#It was now a matter of convincing his magic to become like that shifter's power.

[acourtofquestions]

Kingdom of Ash Chapter 24

"What is this place?" Manon asked Glennis as she found the crone polishing the handle of a gold-bound broom beside the fire. Two others lay on a cloak nearby. Menial work for the witch in charge of this camp.

"This is an ancient camp-one of the oldest we claim." Glennis's knobbed fingers flew over the broom handle. "Each of the seven Great Hearths has a fire here, as do many others." Indeed, there were far more than seven in the camp. "It was a gathering place for us after the war, and since then, it had become a place to usher in some of our younger witches to adulthood. It is a rite we've developed over the years—to send them into the deep wilds for a few weeks to hunt and survive with only their brooms and a knife. We remain here while they do so."

Manon asked quietly, "Do you know what our initiation rite is?"

Glennis's face tightened. "I do. We all do." Which hearth had the witch she'd killed at age sixteen belonged to?

"You're not a cold person."

He arched a brow. "Is that your professional opinion?"

Manon studied him. "You can descend to those levels when you are angry, when your friends are threatened. But you are not cold, not at heart. I've seen men who are, and you are not."

"Neither are you," he said a bit quietly.

The wrong thing to say.

Manon stiffened, her chin lifting. "I am one hundred seventeen years old," she said flatly. "I have spent the majority of that time killing. Don't convince yourself that the events of the past few months have erased that."

"Keep telling yourself that." He doubted anyone had ever spoken to her that baldly-relished that he now did, and kept his throat intact.

She snarled in his face. "You're a fool if you believe the fact that I am their queen wipes away the truth that I have killed scores of Crochans."

"That fact will always remain. It's how you make it count now that matters."

Make it count. Aelin had said as much back in those initial days after he'd been freed of the collar. He tried not to wonder whether the icy bite of Wyrdstone would soon clamp around his neck once more.

"I am not a softhearted Crochan. I will never be, even if I wear their crown of stars."

He'd heard the whispers about that crown amongst the Crochans this week-about whether it would be found at last. Rhiannon Crochan's crown of stars, stolen from her dying body by Baba Yellowlegs herself. Where it had gone after Aelin had killed the Matron, Dorian had not the faintest idea. If it had stayed with that strange carnival she'd traveled with, it could be anywhere. Could have been sold for quick coin.

Manon went on, "If that is what the Crochans expect me to become before they join in this war, then I will let them venture to Eyllwe tomorrow alone."

"Is it so bad, to care?" The gods knew he'd been struggling to do so himself.

"I don't know how to," she growled.

Ridiculous. An outright lie. Perhaps it was because of the high likelihood that he'd be collared again at Morath, perhaps it was because he was a king who'd left his kingdom in an enemy's grip, but Dorian found himself saying, "You do care. You know it, too. It's what makes you so damn scared of all this."

Her golden eyes raged, but she said nothing.

"Caring doesn't make you weak," he offered.

"Then why don't you heed your own advice?"

"I care." His temper rose to meet hers. And he decided to hell with it-decided to let go of that leash he'd put on himself. Let go of that restraint. "I care about more than I should. I even care about you."

Another wrong thing to say.

Manon stood—as high as the tent would allow. "Then you're a fool." She shoved on her boots and stomped into the frigid night.

I even care about you.

Manon scowled as she turned in her sleep, wedged between Asterin and Sorrel. Only hours remained until they were to move out—to head to Eyllwe and whatever force might be waiting to ally with the Crochans. And in need of help.

Caring doesn't make you weak.

The king was a fool. Little more than a boy.

What did he know of anything?

Still the words burrowed under her skin, her bones. Is it so bad, to care?

She didn't know. Didn't want to know.

[sa-gt-tarrius]

Birdsong

@mutilatedmadonna @secret-shifters

I’m so so sorry for the holdup! I wanted to make sure your gift was at least decent, but I felt awful knowing you went so long without a present. Merry belated Christmas--and I hope this is worth the wait!

Warnings: Minimal mouthplay

***

Unless you frequented the small riverside town of Redwater, you might not recognize the name Scarlett Beowulf. 

No one would blame you, of course—Scarlett was hardly remarkable at first glance. She wasn’t rich, nor was she part of any noble family. And yet, in the town of Redwater, Scarlett was something of a local celebrity. 

The reason? Scarlett was magic. 

Or, at the very least, her voice was magic.

Years ago, a young Scarlett went to play in the woods. When she came back hours later, a flock of robins followed her. They nestled in her hair, perched on her shoulders, and circled over her head. 

“The birds told me there are bandits to the east,” she explained to her flabbergasted mother. “There’s five of them. And they have spears.” Surely enough, when the guards went to investigate, they came back with five bandits in tow, newly bound with ropes and chains. They were planning to invade the town that night but were thwarted by a young girl and a flock of robins. 

No one knew why or how Scarlett developed her ability to speak to animals. Her parents had no magic of their own, and neither did anyone else in the town. The powers simply appeared with no warning—and Scarlett herself did not indicate how it happened. The local priest suggested that the goddess of music blessed her with a voice that all creatures enjoyed listening to. Most people were satisfied with that answer, including Scarlett. 

Neighbours often found Scarlett bantering with stray dogs, or listening intently to the stories of tired old warhorses. At one point, she even recruited the woodland crows to find a missing toddler. Needless to say, she became very popular in a short amount of time—her special ability allowed the townsfolk the opportunity to cooperate with the animals around them. 

Years passed, and Scarlett’s life stayed mostly the same. She liked Redwater just fine and felt no need to move away. Besides, she had grown fond of the animals and knew them all by name—it would be heartbreaking to leave them behind. Her love for Redwater’s amazing creatures was too great. She adored them, and they adored her as well. 

The irony wasn’t lost on her when she managed to get kidnapped by a dragon. 

The existence of dragons was hardly a secret, although many people believed them to be extinct due to how rarely they were spotted. The wise tortoise that lived in the river valley told Scarlett a great many stories of the Age of Dragons. How they levelled cities and smouldered forests, their penchant for riddles and trickery, and their taste for human flesh. The tortoise was glad dragons were disappearing—it was safer that way, he said. Although she disagreed with him at the time, Scarlett was beginning to think the tortoise had good reason to despise dragonkind. 

As the dragon soared through the air, blotting out the sun with its massive wings, Scarlett could only scream in terror. She wouldn’t fall to her death, at least—not with the talons viced around her torso and arms—but whether she liked it or not, this dragon wouldn’t be letting her go. 

The dragon lowered its head momentarily as it flew, eyeing her with its piercing gaze, before snorting a puff of smoke and looking away once more. Scarlett briefly wondered if the dragon could even understand her. She hoped to eventually reason with it, convince it to let her go and snatch up some other hapless dame. 

But even if the dragon could understand her, the constant din of raging wind drowned out her voice. Even her screeching and hollering was silenced by the blasting air. She had no choice but to wait until the dragon stopped flying before trying to communicate. 

Eventually, it did stop flying. The dragon and its victim happened upon a mountain range, lined with spruce trees and trickling streams. But with so much forestry blanketing the ground, there didn’t seem to be anywhere for the dragon to land. Scarlett felt its wingspan tilt left, and the dragon began to spiral around the snowy mountain caps. And that’s when she saw it: a small opening near the peak, just large enough for a dragon to fit through. 

The dragon grunted, swooped downwards, and landed sideways on the mountain face. The earth trembled beneath its weight, and Scarlett tensed. The giant creature shimmied through the opening, descending further into the hole until both it and its prisoner became cloaked in darkness. 

And then… all was still. Her bated breath punctuated the eerie silence. 

“...You’ve gone quiet, sssongbird,” a raspy voice purred. “Is sssomething the matter?”

Scarlett swallowed hard. She hadn’t expected the dragon to say anything, let alone try to make conversation. Her head slowly pivoted around as she strained to make out her surroundings, but it was just too dark. “I—I don’t like heights,” she fumbled. “They terrify me.”

“I sssee.” A booming, echoing hum sounded. “Afraid of flying, isss it? What a ssstrange bird you are.”

“I’m not a bird!” Scarlett snapped, forgetting for a moment that she should be too busy cowering in fear to correct the dragon’s mistake. 

“Oh? Not a bird, you sssay? That doesssn’t follow.” The claws trapping her in place suddenly retracted, and Scarlett found herself tumbling onto a heap of… something. The objects beneath her chimed lightly as she landed rather roughly on her back. A pile of pebbles, maybe? “You don red feathersss, and you sssing like a red-throated loon. Therefore, you mussst be a bird.”

“It’s cotton, not feathers,” Scarlett huffed, pointedly gesturing to her red dress. “And I wasn’t singing. I was screaming.”

The dragon chuckled deeply. “You do yourself a grave injussstice—your voice isss rather lovely for a mere human.”

Scarlett choked on her breath. “N—now hold on a moment!” she sputtered. “For such a sophisticated fellow, you sure have awful manners! Snatching me from my home, stealing me away, and now you think to woo to me like a common cur?!”

“...You’re right. I’ve been a poor hossst.” A hot wash of breath rustled her hair. The dragon must have been right in front of her, although she couldn’t see it at all. “If it’sss mannersss you want, then let’s ssstart with an introduction.”

A faint light began to glow before Scarlett’s eyes. She squinted, leaning forwards questioningly to see what it was. And as if to answer her, the dragon bellowed a fierce roar—and a swirling inferno burst forth from its throat. 

Scarlett instinctively ducked. Her hands shot up to cover her head, and she prayed her hair wouldn’t light up like a wick. Thankfully, the fiery blaze soared overhead and spiralled upwards to the roof of the cave. A crooked chandelier dangling on a chain above was engulfed by the flames, and when the onslaught of fire faded away, the room was bathed in the newfound glow of flickering candlelight. A pool of coins and jewels began to glitter softly beneath her feet, blanketing the entire cave in its golden hue. 

She looked up. And then she saw it. A slitted green eye, bigger than her own head, and a maw lined with glistening fangs. The dragon’s head slithered upwards, dwarfing Scarlett with its sheer enormity. 

Scarlett bit down a startled cry, flinching back from the sight. 

The dragon’s bemused chuckle echoed through the cave. “You can call me Mythnir,” he boomed, grin twisted menacingly, “if it so pleassses you.”

Scarlett’s eyes were instinctively drawn to the dragon’s catlike eyes and razor-sharp teeth, but it was hard not to look at the shimmering copper scales armouring his body—not to mention the pointed spines that lined his backside. His sheer size would be terrifying enough if he wasn’t readily capable of ripping Scarlett to shreds. 

“M—Mythnir the Invisible,” Scarlett whispered, slowly recalling the old tortoise's stories. “The Havoc Wreaker… the Discorder… th—the Oath Breaker.”

“Ah. You’ve heard of me.”

Scarlett nodded slowly. The stories didn’t do him justice—Mythnir was incredible in all the wrong ways. 

“Y—you…” The girl hesitated. She couldn’t help but gape in awe at the monster standing before her. Even in the dim candlelight, his spines glistened like knives. His wings, spread out on either side, made him appear infinitely larger. “...You’re terrifying.”

A puff of smoke rose from his nostrils. “Normally, I would take that asss a compliment,” Mythnir drawled. “But now I feel insssulted.”

“Insulted?! Y—you kidnapped me!”

“Don't be dramatic.”

“Dramatic? I'm being dramatic?! Just look at you! You’re a terrible, knavish monstrosity who stole me from my home! I have plenty of reasons to be terrified of you!”

The dragon fell silent. His spines bristled. His tail swept inwards, curling in around Scarlett. The coins clattered against each other, scattering across the cave floor. Now Scarlett was truly trapped—if she wasn’t already. “Monssstrosity, you sssay? Well, that sssimply won’t do.”

“Wh—what do you mean?”

“One moment, dear. I mussst focus.”

Scarlett blinked. Mythnir had suddenly closed his eyes, ducking his head towards the floor. And then, to Scarlett’s astonishment, Mythnir began to change before her very eyes. The scales lining his jawline folded inward one by one, sinking into the tender flesh beneath his plates. His newly-revealed skin glowed in the light, indicating a surface-level layer of slime. His snout squished into his face until it was flat, and his wings disappeared into the curves of his backside. 

Mythnir reared his morphed head and grinned, revelling in Scarlett’s stunned silence. His fangs were no longer sharp and piercing. They had become short and flat, much like human teeth. The tongue that used to flicker between his lips was now stubby and short. And his talons, the ones Scarlett had been trapped by for the last hour, were no more than nails attached to fingers. 

One moment ago, Mythnir was a mighty dragon. And now, somehow… he was human. A gigantic human, clocking in at nearly forty-five feet. Curly, reddish-brown hair dangled across his forehead, and his signature green eyes were now somewhat natural-looking, although they retained the slitted pupils. 

That’s when Scarlett’s gears began to turn. 

“You’re… a shapeshifter.”

She’d heard about this somewhere. But frustratingly, her brain had trouble recalling when and where she came across this bit of information. Some dragons, usually ancient ones, could change themselves at will: their colour, their body shape, and even their species. However, they had no way to shrink or grow; they could only change their outward appearance. Their shapeshifting was normally only useful for camouflage, either to hide from prey or from armies sent to slay them. 

Why else would they call him Mythnir the Invisible? Scarlett suddenly felt very stupid.

The former-dragon pursed his lips. “How obssservant of you.” Mythnir’s voice remained unchanged: still as booming and commanding as before, complete with his ominous hiss. Scarlett found this to be strange, considering his snakelike tongue no longer existed. “Ssso… what do you think? Lessss monssstorousss, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I—I…”

“I’m glad you think ssso. Now then, back to busssinessss.” A shadow began to overtake Scarlett. The girl looked up just in time to see four fingers descending onto her, but before she could think to run, they had pinned her arms to her sides. Scarlett was suddenly whisked off the ground, her legs dangling uselessly beneath her. Mythnir’s human face took up her entire field of view. “Do you know any Shah Luen balladsss? Or any sssort of Kuirid shanty?”

“I—I’m not singing for you,” Scarlett choked, desperate to retain some of her dignity. She kicked her legs pointedly, although she knew it would hardly benefit her. 

Mythnir rumbled deeply. His eyes fixated upon Scarlett’s thrashing limbs. “Tell me, sssongbird. Have you ever tasted tawny quail roasssted over a ssspit?” He licked his lips, humming lustfully. “Ssserved with pomegranate, ssseasoned with exotic herbsss…”

“N—no, I—I don’t eat meat.”

“It’sss a wonderful dish. And in truth... I am sssimply famished right about now.” 

Scarlett swallowed hard. “I—is that s—so?”

“Riddle me thisss. If my pet bird refussses to sssing…” Mythnir’s maw suddenly gaped, revealing a line of enormous human teeth. His jaw seemed to unhinge in the process, for no human could possibly open their mouth that wide. “...is she not better off as a tasssty meal to sssatiate my hunger?”

“W—w—wait!” Scarlett squeaked, locking up in terror. Her head recoiled, and she refused to look down into the deep abyss of Mythnir’s throat. “Please, d—don’t eat me! I—I don’t want to die!”

“But you should be deliciousss.” Mythnir’s slimy tongue ran along the inner edges of his molars. A huff of hot breath rustled Scarlett’s hair about. “What ussse is a voicelessss bird besssidesss a snack?”

Scarlett screeched even louder when she found herself being lowered into the darkness of Mythnir’s maw. His tongue and incisors were uncomfortably close to touching her. “Okay, okay!” she shrieked, squeezing her eyes shut as her painful doom drew near. “I’ll sing, you stupid knave! I’ll sing, alright?!”

“Wonderful!” The enormous hand brought her even closer to Mythnir’s awaiting mouth. She choked on the putrid smell of his oncoming breath. “Let’sss hear it.”

“B—but…!” 

“Better hurry, sssongbird. I’m ssstarving.” 

“Okay okay okay!” Scarlett gasped, quickly acking her brain for a decent song. An aria? A hymn? A Gaelic chant, perhaps? Were any of those good enough to please the dragon? “Er… wh—what should I sing?”

“Anything to dissstract me from my hunger.”

“V—very well, then!” Scarlett inhaled shakily, turning away from Mythnir’s mouth so she wouldn’t choke on his awful breath. 

And then she began to sing.

“The tune of a polka drifted in And it set my tapping feet alight My mother said to stay in bed But I ought to join the dance tonight

Who’s to listen to her say no When we’re all busy dancing to and fro Who would let this moment go When we’re all busy dancing to and fro?”

Scarlett had focused so much on her song that she didn’t notice Mythnir’s snarky grin faltering. The human-looking dragon no longer had a malicious glint in his eye. He instead seemed curious now, almost childlike in his wonder. His sharp gaze was fixed firmly on Scarlett—still dangling from his fingers—as she continued to sing. Her voice was uneasy, and she could barely stay on pitch, but she continued at a brisk pace, for she was too anxious to go any slower.

“My mother shut herself away In her room to hum a quiet hymn So I went to have a spot of fun Where the music plays and the lights are dim

What’s it matter what mum will say When we’re all busy dancing to and fro? I’ll come back ere the break of day But tonight I’m dancing to and fro!

Upon the hill, the fiddle was wailing We laughed and played the whole night long The rain fell hard and the wind blew cold And we echoed the mandolin’s song

Who should mind a drop of rain When we’re all busy dancing to and fro? Who should miss the fun and games When we’re all busy dancing to and fro?”

Her voice suddenly trailed off. She looked down at Mythnir uneasily. “I—I don’t remember the rest,” she whispered, curling in on herself. Her voice trembled and her nerves were frayed into oblivion. I’m s—s—sorry. Please don’t eat me.”

“Incredible," Mythnir murmured, his voice barely audible.

Scarlett blinked thrice. “...Huh?”

“I knew you had a lovely voice, but thisss...” Mythnir chuckled ominously, cocking his head to get a better look at the girl in his fingers. “I think I’ll keep you, sssongbird. For now, at least.”

“W—wait, no!” Scarlett began thrashing anew, kicking her legs in a frenzy. “No, y—you can’t keep me here! I have to go home!”

“Thisss will be your home now. Fear not… I’ll take good care of you.” Mythnir’s hand carefully drifted downwards. Scarlett found herself being deposited back onto the pile of gold below. She backpedalled fearfully, gazing up at the giant dragon-turned-man. “Ssso,” Mythnir rumbled, folding his hands together and narrowing his eyes menacingly. “How about an encore, sssongbird?”

[profoundnet]

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The Masterpost is open for all creations by ProfoundBond members which are posted in their entirety during that month.

MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR AUGUST 2020!

Featuring works by Ahurston | @allmystars-i | @a-mandala-rose | @andimeantittosting | ArielAquarial | @destielshipper4cas | DragonSgotenks | Endellion | @friendofcarlotta | @friendofcarlotta | @haybibiboi | @kingbirdkathy | @kitmistry |  @latter-alice |  @maleyah-givemetomorrow | @nickelkeep | @one-more-offbeat-anthem | Shadowkat83 | @sketching-fox |  @spnsmile | @starprincecas | @writerposer

Masterpost below the cut.

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"Don't leave me.“

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FriendofCarlotta - @friendofcarlotta - FriendofCarlotta

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What We Want and What We Need (E, 1.3k)

Cas is angry, Dean is sorry. They go to the bar's bathroom to work it out.

Tags: Angry sex, Top Dean, Bottom Castiel, anal sex, spit as lube

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writerposer - @writerposer - writerposer

Croat-Ville (E, 27k)

When Castiel stumbles into the Winchester's survivor camp, one of the few safe havens left after the Croatoan virus ravaged the earth, he had thought he lost everything. What he found there, who he found, would change his life, and maybe the world.

Tags: Endverse, Age Difference, Canon-Typical Violence, Time Skip

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Destielshipper4Cas - @destielshipper4cas - Destielshipper4Cas

Fake Bite, Real Love (M, 2.7k)

To show his ex that he has moved on, Cas wants to fake a claiming bite on his neck. Painting it on doesn’t work, but luckily, his best friend and long-term crush Dean steps up to the task. Keeping a lid on his feelings is getting difficult, however, when the alpha is nibbling on his mating gland.

Tags: Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Best Friends, Idiots in Love, Omega Castiel, Alpha Dean

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Shadowkat83 - Shadowkat83

Drowning in Guilt (T, 4k)

Bot Prompt: Dean is having another slice of pizza; Cas is polishing his angel blade; Sam is at the library Summary: When Sam discovers a case of people drowning after leaving the local bar. They head to check it out, what they didn't expect was to lose Dean to the creature. Now Cas and Sam need to find Dean before its too late.

Tags: monster of the week, angst, flirting, jealously, hurt Dean, feeling realization, two parts, confession of feelings

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goldenraeofsun - @goldenraeofsun - goldenraeofsun

A Thousand Lies (E, 73k)

Dean Winchester is the best con artist in the continental US. Conscripted into the life after a stupid mistake as a teenager, he works for a man only known as the Lightbringer. He specializes in the marriage con, tricking his marks into falling in love with him and bolting after the honeymoon with everything they own. But the morning before his meticulously planned meet-cute with his newest assignment, he runs into an adorably clueless accountant named Cas in a coffee shop, and Dean’s entire view on life implodes.

Tags: con artist Dean Winchester, accountant Castiel, mutual pining, slow burn, Dean Winchester has self-worth issues, minor Dean/Crowley, angst with a happy ending

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andimeantittosting - @andimeantittosting - andimeantittosting

Honour Undressed (E, 15.3k)

Among his friends, Castiel, Lord Milton is everyone’s confidant and, along with his trusted valet, the fixer of problems. But there is one secret Castiel has never shared: he is in love with his valet and has been for years. Born in the gutters, Dean Winchester was assigned as Castiel’s batman in the war, and when Castiel travelled home to take up his title, Dean followed him as his valet. To assist Castiel, Dean is not above a little burglary or blackmail. But the one thing he wants for himself is Castiel’s heart. When Castiel’s closest friends become the target of a blackmailer, certain truths come out. But while Dean determines to seduce Castiel, Castiel is adamant that he must resist, for if there is one rule a gentleman must follow, it is never to dally with his servant.

Tags: Alternate Universe - Regency, Class Differences, Blackmail, Mutual Pining, Happy Ending

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starprincecas - @starprincecas - cuddlesandcas

Tell All The Truth, But Tell It Slant (T, 35k)

A cursed object gets touched, truths start coming out, and emotions reluctantly with them.

Tags: Canon Divergent - Post Season 8, Truth Spell, Bunker Fic, Human!Castiel, Drama, Humor

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ArielAquarial - ArielAquarial

Hidden in the Sand (G, 5.4k)

Dean tries to drive down to Palo Alto as often as he can to spend quality time with Sam. This time, things are different. Not only is he secretly apartment hunting only a city away, but he's finally getting the chance to fish on the beach instead of a rickety old pier. Despite Sam's warning about stingrays, Dean insists everything will be fine and heads into the water without a care. What could go wrong?

Tags: Fluff, Cockblock Sam Winchester, Brotherly Bonding, Day At The Beach, Vacation, First Meetings, Flirting, Alternate Universe, Lifeguard Castiel (Supernatural)

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spnsmile - @spnsmile - spnsmile

Destiel Prompt August Collection 2020 (G, 29k)

Collection of short Destiel stories prompt of August writer's month 2020

Tags: Romance,  AU, fluff,  established Castiel/Dean, First Meet,  Cute-Meet, Profound Bond,  Idiots in Love,  Boys Kissing,  Soul Mate

SKID (E, 24k)

Dean Winchester swore off love after getting dumped and fired from his job the same day. Badly drunk, he ended up balcony-hopping until a pair of hands snatched him inside a darkened room. But it's no hero, it's someone with deep voice whispering threats with a gun pointed at his back. Dean’s too drunk to deal with life but one good look at his hot assailant plus enough beer sold him to his accursed fate. The next morning, he found himself engaged to the most notorious leader of a powerful clan, Castiel Novak. Married life in the compound for a month was not as blissful so when he could, Dean fought for that freedom. Castiel relented and as Dean tried to put the pieces of his normal life together, getting a bike messenger job and dealing with pain in the ass clients, he now also needs to deal with the dangerous presence of his very jealous and very protective husband watching over him. Is his life ever going to get back to normal?

Tags: Alternate Universe-Gangster, MAFIA, Arranged Marriage,  Romance,  Hate/Love, Protectiveness,  Established Relationship,  Domestics,  Hurt and Comfort,  True love

Black Trenchcoat (E, 23k)

When Dean found out Castiel was working with Crowley to open Purgatory, he had no choice but to leave the angel in the ring of fire with nothing less than a broken heart. But instead of plotting against his friend, Dean takes a literal sense of fire vs fire. He decides to kill Castiel with love. Or that story where Dean convinces Castiel to look into their future to see if Castiel's plan against Raphael succeeds, only to find the world in chaos and an angel donning a black trenchcoat emerges to take Dean away.

Tags: Canon Divergence,  Romance,  Time Travel,  Protectiveness,  Possessive Castiel, season 6, Profound Bond, Kidnapped Dean Winchester,  Wings,  Kissing. Accompanied by art by @sketching-fox.

[corvixa]

I have this thing, that when an idea gets in my head, I either get it out on paper or it will create a traffic jam in my head and bugger up everything. So, not including my ongoing Fics, which includes the Gold Universe as part 4 is still nearly finished, I just need that last push on it. These are Ideas that can have anything from a few scenes, an idea, plots, or several chapters.

So I call this -

Winteriron WIP

(because what else 😅, I have a problem.)

In Fire & Flames - In this universe, Phoenixes and Humans live together, if one species dies then the other will too. When a Phoenix does for good, lots of natural disasters happen, starts with Tony'parents dying and then Rhodey, who is also a Phoenix, finds Tony. Who is now familyless and dying as lone phoenixes tend to die. There are several different kinds, and they come in pairs general. Golden and Ice, for example, Golden are high in magic, Ice tends to protect, especially the rare Golden, it's more tribes than individuals, there is no requirement for who likes who. It's surprising how much making a few other Avengers phoenixes tweaks things here and there, this actually goes up to the fight in Siberia and is one of the bigger WIP's. (26k)

Flash of Gold - Avengers are shifters or humans with magic, and they think they know what Tony is. They believe he is a human with magic, but they notice that he has some shifter traits, which is odd as shifters can't have magic in this AU. Only in very old stories and myth. Tony, however, is a dragon, which are myth. Instead of being like most shifters a, a human that shifts to something, he is the reverse. It only has a few scenes. Full shebang, team as Family. Steve is even a good guy. James is brought to the tower after being found and slowly integrated into the group and is wondering wtf Tony is. (13k)

The Operative Program - Howard was never meant to be a father; he was a weaponsmith. So he took the red room and the wolf spider programs and decided to create himself an Operative that he hoped would be the darker side to help Steve when he found him. Two sides of the same coin, one for the light and one to work in the shadows, Tony would be under Steve's control, he would be a weapon for the man who only picked up a shield. (Also assassin Tony is just fun.) Tony in this is a mash-up really, Tony traits, like Gold but different as he has been trained his entire life, the only reason he has developed a sense of self is Rhodey and the fact his parents died at 17. Rhodey got there first after the car crash, getting to Tony before anyone else who knew what he was could potentially claim him. Tony definitely collects people. Yinsen and Vanko for example. Chapters from Ironman up to Avengers (not complete). But enjoyed myself rewriting some out of sequence chapters, so there is a nice big scene in Siberia. (15k)

Another Persons Wish - Now this was based on a post I saw going around. Person A is married to Person B. Person A is looking back at their life and wondering if they should have married B, etc. So, A is offered a wish. Poof. Goodbye Marriage. Person A is Steve, and the story is from Tony, person B's POV. It goes from Tony planning his anniversary(because I was apparently extremely angsty when I started this!) to waking up in the past, alone and wondering what the fuck has happened. 6 chapters entirely written. Chapter 7 is in a different file and in progress when I dabble on it. (30k)

Tarnished Gold - This is an AU from my AU AU XD. Basically similar set up to the Gold Universe, Tony escapes Hydra Captivity but is brought in by Rhodey instead of spending 2 years on his own cleaning up Hydra. He only spends about 7 months before Rhodey convinces him to come in. Few other tweaks here and there but that is just side. Rhodey and James are pals too. The plot here is Howard and Maria are brought back from the Dead and Rhodey is trying to work out how to tell them what has happened and that he can't just bring them to Tony, because he doesn't know if Tony will remember them yet. Tony is a little less 'give me orders, and I'll gut you, and more 'orders made things easier'. I basically flipped his and James reactions from the original Gold universe. Tony is more in need of a hug. It's very loosely put together. I wanted something where Howard was a good dad to offset the fact I kind of made him Hydra in the next piece, and I wanted a good family man Howard with the bringing the parents back because I love reading fics that bring Howard and Maria back. (9k)

Sins of The Father - Arno has just buried his father. His mother is in a coma, he is 20 and mourning his life now he's expected to take on the business when a visitor flips his work upside down worse than the phone call about the crash. His Father? Part of a program that summoned a creature known as a Void Walker. (A creature from the Void Loki fell into, the only native species to that area, most others can't survive the void, so Loki will read as Void Touched and is 'To Be Protected' because I think that could shake up the Avengers section nicely.) Oh and he has Howards DNA. So Arno is freaked that he has a brother, that someone released and sent to him and Arno is 100% sure he is not meant to deal with severe traumatised half-human assassins that could be his kid brother. That is how Arno meets Tony and becomes very invested and turns up big brother protective instinct to 13. When summoned they're tired to a person and has to obey orders, that person was chosen as The Asset under the idea he can't disobey, which obviously fails as Winter does everything to protect Tony, including freeing him and sending him to Arno. His last order is that Tony is not allowed to go looking for or rescue Winter, which I think will be some nice drama when Bucky gets brought in (I really like this one) It has mostly set up but 2 scenes for in the future, Tony finding Coulson threatening Arno in IM2 and the data dump. (21k) (in this S/S Helped is Yelped, I'd fix it, but I've been working on this post forreeever)

Blood and an Arc - This came about from reading the Tony is a vampire fic and noticing that when he gets turned, generally Tony hates being a vampire. There aren't many where he comes back from Afghanistan a vampire and goes, huh... Well. This could be interesting. Loosely based on Vamp the Masquerade but I've tweaked it because my brain takes ideas and then runs off madly into the sunset. It is however utterly all over the place, some from Ironman and then random out of sequence chapters that I'm unsure about as I hadn't slept in a very long time on writing them and Tony went kind of Spike-ish calling James 'Pet'. I do like the idea of Tony fully embracing his changes. Yinsen never intended Tony to live, so he did something extra whilst turning him, so he is not an ordinary baby vampire and is convinced (justifiably so) that if he meets any other vamps, they'll try to kill him. In notes have Sam considering being a werewolf who works out Tony is a vamp and freaks out, because Vampires vs Werewolves and Tony is utterly confused and tells Sam he smells of mint (seriously, insomnia) Sam is baffled to find out the centuries of hatred that is claimed to be instinctual is actually taught. Sam gets kind happy he has a Vamp friend. (20k)

The Original Plan - This sets up around the end of the Mandarin (because honestly, I prefer working with Tony that has powered, especially because James has the serum and I personally think it would expand life span more than shown in Endgame. So I like evening things out and powered Tony is my jam) Tony has a bunch of plans, and they go awry. He doesn't see why and has zero clue what's going on. It's because no matter how well he plans this out, he's caught up in other people's plans. Steve is a little more "End goal justify the anything and everything." In other words, getting Bucky back is his plan and everyone are just pawns in said plan. I've taken that tactical genius title and also pushed him a little darker. After Ultron, he brings Wanda on for 3 reasons. 1 Precedence. 2 Fixing Bucky. 3 Making sure Tony doesn't find out about his parents and making sure he is on the team and available to fix Bucky's arm. That last bit changes things as instead of pulling away from the Avengers, Tony fully moves into the compound(just after AOU, it's not good). There will be no accords and Steve will find Bucky and just move him in and general plans on telling no one about the Winter Soldier. I summed up a chunk of AOU in this format, and I liked it (in an angst and pain fashion.) But it's quite long for a screenshot, so here's a chunk. Bucky is being brought in soon, but as it is, Tony is not having a good time, there might be Wanda conditions in his mind that Steve can use to convince Tony to do things... Also, because he is living there, I couldn't justify Sam not noticing there is something very wrong, so he is asking questions he didn't in canon as Tony's PTSD is more in his face living together you know? (16k)

[chicagocityfclanspromoblog]

Dakota English → Summer Bishill → Rat Shifter

→ Basic Information

Age: 36

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Straight

Born or Made: Born

Birthday: October 11th

Zodiac Sign: Libra

Religion: Deism

→ Her Personality Dakota is a beautiful, strong-willed, powerful, highly intelligent, and self-made woman, who does not allow the world to stand in the way of her ambition. She is considerably powerful and influential. Dakota swings way above the depression and anxiety line, having her work and social life in order despite having to routinely deal with incredibly dangerous missions and warlocks. She is fierce and she always stands her ground no matter the circumstances. She gives a feminist element to the pack in the most cunning and intelligent way. Although at first sight, she may seem superficial, Dakota is a keen observer; whose specialties are gossip, competition, and drama. Dakota has shown to be the most rational of her teams during stressful situations, often being mistaken for cruel and bitter, when in truth she is pragmatic, focusing on what needs to be done instead of her emotions.

→ Her Personal Facts

Occupation: Team member of BOND and GOLD

Scars: Missing her right eye

Tattoos: None

Two Likes: Morning after Mission Breakfasts and Gold jewelry

Two Dislikes: Warlocks/Witches and Jameson

Two Fears: Watching someone she loves hurt/killed while she can do nothing about it and being eaten alive by fire ants

Two Hobbies: Archery and Tai Chi

Three Positive Traits: Loyal, Daring, Pragmatic

Three Negative Traits: Standoffish, Calculating, Cut Throat

→ Her Connections

Parent Names:

Rina English (Mother): They have a perfect mother, daughter relationship. She confides in her with everything, from bad days at work to her struggles with West’s addiction. Rina was the only person who had an inkling West and Dakota were eloping when her daughter asked for something old and blue from her. Dakota can’t keep anything from her mother, and wouldn’t want it any other way.

Michael English (Father): Dakota has always been a daddy’s girl; his pride and joy. Michael believes that she deserves only the best and it’s what made him decide to take West under his wing. He knew that his head strong little girl was set on the gangly boy and decided to shape him into a good, respectable man.

Sibling Names:

None

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

West Freemen (Mate): Dakota married her best friend. They fight and argue, smile and laugh, irritate and cry for each other. West loves her and she loves his weirdness and the man he has become. She wants to spend her time with him and respects his decisions. His drug habits annoy her but they’re a two person team that no one else is allowed to join. But she refuses to let that habit stop them from being together. They resolve their problems and bounce back to normal after every misstep.

Platonic Connections:

Louis Martin-Rovet (Head/Friend): Louis is her “at-home” head and stake out partner. He’s incredibly smart, and Dakota has learned a lot from him. Louis is the only one of her bosses who has treated her like she’s still capable, and allows her in the field.

Neaera Jayweed (Acquaintance): Dakota really likes Neaera and her complete and utter confidence in going against Nick. She thinks she’s probably fun and wants to get to know her more.

Jo Floyd (Confidant): Jo is the only rat who knows she’s looking into trying to find a way to get her eye back. She has been cautiously supportive and has even investigated links with her, but a part of Dakota knows she’ll tell Nick as soon as it gets serious.

Judson Clerigh (Only Lead): Judson mentioned to her in passing he could make her a new working eye, but Dakota is terrified of the consequences. She knows Louis would not be ok with her doing that and she knows the dangers of accepting magic and the hidden costs that come with it. Still it’s been the only thing she’s found that’s an option.

Hostile Connections:

Flower Hanes (Dislike): Dakota kept getting tripped up and caught in vines one day, only to find Flower and Belle laughing.

Roman Clerigh (Dislike): Roman Clerigh is like a necessary evil to her. His potions are safe for West, but she wished that West wasn’t hooked on them. And it’s easier for her to blame Roman than address the actual problem.

Minsky Edison (Scared of): There is something truly horrifying about mind control to Dakota. She’s head strong and unwavering in her beliefs, and to have someone be able to take that from her is incredibly frightening to her.

Nick Hamelin (Annoyed with): Nick has banned her from BOND missions since she lost her eye. She keeps trying to convince him to let her back in the field, but she’s pretty sure that now he’s keeping her out due to spite.

Pets:

None

→ History Dakota was Michael and Rina English’s miracle baby. With both having high stress teams (her’s GOLD, his BOND) the likelihood of Rina getting pregnant was slim, but right before they were about to stop their aging again, she began getting sick. Both knew she would be their one and only and strived to give her the best life they could. Immediately they began reading parenting books, and strategize how to best bring their child up. When Dakota finally arrived her parents became dedicated to teaching her how to be the smartest and strongest person they could.

Her cleverness became evident when Dakota was in second grade. She’d seen one of the rat kids getting bullied. She collected as many rocks as she could carry and started her assault. The bullies quickly scattered quickly after the rat boy did. She found him later and introduced herself, and from there the greatest friendship of her life began. Dakota and West became inseparable that Summer and spent most of it getting back at the bullies in rat form. From that year West became a part of the English family, with Rina taking care of him like he was her own son. Unfortunately that didn’t mean he was immune from his own parents’ comments, and Dakota felt him slipping away from her in their teen years. She tried supporting him the best she could, keeping his secrets and helping him hide his hangovers from the older rats. When he was 16, West got caught. He told her everything that had happened with Jalissa, but it wasn’t until his parents outed his problem to the whole pack. Rina and Michael eventually heard and pulled their own daughter aside, wanting to know how involved she was in everything. When she finally broke down and told her she had to make a choice of whether she cared about West’s health or his friendship. It woke her up to what could happen to him and the feelings she had for her best friend. She began actually helping keep him safe. Making sure she was always there if he went too overboard, or couldn’t protect himself. Their friendship quickly blurred the lines into a relationship, and her parents caught them. Michael decided to train West to take a spot in BOND, while Rina offered to train her for GOLD. Dakota knew she’d be good for BOND and begged Ray to train her. He took her under his wing, after months of bothering, and by the time she hit 18 she was team mates with her father and boyfriend on BOND. She and West went to the University of Chicago together and after graduation became mates.

She and West became a reliable team for BOND, being capable of taking on most of the “couple” assignments, as well as just having a good understanding of each other. But West fell back into drugs, and especially potions, and began taking larger risks. During a mission in Prague, West needed a fix and got his supply from a random witch, who wanted something way more than a usual payment. Dakota offered her own sacrifice for him, and gave up her eye to protect him from the witch’s magic. After that mission West mostly cleaned up his act, but alternated babying her while endlessly apologizing, and sinking into a deep depression spurred on by the comments from others in the pack, especially his mother. The wrath and rage that had come from losing her eye was released onto those who felt like her lost eye was their business. She got him to eventually see her as the same woman she was before, and they came out in the end stronger.

→ The Present It’s been about a year and a half since Dakota gave up her eye for West. She’s gone through most of the stages of grieving over it and is finally looking into fixing it. She’s looked all over for any kind of remedy. Since it is a magical wound, it’s never going to heal naturally. Which means she’s stuck looking for a magical source to fix it. She’s currently looking into witches or warlocks both locally and out of town for solutions but her sources are not readily forthcoming with that kind of information. Dakota’s also making great strides to hide it from her pack, parents, and especially West. She wants to put on a brave face for them, and it took West months before he trusted himself again. She’s accepted it the way she looks now, but still yearns to have both eyes back. Jo stumbled upon her researching at a cafe and got her to spill, and is now trying to assist in her search. Ultimately Dakota is aware Nick is going to find out, and so will the rest of the pack, but she wants to have a plan to show before that happens.

West and Dakota recently were outed as married by an accidental opening of mail. She knows the pack was thrown by it, and that Nick is pissed, but she is waiting to let someone else pick the fight. She has something bigger to fight. Dakota would really like West to stop relying on potions and try out therapy to deal with his inner emotional turmoil. His parents truly messed him up and Dakota knows how he could be even more incredible if he didn’t have their criticisms hanging in her head. She’s gotten the higher ups in the pack to approve of sessions for West and is now trying to think of how to pitch it to him.

→ Available Gif Hunts (we do not own these)

Summer Bishil (Dakota English) [1][2][3][4]

[goforwardgreenwriter-blog]

The Worm Reads: Empire of Storms, Ch 5 - 6

“Last chapter was probably my favorite, and gave me hope that maybe everything won’t be so bad.” -a fool’s last words.

Aelin stared and stared at that piece of paper, at the names that had been signed long before tonight, the men who had decided against her without meeting her, the men who had changed her future, her kingdom, with just their signatures.

I feel like SJM is trying to make us feel sorry for Aelin, but.... no? She hasn’t proved herself worthy of being a queen at all! She flat out admits that these men have never met her - does she really expect these people to hand over the throne of their kingdom to someone they’ve never met?!?!?! WHAT IS gOING ON WHERE IS THE LOGIC

Aelin breathed, “Our doom gathers in the South of Adarlan—yet this is what you focus on?”

Umm yeah because the ruler of the kingdom is a very important job and one that is needed for war?? They need a strong leader to help guide them through the upcoming battles, Darrow is absolutely right to be concerned about this.

“The Bane,” Darrow spat, “is now ours to command. In the event that there is no fit ruler on the throne, the lords control the armies of Terrasen.”

You go Darrow! He’ll be the leader Terrasen needs and defend his kingdom while Aelin prances around demanding her crown be handed to her without her doing any work and threatening anyone who refuses to kiss her ass.

Something cold and oily clanged through [Aelin]. Marriage to a foreign king or prince or emperor. Would this be the cost? Not just in blood shed, but in dreams yielded? To be a princess eternal, but never a queen? To fight with not just magic, but the other power in her blood: royalty.

Hoo boy, the “I can’t marry for love but I have to marry for my kingdom” trope. I don’t mind this trope if it’s done well ( I guess I’m a sucker for that drama) but SJM is either gonna A. sweep it under the rug afterwards and never address it again, or B. milk the angst for all it’s worth and then come up with a last minute solution that doesn’t make Aelin have to make any decisions or compromises or work for her happy ending.

She had laughed once at Dorian—laughed and scolded him for admitting that the thought of marriage to anyone but his soul-bonded was abhorrent. She’d chided him for choosing love over the peace of his kingdom.

Karma is a bitch ain’t it

Aelin spoke into the dark, toward where Darrow was seated. “I suggest, Lord Darrow, that you become accustomed to this. For if we lose this war, darkness will reign forever.” There was a scratch and a hiss—then a match sputtered as it lit a candle on the table. Darrow’s wrinkled, hateful face flickered into view. “Men can make their own light, Heir of Brannon.”

Darrow literally takes no shit!! Why isn’t there fanart and posts dedicated to this bad ass old warrior instead of countless fans gushing over Aelin? Seriously, I’d ask for a Darrow backstory novel but SJM would fuck it up, no doubt.

But Aelin looked to Ren, his face tight. And over the roaring in her head, she said, “Whether or not you vote in my favor, there is a spot for you in this court. For what you helped Aedion and the captain do. For Nehemia.”

*chokes back on sobs* I miss when it was just Nehemia, Aelin, Dorian, and Chaol in the glass castle..... they really were simpler times.

Darrow expresses that Nehemia was a better princess than Aelin is (which is true) and references her death and Rowan fuckin’ threatens to kill him. So gg, you all are just proving Darrow’s point that none of you are fit for the responsibility of ruling/helping Aelin rule.

A messenger arrives and informs them that Rifthold will soon be under attack from the Ironteeth witches.

Aelin wondered if Manon Blackbeak would be leading the attack—if it’d be a blessing. The Wing Leader had saved them once before, but only as a payment for a life debt. She doubted the witch would feel obliged to throw them a bone anytime soon.

Ohhh is this foreshadowing that Manon is going to join Aelin’s side or am I reading into this too much? I’m worried that SJM is gonna reduce Manon to just another blind follower of Aelin hnghhh.....

Rowan’s hand brushed [Aelin’s]. “I will save him,” he murmured. “I wouldn’t ask this of you unless it was … Dorian is vital. Lose him, and we lose any support in Adarlan.” And one of the few magic-wielders who could stand against Morath.

Uhh and you’d lose one of your first friends you made after you were freed from the mines? The guy who you were once in love with? Seriously, she’s talking about Dorian as if he’s some weapon right now and not one of her best friends! I s2g as soon as Aelin met Rowan it was like Chaol and Dorian never existed in the first place and all that development she had with them got swept under the rug.

Since Darrow said that they needed allies, Aelin plots for them all to meet up in Skull’s Bay after Rowan rescues Dorian. Wait.... Skull’s Bay is from The Assassin’s Blade. But that means-

“I thought you knew Rolfe,” Aedion said. Aelin gave him a grim smile. “He and I parted on … bad terms, to say the least. But if Rolfe can be turned to our side…”

Rolfe!!! He was another interesting character from the first book (not a good guy, if I remember correctly, he owned slaves) who actually made Aelin work in order to beat him and gain victory. I’m excited to meet him again.

Alone with Rowan, Aelin said, “Darrow expects me to take this order lying down. But if we can rally a host in the South, we can push Erawan right onto the blades of the Bane.” “It still might not convince Darrow and the others—” “I’ll deal with that later,” she said, spraying water as she shook her head. “For now, I have no plans to lose this war because some old bastard has learned he likes playing king.”

Uhh fuck you?? For acting like Darrow is the bad guy here?? He cares about his kingdom and rather than let his grief over his deceased lover consume him, he fights hard to protect his people and makes sure the crown doesn’t go to anyone who will start a war over the stupidest shit. Fuck you Aelin, Darrow would be a much better ruler than you.

But if Rowan was caught, if Dorian was caught … “I can’t—I can’t let you go—” “You can,” he said with little room for argument. The voice of her prince commander. “And you will.” Rowan again traced her mouth. “When you find me again, we will have that night. I don’t care where, or who is around.”

That really is their only motivation at this point, huh? Aelin just wants this war to be over so she can bone her fae prince whenever she wants without any interruptions. I need a drink.

So Rowan leaves in hawk form to go rescue Dorian and Evangeline is going to stay with Murtaugh, since Aelin at least has the sense to not bring a child to a pirate paradise.

Aelin kissed the girl’s cheek and whispered into her ear, “Work your magic on these miserable old men while you’re at it.” She pulled away to wink at the girl. “Win me back my kingdom, Evangeline.”

I almost felt my heart melt at this cute interaction, but then I remembered that Aelin means Darrow and SJM wants the audience to hate him and that mood flew out the window. I’ll be the only Darrow stan on this website if I have to, damnit.

Aedion said to Ren, “Unless you want to swap one tyrant for another, I suggest you get the Bane and any others ready to push from the North.” Murtaugh answered for his grandson, “Darrow means well—” “Darrow,” Aedion interrupted, “is now a man of limited days.”

LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK AEDION!!!! Darrow rightfully denies Aelin the crown and you’re gonna fucking murder him? You need his alliance if you’re gonna win this war holy shit y’all are so fucking stupid!

Aelin said, “We don’t touch Darrow.” “What?” Aedion snapped. Aelin said, “I’d bet all my money that he’s already taken the steps to ensure that if he meets an untimely death, we never set foot in Orynth again.” Murtaugh gave her a grim, confirming nod. Aelin shrugged. “So we don’t touch him. We play his game—play by rules and laws and oaths.”

For once Aelin is finally using another method of negotiation other than killing people but stop framing Darrow as if he’s ~evil~ for not giving you your crown when you’ve done nothing to prove to any of the lords that you’re fit to rule! I am utterly baffled that SJM really thinks Darrow is in the wrong here.

So Murtaugh has been loyal to Aelin’s family, treated her with respect and kindness, and offered to look after Evangeline while they’re gone, so Aelin.... slices her palm and threatens him that if anything happens to Evangeline she will burn all of them. I’m not even joking.

Aelin clenched her bloodied palm into a fist, holding it in the air between them. “Because of that loyalty, you will understand what blood promises mean to me when I say if that girl comes to harm, physical or otherwise, I do not care what laws exist, what rules I will break.” Lysandra had now turned to them, her shifter senses detecting blood. “If Evangeline is hurt, you will burn. All of you.”

Seriously, can someone tell me if I’m going crazy?? AELIN THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BE YOUR ALLIES YOU CAN’T GODDAMN THREATEN ALL OF THEM!!!!! Murtaugh has not said one bad word to you and you’re threatening to burn him!!! WHAT THE FUCK AELIN THIS IS WHY YOU ARE NOT QUEEN YOU STUPID DKAHDFJAHFKDH

“Threatening your loyal court?” sneered a cold voice as Darrow halted a few feet away.

Oh thank god Darrow is here, a character who isn’t brain dead stupid. Seriously, number 1 Darrow stan right here.

Her heart strained, but Aelin said to Ren, that scar hidden by the shadows of his rain-drenched hood, “I wish we had time to speak. Time for me to explain.” “You’re good at walking away from this kingdom. I don’t see why now would be different.”

HOLY SHIT REN IS JOINING IN THE AELIN ROASTING!!! Ren and Darrow are the only good people in this entire goddamn kingdom.

Aelin said, “I promise you that no matter how far I go, no matter the cost, when you call for my aid, I will come. I promise you on my blood, on my family’s name, that I will not turn my back on Terrasen as you have turned your back on me. I promise you, Darrow, that when the day comes and you crawl for my help, I will put my kingdom before my pride and not kill you for this. I think the true punishment will be seeing me on the throne for the rest of your miserable life.”

>IMPLYING THAT DARROW WILL EVER NEED YOUR HELP YOU STUPID FUCKING ASSHOLE WHO CAN’T EVEN GET THROUGH A SIMPLE MEETING WITHOUT ALMOST STABBING SOMEONE

I FUCKING HATE AELIN SO MUCH TO THINK I WAS ON THE FENCE BEFORE HOLY FUUUUCK

Ungh... I can do this. So they finally get their asses moving and Aelin sees the Little Folk have left her another present.

Brannon’s temple on the coast had been rendered carefully—a clever little contraption of twigs and rocks to form the pillars and altar … And on the sacred rock in its center, they’d created a white stag from raw sheep’s wool, his mighty antlers no more than curling thorns.

Obvious foreshadowing is obvious.

Finally chapter 6 holy shit. Chapter 4 gave me hope that the book was picking up but chapter 5 just shit all over my hopes and dreams.

Dorian Havilliard, King of Adarlan, hated the silence.

Dorian’s POV! Sadly since the books utterly forgot of his existence aside from torturing him emotionally after book 2, Dorian doesn’t get a lot of attention anymore. I liked him in the first three books, but given what happened to the other characters, let’s see how SJM butchers him..........

He lifted his hands before the view, his palms callused from the exercises and swordplay he’d made himself start learning once more.

A ruler who teaches himself how to fight in order to help protect his kingdom? Fuck yeah.

Dorian has some inner turmoil about being held captive and tortured and the revelation that his father had been possessed by a demon for years, and it’s.... good? It’s well written, Dorian’s problems are understandable and sympathetic, and he’s clearly taking precautions so it doesn’t happen again. Nicely done!

Dorian flexed his fingers, frost sparking in his palm. Raw magic—yet there was no one here to teach him. No one he dared ask.

I mean, the poor guy can’t even control his magic because all his friends who have magic are off pretending to be a good queen. *glares at Aelin*

He was halfway through the pillars of books and papers when he spied the horizon. When his city began screaming. Spreading into the distance, blotting out the sunset like a storm of bats, flew a legion of wyverns. Each bore armed witches, roaring their battle cries to the color-stained sky.

And here we go! I’m hoping for a good action scene, since the witches are so badass (even though I feel bad for Dorian and his people). We also switch to Manon’s POV.

With the height and distance, Manon fully beheld the carnage as the horizon at last revealed the sprawl of the capital city. The attack had begun without her. Iskra’s legion was still falling upon it, still spearing for the palace and the glass wall that crested over the city at its eastern edge.

This build up is really good! I’m excited to see Manon kick ass (even though again, the people she’s fighting are innocent).

Manon aimed Abraxos for the stone castle atop the hill, barely peeking above that shining glass wall—the wall she had been ordered to bring down— and hoped she had not been too late in one regard. And that she knew what the hell she was doing.

A cliffhanger to end the chapter. Although the wording leaves me to believe Manon isn’t actually going to do any fighting, but we’ll have to wait and see.

[sheralynnramsey]

Original Fic Fest Intro

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Final

When I saw the post for this, I was so excited at the thought of everyone coming together to share their WIP.  It took about an hour to convince myself to do it.  This is a huge week for me, as my daughter graduates on the 25th, so I was worried I wouldn’t have the time.  However, I convinced myself that I could use the week to prepare and so, here I am... Thank you, @originalficfest for organizing this.  There are so many talented writers here that deserve recognition and an opportunity to build a fan following.

About Me:  My pen name is Shera, and I’m 38 years old.  I’m a Leo for those who want to know, and I’m from Blue Springs, MS, a tiny town near Tupelo. ��I’m a single mom of 3 kids, my oldest is set to graduate on the night of the 25th and my two youngest live with their grandmother.  I’ve been writing since Jr High, although I never finished any of my books until last year.  I love worldbuilding and character creation, and I used to do it even when I would draw.  I have published one book on Amazon, but my dream is to become popular enough to make writing my full-time job and be able to support myself and my children.  I joined Tumblr to meet other writers and found a community that has been outstandingly supportive.  I love reading everyone’s work and being a part of helping writers become better at their craft.

About my Project

My WIP does not have a name yet.  I started working on it a few weeks ago after having a dream about it.  It just wouldn’t leave me alone so that I could work on my series, so… It is a fantasy following Lailsund, a boy who has yet to see fourteen winters.  He has just been crowned King of Zanyrea at the behest of his dying mother.  He has discovered that he is half Daekarran, a magical race from a neighboring kingdom to the East.  Zanyreans carry a deep-seated mistrust and dislike for the magic-wielders, and they are often arrested if caught using their abilities within the Zanyrean borders. The boy now finds himself in a peculiar position, as he is now King and the only way to protect himself and keep the throne is to learn to use his gift.  

With thoughts of controlling the child king, members of a radical group founded by the traditionalists within the government have begun to move against the family. Perpetrating the deaths of the boy’s father, older brother, and soon taking the life of his mother, they have manipulated Lailsund into the seat of power.  They believe the young anti-social book-lover will be easily influenced to do their bidding and bring back the regime his father worked his entire life to reform.

Lailsund finds himself fighting for his life and kingdom with only his dying mother Saphira, her loyal guard Uldermond, her childhood teacher Merna, and King’s guard Leolseth standing between him and destruction.  Can he find the strength within himself to gather allies and protect his world?

The Characters

Lailsund: Very intelligent, but awkward and physically weak, even for a thirteen-year-old.  Has spent most of his life buried in books, absorbing the knowledge within.  He has an incredible gift that his mother has kept a secret to protect him from the closed-minded Zanyreans.  Lailsund is rather shy and for most of his life, his mother has been his best and only friend.  He is lonely and grieving over the loss of his family while trying to deal with discovering that he is a Daekarr and becoming the ruler of a nation that thinks him a pawn.

Leolseth: While only seventeen, Leo is extremely skilled in all forms of combat.  His father General Reomdus has made sure to cultivate him into an exemplary soldier, but to his dismay, his son is idealistic and free-spirited. Leo is serious about his job and can take down most soldiers and officers easily.  However, he is quick to disobey orders when he doesn’t believe in them. He lives by his own code of ethics and is a colossal flirt.  He can be a braggart when vying for attention, but he’s a romantic at heart.  It was his father’s idea to become King’s Guard, but Leo saw it as an opportunity to be better than the typical soldier and do something that mattered.

Uldermond: Saphira’s childhood friend and Queen’s Guard.  He is a Daekarran shifter.  These beings are very rare, Daekarrans tend to revere them as Warriors of the Guardians. He cares nothing for politics or the welfare of the kingdom where he has come to live, but he would die to protect those he cares for.  He is very loyal to Saphira and feels he owes her a debt he can never repay.  She has asked him to stay in Zanyrea to watch over Lailsund after her death, and he has agreed.

Merna: Daekarran Priestess of Gettix, Guardian of Magic.  She was Saphira’s teacher when the queen was a child and has come to Zanyrea at the behest of her former student.  She is still angry at Saphira for turning her back on her gift to marry the Zanyrean King, but she has agreed to help Lailsund with his training as a Daekarr. She is proud and stern, but she has a soft heart in there somewhere.

General Reomdus:  One of the seven generals of the Zanyrean Army.  He is Leolseth’s father, although he treats his son more like one of his soldiers. He is not unkind, but he is a hard man with traditionalist views and little love for those who would break the law. He hates all magic and those who wield it and has never forgiven his childhood friend Palisene, the former king, for marrying a Daekarran woman.  His hatred only grew with the death of his wife and youngest child at the hands of a Daekarr.  He is in league with a radical group trying to control the throne and has placed his son at Lailsund’s side to give him access to the king if needed.

Obviously, it is in its early stages and I haven’t hashed out everything, but I’m using this festival as an opportunity to help do that.  My story is set for release on June 11th as a weekly chapter post for my followers as a thank you for their love and support.  I will release it in book form when done and after editing it, of course.

  Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Final

[dude1818]

Wrapped up my longest D&D campaign last week. Nearly 4 years irl, levels 1-15. Epic overarching story, homebrew material plane, and rich in powerful magical items to collect. We spent the last two sessions in the final boss fight, with the BBEG interrupting our long rest to blow up the city we were in. My wizard had made it this far but finally fell during this fight. Brief summary of the campaign:

In the beginning, there was my wizard, two rogues, a bard, and a paladin. We encounter a necromancer up to something shady, watch him raise a lich, and set off on a grand adventure to find the phylactery pieces and destroy the lich.

We start by going to the nearest major city to stock up on magic items and information. We'll end up coming back here a few times as a sort of base of operations. We also discover a kua-toa underground slaving ring, which we put a stop to and get in the good graces of both the city guard and the local crime ring (who didn't like their territory infringed).

Our first lead brings us north to a prosperous former mining town. On the way there, we spend some time traveling with another adventuring group, the Solseim Company. They'll be back later. ;)

Turns out the mine is haunted now! We investigate, and find a shrine and a portal to the Shadowfell. In the Shadowfell, we find a temple to the Raven Queen, guarded by a shadow dragon. We defeat the dragon and consecrate the temple. One of the rogues becomes a warlock in the Raven Queen's service, and we collect the first phylactery piece.

Back at the mining town, we find it besieged by the necromancer and the lich, who is sucking the souls out of everyone. We also pick up another party member, a fighter. We "scare off" the lich and to the northern wastes, where there's an abandoned temple to the god of knowledge. At the top of the tower, a sphinx has a portal puzzle for us, but the paladin decides to fight it instead and is killed. A new paladin shows up and we head through a portal to Mechanus.

In Mechanus, we're tasked with clearing out a fiend infestation in the dangerous artifact storage facility. We rush through this in just a few hours, because we're worried that if we take a rest, the fiends will have time to set up a much better position hold the facility. Doesn't matter, because in the final fight with the marilith leading the fiends, the (non-warlock) rogue is killed. We succeed in fighting them off and closing their portal, and get the second phylactery piece.

On our way to the location we suspect has the third piece, we have a random encounter with a t-rex in the woods. We fight it off, but the bard decides to retire and set up an inn at the next town we visit. He's replaced shortly after by a warlock who was a fan of the bard, but we convince him that the bard got eaten by the t-rex.

We continue on, and come to a town that we suspect has a connection to the Faewild. We enlist the local crazy guy to lead us through the veil. In the Faewild, there's a community of shifters, who tell us about an abandoned dungeon stronghold of a tyrant king, that chews up adventurers that attempt it. We fight through it and encounter a beholder guarding the next phylactery piece. Even after killing it, it returns as a zombie beholder thanks to the phylactery, and we kill it again.

The beholder has the last laugh though and petrifies the paladin before it dies. We have to go on a side quest to a fey druid to restore her, and get to fight a werehouse along the way. This whole diversion is compounded by Faewild time fuckery, so we don't get back to the material plane until about two weeks later. The town on the material side had been sacked by an undead army in our absence, and we're becoming quite concerned.

We pick up the pace and press onward. We suspect the next piece is in a caldera, but upon arriving, the place had been turned into a mine owned by the archdevil Dispater! We're told that Dispater holds a grand melee death match and the reward is an item from his collection, so we figure we'll join and get the next piece from him.

Our paladin is a pacifist, so we only join with the goal of winning by making every other team join ours. The victory condition is "last team standing," not "kill everything else," after all. We're sent to a demiplane for the death match, and totally coincidentally the first team we encounter is the Solseim Company again, who are in it because they thought we were dead and were trying to fill our shoes.

Together, we coerce a goblinoid army to join us, defeat a drow group (who plane shift away), and recruit some merfolk and some lizardfolk. Over time it also becomes increasingly obvious that this demiplane does not just take influence from the Legend of Zelda, but is a straight rip-off of Breath of the Wild. The laser-shooting constructs at the central castle make it pretty clear.

We end up doing a boss rush against the four blight forms of Ganon and Calamity Ganon, and are rewarded with the Triforce, which lets us cast Wish. Not the final battle though; we hunt done the last group, led by a pit fiend controlling Divine Beast Vah Naboris. During that battle, the paladin rushes ahead and gets their spirit guide slain, but we defeat the pit fiend and win the death match without too much killing, getting the fourth phylactery piece from Dispater.

After that, we head to the capital city to figure out what to do next. As far as we know, the last piece is at a remote archipelago, but we enlist the help of wizards at the university (since my character has connections, being an emeritus professor) to teleport us out there.

We find a ruined city underwater, and the newer warlock (now cultivating innate magic as a sorcerer) finds the Necronomicon. We decide to search for the last piece at an eternal party in the Dreamlands, but need to kill an enclave of vampires down here to steal their party invitation.

At the party, the host says he'll give us the piece if we do a little fetch quest for him. It goes fine, but as he gives us the piece, his spouse arrives: a leng spider who's obviously in league with the lich. I immediately cast plane shift and we nope the fuck back to the university at the capital.

As we prepare for the final confrontation, we realize that we're missing one phylactery piece: the staff the lich uses as a spellcasting focus. During the night, the lich nukes the city to suck up all the souls, and we start the final fight.

The final fight isn't too bad, actually. It's the lich, the necromancer from the beginning, and a random death knight. After killing (rekilling?) the latter two, we trigger phase two which has the lich transform through all five previous boss fights. My wizards gets disintegrated near the end, but the party defeats the lich and they're able to get me a True Resurrection in the epilogue. :)

I then immediately retire and move to the woods to live out my last few years before I die of old age.

[back-alley-magic]

NPC Name: Vivian Chen Special Role: The Redeemer

Weapons:Staff stamped with a sigil on its blunt end for paralysis and tipped in iron (which is poisonous to fae and shifters).

Believes magical creatures are a necessary evil, and may even be positive for maintaining balance in the city. They are worried the Pretender King is going to lead the city into a needless war.

FC: Liu Wen 

Age: 35

Occupation: Knight Personality:

+Very loyal, especially to the Knights and those she cares about

+Very, very patient....except for when it comes to people that she deems "hopelessly incompetent"

+Hard-working and diligent; has never been afraid of putting in effort+Confident in her own abilities as a Knight

+Calm and collected, no matter the situation. Good in a crisis.

+A good listener, and surprisingly good at explaining things and teaching other people, given her reserved demeanor

+Analytical and observant. Doesn't miss much

+Doesn't get stressed or distracted easily. Doesn't get too excited about anything that easily, either

+Accepting and non-judgmental. Good at remaining objective in all situations; very diplomatic

+Level-headed; keeps her wits about her under pressure and in emergency situations.

+Dutiful, which makes her "brave". Though she doesn't know how courageous she would be if she didn't have the Knights to fight for.

-/+Places value in "doing the right thing". Perhaps too much value.

-/+Quiet and reserved; doesn't say much.

-/+Rather stern, most of the time. She doesn't laugh all that often.

-/+Doesn't trust easily

-/+But once you gain her trust, she'll follow you to the edge of the world and back

-/+A bit of the strong, silent type

-/+Uses her stoic demeanor as a way of masking her true feelings

-/+Unsure and uncertain about where she stands regarding magical beings and the Knights; she doesn't want to betray the Knights and everything that she has stood for and fought for all these years, but at the same time, she can't help but be convinced that the Knights are going down the wrong path

-Not very good at talking about her feelings

-Not very good at talking about feelings in general

-Will drive herself to exhaustion if not stopped-Hates being viewed as weak or vulnerable

-Tends to play by the rules, no matter wha

t-Kinda indecisive, because she doesn't know how to do the "right thing" or what the right thing really is, at this point-

A bit on the blunt side; has never been one for manners and wordplay when a straight-forward answer will do. But at the same time, she knows how to word her criticisms and advice without offending anyone

-As mentioned before, Vivian really isn't very good at talking about feelings/emotions; she tends to bottle everything up because it's "not important" (at least, in her eyes), and she can already feel herself cracking

-Plagued by nightmares involving a certain incident in Peru, though she refuses to talk about it. But people who know Vivian well can see it in the bags under her eyes and her pale, drawn face

-Has no idea what the hell she's doing, only that she must do what's right for the world. But what's "right" is only becoming more and more ambiguous as time goes on

Short bio: The entirety of Vivian's immediate family was composed of Knights, and the entirety of Vivian's immediate family was killed by Powered beings (well, besides her mother, who is a half-lucid paraplegic. But still). Vivian grew up with her parents always away, chasing down some Shifter or witch or Fae or the other. Vivian's father was killed by a Fae when she was five. Her mother was permanently paralyzed from waist-down by a Shifter when Vivian was twelve. Her younger brother, who was part of a team sent to track down a rogue witch, is missing and presumed dead. That was ten years ago.

Vivian was always dutiful and hard-working, and although she was no prodigy, her quiet diligence and unwavering loyalty in her earlier years caught the attention of the other Knights and the Pretender King. She slowly but surely rose up the ranks, and she didn't question anything. She didn't question the fact that her family was ripped apart by this lifestyle. She didn't question the fact that some of the Powered beings the Knights hunted were perfectly innocent. The thought that what the Knights were doing wasn't /right/ never even crossed her mind.

However, as Vivian learned of the Pretender King's true intentions, she began to question the path that the Knights were on. If all Powered beings just disappeared from this world, what would happen to the Knights? What would happen to everything they'd built and created and looked after? Vivian began to realize that a certain /balance/ was needed, and she wondered if there was a better way-one that didn't involve so much bloodshed, one that didn't involve families being ripped apart and innocents being murdered. Of course, Vivian kept these thoughts to herself. They were practically /traitorous/, and for someone like Vivian, who had always followed the rules to the T, it was, well...frightening.

It wasn't until Peru that Vivian began seriously considering these thoughts. When a Shifter who could turn into a jaguar stole several important magical artifacts that the Knights were keeping locked away in Morrow, Vivian and a couple of other Knights were sent to get them back. They found the Shifter in Peru, on the edge of the jungle. Thinking that he was alone, the Knights decided to attack-only to be ambushed by a couple of the Shifter's allies.

Vivian doesn't remember much besides the pain and the confusion and snapping jaws closing around her shoulder and arm and leg, and the pain and the darkness and the /red/ and the pain and the pain and the pain, and every time she /tries/ to remember more her head hurts and her body gets all tense, so she just doesn't try anymore. Sometimes, she thinks that she's just imagining things, but the scars-the scars, two running down her face from her left eye to her chin and the scars all over her back and her limbs-they are proof that it was /real/.

The other Knights left her for dead, and truly, Vivian doesn't blame them. She herself thought that she was going to die, too, but instead she woke up in the deep depths of the rain forest, and although her memory is quite hazy, Vivian remembers the faint smell of guavas and the sound of someone murmuring in a strange, foreign language, and the gentlest hands that she'd ever encountered. And the pain, the blood, the jaguar-all gone.

Next thing she knew, Vivian was being shaken awake in a hospital, and then she left for Morrow, as bewildered as her fellow Knights about her miraculous survival. She brushed off the memory of the jungle as a fever dream-or she would have, if her clothes didn't smell like sticky-sweet guavas and if there weren't dried flower petals caught in her pockets and zippers.

Vivian suspects that it was a Witch Proper that healed her in that jungle, but she cannot say why. All she knows is that now, more than ever, the Knights are on the wrong path. The Pretender King will destroy all of Morrow, if he must, in the name of "justice"-and Vivian knows that it's just plain /wrong/.

Connection to the magical side of Morrow or to your character: 

Being a Knight, Vivian is very well-versed on all the Powered beings and is quite knowledgeable on how magic works. She has encountered all sorts of Powered beings in her lifetime, and has been actively hunting them down for years and years now. Recently, she has been frequenting spots that are known to be popular amongst the magical folk and trying to learn as much as she can about them-for "research purposes", of course.

Vivian would probably feel some sort of recognition if she ever crossed paths with Verdínqa-she felt her presence back in the jungle, after all-but she also probably wouldn't know /why/ she recognized her. Vivian thinks that it was a Witch Proper who fixed her up (and indeed, it was, though that witch only helped Vivian because Verdínqa asked her to). Of course, Vivian is aware of Verdínqa's existence, thanks to the Researcher's book, and she does have a slight suspicion that Verdínqa had something to do with her miraculous survival, but she isn't really sure /how/.

How much do they know about the magical aspects of Morrow? Do they favor a faction?

Vivian knows quite a lot about the magical aspects of Morrow, and she's always trying to learn more. Obviously, Vivian favors the Knights, though she wishes for balance and peace in between Knights and magical beings. She doesn't favor a specific magical faction, really, though she isn't too fond of Shifters due to...personal experience.

Greatest wish? To figure out what she should do-right now, all she knows is that what the Pretender King wants to do is wrong, and that she needs to find a way to stop him and maintain the balance. But she doesn't know /how/. Greatest fear? That the Pretender King will have his way and destroy Morrow in his delusional quest to eradicate all magical creatures from this world.

[chicagocityofclans]

Dakota English → Summer Bishill → Rat Shifter

→ Basic Information 

Age: 36

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Straight

Born or Made: Born

Birthday: October 11th

Zodiac Sign: Libra

Religion: Deism

→ Her Personality Dakota is a beautiful, strong-willed, powerful, highly intelligent, and self-made woman, who does not allow the world to stand in the way of her ambition. She is considerably powerful and influential. Dakota swings way above the depression and anxiety line, having her work and social life in order despite having to routinely deal with incredibly dangerous missions and warlocks. She is fierce and she always stands her ground no matter the circumstances. She gives a feminist element to the pack in the most cunning and intelligent way. Although at first sight, she may seem superficial, Dakota is a keen observer; whose specialties are gossip, competition, and drama. Dakota has shown to be the most rational of her teams during stressful situations, often being mistaken for cruel and bitter, when in truth she is pragmatic, focusing on what needs to be done instead of her emotions.

→ Her Personal Facts

Occupation: Team member of BOND and GOLD

Scars: Missing her right eye

Tattoos: None

Two Likes: Morning after Mission Breakfasts and Gold jewelry

Two Dislikes: Warlocks/Witches and Jameson

Two Fears: Watching someone she loves hurt/killed while she can do nothing about it and being eaten alive by fire ants

Two Hobbies: Archery and Tai Chi

Three Positive Traits: Loyal, Daring, Pragmatic

Three Negative Traits: Standoffish, Calculating, Cut Throat

→ Her Connections

Parent Names:

Rina English (Mother): They have a perfect mother, daughter relationship. She confides in her with everything, from bad days at work to her struggles with West’s addiction. Rina was the only person who had an inkling West and Dakota were eloping when her daughter asked for something old and blue from her. Dakota can’t keep anything from her mother, and wouldn’t want it any other way.

Michael English (Father): Dakota has always been a daddy's girl; his pride and joy. Michael believes that she deserves only the best and it’s what made him decide to take West under his wing. He knew that his head strong little girl was set on the gangly boy and decided to shape him into a good, respectable man.

Sibling Names:

None

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

West Freemen (Mate): Dakota married her best friend. They fight and argue, smile and laugh, irritate and cry for each other. West loves her and she loves his weirdness and the man he has become. She wants to spend her time with him and respects his decisions. His drug habits annoy her but they’re a two person team that no one else is allowed to join. But she refuses to let that habit stop them from being together. They resolve their problems and bounce back to normal after every misstep. 

Platonic Connections:

Louis Martin-Rovet (Head/Friend): Louis is her “at-home” head and stake out partner. He’s incredibly smart, and Dakota has learned a lot from him. Louis is the only one of her bosses who has treated her like she’s still capable, and allows her in the field. 

Neaera Jayweed (Acquaintance): Dakota really likes Neaera and her complete and utter confidence in going against Nick. She thinks she’s probably fun and wants to get to know her more. 

Jo Floyd (Confidant): Jo is the only rat who knows she’s looking into trying to find a way to get her eye back. She has been cautiously supportive and has even investigated links with her, but a part of Dakota knows she’ll tell Nick as soon as it gets serious.

Judson Clerigh (Only Lead): Judson mentioned to her in passing he could make her a new working eye, but Dakota is terrified of the consequences. She knows Louis would not be ok with her doing that and she knows the dangers of accepting magic and the hidden costs that come with it. Still it’s been the only thing she’s found that’s an option. 

Hostile Connections:

Flower Hanes (Dislike): Dakota kept getting tripped up and caught in vines one day, only to find Flower and Belle laughing. 

Roman Clerigh (Dislike): Roman Clerigh is like a necessary evil to her. His potions are safe for West, but she wished that West wasn’t hooked on them. And it’s easier for her to blame Roman than address the actual problem.

Minsky Edison (Scared of): There is something truly horrifying about mind control to Dakota. She’s head strong and unwavering in her beliefs, and to have someone be able to take that from her is incredibly frightening to her.

Nick Hamelin (Annoyed with): Nick has banned her from BOND missions since she lost her eye. She keeps trying to convince him to let her back in the field, but she’s pretty sure that now he’s keeping her out due to spite.

Pets:

None

→ History Dakota was Michael and Rina English’s miracle baby. With both having high stress teams (her’s GOLD, his BOND) the likelihood of Rina getting pregnant was slim, but right before they were about to stop their aging again, she began getting sick. Both knew she would be their one and only and strived to give her the best life they could. Immediately they began reading parenting books, and strategize how to best bring their child up. When Dakota finally arrived her parents became dedicated to teaching her how to be the smartest and strongest person they could.

Her cleverness became evident when Dakota was in second grade. She’d seen one of the rat kids getting bullied. She collected as many rocks as she could carry and started her assault. The bullies quickly scattered quickly after the rat boy did. She found him later and introduced herself, and from there the greatest friendship of her life began. Dakota and West became inseparable that Summer and spent most of it getting back at the bullies in rat form. From that year West became a part of the English family, with Rina taking care of him like he was her own son. Unfortunately that didn’t mean he was immune from his own parents’ comments, and Dakota felt him slipping away from her in their teen years. She tried supporting him the best she could, keeping his secrets and helping him hide his hangovers from the older rats. When he was 16, West got caught. He told her everything that had happened with Jalissa, but it wasn’t until his parents outed his problem to the whole pack. Rina and Michael eventually heard and pulled their own daughter aside, wanting to know how involved she was in everything. When she finally broke down and told her she had to make a choice of whether she cared about West’s health or his friendship. It woke her up to what could happen to him and the feelings she had for her best friend. She began actually helping keep him safe. Making sure she was always there if he went too overboard, or couldn’t protect himself. Their friendship quickly blurred the lines into a relationship, and her parents caught them. Michael decided to train West to take a spot in BOND, while Rina offered to train her for GOLD. Dakota knew she’d be good for BOND and begged Ray to train her. He took her under his wing, after months of bothering, and by the time she hit 18 she was team mates with her father and boyfriend on BOND. She and West went to the University of Chicago together and after graduation became mates. 

She and West became a reliable team for BOND, being capable of taking on most of the “couple” assignments, as well as just having a good understanding of each other. But West fell back into drugs, and especially potions, and began taking larger risks. During a mission in Prague, West needed a fix and got his supply from a random witch, who wanted something way more than a usual payment. Dakota offered her own sacrifice for him, and gave up her eye to protect him from the witch’s magic. After that mission West mostly cleaned up his act, but alternated babying her while endlessly apologizing, and sinking into a deep depression spurred on by the comments from others in the pack, especially his mother. The wrath and rage that had come from losing her eye was released onto those who felt like her lost eye was their business. She got him to eventually see her as the same woman she was before, and they came out in the end stronger. 

→ The Present It’s been about a year and a half since Dakota gave up her eye for West. She’s gone through most of the stages of grieving over it and is finally looking into fixing it. She’s looked all over for any kind of remedy. Since it is a magical wound, it’s never going to heal naturally. Which means she’s stuck looking for a magical source to fix it. She’s currently looking into witches or warlocks both locally and out of town for solutions but her sources are not readily forthcoming with that kind of information. Dakota’s also making great strides to hide it from her pack, parents, and especially West. She wants to put on a brave face for them, and it took West months before he trusted himself again. She’s accepted it the way she looks now, but still yearns to have both eyes back. Jo stumbled upon her researching at a cafe and got her to spill, and is now trying to assist in her search. Ultimately Dakota is aware Nick is going to find out, and so will the rest of the pack, but she wants to have a plan to show before that happens.

West and Dakota recently were outed as married by an accidental opening of mail. She knows the pack was thrown by it, and that Nick is pissed, but she is waiting to let someone else pick the fight. She has something bigger to fight. Dakota would really like West to stop relying on potions and try out therapy to deal with his inner emotional turmoil. His parents truly messed him up and Dakota knows how he could be even more incredible if he didn’t have their criticisms hanging in her head. She’s gotten the higher ups in the pack to approve of sessions for West and is now trying to think of how to pitch it to him.

→ Available Gif Hunts (we do not own these)

Summer Bishil (Dakota English) [1][2][3][4]

[imagine-loki]

Taming the rage

TITLE: Taming the Rage

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 

Chapter 60 AUTHOR: lokilover9

Original Imagine: Imagine Odin tells Loki that he has to marry and it’s you. You’ve hated him for years. Every time he sees you in the palace he smirks knowing all the duties you’ll have to perform as his princess, making you cringe. He isn’t exactly fond of you either, but can’t help looking forward to the challenge.

RATING: Teen

Early the next morning, Loki and Erika awoke to persistent knocking at their door. Erika answered and returned with a set of crutches.

“Eir sent these. Apparently you forgot them yesterday?”

Loki flopped his head back onto the pillow. “I didn’t forget them, I didn’t want them.”

Erika placed them on the floor beside the bed and crossed her arms. “Like it or not, you’re using them.”

“Is that so?” He replied. “And you’re going to make me?”

Her expression turned serious and when he made a funny face, it only intensified.

Loki rolled his eyes and caved. “As you wish, I will use them.”

“Good. Would you like some breakfast?” She asked.

Another knock was heard from downstairs.

“After I answer the door again?”

This time she returned with a message from Frigga. “We are to remain in our chambers until further notice.”

“Oh that’s nice.” Loki huffed. “Here we go again.”

“I’m sure there’s a good reason.” Said Erika. “It’s not like we had any plans today, now stop complaining and come downstairs will you?” ~~~~~~~~~ Still furious with Odin, Frigga managed to avoid him that morning after sleeping in a guest room and rising early to drop in on Thor and Jane for a quick tea.

“Do you know everything now?” She asked Jane.

They both nodded.

“Good. Neither of them need to know you were both informed about their children prior to them marrying, especially Loki. Once they do, I will inform them with Jarles, then tell them I’ll be informing you. Afterwards, a family discussion will be held so you won’t need to act surprised.”

“So much secrecy.” Said Jane.

“I know.” Frigga replied. “Unfortunately, it’s been necessary. You’ll keep many over the years as a future Queen.”

“She’ll need an apple for that Mother.”

“Yes and before this baby comes, we’ll get her one.”

“I feel bad for them.” Said Jane. “Especially Loki.”

“So do I.” Said Frigga. She proceeded to tell them all Erika had revealed while at Eirs and by the time she was done, Jane was in tears.

“How can this be the same soul who treats Junior with so much love and kindness? I mean it’s great that he does, but would he treat Loki and Erikas children different?” She took Junior from his high chair. “I’m staying here today Frigga. I can’t be around Odin right now. Excuse us.”

She left and Thor sighed. “I don’t think she’ll ever see Father the same way again and I’m questioning if I will either.”

“I’m sorry Darling.” Said Frigga. “I came by to inform you your Father doesn’t know you’ve been told anything except what he observed you over hearing yesterday. The only way your coronation will go forward is if he continues to believe that. You mustn’t question anything regarding his actions towards Loki, or why he doesn’t believe Asta. If he thinks you sympathize with Loki about anything…”

“I understand.” Said Thor. “I must admit, I’m surprised at Father’s behavior lately. I understand his concern due to Loki’s previous actions, but he’s been a ‘model citizen’ since his release. Why is Father doing this and disregarding evidence of Astas predictions like the Healing Waters?”

“I’ve questioned this myself. He knows my magic alone isn’t enough to protect them, yet he’s purposely instigating Loki.” Frigga told Thor about Odin testing Loki and he wasn’t impressed.

“What the hell is he thinking?”

“Based on all I’ve learned from Erika, my theory is he deeply resents Loki. I think your Father partially blames him for peace not developing with the Jotuns. He also knows Loki’s children will be capable of protecting those waters.”

“Asta said this?”

“Yes.”

“How did all this come to her?” Thor asked.

“In extremely vivid dreams. They began when Erika was only a few months old and intensified in severity the moment Asta met Loki. Never in all her life had she experienced anything like them and she knew without a doubt, I would be the executor of it all.”

“How?”

“For years before we met, she’d heard my voice in dreams where she’d see Erika older. I was guiding her through life as Asta knew she couldn’t, yet Asta could never see me or make out our surroundings. She saw Erika swimming in the waters, learning weaponry and even saw Loki, yet only from behind and never knew his name. This was long before Jarles was ever hired.”

“Had she not ever heard your voice in public speeches?” Thor asked.

“No and I never forgot the moment we met. She bowed before me as Jarles introduced her and when I said hello, her head shot up and breathing deepened. Jarles asked her if she was alright, but she just kept staring at me. Out of concern, I touched her arm and her body jolted. She later described it as though an electrical current had coursed through every nerve within her.”

Thor stared in awe as she continued.

“Seconds later, Edgar was returning with Loki after visiting the dentist and stood in the doorway, waiting to be greeted. Asta took one look at Loki and fainted. Jarles thought it was her pregnancy, but I found out why soon enough.”

“Why did Asta not see herself guiding Erika?” Thor asked.

“This is another reason I don’t understand your Father. Asta predicted her own death, which I was never able to reveal until recently and it wasn’t until he learned this, that he even considered believing a word of her predictions.”

“Why did you not inform Father of these things sooner?”

“Asta believed it would create conflict between Jarles and your Father which would end negatively. The friendlier they remained, the better chance your Father and I would have of convincing Jarles to convince Erika to marry Loki.”

“You said Loki’s children would teach mine?”

“Yes. Remember Erika saying Loki wants you to value and respect him as your equal?” Thor nodded and Frigga became rather serious. “Listen to me, carefully. You mustn’t ‘ever’ forget the significance of that considering what I’m about to say, as you’ll need to teach your children the same towards their cousins. Due to their powers, two of Loki’s children will enter new worlds on missions before yours, infiltrating amongst their people and governments. Upon learning what’s needed, they’ll return to teach yours this valuable information.”

Thor stared at her, shocked. “Are you saying they’ll be shape shifters?”

“I am.”

“How many is he to have?”

Frigga smiled. “I know the numbers, but not the sexes and only two will have this ability. I’m also sworn to secrecy.”

“Why?”

“So Loki and Erika won’t choose to have them within any specific time period. Messing with their birth dates, could alter their destinies like yours.”

“Will the others have abilities?” He thought for a minute. “Wait, you know how many I’m to have too?”

“She smiled. “They all will, as will each of yours, but one.”

Thors brow furrowed. “What will be wrong with my one?”

“Nothing. He or she, will simply be born a normal Asgardian, but will have a talent for communications and become highly skilled in negotiating. They’ll work closely with one of Loki’s who will possess a very unique and specific set of skills.”

Thor went quiet, trying to process it all. “Holy shit. We’ll certainly have our work cut out for us.”

Frigga chuckled. “Yes, but first we must get ‘them’ married and having children.”

“Right.” Said Thor. “Does Father know Asta predicted all of this as well?”

“He does, yet you heard him say it’s all absurd. You must act as though you agree and go about your required business when seeing him. You can’t let him think you and Loki are getting along too well either. I’ll tell Loki the same when I see him this morning after speaking with Jarles.”

“For one who wishes to abdicate, Father certainly isn’t making it easy for himself.”

“For anyone.” Said Frigga. “That’s why I’ll be telling Loki and Erika they won’t be leaving the palace again until after your coronation and hopefully they’ll agree to spend that time in their chambers until then.”

Thor slid a hand down his face. “Oh no. Good luck convincing Loki of that.”

Two hours after informing Jarles of everything Asta had ever told him, Frigga was forced to leave him dumbfounded, yet sworn to more secrecy. Then she went to Loki and Erika.…

“Haven’t I done enough prison time?” Loki snapped. “Now you expect Erika to do it too because of him?”

“I know.” Said Frigga. “Please understand Darling? I’m trying to prevent him from bothering you any further and it’s only until Thor becomes King.”

“Thor may not agree with how he thinks Mother and I’m grateful for that, but I’m no fool. He’ll still be finding ways once retired, to torment me.”

“In that case, he’ll be spending much of his retirement alone.” She sternly replied.

Loki knew that tone meant business, but also knew she’d been looking forward to retirement. “It’s alright, I’ll stay put. Just concern yourself with Thor’s coronation and don’t worry about me. You’ve done that long enough.”

“A Mother never stops worrying about her children Loki, no matter what their age. Rest your wounds and I’ll see you soon.”

She turned to leave and Erika touched her arm. “Did my Father say anything about that young guard?”

Frigga sighed. “Yes and he didn’t survive. I’m sorry Darling.”

She left and Erika turned to Loki. “I didn’t think he would after what his friend told me and recalling those beasts.” She shuddered. “They probably tore…”

Loki put an arm around her and kissed her forehead. “Stop it Erika, you can’t keep thinking about it all. That isn’t good.”

“I know, but that won’t come easy.”

They started down the hall. “Too bad not as easily as you, hmm?”

“Very funny.” She replied. “Come, there’s much I need to tell you.”

Erika lead him to the library and he sat in awe as she revealed most of what Edgar had told her. Afterwards, he became pensive and she worried.

“Are you alright?”

Loki was deeply humbled. “I had no idea he thought so highly of me, yet I thought the same of him. I don’t recall him ever being unkind to me either, except for disapproving glances when I’d speak rudely to Mother.”

“You must have deserved those.” Erika teased.

“I’m sure I did.” Said Loki. “He had a great sense of humor too. When I was eight, Mother began teaching me how to move objects with magic in her library. Edgar was standing against some bookshelves while I focused on a rubber ball. In a flash, it suddenly sped towards a wall, bounced off across the room towards Edgar’s head and took his toupee with it, which we never knew he wore.”

Erika laughed. “What did he do?”

“He looked at us and calmly stated, ‘Well, I guess my secret’s out now isn’t it?’ Mother and I were in hysterics when he tried putting it back on while talking to it with his thick accent. ‘Why must you act out in public Samson? This behavior is highly unacceptable. I should shave you bald really.’”

“Samson?” She asked, still laughing.

Loki chuckled. “He never wore it again, but Samson became the butt of many jokes between Edgar and I.”

Erika took his hand. “He loved you like you were his own you know.”

“That’s flattering considering he was the only positive male influence I ever had. Did you know he thought quite highly of you too?”

“He did?” She asked.

“He told me when I visited him. ‘Your parents have done you a kindness with her Loki. She’s a lovely soul and will bring you much happiness.’”

“He was very sweet.” Said Erika. “I wish I could have known him better.”

“You wouldn’t have been disappointed.” Said Loki. “Although I did express my doubts about you.”

“Oh thanks!”

“You’re welcome. You can thank me later in other ways.”

“Don’t count on it!” Erika tried swatting at him with a throw pillow, but he pushed her back onto the couch and tickled her.

“You need to be faster than that.” He teased. “Even my one good arm is too skilled for you!”

“Okay, okay, I give!” She squealed.

“Ooooh, are you admitting defeat so easily my little submissive?”

“Yes! Stop!”

Loki released her and she darted off the couch. “You’re ruthless, you…”

He raised a finger. “Ah, mind your words. You may get yourself into more trouble than you bargained for.”

Erika readjusted herself. “Fine! I feel like having some wine. Care to have a glass on the balcony with me?”

“You might wish to adjust your bun first Darling. It’s a bit crooked.”

She left to do so, then found the wine outside and thought Loki had gone to the washroom. When finishing a full glass and he hadn’t returned, she became curious. Not finding him on the main floor, she went upstairs and saw their bedroom door closed. ‘Why did he come up here with crutches?’ She wondered.

When she opened the door, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, silently crying and she sat down embracing him. “Oh baby, I’m sorry for your loss. I’m so very sorry.”

[itsworn]

Jim Wangers Retiring From Public Eye at Age 91

Jim was diagnosed with dementia, possibly Alzheimer’s disease, four years ago. Up until this past fall, he seemed to be getting along pretty well. Unfortunately, this horrible disease takes no prisoners, and that is no longer the case.

Jim is currently living in an assisted living facility…. He is getting wonderful care, his overall health is good (he still walks unassisted), and appears content.

I have had the honor to work for Jim for almost 20 years, and it is hard to see this hideous disease take such a toll on this great mind. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Jeanne Weiss

Of course, his fame comes from being the Godfather of the GTO, but there’s so much more to the man who devoted almost 60 years to the auto industry, car hobby, and philanthropy. A common misconception is that he was a designer or engineer at Pontiac; rather, his heyday was in the advertising industry. No matter what your brand allegiance, it’s likely you owe a debt of gratitude to Jim Wangers.

Chevrolet Wangers joined Campbell-Ewald as a copywriter right when General Motors’ low-priced brand was planning its 1955 campaign. Convincing his superiors that NASCAR’s Speed Week would be a good opportunity to mine positive press for the new 180-horse Power Pack fell on deaf ears. Wangers was told that “Chevrolet is not into racing.” Nonetheless, he went to Daytona on his own dime and documented the success of independent Chevy racers. Reaction to his report was underwhelming, as his bosses continued to feel it was some outlaw racing thing.

Media spread the word about Daytona, yet enthusiasts discovered that dealerships were unprepared to cater to them. Through the chain of managers and zones, word got back to the central office, so Campbell-Ewald was forced to capitalize on this marketing opportunity. This time Wangers’ report received proper consideration, and by February 1955 Chevrolet had become the Hot One.

Pontiac Wangers moved to MacManus, John & Adams in 1958 as an assistant account executive. The following year he was given permission to develop and test a traveling seminar for training dealerships in the world of high performance. Royal Pontiac in suburban Detroit became the guinea pig for knowing its way around an order form, stocking the right parts, and running a dealer-sponsored car at the drags—and so much more.

But with GM doubling down on a racing ban in 1963, it seemed Pontiac’s investment in racing had all been for naught.

Thus the 1964 GTO. “Truth was we were taking Pontiac performance off the race track, like the Corporation wanted, and putting it on the street, like the Corporation didn’t want,” wrote Wangers in his book Glory Days. The story has been told many times, but Wangers enjoyed a unique role as the unofficial spokesman for Pontiac, a man with one hand on the pulse of the street, another on the pulse of Pontiac courtesy of Chief Engineer John DeLorean.

Oldsmobile As told in Hurst Equipped by Mark Fletcher and Richard Truesdell, Hurst commissioned MJ&A (with Wangers, of course) to sell Pontiac on a big-inch supercar based on the 1968 Firebird. GM’s general manager claimed Firebird sales didn’t need help, so it was suggested to pay Oldsmobile a visit, as the Lansing company was bitter it didn’t receive an F-Body cousin. The result was the 1968 Hurst/Olds. Two years later, Wangers (now consulting for Hurst) proposed a brightly colored small-block H/O as competitor to the Plymouth Road Runner. Olds stole the idea and produced the Rallye 350.

AMC Wangers and Hurst’s Dave Landrith presented AMC with an idea of bringing the 1964 GTO concept up to 1969 standards, which evolved into the 1969 SC/Rambler. Now at Hurst, Wangers followed it up in 1970 with the Rebel Machine.

Mopar The 1970 Chrysler 300H was another Hurst creation that received Wangers’ magic touch. Several years later, while running Motortown with Landrith, they approached Chrysler with the 1976 Volaré Road Runner and Aspen R/T. Wangers brought Mopar more success with the 1981 Charger 2.2.

Ford Yes, even the Mustang received the Wangers’ touch when Motortown developed the 1976 Cobra II.

Other Notable Contributions Wangers helped form the creation of Detroit Dragway in 1959 and brought the NHRA to town to host the Nationals.

He won the 1960 NHRA Top Stock Eliminator title driving a Royal-prepped Catalina.

Pontiac offered Hurst shifters as an over-the-counter option for 1961 on Wangers’ urging. Other manufacturers followed suit.

But the Jim Wangers legend as we know it was dwarfed by the founding of Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc. in 1981, which filled a latent need for certified USAC testing/comparisons for advertisers.

Even when it seemed there was none, Wangers never forgot that horsepower and passion ruled Detroit.

Jim Wangers is arguably most famous for his association with the GTO, but his influence in the auto industry went much further.

The post Jim Wangers Retiring From Public Eye at Age 91 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/jim-wangers-retiring-public-eye-age-91/ via IFTTT

[chicagocityfclanspromoblog]

Dakota English → Summer Bishill → Rat Shifter

→ Basic Information

Age: 36

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Straight

Born or Made: Born

Birthday: October 11th

Zodiac Sign: Libra

Religion: Deism

→ Her Personality Dakota is a beautiful, strong-willed, powerful, highly intelligent, and self-made woman, who does not allow the world to stand in the way of her ambition. She is considerably powerful and influential. Dakota swings way above the depression and anxiety line, having her work and social life in order despite having to routinely deal with incredibly dangerous missions and warlocks. She is fierce and she always stands her ground no matter the circumstances. She gives a feminist element to the pack in the most cunning and intelligent way. Although at first sight, she may seem superficial, Dakota is a keen observer; whose specialties are gossip, competition, and drama. Dakota has shown to be the most rational of her teams during stressful situations, often being mistaken for cruel and bitter, when in truth she is pragmatic, focusing on what needs to be done instead of her emotions.

→ Her Personal Facts

Occupation: Team member of BOND and GOLD

Scars: Missing her right eye

Tattoos: None

Two Likes: Morning after Mission Breakfasts and Gold jewelry

Two Dislikes: Warlocks/Witches and Jameson

Two Fears: Watching someone she loves hurt/killed while she can do nothing about it and being eaten alive by fire ants

Two Hobbies: Archery and Tai Chi

Three Positive Traits: Loyal, Daring, Pragmatic

Three Negative Traits: Standoffish, Calculating, Cut Throat

→ Her Connections

Parent Names:

Rina English (Mother): They have a perfect mother, daughter relationship. She confides in her with everything, from bad days at work to her struggles with West’s addiction. Rina was the only person who had an inkling West and Dakota were eloping when her daughter asked for something old and blue from her. Dakota can’t keep anything from her mother, and wouldn’t want it any other way.

Michael English (Father): Dakota has always been a daddy’s girl; his pride and joy. Michael believes that she deserves only the best and it’s what made him decide to take West under his wing. He knew that his head strong little girl was set on the gangly boy and decided to shape him into a good, respectable man.

Sibling Names:

None

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

West Freemen (Mate): Dakota married her best friend. They fight and argue, smile and laugh, irritate and cry for each other. West loves her and she loves his weirdness and the man he has become. She wants to spend her time with him and respects his decisions. His drug habits annoy her but they’re a two person team that no one else is allowed to join. But she refuses to let that habit stop them from being together. They resolve their problems and bounce back to normal after every misstep.

Platonic Connections:

Louis Martin-Rovet (Head/Friend): Louis is her “at-home” head and stake out partner. He’s incredibly smart, and Dakota has learned a lot from him. Louis is the only one of her bosses who has treated her like she’s still capable, and allows her in the field.

Neaera Jayweed (Acquaintance): Dakota really likes Neaera and her complete and utter confidence in going against Nick. She thinks she’s probably fun and wants to get to know her more.

Jo Floyd (Confidant): Jo is the only rat who knows she’s looking into trying to find a way to get her eye back. She has been cautiously supportive and has even investigated links with her, but a part of Dakota knows she’ll tell Nick as soon as it gets serious.

Judson Clerigh (Only Lead): Judson mentioned to her in passing he could make her a new working eye, but Dakota is terrified of the consequences. She knows Louis would not be ok with her doing that and she knows the dangers of accepting magic and the hidden costs that come with it. Still it’s been the only thing she’s found that’s an option.

Hostile Connections:

Flower Hanes (Dislike): Dakota kept getting tripped up and caught in vines one day, only to find Flower and Belle laughing.

Roman Clerigh (Dislike): Roman Clerigh is like a necessary evil to her. His potions are safe for West, but she wished that West wasn’t hooked on them. And it’s easier for her to blame Roman than address the actual problem.

Minsky Edison (Scared of): There is something truly horrifying about mind control to Dakota. She’s head strong and unwavering in her beliefs, and to have someone be able to take that from her is incredibly frightening to her.

Nick Hamelin (Annoyed with): Nick has banned her from BOND missions since she lost her eye. She keeps trying to convince him to let her back in the field, but she’s pretty sure that now he’s keeping her out due to spite.

Pets:

None

→ History Dakota was Michael and Rina English’s miracle baby. With both having high stress teams (her’s GOLD, his BOND) the likelihood of Rina getting pregnant was slim, but right before they were about to stop their aging again, she began getting sick. Both knew she would be their one and only and strived to give her the best life they could. Immediately they began reading parenting books, and strategize how to best bring their child up. When Dakota finally arrived her parents became dedicated to teaching her how to be the smartest and strongest person they could.

Her cleverness became evident when Dakota was in second grade. She’d seen one of the rat kids getting bullied. She collected as many rocks as she could carry and started her assault. The bullies quickly scattered quickly after the rat boy did. She found him later and introduced herself, and from there the greatest friendship of her life began. Dakota and West became inseparable that Summer and spent most of it getting back at the bullies in rat form. From that year West became a part of the English family, with Rina taking care of him like he was her own son. Unfortunately that didn’t mean he was immune from his own parents’ comments, and Dakota felt him slipping away from her in their teen years. She tried supporting him the best she could, keeping his secrets and helping him hide his hangovers from the older rats. When he was 16, West got caught. He told her everything that had happened with Jalissa, but it wasn’t until his parents outed his problem to the whole pack. Rina and Michael eventually heard and pulled their own daughter aside, wanting to know how involved she was in everything. When she finally broke down and told her she had to make a choice of whether she cared about West’s health or his friendship. It woke her up to what could happen to him and the feelings she had for her best friend. She began actually helping keep him safe. Making sure she was always there if he went too overboard, or couldn’t protect himself. Their friendship quickly blurred the lines into a relationship, and her parents caught them. Michael decided to train West to take a spot in BOND, while Rina offered to train her for GOLD. Dakota knew she’d be good for BOND and begged Ray to train her. He took her under his wing, after months of bothering, and by the time she hit 18 she was team mates with her father and boyfriend on BOND. She and West went to the University of Chicago together and after graduation became mates.

She and West became a reliable team for BOND, being capable of taking on most of the “couple” assignments, as well as just having a good understanding of each other. But West fell back into drugs, and especially potions, and began taking larger risks. During a mission in Prague, West needed a fix and got his supply from a random witch, who wanted something way more than a usual payment. Dakota offered her own sacrifice for him, and gave up her eye to protect him from the witch’s magic. After that mission West mostly cleaned up his act, but alternated babying her while endlessly apologizing, and sinking into a deep depression spurred on by the comments from others in the pack, especially his mother. The wrath and rage that had come from losing her eye was released onto those who felt like her lost eye was their business. She got him to eventually see her as the same woman she was before, and they came out in the end stronger.

→ The Present It’s been about a year and a half since Dakota gave up her eye for West. She’s gone through most of the stages of grieving over it and is finally looking into fixing it. She’s looked all over for any kind of remedy. Since it is a magical wound, it’s never going to heal naturally. Which means she’s stuck looking for a magical source to fix it. She’s currently looking into witches or warlocks both locally and out of town for solutions but her sources are not readily forthcoming with that kind of information. Dakota’s also making great strides to hide it from her pack, parents, and especially West. She wants to put on a brave face for them, and it took West months before he trusted himself again. She’s accepted it the way she looks now, but still yearns to have both eyes back. Jo stumbled upon her researching at a cafe and got her to spill, and is now trying to assist in her search. Ultimately Dakota is aware Nick is going to find out, and so will the rest of the pack, but she wants to have a plan to show before that happens.

West and Dakota recently were outed as married by an accidental opening of mail. She knows the pack was thrown by it, and that Nick is pissed, but she is waiting to let someone else pick the fight. She has something bigger to fight. Dakota would really like West to stop relying on potions and try out therapy to deal with his inner emotional turmoil. His parents truly messed him up and Dakota knows how he could be even more incredible if he didn’t have their criticisms hanging in her head. She’s gotten the higher ups in the pack to approve of sessions for West and is now trying to think of how to pitch it to him.

→ Available Gif Hunts (we do not own these)

Summer Bishil (Dakota English) [1][2][3][4]