#“only ever died to his allies' hands in secret life"

[teapot-of-tyrahn]

hey. hey... chat,

i think we need to discuss an incredibly plausible probability right now:

we've figured out how the life system works. if a red or yellow kills a player of a higher colour than them, then they get their life.

pearl “has died at least 1 time per session so far” pearlescentmoon is on her yellow life. she has two lives left.

scott "always sacrificing himself for his allies" smajor is on six.

the likelihood of scott killing himself for pearl again is statistically high.

[shaytheantagonist]

My Roman Empire is how the life series writes itself. Here are some coincidences that I think about frequently:

1. Every person who has ever won a life series (Real Life included) was paired with another winner in Double Life (Grian & Scar, Scott & Pearl, Martyn & Cleo)

2. Several members had patterns in their deaths in Secret Life (All of Grian’s deaths happened while a large portion of the remaining server members were present, all of Scott’s deaths were arranged & he let whoever killed him kill him, all of Etho’s deaths were from Scar killing him, all of Jimmy’s deaths were from mobs of increasing strength (drowned, dragon & warden), all of Mumbo’s deaths were because of poor walking (walked off a ledge, walked into lava, walked into his own fence posts) & all of Martyn’s deaths happened in different dimensions)

3. Jimmy being out first 4 times in a row

4. Grian winning 3rd Life & then being dead last in the VR recreation of 3rd Life

5. Mumbo always having his final death moments after Jimmy’s final death

6. Pearl & Scar winning their seasons after being the underdog the entire season & having it the hardest

7. The first interaction Etho & Joel had in the entire life series was while they were in boats

8. Every time Scott is in the final two, whoever loses dies to a mob they didn’t know was behind them (Ren in Last Life, Scott in Real Life)

9. Jimmy always cursing at least one of his allies to do horribly each season (3rd Life was Scott’s lowest placement ever, 10th. Last Life: both Mumbo & Impulse were in the bottom 4. Double Life: Tango played poorly and was responsible for 2/3 of their deaths. Limited Life, Joel was out third & The Bad Boys died A LOT. Secret Life: Martyn was the first yellow AND the first red despite literally winning the previous season. EVEN REAL LIFE, Jimmy teamed with Grian, Joel, Scar & Impulse, who were the first 4 to be eliminated.)

10. Since Double Life, Pearl has wanted her allies to win the current seasons, she has outlived all of her main allies every season since then (Big B in Limited Life & Mumbo, BDubs & Joel in Secret Life)

11. Joel literally & metaphorically being the reason Lizzie was the first one out instead of Jimmy in Secret Life (Lizzie only died because she was trying to kill Scott to help out with Joel’s assassin task, by the time she tried to kill him & died in the process, Joel had already failed his task & just hadn’t told her yet, so if he had told her that he had failed, she wouldn’t have taken Scott to the end & fallen into the void & Jimmy probably would’ve first out again. Also when they were hosting an early funeral for Jimmy, Joel opened the grave & told Jimmy to “Rise”, I think this was Joel unknowingly breaking the curse.)

12. The fact that Gem’s final death is always her coming 3rd & dying in a 2v1 situation.

13. Joel’s first death in Last Life was fall damage, his first death in Secret Life was also fall damage. The reason Joel ended up on red life in Last Life was because of the Boogeyman curse (both times), in Secret Life, he because red because of being killed by a Boogeyman. In Last Life Joel’s final death was at the hands of Scott, causing him to place 5th, in Secret Life, Joel’s final death was being killed by Scott, causing him to place 5th. I’m leaving out one of Joel’s Last Life deaths, specifically when he died to Mumbo in self defence, but that’s mostly cuz there are more deaths in Last Life than Secret Life

This isn’t even all of them, there are so many more!

[book--brackets]

Summaries under the cut

Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school—that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses, but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"—but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

Trespassers will be turned to stone

For centuries, mystical creatures of all description were gathered to a hidden refuge called Fablehaven to prevent their extinction. The sanctuary is one of the last strongholds of true magic. Enchanting? Absolutely. Exciting? You bet. Safe? Well, actually, quite the opposite . . .

Kendra and her brother, Seth, have no idea their grandfather is the current caretaker of Fablehaven. Inside the gated woods, ancient laws keep order among greedy trolls, mischievous satyrs, plotting witches, spiteful imps, and jealous fairies. However, when the rules get broken, powerful forces of evil are unleashed, forcing Kendra and Seth to face the greatest challenge of their lives, to save their family, Fablehaven, and perhaps even the world.

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on 28 September 1330. Nearly seven hundred years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty and Nicholas Flamel lives. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects—the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. And that's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it. Sometimes legends are true. And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time.

Out of My Mind by Shannon Draper

Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom - the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she's determined to let everyone know it - somehow.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!

Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale

She was born with her eyes closed and a word on her tongue, a word she could not taste.

Her name was Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt’s stories and learning the language of the birds, especially the swans. And when she was older, she watched as a colt was born, and she heard the first word on his tongue, his name, Falada.

From the Grimm’s fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original, and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can lead the people she has made her own.

Fudge by Judy Blume

Life with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger Heaven, or trying to fly, he's never far from trouble. He's an almost three-year-old terror who gets away with everything, and Peter's had it up to here! When Fudge walks off with Dribble, Peter's pet turtle, it's the last straw. Peter has put up with Fudge for too long. Way too long! How can he get his parents to pay attention to him for a change?

Bartimaeus by Jonathan Stroud

Nathaniel is a boy magician-in-training, sold to the government by his birth parents at the age of five and sent to live as an apprentice to a master. Powerful magicians rule Britain, and its empire, and Nathaniel is told his is the "ultimate sacrifice" for a "noble destiny."

If leaving his parents and erasing his past life isn't tough enough, Nathaniel's master, Arthur Underwood, is a cold, condescending, and cruel middle-ranking magician in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The boy's only saving grace is the master's wife, Martha Underwood, who shows him genuine affection that he rewards with fierce devotion. Nathaniel gets along tolerably well over the years in the Underwood household until the summer before his eleventh birthday. Everything changes when he is publicly humiliated by the ruthless magician Simon Lovelace and betrayed by his cowardly master who does not defend him.

Nathaniel vows revenge. In a Faustian fever, he devours magical texts and hones his magic skills, all the while trying to appear subservient to his master. When he musters the strength to summon the 5,000-year-old djinni Bartimaeus to avenge Lovelace by stealing the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, the boy magician plunges into a situation more dangerous and deadly than anything he could ever imagine.

Shadow Children by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend.

Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.

Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows - does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess.

Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.

[ooooo-mcyt]

One thing I find interesting about Grian is how often he manages to kill his allies without actually ever betraying anyone.

Because to my knowledge he's never betrayed his team, iirc? In Third Life he threatened to leave, but fought with Scar until the end. In Last Life he left the Southlands, but only because he turned red and had to leave, not as a betrayal. In Double Life he had his secret soulmate but was still Scar's partner the whole time. And I'm pretty sure he was just strictly with his team the whole time in Limited and Secret life.

Grian likes to complain, sure, and he isn't always the best at communicating with his team either. But he has a pattern of being very much loyal to the teams he joins.

Yet he's killed. A lot. Of his teammates.

In Third Life it was through a fair final fight, he and Scar were the only ones left. In Last Life Jimmy and Mumbo kept trying to hurt him, so he killed them. In Double Life he killed Bigb without thinking. In Limited Life he accidentally kills Jimmy a few times.

So you get a person who is fundamentally very loyal, who never really turns his back on his team, but who keeps having to feel the blood of his loved ones on his hands.

And he feels BAD about it. Consistently.

He jumped off a cliff after killing Scar, he mourned his friends in Last Life, he apologized and called himself a traitor when Bigb died because of him.

People portray him as being callous and killing his loved ones out of cruelty or lack of care, but that's never been true. Grian has never genuinely betrayed an ally, and when they fall apart anyways, it tears him apart with guilt and grief.

[spacesapphi]

MOREEEE HES TRIO HEADCANONS

There's some. There's some sad ones in here, sorry. Warnings for mentions of death, neglect, and bullying

HCs below the cut

Elliott

- LOVES cats sm, has a little tabby named Mr. Darcy who he adores more than anything. Sometimes it'll knock over his inkwells or bat at his quills but he doesn't seem to mind

- He's the youngest of five kids and kind of the black sheep of the family. Rarely got attention besides teasing over his interests growing up, and used books to cope with it

- Doesn't really make eye contact, it makes him really nervous

- he actually briefly knew Harvey as a child and they were each other's only friend. Harvey moved away about 3 years after they met and they finally reunited in Pelican Town

- He can draw, but writing is much preferred

- Wrote letters to Harvey after he moved. When he was in highschool his dad got to the mail before him, read a new letter, and forbid him from communicating with Harvey again with no explanation. Elliott was devastated

- Went to college for writing and literature! He was able to publish his first book because he got a very good letter of recommendation from his professors for his work. The money he earned from it helped him get out of his town and away from his family

- Pelican Town has made him feel the most peaceful he's ever felt in his life. The cabin gets lonely, but he's happy and he cant imagine himself anywhere else

Harvey

- His dad was a military medic and unfortunately died while stationed when Harvey was a baby. His grandpa moved in to help raise him, and as mentioned in the previous HCs, was responsible for his interest in being a pilot

- He likes wearing headphones in public to block out loud noises, but gets too shy to do so often because he thinks it'll draw attention to him

- had a secret clubhouse he and Elliott used as a kid (literally just an abandoned garage where they kept a bunch of their stuff) but it meant a lot to them. It was a place to get away from the bullying they faced

- was incredibly short all his life until he got a crazy growth spurt in highschool and wound up being 6'2

- says shit like "good golly!" And "cheese and crackers!"

- he's a nerd, this man does not take his whiskey neat and bed at 3

- HES THE ONE THATS TOO SWEET

- Wrote letters to Elliott a lot after he moved. They stopped when the two of them were in highschool. Harvey sent a letter confessing he had a crush and never got one back, so he thought he did something wrong until he met Elliott again

- his mother is a huge ally and comforted him a lot after that incident. She loves her son so much :(

- He has really bad asthma

Shane

- much of what Jas has is a hand-me-down she got from Shane. All the toys, clothes, and stuff like that are from his childhood before he came out. They're a bit outdated, but Shane and Marnie can't always afford brand new things for her

- He went to college on a gridball scholarship, but studied in Visual Arts. The camera he has in his 7.5 heart event is one he used to make short films for classes.

- Came out to Marnie as trans at 12 and was terrified to do so. She was really accepting and sweet though! He let her be a big part of the new name process too :)

- Jas's parents were also in those classes and the three of them often worked on projects together. It's how they became best friends! He still has all the reels of little films they made, and watches some of them with Jas when they're really missing her parents

- Clint has a one-sided beef with him since Shane is Emily's best friend and ex. He views him as competition for some reason and acts weird about it. Shane has absolutely no clue why and just thinks he's weird

- He got really good at styling hair after he took in Jas. She likes just having her hair in two pigtails mostly but he can do some fun styles!

- Has a lot of health issues post recovery because of how heavy his drinking was. He's sick fairly often and it's frustrating for him

- Driving and being in a car makes him anxious, he prefers to either walk or bike if he can help it

- Let's his hair start growing out after he starts recovery. He gets it to a nice medium length. Tried to go for a mullet but Emily begged him to cut it 😭

- He does NOT like Lewis at all because of how he treats Marnie and he has to restrain himself to act civil, for his his aunts sake

[melodiclune]

It starts eerily calm.

And he craves revenge, more than anything. It's too late to search for allies, friends- people. Only redemption for himself exists now.

Tango falls, and he feels satiated, however briefly. He goes around, person by person- trusting no one, yet communicating and trading with everyone. As is his job, of course, as an honest Trader Scars' owner.

Skizz is next. He lets him go, even though the bloodlust is there. He lets Joel take it- he's gotten a good fill of his betrayal for now.

("Scar sends his regards.")

A fond farewell, to perhaps the only place he ever called his own- Trader Scars' may be destroyed, but it lives on in him.

Bigb takes so, so many hits. It's so tempting to get him. But he lets it go- he has some cowards hiding up in the tower to deal with.

("He sounds like a wounded wild animal- I feel so bad! Let's put him out of his misery.")

Etho goes down. It's like the apocalypse all over again- this time it's permanent. The villainous behaviour once forced down his throat, now devouring him as he lets it consume all his goodwill.

Bigb falls- it's just as quick as every other death so far. Cleo is trapped- it's so easy, really, to drive the sword through her back as he watches her bleed out. ("Goodbye!")

They fall, fall, fall... and Scar is always there at the sight of the bloodshed.

(Except for the Watcher- he dies, completely away from any place Scar could influence. How odd.)

And then, it's down to two sides. Scar wonders briefly, about how he has worked with both. But he sticks with the side he's on already- after all, switching now would be too much work. There's better numbers on this side anyway.

("Who cares- we all die anyway. It's all nothing.")

Bdubs and Joel fall- all he can do is stare as they do, a small attempt at saving them not going any farther than their attempts at befriending him.

Shooting Impulse off feels good, like killing everyone else did. The bloodlust remains strong.

Pearl helps him damage Scott a hefty amount- and later Gem comes to them, tears in her eyes and blood on her hands. He knows what has happened. She looks renewed, but broken.

He drives the sword through Gem, and then there were two.

Of course, there was never a true alliance to begin with. He's too tired of everyone's half hearted promises to him anyway. Pearl falls- he barely notices, the zombie capturing his attention.

("Pearl- where are you?")

(The Watcher speaks from beyond the veil. "She's dead, Scar. You've won.")

"Well, that can't be right. How did the guy with no friends win?"

He laughs, a bitter one. The zombie is attacking him- he feels himself succumb to it, but the numb feeling is overpowering.

Out of muscle memory, he trudges his way to the beginning of it all. The end of it all. The secret keeper hands him health, like it always does. Does he need it anymore?

("Win Secret Life.")

Well. He's completed his task. Time to move on.

But he sits there, by the Secret Keeper. The sun is bright in the sky, the blood on his hands drying.

It ends, eerily calm.

[transfemzedaph]

joel/bdubs but secret life after they both die but also i might continue this

"Bdubs I'm so sorry, I didn't-," he catches his breath, trying to stop the tears, "I'm sorry." "Joel, it's fine, it's okay, you did so well," Bdubs is holding his face gently in his hands, "I know Joel, it's okay," Bdubs thumb gently wipes one of his tears away, "I'm proud of you." For some reason, Joel starts crying harder. What Bdubs doesn't know is that every time Joel had died in a life series, no one was there for him afterwards, no one cared enough to care about him, not Etho, not Jimmy, no one. And yet, here was Bdubs, his ally who he got killed with his own clumsiness, holding him gently, telling him he still cares. Joel briefly wonders if Bdubs has ever done this with Etho, or if Etho has ever done this with Bdubs, but he pushes those thoughts away, Etho doesn't care, Bdubs is here. Now. And he cares. Joel isn't sure he's thinking straight as he surges forward to kiss Bdubs, but he knows that Bdubs is here, and he's real, and Joel can feel him. Can feel his lips on his own, can feel his hands on his face, can feel his own hands gently holding Bdubs waist. The moment of the kiss seems like it lasts an eternity but Joel pulls back, eyes fluttering open causing more tears to fall. Bdubs is looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. Joel pushes Bdubs hands away from his face and turns, running from the only person who ever really cared.

[holylulusworld]

Brother's keeper (1)

Summary: She would do anything to protect her brother.

Pairing: Royal!Tony Stark x Princess!Reader

Warnings: mentions of marriage, love-hate relationship, feisty/bratty reader, enemies to lovers, arguments, royal au, dystopian au, banter, sexual tension, betrayal (not Tony)

This series takes place in the Two kings (Arc1) & Not a queen (Arc 2) universe, at the same time. I recommend reading these stories first to understand this universe better.

You can find all arcs here: Of Kings and Queens Arcs

Brother’s keeper masterlist

<<Brother’s keeper - Prologue

AN: Square filled for Navy and Roo’s slumber party presents bingo @the-slumberparty: Arranged Marriage

“You can’t be serious, brother!” You throw your hands up. You can’t believe it was your brother letting the truth slip. “How can you tell Tony Stark out of all people that you are my twin, not our elder brother? We swore on Mother’s grave that we would never tell a soul that our elder brother died after we were born. It was perfect.”

“I had enough of being the second son, the man walking in your shadow. First, our brother was the one who was meant to ascend the throne, and after he died, father wanted you to reign,” your brother bites back. “I knew Stark would use the information to get you.”

“I never wanted to reign, brother! You know that!” You shake your head. “Stark forces my hand in marriage because of your foolish mistake. I got no other choice than marrying a man I despise!”

“Can you for once not be selfish! Stark is a strong ally. If you marry him, you’ll be queen one day, and I can ascend the throne, just like I always wanted.”

You gape at your brother. It’s no secret that he changed after your mother’s death. Always staring at the throne like he’s about to claim it any time.

He dares to call you selfish after he made sure you must marry a man you hate. All your life you kept his secret and took care of him. You were the one protecting your younger brother, only for him to stab you in the back.

You cup his face with both hands to look at him but find no regret in his eyes.

“Oh brother, what have you done,” you hold back the tears as you whisper in his ear. “If only you would’ve waited a few weeks longer. Father wanted to announce his resignation. The throne would’ve been yours in less than a year.

You kiss his cheek, lips lingering for a moment. Closing your eyes, you silently say goodbye to the brother you used to know. It’s there and then that you decide to not play his protector any longer.  

“I’m going to marry Stark. Not because you want me to, but to get away as far as possible from you.”

You step away, tears in your eyes as you look at your brother, and a stranger looks back at you.

“I’ll be gone soon enough, brother. I hope the throne was worth betraying me,” you bitterly say. “I guess Tony Stark was not the worst man I ever met after all. At least he doesn’t pretend to be a better man than he is.”

Holding your head high you walk away. Your heart is heavy but hope blooms in your chest.

Maybe if you stop being your brother’s keeper, you’ll find a new meaning in life.

“Courting? You want me to court you?” Tony hiccups as you only smirk darkly in return. “We have a deal, Colibri.”

“The deal is still on,” you coo. “But I’m a princess and deserve better treatment. What will people think about me if I’m not courted properly?”

You enjoy the struggle on Tony’s face. He’s used to always getting his will, but you won’t have it.

“What do you want me to do?” He grumbles. “I won’t let you order me around, woman!”

“I want flowers, jewelry, and a caring fiancé. Maybe we can take long walks, and show everyone how much we are in love,” he chuckles at your words. “Don’t believe for one minute that I’ll allow you to stray. If you stick your dick in some other bitch’s pussy, I’ll castrate you.”

“Aw, she’s jealous,” he grabs your hand to lead you along the endless hallways at the castle. “Believe me. I don’t have time for another woman with you around. I need to keep a close eye on you, Colibri.”

“Did you know that my brother was plotting against me?” You question while walking next to him. “I protected him all my life. How can he do this to me?”

“You know.” Tony sighs deeply. He wanted to make you believe he's the villain in your story.

“Yeah, I know. I’m not stupid, Stark,” you snap at Tony. “I was foolish enough to believe that men can be trusted. I was wrong. My father denied me the throne, and my younger brother betrayed me in the worst way possible.”

“Why do you still keep your word?” Tony stops walking to look at you. “Y/N?”

You exhale sharply. “He’s still my brother, and I need to keep him safe. I think it’s for the better that I leave my kingdom. He would’ve only ever felt like second best with me around. And giving you hell for the rest of your life is a challenging task.”

He smirks. “It’s an honor to be part of your plans, darling. We will make a perfect pair.” Tony grabs your hand to bring it to his lips. “I bet we will have a hell of a wedding night.”

You snort. “As if I’ll let your pest-infested dick get anywhere near me, my prince. It will be only you and your hand during our wedding night.”

“Oh, Colibri,” he purrs and cups your face. “I will use my hand to make you lose your mind. I bet,” he licks his lips, “you’ll cum with only one of my fingers inside of you…”

Part 2

[angryteapott]

rewatching bits of MLC and I want to say something that shapes my understanding of the relationships of Li Lianhua Fang Duobing and Di Feisheng in the end is I don't think he had to give the flower to the emperor.

Like on many levels I think if he actually asked Minister Fang, you know, the guy with an real grasp in court politics, they could've come up with a different solution. I also honestly think him giving away the flower likely doesn't get them out of the hotseat for long- after all Fang Duobing knows the emperor's worst secret and his father showed a willingness to rebel in order to protect his son. To me giving away the flower has so much ego in it- who's to say this is actually the best solution? But it's the only solution that allows Li Lianhua to quickly and decisively "end" the situation, so it's the route he takes.

Similar things happen with finding the mother bug in the first place- instead of putting in place the oodles of backup they could have access to by talking to his friends, talking to minister fang, making allies with the beast man with beasts, Li Lianhua tries to courtesy warn the palace guard guy p much immediately gives up on the task of convincing him or TELLING HIM WHATS GOING ON ONCE THE BUG GETS GOT sorry sorry thats later and forges ahead with the most independent solution- grab it and yeet because he does what he wants- and lickety split after they find it they give it up and don't own up and try and convince the dudes of the danger. Like all that effort and they essentially hand Shan Gudao a nuke and admit to knowing the one thing that means the emperor pretty much has to kill them in the space of ten seconds because he's uh IN OVER HIS HEAD. Imagine if they had two more guys on the scene. Imagine if they used zhaoling more effectively by telling her whats up so they have better excuses to be places and back up from the dowager au where the girls in the harem use that passage all the time so they mention it and she goes oh yeah i know where that is and they have an extra day to power wash the walls They didn't even have a way to deal with the bug in the first place surely a better way would've been to contact their political allies and get the other guys out of the palace or spend more time trapping the old guard so they have more room to rumble like literally just POISON HIM FOR A BIT AND PUT UR GUY IN PLACE but no Li Lianhua loves lying investigating and being right in the thick of it so that's what they do even tho get the bug first is the worst plan ever when ur stuck in the palace no troops no way to destroy it no nothing at the time i complained that that plotline was idiotic and it is! But it's great writing because it's in character! BECAUSE LI LIANHUA IS BEING AN IDIOT! I GET YOU THINK UR ALMIGHTY BECAUSE JUST RIDE HAS ALWAYS WORKED BEFORE BUT ITS NO LONGER JUST ABOUT YOU!!!!

And same with the flower what now babe the emperor still knows the fangs know stuff they shouldn't and guess what the goodwill from saving his life doesn't mean jack shit like what now hm? Hmmmmm? The succession isn't even certain what stability things are bigger than you can chew alone

So yeah I don't think his one man plan was the only way or even a particularly good one, and I also doubt he'd let the Fangs die even if the flower had accidentally gotten eaten by hulijing or something. I think giving it away "to save someone" was making decisions on other people's behalf that he has no right to make and the only one that's squarely in his corner is "do I want to take this very painful treatment with a low chance of working?" But that's not a decision he wants to admit he has. The inevitable tragedy he's built in his own mind is just chalk lines he treats as mountains so he doesn't have to look his own desires in the eye

[awordsmith]

Secrets and Liars

Prologue

----

I think a part of me always loved the idea of secrets. The mystery of them, the calamity they could cause if they ever get out, holding them over people, the blackmail, sabotage: the destruction. I honestly think that was the main drive of my and Alison's friendship.

I would've done anything for her, I would've done anything for any of the girls, but especially Alison. I only ever had one line when it came to her–to anyone, really. Though from the beginning, I think she always knew that, so she never crossed it.

When I said I met Jason first, I truly meant that. Before Elio, Romeo, and Alison, there was Jason.

It was the night we'd moved in next door to the dilaurentis', I was ten; he was twelve, almost thirteen.

The window in my room gave direct access to a room in their house; it was Jason's. I sat at that window, reading Junie B Jones and Dork Diaries and Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon.

Talking about those times brings nostalgia to me, I wish I could live in them forever, life would be much easier that way, but life dies, that's our end goal as soon as anything is born.

A nod. A scribble

I turn away, smiling out the window.

Sometimes I think I might've been just as crazy as Ally was, but I wasn't, no one ever could top her, not even if you tried.

That first night, Jason opened his window and screamed. It startled me so much that I hit my head on the window pane. Anger was the first emotion that came over me, I rubbed my head and opened my window to yell back.

I didn't know right then who was yelling or why, I was just mad. I remember the exact second our eyes locked. He looked sad, but defiant as if he couldn't believe someone had just dared to scream back at him. His eyes were puffy and that's when I felt sad.

I don't know why. I didn't know this person in front of me, who had just made me hurt myself–who not a moment ago I was ready to jump into a screaming battle with, but my heart sank, and I was ten, no thoughts registered of why, just how I could help.

Then a light turned on in their house and he turned his head, breaking away from my gaze. He shut the window and turned his light off, a 3 minutes later, the other light shut off. I know because I counted the time on my hands. I was mesmerized by that house, by that person.

I should've known then, that my heart hadn't sunk that night because I felt bad for him, it had sunk as a warning, to stay away from that house and all the people in it. But I was ten, and I had no idea just how catastrophic knowing them would be.

--

"Did you love Jason?"

I let out a dry laugh, "I was ten."

"You knew him for five years before her disappearance." I cringed, "Right, sorry, I know this is still... fresh."

I focus my attention on the window, swiping at a tear that escaped despite my focusing all my control on staying calm.

"This is our second session, Katherine, I'm just trying to get a better understanding of...everything."

"Yeah, well," I huff, "I already told everything I know to the cops–"

"The cops don't know everything I know, though, do they?"

"Of course not, if it were my choice I–"

"I know and I appreciate you willing to open up to me despite... the circumstances."

I sigh, swallow, and take a breath, "yes, I did–I do, but not in the way you think."

"Did you love him as a brother?"

I scrunch my face, that doesn't sound right.

"No? Then how?" Her smile indicates warmness, truthfulness, and understanding. But she could never understand, no one could, not even Aly.

"Home," I say, shrugging when she makes an inquisitive face. "I loved him like home."

I don't know how else to describe it.

"Could you go a little more into detail?" No. I want to scream at her like I did that night.

"Okay," she nods, "why don't we...why don't we talk about that night."

That night.

As in the night two weeks ago. The night everything changed. The night she disappeared.

"What about it?"

"... Well, why don't we start an hour before you made your way to the barn?"

I take another breath, "I was in my room."

"The one facing Jason's?" Yes, what other room would I refer to as mine? I shake my head, letting the snarky reply burn out on my tongue.

"Yeah, I was getting ready. Uhm- I'd already seen Alison that day, with the other girls– we–we had made plans to meet up at Spencer's barn for a sleepover."

Dr. Kierson nods but keeps quiet, taking notes here and there. I've done my best so far to block out her scribblings. I try pretending I'm somewhere else when I speak, like my room, writing in my diary. It's easier that way.

"I was redoing my makeup, and I put on a different necklace. Elio came into my room���that's my oldest brother–he told me he was going to Jason's to hang out, whatever that meant. They're college freshmen this year, so I don't know I just assumed they were smoking or drinking..." I catch my breath before forcing out my next words, "Jason has been doing that a lot this summer. I'm... I'm kind of scared for him."

A timer goes off, and I let out a sharp gasp, turning to find Dr. Kierson stopping it. I smile, breathing faintly. I just want to go home. If it was my choice, I wouldn't even be sitting here. None of the other girls are being forced to go to therapy, well, at least I don't think so. I haven't seen any of them since we were questioned by the cops two weeks ago.

My head hurts, I stand to leave, grabbing my phone, "I'll see you next week," she sighs, brushing her long-time graying hair, fine wrinkled press into her skin.

I don't tell her I feel like a zombie, I don't tell her I feel empty, that I feel like nothing will ever be right in the world again. I don't tell her I'll only see her next week if I make it to next Friday. I don't tell her I feel gone, like a shell of the person I was just two weeks ago.

I don't tell her Jason was more than my home and the fact that he's moving away is weighing down on me. I don't tell her I feel like I've already lost my friends. I don't tell her anything because I don't have the strength. Because all I want to do right now is go home and cry and I still have to go to start school Monday.

"See you Friday," I whisper out the door.

----

Chapter Two

Hello, once again I want to thank you for reading

[serious-tabaxi]

Ok, so, This is all set within the fictionally metropolis of Midnight Park, a city of 10 million on the shores of the Maryland coast. Midnight Park is a very divided place, with the tech moguls of the Silicon Heights looking over the squalor of Hooverville, the lush gardens, parks, and graveyards of Greenbelt being leeched of life from the smog of the Production Quarter, and the ever-watchful eye of their heroes of the Luminary Society just can't pierce through the shadowed allies and tunnels their rival villains lurk in.

First up on the hit list is Squall, Dr Simon Gale, the oldest of the villains who looks a bit like an cantaloupe balancing on top of a bowling ball, or some hybrid of that guy from those Boom Beach ads that was a meme a few years back with classic Eggman or Doc Ock. They were bullied for their looks during their childhood (especially by one Benedict Bright who you'll see later) and would grow into a meteorologist and climatologist, top of their class. Unfortunately, they were cursed to became one of the first to realize the potential dangers of climate change back in like the 90's and nobody took their observations seriously, reminding them of their childhood torments. In a fit of rage, the used experimental equipment for inducing artificial rainfall to turn a light drizzle into a pounding storm, flooding Midnight Park and dawning the modern age of heroes and villains. Unfortunately, they're ego would only grow and they'd slowly begin to see themself as the arbiter of natures wraith and be blinded to the cruelty of their actions.

Next up is Tox, Dr Garrett Adams. Dr Adams wasn't anyone special, just some humble chemist working for Venture Chemicals Co in the Production Quarter. That all changed during Squall's storm though. The floodwaters caused the chemical vats to burst and spill, dissolving several workers alive whilst Garrett was stranded in the rafters above where they're body slowly absorbed the fumes. Their skin and fat began to melt off their muscle and bones as it turned to wax from chemical exposure, soaking in chemical fumes and radiation as Adams used what first aid supplies he had to stave off death. By the time the floodwaters receded, Him and the chemicals had become one, a congealed mass of atomic tallow and luminous green organs within in endless agony that warped his mind into nothing but an abyss of hate. hate. hate. hate.

Then is Everyman, Tomas Jackson. Jackson was some unremarkable middle-aged conservative man who believed in standing for what you think is right and a growing resentment for the government. That was, until, some random no-name crook broke into his house and stole a family heirloom, his grandmother's old necklace, at which point he attempted to follow shotgun in hand to get it back. When he couldn't and the police also failed to find it, he was filled with rage and vowed to take makers into his own hands. Doning a home-forged steel helmet, gloves, trenchcoat, and voice changer, they set off into the night with a shotgun, a dream, and a very black-and-white sense of morality. These days, many of his fellow hands-on right wingers have donned similar costumes and joined him in his secret lair, the Halls of Justice, to find, torture, and execute whoever they deem guilty.

Mister Bones, Benedict Bright, was a bully growing up, especially to a young Simon Gale. His parents own a large carnival boardwalk by the name of the Bright Time Mile in Founder's Bay. His father died when Benedict was in his twenties and gave him control over the park. This was not a good idea as Mr Bright thought that the fear on the faces of others was just the funniest thing ever and slowly but surely made the park more thrilling, more threatening, more terrifying so he could laugh at the helpless scared children. He got a degree in sociology so that he could be even better at scaring people until they lost their minds and had his engineers work on developing advanced animatronics capable of free motion and though. Eventually, the Bright Time Mile's fear factor was toned down significantly to attract new guests and Mr Benedict started to dress in a more fitting costume, red and black with skeletal bodypaint. However, soon after this refurbishment, reports started to come out. Of of man in a black and white pinstripe suit, skull-faced gasmask, wide brimmed hat, oversized blood-stained mallet, and a simple wand loaded with a radioactive isotope that would melt the flesh right off your bones, and this man would chase you down without relent or remorse laughing at your screams until you could scream no more or grew too brave, at which point they'd get bored and leave.

Amp, Ruby Neumann, was the daughter of a German immigrant and was a lover of all things adrenaline-pumping, especially hardbass music. When they reached adulthood, they attempted to start a band, Bloodboil, but it never got off the ground. After that, she became a audio engineer and pioneered some interesting techniques. During a job under Benedict Bright to try to create audio disks that hum at just the right frequency to cause hallucinations, the hero Technopath broke in and gave chase, causing the equipment to short out and drive several other workers deaf. She escaped but lost the research for the disks but came to realize something; being chased... is actually pretty fun. She crafted a custom sound-suit covered with speakers that sounded at a frequency that could shatter stone and a sonic blaster that would rupture flesh and became a mercenary for the various gangs of Midnight Park, serving under them for the ultimate thrill.

And last for the villains is Krake, Richard Steinman. you already know about them. A cosmetics surgeon and geneticist who helped transgender and non-binary people transition until they had an otherkin awakening themself and was hit by a gnawing, insatiable longing to be an octopus (or, rather, the BODY of an octopus, they already were one in mind) even though they knew that they could reach reach it until Squall's storm created Tox and Midas, neither of which can really be considered human anymore and gave poor Steinman hope that they can achive their heart's desire with enough equipment, chemicals, and test subjects and so set up a secret lab in the Midnight Park underground where they performed inhumane experiments attempting to crack the code of transformation, eventually managing to figure it out and partly turn themself into an octopus, the happiest day of their life, but now aware of the toil they've reaped on the innocent citizens of Midnight park, all the friends they've lost and traded for power-hungry gangsters who wanted power for cheap, and these days they cry themselves to sleep every night,

However, now, it's hero time.

First is co-founder of the Luminary Society, Silver Sentinel. Henry Steele was a car mechanic in Founder's Bay until getting a new job as an engineer for Benedict Bright at the Bright Time Mile designing animatronics. He did this for some time before slowly realizing that what Bright wants aren't just animatronic mascot characters, but androids, semi-aware fake people, and that just didn't sit right with them and so they left, turning back to their old work for a while before bumping into an Everyman recruiter who conviced them to serve under the forces of "Justice", taking a box of mechanical limbs from their old job and created a primitive suit of power armor to boost his strength. After about a month though, he realized that Everyman was just a butcher, killing any who he arbitrarily deemed "Guilty" and moving one actually without doing anything to make Midnight Park a better place and so, left them. He wondered guilty and aimless for some time before meeting Coldheart and founding the Luminary Society to atone for their past sins, establishing a strict code of honor to make up for it.

Of course, Next up is Coldheart. Emeline Eaton was a skier, the best in all Midnight Park in fact. She would ski down the slopes of Appalachia every winter preparing for the day she could enter into the Winter Olympics, her personal dream and everyone believed in her. One winter when she was setting off, a strange man in a hazmat suit approached her, not a single snowflake on their body preaching how fit she was. She listened, confused, until the figure proclaimed how much he DESPISED health as they took off their hood, revealing the vile molten features of Tox right before Emeline punch him right in the face in response, only for Tox to merely laugh as the chemical cocktail begain to make her flesh melt too arm-first. She fell on the ground and rolled down the slope, slamming right into a frozen lake. She awoke later that month after the thaw with bluish frostbite skin and discovered that no level of cold effect her anymore but if she were to ever rise above the freezing point, she'd begin to melt like Tox. She lived for a week sleeping in mall freezers and walking around with a sack of dry ice tied to her back before meeting Silver Sentinel, who rigged up a crude insulation suit to keep her cool and together they formed the Luminary Society.

Midas, Dr Gianni Agneas, was a quantum physicist specializing in using particle smashers and accelerators to transmutate old or synthesize new elements. He was working on an experimental device he named the Philosopher's Engine that could transmute any one substance into any other when Squall's storm hit, lightning striking the side of the lab and causing the machine to go haywire spouting particles and radiation until it exploded, knocking Gianni out in the process. When they awoke, Everything left in the ruins had been transmuted, including themself, they had been turned to a scintillating rainbow of elements such as lead, bismuth, and sulfur and whatever they touched would itself be transmuted into something different. After a few years as a medical oddity, they had learned to control their powers, being able to choose what they turned what into, joining the Luminary Society and turning enough trash into gold to allow them to buy an abandoned observation tower to turn into their headquarters, the Luminary Spire.

Technopath, Nathan Sutton, isn't from Midnight Park, he's not even from the east coast. Born in the state of California as the son of the tech billionaire Dell Sutton of Telekinetics Inc, Nathan never faced much hardship growing up and so spent most of their time reading comic books and watching movies. They were big fans of stories about cowboy and pirate vigilantes and secret spies infiltrating the lairs of megalomaniacal masterminds. After hearing of the Luminary Society following the purchase of the Luminary Spire and their growing awareness of their father's love of money over them, he underwent an experimental surgery to have Telekinetics Inc technology installed into his body, becoming a cyborg with built-in radios and electromagnets granting them powers like remote usage of electronics, telekinesis, and more before moving to Midnight Park and applying for the Society several times before getting approved as their youngest member. Silver Sentinel is something of an idol of theirs and they seem potential in the young cyborg and have taken them in as a pupil.

Nightshade, real name Sophia Burke, always preferred plants to people. Plants wouldn't bully you for being weird, plants would always listen to what you have to say, plants would never be "too busy" to pay attention to their child. As she grew, she got a degree in botany and toxicology whilst studying abroad. When she came back however, She discovered that her parents had been murdered. No matter how strained there relationship, she still valued their lives and so went out to try to find the killer, Using her knowledge to blend into the plantlife and apply subtle poisons to their enemies to render them inoperable. Eventually she found the culprit; Everyman, Her parents were corrupt it turns out and had been engaging with drug smuggling for the black market and he couldn't let that stand. Shaken to her core by that discovery but still wanting to put a stop to Everyman's crimes and not believe that they're strong enough, she joined the Luminary Society to train, though her willingness to kill give her a strained relationship with the rest of them.

And that's it. That's them, my boys!

i imagine at least Menoa would, in response to Everyman's semi-fascist outlook, make himself into a hero called "Nuance" that would show up to every attempted murder, and debate the murderer in the middle of them attempting to do the murder.

meanwhile Akari would be the one who actually prevents the crimes.

sorry i'm thinking in terms of me ocs.

[gaylotusthatexists]

(read on ao3 here)

She was dead. 

Scar stared down into the ravine, at Pearl’s lifeless body sprawled out on the ground, not quite able to tell where her red cape ended and the blood stained stone began. He hadn’t even noticed at first - he’d heard her scream, but had barely even processed it. Thought that maybe she’d just slipped, fell a couple blocks at most. He called out her name when things went silent. She hadn’t responded. 

He sat down on the edge, unable to tear his eyes away. Everything was so quiet, far too quiet. No laughter, no screams, no metal piercing through the air, no heavy footsteps pounding towards him. Not even the wind howling in his ears. 

That was it, then? 

He… 

He brought a hand up to his mouth, clasping it shut, holding back the sob that racked through his body. He didn’t feel like he had the right to mourn. Pearl hadn’t even really been an ally, let alone a friend, not until the very end. 

(That’s just how it goes for him, huh? Finally makes a friend, and she dies by his own hand.) 

But, even if only for a brief moment, she had fought by his side. She’d been willing to protect him, to give up her own life for him. And now she was gone, and so was everyone else, and Scar had never expected to get this far. So he let the tears roll down his cheeks, shoulders shaking, and… well, it wasn’t like there was anyone around to see, was it? 

(Was this how Grian had felt? With the harsh desert sun beating down on him, staring at Scar’s lifeless body, blood soaking into the sand, at the edge of a silent world. Had he mourned? Or had it been a relief?) 

He forced himself to take in a deep breath, lowering his hands and reaching for the scroll tucked into his pocket. He unrolled it, stared down at the red ink, eyes tracing across those three words. Win Secret Life. He’d… 

Huh. 

It occurred to him, in that moment, that he’d succeeded. Right? There was nobody left, so… 

“Oh my gosh,” he muttered, a smile creeping across his face. “Oh my gosh, I-” 

He took in a shaky breath, then stood up, stumbling more than walking over to the Secret Keeper. It almost felt like a trance, his feet somehow carrying him forward whilst his mind raced a million miles an hour, trying to process what had just happened. He’d won. And he’d… 

Gosh, he’d done so many things he now regretted to get there, but he made it out. He was still alive. 

Everyone had been against him. Everyone. The very world had been against him, this stupid world had wanted nothing more than for him to be hated, to be alone- 

Well. He supposed the world had got its wish, hadn’t it? He was alone now, more alone than he’d ever been. Not like he wasn’t used to it, at least. 

The thought crossed his mind as his hand landed on the button, a surge of newfound energy rushing through him. He tossed the thought to the side, his smile moulding into a grin. He’d won. 

He laughed. “Take that, Secret Keeper!” He turned around to face the rest of the world, his smile dropping just a smidge as he finally took in all the destruction. He tried not to think about it. “I did it. I beat your stupid game.” 

The sun set behind the statue, bright blue skies ahead beginning to darken to a deep purple. He headed towards the stars, back over to his home. Trying his best to ignore the corpses that lined his path. The blood on his hands. 

Scar stopped when he arrived at what used to be his home, realising that… right. It’d been destroyed. It’d been destroyed for a while. 

The world was growing cold, darkness spreading overhead, wind beginning to nip at his skin. He tugged his shawl tighter around himself, eyes landing instead on the courthouse, still mostly intact, somehow. That… That would work for now. 

He settled into the far corner, taking a few moments to gather himself, taking in deep breaths. He hadn’t realised it between the adrenaline of the final fight and grief that had taken hold of him as he came to understand it was over, but he was exhausted. His bones ached, his eyes felt heavy. If it wasn’t for the wounds that still littered his body and the cold that seeped into his skin, he would’ve fallen asleep right then and there. 

Instead, he curled up into a ball, trying to preserve as much heat as possible, shut his eyes, and waited. Tried not to think about all that had happened, tried to pretend it was a normal night. 

(Once again, his mind drifted back to Grian, wondering if it had been like this for him too. The desert had always grown cold at night, and gosh had Grian complained about it, every single night without fail. But with their home destroyed and Scar dead on the floor, what had he done? No walls to protect him from the wind, no strong arms wrapped around him to keep him warm.) 

Scar shivered, curling further into himself, shifting on the hard cobbled floor in an attempt to get comfortable. Nothing was really working. 

(Had Grian even stuck around long enough to find out? Or had he immediately moved on, found somewhere new, a place that wasn’t tainted with memories, both good and bad? Should Scar have done the same?) 

But with exhaustion settling deep in his bones, he ended up drifting regardless, in and out of a not so great sleep. 

When he managed to convince himself to wake up the next morning, all the sunflowers surrounding his home had wilted away. 

Days and nights passed, and he made himself busy. 

He started repairing Trader Scar’s, filling in the holes in the ground and rebuilding the walls, so he at least had somewhere somewhat comfortable to sleep at night. (Even if the building itself didn’t really matter anymore, since there was no one around to stop by and peruse through his wares. He kept it stocked anyhow.) 

He went around the server and gathered up all the bodies that remained, burying each and every one in whatever spot they cherished most. (Even the ones that had died by his hands. Even the ones he’d been unkind to, the ones who’d been unkind to him - in all honesty, he’d deserved it. The least he could do was allow them now to rest.) 

He did his best to repair the rest of the damage, or at the very least clean everything up, allowing the memory of everyone else to be preserved. (Even as those memories haunted him at night, his dreams filled with blank faces and blood stained clothes. As the days wore on, he found it harder and harder to convince himself to sleep.) 

Since no new tasks came, he started to make up his own. Happy ones, this time. Picking flowers, creating art, sending compliments, leaving gifts at the graves of those who had fallen. Tasks that he wished he could’ve gotten during the duration of the games, so that maybe things would’ve turned out differently. Maybe people would’ve liked him more, maybe he’d find less swords or arrows plunged through skin, wouldn’t have found his hand on the sword’s hilt or the bow’s string. 

They all ended up bittersweet. A dead body couldn’t cherish a gift, hear a compliment, admire a piece of art. Flowers wilted beneath his feet and in his hands. 

The world he inhabited was dying, but refused to drag him down with it. 

Months passed, and he continued to live, wandering an empty, dying world. 

(He wondered, again, if it had been like this for Grian. If he’d tried to make amends, build their house back up, repair the rest of the destruction that had been caused by their hands. If he’d buried Scar’s bodies next to Pizza’s grave, laid out a bouquet of poppies and lilacs, sat and cried as he remembered the time that they had shared. Or if he’d moved on immediately, ran off and found somewhere new.) 

Scar thought about it sometimes, running away. As far away from the Secret Keeper as he could get, beyond where the border used to lie, carve out a new life for himself. He could never bring himself too. 

(The desert began to invade his dreams. Grian’s lifeless body at the base of Monopoly Mountain, so small in the place so vast and endless. Dead before he could see the stars one final time, the world now dying around him.) 

He couldn’t remember the last time he spoke. He was used to feeling lonely, when he pressed that button he thought he’d be able to handle it, but this was so much different. 

He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. 

Wait? 

For how long? 

Every other time, the moment his heart had stopped, his eyes had opened and he’d be back home, back to his normal life. And eventually he’d be pulled away again, of course. The games would continue forever and ever and Scar was fine with that, he itched for it, wanted desperately for new allies and new enemies and a new world to discover, a world that was living. 

When would everything start over again? 

Had he not been punished enough? 

(He remembered seeing Grian after they’d left the desert. Remembered how he’d thrown himself into Scar’s arms, sobbed on his shoulder, clutched the back of his shirt so incredibly tightly, like he was scared to let go. He hadn’t understood it at the time, didn’t know why Grian was so upset - they were both safe now, Scar had been willing to die for Grian to live, he hadn’t been upset by it. Now, he understood.) 

He was caving when it happened. His pickaxe had finally broken a few days ago, and he needed a couple diamonds to replace it - sure, he could’ve taken one of the many swords left behind by the others, but that felt… wrong, for some reason. (He’d never been above stealing before. He couldn’t quite figure out why this time it felt different.) 

He hadn’t been paying attention. He very rarely paid attention, nowadays, but up on the surface that wasn’t such a bad thing. His efforts to fill in all the holes around the server made travel relatively easy, and actually being able to sleep through the night for a change definitely helped. Down here, none of that mattered. 

He didn’t even see what it was in the end. He wasn’t convinced he would’ve fought it off if he did. 

Scar died, and the world finally went with him. 

He awoke to bright sun shining through a window, and warm sheets covering his body. Noises outside, laughter drifting through the air. 

It didn’t feel right, but still, finally hearing something other than his own breathing brought him to tears. (He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried, he thought his tears had all dried up by now.) 

He was home. 

And despite being the only one who’d lived in the end, it was only then that, for the first time in months, he actually felt alive. 

[spyridonya]

Distance

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3 Rating: Teen-Mature Pairing: Zophus Emberbane (OC) x Sasli (OC @chaosteddybear) Words: 1158 Summary: Sometimes, Zophus stays away from the House of Hope Note: Written with the idea of he and Salsi not being together right away, which might have changed, but enjoy the fic anyway!

There aren't many portals to Maladomini; fewer still that weren't controlled by the Baazetu on the behest of the Lord of the Nine. Losing just one was a tremendous loss for planeswalkers, but such an invaluable gift that benefited the budding Archdevil Supreme was reason enough for Zophus. 

All beauty that the 7th layer of Hell once held had been corrupted by Baalzebul’s whims, leaving nothing but ruins and decay. A decay that was so complete, the Slug Archduke could not drive off those who lived among the shadows of ruined cities. Such a place was a boon for the most desperate of thieves and the darkest of secrets with pockets of wealth still under the dark and grime of absence. 

As a former Harmonium, Zophus Emberbane knew it best as a place to find the cowardly and criminal. At his height in Sigil,  he sought many who attempted to escape from the law in such a wretched place and successfully wrestled back many to the city to be placed on trial… or killed in self defense. 

That was before the tadpole had buried itself into his head, taking so much of his earned power and skill. That was before he knew of Raphael who spoke words of order across the multiverse while stroking his cheek, after the betrayal of his dream guardian, and Zophus’ own failure to save Mol. Before he knew Sasli.

And so, Zophus Emberbane carried the location of the portal on a metaphorical silver platter to the new lord of Avernus. It wasn’t quite the macabre gesture as bringing the head of Helsik on her own halberd to Raphael, but such an asset would be treated well enough. On top of this, it gave Raphael access to newly forged allies that he would eventually spy upon. 

He had been gone from the House of Hope, away from Sasl, Cian, and Raphael, for a good week from his perspective, but it could have been longer. Time and the Planes were not always forgiving as he wished, but if they had been, he would likely have no use to Raphael… perhaps not to Salsi as well. 

The paladin, deep down, wanted to be seen as useful despite the glaring flaws shouldered upon him. The burns of his face went down his left check, leaving an angry path down his neck, and his arm. The inner rage that he fought so desperately to control by grace of compassion and justice that failed him. The simple fact is he was merely a true mortal and when he died, he surely would be cast into the pit. 

Zophus was never gentle to himself. Not ever. He was forged with steel and fire, ash and ruin.

If anything, the only thing soft and true in his life was Sasli. Her golden eyes bright, her smile even brighter. Her long hair flowed like curving rivers, her skin pink and flushed with promise, the curves his hands ached to indulge in. Part of him knows she might let him, but another part knows he’d scar her. 

Being so gentle was hard. Being rough as she wanted was harder still. He always feared that anything playful and loving could turn… not playful and loving. 

And yet, upon Zophus’ return, instead of seeing Raphael, he found himself standing before Sasli’s chambers. His little flame in his darkness, bright as a lost star, things he didn’t quite say as he turns a pot of zinnias in his hands. The bright blooms mean ‘lasting affection’ and ‘goodness’. It wasn’t what he wanted to say, not without so many other blooms declaring devotion, lust, and need. 

But it would do, he thinks. Slowly, the tall man placed the flowers that are almost as bright as Salsi by her door frame where she would find them. He took a step back, his heart beating in his chest, and his mind demanded he’d take a second step. It would make the third step easier. 

Rather, he fist raised to knock on the door. The aasimar found himself  fearing he would open the door, and smile her bright smile while breathlessly apologizing that she was occupied. Still, that smile would be enough, Zophus told himself. It would be enough to rid the ache in his body and the sour in his mouth.

The door opened at once and the paladin felt his heart thunder as a sweetheart of a face, preferred out to see him. Sasli’s golden eyes were like the sun and the small smile shined like the heavens he’d never really had, "Zophus, there you are! You'd been gone for so long, I'd fear you gotten lost, I was getting worried-"

The paladin's arms went about her petite form carefully, one muscular lip crossed her back while the other cupped her cheek to tilt her head back. There were few other means to fight the nearly foot and half height difference between to give a sudden kiss, though he realized he could have lifted her. It would have been easy. However, the paladin knew that should be asked for. 

Besides, his thoughts were already occupied. His mouth fell readily upon hers, his full lips covered hers before his mouth parted as if he were parched and desperate - which he was. 

Zophus was desperate for her sweetness and warmth that he found on her lips and tongue, his own mouth harsher in his need, adorant of the tiefling before him. His hand swept over the rose colored skin of her cheeks and into the dark chocolatey locks of her hair.  

For a moment, he thinks the hesitancy is rejection, and he panic: Was the desire and affection just in his mind when she looked at to him with candle lit eyes, across Raphael’s body? A small hope in a realm that dashed hope upon rocks? 

Had he hurt her? He was nothing but tender and distant from Salsi in the few times they joined Raphael in bed. She didn’t deserve such a creature like he who could ruin her with claws or coldness-

Then Sasli responded. Her strong arms went around his neck, her fingers clutched to the length of his hair to pull him closer. She tasted and smelled so damnably good that he almost moaned when the heat of her mouth drew away from his lips. 

But it was only to ask, “Please stay?” A gentle plea before she kissed him full of passion and desperation for whatever she saw in him.  Honor? Duty? Misplaced judgment of beauty? And despite her size, despite everything, her hands went to his gauntlets and she took a step away..

If he didn’t want the kiss to end, he must follow her.

So he did, the heavy pieces of armor falling onto the marbled floor in their wake. 

[atopvisenyashill]

On the theme of Laenor living, what if the whole Dragonstone/Driftmark polycule is still kicking when Viserys dies? (Because in the book at least, I'm convinced that at least Rhaenyra had arrangements with both Harwin and Laena/Daemon, and who's to say Laenor didn't have his own with Harwin and/or Daemon?)

oooo good question.

so this goes similar to the “laena lives au” i talked about a few weeks ago (i think?) (can’t fucjing find it of course), where rhaenyra is in much better shape because a) she still has vhagar and b) she still has her husband as a shield. if we take out harwin’s death as well, this either means no one ever set the harrenhal fire, or only lyonel died in it, or even that it WAS set but they survived, and that gives her a powerful ally in the riverlands, somewhere she needs a little push due to the infighting in house tully. okay bullet pointing here-

aemond keeps his eye, but not only is harwin not sent away, rhaenyra herself is not sent away - remember, in show canon she leaves on her own but in book canon, viserys bars her from the capital to keep alicent happy (number one mistake viserys makes, and also, this is what i point to when people say she's entitled or spoiled. bruh she's literally barred from making allies at court by her father!!)

this means rhaenyra is likely splitting her time between dragonstone & the capital. there’s still a lot of ways that a fight can occur but i think it’s much less likely something as violent as the driftmark brawl happens. without that catalyst to really entrench everyone in their own spaces, there’s an interesting political shift that could happen.

we don’t get an exact read on lyonel and his feelings towards rhaenyra. in the show, he’s clearly scared for harwin’s life but like. does he hate rhaenyra for putting harwin at risk? does he want to get close to the velaryon boys? does he think this whole situation is way too risky for him to possibly benefit from? for example, does he suggest viserys let him go back to being master of laws or even let him leave the council in favor of naming laenor and/or rhaenyra as hand or master of laws? because this opens the door for rhaenyra to REALLY gain a foothold in the capital - AND imo, it gives her an excuse to move daemon & laena into dragonstone by naming daemon as her steward while she’s on the small council, and she would have lyonel to thank for that.

regardless of lyonel’s actions, it’s just objectively better that he remains on the small council as hand over otto because then the small council isn’t being stacked with greens. for all he's a bit of an enigma, lyonel isn't actively trying to sabotage rhaenyra. HOW those empty positions get filled is kinda murky - if lyonel is allowed to do it, i imagine he’s genuinely finding people suited for the job, which means master of ships is likely a manderly or velaryon, which is good for rhaenyra. for master of laws, i have no idea but i doubt it’s jasper wylde which again, better for rhaenyra. no way in fuck cole gets to just sit on the damn council.

it’s kinda tricky to ensure the entire polycule remains intact for seventeen years (seven years with one husband, a decade with the other is the timeline iirc) because i think, without the driftmark brawl, criston & alicent do something similar to what they do in the show, which is purposefully spark harwin’s ire re: the boys to get him sent from the capital. so even if we assume harwin & rhaenyra have genuine feelings, he doesn’t mind her relationship with laena & daemon, and the velaryons + daemon are all fond of harwin for being rhaenyra’s sword sword and being so loyal, i don’t think he can avoid being sent back home after a certain point.

however, i do wonder if rhaenyra, daemon, laena, or laenor don’t decide to get him a marriage match THEY want him to have - someone loyal to them, someone who won’t spill their secrets. daemon & laena’s girls are wayyy too young even for westeros marriages but there is one potential match here imo - elinda massey.

by the time viserys dies, i imagine the polycule is more of a poly-penpalship. rhaenyra in the capital, daemon & laena at dragonstone, harwin in harrenhal, laenor at driftmark. but if they’ve retained this loyal, romantic relationship between them all, AND rhaenyra is in the capital when viserys dies which allows her to lock down the keep, call daemon & laena to her side, send a message to harwin to gather some men, have her siblings Not Quite Arrested, and aemond doesn’t have vhagar, i mean…..dance OVER lmao, she can take the capital, and if alicent or cole try something, she can have alicent confined and straight up have cole executed.

obviously, there’s pushback here - alicent still doesn’t like or trust her, aemond is still Like That, otto is likely plotting in oldtown, cole still hates her guts, helaena and aegon are probably still having kids, and vaemond is still here. but vaemond’s window of opportunity is minuscule here, with laenor still alive (and unwilling to kinslay for his wife) and the hightowers not in power.

i imagine lyonel gets pushback whipped up by otto from oldtown - regardless of what lyonel does, people may see his actions as covering for rhaenyra to get his blood on the throne. but this is similar to the pushback against maegor, aenys, and early jaehaerys - very contained rebellions that can be headed off with enough dragons & soldiers, and even factoring in rhaenyra’s temper, if she never loses harwin, if the council isn’t stacked against her, if she starts the war already in KL, and with the seasoned warriors like harwin, daemon, laenor, AND corlys on her side, i think she can commit a few war crimes and still keep control of everything lmao.

the main wildcard factor here is the stepstones imo - daemon & corlys are gonna push to really hold it, and if rhaenyra is on the council (or laenor) she’s going to get involved. maybe this goes well, makes her look competent, if she’s smart she settles some people there to gain their loyalty, OR maybe it’s another endless war to get involved in and she looks kinda stupid.

post war, harwin is guaranteed a spot on the council, as is daemon & corlys. harwin has had at least one child, i think it’s not unlikely rhaenyra has at least one more child past joffrey (whether it’s daemon’s or harwin’s lol), i do wonder if daemon & laena don’t have any more children after the issue with baby aegon. both versions of daemon, imo, have some hang ups about death in childbirth, so i don’t think it’s unlikely he just gives up on having a son with laena & settles either for the marriages or even having a bastard with rhaenyra that they say is laenor’s. really playing with fire in that one lmao but when are those two Specifically not doing already doing that. i think they gotta be CAREFUL bc viserys will NOT appreciate her having daemon’s bastard SPECIFICALLY and they risk getting sent back out from the capital. but again, if he’s her steward at dragonstone, i think that keeps him a lil busy & she might be able to fudge a timeline easy enough to Genuinely pass her kid off as Laenor’s which also helps her.

anyways i’m assuming these people are a lot more rational than they are so let’s dig into some likely dumb decisions too-

again, if viserys realizes somethings happening, he’s having a conniption fit and neither daemon nor rhaenyra have ever been one for subtlety. i think the likelihood of her having daemon's kid in this scenario is kinda high and while viserys does tend to just overlook what her kids look like, if one comes out with daemon's face i think it will piss him off just a bit.

i mean if we want to get really poly with it, imagine if laena has a baby that looks like harwin. that actually helps rhaenyra a lot but also that's soooo funny.

let's say a fight still happens between the younger kids. firstly, it's likely coming a few years later than it does in canon, which might be good, might be bad, but it does mean that even if aemond does something absolutely wild like claim vermithor, silverwing, or grey ghost, he gets less time training on dragonback, and is on a smaller, potentially less bloodied dragon. however, the flip side is if it happens too late, when they're older and perhaps a bit angrier, it could spiral out of control in a more violent way. BUT if there's never a reason for them to be alone and purposefully unsupervised (WHAT WAS COLE DOING. HOW DOES THIS IDIOT STILL HAVE A JOB), there's also never a reason for them to get so violent with each other.

i mean we know CRISTON is bothered by rhaenyra's relationships, but one thing i think people constantly discount is that even with the ingrained sexism and general prudishness of westeros......it just doesn't seem like many other people give a shit. the high septon definitely cares considering he also dislikes lady sam when she remarries to lyonel, and i'm sure several reacher lords care. BUT. i do think the way otto and the greens go about taking the capital pisses a number of people off because a lot more people declare for rhaenyra at the onset of the war than aegon. if she's perhaps not being as obvious about her affairs because harwin is gone, daemon is gone, and she's either living by herself at the capital or In The Same City as Laenor, i really think she has an easier time convincing people she's a better choice than aegon.

BUT I do think it can't be understated that some people might turn against her if they feel like she's clearly having an affair with daemon, particularly in the Reach and parts of the Vale.

AT THE SAME TIME. if otto is doing exactly what he does in canon - which is fuck all, btw, everyone always whacks rhaenyra for being stupid but otto does not do anything particularly impressive to gain himself allies, he just expects that going "well aegon is a man" is enough and it's just not. even rhaenys had her supporters and rhaenys was never named princess of dragonstone! as a matter of fact, this man is SURPRISED at how many people don't declare for him which really speaks to a level of superiority and arrogance on par with like 90% of the targs in this era - but he's doing it from oldtown instead of the capital, he has nothing. he has jack shit. he's got what, a handful of houses in the stormlands, reach, westerlands, and the triarchy, and potentially doesn't even have the capital. i'm not saying rhaenyra is gonna be smart and non angry but it would be perilously easy to just send Laenor and Rhaenys to oldtown with their dragons to be like "send that bitch out here right now or we start burning shit" and lock aemond, aegon, and alicent up while parading helaena and her kids around to be like "see i'm not a kinslayer, i love my sister and her kids, they've simply been manipulated by my evil stepmother."

even if rhaenyra isn't in the capital, the war gets easier - Alicent and Cole would have to take the capital themselves and kill like a LOT of people to do it. and meanwhile Steffon Darklyn is sneaking out to let Rhaenyra know something is UP. Then we got every single experienced dragon on Rhaenyra's side, PLUS extra help in the riverlands and driftmark. either otto gets his shit together or he's even more fucked than he is in main canon.

[barclaysangel]

A Siren’s Embrace; Chapter 3: Pearl of the Sea

Hey guys, here’s the third chapter! Muse is still low af and I haven’t finished the sixth chapter soooo…there might be a long pause after chapter 5. Sorry about that, I’m having inspiration for the Chucky fandom again which has diminished my motivation for my original story. I’m trying though so maybe I’ll get back into it but I don’t know when. I just hope y’all like this chapter, please remember to comment because it does help fuel my motivation. Also, yes. I did include my best friend irl, Jay, and my online friend, Lucy, in this story because I love them so much.

Thank you and enjoy :)

Word count: 1.6K

Tags: @streets-in-paradise @king-of-wicked

“What’s on your mind?” 

“Hmm?” 

“You’ve been weird and distant for, like, a week and a half.” 

“I almost died a week and a half ago, pendejo.” 

“You know what I mean, dumbass.”

Of course Nika knew what her best friend, Jay, meant. She had been odd and even now, she wasn’t quite normal. But how could she act ordinary now? She saw a fucking mermaid yesterday and was going to meet her again later today. 

How did life manage to take her into this direction? 

“Look, it’s been a crazy week, alright? I guess I’ve just been…distracted, that’s all.” Nika explained which wasn’t that far off from the truth. “Besides, we’re about to graduate high school later this week. How fucking insane is that?” 

“Literally insane.” Lucy, her other best friend that was part of their ‘Three Musketeers’ group, interrupted in agreement and handed them all their Frappuccinos before sitting down. 

“Okay, maybe you have a point there,” Jay agreed as well, taking a long sip from his drink that was more chocolate than anything else, “but do you ever plan on telling your parents about what happened at the beach?”

Nika snorted while drinking her Frappuccino. “God no. They’d never let me go into the water again.” 

Lucy raised an eyebrow. “Neeks, eventually your parents are going to ask about your surfboard that’s still MIA. What do you plan to tell them then?” 

She paused before smiling bashfully. “Actually…I found it.” 

“You found it?” Both Jay and Lucy asked in surprise. 

“Yeah, I’ve been going to the beach to, ya know, to try and find it. And then I did yesterday. I guess it just washed up on the shore.” 

“What a coincidence.” Lucy mused and Nika just nodded. 

“Yeah, totally,” she agreed before checking the time on her phone and stood up, “sorry, I have to go. I’m meeting someone.” 

“Woah, woah, woah, you’re meeting someone?!” Jay asked loudly, his eyes wide. “Who is it? Jesus, please tell me it’s not Buckley!”

“I’d rather cut off my own hand than even talk to Buckley,” Nika said with a look of disdain on her face since Buckley was someone who just couldn’t take no for an answer and kept making advances on her, “but no, I’m just meeting someone who…kinda needs my help. She’s new to town and doesn’t have any friends, so I just wanted to see how she is.” 

“She?” Jay questioned with a knowing smirk, making Lucy giggle and Nika blush. 

“That doesn’t mean anything.” She hissed, still flustered by the intention in his voice by a single damn word. 

It wasn’t a secret between the three of them that Nika liked girls. Hell, Jay liked guys too, Lucy was the only straight ally in their group. But it wasn’t something Nika liked to advertise. Mainly because her parents would kill her if she did but also, she wasn’t ready and she didn’t even know what to label herself as. 

Yes, she liked girls and thought she liked guys too. But the more guys that hit on her and she allowed it, the more Nika realized that she just liked the attention rather than to try and engage to have some kind of relationship with them. 

Gods, she really did have a lot on her plate. 

“Okay, okay, sorry.” Jay said with a chuckle in amusement. 

“You’re not gonna eat?” Lucy threw in this time, seeming a little concerned since Nika was notorious for getting so distracted that she would forget to eat at times. 

“I’m not that hungry right now, I’ll eat later. I promise,” She reassured them both as she picked up her drink and lemon loaf from the table, “I’ll see you nerds tomorrow. Bye!” 

Nika was quick to rush out of the coffee shop to avoid any more questions and teasing from her friends. Besides, there wasn’t much else she could tell them. Yeah, the only reason I’m alive is because a literal mermaid saved my life and that’s who I’m about to go see right now. 

Yeah, as fucking if. 

So just like before, Nika drove to the beach with her drink and bag in hand, practically waddled into the ocean until she was sitting up on the large rock. She didn’t have to wait long this time before in under a minute, the woman emerged from the ocean and sent her a small smile. 

“Hi!” Nika said almost excitedly, unable to believe that this beautiful mermaid actually showed up to see her again. 

“Hi, Nika.” The woman repeated in a similar tone, swimming closer to her and rested her hands on the rock just inches from Nika’s feet. 

Once again, an electrifying feeling flowed through her upon hearing the mermaid’s voice speak her name. 

It must be just because of her voice. 

She didn’t know what to say for a moment, not quite sure what she should even ask or what would be appropriate to ask, before something finally came to mind. “Have you tried human…well, Walker, foods before?” 

The mermaid shook her head so Nika pulled out the bread from her bag and unwrapped it for her. “Would you like to eat this? It’s called a lemon loaf. It’s a little bit sour but soft and really tasty, I enjoy eating it…maybe you would enjoy it too?” She offered, holding it out to her. 

The green-eyed woman hummed under her breath before reaching up and taking the loaf in her hands. She inspected it, squeezing it in between her wet and webbed hands before taking a bite. 

She chewed for a few seconds a look of curiosity shining in her eyes before looking up at the human and smiled in what looked like delight. “Good?” Nika asked. 

“Good.” The mermaid replied before scarfing down the rest, making the human girl giggle. 

“If you don’t mind me asking…what do mermaids eat?” Nika now asked a question that always pondered her mind even as a child when she first heard about mermaids. 

“Meat.” She responded casually after she finished eating. “Seaweed too. And fish. But lots of meat.” Before she could ask exactly what kind of meat she was talking about, the mermaid spoke again. “Stay? A moment?” 

Nika paused before nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll stay. I got time.” She answered her and then the woman smiled before throwing herself backward into the ocean, spraying the human and was gone in seconds. 

So she waited there, slurping her coffee with her feet just barely touching the water. She wasn’t sure how long the woman would be gone but she was more than willing to wait as long as she had to. 

She could be patient if she wanted to. 

Finally, the mermaid was back and just like before, she was presenting something to Clarisse. But this time, it wasn’t her surfboard. It was an oyster with a sparkling pink pearl resting in the middle. 

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” she said softly as she accepted the oyster, “is it for me?” She asked just to make sure. 

“Gift. For you.” The woman replied while nodding. “Food too.” 

Nika then realized that the mermaid intended for her to eat the oyster as well, but she smiled politely. “I already ate. I’m quite full. You can eat it though, if you’d like.” She suggested and was relieved when the other woman accepted it, handing back the oyster shell to her after she took the pearl. 

The mermaid ate the meat without another thought as the human rolled the pink pearl between her fingers while staring at it. “This pearl is so pretty.” She pondered aloud to herself. 

“Pearl…pretty…” the woman repeated in between her chewing as if she was testing out words she hadn’t heard together. 

Nika smiled again before a thought occurred to her, straightening up a little bit before leaning back down slightly toward the supernatural being. “How would you feel if I called you that? Pearl? I…I think the name would suit you well. But if you, like, don’t want me to call you a name, that’s totally okay too!” 

The mermaid didn’t say anything for a moment, humming as if she was thinking it over. “Pearl…Pearl…Pearl…” she repeated the same word over and over again for a couple minutes. It was almost in a sing-song voice, something that was familiar from when Nika had been unconscious during the time she almost died, before suddenly smiling at her. 

“My name is Pearl.”

Nika couldn’t help but to smile even more when Pearl agreed to the name, holding her hand out to her to shake. “Nice to meet you, Pearl.” 

Pearl looked confused at the hand before the human realized why. “Oh…it’s something Walkers do when they meet new people. It goes like this.” Nika took Pearl’s webbed hand in hers carefully, slightly shaking her hand and keeping a good grasp on her. 

The confusion turned into curiosity from this action, now shaking the human’s hand back. The action was a little rougher than Nika’s but she figured it was just from excitement. 

“Nice…to meet you?” Pearl repeated the phrase, seeming almost confused before brightening up when Nika nodded in confirmation and then let go of her hand–even though a part of her really didn’t want to. 

“I need to go home now. I’ll see you soon and bring more things for you to see.” Nika assured her. 

“Tomorrow?” Pearl asked. 

It was getting harder and harder to keep coming up with an excuse as to why she was going out all the time when she was normally such an introvert…but how could she even say no to her? 

All Nika could do was smile and nod. “Tomorrow, Pearl.”

[evita-shelby]

They didn't know we were seeds

Chapter 18

Cw: unhealthy coping mechanisms? Roleplay, implied uniform kink

@justrainandcoffee @emotionalcadaver @call-sign-shark @peakyswritings

The 73rd are won by Magnus, a boy trained by him.

Jack is celebrated for it, and he wishes he could stop playing Mr. Nice Guy try to beat some sense into all of them.

“How the fuck do you do it, Lyme?” he asks the blonde woman forced to endure this hell since her Hunger Games a good 20 years ago.

“With great control.” The blonde nurses a drink and keeps an eye on him as if he were a child.

He hasn’t been the same since Gina’s death last year, he is trying to do better, but even his gang knows the risks he’s taking are not just out of bravery.

Jack’s almost been caught several times, especially in 11, where security is tighter after they caught on to people being smuggled out in shipments. He doesn’t know how he was able to get out of there without blowing his cover.

As the kid’s mentor he’s to go on tour with him, giving him a chance to see Eva. He is too impatient to wait for that and leaves the moment he is no longer needed.

Taking advantage of the excess security in districts, he dons his fake identity and gets himself into District 10.

Sejanus Smith is just another dime a dozen grunt sent out to ensure no rioting happens when the bodies return to their families. The male tribute this year had been bludgeoned to death by his tribute and word on the street was that his mother had spent the night in a holding cell in her grief induced rage.

Sometimes they blame the mentors, Jack’s lost count how many times they take it out on him. The cute barista he used to flirt with ten years ago had lost her only sister this time and now he’s barred from her establishment.

Eva fares better than he did. The fruit vendor whose daughter died this year ignores her as she goes about her day in the open-air market in town and the boy who shines shoes to survive looks at her with pity as if his elder sister and only family hadn’t died by Gina’s hand last year.

10 is not how he remembers it. They had more color than most due to its former culture bleeding through Panem’s forced poverty, they made do with what they have and yet laugh and sing amidst the oppression.

How Plutarch and the ringleaders didn’t see the value in them as allies was beyond Jack.

They speak their language in secret, they sing their songs and dance their dances in perpetual rebellion. Once you learn to sing while you suffer, you don’t ever forget how, Eva had chuckled when he asked her about it.

10 also holds indispensable foods, foods you can’t risk losing because it comes with a shorter shelf life. It had been incredibly difficult to get powdered milk and cereals from 11 to 13, even with Gale’s input and the other rebels he has been able to connect himself with, there has not been a way to send meat or any livestock byproduct out of Panem.

Eva has a contract with slaughterhouses and warehouses that for the right price turn a blind eye to her bending the rules. The Capitol only allowed them to keep what was necessary resulting in high as hell prices and rationing even for the townies when shit got dire. There had to be a way to get at least something out of here.

And because he’s using his tricked-out helmet ---thanks to Bettee who knew his craft better than anyone else--- to find the warehouses and packing factories with dubious allegiances he loses Eva in the crowd.

His lovely wife caught on that he was following her; he thought with a smirk. The chase was on.

She is not difficult to find, his helmet locks in her and gives him everything the Mountain’s databases have on her.  Victor, mother to his son, part of their possible rebel watch list.

That she was somehow seen more as a threat than Jack was frankly insulting.

He was a hunter, hunting and tracking down the other tributes had been how he won. The Bloodbath had earned him his sword and the leader’s role in the pack, but it was his tracking skill that got him his seven kills. Jack had hoped to one up his mentor and trainer, Brutus, but Juno had also been gunning for #1.

Now as he followed the mother of his child like a good predator, he found the thrill of the hunt as strong as it had been as a teen.

Jack didn’t expect to find this all so…arousing.

His wife cut a fine figure in her tight jeans, jeans he’s unzipped so many times and once even with his mouth. Her hair is loose and wavy, Jack loves the sounds she makes when he pulls it when they do it rough.

She’ll fucking love what her loving husband got planned.

Evie leads him into a closed off alley, one where even his state-of-the-art bucket can’t function properly and not a single surveillance system monitor. She means to confront him or kill him, either way she thinks she’s in charge.

“Got something to hide, Mrs. Nelson?” He taunts her, trapping her between him and the wall. The Victor turned rebel could bet his woman could feel the effect this game of cat and mouse had on him.

“Hmm, is the good sergeant gonna search me?” Eva is just as turned on by it as he is, how some still don’t see how they are perfect for each other is beyond him.

Despite having his face on the mandatory television programs every year, Jack blends in perfectly amongst the peacekeepers who lie and say they are from the Capitol.

Eva’s brave enough to suggest he walks her home with the excuse of carrying her purchases for her. She even buys something she couldn’t possibly carry as a precaution.

They talk, lie, and say they met in the Capitol when the vendors ask about him in quiet whispers. It is fun until he gets to the front door of her house and her cousins are waiting for her thinking something has gone horribly wrong.

They fear what could happen if Snow suddenly cared about Laurie’s existence, what would happen if people discovered that the man she meets up with at the farm is Jack and worse, that Eva is involved with moving contraband between districts because of him and Shelby.

“You might as well wear a sign.” Her aunt grumbles when she recognizes Jack. “A see through visor, your mother’s nerves must be in tatters.”

“Jack, this is my aunt and my cousins, Andy and Nacho.” Eva brushes off her words and tries to ease the atmosphere as she dares to introduce him as her husband. “Tia, Nacho, and Andy, I would like for you to meet my husband, Jack.”

Livia de Souza makes it clear he will never have her approval even if she lives under Eva’s roof, but Eva doesn’t care, her approval will be gained when Snow dies a painful death, and the Games are no more. If push came to shove, she’d love him like a son for smuggling her to 13.

As dangerous as Jack’s plan sounds, it may come to that.

Andy and Nacho could hide as Peacekeepers, Atia could too, but Katie and Eva’s Aunt and the baby couldn’t. Katie will be disguised as a Capitol Official, Livia as the nanny for her son whom she cannot leave behind. The train will take them to 12 where a man called Johnny Dogs is to take them out of there to where 13 will retrieve them safely.

Too bad they still needed the badges, the necessary clothing, crates, and the assurance that Shelby’s people and 13’s spies are willing to get them the fuck out of here. There was so much they needed to do and that gave her the best way to cover up her lack of interest for Jack’s plans.

It’s not that she doesn’t believe they need it, but there is too much risk involved in this.

The white rose bush that grew from Snow’s rose is there out front to remind her not to bite off more than she can chew.

When the tour ends without being able to secure a uniform for Eva, the rebel and mother knows this is a sign that they must wait longer. Who knows Plutarch may find his blasted symbol amongst those reaped for the 74th or even the Quarter Quell.

Jack is tired of waiting, he has never been one to control his impulses, but July 4th comes around again, and they know the person they have been forced to wait for arrives as the first person to ever volunteer in District 12.

Katniss Everdeen has broken 74 years of self-preservation over loyalty in her district and at 16 years of age had become the keystone of the Rebellion. However way she wins, she will be the spark that lights the pyre they have been building before she was even born.