#valtor is confused for more than one reason

[darkpoisonouslove]

I have made another chart. As a treat.

[smittenbyvillains]

Can you do a manipulative Valtor x reader, where he catches them in an ancient witch/ warlock library researching spells. After spying on them he realizes the want to learn both witch and fairy magic rather than committing to one. They are friends with the winx and usually hangs out with Flora. He realizes that the reader and him share something, a hunger for knowledge.

Warnings: manipulating, threats, language,

You had been always feeling a pull to both fairies and witches. You crave the knowledge of both. You were at breakfast when Flora pulled you out of your thoughts and smiled at you.

"You okay there? You seem like you were zoned out quite a bit." Flora chuckled. 'Faragonda is having a talk with all the students today for some reason." You nodded. You looked at your food. You trusted Flora but didn't want to be judged.

"Oh, I wonder why," you said. You finished your breakfast before heading to the library you found before Faragonda called everyone. You ran your fingers over the books. You didn't know what one to start out with.

Valtor was watching each Winx through his magic ball. He came across you. You were always interesting. Something about you. You did not seem like the others. You picked out a book that had some spells that witches practiced. Now he was more interested in you. You were reading and trying them as he was spying on you.

You looked around noticing the feeling of being watched. You couldn't see him watching you.

"Let's see where this goes..." Valtor muttered to himself. He stopped watching you study the spells when you headed out. You placed some books in your bag keeping them hidden. Valtor grinned to himself. He was already planning something but it would take more spying.

You met up with Winx and waited for the news Faragonda was gonna mention. Faragonda looked nervous. You hoped it was nothing bad but you just knew it had to be.

"Students, may I have your attention please," Faragonda said clearly and sternly. Everyone stopped talking and looked at her paying attention. "I have gained some news that Valtor once the most powerful wizard has escaped where he was being held. No one is leaving campus. There will be a curfew." She said. You were confused. Who was that? You and the other Winx looked at each other. You were all dismissed after.

You were on the floor reading a normal book and Flora sat on Stella's bed braiding your hair. Stella was walking around holding up her outfits deciding what to wear tomorrow. Bloom and Aisha were on the floor on their stomachs. They were on the carpet. Musa was at the desk making lyrics.

"I wonder how Valtor is," Bloom said concerned. "he must have done something bad." She added.

"Clearly, I mean he escaped the Omega prison." Aisha sighed. "That was being locked near my kingdom."

"Why would he want here?" Flora asked.

"I overheard Faragonda before talking about all the artifacts we have here. Possibly he might go after them." You shrugged. You looked up from your book.

"As long as he leaves my family alone. Although maybe that was him at my princess ball." Stella huffed. Everyone soon went to bed in their rooms. You roomed with Aisha. Once Aisha was asleep you took your bag and sneaked into that library again.

You hid in the corner of the library and continued to read. This was pulling to you. You started to learn some spells over the next few weeks. You haven't said anything as you wanted it to be a secret. One night you were in the library when you noticed someone in the library. He walked over to you.

"Now isn't this interesting... a fairy learning witch magic." He chuckled. You looked at him confused and on guard.

"Who are you?" You asked ready to transform anytime. He smirked.

"Doesn't matter right now. I see you are enjoying the book I gifted you. If you let me help you I can give you more powerful books." He offered. Although it wasn't really an offer. You narrowed your eyes at him.

"Are you a creep?" You asked defensively. You stood up and throw the book at him. "I don't want your stupid book." You huffed. Valtor didn't flinch.

"No." He replied plainly. "I can't believe someone so interested in other magics would just leave an offer like this... I would have even trained you." He said. "But I guess you are going to be fine without a mentor to help you with the really powerful spells." He sighed. He walked away.

It had been a week later and you haven't seen that man. Flora noticed something was up with you but didn't say anything. You had started to notice new books on your bookshelf. Papers with writing on them appear in your room. You hated that you were drawn to them and read them. You slowly gained more power.

The one night you said good night to your friends. Aisha was at her kingdom for the time being with her parents. You were about to go to bed when you saw him. You backed away frightened. He shook his head.

"Get out of here." You said. He didn't look like he was leaving. Not without you at least. Valtor went over to you and grabbed your chin.

"You are stronger little fairy..." He muttered. He wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you against him. You tried to get out of his hold.

"Let me g-" You were cut off by him shutting you up with a spell. He shook his head.

"I am taking you away here. You are going to have a mentor." Valtor said. He muttered a spell that made you pass out. He picked you up in his arms and walked into the portal and placed you on the couch. He waited for you to wake up again.

When you came to it you looked around confused. Valtor was in a chair across from you and was reading a book. You sat up and were scared. He looked up from his book and smiled. "You're awake. I was getting worried." He said. He stood up and leaned down to the height on the couch.

"Why am I here..." You said. He smiled at you.

"I am your mentor now for the magic of the witches. I am your perfect mentor because I know all the knowledge and I can give it to you.."

"Who are you....." You muttered.

"Valtor, my dear and I know who you are." You had wide eyes staring at him.

"You-you"

"Yes. I escaped. Thanks to a few minions but now it's time for you to get attention. You want that, don't you? To freely use both magics." You nodded. He grinned. "Great. Now let's get started."

[princess-of-the-corner]

Does Inverno realise that Blizetta probably planned to use their daughter for something involving her royal heritage? Does Icy realise that?

Is Icy planning to do the same in her Quest For Moar Power?

(first off I love how I'm not the only one who gets confused on how many Zs and Ts are in Blizzeta. Trust me it shuffles every time I write her name)

Icy realizes it faster than Inverno.

Like.

Inverno and Blizzeta were friends, at a point. Many, many years ago. Then she disappeared for a bit, and next thing he knows she's dead and the reason why is that she was part of the group that attacked Domino.

He goes through.... a lot. Reconciling his friend with who she really was in the end. Denial at first, assuming she must've just fallen in with a bad crowd accidentally rather than been it's leader. But he does come to terms with 'hey my friend my have not actually been that good of a person'.

So yeah when Icy appears and brings back old memories, it's first of the friend, not the 'villain'. A friend he was clearly comfortable enough to be intimate with at one point so she might've been more than just 'a friend'.

It occurs to him at some point, of course. When wondering why Blizzeta didn't tell him. That Icy is his firstborn child and even though Blizzeta wasn't his wife, she still would have some claim to the throne unless he named an alternate heir. That, Blizzeta being who she was, she was likely using that for some angle. That the whole thing had been about gaining some form of power.

It doesn't matter now. Blizzeta's been dead for so long, it doesn't matter.

Icy herself has mixed feelings on whether she'd use this or not. The part of her that's still chasing her mother's plans thinks to do so. At the very least this gives her some power. But what to do with it?

At the same time..... it's been so rarely that she's been offered genuine, unconditional love of some sort. It's far more care and safety and stability than what she's being promised from Valtor right now.

[bitchatcloudtower]

Fate At Cloudtower

General thoughts on s2 of F*te The Winx Saga. Past issues of whitewashing still stand, especially irt Musa since they have given zero indication that they’re intending to fix that casting mistake. I’m still mad about that. This isn’t going to be a very coherent review but whatever.

- Writing: generally more coherent. Less one liners. No mentions of mansplaining. They keep assuming we’ve seen the original and it leads to a lot of plotholes where we don’t actually know what the fuck the Dragon flame is supposed to be in this universe.

- We’re getting “Isobel and D’Arcy” (with Beatrix being “Little Storm”) and what I think is Darkar? I’m not looking forward to that. (I liked that their address is Diamond Hill that’s kinda cool ig)

- Costumes: either hideous but there are some nice ones.The hair and makeup got worse for everyone. Terra’s styling especially has somehow gotten worse. Do they know lesbians can dress well?

- A lot of retconning. It feels like a very different show than s1 did. It’s different for the better but it’s very dissonant and confusing.

- I hate the transformation sequence. CGI in general is otherwise better (specifically the convergence scene) but the transformations are terrible. Yes, the rest of the Winx transform. Terra’s is kinda cool I guess, Aisha’s is insulting.

- Sebastian is a very unconvincing villain. Yeah, okay he’s this world’s Valtor but he isn’t imposing at all, which works for when he’s undercover in the beginning but he makes for a very nonthreatening villain, he’s just... a weird man.

- I liked the idea of the “burden” of power: Musa willingly giving hers up, the mention of the Dragon Flame being a burden on Bloom’s mother. Kinda deep. Not well explored but nothing in this show is.

- Some of the characters are more likable now (Stella, Beatrix, Riven), some got worse (Bloom, Aisha, Terra)

- Terra coming out felt very out of nowhere. I expected Stella to be the one to come out especially given that she and Beatrix seem to have a more genuine connection (platonic or otherwise) than Terra and her supposed love interest.... 

- Who the fuck is Terra’s love interest and doesn’t she have a long term girlfriend?

- Stella/Sky makes a lot more sense in this world than Bloom/Sky do. The only reason they’re together is because the show keeps insisting they’re in love and it’s very unconvincing and annoying and the Stella/Sky moments do hit at times. I feel for Stella a lot.

- They just throw death in every episode. It’s... weird. Like we get a string of murders with no real gravitas.

- Grey is hot and that’s it. He’s boring as hell. 

TLDR: S2 was better than S1 but it’s not actually good and it definitely isn’t a good adaptation of Winx Club. It relies a lot on the show to fill in the gaps they’re too lazy to fill but doesn’t actually honour the source material and isn’t good enough to stand on its own.

[volgdemagischewinx]

Not sure how I feel about the comics skipping S2... I mean, I think Darkar deserved a bit more spotlight. He's one of my favourite villains; his design is metal as fuck, and he was responsible for Dark Bloom, everybody's favourite source of angst headcanons. But then again, his backstory is somewhat confusing and I question why a Satan-equivalent was the villain of just S2. Wouldn't he have been a more logical final boss than Valtor or the Ancestrals? They were obeying him during the genocide!

That's what I mean when I say the comics are good, but can't stand their own without the show. Too much relevant stuff happens off-screen. They already skipped most of s1, but with that season they did it by occasionally referencing something as having happened already and otherwise leaving you to guess when an issue was supposed to take place. On the rare occasion that they did show their own version of it it was typically a downgrade

It is a bummer not to see more of Darkar, but just skipping to the end of s2 helps avoid a lot of confusion. And honestly s2 wasted a lot of time, while there's a lot I love about the story and its potential, it was in execution basic enough that you don't lose much by just doing a quick recap. Its strength was mostly in its filler episodes, and since the comics are basically all filler episodes they're better off sticking to their own than copying the ones from the show

Anyway, Darkar!

I totally see where you're coming from in thinking he made more sense as the final boss, and I agree that he should be (or have been but I'm always thinking of reboot potential) portrayed as the biggest threat of them all. The thing is that I don't necessarily think going with a more powerful villain every season is the best model for tv shows, and imo there's a lot of reasons Darkar and Valtor work best as the villains for their respective seasons both as the cartoon is now, and in how it could be in reboots

For one thing, I think most of the fandom agrees on Dark!Bloom trauma as something we'd like to see in a reboot. If Darkar was the last villain there would be no time to explore that trauma at all because the show would be over right after it happens. In theory s3 would be the best place to cover all of that as its own plot plays out. After all there's a lot of story beats that could easily be turned into introspective moments*

I also just consider Valtor himself to be the ideal final villain. He's nowhere near as intimidating as Darkar(who scared the SHIT out of me when I was little), but he feels very different from all the villains before him. In the past every villain has had this goal of obtaining the Dragon's Flame: The Ancestrals pre-canon, the Trix in s1, and Darkar in s2. With Valtor that goes out the window because he already has that power to begin with. It makes it so that his goal feels more original, even if it still comes down to world domination in the end. His interest in Bloom comes not from a desire to take her power, but from the connection they share. It's still classic Winx but a departure from what's become the formula at that point. It's a nice way to shake things up that only works if you already have that pattern there to break. Which means you need to put the villains going after the Flame first

Finally, even though Darkar was the guy commanding the Ancestrals during the genocide, Valtor had a much more personal hand in it. In the cartoon as it is he's Bloom's closest connection to her birht parents, and as a result a lot of the season is basically build-up to her reuniting with them(which is part of why, despite it feeling like final season in many ways, the finale itself feels very unrewarding). I tend to favor versions of the story where Bloom's birth parents don't get brought back at all, but in that situation his history with them could help set up a character arc where she finally makes peace with it. If you make it so that he actually is the one that killed them, then you can have the bonus element of her getting justice for them as well

Really, the main thing I would change about Darkar/s2(outside of exploring the lasting effects more) would just be making it so that they never truly defeat him? The final battle takes place in this pocket-dimension no? Just have Bloom land a crazy powerful surprise attack on him once she breaks free from his control, maybe have someone use that moment of confusion to toss one part of the codex into the abyss for him to chase after while they all rush out of the portal and seal him inside. The threat is still neutralized, but he's still framed as a powerful enough enemy that the Winx couldn't actually beat him in a straight up battle. That way Valtor feels like a bigger threat than he did originally because the Winx haven't already defeated someone that's a much bigger deal than him

*To name a few options: Bloom going back to Earth could be about her parents helping her start to work through what happened to her. Their journey to Lynphea always felt like the perfect callback to s1 Bloom's innocent love of the magical world, and could represent a point in the story where she starts to feel that joy again. Bloom's entire Enchantix arc already has a lot of her self-destructive behavior+her being alone with her thoughts that you could easily combine with her angsting over s2. And so much more! There's enough there for a separate post tbh

[libralita]

Fate: The Winx Saga Unedited Ramble

Alright so I finished the first season of Fate: The Winx Saga and it was pretty fucking dreadful if I’m being honest. Let’s get into it.

First, let’s talk about the production quality because it was lacking in some weird areas. The audio mixing was surprisingly bad in a few places. Most notability when characters were talking over the phone. Every time Bloom speaks to her parents over the phone the voices on the other end are so loud. And most of the time when a character is talking to someone over the phone, their voice over comes in a bit softer with a filter to make it sound poorer quality. The audio was crisp and loud. There was one funny scene where Bloom is on the phone with her parents and she’s outside and there’s a bunch of background noise and her parents are in a quiet house. When it cuts to Bloom’s parents with Bloom on the phone you can’t hear the background noise but when you cut to her you can hear the general outdoor sounds in everything. Also whenever pop songs could come they were so loud. I would always have to turn down my volume because they would be louder than the normal speaking voice. Now for the sets. They were fine? I guess. Generic castle. Generic house. Generic forest. Fine. The costumes were uh…really awful. Mostly because you have the cartoon to compare it to where you had fashion designers design the outfits and you could tell, all the girls were so fashionable. A lot of the outfits were crimes. Terra’s and Stella’s were especially god awful.

And now, I guess I’ll go through the episodes and point out the problems as I see them. Episode one, I have a lot to say because the problems of the show become evident very quickly. So, first the dialogue. The original show had lame slang, especially with Musa, but my god some of this shit was painful. The first instance is when Bloom accuses Sky of mansplaining, so first of all it’s really great to see my childhood icon being sexist. Great. I love it. Second, she isn’t even using the term correct because by definition it is a man must explain to a woman a concept that she already knows in a rude way. Bloom states before this that she doesn’t know what a Specialist is so it’s not something she already knows. The only line that got a snort out of me is when Bloom says “Gryffindor. Explains the judgement.” Now the roommate situation. They totally moved Terra and Aisha because they wanted more drama. Terra is a ball of anxiety and wants to be friends with Musa, Musa’s an empath and can’t deal. Bloom is naturally gifted and a bit of an…well the show wants us to think she’s a free spirt and a rebel but she’s an idiot. Aisha is smart but has to work for ever bit of magic she gets. (despite that one line where she saws she flooded her school because of a math test but whatever) Another thing is that they say guns don’t work on the Burned Ones but if swords do then guns do. It’s stupid.

A great theme of this show is that everyone needs to calm down. As someone who’s lived in a suite like with this with four/five other girls, you’re not going to be best friends with your roommates the first day. Calm down Terra. Back to bad lines. Speaking of calming down, Bloom’s mom takes away her door (Sidenote: Whoever wrote “Don’t you feminist with me. This basic bitch’ll break out her bullhorn and her dissertation and take your ass to school.” Needs a good slap) and so Bloom is so enraged by this that she…nearly kills her parents by burning the house down. Fucking brilliant. That is the thing that enrages her. That. Fucking moronic. Also Bloom’s parents are on the floor but there’s a clear pathway that they can just walk through that Bloom walks through. This could have been solved if you had Bloom walk through the flames because fire fairy Speaking of people needing to calm down Terra is just absolutely insufferable. Riven calls her fat and she her response is to choke him and when he calls her out on this she smiles at him saying “nice to see you again” or something. Fuck off Terra. Attempted murder not acceptable when someone insults you.

Alright, now to talk about Stella (and yes, we’re still on Episode 1) while I think Bloom and Flora were done the dirtiest, they massacred my girl. While I don’t think Stella is the most complex character, I discovered while watching this that I really like her in the original. I especially love the episode she gets her Enchantix and the episode she saves her father from Valtore’s spell. Both episodes are so beautiful and her character shines. She’s a bitch in this show. It explains why and I actually do feel bad for this Stella but my god, my Stella would never. Which might as well be the title of this show, Fate: The Winx Would Never Saga.

Few final problems for the first episode: First they call Bloom a changeling and that’s not what changeling’s are and it’s very distracting. Find a different word. Second, Bloom’s house does not look Californian and probably isn’t. Also if Bloom didn’t want to lose Stella’s ring, then she should have worn it on her fucking finger. Now onto episode 2.

So, another problem with this show is Beatrix, while she’s one of the most interesting characters on the show, the fact she barely interacts with the girls is stupid. They should have just put her and Bloom in the same room together. Then Beatrix could interact with all the girls. Problem solved. But no. However, I actually kind of dig Beatrix’s relationship with Riven, I remember liking it in the original as well when it was with Darcy. Maybe I just like evil couples. Oh and magic has changed. So now there’s five elements Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and Mind. And you use emotions. And seeing Stella tell Bloom to think of negative emotions hurts my soul because I remember the episode where the girls go to Cloud Tower in season 2 and STELLA WOULD NEVER. Onto episode 3 and 4.

Okay so it’s revealed that Bloom was born in 2004 so that means these girls are 16, 17 in Stella’s case. To which I say bullshit. Now, onto Queen Luna. I don’t think she had any lines in the original series, however I will say QUEEN LUNA WOULD NEVER. I hate that Stella has a shit relationship with her mom. I hate that Queen Luna is queen of Solaria. I hate that she’s the Queen of Light despite her name being Luna because she should the Queen of the Moon because that’s how it worked in the original but no. It’s dumb and I hate it. Though, I will say that her treatment of Stella did make my heart hurt. New appreciation for this imposter Stella. One other thing is that Beatrix’s story is the most interesting. Aster Del was cool.

Episode 5 is when I realized that there were only 6 episodes of this series instead of 8 so…this is the penultimate episode and where shit gets real bad. I don’t like seeing Musa having sex, I think I was on my phone when Stella was having sex but seeing Musa with her bra just made my childhood weep a little. Also, how the fuck did Musa not know Stella was there? Also, I kind of like the scene were Stella opens up to Musa but I would have liked to see Musa say “I’m an empath, dummy, I know these girls aren’t judging you.” Speaking of stupid, Bloom. While Farah not telling you the truth about stuff was dumb, you breaking Beatrix out is massively moronic. And then the show decides to make my childhood weep again by having Bloom drug Sky. Thanks sho w, seeing this happen to my childhood OTPs is fucking great. And you know what? I try to hate this show but then it has a soldier facetiming Marco saying that the Batallion is dead and that she has a broken leg. Then she starts running away from the Burned Ones while hobbling with her “broken” leg and the camera stays on her. It’s…it’s a special show.

The show briefly mentions magical convergence and don’t fucking dare. And then…the characters brains magically go bye-bye. First Bloom is a ding dong for leaving the drugged Sky face down. Then Terra, Musa, and Stella are absolute ding dongs for giving Bloom back the key to break Beatrix out. At first I thought they were fine with allowing Beatrix to murder Dane and then Stella just fucking pushes her into the trap and it made it worse. You don’t fucking know that won’t kill her, you ding dongs.

Onto the finale. Aisha gets shit for being the only one who isn’t a ding dong. “Hope the brownie points will keep you company when you have no friends.” My soul. Bloom becomes really fucking confusing because she doesn’t trust Farah or the other staff but then she just randomly trusts Rosalind. And then she points this out that it’s weird that Rosalind wants her to trust her. And then Bloom goes to save her friends. Funny moment: Stella loses signal, she clearly needs to switch over to the plan that one soldier had where she could face time in the middle of a fucking forest with perfect quality. Then back to Bloom where she confronts Farah and says “What if Rosalind isn’t crazy? What if she had a reason to lie?” And she’s just…an idiot because she doesn’t see how that logic can be thrown right back at her with Farah.

Terra continues to be an ass to Musa. Like she just demands that Musa take away his pain and I understand the Musa needs to open up and get past her baggage. However, Terra does it in such a bitchy way that I would have probably slapped her. Also the show pretends that Terra was helping Sam when she did nothing but hold his hand while he writhed in pain. Also, also you clearly have sedatives in this world, fucking use them.

So Saul “killed” Andreas which is stupid on two fronts. Number one, Saul says to at least Sky that he died in a battle but no one ever questions which one. You’d think they’d find his body on the battle field. Number two where the fuck did Andreas’ body go? Did Saul not care? Fucking stupid. Also Andreas raised Beatrix. Interesting. A little…Mortal Instruments but I’ll allow it. Cool reveal.

Then…the things. Uh, while I’m glad that this show about fairies actually has fucking wings for one scene and they’re pretty cool looking with the fire and almost scale like. However…there’s no magical costume which is bullshit.

Finally, Farah’s neck is snapped and that just kind of the final blow to my childhood. So…overall. This was pretty shit as both an adaptation and just as a story. There were a lot of plotholes and stupid things.

[adozentothedawn]

Winx Club Rewatch Log Part 12 (s. 3, epi. 20-28)

(I remember nothing about this episode except for everything and that it was in season two, which it isn't. I'm so confused, I thought I've researched this already, but I checked my posts and I didn't. Unless Tumblr once again fucked up which to be fair isn't all that unlikely.

I like the pixies, they're still cute.

I kinda dig the idea of the Trix fighting over Valtor. It's played half straight, half for laughs and somehow it works, I like it. Also it's actually framed as bad that they're fighting each other for a guy.

It's also very funny that Valtor is watching the drama go down like a common Tumblr bitch until he has to come bail them out. And even HE tells them to stop bitching!

Okay no, I definitely watched that already recently, I remember commenting on the red tower.

I apparently just never posted the next part, but I found my notes! I'll add them after this and put this at the top.)

j/ Techna, I don't the think pixies are going to get any bigger.

I love that the Trix don't even think about giving Valtor a choice between them. For their purposes he's literally just a trophy husband.

I'm reasonably certain they had the wrong voice actress say that line.

j/ I wanna know who these hooded people are that keep showing up, and who makes those hoods because even the weird Drake servant used those.

I like Nabu. I don't like that he only exists for a season. Still think Layla is a lesbian. Still think she should get Musa. Still think Riven needs to be left alone and not judged for not really wanting a relationship.

I changed my mind, Nabu is barely better than cardboard cutout Helia.

Can I please have a bonding episode of Riven and Piff? They're adorable. Maybe Riven should a get a little sister.

j/ I like the implication that their size is evil which is why they must shrink to get through the door.

How the fuck did the trick work for Techna but not Bloom? They got their enchantix the same way, even if the show doesn't want to admit it.

I feel high. What the hell is happening? I remember this shit, but seriously, what the hell?

The only interesting dilemma is Musa's, she's the only one who really scrifices something. We all know Techna and Stella will become normal again, but Musa never sees her mother again. (No I didn't cry, why do you ask?)

Okay this is present Yan again, this is where my notes ended. That said the whole water star thing is still weird.

Why does Valtor give a shit about the Winx's romance? But I do appreciate he acts like a cry baby here. xD

I would wear those outfits. Both from the Winx and the boys. Also I'm impressed the boys even got new outfits! My favourites: Techna, Flora, Helia. Maybe I'll add pictures.

They actually use the word die! I'm impressed. Then again next season they actually kill someone so maybe this show is just like that.

Damn, the idea of letting the three headmasters fight each other is actually pretty cool and insedious, I dig it.

Valtor is the only guy where I actually believe he's just casually watching them deliberate how to defeat him. Also liar liar pants on fire.

Nabu's dad looks real funny, I love his vibe.

j/ I wonder if they realized what they were insinuating when bringing up the idea that Bloom's parents are inside Valtor. Very kinky.

While I dig the vibe of their pajamas, I hate that they're almost all wearing crop tops.

Even though it still makes no sense with Techna, I think the idea of making the main main character (and she is even it's subtle) weaker than the others is interesting. Bloom is still weaker then the others, which I think is ballsy.

Those new Trix designs are... unfortunate.

They had a perfectly good sexy villain and the make him into a troll with wings.

I really like the sequence of the boys dealing with the tornados.

I love that the solution for defeating the fucker is just 'I'll open his fancy box and make all his spells float away.' And while 'why didn't they think of this sooner' is a valid criticism, I know how fucking dumb I am and I think 'they didn't think of it before just cause' is a valid explanation.

Also the mermaids are lesbians. All of them. They reproduce asexually. There is not a single merman in any of these shots, you can't change my mind.

They reused the music from when all of magix was creepy mummies, and not gonna lie that still scares me.

j/ Yes, it was very subtle that Valtor was under that stone. The hair totally didn't give it away.

I kind of dig the weird labyrinth split up thing in this episode. I like the vibe. Also the boys needing to be rescued.

No clothes for the weird avatar guys! Also no nipples! And why are they using that weird W-transition now? They never did before and don't think they do it afterwards either.

j/ Oh wow, I guess the ancient witches are insane Karens. We put you into this world and we can take you out of it! But at least they're lesbian Karens.

And the whole thing ends with 'Don't worry, we know we can make more money from this and you!' Though to be fair, at least they actually planned something in advance.

[ozai-the-bonsai]

Ghost In The Dark (Valtor x OC)

Link to Chapter 3:

Time Line: Chapter 4 is set two days before Tecna closes the portal between Andros and the Omega Dimension.

Rating: M

*4* Send Griffin My Regards

(Word Count: 3425)

The fabric of the dark sheets was wrinkling within Hel’s strong hold as she unconsciously held onto them for dear life. Her breaths were becoming heavier and more frequent and the sweat forming on her forehead was damping her black hair –the nightmare had wrapped its claws around her neck, which was tight enough to choke her.

Her conscious was trying its best to break free from the nightmare and help Hel return to her comfort zone; however, the claws wrapped around her throat were so strong that they’d rather break her neck than to set her free.

What saved her from the horrors suffocating her had been the sound of a familiar voice calling out her name. The moment his voice filled her ears, Hel slipped away from the grasp of the nightmare and woke up with a start. Before she could notice her surroundings, the owner of the voice pulled her naked body into his arms and began to caress her right arm with comforting movements. Slowly, the memories from the night found their missing places in Hel’s mind.

She was in Valtor’s chambers, in his bed and in his arms.

After their intense love-making had exhausted them both, Valtor had teleported them to his bedroom. Without even caring to put on their nightwear, the two of them had fallen asleep naked and all snuggled up under the dark sheets of Valtor’s bed.

The movement of Valtor’s hand on her right arm slowly disappeared as Hel steadied her breathing “What happened?” Valtor asked her with a low voice while he ran his right hand through her dark hair.

Hel gulped “It’s the dead,” she responded with a weak voice “They are trying to capture my attention by giving me nightmares,” she said and turned her head to meet Valtor’s grey eyes “About burning alive in a closed place.”

Her words brought a grimace to his face, then he slowly gathered all her hair on her right shoulder and began to run the side of his left index finger on Hel’s now exposed neck “While you’re inside my arms,” he whispered and pressed his lips on her neck. Hel buried her head into Valtor’s shoulder as his lips moved down from her neck to her shoulder “No one can cause you harm.”

I’d give so many things to be naïve enough to believe that, darling.

After making sure that Hel was free from the effects of the nightmare, Valtor pulled her onto his chest under the covers and wrapped his arms around her body tight as if he wanted to make sure no one would take Hel away from him while he was asleep.

It’s comforting to know that some things never change, Hel thought as she inhaled Valtor’s scent. Just like his possessiveness of me and the feeling of safety it brings to be inside his arms.

The rest of her sleep had been surprisingly pleasant, perhaps the presence of Valtor was having a dreamcatcher effect on her. When she woke up, her hand immediately searched for the body on the left side of the bed; however, all it could find had been cold sheets.

The dark haired woman slowly opened her eyes and straightened under the covers. While she was rubbing her eyes, the footsteps coming from the right side of the room caught her attention and as she turned her head to look at the source, a small smile formed on her lips.

I could get used to waking up to the sight of his naked body.

“Seems like someone finally had her beauty sleep.” Valtor said while he took out a neatly folded white shirt from one of his drawers. Except for the white towel which was wrapped around his waist, he was completely naked but his hair seemed dry, which meant that it had been a while since he had had his shower.

Hel stretched like a cat “You could say that,” she said with a sweet voice. Unfortunately, her stretching was interrupted as some rays of sun met her skin “Fuck,” she moaned in pain and quickly pulled the covers over her head “Valtor, close the fucking blinds!”

Damn, how could I forget about the sun? Valtor scolded himself while he closed the blinds, eventually letting darkness fall into the room although the weather outside was, surprisingly, bright and sunny “It’s done.” he said, walking towards the bed while Hel lowered the covers enough for her to take a look inside the room. Then she slowly sat down, letting her legs hang from the edge of the bed “I’m sorry, I completely forgot about your… allergy.”

The witch waved her left hand in the air lazily “Don’t worry, even I get carried away and walk naked into the sun sometimes.” she said and stood up –she was still naked “I better get going –I need to take a shower as well.” she spoke but let out a soft chuckle and shook her head upon seeing the naughty spark inside Valtor’s eyes, who was eyeing her hungrily as he stood in front of her “Nope, I know exactly what you’re thinking and the answer is no, Valtor –wasn’t last night enough for you?”

Valtor held her from her hand and pulled her against his chest “I can never get enough of you, Hel.” he whispered as he placed his free hand on the small of her back.

The edge of Hel’s lip curled upwards “I know, darling but my body is still pretty exhausted.” she said and slowly stepped out of Valtor’s arms “I doubt I’ll be able to have sex in the next twenty-four hours –plus, we both have work to do.” she was walking towards the table, on which her clothes from the previous night were placed, while she spoke but upon seeing her reflexion on the mirror, Hel stopped in her tracks. With a frown on her face, she turned her grey eyes to the mirror “What the hell?”

There were several love-marks on her body –three were on her neck, another three were on the sides of her breasts and some bruises could be seen on the back of her upper arms. Hel’s grey eyes found Valtor’s from the mirror as she raised an eyebrow at him “Care to explain why you decided to mark me last night, huh?”

The sorcerer simply snickered and began to dress himself. Hel took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Shadows from all around the room gathered around her, making it seem as if there was a dark glow around her body –in fact, they were simply healing the love-marks and the bruises on her skin. With simple injuries like those, Hel was able to use her shadow powers for healing herself and others. After that she, too, put on her clothes “When will you be going to the Underworld?”

Hel turned back to look at Valtor upon hearing him speak “Later today, if nothing goes wrong.” she responded “Why?”

He shrugged “Just curious.”

***

After leaving Valtor’s bedroom, Hel disappeared inside the shadows until arriving in her own room –since the weather outside was sunny, she was not able to walk through the halls of the Cloud Tower. It seems like the nostalgia has to wait until I find a way to deal with this little, sunny problem.

The rest had been a hot shower and a quick breakfast; however, all she could think about was him and the night the two had spent together. She knew very well that she had to be mad at him for leaving her behind just because of his selfish ambitions but after feeling that his love for her was still alive somewhere within his dark heart, she just couldn’t find the strength to do so.

At first, she had feared that the only reason he still wanted her was purely sexual desires; however, his touches had been almost shouting the opposite. Hel was more than capable of telling it when Valtor’s touches involved feelings other than passion and last night there hadn’t been only passion but also yearning, compassion, hope, and love.

Yearning because he had been forced to spent sixteen long years away from her.

Compassion because he still remembered the broken and vulnerable little girl hiding within her frozen heart.

Hope because they were brought together once again, they were given a second chance.

Love because it had always been there, it was never lost –it was simply in a deep slumber and was woken up the moment he heard his name rolling off her tongue.

Still lost inside the vast ocean of thoughts in her mind, Hel wore her black, satin dress and dark red, high-heeled pumps. What brought her back to reality had been the stain of the red lipstick on the edge of her lip. The dark haired woman rolled her eyes “With him on my mind, I cannot even put my lipstick on.”

Once again, instead of walking through the corridors, Hel travelled within the shadows to avoid any further accidents with the sun –even when she was inside the headmistress’ office, she still didn’t step out of the shadows for she wasn’t quite sure whether the room was safe for her.

The three young witches were around the desk and Valtor was, once again, sitting on the chair. The edge of Hel’s crimson lips curled upwards as she recalled for which dirty purposes that very desk had been used the previous night.

“Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of the sun.” Valtor spoke while his eyes left the crystal ball and found the spot in the shadows, in which Hel was currently hiding. With an arched brow, the dark haired woman stepped out of the shadows. Valtor chuckled softly “The weather decided to be cloudy all of a sudden –go, see for yourself.”

He tempered with the weather so I could walk around without being on alert, Hel thought while she walked towards the window. The sun had indeed disappeared behind a thick layer of clouds. She turned back to Valtor with an amused look in her grey eyes “Well, I appreciate the effort,” she said “Thank you.”

Valtor simply shrugged and turned his eyes to the crystal ball as Icy asked with a confused tone “How can you feel your presence so easily?”

“When she moves within the shadows, it causes them to vibrate with a unique frequency.” Valtor explained with his usual laid-back attitude “That’s how I can tell whether she is lurking in the shadows.”

It seemed like Icy wasn’t satisfied with his answer “But aren’t there, like dozen frequencies within the shadows? You must be a detector to pick up hers!”

Valtor smirked smugly “Takes years of practice.”

As the Trix moved to the seats in front of the desk to sit, Hel leaned the cold wall behind her with her arms crossed over her chest. Since her body had been tangled up with Valtor’s whole night, she had got enough from his heat, hence her skin wasn’t ice cold anymore –which meant that the coldness of the wall against her back made her shiver.

“So you two should’ve spent much time together, then.” Darcy said, trying to sound indifferent but it was quite easy to tell that she was only trying to understand the true essence of the relationship between Valtor and Hel.

Of course Hel was aware of the fact that all three of them were helplessly admiring Valtor and she knew they all were going to be deeply disappointed once they found out that Hel had already had Valtor within her grasp. Well, she couldn’t blame the girls for falling for him –after all, it was almost impossible to resist against his charms. No one knew it better than her.

“Pretty much indeed.” Hel responded and then walked towards Valtor’s sitting figure. The sound of her high-heeled shoes were echoing inside the room “What are you doing?”

Valtor showed her the crystal ball “Keeping an eye on Andros,” he said and casted a quick look at the dark haired woman “You know what awaits that planet, don’t you?”

Hel shrugged with an indifferent attitude “Not my problem anymore, I saved my own skin.” she said, causing Valtor to snicker.

Stormy whispered with such a low voice that only Icy and Darcy were able to hear her “Girls, I think our man is already taken.”

Icy rolled her eyes “Yeah, no kidding.” she muttered under her breath “So, what are you going to do?” she asked and since her question was directed at Hel, the witched raised her head from the crystal ball to look at Icy “Are you staying with us?”

Hel nodded “For a while. I have to get some little things done before going after my own revenge.” she responded and pointed at Valtor with her head “From his mothers.”

Icy’s eyes widened “From the Ancestral Witches?” she asked and casted a quick look at her best friends, who seemed as shocked as she was. Obviously, they found the idea of seeking revenge from the Ancestral Witches totally ludicrous “Well, in that case, good ridd… I mean good luck with that.”

“Hey,” Stormy spoke, changing the subject “Does Griffin know you are here?”

“Wait,” Hel said and turned her eyes at Valtor as she slowly raised an eyebrow “That treacherous snake is here?”

A wide smirk spread onto his lips “Of course,” he responded and leaned back the chair lazily “You should pay her a visit, I’m sure she has missed you.”

Hel let out a cold but attractive laughter “Oh, you have no idea, darling.” she said, after winking at Valtor, she began walking towards the door “Now, everything has become more fun. First, I’ll have a little chat with my best friend, then I better go face the chaos of the Underworld.”

“We can show you the way to Griffin’s cell,” Darcy said as she attempted to stand up from her seat but Hel gently pushed her back while she was walking right next to her.

“There’s no need, I’ve been a student here myself.” Hel explained with a confident aura around her “I still know this place like the back of my hand.”

Before the dark haired woman left the headmistress’ office, Valtor called at her “Send Griffin my regards.”

A soft chuckle escaped Hel’s crimson lips “I most certainly will.”

***

Griffin stood up from the ground upon hearing the sound of high-heeled shoes meeting the stone floors “Who’s there?” she asked while walking towards the bars. From the darkness ruling the corridor –it seemed darker than usual, probably somebody had been messing with the lights within the Cloud Tower –a dark haired woman emerged. Seeing her face after sixteen long years had a shocking effect on Griffin, causing her to take an unbalanced step back.

“Hey there, my old friend,” Hel spoke with a playful tone as she put an emphasis on the word friend “Did you miss me?” she asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Hel?” Griffin asked with an obviously horrified voice “How can you be here? That’s not possible! You should be in…”

Before her former best friend could finish her word, Hel interrupted “The Omega Dimension, yeah, I know.” she said and leaned the wall parallel to Griffin’s cell. Since she hadn’t spent the past sixteen years in ice, she had naturally aged –Hel looked much younger than Griffin “Well, it seems like you’ve not been informed about the current course of events –breaking out from there has become the new trend lately.”

Griffin took slow steps back until her back met the cold wall of her cell “This is bad... This is too bad…” she began to mutter while sliding down so that she was once again sitting on the ground “First Valtor and now you as well,”

Hel let out a cruel laughter “Don’t be afraid, Griffin, little grudges aren’t my taste.” she said and flipped her black hair “Unlike Valtor who likes to keep a score in his head with every single person to cross his path… No, I prefer going after the mother snake.”

A confused expression was visible on Griffin’s face “What is that supposed to mean?”

The dark haired woman walked in front of her cell and placed her hands around the metal bars keeping the two, old friends separated “It means that I’ll be going after the Ancestral Witches, who are to blame for the time I’ve spent in the Omega Dimension.” she said and chuckled upon seeing Griffin’s confusion turning into terror “Hey, cheer up, will you? I’ll be doing you all goodie-goodies a magnificent favour with sending those three bitches into Oblivion.”

“Going after the Ancestral Witches?” Griffin repeated Hel’s words “Hel, you’ve finally lost your damn mind –do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?”

Hel shrugged carelessly “I don’t give a shit about your opinion, Griffin, you’re dead to me.” she said “You should be relieved, though, you will not be facing my wrath.” A mischievous smirk spread on her crimson lips “But I cannot say the same for his,” she spoke, she was talking about Valtor. After straightening, she sent a scornful look at Griffin “Seems like you’ve already seen it, though.”

After leaving Griffin in a pitiful state in her cold cell, Hel went back to the headmistress’ office –she intended to leave for the Underworld as soon as possible; however, she couldn’t bring herself to leave without saying goodbye for she had no idea for how long she would be gone.

A relieved smile formed on her lips as she opened the door and saw that Valtor was all alone inside the office. He was, once again, sitting on the chair while holding a book in his hands. Hel had always admired his hunger for knowledge, it seemed like he could never get enough of it despite how much time he spent with reading “I didn’t expect you to be back so soon,” he spoke while raising his grey eyes from the book “Did Griffin grow boring over the years?”

“There’s nothing more I can share with her,” Hel responded as she walked slowly at his direction “I only wanted to feel the satisfaction of seeing the horror in her eyes when she realised that another ghost from her past has returned.”

A soft chuckle escaped Valtor’s lips “You never cease to amuse me.”

Hel winked at him “I know, darling.” she said and as soon as she reached him, she swiftly took the book between his hands and placed it onto the desk. Valtor raised a questioning eyebrow at her “I’ll be leaving for the Underworld soon.” Hel spoke with a silk-like voice.

“And what does it have to do with my reading, exactly?” Valtor asked, his eyebrow still arched. With slow movements, Hel sat on his lap, straddling him. Almost immediately Valtor’s hands ended up around her hips.

With her left hand placed on Valtor’s right shoulder, Hel cupped his face with her right hand, her thumb gently caressing his cheek “I wanted to say goodbye since I cannot foresee how long it will take to resolve the chaos in the Underworld.” she spoke with a low voice as her lips were slowly closing on top of his “It could take less than a couple of hours, or a few days, perhaps weeks…”

Valtor captured her crimson lips with his “I cannot stay away from you that long,” he whispered between little kisses. Hel giggled as she slid her tongue in his mouth, which met with his halfway through.

“You might as well have to, Valtor,” Hel whispered, breaking the kiss for a moment. Promptly, Valtor’s soft lips moved down to her neck “No living can enter the Underworld except for its Queen.”

“In that case,” Valtor whispered against her skin as he moved his lips down with each kiss “Get it over with as soon as possible.”

Hel clicked her tongue and pushed Valtor gently away from her so that he was leaning the chair, his lips weren’t on her anymore “I do not take orders from anyone, darling,” she spoke with a low but dangerous tone “So I suggest you don’t push your luck.”

After leaving one last kiss on Valtor’s lips, Hel got off from his lap and began walking towards the door “One last thing,” she said, not even looking back at him “You better wipe that lipstick off your lips.”

[moonlightreal]

Deep Dive: Diaspro! Season five

Yes I’m switching from “parts” to “seasons” because Diaspro doesn’t appear in season 4 or season 7 so that would’ve been even more confusing than changing my wording. And yeah I didn’t check that however-long-ago I started this series. ^^;

But let’s get into it!

Season 5!  We’ve only got one dub so that should simplify things.  Diaspro turns up in episode six; Sky has lost his memory and Princess Krystal of Lynphea thinks meeting his ex might bring something back.  Was Krystal being a mean girl or did she just not hear it on the royal grapevine what Diaspro got up to in season 3?  Maybe the royals of Eraklyon hushed it up.  

So she walks up and introduces Diaspro to Sky while Bloom’s right there and she was just trying to romance Sky’s memory back.  And Bloom just huffs.  Doesn’t tell Sky anything, doesn’t go fetch a teacher since a former Valtor-henchwoman is on campus.  

Diaspro is being very sweet, “I know you, we grew up together.”  Sky thinks this is great; he’s forgotten all about Eraklyon and his family and here’s someone who can fill him in!  And Diaspro isn’t her mean-girl self at all for the moment, no voice, no nasty little smirk.

The girls go off to some adventures including Bloom seeing an image of Diaspro as she faces her fears, so it isn’t until the next episode that Bloom and Sky can catch up.  Sky inda apologizes for ditching Bloom to go off with Diaspro but Bloom is understanding; Sky wants to learn about his past.  But even so, she’s sure Sky must be remembering that he cares for Diaspro.  But Sky says, ‘”I realized… she’s really boring.  The only thing she talks about is herself!”

Heh.

Then there’s more action and Sky gets his memory back and it’s ten more episodes before Diaspro is seen again.  Now she’s on Eraklyon and seems to be working as Queen Samara’s personal secretary, managing the queen’s schedule.  

Um… She drugged their son!  She worked with a major villain!  She shouldn’t be anywhere near the royal family!  How did she get this job?!

The royals are looking for Sky; they’ve gotta do Sovereign Council stuff about fighting Tritannus but Sky’s off to go on a date with bloom.  Diaspro steps forward with a diecrete cough and says she might know where he is.  And Queen Samara totally side-eyes her and says, “Still keeping tabs on Sky, are you Diaspro?” in this voice that… something.  That is a voice that knows alllllll about Diaspro’s unhealthy crush on Sky.  Erendor, never the sharpest tool in the shed, just blusters that Dias should go fetch Sky then. Diaspro reminds him that she doesn’t have the authority to order a prince to do anything.  Erendor just goes, “We’ll see about that!’ and dubs her his “special liaison, with the power to speak in my name.” and sends her off to get Sky.  Diaspro hurries away and her little smirk reappears just a bit.

Samara says, ‘I'm not sure that was such a good idea, Erendor.”  So yeah clearly Samara is the brains of the Eraklyon royal couple.  

So Bloom and Sky are taking a pleasant evening stroll and here comes a ship from Eraklyon and here’s Diaspro with her royal liaison badge.  And Sky goes with her.  He doesn’t want to, but he goes.  Diaspro really does have the power to speak in the king’s name!  And she’s happy about it.  Her little smirk is back as she says, ‘Prince Sky’s duty calls.  Too bad for you, Bloom!”

So how DID Diaspro get that job?  The show doesn’t tell us but I can imagine some scenarios.  

Does she have some kind of hold over the rulers of Eraklyon?  Blackmail? Does Disa’s princess status (whatever that exactly is) give her enough political power to get her way, or at least a second chance?

The explanation that makes the most sense but has no evidence is that she really was under a spell from Valtor, and now that the spell is broken everyone, especially dim-bulb Erendor, assumes there’s nothing to worry about.  Or if she wasn’t enchanted she was just having a mental wobble, and she could have gotten treatment and then maybe the royals decided to give her a job as a way to keep an eye on her while letting her keep her dignity.  it’d look bad for everybody if word got out that a princess of Eraklyon was so unwell she had to be in a sanitarium!

And indeed in this season Diaspro is not the criminally dangerous villain we saw last season.  She seems to honestly want to help Sky get his memories back—I’m sure she hopes for a second chance with him but she wasn’t smirking evilly.   So I can believe that Diaspro was rehabilitated and doing better until she met Sky again and remembered how much she liked him.  So when she gets some power she decides to try and win Sky back.  Which doesn’t necessarily make her evil.  She probably really believes she’ll make Sky happy better than Bloom will, and she has some reasons to think that.

So Diaspro accompanies Sky to Sovereign Council meetings and when he tries to slip away to have a moment with Bloom she interrupts them to fetch Sky back.  Then she takes the opportunity to say, “Look, Bloom, take my advice and give it up before Sky completely ditches you.”  which, a moment ago Sky was telling Bloom she’s the only girl for him, so bloom isn’t worried, she just tells Dias “It’s Princess Bloom” tells Diaspro to give it up, and delivers a dirty look that’s become a reaction image in the fandom.  So they’ve both declared romantic war!  It would’ve been smarter for Diaspro to just be nice and hide her mean-girl intentions.

So when, back in the council chamber, the alliance falls apart and Bloom begs Sky to reason with his dad, Diaspro says it’s the prince’s duty to follow his father’s wishes.  Bloom goes with, ‘Nobody asked you, Diaspro!” and Diaspro makes her evil smirk as she summons Sky away.

And Bloom nearly cries.  Despite Sky only ever being annoyed with Diaspro, Bloom is still super worried that she’ll lose her boyfriend.  Why doesn’t Bloom have any trust in him?  

When Tritannus attacks and the hall starts shaking Diaspro does get to grab onto Sky in fear and he puts his arms around her to pull her out of the way of falling masonry.

And then there’s more action and fighting and we get back to this subplot in episode 20.  The girls are discussing their love lives, with Tec and Timmy being adorbs and Musa and Riven being not-great. And Bloom hasn’t heard from Sky since the council, she says they left things at “disagreeing about politics” which, I guess kinda? In Eraklyon in his awesome princely bedroom, Sky worries Bloom is still mad but calls her anyway.  When Diaspro comes in to summon him to a strategy meeting.  And she says, “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but your father was very impressed by the stand you took against Bloom at the Sovereign Council meeting.” and when Sky says he regrets it Diaspro says he was right, and sends him off.  Then she goes to his phone and calls Bloom—as herself, not as Sky—to say that she’s handling all of Sky’s phone calls and Sky can only be reached through her.  Bloom naturally steams and calls Sky’s cel, but he’s in a meeting so he doesn’t pick up.  Bloom immediately wonders if Sky really did set it up with Diaspro.  Bloom tries again, just in time for Diaspro to say, “Is that Bloom?  I told her you were in a meeting.”

Clever and diabolical!

Later Diaspro calls guards to escort Sky back inside when he tries to leave the palace.  He has to escape to see Bloom.  Later when Sky volunteers to go fight Tritannus Diaspro objects in front of the entire council.  “But that’s crazy!  it’s too dangerous!  Why should my prince risk his life to save some polluted puddle on Earth? Send somebody else!” Sky is shocked to hear this and pulls away when Diaspro takes his arm. Erendor finally sees the light and takes Diaspro’s king’s seal away from her, calling her a disgrace.  Diaspro pouts, then growls, then yells, ‘this is your fault Bloom! You always ruin everything!” and she storms away and trips and falls into the mermaid pool in the council chamber.  She surfaces and everybody laughs at her.  And that’s the last time she’s seen in season five!  

So what happened in season 5?  Diaspro returns, apparently rehabilitated and sensible and non-villainous once again, and with a job!  But when given a chance to spend time with Sky she jumps on it.  She very obviously tries to come between him and Bloom, despite Sky showing zero romantic interest in her.  She’s acting like a misguided but real person this season, not the suddenly murdery Disa of season 3.

The questions and headcanon opportunities we’re left with are mostly about what happens around Diaspro.  Why does Bloom continue to worry that Sky really likes Diaspro when he shows no sign?  Why does Sky put up with following Diaspro’s orders?  Why doesn’t he remind his father of Diaspro’s entire history, or just say, “Dad, I’m not ok with this!”  How dim IS Erendor?  Or how little does Erendor respect his son?  When I first watched this season it drove me crazy how Sky never stood up for himself. Sky tells Bloom she’s the only one for him, but he doesn’t stand up for their relationship.  

But if Diaspro was kinda understandable this season, she re-embraces her murdery-side again in season six, which we will get to… eventually.

[drops-of-moonlights]

“Magic Winx, Mythix!”

if you’re like hella confused, fret not! This actually has an explanation. Aside from that, here are the Winx’s Mythix outfits alongside their Pleiadix forms for comparison at the bottom. Explaining below!

Mythix is the result of the Order of Mana (with the authorization of the very, very tired Black Circle members) meddling with the Legendarium Keys once Acheron was defeated. The essence of transformations (especially of those tied into objects) is a delicate thing, and too much messing around can cause very different, all dangerous, effects on people. After 4 months, they managed to extract the essence from the keys, and with a lengthy convergence involving a lot of transformation-assigned Nymphs (Daphne and Faragonda included), the magic was spread through the worlds, making it available universe-wide.

Mythix holds the title of the Folktale Transformation - for one to earn it, they need to unintentionally mimic or hold a similar role to a famous name of legend. It’s usually from stories they know already, but most of the time it will tie more strongly with their main Source. Their forms are influenced by the themes of the story while still holding the same features of their natural magic. Due to the form still being new, wings haven’t fully developed an unique style yet, hence the similarities to their Enchantix and Believix wings. Its strength lies on the folktale it’s “linked” to, essentially absorbing magic from the area most closely related to it. It has commendable speed and defences, but it’s attack prowess is average.

As for the Winx (and Roxy), they essentially earned Mythix without having to do much - they still had a lingering connection with the Pleiadix wands, and once the essence was spread, it unlocked it on its own for them. Their forms are influenced by legends they had emulated in the past, getting the form on technicalities as they did somehow fulfill the requirements. As for each girl specifically:

Bloom is representing the story of Linteria, a young girl who kept the Light of Domino (a very big magical fire that was used during harsh blizzards in ancient times when internal heating wasn’t still fully implemented) alive for 6 days on just her magic alone, who earnt her Enchantix this way. Her dress has the streaks of light that it emitted. Bloom filled a role similar to her during the saving of her kingdom, as she had to maintain an artificial sun for 24 hours straight to erase the last bits of the Endless Winter.

Flora represents the ancient Princess Floria of Primavera, who revitalized the kingdom after a very rough drought which destroyed the crops of that year. Her form is green representing the lush the kingdom would be known for in the coming centuries before its split into Lynphea and Dolona. Flora “earned” the form when revitalizing the destroyed Roccaluce Forest after Valtor’s fire left it ruined, an almost equally ardous task.

Aisha carries the essense of Dorothea, one of the most famous Nymphs of Andros known for having managed to tame the seas and the sky, stopping a hurricane dead in its tracks that would have decimated an entire region of the country. Her form is loose and airy to represent the winds she so easily controlled. Her saving of her kindom during Valtor’s attacks by holding the seas in place as the Omega Portal was being closed by Tecna earnt her the form.

Musa has a personal attachment to the legend she represents - her hometown’s hero, Sonia the Muse, who famously stopped an stampede that would have wrecked Caden by perfoming a lullaby, calming all the animals and managing to send them on their way. Her form mimics the dress Sonia’s commonly depicted in. It was a similar act done by her during her stay on Earth pacifying the giant bugs sent by Nebula with a song.

Stella holds the legends of Serena, one of the ancient Blue Moon priestesses who ended a coup singlehandedly with just her magic, harnessing the darkness of the night and the light of the moon and the stars to stop an assasination attempt on the young Prince. Her form takes on the characteristic blue of Moon magic, as well as adorning her with the same cut of the priestess’s robes, altough given a modern touch. She “obtained” Mythix while saving her kingdom from Valtor, stopping a possessed Chimera from ending her father and step-father’s lives in a desperate move.

Tecna is channeling Luccia, one of the very first artificers of Zenith and of the system overall, Who deviated an entire storm that was headed for the then-barely-standing capital via sheer force of will, earning her Valiantix. Her form is adorned with lightning shapes at the edges for this reason. Tecna’s closing of the Omega Portal was a feat even more impressive than Luccia’s, earning her the form.

Roxy, on her part, is essentially representing her own grandmother Merope, who was the one that defeated Nebula in the final fight against the White Circle when her magic was at an all-time low. Roxy did the same thing almost to the letter during the battle in Omega, and her form shares the same shape of Merope’s Energix form.

The girls don’t tend to use Mythix much, but it’s their almost default form when in their homeworlds, as that’s when they can draw into the full power of the transformation.

[emsartwork]

1. I’m not totally sure what you mean by the super trix…. I’ve redesigned the mega trix from the finale of the second season, but in the movie the trix don’t really change form?? sry I’m just confused. I think the mega trix is a side effect of the gloomix jewelry the Trix got. Gloomix kind of latched onto their core magic and when they got worn down and emotional enough the jewelry kind of merged them together almost against their will. @weirdghst 2. Yeah I totally will! I have to reformat some of them so it might be a few days before I get the designs up but thats a good idea! 3. Lmao yeah, or non branded bluetooth ear buds? @theoretical-artist 4. Thank you! I wanted to keep that element from her MW @drops-of-moonlights 5. It is kind of just my style? but also the colors in the show are sometimes just…… so pink. and like for no other reason than pink is a “girls” color???? like I don’t have anything against pink(it can be v pretty) but assigning it to lady characters just because they’re ladies is BS and not something imma perpetuate. 6. I haven’t gotten to it yet but I do want to do a role swap between the winx and trix eventually! 7. Ok so my rules for Enchantix are a little looser than in the show, you still need to preform a self sacrificial act, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be some one from your planet. It helps if the person if from your planet mostly because then the fairy’s core magic is more similar to the person and can briefly interact with it to break into Enchantix. Blooms primarily problem is that she doesn’t want to put herself in risky situations because it could jeopardize her quest for her parents and that she is intensely SEEKING Enchantix, meaning anytime she tries to save some one, she isn’t doing it out of a genuine desire to preserve human life but to further her own goal. Even from the beginning, Bloom is obsessed with Enchantix, and bears resentment towards her friends who earn it before her, feeling like she’s not a “true fairy” and therefore has lost her sense of identity(kind of how she was in the first season). She goes to Pyros(an island on Magix) to reclaim her sense of identity and self confidence. Bloom uses her intense willpower, and her dragon fire (unintentionally) as a cheat code to force herself into transforming into a Enchantix-esq form, meaning she looks the part, can blast large amounts of magic in attacks, and her wings are more stable, but she does not have working fairy dust,(miniaturizing is dumb and cancelled they just use a shrinking spell that leaves their magic level intact) and cannot withstand large amounts of foreign magic the way the rest of the winx can in Enchantix. She actually defeats Valtor through their shared dragon flame, not her fairy dust or the water stars as she literally CAN’T hold a water star with out INTENSE negative effects. She does earn her Enchatix for real in the Lost Kingdom Movie, but its actually unknown if she achieved it through saving the winx, sky, or her kingdom/family that she does it since a lot of shit happened at the same time. 8. probably heart of stone in season 4! Its the closest to my preferred type of music lol @spookaychillcakes 9. Yes!!!! omg i really hope they’re gonna give us more trix content because god knows they need it they’ve been ignored for like every single season despite being major players in most of them. @dyingfawn

[darkpoisonouslove]

Hello, how are you doing? I was wondering how do you think Griffin would've reacted to Valtor being badly injured during the Coven days? And what about after she left? I think her feeling would somehow get in the way, he was the man she loved and she simply cannot be blind to his suffering.

Hi! I'm not doing as badly as I feel I am and simultaneously everything sucks so idk how to answer that question. I'm trying not to stress (I had an anxiety attack in the middle of the sidewalk the other day so that wasn't fun) and also completely failing to catch enough shuteye in order for my brain to be able to do something (and to prevent my eyes from dying). Everything is going slow, which is frustrating, but hey, at least it's going... I guess.

Anyway, I'm going to assume that you're the same person from that other ask I got a few days before this because the text is almost word for word. I suppose you can infer from the paragraph above why I didn't get to your questions earlier. I've answered the first half of this ask before here.

As for Griffin's feelings on Valtor getting injured after she's with the Company - it's complicated. If she's the one fighting him, I can kind of see her getting vindictive and wanting to hurt him because she knows that he wants to hurt her as well (not necessarily hurt her physically, but he definitely wants to punish her for betraying him). She kind of blames him for making her want to leave him so she has no problem fighting him tooth and nail even if it means both of them getting injured. But she also knows that no matter how much they hurt each other, she could not bring herself to kill him even if she had the means to do it.

Watching the other Company members fight him is... surreal as much as it is hard. She knows that they have to use every opening they have to hit him and hit him hard because he won't hesitate to do the same. She knows she has to let them do whatever it takes to stop him, because she cannot bring herself to be as decisive. She knows it might mean standing there and watching as they kill him and she's torn. On the one hand, she's aware they will have to kill him to stop him for good but on the other hand, she's relieved every time he proves that that is a practically impossible feat. To top it all off, she has to restrain herself from blasting the other Company members when they fight him. She was watching his back for a long time and the old instincts are still there making it so confusing sometimes, making her ask herself why she's fighting on the side of the Company. Of course, he doesn't help when he's making compelling points about why she shouldn't have left him (such as her having to play nice with politicians that hate her guts when she could have just intimidated them into defeat before while she was still with Valtor).

And then there's the matter of the Ancestral Witches, of course. While I don't believe Valtor would have told her what the deal with them is, Griffin is smart enough to have figured out that he would absolutely not play second fiddle if they didn't have some kind of serious hold on him that he couldn't overcome. Given everything else she knows about them (aka that they are willing to possess their own descendants even if that ends up killing the person once they leave the body), she's reasonably concerned about what will happen to Valtor if the Company starts gaining the upper hand and if they defeat him. She knows that killing him would be a more merciful fate than ending up imprisoning him together with the Ancestral Witches but he makes killing him too hard. In a way she knows that he's sealing his fate because he'll either win the war for the Ancestral Witches and probably be disposed of after he's served his purpose or he'll lose and end up tortured by them for all of eternity when he's making his imprisonment the more easily achievable option. To say that she's worried doesn't quite cover it.

Honestly, I love the idea that Griffin proposed the imprisonment in Omega just to keep Valtor away from the Ancestral Witches. She had to convince Marion and Oritel that trapping him alongside the three witches would increase the chances of them all breaking containment so it's worth it to go out of their way and search for the means to ensure he's kept separated from the Ancestral Witches. Can you imagine his reaction if he learns that she was the architect of his imprisonment in Omega? Would he believe her reasoning and would it matter at all even if he did? Fuck, I don't have time for another idea right now!

[princess-of-the-corner]

Plans for Voltar in winx reboot?

Okay so in my reboot, Valtor got changed A LOT. The reasons for this are 1.) Because of the changes I made to the Ancestral Witches and 2.) Honestly? I think prettyboy here should be one of the charismatic manipulative bastards you don't realize is a villain at first.

So I'm gonna elaborate but some backstory on the Ancestral Witches thing:

A lot of the stuff about the Ancestral Witches and what happened to Domino was very... Confusing and contradictory in original Canon. So I adjusted things to make more sense to me.

Instead of a trio of ancient Witches, Ancestral is a more modern terrorist organization. It was a large group of all kinds of people. Witch, Faerie, and non-Magixae. Though the leader was a Witch named Blizzeta.

They attacked less than 20 years prior to Season 1. Most of the group and the people of Domino died.

There were a handful of survivors though. People who were away from home or managed to flee in the attack.

Now for Valtor!

Valtor was a noble on Domino, and a member of Ancestral. Giving thw group inside information.

However, he was never outed as a member. Instead, he plays the role of the tragic survivor, and has been in charge of what's left of Domino's people since.

Valtor is continuing Ancestral's plan of searching for the Dragon Flame. Getting sympathy from other realms by saying the search is so that one day his people's homeworld can be fixed and they could go back and rebuild.

He is a great actor. Charming. Manipulative. Good at talking people into getting what he wants. And though unsuccessful, he has gotten support from many Realms.

Of course by the end of Season 1 news about Domino's lost princess begins to spread. He will be mentioned during Season 2, as he's trying to contact Bloom under what seems to be fairly innocent "hey you're our princess" reasons. But Bloom is a bit preoccupied with the Season 2 plot to really talk to him.

Season 3 though....

Bloom's main plot in Season 3 will be about her trying to connect to the remaining people of Domino. And as Valtor is their default leader, she talks to him a lot.

Valtor has kept up with what's gone down in the previous two years. And he knows that either taking the Dragon Flame from Bloom by force, or using Magic to brainwash her into doing what he wants, will likely end badly.

So instead, he does what he does best. Manipulate, mansplain, manwhore.

Valtor pretends to be offering Bloom advice on how to run things. After all, he's been in charge of what remains of their people for the past 20 years.

But he's also preying on her insecurites. She might be Domino's princess, but she knows nothing of Domino. It's people, its culture, it all means nothing to her. She also has no idea how to lead people, as she was never trained for it. Growing up as a normal girl on Earth.

He also does his best to cause a rift between her and her friends. Some of it is by bringing up that Sky, Stella, and Aisha are all royals of other Kingdoms. Wouldn't those friendships comprimise any political atmosphere happening? Best to keep them at a distance!

He also uses other characters pasts against them. Darcy has since reformed and is a friend, but she was part of Ancestral's Revival. Is she really reformed? And Riven... Well. He says he doesn't know anything about his coincidental ties to Ancestral, but is he telling the truth?

Valtor also uses Icy. Telling her that he'll share his success with her if she helps him. So she'll stage scenarios for Valtor to look even more like he's a much more competent leader than Bloom could ever be.

The long term plan is for Bloom to give power to Valtor. Though he has many possibilities for /how/. She could transfer the Dragon Flame to him, officially giving up the throne to him. She could make a deal to listen to what he thinks is best for the Kingdom, basically being his puppet ruler. Another option would be similar to the last, but give him more direct power through a marriage.

Yeah that's a yikes. But the whole isolating her and making her feel worthless and such could work.

Thankfully it doesn't! By the end of Season 3 all this is revealed and the gang kicks his ass. But still. It fucks with her a bit.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Do you think valtor and griffin are cuddlers?

Because I think that Valtors body temperature is higher than usually because of the dragon flame, which could make it difficult in the summer. But I kinda like the idea because it could been cute but also needs some time till they come to that point in their relationship because for both of them it's hard to show their feelings.

I think that it could happened the first time after a training with the ancestral witches or Griffin was punish for making a mistake on a mission and an attack from Belladonna hit her harder than she wanted to admit, but Valtor saw through it and noticed that she was freezing since they left the ancestral witches. So he just laid his arms around her to warm her up. She was first confused because they never did that before but she quickly relaxed and liked it so after that they did it regularly and it becomes nnaturallythat she fall asleep in his arms.

On the one hand, gold. But on the other hand, painful, agonizing failure:

But seriously. On the one hand, you could pry the idea of Griffin and Valtor sleeping together and/or cuddling from my cold, dead hands. But on the other hand, the effort to keep them in character has already shot me dead and pried that idea from my cold, dead hands.

Lemme preface all of this with a quick explanation of my headcanon about the Ancestral Witches because your potential scenario includes them. In my version the Ancestral Witches weren't corporeal before the final battle on Domino. They were pretty much disembodied entities because if they had the power to destroy the entire planet of Domino, why not do it instantly instead of having this "war" with the Company of Light? The show said that they didn't know where to look for the Dragon Fire but that seems unlikely considering how quickly the Trix found it. So there had to be some other reason for them to not attack and decimate Domino. Ergo, disembodied entities who use Valtor as a proxy over whom they have direct control and who they use to exercise control over the rest of the Coven. Now I headcanon that they can possess people like they did with the people trapped in Obsidian in SotLK and the Trix in Magical Adventure and that's how they get shit done when they need to act directly. However, that weakens them a lot because their full power can't be harnessed in an ordinary mortal body.

I'm saying all of this because in a scenario in which Belladonna would directly hurt Griffin, it wouldn't be quite so bad because she's operating on about 5% of her full power. So I think that Griffin would try to put up a brave face about it and claim that it's nothing because she's Griffin and because she doesn't want Valtor to think that she's "whining" about it when it's not really such a big deal. I can see Valtor pretending not to be bothered by it while they're still surrounded by others but the second they're alone, he's instantly using his powers to warm her up and make sure there isn't some invisible damage the attack caused. He knows Griffin and knows that she'd have to be pretty close to dying to admit that something's wrong so he doesn't wait for her to do it. He just takes the reins. How that would look would depend entirely on the logistics of the affected area of Griffin's body. If it's small, I think he'd rather just place his palm over it until he's sure everything's fine. But if the frost/ice attack affected a bigger part of her body, he might just cuddle her. And if he doesn't pull away later, it's because he's being "thorough" wink wink.

I don't know about them doing it on the regular or straight-up intending to cuddle. I can see it more as Valtor playing it off as being possessive. Or rather not really playing it off because I think that's just how he'll see it. If he has his arms around Griffin and doesn't let her leave his side, that's because she's his. Not because he's starved for affection or anything. What are you talking about? I can see him being slightly... let's say startled when Griffin mirrors the gesture because she's making a claim on him, too, but I don't think he'd mind. It's not like that's going against his plans. He'll just enjoy it... As long as his higher bodily temperature doesn't spoil it because it's too hot anyway and with him being hot like an oven, they'll both fry. I myself think that would be a problem that they'd face. Though, I also think that if Valtor is feeling "possessive", that won't stop him.

[darkpoisonouslove]

“Show the World (Inside of You)”

Summary: Griffin never wanted to be a model but in the name of her dreams she's willing to deal not only with fashion but also with the person who understands it. However, Valtor also seems to understand her, as impossible as that seemed at first, and she has to ask herself if he's still simply the designer of her nightmare or he could help her create the fairytale she'd always dreamed of for herself. Contains mildly nsfw elements.

This was not supposed to happen, then it was supposed to be short, and then I just gave up on confining it in any way since the idea ran away from me and I decided to catch up with it and run with it instead of trying to stop it. I really loved it so I had to write it all out. I hope you'll like it too. :)

She never wanted this.

She never tried to starve herself so that she could be thin enough to be a model. She simply forgot to eat most of the time driven by her passion to explore that rarely let her sit still and always had her mind occupied with a question getting the answer to which would prove to be a challenge. She was running on excitement which was why that job was proving to be a bitch.

She never tried to grow her hair long to impress anyone. She just loved the feel of the purple tresses between her fingers and how her hair looked in the voluptuous braid her mother would arrange it in, especially when she’d add flowers from their own garden to adorn it. The tons of hair products they kept dumping on her before every fashion show left her itching to scrub her scalp off long before the show was over and spending hours in the shower after she was finally done, relief only flooding once every last touch of cosmetics had flown down the drain.

She never tried to make her posture elegant or graceful or demanding respect. She only refused to bend before the obstacles in her way and held her head high every time something tried to pull her off the path she’d chosen for herself. But no one decided her fate for her so she only had herself to blame for her current situation. Herself and her passion for the night sky. And Faragonda. Definitely Faragonda.

Her friend had convinced her of the impossible by making her agree to work as a model but she was only doing it for her dreams. She had the qualities to make it in the fashion world and also had the intelligence to see that if she went through that hell, she could get enough funds to conduct her own independent research in the field of astronomy. And she had a friend who had the connections to get her an interview for a position that would pay enough to make it worth all that she had to go through. Namely, her new boss.

“How about dinner? Tonight?” Valtor's smugness stuck to her like his dress on her figure after he’d interrogated her thoroughly about her reasons to work for him as a model and she’d told him the truth. She didn’t want him thinking she enjoyed being there or had any interest into doing anything other than the basics her job required of her. He held her and her dreams in the palm of his hand and he fed off the certainty she’d have no choice but to accept. He hadn’t had the chance to learn the most basic thing about her yet even if it had been a few months since the job interview. But she’d teach him the hard way if he was so adamant to get burned.

“No,” Griffin caught his eyes in the mirror to send him to hell. She wouldn’t debase herself and sleep with him just because she needed the money. She had a dream, yes, but she also had self-respect she wouldn’t trade that just to keep a job she hadn’t even wanted in the first place.

Valtor laughed, making her turn to him to have a better angle for her glare. “To celebrate the success of the fashion show, Griffin,” he softly answered the accusation she’d thrown his way. Yet, the fact that he didn’t seem offended was a clear sign that his intentions hadn’t been quite as innocent as he was trying to make them out to be. “Some of the other girls are coming,” he only pulled a scoff from her with his inability to keep up if he thought that would compel her to go. “I always treat my models to a dinner after a job well done. Those that want to come, of course,” he explained, still not affected by her skepticism or her judgment and the gesture did sound genuine, and her arms were dropping at her sides now that she didn’t need the barrier between them.

“The critiques still haven’t come in,” Griffin teased.

It was the truth. The models hadn’t even gone out on the catwalk yet and she could still see the smirk taking over his lips when she hadn’t been blinded by a flashlight sealing her frame in a photograph to have it all over the media. It made her grateful she was all wrapped in his creations as they were the reason why people would look at her in the first place and mostly kept the focus off of her face.

“I don’t need people to announce my worth at me,” Valtor locked eyes with her for her to see the mirror was not the only thing in the room that she could see herself in. “You look beautiful and no one can deny that, Griffin,” the heat of his words was inside her, spreading towards her treacherous skin that was too white and would immediately give her away if she wasn’t covered in more makeup than she’d worn during the entirety of her life outside of work. And for once having her face painted like a canvas was an advantage that hid what lay underneath. She didn’t need him getting the wrong idea.

“Are you complimenting yourself or trying to get me into bed?” was what made its way through her blood red lips instead of the confession that he made the knot in her stomach loosen and the memories of getting bullied in school for how tall she was retreat far beneath the podium she strutted on with the heels he’d selected for her as if to help her up to his mindset of celebrating her height. She didn’t need to tell him because he knew. His eyes could be a mirror but hers were a window, letting all the light from inside spill out if you knew how to make them open up, and he'd found all her secret buttons even though she’d never told him. So perhaps he saw himself in her, too, in some way. “I still can’t make it to dinner,” she said before he’d had the chance to break through the glass and set off the alarm in her heart. She wasn’t sure she’d have anything to put out the fire with. “I have plans with a friend.” Yes, plans. She needed a plan for how to get away with killing Faragonda for getting the idea of working as a model into her head.

This wasn’t the place for her. It was too real and too fake at the same time and the confusion it wrapped her into managed to make her doubt her how well her brain was working and that she definitely didn’t appreciate. She didn’t know what to do, and she already had enough of being pulled on strings as they spun her around as they pleased while preparing her for yet another fashion show.

“Maybe some other time then,” Valtor let her free and she could thank him, but she couldn’t admit there was a problem. “It’s show time,” he slipped back on the mask she hated to help her relax with how easily the feeling came. She wasn’t getting dragged into something she couldn’t handle. She was getting dragged into something she hated but she’d come out of it with all of her strength at her disposal.

It was the thought that carrier her out onto the podium and it was the same thought that saw her walking into Valtor’s office some weeks later, all calm when he’d asked to talk to her.

She was more than ready for a fight if that was what he wanted. She wasn’t going to apologize for the scandal she’d made. They had no right to stalk her with cameras when she wasn’t at work and she’d let everyone who hadn’t gotten the memo know they’d have to respect her personal space.

“I need your opinion, Griffin,” Valtor only glanced at her, taking just enough time to acknowledge her before his focus returned on the sheet in front of him. The calm of his tone left her all puzzled amidst her expectation of a storm. It did leave one in her head and she had to hate him just for that.

“This isn’t about the paparazzi problem?” the corners of her mouth dropped after the question made it out as if to join her plummeting expectations that had been let down. She couldn’t understand the game he was playing. It had to be a game. He had to have an ulterior motive not to be angry at her after the stain on his company’s image she’d left. She doubted even the dog paintings on all the walls that he’d made himself as he’d told her were enough to calm him when he was raging no matter how much he claimed to love the animals. She’d seen him angry one time when he’d destroyed a person on the phone. She’d been sure there’d been just a heap of ash left on the other end of the line. There had to be something else behind his good will.

“Is there a problem there?” Valtor looked at her, still so relaxed that he had to be mocking her. “You had an opinion and you voiced it. You were rather polite about it, too, considering the situation.” He smiled at her, and everything was upside down. The floor was probably no longer under her feet but she didn’t dare look. She could fall. And he could catch her. She couldn’t be just another poor soul caught in his net. Not that she’d meant to have any knowledge on him as an individual but it was hard to miss his personal life when it was practically everywhere. It was beyond her how people didn’t tire of it, especially considering how wild it seemed. And it was beyond her how he didn’t tire of the constant invasion of his privacy.

“You’re not angry?” she probed carefully when she knew better than that. He could still bite her head off no matter how cautious she was. But she had to make things right, had to bring the ground back under her and not in the place of the sky. It would get in the way of her plans to observe it in the night. “About the damage to your company?” she clarified after the expectant look he gave her as if he didn't know damn well what she meant, as if he hadn't read it like the silence between them was a private language. He was just playing her to hear her admit her own guilt.

“Griffin, you clearly don’t read tabloids.” He had her there, just like she’d known he would. He was dangerous. “My company doesn’t get off the front pages. Saves a lot of money from advertising,” he joked before flashing her that pearly smile, the one that was like poison and had her heart beating frantically to get it out of her system but, instead, it only spread further in her veins. “I do love a woman with opinions,” he said as he got up from his chair, a predator ready to pounce. “It’s a thing that inspires and something I pick my models for.”

That she wouldn’t know. She hadn’t bothered to spend time with them, though maybe she should. If she could take his word for it and, despite how much she hated to admit it, so far he hadn’t given her a reason not to.

“Men usually only like their women strong-willed when they agree with them,” Griffin tilted her head, the interest in his reply not at all faked as he kept surprising her every time he opened his mouth in private. It was the pretense that fell over him like a cage for his free spirit that pushed her away but what did she know about the fight he had to lead? Perhaps it wasn’t a cage but a shield. A shield he laid down when she was around.

“I’m not like other men,” Valtor's gaze bore into hers for a moment as if that was enough to lay his touch on her inside. “I called you to have you look at this,” he picked up a sketch from his desk and strode over to her, his steps confident to match the belief she hadn't withheld from him.

“That’s to be determined,” Griffin muttered to tame his smugness to a bearable level as she took the sketch from him, her breath stopping as her eyes landed on it.

The dress looked stunning, the light blue–the shade of his eyes–starting at the hem slowly turning orange–golden–before it went into gentle pink, red, purple and finally black. All the colors of the sky before, during and after a sunset gathered in the skirt that was separated from the bodice with a purple ribbon in a very familiar shade. Right above started little gemstones arranged to make constellations. She could clearly spot Leo and Virgo since he’d taken the time to detail them precisely. And the sleeves were black veils, held to the wrists by two bangle bracelets – silver and gold. He’d captured the sky through himself and her and it looked... perfect.

“Do you like it?” Valtor had her head snapping up–and perhaps there was a protest stinging her heart that he’d made her tear her eyes off that masterpiece–her mouth already opening to let a sharp agreement come out in retribution for even wasting her energy on voicing something so obvious in her body language–her entire being had succumbed to the awe the sketch had gripped her with as she held it with almost trembling hands–but the look in his blue eyes suspended her in their ice, in its soft plea not to break it and his heart.

She closed her mouth, her lips pressing together as firmly as possible not to let out a sound the wave of which would shatter him but also subtly enough to conceal her battling the impulse to mock his request for her validation. Even if she’d acted without thinking. He’d asked for her opinion, had put himself on display in front of her like she was doing in front of the world to show off his models. He'd touched the stiffness clinging to her at those moments and he’d trusted her not to affect him with it now. She couldn’t tear that apart no matter the effort it would cost her.

“The tenth anniversary from the foundation of my company is coming up,” Valtor spoke again in her lack of reaction, his eyes going over the sketch as if to look it over one more time while she was stuck on the words coming out of his mouth.

She hadn’t known how old his fashion house was. She never would have assumed... even when she’d been convinced he was a professional. Somehow fashion wasn’t something lasting in her mind, wasn’t something important. Until she’d seen the trepidation he’d waited for her approval with. It seemed important now. It seemed like the most important thing to encourage him when she saw her reflection in his eyes once more, waiting for praise and support for her work that she’d never gotten. But she could at least give it to him.

“I’d like you to wear that dress at the celebratory fashion show I’m planning,” Valtor looked back at her and now it was hope that was in his eyes and they were the windows this time as he was letting her peek right into his soul.

Her mouth was falling open so she took the opportunity to force out the words to keep them both from exploding. “I will,” she was quick to reach and catch Valtor’s hand and the heat of his skin spread through every part of her being melting every last lump of ice people’s dismissal or animosity had hardened into on her muscles and nerves.

“Thank you,” Valtor squeezed her hand and she returned the gesture, completely consciously to give her understanding she didn't want to voice to hear it echo in the comfortably quiet room. “This is a very important occasion for me and so is the model,” he looked back to the sketch and compelled her to do the same and revel in the beauty he’d created again. “I’ve forgotten what it feels like...” he trailed off and Griffin let him find his words on his own, keeping still and doing her best to remain present and not get carried away in the depths of the dress he’d bring to life for her to wear, “to draw with passion, pure and unadulterated,” the words were quiet as if he didn’t want to boast with them and mess up the genuineness they were made of.

“What inspired you?” Griffin asked even though she knew the answer, even though she could throw a playful question about the new muse he’d found that he would normally leap at. But there was nothing normal in him at the moment, or at least it wasn’t the normal she was used to, though she’d love to change that.

“Looking at the world,” Valtor said and she could feel his gaze on her tugging at her heartstrings just like the smile was pulling at her lips and she wasn’t quick to pull her hand out of his.

Which was not to say that she was all that comfortable with his hands all over her a few weeks from then as he was fixing a dress that had never been meant for her to fit like it’d been tailored to her body. He’d kept running things by her, asking for her approval on fabrics and shades, and gems, and everything else – things she couldn’t even help him with since they were far from her area of expertise. And she did her best to fuel his enthusiasm instead of extinguish it with her lack of interest in his profession. She even found herself fascinated by some new things she learned now that she was at least intrigued by his work. But that urgent call for her to come to work had been a bit of a deal-breaker when she knew he knew she needed time to prepare herself mentally before she could go out there and pose like the flashlights and prying eyes didn't leave her fearing every next step amidst the earthquake shaking her inner world.

He’d attempted an apology but it hadn’t worked when it had been more of an explanation and he’d snapped at her to stay still while he was trying to make her presentable and wasn’t paying much attention to her emotional state that could have been better if he’d actually taken the time to do more than just throw the words in her face. But of course the fact that they stuck to her spine and kept her from moving was working in his favor so he had no reason to complain.

She’d been the one with the most similar body type to the model that had called in sick in the last possible moment–perhaps even later than that if Valtor’s hastiness both when he’d called her to demand her presence and as he was getting her prepared was reaching unprecedented levels–and just the thought they’d looked at her body’s proportions in detail made bile burn her throat like she'd swallowed a volcano waiting to errupt. Valtor’s hands running up and down her frame definitely weren’t helping. Especially with his agitation rubbing off on her instead of his usual understanding towards his employees.

“Are you done groping every part of me?” Griffin huffed once his hands left her only to be back in a few seconds like had a dozen times before leave him no closer to satisfaction with the result. She would've thought by now he’d have had his ploy fulfilled as he’d touched every part of her, pulling and tugging at the dress to smooth out creases she couldn’t see.

“You think I’m having fun with this, Griffin?” he asked, more offended than she'd ever heard him to sent her heart tearing itself in halves over jumping and sinking in her chest. “That I’m doing this because I want to?” he moved in front of her and the storm in his eyes made her bite her tongue to sever the scathing remark she had coming up right then and there. “I would’ve much preferred it if you weren’t here,” his words prickled all over her skin like sewing pins he'd forgotten in the dress, “that the dress was on the woman who was supposed to wear it and that this fashion show would go well,” he huffed, the exhaustion in the sound hitting her like a train off the rails when she could do nothing to help. The world he lived in was a mystery she couldn't solve but the fear that had taken over him was cutting her open along with her own to spill her blood over the fabric and ruin it for good.

“It will be fine,” Griffin threw her energy into the words instead of the hug she itched to give herself to protect herself from the negativity he was radiating. It would throw him into a nervous fit if she moved the dress even a hair outside of how he’d arranged it on her body to leave her more paralyzed than ever before. She'd had to perform magic to walk out of the dressing room. She couldn’t go out there thinking it would all fail. She hated it all when it was a success and finding out how much worse a failure would kick her in the ribs and push out all of her air was on her list of things to avoid at all costs.

“No, Griffin, it won’t be,” Valtor pronounced the words slowly as if that was the only way for her to understand them. But even that didn’t help when she couldn’t fathom what she was seeing. He wasn’t the man she knew with his fear of judgment. “The moment you go out there will be a disaster.” And that one was just painful. It gripped her throat to suffocate all cries without distinguishing whether they were for her or for him. It hurt to see him as this ball of nerves instead of the collected and arrogant fashion designer she knew. Especially when she was about to put herself out there and get judged along with his work. She needed his confidence but it was nowhere to be found to leave her muscles fighting the crippling terror in her instinct to run out of there with the dress and never return. His unwavering faith in the companionship of his talent and her determined pursuit of her dream was the only constant besides the nausea filling her stomach with heavy lead like it was a gun ready for firing before a show and she couldn’t lose that. She couldn’t lose his reassurance that she looked like a goddess as she wore his work because it was the only thing helping her face her personal nightmare that lay out there.

“Valtor...” She didn’t know what to say, how to ask him for... for whatever it was she couldn’t find in herself but had to. She couldn’t take from him when he had nothing to give but exasperation and doubts. And he was giving her plenty of that even if she didn’t want it. She could feel the insecurities in her mind gathering behind her eyes and pushing to break them apart and spill to the world all of her secrets, all of her ugliness and the parts that had to stay buried but wouldn’t when Valtor had just buried his confidence in both of them and she had trouble facing him, not to mention the world. She couldn’t go out like that. She’d break down.

“No, Griffin, you don’t get to cry,” Valtor's words weren’t harsh only to slap her that much harder. He wasn’t trying to be cruel to her, just to prepare her for what was to come. “You can never cry in this world,” he whispered as he cupped her cheek and she had to do her damnedest not to lean into the touch because it would be impossible to pull herself out of the warmth of it but she still had to go out on the catwalk without him to keep her heart at ease with the beauty his eyes reflected back at her. “Tears are never fashionable and they don’t go with makeup,” his thumb pressed into her cheek to remind her muscles smiles were a real thing that was expected of her before he let go, her skin so cold without his hand on it to protect her from the ice of the world. “Show time,” Valtor said and she nodded.

She pulled away from him and reached deep inside her to pull out her pride to wear along with his creation as she strengthened her back and squared her shoulders. She never bowed before a challenge and she wouldn’t start now that he’d spent so much time arranging the dress to fit just so to her frame that any movement that wasn’t accounted for would send it all to hell. And she held her head high even as the sound of her heels penetrated into her brain like the ticking of a countdown to an explosion.

There was one, flashes blinding her and fashion magazines and blogs filling with shots of every place where the dress didn’t sit right on her, critique snowing them under for the smallest of issues and not the overall composition. The other models that had all been successful were overshadowed by the failure of that one dress and her face was insignificant in the picture but she couldn’t help but feel like she’d played a part in that disaster with how stiff and rigid her posture had been as everything inside her had protested. She couldn’t hope that all of that had stayed unnoticed when every other part of him and her that had been put on display had been dissected closely. The devil did seem to be in the details.

That was where he’d buried himself ever since then, working without taking a break and for the first time it dawned on her that fashion and science weren’t that different as endless hours went into both of them, the people interested in them perfecting every aspect of their project until they were sick with exhaustion. He deserved to an award simply for making her find the similarity as it wasn’t easy to spot. At least it hadn’t been for her but now that she’d seen it, she couldn’t look past it.

She found him in his office as expected, hunched over one of the models for the anniversary show. At least no interest in that had been lost after the media-created fiasco from the last fashion show. Or at least so she’d been assured by the other girls who all turned out to be very friendly once she'd decided to come out of her intimidating bubble and join the conversation. She’d even found herself staying after she was done with work to interact with them and it had been a most pleasant surprise. The last thing she’d expected to find in the other models had been friendship but now that she'd looked closer, they did seem like a big family with the tips they gave each other and the small gestures of support she hadn’t noticed with her nose buried in her self-imposed superiority. Details indeed.

“Need some coffee?” Griffin asked to announce her presence he hadn't noticed even with her heels clicking through his office to take her to his desk. He’d really plunged himself into his work and she wouldn’t mind if she didn’t worry that he wasn’t doing it for himself, that he was trying to cater to those who’d been quick to shame him instantly, forgetting his accomplishments – and she had to wonder if perhaps that didn’t include his parents, too, who, after some digging, she’d learned had been less than supportive about his business and were still hoping he’d go back to the family company that was far more practical. In which case she’d have to remind him of all the success he’d had. With her at least. She was there for him as a friend when she’d been unable to stand him in the beginning. And she wasn’t easily swayed as he’d learned, too.

Valtor only glanced at her for a moment but it gave her enough time to see the gratitude in his eyes. “You’re saving my life,” he said once they were back on his work but there was no doubt hanging around her neck like a noose that the words were genuine. Which was what had her rage boiling over and spilling out of her heart where it had been simmering ever since that night he’d failed to comfort her when he’d had no comfort himself.

“What, no secretary?” Griffin raised a brow at him even though he wasn’t looking. He would be in a moment, once her words reached through to him. She wasn’t being fair to him and she knew it. Just because he was overworking himself didn’t mean he’d force his employees to do the same. He respected them for some inexplicable reason considering how big of an asshole he could be and she respected him for that. Which was why it was so frustrating to see him crouching over his desk and going over things that were perfect again and again to the only possible outcome of destroying them. All because everyone refused to show him mercy, including his own parents.

“You seem willing enough to fill her role,” Valtor quipped right back at her before freezing for a moment. His eyes left the paper in front of him to find her and that in itself was enough to touch her as he’d finally broken out of his mind prison. “I”m sorry,” Valtor said as he held her gaze this time. And it seemed to be important to him that she believed him.

She did. She’d seen enough of him now not to need convincing. “I’m sorry, too,” she said, using the opportunity that he was still looking at her to tell him what she wouldn’t. She couldn’t make herself put in words the dread that had filled her while everyone had picked at the dress that she’d worn instead of at her. The world had always been against her and for once it had turned in the other direction and it had been in order to hurt him when the dress simply hadn’t been meant for her body. And that wasn’t her fault; it was the industry that was flawed but... she didn’t have the same passion for his work that he did and it made her feel unworthy of wearing it. It made her feel like she’d let him down when she’d been looking for a way to escape while he’d been looking for a way to keep himself whole after the blow not only on his ego, but on his heart, too. He wouldn’t be hurting himself now with unhealthy amounts of work if he weren’t trying to avoid something worse.

“Don’t cross me out just yet, Griffin.” There was a bit of a rumble in his voice to let through the anger but behind that there was more. It sounded like a plea, like a sky that wanted worship even if all it could give was lightning and thunder, and not a drop of rain to keep the ground wet and fertile. It sounded like he was giving up on himself and he needed her to lift his spirits. But she’d never known how to do that. For anyone. The only one who’d stayed with her was Faragonda who managed to pick herself up even without her help and she couldn’t tell why she was still there with her when she knew how useless of a friend she was.

“I won’t if you promise not to drown your self-pity in coffee,” she went for a bargain. It was harsh of her but it was honest and that was all she could offer. She wasn’t good at comfort with her hands always so cold she couldn't stand to touch even herself but she sure as hell knew how to be blunt and Valtor had appreciated that in previous interactions to allowed their relationship to develop past disdain.

He chuckled, the sound running through her like a vibration she wasn’t afraid would shatter her as it was real and full of mirth that hadn’t been there before. “You think I can lose it even more if I go overboard with the coffee?” he reached to take the cup staring at it as if it was a secret serum to unlocking magical powers.

“I’m pretty convinced that’s not possible but let’s not find out,” Griffin crossed her arms but still gave an amused smile when he looked at her like he was considering his options. It made her roll her eyes but it was still good to see him get out of his head for a bit. And it was even better when she knew she was the reason why he’d managed. Maybe she wasn’t that bad at comforting him and that information was oddly warming, especially in contrast with the chill that still ran through her every time the last fashion show flashed in her mind but for the first time it didn’t show up. So maybe he wasn’t that bad at comforting her either when he wasn’t troubled by what the outside world would think about his inner experiences that he was so brave to put out there on display in his work.

“Fair enough,” Valtor shrugged, unbothered by her words that he correctly read as part of their game, the thought sending all her cogs to a screeching halt. Since when did she allow herself to play in it? “I have something else to keep me going now,” he said, his eyes on her again like he could see into her soul.

“What might that be?” Griffin held his gaze without anything to send her heart pounding in her ears even if that was true. He wasn’t there to attack her. If anything, he needed support now, not another battle after the hell he’d been through and the torture he forced on himself. Though, to be fair, the impulse to blame yourself when you seemed to be the odd one out was understandable if not even familiar. But he wasn’t alone now. They were together in that. He’d asked her to wear the dress and she would do it even if her mind was leaning towards flight as the blue of his eyes was filling her lungs. He’d seen something in her that had made him trust her with presenting his work to the world and she wanted to know what that was. She wanted to find the same magic in herself that he’d seen.

Valtor didn’t answer but turned around instead, knowing that she’d follow his lead now that she trusted him and would see what he was pointing her to.

Behind him–or rather in front of now–the city was alive with lights that shined in the darkness like the stars adorning the night sky. And it was even closer. It looked like something you could touch and could easily hold into your heart. It did look like something that could inspire you and keep you not only awake, but also alive. It certainly seemed magical to know there were so many other people out there, living like you were, with their problems and their drama, and their perseverance. Because the lights kept coming to life every night when dark threatened to put a stop to all of that. And they seemed to band together to disperse the darkness of the night and not to add more of it. It was a breathtaking sight.

As was the dress that was much more captivating in reality than it was on a sheet of paper. It was so soft to the touch even if the diamonds on the bodice threatened to cut you with the sharp light they were reflecting and it hugged her curves perfectly. It made her never want to take it off, feeling like an outfit she could live in. It wasn’t suffocating or annoying in any way and it was showing off the most beautiful colors right there on her frame. She felt like a painting – vibrant with energy and untouchable with its value, the only thing you could do with it was admire it. Admire her. In the dress he’d made specifically to celebrate his career in fashion and also unknowingly–though, his gaze on her made her doubt there was a thought in her mind right now that he hadn’t heard–to allow her to model without the dread in the pit of her stomach. She was ready to face the world wrapped in his work.

“Well?” she asked to see if he was ready for the same. “Anything off that needs fixing?” Her heart protested against the question and she could agree with that. She didn’t want to jump out of her skin at the thought of everyone looking at her in that dress and everything was right. To her at least.

“We need to figure out your hair,” Valtor looked her over, sending the first pang of nervousness shooting through her like a charge of electricity that could fray the delicate beauty of the fabric or her mental state.

“Braid? Please?” Griffin hated how small her voice sounded but it was exactly why she couldn’t have her anxiousness spilling out of her and over the dress. She’d done that to all of his other models that she’d worn but this one was special with how it made her feel and she wanted to keep it that way. She wanted to hold on to that feeling of boldness and the desire to walk out in front of all the people that would be there to judge them and show the the beauty he’d made. He’d trusted her with that and she didn’t want to let him down. And she didn’t want to let herself down either. It was the first time she a spark of enthusiasm about her job lit up inside her and she didn’t want to let that go, smothered by the lack of air in her lungs.

Valtor considered it for a moment before an idea visibly struck as he filled with energy that had her more curious rather than needing to hold on to something. Even when he made his way behind her and reached for her.

“May I?” Valtor asked, his hands only burying in her hair when she gave her agreement and she was burning to thank him profoundly but she had to stay focused on keeping her mouth shut while his fingers ran through her hair tugging on her vocal cords every time he tugged on the purple strands on accident.

It was why she hated having her hair done. There was so much tugging and pulling on it and it made it hard to contain her sensitivity to that kind of touch but she had to. She would be mortified if anything slipped past her lips and gave them a glimpse of what was going on inside her. But that didn’t hold true with Valtor as he worked, weaving her hair in a braid without weaving any panic inside her. Only gratitude, instead, for the gentleness of his hands and of his gaze as he was looking at her very closely and he still found her perfect. Even after working with her and seeing her bitterness at the world. Or maybe because of that.

A gasp fell from her lips at the realization prickling her.

“Did I hurt you?” Valtor asked, unsurprisingly having paid attention to that. His hand was on her shoulder as if to steady her and make sure she was ready for him to continue before he did so.

“No, I’m fine,” Griffin had to remind herself that she couldn’t shake her head right now no matter how much she wanted to support her words with body language, too, to convince him it was the truth. “It’s just... I have a sensitive scalp,” she said because that was true, too, even if it wasn’t what had caused her reaction this time. Not directly at least. But she couldn’t let him know that. Though, maybe it was the knowledge that she could that had her heart leaping in her throat to barricade the words inside.

Valtor hummed and she could feel his mind spiraling down to the gutter but hers followed suit and she had to pull herself out before she could fall in too deep. “I will be careful not to hurt you then,” he said, sincere to the point of inconvenience at the present moment. And his hand returning back into her hair tugged out the relief every part of her was soaking in to the point where she was drowning in it and wouldn’t even regret a last breath sucked in through the waves. It was the safest she’d felt in the hands of someone who wasn’t family.

He was soon done, his fingers holding the end of her braid to keep it from unraveling and she could feel him looking at it, the cogs in his head turning so loudly that she couldn’t hear any insecurities that came crashing down inside her mind while she waited for his assessment.

“Do you know where the braid ends?” Valtor startled her for a moment before she was prompted to join him in thought.

“Let me guess,” Griffin's lips got pulled into a smile, “where the purple starts turning into black.” It wasn’t even a question. She was aware of how long her hair was when braided and she’d memorized how the dress looked on her. It was a sight that she wished to keep in her mind until the end of time to remind her that she herself was breathtaking as became evident in the dress, in the way the colors overflowed into each other the way only nature could make them, existing together in a perfect harmony when it seemed illogical, even impossible.

“Precisely,” Valtor confirmed, slightly amused by it. Whether because he was taking it for a coincidence or because–like her–he was aware it wasn’t, she wasn’t really sure, but she was willing to bet on the latter. He was more in tune with his soul than she’d initially given him credit for so he probably recognized his own subconscious work now that he had it laid out in front of him. And she wasn't fidgeting with the thought that he’d noticed just how long her hair was and his mind had done the rest of the math threading itself between her fingers to accessorize the dress. “It just needs one last detail,” the smugness in Valtor's voice had her intrigued this time with his pride most certainly not being misplaced.

“And what is that?” she asked, hoping he wouldn’t decide to be dramatic right now and keep her in suspense.

Her impatience seemed to come through despite her stillness–or perhaps because of it now that they could be real with each other and they allowed it, leaving no place for fakeness–or he was simply excited himself to share–either of which sounded good to her–since he was quick to respond. “Sparks.”

“Sparks?” Griffin echoed, though, if she was being perfectly honest, she allowed herself to taste the word and savor it even if she wasn’t quite certain what he meant with it. It certainly sounded enchanting.

“We have sun and moon, and stars,” Valtor said, making the pieces click to leave her with an alluring image of his genius, “so we only need sparks.”

“That would be beautiful,” Griffin admitted as she gave her all to control her breathlessness just as she was doing with her hands that were itching run over the gems on the bodice to get a feel of the idea of more gems tangled in her hair. She could see it in her mind's eye but she had trouble grounding the image in reality when it looked like it had come out of a fairytale. And she really needed it to come true to finally have something truly magical in her life.

“You will be beautiful, Griffin,” Valtor let go of her hair to look her in the eyes as he offered the compliment and she unraveled like her braid did when he wasn’t holding it together under his insistent gaze as he was trying to put the words in her heart and she’d let him if she could just find the certainty they would be safe there. “You always are,” he said and she found herself smiling at him when he helped her find what she’d been looking for. She didn’t even need him to touch her to believe it, the admiration in his eyes so tangible, enclosed in their ice as if to be preserved there for the ages.

And she was smiling again when she heard his voice calling for her, her fingers pressing the hold button for the elevator of their own accord before he’d even asked her to wait for him.

“Will you have dinner with me now? I need a plus one.” The answer to that proved harder to find. Especially since he kept adding strings to it and making it a net she didn’t want to die in. “It’s for a business meeting in the guise of a party,” Valtor added as if that could patch up the holes his words had left in her for the ease to seep out and make space for her unwillingness. But that didn’t help either when he was asking her to be a decoration to the mask she still hated even if it was what helped him survive in the dangerous waters he swam in.

“Why don’t you ask one of the other girls?” She didn’t want to tell him all of that. She didn’t want to tell him that there was a part of him she still found distasteful after he’d opened up to her and let her see into his soul. “I’m sure Ediltrude would love to come with you,” she did her best not to push one of her newly found friends into something she’d hate just to save herself. She knew Zarathustra wouldn’t be a fan of the idea either but she was certain her sister would love it. Seemed just like her type of event.

“Will you ever go to dinner with me?” Valtor shuffled her mind like a puzzle she'd have to put back together to tell what had necessitated that question when they’d already established an answer before she remembered it'd been Valtor who’d given her a rein check but she’d never taken it. It made the words sound different to her now, made her notice the risk he was taking by asking again and making it more personal than it had been last time. Like he wanted the answer more than he feared it, like he wanted more, more time with her. And somehow that didn’t sound selfish to her now. Maybe because she wanted that too.

“Have you considered that it’s not you that’s the problem with those offers?” she put herself out there, too, because it was just the two of them in the closed space of the elevator and her soul had nowhere to escape if she let it out, except maybe in his eyes as she looked at him to find them full of disbelief that made her want to give it to him. But to him only. She couldn’t let him pull it out in the world too.

Valtor’s smile was so small with all the sadness pushing it down in an attempt to turn it into a frown. “Sounds like wishful thinking,” he raised his hand as if trying to scare her away by letting the meaning of his words hit her. And his eyes widened ever so slightly in wonder at the sight of her stillness that allowed him to cup her cheek. And it made no sense because he’d done it before but she knew he hadn’t. Not like that. They’d been distressed back then. And they hadn’t known just what that between them could turn out to be. Or at least she hadn’t.

“Why do you want me at that event when you know how I feel about publicity?” she asked, her question not an accusation in her mind but the exact opposite. He saw her and understood her and she could find it in herself to trust that. But it left her unable to comprehend why he would ask something like that of her when he’d always read the tension in her at the moments she had to put herself out there, had even helped her with it on numerous occasions.

“Because I’m selfish,” Valtor pulled his hand away before she could catch it and proved that it wasn’t true as he refused the reassurance despite knowing she’d give it instead of grasping at it. “I want the strength you give me,” he said, awakening an impulse in her to pull away to process the words that she forced herself to suppress. “It makes it that much easier for me to put on a collected facade.” The words forced her jaw to drop as if to accommodate them as they made their way inside her and she’d need the space now even if she didn’t want it. “I know it’s a lot to ask and I understand why you refuse to do it. I appreciate you being honest with me about it,” Valtor paused for a moment as if wondering if he should say something else.

She even heard him call her name but the ring of the elevator interfered with the sound letting the outside world in when the doors opened and Valtor hopped out without even saying a goodbye before she could do anything. Not that she would have accepted it anyway as the topic still stood open in front of them and maybe it was best that way. She needed time to put her thoughts in order despite the pull on her muscles to run after him. She couldn't catch up with him just yet, still stuck on his words.

She was torn between berating herself for not noticing sooner how much her support meant to him–or rather not connecting the dots when it came to the pretense he was putting up that reminded so much of her own and she should have known–and letting her heart race with joy over what he’d confessed. She couldn’t have imagined that he needed her to keep up the facade she hated so much and she couldn’t make herself help him with that no matter how much she wanted to, especially when it meant she’d have to put on her own mask, but it still brought them closer and let her underneath even though he couldn’t let it crumble. He trusted her to let her behind his last line of defense and it was enough to stop her breath.

As was the necklace Valtor was putting on her for a photo shoot that had been arranged in the last possible moment but for entirely different reasons. At least this time the dress had been informed that it was to fit her body so that was under control. Valtor was just making sure of that and adding the finishing touch. Or rather twelve of them, all twenty-four-carat and ready to be noticed and admired like she only was with him.

“Trying to lock me into place?” Griffin teased, wishing her hair wasn’t in an updo so that she could have somewhere to put her hands. She was getting antsy having to sit still. Or maybe it was because she’d have to pose for hours on end as a mannequin for the clothes that were more important than her. Somehow that had never worried her before but now it did. She didn’t know if she could be soulless enough and she had to do it for him. For his work. She’d done a lot of posing for her own but now that she understood just how much of himself he put in his designs she felt like she hadn’t done enough. She wanted to do more.

“Gotta make sure you won’t run away with my heart,” Valtor made hers leap inside her chest as if it had been jump-started to life after she’d died so many times putting herself out there on display in the name of her dream. “I put so much effort in this dress,” he said, instantly prompting her to turn her back on the mirror she was staring at and look at him instead. She knew what the dress looked like just like she could tell when his words were a lie.

“This dress isn’t your heart.” It was beautiful, yes, but it wasn’t special. She’d peel it off after she was done with the photo shoot and she’d be glad to be rid of it and would never think about it again unless it was pushed into her face from a billboard or an internet page. Or perhaps one of those glossy magazines the other girls always had their noses buried into that had almost thrown her off about their intelligence and she’d only gotten past it thanks to the nudge from him. “The one you’re making for the anniversary celebration is,” she put her hand over his chest to feel how right she was as his heart beat in agreement.

“You know me so well?” Valtor asked but it wasn’t a mockery. It was more of disbelief, really, and she couldn’t have that. Not after how honest he’d been with her. Though, maybe that was the reason for his words now. He hadn’t avoided her per se after their talk in the elevator but he hadn’t sought her out either and it had really driven home how used she’d become to his attention. She’d found herself missing it on day one. And he must have missed it, too.

“I know you want to kiss me,” she moved closer, the deeper breath he took at that breezing over her neck his eyes darkened like she’d turned off the light to free them from the burden of being watched. “But you can’t because you’ll smudge my makeup and there’s not enough time to fix it,” she left her lips parted, running the risk of being the one to destroy her makeup if she allowed herself to lick them. It would certainly earn her his attention back if it wasn’t already on her. And it was.

He was just as lost in her train of thought as she was, the direction it was headed into clear but that wasn’t helpful when they had to find it in themselves to get off it before they’d reached their dream destination. “You’re wrong,” Valtor’s eyes captured hers despite how irresistible his lips proved to be as they were moving. “I can kiss you,” he said and her heart stopped in her chest so perhaps anticipation was the opposite of adrenaline. “And I will.” Valtor’s fingers closed around the hand on his chest and she couldn’t be mad at him for pulling it away from his heart when he let his lips caress it while his eyes remained locked with hers. “I’m not done,” he murmured against her skin before he let go of her hand and grasped at her shoulders turning her around again.

She saw him in the mirror as he leaned down, all of his focus on what he was about to do with her, and his lips tickled her skin around the fastener of the necklace at the nape of her neck with their gentleness and the knowledge she allowed it. It had a shiver running through her and she tried to soak up the warmth of his hands on her to get her through the shoot. It struck once again how similar they were as she needed his support just as badly as he needed hers.

“Now you’re locked into place,” Valtor whispered in her ear watching out for the hairdo as he did so but even that couldn’t mess up the sensuality of the moment.

She’d known he was an artist when it came to flirting, too, but this was something else, something different. It was a romance like she’d never had before and she could only hope she wasn’t mistaken because the fall would be brutal. It would rip out not just her wings but her soul, too, and she doubted even the stars would have the power to save her after she’d put all the light of her trust in him.

“Too bad I have to go out there,” Griffin drawled and the sound was more playful than regretful as this time it wasn’t the reluctance of showing herself to the cameras that had driven the words–though, that was a factor, too–but her willingness to stay with him behind the curtains. It was a good place to be. The best place. Especially with his hands on her frame still, sliding down her sides and to her waist as if to draw her attention to her curves and his appreciation for them. A dangerous move considering how tempted it left her to throw it all away and let him peel the dress off of her, free her from the duty of her job and her insecurities. She knew he could do that, could wrap her in a layer of his caresses that would keep her safe from the hell in her head. She just had to let him.

“The dress needs to be shown off,” Valtor made it a request like it had always been. From him to her to wear his dress and present his talent to the world. Only, she hadn’t appreciated the faith and trust he put into her until now, blinded by her own distaste for the whole ordeal to the point of never having asked herself why he’d let her have the job in the first place after she’d made it perfectly clear she wasn’t interested in fashion. But since then she’d seen his intuition at work and she could trust it, could draw the needed confidence from it. Because he’d chosen her to be the face of his work, of his soul.

“I’m on it,” she said and the smile he gifted her with through the mirror stayed in her eyes even as she made it out of his hold and had the cameras flashing in them like they were jealous of their golden shade. And they had to be. Because they’d never see him the way she did, would never get to know the real him with all of the beauty he had within. They’d only get to see what was spilling out because he was so full of it it overflowed. But he’d chosen to show her and for the first time she was glad to be there and proud to be in the spotlight with his art wrapped around her, his soul touching hers.

The feeling seemed to stay with her even after that as everything seemed new. She didn’t cringe when Ediltrude shoved the magazine with the photos in her hands and didn’t try to brush it off, her gaze sliding over the glossy pages to relive the moment once again and revel in the beautiful image she made for in his dress. She went to work with enthusiasm, especially when she could see the preparations for the anniversary celebration unfolding, and her heart almost exploded from excitement when Valtor told her her sparks had arrived, doing his best to resist her persuasion to spoil the surprise but he finally relented and showed them to her smiling at her joy in a way that had made her want to kiss it off his mouth and swallow it to keep it inside her forever for the it was that precious. She even let Zarathustra drag her on a shopping spree since her personal wardrobe could use something new as well.

Walking through the underground garage was also new as she’d never left the building from there but she’d felt an impulse after they were done with the last preparations for the jubilee. Tomorrow was the big day and she’d wanted to see every part of the building, get to know her work place like she’d allowed herself to get to know her colleagues. Or at least that was how she’d tried to rationalize the inexplicable need to go a route she’d never used before since the main entrance provided the shortest way to her bus stop–Valtor had offered her a firm car and a chauffeur but she’d scoffed at the idea of being treated like she was special just because of the job she couldn’t stand–but it became clear what had actually drawn her there once she saw him.

His car was one of the few left–and some of them rarely left the garage anyway so there was a good chance they were the last people in the building save for security as all of the other girls had left and the rest of the staff, too–and he seemed to abandon the thought of leaving when he saw her as he opened his door and got out of it again.

“Need a ride?” his voice echoed through the empty space and his eyes sparkled to let her know there was nothing innocent in that offer which would have bothered her if her own thoughts had been innocent. But the time when she could have pretended she didn’t want him had been gone from the moment she’d felt his hands in her hair and his lips on her neck. And sparks didn’t even begin to cover the extent of that desire.

“Is it safe to get in a car with you?” she quipped at him with maybe just a hint of genuine worry in there. She’d been more distracted thinking about him than she’d ever admit the last few weeks so as much as she liked having his whole focus on her, that could prove to be a bad idea while he was driving.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take if I get to be with you,” Valtor leaned on the car casually and, heavens above, he didn’t get to do that. He didn’t get to read her thoughts and then respond to them, and he most certainly didn’t get to tell her he was willing to die if he could do it with her. But he’d already done it and she’d allowed it, had been ecstatic about it. He was risking so much with the dress he’d made for her, for the two of them and the way their souls seemed to tangle, and she’d let him, she’d been right there with him the whole time, by his side where she’d figured out she liked to be. Not on the podium with only his eyes on her to keep her believing she was beautiful–and she could drown in the way he was drinking in the sight of her even now that she wore designer clothes by someone else–but next to him where his arm was wrapping around her and pulling her closer even though he’d never done that since he respected her personal space. She would love that, would love to wear his touch on her skin all the time as it told her things even his dresses couldn’t when they had the softness and honesty of his soul but not the fire she’d gladly let consume her.

“Did my clothes change your mind?” she asked once she realized the silence around them would never get heavy no matter how long they spent staring at each other like nothing else existed. Or probably because of that.

“No, not at all,” he said and she had no trouble believing the words when it was obvious that he still wanted to rip the clothes off of her. And she wanted to let him, wanted to feel his jealousy and his need but was still scared it wouldn’t match hers, was still doubtful with the distance between them. “Nothing can change my mind about you, Griffin.” The way her name filled the space around them made her the center of the world, of his world, and that was more than she’d ever been in anyone’s eyes, including her own. It only had her wish to run into him and gaze in his that were her mirror and he had the power to make her see herself like that too. And she could only hope she could do the same for him as well. “Because that’s not where you are,” Valtor made her breath stop and, dammit, he couldn’t kill her now before she’d heard how he’d follow that up. “You’re in my heart,” he reached in her chest to take hers but she was only more alive than ever with him tracing his love for her all over it with his fingertips. “You’ve been there from the start with your passion and your strength, and your beauty.”

A sequence like that would have offended her coming from anyone else’s mouth but she knew what he was putting in the words. She knew how he saw the world and that that was the greatest compliment coming from him as he could see all of her and still call her that. And she accepted the title that she hadn’t been able to before now that he’d healed all the wounds that had had the compliment bleeding out of her every time she’d received it. He’d been there by her side and he’d seen everything, he knew what he was talking about and his words weren’t just empty like ghosts floating around her to remind her that no one could see inside her.

She crossed the remaining space between them, her legs like jelly but her steps sure with the sound of her heels to accentuate them. She was made of softness as she’d never been more secure in her feelings and it only gave her the strength to reach for what she wanted. And that was him.

Her hands closed in his shirt as she pulled him into her to finally taste his lips after he’d given her every piece of his soul and her mouth opened to let it all flow inside her. She wanted to feel it, feel all of him, everything. She wanted him to make a masterpiece of her skin when he caressed his feelings on it like he’d already done with her heart, wanted to be his art, the canvas on which he could express himself. She’d soak it all up and let the freedom that he gave her join the one he found in her.

His fingers tangled in her hair for her to let out a moan the moment at the slight pull on her tresses. She wanted to give it to him now that she wasn’t afraid of showing her neediness and the desire bubbling in her chest, in her lungs when she had his hot breath inside them scorching away every disruption in her breathing so that she could fill them fully. And it wasn’t even enough to feel his chest moving against her in the same rhythm as he mirrored her state. She needed to touch him, run her hands over his skin and let them both feel that they were together now, truly entangled in one another and he could hold her freely with no need to do it through the fabric she’d let him wrap around her body reluctantly at first and then more and more eagerly until she’d reached a point where she yearned to have his touch all over her body with no clothes in the way.

She let go of his shirt only to work on undoing the buttons, her mouth still on him, latched on to his now that she’d finally allowed herself to be with him. Her hands slid over the exposed skin the moment she was done with unbuttoning and she had to break the kiss to let out the groan of appreciation she didn’t want to confine in their mouths as the warmth of the contact spread through her palms and further inside her being.

Valtor seemed just as gone as she was, lost in the feeling of her hands all over his torso as a shiver running through him. It could have been from the coolness of her palms on his heated skin but she knew it was because of her, because she was touching him the way they both wanted.

She didn’t waste time and leaned in to kiss his body. Her first stop was his pulse point where she melted at the pounding of his heart inside him like it wanted to get out and into the comfort of her mouth. She’d pull it inside her own chest if she could but she had to settle for leaving her kisses all over his, her lipstick stains staying behind to show for both their feelings and she couldn’t help but smile at the color he’d picked for her as he’d said it complemented her skin tone. It certainly stood out on him in a way that screamed she’d been there and she loved it. It was perfect.

Valtor tugged her up by her hair, the action careful despite the roughness–he’d promised not to hurt her, after all, and he kept his word–and looked her in the eyes, the moment stretching when it became clear he had no intention of speaking as words had never been their language anyway but he still took the time to communicate his desire to her before putting it in her system as he crashed his lips on hers once again. His tongue made itself welcome in her mouth and she could only protest when he had to pull away. But he was still there.

His hands were everywhere, touching for the sake of it this time and not because he was arranging a dress on her figure and she could barely breathe, afraid of breaking the spell of the moment. She hadn’t quite enjoyed it when he’d been dressing her up but the undressing now she could definitely appreciate as his hands pulled her top up and traced over her abdomen searing the sensation into her brain as something new, as the true start of things between them. He hadn’t had access to that before but she’d given it now like she wanted to give him everything, all of herself for him to create with.

He took the opportunity drawing patterns on her thighs as his hands sneaked under her skirt inching closer to their goal as they touched more and more of her and there was less of her skin left unexplored and less sounds she hadn’t made for him. He was eager to get all of those out of her, pressing his fingers into her underwear to have her gasp, then pant when he rubbed them against her and she could feel him watching her face, his fascination seeping through her eyelids with the quietness that accompanied it. He barely dared breathe, the only part of him moving being his fingers, entranced with pleasuring her the same way he was entranced with the sounds she worshiped with which his efforts.

Her head was already spinning just from that before he turned them around and hoisted her up on the hood of his car, the metal pressing into her flesh not cold enough to have her desire sizzle out. If anything, it only made her reach blindly for his belt buckle, not even frustration entering her mind when she couldn’t find it immediately. She got to feel the skin she’d found by accident instead. Even the lack of his heat on top of her as he moved to grab a condom couldn’t pull her brain out of the passionate haze it was wrapped into. The only thing she could think about was him inside her and, luckily for her, that was exactly what she got.

His name almost slipped from her mouth as he entered her but she wanted to save it for when he made her come–she wanted to give him everything but at the right time and she thought he’d appreciate hearing his name drenched in all the pleasure he’d brought her–so she settled for a loud moan instead. Not that she could keep it to that one only. It was just the start and she found herself desperate enough to whine for more as she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer, her fingers clutching at his shoulders without the presence of mind she needed to bite at him. She could only hold on and let him give her everything he wanted.

He had it worse, though, his frustration coming through in the way his teeth slid over her skin repeatedly only to pull away at the realization he couldn’t bite at her upper body–and he couldn’t reach lower–with the celebration the next day. He seemed to drown out the fading memory of reality in the sounds she was spilling keenly in response to his fingers moving over her in sync with his thrusts that were pushing her into ecstasy as well as into the hood of the car.

She had to have hurt his hearing with how loudly she moaned out his name right in his ear but he only sank further into her and her embrace until he reached his release as well, her name a breathless whisper on his lips and she couldn’t help the quiver that ran through her at the knowledge he used up the last bit of his oxygen to let her know the depths of the pleasure he’d found himself in, all enveloped in her soul. And she fell in love with the way his muscles slackened as he let his body relax on top of her and weigh her down while he panted softly against her throat. As if feeling her draw in air was helping him do the same and it was so intimate, especially as he pressed his lips there, right above the hollow of her throat, worshiping the very fact that she was alive and breathing. She almost came again just from that.

Valtor helped her get down from the car and reality started coming back as her clothes returned in their places and she could keep her eyes open, could hear the way the sound waves moved through the garage and could remember the sensation of the metal under her back. It started sinking in that she’d just had sex–her first time with Valtor–on the hood of his car in his company’s garage and if that didn’t speak loud and clear of how desperate she’d been for him, then she didn’t know what did. Luckily for her, he didn’t seem to mind.

“Is it finally time to grab that dinner?” Griffin asked as she made sure she’d fixed her skirt properly. She didn’t usually do it backwards. She didn’t even do it at all, her feet firmly on the ground and taking her to her goal, no time for meaningless romantic escapades and flings that just weren’t her thing. But he’d never taken out of her time. He’d only enriched it instead and had helped her find meaning in something she’d despised when she’d started out as a model. She wanted to give him all the time she had.

“Hungry so soon?” A grin pulled at Valtor's mouth at the double meaning of the words.

“Just a dinner, Valtor,” Griffin said but her sentence was disrupted by the chuckle that escaped her.

“Of course,” he agreed instantly. “I know I’m starving. My place then?” Looked like she wasn’t going home. Good thing she’d denied Faragonda’s offer to spend the night with her as she usually did before Griffin had a fashion show the next day. It helped calm her nerves but she hadn’t felt the need this time. Not to mention that she’d gotten tired of Faragonda’s teases about what was brewing between her and Valtor. Probably because they were wilder than what was happening in reality or because she hadn’t wanted to jinx it, even if her own imagination could get quite racy as it turned memory into fantasy and she wasn’t superstitious. Though, it’d turned out just fine. Better than that, in fact.

“You cook?” Griffin tried not to jump to conclusions on either side of the range of answers he could give her. He’d been surprise after surprise so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he could cook. She kind of hoped that he’d say yes, actually. They could have so much fun cooking together.

“God, no,” Valtor dashed those fantasies quickly. “I’m an actual disaster in the kitchen,” he admitted. “The only way I can be helpful there is to assess how aesthetically pleasing a dish looks.” Of course. That did sound like him and she was sure he was great at it. “I assumed you’d prefer the privacy over a restaurant, though. Even if we have to order takeout.”

Griffin nodded, leaving alone the implications behind why he didn’t bring up her place as they could go either way as well. “Okay. And yes, you were right about that. Thank you,” her resistance to reaching out to touch him was a mystery to her after they’d been all over each other. But maybe that was it. She couldn’t exactly trust herself to keep her head in the game around him after she’d let herself have sex in a public space. It sounded like her nightmare and yet, there she was, fingers fidgeting with the hem of her top that was now where it was supposed to be which could be the reason for her restlessness that hadn’t been present while his hands had been on her skin.

“Okay,” Valtor said, a brief pause in him as he debated what to do next, the same frantic energy radiating from him before his hand was on her neck cupping it gently and pulling her into a kiss that she’d need him to hold her for as she her knees buckled just at the contact of their lips but it was over soon. He probably feared that they’d fall down the rabbit hole again if they kept it up. “You can get in the car. I’ll just go make sure we haven’t left a sex tape behind,” his voice was quiet as he was doing his best not to disturb her peace of mind.

Heat rushed through her to set her whole body on fire before it reached her cheeks where it was blocked from escaping her system and started scorching her instead. Though, she had to admit it wasn’t all bad. And while the thought of someone having seen her at a moment so sacred made her hair stand on end and gave her trouble walking the short distance to the passenger door, she couldn’t bring herself to regret the experience.

There was something about the lack of control and restraint they’d both demonstrated that made her blood boil in a most pleasant way. There'd been no containing the passion pouring out from within and the knowledge of how much they’d both wanted it still made her shake on the inside and press her thighs together, the slickness she could still feel making her breath hitch. It was hard to breathe through the thick blanket of tender happiness Valtor had wrapped her into but she wouldn’t change it for anything. She’d yearned for that for so long, had burned in her desire for it until it’d been just beyond painful, and she’d finally gotten a taste of it. All she could do now was hold on to it and try not to let the fear of losing it in her heart but that would prove to be hard when it was so open in her eagerness for new sensations.

Luckily, Valtor caught her short as he came back and reassured her that there’d been no recording made. Apparently his staff was more than loyal and considerate since they’d turned off the cameras the moment it’d become clear in what direction things were going. Which meant they’d jeopardized the security of the building with their sex escapade and embarrassment should have had her sweating but all that was left on her body was the exertion from the sex. He was there with her and she was more comfortable in her skin than she’d ever been before after he’d touched all of her, her body and her soul, and had helped her feel whole.

The car ride had been light, full of joking to compensate for the lack of eye contact and touching. They only sharpened each other’s wit as the comebacks were flying back and forth and she was alive when he matched her every step and pulled her forward. They only had to stop to order food so that they wouldn’t have to wait for it too long once they got to his house. She was quite hungry herself even if they’d sated other urges.

She was stuck in awe when they walked inside his living room and she saw the sketches hanging on the walls instead of the paintings of dogs she’d expected there, too. They were all of dresses she’d worn and Valtor explained that his walls were reserved for his favorite designs. She asked him if he’d put them there before or after he’d had her wear them only to have him help her realize it didn’t matter. Either way he associated his best works with her. And her chest wasn't big enough to contain her heart anymore at the silent confession that she was his muse, his inspiration, and she was barely able to keep inside her all the happiness trying to leak out of her eyes at the thought that she was to someone–to him–what the stars were to her. But she didn’t have to because Valtor could see it and share it with her without taking it away from her. He’d only add more to it instead.

She was surprised to find a piano in there, too, though Valtor’s artistic inclination wasn’t something anyone could dispute. She hadn’t pondered the question if it extended to other forms of art as well. She did have the answer now and she was delighted when Valtor offered to play for her.

The soft melody hung in the air during the rest of their evening while they ate on the couch and took the time to share memories. They knew each other on an emotional level but they didn’t know much details about their backgrounds. And she had to admit her life didn’t seem quite as gloomy when she looked back on it now. Maybe it was because she was bringing up more of the happy moments in favor of keeping the mood light or maybe it was because she’d gotten through all the pain to make her way to the present where she could sit with him and look back on her tears knowing they had been worth it as she got to look into his eyes now and see the light she hoped her own would return.

Next thing she knew was the blinding light of the morning offending her sight after her eyelids were forced open against her will by the incessant sound of his alarm. They’d drifted off to sleep on the couch and her entire body was stiff but at least there was nothing too sore once she worked out the kinks. It wouldn’t get in the way of showing off the dress.

Just the thought had her stomach tightening in anticipation but it wasn’t anxiousness. She was actually so excited about it that she couldn’t quite keep still while Valtor drove her back to her apartment so that she could take a shower and change. And she would’ve loved to ride with him to work as well but she didn’t want to start rumors today of all days. The twins were already teasing her because of the whole business with the dress and how often she’d been finding her way to Valtor’s office the last few weeks. And while they were right to think something was happening there, she didn’t want to have that to worry about on a big day like that one.

She was considerably more relaxed than usually during the whole process of makeup and hairstyling and then dressing. Though, it might have been the fact that she had the same lipstick she’d left on him the previous night applied on her lips–it would give him something to think about the whole time he was looking at her and possibly not only–and she had the orange gems–her sparks–tangled in her braid. It only sparked love towards her process of transformation instead of the hate she usually regarded it with. And then it was finally time for the dress.

Valtor was there to help with the whole process and his hands on her definitely got in the way of concentrating to keep her from troubling her mind with worries but she knew she needed to focus. She couldn’t blow this for the both of them. She wanted to make him proud of her. Not only as his muse but also as his model and that was a first like so many other things were with him. She couldn’t wait to see what else that relationship had to offer.

Her heartbeat raced as she waited for him to announce her entrance but the impulse to run was directed towards the stage, towards him, instead of in the opposite direction as she was so used to it being. She would gladly take his hand and stay at his side at that important for him moment. She wanted to give him the support she hadn’t been able to provide with her own hangups in the way. He’d freed her from them and she wanted to do the same for him, wanted to get out there and show everyone just what beauty he was capable of making when his heart was in it as much as his mind was.

The sound of her name leaving his lips was much louder than it had been when he’d been inside her but it still carried the same affection and his eyes were still full of worship as she stepped on the stage confident like she was a goddess. Because she knew she was one in his eyes and that was all that mattered.

She did her best to contain the smile blooming on her face as she heard the gasps of wonder when the guests’ eyes landed on the dress and the echoes coming from behind her when her secure steps took her closer to him and allowed for the sparks to be noticed. She couldn’t help but revel in the attention this time like never before as she felt beautiful and recognized for who she was. At least by him. But that was more than enough for her, and she didn’t leave his side all night which was exactly what surprised her at his casual comment that his parents had left.

They hadn’t even walked by to congratulate him and despite their clear stance on his whole business, she’d expected at least as much. Valtor wasn't surprised or fazed for that matter and told her that they were just there to save face since they wouldn’t get away with not showing up to their son’s company’s anniversary among their friends.

She didn’t care about them either way, not after he’d told her about their dismissal of his work and she knew their hearts had to be made of unthawable ice if even the sparks he got in his eyes from his passion about a project hadn’t melted their disdain of his talent. And since he didn’t pay attention to their soulless behavior, she decided not to either. She had far more important things to attend to – namely, making sure he was having the time of his life. He deserved it after all his hard work and enthusiasm he’d poured in building his company and his reputation. And she was glad to see he’d also made friends along the way since all the other girls and his other employees shared his happiness and all the genuine joy made for an unforgettable atmosphere that even the outside people couldn’t tear apart.

The party went on till the early hours of the morning, though it was mostly just company staff that was left at that point which only made it merrier. Especially when the photos taken weren’t going to be subjected to meticulous judgment and were just for fun instead. She even indulged all the rest when they begged her to pose with them for a firm album they’d just gotten the idea to make. She couldn’t bail when she was the centerpiece of the whole celebration and of Valtor’s career.

It proved much more fun than she’d expected but she was glad that it was over and it was finally just him and her in his office. She wasn’t quick to get rid of the hairdo this time as the braid was as cozy as home to her but she was making use of the supplies for removing makeup she’d grabbed from the dressing rooms.

“No dinner with the girls this time?” she teased, trying not to let the sad note in her tone take over it. She’d never managed to go to one of those–or rather hadn’t let herself–and since the end of the night was also the end of a whole era, she couldn’t help the feeling of a missed opportunity. The knowledge it was all on her as she’d been cordially invited by pretty much everyone didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

“Well, technically, the celebration ended just now so we proceed with our usual schedule and have the dinner that same evening, so tonight,” Valtor's voice carried a hint of a playful note that was most certainly there to cheer her up since he could read her mind. “Will you come?” he asked, the hope bountiful both in the words and in his eyes.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Griffin paused her work just for a moment to let him know she truly meant it. If anything, the night had proven that she’d joined a big family–whether she’d liked it or not–and she didn’t want to let that feeling of belonging go. It wasn’t something she’d had before and while she’d never expected to find it at a fashion house, she was ecstatic at having been proven oh so wrong.

“There’s just a thing we need to discuss before we can appear in public together since I’m sure there will be paparazzi following us everywhere,” Valtor made her raise her eyebrow at him both in question and to express her distaste with the whole ordeal of being unable to take a step without being chased by cameras. It was like living in a dystopian novel and those had never been her favorite genre. “The media is already speculating about the nature of our relationship and if it is strictly professional,” he showed her his phone for her to see the article that had already been posted on someone’s blog about the constellations on the bodice of the dress she was still wearing–she didn’t want to part with it yet when she didn’t know if she’d get to put it on again–and how that was probably a hint at the romance between the two of them since Valtor had chosen to put the symbols of their zodiac signs on it. “What do we tell them?” Valtor would’ve managed to sell the collected facade to anyone else but not to her.

“That it is none of their business,” Griffin looked him in the eyes to let him know none of her ardency was directed towards him in this situation. She didn’t want to hide their relationship but she wasn’t ready to deal with the response it would have from the media yet. Plus, she’d love to have him all to herself for a little while at least before they let the world in on their secret.

“True,” Valtor said, but his nervousness was still there. “However, it is my business,” he put the phone away and rose from his desk that he’d decided to use unconventionally instead of sitting in his chair which would have been far more comfortable, especially after the long night they’d had, but maybe the desk provided more space for his restlessness to roll off of him. “So will you inform me about the status of our relationship?” he stepped closer and she couldn’t decide if he still hadn’t wrapped her in his arms because he wanted to give her her space or because he was afraid she didn’t want him close to her. It was unthinkable for her to imagine it was the latter but she needed to rectify it either way.

“Valtor, I had sex with you on the hood of a car in a public space–which I have never done before–followed by us falling asleep on top of each other while talking on your couch,” she said, hoping the reminder would help quell his anxious mind. “This definitely screams relationship to me,” she left everything she was holding on the chair next to her that she was currently using as a vanity sans a mirror as she did her best not to break eye contact.

Valtor grinned at her at the reassurance–and possibly at the memory of their little adventure and her confession it had been a first for her–and pushed away the rest of the remaining space between them as he made his way to her and wrapped his arms around her waist while she rested hers on his shoulders. “Maybe I should have you screaming it to me to convince me then,” he purred, so close to her lips that she couldn’t resist the temptation to kiss him and he knew it damn well. Not before a smartass comeback, though.

His lips were on hers before she could think of one and she let it go as she much preferred to go with his suggestion anyway. Though, the way it was going, she’d do well to forget about having sex in a bed for a while. It seemed they’d make their way through any other possible surface before they got to the comfort of a mattress. She couldn’t even mind much–or at all–when she had him all pressed against her. That was all the softness she needed to be comfortable so she left herself to the kiss and was surprised to find she didn’t mind him taking off the dress if it was to give him access to her skin. His touch was everything and he was giving her all of it.

She never wanted this to end.

[darkpoisonouslove]

“Steel Becomes Stronger Wrapped in Flames but What about Your Soul?” Chapter 2

This was supposed to be just a stray thought about how Griffin felt after the whole happenstance but alas, here we are with another chapter instead.

Oritel didn’t speak to her. Not even when she used her magic to heal the small cut on his throat. She didn’t really have the desire to approach him at all and would’ve let Marion do it, but she didn’t want to risk an infection. It would make her interference pointless and she had trouble not regretting it already, grasping at the thought of Daphne and Marion and the baby she was carrying to avoid letting anything else in her head. It would be the death of her to think about what had brought on the dead silence that neither her, nor Oritel had any desire to break despite the fact that she could almost hear the war in his head mirroring the one in her own.

The ship landed on Domino and they prepared to get off. She let Oritel go before her as she didn’t want to feel his gaze on her. Not that he seemed very present currently, the look in his eyes rather unfocused as he no doubt tried to put some order in his thoughts and make sense of what had happened when there was none. It was all emotions that had ruled them that day and the consequences had been nearly catastrophic... for them. She hoped that at least that would make him stop questioning Valtor’s humanity. Though, what did it matter if he died for sparing Oritel’s life?

She tried to push the thought away–they wouldn’t kill him, they needed him so they would instead make him regret he was still living–but it was too late. And the sight of Marion and Faragonda waiting for her and Oritel instead of Valtor greeting after a successful mission cut through her composure as if it was the blade of the sword he’d abandoned on the battlefield. She’d wished to take it, to touch her fingers to where his had been and feel what little of him she could get nowadays, but she’d made herself leave it. He could need it, could decide to go back and get it, and she couldn’t allow herself to take any more from him. She’d taken enough when she’d run away and pulled all the safety and comfort he’d found in her embrace out of his reach. His sword was the only thing left to protect him other than his fire that she’d also weakened by taking her magic away, the thing that complemented it, and it had never worked against his mothers anyway.

“Oritel,” Marion called his name with relief before throwing herself in his arms and he held on to her but somewhat distractedly, as if he couldn’t remember how to move his muscles that had failed him during the battle with Valtor. Yet, even that couldn’t help soothe the burning agony inside her because Valtor wasn’t there to do the same with her. He could no longer hug her thanks to her betrayal, yet he’d chosen to protect her despite knowing the consequences. He loved her and she loved him so why wasn’t she with him? Why wasn’t she in his embrace and whispering soothing things to him to help him deal with everything thrown their way? Why had she left him for a world that had never wanted either one of them?

“Griffin,” Faragonda called out to her, still a good distance away and expecting her to walk over to her. It should’ve been Valtor waiting for her and calling her name, but that was lost to them and she only had Faragonda now. Nothing else. She’d left everything else behind. She’d left him alone.

Griffin felt the longing and rage filling her heart and pushing to make it burst out of her chest and go back to where it belonged. And she couldn’t hold it in on her own. She needed help.

She ran into Faragonda’s arms, almost tackling her to the ground in her haste, and she pressed into her, hoping the even rhythm of Faragonda’s heart would help hers calm down and her chest pressed against hers would keep it in place and prevent her from losing it just like she’d lost Valtor.

The thought was too painful with the potential it carried to come true in the literal meaning and she couldn’t take the pain of that blade running through her being. “They’re going to hurt him,” she sobbed out, the anguish spilling both from her eyes and her mouth as she held on to Faragonda, trying not to get lost in it herself. It wouldn’t help her help him but she didn’t know how to get through it. She didn’t even know if Faragonda could help her and that just terrified her all the more, for the fairy had always been the one sure thing in her life providing security.

“What?” Faragonda asked, her voice quiet but the confusion and the helplessness it dragged out of her where very distinctive, poking at Griffin like the Ancestral Witches had poked at her with their punishments and words. And she hadn’t even had it bad compared to him, yet the thought of returning at that place where they’d hurt her had her shaking. And the thought of him being there right now would’ve had her screaming but she had no strength left, all of it forced painfully out of her by the terror wrapped around her in place of his arms. It was only Faragonda’s warmth keeping her grounded but even that had limited effect when she could still feel the cold of Belladonna’s magic and she knew he would have to go through it because of her. Because he still loved her. Even after what she’d done to them.

“They’re going to hurt him,” she sniffled out, her voice so weak and pathetic, just like she felt compared to them. Just like she knew they’d make him feel for his failure. And the knowledge only weakened her more, like no other knowledge had ever done to her before. But they were like that, tearing apart everything they touched. And there was no one to keep them from laying their hands on him. He was just their property and she’d abandoned him to that terrible fate. She couldn’t understand how he loved her still. It would’ve definitely made things easier for him if he didn’t and she knew it. Yet her heart jumped in protest at the thought like it hadn’t even done when she’d left him behind. She was selfish, but not enough to have stayed with him, and the awareness of her own strength that had come out in the wrong moment would cut her into a million pieces if not for Faragonda’s arms around her and grounding her in the present. But the past was doomed, all sliced through and bleeding by her own hand. Why had she been so cruel to them? Why had she let the world make her hurt them?

“Oritel, what’s going on?” Marion’s voice startled her with the alarm it carried and all the pieces of the present it pushed in the empty spaces in her mind. She was pregnant and they all had to be careful not to stress her. They had to keep things like that away from her, had to protect her and the baby from pain. And Griffin wanted to scream at them and at herself because they were failing. They were failing to protect her and the life inside her even after Valtor had paid the price, and they couldn’t allow themselves a waste like that. It was a crime.

“Oritel,” Faragonda’s voice was the one slicing through the atmosphere this time and keeping her from sinking too deep into the thoughts and drowning in their burning agony. “What happened?” she asked, her tone sharp like the negative energy making up her aura at the moment. She was worried like Griffin hadn’t felt her be recently and it was all starting to spill, control slipping through her fingers as well, proving it was far more elusive than they would’ve liked it to be if it was escaping from Faragonda too and Griffin held on to her tighter, hoping to keep her into her reasonable state. She didn’t need someone else–Faragonda of all people–paying for their love for her. It would be too much to know she could turn even love into a weapon. What kind of monster would that make her?

“I...” Oritel sounded like he needed someone to finish what Valtor had started and slice his throat open so that he could breathe. “I lost the battle against Valtor,” his quiet voice was almost lost in the gasp that tore away from Marion and crashed into Griffin as hard as the knowledge of what Valtor had to go through, for they were piling burden on top of her too when they weren’t supposed to. “He was going to kill me,” Oritel sounded like he was in a trance, like what he’d seen had been a vision and Griffin was almost praying for all of this to turn out to be a trick of Lysslis’. It would be easier to accept the invasion of her head than that of her heart. “But when he saw Griffin... he left,” Oritel said, the disbelief in his voice almost giving Griffin the strength to turn around and punch him for having the audacity to still doubt Valtor’s feelings for her but the thought of those and the reminder of what they would cost him took all of her energy away again, leaving her leaning on Faragonda heavily for the support she couldn’t find anywhere else. “He didn’t even take what he’d come for,” Oritel said, forcing a cry out of her that got lost in the endless open space around. The endless space between her and Valtor that neither of them could cross to have the other in their arms again.

“Griffin,” Faragonda said and her hand tangled in her hair as gentle as the understanding laced in her tone now that she knew. She knew what Griffin was going through and she was offering sympathy because there wasn’t anything else she could give. But that was more than Griffin could give Valtor after she’d chosen to leave him.

She sobbed between heaving breaths when she needed to stop. She had to, had to get herself under control, had to be her logical self and accept there was nothing for her to do. She had to stop because of Marion, because of the baby. Them at least she could protect despite her conflicting loyalties. And she could stop the three monsters if she found the strength to keep fighting against them even when it meant fighting against him. It was a choice she had to make when he was choosing to stay with them. Because he was. She’d been selfish and chosen to run away from him to save her conscience. And he was selfish, choosing to stay with them to protect his pride. He’d laid down his sword to avoid hurting her but he refused to surrender and join her on the side of light, refused to admit he’d been wrong by serving his mothers, refused to admit he needed to be saved from them because he was nothing more than a weapon they could yield. And his stubbornness was the only thing that could hurt her as badly as they were hurting him when he refused to choose her no matter how much she knew he wanted her.