#I said early on in this that I never wanted to hug a fictional dragon so bad and now that urge increases tenfold every one or two chapters

[hollowflight-propaganda]

Oh great, now Clay feels guilty for literally everything happening right now, which includes two murders he had no part in committing.

yay......... :(

[senorincognito69]

Silly playful furry rhymes (Women into bear and raccoon TF tale)♀️♀️➡️🐻🦝

(Women into bear and raccoon)

A young British lady, Maddie, and a young Yankee ma’am, Jez. Two dorky glasses wearing white girls who, despite the distance between them, became best friends thanks to the magic of the internet.

Maddie’s hair was a curly blonde mess.

Jez, on the other hand, had a long straight ginger mane.

Night after night they spent their time in the online chats and communities where they had met by chance. The pair had many common interests, many of them nerdy in nature, but their most peculiar commonality, the one that perhaps helped them find each other, was their mutual love of the erotic fantasy of change.

Transformation.

Metamorphosis.

The kinky fetish sometimes known as TF.

In those virtual spaces, as their bond grew stronger, they had many transformative adventures… They trespassed into an abandoned farm to end their days milked by a cursed machine as a pair of cows… At Circe's Pleasure Island they played, drank and smoked like delinquents until the rightful punishment struck and they panicked, turning into a sow and a jenny… And there was that time when they ran a whole story that lasted months about being transformed into various types of drones by an "evil" latex pathogen… Oh, and plenty of scenarios about becoming bimbos and hypno-sluts and all manner of fictional species (dumb deathclaws, deviant demons, and dramatic dragons to name but a few).

Many hypothetical tales that couldn’t happen, perhaps never happened, but it gave them a good laugh and some good horny fun when they were in that mood, easing the mundanity of their daily routine. Close together despite the barriers, supporting each other, a friendship that lasted years.

One day, upset by the boredom and distance, Maddie slammed a metaphorical fist on the table and made something true that previously they had only spoken about in a theoretical way: “That’s it!” she said. “It’s about time that we met in flesh & in person!”

And, as simple as that, they did so.

Maddie, taking advantage of the holidays, bought a plane ticket, flew across the seas to that crazy land full of states and, early one morning, at the airport, she met, in person & in the flesh, her dear friend Jez.

They greeted each other with a long, long hug that ended up with both of them giggling.

Then they moved on to have a lovely, lovely day.

After dealing with luggage and breakfast, Jez showed her British friend around her town. They walked the streets and the parks and even around the local woods a bit. That they could have ended up inhabiting in one of their tales. Their chit chat was as easy as it had been from behind a screen. At midday they stopped for lunch and with their strength regained went back for a bit more tourism and a couple hours at the cinema, then, as the sun set, they went back to Jez’s house with a simple dinner plan of pizza and beer in mind. After emptying several beer cans and a couple of pizza boxes they were still sitting at the kitchen table, the night firmly settled outside, but the thought of going to bed was not even near uppermost in their minds.

Maddie was wearing a sweater with jeans.

Jez a tank top with a skirt.

Maddie with socks, Jez barefoot, their feet close together under the table.

“There’s something I’ve been thinking about…” Jez sheepishly mumbled before shaking her head and blushing. “Nah, nah,” she snickered. “Forget about it,” and she took a sip from her can.

Maddie raised an eyebrow.

“Nah, nah? No!” she crossed her arms and smirked. “I crossed an ocean to come here, you aren’t half-dropping something and then cowardly sneaking away like a critter! Come on, say what you want to say!”

Jez leaned back, rolled her eyes, her nervous smile was wide.

“Okay, okay,” admitting defeat, she pulled a small piece of paper she had been carrying all day from her skirt pocket. “When you said you were really coming to visit and bought the plane ticket and all I got super nervous and, uh… wrote this silly thing to… to, ugh… you know? It’s a… a T and F thing… This feels so, so, so embarrassing in person!”

Jez’s squeaks only made Maddie more curious, as they hadn't in fact spoken much about their shared transformation interest during the day, Maddie had made a quick joke during lunch that made Jez choke on her milkshake, but nothing else. The Brit waved her hand, asking for the paper.

“Let me see!”

The Yank girl spun the paper in her fingers a couple of times, then gave it to her pal.

“It’s very dumb, probably terrible… totally terrible…! You, hem…! Just give it a look… and please don’t laugh too much!”

Chuckling, Maddie opened the paper and read the words written on it.

A short rhyme.

She read it once, then twice, then she cleared her throat and spoke it out loud…

“This pair of dorks aren’t at all fair maidens of renown!

Gleeful hubris shall be punishment, stripping them of human form!

Furry tails, hairy cunts, more teats than they can sum!

Down onto all fours, she-bear and she-raccoon they shall become!”

Jez covered her mouth, laughing nasally as Maddie shouted her amateur verse.

They had enjoyed many changes and mutations, but getting turned into a bear and raccoon, of either the anthro or feral kind, was their favourite choice of transformation.

Maddie chuckled after finishing the recital, “You are correct,” she said. “It’s rather… bad, totally terrible.”

“Hmm, hmmm,” Jez nodded with her eyes closed and smiling. “I know, it is not very… hey, wait!” she squeaked when she realised what Maddie had just said. “You aren’t supposed to say that!” the Yankee swelled her cheeks. 

The British girl shrugged. 

“Why not? You said it yourself and it is true, it is not very good.”

Jez was as offended as should be at the brit lady.

“W-Well, yeah, but you could… like… lie or, don't be so blunt about it… What’s so bad about the rhyme?”

“To begin with, it barely rhymes, too many syllables and too few too,” Maddie explained while giving the verse another read. “It’s also sorta… crass and vulgar? Hairy cunts? More teats that we can sum?” giggles. “At that point just add that we get fucked and bred by the forest males for the rest of our days.”

“I, uhhh…” Jez was blushing, she shook her head. “Okay, smart-ass, then show this she-racoon how it’s done! Go on, write a better one!”

“Right now?”

“Yes!”

Maddie raised an eyebrow.

“Do you have a pen?”

She did indeed have one.

It took Maddie five minutes to scribble something on the other side of the paper and proudly show it to Jez.

Jez read it with a critical eye.

“See?” Maddie nagged as her friend read. “It's way better, funnier, fairy-tale-like, it rhymes and has a better structure.”

“Hmph! I prefer my version,” proclaimed Jez after she was done. “We’re gonna get hairy pussies and get fucked once is done, but fine, let’s go with yours! Are you ready then?”

Maddie frowned.

“Ready for what?”

“Tsch, tsch, it's obvious! To chant this cursed verse together with me, with one voice, from the tops of our lungs, then to inevitably transform just as we deserve and forever lose our human shapes because a dumb joke!”

The British woman pulled back, shyly tapping her fingers together.

“Oh… Eh… Isn’t… Wouldn’t that be like… too much?”

Jez squinted, leaning forward.

“What’s the matter? You wrote it, isn’t it the best version? Ahhhh… You're a bit spooked about turning into a chubby teddy bear? Aren’t you?”

“Says the trash panda…!” muttered Maddie.

The Yank put a hand on her chest with theatrical panache.

“Oh! I take personal offence with that in the name of my future kindred! We are expert garbage scavengers, don’t put me in the same box as your lazy ursine species!”

“You better show some respect to my fat hairy ass or I’m gonna wear your ringed tail as a scarf!”

The pair burst into a joyful laughter that lasted a couple of minutes.

They slowly regained their breath.

Maddie wiped away her happy tears with the back of her hand.

“Goddess…” she mumbled, lowering her eyelids. “If… If we do it, the first two lines are together, but you have to recite the one that makes me a bear… and I will sing the one that makes you a raccoon…”

The two women looked at each other with awkward intensity.

“As if we were cursing each other;” Jez slowly whispered.

Maddie nodded.

“Deal, but!” Jez lifted a finger. “Change is permanent AND full feral!”

“Ught, really?”

“We can’t just go half-way if it’s for realsis! No furry cosplay here!”

“Sigh, okay, okay, but let’s keep enough of our minds to still be ourselves, at least that will make animal control’s work easier if they catch the pair of doomed foolish beasts we are.”

That was all that Jez needed, as swift as if she was already a raccoon she moved her chair all the way to Maddie’s side.

Shoulder to shoulder.

The British lady chuckled, shook her head, raised her hand, offering it to her dear friend.

The Yankee ma’am blinked once, smiled back and grabbed the offered hand, squeezing, intertwining their fingers.

Jez lifted the paper in front of them.

“At the count of three,” she said and cleared her throat.

Maddie nodded.

“No regrets,” she grunted and then gulped.

An exhilarating electricity crossed their bodies, their pulses in sync, childish… yet erotic, nipples stiffened and vaginas clenched. Thrilling, as if they were about to commit the biggest cookie heist in history… or trespass into an abandoned… or arrive at Pleasure Island… or stick their fingers into a bucket filled with an "evil" latex pathogen…

“One,” began to count Jez. “Two… three…!”

Their voices sang as one, trembling with lewdness, but still serious:

“If magic you shall jest about, then magic you shall have,

but be wary of what ye wish, as fate is out your hands.”

Then only Jez:

“An ursine form for the young Brit, make her a great bear-lass!”

Maddie next:

“And for the Yank, a raccoon's tail, to knock her on her ass!”

Their chant concluded.

The two girls sat nervously and stiffly for a moment until they burst out into nervous giggles that lasted for a while.

“Sooooo… do you feel anything?” asked Jez.

Maddie rubbed her chin.

“Hmmm… welp, I kinda feel like eating honey.”

Jez blinked a few times, like an excited dog.

“Really?”

“No, dummy! I’m just joking.” the Brit chuckled.

The Yank nodded.

“Y-Yeah, I see, o-f course, I mean…”

Maddie was very amused by Jez’s reaction.

“Magic aint real, silly,” she said, then her belly grumbled, she lazily scratched the area. “Hmm.. but maybe a bit of honey wouldn't be so bad…”

Jez raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?”

The Brit blushed, lowering her eyes, both hands on her belly.

“Like… uh, honey, to eat? If you have…?”

“Oh… Oh! Sure, I think there’s some in the pantry!”

Jez stood up and dashed as quickly as a critter to the food closet, Maddie remained sitting, tapping around her navel with her palms… not noticing the gradual expansion of her stomach, not even after the first button of her jeans popped open. When Jez came back the jar was already open and she had taken a few licks with two fingers.

“There you go,” said the Yank gleefully, putting the honey over the table, right after that her skirt slid down her thighs, frowning she pulled it up before her friend could see her panties, her clothes growing looser.

Maddie was too distracted by the sweet aroma of the golden liquid, nostrils widened with the scent. She took her glasses off, licked her lips, grabbed the jar, shovelled her whole hand into the honey and brought it back into her mouth.

“Jeeeeez!” she gloated. “It's delicious!”

“I know, I know,” replied Jez, still struggling with her clothes.

The British lass ate and ate, just as Winnie the Pooh would, emptying the full jar in a few minutes. Once the food was over she grunted, staring at the bottom of the empty jar with childish disappointment. She would have certainly growled for more food if her attention hadn’t been diverted by a ripping sound.

Several of them in fact.

Leaving the jar aside she looked beyond, at her feet.

Dark claws were tearing holes in her socks, her eyelids widened further when she saw her gut. Her belly was now three times bigger, large and round, her shirt had rolled up her swelling breasts, her jeans completely open. A wave of hair was spreading from her crotch, leaving the frontiers of her underwear.

“What the fuck!” she shouted when her navel popped out.

Jez squealed loudly, her skirt had fallen all the way to the ankles, her top seemed as big as a blanket.

“I’m shrinking…?!” the Yank wondered with a tinge of fear.

The two friends stared at each other.

Behind Jez’s glasses a mask of dark fur surrounded her shocked eyes.

Their ears grew round and showed at the sides of the head.

Their voices as one.

“WE ARE CHANGING!”

The legs of Maddie’s chair snapped, she landed with her full weight on top of her enlarging buttocks, squashing the seat.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” in pain and panic she tried to use the table to get herself up.

She failed.

The kitchen table was also wrecked, the empty jar, the empty cans and pizza boxes, her glasses… everything ended all over the floor.

“Maddie!” Jez stepped forward, wanting to help, losing her panties.

Maddie raised her hand to calm her.

“I’m fine! I’m, ugggggg… big… fine…!”

“How? W-What do we do?”

The pleading tone in Jez's shivering voice helped Maddie focus, even if not wasn’t by much.

One body expanding, the other compressing.

“Let’s… Let’s just get out of these clothes!” she began to take off her shirt.

Jez nodded and did the same.

So many thoughts it was hard to be coherent, so many sensations they were becoming aware of, everything going so fast.

Yet, despite the spookiness, the desire remained.

Of watching, of feeling.

While they were undressing, Jez found out that becoming smaller made things easier, at least with regards to getting naked. She swiftly ended up nude and half her original size, but by that point something else began to happen to her body.

“Agh!”

She comically grabbed her buttocks, bending forward, grunting and moaning.

A tail sprouted and elongated, growing long and longer, fur followed shortly before, covered with a pattern of grey and black rings.

On the floor Maddie chuckled brutishly, she tore herself out of her shirt and lay down. Her tits were massive, her nipples dark large and thick, a patch of brown hair growing in the valley of her cleavage.

“A raccoon's tail… to knock her on her ass!” she snarked with a mouth full of teeth.

Jez looked in her direction, whiskers on her nose, she hugged her long tail against her chest and stuck her tongue out.

“You’re the one knocked on her ass! And probably with a tail too!”

“Uhhh… I think so? It’s just,” the she-bear shook her legs uselessly, her pants stuck on their way off. “I can’t take these DAMN pants off!!

The she-raccoon giggled once again and went to aid her mate.

“Let me give you a… claw, I guess.”

Moving almost on all fours Jez moved between the bear’s legs. There was some struggling, some pulling and more rips, but the pants finally flew away never to be found again by their owner.

Sitting on her knees in the space between the hairy thighs Jez gasped and cleaned the sweat off her forehead. Her nose sniffed and as it sniffed her skull began to shift into a pointier shape. She followed the scent, her eyes shining, Maddie’s panties could barely contain the massive twat behind them or the spread of the brown sea of fur. 

Wet, musk, the imprint of a vulva through the cloth.

Jez’s eyes shone with impish intent.

Maddie didn’t have a clue what was going on, yet she just got a pleasurable chill when the moist cloth was unglued from her vaginal lips, the cold air… the warm breath too…

“Jez? Are you still there? Is everything alright?” she asked, trying and failing to see beyond her boobs and belly.

Jez tapped her paws together.

“Ahhh! I’m sure it is!”

She spread those legs further open, leaned inwards.

The bear howled with delight, sounding legitimately ursine.

Her claws scratched the floor as the raccoon gave tongue pleasure to her sex, if a thick tail hadn't grown from her arse by then it definitely did after that first orgasm. As Jez licked, fondled and sucked that tender big pussy her muzzle completely formed, reaching the perfect shape. New nipples appeared below her tits, in line with them down her skinny torso. Maddie also acquired a pair of extra boobs, that even if not as big as her original two they were still of a considerable size.

Fur and moans and growls.

The raccoon pulled away, licking her lips with a mischievous cackle.

The bear panted, exhausted and spent.

Knowing that there was so much more potential fun to have, Jez began to climb her friend's crotch. Then the round belly, the titty mountains, the growing brown hair made her task easier. Eventually, when she was closer to being raccoon size than human size, she reached beyond that bust, tossed her glasses away and squatted, looking at Maddie's face while wagging her long ringed tail.

“What's up, Doc?” she snarked.

Maddie frowned, her nose had swollen and darkened, her face pushing forward around it.

“You are no bunny to say that… you sneaky trash panda!” was her answer to the snark.

Jez put a paw on her chest in a pretence of pain.

“Trash panda!” she squeaked. “I take personal offence at that!”

The she-bear’s eyes glowed, a mouth twisted into a sharp smirk.

“Take offence at this!”

Jez's miscalculation was not taking into account how small she had become and how big and strong Maddie was becoming. The bear easily picked the she-raccoon up by the sides and lifted her.

“Hey!” off-guard and feeling like a doll Jez shook her legs in the air. “Hey what are you doing! T-Think about it again!”

Maddie opened her mouth, lowering the raccoon towards her jaws.

Such a very tasty treat.

“IIIIIIIIIIIIIK!”

The raccoon girl started to yip and moan as she received her own dose of cunnilingus. Maddie’s tongue was big, vast, her small furry pussy could barely take it.

Furry, that was the perfect word for what all their oral sex shifted them into.

The bear girl made the raccoon bounce over her jaw as she pleased that vagina. Jez’s tongue hung out, her eyes blanked by bliss as she mindlessly played with her many teats. Several climaxes were reached, with many more after Maddie began to hold Jez with one hand so she could play with her own cunt.

It lasted an eternity that still felt too short.

Once their sexual desires were fulfilled they were both equally exhausted, still equally existing and equally more forest beasts than city women now.

On top of Maddie’s snout Jez leaned forward and kissed the bear’s forehead.

Sharing a tender glance, the shiver of pleasure was still missing with the shivers of the changes slowly morphing what humanity remained.

Jez lowered her eyelids, her voice sounded tiny and meek.

“I-Im freaking out a b-bit… What you think is gonna happen after… after…”

The bear’s claw landed gently on her lips.

“Shhhh, don’t be scared, your big teddy is here,” Maddie lazily growled. “We will be fine...” her words ended in a yawn.

The raccoon smiled and nodded. She jumped off the muzzle, landing on all fours. The bear followed her, moving to her side and standing quadrupedally. Like that they experienced the last strokes of metamorphosis together. The bone popping and muscle janks, cracks and snaps, as their bodies sealed in their chosen forms.

A bear and a raccoon.

The friendly pair roared and barked, shaking their fur.

Then a sound, a backdoor that perhaps was never there before opened. Looking in that direction they saw that outside the morning sun was shining, the sounds of nature welcomed them. They looked at each other, rubbed their noses together and started to move towards the calls. 

Leaving a mess in the kitchen and on the floor, two pairs of glasses stepped on.

Crawling towards the line of trees, side by side, with their furry tails tall and their hairy cunts proud.

---If you want to see more kinky TF shenanigans give a click to these links! ^^

-Furaffinity: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/senorincognito69

-Twitter: https://twitter.com/SIncognito69

--And if you want to support and help us do more stuff:

-SubscribeStar Adult: https://subscribestar.adult/SenorIncognito69

-Pixiv FANBOX: https://senorincognito69.fanbox.cc/

-Gumroad: https://app.gumroad.com/senorincognito69

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

One Shot: Phobias 

Summary: Katie encounters an enemy FAR WORSE than anything she’s seen before. Can Steve saver her before it’s too late?

Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Language, Spiders, and a little bit of fluff

A/N: So this is a little one shot/drabble that came to me after my husband saved my life from a monster in the bathroom...

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 7

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

“SSSSTEEEEEEEEEVE!” 

The scream made the glass of water in Steve’s hand slip to the point he almost dropped it. Placing it down with a slam on the coffee table he stood up and bolted down the hall towards his bathroom only to be met by Katie, who was in her bra and denim shorts hurtling towards him.

“What is it?” He frowned, instantly placing himself between her and the bathroom, looking at the door.

“In there.” She muttered, and as her hands gripped at his hips he could feel her shaking behind him.

“Someone’s in there?” He looked over his shoulder and down at her.

She shook her head, stuttering a little in fear.  “I… just… I can’t…”

Steve was really puzzled now. Not a lot phased Katie Stark. She had fought alongside him in the battle of New York, facing off against God Knows how many Aliens. The year before she had tackled the Mandarin with her brother, then there was Loki in the Desert, countless missions with SHIELD, so what on Earth had got her so petrified, in his bathroom no less,  that she was trembling behind him?

“Stay here.” He instructed, gently before he crept forward and stepped to the bathroom. The door was wide open and he could see or hear nothing. Frowning he looked behind the door, in the tall cupboard that housed his toiletries, towels, bedsheets etc… all clear. He was just about to ask her what the fuck was going on when a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He glanced into the shower cubicle and there was the culprit.

“Jesus Christ sweetheart.” He groaned, with a somewhat exasperated sigh as he looked at the spider. “You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought someone had broken in and was about to kill you.”

“Something did break in!” She squeaked back, still from her spot in the hall “It’s gonna eat me!” Steve rolled his eyes to himself. It was nothing more than a house spider. A fairly big one, he had to admit, but utterly harmless. Nevertheless, he knew Katie was petrified of the damned things. She had admitted to him post an incident with one on a Quinjet that she had woken up when she was three with one on her face and had been scared witless of them ever since.

“Katie, it’s not gonna hurt you.” he reasoned.

“I don’t care!” her voice was high pitched “Incy Wincy fucking Gorilla needs to leave” That did make him laugh. “Okay, Okay.” His chuckles died down. “I’ll sort it. Don’t panic.” Luckily for her, spiders fascinated Steve. He had always found their webs a thing of beauty, and in the army had often wandered the woods early in the morning to see them speckled with dew in the growing light of the sunrise or frost in the winter, sketching the particularly intricate ones he found. He bent down, scooped the arachnid in to his hands careful to keep it enclosed and headed back into the hall. “Where is..is it IN YOUR HANDS?” She shrieked, eyes wide as she backed away from him. “Why didn’t you kill it?” “I’m not gonna kill it!” he said, shaking his head “It isn’t his fault you’re scared of him.” “But…”

“Honey, it’s fine, I’m gonna let it go outside!” He tried hard not to laugh at the sheer look of disgust and horror on her face. “Just open the door for me ok?”

“Outside outside or like the hall way outside?” She said, looking at him. He paused for a moment, he had been thinking just the hall- it was a house spider after all. But he could hear her reaction already- I’ll just come back under the door…

“Outside outside.” he confirmed, and her shoulders visibly sagged as she exhaled and headed to the doorway. She opened it, then backed away from him to let him out. Giving her a smile he headed outside, spider safely contained in his cupped hands as he headed down the stairs to the main door of his apartment block. Using his foot to keep the door jarred open, he stooped down and gently let the spider go. It scurried off and he wiped his hands on his jeans before he took the three flights back up to his floor two steps at a time. Katie was in the kitchen, still in her bra and shorts, a glass of water in her hand. He leaned in the doorway looking at her for a moment, smile playing on his lips. Even when she was being absurd he loved her.

“You can stop looking at me like that.” she said to him. 

“Like what?”

“Like you think I’m utterly ridiculous.

”Steve cut her off with a chuckle “You are utterly ridiculous.” he said, striding towards her to give her a hug. She let out a noise that was half chuckle, half groan as she pressed her face into his t-shirt. “But I love you, arachnophobia induced drama included.

”She stayed still, her cheek pressed into his chest as his hands gently held her close, palms warm on her bare back.

“Gonna go for my shower now.” She mumbled.

“Ok” he pressed a kiss to her head “You coming back out or going straight to bed?”

“Bed.”

“Alright, I won’t be far behind you.”

She smiled up at him, before she headed out of the room and he watched her go, her hips swaying gently as she walked. 

The water was hot as Katie stepped underneath it. She hated being that petrified of something as stupid as a spider, she really did. Logically she knew it was daft, they were so small in comparison to her. Tony had constantly told her whenever he had to rescue her from the eight-legged-freaks, ‘they’re more scared of you than you are of them’, but that was utter bollocks. Frankly, she’d take fighting off ten men single handed against dealing with one of them. 

With a sigh she washed her hair, turned the water off and then set about cleaning her teeth before she headed out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Steve was already in there and as she walked into the room he gently tossed a clean t-shirt onto the bed for her and she grinned. She loved sleeping in his shirts, for no reason other than they were his. And he loved the fact she loved to sleep in them for the same reason. He dropped a kiss to her cheek and told her he was going for a shower himself before he headed into the bathroom himself. She dried off, braided her hair before shrugging the T-shirt and settling down between the sheets of his bed. Steve returned a little under ten minutes later, chest speckled with drops of water he hadn’t dried off completely.

“Honey do you want a drink or anything?”

“No I’m good, Stevie, thanks.” She mumbled, eyes closed as she snuggled further into the bed. He dressed in a pair of sweats, leaving his chest bare- another thing he’d started doing since they’d been sharing a bed as Katie much preferred snuggling into him like that- and he began the usual routine of checking the doors and windows before he returned and slipped under the covers next to her. She let out a sigh and moved so that her head was lay on his chest, her hand gently tangling into the smattering of dark blonde hair that was there. He could tell she was wide awake, pondering something. 

“What’s the matter?” he asked gently.

“Do you think I’m a dumbass, you know, because of the whole…spider thing? I know it’s ridiculous, but...”

Steve took a deep breath and moved so that he was led on his side, facing her. She pouted at being jostled off his chest and he smiled at the look of indignation on her face as he tucked a stray hand of hair behind her ear.

“Clowns.” he said gently. 

“What? What has that got-“

“I hate them.” He gave a little shrug. “They freak me out. Big time. Can’t stand to look at them let alone be in the same room as them.” “So that’s why you don’t wanna watch IT.” She smiled softly “You’re scared of Clowns?” He nodded “Once when we were kids, there was a Carnival down at Coney. Bucky and I went in this like maze thing. Contained a load of mirrors and stuff…but the last room you went in was basically nothing but clowns, and you had no idea which one was the mirror and which one was the real thing.” He gave a shudder at the memory and he felt his girl’s hands warm on his chest. “Well, when the damned thing moved I had a complete melt down, asthma attack, you name it…”

“Why have you never told me this before?”

“Doesn’t do my Captain Badass image any good, does it?”

“And my spider phobia doesn’t do mine any good.” She chuckled a little. “Especially seeing as one of my best friend’s goes by the code name Black Widow.” He gave a little chuckle and wrapped his arms around her, as she turned over to get comfortable. He pulled her to him, her back pressing to his chest, and closed his eyes as he wrapped himself around her. She sighed, happy to bask in his warmth.

“Thank you for rescuing me” She mumbled and he gave a laugh that vibrated through his chest into her.

“Isn’t that what a man is supposed to do? Be his Dame’s Knight in shining armour?”

“Yeah but most Knights slay fire breathing dragons…” she said, before pausing slightly. “Oh God can u imagine? A fire breathing spider?”  she shivered.

 “Ok. Honey, now you’re being ridiculous again.” he said, eyes still closed. 

“Hey, for all we know it could exist, like in the deepest, depths of Peru somewhere, just hasn’t been discovered…”

“Well, lucky for us we aint in Peru.” he said with a sigh, as he dropped a soft kiss to the back of her neck. “Now go to sleep.” 

**** Chapter 8

[gloves94]

Sunburn [Prince Zuko] 36

Warnings: FLUFF AHEAD Rating: PG-13   Pairings: Zuko/OC  

Sunburn Chapter M A S T E R L I S T My fan fiction M A S T E R L I S T

"I still can't believe I didn't come out!" Mecha complained as he leaned on the kitchen's counter sulking, about his missing appearance on The Boy in the Iceberg.

"Maybe you'll get your own spin off!" His sister said optimistically as she poured some orange blossom chamomile tea on a cup for him. It was late and the group had been emotionally drained by the time they returned from the theatre. "I mean your days in the Earth Kingdom were no walk in the park, don't even get me started on your scars." She said mentioning the lightning vines that marked his body.

"You think Mai will think they are cool?"  He said looking down at his scarred arm with a dumb grin on his face. "I'm sure she'll lovethem." His sister rolled her eyes and took a sip from her own tea.

Attending to see The Boy in the Iceberghad been a terrible idea and had brought everybody's spirits down. Presently Mecha was trying to make his sister feel better by sharing a midnight cup of tea with her. It seemed like the rest of the gang was asleep. When suddenly the two heard the beach house's front doors open and close. They listened to the approaching footsteps and their mysterious guest entered the small kitchen.

He looked slightly out of breath and not like he had just been sleeping in the least.

"Zuko?" Her brother asked raising an eyebrow. "Where were you?" Tsai asked knowingly, observing he had obviously gone on a little night field trip by himself.

Their eyes met and he inhaled a deep breath.

xxx

Somewhere on the island playwright Pu On Tim author of The Boy in the Iceberg arrived home that evening and to his horror found that everything he loved and owned had either been shredded to bits and pieces or scorched into ashes by fire. He shrieked in fright as he dropped to his knees all of his works, his livelihood, his plays! All destroyed!

xxx

"Nowhere," he answered mysteriously. A blatant lie at that.

"Did you guys hear something?" Mecha asked looking over his shoulder. He could've sworn he heard a distant scream echoing somewhere in Ember Island.

"Right.…"She said narrowing her eyes in suspicion yet deciding to drop the topic. "Do you want some tea?" She asked awkwardly. "Sure," he said softly before walking around the kitchen island counter and taking a seat on the stool next to her. It didn't take a genius to sense the tension that still lingered around the two of them.

"Phew, will you look at the time." Her brother whistled out taking his cup of tea with him as he walked out of the kitchen. “You know what they say early to bed early to rise." He said awkwardly. "Got to go…." He said slowly sliding out of the kitchen area. Of course, not before flashing Zuko a deathly glare which only he caught.

She poured some tea in another cup and he thanked her for it taking a small sip.

There was a heavy silence between them.

"The play.…The actors. Geez, they were terrible. I've seen better shows at the colonial festival. Can't believe they would do that to Love Amongst the Dragons." She broke the silence.

"Yeah," He let out a humorous huff.

Both took an awkward sip of their teas glancing away from each other.

"We should watch it one day. Love Amongst the Dragons?" He suggested quietly. "I'd like that!" she said genuinely at the idea of them going back and seeing an actually decent production in a theater. "When did you have in mind? Before or after your dad makes roast kabobs out of us?" She finished in a pessimistic tone lowering her teacup.

"Let's be real you'd be fine." He smirked a little. If anybody could survive a fire blast from anyone id would be her.

She shook her head and couldn't help but smile a little. He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze and let his hand rest there for a moment. It was nice. This was nice. Having him in her life again like this. Especially now that he was so grown. It was almost as if he was a completely different person than when they had first met…

"It's because of the comet right?" She looked at him oddly snapping out of her train of thought. "The reason why you haven't been sleeping well."

She let out a draining exhale and pressed her forehead against the counter holding the top of her head. He looked around agonizingly. Zuko wasn't good at comforting people. What was he supposed to do? His eyes scanned the room looking for an answer.

'What would Uncle do?'He thought to himself in a brief moment of panic.

"Here," he poured more tea into her cup. "Drink this," he said putting the warm cup in her hand. She rolled her head to the side and looked at him with a weak smile.

"I just have this awful gut-wrenching feeling about that day." She closed her eyes for a moment and once again saw the red skies, the ash raining as destruction and fire consumed the world. "And nobody seems to be taking it seriously. Aang doesn't seem to care, and it's-it's just so stressful." She poured out to him. In a venting fashion.

She shrugged her shoulders a little in an attempt to emotionally compose herself and sit up straight taking a small sip of her tea. As she attempted to push all fear to the back of her head. "You're not wrong to worry." He said comfortingly. She turned at him and felt a flood of emotions pour out. How had he managed to become this person? How had he managed to make her fall so deeply and unmistakably in love with him? She couldn't help but think about the first time they met. Never in a million years would she have imagined that she would feel this way about the irritable prince. She leaned forward craving for more of his comfort. More of him and hugged him tightly. She buried her face on his shoulder. He hugged her back.

"I love-" She was surprised when she was interrupted by a loud, brash shush.

Pulling away from the hug she looked at him confused. "Don't. Don't say it." He said to her in all seriousness both of his hands on her shoulders. She looked at him perplexed.

"You're acting as if we're going to die." He said to her, his brows knotting in concern.

"What if we are. What if we do die?"

He shook his head lightly and closed his eyes not wanting to think about such an abhorrent outcome. No. That would not happen. Hewould notlet it happen. "We won’t." He insisted his grip tightened on her shoulders fingers sinking into her skin.

"But what if we do?" She insisted. A cocktail of strong emotions reflected on her eyes. An exasperated expression on her face.

His molten golden eyes met her light brown ones and they starred intensely at each other. Almost like a show down. Both waiting for the other to make the next move. Who would shoot first?

He saw her open her mouth slightly and clamped a hand over it before she could speak. She let out a muffled sound and looked at him fiercely. "Don't. Say. It. Tsai." He growled out every word separately his face inching dangerously close to hers.

Her eyes narrowed intensely. The slightest of sly smiles playing on his lips. She was determined to say it. She had spent so much time plotting and worrying over how she would confess her feelings for him just for him to have this type of ridiculous reaction? It wasn't fair.

She reached for his hand and removed it from her mouth roughly. She caught the other halfway as he reached for her. She barely managed to get a word out before he silenced her. Roughly smashing his lips against hers. She couldn't help but laugh a little. The impulse so strong it knocked her off her seat. The stool noisily clattering to the floor.

They both fell to the kitchen floor ungracefully.

“Are you okay?” He asked gruffly landing on top of her. He still held both of her hands in his and held them against the floor next to both sides of her head.

She ignored the slight ache from the impact against the floor.

“Zuko I lo-“She was determined. Again, he interrupted her. He kissed her again to silence her and she sighed content relaxing into his warm touch. She wanted to touch him, to hold him, to run her hands through this hair. Maybe pull at it a little…

He pulled away and looked at her with such an emotion that she suddenly felt vulnerable under his golden gaze.  She could feel his thumb stroking the side of her hand gently. She didn’t know someone could ever look at another person with such burning intensity.

“I know.” He admitted his voice gentle, tone soft almost like a whisper. “Tsai. I know.” He repeated. “Don’t say it." He asked her. "Sometimes you don’t have to say anything.”

He removed himself off her and she sat up slightly leaning towards him. She smiled at him sweetly and inclining forward touching his face with her free hand gently.

“You’re right.” She agreed. “Sometimes you just have to feel it.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his face again.

He stood up sluggishly, hoisting her up both still in each other’s arms bringing her to her feet as well.

“It’s late, let’s go to bed.” He mumbled against her arm.

“I won’t be able to.” She said letting go of him and turning away. She already knew that her insomnia will get the best of her. “Come on.” He said with a small love-struck grin as he placed his hands on her shoulders and guided her to her room.

Xxxx

"More ferocious!" Zuko barked, crossing his arms and frowning sternly as he scrutinized over the Avatar’s firebending forms.

Aang furrowed his brow in concentration as he swung his arms, bending arcs of fire from his hands medium flames spitting out. Zuko narrowed his eyes as Aang walked past him, shooting short bursts of fires from his fists.

"Imagine striking through your opponent's heart!"

Aang firebended a large blast in front of him then whirled around to face his firebending teacher, he threw his arms out in frustration. "Ugh! I'm trying. I'm trying!"

"Now let me hear you roar like a tiger-dillo!" Zuko ordered ignoring his student’s complains.

Aang growled and spun away from his teacher, stretching his arms out to the side and throwing his head back as he roared softly, weak streams of fire coming out of his palms and mouth.

"That was pathetic!” His teacher pressed angrily. “I said roar!" He ordered himself roaring as he barked out the command.

You’d think that after last night the prince would be in a better mood. However, it was of imperial importance for Aang to fully master fire bending. Hell, the fate of the world depended on it and there really was no time to waste. Sozin’s comet would be here in three days’ time.

Aang narrowed his eyes in concentration, a determined look on his face as he spun back around, flung his arms out to the side. He tossed his head back, letting out a tiger-dillo worthy ferocious roar out. Fire spewed from his palms and mouth in a violent outburst of flames.

Momo screeched and scurried towards Zuko, hiding behind his legs and lowering his ears in fear.

Zuko crossed his arms and smirked slightly, nodding in approval at his student.

"Who wants a nice, cool glass of watermelon juice?" Katara called out as she finished filling two hollowed out watermelons, holding them up with a sweet smile. It was a particularly hot day making the beads of juice dripping down the curve of the watermelons impossible to resists.

"Ooh, ooh!" Aang turned around with an excited look on his face. His mouth watering at the thought of the refreshing beverage.  "Me, me, me!"

"Hey!" Zuko barked in annoyance, grabbing the back of Aang's sash when he tried to run towards the melon drink. "Your lesson is not over yet!" He held Aang up in a halt.  The younger boy struggled to break free, scowling as he snapped, "Get back here."

"What's the big deal? It's just a short break." Suki shrugged.

“Yeah, and it’s super-hot.” Mecha added before taking a sip from his own watermelon.

"Fine." Zuko scowled. He released Aang and crossed his arms as the young boy dashed up the stairs the fastest that anybody had ever seen him move. He took the watermelon Katara held out to him and drank it greedily enjoying every sip of the refreshing beverage.

"If you want to lounge around like a bunch of snail-sloths all day, then go ahead!" Zuko said barked angrily addressing the group before shaking his head and walking past them and back inside the beach house.

"Maybe Zuko's right." Sokka commented mindlessly. "Sitting around the house has made us pretty lazy. But I know just the thing to do." He set his watermelon aside and stood up slowly before impulsively removing his clothes revealing a pair of shorts underneath. Woah Sokka was ready to go!

"Beach party!"

Xxx

Tsai sat in the kitchen alone enjoying two slices of toast with peanut butter and fire banana slices.

“Good morning,” she said with a sweet smile when Zuko walked into the kitchen.

For what seemed like the first time in forever she actually slept more than seven hours. Even woke up late which was a refreshing change compared to all of the disturbing sleepless nights she had endured.

“I can’t believe he’s not taking this seriously!” The other stepped into the kitchen frustrated and took a seat across from her. “Uh? Bad morning?” She questioned raising an eyebrow.

“It’s Aang.” He sighed sounding frustrated. “You’re right. Everybody is laying around like snail-sloths while the Fire Lord is planning a massive invasion in three days.”

Zuko looked at her oddly when he heard her coughing beating her chest hard as her food went down her windpipe. “What?” She choked in surprise; her eyes wide ‘THREE DAYS?’. He looked at her oddly. “I thought you knew?”

Just like that she lost her appetite. The stress once again knotting in her back.

“The day before the eclipse. Do you remember the meeting I had with my father?”

She nodded slowly following as she did memory of the day before the Black Sun.

“Sozin’s Comet will endow firebenders with the strength and power of a thousand suns. Nobody will stand a chance. My great-grandfather used the comet to wipe out the Air Nomads now my father wants to use it to wipe out the Earth Kingdom. Permanently.”

“What?” seemed to be the only word she could manage to say. Her palms growing sweaty as her mind was once again clouded with that vision of raining ash and a burning sky… It made sense now.

“And you didn’t say anything?!” She said her tone louder than she intended.

“I wanted to speak out against his horrifying plan,” he said quietly bowing his head with shame. “But I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t. You know that my whole life I struggled to gain my father’s love and acceptance, and once I had it. I realized I lost myself getting there. I had forgotten who I was.”

She looked at him with an outraged expression.

“Where’s Aang?” She said rising to her feet.

“I overheard Sokka saying they were going to the beach.”

“… bunch of lazy snail-sloths…” She grumbled under her breath and he saw her reach for the kitchen knife she had used to prepare her breakfast and rush out of the beach house.

Aang wasn’t taking this seriously enough. All he was thinking about was ways to woo Katara and beach parties when the world was about to end in just a couple of days.

“Tsai!” He called after her. “What are you doing?” He asked when he caught up to her. Her strides long and determined as she crossed the center courtyard. “I’m going to teach Aang a lesson.” She said darkly.

She continued in her strides but came to a brief halt. She brushed her hair out of her forehead and let out a sharp breath.

“Doesn’t it make you just want to- “She made a frustrated sound and opened and closed her hands in an aggressive comical gesture “Doesn’t it just makes your blood boil?Aang doesn’t stand a chance fighting the Father Lord!”

“Maybe not, but you do.”

“Me?!” She stepped back. Defeating the Fire Lord was nother destiny. It was Aang’s. Hewas the Avatar. It was hisduty to bring peace and balance to the unstable world that they lived in. Her destiny - She was the Spirit of the Sun and just another girl from the Fire Nation colonies – but her destiny… That was a whole other matter that she still hadn’t pieced together. “Why do you look so shocked? You did break his nose.”

“It was a lucky shot!” She protested. “Besides yeah maybe I can walk through fire but one shock,” she extended out her hand pretending to blast a bolt of lightning at him. “And I’m toast!”

She dropped her arms to the side and shook her head. “If the best I can do is make Aang take things a little more seriously then so be it.”

She pouted a little arm crossed over her chest, butter knife still at hand. “Want to help?”

Xxx

They looked at them sunbathing, surfing, building sandcastles and shapes in the sand. Her type A personality felt triggered by the slacking off. “I’ll take the high-ground.”

Sokka, Aang and Toph were currently looking standing around a massive monster sand blob it seemed like they were laughing at it or at Sokka. Not like it mattered. Aang was about to eat a mouthful of sand.

They watched him like predators. He was scratching his head in confusion pointing at the sand blob saying something.

“Aah!” He yelped shielding himself when a hot burst of fire destroyed the sand sculpture making a sandstorm rain. He turned gawking and saw Zuko leap of the edge of a cliff mercilessly blasting fire in his direction.

The young Avatar shouted in surprise barely managing to dodge the flames as he ran away from the raging prince leaping over an identical sand replica of Ba Sing Se. Zuko landed and continued chasing Aang.

“What are you doing?!” Aang cried out fearfully as he hid behind a sand replica of Appa.

"Teaching you a lesson!" Zuko barked and he swung his fist, sending a stream of fire at the sand sculpture completely destroying it.

Aang looked up and saw the girl with auburn red hair standing on the ledge from where Zuko had leapt down from. She had her arms over her head and appeared to be stretching lightly from side to side.

“Tsai!” Aang yelled for help. “Zuko’s gone mad!”

He jumped away from the beach and up in a rock continuing higher and higher until he stood before the girl.

“Tsai!” He said reaching for her and hid behind her as if she could shield him from the Fire Prince’s wrath. “Zuko’s gone crazy!” He said fearfully. It was then that a glimmer caught his eye. He looked down and saw the knife on her hand. “He’s not the only one.” He saw the smallest of smirks curl on her lip.

She slashed quickly turning around and Aang ducked just in time his eyes wide in surprise. He ran back towards the house as fast as he could both Fire Nationer’s rapidly trailing behind him.

Aang looked over his shoulder heaving as he ran as fast as he could. There was no time to stop and ask questions as panic surged through him. Both of them looked angry as Zuko blasted at his heels. Aang jumped on a rock and then to a palm tree clinging dearly to it. Zuko ran up the rock and flipped jumping off it hitting the ground with a roll and setting the palm on fire. Aang clung to his life as he looked down and saw the girl violently shaking the palm. Aang dove off the palm tree and landed on the roof of the beach house. Without wasting another second Zuko scaled to the roof using the side of the beach house with acrobatic proficiency hot on Aang’s tail.

She looked at the hard task and the corner of her eye twitched slightly. No way in hell she was going up there like that. ‘Yeah… I’m using the stairs.’Huffing she turned and sprinted inside of the house.

Meanwhile on the roof-

"Get a grip before I blast you off this roof!" Aang snapped angrily standing his ground defensively.

"Go ahead and do it!" Zuko snarled in response before thrusting his fist forward, bending a large jet of flames before leaping and kicking another blast at Aang, who twisted away and slid down the sloped crimson roof.

Aang slipped down and went inside a window to a storage room. He panted softly catching his breath as he hid behind a wood dresser. It was then that the roof collapsed as a blast of fire and Zuko fell through landing amongst the broken wood, debris and ceiling titles. He took a guarded stance as he eyed the room carefully seeking for any sign of the Avatar.

Aang stood up slowly and with a quick whirl kicked the wooden dresser towards Zuko sprinting out of the room. Zuko’s fists broke through the dressed destroying it in one firey motion and continued in his pursuit.

Aang ran to the end of the hallway but stopped when a flash of red turned around the corner stopping him in his tracks. He looked in between the two Fire Nationers. He was trapped. Behind him Zuko bend massive arcs of fire creating an infernal tunnel of flames that engulfed the hallway and would soon reach Aang.

He looked forward Tsai coming at him with a knife, his eyes wide with horror as he looked over his shoulder and saw the surging flames. They engulfed him on all sides. Leaping he twisted midair and bending air he extinguished the fire beneath him safely landing.

Aang bared his teeth looking between the two Fire Nationers.

“Enough!” He roared angrily as he created a wind tunnel which smothered all the flames in the room. Zuko yelled in surprise as he was blasted down the corridor and out in a powerful gust of air that shot him through the walls and out crashing against a tree landing on the ground with a painful thud.

Tsai managed to duck just in time stabbing the knife on the wooden floor managing to cling to the ground as the violent air whooshed past her. Aang was distracted looking at the gaping hole in the wall that he didn’t see her attack coming.

“Gotcha!” She pounced on him wrapping an arm around his neck roughly holding the butter knife to his face. He looked at her with a slight scowl his eyes a blend of irritation and confusion.

“What is wrong with the two of you?!” Aang said removing her arm from his body angrily. She shrugged a little and instead placed it on his shoulder as they walked towards the end of the hallway. She combed down her messy hair with her other hand. “We wanted to teach you a lesson,” she said sternly. “You shouldn’t be slacking off.”

They reached the balcony and looked down at Zuko who had landed on a bush and was rubbing the back of his head. She waved at him with a sheepish smile on her face.

‘Of course, she’d caught him.’

"What's wrong with you two?!" Katara yelled as she came around the house, the rest of the group tailing before her as they all stopped before the prince and looked up at the balcony. “You could’ve hurt Aang!”

Aang and Tsai leapt down the balcony one of them landing more gracefully than the other.

“Wrong with us?” Zuko shouted back throwing his hands to the side. “What’s wrong with you?! How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin’s Comet is three days away!”

They all starred at him blankly.

“Wait- you guys don’t know?” Tsai stepped forward stepping next to Zuko. Everybody was looking at them as if they were lunatics.

“So the comet’s coming. Big deal.” Mecha shrugged crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why are you all looking at us like if we’ve gone crazy?"

"Uh..." Aang sighed and rubbed the back of his head as he stepped forward, "About Sozin's Comet...I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until afterit came."

"After?" Tsai stepped forward looking at him in shock. That terrifying vision still replaying continuously in the back of her mind. This explained why Aang had been slacking off so much. What did he think he could just waltz into the Mainland whenever he wanted knock on the Fire Dad’s door and take him down?

"I'm not ready." Aang explained, he glanced at the ground with an insecure look on his face... "I need more time to master firebending."

"And frankly, your earthbending could still use some work too." Toph added with a small shrug and she crossed her arms.

Aang winced and looked away mournfully.

"So... You all knew that Aang was going to wait?" Zuko asked slowly as looked at the others in disbelief.

“How come I didn’t know?” Tsai held the back of her neck. “We discussed it before the eclipse.” Her brother answered with a casual shrug. ‘Even he knew?!’

"Honestly Zuko, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he's gonna lose." Sokka commented then looked over at Aang apologetically, "No offense."

Katara stepped forward before Aang could answer, "The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the Comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the War." She shrugged and looked at the others before her gaze settled on the scarred prince, "But they pretty much won the War when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse."

Oh, how wrong they were.

"You're wrong." Zuko replied flatly. He closed his eyes and turned away from them. "It's about to get worse than you can even imagine."

He proceeded to explain everything he had said to Tsai earlier that they before they decided to teach Aang a lesson.

"I can't believe this." Katara collapsed. Knees growing weak at the horrible realization.

"I always knew that the Fire Lord was a bad guy," Sokka muttered as he wrapped his arm around Suki's bringing her close in a comforting gesture. "But his plan is just pure evil."

Suki shook her head sadly.

“Why do you all think I have been acting like a nut about mine and Aang’s trainings?” Tsai sighed crossing her arms over her chest. “I…” She hesitated in whether she should share the following information with the rest of the group. “The dragons showed me a vision when we were in the Sun Warrior Island. It’s about the day of Sozin’s comet. I saw so much destruction, fire, raining ash- I get this sickening feeling every time I even think about it.” It was almost apocalyptic.

“What am I gonna do?" Aang grabbed his head in distress.

Zuko stood up walking over to Aang. "I know you're scared. And I know you're not ready to save the world." He stopped in front of him. "But if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save anymore."

"Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner?" Aang screeched. “And why didn’t you tell me about your vision?” He demanded.

Aang began pacing nervously both of his hands clenching as knots of stress began to form on his back.

"I didn't think I had to. I assumed that you were still going to fight him before the comet." Zuko replied defensively and he put a hand on his chest and flung the other out to the side. "How were we supposed to know you were going to wait?” The girl called out to him.

"This is bad." Aang muttered as he rubbed his temples as stress and despair began to cloud his consciousness. Aang was there, but not really there. He shook his head and groaned. "This is really, really bad." He collapsed to his knees.

"Aang," Katara said as approached him. "You don't need to do this alone,” You don’t need to this alone.

"Yeah," Toph chipped in with a cocky smirk, walking up to stand next to Katara while the rest of the crew followed behind. "If we all fight the Fire Lord together, we got a shot at taking him down."

“And don’t forget you’ve got something the Fire Lord doesn’t have!” Tsai said animatedly her characteristic optimism coming through.

“What? Something worth fighting for?” Zuko scoffed humorously from behind. His father didn’t need a good reason to destroy an entire civilization. “No,” she shot him a quick glance. “Us!” She said confidently with a cheesy grin.

"Alright! Team Avatar is back!" Sokka cheered pumping a fist up in the air. He pointed at Aang “Air!” then at his sister “Water!” He said confidently. “Earth!” He said turning to Toph. “Fire!” He motioned to Zuko and Mecha.

“Fan, spirit and sword!” He shouted triumphantly. Sokka said picking up a leaf that resembled a blade and handing Suki one that looked like a fan.

“Spirit?Really? I don’t get a prop?” Tsai eyed Sokka with the edge of her lips twitching into a grimace.

Sokka’s leaf sword wilted with his determined expression. Aang turned to look at his friends with a rare serious expression on his face. "Fighting the Fire Lord won't be easy, it's gonna be the hardest thing we've ever done together." He smiled at them, "But I wouldn't want to do it any other way." He said with a small smile.

The group all cheered and came together in a group hug. The Fire Nationers standing idly a couple of feet away from the group glancing awkwardly.

Katara glanced over at them and smiled, "Get over here guys. Being part of the group also means being part of group hugs!"

The Fire Nationers smiled at each other slightly before welcoming in the group hug. Even Appa joined in!

“So, how are we going to do this?” Sokka clapped his hands after the jovial embrace.

“You have to catch him by surprise!” Tsai explained raising her hand. They all chuckled lightly. “What?” She said confused. “I hit him once.” She admitted.

“You what?”Her brother asked with his eyes wide. Everybody’s faces seemed to reflect his surprise. “He tried to set me on fire. I had to do something. So, I used my head.”

“I see,” Sokka scratched his chin. “You stood by the fire waiting for him to lower his guard and then attacked with an elaborate strategy.”

“No,” She deadpanned. “I usedmy head. I headbutted into him.” She rubbed the top of her head remembering the slight pain.

“She’s being modest. She broke his nose.” Zuko said with what sounded like pride in his voice before dropping an arm around her shoulders.

Everybody gawked at the two Fire Nationers beyond confused. It was awkward enough that he seemed proud that she landed a strike on his evil father’s face. Talk about weird dynamics.

“Is this how you two flirt?” Her brother asked just as confused pointing a finger between the two of them.

“I’m just glad you two finally made up.” Sokka let out an exhale. “Now we can double date!” Suki said with an eager smile.

However, this was not the time for that…

“There is one technique you need to know before facing my father...” Zuko stated. Moments later he was teaching Aang how to redirect lightning. Something Tsai’s scarred brother also sat in for. Maybe an individual can survive getting hit by lightning once? But twice?

Xxx

Later that day after a long day of strenuous training the group sat for dinner in the center courtyard. They all sat together mindlessly chattering while eating with scattered conversation. Aang sat a distance away not very hungry poking at his food with his back to his friends.

“I have a surprise for everyone!” Katara rushed in from the corridor holding a rolled-up scroll in her hands. She grinned eagerly as she stood before the group.

"I knew it!" Toph exclaimed as she stopped eating her rice, "You did have a secret thing with Haru!"

Everybody turned to give Toph an odd look.

"Uh...no..." Katara said, giving Toph an equally strange look before waving the scroll she had. "I was looking for cooking pots in the attic, and I found this!" She unraveled the scroll, revealing a painting of a happy baby with a small ponytail playing in the beach’s sand. "Look at baby Zuko! Isn't he cute?" Katara cooed gushing.

Everyone but Zuko laughed at portrait. Tsai stood up taking the scroll from Katara to get a better look at it. Suki leaned over her shoulder also looking at the portrait with a smile. “Awe!” Suki coed.

“You are so cute!” Tsai said touching Zuko’s arm. However, his arms remained crossed as he appeared to be deep in thought a stoic expression on his face despite the compliment.

"Oh lighten up, we’re just teasing." Katara said to him.

Zuko opened his eyes and gave her an irritated look, "That's not me. It's my father."

Everybody fell silent.  Suki cringed and Tsai grimaced as she rolled the scroll up giving Zuko a nervously apologetic look.

"But he looks so sweet and innocent." Suki murmured as she gestured towards the scroll and turned her attention to Zuko.

"Yeah, well that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster." Zuko scoffed and put his own dish down losing his appetite. He rested his arm on his bent knee, "And the worst father in the history of fathers."

Tsai placed a hand on his knees giving him a sad look.

"But he's still a human being." Aang interrupted turning to face the group from the distance. Everybody turned to look in his direction. “You’re going to defend him?” Zuko asked sharply.

Aang abandoned his plate and approached his friends. "I agree with you, Zuko. Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person and the world will probably be better off without him. But there has to be another way."

"Like what?" Zuko scoffed.

"I don't know." Aang replied with a shrug. His expression brightened and he raised his hands up as if he was holding a bowl. "Maybe we can make some big pots of glue and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can't bend anymore."

"Yeah." Zuko replied with sarcastic cheer, "Then you can show him all his baby pictures, and all those happy memories will make him good again."

Suki and Sokka sniggered behind Zuko.

"Do you really think that would work?" Aang oblivious to Zuko’s sarcasm asked his voice filled with hope.

"No!"

Aang hung his head and sighed hopelessly. “What if I do it?” Everybody turned back to look at the scarred young man from the colonies in surprise. Tsai couldn’t help but facepalm sometimes she really wanted to hit her brother. “Are you nuts? You’re notthe Avatar. That’s hisdestiny not yoursMecha.”

“I wouldn’t mind- really.” He added darkly.

His sister was about to protest and call him out on his plan for vengeance when Aang interrupted. “Enough lives have been lost. It shouldn’t be this way.”

“But Aang ending this life will save thousands-maybe millions of other lives.” The girl from the colonies tried to reason with him. “How can you measure the worth of one life with all the other ones that could be spared?”

"This goes against everything the monks taught me. I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like." Aang paced nervously in front of the group, his shadow following after him illuminated by the small oil lamp above the courtyard.

"Sure, you can. You’re the Avatar." Sokka stated matter-of-factly dismissing all of Aang’s concerns. “If it's in the name of keeping balance, I'm sure pretty sure the universe will forgive you." He added casually.

"This isn't a joke, Sokka!" Aang snapped in uncharacteristic anger as he whirled around to glare at him. "None of you don't understand the position that I'm in!"

"Aang, we do understand." Katara began in a compassionate attempt to soothe the boy, "It's just-"

"Just what, Katara?!" Aang demanded rudely. "What?!" He roared raising his voice.

"Then when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking away his life, I’d love to hear it!” Aang threw his hands up in the air in frustration as the stress of the approaching date of Sozin’s Comet consumed him before angrily stomping away.

"Don't walk away from this, Aang!" Katara chased after him with a strained tone. When a hand’s grip held her back. She turned and saw Zuko standing behind her.

"Let him go." He advised and he let his hand fall from her shoulder, "He needs time to sort it out by himself."

Tsai looked in concern at Aang’s retreating figure from the distance. Her own stress building up tensing her body knotting her back as thoughts of an infernal sky and raining ash clouded her consciousness….

Xxx

Aang sat on the third floor’s western balcony meditating on his choice. Before him he had placed four lit candles, some water, citrus fruits and nuts as an offering to the spirits to guide and bring wisdom to him.

He sat on a meditating pose the only sound he could hear were the tugging and pulling waves of the ocean. Momo quietly sleeping next to him.

When a voice pulled him from his meditation.

“Hey, I love mandarins.”

Aang snapped his eyes open and glared. “Don’t touch those Tsai! It’s an offering for the spirits.” He said irritated. The girl was already peeling the skin of her midnight snack.

“Well, lucky you, I am a spirit and I accept your offering.” She smiled at him softly before walking and leaning on the balcony’s railing. He noticed she was wearing a simple loose-fitting sleeping shirt and the pair of maroon brown shorts she usually wore underneath her everyday Fire Nation robes.

“If you’ve come to persuade me to take the Fire Lord’s life, save your breath. I’m not changing my mind.” He said seriously with a light scowl on his features. She popped a mandarin slice in her mouth and let out a weak laugh. “I know that. That’s not why I’m here.”

He looked at her oddly. A feeble smile on her features. “I think there’s another way… I’ll help you Aang.” She looked at him gently.

He looked at her confused. “How?” He asked with a deflating hopeless breath his shoulders dropping at his sides. “Dunno,” she said with a light shrug. She looked away avoiding his probing gaze. Aang had a feeling she knew more than what she was letting on. “I can walk through fire. That’s got to count for something.”

xxx

Tsai walked back to the guest room she was sharing with Suki, Katara and Toph. She was about to enter the room but stopped in the hallway. A dim light coming from underneath another one of the bedroom door’s in the hallway caught her attention. It was Zuko’s bedroom.

Zuko heard a light knock on his door. His eyes looked up from the parchment on which he was writing on it and saw the door slide open.

He turned and saw Tsai standing underneath the door frame. There was a rare gloom clouding her expression.

“Can… Can I stay with you tonight?” She asked bashfully almost meekly.

“S-Sure.” He stammered pushing away the parchment and brush away from him. He hated himself for stammering and turned away hoping she wouldn’t notice his flustered expression.

He had never slept alonein the same room with a girl that wasn’t his sister. Maybe they had shared many nights together, but his Uncle Iroh or someone, anybody else was always there in between them as a buffer. For some reason it seemed like such a vulnerable act to him. Truly surrounding your consciousness to lay alongside another person. It was scary…

“Okay” She chirped with a small smiled and walked towards the large bed slipping underneath the covers turning on her side. “Goodnight.”

For some….

Feeling frustrated Zuko fought the urge to slam his head against the desk he was currently using. His adolescent concerns overshadowing his juvenile thoughts and emotions. ‘What would Uncle do? What would he say?’ He thought to himself and then grimaced when he actually gave that statement some thought. Never mind that he said shaking his head thinking of the lost advice he once whispered to him in Ba Sing Se.

He turned off the candle that lit the room and carefully slid into the bed next to her. Careful not to make too much noise or move too much. He lay stiffly with his arms at his sides and turned to look at the back of her red head in the darkness. Turning on his side he mindlessly reached for a strand of it toying with the wavy lock between his fingers.

He called her name softly.

“Hm?” She mumbled sleepily.

He was quiet. She could feel him still twirling a strand of hair in his hand. She rolled over slowly and looked at him. Both now face to face. The sounds of waves echoing in the distance.

“Tsai… I…” He was at loss of words. When she raised a hand to his lips gently silencing him. “Don’t say it.” She hushed heavy-eyed with a slight smile on her face. He didn’t even realize he was smiling back. He felt strange, soft inside, warm. It was a novel feeling he welcomed. His hand reached for her fingers.

She threw an arm around him holding him close, nuzzling against his shoulder an arm wrapping around her bringing her in close. “Come here my little fire ferret.” She said in a teasing tone.

“Ugh. Please do notcall me that…” He grumbled in protest. She couldn’t help but laugh a little at his response. “My… tiger monkey?” She said playfully. “If I’m a tiger monkey then you’re a koala sheep.”

“A koala sheep?” She asked almost incredulously raising an eyebrow at him. “What? They’re cute and cuddly,” he shrugged.

“You think I’m cute and cuddly?” She continued the painful tease slowly inching closer to his face. He turned away slightly embarrassed. “Let’s just be us.” She said placing one last kiss on his face.

He agreed.

“Goodnight.”

Xxx

Later in the undisturbed night…

The deep-toned hypnotic chanting of voices of men seemed to resound from the ocean nearby. The chanting was low almost like a hum. It rumbled.

Aang awoke from his sleep and sat up in the balcony where he had unintentionally fallen asleep. A cloud of slumber lingered over his tired features. Slowly, almost as if in a trance. He rose to his feet and walked towards the balcony rail and down to the beach without looking back.

Downstairs a sleeping spirit was also disturbed…

xxx

Sunburn Chapter

M A S T E R L I S T

NEXT https://gloves94.tumblr.com/post/623235644322447360/sunburn-prince-zuko-37 PREV https://gloves94.tumblr.com/post/622676261578342400/sunburn-prince-zuko-35

xxx

AN: Realistically speaking only 2 more chapters to go... 👀👀👀

[oddsnendsfanfics]

Unraveling at the Seams Pt 4

Genre: Fan Fiction Pairing: Alex Høgh Andersen/OFC, Henry Cavill/OFC Warnings: Language, Sexual Innuendo, Possible NSFW Rating: M Length: Multi Disclaimer: a strict work of fiction, I own nothing except the original characters and the plot line. In no way am I affiliated to any of it.  

A/N: so far this is my favourite part. Also thank you all for the feedback, it is massively appreciated 

thank you @flowers-in-your-hayr​​ for the header :D

Catch Up Here

The iPad was on its side, the stand holding it in position as Nell moved around the kitchen. She had an hour before meeting Alex, which may or may not have been giving her second thoughts and butterflies. Not the good kind. Why had she agreed to this? Why was she feeling stressed about this? What she wanted more than anything was someone to hug her and tell her that this would be fun. A night out, with somebody other than Ivan. It was a new experience and if she didn't have fun, she never had to go again.

A call from mom always helped, right?

“Where's Ivan?” Evelyn asked, her daughter had called her in the middle of her work day. At first she had assumed something was dire, when the nerves seized, the Stewart Matriarch relaxed.

“He's next door, Jordan and Sophie are letting him hang out there tonight.” Bridie had a family party and Nell was hell bent that she was not missing it, because of her plans to have a drink with Alex. Ivan would welcome the change of pace, Jordan would surely engage Ivan's imagination with his skills as an actor.

The last time Ivan had gone there for a few hours, Nell had returned to find Jordan and Marco had built a full on fort in the middle of the living room, they'd had makeshift costumes, an imaginary dragon, and some sort of new language. Ivan had a way of charming people into doing whatever it was he wanted. A dangerous power for an almost eight year old to wield. These were the sort of fantasy games Henry would go along with, creating whatever world his son wanted to live in for the moment. Jordan had happily gone along with it, no questions asked and Nell would remain grateful.

“Have you told him that Henry is coming to  visit?”

“No, why? Wait?” Nell turned to face the iPad. “How?”

“Henry told me.” Evelyn answered in a painfully obvious manner. Nell wrinkled her nose, her stunned look told her mother all she needed to know. “We talk almost weekly, you know. Just because it's rocky with the two of you, he's still the father of my only grandson.”

Nell's older brother Michael had two children, daughters. Her older sister, Michael's twin, Sadie also had a daughter. Ivan being the only boy took the title proudly.

“I'm glad Henry finds the time.” Nell snorted. Evelyn rolled her eyes and shook her head, avoiding a lecture, Nell derailed her mother. “I'm glad that he's comfortable talking to you.”

“You still talk with his family, do you not?”

“I suppose.” Nell accepted. “What else did he have to say?”

“He's busy working, he's excited to take some time off for Ivan, he's looking forward to seeing your brother next weekend. He said you didn't sign up?”

“I don't have time to run this year. I'll send a donation.” Nell shouldn't have been annoyed that he brother was running a marathon with her ex, yet she was. Less annoyed that Michael was doing a charity run and more annoyed that she hadn't been asked.

“Your father and I have sent ours. Other than that, there isn't much going on. Something about a new job in Hamburg? Hungary? Somewhere with an H in Europe.”

Nell frowned, Henry hadn't mentioned anything to her about a new job. Not that he had to, it was his right to take whatever jobs he wanted. In the past he had told her the second he was allowed to talk about them. Aside from his agent, Nell had been the first person to know that he'd been cast for Man of Steel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, even the film nobody had ever heard of called The Cold Light of Day.

Again, Henry had a right not to tell her every detail of his left. Nell wasn't always forth coming with every detail in hers. Outside of Ivan, they didn't have to ever speak, if they chose that route.

Lord knows that there were many things that Nell never told Henry. Her date with Alex for example. She had spoke with Henry last evening, yet hadn't said a word about going out. A pang of guilt rose. Henry always told her when he'd gone out with somebody new, his reason was that – if this woman should become something more, he wanted Nell prepared as the woman he shared a child with. Transparency was the key to keeping their life mess free. Plus, it was better she heard it from him and not some trashy newspaper.

“Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll do well.”

“I'm sure he will. Did you remember to send that parcel? Tomorrow is his birthday.” Evelyn could remember Henry's birthday, yet had forgotten her Husband's birthday for the last three years.

“Yes, mom, I sent it two weeks ago. Ivan will call him tomorrow, talk to him, and then we probably won't hear from him until he gets here.”

“Why are you always like that, Nelly? He's trying. You know that he's trying and it's not easy, being...”

“Mom.” Nell was firm. She didn't need to listen to her mother explain everything she did wrong, when it came to Henry Cavill. “It's not that, it's...you know what, mom. I'm not doing this. Not tonight. I called, because I just needed to talk.”

“Okay, so let's talk. How is work?”

“That's the thing, you see, there's the guy at work who...” Nell paused, her doorbell ringing. “Shit. Mom, I have to go. That's Alex.”

“Alex? Male or female, Alex?” Evelyn smirked.

“Male. I will talk to you later, love you bye.” Nell hurried to turn off the call.

She didn't want to look desperate rushing to the door out of breath, nor did she want Alex standing there waiting. Taking a few calming breaths, she straightened herself out and coolly approached the door.

On the other side, Alex stood shaking like a leaf. He was probably sweating through his button down as well. Great! He was going to show up looking like a hot mess, asking a woman who already barely tolerated him to be seen in public with him.

This was a mistake! Why had he listened to Sophie?

“Alex, hey.” Nell opened the door in the nick of time. Alex had briefly thought of turning around and running away. Why did this woman do this to him? He'd never been intimidated by a woman before. “Come in, please.”

Stepping inside the first thing Alex noticed was the smell. An odd thing to notice, perhaps? It wasn't an unpleasant smell. The opposite, actually. The townhouse had a – homely smell. Warm and welcoming, fresh and light. It reminded him of summer and gingersnap cookies. Funny, summer and cookies is what Nell reminded him of.

“I brought you this, I didn't know what else to bring, but I wanted to give you something and here.” He held out the framed photo. It was the best way to begin, scared of what he'd say if he didn't lead with the gift.  “It's one of the photos I took, early on. I remembered it was your first solo design and...”

“Alex.” Nell cooed, gently taking the framed photo of Judith, played by Jennie Jacques in the lavish dress. “I don't know what to say. Obviously, thank you. I'm speechless. This is amazing.” She leaned in giving him a fast peck on the cheek.

The photo had to be one of the sweetest gifts she'd ever received from a guy, on a first date, not that Nell thought of this as a date.

“That dress is one of my favourite costumes.” Alex blushed. “I was in awe every time I saw it. You did amazing.” It was Nell's turn to blush. “And this is for Ivan. I thought he may like it.” He passed over a book of 1,001 Brain Teasers for Ages 8+.

“He's going to love this. Thank you.” Nell accepted the book, still lost in the beauty of the photo. Alex was talented with a camera, Nell had saw some of his other works and they blew her away every time.

“No problem, I loved things like that when I was his age. He's so smart.”

“Too smart.” In more than one way. Intellect was one thing, being smart ass was another. The boy had mastered both swimmingly. Nell dreaded the day he turned into a teenager. “Would you like a drink?” She stood holding the photo and book.

“I thought we were going out for a drink, but we can have one here. If you want. I don't mind.” Alex felt like a helpless fool. Damn it. Why was he such a blundering idiot tonight?

Oh right, because he was in over his head with a positively impressive and attractive woman. He'd dated attractive women before, most ended up being superficial.  A disappointment to say the very least. Nell was not going to disappoint. If either of them were a disappointment, it was Alex.

Damn it. He needed to be more confident. Marco had warned him about this. Not to let his doubt in or this would be a disaster of epic proportions.

“You know what,” Nell took a final look at the photo before setting it on the kitchen table, it would be safe until she arrived home. “Let's go for that drink. Should I call a car?”

“Please.” Alex nodded.

“I am going to call and grab my purse, feel free to make yourself comfortable.” Nell smiled, before disappearing.

She was hardly gone long enough for Alex to make himself at home, so to speak,  he didn't mind. If he was alone too long, his thoughts would get the best of him and this not-a-date-date would be over before they left the house.

Leaving the townhouse, Alex caught sight of the two shadows in the window across the courtyard. Nudging Nell, they both waved, laughing when Jordan and Ivan ducked disappearing from sight. They were having too much fun spying and Nell would hear about it in the morning. No doubt Alex would be teased as well.

Safely in the black taxi, Alex was being the perfect gentleman. Holding doors, helping Nell in an out of the car. He was doing what his mother would expect of him, nothing more. Being polite was costing him nothing and he enjoyed seeing Nell smile each time he did something chivalrous.

“I hope you don't mind, but I thought we could go somewhere a little more low key?” Nell watched the outside pass, the taxi navigating the streets effortlessly.

“I don't mind low key at all.” Alex replied casually watching Nell watch the outside world.

“It's a nice place, I promise.”

The driver was cordial when Alex slipped him his payment, insisting that he get it, after all it was his idea to come out. The least he could do was pay for their cabs, secretly he planned to grab the tab too, despite Nell telling him he really didn't have to get the cab and she would get the drinks.

Helping Nell from the car, Alex stood aside happy to follow wherever she led. Strolling down the street, Nell nudged her chin forward to indicate that this was their destination. A quiet bar front, if there was such a thing, with a small sign on the front advertising their establishment.

“Here we are.” Nell announced, bumping into Alex when they both reached for the door. “Sorry.” Her voice was a whisper when his hand found her lower back. Guiding her through the door, Alex's gaze was telling her more than his words could have.

“Shocking, but I don't think I have ever been here.” Alex glanced around the front entrance of the bar. He'd been to nearly every bar in Dublin and the surrounding area, but never this particular one.

“I used to come here, a lot, when I lived here before.” Nell led the way to the back of the building. Alex took note, it was certainly nicer and quieter than the other bars he frequented. A large bar in the front, which seemed to serve the larger part and in the back, where Nell had immediately bee lined, was a smaller area complete with a smaller bar.

“Cozy.” He noted pulling out the high bar chair for Nell to sit.

“It's nice. I like it here.” She slid onto the stool with ease. Catching the bar tender's attention. “Lagavulin, neat please.” Nell ordered without thought.

Alex took a beat to decide. “Ardberg, on the rocks with a twist, please.”

Nell grinned.

“What?”

“Nothing. I like that you just went for it. I enjoy when a guy knows what he wants.” Nell shrugged lightly.

“Laugh it up, I know the whole adding ice and all that ruins the flavour blah blah blah.” Alex took the teasing with grace. “I can't do it neat, bad things happen if I do for it straight up.”

“Oh, no. I have witnessed far worse than asking for ice.” Nell looked as though she was processing some sort of horrid memory. Alex waited, she would either tell him or move on. The bar tender slid their drinks to them, giving Nell a few seconds to decide on her story.

“Ivan's father was given a bottle of Chivas Regal once for a birthday present, my brother got the idea to mix it with chocolate milk. I have never saw something so disrespectful.” Nell cringed. Alex involuntarily made a disgusted face. Who mixed chocolate milk with scotch? Further more, why disrespect a perfectly good bottle that way.

“Was it even good?”

“By itself, I swear there were angels singing, whenever you took a sip. With the milk, I don't know. I contemplated disowning them both on the spot.”

“Blasphemy.” Alex smirked, taking a sip of his drink.

“But that's enough about Henry and Michael. I will add, they're lucky I still speak to them both.” Nell sipped her drink. Licking her lips, she sighed happily. It had been a while since she'd gone out for a proper drink. Pouring herself a glass here and there, after a long day wasn't the same as sharing a drink with somebody in a pub or a bar.

“I would say so.” Alex held his glass, “I will say a cheers to you and your forgiving ways. May Henry and Michael know how blessed they are.”

“Here, here!” Nell raised her glass, gently tapping it to Alex's. “This is nice.”

“Lagavulin, is one of the best you can get I mean...”

“No, no. Not the Lagavulin,” Nell blushed, her eyes casting down. “I meant having somebody to talk to, to share a drink with. It's been forever since I have left my house after 8pm, to do something other than work. I'm going to risk sounding like one of those people, but I am usually in bed by now.”

“Me too.”

“Really? Wow, when I was your age, I was never home on a Friday night.” Nell winced. “Sorry, I didn't mean...Oh fuck that came out wrong.”

Alex laughed at her earnest. “I know what you meant.”

“Sometimes my mind and mouth don't engage. My mother says it's one of my biggest downfalls. I'm working on it.” Nell passed it off playfully.

“My mom says my downfall is that I am too stubborn and I don't know when to give up.” Alex revealed.

Nell tried to hide her chuckle. “A lesson, between us, moms know their sons better than anyone.”

“I'll remember that.” Alex's smile was full of mischief. “Any other secret mom tips that you're allowed to reveal?”

“Uh,” Nell tapped her chin, “Mom's really do have eyes in the back of their head. They're the hardest working people on this planet, and we have an excellent bullshit detector.”

“All useful.” Alex played into it. Leaning closer, his eyes dropped to watch her lips as she spoke. Licking his lips, he took less than a breath to snap back. Nell wasn't the type you hit on just because. “And what else can you tell me? This time about you, not as a mom.”

“Oh.” Nell shifted in her seat, adjusting her skirt, smoothing it over her calves. “I have two siblings, they're twins. I hate cake, as you know.” She smirked. Alex nodded. “And I have never dated somebody younger than me. Now you.”

“I have a sister. I play guitar, not well,  it's a budding hobby. And I only ever date older women.” Alex shrugged, swirling his scotch in the glass, taking a drink. Smooth. What a way to sound like a moron.

He'd really felt this was going somewhere, until two seconds ago.

“Alex, so you know, I don't really think that this is going to go beyond tonight.” Nell's gaze fell uncomfortably. “I like your company, as a friend.”

That was a fair answer. Alex was a tiny bit disappointed, not that he had a right to be. He was lucky that Nell had agreed to come at all.

“Can I ask you something? If you are uncomfortable, don't bother. You can also tell me to fuck off, but why did you agree to come out with me?” He pushed his hair behind his ears, his eyes locked on hers. “I'm happy you did, but I don't understand. Maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“Alex, it's not that I don't like you.” Nell felt the weight of the world suddenly on her shoulders for making him feel this way. “I think you're lovely. You are very kind and a great person.”

“But?” Alex knew it was coming. This kind of statement always had a but.

“But, it's complicated. I love working with you, but I know what happens next, because I've been there. So, if I stay guarded, you eventually go away, and nobody gets hurt.” Nell waved to the bartender, ordering another drink. This time a double.

Ordering another drink, Alex mustered up the courage to ask his next question. It lingered on his mind, but he'd never had the balls to come out with it. “Is it because of your ex?”

Nell accepted her new drink, draining half the glass in one gulp, before nodding. “And it's a stupid excuse. I know that.”

“No, I've heard worse.” Alex thanked the bar tender for his fresh drink. “You loved him? It had to have hurt when that ended. I get it.”

“We were together for almost three years.” Nell took the time to explain her behaviour a little. Alex had been the brunt of her rash and unfair treatment, all because of something that had absolutely nothing to do with him.

“So, it was serious?” Beyond having a son with the guy, of course. He didn't have to say it, Nell had figured out how to read between those lines.

“Not in the way I saw a future, but in the way that I knew we were comfortable.”

“You worked together?”

“We did. I mean, in a way. Yes. I was an intern.” Nell tipped the glass up to her lips. “We met while he was on The Tudors.” Nell shrugged picking at her drink napkin. “It's partly why I have this job. They loved what I was capable of and hired me back, when Janet had to leave.”

“I'm glad they hired you.” Alex offered, tipping his drink. “I don't plan on having a kid with you, but I am glad they hired you.” He smirked trying to break the tension.

“Happily I will accept that.” Nell smiled. “I didn't want to think about being married  or having a kid at 22, but you know.”

Alex could relate, he couldn't imagine being married. Or having a kid. Not right now. His life was going great and there was no need to complicate things. Not that he assumed Nell found Ivan a complication or a regret.

“I think it's pretty brave of you to raise Ivan, the way you have been.”

“It wasn't all me. His dad helps a lot.” Nell bit her bottom lip, she wasn't entirely alone. “We lived together for the first year after Ivan was born. Henry adores Ivan, you know.” She wanted to make that clear.

“I didn't doubt he would. I'm sorry if this feels like me prying, but why did you split?”

What kind of man would leave someone as fantastic as Nell? How stupid was he? Alex had to know. If she became uncomfortable she would tell him, surely. No, Alex was confident that Nell would tell him to shut up if he was going too far. If he left here alone, covered in scotch, then he had deserved it.

“It was too much, having a baby and trying to bolster a career. You know how it is, appearing to the public in one way, while living another. It was too much, he was gone all the time and I was alone anyway, so I moved back home.”

Fleeing London to take refuge in St. John's had only lasted a year. Nell loved being close to her parents and sister, but needed something more. She'd been used to the lifestyle in London and soon found herself heading back. Before too long, she was back in Britain, living there until getting the call to move back to Dublin.  

“Oh.” The word formed on Alex's lips without breath.

“It's complicated.”

In other words, Nell was often left angry with herself, over the situation. Blaming Henry had become easier, along the way, it was a go to when she needed it.

“Most relationships are.” Alex scoffed. “But we get back on the horse and keep trying. Isn't that what we're taught?”

“It's hard finding a guy who wants to date a woman, who has a kid.” Nell shrugged. She hadn't had much luck dating in the last few years. There had been one or two guys who had stayed around for a month, maybe two, then it always ended once they found someone better. “It's harder finding someone to date, once they find out your son's father is Superman.”

And that is how she knew she'd had possibly gone too far. Here they were now, might as well keep going. Get it all out on the table. This was the part where Nell over shared and Alex never spoke to her beyond tonight.

“Every man thinks he's Superman, at some point.” Alex laughed lightly. Seeing Nell in a new light, he couldn't imagine somebody not wanting to know her or Ivan. She was an excellent mom.

“No,” Nell's brow creased. “He's literally Superman.”

“I don't follow.” Alex's brow creased in confusion. How drunk was she?

“His father,” Nell swallowed the last of her drink. “My ex is legit Superman. Clark Kent, Man of Steel. Kal-El?   Henry Cavill is my ex.”

The look on Alex's face as he tried to piece all of this together was becoming comical. This was generally the part where the date would ask some stupid, mundane question and then leave. Or he would attempt to try and impress her with a pointless show of masculinity. Alex was going to be neither of those. She could tell with the way his face contorted and his eyes softened.

“I had no idea.” Surely he wasn't the only one to not know this. The man's name was Henry, it was the only detail he'd ever had to go on. Nell had met him working, okay? There were thousands of Henrys in the world.

“You didn't know?” Nell began to chuckle. “Seriously? I thought everybody at work knew. Ivan's last name is Cavill.”

“There are more than one family of Cavills in the world.” Alex defended his ignorance. Until right now, he had never heard anybody use Ivan's last name and had always assumed it was Stewart. “Henry Cavill.”

Alex mulled it over for a second, having to say the name to somehow make it real. “Hmm. Well, at least he's not some sort of crazed inmate, who is hell bent on revenge on any man who talks to you.” He smirked, side eyeing Nell. “He not crazed and hell bent on revenge, is he?”

“No, probably not. You can ask him, when he's here in a few weeks.” Nell waved the bar tender over to pay. “Although, I think you will be safe. Start running, he's big, but slow.”

@funmadnessandbadassvikings​ , @kawennote09​, @smutgoblin​ , @nickysurfer28​ , @peaceisadirtyword​, @igetcarriedawaywithyou​ , @lif3snotouttogetyou​, @akamaiden​ @angelaiswriting​, @neeadinghugs​, @thoughtsmeander2tumblingblindly​, @ilvebeenabad​ , @naaladareia​, @imgoldielikehawn​ @tephi101​, @sdcyumyum​ @unacceptabletatertots​, @sparklemichele​ , @titty-teetee​ , @smolasianwinterbean​ , @capitanostella​ , @captstefanbrandt​ @bloodyivar​  , @normanallthewayforever​  , @blackcoffeeandgreenteaforme​ , @imyourliquor-youremypoison​ , @nikky-the-writer​  , @seremedyxiii​ , @laketaj24​ , @deleteidentity​ , @tornupandbored​ , @hoeghfabulous​ , @ateliefloresdaprimavera​  , @mydarlingwhim​ , @kenzieam​ , @jar-of-love​ ,  @angelswannawearmyredshooz​ , @manuugxlvis​  , @lost-in-my-thoughs​ , @ivars-snowflake​ , @lisinfleur​ , @fumblingthroughchaos​ @pebblesz892​ , @nelson-and-murdock​ , @nothingeverdies​, @bluearchersstuff​  @itsspecial-itsnotforeveryone​, @ivarlothbroks​, @badassbaker​  @cris101071​ @fucktrucks​ @ohjules​ @mrsadrianraines​  @angelic-kisses13​ @whenimaunicorn​ @marthasantos95​ @atlanticowe​ @hows-my-hair​ @omgshuddupmeg​ @moviegirl50​ @havenoffandoms​ @gearhead66​​ @happydaysandersen​​ @rekdreams-fandom​​ @lovemylife2618​​ @supernaturalvikingwhore​​ @heavenly1927​​ @zoe-rachel-crisp​​ @blogandreea11​​ @shileen91​​ @geekandbooknerd​​ @mzliterarydreamer​​ @youbloodymadgenius​​ @ainatirb-j​​ @carlya65​​ @sawendel​​ @sinflowersugar​ 

- if you want to be added? removed, please let me know

[ask-de-writer]

KURIN’S FOLLY : World of Sea : Part 4 of 15

KURIN’S FOLLY

Part 4

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

23,699 words

© 2020 by Glen Ten-Eyck

writing begun  2006

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

//////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  Part 1 is here

///////////////////////

Seriously Kurin replied, “I have one hundred and fifty seven complaints of violation behavior that were serious enough to be written on parchment and given to me.”

“I would expect no less from the crew of the Grandalor,” sneered Master Juris.

Kurin looked at him with a disturbing compassion and said, “Not one is from a Grandalor crewman.  Twenty two were given to me by Captain Sarfin, who relayed them to me in his capacity as head of the Captain’s Council. Fourteen were given to me by Master Addison the Secretary of the Fleet Craft Council and the balance came from individual booth keepers and the Pursers of all twenty eight ships that you spent time on during the Gathering.”

She cocked her head and regarded him carefully for a moment.  “All of these people want to see how this Wergeld thing will work out in our fleet.  They are thinking of adopting it as an alternate to law courts.  The only thing that kept me from filing a slander case against you was that it would have destroyed the Wergeld and a ship that I am very fond of.”

“Then why did you leave us, if you are so fond of us?” Master Juris asked in genuine puzzlement, finally reaching towards one of the cores of his hurt feelings and looking for an answer.

Kurin came near to tears remembering the incident.  There were times that having a Dragon’s Memory was a curse.  “I had no choice.  Captain Sarfin was writing your execution order for threatening an officer of the court.  By leaving, I changed his tack and distracted him long enough to cover you in the Wergeld.

“I have been around you long enough to know that you were just being mean because I’d made you feel foolish about some of your testimony.  You still run the best boat shop in the fleet and I hoped that you’d come about and be my friend again.  Instead, you seem to be dealing with me with the same kind of life long hate that you turned against Silor.”

“Craft Council members complained of me?  Fellow Masters?” Juris said plaintively.

“I brought the entire lot with me,” Kurin said, shaking her head. “Just to be safe, these are attested true copies.  The originals are still on the Grandalor.”

“What did you expect of us?” asked Mistress Daeron, shocked at the implication that they might destroy original documents as important as these.

Kurin was fishing in one of her bags as she responded, “After you sailed three hours early and without me, I had no idea what to expect.  It seemed like you were all gone onto dry land.  At that point, I could have simply filed a full violation, as Captain Sarfin and Master Addison both urged me to do.  I resisted that because I had to know what really happened and Blind Mecat sent Dari to ask me to try to save you.”  She produced a bulky package of paper fish parchment and handed it over to Alor.

As Alor’s aged hands reached for the complaints they were shaking for the first time in Kurin’s eidetic memory.  Alor began to look through the stack and said in a small voice, “These are very well organized, Kurin.”  She sorted off groups of parchment leaves and began handing them about the Council.  In an empty voice she said, “We will get through these quicker if everybody helps.  I fear that the Longin’s existence is near to it’s end.  How can we survive this, Kurin?”

Kurin had a prompt answer.  “We work to resolve the underlaying problem.  As the Grandalor’s sole owner, I have to file the complaint.  I don’t want to do that. There is something that I do want to have answered though, and it is not addressed in this parchment work.”

Master Juris tugged gently at her sleeve with his bandaged hand and leaned close to whisper, “Did you mean that about me running the best boat shop in the fleet?  After all of this,” he gestured at the array of parchment being passed about the room, “you can say that?”

Kurin looked him straight in the eye and said judiciously, “Sure.  It’s the truth.  Even if you are hard to get along with sometimes, nobody is better at organizing the work of others.  Your shop always keeps everybody busy and brings all the work together exactly when and where it’s needed.  What organizational skills I have, I owe to you.”

Master Cerde, of the weaving shop looked up, puzzled.  “Master Juris, every one of these complaints names you, yet Kurin says that what she wants to know is not here.” He shifted his gaze to Kurin and added, “What else do you need? There’s enough here to sink us a hundred times over.”

Kurin was in tears as she asked, “Up north, in the Dragon Sea, Captain Tanlin brought something up during the investigation but other things sidetracked it.  I never had a chance to ask again until now.  Why, if you were all so proud of me, didn’t anybody just love me?  Why did I go six Gatherings with almost no hugs?  Didn’t anybody care?”  She hugged her arms close and High Cloud anxiously preened her hair and stroked along her jaw with his beak.

Clard, Master of Drums, finally broke the embarrassed silence.  He said one word.  “Fear.”

Kurin looked at him in amazed scorn and said, “Of a child?”

Baring his arm and showing four long scars, Master Clard answered, “No, not the child.  The mother.”  He looked about the mess for confirmation and Kurin saw heads nod all about the room.

“Kurin, do you know how far onto dry land your mother is?”

She shook her head and said, “She sits and stares.  If she is told to do a simple task, sometimes she does it.  Otherwise she is non-responsive.”

Master Clard nodded and replied carefully, “And guarded.  Guarded at every moment of the day and night.  Lissa is far more responsive than you know.  She can and does hear and see.  Those tasks that she is given never let her near to any sharp thing.  She tracks you like a Strong Skin following blood in the water.

“You are old enough now to know what we have shielded you from.  Since your father died, your mother Lissa has blamed you for his death because you found his body in his hammock.  You know that.  What we hid was simply this.  Ever since that time, for six Gatherings, she tried to kill you or attack any person who showed the slightest affection toward you.  After she did this to my arm, we have forced her to have her finger and toe nails trimmed as short as possible.  This is why she is under continuous guard.”

Mistress Daeron said, “Kurin, do you remember that I gave you a hug when you showed us the new charting system?  I paid for it.”  She turned and lifted the hair behind her right ear.  There was a jagged scar plain to see.

All around the tables others chimed in with their stories.  The weaving shop, where Kurin had played and learned to weave had been vandalized.  Even Master Juris had his tale to tell.

He held up his bandaged arm. “Just about where you got me with your knife, I bore Lissa’s teeth marks for months from keeping her out of the shop.  It healed without a scar but I’d rather go up into rigging during a Coriolis Storm than try to subdue your mother single handed again.  There’s a reason that watching her is a punishment detail for the deckhands.”

Alor looked beseechingly at Kurin.  “What else could we do?  No other ship will take her. Lissa is insane.  She’s not responsible.  All that we can do keep her under guard and hope that some day she can relaunch herself into safe water again.”

Captain Mord said softly, “We do love you, Kurin.  Why do you think that everyone was so angry and upset when you didn’t show up for your party?”  

Kurin shot a hard look at Master Juris, who shrank under her gaze and with little grace said, “I’m sorry about that.”

Tartly, Alor shot back, “But not sorry enough to pay Kurin back for the losses that you have caused.  As I recall it, we had to sort out the Grandalor’s actual ship-time value during that sorry mess up in the Dragon Sea and it was more like sixty three skins, eight and a half blocks per ship-day.  Kurin knows that and tried to let you off with only fifty skins.”  

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS ~ NEXT==>

[thenightgazer]

A Dead Body Revenges No Injuries

It should’ve been another good time for Vergil and Lyra to read some books at The Literarium, but one of the guests is suddenly dead. The devil and the librarian must team up to find the truth, since the dead can’t tell tales and its body can’t revenge the injustice.

“He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”

-Sigmund Freud

--

Someone’s dead, and it wasn’t Vergil’s fault.

It’s Spring. It should’ve been the season of rebirth. It should’ve been a divine moment to be cherished, when the embroidery of colourful plants and calming breeze comes to life again. Everything blooms after enduring from winter for so long. A new beginning has come.

It was meant to be beautiful.

Everyone who strives after gain in the perishable world will necessarily come to regret it, at the time of separation and the moment of non-being.

The line from The Epistle of Forgiveness sums everything he had gained from his pursuit of power and it craved agonizingly in his heart. Weeks after learning and contemplating about what it means to forgive himself, Vergil finished his reading of the eschatological literature book and now it’s safely stored in his private bookshelf at his bedroom. It relieves him how easy to let go of his nightmares and it gives him a better sleep without the fear of any illusion anymore.

I’m intrigued by what a book and a little of miracle can do to a sinner like me.

It’s hard for him to think about book and miracle without thinking about Lyra.

Like a carousel, the thought about the witty librarian spins around Vergil’s head and that annoy him in the most unique way. He should’ve hate it, for that makes him oftenly distracted. If his head was a mind palace, Lyra would be the random variable that always pop out from nowhere in every thought that Vergil tried to focus on.

Yet he chooses to be here now—sitting on his usual corner at The Literarium and reading Lyra’s another recommendation; Beowulf. That remind him of the demon he once fought years ago with the same name. Such a disgrace for this masterpiece became the name of a filthy demon, he thinks. Beowulf was on Vergil’s reading list since he was a boy, but he never had a chance to fulfill his list until now. There’s a gleeful sensation everytime he reads the passages, feeling his inner child deep down inside him exclaiming in victory.

The hybrid glances at the woman who sits across him. Vergil has recommended Lyra to read The Turn of The Screw, since she’s fond of horror and mystery. He marginally surprises that there’s still people who hasn’t read this illustrious work of Henry James, even the bookish Lyra. The librarian’s eyes scan through the page seriously, examining every words. She has been quiet since 20 minutes ago without moving or even glancing at anything.

This view isn’t too bad, Vergil quietly grins.

He turns his focus back at his reading.

Beowulf is the oldest and longest epic poem with more 3000 lines long, written by an anonymous in Old English. Nobody knows for certain when the poem was first composed, but some scholars have suggested that the manuscript was made in the early 11th century, which makes the manuscript approximately 1000 years old. It exploits the tale of Beowulf and his battles with a monster and a dragon which was guarding a hoard of treasure. Basically a poem of hero who seeks for glory, Lyra said to him. That confuses him since Vergil doesn’t want to seek any glory at all, yet the librarian picked the book for him.

“I once defeated a demon named Beowulf,” Vergil says. “It was too easy.”

Lyra nods slowly without breaking her gaze from the book, “When?”

“Years ago, when I raised Temen-ni-gru. It was one of the demons that guarded the tower.”

“Uh-uh…” Lyra nods again. “Was the demon… look heroic like the fictional Beowulf?”

“Not at all. Too noisy. But I acquired a strong Devil Arm from its corpse. It wasn’t in my possession again since I jumped to Underworld.”

After a moment of awkward silence, Lyra mutters, “Oh, sad.”

Vergil holds himself to not rip off the book that steal the focus of his dear friend by bringing his cup to the receptionist table to refill his coffee. Since the end of winter, Mr Steiner gave a new instruction for the guest to refill their own cup at the receptionist table. We don’t want to intrude the guests when they read. Privacy matters, Lyra said. Though Vergil can’t comprehend why Mr Steiner didn’t give that policy since the first time he decided to serve free coffee. He nods to Nate, who gives him a friendly wave behind the table as he speaks on his phone. Vergil doesn’t have many interactions with him, but he tolerates Nate’s existence since the young man never get Vergil on his nerves.

When Vergil turns his back after get his refill, he almost bumps to two women who just entered the library.

“Sorry!” a woman in floral dress cheerfully apologises to him without giving Vergil a chance to reply. The other one who wears white dress and looks fragile smiles at him as an apology. They immediately join a blonde woman who sits at the Fiction reading section. They greet and hug each other like old friends, then starts chattering. The hybrid rolls his eyes at that sight and continue to walks to his corner, only to find that Lyra still fixates on her book.

I’m literally going to rip off that damn book.

“These people…” she murmurs suddenly.

“?”

“… are idiot.”

What?

“Why do they always following and calling the ghost around?” Lyra complains. “Like, I don’t get why people shout ‘Hello?’ everytime they see something.”

“Curiousity can be infuriating sometimes.” Vergil silently grins while opening the pages Beowulf again. He peeks over his book to see Lyra’s reaction—she glares at him like she realizes Vergil is being sarcastic to her own habit of curiousity.

They continue to read in peace. The doorbell rings, a sign that there’s another guest entering the library. When Vergil hears giggles and babbles from the women at Fiction, he knows that the new guest is their friend. Their steps are a little bit too loud for his enhanced ears, but thankfully it’s soon over as the women go to take their seats and lower their voices.

Once again, all is well, at least for the next five minutes.

Because now Vergil catches coughing sound from the Fiction section.

The sound is getting worse until Vergil has to look up to see who interferes his seclusion. It’s the same floral-dressed woman who apologised to him earlier. The woman excuses herself to the toilet. Even with Vergil’s enhanced senses, he can hear the cough turns into vomit.

“You might want to ask your customer if she’s alright,” Vergil grumbles.

Lyra put down her book and glances at the toilet, “I should never let Nate to brew the coffee again.”

She leaves her chair as the woman comes out from the toilet, still coughing. Her breath is rougher as she grabs her chest hard, like she’s suffocating.

“Clarissa? What happened?” the blonde woman approaches her and tries to lead her back to her seat.

“I’ll get water.” Lyra hurries herself to the office after exchanging words with Nate to look after the woman, Clarissa.

“Is she alright?” Nate asks panicly after spotting rashes on Clarissa’s skin.

“Of course she’s not!”

“Did she eat something weird before she came here?”

“Do I look like I know?!”

But Clarissa never make it to her seat. She collapses.

The scream gets louder as Vergil immediately stands up to approach the crowd. The woman’s friends are too scared to even touch their poor friend. Clarissa’s face turns blue as her body convules greatly.

Cardiac arrest?

There’s a sound of broken cup. “Clarissa!!”

Before everyone could even make any movement, the tremble stops. The woman’s eyes dilate before it stops moving again.

Vergil can sense the life is leaving her body.

“OH GOD WHAT’S HAPPENING?”

“Someone help her please!”

“Call the cop! Now!”

Police?

But Vergil’s suspicion elapses as he spots Lyra.

In the middle of the tragedy, tears, screams and panic, he watches Lyra who’s standing not too far from the crowd. She brings a glass of water on her right hand, yet something’s off.

The hybrid’s direct experience with human emotions might not quite much, but he knows something about human emotion in hysteria. These people are in panic situation, they’re all consume with sadness and can’t even think clearly. All those emotions can affect human’s body. Panic can cause tremor to their body. Sadness can cause their tears stream down on their faces. Disgust and disbelief can make them feel nauseous.

But the librarian stands still. The hysteria affects nothing to her. The water in the glass doesn’t move, not in the slightest.

For a human, her calmness on this situation is… disturbing.

Vergil tries to deny the chill in his spine when he brushes off Lyra’s emotionless reaction from his head.

--

The ambulance and police are already in the library. Nate flips the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Close’. The library is supposed to be a peaceful palace, but today it turns to be a nightmare for him. He has been a librarian in The Literarium for years, but he never imagined that someday he’ll see a guest die in front of him. This is shocking, of course. They’re already send Clarissa’s corpse to the morgue to be examined. Polices are busy doing investigation and asking witnesses. This fuss makes Nate almost having a nervous breakdown.

“Hey, Lyra,” he calls Lyra who’s standing beside him. “What did the cop ask you?”

She shrugs, “Standard things like where was I when it happened, how was the victim’s state before she collapsed.”

“They asked me the same thing. Man, I feel like we’re in some kinda crime movies.”

“Ah, they also asked me who made the coffee.”

“What?”

“I said it was you. Didn’t they ask you about the coffee?”

“Not a word! God, they’ll suspect me!”

“Relax, Nate. We drank from the same coffee pot and we’re alive. If there’s someone to blame, it must be her friends.”

Nate lets out a relief sigh, “You’re right. Anyway, is it okay with your friend? He looks like he will kill the cop who interrogates him.”

“To be fair, he always look like he wants to kill someone.”

“Yeah that. To be honest, your boyfriend scares the hell out of me.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“No shit!”

“What?”

“Dammit Lyra! Don’t you notice the way he look at you all this time?!”

“Don’t talk out loud next to my ear, Nate. You’ll lower my IQ. And no, we’re friends. He already has a son.”

“So what? Did he tell you he has a wife?”

“… as far as I can remember, no.”

“Then you are more than legal to be his girlfriend!”

Lyra gives him a disbelief look, “Shame on you, Nathaniel Steiner. Your father took a long holiday and entrusted you this library, yet you’re gossiping in the middle of someone’s death!”

“So what?! Honestly, I have a good feeling about this. Imagine this case spread to the whole city, it will attract more guests to come! And don’t try to change the subject!”

It’s no use for Lyra to reply Nate’s babble. She rolls her eyes in boredom, leaning herself on the wall. A smile curve on her lips when she sees Vergil’s interrogation is done as the hybrid approaches her. She can tell he’s in his cranky mood—the crease on his forehead crumples and he looks like he’s ready to use his sword anytime to stab anyone.

“Bad day, isn’t it?” Lyra greets him.

“You bet it is.”

“Did you tell them that you’re a devil hunter?” Lyra whispers after Nate excuses himself and gives Lyra a mischievous wink.

“Of course not,” the half-devil grunts. “I told them that I’m a delivery man. That’s the safest fake occupation for mercenaries, since any higher and crucial occupation requires too much further identification.”

Lyra bursts in laugh, “I pity that police. He seems scared to even look at you.”

“That I didn’t beheaded him should tell my effort to spare his life.”

“Well… that’d be more corpse to clean.”

Vergil has to admit that he’s confused with Lyra’s drastic mannerism. The woman who stands beside him is the Lyra he knows all this time, unlike the woman who stood still with soulless face an hour ago. Was she just shock to see a corpse in front of her? But she looks calm and even unbothered with the fact that there’s someone died in the library. Since Vergil is a hybrid, he can easily sense people or demon’s anatomy and micro expression better than normal human. It almost impossible to fool him. Yet with Lyra, it’s useless.

From the tail of his eyes, he quietly observes her saying something about the polices and the women.

“They’re weird,” she comments. “What’s the use of calling police? Shouldn’t they call ambulance first instead?”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about.”

“Really? But seriously, I was going to call ambulance before she shouted. I think it’s the first thing to do if you find someone who suddenly collapse.”

“Unless it wasn’t an accident.”

“… could it be murder?”

“Probably.”

Vergil can use his supersenses and his prodigious knowledges to find the perpetrator, but he’s not in the position to easily do the investigation. He’s son of Sparda, older twin brother of Dante the infamous Legendary Devil Hunter. Any reckless movement can reveal Vergil’s true identity. While Dante is proud of his reputation all over the world, Vergil doesn’t share the same excitement. He prefers to keep on low profile, invisible from public. Clearly, going to and fro to investigate won’t be his best choice at the moment.

“You could just go, you know, the moment they called police,” Lyra says. “You said you don’t want anyone knows that you’re a son of… that war hero.”

“And that I am.”

“Why are you still here then?”

“Can’t let a friend facing adversity on her own.”

“All I need to do is just cooperating and let the police do the hard work. It isn’t really an adversity.”

“Call it what you want. I know you’re aware of the anomality in this case.”

Lyra giggles, “You got me there.”

The hybrid sighs and cross his hands on the chest, “From what I can sense through those women, I have my own hunch.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“I think one of them has something to do with Clarissa Watson’s death. All of them are anxious and terrified, but their behaviors are unusual, like they keep something from the police.”

Lyra watches the three women; The blonde woman is the one who shouted to call the police. Her face shows a great grief, but surprisingly her behavior is unnaturally calm. While the woman in white dress is constantly crying since Clarissa’s death. The last woman, who has red hair and looks older than the other women, is the one who seemingly the most normal between them. She cries, but still manages to calming the other two women.

“Miss Martha Ventham,” Lyra points the blonde woman. “Mrs Holly Smith,” her fingers points the red-haired woman who Vergil assumes is the one who comes late, because he hasn’t seen that woman before. Then Lyra turns her finger to the woman in white dress. “And that’s Miss Elena Roberts.”

“How did you know their names?”

“I’m a librarian, Vergil. I have records of everyone who visited this library.”

“Or maybe you were eavesdropping when they were interrogated.”

Vergil doesn’t even have to look at Lyra’s mischievous smirk to see that his words are all true. “Typical.”

“Tell me Vergil, can hybrids die because of poison?”

“No. Our bodies have demonic immune to any kind of viruses, bacterias, and poisons. In a huge amount, we can still get hurt by the pathogen and poison, but it won’t critically damage us. We would heal eventually.”

“So… hypothetically speaking, poison won’t have effect on you.”

“True. But I presume your insane idea of having me drink Clarissa Watson’s coffee to make sure whether it’s poisoned or not isn’t really hypothetical for you, am I right?”

“I… haven’t even say a word—but yes! It takes time for the police to decide whether this is accident or murder. Look, they haven’t sent the forensic team.”

“… you’re right. It’ll take too much time to wait for the forensic team, if this is really a murder.”

“So, let’s split up, shall we? You go collect some evidences. Let me do the most difficult part.”

“Which is?”

Lyra glances at the group of grieving women. “Socializing, of course.”

--

It’s quite hard to tip toe and get away from the sight of the police, but Vergil has a practical idea. He leans his back on the wall, pretending to be bored, while quietly sends his doppelganger to investigate the crime scene. He measures his energy to make the doppelganger as transparent as possible to be unnoticed. With this, he doesn’t have to be directly hanging around the crime scene and catching any attentions.

From his doppelganger, he can see the Fiction section is already empty from officers, but they keep the place as it is for now to be further examined by the forensic team. Vergil’s doppelganger passes through the police line and spots three cups of coffee on the table, along with four books beside each coffees. One cup is shattered under the table, leaving stains of the coffee on the floor. He remembers the woman in the white dress, Elena Roberts, dropped the cup out of shock. That remind him of Elena’s dramatic behavior—she can’t stop crying and sobbing to the point Vergil finds it unusual. It looks like she’s very close with Clarissa, since she takes Clarissa’s death like the end of the world.

His focus turns to the cups on the round table with four chairs. Vergil remembers their seat positions. Clarissa was sitting between Elena and Martha Ventham. That makes it almost impossible for Holly Smith to do anything suspicious, since her seat was right in front of Clarissa’s. But that doesn’t mean she’s free from suspicion. She was the latest person to join the group. The doppelganger shadowy fingers touch the books on the table; Pride and Prejudice on Holly’s side, The Language and Poetry of Flowers on Clarissa’s, The Great Gatsby on Elena’s, and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings on Martha’s. There are no sign of unusal things from the books. No dust, no stain or anything, but it’s important for Vergil to take notes at everything because it can be useful.

Now the coffee. Aside from the broken cup, the other cups are all half-emptied. Poison might have no effect on him, but he has a profound knowledge of toxicology and can recognize it if there’s any poison in the cups. He examines the cups, even the broken one, but find nothing unusual. If there’s poison inside the coffee, even the doppelganger can smell it. 

But why did Martha Ventham insisted to call the police?

Thinking the crime scene is clear, Vergil almost send off the doppelganger to spy the police before he catches Nate stares at the doppelganger dreadly. His eyes and mouth are wide open as if he sees a ghost. Technically, the doppelganger is a spectral created from Vergil’s demonic power. From human eyes, it could be seen as a ghost.

Poor man will never forget this haunting moment.

Nate holds his breath and fasten his steps away after the doppelganger vanishes.

Vergil grins in amusement. It’s funny to see people afraid of something they don’t understand yet.

--

“Clarissa was a good person. The kindest one. I’ve never thought…” Holly Smith sighs as her teary eyes meet Lyra’s. “I just can’t believe…”

“Did she have a heart problem?” Lyra asks, wrapping Holly’s hand with her own hand. “The way she collapsed, I think she—you know…”

“She had mild arrhythmia. Usually it’s not dangerous. I don’t know, she was just fine—completely fine before it happened. She still laughed with us. But then she said she had a sudden headache and nausea. I thought she would be okay after she vomited but…”

“Poor lady… did she take her medicine today?”

“I don’t know.  I just saw her drinking her coffee. I know because I sat right in front of her. She usually took digoxin to stabilized her heartbeat. I guess she forgot to take her medicine or she had too much dose of it, who knows…”

“I see… that must be horrible,” Lyra mutters sympathetically. “How long have you known Miss Watson?”

“About three years. She was my wedding’s florist. She was all lovely and kind. Her customers adore her. It’s hard to dislike such a person.”

“It must be hard for you and your friends.”

“Of course… but I can’t imagine how Elena’s and Martha’s feelings… they were close with Clarissa since high school.”

Well, that’s new. “The police said you were the last one to join the group.”

“Yes, I need to check my husband first before I came here. He got lung cancer and need to be hospitalized.”

“When you arrived, did you see anything unusual from your friends?”

“Unusual…? No, no. At first I didn’t see them because I took my coffee first, then I spotted their bags and cups on the Fiction section, so I put my coffee and my bag there and searched them between the shelves. I found Clarissa and joined her to browse a book.”

Holly lowers her voice. “I have to say… I—I don’t how to put it into words… but Clarissa told me that she had an argument with Elena before they came here. She didn’t exactly tell me the details and I didn’t ask her further because they seemed to have resolved their problem. It must be hard for Elena to take this matter. I can understand why she cries like that, you know, you fought with your best friend and a minute later you found out she’s dead.”

The librarian nods. “Your voice is getting sore, Mrs Smith. I’ll get you water.”

“Thank you.”

Lyra walks to the office, quickly pour water inside three glasses. She contemplates on Holly’s words. She had arrhythmia. Could that be the main cause of the death? But arrhythmia is generally not too dangerous as long as the patient regularly takes their medicine in appropriate dose as prescribed by doctor. Perhaps she took too much of it? Or maybe one of them intentionally gave the wrong dose? Since the police hasn’t declare the result of the autopsy yet, it will be difficult to find out the true cause of Clarissa’s death.

Lyra lifts the tray and passes Vergil, giving him an understanding smile. The hybrid gives her a sly smirk in return. Lyra spots a subtle of his demonic power around the police. It seems that Vergil uses his doppelganger to eavesdrop the police. And he called me typical? That sly devil.

“Here you go, Mrs Smith.” Lyra gives Holly Smith a glass of water.

“Thank you. You’re so kind.”

“You’re welcome.”

Lyra excuses herself and approaches the other two women who sit a bit far from Holly Smith. Elena Roberts is still crying, leaning her head on Martha Ventham’s shoulder. Lyra presents the water on the table in front of them and take a seat beside Martha.

“My condolences for your loss,” Lyra says.

“Thank you,” Martha sobs. “We’re sorry for causing commotion here.”

“It’s alright.”

Elena drinks the water almost hurriedly before she sobs again. “I-I can’t b-believe—Clarissa was just fine when we were heading here—we knew this library from internet and we thought it would be nice if the four of us v-visit—“

“I know, dear, I know.” Martha pats Elena’s shoulder.

“I—I need to get out for a while. I can’t stand it—“

“Of course, Miss Roberts.” Lyra answers politely.

Martha helps her friend to stand up as she and Lyra watch her walks shakily outside the library and closes the door abruptly.

“Elena is always the most sensitive between us,” Martha explains as she wipes her teary eyes with handkerchief. “She can cry almost all the time if something touches her heart deeply.”

Lyra nods in understanding, “I can understand her feeling.”

“All of this… is just… unexpected. We were here to having fun. I came early because I was too excited to meet my friends again. Clearly I never expected to see my best friend died in front of me. She didn’t deserve any of this.”

“Did she show any kind of sickness before she collapsed?”

“No. Not at all. As I said, I came here first, then we browsed the book together. About ten minutes later, Holly joined us. Nothing happened before Clarissa suddenly coughed and… you know the rest of the story.”

“Mrs Smith told me that Miss Watson was a florist.”

“Ah, yes! She was a proficient florist. She had a flower shop at Carrington Street. She loved flowers as it was her own soul. Since our graduation from high school, she always wanted to be a florist.”

“By the way, Miss Ventham, I need your opinion, since you think there’s something wrong with this case.”

Martha’s eyes are narrowed, “What do you mean I think there’s something wrong with this?”

“You shouted to call the police. Then you must know that something’s off. Otherwise, you would call the ambulance first instead of police.”

Martha gulps as she straighten her back. It’s obvious that she knows something. She scans through the room, making sure that no one will hear them before she whispers to Lyra, “It’s personal. I can’t tell the cop because Clarissa made me promised that I won’t tell everyone. But I feel like I have to call them, see if they found something suspicious from her death.”

Lyra nods as she wraps her hand on Martha’s, giving her reassurance, “I know that promise is a sacred thing. It just… I’m afraid police will get suspicious to you, Miss Ventham. Everyone has already witnessed that you’re the one who shouted to call the police. And to be very honest, that’s a rather suspicious thing to do. The police might have come to their conclusion that you have something to do with Miss Watson’s death.”

“For the love of God, no!” Martha’s whisper sounds desperate. “I won’t ever hurt my best friend! Nonsense!”

“Then you must tell your own story about this… a small thing to help the police to finish this case, and who knows it might help you free your worries.”

Martha considers Lyra’s words seriously. She closes her face with her palms, feeling extremely drained and frustrated. She takes a deep breath and murmurs, “Clarissa said she was blackmailed.”

“Blimey!”

“A week ago, she asked me to come to her house. She sounded terrified. She told me there was a bouquet of dark crimson roses at the front door of the house. I saw the bouquet; it was so dark that it almost like black roses. You know, in the language of flowers, black rose means—“

“Death.”

Martha slowly nods, “Exactly. I was going to tell Elena and Holly, but Elena was still in grief because she recently had miscarriage and Holly’s husband is hospitalized. Besides, Clarissa made me promised to not telling this to anyone. After the day she received the bouquet, nothing happened until today. I wish… I wish I could prevent her death. This madness drives me mad to think that Holly might be the one who threatened her, because she has a garden of roses at her house and she was jealous for Clarissa’s attention to her husband when she visited him at the hospital. But Clarissa was always kind to everyone! I know it was just a blinded accusation. It just a crazy thought in crazy situation. Holly is my friend. I should’ve never pointed my finger at her.”

She wipes her eyes again, “I’m sorry. I think you’re right. I should tell the police about this. It’s no use anymore to keep it as secret. At least this is the only thing I can do to help Clarissa.”

“I hope your testimony will help to finish this case.”

“Thank you. Anyway, would you do me a favour to look after Elena while I talk to the cop? She can’t be let alone or she would making scene.”

“Sure thing, Miss Ventham.”

“Thank you so much.”

Lyra’s eyes follow Martha’s steps as she heads out from the library. She suspects the police will change their direction of the investigation after they hear Martha’s explanation. She watches Nate gives a cigarette to Elena Roberts as they smoke together.

“Nate!” Lyra greets her co-worker. “I was looking for you!”

Nate blows the smoke out from his mouth, “I need to evacuate myself outta that hellish building.”

“Why so?”

“I saw a ghost! A real ghost!”

Lyra snorts. He must’ve seen Vergil’s doppelganger. “Nate, you work with your father for almost your entire life at this library. I work here for only two years, and I never saw any ghosts.”

“Ouch, that hurts! You don’t believe me, right? Then wait for your turn to be haunted by that frigging transparent ghost.”

“You’re exhausted, Nate. Relax.” Lyra approaches Elena Roberts who says nothing since Lyra’s arrival. “Miss Roberts? Are you alright? Your friends are waiting for you.”

Elena Roberts looks weary as she lets the smoke out from her mouth. Her makeup looks messy. It must be a horrific burden for her, to had miscarriage and the death of her best friend all of sudden.

“I-I’m sorry…” she sobs. “This is too much for me…”

“I understand.”

“I’m sorry… I broke the cup.” She mutters and wipe her tears. “I don’t know what to do. I saw her and—and I still can’t believe it!”

“It’s fine, Missy. A cup is replaceable.” Nate tries to cheer her up.

“I regret that I had a fight with her before we went to this library. But it was all over. We apologized and we made fun of our earlier argument. Everything came back to normal. It was all fine.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. I heard from the police you had miscarriage, and now your friend…”

Nate coughes as he drops his cigarette, “—dammit! I’m so sorry, Missy. Couldn’t imagine how hard it’s all for you.”

Elena nods and gives him a weak smile, “Thank you. It was just a month ago, and now my friend died in front of me. I must be cursed!”

“I believe it just an unfortunate event.” Lyra says.

“Then why do these miserable things happened to me? They all left me—my baby, my fiancé, my best friend! She was just fine when I picked her up, even when we arrived and browsing books along with Martha before Holly joined us. Then after she drank the fucking coffee—for Christ’s sake!”

Lyra and Nate exchange a pitiful look.

Elena begins to tremble again and panicly holds Lyra’s hand. “Martha brought us our coffee because she came here first. My heart tells me it was her doing. Who knows she put something to our cups? Clarissa told me that Martha borrowed a large amount of money from her to pay Martha’s rent, but she hasn’t pay it while Clarissa needed her money to return. Yet Martha scolded her for being arrogant and heartless! I know it must be Martha! That greedy, ungrateful bit—!”

“Whoa, whoa, Missy! Calm yourself down! You’re not serious with your words, right? It’s your friend we’re talking about!” Nate cuts the accusation.

Elena starts to sob again. “Oh God… what have I done?”

Nate gives her a cigarette again to calm herself down. Lyra decides to leave them alone because it seems like she has all the necessary informations from the women. She enters the library and walks to the Rare section where Vergil is already waiting for her.

--

“The forensic team comes to take samples on the crime scene,” Vergil says. “Because they found out cardiac glycosides inside Clarissa Watson’s blood, and they assume it could be murder.”

“According to Mrs Smith, Miss Watson had arrhythmia. It explains why her blood contained cardiac glycoside. She took digoxin regularly.”

“That I know. But they also found a large amount of some glycosides from convallaria majalis plant inside her blood.”

“Convalla—you mean that lily of the valley flower?“

“Correct. All parts of the plant contains at least 38 known cardiac glycosides. Convallaria has been used to treat congestive heart failure and some types of arrhythmias. However, the safe amount of lily of the valley is still debatable and if ingested in uncontrolled dosages, the effects on the human heart can be catastrophic.” 

“So... if combined with digoxin...” 

“It will cause more irregular heartbeats and increase the side effects of those glycosides. And there’s more than that. The plant contains non-protein amino acid called Azetidine-2-carboxylic acid. It’s incredibly toxic to humans even in small doses. Misincorporation of that acid into humans proteins can alter collagen, keratin, hemoglobin, and protein folding. Basically it changes human body function on a molecular level.”

“... that’s a terrible way to die.” Lyra contemplates. “Miss Watson was a florist. She must had a bunch of lily of the valley at her shop. It could explain why there’s convallatoxin inside her blood. But I think it’s impossible for a florist to do reckless thing such as intentionally consume lily of the valley.”

“Then it leads us to one conclusion; someone intentionally poisoned her. This person knows her illness and the medication she was taking regularly. But that’s the problem. I found nothing in Watson’s cup. It’s just a coffee.”

“Oh, bugger!”

“Miss Lyra Clayton?”

Lyra looks up to see the man who calls her. It looks like the man is from the forensic team, “Yes?”

“I’d like to ask your permission to collect the coffee cups as the evidence to be examined.”

Lyra smiles politely, “Of course.”

The officer hurries himself to join his team to the crime scene.

“Clayton,” Vergil emphasizes. “All these months, you never told me your surname.”

“Is that important now?”

The hybrid shrugs, “At least you could tell me.”

He looks adorable when he’s sulking like that. “Alright then. My name is Lyra Clayton. Nice to meet you.”

“I didn’t ask you to re-introduce yourself.”

“Well, I’m just emphasizing my name to you.”

“… I prefer your first way to introduce yourself.”

“With a riddle? For real? I thought you hate riddles!”

“It just seems natural,” Vergil looks away. “I just… I don’t like the idea of not knowing you entirely.”

“…”

“Nevermind,” he blurts. “Now tell me what you find from those women.”

She tells him everything, from Clarissa’s illness to the women’s personal problems and accusations to each other. Vergil keeps silent throughout the librarian’s explanation. He almost think that maybe this was a mere accident, that maybe Clarissa Watson accidentally consumed lily of the valley. But that sounds forced and too… incidental. The timing, the place, the blackmail that Clarissa received a week ago, the mental condition of Clarissa’s friends… It just not right.

Vergil recalls his memories of the broken cup. He didn’t taste the coffee—of course it’s humiliating to lick the coffee stain on the floor. He’s not a mindless animal. Yet he believes he saw something. Not unusual, but quite noticeable and looks completely normal.

“… none of them wear red lipstick.”

“Sorry, what?”

“I think it’s normal for women to wear lipstick.”

“Sure. It’s normal. I wear it sometimes too. What is it, Vergil?”

“It just… strange.”

“Why so?”

“The broken cup. There’s a red lipstick mark on it. I remember Clarissa Watson wore red lipstick. That makes it possible to someone to switch their own cup with Watson’s cup without raising any suspicion. Each of them are not always sit still to read, sometimes they searched for a book at another section or refill their cups. And when Watson collapsed, they switched back the cups and dropped it on purpose; to erase the suspicion.”

“But the police must’ve found the poison container already when they searched their belongings.”

“… you’re right.”

“But I agree with you. They all are suspect now. But first, we need to find the container. That’s the only way to find out the true killer. They have motives. Money problem, jealousy, and the unknown argument… Their accusations towards each other are not reliable.”

“All of them had a chance to put the poison. We need to look closer to their motives and the remaining evidences.”

Vergil sighs frustratedly and turns his head to the group of women. The case shows the light at the end of the tunnel, but they haven’t reach its end. They need to find the evidence; the poison container, if it really existed. The container must be still with one of them. But what could it be? Who brought it?

“The necklace.” Lyra murmurs.

“Pardon?”

“The necklace is gone. See?”

Ah.

Foolishness, Vergil. How could you miss that?

--

MURDER IN THE LIBRARY

Clarissa Watson (35), a florist and owner of Persephone Flower Shop died after collapsing at The Literarium, a small local library at Michelangelo Street on 11 March. The police declared that Watson’s death was caused by lily of the valley (convallaria majalis) poisoning. The library served free coffee and the cardiac glycosides from the lily of the valley flower was found inside Watson’s cup. According to the police, Watson had arrhythmia and she had to take digoxin regularly. With the digoxin combined with convallatoxin, both cardiac glycosides lead her to death. It was revealed that her friend, Elena Roberts (35) was the one who poured the poison inside Watson’s coffee. To cover her action, she dropped Watson’s cup that she switched earlier to erase the evidence when Watson collapsed.

At first, Roberts objected that she was too panic and can’t think clearly while dropping Watson’s cup, thinking it was her own cup. She also claimed she didn’t possess the poison. It was revealed that Roberts’s fingerprints are also appeared on the broken cup. The police also found Robert’s necklace from her clothes. The necklace contained residue of liquid convallaria majalis inside its removable tube-shaped pendant.

According to another of Watson’s friends who were present at the moment, Martha Ventham (35) and Holly Smith (37), Roberts was depressed because of her recent miscarriage. Roberts herself finally admitted that she thought Watson took part of her miscarriage by giving her chamomile and ginger tea when she visited Watson’s house three weeks ago. Roberts didn’t know she was pregnant until the miscarriage happened. She claimed she was devastated and it was hard for her to not blame Watson for the miscarriage. She put a bouquet of dark crimson roses at Watson’s house a week before this tragedy happened as a threat that she could never forget Watson’s mistake. Ventham confirmed this statement since she saw the bouquet when Watson told her about the blackmail, but she never thought that it was Roberts who sent it.

“Clarissa made me promised to shut my mouth about it,” Ventham stated. “But when she collapsed, I remember that bouquet and I couldn’t help myself to not call the police. Something’s wrong, and I have to find the truth for Clarissa’s sake”. Smith also confirmed that Watson and Roberts had an argument before their arrival at the library. It was then revealed that Roberts confronted Watson about the miscarriage, but Watson denied it.

Roberts said that the idea of murder just popped on her head  since two weeks ago and she chose lily of the valley because it was Watson’s favourite flower.

“Lily of the valley means return of happiness” Roberts stated. “I know because Clarissa told me that. I thought with her death by her own favourite flower, it would return my happiness after I lost my baby, but I can only feel nothing. I lost everything, and maybe I deserve that.”

 12 March, 02:00 pm

Lyra closes the newspaper and turns her eyes to Vergil, who continues to read Beowulf, “Do chamomile really can cause miscarriage?”

The hybrid grumbles, “Do I look like I’m capable to answer that?”

“You know, it’s rude to answer question with question.”

Vergil grunts. “All I know about miscarriage that it could happened by many factors. Too much chamomile might trigger the miscarriage, but that’s not always the case.”

Lyra nods slowly as she puts the newspaper down and picks up The Turn of The Screw. “At least that explains Miss Roberts’s over-dramatic reaction. I guess she feels guilty after murdering her friend, realizing that it was all to late and she can’t redo everything. But we can never really blame her frustration. She wasn’t in the right state of mind.”

“It is always better to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning,” Vergil recites the line from Beowulf. “It’s strange what human could do in devastation.”

“Yeah, such as stabbing themselves with a magic sword and split them into two different beings.”

Lyra laughs when Vergil gives her his usual deadly glare.

“Well, at least we have more customers thanks to Miss Roberts,” Lyra chuckles as she observes the guests. “Nate was right about that. Though Mr Steiner stopped giving free coffee. No more murder in the library, he said.”

“I’m happy for you.”

“You don’t look happy.”

“I don’t have to smile like Joker to tell you that I’m happy.”

“You’re funny guy, you know that?”

“Don’t call me funny.”

“And you’re the best partner in crime!”

“Silence.”

Even though Vergil dismisses her words harshly, Lyra still can see the subtle warm smile on Vergil’s lips. She flips the page of The Turn of The Screw and tell herself to finish the book today. There’s a long pause before she realizes that Vergil stares at her with unreadable expression. Uncomfortable with that kind of gaze, Lyra chuckles, “You know it’s rude to stare, right?”

“Pardon me. I was just trying to recall.”

“Of what?”

“Remind me again, what did exactly you tell the police once we found out the disappearance of Elena Roberts’ necklace?”

“Well… as we agreed, I told the police that Miss Roberts’ necklace could be the evidence they’ve looked for. As we know, the necklace has a tube pendant which could contains approximately 1-2 ml of liquid inside it. It was odd that she suddenly removed the necklace out of the blue, for we know she wore it since her arrival here with Miss Watson. It was a gamble, but the police confirmed that the tube contained residue of convallatoxin. It was easy for Miss Roberts to pour the poison inside Miss Watson’s cup and quickly removed the necklace right before she joined them to browse the books. We know that Mrs Smith might have turned to be the suspect since she was the latest to join the group, so she didn’t have any chance to witness Miss Roberts’ position before her arrival and she sat at her chair first to put her coffee on the table before she joined her group.”

“And Martha Ventham had witnessed that Holly Smith has a garden of roses at her house, which could indicated that she was the one who brought the bouquet of dark crimson roses as a threat to Clarissa Watson.”

“Correct. That strengthen Miss Roberts’ alibi.”

“So all the pieces of puzzle was collected,” Vergil leans forward and taps his fingers on the table. “But there’s a major plot hole.”

Lyra tilts her head, “And what is that?”

Vergil deeply gazes at Lyra’s eyes, his voice is almost gentle. “How did you know that Elena Roberts wore the necklace since the first of her arrival?”

Vergil has read too much micro-expressions and even if just a slightest, he can senses a fight-or-flight instinct from the librarian as her face turns pale and her eyes dilate before she quickly collects her self-control and pretending to be confused with Vergil’s question.

“Because I saw it. Don’t we all, Vergil?”

“I saw the necklace because she and Clarissa Watson almost bumped at me near the receptionist table. When the murder happened, the necklace was already gone. You were reading seriously all the time before you stood up to get some water for Clarissa Watson when she vomited at the toilet. That means Elena Roberts had already poured the poison before that moment happened and she already hid her necklace. Panic and sadness consumed them all and that made them unaware of menial thing like a necklace.” Vergil stops his finger’s movement. “In conclusion, Lyra, you never saw the necklace. But somehow you recognized the disappearance of the necklace. How did you know that?”

“I… asked her friends, of course.”

“That would be invalid, because they must’ve suspected it too and would immediately confronted her about the necklace, or at least they would report it to the police. But no, they all gathered up and crying for the loss of their best friend.”

That statement edges Lyra to her loss. She sighs deeply in defeat, looking around her like she’s making sure that no one heard their conversation. She slowly bites her lips and looking at Vergil’s eyes, seriously considering something.

The hybrid knows this is the time he finally get his answer for his long unsettling feeling to Lyra. He waits patiently all these months to find out, even hoping for Lyra to tell him in person. When he said that he dislikes to not knowing anything about her yesterday, he means it and deep down he wishes Lyra to understand it. It’s obvious that he likes her a little too much, but there’s still a border between them that he finds it hard to completely trust her.

I want to trust you.

“Stardust,” he lowers his voice. “You accept me for who I really am. You consider me as your friend despite my flaws. Please understand that I intend to do so to you.”

The feeling of grateful and relief fill his heart when Lyra finally nods in agreement at him. Her smile blooms again, now it’s brighter and sincere than her first fake smile. She still has her own doubt, but finally she takes a deep breath and grins.

“You’re right, it’s not fair. You told me everything and I’ll return the favor. I believe you can keep it a secret.”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

She giggles.

“My head is full of ghosts,” Lyra says. “It’s a metaphor, because it sounds like whispers, then it turns into pictures.”

What’s she talking about?

“I don’t remember since when I possess this, nor how I acquired it. It just happened automatically. It’s… mostly frustrating. It mentally drains me, to know things I should not and never want to know. At least before I met you. Whenever you’re around me, it’s always stop. It goes normal just like everyone else doing. You don’t know how relieved I am to be with you. You stop the ghosts.”

“I am honoured,” Vergil says. “But I’m afraid I still don’t follow—”

“I can’t read your mind, Vergil.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s the thing, because I always can read everyone’s mind, whether it’s humans or demons. But not you, and not when you’re around me. It seems like your presence disables my ability. But yesterday, when I touched those women’s hands, I realized that I still able to read mind when you’re around if I touch them. Now you know how I recognized Miss Roberts’ necklace, as well as the fact I know that she’s the killer all along. But I can’t just tell you all informations I acquired from her head. That’s why I have to discuss it with you. To guide you to the answer.”

Ah. The realization comes to Vergil’s head. She’s a telepath.

The librarian touches Vergil’s hand and grab it softly. It surprises him and he almost pull his hand off, but he restrains himself. He won’t lose to his own fear of physical contacts.

Slowly, she releases Vergil’s hand. “Yet… even if I touch you like this, I still see nothing. I wonder if it’s Sparda’s protection on you. I don’t dare forcing myself to look inside your head. I fear that would make you aware of my ability. Besides, I respect your privacy. I see too much. That’s why I like it when you’re with me. You give me solitude.”

I was wrong all this time. The voidness that Vergil always see whenever he watches Lyra’s eyes is the burden of the eyes that see too much. The eyes that exhausted and always wander to find peace and calmness. Sometimes it’s hard to see the truth behind the unfamiliar eyes, especially the eyes like hers. But now he understands the meaning of it. Vergil knows that knowledge can be a curse—she suffers silently with her ability to read mind.

“Thank you for your honesty,” he states. “You should’ve tell me earlier.”

“I thought it would make you uncomfortable.”

Nonsense. Of course I won’t feel uncomfortable whenever I’m with you.

“Will you try to read my mind again?” he asks.

“I told you already, I can’t. I’ve tried.”

Vergil reaches out his hand, “Just try it. I will allow you to read what’s on my mind at the moment.”

Lyra grabs his hand and trying to focus on Vergil’s head instead of his icy, alluring eyes. At first she gets nothing, just a static darkness, then she sees some blurry images that she can’t perceived. It seems that whatever protection in Vergil’s mind, it will endure itself if Vergil allows it, but although Lyra tries her best to clear her vision, the pictures are getting hazy, in fact, the more she tries to break Vergil’s mind, the darker it goes.

Then she hears it. It’s not quite like Vergil’s voice, more like a brainwave, but she can clearly interprets the meaning, and that makes her smile gets wider as she realizes that Vergil also awares of her presence inside his mind.

‘Our minds are connected!’ she exclaims.

Vergil still tries to adjust the new experience, ‘This is… curious. Have you done this before?’

‘No. This is the first time. Must be enchanced by the power of Sparda, eh?’

‘Could be.’

‘This is wicked!’

‘Even without opening your mouth, you’re still a chatterbox.’

‘And you’re still a grumpy devil.’

A sudden thought comes up from Vergil’s mind, but he hastily holds himself before Lyra could interpret it. That breaks their mind connection. He seems flustered, gripping his book tightly. Knowing that Vergil hides something, Lyra eyes the hybrid in front of her in a playful manner.

“You know no one can hear us, Vergil.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Then you know I won’t tell it out loud, whatever thought you just hold before. I’m the only one who can hear you.”

“That’s precisely why I won’t tell you.”

Lyra shrugs and pick up her book again. For a moment they don’t talk to each other. But when Lyra almost finishes her book, her head jolts a little as she receives a thought from Vergil.

‘Places among the stars,

Soft gardens near the sun,

Keep your distant beauty;

Shed no beams upon my weak heart.

Since she is here

In a place of blackness,

Not your golden days

Nor your silver nights

Can call me to you.

Since she is here

In a place of blackness,

Here I stay and wait.’

Vergil gives her a quick glance and small grin after Lyra nods to him as a confirmation that she gets what he thinks. She knows that Vergil has a hard time to uttering his feelings and prefers to recite poems as his odd way to express whatever inside his mind and his heart. She knows that the poem isn’t exactly what Vergil wanted to tell her earlier, but she knows that this is the other way to tell her his intention. It’s still too subtle for her, but the poem warms her heart. It’s like a promise that Vergil will keep her secret and he accepts her the way she is, not even asking how could she possesses such a power, for Lyra is just a human.

Because Vergil will wait for her, and perhaps Lyra should never underestimate his patience.

‘Thank you, Vergil.’

--

List of recited poems and quotes

Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

The Epistle of Forgiveness by Al Ma’arri

Beowulf by Anonymous

Places Among The Stars by Stephen Crane

The title of this story was quoted from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake

Tagging @drusoona @queenmuzz @shiranyaaww @harlot-of-oblivion @andieperrie18 @lovemadnessharleyquinn @rubixa-seraph 

Ao3 | Masterlist

[vespiiqueen]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box of the last 10 people who reblogged something from you (if you want !! 💛💖)

Wow I rambled a lot with this but i can't add cuts bc I'm on mobile rn DHSISHSJ sorry :"))))

.

.

1. Ik Ik "haha how cringe are you" of me to say, but honestly? Homestuck. Homestuck helped me in a time of need and when i so desperately wanted something to latch onto. Finally, I caved into my friends telling me to read it-- and it's been a blast!! The epilogues / hs^2 make me feel kinda sad though, because so much of what I loved about the original was yeeted through the nine circles of hell and into the trash. I love Y/ffany's (I call her Yippi tho) design, the art is really pretty at times, Harry is a major dork, I LIVE for seeing Vrissy bc honestly?? Her design is 10/10, very early 2000s emo style and I also live for that. Tavros is cute and a nerd and I think that's swell!

But in terms of story and how any of this happens, it makes me sad to see it happen. If Vriska could return as Vrissy, why not OTHER beta trolls? Where's my Eridan fish man, writers?? Give me the boy or perish by my fury.

2. Also super "haha how cringe are you" but,,, murder cats (Warriors), esp the early 2005-2015 amvs and stuff. I remember watching Flightfootwarrior's "I Will Not Bow" Scourge amv for HOurs and having no clue what was happening, but all these edgy kitties were KITTIES! It's introduced me to a lot of music I still listen to to this very day (Imagine Dragons, Young/the entirety of Hollywood Undead, Breaking Benjamin). And yknow what?? This new arc is absolute chaos, but in the good way.

I'm an "OG Fan". I prefer the first arc, The Prophecies Begin, to almost any of the other arcs. I just could never get into the other arcs-- not to say I haven't read them, I HAVE and the Fire Scene was probably one of my favorite moments beside grumpy Jaypaw, god complex Lionblaze, and fear the gods Hollypaw. I thought the build-up for it was SUPER satisfying. Gray Wing is my baby and I fully embellish in the Gray Wing is Silverpelt theory.

This new arc is definitely something new for the universe. While I didn't read aVoS (but I may do that if i can find the files for it), and so I don't know the major events of it other than what I've seen M.A.P.'s (Multi-Animator Projects, for clarification,,, bc unfortunately that term is also something disgusting). There's fucking cat possession and all the Clans questioning their belief system, yo. Shit be on fire.

Also the Imposter is 100% Ashfur, that's canon now, yeah??? Also im sorry but fuck Root x Bristle that's the dumbest shit I have ever seen. Give me Root x Shadow or face the wrath of my dragon plushies.

RiverClan is my Clan and my gov assigned warrior name is Fireshell 🌟🌟

3. As much as I hate the author,,,,, Harry Potter. It's been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can never really remember why, but I've always just loved it- the movies, the books, the extra little merch that would pop up in my local Walmart. Of course my favorite character is Draco Malfoy. I could go on and on and ON about how I think his character arc was SHIT and JKR didn't have the balls to make him a confident gay man that was always implied through the text (at least, my lesbian ass thought it was implied but i may just be projecting, idk). I could ramble about Draco for HOURS and what I think his character SHOULD have been and how his parents are horrible (more specifically, Lucius bc Narcissa [?] Actually showed a few good moments), and a child should never have to pay for their parents sins.

Oh noo, Draco's a villain because he's a victim of major abuse and peer pressure? He's a villain because a literal child can be horrible and they'll always always always stay as a horrible little fiend?? Fuck that. He's a child.

Unlike manchild grease pan Snape, who was a racist piece of shit and shouldn't have became a fucking school teacher but it's okay because he was ~~~in love~~~. No, fuck you, he was a creep. James Potter n Co may have been a little posh bitch to you, Snape, but that's no fucking excuse to continue to bluntly be a little cunt all the way into adulthood. You're an adult who flatly changed your PATRONUS to imitate Lily's. You have no excuse. And Harry went and named his child after you LIKE JESUS CHRIST, DID RON'S SISTER NOT HAVE A SAY IN THE NAMES TOO?????

I also fully adore the idea that Muggles can run into Hogwarts and their patronus can 100% be a made up, fantasy creature. Imagine you learn the patronus spell and suddenly fucking ARCEUS comes from your wand. Imagine learning the spell and CHTULU (i did not spell that right but im so tired) comes from your wand-- an entire ass fucking Lovecraftian, Eldrith horror is just the embodiment of you. What if it was a fucking Homestuck character like Vriska? How fucking METAL would that be?? Hskajssowjjsjs get on it fandom.

4. Hee hee very evident by my url but Pokemon is another major thing of mine. While vespiquen isn't my favorite (that title goes to Hydreigon), it is definitely up there!

I've ALWAYS enjoyed the idea of Pokemon. You run around, training up these fight monsters and collecting them. I remember playing my sister's Ruby version on her flip-up Gameboy. I couldn't even read but I ran around catching god only knows how many of the same pokemon wherever she was. Apparently, I had fought for hours in the same area and leveled her Blaziken up to lvl 50 something and left her lvl 30s in the dust LMAO.

I got my first game when it was Pearl/Diamond. It was Pearl, and it still holds a very fond place in my heart. I could barely read, I could barely write-- I had named my Turtwig something along the lines of "MmorpHy" and my player boy "ZbsibJ". Yes I remember the names slightly. I really didn't get far-- I barely got to the first gym but I was just so happy to play it.

I eventually lost the game, as a 5 year old would do, but I can still vividly remember what was happening when the game arrived. I had just came back from the dentist and was quite tired from fighting the dentist bc I was super scared. Mom suddenly handed me a box and said it was mine-- my overseas (at that time) dad had bought me Pearl and my sister Diamond, because I lost my shit about it when he visited one time.

Well, tdlr, I played it for about five minutes while struggling to stay awake against the loopy gas they made me take. I fell asleep listening to Twinleaf Town's soundtrack. Every time I play a rom of Pearl and I get to where the player's house fades in and I hear that first tune of the song, I get a huge smile on my face and cry-- as.. Weird as it sounds.

A few years later, I had gotten Pokemon Black bc I liked Reshiram on the cover. Now, this one I could actually READ when playing, but I don't remember a lot of things about it. I probably lost this one too, as a 8/9 year old would do. I DO remember, I chose Snivy and my sister chose Tepig (hrmm there's a theme here of grass/fire goin on......) and vibing to the music. I was so amazed by the sprites moving, I just kept getting into encounters to see the sprites move (oh boy, no one tell younger 7-9 y/o me about Zelda......oh wait....)

Playing Pokemon NOW, as a 17 year old """gifted""" chick, I stil have very fond memories. I recently beat Pokemon Black again and GOD the OTS SLAPS. I fucking adore the soundtrack-- the track that plays when you battle a trainer, the low health dings being turned into a legit song that also slaps, the battle! gym leader themes-- and oh my gOd, the legendary theme is amazing? It really tells you just how glorious these pokemon are supposed to be. It's not intimidating like Groudon/Kyroge/Rayquaza's themes. It's not action packed like Palkia/Dialga's is, it's not filled with tension like Giratina/Arceus's is-- but it radiates the GLORY that the beasts portray. And I live for that. (Also, Kyurem's version is my favorite because it glitches in the beginning and that's rly cool)

P/D/P and BW/BW2's stories, imo, are some of the greatest ones. Yeahhh, US/USUM's is cool and I haven't played XY nor SwSh-- but the ones I can find memorable are PDP and BW/BW2. I love N. I love Barry. They're my sons. Ghetsis is fucking terrifying, Cyrus needs a hug. Giratina scared the piss out of me when I was younger, which was NOT helped by Giratina and The Sky Warrior.

I think my favorite movies are the gen 4 ones. The Rise of Darkrai having a tear-jerking theme for such a mysterious pokemon (i still tear up when i hear Ocarion), Giratina being spiteful is a mood and Shaymin was cute, Arceus being angry is also a mood. Yeah, Pokemon 4Ever made me cry my eyes out over Celebi, Mewtwo Returns made me again cry because Mewtwo accepting who he is, I remember how vastly different the BW movies are-

I just. I have a lot of memories with the series, even if Gamefreak and Nintendo kinda do the series dirty a lot (your top-grossing thing and you made That monstrosity for the Switch? How dare you.). It's comforting to be stressed and pull up my roms for the games and to play them. Mystery Dungeon is incredibly fun to play, Pokemon Ranger is really fun with the concept (Shadows of Almia continues to kick my ass to this very day and FUCK the Jungle Relic, I hate the Water Challenge fucking gyarados bullshit). I remember the pokemon I got for MD (I got Time, my sis got Darkness) was Mudkip, if that is any help.

I love my little fictional pixel monsters.

5. Yup, someone told tiny 7-9 y/o me about console games. The legend of Zelda. My first Zelda game was Twilight Princess on the Wii and BOY did I play the fucking SHIT out of that game.

Honestly, looking back and looking at playthroughs now-- I still love TP. Twilight Princess is still one of my top favorite Zelda games-- yes, even after playing OoT, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, the anniversary four swords edition for the DS where you could play by yourself (Nintendo pls bring that back, I don't have friends to play it with ;-;), Phantom Hourglass- ect.

Something about Twilight Princess grabbed me by the head and yeeted me into the world. I can remember playing it for hours with little to no breaks. I, a tiny 9 y/o, had gotten the hang of the controllers and managed to get past the tutorial quite easily. And then, I was launched into the game and I wasn't stopping for NOTHING. Mom and Dad would have to force me to save and get off to go and eat dinner. THAT sucked.

I had done everything on my own up until the first temple, the forest temple. Not where/when you saved the dumb kid, but when you were saving the spirit's light. Theeeeeeennn I got stuck on the fucking Forest Temple for deadass six months straight. I'd play for hours, running around in circles, unable to figure out where to go, and because I didn't grasp the temple's purpose of being that way- I'd get angry and get off. It wasn't until dad looked up a walkthrough and talked me through what I was supposed to do that I learned how to get through temples.

I had gotten to the last little fight with Ganondorf before the Wii broke and i could no longer play. Despite the Wii being broke and we got rid of it, I was ADAMANT on keeping the game, and I kept that game for YEARS. It was an original copy out of a sealed box, and I eventually lost it when I left it accidentally at my now ex-friend's house.

She had a Wii and I went "hey I have a Wii game!" And I brought my Zelda over. Worst fucking choice of my goddamn life. Mom called me to come home and said I couldn't sleep over like the original plan was, and that was it. My ex-friend stashed my Zelda and I never saw it again. And, even if I wanted to-- I couldn't get it back, which makes me upset. We had a BAD falling out. She likely doesn't even remember it's there, or sold it to the local game junkie kid who buys ALL games.

But I still love the game. Midna was amazing, and I loved how snarky she was and she has a very cute design! The game's OST is fucking phenomenal. Midna's Desperate Hour makes me cry bc goddamn it really sells how serious that situation is. I love Hyrule Field's theme in this game. I love the Twilight Realm's song. Zant was fucking hilariously scary. Ganondorf's design in this game scared the piss out of me when I was younger.

Midna and this game's Link and Zelda are def my favorites. Yeah yeah, Sheik is cool and all I Guess but dhsushwishs Midna holds the special place in my heart. She was totally my gay awakening BUT

For other game antagonists, I adore Ghirahim-- let's go you funky little queer-coded villain. Skull Kid was great, I love the entire dynamic of him. Prankster lost soul stumbles upon Majora's Mask and the mask makes him act out due to powers-- which, I actually took very heavy inspiration from for one of my OCs. The moon falling to Hyrule was a fucking terrifying looming threat.

But the game series holds a place, and I've yet to be able to play BoTW-- although, I'm fairly certain I'll like it. The playthroughs I've watched of it are all fairly decent! I just. Gotta save up enough money to buy it haha.

Dang guess I gotta go watch a Twilight Princess playthrough again.

Honorable Mentions:

Avatar: the Last Airbender, specifically Book 3

my OCs definitely make me happy, they're my children and I'd ramble A LOT longer if given the chance WHEEZE

My friends, but I didn't add them here bc it's more fictional stuff, I presume

Baking. I love to bake cupcakes.

Painting is fun. I'm an artist and goddammit im going to use painting as an excuse to make a mess.

Fire. I rly like fire, down to a pyromaniac level. However, i hate the fires that happened to my home town, the Great Smokey Fires of 2016-- THAT pissed me off. How dare you burn mountain landscapes to the ground. Perish.

History. I'm a history nerd.

I'm also a science nerd.

But fuck math, I cannot comprehend math to save my life.

For some reason, I rly like learning how the human body works??? like did you know, organs are actually sticky when touched by a bare hand?? Did you?? How fucking cool is that.

Bakugan. I love Bakugan, esp the DS game. I love my Darkus Leonidas. Give me back the online world, you peasants-- I want my Darkus Dragonoid. (Also fuck all my friends from when I was in kindergarten- my theory that Alice was Masquerade was somewhat correct.)

[natalia-romanovas-world]

Dreams and Nightmares

Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is my second fiction, enjoy it and send your honest opinions!

---------------------------

The quinjet driven by Clint entered into a beautiful valley. Not knowing where are they heading to, Steve asked Clint and all he given was "You'll see." The jet descended to an area surrounded by trees and engines stopped while doors are opened by a loud hiss. One by one of the group came out from it and Natasha came later, still injured, hanging onto Clint.

Soon after, they are walking into a house, Clint knocked on the door and called "Honey?". Steve looked at Thor's questioned face and asked, "Clint, where are we, exactly?"

"Welcome to my safe house." answered Clint, opening the door and going in. "Fury set this one up, years ago. Kept this off SHIELD's files." And called, "Honey, where are you? I am home!". A pregnant woman came in front of them, smiling shyly and Clint introduced her to Steve, Tony, Thor, Bruce as "Gentlemen, this is Laura." Tony waved at her and she responded as "Hello guys, nice to finally meet you, I know all your names." Clint laughed and hugged her. She is a nice woman, Steve thought while Tony and Thor instantly remembered Pepper and Jane. 

"Daddy!" The group was startled for a minute to turn their faces to see a young boy and a girl running towards Clint's opened arms. Clint hugged them and the little girl asked, "Did you bring auntie Nat?". Natasha stood from where she was sitting and the girl ran towards her shouting a happy shriek.

After doing a number of household chores and getting a dinner done by Laura and Natasha, all of the group was feeling sleepy. Thor left early telling that he needs to elaborate the vision that Maximoff girl showed him. Steve tried to talk him out of it, but it was no use. On top of that Nick Fury came in to advice them. Laura and children were fast asleep and the remaining five of them were very exhausted.

"So, sleeping arrangements," Clint started, "Up there, two bedrooms, four of you guys can divide into two as you want," the group stared into each others faces and Bruce said, "Me and Nat, Tony and Steve. Sounds okay, right?" 

Everyone went to their rooms and tried to sleep despite the defeated feeling of their failed mission. Tony was tired so as soon as he touched the pillow he was out like a light. Steve was also tired but he needed to clean up before he get into the bed.

When he came back from the bathroom, Tony was already sleeping. Steve stared at his peaceful face, reminding himself that he is still a human behind all his iron armor. He got into the bed, spreading the sheet from down to up, and sleep hit him as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Steve was awaken by a muffled scream and a vigorous shake of bed. He woke up and switched on the bedside lamp to see what is happening. Sheets covering Tony were gone, and his fingers were clinging into the pillow, and his face was converted into a terrified state. He was constantly muttering, "Please don't leave me, please Cap, I need you. Please stay with me." Steve was terrified. He tried to wake up Tony, but it was no use. He was crying now, tears streaking down on his cheeks as he begged for the Captain to stay with him, not to leave him alone. One final agonizing scream saying "No!" and Tony woke up crying, sweating, heavily breathing into Steve's arms which are strongly wrapped around him. 

Tony cried loudly while hugging Steve while he ran his fingers through Tony's black-brown hair, trying him to calm down. When Steve tried to move out his hands, a little voice of Tony's said, "Please, don't let go. Hold me." So Steve stayed as he was before, letting Tony to shift into an easy position.

Still holding Tony onto him tightly, Steve wiped his tears with back of the hand, asking, "Nightmares, Tony?"

"Yeah, this one was rough."

"You were begging me to stay with you. What did you see?"

"Nothing. Nothing important."

"Tony, is there something that you are not telling me? Firstly Thor, now you? Please tell me, what the hell is going on with you? What made you so frightened, to beg me to stay with you?"

"That mind tricking bitch showed me something, Steve. You were all fallen, except me. Aliens are invading the planet, and I ran to check up on you, to see even whether you are alive, and you hold my hand and asked, "You could have saved us, why didn't you do more?" and died. Thats when I might've said you to stay with me."

"Where did this happened, may I ask?"

"In Sokovia, when we were infiltrating HYDRA."

"Oh god, Tony, why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid that this will let me down, you know 'I am Iron Man' something."

"Tony you will never be a let down. I mean you are always saving us, remember you flew a nuke to a Chitauri mothership? I can't do stuff like that even though I am a super soldier, but you can. Because you have this bravery inside you."

"I am not a hero like you."

"You are a hero in your own way, Tony. You are always doing more for us. See, the whole team is with you. We are going to fight this together, okay?"

"Okay." Tony said with a little voice, "I actually wanted you with me. Thats why I checked up only on you in that vision."

"Why especially me?"

"Uh, how can I put this? When you stand by my side, there is this feeling, like I can avenge the whole world, you know."

Steve kissed Tony's forehead in answer to that and Tony snuggled a little bit closer to him. They stayed the same for a time felt like eternity, and Steve raised his voice saying, "You should get cleaned up, you are a mess."

When he was all cleaned and dressed in Steve's big white shirt (because all his clothes were drenched in sweat), Tony got into the bed, looking fresh. He allowed Steve to cover him with the bedsheet and take him closer to snuggle.

"Cap?"

"Yes, Tony?"

"Don't leave me, stay with me forever. Not just staying for a mission, for the entire lifetime."

Steve took Tony's hand and planted a kiss onto it, saying, "I will, always."

The entire night went out without any nightmares.

The following day, Bruce, Clint and Natasha peeked into the room to see Steve Rogers and Tony Stark snuggled up, with the most peaceful smiles written all over their faces.

Clint wanted to wake them up for breakfast, but Natasha shushed him and closed the door, mouthing "Let them be."

---------------------------------------------------

"Promise is a promise, if that is made in blood."

- How to Train your Dragon

[santoteez]

A Manhattan Tale - Seonghwa (6)

Parts: 6 of ?

Masterlist HERE

Genre: Chef!Seonghwa, FormerDrugdealer!Seonghwa, FormerKingpin!Hongjoong, Bad boy/ Good Girl kinda??

Warnings: Love interest is a Black Female, Alcohol use, sexual intercourse, swearing, smut, oral (f receiving), unprotected sex (wrap your hard drive with antivirus always kids), squirting, slight degradation, Daddy kink, a little praise kink, cum eating (sorry), mentions of betrayal, Angst

Requested: yes

NOTE: This fic does NOT, in any way, shape, or form, portray the way I view any member of Ateez nor does it depict their true personalities or actions. This AU is just that. An AU. All family members are FICTIONAL.

Seonghwa and Zelie managed to make it to Applebee’s with no problem. Seonghwa was surprised how easy it felt talking to Zelie. He hadn’t felt this free talking to anyone else, not even Hongjoong. Whether it was at the restaurant or his local corner store, he always felt the need to be uptight; to keep his guard up. Zelie reminded him what it was like to feel youthful. To act his age.

“What are you thinking of getting?” Zelie asked as they waited for a table.

“We haven’t even gotten our menus yet.” Seonghwa laughed.

“So? It’s Applebee’s. Everyone knows the menu.” She shrugged.

“Valid point. I have been wanting to try the Quesadilla Burger. They have that Blue Long Island Iced Tea, too. I might get that.”

“You’re drinking at 2 in the afternoon?”

“Alcohol starts with AL. You know what else starts with AL? Always. As in, it’s ALWAYS time for alcohol.”

Zelie shook her head. “You’re really something else.”

The hostess reappeared, grabbing some menus. “Sorry for the wait! The table was a little dirty and we’re a little busy during lunchtime, so I just wiped it down myself. You can follow me.”

“You really didn’t have to do all that. We would’ve waited.” Zelie said.

“Well, not to sound creepy but I recognized both of you almost immediately. You’re the head chef of The Majestic Dragon downtown, right?” She asked Seonghwa.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, that’s me.” He smiled.

“I admire you so much! I’ve been picking up shifts here to pay my way through culinary school, but I hope to work in a restaurant like yours someday. The way you worked your way up from the bottom to one of the city’s highest-ranked gives me hope for myself.” She beamed at the pair.

“Wow, thank you. I don’t think I’ve had anyone look up to me like that, but I really appreciate it. But of course, I’d be nowhere without everyone I work with. Chefs like Zelie are key to making sure my head doesn’t fall off. Everyone from the chefs to the dishwashers to the hostesses are essential to a restaurant. If I can give you any advice, it’s that.”

The girl nodded. “I’ll take that with me. Well, here’s your table, feel free to sit where you like. Here are the menus, and we have some new dishes so have a look at those as well and your server will be right over. Enjoy your meal!” She said, returning to her post at the front of the restaurant.

“I like her, she’s nice.”  Zelie smiled.

Seonghwa nodded. “It feels great that I can inspire someone like that. Do you know what you want?”

Zelie glanced at the menu. “I’m thinking of getting a burger, too.”

“Should we get two of my order then?”

“I don’t know if I wanna drink this early, though. Last time I drank, you found me wandering around the city and I got shot at.”

“Sounds to me like you need a good alcohol-related memory to override the last one. Where’s our server?”

Zelie laughed. “Such a bad influence.”

“Hello! My name is Timothy and I’ll be your server-”

Seonghwa’s face dropped. He knew that voice anywhere. He looked up from the table to meet Nunu’s pale stare.

“Timothy Claremont. It’s been a while.” Seonghwa responded coldly.

Timothy’s hands shook as he opened his notepad. “It has. What can I get you?”

“I’ll have the Quesadilla Burger and the Blue Long Island Iced Tea. She’ll have the same thing.”

“What are your sides?”

“I’ll have fries. Zelie? How about you?”

Zelie snapped out of the trance this tense interaction had her in. “I’ll have mashed potatoes.”

Timothy nodded. “I’ll bring that right out to you, okay?” He smiled at Zelie before practically running away.

“Is he part of the story you told me earlier? Looks like he seen a ghost.”

Seonghwa nodded. “He’s one of those details I spared you. We can talk about it later if you wanna know. Damn, we should’ve gotten appetizers, these boneless wings look gooood.” He brought the menu up to his face.

“We can order them when he brings our drinks.”

Seonghwa did just that, much to Timothy’s despair, who wanted to keep his interactions with the table to a minimum. The pair ate and drank; their alcohol level rising steadily.

“I want another drink.” Seonghwa said, scanning the room for Timothy.

“We should just go. We’re both already way too gone to drive.”

“You’re right. Plus, there’s alcohol at home. TIMOTHY! Check please! And make those desserts to go!”

Seonghwa paid as Zelie bagged up the desserts.

Timothy resurfaced with his debit card. “You don’t scare me anymore, you know.”

Seonghwa looked up. “The way that notepad was shaking earlier says otherwise.” He said, slurring his words a bit.

“Enjoy your restaurant while it lasts. One Eye’s gonna deal with you, your friend HJ, and the Missus over there. Next time the bullet won’t just graze her.”

Seonghwa’s eyes narrowed as he felt himself sobering up. “That’s a pretty incriminating statement. Sounds like a threat.”

Timothy stood up straight went Seonghwa closed the space between them. “It’s more of a promise. You think just because it’s been three years you’d gotten away with it? You have no idea what’s coming.”

“Actually, thanks to you, I now know it’s One-Eye who has it in for us. Soon I’ll find out why, and when I do, I’ll make sure you and your brother never target us again. We chose to leave you alone last time. This time, we won’t be so courteous. I may be out of the game, but I still know how to use a fucking gun. So, go ahead. Try me.” He pulled away, smiling. “Thanks for lunch, man. It was nice seeing you.” He said, backing away, leaving Timothy with a sour look on his face. He walked to the hostess stand, Zelie close behind him.

“Hey, you never told us your name.” He told the hostess, trying to mask the apparent anger in his voice.

“Oh! It’s Zina.” The girl smiled.

Seonghwa fished into his wallet, pulling out a business card. “You said you want to work in a restaurant like mine someday. Why wait?”

“Seriously?” She beamed.

Seonghwa shrugged. “I can always use an intern. Email me and we can arrange a meeting. Show me what you’re made of.”

She nodded frantically. “Thank you Chef Park! You won’t regret it!”

Seonghwa grabbed Zelie’s hand, leading her out of the establishment.

“That conversation with the waiter couldn’t have been good, judging by your face.” She said.

“I just found out who’s behind all this.” He said, calling Hongjoong. “HJ. Zelie and I are at the Applebee’s on Parkchester. I can’t drive. Can you and Santana get here? Alright. We’ll wait here.”

Hongjoong arrived at the restaurant 20 minutes later with Santana. Hongjoong got out of the car to drive Seonghwa’s. Santana had volunteered but Hongjoong refused to have her drive by herself.

Santana drove and conversed with Zelie the entire time, with Hongjoong driving closely behind. She double parks outside of Seonghwa’s building, getting out of the driver’s side to say bye to Zelie and let Hongjoong take over.

“I’m so glad there’s another girl now. For years, it was just me and all the boys. Then Soojin came, but she doesn’t really count. I have someone to talk to!” Santana said, hugging Zelie tightly.

“Well, I guess that settles it. You gotta marry her now, or Santana will kill you. And like I said before, if she gets mad, I’m letting her.” Hongjoong told Seonghwa.

“Very funny.” Seonghwa rolled his eyes.

“On a serious note. I know you like her. She likes you back. Lock her down. You’ve been a bachelor long enough.” Hongjoong dapped him up before walking back to the car.

“I saw Nunu at Applebee’s-” Seonghwa said, stopping when Hongjoong raised his hand.

“Whatever you have to tell me, it can wait. Enjoy the night with your lady.” He winked, causing Seonghwa to laugh.

“You too, man.” Seonghwa said.

“I’ll try.” Hongjoong opened his car door, and Santana’s boisterous voice came through. “What do you mean ‘can we stop for Mcflurries?’ You just had ice cream this morning!” Hongjoong sighed when she screamed again. “Okay, okay. I’ll get you the damn Mcflurries. Yes, I’ll get you apple pies too. Just stop screaming.” He got into the car, driving away.

Seonghwa and Zelie made it into the apartment, Zelie sitting on the couch.

“You should really get a better couch, you know.”

He sighed. “What’s wrong with my couch? I’ve had it for years. It goes where I go.”

“I can tell. It screams college guy. Not to mention it looks like something straight out of a porno.”

“It takes a true porn watcher to know that,” Seonghwa said, taking a bottle of Mango Ciroc.  

“I guess you caught me.” Zelie shrugged. “Do you seriously need that much alcohol? You live alone.” She peered at the cabinet full of various liquors.

“I’m not alone right now.” He said, sitting beside her and handing her a glass.

“So your bright idea is to get me drunk?” She asked, taking a sip.

“A little liquid courage will go a long way for both of us, don’t you think?” Seonghwa said.

“Well, what are you hoping will happen?” Zelie asked.

“If I told you my wish, it wouldn’t come true. I’ll tell you this, though. From the moment you handed me your application, you never left my mind. Whether I was here, with HJ, or at the damn supermarket, I thought of you constantly. The way you laugh when you think something’s funny, the way you scrunch your nose up when you’re draining noodles, the way you look off to the side, daydreaming and looking distant.”

“Aww.” Zelie blushed.

“The curve of that ass when you bend over to pick something up.”

“Why you gotta ruin it?” Zelie deadpanned.

Seonghwa laughed. “I never dared to tell you before because I’ve been alone for so long. I haven’t had someone since Breana’s crazy ass and I got complacent.”

“So you mean you haven’t…?” Zelie asked.

Seonghwa shook his head. “Not since Breana, no. I haven’t even had a booty call.”

“How do you manage?”

“There’s dozens of toys around here. If you run into any, I’m sorry.” He laughed.

“So, if you never told me before, why now?”

“I’ve gotten to know you. I realized you’re not like the other girls that have flirted with me before. You care about me as a person, not just some hot guy. When you asked me if I was okay, I realized it. I was cold and distant. I told you my story, what I’ve done. And you’re still here. You don’t know how much that means to me.”

Zelie leaned in, kissing him suddenly. “I’ll always be here, if you let me.”

Seonghwa nodded. “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

Zelie laughed. “You sound so childlike.”

“I haven’t had to do this in years, okay? I’m a little rusty. Just tell me yes or no before I die of embarrassment.”

Zelie rolled her eyes. “So dramatic. Yes, Seonghwa. I’ll be your girlfriend.”

Good. Because now I can do this.” Seonghwa yanked her up by her thighs, walking her to the bed.

“I dropped the glass you ass! There’s shards everywhere!”

“Fuck the glass. It’s not important. I’ve imagined having you here so many times, and it’s finally happening. Nothing’s gonna stop me right now.”

“Let’s see if you can handle me.” Zelie smirked.

“Don’t underestimate me, baby. I’ve been out of commission for a GRIP.” Seonghwa kissed her passionately, laying her down on the bed. He groaned at the softness of her plump lips, indulging in the taste of her. Zelie’s hands found way under his shirt, running her hands up and down his broad back. There were some rough patches she was positive were scars, but the heat of the moment forbade her to ask. She tugged at the material, lifting it.

Seonghwa broke the kiss, pulling his shirt up and off his torso, tossing it to the floor. He grabbed the hem of Zelie’s shirt, discarding of that as well. He kissed across her jaw, down her neck, making a beeline for her breast. He expertly unclasped her bra, exposing her chocolate-colored nubs. He took one in his mouth, twisting the other with the pads of his fingers.

Zelie’s hands tangled into his hair. “Fuck, Seonghwa.” She arched her back at his tantalizing assault. He took his time giving the other nipple the same treatment. He kissed down her stomach, pausing at the hem of her pants. He unbuttoned them, pulling them down in a hastily manner, his arousal getting the most of him. He pulled her panties down, tossing those too. He marveled at the smoothness of her calves, caressing them as he lowered her head to kiss her thighs.

Zelie writhed under his touch. “Are you gonna tease me all night or what?”

Seonghwa smirked. “I’ve waited a long time for this. Excuse me for wanting it to last.”

“You don’t have to. You can get it whenever you want. It’s yours, remember?”

Seonghwa hummed in pleasure. “You have no idea how good it feels to hear that.” He blew on her pussy lightly, causing the girl to shudder. “I’m feeling really hungry, are you gonna feed me, Chef Carter?” He asked, centimeters away from the area she needed him most.

Zelie nodded, pushing his head further. “Fuck, yes.”

Seonghwa shook his head. “That’s not how you ask, baby. What’s my name?”

Zelie huffed, rolling her eyes.

Seonghwa backed away slightly. “If following instructions is too hard for you, we can always just stop.”

“Please,” Zelie panted, delirious with lust. “Please let me feed you, Daddy.”

Seonghwa smiled. “Good girl.” He said, his tongue licking languidly at her core. Zelie’s back arched, her head hitting the pillow as Seonghwa sucked tantalizingly on her clit. Seonghwa wrapped his right arm across her waist; his left arm forcing her legs apart. He quickly became addicted to her. Her taste, sweet as fresh, dark berries, and her scent, as heavenly as the feast of your dreams.

Zelie’s legs began to twitch sporadically, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. “Fuck, Daddy, just like that. I’m so close.”

“Yeah?” Seonghwa asked, sending vibrations straight up her core. “Come for Daddy, then.” He said, his lips trapping her clit in a tight lock.

Zelie’s back arched at an almost impossible angle, her chest heaving up and down as she screamed Seonghwa’s name.

She yelped as she felt a sting on her ass.

“What did you call me?” Seonghwa asked, his voice husky and his eyes low.

“I’m sorry Daddy, I didn’t mean to!”

“Turn around and bend over. Put your wrists together.” He ordered, reaching over into the nightstand, grabbing a red, silk tie. He wrapped it around her wrists tightly, forbidding any movement.

“Daddy, please! Don’t tie me up.” Zelie whined. “I won’t call you the wrong name again.”

“Quiet. You’re being a brat. Brats get punished.” He said, rummaging through the drawer. “Fuck. I don’t have a rubber.”

Zelie shook her head. “You don’t need it. I’m on the pill. I want to feel you, Daddy. Please let me feel you.” She mewled.

“Don’t worry, baby. Daddy’s gonna fill you up so well.” He said, his hard cock pressing gently at her entrance, marveling at the sight of her arousal from her previous orgasm dripped down her legs.

“Fuck, Daddy. You’re so big.” Zelie exclaimed as Seonghwa bottomed out deep inside her.

“So wet and so tight for me, baby. You feel so good.” He said, earning a moan from Zelie. “Does my baby like that? Do you like being told how tight and wet you feel?” He said, thrusting slowly.

Zelie nodded. “I want to know I’m making you feel good, Daddy.”

Her words fueled him to quicken his pace, his hips now slapping against her, creating a lewd rhythm that echoed throughout the room. “You know how many times I’ve dreamt of this? Having you bent over for me, screaming and whimpering for me. You prance around the kitchen like you fucking own the place. Always so in control, and I’ve wanted nothing more than to have you right there on the counter and fucking wreck you. What would all the other chefs think if they knew Zelie Carter, typically so in control, was in my bed being my little bitch?”

Zelie moaned in response, her legs trembling. She reached out for the pillow, biting it to stifle her moans.

Seonghwa ripped it out of reach. “Uh uh, baby. I wanna hear every little sound you make. I want everyone to hear how good I’m fucking you. Fuck, you’re clenching around me so well.” He growled, pounding into her at a rapid pace.

“Is it everything you dreamed of, Daddy?”  Zelie asked in a sultry tone.

“It’s even better, baby. So much better.”

“Fuck, Daddy, I’m gonna cum. Keep fucking me right there. Just like that! Yes!” She shouted, her entire body ablaze.

“Cum for me, baby. Cum for Daddy. I want to see you wrecked.”

Zelie’s body shook with pleasure as the feeling in her stomach took over. Her orgasm rushed from deep within to Seonghwa’s cock and onto the bed.

“Fuck, Daddy, that’s never happened before. Oh my God.” Zelie said, coming down from her high. She whined from overstimulation when Seonghwa’s thrusts failed to cease.

Seonghwa let out a guttural groan. “Just a little bit more, baby. I’m gonna cum.”

“I want you to cum in my mouth, Daddy. I want it deep down my throat.”

“Yeah? Come here then, hurry up.” He said, pulling out and jerking himself.

Zelie knelt in front of him, her mouth ajar.

“Open up, baby. Here it comes.” His eyes shut tight as ropes of thick white cum fell into Zelie’s mouth.

Seonghwa sat onto the bed with a loud thud. “Fuck.” He chuckled when Zelie opened her mouth again, all traces of cum now gone. “You’re so fucking dirty.” He said, kissing her.

“You love it, though.” She said. “Next time though, I wanna suck you off.”

“Don’t get me started again. You don’t look like you’ll handle another round.” Seonghwa warned, making Zelie laugh.

He got up lazily, grabbing the broom and the dustpan and sweeping away the glass. “It should be safe to walk now. The bathroom is the door on the left if you want to shower. You can use my towel.” He said.

Zelie nodded, getting up and headed to the bathroom.

Seonghwa sat down on the couch, hearing a squeal from the bathroom.

“Seonghwa, you motherfucker! There’s a fleshlight in the fucking shower caddy!”

Seonghwa laughed. “I told you already. They’re everywhere!” He said, laughing harder when the sex toy is hurled his way.

His wish had come true after all.

Stephie here! I got a little carried away with the smut lmfao i really dont know man. BUT next chapter is FOR SURE going to be regarding the threats. i pinky promise.

[unexpectedreylo]

Mary Sue Or Not?

Having climbed aboard the Reylo ship 10-11 months ago, I’ve written quite a bit about them as a couple and about Kylo/Ben, since he is endlessly fascinating on many levels and he is the last Skywalker heir.

But it’s time to shine some light on our girl Rey, the heroine of this fairy tale/gothic romance novel collision in space.  And the first thing I want to address is whether or not it’s fair to call her a Mary Sue.

One problem we have is no one really can define what a Mary Sue is anymore; it’s become what former U.S. Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart once said about obscenity...you can’t define it but you know it when you see it.  A lot of the time in modern parlance, it’s a lazy shorthand for “a female character I don’t like.”

But “Mary Sue” did mean something once and it was very specific.  It was meant to describe an original character in fan fiction who was basically an idealized version of the author, there to suck all of the gravity of a particular universe in her direction.  Someone I knew in Star Wars prequel fandom once described a Mary Sue as a fundamental writing error.  I would add it’s the kind of error (usually) young, inexperienced writers who aren’t familiar enough with the source material tend to make.  

The OG Mary Sue from the zine Menagerie #3.

The term “Mary Sue” came from a satirical Star Trek fan fiction (“A Trekkie’s Tale”) written in the ‘70s meant to spoof these kinds of stories.  The heroine, Mary Sue, is the youngest Starfleet officer at 15.5 years old and is half-Vulcan.  Everyone falls in love with Lt. Mary Sue; of course Capt. Kirk hits on her but being a woman of virtue, she rebuffs him.  She dies a tragic death trying to save the Enterprise and is mourned by all (in the early days, Mary Sues often died tragically and heroically).   Since then Mary Sues have become more sophisticated and varied, but are often marked by their extraordinary skills, unusual but beautiful appearance, and ridiculously convoluted names (”Mary Sue” is pretty vanilla these days for a Mary Sue).  They also stubbornly refuse to die.  But the principles remain the same:  the Sue is the always the center of attention, the Sue is always a usurper, and the rules of the canonical universe/characterizations always bend or break to justify a character who really doesn’t fit into that universe at all.  For example in “A Trekkie’s Tale,” the normally stoical Mr. Spock blubbers like a baby at Mary Sue’s funeral.  In the infamous “My Immortal,” the denizens of Hogswarts are transformed into suicidal bisexual “goffs” to accommodate its Draco-humping vampire anti-heroine “Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.”   (”My Immortal” just might be the 21st century internet troll’s version of “A Trekkie’s Tale.”)

I started reading Star Wars fan fiction 26 years ago and every now and then, I’d run into a Mary Sue.  More often than not, she was Force-sensitive and was usually paired with Luke.  In older zines, particularly ones pre-TESB, I’d see the kind often paired with Han Solo that I’d called “Spacer Sues.”  About 20 years ago I wrote a fic spoofing Star Wars-style Mary Sues called “Hello Jedi Sue.”  In the story the main character Sue was sucked up into a tornado and sent into the GFFA.  She had a higher midichlorian count than even Anakin and immediately upon meeting Luke, he realizes she is destined for him.  Over the course of the story, she leads Rogue Squadron to victory against a stray Sith Lord who turns up out of nowhere (she’d never flown an X-wing before), she pilots the Falcon through an asteroid field after Han suffers a heart attack, and of course she trains to be a Jedi.  Leia is kind of chilly to her at first but comes around and gives her a ring that once belonged to Queen Amidala, the only memento she has left of her birth mother.  Some apprentice gets jealous of her and pushes her off the top of the temple to her death.  Leia declares it a worse tragedy than Alderaan.  Everyone’s crying and stuff but Sue uses her Force superpowers to resurrect herself.  She and Luke marry and she immediately gets pregnant.  Obi-Wan’s ghost appears to tell the happy couple she is his granddaughter and Qui-Gon’s great-granddaughter (don’t ask).  

So you might say TFA raised my eyebrows because some of it reminded me of “Hello Jedi Sue.”  Before everyone hits the unfollow button, I DO NOT think that Rey is a Mary Sue.

I’ll break it down like this.  In order for a character to be a Mary Sue, the character must do most if not all of the following:

Be an idealized version of the author.

Be the center of attention, even in situations where it wouldn’t be practical or appropriate.

Bend or break the rules of the canon universe just to fit in.

Possesses highly unusual but beautiful looks and exhibit a large amount of extraordinary skills.

Be irresistible, especially sexually irresistible, to everyone.

Usurp the roles played by canon characters and their importance.

So, let’s go over that list with Rey in mind.

1.  Is she an idealized version of J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, Lawrence Kasdan, or George Lucas (who created Rey’s progenitor “Kira”)?

Uhh, I doubt it.  It’s not just that Rey is obviously not of the same sex, but she doesn’t seem to exhibit anything that reminds me of these men in real life.  Sure she’s packed with girl power but so what?  So are Lara Croft, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, Padme Amidala, Xena, Leia Organa, Black Widow, Wonder Woman, that dragon chick from Game Of Thrones, Ahsoka, etc..  

2.  Is she the center of attention, even where it wouldn’t be practical or appropriate?

She’s the main hero(ine) of this trilogy and the avatar for the audience but she serves the same function that Luke Skywalker did in the OT or Anakin Skywalker did in the PT.  So of course the story is going to focus on her.  But if she was genuinely a Mary Sue, she would be doing everything of importance in the film to the point of making everyone else useless.  They could be sitting by the sidelines having a beer while she’s basically running the movie.  

3.  Does she bend or break the rules of the canon universe just to fit in?

This is one point where I think a lot of the contention lies.  She gets accused a lot of being “overpowered.”  Well, what does that mean?  The way I see the narrative shaping up after two films, she is obviously very powerful in the Force but TLJ makes it clear her power level is the same as Kylo’s.  I think the movies are hinting she and Kylo/Ben are something new and unique, a creation of the Cosmic Force in its post Anakin-balanced state.  I hope we get more of an explanation of this because I think it would go a long way to reassure people.  

On that note, another common complaint is that Rey takes on skills rapidly with minimal training.  I admit, I felt this was a problem the first time I saw TFA.  I couldn’t understand why for instance she was able to use the Jedi mind trick so quickly without any training.  By contrast, Luke wasn’t able to use the mind trick until ROTJ.  I couldn’t understand why she was able to defeat someone trained in the Force in a lightsaber duel, regardless of his mental state or injury.  It took until I saw TLJ and saw some comments from one of the story groupers that I understood she’d basically downloaded Kylo’s skills when he entered her mind and she’d entered his.  Now I get it.  But this is one criticism I still have of TFA; it didn’t make that clear enough to the audience.  There’s a reason why George Lucas spent time letting you know Luke was a good bush pilot on Tatooine who could shoot womp rats in his T-16 or Anakin could win a pod race...it’s so that when they fly out to blow up something at the end of the movie, you’re able to understand why they can do that.  Sometimes you do have to make movies so that the common idiot can figure it out!

Now a critic might argue that Rey Matrixing her way to Jedi skills is lazy.  Maybe the filmmakers wanted to make sure they had a protagonist able to get into the mix early on because there weren’t enough Force-sensitive characters around who could’ve taken on Kylo.  But then again, did we really see the OT or PT spend a lot of time on training?  Luke fought Darth Vader after about 25 minutes of training in TESB and we never saw Anakin train at all; 10 years had passed between TPM and AOTC and by the latter film, he was able to do all kinds of cool stuff.  And TLJ makes it clear that while Rey had the skills, she still needed direction and instruction.  She thought the Force just controlled people and made things float!

And sometimes the audience misses things, especially if they only see a movie once.  For instance, the first time I saw TFA I was baffled why Rey was able to pilot the Falcon.  It seemed like Little Miss Desert Scavenger just hopped into the cockpit and away she went, whereas if I just got on a spaceship for the first time ever, I’d crash that mo-fo pretty quickly.  Then when I saw the film again some time later, the dialogue makes it clear she IS able to pilot.  She never left Jakku not because she couldn’t leave but because she was still waiting for her loser parents to come back.

4.  Is she irresistible to everyone?

Mary Sues always get a reaction out of every canon character and that reaction is a strong one.  It’s always fierce devotion, instant BFFs forever, undying passionate and true love, boiling-over lust, or pure loathing and hatred (that of course turns into the opposite or the hater is toast).  There’s never indifference, or relationships that take time to build, or first impressions that turn out to be wrong, etc..  And it’s always instantaneous.  

Most of the good guys like Rey but is any of it different from how characters took to Luke in the OT or Anakin in the PT?  Not really.  The only thing that stands out is Leia running over to hug the girl she’s known for part of a movie over Chewbacca but even Abrams admitted he’d goofed.  And one instance does not a Mary Sue make.

The only characters who have more intense feelings for Rey are Kylo and Finn and in both cases, those feelings are complicated.  

5.  Does she have a highly unusual but beautiful appearance and exhibit a large amount of extraordinary skills?

Note the lack of rainbow hair and silver eyes.

Daisy Ridley is a beautiful young woman but as Rey, it seems like if anything they’re shooting for more of a natural, earthy beauty that befits her character.  There’s nothing unusual about how she looks or how she dresses.  She looks like she would almost fade into the crowd if you didn’t know who or what she was.  Mary Sues on the other hand ALWAYS have to be noticed for their looks.

As for Rey’s skills, this is another thing people criticize.  But in the Star Wars universe, being a Force-user isn’t alone an indication of Mary Sue-dom.  Now if Rey was more powerful than anyone else ever, even Anakin Skywalker, that would be a Mary Sue issue.  But the films make it clear that she isn’t more powerful than everyone; her power level is the same as Kylo’s.  Her only advantage comes from being the more morally correct character in the story.

Her other skills are explained in the films and are nothing unusual in the Star Wars universe.  She’s a good pilot but not such an ace everyone’s saying she’s better than Wedge Antilles, Poe Dameron, and Luke Skywalker combined.  She’s a grease monkey but that comes from years of scavenging.  Her talents aren’t just dropping out of the ether.  

A Mary Sue would be the most powerful Force user ever, the greatest pilot of all time, someone who could teach space aeronautics at MIT at the age of 20, have an IQ higher than Einstein’s, be the greatest and most ingenious hacker, a better leader than Leia, a better shot than Annie Oakley even while drunk, cook like Julia Child, have sex like a porn star, have a singing voice like an angel, and is all-around the best at everything that needs to be done at any given time, ALL OF THE TIME. That’s not quite what we’re getting with Rey.

6..  Does she usurp roles played by canon characters and their importance?

This is another area of heated contention and it depends on what you believe are the filmmakers’ intentions.  Are they setting Rey up to be the “real” Chosen One, essentially changing Lucas’s story?  Are they setting up the Skywalkers as unworthy so Rey has to basically take their place as the “gods” end their cursed line?

Believe it or not, I was really worried this was exactly what Disney was going to do.  Now, I don’t think this is the case.  If anything, Rey is there in part to save the Skywalker line and legacy, not to end it or steal it for herself.  But I suspect there are a lot of fans who still think this is where they are going in IX, so of course they’re going to resent Rey.

I came to the conclusion after seeing TLJ that while Rey is important and the lead character, she’s not the center of gravity in the story.  Kylo Ren is.  Pay attention; nearly everything that’s happening in the films is in some way because of him or related to him.  It’s harder to believe she’s some random OC who broke into the Star Wars saga to suck the attention away from the Skywalkers once you realize this.

All of these said, there’s one more reason why Rey is not a Mary Sue.

Canon characters by definition cannot be Mary Sues!

It drives me nuts that people call canon characters Mary Sues.  The whole point of a Mary Sue is someone who doesn’t really fit in with a universe so the universe is fit around her.  Bella Swan may be a lot of things but she’s not a Mary Sue.  (Now if you wrote a Twilight OC who pushes out Bella, gets Edward to fall in love with her, and gets Edward to give up his vampire ways and become a Christian, THAT’s a Mary Sue.)  Now, some fans won’t accept anything Disney produced as canon but this is what we’ve got and it’s all we’re getting.    

I don’t know who did this--I found it on Know Your Meme--but it’s a decent guide.

[bugheadfamily]

Bughead Family Discord Member Spotlight

This week the spotlight is on Mari ( @writeraquamarinara )! Click the read more link below to get to know our member!

Spotlight by Mila, @jughead-jones | Graphic by Katie, @betty-cooper

Mari | @writeraquamarinara

Name: Mari

Age: 18

Location: Montreal, QC.

Any other languages aside from English people can contact you in?: Italian.

Favourite Riverdale characters and ships?: Betty, Jughead, Pop, Fred, Mary, Kevin, Joaquin, Bughead, Joavin, and Choni.

Favourite moments from S1 & S2?: The scene that got me hooked to the show was when Reggie questioned Jughead about killing Jason, and he replied with a snarky little “It’s called necrophilia, Reggie. Can you spell it?” Other favorite moments are pretty much any Bughead scene from S1, but especially their first kiss. I had been shipping them together since the Blue and Gold scene in 1x03, but 1x06 really hit me hard. They’re both two broken kids who find solace in each other. As someone whose mother is all too similar to Alice Cooper, hearing Jughead tell Betty that they aren’t their parents made me so emotional. I rewatched that scene on repeat when the clip came out on Youtube the next day. To this day I can’t listen to Emily Afton’s Lost without crying. I also really love the hug from 1x13 after Betty, Veronica, and Archie go to Southside High for Juggie. S2 favorite moments are also only Bughead scenes, but not all Bughead scenes, if you catch my drift.

What are your hopes for S3?: Are a coherent plotline and consistent characterization too much to ask for? Also maybe have the parents on the show (other than Archie’s) actually respect their children and treat them well, but that’s never going to happen. On a more realistic note, I’m hoping to watch some fun interactions between Josie and Kevin now that they’re going to be step-siblings.

Other fandoms you’re into?: I don’t really have an online presence in other fandoms, but I do love to geek out over Percy Jackson, That 70s Show (specifically JackiexHyde), The Office, Parks and Rec, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and nearly all of the Marvel movies.

What are some of your favourite movies/TV?: As I mentioned: That 70s Show, The Office, Parks and Rec, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and Marvel. I’m currently bingeing The Good Place and The Mindy Project. I also went to watch Crazy Rich Asians in theaters and loved it. So basically I’m trash for rom and com. Sue me. (Or don’t. I’m a broke college student who can’t afford that ish.)

Favourite books?: The Book Thief, The Color Purple, Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, Pride and Prejudice, and, most of all, The Glass Castle.

Favourite bands/musicians?: Nina Simone, Alicia Keys, ABBA, Of Monsters and Men, Christina Perri, and Imagine Dragons. 

If you could live in any fictional world which one would you choose and why?: I thought a lot about this question. The obvious answer would be “one with magic, or mermaids, or superheroes”. But then I thought that I’d rather live in a world like ours, more realistic, but where women are equal to men, diversity is celebrated, people accept each other for who they are. That’s a very idealistic world, I realize, and (if my preteen love of dystopian novels has taught me anything) one that’s most definitely unattainable, but it’s still nice to think about it. If anyone knows of a fictional world like that, sign me up.

Favourite food?: Gosh, that’s a hard one. Probably my grandma’s lasagna.

Favourite season?: Fall, definitely. It’s my birthday season, and I love the colorful leaves and breezy weather and going apple-picking with my family and friends. Unfortunately, Canada’s fall doesn’t last much more than a day, so I missed out on all that this year.

Favourite plant?: Nelumbo nucifera, aka the Lotus Flower.

Favourite scent?: Aftershave? Weird, I know, but it reminds me of my childhood and my father.

Favourite colour?: Periwinkle.

Favourite animal?: Hummingbird.

Are you a night owl, an early bird, or a vampire?: Night owl, definitely.

Place you want to visit?: The Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan in Iran, and Ryoanji in Japan.

Do you have pets? If you do, tell us a little about them: I don’t have any pets that live with me currently, but I’ve got a pet back home with my parents. She’s a rescued pup from Mississippi, probably some kind of mix between a Pointer and a Labrador Retriever. Her name’s Sassy and she’s super energetic. If you had asked me this question a week ago I would’ve also said I had a cat named Puma but he was twelve and had cancer, so…yeah.

Tell us a little about yourself?: Um, I never really know what to say to that question. Like, what do you really want to know? I’m Mari (the name comes from my AO3/tumblr username, and not my real name). I was born in New Jersey, grew up in New York and Italy, now go to university in Montreal. I’m super passionate about art history, women’s rights, and politics. I hope to be a dermatologist, but honestly, who knows where life will take me. I’m the oldest of four and the first in my family to go through the American school system, so my parents have always referred to me as their “guinea pig”, and that totally hasn’t given me a weird obsession with being the perfect child, perfect student, perfect daughter. For some very obvious reasons, I relate way too much to Betty Cooper.

Fun or weird fact about you?: I fenced competitively for eight years of my life, traveling all around the US and to Europe for training and national competitions, including the Junior Olympics.

Asks for fanfic authors:

How long have you been writing?: I’ve been writing since I was little, but they were always stories with original characters. I didn’t start writing fic until I was sixteen, nearly seventeen, so it’s been a little over a year.

Which is your favourite of the fics you’ve written?: Geez, that’s a tough one. As much as I love my little one shots, I’d have to say Little Talks. It’s largely based on my own high school experience, and therefore my own way of coming to terms with the end of that chapter of my life.

Favourite fic/chapter/plot-point/character you’ve ever written?: Oof. Another tough one. Um, I’d have to say that I really love my characterization of Alice in Blue Sunshine and Golden Rain. She’s a villainess, but hopefully one you love to hate.

Which was the hardest to write, and why?: Again, Blue Sunshine and Golden Rain. I have a bit of a plot twist planned for the story, but I’m really not sure what kind of reception it’s going to get from readers, so I’ve had the chapter half-finished for months. I just need to get the motivation to finish it, and the courage to say “I don’t care if people hate this, or think it’s weird.” I’ll get there eventually.

How do you come up with the ideas for you fic(s)? (examples: Do you draw inspiration from real life? Listen to music? Get inspired by TV/movies?) Do you have an process to your writing?: I’ve answered this in a tumblr ask before, but I get inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. Mainly from real life, because I like to observe and speculate and ask a bunch of “what if”s and go from there. So, like I mentioned, Little Talks is largely based on my life. But there are definitely some plot points in the story that are a result of me going “well, what if I had done this? Or he had done that?” Another example of a real life-inspired fic is my oneshot I <3 You, which was inspired by that instastory (Cole or Lili’s? I can’t remember) of a cake with bright orange frosting that spelled out I <3 You. I also take inspiration from other creative works, such as books or movies. One of my many upcoming fics is based on How To Train Your Dragon, and another is a crackfic based on the Suite Life. Other times, fic ideas come to me out of nowhere. I was in the lab last summer, waiting for my breast cancer tumor slides to go through antigen retrieval, when I came up with the idea for Blue Sunshine and Golden Rain. My brain works in very strange ways.

Idea that you always wanted to write?: I’ve always wanted to write a lot of fics (I have a whole list of them), but they’re in the works so I won’t spoil any more than I already have. The main fic that I don’t even have an idea for but just want to write is a heartbreakingly angsty fic. One that makes me cry while I write it. Here’s hoping it comes to me soon, because I feel like that could be a really interesting experience as a writer.

Favourite character to write?: Alice. Which is strange, because I don’t like her in the show, but there are so many different directions you could take her character that she’s always so interesting to me.

Best comment/review you’ve ever received?: Oh, well, all of them? Is that an answer? Because all comments and reviews make me super happy. But if I had to choose one then I’d say any comment from @earthlaughsinflowers, @mothermaple, @dottie-wan-kenobi, or @notanotherotherone. I kind of cheated by not picking one, exactly, but oh well.

Best and worst parts of being a writer?: The best part of being a writer is putting a story that you put a lot of your soul into and getting support and love for it. Because I only put stories out there that I’m happy to write, happy to read, but to see that they make other people happy, too? That’s an amazing feeling. The worst part is the amount of time it takes to do absolutely anything, especially when you’re not in the right headspace to write. When I’ve had the worst week ever, and I have to physically push myself to spend time that should be spent resting to write because an update needs to come out soon, it goes from being a fun hobby to being a stress-inducing chore.

Do you have any advice to offer?: I haven’t been a fic writer for a long time, so I wouldn’t say that I’m going to offer up the wisest advice, but here’s what I’ve garnered so far: Do what makes you happy. That goes for all of life, not just writing, and is often hard to follow, but here’s how I see it: If you want to write a story because it makes you happy, write it. If you want to quit your WIP to start something else because that makes you happy, do it. If you need to take a break from writing altogether because it’ll make you happier, take it. Write what you want to write, at the pace you want to write it, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

.

.

This is the twelfth instalment of Bughead Family’s Member Spotlight series. Each week, a member’s url is selected through a randomizer and they will be featured in a spotlight post. In order to participate, please join the Bughead Discord (more information found here). Thank you.

[otdderamin]

Fiction: Pandemonium, CR C1 Ep115

CONTENT WARNING: Mental health crisis

SPOILERS: End of Campaign 1

I've been thinking about this since the end of campaign 1. There were an awful lot of lose threads for Percy's mental health between the last scenes of the campaign and the epilogue. Descriptions of Pandemonium sounded like a terrible place to put someone in Percy's state. I am going off my existing theory about Percy's mental health.

Story

Vex and Percy camped in the woods the night Vax died. The day Sylas got away, and she'd helped kill Cassandra, and they'd battled Vecna the ascended, and he'd tried to fight The Raven Queen. They got drunk and cried themselves exhausted. She fell asleep being held by him. She woke up alone in the hours between late and early.

Hers was the panic of finding him, the day before, alone on the steps on the verge of throwing his life away for a shot at hurting Death. She found him sitting outside in the damp cold. He said he couldn't sleep and didn't want to wake her. He'd been sleeping badly since they’d found the Briarwoods alive. She managed to coax him back in the tent. She tried not to mind how fitfully he slept.

They slept late. It wasn't the respite they were hoping for, and they packed up their gear disheartened. They had to go back to the grim reality of everyday life eventually.

Instead, they found Keyleth waiting anxiously by their door. She told them Grog had pulled a card and gone catatonic in the night. Pike, JB, and Scanlan were researching what had happened. Vex took Percy's hand. He was staring off at nothing looking crushed. She said she'd join the research. Percy said he had to resupply in the workshop. There was a note of panic in his voice. He brushed off their concern. He was fine. He had to be.

He looked exhausted at dinner in the castle. He'd already been drinking. He picked at his food and ate little. He was quiet while they talked about their findings. All of them were drinking heavily that evening. Two missing seats haunted the room. Percy passed out at the table, never making it to bed.

Vex found him in the workshop early the next morning, hard at work. She brought him a mug of coffee. He hadn’t changed and looked disheveled. His energy was off, frenetic but dragging. He'd been hit hard by the last few days and it was showing. He didn't leave the workshop all day.

At dinner they reported they knew what had happened to Grog and where he was. Tomorrow they'd figure out how to get there. Percy tried to be cheered by that glimmer of hope. His appetite was better.

He broke down crying in their room. Even if they got Grog back, he'd lost so many people. Cassandra's death was eating at him. She gently joked they were even now. He laughed grimly, but it turned back to tears. Everyone was at risk because of them. She held him and said, "We’ll save them, then. We’ll build better defenses and wards." But he was right to worry, and she knew it. It hung between them. She cried for her own losses and he tried feebly to console her. He finally fell into an uneasy sleep, overwhelmed by exhaustion, and woke late.

They made a plan the next day. They briefed everyone for what was known about Pandemonium, then split to prepare. Percy packed all four hip flasks and two bottles of whiskey. He rebraided Vex's hair tightly, and added the black feather left on their windowsill. They saw a similar feather newly tied to Keyleth's antlers, taken as a sign from Vax. Cassandra saw them off from the castle foyer, looking worried.

 Pandemonium was more intense than they imagined. The yawning caverns were pitch black. Even with their lights they could barely make out the far side. The bewildering gravity pulled to the walls instead of towards one ground. Winds howled through the tunnels. They had to yell even over the earpieces.

They located the Styx and followed it for a while. Vex found flying low, while tricky, was less disorienting than walking. The gnomes rode Keyleth as a bronze dragon while Percy and Vex rode the broom. He lost his lunch after they went through a corkscrew of weird gravity. When they stopped to orient themselves, he chased a long drink of water with his flask. He struggled with the roar. He picked at his food. He slept badly, waking up twice from nightmares, screaming.

Day two was nearly a repeat of the first, but longer and more grueling. They fought a group of bugbears whose souls were locked there. He floundered in the battle. His aim was off. Animus jammed three times before breaking. He took hard hits from the psychic damage. The crack of Bad News was magnified in the caverns. His ears rang so badly, he could barely hear them. The healing spells helped, but not completely. He was moody and out of it by the time they stopped. He slunk off to the workshop to fix his gun. He ate little with great effort. He turned in early but tossed and turned anxiously before slinking off to read.

Keyleth found him in the library early in the morning, hunched in a chair spaced out. His eyes were red, and there were tear streaks on his face. Half the whiskey bottle was gone. She asked if he was alright and needed to talk. He said he'd be fine. They just had to get through this. He sounded distant. He tried to be subtle about adding whiskey to his coffee at breakfast. Vex and Pike caught it, and shared a glance, but said nothing. He looked tired but moved with an inattentive, hasty energy. She helped him fix the buttoning on his vest. Pike kept up on the healing spells.

Two more days passed as they tried to pick their way through the caverns. The constant gale was getting to all of them. Scanlan’s singing and verbal spells barely carried. Percy seemed more affected than the rest. He was badly stressed, distracted, making mistakes, and taking stupid risks. When he broke his silence, he was rushed and rambley. His jokes were cutting and harsh. The punchline was still being alive.

He did his best to force himself to eat. He seemed more and more fey. He held Vex when she broke down crying for her brother. He stroked her hair, but all he found to say was, "I'm so sorry." He didn't cry with her. He sounded numb and hazy.

They were getting close on the sixth day. The tunnel became narrow. The weird gravity made it too hard to fly. Vex took the lead as their best scout. When the terrain ahead got treacherous, they stopped for lunch. Vex watched Percy stop short, look around confused, and sit where he was with his elbows on his knees, apart from the others.

She knelt beside him and asked, "Darling, can I get you something?" He didn’t respond, just stared blankly ahead. She gently laid her hand against his cheek, and called louder, "Darling, are you okay?" He didn't melt into her touch. He didn't react at all. He seemed oblivious to everything around him, and she was suddenly terrified.

She felt the weight of the others looking on with concern. She cast Cure Wounds, praying some injury had brought this on. She wasn't surprised when it found nothing to heal.

"I didn't see any spell or trap," offered Keyleth. "I was behind him all day. I have Greater Restoration prepared."

"Do it," said Vex, her voice breaking. "Maybe it will help." She didn't sound convinced. She sat back to let Keyleth work, taking his hand.

Keyleth placed her palms on either side of his face. She concentrated until a light like spring growth and autumn leaves washed over him. There was a flicker of relief, and then pain. As Keyleth took her hands away, he started crying, shuttering, and panicked. He pulled his hand away and curled further into a ball of misery. He was nearly incoherent except to faintly repeat, "I can't..."

Keyleth was shocked. "Percy?"

"Get the mansion up! He can't stay out here," called Vex, stress and concern flooding her voice. She laid a hand gently on his shoulder, and said soothingly, "Darling it's alright. You're going to be alright. We're going to get you inside." The minute to cast the spell felt like an eternity.

He resisted when they tried to help him up, recoiling wretchedly. Finally Vex popped Trinket out and asked Percy if she could use it on him. He made no reply but disappeared when she tried. She carried him to their room, bare of decor at her request, and released him towards the bed. He sat down hard. A strange high-pitched noise filled the room. It took her a moment to realize it was a sound of deep distress from Percy.

"Darling it's alright. You're going to be alright."

The others milled about the hall, too worried to go far. Eventually Vex motioned Keyleth back in to help her. Percy sat in a quiet daze on the edge of the bed. They got off his outer layers, his armor, and his boots. Keyleth started to see the grim practice in what Vex was doing. She let the silence hang between them until Vex said she'd get the rest.

They sat awkwardly outside a long time taking off their own gear, before Keyleth said, "Why didn't we do anything? We all knew he wasn't alright."

"Have any of us been okay with all this?" asked Scanlan.

The silence spoke for them.

Vex looked worried and worn when she eventually came out.

"How is he?" asked Pike.

"He's resting. I don't want to leave him alone for long, but there's nothing I can do and I'm starving."

"Vex…" Keyleth struggled for words. "I saw in there… This isn't the first time."

Vex stared guiltily at the floor before leaning into Keyleth's offered hug. "It was bad after the dragons. Never this bad. We pushed ourselves hard because we had to. We all knew the cost of failure. I kept telling myself I was worrying too much, but I should have done more.

"His depression crashed, but he was also manic. Like he's been since we found Delilah. He shut himself away in his workshop for days but made little progress. He couldn't focus or think clearly. He got frustrated, upset, and careless. He got hurt a couple times. Sometimes I'd find him just drinking alone and crying. He pushed me away. Said he couldn't do it anymore. That was that for a couple months. There were a few nights I was afraid…"

"Eventually it seemed to lift. He was calmer, more productive. Clearer and sharper. He went back to work improving Whitestone. We started over again. Maybe a little impulsively, but we didn't want to waste more time.

"We felt like there was something left to do. We were waiting for another mission, but not this. The Briarwoods threw him. He's been struggling since. I don't think he let any of us see how much. It was all so fast.

"I think Cassandra… even though we brought her back, then Vax…" her voice broke, "then Grog getting trapped was too much. Like it would never just be over or safe. Like the last year of getting better didn't happen." She was crying. "I don't want to lose him, too."

Pike gently took her hand. "I'll go sit with him. You get something to eat. Take off your armor." She left before Vex could protest. Vex did her best to take care of herself before worry overtook her and she went back to do what little she could for him.

The others tried to make a plan for the next day. Worry won out over the mission. They'd take another day here. Grog wasn't going anywhere as best they could tell. Pike observed the Restoration spell had some effect. He was doing so badly it was worth trying again.

Percy slept fitfully and late. The time to renew the mansion was getting near when Pike tried Greater Restoration. The wave of peace lasted longer. He seemed more aware of his surroundings. He put himself together enough to go outside. But even the minute back in Pandemonium was overwhelming and draining. He collapsed back into bed and curled up crying.

They debated what to do. It was too risky to send him back alone with Planeshift, and too risky to be down two people. If they had to, they’d cast fly on Trinket and put Percy in the necklace. He was still far too fragile to set out tomorrow. They'd wait another day. Pike would try Greater Restoration again before dinner. It was expensive and incremental, but it was working.

He started coming back to himself after the next round of spells. He said, "Thank you. Both of you. I'm sorry I haven't been myself. I'm sorry I've been a burden. I…" Vex hugged him and reassured him. However hesitantly, he relaxed into her arms and tried to believe her. He ate well. For the first time in many days he got a good night's rest.

After the morning spells he was brighter, more lucid. He spent the day reading with Vex and Keyleth in the library. He made light conversation. It was clear he was still far from alright, but the very worst of it had passed.

He continued to improve with the evening and morning spells. His appetite was better. His nightmares were milder, though he'd flipped to sleeping very long. He didn't look so pale or so exhausted. After checking in with him, they decided to continue their journey.

The rest of the quest was uneventful, if slower. Percy was still struggling. They could only stay out a few hours before he began to glaze over and dissociate. Keeping up with Greater Restoration helped, but it could only fix so much so fast, it was expensive, and they had to start rationing the supplies quickly. He was still drinking more heavily than the rest of them. But by the time they released Grog, he was back to his usual cutting wit. He teased Grog about losing an arm. Vex wondered how much of himself felt missing.

When they Plane Shifted back to the center of Whitestone, he hugged the Suntree and said, "Never again. I'm never going back to that horrible place for any reason. I'd rather go back to Hell."

 His recovery was slow. He took another week off his duties as Sophist of Native Ingenuity. When he tried to get back to work, he couldn't focus. He overslept. He zoned out in meetings. He couldn't understand plans through the brain fog. He took another week off, then two, then a leave of absence. He was gone nearly a year. He hated it. He hated feeling useless. He hated feeling like a burden. But Vex was right that he wasn't in fit shape to do it.

And so it went over the next two years of slowly piecing himself together after years of breaking. Keyleth made the trip back to Whitestone for Greater Restoration once a week, or any time he had a crisis. The magic helped a lot, but even magic couldn't undo everything at once. With need and resources, Whitestone was the first to start developing psychotherapy separate from temple work. Cassandra and many of Vox Machina were happy to participate.

Keenly aware of the privilege and community that allowed them help, Percy and Vex drew up a plan to lower barriers for all. When the final plan was put forward, the Chamber of Whitestone voted unanimously for socialized medicine out of taxes on timber and Whitestone production.

A lot was done with more careful study of plants and minerals. The discovery of a lithia spring in the mountains was a boon for Percy's health. Keyleth's regular visits could be cut back to once a month.

However slowly, the pain of the past started staying there. The future, with family, friends, and a prospering home, had begun to flourish.

If you’d like earlier access to my work, follow my blog at deramin.net.

If you like this transcript, consider buying me a coffee (ko-fi.com/otdderamin). I’ve been working on these while struggling to adjust to disability. Donating helps me justify spending time on these projects.

[ethospathoslogan]

If it's alright with you, I would really like to know more about your sides you mentioned a while ago.

oh of course!!!

this got so long oh my god so i’m putting it under the cut, but ngl this was really fun to do and really helped to improve my mood

also it’s super fun to break your personality up into its aspects so i highkey rec that (and also good for character building)

Logic aka Danielle, “Dan” for short: 

the butch i strive to be.

short hair. she’s the only one that doesn’t have long hair and an undercut and everyone was #shook when she cut her hair. 

button ups and skinny jeans and flannels for days. 

seems stone cold, is like 75% stone cold. the other 25% is caring for the others and being really excited about knowledge.

she strives for knowledge and, tbh, will do what it takes to prove to others that she’s smart. 

the other sides have had heated arguments about whether or not she’s a ravenclaw or a slytherin because, on the one hand, she loves knowledge and loves learning, but on the other, will do anything to get ahead of people if they’re cheating. 

level headed. 

she will never admit it, but she actually does care a lot for the other sides. the one she fights the most with is Hypochondria/Jamison but, even then, she at least makes sure the the other side is okay. she’s not good with emotions and has a hard time empathizing, so her way of showing that she cares is bringing you well-balanced meals and water bottles.

the other sides know that she cares.

can talk about english literature for days on end. she is also an avid lover of philosophy.

she has her planner for the sides as a whole, such as appointments coming up and important dates and stuff that they all need to do to make sure that everything goes well. it’s super neat and color coded and everything.

her personal planner??? it’s a hot mess.

has been known to stay up until three-A.M. thinking about how free-will is an illusion. this is typically when Anxiety/James comes in and is like, “yeah, you’re right, but that doesn’t mean that everything is meaningless” and they just chill together for a couple hours

despite what literally everyone thinks, Dan and Creativity/Taylor actually get along the best. Taylor spends a lot of time dreaming of fantasies, yeah, but Dan helps to keep them in check and Taylor lets it happen. also, Logic and Creativity working together helps make for realistic yet fun writing pieces. they’re the #besties and literally no one expected it at all.

Dan and Morality/Skylar have some problems they need to work through because Dan has a hard time empathizing, and sometimes even sympathizing, and Skylar is always feeling everything and feeling everything So Much. this has caused Skylar to lash out at Dan and then promptly burst into tears. things are getting better, tho. they’re working on it.

Dan and Hypochondria/Jamison fight a lot. well, not really Fight. just, Jamison starts telling everyone that they’re dying of [insert disease] and starts to freak everyone out and, therefore, starts to get even more freaked out and Dan has to step in and be like, “we’re not dying” but Jamison is always like, “and what evidence do you have on that?” and Dan.exe has stopped working.

Dan’s arc would be letting her walls down.

Creativity aka Taylor:

a bit of a beauty queen.

she is always in dresses and heels or, at the very least, a super put together outfit.

she says it’s because she likes making good impressions. really, it’s because she relies on her looks for people to like her because talk about distorted confidence.

she likes how she looks and she likes the content she puts out, but she doesn’t really like herself. but we can’t angst yet, it’s too early for that.

despite typically being pretty proud about what she puts out, she is very defensive about criticism. she’ll show you something she wrote and you could be like, “oh, it’s really cool!!! why did this specific part happen, tho?” and she’s angrily rewriting the entire thing. or angrily defending why her way is the best way.

Dan typically has to step in and be like, “of course some critics can be harsh, but not every criticism you receive is a personal attack”

Taylor hates when her best friend is right but she legit cannot argue with the physical embodiment of logic. well, she could, but that’s exhausting.

she would never do anything to hurt someone. but if she’s like, “hmm, i want to write a dragon fight, but it needs to be realistic so people like it,” guess what? there’s a dragon now. everyone’s screaming. Taylor simultaneously regrets everything and nothing.

she has the habit of recreating fictional characters for fanfiction purposes. sides meet sides. it’s meta af. everyone is confused.

she’s not allowed to watch horror movies because suddenly every room in the house has a killer in it and her, Skylar, and James are sobbing hysterically while Dan has to deal with it. Jamison comes along for the sake of watching Dan be like “YOU DON’T MAKE ANY SENSE” to fictional murderers and monsters.

despite her sometimes abruptness and her want to get her way, she really does love the other sides with all her heart. Dan is her ride or die, Skylar not only helps with writing emotional scenes but also is a great shoulder to lean on, her and James actually don’t conflict that much, and even her and Jamison get along, though that friendship is watched with caution by everyone else.

she easily gets trapped in the fantasy world. she imagines worlds where there is a girlfriend to love, friends who always click with her, a world where everything works out.

she has a hard time liking herself because, yeah she likes how she looks, and she thinks the content she helps make is good, but what about herself? she’s worried that she’s not actually that interesting.

there isn’t really a side that she doesn’t get along with. though, James did once call her a brat after Taylor got really defensive about constructive criticism. Taylor got real quiet real fast and, after a huge amount of awkward silence, the two immediately started apologizing. most don’t expect Creativity and Anxiety to get along, and at one point they fought more than usual, but Dan was the one to come in and help find a bridge between Taylor’s dreams and James’ reality.

Taylor basically follows Dan along for everything and anything. if you have Dan, Taylor typically isn’t too far behind.

however, she did once get into a nasty fight with both Dan and James because, as she puts it, they “fucked up a chance at love”

Taylor and Skylar get along super well. they’re both sensitive, yes, but Taylor is a lot more level headed then Skylar so she can help her out when Skylar is having a hard time. and Skylar can help her write more emotional things and also is super good for emotional support.

Taylor and Jamison literally aren’t allowed to be around each other, just the two of them, for too long. leave them alone for five minutes, and they’re both sobbing hysterically because they think they’re dying and they have already worked out how it’s happening.

Taylor’s arc would be learning to love herself.

Morality aka Skylar:

comfy leggings and sweaters with sweater paws all day every day.

so sensitive. so emotional. please help her.

her mood changes super easily. one morning, she’ll be bouncing off the walls. that afternoon, she’s a bit irritable and has a hard time mixing with the others. that night, she’s an empty, upset mess.

her catchphrase might as well be, “i’m feeling everything and i don’t know what to do”

she’s incredibly sensitive and is easily hurt. she hates the fact that an offhand comment or a joke can hurt her so much.

she wants to be there for everyone but she sometimes has a hard time with it because she feels like no one’s there for her.

the other sides are all there for her, or at least they try to be. Skylar just has a hard time with stuff like that.

a “broken heart” physically pains her to the point where she can barely move without crying.

she can be a bit of a doormat occasionally because she has a hard time standing up for herself.

and the one time she did stand up for herself was... it was a mess:

her and Dan were arguing because Skylar was having a bad day and Dan couldn’t understand that and couldn’t understand why Skylar was feeling so bad when nothing was technically wrong

and Dan probably said something about how Skylar should just try to be rational and Skylar just. snapped.

she started yelling and cursing a bit and basically seething with rage at Dan and perhaps a few not-nice words were thrown by her and everyone watching (which is literally everyone) just freezes because they’ve seen Skylar be happy, sad, irritable, excited, etc etc etc, but they’ve never seen her enraged.

they all silently agreed it was quite heartbreaking, actually.

when Skylar was finally finished, she just froze for a second and then instantly burst into tears because of how awful she felt.

that day, Dan and Skylar finally sat down and had a talk that lasted for hours because they both wanted to start seeing eye to eye.

Skylar considers all the sides her friends, even Dan, but she gets really sad sometimes because she feels like she’s the least liked.

they all love Skylar tho. give this side some love. pls.

even though Skylar is quick to fall for James and Jamison’s anxious thoughts, she is the first one to go and comfort them. while Dan talks logically with them, Skylar is the one to go and make sure that they’re comfortable and okay and give them both big hugs.

Skylar’s arc wouldn’t be accepting that she feels everything, it would be learning how to properly handle them.

Anxiety and Hypochondria aka James and Jamison aka “the twins”:

even though all the sides look the same, even Dan with her short hair, it is near impossible to tell James and Jamison apart

their hair is always up in either a pony tail or a messy bun. they’re both always wearing ripped leggings or jeans and a hoodie or a sweater. it’s always in dark colors, such as black or dark blue or dark green.

and, yes, they always end up matching. they don’t mean for it to happen. but when they are literally two sides of anxiety, it’s kinda hard for them to not think the same on some aspects.

the only way to tell them apart is that Jamison looks incredibly sickly. she’s super pale, super frail. she has gaunt eyes and is shaking a lot and basically looks like she’s about to keel over at any moment.

James fights with Jamison a lot because Jamison’s hypochondriac thoughts fuels James’ general anxious thoughts, but she would also fight anyone who hurts her sister.

James is a bit insecure about her name because it’s not a typical “”“girl’s”””” name, nor has she ever heard it used in a gender-neutral sense, but she at least learns to accept it.

if you call her Jamie though, she will deck you in the face.

James, despite her dark clothing and being slightly rough around the edges, isn’t actually that mean.

she used to be super present and super agitated all the time and super quick to fight literally all the sides, but as time passed and things calmed down, so did she. she works a lot with Dan to help see reality better because, now that she isn’t as heightened, she wants to see how she could work on her anxious thoughts.

actually, it’s the other sides that tend to freak her out. Dan makes her think about whether or not she’s really smart. Taylor makes her wonder if she’s actually good at anything. Skylar makes her think that all her friends hate her. and Jamison aka Hypochondria is obvious. basically, whatever they fear, she ends up fearing.

but she’s doing better than she has in years. which is nice.

but Jamison is an entirely different ball game.

James and Jamison both formed after Dan, Taylor, and Skylar were already there. once they all found out that their purposes were Anxiety and Hypochondria, everyone was super confused as to why they wouldn’t just be one side. why separate an anxiety disorder from anxiety???

and then they learned that Jamison’s hypochondriac thoughts are worse than anything James could think of.

your chest could hurt for a couple seconds and Jamison has already told everyone that you’re dying and that the hospital can’t help you now.

her more... morbid thoughts tend to get incredibly upsetting for everyone.

she doesn’t mean to be like that. she doesn’t mean to scare everyone and to make everyone feel sick.

going to Jamison’s room makes everyone take on different symptoms for illnesses.

but all these anxious thoughts just... happen and she can’t control it.

the only side she really argues with is James because anxiety + anxiety = a whole lot of bad, but besides that, the other sides don’t fight with her purely because she’s more scared than any of them.

yeah, Dan finds it frustrating when she finds Jamison crying with the other sides and they’re all freaking out because they think they’re dying, but she can’t even yell because Jamison is by far the most panicked one.

so, basically, all the sides, while frustrated, work to at least calm her down.

WebMD and Mayoclinic and any other website that will list symptoms are banned. Jamison doesn’t even have a phone/laptop because of this.

she easily appears and disappears. there have been times when the sides haven’t seen her for weeks, sometimes even months. and then, all of a sudden, she’s back and her room is taking up the most space.

[ask-de-writer]

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 58 of 83 : World of Sea

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 58 of 83

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

copyright 2020

written 2007

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

//////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users   of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may   reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information   remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in   my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical   compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  PART 1 is here

///////////////////////

Tanlin’s face fell.  In a sad soft voice she said, “Oi knew t’at ye’d ask.  Oi’ll give ye t’e facts t’at Oi know.  Ye willnae like w’at Oi’m about t’ tell ye.  Ot least a few ot’ers will tell parts o’ ‘t as well.  Ye’ll ‘ave t’ decide i’ ye’ve been told true.” Dragons forgive m’.  Oi’ll tell ‘er nae lie but Oi must save m’ Barad at any cost! She began, carefully editing Barad’s early involvement in the plot.

“T’ere wa’ a plot t’ kill ye.  T’was hatched only a few doors down t’e passage in Mister Morgu’s cabin.  ‘E wa’ our Purser an’ ‘e ‘ates t’e Longin.  T’was ‘e t’at persuaded Barad t’ buy t’e Ord …”

She went on, fearful of the effect that her account was having on Kurin. So much depended on the goodwill of this child.  No, not really a child, just young.  Before the fleet she was legally an adult because of her skills accomplishments.

There was good reason for her fear.  Kurin heard of the apparent cold blooded murder of Chena and possibly Merk with horror and pity.  She did not want to face this.  She wanted to run and hide, curled around her knotted stomach.  Only her need to know the truth kept her in the same cabin with this story.

Tanlin’s control broke down when she got to Silor’s part. She turned in her chair and gestured at the cabin door, her voice catching as she said, “Ot t’e Gat’ering, only a day before ye were poisoned, Oi met Silor just ootside t’is door.  ‘E wa’ runnin’ an errand for Mister Morgu.  T’was ‘im t’at took t’e kit.”

She hid her face and her voice was muffled and she wept as she said, “A moment earlier!  Just a moment earlier an’ Oi’d ‘ave caught ‘im in our cabin!  Nae bit o’ t’is wad ‘ave ‘appened i’ Oi’d been a moment earlier!”

Kurin, remembering the ghastly accusations of her own mother as she sank into madness, could well guess the kind of guilt feelings that Tanlin was experiencing.  The screaming shade of her mother accusing her of murdering her father still haunted her dreams.  She leaned forward, reaching through her own revulsion at the unfolding tale, and laid a comforting hand on Tanlin’s arm.  The contact helped Tanlin to get a grip on herself.  She looked thankfully at Kurin and went on.  

Kurin heard the events at the Gathering and after.  Even though she had already heard that the Fauline had been rammed, she got the tale again.  This time it included what had happened aboard the Fauline as well as the rest of the events.  She heard, for the first time, how the Grandalor had got north undetected by riding in the eye of the Coriolis storm.

Kurin sat, stunned by the tale.  Shakily she asked, “That’s it?  No dodge?  No it was an accident or a prank gone awry?  Just, somebody really tried to kill me, not even because they hated me?  Just to hurt my ship?”

Tanlin sat slumped in her chair, looking ill.  We’ve lost.  She’ll nae help us now, she thought.  She responded dully, “In Mister Morgu’s case, Aye.  In Silor’s case, nae.  ‘E ‘ates ye an’ blames all o’ ‘is ill fortune an’ failings on ye.  Oi t’ink, from talking wit’ ‘im, t’at ‘e’s mad, at least w’ere ye are concerned.

“Bot’ ‘e an’ Mister Morgu ‘ave been confined since we caught t’em. Nane ‘as spoken t’ t’em since, except for m’sel’.  I talked t’ each o’ t’em separately t’ get t’e facts t’at Oi ‘ad t’ tell ye.”

Kurin curled up into a ball in her chair and sat, eyes closed, stomach knotted.  Tanlin looked despairingly across at Kurin.  She felt both guilt and sorrow that she’d caused such pain in one so young. Tanlin crossed the space between them and knelt where she could gather the hurting Kurin into her arms.

Kurin, startled, looked at her face.  Gray eyes in pain met gray eyes in despair.  Kurin uncurled enough to wrap an arm about Tanlin as well. For a few minutes they just sat and comforted each other.

Kurin broke the hug first and retreated to her chair, curled about her pain.  She looked at Tanlin, and tilted her head regarding the woman shrewdly.  Almost dismissively she said, “This is just pain.  It was hard to hear, that’s all.  I half expected something like that story.  I came here because of those Great Law violations. Running off because something’s difficult isn’t my way.

“Is there anything else that I should know about?”

“T’ere’s a matter t’at ye should know from m’,” said Tanlin, eager to change the subject, hope flaring.  “T’e counterfeit scrip t’at ‘as plagued yer last few Gat’erings originated on t’is ship. Barad an’ Mister Morgu conspired toget’er on t’at.  T’ere are many ‘oo were guilty o’ ‘elping t’ make or pass ‘t.”

“I see,” said Kurin.  She wrapped white hair about several fingers as she thought.  Concentration helped her to ignore the pain knotting her stomach.  She remembered some things that both Alor and Captain Mord had complained of and got an impish grin.  “I think that I have an idea about how to deal with that little problem.”

She turned serious again and said grimly, “There’s another problem that might not be so easy, though.  The Grandalor has an ominous reputation.  There are up to several hundred disappearances, perhaps murders.  Somehow they will have to be dealt with.”

This time it was Tanlin who grinned.  She raised her left index finger and chuckled around the stone of fear in her heart, “T’ey never ‘appened.  Nae even ane.”

“Then what did happen to all those people?” asked Kurin skeptically.

Tanlin snorted in amusement and replied, “Indentures.  Barad brokered t’eir indenture sales in t’e Arraken fleet.  T’e ‘ule ship kept t’e secret as a groit joke on t’e Naral fleet.  T’ere were nae mysterious disappearances.  Tis all in t’e Log an’ accounts.”

Angrily, Kurin started to say, “That’s a violation of the First Great Law! The sale of indentures is slavery!”

Tanlin held up a hand to stem the clearly expected outburst from Kurin. Calmly she explained, “Oi know t’e views o’ t’e Naral fleet on t’e matter.  As indenture’s practiced in t’e Arrakan fleet tis nae slavery nae does ‘t violate t’e Forst Groit Law.  Tis t’e ‘art o’ t’e Arrakan system o’ education.  Yer apprenticeship system comes closer t’ slavery t’an our indenture system.”

Kurin leaned forward curiously, listening carefully as Tanlin went on, “Barad discovered ‘ow our education system worked.  ‘E made yer castoffs int’ students t’at our fleet paid ‘igh prices for. Wen t’e Princamorn wa’ wrecked, we were on our way t’ meet Barad an’ pick up t’e latest crop o’ indentures.”

“Ye ‘ad t’ know about t’e indenture sales.  T’ey’re sure t’ try t’ attack us wit’ t’em.  T’e sales were legal in our fleet an’ dune in our territory.  T’e T’ird Groit Law’s all t’e defense m’ Barad needs.”

Tanlin regarded Kurin soberly for a few moments.  She’s so small.  Can she truly save us?  Barad trusts ‘er an’ t’ere’s few enow ‘e does.  She said quietly, “T’e Grandalor’s books, Logs an’ all else wit’ nut’in’ an’ nane ‘eld bock, is open t’ ye. Ask anyt’ing.  I’ we know t’e answer, tis yers.  Oi’ve ordered t’at t’ere’s t’ be nut’in’ ‘idden from ye.”

Earnestly, Tanlin requested, “Study t’e case forst, t’en answer ane quest’n.  Will ye please put our case before t’e Naral fleet?”

When Kurin did not answer immediately, Tanlin added, a little bitterly, “We’ve little ot’er ‘ope o’ gettin’ justice. Remember, nae even ye quest’ned t’e violations o’ law, bot’ Groit an’ fleet, t’at were dune t’ us.  Ye ‘ave t’eir respect an’ ye were t’e victim o’ t’e assault.  T’ey’ll listen t’ ye.”

 Kurin thought I’ve never refused a challenge before.  I wonder what Cat would say about me defending Barad?  Still, it’s the biggest responsibility I’ve ever faced.  She shuddered a little as she pondered, Lenai and Darkistry are wounded and in sickbay.  Macoul is dead.  Just to get me here.  I can’t let them down.

Tanlin saw Kurin’s small shudder and feared the worst.

Clearly and firmly Kurin said, “I’ve already made up my mind.  I don’t need to think it through any further.”  

Tanlin’s face fell, sure that she had lost.  Ship, love, friends and all would die.  Despair provided the darkness that the unsetting arctic sun in the ports could not.  Determination settled over her features.  Ice like the pack not far north wrapped her heart.  She would have to save her folk — — if she could.  She knew too well, from Barad’s books, the deadly skills of those directing the hunt to the south of them.  

She heard her own voice as if it were through a bulkhead, remote from what she was saying, “Oi promised ye safe conduct.  Oi’m sorry t’at we took ye so far for naught.  We’ll feed ye an’ let ye rest.  Tomorrow we’ll return ye t’ t’e Longin.

“We’ll nae be Scattered an’ executed by Council orders.  We’ll try t’ break-oot for t’e Arrakan fleet.  T’ey’ll give us a fair trial wen t’ey ‘ear o’ the Groit Law violations.  We’ll die fightin’ i’ we cannae escape.

“Oi ‘ope t’at we dinnae have t’ sink any ships doin’ ‘t.”

Appalled, Kurin exclaimed, “No!  I meant that I will be your advocate! I do have to study the case but not to make up my mind.  You were wronged.  I don’t know if I can save your crew but I have to try.”

Tanlin’s hardness turned to joy in an instant.  “Oi know t’at ye’ll do yer best an’ t’at yer best’s very good indeed.”

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS   NEXT==>

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

[writerkaysstories-blog]

The Bookstore

My friend J used to work in a Christian  bookstore. It was a weird fit for him because he was an atheist but that's a story for another day. Back then he was my person for when I had trouble understanding people, usually boys but sometimes friends of either gender. We'd sit there beside a display of the signs of the cross picture books and he'd make me tea and listen to me tell him stories about my life. After I was done be would kiss me on the forehead and hug me for way too long. Then he would tell me my problems would all go away if I'd just join him in the back room where we could do it on a pile of books that preached against sin. And then he'd tell me I was my own worst enemy and if I hadn't come out of the womb all responsible maybe I'd let myself be the girl with the most cake instead of sharing the cake and then baking a new one for the people who didn't get enough frosting on their first piece once in a while. I had a tendency to date the wrong kind of guy. I have a tendency to take in all the strays. The kind of guy who needed fixing. I would fix them to be these shiny knights just in time for them to go rescue their own princess. I wasn't a princess. I had no time for crowns and I was pretty sure I would trip over those dresses. Beheadings I could do, I told him once and he laughed. Now the thing about J is he was not especially handsome. He wasn't very tall and his food groups did not really contain anything healthy. He was overweight and over confident. And the ladies FAWNED on him. Except for me. They loved him because he made them feel special. He made me feel special too but I knew it was like a gift from a Greek tragedy. There was no way it was going to end well. I was at the bookstore one day drinking tea and helping him set up a surveillance camera. Who would have thought Christian book thieves were such a problem? We started making up a story about all the guys who has moved onto princesses who then dumped them for knights with fancier horses. As you may imagine, the story became a bit fantastic and we were crying from laughing. And then J fell off the ladder he was on and hit his head and it knocked him out. Because of course it did. So... ambulance. And the paramedic dudes knew J because everyone knew J. And I rode with him to the hospital because of course I did. In the ambulance, J started the princess story right where he left it. The paramedic thought he was hallucinating. I was laughing so hard he wondered if we had taken drugs. Fun fact. J never ever did drugs. He stopped laughing for a minute and introduced the paramedic to me. He said: Don't speak ill of mylady. This is  a Princess!. You don't recognize her because she's in disguise. But don't let her Doc Martens and 3 sizes too big sweater fool you. There has never been a greater princess than she. She could run the world, hopefully with less black eyeliner. If she is kidnapped and forced into a tower, she won't wait for her prince to come and she sure as hell won't rely on something stupid like long hair. She will summon a dragon or hypnotize the fiend into lettering her go. And once she holds the key to the tower she will lock that motherfucker in and end him with a tower explosion so epic it will be the talk of the fiefdom counties away. I know... She may not show it but she is a princess. And she is a goddess. And she is fire. And she is a siren calling you out to sea to your doom. But more than all those things, she is a humanitarian. She is Diana in the mine fields a thousand times more than she is The Princess and The Pea. She's pulling the mattresses apart looking for the flaw. More than that, she is totally going to insist we send the mattresses out to the people because who the hell needs a dozen mattresses. Meet my friend ADR. She'll never tell you how amazing she is. But I will. Because I see it every day. And then he threw up into one of those kidney bean shaped containers they give you. We didn't talk about his strange oration for a long time after. It was weird but he was weird and it just was a thing that happened. And then D broke my heart. And then he stepped on it. And then fed it to his new girlfriend in the meat sauce I taught him to make. And I cried tears that never ended. Because he didn't just break my heart. I helped him do it. I showed him all the things that were scary to me about love. And I told him all the things about his new girlfriend that were disingenuous and hateful. She sure was pretty though. And also, her parents were loaded. As he was dumping me he said he would never have had the confidence to start dating this girl if not for me. He told me he was almost positive he was making a terrible mistake but he had to try because what if it worked out. And I kissed him and told him it was fine. I hoped I was wrong about her and wished them all the best. I held it together until I parked my car. I was in the bookstore with snot running down my face and crying so hard I started dry heaving. I didn't want to be Diana in the minefields I wailed. I wanted to be the selfish princess with 30 mattresses. Just. Fucking. Once. J let me wipe my face on his shirt and closed the shop early. We went upstairs to his apartment and watched Pulp Fiction. Again. I fell asleep on the futon and woke up the next day to J painting. The Princess Series was the best work he ever did. We went for breakfast at the diner on the corner. It was one of those 50s style places where they made the servers dress in poodle skirts. I went to the washroom. He knew I got the same thing every time. I sat back down and we chatted about the idea I had to turn part of the bookstore into a gallery for his work. Just how much floor space did the books about Jesus need anyhow? He was super attentive which is not his style. I had just said I was starving when he pointed over and said our food was coming. He had the biggest grin. The server in the neckerchief and saddle shoes was coming towards us holding two plates. Of cake. A normal slice for J and a monstrous one for me. She placed in front of me and she was looking at us both. She told me, "He says you need to be the girl with the most cake."