#I don't really care about horses or horse ranches but I guess I could make a sexy cowboy world

[puppycheesecake]

Save a horse...

[tenderleavesbob]

Hey!! I don’t know if you’re taking any asks but I was wondering if you would write something with wars and wild bonding? Maybe because they’re both soldiers (who started young) or something. Anyway, I really enjoy your fics! I liked the ones with wind and wars too :D

Warriors didn't say anything when Wild sat beside him. He just shifted to make room and continued cleaning his armor.

Wild liked that about Warriors. Warriors flashed him a smile and Wild smiled back and Warriors cleaned his armor until it shone in the sun. No commentary necessary.

The other heroes were busy doing other things. Everyone enjoyed when they could visit LonLon Ranch. Wild thought Twilight was with the horses in the barn. Sky, the madman that he was, was playing with the cuccos. Almost everyone seemed to be relaxing. He wasn't surprised that Warriors was taking care of his equipment. He wasn't the type of man who could just relax. Not until everything was done.

Wild wondered if he used to be that way, too. He remembered practicing his swordplay in the rain while Princess Zelda looked on, but it was a vague memory. It felt like he was watching a stranger. He thought he had been like that, though. It fit that silent stranger to make sure the perimeter was secure and his sword and shield were polished and his gear was handled before he settled in for the night.

Warriors didn't have all of his gear on for a change. The scars on his left arm were in clear view in a way they rarely were. Wild found his gaze drawn to them. "Do they hurt?" he asked.

They looked like his. Wild was tempted to scoot closer and compare the marks. All of the heroes had scars, but only Warriors's looked like his. Hyrule's royal scarred Knights.

Warriors hummed and followed Wild's gaze. "My scars? Not usually. Sometimes they get stiff if I don't put cream on them. Do you do anything for yours?"

"Impa gave me some cream, and I can make my own." Wild patted the bag at his hip. "I'll need to refill soon."

"If you need more, you can ask me. I always have extra."

Wild grinned and let himself lean a little into Warriors's shoulder. Warriors didn't say anything about that, either. "That would be great! Yours always smells good." Edible, even, but Wild didn't say that. "What's in it?"

Warriors laughed and put down his armor. After a moment of digging through his bag, he offered a bottle to Wild. "It says it on the bottle. You can keep that if you want. Yours has monster parts, I'm guessing."

"Yep." Wild studied the ingredients. Several were unfamiliar, but he thought he could make some of his own. He would need to ask Hyrule later if he wanted to join him to search for the ingredients. From the looks of it, he was right. Wild bet he could eat it in a pinch.

When they first met, Warriors intimidated him. Warriors was beautiful and proud and intelligent. His armor shone and he held his head high and his smile was confident and bright. He was a Knight in a way the silent stranger in Wild's memories could never be, in a way Wild himself could certainly never be. He wondered every time he looked at Warriors if that was his goal, if that was what he was supposed to be.

Things grew better after Twilight and Time pulled them out of the foliage and Twilight lectured them both, ears flat and eyes wild and finger wagging. Time stood behind Twilight. Wild was never sure if Time had blinked or if he had winked at them. Things grew much better.

"You didn't come over here to ask about my burn cream, though," Warriors said.

Wild grinned at him and put the cream away in his slate. "I saw some stray monsters when I was at the entrance of the ranch. Do you still have Legend's fire rod?"

Warriors beamed. "Do I!"

Of all the things about Warriors, Wild thought he liked Warriors's love of fiery destruction the best. "Great! Let's go before anyone notices!"

The best friendships were forged in fire. Or something like that.

[schuministyles]

Worst sister, best cupid. (MS47)

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Note: HI there, hope you all are having an amazing holiday season, had this idea after thinking in all the nonsense in my head that Mick could actually be attracted to someone just by noticing they are really intelligent, he just has that vibe. Idk, anyway take care, and have a lovely day/night.

Warnings: none. Bad English, it is not my first language but I try my best on each post.

Mick wasn't exactly pleased to be all dress up to an event, but he didn't have any option, his sister Gina asked him to come with her long time ago since her boyfriend was already busy that night.

It was his job as a good little brother.

This was not a simple event, there were lots of important people that could sponsor the event they would host on the ranch in the next weeks, they had to be there with their greatest smiles and make sure to seal a deal.

The blonde was kind of overwhelmed, it wasn't really his thing doing that much talking, his social battery was running low and all he wanted was to get out of there.

" Are you ok?" His sister asked concerned.

" Yep, just a bit tired, this shoes are killing me." He lied.

The oldest just smiled with her lips pressed, she knew he was lying but decided to make it subtle so he wouldn't feel like he left her down.

"You should go to the bar and bring us something to drink, I don't know about you but talking to all of this people is really tiring me."

Mick chuckled, if he was bad at lying Gina was even worst.

He couldn't say anything when you approached them.

"Gina!" You greeted his sister, you two had met long time ago in a competition.

"Y/N!" She hugged you. "Uh, I almost forgot, he is my little brother Mick".

Mick felt he could die from embarrassment, as much as he was proud to be the youngest sibling it sucked for him to be presented like a little child, mostly when he thought you were beautiful.

"Nice to meet you." He tried to act cool about it, but Gina could easily notice how his body language changed.

She would have fun bothering him all the way home, but the blonde made her part shutong up and letting you both talk alone.

"The CS ranch is one of my personal favorite ones in Texas, if you ask me." You told him. "My dad actually took me there to see for the first time a horsing competition, made my first $20 on a bet."

Gina smiled already knowing that story.

" Really?" Mick asked pretty interested, always making eye contact with you.

"Yep, spent them the same day buying a t-shirt."

The german laughted, and Gina took mental notes of everything.

"I would go to the bar for some drinks, I would come back soon." She announced, but neither of you seem really interested beyond giving her a little nod.

" Do you compete?" Mick asked noticing that there were only two logical options for you to be there, either you were a rider or you were someone's plus one.

"Oh no, I am pretty bad at it, but I love the sport." You answered shortly making the blonde a bit frustrated of not getting extra information to answer his questions.

He would for once be a bit more like his sister and ask directly what he wanted to know.

"So? What brings you here?" He asked knowing Gina would be so proud of him.

You smiled even more.

" Guess. " You challenged him smirking knowing he would fail in the attempt.

Mick panicked, thinking what to tell you. He was frowning and his jaw clenched.

You giggled making him realize his expression and changing it to a more relaxed one.

" You are like me, a beautiful plus one." He flirted and your cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"As flattered I am with that compliment, you are wrong mister, I am here representing my dad's company, making the deals of the season."

...

You both talked a bit more, you agreed to talk to them in a more professional manner a few days later to sponsor their event because a man was asking for you full attention.

There was not proper goodbye, Mick couldn't even ask you for your phone, he was fully depending on Gina to hear from you.

He was fascinated.

The oldest Schumacher didn't make any comment until they were both on the car later that night.

" So... you and Y/N seem to get along really well." She started knowing her little comments would make him insane.

"Oh.." He started but then cough to clean his throat and gain some composure. "Yeah, I think she is nice."

Mick hit himself mentally, that sounded so pathetic, too try hard.

"She is." Gina agreed, he thought he was safe until he heard his sister containing her laughter. " And she is totally your type."

The german panicked. Oh no,this was it, he was about to be humiliated.

" I don't have a type." He tried to stop her.

" You do, your are really into big brain girls, you like to be humbled by a lady that knows a lot. "

He felt called out.

Gina was right.

" I mean but that's not a type."

" You didn't say that I was lying." She stated back wiggling her brows at him. "Oh my God, marry her, mom would love her."

Mick's cheeks were burning by now.

" No, we are not getting married." He told her trying to give her his most serious face.

"Well not now, but imagine your kids would be so cute, and they would have a mama that can shut the man in a riding event, a super woman if you ask me." Gina started talking quickly making with each of her statements Mick get more and more red.

They arrived home and he was glad when his mom was already slept.

He spent the rest of the night thinking about you, he looked you up on Google, he wanted to know more, no, he needed to know more about you.

The next morning tired and all after spending most of the night on his phone he went to have breakfast, his sister and mother were already eating.

"You look like you didn't sleep well, honey. Everything alright?" His momma asked looking at him with concerned written all over her face.

"Yeah, we just arrived really late and that messed up my sleeping routine."

" Yeah mom, his sleeping routine was affected by the fact he stayed until Y/N's o'clock. " Gina giggled, their mother opening a lot her eyes.

"Gina! You are the worst." The youngest protested.

"Gina ve nice to your brother." Mama Schumacher tried to bring peace to the table, but she was curious. " Mick, tell your mama more about it, who is Y/N?".

Mick wanted to desapear.

"He would not tell you, she is the girl from my charity riding afternoon from last year, the one that suggested the betting house." Corinna quickly got who she was talking about. "They were all over each other, if it wasn't because of a man that would still be there talking, mom."

"Y/N, oh, she is really pretty, a really intelligent young woman, oh Micky you should totally go on a date with her."

The blonde wasn't happy with the suggestion.

" Mom..." He protested.

" See Mick! That is what I told you, do it for the next generation of Schumachers, we need them to be more prefect than us." The oldest said making the three of them laught.

" I would think about it."

The two women celebrated.

Gina's phone vibrated, she looked at it with a wide smile on her face.

" Hey Gi! Hope you had a great night yesterday, I talked with your brother about sponsoring your event, I am free tomorrow night to talk about it a bit more, tell me if you are up to go and have dinner," she read out loud, Mick made a confused expression on why was she so abnormal about a simole text. " Also, could you please give Mick my number? I told him I would sent him my favorite breakfast receipts and I don't want to bother you more."

The oldest screamed like a little child, and stated pocking Mick's side. "SHE IS ALSO INTO YOU."

"Gina, clam down." He pleaded not knowing how to even act.

"Ok Ok, I would go make you a plan to go on that dinner with her and you can thank me later by naming you first kid Ginger." She hugged him and started running upstairs.

" You are the worst!" The blonde told her and his mother just giggled.

"She may seems like the worst sister, but is the best cupid you could ask for."

[stargazeraldroth]

Questions for the Horse AU :v

- Are the Oreo Bros part of this at all, or are Ink, Reaper, and Cross unrelated- Assuming they’re in the AU in the first place? Do they have horses, if they are, and what do you think they would name them? And what about Fresh and Geno- Are they here, and if they are, are they related to Error at all?

- Are the murder trio here? If so, I feel like Killer and Dust should have horses named Mischief and Mayhem. Horror… I’m not sure, but probably something food related, like Sourdough or Paprika, though I guess he could also name his horse something like Hatchet?

- Is this intended to be a completely fluffy AU or will it have a bit of hurt/comfort? Either way is fine, of course! You just posted about it after remarking that you wanted to write something fluffy, so I wasn’t sure if that’s what this was intended to be :>

- Do you have any color schemes for the horses, yet? I feel like Broomie would be a brindle coated horse, if you go with more natural colors (plus, some patterns make it look like there’s ink dripping down the horses back, which could be a cute little nod to Ink himself!), and Sugar and Spice strike me as white/silver and black/gold, respectively. Im nit sure about the others, though.

- On the note of Error’s horse, if you really wanted, maybe she was initially named Mistake by a shitty past rider and is actually a former rescue? And now Error calls her Missy and she takes pride in “being such a lovable mistake that she couldn’t be turned away” or something. I dunno, I thought it was cute-

- Are there other animals the characters have as pets, here? Because I could see Ink with a little Welsh Corgi named Canvas… Just a tiny herding guy who rides around with him on Broomie. The theme of art supplies must be upheld, okay? And I like the idea of Ink with a corgi.

I can't believe I'm being serious about this Horse AU. Why am I like this

I'm gonna be honest with you guys... I forgot to include characters like Cross, Epic, Geno, Fresh, Reaper, etc. But for the sake of Oreo Bros and CQ Bros, they'll be here. Cross and Epic are stablehands for the most part, maybe they share a horse. And the horse is gonna be named... Majesty. Epic probably tried to name it something stupid and Cross said no. Look guys, this is Memelord the horse! Rubber Chicken the horse! Cookie the horse- COOKIE! That's the horse's name, Cookie.

No, the Murder Trio's not allowed near the horses. Get them away from Broomie, Sugar, and Spice. And everything nice. Maybe they're the troublemakers of the ranch, I don't know what role they'd have. Maybe Horror makes the food, he's the community chef.

There's gonna be some hurt/comfort, but it's primarily a more wholesome AU. Gotta have some conflict. I remember an episode of Full House where... shoot, I forget if it was Stephanie or Michelle, but one of them was a horse girl and got into an accident that made them lose their memories. Something like that could happen. And the damn eating disorder episode, man. What the hell. If anything, I'll do a social anxiety "episode" where Ink thinks everyone's judging him for literally existing, I'm sure many of us can relate

One of my favorite designs for the horses, and I forget all of their names except Pepper and Sunburst, is the black horse with red streaks in her mane. That's what Spice looks like. As for Sugar, she's a white horse with pastel streaks in her mane- she looks like a Galarian Rapidash, doesn't she? These are the only ones I can think of. I think your suggestion for Broomie is good, with some colored streaks in the mane to match with Ink.

Error's horse is a rescued horse that Ink was taking care of, and then Mistake bonded with the glitchy boi. Because I have an agenda- I have an Errorink agenda, and I will push it at all times. Error renames her because he's not calling his horse a Mistake.

Ink gets all the dogs. A corgi, a husky, a golden retriever, a chocolate lab, a German shepherd- okay, I'll stop, but you get the point. We have Canvas the Corgi, Paperjam the Husky, Glaze the Golden Retriever, Paint the German Shepherd, and Gradient the Chocolate Lab.

[amythestquill]

Couldn't see any transcript in the notes, so here's my best shot below the cut:

Video ID: Two horses stand in a bridle path. One horse, possibly named Guy, is white and dark brown, the other, Domino, is mostly grey. Unseen behind the camera is a human named Julia. The bridle path itself is made of mud and twigs, has thick trees and a wooden fence on one side, thin trees and a rope fence on the other, and a bunny sat in the middle.

[Transcript]

Guy: What? Domino: She thinks it's funny. Guy: Naah that's not on, you know, you should be sensitive to our feelings here. We've never seen "a bunny". Domino: I've heard of them. Guy: So it's understandble that we're a bit apprehensive, okay? That thing could rip us to shreds. Julia: Guys, its a - its a bunny. Guy: You keep saying bunny. Julia: That's it! Guy: Tell us what it does, what can it do, can it eat us? Julia: It's just a bunny! Guy: Can it eat us. Answer the fucking question, Julia. Domino: She's not fucking answering. It can eat us! It's a yes when she doesn't answer. Julia: Domino can't even see it, he just doesn't know. Domino: I can hear you! Don't talk about me going blind. Julia: C'mon. Domino: Nu-uh. Julia: What if I scare it away. Guy: I don't think it looks like a creature that gets scared easily, Julia. Julia: [laughing] What's wrong with you? Guy: Nothing is wrong with me! Julia: You're killing me, horse. Guy: Or Domino. Domino: Except that I'm going blind as mentioned. Guy: I'm getting a bit closer okay? Naah I don't like it I don't - fuck - no. Domino: Come back here. Guy: We're not doing it! Let's go the long way. Julia: Guess you're not eating dinner. Guy: We're going the long way- Both: Whaaaat? No, come on! Julia: Is that what you want? Guy: It's not what I want! I told you, I'm, I'm fucking starved! And I really wanna get- Domino: Let's talk. Guy: -my teeth and my horsey tongue into some tucker! Domino: Yep. Guy: Can we just go the long way? Domino: Yep. Guy: Let's go back to the other path. Domino: Yep. Julia: Come on! Domino: I agree. Julia: Let's go. Domino: Nah we're going the long way. Guy: Domino what do you reckon? Domino: I reckon we go the long way, I back you up 100%, Guy Julia: I'm not even close to them, by the way. [She zooms out] Domino: Yeah you are Guy: You are close! You just got your- Domino: Your camera on wide Julia: This is - it's a bunny Guy: You're using a wide camera lens, you got it on that 0.5 wide mode Julia: [laughing] Guy: [sigh] I don't wanna go. Domino: Yeah, no, it's dangerous Guy: I know, right? Like this thing could eat our face off and she doesn't even care Domino: Doesn't care Guy: I'm circling back Domino: Okay, okay, okay okay, I don't like being in front! Guy: Look at it. It is terrifying. Domino: I'm circling back Guy: Let's just go, Domino, let's fuck off outta here Domino: Yeah, let's go Guy: We've had a meeting, we are going Julia: Guys. Domino: Nah, giddy up, we'll see ya Julia: [whistles] C'mon! Guy: You can whistle all you like. Domino: No, don't Julia: C'mon boys Guy: Whistle all you like. Julia: Alright I'll scare the bunny away [She starts walking towards the bunny] Domino: When she whistles then it makes me want to jump- Guy: Julia no don't do it! Domino: Don't do it! Both horses, indistinguishable: Just don't - Julia - Think of the ranch - Don't, it'll Julia: Shoo! [The bunny starts to run towards the horses, then veers off into the bushes] Guy: Oh my god it's running towards us! Domino: No it's okay Guy: Oh, phew Julia: Is that better? Guy: It went that way Domino: Yep, it went into the bush! Julia: Can we get on with our lives now? Guy: Okay, I think it's gone deep into the bush, I'm okay with that. I never want to see it again. Domino: Out of sight, out of mind. Julia: Let's go. Both: Okay. Julia: It's gone. Domino: We're coming. Julia: Swear to god. Guy: You're the best, you're a human, youre brave, you're corageous. Julia: You're such an idiot. Guy: Hey, no - well, come on now, no need for name calling.

[End transcript]

[vaida-talks-about-everything]

Kailman Legacy || 22: Green and Eager

Listening to music, Dayla Ann put on the finishing touches of her look and took a deep breath, taking herself in. She only had so many opportunities to get this dolled up, with the kids home for the summer and both farms taking any free time she had, so to see herself in this pale green dress, glowing from summer sun, in heels she hadn't worn in years, it was sweet. Just as sweet as the man she was waiting for.

Freshly shaved, dressed in crisp neutrals, and confident, Noah John knocked on the door and waited for his date. He remembered their first conversations on the property when he walked her to his very door at his protégé's graduation party. She was beaming with pride for her brother and shared many childhood stories of his getting dirty outside and caring for the animals, dreaming of racing horses one day. Having seen her embrace her dream with the farm up the hill, Noah John wanted to hear all the more about the dreams hidden in her heart, hoping to be invited into them one day.

Enthralled by her, he kissed her cheek, initially surprising her. When their eyes met again, the two smiled, eager to embrace a new bit of touch between them. So, with hands held, the two made their way to Brindleton Bay.

"So you like green, I take it?"

"How could you tell?"

“Your house, your clothes, your eyes all match. It's cute."

"Cute?"

"Yeah, you know what you like and you have it everywhere you can see. And you make it known that you like it."

"This isn't just about my favorite color, is it?"

"What can I say? You know what you like, so go for it. I didn't have to guess with you, you were just forthright."

"I've been alive long enough to know what I want, and you just so happen to be just that."

"Well, I hope it stays that way, 'cos you're just what I want too."

Despite the current downpour, Dayla Ann was charmed by the setup of candles and greenery on the table and the picnic basket with their dinner for the night. She asked about Emerson and the ranch, especially since the kids want a dog just like his, and he laughed, saying they're welcome to play with him anytime. Noah John mentioned that Louisa loved spending time with Clover and would love to babysit should the opportunity present itself. With this in mind, Dayla Ann asked if Emerson knew about the two of them.

"I didn't want to tell him, or anyone really, without consulting you first. My biggest concern is going at this as fast or slow as your comfortable."

"Because of my situation with my kids and ex-husband?"

"Yes, but more so because I really respect you. I don't know what led to things not working out, and I don't need to, but I do know that these kinds of things need a lot of time, patience, and care to navigate well so I won't take this any further than you're able. I'm eager, sure, but I'm not in a rush."

"You talk as if you've done this before. Have you?"

"No, but I've learned enough from people I'm around that all those intricacies are complicated and take precedence over most other things, so I care more about seeing this through well than in a certain time frame. We're both older, we've lived enough life to know what we want, right?"

Touched to hear him reference something she'd said hours before meant everything, proving all the more that he's intentional and earnest and... everything else. "Right."

Time flew by before they realized the rain had long stopped, and the stars sprinkled the sky, so they had their dessert and walked in the gardens just outside the little cafe greenhouse. Tim was tempted to bring up her ex-husband and ask what kind of person he was and how he's treating her now, but she started talking about the movies that her family watches every Winterfest. Hearing about her little brothers and sisters singing around the tree, her Mama making treats in the kitchen, and her father leading the little family choir, Noah John was sure he wanted to be there next time. Whatever kind of man he is, he thought, is missing out big time.

He took her to her door again, and they shared a long hug before saying their goodbyes. Dayla Ann was awestruck as she closed the door, feeling tremendous warmth in her chest. Meanwhile, once Noah flopped onto his bed, still in his clothes, he smiled wide, butterflies dancing within him, already thinking of what he'd do next time he saw her. While she winded down for the night, mentally preparing to swap the kids with Tim, Dayla Ann remembered a song she'd listened to while getting ready that was so fitting for the evening she'd had.

🎶I've been spending the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break and burn, and end. But on a Wednesday in a cafe, I watched it begin again🎶

[awkwardspontaneity]

Hello. This is my first request for the Legend of Zelda, so I do not know how to write it correctly. I don't speak English and I'm writing this in a translator, so there may be mistakes here, sorry. In general, I want to see how the reader will react to the fact that Revali, Link and Sidon cheated on her. (something made me feel sad) Thank you in advance ╹▽╹

I'm so sorry something happened to upset you. If it's along the lines of this request give me a name😤👊 anyways thank you so much for requesting!! This ended up being so much longer than I intended but I'm pretty happy with it. I hope this is what you're looking for!

✨ requests are open✨

Warning: angst, cheating

Revali🐦

I think with his prickly nature not a lot of people would stick around long enough to get to know how much he cares

But some bitch saw how much he was training to perfect his powers to help Hyrule and couldn't resist

It started off as bringing him lunches and heat pads after a long day of training and then it escalated

They would wrap his wings up and suddenly he was letting them fix his braids. He never saw it as much more than a fan helping him out but you saw differently

It ended up in a big fight when you finally brought up how Revali was allowing this fan to hang off of him like they were his partner not you. You brought up excellent points like how he took such a long time to even trust you with braiding his hair and that he could at least let them know he's in a relationship.

Revali got upset (probably cuz ur right and he can't admit it) and snapped that at least they appreciated him

Yeah bad move. You walked out and bird brain left to train away the pain

You came across his first and decided to head to the shooting range with some peace snacks but what do you find?

You walk up the slope towards the archery range, a container of Revali's favourite snacks in hand. As you approach you see something sitting inside the hut and assume it's him. Sterling your breath you walk into the hut and what you find takes your breath away- not in the good way either. Revali sat there with his wings wrapped around them, too caught up on their liplock to notice you standing there.

CRASH

The container hits the ground with a shatter, ruining their little scene.

"Y/n-"

"Don't even try it." You wish your voice didn't sound as broken. No matter how much your heart squeezed in pain from the betrayal, you wanted to come off so much different- angrier. Because you were angry. "Just because we have an argument does not give you the right to run off with your new friend."

Revali flinches at the word and you feel a sick glimmer of satisfaction. He opens his mouth to protest, ignoring your glare. "I-I'm sorry." Your glare darkens and he immediately flounders for the right words. "You accused me of something I didn't do-"

Yeah, not the right words. You wish you could do something, anything to hurt him like he hurt you. But you had to be the bigger person no matter how much you wanted to snap that precious bow of his in half.

"I accused you, not have you permission."

"We can work through this, together" his wing reached out to you, but you recoiled to fast.

"We're not together." You walked towards the entrance "I hope it was worth it."

Link 🗡️

Link is a closed off person. Sure he has people worship him for his title as the hero of Hyrule, but he would never let that get to his head. You could tell this boy he's amazing and it still wouldn't get through his insecurities

Maybe it's cruel but, that almost reassured you he would never break your heart like that. You felt secure in your relationship

That's why it was so shocking when you found out he had fallen for Zelda.

It wasn't meant to ever be more than knight and princess. And you never should have found out.

You were walking towards the stables of your party was staying at. It was supposed to be a simple trip to complete some research out in the plains. Of course your trip was ambushed by an energetic princess who begged to come along for research purposes. You couldn't complain because the addition of the princess also came with your boyfriend Link.

Now you were looking for him outside the small ranch. You fully expected him to be caring for Epona like he always did after a long trip. His love for his horse was something you had always loved about him. The way he would stay later than everyone else to make sure she was okay. It had made stables kind of your spot. Hanging out at the end of a long day to talk and spend time together while caring for your steeds.

Maybe that was why your heart felt so utterly shattered when you did find him, standing next to the stable, with the princess in his arms. Maybe you could have fooled yourself into believing he was being friendly if he hadn't pressed a long loving kiss to her forehead followed by both her cheeks, chuckling softly as she giggled.

You knew they had always been close. I mean they spent all their time together. You'd just never thought that Link would do something like this to you.

You walked away from the stables fighting backs the tears in your eyes. It was only when you found you had walked into an older area, a spare shack outside, that you finally let the tears fall. Your heart twisted in pain as sobs tore from your throat.

Why hasn't you seen this? Why weren't you enough?

------

Your research trip was almost over. You had gone back late into the night to find Link on the edge of his bed head in his hands. He had shot up to demand where you had been when you finally walked in and although he looked like he wanted to argue, he accepted that you had been organizing your research supplies and notes in quiet.

That had been 3 days ago. You had spent the research trip sticking close to your colleagues, poring over each plant and testing their uses. The princess was too distracted with her own interests to really notice how you shied away from her presence. Link had though. And he was about done with you brushing him off in favour of your work. You both were busy so not having time was nothing new. But this was different. You couldn't meet his eyes and he had caught you staring at him and Zelda as if you were about to cry before. He was at a loss and now he needed to figure things out for himself.

However he wasn't quite ready for the answer.

"I saw you and Zelda together."

His throat closed up. He wanted to say so many things. How sorry he was. How he wished he could have told you himself. How he wished he could hold you and forget how complicated things were.

"it's okay." Now that, he wasn't expecting. "I thought I could be mad at you. Both of you. But I guess... It just makes sense." You sniffled softly. You really didn't want to do this. You hated that it had to be you who gave up. But we're you really going to fight? No. As much as it tore your heart into pieces, you would stand aside for them. "I wish that things hadn't changed but, clearly you don't feel the same anymore and I don't want to hold you back. I love you. So much. But I don't deserve this, and I won't put either of us through the trouble. I hope you two are happy together Link."

As you walked towards your friends to head home Link felt his heart clench. You deserved so much better.

Sidon🦈

You were a princess from another kingdom, betrothed to Prince Sidon of the Zora. We all know how these things go, neither of you were all that fond of the idea but you would go through with it. For your kingdoms

You tried to be as understanding as possible of the situations, knowing that the prince was just as trapped as you were. So you played along with your parents wishes.

You two went on dates and spent time together, getting closer and closer until finally you kissed him.

Things were great. You were planning your wedding and enjoying the time you spent with your fiance as you prepared for your future

It wasn't until a few days before the wedding when you were trying on your dress that things fell apart.

Your dressmaker had been in a bad mood, grumbling as they worked and even sticking you with needles a few times. You would have brushed it off as a bad day if not for the facts that they seemed so unapologetic.

You finally brought it up, softly asking if there was something wrong and if you could help. They snapped, going off about how you were ruining the princes life and that he didn't love you and was only marrying you for his kingdom and that he deserved to be happy.

They realized their mistake and left quickly, leaving you alone in your wedding dress with shocked tears slipping down your face.

You later made you way to Sidons office, hoping to clear some things up and maybe seek comfort from the one you loved.

What you didn't expect was to find him already comforting someone. Your dressmaker.

You watched as he whispered sweet nothings and reassurances to them. It was when he said no matter what they were the one that he loved when you broke away.

You stood in your room, packed bags beside you. You knew there were better ways to deal with this. You knew that your kingdom was counting on you and thus marriage. You just couldn't go through with it. Not anymore.

"Y/n?"

You sound around to find the Zora princess standing in your doorway. Mipha had become a close friend in your time in the Zora domain, even feeling like family as you worked closely planning the wedding. She had once told you that you were everything she could hope for in a sister and wife for her brother. You guessed it didn't matter in the end.

Finally you choked out pained words "I can't... I just... I can't do this anymore."

"If you are feeling nervous, I can assure you my brother would never hurt you."

This made you laugh. It was cold, similar to the ice creeping into your veins. "He would. And he did." You cut off Mipha's confusion, wringing a hand through your hair, "Sidon is in love with someone else. I made every effort to work through this engagement despite our... rocky beginning. But he didn't choose me back. He never wanted me, and I won't ruin his chance to be happy."

The room was silent after your outburst. You only noticed the tears when your friend wiped them from your eyes. She offered you a small smile, sharing the pain you felt. She was losing you and still understood it was best for you. You needed to move on and save yourself from a life of pain. A life of being chosen second.

"I hope one day we can meet again, sister."

You let out a choked mix of a son and laugh. Hugging the princess before you grabbed your bags and walked out the door, out of the kingdom that stole your heart and crushed it in its hands.

"I love you, always."

[itsmeizumine]

so, i searched high and low for a post i swore i made talking about why i wanted to make a naruto oc and had this initial blurb and everything that i just intended to add on, but since it disappeared somehow, i'll start again

it's going to be long, but feel free to tag along the ride under break!!

_________________________________________

so, i know anyone who has followed me for a while might have caught up to the fact that i’m on my own naruto nostalgia personal hell right now. it has been dragging for a few months in and out since my lil sibs started to watch the ENTIRETY of naruto franchise just because (we’re talking about all filler eps, all arcs, all ovas, all movies; they’re real champs like that). we all are stuck in the same rooms with each other and nowhere else to go so there was really no way to escape this even if i wanted too, which… i did, in the beginning, not gonna lie (i can’t handle second-hand embarrassment guys, i just can’t, and kid naruto is– oh my god); but then i kind of settled on this constant utterly mortified state so deeply nothing else phased me enough to stop watching the damned thing with my sibs, and here we are.

(and pls, don’t get me wrong. i love naruto, it was important to me as a kid and i still feel echoes of its impact on me even now in my life; it’s just– watching it with my kidsie sibs and parents in the same room with it dubbed in my native lang and them having no context to most things anime, just… no lol)

and god, as much i like the series, rewatching it made my heart ache too. kid naruto had an awful life, dude. for real. it just made me want to swoop in, adopt him and get him somewhere else asap the whole time we watched classic. it was devasting blow after devasting blow since day one, and it took too long for him to find support and bonds (as flimsy as they were) he could cling and lean on (and even then he was left/had to leave behind some).

idk guys, i might be overthinking this but kids in precarious situations always make me emotional af

so i thought: my mojo is making ocs, okay, that’s how i dive into fandoms and such, maybe i could make someone he could call a friend? even if it’s just to comfort him and myself a bit?? yeah, let’s go with this

and like, i wanted him to have someone to goof up with and be silly and talk freely and not have to appear awesome to with that false bravato of his (because he uses that when he’s not comfortable, and i really really really need him to be, for once) but i also wanted him to have someone he could fall back whevener he wants, no questions asked, and that could take care of him if things came down to it, but couldn’t strip naruto’s control over his own situation as an adult would (because that’s terrifiying thing to feel, no control over what’s gonna happen to yourself; now imagine that as a kid that has to live and tend and watch out for their own well-being themselves or else they might as well die in a ditch and no one - in naruto’s mind on the very beggining of classic - would bat an eye?? yeah, no good indeed); so an older kid it had to be. older sibling figure or whatever.

and since i wanted this older kid to approach naruto amicably, they couldn’t be a kid native to konoha, even if they were there from on and beyond. or else they’d first think of naruto in the preconceived notions leaf-civilians kid thought (as a vague monster/demon their parents made of him), or as leaf-nin kid thought (a dumb numbskull, disgrace of the academy).

so before i even started on the kid themselves, i had to settle on a place out of konoha to start the deal (hahaha going through naruto wiki pages on my dying computer was so much fun guys, you have no idea)

i didn’t find a location that made sense in the wiki so i came up with something on my own. it turned out really cool actually. i’m going to link a post talking about this location in particular because this post is too long already, but what you need to know about shokinin daichi is that it was a completely civilian-based settlement. no one was prevenient from a ninja clan and married out of it for peace and quiet, no one had a second cousin that once dreamed about shinobi life as a kid or anything. i know it seems unfathomable in naruto’s universe to such a place exist, especially with how the world is exposed to us on the anime at least, but believe me, it’s more likely than you think. there’s far too much empty space on naruto’s geography and petty, small 1x1 feuds between clans for it not to. shokunin daichi was a place civilians were relatively content with their lives, and if one of them was more ambitious they’d aim for bigger things, yes, but it wouldn't usually scale so far as to become ninja.

my kid, kawarake, was the same. his family made up one the cores of the sanka clan, but since no one was looking forward to taking the clan head’s position from the main family anytime soon, they all lead relatively quiet lives with their own thing going on. the sanka clan run the ranch of shokunin daichi, and each of its cores took care of one kind of animal. kawarake’s family core took care of horses, and he spent most of his days since he was five tending to them or taking care of his littler cousins who wanted to tend them. if he wasn’t on the stables, he’d be strolling in the settlement’s main square to talk to and help all his extended family, or he’d be in his little hide-out by the river farther south from it. he was looking forward to start an apprenticeship under kakka’s clan on metalwork once he was bit older to have the excuse to go out of the settlement more often, but there was no rush on his part still. he was fine like this.

one seemingly random night, with most of the settlement preparing to lay down for the day, a group of nuke-nin found the place. no one knew how, nor who they were; and whoever was left after that disaster could only guess why, but as soon as the rogue shinobi caught sight of the quaint little thing that was kawarake’s home they started to set things on fire. they pillaged and ransacked and destroyed everything in their wake and soon it became clear that there was little to no thing the civilians could do to defend themselves, even with their mattocks and sickles and ropes and wooden planks and the strongest men and women there. smoke and heat enclosed around all of them, and people that had lived their entire lives there together were forced to leave with no plan or direction, just the clan heads’ ultimate order to grab who they could in their way out and survive. hope against hope that they’d find each other again.

kawarake had managed to find his nephew, and be found by his mom before they had to leave the remains of their burning, collapsing ranch behind. with stingy eyes and searing burns and scratches and soot here and there, they made their way out of the settlement to find kawarake’s dad and a distant cousin by chance, but couldn’t manage to reach a group - their people - running in the distance before they too dispersed each to some direction in search of safety. between the kawarake’s mom, dad and cousin, they decided that their best bet would be to seek refuge in konoha for now; and there they fleed to through forest and packed dirt as the night went on.

i don't think it's confirmed in canon but i've seen it around enough in fanfiction to think it might have been implied somewhere. the politics of seeking refuge in a hidden village might change from country to country but i think there's a consistency on the treaty: it has to be compensated for the risk it takes in accepting the refugee, either by trade if the said refugee can has capital to start producing right away or by demanding a shinobi from the refugee's household.

kawarake then becomes the first gen nin of his family, in order for them to stay in konoha and under it's protection. he's the best conventional candidate because of his age; his cousin and parents at too old for the academy, and his nephew too young. he's uneasy in the beginning, he's surrounded by ninja that can, with a few hand seals, create a catastrophe as big as what happened on his settlement just because they felt like it, and that's disconcerting af, but once he realizes that he's also gaining this power, and he's also also learning how to counter it, he manages to ease up a little bit. he even starts to look forward to the possibility of making missions out of konoha in the end; that way he can look around for all his family, and warn them they have a safe place to stay in konoha.

his family arrives two years after the uchiha massacre, and he graduates as a genin on team 3 the same semester as neji, tenten and lee. here's what i have of him and his team, intend to post more soon

he's a nice kid, guys, but he really shouldn't run around with a kunai like this

here's him, isako (also oc, gotta write stuff for her) and shiyoka (same, tho y'all have seen art of them and kawarake together already), their sensei is dope too and deserves her own presentation just because.

[boffeeceans]

Change Your Life, Chapter Four

Beatrice woke up in a cold sweat, she could vaguely remember the ride back to camp and being carried to her tent. She knows exactly why she passed out like that, it had happened before. It wasn't something to get too worried about, but it wasn't anything good either. Beatrice stood up, her head was spinning and she lost her footing a couple of times, but she eventually got out of the tent. She looked up, expecting to see a light blue sky and the sun, but was met with dark blue and the moon. She started walking, but didn't get far before she tripped over her own feet, she readied herself for the impact of the ground, but someone caught her. She looked up to see who it was and was met with Abigail's worried expression.

"You alright there?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you." Beatrice looked around trying to find Arthur through her blurry vision. He was sitting at the campfire by himself. "I'm gonna go talk to Arthur, thanks again for catching me."

Abigail looked over to where Arthur was sitting, "Need some help getting over there?"

"Oh no, I think I got it," She gave Abigail a reassuring smile before straightening herself and making her way over to the campfire. She nearly tripped and fell again a couple of times making her think that maybe she should have accepted Abigail's help. It took her a while, but she got there eventually. She tried to step over the log that Arthur was sitting on, but standing on one leg made her lose her balance and she almost fell over again. She put her hand on Arthur's shoulder to regain her balance which caused him to look over to her. He got up to help her sit down. They didn't say anything, they just sat there in silence for a while staring at the fire. All that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and the various noises of sleeping people.

"I'm sorry if I scared you back there," Beatrice broke the silence. Arthur shifted a little, he didn't like to admit it, but she did scare him. She was fine one moment and the next she was on the floor.

"What happened?" Arthur looked at her just to a smile growing on her face. It confused him, he had no idea what was so funny about it.

"I didn't get a whole lot of sleep and I was busy all day long, so I… I kinda forgot to eat…"

"How do you forget to eat?" Arthur asked, even more confused than before.

"I just forget when I'm really busy and…" Her smile faded a little, but didn't completely disappear, "It's just that momma or Elijah used to remind me to eat something if that happened."

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose, he reached in his satchel and got out a can of peaches and a fork, he opened the can with his knife and handed it to Beatrice, "Eat."

Beatrice's face lit up and the smile reappeared on her face bigger than before, she took the can and didn't hesitate to start eating. Arthur laughed at the sight of her just shoveling down peaches like it was nothing.

"What?" Beatrice asked with big blue eyes and half a peach in her mouth, which caused Arthur to laugh harder. "I fuckin' love peaches, alright?" She said after she swallowed the peach.

"I didn't say anythin'" Arthur felt something warm growing within his chest when she smiled at him, she had smiled at him before, but never this genuine. The feeling reminded him of when he saw Isaac for the first time.

Arthur's thoughts got cut short when Beatrice got up after finishing her peaches. Damn that kid can eat fast, Arthur thought before getting up himself. Beatrice stretched and yawned, "I'm gonna go back to sleep and you look tired, so you should too."

"I will." She was right, he was tired; he hadn't closed an eye ever since she passed out.

Beatrice smiled and pulled him into a hug, Arthur tensed at the gesture. No one has given him a hug in years, but he returned it after a couple of seconds.

"You stayed up for me, didn't you?" Her voice was muffled by being buried in his shoulder; not being quite tall enough to reach above it.

Arthur chuckled, "Yeah, you got me."

Beatrice broke away from the hug and gave him one last smile, "Goodnight." She turned around and walked to her tent.

"Goodnight."

Arthur watched her, that warm feeling never left his chest and he had a smile on his face. There was something about her, she was strong and vulnerable at the same time. He felt the need to protect her the way he couldn't protect Isaac.

---

Weeks have passed and Beatrice was allowed to tag along with Arthur on more jobs because she more than proved herself after busting Micah out of jail. She stole a stagecoach with him and Hosea. They did it at night, Beatrice and Arthur went inside to rob the house while Hosea took the stagecoach. They got a couple hundred dollars from that and Dutch was happy. A couple of days later John, Charles, Arthur, and Sean robbed a train while Beatrice and Micah robbed a banking coach.

It took some convincing to let her go on a job with just Micah. Arthur didn't like the idea one bit, but he eventually let her go.

Robbing the coach seemed to go really well, they got it without missing a shot. It was easy, at least they thought it was until they got ambushed by O'Driscoll's. It was starting to get more and more clear why the Van der Linde's wanted them dead and vice versa. It took a while, but Beatrice and Micah got rid of them and they rode back to camp with just a couple scratches and an extra twelve hundred dollars in their pockets.

Arthur and Abigail had been coming up to Beatrice with snacks throughout the day to make sure she didn't pass out again. She didn't appreciate Arthur telling Abigail about it at first, Beatrice didn't want to be seen as weak, but Abigail assured her that that wasn't the case. It took a little getting used to, they treated her like she could starve to death any second.

Beatrice stood next to her horse with a mostly empty cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She was thinking about maybe going out for a ride, the last time when she was around this many people for more than a couple of hours was on the ranch and she was getting kind of sick of it.

She watched Arthur talk to Abigail, she couldn't hear it, but Arthur didn't seem too happy about whatever Abigail asked him. He made his way over to Jack who was sitting close to where Beatrice was standing. He said something about going fishing and Beatrice thought that she might tag along. Arthur mounted his horse and pulled Jack on with him shortly after. Beatrice dumped the remaining bit of coffee on the floor and put the cup in her saddlebag while Arthur and Jack rode out of camp. She mounted her horse and caught up to them.

Arthur looked to his right to see Beatrice riding next to him, "Where are you goin'?"

Beatrice flashed him a smile, "Wherever you are."

"Why?"

She shrugged, "Because I'm bored, I guess."

Arthur nodded at her and continued his conversation with Jack until they arrived at the river. Arthur taught Jack how to fish while Beatrice sat next to them, she stared out into the river and watched how the fish circled around the bait. It didn't take long until Jack got bored and started doing something else.

"Not catching much there, are ya?" She said with a slight laugh behind her words.

Arthur looked down at her and raised his eyebrows, "What? You think you can do better?"

Beatrice laughed, "Definitely not, I'm better at hunting. Elijah, however, wouldn't hesitate to take that rod from you."

Arthur slowly nodded and focused his gaze back on the river, Beatrice didn't speak of Elijah often, but there was always something of a smile on her face when she did. Arthur wanted to know more about him; not sure if they'll ever get to meet, so he decided to just ask, "What's he like?"

"Who? Eli?"

Arthur nodded again.

"Well…" Beatrice thought about how she was going to say this in the nicest way possible, "He's kind of an asshole," There wasn't a nice way to say it, "He left me in the middle of nowhere for fucks sake, I could've died!" Beatrice kept ranting on about how she hated him and that she didn't care if he was alive or not. Maybe asking about Elijah wasn't such a good idea, and Maybe interrupting Beatrice wasn't such a good idea either, but he had to do it.

"You don't mean that."

Beatrice confirmed that it wasn't a good idea by the way she looked at him, she was mad and didn't appreciate Arthur telling her what she did and didn't mean, "How the hell would you know that?" She got up and looked him in the eye, "You know nothing about me." Her expression softened when she saw the hurt look in his eyes and averted her gaze, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, "I'm sorry… I just-" She took a deep breath and started walking towards her horse, "I'll see you back at camp."

Arthur wished that he could've said something, but she was right, he didn't know her. He wanted to though, but giving Beatrice her space was the best option right now.

---

She shouldn't have done that. Shouldn't have said those things about Elijah, Shouldn't have yelled at Arthur. He was right now that she thought about it; she really didn't mean it. Elijah was her brother and she loved him, even if he left her for dead. Beatrice hadn't gone straight back to camp, she had to blow some steam off and decided that she would go hunting. She had managed to catch a rabbit and a deer before riding back to camp. She asked John to carry the deer for her after already struggling to get it on her horse. Beatrice leaned against Pearson's table with a sigh and looked around for Arthur, she had to apologize. Not just a quick sorry so that she could leave, a real apology.

She spotted Arthur talking to Miss Grimshaw, It was hard to hear them from the distance, but she could make out something about a letter and a woman named Mary.

"What're you thinkin' about?"

Beatrice looked at John who was now standing next to her, also leaning on the table, "What?"

"You were staring at nothing, so there must be something on your mind."

"Nothing, really. Just…" She bit the inside of her cheek before speaking again, "Who's Mary?"

John scratched the back of his head, he was not expecting that question, "She's uh… she's Arthur's ex-fiancée."

"Oh- wait. Arthur was engaged?"

"Yeah, why are you asking me about Mary anyway?"

Beatrice nodded her head towards Arthur, "He got a letter from her."

John moved his head to look at him and saw he was reading the letter, he looked sad, "Well, that can't be anything good.

Arthur placed the letter and his satchel, Beatrice's gaze followed him as he moved toward her and John. He walked past them without saying a word, he didn't even look at them. She moved away from the table and watched Arthur mount his horse and ride out of camp.

"what are you planning?" John asked.

Beatrice looked over her shoulder, "I'm not planning anything." She said as she stepped towards her horse.

"You're gonna follow him, aren't ya?"

She gave him an innocent smile, "Of course not."

John shook his head with a slight laugh and went on to do something else.

---

Beatrice did indeed follow Arthur, she couldn't help it, her curiosity got the better of her and she had to know who this Mary was. She made sure to keep her distance, but that didn't stop her from flinching every time Dynamite stepped in a twig. She stayed behind him until he rode up to a small farm on the outskirts of Valentine, Beatrice diverted off the road and onto a small hill. She dismounted and shooed him away, crouching down she slowly made her way past the barn, and to the side of the house.

Beatrice listened in on the conversation between Mary and Arthur. They both sounded sad and were hesitant with their words, which was to be expected since they haven't seen each other in years. Mary needed help with her little brother, Arthur didn't agree to help her right away. He went on about how her family didn't like him and that he wasn't good enough for them, but he eventually agreed by asking where Jamie was.

"I owe you."

"You already owe me."

Hearing their last exchange made her think of something, something incredibly stupid, something she definitely shouldn't do, but something she is going to do. Beatrice walked back to the road and waited on her horse until Mary exited the house to go to the train station. Beatrice moved her horse into a slow-paced after Mary passed her, she didn't worry too much about the distance; Mary didn't know her anyway. Beatrice walked into the train station when Mary was just starting to sit down.

"Mary?"

Mary looked up from her book, confusion, and surprise written all over her face, "Do I know you?"

"No uh, no you don't," Beatrice moved her hat more towards the back of her head so that Mary could see her face properly, "I'm Beatrice Morgan… Arthur's daughter."

Mary's eyes widened, "I- he never told me he had a daughter."

"Well, he couldn't have, he only found out a few months ago."

Beatrice took the seat next to Mary, she should have planned out what she was going to say before approaching her. They sat in silence for a while, an uncomfortable one. Beatrice tried to offer Mary a cigarette, but she declined, making the situation more awkward. Every time Beatrice went to say something she closed her mouth again, she knew what she wanted to say, but not how.

"Is there a reason why you came to see me?"

There it was. The perfect opportunity to just blurt it out, and she did. and then she wished she didn't. The expression and Mary's face was… not good, not in the slightest. Beatrice prepared herself to get yelled at or something, but the next words that left Mary's mouth weren't directed at her.

"Jamie!"

Oh shit. It was good that Mary was reunited with her brother, what wasn't good was that Arthur came back while Beatrice was still in the train station. She quickly grabbed the newspaper from the table and pretended to read it and hoped that Arthur hadn't already seen her.

"Beatrice."

She lowered the newspaper revealing a sweet smile, "Arthur."

"What the hell are you doin' here?"

"I uh… I was just having a lovely conversation with Mary over here." She gestured over to Mary who was grabbing her bags. Arthur shook his head and dismissed Beatrice for now, He took Mary's bags and walked her to the train. When she got on the train she turned around and glared at Beatrice for a second before focusing on Arthur.

"I… you're… oh you'll never change. I know that."

It took everything in Beatrice's power to not go up to her and yell to her about how Arthur is a great person, maybe not great, but better than most outlaws and that he deserved so much better than here. But instead of doing all that she just scoffed. Arthur turned around to face Beatrice, there was a variety of emotions displayed on his face, but he was quick to hide them.

"What did you say to her?"

"Oh nothin' important, really." Beatrice turned around and started to leave.

"Don't lie to me, I saw the way she glared at you."

Beatrice stopped in her tracks and hung her head low, "I told her…" She took a deep breath before continuing, "to go on a date with you instead of just asking you to run her errands." She spoke so fast, she just hoped that Arthur understood what she said.

"Jesus Christ, kid." Arthur sounded disappointed, which is worse than mad in a way.

Beatrice turned around with downcast eyes, "I'm sorry for following you and talking to your ex," She looked up and sighed, "I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier today, I- I shouldn't have done that. I'm really so-"

"I'm gonna stop you before you say sorry again," Arthur chuckled. "I get it, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, you had every right to ask," Beatrice smiled at him, "Besides, he is your son after all. How about I buy you a drink as a formal apology?"

Arthur thought for a moment, it was still early, but he could definitely use a drink after all that, "Sure, why not.'

"Great!" They started walking towards the saloon, "Y'know, I'm actually glad she didn't ask you out on a date."

Arthur raised his eyebrows, "And why's that?"

"It's just that you deserve much better than her and she's kind of a b-" Arthur elbowed her in the ribs before she could finish her sentence, "Unpleasant woman. She's an unpleasant woman and I don't like her."

Arthur shook his head, she wasn't the only one that didn't like Mary. He's pretty sure Abigail didn't like her, but she barely knew her so that wasn't much to off. He placed a hand on Beatrice's shoulder and squeezed it a little.

They walked up to the bar when they entered the saloon and Beatrice placed some money on the counter, "A bottle of whiskey with two glasses please."

"Wait," Arthur blinked a few times, "a bottle?"

"Yeah, a bottle." Beatrice moved away from the bar and sat at an empty table.

"I thought we were just going for a drink, not a whole damn bottle."

"Oh come on," She poured him a drink, "We won't end up in jail, I promise."

Arthur looked at the drink, then at Beatrice, "Oh, what the hell,"

It was past midnight, the bottle was almost empty and Beatrice was singing very loud and off-key. Arthur wasn't half as drunk as her, sure he drank quite a bit, but not enough to not remember what he did the next day. He was talking to some guy about who knows what, until Beatrice came up to him with the biggest smile on her face and grabbed his hand.

"We gotta go, right now." Her words were slurred and barely audible.

"Why?"

Beatrice pulled him towards the door, "Trust me, now come on."

Arthur said a quick goodbye to the stranger and followed her out the door and to their horses, he had to prevent her from falling multiple times, because she couldn't walk straight and was constantly tripping over her feet. They stopped by their horses and Beatrice just started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

She reached into her pockets and pulled out money, rings, watched, and other valuables. "I robbed every goddamn bastard in that place," She said, way too loud and still laughing.

"Jesus, put that away and keep your voice down,"

"Sorry," She whispered, she tried to open one of her saddlebags to place the valuables in it but was clearly failing to do so. Arthur opened it for her and laughed at the state she was in; fumbling around and almost dropping everything she was holding. She tried to put her foot in the stirrup but fell backwards as soon as she lifted her foot off the ground. Luckily Arthur stood right behind her and was able to catch her in time, he helped to her feet and turned her to face him. He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her on the back of her horse, "I can ride myself."

Arthur laughed and lifted himself into the saddle, "I don't think so, kid. Just don't throw up on me," He said, he whistled for his own horse to follow and rode out of town.

Beatrice scoffed and pouted, drunk her didn't agree with this one bit, but sober her would be thankful. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face between his shoulder blades. "You should read momma's journal if you want to know more about Elijah."

Arthur looked over his shoulder and was about to say something, but Beatrice already forgot what she said and started singing Ring Dang Doo at an extremely high volume.

---

Beatrice woke up everyone in camp with her singing, but she shut up and fell asleep as soon as her head hit her pillow. Arthur sighed in relief and walked towards his own tent, he laid down on his cot and tried to sleep, but found himself unable to. He kept thinking about what Beatrice said, he hadn't opened the journal since he first got it. He wouldn't want anyone to read his journal and thought it was a violation of privacy, but curiosity got the better of him. He opened the chest where he kept his clothes and reached for the book at the bottom of it. He sat back on his cot and opened the journal on the first page only to be surprised to be met with an envelope with his name on it. He slowly opened it, the letter was stained with tears and blood spatters, he took a deep breath and started reading it.

Dear Arthur,

If you're reading this, you know that I was pregnant, gave birth to two beautiful children and that I'm dead. It's weird to say that I'm dead when I'm still breathing, barely mind you, but still breathing. I got diagnosed with tuberculosis sometime last year and it made me think about all the unfinished business that I have. Telling you about Elijah and Beatrice was one of those things, but I have no idea where the hell you are and I'm running out of time.

I want to give you this journal, I wrote a bunch of letters in it meant for you, but I was too cowardly to ever send the first ones and after a while, I realized you guys would've moved and I had no idea where to send them. There's eighteen years worth of information in this thing and I want you to read it.

Please take care of them for me, and take care of yourself as well. I wish I didn't leave, I left because I wanted a safe life for them, but that didn't work out. I still love you and I think about you every day. I hope you found someone to love again, someone you can spend the rest of your life with, someone who tells you everything and doesn't keep things from you that you have every right to know about. I'm sorry.

I left because I was scared, I didn't know how you would react and teenage me thought it was a good idea to just leave without a word instead of just talking about it with you. I'm not asking you to ever forgive me for that, but I am gonna ask that you keep them from doing reckless things.

Good luck with reading all the letters.

Love,

Ethelyn Lowe.

[justagayguysworld-blog]

Not sure what you will think of this one, but my mind inhabits the most unusual of places.

It was the last beer and we'd shared it on the way to town for another twelve-pack. I barely knew Antonio. He'd only been there a couple of weeks, but it was the damnedest thing I'd ever seen. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, could talk to a horse the way he did. I thought it was a fluke the first time. Then he did it again and I knew it couldn't be natural.

We had a contract with the state for wild mustang management. It wasn't the easiest job in the world, but I liked the outdoors and it beat hell out of watching my old man slap his third or fourth wife around. Maybe Sheila was the fifth; I'd stopped counting or giving much of a shit by that point. For my purposes at nineteen, it was a godsend they'd hired me and paid my bus fare to Utah. We rounded them up, checked them for diseases, tagged them, sold off the limit, gave them their shots and then trucked them back to the desert.

I'd been at the ranch for maybe three months when he came up one night seemingly outta nowhere and sat next to me at the fire. I greeted him in what little Spanish I knew. "Save it, dude. I speak English." And that was that.

One of the stallions was raising bloody hell in the pen and stirring up the other horses. I stood up to see if I could go quiet him down. Antonio braced a hand on my knee and said as he was standing, "Can I borrow that? Thanks." He took the beer out of my hand, turned it up and walked over to the corral with it in his hand. Sitting the bottle on the post, he hopped the fence, picked the bottle up and walked straight over to the hellraiser.

Just walked inside like he owned the place. He was fixing to get trampled to death near as I could tell, when he grabbed that bad boy by his mane and said something. The horse shook its head side to side. Antonio jerked harder on a handful of hair, the horse quieted down and lowered its head. Then the crazy fuck turned up that bottle, and I swear to God, I saw a mustang down the rest of my beer.

Tossing the bottle over, he walked back to the fence and hopped it again like nothing had happened. Picking up the empty he came back to the campfire and said, "Sorry about that. Can I get you another?"

Stunned, I asked, "What the fuck was that about?"

"Horses can smell fear. And some of them like beer." He walked away leaving me gape-jawed and went to the bunkhouse for another round. When he came back with our longnecks, he twisted the lid off one with his forefinger and thumb. I'd never seen anyone do that either.

Bottle in hand, I asked, "Where you from?"

"Can't say exactly. I tend to move around a lot. Guess you could call me a restless spirit." Bending down, he placed the same hand on my knee again to sit like an old man trying to find his bearings and steady himself. I hadn't noticed it earlier, but the chill of his touch radiated through my jeans to my kneecap.

The hand was just as icy when he extended it. "Antonio. What's your name, cowboy?"

"Jason. Jason Sparks. But most people just call me Rufus or asshole. Seems I'm the low man on the totem pole around here."

He laughed and said, "Not anymore. I just blew into town. I'll be working the night shift."

"Night shift? I wasn't aware we had one."

"Yeah, I'm something of a specialist. These positions can be hard to fill. Not everybody can handle an alcoholic horse with bad dreams."

I literally fell off the log laughing. Struggling to get up, Antonio grabbed the collar of my jacket and pulled me back to an upright position. Without any real effort on my part, I found my ass firmly planted on the log again. If he was superman, I didn't see where he could be hiding the muscles. We were about the same size and weight from what I could tell. He chuckled and mumbled something about horses not being the only alcoholics in those parts.

"I'll drink to that. Let me get us one more beer and then I guess I'll turn in for the night. Where are you bunking?"

"Next to you if there's room still available at the inn. Larry said to grab any empty bed I could find. And yours kind of looked like a mess when I was stowing my gear. But at least it didn't smell like shit."

Stopping to take a piss I wondered how he knew which bed was mine, but in the quest for brewskis I'd forgotten the question by the time I returned. As if reading the mind I was in the process of losing, he stated very matter-of-factly, "You don't smell like a cowboy or a horse with a drinking problem."

Not knowing exactly how to or if I should reply, I thought a moment and said, "Generally speaking, I don't go around smelling cowboys or their sheets, and I damned sure ain't smelling a horse's breath to see if they've been drinking."

He must've sensed my unease. Clinking his bottle against mine, he offered, "Sorry, I have a really weird nose. It smells the strangest damned things. Guess that's why I'm good with the horses. I smell what they smell."

"Ain't nothing wrong with your nose, Antonio," I blurted out. "You have a real nice nose. Most of these ugly old bastards have had their's broken in so many bar fights, I don't really want to think about it, much less how they smell."

Bumping his shoulder against mine, he clinked his nearly empty bottle to mine and said, "Yeah, I'll take loving over fighting any time I can. Probably why I get along with the horses and avoid divorces.

We had minimal contact after that. Other than rolling over or the occasional fart, I didn't hear much out of him for the next two weeks. Except in my dreams if I'm going to be perfectly damned honest about this. And generally speaking, I didn't have much of a habit dreaming about other men, at least not in that way. But there he was, more than once, pretty damned specifically. If I'd been anyone else, it would've been hard to ignore. Only I'd learned to master any direct concern for my actual feelings, and dick management had never been an issue for me personally.

The crew I was working was out on range management. I'd barely been back to the place long enough to sleep, much less for fireside chitchat. Then Saturday night came, we were going to take a couple days off and there he was. Just like in my damned dreams. I have no reason to lie. It was disconcerting when I saw him sprawled out there next to the fire. Not a care in the world, acting as if he'd grown up right out of the ground on that very spot, he smiled.

Looking me directly in the eye as if he hadn't invaded my dreams, he said casually as a cousin, "Hey Jason Sparks, if you're going to the house, could you grab me another cold one?" It had been a particularly hard week, I was bone-ass tired and his nose still wasn't broken in six different places. Two beers later we were left alone with a raging fire and the feelings I was experiencing that matched that blaze. I really wanted to kick his ass. Antonio had seriously fucked with my head, and he didn't seem to know or at least care.

He got up for the third round. It wasn't my knee he touched that sent icy shivers up my spine this time. It was my thigh. About three inches below the part that separates the men from the boys. Close enough for discomfort, I met his glaze and that fire was dancing in his eyes. His nose still wasn't broken, but the quiet smirk on his face made me seriously think about rearranging it.

Fucker scratched my head as he walked away like I was some kind of damned puppy in love. Brought back another round and said, "These are the last ones, Jason Sparks. Let's polish them off and make a run into town. I'm still thirsty. If you'll drive, I'll buy."

That was the night and I guess the moment that changed or ended my life. Something deep inside me could hear it slowly rumbling. I'd seen it in those dreams. I simply didn't have the power to say no or the least of will to fight him. And we weren't struggling. I guess that was what's so odd about it. Everything in my body and soul knew it was happening, even if my conscious mind was slow in catching up. I wanted him. I'd be the worst kind of liar if I said I didn't. And I knew he knew it.

He took my hand and pulled me up off the ground. I could've just as easily staggered to my feet of my own accord. But he wanted that ice running through my veins clashing with my toasted toes inside those boots. And I felt it. Felt it thoroughly as we climbed in the truck and started the motor. Only once did he touch my body on the way to the store. It was completely casual and anything but innocent as the shivers raced up and down my spine.

He went in and came out. I felt very strange. Almost in an out-of-body floating feeling I drove away into the darkness of the rural night. I still remember. It was as vivid, quiet and unstoppable as a freight train bearing down on the family sedan stalled on the side of the tracks.

"Pull over." I could've kept driving, but the truth was that I'd pulled over two weeks before. "I said pull over, Jason Sparks." He didn't have to ask again. And the truth, as he very well knew, is that I'd been wanting to pull over my whole life. The cab of the truck was full of echoes and whispers as I floated above my body while it and he crawled into the back seat. Voices were everywhere, the engine was running and for the first time in my life I didn't give a damn.

I thought in some delirious way I was about to kiss a boy, but that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. My feelings, those secreted desires weren't important. We weren't boys. I'd become a man without realizing or acknowledging it, and that brief period of my life was about to end abruptly.

It was brutal. How could I possibly forget when he folded down the lambswool collar of my jacket and sunk his teeth into my flesh? I could've fought him off, but I'd already struggled my whole life to be something different than what I was. Antonio was reconciling my conflicts, meeting my innermost longings and he'd bought the beer.

[temporarilyinorder]

1-150 💕💕💕

1. Who was the last person you held hands with? - @ununhexium
2. Are you outgoing or shy? - I think I’m a fair mix of the two behind closed doors
3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? - Ed Sheeran in concert ha
4. Are you easy to get along with? - Very
5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? - I like to think so yes
6. What kind of people are you attracted to? - Punk/Rock princesses, the kind that look super badass and listen to my kind of music but still wanna cuddle at the end of the day
7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? - ah yes
8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? - my friend Bridget because she won’t answer my goddamned texts and we need to work on our leadership auditions for color guard
9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? - not in the slightest
10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? - @sleepandbestupid
11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? - “what did it say"
12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now? - Ultralife by Oh Wonder, Lifetimes by Oh Wonder, Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers, Take a Walk by Passion Pit, Synesthesia by Andrew MacMahon & The Wilderness
13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? - love it
14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? - yeah why not
15. What good thing happened this summer? - idk I fell in love I guess
16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? - yeah 😂
17. Do you think there is life on other planets? - there’s gotta be
18. Do you still talk to your first crush? - occasionally to catch up
19. Do you like bubble baths? - nope
20. Do you like your neighbors? - yeah
21. What are you bad habits? - i never know my limits lol
22. Where would you like to travel? - everywhere
23. Do you have trust issues? - not really
24. Favorite part of your daily routine? - going to bed
25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? - faceeee
26. What do you do when you wake up? - open my eyes
27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? - it’s fine where it is haha
28. Who are you most comfortable around? - @ununhexium @sleepandbestupid @itsamtyler @yueriverta
29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? - oh yeah
30. Do you ever want to get married? - yesss
31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail? - maybe on top
32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? - Kristen Stewart and Emma Watson hands down
33. Spell your name with your chin. - grsbfob
34. Do you play sports? What sports? - not really
35. Would you rather live without TV or music? - TV
36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? - who hasn’t?
37. What do you say during awkward silences? - I don't
38. Describe your dream girl/guy? - I’m too lazy I’m already dating her
39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? - Zumiez, Hot Topic, American Eagle
40. What do you want to do after high school? - travel the country
41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? - depends
42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? - *you’re and it just means I’m thinking really
43. Do you smile at strangers? - yeah!
44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? - space
45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? - my goddamned mother
46. What are you paranoid about? - getting caught
47. Have you ever been high? - meh
48. Have you ever been drunk? - it didn’t work
49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? - sure
50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? - gray
51. Ever wished you were someone else? - once or twice sure
52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? - my sex, I guess.. but like I’d never wanna be cis
53. Favourite makeup brand? - nope
54. Favourite store? - Hot Topic or Zumiez
55. Favourite blog? - idk
56. Favourite colour? - red blue or neon green
57. Favourite food? - Bacon ranch cheesesteak from Jersey Mikes58. Last thing you ate? - a mozzarella stick
59. First thing you ate this morning? - I haven’t yet ha
60. Ever won a competition? For what? - yeah! Idk plenty
61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? - nope
62. Been arrested? For what? - nope
63. Ever been in love? - a handful times yeah
64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? - I was on a cruise when I was thirteen and thought this girl was sO cute and by the end of the trip she felt bad and kissed me lol
65. Are you hungry right now? - very
66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? - nope
67. Facebook or Twitter? - Facebook 
68. Twitter or Tumblr? - Tumblr
69. Are you watching tv right now? - nope
70. Names of your bestfriends? - @fiorexfairy
@sleepandbestupid 71. Craving something? What? - my favorite food lol
72. What colour are your towels? -varied
72. How many pillows do you sleep with? - one
73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? - yeah! A little stuffed eevee named chestnut
74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? - too many
75. Favourite animal? - Hedgehogs!
76. What colour is your underwear? - black
77. Chocolate or Vanilla? - vanilla
78. Favourite ice cream flavour? - cotton candy
79. What colour shirt are you wearing? - neon green
80. What colour pants? - navy blue lol please note I just woke yp
81. Favourite tv show? - Black Mirror
82. Favourite movie? - American Ultra or Zombieland or The Perks of Being a Wallflower
83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? - the original boiiii
84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? - 21 Jump Street
85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? - dunno 
86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? - Nemo idk
87. First person you talked to today? - @ununhexium
88. Last person you talked to today? - it is noon
89. Name a person you hate? - lol
90. Name a person you love? - mi friends
91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? - nah
92. In a fight with someone? - nope
93. How many sweatpants do you have? - one
94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? - like ten
95. Last movie you watched? - I don’t remember
96. Favourite actress? - Emma Watson
97. Favourite actor? - Logan Lerman
98. Do you tan a lot? - only at band camp ha
99. Have any pets? - 4 dogs 4 cats
100. How are you feeling? - hopeful
101. Do you type fast? - very
102. Do you regret anything from your past? - nah
103. Can you spell well? - quite
104. Do you miss anyone from your past? - not really
105. Ever been to a bonfire party? - yeah!
106. Ever broken someone’s heart? - I don’t think so but idk
107. Have you ever been on a horse? - yup!
108. What should you be doing? - writing my color guard routine
109. Is something irritating you right now? - nah
110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? - oh yeah
111. Do you have trust issues? - you asked this already
112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? - @ununhexium
113. What was your childhood nickname? - T
114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? - yeah
115. Do you play the Wii? - no lol
116. Are you listening to music right now? - does the Disney parades soundtrack count
117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? - yeS
118. Do you like Chinese food? - Y E S
119. Favourite book? - On The Road
120. Are you afraid of the dark? - lowkey very
121. Are you mean? - a little
122. Is cheating ever okay? - idk
123. Can you keep white shoes clean? - barely
124. Do you believe in love at first sight? - I guess
125. Do you believe in true love? - yes
126. Are you currently bored? - a little
127. What makes you happy? - people being happy
128. Would you change your name? - yeah ha
129. What your zodiac sign? - Libra
130. Do you like subway? - nope
131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? - say it sucks to be them lol
132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? - repeat question again get ur shit together
133. Favourite lyrics right now? - uhh
134. Can you count to one million? - nope
135. Dumbest lie you ever told? - I’m almost home
136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? - closed
137. How tall are you? - 5'6"
138. Curly or Straight hair? - I have straight hair, if that’s what you’re asking
139. Brunette or Blonde? - blonde
140. Summer or Winter? - summer
141. Night or Day? - day
142. Favourite month? - July
143. Are you a vegetarian? - nooo
144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? - white
145. Tea or Coffee? - coffee
146. Was today a good day? - it’s only noon
147. Mars or Snickers? - Twix
148. What’s your favourite quote? - this too shall pass
149. Do you believe in ghosts? - wholeheartedly 
150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? - "I go with him.”