#I was so right for falling head over heels for jesper when I started reading the soc duology | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

veorlian · 3 years ago

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spinning blades

for @kanejweek day 1: mythology (gods & saints).

read it on ao3 here!

pairing: Kaz Brekker x Inej Ghafa

rated t for stabbing and past abuse mention

Inej hadn’t known how to fight when she’d joined the Dregs — Kaz had taught her. First it was throwing a punch, before they moved onto blades. Training knives at first. I don't want you ruining my suit, he’d said. You can have a proper knife when I know you won’t trip and fall on it. She'd wanted to hit them, then. She suspected that that was why he'd said it.

He was a strange boy, Kaz Brekker. She didn't trust him. She’d told him so, and he'd only said: Good, you're a quick learner.

They practiced in an alley behind the Slat. The others largely left them alone, save for the boy named Jesper’s occasional visits to offer encouragement. But mostly it was just her, Kaz, and whatever crows and stray cats wandered by.

"I heard once that there was an honour code for fighting," she said during their second makeshift lesson. She shifted the unfamiliar weight of the knife in her hand and lunged forward. Kaz stepped back, deftly avoiding her attack. She turned around to face him just a fraction too late.

Before she fully registered it, Kaz swept his cane forward, hooking it behind her legs and knocking her off balance. But she was most at home in the air and she easily flipped around, using the momentum to push herself back up on her feet.

"Rules are for the merchers and the aristocracy. Barrel gangs fight dirty," he replied.

"I'm not that," she said. Kaz shrugged nonchalantly.

"If you want to fight fair, it's your funeral," he said.

"Or maybe yours."

Inej nimbly launched herself forward, feet first. Her intention was to hit Kaz square in the chest, but he stepped to the side a second before she would've connected. She landed neatly, rolling into a somersault and back onto her feet in an instant. They circled one another warily.

"Better," he said. "But too slow. Don't waste time talking. You'd be dead before you landed."

"Most people don’t see me coming," she pointed out.

"Surprise is good, but it won’t save you if you're cornered by a dozen thugs with rifles."

Inej raised an eyebrow. "If I have to fight that many, then it can only mean one of your plans has gone wrong."

It didn't provoke the reaction she'd wanted. His expression didn't change, still that infuriatingly bored look.

"There are dozens of spiders in the Barrel that could take that many," he said. The rest of the sentence was left hanging in the air between them. If you can't, then I don't need you.

The world slowed around her. Sudden panic clawed at her throat, white-hot, at the thought that she might be sent back to the Menagerie. Brekker wouldn’t do that, would he?

She looked at his eyes, so dark they were almost black in the growing shadows. She knew his reputation. Greed was his god, it was said, and cruelty was his creed. He wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of her if she didn’t make herself useful.

Alright, Kaz Brekker, she thought bitterly, it’s your funeral.

She held herself very still, in the way that she used to before putting her first foot on the wire. She could feel his eyes on her. Good. She was at her best with an audience.

Watch closely, ladies and gentlemen.

Inej turned her gaze to Kaz. Looked at him the way she assumed he looked at the world — checking for weaknesses. Not the leg; she’d tried that before. Her wrist was still sore from where his cane had hit her. She’d had cause to learn that there was a knife up both of his sleeves, and another in his shoe. Best to go for the face. It felt as though she was seeing herself from a long way away, as though she wasn't in her body anymore.

Prepare yourself for a sight unlike any you've seen before.

She launched into a handstand, grabbing dirt from the ground as she went. Like at home, covering her hands in chalk before sailing from rung to rung. She vaulted over Kaz's head, spraying the dirt into his eyes. He raised a hand to block it, but she'd already landed behind him, the flat of her knife against his throat.

There was a wild, dizzying moment where she considered stabbing him. She’d only been in the Dregs a few weeks, she hadn’t seriously hurt anyone before. But her blood was still roaring in her ears, the acrid tang of copper lingering on her tongue.

I’m not this, she thought. She forced herself to relax and step back. She needed space to think. She needed to pray.

"It's a start," Brekker said, entirely unruffled.

Inej stayed on the roof of the Slat that night, her eyes fixed on the harbour. She thought of what she was working towards. Leaving Ketterdam. Finding her family. Just this once, she thought, the ends justified the means. She stayed up on the roof till the sun rose, glinting pale pink along the horizon.

She'd fallen into the habit of visiting Kaz’s office first thing in the morning. She'd always been up with the sun, and she didn’t allow herself to sleep in. Not anymore. Her first week at the Slat she’d tried going down to the main room, but it was generally filled with snoring teenagers sprawled along the tables and floor. So, she went to Kaz’s office to get her daily assignments. From what she could tell, Brekker didn’t sleep at all. He was certainly always awake when she arrived, drinking his horrible bitter coffee. This morning was no exception.

“Hello, Wraith,” he said when she entered. She was certain she hadn’t made a sound. On her first visit to the office she’d made a note of which floorboards creaked, which hinges squeaked. That didn’t seem to matter to Brekker.

He didn’t look up at her, only motioned to the knife on the desk. It gleamed in the morning sun, refracting light across the room. She reached for it, wrapping her hand around the handle. It felt unnervingly right, in a way that the training knives hadn’t. The metal was cool against her palms — like the rungs of the ladder leading to the wire.

“Maybe I’ll use it on you,” she said, turning it over in her hands.

He sighed. “If only you were that bloodthirsty.”

Sankt Petyr, she called the blade. She prayed her Saints would understand the things she did to stay alive.

Inej had never learned how to fight with knives. But she had, on slow afternoons, learned to throw them. It was part of the act; throwing the blades at a moving target, deftly avoiding the person tied to the board.

"I'm nervous," Inej had admitted, before her first time assisting. Her aunt had offered to show her how it was done, to help her feel more safe. Inej had accepted. She’d learned to throw knives from the very best. She could hit a target at 80 paces on a rainy day. And it was always rainy in Ketterdam.

She hadn't mentioned this to Kaz.

He pulled a dagger from his sleeve and demonstrated how to hold it, how to use its weight to throw it. Inej could imagine her aunt kindly critiquing his shoddy technique. There was no showmanship to Kaz’s throw, only grim determination.

Inej nodded and stepped forward. One moment, Sankt Petyr was in her hand, and the next it was embedded in the wooden pole Kaz had set up, immediately next to where his own knife had landed.

"Like that?" she asked politely. The change in his face was almost imperceptible. She might've missed it. She didn't.

"If you're expecting applause you're going to be sorely disappointed, Wraith," was all he said. She still wasn't used to the name. It felt like stepping into dark water; one wrong move and it would drown her.

Inej retrieved her knife, and threw it again. And again. And again. The pole was entirely intact, save for one specific spot, slowly whittled away. The same spot every time. She could almost imagine that she was back at home, practicing with her family. The worn-down alley behind the Slat, the look in Kaz’s eyes, everything seemed to just fall away. There was just Inej, and her dagger, and her Saints. It was as though Sankt Petyr was guiding her hand, reminding her of who she had been. Of who she was.

"Warn me next time before you plan to waste my time," Kaz said after the sixth throw.

“Would you have trusted me if I told you I could throw a blade?” she asked, wiping wood shavings from her knife.

“What information is relevant is up to me to decide,” he said. Everything sounded like a threat, in his voice like scraping stone. “Are we understood?”

“Fine,” she said, after a moment. The ends justified the means. “I’m going to need more knives.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” He turned on his heel and left.

She stole her second knife, the one she called Sankta Lizabeta. Too recognizable to fence, but right at home strapped to her thigh. Her third was a gift from Jesper, on one of the very rare occasions that he had cash. The rest were stolen and given and earned, one by one.

She collected her blades and wrapped them around herself like you might wrap a blanket. Each night she cleaned and sharpened them until they were shining. A ritual, of sorts, something familiar amidst the chaotic mess that her life had become. She listed their names as she raced across the rooftops. Her Saints, protecting her.

Kaz had taught her how to fight, but she'd made it her own. She was light on her feet from years in the air, and deceptively strong. Ketterdam was just another wire, and she walked it with ease.

Barrel gangs fight dirty, Kaz had said, and that was true. The gangs of the Barrel were unscrupulous and ruthless, taking any opportunity to rig a fight. But they lacked imagination. There was no finesse, no art to their combat. They could never anticipate her moves. Surprise, Inej learned, goes a very long way in a fight. She’d always been a fast learner.

She didn't fight Kaz again. At least, not with blades.

#kanej week 2021 #six of crows #kanej fics #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #finished prompts

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oldearthaccretionist · 7 years ago

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By Our Sacrifice - D&D synopsis

[edited to add proper image caption crediting @artblaster ... how could I forget!?]

So it’s been several weeks since we played our last DnD game. And it was a doozy but I was out in camp so I didn’t have time to get it typed up and summarised until now. The first part of the arc was explained back here, for context:

http://oldearthaccretionist.tumblr.com/post/163304534741/the-feels-otherwise-known-as-dd-recap-also

Our GM is @nonbinary-wallmaker and our players are @artisticmiserys (as Dieron the aasimar cleric), @thepamdeathforgot (as Zanna the gnome rogue/monk), and @divineyoukai (as Elektra the human wizard) and myself as Coda (the dwarven barbarian of the Ancestral Guardian path... well that was what she was anyway... sorry spoilers).

The shorter version (skip this if you want the full version below the cut): The crew fought a horde of not quite undead puppets of the puppet master while they heard Jesper’s screams behind a magical barrier that they could not get through. Coda’s control of her rage wavered. They waited until the barrier came down, Coda wrote overwrought letters and made Dieron promise to get everyone out when it was time.

The barrier came down and they went in, absolutely laid waste to the mage that had killed Coda and kidnapped Jesper, and then were left fighting the not quite physical vortex of chaotic magical energy that surrounded the shadow figure of the puppet master who stood with a limp Jesper dangling from shadow strings. When a giant disembodied hand squashed Zanna to the ground and Zanna doesn’t get up, Coda lost control of her rage becoming frenzied in her attacks. At which point, the vortex coalesced into a sphere sending a wave of force that threw everyone against the wall.

[Token art by the awesome @artblaster , go look at his work and then commission him, just do it]

The rest of the crew got out while Coda fought her way through a force that she could barely make headway against, with waves of force and elemental energy battering her the entire way, to the centre where Jesper is. Coda is kept from falling unconscious only by her rage allowing her to push through the damage done to her and making her way to Jesper. Upon reaching the centre Coda hesitates, Jesper opens her eyes looking up at Coda and nods and Coda raises her axe and says, “I love you, I’m sorry, I’ll see you on the other side” and swings.

This unleashes a maelstrom of fire and raw magic immolating everything non-magical in the room. Meanwhile, Dieron and Zanna did not wait and read their letters from Coda and know that Coda lied about being okay, so when the massive stone doors are blown across the room with the final explosion leaving silence once more. They rush into the room still filled with smoke and dust that limits visibility. They find Coda, clothes, hair, beard (everything non-magical) burned away lying still on the floor with Jesper on top of her. Coda is holding on by the thinnest of threads and is brought back to consciousness by Dieron. Jesper, however, is dead, Coda, barely thinking, asks Dieron to bring her back, but the spectral form of Jesper appears to Dieron telling him that doing that means that everything that happened here was for nothing, and that she is okay with it.

Coda cradles Jesper’s body in her arms and they all leave the temple. As they leave the influence of the temple Ralnor collapses, apparently the temple energies were keeping him alive and he too is gone [Because everything that proceeded this wasn’t bad enough]. Elektra gets them to Stonehaft with a teleport and now they are in Stonehaft with a singed, naked, tattooed, crying Coda and two dead dwarves (two dwarves, that I will note, are Coda’s longest held friends, on top of her being head over heels for Jesper).

[[And that’s why, despite how optimistic this arc’s playlist starts, it ends in a very Coda is not okay right now place: https://open.spotify.com/user/oldearthaccretionist/playlist/4KJQFd1AiC8JO5TsRSnhaL ]]

The Long Version (i.e. what is in my session notes) below the cut

The Calm Before the Storm

With just over 24 hours until the ritual reaches the point where Jesper will be able to take down the barrier, Coda makes her excuses and finds a quiet corner to "rest". During this time she writes a letters to her party members, her aunt and her mother, messages that are meant to contain the unsaid things for after she dies.

About an hour later she emerges from the self-imposed isolation and has a quiet word with Ralnor, handing him the bundle of papers tied together with twine and asks him to see that they get to who they need to if she doesn't make it out. Ralnor looks uncomfortable with being charged with this emotional a task but says he'll do what he can. She nods and thanks him. He stashes them in one of the pews of the now cleared chapel.

After a little deliberation they decide to take a survey of what remains on this floor Zanna creeps through the empty hallways, noting that there seem to be footprints in the dust leading from all the rooms to the stairs down. They are similarly regularly spaced as the bloody footprints of the floor above but with no traces of blood.

She returns to the chapel where the party waits, tense, and sneaks up behind Elektra then loudly says, "Hey!"

Elektra jumps and stops just short of casting magic missile, "Don't do that!"

Zanna continues, "So I found footprints leading from all the rooms and then rather than following them, I heard a voice in the back of my mind, Dieron's voice telling me to get my ass back here and not be stupid," [Yay character development.]

We still have a long while to go so we decide to carefully just make sure there's nothing up here still waiting to stab us in the back, secure our potential route of retreat. Three of the rooms have carvings above them that describe them as Experiments, Storage, and The Mirrors of Time. We remember the experiment rooms of above way too well and are in no hurry to enter one of those again. But the Mirrors of Time twinge the memory of all that time back in the Impossible Tower when we first saw visions of the way things were going to go wrong. We are all hesitant, remembering the last time. Zanna checks the door carefully and then while the rest of us are still deliberating opens it.

The room is exactly as we remember it, completely black glass, with four mirrors. After some hesitation, Coda decides that it can't show her anything worse than what's already happening, the moment she steps toward the mirrors a voice in her mind says, "Though I do not have any information about the problem you find yourself facing here I can show you a glimpse of the largest conflict that yet awaits you". Coda relays this to the rest of the party and stands herself in front of a mirror. One by one we all array ourselves in front of the mirrors.

We all see visions of ourselves, older, making some sort of decision to assist another adventuring party in their endeavour, though Dieron sees himself as an angelic figure mowing down hordes of the undead. [Note for the interested: the visions we see are us agreeing to help the adventurers of a campaign finale arc that was being run about a century in the future]

The storage room is essentially full of mold, whatever was stored in here is so completely rotted and molded over that it is no longer even recognisable. We close the door and continue to the rest of the floor, carefully avoiding the experiment room. This floor does seem to be truly vacated, though Zanna finds a few rather interesting magic items in a locked chest in one of the rooms. Unable to avoid it at this point, they all creep towards the stairs.

The Puppets

Coda takes the lead down the stairs, but being a bit distracted, trips over herself a bit on the way down (nat 1 stealth) but it doesn't seem to matter as soon as she sees what lies ahead she stops and signals for the rest to stop. There is a vast, an incredibly vast space between them and the large stone double doors to the central chamber and that space is entirely filled by figures, hanging and swaying gently as if disturbed by a gentle eddy of air movement, their toes just barely brush the floor. There is at least 1000 of these, bodies hanging from invisible tethers swaying creepily. Anyone who was to walk through this room would have to force their way through bodies.

Coda lets the others get a look at what they are facing. Zanna uses spider climb to test if they react to anyone's presence and climbs up the wall above and around them making her way to the main doors which are glowing with the faint blue light of the magical barrier. None of the figures even slightly reacts to her presence they remain limp and unmoving apart from their constant creepy swaying. Zanna makes it back to the stairs and let's herself drop onto them again, then with some trepidation she pokes one of the figures sending it swaying with more urgently but it still doesn't react. So, shrugging, she takes a step into the chamber.

The moment her foot touches the ground, everything changes. Every figure in the area reacts and is lowered to the ground where they start swarming the group. Dieron casts Spirit Guardians, which used to appear as spectral warrior but now, since pledging to become a Sola, appear as angelic beings. All of the puppets within 15 ft of the guardians are engulfed in a flare of light and they fall to the ground unmoving. Dieron wades into the fray as the puppets press back in around him. Elektra starts unleashing magic clearing out patches of the puppets and they fall by the dozens to Dieron and Elektra's attacks. Zanna and Coda do their best, Zanna sword flashing as she stabs, kicks and punches her way through the hoard. Coda slips easily into rage, very easily, and the spirits of her ancestors swirling around her, pushes forward clearing a way to Dieron, bashing puppets out of her way as she makes her way to fight at his back. Dieron's spirit guardians continue to flash with radiant light dropping dozens of the attackers, and the booms and flashes from Elektra's castings are also accompanied by momentary holes in the crowded, surging figures. But more continue to fill any gaps left by their comrades.

Their bodies start to form a fairly significant pile around Dieron and Coda. Despite the shear number of enemies the party seems to be holding their own… and then Coda hears it… the sound of a pained scream torn from an all too familiar throat… Jesper. Her focused control on her rage falters for a moment, threatening to spill over into something wilder, and the spirits around her become momentarily less substantial. Even though she knows that it is too early, that she cannot get to Jesper yet, she is spurred to action, she climbs the pile of corpses and swinging wildly clears a path shouting, "With me!"

The rest is a blur of bodies falling, a few lucky blows from the puppets occasionally finding their marks and Coda's panic and rage mounting, her ancestral spirits flickering as she struggles to maintain her normally tight control. This scene is punctuated by flares of magic and occasional screams which are almost invariably accompanied by Coda losing a little more handle on her control. They must have killed hundreds of these things and yet there are always more taking their place… until suddenly there is a "Whooooomph" of power from behind the door and all of a sudden all the remaining puppets just drop to the floor unmoving once again.

Coda takes a few more steps towards the door and as she moves she feels the uncontrolled rage start to build within her… she takes a few more as it wells up within her. She's only experienced this a few times when she was new to channelling the rage and it scares her now as it did then. She stops, closes her eyes and tries, with little success to control her breathing, fists balled tightly. She struggles there for a moment, there is nothing she can do yet, losing control now helps no one, she can't open that door yet… mindless rage can get others around you killed, just breathe, just breathe.

A few of her party members ask if she is alright but she barely registers their voices. Once she feels like she can move without throwing herself at the door and attempting to smash it down she opens her eyes to see Dieron there, "Can we… not be here… Just not this close… just… up the stairs," she can hear that her tone is flat with the repressed rage… and she just walks deliberately up the stairs and sits at the top of them for a moment. The rest join her and eventually they make their way back into the chapel to hole up, hopefully for a few hours of rest while they wait.

A Waiting Game

After a while of gathering herself Coda pulls Dieron to the side and asks, "Hey Dieron, can you make me a promise?"

Dieron answers unhesitatingly, "Anything!"

"Can you promise me that you will try everything you can to get everyone out when it's time… I… I can't do what I need to do if you are all in there."

"What exactly is it that you have to do?"

"I… I… have to…" she pauses as she avoids saying it out loud, "finish this… once and for all… I have to kill… once Jesper's soul merges with Mudon we can send Mudon on and then the Puppet Master loses the source of her power… and from what Jesper said, the energy released by this, it will kill all of you… to be able to do what I have to, I need you all out and safe…"

"I'll do my best, that's all I can do."

"That's enough, thanks," said Coda

Dieron pauses and then says, "Can you promise me something in return?"

"Of course?"

Dieron takes a chain from around his neck on which two rings are hung… his wedding rings… and loops it over Coda's head, "Get these back to me at the end of this."

Coda is dumbstruck for a moment with a wave of guilt, "I'll do my best." she tears up a little bit.

After getting a hold of her emotions by assuring herself that even though it's not what Dieron meant, recovering them from her body could still count. She goes up to Zanna and attempts to seem a little lighter, "Hey Zanna, I'm sorry for dragging you places like this…"

"Well, hey there's nowhere I'd rather…"

"That's a lie…"

"There's nowhere else I had to be, anyway"

"Yeah, but I'm still sorry we keep ending up in places like this… just be careful in there, okay?"

"I'm always careful… ish…"

They all set up a watch rotation and take turns attempting to sleep.

Confrontation in Limbo

In sleep Coda finds herself in a familiar place, a white void. The same place she found herself speaking with Jesper when she died. Her heart skips a beat hoping that Jesper is going to be there but instead there is an unfamiliar older dwarven woman. Her lined face is angry and she says, "What gives you the right to be here?"

Caught off guard, and crushed that it isn't Jesper Coda fumbles for words, "What? I mean… nothing?"

The woman spits back, "EXACTLY!"

Coda cuts in, "Who are you?"

Seemingly either ignoring the question or oblivious to it the woman continues her tirade, "It isn't fair! It isn't fair that I am trapped here unable to do anything!" Coda's heart sinks and she feels a kernel of the rage from before settling itself into her chest as she realises who this must be as the woman continues to rant and tantrum about the situation she is in. Coda is finding it difficult to concentrate on the content of her words.

"Fair? If it's unfair that you are trapped here is it fair that you trapped so many yourself?" Coda eventually interrupts

The woman justifies her actions in that this place, this prison is also the only place she has called home and that those here came to STEAL FROM HER AND MUST BE PUNISHED FOR IT.

Coda can’t keep the cold anger from creeping into her voice, "From what we have learned you were trapping people long before this"

To which the Puppetmaster replies that this is simply the history written by those that trapped her her. That her followers were always willing and felt as she did about the gods. That the gods were parasites playing with lives like pawns. That they needed to be taken out so that mortals could live freely. That the title of the Puppetmaster was something she only became in reality after being trapped here. Coda is unimpressed, not knowing if this is true, and at the moment caring much if it is, thinking that recent actions and how cavalierly the Master is treating the lives she took, more than speaks for itself. And if she's being honest with herself, particularly because of who specifically is being attacked at this moment… especially with the sound of screaming so recent in her memory… so even if the Master wasn't the monster described by history, Coda can only see a monster in front of her now.

The Master's ranting takes another twist and she starts speaking feverishly about how she has nowhere to go, how terrifying it is. That she is on the verge of becoming a vestige. That she won't return to the void! To be trapped in nothing? Experiencing nothing for ever? How terrible a fate that would be.

"It certainly doesn't sound pleasant. But I find it difficult to muster too much sympathy for you… considering the price you demand for your freedom"

The Master then spits out, "You don't feel anything!"

To which Coda, with a waver in her voice says, "Oh… I feel a lot. At the moment that's kind of the problem."

The Master studies her a moment and then says, "Okay I believe that you feel, but do you experience? Do you even know how lucky you are to be able to experience? You keep yourself too tightly controlled not allowing yourself to experience the feeling. Not allowing yourself to experience anything you don't chose. It is wasted on you!"

The conversation continues in circles for a bit and Coda learns that this is the first time the Master has spoken to anyone, that ending up in this place with Coda is the first unexpected thing that has happened here since the Master was trapped and that she no more knows why it's happening than Coda does. Coda's answers grow tight with anger as she can't help but remember Jesper's screams or wonder what is happening in that room right now. Eventually she says that, if imprisonment is so arduous she could just help destroy the Master if she'll tell her how to do it.

The Master does not take this well. And Coda threatens, "Well, I'm coming in there and I'm taking you down, and I'm taking Jesper back from you"

The Master says, "Not in the same shape you aren't"

To which Coda says, "Yup. That's true," as she starts wondering what the effect of physically attacking someone in this place would be the room fades and Coda wakes up to find everyone else stirring to wakefulness around her.

She does her best to relay what occurred, though she was a little less focused on getting useful information than she probably should have been and is definitely not an advocate for whatever moral ambiguity the Master was trying to portray. She does remember that the Master mentioned being on the verge of becoming a Vestige. A term that Dieron recognises, it is a soul that has nowhere to go, a soul that when it moves on instead ends up in an eternity of nothing, completely self-aware but unable to experience anything. There is a little muttering that it's definitely not a fate that they would want anyone to face. Despite some sympathy about the awfulness of facing that sort of fate they all agree that they can't let her continue what she is attempting and to bring more destruction around.

They make their preparations in the morning - eating a little, gathering and checking gear. At one point Ralnor approaches Dieron, tapping him on the shoulder, "Hey, uh could you come with me for a moment,"

Dieron agrees and follows Ralnor who pulls out the rolled parchment tied with twine and holds it out, "So…. It's not really my thing… I mean… there's this thing some dwarves do before they go into a dangerous situation. And well… Here…"

Dieron takes the bundle, "What is this?"

Ralnor shrugs extremely uncomfortably, "Just, you'll know when… if… you should read them…"

Dieron tucks the rolled letters away.

By Our Sacrifice (a.k.a. ouch my heart)

They all make their way down the stairs for the final vigil, waiting for their moment. Ralnor approaches Coda, "Do you want me in there with you? You know I'm more than willing to get in there, but," and he looks around at us geared up, "I don't want to be a distraction or in the way. I owe you a lot. You're the leader here, I'll do what you need."

Coda is silent while she debates this, she wants Ralnor to make it out, but not knowing what's on the other side of that door are they going to need every bit of firepower they've got? Eventually she says, "Can you stay out here, be my rear guard make sure they get out and stay out here, please?"

Ralnor nods understanding, "I'll close the door behind them."

Dieron casts deathward on Coda. They all array themselves around the door to wait. Coda has been trained to wait, to control her motions and movements and stands. Hammer in hand waiting not moving. The others shift, stir, pace and fidget. But Coda has settled herself in with an intense focus to wait. It feels like hours but eventually with a whooompf the glow fades from the door. Ralnor, having been waiting for this, grasps the door and with a mighty effort pulls it open enough for all of us to get in and we rush in to see the montage in front of us. The dwarven mage from the chapel room stands facing us and behind him… a shadowy entity with long black string-like shadows stands over Jesper with a vortex of swirling, chaotic magical energy around them. And five dark pools of swirling void arrayed around the room like finger prints left by a massive hand.

[Token art by the awesome @artblaster , go look at his work and then commission him, just do it]

Zanna rushes in and with a flurry of blows succeeds on a stunning strike leaving the mage vulnerable to her subsequent blows and to the rest of the party. Elektra pulls out the stops and casts a massive Firebolt [at level 7 dealing a ridiculous 60 some damage]. Coda charges in swinging double-handed with the dwarven thrower, and the hammer strike just turns the mage's head into mush. Her rage rises and her control of it falters, that felt real good, the number of spirits around her diminishes and the remainder seem to be barely there. But oh does she feel that rage - she turns to the shadowy figure and swirling vortex of energy and takes the hammer in both hands and hurls it with all her strength the hammer impacts through the swirling vortex disrupting it a bit before it closes back up and the hammer returns to Coda's hand.

A greyish tendril lashes out from the swirling vortex grabs Zanna's displacer cloak and the cloak dissolves, the vortex seems to grow in strength. Dieron casts shield of faith on Zanna to compensate for the loss of the cloak and Zanna closes and strikes out at the motes of energy, it's strange to her but she feels the physical connection which encourages her. Elektra casts blight, causing part of the vortex to wilt away briefly before the necrotic energy starts swirling around faster and faster and faster and faster until it shoots back out at Elektra. Coda attempts to shield her from some of the blow but the spirits seem too insubstantial to make a difference and Elektra is staggered by the force of the magic hitting her and gasps a bit. Coda attacks twice and frightened by her failure with Elektra pulls it together a little more her spirits solidify slightly if only briefly.

The chaotic magic shoots out a trail of magical energy at Elektra who takes psychic damage and falls unconscious. Dieron casts Healing Word bringing Elektra back up to consciousness, Elektra however doesn't seem alright, she's wide-eyed and looks extremely frightened and very confused [feeble-mind and a failed intelligence save… the thing Elektra is really good at].

Dieron activates radiant soul. Seeing Elektra go down Zanna decides to maintain some distance and shoots with her bow but seemingly to no effect. Coda continues hurling her hammer into the swirling energy with all her might. Dieron flies to Elektra and casts Heal, hoping that it will cure whatever effect she seems to be under, Elektra's eyes focus and she says, "Thank you", she casts blink on herself and blinks into the astral plane to relative safety.

The four of them continue assailing the vortex which periodically unleashes chaotic magic with unpredictable results. Including another grey tendril that shreds and dissolves the Alchemy Jug from the bag of holding, the Hat of Disguise, the Ring of Mind Shielding that currently resides invisible on Coda's finger and, worst of all, Dieron's staff of healing. As the assault continues the motes of energy start flickering and moving in increasingly erratic patterns, the vortex seems to be weakening and they keep at it.

Dark onyx fingertips start emerging from the swirling vortices and squashes Zanna to the ground, where she remains unconscious. Seeing Zanna fall Coda's desperation hits its peak and she loses control, her ancestral spirit disappear and with a cry and she hammers at the vortex with increased viciousness and then with the final impact the motes stop and then coalesce into a bubble around Jesper, the bubble starts pulsing. Coda shouts out "EVERYONE OUT! DIERON GET THEM OUT!" Moments before the sphere pulses with a *woomphf* suddenly becomes a wave of force that throws all of them to the wall by the door. Dieron casts mass healing as he ushers the others through the door and Ralnor shuts the door behind them.

In the chamber itself, once she sees that the others are getting out, Coda turns and starts making her way directly into the force using every ounce of strength to make any headway into it. Waves of elemental and force energies wash over her leaving her burned, singed, bruised and on the edge of consciousness. As she gets closer to the centre, and Jesper, the force intensifies slowing her progress further and her body starts to falter in the face of the damage it is taking from the relentless chaotic force.

She almost drops to one knee but the rage and determination keeps her going for the last few feet even though she shouldn't remain conscious, frustrated and afraid that all of this will be for naught she hurls her hammer into the gale only for it to be flung off backwards lost somewhere unseen in the room. She fights for the last few feet until she is in the centre with Jesper, barely standing she looks at Jesper, who opens her eyes and looks at Coda and nods. Coda hesitates for a moment, her rage lost in this moment but still surrounded by the maelstrom still seeing the dark figure, she raises her great axe and says, "I love you, I'm sorry. I'll see you on the other side." and swings. The axe connects and the room erupts in fire, fire that burns everything, clothing, hair, Coda's pack, everything non-magical goes up in an instant.

The Letters

The rest of the party outside the door listening to the raging the storm within, and feeling a little uncertain in this moment, a sense of foreboding Deiron pulls out the letters and starts to read the one addressed to him and then passes the ones addressed to Zanna and Elektra to them. Zanna reads hers but Elektra declines to read hers until she knows what's happened to Coda.

Dieron,

Oh gods… I'm…. I'm so, so sorry for this. I know that I lied the unforgiveable lie to you. I don't ask for your forgiveness just the understanding that I did it because the only way I could do the terrible, terrible thing that has been asked of me… is if I knew that you all had a chance of making it out… and if I hadn't lied I know that wouldn't have happened.

If I had any other way out of this believe me I would take it… I'm about to stab my own heart… and I can't… I can't manage that if I also had to see you all fall around me to tear out the remainder of my ribcage.

I wasted so much time thinking that I could never be good enough for Jesper and apparently she was thinking the same thing about me… and I wish… I wish I had been braver before… that it didn't take the eve of our deaths to find this out… but now that I know this is the only path forward… a path that destroys all of our possibilities… If there is anything left of us, of our bodies at the end of this… if we make it back to Stonehaft for the rites of stone… would you stand vigil for Jesper? Please… sanctify the stone around her? She didn't deserve this, she would never have been in that expedition if I hadn't arranged for her apprenticeship, Ralnor would never have been here if I hadn't pleaded for a contingent, for him specifically to be sent with the expedition after that vision in the mirror. So many of those that lie dead in this temple are here because of me.

That Jesper will be the only one to die directly by my hand doesn't remove the guilt for the others. The only way it will be worth it is if we succeed if we stop this here and now… and no matter the cost to myself I cannot let this fail…

…except that I know there is one cost that is too high and that would have been knowing you were all lost too, and I think if anyone can understand that it will be you. Please don't look back… please help Zanna get through this… let Elektra be practical and get you out of there… take care of eachother… please this was not your fault… this was my choice and 100% my fault…

Thank you for being family and for making me feel more like I was home whether we were on the road, in terrifying places, or in a tavern than I have felt in a long time. It was an honor knowing you and fighting beside you. And thank you so much for everything and for keeping the rest of these weirdos safe, we would all be gone ten times over before this without you and don't let your overdeveloped sense of guilt tell you any differently. Take it from someone who has one of her own it's not worth it in this case. I had to lie through my teeth with as much conviction as my love for all of you could muster to make sure you left me in that room… and you cannot claim that as your failing…

This was my doing entirely, and Jesper and I are doing this knowing that it has to be done to protect so, so many more people. I told you once when you tried to apologise for not doing enough what the runes on my back mean… Rash-Ma Thunen Arol-Onol Duthurmari - Our Sacrifice Guards Life Under-Mountain. Please understand that this is what I have been moving towards my entire life and that I walked in to it willingly despite how much I wish it could have gone another way.

And like I told Zanna, maybe one of my little cousins will follow in my footsteps and someday there'll be another reckless dwarf throwing themselves into battle to protect others and I'll join my grandmother in the spirits fighting alongside them and I'll get to keep protecting people.

Yours,

Coda

Zanna

I'm sorry Zanna… I'm sorry I lied… I'm especially sorry that I died..

But I'm also sorry that it took me longer than it probably should have to realise some things… I'm not always good at this sort of thing… and you just seem to joke so easily… and really I couldn't imagine someone like you being even slightly interested in a lug like me… at least until I was stupid enough to ask you for… well let's just say I'm sorry, I'm an idiot, there's a reason I was looking for advice.

I heard you when I was… down… and I did suspect that the ring had to come from you I couldn't imagine anyone else sneaking that in there successfully and yes I kept it and will be honored to have kept it to the end. I know it's not an end that you hoped for… And I hope that you will forgive me for it eventually, especially the lie…. But… well I just couldn't have you all die at the same time as I have to… have to do what is necessary, to end this. If I can't protect Jesper I can at least protect you.

As I know you've figured out, Jesper and I have a long history, one with more depth than I realised apparently… Until last night I've spent a long time thinking it was one sided… again back to me being a dunce. Apparently I’m queen at losing out on chances with amazing women by not realising that they could feel anything for me…. Or if you are reading this letter… was. And I hope you know I'm very sorry about all of it… particularly the past tense.

I know you're going to take this hard but I think that Dieron might take it harder… particularly with the history there… please, please take care of each other… and don't let Dieron do something stupid, get them safely out of this I'm sure Elektra will help. If I have to do this I need to know that at least you can all get out of here… you are all like family to me and I love you all. I love that we were all building a home… if only because being around you weirdos has felt more like home, more like a right decision than any others I had made for a long, long time.

You are amazing and brave and I admire how free and confident you are… I know you'll keep going. I'm honored to have fought beside you and to have known you and I don't regret a minute of it.

Also, gnomes are long-lived… maybe someone else in my family will follow in my footsteps and someday you'll see another stupid dwarf who throws themselves into battle recklessly to protect others and I'll be alongside them, with the spirits beside my grandmother and still protecting people. Heck maybe I'll get to protect you once again… or more likely help you protect the foolish upstart dwarf… but that's fantasy… I'm sorry… I care deeply for you… and if there had been another way I wouldn't have gone.

Yours,

Coda

P.S. If my pack is recovered… there's something in it for you… I've been working on it for a while… The hood still needs to be sewn on to the rest of it… and it's still missing buttons but I'm sure you can find some for it… I know how disappointed you were when the tailor's burned down, so I went out and got the supplies for it and have been trying to get it done since then, the handiwork won't compare… but hopefully this is a sufficient substitute…

In the Ashes

Dieron and Zanna look at each other. The tempest dies and then there is silence for a moment and then lightning on fire, like someone is breaking their hands through the fabric of magic, and thousands of voices screaming, explosions that the doors cannot completely contain and the massive stone doors blow outwards and then everything is quiet again. The room is filled with dust and visibility is non-existant. Zanna yells out for Coda multiple times getting no response then grabs Dieron and drags him into the room "We've got to find Coda!" they search through the room eventually finding a person vaguely recognisable as Coda, lying on top of her with one hand on either side of her face is the still form of Jesper.

They run forward, Dieron focuses his attention to Coda, at first he sees no breath, detects no pulse, but then, she's holding on by a thread, and he immediately uses his healing hands bring her to consciousness.

The party sees dawning awareness and realisation and horror all at once come across Coda's face as she sits up cradling Jesper as she does so. "No, no, no. Jesper... Dieron... can you?"

As Dieron goes to answer goes to answer he hears a voice from behind him, a voice only he hears, "Don't. Please." he turns to see a spectral figure of Jesper standing there, "If you bring me back this will all be for nothing. Everything is okay like this, I get to put the soul of a god to rest. I have to stay dead so that Mudon's soul remains with me."

Dieron looks to Coda, "I... I can't. I'm sorry," and tells Coda what he heard, "Let's get out of here"

Coda nods, starts crying and, without a word, stands, carrying Jesper starts to limp her way out of the room. Not even seeming to notice that she is naked.

The rest of the party follows. Elektra notes that the energy of the place has changed, it's less oppressive, there is anger and fury still but contained.

As they emerge from the main chamber all the bodies of the puppets that blocked their path the day before have dissolved into a fine dust that coats the floor. And as they leave the temple they can see that all the bodies of those slain at the entrance appear to have dissolved into the same dust as though they have been left in the desert for hundreds of years not merely weeks. But the barrier that had previously been blocking their path is gone as is the storm of magic that had previously surrounded the place.

When they leave the radius of that sphere all of a sudden Ralnor stops, "I... uh... I don't feel. I think I need to sit down," he sits down hard.

"What's wrong"

"I... I don't know? I don't feel well... maybe you should leave me behind... I don't think I can, uh, even walk right now,"

Coda says, "I'm not leaving you behind! Lean on me." He lies down and says, "you go on, I'll follow, later."

Dieron examining him, figures out that some of the energies of this place must have been keeping him alive despite his vital injuries when we found him and without it he is dying, "Ralnor you are strong, stay with me," Coda pleads but Ralnor is gone. Coda's head droops, then she squares her shoulders... "Please... take her... I won't leave him behind in this place," and Dieron carefully takes Jesper's body while Coda picks up the much stockier Ralnor.

Zanna says, "Elektra... can we leave?"

"Stonehaft?" Elektra casts a teleportation circle into which the party steps and emerges into Stonehaft...

[and that's where we ended for the evening. A bloody adventuring party with a naked, charred, tattooed, beardless, hairless, sobbing dwarf, and two dead dwarves appear suddenly in Stonehaft... that's not going to raise some eyebrows... also Coda is alive, but not remotely okay]

[As a note, this is also how the narrative made sure that Zanna still never got her bunny onesie even though @nonbinary-wallmaker had no clue what was in that pack that they immolated... also Dieron’s wedding bands and all of Coda’s Jesper-made jewelry and beard adornments.... which :( ]

#personal log #my games #DnD #The Feels #Coda #is not feeling so great

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triptuckers · 3 years ago

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Drunken words - Kaz Brekker

Request: yes "Hi, I have just binge read almost all of your shadow and bone one shots and was wondering if you could do one where f!reader goes out drinking with Nina and when she comes back drunk she accidentally confesses her love for Kaz but doesn’t remember it when she wakes up and Kaz doesn’t mention it but he also loves her?" Pairing: Kaz Brekker x reader Summary: You wake up with a pounding headache and some very vague memories of the night before. Luckily Nina is there to help you remember Warnings: mentions of alcohol/drinking, language Word count: A/N: mmm see this? this request right here? I like it 😌 thanks for requesting it! TAG LIST (grishaverse): @ayushmitadutta @mrs-brekker15 @dancingwith-sunflowers @thegirlwiththeimpala @parker-natasha @story-scribbler @romanoffstarkovs @daliareads @meiitanoia @itsnotquimey @sanktaesperanza @whymyparentscheckmyphone @aleksanderwh0r3 @ilovemarvelanne1 @marlenaisnthappy @brekker-zenik @just-deka @graceknxwlson @the-very-tired-mess TAG LIST (kaz brekker): @mufnasa @Janesofia7 @stairscortana @parker-natasha @illicitghosts @brick-by-brick553 add yourself to my tag lists here

Every last Friday of the month, you go out for drinks with Nina. It's a tradition you started a while back. You'd gotten back from a particular rough job, and Nina suggested to go and have a drink. The others were tired, so you were the only one to accompany her. Ever since, the two of you go out every last Friday of the month.

Sometimes you both make it back in time, sometimes you don't show up til morning. And sometimes you're leaning heavily on each other, giggling and laughing.

The crows didn't mind now, though they were a bit concerned at the beginning. But after you showed them that even drunk, Jesper is only a slightly better shot than you are, they trusted you to come back home alright.

On one Friday night, you and Nina stumble into the kitchen of the Slat somewhere around 2 am. You're surprised to see it's not empty.

Kaz is sitting in one of the chairs, and he looks up when you and Nina try to silently enter the building. You fail when you stumble and squeal as you hold on to Nina's arm to prevent yourself from falling.

Nina seemed to be less drunk than you are. At least she can stand on her own feet.

Kaz' eyes follow you as Nina drags you to the kitchen to get you a glass of water, hoping it would sober you up a little.

You hop on the counter and take the glass from Nina without protest. When you look at Kaz, you see he's turned his gaze away from you.

'Aren't you going to ask if we had fun?' you say, pouting slightly.

Kaz looks at you. You're wearing a dress that's only reserved for nights out with Nina. You're also wearing heels and though you'd styled your hair nicely before you went out, it's now messy as it falls over your shoulders.

'You look like you had fun.' says Kaz. 'But I'll ask anyway. Did you have fun?'

'Yesss.' you say, dragging out the word. You don't look up when Nina puts a new glass of water in your hand.

'You should come sometimes.' you say to Kaz.

He merely raises an eyebrow, and doesn't answer you.

'I don't think Kaz is the type of person who goes out a lot.' says Nina.

'But it's fun!' you say somewhat offendedly. 'If anyone needs to let loose every once in a while, it's Kaz.'

'How so?' says Nina, chuckling.

'His jaw is always clenched.' you point out.

'No it's not.' says Kaz.

You nod, smiling happily. 'Yea it is! Don't think I wouldn't notice, I look at you a lot.' you say.

'Do you, now?' says Kaz, not paying much attention to you, as you're drunk and probably not aware of what you're saying.

'Most of the time. All of the time.' you say. 'Just a lot, really.'

'You're drunk, Y/N.' says Kaz. 'You should go to bed.'

'Night's not over yet!' you say and you jump off the counter, spilling some of the water on yourself. 'We could still go out! You should join us, Kaz.'

'I think you should go to bed, Y/N.' says Nina.

You glare at her over your shoulder. 'Buzz killer.' you say.

Nina puts up her hands in defence. 'I'm just saying tonight I'm not going out anymore, I'm going to bed. And you should too.' she says.

When she walks past you, she gives you a new glass of water. You're not aware of taking it, but you drink half of it anyway.

'Nina, you should stay.' you say when she walks to the door. 'Don't leave me alone with Kaz!'

'Why not?' says Kaz immediately, his curiosity getting the better of him.

You turn to him, then back to Nina. 'Nina! Don't leave me alone with Kaz, you know I say stupid shit when I'm drunk!' you say.

She looks over her shoulder. 'You say a lot of things when you're drunk, Y/N. At least drunk words are sober thoughts.' she says as she walks away.

'Nina come back! I might end up exposing myself!' you say.

This makes Nina stop and turn around. She looks at you and frowns.

'Expose yourself how?' she says.

'I might tell Kaz I love him.' you whisper, loud enough for everyone to hear.

You see Nina's eyes go wide. Before you can say anything, or turn around to look at Kaz, Nina's marched up to you, grabbed a hold of your arm and is pulling you up the stairs.

In the doorway, you look over your shoulder at Kaz.

There's an odd expression on his face you can't quite read, you've never seen it before. He doesn't look at you as you start to walk up the stairs with Nina's help.

You barely register anything after that moment, the exhaustion suddenly kicking in. You fall down on your bed without even taking your heels off.

The next morning, you wake with a pounding headache despite all the water Nina made you drink. You push yourself up in a sitting position and rub your head.

None of the crows had been so stupid to wake you. Everyone knew the last Friday of the month was spent drinking, and the morning after it would be unwise to wake you or Nina before noon.

After stripping off your tight dress and heels, you take a hot bath, scrubbing all of the sweat of last night off of your skin.

You get dressed in comfortable clothes and head downstairs to get a big cup of coffee.

But when you want to enter the kitchen, you are met by Nina standing in the doorway.

'Oh good, you're up.' she says.

'Morning.' you say. 'How's your headache?'

'Almost over.' she says. 'Don't go into the kitchen.'

'Why not?' you say, frowning.

'Because Kaz is there.' says Nina.

'What, is he in a bad mood or something?' you say.

'No. But he hasn't said anything all morning.' she says.

'So he's normal.' you say, pushing past Nina.

She attempts to stop you, but you walk away from her, straight to the fresh pot of coffee. You pour yourself a generous amount of it, and then sit at the same table Kaz is sitting at.

He looks at you, but doesn't say anything.

'You good?' you say after a while. 'I'm sure that's the longest you've ever looked at me. Have I got something on my face?'

Kaz shakes his head.

'Then why are you looking at me like that?' you say.

'Do you remember anything from last night?' asks Kaz.

You squint your eyes, trying to remember.

'Nina and I played card games with some Zemeni tourists. They lost. Then we lost. Then we lost again. I don't think I threw up, though. I remember walking back to the Slat and going to bed.' you say.

'That's all?' says Kaz.

'Yeah, I think that's it.' you say. 'Why?'

'Just curious.' says Kaz.

'You're never just curious, Kaz, you always have a reason. What's this all about?' you say.

'Fine.' he says. 'I have a bet with Jesper, how much you would remember. It appears he needs to pay me.'

He gets up and without another word, he leaves the room. Your eye catches Nina's gaze and you shrug, turning back to your coffee.

'Did I do something stupid last night?' you say. Most of the times when you got drunk, you did stupid stuff. You wonder if last night would have been any different.

'Well.' says Nina as she sits down in front of you. 'That depends.'

'On what?' you say as you finish your coffee.

'You should talk to Kaz about that.' says Nina. 'He doesn't have a bet with Jesper.'

'Then why would he leave like that?' you say.

'Again, you should talk to him about that.' says Nina.

'What aren't you telling me, Nina?' you say.

You see her debating wether or not she should tell you.

'Tell me or I'll tell everything how horrible you dance when you get drunk.' you threaten.

'You told kaz you love him.' she blurts out.

Your eyes widen. 'Oh no.' you say. 'No, no, no, I did not. Fuck.'

'Well, you didn't exactly tell him. You told me not to leave you alone because you might end up telling him.' says Nina

You bury your face in your hands. 'Oh, Saints, this is bad.' you say. 'This is really fucking bad.'

'How so?' says Nina.

'He's still technically our boss, Nina. And there's no way he has the same feelings for me.' you say.

'You won't know unless you ask him.' says Nina.

'What would I even say to him?' you say.

Nina shrugs. 'Well you could sit here thinking about it, or go up to his office and talk to him.' she says.

You shake your head and rub a hand over your face. 'Fuck.' you mutter. 'You're probably right.'

'I always am, darling.' says Nina.

You finish your cup of coffee and get up. Nina gestures for you to start walking. You head to the stairs and walk them as slowly as you can.

Would he be mad? What if things would forever be awkward between the two of you? Maybe if you were fast, you could still take it back. You were drunk, you could tell him you didn't mean it.

You stop in front of the door to Kaz' office. You determinedly raise a hand to knock on it, but your fist only hovers mid-air.

'It helps if you actually knock.'

You jump slightly at the sound of a voice. When you turn around, you see Kaz standing behind you.

'Or you could just go in if you have a key.' he says, walking up to the door and pulling out his key.

You're at loss for words, watching as Kaz opens the door and head inside. You're still standing in the doorway when Kaz looks up.

'You can come in, you know.' he says.

You enter his office and slowly close the door. He did not seem bothered by last night at all.

'We need to talk.' you say.

Kaz looks at you and merely raises an eyebrow at you. He gestures to the chair in front of his desk and you sit down.

'About last night.' you say. 'Nina told me what I said. I didn't say it to you, but, well I might as well have. I was drunk and it was stupid, and I'm here to apologise.'

He looks at you and then he starts to smile. Your eyes widen a bit, you'd never seen Kaz smile. Let alone smile at you.

'Are you okay?' you say hesitantly.

'Y/N, I wasn't in my office when you got here because I was at your door.' says Kaz, his words taking you by surprise.

'Why?' you wonder out loud.

'I was going to bring you a glass of water, Nina once told me it helps when you're hungover.' says Kaz.

Your lips part in surprise. 'You were?' you say.

'That saying Nina said last night, drunken words are sober thoughts? Well, I'm glad your drunken self decided to speak the truth last night.' says Kaz.

You stare at him, not sure you heard it correctly. Kaz pulls a stack of papers toward him and begins to read through them. He doesn't tell you that you need to go, so you decide to keep him company while he works.

Who knew a night out with Nina could lead to something like this?

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Marit

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triptuckers · 3 years ago

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Taking care of you - Jesper Fahey

Request: yes! “Omg I got so happy when I saw that your requests were open because I looooove your writing 🥰 Is it okay if I request a Jesper one where the reader, his gf, goes out partying with Nina after a job for the Dregs so she returns to the Slat in the middle of the night a little drunk so Jesper has to make sure she gets in their bed okay and how he takes care of her in the morning. Just some domestic, fluff with Mr. Fahey 💛💛 Thanks in advance!!!” Pairing: Jesper Fahey x reader Summary: Jesper takes care of you after you come home drunk after a night out Warnings: none Word count: 1.5K A/N: MORE SOFT JESPER !!!! I am a sucker for sweet, caring, lovable boyfriend Jesper. thank you so much for requesting this, enjoy reading! :)

Every once in a while, you allowed yourself to blow off some steam. Your favorite way to do so, was to go out with Nina. Going out with Nina was always fun.

You’d go to a bar, get a few drinks in, and happily gossip away. And if you really needed to let go, you’d dance with her, even though most of the bars didn’t even have live music. Somehow Nina always found someone who could take care of the music.

Tonight, after a successful job, all it took was one glance for you to loop your arm through Nina’s, and you were on your way.

Of course, Jesper had promised to wait up for you. Even though you told him he shouldn’t, that you could tell he was tired and he deserved some rest. He’d refused to go to bed before you got home.

And he keeps his promise. He’s sitting at one of the tables with Kaz, when the door opens.

You and Nina walk in. Or rather, Nina walks in, while you’re heavily leaning onto her shoulder.

‘Hi guys!’ you say happily, when you notice Jesper and Kaz. Your heels dangle from your hand as you wave at them.

‘I guess you two had fun, huh?’ says Jesper, already amused by your happy and bubbly state.

‘It was amazing. I beat Nina.’ you say as Jesper walks over to the two of you. He looks at Nina, silently asking for an explanation.

‘Shots competition.’ she says, sounding surprisingly sober. ‘But it takes a lot more drink to get me drunk. Y/N’s only got a few, but she already claims she can rob the entire Merchant council on her own.’

‘I can!’ you say, sounding offended.

Jesper chuckles. ‘Thanks for getting her home, I'll take her upstairs.’ he says.

‘Oh thank god.’ says Nina, removing your arm from her shoulders and handing you over to your boyfriend.

‘Nina, don’t go, the night’s still young!’ you say.

‘Night’s not young, Y/N.’ says Nina as she walks over to join Kaz. ‘And you’re Jesper’s problem now!’ she calls over her shoulder.

You turn to look at Jesper. ‘I’m always your problem.’ you say, grinning at him.

‘Luckily, you’re a delight to have around.’ says Jesper, wrapping an arm around your waist and starting to guide you to the stairs.

‘How many drinks did you have?’ he asks you.

‘A few.’ you say, trying to sound convincing. Jesper raises an eyebrow at you. ‘A few more than that?’ you say in question and he chuckles.

‘Do you think you can walk the stairs?’ asks Jesper.

‘No!’ calls Nina from the other side of the room. ‘I basically had to drag her back here. Do not let her walk those stairs, she’s gonna trip and end up with a broken neck.’

‘Alright then.’ says Jesper, moving to stand in front of you. He takes your arms and puts both of them around his neck, but he dodges you when you try to kiss him. You look up at him and pout your lips.

‘Not when you’re drunk, darling.’ he says. ‘And I need to be able to see the stairs when I'm walking. I don’t want to trip and have both of us end up piled on the floor.’

‘I would love to have you piled up on top of me.’ you murmur.

Jesper laughs softly and hooks his arms around you. He lifts you and you wrap your legs around his waist as he starts to walk up the stairs. You bury your face in his neck and feel sleep slowly getting to you. After laughing and dancing with Nina, and the journey back to the Slat, you couldn’t ignore how tired your legs felt.

When he arrives at his floor, Jesper keeps one hand on your back as he opens the door to his room with the other.

Once he gets to the bed, he carefully sets you down. You look up at him and smile tiredly. His heart absolutely melts at the sight of you. Clearly tired, but you still got that happy energy of a night out buzzing around you.

Jesper closes the door and walks back to you, offering his hand. You take it and allow him to pull you to your feet. He turns you around and starts loosening up the corset on the back of your dress.

‘I thought you didn’t want to do anything.’ you say teasingly, though your voice sounds tired.

‘We’re not going to do anything, darling, I told you. Not when you’re drunk.’ says Jesper.

‘Tomorrow?’ you say.

‘If your headache isn’t killing you tomorrow morning, then sure.’ he says, helping you out of your dress.

He gets a shirt out of his closet and holds it up for you to slide your arms in. Your eyes study his face as he buttons up the shirt.

‘Jesper?’ you say.

‘Yes, love?’ he says, fastening the last button.

‘I love you. You know that right?’ you say.

Jesper chuckles. ‘Yes, love, I know. I love you too.’ he says. ‘But now it’s time for you to get some sleep.’

‘I’m not that tired.’ you say, suppressing a yawn.

‘Sure you aren’t.’ says Jesper, gently pushing you toward the bed. You lay down and pull the covers up, already feeling your tired body shutting down.

‘Sweet dreams, darling.’ says Jesper and you feel him kiss your cheek before you fall asleep.

The first thing you notice when you wake up the next morning is a pounding headache. You squeeze your eyes shut and press your palms to your eyes.

Going out with Nina was always fun. Except for the part where you claimed you could drink her under the table. You never could.

You turn over, reaching out for Jesper, but he isn’t there. You open your eyes and frown. He’s always next to you when you wake up. You always wake up at least an hour or two before he does. So it’s strange he’s not next to you.

When you roll over again to look out the window, you notice it’s not morning. The sun is high in the sky, and you can hear the sounds of people talking in the street below.

Then the door opens slowly and Jesper pokes his head around the corner. He smiles when he sees you.

‘You’re awake!’ he says, opening the door further and stepping into the room.

‘Room’s bright.’ you grumble, closing your eyes again.

‘I’m sure every room is bright to you, given that you got very drunk last night. You must have a killer hangover.’ says Jesper.

‘How bad was it?’ you ask him.

‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad. Just the usual. You lost a drinking game to Nina and couldn’t keep your hands off of me. I’m used to that last part though.’ he says.

‘Did you get me coffee?’ you say.

‘Even better.’ he says. ‘Coffee and waffles form the place near the docks you love so much.’

Upon hearing his words, you open your eyes immediately. Jesper is standing next to the bed, looking down at you. It’s only then you notice the small bag and steaming mug in his hands.

‘Did I mention I love you?’ you say, sitting up and taking the bag from his hands.

‘You tell me that several times a day, so yes.’ says Jesper and he sets the mug of coffee down on the bedside table. ‘How’s the headache?’

‘Not as bad as the last time.’ you say.

‘You mean when you threw a pillow at my face when I said “good morning” to you?’ says Jesper.

You narrow your eyes at him. Last time you got hungover, every sound was loud, including Jesper’s voice. You were frustrated and irritable and had indeed thrown a pillow at his face. He’s never going to let you forget about it.

‘Watch it, despite the fact my head feels too heavy for my neck, I can still aim very well.’ you say, making Jesper chuckle.

‘I asked Kaz if he can skip you today if he needs to get things done.’ says Jesper.

You meant to say ‘thank you’, but through a mouth of waffles it’s hard to form any words. You swallow it and smile.

‘You’re an angel.’ you say.

‘I know, I'm the best.’ says Jesper. ‘I'm off to do all the little annoying jobs he usually makes you do because you don’t mind all the running around. And as for you, stay here, I'll come check in occasionally with a new delivery of the latest gossip, along with limitless kisses.’

You smile again. ‘What would I do without you, Jesper?’ you say.

‘Fall into the dark pit that is called life, without any sunshine in human form, like me, to cheer you up.’ says Jesper making you laugh.

Being hungover wasn’t that bad. Especially when Jesper Fahey was around.

#jesper fahey #shadow and bone #grishaverse #Jesper Fahey x reader #Jesper Fahey x you #Jesper Fahey oneshot #Jesper Fahey oneshots #jesper fahey fanfiction #jesper fahey fanfic #Jesper Fahey fanfics #Jesper Fahey fic #Jesper Fahey fics #shadow and bone fanfiction #shadow and bone fanfic #shadow and bone fanfics #shadow and bone fic #shadow and bone fics #shadow and bone oneshot #shadow and bone oneshots

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triptuckers · 3 years ago

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Two Homes (part 2/7) - Nikolai Lantsov

Request: nope Pairing: Nikolai Lantsov x reader Summary: after receiving an invitation to a ball in os alta, you have no intention of attending. however your father has other plans Warnings: none Word count: 1.6K A/N: part two of the mini nikolai series! enjoy reading :) PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART TAG LIST (two homes and/or all grishaverse fics): @godsofwriting @im-constantly-fangirling @ayushmitadutta @mrs-brekker15 @dancingwith-sunflowers @thegirlwiththeimpala @parker-natasha add yourself to my tag lists here

You wake up to the sound of your father pounding on the door. You don’t even have to get up to check if you’re right, the servants would never knock so loudly. Especially not this early in the morning. Did you forget something? An important date? Was today a birthday or anniversary?

While you’re still wondering if you’ve missed something, your father barges through the door, completely ignoring your privacy. He’s beaming at you, and you can’t remember the last time you’ve seen him this pleased about anything.

He doesn’t even wait for you to acknowledge him. Instead, he pulls out an envelope similar to the one you received yesterday night. You look at the double eagle seal on the back of it, and force yourself not to roll your eyes.

‘We’re going to Os Alta!’ announces your father. ‘You have been personally invited by King Nikolai to attend a ball!’

‘I’m not going.’ you say as you lay back down. ‘I got a letter yesterday, and I already made your choice.’

‘Nonsense!’ he says. ‘This is too good an opportunity to miss. Now get up, we leave within the hour.’

Just as you open your mind to protest, three servants enter your room, carrying an elaborate new dress. Before you can say anything else, your father has left the room and the servants start to dress you and do your hair.

Barely half an hour after you were rudely woken up by your father, you are out the door and on your way to Ravka.

You’re silent as you follow your father on his way to the docks. You had tried to convince the servants to let you wear a pair of pants instead of your heavy dress, but they told you your father wanted you to look your best when you left for Ravka.

So now you’re trying not to trip on your dress as you miserably follow your father. Maybe you could jump off the ship and swim back to Ketterdam. But you fear your heavy dress might sink you to the bottom of the sea before you could make it back.

As you get closer to the docks, you see two other merchant’s daughters who had received an invitation as well, and are happily chatting away. They seem very happy about it, which only causes you to get more annoyed. To top it all off, they don’t even spare you a glance as they walk past you.

When you get to the docks, you see a small crows has assembled to see you off. News travelled fast in Ketterdam, especially the news of three merchant daughters who were invited by the king of Ravka. You wished the docks were empty. All this attention was not something you wanted.

You look at the crowd as you board the ship. Among them, you spot a few of the crows. They wink at you and all have smug looks on their faces. Apparently, they thought you changed your mind.

But you shrug and lightly shake your head after pointing at your father, indicating you didn’t have a choice. You wave at them as the ship sails away. Unlike the others who are looking out at sea, you keep looking at Ketterdam until it disappears from the horizon. You barely left, and you couldn’t wait to go back already.

The trip to Ravka takes a couple of days, and when you finally get off the ship, you travel for another few days by carriage before you finally make it to Os Alta. The others are looking out the window of the carriage, pointing at everything they see.

You couldn’t even bring yourself to get excited or curious. Os Alta looked like any city in your eyes. All you wanted to do, was to go home to Ketterdam. The last thing you needed was to attend a ball. It all seemed so ridiculous. A waste of time and money.

But when you’re dreading something, time seems to go faster, instead of slowing down. The day of the ball creeps closer and way too soon, servants enter the room you’re staying in to help you get dressed.

All day long, you had been thinking of ways you could get out of the ball. You had tried leaving the Palace grounds, but if you wanted to do so, you’d need to be accompanied by a handful of armed guards. You could fight, but not fight off five tall guards with arms.

Climbing over the fence was not an option either. They were too tall, and you couldn’t find a spot where no one could see you.

Even if you did find a way to sneak out of the grounds, you’d still have to deal with your father. Even though you were far away from Ketterdam, he still followed you around like a shadow. Probably because you had made it very clear you didn’t even want to be there.

You even tried to pretend to be sick. But your father had called for a healer, who told you that you were in perfect health. You tried to pretend you fell down the stairs and couldn’t possibly dance all night long. But again, your father had called for a healer who confirmed your good health.

So, you had no choice but to attend the ball. No matter how much you dreaded it, there would be no escaping it.

When you’ve finished dressing, you feel like you might fall over because of the weight of the jewels. Apparently they thought it would be best to look like a shiny insect. Or maybe they just thought the weight of the jewels would prevent you from running away.

Your hair is put up with more jewels, and they had yet again refused to let you wear pants. Instead, you wear a simple but elegant silk gown. They wanted you to wear heels as well, but you had told them if they wouldn’t let you wear pants, the least they could do is have you pick your own shoes. You were pretty sure if you had to walk on heels all night long, your feet would be numb by the end of the night.

Your father had put on his best suit and is beaming with pride as you make your way to the ball room. He introduces you to anyone he walks into, keeping a firm grip on your hand on his arm, so you couldn’t slip away. Your cheeks already hurt from smiling so much.

You were told at the beginning of the ball, everyone would be introduced to the king, and the ball would start. Everyone else was excited to meet him, but you couldn’t care less. Your father had done his best at controlling you his entire life. And now, if he had it his way again, he’d marry you off to some royal you had never met.

Sure, you heard the stories. According to them, Nikolai was a war hero, charming, handsome. The boy king loved by his people. You didn’t care for stories. You wanted to go home, back to Ketterdam. Have a drink with the Crows, laugh at their jokes, play cards.

No matter how much you loathe the palace, your jaw still drops when you enter the massive ball room. It’s elaborately decorated and you have to admit, it’s gorgeous. You didn’t see a lot of this in Ketterdam. Still, you’d rather be in the Crow Club where the floor always seems to be sticky. And you keep looking around you, still trying to find a way out.

You’re waiting for everyone else to arrive and soon, the people around you start to move as everyone starts to introduce themselves to the king. And that’s when you see it. A door to a balcony, slightly open. You take a look at the people around you.

All of their eyes seem fixed on the king, your father as well. He’s got a weird sort of smile on his face as he looks at the king in the distance. It’s like he totally forgot you were there. It’s now or never. You hang back a little and slip between the people, making for the balcony door.

You open it and quietly slip onto the balcony. The cool air outside feels more welcoming than anything else you’ve encountered on your trip to the palace. It’s not a big balcony, and you’re still visible from inside the ball room.

But the ground is not that far, you notice as you look over the edge of the balcony. You’ve once jumped from a windowsill about the same height as the balcony, when you were on a job with Jesper. You take another look over your shoulder. Your father hadn’t even noticed your absence.

You take a deep breath and swing your legs over the balcony. Another deep breath, and you take the leap.

You had been right, it wasn’t that far. Still, you land rather clumsily. You’re not used to wearing silk dresses, and curse softly as you try to get up without tripping on it. Once you’re standing, you look up at the balcony, then ahead. In the distance, you see the palace gardens. They look beautiful in the dim light of the setting sun.

Smiling to yourself, you start walking towards them.

Meanwhile up in the ballroom, your father had reached the king. He’s hopelessly looking around him. All eyes are on him.

‘I swear she was right here, she must have slipped away. She was right here, I’m telling you!’ he says.

Most of the guests are sending him disapproving looks, but king Nikolai is the only one who looks amused.

#nikolai lantsov #shadow and bone #grishaverse #nikolai lantsov x reader #nikolai lantsov fanfiction #nikolai lantsov fanfic #nikolai lantsov fanfics #nikolai lantsov fic #nikolai lantsov fics #shadow and bone fanfiction #shadow and bone fanfic #shadow and bone fanfics #shadow and bone fic #shadow and bone fics #two homes series

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triptuckers · 3 years ago

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Second chance - Jesper Fahey

Request: yes “Would you please be willing to write a fic with Jesper from Shadow & Bone where he is so busy gambling that he forgets your anniversary and stands you up at the restaurant where you agreed to meet which turns into a fight and he wants to make it up to you. So a lil’ angsty that ends in fluff?? 🥰🥰” Pairing: Jesper Fahey x reader Summary: after waiting for jesper at your favorite restaurant for an hour, you finally leave the place, only to run into jesper, who was just about to enter Warnings: angst, language Word count: 2.2K A/N: oooh I like this !! thanks for requesting and enjoy reading! :) TAG LIST (grishaverse): @ayushmitadutta @mrs-brekker15 @dancingwith-sunflowers @thegirlwiththeimpala @parker-natasha @story-scribbler @romanoffstarkovs @daliareads @itsnotquimey @sanktaesperanza @whymyparentscheckmyphone @aleksanderwh0r3 @ilovemarvelanne1 @marlenaisnthappy TAG LIST (jesper fahey): @mufnasa add yourself to my tag lists here

You play with the cherry in your empty glass. You’d already bought yourself two drinks, drinking them as slowly as you could, waiting. The people who are working tonight had sent you sympathetic glances at first, since it was clear you were waiting for someone.

But the longer you waited, the more angry looks they gave you. The restaurant is very popular among locals as well as tourists. It’s not good for business if one girl kept one table for herself, waiting for someone who still hadn’t shown up.

Just as you want to signal to one of the waitresses to order another drink, someone already approaches you.

You smile briefly and want to order another drink, but she’s the one who talks first.

‘Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to give up the table.’ she says.

You feel your heart sink to your stomach.

‘Can’t I wait a little longer?’ you say. ‘I’m sure he’ll be here soon.’

‘You’ve already sat here for an hour. We can’t give you any more time, I’m sorry.’ she says.

You sigh softly and get up, smoothing out your dress. You follow her to the bar and pay for your drinks. As you walk toward the door, you start to think where you could go. You don’t feel like going to the Slat.

Inej and Nina would probably be waiting up for you, ready to hear all about your dinner with Jesper, and you didn’t feel like going down there only to tell them he didn’t even show up. You might just take a walk around the city, or go to a nearby park to sit down.

Just as you walk through the door, you bump into Jesper.

Normally, you’d be delighted to see him. But now you can’t even bring yourself to smile at him. His face looks flushed, as if he ran here.

‘I can explain.’ he begins, but you push past him and step out onto the street.

You ignore Jesper calling your name and start to walk away from him. You don’t even register which direction you’re going, you just want to be away from Jesper.

‘Y/N, wait!’ says Jesper, running after you and catching up with you.

You start walking faster and curse yourself for wearing such high heels. Then again, they’re Jesper’s favourites, he loves them. Right now you wanted to take them off and throw them in the nearest canal.

‘Look, I can explain.’ he says again.

‘Do me a favour, Jesper. Don’t.’ you say as you keep on walking, refusing to look at him.

‘Sweetheart-’

‘Don’t you fucking call me that!’ you say loudly.

You stop walking to get in front of him. Jesper looks hurt at your loud voice but in the moment, you couldn’t care less. Anger rises up in your body as you look up at Jesper.

‘You fucking forgot our anniversary dinner, Jesper!’ you say loudly. ‘We don’t get to celebrate a lot around here, and you knew how much I was looking forward to it. I picked out the best restaurant, I got a new dress which I look really good in, and I had something else planned for us after dinner.’

Jesper doesn’t say anything, merely looks at you as you catch your breath and continue.

‘I told you time and time again to please remember it, and then you fucking didn’t! This was important to me, I thought it was important to you too.’ you say.

‘Look, I know I stood you up, and I’m sorry for that, I really am. But I knew you had some things to handle for Kaz, so I decided to kill the time and went to the gambling hall-’

You cut him off by a groan and throw your hands up in frustration. ‘Of course you did, because gambling is all you care about!’ you say.

Jesper frowns. ‘That’s not true.’ he says. ‘I care about you.’

You step closer and jab a finger in his chest. ‘If you cared about me, you would have remembered instead of wasting time and money gambling.’ you say.

Shaking your head, you step back from him. Jesper looks hurt at your words. You tear your eyes away from his face and bend down to take off your heels.

‘These are fucking killing machines.’ you mutter as you take them off, choosing to walk barefoot instead.

You look at Jesper once you’re standing up straight again, and can tell he wants to say something, but you don’t give him a chance. You turn around and start walking away, blinking furiously to stop the tears from falling.

Part of you expects Jesper to chase after you, and you have to force yourself not to look over your shoulder. He screwed up and he knows it. And you aren’t ready to forgive him just yet.

But when he doesn’t follow you, you’re still upset. You walk until your feet hurt. Eventually, you can’t ignore the aching feeling in your chest any longer, and you sink to the ground.

You let the sadness take over and the tears stream down your cheeks. You had told Jesper multiple times a day to remember it, that it was important to you. And yet he still forgot. Because he decided to go to the gambling hall. You really thought you meant more to him.

When the tears have stopped falling and you’re noticing how tired you actually are, you push yourself to your feet and start walking back to the Slat.

It takes longer than you thought it would, you must have wandered off further from the restaurant than you’d initially thought. You briefly close your eyes and sigh in relief when you finally see the crooked building of the Slat in the distance.

Your shoes feel exceptionally heavy in your hands as you push the door open. There are a few people sitting downstairs, including Inej, Nina and of course, Jesper.

He hopefully looks up when he sees you, opening his mouth to speak to you, but you turn your attention to Inej.

‘Can I stay in your room tonight?’ you ask her.

She looks from you to Jesper. You didn’t know how much he had told them. Even if he didn’t tell them anything, your puffy and red eyes told them enough.

‘Please?’ you say.

Inej nods at you.

‘Thanks.’ you say, turning around to go to her room. You hear how someone gets up behind you, and immediately assume it was Jesper.

‘Don’t.’ you say without turning around.

You climb the stairs to Inej’ room and let yourself in. After preparing a bath, you let your aching feet soak in the water. You lean your head back and close your eyes, letting your thoughts take over.

After a while, you hear Inej knocking on the bathroom door.

‘You alright in there?’ she says.

‘No.’ you say truthfully. ‘I’ll be out in a second.’

Inej opens the door a bit and you see her hand as she flings you one of her shirts to wear to bed. You put it on after drying yourself and comb your hair.

She’s sitting on the bed when you leave the bathroom. Thankfully, your eyes aren’t as red as they were. But Inej still gives you a comforting smile.

‘Jesper said he forgot.’ she says.

‘Did he tell you why he forgot?’ you say as you climb onto the bed and lay down underneath the covers.

‘He only told us he forgot, and kept saying how much of an idiot he was.’ says Inej. ‘But that’s all.’

‘He forgot because he was too busy gambling.’ you say.

Inej frowns. ‘He was? But you told him so many times not to forget. And he went to a gambling hall?’ she says.

‘Hence why I ignored him.’ you say.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ says Inej.

‘No.’

‘Do you want me to shut up so you can go to sleep?’

‘Yes.’

Inej doesn’t reply anymore, instead she lays down as well. It takes a while for you to get comfortable. You’re used to sleeping next to Jesper. Inej is one of your best friends, but of course it’s still different. After what feels like hours, you finally fall asleep.

For some reason you feel even more tired than the night before when you wake up. It’s like your entire body feels heavier for some reason. Inej must’ve already went downstairs for breakfast, because she’s not in the room with you.

You get up and briefly stop by the room you share with Jesper - after checking he’s not there - to put on a clean outfit. You’d hoped Jesper would be away, but he’s sitting downstairs with the rest of the crows when you enter the room.

You want to turn around and get breakfast at a cafe, but Jesper is faster. He’s quick to walk toward you with just a few steps. You want to walk out the door, but Jesper reaches out and grabs your arm.

‘Just hear me out, okay?’ he says.

You ignore him and keep your eyes fixed on the floor, determined not to look at him.

‘Look, I was an idiot. I can’t apologise to you because me forgetting our anniversary dinner because I went gambling is unforgivable. Especially since you told me so many times not to forget. It was fucking stupid, and I promise you it won’t happen again.’ says Jesper.

You have to physically hold yourself back not to throw yourself into his arms. Because yes, Jesper was an idiot last night, but at the end of every day, you still love him. He’s still yours and you are his.

‘What do you say, love, do you want to give this handsome face a second chance?’ says Jesper.

You finally look up at him. You missed looking up into his eyes. He’s searching your face for a reaction.

‘Promise me next time you won’t forget.’ you say softly.

As a response, Jesper holds out his pinky finger to you. You chuckle and raise your hand to hook your pinky finger around his.

‘I promise.’ says Jesper. ‘I’ll make it up to you. Let me make you breakfast, since I missed dinner last night.’

You look over his shoulder. ‘Everyone’s still there.’ you point out.

‘Consider it taken care of.’ says Jesper with a wink.

Before you can ask him what he meant, Jesper has already turned around.

‘Ladies, gentlemen, I’m going to need you to clear the room.’ says Jesper.

Almost everyone gets up, except for Matthias and Kaz. Matthias seems confused, Kaz just seems like he doesn’t care.

‘Right. I have to address all of you.’ says Jesper. ‘Ladies, gentleman, drüskelle and Kaz, please clear the room.’

Nina has to drag Matthias away and Kaz only gets up after Inej raises her eyebrows at him, but they do clear the room.

‘I can’t believe they listen to you.’ you say, watching all of the crows leave.

‘No one can say no to someone as gorgeous as me.’ says Jesper.

You laugh at his words. ‘Good to have you back, Jes.’ you say.

You follow him to the small kitchen and hop onto the counter. As Jesper starts to move around, getting ingredients for a nice breakfast, you can’t help but to smile.

When he walks past you, you reach out and grab his arm.

‘Thank you.’ you say. ‘For making it up to me.’

He leans in and kisses your forehead. ‘Thank you for putting up with my idiotic and annoying ass.’ he says.

‘Hey!’ you say and you playfully slap his arm. ‘You forgot ‘forgetful’.’ you say.

Jesper pouts and you laugh. ‘Forgetting anniversary dinner because you went gambling, I’m going to hold that against you for the rest of your life.’ you say. ‘It’s a perfect summary for your personality.’

‘Wrong.’ says Jesper, moving closer to you so he can wrap his arms around your waist. ‘The biggest part of my personality consists of my undying love for you.’

‘You’re so cheesy.’ you say.

‘You’re the one who knew what they were getting themselves into when you agreed to be my girlfriend, so that one’s on you.’ he says.

‘Alright, I’ll give you that.’ you say.

‘I’ll take you out for dinner as well, but for now you’ll have to settle for breakfast.’ says Jesper, letting you go and continuing to make you breakfast.

‘That’s alright.’ you say. ‘It’s been a while since we had the kitchen to ourselves. So, what’s for breakfast?’

‘Well, Inej taught me how to make waffles, but I do have to confess I forgot half of the recipe already.’ says Jesper, looking at the ingredients he gathered.

You chuckle and hop off the counter. You walk around it and nudge Jesper’s side.

‘Move over, I know her recipe.’ you say.

‘I was going to make you breakfast, love.’ says Jesper.

‘Perfect, you can help me then.’ you say.

‘Deal.’ says Jesper.

#I feel like it's been a whiiiiile since I posted a jesper fic #I missed him #jesper fahey #shadow and bone #grishaverse #jesper fahey x reader #jesper fahey fanfiction #jesper fahey fanfic #jesper fahey fanfics #jesper fahey fic #jesper fahey fics #shadow and bone fanfiction #shadow and bone fanfic #shadow and bone fanfics #shadow and bone fic #shadow and bone fics

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