#˖ ✧ out of the cookbook » ( musings )

[ahogechef]

GUYSSSSS LOOK WHAT PIE @whimsical-mercy / @doomedprotags DREW FOR ME!!!! MY CHEF BABY AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! 💓💞💖❣️💘🩷LOOK AT HER, ISN'T SHE SO CUTE!!!! (and her bfs in the corner admiring their cute goddess HEHEHEHE)

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH AGAIN, PIE!!! I WUV WUV WUUUVVVV IT!!!! PLEASE GO COMMISSION HER, EHEHE, YOU WON'T REGRET IT!!!

[gentil-minou]

Xiantober Day 1 - Dadxian

Wei Wuxian can't cook like his husband but there is one thing he can do.

He knows how to make the perfect lunch box for his sons, complete with bunny apple slices and hard boiled eggs with cut up carrot sticks to make them look like chickens.

It started on A-Yuan’s first day of school, before they adopted A-Yu. Lan Zhan was carefully getting their lunches together as Wei Wuxian, too excited and nervous to sleep, watched.

Lan Zhan was about to add plain boring healthy apple slices to the container when Wei Wuxian remembered how Yanli-jie used to trick him into eating fruits and vegetables by making them into cute little animals. Idly grabbing a paring knife, he carefully makes strategic slices to make the apples look like little bunnies! A-Yuan's favorite.

He holds one out for Lan Zhan to inspect, delighting in the way his husband's ears turn pink and his mouth opens just a tiny bit in awe.

Wei Wuxian grins, leaning over to give his adorable husband a kiss, and pulls the rest of the apples over to make a bunny family.

When A-Yuan comes home after his first day of school (when did his little raddish get so big!!!), he leaps into Wei Wuxian's waiting arms, giggling as his A-Die spins him around and around. He tells him all about how he made so many friends with his bunnies!!!

Wei Wuxian starts scouring the internet for ideas, happy a part of him can join his son at school even if he can't

(threadfic here)

[weirdgenetic-fuckup]

dave mustaine realizing how strong he is compared to the reader, and always displays this during sex, especially while fucking her against the wall or using his big hands to do whatever he wants with her body

A/n: I can’t even count how many times I tried writing this and just couldn’t think of anything, I still feel like I could’ve written it better but I hope you like it nonetheless <3

Warnings: smut, size kink, if you think I missed anything let me know otherwise enjoy!

It all started when you needed help opening a jar.

It was jam, the lid was stuck and you were tired. Dave was home so after a few seconds of trying you gave up and called him over for help. He opened it with ease and you moved on with your day, but Dave didn't.

He grew this obsession with proving how weak you were, or rather how strong he was. Can't reach the top shelf? Don't worry, Dave's right around the corner to lift you up. Need help carrying the groceries in? Not a problem, he can take them with ease, carrying more bags in fewer trips.

You didn't mind it, he was always looking for more ways to help you so why would it be a bad thing?

You were making dinner and Dave was sitting not far away watching you. He wasn't saying anything, not talking about his day or asking about yours. He was just staring at you with a wonky smile.

You were looking at the ingredients. "Hey, Dave, can you get the milk for me, please?" You asked, not taking your eyes off the cookbook.

Dave got up and got the milk, bringing it over to you, though he didn't go back to his seat. Instead he wrapped his arms around you and rested his head on your shoulder. "You're adorable, you know that?" He asked, placing a few soft kisses against your neck.

You paused for a moment and looked at him. "Yeah? Why's that?"

Dave gave your waist a gentle squeeze. He hid his face in the crook of your neck a moment, deeply inhaling your scent. “Your so tiny.” He said. “Could just pick you up and fuck you wherever I want.”

Your cheeks flushed a deep red and you tried to stay focused on the food.

A few minutes passed and Dave didn’t let go of you, still holding you close, kissing you occasionally.

“Think about it.” He said suddenly. “I could fold you in half right now, pin you against the wall and have my way with you.” You couldn’t deny the heat pooling at your cunt, the way your thighs pushed together in search of any amount of friction. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Being used like my own fucktoy?”

You took a deep breath in an attempt to clear your mind. You took the knife off the counter and started cutting a carrot before Dave stopped you and took the knife from your hand. “Enough with the hypothetical.” You turned your head to look at him and in an instant his lips were on yours, kissing, biting, tongue slipping past your lips to explore your mouth.

He picked you up just like he said he would and carried you to the bedroom, ignoring your weak attempts to protest. He got you out of your clothes, quite literally ripping your panties off and tossing them off somewhere.

He kissed down your body, starting at your neck and working his way down, playing close attention to your reactions, which spots were most sensitive, what felt best for you.

You twitched and moaned underneath him, heavy breaths leaving you as his big hands trailed over you. He dwarfed you. Everything about him made you small. From his hands around your neck to that bulge in your gut every time he has you to himself.

He moved back over you, kissing you sweetly before getting out of his own clothes.

“You’re so perfect, sweetheart.” He said as he crawled back over you. “All hot and ready for me, hm?” You let out a soft whine and Dave took it as an invitation to spread your legs.

He had a hand on either of your knees, slowly moving them up to your chest. “Look at that.” He mused. “Don’t even need any prep, hm?” You smiled proudly up at him. "Good girl." He mused as he lined himself up and pushed into you.

You let out a drawn out moan at the feeling, how he stretched you out so good. He gave you a second to adjust to his girth before he started rolling his hips to meet yours.

"Oh, fuck, Dave, just like that." You moaned out. Your hands moved to his back, lightly clawing at his shoulders. He let out a low growl as his hips snapped into yours.

You couldn’t take your mind off of his dick and how each vein dragged against your gummy walls. “Fuck, you’re so small, so fucking tight.” He groaned, leaning down and biting your earlobe.

He sat back, holding your hips in place on his lap, your legs still hooked over his shoulders as he pounded into you.

Your eyes crossed and your tongue lulled out, your body bouncing up and down the bed with every thrust.

Dave’s hand came down hard on your ass and you squealed in pleasure. His hand moved from your hip to your abdomen, he pushed down and you gasped softly. “Look at that, sweetheart,” he mused, “can see just how big I am inside you.” You looked down, eyes narrowing on where a bulge came and went, showing just how deep he was hitting inside you.

He kept pushing on your stomach and your eyes rolled back, a loud moan ripping from your throat. “Oh, fuck, squeezing me so good.” His own head fell back.

Dave’s movements stopped for a moment and he wrapped his arms around you. He lifted you up and carried you off the bed. “Look at that, I can fuck my perfect doll just like this, huh?” He asked, still snapping his hips into your as he stood.

You clung to him like a koala, moaning out in his ear how good he made you feel. “Davie-! Ngh, Davie, please.” His hands gripped your hips, guiding you on his dick.

“Please, what, sweetheart? ‘Oh, please, daddy, make me cum on your big cock’?” He asked in a mocking tone.

“Yes, daddy, please!” You whined. Your mind was racing with his cock, the bulge it made. His big hands over your body, carrying most of your weight, the way he bounced you on his length.

“Be good for me then and cum.” You didn’t need to be told twice, his words resonating in your body and pushing you over the edge. “Oh-oh, fuck!” Dave groaned. “Oh, god, you feel so good when you cum.” With a few more thrusts he was spilling into you, groaning in your ear.

He sat back on the bed and lifted you off of him, watching his own cum drip out of you. “Hmph, fuck.” You breathed.

“Don’t think we’re done yet, do you?” You chuckled and shook your head. “Good girl,” Dave hummed, “not done until my doll can’t walk.” He pushed back into you, your mind racing all over again.

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

I just wanted to show this bc I thought it was funny

[eldritch-spouse]

PINNIE I WANNA PUT BELO IN AN AMAZON POSITION, is that what it’s called,,,? I DUNNO DONT CARE I WANT THIS ANGEL BOY BENEATH ME—DOMINATE HIM AA!! Also it’s funny imaging a small human bending a large angel :}

[YOU'RE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE OOOOOHHH-💨 Fem reader. You are not Admin in this.]

TW: Reader is slightly pushy at first but it's entirely consensual.

" I want to try something different. " You muse out loud.

" ... My Lady? "

Sex with Belo is great.

Upon first meeting the angel, you had one or two assumptions in your head that you thought held true. That angels are asexual, incapable of carnal desire. You thought he'd chastise you for expressing attraction to him, that he wouldn't make for a pleasing bedmate anyway.

You couldn't have been more wrong. Belo is none of those things.

In fact, the signs were there from the start. Belo had been struggling with containing his own desires for a torturous amount of time. You simply didn't want to interpret reality for what it was. Didn't want to believe that lingering touches meant more than just a different perception of personal boundaries, that his longing staring wasn't just a tendency of angels to be vigilant... Even as he confessed to finding you the most gorgeous lesser there is, you didn't believe that attraction could hold within itself the selfishness of lust.

Obviously, you know much better by now.

You know Belo craves to please you at any capacity he can, that your approval and ecstasy in bed is something he always seems to put before his own. And you love the sensation of his body atop yours, his sheer size, his warmth, the trembling need barely contained in his limbs when he sinks into you and that unforgettable softness experienced when your hands roam around his furred figure. It's bliss from beginning to end, your own little Eden provided by the angel that somehow proclaimed you his savior.

And yet...

Sometimes, it feels repetitive.

Like Belo is somewhat scared of doing something you would consider inadequate, so he sticks tightly to what he knows. Especially positions and gestures you have initiated in the past. You initially understood this as a sign of Belo's timidity and slight apprehension regarding such intimacies, but as time passes, you're fairly certain he himself is longing to try different things.

And you've been plagued with a certain mental image for a while.

So why not try your hand at it?

The power stares expectantly at your seated form on the couch by the doorway, having previously been in the kitchen, busying himself with chores you didn't assign or request of him- As usual. He dons on his front one of your aprons, the cloth looking ridiculously tiny on him, covered with stains you assume belong to sauces.

He's always wearing that black tight suit, it almost makes you feel bad for preferring to put on loose-fitting and comfortable clothes in your own home.

" I want to try something different, Belo. " You repeat.

There's a humorous pause wherein the angel tries to calculate what you might be talking about, your poker face and neutral tone betraying absolutely nothing. His eyes widen, and the non-human straightens immediately.

" Yes, of course my Lady! I've been looking at those uhm... " Belo gesticulates oddly, searching for words he doesn't necessarily understand. " Those digital cookbooks you have, and I spotted this very good-looking dish- "

Oh. Oh the poor thing.

He thinks you're talking about dinner.

The laugh that erupts from your throat is hearty and genuine, startling your devoted celestial into ashamed silence. Maybe he assumes you're mocking him for trying to use your social media bookmarks to cook. It's a genuinely sweet and loving effort from Belo, one of very many, provided he doesn't require nourishment in the form of actual food like you. You don't want him to feel self-conscious about something so considerate.

Rising from the comforting cushions, you approach the taller monster with a dubious little grin on your lips, hands dipping behind the apron to tug the long open collar of his outfit forward, down, your eyes meeting his two naturally engorged ones. The angel's tilted eyes have always been a touch too intense, but you know that's in his kind's nature, especially since he told you his specific cast specializes in combat and protection. Still, it's ever easy to get lost in those pools.

" I said something new. "

This time, there can be no type of misunderstanding. Even if Belo had the thickest skull in all of existence, the way your lids bat coyly and your head cants leaves zero to the imagination. An index flirts idly with neat clumps of fur as his chest begins fluffing in tension. He has no saliva to swallow down, but you wouldn't blame him if he gulped at this moment.

" Ah- I... I see. "

With a gentler smile, you undo the apron's knot, pressing a chaste kiss to the side of Belo's face, hearing him coo a noise out, before carefully removing the garment in a way that causes the least discomfort possible to his smaller pair of wings.

" Did you leave anything on in the kitchen? "

" No, my Lady. "

He doesn't quite know what to do with himself, hands previously twitching by his sides now holding each other at his front, before he decides the pose isn't appropriate and holds them at his back instead, straightening- As if you needed another reminder of how he towers over humans. Three eyes bounce everywhere in the room, avoiding you as he always does when nervous, yet occasionally fleetingly checking for some type of approval in your gaze.

Cruelly, you allow him to remain in that riled up stasis for a few precious moments, standing on the tips of your toes to further crowd him.

" Good. Leave dinner to me tonight. "

When you take that lightly furred pale hand in yours, Belo follows obediently after you like a lost puppy.

" Undress. " You begin as soon as you're inside the bedroom, not even bothered to look the angel's way as you start arranging the sheets and pillows.

You're going to put him in a position that might be a little stressful for a being with wings, so there's a lot of caution to be exercised here. You figure support for his lower back and neck should help. After all, he takes similar measures with you regularly.

The sound of something soft hitting the floor has you finally looking back, faced with your angel now bare, flexing his wings gently. You've always wondered how he doesn't struggle with taking off clothes given his large wings, you'd certainly consider it a chore, just as many demons hate sweaters that get caught on their horns.

Belo presents himself to you, standing straight and spanning his wings a certain distance -Careful not to hit the walls- And spreading his legs the slightest amount in spite of his ever present slight nervousness. You've always liked that little tuft of fur above his slit, the way it feels against your fingers when he neglects to trim it for a while.

" My beautiful angel. " You praise. " Come, undress me. "

And really, if there was one request you could make of the all-powerful beings Belo so frequently raves about, it would be the ability to see the way his furious flush spreads from his face to his already fur-covered neck.

Supremely gentle and dexterous fingers work at your clothes with the same reverence he continues to extend your way no matter how much time passes. You'll never get used to this level of sweetness, this worship, Belo touches you like with a love so profound you can swear you somehow feel it in the tips of his digits. Even in his moments of seemingly greedy pursuit of gratification, Belo doesn't seem to know how to be anything except devoted. Maybe it's because he's angelic, but you can say for certain that you've never been treated this nicely, and you've never longed for anyone's embrace as much as you long for his.

The power doesn't let his fingers roam too much when he follows your command, intent on getting things done dutifully as opposed to demonstrating lack of self-control. His eyes however, swirling windows to the soul of a celestial, reveal everything he refuses to voice or act on out of respect for you. Belo's pupils dilate immensely as soon as your bare breasts are exposed, his digits acquire a slight tremble as he makes to fold your top and set it down on the drawer, until you playfully bat it out of his hand. Belo sinks to his knees in front of you, and the view is so paradoxical -A holy creature kneeling to its gods' mistake- That you nearly burst out cackling. Instead, all that leaves your mouth is a silent gasp when he catches the hem of your sweatpants and drags it down, hooking over your panties as well. The trip down is slow, measured, and you know it's not an intentional tease but you still shimmy to have it fall faster, catching a twitch in his largest eye, while the one beneath it has fixed itself on your naked pussy.

When his task is completed, Belo remains kneeling obediently, palms flat on his thighs.

" Thank you. " You purr. " Sit on the bed. "

He does, albeit on the very edge, quickly correcting himself when you make a "further" motion.

Seeing the way Belo's eyes widen as you move to almost straddle him is as intoxicating as it was the first time. You remember the luxurious roll of your hips over his own, recall his fingers twitching as he tried to grab onto you without bruising frail human skin. Delightful and memorable.

" Lay, my sweet. "

Ever the glutton for obedience, it's not long before the angel is on his back, and you immediately take the opportunity to flatten your palms to his furred chest, fingers threading between that familiar softness like second nature. Your head soon joins, nuzzling yet careful to avoid the extra eye stationed there. You trail a path of lazy kisses upwards, tracing the edges of his built-in halo you can reach and dragging your teeth across the root of his left pair of head wings.

The response is instantaneous and intense, this sudden cooing moan hopelessly erupting from Belo's throat before he seems to pale even further in shame and muffles the noise. Tsk, it seems he'll never learn to sing freely, no matter how many times you reassure the power that his angelic vocalizations are half the fun. Those smaller wings twitch and flap, the ones on his back fanning out humorously.

" You're adorable. " It's said in a mocking tone, followed by laughter as the angel fails to suppress more noises when you offer the remaining wing equal attention.

You love that he's already matting his own fur in slick by the time you reach down to part it and play with his pretty pink slit. It's engorged, his length already brushing against the fingertips that brazenly dip inside. With a gasp, the power spreads his legs slightly and tenses. You can feel his effort to keep still.

As soon as you begin crawling back to settle your head between snowy legs, he gathers enough wit to start babbling the same old drivel.

" M- My Lady, you need not- "

" I don't need to, I want to. "

Belo looks at you like he doesn't quite get the point. And frankly, some concepts seem to have been drilled so hard into his mind that you worry he will never understand other views of the world.

" You want to please me, right? " You start, kissing at his sheath until the very tip of him shows itself.

" More than anything. " The male pants.

" Then you should know that pleasing you pleases me. "

And with that, you take what's available of his rosy length in your mouth, coaxing the rest of him out almost impatiently.

Belo's choked groan of surprise has you smiling around him, amused by the impulsive horse buck of his legs before he garbles and apology and tries to melt back onto the sheets, poorly. He won't hold your head. Not from lack of desire, but that ever-persistent sense of inferiority, fisting his hands on the fabric beneath him instead. When one of his arms does rise, all he does is shakily pet your hair, inhaling sharply at the swipe of your tongue across his head, before dropping it again.

" Lady... "

He moans pitifully, a delicious sound coming from a creature so supposedly holy.

As much as you'd enjoy keeping him between your lips, your goal this time is much more fun, so you pop off him lazily. There's a moment where he twitches and his fur bristles in what anyone can guess is instinctual irritation, but Belo doesn't say a peep.

Seeing his eyes bulge when you grab Belo's thighs and start bending them up is hilarious enough that you giggle openly.

" What- What are we doing, my Lady? "

" Relax, I promise you'll like it. " Or at least you assume he will, what with his desire to always be below yourself. " Now please, hold your legs up for me. "

The title would get repetitive if you didn't enjoy it so much.

The angel does, grabbing the back of his knees and sliding his legs back with the help of your guidance, until they're basically glued to his chest. He's fit, you're not surprised he can easily hold that position. In fact, you get to see the exact moment it clicks in his bird brain, the nature of the position he's in. His cock bobs aimlessly and his wings move almost as if to cover his figure sides in shame. And, admittedly, the view has all sorts of chills taking hold of your limbs, your own womanhood singing.

" My Lady, this is so... So...! "

Eyes roll slowly at his stuttering, though you relish the tremor of his pupils when you move to hover over him, as if your much smaller body could ever constitute as a minimal threat to his.

" Filthy? Lewd? Scandalous? " You kiss directly beneath his eyes. " Yes, just how I like you, my debauched dove. "

With a soft command for him to hold still, you rearrange the pillows beneath his body properly and take a moment to figure your own position correctly. After all, as much as you've thought about doing this before, you never actually got to make that wish come true, so it'll take a bit of experimentation.

Belo continues to be mildly confused. " No- No offense, Lady, but are you sure this is correct? "

You scoot to line Belo's member up with your entrance, rubbing him against you to spread the angel's arousal and facilitate things. He shudders in anticipation, the lowermost eye on his face already rolling in pleasure.

" Why wouldn't it be? "

He's not given a chance to respond before you gradually sink onto his girth, causing such a reaction that he nearly releases his legs before holding them ever tighter.

" Gghn-!! O-Oh... "

Sparing him the smallest mercy, you're slow to rock yourself on him, letting the first shock of heat flow through him before you're flush to his pelvis. It's a wonderful position, he's hitting you deeper than usual already, ripping a soft mewl out of you as your cunt clenches greedily around the intrusion.

" See? " You huff, slightly out of breath when you experimentally bounce a little on him. Belo whines long and low, unsure what else he can do to ground himself. " It works just fine. "

The first few rocks are entirely random as you try to quickly work out a rhythm and motion that works well enough, settling for straightening up and grabbing Belo's ankles for support, careful not to twist the tiny feathers there. Finally, you're able to get into it properly, a sickly delight on your face as you watch Belo's figure shift beneath your thrusts.

Is this... What you look like to him? Not a bad sight at all.

Belo's eyes, previously closing at the first taste of rapture your walls brought him, widen like the dinner plates at the notion that he's being well and truly fucked by his human. There's a pause where it looks as if his mind has truly been fried, one eye fixed on your face, another on the sway of your tits, and the other memorizing the way your pussy swallows him.

You won't lie, the rush of dominance, of having something so much more than human willingly present themself for you, allowing a tiny human to ride them into submission- It has you beside yourself with want, and your smirk crashes into a pleasured "oh" as you join Belo in his stunned marveling.

You'll be doing this a lot more often, for sure.

" Hhn- Oh lords please- I- " Belo melts and shivers, his chest fluffing itself further and his wings twitching sporadically. " Humans have- Developed such odd mating customs... "

He's talking like he isn't throbbing madly inside you right now.

" Mhm, you need to catch up on a lot of stuff, pretty boy. "

Though of course, you'll be personally helping with that.

When your mind starts blanking in bliss and your body gives its first warning signs of an approaching peak, you look down at Belo, whose head has tossed onto the pillow supporting his neck and whose wings fan out in a tense crescendo of pleasure. His legs and feet spasm periodically and he moans the wetter his fur becomes with your slick.

Another reason you like his fur is the surprising amount of friction and texture it can offer your clit when you're intimate. It's the soft brush of a feather almost, but enough to bring you closer to orgasm all that quicker! Honestly, the only downside to Belo's incredibly soft fur is that vacuuming is a little more frequent and pesky.

In moments, you're bending to be flush to his body, batting Belo's hands away so you can hold his legs back yourself. It's an even more intense angle, making you feel even more powerful as you hold the angel down and piston his cock into you as hard as you physically can, sweating and panting in exertion.

You're sure you must look downright beastly right now, but all Belo does is whine and mewl, still gazing at you as if you were the most entrancing thing to ever exist, a wonder of the universe above him. The power gathers enough motor coherence to brush strands of hair out of your face, tucking them behind your ear, before his arms flop uselessly at his sides once more, fingers curling in delight.

All those lavender eyes begin to roll, his hips rising off the bed yet smacked back down viciously by the weight of your body thrusting him down, in the midst of his mindless crooning noises, Belo utters your name like a plea for mercy and wraps his arms around your back, your breasts sliding on his chest and his legs reflexively fighting your grip so he can presumably wrap them around your smaller figure too.

He's a vision of the sweetest dream like this.

" Gods please don't stop- Please please- I'm sorry I can't- " The angel cries, tears beading in the corner of his three eyes, absolutely helpless and hopeless beneath you.

All of it comes together to send you well over the edge, throwing you into a climax so shockingly strong that you fuck yourself on him one last leg-shaking time before tensing and crying out to the ceiling. He follows instantly, having been holding himself for a while. You relish the sensation of Belo's cum shooting deep into your hole, only to have no choice except to drip back down and stain him, slip between his legs and yours in grossly warm globs.

Seconds of you two catching your breath silently and fondly pass, until you slowly release Belo's legs and rub his thighs in gratitude. He seems content to remain holding you, though avoids your gaze now that the post-orgasm clarity has him bashful again.

" Thank you for humoring me. " You sigh against his neck.

His wings close over the two of you gently. " Always, my love. "

[buckiverse]

Sweet Surprises

inspired by eternal attachment :3

contents: fluff, suggestive if you squint, angst if you squint. friends-to-lovers vibe. confession *heart eyes*. 

summary: you tried to surprise zayne for his birthday but it failed. 

word count: 1.4k

notes: I havent written in so long, forgive any typos

______________________________________________________________

★It was the day before Zayne’s birthday, and your procrastination caught up to you as you stared at various ingredients. “Vanilla…chocolate…strawberry… maybe I bought too many base flavors,” you muttered. You sorted through the assortment of toppings—macaroons, blueberries, even edible flowers. Who knew you could flavor a cake with flowers? 

★You and Zayne had often talked about his love for sweets, but nothing compared to the day you both stood before the macaroon display at your favorite cafe. 

“What flavor are you gonna get, Zayne?” you asked, already eyeing a few of your favorites. 

He grinned slightly, “what if we get them all?”

You laughed, shaking your head. “Get them all? And put them where??”

“In my fridge, of course,” he replied as if it was the most obvious solution in the world.

“Even so, we can’t finish all these by ourselves. How about we pick a few.” 

Zayne leaned closer, his voice softening, “Each macaroon not only tastes good but tells its own little story. Let’s try them all, hmm?”

★You smiled at the memory, whispering, “He’s so cute,” but your smile faded as you remembered the decision ahead. Zayne’s tastes in desserts made choosing the right one for his birthday even harder. And time was running out—this was supposed to be a surprise. 

★Another critical mention: you are a terrible baker. Between your hectic schedule as a hunter and lack of practice, you barely had time to eat properly, let alone learn how to bake. You glanced at the cookbook, the pages worn from your frantic flipping. Then it struck you—why not combine two things he loves? A macaroon cake! A… “cakaroon,” you mused.

★You decided on a chocolate base, grabbing flour, eggs, sugar, and cocoa powder. You mixed them, clumsily splashing batter onto Zayne’s counters. As you worked, one of your favorite songs began to play, and you softly sang along, your mind drifting back to memories with Zayne. 

★It all started when you were kids playing together. Zayne was always the quiet, stoic type, making teasing him all the more fun. As you both grew older, life pulled you in different directions. You moved to another part of Linkon with your granny; years had passed without seeing him before you knew it. One day, you landed a job at the Hunters Association, which came with a new health plan and a new doctor. You still remember the shock when you realized your new primary care physician was Zayne. At first, you thought it was a coincidence—after all, Zayne isn’t an uncommon name. But then, he walked in, the same Zayne you’d known since childhood, standing before you—a man now. 

★The truth is, you always liked Zayne. But you never quite knew how to communicate that. Maybe this cake could be a way of saying, “Happy birthday—by the way, I like you.” 

★You finished mixing the batter and poured it into two cake pans. “Mmh,” you nodded as you slid them into the oven. “Things are going good. I hope he likes this,” you thought, allowing yourself a moment of hope. 

★You sat on a stool by the kitchen island, glancing at the clock and humming to music. Suddenly, you heard the click of the front door. “Shit!” You thought, leaping out of your seat so fast you nearly slipped. During your panic, Zayne walked into the room. 

“y/n?” he called, his voice laced with confusion. He approached, reaching for your arm. 

You turned, face flushing. “Hey…” you said, trying to keep calm as you stood up slowly. 

“Why are you here?” Zayne asked, his brows furrowed. 

“I—I was going to surprise you,” you stammered, feeling your cheeks heating up.

“But it seems you got off work sooner than I thought….” 

Zayne looked at you, his gaze softening. But that didn’t stop you from talking. “I—I planned to surprise you, you know. Your birthday is so soon, and I know you love sweets. So I bought all these ingredients, lost track of time because I couldn’t decide what to do, and then looked up. You got home sooner than I thought, but I wanted the cake ready when you got here because this is supposed to be a surprise.” You stumbled over your words, going on and on about your plans for his birthday. 

Your cheeks heated up when you realized Zayne was smiling at you—that half-smile he always did when amused. 

A playful glint struck his eyes, “Should I leave and come back in an hour to give you more time to finish?” 

His teasing made your face even hotter, and you couldn’t help but laugh nervously. “No, no! I—well, I just wanted it to be perfect, that’s all,” you mumbled, looking down.

Zayne flashed that half-smile and stepped closer, gently lifting his hand to touch your cheek. “I don’t dislike it.”

The alarm for the forgotten cakes went off, breaking the tension between you two. You quickly turned and rushed to the oven, pulling the cakes out before they burned.

“Why don’t we finish the cake together?” Zayne suggested, his voice still light with amusement.

You placed the cakes on the counter, almost burning yourself as the hot pans grazed your fingertips. Zayne leaned over to inspect them, a teasing grin on his lips. “These are quite lopsided,” he remarked.

You blushed profusely, realizing you didn’t level out the batter earlier. Still feeling a little embarrassed, you watched Zayne walk over to his cabinets, pulling out a small container of toothpicks. 

He took one out and handed it to you. “Try this. Stick it in the center. If it comes out clean, they’re done.” 

You took the toothpick and gently pushed it into the cake. Relief washed over you as it came out completely clean. “Looks like it’s ready.”, you said, glancing up at Zayne’s emerald eyes. 

He carefully lifted the pans and placed them on the stove burners to cool. “What flavor were you thinking for the icing?” he asked, his tone more curious now. 

“I was planning on a raspberry filing,” you replied, your voice softening. “Like the macaroons we got a couple of weeks ago.” 

Zayne’s eyes lit up at the memory. “Indeed, that’s an excellent choice.” 

The two of you worked side by side, mixing fresh raspberries, chocolate shavings, and cream. The icing filled the kitchen with a sweet and tangy scent. As you stirred the ingredients together, a thought crossed your mind, and you couldn’t help but voice it.

“Do you ever get lonely?” you asked, your tone more vulnerable than intended. 

Zayne paused, his brows furrowed slightly as he considered the question, “Why do you ask?” 

You hesitated, then continued, “I was just thinking…  You’re working the day before your birthday. Doesn’t that get lonely? You spend so much time helping others, but who’s there for you?” 

He sighed softly, his gaze dropping to the mixing bowl. “I love my work. It’s fulfilling to perform surgeries and make a difference. But, yes, I suppose there are moments when I feel alone. What about you?” 

You stared at the swirling mixture, the vibrant red of the raspberries reminding you of the warmth that had once filled your life. “Sometimes, I’m too busy hunting wanderers to notice how I feel. I often convince myself I’m okay because I don’t have time to think otherwise. But lately, especially since Granny and Caleb passed—it’s been harder. Their absence is always there, even if I try not to feel it. “

Zayne’s hand reached out, gently covering yours. The touch was soft, but it broke through the fog of your thoughts. You looked up to find his eyes filled with sincerity, a quiet understanding that words couldn’t convey. 

“I’m here for you,” he whispered, his voice steady and reassuring. 

The loneliness that weighed so heavily on you seemed to lift for a moment. You moved your hand to hold Zayne’s fully, feeling the warmth of his palm against yours. In that shared silence, you knew you weren’t alone. 

Zayne gazed deeply into your eyes, wanting to see the soul that lay beneath. Tranquility filled the room, and the gentle strings of music were the only sound that broke the silence. 

Zayne leaned in closer, your lips almost touching; the tension between you was palpable. 

You lifted yourself, balancing on your tiptoes. Gently, you kissed Zayne's lips, feeling your heart skip a beat as your lips met his.

The kiss was soft, yet it carried an intensity that spoke of the emotions brewing deep within you. Your heart raced as he held you close, your veins pulsating beneath your skin. 

He slowly pulled away from the kiss, his emerald eyes never leaving yours.

______________________________________________________________

what did ya'll think :333

planning on writing a pt 2 maybe

ignore that I did not finish coding the stars LMAO

[cloudcountry]

SUMMARY: vincent sees a masterpiece in you.

WARNINGS: None!! :D

COMMENTS: GAHHH SHUT UP OKAY SHUT UP. HE'S SO KIND. i havent played hsi route yet but i am brainrotting a little. also i was inspired by myself because i realized how animated i am and i was immediately like "omg an artists muse" bc WOW all my facial expressions and body language could give an artist a career I MOVE TOO MUCH!!!!

anyway yes he's sweet but i don't really know a lot about him. do vincent kissers even exist!??!?!?!

An artist at heart, he’s accustomed to noticing the beauty of everything around him. From the way your eyes widen when you’re surprised to the way they crinkle when you’re happy, from the way your lips stretch across your face when you smile at him to the way they purse when you pout, from the way you drag your hands down your arms when you’re cold and trail them down your legs when you’re stretching, to the way your fingers position themselves around a pen when you’re scribbling out annotations in a cookbook.

Or maybe, he’s just become accustomed to noticing your beauty.

“Vincent.” you call, “You’re staring.”

He makes a soft noise of acknowledgment and flashes you an awkward smile. His eyes fall to the notepad in front of him, and he ignores the way his cheeks flush a tender pink. It’s a lovely feeling, the pitter-patter of his heart in his chest and the shaky breaths that come with knowing you.

He’s in awe of the artist that sketched you out and brought you to life. He's envious of the paints that colored you in. Vincent wishes there was a part of you for him in your masterpiece, a blank space that only he could fill. He would fill you with blues and yellows and browns, he would paint the night sky in your eyes and sunflowers along your legs. Each petal would be delicately sketched out along the flesh of your thigh, and his paintbrush would travel down your calves as he sculpted the stems. He would worship you like you deserve, treat you with reverence, and treasure you like nobody else could.

“Sunflower.” you whisper, right next to his ear, “Are you alright?”

Vincent snaps out of his trance once again, an easy smile falling across his lips. His chair groans against the floor as he pushes away from the table, staring up at you as you stand in front of him.

“Of course. I’m sorry for worrying you.” he says softly, looking up at you through his lashes, “Did you say something?”

“Nothing important.” you smile, like you know exactly what he’s been thinking.

You probably do. Vincent blushes, ducking his head to the side so you can’t see his face.

“Can you come to my room later? After you’re done here?” he asks, reaching out to touch you.

His hands rest on your hips, and you let him pull you closer. Your eyes are full of intrigue, and he knows you'll say yes, but he needs to hear the words from your lips.

“Of course.” you hum, leaning down to his level, “I wouldn’t go anywhere else.”

You kiss his forehead, and his heart stumbles in his chest. Right there, he sees it. He sees you. You’re made up of so many shades of color that belong to everyone you’ve ever met and loved, but right there, on your lips, are swirls of gold and blue.

And as you pull away, he sees sunflowers in your heart.

[chefkids]

The Bear is taking a trip to a Magic Farm in Memphis on the City of New Orleans train

When Richie is looking for the quote to tell the staff in the pre service meeting, in his notebook we see a page with a story about Thomas Keller, head Chef of The French Laundry. It says:

In 1978, a young Thomas Keller loaded his backpack with snacks and ambition and boarded a bus to Memphis. "Why Memphis?" you say, "That's a magic farm, a place for an inspirational chef."

As far as my research goes, this story seems to be made up. But if you head south of Chicago and head towards New Orleans, right in the middle is Memphis, Tennessee.

Sydney's short rib risotto dish combined elements of both of those cities cousines, the beef from Chicago and the Etouffee from New Orleans and from both of Syd and Carmy's family meals.

And I know a couple of young chef's that have been searching for inspiration. Sydney said she wanted to go to Noma for inspiration, Carmy wanted to go to Kasama with her for inspiration before he bailed.

Carmy was stuck at home drawing the lamb dish Sydney tried out, searching through all his cookbooks and thinking back on his past restaurant experiences for inspiration, thinking of The French Laundry, but was unable to finish it. Sydney has had basically no dish truly of her own since opening.

And we know Sydney is his muse at the end of the day.

The Amtrak train has a direct route from Chicago to New Orleans that stops in Memphis called City Of New Orleans. There is also a famous song called City of New Orleans by Steve Goodman about this route that has been covered by a lot of artists. It talks about trains being magic carpets made out of steel, and how it makes everything feel like it was just a bad dream.

We know trains are a recurring theme on the show. We even saw Chris Storer make a cameo on a train in Napkins.

Are Syd and Carmy going to take a train trip down to Memphis to look for inspiration, make magic, and make their railroad blues disappear?

Or is Marcus going to be the one to go there on another adventure side quest to find the magic for his violet dessert that may or may not cause Syd and Carmy to fall in love? We'll have to wait and see.

[milkytheholy1]

Day 29: Mutation Day

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikeyyyy, happy birthday to youuuu!" the gang sang out.

It was the boys' Mutation Day, a very special one at that. Everyone the boys' had ever helped and loved was surrounding them. Karai and Splinter stood side by side, the Mutanimals swayed back and forth with laughter, April and Casey were popping streamers and Mona and Renet were cheering their respective partners.

Yes, it was truly a great day, probably one of the best days the turtles had ever experienced. Presents had been opened in the morning, and with all the chatter it felt rather like Christmas than their birthdays. Leonardo had been gifted some new comics, some protein drinks and a Spacehereos action figure by Master Splinter, who with all honesty, had no clue what a Spacehereos was.

Raph had found himself with some more weights thanks to Slash, another round of protein drinks all from Casey, and the most precious thing of all, a new baby turtle to look after. His name was Crash because he kept crashing into Splinter's antique vases.

Donnie received a lot of university-level science and math books, and some new samples of DNA to test, which although sounded boring to everyone else, Donnie was positively ecstatic. And he of course acquired more protein shakes, possibly the most compared to everyone else.

Mikey had come away with a bunch of new comics and video games, and April had gifted him a pizza cookbook too, much to the relief of everyone in the room. Renet had got him some futuristic game console, promising that it would be the best-selling game in 3000 years.

"This is the best Mutation Day ever, yo!" Mikey cheered, hugging his friends and family, well as much as he could, there were a lot of them. Splinter laughed, sitting down on his favourite recliner, "This reminds me of the day I first found you all." he started, stroking his beard. Raph groaned, "Really, Master Splinter, again? You tell this story every year."

"And I will continue to tell it until the day I die, now shush." he bonked Raph on the head. Everyone had gathered around Splinter, listening eagerly to the story, each year it was the exact same, no detail missed, no part forgotten.

"I can't believe it has been 18 years since we were all first mutated, but look at how you all have grown." Master Splinter continued, "Right? It's crazy to think about how small we were back then and how different the world was." Leo mused, "But some things will always stay the same, my boys." Splinter smiled, "Yeah, like how much of a dork Donnie is." Raph joked.

"Hey!" Donnie objected.

Yes, Mutation Day was seemingly always the event of the year, besides Christmas, it's what brought the family close and was a special time for all.

Happy 12 years of TMNT 2012.

[gwenchobanicooksmisspiggy]

hello my name is gwen chobani and i cannot cook. for the life of me i make the worst food ever. most things i make my brother spits out in horror. it is a painful thing, being so bad in the kitchen. no one understands me but Beyoncé. I'm also a lifelong Muppet stan.

well, lo and behold, Miss Piggy (my feminist hero) has a cookbook filled with celebrities' recipes (or moreso, their private chefs recipes probably.) it was published in 1996 and was for some charity idk. there's also a jab at Oprah and some pretty damn funny/cute little musings about dinner parties n shit.

well, I've decided to channel my inner Amy Adams and go through every recipe in this book to teach me how to cook, Julie & Julia style. Miss Piggy will teach me. she will guide me. she will save me. i would both kill and die for her.

the first recipe i decided to try was Larry King's Favorite Tuna Health Salad. i picked it as the first one because it seemed the easiest, seeing as there's no need to use the stove or oven.

i misread the ingredient list and added way too much tomato and bell pepper, tho oddly enough it could've stood to use even more celery than i ended up using even tho i used "too much."

while chopping the onion i realized "there's no fucking way i gotta put a whole onion in this thing" and well i was finally correct. it was just supposed to be 2 tablespoons lol.

anyway i made it and it was nasty imo. the white wine vinegar was too much. a 1/4 cup?? ludicrous. and not enough whipped dressing. if i make this again I'd put it way less vinegar and more dressing, and leave out the tomatoes because i find them psychologically disturbing.

my brother actually really liked it tho?? interesting. life is strange.

tune in next time for when i make something else, probably also fucking it up.

[earthwindandraen]

@lunarcovestarters

Option A Where: Broken Record

"Gimme a second, sugar, and I'll be right there!" Rae called from the back room of Broken Record as she moved around a few boxes of records and CDs that had just been delivered that morning. Not for the first time in her life, Rae mused that telekinesis would be pretty useful, especially in situations like carrying boxes. No less of a strain on the body, but certainly easier to deal with. She'd get started with organizing when the store closed, but, for now, she set down the boxes and headed back out to the front of the store. "If you called earlier about that Dolly Parton cookbook, I'm afraid we don't sell cookbooks, here, but we do have an extensive collection of Dolly CDs, vinyl, and cassettes curated by yours truly to look for."

Option B Where: Walking around town

"So, what, exactly, are we supposed to do now?" Rae Elle mused to her companion, sticking her hands into her jacket as they walked. "Do we... stop lookin' for the people who did all this? Or just keep going about our business like things are back to normal now that Dhruv and Meena have been found?" Because it was good that they were found, certainly, but there was still plenty of shit to deal with in this town. The aftermath of Lorelai Cavanaugh's death, whatever was going on with that ritual, all the shit that had been made public about those kidnappings. "This town's wild. And I know wild, trust me. New Orleans's got nothin' on this shit."

[goldenavenger02]

Prompt: the rest of the ninja finding out about Cole and Geo's relationship. Fluff.

It is a LITTLE angsty. Just a little. I hope you enjoy

When Cole arrived in the courtyard with no warning, Kai wasn’t sure he had ever run faster.

Well, he was sure that he had run faster in stressful situations, but he hadn’t hugged Cole in so long; he was just glad that it felt the same, it felt warm and strong and safe. 

He didn’t want to let go, it had been years since he had seen him but he also knew that the same was true of Lloyd and Zane so he found himself letting go just a few moments later to let everyone else get their fill of hugs in.

Even Wyldfyre, who acted like a feral being towards everyone new and old, was even interested in Cole’s arrival to the point of asking multiple questions about the place Nya had said that she found him, The Land of Lost Things.

Kai didn’t miss the solemn, almost sad look on his face as he spoke about where he had ended up after The Merge. A look he hadn’t seen in years, not since Shintaro.

But the look faded when the subject was changed to Lloyd explaining how the Mergequakes were stopped and everything returned to the happy, bubbly energy that had filled the monastery since Kai had returned.

And as Cole came into his room hours later and laid on the mostly clean floor, Kai was baffled by how everything felt so close to normal, to how it had been after they had defeated the Crystal King.

All that was missing was Jay lounging in the bean bag chair in the corner and playing some sort of Sonic game, only responding to every third sentence and being thoroughly confused when they laughed at his lack of context.

“Has Lloyd started acting as stuffy as Master Wu yet?”

“Nah. He tried to keep the whole monastery in order and broke a bunch of plates in the process.”

“Anger issues?”

“Nah, they fell out of the sink,” Cole’s laugh was infectious and filled Kai’s chest to the point where it hurt long after it faded into giggles that punctured his next sentence, “he’s doing his best, but he’s still Lloyd.”

“That’s good, I think,” Cole mused before sitting up and looking directly into Kai’s eyes, “do you still make edibles and hide them under your bed?”

“Even if I did,” Kai started, smiling as the famous incident of everyone taking his brownies that were just meant for when the long nights got too long and resulting in him simultaneously getting banned from the kitchen unless there was his mother’s or one of Zane’s cookbooks involved came to mind, “there’s that dragon, Riyu. He’ll eat them and either be high off of his ass or vomit on my bed.”

“He’s eaten your edibles before?”

“He’s eaten so many things that he shouldn’t and for some reason, my bed has to be where he gets rid of it,” Kai corrected before laying back down, “do you still have that bottle of fireball in your room?”

“That shit has to be rancid by now, it was opened before the Merge,” Cole shook his head, also laying back down and staring at the ceiling, “I suppose I could always go and get more tomorrow though.”

“We’re a bit old to hide edibles and alcohol in our rooms, I think. Lloyd’s even old enough to drink now.”

“Remind me to take the kid to a bar and make sure he’s not taking straight shots of vodka.”

“Noted.” Kai agreed, even if the idea of Lloyd drinking forced him to slip into the protective role he was so used to when it came to the green ninja.

“Besides, even if Lloyd’s old enough to drink, Sora, Arin and the feral one, they’re still kids. Not to mention the dragon who pukes in your bed.”

“Her name is Wyldfyre, and that was actually way different for her, since she’s usually trying to light things on fire or prove she’s the best. She was raised by a dragon, manners aren’t exactly her thing.”

“She sounds a lot like you.”

“I wasn’t raised by a dragon.”

“No, you were raised by yourself, which might be worse.”

Kai threw a pillow at Cole’s face; the pillow he threw back knocked him onto the floor tailbone first.

“Ouch.”

“You good?”

“Yep, just a sore ass,” Kai confirmed as he maneuvered onto his back and laid next to Cole, the sounds of their breathing filling the silence, “Nya told us when she got back, about the Finders.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, the Formling and the Hypnobri kids, and the Munce and the Skulkin who are our age,” Kai could have sworn that he saw a blush spread across Cole’s face at the mention of the Munce, “do you wanna tell me about them?”

“Fritz, the Formling, reminds me a lot of Lloyd when he was a kid. Adventurous, kind and pokes his nose where it doesn’t belong. Spitz is much more reserved and shy, but loves playing with Fritz and gets himself into trouble a lot because of it. Bonzal…well, I’ve known her for years, but she isn’t very forthcoming. She’s got a great sense of humor though, crochets a lot of blankets and also collects bones.”

“Why?”

“Whenever you ask, she just says they’re extremely useful; but, she wouldn’t hurt a fly so I’m not worried about it.”

“Okay,” Kai nodded while trying to get back on topic, but when he asked “what about the Munce?” he was able to guess why Cole’s cheeks flushed at the mention even before he started speaking.

“Geo. He’s the elemental master of fusion, he turns lost things into these large art sculptures. He’s good with the boys, he makes sure that they’re always taken care of, no matter what. He’s the only one who can get Bonzal to say more than a few sentences. He’s so caring, and funny and…he might be one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

“He sounds great,” Kai agreed with a nod before asking, “so, why didn’t you bring them with you? Because the monastery is big-”

“It wasn’t a space issue. First Master, I wish it was a space issue,” Cole’s voice filling with tears made Kai’s heart pang with regret, “whenever they tried to leave, this fog would engulf them and lead them back. They had been forgotten for so long that they couldn’t leave. I only left because I thought I heard Master Wu…but it just led me here.”

Kai reached over and pulled Cole into a hug; he had needed the hug when he finally returned, but given how he tucked his head against his shoulder, he knew that it was Cole who needed a hug now.

They stayed like that until Cole finally spoke again, the sobs evident in his voice as he kept his face pressed against Kai’s shoulder.

“I…I miss them so much.”

“Hey,” Kai finally spoke and cupped a hand around Cole’s face to brush a few tears off of his cheeks, “we found Nya, we found Zane and we found you. We’ll get the others out of there and we’ll find Jay, PIXAL and Master Wu.”

“I know,” Cole agreed, taking in a shuddering breath while wiping his face on his sleeve, “it’s just really gonna suck until we do.”

[goggles-mcgee]

Wish Me Away: Hold Me Close & Hold Me Near

Beginning              Last Chapter

Summary:

*waves* Hi

Bruce muses on his new life despite it only being a couple days since the family welcomed Marietta into it.

Nothing could have prepared Bruce for life with a baby, two days had passed and it felt like his life had been completely flipped on its head. She required a lot of attention and physical affection. The attention he had no problem with, it was the physical affection he was terrified of. Marietta was such a tiny little thing, she was so fragile that Bruce was so scared that the slightest wrong move from him could hurt her. Yet, sometimes the physical affection came so easily to him, so easily he felt like he was robbed of this time he could have had with Damian and found himself wishing Talia had told him about his son sooner. When she smiled up at him when he tried to feed her, it was almost instinctual to give her a kiss on the head, or when she babbled and held out a hand to him, he was compelled to coo and let her grab at his fingers. Hugging her is what scared him most, she was so small, so warm, and he had never understood what all those people said about the smell of a baby but he got it, and hugging her brought him such a feeling of joy and love that he couldn’t even put it into words. Bruce just felt scared of hugging her too tight because of all the new feelings of love that filled him. 

Once she had fallen asleep her first night in the Manor, at her new home, he had been entirely too frightened to sleep in his large bed with her, but he and the boys made a pretty sturdy wall of pillows all around her as he stayed up to study. He bought parenting books, so many parenting books, from baby meal cookbooks, to psychology. He wanted to know anything and everything he had to about taking care of a one year old. And from the many boxes that arrived at the house he deduced he wasn’t the only one. The manor now looked like a bomb went off in it, one that filled the place with bassinets, diapers, baby food and snacks and so many freaking toys. Most of which came surprisingly from Alfred, Bruce had wanted to laugh but Alfred had basically said he had no room to talk. He was right. Bruce had kind of gone overboard when buying her clothes, it’s not fair that tiny versions of clothes were so cute and apparently brought him more joy than his own. 

Cassandra had helped him choose a lot of the clothing as well, it warmed his heart the way she immediately took to being an older sister. The way she held Marietta and the way she hugged her was something that Bruce loved to see, because he could tell just how precious the baby was to Cass. He had many pictures on his phone of the two twirling in the dance room he had built for Cass. It was wonderful and Cass looked at Marietta with so much love, the excitement in her eyes was plain to see as well, though so was the fear, Bruce expected it was much like his own but something stronger. Cass feared hurting her new sister much the same way that Damian was, but whereas Cass spent as much time with Marietta as she could, it seemed like Damian was avoiding the baby. It didn’t take the ‘world’s greatest detective’ to figure out that Damian was frustrated at no longer being the youngest. Bruce wasn’t worried though, when Damian did interact with Marietta, he saw how gentle the boy was with her, even if he scolded her for drooling on him or not paying attention to what he was saying. He tended to hold her and tell her about their siblings and why they annoyed him that day, or classmates, or even just random people that he had a rough interaction with. It was an odd thing to bond over but Bruce was just happy Damian was trying. 

Tim adored her as well, he read all the books Bruce bought and all the ones he himself bought. Within a night, the Manor had been baby-proofed and monitors had been added everywhere. It was like he was waiting to be a doting older brother, Bruce of course knew he and Damian got off the wrong foot and were better but he also knew they would never be as close as Tim and Dick, Tim and Jason or Dick and Damian. It was like a worse Jason and Dick situation when they were younger, both bitter for different reasons and both took it out on one another. There was no doubt in Bruce’s mind that both Tim and Damian loved each other, it was just a strained kind of love. Tim took her everywhere with him if he could, as did Jason, both bought baby carriers to strap to themselves and it was hard not to laugh when Bruce realized they had bought a Red Robin carrier and a Red Hood carrier respectively. Tim liked to take her down to the cave and work on whatever case he was trying to solve or tinker with whatever tech he and Lucius Fox were working on. He said he liked asking her questions and hearing her babble like she was giving feedback. Of course Alfred and Bruce made sure the boy baby-proofed the cave as well and made sure she had her own activities to do besides giving her older brother feedback on his projects. To the surprise of no one, Tim even set her up a little play-pen in the Cave, which maybe wasn’t the best thing but it still tugged at Bruce’s heartstrings to see. 

Jason loved Marietta. It was honestly amazing to see just how fast the man adjusted to being a doting big brother. Of course Bruce already knew Jason was great with kids and with his younger siblings but it was another thing to witness it, especially with someone as young as Marietta. Jason loved to feed her which was always an interesting thing to witness, but boy was he good at it, she never complained when he fed her. He also read to her everyday even if he couldn’t be there physically, he would video-call, though his reading choices varied from the Well Loved Tales books he scored at a garage sale to classics he had in his room or brought from his apartment. It was entertaining to watch him read things like Cinderella to her and then go from that to reading her Pride and Prejudice. He made sure to get books with pictures for her and if they didn’t have pictures he would show her pictures he found on the internet to show her who he thought a character looked like, or an object in one of his classic books that he couldn’t describe. It was awfully endearing and Bruce and Alfred made sure to take as many pictures of the two as they could. Nap times they would often find the two together with Jason sprawled out on a couch, the floor, a chaise or bed with Marietta snuggled on his chest. It was those times that Bruce envied Jason. 

Dick was also one that adjusted to having another younger sibling surprisingly fast, even if said younger sibling was younger than any of them have dealt with before. He never complained about changing her diaper, he just laughed and said they would have to get on top of potty training but only when she felt like it. He was incredibly gentle with her and patient and tried his best to help Damian get more comfortable with her. He was also the one who could get her to stop crying the fastest out of all of them, well second to Alfred. It was impressive, and yet it was another thing that Bruce found himself jealous of. He was the parent and he felt like he should be able to soothe her cries easily, but the truth was, he had no idea what he was doing. Sure, he had a lot of children, but he had not had any of them when they were babies, this was a whole different playing field and it hurt him that he wasn’t excelling at it. Of course, Bruce wanted to be the best father he could be, and he would admit that he, like his children, wanted to be Marietta’s favorite person. Both Dick and Jason would put her in the middle of them and coo at her and see who she would waddle or crawl too, they said it was a competition to see who her favorite was but most of the time she just laughed at them and would end up falling back on her bottom if she was standing. Damian found this highly amusing every time it happened and Bruce suspected so did Alfred. 

Duke was a little like Babs in the sense that he adored Marietta, but she made him nervous. He never held her long unless he was sitting down because he feared dropping her, if she was asleep that fear tripled because he said she was just dead-weight and would fall no problem. Though, he liked working on his homework with her and telling her about school. Sometimes he brought out her crayons and coloring books but that was rare since Marietta hadn’t yet grasped the concept that the canyons were only for her coloring books. Alfred lectured all of them about watching her during ‘coloring time’ after she found out that crayons work just as good on walls as they did on paper. Though Duke was nervous around her, Marietta always managed to get him to relax around her after enough time passed and the boy would play games with her, though the games mainly consisted of peek-a-boo and making silly faces at her. She loved it though and it seemed like no one could make her laugh more than Duke and his silly faces. Every time he made her laugh or giggle, Duke looked like he had just won an award or something and would give her the brightest smile in response. Of course he and Alfred had many videos and pictures of the two already. 

Babs hadn’t met little Marietta face to face yet but she had seen the little one over the Batcave’s computer and she had looked smitten. She also promised to visit them soon, probably within the week which was great. Alfred had been wanting the young woman to visit the Manor more often, so her visit was more than welcome. Especially since it seemed like Marietta took a shine to her, even if it was just over video. Babs took to face-calling whoever she knew was in the Manor so she could see Marietta and hear her babble at her nonsensically with some actual words thrown in here and there. Though she hadn’t met the little one properly, Babs did send gifts that she ordered online and she sent everyone books on childcare. Bruce didn’t have the heart to tell her he had already bought the book she had got for him, he had just thanked her and used the new copy to take notes in. She seemed excited to hold Marietta and Bruce could honestly say he understood that feeling now, before he hadn’t, not really, but now it was like all he wanted to do was hold his daughter and show her to everyone. Thank goodness he had such good self-restraint. They, as a family, decided they wouldn’t go public with Marietta until Selina came back from Central City; she was setting up another animal shelter/rescue center after the success of the one in Gotham, then the one in Metropolis. This was her baby, her project, she was very hands on with everything that came with the business. Bruce felt so proud of her and he was also extremely happy his influence was good for something like this. When it got out that Bruce Wayne was investing in the Kyle Animal Rescue & Shelter Centers, many of Gotham’s elite followed. Though she wouldn’t admit it, he knew that Selina was grateful.

Stephanie had the habit of carrying Marietta everywhere she went when she was at the Manor, which considering the baby had only been there for about two days, meant Steph had been there everyday now. When she walked into a room and saw Marietta she would scoop her up and give the little one a shower of kisses which resulted in the most delightful giggles. Though Steph also had the habit of just…sniffing Marietta, when they asked her about it she just shrugged and said she loved the smell of babies. Which, fair, but she did it so obviously and made such a spectacle of sniffing the newest Wayne that you couldn’t help but laugh. It always made Marietta laugh as well so it was a welcome habit. Steph was also someone who liked feeding Marietta which Bruce could not understand as it was a time that he saw his baby daughter be truly stubborn, worthy of the Wayne name, which was something his mother would tease him with whenever he was stubborn. But like Jason, Steph could get the baby to eat whatever Alfred served for their meals. She said she liked to see the faces Marietta made when eating and she just liked to see just how messy the baby could get. Which was, astoundingly, a lot. She had many baths that she thankfully enjoyed. 

Damian was complicated. There were moments he seemed to crave Marietta’s attention and other’s where he would avoid her altogether if he could. From what Tim, Alfred and the books told him, Damian felt ‘threatened’ as he was no longer the ‘baby’ of the family. The wording was ridiculous but maybe fitting for the situation. Damian was a child who adored having Bruce’s attention and Dick’s attention the most, though he would sooner play nice with all the kids at Brentwood Academy than admit it. When he held her, he no longer held her like a bomb about to go off, but he cradled her like one wrong touch and he’d break her. There were times that Bruce had walked past a room to see Damian hugging the little one to him with his eyes closed and hands shaking, it always felt wrong to intrude so Bruce would just continue to walk past. The boy also introduced his younger sister to all his animals, even Goliath who lived in the Wayne Farm. Damian built his own underground Cave beneath the farm to hide Goliath if the need arose, he called it the Underground BatFarm after Dick called it that once. So they all just referred to it as the BatFarm. Damian had simultaneously been overjoyed and annoyed that all his animal friends seemed to take a shine to the newest addition to the family. 

Alfred was in love. Plain and simple. He doted on the baby so much that Bruce often wondered if the Butler/Grandpa/Adopted Dad ever did that to him when his parents introduced the two when he was born. He always served her food first at meals, he gave her treats when he thought no one was looking and if the boys weren’t around he took to carrying Marietta in his own carrier. It was always quite the sight when Alfred would walk into a room with a baby strapped to his chest. Though in a weird way, Bruce was getting used to it. What he couldn’t get used to just yet were the tiny creatures that called themselves Kwami. They stuck around Marietta like glue. They never left her alone, not even when she slept. It was very disconcerting to wake up and see two creatures sleeping on the pillow next to you  first thing in the morning. Even if a family member was just going to change her diaper real quick, they followed. Their import on cheese increased an unhealthy amount and really Bruce had no way how they would explain those finances away if anyone bothered to look. At least Alfred usually baked biscuits. So there was no shortage of Tikki. Plagg was insatiable. 

Even now, Bruce watched as the little black cat Kwami absolutely inhaled a wheel of brie. “You keep eating like that and we’ll run out of cheese before you know it.”

“Eh, you’re rich.”

Jason’s cackle was welcome but also Bruce felt like this was a serious matter so he did not appreciate being laughed at. “It’s true, Bruce. You are a very~ rich man.”

“That doesn’t mean that Plagg should demolish our entire cheese supply and have us order more in less than a week. It could be considered suspicious and we are trying to lay low.” He reasoned.

“I mean, it could be suspicious, or people think you’re on some weird new cheese diet and you accidentally start a trend again.” Tim piped up from his position on the floor where he kept pressing buttons on one of Mari’s toys which made her coo from her spot on her mat. 

“Oh man, please not another ‘Bruce Wayne Original Trend.’ The amount of people I saw wearing their shirts backwards in Blüdhaven after his last ‘trend,’ is more than enough for me.” Dick complained from where he was laying on the floor tossing one of Marietta’s toy balls up and down.

“Father was very tired that day.” Damian defended, he was sketching something from his favorite spot in the windowsill. They were all relaxing in his office despite the fact he told them he had paperwork to do. “Though he should have had more decorum and noticed his mistake.”

So much for defending him.

“You humans are so weird with your clothes.” Plagg sighed loudly.

“You act like we never wore clothing once upon a time, Plagg.” Tikki teased.

That had Tim’s attention. He loved learning more about the beings that came as an added…bonus with their newest Wayne. “You guys wore clothes?”

“Well, duh! We weren’t always this adorable you know?” Plagg replied.

“Wait. You guys really weren’t always this itty-bitty?” Jason asked. 

“We did mention we were basically revered as Gods in the past. Can you see these forms being worshipped?” Tikki fired back. When she got no reply, she looked unbelievably smug. “Before we were bound to the Miraculi, we tended to use a more human-like form. Hence the clothing. Though even that form was not our true form.”

“It’s been ages since we got to be in our true forms.” Plagg said wistfully. 

“What are your true forms?” Tim asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Tikki chuckled softly. “They are…well, they are hard to explain. But it is because the ‘First Guardian-”

“The ‘Betrayer’!” Plagg interrupted with a shout.

“He saw our true forms, and I guess that’s what pushed him to create the ritual that bound us. He called us monsters. Creatures living amongst man. Honestly he just raved at us how he couldn’t believe that we tried to take advantage of the folk who worshipped us and that he was doing them a favor by binding us.” Tikki explained.

“Crazy loon.” Plagg scoffed. 

Bruce shared eye contact with all his sons who looked just as disturbed at the information as him. Their true forms scared a man so deeply that he went to such lengths. He felt bad for the Kwami but he also could understand the man’s need for protection even if it was unwarranted. Bruce was always prepared, no matter the circumstances, but now it felt like he would never truly be prepared with the Kwami living with his family. They were truly neutral beings, and it was interesting to have them in the Manor,  but when he and Jason got into another argument about the no-killing rule, Plagg and Tikki had looked at him like he was the wrong one. Or more accurately, like they couldn’t understand why he was arguing about it with his son. It was an issue, but not more so than the two beings announcing their plans about Paris.

“So today’s the day.” Jason brought up as casually as he could, which wasn’t as casual as the young man would have liked. 

Plagg nodded. “It is.” 

Bruce sighed.

“Oh Bruce, I know how you feel about it, but really it isn’t your place to tell us we can’t spread Karma across Paris. It has already been enacted and They have given their permission to all of us Kwami of the Miracle Box of Fortune & Fate.” Tikki explained once more, she wasn’t being condescending and yet Bruce still felt like she was. 

“And I told you, I don’t understand that.”

“You don’t have to understand it. Just let it be.” She replied.

“Or better yet ignore it.” Plagg gave his two-cents. 

“I can’t just ignore it. You told us you will be going to Paris to punish them!” He argued as softly as he could, not wanting to disturb Marietta who was still distracted by her noisy shiny toy. 

“Not all, only those who deserve it and though Paris will no longer be protected by us, it doesn’t mean forever but they need to know. Which is why the announcement is also needed.” She argued back, though she didn’t even look affected by his words and that made his hackles rise more. 

“Look. I know your whole ‘job’ is ‘justice,’ and that’s great.” Plagg interjected. “But justice is up to the interpreter and this, Karma, that’s our justice. That’s how we deal with offenses and crimes against us. You don’t have to understand it, but for your sake and Marietta’s sake, don’t try to stop us or talk us out of it anymore.”

“Are you threatening me?” Bruce growled which made Marietta whine.

“Bruce.” Alfred warned. “Calm yourself. You’re scaring the baby.”

Bruce cleared his throat and looked over at his daughter who was looking at him with her big doe-eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry Baby, nothing’s wrong. We’re just talking Sweetheart.” 

“Master Bruce, I understand your feelings on the matter but at the end of the day this is their business and if you ever feel the need, I’m sure Paris would appreciate vigilante help if they ever need it.” Alfred said as he set down some tea for Bruce on his desk. And like every time Alfred was the voice of reason, Bruce felt the fight leave him. 

“I apologize.” He said after a while.

“Sooooo, how are you going to make the announcement if you guys can’t be caught on camera?” Dick asked to break the tension. 

“They have kindly lent me some of their power and my old power so I can retain my old human form.” Tikki explained. “If the announcement goes on longer than I can hold the form then Trixx can cast an illusion of my human form. Before the announcement though we will be going and giving out Karma to a select few.”

“I thought you were…uh, doing the Karma thing after the whole announcement.” Jason said.

“Oh, we are, but there are a couple of people who will get their Karma before the announcement.” Plagg said with a smile that shouldn’t look so frightening on such a tiny face and yet it was. 

Quiet covered the family yet again until Damian spoke up from his spot, “Well, happy hunting.”

The two smiles shared between the Kwami somehow dwarfed the one Plagg had made just before and Bruce felt a shiver run down his spine. He sent a silent prayer out for Paris. 

               _____________________________________

Gabriel sat at his place at the head of the table and watched as his wife talked with Adrien and for the first time in a long time he felt completely at ease. His heart still raced when he acknowledged the fact he had no idea where Nathalie was and he didn’t know what to say when Emilie asked him where she was. Right now she believed that Nathalie was visiting her sister but the truth was he had no idea and it scared him. After The Wish, she and Dupain-Cheng disappeared without a trace. He didn’t understand where they were and his son’s complaints and worry over the girl were getting on his nerves. Neither had their Miraculous so Adrien complained about not being to check on her the ‘Chat Noir’ way, they figured that was their price for The Wish. Though it saddened him, Gabriel was willing to leave the Miraculous behind in exchange for his wife who was a bit different now that she was back but he just chalked it up to her being confused at being awake once more. 

He impulsively reached out and took her hand in his. Emilie gave him a small smile back in return and he tried his best not to frown. She should be happier, she was finally reunited with her husband, he would think she would be overjoyed. “Adrien. I…called your school and told them you won’t be there today. We will be spending the day as a family.”

“Okay Father.” Adrien responded promptly. 

Emilie looked as though she was going to respond but before she did the doors to the dining room blew open, they nearly came off the hinges. All three family members turned to look in shock and just to see what or who came through in such a fashion. Gabriel opened his mouth to shout at the insolence of it all but his voice caught in his throat when he saw four very familiar Kwami fly in. He tried to get out of his seat but found he couldn’t and from the looks of it, neither could Adrien or Emilie. It made Gabriel struggle against whatever bound him to his seat more. He tried to yell, to shout, but found he had no voice at the moment. Emilie looked so scared and there was nothing he could do about it. The Kwami flew until they were all floating above the middle of the table so all three Agrestes could see them. The red one, Tikki glared at Gabriel so fiercely that if looks could kill, he was sure he would be six-feet deep at the moment. 

“Hello Gabriel. Let’s talk.”

Next Chapter

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[camisoledadparis]

Salvador Dali's surreal cookbook 'Les diners de Gala' is uniquely dedicated to the pleasures of taste.

"If you are a disciple of one of those calorie counters who turn the joys of eating into a form of punishment, close this book at once; it is too lively, too aggressive and far too rude for you." - Salvador Dali.

Food and surrealism are perfect bedfellows.

Sex and lobsters, collage and cannibalism, the meeting between a swan and a toothbrush in a pastry shop.

The lavish dinner parties hosted by Salvador Dali (1904-1989) and his wife and muse Gala (1894-1982) were legendary.

Luckily for us, Dali published a cookbook in 1973, 'Les diners de Gala', which reveals some of the sensual, imaginative and exotic elements that made up their infamous gatherings.

The illustrations and recipes are accompanied by Dali's extravagant musings on subjects such as dinner conversation.

"The jaw is our best tool for understanding philosophical knowledge".

All of these rich recipes can be prepared at home, although some will require practiced skills and a well-stocked pantry.

This is old-school cuisine, with meals by leading French chefs from such star restaurants in Paris as Lasserre, La Tour d Argent, Maxim's and Le Train Bleu.

Good taste, however voluptuous - never goes out of style.

Salvador Dali

[phoebe-delia]

My Pheebs! For the 8 Drarry Nights prompts: decorating for their first holiday living together. Any holiday that brings you joy

YOU BRING ME JOY!!! @basicallyahedgehog!!! Thanks for sending in a prompt, darling.

You do know how much I love you, right? Like. It's so much. So so so so much. You are simply one of my favorites. Here's some Hanukkah softness. It's all dialogue because that's where the muse is taking me today.

Swear to be Overdramatic and True

"Does the 'Happy Hanukkah' banner look straight to you?"

"Yes, love, it looks perfect. And I spread the special confetti you bought out on the table."

"What about the gelt? Remember, Teddy likes dark chocolate and Rosie likes milk chocolate, so let's set out both. Oh, and we probably need more than one dreidel."

"I've got it all set out on the small table in the living room."

"Perfect. I guess that's everyth—oh no, Merlin, Harry, the apple sauce and sour cream for the lackeys!!"

"They're called latkes, love. We've got all that in the fridge, remember?"

"And—have we got enough food?"

"Yes, sweetheart. We've got plenty. Molly's made a brisket."

"Did you give her the—"

"The recipe from the cookbook I found in Godric's Hollow? Yes, I did."

"Er...what about—"

"Draco, darling, c'mere."

*quiet grumbling and soft footsteps*

"It'll be alright. We've got everything we need. It's going to be fun, I promise."

"But—but what if something goes wrong! What if I knock over the menorah, or I mess up the rules for Dreidel, or I eat too much gelt, or I do something that makes them hate me forever and then you realize I'm a fraud and you break up with me and move out."

"Well...most of those things are just, like, understandable mistakes that we could easily fix. But I can promise you that that last one definitely won't happen."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, do you love me?"

"Of course I do. I love you so much."

"Right. And I love you."

"...Yes? And?"

"And nothing. You love me, Draco. You care about me, and you'd never intentionally hurt me. And you might not realize it, but you have formed actual, solid bonds with most of my friends and family. They like you."

"I—no. That's impossible."

"I'm afraid it's true. You and Ron play chess every week. You're the only one Hermione goes to when she wants to have deep, intellectual conversations about magic. You willingly—enthusiastically, even—listened to Arthur teach you about Muggle culture. You helped Molly cook Sunday dinner. You—"

"I get it, Potter, your family likes me."

"They do! And they're right to do so. And so am I. Love, you have got to trust yourself. And if you can't do that, then trust me when I tell you that you are good, Draco Malfoy. You are a good man, with a good heart. And I love you."

*sigh* "I love you too."

"Good then. Do you believe me?"

"I guess."

*scoff* "You guess?"

"Fine. Yes, I believe you, you sappy Gryffindor."

"Good." *Floo chimes* "Oh, good, just in time. Ready, love?"

*taking Harry's hand* "I'm ready."

[thechairanon]

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

@totally-average-kid @egganonman @dvdanon @themalewifeanon @berry-nonnie @thatoneblue-anon @thatstaroneanon @sparkleonanon @booitsbeloved @bookstackanon

This was such a joy to write, thank you guys so so so much! This was very fun and I'd love to do something like this again. Valentine's Day special under the cut!

This Valentine’s day was going to be an odd one this year.

For starters, there was still a poll going on. A pretty important poll with roughly one hundred votes already, but probable death for Hetch wasn’t going to stop the Anons from having a fun day.

Chair was planning to bake a cake for their friends.

There were only three problems Chair had with baking a cake.

Problem one: she could only remember two ingredients which were eggs and sugar. Problem two: they had no idea how to bake a cake.

Problem two wasn’t an issue on the most part because she had plenty of friends around to help.

This brings up problem three: those of the other entities in the Void who knew how to bake a cake typically had very skewed perceptions on cake recipes.

Oh well. Eldritch cake was better than no cake.

Chair made a messy sign asking for help baking a cake, taped it to the front side of a table and sat.

Thankfully she didn’t have to wait long.

“HEYO!” He yelled as they appeared. “Cake time! Mind handing me the powder?”

“The powder?” Chair asked. She assumed !! meant the baking soda and handed the box over to them.

“Thank you.” !! opened the box and poured it into a large bowl. “So! First we need some water, oil, eggs, and another egg…”

Chair paused as !! hesitated, probably trying to remember the next ingredient. He started to float as they thought. “How about another egg!”

Chair added the water, oil and three eggs into the bowl with the baking soda. They looked at !! for more instructions.

“Now, make sure that your hand is still tangible while making it! BUT,” !! suddenly yelled, “if some stuff isn’t mixed in correctly, then you’re going to have to… to…” !! snapped his fingers as he tried to remember the word they wanted to say. “Turn down the opacity on your hand.”

Chair stared at !!. Slowly, they looked down at her hand and willed it to have a lower opacity.

Nothing happened.

“And now,” !! continued, “the mixer! You have to speak with a firm voice or it won’t respect you!”

Chair watched !! in amazement as he began yelling at the cake mixture.

Egg wandered past Chair’s sign, paused, read the sign, then ran up to Chair.

“Oh, wait wait wait!” Egg said, “I know this! I read a bunch of cookbooks when I was alive!”

Chair moved the first bowl of cake mix over to the far end of the table so it wouldn't get in the way. !! moved with it, still continuing to yell at the batter.

“I’ll put that bowl in the oven when they’re done,” Chair told Egg.

“So! You take sugar and- like a packet of sugar,” Egg clarified, “but you take a spoon and you get a good amount. Like say, maybe around however much feels right, it’s your cake. 

Get milk, like a cup of it? And two eggs- I don’t count as one of those by the way. Just so you know. Don’t cook me.”

“I won’t,” Chair assured her.

Chair took a sugar packet, opened it and poured the contents into a new bowl. She then took milk, measured it out in a plastic cup they found and poured into the bowl with the sugar. Finally she popped two whole eggs into the bowl.

“Also flower and butter,” Egg mused, “but you can get however much of that you want, it’s not really a law. Now, what you have to do is mix ‘em all together, and heat it up, simple!”

“How long do I heat it up for?” Chair asked as they added the final ingredients. Three sticks of butter and a handful of flour went into the bowl.

“You cook it for- until it gets brown? And solid. Make sure it’s not a liquid anymore, very vitally important.” Egg started to walk away. “Then wait for it to cool down and eat it.”

“Thank you,” Chair called after their friend. They mixed the contents of the bowl with her wooden hands and popped it into the nearby oven. She turned back to !!, who was still yelling at his bowl of cake mix. “Are you okay?”

!! nodded, not breaking their yelling streak.

Dvd mrrowed as it hopped up onto the table.

“Hi, Dvd,” Chair greeted, brushing their messy hands against her pants to clean them off. “Do you have cake advice, too?”

“Ok,” Dvd started. “What you want to do is meow at your human for so long. And make sure it’s irritating. They may check your food and litter tray, but after a while they will be like ‘what the fuck do you want’ and you show them the cake mix. After that, wait ‘till everything is cooling. If it’s cupcakes, take one bite from as many as you can.”

Chair nodded as they watched Dvd trot away. “Thanks for the, uh. Good cat advice!”

They turned around and yelped in surprise when they saw Valentine standing ominously behind her.

“You,” he said. They grabbed Chair’s arms and pulled her closer to their height. “You measure everything by vibes alone. And then pour in a fuckton of heart sprinkles.”

Valentine only let go when Chair nodded. “...Oh, can the frosting be pink?”

“Uh, y-yeah. Will do, uh, Vale. I’ll get on that now.”

Chair nervously waved goodbye to the Malewife anon before going to do as he instructed.

She ‘measured with her heart’. Two handfuls of sugar, a fistful of baking soda, three eggs, and two sticks of butter went into a bowl and were mixed. A second oven appeared and Chair slid the bowl in. They placed pink frosting containers (there were three in total) on top of the oven so she wouldn’t forget when it was time to frost it.

“Are you okay still?” Chair asked !!. They received no answer.

“OH!” Berry said as it noticed Chair’s sign. “You’re going to bake a cake?! Yippee! I love baking! Uh- are they okay?”

“They’ve been doing that for the past thirty minutes. I think he’ll be okay.”

“Okay,” Berry nodded. “Um, so first thing is the wet and dry ingredients don’t get mixed at the same time. Actually, I don’t think that matters all that much, it just sounds silly. I mean, they go into the same pan anyway.”

“That’s good. I’ve been putting them in the same bowl the entire time.”

“Wait, what kind of cake are we talking about?” Berry asked. “It’s Valentine’s day, so I think red velvet is the obvious choice but that’s basically just chocolate cake with a load of red food color in it. Are you allergic to red dyes?”

Chair shrugged. “I hope not.”

“Okay, so we need flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, butter, eggs, vanilla, milk and baking soda. Am I missing anything? Hmm… oh yeah! Vegetable oil and the red food coloring.”

Chair scrambled to grab all the ingredients. Were cakes supposed to be this complicated? Oh, man, their other cakes didn’t have all of these ingredients in them.

“We should have everything now, I’m pretty sure,” Berry said once all the ingredients were on the table. “Just make sure the butter is room temp. The oven needs to be preheated while we’re mixing everything together, I’m pretty sure it just needs to be three-hundred sixty degrees fahrenheit. Get a bowl big enough to mix everything in.”

Chair rushed to preheat the third oven that appeared. Preheat the oven? Why would she need to preheat the oven?? Why was baking a cake so difficult???

“Okay,” Berry continued, “into the bowl goes the dry ingredients first. How much did we need again? One sec, I need to think about it. It’s been a while since I’ve baked a cake.”

As Berry thought, Chair whispered to !! “Do you need to breathe?”

!! shook their head.

"Um, I'm pretty sure it was 3 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 2 tablespoons of cocoa,” Berry said, grabbing measuring equipment. “Oh, I always forget how much baking soda is needed. Or was it baking powder? What's even the difference?”

“You okay?” asked Chair.

“Huh? Sorry, um, I think like 1/4 a teaspoon of salt and 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda?? Yeah, and then you mix it all together. Now 1/2 a cup of butter, which is just a stick, and 4 eggs need to be mixed in too. Oh! And 1 cup of vegetable oil. Once all that is mixed together, we need to add in the cup of milk and the red dye. It needs to be mixed well, so no clumps or anything."

Chair followed Berry’s instructions as closely as they could and mixed the batter together with their hands again. Unfortunately the red dye stained her wood hands and refused to wash out. “What’s next?”

"That's it for the batter, I'm pretty sure. Just gotta pour it into a greased pan and bake it for... 30 minutesss, I think? Yeah, 30 minutes sounds right." Berry waved as it walked away. “Bye, let me know when the cake is ready!”

“I will. Thanks for the help, Berry!” Chair slid the bowl into the preheated oven. “I’m sure I didn’t forget any steps.”

“GREASED PAN,” !! yelled at Chair. They then continued to yell obscenities at the original bowl of cake mix.

Chair internally face palmed. “I forgot the freaking pan. Eh, whatever. ‘M sure it’s fine.”

“What’s fine?” Blue asked. “Oh a cake, that’s easy. You put some butter and sugar in a bowl and mix them until combined, then add- shit how many eggs?”

“I’ve put as many as three eggs in a cake at a time,” Chair answered. “But what do you think?”

“Well, I don't know. Like two eggs I think. And mix and add vanilla extract but just a little or any extract really you could make it a strawberry cake if you wanted- nah nevermind chocolate is better if anything. Um, so anyway a little vanilla extract and then you add flour and milk to make the mix look like cake mix, and then you put the mix in a cake mold that is either non-stick or has a fine layer of butter and flour to prevent sticking,” Blue rambled. “You put the mold in the oven for like half an hour in I'd say like 180 degrees Celsius which in Fahrenheit is... More than 180 degrees.

“Oh and don't forget to preheat the oven!! The cake bakes faster when the oven is already warm and not just recently turned on (the amount of times I've forgotten to preheat the oven speaks for itself). So, um, yeah. That's how you make a cake.”

Chair watched as Blue quickly walked away and began to follow their instructions. They put this cake in a GREASED PAN this time, then slid it into the fourth oven.

“Now we throw it in the oven!” !! said normally, startling Chair. “I like to add a little bit of ectoplasm if we have some on hand but if not then just toss it in there!” They smiled as he threw the bowl into a fifth oven at full force. “Just yell for me when the cake is ready!”

Chair stared at !! as they walked away, then stared at the fifth oven.

“I am a chair that owns five ovens,” Chair whispered to herself.

“Ok, so… a cake… can I do that?” Dizzy asked.

“Cake number six, go on ahead! You just missed !! yelling at the first cake we mixed an hour ago.”

Dizzy nodded. “So... I think you have to mix sugar, flour, eggs... What else is there in a cake...  baking powder? OH AND CHOCOLATE!!! THAT'S IMPORTANT I THINK! Uh... oh also you add milk I think?”

Chair gathered the next set of ingredients and added them all together in a bowl.

“Then you mix... all that stuff? And then you put it in the oven for... wait what type of cake are we making?”

Chair shrugged. “Cake.”

“Uh... ok. 50 minutes in the oven? Then you get it out and you eat it!!! I think. I didn’t bake a lot pre-tapes…”

“That’s okay! Thanks for the help, Dizzy.” Chair placed the sixth cake bowl in the sixth oven. They happened to glance over at the right time and saw Sparkle walking by. “Hey, Sparkle! Do you want to help me bake a cake for Valentine's day?”

"Oh god you're asking me???” Sparkle asked. “Uh- Shit it's been a while and I usually use a book? Right- Okay. You probably need flour? A bowl first might be useful. Flour in the bowl, right. Like a good handful or two of it.”

Chair tossed two handfuls of flour into a new bowl.

“And... What else does a cake need? Oil? Like cooking oil... Is that olive oil? Uh... Just put some oil in there. A good... Second pouring of oil. And milk? Maybe? Or is the liquid just oil? Well you definitely need eggs! I think both the white and the yolk? Maybe add a few of those. And... Mix it and heat it up? You should probably ask someone else actually-"

“No, no,” Chair said as she poured another bottle of vegetable oil in the bowl, “none of us remember correctly, so you’re okay!”

“Okay, well… thanks for baking cakes for us?” Sparkle left.

Mask told Chair to throw a few fistfuls of eggs and sugar into a bowl and hope for the best.

Bookstack gave Chair two recipes.

“To do it RIGHT you need flour, milk, eggs, sugar, water, oil, baking soda, and, like, vanilla extract?? ! think???? And you kinda mix everything and pour it into a pan and cook it at three hundred degrees fahrenheit for like an hour. And put some "frosting" that is just colored sugar and whipped cream.

“To do it wrong? Easy. Use crack instead of flour. Add some spaghetti/m&ms and you’re done.”

Once Chair was certain all the cakes were done (they made sure Egg’s cake was solid with no liquids) and decorated those that involved icing. Then they laid all the cakes out on her table in a row. She decided to replace their original sign with a new one that said ‘WARNING! Drugs in the Cake in the Center. Eat at Your Own Risk’

Eldritch cakes were better than no cake.

[raindancer2004]

The Other Swan

Word Count: 4,410 Demetri x OC Swan. Final Part. Warnings: Fluff,

Danni excelled at being a mother to Nicolai, her maternal instincts stronger and running deeper than she ever thought possible, but then everything vampires feel is on a much deeper level compared to their human counterparts. Danni would bake cakes and cookies with Nicolai, something that he loved as he got to eat their creations. Demetri would often watch his mate and son baking together, painting together and playing games together. Danni even taught him how play the different card and board games that she played as a child so he could join in with them. Nicolai liked to call this family game time and Demetri couldn’t help smiling as he got to experience the family life he never thought he would once he became immortal.

Caius and Athenodora were pleased to hear that Danni and Demetri agreed to nurture both his human and vampire sides as this meant he got to experience the best of both worlds. Athenodora offered to bake with Nicolai one cloudy Wednesday afternoon “Can you bake Nana?” “Not really sweetie but I can read and therefore can follow the recipes from your cookbooks” She replied smiling down at him “Ok, we’ll start with a simple Chocolate cake recipe” Nicolai responded with a smile of his own as he took his Nana’s hand and walked beside her to the kitchen.

Caius decided to see how his wife and grandson were getting on in the kitchen and walked in to find her blue dress covered in flour and a streak of flour on her cheek. Nicolai had some chocolate around his lips but they both looked happy as they decorated the cake. Caius chuckled low to himself but due to their vampire hearing Athenodora and Nicolai heard him and looked up. “Look Grandpa, we’re nearly finished with our cake” “I can see, it looks delicious” He replied “It’s a shame Nana and I can’t help you eat it” “I’ve told him he has to share the cake with the new Secretary Lori especially as we have some Chocolate chunk cookies in the oven” “Sounds like a good idea darling” Caius replied smiling and Nicolai nodded in agreement.

Around the end of July Aro received a wedding invitation from Alice Cullen announcing that Bella Swan and Edward Cullen were to be married on August 13th although Caius was not happy to hear the news as he knew this was the Cullen’s way of delaying Bella’s transformation further by having a wedding first. Aro on the other hand was excited to hear of the nuptials even if this was the Cullen’s way of announcing that Bella was to become one of them. “I’m going to guess that Danni hasn’t received an invitation or even been notified of the upcoming wedding” Marcus mused aloud “Seeing as they cut her out of their lives months ago, I doubt it” Caius replied “I think we should be the ones tell her” Aro said and his brothers nodded in agreement “I agree. I won’t have secrets kept from her” Caius replied, his protectiveness coming to the surface, knowing that the news would likely upset her.  “Can I be there when you tell her please?” Demetri asked as he and Felix were the only other vampires in the room “Of course my dear boy” Marcus replied “Thank you master. This news is likely to upset her, especially after being cut out of her family’s lives” Demetri replied.

Danni was quiet over the next few days and everyone knew why and didn’t question her about it, they just let her be. Danni kept Nicolai close during these few days too, choosing to spend time with him alone. During one their shopping trips, Nicolai finds a ‘World’s Best Daddy’ mug “Mummy can I get this for Daddy please?” He asked pointing to the mug. Danni smiled before answering “Of course you can sweetie, He’ll love it” “Thank you Mummy” Nicolai replied and hugged her legs.

Later that night after his shift ended, Demetri returned to his room and saw Danni and Nicolai waiting for him, a blue and silver gift bag sitting on the coffee table. “Hello mi amore…” He kissed Danni’s cheek “…Hi buddy” He kissed his son’s hair before taking a seat beside them on the sofa. “Hi Daddy, this is for you” Nicolai said with a big grin on his face, pointing to the gift bag. “Hi babe” Danni replied smiling as Demetri reached over and opened the gift bag to reveal the mug inside. Danni and Nicolai watched as a big smile appeared on Demetri’s face, his eyes becoming glassy with unshed tears “Thank you so much buddy. I love it and you very much” He lifted his son onto his lap and hugged him close, placing a kiss on his hair.

Danni and Demetri started making plans for their wedding as Danni wanted a Winter wedding at the castle. Aro offered to officiate at the ceremony and Danni and Demetri agreed, both surprised and pleased that he wanted to participate in their wedding this way. “It would be an honour Aro, thank you” Danni said as Caius rolled his eyes dramatically from his throne, Demetri tried not to laugh at Caius’ reaction.

Heidi, Chelsea, Jane were asked to be Danni’s Bridesmaids, Gianna taking on the role of Maid of Honour. Felix was chosen as Best Man with Alec and Santiago being groomsmen and Nicolai was given the role of Ring Bearer, something he was very excited about.

Danni asked Caius to accompany her on a walk of the North facing garden and he agreed as he enjoyed spending time with his adopted daughter. They took a seat on the bench in front of the fountain and Danni took an unneeded breath before speaking. “Caius, I have something important I would like to ask you…” Caius took her hand in his and nodded for her to continue “…I wondered if you would give me away at the wedding?” Caius’ face lit up “Of course I would my child. I’m honoured that you asked” He wrapped his arms around her in hug “Thank you, not just for agreeing to give me away but for making me feel like part of the family” “You are most welcome Danni. As far as I am concerned you are my daughter and I would do anything and everything to ensure you are happy and safe always” He pulled her in for another hug, Danni resting her head on his shoulder, feeling tears fill her eyes that will go unshed.

Athenodora told Demetri that she and Caius would pay for Danni’s bridal gown along with the Bridesmaid and Maid of Honour dresses. “You don’t need to do that Mi’ lady” He replied “I know we don’t have to but we want to. As you know we see Danni as our daughter and this is our gift to you both” Demetri nodded “Thank you very much for your offer. It’s greatly appreciated” “You are most welcome my dear” She replied before giving him a quick hug. Demetri has always been Athenodora’s favourite guard and she was very happy he would become her official son-in-law soon.

Danni and Demetri had decided on a Red and White colour scheme for their Winter wedding, deciding on having Poinsettias as the centre pieces as they are a Winter flower. Red and White Roses would make up the bridal bouquets.

Caius had the guards freshen up the ballroom’s décor as it was looking a little dull after years of not being used. The cream-coloured walls looked bright and fresh against the polished real wood flooring once finished.

Marcus arranged for ‘Midnight Fangs’ a vampire quartet to play at the wedding, having had them perform at the castle during previous balls and galas.

If only they knew that all of these plans were going to be put on hold…

It is early December when Irina enters Castillo Volterra and makes her way to the throne room. Santiago opens the doors and she enters, Demetri and Felix walking towards her, curious as to what she wants. “What a pleasant surprise” Aro says as Irina enters the throne room, Marcus looks fed up and closed his book softly. “What do you want?” Caius asks sounding a little irritated turning around to face her “Hmm” She pauses a moment before replying “I have to report a crime…the Cullens…they have done something…terrible.” A smirk appears on Caius’ face and Aro closes his book and flashes over to Irina “Allow me my dear” Aro says taking her hand in his and looking at her thoughts and memories regarding the Cullen’s ‘crime’ “Oh my” He says once he’s finished. “Brother what have they have done now?” Caius asks as he walks towards them “It would appear dear brother they have created an immortal child” Aro replies “WHAT?!!” Caius shouts “ARE YOU SURE?” “Irina saw the child herself, she was jumping in the air catching snowflakes” Aro replied “Then we send the guards now! They can destroy the child and the Cullens” Caius responds “No brother. I think we will take our time, gather some witnesses and pay them a visit ourselves along with the guards” Aro replies calmly, despite the anger simmering inside. “A public trial?” Caius smirks “Yes brother. A public trial…this way we can be sure that our kind are reminded that creating immortal children is still illegal” Aro replies “Thank you for letting us know my dear” Marcus said smiling “Santiago please show Irina to one of our guest rooms” Marcus says looking at the guard “Yes master” Santiago bows his head and leads her to a guest room on the second floor.

Later that day Aro calls Danni to the throne room and asks the guards to leave except for Demetri. “Thank you for coming Danni…we have something we need to discuss with you” Aro starts “Ok. Have I done something wrong?” She asks looking between the Kings and Demetri “No, Danni you have done nothing wrong” Aro replies with a warm smile and Danni instantly relaxes “However, someone you know well has done something wrong, illegal even…” He pauses for a moment “…It would seem that the Cullens have created an immortal child…” “You have to got to be kidding me? Like seriously? What the hell?” Danni cuts Aro off. The Kings and Demetri cannot help laughing a little at her reaction. “Well I hope you plan to deal with them accordingly Caius” She adds looking at him “Yes child we do. There will be a public trial in Forks with witnesses” He replies and she nods “You don’t object to that?” Marcus asks curiously “No, I don’t. Caius gave me a history lesson once whilst Demi was away and informed me of your laws and how you dealt with the immortal children problem when it arose centuries ago” “But Bella’s your sister” Marcus adds, his head tilted to the side slightly “Don’t remind me!...” Danni bites back and Demetri intertwined his fingers with hers, squeezing them gently “…She left me here nine months ago and hasn’t looked back, remember” The Kings all nod at her, sympathy shining in their ruby eyes at the memory of that day.

A moment of silence passed before Danni spoke again “Can I ask how you know about this?” “We had a visitor this afternoon and she told us about the child. In fact, the child was seen with your sister” Aro replied “Bella may not have been aware of immortal children and the law surrounding them but Carlisle would have known and I’m sure Edward would also have been aware. They have broken a law and need to face the consequences and let’s face it you’ve been lenient in the past with Bella and Edward and look how they’ve repaid you” She responds back “That was not the reaction I was expecting from you my dear but I will say I am impressed with the way you have handled the news” Aro tells her honestly “Thank you Aro. I do, however, have a request…regarding the trial and any subsequent punishment” “We’re listening my dear” Caius replies this time and steps closer to her “I do not want Demetri to have any involvement in the punishment of the Cullens, especially Bella and Edward. I am not sure if you are aware but last summer Edward and his brothers killed a vampire who tried to kill Bella and as a result the vampire’s mate sought revenge…she even tried to kill Bella. This took place after Edward left her…before we came here…” She paused to see the Kings reactions, they nodded for her to continue “…As selfish as this may seem I am asking that Demetri is not involved as I do not want any of the Cullens to come after me or him as revenge. I do not want to be looking over my shoulder or worrying about him when he is on missions, more than I do already. Also, I do not want our son to grow up with only one parent” She added looking up at Demetri to see that he was looking down at her lovingly. “I think we can all agree with that request my dear, after all you haven’t asked for anything since you arrived and you understand the situation we are in and have handled it better than we expected. I also have no desire to risk anything happening to my grandson or his parents” Caius answered her “Thank you Caius” She replied and gave him a quick hug “Yes thank you master for agreeing to Danni’s request” “You are both welcome. We do, however, ask that you both accompany us when we go to Forks” He replies “Of course master” Demetri replies and Danni nods in agreement.

The following day Irina was in the library reading along with Alec when Danni entered with Nicolai “What the...?” Irina says shocked when she notices the little boy who resembles Demetri but who clearly has a heartbeat “Irina this Danni, Demetri’s mate and their son Nicolai” Alec introduces them “It’s nice to meet you Irina” Danni smiles at her “Nice to meet you too” Irina replies “Nicolai…he has a-a heartbeat…but how?” Irina asks “I’m half-human, half-vampire” He replies “I had him whilst I was still human, Demetri changed me after he was born…about six months ago” Danni adds “But he-he looks like...” Irina trails off “His vampire side means he grows faster than his human counterparts and is quite smart for his age too” Danni tells her as she takes a seat on the sofa opposite her and Nicolai sits beside his mum. “I didn’t know that vampires could have children” Irina says looking at the boy “Neither did we. It was a surprise to us all to discover that male vampires can father children with human females” Alec responds. “I’m gifted too like mummy and daddy” Nicolai says proudly “Really? May I ask what your gift is Nicolai?” Irina asks, curiosity shining in her amber coloured eyes “I’m a shield like mummy and I am able to track people like daddy, but only those with shields. I fill in the gaps of daddy’s gift” He replies proudly “Wow” Irina breathed out, “I can’t believe how much he looks like Demetri” Irina says looking between Nicolai and Danni “I know, me too. He’s a mini version of his dad” Danni replies and Nicolai just smiles back at Irina.

A few days later Nicolai and Irina were walking in the South facing garden when he stopped walking and gently tugged on her hand to get her attention. “Irina, can I ask why you have amber coloured eyes seeing as you are a vampire?” Nicolai asked curiosity shining in his blue eyes “I have amber eyes because I am a vegetarian vampire…” “What’s a vegetarian vampire?” He asked, cutting her off “A vegetarian vampire survives on animal blood instead of human blood” She responded and watched as Nicolai tried to process this information and knew he would have more questions for her. “What animals do you eat and how do you find them?” “Where I live in Alaska, there is a very big forest surrounding our house and my family and I hunt the animals there. In the forest there are different animals, Bears, Moose, Wolves and Caribou to name a few” “Oh, that’s different. Why don’t you hunt humans like other vampires?” “My family and I used to hunt humans but after many years we decided to try surviving on animal blood and found that we could survive that way, although there are not many vegetarian vampires” “You are the first vegetarian vampire I have met” He said with a smile “You are the first vampire / human hybrid that I’ve met” She replied with a smile of her own. They resumed their walk around the garden and continued to talk about different topics. Irina was surprised at how ‘grown-up’ Nicolai was and sounded despite how young he was.

Whilst the Kings and the four Elite guards were away from the castle to gather some witnesses of their own for the upcoming Cullen trial, Danni found that Nicolai’s shielding ability had developed. “Look Mummy…” Danni looked up from her book to see a faint shimmering glow circling her son, giving him the appearance of being inside a protective bubble. Danni smiled, feeling proud of her son and his growing ability. “That’s amazing sweetie” She praised him and he smiled back at her. She wondered if she could get her shield do the same or something similar at the very least. ‘It’d be nice to be able to protect the ones I love, as well as myself’ She thought to herself and decided to ask Santiago and Heidi for their help in Demetri’s absence.

Danni and Nicolai met with Santiago and Heidi the following morning in the south-facing garden as they had agreed to help them develop their shielding abilities. Nicolai asked to train with Santiago as he knew that Demetri had trained Santiago when he joined the guard and still spars with him regularly. Danni and Heidi worked together to see how her shield worked and if she could shield someone other than herself.

With a lot of hard work, Danni was able to shield multiple people as she had practised constantly, pushing her shield to its max. Her shield looked different to her son’s as hers looked almost like it was an extension of her, a faint shimmering was the only hint that her shield was in use to protect the ones she loved.

Upon Demetri’s return to the castle Danni and Nicolai updated him on the development of their gifts. Nicolai was able to shield not only himself but one other person easily. “I hope I can shield more people when I’m older” He said looking up at his dad “You’re doing just fine as you are buddy” Demetri replied proudly, as he looked down at his son as they both stood inside Nicolai’s ‘protective bubble.’

Caius, Aro and Marcus stood watching Danni and Nicolai with proud smiles on their faces. “At least we can keep Edward from reading our thoughts now” Caius said proudly and nudged Aro slightly “Yes, and it’ll be a good surprise for the damned law breaker too” Aro replied with a smile.

December 31st – Confrontation –

Once it had been declared that Renesmee was not an immortal child, Irina was ripped apart and burned for providing a false allegation against the Cullens. “That’s a shame mummy, I liked her” Nicolai said low so only his parents heard him and she nodded in response.

Alice and Jasper made their way back to the Cullens and their witnesses but before anyone could leave Vladimir shouts out “TRAITOR” and looks directly at Danni “Excuse me?” She asks “You are on the wrong side my dear, should you not be over here supporting your sister?” He replies “Supporting my sister, why would I want to do that after what she and her precious Edward did?” “You mean have a child together?” Stefan replies “No. I’m talking about the fact that they left me in Volterra nine months ago and haven’t been in touch since. In fact, I received one letter from Esme telling me that once Edward and Bella landed back here, they told my dad I had died in an accident and that a memorial was held for me. Edward made that decision on the flight back from Volterra thus, ensuring I could never come home to see my dad, never have the chance to introduce him to my mate. They took away my chance to say goodbye” She replied and noticed the shocked looks on the faces of the Cullen’s witnesses “Oh…you all look surprised. Did they not tell you that part? Did they also tell you that they never invited me to their wedding? I only found out about the wedding from Aro after they sent an invitation to him to let him know it was taking place. It was their way of announcing Bella’s transformation.” She added and Demetri squeezed her hand gently. Caius moved closer to Danni, a scowl settling on his face.

“I notice you have a child of your own” Tanya says looking at Nicolai “Yes, I do. My son was born six months ago and my fiancée changed me after he was delivered, we didn’t want to risk another pregnancy as there was no guarantee I would handle another one so well” She responded and noticed Carlisle looked a little confused. “Danni drank human blood regularly once we discovered she was pregnant, this allowed her to meet the baby’s needs and she was able to keep certain foods down too” Caius advised him proudly and Carlisle nodded, clearly impressed as it sounded like Danni had an easier pregnancy than her sister.

“Why did you not tell me I had a nephew?” Bella asked “Why would I? You cut me out of your life, cut me out of my own family. I have a new family now and I couldn’t be happier” Danni replies smiling.

“You have a chance to reconnect with one another, especially as you both have children now” Esme replies softly “Esme as much as I like you and Carlisle, we’re all aware that if it wasn’t for this ‘situation’ we wouldn’t even be talking. I mean none of you got in touch to advise me of the wedding or that my niece was born three months ago” Danni replied. “You can’t take the high ground Danni, your mate would have killed us if there had been a fight today” Edward called out “That is where you are wrong Eddie. The Kings agreed to my request of keeping Demetri out of any executions involving you Cullens as I didn’t want any of you coming after me or my mate as revenge. I protected my family unlike you. I mean look what happened after you killed James, his mate went after Bella to avenge him and you weren’t even here to protect her. So, I have every reason to take the high ground as you put it as I have done nothing to any of you” She replied. Edward went to speak but Caius cut him off “I would consider your next words to Danni very carefully Cullen or you’ll find yourself joining Irina in becoming a pile of ash” “Why do you care what he says to her?” Bella asked “I care because Danni is my daughter and no one, and I do mean no one will disrespect a member of my family” Caius replies and Demetri smirks at the Cullens as surprise registers on their faces.

“What?…how…?” Bella struggled to speak, too shocked at Caius’ news. “My wife and I always wanted to have a daughter and once we met and got to know Danni, things fell into place and we came to care for her as though she was our daughter…” Caius spoke looking directly at Bella “And I came to care about Caius and Dora as my parents in return” Danni finished Caius’ sentence with a warm smile. Everyone watched as Athenodora stepped forward and slipped her hand into her husband’s as she spoke “We were there for Danni when she needed love and support as she navigated her way through a new relationship, whilst she settled into her new life and her new home...” Bella looked as though she wanted to say something but Athenodora didn’t give her chance. “…You abandoned your sister without a second thought when she needed you, needed your support to navigate her way through a new relationship, a relationship with a vampire no less and everything that came with that, seeing as you had experience with this but you chose Edward instead.” Danni nodded and felt so loved in that moment hearing her adoptive parents speak this way about her.

“Just so we are clear Bella, you will not be receiving an invitation to our wedding as it’s for our family and friends only” Demetri adds and Danni nods in agreement before adding “We had to postpone our special day because of you and your ‘antics.’”

Silence filled the air as no one spoke, as they tried to process everything they’ve just heard. “Danni and the Volturi are telling the truth about everything…” Maggie says looking around at the Cullen’s witnesses “…And Bella and Edward haven’t even bothered to apologise or make amends for their actions” Maggie continued, distaste clear in her voice.

“Our apologies Danni for calling you a traitor. It appears we were not told the truth regarding yours and Demetri’s situation” Vladimir called out and she and Demetri nodded. “That’s quite alright. I don’t blame Demetri for keeping me by his side that day. If I’m being honest, I’m glad he did as our relationship developed naturally and I got to have a son with the man I love. I am looking forward to spending an eternity with my family and that doesn’t include any of you” She replied looking at Bella and the Cullens, before turning to face her mate. “Let’s go home mi amore” Demetri smiled down at her and looked at Marcus who just smiled and nodded. The Cullens and their witnesses watched as Demetri and Danni left the field with their son and didn’t look back.