#I promise on August I’ll get replies and starters out there

[wildswrites]

comforting sentence starters, as prompts. wip ; water lilies.

i random generated a number to get a prompt, but i would love to write another one if anyone would like to send me a number between one and thirty!

7.  ❛  let me know if there’s anything i can do for you.  ❜

content warning : kidnapping (implied) ; referenced sexual harassment ; transphobia ; torture (mentioned) .

“Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.”

Her voice is rough, alternating periods of screams and disuse running her ragged. There are no windows in their shared cell, and Cameron has no idea how long they have been down here, or if here is truly down, or if the cold is from the outside air leeching in or if it is on purpose.

They tore off his shirt a few hours (?) ago, poked fun at his surgical scars, traced them with a knife but did not yet pierce the skin. Willa is topless as well, bralette pretending to hold her dignity intact. Cameron scoots as close as he can, the chains holding his wrist to the pole in the center of the room leaving just enough give to slide his foot alongside hers. She looks at him, and all he can offer is the shakiest smile that he has ever had the misfortune to give. Everything hurts.

“Let me know if there is anything I can do for you,” he replies, huffing out the ghost of a laugh. They have cut her golden hair until it is cropped near the shoulders, uneven and at sharp angles; August will be able to make an actual haircut of it, when they get out of here. If they make it out of here, if August and the others can find them, if, if, if.

A feeble smile has made its way onto her face. “Well now that you mention it…”

She is interrupted by the scrape of the heavy stone door coming open; he yanks his foot back from hers, gets into a more neutral position - anything to encourage reciprocated neutrality upon them, anything to discourage their captors from hurting one of them or the other for the sole purpose of exploiting their connection. Willa searches for eye contact, he allows it for a moment, just a moment, and her eyes are wild; more white than anything else, wide and shaking and; he breaks the contact, looking towards the door right as someone steps through.

“Well look what we have here,” a familiar voice purrs. Cameron’s heartbeat stutters from where it beats wildly against his sternum, a racketing percussion he can feel from his throat to his belly. Aileen Verne comes down the shallow ramp, hands tucked behind her back - looking all the while as if she is coming into a preschool rather than a prison cell. “If it isn’t my two favorite prisoners…” Cameron is farthest from the door, but still he freezes as he realizes where Aileen is heading - or rather, exactly who she is heading for. She squats, runs fingertips across pale skin, and she smiles when her prisoner shirks away, eyes squeezing shut. “Willa, was it?”

numbered prompts below cut, original post found here!

❛  can i give you a hug?  ❜

❛  whether you like it or not, i’m not giving up on you.  ❜

❛  do you want to talk about it?  ❜

❛  i promise that everything will get better soon.  ❜

❛  it’s okay not to be okay.  ❜

❛  i’m sorry you have to go through this.  ❜

❛  let me know if there’s anything i can do for you.  ❜

❛  can i get you anything?  ❜

❛  i’ll be back to check up on you later.  ❜

❛  we’ll get through this together.  ❜

❛  it’s okay. you can tell me.  ❜

❛  tell me what you need.  ❜

❛  it’s okay, deep breaths. that’s it, in and out.  ❜

❛  i wish i had the right words, just know that i care.  ❜

❛  i’m just trying to understand how you feel.  ❜

❛  we all need a little help sometimes.  ❜

❛  i’m gonna make something to eat for you.  ❜

❛  shh … it’s okay. you’re safe here now.  ❜

❛  whatever happened, i’ll be there for you.  ❜

❛  how are you feeling?  ❜

❛  i understand that what you’re going through must be painful.  ❜

❛  cry, yell, whatever ― i’m not gonna leave your side.  ❜

❛  just let it all out.  ❜

❛  you don’t have to pretend to be fine with me.  ❜

❛  please don’t give up now.  ❜

❛  i care about you and i’m here for you.  ❜

❛  i know this must be hard for you.  ❜

❛  are you okay?  ❜

❛  you don’t have to go through this alone.  ❜

❛  i … really don’t know what to say or do but i’ll try my best.  ❜

[aylenlavellan]

//I’ve been dead on here omg, I’m so sorry. Master’s abroad is not over yet, I should start being more active and replying actively to threads in August. Thank you so much for your patience guys ❤️

[urbxnlegxnd]

[Update = Hiatus Notice]

Okay, I’ve done it! I started at the beginning of August, but now I’ve finally caught up with my replies again! Now to keep it this way this time! Hopefully! 

Additionally I am going on a hiatus for a while! I will do the starters I owe and clear out my inbox after I return! The explanation is below, under the Read More!

Tomorrow on the 25th I am going to the dentist to have a dead tooth removed. I’ll be away until I have recovered enough to carry on doing all the things that I enjoy so much! Sorry in advance for the delay this will put on me making the starters I owe and answering all the memes in my inbox! I promise I’ll get to all that I owe as soon as I possibly can!

[txkeyourheart]

{{ I feel bad for being so absent so even though I don’t like talking about personal things on my roleplay blog, I’m going to address some things below so everyone knows why I’ve been absent and why I’ll continue to be spotty for some time into the future }}

Basically, at the beginning of last month/end of August I had a major falling out with my ex-best friend who had been abusing me going on ~10 years starting when I was a young teen and they were ~17, they finally got bored of using me (I moved in with them when I was ~19 at which point the abuse escalated, I almost died from a major infection at one point due to it) and attempted to put me and my partner out on the street.

Following this I was forced to move back in with my mother, who is exceedingly abusive. (I ran away at 18), I had hoped she had chilled out in the years I’ve been gone but she really has not. Due to this move my girlfriend and I have been unable to work, and are completely drained both of resources and energy. 

We are now attempting to move across the USA to live with my girlfriend’s mother (who is an absolute angel) but won’t be able to do so until sometime in November, until then I’ve been doing my best simply to hang in there (Obviously moving back here has allowed my previously well managed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to run absolutely rampant, I won’t lie, most days I wake up and debate the merits of just crying vs getting out of bed.)

I’m not making this post to ask anyone for anything, I’m just making it so that everyone knows my current situation and so that they know my absence is not due to anything here, but due strictly to events passing in reality, and that hopefully, my activity will return in full in November. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to post here when I can, and I deeply appreciate the patience and kindness of everyone here while they wait on promised replies, starters, and IMs. 

Should you desire to reach me off of Tumblr, I invite you to add me on Discord: 9S#7807 All I ask is you let me know who you are upon adding.

Again, thank you sincerely. }}

[starwraithed-a-blog]

semi-hiatus

so i’ve been mentioning it vaguely but here’s the deal: from August 14-August 19, i will be out of town. i’m going across country to oregon to visit my brother for my birthday. i plan on bringing my laptop because he’s a nerd like urs truly and idk if he’d want to play lol or anything like that with me. but that doesn’t necessarily mean we will, and i will be jet lagged for probably a majority of the time until i get back home lmao. bc that’s just how jet lag works. of course i will be available on discord and the ims if anything else, if you want to reach me.

i will try to keep a queue going, similar to how i did when i was at my boyfriend’s for the festival. i will try and get to everyone’s replies and/or starters before i leave and queue them if necessary. other than that i make no promises to really being on here while i’m gone. it’s my time to kinda spend it with my family and enjoy myself, as i’m sure i’ll be kept busy for a majority of the time. 

i’ll probably do mobile check-ins though, just to post how the days been because i know some exciting things are happening and i’m gay and want to show you guys.

[lachalaine]

HOW I RUN MY BLOG

SPEED: my god i am slow. i am the slowest of the slow - the slowest slow to ever BE slow. i have threads in here from two months ago and asks from three months ago and it’s not that i don’t have the will nor the muse to answer any of it tbh. it’s more so that i just don’t have time. between juggling work, friends, family and the additional need of trying to make up my overtime hours for the dates i’ll be overseas in august and october, it’s been more than a little difficult to try to keep everything afloat. that’s one of my issues. 

my second issue is that i... tend to try to write in depth threads and responses, as much as possible; and i’m a perfectionist of my work to the worst degree. to the point that if i don’t have the right idea or the right flow of words at the time - my work is not getting posted. at all. in fact, i’d likely rather delete something i spent two hours working on rather than take the risk of posting it only to hate it for the rest of my life. it feels like shame for some reason i don’t ??? get it ???

like i want to try to create variety, but also i want to try to build an actual story. something that will be fun for both me and my partner, that will be a thread that will have some possible semblance of weight to future interactions. and sometimes the ideas don’t come as quickly as i would like. or they do, and then my brain runs out of vocabulary. and throttles a pillow i hate it, i hate that my standards for myself are like this, but my god - it’s the only way i can be confident about my work and know that i’m not wasting mine or anyone else’s time and it just has to be my own standard of perfect or i run myself into the ground with my anxiety and have a minor breakdown and that’s the worst thing i can do to myself, honestly asdbhsabdha !!!

REPLIES: i write long replies, unfortunately. though i never expect people to match ( and honestly it fluctuates; sometimes it’ll be long, sometimes short, so there’s no pressure or requirement at all really ) , and all i care about at this point is i’m given something to work with and it’s not the kind of thing where it’s a reply for the sake of a reply. i also would prefer to have threads where people add stuff to the threads, and like... i don’t really have to run the show by myself to keep things interesting? that would be nice tbh. in terms of length however, i will likely do at least two or three paragraphs, because one paragraph threads don’t quite encompass everything my muse tends to feel, and sometimes it can get longer - meaning like... two word document pages long. though that type of novella is usually reserved for people i know can match it, otherwise, i try my best to keep it as succinct as possible. 

my brain sorta has this.... organization thing going tbh? where its like i can only do ask replies today, or i can only do threads today, or i can only do headcannon or ooc stuff today. sometimes it even goes by verse, where it decides if it can manage pokemon threads, or main threads, or fate threads, etc. which i understand isn’t quite the... best way to go about things, and it’s weird. very, very weird. but that’s also really the only way i’m able to sort of figure out where to put my attention nowadays. so everything gets replied to in truth, it just. it takes a while. :c :c :c please be patient with me, i’m trying my best!! 

STARTERS: i hold starter calls a lot. sometimes it can be every two months or it can be ( most likely ) when i get a new influx of followers and i want to interact with them. though it can tend to take a while for me to get them out, even if i have them on a list. usually its because i want to try to create starters that will be interesting enough to keep going ( which is sorta my overall theme with everything on here, if you’ll notice ) and sometimes the ideas don’t quite click. or, like with the organization thing, my brain needs to be able to conjure up starters in particular for anything to work. 

more often, i will do inbox calls instead, and those i do personalize according to the muse i’m sending it to. that way if the other mun replies with a response i like, i can continue it into a thread, so that’s sorta like a reverse starter call in that way, i guess. i always clear out my starters owed though, i promise. it just takes me a good while. 

INBOX: sucks in sharp breath 

i’m gonna be way honest here - once upon a time, i didn’t get that many asks at all, so i thought like, if i got like 20 of them, that already was a heck ton and i had to get the number lower. and then somehow i got an influx in asks a few weeks ago and that number jumped to thirty. and then it kept going until forty. and then i thought ‘okay you know what, so long as its not 50, you can still get it down, you’re good!!’  

let me tell you - i am at 76 right now and i am confused as all fuck as to how it got to this point. BUT I HONESTLY DON’T MIND. i love getting asks !! even if i take a while to answer them, because like the starters, i try to give it an actual moment and not a quick snip of an interaction that doesn’t matter in the long run. so asks? same length - two or three paragraphs and more, nothing less. and i tend to do anons first because i know whoever sent it might check back and i don’t want them scrolling through the whole blog thinking they missed it, but tbh, i try to do my older asks first overall. and sometimes there are some asks that require a lot of emotion on jackie’s part, so those get long and take a wee bit longer than most, but i always try to make the wait worth it. luckily, things appear to be going kinda well on that end tbh. i have a good pace set up so i don’t feel like i’m drowning in stuff, and if i could just have ONE DAY WHERE I CAN WORK, I CAN CUT BACK THAT NUMBER EASY, I SWEAR TO GOD. 

i just. i need that day dashdhabdha

but on that note, please. feel free to send me anything you like at any time, i’ll get to it asap, even if i have six asks for you in my inbox still from past memes. and tbh, i’d rather i always have the option available to answer that particular interaction rather than leave it so it never happens no matter what. so always remember, as always - 

FEEL FREE. 

SELECTIVITY: severely selective. to the nth degree. i follow about less than 180 rp blogs because the rest are aesthetics at the moment, though i’m always looking for more. i try to find blogs with muns that i feel really care about their muse as a whole, and blogs that have a pretty good grasp on writing. i decide whether or not i can make jackie work with them somehow, and then i sorta check the writing itself to make sure i can jive with it, and then that’s when i decide to follow. 

i have. a very particular standards with other blogs that need to be checked off tbh? because i want these interactions to actually matter. so besides the writing, honestly the thing that rings out the most for me would be their passion and their ideas. like, i want to make sure i can create something new with this mun so i just try to see if they will match what i give them with their own ideas, because coming up with a majority of the plots on my own is the most exhausting thing, and i can’t do that consistently. if i can get that sense from them that they’re willing to try to push their own ideas forth, that’s really what makes me follow them back asap !! on the other hand, i also check the mun - make sure they’re not the type i’ll likely have trouble with down the line. i check tags, i check ooc posts, i check everything. i am a self proclaimed blog stalker and tbh, its the only way i keep my dash in check. and so far its worked out very well so it’s all good on my end, even if that means less people to interact with.

quality over quantity, always. 

WISHLIST: FIGHT THREADS. POTENTIAL ROMANCE THREADS. FWB THREADS??? though i am selective on that one. SMUT THREADS FOR ROMANCE PEEPS. PLATONIC THREADS. ADVENTURE THREADS. HARD TO GET THREADS. CRIME THREADS. JACKIE FUCKING UP YOUR MUSES LIFE THREADS. ANGST. MURDER. HEARTBREAK. INJURY. ROAD TRIPS. NAPS. LATE NIGHTS IN THE CITY. JAIL. HAUNTED HOUSES. MUSIC FESTIVALS. MUSIC COLLABORATIONS. FATE VERSE THREADS. POKEMON THREADS. PERSONA THREADS. I DON’T CARE, I LOVE IT ALL, JUST GIVE IT TO ME, AND IF YOU HAVE A PARTICULAR THING YOU WANNA TRY, LEMME KNOW AND I’LL MAKE A VERSE FOR IT NO PROBLEM !!! 

but also i have a wishlist here :”> and i will love you if you boop me for it, thank you !!

HONEST NOTE: i love all my mutuals. i love all my non mutuals. i love people that like my posts. i love people that reblog my posts. i love when people feel comfortable enough to plot with me. when they’re comfortable enough to send me stuff randomly. when they’re patient with my sloth like tendencies and still they find the muse to respond to my threads even if a whole month has passed. i love people that are understanding and don’t mind the wait, because i do promise that i don’t delete anything. it’s there, and its waiting, and its only taking a while because i want to provide you with something good. something that will make you smile, and make you want to pursue the interactions with my muse. i want all this to mean something, and its never because i’m bored of you or your muse or our thread.

my brain just has a filing cabinet i never asked for. 

but honestly, come plot with me, just boop me randomly, send me all the things no matter what it is. i promise you i will LOVE IT and in truth, NOTHING at all makes me HAPPIER than that. and though fair warning i am exhausted a lot which impacts my response speed ooc - it’s honestly never because i don’t want to reply. my timezone as a whole is shitty and my energy levels doubly so, and i want to be sure that once we start talking or plotting, i can give you as much energy as i can spare, as much energy as you deserve. not five minutes of conversation and then i pass out. so if that means taking some time to respond, please understand that i’m trying my best. 

please be patient with me, that’s all i ask. and i promise you, i will make it up to you. as best as i can. as fast as i can. no matter what. 

thank you, i love you, have a amazing day xx 

TAGGED BY: S T O L E N

TAGGING: anyone who actually went through and read this as a whole heckie !! I JUST NEEDED TO GET THIS OUT IN CASE ANYONE WAS CONCERNED BECAUSE I SLOW, PLEASE UNDERSTAND. I’M TRYING MY BEST I LOVE EVERYONE WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL AND ENERGY I PROMISE T.T

[el-mayara]

Semi hiatus notice

Hey guys,

Real life is about to get super busy for me. I’m moving on August 1 and I have to clean all my stuff out of my parents’ place and take care of setting up my electric and internet service and all that fun stuff. I also work 9-5 and spend about an hour and a half each day commuting, so I’m always beat when I get home and then the packing stuff on top of that pretty much sucks all my remaining energy.

Feel free to keep sending starters and whatnot, and I’ll probably reblog any prompt things that I see, but as for actual replies it might be a while. Muses do not cooperate when mun is exhausted. Hiatus should be over sometime during the first week of August but no promises. Thanks!

[stayhereforbrad-blog]

Bradley Simpson; Shades On

Chapters before

Eloise’s POV

Chapter five-

I got changed into my bikini and went next door to Bradley’s room. As I was about to go in, Natalie came walking out, ‘Oh hi Eloise, Brad’s just taking a phone call. Do you want to walk down with me and he can catch up?’ I replied ‘Yeah sure!’ As we were on our way down to the pool Natalie started teasing me about tonight, ‘Eloise are you excited for tonight? I can’t wait for you to see what Bradley’s has planned! You’ll love it, I promise you! Also remember to use protection.’ As she finished her ramble she winked at the end, making the heat rise to my face. I tried to play it off by chuckling and shaking my head. ‘Eloise, I don’t mean intude on anything but do you have feelings for Brad? Any at all, even if they’re only small.’ I couldn’t believe what Natalie was asking. Do I have feeling for Bradley? ‘Ah-am well yeah he’s attractive, he’s got an amazing personality and good sense of humour, he is all in general just an amazing person who I’m so lucky to have met. There’s nothing that would stop me from ever having anything with him, if that’s what you’re asking. Maybe once we know eachother a bit longer, then yeah.’ Natalie then hugged me and whisper, ‘I know he feels the same about you, trust me. There’s not many girls he would pay attention to like he does with you. Of course he’d always be open for conversation with anyone, he’s just that type of person that anyone could open up to.’

Once we got down I decided to sunbath. I tan quite quickly even if the sun isn’t that strong. I put in my earphones and shuffled my Spotify playlist, I lay on the sunbed and closed my eyes.

I must have fallen asleep as I was awoken by someone tapping my arm. I opened my eyes to see my mum hovering over me, ‘Sorry love, I thought I’d wake you incase you wanted anything to eat, they’re serving snacks over there.’ I checked the time and it was 12PM, wow I must have slept for about 2 hours. ‘Yeah mum I’ll go over in a minute, thanks.’ She was about to walk away but then she turned back around and said, ‘Oh and honey by the way, me and you dad have got a surprise for you at about 1:30PM.’ And with that she walked off.

I went over to get some food. I ended up going for a burger and salad with a bottle of water. As I was walking back over I spotted Bradley walking over towards where our parents were sitting. When I got over I gave him a hug and he sat down on my sunbed. Anne Marie had brought down a spare plate of food for anyone who wanted it so Bradley took it and we all sat on the sunbeds talking and eating.

It was now 1:30PM and my mum and dad came down with a massive birthday gift bag. In it was a new iPhone X and a holiday to Hawaii, although it wasn’t until August. I couldn’t thank them enough! I was allowed to bring one friend with me but I wasn’t going to worry about picking them until nearer the time.

It was turning 2:30PM and we were still all sat talking about everything and anything. Me and Bradley excused ourselves to go and get ready for our little event he has planned. When we got into the lift I realised I didn’t know what to wear, ‘Bradley what type of outfit will I wear tonight?’ He replied, ‘Wear something you’ll be comfortable in, maybe like shorts, a dress anything really, but make sure it isn’t fancy, just casual. Do you get me?’ The lift pinged and we both got out, ‘Okay, well I’ll see you a while then.’ He waved me off as we both walked into our rooms.

I hopped into the shower, washing my body and hair. I decided to let my hair dry naturally so I put on my red lacy underwear. I still wasn’t sure on what to wear for this evening. But then I realised that it was Bradley and he wouldn’t judge me. I threw on a pair of black ripped shorts along with a red lacy bodysuit along with my black vans. As you can tell I like red and lace. I didn’t want to put too much makeup, I prefer to keep it natural. I filled in my eyebrows, added some concealer, mascara and bronzer with a natural lipstick. As I finished getting ready my hair was dry and I’d half an hour left until I was meeting Bradley so I started to lightly curl it. I added some hoops to my first ear piercings, then small studs into my second piercings. I quite liked how I was looking this evening, my outfit was causal but like I had made an effort. I grabbed a small bag and put a lipstick, my phone, my purse and a few other things in it.

Once it hit 4PM there was a knock on my door. I opened it to reveal Bradley standing with a single red rose along with an envelope and a cheesy smile. He was wearing black denim shorts that came to his knees along with a pink nude coloured top along with his black vans also. ‘You look absolutely amazing Eloise.’ He smiled whilst taking in my outfit. ‘You look incredibly handsome Bradley.’ I smiled whilst looking into his eyes. He leaned in and gave me a kiss on my cheek. ‘I also got this for you.’ He said sweetly whilst handing me the red rose. I looked at him in adoration, ‘Thank you Bradley, I appreciate it.’

‘Also here’s a little something for your birthday.’ He smiled at me. ‘Bradley you didn’t have to get me anything!’ I said as I opened the envelope. I pulled 2 Artic Monkeys tickets out. ‘OH MY GOD NO YOU DIDNT IS THIS A JOKE? THANK YOU THANK YOU!’ I screamed with excitement, throwing myself at Bradley hugging him. ‘I’m glad you like them! You can bring a friend.’ He said beaming. ‘Are you stupid? I’ll bringing you!’ I giggled. We left the hotel hand in hand, and walked to a restaurant nearby the beach. We ordered starters and main courses along with a few drinks. This restaurant is lovely, it was outdoors with a glass roof and no walls, it was decorated with fairy lights and flowers all over. It was fairly busy, a few couples out having meals. It was practically dark now. I looked across the table at Bradley who was looking around the restaurant like I was previously. I started at him, taking in all his features. He really is beautiful. I was deep in thought until he turned his head and looked at me, a smile forming on his lips. The food arrived and we both tucked in.

We finished the food and it was absolutely beautiful! We then got a deserts menu and chose the chocolate fudge cake between us. It arrived and it had the chocolate fudge cake with melted chocolate over it, 2 strawberries and icecream, along with the 2 spoons. As we were eating it Bradley decided to be cute and wanted to feed me, so I let him. I lifted my leg to cross it over my other and accidentally kicked Bradley from under the table, I’m not sure what I kicked but I heard a moan coming from him. ‘Oh my God I’m sorry Bradley!’ He just shook his head, ‘No ah you’re alright.’ We were both giggling as we tried to feed eachother until there was none left. We finished our drinks and Bradley called for the bill. The bill came and before I could look at it he had snatched it and was getting his wallet out. ‘No Bradley let me pay for mine!’ He just shook his head and counted out the money putting it on the tray. I quickly grabbed it and seen it was $100. ‘Please let me pay for half, I didn’t want you to bring me out to pay for me!’ He replied with, ‘No can do Eloise. It’s your birthday, please just let me treat and spoil you.’ I sighed. ‘Fine but I’m paying you back.’

We left the restaurant and crossed the road to the beach. We walked along beside the water, hand in hand. Until we came to a stop. I looked up to see a boat with lit up. ‘Climb on board.’ Bradley whisperer in my ear. I turned round shocked, ‘You didn’t!’ I said as I hugged him. He just chuckled and climbed on behind me. We both took off our bags and sat at the back of the boat where there was already a blanket laid out. ‘I’ve been thinking Eloise, would you like to call this our first date?’ I was shocked, ‘Ah, yes I’d love to!’ He sighed in relief and smiled, he hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, tucking his head into my neck. Bradley sat, his arms holding him up from behind and I lay with my back against his front. As I sat down, I felt something poking into my lower back. That’s when I remember what happened at the restaurant, oops. I turned around and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The boat ride was about 30 minutes long, it was so nice getting to see Barbados all lit up at night from afar. The boat stopped and that’s when we were at our destination.

To be continued...

24/3/18

[justanoutlawfic]

Three word starter prompt 'dont do this' - daddy charming

Thank you for sending this in! I’ve setin a canon divergence of 6x12, where Emma was the one to help David find outwho killed his dad.

This was submitted to me from this three word starter meme I reblogged.  Send me a line&a ship and I’ll write a ficlet. :)

Also on AO3/FF

“Shatterevery window till it’s all blown away,Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown awayTill there’s nothing left standing,Nothing left of yesterdayEvery tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away.”-Carrie Underwood

Emma hung back as she watched August and her fatherdiscuss Pleasure Island. She had wanted to help him as much as she could,though she was definitely hesitant. Her mother had told her about himdiscovering that Robert’s death had been a result of murder rather than hisalcoholism. However, Snow had also added that David had agreed to let it go.She couldn’t help but agree with it. Things in Storybrooke were crazy enoughwithout her dad risking his life to try to get revenge. When he came to her,asking for her help since she had potions and such, she almost said no. Thenshe found out from Killian that he had passed out in front of her house andrealized just how much of a walking zombie he looked like. She was starting tofigure out he wasn’t going to tag out and wake up her mom until he got to thebottom of this. David had promised to finally get some sleep once it was allsorted and Emma truly believed him.

“This is definitely the coin,” August confirmed as helooked it over. “And it was the last I saw of him, he left with the boy.Honestly, I never put you with him, David.”

“He went after James,” David breathed, a mixture ofshock and confusion on his face. Emma stepped closer, putting her hand on topof his and he squeezed it in return. “I thought he was just a drunk who fellprey to his temptations.” A smile slowly spread across his face as he came tothe realization. Decades of resenting his father, thinking he cared more aboutthe alcohol than his family…it wasn’t true. “He was trying to fix our family.”

“He was stone cold sober,” August confirmed with asmile.

David reached down and took the coin into his hand. Itfelt different now and it wasn’t just the remnants of the potion. Suddenly, herealized just who had killed his father. It all made sense now. He was nearly surprisedthat he hadn’t thought of it before. Emma could see the gears in her father’shead working and she suddenly got a little worried. She knew that look, heck,she had inherited it from him-as had Henry.

Emma wasn’t paying much attention to August continuing to discuss Robert,talking about the pages from the book he had removed all those years ago. Sheonly snapped out of it when she heard her father say his goodbyes and head forthe door. Emma quickly turned to her friend and gave him a quick smile.

“Thanks,” she said before following her dad out the door.

When she caught up with David, he was pacing a little bit,though he stopped when he saw his daughter.

“I know who killed him,” he told her.  “He’s still alive and I know where he is.”

Emma sighed. “Dad…”

David studied her face.  That hadn’t been the reaction he wasexpecting. “You don’t want me to go after him.” It wasn’t a question, more of astatement.

“No, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Seriously?”

“Dad, you promised Mom that you weren’t going to lookfor him. I understood this little mission, but you know now. Isn’t that enough?”

“No! My father was a good man, he was just trying toget our family together! George needs to pay!”

Emma bit her lip. Out of all the people, it had to behim. George and her father already had a complicated history. The former tyranthad not only destroyed James and turned him into the monster he became, he hadalso been terrible to David and Snow. Ruth had to die just so Emma and herbrother could even exist. George was already paying for his crimes, he waslocked up in the asylum and forever would be.

“He already is,” Emma said, trying to calm himdown.  “He’s locked up, he’s nevergetting out. Killing him won’t bring your father back. You need to just find away to move on. Don’t you remember what you told me when we thought Killian wasgone for good? People are meant to grieve.”

“You didn’t listen to that advice,” David pointed out.

“No, but I should have,” she replied, sounding just asstubborn as he. “If I had just grieved properly, not gone to the Underworld, I would’vesaved everyone so much pain. My lack of coping skills ended up two lives beingtaken and only one was able to come back. I regret my choices.” She let out asigh. “I don’t want you doing something you’re going to regret.”

David looked down into Emma’s eyes, letting her wordswash over him. He bit down on his lip and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Could you go pick up Neal from the daycare?” Heasked. “I think I need some sleep.”

Emma smiled a little and nodded, standing on hertiptoes to kiss his cheek.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Emma grabbed Neal from the daycare just a block away,thanking Ashley for all the babysitting she had been doing lately. She headedback to the loft, expecting to see her mother awake. Instead, she found herstill sleeping peacefully in bed. Emma felt a sinking feeling fill her stomachas she walked over to the nightstand and found her father’s handwriting on the padher parents used to write notes back and forth.

Emma,

I’msorry, but I can’t go to sleep. Not yet. George has caused our family so muchpain over the years, I can’t let him get away with it anymore. I love you, I’llsee you soon.-Dad

 She let out a frustrated grunt and dug through herpocket, pulling out her cellphone. “Henry, what are you up to, kid?…Alright,great. I’m going to drop your uncle off, alright? My mom’s still asleep and Ihave to help Dad with something else.”

Luckily for Emma, it had taken David some time to getto the asylum. She used her old bail bondsperson skills to stealthily walkbehind him through the halls to where George was. She watched as her fatherthrew open the door to the cell. George sat on his bed, that smirk returning tohis face.

“A visitor,” he snarked.  “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

David stormed into the cell and grabbed him by theshirt, dragging him out and doing all but throw him against the wall. “You killedmy father!”

George chuckled and Emma was so tempted to just snaphis neck herself.  “Well technically, Iordered him killed. I wondered if you’d work it out.”

Emma had never seen the look that was in her father’seyes. It was a mixture of disgust, hatred and hurt.  “You evil bastard. He didn’t deserve that,”he snarled.

“That’s true,” George taunted.  “He was a good man. I offered him temptation andhe withstood it. I’ll bet he was imagining your little face when he opened thefront door and he was standing there, sober, victorious with your brother inhis arms.” He let out an evil laugh.  “Insteadyou got news he died a drunken failure.”

“Stop!” David’s voice was breaking. He grabbed a knifefrom his pocket and slid it across the floor to George before grabbing anotherand holding it out. “Now fight for your life, if you think it’s worth it.”

The words took Emma off guard. This was a side of himshe hadn’t seen before. Her father was a hero, one of the good guys. To her,that’s what he’d always be. She wasn’t blind to the bad things he had done inthe past, but knew he had regrets over them. Here, she knew that he didn’t reallywant George to die. He just wanted the pain to stop. She knew the feeling alltoo well. Not too long ago, she had stood over Lily holding a gun. She hadthought if she killed her, all the hurt from her parents’ lies, theexpectations that were put upon both of them, the pain that Lily had inflictedon her would just go away. Luckily, Regina had been there to talk her down. Shewas lucky.

She wouldn’t allow her father to succumb to darkness,not again.

“Don’t do this!” Emma yelled out.

David turned to Emma, his eyes wide. He had beenreally stupid to expect that she wouldn’t follow him. Before he could reactmuch further, Emma grabbed George by his arm and shoved him back into his cell,slamming the door shut. She used her magic to lock the door again.

“What the hell?!?” David exploded. “He admitted hekilled my father!”

“Yes,” Emma replied, calmly, stepping closer to herfather. “He killed him. He also told you about the type of man that he was.Your father could’ve killed George right then and there, but he didn’t. He wasa good man, noble.”

“But it didn’t work! He still died!” David felt tearsgather in his eyes. “I thought he didn’t fight for us, but he did! He foughtwith everything that he had! He did the right thing and it wasn’t enough!”

Emma bit her lip, watching as he clearly became moreemotional. She stepped closer to him, feeling her heart break. Her father andher were alike in many ways. From their hair to the similar smile, to theability to bottle things up inside until they completely exploded.

“What if we can’t break this curse and I never get tosee your mother again? What if…what if Gideon comes back and he…” David trailedoff, not wanting to voice his most recent fear out loud. Emma ducked her head,she didn’t want to add to her father’s worry. At the same time, she knew there wasn’tmuch she could do there. If Henry was going through the same thing, she wouldn’tbe able to help but be scared. “What if being Prince Charming isn’t enough andI keep losing and it keeps going and I lose everything that matters to me?!?”

Tears prickled Emma’s eyes herself. She hated seeingher dad in such a way, so vulnerable and scared. She was the savior, it was herjob to keep everyone’s safe. She felt as though she had failed him in some way,for not preventing the Evil Queen’s curse upon their hearts. She didn’t care ifshe had to die to keep her family safe, but between this breakdown and Henry’swhile they were searching for Aladdin, she was starting to realize just what atole it was taking on everyone. At the same time, she knew it was more thanthat.

She and her father had grown up the same way incertain senses. Yes, he had a loving mother, but not a father. He assumed hisdad hadn’t cared, that he had put something above him. Emma had spent every dayfor 28 years assuming that her own father had given her up, didn’t care abouther. She assumed there had been something greater that came before her. Thenshe broke the curse and found out that he nearly died trying to keep her safe.It was overwhelming and the emotions were a lot for anyone to handle. She hadpushed her parents away when she was going through them, but she wasn’t goingto abandon her dad when he needed her the most.

“I understand,” she said, softly. “I do. You don’t haveto be anything more than what you are. You are an amazing man, one that yourfather would be so proud of. You’re a great husband, a phenomenal father toNeal…and me.” She bridged the final gap between them. “You don’t have to be aprince, you don’t have to be a hero. You don’t have to save everyone. It’sgoing to be okay.”

David looked down intohis daughter’s eyes, they were both crying by that point. He let out a shakybreath and dropped the knife, falling to his knees as he sobbed. Emma knelt infront of him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. He returned the hug, stillmanaging to cradle the back of her head. It was going to take more than thisfor him to move on from it, sessions with Archie were probably much needed. Butin that moment, the two just sat there, hugging each other tightly. Not heroes,royalty or saviors. Just a father and daughter, using love to start the healingprocess.