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deadrayg2mf · 2 years

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A Soul to Heal (Duskwalker Brides #2) by Opal Reyne

Now I know I already raved over the first book, which means it’s only appropriate for me to do so for the second book as well. I will say, did this live up to the first book? Not for me. While I found myself enjoying it, I struggled more with the heroine, Delora, in this story. It’s not that I necessarily hated her, I just found my lack of empathy getting in the way of me wanting to feel for her... and sometimes she said or did things that rubbed me the wrong way... It’s fine, she’s the right heroine for this story! Literally, the story would not have gone as it did if it wasn’t for how she is!... I just am glad I can leave her to a book...

Oh! But the love I have for our monster! Our unnamed Duskwalker from the first book! He is a sweet angel, he is trying his absolute best, and he is so goddamn stupid. On a real note, though, this fictional monster recognized mental illness and did his damn best to help with it more than some people I know would have. Considering it’s his first experience living with a human and he still lacks so much humanity, I am willing to heavily forgive his blunders and fumbles.

Delora, she is a feisty one... She fell from the heavens, depression and all, and broke every bone in that Duskwalkers body... She also brought him immeasurable joy and love, taught him when he needed help, and gave what she could when it felt like everything was trying to hold her back. I think my biggest beef with her was her lack of willingness to understand or learn when certain big plot points came up. It gets resolved and she learns from her mistakes which is a saving grace for her character.

Putting aside my own personal opinion on the heroine, the book is another slow burn winding its own path and differentiating itself in many vast ways over the course of its 557 pages from the first installation. It’s another killer read by Opal Reyne that has its own quirks and delightful bedroom scenes for readers to fall in love with. 8/10.

Would I read again? Probably

Would I recommend? Definitely

#book review #good read #monster fucker #monster lover #monster fudger #opal reyne #duskwalker brides #duskwalker #8/10

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shadowbrightshine · 9 months

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Heartbreaking exchange I just thought of between two Hatchetfield ocs.

Opal (who you've seen) and Daniela her first and only friend from Clivesdale when Dan comes to visit. This is the Starry eyed revival au (and the reformed -mostly- Lords stuck in Hatchetfield from @marvelmaniac715 s fic au as well)

For context Opal doesn't "have a birthday" but she's under age 10. Her birth parents are absolutely terrible people and she ran away and ended up homeless in Hatchetfield after hiding on a boat from Clivesdale.

Ok scrolling back up heavy heavy warnings for child abuse I should save this for a proper fic but it's too late now. Holy crap I didn't think the whole thing would fall out of me. I promise most of my ocs aren't this heavily traumatized.

It's a little rough compared to my usual handling and I may take it down if you guys are really upset by it. I usually plan out my depictions of abuse more carefully but I do think this is still acceptable for my standards.

Saying it again.

Warnings for child abuse I didn't realize how heavy this was until reading it back.

The Waylon place was slightly fuller than usual, it was still less than the full member list, but Sapphire and Zelda and Nate were here today along with the usuals.

.......

"I don't know how to dance!" She protested.

Opal paused and then grinned. "I do! Sapphire gave me lessons! Just follow my lead."

Sapphire herself, who was sitting next to Pokey on an extremely rare visit to the new revival, called out. "I did not! I've been making you stay away from my ritualistic dances."

Opal froze. "I...uh...um..." She drooped. "Yeah...I know."

Sapphire blinked. "Why'd you lie? You don't follow Pokotho." Pokotho himself was eyeing Daniela (and...Opal?) with a strange amount of distain. An...abnormally high amount of distain actually what- her train of thought was paused and resumed from before it started. "Why'd you lie?" Sapphire unknowingly repeated.

The tiny girl kicked her leg. "You and your wife are the best dancers ever so I'd be cooler that way."

She smiled at the earnest complement but pointed out. "But your friend doesn't know me. My name means nothing to her and everyone else already knows I don't let you near my practices."

Opal looked even more embarrassed and wilted under the eye of the God currently sitting in the house with her. "Oh."

Daniela broke out of her semi stupor. "Hey! We promised not to lie to each other!"

Opal became even smaller. "I-I oh no...I forgot." She said in horror. "I forgot about our promise! I'm so sorry!!" Tears formed in her eyes.

Daniela quickly hugged her. "No no it's ok! Really, I thought you were dead anyways so it's like all our promises reset. We just have to make a new one. I forgive you."

"Really?" She sniffed.

"Yeah, really." The girls dried Opal's eyes together and nodded. They put an arm on each other's shoulders.

"Promise!!!" They both headbutted each other and fell on the ground with cries of pain. The other members of the group looked at them. Tim set down Webby's butterfly plushie and the patch he was sewing onto it.

"Uh... why did you do that?" Tim asked, a little concerned and glancing around to make sure Reed wasn't there to fawn over his adoptive daughter. Now wasn't the time.

Opal held her head. "When you break a promise you hurt yourself too."

Daniela nodded. "Opal taught me it. It's like an extra important promise."

Tim felt uneasy about those words. The sentiment itself was fine, in fact it was strangely mature for her age. Something else was off. "Opal, who taught you to hurt yourself for promises?" It shouldn't have been so worrying, and his wording might be too assumptive...But Tim's new sense of people that was developing alongside his involvement with Wiggly told him this wasn't good.

Opal scratched at the spot on her arm that raised alarm bells for everyone else. Otto quietly scooted closer, trying not to let his hoof skin hybrid feet make too much noise. "When Mother-" Otto tensed. "Made me promise things she'd hit me. Because if I broke my promise she'd make it hurt ten times worse." She sounded so normal about it.

Daniela nodded, she clearly didn't like her friend being hit. "When we became friends we wanted to change it."

Opal nodded emphatically. "I would Never hit Daniela! Never ever, not once!" She paused. "Except the ones where you go bap." She very lightly tapped her own arm. "Those are ok."

"Or head patting!" Daniela started the gesture on Opal but she flinched and made a pained noise. "What happened? I didn't do it hard!"

"You hit the sore part."

"Sorry!!"

"I forgive you."

"Ok!"

Otto spoke up. "Opal, mom's aren't allowed to hit people for breaking promises."

"They can't hit you for that either?" Opal asked cluelessly. "How many things did she do that are illegal?" This set something off in her friend.

Daniela, who clearly had been holding something back for some time blurted out. "Everything they did was illegal! You ate dog food and lived where your dog pooped and peed and didn't go to school! That's bad! It's really really bad! No one else had that happen!" Most of the kids that hadn't stuck out when the heavy conversation started flinched.

Sapphire made a mental note to buy Reed some wine and groceries. He was doing God's work for that girl. (Also Noelle needed food and it was her turn to help pay anyways). Otto moved away from them, trying to process the statement.

Opal was shocked. "Wait...no one? I thought it was normal for Cli-" she caught herself. "For people back at my old home. I thought Hatchetfield was just special."

"What the fuck..." River whispered, horrified at the idea of a mother doing anything other than spoil her kids. They were working on him but he had a right to be terrified this time.

The slightly older girl continued. "No, it's weird and very bad. That's why I told you to live with me instead. Why didn't you? I waited for so long and you never came back..." Daniela's eyes got watery and she asked quietly. "Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?"

Opal sat on the floor and dug her nails into the spot on her arm. "..." She swallowed. "Old dad found out I'd left to visit you at school, and told me if I didnt tell him who you were he'd make me." She stared at one of the deep scars on her pointer finger.

"He wanted to make you disappear so I disappeared instead and ran out of the house, and kept running and running and I hid on the boat. I wasn't making myself invisible for most of the run, so I was scared he'd find me and follow me." Opal looked her best friend in the eye, voice quiet. "He was gonna hit you until you died and leave you in the basement with me forever. He told me so."

Daniela was speechless.

"I wanted to say goodbye!" Opal was crying now. "I really really wanted to but I was so scared! I didn't want you down there with me! You live in the sunlight and I live in the basement and that's how it is and if you're in the basement too than everything is wrong."

She sniffed and her eyes glazed over. "If you're dead we can't play games anymore. Old dad said he won't feed us until we eat you instead and I don't want to eat people! Sprinkles is a good dog and she'd never do that, so I'd have to do it so she could get food again and I don't want to do it!" Opal covered her face. "I don't want to!"

There was a heavy silence. Daniela crawled over to the sobbing child. "You don't gotta. See? I'm alive right here. I've never been in the basement before. See? This is the cool clubhouse you told me about."

Opal didn't answer, grabbing her and hugging her as tightly as she could. The room erupted into movement. Some people running over to comfort Opal, some running out to throw up or just get away, and Otto was grabbing River by the arm to fire up his golf cart and go find Reed in town. Tim started praying to God. Both of them, though he didn't realize Wiggly was able to hear all his prayers.

Pokotho didn't look upset at all. Sapphire stopped noticing that and leaned over to touch Trent's arm. "You should go upstairs for a bit, ok?" He nodded mutely and headed for the stairs. Daniela stared down the others with a protective gaze and they stopped coming closer.

Daniela held onto Opal. "It's ok. You were super awesome. You saved me and I'm not ever gonna be mad about it ever again. I forgive you times a million gazillion. We can dance tomorrow ok? I'm gonna be here for two whole weeks so it's all ok now."

"I don't wanna see you die..."

"You won't! I'm gonna live as long as you do! Best friends die at the same time. I read about it in Dad's book, it said if you love someone enough you'll die with them and I love you so much!"

"Really?"

"I think so! So that means we just have to not die and we can be best friends forever, but for real! Friends are forever."

"Friends are forever." Opal repeated quietly, relaxing. "And ever, and ever, and ever."

"Mhm. See? You're parents didn't do anything different after you left. They don't care you're gone so they're not gonna look for you. You're safe now."

That soothed Opal more than anything previously. "You're safe too. Just forget me at home so we don't get in trouble ok?"

Daniela argued indignantly. "I'm not gonna forget my best friend! I'll just not talk about you at school."

"...Ok..." She looked drained and was getting limper in her friends arms by the second. "Promise you're not mad at me anymore? I don't wanna be mad..."

"Promise. I promise with a super hard headbutt that I am always gonna be your best friend and that I'm not mad at you for running away anymore."

Opal smiled. "I promise it back too."

Daniela lightly tapped both of them and her friend fell asleep on the floor as she usually did.

........

Ok I originally intended this scene to be briefer and then go into Pokotho explaining he didn't like Opal because he'd already made the mistake of using her in an apotheosis once and never again but uh.

Nope I'm leaving it here. Holy crap.

#shine post #starkid fic #tw child abuse #starkid oc #hatchetfield #Hatchetfield oc #hatchetverse #I've been listening to spies are forever and coded opal and Daniela to Curt and Owen but children and not doomed lovers #like ive written a song for them to sing along with one step ahaead where they reafirm their friendship #with bothvof them singing themes from the other songs like “friends are forever!! friends are forever #and the other singing 'and ever!' in the style of 'and another' as layering over together and singing it myselr i think its good #this scene relates to the pokotho possessed opal slightly #gosh this was darker than i intended #my writing #if you liked this i have better depictions on my ao3 account same as my tumblr name #angst #heavy angst #fanfiction

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