#I'm kind of tempted to jump on the next train that stop by

[rocksibblingsau]

Love love love ur ideas!!!!

Do you have any more headcanons for Mount Rageon Branch or Adopted by Bergens Branch?

In Mount Rageon Branch, Velvet and Veneer are still a lil self absorbed and looking for the easy way out of things. They don't wanna do any hard work, meanwhile Branch is all about hard work and doing things for yourself.

Branch sees them fighting over wanting fame and it reminds him of his brothers, so he makes it his goal to help them realize their dreams AND remain close. Since they'd be training from childhood, they'd have a better shot at learning how to sing thanks to Branch.

I can't decide if they actually do end up good singers but if they do, Branch is their manager and there would be a moment where post BroZone reunion they see Branch managing and have JD flashbacks. Branch doesn't get bad like John did about controlling their image, but the sight of Branch taking charge and giving orders for show prep really reminds them of a less than happy time of their lives.

Branch: Alright guys, we're gonna open with 'Fame' and close with 'Watch Me Work'. No, wait. Open with 'Sweet Dreams' and close with 'Fame'. Now go out there and make Mount Rageous history! Bruce: Clay I hope you're also an EMT because I think I'm having a heart attack. Clay: I'm with you bro, this is disturbing to watch.

If they don't go the singing route, Branch helps them discover SOME sort of skill they can make it big with.

They don't call him 'Branch'. Velvet decided his name had to match theirs so they call him 'Vine'. They think it's a funny name since he's always on them 'like a vine'. Branch doesn't really care what they call him as long as they stop rubbing his hair trying to suck out his "singing magic".

When Velvet and Veneer found out about Bergens, her solution was "Just stay with us at all times. I'll hold onto you like the last designer handbag at a flash sale."

If they did encounter a Bergen, Velvet would hit them in the head with her purse that weighs 10 tons.

In Bergen Branch AU, Gristle is ironically the excitable kid while Branch can barely muster any enthusiasm for anything. Some people joke that it's like Gristle's a troll at heart and Branch a Bergen. Gristle doesn't go as apathetic and listless as he does in canon since I believe the catalyst was Gristle Sr telling him nothing would ever make him happy. Since in this AU he was given Branch, he was told that Branch would make him happy, so he still has hope.

When they're older, Branch is a sort of sarcastic adviser to Gristle. Everyone's kind of figured out that even if you can get one over on Gristle, the troll on his shoulder won't be fooled and he does NOT show mercy. Gristle also takes his opinion in pretty high regard about pretty much anything.

Branch also gets pretty comfortable with his concept of mortality and he makes jokes about being eaten by Bergens constantly.

Gristle: I got another letter asking if they can buy and eat you. Branch: At this rate I'd be tempted to tell you accept all of them and watch their faces fall when they realize fifty other Bergens also get a piece. Gristle: Branch. Branch: A peanut sized serving of grey troll. Gristle: Branch. Branch: That'd probably be the one thing that could make a Bergen more miserable than you already are, if that's possible. Gristle: Branch. I'm not selling you to get eaten by fifty different Bergens. Branch: You'd be doing me a mercy and ending my suffering.

Gristle: Branch I need you to help me with the audit. Branch: *lays on his palm* Eat me. Gristle: Later. For now you have to help me. Branch: F***. Branch: Is this how you derive joy? Making trolls do your paperwork? You're the only Bergen in the world who would make me do taxes instead of eating me. Gristle: You complain too much and it ruins my appetite. Branch: Has any troll ever not complained? Do you think on Trollstice we were all jumping for joy? 'Yippie! Death!' Gristle: I dunno, try it next time and we'll see if it works.

This trait scares and unnerves other trolls. Poppy asks him to stop once they befriend Bergens because she's worried they'll take offense and "They're our friends now, not troll-eating monsters. That's in the past."

"I'd like it to be in the present so I don't have to listen to another musical number."

[zaunitesky]

Fierrochase Week 2022

Day 3: Earth

"Keep up, Chase!" she shouted over her shoulder with a smile.

She saw Magnus roll his eyes before rushing up the incline after her. She heard the scraping of loose rocks, and managed to whip around in time to grab his hand, so he only fell to his knees.

"Easy there," she teased, pulling him to his feet. She didn't fail to notice how he paused a few beats too long before letting go to dust off his jeans.

She couldn't remember the last time she had gone on a hike like this. When Magnus had offered, she had accepted with no hesitation; the fresh air would help clear her head.

For several minutes, the two walked along the trail in comfortable silence, listening to the birds chittering in the trees. Alex was the first to break it, aiming for small talk. "When was the last time you went hiking?"

"A few years ago, with my mom." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I can't remember where the trail was; it was through the side of the mountain. I picked some flowers for her; she said it looked like a wedding bouquet."

Alex smiled at the mental image of little Magnus with flowers. "That's so sweet."

He smiled. "I was terrified I would fall off the mountain the whole time." She laughed. "When was the last time you did this, as well?"

"It wasn't hiking," Alex said, the murky memories surfacing. "My friend was on the cross country team, and I decided to try it out for a bit. I went at the worst time--they were doing hill training. One mile up the hill, one mile back down."

It was Magnus's turn to laugh. "Ouch!"

They reached a creek carving through the trail. Magnus pointed out some rocks that can be used as stepping stones and began to make his way across, bounding from stone to stone with deer-like grace. He reached the other side and waved to her. "Come on. You'll be fine."

Alex was tempted to shift into a bird just to be an ass, but decided against it. She stepped to the edge of the creek, the wet earth sucking at her boots, then jumped to the first stone, then the next. She was fine until she reached the last one, slipping on the wet surface. She staggered forward with a yelp, arms outstretched. She was surprised when Magnus reached forward and grabbed her, steadying her before she plummeted into the water.

"Easy there," he teased. She gave him a half-hearted glare before letting go, hopping onto the grass next to him.

______

They stopped for a break at the summit of the mountain. Alex watched as the setting sun washed the forst below in warm colors. She turned to look at Magnus, her breath catching: the sunlight glittered in his hair, his expression far away. With the backdrop of the flowers and the forest, he looked beautiful.

She wanted to reach out and take his hand, but she hesitated; would he be comfortable with it? Instead, she turned away, studying the flowers around them. An idea came to her; she crouched down and began to pick them. When she had a decent amount, she turned and gave them to him without a word.

His eyes widened in surprise at the gift. She saw his face, and fear seized her; had she reminded him of his mom? The last thing she wanted to do was bring back memories that could cause him pain.

Alex opened her mouth to apologize, but the words could barely come out. She forced herself to look away. "I'm--"

"Alex."

She paused at his voice, gentle and soft, without a trace of anger or sorrow. She looked back to him. His expression was kind, full of something that she couldn't quite place. He reached out and gently took the flowers from her, his hands brushing against hers, making her heart skip a beat.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "They're beautiful."

Alex felt a burst of warmth in her chest. She reached forward and touched his face, before slowly leaning in to kiss him, giving him enough time to pull away if he wished. But he didn't, and returned her kiss with a tenderness that made her heart race. When she pulled back, he gave her a warm smile.

Impuslvely, she plucked a flower from his hand and tucked it into his hair. "I can make you a vase for these, if you want."

His smile widened, his gaze meeting hers. "I would love that."

She couldn't remember how long they were on the mountaintop, talking as the sun went down. When they began to make their way back, Magnus took her hand in his free one. They crossed the creek as one, keeping the other balanced, and didn't let go until they reached the bottom of the trail.

[kaiparker-avengerssmut]

Their Doll 8

Let me in

B.Barnes x Reader, S.Rogers x Stark!Reader

series synopsis:  y/n Stark, all records of her non existent, and yet Hydra still find her. When she is kidnapped by a certain super-soldier and no one believes her, she finds herself searching for unexpected familiarity in her not-so-distant past.

Series Warnings: smut, violence, torture, swearing

Chapter Summary: y/n gets emotional

Warnings: swearing, feelings

A/n: The timeline in this has been altered, as there I things I wanted to include but I also wanted this fic to follow the storyline/timeline of Winter Soldier and Civil war.So for purposes of this fanfic, Peter Parker was discovered by Tony at a much younger age - when he was bitten - and has been an intern with him since, almost like a protégée.(For the purposes of this story Peter was bitten much younger too - more like when he was 9 or ten rather than 14/15)

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Life at the tower was...tiring, to say the least. During my free time I often found myself in the gym, lobbing knives at a target and trying my hardest not to biting one in Steve's chest every time he would correct my technique. When I wasn't trying to murder the avenger in cold blood, I was usually dragged into things by the other: briefings and debriefing for missions I'd never go on, my dad's parties, group training sessions and study periods with Bruce in his labs to name a few.

But for now, I was huddled in my rooms - fresh out of a hot shower after a brutal two hour training session and four mile run with Natasha - curled up on my bed and attempting to catch up on a few of the films I'd missed. But the exhaustion and drowsiness clouded my eyes, the noise from the TV merely in the background as I felt my eyes growing heavier by the second.

A sharp knock at the door snapped my out of my lowsey state, the people movie across the screen simple a blur of colour as my eyes darted past the tv and over to the door.

"Mr Stark is waiting at your door. Would you like me to let him in?" FRIDAY's evenly calm voice chimed, making me groan and mumble a 'no' into my pillows. The last person I wanted to see right now was my dad.

"Come on kid, let me in." My dad called from the other side of the door, and I could practically hear him roll his eyes and shake his head when I stayed silent. When he spoke again, it wasn't directed at me. "FRIDAY, override command and open the door."

"Wait! That's hardly fair!" I whined like a five year old, groaning again when the door swung open and my dad stood on the other side, quite clearly just as exhausted as I was.

"Get used to it, kiddo. Life isn't fair." Tony chided, walking over to my bed. I tried to shuffle away slightly when I felt the bed dip, my dad perching on the edge as his eyes scanned over the room. "I see you haven't decorated yet." He commented casually, as if nothing had ever happened between us.

"Yeah, well, I thought It'd be a shame to spend so much time on something when you're probably waiting to kick me out anyway." I mumbled, refusing to look at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you, y/n? Ever since you got back you've been-"

"Acting different?" I cut in, and when Tony simply swallowed thickly I nodded. "Funny that, seeing as I was kidnapped and tortured for three years. Not to mention made to kill people for another year after that."

"Y/n I'm sorry..."

"But you're not! You can't be, otherwise you'd actually have tried to save me, rather than leaving me to rot!" My voice cracked, tears pricked at my eyes and I now sat up straight in my bed, facing my dad but not looking him in the eye. "And you can't change that, you can't go back in the past and fix your mistake. And trying to fix it now sure as hell won't work, so I suggest you leave before I'm tempted to use you as my target for my training session tomorrow." I raised my voice, eyes now keeping his captive as the tears rolled freely down my cheeks.

"Oh, kid, they broke you." Tony murmured, cupping my cheek with his hand, eyes swimming with sorrow. Sorrow that I didn't want.

"You can't fix me either, because I'm not broken!" I said harsher now, voice only getting louder. "I don't need to be fixed..." I trailed off, voice barely above a whisper Joe as my eyes broke the contact, averting to my lap as the tears dropped onto the bed sheets.

That's how I found myself in my fathers arms, face pressed against his shoulder as the sobs made my body shake, hiccups escaping me as I tried to speak.

"A-all I needed W-was my D-dad, and yo- you took him f-from me!" I wailed, hands clutching my dad's shirt and his arms wrapped protectively around my shoulder, hands rubbing circles over my back soothingly.

"I know, kiddo. I'm sorry."

...

"Who is that?" Clint frowned, staring at the pictures scattered over the table in front of Natasha and Steve as they studied them deeply,  brows creased in thought.

"Our newest pain in the ass." Tony answered for them, slapping a thick folder down in front of Clint as he said so. The marksman was quick to pick it up, flicking through the documents, news stories and information sheets greedily.

"The...winter soldier?" He asked, looking at the three superheroes in front of him as if they'd gone mad. "But he's a ghost story!"

"I've seen him. Been shot by him, actually." Nat said, an sadistically proud smirk forming on her lips with her last words, almost as if it were an achievement.

"We're trying to find out more about him, maybe that way we can beat him." Steve explained, sitting back in his chair with crossed arms as he huffed in defeat, sick to death with staring at the same five pictures all morning.

Y/n walked in, a skip in her step as she crossed the room to Tony.

"Morning, dad." She greeted, placing a quick kiss to his cheek and heading over to the cupboard to grab a mug. Clint and Natasha frowned in confusion, looking between the two as if they'd witnessed pigs fly.

Tony shrugged, y/n too preoccupied with making herself a coffee to notice the avengers' reactions. When her coffee was done, y/n swiped her mug from under the machine and sipped happily, letting out a content sigh before wandering over to stand behind Natasha.

"What are you working on?" She asked, peering over the spy's shoulder to get a glimpse of the pictures.

A loud smash crashed through the room, Tony's eyes widening in shock and Natasha jumping from her seat in order to not get covered in spilt coffee. Y/n stood paralysed, eyes never leaving the photo in front of her as she started at the Soldier. Steve frowned deeply, studying the girl as her eyes glossed over with with what seemed to be...sadness.

Clint was already at her side, a comforting hand on her shoulder as they all asked y/n what had happened and if she was alright. It was like a constant ringing in her ear interrupted their words before they reached her ears, and y/n suddenly felt nauseous as she starred at the bright red star on the soldier's arm, his long and messy dark hair shrouding his face and his leather clad, muscular body. Only his cerulean blue eyes could be seen, the rest of his face covered in a black mask she didn't usually see him in.

"I-I need some air." She stuttered, stumbling blindly out of the room and down the stairs, tipping over a few steps from the bottom and tumbling down the last few. She quickly pulled herself to her feet, hearing still ringing and vision offset, hazy, as she scrambled for the double glass doors. Luckily they already stood open, so she flew through them and out into the busy streets of New York.

Y/n found herself colliding will someone almost instantly, angry shouts of 'hey, watch it!' And 'look where the fuck you're going, kid!' Being called after her like a chorus as she pushed through the bustling people.

She finally stopped, dropping to her knees and simply staring straight ahead, no intended subject in her line of vision as she tried to comprehend the-the grief, at seeing the a soldier's face again.

It had only been two weeks, and yet two weeks without him, his touch, his scent - it felt like an eternity to y/n now. She hasn't registered what her feeling meant for him before, liking him beyond a source of comfort had just felt...wrong, after all he'd done, and yet y/n couldn't deny it.

She was in love with the Winter Soldier, and she didn't even know his name.

...

I wasn't aware of when someone had found me, nor of how they got me back to the tower or even how I was now stood staring blankly out of the window that stood next to my bed. I gazed longingly, almost as if I stared long enough, hard enough, he'd appear.

But of course he wouldn't, he was probably half way across the world, knowing HYDRA. A soft knock on my door and my head was turning, facing my visitor with a look of pure grief and want. Desperate, unhinged want that could eat you up from inside out and you'd still feel it.

"Hey, y/n. Can I talk to you for a moment?" Nat asked tentatively, clearing trying to to disturb my shaken up state. I nodded, offering a small smile which she returned as I now faced her. She walked up to me, talking my hands him hers and playing with the as she spoke, eyes kind and full of understanding.

"There's a mission, and we want you to go." She said calmly, almost as if the mere thought of it would send me into some kind of heart attack.

"Okay," I begun, eyes flitting down to the floor before back up again. "What is it? Aren't you scared that I'm still HYDRA and all I'd do is stab someone in the back?"

"Not exactly." Nat informed me with a smile, amusement glinting in her eyes at my assumption. "For starters, we all trust you, well maybe not steve - but everyone else does." Nat and I both laughed slightly. "And I think you wouldn't have it any other way it to go on the mission yourself." Nat finished.

"How come?" I asked, brow raised.

"There's been a lead..." she started. "On the winter soldier. We thought you might want to help check it out, possibly capture him. Your powers may be the best chance we have a detaining someone as strong as him." Nat spoke. "And if we can detain him.."

"We can save him." I finished.

"Exactly."

[masternest]

Getting lost playing Jurassic World: Evolution

Heyo! So I'm back to posting again. I know it's been awhile but I felt like I should do some posting especially with my new addiction right now. So I'll cut to the chase. The current game that I'm playing is called Jurassic World: Evolution which puts you in charge of managing a park with all the dinosaurs that you have to take care of. I've been playing almost non-stop during my free time and I've really gotten hooked on it

So for the campaign, you have to work your way through the different islands that they have available. I've already gone through four islands and I'm now currently in Isla Sorna. Each island comes with their own specific challenges and I feel like I should go through each of them and explain a little bit about each

The first island is Isla Matanceros. It's the introductory island I guess you could say and is definitely the easiest to maintain. Not much land per say but you can keep things real simple with this one. As you can see I just have a few buildings. Once you reach three stars with an island you can then unlock the next islands

The second island is Isla Muertes. What's unique about this island is that it constantly undergoes storms that keep hitting the island. Storms suck as they cause constantly problems from freaking out your dinos to make them want to escape to damage to buildings which will cost money to repair

On the island I had separated two parts. One was for the herbivores and the other was for the carnivores. Needless to say, the carnivore section was the most hectic. I had two Ceratosaurus' which I aptly named Romeo and Juliet. They're the first kind of carnivore that you can make

I also had a few Velociraptors and Dilophosaurus. As you can see, when I got back to the island they were already fighting with each other. Actually the two Dilophosaurus were the most naughty and they kept breaking out. I was tempted to name them Bonnie and Clyde but they might not survive long enough from the Velociraptors

The third island is Isla Tacaño. The challenge with this island was that you start off with some buildings already but you start with a major debt. So you need to sell off some buildings. There was initially a huge Visitor Center building right on the middle which was the big pyramid looking building that you'd see from the first Jurassic World movie. But I sold that and managed to make the park viable. To the right was a lot of the operation buildings. In the middle was a lot of the guest buildings. And then over to the right was the park attractions. I even had a train system set up since this was definitely more land to work with. Overall, I was proud of this one as I kept everything relatively neat. But when I came back to the island, I was greeted by a power sabotage. Apparently there are three groups which are the Science Division, the Entertainment Division, and the Security Division. If you don't make them happy, stuff like sabotage can be bound to happen

For the fourth island, it was pretty hard as you have very little land to work with. There were narrow spacings between each section and it was always night time. Not to mention that a lot more sabotage seemed to happen in this island. But overall, I was able to manage it well enough to get to the next island

And this is the current island that I'm in which is Isla Sorna. It is definitely the biggest land mass to date compared to the last islands. And the challenge of this island is that it starts off with wild dinosaurs. Mostly a lot of Stegosaurus and one Spinosaurus. I'll definitely tell more of my exploits on this island in my next post and I was even thinking that when I jump into the next island I would try making a video on it so you can see how the game is played. But till then, thank you so much for reading

[rakimaiirisa]

The jungle of the inn keepers door bell caught Thoralds attention and he looked up from his mead hopefully. A woman stood in the doorway, an unsure look on her face as she peered into the dimly lit inn. Remembering the description his employer gave, Thorald jumped to his feet and hurried to her, extending a hand in welcome. "Are you Arisa Bear-Tooth?" He asked and the woman nodded. "In the flesh" she said cheerfully.

He led her to the table he had occupied earlier and called for the serving girl to bring him two tankards of hunningbrew mead. Taking a deep swig of her drink, Arisa sighed happily.

"It's been awhile since I had some good mead. But let's get to business..Why did you want to interview me?" She asked.

Thorald nodded, "You're the dragonborn, the one the Greybeards called for, m’lady. The people of Skyrim want to know more about you and my employer, The Black Horse courier,wants to be the one to tell your story. Please allow me to be the one to tell it"

Arisa looked down at her tankard for a moment then took a deep breath. " Alright. But if your expecting tales of daring adventure, you're going to be disappointed.."

He shook his head, "I just want your take on things, m’lady, Nothing more. " She smiled at him and he noticed the amusement in her eyes. "You can call me Arisa, m’lady is so formal." she said. He nodded slowly. "Ok then.. Arisa, let's get started." He pulled out a leather bound journal and pheasant quill out of his bag. Placing them on the table, he readied himself to write.

1. What is your full name?

"Arisa laenhal Bear-Tooth."

2. "Do you know why you named that?"

"My father and mother fell in love with the name. Had I been a boy, my father wouldve given me a Nordic name, since I tend to look like my mothers race more. (Noting his confusion, she shrugged.) I am half nord/half mer. I look like my mother more then my father, Tho there are some traits he passed along.(she pulled back her hair and Thorald noticed her pointed ears from her mer ancestry) . My middle name is in honor of my bosmer grandmother. I've never met her tho. She passed before my birth. As for my surname, myfather insisted that I take my mothers. He said he didn't want me to suffer the prejudice he faced, especially when dealing with my mothers people."

3. "Are you single or taken?"

Looking down at her mead, she sighed. "Single and I'm only interested in one person. And I don't want discuss who it is."

The jingle of the door bell made them look up. A tall lean dark haired nord with messy circular black war paint around his eyes stood in the doorway. He glanced at them then walked to the bar, the innkeeper Hulda, greeting him fondly. Thorald recognized him, one of the companion's from Jorvaskkr. As he turned back to Arisa, he noted the wistful look on her face. Could this be the person she was talking about earlier? Maybe this could be in a future story! He mentally rejoiced at the thought.

4. "Have any powers or abilities?"

"Since I'm the dragonborn, I can shout like the dragons, without needing training to use the Thuum . I'm very good with destruction and conjuration spells. And according to Eyorland Grey-mane, I'm not bad at working the forge.

5. (Taking a chance)."Stop being a Mary sue. Give me the details, Arisa. "

"You might want to not ask me in that tone or consider the interview over." He apologized, noting the hard look in her eyes and inwardly cringing. Don't blow this,you idiot! You might never get another chance to ask her anything again. he thought.

6.,"whats your eye color?"

" blue."

7. "Hair color? "

"Dark brown."

8. "Have any family members? "

"My father, Rilgor NightSky and my mother, Elena Bear-Tooth. I am a only child.

9." Oh, how bout pets?"

"I have my horse, Stepper. He's a good horse, very reliable and runs like the wind when I need him too."

10. Moving on to something different, Are there things you don't like?"

Laughing , she said " Spiders and Draugr overlords. Been poisoned and blown off my feet too many times to count."

11. "Do you have any activities or hobbies you like to do?"

"Tinkering with the dwemer automatons I find, I also like to try to create new spells. My attempts have been a hit or miss so far."

12." Have you hurt anyone on purpose before? "

"I've tried not to."

13. "Ever…killed anyone before? "

Not if they didn't deserve it.

14. "What kind of animal are you? "

(She grinned and Thorald noticed that her canines seemed a bit longer then normal.) "What do you think?" . "How bout we skip that question?" He said hastily. He didn't want to know.

15. " Name your bad habits?"

(She shrugged.) Procrastinating is one thing I can think of. And blowing my money on things I enjoy. That wouldnt be a problem but I tend to overspend and then I find myself broke until the next job comes along..

16. "Do you look up to anyone at all?"

I have great respect for my shield brothers and sisters of Jorvaskkr. I have learned a lot from them.

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

I enjoy men and women.

18. Do you go to school?

I study with Vignar Grey-mane and Vilkas. They are teaching me the history of tamriel. Vilkas is also trying to teach me how to handle the transactions for the guild. (She frowns slightly) That's not going so well to be honest.

19. "Do you ever want to be married and have children?"

"I don't know...I would like to get married but children? I'm hardly ever home so I'm not sure. I guess it just depends.

20. "Do you have any fanboys or girls? "

I'm not sure.

21. What are you most afraid of?

Hmmm.. I guess letting life pass me by.... And losing people who are precious to me.

22. "What do you usually wear?

Depends on the weather, but I prefer light clothing and armor.

23.whats one food that tempts you?

Snowberry Crostata. Tilma makes the best but Huldas isn't that bad either.

24. "Am I annoying to you? "

(Shrugs) I've dealt with worse.

25. "Well, it's not over.! "

(Another shrug) it's fine.

26.what class are you(low/middle/high?"

When I was with my parents, I was, considered middle. Living in whiterun.. I guess you could say im still middle. I own breezehome and im still able to provide for myself.

27.

"How many friends do you have? "

Im friendly with the whiterun citizens and I can count on my shield brothers and sisters to back me up so quite a few.

28.

"What are your thoughts on pie? "

The only pie sold in whiterun is apple and I am just not a fan of it. Sometimes Hulda will give me one for helping her cut firewood bithe I just give it to Farkas or Vilkas when I see them.

30.

"Favorite drink?"

It's some brew Farkas made. He's calls it the sabrecat stunner. It's really strong but man, so good.

31.

"Whats your favorite place?"

Hmmm.. I have to say Jorvaskkr. It's noisy but there's something comforting about it. Plus, Tilma is a great cook!

[sarahreesbrennan]

Congratulations on your new book! I'm so excited to read it. :) Although, I also wanted to ask, will any of the extras for Turn of the Story, such as Adara's side story, be left up? I want to know so I make sure to save it ahead of time.

Thank you so much for the congratulations, my sweet! I so hope you will like IN OTHER LANDS.

Any side dishes I prepared are generally left at the table for my beloved guests of the mind to nibble at! Definitely the side story about Adara, one of Elliot’s classmates and a beautiful warrior lady born in lands fantastical, is still up. I have located it and put it right her for you!

LOVE FROM BOTH SIDES

“You’re so pretty,” her mother said to Adara when she was five, six, seven, and eight, learning how much she wanted and every way she could think of to get it all. “The world’s going to be handed to you on a silver platter, darling.”When the Border guard came recruiting Adara said she wanted to go, like her brothers had before her, to serve in warrior training. She’d always beaten every boy at games, at foot-racing. She thought it seemed a good idea. She didn’t expect them to laugh at her. “What, those golden curls make you think you’re one of those fighting Sunborn women?” asked her uncle, pulling her hair a fraction too hard to be playful.She went, just the same. She did not think, until later, about how quickly the world she was promised had boundaries set on it.On the first day of Border camp there were so many other kids, more than Adara had ever dreamed of in her little village. And she couldn’t help but notice there were more boys than girls, and most of the girls seemed destined for the council course. There was a girl who definitely had dwarf blood: Adara didn’t see how she could hold her own in a fight.Most of the girls that there were, were from the other side of the Border, and looking very uncertain about staying. Some short otherlands idiot had been running his mouth and putting everybody off.If Adara was one of the few girls from a Borderlands family, she was the best representative the Borderlands could possibly have. She approached a girl who was looking unsure but tempted, a girl almost as pretty as Adara was herself, her eyes sparkling even as she bit her lip and said: “Fighting? I don’t know.”“You’ll know once I teach you,” Adara told her, and they linked elbows and were best friends, easy as two cherries with a joined stem.“My name’s Natalie Ventura,” said Natalie, and Adara laughed, delighted: she’d never heard a name like that before.That evening, eating meat off the bone around a roaring fire, she saw all the boys forming little groups, and no girls allowed in any of them. She told her new friend Natalie that Natalie could ask that girl, and that girl, and that one, to sit and eat with them. She formed her own group.After her group were all sitting comfortably, laughing and feeling chosen, Adara noticed one boy sitting apart from all the others, talking to a tall girl with her dark hair ruffling gently in the night breeze to display the curve of elven ears. Her face did not show any emotion, but his did. He was leaning close to her, listening to what she had to say: his face was attentive, interested, intent. His hair was chased gold and his tanned skin darkened by the firelight, so he looked burnished and brilliant. “I know,” said one of the girls Adara had chosen, seeing where she was looking and sighing. “That’s Luke Sunborn.”Those fighting Sunborn women.Adara thought: of course it was.*Adara did very well at the Border camp. She was the best of the girls, everyone acknowledged that, and even though fewer people mentioned it she was better than most of the boys, too.Sometimes the elf Chaos-of-Battle edged her out, but that didn’t count. Everyone knew she was getting help from Luke Sunborn. Natalie invited her to come stay over the summer, if she could cross the Border. Adara climbed the stone steps into the clouds and then spread her arms wide and looked down at her first city, laid out before her like an open jewelry box, and felt that it was absolutely right that she should have the power to cross, that she should have two worlds ready for the taking.*

Luke Sunborn wasn’t perfect. He had the bad taste to pal around with Chaos-of-Battle and Schafer, that supercilious elf who thought she was better than everyone, who never even had to try, and the short guy from the council course who kept saying he disapproved of violence and then driving people to it. But he seemed made to be happy, so beloved that he could afford to always be kind, like a victory statue made flesh. His attention was a gift everybody craved: to have it permanently would be like having a piece of high steady ground to stand on, to be never questioned again.Adara tried to talk to him, in class, at practice, down by the lake when everyone was stripped down and casting each other shy glances. The leaves caught sunlight in a net overhead, and dappled light slid down the delicate brown curve of Natalie’s back, cast green-tinted shadows in Dale Wavechaser’s glorious eyes, and almost every girl around the brimming waters was looking at Luke Sunborn with his shirt off. No other boy his age had shoulders like that, muscled as if they were meant to bear any weight put on them.Look at me, Adara thought, but he never did. *Adara’s first kiss was with Dale Wavechaser, who was definitely the second-best-looking boy in their year—Adara’s group had discussed it many times and were absolutely sure—and was almost never a jerk.It happened down by the lake. They came down early, when the morning was still pale gray and the lake looked like a pearl. Dale’s hair was soft and his arms hard under her fingers, and it was nice.It was less nice when Dale’s friends surprised them kissing and one of them gave Dale a high five as if he’d won at Trigon. Adara felt better the next day, when she came top in history and Dale came dead last, and she made fun of him. Dale got his fun handed to him on silver platters, as it turned out: Adara had to make her own.But she could, so what did it matter?“You don’t have to be so mean,” said Dale, looking upset.“I know,” said Adara. “I enjoy it.”*Adara went home with Natalie every summer. She liked it there, everything so strange and different, with so many rules changed. Adara learned the rules of that place, too, so she could win over there.She stopped jumping when cars went by after a few days, and it only took her a day more to accept it when the boys in the cars hooted or honked their horns. It was just something boys did, when they could make you nothing but a pretty picture in their rear-view mirrors. Adara made sure it was never a picture of someone caught off guard, even for a moment.She learned to dress exactly right, dance exactly right, and use the internet so she never had to ask anyone what she wanted to learn.The rules were so different that what happened on one of their late nights, lying on the carpet for hours in a pool of orange light like no light in Adara’s world, seemed natural. “I mean, they say everyone’s a little bit capable of liking both,” Natalie said slowly. “Like, if you were on a desert island, obviously. Or… some people are just so hot that anyone would, right?”She was lying with one arm propping her up, chin against her palm, but then she drifted down to where Adara lay flat on the carpet. Her eyes were illuminated, turning the strange light soft.And it all made so much sense to Adara, as much sense as Natalie’s arm linked through hers on their very first day.But Natalie wouldn’t look at her that way in the daylight, any more than Luke Sunborn would.*Louise Sunborn was only a few years older than Adara, and she was leading a troop of soldiers into battle. She rode better and fought better than any man, laughed loudest and longest, talked and expected everybody to listen. All the men watched her, all the men wanted her, and all the men obeyed her.She was the most beautiful person Adara had ever seen.

*

War was different than Adara had thought, a chaos in which all the skills she had painfully learned seemed worse than useless more than half the time. War was worth it for two things: the few brief shining moments of triumph, and the quiet nights around the campfire when she could sit, hold Natalie’s hand and listen to Louise Sunborn reading out Schafer’s ridiculous and over-the-top love letters to Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle.Wartime meant they were all desperate to grow up, drink as deep as they could from the cup of life before it was snatched away. One day when Louise was reading the latest letter, Natalie bagged a Sunborn called Neal, and Chaos-of-Battle allowed herself to be kissed by Darius Winterchild. Serene always acted as if she was indulging the pretty things, as if she might laugh about them with her friends later rather than the other way around, and it annoyed Adara deeply.But it provided Adara with the perfect opportunity to drift over to where Luke Sunborn sat watching his sister.“You’re looking lonely,” she said, and it was true.“I’m trying to listen,” said Luke, an edge in his voice.Then Louise Sunborn was wounded and carried off the battlefield, in the same battle where Darius Winterchild was killed, and without her to look to Adara felt so impossibly lost, so terrified. There was only Luke left, now, and surely they were all too young to prevail.Unbelievably, Luke Sunborn carried the day. Adara had always been good with the sword, but never more than on the last day of her first war, when she moved like a dancer and brought all down before her, when the sound of her sword striking was the precursor to trumpets and bells and she knew that they had won, and winning meant they were going to live.When the battle was done and the cheering began she held Natalie’s hand, their fingers slippery with blood, and Adara was grateful enough to acknowledge that Serene had even helped Luke lead.Victory was so sweet. Adara wanted nothing more than to taste it again, and again, and again.*The month Natalie chose a Borderlands surname was the same month Adara became involved in the school plays. She always got chosen to be the leading lady, the love interest: who wouldn’t choose her? She loved being chosen, and she loved the sound of applause, every person who clapped another one choosing her.She got Natalie into it as well, but unlike Natalie she never went and sat at the table with all the council trainees who were involved in drama. Adara could like it: but she knew not to like it enough.*Sometimes when Adara visited Natalie’s house she used the computer to look up things she never wanted Natalie to know she was curious about. She learned a lot of new words she never told Natalie about.Even still, she was surprised to see a parade go down the street one day when they were eating doughnuts in a café. Adara thought doughnuts were marvelous, the jam inside, the sugar dusting them: it was all so clever. The tops of these were stale, stiff in her mouth, but she was still eating hers happily when the parade went by, the windows filling with rainbow colors, and Mrs Ventura’s mouth went flat behind her teacup.Adara wanted to ask what was going on, but she did not because she was not like Schafer, socially inappropriate and demanding words that nobody wanted to give and making sure nobody liked him.“These are so good,” she said. “Thank you for taking us out, Mrs Ventura.”And Mrs Ventura, who was afraid of losing Natalie altogether and with good reason, smiled a smile that softened her whole face and put her teacup down.“You can have mine, too,” said Natalie. “I don’t fancy it, somehow.”Adara took it.

*

The next year, she heard Chaos-of-Battle talking with Schafer about pamphlets from somebody called a guidance counselor, and Adara thought those words, strange when put together, sounded wonderful: someone to guide and advise, someone who knew the right words and could put them in your hands.“I’ll give them to you, but I honestly don’t know if they’ll be any help,” said Schafer. “I’m telling you, this guidance counselor was useless and rubbish.”Adara thought: at least he’d had the choice, to take or reject guidance. He and Serene were so utterly ungrateful about everything.Why they had been discussing the matter at all came clear later, when Luke Sunborn caused a sensation in class by announcing he liked boys.Adara was not unduly disturbed. She remembered Natalie saying: everyone likes both, and how it had made absolute, perfect, total sense, how it had seemed so shiningly obvious. That didn’t mean you messed up your whole life. It did mean that Luke was not mad about Serene, as everyone had assumed for years. So Dale could stop walking around looking as if he’d already won a beautiful shining trophy: he hadn’t won anything yet.It must have been a nasty shock for Chaos-of-Battle, since she then apparently lost all self-respect and began courting with Schafer. That didn’t last, of course, but it proved what Adara had always known: that Chaos-of-Battle was not so great after all, that Adara was better.*The next year a perfect opportunity was delivered to Adara, like a world on a silver platter.Luke Sunborn got involved in the school play, and Adara was the star: he was cast to be her love interest.That meant that Adara was given a great deal of time to spend with Luke, such as when Schafer was occupied dancing attendance on the dwarf girl Myra who did the scenery, in the same relentless way he’d pursued Chaos-of-Battle. He showered endearments, made jokes, threw himself into the school play like he’d attended every Trigon game to sit beside the elf. He did everything he could short of just serenading them with a song that went ‘Love me, love me, love me.’As soon as Adara thought that, Schafer actually began to sing a love song: something terrible from the otherlands, about making love wearing a cape. Possibly a song about superheroes: Adara knew about those.Schafer wasn’t terrible-looking, now that he’d grown up and filled out a bit, stopped giving the impression of a short stick with a huge pile of out-of-control hair on top, a sharp nose poking out of the mess, and an opinion everyone had to hear. Myra was not even fully human. He didn’t have to try so hard, and if you asked Adara trying so hard was what would mess everything up for him. It was pathetic.“Here we are, cast as the leads in a play,” said Adara, twinkling up at Luke. “Think the world’s trying to tell us something?”That they would be perfect together, that nobody would ever question them and only admire them.Just listen, Adara thought, but he wasn’t.“I have to… be over there,” said Luke. “Who knows what Elliot could be saying to poor Myra?”He smiled at Adara, the engaging smile that made it impossible for her to be really angry with him. She wished she could have that charm for her own, but it didn’t work for her: its appeal was based on Luke’s absolute sincerity, and she did not know how to reproduce that.She could only watch Luke’s back, departing in the direction of Schafer and Myra.“Hey, loser,” said Schafer, demeanor changing at Luke’s approach, calmer and happier and acting as if that was an appropriate way to talk to Luke. “Do you think you could use your severely limited musical ability to hum a tune so I can show Myra some dance moves?”“Nope, I am not going to do that, thanks for asking so politely,” said Luke, and smiled at Myra. “I’m afraid I’m not very musical.”

Adara saw how Myra’s dark eyes lit up, talking to Luke. So many people looked at Luke that way, as if his regard could touch them with gold.“What’s a piney collider?” Luke continued, which was a fair question.Schafer frowned at him as if he was stupid. “Pina coladas,” he said testily, but then grinned because he was a weirdo. “ ‘If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain, if you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain’—well, that lets you out, obviously…”He rattled on, alternately insulting and singing, making a very sad spectacle of himself as per usual. In spite of how hard he was trying, Adara noticed, Myra was not really paying the least bit of attention to Schafer. Myra was looking at Luke. Too bad for Schafer.*Too bad for Adara, as it turned out.It happened on the night of the school play, when she was feeling as if all triumphs were certain and anyone trying to bring her down might as well be shooting a crossbow at some distant star.She had been dancing, whirling with Schafer across a stage and to the sound of music and sighs and applause. She was the main character of the story, the lead of the whole play, and everybody watching wanted her, believed in her, wished for her victory.So when she grabbed Luke Sunborn for the big kiss scene, it seemed natural to kiss him: it seemed certain to her that this was the moment pretence would become real.Except that it wasn’t the moment she’d thought it would be: the fact he looked the part of the hero didn’t mean that he acted right. Luke’s big bronzed shoulders stayed stiff in her hands, his mouth unyielding under hers as if she’d kissed a beautiful statue.She’d been taught all her life the only way to get what she wanted was to push past all limits, but someone else’s boundaries were limits you were not meant to push against.Adara left the party and the congratulations as far behind her as she could, went out to the burning fires where she’d first seen Luke Sunborn, and sat on a log with her head in her hands, and had to face it all. She’d been chasing someone with no interest in her, pushing the way boys she wasn’t even slightly interested in pushed at her. She’d been so desperate she hadn’t seen it.Luke hadn’t wanted her, not ever, and nor had Natalie. Neither of them, and neither of them were going to change their minds, no matter how shiningly brilliant she made herself out to be.She was pathetic, as pathetic as Schafer.She was just thinking that when she spotted Schafer, and he apologized for kissing her, for ignoring her boundaries. She didn’t even know why that made her want to kiss him. It was against all reason.She told herself it was just about having a good time and blotting out all the bad feelings of the night, until Schafer told her he’d slept with men. (Adara was prepared to bet just one man, because even though she was currently doing it, she refused to accept a world in which all that many people would willingly go to bed with Schafer.)And it was like being told the most important secret in the world, like having someone draw you close and whisper it to you. Maybe not everyone, but you, and me too: you are not alone. Being as pathetic as Elliot did not seem, for a little while, like a death sentence.Besides, Schafer was shockingly competent in the sack.*

“Did I—when we kissed, when we were younger, was that all right?” Adara asked Dale Wavechaser, months later.Dale blinked. “Oh, sure,” he said. “I mean—no offence, Adara, but I was younger and still working things out. I was maybe a little confused, but I’m not confused any more.”“Confused, huh?” Adara asked, and felt that dart of pained guilt, the feeling that she should have boundaries worked out like Sunborn and Natalie and Dale and the most certain and self-assured person in the world, Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-goddamn-Battle. But she thought of Schafer: she clung to the thought of him some days, though she did not even like him. He hadn’t seemed confused.“Don’t be in love with me, okay?” Dale asked anxiously.“Don’t worry,” said Adara, rolling her eyes.It was the closest she could come to apologizing to Luke Sunborn, she supposed, since he clearly did not care what she did or how she felt about him. He hardly ever registered when she was there, but when he did notice her he frowned slightly, and she edged away, removing the presence that dimmed his light. She made him able to forget her.That was another apology, even if he never realized. *“I’m done, done with it all,” said Natalie on the very first day of their very last year in the Border camp. “I’m never going back.”And Adara lay out in front of her very own cabin, where she could have anyone she wanted spend the night and nobody would ever know unless she chose. She thought about the little village she’d grown up in, thought about the Border camp and the clean singing energy of winning, being so gifted at dancing or fighting that there was no need for words. She thought of the chaos of war with trolls roaring and the bright shapes of harpies overhead like stars in a daytime sky. She thought of cities laid out before her like open jewelry boxes, full of new words to be learned and opportunities to be taken.Two worlds for the taking, even if they did not come on silver platters.“Never’s a strong word,” Adara said. “Why limit yourself?”

[ronyxfic]

Educating the Victim - Act V, Chapter X

Pairing: hinted Yellow Diamond/White Diamond, hinted Yellow Diamond/Pearl

Rating: Teens and up

Warnings/Tags: none for this chapter

Read it on AO3!

Educating the Victim Masterpost

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CHAPTER 10: Out

After her chat with Rose, Pearl walked to the direction of the gym. She hoped she'd have enough time to catch up with Jasper. Her last encounter had filled her with hope in terms of reconnecting with the coach. However, as she came closer, she heard two lone voices in the gym.

It was the coach and her English teacher. Lazuli. Huh. She'd have English next. Pearl quirked a brow. She was tempted to say hi, but somehow ended up hiding behind the stack of blue gym mats, listening in.

"Look, Lapis, I'm just saying Quartz has every reason to be suspicious," Jasper was saying. "You know how the situation back then with our supervisor played out. Quartz knows their type, you can trust me on that."

"I'm not debating that." Lapis shot back. "I'm just curious as to why her. Why her as a target? What's the motivation?"

"She's young, impressionable. Unstable. If you play your cards right, she'll do anything for you." Jasper held Lapis's eyes. "I trained her for years. I know her."

Pearl's eyes widened.

Quartz. Impressionable. Trained.

They were talking about her.

"She's barely been listening in English." Lapis retorted. "What's the deal with that?"

"Well," Jasper said, her mouth twitching up, "either she doesn't like you, or... does she have Biology just after your class? ...or just before?"

"After. What's the relevance?"

"Oh, come on, Lapis, I thought you were smart. Her and Quartz?" Jasper raised an eyebrow.

"Oh shit, yeah." Lapis nodded. "That would explain it. I'll have to talk to Quartz about it."

Pearl slunk bank. They knew. They knew.

"You do that. Actually, didn't you say you wanted to go like, twenty minutes ago?"

"Ughh, you kept me distracted!" Lapis gave a teasing punch on Jasper's arm before pulling her close. "Oh well. Do you think we could have a quickie before I go?"

Jasper laughed darkly. "You know anyone could walk in at any moment," she said, but let Lapis pull her close and kissed her. "Now go, do whatever you said you would do. We got more than enough time this evening."

Lapis kissed her back, deciding to wrap a hand around Jasper's waist and help herself to a handful of that firm ass.

Pearl audibly gaped at the noises. The information. No. She wasn't meant to hear any of that. She got up to try and sneak out.

And tripped over on the gymnasium floor. "Ow, fuck!"

Lapis and Jasper jumped apart at the sudden noise.

"Pearl?" Jasper said.

Lapis gave her a look.

"Well, I'll be gone then," she said. "See you later, Jasper, Pearl." And with that, she was off.

Jasper came over to Pearl. "Did you hurt yourself? Here, I'll help you up."

Pearl could only look at her. Wide eyed. "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, I didn't mean to..." She then swallowed. "You were talking about me."

There was no point denying it. "Yeah," Jasper said, holding out her hand to help Pearl get up. "How much did you hear?"

"Enough." Pearl swallowed. "Didn't know you were gay."

Jasper smirked. "Despite what our dear Principal would like us to believe, a lot of people here are." She then grew a little more serious. "So, you want to do some physio? We can talk about stuff while we do that."

Pearl was uncertain, but gathered herself up. "The scratches on your thighs. Lazuli did them." She then had another revelation. "Lazuli is gay."

"Smart girl," Jasper said. "Yeah, we've been dating on and off for over two years now. How about you, then, hm? One hears things."

"You heard about Rose and I... How? Did... did Amy tell you?" Rose wouldn't have. Couldn't have. "How did you know about me and the principal?"

"Word gets around," Jasper said, and, for Quartz's benefit, decided on the harmless half-truth. "The note Spearmint confiscated from you was a pretty good indicator. But even without it, people have eyes."

"Oh God." Pearl gasped, her mind in turmoil. "Oh God. You know. You all know."

"Not everyone," Jasper said. "I mean, Lapis and I confirmed it with Quartz, but I don't think anyone else knows. We're keeping it from the Principal. For Quartz's benefit and yours. You're welcome."

The gym equipment was mostly set up; Jasper motioned for Pearl to start her workout. "Let's start with some stretches. Now, what is this about you and the Principal, hm? You want to tell me about that?"

"Oh, geeze. Not you, too." Pearl sighed, following with the stretches. "She's just helping me. She's been so nice."

"Nice, huh." Jasper frowned. "You know, sometimes people are nice, and maybe you look up to them, or even love them. But sometimes, those people can be bad for you. They can hurt you. And you don't want to accept that because you love them. But it's still something that happens." She looked into the distance. It was not hard to tell that she was speaking from experience.

Pearl tilted her head. This was just like her old dance classes. "What do you... mean?"

Jasper met her eyes, didn't smile. "What I'm about to tell you is between us," she said. "You don't tell anyone, you hear? Not Rose or Amy or anyone."

Pearl nodded. She knew that expression well. She didn't want to let it down. "Of course. You have my word."

"Good." Jasper half-smiled.

"So... Lapis and I. Not really the healthiest relationship around," she then began. "To be honest... she's manipulative. Outright cruel, sometimes. I've hurt her, too, but... I don't know what people usually call someone who locks their partner out of the flat to let them stand in the rain for half an hour." She swallowed. "Their aquaphobic partner."

"Shit." Pearl finished the stretch. "And you can't get out of that?"

"Don't want to." She shrugged and sat down for the next exercise. "I love her."

Pearl followed, but looked down. "I see. But... that's... not okay. That's awful and borderline abusive."

Jasper shrugged again. "Flex your knees," she said, demonstrating the motion, "like this. It's not okay, but I love her. And no matter what it is, we're better off together. Believe me, we've tried to break up multiple times."

Pearl grunted as she mimicked. Pained. "But… I couldn't imagine locking anyone out! At all. That's awful."

"I've hurt her too," Jasper said. "Maybe worse than she hurts me, it's difficult to tell. We're both fucked up in different ways. Try holding your knee like-" She reached over, readjusted Pearl's leg. "That should hurt a little less now."

Pearl blushed at the touch. So intimate. Jasper used to touch her all the time. "How have you hurt her?"

"Physically," Jasper said simply. "Is that better now? ...so, yeah. Her dad was very abusive to her. I was in the military. We both have our trauma. We deal with it together. It's not ideal. But better than dealing with it alone."

"Being abused by someone isn't an excuse, though. My parents neglected me and... I..." Pearl looked away. "Oh."

"Mhm. So, Pearl, you wanna tell me again what's going on with you and the Principal?"

"She's just trying to help me. I'm kind of starting to think I'm… exaggerating."

Jasper looked at Pearl. "Care to elaborate?"

"She's been getting close. Touching me. Talking to me in... s way I find myself almost seduced by. Not touching like how you touch me. But like... long. Lingering feeling. But maybe that's just the way she is."

"I see. But you've been playing along, haven't you." It wasn't really a question. Jasper knew Pearl well enough.

"I like the attention. It's hot to indulge in. And maybe I used to indulge with you, coach."

"Maybe, yeah." Jasper grinned at her. "But the Principal is a dangerous woman, Pearl. You understand that, don't you? You've heard of the incident a few years back, where one of the students committed suicide?"

Pearl gave an uncomfortable look. She preferred to avoid thinking of it.

"You do, then." Jasper knew that look. "You know why he killed himself, don't you? It's not exactly a secret, though nothing was ever proven."

"I heard things. I don't know how much is true. He was mentally ill."

"Well, yeah. You'd have to be to kill yourself." Jasper almost rolled her eyes in a Lapis-esque fashion, but then stopped herself. "Your precious Principal basically bullied him to death. He was transgender. That was reason enough for her."

Pearl swallowed. "She wouldn't. Maybe she wouldn't accept it but… she wouldn't bully anyone like that."

"I was there. The majority of the current staff was there. She's barely less than a murderer, Pearl." Jasper looked at her. "A homophobic, transphobic murderer. That's the person you've been trying to seduce, and you have the nerve to tell me anything about getting out of an abusive relationship. Really."

Pearl looked at her, wide eyed and scared. "I... I didn't know."

"You could have," Jasper said. "And even so, weren't you friends with that lesbian couple she went after last year? This is no secret, Pearl."

"I didn't want to think about it. I liked the attention she gave me."

"It's always about attention with you, isn't it," Jasper said, but without much force. "Stretch your knees, like that. We don't have much time left."

Pearl looked away once more. Unable to meet Jasper's eyes. "I have an illness. I can't help it."

"Oh, and here I thought being mentally ill didn't excuse doing bad shit," Jasper shot back. "You can't just go about your life like this, you at least have to think about what you're doing sometimes. Rose - I can tolerate that, she's not a bad person, but the Principal? Pearl, you need to stop."

Pearl clenched her fists. "You're right. This... this whole Principal thing has all been a huge mistake. She's not a good person." She felt her back click. "I'm not a good person."

"Eh, wouldn't go that far," Jasper said. "You're young, you're allowed to make mistakes. It's what us teachers are there for - making sure you learn from them." She smiled at Pearl. "So, what are you gonna do about it now?"

"Confront her. Tell her that I'm… not going to continue seeing her anymore."

"It's a start," Jasper said. "Be careful, alright? If she gives you shit, we will protect you. Me and Lapis and Rose. We kind of have... an agreement to that end."

"Alright." Pearl looked at the clock. "I'll... I'll go find her after school."

"Good," Jasper said. "Sorry we didn't get much done just now, but lunch is almost over and you have class. Feel free to drop by anytime, though, I'd be happy to do more physio with you." She gave Pearl a smile.

Pearl nodded. She felt more limber but somehow, her entire mind was in complete chaos. She'd have to break things off with Marigold. At least tell her that it wasn't okay. Pearl swallowed. Yes.

She didn't deserve to be manipulated or abused like that. Not by someone who now knew her and her issues so well. Not by someone who had so much power over her. It was frankly... disgusting.

And that disgust only fermented in her last hour of lessons. Fermented until her chest ached and she felt sick with herself. With Marigold. But mostly her own stupidity over all this. She'd given Marigold so much of herself in such a short time. Her energy, her effort. And for what?

It needed to stop. After school, she found her way to the office. Aurora wasn't at the reception.

Somehow, Pearl wished she was.

She felt utterly alone when she knocked on the door.

Marigold looked up, surprised. She was not expecting anyone.

"Come in," she said.

Pearl swallowed once more and stiffly came in. Her eyes a little darker than usual. "Could we maybe talk, Principal?"

Marigold's eyes narrowed.

"Pearl," she said, her voice almost cold. "I wasn't expecting you. But, sure, come in. What's on your mind?"

Pearl didn't sit down like usual. She didn't plan to stay for long. "I want to stop seeing you." She then added, "For our sessions."

"I see," Marigold said. Her eyes finding Pearl's. "Any particular reason for that?"

"Our last session felt very inappropriate. And I don't really… feel comfortable with the way talking to you makes me feel. It's made me actively try and hurt my sister and my partner doesn't feel too comfortable with it either." She fidgeted. "Nothing personal."

Marigold held her eyes, not showing any emotion whatsoever.

"I don't know what you're implying," she said.

"You don't need to." Pearl shrugged. "I guess I'll see you around, Principal."

"No."

The single word had more power and force than needed. Marigold was standing now.

"Sit down, Pearl," she said. "I haven't dismissed you yet."

Pearl froze. She began to tremble a little. "I need to get home, Principal."

"You need," Principal Diamond said, "to sit down. I know far more about your home life than you are aware of, which means I happen to know that nobody is expecting you. Sit down."

Pearl looked around and considered running out of the door.

She ended up complying, eyes to the floor.

"Good girl," Marigold said, her voice like velvet. "Now, please, if you don't mind, do elaborate on what you felt was... inappropriate."

Pearl swallowed. It was hard to pinpoint. "I don't feel like going into it, Principal."

"I'm asking you to." A steely look. Pearl wasn't going to get out of this so easily.

"I dislike how close you're getting to me. I've heard things, Principal. And I've decided to not get involved. You nearly had one of my best friends from last year expelled for being gay." She met those eyes and felt a tremor. "I don't want anything to do with homophobes anymore."

Marigold's eyes narrowed. Her expression cold.

People had accused her of homophobia before. Rarely had they been this direct. Never had it hit her so deeply, in a way she could not describe.

She took a deep breath.

"Ruby was unruly and disruptive," she said. "It had nothing to do with her... lifestyle. And I fail to see how me apparently being homophobic relates to us getting, as you say, close."

Pearl looked away. "I'm just no longer comfortable with our little arrangement. That should be reason enough."

"Well, it's not," Marigold said. "You're going to have to explain yourself to me in full, given that you initiated these sessions in the first place." Not quite true, but true enough.

"Alright. I'm also beginning to feel like these sessions are disrupting my relationships with people. My partner doesn't like it. Amy doesn't like it." Members of staff, old friends. "I... used the fact that we were having sessions to make Aurora panic. And she... she flipped out. She thinks you're dangerous to me."

"You're getting tutoring. Why are your family and friends taking it so personally?" Marigold said, harshly. She knew what Pearl was trying to say. She just needed her to say it.

Pearl's words regarding Aurora hit harder than expected. Yet again.

Aurora thinks I'm dangerous.

She internalised it and sneered at Pearl. "Your sister needs to learn how to mind her own business. Don't you agree, Pearl? After all, you were the one who told me to get her off your back, weren't you? I can't believe you're trying to use that against me now."

Pearl snapped, finally. "This is what I was talking about! Maybe there's a reason no one in this school likes you. Including my sister. Maybe there's a reason they bitch about you and that one of the best bits of graffiti in our bathrooms happens to be a very interesting caricature labelled 'Principal Maricunt'!" She stood up. Blood pumping in her ears. "People I trust told me to back off. Members of staff told me to be careful. That's a billion red flags. And I'm glad Aurora tried to pull me out. I thought... I thought she was jealous but maybe... she knows exactly what you are."

Marigold tuned Pearl out, mostly.

Up until she mentioned Aurora. Which got her attention again.

Aurora... how dare she?

"Your sister," Marigold snapped, "is a gay woman who has been employed by me for five years. She has no right to accuse me of homophobia."

Pearl opened her mouth and then closed it. She froze once more. No.

No. Aurora was not...

She wasn't. She couldn't be. She was too perfect.

"That's... That's not true! She's nothing like me. She's straight."

Marigold raised an eyebrow.

"You too, then, huh?" she said. "I can't believe she never told you."

"She isn't gay! She can't be. She just..." Pearl felt herself swallow. She found herself shaking. Tense. Terrified. "No."

"Believe me or don't, it doesn't make a difference." Marigold felt her heart harden against Pearl. Pearl was going to pay. So was Aurora. So was every other goddamn queer in this school. The days of silently accepting such sinful abominations were over.

"You are dismissed."

Pearl didn't move for a good few seconds. Still shell shocked.

She then stood up. "Thank you for your time." Her voice came out numb. Utterly void of it's fire from minutes ago.

She walked out swiftly, as if fleeing with a tail inbetween her legs.

Marigold watched her go, then slowly started packing up her things to leave as well.

Her heart was cold. She wasn't sure what she was feeling.

She just knew that someone needed to pay. And Pearl was, at this moment, a very likely candidate.

> Act V, Intermission I

[eachainn]

I love love love your exorcist!Sorey and Malak!Mikleo. This is totally awesome ! Do you think you could write more ? (like Sorey and Mikleo training maybe ? Mikleo helping Sorey to learn how to fight without his eye ) I'm sorry if you don't take request, I'm just really hyped for this AU and I hope you'll write more !

I’m glad you love it so much, and I totally take requests. (Here are the other parts of the AU: 1 - 2 - 3).

Fighting was easy. He had been raised training with a sword, first in his father’s house and then when he had entered the Abbey. People would have talked if the great Shepherd Heldalf’s son didn’t know his way around some kind of weapon. And, as an exorcist, his sword had been his lifeline against daemons, if only because he hadn’t been willing to risk his malakhim. But that had all been before.

Sorey stumbled to the side with a curse, just barely dodging the swoop of a winged hellion. He felt claws scrape across the right side of his face, Sorey leaning backwards to avoid a worse injury. He didn’t think it mattered that the right side of his face was more scratched up, but he supposed that it would keep him from being put on bed rest. He’d had enough for that after being saved from public display and becoming Mikleo’s vessel. 

He glanced at the fountain of purple fog bubbling up from the center of the platform, waiting for the next hellions to appear. On the other side of the platform he could see Selene doing the same, the woman weighing the two, mismatched short swords that she had picked up in her hands.

Selene had been doing well against the hellions that were called up, which made him smile. At least one of them wasn’t struggling.

He shook his head, trying to focus on what would be coming out of the font next. It was hard with the glaring blank spot in half of his vision and the feeling of something dripping down the side of his face. He wanted to wipe the side of his face, but he wasn’t sure that he had the time. Besides, it wasn’t like blood dripping into his eye would make him more blind.

He tightened his grip on his sword, swaying in place as he tried to get himself in the right frame of mind.

It wasn’t like he was in any real danger, the others were waiting in case they needed to charge in to help, but this was first a foremost a training session for the two in their group least experienced in combat; Selene because she’d never received any training and him because he was having to adjust.

He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. There was no point in being miserable over what had happened, especially since he didn’t regret what he had done. Edna and Mikleo had deserved to be free, just like every other malak. It was just a matter of working around his handicap.

The font boiled, Sorey tensing as he waited for the next wave to come. It didn’t start immediately, Sorey swaying in place as he waited for something to happen. 

He was so focused on the font that he didn’t notice Mikleo coming up on his left side. Sorey jumped when the malak brushed against him, turning his head to look at him. “What’s wrong? Is it too strong this close? Do you need to come inside?”

Mikleo stared at him for a moment, looking like he was on the edge of laughing, but the malak just shook his head. He reached up to touch the side of Sorey’s face, his hand cupped over the scratch the winged hellion had made. “You’re bleeding.”

“Yeah.” Sorey shivered as he felt the cold touch of water against his skin. It warmed quickly, sinking into him with the calm that he had come to associate with Mikleo’s healing artes. 

It was like the pool that had been back at the palace in Loegres. He’d had plenty of time to sit at it and watch the fish swim since the king had always seemed to be calling Heldalf in to talk about the Exorcists, and they hadn’t needed him to tag along. It was rare that he had wanted to. It had felt much more peaceful to sit by the pond then to listen to whatever his father and the king had been planning.

He leaned into Mikleo’s touch, catching the smile that crossed Mikleo’s face. It was impossible not to smile back.

“Thank you.”

“Just be more careful.”

Sorey laughed. “I’m trying. It’s a bit more of an adjustment than I expected. I’m a bit slow.”

Mikleo frowned, dropping his hand away. “A bit slow will get you killed.”

Sorey opened his mouth to say something in his defense, but stopped when Mikleo reached out towards his right side. Sorey stood still as Mikleo waved his hand in his blind spot, watching the malak. He could see Mikleo’s shoulder and arm moving, but not his hand.

He didn’t know what Mikleo was looking for, but the twist in his lips said that he had found it and he wasn’t happy with it.

Mikleo pulled his hand back with a sigh, shooting a glance back at the font. It was still bubbling furiously. 

Sorey swallowed and jerked his head back towards where the others were waiting. “You should get back unless you want to get caught up in the next bunch.”

Mikleo hummed before summoning his staff. He spun it in a lazy circle before setting one of the ends on the ground. “I think I will.”

“But-”

“You want to get used to this. I know.” Mikleo waved one hand dismissively. “But you forget, I have a vested interest in you.” A blush crossed his cheeks, Mikleo clearing his throat before looking away. “If we’re going to do this, then I think we’ll have to learn to move around each other. It’ll be better that way.”

“How?”

“We can watch each other’s backs. It’s mutually beneficial.”

The blush was still bright on Mikleo’s face and it made Sorey want to push further. But the font overflowed before Sorey could say anything.

Thick purple fog spewed into the sky before is started to creep back down towards the ground. Sorey could make out a few shapes in the fog, all of them twisting and turning before finally settling into something solid.

Sorey sighed when he saw more winged hellions form. He tipped his head up slightly, trying to adjust for his blind spot.

He jumped when he felt someone brush against his right side, Sorey about to turn his head when he saw the end of Mikleo’s staff enter his field of vision. He was tempted to turn his head to look at the malak, but he felt Mikleo bump against him.

“Eyes forward.”

“What?”

“We’re trying it my way this time. I’ll stay over here and guard your right.”

“But-”

“You’re in charge of the left. So no slacking off.”

Sorey could hear the laugh in Mikleo’s voice, Sorey chuckling as well. It wasn’t exactly what he had been going for, but he wasn’t going to complain. He wouldn’t try to talk Mikleo out of fighting, not when it was his choice. Besides, it was comforting to have someone he trusted watching his weaker side.

He smiled and watched as the winged hellions started their dives. “Don’t you slack off either.”

He got what could have been a laugh or a huff in response, Sorey not having the time to look. There were hellions to face.

Besides, he would be lying to himself if he thought that the presence of Mikleo by his side didn’t make him feel a little bit more confident.