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taintandviolent · 2 years ago

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Punch Bowl - Winston Connelly x Reader

summary: 2.2k words. you went to the prom all by yourself, but luckily, Winston's planned date didn't go to well either. w a r n i n g s: canon divergence (technically), smut without a lot of plot, car sex, slight coercion, masterbation, praise.

ao3 link here! / full link below the cut! / recommended playlist here!

As the music slowed and the lights changed to a soft, dreamy hue, you were still leaning against the wall, debating on whether or not coming to the prom by yourself was an absolute win or a tragic loss. You kicked your leg up, watching as the tulle and satin fluttered down. One on hand, you were sitting on the outskirts during the slow dances, hopefully not looking too desperate. On the other, you had your pick of all the dorky, cute boys who also came alone. There was something about boyish innocence that drove you insane… after all, the entirety of the football team had come onto you at least once, and you never paid them any mind.

The quiet ones, the dorky ones. The ones that laughed a little too loud, or broke out some goofy dance moves — those were the ones that drove you up the wall so hard that the texture of the wall left imprints on your skin. Or the ones that you wished would. You heaved a sigh and reluctantly pushed yourself off the wall. As you navigated around the swirling couples, one of your friends made eyes at you, before rolling her eyes to indicate where her date’s hand was. Her ass. How nice for her. You raised her eyebrows and ducked underneath someone’s arms, making a beeline for the punch table.

The punch table? Abandoned? Ouch. The four-ton weight of realising you might just be the only one flying solo made your hands shake as you scooped the too-sweet liquid into the plastic cup. Suddenly, a hand… connected to a white-sleeved arm slithered next to your waist and took a handful of napkins. You lifted the cup above your shoulder and turned around to find the inconsiderate meathead who —

You immediately recognised the boy behind you. Soft brown hair framed his angular face, which was scrunched up in frustration. Winston Connelly. Soft voice, good manners. Handsome, dark eyes.

“Hi,” you murmured. In the way a dog’s expression changed, his brows lifted as his brown eyes flitted up to you. You inhaled sharply through your nose. He was cute, you remembered that, but he was even cuter now.

“Oh… hi! I’m… I’m sorry.”

You swirled the last mouthful of punch around in the bottom of the glass, watching him as he returned to his cleaning. “It’s okay, Winston.”

He stopped dabbing and looked up, confused. Now unattended, the remaining red liquid streamed down the front of his suit jacket like blood. Your lips curved into a smirk, bemused that that statement had almost floored him. “We have science together.”

“Huh.” He bobbed his head, taking in the information, and took a breath. “You know, it’s the craziest thing. They say ‘things can’t get any worse’, but believe me — they can. The girl I was supposed to take to prom hates me, I got lost on the way here, found out that I really don’t like ginger ale and tequila, and then she ditched me as soon as we got here. And now, I have punch on my arm.”

“Wow, sounds like you’ve really hit rock bottom.”

He shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I came to the prom without a date.”

He seemed absolutely appalled by that confession. Good. “What? No way! That’s…. You’re way too pretty to not have a date.”

“Want to dance?”

He did.

Although your lust had been the original driver of your decisions, as one arm wrapped so gingerly around your waist, you realised very quickly that Winston Connelly was actually adorable. He smiled at you, his tan, buttery skin begging you to touch it. And the way he held you a little tighter whenever Tara passed by…

“You—uh…” After a few songs, he cleared his throat, trying to find the words to woo you. You continued swaying back and forth, but lifted your head from his shoulder. Your eyes met and a flurry of butterflies battered their wings against your ribcage. “You’re really pretty.”

The delighted smile you gave him told him everything he needed to know. You appreciated the compliment - and that was the most important thing. Without another moment’s hesitation, you leaned in, pressing your lips against his jawline, just before his ear. You felt the shudder that started at his neck and travelled down his body. A breathy laugh through your nose brought another one out of him.

“Can you take me home?”

Winston’s head snapped up, previously dreamy-lidded eyes narrowed with confusion. His dark brows were knitted together. “What? ….What did you say?”

“This,” You gestured vaguely around you, glaring at the crepe streamers and shimmery strands of tinsel. “…stinks. Can you take me home?”

As you hoped he would, your silly golden retriever boy fell right into your trap. He took the statement personally, already crestfallen from his unsuccessful evening. You’d given him a scrap of hope that he’d clung to with an iron grip.

“I - uh. Sure. Sure. Whatever you want.”

As you walked down the empty hallway, the tip-tap of your high heels echoing on the linoleum, you wanted to reach over and grab his hand and lace your fingers in between his. You were cursing yourself for never really noticing before, but he was easily one of the most attractive boys you went to school with. From the way his fawn brown hair flopped over when he walked to the way his arms swung gently with his loose, boyishly casual gait, he had created a tight, pulsing knot of arousal in your core.

With a metallic screech, the front doors closed behind the two of you, banging into place. The air was cold enough that it made your lungs ache when you breathed in too deeply, but it was a welcome contrast to your sweaty skin underneath the tulle of your dress. The high school parking lot was full of cars, though you two were the only ones outside. The only two solo losers outside.

“That’s me over there.” He threw his arm up, pointing towards a car on the far edge of the lot. Perfect, you thought. Far away from any prying eyes. Again, in complete silence, the two of you walked until you’d made it to the car. He unlocked it, and opened the side door for you. Naturally, when you hoisted up your dress and climbed in the backseat, Winston looked more confused than he did excited.

Once situated, you called out to him. “I didn’t want to go home, Winston…. I just wanted to be in the car with you.”

In one swift motion, Winston ducked his head into the car, chocolate eyes begging for an explanation. Of course, the visual he was met with short-circuited his brain. You were leaned up against the backseat window, fluffy dress tucked between your spread legs. He blinked. And blinked again.

You beckoned him with one finger.

“Wh-what?” He obeyed however, climbing carefully into the backseat with you and reaching behind him to pull the door shut. It slammed, and he jumped, momentarily throwing a worried glance back.

“C’mere,” you cooed. “…I think you’re really cute. Come. Here. ”

“You’re…. Wait, hang on. Me?”

You nodded.

“Wow, huh…. Maybe this night won’t be so terrible after all.”

Although it wasn’t intended, the way your lips curved was almost villainous. “I’ll make sure of it. Here…” you whispered. You reached for his hand, bringing it to rest atop your thighs. Since you’d already pulled the dress up, his hand laid on your bare skin. His plush lips were parted slightly. You could feel his hot breath washing over your shoulder with each shaky exhalation.

Winston blinked again. You were slowly becoming obsessed with the heavy way he blinked, like each one was his way of processing information, of taking it and committing it to memory. You hoped he’d never forget a moment of this.

“Keep going…” You yanked his hand forward more and pressed it into the pillowy cushion of your inner thighs. You pulled further still, bringing him closer and closer. As the usually submissive one, the sheer aplomb and assertiveness that you were demonstrating was staggering. He brought it out a certain dominance in you… but the reality that was glaringly obvious that if you didn’t initiate it, he wouldn’t either. He made you too hungry to drive home in silence. Dripping, frustrated silence.

You spread your legs slightly, allowing just enough space for his hand. With your thumb, ring and pinky finger still wrapped tightly around his pointer and middle finger, you pulled the soft satin of your underwear to the side. “Just…”

You gave one final pull and the pads of his fingers pressed against your clit. He yelped, but eased into nervous laughter, which then melted into a hungry moan. “You’re so… wet.”

You held him there for a moment, before hesitantly letting go. To your surprise, his fingers stayed and even ventured further down. They moved up and down so slightly, curious, almost twitching over your wet folds. Your body shivered in response, wanting more.

You nodded, brows raised high. You had to pause before answering, rolling your lips inward to suppress the laugh. The very word “wet” in that context seemed so dirty to him, you could tell it felt foreign on his lips. “Guess whose fault that is?”

“Mine?! Oh god,” he whimpered. “I’m so sorry, it’s my fault.”

Was he… joking? Was he actually serious? Bless his heart. “Winston. “

You leaned over and flipped the edge of his black bowtie against your middle finger. “What are you going to do about it?”

Your fingers laid over the bulge, stroking the crisp fabric of his black suit pants. His whole body quivered, hips forcing upwards into your hand. You heard the muted thump of his head hitting the window as he leaned back, giving into the pumping motion of your hand. It didn’t take long for his body to respond, either — underneath the rented polyester, his cock was hardening quickly.

“You like me, Winston?”

“Hhhh…huh… yeah. YEAH!” He weakly lifted his head, searching for your face in the dark. Once his eyes adjusted, he swallowed, wetting his throat, and said, “Yes, I do like you. A lot.”

You knew that he was only answering with one head, but that was okay — you had a hunger than only he could sate. You chewed on the corner of your lip, letting the slippery flesh slide in and out of the grip of your teeth. With a deep breath, you shifted, moving yourself around so that you were on your knees, ass facing him.

As shy as he was, he knew what to do — knew what he wanted to do. He shifted his weight from one knee to other, clumsily scooting closer to you. Hearing the telltale sound of a zipper sliding past teeth, you smirked and suppressed a giggle at his eagerness. Amidst frantic, repeated whispers of ‘Oh my god’ and ‘Wow’ from Winston, you felt his head press into you. You moaned breathily, pushing back against him.

“Fuck me!” You demanded.

“O-kay!”

You were only allowed a moment to admire the high-pitched, enthusiastically boyish way he replied before Winston took hold of your hips and pulled you onto his length. Moaning, you wiggled against him for a few moments, getting yourself used to the fullness he provided. Another theory proven; it was always the shy guys that were hung.

When he started thrusting, his speed made you see white, hot streaks of light and you closed your eyes, whining pathetically into the leather of the backseat. Every tribulation that Winston had dealt with that night dissipated like the smoke in that bar him and Tara had ended up at. He hung his head back with a low groan, bottoming out inside you.

The car shifted with each enthusiastic thrust, and though you did your best to meet them, the waves of pleasure were conquering you, melting you. A cacophony of high pitched moans, groans and ragged pants filled the car. You dug your painted nails into the upholstery, screaming his name as the coil within you snapped.

Without any warning Winston suddenly pulled out, and took himself into his hand, jerking his leaking cock into your hot cunt. Every few sections, he’d line his head up with your slit, collecting your wetness on it and sliding it back down.

“You like that?” You asked, already knowing the answer. “You’re doing so good… it feels so — aah!”

“—Yeh—yeah.”

You whimpered loudly as ropes of white decorated your ass and exposed slit. He collapsed against the opposite window, his chest heaving.

You flipped over, tucking your dress between your legs. Modesty and all that. “I’m real sorry about your date, Winston.”

The sweat had shellacked his brown hair to his forehead, which glistened in the moonlight. He reached up to wipe the sweat from his brow. Glazed over eyes finally refocused.

With pursed lips, he flashed his eyebrows once, lifting them high. “I’m not…. This was…. Way better. I totally wouldn’t, but if I told my friends, they wouldn’t even believe me.”

“You can tell them…. As long as you take me on a second date.”

“Second!? I’ll take you on a second, and a third, and a fourth, and a —“

You kissed him again, shushing him before he got too excited. “You have to take me home first.”

#if y’all didn’t know I am v much a Keanu girlie so #not tagging anyone cos jfhdksjfhdkjfhskjfh who tf cares about my Winston fic lmao #this was ajshdfskdjfhdks kinda rushed but like I HAD TO FINISH IT AND I LOVE WINSTON SO MUCH #Keanu Reeves #keanu reeves x reader #The Night Before #The Night Before 1988 #Winston Connelly #winston connelly x you #myfics

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its-hitoshi · 1 month ago

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i walked across an empty land (p1)

i am a mountain

synopsis:

sevika's worked in the mines since she was thirteen, supporting her sister, her brother, and her father. she decides at eighteen that she needs to find more profitable work. the pits would be an obvious choice, especially with her stature, but she's seen too many dead, heard of too many people who came back not right from a hit in the wrong place. she can't let herself be a burden like that. another mouth to feed that can't support itself.

so the brothels it is.

notes: sevika origin fic. we all know she goes to brothels now. she is a customer. she has enough money to drink and enough money to smoke and enough money to eat. she fights for zaun, but who was she fighting for before? who was she before? crossposted onto ao3

Sevika is eighteen, finally the age of majority in Zaun. She is standing in front of a brothel.

tw: explicit description of sex work involving sevika + grayson (as a customer) + an unnamed male character who is drunk.

Funny enough, that was one of the few things Piltover were hardasses about. Despite the air burning the lungs of too-fragile kids, Piltover decided that what was truly against their morals was underage sex. Until someone reached the age of eighteen, they couldn’t work in a brothel. That was law. Enforcers stormed every brothel for weeks along the Rapture Walk, arresting customers and workers alike if IDs couldn’t be produced. Nevermind the fact that IDs were hard to come by – there was a small office at the bridge connecting the two cities, one that was open random days of the week. And if you were lucky enough to catch them on an open day, papers went missing. Fees were paid, legally and under the table. And Sevika had jumped through the hurdles, saving up what little she had left at the end of each month until she finally had enough to get herself an ID.

Sevika is what’s listed as her first name on her ID card. Jain is what she’s chosen as a last. Her mother had said it was her mother’s last name. Of course, in the Undercity, last names don’t matter. Her mother grew up in these streets – was raised with those same sentiments. Sevika’s grandmother, though, had come from a faraway land. Jain was their family name. That meant that once upon a time, she had something to her name. Whether that meant a home that was actually owned by them, or a family that wasn’t just scraggly kids with a drunkard for an old man… Sevika doesn’t know. She’s sure her grandmother left her land for some reason for another, though to this place is something she’ll always question. Why would she put her roots in a place where the land was barren, the water was sludge, and the air burned?

Maybe she had tried for Piltover at first. Lots of people do. Then they fall down to the Undercity.

Maybe her grandmother hadn’t had anything to come back to, in that far away land. Sevika shakes her head. Squares her jaw. She has her ID in her pocket and washed the ash, dust, and smell of coal off her body this morning. She has to do this right. If not this brothel, then the next down the block. But she needs at least one place to accept her.

The first one rejects her outright. She doesn’t have the look they usually have at this brothel. She’s too tall. Too strong. It’s clear she works in the mines – is that not making enough money for her? Try the next, then.

So she does.

The next one eyes her ID and tells her to get lost. She grits her teeth as she leaves. They’d gone back and forth about the validity of it. Because they don’t want to get raided again, ya hear? One poor underage kid wanting food isn’t going to tank their business. When Sevika insists that the ID is real, the man at the counter scoffs.

Then his face softens just for a moment. He looks her up and down. She holds her breath. Pulls her shoulder back.

She really is eighteen, huh?

She grunts her affirmation.

He still tells her to get lost. Go back to the mines.

She goes to the next one down the block.

They look at her ID and ask if she has any limitations. She says no. They ask her if she’ll be an in-house worker or if she has a place to stay. She thinks of her siblings, wondering if they’ll say anything about it.

She says that she has a place to stay.

(she’ll just wash herself off, wipe herself down… that’ll be enough. Right)

The yordle – Babette – who is manning the counter eyes her like the man at the last brothel did. She finally says that there are showers in the back of the house for their workers. Sevika is welcome to use them before she leaves for the evening, then. Unless she wants to be a night worker. Then she’s welcome to use them before she leaves at sunrise. There are shifts, of course. She’ll start off with one day a week, hard limit is three. In-housers get first pick and the lion’s share of the days. A portion of what’s paid to her will be taken out for house dues and maintenance. Rest is hers.

She hadn’t… hadn’t thought she’d get to choose.

But Babette is still looking at her, and she can’t show weakness. Not for what she’s asking for. So Sevika says that she’ll take on any clients. She has a strong body. She wants to let it be used for something more profitable.

(after all, the mines chip away at her joints, at her lungs more than the toxic air does… if that’s not already selling her body, then what is it?)

And… she’ll take nightshifts. (that’s when men roam about the most, isn’t it? So if she wants the most money…)

Babette writes down her ID information. Tells her that she’ll be expected next week then. Same day.

Her first client is an Enforcer. If she were to guess, only a few years older than her. She’d come to Babette’s, and Babette had told her which door to go to. When they enter, they actually knock. It’s a woman. She’s tan, a few shades lighter than Sevika herself. Same dark hair, cut short with the ends curling around her ears. Her eyes are grey. She doesn’t deign to tell Sevika her name, but she does call Sevika by hers.

Right. She would have been able to see from the repository of workers today. Sevika hadn’t chosen to use a different name. She’d stupidly forgotten to.

Sevika’s sat on the bed after her shower. Her cloak is off, hidden under the bed. The rest of her clothes are still here. They should be off right.

Grey eyes look at her and ask if she had any limits. She can barely find it in herself to shake her head.

It hurts less than she expected.

Her clothes are stripped off gently. One by one. A hand snakes under her shirt. It’s off the moment Grey Eyes pulls away from the kiss she pulled Sevika into. She’s fondled, and Grey Eyes pulls her hands to her own body too. She has to remind herself that she’s getting paid for this to touch back, hands wandering aimlessly. She can feel Grey Eye’s muscles underneath her Enforcer uniform. The woman hadn’t bothered changing, had only pulled a cloak over herself which promptly came off the moment the door was closed after all.

It doesn’t hit her until Grey Eye’s fingers are brushing across the hem of her pants that she realizes she’s actually doing this.

Her first time is going to be with an Enforcer. The Enforcer’s sat between her legs right now, pulling her underwear down. Sevika knows she is splayed out on the bed. Her thighs are on either side of Grey Eyes’ head, whose face she can’t see. She hears and feels the wet kiss pressed to her core. Did the wetness come from her? Or from Grey Eyes’ spit? She gasps, sharp and high as—

Soft moans are pulled from her throat. Small ah-ah-ah’s that she hates because they’re not even that faked. This is the first time someone’s touched herself down there. Babette had given her ground rules. First off, faking it. Sounds. Spit. Eyes. Eyes are what matter the most to give the illusion of pleasure. Lube exists, touching herself before a client exist—but it takes a special sort of control to not give away what you truly feel with your eyes.

Sevika is glad Grey Eyes can’t see her. She knows, instinctually that her eyes are wide open, like how her mouth is hanging open right now too. Most of the pain she’s gone through had been taken with grit teeth, a tense jaw, and slow breathing through her nose. But this – what she hates the most about it is that it doesn’t hurt.

She thought it would. She thought her clients would be drunk men who used their fists against her body, and sore as she already was from the mines, she’d take it. Then they’d have sex while she could still smell the alcohol on their breath. She’d go home with bruises underneath her clothes and work in the mines until her next day in the brothel.

She wasn’t ready for hands that left burning, invisible trails in their aftermath. Everywhere Grey Eyes touches burns even though Sevika knows after they’re done, she won’t have a single mark on her. The realization makes her dizzy even though all she’s staring up at is the painted green ceiling. Her thighs are shaking, and there’s a pit in her stomach that she can’t ignore.

A half-moan, half-whine escapes as her thighs squeeze tight around Grey Eyes’ head before falling apart back onto the woman’s shoulders.

—

She’s still laying on the bed when Grey Eyes finishes. She’s been stretched and hollowed out by callused fingers. Her lips are stained with her own fluids, drool and more. Her body aches. She wishes it hurt more, hurt enough for her to forget what she had felt. The woman had been kind enough to throw the blanket over her once they were done.

She’s pulling on her boots as she turns back to look at Sevika, grey eyes meeting grey.

“Sevika means ‘servant of god’ in Shuriman,” The woman’s voice sounds far away. There’s a bit of a drawl in it. “Keep up the good work.”

–

Babette doesn’t chastise her for not immediately getting up and cleaning herself off for the next client. She doesn’t know how long she lays, but the crick in her neck tells her she’s stayed long enough.

She stumbles out of the door to get to Babette’s counter. Babette looks her up and down before telling her to take a shower. It’s a slow day today. Perhaps there would be another client waiting for her. If she’d like.

–

She does.

It’s well worth it. It’s what she expected to have dealt with when she first got the idea into her head. The man wants a fight and a fight is what Sevika will give him. She’s young and she’s scrappy and she is strong.

The whole point is for him to win, though. So he enters her roughly with his hands around her neck and ruts against her once, twice, tries more, but—

There’s too much alcohol in his system. He ends up sagging against her body, and after waiting what feels like forever, Sevika finally shoves him off. She goes to Babette, saying in short sentences what happened. Babette eyes her again, with the same look she had when they first met. Sevika doesn’t understand what it is. Then the yordle says that Sevika should shower. The other girls have taken the other clients for now and her customer did pay for a full two hours. Wait with him and see what happens. She’ll still get paid, of course. If the man pukes or doesn’t wake up after two hours, then toss him out onto the street.

So Sevika goes and takes her shower. There’s precious hot water here that she relishes before getting dressed and walking back into the room. She takes the floor, away from the man. A clock ticks. She waits.

She knows the man won’t wake up anytime soon. She’s handled her father far too long to not know when a man’s going to be passed out for a long time after drinking too much. Fifteen minutes till the two hour mark, Sevika gets to work. She stands, stretching out parts of her body that have gone sore and will bruise.

Picking up deadweight is easy for Sevika, even with her condition. Her actions pull her muscles and skin in wrong directions, ones that hurt, but Sevika doesn’t care. It’s her last client of the night according to what Babette said, so she’ll spend the last hour of her shift going over guidelines of the brothel again before leaving early. The deadweight is unceremoniously dumped onto the street across from the brothel and Sevika enters again to collect her pay.

It's more than what she makes after two weeks in the mines. Six days a week.

Don’t expect this all the time. Babette says, tapping her long pipe against the bills. The enforcer had given her a big tip. Most nights she’ll get half of this or even less. Depending on how many clients she gets, of course. How many hours they’ll pay for with her. It varies. Is she still up for the job?

Sevika is thinking about how many new shirts and pairs of pants she can buy for her siblings. One for each, she thinks. One for Aisha, for Ishaan. Maybe a dress too, for Aisha. Aisha is pregnant. They haven’t really talked about it much. She just told Sevika one day, in tears, saying that she thought— she thought if she just ignored it, it would go away—but—

And not to mention the food. If she keeps working here, at least one day a week, she won’t have to spend any of her meagre salary on food. It can just get tucked away, saved for whatever happens next. Sevika feels herself nod before she can find it in herself to answer. Grey eyes haunt her.

Yeah. Same time. Same day, right?

#whump #sevika arcane #sevika angst #sevika fanfiction #sevika origin story #grayson arcane #character study #poverty #the life of zaunites #also interested in how the rapturewalk functions under margot but she is currently not in power right now rip

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the-monkey-ruler · 2 years ago

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I want to ask about Houyi, if we assume the suns were bringing pain to humanity, why did the Jade Emperor and the other gods do nothing or not want to? Or couldn't they do anything? Also, Houyi's ending seems a bit tragic to me, but I don't know how many versions there are of the story. That the gods gave him that ending wasn't unfair?

If I had to give a straight answer as to why Houyi had to do it it’s in story reason is that HouYi is meant to be the world’s greatest archer and that’s why he is the one to shoot down the suns, and out of story reason is that if he wasn’t the one to do it, then the story wouldn’t be about Chang’e and Houyi. Sure there could be a million ways about other gods taking down the suns… but now Houyi is irrelevant and has no story anymore. Like I get what you’re trying to say about the same point you have to understand this is folklore, this isn’t like a comic book universe where other gods can just swoop in. There were even contradictions within stories! Hence why you just have to be aware of most of them, and see which ones are most popular that most people ran with.

From what I’ve seen, there were two popular versions of the stories with at least 4 different endings. One being that Houyi and Chang'e were normal humans and that they were given immortal pills as a reward for shooting down the suns, not that they were being punished. And from there, it is whether Chang'e stole the pills all herself OR she was trying to hide the pills from HouYi's jealous rival and she accidentally swallowed them all while hiding them in her mouth. That is more on Chang'e's character and whether she was either a thoughtful wife or not, depends on who is saying it.

But yes another version is that Houyi was tasked to shoot down the sun but he was actually trying to shoot down them ALL! And that is a HORRIBLE idea to shoot all the suns down. His last arrow was stopped by King Yao or Xihe (the sun's mother) to spare at least one of her children before he could shoot them all THAT is what he was punished for. Because while he was tasked to shoot down the sun, killing them all would also lead to humanity's downfall making him a villain. OR That HouYi was ORDERED to shoot all tens suns down and that he ONLY shot the nine. And THAT is what he got in trouble for, for he was actually a hero looking out for humanity and went against an order despite the suns being criminals making him a hero but still punished for his defiance. From there he goes to get the immorality from the Queen Mother but still whether Chang'e was either selfish or trying to protect the pills comes into play.

Those are the popular, two versions but there MORE! Like another version of the story is that after HouYi shot down the suns when he was on earth he actually became the king of his land and then a horrible tyrant. He was so cruel that Chang'e took the first chance she got and swallowed all of the immortal pills to escape his wrath. But without his wife he repented for his sins and tried to win her back but never could reach the moon where she fled for her own safety.

What I'm trying to say here is that... there is a lot of stories about Houyi and not all of them are good. In some stories, he is a guy that was doing his job and was punished for being sent out to kill another goddess's children. In another version, he is a cruel man who rather put the world into darkness for the sake of the hunt. Another is a lost husband who last his wife in tragedy. And another he is a horrible husband that even his own wife tried to escape him and left him on earth. I'm going to be honest, I see more versions of HouYi from the Western Han Dynasty were he was being rewarded with the pills of immorality to come up to heaven to anything else because that is considered what is the most logical in storytelling. And whether Houyi was a bad man or Chang'e was a selfish woman is bounced back and forth from there.

There are a lot of reasons that these stories could have changed over the years and I'm even sure what came first. Perhaps he was an evil man at the start and thus his punishment at the end makes sense, and as time progresses the story makes HouYi more sympathetic as a good man but now the punishment at the end doesn't fit.

Bt if anything this kind of morally grey area can make Houyi a far more interesting character! I think why he and Chang'e's story is still so popular is that it can be changed and seen in so many different ways! Maybe making him the villain, a misunderstood anti-hero, a pure-hearted heart-of-gold sweetheart, there can be so much done with him! I would say that don't feel too beat up by Houyi's story because there are at least seven other versions that either explain why he deserved it and he's a villain or why he went against his order and is a hero. And that is one of the great things about such old folklore is that you can interpret the story how you want to as well. Either way, he is a character in a tragedy love story... so of course he is a tragic character.

Endings:

Mortal and Rewarded, Wife screwed him over

Mortal and Rewarded, Wife and Him were both screwed over

God and Punished, He tried to Overkill

God and Punished, He was Merciful

God and Punished, Wife screwed him over

God and Punished, Wife and Him were both screwed over

Mortal and Reward, Wife ran away from Abuser

God and Punished, Wife ran away from Abuser

https://baike.baidu.hk/item/%E5%90%8E%E7%BE%BF/1504

#anon ask #anonymous #anon #houyi #chinese mythology #mythos #chang'e #ask

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dailydemonspotlight · 9 months ago

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I've been really getting into Canaanite mythology, so I was thinking of requesting someone like Anat for the future

Anat - Day 71 (Request)

Race: Megami

Arcana: Priestess

Alignment: Light-Chaos

July 15th, 2024

Canaanite mythology is, unfortunately, very obscure- despite the varying amount of sources we have to work off of regarding it, a good amount of the ancient religion has been lost to time, and so many features and gods from it have been forgotten as the years went on and history left it behind in its wake. What we do have, however, is a fascinating look into the various places it intersects with other world religions, areas, and places from throughout history. This all comes to a head in the form of a Canaanite goddess who isn't only connected to just Canaan- no, she's connected to far, far more. Enter the goddess of many things, whether it be fertility, warfare, or hunting- the elusive Ugarit deity, Anat.

Anat is attested to very scantly, and almost all of her references lie in the Ugaritic texts, an ancient set of tablets written in cuneiform and dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries BCE. While these texts are filled with hundreds of poems, the major poem we wish to focus on today, one of three, lies in the Baal cycle, the main source also used for, you guessed it, Baal. Now, interestingly, the Baal cycle is used for more than simple reference back-and-forth for Canaanite myth- quite a lot of sources actually use it as a point of reference for comparison between Canaanite and several Abrahamic religions- but I'm getting off topic. Within the Baal cycle, however, she is referenced quite a bit as a very important figure. As seen in the cycle, Anat is an incredibly powerful figure who fights alongside Baal against the god of the dead and his eternal enemy, Mot. A lot of the poem, unfortunately, is very, very hard to read, with many lines missing and others obscured by the ages, but I'll try to offer as many quotes as I can. Also of note is that most of the sources refer to Anat as a deity that was already quite well known.

Case in point, the source listed above. It's easy to inquire that Anat was a household name in Ugaritic areas, and the passing referral to her in most sources also makes it obvious that she was a well known and well-referred to goddess, unfortunately making research about her ten times harder to people nowadays like me who don't know much about her. However, what we can work off of is the actual fragments that were preserved and translated! To quote the tablets kept in the Syria virtual museum exhibit,

“To me let your feet run, to me let your legs hurry; as I have a word of which I would tell you, a matter of which I would relate to you; words of wood and whispers of stone, conversations of the heavens with the earth, the deep with the stars.” (CTA 3 iii 19-25)

From what we can gather, Anat appeared to have been the lover of Baal, and the above text is what he said when he called to her after his death at the hands of Mot. I wish a few more lines were translated, given how many PDF's I've had to sift through, but alas- it comes with the territory of annoyingly obscure deities. Many other sources also purport that they may have been siblings, and still other sources think they took a page out of Alabama's book, so to speak. What we do know for sure, though, is that Anat is one of Baal's greatest allies, but a lot past that is vague. It's even debated among researchers as to her role- it used to be believed, based on the paper "Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible" written by Israeli scholar Ariella Deem, that Anat's name was based upon a hypothetical root word meaning 'to make love,' being nh, but as time has went on and it's been discovered that the root word in question may not exist, her role has been changed in tune.

Now, as evidenced in the Baal cycle, it's believed that she was a war god of sorts, as well as the savior of life itself in the tradition- in it, as quoted below, she killed Mot and, by vanquishing death, had guaranteed that Baal would be brought back to life.

She seizes the God Mot. With a sword She cleaves Him, With a pitchfork She winnows Him. With a fire She burns Him, In the millstones She grinds Him. In the fields She plants Him,

As evidenced later in the text, she was also responsible for the slaughter of several other gods, being known as a goddess of vengeance in the wake of Baals death. To quote,

She smites the people of the seashore, destroys mankind of the sunrise. Under Her are heads like vultures. Over Her are hands like locusts. Pouring the oil of peace from a bowl, the Virgin Anath washes Her hands, The Progenitress of Heroes, (washes) Her fingers. She washes Her hands in the blood of soldiery, Her fingers in the gore of troops. [...] Did I not demolish the darling of `El, Yam the Sea? Did I not make an end of Nahar the River, the great god divine Rabim? Did I not snare the Dragon, vanquish him? I did demolish the Twisting Serpent, the Tyrant with Seven Heads?

This all goes to show that Anat, as a whole, appeared to be a goddess of war- while a lot of the language translated to speak of Anat, Ugaritic, is hard to translate both due to a lack of knowledge and difficulty in changing concepts (such as the aforementioned root words,) a lot of what we do know for sure about her paint her as a ruthless goddess who got vengeance for her husband/brother/both and then some. However, how is she portrayed in SMT?

Frankly, I find her design a bit... strange? And also very horny, though I guess it comes with the territory of being a purported goddess of fertility- however, a lot of her design just feels strained. It's even worse in its yellow color pallete in Soul Hackers, though that might just be my taste. I do quite like her Persona design, though that may just be due to my love of Motorcycles and the fact that she's evolved from Johanna.

Overall, though, design issues aside, I really do quite like Anat- the rabbit hole this demon can lead you down is intense, but it's one that I still found fun and intriguing to research. Do your own research for her, too! There's a lot I didn't mention in this general overview, after all!

#shin megami tensei #smt #megaten #persona #daily #ask #everyone thank yamai

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reasoningdaily · 2 years ago

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Rapper Tory Lanez was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet and injuring her three years ago.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Herriford’s decision followed an unusually long hearing that stretched into a second day and included seven people answering questions from Lanez’s attorneys, mostly about his childhood and charitable work as well as his struggle with the death of his mother when he was 11. A jail chaplain said Lanez hosts a daily moment of prayer on his jail floor that has lessened tensions and sets him far apart from the 15,000 other inmates he’s met over the years.

Lanez spoke for several minutes, asking Herriford to not send him to prison. He called Megan “someone I still care for dearly to this day” regardless of what she may think of him. He said “the victim’s my friend.” He talked about bonding with her over the loss of their mothers.

“We both lost our mothers. We would sit there and drink, and drink until we got numb,” he said.

youtube

Lanez’s lawyers also submitted 76 character reference letters from friends, family and other supporters. The writers include singer Iggy Azalea, a police chief and a state representative from Missouri, and a doctor who treated Lanez for hair loss.

In a written statement read aloud in court, Megan said she struggled with whether to attend in person, and her absence should not be seen as anything other than her preserving her mental well being. She said since Tory Lanez her, “I’ve not experienced a single day of peace,” Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta read aloud.

Megan said mercy is for people who show remorse, and Lanez has shown none. She thanked the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for their support and said she wants Lanez’s sentence to be a message for every woman who’s a victim of violence.

“He not only shot me, he made a mockery of my trauma. He tried to position himself as a victim and set out to destroy my character and my soul,” Megan said.

“He lied to anyone that would listen and paid bloggers to disseminate false information about the case on social media. He released music videos and songs to damage my character and continue his crusade,” she continued. “At first, he tried to deny the shooting ever happened. Then, he attempted to place the blame on my former best friend. In his tantrum of lies, he’s blamed the system, blamed the press and, as of late, he’s using his childhood trauma to shield himself and avoid culpability.”

She that Lanez “must be forced to face the full consequences of his heinous actions and face justice.”

Lanez continues to maintain his innocence. His lawyers argued he has an alcohol-use disorder because of post-traumatic stress disorder and an anxiety disorder, and they asked he be released from jail on probation and to a residential substance abuse program.

Herriford questioned where the nexus is between the crime and Lanez’s alcohol-use disorder if he’s still denying shooting Megan. “Your client at no time indicates he actually shot the victim,” Herriford said told Lanez’s lead lawyer, Jose Baez.

“What is he alleging he did as a result of alcohol-use disorder if he didn’t do anything?” Herriford asked. “What did the doctor conclude he did as a result of alcohol use? It’s very unclear.”

Baez said “yelling” and the “argument that went back and forth in the car.”

Baez said “there were lots of decisions that transpired” to escalate the situation.

“It wasn’t a pretty situation. It wasn’t that young man's finest moment,” Baez said of Lanez.

Herriford’s unusual decision to allow questions meant it took three hours to get through the people who spoke on Monday. He also allowed Lanez’s lawyers to re-open their questioning of two speakers on Tuesday.

The speakers included a jail chaplain who said Lanez has helped bring peace to his restricted cell floor through a daily prayer call that brings everyone together at 9 p.m. and a mental health specialist who said Lanez has post-traumatic stress order and an anxiety order that underlays his alcohol-use order.

Deputy District Attorney Alex Bott said Lanez was almost 29 when he shot Megan, and he had no prior reports of alcohol problems. Video of his arrest shows him walking without stumbling, Bott said, and his attempts to bribe Kelsey Harris and Megan show someone in control of his actions. He said the shooting “was an act of misogyny towards Megan.”

Bott said Lanez will “say whatever it takes to avoid accountability" and "is talking out of both sides of his mouth" by claiming alcoholism and a mental disorder but also saying he's a role model for his son.

Stephanie Herring, program director of Home Sentencing, said Lanez is a great candidate for her program, and she’s available to pick him up from jail and take him there immediately. She said she believes anyone with a substance abuse disorder must first have a mental health disorder, and Lanez qualifies.

The sentencing ends a three-year-old case that sparked contentious debate online, propelled by what prosecutors described as a “campaign of misinformation” waged by Lanez against Megan.

Lanez was arrested on a gun charge shortly after the July 12, 2020, shooting in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills. He and Megan were leaving reality star Kylie Jenner’s home with Megan’s friend Kelsey Nicole Harris when an argument broke out and Megan exited the Escalade on Nichols Canyon Road barefoot and in her bikini. She testified in trial that she heard Lanez say “Dance, bitch!” before he opened fire.

Megan initially denied being shot, instead telling police she’d stepped on glass, despite needing surgery to remove bullet fragments in her feet. She told investigators four days later that Lanez had shot her. He was charged in August 2020 and remained free on bail until September 2022, when he was placed on house arrest after allegedly assaulting singer August Alsina in Chicago. He was jailed after the jury convicted him Dec. 23 of first-degree assault with a firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm and possession of a concealed and unregistered firearm in a vehicle.

Judge Herriford rejected his motion for new trial in May, and the state appellate court then rejected an unusual request to remove the judge from the case or order him to grant a new trial.

Megan, meanwhile, became more publicly active, throwing out the first pitch at the Houston Rockets home opener, posting more on social media and headlining concerts such as the L.A. Pride Festival in June and the Essence Festival in New Orleans in July. She opened up about the shooting in an Elle cover story in April, saying, “For years, my attacker tried to leverage social media to take away my power.”

“Imagine how it feels to be called a liar every day? Especially from a person who was once part of your inner circle,” Megan said.

#Judge sentences Tory Lanez to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion #Megan Thee Stallion #daystarr peterson #Megan Pete #tory lanez #tory lanez sentenced #tory lanez gets 10 years for shooting Megan Thee Stallion #Youtube

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crossdressingdeath · 1 year ago

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For the oc asks: future and alone

(Making the boy suffer asks.)

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them? Kyvir thinks he's very good at dealing with loneliness. He's wrong, he was just lonely for so long that it stopped registering. He doesn't so much "deal" with loneliness as he does emotionally shut down, turn his Cheerful Charmingly Dickish Bard act up to twelve, and pretend that people finding him superficially charming and attractive is the same as being loved. He's definitely been completely alone before; I think he actually spent quite a lot of time physically alone when he was younger, especially the decade or so after killing his foster parents. When he realized that he could and would lose control and kill people he loved he kind of ran out into the woods and stayed there for a good decade or so; he went long enough without killing that he went completely feral for a while. It took a lot to drag him out of that state and he was so terrified of losing himself again that he's never gone that long avoiding people since, but he remained emotionally alone until Gortash decided that manipulating the murder demigod into being loyal to him was a good idea and dragged him kicking and screaming into (initially one-sided and manipulative, later genuine) emotional intimacy. When he's alone he tends to be quiet and distant and generally lost in his own thoughts, and fidgets and hums to himself a lot. (When he's particularly sad he tends to sit somewhere quiet with his tail wrapped around his ankles.)

future: What's the worst possible future for your OC? Are they taking steps to avoid that outcome? Are they even aware it's a possibility? I can't actually decide which would be worst for him. It's between taking over the world in Bhaal's name, the failed Chosen feral ending, and rejecting Bhaal but becoming Astarion's spawn. The way it's worked out in terms of in-game story is that if he lets Astarion ascend he's fucked. I think he's not actively taking steps to avoid it; Kyvir spends a lot of time (once he's remembered what he is) teetering back and forth on what he's going to do, and I think it's kind of a split-second decision; he doesn't actually decide what to do re Astarion's desire for ascension until he's standing in Cazador's palace. And that's even more the case with whether or not he takes on the role of Bhaal's Chosen, he very much does not decide until he's standing in front of Bhaal. Depending on whether or not I go with killing or sparing Isobel he may or may not realize that reclaiming his place as Bhaal's Chosen is a possibility at first, and although he does know that ascended Astarion is a possibility I don't think he considers that Astarion will offer to turn him.

#bg3 #kyvir #ask games #chronurgy

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boobachu · 2 months ago

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I raise a new perspective to you, while it is true that history repeats because nobody really lives long enough to see the patterns, it is also true that the internet didn't exist back then. Nothing was ever documented to the degree that things are now. I'm not saying that fascism isn't happening and isn't on the rise, it is, but it mostly is through our government. Through actual legislation. Most fascists and Nazis that are working class that I hear about are typically in the Midwest. Down here in the south, they do exist, but we kind of beat the shit out of them so they leave us the fuck alone typically. I'm getting off topic here, my point is, if it is true that history repeats because no one remembers what happened, then how come people who were hardcore extreme conservatives are realizing a lot of their wrongdoings in mass? There are tons and tons and tons of queers coming forth about family coming around. I've seen it myself, with my friends as well and their families.

So my perspective is, perhaps with the internet at our disposal, hope isn't lost. I know a while back I read an article about a historian who brought this up himself. He spoke about how things like this repeat, specially with fascism, but he said that before there was no such thing as the internet. And now there is, that he thinks it is enough to help connect people and spread information. Fact checking is also particularly popular.

The nazis have always been a minority, like most right leaning people believe that there's a hierarchy of worth that's genetic but they're not willing to like, start a fucking pogrom. That's what prisons are for, like "if you went to prison you deserved it obviously it's not racism that's just a fact of life" that sorta bullshit.

That and all I ever hear from rightheads that aren't full-tilt "1488 god emperor own the libs" nazi-nazi is that "oh you're exaggerating" "that's fake" "that won't happen"

Like it's funny, people will be like "we need to be making our own food cuz china's poisoning everything" and then they don't have a plan for what happens if the cops start hunting them down. I don't mean white-white people I mean Mexican people like I hear this from chicanos like dude what

The other elephant in the room is that the seed of doubt on reality was planted decades ago with the 24 hour news cycle and there's a ton of deepfake generative A.I. fertilizer plopped right on top so even if you have video proof of something, people can go "mmh fake news"

I've had tons of hopes that "maybe it won't get this bad" like... but it just keeps getting worse.

Tho honestly all that is a lot of fluff for the reality that like... citizens of the USA versus the militarized police: who wins?

Cuz I mean the republicans are behind this fascist push and the democrats aren't being a total wall of defiance so that means that anything meaningful would have to be done by the people which... usually that shit only happens when the powers that be let them.

Like the police letting the Jan 6th mob go after congress back in 2020. If the cops weren't on their side that shit wouldn't've happened. That happens anywhere with "the people's revolt" like dictator hasbeen has lost control and the court is replacing them using the people and then power vaccum yada yada worse dictator comes in.

Like that Eugene guy, what's his name Goodman. If Goodman didn't do what he did right then right there, America woulda been over like it's like we had a miraculous save throw and pissed it away!!!

Ugh I'm rambling, like I really fucking hope I'm wrong cuz me being right is me and everyone I know and love being slaughtered for being born wrong whether that means mental illness or brown skin.

Like I'd love to be 50 like "Man remember when we thought Elon Musk was going to usurp Trump to become mechahitler? Just overreacting like Y2K man REMEMBER Y2K?"

Like I really hope that happens, but I mean a black man was lynched in 2020 in his mother's back yard as a warning and a Palestinian protester was just disappeared right now so it's like, I just don't see a happy end to this.

#ask

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385bookreviews · 3 months ago

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2.7 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

SPOILERS

Pages: 442

Time Read: 8 hours and 50 minutes

Overall Rating: 4★ Storyline: 4★ Dialogue: 4.5★ Characters: 4.5★

Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance

TWs for the book: Abandonment, addiction, alcohol, alcoholism, drug abuse, emotional abuse, grief, mental illness, su*c*dal thoughts, su*c*de attempt, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, domestic abuse, gaslighting, injury, misogyny, panic attacks, physical abuse, prostitution, sexism, s*xual content, SA, s*xual harassment, war, biphobia, blood, child abuse, confinement, cursing, death, death of a parent, fire, kidnapping, violence, vomit

POV: First person

Time Period/Location: 1698-2016; Mostly set in New York City and France

First Line: A girl is running for her life.

Adeline LaRue (Addie): I've heard critiques of Addie that she is shallow, only leaving a mark of herself and not doing anything substantial. But is art not substantial? She inspired hundreds of artists over 300 years, and was a spy in World War II, contributing in a more impactful way by doing so. I think it was really interesting to have the discussion of if she was still human, and I enjoyed her wit and her stubbornness.

Luc (The Darkness, Lucifer): Luc was the "shadow daddy" trope, but in an actually morally gray way. I feel like when books try to do this trope they make it more of a guy who is good but has to make hard choices than actually morally gray characters. The ambiguousness of whether or not Luc truly loves Adeline is really what I have been missing, and I loved him as an antagonist.

Henry Strauss: Henry came off as whiny at times, but I really could connect to him and his struggle with mental illness and feeling like no matter what he does, he's not good enough for anyone. I think particularly with his interactions with Bea, he was able to learn that he doesn't need to be perfect and totally adored by everyone in order to be worthy of love, care, and attention.

Storyline: I found it a little bit annoying to continually flash back and forth between the modern day and the past, but I can't tell if it would be as impactful if VE Schwab had done it any other way. The back and forth is the only reason this lost a star from me. I've heard a lot of people complain about there not being as much detail about what she did in the past and the history she experienced, but that's not what this story was about.

Representation: Bea is black and a lesbian. Robbie is gay, and Henry and Addie are both bisexual.

Summary: I definitely understand why there was so much hype around this book, I really enjoyed VE Schwab's writing style and can't wait to read more from her. It was poetic, but not overdone in the way that I find, for example, Ava Reid's writing to be, and a lot of the repetition of statements and one off lines were equally impactful. I loved the fact that this wasn't just a good vs evil type of story, and that Addie wasn't really in love with Luc or Henry, avoiding the insta-love trope and the usual plot of the "shadow daddy" trope. There was a lot of nuance here, and it made for a really great story that subverted my expectations, as I went in thinking this was purely a romance when it was more of a magical realism injected historical fantasy.

Quotes: -"What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?" (p.15) -"…Adeline has decided she would rather be a tree, like Estele. If she must grow roots, she would rather be left to flourish wild instead of pruned, would rather stand alone, allowed to grow beneath the open sky. Better that than firewood, cut down just to burn in someone else's hearth." (p.31)

Complete Recap: March 10, 2014: Addie wakes up in Toby's apartment. She knows he won't remember her when he wakes up, so she takes a moment to make tea and play the piano. He eventually stumbles out, not remembering her like she predicted, but they work on the song together. They have both been working on the song together for awhile, he just has no memory of her once he wakes in the morning. She leaves, and goes into a store to change her clothes, walking out without paying since she has no money and the clerk didn't remember her walking in. She leaves behind a wooden ring that fell from her pocket. 1698: Addie goes to Le Mans with her father so he can sell his woodworking. She views the city through a child's lens, seeing a magical place. 1703: Addie talks with Estele, her neighbor, and the old woman tells her about the old gods of the forest, and teaches her how to pray to them, sacrificing things that she values in order to gain their favor. She believes in this over the Catholicism that is present in her town. 1707: Now 16, Addie has fully taken to praying to the old gods to keep boys away from being interested in her. She doesn't want to get married and then live and die in Villon. She draws herself an imaginary boyfriend with dark curly hair and green eyes and uses him to keep her thoughts entertained. March 10, 2014: She has moved through the world alone for over 300 years at this point. She can't keep any possessions, earn money, or rent a place to live, so she wanders from place to place, stealing what she needs, even though things like starvation and cold won't kill her. An old man sells his dead wife's book collection out on the corner, and Addie takes one of the books to read for the day. She also snags some food and coffee. July 29, 1714: Addie is 23, too old to wed, but a man named Roger loses his wife, and her mother and father don't give her a choice but to marry him. The day of her wedding she runs away into the woods and prays to the old gods, but doesn't realize that the sun has gone down, and she has prayed to a god of the dark. When he appears he takes the form of the stranger she has conjured up in her mind. She offers him the wooden ring her father carved for her, but he disintegrates it, and says he will only do a deal for her soul. Addie isn't quite sure what she is asking for, but she says she wants to be free and live her life on her own terms. The darkness agrees. She passes out, and when she wakes up she tries to go back home, but her mother and father don't know her, and Addie can't even say her own name. She goes to Estele, but the old woman doesn't remember her either, and every time she closes the front door and opens it, she forgets Addie all over again. March 10, 2014: Addie cons her way into a movie theatre to see a film. On her way out, she returns the book she snagged from the old man's table and leaves a muffin for him. Then she goes to the Alloway to see Toby perform, but she decides that she doesn't want to go through the same routine of seducing him that night, and leaves. She goes to James St. Clair's apartment, a young famous actor that she had befriended awhile back. He, of course, doesn't remember her, but he's out of town so she helps herself to staying in his place. While sipping some wine, she realizes that the wooden ring has found its way back into her pocket.

July 30, 1714: Addie wakes up in her best friend Isabelle's barn. Isabelle, just like the rest, doesn't know her, but is kind to her and tries to care for her. She leaves Addie holding her baby and steps out to talk to her husband, and when she returns she once again has forgotten and is frightened by her presence, so she leaves. She goes to bathe in the river, and Isabelle happens upon her again, but when she leaves to get Addie some clothes, thinking she is a woman travelling alone who has been robbed, Addie leaves. She steps into her father's woodshop one last time, and tries to write him a note, but the ink disappears. So she takes one of his wooden birds and begins her journey to Le Mans. She walks until her feet bleed, but when she pulls off her stolen boots to check them, they are completely healed. March 11, 2014: Addie leaves James' apartment and goes to the Met to see a wood sculpture carving of a bird. A French man was inspired to make the piece after finding Addie's wooden bird on the ground in Paris. July 31, 1714: Le Mans is nothing as she remembers it. It's crowded and dirty and people are rude to her. She tries to rob a pack off a horse, but is caught by the stable hands. She stabs one in the leg and runs away, and once she is out of sight, they forget she was there and the man's wound heals instantly. The stab wound in her shoulder that she received during the scuffle takes a little bit longer. She immediately leaves Le Mans, deciding instead to go to Paris. March 12, 2014: Addie stumbles across a bookstore called The Last Word. She goes in, and the clerk Henry, asks if she needs anything, but she brushes him off. She goes to walk out of the bookstore with the book, but Henry chases after her, baffled that she blatantly tried to steal in front of him and that it was an old Greek copy of The Odyssey at that. Addie assumes the door didn't close in time for him to forget her, and offers the book back, but he lets her keep it. Henry goes back into the store, and waves off his friend Bea's concern. A girl named Emily is waiting there, asking to go out with him, but he refuses, saying he has plans. He closes the shop as he is the only employee, running it for a wealthy older woman named Meredith while she travels the world. He feeds Book the cat and then leaves with Bea to go and see their friend Robbie perform. Everyone they great on their way into the theatre seems very interested in Henry, but he just ignores it. Bea and Henry congratulate Robbie after the show and head out with him to an after party. While at the party, Henry hooks up with one of the girls from the show. Addie tries to go back to James' apartment, but he is home now. She snags some Chinese food from a distracted delivery driver and goes to sit on the roof of a building that another of her former lovers lives in. While she sits and tries to read, Sam comes up with her friends. She uses the same pickup line on Addie that she used the first time, and they share a cigarette. When Sam and her friends leave, Addie goes to sleep in the lawn chair. August 9, 1714: Addie has arrived in Paris, but she isn't much better off there then she was in Le Mans. She tries to rent a room with what money she has, but the woman forgets her and kicks her out. She also drops the wooden bird, causing the wing to chip. She tries to steal some food from a merchant, but she is caught, and forced to pay, which wastes the last of her money. She tries to spend the night in a church, but they are full, so she is forced to go down to the docks to prostitute herself. During her time there in Paris, it once got so cold that she fell asleep on the street, and she would have died if the darkness hadn't made her immortal. She woke up though in a cart of other dead bodies, and discovers shortly afterwards that she lost her wooden bird in the pile.

July 29, 1715: Addie is in a rented room with a man, and he thinks she is going to sleep with him. She, however, has other plans, and drugs him to sleep so she can have the room mostly to herself for the night. Just when she gets comfortable, the darkness appears before her. She attacks him, and yells at him for not answering her summons she had been making all year. She accuses him of tricking her, but he says she didn't even know what she was asking for, and that he deals in souls, not granting wishes. He asks her if she is ready to give up her soul and she refuses. March 13, 2024: Henry meets with his younger sister Muriel for breakfast, where she talks his ear off before he has to leave for work. Addie wakes up on the roof to Sam checking on her. She takes her back down into her apartment, and Addie lies about being a new neighbor. While she's there, Sam paints a picture of her, an abstract of a night sky with seven stars, like Addie's seven freckles. She tells Addie about another painting that she had sold, and only Addie remembers that the painting was based off of her. Addie leaves, and goes back to The Last Word to try and get a different book. July 29, 1716: Addie pretends to be a lady's maid to get into a clothing shop. When the man steps away to get her something, she hides, and he closes up the store with no recollection of her. When she's alone, she tries on different clothes and eventually leaves once she has found something that suits her. As she walks, the darkness comes to her again and offers to walk with her. She asks him to change his form and he refuses. He offers to take her soul again, trying to wear her down, but Addie refuses. March 13, 2024: Addie goes back into the bookshop and tries to convince Henry to let her exchange the book, saying a friend bought it for her but she already has a copy. He refuses, saying he remembers her from yesterday. Addie is shocked, and Henry recounts the entirety of yesterday's events to prove a point, and orders her out. Addie goes, but he is the first person to remember her in over 300 years, so she goes and sits on the stoop of the shop. When Henry comes out to ask what she's doing, she apologizes and asks to take him for coffee. She can only afford one coffee with the money she stole from James, so she orders and sits down with him. The barista calls the name she gave, Eve, so Henry thinks that that's her name. He gets up and orders a hot chocolate for her so he isn't drinking alone. They get to know each other, although Addie tells him that she is a talent scout when he asks what her job is. He asks her what she sees when she looks at him, and she gives him a deep answer, saying it looks like he cares a lot and is lost in life. He gets up, and she thinks he is going to leave, but instead he asks if she's hungry. July 29, 1719: The marquis and his wife are out late playing cards with friends, so Addie is staying in the marchioness's rooms for that night. She eats chocolate and plays dress up. And then the darkness comes. She tells him to go away because she won't be giving up her soul, and he acts offended, saying it's their anniversary and that he is only inviting her to dinner. At this he pulls the bell for one of the maids, and Addie tries to rush out for fear of being caught but her stops her. Her and the rest of the house staff is bewitched by the darkness into thinking they are supposed to be there, and he tells the maid they will dine in the salon. They eat together in silence until Addie asks for his name. He tells her to call him whatever she called the man she used to draw, so she decides to call him Luc. It used to be short for Lucien, but she thinks it can be short for Lucifer now. They once again argue the specific terms of her curse, and she decides that she will live forever, and never give him her soul. March 13, 2014: Henry and Addie go bar hopping together, gradually getting to know one another better. They say goodnight, and Addie is able to finally say her real name to him for the first time in 300 years.

July 29, 1720: Addie has made her own makeshift home for herself in an abandoned house, and sets out dinner for her and Luc's anniversary, but he never comes. July 29, 1724: Luc hasn't visited Addie in four years. She walks through Paris dressed as a man, intending to have a picnic on the roof of Notre Dame. A man bumps into her, causing her honey jar to shatter, and when he gets closer to apologize, he realizes she is a woman. He doesn't out her though, and takes her into a cafe where only men are allowed. The man tells her his name is Remy and introduces her to coffee for the first time. Voltaire walks into the cafe, prompting Remy to show her one of his books. Addie ends up liking him so much that she invites him along to the picnic she planned for herself. March 15, 2014: Time drags as Addie waits for the planned time she is to meet up with Henry again. She goes into the shop finally and meets Bea, and then her and Henry go to a speakeasy arcade hidden in a laundromat. Afterwards, they go to see a movie, but Henry gets restless when he learns that Addie has already seen it, and steps out to get some air. He tells Addie he feels like he is constantly running out of time, and she decides to take him somewhere new. July 29, 1724: Remy and Addie climb to the roof of Notre Dame. They eat together, and when Addie tries to tell him her true story of what happened to her, he immediately forgets it all, so she has to edit it down to the basics. He walks her "home", although she has just picked a random house, and he begs to see her again, so she offers to walk him home. They sleep together, but when they both wake some time later, Remy has forgotten her and their night together, and pays her, mistaking her for a prostitute. On her way out, she steals his book. March 15, 2014: Addie takes Henry to The Fourth Rail, a hidden underground club. They drink and dance wildly, losing themselves in the music. They kiss in the rain and go back to Henry's apartment to have s*x. July 29, 1724: Addie is distraught over her encounter with Remy, and on her way back to the room she calls home, Luc finally appears. He taunts her and tries to convince her to give up her soul once again but she refuses still. He disappears, and Addie goes to sit on the roof of a building while the sun rises to try and read the book she stole from Remy. March 16, 2014: Addie wakes up to Henry making coffee; he still remembers her. He finds her wood ring on the floor and Addie panics when he picks it up. They talk, and Henry realizes he's late for work, so they agree to meet up at a food truck at six. Addie asks to stay behind to take a shower and he agrees and leaves. When he is gone, she searches through his apartment to try to find clues as to why he remembers her. She finds an engagement ring in a drawer wrapped in a blood stained handkerchief, an old watch, photos he took and of him and his family, and a ton of abandoned hobbies, yet nothing to clue her in on why he's special. At six, they meet at the food trucks. Addie notices that Henry has a long exchange with a woman running one of the trucks, and when she asks about it, he says that he reminded the woman of her son. Addie feels like he's withholding something. Henry gets a call from Bea though, reminding him to be at the dinner party he's throwing. He forgot to get dessert, so Addie takes him to a bakery that's just closing. She converses with the man in French and says she's a friend of his daughter, so he lets them come in and buy desserts. Henry offers for her to come to Bea's dinner party, and she hesitates but ultimately agrees to go. Henry fills Addie in on the dynamics of his group: Robbie is his ex boyfriend, Bea is a lesbian and had a former fling with a married college professor, and he has an ex girlfriend named Tabitha that he proposed to, but she rejected him. When they arrive, Bea doesn't recognize Addie, of course, but Bea's girlfriend distracts them. When Robbie arrives, he is slightly rude to Addie.

July 29, 1751: Addie manages to gain the favor of a noble lady that runs a salon so she can socialize with people. She sees Remy while there, and he is now older. Luc appears though, and points out to everyone that Addie "stole" one of the lady's dresses, even though the lady had given prior permission. March 16, 2014: The dinner party goes well. Addie thinks things will go wrong when Elise, Bea's girlfriend, goes to the bathroom and comes back, but she doesn't say anything. Robbie continues to act rude to Addie, and finally gets pissed off and leaves to go smoke, along with Bea's roommate Josh, so Addie makes a quick exit. Henry follows her though, and they talk about how Robbie is still in love with him, even though he was the one to end the relationship back in college. March 17, 2014: Addie and Henry wake up together again. He tells her the shop is closed today, even though she knows it's not, and they go out to get breakfast. While there, they run into Robbie, and he is rude once again, him and Henry almost getting into a fight. As they leave, Henry is confused about why he didn't remember her, and for the first time ever, Addie tells him her story. July 29, 2014: Addie returns to Villon. Her father's workshop is crumbled, but her mother is still alive. She, of course, doesn't know Addie, and Addie doesn't know what to say to her so she leaves. March 17, 2014: Henry begins to laugh after hearing Addie's story, and she is terrified he will think she's insane, but he begins to laugh, and tells her that he remembers her because Luc cursed him too. September 4, 2013: Henry struggled with depression and addiction most if not his entire life. He feels as though time is speeding by him too quickly. He was with Tabitha for two years, but when he finally decided to propose, she said no, because she couldn't see herself spending the rest of her life with him. He goes to get drunk with his friends, but they accidentally let slip that they knew she was going to say no to the proposal. He leaves and buys a bottle of vodka, but shatters it on the way home, cutting his hand. He takes some pills and sits on the steps of his building when Luc appears, and asks him what he wants. Henry says he is tired of not feeling like enough and wants to be happy. Thinking that the man is a hallucination, and not believing in souls, Henry makes a deal. March 17, 2014: Addie and Henry speculate why they cancel out each other's deals. Addie says that they don't, he is everything she wants like everyone else automatically sees him as everything they want, but not because of direct influence but because he knows her. Henry says his curse his for a lifetime. March 18, 2014: Addie goes to work with Henry, and they talk about famous authors that Addie has met. Henry tries to take a photo of Addie but the camera blurs and is unable to capture her. September 5, 2013: When Henry wakes up, he has a watch on his night table that says "Live well" on the back. Henry is confused, as he was sure the meeting with Luc was a hallucination. His sister Muriel comes over though, and has nothing but compliments for him, which is unlike her. When he goes to the coffeeshop, the barista that never notices him is unusually interested and writes her number on the cup. When he goes to work, all of the customers are more than happy to let him help them, and even when he messes up a recommendation to a woman, she just buys both books and reassures him. Bea and Robbie come in, and seem to act normal. Bea is angry about her adviser denying her dissertation proposal again. They drink together, and his friends reassure him about his breakup. March 18, 2014: Bea comes into the bookshop, and Henry introduces her to Addie for the third time. She says she was just at an interactive art exhibit, and so Henry has Bea cover the store while he takes Addie there.

September 5, 2013: Henry collects all of Tabitha's stuff in his apartment and puts it in a box before heading to a bar. The bartender flirts with him and gives him shots on the house. A woman at the bar also is interested, but Henry gets overwhelmed and goes to the bathroom. While there, a man offers him c*ke, and since he has just realized that the deal he made was real, he accepts. When the man tries to come onto him though, he leaves the bathroom, only to bump into a married couple that offer for him to come home with them, which he accepts. September 7, 2013: Henry is enjoying the positive attention he is getting from everyone. When he goes into the coffeeshop, Vanessa asks why he didn't call. He says he should have, and has her put her number directly into his phone. As he's leaving, he bumps into the dean that told him to drop out of his PhD program. He offers him a job on the spot to be a teacher, even though Henry never even got his PhD and Dean Melrose is the one who told him he didn't belong in the program. When he goes to open the bookshop, Bea is there, and begins to tell him about her new idea for a thesis. She shows him three works done by different artists in different time periods of a mysterious woman with seven freckles. Henry points out that it won't get approved. March 18, 2014: As Henry tells the story of Bea's failed dissertation idea to Addie, he realizes the mysterious woman with seven freckles drawn throughout time was her. She says yes, and explains how she's managed to leave her mark on the world although seemingly unable to. September 13, 2013: Henry goes home for Rosh Hashanah, and expects his parents and older brother to be just as disappointed in him and judgemental as they are, but they are also affected by Henry's deal. They all have a lovely evening, and they all make sure to tell Henry how proud of him they are. March 18, 2014: Addie and Henry go through the art exhibits, Sky, Voice, and Memory. September 19, 2013: Henry goes on a date with Vanessa, the barista. She thinks he's great, and he likes her, but anytime she compliments him or laughs, her eyes are covered with a white mist, showing Henry that this is all only due to the deal he made. A week later though, he is still seeing her, and Robbie and Bea tell him that they don't like her. That night, she wakes him up to tell him she loves him, even though it's only been a week. He doesn't say it back, not feeling the same way at all, and goes to take a shower. When he comes out, he smells burning, and runs into the kitchen to realize that Vanessa has set all of Tabitha's things on fire in the sink. He puts out the fire and orders Vanessa to leave, but she breaks down sobbing and begging him to stay with her. He concedes a little bit, but still makes her leave. October 23, 2013: Bea, Robbie, and Henry get together to watch horror movies for Halloween. When Henry goes to get the popcorn out of the microwave, Robbie follows and kisses him. Henry stops him though when he notices the fog over Robbie's eyes, and he can't give Henry a straight answer about why he's in love with him. November 14, 2013: Henry runs into Tabitha again, and because of his deal, she wants to get back together with him, saying she made a mistake. It's painful, because this is what he wanted, but he refuses her, knowing that it won't be real. December 9, 2013: Henry goes to talk to the dean about the job he offered, but is shocked to learn it is a tenured teaching position he is unqualified for. He says he'll think about it, but goes back to the bookshop and gets drunk, realizing that no interaction he has with anyone will be real, genuine, or earned ever again. December 31, 2013: At a New Years Eve party, Henry is making out with a guy, but his eyes are frosted over like everyone else's, and Robbie sees them kissing and storms away, so Henry rejects any further involvement with the guy. He goes and sits outside, and Bea joins him, and for the first time, her eyes all mist over when she begins talking about him.

March 18, 2014: When him and Addie reach the last art exhibit, it is one where people can paint on the walls. When Addie tries, the paint disappears. Henry puts her hand over his so she can use him to draw again, and to write her name. She is ecstatic to make this discovery, and rushes them home and asks him to begin writing down her story. July 29, 1764: Addie goes to the church graveyard to see her father's grave, and is shocked to find out he died the year after she left Villon. Estele has also died, and was buried in the middle of the cemetery, which she would have hated, so Addie goes and gets an oak sapling and plants it by her grave. She goes to stay in Estele's broken down old house. Luc appears, and tries to make Addie feel guilty for leaving Estele to die alone. Addie hits him, and he lashes out, making her old and withering, saying he had been too generous to give her eternal youth as well as eternal life. He asks for her soul again, and again she refuses, and he leaves, and Addie returns to her youth. July 29, 1778: Addie has left Paris to go to Fécamp and see the sea. Luc appears to taunt her and ask again for her soul. He takes her to a church, where they discuss religion, and he shows her what a soul looks like. He offers to let her see her own, but she refuses him once again. March 23, 2014: In an effort to show her something in New York she has never seen before, Henry takes Addie to a subway station, and shows her that there are two places in the wall where they can hear each other speaking while being no where near each other. July 29, 1789: Paris is a warzone thanks to the revolution. Addie wanders through the chaos dressed as a man, but she is caught by a group of other men. Luc steps in and saves her, teleporting her to Florence, Italy. He leaves her there. April 6, 2014: Addie tells the story of July 29, 1789 to Henry, and he is baffled that Luc left her in Florence. She says he had been trying to break her by stranding her in an unfamiliar city where she didn't speak the language, but she loved Florence, and adapted. They are at lunch, and when the waitress walks away, Addie suggests they leave without paying, which angers Henry, and they fight. Addie has never had anything permanent, so she worries she has ruined their entire relationship, but Henry reassures her. July 29, 1806: Addie wakes in an artist's home in Venice. She usually wakes to men not remembering her and being ashamed in the morning, but Matteo is drawing a rough sketch of her. Luc appears later that night, and she sends him away again. March 26, 1827: Luc finds Addie that year in an art gallery. He realizes she has slowly been making herself the subject of art pieces and inspiring different creators. She calls him out about him continuing to visit her and watching her all the time, saying he is lonely too. This angers him, and he transports her to Beethoven's apartment in Germany, where it is time for him to give up his soul to Luc. He refuses, and Luc becomes a terrifying void monster and rips his soul from him. Addie is now scared of Luc, and he sends her back to London. May 15, 2014: Addie and Henry bring Book the cat home from the bookshop. He tries desperately to snap a polaroid photo of her, but it doesn't work. July 29, 1854: Some other family with little boys has moved into her family's old house. The tree Addie planted over Estele's grave has grown and now shelters her. Luc appears when she goes to Estele's old house and taunts her once more, but Addie still refuses him. June 13, 2014: For Henry's birthday, the pair go with Robbie and Bea to see a concert. They of course don't know her, and Robbie acts sullen with her. Toby, Addie's old fling, takes the stage, and he sings the song that she helped him write. She gets emotional and leaves the venue, and Henry goes out to comfort her.

July 29, 1872: Addie rides a train, on her way to Germany. The conductor comes by to get her ticket, and she says she left it in her room. He follows her back, but she doesn't have a room so she picks one at random. Luc is in there, and Addie pretends to be his wife, and Luc procures a ticket for her. He then teleports her to Munich to see an opera. Addie is mesmerized by it, but feels upset when she finds out some of the performers have made deals with Luc as well. July 4, 2014: Henry and Addie are at Robbie's New Years Eve party. Addie thinks she's finally cracked the code to get Robbie to like her off the bat instead of be jealous of her. Henry seems distant the whole night, but he tells Addie that he's fine. That night, in the bath, Henry asks her when the last time she saw Luc was, and she says 30 years ago, after a falling out. December 31, 1899: Addie has found an abandoned cottage in England that she has fixed up and temporarily made her own. Luc comes to her, finding her playing out in the snow. When she wonders why he's there, he speaks back to her words she had said to him years ago: "I saw an elephant, in Paris." He was thinking of her when she wasn't there. He tries to take her somewhere to celebrate the new year, but she refuses, saying she doesn't know if he will bring her back. They instead sit at the fire and talk, and Addie falls asleep. When she wakes Luc is gone, but he has draped a blanket around her shoulders. July 29, 1914: Addie goes to visit Estele's grave, but the tree she planted for her has been struck by lightning and destroyed. Luc appears, and he apologizes for the tree being gone. He takes her to Paris, and Addie never sees Villon again. In Paris, they drink wine on a patio. Luc finally admits to her that she was right years ago, and that him and her are alike. He gives her back her father's wooden ring that she offered to him the night she sold her soul, and says that all she has to do is put it on and he will come to her. Luc warns her that there is a war coming, and that she should leave Europe before it starts. He offers to transport her, but she refuses. A week later though, she boards a ship for New York. July 29, 2014: Henry gets Addie a donut with a candle for her 300th year after making her deal. Addie tells him that they probably shouldn't be together on that day, just in case Luc decided to appear and discover that she has found a way to circumvent her curse. Henry insists she not let Luc ruin their day, and that if she wants to be alone come nightfall, he'll oblige. She agrees, and they go to the beach. On their way back home on the subway, Henry tells her he loves her. Addie doesn't know if she loves him, but she says it back anyways. July 29, 1928: Addie is in a masked speakeasy in Chicago. She hasn't seen Luc since 1914, him waiting for her to put the ring on and her stubbornly refusing to lose the game they were playing. At the bar, the bartender gives her a glass of champagne and nods towards a booth, where Luc sits. She taunts him about losing the game, but he says he owns the speakeasy, so technically she lost. She says she didn't know, and he admits he was tired of waiting, preferring her company to humans. She argues that she is human, but he insists that she's not anymore. This angers her, and when he says she is his, she says she'd rather be a ghost, and goes back to dance, eventually leaving the speakeasy altogether.

July 29, 2014: Addie and Henry take a nap together, only intending for five minutes, but when they wake it is already dark outside. She searches the apartment for Luc, but he is not there. She decides not to let him ruin anything for her anymore, and wakes Henry, saying he can stay. They go out to eat and dance, but when they go to the bar and order two beers, the bartender gives Addie champagne instead. Addie tries to get Henry to leave, but everyone in the restaurant freezes as Luc appears. Addie begs Luc to leave her and Henry alone, and he says he has no intention of separating them since Henry doesn't have much time left. When Luc leaves, she asks Henry what he meant. September 4, 2013: Henry was never on the steps of his apartment when he made the deal with Luc, he was on the roof ready to jump off and end his own life. He was fine with a year because he wasn't planning on living much longer anyway. July 29, 2014: Addie leaves the restaurant and tries to summon Luc with the ring. He appears, and she begs for him to undo Henry's deal. He tells her to spend the night with him tomorrow to celebrate their anniversary and he'll consider freeing Henry. She goes home to Henry, and he tells her that he has 35 days left. The watch he had received from Luc had been counting down to his final moment. November 23, 1944: Addie tried to go and be a spy in World War II, but was caught by German soldiers and imprisoned. She uses the ring to summon Luc, and he frees her and drops her back in Boston before disappearing. July 30, 2014: Henry begs her not to leave and go with Luc, but she is determined to do anything to try and free Henry. Luc comes to the door and escorts her downstairs to a private car. She tells him her rules: she won't leave the city, and she won't teleport with him. April 7, 1952: Addie is in Los Angeles, and has been seeing the same man for awhile, over and over again like it's the first time every night. Luc interrupts and sends the man away, stepping in to have dinner with Addie instead. He then takes her to a club so she can see Frank Sinatra perform, who is also someone he has made a deal with. They dance together, and Luc says he wants her, and she says he only wants her as a possession. They kiss, and then leave to sleep together. Between 1952 and 1968 Luc and Addie are together, but Addie tells herself that it is just s*x, not love. July 30, 2014: Luc takes her to a restaurant where it is just the two of them. He says he loves her, but Addie says he is incapable of loving anyone but himself. She says if he loved her he would have let her go by now, but he disagrees, saying love is selfish. She begs him again to free Henry but this angers him and they leave. July 29, 1970: Luc confesses his love for her in a bar in New Orleans. She says he doesn't love her, and he gives her a key to a house that is now hers. They go out on the town, and Luc gifts her a jacket, the same one she has with her in the present day. Luc tells her to go home, but she follows him instead, and sees him take the soul of an older woman. July 30, 2014: Luc asks Addie where she wants to go as they walk. She asks which skyscraper has the better view, and he takes her to one of his clubs on the 84th floor of one, where rich and privileged people spend their time. Addie asks Luc again to let Henry go. He is agitated, but Addie admits that she is no longer human. He tells her then to choose someone there on the roof to lose their soul in Henry's place. Addie chooses someone at random, which surprises Luc, but he doesn't follow through, and teleports her. May 1, 1984: Luc and Addie talk in their bedroom, and she asks him again to let her go. He says he can't, but he can bend the rules, and all she has to do is surrender to him. This enrages Adeline as she realizes that all of this was a trick to get her to give up her soul. In a rage she yells and knocks over candles, and eventually this causes the house to burn down.

July 30, 2014: Luc has teleported her into Central Park. He says he'll agree to what she wants if she dances with him, and she does. He confesses that he lied back in New Orleans, that he did truly love her and it wasn't a game. But he also confesses that Henry was placed in her path by him intentionally so she would give up on love and realize she was meant to be with him, and that he never intended to free him from his deal. She tells him she does not love him, and he tells her to go and be with him then until he dies, because then all that will be left is her and him. As she walks back to Henry's place, she sees a newspaper reading August 6, 2014, meaning Luc had kept her for longer than she had known. She runs back to Henry and apologizes profusely and he begs her to give up on trying to save him and she agrees. They spend all of August together. One night they go upstate to sleep under the stars, and Henry asks Addie if she would make the deal again if she had to go back and choose and she says yes. Henry tells Bea and Robbie he is going to go out of town for a bit, and asks Robbie to feed his cat and Bea to work at the bookshop. They don't know he is saying goodbye. September 4, 2014: On Henry's last day, him and Addie stay in bed for most of it, holding each other. Addie tells him stories, not of July 29ths but of other times in her life. Henry doesn't write any of them down but she tells them anyways. They get up to eat, Addie still telling him stories, before they decide to go and get a drink at the bar. When it is time for him to go, they go up onto the roof. The watch stops ticking, but nothing happens, and Addie begins to talk. September 1, 2014: Addie gets up from bed with Henry and goes to the bar. She spins the ring, and Luc appears. She admits that human love is not what she thought, not elaborating further on the fact, and asks him again to not let Henry die to prove his point. He says he can't end a deal, but she says he can bend it. She asks him to bend her deal, let Henry go while remembering her. Luc asks if she is about to offer up her own soul, and she says no, because Luc no longer wants her soul, he wants her. So she tells him to free Henry, and she will be with him for as long as he wants her at his side. He agrees, and the new deal is struck. September 4, 2014: Henry is distraught that she has done this, but Addie is at peace with it, and tells him to live a good life and to find people that see and love him for who he is. September 5, 2014: Henry wakes in his bed and reaches for Addie, but she isn't there. He goes to check the notebooks, and everything is still written there. She is gone, but he remembers her. March 13, 2015: Bea has just gotten done reading the manuscript that Henry had written, titled The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Bea doesn't like the ending of the story, but Henry couldn't write an ending without knowing what truly happened to Addie. Henry publishes the book, but doesn't put his name on the cover, because it is Addie's story. February 3, 2016: Addie is in London with Luc, and sees the book telling her story in the bookstore. Henry has written in the dedication, "I remember you". Addie delights in the fact that Luc agreed to the new deal she had made, in which she would be by him for as long as he wanted her at his side. She knows he is fickle and will become annoyed with her eventually, and then, she will be free.

#the invisible life of addie larue #ve schwab #standalone #book review #book blog #books #book reviews #book summary #bookblr #booklr #historical fantasy #fantasy romance #historical fantasy romance #romance

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cryptid-killjoy · 8 months ago

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Bastien went to get Frankie. He wasn't going to feel okay until he had his little girl close to him tonight. Safety was on the line. His mind was reeling from the moment the word Frollo was in the air.

He kept trying to act normal through all the mingling though. Seeing the Reaper's daughter sucking face with ghost-Pierre on the other side of room wasn't helping. What was going on? Was it upside down day, inside out day? No one gave him the memo. Maddy found refuge in the companionship of the Merry Men, but Bastien found it hard to tune his head out. His mind was a loud place especially when it stresses.

Bastien wasn't the sort to smile for no good reason and he was smiling a lot among the Merry Men. It might have seemed jovial enough considering they were at a party, but it was nerves. He took on one of his wife's traits and was over-compensating in the moment attempting to appear normal her way instead of his way by just smiling and laughing with his long lost friends. He was extremely anxious from that moment on. His head wasn't in a great place. The gargoyles were on extra watch in a spy gear cross like Mission Impossible ninjas unsure of their surroundings trying to keep them all safe. This also meant Bastien's eyes were darting around far more than usual.

Wulf couldn't help it when Maddy said that. "Okay, not just Aggy." His piggie's little nickname. "I missed you too." Then in barreled a big ol' Wulf hug. She wasn't getting out of it. It was one that started out swiveling back and forth overjoyed to see his pal again and would wind down extra sweet because they both knew they were special friends once upon a lifetime.

After the hug it was hard not to repeat it.

"Damn. I really did miss you." He looked around at everyone being back together. "I miss everything about this place." He looked over at Bastien with Frankie next and back to Maddy. "Is this? Is your- Oh my gosh." Then Wulf went up to be introduced to the kid who'd done a lot of growing since he died. All he could think was if he was going to be allowed back from the dead in Delta Castle once a year to see this girl grow up in spurts then at least he'd have something to look forward to.

Wulf looked just as he did as the day he died. Arthur wasn't the same. Death had a funny way of pulling people back if they crossed the barrier. It was different for everyone. For some it depended on where they were coming from on the other side, or the state of their souls, whether ghost-like, or just walking spirits from different realms of existence, but some of the other Merry Men around looked different. River was a prime example because of the type of ghosty existence his soul was captured in. Arthur had a different energy that kept him in the form of when he had "cancer" and that was part of why Lance would look as young as the day Figaro met him. Arthur and Lance were bound that way and their energies had yet to divide too entwined. Oh, he'd still be the same aged mind of the day he died, but earthbound from this walk through he was still that 15 year old boy, the Minstrel's son. His best nerdy and special pal from Sherwood Forest still in the phase of trying to figure out how to be cool before Kuzco got a hold of him.

Just seeing Fig's face looking so boistrous to see his. It was heartwarming. He was a sentimental guy. Lance never felt like the go to guy always in the background. His father always drove the real tunes in the forest. He was more the shadow figure riding his coat tails. "FIGARO! FIGARO! Figarrrrrooooo!" He sang it out in his best operatic voice before laughing.

Almost imitating Kuzco? Snap of their fingers? Figaro did nothing of the sort. It wasn't almost imitating Kuzco. It must have been exactly like Kuzco because this musically named person demanded a gee-tar for Kuzco's risen from the dead actual lost real life first prodigy, the one he first recorded on The Groove Master's first label and BOOH-YAH! Out of the ever-loving nowhere, right at the sound of their snap, right as Lance was singing out his Figaro's because it was completely unexpected, came an entire...

THEME SONG GUY BAND!

Was it the dead walk night or was it not the dead walk night?

Kuzco heard the line 'Get this man a gee-tar' and had flung his whole body around and started to side step his way over there with a cool walk of pure intent to get in on whatever six string action was happening because aint no guitar party happening till he walks through the door.

All this happens simultaneously only for him to be upstaged for the first time in his life and he wasn't even mad about it. He grabbed for Clopin's arm just in time to witness THEME SONG GUY doing a James Brown spin holding the mic up to his face for a big "Good God Ya'll!"

Chess's Dj music stopped cold with a big scratch across her record.

One of the dead members was handing Lance a guitar as Theme Song Guy said to Lance, "Maybe it was time you joined the band?"

There was no analogy to describe how hard Kuzco's heart was beating, but he was damn sure it could be the back beat to a groove that would play forever. All he ever wanted was good things for Lance musically and was upset he never got to take him further on that train to fame and glory before he died, but Good God ya'll indeed. Bestill Kuzco's little llama heart there was no bigger honor and glory to him than Theme Song Guy's Band. Holyllamaleto. Figaro prompted the greatest thing that ever could have happened.

Then it would happen. Theme Song Guy would turn and see Clopin and Kuzco there. There was sentiment. Oh sure there was affection, but there a twinkle in his eye as his band, Kuzco's OG band plus Lance took over the party.

His first words to Clopin were shouted out across the room via the mic, "I love your outfit."

Then he slammed his own boots against the keys of the piano with his bellbottoms for glorious display.

Kuzco could only say, "Damn that man's always had style. That's our guy."

Go-Go didn’t know who hip coins was but hey, it sounded like a fun demolition derby type of thing. That was the American dream right there. That was something she wanted to try while she was in this country, and it looked like there might be the possibility of that tonight. Feral was the land of opportunity, it seemed.

“Fuck calendars,” She agreed with a nod of her head, the long hair extensions creating a more dramatic effect with this. She’d almost forgotten for a minute that she was dressed up, and not in comfortable speed gear. That made it all the more thrilling.

Goddamn that was a roar. She could have never met Jetsam, never seen him, and would know that he was a Laveau just from that call alone. She exchanged an excited look with Scout. Oh hell yeah, this was going to be a night to remember.

More and more people were joining them, which was completely fine, the more the merrier. And was she a little excited that the twins were coming? Yeah. She hadn’t seen much of the chaos that she heard that Chip and Dale could cause, not with Chip running his family and creating his own little village. Dale - she knew from first meeting him that he could cause a ruckus, ever since she had seen Anton move.

She was out of the castle with Scout, Halloween party be damned.

Bingo! Score! Win 100 tickets!

Ellie suddenly found herself trapped in a box, and without really thinking, she breathed her fire onto it, setting it in flame and stepped out the burning cardboard wreckage, looking around at the culprit, though Babyface had already pinpointed exactly who it was. Goddamn Dale.

“Yeah, let’s go,” She agreed, putting her hand on Babyface’s back to give him a little extra push as they gave chase to find out what excitement they were up to beyond the castle, red hair blending with the blue sparkles of her costume, creating a brightly-colored blur outta there.

They were out and she was ready to go and chase down the Laveaus some more, already pouting, feeling again like a little sister that was left out of something cool with the older kids. But Babyface’s sudden stop and looking out at the water had her slowing her roll, her feet coming to a slow stop, and then she trailed back up to him curiously.

They couldn’t see the island from where they were right then. But then again - with the island not getting in fresh shipments of boys, would it even still be running? Would it still have it’s magic? She tilted her head and looked out at how the moon reflected off of the water, hiding so much both above and below it’s depths.

And then she looked at Babyface, the way that he was looking out and she nodded, determination setting in her face. “Should we see if we can steal a boat, or should we skate it?”

Seems like Thomas and Valerie were the only ones. Everyone else was greeting the dead, or dealing with an intruder, or running off to do something crazy. Jetsam had barely looked at them, they were were homefree, they could do as they liked, and what Thomas wanted to do, more than anything in the world right now, was to hold his wife and have a good ol’ dance with her while Ches was still playing the music.

A full on waltz, one hand in hers, the other around that thin waist that made it hard to believe that she had birthed triplets. She looked damn good. Her body had bounced back incredibly, and oh, he missed that stomach of her sometimes but then there were times like this when they could be close because it wasn’t in the way anymore…

No matter what happened with this body, he adored it, plain and simple.

Honestly - Pierre had thought that Piper would hate him too. Shit, seemed like everyone did up top, and they had their reasons. It was valid. It took him over a year in Hell to realize that. Even Zero had hesitated on coming up to him and that was his goddamn pup, so Piper - yeah, he had figured she was pissed.

So Pierre was feeling VERY pleased at his reception right now, a little smug, even.

“And I for yours,” Pierre said, his eyes flickering over her face, and how it had not changed much since he had been gone. Those violet eyes, ever so striking, her rich dark hair, so black it was almost blue, the natural dusky tone of her skin. He had a habit of telling those that he was in love with that they were Gods and Goddesses but - Piper stood above the rest.

And even more cocky as she touched him like that, right here, right out in the open. He wasn’t shy about it, didn’t try pushing her hand away, instead greeted her with a half-chub that started to grow harder. Yes, even the dead can grow, apparently. He closed his eyes into the kiss, his first in what felt like eternity, and the sweetest one he could have imagined. “Missed you too, girl.”

Then things started to get intense. He wasn’t opposed to being choked though he wasn’t super into violence in the bedroom, but this was getting real. He could feel it, even though he knew that he could not die again. His eyes opened with confusion and hurt, not with anger, not with fear, just - almost looking like a kicked puppy himself.

The information was hard to take in, not with the distraction of being choked and how achingly hard he was getting under his touch. Oh, aching indeed, it was causing a sweat droplet on Pierre’s brow and all. The Belleroses though - at the mention of him, he flickered his eyes over to his sister, who had her back turned to him, talking to the ghosts of the Merry Men. Wulf, he recognized, from Hog Fest.

And then, his eyes would look around the room again and not find the second person he was looking for, because Frank was out of the room with their flesh and blood intruder and Delta. Then back into Piper’s eyes. “- one question,” He said, his voice hoarse, choking. “Can you only bring back me or-?”

He motioned his head towards Seven. Because that was his boy right there. They went through Hell together - and a lot of Hell’s influences. Pierre was not the same boy that he had been when he went under. But he still stuck to that loyalty to Seven, despite what else might be going on in his mind. He had to at least ask. If there was any chance…

Maddy also did a quick look around for Frank and Delta, and found them gone too. But those that were in the castle, she noticed, were friends. Save for maybe Pierre, but regardless, they were people who were not here to hurt them. Still, they shouldn’t give anyone the chance.

She nodded to Bastien as he wanted to go and get Frankie. That made her feel a lot better too. “Go, I’ll be right here, I’ll keep an eye out,” She promised Bastien, lightly brushing her hand against his lower waist, and then turned her attention to her friends, her face brightening up once more.

“Just Agnes missed me?” She asked Wulf with both eyebrows raised, but she would pet the little ghost pig that had served as flower girl at her wedding, her eyes full of delight. “I missed you too, girl.”

Lance caught Figaro’s attention though. “LANCY PANTSY!!!” They yelled loudly and ran over to them. After all, they had been quite friendly when they went to the high school together, as all of their friends seemed to have the main character stuff going on. They snapped their fingers loudly, almost imitating Kuzco, expecting people to come out of nowhere and get shit done. “Someone get this man a Geee-Tar!”

Elsa wouldn’t have minded if this was the rest of the night. Not a touchy-feely sort usually, but this was River. This was the son that she had for such a brief time. That she had missed so many years with and tried to get those back, tried to be there for him, tried to be the mother he didn’t need once he was an adult.

She also watched as they all went off together, and she didn’t mind at all if Koda went off with them. He deserved to have some fun out there. She was perfectly content to stay here, with the stragglers and the ghosts. But she did look towards Valerie and Thomas too, and found herself pleased that they weren’t being bothered by what was going on. Those two, always in their own little world. Dancing like they were in a music box.

“Absolutely,” She said with a nod, not acknowledging the way that he had corrected himself. Mother - it suited her much more than Ma, anyway.

So she would take his hand and they would have a dance and even Elsa would have a genuine smile on her face, seeing past all the rot, the dessication, to the boy that was underneath. She’d always see the boy. Even when he was a man.

And when he would break off to ask Valerie to dance, of course Thomas would allow this to happen with a bow of his head and a grin on his face, and would stand back and watch, even try to take some pictures with his phone so that this would seem less dreamlike.

Frank bit back a laugh. The nerve of this guy. The fuckin’ BALLS, coming in and just demanding that Delta release his father, as if Chernabog was just a house-guest rather than her prisoner around her pretty neck. Despite wanting to laugh, his face remained in that neutral, almost ghastly expression of his.

He listened, staying silent, staying cool for now, as Delta laughed for the both of them. But he couldn’t help the corner of his mouth going up ever so slightly.

“Oh, he’s being quite serious,” Frank said, holding Delta steady, allowing the leather fabric of his shirt to wear her tears, his mind connected to Silas’s. “He has no idea he’s sniffing around the wrong lamppost.”

He let Delta take the lead on the conversation, as per usual. She was a better talker than he was anyway. He kept himself holding onto Silas, one hand clenched on his, standing just behind. Trapping Silas between himself and Delta as he pled his case.

But when he brought up Uncle issues, he raised up his hand and gave Silas a smack on the back of his head - hard.

‘I’m not judging you. I’m judging him,’ Frank thought back towards Delta. And he was judging this guy hard. Was this foolishness, or was it bravery? Or was it just a desperate act of cowardice, because he couldn’t handle life without his daddy doing things for him. He got cut off from Oogie when he got stuck inside of Feral, so he was trying to find the next big thing, the next big Sugar Mama.

“We’ve got a special place for a thing for you,” Frank said, pulling Silas in closer to him, so that the clown’s back was up against his chest. Might even have seemed romantic, in a ‘Frollo’ type of way. “Where I’m going to cut you up, but I’m going to keep you alive. Yes, I’m going to cut you up, and I’ll see what makes you tick, makes you sick. We’ll find out exactly who you are.”

#bastienxmaddy #wulfxmaddy #figaroxlance #kuzpin #merry men x all #theme song guy x clopin #still splitting things

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igotanidea · 3 years ago

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The Raven's daughter: Morpheus x Matthew's daughter part 5

previously: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

Comments and discussion are always highly appreciated.

Part 5

The rest of the day just passed through with the speed of light. It wasn’t really surprising though. Y/n had her head wrapped around the lectures, focused solely on the subjects, and that was what helped her survive. It was only when she got to her apartment that she realized it was almost the time she was supposed to meet with her father. Such a shame. She had a feeling the Raven won’t be coming alone and she was not really in the mood to face the grumpy Dream Lord.

However, whether she liked it or not, he was going to be her guest and she felt it was her obligation to welcome him accordingly. After all, she promised her father she would behave. So, let it be.

y/n quickly changed her clothes, once again turning from a college professor into a girl next door style. All things considered, she has always put comfortable clothes first, she felt good in them and that was what she needed at the moment. My ground, my rules – she thought to herself. Unsure of what do to she was just circling her flat waiting for the Raven and possibly Morpheus to show up. She could not really find a place for herself and started to get a bit anxious. Unwillingly the thoughts started to creep into her mind. What if something happened? What if dad somehow got hurt? What if Dream found something terrible about her and was on his way to obliterate her? She held no power against him. Should she run and hide? Should she just stay here and face him with all the courage? Much to her displeasure she started pacing and nibbling on her nails.

-y/n – being so lost in her thoughts the girl almost jumped at the cawing outside – let me in.

-Are you alone? – y/n asked the Raven opening the window and looking around

-I….

-He’s not alone – a dark, silky voice spoke from behind.

-Really, again? – she sighed – if you insist on coming here out of the blue can you at least appear in front of me? Please?

Dream Lord stayed silent to the point where it started to become awkward.

-So? – y/n rocked back and forth on her feet – any news for me? You found answers or you just wanted to pop in?

-I did.

-That was an open question, your majesty. – the girl pointed twisting her hand to avoid her father’s beak

-I did found some answers.

God. Why was talking to him so hard? Just one question – one answer. It was actually pretty funny that a hell of a taciturn Dream Lord found a companion of a talkative Raven. Talk about a character’s gap.

-Ehm … If I may boss… – Matthew chimed in and continued at Dream’s almost invisible nod – we went to visit boss’ brother, Destiny and he actually gave us a clue.

-A clue? That’s just it?

-My brother is not exactly the one to freely give away information – Dream spoke taking a seat behind the table. Clearly feeling uncomfortable.

-Ok, fine – y/n/n shook her head – what did you learn?

-Apparently, after I showed myself to you as a Raven reinstated the bond we had while I was .... a human – Matthew started to explain.

-And… ? What does it have to do with the Dreaming?

-A lot actually. You know that the Raven is merely a messenger and a watcher of the Dream of the Endless, right.

-Yes. And?

-I hate to break it to you, but it seems like we come in a package deal.

-A package deal? And who’s we? – y/n/n frowned – Oh…. Oh…. – suddenly it all became clear and she widened her eyes – wow….. Is that permanent or… ?

-It is permanent as long as I decide to keep in touch with you.

-So, it’s an ultimatum? I can either lose you or have to keep my bond with his majesty, the Dream?

-Precisely.

-Wow. I can’t believe that yesterday I thought it was a lot to comprehend that my father is a Raven in some other reality. And that the Sandman really does exist. I need a drink – she moved to the kitchen counter and poured herself some water. It took a couple of painfully long minutes for her to calm down. – Any other news you want to break to me? No? Cause that would be a good moment to tell me if I’m also some sort of supernatural creature? A shapeshifter or a fairy, maybe? – she took another sip of water – Great. But that is still just one side of the coin, isn’t it?

-What do you mean? – Matthew asks

-Does this change anything else in my life? Will I be feeling what Dream feels? If he feels. Or get through his mind? Or have some sort of telepathic connection? – she started pacing again looking at Dream who was silent all the time, inscrutable look on his face. Almost like he was in trance, not exactly thrilled with what he found out. – Lord Morpheus? – y/n turned directly to him and her voice snapped him back to reality. – Anything?

-I think you have read too much fantasy books, y/n. There is no such thing as soulmates. No telepathic or empathic connection between us – his gaze was fixed on her, so cold that it almost froze her inside. And if that was the case, why did she feel like Dream was withdrawing something?

-Boss? – Matthew seemed equally confused – that is not….

-Quiet, Matthew. I believe this visit is already unnecessarily prolonged – we shall take out leave – he stood up reaching for his pouch of sand with clear intention to get back to Dreaming.

-But, boss …

-Now, Matthew – Morpheus tone left no room for discussion – You are my Raven and you will listen.

-I’m sorry, y/n – the bird turned toward his daughter – I shall see you soon, ok?

-Wait! You can’t just drop that on me and disappear! I still know nothing. Morpheus, please – she looked at him with soft expression and the scared look in her eyes almost made him falter. At least inside since he did not show anything and in fact did disappear alongside with Matthew leaving her trembling, unsure of what the future was holding for her. And him. And her father. Maybe it was just nothing but this feeling inside was telling her otherwise.

***

In the Dreaming.

-Boss?

-What is it now, Matthew? – Morpheus was standing in his throne room looking through the stained glass window at his Kingdom

-Why didn’t you tell her the whole story?

-That is not the knowledge she is supposed to possess. She’s a human. Some things are beyond her comprehension.

-With all due respect, boss, you are talking about my daughter. And this is highly offensive.

-You are right Matthew – Dream’s voice was still ice – cold – she is your daughter and therefore you lack objectivity. It was a mistake to ever let you visit her.

-What?

-You shall never do this again.

-What?! – Matthew caws

-I will not hear any more words about it.

-But boss….

-Not. A. Word – Morpheus warns looking at the Raven harshly – we can’t risk getting any more involved in her affairs.

-She is my affair! She’s my blood. You had a son once, didn’t you boss?

-Matthew…. – tensed expression and clenched jaw of Dream Lord made Matthew stop his words. The Raven snorted angrily but not being able to object took off to find Lucienne and perhaps, Merv, hoping they would be able to find some sort of solution to this impasse.

Dream didn’t make a single move since Matthew left him. He was still sitting on his throne completely immerged in his own thoughts. Whatever he was showing outside was utterly different from his inside. He knew this story was far from over. His brother made it perfectly clear.

Flashback

-Destiny. Brother. I stand in my gallery and I hold your sigil.

-Dream. I hear your calling.

-Will you grant me a passage to your Realm? I require your assistance in an urgent matter.

-I know.

Silence. Destiny was never the one to talk freely. But neither was Dream. Perhaps that was the reason behind their cold relation.

-You are always welcomed in my Realm. Please, come.

Destiny’s realm was utterly different from Dream’s. Or at least different from what he remembered, but how can you blame him? Being held in captivity for more than a century can play tricks on one’s mind. However, Dream was not here to enjoy the views and landscapes. His purpose was solely to find answers and luckily – get rid of the girl who felt like a problem.

-Brother. – Destiny was already waiting for Morpheus at the palace door. Of course, he knew where Dream would appear – a pleasure to see you, truly. Are you well?

-Such concern in your voice, Destiny. Tell me, was it the same during my captivity? – Dream asked

-I do not interfere with what’s destined to come. I simply have the knowledge of things. What’s bound to happen shall happen.

-Then I suppose you were quite content with my imprisonment – Dream hissed. He did not expect his first in a century meeting with brother to go this way. – Anyway, given your knowledge I presume you are aware why I’m here?

-I do.

-Will you grant me answers about the girl, then?

-Ah, the girl. What was her name again?

-y/n

-Right – Destiny flicked his hand and transported them both into his workplace – the dark, wooden room filled with books. So similar yet so different from Dream’s library. – Let us see. – Destiny moved across the study reaching for a large, yet thin volume in blue cover. Unlike any other book it was distinctively glowing. – Y/n. Seems like her time has come.

-What does that mean? – Dream asked quite confused.

-I can’t really tell you a lot.

-Of course, how could you ever?- Morpheus turned around readying himself to leave.

-Seems like you’ve learned nothing about patience, brother - Destiny spoke calmly, not affected by Dream's behaviour. You always want things to go the way you planned. You shall stand corrected than. Remember who is the eldest and most powerful of the Endless. Remember your place. – Destiny warned.

-Apologies, brother.

-I can give you a hint, Dream. This girl is more than you believe her to be. She has a role to play in the Dreaming.

-A role? How is this possible? She’s barely a human. A mortal. A spark of dust.

-That is not true, brother. She’s a lot more. But it is your purpose to find that. Yours and hers. And I must warn you - the process will change you.

Dream was dumbfounded, to say the least. He forgot how his brother was similar to the fates, always speaking with riddles, hardly sharing any valuable information, making everyone feeding on shreds of it.

-Is it all you can disclose?

-You have all the information you need, brother. Just trust the journey. And… - Destiny hesitated – remember that not all people are Roderick Burgess – he finished with almost soft voce looking at his brother with something that actually was similar to concern.

The mere mention of his captor’s name made Dream shudder. He did not notice Destiny’s gentle eyes, quickly gathering himself. Being as stubborn as he was he could not bring himself to show any weakness, even to a member of a family.

-Well, thank you for reminding me that brother. If that’s all I shall take my leave. Thank you for your time .

-Dream…. – Destiny started again making Morpheus stop without turning – no matter what you think this is going to be good for you. Just… just watch your steps carefully.

The Dream Lord did not even bother to answer that and without word just reached for his pouch of sand disappearing in the cloud of it.

End of flashback.

So, here he was. Alone. Sitting on his throne. Feeling powerless. It was not his intention to meet this girl, yet alone developing connection to her. Trust the process – he thought to himself, annoyed beyond recognition. It will be good for you. He would never admit it but he was behaving like a unruly younger brother taken down a notch by the older sibling. He could hear voices of Matthew, Lucienne and Merv coming from the Library and suddenly he realized he had no say in what was to happen. Regardless of how furious it made him. Perhaps he should mend the bridges with Matthew. She was his daughter after all. And Dream was a parent once, even if not a father of the year. There was some regret in him. Deep, deep inside. And maybe granting the Raven what he asked for was some twisted way to make up for his past sins.

Dream sighed in surrender. He had to give up to what Destiny held for him. Even if he hated the thought of that.

-Matthew! – he called for the Raven bracing himself for what was to come.

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part 6 up here

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