#Rhys + cute animal is my weakness

[ofmd-ann]

Rhys Darby and future Buttons (ft Arms 💪🏼) -  The Cryptid Factor Patreon (Vid: Adventures in Pioneer Town)

[typicalmidnightsoul]

𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒚 - Chapter 3

𝙱𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚔 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚜𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛

Chapter 1 2 <- here

This chapter was inspired by Marisa Maino’s song: Bored and brokenhearted. Hope you like it!

Nesta’s desses (up above)

-------------

It had been 6 weeks since they’d seen Nesta in that pretty cliff top house.

Since he’d seen her. Since they exchanged words.

He didn’t know how to cope with the knowledge of her trying to… 12 times.

He was sure he’d see her today. Where would he see her?

At Cresseida’s engagement ceremony. The thought stabbed at him.

He still wanted to go, wanted to see her. To see if she was happy.  

As he fixed the sleeves of the tailored jacket he wondered if she would ever let him in.

He shook his head and made his way into the foyer, where the others were waiting for him.

-------

 As they winnowed onto the sandy beach, Cassian cringed. There were so many people, but they did not look, well… posh. The jetty lead to a mansion in the middle of the sea where it looked like the food and alcohol came from. His eyes almost started searching for her out of habit until a light tap came from behind. He turned thinking it was-

 His eyes softened, “Hello Elain.”

She smirked at him, “Looking for someone Cassian?”

He tried to chuckle but it came out weak. Elain’s smirk grew as she pointed to the railing on the side. Where Nesta was nursing a bottle of tequila. He hesitated. Should he go?

He looked at Elain’s still amused face and said, “And you’re meant to be the innocent one.”

He walked over to her.

She was so stunning; the wind blew the strands of hair framing her face out of her face. She wore a nicoline off the shoulder dress. It reached her knees and was skin-tight the ruched material outlining her hour glass figure.  He just stared at her for a while. Until she turned her head and acknowledged him.

She looked him up and down then turned and looked at his entourage.

She looked back at him then raised a brow, “Blondie not here today?”

She gave a soft laugh at how easily she wound him up.

“One would think, Nesta that you’re jealous?” He retorted.

“One would also think Cassian that you thinking I’m jealous is just another way you exploit your own insecurities.”

He gaped at her, “Why do you bring her up in every conversation anyway.”

“Silly me! I never realized there’s one rule for you and a completely different one for me.”

She took another gulp of tequila. She took her eyes off him and towards the sea again.

“You make it so difficult, Nesta.”

“You have mistaken me for someone who gives a shit, Cassian.”

He eyed the bottle in her hand, “This isn’t you, Nesta, this is the alcohol talking.”

She took another swig, “You’re right, if I was sober then I wouldn’t even bother talking to you.”

His gaze flicked over to the half empty bottle, “How are you not fully drunk yet?”

She merely replied, “Alcohol tolerance.”

Heels clicked behind them,

“Cassian if you think you can just flirt with my maid of honour and ignore the huge ass line of other males wanting to do so, you are wrong.” He gave Cresseida a smile, which she returned until she saw Nesta. Cassian waited for the outburst but Cresseida just chuckled and grabbed it off her.

“Tarquin is going to scream.” She chuckled again and took huge sips of it herself.

She flicked a gaze back to Cassian, “If you excuse us commander, being my maid of honour Nesta and I need to go see the final preparations for my wedding.” Cassian nodded his head in farewell and watched as Nesta let herself be dragged along by Cresseida.

 -----

 They all retreated to the chambers that had been provided for them. Cassian flopped down on the armchair. Elain sat on the window ledge. Feyre looked up at her mate from beside Cassian.

“Why do we have to stay?”

“Because it’s a courtesy that needs to be maintained for all the courts of Prythian,” Rhys chuckled.

Amren scowled, “Well. We will all be sleep deprived if they keep partying like animals, all night.”

That was correct; because in that huge villa on the jetty there was a never ending party going on which somehow stretched out onto the beach as well. A party that Varian decided he wouldn’t go to for Amren.

“We could just put a shield around all of our chambers,” Rhys replied.

Amren who was walking to her room with Varian looked back at him and said, “You do that.”

Azriel had disappeared off to God knows where, which left only Elain and Cassian in the room. He went up to her. She was staring at the after party.

“Can you see her?” He knew who she was talking about and he did see her. Dancing in the middle of the crowd, long out of that white dress and now wearing a white skirt with a slit on the side and short white top with thin straps that showed off her middle. She wore gold hoops, a pendant and had let her hair down. Eris, Cresseida, two other girls he didn’t know and Cresseida’s fiancé Alec were all dancing around her laughing at their friend’s wild spirit. But he wouldn’t let Elain know that.

“Who?”

She tore her eyes away and those doe eyes looked at him and the lie he just told her, they were so cold, he could feel the icy rage radiating of her.

“Are you mad at me, Elain?” She looked away but replied,

“Yes.”

He frowned, “Why?”

“You told Nesta that you don’t understand why Feyre and I love her.” Instead of denying it Cassian said, “How do you know?”

Her voice went hard, “Because Nesta requested we don’t love her so openly, she told me to let Feyre know that she no longer needs her and she gave me this.”

Elain showed Cassian a cheque. “She said it was to compensate for all the inconvenience she caused us.”

Cassian looked at her, “Don’t show it to Feyre-”

Elain stood up, “Even after all this time Cassian you are still thinking about Feyre?! What about Nesta?! What about what Nesta was going through?!” Her voice led Feyre and Rhys out of their room.

“Elain, Cassian what’s wrong?” Elain not taking her eyes off Cassian said,

“Nesta has compensated us for all our inconveniences Feyre.” She handed her the cheque. Feyre gaped at the paper in between her hands; Elain looked at Feyre at last,

“You exchange any words with her on this Feyre and you will see the worst of me.”

She left the room. Rhys led Feyre out as well leaving Cassian in the living room. He dropped down on the sofa, his hands in his head.

 -----

After his encounter with Elain, Cassian had decided he wanted to take a walk and clear his head. The laughter, music and shrieking had died down so he thought that everyone had probably gone to sleep. As he was walking down, he got a bit lost in thinking what life would’ve been like if Nesta had gone with him to the Illyrian mountains.

He hadn’t realized how far he’d come.

There were still people there but instead of dancing some were sleeping and some were drinking. He couldn’t see Nesta but he saw her friends sleeping on the sand. He turned to leave before he saw a lone figure lying down on the waves. Even from here he could recognize the outline of her figure. Maybe she’d fallen asleep… He hurried over going to pick her out of the waves.

He noticed that she’d changed again, as everyone else had, into a satin gown, that was probably meant for comfort at night

“Nesta.” No answer. He gave her a nudge. She mumbled something.

He pulled her up to a sitting position.

Her eyes were half open.

She smiled, her dimples piercing her cheeks “Cassian.”

“Is this how far your alcohol tolerance goes?” He looked towards the group and the bottles on the sand, “I count 10 bottles.”

She giggled, “I had 6.”

It was really hard to be mad at her when she was a giggling mess in his arms. He grabbed her arms and hauled her up. She tried to stand on her own but just fell deeper into Cassian’s arms.

He clenched his hand at the bare skin he found at her back.

“We need to get you-”

She put a hand on his cheek and pouted, “Are you upset?”

He raised a brow, “Why would I be?”

“Because I was mean to you this morning?” He ignored her question and instead asked,

“Why do you drink so much, Nes? Every time I see you, you either have a bottle in your hand or you’re already tipsy.”

She leaned into him and whispered in his ear, “I guess you could say… being drunk is my new sober.”

From their last encounters Cassian knew that getting Nesta to talk was easier when she was drunk,

“Why do you feel the need to do it though?”

She scrunched up her nose and considered, “Hm.”

“Is it because of me?”

She laughed, “Don’t give yourself so much credit,” He raised a brow, “I do it to myself, Cassian so no I can’t really blame anyone.”

“You?” Cassian asked.

She nodded, “I am bad for my health.”

He looked at her in amusement, “You really don’t give a shit what people think.”

She rolled her eyes, “Of course not, you should hear them, they call me young, wild, cold immature, they say I have got issues and honestly I think so too.”

She raised a brow at him, “Why? Do you care?”

“You could party all day and night and I’d still fall -” he stopped himself. She gave him a mischievous smile and shook his chin, “You’re cute.”

She stood on her tip toes and before he could object pressed her lips to his. His eyes remained closed for a long time. She pressed her head to his chest.

“Nesta, what room are you staying in?” He asked his voice low.

She pointed to the villa, “The third room upstairs.”

He flew them there placing her in her room. As he lay down in his own bed he could feel the kiss linger on his lips. He fell asleep to the memory of her.

@wannawriteyouabook

@skychild29

[doom-dreaming]

College AU - Margaritas, Mal, and Moze

@marigold-magpie HERE IT IS AND IT’S....it got away from me. and it’s more the girls making fun of Troy than anything else, honestly. also i’ve edited and edited this and i’m still not totally happy with it, but   w h a t e v e r

(Read it here on Ao3!)

“Ooh…margaritas!” Sasha practically pounced all the way from the door to the nearest blender.

“Courtesy of your selfless donations…” Tyreen tapped her knife against the edge of each as she listed them. “We got strawberry, lime, and…” She dipped her finger into the last one. “…peach! If you want some variety.”

“Straight tequila shots?”

Tyreen snatched the bottle away from Fiona’s wandering hand. “Nuh uh. We wanna have fun, not get shitfaced. Besides…” she tilted the bottle, frowning. “Miiiight not have enough for the rest of the mix—”

“What’s up, nerds?!”

“Funny, coming from you.” Tyreen raised an eyebrow, but didn't look up from the lime she was slicing.

Gaige huffed out a half-offended sound. “At least I’m not majoring in sociology, or whatever.” She dumped her backpack beside the couch. “What’re you gonna do with that, anyway?”

“Start a cult?”

“Yeah, good luck. I’ve seen your ECHOgram, you’ve only got, like, 500 followers.”

“Compared to your…what, fifty?” Tyreen leveled a smug grin at the redhead’s pout. “Nice try.” She licked the lime juice from her fingers and waved the knife at Moze, who was still standing semi-awkwardly near the door. “Just make yourself comfy, hon. Nothin’s off-limits. Except Troy’s room, but you don’t wanna go in there, anyway.”

“Uh…speaking of Troy…“ Sasha’s voice drifted over from the couch. "He’s got more followers than both of you.” She held up her phone. “743.”

Simultaneous cries of indignance flooded the small room.

“What the FUCK—”

“How in the hell—” Gaige beelined for the couch, her drink forgotten. Without hesitation, she vaulted over the back and landed next to Sasha. “I didn’t even know he had one! Lemme see. Oh, Ty, it’s you!”

Tyreen pinched the bridge of her nose. “Drunk karaoke? Yeah…” She moodily garnished her drink and joined the rest of them. “I just don’t get how he has more…” She mellowed into grumbling as she curled up on a chair in the corner of the room. “…fucker.”

Gaige snickered, popping back to her feet to retrieve her drink. “The fatal weakness in your perfect sibling relationship, huh?”

“I’m not that jealous, I just, y’know, spend hours doing tutorials and editing the videos and he records thirty seconds of me singing 'Hey, Mama’ after a dozen shots and…” She glowered at Sasha. “You and Fi would never—”

Fiona’s loud laughter cut her off. “Oh, I definitely would.”

Sasha agreed with a disappointed nod.

Tyreen sighed. “It’s petty and it shouldn’t bother me, but…”

“But that’s why we’re here,” Fiona reminded. “To drink and bitch!”

“To drink and bitch!” the rest of them echoed, raising their glasses.

“Or just drink,” Moze piped.

Fiona smirked. “I knew I liked you.”

“I mean, I just got here and so far? No complaints.”

Gaige plopped down beside her on the floor and patted her arm. “Valid.”

“Okay, then I’ll start.” Fiona took a long drink before setting the glass carefully onto the coffee table. “So...my ex—”

A collective groan rose from the group.

“—yeah, he swore up and down that he wouldn’t start shit with Rhys, but what does he do?” She didn’t let the question hang long. “Starts shit with Rhys!”

Sasha kicked her feet up. “Guy’s a fucking asshole. I don’t know what you ever saw in him, honestly.”

“Yeah, that makes two of us. Rhys is a dumbass, but at least he’s not a lying, cheating—”

The front door of the apartment opened just loudly enough to bring the conversation to a halt. Troy shuffled in with his bag hanging off of one arm and his jacket bundled in the other, oblivious to anyone else. He kicked the door shut, abandoned his bag next to the kitchen counter, and made it halfway across the apartment before Tyreen cleared her throat.

“…what’cha got there, bro?”

“Uh…”

“You look kinda...guilty.”

“No, I, um…” He tossed his hair. Readjusted his glasses. Heaved a defeated sigh. "...it's a cat.” Sure enough, the jacket mewled.

Instant mayhem.

“A cat?!”

“Don’t get it near me! I forgot to take my allergy meds!”

“I hope you don’t want to keep it—”

“Everybody shut the fuck up, you’re scaring him.” Troy elbowed his way past his sister, toward the coffee table. “I found him around the back of the building. We don’t have to keep him, I just figured I’d get him outta the cold." He set the jacket down, pulled back a few loosely-folded layers, and extracted a wiggling orange kitten. “Buuuut…I might’ve named him already…“

“Troy…”

He tucked the kitten to his chest, looking offended. "Just for tonight, Ty, I promise. In the morning I’ll take him to the shelter—don’t look at me like that.” He grabbed his jacket from the table and turned on his heel. “I’m gonna give him a bath.”

“Troy, you know campus policy—”

“Fuck campus policy! I’m not putting him back out!” The slam of the bathroom door sounded like an exclamation mark.

“Don’t get rabies!” Sasha called after him.

“Bold of you to assume he doesn’t already have it…” Tyreen dropped her head into her hands. “Fuckin’ idiot.”

Gaige’s grin was too wide to be innocent. “Hey, Troy! What’s his name!?”

“Mal!” came the muffled reply, followed by a sharp, “Oh, shit—ow!”

“Cute!”

“Stop encouraging him,” Tyreen groaned. “I’m at least ninety percent of his impulse control and I don’t need you making things worse.” She paused, then let her head fall back with a weary sigh. “But I guess as far as breakup behavior goes, rescuing a cat is better than rebounding…”

“How bad was that breakup, anyway?”

“Lethal, based on how he’s acting.” She rubbed at her eyes. “I…shouldn’t be mean. Troy gets invested. I think he was waaaay more into it than August was—”

Sasha nearly choked on her drink.

“You good?”

She brushed off Fiona’s back-patting. “Yeah, I’m good, I’m good. Just—” cough “—went the wrong way. All good.”

“You should let him have a couple drinks with us,” Moze suggested. “Maybe—”

Four voices shouted, “No!” in unison.

“Or…not?”

Tyreen huffed. “You know how most people have an alcohol tolerance? Troy has an alcohol intolerance. That first day you met us? Yeah, he was fucking trashed ‘cause he spent the whole night trying to drown his broken heart.”

Troy’s voice drifted out from behind the bathroom door. “…I heard that!”

“It’s not a secret!” Tyreen yelled back.

Troy grumbled something inaudible, then emerged. Shirtless. The kitten squirmed inside a towel. “Little dude scratches like a motherfucker… Someone wanna hold him while I…?” He motioned to the red slices across his chest with his free hand.

Tyreen glanced around the group. Fiona was still holding her hand over her nose and mouth, shaking her head. Moze was…definitely focused on Troy’s abs. “Anyone?” Gaige and Sasha just shrugged. She narrowed her eyes. “If you’re trying to trick me into keeping this cat, I swear to God… Fine. Hand him over.”

“You don't have to make such a huge fucking deal out of it,” Troy complained.

Tyreen's glare was downright scathing. “Then apparently you don't remember the baby bird. Or the snake. Or the—”

“Yeah, okay, whatever. Just take the cat.” He pushed the towel into her hands. “I swear it's only for tonight.”

“I don't believe you…!” she sang at his retreating back. He flipped her off before shutting the bathroom door again. She rolled her eyes.

Moze's voice was the first to break the silence. “So, uh...didn't know Troy wears glasses.”

“He doesn't, usually. But—oh no, no way—” Tyreen intercepted the kitten as it made an attempt to escape. “—he's blind as shit—”

“Heard that too!”

“—and wears contacts most the time.” She cocked an eyebrow at Moze. “But be honest, that's not what you were lookin’ at.”

The younger girl's face flushed a shade darker. She stirred at her drink, mumbling, “Just didn't expect he'd be…”

“Like that?” Gaige filled in. “Yeah, I didn't expect it either the first time—” She cut herself off abruptly. “Uh.”

“The first time what...?” Sasha asked cautiously.

Tyreen rolled her eyes, aware that she was the only one not acting like Gaige had just confessed to murder. “They hooked up. It was, like, a year ago.”

“WHAT?!”

“It was at an engineering thing! We were both drunk!” Gaige shrieked in an attempt to defend herself. “Neither of us remember anything about it! It just sorta..." She gestured helplessly. "We woke up with, like, half our clothes on the floor and honestly I wouldn't have believed anything happened except I had dried c—”

“OH MY GOD, SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Troy yelled. “Literally no one needs to know the details!”

“Yeah, I'm with him on that,” Sasha admitted, her expression sour.

Tyreen attempted to hide a snicker behind her hand. Her unoccupied hand. The hand that wasn't scratching the kitten behind the ears. “The only reason I found out was ‘cause as soon as he got back and had his head in the toilet, he started cryin’ about it—”

Troy stalked out of the bathroom, scowling. “I was not crying—”

“You were crying and puking and—”

“And now I'm leaving. Gimme the cat—wait, are you petting—?”

“Shut up. Take him.” The kitten, lulled by Tyreen's attention, gave a confused ‘mrrrp?’ as he was roused by yet another handoff. “Go...listen to some music or something.”

“So you can tell more lies about me? I see how it is.”

“Oh my God, would you just take your emotional support animal and go, already? Please?”

“C'mon, Mal,” Troy sniffed. “We don't need them anyway.”

Tyreen gulped down the rest of her drink as he disappeared into his room, half in an attempt to not snark back at him and half in an attempt to get buzzed. “Anyone want refills?” she sighed once he closed the door.

Fiona silently raised her empty glass.

“You know, you're the only one here with a brother,” Gaige mused.

“And ain't I lucky,” Tyreen drawled, taking Fiona's glass and slouching back into the kitchen. “I mean...I love him, obviously. But he's a pain in the ass.” She paused, cocking her head toward his bedroom door. “Okay, I think we're good. He can't hear us. What'd you have, Fi? Lime?”

“Yep.”

“So...should I or should I not try to...y'know.” Moze clicked her tongue and nodded in the direction of Troy's room.

“If you wanna go out with my brother, you have my blessing. Or...whatever. But...maybe don't go for the kill immediately? Give him some time. Get to know him first.”

“More like know what you're getting into,” Gaige joked.

“I...think I've got a pretty good idea.”

Tyreen tuned them out and took another long drink of her margarita. Troy's follower count was starting to make sense.

****** @corpseyb0nes @afterthedreamer @mischiefsilvertongue @tricerathotss @vanderlinde-exe @ayilachan @zipp0flare @luxury-of-insanity @vanillabuttercreamm @anni000001 @imchaoticnerd @pepper-demon 

[coutelier]

He’s a litte extract from WIP, which is a new draft of a story I wrote a while ago with some whole new scenes. Here is one:

“Shep, Ollie, and now Dale… I think it’s pretty damn clear by now what’s happening,” Rhys, a curtain-haired man with a dark pointy beard, held onto Matilda’s leash. He wasn’t so much tall as confident, always standing with his back straight and with such stillness, his face not betraying his true emotions. The dog lay by his feet, crunching through bone with it’s maw.

The remaining four had gathered in a playground. It was night, so there no kids or parents around to overhear their conversation, but it was in sight of homes and offices so an ambush was less likely to occur here than in an even more secluded location. Meeting anywhere was a risk, not just because they were being hunted but because the police had to have at least put together that was a connection between the three killings. Shep was officially just missing, but by now no one was expecting to ever see him again. Yet they had to meet somewhere, and this was the best they could come up with on such short notice and it was better than speaking over the phone.

Sam Pope used to play in this park when he was a boy. Even then he was broader and more athletic than other children. He’d ruled this place like it was his own little kingdom. He supposed now he served another king, but this was still his home and he wasn’t about to let anything run him out of it. He couldn’t tell what Rhys was thinking, but Miranda and Will were both sitting on the bench and scared.

Miranda was cute when she was scared despite being a physically strong woman. She was cute when she wasn’t scared. She was just capable of wearing any expression and being gorgeous, although the expression she wore right now said that they were all screwed, while her voice said, “The only other person who was there was…” she let that hang there for a moment while the others digested what it meant.

Will’s whole body and voice trembled. “No… no way a kid did this,” he said, even though he already believed it was true.

“She must have got help,” Sam coolly answered. He wasn’t scared. Just annoyed that this had happened while he was leader.

“Well that’s great, Pope,” Will laughed, “that’s just great. How do you prepare to fight something you don’t know a damn thing about?”

“By keeping a level head. We know she’ll be coming for us so that gives us an advantage.”

“So we use ourselves as bait. Then what?”

“Then we close the trap.”

“Trap?” Again Will laughed despite the tension in his face. “You don’t know who’s helping her. You don’t know if it’s just one guy or an army. Hell, she might even be on her own. You don’t know what tools or weapons they’re going to bring. You talk good, Pope, but you don’t have a plan. You just want to wait and see what happens because you think you’re some indestructible bad-ass. It’s your fault we’re in this damn mess in the first place.”

Sam’s hand was hand was under his jacket clutching the knife he always carried. He was losing control. They used to all be scared of him, now they were scared of some eleven or twelve year old brat? It would be funny if he had a sense of humor. But for now he kept his cool. “So what’s your plan then, genius?”

“We do what we should have done the moment you screwed up. We go to the cops and we come clean about everything.”

“I’m not going to prison over some stubborn bitch and her kid. Not that it would matter - he’d never allow it. We’d all be dead before they even locked the door.” “Maybe,” Will conceded, “but maybe we’re all dead anyway. And you know, if I was that girl, after seeing what we did, what we were going to do to her, I would be so pissed off right now that I wouldn’t just want to kill those people, I’d want to make sure I hurt them first. Really hurt them. I’d want to look them in the eye and see them ten times more scared than I ever was.”

Rhys said, “you seem to know a lot about what goes on in a little girl’s head.” “Hate’s the same no matter who you are.”

“We’re not going to the police,” Sam insisted, considering the matter. But Will remained unconvinced.

“Then I’m out,” he stood and threw his hands up. “I’m hopping on the first bus I can and flying as far away from this shit storm as my wallet will take me.” Miranda glared, “if you run it will look suspicious.”

“We already look suspicious,” Will told her before turning to Sam. “You can’t fight a storm, Pope. And you know one day that’s what’s coming for you.”

Will marched away. Rhys watched, remaining as stoic and straight-faced as ever, as Miranda stood next to Sam. “We can’t let him go,” she told him, ��what if he does tell the police everything?”

“I wasn’t lying,” Sam said, “he’s dead if that happens. So let him run. With any luck the kid’ll catch him first.”

“But what about us?”

Sam had no idea. Will was right about that - you couldn’t plan for something whose strengths and weaknesses you didn’t know. So knowledge really was power. Until now he’d always thought that was just something wimps said to feel better about themselves. He watched Will disappearing as he tried to figure out who might know something. As he did, he had taken a few steps. The dog, Matilda, reared her head, snapping and snarling at his heels.

Sam jumped back, momentarily flustered. “You keep that damn thing under control!” He warned. He just hated dogs. It was a dog that scarred his face. He had been kicking it at the time, but they were just dumb animals. Rhys started to turn away. “Where the hell are you going?”

“I’m not going to just wait out here,” Rhys explained. “Little bitch comes for me, it will be on my own turf, where all my girls will be waiting too. C’mon girl,” he tugged and Matilda got up to trot alongside him.

Miranda exhaled, “So now it’s just the two of us…”

“No,” Sam said. “We’re not the only ones responsible for that night.”

Miranda squinted at him, eyes slowly widening as realization pushed through. “You don’t really think the old man will help?”

“He will if he thinks his own bloated carcass is on the line. Just leave it to me.”