#// string of consciousness told in three parts
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self-para \ butterfly effect. where: rheeâs bar and grill. when: shortly after this plot drop. mentioned: @brxxksazars & @sita-abbrams trigger warnings: murder, death, mentions of police, and sad dae-eun.
the conclusion is that love is pain, a game that can never be stopped but still, why do i repeatedly scream mayday?
It was just a cup of coffee.
A single act of kindness, one that he hadn't really expected much to come from. He had some extra money, so why not help out? The jokes had caught him off guard, their rapport building quickly. He was sure there was more to the other man than met the eye, but he seemed content to keep the friendship light, so Dae didn't want to pry. The regrets were swinging in full force now, and he swallowed hard. If they'd talked more, if they'd onlyâ
He broke off, shaking his head to try and rid himself of the line of thought. If's wouldn't help anyone right now.
DAE-EUN: just stay safe, donât want to see you on the news someday. BROOKS: no news for you either DAE-EUN: i promise. BROOKS: holding you to that just so you know BROOKS: sorry youâre stuck with me DAE-EUN: same to you, elsa. sisterly bond or something. so iâve heard, at least DAE-EUN: stuck like fucking glue
Dae bit his lip, trying to hold back the waterworks that threatened to spill out at a moment's notice. His phone screen was blurry through the unshed tears, but he could still read the words. Just barely, but it was enough.
After the snowstorm and the attack on Jake, he'd felt some sort of bond between the two of them. If nothing else, a pact sealed by stupid jokes and a fierce promise: don't you die on me.
It seemed the promise had never been intended to be kept.
DAE-EUN: thereâs something going on here. i just have to figure it out.
Once again, he was useless. Regulated to the sidelines, unable to do anything as the town died in front of him, both in presence and spirit. The longer this went on, the less smiles he saw around him. But not Brooks. Somehow, he kept being his goofy selfâDae still wasn't sure how. Even he didn't have the strength to do that.
Dae hadn't had many friends throughout his life, and even fewer that would've considered him one. So the pleasant surprise of someone not only initiating that step, but continuing to keep it goingâit baffled him. Brooks was one of the few people after his move to Nightrest that he truly would have called a friend. And now, he was gone.
He hadn't noticed when everything had happened. Dae had stepped out, looking for a breath of fresh airâHana's restaurant was thick with people, and they were getting to be too much. Moments after the door shut behind him, he could hear a cheer from inside: the second game was over.Â
He stayed outside in the night air for a bit, letting his mind run aimlessly until someone screamed from inside. He wished he could say the scene awaiting him was a surprise, but when he realized that he knew the voice, his heart only sank deeper as he raced back inside the restaurant.
From there on out, the rest of the night was a blur. Dae couldn't concentrate on anything, words slipping in and out of focus. He could barely keep himself afloat long enough to answer the police's questioning. He couldn't get the images of the body bags out of his head. Knowing that behind the thick fabric lay people he knewâknew, he catches the tense changeâwas beyond unsettling, his stomach twisting every time they passed by.Â
Sita.
God, Sita.
Why did this seem to happen to him every time he managed to be happy? It had happened with Selin, and it happened again with Sita. Perhaps this just wasn't the thing for him.Â
Dae wanted nothing more than to block the past night out of his headâand maybe someday he could. But that night was not tonight, and his hands shook as he numbly stumbled out the door of the restaurant. He couldnât even look at his car without pangs of regret washing over him. Theyâd been there not even three hours earlier.
DAE-EUN: iâm afraid someone just wonât answer. SITA: Donât say that! SITA: I donât know how much more death I can take, honestly. DAE-EUN: honestly? me either.
Slowly, he moved towards the car, unlocking the doors and pulling it shut behind him, but he didnât drive off. Instead, he just sat, staring at the steering wheel. Heâd always felt a level of honesty with Sita, one he didnât feel with many others; she was easy to confide in. A snippet of their previous conversation came tugging back to him, both of them mentioning how theyâd never really dealt with death before, uneasy on how to deal with all of this grief.
He supposed heâd have to figure it out on his own from now on.
Memories kept flashing before his eyes: the two of them having a quiet heart-to-heart at a table at Câs, heading out (against his safer instincts) during the fires to scour the scenes, the kiss theyâd shared at her house just that night. All of it, gone, just like thatâripped away in minutes.
Not completely, of courseâthe memories remained, but that was all heâd ever have.
He was getting sick of relying on those alone.
DAE-EUN: if youâre leaving, PLEASE be careful. i have this feeling that something bad is happening.
He took a deep breath, trying to pull himself together enough just to get homeâget home, then you can fall apart. Slowly, so slowly, the car drove off into the night.
#{ reflections }#// string of consciousness told in three parts#// if this seems a bit disjointed; it is; don't point it out /lh#// gonna be deadly honest: i actually hadn't cried at all this morning until i went back through the texts#// y'all i made myself sad
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There is only one bed, part 2
Pairing: Modern AU Aemond Targaryen x reader
Summary: Â Spies running from a common enemy find refuge in a tiny inn.
Warnings: Â Smut
Points if you recognize the side charactersâ names. Also: no, your name is not Jan. Itâs a meme.
part 1
âThe drive. Give me the drive.â
When he didnât move, the guy aiming the gun at your head cocked it and you kept your breathing steady through the terror that ran through you. Training, you went through your training, remembering breathing exercises, how to keep your muscles from tensing. You glanced at the guy who had very recently fucked your brains out.
His face revealed nothing, his stance was relaxed.  âThe one with the porn?â
You heard, in the distance, a car. Another one. That couldnât possibly be good. It stopped down the road, not like the previous car youâd heard earlier.
âGive me the fucking drive or I kill your little girlfriend.â
He smiled, âI picked her up earlier, donât even know her name.â
The next thing you felt was a hard thump on the back of your head, and you fell to the floor, your vision blurry. He lunged towards the asshole whoâd hit you and the other guy fired.
You saw him fall back at the same moment that the door slammed open and three men rushed in. They were shouting in High Valyrian, your weakest language, and you caught something like âman downâ. Â
He was saying something to them and before you lost consciousness you thought you heard him say something like âfriend.â
* * * * *Â
You awoke in a government hospital and the first face you saw was Louâs. Your boss was dressed in a sharp suit as always, her blonde bob swinging as she spoke on her cell phone.  âSheâs awake, gotta go.â She smiled down at you.  âGood to see you, kid.â
âWhere is he?â
âWho?â
You sat up. âThe guy, the Westerosi agent who was with me.â
Lou raised an eyebrow.  âYou were brought to us by two agents from Dragonstone, who said youâd been caught up in one of their missions.â
You nodded, âyeah, there was a wounded agent I patched up, he was shot right before I passed out.â
âThey didnât mention that.â
The doctor walked in, gave you an update. Youâd been out a couple of days with a concussion but the swelling in your brain had gone down and your vitals were good. You could go home the next day if things stayed the same overnight.
You barely listened, your mind elsewhere. You caught Louâs eye, and you could tell she was reading every thought in your head.
âI have to go,â Lou said, ârest and Iâll talk to you tomorrow once youâre home. Let me know if you need anything.â
You nodded as she left, her brisk steps fading as she walked down the hallway.
* * * * *Â
Five weeks later you were ready to kick someoneâs face in. Nobody had any answers for you. You had even called the Dragonstone agency and explained that you wanted to ask some questions of their agent. Very important questions for your boss at your agency. If he was alive, if he was still working for them, no one would tell you anything. Â
You had even thought of asking Lou if she could ask her contacts, but asking your boss to locate a guy because heâd made you come twice was hardly the most professional thing in the world. You liked your job and didnât want to be sidelined because you got hung up on some guy whose name you didnât even know.
Maybe you could get one of your hacker friends to locate him. Hey, can you find this guy, tall, gorgeous, amazing ass and stellar dick? You rubbed your eyes, wondering if a shower would help. Â
You walked towards your bedroom, leaving a string of clothes as you reached your bathroom. Would you ever find him? Youâd known him for less than a day but there had been a connection and it wasnât just sex. Mind-blowing, amazing sex. Sex that had ruined you forever.
He had to be alive. Even if you could just find out if he was ok, maybe that would be enough. Sure, Jan, you told yourself. You showered quickly, putting on your favorite robe after. Â
Lou had left a message on your phone, something about all the time off you had accumulated and to fucking take it before it disappeared. Youâd been doing admin stuff since you got out of the hospital, but when you reached your laptop, all the files you had been working on were gone. Fucking Lou.
Maybe youâd travel. Take a few weeks, bum around the continent, avoid heading towards Dragonstone.Â
Who were you kidding, the only place you wanted to go to was Dragonstone so you could snoop around. Like you were going to turn a corner and bump into him coming out of a Starbucks. Did they even have Starbucks in Dragonstone? Â
And then there was the thought you tried to ignore. What if he was fine? Alive and kicking, and simply didnât care? What if he had moved on to his next mission - and the next girl - while you were flopping around your place like a moron, completely hung up on him? Â
Your phone buzzed and when you picked it up there was a text from your ever-omniscient boss.
Answer the door.
Um, no one has rung the door, Lou, you thought as the doorbell rang.
You opened the door and there he was, alive and fucking gorgeous, standing before you.
Every thought in your head evaporated as you looked at him. His hair was a little longer, and he was dressed in black, like he had been back then. You knew your mouth had dropped open but no sounds were coming out.
* * * * *Â
She was well. Alive and whole and healthy. A little pale, but she looked good. More than good, Aemond thought.
He shifted his weight from one foot to another, suddenly nervous. He hadnât given a thought to what would happen now, to what she would say or do. Â
âHello,â he said, because she wasnât saying anything. She was just staring at him, one hand clutching the lapels of her robe.
âYouâre alive.â
âYes.â
âYou were shot.â
âYes.â
She grabbed his arm and pulled him into her home, closing the door. She stood a couple of feet away from him, still staring.  âWas it bad?â
This time he nodded. He wouldnât tell her how bad just now. Â
She let out a strangled sob and covered her mouth.  âI tried,â she said breathlessly.  âI looked for you.â
Fuck it, he thought, and reached out to envelop her in his arms. She started crying and he heard so much fear and anger as well as relief in her tears.  âI believe you,â he whispered into her hair. She had freed her arms and wrapped them around his neck and he could no longer wait. He began kissing her neck, the sweet scent of her skin one he had dreamed of every night since that day in the inn. Â
She turned to meet his mouth with hers, fisted one hand in his hair while he lifted her up. Her robe, which had barely been tied together, began slipping off as she wrapped her legs around him.  âBedroom,â she ordered, âlast room on the left.â
He made his way to her room, barely remembered to kick off his shoes before he lowered her to the bed.  âIâve dreamed of you,â he said against her lips, and felt her smile.  âEvery night. Every fucking night, you torment me.â
âLikewise, dragon boy,â she replied, and he smiled at her.
âAemond,â he told her.  âMy name is Aemond. Targaryen.â Â
She told him her name and then pushed him onto his back.  âWait,â she tucked her hair behind her ear.  âWhere were you shot?â
He raised the t-shirt he was wearing, and first she saw the cut sheâd treated. It was a neat thin line and she smiled.  âThat healed up nicely.â He sat up then, removed his sweater, then began to pull off the t-shirt. Â
âIt looks worse than it is,â he warned.
He tossed the shirt to the side and let her look.
âFuck.â
The scar was jagged and ugly, and it was right over his heart.
âThey got it out.â
âHow far?â
He looked at her, shook his head in confusion.
âHow far from your heart?â
He smiled gently.  âLess than a millimeter.â
She closed her eyes for a moment, looked away from him, unable to speak.
âIâm here. I got a second chance,â he murmured.  âAnd I donât plan on wasting it.â
With that, he reached for her.
* * * * *Â
Less than a millimeter, you thought. You would make that millimeter count, you decided, as he grabbed you and pulled you down to the bed. You ran your hands down his chest, gently skimming over the scars until youâd reached the waistband of his jeans and felt him shiver against you. Â
He reached down, undoing the button and zipper and then started pulling off your robe, the thin cotton giving easily as he bared you.  âI never got to take my time with you,â he said, and your heart started pounding with anticipation. He slowly gazed at you from head to toe and when he looked back up, his eyes were almost feral.
He cradled your face in one hand as he loomed over you, kissed your temple before his hand slipped down to your throat and you arched against him, pressing one of your own hands over his. He kissed you then, hungrily, nipping at your jaw as he made his way to your neck. There he feasted, edges of teeth and soft swipes of tongue, until you began whimpering, wanting him inside you.
He pulled back to finish removing his clothes, but before you could reach for him, he turned you over, spreading your legs with his knee before settling half on you, half on the bed. You felt him push your hair out of the way so he could nip at the nape of your neck while he reached around and his fingers began moving between your legs. Â
Youâd dreamed of those dexterous, long fingers of his, frustrated yourself with your own many times, and a long moan escaped you as he reached deep inside you.Â
âAm I hurting you?â
You shook your head,  âNo,â you managed as he sucked some of the skin at your nape between his teeth. Â
His fingers moved slowly within you, and you gasped when he spread them open, widening you.  âI remember how tight you felt,â he murmured.  âI remember everything about that day. The way you looked, the way you felt, I couldnât get away from you. Not during the day, and certainly not at night.â
His voice had darkened, each word said against your skin like a prayer. His fingers were pumping inside you now, your hips matching his pace, and soon you arched against him, your body taut, a gasp escaping you as you came. Â
He was kissing your shoulder, slowly removing his fingers from inside you as he turned you onto your back.  âI cannot wait any longer,â he whispered as he reached down and began aligning himself with you. When he started pushing inside you, you gasped, remembering how he had felt all those months ago. Â
âGod, yes,â you breathed out as he began filling you. Nothing had felt as good as he did right now. He pushed your knees back, struggling to move slowly as he sank into you. When he was finally seated fully inside you, he closed his eyes for a moment.
âYou feel so fucking good, sweet.â
* * * * *Â
âLIkewise, dragon boy,â she replied, wrapping her legs around his hips. Â
Aemond pressed his forehead against hers.  âI donât want to hurt you,â he started, and felt her fingertips pressed against his mouth.
âYou really need to stop that, Aemond,â she said, and the sound of his name in her lips made him deliriously happy.  âI can take it, and I would really, really like you to fuck me now.â
He needed no further invitation. Rearing back, he thrust hard, the sound she made somewhere between a moan and a purr, and he did it again, hips snapping as his restraint began to slip. He took her hands in his, pressing them into the mattress above her head.  âYes,â she whispered, âfuck yes.â She tightened around him and he let out a familiar string of curses in High Valyrian.
âWhat did you just call me?â she smirked up at him.
He took her mouth in a bruising kiss as his hips continued to pound against her.  âVile,â he murmured, âenchantress.â He sucked her bottom lip between his teeth, then released it when she whimpered. Â
He could feel her thighs shaking, her breathing becoming more and more ragged, and he began to drive faster, her cries encouraging him as he lost himself in her.  âPlease,â she begged.
âIâve got you,â he said, and she threw her head back, a hoarse scream ripped from her throat as she came. He managed to ride out her contractions until finally, he surrendered, letting her take him with her.
* * * * *Â
The blurriness in your head began to dissipate, slowly, as Aemond kissed your temple.  âHmm,â he murmured, âthat was worth the wait.â
You couldnât manage to put two words together in your mind, and simply enjoyed the warmth of him as he held you. Your fingertips found their way back to the ugly scar over his heart, brushing over it as if you could erase it completely. A thought had began to form in your head, a question you needed answered.
âHow did you find me?â
He looked down at you, surprised by the sudden question.  âYour boss knows my old CO, Deb.â
âLou?â
âYep. She sent Deb a text âfor your wounded dragonâ and it had your name on it."
You shook your head, confused.  âWait, if she knew to give you my name, why couldnât Lou just ask for your name?â
âI guess she wanted to know if I would run with it.â He caressed your cheek.  âI had to wait until I could leave the hospital, which was three more weeks.â
âSo why didnât you just call, or email?â
He leaned in and kissed you gently.  âI was terrified. If I called and someone else answered the phone. If I emailed you and you never replied. I decided I would show up, look you in the eye, and if you wanted nothing to do with me, then I could turn around and walk away, but I needed to see it in your face. Whether you wanted me or not.â
âI tried,â you said.  âI tried so hard. There was nothing, absolutely nothing on any of the usual threads. Not about your team, not about a wounded agent, nothing.â
âI donât exist,â he said simply.  âMy name isnât listed anywhere. If weâd all gotten killed the agency would have never acknowledged us.â
âYour family?â you asked, wondering about parents, siblings.
He smiled.  âThey think Iâm in the arctic. Eventually they would have received a letter stating that I was working for the government and was KIA. No return address, no phone number. The moment the envelope is opened, the ink begins to fade so within a couple of hours the page is blank. And it doesnât show up on photographs or video.â
âFuck.â
âI knew that going in.â He pulled you closer.  âI also knew I had a deadline.â
You reached up, brushed a lock of his hair out of his face.  âWhat is it?â
âTurning thirty.â Â
âWhen is that?â
He smiled.  âToday.â
* * * * *Â
She baked him a cake. She only had ingredients for a plain vanilla sponge, but the buttercream was so good, he ended up eating half of it before she smacked his hand and made him sit at the table.Â
âAnd she bakes, too,â heâd said, admiringly, when she started pulling out ingredients. Â
âI am multitalented.â She lit one of the candles sitting on the little shelf by the TV.  âBut I have no little candles, so this will have to do.â She brought over the massive three-wick-candle, made him blow it out before sheâd let him cut into the cake. It was a little wonky and there was only enough buttercream for the filling and middle since heâd eaten half of it. Â
He watched her over his slice of cake.  âWhat about you? Any plans for the future?â
âWell,â she smiled, ânot many of us live to see middle age, so I always thought Iâd do research or translating when I was done with field work. Plus I want to travel. Like, actually see the places Iâve been sent to, like a regular tourist.â
âI know what you mean,â he said, âIâve been to so many places and not enjoyed any of them.â
âDoes that mean anything?â she asked, indicating the ring he wore on his pinky. Â
Aemond looked at his hand, smiled.  âMy sister gave it to me before I left. Something about threads of green, threads of black, weaving something or other. She gets strange thoughts sometime, but sheâs cool.â He speared his fork into another piece of cake.  âI keep it hidden unless Iâm on my own time. This is really fucking good,â he added before taking a huge bite.
âAll that sugar is going to leave you with a massive headache. Here,â she refilled his glass, âdrink more water.â
He did, and got up to do the dishes while she sat at the counter. He had spent most of the past decade forgetting or ignoring his birthday and now sheâd baked a cake for him. Â
âLook, I just need to say something-â
âOh shit,â she replied, but was smiling at him.  âYouâre married with seven adorable, but unruly, children.â
He gave her a look.  âNo. I wouldnât have tracked you down here just for sex. This is going to sound incredibly naĂŻve, considering what we do for a living, but itâs like I can envision-â
âA future.â
âWith you.â
He said nothing for a few seconds, only watched her as she looked up at him.  âCome with me. Letâs go see the world. Not from safe houses or sniper points.â
She smiled.  âI donât know, Iâm an excellent shot.â
He smiled back, but extended his hand out. And waited.
And then she stood, walked around the counter, and placed her hand in his.
* * * * *Â
Tagging:
@arryn-nyx  @greenowlfactif  @hydrationqueensworld   @megzdoodle@melsunshine  @queenofshinigamis   @throughgoeshamilton  @travelingmypassion
Aemond fics only
@kaemond-zafiro  Â
#aemond targaryen#aemond fanfiction#aemond targaryen fanfic#aemond targaryen x reader#hotd fanfic#hotd fanfiction#hotd smut
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LittleMouse!Series Part Six: The Hours In Between - Alden Parker x Reader
Tagging: @mandy426Â @neapolitantoebeans @yezzyyae
LittleMouse!Series
Don't... - Alden hates what your doing.
Waiting - You leave your ex waiting.
In Sickness & In Health - Alden and your ex sit down to discuss you.
Bordeaux - You come home to an unexpected surprise.
Acts of Violence - Alden walks into a nightmare.
The next few hours flash by in a haze of chaos, noise and florescent lights. Thereâs too much commotion around you, too much activity. You canât make sense of whatâs happening because all you can focus on is the pain that emanates from the place where Kristof had stabbed you with the stem of a broken wineglass. You slip in and out of consciousness during this time, snatching at pieces of reality.
âYouâre in the hospital.â Alden tells you during a brief moment of lucidity. âTheyâre prepping you for surgery.â
The darkness is already rushing back in again before you can open your mouth to respond.
You keep going back to that moment in the apartment, the one where everything changed. You canât believe how quickly it escalated. Thereâs never been a threat of violence from Kristof before, not until tonight.
âYou canât just break into my apartment and make yourself at home.â Youâd snapped at him when he tried to hand you the glass of Bordeaux.
âWhat else am I supposed to do?â Heâd asked you, setting it down on the coffee table. âYou wonât meet with me, take my calls, answer my texts...â
âYou arenât picking up the hint?â You return, running your hands through your hair in frustration. âI do not want to speak to you.â
âNot even after what Parker told you?â Kristof asks incredulously, his hands coming to rest on his hips. âBecause he did tell you, didnât he?â
Youâd sank into the armchair then because youâd begun to see where this pathological desire for contact comes from. The thing about Kristof? Heâs a powerful man, heâs used to other people doing his bidding and when they donât, he acquires leverage, he forces them to bend to his will. This diagnosis isnât something you can combat and that makes him feel helpless. You can see that heâs spiralling, heâs used to being in control and now thatâs been snatched from him.
âIâm sorry that youâre sick.â You tell him, gesturing for him to take a seat on the couch across from you. âIt must have been a shock.â
âIt was.â Kristoff tells you as he sits down. He picks up the Bordeaux, his thumb chasing along the curvature of the wine glass. âIn that moment itâs like the world just stopped and everything I had done up until that point it didnât matter.  It feels like Iâm staring down the barrel of a gun and IâŚâ
Heâd shaken his head then before his gaze flickered up to meet yours.
âThis is the first real conversion I have had about it. You are then only one I can let see this part of me, the only one I trust to be vulnerable around. Thatâs why I need youâŚâ
You see your mistake almost immediately. Youâd forgotten what it was like to be around Kristof, how he manipulates the situation to suit him. Heâs intentionally pulling on your heart strings, strumming them the same way he did back then. The difference is youâve grown now, moved on, you know how to set boundaries.
âThatâs not going to happen Kris.â You say firmly. âWeâve been divorced three years now and it took me a long time to recover from what you did to me. Youâve never held yourself accountable for any of it, not the games, not the womenâŚâ
âYou want me to say Iâm sorry?â He interrupts you, his voice filled with ire. âFine Iâm sorry, but you were sad all the fucking time. What was I supposed to do when you decided you didnât want to put out?â
You lose your shit then because the audacity of this man astounds you.
âMy friend had just died. Iâm sorry I wasnât able to go down on you to help ârelieveâ a little stress before the Congressional Dinner.â
âThatâs notâŚâ He trails off, the muscle in his cheek twitching because the reason the two of you had gotten divorced was because youâd walked in on him fucking a Whitehouse Aide in your bed after picking up his tuxedo.  âThatâs not what I came here to talk about. I need you to come backâŚâ
âAnd I need you to get the fuck out.â You were on your feet at that point already heading back to grab your phone. âFuck, Iâll call Metro myself.â
Itâs the threat of a scandal that tips him over the edge. The idea of him being dragged out of his ex-wifeâs apartment in handcuffs for breaking and entering. You suspect in that moment he saw his future, declining health, his reputation in tatters and he blamed you, the woman who refused to be controlled by him anymore.
It had become a fight for your life after that because you had no doubt that he wanted to kill you. You could see it in his eyes.
When you wake up, itâs with an intense agony in your left side and a dry mouth. You try to move your hand to pull off the oxygen mask on your face but Aldenâs already intervening. His fingers gently curl around yours, guiding your hand back down as he raises to his feet so that you can see his face. You canât describe how comforting you find his presence so instead you squeeze his hand lightly.
âWelcome back, sweetheart.â He says fondly, his lips brushing over your hairline. âTrust me, youâve been missed.â
Love Alden? Donât miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.
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Time for more TriMax! I'm told we'll be reunited with the girls again soon....
Archive
Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10
Trigun Volume 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 1 Supplemental Research, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8
TriMax Volume 1: 1-2
Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 1, Chapters 3-4 below. (More detailed thoughts will be their own posts.)
Chapter 3: Bravo, Girls!
Ah, there are the girls already!
He did warn them that it might be like July....
Awww, that cupcake is HUGE!
Meryl's face. I don't think she likes being reminded that she's been through so much at her age. Or maybe she just doesn't like people talking about her age. Or maybe... she doesn't like all the rumors around the story versus the actual facts.
Vash using people as tools? Dude. It's like they don't even know the guy. They don't.
Woooow, way to dictate what makes women happy.
I sincerely hope New Miami is better than current Miami.
Oh, man. They straight-up note the hair color change here.
Oh, no! Her reports! Not only are they all over the floor, but they're also being insulted! Terrible.
Hahahahaha, Meryl's making faces behind her boss's back. TBF he deserves it.
So... the insurance agency decided that, rather than send two young girls out to guard this "most dangerous criminal," they'd send a former military man. This theoretically seems wise of them, but Vash is Vash.
Also, what military?? Best I can tell, there aren't other nations on this planet. The closest thing to a military you've got is gangs and maybe a few organized militia.
Dramatic Vash is dramatic. This time, in silhouette!
I can hear the *ching* of this guy's spurs as he steps off the bus. The fact that he's not wearing spurs is irrelevant.
Vash doesn't even try to pull one over on the insurance agency and pretend he's a Mr. Smith or whatever.
LOL, shotgun-launching suitcase.
Assassination attempt: failed.
What's up with the bottle on the string? Was... that how Vash opened the door?
Vash sees right through this guy. What's his name? Bardeaux Keele. As in, "Hai, I'm an assassin and I'm gonna Keele you!"
Somehow, I don't think this was part of his job description from the insurance agency....
LOL, now you done it, Keele. You gone and pissed off Wolfwood, and he has considerably fewer qualms about taking you out than Vash does.
Oh, honey. You're only in volume 1 of TriMax. There's no way in hell your next shot's gonna "finish it."
LOL, Meryl's entrance onto the scene here is amazing. I wonder how long she was watching before she decided to speak up.
Ohhhhh, she's gonna get this guy on a different type of insurance fraud. TBF, it's kinda on Bernardelli for not realizing it was a bad idea to hire someone named Keele.
I love how absolutely unphased Meryl is despite having THREE guns aimed at her and her life most definitely threatened.
Oof, instead she's thinking about all the life-threatening situations she's been in, and of Vash's goofy smile. I have thoughts on all this.
Ah, he done threatened Meryl and now Milly's gonna make him pay for it.
Vacation!? This is a hell of a vacation.
That face is not very convincing, Wolfwood. Just whaaaat are you planning?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Tabasco.
Meryl looks so happy about being carried away by the storm that is Vash.
Despite poo-pooing her reports, Meryl is still their second pick for Vash Babysitting Duty.
Chapter 4: Hero Returns
CW: Rape mention
This title page, though. He looks like he's in prayer.
Even though we've had a face reveal for Knives, he's still cast in shadows here.
There it is. A summary of Knives as he COMPLETELY misreads the situation and tries to paint himself as the hero.
Heh, I love how in this moment, the best insult Vash can come up with is to tell Knives he's not human. Which, of course, hardly works as an insult for Knives.
Geez. Vash thinks, "Forgetting brings too much sorrow. Remembering leads to everlasting pain." And then he chooses to remember.
Awww, he's so cute in his groggy wake-up phase.
That's a lot of coffins....
I wish I could do one-handed handstand push-ups like that. But I don't want to train for three hours every morning before breakfast. That sounds like self-murder.
LOL, Vash has been working up too much of a sweat even for Wolfwood.
Vash, when he hears another of his sisters is alive somehow.
Wolfwood explaining what Plants are to Vash is hilarious.
That's right; rape isn't about sex. It's about power. So if you're trying to drive other people out or show dominance over them, it does often fall into the mix right alongside murder.
It's played off, but Vash is well within his rights to cry here, I think. He cares a lot for humanity. Seeing them rip each other apart like this is bound to hit a note for him.
I love how much Nightow says about both characters and their relationship in just these two panels.
Dude. Vash's happy face mug.
Nightow is very dedicated to not drawing mouths on characters who have moustaches.
Brad?? THE Brad???
Yep, it's THE Brad.
Which face? Um. How many masks does Vash wear?!
In spite of all the time that's past, Vash recognizes Brad.
He snuck away from you, WW!
Time to get some new fancy gear! Huzzah!
"Lost technology for lost technology." Hahahahaha, these guys know what's up.
He genuinely is sorry, guys. He just didn't want to cause trouble.
Oh, Vash.... He looks so... empty at Brad's comments.
This is just going to dissolve into me posting a bunch of Vash panels because I want to slap some sense into Brad and give Vash hugs. But his face is so... resigned and sad and kind of hard here after Brad points out how much of a threat he could be to humanity. Like... he gets it, Brad. I guarantee you, he gets it. And he doesn't hold it against Brad for speaking the truth.
Vash is pleading with Brad. I love the close-up on his clenched fist. This isn't what he wants. But it's the way things are. And he's gonna do his best because he has to. For their sake. Regardless of whether they want him to.
Oh, Vash, my babygirl....
Hahahahaha, Brad is just jealous. Don't worry, Brad. Vash isn't gonna go that route.
Dude, what's up with that surgery tool??
What the heck? Who's crashing into stand steamer?? Rude.
LOL, WW crawling around with his bowl of... ramen? curry? soup? Whatever it is, it wasn't designed to be carried while crawling.
I feel like WW's chaos sense went off and he immediately followed it, knowing Vash would be there.
Misspelling of the word "custody" here....
Wolfwood doesn't get it. But Vash is trying to be patient.
Wolfy noticed Vash's new get-up. He knows he's looking at Serious Vash now.
Current favorite serious Vash expression:
Hahahahaha, Vash is dying after being called a disaster-prone freak. WW is also dying, but of laughter. Because it's true.
Oh, no. Vash has an idea. He looks way too mischievous for it to be a safe one.
Dramatic gun twirl!
VAAAAASHU ZA STAMMMMPIIIIIIDOOOOOOOO!!!
Hahahahaha, that's right. Lean into your violent reputation as a way to quell the pending violence and lead to a non-violent outcome. This is how Vash wiggles out of trolley problems.
"These are the tactics of a the man whom our fate rests upon." "All I'm seeing is a total nutjob!" Beautiful.
#vash really knows how to cause a scene#we'll allow it though#it's for the greater goods of love and peace#trigunbookclub#trigun maximum#volume 1#pancake thoughts
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Wait body horror? Hurt/Comfort? Yes please explain đ
Alright so I'll preface this by saying the idea came from this post (and the reactiosn to it).
I have a bad track record of starting projects and never finishing them so I'll just dump the semi-detailled summary under the cut ; maybe someday I'll write the story. Maybe (probably) I won't.
Content warning for robot 'gore'/torture and robot body horror (in a sense, I guess?). Also topics of trauma and depression.
The story was meant to be told in three chapters: Carcass, Limbo and Recovery.
- - -
Carcass begins with Bocoe, alone in a dark room somewhere deep in Eggman's lair, held up by chains hanging from the ceiling. Everything below his chest is gone. Cables and bits of plastic and metal hang loosely out of his torso. He's still conscious as two pairs of robotic arms are slowly and meticulously taking him apart piece by piece.
At some point he, Decoe and Bokkun tried to escape from Eggman's lair- but their boss' Badniks were quick to catch up to them. Realizing they wouldn't be able to flee much longer, Bocoe allowed himself to be captured to buy Deco and Bokkun some time so they could take an escape shuttle. Now as punishment for his act of mutiny (and, Bocoe assumes, to make an example out of him) Eggman is having him dismantled while still powered on, slowly- from the feet up. (This Eggman is uncharacteristically cruel, but I'm not really interested in being canon-compliant here). Bocoe has no idea how long he's been down there- his sense of time is completely gone. Most of his other senses too, actually. His sight is still there but the room is so dark all he can see are occasional sparks and not much else.
Bocoe and Decoe always wanted to run away together and take Bokkun with them, live somewhere peaceful... But as Bo feels something snap in his neck and his head drop backwards, lolling limply as it's only held up by a few thin cables, he knows this life is no longer for him.
- - -
Limbo begins with Bocoe "waking up". He doesn't remember losing consciousness but somehow, he realizes instantly that something is very wrong with his body. He can't hear. Can't see. Cannot feel anything ; as though floating in a complete void. He tries to move but even something as simple as blinking suddenly seems impossible. Then a single word echoes directly into his head:
"Hello."
He doesn't recognize the voice- because there is nothing to recognize. It's flat. Emotionless. It has no tone or anything that could make it distinct in any way.
"Bocoe."
Bocoe tries to respond and manages to awkwardly string a few letters together, before finally uttering a "hello" in a voice that isn't his- instead it is the exact same one that has been talking to him. There is a long pause and Bocoe briefly wonders if this is some kind of dying hallucination. Then suddenly:
"It's me. It's Decoe."
Bocoe is in shock, but as Decoe continues talking he realizes that he's telling the truth. De goes on to explain that Bocoe was trapped in Eggman's lair for nearly two months, until Sonic and his friends attacked the Eggbase (for reasons unrelated to Bo's predicament). Decoe was allowed to tag along and searched the entire base for Bocoe until he finally found him in the scrap storage room. Or at least, he found what was left of him: a broken motherboard, two processors and a hard disk drive. His entire body, every little piece of him had been stripped and destroyed. For nearly a month now Decoe had been trying to bring his consciousness back and only managed to do so today ; by hooking the surviving parts to a specially modified computer. It's a temporary solution, he promises. He's working on building a new body for Bocoe, just like his old one. For now, Decoe and Bokkun can talk to him by typing...
Bocoe is happy to be back. But being stuck in a simple computer is hell.
Aside from not having any senses of touch, sight, hearing, etc... Even his own feelings are reduced to basically nothing. Unlike his former body that was made specifically so he could be as close to possible as a living being, this machinery is horrifyingly simple. Feelings of joy, sadness, and anger are too complex for binary coding. It cannot process any of it, so even though Bocoe desperately wants to feel those things again he physically cannot experience them and is stuck as an unfeeling block of circuitry. His thoughts, too, are stunted- anything too complex overwhelms his systems immediately. He can only speak in short, basic sentences.
It's hell, but he's pushing through for the sake of Decoe and Bokkun...
- - -
Recovery starts on a beach. Bokkun is drawing in the sand with a large stick. Decoe is sat on a blanket, watching him. Next to him, Bocoe sits quietly. He's been in his new body for two weeks now and, slowly, is re-learning everything it has forgotten over the past year.
Walking. Speaking. Balance. Touch. Hearing. Emotions. He has to learn how to process everything again.
Bright colors make him dizzy ; strong smells and bright lights overwhelm him easily. He still needs Decoe's help to get up and walk. He still has nightmares about being disassembled and being stuck in a computer again. Then there's the unshakeable feeling of loss- a year of his life he will never get back. A year of watching Bokkun grow up that he missed ; a year of Decoe being forced to take his place as the little imp's caretaker. There are days where he can barely get out of bed.
Today, thankfully, is not one of those days.
Today he gets to watch Bokkun play in the sand, enjoy the sun on his face, the sound of the waves, the smell of salty air and Decoe's fingers entangled with his.
After an hour or so, Decoe asks him if he'd like to go home for lunch. Bocoe nods and as he tries to get up, he hears Bokkun drop his stick and immediately run to him to try to help. He slowly stands up and leans on Decoe for support, while taking Bokkun's hand. The three of them set off, talking about what to have for lunch.
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11 "Cloudbusting" - Kate Bush
writer Kate Bush
Seeeeeeeeeeee! [sirens wail] Alright, come out now chummy, we know you're in there.
Part of the UncoolTwo50 project, marking the best singles from 1977-99.
A story told through contemporary reviews, collated by rec.music.gaffa.
"In pop, Authenticity is what counts. Singing what you want to sing, no matter how stupid, instead of pandering to image or fashion. Kate Bush is an Authentic. An authentic hippy perhaps, but the public are now so hungry for that honesty that the very uncommercial "Hounds of Love" entered the charts at No. 1, whereas, just three years before, its equally off-the wall predecessor, "The Dreaming", languished in the cold. "Running Up That Hill" was "Hounds"' most obvious single. "Cloudbusting" -- the story of a man who invents a rain machine -- is blatantly an album track. Kate's luscious melodies are underpinned by a strident and remorseless chop of violins. But in a world of pretend groups like Eighth Wonder, even Kate's most indulgent honesty is refreshing. A No. 1."
â Martin Townsend, The Hit
"The song 'Cloudbusting' is said to be inspired by a book called 'A Book Of Dreams' and is about the relationship between a father and son. Our obscurity expert Sandy Robertson says this is undoubtedly the same book -- by Peter Reich about his unorthodox scientist father Wilhelm Reich -- which inspired Patti Smith's legendary song 'Birdland'. So there!"
â Snouds magazine
"SPOOKY singer Kate Bush's video team have been upset by a ghost. They had an eerie time in their four days of filming at the White Horse Hill beauty spot in Oxfordshire. "A local said yesterday, "They found it very disturing. They said they felt there was someone watching them all the time - but there was no one there." The hill is near Waylands Smithy where, according to legend, a ghostly blacksmith waits to shoe the horses of travellers. The seven-minute video is for Kate's new single 'Cloudbusting', which has just entered the charts. She plays 12-year-old Peter Reich, from whose Book of Dreams she drew the idea for the song."
â Daily Mirror
"Kate reminds me of those "astral" acquaintances I used to meet as a teenager on camping holidays -- unusual, unpredictable, but with a charm that always attracted me. Listen out for the stirring string section, an electric groove of Navajo red Indian drums and some British pomp rock. I'm a fan."
â Paul King, Smash Hits
"After the magnificent "Running Up That Hill", Kate returns with another dreamy breeze of a song. There's chugging strings, that soaring voice and a wonderfully evocative melody. Add to that a fascinating story line video and you've got another massive hit. Music to swoon by."
â Karen Swayne, Number 1
"The string sextet on "Cloudbusting" will wrap themselves round your nervous system and start to beat like a pulse, irresitibly. Kate's lyrics shift from harmless observations on weather conditions to glow in the dark yo-yos and hiding people from the government. The video apparently explains it all, but I really think she does this kind of thing deliberately, to be honest."
â Melody Maker
A personal note? Kate had always been on the fringes of my consciousness - a bizarre and slightly frightening witchy woman when she first appeared in 1978, a semi-regular on Swap Shop and Superstore, made unusual and vibrant contributions to Top of the Pops.
By 1985, I was properly into pop music, and able to properly listen to Kate's work. "Running up that hill" was impressive. "Cloudbusting" blew my mind. What is she on about? What is organon, how is she able to make it rain? The video, a little feature film with plot and story. Once heard, never forgottenâŚ
⌠except by listeners to Simon Mayo's Identi-hit quiz in 1991. Day after day, the planks would guess how the clue was for something different: "See my baby jive", "Stop look and listen", "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts". Never got through on the phones, and the jackpot built up to unimaginable proportions - something like 33 record tokens, an alarm clock, CD wallet, CD player, portable television, and priceless signed photo of the producer.
The Utah Saints remembered it, and got Kate's blessing to release something good, "Something good". By the late 1990s "Cloudbusting" was remembered as a cultural treasure from a cultural treasure.
"And then, of course, there's Cloudbusting - not by an stretch of imagination the stuff of the typical pop single. For a start, its inspiration lay in A Book of Dreams, the childhood memories of Peter Reich, son of socialist Austrian psychologist Wilhelm "The Function of the Orgasm" Reich, who believed that with his invention, The Orgone Accumulator, he could alter the earth's climate and create rain on command. For the song's suitably cinematic video, in which Reich is eventually arrested by US authorities for transporting his contraption over state lines, Donald Sutherland played the scientist and Bush, in boyish drag, his son, adding knowing twist to the closing refrain of "Your son's coming out". More remarkably, by this point Bush's commercial fortunes had turned. In October 1985, Cloudbusting went straight into the Top 20 and Top of the Pops screened the strange promo in its entirety."
â Tom Doyle, Q magazine, 1997
#kate bush#cloudbusting#cloud busting#hounds of love#1985#press cuttings#peter reich#the book of dreams#organon#one of the 50 greatest songs of the late 20th century#uncool two 50#uncooltwo50#pop music#20th century#1977-1999
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suicide
i don't know tumblr's guidelines, if there are any. but i thought i'd write a little and see how it goes.
thinking about the line "i've been stabbing myself with the handle of a knife and i wonder why i'm not dead yet" or something along that track.
i feel apologetic about how much i want to die. i hold a knife against my throat but i never push. i just wait for myself to fall on top of it.
the thing is, i don't hate living. i roll down my window when my mom drives fast on the highway and i see the trees i never get to see in the city and i feel calmer. i feel nicer. and i understand and appreciate the depth in which i've been created.
and i can appreciate all of that because i would be a fool not to. i understand that the way my atoms align is a pattern that predates thought, objective. this matter has seen many "firsts" many "primaries" and "primates" and still marches the way it does. it collects itself into a stream of consciousness so that i may look up at the sky and recognize when the moon is in view. some of my atoms might even be from the moon's dust, re-materialized into an unfit teen.
my brother told me that all my music is depressing when i thought i was playing a happy song. the deeper meaning i'm assigning to this is that i'm not as happy as i think i am. i'm not as inclined to death as i once was, by any means, but i still lick my lips at the glint of a blade. i imagine a thoughtless, painless moment and i breathe deep.
i hate smoking cigarettes. they make me think too much and turn me nauseous.
i'm very bad at staying on topic. it all strings together in my brain. that's in part something beautiful and something that makes me want to die.
the truth is that the only reason i'm still alive is so that i can swim and run and sleep and write things down. that's all i've ever wanted.
the truth is that the only reason i want to die is because my life has been throttled and constrained so that these pleasures are limited. they keep them from me and let me do these things for 30% of the year and try to make me celebrate when i'm allowed like a gift. (do you know this meme? mcdonald-rib.)
in truth, i don't dream for work. my wish is to be a farmer for myself and myself only. i want a lake i can swim in next to my house and long long lands i can run through with food i can eat until the end of time and animals i can love. i want a small living room and a bedroom the size of an entire floor of my house and a kitchen big enough for at least three people. i want to chop vegetables and eat meat sparingly and make my own clothes. i want to own a truck for emergencies like when i need baking soda or cables or something ungrowable and when i need to escape from my haven. i want to take testosterone and grow muscle through survival and cut my chest smooth.
just today i was thinking that i might not survive to the point where i can afford top surgery on my own. but i don't know if i can ask my mom for her insurance. i don't know insurance. that's part of the death bit, i think.
again, i'm off topic.
i've always wished for things i don't have. that's part of the death bit, too. this life i want is a life i don't have. i want to be able to be happy with what i have.
oh, this incessant string of fucking nothingness i've just written out is another reason on my list.
i don't know if i'd write a note. my blog should suffice, no? and if not that, my journal. and if not that, my twitter. and if not that, my tiktok, and if not that if not that if not that if not that if not that
what else do you want.
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Those Warm and Halcyon Days: Chapter 13
Tea for Two
Ao3.
First, Previous, Next.
Story under read-more.
âDraw it out through the palms of your hands,â Lysithea says. âLike itâs on a string. Just pull it out and let the magic flow.â
Veery tries, again. He does as she says, trying to focus on the magic within him, tracing the flow in his mind to his hands, imagining the magic coming out, but⌠he fails. Again. He sighs. âI donât know about this. I donât even know if I can do magic.â
âNot with that attitude!â Lysithea scowls. âTry it again.â
âWeâve been at this for weeks,â Veery complains.
She scoffs. âDo you have any idea how long it took me to conjure a harmless little ball of light?â To demonstrate, Lysithea opens her hand upwards, and a soft light appears over her palm, slowly drifting around the breadth of her hand. âThree months.â
Veery makes a choking, whining sound in his throat. âMonths?! I thought they teach everyone magic here at the Academy.â
âThey do,â Lysithea says. âThatâs with proper teaching, and even then, not everyone manages it. I had to figure it out from watching others and from books. Thatâs why you wonât take nearly that long â because you have me and the professors to teach you.â Veery hangs his head. He understands her point, but heâs still discouraged. âAnd as everyone keeps telling you, the first spell is the hardest. Youâre figuring out the very fundamentals of how magic works and trying to get your body used to using it at the same time. Try it again; I know it wonât take much longer.â
âYou really think so?â
âI know so! Youâre putting in a lot of effort, so of course, you will!â Lysithea smiles at him, but it quickly turns sinister. âAnd I wonât let you make that effort go to waste, so youâre going to do it one way or another.â
âAck, alright, sheesh.â Veery sighs again and scratches idly at his ear. With a deep breath, he closes his eyes and tries again to focus on the magic.
Itâs not⌠hard, exactly. Itâs just that itâs always been there all his life, so he has a hard time trying to identify it. He tightens the muscles in his thigh for a moment, then consciously relaxes them, focusing on the feeling, that singling out of a singular part of his body that he normally wouldnât think of. A trick Professor Manuela teaches him.
Magic doesnât feel like a muscle, but it doesnât act entirely unlike one either. Veery feels the flow of it outwards from his heart. He knows thatâs where the bulk of it is, so itâs easier to start looking there. He tugs at it a little, mentally, and like tightening and relaxing a muscle it flexes and relaxes in response.
âGood,â Lysithea says. âNow out the palms of your hands.â
Veery breathes â in, out. In, push the magic out. His fur stands on end. In, out. Thereâs a tingle on his palms, and Lysithea completely breaks his concentration with her yell, âThatâs it!â
He pins his ears back, wincing at the sudden noise. âWhat?â
âYou did it! The magic had no shape, so you didnât make fire or anything, but you expelled magic from your body. Thatâs the basis for every spell. You did it!â
Veery looks at Lysitheaâs proud grin, then down at his hands. ââŚI did?â
âWhat, do you think I donât know what Iâm talking about?â
âNo, no! You do! I trust you! I just⌠I donât know. It didnât feel any different than the last hundred times I tried.â
Lysithea chuckles, shaking her head. âIâve told you this before. It wasnât that you were doing anything wrong, exactly. Itâs just hard to get that first spell out. Like thereâs a wall there that you have to chip through. But you did it! Now, Iâm sure you can cast a spell if you try. Come on! Youâve been learning Faith theory, right? Letâs go stab Claude, I bet you can heal him.â
Veery squeaks. âWhat? Letâs not stab Claude!â
âWith the needle!â Lysithea rolls her eyes. âI didnât mean to actually⌠ugh, never mind. Hurry up, youâre casting a heal spell today, even if it takes until dinner!â
Lysithea leaves him no room to argue, dragging him by the arm towards the Golden Deer classroom, so heâs helpless but to follow her lead. All the way there, he wonders to himself, has he really done it?
If heâs honest, he thinks that learning magic is a foolâs errand, something heâll never truly accomplish. The elders speak occasionally of ancient agell, notably the dragons, but also some birds, using magic. In theory, there isnât that much functional difference between them all, but he canât remember ever seeing an agell do magic himself. As far as he knows, the skill, if the agell ever possessed it, is lost among his kind.
Truthfully, heâs convinced he simply doesnât have the capacity for it. Sure, the mages here say he has more than the average human in him, but he also knows that shifting requires magic. Thereâs every chance that shifting and casting as the humans do are mutually exclusive.
But he tries anyway, to appease Professor Byleth and Lysithea and Professor Manuela and even Dorothea, and for the sake of his own curiosity. (And there is a small, scared part of him that wonders if, by accessing this power, he will lose his power to shift â ultimately becoming more⌠human. The thought unsettles him deeply, and his skin crawls as he fights the urge to shift, just to prove to himself that he can, as Lysithea pulls him along.)
Claude is in the classroom, talking to Hilda. Lysithea grabs one of the clean needles from Professor Bylethâs desk (which are being kept there for Professor Bylethâs own Faith practice) and hardly takes the time to explain to Claude why sheâs stabbing his finger with it before she does so.
Claude makes a great show of the pain, Lorenz scoffing and Hilda giggling nearby at his theatrics, but his eyes gleam curiously as he holds his injured hand out to Veery.
âTry it!â Lysithea insists.
Veery watches Claude warily. âShould I justâŚâ He reaches up, unsure if itâs okay to just grab Claude like Lysithea does. He doesnât really know how to heal. Sure, heâs got the Faith theory, mostly, and Lysithea says he can expel magic now, but how do those go together?
âWell, if you canât, you can just kiss it better,â Claude says, grinning cheekily.
âI⌠donât think that would help.â Veery frowns.
âJust try it,â Lysithea insists. âYouâll never get it if you donât even try.â
Veery sighs and tentatively grabs Claudeâs hand in both of his. Covering the injured finger specifically, Veery closes his eyes and focuses on the magic. Thatâs the basis of doing it in practice, Lysithea says, so he needs to do that.
It takes so much focus just to get that much done that he almost forgets about the Faith.
Oh, Faith. As if Veery believes in⌠anything. He doesnât believe in himself most of the time, so he really doesnât understand how these people can have any faith in him. Everyone is so confident that he can do this despite him being probably the objectively worst person suited to Faith.
But fine. When he thinks he has the magic going right, he wishes, hopes for Claudeâs finger to heal.
And he opens his hands, releasing Claudeâs, revealing the irritated red and the pinprick of the needle.
Veery sighs. He knows this is what will happen, but still heâs scared to look over at Lysitheaâs face.
âTry again,â Lysithea says. âRemember what Professor Manuela taught you.â
âThe willpower and bravery to have faith in people, not the belief in the fulfillment, or even sensibility, of that faith. Thatâs what you should use.â Thatâs what Professor Manuela says.
More concisely, Dorothea says, âI think sometimes, the point is that you do it anyway, despite your doubts.â
Veery sighs, takes Claudeâs hand once more, and flexes his magic, pushing it out to bathe the wound. He canât do this. He knows he canât. Itâs pointless to even try. But⌠damn it. He bites his lip and feels the frustration well up inside him. He almost wants to cry, or purr, and just go hide away somewhere. Itâs ridiculous that heâs attempting this in the first place. An agell, a foreigner, a beast, who may or may not even be able to do magic in the first place, taking up the magic of FĂłdlanâs most faithful?
Only Professor Byleth can dream up something so absurd.
How many ways can this go wrong? How many ways can healing the prick of a needle on Claudeâs finger get Veery killed? It can offend the faithful, for one. Theyâll think him even more blasphemous than he already is and execute him on principle. He can mess up somehow, hurt Claude instead of healing him, and have the entire Leicester Alliance after his pelt. He can do it right and use up too much of his magic so that he loses the ability to shift â thatâs as good as killing him. Or even, with confirmation that agell are indeed capable of wielding magic, everyone in this room can strike him down, and then hunt down every other agell because beasts on their own are bad enough, but beasts wielding magic?
Veery sighs. He canât do this. There are so many reasons why he shouldnât do this, even if he can.
Yet here he is, doing this. Why? Just⌠because he wants to understand. He wonât ever understand if he doesnât push even a little. If he doesnât push past the boundary separating him from the humans, push past his own fear, push past this stupid test of Faith, then he wonât ever understand humans like he wants to, so⌠so this is what heâs doing now.
A pointless, worthless endeavor, likely to get him killed, for nothing but his own self-satisfaction and an even more pointless dream of his people and the humans living in peace.
It hurts so much because heâs so powerless. So scared, so completely and utterly out of his depth, but here he is, doing it.
Is this really Faith? Veery honestly does not believe so.
And yet, when Veery drops his hands, convinced heâs failed again, Claude grins wide, smudges the little drop of blood away, and holds up his healed finger for all to see.
He⌠does it? Veery stares, dumbfounded even as the others congratulate him. All he can think in that moment is that if this magic really is the goddessâ power, then she must be laughing her ass off. Clearly, she has a sense of humor to allow him such a power.
âI thank you for agreeing to meet with me.â
Veery shifts awkwardly, tail lashing before he can think that he should probably try to control such open displays of irritation. âYou make it sound like I had a choice,â he mutters.
Lady Rhea frowns, even that look on her face seeming unnervingly serene. âDid you believe that, because I am the archbishop, you had no option but to answer when I asked for your company?â
Shit. Heâs already messing this up. Oh, well. âYes,â he says honestly.
Lady Rhea closes her eyes and hums for a moment. âAnd if you had not felt obligated to come, would you have?â
Veery says nothing.
âI promise you, while we are here chatting over tea, you may treat me like a friend.â Rhea says. âI will not be offended if your answer is no.â
Veery sighs. Heâs gripping the front of his seat, between his legs, and his tail is still moving jerkily, betraying his discomfort. âNo. I wouldnât have,â he says. Honesty is probably the best policy. Veery isnât convinced he can pull off any lies more elaborate than what he pulled on Seteth about his Crest, anyway. And it isnât as if Seteth wonât have told her about his dislike for her. She already knows, Veery is sure.
âI see,â Lady Rhea says. âThat is a shame. Seteth is quite insistent that I make the effort to befriend you. He seems to think that you and I have much in common.â
Veery wrinkles his nose. âI⌠doubt that.â
Lady Rhea laughs gently. âI said the same, actually. But, despite his⌠caution, he is a very good judge of character. I trust him, so though I understand that you arenât fond of me, I would ask that you allow us both the chance to get to know each other better.â
Of course, she knows. âYou do understand why I donât like you, right?â Veery asks, because he honestly has trouble believing that sheâs sincere in the slightest.
âOf course.â She nods to him. âSince you have arrived, you have been exposed to the very worst of the church â both my own actions and of the faithful. You have every reason to be distrusting. I merely ask that you try to understand that those actions, at the very least, the ones made for the stability of FĂłdlan and of the church, were taken because there was no other option.â
âThereâs always other options,â Veery says. âYou all just donât bother to look for them.â
Lady Rhea chuckles. âAn answer I would expect from a visionary.â
Veery makes a face at that. âVisionary?â
âOf course. You are one who dreams of sweeping change, are you not? One who is working towards changing the way humans and agell both live. What are you if not a visionary?â
âA cat,â Veery answers simply, easily. Heâs not⌠not a visionary. Heâs not anything but a solitary cat who wants to see the world and understand what heâs looking at. One who wants the conflict to stop⌠so that he can live without fear for once in his life. Thatâs all.
Lady Rhea laughs, louder than before, as if heâs making a joke. Veery doesnât understand whatâs so funny. âOf course,â she says. âWell, I do understand your point. What I meant to say was that there was no better option for the good of the people. There were, obviously, many options available.â
Veery shakes his head and sighs. âLook, I donât want to⌠youâre wrong â those were people you executed, too â but Iâve had Seteth trying to debate me about this for weeks now and frankly Iâm not interested in talking about it with you. Seteth gave me all the arguments already; youâre not going to convince me that youâre right.â
Rhea hums. âFair enough. Let us speak of other things, then. And please, enjoy your tea before it gets cold.â
Veery eyes the teacup in front of him. Itâs prepared by servants, because of course the Archbishop isnât preparing her own tea, and Veery honestly canât remember if Lorenz says such a thing is gauche or not. Either way, heâs not eager to drink it. Call him paranoid, but heâs on edge just sitting here already. Not that he thinks sheâs poisoning the tea or anything, but he just⌠doesnât like it.
He sniffs the tea. It smells⌠fine. Bitter, maybe. Bitter is okay, Veery doesnât have anything against it. Heâs not very picky, though. Heâs gnaws on enough frozen plant roots just to survive that taste isnât high on his priorities.
He takes a cautious sip. Itâs⌠fine. Itâs kind of underwhelming, honestly. Mostly it just tastes like hot water. Thereâs hints of more there, some subtle lightness to it, but Veery isnât versed in the art of tea, despite Lorenzâ best efforts.
At least heâs pretty sure Rhea canât hide a poison in a tea with such little flavor. Not that Veery thinks sheâll poison him anyway, heâs just⌠been spending too much time with Claude.
âProfessor Byleth tells me that you have begun training in Faith magic,â Rhea says. Veery frowns. âIt is clear how proud she is of your progress. I hear you are already capable of basic healing.â
Veery shrugs. âProfessor Byleth told me to. Not sure why.â
Rhea chuckles. âYou know, I happen to be a skilled Faith mage myself. Perhaps our dear professor also sees those similarities between us that Seteth does.â
ââŚDoubt it.â
Lady Rhea sighs. âWhy donât you tell me about your training. Are you learning much about the faith?â
Veery rotates his teacup in his hands. Heâs⌠probably being unfair right now. Well, no, this lady executes people at the drop of a hat so he wonât call being curt with her unfair but⌠he can stand to be a little more helpful in this conversation. If he keeps being so testy with her, itâll just be a bad time for everyone.
âNot really,â he answers truthfully. âIâm still reading about the church in my free time, but it all seems kind of silly to me.â
âSilly?â Rhea blinks, looking for all the world honestly caught off-guard by his answer. âWhat about the faith is so silly?â
Veery shrugs. âI mean⌠what kind of religion is run by a proxy? If thereâs no goddess here to tell us what she thinks, why should we believe that the churchâs teachings are even what sheâd believe?â
âThe teachings of the church are based on the revelation given to Saint Seiros by the goddess herself.â Rhea frowns.
âYeah, sure,â Veery says. âIf you believe Seiros actually talked to the goddess. I mean, maybe she did, but thereâs no goddess here now, so whatâs her opinion matter?â
âThe goddess is always watching over us,â Rhea says, though her tone is surprisingly strained. âJust because she no longer walks among us, does not mean that we should not give her proper respect.â
ââŚSure,â Veery agrees. âJust⌠respect doesnât mean unquestioning servitude to the lady who claims to speak for her.â He shakes his head. âHonestly, even if she were here, Iâd be questioning you humans. Where Iâm from, gods come and go. Itâs not at all unusual for people to disagree with their gods. Gods are beings of immense power, so you have to respect them if only for that, but theyâre still people. They can still be stupid. Their opinions arenât the end-all be-all of whatâs right or what ought to be done. I just⌠donât understand the way you worship her. Thatâs all.â
Rhea takes a long breath. âWill you tell me about your gods? I donât know much about them.â
Veery debates this for a moment, and then decides that she asks, so she canât be that offended when he tells her what she wants to hear. Right? âNaga, for one, though there is a story of her saying that sheâs not a goddess. Sheâs supposed to be very humble, but humans and agell both worshipped her at one point.â
âNaga?â
âMhmm. Apparently, she was one of the last great gods before the mass extinction. Sheâs dead now, of course. All them except the first gods are. As I said, they come and go. The story goes that Naga died in the mass extinction, trying to fight it.â
âMass extinction?â
âYeah. Uh⌠I talked about this with someone else earlier. If all the stories are true, the mass extinction wouldâve been before your goddess came to FĂłdlan. Iâm piecing together agell tradition and your own scripture here, but I think your goddess returned life to this land sometime after the mass extinction wiped it out.â
Rhea blinks, then furrows her brow. âI see. What caused that mass extinction?â
âAnother god.â Veery shrugs. âAs I said, gods arenât always good or right. This one was determined to destroy the entire world. The only reason the world outside FĂłdlan and the surrounding area survived is because it disappeared one day. The land wouldnât recover on its own, though. Itâs just a wasteland until another god intervened.â
âHmm. You have very interesting stories.â
âIâve been told.â Veery shrugs. âThatâs just what I learned.â
Rhea shakes her head. âWell, that certainly explains your attitude towards the goddess. You said, all the gods except the first gods are dead?â
âYeah. I guess, depending on your definition, the first gods are some of the only âtrueâ gods. Most of the others were dragon agell, ancient and powerful even beyond the other dragons. The line is blurry, but the stories do draw a line between the regular dragons and the divine ones.â
âDragons?â Rheaâs eyes go wide. âDragon agell?â
Veery nods. âThere was a bunch of us before the extinction. Birds, wolves, dragons, rabbits. Dragons are easily the most powerful â powerful enough to be called gods after enough time â but theyâre still agell.â
âAnd the first gods? Tell me about them.â
Veery bites his lip. âOrder and Chaos,â he says simply. âThatâs what we call them. They created the world, the land, the first life, the agell, then the humans⌠everything eventually traces back to them.â
âThey sound quite important.â
âMhmm. Theyâre the only really immortal gods, in that they donât die even if you kill them. A lot of gods can linger, their power remaining in this world for generations and generations, even near-indefinitely, but only they stay forever.â
âIn a way, you could say that they are your parents, then?â Rhea asks.
Veery snorts. âI mean⌠yeah, I guess.â
Rhea smiles widely. âThen you do understand our relationship to our goddess better than you think.â
âNo.â Veery fights the urge to laugh. âNo. Not at all.â
âOh? The goddess is the mother of her people. As the first gods are to you. Is that not so?â
Veery chuckles, shaking his head. âThatâs true, but itâs not the same. In one of our earliest stories, one of the first gods was being stupid, so a bunch of their children went and killed them.â
Rhea makes a strange, distressed noise when she hears that, very nearly spitting out her tea. âYou⌠what?!â
âI told you,â Veery says. âThe gods arenât always right. Not even the first gods. We respect them, but they donât control our lives. That story is actually all about how we can control our destinies even when beings so powerful as the gods themselves start trying to use us as they please.â
Rhea sips her tea, composure back, though her next words are quite frosty. ââŚI do believe youâre right about Seteth after all. I cannot imagine what we might have in common.â
Good. Veery honestly doesnât want to be like Rhea. Still⌠âI wonder what heâs thinking in the first place,â Veery wonders. âWith trying to get us to get along.â
Rhea sighs. âI⌠may have an idea about that.â
âDo you?â
Rhea takes a slow sip of her tea before answering. âSeteth and I are⌠family, in a sense. A long time ago, we lost the people we held dear. Through that tragedy, we both found comfort in each otherâs friendship. I believe that, in the plight of your people, being hunted by an outside group, threatened with extinction, Seteth sees something of our home in you. The circumstances are⌠hauntingly similar, I admit.â
Veery ducks his head. âOh,â he says. That is⌠not what he expects. Heâs not sure what exactly he does expect, but⌠definitely nothing like this.
âTo be honest, I saw the same. It is part of why I welcomed you so readily into Garreg Mach when we met. I had hoped that I could give shelter to someone like me. Unfortunately, it seems I have failed at that.â
âI like the academy,â Veery admits. âThe students mostly, but I do like it here.â Mostly.
âIt gladdens my heart to hear it,â Rhea says. âAnd you are, of course, more than welcome to stay. Though, I will ask you to keep those stories about your gods-â
âTo myself, yeah. I know you hate even the idea of people thinking for themselves beyond the goddessâ divine dogma or whatever.â Veery sighs. How many times has he heard that sort of thing now? Too many. He knows already.
Though⌠perhaps the archbishop is not the one to get sassy with. Shit.
Rhea takes another deep breath. âThe culture in FĂłdlan is very different from your own,â she says carefully. âIf you stir up too much trouble, you could put yourself in danger. That is my concern.â
Says the woman who puts her academy students, and Veery, in danger every month for regular life-or-death missions. Usually, to clean up her messes. âOf course,â he says, testing his lying skills once more. âTrust me, Iâm more than aware of how dangerous humans are.â
Surprisingly, Rheaâs eyes soften with his statement. âI understand youâve suffered much at human hands.â
Veery shrugs. âLess than a lot of people. Iâve had a few close calls, but Iâve never gotten seriously injured from humans. They killed my parents for their fur, but thatâs the fate of just about every agell, sooner or later, if itâs not the winter that takes them.â
âYour parents⌠how horrible. Do you hate them? The humans who killed your parents?â
Hate? ââŚNo.â
âNo?â
Veery shrugs. âAlbinean winters are cold. Agell fur is warm. Thatâs all there is to it. Humans are hunters just like me. My parents were the prey that time, other times its rabbits or moose or seal. I donât hate them for trying to survive.â
ââŚI see. You have a kind heart.â
âI donât.â Veery shakes his head. âJust a fragile one.â
âFragile?â
Veery sighs. âIâm a coward. Iâm scared. Too scared to hate. Itâs a complete lie to say that those hunters didnât hate the agell as much as agell hate humans. Maybe more. I just⌠If I hate, then I canât be here. Iâd still be in the mountains in Albinea, living on my own. If I stay there, Iâll always be afraid of humans coming to hunt me for my fur. Nothing will ever change. Iâm not kind or brave, Iâm just scared and tired. I want this fighting between our people to stop so I can go back to my mountain and live alone in peace. Thatâs all.â
ââŚScared, hm?â Rhea furrows her brow, looking deep in thought. âPerhapsâŚâ She sighs. With a shake of her head, her attention turns right back to Veery. âMay I ask⌠why do you live alone, anyway? You are so friendly with the students; it is hard to imagine you are not lonely all on your own.â
âIâm not,â Veery says honestly. âI like being alone. Iâm friendly because I like learning about people, too. Thatâs all. Iâm sure anyone can tell you that I need to be alone a lot, even now. I get, ah, whatâd Professor Manuela say? Grumpy?â
Rhea smiles again. âYes, I remember.â She lets the conversation lull to quiet for a moment, and then asks, âIs there anything you wish to ask me? I fear Iâve been controlling the conversation somewhat.â
Anything Veery wants to ask Rhea? A lot, but heâs not sure how to ask any of it without sounding confrontational. Whatâs safe? Veery bites his lip, thinking. âWhyâŚâ he asks. âWhy was the Sword of the Creator in Saint Seirosâ casket?â
Rhea blinks, taken aback by the question. âI am afraid I do not know,â she says. âThe casket was sealed long before my time as Archbishop, and the records only indicate that Saint Seirosâ remains should be in there. I imagine that the swordâs presence is a gift from the goddess. A sign sent to show her favor of your professor.â
Veery frowns, unconvinced. âThen what happened to Saint Seirosâ bones? Shouldnât the church be concerned about that?â
Rhea smiles gently. âYou need not worry yourself about the churchâs affairs. Please, allow me to worry about Saint Seirosâ remains.â
Thatâs⌠not an answer. ââŚOkay,â Veery says. After thinking for a moment more, he asks, âWhy would the goddess make weapons out of agell remains and grant them to humans to kill more agell?â
Rhea sputters. âExcuse me?â
âDoes the goddess hate agell that much?â Veery asks, trying to wrap his head around this narrative. He probably shouldnât tell Rhea he even knows this much, but if anyone is going to know, itâs her and sheâs already been remarkably tolerant to his blasphemy, so she clearly has some level of trust that heâs not going to openly blaspheme in a way thatâll destabilize the church.
âI- Iâm afraid I have no idea what youâre talking about. What is this about the agell?â Rhea asks, still off-kilter.
Veery shrugs. âWell⌠theyâre not exactly agell remains, but theyâre close. Actually, Iâve been thinking recently that theyâre made of dragon remains. Iâm not sure where she wouldâve found those, but if anything survived the extinction itâd have to be them. Or at the very least, she couldâve harvested the remains left behind from the extinction.â
âDragon?â Rhea shakes her head, trying to regain her composure. âWhat, exactly, are we speaking about?â
âThe Heroesâ Relics.â Veery frowns. Either Rhea doesnât know about the Relics, or she really doesnât know anything about agell to not guess that heâll figure it out. âThose Crest Stones are identical to agell hearts in every way except size and the power contained in them. They even transform people into beasts. I didnât think about it at first, but that black beast that the Lance of Ruin turned into could be a degenerated dragon. It was⌠vaguely reptilian.â
ââŚI see. So, you think the Relics are made from agell bone?â
âThe dragons, specifically,â Veery says. âBut why did the goddess make those weapons â did she? â and why give them to humans to fight the agell? That just seemsâŚâ Veery shakes his head.
ââŚTo fight the agell?â Rhea asks carefully.
âMhm.â Veery nods. âThe âdarkness from the northâ that your Book of Seiros talks about. Isnât that the agell?â
Rhea sighs and bows her head. ââŚI suppose there was no hoping you would not figure that out.â She raises her head to look Veery in the eye. âWhat do you think about the Relics?â
Claude asks him something similar, a while ago, on the march back from Conand Tower. Veery frowns. âTheyâre⌠the people theyâre made from wereâŚâ Veery shakes his head. âThose Relics are filled with so much pain and hate. Iâve only seen one up close, but⌠its heart was⌠grotesque. Corrupted to the point that⌠I just feel sorry for those people. Whatever their final moments were, I cannot imagine they were pleasant, to be filled with such a horrible grudge for so long.â
Rhea tilts her head, looking at him curiously. âYou can⌠feel the hearts of the Relics?â
âOf course, I can. Agell can do that with each other. When I attacked the black beast in Conand Tower, when I touched it, I⌠my heart connected with it, in a way. I could feel its grudge. IâŚâ He shivers. âI donât ever want to touch a Relic again.â
ââŚIncredible. After so long, to think something of them remainsâŚâ
Veery sighs. âJust⌠just pain and loathing,â he says. âNothing thinking, nothing intelligent. If there was ever a person in the heart at all, something growing and living, itâs definitely gone. All thatâs left is⌠I donât have any better word for it in your language but a grudge. That happens with our hearts, too. Lingering feelings remain. People say that our souls are in our hearts, because even after we die other agell can hold our hearts and resonate with those feelings.â
âI see,â Rhea breathes, a little weakly. âI did not imagine you would feel such a thing from the Relics.â
âOnly one,â Veery says, shrugging. âItâs not surprising, if Iâm right about what they are.â
âEven soâŚâ Rhea furrows her brow contemplatively. âI⌠hope you do not mind me changing the subject again, but⌠I am curious what you think of your professor.â
Veery groans. âWhich professor? Or did even you forget that Iâm not actually a student?â
Rhea chuckles gently. âProfessor Byleth. And I have not forgotten, but I have heard that you are as good as a Deer among the students and from Professor Byleth herself.â
He shakes his head. âProfessor Byleth is⌠I like her. Sheâs nice, althoughâŚâ
âAlthough?â Rhea prompts.
âSheâs⌠kind of weird, isnât she? Even among humans. Not in a bad way. Actually, I think sheâs easier to be around than most humans, if only because she doesnât think itâs necessary to talk all the time. The gods only know what sheâs thinking, though. I still have no idea why sheâs making me study Faith, especially since Iâm not even her student.â
Rhea giggles. âIt seems our dear professor has adopted you. Even if you are not officially a Deer, you are very much her student.â
âYeah, she said the same.â Veery frowns. âI donât understand why, though.â
âPerhaps that is simply her way,â Rhea smiles enigmatically. âShe is very attached to her students, and you have been training and working with the Deer on missions more months than not now since the start of the year. It should not be so surprising that she considers you one of her own.â
âI guess.â Veery shrugs. âHumans are still weird.â Rhea laughs. He sighs. âSo⌠you didnât answer me before. Why make the Relics at all? Why put Crests in humans? I donât⌠I understand that the humans and agell were at war, but according to our stories, weâve been warring since we were born, basically. I donât understand the goddessâ motivation for doing such things to the humans and agell both.â
Rhea stills. âHer reasons for the Crests and Relics⌠Her children were being threatened. Does she need a greater reason?â
âFor putting her enemyâs power into the blood of her children?â Veery frowns. âIt seems⌠off, to me. Something doesnât quite make sense. I canât pinpoint it, butâŚâ
âPerhaps there is more to the story that has been lost to history,â Rhea says carefully.
âThere always is,â Veery protests. âBut I mean⌠the Lance of Ruin, at least, it was⌠thereâs something wrong with it. I havenât seen many agell hearts, but even if they were killed, if that power was taken unwillingly, that doesnât explain that horrible, vicious destruction inside it. I canât imagine that a goddess that looks at a wasteland and uses her power to give life back to it would condone, much less make and enable the use of, such terrible things.â He sighs. âUltimately, theyâre still just tools, but⌠does she really hate agell so much that sheâd do something like that?â
Rhea frowns at her teacup, countenance almost⌠wistful. Pained, in that nostalgic, tragic way. Eventually, she says, âIt pains me to hear you doubt the goddessâ love for you.â
âIf she does love me,â Veery says, âthen sheâs the only one. Especially among her faithful.â
This, it seems, Rhea has no comeback for.
âTo be honestâŚâ Veery says, âeverything I know about the goddess makes me believe she hates me. Just like all you humans do, she hates me simply for being agell. Not just me, either; everyone not from FĂłdlan. Iâm⌠not sure we can ever really live in peace so long as you all follow a goddess who teaches you to hate us. Faith is just too important to you humans, you donât ever doubt what you think the goddess is telling you, so⌠nothing we say or do can convince you that we arenât worthy of contempt and death.â
âVeeryâŚâ
âAm I wrong?â He looks Rhea in the eye as he asks, because even though this can get him killed, he needs to know. âYour church teaches your followers to hate outsiders. In a culture with such blind faith, how can anything change your minds? It doesnât actually matter what your goddess believes, because thatâs still what youâre teaching people she believes, isnât it?â He shakes his head. âYour church is what people follow, not a goddess. So, it doesnât matter if the goddess loves me or not, because the church hates me. So long as your church keeps going the way it is⌠my dream of peace is impossible.â
Rhea ducks her head. âThe goddess does not hate you or your kind,â she murmurs. âShe loves all of her children.â
âThat war, those Relics, are in large part what put the agell on the brink of extinction,â Veery says. âYour church says thatâs the goddessâ influence. Your Book of Seiros calls us evil.â
âThe War of Heroes was not the goddessâ-â Rhea cuts herself off quickly and takes a stabilizing breath. Her eyes meet his steadily, pleading with him. âThe goddess has seen fit to bless you with her Faith. This alone is proof of her favor. Please, trust in her and you will see that she loves you as she does all her children.â
Veery refuses to drop his gaze from Rheaâs, frowns, and does not trust her words in the slightest.
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I keep thinking about how... like, out of the Three Heroes of Light, Susie is the one that has the least Interaction with the darker\meta aspects of the narrative.
Like, if you just look at it from the perspective of Susie, this IS just the story of a pair of troubled kids who discover a magical secret fantasy world, find ou that theyâre the Chosen Ones, go on magical adventures to save the world and make a lot of fun friends on the way. She doesnât know about stuff like Kris being mind-controlled by some otherworldly entity, or that this is supposed to be a world where no oneâs choices matter, she doesnât even seem to fully understand the way Dark Worlds are created based on inanimate objects in the Light World (since she assumes Lancer âditchedâ them when he turned into the Jack of Spades card).Â
But Susie is also the one out of our main trio thatâs most likely to chafe and rebel against the puppet strings thatâs been forced on her, and I think not âin spite ofâ but BECAUSE her perspective is pretty much entierly focused on the âsurface-levelâ of the narrative and she doesnât even know those puppet strings are really there.
Kris clearly knows more about the darker underbelly of the game if only because them being mind-controlled is a huge part of said âdark underbellyâ. But they canât do anything about the Playerâs control over them, or about the whole universe railroading both them and the Player outside of some vauge Emoting in certain places. Ralsei.... seems to know quite a bit, but he also seems very content just following the rails he has been forced on - and he seems quite intent on keeping everyone else on them as well (whatever itâs fully consciously or not, and whatever his justifications for it is, we canât quite be sure yet.)Â
But Susie... SUSIE is the one who's always the first to question The Way Things are Supposed to Go if it seems weird to her, sheâs the one to call bullshit on stuff that just seems silly and arbitary, sheâs the one who seems to go âoff-scriptâ the most out of the three.
SHE LITERALLY CHANGED THE WAY BATTLES ARE PLAYED BECAUSE SHE REALIZED BEING CONSTANTLY ORDERED BY KRIS WAS A STUPID WAY TO GO ABOUT THINGS
Because sheâs doesnât even KNOW that thereâs some Powers That Be that are intent on keeping her on a set path - itâs much harder to keep her under control (and when she does know, like with the Prophecy, she doesnât really CARE).
And because her point-of-view is so DIRECT, so focused on the World as it is presented to her - that actually makes her better equipped to notice the Cracks even though sheâs not consciously looking for them. She doesnât notice that stuff is Off and Weird because sheâs intentionally looking for evidence of stuff being Off and Weird, but because she DOES think this world is nothing but the lighthearted fantasy adventure sheâs been told this is - so whenever it doesnât quite fit that expectation, she IS going to notice it. And sheâs gonna call it out.
Susie currently is mostly unaware of the darker and stranger elements beneath the surface, she only experiences the storyâs surface leve. But that doesnât mean sheâs stupid or that her perspective is shallow. Susieâs perspective is direct and grounded. She has a better understanding of that âsurface levelâ then almost anyone in the story. And it gives her a great appreciation for the adventures and the world-saving, and for her friends and the character arcs they go through, and also gives her a unique insight of the ways the darker underbelly interferes with the Fun Adventures that she honestly wants to have.Â
And I feel like her direct, grounded POV of the Narrative is going to be more and more important as the story goes on. The more weâll explore the strange and screwed-up things going on in the depths of the story, the metaphors and the meta-narrative - it will be more and more important to have Susie along to remind us that YEAH all of these things are important
But also, this is also the story about a pair of troubled kids who discover a magical secret fantasy world, find ou that theyâre the Chosen Ones, go on magical adventures to save the world and make a lot of fun friends on the way.
#deltarune#deltarune spoilers#susie#ralsei#Kris#susie deltarune#ralsei deltarune#kris deltarune#deltarune meta
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Prey Part 2 [Venom x Eddie Brock x female!reader 18+]
[WARNINGS/TAGS?: Female coochie-owning reader, lots of smut!!! with some plot, some implied? stalking, pet names, claws an monsters and all that good stuff]Â
[This chapter is SFW but the rest of the fic is major NSFW]
Summary: You canât stop thinking about Venom after that night, so you give in and call Eddie to try and get some real answers...
I keep forgetting to upload on here lmao check my AO3 instead if you want regular updates.
No smut this time :( thisâll be the only chapter like that though, I just wanted to set up the relationship a little better
Part 1
You hadnât slept that night. After Venom had his way with you, Eddie had kindly walked you back to your apartment. You didn't see Venom again.
When you got in, you'd locked the doors and windows twice over. Three times, in fact. Especially as you let the events of the night settle in, you wanted to ensure you were alone.
Lying in the light of your lamp, you turned the receipt over in your hands. Eddie must have slipped it into your coat pocket in your dazed state. Written on the back was a number. You recalled, the last thing he'd told you was that you could call him whenever you liked, just to talk, or anything. You smiled weakly. You supposed this was pretty normal for them, pick up some random dorky girl on the street after following her for a few days. Destroy her chances of ever enjoying sex with a human ever again. Yeah. You bet the number was a farce, just a random string he'd come up with to make you feel as though he cared.
But fuck, you couldn't stop thinking about them. Venom, more than anything. You'd had your fair share of fantasies sure, but to actually have a monster of that sort exist and be right in front of you? You didn't think it had even set in yet. He plagued your mind even more than Eddie had for the past week, all you could think about was his warm tongue reachi-
You sighed and turned the paper over for the millionth time that night. All that was printed on the other side was a corner shop receipt for 9 bars of dark chocolate. Nothing worthwhile. Although 9 bars did seem excessive. You clambered out of bed. Stumbling over in the dark, you softly unlatched your bedroom window and cracked it open.
After that you finally managed to sleep.
-
Despite your considerations last night, you were calling the number. In your last moments of consciousness you'd vowed to yourself that you wouldn't even try it, but it was a little too late for that now. It rang once, twice, three times and then went silent. You sighed.
âHello?â you heard Eddieâs voice. He sounded half asleep and you mentally scolded yourself for not even considering the early hour. âH-hi?â
âOh, y/n! How are you?â You were shocked to even hear his voice, quite honestly. You had convinced yourself that the call wasn't even going to go through. So much for planning ahead. âI'm...good,â you managed to splutter out. âThat's good, that's good, he-â you heard some commotion from the other end, like the microphone had been covered. âI'm so sorry, Venom wants to know if you're...aching and he won't shut up.â You heard various growling noises and couldn't help but laugh.
âYeah...it's a good job I'm not working today, I can say that much.â It was true. Despite venom being surprisingly gentle with you, you supposed being suspended in the air like that wasn't great for your body.
Eddie chuckled, finally sounding relaxed, âyeah, heâs not really used to getting close with anyone apart from me and I have enhanced strength with the whole alien body thing so...â
You were reminded of how close they were yesterday, and reddened at the mention of them being intimate together. You supposed it made sense, really. If you had an alien in your body you'd be fucking every night. âReally? I thought you'd be picking people up left right and centre to fuel his hunger.â âHa, yeah you'd think. But nope, you're the first person he's shown interest in in a long time. We tend to stick to ourselves, but I guess he couldn't contain himself.â
Still not convinced, you were shocked at the idea of Venom genuinely wanting you. You were more than happy, clearly, but you weren't sure if you could even trust them.
âYeah maybe don't do the whole following people around thing anymore, hey.â âFuck, I'm surprised you even said yes after that last night, god. I don't know what came over him, he just wouldn't let it go. Nothing like that ever again.â
âWithout consent, anyway,â you said without thinking. He laughed again, âoh god heâs screaming to talk to you again now.â
You blushed and gnawed at your lips, âhi venom.â âHello y/n, I would like to-â you heard him at a distance before Eddie clearly shut him up again. âOkay this isn't going to work,â he muttered, âI don't want to come across too strong but do you...want to get coffee or something later? If you just wanted to be done with us that's totally fine, I'll delete your number and you'll never hear from us again.â
You stuttered, was he asking you out? This really was not how you'd expected things to go. You thought back to Eddie, the man who you'd been so intrigued by for so long. There was no denying you were itching to know more about them.
âIs that what Venom wants?â
âOhh yeah he wants that real bad. He's practically clawing at my brain right now. I want it too though, I'd love to talk to you and get things straight. We share feelings you know, it isn't just Venom that's hungry.â
You stumbled, âokay, sure.â âI'll be at the coffee shop off the main road at noon, no pressure to show up if you change your mind.â âOkay,â you breathed. You gave your goodbyes.
-
After hours of mentally battling yourself, you were finally stood at the door of the coffee shop. You hoped this was the right decision.
It was fairly empty when you walked in, and immediately you saw Eddie wavin  over from a booth at the back of the store. Staying hidden, you supposed they'd gotten pretty good at that.
âHey,â you could hardly meet his eyes as you slipped onto the seat opposite him. âHey! I'm glad you showed up.â He pushed a mug toward you, âI hope hot chocolate is okay.â You nodded, âthanks.â
A few moments passed of deafening silence.
âSo...you wanna tell me why you have an alien inside you?â
He chuckled, âoh yeah, probably a good idea.â As he spoke, he grasped his cup with one hand and tapped his fingertips on the tabletop with the other. You ripped your eyes away, hoping he hadn't noticed u staring at his hands. âI used to be a reporter back in San Francisco, and I did a piece on the Life Foundation. Long story short turns out they'd been harbouring aliens there and I end up with this fucker latching onto me.â
You recalled the name of the Life Foundation, but had never given it much thought. He proceeded to explain that Venom was what they called a symbiote, and needed a match of a human host to survive and prosper.
âAnd you two are a match?â you asked. He nodded. âYou're kind of like soulmates then, really,â you smirked at him. He laughed, âI suppose so.â
At that, you found yourself at ease with Eddie. He told you more about their past, and how they were on the run. âAs it turns out, it's not the easiest thing in the world to avoid police investigation when youâre hosting a person-eating symbiote.â
Oh yeah, that was something you hadn't had time to unpack. âYou...really eat people?â âYeah, we like to stick to âbad guysâ though. And he can survive on chocolate for quite a while.â You recalled the receipt he'd given you, fondly. The whole eating people thing, you'd have to get used to.
âDo you mind it?â you asked. âWhat?â âI mean, do you mind him being there all the time?â âI did at first. But he's part of me now. Weâve separated a few times and it's just...quiet, and empty.â
You smiled, as strange as it was, it was sort of sweet. You suddenly felt a little self conscious, like you were forcing yourself onto them. They were symbiotic, that's what Eddie had said. They certainly didn't need you around.
Interrupting that thought, you felt a sensation at your thigh. Glancing down below the table, you nearly jumped out of your seat. Venomâs head nuzzled your leg and grinned up at you.
âVenom!â You whispered, glimpsing around the shop to see if anyone noticed him. âDon't worry, I'm hidden, sweet thing,â he growled softly. Having him so close to your lower half again lit up every nerve in your body, and you worried that he'd do something that would really arouse the suspicion of everyone sat around you. Instead, he just rested his head on your thigh and looked up at you.
You blushed and tentatively glanced at Eddie. âWhy does he like me?â you murmured. He reddened himself, then, âI-well because you're cute? And the way you looked at us on the train that first time...â
âYou like us too don't you, y/n?â
Your eyes shifted over Eddie's face, and then down to venom. You softly stroked his head and he made somewhat of a purring noise. A tendril gently wrapped itself around your fingers, warming your skin in an alien hand-hold. âI do like you,â you breathed.
The tendril shifted tighter around your hand and caressed you in a strange but comforting way. You risked a look at Eddie, to see him staring intently at you. His eyes were dark and he nearly looked...hungry. You could get used to that.
You spoke again, âSo, you have any more stories?â
Part 3
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restless sleep | myg
PAIRING yoongi x reader
RATING explicit. 18+
GENRE smut. fluff. established relationship. sleeping beauty!au.Â
WC 4.5k
SUMMARYÂ When one of you is always asleep, spending quality time together becomes easier to do in dreamworld, especially when youâre clear with Yoongi exactly what it is youâve been fantasizing about.Â
WARNINGS AND TAGSÂ explicit conversation about somnophilia and consent. consensual somnophilia. fingering. mouth fucking. grinding. dirty talk. unprotected sex within an established relationship. creampie. cum play.
ANÂ Please read the warnings and tags before diving into this piece! If it doesnât toot your horn, donât worry! And a little reminder: this blog is a space of sexual exploration into consent and kink in my own life and that this piece is a part of that, although in a different direction than Iâve gone before. With that in mind, I ask that you be respectful of this new exploration. Thanks!
With that out of the way, @joopiterjoon gets all the love and finger hearts from Namjoon today as they helped me beta this on a whim this afternoon. We can thank them for helping me string together this story to where it is now. And of course, sending love to @thatlongspringnight who somehow finds a way to becoming an integral part of my creative process no matter what it is Iâm working on.Â
This fic is part of the Wish Upon a Star Collab. We have a full month of Disney inspired stories, so keep an eye out for them!Â
Šwwilloww Do not repost, translate, or use my stories without my permission.
restless sleep
Itâs been so long since youâd been to the ocean. You missed the sea breeze, that familiar and spiteful twang to the air. You missed the ocean, lapping at the tops of your feet as you walk for hours. You missed wandering into the gentle swells of the waves on impulse until the water reached your collarbone. You would only stop your walk into the ocean when you were far enough out that you could hear the breakers crashing behind you. And then you would just stand there â or float, if it were deep enough â and let the rocking rhythm of the ocean moving towards the shore roll through you.
The best part would be that as you fell asleep that night in some hostel bed or in the warm cocoon of a hammock, as sleep began to lap at your consciousness, your body would remember the rocking. The push and pull of water around you. Completely dry, you were surrounded by the water, the careful, pulsating embrace of the sea.
Yoongi promised he would take you.
âSoon, I promise, soon,â he would tell you, gripping your hand and smiling at you after you told him about another dream about the coast. When Yoongi made a promise, it was going to be kept.
But there were things to be done first. After your marriage, life exploded with expectation, with responsibility. Even as you settled into the gentle sway of life in your new home, there were obligations that kept you tied here.
So, in dreams, you chased the ocean. Hunted down the salted air, the sand between your toes, and the feeling of being wrapped up in something so much larger than you.
âWhat if I told you I wanted you to be able to do⌠anything to me.â
Yoongi lowers the book heâs been reading, looking up at you over the thick spine. You stand at the foot of the bed, wearing one of your softest, largest shirts. You often wore something like this to bed, only to shuck it off over your head the moment Yoongiâs hands came to rest on your waist. Â
His brow presses for a moment, mouth opening in that cute little gape.
âWhat â You donât mean anything, do you?â
You laugh and plop onto the bed, crawling towards him. Why does it have to be so goddamn big? You think, eager to be in his lap.
Despite being a deep sleeper, you were also a restless sleeper and the reason why Yoongi had invested in such a large fucking bed.
A large fucking bed, he chuckled to himself.
Not only were you wild in bed, you were wild in bed, often switching positions at least six or seven times during the night. It was a frequent occurrence to find you half slumped off the end of the mattress, ass in the air, as if you attempted, failed, and collapsed in the middle of trying to climb into bed. Yoongi often woke to find you starfished across the blankets, a leg thrown across his abdomen and three fingers shoved into his mouth. If he wasnât such a deep sleeper himself, if he wasnât so fucking in love with you, he might be annoyed by it. So he just bought a bigger bed and made sure to thoroughly wear you out before you fell asleep. You were happy to oblige with his exercise suggestions, especially when they involved rope, roleplay, or pushing the boundaries of your desire for each other. With Yoongi, it was always safe to explore.
Finally settled in his lap, you take the book out of his hands and toss it towards the nightstand. You reach out for the thick lock of hair that has fallen into his eyes and brush it back, smoothing out the press of his forehead. He softens beneath your touch.
âWhen I say anything â I mean anything.â Your lips purse for a second, thinking about how to say the next thing. âThereâs something that thrills me about the idea that Iâm yours, entirely. That Iâm here, for you, for every single one of your needs and wants andââ you smirk on the last word, â â desires.â
âSurely you canât mean anything.â
âConsider this my blanket consent statement.â
âSo if I insisted on cooking dinner every night of the week? You would just let me?â
You frown. âIâve just offered you a blanket consent statement and your first instinct is to take on more of the household duties?â He chuckles.
âWell, then. That andâŚâ Yoongi shifts you in his lap and you gasp. Heâs still wearing his jeans, but you can feel the press of his hard cock through the fabric against your bare pussy. âWhat if during those dinners, I asked you to crawl under the table, onto your knees. Take my cock out of my pants and suck me dry.â
âIâd happily oblige you,â you say, your voice wavering a little as you press your clit against the rough fabric, seeking any kind of friction to ease the quickly rising ache in your cunt.
âIf we were out swimming in the lake and I wanted you there and then.â
âThen youâd have me, there and then.â
His voice drops, becoming quieter, darker, as his hands dip to your waist, underneath the shirt. âIf I wanted to tie you up, spread wide and willing in the front room for everyone to see, and fuck orgasms out of you until you couldnât cum anymore.â
âI know,â you say, brushing your lips against his. âthat youâre actively trying to dissuade me of my desire, but instead youâre only convincing me that this was absolutely the right thing to bring up. See?â You take his hand and, lifting the fabric of your shirt, bring it beneath. You guide his hand to the apex of your legs to where wetness has gathered and is now dripping.
âYouâreââ
âNot wearing anything beneath this. Do you see how willing I am to be anything for you, my love? To be fucked by you? Used by you?â You let your lips trace the angle of his jaw towards his ear. âTo be your pretty little sex toy?â
His breath hitches in his throat.
âTell me you donât want this and Iâll drop it. I wonât bring it up again,â you whisper.
âThatâs not it. Not it, not one bit.â
His eyes glimmer with mischief.
âThen where is your hesitation?â
âJust contemplating when and where to begin.â
âWhat would you say if I told you I wanted you to fuck me while I was sleeping?â
In a moment, Yoongi has flipped you so that youâre beneath him now. Your breath rushes out of you as your back lands on the mattress. He crawls up your torso, an animalistic fire glinting in his eyes. He takes the hem of your shirt between his teeth, guiding it up your chest until your breasts are exposed to him.
âIâd say that sounds like an excellent idea.â He continues to move up ever so slowly until heâs face to face with you. In one swift movement, you feel his clothed erection press up against your cunt and you gasp. âTell me more. Exactly how do you imagine me fucking you?â
âGoodââ You gasp as he presses his hips to yours, your hand automatically reaching for his arm for grounding as pleasure shoots through you. âI imagine you fucking me good.â
Yoongi chuckles.
âDonât I always?â
âY-yes.â
âI need you to be more specific. When can I fuck you?â
âAnytime,â you say. âYou can fuck me whenever. Whenever you want.â
His nose traces up your neck until his teeth latch onto your earlobe.
âYou sure?â
âY-yes.â
âAnd how can I fuck you?â
âLiterallyââ Your hands wrap around his neck, pressing him to you as he kisses and nips at the sensitive skin on your neck. â--however youâd like. I donât think youââ You gasp as his hand drifts down to your center, two fingers sliding through your folds. But you grit your teeth and keep going. â--you understand what a blanket consent statement entails.â
He pulls back just enough for you to see the determination in his eyes.
âOh, I do, my love. I just want to hear from you exactly how you imagine this little fantasy playing out.â As he slips a finger inside you, you bite down on your lip. âSo tell me. Tell me about this fantasy of yours.â
You struggle to keep your breath under control as he begins pushing his fingers deep into you. He is still wearing his rings â just the way you liked it â and the shocking contrast of the warmth of his body and the cool metal of the jewelry slipping inside you always had you gasping.
âI want youââ You squeeze your eyes shut as he curls his fingers against your g-spot. âI want you to fuck me in whatever way comes to mind.â Another press, another gasp. âWant you to take what you need. Whatever thought crosses your mindââ He slides a third finger into you. Begins pumping in and out as he watches your face and drinks in every flicker of pleasure. âWanna be your fuck toy.â
âAnd what else do you want?â
âWanna wake up with your cum inside me.â
Sleep feels like a fucking boulder, resting on Yoongiâs chest. Crawling out from underneath it is painful. Difficult, even. If he wakes in the middle of the night, itâs with squinting eyes and a bit of an ache in his limbs.
But tonight when he wakes, his chest heaves, his breath coming quickly. He blinks as the wisps of his dream seem to linger around his mind, both intangible and utterly drowning:
Your fingers, wrapped around his throat, pressing so lightly. You smiled down onto him, that smile he couldnât erase from his mindâs eye. Was it the pressure on his artery or the delight in your gaze that made his head dizzy?
He sucks in a deep breath, feeling his cock twitch against his stomach.
Fuck.
A light snore echoes from the other side of the bed.
Youâre stretched out on the pillow next to him. No matter where he slept on your extra large bed, you always seemed to gravitate towards his presence. Tonight, your hand is reached out towards him, fingers wrapped lightly around his bicep.
Your face half pressed into the pillow, your cheek rounded and reflecting the lightest stream of moonlight.
Your lips, pressed so sweetly together, he could imagine himself slipping inside, feeling the warmth of your tongue lapping over him, the divine heat of your mouth sucking him dryâ
His eyes shoot open.
The last time you two had tried this â fulfilling your little fantasy â you had been so excited that you woke up as soon as his dick touched you. It had ended in all of your sheets stripped from the bed and your head and one arm draped off the end of the mattress as you both panted like youâd just run a marathon without any training. It was good. Sex with you was always good. But it hadnât been what you wanted.
Looking over you now, youâre dead asleep. With the ghost of a smirk playing against his lips, he pulls himself up to sitting and comes to kneel by your head.
You look so serene while sleeping, he almost doesnât want to disturb you. But as your lips part and you take a long, deep breath, his dick twitches against his stomach and he realizes: He wants this just as much as you do.
Wrapping his ring-clad fingers around the base of his cock, he gave himself a slow stroke up and down the length, stroking from half hard to a little more than half hard. Carefully, he presses the tip to your lips. They part without him pushing.
Your tongue flicks out, licking up the bead of precum that glimmers at the tip. You hum sleepily in delight. While you were a restless and responsive sleeper, you were also a notoriously deep sleeper. Yoongi pushes the head of his cock into your mouth, your jaw widening, your tongue flattening instinctively at the intrusion.
You purse your lips and suckle softly at the tip of his cock and Yoongi can't help the hiss that leaves his mouth.
"Even asleep," he whispers, "You're such a good little pet for me." He reaches for you, smoothing the hair out of your eyes and coming to grip your head tenderly.
Ever so gently, he presses further into you, feeling the warm and wet heat of your mouth envelop him. He doesn't go too far though. He's not interested in gagging you awake with his cock. He'd much rather watch your eyes flutter open, mid orgasm. Fighting the urge to throat-fuck you - because that is always the urge with you - he strokes in and out of your warm and waiting mouth with deliberation, using his grip on your head to maneuver you to his whim. With each pull, his cock gets a little bit harder.
When he's fully hard, he slips out of your mouth with a slight pop.
In your sleep, your brow furrows and you sleepily reach out for him, fingers tracing over the now-unoccupied pillow. If a sleeping person could look disgruntled, you're the perfect image of it.
"Don't worry, baby," he murmurs. "I'll give you exactly what you want."
Yoongi moves the thin sheet aside and you mumble a little as the cool air of the room sweeps over your skin, raising goosebumps to the surface. Beneath it, you're the image of perfection. Every curve, every roll, every little mark and bump and detail you might have found issue with radiates with the mark of perfection: the mark of you. Tonight, your rambunctious sonambulations have brought you into a strange but oddly convenient position. Belly down, face half pressed into the pillow, knee pulled up to your side. The position adds a slight curve to your lower back and accentuates the round hill of your ass.
"Perfect," Yoongi whispers, pressing a hand to your lower back before letting his fingers spread wide, letting his hand cup the rounded swell of your ass, watching the way your flesh moulds to his touch.
Hand wrapped around the base of his cock, he glides the head of it through your sopping folds. A small sound of satisfaction slips from you as he presses against your clit, and you adjust in your sleep, pushing your ass up even further for him, already pushing towards the pleasure building in your lower abdomen. With a bit more bravado, Yoongi pushes more of his length through your lips, gathering the moisture there to coat himself thoroughly.
Thereâs a part of him that just wants to go like this, rutting slowly against your ass until he cums, spilling himself into the small of your back. But you had been specific in what you wanted â and, after all, who was he to deny you?
He notches the head of his cock against your entrance and after a deep breath, begins to push inside. A shaky breath racks through him as the tight walls of your cunt wrap around him, drawing him in, drawing him closer. He slides a hand up your spine, tracing your body as he continues to push inside you, working his cock into you inch by inch.
Finally seated fully within you, he lets out a quick breath, a laugh almost. You, wrapped around him, is as incredible as ever. Warm. Tight. Wet.
Slowly, he begins to move, pulling in and out, watching the way his cock emerges from your cunt coated in your arousal, watching the way your ass jiggles just enough when he slides in all the way. Your body accepts him, tightens around him, sparks him with pleasure. Your breath stutters as he sets a pace.
âMm,â you murmur. âYoongi.â
He pauses for a moment, gaging whether you are awake or not. But your eyes stay shut and your limbs stay leaden.
Are you dreaming of him? he wonders. With his cock buried inside you, will you notice the warmth that spreads through your abdomen? Are you dreaming about him fucking you, taking his pleasure â or are you somewhere else entirely, your body responding in tandem to his actions?
For him, the answers to the same questions cut like clear and cold water through his mind. Pleasure, rearing her head in his consciousness.
He wants to touch you.
He pulls out of you and you whine at the loss of contact, hand drifting through the sheets around you in search of him, coming up empty. But his touch isnât quickly lost â his hands grip your hips, turning you gently and slowly until youâre laid out for him on your back. You smack your lips sleepy, a sloppy hand coming to brush the hair in your face. When he crawls over you, he settles his weight just enough on top of you that his presence drifts down through layers of dream, layers of sleep and into your sense of presence.
He fits right where heâs supposed to. On top of you, surrounding you, within you. He was there in your dreams too, sitting beside you in some kind of strange and foreign garden, speaking softly and in words you know but donât understand. Youâre drawn up through the dream, greens and pinks shifting into the deep purple of the room, the dark red of the pleasure burning low and hot in your abdomen. Dream, mid-sleep, waking: through it all there is one constant.
Yoongi.
Your eyes flutter open, splitting from the warmth of your mind to the blanketing darkness of the bedroom. He watches. Â
âSh, baby,â he murmurs, brushing the hair off of your face. âRelax. You can go back to sleep.â
âCloser,â you mumble, the word half spoken. Your arm wrapping weakly around his back.
He chuckles, pressing his cock against your belly once more, grinding into you with the lightest of pressure. Heâs hard. Painfully hard.
âIâm going to fill you up,â he whispers in your ear. âFill you up with my cum.â
You hum, fingers slowly spreading down his arm. âGood boy.â
Heâs not sure if itâs supposed to be deriding or complimentary or what, because a yawn is already spreading across your face, eyes fluttering closed shut again. Whatever you meant, it comes out sweet. Contented.
He lets his hands run over you, tracing the dip of your waist up towards your chest, hands skirting the swell of your breasts before taking them beneath his palm, kneading them softly and slowly. You sigh into his touch. This, getting to look at you, laid out beneath him, sleepy and still â itâs something else entirely. It is the act alone, an indulgence, a new way of looking at you. Getting to take you in completely and without boundary.
For the second time of the night â or early morning â Yoongi grips his cock and begins to ease slowly inside you. He grips your hip for leverage as he pushes inside, maneuvering your body to his will. Your walls part willingly for him and he slips easily within you. Laid attop you, it feels as if he is notched against you, within you, like a puzzle piece. Thereâs no way he could go any deeper, reach any further into you. When he begins to move, hips pumping at a dangerously slow pace he chokes a little at the pleasure of it all. Â
Youâre entirely still beneath him as he fucks into you â and quiet too, beside a couple of hums and sighs that slip from your lips when he hits a particularly sensitive spot.
Sleep and wake are entirely blurred at this point. You hang suspended between the boundless embrace of dream and the guiding touch of the physical world. It feels like the sea, that rocking pleasure that rolls through you, tide taking you where it will. The pleasure, though partially in the movement of him against you, is in the letting go. The release as the current carries you to an unnamable location.
Body pressed against yours, his hips rocking in and out of you at an instinctual pace. His breath begins to build in his throat, a quick pant.
âFuck,â he grunts as the walls of your cunt pulse around him. He holds his voice back, and the word barely brushes against you.
You stay silent â somewhere between sleep and presence â and the worry that heâll wake you has entirely slipped from his mind. Beneath him, you are you, vessel of his love, his affection, as well as the means of the pleasure that you draw from him over and over and over again. The combination swirls dangerously in his mind, love, lust, animalistic desire combining in a heady mix until heâs not sure which way is up. All there is is you, your body, the pleasure of it all.
Your eyes donât open again as he fucks you. He lets his desire set the pace â agonizingly slow in one moment â then pounding into you, chasing the reeling sensation in his gut in another. Is this what it is to let himself go too? To release himself to the limits of his own want?
âDo you feel me?â he whispers softly, quiet enough that he knows you wonât hear it â at least not in a waking sense â as he continues to rock against you, his cock reaching deeper and deeper into your tight warmth. He imagines that his words, that the deep gravel of his voice, will drift down through the layers of sleep and into your mind nonetheless. And they do, settling into you with a warm thrill. You reach for him, want him closer, want him deeper, want him to sink into every cell of you. Your hand smooths against his back, dropping lower to the small of his back.
âCan you feel me inside you, filling you, taking youââ The words are more of a grunt now, him forcing the sounds over his tongue, holding back the fire that burns in his abdomen just enough to linger on the edge of the drop. âDo you feel how good you feel around me? Do you know what you do to meâWhat you make me into?â
His breath comes in pants, the sharpness flickering across your skin like the flame of a candle. He continues to grind his cock into you, pressing his body as tightly to yours as he can.
âDo you know how good you are for me? Letting me use you like this? Letting me fuck you and fill you up?â
He grunts as your cunt clenches around him. Each thrust pushes you deeper into the mattress, his hips now ramming into you with power and desire.
âFuckââ he hisses. âIf only you knewââ
Your hips press into his changing the angle just enough that your cunt clenches even tighter around him. Your eyes flutter open, sleepily locking on his in the darkness of the room. His gaze burns against yours, a desire set free within his expression that you havenât seen before. Through the haze of sleep you hear it:
âCome for me. Come around my cock. Come while I fill you up.â
You gasp as your orgasm rushes through you. Back arched, mouth pressed into a perfect o, sleep-ridden limbs wrapping around Yoongi, pulling him impossibly close.
He grunts as his pace quickens, pounding into you, stuttering as he reaches the final edge. His head falls against your shoulder, hips still rocking against yours as he bites and nips at your neck. Finally, he presses his hips into yours, stilling with a groan as he spills within you, cock twitching and spurting.
Your combined breaths shudder against one another as you slip down from the heights of your orgasm.
When he pulls himself from you, you whine, again, reaching for him. He watches for a moment as his cum begins to seep from your still clenching cunt, mouth watering at the sight. You begin to squirm a bit, still distressed from the loss of contact.
âSh,â Yoongi murmurs, settling between your legs. âSleep now.â
Your fingers trail down your stomach, coming to wake enough to feel the soft hush of bliss that radiates through your body and the stickiness that is coming to spill onto your thighs.
âLeave it inside,â he says, his hand coming down on top of yours to still your actions. âI want to see it drip from you.â
You hum in understanding as he lays his head down on your thigh, watching as his cum begins to spill out of you. His cock twitches at the sight. You, filled and marked by him. The thought quickens his breath, stirs the once-satiated ache once again. He chuckles at the thought. Filling you again and again until heâs entirely spent.
He watches the flow of the white liquid ease out of your spent cunt.
âSqueeze for me,â he whispers, and you oblige him, your instinct to please strong even when half-conscious. As you clench and even more cum leaks from your cunt. It slows, but only for a moment before heâs gently pushing two fingers inside you again, to see how much will spill from you. Then, he presses his mouth to your lips, licking a broad stripe up, collecting the taste of you and him mingling on his tongue before swallowing, his adamâs apple bobbing. He looks up at you, your chest rising slowly and steadily as you drift towards sleep. He lowers his head. Again, and again he licks at your cunt, until any trace of his own cum has disappeared.
If it could, your cunt would be gleaming with how thoroughly heâs cleaned you up. As he smiles at his handiwork, he realizes heâs entirely hard again.
A couple minutes of rest, he thinks. Then, heâll fill you up again, leaving you to find another load of his cum dripping from your thighs as you wake, just as you had begged him to.
Sleep is already sneaking up on you, the tendrils of dream and of darkness seeping like salt water into your mind as you settle into the comfort of Yoongiâs body wrapped around yours, holding you safe and tight. You grumble happily as he pulls your body tight to his, so that you are both laid on your sides, your ass notched perfectly against his cock.
With stillness, you fall back into the dream of the garden. As warmth spreads through your body, the ground fills slowly and steadily with water, consuming everything in its wake. Together with Yoongi, his body pressed to your back, you watch with a calm and steady heart as the world around you turns into an ocean.
For once, you donât stir once until morning, until the sky warms to a deep purple, streaked with the low burn of dawn.
Šwwilloww Do not repost, translate, or use my stories without my permission.
THANK YOU FOR READING!
-> if you enjoyed this, please consider telling me what you think by leaving a comment, sending an ask, or reblogging! -> want to read more?
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#yoongi smut#suga smut#bts smut#smut#marriage!au#established realtionship#wishuponastarcollab#boyfriend!yoongi#ficswithluv#bangtanarmynet#bangtanhq#btscreatorscorner#btsgoldnet#btswriterscollective#bts#btsguild#house of ddaeng#hyunglinenetwork#ksmutclub#magicshopnet#fluff#yoongi fluff
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Storm Bringer Spoilers (9)
I finally finished the translation of the last part in the epilogue where it is explained why Verlaine was still alive and how he became after that. Verlaine and Rimbaudâs relationship is just so sad :(Â
Please feel free to re-translate. Just be aware that I donât speak English or Japanese as my native language so I may make a few mistakes here and there. Also, some meanings might be lost in indirect translation.Â
...
Going back in time.
The Demonic Beast Guivre appeared in the wood. Adam blew himself up. Chuuya opened the âgateâ and defeated Guivre.
Four minutes and thirty seconds after that.
The place was the site of the collapsed highway overpass. Crushed foundation materials, concrete, wires, steel frames, cylindrical forms and such were scattered and piled up like dead bodies.
On the top of that place, Verlaine was in the progress of vanishing.
He couldnât bend the tips of his fingers. His breathing was shallow. His vision was so dark and hazy that he couldnât even see the stars. Verlaine is nothing more than a sealed string of codes. When the singularity lifeform that acted as his main body disappeared, his heart was slowly stopping due to the life-sustaining energy being depleted.
Verlaineâs thoughts were just as shallow and slow as his breath. Even on the verge of being engulfed into the hollow of death, his heart didnât flinch one bit, nor did it seek for anything.
So this is death, Verlaine thought in his disrupted consciousness. It is not such a big deal as I thought. No groaning in pain, no crying of regrets, no distraught with fear either. It is flat and thoroughly empty. In the first place, my life is not a life that has anything to regret at this point. It is a life that should not have been born from the beginning. I didnât live in a way as to regret anything either.
Itâs just that, I caused troubles to so many people. The French government, my assassination targets, Port Mafia, brother. In the end, I didnât get anything, even with all of that. That only is like a stain my lifeâs trail, that I regret a little.
Well, whatever. As you can see, I will die soon so forgive me.
His fingers grew colder and eventually he didnât even feel the cold anymore.
His heartbeat weakened. And after a brief spasm...
It stopped.
His heart.
A few tens of seconds passed.
Verlaine realized that he was still breathing. At the edge of his field of vision, he saw something red. He turned his eyes to that.Â
A crimson red cube was passing through his chest and surrounding his heart. That thing was making his heart move.
What the hell is this? Verlaine was confused. It was not because he did not know what the crimson cube was. He was confused because that was something he knew so well.
Why is it here?
âThis is the first time I saw you in such a terrible state.â
How nostalgic was that voice.
Verlaine couldnât believe his own ears. And when the person entered his sight, he started doubting his eyes too.
âNo, no...â, Verlaine spoke in a whispering voice. âThis canât be happening. You canât possibly appear here.â
âExactlyâ, the person nodded. âHowever, showing up in the most unlikely places, at the most unlikely times, isnât that what a spy is?â
That was Arthur Rimbaud.
A fuzzy outer jacket. A thick scarf around his neck. A pair of earmuffs made from rabbit hair on his head. Long, black hair and somewhat gloomy eyes.
He was the person who saved Verlaine from the lab, and his partner. And the person Verlaine betrayed.
The subspace created by the crimson cube was the sign of Rimbaudâs skill. All substances inside it can be manipulated at Rimbaudâs will.
âPaul, what have you learnt in the world of spies?â Rimbaud sounded surprised as he asked.
âThat if you donât throw away your feelings, you wonât be able to complete the missions, it taught me that much. But what are missions? And what are feelings? Is that to vent out all of my hatred towards human? Or is that to get a little brother? I rushed into this without knowing clearly which one was the mission, and this is the result. If I hadnât told brother the way to stop Guivre, I would have been able to kill off all those hateful humans.â
âAhh... I see, you are Rimbaudâs hallucination.â Verlaine said as if he was ridiculing himself. âYou are the illusion that I see on the verge of death, the death reaper my guilts are showing me. Otherwise, there is no way Rimbaud who died one year ago would appear here.â
âIâm not a hallucination, neither a reaper. I am a ghost.â Rimbaud shook his head. âI have been waiting for you, in this country.â
Verlaine stared at the other silently, as if he was trying to understand what that existence over there actually was.
âNo way, there can be no ghosts.â Verlaine finally shook his head. âNot because itâs unscientific. If you were a ghost and not an illusion, you would not be saving me like this. You would definitely curse me to death.â
âWhy?â
âI betrayed you, and tried to kill you.â His cold voice echoed through the night.
Rimbaud didnât say anything, he looked back at the collapsed Verlaine with calm eyes.
âWhatâs with those eyes? Be mad at me more, resent me more, punch me, kick me, strangle me, Rimbaud!â, Verlaine screamed, still lying on the ground. âI shot you from the back. Thatâs why that explosion happened. You were caught up in it and lost your memories, then died in this foreign country not even knowing who you were. If you are a ghost, then there is only one reason that you became one. Thatâs your grudge towards me, isnât that right, Rimbaud!â
âItâs the opposite.â, Rimbaud shook his head. âI waited for you because... I wanted to apologize.â
âApologize? For what?â Verlaine frowned, not getting what he just heard.
âI wanted to help you. And I thought that I was helping.â Rimbaud leaned forward, holding his hand over Verlaineâs chest. âBut what I actually gave you, was nothing more than the one-sided sympathy of a man who pretended that he understood. I canât allow myself to just apologize. I have always been thinking about what I could give. And I finally got the answer on the verge of death. This is it.â
Under Rimbaudâs palm, the space cube grew bigger.
The thing that was at Verlaineâs chest earlier started to expand as if it wanted to shallow his whole body. Then it became huge enough to shallow both Verlaine and Rimbaud inside. That was the subspace created by Rimbaudâs skill. Inside it, Rimbaud is capable of doing anything. Except for bringing the dead back to life.
That exception seemed to be happening.
Verlaine noticed his own fingers twitching. They bent. It wasnât an illusion. His eyes were also moving. His muddy vision gradually became clear.
âThis is...â
Verlaine moved his arm. He twisted and raised his upper body up. He looked at his palm, at the back of his hand, squeezed it, then released it again. He felt his fingers being warmed up by the blood flowing in.
He tried to ask what was happening so he looked at Rimbaud who was there.
Rimbaud was not there.
He collapsed.
By Verlaineâs side.
âWhat is this?â, Verlaine asked in shock. âI see, you... you used your skill on yourself?â
âA method that I could use only once in life.â Rimbaud said with a faint smile on his face. âBut it worked well.â
<The skill to turn humans into skills>
That was Arthur Rimbaudâs skill.
Transforming dead humans into a skilled lifeform, and using them freely inside the crimson subspace. The person who is turned will have the memories and physical capabilities of their past lives, they can even use skills. It is a skill worthy of a spy that is considered the most elite in Europe, the heresy of the heresies.Â
Rimbaud used that skill on himself.
âItâs nothing to worry about. I am already dead.â Rimbaud said weakly. âWhat is left here is just information. But even if it is like that, I feel good. Because I could leave this to you.â
Rimbaudâs body started to glow in red. The way it glowed was familiar to Verlaine.
A redshift. (*TN: A term referring to an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy. In astronomy, it happened when an object is moving away from us. Good luck Googling.)Â
âWait!â Verlaine who realized what was going on, reached out to the collapsed Rimbaud.
âWait, Rimbaud. Donât disappear!â
âBecause you didnât like my birthday present.â Rimbaud laughed apologetically.
âJust take this as a birthday present instead. Happy Birthday. I am happy you were born into this life.â
After that, the subspace contracted sharply, sucked into Verlaineâs heart and disappeared.
All that remained was the debris, and Verlaine, and the cool breeze of the night.
Verlaine walked two, three steps with the stunned look on his face. He looked around then sat down on the debris.
âHa...hahaha.â He looked down and let out a dry laugh.
âHey Rimbaud, you waited one year for me just to do this? For something like this?â
Verlaine knew, what Rimbaud had done.
To save him, Rimbaud had turned himself into a self-contradictory typed singularity.
Rimbaud, who had turned himself into a skill, used that skill again on his own self who was born as a result of that. Then he continued to apply that skill on his new self that was born. And by repeating this progress, he created a self-contradictory typed singularity. Then he gave that singularity to Verlaine, in place of the Demonic Beast Guivre.
Verlaine tried to stand up but he didnât have enough strength and dropped his knees on the debris. He was weak. Perhaps, the singularity that Rimbaud created did not have an infinity output like the unlimited energy that the usual self-contradictory typed singularity emits. He could no longer use his inexhaustible gravitational skill like he did before.
But Verlaine didnât find it particularly regrettable.Â
Because he was regretting the thing that he just lost that very moment more.
âWhy, Rimbaud?â Verlaine looked up to the sky. âWhy did you smile at the end? I betrayed you, and you died because of that, you know?â
He knew the answer. He just didnât want to understand.
Rimbaud, the man who freed him from Faunus and gave him the freedom to live.
Rimbaud, the man who trained him and raised him into a spy, the person who got through all the dangerous missions with him.
Rimbaud, the man who shyly handed him his birthday present.
âWhy did you smile?â Verlaine spoke with a trembling voice. âIf you turn yourself into a skill, you are no longer human. You will be nothing more than a piece of surface information with a humanâs memories and personalities. You knew that for sure. Still why did you wait for me? Why did you have to go that far for someone like me, when you didnât even know if I would come or not?â
Verlaine finally came to his senses.
The reason why he let Chuuya know how to defeat the Demonic Beast Guivre at that time.
He hated humans. He thought that it would be okay if everyone died. Yet, he gave out the hint to destroy Guivre. That was because he didnât think that everyone should die, equally.Â
There was only one exception.
One person worthy of affirming human beings.
âSorry, Rimbaud.â Verlaine whispered behind his clenched teeth. âIâm sorry. Iâm sorry. Iâm sorry. Iâm sorry. Iâm sorry. Iâm sorry. Iâm sorry. Iâm sorry I couldnât live up to your friendship. Iâm sorry I didnât thank you when I received the birthday present. I am finally grieving the fact that you are not here anymore now...â
Verlaine said so with his trembling voice, as he sat still and looked up to the sky with his eyes closed.
He remained there for a long, long time, looking at the night sky.
...
--------------------------------------------------------------
...
Time pours on everything equally.
Verlaine didnât die. After surviving with the life he got from Rimbaud, he was confined in Port Mafiaâs underground shelter. That was what Verlaine wished for. There was already no place for Verlaine in the outside world. He had lost most of his gravitational skill and the only place he could escape the long and big hands of Europe was the hideout deep underground.
Also, he had no interests in the outside world. There wasnât anyone he wanted to kill, nor anyone he wanted to meet. Apart from Rimbaud.Â
And Rimbaud was no longer there.
At first, he just sat in the basement and spent all his time reading and writing poems. When he became bored with that, he started doing what Rimbaud used to do. Training the younger generation.
He hammered his assassination skills and knowledge into the Mafiaâs elites in an underground training space. Gin, Izumi Kyouka, and many more.
Those mafias under his discipline all became top-class assassins in a short period of time.
Verlaine didnât reveal his feelings to anyone. He never told his apprentices nor the Boss the reason why he kept desiring that crippling life underground.Â
When he was not training his apprentices, he just sat on his wicker chair, waiting for something. He never told anyone what he was waiting for. If he was asked persistently, he would just say âfor the stormâ. No-one knew what that storm was supposed to mean.
Six years later, Verlaine now has become an indispensable central figure in the Mafia, and risen to the position of one of Mafiaâs five executives.
He is still sitting on his wicker chair, waiting for his storm even today.
...
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Leviathan's Odyssey 5:
God
*Mammon is happily about to break into Lucifer's study yet again when he hears the sound of banging metal and high-pitched shrieking coming from the kitchen... Knowing what the likely source, he swallows his reluctance in order to go check on what's happening*
*Beel is in the kitchen when he runs in, having narrowly dodged the flying butcher knife that lodges into the wall next to his ear⌠Little Satan is strapped into a high chair, wailing at the top of his lungs and banging his fists against a nearby countertop*
Mammon: BEEL!! What the hell is goinâ on in here!? Werenât ya in charge of feedinâ him??
Satan: DIE!!!! DIE!! Diedie!!!
*a frying pan appears to float off of its hook and goes flying towards Mammonâs face but Beel manages to grab its handle before it knocks him out*
Beel: I was! But I think I made him madâŚ!!
Mammon: *gulps when he sees the metal pan just an inch from his nose, but has to push it aside quickly* Heâs ALWAYS mad, Beel! What'cha do this time??
Beel: Nothing! *ducks a riocheting butter knife* I justâŚ! WellâŚ
Mammon: Spit it out already!!
Beel: I was trying to teach him how to eat, okay?? But he poked himself with a fork and lost it!
Satan: DIIIEEEE!!!!!Â
*previously thrown kitchen supplies lift off of the floor and start flying at them for a round two. Beel rips a cabinet door from its hinges to shield them while Mammon takes the frying pan to bat away the murderous forks and spoons*
Mammon: Beel!! We agreed that we werenât givinâ him that stuff yet! Heâll kill us all!!
Beel: Yeah, yeah I know but itâs not fair! He should learn how to feed himself like the rest of us!
Mammon: Nowâs not the time for âfair,â Beel!!
*apparently hearing the commotion himself, Asmo storms into the kitchen wearing nothing but a bathrobe and a beauty mask - but even covered in cleanser, he look PISSED*
Asmo: WHY IS IT SO LOUD IN HERE!?!
*Mammon grabs Asmo by the arm and pulls him out of the way of an iron cauldron careening his way. Asmo shrieks at the sudden pull and clutches onto Mammon for dear life following the close save*
Asmo: What is the little monster doing now?!? Why are things flying??
Mammon: Quit callinâ him a monster and hell if I know! Itâs not like he knows any spells!!
Beel: *whacks away a meat tenderizer aimed at Asmoâs cheek* I think heâs just really mad!
Asmo: *throws his hands up in despair* Of course of all the babies in all the world, we managed to get one that radiates homicide!!
Mammon: Shut your trap and go wake up Belphie! Luciferâs still with Diavolo so heâs gotta be the one to put him to sleep this time!
Asmo: Me?? Why me??? Belphie wonât get up for me, make Beel do it!
Mammon: Are ya blind AND stupid?? I need Beel here with me! Just scream or something âtill Belphie wakes up! Itâs all youâre good for anyway!
Asmo: Shut up, you money-grubbing dirtbag!!
Beel: NOT THE TIME!! GO NOW!!!
*Asmo yelps a bit at the volume, but he manages to run out of the kitchen without much injury*
Satan: DIE!! Die! Die! DIE!!
Mammon: *pops his head out from behind their cover* Yeah we get it little buddy, ya donât like us! But would it kill ya to cut it out??
Satan: DIIIIEEEE!!!!!!
*Mammon quickly jerks back behind the "shield" as a set of five knives all lodge themselves into it*
Mammon: Fuck, okay nevermind!!
*it only takes a couple minutes of fighting off the cutlery for Asmo to come back with a drowsy, but upright, Belphie in tow*
Belphie: Whatâs happening hereâŚ??
Mammon: No time for explaininâ!
*Mammon swiftly grabs Belphie and sticks him behind Beel before taking the cabinet door from him*
Mammon: Grab another, Beel!
*while Beel rips off the other door, Mammon keeps shouting over the chaos*
Mammon: Belph, ya gotta knock out the kid! Beel and I will protect ya, just stay behind us then getâem outta the chair! Do what ya gotta do after that!
Belphie: *stays right behind Beel but groans* What did you do this time�?
Mammon: Shuddup and move!!
*the three of them start approaching the baby in the high chair, still wailing at the top of his lungs. Between the two cabinet doors and their combined reflexes, Beel and Mammon are able to keep Belphie more or less shielded from the flying utensils until they finally get close enough from him to make a move*
*Belphie jumps forward enough to grab the buckle to Satanâs seat, ignoring his little fists as they try to rip his hair out, and he gets the baby out of the chair as quick as he can manage*
Belphie: Ow!! Okay, lights out, kid!!
*Belphie sticks his hand over Satanâs eyes and, gradually, his struggling loses its gusto until the little baby falls asleep in his arms. All the kitchen supplies fall to the ground and it seems like his tantrum is finally overâŚ*
Mammon: *drops the âshieldâ he was holding* Oh thank fuck that worked!! No more forks for him, Beel!
Beel: *also sets down his âshieldâ and looks down guiltily* But how is he ever going to eat rightâŚ?
Mammon: Weâll just have to teach him when he gets better.
Belphie: âIfâ he gets betterâŚ
*thereâs a silence between the brothers as the gravity of that thought sinks in⌠What if he never gets any betterâŚ?*
*But then the little boy yawns*
Satan: *yaaaawn* PaâŚ
*all heads in the room snap towards the baby demon and everyone holds their breath. That was a new sound⌠right?*
Satan: Pa⌠Per⌠wishâŚ
Beel: âPer⌠wish?â
Belphie: I think he meant, âPerishâŚâÂ
Asmo: *groans* Of course his second word also means, âDie!â
Mammon: But heâs learninâ! Thatâs what Lucifer said, right?Â
*Mammon comes over and carefully takes the sleeping Satan from Belphie, holding him not unlike how he used to do all of them when they were young*
Mammon: Heâll get better, alright? Believe your big brothers for once! Ya guys werenât all that different than this...
Asmo: *rolls his eyes* Thatâs such a lie...
Mammon: Shuddup Asmo, Iâm serious! We just gotta be patientâŚ
Beel: Do you think Lilith could have calmed him down�
*again, thereâs another silence in the room⌠aside from Satanâs soft snoring. For once, it seems like his little brothers are looking at Mammon for something⌠comfort maybe?*
Mammon: Lilith⌠*he fights the urge to bite his lip by holding Satan a little tighter* Lilith woulda been patient withâem⌠Levi too. Theyâd have helped us outâŚÂ
Belphie: If they were still hereâŚ
Mammon: *sighs* Yeah Belphie. If they were still here⌠but we donât gotta focus on that part, ya know?
*Mammon starts walking towards the exit, patting little Satan on his sleepy head*
Mammon: Iâm puttinâ the little shit to bed. Ya got feedinâ duty again tomorrow, Beel. No forks this time.
Beel: *nods quietly* AlrightâŚ
Mammon: *stops at the doorway and looks back* Oh. And ânot itâ explaininâ this mess to Lucifer. Ya gotta figure that out yourselves!
*as his brothers start to shout out in protest, Mammon just laughs triumphantly while he starts down the hallway. Looks like something isnât his fault for once*
~Meanwhile in the Deepest Depths of the Ocean~
*for the first time since his conquest began, Levi is completely alone in the darkness. Having conquered every part of the seas above, all he has left is the deepest trenches to explore⌠home to the nightmares even his army refuses to face*
*perhaps being a stranger to this world has helped him. Whatever force commanded his troops to stay above has no sway on his mind. Even Lotan, his most trusted general, wouldn't follow him into these shadows...*
*he's told only one thing lives here. A creature beyond all comprehension... A being without form, without thought, and without convention, and yet festers into consciousness like a blight on all existence... A creature for which all other monsters fear to the point of insanity yet, strangely, Levi remains undaunted...*
*his mantra of loathing shields him as much as it consumes him. Heâll bow to no beast who believes they're better than him, no matter their size or strength. No one can think theyâre better than he is... Heâll prove their lives are worthless in the end*
*finding the creature proved easy. He only had to follow the strings of insanity attempting to strangle his mind, growing ever thicker the closer heâd come. A lesser being may have felt helpless approaching it⌠a shattering insignificance compared to One that Defies All: a primordial essence from which those below the depths are connected and yet through denial believe to be their own... A Greater Power. A God*
*... but heâs fought a God before. All he saw before him now was an Abomination*
*and what he eventually saw skewered on the end of his trident was just another step on his journey of conquest - even as blood the color of madness plumed in the water around him, boiling his skin and contorting his bones... When the ranting clutter in his mind finally quieted, Levi was something new entirelyâŚ*
*he didnât need to return to his army to feel their presence now. His metamorphosis completed when a ghastly wail that escaped his throat, carried telepathically through the waters around him. A clear signal to all who felt it... Above the sea, youâd hear nothing. But below...*
*a cacophony of shrieks. A chorus of howls. The roar of a new Master and the response of an entire ocean now at his disposal...*
*An army of unspeakable terror flourishing just out of sightâŚ*
Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
#am i saying levi killed an elder god?#that is exactly what i'm saying#i will die on this hill#obey me#obey me shall we date#shall-we-date-obey-me#obey me leviathan#obey me levi#obey me scenarios#obey me fic#obey me headcanons
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Home: Lloyd Garmadon x Reader
-I LOVE ASKS. plz keep them coming, they make my day -iâm sorry i write slowly, Iâm a perfectionist. -itâs also better to have quality over quantity, am I right? -takes place after Tournament of Elements but before PossessedÂ
[REQUESTED BY ANON] Summary/ask:Â Maybe a reader with a "dark" power (like, not evil, but considered dark), and they were outcasted by it, everyone thinks they are bad and shit but they are just shy and insecure?
WARNING: MENTIONS OF VERBAL ABUSE (VERY BRIEF), BLOOD (BRIEF), INJURIES (ALSO BREIF), ETC.
Isolation. That was all you had ever known for the better half of your life. Most details were things you preferred to keep hidden away, locked up for good in that deep mind of yours.Â
You never had a whole family, but that was fine by you. Why should that matter when you had a father who loved and cared for you? Growing up, he always told you this:Â âNinjago is so much more than our tiny home, my dear. Why should we worry about what we donât have when thereâs so much to discover?â
Even now, you held onto his words with your life. Even now when you forgot what his face looked like. Even now when you couldnât remember his voice, or how warm his hugs were. Everything eventually faded, but not the emotions he made you feel.Â
Love, warmth, generosity.Â
Those were the only pieces of baggage you carried. Although heavy, they kept you from the evil strings of bitterness. You kept your chin up, high in the air so you could look to the sky. It was the limit after all, the portion of which you had to reach and reach until you couldnât anymore. The only problem was getting there.Â
The alley was rather quiet today, a far cry from the usual bustling citizens looking for a shortcut or a food stand. You loved days like this, where no one would care to stare at you and whisper your name like it were a ball in a game. With your hood up, no one could see your face, and no one could cast you aside like the loner you were.
âWhat are you doing here?âÂ
You wish you hadnât heard his voice. As subtle as he tried to be, his snarky tone caused passing stragglers to glance at you. A sigh escapes your lips. What was he doing here? Didnât he have anything better to do than follow you around and nag? You were cast aside as it was by your mother, forgotten by your so-called friends, and left behind by your ascended father.Â
He told you to stay away from that speedy idiot, the one your mother took away from you. The one who took after her with the same eyes, nose, and mouth. They had the same grin, too, the one where it looked like they thought they were better than you.
âIf it isnât Griffin Turner,â you grumble out. âWhat a pleasure.âÂ
His stare isnât friendly. You know under those red sunglasses that heâs glaring at you. Heâs probably thinking about how much of a monster you are too, just like every other Elemental Master you ever faced in your life.Â
Griffin runs a hand over his oh-so-perfectly cut hairdo. âOh donât be a prick.â he spits out. âHave some respect for your older brother.â That grin doesnât slide off his face no matter how dark your expression gets. Heâs always been oblivious. First to your powers, then to your fatherâs death, and finally, to how terribly heâs been treating you.Â
It doesnât matter that heâs your older brother. Bullying does not discriminate, and neither do you, blood ties or not. âJust leave me alone, Iâm not in the mood Griffin.â He raises a brow. âNot in the mood? Since when did someone like you have feelings? Youâre cold-hearted, just like your dad.âÂ
You frown. ââYour dadâ?â you echo. âWhat, so weâre only related when you choose?â Griffin shrugs absentmindedly. You know heâs trying to provoke you, get a reaction, but you just canât help it. He was patronising you and your father.Â
âIâm just glad I lived with mum instead of dad.â he adds. âAt least I donât have to run after the garbage truck with a shopping list.â He snickers to himself and you go rigid. âTake that back.âÂ
âWhat? Your last braincell?âÂ
âWell--you--youâre a...â You pause. âAt least I had someone who loved me and actually payed attention to me! Sure, I inherited dadâs elemental powers, but he taught me something youâll never get: kindness. You think I donât know? Look again you pathetic waste of space!â That wasnât supposed to hit hard and you both knew it. Griffin could have said a million other insults that burned like the sun itself, yet somehow, with your puny words, you hit a nerve. A nerve that wasnât supposed to be punched in the first place.Â
Griffinâs grin finally slides off his face. He stuffs a hand in his pocket and uses the other to adjust his bright sunglasses. He doesnât say anything, but you can practically feel the air thicken between the empty distance. Griffin didnât have lo self-esteem, but sometimes, his mum called him a waste of space. When you walked by the luxurious apartment, on days the kitchen window was left wide open, you heard what sheâd say to Griffin--what she did to him.
Suddenly, youâre taken back to the age of six, when your parents were together and Griffin was more than your only brother. You were best friends. You did everything together. But then your father passed down his elemental powers to you, and it was then that everything changed.
Your father taught you that your powers were a gift passed down all the way from the days the First Spinjitzu Master lived among the people of Ninjago. It was a gift used to protect him when he was in need, a gift that possessed great power and majesty. Your elemental abilities had a double edge to it. Although beautiful, it possessed a great danger.Â
One slip-up was all it took. One mistake you never meant.
That day, you were practicing control and discipline over your powers. You never meant for it to happen, and if you could go back, you would a million times over. That day, all the control, all the mastery you had over your abilities disappeared in an instant. You swore it was only for a second, but it could have lasted a millennia.Â
Your element was more than a power. It was a living part of you with its own consciousness you couldnât quite understand. When you slept, you saw him, the intangible person you never cared to learn the name of. He always sat in a plain of pure darkness, where you couldnât touch or see him clearly.Â
You knew he never meant to frighten you, but that day, you only saw a monster. Perhaps it was you, perhaps it was him. You never knew because the moment you lost control, your world went black. From then on, your parents split. Your mother took Griffin away from you, and as time grew, so did the distance between you.Â
You wish you could change things starting from that day till now. Those forsaken words shouldnât have left either of your mouths, but the damage had already been done. It cut too deep that not even magic could mend the wounds.Â
âGriffin I--â
âSo thatâs how it is.â A bitter laugh escapes his lips and you flinch like youâve been struck. Griffin walks toward you at a painfully slow pace. The alleyway isnât part of the city anymore. Itâs a battlefield of honour, of pride, of two siblings who have been torn apart. He doesnât meet your eyes as he pulls something out of his pocket. âHere.â
The wad of cash presented to you between his fingers looks more like an insult than a gift. Was he trying to rub in your face how rich his mum was compared to your dead dad? Surely this wasnât an olive branch to apologise for being a jerk for the past eleven years.Â
He stares at your incredulous expression and yanks your wrist forward, slapping the bills into your hand and forcing it into your sweater pocket. âLook, Iâm not patronising you, okay? Just...go to your friend or whatever and donât spend that on drugs. Your financial situation sucks, I get it.âÂ
His tone is rather aggressive, but you know that speech pattern. The one where itâs soft and bashful because heâs embarrassed to be talking out loud like that--like an older brother. You run your fingers over the cash in your pocket and stare at Griffin. He looks the other way and begins marching past you, making sure to bump shoulders.Â
âGriffin, wait.â You make a grab for his arm but heâs already gone at the speed of light. âThanks,â you whisper to yourself. âI guess.â You arenât sure how long you stay in the dead alleyway, frozen in your own thoughts. But as soon as youâre ready to make your way to the park, the alleyway fades, the honking of the cars disappear, and youâre completely alone in a surge of darkness.Â
âThat has got to be a least three hundred.âÂ
You heave out a long sigh as the darkness parts. Robes drag across the floor like liquid gold, sparkling and shimmering like the sun. âSuch a coward, your brother. He shouldnât have run away like that.â The man is a living contradiction, much like you. Although he lived in a world of darkness, that never stopped light from blooming in his cold heart. He cared for you as much as he cared for your father and those before him.Â
The man adjusted the collar of his red robes, yanking the thick fabric into all the right shapes and places. His pale face was like a sheet of paper, but the calm smile made up for that and tinted his cheeks rose. âHere,â he said, waving his arm. The wad of cash drifted out of your pocket, mixing with the mist until it was all but a speck of light. It drifted into one of the manâs pockets, which he patted.Â
âHonestly,â he says, âcould you be more inconspicuous? Someone down the street looked like he wanted to mug you.â You frown and the man huffs. âWhen you need the money, come back. Iâll keep it here.âÂ
âThank you.â
âRaijin.â he says. âCall me Raijin.âÂ
The mist began swirling like a whirlpool, twisting and turning until your hood whacked you in the face. The alleyway materialised as soon as your feet hit the pavement. The honking of cars sliced through the air, bombarding your ears in the cityscape sounds. âFirst Spinjitzu Master...â you grumble, rubbing your ears.Â
âLOOK OUT!â
You whip around in bewilderment and flatten yourself against the brick wall. A group of four or five fruit-coloured boys fly from the fire escape above. If you hadnât reacted quickly enough, then youâd be as much of a pancake as the blue one (he was under all of them).Â
âIâm--gonna--die! Get off me Cole!â
âI...I canât when Zaneâs heavier than a rock!â
âKai, move your stupid leg!â
âEveryone stop arguing! Lloyd is unconscious!â
The last bit sent the group in a rush of shouting, scrambling, and shoving. You wanted to do something to help, but these boys were the ninja, students of Sensei Wu and partly, Garmadon. In the world of elemental masters, they were known as the OG, the ones who defeated the Great Devourer, Garmadon, and so many more.Â
The last time you saw them (together, that was) had to be half a year ago on Chenâs forsaken island. You almost died, but Lloyd saved you. He and his friends risked their lives to help everyone off that island. If thy hadnât been there...
You glance at Lloyd. He lay on the pavement, faintly breathing and coughing as Zane wrapped gauze around his wrist. The blood smeared on his face sent your heart tumbling. Just what had they done this time?Â
âHey!â you exclaim. The boys remove their hoods and turn to you. Kai knits his brows together. âArenât you--?â
âDo you want help or no?â you gruffly retort. Zaneâs bright eyes donât leave your cold expression as you look between all the ninja. Cole and Jay look uneasy about the offer, but to even the blind, it was clear they had no choice.
âYes.â Zane says. âWe would be grateful for your assistance, (Y/n).â You nod and motion for them to follow you out of the alleyway. Kai carefully lifts Lloyd off the ground and onto his back. âThank you for your generous offer.âÂ
âDonât thank me until heâs well.â you quietly reply. As scary as it was inviting people to your tiny apartment, this was the ninja. You owed them this much for being Ninjagoâs protectors for so long. âWeâre taking the back route because I donât want to attract unwanted attention. Itâs clear you had a run-in, letâs not repeat that.âÂ
Halfway down one of the quieter streets, you heard Jay whisper this, âI heard sheâs evil. Are you sure we should trust her?âÂ
You want to be offended, but getting upset would only make everything worse. You re-called your conversation with Griffin, and that look on his face when you called him a waste of space.Â
He deserved the insult, you told yourself. Why should you feel guilty?Â
You spot a beat-up door worn with age. The blue paint peeled off the wood, scattering along the doorstep in little piles. As much as you wanted to renovate, you couldnât afford it. You had to save up for college and rent.Â
You dig your hand inside your trousersâ pocket and produce a key. The scratches rub against your calloused hands as you stick it in the keyhole and yank open the door. âBring him in.â No one says a word as you watch the ninja file into your home one by one. Like good guests, they remove their shoes and leave them in a little corner of the hall.Â
You close the door behind you and lock it, tossing the key in its respective place. âSet him down on the couch. Iâll get a med kit.â When you come back with the med kit and freshly washed hands, you weave past Cole and sit on the floor by Kaiâs side. âHeâll be alright.â you calmly state.Â
Kai sharply meets your gaze. âHis wrist is broken.âÂ
âYes, but bones can be mended. He will be alright.â You ignore the stares, they were background noise, and place your hands around the wound. âRaijin,â you whisper, âI need assistance.âÂ
The last time you had to fix a broken wrist had to be about three months ago. It was a rather draining action, but for Lloyd, you would do anything. He needed you.Â
Suddenly, your body goes completely rigid. Your hands are cold and you shut your eyes, allowing the icy sensations to wash over your being. A breeze passes over your face and settles around your hands. You imagine Lloydâs bones mending back into place, connecting painlessly like a puzzle piece would.Â
âWhatâs she doing?â you hear Jay whisper.
âI think sheâs concentrating.â Cole answers. âKind of...creepy if I do say so myself.â
You feel the bones clicking together, and once you are sure Lloyd is alright, you open your eyes and heave out a long sigh. âHe...he will be...â You canât finish that sentence. The world spins with dots and mingles in a flurry of colours and blurs. Someone was saying something, but you canât make out whatâs wrong with you.
The world fades to black.Â
âHere again?âÂ
You frown uncomfortably as Raijin struts out from behind a curtain of shadow. Itâs hard to disregard him, so you avert your gaze to the side. âI donât choose when I come here, you know that.â He chuckles and itâs a low rumble. âYou like him.âÂ
âWho?â
âLloyd. Itâs not everyday you let people into your home. When you saw Griffin walk by with a broken leg, you didnât heal him.â You sigh loudly. âWell, thatâs different Raijin.â
âIs it?â Thereâs a suggestive tone to his voice you donât like, as if heâs looking inside your head and hearing all your thoughts bouncing around. Raijin probably did hear some of it. He was, after all, a part of you, both soul and body. Silence falls over your shoulders and it sits there like an old pillow: uncomfortable, flat, and irritating.Â
The silence stretched and you felt small in the presence of Raijin. He had a way with his height and energy that somehow made him appear all the more regal. You canât meet his eyes as you blurt out the dumbest question you could muster. âWill Lloyd be okay?âÂ
The answer is obvious, but Raijin doesnât comment on it. He folds his hands together and softly nods, as if heâs afraid of making you shrink further into yourself. âThanks to your efforts his wrist is healed. Why donât you see for yourself?â You perk up. âWhat--?â
The darkness curls under your shoes, stretching like gum and absorbing you in nothing. Itâs cold, itâs dark, and itâs filling you with adrenaline.Â
You jolt upright.Â
âI see you and Raijin had quite the conversation.â a crinkly voice states. You rub your pounding head, accepting the steaming cup of tea from Sensei Wuâs hands. Itâs been a while since youâve seen the monastery, much less your old room. Wait, Wu? Your old room from when you were eleven? âSensei?â He smiles kindly, giving your shoulder a good pat. âIf you were wondering, Lloyd has been healed. Actually, he wishes to see you.âÂ
âMe?â you inquire. âReally?â Wu chuckles to himself good-naturedly. He turns his back to you and slides open the door, revealing a red-faced Lloyd. He goes stiff like a board. âUh--I--sorry--just passing--âÂ
Wu gently guides Lloyd into the room, paying no mind to the stuttering mess his nephew had become. Itâs an odd sight to see Lloyd, the Green Ninja, tripping over his own feet, adjusting his sleeves, and picking at loose threads instead of meeting your eyes like he did that day.Â
Lloyd had been like a gust of wind. He came to your rescue strong and fast, scooping your bloodied body in his arms with a gentle hold. When the time came and you all had to leave the island, you were still too weak to use your elemental powers, so Lloyd let you ride with him. Those crazy few weeks on Chenâs island had been traumatising.Â
The fact that you werenât trusted by anyone due to your powers made it worse, until you met Lloyd and his father.Â
Wu quietly exists the room, gently closing the door behind. You silently thank him for his consideration. âItâs been a while.â you quietly say. Lloyd shuffles toward you with a bright smile, cheeks still tinted red. âI used to see you around Ninjago City a lot, but after a while, it was...I donât know, like you disappeared.âÂ
Itâs your turn to avert your gaze. The truth was, you werenât sure Lloyd still wanted to be your friend after the Tournament. You saw him less and less with each passing day, only ever giving a small wave here and there whenever he went to Borg Tower. After half a month, Griffin caught you talking with Lloyd. He bullied you about it and told you Lloyd was only acting like your friend.Â
Stupidly enough, you believed him. Your insecurities about being judged wore down your courage like a bath bomb in water. You couldnât speak with Lloyd any longer, or give a simple wave that made him smile like the sun. One day, you decided to avoid him completely by taking a different route home. You never saw him again. Not until today.
âI-Iâm sorry Lloyd.â you murmur. He blinks, knitting his brows together in confusion. âWhat do you mean youâre sorry? You didnât do anything--â
âYes I d-did.â You curse your wobbly voice. âI started a-avoiding you because I was scared we werenât...you know...anymore. And a lot happened...and then...â Your eyes are burning with tears you know are filled with ages of stress and worry and anger.Â
You wanted to blame Griffin for making fun of you that day. You wanted to blame yourself for being so stupid. You wanted to blame Raijin for not talking to you when you needed him most. But you couldnât. How would any of them know this would happen? That youâd eventually cut Lloyd off altogether until you were in isolation in that tiny apartment by yourself? How could you have known?
The side of your bed dips and gentle arms bring you in tight. Itâs warm and reminds you of meadows with flowers, butterflies, and better days. When was the last time you actually hugged someone? Much less allowed them this close in your proximity? You didnât have friends at school, so you always settled for books as your comfort. Books could not hug like people.
âI should be thanking you.â Lloyd said. âYou healed me even though it made you pass out.â You sniffle, hesitantly wrapping your arms around Lloydâs middle. As soon as you allow your shoulders to relax, warmth spreads through your chest. You recognised the sensation as a mix of comfort and relief.Â
To know someone else was here with you who cared and would sit with you as you cried your eyes out was new--but it felt good. When your dad died, you promised to never shed another tear. You couldnât say you were good a keeping promises.Â
âIf you want to tell me more, itâs okay.â Lloyd softly said. You rested your head on his shoulder, savouring the way he smelled like life itself. If you were to describe it, youâd call it grassy, flowery, and fruity all rolled into one.Â
âWell... You remember my brother Griffin?â you slowly begin. âHe isnât who you think he is. He always tells me things like Iâm a monster because of my elemental powers, or that...âÂ
You arenât sure how long you talk for, but Lloydâs there, listening to every word and drinking it in like gold. Sometimes he pitched in, other times he sat still in a silent horror you couldnât fully comprehend. It never occurred to you just how broken your family relationships had been when it was your norm.Â
When your tears finally dried and you could breathe again, Lloyd took your hands and motioned for you to follow him out of the room. âWould you like to stay for dinner?â You smiled at him, enjoying the company his hand provided.Â
Wu rounded around the corner and said, âWould you like to stay forever?â
There was no question in that. You still had your old room and memories of when you used to call the monastery home. Why wouldnât you want to make new ones? âYes.â you reply. âIâd love that--if itâs fine with you.â Lloyd glanced at Wu, who simply nodded in confirmation.Â
Lloyd turns to you with a bright grin that you can only shyly match in response.Â
TIP JAR
Please donât forget to reblog!
#ninjago#lego ninjago#ninjago lloyd#lloyd garmadon#lloyd x reader#ninjago x reader#x reader#reader insert#xreader#lego#ninjago wu#Sensei Wu
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hello! i absolutely adored your addition to gingerlyâs prompt ask :) i was wondering if you could continue it, and no worries if you canât! thanks <3
I realize the more I write this the longer itâs getting. I probably have imagined six parts or more???? I have other WIPs that need attention, but I am so, so, so, so thankful that you like the first part of my prompt response to @gingerly-writing Iâm going to post this and then part 3 hopefully tomorrow đ đ đ đMaybe??? then take a small break to post some other stuff. Lol this is a continuation I didnât really plan for, but am definitely excited about!!
@chibicelloking @lolafaiy
Part One Here
A dull thrum of voices stirred sidekick out of surly drowsiness. The articulation of words was muddied, coming across as garble before snapping into clarity the more they roused. There was âmonitor vitalsâ, ârecommended rangeâ, âeven by a fractionâ that registered in the back of their mind. Teammates must be running some tests again.
But they couldnât move. Not a muscle. They werenât paralyzed, they were just restrained. Which was odd because that wasnâtâ
They felt the string back around their neck again. That feeling of dread rustled, usually abating when they returned to headquarters and the familiarity of their bunk. Memories came no longer concealed by lethargy. Of the teammates being pinned down by supervillain. Of their oh-so-brave self-sacrifice. Of teammates using The Machine to pry open a portal. Of sidekick losing consciousness in supervillainâs arms.Â
Sidekick held their breath, letting out a quiet moan. It didnât work, did it? Teammates didnât make it to that sewer way after supervillain choked them into unconsciousness. And if they did, they were unable to save sidekick. They were captured.
So what now?Â
Policy would have them stay mute. To be uncooperative. To trumpet bravado and bare their teeth.Â
Policy would have their self-sacrifice complete its course to martyrdom.Â
Feeling their sinew stretch to uncomfortable lengths, the sidekickâs mind fortified itself, resolved to do their due diligence. They could die for the cause. They were trained to do so. Engrained by doctrine, encouraged parables of valor, and promises of glory. They werenât a hero, yes, but theyâd surely get a heroâs burial. A heroâs honor, and admittance to the halls of the nobly fallen. After all, it was promised to those slain for the cause.Â
Noting how their wrists were held high above their head and were bound together, sidekick tensed their muscles against the wire to test how well it held their arms, chest, hips, and legs still. They were hanging in midair, everything was drawn taut, everything perfectly balanced so that the threads bowed them back like a rag doll on display; fraying and terribly exposed.Â
At least it didnât cut their skin this time.
The easy solution: they could mount a daring escape by making a portal around themselves. No on second thought due to calculation risks, they could make approximately 47 mini portals, severing the strings. Then once they got a better gauge of the room, they could make one large enough for them to drop through. They doubted they would be able to go far, maybe outside this room after they opened their eyes and calculated the circumference of it. Their weakness lies in the fact that not knowing where they were meant they were limited in where they could go. Power hinging on all of the maps in their head. If they could just see it on the map then they could calculate the needed trajectory and portal to it.Â
But they had neither the time nor the luxury for that now.
Taking all 47 at a time, sidekick opened dime-size portals an inch above where the wires met their skin. Calculations playing in the background of their psyche. They had to be preciseâthey must have caution or risk searing flesh from bone. Wire fractured and cracked in midair, and sidekick dropped a small length, feet hitting the floor, knees buckling.Â
They barely had a second to get up.
A shrill alarm, jarring, and ear-splitting sounded.Â
Fire followed, blazing across their skin, only somehow from the inside radiating out, originating from their neck, and spiraling down. They writhed under the voltaic ministrations, convulsing until it ceased, finally falling limp.
Someone came to stand before them, and sidekick considered the familiar boots warily before flicking their gaze up, proximity kick-starting their heartbeat. And it ran wild. Supervillain settled before them, appearing polished, normal costume hidden under a button-up shirt loosely tucked into a pair of trousers. A light pea coat pulled the ensemble together. Their expression, however, looked like they were ready to pounce, eyes veiled behind a tight expression.
âPerfect. Youâre awake.â
Should sidekick go for bravado, or would a more fearful submissive approach best serve them, now that their escape attempt has failed? Unsure, sidekick opted for a mix of both, figuring, at any rate, the body count associated with supervillain alone would suggest that they tread carefully. âWh-what did you do to me? My teammatesââ
âYour teammates donât know where you are, and itâs going to stay that way for a while." They crouched agilely, a panther before a frightened yearling, tucking a finger under their chin to hold their complete attention. "I would advise against doing anything that would jeopardize your standing with me, puppy. Like trying to use your power to escape. I am not what one would call longsuffering. I may have shown you a smidgen of my mercy but donât expect it to be par for the course." Supervillain motioned to the room with a nod. "If youâre wondering where you are, may I present to you my humble garrison. This is the medical wing, with medic and assistant behind me. Weâve removed the associationâs tracking device, and replaced it with something far more fetching.â
Trailing a thumb down their neck, supervillain fiddled with the band around their throat, a neatly fitted collar. How did sidekick not notice that? It felt not much different from supervillainâs wiresâsomething foreign and constricting. Ears burning, their face paled, sweat lining their brow. If this could get worse or more humiliating, they werenât sure how.Â
Threading a finger through the ring, supervillain wrenched sidekick off the ground, onto their hands and knees like a true dog.Â
A strangled mewl tore from the sidekickâs throat.Â
âYou do get the gist of this, donât you, darling? Youâre a clever one. Make a portal without my direct order, and this device will give you an electric shock that will render you immobile at best, unconscious at worst.â Their shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. âAnd it hurts like hell, or so Iâm told so that should be incentive enough.â
Oh no.Â
This was worse.Â
So much worse than anything sidekick had endured at the Heroâs Association. Ignoring their basic human needs, ok. They can handle that. Belittling them, playing passive-aggressive games? Cool, cool, cool, cool. The occasional punishment? Everyone endures the intermittent blow or two. Suck it up, sidekick. But humiliation like this? They wanted to crawl under a rock and never be seen again.Â
âY-you,â they stammered, dread churning, turning into something they hadnât felt in a while. Rage. âYou, you, you jerk!â
âYou jerk?â supervillain echoed a deep chuckle. âDear lord, you know you should be thanking me, my very young and inventive labradoodle. One, for not taking your life as I had wanted. Two, for not ringing out your delicate neck despite that little stunt just now. And, three for rescuing you from such neglectful ownersââÂ
âI will never thank you for that!â
Silence filled the room, allowing the mechanical hum of lab equipment to permeate. Medic and assistant tossed glances at each other over supervillain's shoulder, as a shadow passed over supervillainâs face. That thumb returned to sidekickâs lips, the latterâs breath catching at their misstep. âYou said they.â
âW-what?â
âWhen you spoke about your teammates, and how theyâve been fighting me all of these years. You said they. Not weâve been fighting, but they. You havenât used a single possessive pronoun when speaking about the six of youâor anyone in the association for that matter.âÂ
No. No, sidekick didnât mean it like that. They belonged. They were a team. They are a team.
âYou keep them separate from yourself,â the supervillain continued, stoking their cheek absently. âWhether consciously or unconsciously, you do. From the short time I discovered that it was a person and not a machine behind the Heroâs Associationâs success, Iâve learned this: your ideals are of self-immolation. You offer yourself up as a lamb for your teammateâs success; for the associationâs success. You foolishly stare down your enemy in hopes for what? Recognition? Adoration? Thatâs clearly not working, is it? I simply called you a dazzling diamond in the ruff, and you flushed like someone newly in love.â That tone was back. A wanton timbre for power, and sidekick face colored on command. They brought their hand up to hide it. âYour actions are like a puppy: young and misguided. Training will fix it.â
Throwing them a salacious grin, supervillain called another thread to their hand and knotted it around sidekick's collar ring. Easing off of their haunches, they stood, the wire going slack. âI will delve into these mysteries soon enough. Just as you will come to discover, in due time, that you are much better off with me than against me.â
Sidekick blood boiled, finally at the tipping point.Â
They saw red.Â
Supervillain thought they knew them? Thought that they were such an open book? Palms fisting, sidekick wanted very much to strike out at the supervillain. To wipe that knowing looking off their face. A feat, they realized, that could accomplish with words. And something this time with more punch than âjerkâ. Screaming, they let out an uncharacteristic string of curses; ones theyâd heard in passing, ones that had even been directed at them. Being a human gateway didnât afford them many friends their own age or otherwise, and the other heroes were quick to ruffle their hair, and blame them for mishaps than befriend them.
Supervillain didnât move. Even to tighten the leash.Â
But medic spoke out.Â
âEh, yo, villy, your puppy be barking at you. Want me to shut them up?â Their crisp white coat stood in neat contract to their rich skin; voice speaking of hardship and closely won battles. Finger hovering over their datapad.
âGive it a minute,â supervillain said, as sidekick let out one last cry, fists hitting the cold tile, utterly spent. They bent over, muscles quivering in release. âSee, it wasnât necessary, medic. This particular breed responds to a more patient touch.â
âAll that patient touch and you gonâ be wondering why you got missing fingers. Look, I donât know about pets, but, this seems real sus.â
âGood thing youâre not in charge of them.â
âI guess, tho, I just be saying,â they let out a sigh, shaking their head, returning their attention to a beeping screen. âYou know how much I love them pathetic animals.â Medic shot a look at sidekick, as their eyes bounced between the two, mouthing I donât, and slid their thumb across their neck when supervillain wasnât looking.Â
Sidekick almost whimpered.Â
Supervillain flexed their hands, fingers gracefully dancing as wires loosened from the ceiling, fell in a heap on the ground then receded altogether, sheltering in the supervillainâs pea coat. Only the one wire connected to their collar remained visible, wrapping itself around the supervillainâs wrist that. Like a bracelet, they tucked it away in their sleeve, then opted to move rather than command sidekick to heel.Â
Lurching forward, sidekick had no choice but to follow.Â
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The Oncoming Storm Part 2: Fire
Fandom: Mortal Kombat 2021
Liu Kang x Reader or Kung Lao x Reader
Summary: You wake up somewhere strange *again*. This time your underground and greeted by Liu Kang. For some reason you trust him, but why?
A/N: Have I mentioned Iâm a huge fan of the slow burn? Whoops. Iâll let you guys know when the paths are branching between Lao/Liu. Thanks for reading and hope you keep enjoying! Also, thanks for coming to my TED talk.
<< Previous Chapter Next Chapter >> Chapter Index
Warm flames flickered off brown-gray stone walls. Other than the burning flame to your right, the room was small and dark. There was no door and you could hear movement somewhere beyond its opening. Iâm underground, you thought. The air smelled musty and it was so dry that your nose burned. Underground and maybe in the desert. You closed your eyes again quickly.
In your mindâs eye you pictured the small purple flower Kung Lao had given you in your youth. Frail and rare. Many flowers had grown in your hometown but purple had been a new and exotic color. Youâd always been fond of it afterward. Youâd never gotten the chance to tell Kung Lao that. For a time you had kept it pressed between the pages of your favorite book as a memorial to the boy who had been your best friend. You hadnât thought about the flower in years. Youâd be lying if you said you hadnât thought about him.
The details of what happened were fuzzy. You remembered the fight in your shop and remembered waking up to the face of Kung Lao. It was still insane to think that the boy youâd thought dead was, in fact, alive and in good health. It was even crazier to think that heâd been the one to save you from the fire in your shop.
You shook away the memory lest it return you to the darkness of unconsciousness.
You were, again, in an unfamiliar bed but things were vastly different. Youâd been cared for and changed into a modest dressing gown, judging by the soft but coarse material. This had likely been done by a health professional. You were certain that Kung Lao must have brought you somewhere to be helped. Then again, most hospitals you knew of werenât underground and they certainly didnât use these types of gowns. It wasnât a hospital gown, more like the type of gown that would have been worn for bed in ages past. Long and thin, but warm. You pictured it off-white. The one you wore had no sleeves, most likely for ease of access since youâd been injured.
You had to decide if you should panic or not. If you looked around and saw a medical professional or Kung Lao then you would remain calm. If you didnât then panic seemed the way to go. Opening your eyes again, you were relieved that the world didnât spin and you werenât nauseous. But there was no doctor and definitely no Kung Lao.
There was a different man in his place, unfamiliar, shorter in stature, his gaze focused on something other than you. He was dressed mostly in black, no sleeves (which seemed the fashion of this underground wherever), and a red sash tied around his middle. His demeanor was calm and quiet and in his left hand he clutched a string of prayer beads. His skin was dusted with soot or grease, you couldnât tell. He looked as though he had been handling charcoal for hours. He was also surprisingly muscular.
And handsome. You wouldnât deny that youâd admired him. His brow was knit with concern and as you shifted, he turned toward you. Brown eyes met yours with genuine concern and he held a hand up defensively. âTake it slow.â His voice was soothing but this was all too familiar.
A strange bed and a stranger next to it after having fallen unconscious. He was telling you how what to do and how to feel. Again. Not a chance! On the small table next to the head of the bed there was a bowl half-filled with water and some medical tools. The tool closest to you was a hook used for stitching up wounds. It wasnât the best weapon but it was all you could reach. You sat upright quickly, snatched the hook, and moved far enough away from the stranger that you had room to breathe and could better gauge his intent and reactions.
But you had moved too quickly and suddenly there were ten of him as the room spun. You thought you might puke if he got any closer. That would get him away from you, probably better than the needle would. Much to your surprise, he laughed with the subtlest of smiles. The smile radiated more from his eyes amidst his worry than it did outwardly. âYouâre surprisingly fast for someone who has been in and out of consciousness for over a week.â
âA⌠a week?â You stuttered and forced your vision to focus on the blurry version of him smiling in the middle. Thankfully, your brain obeyed and the room stopped spinning. He didnât seem to pose you any threat. You could tell just by his smile. A smile that made him all the more handsome. The time that had passed was not important so you didnât wait for an answer to your initial question. âWho are you? Where am I? And where is Kung Lao?â Those three things were at the top of your list now that you were thinking clearly. There were a hundred other questions you had about Mortal Kombat, the dragon mark on your back, and other realms but you figured those could come later. Dealing with the here and now; that was the right way to do it.
âI am Liu Kang.â He bowed his head, holding up his prayer beads as he did. âYou are in Raidenâs Temple where the Order of Light gathers to protect Earthrealm. Kung Lao is off on an errand at Lord Raidenâs behest. I assure you that he did not wish to leave you but had little other choice.â
Breathing a sigh of relief, you leaned against the cool stone behind you. Answers, finally. âIâm Y/N. Thank you for answering my questions.â
âKung Lao mentioned you would likely be defensive.â Liu Kang gestured to the bowl on the nightstand. âI have been caring for your wounds. I do not usually tend to the sick but I promised my cousin that I would see you were cared for.â
âCousin?â
âKung Lao. He is my brother. Not by blood but by bond.â
That was a relief. At least this complete stranger had a connection to the other near complete stranger that youâd met the last time youâd woken up in a strange place. Wait⌠hadnât you gone blind? Setting the hook back down on the side table, you patted your face in search of a mark or wound that would have caused that. There was none. Liu Kangâs eyes were sparkling in amusement.
âThe last thing I remember is losing my vision.â You explained.
âYes, about that.â Liu Kang moved the hook back to its original place. âThe men who attacked your shop were vicious and cruel warriors. They were gifted but squandered their gifts to satiate their greed, a thing that can never be sated. You did the world a favor by stopping them. However, the blades that wounded you were coated in a rare poison. It is lucky that Kung Lao found you and could bring you to us for treatment. The blindness was a temporary side effect of the poison.â
âPoison?â This was wild. That morning youâd been stocking your shop and had taught a class of ten-year-olds. Now youâd been attacked, killed a few men, and had been poisoned. Wild. You supposed, in reality, it had been over a week ago and not that morning. Whatever. You decided to take the blows as they came. Deal with the problems and insanity as it happened. It was the only way to keep a clear head.
âIt took many days and much prayer but we bled the poison from your wounds. Now they should begin to heal.â
âIâm still stuck on the poison part of this story. Really? Who does that?â
âYou must be very resilient, Miss Y/N. Even the mightiest of warriors poisoned so terribly would submit to death. You are a fighter.â
âThanks⌠I think.â
Liu Kang bowed his head again respectfully. He was easy to talk to, you werenât sure why. Youâd been careful around Kung Lao but you found yourself immediately not careful around Liu Kang. There was an instant connection to him.
âI was ill as a child. It made me more resilient to sickness, perhaps.â You had been ill but it had been the kind of illness that parents sent their children away for, the kind where they couldnât explain how their child saw or did things beyond their understanding. It had made you terribly sick and weak. Why were you telling him this? Itâd slipped out of your mouth without permission from your lips.
âI have not met many who would credit childhood illness for their resilience.â
âPerhaps Iâm more stubborn than most. Iâve been told I have thick skin. The kids would tease me for being different. I was told that I would never be strong. I would never catch up. Never be normal. I didnât like that word, not even as a kid.â
âWhich one?â
âNever.â
That subtle smile again. Damn, it was attractive.
âIâm sorry.â You laughed with an apologetic bow of your own. Your head spun and you mentally cursed your politeness. âI didnât mean to say all that. It just slipped out.â
âItâs no problem. I would like you to continue your story if you would.â
âOnly if youâre certain.â
âI assure you that Iâm not merely being polite.â There was something genuine about his words, as if he considered them carefully before he spoke. Perhaps Kung Lao had warned him about you. Or perhaps he was just careful. Your first instinct had been to jump at them both. It was their every right to be defensive but you couldnât be blamed either. âHow did you overcome your illness?â
âI fought. I worked harder than most did just to be on the same level as everyone else. I grew out of my sickness with age and thanks to my hard work I became stronger than most. After that I dedicated my life to teaching others to become strong, to be more than the âneverâ weâre told weâll be.â
âAdmirable.â Liu Kang seemed as relieved as you had been upon discovering he was not there to hurt you. Maybe heâd been worried about your intent too. âIt is nice to have another worthy of their marking.â
âThe dragon mark?â
âYes.â
âAbout thatâŚâ
âDo you know why you are here?â
âKung Lao said something about being chosen because of the mark but Iâm guessing that the mark only came to me because I killed those men. Am I right? It had to belong to one of them. Itâs less like I was chosen and more like⌠I stole it.â
âYes. Did Kung Lao tell you? He said you wouldnât understand.â
âI assume that he would have told me but then I went blind. As you can imagine, I no longer cared much about the mark after that.â You laughed and so did Liu Kang. His laugh was quiet and genuine. It made you smile far more than should have been allowed. His joy was as comforting as the flickering light of the candle on the side table. âI didnât have the mark that morning. I can only assume that was when I got it. Weirder things have happened so it was as good a guess as any.â
âYour intuition is remarkable.â
âWhat happens next?â
âFor now you heal.â Liu Kang gestured to your arms. The gauze wrapped around your forearms was stained with blood even though the dressings looked fresh. You didnât feel any pain. Either youâd been given good drugs to deal or adrenaline was protecting you. âYou are in no condition to begin training. Lord Raiden has been told about you. I am keeping him informed on your condition.â
âSo, youâre my babysitter.â
âI prefer caretaker. But yes.â
âIf itâs been a week and Iâm still bleeding like this then I have a feeling it could take awhile to heal. Can I learn more in the meantime? About any of this? I donât want to just sleep and sit around doing nothing. I donât know anything about this place and I know very little about the Order of Light. And I definitely donât know anything about this mark or Mortal Kombat.â Liu Kang seemed surprised, but pleasantly so, as if this were something heâd greatly desired to hear.
âYou really want to learn more?â He smiled brightly. You nodded. âThe masters have trained me for years in matters of Mortal Kombat and the protection of Earthrealm. I would be happy to teach you if you would allow me.â
âI would be delighted to have the company, Liu Kang.â You very much meant that.
âI have some work to do around the temple but we can start this evening.â
âPerfect.â
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