#<- my stuff to draw list is longer than that family tree at this point T-T

[sesamenom]

that town? rivendell

Maglor isn’t Hozier, but his reputation is the same as Hozier.

To most of the world he’s a borderline cryptid, they say he’s wandering in a swamp/on the seashore, he emerges only to sing new songs that are always beautiful and tragic and haunting.

And then there’s one town where it’s like, “Oh yeah him, he’s at the pub all the time. It’s freaking hilarious how everyone thinks he’s impossible to find.”

[world-of-aus]

A Maiden’s Tale - 9

Warnings: angst, & MORE ANGST.

A/n: One chapter more, I can’t believe i’m about to wrap this bad boy, up! This one has been quite the one to write and i can’t wait to deliver the ending to you all. As always happy readings angels!

ALL OTHER WORK CAN BE FOUND ON MY MASTERLIST IN MY BIO.

Your heart raced away in your chest as your feet carried you hurriedly down the halls of the hospital corridor. Door after door you passed as you recited the room number the receptionist had given you beneath your rushed breath.

“138, 139 – 140, your hand reaches for the door, but the scene through the glass paned window stops you.

Your heart slams in your chest, your breath hitching wildly, you couldn’t believe what you were seeing, Dot was there hovering over Bucky who was barely keeping his eyes open, his hand over the one running over his cheek in what was meant to be a comforting manner, her lips pressing to his seconds later.

“that is how it is meant to be, that is who my son is meant to be with.”

You still further, body going tense, as your eyes continue to take in the very scene before you, “it should have been you, you know, you should be in his place, you should be the one in that bed, it was your plan after all, you were the heathen in all of this,” she hissed.

Your eyes snap to Winnie’s, “that girl,” she continues finger pointed to the hospital door, “is the one my son is supposed to be with, James is destined to do great things for the family business and its through her, that he will reach them, and she will make sure of it.”

“This isn’t the life Bucky want’s, he doesn’t want to live the life that you have planned out for him.”

Winnifred scoffs, “and what is it that James wants,” she hums, “do you really think he wants you, that he wants a cozy little cottage with vast fields, that he wants to live a boring life, just wasting his days away reading books in a cozy little nook with you, do you really think he prefers a mundane life to the one he lives now, do you really think he prefers the rags over riches, do you really think he prefers you over her?”

Your eyes glance back to the window, Dolores still leaning over the hospital bed, her head now pressed to Bucky’s, as she looks into his eyes in what is likely a loving manner, and Bucky, well from a outsiders gaze he looks at her just the same, and the thought almost knocks you to your feet.

What a fool you were to have believed, to have let Bucky let you believe that his mother and Dolores might let you have this one thing.

“He pity’s you y/n,” Winnifred breathes as she draws closer to you, “that’s why he made the hasty decision to run away with you,” you look at her over your shoulder, tears pooling in your eyes, “he thinks what he feels for you is love when really he just feels bad for the help.” Winnie sighs as she places a hand on your shoulder, “Bucky has always been a helping person y/n, what James feels for you isn’t love; what James feels for you is sadness.”

The first tear falls as you look back to the window, “if you love him y/n, and I know you do, you’ll let him go, you’ll let him live the life he deserves, you’ll let him have his happiness.”

“You want to know how I'd be living if it wasn’t my parents' decision to make, how I'd live it if I wasn’t handed down the name of the family business? I’d be off somewhere far, there would be land all around the cottage not another house in sight, just a vast number of acres and trees, there’d be animals, and a garden and – and there’d be you.”

Winnie pulls you back softly, away from the window, away from the scene, away from Bucky, “go y/n, go and I'll make sure that you and your mother are so well taken care of that you no longer have to worry about work. You and your mother will never have to lift another finger I promise you that, but you need to go, you need to go and let James be happy.”

Your eyes flit over to her, “Bucky will never be happy when the life he’s living is yours, he will never be happy with a woman who can’t see that the life you’ve built for him isn’t the one that he wants, if what you want for your son is misery, then you’ll get exactly what you want.”

Winnie’s eyes widen before they’re turning to slits, “like you know any better what James want’s, you’re just his right-hand y/n, you’re just the help,” she hisses, “you know nothing, you don’t know him like Dolores does.”

You shake your head, steeling yourself heart and soul as you stand tall, head held high, “well apparently you don’t know your son as well as you thought either, I hope you realize sooner than later what you’re doing, and I hope like your husband, that you don’t lose Bucky either.”

Winnie’s nose flares as she glares at you, and you wish you had more strength than the amount you mustered to look back into the window of the hospital room Bucky laid in, but you didn’t think you could handle any more hurt, that you could handle any more disappointment.

You could feel Winnifred’s glare on your back as you turned on your heel, shaky feet carrying you back down the corridor of the hospital, carrying you away from him.

“Would you just stop,” Bucky muttered as he pulled himself away from Dolores the best that he could without further straining his injuries, a low groan bubbling past his lips as he edged to the other corner of the bed. He’d rather have anyone else but her in the room right now, he’d rather have you, but he wasn’t sure what was taking you so long to get here, he had made sure you were called, you should have been here minutes ago.

“James,” she tries moving in again, “please don’t move, you’ll only hurt yourself further,” Dolores cooed, only to have him snap at her attempt.

“As if you haven’t already done enough of that for the both of us, when were you going to tell me!”

Dolores steps back eyes wide, “James what are you -”

“how long did you plan on hiding that your family worked for Hydra, how long were you going to keep that vital piece of information from me, from my father, especially knowing what you know about our history with them?”

She gapes at her broken lover, “James, sweetheart what are you on about, y-you're not making any sense.”

Bucky shakes his head, lips set in a thin line, “You really are a rat aren’t you,” he grunts.

“James please -” she tries.

“Rumlow left behind a message,” Bucky murmurs eyes a blaze as he looks at the petite woman before him, “and he made sure I heard him clear, Dolores swallowed, “watch your back.”

“h-how -”

“I want you to leave Dolores, I want you to leave and if you know what’s best for you, you won’t look back, because men like Rumlow and Pierce enjoy a good chase, and you’ll be running for the rest of your day’s if they don’t catch you before my father does.”

Her eyes widen, “b-but you can’t -” “I said go,” he growls, “get out of here!”

Dolores doesn’t wait to be told twice, as she moves around the bed, her shaky form wobbling to rip open the door, Winniefred appearing before her, “Dolores darling, what’s -” though she doesn’t get to finish her thought as the petitie brunette brushes past her roughly.

Her glare turns to her bed ridden son, “James what did you do,” she hisses as she closes the hospital door behind her.

“where’s y/n, did you see y/n on your way in?”

Winnie scoffed with a roll of her eyes, “of course you would be worried about y/n, worried about a woman that doesn’t care about you, why can’t you worry about Dolores in that way why can’t you -”

“did you know she was working for Hydra, did the girl you have on such a high pedestal tell you she worked for the men who threatened to take your life at gunpoint?”

“w-what?”

“Where’s y/n mom,” Bucky questioned, Winnie visibly pales, “s-she’s gone.”

WorldofAUs Forever Tag-list: @cap-n-stuff-main @bucky-cinnamonroll-barnes @kseniiafirebrace @sideeffectsofyou @pinknerdpanda @thefridgeismybestie @b0nkybarnes @oliviastan17 @fandom-basurero​​ @lookiamtrying​​ @baddie-barnes @xxloki81xx @fortyninegal @peacelovehobbitness @xo-spidey @noeaerialist @the-cry-of-youth @liebs82  @jbarness​ @morganclaire4​ @runaway-escape​ @melimelbean​ @coffeebooksandfandom​ @rebekahdawkins @thinkaboutmara @im-squished @angstysebfan​ @pncesscarryyy @strangersstranger  @stuckyslutt @courtneychicken @tonystankschild @fallenoutofrose  @jasminepaz @nnuree @ene-rene @mollygetssherlockcoffee @jeremyrennerfanxxxx123 @doozywoozy @buchanansebba @purselover2   @connie326​ @bestofbucky​ @white-wolf1940​ @stopjustlovethemcu​  @stuckysavedmylive​  @sarcasmoverlordxo​ @avantgardium-leviosa​ @wittysunflower​ @muralskins​ @vesper852 @snakeeater17​ @moonlitskinandcrimsonribbons​ @some0nereally​ @sumtimesitbelikedat​ @gudenuph​ @zareen165​ @dancer3205​ @gemstone-roses​ @buchanansebba​ @moshymosh​ @cachemonet @deepmuffinspymaker​ @buckybarneshairpullingkink​ @supernaturalbaesduh​

Sebastian/Bucky Fluff Taglist: @whatrambles @cherryblossomskye @charmedbysarge @buckysgirl101​

AMT Taglist: @queenredfury

[voluptuarian]

It's ridiculous the amount of research I've done for The Dancing Ground, because if and when I complete it, it'll probably weigh in at somewhere between short story and novella length. So like, a tiny sliver of a story to show for a decade of thought and years of study. But like, the stuff I've researched is so ridiculous sounding, even to myself. Like, what climate differences occurred in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age Collapse, so I can better represent the Cretan climate as it might have been during the Minoan period. How tree-covered Naxos might have been during the Bronze Age, and what kind of trees there would have been. Average seasonal temperatures on Crete. What kind of cattle the Minoans raised (it's generally believed they were aurochs, just in case you were wondering). Potential social structure in Mycenae and Crete, and potential manifestations of hierarchy, gender equality, inheritance, family makeup etc. within those structures. Tons of shit about Linear A and Linear B and lists of individual and city names in both. The names of the people chosen as tribute with Theseus. So much weaving and textile production information. Minoan worship poses, and shrine set ups. Pulling up Heraklion and Knossos on Google Maps and clocking the likely walk time between different points on the island.

I know I'm doing it in part because there are plenty of people out there who know these places intimately and I don't want to end up like the guy in The Decoy Bride, where the locals side-eye my stuff because it's clear I don't know jack about the places I'm writing about (which, I mean, I don't, but I'm doing my best). Part of it is because this whole story is an attempt at reconstructing something that no longer exists (a potential Cretan version of the Minotaur/Theseus story, as well as the possible worldviews and cultural ideas that accompanied it) so I have to read between the lines to draw conclusions wherever I can. And partly it's because I know the information is out there, so why shouldn't I use it?

But like-- I went and looked up whether the dogs native to Crete barked or bayed. Why did I need to know that. Why did I even think about that question? (And it was for one fucking throwaway line, it might not even make it in there by the time I'm done.) ????????

And I know that instead of long, uninterrupted hallways, Knossos' palace had strings of rooms with sets of doors between, which depending on how they were opened or closed could allow for the passage of sunlight through long distances of interior space, or similarly quickly throw whole areas into total darkness. Why do I know that? Idk. Does it really matter, and will literally anyone other than me care? Probably not. Am I going to use it in my story regardless? Obviously. Will this throwaway fact somehow lead to some other research question I will have to spend hours and days looking into that also doesn't matter to anyone but me? Doubtless.

I'm stuck like this, for whatever reason, and I don't know any other way to approach this particular story than the way I've been approaching it, but god I don't know why I'm approaching it that way. Maybe this is all the result of having a story germinate from a Wikipedia deep-dive, but here I am I guess.

[free-pool-trash]

folklore - isaac lahey {7/?}

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait I’ve been ridiculously busy the past few weeks 😓BUT!!! As compensation I made this part super long and fluffy with sooooooo much Isaac/reader content (enjoy it while you can because shits gonna be messy from here on out 🤭🙈)

Having said that, I don’t have my laptop right now as I moved houses and my stuff got put into storage so I’m working with the mobile version 😓 sorry in advance if formatting is weird I tried to make it better 😓 also there’s no continue reading button so sorry if this comes up on your dash 😭

Let me know what you think tho I’d really appreciate it 💕

Word count: 5.5k 🙈

Warnings: Fluff 😳, mentions of blood, Derek being a PAIN IN THE ASS, Isaac being the cutest 😌✨, ✨kissing✨, swearing

Masterlist

Tag list (open as always): @makeusfreefromthisfandom om, @cece-lives-here here, @chocolate-raspberries , @belsandthings , @dancing-tacos-23 , @truly-dionysus , @britty443 , @tanyaherondale , @furiouspockettoad , @yunsh-17 17, @random-thoughts-003 , @gloomybrieyxb , @futuristicslimemongerbanana , @linkpk88 , @big-galaxy-chaos , @im-a-stranger-thing , @riaisnotcool (I think u had a username change but idk let me know and I can fix it), @its-evita-here , @pad-foots , @sweetpeabellamyblakedracomalfoy , @bookswillfindyouaway , @what-the-hap-is-fuckening , @awkwardnesshabitat , @pieces-by-me me, @wreny24 , @kerosene-angel (if this is the wrong username I’m sorry it wasn’t working the way I had written it down so I’m assuming I just took it down wrong 😳 it it’s not you let me know and I’ll remove you), @marveloucnco o, @babypink224221 let me know if you’d like to be added <3 (strike through means tumblr wouldn’t let me tag you)

The days you’d spent in Mystic Falls bled into weeks and soon enough you were being beckoned back to Beacon Hills with a head full of things you hadn’t had a clue about two weeks prior.

There, of course, was the matter of Peter- who was now dead, well technically, he was murdered.

Derek’s first course of action as Beacon Hills’ new alpha was to break the news to you. He’d killed him but due to Scott and Stiles’ constant text updates, you knew it would’ve had to be done sooner or later. But still, you had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last of him. That small intuitive feeling in the back of your mind told you that you’d see him again soon. You just hoped your next meeting wouldn’t be happening because you ended up buried next to him.

Over the course of your stay with Alaric, who had left you in the care of the Salvatore brothers- Stefan and Damon, you’d honed several new vampiric powers. As it turned out, some of the powers you possessed were completely unfamiliar to the vampires of over a hundred years.

You had super speed, it wasn’t just enhanced as you’d previously thought. As well as that, you’d discovered that you could run circles around both Stefan and Damon Salvatore, who were obviously a lot older and therefore should’ve been a lot faster.

And for that matter, they should’ve been stronger than you, they should’ve been able to snap you like a twig. They should’ve been able to. But they weren’t. Because not only were you faster, you were stronger too.

While having super speed and super strength was nice, mind compulsion, your most recent discovery, now that was incredible. All you had to do was look into someone’s eyes and they would become completely entranced to do whatever you told them.

Despite being over a hundred years old, neither Stefan nor Damon had ever seen a vampire quite like you.

They’d never seen a vampire who was also an empath, that, apparently, was usually more of a witch thing. Neither of them had ever come across a vampire bite which had a euphoric effect either. But having said all of that… they’d never heard of someone being turned from a wolf bite. Or a vampire who still had a beating heart, for that matter.

Your only real downfalls were that, for one, your blood’s healing capacity didn’t operate at the same speed for you as it did when being used to heal others. You’d put this down to the possibility that maybe your system had just grown too used to it. To be perfectly honest, though, you had no idea.

Secondly, your empathic tendencies were beginning to bring you down, but it wasn’t just that… it was the way in which you’d been instructed, by Damon Salvatore himself, on how to make them stop.

The plane ride home to California dragged on longer than you would’ve liked, the flight was delayed and you were absolutely starving by the time Derek picked you up from the airport. Your parents were still away, they’d travelled to Romania in search of answers to your predicament and they wouldn’t be home until at least next week, so that left Derek on chauffeur and babysitting duty.

“How are you?” He’d only spoken up thirty minutes into the car ride, you let out a sigh from the passenger seat and gave him a tired smile, you could feel the nerves radiating from him. He was afraid you’d be mad at him for killing Peter, and maybe you should’ve been, but again, you had a feeling he’d be back, and besides, spending time with Damon had helped you realise that everything wasn’t so black and white. It finally registered with you that people like Derek and Damon, the dark mysterious bad boys with secret hearts of gold- they sometimes did bad things but with good intentions.

Once you discovered this, you decided amongst yourself that you’d ease up on your not-really-big-brother in the future. Even if it meant you got hurt a little in the process. If hurting you was what he needed to do to learn his lesson then you’d be willing to make that sacrifice.

So you gave him a soft smile and answered, “Hungry.”

Derek let out a chuckle at that, nodding his head towards the backseat, drawing your attention to the three full blood bags laying on the leather seats.

A delighted gasp left your mouth as you snatched the plastic bags into your hands, wasting no time you stuck the attached tube into your mouth and began gulping the first bag down- it was definitely Stiles’ blood you were drinking, you’d gotten so used to the taste of it you were sure you could recognise it anywhere.

Letting out a happy groan you threw your head back against the headrest, “Stiles Stilinski you are a doll.”

Derek chuckled again, glancing at you fondly before his steely eyes returned to the road ahead.

It was only another 30 minutes before you were back in your driveway. “So are you staying here until my parents get back?” You questioned from the porch as Derek got your bags from the trunk of his car, the wolf shook his head with a smile, “Nah, I’ve got some stuff to do at home.”

“Derek, that home isn’t even structurally sound.” You chastised softly. Surely he’d be happier spending time with the family he still had breathing rather than living in the remnants of what used to be his.

Walking up to the porch, Derek placed your case down gently by your feet and moved himself to stand in front of you. A genuine smile painted his lips as he gazed at you, “New rule.” He stated, placing both of his hands on either of your forearms before going on, eyes staring affectionately into your own, “From now on, I will be doing all the worrying about you, alright? Not the other way around.”

With a defeated sigh, you nodded your head. “I’ll try my best.” That had been a lie. Unable to blind you with his unusually sweet sentiment, through the physical contact you could tell he was scheming.

“Good. Now, go get some rest I’ll come check up on you in the morning.” He kissed your forehead and then made his way back to his car, speeding out of your driveway and out of sight before you’d even unlocked the door.

The house was cold and empty when you’d re-entered. A shiver ran up your spine the second your feet stepped past the threshold. Something was very wrong, and unfortunately, you couldn’t tell what exactly it was that was so wrong. The feeling was unnerving, it was dark and it was agonisingly heavy. Like anxiety on steroids, lots of steroids.

Swallowing thickly, you gripped -more like clawed- at your chest. Nails scraping your skin as you attempted to catch a single breath, though it seemed that oxygen was determined to outrun you as you glanced around helplessly.

Almost twenty minutes has passed as you heaved and gasped frantically, overwhelming dread flooded your chest while simultaneously tears flooded your eyes, and still you didn’t have even the slightest idea of what it all meant.

And then it hit you. That panic- it didn’t belong to you.

Within a second you’d risen to your feet, breathing still staggered while you rushed out the front door, your vampire speed being put to good use as within seconds you were where your panic had led you. Night had fallen by now and it was completely dark, not to mention absolutely freezing, the hoodie you had on doing nothing to protect you from the biting cold in the air. The trail of feelings you’d been chasing had led you to Beacon Hills cemetery and before your eyes, there it was, the something that was very wrong.

Derek and Isaac. More specifically, Derek’s teeth buried in Isaac’s arm. You hadn’t even registered what you were doing when you ripped Derek from Isaac and violently threw him across the cemetery, the impact in which the Hale hit the tree all the way at the edge of the graveyard was a testimony to your strength. You hadn’t even used half it.

Without hesitation, you inspected Isaac’s body frantically, eyes lingering on the bloody bite across his right arm. Slowly and mournfully, your eyes met his, which were wide with shock. His heart was beating out of his chest to the point where you couldn’t ignore it.

“What did he do to you?” The question slipped out as a whisper, your anger melted away only to be replaced by dread as Isaac began to speak, “He offered me the bite and I- I said yes.”

“Isaac…” Your gaze drifted to the bite and you weren’t surprised to see it already healed. “I’m sorry.” You heard him mutter from above you, his anxiety pooling in your chest and mixing with his guilt.

Shaking your head softly you pulled him into you, your arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders while his own arms held you tightly against him as you kissed his temple to release him of the intense anxiety plaguing him. “Don’t be sorry. I understand.”

He relaxed against you upon hearing your words, the two weeks you’d been gone made him realise something, he was utterly useless without you, or so he thought. He felt weak. He felt as though if he didn’t have you as emotional support he was defective. Derek had honed in on that and manipulated it to his advantage, convinced Isaac that the bite was what he needed in order to be strong by himself. To keep you safe instead of you protecting him all of the time.

“Was that really necessary?” Derek’s voice broke the moment and you found anger was surging through you once again. You separated from Isaac to face Derek.

At this point, you didn’t care what his intentions had been, you weren’t going to let him away with this.

“I’m going to give you three seconds to explain why you did this.” As Derek moved to speak you ruthlessly cut him off. “Too slow.” And with that the back of your hand met his cheek, again sending him flying, only not as far this time.

His fangs were barred now, as were yours. Both of your eyes glowing, his red ones threatening as he attempted to demonstrate his power. And yet again, you had a revelation.

You couldn’t stop the laugh that fell from your lips, a synacal and sarcastic lilt to it as you towered over Derek’s form on the floor.

“Oh I get it!” You exclaimed, lip held between your teeth in mock disbelief you pressed your palm to your forehead as you spoke, “You thought you’d go around and stalk some kids so you could add to your big bad pack. Right?” He growled at you and attempted to pick himself up, only for you to give a swift, hard kick to his chest, returning his back to the dirt.

“I guess you told him it’d make him stronger? That it’d make all of his problems go away? And what about the Argent’s, huh? Did you tell him that you were manipulating him?” It was then, again in panic, Isaac spoke up to your surprise, in Derek’s defence.

“(Y/n), I promise it isn’t like that! He told me everything, it was my choice I said yes!” You spared him a glance before crouching down to Derek.

“Well did you tell him how you usually treat your pack?” The words were dripping in venom and the guilt that radiated from the man didn’t deter you from moving forward with you verbal attack, your head turning to Isaac, your eyes sparkling with sadness as you locked eyes with him, speaking hoarsely you wondered out loud, “Did he tell you that he’s a liar? That he doesn’t know how to run a pack? That if he doesn’t understand you he’ll leave you in the dust?”

The look on his face spoke volumes as he recalled the state Derek had put you in the weeks previous.

With a final sneer in Derek’s direction you delivered your parting words, “You better treat him better than you continue to treat me or so help me Derek Hale I will tear you to shreds.”

As you angrily stormed away, Isaac stood in confusion for a second before he began to chase after you, leaving Derek on the dirt floor to help himself.

“(Y/n)! (Y/n) please wait!” He shouted as he was just starting to catch up to you. When you felt that you were at a good enough distance away from Derek you finally slowed your pace.

When Isaac finally made it to your side, he was panting slightly, swallowing the lump in his throat he nervously grabbed your hand.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated, his eyes resembling those of a puppy and you could already feel your composure slipping away from you as you looked at him.

It’d been almost three weeks since you’d seen him, three weeks since you’d made out in the school basement and this definitely wasn’t how you were expecting the reunion to go.

“Isaac it isn’t your fault. I’m not mad at you, ok? I get it. I’m just worried, this town isn’t exactly kind on the supernatural.” You reassured him gently, squeezing his hand and giving him a sad smile.

“Don’t worry about me.” Isaac told you and you had to laugh, “Sorry, babe but I will not be taking my eyes off you until this town becomes normal.”

Isaac’s face was then taken over by, what could only be described as, a Cheshire Cat smile, “Did you just call me babe?” His voice was teasing and you felt your face heating up despite your freezing temperature.

Sucking on the inside of your cheek you tried your best to conceal your growing smile, you shrugged innocently, “Yeah. What about it?” The playful lilt in your voice had his smile widening even more as he began to lean down to you, his face getting closer to yours by the second.

His breath fanned across your lips when he spoke next, “I liked it.” With that, his lips pressed to yours cautiously, as if he was still unsure of whether or not it was okay to do so.

His uncertainty melted away when he felt your lips begin to reciprocate his actions and your hands moved to cup his cheeks.

The both of you could agree that this kiss was different than the last one you’d shared a few weeks ago. “Why is it that we only ever kiss when one of us is coming out as a supernatural creature?” Isaac laughed against your lips as you pulled away with a sigh.

“It would be us wouldn’t it.”

After a few minutes of nagging at Isaac you managed to put all the pieces of Derek’s plan together. Isaac himself didn’t actually know all that much, just that he was the first to be turned, but that alone told you everything that you needed to know.

Derek was now an alpha with no pack, so logically, a pack was what he was building and that would have been perfectly understandable- if he hadn’t started with your best friend.

“There’s a full moon coming up, did he tell you what would happen?” You questioned gently, ready to throttle Derek when the boy in front of you shook his head.

Heaving a deep breath you squeezed his hand reassuringly, the initial excitement of being turned had worn off and Isaac was beginning to radiate anxiety once again.

“Don’t worry okay? I’m gonna call Scott, he’ll be able to help you.” Isaac’s eyebrows came together in confusion, “Scott McCall?”

You nodded your head, “He’ll know how to help.” You tried to convince Isaac without spilling Scott’s secret. Not that it was going to stay a secret for too long, but it wasn’t your secret to tell.

Isaac shook his head rapidly, his hands moving to hold your forearms, his panic at your suggestion hitting you like a freight train as he stared into your eyes, a wild look in his own.

“No no no no. You can’t tell anyone. (Y/n) promise me you won’t tell anyone okay? If my dad finds out I’m a werewolf he’ll-“ The words came out almost as fast as you could run and his panic only intensified when his father entered his mind.

Quickly catching on to his looming panic attack as his eyes began to glow yellow you cut him off, “Isaac.”

He didn’t hear you as he kept rambling, claws growing past his nails and digging into your arm, “No he’ll kill me. Oh my god he’s gonna kill me. (Y/n) he’s go-“

Yes, it would’ve been easy to rip your arms from his grasp that was causing you quite a lot of pain as his nails sunk into your skin as his hands held onto you desperately. However, you had a feeling that his hold on your now bloody forearms was the only thing keeping him from spiralling completely out of control.

“Isaac! Look at me!” Your voice was strict but served to make his amber eyes finally settle on yours.

Gently, you finally slipped your arms out of Isaac’s clawed grip, although you were sure it would’ve been less painful to just leave them, his claws dragged down your arms while you lifted them slowly and cautiously until you replaced them with your hands, using your new grasp of the boy to provide him with some peace of mind.

You focused your energy on shifting a sense of relaxation from your own palms to Isaac’s sweaty ones as you spoke, voice soft again, “I’m not going to tell anyone. It’s just you and me, alright? Focus on me, yeah?” Isaac nodded his head, still slightly frantic but calmer than before as he did as you told and simply focused on you, “Take a deep breath.” You instructed, breathing steadily along with him until his eyes returned to their natural blue colour and his claws retracted.

A moment of silence passed with Isaac slumped against you, hands held tightly in his while he steadied his breathing. You placed your lips to his cheek and then again to the bruise forming beneath his right eye, you hadn’t noticed it earlier. You’d almost forgotten it’d been nearly three weeks since you’d been together, he’d probably been though it with his demon of a sperm doner over the time you were away.

“I’ve missed you.” It was Isaac that broke the silence when your lips disconnected from his injured face.

“I missed you too.” You replied simply, there was so much you’d planned on saying to him while you were in Mystic Falls but at the moment, you felt there were more pressing matters to discuss and again, it was Isaac who spoke.

He pulled away slightly to look at you properly, hands still clasping yours, he gave them a squeeze before he started speaking, “This pack that Derek’s building… I’m guessing you’re not in it?”

“I was never asked. But I’ve kind of already got a pack, which you are more than welcome to join.” You responded hopefully, wishing he’d agree but you knew he wouldn’t. As such a fresh beta he’d stay loyal to his alpha, but, you had to ask.

Isaac nodded his head sadly, “Scott McCall?” You let out a small laugh, at how quickly he’d caught on, “Yeah. He’s not exactly an alpha but he’s helped me out a lot, more than Derek has.”

“Derek told me that wolves are stronger as a pack, he didn’t say anything about vampires though.” Isaac went on, a confused lilt in his voice.

“I found out in Mystic Falls that vampires rarely belong to packs and by vampire nature I don’t need one, but Ric figures that it’s in my nature to want one since it’s all I’ve ever known.” You relayed the information to Isaac.

“Then why not, you know, join mine?” His lip was pulled between his teeth and he was looking at you with a hopeful expression.

“Isaac I just told you…” You said pleadingly, you didn’t want to upset him any further but you also couldn’t throw away the pack bond you’d built with Scott and Stiles when you’d first turned. If it was a matter of Isaac’s pack being made up of just Isaac there would’ve been no problems, it was the fact that it wasn’t Isaac’s pack but Derek’s.

Scratching what you’d decided about Derek earlier, you came to a new agreement with yourself: all of hell would freeze over before you even thought of easing up on Derek Hale.

Isaac threw his head back with a groan, “Come on, (N/n)! We are not going to let our love play out like Romeo and Juliet!” The way he spoke was humorous but it was obvious that he wasn’t really joking.

With a sigh you moved your shaking hands, that were now covered in scabbed over cuts as opposed to their previous status of raw and bleeding, to Isaac’s face. Your thumbs moved gently along his cheek bones as you took him in with an encouraging smile on your face as you told him confidently, “I refuse to let us become a modern day Romeo and Juliet, that’s not happening.”

You pulled him closer to you, slipping your arms around his shoulders and doing your best to ignore the butterflies rioting in your stomach when his arms wrapped tentatively around your waist.

You brought your lips to meet his briefly before fixing him with another determined look, “But listen to me, we might be loyal to different packs but I’m on your side, no matter what.”

Isaac nodded his head in understanding, “If it comes down to it, I’m always gonna choose you.” He responded honestly, arms tightening around you to hold you against his chest, his height causing his chin to be tilted downwards so that he could meet your eyes.

“I meant what I said to Derek, by the way.” You informed, Isaac’s eyebrows rose in confusion again, “If he mistreats you I’ll tear him apart.”

“Should I give Scott the same warning?” Isaac asked humorously and you had to shake your head in order to hold back a laugh.

It wasn’t until you’d separated from your embrace with Isaac that you took into account the fact that your body was now shaking with the cold.

“Come on, I’ve gotta call my dad and probably the sheriff and you’re freezing.” Isaac stated, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and leading you back to the cemetery where you noticed his overturned excavator and the dug up grave plot.

You listened with curiosity while Isaac spoke to his father on the phone, trying to explain exactly what had transpired in the last couple of hours since his shift started.

“How the hell does an excavator just flip over, Isaac?” You could hear his fathers anger through the line and Isaac fumbled for a response, “Someone, or something- I don’t know it could’ve been an animal, but it got pushed from the side and tipped over. I fell into the plot I was digging and that was it, I didn’t see the rest.” He explained weakly.

“You still stuck in hole, you idiot?” You watched as Isaac clenched his jaw and motioned to yourself when he was finally looking at you, “No. No, um, (Y/n) just got back from Virgina, she came looking for me and helped me out.”

“She still there?” His father questioned, seemingly cooling off at the mention of your name. You hated how much that man seemed to like you when he should’ve held that affection for his actual son.

“Yeah, she’s with me now.” Isaac confirmed and you offered up a fake cheerful, “Hi, Mr Lahey!”

“Invite her over while I call the sheriff and see about getting this mess cleaned up.” With that, he hung up the phone and Isaac sighed, “You’re starting to look like Mr. Freeze, let’s get you warmed up.” His arm stayed comfortably wrapped around your shoulder and as you reached up to hold his hand that was hanging over your shoulder you stopped dead in your tracks, “Isaac, I can’t go and greet your father looking like this.”

You motioned to your torn and bloodstained hoodie, immediately regretting it when his eyes widened in shock, “Did I… oh god (Y/n) did I do that?”

Not missing a beat you grabbed his hands and made sure you soothed his panic before you got a rerun of earlier.

“It’s not your fault. You’re new to this, okay? Mistakes happen and that’s fine it’s all part of the process. And look!-” You pulled off the hoodie to reveal your now completely healed arms and hands, nothing but dried blood to show that the claw marks were even there in the first place. “‘M all healed up! No harm done.” You reassured him, bringing his lips to yours to further convince him that you were okay and distract him from the guilt you could feel building within him.

Your arms, although no longer cut, were covered in goosebumps as Isaac ran his hands affectionately down the length of them. “It won’t happen again.” He promised and you gave him a shaky smile, teeth beginning to chatter, “Let’s go home?” Isaac nodded his head, nothing short of ripping his own hoodie off before pulling your arms through the sleeves and moving himself in front of you to zip it up.

You watched completely content as he fumbled with the zipper. His curls were falling in front of his eyes and his eyes were squinted in concentration. The quiet, but triumphant, “got it” he let out when he finally finessed the zipper had you grinning like a fool.

When he moved his focus from the zip and back to your face, he smiled bashfully, “What’re you looking at me like that for?”

The sleeves of his hoodie, that was miles too big for you, hung far past your wrists and brushed against the nape of his neck, your fingers finding a place tangled in his hair while you stared at him, grin ever present.

Your other hand was otherwise occupied being placed firmly against Isaac’s chest, enjoying the feeling of his rapidly beating heart, and you didn’t know it entirely. But in that moment it was beating for you and you alone.

Isaac’s hand made itself comfortable holding your waist, the other holding your own against his chest, keeping it in place.

Neither of you needed to say it. You could both feel it. But still, you found yourself uttering the words, “I love you.”

Not half a second had passed before Isaac echoed your declaration, “I love you.”

“I feel like if I kiss you right now I won’t be able to stop but I’m still freezing my ass off so… your place?”

Isaac nodded his head in agreement, “My place.”

*

Upon arrival at the Lahey residence, Mr. Lahey had greeted you with a wide smile and ushered you into the kitchen where he instructed Isaac to make you some tea, to which Isaac had to restrain a grumble as he’d been planning on doing it anyway.

Mr. Lahey was happily chatting away to you when Isaac set down two cups of tea, one in front of his father and one in front of you, his eyes lingering on you with a certain kind of glint before he turned back to the counter to grab his own cup and returning to sit beside you at the table.

Isaac was, in all honesty, losing it. He didn’t even know why. You were just sitting there, wrapped up in his hoodie, nose ever so slightly pink from the cold, talking politely to his father. It was nothing out of the ordinary but he was finding it hard to think about anything other than how his hoodie would look splayed on the floor of his bedroom.

He wasn’t very good at hiding it either, you could feel it as clear as day. Teenage boy hormones mixing with teenage werewolf hormones were causing havoc and it’d be a lie to say it wasn’t having an affect on you.

Trying to return your attention to whatever Mr.Lahey was babbling about you clearing your throat and took a sip of your tea, keeping your expression neutral as Isaac’s hand slipped to your knee under the table. His attempt to pull you into his mess of hormones was obviously successful as you found yourself ready to yell out in frustration when his hand stayed put on your knee for a solid twenty minutes before his father finally rose from the table.

“I’m going to check out the situation at the cemetery, you’re welcome to stay tonight, it’s pretty dangerous out there these days.” Mr. Lahey offered and you smiled innocently at him as he stood in the doorway, “I think I’ll take you up on that. Thank you.” The older man gave you a nod but said no more before walking out the front door.

“What the hell are you doing?” You finally burst when the front door clicked shut, whipping around to face Isaac.

“What?” He asked as if his hand didn’t start sliding further up your leg the second his father left the room.

You groaned, “Don’t ‘what?’ me when you’re about four centimetres from having your hand between my thighs!”

“Sorry.” He immediately retracted his hand, eyes wide as he realised how close his hand was to reaching the top of your thigh, “I, um, I didn’t mean to- I mean, I did mean to but i won’t do it again if you don’t want me to-“

“Isaac.” You cut him off, lip pulled between your teeth, “I want you to.” You declared and he let out a heavy sigh full of relief, “Thank God.” He muttered before he was pulling you up off the chair and right against his chest.

His lips immediately found yours and his hands were gripping your waist like there was no tomorrow.

At this point, the butterflies in your stomach were going absolutely bat shit feral when his lips began to trail past your lips, to your chin, then to the curve of your jaw. It was when his hand slipped deftly up your side to settle against your jaw that you realised just how much you’d been wanting this.

Isaac’s lips fell further to your neck and you couldn’t stop the hum of approval that escaped your mouth at the sensation of his soft lips sucking and licking at your pulse. “It this okay?” He asked in a mutter, the dainty and nervous nature of his voice contrasting greatly with the confidence and ferocity of his actions.

Your hands tugged gently at his hair to get him to meet you clouded eyes, when he looked at you you were sure that his eyes had flashed yellow, his breathing was getting heavy and you had an inkling that his lips on your neck was the most exciting thing that was going to happen between you tonight.

“It’s more than okay.” You told him with a dopey smile, letting out a laugh when he dived back into the crook of your neck, kissing your skin through a smile.

Despite your words your hands moved to his chest to push him away slightly, “But…” you started as Isaac threw his head back with a groan, “I think we should stop, and maybe revisit this after the full moon passes.”

After taking in a steadying breath Isaac nodded in agreement, “Yeah, you’re probably right.” His hand slipped into yours and he intertwined his fingers with yours, he spent a moment just looking at your linked hands with a fond smile and the look of achievement on his face. It was easy to tell, with the help of your empathic powers, that Isaac was proud of himself.

You yourself couldn’t quite pinpoint why he was feeling so prideful in the moment, but he knew. To be truthful he wasn’t just proud of himself, he was downright ecstatic. He’d been nothing more than your best friend since you were both eleven, and now, six years later he finally crossed the threshold from being your best friend to being your- well actually now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure what he is to you now.

A few hours passed before Isaac worked up the courage to ask the question that had formed in his mind after his make out session with you earlier.

The pair of you had since gotten comfortable in his bed, which was nothing particularly new. You laid on your side with your back to the bedroom door, Isaac was behind you, his chin tucked in between your shoulder and your neck with his arms around your torso holding you close to him.

“Can I ask you something?” His voice broke through the silence and you responded with a tired hum, adjusting his arm so you could snuggle closer and tried your best to stop yourself from falling asleep while he murmured softly in your ear.

“What are we?” He kept his eyes trained on the dark room ahead of him, his hand grabbing yours as you readjusted his arm and he absentmindedly began playing with your fingers, the action being successful in calming his nerves.

“What do you want us to be?” You asked sleepily in response, a small smile forming on your face as you heard his heartbeat speeding up.

Isaac let out a nervous breath against your neck and you held back a shudder at the feeling, “I was kind of thinking that all the kissing would make us a couple.” Letting out another sleepy hum, if it was even physically possible, you snuggled deeper into his hold. You sluggishly turned your head to place a light kiss against his cheek, “Then we’re a couple.”

[popculturebuffet]

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: The Last of the Clan McDuck!  Review “It Was Worth THE Dime”

This is one of my faviorite comic book stories of all time. Given i’m a massive comics nerd, for both books and strips, that is the highest praise I can give this wonderful, epic, beautifully drawn and deeply emotoinal story. I first discovered it in the local library that had the second volume, and found the rest online at a now long dead fan site. And while it took me longer than I care to admit to really dig into Duck Comics, and even now i’ve only scratched the surface, I can say without a doubt this story is the reason I’m so deeply attached to Scrooge as a character, and that I was excited as  I was for Ducktales 2017. This comic showed me just what Scrooge McDuck should be at his core as a character, and showed me what a wonderful character that is. So with all that glowing praise as you can guess i’ve been wanting to cover this for years, and even considered though back when I was more primarily a comic book reviewer last year. Any time i’ve reviewed stuff before now, i’ve considered it, and with Scrooge’s Sisters Hortense and Matilda presumably and definitely debuting on Ducktales soon, and it’s about damn time, the timing could not be better or clearer to dig into this utter triumph.  But before we can take a look at the story itself we naturally have to take a look at the man behind it: Writer and Artist Don Rosa. Don Rosa is easily one of the best Duck Comics writer out there, seen by many as only second to his own faviorite duck comics writer and God of Ducks, Carl Barks. For those 1 of you who do not know, Barks was the man who created pretty much everything in the duck universe comics wise and a bit in animation too: He created Daisy, Scrooge, Gladstone, Magica, The Beagle Boys, The Junior Woodchucks, Gyro, Little Bulb, Glomgold, Rockerduck, and the list goes on. While he didn’t make EVERY duck, he made so many that it’d be impossible to imagine either version of Ducktales being possible without him.  So of course Rosa was a fan and while he took up the family buisness, he was also an artist and duck comics fanboy on the side. So when, even if it meant a paycut, the opportunity to actually write and draw them came up, he lept at it and thus became one of their publishers go to guys, even if said publisher published the stories overseas where the Duck Comics are far more popular and still going to this day, and ironically where most duck comics printed nowadays get their stories from. Rosa was known for his meticous historical research and gorgeous art that he took his time drawing to get just perfect and showed on the page. The man has easily some of hte best and most detailed duck art around and I still haven’t found a duck artist that can match him.. and if you have or found one close i’d genuinely love to see that. He is a genuinely talented, spirited guy who was sadly mistreated by disney and that, coupled with tragically failing eyesight, eventually ended his career. He’s still around and I genuinely hope to meet him some day as he still does conventions.  The man is not without fault: I don’t get his hatred of superhero comics, as while I get them overshadowing funnybooks and that around the time of his career they were in decline, but it’s just as unfair to write off Superhero comics as mindless.  garbage as it is for people to write off the Duck Comics as “only for kids” and I genuinely wish he’d see that and see how the medium has evolved so much since then. I also grumble a bit as his refusal to allow anything besides barks into his bubble, and having to be forced to include fethry on the family tree, but that’s more personal preference. I like using as much material as you got. IT’s why i’ve wanted to, and hopefully will eventually get around to, write a sonic fanfic using bits of all the various universes that for legal, ken penders being an absolute waste of a human being, and sega being stupid reasons can’t be used anymore. I like taking everything in a franchise and putting it in a blender and it’s why I love the reboot. But there’s nothing wrong with taking things as is, not stepping on toes canon wise, but still being awesome. We’re just diffrent people and that’s okay.  And a lot of his fanboy showing actually lead to REALLY good things: Goldie O’Gilt was a one off character, and while used ocasoinally overseas, didn’t really pick up as a character again until a combination of Ducktales 87 and Rosa’s work with her, as he always loved the character, and fleshing her out lead to her being used more, and gaining a sizeable fandom. He also gained the Cablleros an even bigger fandom by giving them two stories of their own, and fleshing them out a bit more.  And this very comic is the peak of that, taking EVERY mention of scrooge’s past from various backstories to set up adventures, every tiny scrap, and to his credit going to both Barks Himself and various other Barks Experts Rosa was friends with to check his work, especially difficult given he likey had to find these stories in issue or pullt hem from disney archives, and complied it into one long epic that not only uses all this info effortlessly, but spins a compelling story that gives us a clear vision of what Scrooge should be, how he became the man he is, and how he lost himself only to find himself again with the help of three precocious boys and a cynical 30 something duck. So taint all bad is what i’m saying.  As for how this got started, thankfully rosa himself provided the origin story for this project in the back of the volume of his works that contained the first 7 chapters of life and times, as well as detailed notes for every chapter. At the time Rosa was working for Egmont, the big european publisher who handles Disney’s much larger european comics market, hence why most of his stories appeared years earlier in Europe before debuting here. The american publisher at the time , and an old friend of his, called Rosa with an idea: A 12 issue Maxi-Series focusing on Scrooge’s history, since at the time they were all the rage.. and really even today mini series are still a viable market and many indie titles just have several minis instead of an ongoing. So it wasn’t a bad idea, Rosa just simply offered a tweak: He’d tell his publisher at Egmont about the idea, and let her get a crack team of writers and artists to do this proper, and thus Disney could publish it for free once it was done and for no extra cost. Rosa gave his publisher a fax detaling both the idea and the fact that it needed to be done right, given to the best person possible, and done with the greatest care. She agreed.. and naturally handed it to him, as he admits he hoped. She made the right call, a legend was born and here we are.  One last bit before the read more and before I get to the first story itself at last: Since barks wrote a lot of side stories that fit into the canon, I COULD slot them in between chapters, but have instead chosen to review the original 12 part story as was, and do the various side stories and two epilogues, the utterly fantastic “Dream of a Life Time”, easiliy one of my faviorite comics ever, and the also really great “Letter From Home”, which will likely on some level be the basis for the upcoming at the time of this review “Battle for Castle McDuck!”, after completing the story. In other words i’m probably going to be at this for years. so join me under the read more won’t you as I begin the journey of a thousand miles with a single step as we look at the humble start of a legend. 

We begin, after a fun short teaser with present Day scrooge saying his past is no one’s buisness only to get hit with an oh yeah?,  with a scrap book title for the issue, something I want to bring up since while I got that’s what it was what I never got, and  must’ve glanced over when I first read rosa’s notes when I got this copy, was that it isn’t SCROOGE’S scrap book, but his sister Matilda’s who dutifully and happily catologued her brother’s adventures. It’s a really sweet moment.. and something that will hit VERY hard when we reach Chapter 11. If you haven’t read this story or heard of it.. .that’s this story’s equilvent of “Last Crash of the Sunchaser” and clearly Frank and Matt drew from that story a bit for it, but we can get more into the parallels when we get there. A smaller but fun note is that Rosa had specific coin drawing templates, for different indentions and what not he used, and used them for the coins in these intro bits. Yes he admitted he has a problem and yes that’s damn impressive anyway. 

It’s Scrooge’s 10th birthday, and his father Fergus has taken him up to see the family land, Dismal Downs to tell him of the mighty Clan McDuck and show him the ancestral lands, graveyards and Castle. He admits to having taken this long because the Clan McDuck currently lives in Glasgow so it’s kind of a long trip just to show your son “Hey look at the decay and rot that’s our ancestral homeland”. The Clan is on hard times, as a bad shipping deal, the backbone of a rather good barks story and I wont’ be interjecting for every barks reference as it’d get rather tiring though for what it’s worth Rosa provided tons of detailed footnotes in the back of each Fantagraphics collection, so good on him. Speaking of which though they do include 10 pages of Mc Duck family history that was supposed to open this story.. until Rosa’s editor wisely pointed out the story isn’t about them but scrooge and having read his roug draft, yeah.. there’s a good gag here and there, as well as “Dirty” Dingus McDuck, scrooge’s Grandpa and the reason Dewey is cursed with that middle name. Why anyone thought Dingus was a good name is beyond me, nor why Donald thought that was a good middle name back in 2009 is again, beyond me. Good on Don though for getting that past the censors.  But yeah with no money they can’t buy the land back and they were scared off it years ago by a mystical ghost dog, the hound of the whiskervilles. There is treasure in the castle, Sir Quackly’s gold, but he accidently sealed himself into a wall while sealing his treasure in there. Their interrupted by the town assholes, the Whiskervilles who have been grazing sheep on the land and are naturally behind the hound, using the sound of it to scare off Fergus once they realize he’s a McDuck. Because apparently you can keep a Scooby Doo style hoax up for Centuries if you don’t have meddling kids around. Who knew.  Back in Glasgow, we meet the rest of Scrooge’s family: His Uncle Jake, his sisters Matilda and Hortense, and his mother Downy. Jake hasn’t really been mentioned at all in Ducktales and I know next to nothing about him, which given I share a name with the guy you’d THINK I would. I mean I know a decent amount about this Jake. 

But nothing about who the hell Jake McDuck is or why he lives with his brother and his family. Here, you guys watch the dancing Jake, i’m going to probably do that for hours after this review is done, i’m going to go sort this out.  Okay one google and finding the Scrooge Mcduck wiki page on him, Jake shows up here likely because he was referenced in the story “A Christmas For Shacktown” and apparently borrowed from Scrooge and never paid it back. Otherwise.. there’s not a lot about him and unlike the rest of Scrooge’s family he really dosen’t do much that I can remember. Except like 2017 Scrooge, he apparently has become extremely long lived, as Scrooge and Donald STILL think he’s alive in the 1950′s.. and likely is STILL alive in some form in the Don Rosa stories, given his take place after Barks and thus in the 40′s and 50′s where Barks stories were set. Hence why unlike the Reboot, Scrooge isn’t inexpecilbly over 210. But Jake McDuck sure as heck is. Maybe this highlander is a highlander.. you know the movie and tv show type. Maybe someone cut off his head. That’s what i’m going with.

This does bring me to another point about this story: While Barks gave all of scrooge’s family their names, it’s where Rosa got them after all, it’s Rosa who really made them into characters. Fergus as a loving father ashamed his family legacy has fallen and wanting his son to do better than him, Downy as an equally loving wife and mother, Matilda as his sweet and caring sister and later her brother’s moral center, and Hortense.. well here she’s just a babbling baby but her character will become clear and glorious as we go. She is adorable here though and we do get some great bits with her.  Getting back to the plot now i’ve made my points, Jake is riled up wanting to understandably kick the Whiskerville’s asses with Scrooge, who even as a sweet innocent ten year old still has the family temper already, agreeing.. but Downy gently shoots them out pointing that two middle aged-ish men and a 10-year old just aren’t enough to fight an army of them and while she doesn’t mention it the fight would just tire them out for work and accomplish nothing as while it is the McDuck’s land the combination of the hound and the lack of money to move back means it’s pointless. She also mentions their younger brother Pothole, who went to America. This will be important later. 

Scrooge storms off and Fergus laments, in a scene that’s more painful the more I think about it, how his clan has fallen, with he and his brother lamenting their chances at glory are long gone.. but Fergus has hope his son can do better, and for his son’s birthday makes him a shoeshine kit in the hopes of inspiring him to greatness. This scene still resonates since many of us are poor, struggling and not doing so good money wise. I’m sure many parents have doubts and regrets about not being able to do more for their kid.

 Not only that but the story carefully avoids the trap of Fergus accidently being abusive by you know, pinning his family’s future on one 10 year old. While yes he is asking a lot of Scrooge, to restore their family name.. it’s very clear he mostly just wants his son to do better than him. Even if Scrooge was just slightly more successful, Fergus would likely be happy with that. He’s not using the legacy as a “This what you must be” like say the Gems in steven universe did for Steven with Rose’s Legacy, the kind where it sort of suffocates you till youc an make it your own. He’s just saying “this is what you can be” He believes his child can be great and simply once him to reach his full potetial and is simply giving him a means to hopefully do so, a simple home made shoe shine kit. While Jake scoffs, the narration notes the idea isn’t worth a dime.. it’s worth THE dime. The dime that would set Scrooge’s destiny in motion. 

The next morning, Fergus goes to check up on his son and his new buisness but Scroogey’s having no luck and about ready to just quit, the poor child. Also Matilda is dragging her baby sister around like a doll and it’s entirely precious as it is funny. 

But as for those Dorty Boots, Matilda wonders why her dad dosen’t just tell Scrooge that Burt the Ditch Digger is coming. Fergus tells her to quite and then explains his plan: he’s sending Burt to scrooge, with an American dime Fergus and Matilda found, to teach his son a lesson: By giving him a hard days work, he’ll teach him what hard work truly means.. and by having Burt “cheat” him with the American dime, it’ll give him the motivation to keep going and to nto be as wide eyed and trusting. It’s a well meaning if harsh lesson, and the kind you’d expect from 1900′s parenting and fits the origin well: Scrooge still earned his first money square, as he still did work.. but his getting cheated being a lesson dosen’t diminish what it taught scrooge, and helps flesh out what I talked about above, Fergus knowing his son has great potential he just needs inspiration to reach it. And instead of just telling him that he does a con job but it’s the 1900′s. This orign, and Fergus’ part in it would be entirely untouched in Ducktales 2017, the first scrooge based adaptation since this comic came out, and I bless them for it. Frank even said this comic was used as a bible by the writers and while theirs clear deviations, and we’ll get to that, they were mainly done for good reason, and it’s very clear that while scrooge’s history is very VERY diffrent in the reboot, the core of his past is still there. 

So the plan is on and young scrooge spends half an hour killing himself to get Burt’s shoes clean before getting his dime.. and realizing he’s been had, makes this proud decleration that will be the bedrock of his entire life and character. 

Scrooge being naturally stubborn as you can see takes his cheats a leson: There will always be hard honest work, and he will be there to do it and he’ll be tougher and sharper than anyone trying to cheat him out of his pay. Fergus’ plan has the intended effect, and Scrooge having learned a hard lesson now has the drive and determination we know him for. As for why it gives it to him.. I had to think on it a bit but it makes sense: For some a setback like this would make them quit.. for Scrooge it’s just proof he CAN find customers, he CAN do this job, or any at his hardest and instead takes this as a lesson to be prepared ot out think and outfight anyone who dares cheat him again, and to not earn his money by being the kind of guy who cheats a kid out of an honest days pay, but as a good honest duck like his father and his father before him. =He will make his money square so he can be the kind of person this seeming stranger SHOULD have been. Granted we’ll see Scrooge doesn’t end up as the best person at times but .. we’ll get there.  So with the fire inside turned from a spark into the flame Scrooge soon got to work, and by the next panel we see he’s eventually worked his stand up from a small box given to him by his dad, to a three seater shoeshining bench, who he wipes all at once by stretching one of his mother’s girldes over a light pole, a detail I didn’t get the first time around but now love. Naturally being a good kind boy much like his Nephews, Scrooge always gave his proud father a portion of his earnings, if with a full receipt for tax purposes. Because he’s still scrooge after all. His dad wonders he did too good a job while Hortense glxbit’s in agreement. 

As the years go on, a now tween Scrooge is eventually able to save up for a horse cart, and starts selling Fire Wood up in the city. He eventually realizes Peat, an earthy subtance found in bogs I only know about because I had to look it up for this review, is more profitable and with some snappy marketing moves into selling Peat for the rich instead, also showing the young lad already has a grasp of how to sell to obnoxious rich people. 

But while his business is booming, our young hero can’t resist visiting his family’s ancestral home and longing for it, hoping one day to have it for himself and in a nice show of how despite his temper and tenacity forged over the last few years he’s still at hear the kind, sweet optimistic lad he was just a few pages ago, he decides to tidy up the Clan’s Cemetary while he’s here. 

Unfortunately as proof that Donald and Della’s terrible luck comes from both sides of the family the Whiskervilles are sub-glomgold levels of human beings.. or Dogfaces in this case, and are digging up the McDuck Clan’s graves to hunt for treasure. Scrooge tries to simply do the smart thing and flee, but the asshole brigade catch sight of him and mistkaing him for a peat burgalar chase after him.. and spend WAY too much time and energy chasing a teenage boy over some fucking bog grass you clearly aren’t selling yourselves. I mean spare a thought for how dumb this is: They could easily sell of of that peat to put up a fence or chop down some trees to get the material if their really that concerned about someone getting in the bog. Then again this isn the 1800 and 1900′s where the child death toll was simply “Yes”, so they likely thought whose gonna notice one more dead child on our property?

Scrooge heads toward the castle and is gestured in by a friendly mystery duck who gladly shows him around and can tell he’s a McDuck just by look, showing the castle is still in glorious condition as the whiskervilles are too spooked to go in, hence why they didn’t chase Scrooge inside. I’d say being afraid of ghosts but not murdering a child is weird but these are the same guys who thought murdering a child was plan A. We’re not dealing with a brain trust is what i’m saying.  So the mystery duck shows Scroogey around, showing off some colorful stories about his ancestors recycled from that scrapped prologue I mentioned. THe mystery man, who brushes off Scrooge thinking he’s a McDuck asks Scrooge what he’s doing to restore the family glory and while Scrooge points out he’s already working on it, Mystery Duck points out he’s still missing something: He has the drive and the dream, but peat and shoeshining, while getting him good money for his family, aren’t the thing you can build a fortune or a future off of. He then points out where Scrooge’s dime comes from: America.. and that gives the boy the idea to head to the states. As for what he could possibly DO there to start, the mystery guy mentions his uncle pothole. So Scrooge has the dream, the drive.. and now a plan: Go to america, work for his uncle on the riverboats, and work his way up from there till he finds his fortune and restores his family name.  But while his future is settled, the present is still an issue and Scrooge wants to teach the child murder club a lesson and thus borrows, though MM wisely points out it’s all his property a horse and some armor, and stuffs the armor with peat. As for what his plan is.. welllll

That.. is fucking awesome. And far from the last fucking awesome moment in this thing. It also shows off even as not quite a teen yet, Scrooge is still a badass already, and while he doesn’t have his trademark strength or fighting skills quite yet, his ingenuity is already there.. and that will always trump both. The Whiskervilles run away and into some quicksand and Scrooge vows to return one day as laird and reclaim his family land. But that’s a story for a few chapters down the line. As for who the mystery duck is, he’s naturally Sir Quackely himself, or rather his ghost, who was simply guiding Scrooge and didn’t give him the treasure as simply handing him the money wouldnn’t restore their family’s good name or continue their bloodline now would it? 

For now Scrooge returns to work for a bit before finding his way to America: A cattleboat to New Orleans looking for a Cabin Boy. And so Scrooge bids farewell to his family. His Dad, feeling bad he can’t even give his boy shilling, gives him the family pocketwatch with jake pitching in with the family gold dentures. While Scrooge naturally refuses to sell the watch, he does plan to sell the teeth as soon as possible for good reason. We then get some sweet goodbyes with him, his sisters (With hortense uttering her first words to everyone’s astonishment) and loving mother as he wonders just what awaits him in America. 

And there he stands on the bow of a ship, heading for a new land, in New Orleans he can be a new man. And we’ll see just what kind of man he becomes as this series continues. For now this is the end of a chapter but the beginning of a lifetime. 

Final Thoughts on Last of the Clan McDuck:

This story is excellent. While there are even better chapters to come, this one is still one of the most memorable and most joyous, showing just how Scrooge became what he is, where some of his values come from, others will be instilled along the way , and beginning to flesh out his family. We see Scrooge’s love of wealth comes from starting from the bottom, growing up with a family that barely had anything and badly needed everything, but was loving and instilled fine morals in him. We also see a Scrooge far removed from the bitter old man he is in present day, an optimistic naïve young lad who only wants best for his family. It’s a nice stark contrast to who he’ll become, good and bad, and a nice way to both compare him to Huey Dewey and Louie and break your heart as his own hardens before briefly turning black later on.  The art, as is standard for this series and Rosa, is breathtaking, and the story isn’t lacking in good jokes, their just downplayed so the story itself can take center stage. There’s nothing really more to say: it’s an excellent start to an even more excellent tale and stands proud among an already stellar story as one of it’s finest outings. 

NEXT RAINBOW: Scrooge goes down to the mighty Missipi to work on the riverboats and meets one of his signature Rogue’s for the first time in their first form, as well as Gyro’s dad.. or grandpa.. or possibly both I don’t know his family tree. Point is, tune in next time for some riverboat hyjinks.  Until then if you’d like to comission an episode of any animated show, especially ducktales and the various other duck related disney shows, or another Duck Comics story you really like from Rosa, Barks or whoever you want really, I take commissions for 5 dollars a review, with 5 dollars off your full order when you put in for more than one episode or issue. You can also follow me on patreon.com/popculturebuffet and for just two bucks a month get access to polls (which i’ll start once we have at least three patreons), and my exclusive discord server. And if you liked this review be sure to reblog it to show off. My self promotion done until next time: There’s always another rainbow. 

[solarune]

love is all we own [prologue]

pairing: wong yukhei x fem!reader (feat. wayv) genre: fluff, angst, strangers to lovers, potential smut, surfer au warnings: alcohol consumption, marijuana use, swearing, potential sexual content (i haven’t decided yet i’m sorry), political argument (in this preview only), getting kicked out (in this preview only) estimated fic word count: 8k-10k prologue word count: 1,064 upload date: august 7 @ 6pm est summary: after getting kicked out of your parents’ house because of a political argument, your cousin kun generously offers to take you in. suddenly, you’re living with 7 boys who have no idea how to converse at a normal volume and laugh every 5 seconds. when they find out that school and work is all you’ve ever known, they’re determined to help you live out your last summer to the very end; before you move across the country for the unforeseeable future | based off of the song ‘summer on you’ by prettymuch a/n: this is part of @neo-cult-ure​‘s summer songs collab!! super grateful that she reached out to me to participate in another collab, please look forward to it :-) i’ll have a tag list for this fic so please let me know if you would like to be added to it!!

You whisper goodbye to Heejin with a sympathetic smile as she leaves your house, the tears that she quickly attempts to wipe away not going unnoticed by you. After shutting the door, you turn around to face your parents who are standing behind you; your father stands with a stoic expression while your mother has her arms crossed over her chest.

“I cannot believe you guys really said that stuff in front of Heejin,” you seethe as you glare at them. “She literally came out to you because you were saying all of that homophobic crap and you still didn’t stop!”

“I never liked her and now I know why,” your mother huffs, the haughty facial expression that she sports enraging you even further. “She hasn’t forced you to do anything with her has she?”

“Fuck you, mom, are you serious?” you yell. Your parents’ eyes widen and you feel a bit smug at that; you’ve never raised your voice at them like this but they hurt your best friend and nobody, not even your own parents, could get away with that. “It shouldn’t matter what the fuck my sexuality is! Heejin has been my best friend since I was 5 and you have never had a problem with her! But now that you find out she’s not religious or straight, you’ve suddenly never liked her and think she’s a bad influence on me? How fucking ignorant can you get?”

“Do not use that kind of language in my home,” your father scolds you, and your glare turns to him as he takes a step forward in front of your mom. “That girl-”

“Her name is Heejin,” you say through gritted teeth. “You’ve known her for years, you know her name.”

“That girl,” your father continues with a pointed look. “Isn’t the only one we have a problem with. We no longer want you bringing Mizuki here, especially if her exchange student boyfriend is with her.”

Your eyes widen at that and you feel yourself become even angrier. An image of Mizuki with her boyfriend flashes through your mind, both of them naturally darker in skin color, and your hands ball up into fists at your side. “You guys are fucking unbelievable. This is why I didn’t choose a school close to home and why I took a job across the country. I can’t fucking stand how ignorant you guys are! It’s the 21st century, when the fuck are you guys going to grow the fuck up and realize that?”

“Call us ignorant and say the f-word one more time and see what happens!” your mother screeches from behind your father.

You walk towards your parents and stand up straight. “You guys are fucking ignorant and it disgusts me.”

The three of you stand there in silence and your eyes move back and forth between them. Your mother looks scared and shocked while your father looks just as angry as you feel. “I want you out by tomorrow night,” he says as he glowers at you. 

All of the anger that you felt immediately leaves your body, leaving you cold. 

What?

A sigh escapes your lips as you stare at all of your stuff that you’ve managed to shove into your cousin’s car. As you walk back into the house to check your room one more time, you can’t help but feel a twinge of sadness as you pass by your crying mother and your father who’s comforting her. They really kicked me out, you think to yourself and you feel your heart squeeze in your chest. As horrible as they could be sometimes, they’re still your parents and you’ve grown up in this house for your entire life. You thought that you at least had a few more months before you left.

“Hey,” Kun calls out to you, drawing you out of your thoughts. “You okay?”

You feel a tear slide down your cheek and quickly wipe it away, nodding quickly at your cousin and giving him a small smile. “Thanks again for helping me out,” you say and fresh tears come to your eyes when Kun takes your hand and squeezes it.

“We’re family, (Y/N),” Kun says softly as he pulls you into a hug. “Even though we’re only cousins, you’re basically like my little sister. You know I would do anything for you.”

You pull back and smile at him, a memory from a few years ago quickly surfacing. “So does that mean you’ll go to a butterfly garden with me?”

Kun pushes you away as you laugh at the look of disgust on his face. “Okay, anything but that, you know I hate bugs. Now come on, we’re all done packing so we should hit the road so you can get settled in.”

Your parents watch the two of you clamber down the stairs and you have to bite down on your lower lip to stop it from trembling. You can feel their presence behind you as you walk out the door and you turn around to look at them one last time.

“Bye auntie, bye uncle!” Kun calls out from his spot next to the car. He gets inside and starts the engine, and you’re grateful that he’s giving you some privacy. 

You fidget under their gaze, your mother’s sniffling and your father’s expressionless gaze driving you mad. You much rather preferred them yelling at you than this complete silence; at least you knew how they felt before. But now? You have no idea. You don’t even know what to say. Should you hug them? Wish them well? Just walk away?

You decide on something short and simple. “Goodbye,” you whisper, your hands shaking as you wave at them. You know that they heard you because when you turn around to walk towards Kun’s car, you hear your father let out a sigh as your mother breaks down in tears once more. 

Staring out the window as Kun pulls out of your driveway, you let your tears flow freely but no sound escapes. From the driver’s seat, Kun reaches out to take your hand and squeeze it again but you don’t look at him. You watch the trees and sidewalks of your hometown pass by in a blur and as you get on to the highway, you close your eyes. This summer is already turning out to be a lot different than you thought it would be.

[wanderingchocolateeclair]

So since you were asking for agnst or working on that stuff and you also asked for ideas

How about the rest of the top five comforting Shinya after his sister may have died and its just been a really rough week for him and he’s thrown himself into his work

(Kamui and Mount Lady headcanons with that is welcome too)

Oooohh thank you for the angsty suggestion!! You always have great ideas for me to ramble about! This was gonna be a short one but, unsurprisingly, turned out rather long, and I may have thrown a bit of edgejeanist in there as well(also I hope you don’t mind me shoving my own OCs in there)

I made it a bit too long so imma shove it under the cut :)

Warning: mention of death and everything that goes with it - rather angsty.

————————————————————

“She’s dead.”

That’s all Shinya heard as he stood in the kitchen, phone pressed against his cheek. It was dark outside, the wind smashing against the window, when he was woken up by his phone buzzing violently across the bedside table. He didn’t particularly want to answer it at 2:00am but being a hero he had no choice - it could be an emergency - so he glanced to his side to make sure the lanky figure beside him was still asleep and slid out of bed, taking the phone down into the kitchen where he couldn’t disturb anyone.

As he answered the phone, he was greeted by a shaky voice. He was confused, this wasn’t someone he was familiar with and suddenly his instincts were screaming at him that nothing good was going to come out of this conversation. But he pressed on, listening to what this mysterious voice had to say. It was only when they mentioned Hana’s name that alarm bells started going off in his head.

‘What happened to her? Where is she? Where is my sister?’ His head was racing at this point. He had a bad feeling but he was hoping, praying that it wasn’t right. But it was, as usual, and yet again he felt his world collapse around him. She had been severely injured by a villain in her nightly patrol, and died shortly after, before Shinya could even be notified. He couldn’t believe it. It was exactly like what happened all those years ago, except that this time he wasn’t there. This time he couldn’t even get close to helping...and to him that felt somewhat worse than the feeling of watching his own mother die in front of him. Maybe it was how long it had been since then, who knows, but he didn’t care at that point. His sister was dead and he couldn’t save her.

After putting the phone down, Shinya gazed over to the window beside him and watched as a few raindrops started to dance their way down the cold glass. He smiled gently. It reminded him of a time when he was a kid, watching as his family danced through the streets of his village, hand in hand. He remembered how Hana would race him to the riverside and use her quirk to create beautiful illusions that lead to a big tree that stood in the middle of the forest. They called it their special little “secret hideout”...they were fond memories, but the remnants of them stung a little too much when he was reminded of the real time that he currently stood in.

As his mind came back to reality, his head was spinning, his balance faltered and he felt the ground get closer. But he didn’t do anything to stop it, he just prepared himself for the harsh embrace of the cold kitchen floor that lay beneath him. However, it didn’t happen, and he was confused at this - surely he should of hit the ground by now... so why hadn’t he? His mind was put at ease when he felt a pair of thin arms winding around him, guiding him gently to the floor. Shinya looked up to see Tsunagu looking down at him in return, eyes weary but gentle, reassuring him that he is safe and that nothing is going to happen to them in that moment.

Shinya scrambled to find words to tell the other what had happened, needing to let it all out, but the words were all caught in his throat. “She’s...I can’t...Tsu-”

“I know. It’s okay, I know.” Tsunagu reassured the shivering figure that he held in his arms, “I heard you wake up, and you were longer than usual so I decided to see if everything was okay but once I got here I realised that, well, you know...” he trailed off. He knew exactly what Shinya was thinking in that moment and knew that all he needed was to not be alone. So they stayed there, huddled in each others arms on the kitchen floor, spending the early hours in a deeply solemn mood.

A few days had passed, and the others had heard about what happened. Shinya had fully absorbed himself into his work and allowed himself to spend endless nights on patrol as a distraction from his grief, some nights not even coming home. During daily hero work, he ended up taking on the majority of the main work while he left Kamui and Mt. Lady with barely anything to do. Normally, they would do everything to prevent this from happening but they knew that in this situation, it’s the only thing that he needed. So they just had to tag along, and watch as the older man worked himself to the bone.

Telling Hana’s friends about it was the hardest part for him. Seeing the shattered look on Mao’s face when she hears that the bashful little fairy she loved to joke around with would no longer be there to walk with her to her apartment. Or watching as her students came to the realisation that their teacher would no longer be there every morning with her classic bubbly smile. All of her friends, breaking down when they hear that someone they cared for had died...and I guess that was the difference this time. People cared, and they were there to grieve alongside him. It all felt so strangely odd to him, since the last time something like this had happened, they were simply ignored by everyone around them.

He walked through his old village, making his way to the place where his family lay resting. Kneeling before the ground that held Hana’s fallen sister, he cried, apologising for everything - for not being there to protect her. He let all of his grieving words be carried to the hearts of his family and all those that had cared for them, resting in front of him, feeling them surrounding him in comfort. He knew deep down there was nothing he could’ve done but he still had to apologise to all those that had tasked him with taking care of her. Her sister, his mother, the kind old lady that had taken them in. All of them were there for them when they were alive, and so he knew that revealing his thoughts to them would allow his mind to be more at ease.

Everyday Hawks would swing by Shinya’s office, bringing snacks and drinks and checking if there’s anything he needs. Rumi offered - no - insisted on taking care of some of his patrol areas, allowing him to stay closer to his main area and not have to put his mind to getting to those places. Enji took care of some of the bigger assignments that he had been tasked, not saying much about it but just doing so to ease the other’s conscious off of those things. Tsunagu had already made sure to take care of Shinya’s massive pile of paperwork and put his own work on hold to help the other cope with what he was going through.

They all worked so hard together to make sure that Shinya knew that he wasn’t going through it alone, because unlike all those years ago, he had people who were there for him...and he was more than grateful for that.

————————————————————

And that’s all!! Sorry it was originally supposed to be a short list of headcanons but I couldn’t resist the urge to ramble in the form of endless writing... I really enjoyed writing this - it has gotten me in a great angsty mood to continue with my angsty drawing!

Thank you again for the wonderful ask @ohpleaseiwillendyou!

Anyone feel free to send me asks, questions and suggestions about my favourite ships and characters and anything really!! I’m more than happy to answer most things so if you have any please swing them my way, I’m off of college currently and have got quite a lot of time to answer things!!

~Eclair ❤️

[veratok]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐘.     as alucard has lived a long, long life, he has gathered many experiences up to this point. looking at his life in the modern era (anywhere from 2000~2021+ in this headcanon), its pretty important for me to outline where exactly he is and what he is doing. as i am divergent, and don’t ENTIRELY follow the game series going from post-sotn, i have some of my own ideas for who alucard is.   

huge disclaimer: to any cv blogs following that are from ecclesia onward, the story of the more recent games is neat and all, but to be honest, i don’t vibe with it 100% of the way. a lot of it has to do with the debatable canonicity, but also the fact that i don’t want to write aos and dos stuff all the time. which, to be honest, takes place in the future so i don’t have to! in my opinion, i don’t actually super like bloodlines because... well, i’m a dracula nerd, and it kind of takes dracula lore in a really weird way. therefore, in my canon, for roleplay purposes, the whole aos and dos storylines are kind of warped except for the idea that alucard would absolute be buddies with the entire belmont family tree past richter. but that’s framing up to be a whole different topic to talk about at this point.

𝟏.   𝐃𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐌     :     in the modern era, vampirism and the occult is often times more depicted as an ancient superstition, and even so is still considered monstrous and an idea of horror, so, outside his connections to the belmont lineage, the idea of him being a dhampir is largely under disguise. starting from around the edwardian era, alucard has largely been disguising himself in the image of his father, adopting less “flashy” form in order to keep himself out of the public eye. however, being insanely tall and beautiful, that doesn’t keep eyes off of him. there are a few he has met in his years who he has shared his existence with, but for the most part, he does not disclose this at all, and goes to efforts to keep it a secret. in the twenty-first century, alucard’s dhampirism is almost indetectable, unless sourced by those who can sense such things. his teeth are straight, not pointed, hair is to his shoulders, and a dark, black color, and his eyes are also black, not yellow. he does not utilize his powers the same way he had in the past, and makes an effort to not display any of his true strength or speed. even in the comfort of knowing company, he is quiet, calm, and does not “relax” this effort of disguising himself. it’s become natural, and he feels nearly human.

𝟐.   𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐒     :     in almost a nod to his parentage, alucard’s aliases range in many ways. his most-used name, the one known by the belmont family and often used in introducing himself to others, he is called  alucard cronqvist,  using his father’s family name. he never uses adrian, and, to this day, the only people awarded the right to even use it remain to be his mother, his father, and trevor belmont. adrian is not his “true name,” but a person he no longer is. he is alucard, and that is his “true” name. other aliases he is known to use are often variants of the first names  alucard, mathias/matyas, or auguste   and the surnames   cronqvist, kardos, and belmont.     for now, he does frequently use the moniker  a. cronqvist  in his daily dealings.

𝟑.     𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍     :     other than the fact that he helps slay beasts that mean to do humankind harm? his occupational income sees more charity than it does his own wallet, to be honest, but he does has a “job.” i say job, but lets be real, alucard does not have a job. even if the idea of him working at mcdonalds is really funny. the belmonts are fairly self-sufficient in terms of money, and being their eternal patron, alucard has never asked for much for them. he has his own income, and he has been building it since the 1800s, mostly by... establishing himself then as a land-owner, and still, to this day, does manage this land acting as the descendant owner. the land is fairly old, and well-kept, and alucard does not disclose where each lot is, but it is well-maintained. several of his locations are used as wedding or tourist destinations, while some are still lived-on today, and he has both sold and acquired much property in his life. not using the money for many of his means has allowed this to accrue greatly, and, given that he lives fairly humbly, with some exceptions, he really has become a quiet, unbothered king.

𝟒.     𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒     :     there are times when alucard is too busy to do much else, but when he does have any free time, it is usually spent continuing a passion of his father and his own from the old, old days: the pursuit of knowledge. alucard’s patronage of the arts is unending, and as for material knowledge, he does frequently find new things to study, if not dive deeper into the things he already has interest in. he is a professional in no field, but possesses knowledge in small amounts for many, many fields: however, places where he is best suited are usually in the realms of science and associated humanities. in the latest decade, alucard has continued his passion for science, and can often be found somewhere, somehow associated with latest advancements in medicine.

𝟓.     𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐎𝐍     :     while seeing alucard dressed to the nines in his traditional wear would be wonderful, he, sadly, does not dress the same way he did centuries ago. it’s a pity. in the modern era, alucard tends to keep himself immaculately dressed, having a weak spot for finery, which means that jewelry, brocade, and leather are all still very much high on his list of vices. on the average day, he can be found wearing fine suits, a few rings, a necklace, a bracelet, and a watch, all impossibly expensive. when not working, or making any public appearances, even in the comfort of his own home, he tends to spoil himself in rich fabrics, long silken robes, articles of clothing purchased right off the latest designs that suit his fancy. it is pretty shallow of him... but shiny things just really draw his eye, and feel so nice on his skin.

[stillness-in-green]

MLA Week, Day 2: Judge/Shackles/Freedom

A threefer!  Spinner and his brand new lieutenants.  (Look, until Horikoshi starts deigning to give these guys names, they are free real estate.)

I was originally going to use this day to write about one of the more thuggy or delinquent-looking lieutenants, spin out an ex-con not being able to get his feet back under him and so sliding into the MLA’s sphere, but then I remembered this three foot tall goblin in a drugstore Halloween costume and decided to go with him instead.

Also included is Spinner’s number 1, this gal: 

Content Notes: Discussions of disability, portrayal of the marginalized having become the radicalized.  The Liberation Army’s really fascinating, y’all. 

———–      ———–      ———–      ———–

«I think you’ll like this one,» Nimble announces, the rainbow-colored letters of her quirk dancing in the air.  

“You thought I’d like the first two, too,” Spinner replies skeptically, looking away from the floating words to focus on his brand new number one, a woman with a face like a doll whose sculptor had gotten as far as the eyes—huge and green—before giving up on the rest, little things like a nose and a mouth.  She breathes by absorbing air through her skin like a frog, apparently, which is why she dresses the way she does, a distractingly low-cut tank top and a sweater jacket that he has never once seen covering her shoulders.  

She shrugs, expressive eyes briefly fluttering closed, and movement in the air draws Spinner’s attention back over to where her quirk—Sky Write—has spelled out her response.  

«I thought you’d like them too.  Can I call him in?»

“Yeah, go ahead.”  Just as long as he’s not a not surly bastard like the last two.  They’d had good quirks, the last two, but damned if Spinner’s going to work with people who can’t even manage to keep resentment out of their eyes for the length of a job interview, or whatever this process of picking subordinates out of an army full of people that were trying to kill him less than two weeks ago is called.  

Nimble’s letters dissolve into a shapeless blur as she looks over to the door, eyebrows briefly lowering in concentration.  A few seconds later, the door to Spinner’s makeshift office opens. Spinner’s eyes drop almost half-a-person’s length in height and he tries to keep the surprise off his face.  

“A kid?”

«He’s twenty-one, actually.»  

“What she said.”  The voice comes out a bit muffled through the black hood covering the kid’s—okay, the twenty-one-year old’s face.  But if he’s the same age as Spinner, he sure as hell doesn’t look it.  He can’t be over a meter tall, with the skinniest legs Spinner’s ever seen sticking out from under the hem of the black robe he wears like a kid running around the house beneath a sheet.  A big feathery ruff sits around his neck like a dried-out wreath.  

“Scarecrow, reporting in.” The weird little gremlin settles into a military rest in front of the desk, far enough back that it’s not too obvious that he has to tilt his head to look over it.  “It’s an honor to meet you, sir.”  

Spinner stares at him, trying to suppress a grimace.  Scarecrow stares back through little eyeholes cut in the hood, but without being able to see more of his face, it’s impossible to tell if he’s glaring or just has really piercing eyes.  

“Right.”  Spinner glances over at Nimble, who nods.  Her response scrawls itself in the air between them, facing first him, then angling to face the gremlin.  

«Show him your meta-ability, Scarecrow.  Catch!»  

She pulls out a 100 yen coin and deftly balances it on her thumb before flicking it out into the air over the desk.

Spinner bites back a yelp as bug legs unfold from beneath Scarecrow’s ruff, long, segmented things that narrow down to sharp points at the tips.  Two thin lines of silk jet out from the knobby second joints, catching on the spinning coin, and the legs reel it back in, bouncing it in the air, spinning it like a weight on a string, then cocooning it up with quick efficiency.  It falls neatly into his hand—not a normal human hand, Spinner notices belatedly, but a prosthetic, hard plastic and super articulated, with cables visible beneath the individual parts.

“I can fully cocoon up to twelve adult men a day,” Scarecrow rattles out.  “I can also pull myself up the sides of walls and move between buildings, if they’re close enough together.  I was inducted into the Meta Liberation Army on my sixteenth birthday; my parents have been members for ten years.  I know we’re a relatively new family, but—”

“I don’t—”  Spinner stops himself from finishing that sentence with care about that stuff, amending to, “I’m not worried about your—generation or whatever.”  Is that better?  Neither Scarecrow or Nimble react to it with narrowed eyes or a snarl, anyway. Promising?  “Why’d you join up?”  

Jumping on a bandwagon is one thing, but at least that takes a running start and a leap.  Not like joining a cult because it’s just the family business, Spinner thinks viciously at his memory of that greasy asshole Trumpet’s plated mask.

Scarecrow stares at him for a long second.  Spinner does his best to look serious, like he’s actually got a whole prepared list of questions or whatever.  Like he knows what he’s doing.  

Finally, Scarecrow holds up his hands, both spread wide, both obvious prosthetics.  His bug legs twitch and probe at the air.  

“I was born with no arms,” he says.  “Just my forelegs.  It’s not the same as having opposable thumbs, obviously, but it’s better than you’d think. But my teachers used to scold me for raising a foreleg instead of a hand to answer a question or carry things.  The kind of stuff a kid who didn’t have a birth defect could use their quirk to do and no one would look twice.  If I go out in public and so much as open doors for myself with them, people look at me funny.  Because I look funny.”

Don’t use your quirk at school outside of training lessons, Shuuichi-kun.  Spinner remembers that kind of bias, yeah.  All the non-heteromorphic kids could run around the schoolyard playing tag with snowballs in July, but heaven forbid he use his quirk to climb a tree so he can get away from bullies for the length of a lunchbreak.  

He pushes the memory away and nods at Scarecrow to keep him talking.  Not that the guy needs much pushing—he talks like someone who’s told the story before, hard-edged, voice intense despite a mid-ranged pitch.  He’s got just a hint of a—a hiss or a lisp, something that muddles the edges of his hard consonants.  The hood doesn’t move like he’s hiding mandibles under there, but…

“I’ve been wearing prosthetics for longer than I can remember.  The government pays for most of it, since I was born this way, but there’re a lot of limitations on it.  How often they’ll replace them, what my folks got charged for them.  It was always tight, and the kinds of prosthetics government money buys definitely weren’t as nice as these.”  He flexes his false fingers demonstratively.

“My folks and I met Re-Destro—” and there’s that note of reverence, the same tone Re-Destro himself’s using about Shigaraki these days “—when I was nine.  A family friend recommended Detnerat’s products to us, and he took an interest. That’s how we found out about the Army.”

“Yeah?”  Spinner crosses his arms over his chest.  

“My parents joined up because of me.  But I joined up for myself.  Because people think that because I have prosthetics, I shouldn’t need to use my forelegs in public.” Scarecrow’s voice sharpens.  “Like I don’t have the right to use the limbs I was born with.  I should have that right.  We all should.”

“We’re not out to reform society, you know,” Spinner cautions him.  He’s had to tell Re-Destro that too many times already, and that’s just having grasped it himself there in the ruins of Deika.  “That’s not what Shigaraki’s after.”  

Scarecrow gives him another long, quiet look, unreadable behind his hood.  Finally—slower, less practiced—he nods and answers, “Destro’s teaching was that oppression will always lead to revolution.  The Grand Commander of the Liberation Army is the one who’ll throw off those chains.  Whatever he makes of the world, I want to be there to help, not sitting in my shackles waiting for someone to hand me an answer.”

Spinner breathes out hard. He scratches at his hair.  

“…Right,” he manages. Don’t admit he said it better than you could.  “Well put.” He turns to Nimble and adds, “Well, he didn’t offend me.”

«I know you’d like him.»  Her words practically shimmy in the air, flickering green and yellow and pink.  «Then do we have our number 2?»

Spinner glances back over at Scarecrow, who’s staring determinedly out the window behind the desk, his back toy soldier straight.  He still looks more like a kid in a costume than anything else, but…  

Well, I like him better than people like the politician.  And we need to keep things moving, anyway.  Don’t stop running or someone might catch up.  

“Yeah, I think so” he says aloud, then takes a breath and leans over the desk, offering a hand.  Scarecrow takes it without a second’s pause, plastic clicking against Spinner’s scales.  “Welcome to the Support Regiment.”  

———–      ———–      ———–      ———–

I’ll have some links up about things here when I post this to AO3, but in the meantime, Scarecrow--whose condition at birth was called amelia--wears a hood not because he’s embarrassed of a bug face, but rather because he’s embarrassed of the way various surgeries to repair cleft palate and cleft lip have left his face looking.  He’s much more confident in showing off his meta-ability than what he thinks of as his disability.  

Scarecrow is also vaguely modeled on an insect called a webspinner, a tiny little bug that lives in big communal web “galleries” and has the unusual feature of its silk production apparatus being located on its front legs rather than the base of its abdomen like spiders.  The choice felt appropriate for an unusually tiny cult member with top-mounted spider legs.   

[paradisobound]

Down In the Forest

Summary: Dan Howell is the heir to the throne in his kingdom, due to marry and take the seat within the year. However, he doesn't want that. Running away to the clearing outside of his kingdom every night, he meets Phil, who is from a neighboring kingdom. As Dan develops feelings for Phil, he realizes that his crush on Phil is actually problematic in more ways than one.

Word Count: 6.8k 

Warnings: Vampire!Dan 

**Read on Ao3**

A/N: This is my second fic written for the @phandomreversebang! It was based on the prompt by @2easy2hate which was essentially a royal vampire!dan au which I thought was super interesting to try and do! My beta for this fic was @hiddenpastry and they were so helpful and encouraging with my procrastination haha I have plans to release an epilogue in the next few weeks where it'll have a glimpse into the future which Val and I agreed will help to tie up whatever may be 'loose' at this end of this one shot.

The forest was a sacred place for Dan Howell. He wasn’t exactly sure why he felt so calm being here, but he did. The sound of the leaves bristling in the wind and the distance chirps of birds were calming. He was used to coming here as soon as he was done with his studies for the day, after the sun had set and no harm would be done to his sensitive skin.

Today was no different for him. Notebook in hand, and bag slung across his body, he trudged through the grass, past the trees, to the small clearing where he took refuge from the day. He chose this place when he was just a child, after fighting with his parents over his obligations.

His first lesson of the day was writing, then it was history, and finally it was his lessons on moral obligations as the heir of his kingdom. He had a list of rules he had to have memorized before he became heir on his 18th birthday...less than a year away. It was a rule in their kingdom that the eldest son takes over as soon as they turn 18 years of age. It was also a rule that 6 months before they take the throne, they need to be married...but Dan didn’t want to think of that. Especially when his first “party” to find his future wife was in less than a week.

That’s partly why Dan ran away at night, after he was dismissed by his teachers. He enjoyed coming here where he could write in his notebook and get immersed in his own little world, where none of this existed and he could be a normal teenager. Not the heir to the most successful kingdom in modern history.

Dan sat down on the grass, leaning back and resting against the tree behind him. He propped his legs up and opened his bag against his side, taking out his notebook. It was getting well-worn, well-used. But that didn’t bother Dan. Not as he opened to the halfway point of the pages and went back to the story he was writing.

He’ll remain here until his hunger gets the better of him, and he’ll have to go back to his kingdom, back to his castle, to feed.

Because that’s one of the rules of the Vaedian Kingdom: you never feed in public.

It’s not uncommon for the people living around the kingdom to know that the Howells had unusual habits. That’s what they say anyway. Dan didn’t realize he was different until he was taught about it...about his immortal abilities.

Maybe as a child, Dan should have known that when his hunger reached a peak, it wasn’t normal to suddenly have glowing red eyes or sharp teeth that jutted out of his gums. But to his family, it was normal. His entire family was this way, so there was no reason for Dan to be any different.

At the thought of food, his stomach grumbles and Dan ignores it, instead he looks down at his notebook and rereads over the last line he had written down. He doesn’t even know what this story is anymore. It’s more like a stream of consciousness, a way for him to gather his thoughts about his ever changing life as he grows older.

He reaches into his bag and pulls out his pen and begins to scribble down the next parts of his story. He lets his hand and his mind interconnect and even just writes until he can’t anymore.

The moonlight is coming down on him, brighter than it was before. The stars in the sky are illuminating everything around him and he supposes that this is the time he should start heading back.

He packs up his notebook and his pen and slowly stands up, stretching from sitting down so long in such a cramped position. He adjusts his clothing and his bag against his hip and begins the short journey back home, where he’ll have a snack and then go lay down in his bed chamber.

***

“Prince Daniel, you were out late last night?”

Dan looks up from his school work to his servant Johnathon in front of him. He’s got a drink in his hand, and he’s setting it in front of Dan. The dark maroon color is enough to make Dan’s stomach swoon at the thought of indulging in it’s glorious taste. He takes the glass and picks it up, taking a long sip and letting the copper taste sit on his tongue.

“If I may ask, your highness, but what do you partake in when you go out at night after your studies?”

“I go to the clearing and write in my notebook,” Dan answers honestly. He can trust Johnathon. He’s been the family servant for literally hundreds of years and he remains as loyal and as faithful to the Howell family and the Vaedian Kingdom as they come.

“What are you writing about?” Johnston asks, “Practicing your writing skills for when you have to make ceremonial statements?”

Dan shakes his head and takes another sip, “I just write.”

“Stories?”

“Sort of,” Dan replies.

He finishes the last of the drink from the glass and sets it back down. Johnathon picks up the glass out of habit. Dan goes back to his school work, finishing up his copying of the 15 Moral Obligations of Vaedian. He only has one through 4 memorized, and he knows his teacher is going to be after him about it today. He’s trying to memorize as many as he can but the problem is that they are so pointless and boring that Dan really can’t find the will to actually give a damn about any of them.

But if he told this to his teacher, or to his father, he would be immediately cast as being traitorous to the kingdom by being the heir and not adhering to the basic standards.

They’ve been around for millennia and Dan frankly just feels like they’re outdated. Maybe when he’s king he can rewrite some of them. But he doesn’t even know if that’s allowed. Somehow he feels like that is even more frowned upon.

“Your brow is furrowed,” Johnathon says suddenly, pointing to the space between Dan’s eyebrows. “Keep doing that and you’ll no longer be a young prince, but you’ll look older than your father.”

Dan lets out a laugh and Johnathon smiles back before turning on his heels and heading out of the living chamber towards the kitchen.

Speaking of his father, Dan knows he has a meeting with him soon about the party where he’ll be meeting his potential wife. But he really is dreading the entire thing, if he’s being honest. He doesn’t want to go through with any that, and for a multitude of reasonings...all of which are frowned upon.

The clock on the mantel suddenly chimes that it’s one and Dan gathers his belongings and stuffs them into his bag before flinging it over his shoulder. He makes his way to the library where his studies will begin soon and he tries to ignore that heaviness in his feet.

Dan has his meeting with his father following his school time, but he wasn’t entirely shocked by that. He knew it was coming when Johnathon found him in the library and told him he needed to report to his father's office as soon as he was done.

It’s even less shocking that when Dan gets there, his father immediately presents him with a series of photos of the various daughters from the neighboring kingdoms and begins to talk to Dan about how he needs to decide on what one he wants to pursue.

Naturally, none of the girls appealed to Dan. But yet again, none of them were going to anyway when he had a natural inclination to prefer men instead. But somehow, he still found himself being bound by the outdated rules of the kingdom and he pointed to the picture of a brunette girl who’s name was written as “Julianna” underneath. His father seemed to like that choice and waved him off as being able to leave now.

So Dan did, back to the clearing where he always went.

He double checked before he left that his notebook was still in his bag and he grabbed a few extra pens as the ink in the one from the night before seemed to be dulling. He intended to spend as long as possible out in his clearing without any disturbance from any of his obligations.

As he passed by the last set of trees and started to walk into the clearing, he immediately stopped in his tracks at the sight of another person that already had beat him there.

His first reaction was to get angry, because this was his secret spot and how dare a person find it without Dan’s permission. He wanted this spot all to himself with no one else here.

But as the future heir, he knew deep down that he couldn’t act that way. And instead when the male looked up, Dan just met his eyes as a look of shock overcame them both.

“I’m sorry,” Dan begins, “but how did you find this place?”

The male set down his notebook in front of him and Dan looked down long enough to notice it was a drawing of a flower. The male was here to draw just like Dan was here to write.

“I just went wandering in the forest and I happened to see this clearing,” The male says. “I didn’t intend for anyone to know about this.”

“Are you drawing?”

The male picks up his notebook, almost like he’s self-conscious about Dan calling him out, and nods, “I don’t have a space to draw without being distracted and being here has been working wonders to ease my block.”

“So you don’t mind that I join you as you draw?” Dan asks.

The male shakes his head, “No, not at all.”

Dan walks into the space and sits down on the opposite side from the man. He takes out his notebook and flips open the pages to where he left off. He fishes in his bag for a pen and pulls it out, uncapping it with his teeth. When he gets ready to write, the voice from the other side interrupts him, “Can I get your name?”

If Dan had a beating heart, he was sure it would suddenly begin to beat fast. But because he doesn't, he was instead subjected to just an overwhelming feeling of anxiety as he thought about the idea of this man knowing who he might be.

It was common for the commoners around them in their kingdom to know the royal family, and to know their names. But it was uncommon for them to know what the royal family looked like. The only time the royal family opened the castle walls was for the lavish parties and the crowning ceremonies.

By the time those events happen, most people don’t even remember what they looked like because they’ve changed. In reality, the royal family is immortal, but their aging is a different story.

“My name is Daniel,” he finally says.

“I’m Philip,” the man introduces himself, “but I prefer to be called Phil.”

Dan smiles. “Then you can call me Dan.”

Phil smiles back at him and Dan feels something that’s akin to a blush.

They mostly sit in silence, both of them working on their own art before Phil yawns and stands up and announces he should head back home. When Dan goes to say goodbye, Phil makes the sudden announcement that they should walk home together to the village.

Dan doesn’t want to tell Phil about him just yet, and so he quickly says he’s going to stay for awhile and they can walk back together another time. At the mention of another time, Phil smiles and asks, “So you’re going to be here again?”

Dan just nods and says, “I come here every night.”

Dan eventually does make his way back, and it’s even later tonight than it was the night before. When he passes through the castle gates and makes his way inside, he’s greeted by Johnathon who gives him another glass of that delicious red liquid. He takes it with him to his bed chambers and sips it through the night.

Dan technically doesn’t need to sleep. He doesn’t feel tired, he just feels lethargic if he’s used too much of his energy. So after he finishes his glass, and sets it in the hallway for Johnathon to grab when he makes his midnight rounds, Dan just lays in bed and closes his eyes.

Sometimes that’s all he needs to feel anything until the sun comes through his curtains and he has to retreat to the living chamber where he works on his studies until his schooling time comes.

***

His mum stops him the next morning after Dan gets up from his bed. She tells him that they have to talk about his party and Dan reluctantly agrees to follow her to her office where she has plans laid out about every detail.

“We’ll bring in the finest pastry chefs to the kingdom for you,” she begins. “All of the cakes that you can think of will be there.”

“How many people are coming?” Dan asks.

“Well, we’re not opening the grand hall up for nothing, my dear Daniel,” she scolds. “So your father sent special invites to all of the kingdoms around us, with a select few going to some families in the village.”

“We’re allowing villagers to the party?” Dan asks, because he’s truly astounded by this fact.

“Of course!” his mother says. “Commoners are always invited to the parties where the heir finds his wife. It’s a status symbol that you should have learnt about in your lessons. Do I need to have a word with Lady Mallory about your studies?”

Dan shakes his head and immediately refuses the proposition, “No, there is no need.”

His mum gives him a stern look and goes back to discussing the plans.

Dan has to admit that parties in the grand hall are few and far between. He actually only believes that his family has only ever had one party there in his lifetime. Other than that, it remains closed to everyone, including them.

By the end of the meeting, Dan’s proper exhausted and even though he has to go to his studies, he would rather retreat to his bedchamber where he can sit and wait for the sun to go down so he can head to the clearing and meet up with Phil again.

Dan doesn’t even know why his mind immediately goes to meeting up with Phil. He’s only met the guy once and even if they did seem to get on rather quickly, there shouldn’t be a reason for Dan wanting to be with him so quickly again.

But yet, he finds his mind wandering to Phil and his raven locks and blue eyes instead. Lady Mallory calls him out on his distractedness but Dan brushes it off as just being a rough day, not because he was daydreaming about another man.

When the lessons are over, Dan doesn't immediately leave to go to the clearing. He goes to the kitchen first and grabs a snack to hold him over. Johnathon hands him a blood cake when he gets there, and Dan immediately partakes in eating it despite the bitter taste it leaves on his tongue.

The blood is getting old now, a bit stale. Dan can tell right away. The taste is nowhere near that fresh copper taste that he loves so much. The grimace that he gives off is enough for Johnathon to speak up, “They’re going on a fresh hunt tonight, my lord. You’ll have new nutrients tomorrow.”

Dan just nods and finishes the rest of his cake before asking for a glass as well and gulping it down.

The sun is way past set when he makes his way to the clearing with his bag slung across his body. He’s half expecting for Phil to not be there, because for mortals, this is late at night. For Dan, it’s really just a beginning for him.

But he still feels a spark of happiness when he moves into the clearing and sees Phil sat in the same position he was in the night before. He’s concentrating hard in his sketchbook, busy working on another piece that Dan is actually a bit curious to see.

Phil looks up and greets him before he can sit down. When Dan finally does settle down, he chooses a spot beside Phil because he’s feeling a bit better about having him here with Dan in the clearing. In a way, it’s making everything feel less lonely even though Dan used to come here for the sole fact that he wanted to be alone, away from everything.

“Dan,” Phil says out of the blue, “have you ever been to a party at the castle?”

Dan suddenly picks his head up, nervous about actually answering the question because he’s afraid he’ll give too much away, “No, I haven’t. Why do you ask?”

“I’m from another kingdom...Vargaria, and not even supposed to be here. But my father was naturally invited to the royal party. While I’ve attended some of the royal parties my father has hosted, I don’t know what it’ll be like to attend the party at this kingdom. If my father knew I was here, he would more than likely disown me.”

Dan suddenly doesn’t like that. He doesn't like knowing Phil is going to be attending the party and seeing him pick his future wife that he doesn't even want, nor love. Furthermore, he doesn’t know how to feel at the thought of Phil admitting to him that he was from a neighboring kingdom, especially Vargaria. Dan knew firsthand that Vargaria and Vaedian have very tense relations.

Everything about this almost feels wrong, like they’re breaching a line of boundaries in their newly found acquaintanceship that shouldn’t be breached.

“What do you think it’s going to be like?” Phil suddenly adds, not letting Dan say anything in regards to his previous admission.

“I’m assuming lavish,” Dan says. “Lots of people, decorations. Fancy dresses and food.”

“Did your family get invited as well?” Phil asks.

Dan doesn’t know how to answer that. Because if he says no, that’s an obvious lie but if he says yes, then how does he handle the situation without giving anything about himself away?

“I don't think so,” he says, immediately feeling regret cloud his mind.

“Oh that’s a shame,” Phil says. “Would have been nice to at least know one person who is there. I feel like I’m going to be horribly out of place.”

“I will be too,” Dan mumbles.

Phil looks up. “What was that?”

Dan stiffens. “I said I would be too.”

Phil just nods and gives him a sympathetic look and goes back to his drawing in silence.

They don’t say much else, which Dan finds fine because the conversation took a turn anyway and he feels it might be rather awkward to continue it and also keep his identity intact.

When Dan returns back to his bed chambers that night, all he can think about is how he shouldn’t have any further contact with Phil. By rule, they’re supposed to remain civil with their relations with each other from the neighboring kingdoms but Dan still knows that this casual of a relationship is frowned upon.

Sitting at his desk and looking out of his window towards the valley and village beneath them, he sighed. Technically speaking, Phil is meant to be an enemy to him. He shouldn’t be doing this. He shouldn’t even be looking forward to meeting up with him in the clearing any further.

Nothing of this sort can happen any more. Dan’s putting a stop to it now.

But then that means that Dan will have to give up his writing spot and that thought makes him a bit sad. He can always find a new one, he supposes. But it won’t be the same.

So Dan doesn’t return to the clearing for 3 full nights. He instead remains home and sits at his desk, unbothered with the window open, and tries to write there instead. He doesn’t get nearly as far in his story as he did when he was in the clearing, but he can’t afford to go there anymore.

It’s not until a final meeting with his father finally snaps him that he decides to go back there, needing and wanting to just get away and put an ending to all of this. He doesn’t want any of this. He wants to remain unbothered. He doesn’t want a lavish party. He doesn’t want to be married. And furthermore, he doesn’t want to be king!

When he gets to the clearing, running as fast as he can, he’s met immediately by Phil, whose expression was less than welcoming. “Why did you lie to me?”

“Lie to you about what?” Dan asks.

“You’re Prince Daniel,” Phil says, “Heir to the Vaedian throne and it’s your party that I’m attending this weekend.”

Dan opens and closes his mouth a few times, “How did you find out?”

Phil turns his head, “My father has warned us about you,” he spits out. “Your kingdom is built on a throne of lies.”

“And I don’t suppose yours isn’t?” Dan snaps back.

“I made a mistake befriending you,” Phil snarls. “My father warned me of you from a young age and I feel half-dumb that I didn’t see through you in the first place.”

Dan doesn’t know what to say or how to react. He’s never been in an altercation like this before and it’s frankly extremely unnerving.

“You can’t even speak for yourself,” Phil says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I don’t have anything to say to you,” Dan spits back. “The kingdoms of Vargaria and Vaedian have always been tense. I should have known from the first mention of your kingdom that this was nothing but trouble.”

“That’s tough speak for someone who intends to marry my sister,” Phil presses. “I was told today that you’re planning on marrying Julianna.”

Dan’s memory snaps back to the name of the kingdom on the bottom of the picture of Julianna and he suddenly feels a bit ill. He didn’t even know that’s what he’d chosen but maybe that’s why his father had seemed so pleased with himself.

“You’re not marrying her, and our kingdoms are not going to be united by the bloody hands of you.”

With that, Phil turned on his heels and walked away, leaving Dan feeling anger beyond anything that he has ever felt before.

How could he ever think that Phil was ever a decent person? Surely his first mistake was trusting a stranger anyway.

When Dan walks back to the castle that night, he feels an overwhelming sense of dread, and he finds himself resting in bed the entirety of the following day.

***

“The party is in two days, Daniel, and you’ve hardly done anything in preparation for it.”

Dan looked down at his notebook that was poised open in front of him to avoid the unwavering gaze of his mother as she hounded him about this. He didn’t want to go through this lecture again. It’s one that he’s gone through three separate times now over the past day.

“I wasn’t aware I had any preparations to do,” Dan snapped back.

His mother rolled her eyes and tossed up her hands, almost in defeat. “Well, have you ever sent a letter to Julianna of Vargaria?” She asked. “The kingdom has sent a letter on your behalf but you should have known to send the letter yourself as well.”

“I wasn’t aware of that.”

“Good Lord, Daniel! What has gotten into you?” His mother finally snapped. “We have been preparing for this day for almost 18 years and you’re about to ruin it all. I don’t understand where your attitude has gone these past few years. You’ve turned into a snub-nosed little brat!”

Dan flinched at the insult, trying to not let it get to him. So many thoughts ran through his head. Like how his parents lied to him for so many years. How they never actually cared about him, just about their kingdom and its reputation. About how they hid who he really was until he was old enough to realize that he’s been born into a kingdom of vampires amongst humans.

Finally, with the tip of his tongue clicking against the back of his teeth, he spits out, “I don’t want to marry and I don’t want the throne.”

He slams his notebook shut and gets up to leave when the feeling of her hand on his wrist in a tight grip stops him. He whips his head back, staring at her aggravated expression.

“You’re not leaving right now,” she says.

“I have nothing more to say right now,” Dan says back, trying to remain calm but his demeanor failing quickly.

She lets him go and he quickly rushes out of her office, ignoring how deafening the silence from her was to his ears when he heard no more cries of protest leave her.

His eyes gathered with tears and he fought to keep them back as he desperately wished more than ever that he was never born into this life. He should have never been born as a royal and he should have never been born immortal. He would have much rather loved to have been a commoner who receives one life and then gets spared the rest of eternity.

Before he knows it, he’s ran back to his secret clearing. Dan stood there, his chest heaving and his eyes watering heavier as he lost his battle and unleashed the sobs that wracked his frame.

“Oh what does the prince of bloodsuckers have to cry about today?”

Dan picks up his head and sees Phil sitting there, drawing away in his sketchbook again. Dan honestly wishes he would have never encountered him again but it’s clear that luck did not work in his way.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to go?” Dan asks. “Somewhere maybe in your own kingdom?”

Phil just shrugs and looks back down at his sketchbook, “It’s easier to be here than it is to be back home.”

Dan sits down on the grass and wipes away the wetness from his cheeks. He should be embarrassed crying this much over something as stupid as the mention of the rest of his life. He should feel embarrassed for the fact that he was crying in front Phil after what had just happened between them.

But another part of him just doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t care about any of this. He wants everything to just cease around him and end but it’s never that simple. It’ll never be that simple as long as Dan is immortal and the world around them still passes like normal.

“Why were you so nice to me when we first met?” Dan finds himself asking.

Phil shrugs again and doesn’t speak.

“What made you change when you found out who I was?”

The curiosity was getting to Dan, not just because this was Phil, but because his mother's words were still eating away at his core but he also felt like maybe it was a bit rebellious to speak to the kingdom he’s supposed to be marrying someone from.

Phil looks up and Dan sees his expression quickly change from hardened to confusion. He blinks a few times and then finally speaks, “Does it really matter?”

Dan wipes the remaining wetness from his cheeks and shrugs because no, it really doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to know. He does want to know why in a way.

“So what are you drawing today?” Dan asks.

Phil turns the sketchbook around and shows him an array of flowers and trees. It’s actually really beautiful. But Dan doesn’t want to stroke his ego and tell him so after their outbursts.

They sit in silence for a while, and eventually Phil leaves without saying a word. Dan supposes that wasn’t all that painful. In a way, he did see Phil as a sort of new friend when everything was just beginning with them. So for him to be seen that way again in a new light wasn’t all that bad.

His stomach is rumbling by the time he finally gets up to make his way back home. He’s feeling a bit lethargic, and his skin a bit inflamed. And it’s only when he’s back in the castle and he falls to his knees while Johnathon grabs him, that he realizes he was just in the sun for a little bit with nothing to eat.

In that respect, he almost got his wish that everything would just end.

***

It’s the morning of the party and Dan wants nothing more than to leave and run away. He doesn’t want to make an appearance in front of everyone while he meets Julianna for the first time. He still only has a vague knowledge of what she looks like, just based on the photo that he was presented with for her.

And what’s worse is that all he could see was Phil in her features.

Dan wishes that he could forget about Phil. He knows that he needs to, but yet he can’t stop thinking about his special spot and seeing Phil there every time that he’s gone for the last few trips.

They got along so well when they first met, and Dan really does deep down want to be friends with Phil. He’s not even sure why his heart is telling him that it’s the right thing to do but yet, he does feel deep down that it is.

He’s confused.

Dan’s known for as long as he’s been able to freely think that he wasn’t attracted to women. He much preferred men. It’s something that he’s had to keep a secret, but he did tell Johnathon in pure confidence when the overwhelming urge of shame for his kingdom overtook him one night when he was told about the marriage.

Now that he was actually being forced to marry for the good of the kingdom, his memories of the days where he used to dread this are now here. He’s stood in front of his wardrobe, with his ceremonial garb hung in front of him. Tears are gathering in the corner of his eyes and he’s realizing now that he can’t back out from this.

A knock on his bedroom door shakes him out of his head and he wipes away the tears with the back of his head as he yells an airy, “it’s open” towards the door.

His door slowly opens and Johnathon walks in, a glass on a tray balanced on his hand, “You were looking a bit peckish earlier, Daniel. So I brought you a fresh drink to hopefully give you some more life.”

Dan lets out a small laugh as he walks towards him and takes the glass in his hand, indulging in the coppery taste on his lips. Nothing will ever be better than fresh blood, but it’s unfortunate in the fact that it’s in high demand: it’s not all that plentiful.

“Where did this come from?”

“A freshly hunted deer from just a few hours past.”

Dan nods and finishes the rest of the drink in one gulp. He hands Johnathon back the glass and wipes the excess liquid off from his lips with his hand.

“Are you ready for this evening?” Johnathon asks him, the question seemingly out of the blue.

Dan shakes his head, “I don’t think all the years in the world would ever make me prepared for this evening.”

“It’s not your royal marriage ceremony, you know,” Johnathan says in sympathy. “It’s just meeting a potential wife. You can still turn her down if you feel like she is not fit for you. There will be plenty of other suitors who will love to…”

“Johnathan, you know that I don’t want to marry a woman,” Dan says.

“But I’m afraid you have no choice.”

“I’m aware,” Dan answers back, his words catching in his throat, “but I’m afraid that I think I have many fallen in love with someone else.”

“And who might this person be?” Johnathan asks.

“A man.”

***

The party is in full swing. Everyone is in extravagant gowns and Dan, looking down at the guests from the balcony of the dining hall, can see how fancy everyone looks. Dan casts his glance around the perimeter, seeing if he can spot who he’s looking for. And sure enough, stood with a drink in his hand was none other than Phil, laughing with what appeared to be his sister, Julianna.

Dan’s due to make his way down the grand staircase in just a few moments. During this time, he’ll be expected to walk down the stairs, stop at the end, and extend his hand out to Lady Julianna. He’ll talk her hand, they’ll walk to the middle of the dining room, where the guests are mingling, and will perform their first dance together. If Dan likes what he sees and what he’s been presented with, he can then announce at the end he has chosen to marry her.

But Dan already knows he’s going to turn her down.

Dan’s not sure when he fully came to the conclusion that he, deep down, was actually falling for Phil. Maybe it came when he realized he couldn’t stop thinking about him. Or when he couldn’t stop thinking about how well they got along before they realized who each other were.

Or maybe it’s a deep seated need inside of Dan’s core to just say fuck the system and to do what he wants to. Which is not only marry a man but also marry someone he shouldn’t even be marrying.

In some convoluted way, he’s halfway there if he marries Julianna.

Just then, the music slowly starts and Dan feels an ache in his chest that surely would be his heart thumping if it actually beat. He squeezes his fingers in his palms and slowly moves into the view of the bottom of the staircase where everyone is gathered around, staring up at him. He hates the attention. More than anything else, he just wants to hide and be away from everyone's center of sight.

His mother and father are stood at the foot of the stairs with Julianna standing in between them and everyone else standing behind. Julianna looks beautiful, Dan can’t even disprove that. Her features are stunning and her dark hair is cascading so nicely over the shoulders of her dress. Dan almost feels bad knowing he’s not going to actually marry her.

He descends the stairway and makes it to the bottom where he takes Julianna’s outstretched hand and leads her to the center of the ballroom. They make eye contact and Dan sees her beautiful blue eyes staring back at him with intent, a smile on her lips.

When he looks at her, all he can imagine is Phil...and he feels a bit sick.

Dan loses eye contact with her halfway through their dance. But that could also be because he keeps stepping on her toes and he knows that she’s flinching and giving him some looks but really, he can’t be assed to change the way he’s stepping. He doesn’t want to be here so why would he focus on doing a perfect first dance?

The music stops and he bows and she curtsies back. They turn to the crowd and bow again as everyone applauds. He turns back to her and gives her a quick smile before separating from her and rushing away.

He’s only just arrived to the party and he already can’t stand to be there for any longer. He wants out. He wants to leave, to not be there anymore. He grabs at the collar of his top and rips open the buttons, letting the fabric fall open, exposing his neck to the cool night air.

Dan’s running out of the kingdom now, and he’s not looking back. He’s never used his fast speed before for anything other than some gimmicks when he was a kid, but now he’s running as fast as he can to the clearing. When he gets there, he stops short and collapses to the forest floor, tears running down his face.

He’ll have to leave his kingdom now. He can’t go back there. He’s made a fool out of everyone...including himself. What was he thinking running away like that?

Oh right...because Dan can’t marry Julianna when he’s in love with her brother. Like the pathetic person he is, he’s going to spend the rest of his immortal days pining over a guy who hates him and who Dan should hate back but can’t.

He furiously rubs away the tears from his eyes and takes a shuddering breath as he tries to calm himself down. He can survive in the forest, Dan supposes. He’s never had to hunt for his subsistence before but he can surely do it. He’s just gotta catch a deer or two, right?

God, he’s never gonna be able to make it. He should have never ran away.

“What a performance.”

Dan looked up and followed where the voice was coming from. Phil was stood next to a tree, his arms folded over his chest. Dan didn’t really want to face him right now. He just wanted to be as far away from any of Phil’s family and kingdom as he could be after humiliating himself with Julianna.

“If it makes you feel any better, Julianna didn’t like you either,” Phil says with a chuckle.

“How bad is it?” Dan asks, the words catching in his throat.

“Everyone is a bit chaotic but I left in the midst of it all,” Phil says, walking forward and then taking a seat next to Dan.

“I figured.”

“I don’t blame you,” Phil says. “My family is wanting me to marry someone as well but I can’t find the reason to want to.”

“Yeah…” Dan says, “I just do not fancy…”

Dan stops himself and looks at Phil who is studying him with wide eyes.

“You’re attracted to men?” Phil says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

Dan hides his face and then picks it back up and nods slowly.

“I am too,” Phil says softly.

They sit in silence, and Dan feels like he can cut the tension with a knife. He’s never been in a situation or a conversation like this before. It was a bit daunting and a bit terrifying all at the same time. He didn’t know what to think or how to react.

“When I first met you, I was really happy to find someone that was like me,” Phil says. “In my Kingdom, I was the outcast. I never fit into what anyone else was doing. That’s why I came here to draw. Being here was like an escape from that and when we started meeting up, I genuinely felt like I was meeting someone just like me.”

Dan felt the same way. He could never put into words how he felt about meeting Phil but this was exactly it. Meeting Phil felt the same way for him. Maybe that’s why he took a liking to Phil so quickly?

“I felt the same way,” Dan says. “I really liked being able to just sit here with you.”

Suddenly, a hand is coming up and touching Dan’s cool skin. His chin is being tilted to the side and Dan follows the lead as he comes face to face with Phil. Phil leans in and presses their lips together in a burning kiss. Phil’s lips felt so warm in comparison to his.

When Phil pulls back, Dan stares at him, not sure what to do. Phil just laughs, “Your lips are cold.”

Dan just laughs and shakes his head, “Comes with the whole...package.”

They sit in the clearing for a while longer until Dan can hear his name being called by Jonathan and he figures he needs to actually go back and face whatever consequences are bearing his name. He makes his way back to the castle but not before sharing another quick kiss with Phil and then saying goodbye as they both leave.

At the castle, Dan is yelled at and cursed at and then banished to his sleeping chamber which he knew was going to happen anyway. When he gets to his room, he strips down and dresses into his nightgowns and slips into the seat at his desk. He opens up his notebook that he’s been writing in and he writes down the words:

I love Phil from Vargaria

[crackspinewornpages]

Romeo and Juliet -William Shakespeare

Prologue

“Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, were we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”p.882 Then it completely spoils the play. (thanks assholes maybe some of us wanted to be surprised by a five hundred year old play that’s been adapted and referenced a million times)

A1S1

In Verona, Sampson and Gregory, servants of Capulet House, are walking with their swords and shit talking Montague House. How they will conquer the men in a fight and for the women, “The heads of the maids?” “Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads;”-“Me thy shall feel while I am able to stand; and ‘tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.”p.882 (seriously Shakespeare makes so many dick and sex jokes how could anyone think his stuff is high brow) They draw their swords as Abraham and Balthazar of Montague House enter and Sampson goads them into fighting by biting his thumb at them. (like flipping the bird) “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?” “I do bite my thumb sir.”p.883 A fight breaks out, Benvolio tries to break it up and Tybalt of Capulet House fights him, then it’s a full on street brawl and the wives of Capulet and Montague have to hold back their husbands.

The Prince and his train arrive, and he commands them to stop on pain of torture and declares the Capulet and Montagues fighting has disturbed the peace too many times. “If ever you disturb our streets again your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”p.883 He says he’ll speak to the heads of the houses later and everyone but the Montagues and Benvolio leave as he explains to them how the fight started. Lady Montague asks where her son Romeo is, he saw him earlier walking sadly through the sycamore trees, their son has been wallowing in misery and locking himself in his room all day, isn’t new to them. (well he is a teenager) They don’t know why their son is acting like this and Benvolio will talk to him and find out.

Benvolio meets his cousin Romeo asking him what’s wrong, he’s miserable because of love and Benvolio follows to get the story. He loves a woman, Benvolio isn’t surprised, Rosaline has other ideas. “Well, in that hit you miss: she’ll not be hit with Cupid’s arrow; she hath Dian’s wit; and, in strong proof of chastity well arm’d, from love’s weak childish bow she lives unharm’d.”p.885 (girl swears a vow of chastity to avoid a creep total mood) Romeo says she’s too pretty, too wise, to refuse love, Benvolio tells him to forget her and move on. Romeo doubts Benvolio can get him to forget her and Benvolio takes it as a challenge.

A1S2

In the street Capulet is talking to Paris and a servant about how they have to keep the peace and Paris asks about his offer, but Capulet isn’t sure. “my child is yet a stranger in the world, she hath not seen the change of fourteen years;”p.885 (Juliet is thirteen) Wait until she’s fifteen (that’s not better) Paris argues that there’s already happy mothers younger than her. (11, 12 these girls aren’t mothers they’re dead) Capulet says she’s his only surviving child but Paris can start to woo her at a masque he’s having. As they leave Capulet gives the servant, Peter an invitation list, unfortunately he can’t read. Romeo and Benvolio come by still arguing about Romeo forgetting Rosaline when Peter asks him to read the letter. Then Peter invites Romeo to the party and Benvolio thinks it’s a good idea since Rosaline will be there. “Compare her face with some that shall show, and I will make thee think thy swan a crow.”p.886 Romeo will go just to see Rosaline.

A1S3

In a room in the Capulet House Lady Capulet and a Nurse wonder where Juliet is, she comes and Lady Capulet wants to talk to her. The Nurse starts a story on how Juliet was the butt of a sex joke (Juliet is thirteen) and Juliet has to tell her to stop. “Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed: and I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish.”p.887 Lady Capulet says that’s the point and asks Juliet what she thinks, Juliet never really thought of it. (because she’s thirteen) Lady Capulet tells her she gave birth to her at her age (you got pregnant and gave birth at thirteen the damage it can do it doesn’t surprise me Juliet is your only surviving child) and Paris has shown interest. (because he’s a creep) He’ll be at the party tonight and Juliet says she’ll see if she loves him and a servant comes to tell them it’s starting, and the Nurse tells her. “Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.”p.887

A1S4

In the street Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio are wearing masks and gather with the other guests. Romeo worries about crashing the Capulet party, Benvolio isn’t concerned, “let them measure us by what they will, we’ll measure them a measure, and be gone.”p.888 Romeo says he won’t dance and Mercutio makes sex jokes but Romeo says he had a bad dream about the party. Mercutio starts a story of the fairy Queen Mab (Oberon’s mother) who visits dreams until Romeo stops him, Mercutio says its just fantasy. Benvolio says its time to go and Romeo still has concerns, “I fear too early; for my mind misgives some consequence yet having in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date with this nights’ revels, and expire the term of a despised life clos’d in my breast be some vile forfeit of untimely death.”p.889 (foreshadowing)

A1S5

In Capulet’s halls servants are bustling to prepare and set some food aside for themselves. Capulet and Juliet make rounds with him welcoming guests and encouraging them to dance. Romeo sees Juliet and asks a servant who she is he says she’s too beautiful, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”p.889 (so what was all that about Rosaline who we ever meet) Tybalt hears him and knows he’s a Montague and wants to fight him Capulet hears and tells him to leave Romeo alone as he’s well liked, Tybalt will let him go now but won’t let this transgression pass. (well aren’t you a little murder kitten)

Romeo meets Juliet they flirt and kiss until the Nurse comes to tell her her mother wants her. Romeo then finds out she is a Capulet and is devastated. Juliet asks her Nurse to find out who Romeo is and if he is married and the Nurse tells her he is a Montague. “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, that I must love a loathed enemy.”p.891 (it’s your parents that are enemies for an undisclosed reason not you two)

Prologue (again)

Describes their love and how their affection is young, “with tender Juliet match’d, as now not fair. Now Rome is belov’d and loves again, alike bewitched by the charm of looks, “p.891 (so Juliet is young and Romeo falls in an out of love by looks) But their families are enemies so it will be difficult.

A2S1

At a wall by the Capulet’s orchard Romeo is conflicted with his feelings and climbs over the wall as Mercutio and Benvolio come by. They call for him and Benvolio guesses he jumped the wall and Mercutio mocks his love for Rosaline trying to anger him. Benvolio says he’s hiding in the trees, “blind is love and best benefits the dark.” “If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.”p.891 (stay classy guys) They decide to leave him.

A2S2

In the orchard Romeo says their words don’t hurt him, then sees Juliet in the window and soliloquys about her beauty, (you know comparing her thirteen year old hotness to a summer’s day) wishing he were her glove so her could touch her cheek. Juliet then starts talking to herself, why does Romeo have to be a Montague. “Deny thy father, and refuse thy name; or; if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”p.892 But his name is an enemy what is a Montague, “what’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; so Romeo would,”p.892 Romeo calls out to her and she asks how he got there, he says love led him there and stone and kinsmen wouldn’t stop him. Juliet worries for his safety if he’s caught and asks if he loves her, she knows he’ll say yes but he has to say it faithfully.

He starts to swear by the moon, but she says not to since it changes, if he swears on himself she’ll believe him. He starts too but she stops him, “it is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden; too like lightning, which doth cease to be ere one can say it lightens.”p.893 (almost aware that they are moving too fast) Romeo assures her and they confess their love and to meet again as Juliet goes to her Nurse who called. She comes back telling him to propose marriage tomorrow (yep definitely too rash and sudden) and they decide she’ll send for him at nine. As they part she wishes he was a blind bird tied with a string to her beck and call and he wishes her were that bird. “Sweet, so would I: yet I should kill thee with much cherihings.”p.894 (foreshadowing)

A2S3

I Friar Laurence’s cell he’s musing on plants when Romeo enters and he knows he did sleep that night. Romeo says it’s true but he wasn’t with Rosaline, already forget her name. He says he crashed the Montague party and fell in love with Juliet and wants to marry her today. Laurence says that’s quite the change as, “Young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.”p.894 He points out that Romeo’s cheeks are still tear stained over Rosaline, Romeo says it was childish of him, he’s buried that love he really loves Juliet and she him. (you are a romantic that falls in and out of love all the time and this is the first girl who’s shown you interest a naïve thirteen your old girl) Lawrence is skeptical but agrees to marry them.

A2S4

In a street Mercutio and Benvolio are still looking for Romeo, Benvolio says Tybalt sent a letter to challenge Romeo. Mercutio says he’s already dead from unrequited love and doubts his ability to answer Tybalt. Mercutio insults Tybalt’s name (apparently it was a popular cat name) and his fighting skills then Romeo arrives and apologizes for skipping out on them ignoring their jibes and claims of Rosaline being prettier than ancient beauties. They start making sex jokes until the Nurse and Peter enter looking for Romeo and Mercutio and Benvolio leave to have dinner at the Montagues. The Nurse warns Romeo to stay loyal and not to double deal Romeo swears he’s not. He says to tell Juliet to come at noon to Friar Laurence’s to be married and the Nurse says she’ll make a cloth ladder so they can have a wedding night. (she’s thirteen)

A2S5

In the Capulet garden Juliet is worried that it’s a half hour past nine and her Nurse isn’t back yet. Finally, she comes and Juliet presses her for news and why is she sad. The Nurse says he got tired and to wait but caves into Juliet’s pestering. The Nurse says Romeo is a good looking man and thinks he’s gentle, but Juliet wants news on the marriage. The Nurse complains about her aches until Juliet apologizes but she still wants to know the Nurse says to do her messages herself and to go to the Friar Laurence to marry and she’ll make a ladder for them. (eugh)

A2S6

In Friar Laurence’s cell, Lawrence and Romeo wait for Juliet and Romeo declares he doesn’t care about any misfortune from this compared to the joy he feels now. Friar Laurence warns him, “These violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss consume:”p.898 (translated don’t let your wild emotions get the best of you it usually ends quickly and badly) Juliet then arrives and they speak poetically of their love until Laurence hurries them to get married.

A3S1

In public Mercutio, Benvolio and some servants convene and Benvolio suggests they go inside and the heat will biol men’s blood to fight, Mercutio says he has a quick temper as anyone and shouldn’t judge. Tybalt arrives with others and calls that he’s looking for Romeo and the begin to taunt him wen Romeo appears. Tybalt calls Romeo a villain, Romeo claims he has a reason to love  him and won’t fight but Tybalt wont have it. “I do protest I never injur’d thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love:”p.899 (Romeo’s a good dude y’know despite falling in love with a thirteen year old he won’t fight because they’re family now) He now loves the name Capulet but Mercutio has enough and draws his sword to fight. Romeo pleads for them to stop as the Prince forbade fighting in the street but they don’t listen and Mercutio is fatally wounded.

It’s not too deep or wide but it’ll do enough and curses both the Montagues and Capulets. “A plauge o’ both your houses!”-“Why the devil! Come you between us?”p.900 (because he didn’t want your dumbass to die) Romeo says he was trying to stop  them and Mercutio dies cursing them. Now angry, Romeo claims his love for Juliet made him effeminate (…really) and tells Tybalt one of them has to die. They fight and he kills Tybalt, (congratulations Romeo married all of what two hours and just killed your wife’s cousin) but it roused the citizens and Benvolio tells him to run as the Prince will have him killed.

The Prince arrives with the Montagues and Capulets asking what started it all. Benvolio tells him, “I can discover all the unlucky mange of this fatal brawl: there lies the man, slain by young Romeo, that slew thy kinsmen, brave Mercutio.”p.900 Lady Capulet demands Romeo’s death for killing her nephew and Benvolio explains Tybalt started the fight, Romeo tried to stop it but Tybalt killed Mercutio under Romeo’s arm and Romeo killed him in revenge and fled. Lady Capulet says he’s lying because he’s a Montague and wants justice, but the Prince isn’t sure. “Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?”p.900 So he exiles Romeo and won’t hear pleas or excuses, if he returns he will be killed. (funny you say that)

A3S2

In the Capulet’s orchard Juliet waits for Romeo and wants it to be night already so he can come over. The Nurse comes in distraught and stumbles over her words saying he’s dead and Juliet thinks she means Romeo killed himself. The Nurse says Tybalt and Juliet thinks he killed Romeo, finally the Nurse tells her Tybalt is dead and Romeo is banished for it, Juliet curses nature. “Was ever a book containing such vile matter so fairly bound? O! That deceit should dwell in such a gorgeous place.”p.902 The Nurse curses that there is no faith and honest in men and Romeo Juliet denounces her for criticizing her husband. (so what only you can insult your husband) “My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; and Tybalt’s dead, that would have slain my husband: all this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?”p.902 She decides Romeo’s banishment is worse since it’s before her wedding night and she’ll die a virgin, (apparently the worst thing ever) the Nurse she’ll bring him and Juliet gives her a ring to give to him.

A3S3

In Friar Laurence’s cell, Lawrence calls to Romeo to come out and tells him the Prince banished him and Romeo says that’s worse than death since he can’t see Juliet. (omg can’t see my girlfriend of two days this is the worst thing ever) Lawrence tries to make him feel better by saying he’ll help but Romeo flails on the ground. (I bet Laurence is thinking long and hard at this point about why he even associates with this kid) They hear knocking and Lawrence tells him to get up as the Nurse enters with news for Romeo. He worries that Julie thinks he’s a murderer, the Nurse says she said nothing but cries and Romeo is distraught he caused her this pain and asks Lawrence where he should stab himself. (woah woah woah calm down) Lawrence scolds him for acting unmanly, so quickly to hate himself they’re both alive. “Rouse thee, man; thy Juliet is alive, for those dear sake thou wast but lately dead; there act thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee, but thout slew’st Tybalt; there art thou happy too:”p.904 Go to her chamber and comfort her (she’s thirteen I’m getting my nail bat) and reconcile, the Nurse gives him the ring Laurence then tells him to hide in Mantua until news of their marriage spreads and Romeo feels better.

A3S4

In the Capulet House the Capulets and Paris are talking, Capulet says because of Tybalt’s death he hasn’t had time to talk to Juliet about the marriage to Paris. Paris bemoans he had no time to woo her and Lady Capulet says she’ll find out what she thinks by tomorrow. Capulet wants Paris to try but thinks his wife will do better to tell her she’ll be married on Thursday and Paris wishes it were tomorrow. (Hi, Paris, I’m Chris Hansen, have a seat)

A3S5

In Juliet’s chamber it’s morning and Juliet tries to convince Romeo it’s still night, but he says he can’t stay or he’ll be put to death. Juliet says the light is just a meteor and Romeo says he’ll stay if it kills him but Juliet changes her mind, “O! Now be gone; more light and light it grows.” “More light and light; more dark and dark our woes.”p.905 The Nurse warns her mother is coming and they hurry farewells but as he descends Juliet sees he looks pale, “I have an ill-diving soul: methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb:”p.905 (foreshadowing) She wishes he’ll come back soon and wonders what her mother wants.

Lady Capulet thinks she’s been crying over her cousin but she says it’s feelings of loss, “Well, girl, thou weep’st not so much for his death, as that thy villain lives which slaughtered him.”p.905 Juliet says he’s been banished she grieves but pardons him, Lady Capulet wants vengeance and will send someone to Mantua to kill Romeo. Juliet says she won’t be satisfied until she holds Romeo and if her mother has poison, she’d temper it so Romeo would sleep. (heh funny you should say that) Lady Capulet continues to misinterpret but changes the subject to joyful news that she’ll be married on Thursday to Paris. Juliet says he won’t make her a joyful bride, tell her father if she weds it will be Romeo, Lady Capulet says to tell her father herself.

Capulet enters with the Nurse and Lady Capulet tells him Juliet won’t have it, “I would the devil were married to her grave!”p.907 (be careful what you wish for) Capulet calls her ungrateful and threatens to drag her to church on Thursday to be married to Paris. Juliet asks for him to listen but he keeps calling her names and threatens to disown her, instead of a blessing she is a curse. (kid won’t do one thing so threatening them and calling them ungrateful is the obvious immediate reasonable action of a loving father to his only child) The Nurse says he’s also to blame, he gets mad at her too and starts ranting that he just found Juliet a noble husband and here she says she doesn’t want to wed. She will be wed on Thursday or she will be in the streets when he leaves Juliet asks her mother to talk to him, “delay this marriage for a month, a week; or, if you do not, make the bridal bed in that dim monument where Tybalt lies.”p.907 (really beating over the head with the foreshadowing) Her mother won’t help her and follows her husband.

Juliet wants her Nurse to help, the Nurse thinks it’s better for her to marry Paris (you also had a hand in this also she’s already married) as Romeo is banished, is as good as dead. (hmm) Juliet pretends to listen and says she’s going to confession at Friar Laurence’s cell. In reality she won’t listen to her any more and wants his help. “I’ll to the friar, to know his remedy: if all else fail, myself have power to die.”p.908

A4S1

In Laurence’s cell he’s talking to Paris about his marriage to Juliet, it’s too soon, he doesn’t know how Juliet feels, (she’s already married) he doesn’t like it. Paris says Juliet is upset by Tybalt’s death, little time for talk of love and her father thinks it’s best. Juliet arrives and is indifferent to Paris who’s arrogant of her love until Laurence has him leave. Alone together, Juliet asks for help, he already knows she’s to be married Thursday, Juliet pulls out a knife and says if he can’t fix things she’ll kill herself. (why are these kids so quick to kill themselves)  Laurence tells her to stop, (please) he has a solution, she’ll do anything not to marry Paris, (except tell everyone she’s already married or join  Romeo in Mantua but she is thirteen (I’ll go to my grave reminding people of this) what kid at that age has good ideas) he tells her to pretend to agree to it then take this draught to make her appear dead and Romeo will come for her. He’ll write him a letter to come and take her to Mantua Juliet takes the draught.

A4S2

Juliet returns home and tells her father she went to confession and to repent her disobedience and asks for forgiveness. Capulet is glad for the change and orders Paris be fetched as he’s so happy he’s moving the wedding to Wednesday. The Capulets have her Nurse prepare her as they plan for tomorrow. (good thing they’re planning this themselves hate to see a Wedding Planner’s rates for a wedding scheduled in less than 24 hours)

A4S3

In her chambers Juliet has her Nurse leave her and dismisses her mother as she wants to be alone, surely they are already so busy. Alone, Juliet wonders what will happen when she drinks the drought, if it doesn’t work she’ll be married, (illegally since bigamy is against the law) but she still has her dagger. He could be poisoning her to hide his role in marrying Romeo but she won’t think of it, but if she wakes before Romeo arrives she’ll be terrified in that vault with Tybalt’s ghost. (why not just run off to Mantua) For Romeo he drinks it and falls on her bed.

A4S4

In Capulet’s hall the Capulets are giving orders and send the Nurse to wake Juliet.

A4S5

The Nurse enters her chamber but can’t wake her and is in denial at first then calls for help. Lady Capulet comes and cries that Juliet was her only life (then what was that whole thing last night) and calls for help, they cry to Capulet that Juliet is dead and he’s in shock. (and they don’t notice the knife or bottle on her bed) Friar Laurence, Paris and some musicians enter and Capulet tells them Juliet died in the night. “Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir; my daughter hath wedded: I will die, and leave him all; life, living, all is Death’s!”p.911 They all cry until Friar Laurence basically to stop crying and reminds them she’s in heaven (if I was a parent and found my kid dead and you told me that you would not have a jaw anymore) and Capulet has the wedding changed to a funeral, how everything for a wedding can be used in a funeral, (yeah but if you invite people to a wedding and it turns out to be a funeral they’re going to be pretty upset but not in the way you’d expect) and Laurence ushers everyone out. Peter asks the musicians to play a happy tune to ease his sorrowful heart the musicians refuse and wait for lunch. (I actually remember our teacher having us skip this part because it had nothing to do with the plot)

A5S1

In Mantua Romeo talks cheerfully about a dream he had, “I dreamt my lady came and found me dead;-strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think,-and breath’d such life with kisses in my lips, that I reviv’d, and was an emporer.”p.913 (hmmm) Balthazar comes to him and Romeo asks him news of Juliet and Baltazar says he saw her dead and laid in a vault. Romeo wants to leave immediately but Balthazar says he’s distraught and could cause misadventure (practically every level headed character is telling them not to act rashly if only these kids would have listened) and when asked for news from the friar he has none and Romeo sends him for horses.

Romeo says he will lie with Juliet tonight and calls an apothecary and pays him forty docuts for poison. The Apothecary says selling such drugs is illegal, Romeo says he’s too poor to refuse and the apothecary gives in. “There is thy gold, worse poison to men’s souls, doing more murders in this loathsome world than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell: I sell thee poison , thou hast sold me none.”p.913 (so much said in one short scene)

A5S2

In Friar Laurence’s cell Friar John visits as he sent him to deliver the letter of Juliet to Romeo. John says he couldn’t send it because after a sickness he was quarantined, (yeah it’s shit when that happens) and Laurence is upset because of the danger when Juliet wakes and no one is there. He sends John to get a crowbar as he writes another letter to Romeo.

A5S3

At the Capulet family vault Paris is bringing flowers for Juliet (sounds like a lovely song) until his page whistles that someone is coming. Romeo is coming with Baltazar and tells him he came to take a ring back from Juliet and to go and deliver a letter to his parents, Balthazar takes it but doesn’t believe Romeo and stays to watch. Romeo opens the tomb and Paris sees and thinks he’s about to do something to the corpses and goes to stop him. Romeo tells him to leave him alone, Paris won’t and they draw swords and Paris is killed (play stupid games win stupid prizes) and the page runs off to get someone. Romeo honors Paris’s request and lays him beside Juliet and he wonders how she can still look beautiful in death and asks for Tybalt’s forgiveness. “Death , that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty: thou art not conquer’d; beauty’s ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and thy cheeks, and death’s pale flag is not advanced there.”p.915 (dude check for a pulse or stop being dramatic and a wait a few minutes because if it doesn’t look like a duck swim like a duck or quack like a duck then she’s probably not fucking dead)

Romeo takes the poison and kisses Juliet and he dies just as Laurence enters the churchyard and finds Balthazar. He asks whose lantern is in the Capulet vault, Romeo’s, and Balthazar follows him. They take in the scene of Paris and Romeo dead just as Juliet wakes up asking for Romeo. Laurence tells her he’s dead and he’ll take her to stay with nuns and with her refusing to leave and fearful of the watch, he leaves without her. Juliet sees Romeo took poison and there’s none left for her, “I will kiss thy lips; haply, some poison yet doth hang on them, to make me die with a restorative. “p.916 It doesn’t work so she takes his dagger and stabs herself and dies before the watch comes with the page, they call the scene a pity and send for the Montagues. (to think all of this could have been avoided if she had a sassy gay friend too bad Mercutio was already dead)

The watch returns with Balthazar, Laurence, the Prince and the Capulets. Lady Capulet says people in the streets are yelling about Romeo, Juliet and Paris, and their monument. The watch describes the scene and the Prince demands an explanation and the watch tells him what happened and Capulet sees his supposed dead daughter bleeding. (this is why you check for a pulse beforehand) Montague enters telling the Prince his wife died from grief because Romeo was an exile (she died from grief her son was in the next city she could have easily visited this is just tacked on to add to the tragedy isn’t it) the Prince tells him to look and to not rage until everything is cleared up.

Friar Laurence comes forward, “Romeo, there dead, was the husband to that Juliet; and she, there dead, that Romeo’s faithful wife:”p.917 (faithful they were married for like a day and a half) He married them before Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment. Juliet wouldn’t marry Paris, he gave her a drought and wrote to Romeo to come get her, but he didn’t receive it, so he came and saw Romeo and Paris dead. Juliet then woke but wouldn’t go with him and killed herself (because you knew this girl was suicidal and didn’t stay to stop her) the Nurse will vouge for him.

Balthazar says he told Romeo of Juliet’s death and they came and Romeo gave him a letter for his parents before he went into the vault, the page says Paris came to lay flowers. The Prince says the letter proves everything, Romeo came to die with Juliet, and he calls out the families, “See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love; and I, for winking at your discords too, have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish’d.”p.917  (see what letting shit get out of hand and ignoring it causes) There children sacrificed, the families make amends, the Prince notes the sun wont shine and has them make peace elsewhere, “for never was a story of more woe that this of Juliet and her Romeo.”p.918 (there’s a lot I could say but I think KrimsonRogue (9:17-10:23) summed it up best)

(”Don’t waste your love, on somebody who doesn’t value it.” this quote as been attributed to Shakespeare and this play but I couldn’t  find it or a proper source so I guess it’s just one of those made up internet things)

[sinister-bob]

Truthfully, each time there is some sort of outbreak (namely from foreign countries because the racism really jumps out), I get irritated.  If there’s nothing you can do, have hope, keep clean, and monitor yourself/surroundings.  That’s it.  That’s all you can do.

I have a chronic illness, and with that comes a compromised immune system, which means that even flu shots are out for me.  But for the most part I live like this, since a common cold can lay me low for a month or longer.  So it’s more so a drudge, and seeing people panicking like this feels like an overreaction, though if I care to be empathetic enough, I know why.  You’re not used to the thought of all this, or the great finality of it all.

It’s going to get better, guys.  Just like it always has before.  Yes, there are risks, but that’s for the people with the compromised immune systems, IE., people like me, pregnant folk and the elderly.  You are going to survive.  Remember that.

But, people are scared.  Just like they always are.  Which makes sense, so okay, you want to be healthy along with your friends, family, and other people.  But, in doing so, people are buying out stores, using not really necessary things that are bad for the environment, and buying hand sanitizer, which was found years ago to be BAD on a whole other level because it makes super-bugs that can’t be killed by antibiotics.

There are things, though, that you can get, that you can make, that will work in place of them.  All it takes is a little effort, so in the long run, these things will probably be cheaper too.

Wet wipes 2

Disinfectant 2 3

Thieves oil 2 mix it with oil based hand lotion, or a carrier oil, like coconut oil, which is antibacterial in itself.*

Four thieves vinegar 2 3 4 (white vinegar is fine, don’t believe their lies.  You can also eat this, unlike the thieves oil.)

Then there are the things you can buy, which are a little off the beaten path, but are still good.

Carbolic soap:  It’s antibacterial, kills acne, and is good for open sores.

Coconut oil: As stated above, it has antibacterial properties, and as well is good for open sore.  Don’t over do it, though, because it can clog pores. (It’s also good for healing tattoos.)

Honey: it’s antibacterial and antifungal.  I once made a mix of this and coconut oil of equal measures, and it’s wonderful for cuts and the like.  Honey is also good for getting rid of acne.

Edible plants 2 3 4: Because, oh shit, there’s a lot of them!  The ones linked are actually lists that give their properties, but they are all either antibacterial/antiviral.  Check to make sure you aren’t actually allergic to anything.  You can’t be healthy if you’re dead.

Capsicum: Eat spicy foods.  The spice helps your immune system, and helps keep you healthier longer.  At least one meal every day.  Even if you don’t like spice, start small.  Start with paper-thin garlic, and work your way up the peppers, starting at something like an anaheim.  It looks like a giant jalapeno, but it is pretty much a green pepper.

*Essential oils: This one is tricky.  You have to make sure that you are getting the right ones, and you will have to do some research.  They can be harmful to pets, especially small ones like rodent, birds, lizards, ETC.  But you have to make sure the ones you’re getting are the antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral ones, like tea tree, eucalyptus, rosemary, cinnamon . . .

Lemon concentrate:  Lemon helps boost your immune system, and if you catch anything, it can help you get better quicker.  It also helps loosen phlegm stuck to the walls of your lungs.  So, if you have asthma or bronchitis besides, this would be a good thing to keep in your fridge.

Ginger: Ginger is like lemon only a 100 times better.  It does so much more, like help with blood flow and is an anti inflammatory.  Tastes great with lemon and pretty much everything else.  Fresh or dried, it doesn’t matter for the most part, but fresh always tastes best.

Turmeric:  It’s again anti everything, including anti-inflammatory.  Good for both the inside and outside of you.

Then there’s prep.

Soap

Take the carbolic soap, melt it in a double boiler with some water.  Once it’s dissolved, you have a choice: either you can make liquid soap, or you can make some small hard ones so you can take it wherever you’re going.  If you are making it liquid, you add some more water, and once that is done, you add it to the bottle.  If you’re making hard ones, use an ice cube tray or the like.  I don’t suggest using a plastic one, because it can melt it as well as the soap scent will linger.

Either way, you can add things to it to either make it pull double duty or to make it stronger.  Things you can add?

Baking soda:  About a teaspoon per bar.  Warning:  It foams a lot when you introduce it, so make sure the walls of your pot are high enough to keep it contained.  Mine went about twice the volume.  It makes it a better cleaner.

coconut oil: About a tablespoon.  It retains it’s antibacterial properties.

Honey: About a tablespoon and a half.  It makes it lather well.  It keeps it’s properties as well.

Essential oil: For the most part, I don’t suggest adding more than 30 drops (a tablespoon).   You can do more, I just think you’d be wasting it at that point.  This would be a good use for the thieves oil, too.

*Note*  Always vent, especially if you have pets or small children.

Antibacterial ETC ETC ETC Hand Lotion

All you need is coconut oil, wax, and your choice of essential oil.

Depending on how hard you want the lotion, I would say about 1/3 wax to 2/3 oil.  Use a sliding scale to see where you want it, but remember, you cannot tell when it is in a liquid state.  If you are unsure, you have to let it completely cool before checking.  To add your essential oil, add it by the drop and stir.  You have to experiment, rather than just dumping stuff in.  Always add your scent last, otherwise you’ll kill it while smoking yourself out.

As for wax, believe it or not, you can use most anything.  I recently made hand lotion with the wax that comes off baby bells.  Certain candles work too.  You can even use crayons.  You dilute them so much, that they don’t really leave a colour on you, but that said, you might want to stick to colours that are complimentary to your skin tone.

You can steep a couple teaspoons of turmeric in the oil while keeping it over a low heat, and you’ll get the added benefit of it.  Steep it for about 4-5 minutes.  You can later throw the bundle in your bath for your health.  *Turmeric can dye things including you, so be careful.  I would more so suggest this step for people who have naturally occurring yellow or gold tones in their skin, unless you don’t mind looking like a Simpson.

Honey Lemon Ginger Drink

1/4 c. lemon concentrate

2/3 tsp. powdered ginger

2 tsp. honey

3/4 c. water

Optional: 1/4 c. gin (Decrease water to 1/2 cup)

Add all of the ingredients (except gin) to the pot.  Bring to under a boil.  Pour into cup and drink when cool enough to handle.  Tastes great cold, so you can make it a few days ahead.  Strain if you don’t want to contend with the sludge in the bottom.

Sage and Thyme Tea

1/2 tsp. powdered sage

1/8 tsp. powdered thyme

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. water

prep like regular tea.  Let steep for 6-8 minutes.  Strain before drinking to get rid of the sludge.  Sweeten to taste.

Fermented Milk

Yes, it sounds weird and gross, but it is good for you and boosts your immune system.  It doesn’t taste bad.   Kind of creamy and nutty.

1 c. warm milk

1/4 tsp. bakers’ yeast

1 tsp. honey or sugar

Combine all ingredients in a jar, shaking until the honey is dissolved.  Put the lid on loosely, not even barely closed, so that if you were to tip the jar, the contents would spill out.

Let sit for four hours, checking on it occasionally.  Sometimes you need to agitate it a little.  Once the time is up, you can drink it.  Leave it any longer, and it will turn to alcohol.  Don’t drink the dregs.

Wash your hands.  It’s a little terrifying that that has to be a reminder, since I got that drilled into my head as a child first from my mother and then by countless kid shows and ASPs.  Didn’t that happen with you guys?

20 seconds right?

Have a soliloquy:

Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw.

Have a poem:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet?

Make Big Bird proud.

[mossflowermouse]

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been reading ‘When Christ and His Saints Slept’ by Sharon Penman, writing my thoughts down as I went. Currently writing a proper review of the book as a whole, but for now I’m posting those original bullet-point reactions. It got kind of long so this is part one of three. I’ve also gone back through and divided things up by chapter, because otherwise it’ll get really confusing. 

Below the cut, the civil war begins, everyone is picking sides (but not necessarily staying where they first choose), and I am emotional about the mess this has very quickly become for everyone involved.

Did a bit of reading up on this period – for historical fiction, I like to know more or less what will be covered, especially for Penman books since there's such close attention to detail (also because it can lead to some lovely dramatic irony, knowing how things will play out, and I don’t think of it as spoilers in the same way as other fiction). I’m now aware of the broad strokes – bits of the family tree, the ship sinking, some of the key events during the Anarchy. Also thanks to that one Horrible Histories song, I know Stephen becomes king but Maude is never crowned queen, and her son Henry succeeds Stephen.

I’ve read one other book by this author, ‘The Sunne in Splendour’, but fully expect this to be a completely different experience – I’d spent months studying and reading up on the Wars of the Roses before that, whereas here all the knowledge I have is from like half an hour of Googling, the family tree in the front of the book, things from a few Tumblr posts, and some other faintly-remembered facts about the earliest Plantagenets. I’m really looking forward to it, though, and fully expect to be destroyed with family drama, incredible historical accuracy, and the heartbreak of getting attached to these people while knowing the inevitable conclusion. Here goes.

Chapter I:

Oh no Stephen's got so many relatives on the White Ship 

William’s giving me Edmund of Rutland déjà vu – there seems to be a running theme of Penman’s books opening with the death of a 17-year-old noble sibling of one of the main characters. 

Oh no I got attached to William 

(HOW did I get attached to William, he was alive for like five pages)

Just finished reading the sinking of the White Ship, decided to research it a bit more. I really ought to stop being surprised by how much of the stuff in Penman's novels is real – in this case, Berold as the sole survivor and William's attempt to go back for his sister were the details I'd wondered about. In conclusion: already hooked.

[then I forgot to write anything for a while because the book was too gripping]

Chapter IV:

Ranulf is fairly prominent in these chapters - according to the character list, he seems to be the only notable fictional character. When reading The Sunne in Splendour, I didn't find out Veronique was made up until the author's note at the end, so comparing the experience of reading about those two will be interesting. I like him though. 

Note to self: look into William Rufus' death - Stephen and Ranulf's conversation about how Ranulf’s father took the throne has me intrigued.

Chapter V:

First impression of Geoffrey was that he was awful; a hundred pages in and he's done nothing to really change that. Currently resisting the temptation to Google and find out how much longer the characters and I have to deal with him.

I know Maude's not going to get the throne and it's making me sad because of her line about freedom. 

And then listing the people she trusts and Stephen's one of them...oh you poor dysfunctional family. And the worst part is, it really doesn't seem like he's going to take the throne for his own gain - he's going to think it's for the best for all of them and he cares about Maude and all their siblings and cousins will have to choose sides :(

And there it is.

Chapters VI and VII:

Stephen: what other choice does Maude have but to accept my kingship? ...well, according to Wikipedia, wage war against you for twenty years, Stephen.

Oh god even Robert's accepted Stephen as king, I was expecting him to side with Maude. He doesn't seem happy with it, though - maybe a change of heart later on? 

Ranulf's the only one so far who definitely seems to be on Maude's side.

Okay, yeah, less than half a page later and Robert's already explaining that his loyalty to Stephen is largely a waiting game.

Ranulf's going to get himself killed with his recklessness and open loyalty to Maude isn't he. And I can't even look him up to know for sure and prepare myself because he's fictional. Why. 

Oh no and Amabel just mentioned he's seventeen, that's absolutely a death flag as far as Penman characters are concerned (William in this one, Edmund of Rutland and Edouard of Westminster in TSiS come to mind).

Amabel's like "well what does Ranulf have to lose by supporting Maude" and while Robert replies by talking about his betrothal, I'm suddenly very worried that the real answer is "his life"

(Also, I appreciate that much of the book up to this point has been dedicated to the bonds between family members who will soon be on opposite sides of a civil war. This is going to hurt, but I do like being invested in characters.)

Annora :(

Awww, Maude and Ranulf (and poor Ranulf's looking back on his memories of Stephen)

First mention of Eleanor of Aquitaine!

Ugh, Geoffrey.

UGH, GEOFFREY

And first mention of William de Ypres!

Ranulf is still so optimistic and he's going to get his heart broken. 

And Ancel says Annora's married. Yup, I suspected she might not be as willing to wait as Ranulf, given the circumstances.

Hmm, Stephen's having difficulty with his court. 

Any reference to Robert as 'Gloucester' is making me instinctively like him more after TSiS. (Also, even besides that, the king's relative Gloucester being one of the most powerful nobles is something that keeps cropping up in medieval England. Although Robert's the Earl rather than Duke like later ones)

Chapters VIII and IX:

Robert and Amabel have decided to support Maude! Yes! Now I'm wondering if this will be permanent, though, because there's still 750 pages and like fifteen years of civil war to go. Something other than Geoffrey is going to have to go wrong for Maude for the war to continue that long, because Stephen's really not doing well here.

More traitors in Stephen's court (Miles and Brien) - I wasn't sure at first if it was just unfounded suspicion from Stephen and the other barons, but yeah, it seems they're loyal to Maude.

Matilda's taking a much more active role in the war - first the Dover siege, now the treaty with David of Scotland. I'm enjoying seeing her grow in confidence and discover what she’s able to achieve. Maybe it's not that things will go wrong for Maude, but instead a case of things starting to go right for Stephen and Matilda's side.

Meanwhile, Stephen's being peer pressured into becoming a harsher ruler (well, it's more that several of the nobles are pretty much ruling though him. And the Beaumonts aren't happy about Matilda's influence. Please give me all the court drama, this is good.)

(Also I keep reading Beaumont as Beaufort. The vague similarities between them don’t help. Noble family with even more questionable ambitions than the average noble family and whatnot)

u g h 

Poor Henry's having quite the turbulent childhood (though both Maude and Geoffrey love him, so at least there's that. Honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from Geoffrey, relieved he’s apparently a decent father. But considering everything else, the bar really is on the floor here.)

Maude, Robert, Ranulf and Rainald are so good. I've always got a soft spot for siblings who band together in a crisis (and because of TSIS, can't help but draw vague parallels between this lot and the later Plantagenet siblings)

Awww, Uncle Ranulf with Maude's kids 

Adeliza's offering to let them land at Arundel Castle - based on what's been said about the situation in England (and Maude's main difficulty being the crossing from Normandy, with nowhere to land safely), this could really be a turning point!

Chapter X:

Just met Adeliza and I like her already.

Robert and Amabel's farewell has me concerned that something's going to happen to one of them

Well that went wrong quickly (they arrived at Arundel Castle a week ago and Stephen's already besieging it)

...wait, how did Stephen find out they're here so quickly? (Possibilities I can think of: Robert was discovered en route to Bristol (please no), there's a spy somewhere in the castle, Adeliza and Stephen had this planned all along (would also be upsetting, I like the glimpse we've had of her friendship with Maude))

Okay, so it's not Adeliza. That's good. I'm worried about Robert though.

"His barons seemed to take turns standing as sentinels between Stephen and his better instincts." This is such a good line and it really sums up my thoughts on Stephen's position right now.

Aw, Stephen's still fond of Maude. I can't decide whether this is more heartwarming or tragic.

“...it was only when he was on his way back to the castle that the significance of the Bishop’s words penetrated. Stephen’s allies made a point of referring to Maude by the title she herself detested: Countess of Anjou. Her own supporters accorded her the rank she much preferred, that of empress. And so, Ranulf finally realized, had the Bishop.” wait what

So does this mean Henry's going to defect or????

I knew he was angry with Stephen about not becoming Archbishop but still. Maybe he's just being petty and this isn't a sign of an actual betrayal.

Robert :)

And Miles and Brien are openly supporting Maude!

...aaand time for war. And there's the chronicle the title's from!

[lessonsfrommadamexmas]

30 from the prompt list with Riza and Roy

Thank you! For prompt 30 - just remember, if we get in trouble, you’re deaf and I don’t speak English. 

Jesus Christ, this turned out huge! 2k words alert. I hope it’s not boring. I changed English to Amestrian, ‘cause, you know, not sure what language Amestrian people speak but probably not English. ;) 

- - - -

As a state located next to the desert, the East had the hottest summer in Amestris. The days could often be uncomfortable while the nights were pleasant, with cooler temperatures and occasional rain. Riza didn’t like summer because she had to face a long walk to school in the morning and return when the sun was up high. Today, however, the weather was not unbearable, and the girl was surprised by her father’s apprentice waiting for her after class. 

Mr. Mustang had started his alchemy lessons a couple of months ago, and so far he’s only spent the weekends in her house. It was an initial test her father required to see how a student would adapt. However, it seemed that her father’s interest in the boy was growing, for this time Mr. Mustang came to spend the week. Considering that the sixteen-year-old was always in the house and constantly studying, and considering that he had only been outside when he followed her to the lake nearby and the grocery store, she didn’t expect him to pick her up in school by himself. Even if the path leading there was a straight line. 

When asked, the boy said his master suggested he went out to enjoy the day and taught him the way. Riza concluded her father had also noticed how energetic the boy was, and how a place dull and quiet like theirs didn’t offer a city boy enough stimulus. 

— Hey, have you been to that cascade somewhere close to your home? Maybe a mile away  — he asked when they deviated from a dense tree standing in the way.

 She tried unsuccessfully to decipher what he was talking about. 

— There’s nothing like that on our way home. Besides, we’re already about a mile away. 

 — Then we must be close! — he replied, scanning his surroundings. — It may not be an exact mile, and it’s not literally on our way, it’s in the forest. But I saw it, I’ll show you. 

 — Okay, but what about it?

 — I’ve never been to one. 

 — Neither have I — she realized. 

 — You haven’t? But it’s right there! — His frown showed disbelief. 

 — I’ve been to the stream, it’s close to school, so I think the cascade you’re talking about may come from it. However, that would be in Mr. Swanson’s area... — she concluded. 

 — Mr. Swanson? Does everybody in this town have an animal in their names? 

 Riza stared in deep thought into nothingness for a second.

 — The Franklins don’t.

 — We should go take a look, what do you say? — he suggested excitedly.

 — Don’t you get it? We’re not allowed to trespass. 

— Why? 

 — It’s a private property. Mr. Swanson is an evil man. He will surely call the police on us. 

 — An evil man? — he smirked, clearly mocking her. 

 — I swear he is! I heard he controls two dogs that could tear a person apart. — she insisted nervously. 

 — He wouldn’t kill two kids, would him? I thought water bodies were nature’s property. — Mr. Mustang sighed. — C’mmon, I’m sure he won’t coincidentally find us if we just stay for a while. He won’t even know. But if we get in trouble, just remember, you’re deaf, and I don’t speak Amestrian. 

 She giggled. 

 — You kind of look like you could be a foreigner. 

 — My mother was a Xingese princess.

 — Really? 

 — No! — he laughed. — Not quite. Come on!

 There were still several things she didn’t know about the alchemy student. This was the first time they were spending actual time together, instead of the brief exchanges of word they often had and a few attempts to talk coming from the boy. Riza wasn’t good at conversation, so she always ruined it with her short replies. On the other hand, Mr. Mustang seemed to have a natural ability to draw people in, like someone who was willing to befriend everyone he met, even an aloof kid like her. 

 She wasn’t supposed to trust him so fast, but she already did. Her father trusted him enough to leave them alone, and even if there was any doubt left in her, she knew she had the upper hand. That was her town and he had proven to be a dumb city boy. Dumb and curious enough to reach places she had never considered before. Riza wanted to try that, too. And to be his friend. 

 Riza knew her town very well. Like the palm of her hand, she would say. She walked a few miles everyday to school and back ever since she was a little kid. Her mother and father homeschooled her until six, but her mother always said that it was important for her to get out there and make friends. Once the woman passed, her father no longer had the energy to teach her, so he sent her to school. 

 Thus, the girl knew every path and most properties located on her surroundings. It was often that she strained from her path to explore, aware that it didn’t make a difference to her dad whether she arrived half or a full hour later than usual. Yet, she had never crossed a private property. She had never tried to see up close the ducklings following their mothers across the lakes or the tree houses behind the fences. Nor Mr. Swanson’s cascade.  

 Roy crossed the fence but waited for her to lead the way. It seemed he recognized he could learn something from her. They walked for a few minutes, keeping the cascade in sight until it was fully visible. 

 — It surprises me that you’re worried about coming here. I mean, you’re twelve and you walk miles by yourself to go to school. Isn’t that dangerous? — he asked, as if reading her mind.

 — That’s different from doing prohibited stuff. Besides, I have my slingshot to protect myself. — she said confidently. 

 The cascade was only about 25 feet tall, but gorgeous. Several rocks created a stairway, challenging the water to flow down aggressively before it found peace once more in shallow ground and continued its journey. On the margins, the trees all branched towards the translucent surface, like they bowed humbly to their provider. The sultry scent was amplified in that spot, but the streams added freshness to the mix. That might be Riza’s favorite smell.

 — I thought this remote place would be so boring, but I guess I was wrong. 

 He seemed amazed. 

 — Nature can never be boring, Mr. Mustang. Not when you see it from an insider’s point-of-view. 

 — Right… One is all…

 The girl could barely hear his whisper or see the realization on his face, as she took advantage of his distraction to kneel down and splash water on him. 

 — What are you doing? — he shouted annoyed before a grin appeared in his mouth. — I’ll get you! 

 — I’m not afraid of water! — she shouted, crossing the stream to the other side, feeling the water on her ankles. 

 To her surprise, he followed behind without a blink, so she continued to follow a trail in the woods. 

 Nevertheless, she didn’t go far. Old man Swanson was at a distance, with both his dogs by his side. The man’s eyebrows dug their way down his long nose and his sharp mouth curved in contempt.

 — What are you two troublemakers doing here? — he shouted as soon as he spotted them. — I’ll call the police on you and don’t think you’re gonna get off easy just because you’re kids! 

 Riza waved her arms fearfully and started to move her hands in very specific ways, mixing her poor knowledge of sign language with random shapes. She wondered if the boy was willing to play the game he had proposed, because she was about to put up with the best act of her life. 

 Her answer came the next second, as he started to speak in a language that might be Xingese after all:

 — I… love you? — She had no idea what meaning his words carried, but he made them sound confused and desperate. — I love you so much! 

 — What the hell kinda language is that?! GET OUT OF HERE! OUT!

 They were counting on that to disarm the man and buy some time, but it didn’t last long. Mr. Swanson was taking none of it. Instead, he sent both his dogs in their direction. Was he truly willing to attack, or only to scary them? Riza had no time to wait and see. She ran without looking back. Swiftly, the girl tried to put as much distance between herself and that furious dog, she kept running with a grin from ear to ear, feeling more rebellious than she had ever been. 

 Until the only stomps against the dirt came from her own feet. 

 Caught up in the moment and feeling the adrenaline in her veins, it took her too long to realize Mr. Mustang wasn’t following her anymore. 

 — Mr. Mustang? — she called, looking around in all directions, all of them, even up in the trees, for a sign of him. — Not funny. 

 The whistle of leaves caressed by the afternoon breeze was the only response she got. She could spot the fence a few feet ahead of her. The boy had long legs. He was probably there already, awaiting and playing a prank on her. 

 — Mr. Mustang! — she shouted as loud as she could, running back to the road and hoping he could still hear her bustle. — Mr. Mustang, I’m here! 

 Not a sight of him.

 Riza wondered if he had run in the opposite direction, or if the old man had caught him. The second option was starting to feel inviting. Roy knew nothing about the country, he wouldn’t be fine by himself in a forest.

 She stopped on the road and waited for several minutes, attentive to every move, shouting his name every other time. 

 The girl heard the hiss of boots against grass coming from the curve on the road. She turned her head to the right and called for her father’s apprentice once again, unable to wait. 

 — Mr. Mustang! Finally, you…

 It wasn’t him, however. A man appeared with a curious look on his face, apparently searching for the source of the unexpected call. He was tall and ginger, and his sharp eyebrows gave him a menacing look. The only family of gingers she knew around were the Haddocks, and he wasn’t one of them. Although that path would lead to their house.  

 — What is a little girl doing all by herself in the middle of the road? Are you lost? 

 He didn’t seem malicious, the girl thought, but she wasn’t allowed to trust strangers in any scenario. Thus, Riza grabbed her slingshot and slipped one hand into her pocket in search for the pebbles she kept there. 

 — Just waiting for my friend. We’re going to hunt some birds, you know? — she said, nonchalantly pointing her weapon at the man’s lower body. 

 — Hey, careful where you point that — he replied through a nervous laughter. — I plan to have more kids one day. But I wouldn’t want my girls alone in a desert place like this, so watch out.  

 — I am, sir — she said, still with her weapon in hand.

 He waved and walked away. He seemed like a nice guy, after all, and she urged to ask him for help. On the other hand, she had already found herself enough problems for a day and didn’t plan to disobey her father any further. Besides, if the man was a visitor, he would be as helpful as going back home and telling her father everything. 

 Roy Mustang, if you’re making a fool of me, I’ll kill you. 

 It was decided, she would return. There wasn’t much she could do in the moment, but more importantly, there was absolutely no way he wouldn’t find his way back to the cascade. Even if he was dumb enough to run the opposite direction, it couldn’t be so hard to come across the stream again. And her house was only half a mile away. 

 There was also a chance Mr. Swanson caught him but what was the worst that could happen? His dogs eat him alive? For now, she would ignore that possibility. The old man would also be in trouble if he killed a kid. Instead, he would likely call the police, which was probably deserved, since Mr. Mustang coerced her to invade a private property. 

 Yes, no mercy for him. As Riza’s footsteps hurried, raising dust on the midday hot air, she thought of the smug look of someone who shouldn’t be underestimated the boy would be wearing when she opened the door. She plotted her revenge. She could slap the smirk out of his face, or she could take him to the lake someday and throw him in there, considering he couldn’t swim. 

 Her mind didn’t have time to reach grimmer depths before she reached the old place she called home. 

 — Dad, is Mr. Mustang with you? — the daughter shouted eagerly before she looked into the room. 

 - - - - 

Humm, what about I just leave it hanging like that? I never write cliffhangers, so this time I decided to give it a try, leave it to the reader’s imagination to decide if this would have a humorous or angsty outcome. Do I know what happens next? Yes. Am I gonna write it? I won’t make promises. 

[maple-writes]

Man I struggled writing this chapter. But it was kind of fun at the same time since this is the first time Asher starts to actually begin working with Ginger.

tw: abuse, suicide (mentions of)

 Eventide College was far less crowded this morning than the day of my application. The stairs were nearly empty as I followed them up to the front door. I gripped the handle and slipped into the gentle hum of scattered voices filling the chamber-like foyer. Arranged around the empty space were countless tables with banners advertising what looked like clubs, student groups and different departments. I slowed as I passed, gaze drifting over the tables. I had time…

           “Morning Asher!”

           I turned on my heel as Ginger stepped out from the wall. She held a pink, expensive looking bag in the bend of one elbow, and a pink leopard-print water bottle in the other.

           She grinned down at me from under the brim of a runner’s style baseball cap. “Sorry to spook you.”

           “Oh, it’s okay.” I faced her with a smile. “Good Morning.”

           Ginger put a hand on her hip and glanced towards the festivities in the foyer. She gestured towards them with a gentle hand. “I’m afraid you’ll have to check out the welcome stuff some other time.” She turned back to me, a soft grin revealing the sharp points of her hidden fangs. “I want to get a baseline of your approach, and we recently received a report that looks like a wonderful opportunity.”

           I blinked, nerves starting to build in my gut. Talking with the dead on my own was one thing, but doing it in front of Ginger? I swallowed, but nodded once.

           “Are you up for it?” Ginger leaned back on one foot, resting her elbow on the curve of her waist. “Have you had enough time to regain your strength?”

           Again, I nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

           “Wicked.” Ginger plunged a hand into her purse and pulled a small, orange pill bottle. “I just have to take this, and then in about ten minutes I’ll be good to go.” She took one of the yellow pills with a sip of… Whatever was in her pink bottle. “In the mean time, we can get started towards my car, okay?”

 The inside of Ginger’s car was far cleaner than Striker’s. The seat fabric felt freshly vacuumed, and as soon as I’d slipped in it smelled strongly of hanging car air freshener. But it was comfortable, and faster than I thought, I didn’t even notice the smell anymore.

           Ginger turned down the radio—tuned to what I recognized as a pop channel—and quickly glanced at the backseat. “Hey Asher, reach into my purse and pull out the file I’ve got in there.”

           I twisted in the seat and stuck my hand into the bag, keeping my eyes towards the windshield to avoid peeking into her purse. My hand hit something hard and paper, and I pulled the file onto my lap. It was labeled with what looked like only an address and a date written neatly in black pen.

           “So that’s our case,” Ginger spoke without taking her eyes off her left turn. “It’s got the initial report plus the research and information I was able to find that could be of note.” She made her turn and cast me a glance. “Give it a quick read over, we’re about fifteen minutes out.”

           I opened up the file, pressing my legs together just enough to keep the folder from tipping. Just as she promised, the first page looked like a standard kind report template. There was the name of the person who called, as well as a bullet list statement in a large box at the bottom of the page. They moved into a house a few months ago, noticed something wasn’t normal: random feelings of dread and fear, hearing things moving when no one’s there… Nerves prickled at the back of my neck. It wasn’t every day I ran into something strong enough to actually move things.

           Ginger raised an eyebrow. “Thoughts?”

           I lifted my head from the paper. “I,” what did I think? I leaned back against the headrest, squinting down at the paper. “Could be a challenge.”

           “If something in there is forceful enough to move physical objects,” Ginger rested her elbow against the window as we stopped at a red light. “You’re right to assume it might be powerful enough to have it’s way with you if you provoke it.” She shrugged. “Could be in the process of becoming a corrupt-type demon.”

           Like the one in the warehouse… I steadied the papers as the light changed and the car started forwards once again. The nerves in my gut began to give way to the heaviness of dread. Demons were hard. Most regular spirits, even the ones who were less than happy to be where they were, were easy enough to manipulate. Most didn’t bind themselves so tightly to the bones and fibers of my body, and most wouldn’t bother trying to manipulate me through my own thoughts. At least, not as much as demons did.

           “You’ve gone quiet.” Ginger raised an eyebrow towards me. “Nervous?”

           I nodded.

           “That’s fair,” She slowed to another stop. “Usually we wouldn’t set a first year student, or a fresh apprentice against something as potentially dangerous as a demon, but I reviewed it with Charlotte and we both agreed that as long as I kept watch it wouldn’t be an impossible task.”

           “Oh, I’ve dealt with some demons before,” I shifted in my seat, glad she had to keep her eyes on the busy intersection in front of her instead of staring down at me. “They’re just—”

           “Harder?”

           I nodded.

           Ginger grinned. “Yeah, don’t worry about that. It’s the same for everyone, cambion or not.” She gestured towards the file. “I’ll let you go through the rest if you like, let me know if you have any questions.”

           She fell quiet and I turned my attention back to the papers. Behind the initial report were pages of typed notes, presumably by Ginger. The first page held an image of a police report dated almost five years ago, with Ginger’s notes bulleted below in stark black on white. There had been a family living at that house, a father and a teenaged daughter. The daughter went missing one day, and stayed missing for months until her body was discovered in a shallow grave in the back yard. Blame fell to the father, but he found out he’d been caught and before he could be arrested, shot himself in the kitchen.

           I swallowed as I read the rest of Ginger’s notes taken from statements given by friends on the report, to high school records, hospital records, and anything in between. My heart sank. Poor girl. She didn’t deserve what happened to her…

           The car turned into a driveway and I brought my head up. The house looked almost identical to the one in the file’s photograph: a small garden, tall willows, red walls with clean white trim around the windows. I glanced back out the rearview window. Even from our parking spot, the street below was almost completely obscured by trees and hedges. I sighed and lowered my head again. Even if she did try and get someone’s attention when she was dying, would anyone have even seen her? And with the street itself not the quietest, it was unlikely she’d been heard either.

           Ginger turned the car off and looked towards me. “So, do you think you’re ready?”

           I shrugged. “As ready as I can be.”

           “Good,” She reached to pat my shoulder, but quickly stopped herself, drawing her hand back to her side. “Sorry. Anyway, I’ll go in with you, talk to the woman who reported it. You know, the administrative stuff.” She grabbed her purse from the backseat, settling it on her lap. “If you can wait until she’s out of the house before starting anything that would be best. It’s fairly standard in these cases since people can get scared seeing what we’re doing, they might not understand and think something’s way worse than it is, or worst case scenario they end up getting hurt.” She opened her door and started to step out. “Okay?”

 The house’s doorbell rang loud and clear on the other side of the door as Ginger and I waited on the porch. Already and uneasy feeling seemed to seep from the very wood of the building. I swallowed and reached out with a cautious hand to run my fingers over the side of the doorframe. Echoes of tension and fear seeped through my fingertips, cinching tight and suffocating around my lungs. At the sound of footsteps though, I withdrew my hand and took a deep breath of the circulating air to try and clear my chest.

           The door opened and a middle aged woman with bags under her eyes stood before us. She glanced between me and Ginger, confusion running for a moment before Ginger offered a hand.

           “Ginger Lark,” She smiled, teeth hidden behind closed lips. “Exorcist and Supernatural Specialist at Eventide College.”

           The woman’s face broke into a relieved smile as she returned the gesture. “Oh, thank goodness.”

           Ginger nodded towards me. “And this is Asher Sang, he’s just started an apprenticeship and will be accompanying me today.”

           The woman reached forward and I cautiously shook her hand. I smiled to mask the rushing flood of nerves, relief and exhaustion flooding up my arm from hers.

           “Meryl.” She let go of my hand and glanced back at Ginger. “Well I’m glad you’re both here, because I don’t know how much longer I can put up with this.” She stepped back to let us into the house. “Please, come in.”

           I followed behind Ginger as she slipped inside. Passing through the doorway was like stepping into a different world. With the first breath my blood chilled, spreading out from my chest down every vein of every limb. Something weighed heavy and solid on my chest, and despite my efforts to swallow against it, my throat tightened with nerves.

           Ginger spoke to Meryl as she led us throughout the house, giving us a run down of what’s been happening since the initial report in each of the areas. Even though I knew I should, I could barely listen as the two exchanged words. Instead, my attention was drawn to something that seemed to be trailing always a room behind, watching, but quickly disappearing whenever I turned to watch back.

           But before I knew it, Meryl had left and it was just me, Ginger and the silence of the house.

           “So,” Ginger’s voice seemed to boom in the quiet. “I’m going to step back and watch what you usually would do. Of course, if something seems to be going wrong I’ll step in, but I need a baseline with which we’re going to work with.” She adjusted her ponytail and took a couple steps back towards the wall. “So as difficult as it may be, just forget I’m here, alrighty?”

           I nodded. “I’ll try.”

           “That’s the spirit,” Ginger chuckled. “Ha, no pun intended.” She grinned a moment longer at her accidental joke before slipping her hands into the pockets of her pink jacket. “Off you go then.”

           Right. I turned away from Ginger’s eyes and took a deep breath. There was definitely something here, something watching as we stood silent. I scanned the room, but whatever was here didn’t seem to want to be found just yet. I swallowed against the fear tightening around my throat. That wasn’t from me, was it? My heart sunk. Whatever was here, she—at least, it felt like a girl so far—must have been so scared for the whole room to be swimming with it.

           “Hey,” I kept my voice soft as I called out, just loud enough for the sound to be heard throughout the room. “My name’s Asher.”

           Something flickered in one of the doorways, but as soon as I swung my head to look it vanished.

           Another deep breath. “Can you hear me?” The file, it’d listed a girl who’d been murdered. What was her name again? Right. “Are you Janice?”

           Again, something moved but this time I kept my eyes averted. From the doorway though I had to brace against a flood of mixed emotion ranging from chilling fear to the briefest hints of warm recognition. She seemed to shiver, like a leaf in a storm, but the spirit stayed put this time. Just the smallest tendril of hope found itself seeded beside my heart.

           “You’ve been stuck here a while, haven’t you?” I tilted my head. She seemed to be drawn forward, slowly drifting closer through the crackling air as if sneaking along the walls. “If you want to leave, I think I can help you go. I just need you to trust me.” I smiled and dared a glance towards the spirit lingering by the wall. She stayed put. Good.

           Here we go. I took a deep breath and planted my feet firmly to the worn floorboards. I held out an open palm and dropped my guard. “Come talk to me.” I smiled again. “It’s okay.”

           At first, the spirit made no attempt to move. Could she hear me? I swallowed to avoid choking on the nerves coiling thick in the stale air. This was dangerous, lowering my vigilance for so long. Especially if there really was something else here. Something malicious. But I had to try. I took another deep breath and closed my eyes.

           Slowly, something warm drifted across the skin of my hand. It pressed up against me once, as if testing something, then vanished. The second time, the heat seeped through my skin and warmed the blood flowing up my forearm like honey dissolving in steeped tea.

 Then came the cold. Cold fear gripped my muscles and my heart pounded hard and loud against the cage of my ribs as the girl tucked herself deeper and deeper in my chest. My eyes flew open. I gasped as she settled herself atop my fluttering heart, drawing all heat away from my limbs towards that one spot.

           I’m scared. I sucked in a deep breath and straightened my back. Yeah, no kidding. I’m sorry. No, no its okay. It wasn’t like I wasn’t used to it by now. The spirit, Janice, cautiously shifted within me, brushing nearer and nearer to my own incomplete soul. I lowered my head in my bunched up shoulders.

           I really am dead, aren’t I? I nodded. How long? My eyes flickered upwards as I tried to remember what I’d read from the file Ginger’d given me. I looked down at the floor, slowly rolling my ankle in a steady circle. It was something like five years now.

           It was my father. My heart skipped a beat as the blood coursing through my veins grew colder and colder under my skin, and around my chilled organs. He killed me. I begged him not to but he…

           I was on the floor. Tears streamed hot down my stinging cheeks. Sobs hitched my breath between my screams. Screams begging the man towering above me with a kitchen knife in his hand not to do it. Don’t. Please. Please.

           The blade sliced through my arm and I shrieked. It burned as I scrambled up on shaking, skinny, bruised legs and forced my battered body to run. But it was no use. The blade buried itself between my shoulders. Blood. My mouth. It hurt. It hurt. Oh god. No. Please. I didn’t…

           It hurt.

           It hurt.

           The blood…

           Stop!. I shook my head out and braced myself on my hands and knees a second before I would have fallen to the clean floor. My ribs heaved as I fought Janice for breath. Sweat dripped hot and wet down my face, drop by drop falling from the tip of my nose between my splayed hands. I… Enough.

           He killed me, Asher, Asher he—I know. I eased myself up on my knees, my head still falling forward onto my heaving chest. You do? Somehow, I managed a nod. I knew. Everyone did. Everyone? They figured it out. They know he did it.

           For a moment, Janice stilled, giving me a chance to breathe, sucking in clean air as much as I could and exhaling the thickness residing heavy like seawater in my lungs. But, I swallowed again and wrenched my face. If they caught him, what is he still doing here?

           He shot himself in the other room. Really? I nodded, half aware of saliva dripping from my parted jaws. I wouldn’t lie. Anger burned hot from Janice’s place between my lungs, flaring and writhing. How dare he! I clenched my fists. He shouldn’t have had such a quick death, he should have—

           Something else was watching. I snapped my head up as the air changed from icy fear to sharp malice. Oh no… I scrambled to my feet and faced the entity approaching us. He’s not going to be happy with you. The faint, buzzing outline of a person inched closer and closer. My heart raced and my hand grabbed at the fabric around my pockets.

           With every step the unease that raised the hairs along my arms and neck grew stronger, but I held my ground. Go! Please! I shook my head and grit my teeth. I’d heard that human spirits could become demons after death, but I’d rarely seen them for myself. A demon? He’s why Janice was stuck here, wasn’t he? I… Maybe.

           Malice thickened the air as the demon approached, closer and closer and closer and closer. My heart pounded in my ears and Janice drew herself further and further into my body, weaving through my bones and settling cold and wet in the marrow. It was watching, drifting in and out of a human shape as it circled. Looking, peering at me from all angles as if it didn’t know what to do with me. But soon enough it would. Soon enough it would realize how easy it would be to slip straight through the cage of my ribs and claim my muscles as it’s own.

           I had to get rid of it.

           Rage flared through the air as it made it ‘s move, shooting straight towards my beating heart. But my hands shot up, catching in a trap of my own fingers. Heat shot up my arms like fire on my skin. I staggered, gasping, but pressed my palms together, harder, hard as I could. Heat prickled at my face and stung at my watering eyes. I fell to one knee, but it gave out.

           My side hit the floor and I curled around my balled hands. The spirit in my hands writhed, pressing against my skin. Trying to break through. Hold. Don’t. Don’t let it. I grit my teeth and rolled to sit. My hands burned. My eyes watered, something dripped wet from my panting lips. What are you? What are you doing?

           With a ragged yell I dug my nails into the edges of the flaring spirit, opened my jaws, raised my arms and—

           A hand closed around my wrist.

           I froze. My eyes shot open.

           Something wrenched the demon’s soul from my clawed hands. Something flared, hot, and powerful. I flinched away, cowering against the heat and the light.

           Then it was gone. The air went quiet. The heat on my skin vanished. I sat, stock still, panting, sweating, as Janice slowly spread cool and cautious from my bones to her place under the split of my ragged trachea.

           He’s gone? I closed my eyes, sending hot tears to join the wetness soaking my face. Sweat, tears, saliva… It all mixed together anyway. I forced a deep breath, a feeble attempt to open my chest just a little from the tension still keeping it shut tight. But… Janice was right? The malice had gone, and with it, the thickness in the air, the heaviness of the room.

           Relief pooled below my collar bone as Janice’s grip on my body began to loosen. I… Deep breath. Breathe. One more. A smile spread weak across my face. I don’t know what happened, but thank you. I think you’re safe now. I am. Are you ready to go? I nodded, not sure if was me or her who moved my head. Goodbye.

 Janice dissipated, like mist from a morning lake, and when I opened my eyes everything was back to normal. I stared down at the floorboards in front of my splayed legs, shining and wet with… I touched my face and my hand came back soaked. Did I really sweat that much?

           I sucked in a deep breath and raised my head, fog clouding my mind and slowing my thoughts. The cool air felt nice though, filling my lungs as my heart rate gradually settled back into it’s gentle rhythm. Slowly, with every focused breath the feeling returned to my limbs and my field of vision widened back to normal. When it did, the first thing I saw was Ginger’s outstretched hand offering a pink hand towel.

           My hand shook as I took it, but it felt so nice to finally wipe away the film of sticky, salty moisture clinging to my face, my neck, my hair… I could only imagine how I must have smelled. Out of the corner of my eye, Ginger pulled a small notebook and scratched a note on one of it’s pages with a pen adorned with a violet pompom. It quivered with her strokes, and I found myself staring at it’s movements.

           When she noticed my eyes, she blinked, finished her writing and tucked both the pen and notebook into her purse. “So,” Ginger slung her bag over her shoulder. “How you feeling?”

           I nodded, giving myself time to pull the words from the cotton stuffing my skull. “I’m uh,” I forced my back to straighten, muscles sore and stuff. “I’ll be okay.” Wasn’t worse than anything I’d had before.

           “Well I’m glad to hear that.” Ginger grinned. “I apologize for grabbing you, by the way. I did try to get your attention, but I suspect you couldn’t hear me.”

           She grabbed me? I frowned, then glanced down at my wrist. Right. Oh. That was her, wasn’t it? Of course it was. She was right too. I rarely knew what happened outside of my own body when I was hosting.

           I rolled my shoulders back with a nod. “It’s okay.” With a groan, I started to push myself up from the floor, ignoring the protest from my shaking legs. But still. “Why…” I caught my breath. “Why though?” I thought I had everything under control.

           “Well,” Ginger paused, thinking. “It’s considered unethical to destroy a person’s spirit, which I suspect you were preparing to do.”

           I swayed on my feet and braced myself against the wall as a wave of dizziness washed over my fuzzy head. “Wait, but—”

  ��        “I know, I know,” Ginger interrupted. “He presented as demonic. But!” She raised a finger. “In the case of a human soul becoming corrupted—for whatever reason—it is still considered unethical to destroy it as without analysis and prolonged investigation it is difficult to tell just how much human is left. Therefore, it should not be destroyed.” She paused, sighing and tapping the toe of her sneaker against the floor. “Regardless of the owner’s previous actions I’m afraid.”

           The vertigo faded and I pushed off from the wall. I… I hadn’t thought about that. But something twisted sick in my gut. Did he really deserve to be spared though? He was the only thing keeping Janice tethered to the house where she was murdered. I lowered my head. It wasn’t fair.

           “Hey,” Ginger ducked her head to catch my eye, an encouraging grin on her face. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t expect you to know all that yet.” She chuckled, warm and humorous. “If you knew everything you wouldn’t be here with me now, would you?”

           True. I straightened my back and managed a nod.

           “There you go,” Ginger’s tone was cheerful, encouraging. “Now,” She glanced around the otherwise empty room. “I’ve got a few things I need to go over with the homeowner before we head out, but that’s a bit above your level right now. So,” She plunged her arm into her purse, digging around until she pulled out her car keys. “Here. Wait in the car, rest up, and we’ll debrief back at the college, alright?”

           Again, I only nodded, finding it difficult to coordinate my thoughts to words to my tongue all at once. I took the keys from her hand, turning them over to inspect the keychain dangling from the loop. Hello Kitty.

           Ginger started towards the door and I followed in her wake. Now that we were done, the house felt so… Empty. I fought back a yawn. Maybe I was just too exhausted to notice any lingering feelings. The second yawn I failed to stifle.

           We reached the door, but Ginger paused. “Hey, Asher,” She laid a hand on the doorknob and reached the other to clamp on my shoulder, but stopped herself. “You did well.” She smiled. “I mean, there were a few instances I started to get a little worried, but considering you haven’t had any training you have a solid foundation.”

           She turned the handle and opened the door for me. “We’ve just got to work on building the house on top of it.”

[joshy-tomato]

Inverted Fate

Chapter One: The door to the new adventure.

AO3

Sumary: After the fall of their homeworld, Riku ventures through different worlds looking for the friends he lost, Kairi tries to mend her mistakes without falling into darkness in the process. Sora just want them to stop fighting.He was falling… no, was sinking down.

 The water plunge him, but he didn't feel fear or panic, just let himself be pull.

From one moment to another he wasn't falling anymore, he was standing in front the sea. The sun briged so harsh that he had to cover himself with his forearm. While his eyes adjusted to the light he got to see a silhouette in the water, a redhead girl with her back to him. He tried to chase her, but stopped in middle of the first step. She turned to him, a big wave forming behind her. Held out her hand, waiting for him to take it. Smiled calmly at him, her eyes reflecting everything but calm. The wave was getting closer and closer to them. Without think he run after her, fearing that the wave would take her away.

The wave hit, and now he was floating in the water. The girl was there too, with her hand extended to him and this time he tried to take it, but a strong tide take him away from her and back to the surface.

He didn't have time to process what just happened when he saw someone else in the shore of the beach. A brunet boy calling him and trying to attract his attention by moving exigerately. He hurried to him and when he did, the boy simply laughed playfully, crossing his arms behind his head.

He was about to accompany him, but he soon realized that now the blue eyes of the other boy reflected confusion, looking up the sky. He looked up too and what he saw was ... himself falling.

No, actually he was falling, there was no land beneath him.

He fell faster and faster, but when he was supposed to collide with the ground he simply was swallowed by it. The bluish-eyed boy tried to stop his fall and take his hand, but was worthless.

He was falling… no, was sinking down.

The water dragged him down, but he didn't feel fear or panic, just let himself be pull. 

A boy was lying in the shore of the beach, sleeping peacefully like there was nothing to worry about. And talking about a place like Destiny Islands, probably was right. Nothing bad or interesting happens ever in Destiny Island. For any tourist, a paradisiacal paradise to relax. For all the islanders, just boring routine.

The child began to awake slowly, trying to order his thoughts to know exactly where and when he was. Sooner than later he gave up on it and decided it was better just keep sleeping, or at least that's what he would have done if not were for the mop of red hair that thrown over him. He got up startled, while the red-haired girl only laughed at his misery.

“Gimme a break Kairi” He complained even though he also laughed a little.

“Sora, you lazy bum I knew that I'de find you snoozing down here” She scoffed.

“I had a really strange dream, everything was dark and I couldn't move. It felt so real, I even don't know if actually was just a dream. Was really bizarre”

“Mmh… I think you just still asleep”

While they two were talking a third boy walk to them, carrying piece of wood.

“Hey, you two, the break is over” declared the silver-haired boy, with a playful smile on his face “I guess I'm the only one working on the raft” He walked towards Kairi, taking advantage of casually throwing the piece of wood over an unsuspecting Sora.

“And you're just as lazy as he is” He pointed accusingly at Kairi and she could not do anything but laugh.

“Ok, as you say Riku. We'll finished it together. I'll race you.” Kairi declared and the other two boys looked at her with disbelief, but they didn't seem to oppose the challenge.

“Ready? Go!”

 He and Riku where friends since the beginning, didn't even remember when they started being friends. The knew each other all life.

Kairi entered their lives a few years later, although they were still only small childrens.

The first day, Sora wanted befriend her to had another friend at the list, Riku in exchange wanted know more about the girl from the outside world, a subject that obsessed him since early age. Between the three the connection was instantaneous. Before they knew it, Kairi had joined their pranks and they didn't complain about it. Since that they three did everything together. From the homework to their most recent and greatest crazy idea, a raft to explore other worlds.

Riku was the one with the idea, Kairi was totally on it while Sora just followed  them up.

Wasn't that he didn't want know other worlds, of course not, the idea of new places to explore and new adventures waiting for him was something that really called his attention. But compared with Riku and Kairi his desires to know other worlds were nothing. Riku wanted know others worlds since really early age, from before Kairi arrive. His childish wish of an adventure become in a passion to know what was beyond the ocean, passing the horizons. Destiny Island became too small for his big ambitions. With Kairi was something more personal. Even if she loved her adoptive parents and her new life in Destiny Islands, the uncertainty about her origins was something that tormented her more than she wanted to show. What happened to her home? What happened to her biological family? How she end up in Destiny Islands? She longed for the answer to these questions and would not rest until found them.

And Sora? He just wanted to stay with his beloved friends.

“So, can you gather the rest of the supplies?... Sora, are you listening to me?”

 “So, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up” Asked Sora, while the tree where sit in the Poupou Three, looking at the sunset.

“I told you before, I don't remember." Kairi replied as she stared at the horizon.

"Nothing"

"Nothing at all”

“But you would like to know, isn't Kairi?” Was Riku's turn to ask now.

“Yes, I mean, I'm happy here but I wouldn't mind to see it”

“The raft could really take us there, to Kairi's world?” question Sora again, looking at Riku inquisitively.

“Who know? If we had to, we'll think of something else?” 

“So, suppose you get to another world” Started Kairi “What you would do there?”

“I haven't really through about it. I always felt that there is something bigger waiting for me, outside in other worlds. So, just let fate decide what will become of us.” Riku laughed softly Just suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could've just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?

“I don't know.” replied Sora, snuggling leisurely in the tree.

“Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out.” started Riku, while he walk to the shore “Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go.”

“You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?”

“Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

 “Deal?, the winner gets to share a papou with Kairi.”

The paopu fruit, an iconic fruit with a star shape. The legend say that if two person share it  their destinies become intertwined.

Was something romantic, he supposed. Never understood why people get so excited about that, for him was just that, a legend.

But he knew Kairi and Sora were interested in that. They couldn't be more obvious even if they tried, they liked each other. It was only a matter of waiting and seeing which one took the first step. And Riku thought that neither of them would do it unless he gave them a push. He already teased Sora with that yesterday afternoon. With a little luck, Sora would realize that he had to act on his feelings about Kairi before anyone got ahead. Even if he had to antagonize himself for it.

He did it so they would be happy, that was all that mattered to him.

Then… why it hurt so much?

“Because they are leaving you behind. Once they have each other will not need you anymore.”

“Wha… wait a minute...”  Sora sounded confused, and probably was.

“Okay, on my count” announced Kairi, totally unaware of the conversation between the two boys. “3… 2… 1!”

“So you'll just let your Light go away from you.”

The voice inside his head sounded again, causing him be delayed in the race and giving Sora an advantage he could no longer overcome.

As expected, he couldn't reach Sora, making him the winner of this race.

Sora was already celebrating this. Riku knew that he had been wanting beat him for a while, so Sora was probably very proud of this victory. A part of him wanted burst Sora's bubble and tell him it hadn't been a big deal but the other look at the boy, so radiantly cheerful for something so insignificant and then decided that he didn't have the heart to do that.

“I think I underestimated you Sora. You win, choose you the name of the raft.” The smile on Sora's face when he heard these words heated Riku´s heart and all the insecurities that the voice had put in his head stopped making sense.

After the race, Kairi and Sora went to look for more provision while he stayed in the same place, looking at the ocean and clearing his mind. A few minutes later he heard a steps behind him.

“Hey Riku, about the paopu. I know that you were just kidding”

And for some reason, Sora's words make him happy. Selfishly happy.

 The last place where he looks was The Secret Place. He check over the place until he found what he was looking for, a mushroom.

He went where the mushroom was and once there he saw on the near wall some old drawings carved in stone. He remembered having drawn that long ago, when he recently befriend Kairi and she was too shy for the games that he and Riku played. So he brought her here to draw and hang out.

Riku's words sound inside his head again.

The Paopu fruit. Share it with Kairi. Connect his soul to hers.

He would be lying if he said that he didn't like how that sounded. But at the same time… Yes, he wanted be with Kairi for eternity, but that would only be worth it if Riku was there too.

He didn't care what destiny was planning for him or where fate wanted him to go.

“Please, let me be with them. Don't take us apart”

Lately, more than ever he felt that he have to protect the bond between the tree of them. Something was happening, or was about to happen. And he was afraid. Something inside his two friends was scaring him, but he didn't knew what was that.   

He take a rock and started to carve in the wall. The mushroom could wait.

While he was doing it he remembered an old promise. The face of the woman that made him promise it faded over time, but the importance of the oath survived. Stay with Riku and keep him safe. Don't let him go through the dark path. Now that the greatest adventure of their lives was about to begin was important remember that promise.

And then he felt sick. He felt dizzy and with great pressure in his chest.

Someone was behind him.

“Wh- Who is there?” He asked while stand up, trying to maintain balance.

“I’ve come to see the door to this world.” A hooded figure came out of the shadows. Their voice was slow, deep and mysterious, giving them an even more intimidating presence.“This world has been connected.”

“Wh-What are you talking about?”

“Tied to the darkness... Soon to be completely eclipsed.” Declared the hooded. The feeling of uneasiness and alertness in Sora increased more and more. Something about this dude felt… wrong.

“Well, whoever you are, stop freaking me out like this.” Sora tried to sound threatening, fearless, but the tremor in his voice betrayed him at the last moment. ”Wh-Where did you come from?”

“You do not yet know what lies beyond the door.”

Beyond the door? Inside Sora's head that only could mean one thing. “So, you’re from another world!”

“There is so very much to learn. You understand so little.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, you’ll see. I’m gonna get out and learn what’s out there!” exclaimed Sora with defiance, but the hooded did not flinch.

“A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing.”

Sora was ready to respond, but the had figure already left, as if them just vanished into thin air.

Seeing that he would not get anything by staying here, he decided to leave too.

Maybe was just a weirdo.