zane sends men to apprehend Garroth and is thus defeated. This will range from traps set by Zane under the pretense of delivery missions, false distress signals, and Zane's personal favorite, kidnapping random crew members.

In retaliation, the S.S. Pohenix Drop will also have plenty of missions involving breaking into various labs associatted with Shield Foundation (it will probably be renamed ngl) to halt Zanes plans of creating Shadow Husks (Zombie-Cyborg Mutants) and various acts of sabotage. This will have plenty of boss battles ranging from battles against Super Cyborg Husks, entire spaceships, members of Zanes special task force The Jury, and even Zane himself in super bionic suits and amped up holograms.

Mandatory Side Quest - Painful Jury Duty

The group receives a plea message coming from Jeffory the Golden Heart, a title he received due to his species golden blood. He requests the aid of Katelyn as his daughter has been kidnapped and he cannot help due to being under Zanes control. The team exports a rescue mission as we find out what its like to be under Zanes thumb from Katelyn. Who was literally mind controlled by Zane via cybernetic chips.

The team does manage to rescue Abby, only to find out that the entire thing is a trap laid by Zane and the Abby that they saved is actually a robot copy. Only to find out that Abby is safely somewhere else but Zane had broken down Jeffory and manipulated him into beliving his daughter is in danger and the only way to ensure her safety is to kill the S.S. Phoenix Drop crew and capture Garroth. Boss music plays and Katelyn manages to get through to Jeffory but its too late as the cybernetic corruption has destroyed his body and she has to mercy kill him through his golden heart. Well, mostly kill as he is revived and put into stasis.

Side Quest - The Golden Rules

After breaking a Zane lab and sifting through information, Zoey finds a way to heal Jeffory and reunite him with his daughter. The crew has to break into one of Zanes cloning labs and steal even more files and then restore one of his old labs (that they cleared out earlier) and use the available technology to heal Jeffory. He will be permanently missing his left arm and eye and no longer be able to have cybernetic implants due to the high increased chance of rejection, but he will be reunited with his daughter, Abby who thanks her Aunt Katelyn.

I needed to balance it out y'all.

[cerebralinvasion]

yandere february event day 20

“Hopeless? You think I’m hopeless? Sweetheart. Pigeon. Dove. Don’t you see that you’re the one caged here?”

nikolai is unpredictable, if nothing else. after all the time you’ve spent with him, that's the only conclusion you’ve reached. his mind was an utter labyrinth. even when you understood his goals and motivations, he constantly changed his course of action, purposefully taking measures that often hurt even himself just for the sake of not being bound to anything. anything seeming to include logic. 

you knew from the beginning that his obsession with freedom would affect the decisions he made, and you kept careful note of that while attempting to see through him. appealing to that everytime you wanted to get something out of him. you analyzed his behaviors and actions carefully, doing your best to stay alive anytime working for fyodor meant working with him. your algorithms seemed to hold up. while not 100% accurate in his choices, you were able to keep yourself afloat.

however it seemed there was one factor you never calculated. love. you never deemed it necessary. to speculate how nikolai would respond to romance given his hatred for being bound by emotions. but now you really wish you had. maybe if you had, you would’ve even been able to convince him the best solution to rid himself of any controlling emotions would be to simply leave the object of his desire alone. but it’s much too late for that.

you winced as the bird cage swung with your movement. sure, it was hung only a few inches from the ground, but the swaying wasn’t any more pleasant. your hands gripped the iron bars for some semblance of stability, it just barely helped you regain your balance. once settled, you only frowned, turning to look at nikolai. despite him having been in the room since you first regained consciousness, you had yet to say anything to him, and him to you. he has only been watching you in silence thus far. perhaps he was waiting for you to speak first.

“gogol. why am i here?”

“aw, are we not on a first name basis anymore? why the sudden change?”

“you didn't answer my question. why am i here?”

“hm, as prudent as ever it seems. very well then! let’s play a game! i’ll answer any of your questions except your first one. and you have to use the other answers you receive to piece together why you’re here! sounds fun, right?”

knowing nikolai, you didn’t have much of a choice. if you wanted any answers at all, your only hope was to play along.

“fine then.” you grimaced “are you the one who put me here?”

“yes, i am!”

“does fyodor know i’m here?”

nikolai frowned at that question, like bringing up someone else’s name had soured his mood. he answered it anyways.

“no. i’m the only one aware of your location.” 

“do you plan on letting me out…?”

“hmmm.. maybe one day! but you have to be on very good behavior~!”

“so you kidnapped me.” you frowned.

“ding ding ding!! you got it! and in only three questions too, good job!!” nikolai cheered.

“but, why?”

“you stole my heart! it’s only fair.”

“...what.”

“that’s right! your charms tangled me in a web of emotion, trapped me like a fly! naturally, this got in the way of my freedom. so at first i was just going to kill you! but the thought alone broke my heart into a million little pieces and i realized that if i killed you i’d only be chained down by my own grief. so, what else could i do? then it hit me! i’ll simply take you! you can’t imprison me if i imprison you first! so now, even if you have my heart, i have you! problem solved!”

“so you got a crush and your response was to lock me away? you really are a hopeless fool chasing a useless pipe dream.” you glared at nikolai, finally voicing your thoughts on his little fantasy.

“hopeless? you think i’m hopeless? sweetheart. pigeon. dove. don’t you see that you’re the one caged here?” nikolai grinned at you, leaning in close to the bars of the cage. “that’s fine though. i appreciate your sacrifice. thank you for lending me your freedom.”

[aita-blorbos]

Aita for trying to spread hope?

I (21M, had memories wiped so I thought I was 16) was trapped with my old classmates on an island resort, and we were told that if we wanted to get out, someone had to kill somebody else and get away with it. Since everyone had gotten their memories messed with, none of us knew each other, thus we couldn't truly place any trust in one another. So, when the panic died down, I began to form a plan.

See, all my life I've had this bad luck/good luck cycle. Something really bad happens, something really good happens immediately after (a more colorful example is when I got kidnapped by a serial killer in middle school, only to find a lottery ticket in the trash bag he stuffed me in and use the corners to cut my way out. That lottery ticket later won me 3 million). So, I decided to use this to my advantage. During a party that was planned to help us get to know each other, I would use a knife I hid under a table while the lights were out to kill someone. In the despair caused by the first death, they would be overcome by hope and find who did it and get off the island. Someone found out about this plan while I was preparing, but I convinced him to help me.

But that didn't happen. While the lights were out, I was prevented from getting the knife, and by the time the lights came on someone else had already committed a murder. After every murder there's supposed to be a trial after some investigation, so I tried to play it cool and deflect the blame from who I knew had done it (the guy who found out about my plan). However, I kind of... snapped? I got stressed enough that I ended up dropping my calm-and-collected mask and laughing extremely hard before telling them straight up that I was the one who set up the murder (they also seemed off-put by my declaration of how beautiful it was that they were coming together to combat despair. Though I'm not sure why? It's a compliment!). The rest of the trial I helped them get to the right conclusion, and the killer was executed by the guy trapping us here.

Afterwards, though, everyone suddenly hated me. They yelled at me before leaving the trial room, and after that the next day they were treating me like I was worthless. And I mean, I am, they're all so much better than me and I don't really deserve to be treated well, but it still hurt. (At some point they even tied me up and trapped me in a shack because I was "dangerous". I deserved it, but those ropes were tight.)

In general they just didn't like me. I tried to mend that sometimes by offering myself up as an easy target for any potential killers, though they always ended up killing someone else. Such a shame. They never really liked my ramblings about hope and despair either, even though they were all true.

During one particular murder, I completed a puzzle that was supposed to have an important prize, and learned something important– all of them had been involved in a giant tragedy that had dipped the outside world in complete despair. Since our memories had been tampered with, none of us remembered, but it was written clear as day in the file I was given. So, instead of groveling at their feet, I began to instead treat them like the murderous scum they are. Especially one particular student there; he didn't meet the criteria the rest of us had to even been in this supposed class. That file was also how I discovered that there was an impostor among us.

But they still didn't like me. In fact, they treated me worse. So I devised another plan: I set a bomb to go off while I was being captured again by my classmates, and told them there were more bombs hidden somewhere else. I rigged the "bomb" so that it could only be defused if the impostor scanned their ID on a scanner I hooked up. While they were running around terrified, I filled a fire grenade with poison gas, locked myself in a warehouse, set it so that a fire would start if someone opened the door, injured myself to make it look like I had been tortured, and waited. Eventually they got in and grabbed the fire grenades to put out the fire, someone threw the poison like I had planned, and I died. Then I woke up in a pod somewhere and realized the whole situation was a simulation that me and the others had been trapped in. I truly believe my plan to out the impostor and bring them true hope worked, though, because the last remaining students got out not long after.

Throughout this whole situation, everyone was either angry at me, tired of me, or scared of me, but I believe I was in the right. It worked, didn't it? But I figured I'd ask you. So, AITA?

[genshin-scenarios]

Electrifying Tales (Royalty AU)

Characters: Scaramouche, Cyno

About: Royalty AU headcanons, with different reader concepts/narratives for each of the guys!

For similar content with Diluc, Kaeya, Childe and Xiao, I have an otome-isekai post from a while ago!

Scaramouche acts as your personal knight - a skilled warrior from Inazuma who you recruited after a demonstration one day. At least, that’s the story you tell others when asked about how you met.

In truth, the real story starts on a rainy day when an elaborate kidnapping scheme occured. You weren’t the main victim, but rather found yourself hiding within enemy ground by accident - after some loops and complications, you ran into Scaramouche, who pretended to be one of the knights dispatched from your faction to find the missing nobles.

He really just snuck in to steal some documents for the Fatui, but other than being stationed in your kingdom for now, there weren’t any other missions for Scaramouche. Thus, meeting you was a convenient coincidence that allowed him to build his own cover story.

He’d intended to just lead you into a trap and sell you out to the kidnappers, but gained a new idea upon learning of your noble status. Instead Scaramouche helps you escape, even acting as the ‘hero’ of the entire event along with you - sharing the credit for outsmarting your enemies and rescuing everyone else so you’d be stuck in the middle of a conspicuous story with him.

Things like these grow trust between comrades, right? And implicated you with him, especially now that he was building a positive image for himself.

You’re quick to catch on that Scaramouche isn’t who he says he is (a lower noble from Inazuma, who offers an oath to you in return for ‘saving his life’ during the chaos from a stray dagger.)

Finding this interesting, you agreed and ended up appointing Scaramouche as your personal knight - deep down, you’re aware that the stray dagger you pushed him from was noticed by him all along, but something in you wants to trust that he wouldn’t put you in immediate danger for now.

You try dragging him along to the most mundane of chores, waiting for Scaramouche to get bored and finally show his true intentions. It takes a while, and you’re no more innocent about scheming things under the table either, but from what you can tell Scaramouche hasn’t sold you out at all. He takes care of tasks efficiently, even advising you with your plans in a huffy attitude that only you were privy to (for others he was cold or polite, or even amicable to lower people’s guards).

He’s two-faced and easily annoyed, but other than using your agreement as a perch until his bigger plans are set in motion, Scaramouche hasn’t been taking much advantage of you. Until the Fatui sends him a long-distance mission worthy of his full attention, he’ll play as your partner for just a while longer and perform his tasks in the dark.

After all, you did ask him to bring you to a festival in his homeland one day. So even if he’s had to depart as your knight by then, he’ll still manage it as a cloaked stranger. And if you get caught up in more trouble during then and he has to rescue you… it’ll be just like old times, right?

A shadow assigned to you from a young age, Cyno’s family is highly ranked amongst the nobility and known for their combative prowess, keeping the kingdom in line in places where regular security doesn’t reach (black markets, usurping illegal organizations, etc).

In a way, the both of you were meant to work together from the days you were born - that is, because your own family was the other side of the coin in charge of the technicalities: allocating searches, keeping track of political balance… Though your outward appearance wasn’t that of a warrior’s, you made it up with your sharp intellect and cunning. Together, you and Cyno were quite the unbeatable pair, but…

When you discover that the royal family is the main cause of corruption in the kingdom (using other nobles as scapegoats), you and Cyno have to make a decision: commit treasonous acts for the sake of your values (and the citizens that suffer as a result), or turn a blind eye.

Okay, well– even if you weren’t already on board with treason, Cyno certainly was. It didn’t matter who his targets were; they would face judgment all the same.

Honestly, the same goes for you, who has racked up quite the amount of betrayals and sins through your time keeping order for the kingdom. But - on one quiet night, within the safety of your room, you’ve already clasped Cyno’s hand and promised him to face both your fates together, whatever that may be. But before then, you’d chase what you believed was worth fighting for.

Even if it required faking a fallout between the both of you to slowly set your schemes in action, you’d go through with it. Even though there’s a bit of hesitation in Cyno’s eyes as he pins you to the ground with his spear narrowly by your head, worry flickering in his eyes, you cup his cheek and whisper that it’s okay. Because the world is already enraptured by your make-believe narrative, and soon the both of you could go back to normal after you struck your enemy where it hurt the most.

…You had no plans for either you or Cyno to be sacrificed (you’d even take risks to rescue one another if the risk appeared), but if you could choose what you’d be in your next life, perhaps you’d like to fight by his side instead of weaving webs in the royal court. Or maybe you’d want a much calmer existence, where you’d travel to unfamiliar places with Cyno and uncover little secrets about forgotten places.

Right, an archaeologist or researcher. Maybe one in the future would find traces of your story a few centuries later - you sure hoped they’d interpret you in a favorable light when that happens.

[fenrisdefender]

my HC for how Malcolm dies is completely different than the canon story we get. my HC is below, if you're curious to read it.

First of all, I never liked that Leandra's death was a random serial killer who had nothing to do with the rest of the story. Instead, my HC has an ongoing connection to the blood cult of Corypheus, which we know would have been in pursuit of Malcolm himself, as well as his offspring, for their blood.

When Marian Hawke was a child, she was as rambunctious as ever and even then too much for Leandra to handle alone. For income though, Malcolm traveled around South Ferelden as a healer, and was sometimes away for periods of time. Leandra herself was an herbalist and potions maker and Malcolm also sold her concoctions.

(That is how the two of them met and fell in love in my HC: Leandra was learning her craft - much to the chagrin of her parents, but she wanted something of a skill that went beyond boring nobility - and subsequently was paired up to work with Malcolm. And so it goes, they fell in love.)

So, it follows that when they arrive in Ferelden with nothing but what is on their backs (and in Leandra's belly), they choose to put their skills to use. In my HC, South Ferelden is more tolerant of an apostate if they provide community and services, since the Chantry seems to neglect the people there. They protect the Hawkes in exchange for healing and medicines that Malcolm and Leandra provide.

But as Malcolm travels around the countryside a couple of times a year, Leandra finds that Marian is too restless and rebellious to watch after while attending to the twins. As a result, Malcolm offers to bring Marian along with him to the other cities, towns, and villages across South Ferelden while teaching her about magic and the world.

While traveling, they end up trapped in Gwaren in a terrible snowstorm. It keeps them sheltered in the city for a time where Marian meets a curious older man who eventually reveals himself to be a mage. During the month or so they are snowed in in Gwaren, Marian Hawke becomes friends with this man - a fellow apostate such as herself.

His name is Quentin, and he seems kind to her.

Now, with a name like that I'm sure you can imagine that he is not, in fact, truly kind.

Hawke is subsequently kidnapped by Quentin, who has a faction of mages (including his wife) obsessed with a mysterious figure communicating to them from beyond the Veil. The voice told them to find the blood of a "Hawke." Figuring a child is easier to kidnap than a fully grown adult, they took Marian.

Malcolm, as any father would do, desperately searches to find Marian, of which he is eventually successful. However, in the process of trying to save his daughter from a cult of blood mages, he dies tragically. In his last moments he says goodbye to his eldest daughter, and tells her to run as fast as she can to safety.

Hawke, being a grieving child and bearing the immense burden of survivor's guilt, convinces herself that she cannot face her mother and siblings. She believes her father's death is her fault and runs away in the opposite direction from Lothering - back to Gwaren.

At this point, she is under the impression that the blood mages all died. Quentin, of course, survived and later turns up in Kirkwall for his revenge and rematch with a fully grown Marian. And so, that is the motivation behind Quentin's kidnapping and murder of Leandra. This all also ties nicely into the DLC Legacy plot.

Hawke stays a runaway on the streets of Gwaren for nearly three years, adopted by a mercenary group that teaches her what she knows later in Kirkwall (because it wouldn't come out of nowhere, would it?). When she finally goes home to Lothering, her family - Leandra, Bethany, and Carver - all think Hawke has been dead the whole time.

In my HC, the bitterness and resentment Leandra and Carver carry toward Hawke comes largely from her running away and "abandoning" her family after the death of Malcolm.

And thus starts the story of my version of Marian Hawke!

Hope you enjoyed my version of the story (is enjoyed the right word in a story of tragedy?).

[ninjacreature]

Standing in your doorway like 🧍🏻 to ask abt your ex dream chaser Ronin AU

What do u think made him stop dream chasing?

hehehhehehe

(this post ended up way longer than expected, everything should be beneath the read more!!)

Okay so!! This requires a bit of backstory to answer, but to give a basic explanation:

In this au, Ronin used to be named Storm before The IncidentTM (which I will elaborate on later in the post) because he was the first Elemental Master of Wind. He was born around the same time as Garmadon and Wu were, and since the First Spinjitzu master couldn't wrangle the element of Wind, it ended up with him.

He ended up meeting Wu and Garmadon shortly after Aspheera's imprisonment. (I headcanon the Aspheera events to be many thousands of years in the past; not because of the difference in civilizational style for the serpentine, but because the kind of evolution required for these ancient Hypnobrai to look so different from modern Hypnobrai had to have taken a long, long time) They became friends and started to hang out more and more.

One day, however, Wu and Garmadon, in their dream, get kidnapped by the Nightmare King. This causes Storm to realize that the Dream World is a real realm of existence. He saves Wu and Garmadon and discovers that he's a Dreamcrafter.

Eventually, through some kind of events, he, Wu, and Garmadon all become Dreamchasers who have their own hourglasses. They're basically the first to do so, making Storm the very first Dreamchaser to ever exist.

Storm's Dreamchaser form is that of a Samurai.

Wu's Dreamchaser form is that of a dragon rider.

Garmadon's Dreamchaser form is that of a king.

He creates the Time Relic that Zoey ends up finding in the future and it becomes useful to him and the other two in battle.

Eventually, though, as they get older, Wu and Garmadon stop dreamchasing so they can focus on the wellbeing of Ninjago. This occurs around the time that Garmadon is 17, Wu is 16, and Storm is 17. Storm remains a Dreamchaser for many years afterwards.

Eventually, when he turns 20, he decides to make a decision.

He asks Wu and Garmadon to seal him in a tomb where we will stay asleep for however long it takes to defeat the Nightmare King. He will use his Time Relic to keep himself alive and young for however long it takes for him to be released from the Dream World. The only way to do so is to use a codeword only he knows- that way, either Wu or Garmadon can visit him in a dream and gain the code only after the Nightmare King has been defeated. This was meant to ensure that he wouldn't be released too early.

This ends up going wrong, though.

A few thousand years after he's put into his long sleep, he meets Lunia. She defeats the Nightmare King with his help and he goes to meet Wu and Garmadon in their nightly visit so he can wake up and live out the rest of his life in peace.

They don't show up.

What he doesn't know is that something that happened when the Nightmare King was defeated caused the portal between Ninjago and the Dream World to close, thus causing Wu and Garmadon to be unable to meet him no matter what they do.

From Storm's perspective, he has been abandoned by his friends.

He spends thousands of years trapped in the Dream World, slowly forgetting his name and only knowing of himself as the Dream Samurai.

He continues to patrol around the Dream World to make sure the Nightmare King hasn't returned, yet he himself slowly goes a little bit mad.

When the Night Hunter attempts to release the Nightmare King, he cannot stop him. It has been too long since he has faced a true enemy.

An arrow pierces his shoulder and his attempts to use his Time Relic fail. Both he, along with his Dreamcrafted creations, are scattered through time.

He wakes up and gouges the arrow out of his shoulder, removing his arm in the process.

When he looks up, he sees a person with black hair that has a green streak.

His great grandnephew.

He and Morro introduce each other, and when he's asked his name, he can only realize he doesn't remember it.

He's a Samurai without a master isn't he? Wouldn't that make him a Ronin?

From that day onward, he goes by Ronin. He vows to never be a Dreamchaser again. He's sick of being the hero.

Against his will, he's pulled into the world of crime. He remains angry at Garmadon and Wu for a long time until he realizes it wasn't their fault.

He doesn't forgive them easily, though.

Since his Dreamchaser outfit followed him to Ninjago, it steadily deteriorates until he has to replace many of its pieces. Eventually, his outfit becomes the one he's known for.

He keeps his hourglass. He can't bear to get rid of it or sell it. It's mostly for the sentimental value.

One day, though, he goes to sleep and wakes up in the Dream World.

The portal has reopened.

[maleyanderecafe]

I saw the ask you received about media where a male yandere going mad after losing his beloved, and wanted to suggest a hidden object game called Cursery: The Crooked Man and the Crooked Cat, which has this as the villain’s main motivation. While the MC isn’t the target of him, their sister is and the goal of the game is to rescue her from him.

Cursery: The Crooked Man and the Crooked Cat is actually really fun to play, despite the fact that I am extremely bad at puzzle games. Despite being an older game, the artwork is beautiful and it's really fun picking things up and figuring out puzzles (though I think my kleptomania has increased a lot since I just wanted to horde everything). The story is based on the Crooked Man and a lot of the themes are focused on fairy tales, though told in a more darker tone.

The story itself starts with the Crooked Man kidnapping your sister and you going on a puzzle frensy to go and save her. The Crooked Man has been known to kidnap women of similar age to your sister, Renee trapping them in his house. As the story goes on, we learn that the Crooked Man has been doing this to find the reincarnation of his beloved Cheryl, by putting a ring on these women. If they aren't her, then they turn into dolls (and he has an entire room filled with these dolls), however, as it turns out Renee is the reincarnation of Cheryl, regaining her memories. Through various notes and papers we slowly learn the story of the Crooked Man.

Cheryl originally was a poor lady working for a mean landlady as a means of living, at least until she meets the Crooked Man, Blaise. The two fall in love quickly, with Cheryl initially mistaking him as the butler for his mansion, rather than the owner of it. Eventually, Blaise is able to "buy" off Cheryl by paying the landlady, sweeping her away and marrying her. However, as Blaise becomes more possessive and controlling, she becomes scared of him, eventually leading to him falling off of a cliff to her death. Heartbroken, Blaise does everything in his power to try to get her back to no avail- at least until he meets Mother Goose. Mother Goose gives him several powers, his cane which keeps him alive but slowly corrupts him, a bell to turn Cheryl and Blaise's adopted black cat, Parn, into a human to serve him and a ring for Blaise to find Cheryl again. We also learn that Mother Goose tends to corrupts individuals that she gives items to, thus revealing how dangerous she is.

Throughout the game, we see Cheryl's spirit wandering around, and she seems to blame Blaise for her death. She also sees what Blaise has done to those poor women who he captured and tells him he's been corrupted, though Blaise, finally being with his loved one, tries to hold a wedding, promising to destroy the world to make it her cage. You are able to prevent this from happening, but in doing so accidentally risk Renee's life. Blaise sacrifices himself to protect Renee, and ultimately falls down to his demise off of the cliff, much like how Cheryl did initially.

There's also a dlc game to this, where the player becomes a woman that the main character of the first game saved from the Crooked Man. In this one, she loses her son and goes out to look for her. We find out that a gluttonous man took the mansion that the Crooked Man lived in, who would demand food that could appease him. He was given a special fruit by Mother Goose that made his face crack and his appetite even stronger. As we continue puzzling, we find out that the man ate our son, and we seek revenge. Ultimately, the man is pushed out the window by a black cat (presumably Parm) thus ending his reign of terror and creating a new fairy tail of Humpty Dumpty. Doesn't have a yandere in this one, but the story is cool, even if they have the worst puzzles for this one.

I actually initially thought that Blaise would be a replacement yandere considering that he started kidnapping women around Cheryl's age, but I was surprised to find that he was indeed finding the reincarnation of her, which was something I thought was nice. It definitely gives a more heartbreaking story when he does essentially become a redeemed yandere by sacrificing himself for Cheryl's safety. It was really sweet seeing the love between Cheryl and Blaise unfold as they cared for each other, only for the story to become twisted with Blaise became more obsessive, refusing to let her see her friends and family before the wedding (or contacting anyone at all) and trapping her in the mansion before she ended up dying. While Mother Goose ended up corrupting him even more, we do see his undying devotion to her, as he tries for about a century to find her reincarnation again, kidnapping women and giving them rings only for them to turn to dolls. He has tons of statues, charms, trinkets and other things of Cheryl along with various notes as his insanity from trying to find her goes deeper and deeper. It's a very good story played in a dark fairy tale, which if you enjoy, then you'll probably like this game. I think the curse bit also adds to the impact it makes as well.

While the game itself is pretty old, it does have a charm of artwork and story. The antique like artwork and puzzles really give this game a unique character and although the voice acting and animations aren't the best, I think it actually adds to the enjoyment of the game. Still does make me wonder if the ladies that Blaise turned to dolls stayed as dolls and if Renee ever returns to normal. Hopefully since after we turned Parm into a cat doll ,he does (presumably) get turned back into his black cat self. I did feel bad for turning him into that, but that's what he gets for trying to anime cat boy me when I'm trying to puzzle. It has a dark story based on fairy tails with a relatively bittersweet ending and the puzzles themselves aren't too difficult to find out, but challenging enough to stay engaged. The worst puzzles are the burning heart puzzles, Cherry can attest to that.

Overall, a very fun game with a twist on fairy tales. I actually really enjoyed it, so thank you so much for recommending it! I haven't played a point and click based puzzle game since Deponia (which is also very fun), so I would be happy to play more of those games if you have them, haha.

[theherdofturtles]

Fandom: Hetalia Prompt: Kidnapped Rating: G Word Count: 2532 Decided to make a thing that could fit into When Men Weren't Present between chapters 1 & 2 but isn't plot important. I tried to make this fic complimentary to On Pol and the Eng also just for fun. England gets mixed up in Fae shenanigans. @badthingshappenbingo

In a turn of events England should've seen, England got picked up from the earth in the arms of his brother in the aftermath of their first victory against the Norman foes.

Alba had yanked him up from the earth and immediately went to work dropping his fresh-won ego into the dirt. England kicked and squirmed until letting loose, giving up. The hug forced on him was inescapable.

The words, though, he was determined to offset. Alba accused him of the most offensive shortcomings with his smile and stupid tease.

"Wha- no!" England said, offended, "I can use magic just fine!"

"Kinye?" Alba challenged him. "I don't think you ken a simple pixie summoning spell since thu a' gabhail Éire's fancy new religion."

"Yes I do! I can prove it! I could do one here and now!"

Alba tilted his head in mock thought, pretending to think hard about his claim. England impatiently wriggled. He knew his brother would let up and make him try for his own entertainment--and England would show him wrong!

"Ye'll try?" Alba finally said.

"I will!" 

Alba let him drop back to his feet and England popped back up like a daisy.

"Here, Cymru, our wee brother's gaun to put on a show for us!" He shouted and waved over another pair of eyes to add to England's pressure. Several humans looked up from their business looting fallen men, but dropped their interest once they realised it concerned the oddest of them.

His other sibling came wandering, and he came wandering while still wearing the blood of their enemies on his clothes. England wrinkled his nose with distaste. Cymru was still Druid... fully, as the past had decreed it. No other brother prayed to the earth anymore as Éire had brought a new faith to their land, and as eldest, led them alongside him. Cymru held out. Alba skirt the edges. It showed how Cymru refused to scrub his clothes, and blood was sacred, life, it was to be respected. A black, dried smear of gore was left stained on his brother's sleeves even though the rest of his armor and cloths and all his fellows had scrubbed themselves clean. 'The battle isn't over, William is on his way,' Cymru had said right after they won. It was a 'trophy and a promise for the next batch.' Alba conceded that it was profane. England agreed, because England wanted to bask in the feeling of having won without thinking about the next battle.

"A show? What's he going to do in his show?" Cymru immediately picked up on Alba's game, albeit with a lighter laugh and encouraging tone.

It almost annoyed him, but he knew he'd prove to them how well-practiced he'd became. He'd lived alone for a while after the Romans and Danes, he'd had much time to sharpen his magic on his own.

"He's gaun to summon some fairy." 

"I hope he remembers what they look like? He never goes with me to Calan Mai celebrations anymore," Cymru said.

"Of course I recall them!" England had seen many and they knew it!

"Aye but you've never been to the Otherworld."

His brothers grinned. England stiffened.

Deus vous guarde. Fireplaces that hissed and sparked like fireflies, red pelted fangs with glittering stag-eyes, deep, cold, wormed earth.

Some intuition stopped him from claiming his adventures had, indeed, brought him to the Otherworld.

Fireglow, damp soil and the grin of fangs, deep Otherworld, stumbling through a mushroom ring further than he had ever intended. The mist gates he had missed... England hadn't entered the way he ought to have entered. Snared in Fae traps.

Memory of that fae lord came sneaking back into his mind.

That Fox... England had his weaved gift safely looped onto a thick cord of a necklace.

He'd nearly forgotten.

His fingers subconsciously reached to his waist-pouch where he believed he'd put the coarse cord...

"Sasann?" 

His reverie broke.

"It's England," he complained. He'd worked hard for the name, his brothers still refused it.

"Oh? And you haven't any second thoughts about showing us how rusty your magic's gotten?" Came the immediate tease.

"No! I was just thinking to myself!"

England took his stick of a wand from his cloak. No brother ever went anywhere without mum's last gift, a piece of her fading magic which had rested in her people's sacred yew tree, cut neatly into a concise point. Never a mother ever died who had a family.

Bracing himself, he angled his foot forward, raised his wand-hand back, and pulled his own magic to curl warmly along the wand. 

A pixie summoning spell took barely any focus at all.

He almost paid too little attention-- it flicked with a whizz-zip and a little dust-like gold-snow shooting from the star of the end. 

It hit the dirt in a snuffed plume of smoke.

Visually, the display hadn't been pretty or controlled by any means, but luckily that didn't negate the workings of magic. England felt something had changed. There was a heavier static in the air.

"Hahah! Ah, that daedna go a snip!" Scotland bellowed. Cymru merely shook his head with a small smile.

His brows furrowed. 

Laughter?

But... the air--he felt it, it was magic full, he'd summoned something? Surely? A fae--a brownie or a pixie--he knew he'd done something!

His brothers didn't seem to feel it. England frantically turned a circle to look for what he'd summoned. His brothers renewed their laughter.

"I swear I summoned something I..."

His sight met a glittering dark gaze.

England's breath caught.

A paw-digit, slowly, lifted to its lips to shush him. Its eyes were granite, its head tilt uneven, its smile balanced on the verge of fangs.

Behind his brothers.

"Salute," it said low and delighted, "I see you've painted yourself in blood. Red suits you well." He spoke lowly.

England had scrubbed himself of battle. There was no blood, he didn't know what the fae was talking about. He started to speak to correct the Fox, but he never made a sound. The fox hushed him again.

"This is between us, us good friends. Did you forget your brothers are here to hear you? They do not have the sight for me. They wouldn't understand, no, no if you give your friend up you might have to explain your stumble in the woods. How embarrassing to fall into a mushroom ring."

England shut up.

His brothers had quieted as well.

"It's okay, we'll practice your magic and you'll get better again." Cymru mistook his paleness for humiliation.

No, no, that wasn't true--

"Let them believe what they will." Reynard circled around his brothers, coming closer before turning off to walk to the woods. "Follow. You should run, make it fast. Then we will talk, for I know enemies well. When you leave your brothers, they will think your flight their own fault. They might even shower you with their attentions and apologies later... wouldn't you like that?"

His tail circled a beckoning.

England wrung his hands around his wand. Dare he trust a fox of a Fae... the even if the Fae hadn't harmed him before, the Fae wasn't in obligation to leave him untouched again. But the Fae had favoured him, some Fae gave men secrets and tips, Reynard seemed to sympathise with his struggle against the Normans?

Yet Reynard was a Fae, something mysterious and twisting. Something powerful.

How well did this Fae know his enemies?

"Your choice. Run."

England let his conflict continue to war even as he began to move. He didn't think about running. His foot rolled to his toes, he leaned, falling quick into a dash that he barely registered. 

A string tugged him gently as he moved to run, but, Reynard, strolling ahead, remained always ahead.

Then, in a blink, England was under the thick forest shade.

He couldn't hear his brothers anymore. The forest arms wrapped silent around him, all else stagnated. Not a bird, not a fly. Reynard was the only movement he saw out of the corner of his eye--for even the sky had taken a break for Reynard.

Not a single gust of wind.

"Good choice," the fox praised with dark eyes, "I understood you to be fox-clever, which you have not failed."

"When will I go back to my brothers?" He asked to cut the fox from speaking further. Praise was warm, it was a fluffing of his feathers he liked, especially so soon after his accompanying victory, but he wanted praise most from another set of mouths. The words of a Fae were less than the words of a brother.

"Soon, do not fret." Its body stood stretched on twos, pulling itself into his own child-sized hight range. Its feet enjoyed a stage of a log which put it higher than him. The stage seemed to make Reynard particularly imposing with straight held shoulders and narrow nose. "I came to offer my fair hand to council, for I'd hate for such a clever kit to fall dead before his worth is known."

Its paw held out as a human hand, a royal hand to be kissed.

"Why? What importance am I to you? Why did you of all fae answer me?" 

"I offered a valuable possession unto you, my name, one I lent for wise use. Do not mock my gift! Did you not expect loyalty? And here you aimlessly beckoned, je écoutait. To gift words is my only desire... for one like you so..." it rolled its paw, flexing each toe before settling.

"Close," Reynard said wistfully.

His tone became fond once more. England shifted where he stood.

"Close...?"

"Indeed. Return your mind, let us learn of the legion which tramples English way."

Legion reminded him of Rome. Rome who had given him much--roads and architecture and words and walls--but the rebellions buried in his earth had been savage and the years degrading. His land had always been barren of rare resources, the Romans had concluded that humans were the only resource worth exploiting.

He'd lost much in exchange for his gains.

Normans could be less than Romans, Rome had been the greatest to ever live. And England had driven out the greatest, he could drive out the Normans.

"I don't need your help, my brothers standing with me are enough."

The fox hummed a tone of soft demean.

"I see," the Fae sighed. "I see. Yes." He shook his head and his ears folded backwards. "Waste, I will let you discover this yourself. Little will to realign or alter your allies and foes." The fox paw raised and tapped two thorn-claws together. 

It took England a moment to notice that the forest had suddenly resumed moving. It took him moments longer to see it was moving wrong, not how forests aught to move. 

The leaves began to crawl, faster, colours taking on the texture of wax, a grim, melting forest of greens and browns and blacks. The smudging fire orange of Reynard's visage dripped, dripped, dripped dizzy into the muddy mix till all merged into muddy black. 

The forest died as a candle did, drooping, dripping, melting.

England lost control of his arms and legs. To his silent horror, his hands began to drip, too. He couldn't move, his heart pounded a heavy thump of fear as he was swallowed into nothing.

And for a moment everything washed away...

England half-woke to soft, gentle, swaying trees.

He groggily wondered if he still dreamt. 

Where...? 

Had he woken?

England drifted on the edge of his dreams. The trees were navy in the night, visible as he swam between sleep and awareness. Imagining his body crawling off for the tree-line fooled his head, but never moving, he remained.

Between sleep he fell as his mind grew tired.

England woke.

He was warm. 

Lulls of heat were in the air.... England found his body mobile and curled into soft pelts and blankets. Crackling pops of wood drying in a fire bloomed near, washing shadows and a glow on the unrealised shapes around him. The forest was gone, the sky was still dark. He shifted, rolling to reorient his confusion.

"Sasann?" 

 Home. Where was mother? 

A hand came to his shoulder. England let himself be guided to lift from his nest. He clutched the blankets close to keep their warmth. 

Stars glittered navy overhead.

Seeing the open stars... there, no shelter overhead. No roof. There was no mother to wonder about. No... she was a memory.

England pulled the blankets closer. 

Alba... his brother was next to him, carefully and silently checking him.

His brothers were camped in a cove of rocks, he saw. Éire was missing, Cymru and Alba were the only ones left by his side.

England barely remembered his dream... fae-like. It should've been real. It had been midday when he'd... left, right? Or after? Had he gone at all? The fae might've warped time, slowing their meeting had lasted longer than it had seemed. The memory of it was slipping unnaturally... replacing the memory was a cotton-stuffed spiderweb that reeked of fairy magic.

That made him frightened.

"What happened?" England leaned against Alba. Scotland's face was shrouded by the glow of the fire.

"... Ah dinnae ken. You ran aa we dinnae find you 'til late... you were sleeping ablow a Hawthorn."

England took a deep breath. 

Hawthorn, the wood home of fae. Those who slept below would rarely wake again.

"What were you doin' ablo a Hawthorn?" His brother spoke in such a resigned, pained voice.

"I don't know I... I-I didn't go to the Otherworld."

 The fox had taken him into the forest, the place that had melted. But? Had he? Had the forest been made of otherworld tree?

England wrung his hands.

It had been odd tree-kind, mute and dead. No bug, no bird, no living he had heard. The forest had been wrong... warped as otherword things were. It could have been fae forest, for even the sky had been unmoving. Only the Fox had been alive as living things should be.

But how could Reynard have taken him to the Otherworld without permission?

England got colder than he was already cold as he realised.

He had inadvertently agreed to go with a fae. To go anywhere. The fae had offered to take him somewhere away from his brothers, it had asked him to follow, England had taken the offer. He had given himself up fully to the fae's will and Otherworld realm.

"I made a mistake," England whispered. 

"Tell me you hivna' made a promise..." His brother's brows drew together. "Tell me it wisna' longer than a day?"

"I don't think... I think-I think I turned something down. I can't remember.... I know it was short, so short, I was just... I was just with you and...then..." England couldn't say anything else. 

"That's good," Scotland said. He embraced England in a tight hug, one hand carding into his tangled hair guiding his head to rest on his shoulder. "I think you'd've remembered it if you'd've made a promise."

"M' sorry..."

"No apologies, you're nae gone." 

England realised his wand was no longer with him. 

[himilce-persephoniea]

Writing update!

Hi everyone!

I noticed it's been a while since my last update, so here I go.

I'm writing the 7th chapter of "Winter Royalty". I'm at 4K for now. It's going to be a long chapter because it's going to end in a thrilling cliffhanger (sorry people)

I'm at chapter 19/25 of the correction of "The light of your beloved face". I'm getting close!

As I'm participating in the Big Bang Obikin, I can tell where I'm or what I'm doing with it. But I'm doing something that I'm very excited to show you all

I've finally found again how to access my past asks (yes, I lost how to do it TT_TT). So, I'm writing the past Tumblr asks of people. Do not hesitate to send it if you have. I can take years to answer, but I answer them

So, there are my updates for now.

Here under the cut, a snippet of the next chapter of Winter Royalty Remember it's still a draft.

Attention, in the end, it becomes a little NSFW.

Good day everyone!

“A credit for your thoughts.” Vader turned and saw Obi-Wan coming.

“I was preoccupied with Sidious. We have meddled with his war plans and he hasn’t made any mouvement yet. It’s uncharacteristic of him.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes, I’m worried too. And I’m sure he knows about me, thus I’m sure he’s conflicted about you.” Vader looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “He probably thinks you’re a trap set by the Jedi. Why a Lord of the Sith would ally himself with the Jedi and not with him or even against all of us? He probably thinks you are fake, especially if he doesn’t feel your Force Signature.”

Vader looked at the Senate. “No. He would prefer to kill me rather than risk a powerful ally to the Jedi. What I don’t know is why he hasn’t struck yet.”

Vader was stuck with that question. It was true that he only knew Sidious as Emperor. The man didn’t hesitate to take down anybody. Even when it was for teaching Vader a lesson. He had scars to prove it all over his body.

“Sidious is a patient man, we can’t underestimate him,” Obi-Wan followed Vader’s gaze toward the Senate. “And I’m sure he’s waiting to see what are we going to do.”

Vader wanted to touch Obi-Wan so it was what he did. He embraced him. He had been sure that the Jedi Master would stiffen at his contact, but he just moved to feel comfortable. This filled Vader with an uncontrollable sensation of possessiveness. Obi-Wan was his, nobody else. Not the Jedi, not the Republic, not the galaxy, not even the Light Side. He was his. Vader smiled internally at that thought.

“Padmé is euphoric because the Separatists start wanting to talk about negotiations. I’m not sure is good news. How many times did this happen in our time and it ended up in a trap?”

Obi-Wan nodded. “It could be. Sidious was behind both sides in the past and he certainly is now too.” He nuzzled on Vader’s neck. Because of it, Vader almost lost the threat of the conversation. Sidious who? What war? The Jedi? Who karking care of those things when Obi-Wan was nuzzling his neck in his arms?! “But it could be Dooku too. I’ve received this morning a demand from the Clones that they wish us to prepare a formal ask to the Senate because they want to be recognised as people.” He smiled tenderly at Vader. Alright, he was going to kidnap that man into the Outer Rim. Sidious could have the galaxy for all Vader cared. “I think your speech planted some seed in those men.”

Vader came close to Obi-Wan’s ear. “Let’s be very clear and very lew now, Obi-Wan.” He felt the man gasp. “The only seed I want to put somewhere is my cum in your ass, during a very long sex seance that had several orgasmic moments, where you’d beg me every time to let you come. Is that clear?”