#Scourge took her out because he wanted to treat her! since she's always doing so much for him

[itz-pandora]

OH WELL IN THAT CASE that depends more on the stage of relationship theyre in - are they already really close, did they just have a bad patch theyre tryna repair, etc.

if theyre doing rlly well, theyll prolly be more affectionate or loving to each other, whatever that means for em

if they went through a bad patch, one of em might try to be overly cautious, or the other might try to act like nothings wrong, which could be a spot of contention

either way again consider their personalities - would they do stuff like order each others favorite foods, gossip abt how weird others look, ignore everyone else and just mack on each other?

yup

They're happy cute because you guys deserve a treat 💕

[xviiperr]

Hm… what about Yandere Scourge? He’s already got some of the obsessive traits to him.

Oh gosh yes! I do agree, Anon, Scourge definitely has a few obsessive traits that accompany him well into his last scenes in the Archie comics.

Scourge was one of my most favorite characters from the Archie comics, so it's so exciting that I'd get a request like this! It's ironic because I was drafting up some ideas before for him to just release so this request is perfect :D 💚 Prepare for a whole analysis! 🫡

Also, Imma assume you wanted romantic headcanons since it wasn't specified! I can do more in the future if you'd like 🩷

TW: Yandere behavior. I do NOT condone this in real life, this behavior is unacceptable and inhumane. Treat others kindly.

This work talks about physical abuse, (mild in the sense of other characters canonically being hurt) and a lingering threat that the same will happen to you, the reader. Other traits such as possessiveness, obsessiveness and manipulation are talked about in mild detail. Read at your own risk.

He needs to have power, Scourge evolving said power to be a necessity in his life because he wants to be acknowledged, (the comic itself makes fun of his existence, including the desperate ways he goes just to be known). In the comics, rather than earn that respect Sonic gets through being a kind person, Scourge takes that "respect." All throughout the series, he's drawn in these outlandish poses that demand your attention, fighting for some screen time in a comic that he thinks is supposed to be about him, opposed to Sonic, the true hero.

Scourge is everything that Sonic is not. He is supposed to be Sonic's biggest rival, the most devious guy out there, Eggman himself "paled" in comparison but instead, Scourge is Sonic's worst rival. The comics elaborate on this because as stated before, Scourge goes through desperate methods just to have some validation, the comic making fun of him in the process. Scourge is able to achieve his ultimate form and absolutely beat down his enemies without a single scratch yet, he screams at Sonic for running away when Scourge is talking to him. The King has arrived! Show him your respect, now!

Here, you can find Shadow quite offended that Scourge has a crown.

Scourge as a yandere would definitely want power over his dearest. With his relationship with Fiona Fox, she fed into his ego and need for command. She crafted the plans while he did the majority of conquering. However, each time Fiona could have outshined Scourge, she always checked back with her boyfriend because she knew he was supposed to be the main guy. However, with you in his life as his new chick (obsession), Scourge demands respect and control. He's the biggest baddie around, the King, respect. Scourge himself believed that he should be the new face of the comics, obsessing over the fact that he had to one up Sonic. Proof of that? Well, just take a look at the image below. Need I say more on just how petty Scourge can be? (Yes).

You cannot have anyone in your life that is more important than Scourge himself. He is your top priority, as you are the same to him. Scourge has to know where you are at all times, needs you to be by his side and edging him on to do bigger and badder stuff, (he's a showoff and not in a good way). He conquered all of Moebius, (he killed his dad in the process), taking over as King Scourge, crowning Fiona Fox as his queen. Since Scourge is yandere in this AU, he's enraged that Fiona would leave him, (even though she did return to him again) so when he had stumbled upon you, he took you by his side without a second thought. Fiona on the other hand, when she returned to Scourge, wasn't so fortunate as she had been put in her place rather forcefully. This brings up another point: Scourge will make you listen one way or another, even if it means physically harming you. For context, he took the evil counterpart of Antoine, Patch's eye, (hence his name) and constantly threatens him over losing his other eye in case Scourge feels he's stepping out of line.

Here, you can find Scourge absolutely dunking on Sonic about not having a girlfriend anymore. He is also doing his outlandish poses as mentioned before.

Going off of his quote and points before, "Any guy after me is gonna be bland," Scourge fully believes that after beating everyone into submission and having absolute control, you'd have to want him like he wants you. Nobody loves you like I do. You can't be in a relationship with anybody else! They're not good enough, too lazy and all time losers. But don't worry, Scourge is here to make your life so much better. He's got everything under control because Scourge is the King. No one would dare disrespect him and his status! Not ever. Not even you, I mean c'mon, he's King and you've got to respect that. Fiona was well put into her place, wasn't she? Would be a real shame if Scourge just picked up Fiona again to stomp all over her as you helplessly watch, wouldn't it? Doesn't that make you want to listen to him more? Lighten up babe, be his sweet little devilish angel that you are and nobody gets hurt. Too badly. Oh but don't worry your pretty little head, Scourge isn't afraid of some blood! In fact, he loves it. Sometimes, he likes it when you talk to other people. Gives him more of an excuse to leave that said person in a bloody, unintelligible mass of meat and even graffiti over the body because he's just so bad (twisted).

In the Archie comics, I've taken notice of how possessive Scourge is over his crown, a symbol of "King Scourge," the one that everyone fears and will do anything for. Even when Sonic and Shadow teamed up together to try and take down Scourge in a brief fight, Scourge barely manages to pull off beating both of them up and lands just in time to catch his crown. His crown is his identity, he will not lose that. Having you as his lover is now part of his identity because he's absolutely smitten with you. Just like his crown, Scourge cannot lose you or he's nothing. Whatever he had felt for Fiona doesn't matter because you are the new highlight of his regime, the key piece to helping him feel validated. If Sonic dares to take you away from him, oh-oh-oh man, he'd feel real bad just as soon as Scourge became Super Scourge and showed Sonic was a big deal he really is. (Lol Scourge is buullllllyyyyyy).

In summary: Scourge would be possessive, obsessive, controlling, abusive, manipulative and overall, narcissistic.

Thank you for reading my blurb! Lemme know if you'd like to have more!

[perseidlion]

How the Cat King Got His Groove Back (Ongoing, soft E)

The sky over Port Townsend was slate gray as it often was for weeks on end in the winter. The air was damp and heavy, with the ocean breeze cutting right through even the warmest jackets. Winter was usually free of snow in the Pacific Northwest, but the endless stretch of gray and drizzle was just as depressing as any deep blanket of snow. Perhaps moreso, because at least in snowy climes, the sun occasionally came out to play. 

The Cat King’s cannery was drafty and cold. Even his loyal subjects had abandoned him for spots beneath houses and under staircases where they huddled together for warmth.

It had been about a month since the Dead Boy Detectives had come to town and stirred up everything like a whirlwind. Cat had felt more energized than he had in decades, and not just because one of said detectives was curiously handsome and fascinating. 

But in their wake, they’d left an eerie calm. Their time in town had been short, but they had a reputation for a reason. They’d solved nearly a dozen cases, small and large in their short time. Some of the cases had been outstanding for decades. They’d also vanquished Esther Finch, the powerful and vain witch who had been causing trouble in town longer than the Cat King had ruled. 

Esther was a scourge who crossed lines even some of the darkest creatures would not. Plus, she’d beaten him to death with her cane, taking one of his precious lives in the process. Which was just…so rude.  Cat would be lying if he said he didn’t miss her a little - if only for the chaos she brought. She was a piece of shit, but she was a piece of shit who kept life interesting. 

And things were just so…quiet without her particular brand of chaos. 

And without him.

Cat stretched his toes out and off the edge of the stack of palettes that served as his throne. He was draped in a heavy black fur coat to try and hold back the chill. When he exhaled a deep-chested sigh, his breath condensed like cigarette smoke. 

He felt numb. He knew he should get up and at least use his magic to kindle a fire in an oil drum or envelop himself in a protective haze of magic. But the cold that pricked his skin and the draft that trickled between the fur of his coat at least let him feel something. He’d been considering the possibility of moving for a good long while, but couldn’t will his limbs to do more than shift a bit to make sure his body was covered by his coat. 

Cat would swear up and down that he was an independent creature, one who went where he pleased and made love to whoever he liked. But the truth was, he was a profoundly lonely creature who covered up that loneliness with tricks and flirtations. 

He wasn’t fully a cat. When he transformed into his feline form to join the feral colony of Port Townsend, they all knew it was him. They treated him with deference and respect, but they also othered him. He could be human whenever he wanted, which set him apart even more than his position.

Cat wasn’t fully human, either. To the residents of Port Townsend, he was known as the town’s slutty weirdo who was always followed by feral cats. They were used to him by now, but just because they didn’t hassle him didn’t mean he was one of them. His dual form meant he was trapped between two worlds, only really at home with other creatures who had a foot in both worlds. And most of them, he’d already alienated or had some sort of beef with - or were just not creatures whose company he found entertaining. The result was, he didn’t really have any friends in town to speak of, which only added to his loneliness. 

Finally, Cat got up the energy to drag himself to his feet. He took a series of lazy, heavy steps down off the platform, his fur coat dragging along the dirty ground. As he walked aimlessly through the warehouse, he chased echoes of memories. 

First, he passed the stain of blood on the ground where his previous body had been beaten to death by Esther. The reminder of that pain made him wince involuntarily. But then he saw echoes of Edwin when he caught the first hints of lust in his eyes, followed by the indignant British snark of him protesting his punishment. He closed his eyes and remembered what a pair of ghostly lips brushing his cheeks felt like when Edwin came to say goodbye. 

Cat turned and caught his reflection in an old, half-broken mirror propped against one wall and partially covered by a dropcloth. Slowly, he turned to face the mirror head-on. He lifted a hand to summon his magic, paused, rethinking it for half a moment, then he swirled his wrist.

The purple fog that accompanied his transformations with an affectation - a magician’s trick to make the whole thing seem more impressive. His magic in its natural state was subtle and quiet, as befitted a creature of stealth. The shift to his body happened in a blink. 

Edwin’s reflection stared back at him from the mirror, one hand still held delicately in the air, clad in a brown leather glove that matched his brown overcoat. He was a perfect copy, save golden, slitted eyes. He stepped up to the mirror and swept the gloved hand across the surface to clear it of some of the dust. Then he tugged off his glove and caressed his own cheek. He closed his eyes and let his fingertips creep over his lips. He nuzzled his own palm and exhaled warm breath against his fingertips.

When Cat opened his eyes, it was Edwin’s green eyes gazing back at him. Edwin’s face full of sadness and longing. Edwin’s face aching with loneliness. He pulled off the other glove and held his own hand, tracing knuckles and fingertips. He held his own hand and squeezed it. 

Keep reading on Ao3

(This fic was originally a short called Ennui that just consisted of the first chapter. Now it's an ongoing fic with shapeshifting shenanigans and some light Catcrow elements, though the shapeshifting/identity swap stuff is the focus over the ship.)

[fortunatelycooltrash]

Rising Sparks AU: Tallstars revenge and Bloodclans orgins.

I mentioned in an earlier post for this AU that all clan cats are created by Starclan and that’s what separates them from normal cats. However, I want to go more into depth about just what that means.

First off: Clan cats cannot be understood by rouges and kittypets and vise versa.

Outsider cats can understand each other but Clan Cats speak a language different to them.

I don’t have a language in mind, obviously, but I like to imagine in my own mind that Clan Cats sound as if they’re speaking latin whenever they attempt to speak to an outsider.

Because they cannot understand them, both sides tend to view the other as dull or weird.

However, Clan Speak can be learned by an outsider if they are taken into a clan and viewed as Clan Cats by Starclan and themselves.

This typical happens to kits who were taken in by Thunderclan.

Since they are too young to understand the difference between Clan cats and Outsiders, they view all cats as the same, making them briefly able to understand both at least partially before settling onto one side or the other as they age.

The Windclan visitors from Tallstars revenge could speak a somewhat chopped version of Clan Speak. This is because they didn’t view themselves as Clan Cats, even if Starclan did.

The same thing happened to Tallstar, after Sandgorse died.

Since he had lost his place in his clan, he eventually stopped seeing himself as a Windclan cat altogether.

This lead to him confusing words and, eventually when he started to leave, being completely unable to understand his clanmates since both he and Starclan no longer saw him as a clan cat.

Tallstar actually plays a huge role in Bloodclan coming to fruition, even though he is unaware of it.

When Tallstar left his clan, he saw himself as an Outsider which meant he could now speak their language.

This fascinated Jake because, whenever he tried to speak to Thunderclan cats, they stared at him blankly before yowling in a strange tongue and chasing him off.

Tallstar was the only clan cat in any Outsiders lifetime to understand them so Jake was determined to get all his questions answered.

On their journey, Tallstar told Jake about all the clan legends, Starclan, the deities and their wars, and clan relations as well as clan customs.

Eventually though, they caught up to the Vistors and Tallstar confronted Sparrow. As in canon, he let Sparrow go.

He did this because, while Windclan is an “eye for eye” clan, he couldn’t be completely sure Sparrow was responsible for Sandgorse dying.

This would mean Tallstar would become a murderer if he was wrong, and there is no worse crime to clan cats than unjust murder.

So, in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to do it and left with Jake.

When they reached the Windclan border, Tallstar was devastated to discover that he could only partially understand Jake now.

Now that he was returning home, Starclan saw him as a Windclan cat once more.

Since Jake admitted that he would always be adventurous at heart and never quite able to settle, he moved on with a promise to visit.

Due to their time together, Jake became a living vessel of all clan knowledge to Outsiders.

This drew Quince to him and eventually, Tiny, Ruby, and Socks were born.

Unlike in canon, Jake stuck around for a while. He really loved kits, especially his, and he loved that Socks looked similar to Tallstar, albeit black and white instead of brown and white.

Jake told all three of his kits everything he remembered about his time with Tallstar.

All the legends, all the customs and so on but only Tiny really liked to listen.

Since he was a runt and weak kit, he fantasized about being a strong warrior who everyone admired and looked to.

This, unintentionally, lead to him viewing himself as a clan cat and thus being able to partially understand them.

Unfortunately, Jake was always so excited to talk about the legends and customs that he forgot to explain that Talltail had been an outlier and not every clan cat could be understood or understand.

Eventually, Jake stopped coming by. His twoleg moved away with him and Jake could no longer make the long journey to Quinces home.

Tiny was upset that he was left alone with his mean siblings and Quince, who had no patience for clan tales anymore after hearing about them for so long.

After a moon or so, he decided to try and find Jake so he could live with him, instead.

He decided that, if he found Talltail who Jake always spoke of, then maybe he would know where Jake was.

He knew that Talltail lived on the moor beyond the forest so he started out that way.

On his way there, however, he came across Thistleclaw and Tigerpaw, patrolling the border.

Now, while Thistleclaw is still incredibly mean and rough with Tigerpaw, Thunderclan customs are different than in canon and the protection of both life and kits are something drilled into their minds from birth.

So, of course, it would be wayyy out of Thunderclans norm for a warrior to encourage the battering of a kit, outsider or not.

Tiny tried to ask the two how to get to the moor but he could only understand every second or third word they said.

Thistleclaw and Tigerpaw herded him back to Twolegplace, trying to find his home but Tinys scent had gotten muddled by the forest.

Eventually, they found the old cat who saved Tiny in canon and left him with her as she gave him food so they assumed she was his kin.

The old cat, Birdi in this fic, explained that Clan Cats cannot understand outsiders and vise versa.

This made Tiny furious as he was now lost, scared, and had no way of finding either of his parents so he was now forced to live on the streets.

Birdi took him in and raised him, rather than abandoning him or sending him off as she did in canon.

She often talked about the clan cats too, but unlike most street cats, Birdi liked them.

She was a TNR cat in her old age but had many litters before being caught. She couldn’t support them all, so she would occasionally take some, the weakest ones, to Thunderclan.

Tiny suspected they were being dumped back on random cats, as he was, but she assured him that she had seen them on the border once they were older.

Some of her kits are Nettlebreeze, Stonepelt, Littlestep, and Rockfall.

The only kit she left with them that had kits was Flashnose. She is not related to Daisytoe in this to cancel out a ton of the canon incest.

Later on, Birdi became ill and could not scavenge food anymore. Tiny tried his best to provide for her but he had no way of healing her illness.

He begged other street cats for help, trading food for anything they said would help before realizing they were scamming him out of his food and trading useless herbs.

Birdi, without the proper support, eventually passed away in the night.

Tiny returned to their den and dragged her to the Thunderclan border, burying her there so she could see her kits should they visit from Starclan.

Disgusted by the street cats behavior, Tiny decided that the clan way, where everyone cared for each other, was the best way. However, he took this too far.

He gathered Queens who had been abandoned by their mates, feeding them and helping to raise their kits, young kits that were deemed too weak to survive, and anyone who showed commitment to his clans way.

He named his clan Bloodclan, not for the feel of blood, but because they must treat each other as if they are all kin.

Tiny would do anything for his Kin, and the larger they grew, the more food and space they needed.

Eventually, this lead to a join or leave town choice. When too many refused to leave, Tiny decided even murder was something he was willing to do for his family.

Tiny never officially took on the name Scourge, it began because those who refused to join his family called him a scourge on the streets way of life.

New members joining called him that and, as Tiny aged and original members died off, thats all anyone knew and referred to him as.

Bloodclan is not recognized by Starclan so, even if the four clans and Bloodclan come face to face, they will only partially be able to understand each other.

[kneamet]

Angel of cards (7/16)

Trigger Warning: yandere, obsession, obsessive thoughts.

Summary: Joker, Mr. J, anarchist psychopath, Tom Hiddleston. He had many nicknames. Joker was Gotham’s most dangerous and insightful man, with sharp makeup and horribly memorable scars on his face in the form of a smile. He was absolutely crazy and deadly. No one knows his real identity and everyone is afraid of his cruel jokes. But what happens when he becomes obsessed with an ordinary girl?

She belongs to him. No one can take her away from him. Even The Batman.

Chapter seven: unexpected guests

Harvey just couldn't think rationally the last day. Blake. His beloved niece, whom he had so fiercely protected and so passionately cherished. She was his favorite relative, the only person who supported him in what he was doing now.

And now, he was standing in an elevator with an equally beloved man, a beloved woman, Rachel Dawes, who was the most beautiful person in his life. The love of his life. Rachel had always been sympathetic and untruthful to him, and there was nothing he could do to repay her. Except to propose to her.

Harvey, as well as his Rachel, were now at a" party " with Bruce Wayne, with whom his beloved had known since childhood. And that's fine, even when Bruce, with his pretentiousness, infuriated him. But that was just a small thing, given that he'd called him this afternoon to let him know that he'd do everything he could to find Blake.

Dent looked at Rachel, who was biting her lip in her usual way and looking a little worried. He knew that his beloved, as well as he himself, did not particularly like all these social events, and they liked an ordinary evening with delicious wine and an old movie more.

Suddenly, the elevator stopped and opened its doors, giving Harvey and Rachel a view of the rich people standing around each other drinking champagne.

"Harvey Dent, scourge of the underworld... Rachel suddenly began, beginning to circle slightly around Dent and look at him with what Harvey, and probably Bruce, thought were beautiful eyes. "...scared to death of the powerful, " she said ironically, but she still understood that Harvey was having a hard time, which he basically appreciated. Suddenly her eyes caught on something, and she smiled and looked back at Harvey. "I'll be back soon."

"Rachel," Dent said softly as she left, and suddenly a familiar voice came from the left side.

"Would you like some courage, Mr. Dent?" said a man who looked very familiar, but Harvey had some doubts that this was the man Rachel had told him about.

"Thank you. Alfred, right?" Harvey decided to make sure as he accepted the glass.

"That's right, sir," the older man replied with a polite smile.

"Rachel talks about you all the time. You've known her all her life," Dent knew that Alfred was one of the only people who cared about Rachel. She always praised him.

"Oh, not really, sir," Alfred corrected quickly, shifting the tray to his other hand.

"Should we be wary of her crazy exes?" Harvey looked away and looked into the crowd, looking for Rachel.

"Oh, you have no idea how much," Alfred advised and disappeared into the crowd, disappearing unnoticed and smiling cunningly. Harvey looked up at him in surprise, his mouth slightly open.

But no, I need to find Rachel now.

***

The social gathering, as the rich people called it, or the simple party, as Rachel, Bruce, and Harvey would have called it, was going well. People were drinking champagne and wine, and the music played in the background in a quiet background, only adding to the charm.

Everything was fine. Bruce Wayne, surrounded by a crowd of Russian ballerinas, arrived in a private helicopter, saying that he was a little late. He even thanked Harvey for his contribution.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," a loud and drawling baritone voice suddenly rang out, drawing the attention of people who turned their drunken eyes toward those who had arrived, until they noticed his makeup and heard the sound of a cracked lamp somewhere above.

Shouts were heard from the sides. The Joker grinned. That was exactly what he wanted. It was so nice to see their frightened faces. He took a step forward, stepping out of the elevator and passing on, looking for the people who were now looking at him in pitiful fright.

He felt like a God now. A God who can control people's feelings and make them do what he wants. Oh, how he wanted his angel to listen to him. His lovely, frightened little angel, probably begging hard for help right now. She was glad to be with him, though.

"Now we'll entertain you," he said again, grinning at the people around him. "I have one question:" he drawled, walking slowly towards the people and even slightly dancing and jumping up and down. His usual manner, no wonder. "Where's Harvey Dent?" he shouted loudly to the entire room, taking a glass of champagne and spilling most of it as he stared at the man. "Do you know where Harvey is? Do you know him?"" he turned to the other man, placing a glass of unpleasant alcohol, which he did not particularly like, on the snack table.

The Joker slowly surveyed the people. He saw in them the whole spectrum of negative emotions, ranging from anger to contempt with horror. How ugly they all are. And no, not physically, like the Joker, but morally.

"You know, me and his family will be fine," the Joker said to no one else, making his usual smacking lips.

"We can't be intimidated by bandits," the voice said. It seems that someone was very brave, Joker thought, and turned to the owner of the old voice.

That's right, there was an elderly man standing next to him, raising his head up and up. It seems that someone wanted to show their superiority.

"Listen..." the Joker muttered, pulling a small pull-out knife from his nearest pocket and sliding it up unnoticed, his other hand shaking as he straightened his hair. "...you look like my father, " the man said with disdain in his voice, literally running into the older man with quick movements and putting a knife to the corners of his mouth. "I hated my father," he said with hatred, only pressing harder and feeling the indignant and frightened feeling in the man.

"Okay, wait," came a sudden voice from the left side. Voice. Female. Slightly squeaky, but quite pretty. Such voices do not wish you well. They will surely only be able to do harm.

The Joker turned his head and lowered his hands to look in the direction of the voice. A woman was looking at him, hands on her hips. A pretty woman. Brown hair, softly tied up in a bun, and blue eyes. She was really beautiful.

But the Joker had always known that beautiful girls were equal to loss and suffering. So no, especially since she reminded him too much of the woman he hated so vividly and despised so fiercely. His mother.

And even more so, this woman was no more beautiful than his angel. No, his angel was perfect. She was simply incomparable and he must protect his angel. Definitely should.

"Hello, beautiful," the Joker said gently, as some might think, and very mockingly, smoothing his hair with the hand that held the knife. "You must be Harvey's chick," he said gruffly, pointing at the woman with the knife as people backed up around her. But no, although he allowed himself to communicate with other women in this way, he would not allow himself to communicate with his angel in this way.

Joker could see the contempt on the face of the Harvey woman, who was looking at him with defiance and a little fear. Really brave.

Finally, the Joker moved even closer to the woman who came up to his chin. How low. He looked down at her and lifted his hand, smacking his lips lightly. "You're so nervous. Is it because of the scars? Tell me where they're from?" he asked her, asking impossibly stupid questions. She turned away and looked away as the Joker quickly cupped her face in his hands, pointing the knife at her mouth. "Hey," he said, treating her very roughly. "Look at me," he advised, leaning closer to her father and creating a dangerous effect. "I had a wife. Beautiful as my angel, " he saw her surprised and frightened look, felt her gears turning with her brain. "She told me I was too sad..." he put the knife in his mouth."...that I need to smile more often. “She was a gambler, and she owed the sharks a lot. Hey, " seeing her not looking at him, the Joker took offense and only pressed harder on the knife. "They cut her face once," he continued, only squeezing the woman's face harder, which only made her wince. "We had no money for the operation. It was killing her, " he whispered softly. "I just wanted her to smile again. I wanted her to know that I didn't care about the scars. 'So...' He only paused, as if amplifying the effects of the silence. "...I put the blade in my mouth and did it... he explained, tucking a curl behind his ear with his free finger. On the one hand, it might seem that he was just flirting with her, but no. He is faithful, and will always be faithful only to his angel. "...by myself. And you know what? She couldn't see me," the Joker said in mock bitterness, raising his eyebrows and continuing to press with shaking hands. "She's gone. Now I see the irony. I'm always smiling now, " he drawled, when suddenly Rachel felt a kick in the balls.

Oh, he covered it with his hands, but also quickly removed them. The Joker looked at the woman and shook the knife slightly.

"You like to fight. I like it, " he remarked, and was about to move closer to her when a painfully familiar and filtered voice came from behind.

"Then you'll like it."

Batman. The Joker smiled, not even turning to look at him. It's time for a great game.

***

"What have I done," a small boyish voice whispered. The guy opened his eyes in amazement and fell to his knees in surprise, continued to look at his hands full of blood. The red blood that had oozed from his mother earlier.

He looked at his mother's corpse, still not believing what was happening. What's happening?

"You did the right thing," the voice said. Such a familiar voice in my mind. The joker. He mentally patted the main person on the shoulder and roughly kissed his forehead, which was lowered down. "You've done well, but I'll take your place now, my dear boy Tom."

[dreams-of-the-arcana]

Do I have a list of WIPs that need attention? Yes. Did I write self indulgent CleoXMuriel smutty angst ficlet instead? Yes 😓

Pairing: Pre-plague Cleo Rosehyn x Muriel of the Kokhuri

Ft. Count Lucio (as a villain), Nadia Satrinava, Julian Devorak

⚠️ Warnings: 18+, angst, smut, some possessive behavior, public (?) sex, forbidden love, mentions of height (it’s not a big part, he’s just very distinctively massive), set up is set after Count Lucio took Vesuvia ⚠️

Hidden

Inside the extravagant walls of the Vesuvian palace there was always excitement to behold. Ever since the arrival of a hardened mercenary who managed to change the course of fate. When the citizens first spotted the proud face of one Montag Morgasson, few imagined he’d actually enact his plans. Still, he inflamed the people with his beautiful face and persuasive speeches. Before anyone in the upper classes could even consider him a threat, he was already breaking down their gates. Count Lucio sat on the throne exactly as promised.

Unfortunately for the citizens, he wasn’t the leader they expected. With him came decadence for the new upper class which left the common people almost exactly where they had been before.

Rumors swirled of the Count’s misdeeds but it was far too late. Who was there to care about orphans being dragged into the coliseum? Or unusual dealings with the company he brought along? No one who wanted to hold onto their normal lives.

Inside the palace though, people pushed the boundaries of normal to avoid it at all cost. Lavish feasts, deadly fights, and hedonistic parties were either happening or planned to happen soon. Servants flew about in busy panics as they kept up with the demands. But the rich and powerful paid them no mind.

So the sight of the Count in the middle of a garishly decorated courtyard surrounded by sycophants and concubines could almost be called normal. He sat on a throne of gold with luxury at the tips of his fingers at all time. Often someone sat across his lap in full display of everyone and that someone was never his wife. Countess Nadia Satrinava had resolutely refused any such behavior immediately in their marriage. Not that it dissuaded the Count at all. The Countess was still in attendance, as her role demanded, but she slipped through the crowds making quiet connections or spoke with the palace Doctor’s assistant, Julian Devorak, when she needed a break. Only for a moment though because if the Count spotted them he would insist on Julian replacing whoever was on his lap.

The night was late though and the Count had been in his cups for some time. So the guests felt freer to move about their own way without drawing his attention. Nadia and Julian sat in deep contemplation while blocking out the rest of the world for a while. The courtiers roamed the floor to find conflicts, well except for one who was more preoccupied with the food. Lucio whispered into his companions ear to the delight of giggles and blushes. It was only then that two prominent fixtures could slip away unnoticed. Which they eagerly did.

Away from the noise and parade in a deserted hallway, a large shadow of a man pressed a much smaller figure against the stone of the wall. If anyone were to walk by then they wouldn’t be able to identify the smaller person but there was no missing the Scourge. Larger than anyone else in the palace, he stood at 6’10” with solid muscle on his body accompanied by too many scars to count. A heavy collar rested on his neck, golden and decorated for the event. Stories ran wild about the savagery of the Count’s personal executioner. Not a word of it the truth.

As he lifted his partner up to wrap their legs around his waist he touched them reverently. Large hands handling someone he treated as a treasure. Pale freckled legs shone in the moonlight and contrasted with his dark skin. With the harsh clattering sound of hair ornaments being thrown to the ground, bright red curls spilled down their back.

They only wanted each other and not even her belonging to the Count himself could stop them. Cleo Rosehyn, a concubine to the most powerful person in Vesuvia, wrapped herself around her partner and pressed frantic kisses to his lips. They never knew how much time they would have.

“Muriel,” she breathed softly against his lips. He groaned into her and pulled back to rest his forehead on hers. Both panting from the lack of air but desperate to stay close.

“... this is a bad idea,” his low voice rumbled. They both knew how it hurt to remember that.

“You say that every time,” she teased him. “But I’d rather this idea than any that involve you being away from me.”

He couldn’t argue with that when it was exactly what he wanted too.

“He doesn’t suspect...?”

“Not at all, he rarely seeks me out anymore. Which I’m grateful for.”

Muriel only grunted in response. A small fire in his sternum built whenever he thought about the Count’s hands on Cleo. His own hands held her closer and pressed her further into the stone, as if he could just hide her away and erase Lucio’s touch with his own. A soft hand laid on his cheek and pulled him up to meet her eyes. The soft green held a conviction he admired and envied. Muriel leaned in to place a kiss on her button nose in reassurance that he wasn’t giving up. The stolen moments, glances, touches, they all played a part in this dangerous idea of theirs. For a year they ignored all of it and pretended as though nothing more than friendship and camaraderie. But what burned between them became too much to hide.

All they had were these liaisons when no one would miss them but they’d become necessary for them both to stay sane inside the palace. Knowing that if they were found out then it’d mean harsh punishment, potentially death, or worse separation.

Eager to escape the thought of consequences, Muriel pulled Cleo back to him for a deep kiss. For now they could just think of one another. Cleo’s fingers tangled into his thick black hair and she kissed back with as much enthusiasm.

“Please... Muriel... please?” She murmured against his lips. He knew what she wanted.

Using the wall and his body to keep her up his hands moved down to undo the laces of his pants. At least Lucio didn’t demand he wear anything ridiculous at parties beyond the collar. Cleo was usually kept in complicated and intricate clothing but not around her lower half. Lucio believed the blatant show of his many concubines represented power so he made sure everyone knew who they were. While he worked at his laces Cleo took the opportunity to shower his neck and shoulders with kisses and small nips. Most bruising could be explained away on a gladiator but love bites on his neck were just a bit too obvious.

“Cleo,” he groaned at the feeling of her lips. “You’re distracting me.”

His tone didn’t change from the low growl but she knew he was teasing her now.

“Mm, what are you going to do about it?”

A smirk flashed across his face and he pulled her clothing away just enough to slip inside her. The intrusion caused her to gasp and then she laughed with a bright smile. Muriel swore he’d do anything for that smile, once again. It was a true smile that was reserved for him when they were alone.

“I’ll have to distract you.”

She nuzzled close to him for a slow languid kiss. Once she was adjusted comfortably she rolled her hips into him and drew a groan. Now he could feel the grin in her kisses. Without waiting any longer he began thrusting into her. With that, not even the Count himself walking by could drag their attention from each other. Muriel watched her eyes flutter and savored every quiet moan. Cleo tried to keep her eyes on his, she knew he loved that and placed a hand on his chest to feel the satisfied rumbling. They moved together slowly as if they had all the time in the world. In this private world, they did.

Muriel dropped his head onto her shoulder when he started to feel the telltale clenching of her. She was close and he picked up his speed. He needed to feel her, to hear her, to know she was satisfied... to know she was his.

“Muriel... mon amour... mo ghràdh,” she called directly into his ear. He drove into her harder, the urge to release himself growing.

“Say it.” His breath was coming in pants and he spoke through gritted teeth.

Cleo leaned even closer.

“Yours, my love. All yours. I love you. I love you. Tha gaol agam ort!”

She cried out as she clamped around him. Without too much thought he only went harder to prolong her orgasm before following himself. A hard growl against her skin as he held her as tight as he dared. Both of them basking in each other for the blissful moment.

“Би чамд хайртай.”

He whispered, one of the few phrases he remembered from his childhood.

After they finally separated and righted their clothing, Cleo took Muriel’s hand in hers to place a small kiss on the inside of his wrist. It was their unspoken promise. That maybe someday they could leave it all behind. No longer a forbidden love between a concubine and executioner but just love between two people.

——-

mon amour... mo ghràdh - My love (both)

Tha gaol agam ort! - I love you

Би чамд хайртай - I love you

[dramatical-gatsbytalia]

A Messy Love Through the Ages - A SidLink AOC fic (Chapter One)

Well. Turns out you have to be invited to AO3. So I guess this is going up on Tumblr until I get my invitation. What a way to come out of fanfiction writer retirement. 

Bit of warning; I have yet to play Age of Calamity yet. I traded in two of my unwanted games and had just enough to get a copy of the game, but it sits on my shelf waiting. Calling to me.

However, this RP was done with someone who has played Age of Calamity in all of its entirety; @wilclhero and I have our second RP that I’ve decided to flesh out because there are few AOC SidLink fics out there. So thank you @wilclhero for your permission and so many great ideas when developing this with me. :)

And I also sat through the 2-ish hours of cutscenes strung together on YouTube to make a film. So like…it’s fanfiction. No one is expecting 100% accuracy. And since this game throws out any time things that make sense in regards to the timeline in Breath of the Wild, I can do it too. Because Jeremy Bearimy said I could.

Chapter 1

It had been a long and treacherous battle. Mipha had been holding off Ganon’s Water Blight for as long as she could, but she had exhausted most of her powers. And as the monstrous beast loomed overhead she had thought for a moment this was the end.

But she would live to see another day. For out of nowhere a trident shot catapulted through the air, destroying what she had been expecting as the final blow that would end her life. And as she looked up at the Zora in front of her she gasped. His deep red scales that matched her own, that charisma in his grin, only a twinkle in his youth, fully realized from the shy boy she had known in this timeline. That voice calling out towards the scourge. “I will not let you take her again!”

“Sidon?”

And just in time too. Joining her side was the courageous hero, Champion Link of the Hylians. And just like that, the tides turned, and Ganon’s Blight was defeated. From the jaws of defeat, they emerged victorious.

But Link’s footsteps were heavy as he, Mipha, and Prince Sidon emerged from Vah Ruta. His mind was still spinning, utterly exhausted from the hours of nonstop battle leading up to this moment. Things had moved so quickly he barely had time to reflect; the Calamity was here, King Rhoam of Hyrule was dead, and he had only barely managed to drag his screaming daughter, Princess Zelda, from Calamity Ganon’s clutches.

It had been King Rhoam’s command. But he didn’t feel any less a coward as he pulled her away to safety instead of aiding him. Sure, he was Zelda’s personal knight, but this was the ruler of his Kingdom. What hero was he to leave the king for dead? And after all of their preparations, things seemed so hopeless. All of the other Champions were still trapped inside their assigned Divine Beasts.

All of their hard work, those sleepless nights, hours training and hardening themselves for battle…all for nothing. In that moment, even the Hero felt doubtful.

Hyrule was going to fall. And it would be all his fault.

His gaze ended up locked on the tall figure in front of him. This wasn’t the little prince he knew. The Sidon he, only knee-high to a grasshopper, was always so shy and so quiet. Where had this prince come from?

And why had he saved them—saved Link? No one had ever saved the Hero before. He was always the one doing the rescuing. He was supposed to risk his life for royalty, not the other way around.

What was this feeling?

As he trailed behind the siblings he slouched. He couldn’t remember a moment in his life he had felt so tired and hopeless. But there was still so much to do. Three more Divine Beasts. The Yiga Clan. Ganon.

“I…I can’t keep going…” he whispered, though apparently loud enough, as the siblings stopped in their tracks to face him. He was going to die, he knew it. He couldn’t protect everyone, and Ganon was going to win because of it.

Mipha approached Link, searching for the calming words that could pull Link from the depths of his hopelessness. Something to give him home. But she was still searching, mind still reeling from the recent events, pulling herself from despair and her resignation that she was going to die.

It was Sidon who spoke first and broke the silence. Sidon approached them both, crouched down to their level—when had the two of them gotten so small? He towered over the two of them. He took Link’s hands in his, a sun-kissed tan swallowed in a sea of red scales. Had things always been this small?

Sidon didn’t know the reason for what he said next. He remembered looking up to Link, literally and figuratively, but it hadn’t ever gone past gazing up to his elders and seeing greatness. And perhaps the tiniest boyhood crush. But he wouldn’t let the other know that. In that moment there was something else…he couldn’t put his fin on it.

He squeezed Link’s hands ever so slightly, the other looking him straight on before he spoke. “You can do it. I believe in you.”

Mipha nodded in encouragement. “That’s right. You can do it. I know it seems like all hope is lost, but we must believe. We survived this. Who isn’t to say we’ll survive even more?”

Link looked wide-eyed to Sidon and Mipha. He was already so spent; what if the other Champions were already dead? But…but he knew that he had to try. He had people believing in him.

With a nod, they set off. One down. Three more to go.

---

It was hours before they were able to meet up again. But by the Goddess, that small amount of hope had been enough to get them all through. Everyone had now regrouped, and now with three additional party members from the future by their sides, they were triumphant in each and every battle against Ganon’s Blights.

But their most recent battle against the Thunder Blight had done a number on Link. It had been so fast, and seemed to land several blows on him despite the blond constantly adjusting his strategy to keep up with the blasted thing. And now, run ragged from exerting his energy in multiple battles, he needed Mipha’s help badly to recover.

Even with her healing powers being pushed to the limit that day, the Princess of the Zora still had room for her favourite Hylian. His skin practically sewed itself up again with her help, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious despite Mipha having done this countless times before. He had always hated being the centre of attention, that feeling of constantly being watched.

What didn’t help was that it was the eyes of not one, not two, but three members of royalty keeping a close watch on his healing process. With his role keeping watch over Zelda and Mipha doing the healing, he hadn’t thought that her brother would be getting a front row seat to his broken and bruised body stitching itself back together again. For some reason, his gaze felt the most intimidating.

When their eyes met he looked away. The prince had saved him, and it was impossible to wipe that from his mind. If it hadn’t been for that first battle, for the prince quite literally dropping in from nowhere, and his words of encouragement, he would not have made it through the day.

Link was just a lowly knight. Why did they all care so much? Especially Sidon.

As the last of his wounds were treated he ended up looking over again, their eyes meeting once more. Once again, he quickly looked away, willing away the redness that threatened to spread across his cheeks. Goddess, what was wrong with him?

Sidon couldn’t see it, but he could feel something there as well. He had always been enamoured by the other as a child. He was tall (or at least back then he was), brave and…handsome? Yes, that was it. He couldn’t place that feeling in his youth, and had been unable to pursue any feelings he had as a hatchling. After this was all over perhaps he could--

“There,” Mipha said as she was all finished. Link went to get his tunic, letting it fall back over his torso before going to pick up his sword. Even in the safety of their small, fortified camp, he could never let his guard down.

And it was then it hit Sidon. Yes, of course. Mipha was alive. His sister was alive! Those feelings he had had needed to be pushed aside; she had never been able to pursue her own happy ending in his timeline.  It seemed a shame, but it felt like the right thing to do. He wouldn’t get in the way of his sister’s affections for Link. He would see to it that she had her chance.

“Are you alright? Feeling better?”

Link nodded despite feeling like shit. While fantastic at fixing wounds, her healing powers could do nothing when it came to the exhaustion washing over him like a tidal wave. He tried to hide it, but it was obvious in the way he wobbled. Sidon, not wanting to interrupt but noticing the uneven sway in his step, put his hand to his back to even out his footing.

When Link looked to him in thanks he knew in that moment suppressing any burgeoning feelings was going to be a difficult task indeed. His balance restored, Sidon removed his hand, offering a charismatic smile to those in the tent with him. “You’ve all done well today, I knew we could do it!”

Ah, but it seemed perhaps he was just a bit too energetic for the mood in the room. It was late. Any leftover troops were gathered outside making quick meals to regain their strength. Perhaps it was time to eat and sleep. No doubt it would be a busy day tomorrow.

“It’s imperative we all rest. I’ll take my leave, I hope you all get an opportunity to get a good night’s rest.”

Mipha nodded and stood up. “Yes, I think that’s the best option.” Zelda only nodded in agreement, the weight of the day now resting heavily on her shoulders and rendering her silent.

But Link shook his head in protest. Not so much because he didn’t want to sleep; his body begged him for rest. But he had a job to do. How could he sleep with all that had happened today, with all that could still happen that evening? What happened if he wasn’t there, alert and ready to defend what was left of their small army.

Sidon seemed a bit shocked by Link’s answer, so he shook his head resolutely once again.

“…right…then I wish you all a lovely evening and a safe watch over us all tonight.”

With that, Mipha and Sidon exited the Zelda’s tent, Link following shortly after to keep guard outside. It wasn’t until they walked closer towards their own tents that Sidon really let his opinions be known.

“Does Champion Link really need permission to sleep at a time like this? Dear sister, this is ludicrous! We can’t just let that poor man stay up, it’s clear as day how exhausted he is!”

Mipha let out a small laugh, though it was mainly at her brother’s reaction rather than Link remaining awake. “I’m serious!” he continued. Didn’t you see the way he shook when he stood up and walked? Surely we won’t be able to put a dent in the Calamity if he’s in a similar state!”

She shook her head. “I was laughing at the way you’re so adamantly coming to his defense. It’s good to see that you’re still the hatchling I remember. Always kicking a fuss when he couldn’t get his way.” She meant no offense to her brother, and was quick to put his shock at her words to rest. “But you’ve grown…and it’s nice that your stubbornness for someone else’s sake rather than your own.”

She gave a heavy sigh though as she changed the topic. “I wish it were so easy to tell him to get some rest, believe me, I’ve tried. But it’s complicated. He takes his job as Zelda’s personal knight almost too seriously…”

Sidon huffed in response, crossing his arms, and then quickly uncrossing them as he saw his sister already laughing once more. Though as he passed a small faction of Hylian guards left over from King Rhoam’s army the wheels in his head began to turn. As he turned from his sister she looked on as he approached them, all smiles as he propositioned them for the chance that, as he would phrase it, could make or break their career as a knight and a hero.

“Gentlemen! I hope you are in high spirits after today’s grueling yet victorious fight! Say, are any of you lot on night watch? I was hoping we might have a moment to talk.”

---

As Link stood outside the tent, soon taking a sitting position as his legs were too tired to continue standing, he was quickly met with a problem. While there was nothing going on around him that put them all in any heightened state of alertness, that meant his mind had nothing to occupy itself. And with nothing to stimulate his mind, he quickly found himself succumbing to sleep.

He tightened his grip on his sword to try and force himself to stay awake, but as he rolled his head to stretch his shoulders he felt his eyes becoming heavy. And then shaking his head awake only worked in the beginning. Frustrated, he finally rested his chin against his chest. Perhaps if he let himself relax, just a small bit, it would be enough to keep him going.

It wasn’t long until he dozed off, lucky that his sword didn’t go clattering onto the ground.

Nearby, Sidon was leading the guard brave enough to volunteer his services towards Princess Zelda’s tent. “I don’t know if this will work, your highness. Master Link is very particular and doesn’t appreciate others meddling in how he keeps watch over the princess.”

Sidon waved that concern away. “Oh no, no, no, don’t think of it as meddling! Think of it as…” he paused for a moment, he needed to really sell this, “training! Yes, her personal knight is the Hero of Hyrule after all, perhaps you could learn some useful tips from him! Consider this akin to an apprenticeship!”

As they got closer he raised his hand to wave to Link, fully committed to convincing the other that he ought to really show this eager guard the ropes of what it took to be a true hero. Though upon closer inspection, and thankfully before his boisterous voice said anything to disturb him, he noticed Link had fallen asleep. Aha. He knew the other had been tired.

“Hmm…” he said, pausing for one moment to think. It occurred to him moments later what he could do. "Wait right here," Sidon said, and quickly retreated to his tent, where he took one of the blankets that had been given to him to use off the mattress. It wasn’t in the best shape and was far too small for himself, but was the perfect size to cover Link’s small frame and provide him some form of warmth while he got some much-needed rest.

He made haste in going back towards Zelda's tent where the Hero sat sleeping and the other guard stood waiting nervously. When he returned he carefully draped it over Link’s body, careful as he got closer so he didn’t wake him.

Much better. He stood up and pat the other guard on the back. “You can put your best foot forward to stay on guard. Wake him in case anything happens, but I have the utmost faith you will rise to the occasion.”

Giving the guard a thumbs up and whispering his thanks, Sidon moved to return to his own tent.

TBC

Do I know the order of events in the game? No. Do I care? Maybe a little. But this game doesn’t care about continuity, so why should I?

This is my first time writing fanfiction in…uh…ten years? Okay well not my first time in ten years. My first time in ten years was a few weeks ago for the SidLink gift exchange. That said, it’s my first multi-chapter fic in ten years.

I’ll do my best to keep updates…somewhat regular. If I can crank out 2-3 chapters a month that would be awesome. But I’m busy as hell 80% of the time. And the 15% I’m not busy I tend to spend on a nap. Constitution Day is coming up though so I’ll have some free time at the end of April and beginning of May.

Fingers crossed. I desperately want to get into writing again. That gift exchange fic was a good kick in the pants and I hope it lasts.

Thanks. And see you.

[kiarcheo]

Pirate AU

Almost 3000 words of a half-developed AU idea vaguely inspired by Pirates of Caribbean.

You know when you have some scenes clear in your mind and then the inspiration/motivation to write the overall connecting story fizzles out? Yeah. That is what happened with this one. But I didn't want to leave it languishing forever in my drafts folder so you can also read it in the miscellaneous collection of random stuff that I have on Ao3  (if lately you had the same problem with links on Tumblr as me, try removing the https://href.li/? part from the URL)

                                              _______________

Catalina is the de facto governor of a small island. In theory her husband, Henry, is the governor, but he’s never there, preferring the mainland and doing his own things. Leaving Catalina in charge gets her out of his way while keeping up the façade of him being a respectable married man (if you ignore all the mistresses he has, but that’s another matter).

Catalina doesn’t particularly mind. She has no lost feelings for him and plenty of stuff to keep her busy. Governor’s businesses. Raising her goddaughter. Pirates infesting the surrounding waters.

Catherine ‘Cathy’ Parr is Catalina’s goddaughter. After her mother died, Catalina took her in and she has been with her since she was a child. When Catalina is sent to her ‘glorified’ exile on the island, she goes with her.

During the trip, Cathy sees something, or better someone, in the sea and convinces the crew to rescue them. It’s a young girl, some years younger than Cathy, Catalina reckons. She is a weak, thin, frail slip of a girl. Whether from the physical trauma (she has a deep gash on her head, blood caking her hairline) or from the psychological one of barely surviving a shipwreck, the girl can’t remember how long she has been lost at sea or pretty much anything else, except that her name is Katherine.

Catalina takes her under her wing too, albeit not officially. Not like she can adopt her without her husband’s agreement. And he was already not happy about her taking in Cathy. But what she can do is keep an eye on her and make sure she does not lack for anything.

Whether because of the long trip to their new home, being the only children on board, or just them clicking with each other, Cathy and Katherine, who most call Kat, quickly become inseparable. And as they grow up, things don’t change, making Catalina’s promise to herself to keep an eye on Kat quite easy.

Kat apprentices as a carpenter. Any problem at the residence, Kat is called, and she always brings with her small trinkets she made herself to gift them to Cathy. Kat’s services are not necessarily cost-time effective. Mostly not time-effective, since she always ends up spending way more time than needed there. And Catalina insists on paying for the time rather than for the work, another manner of taking care of Kat in her own way. Also, along with books, Kat’s presence seems to be the only thing that makes Cathy happy and Catalina won’t deny her that. Life on the island is not exactly the pinnacle of excitement or social engagement or entertainment. Not that Cathy complains. If asked, she would say that she has all she needs.

Of course, Henry has to ruin everything. A letter arrives announcing that he has arranged Cathy’s marriage with one Thomas Seymour. The captain bringing the letter is in charge of taking Cathy back to the mainland.

There is nothing anyone can do. Not Catalina – if she wants to avoid diplomatic incident...and raising her husband’s ire – not Cathy, and certainly not Kat. They have to say their goodbyes. Cathy makes Catalina and Katherine promise that they will take care of each other. Then Catalina leaves them so they can have some few last precious moments alone.

Fast forwards to days later, the ship that is taking Cathy to her doom, I mean, wedding, is attacked by pirates. Everyone is killed except Cathy, who is taken hostage.

Realising the ship that attacked them is the Greensleeves, Cathy thinks it’s on purpose. The captain has a beef with her godmother. But then she realises it’s just that a young woman, the only woman on board of a government’s ship, would make a good hostage regardless because it’s clearly someone important and probably worth quite a bit if a ransom is demanded.

‘And who do we have here?’ A woman circles around her.

‘You might want to read this, captain.’ Another, taller, woman hands her a letter.

While she reads it, Cathy has time to look at her. Had to admit, not how she imagined the famed pirate Anne Boleyn, scourge of the seven seas, and pain in Catalina’s backside as well as pretty much any navy.

‘Catherine Parr, uh?’ The pirate looks her up and down. ‘Let’s see how much old Lina is willing to pay for you.’

Cathy scowls at her.

‘Or would you prefer your future husband?’

‘No!’ She can’t stop herself.

‘Thought so.’ Anne nods to herself. ‘Not that I blame you. Seymour is a scumbag.’

‘Ehi!’

‘Not you, Jane. Not most of the time, at least.’ She sends a grin towards a woman standing one step behind her.

When everything is said and done, Cathy considers herself lucky. She might go back home. Delaying her marriage, at least. See Kat and Catalina again. Despite them being pirates, she feels more comfortable on their ship than the one sent by Henry, surrounded by guards.

All is nice and well, until a wave has the ship rolling quite violently. Cathy loses her balance and stumbles forward, a golden A on a necklace slipping out from under her dress and now dangling. Before she knows it, Boleyn has the pendant tight in her grip, pulling Cathy along towards her, almost choking her.

‘Where did you get this?’ she demands with a growl.

Cathy stands corrected. She can now see why Anne inspires such a terror.

‘Take it off.’

‘No!’ Not the smartest thing, but Cathy is not going to give it up without a fight.

‘You either take it off yourself or I do it for you, and I’ll take your head off with it too.’

‘Anne.’ The woman who had been called Jane tries to put a hand on her shoulder, but it’s shrugged off.

Cathy feels someone grabbing her from behind. She tries to wriggle away, but she can’t, the hold too strong. Then she feels a hand on the back of her neck, and suddenly the comforting, familiar, weight of the pendant is gone.

Anne lunges to catch the necklace before it hits the deck. Cathy instinctively takes a step back. Well, she tries, only manages to stumble back into the pirate behind her, still holding her.

‘I’m going to ask you again.’ Anne seems to struggle to pull her eyes off the necklace clutched in her hand. ‘Where did you get it?’

‘You better answer her.’ The voice behind her sounds honest, no malice or threat. Almost sound worried about what Anne would do if denied.

‘She gave it to me!’ Cathy blurts out before biting her lip. She might be terrified, but she doesn’t want to say more. Like how Kat had given it to her, asking her to put it on and never take it off to remind her by. How Cathy had argued that she wouldn’t need a physical object, she would be thinking about her every day of her life until she dies regardless. How Cathy had tried to give it back, saying that she didn’t want to take away the most precious thing she had. And how Kat had replied that it was the second most precious…and both of them would leave that day. She would be missing the necklace just like she would miss her heart, that Cathy was taking with her on the ship.

‘Take me to her.’

‘No.’ Cathy doesn’t know where she is getting the courage to stand up to the pirate captain.

‘Take me to her and I promise I’ll let you go. I won’t even ask a ransom. I swear.’

‘As if I’d trust a pirate’s word.’ Cathy spits out.

‘Fine.’ Anne growls with a scowl. ‘Then I will just go back there myself.’

‘But don’t you want to see her again?’ The person behind Cathy speaks up again, acting as the voice of reason of the situation. ‘She’ll find her anyway. She won’t rest until she does. Or she’ll die trying.’

Cathy tenses up. Just the thought of the pirates around Kat makes her terrified and furious at the same time.

‘Anna, get her out of my sight.’

‘She won’t hurt her. If that’s what you’re worried about.’ Said pirate makes one last attempt.

Cathy relents. Not that she has much choice. Or well, she does. But when the options are 1) going back with them 2) she is killed and they go back without her 3) she is delivered to Seymour and they go back without her...is that really a choice?

So they sail back to the island, but then it’s just a small boat rowed to the shore by Jane and Anna, with only Cathy and Anne, as passengers on board.

‘If this is a trap…’ Anne trails off, the threat clear even if not spelled out, as she looks around the workshop.

‘How would she even-’Anna tries to reason with her captain, as usual.

‘Let her go and I’ll consider not blowing your head up.’

Not the first words Cathy expected to hear from Kat if she ever saw her again, to be honest. The pirates seem taken by surprise too. Jane is only loosely holding her arm, and nobody has their weapons out.

‘Do it.’ Anne orders.

As soon as she is released, Cathy hurries to Kat’s side and Kat immediately wraps an arm around her, holding her close. She leans her head against hers, trying to get as much physical contact as possible, but she keeps her eyes and her pistol trained on the pirates.

‘Did they hurt you?’

Cathy shakes her head. She just had some bruises around her neck from Anne’s grabbing the necklace and pulling her along with it, but they faded away and there is no trace of them now. And they actually treated her quite well. She might have even enjoyed the trip if she had not been terrified and worried.

‘What do you want from her?’ Kat speaks again.

‘She had something that didn’t belong to her.’ Anne opens her hand, the necklace falling and dangling down.

‘Give it back!’ Kat growls, lunging.

Anne takes a step back, before calmly wrapping the chain of the necklace around her wrist and tucking the pendant into her sleeve. ‘And why should I?’ She asks, impish smirk making it clear she doesn’t feel threatened.

‘Because it’s mine, and I gave it to her!’

‘Yours?’ Anne’s attitude immediately changes. But before she can say anything- ‘What’s going on?’

This time the pirates aren’t taken by surprise. They all aim their weapons toward the new arrival.

‘Boleyn?’

‘Catalina.’

‘Cathy??’

‘Madrina.’

‘Katherine?’

‘Are you just listing all the presents? Because this is Jane and this is Anna.’ Anne chimes in, drawing back to herself Catalina’s attention…and pistol.

‘Give me one good reason why I should not shoot you on the spot.’

‘Because you’re outnumbered?’

‘She is not.’ Cathy now has a small pistol too, given by Kat, the pirates can only assume, since they are sure she had none before.

‘Parley?’ Anne breaks the silent standoff.

The other two pirates start quickly and softly talking to Anne.

‘What’s that?’ Cathy asks.

‘Pirate code.’

‘Temporary truce.’ Kat answers without hesitation at the same time as Catalina.

Cathy turns to her, surprised. ‘You know pirate code?’

‘I...don’t?’ Kat is clearly second-guessing herself. ‘I don’t think so? I just…knew it? Don't ask me why.’

‘Parley granted?’ Anne’s question reminds them of the situation.

Catalina looks at the pirates. Then at her girls. Then at Anne again. ‘Pull one of your usual dirty tricks and-’

‘Where is the trust?’ Anne brings the hand not holding the weapon to her chest. ‘I’m a pirate of my word.’

‘As if I’d ever trust a pirate’s word.’

The pirate captain looks between Catalina and Cathy. ‘That’s where you learned it?’

‘Guns away at 3?’ Anna tries to get them back on track.

They all nod warily before slowly and reluctantly lowering their weapons.

‘To what we owe the displeasure of your visit?’

‘Hurting my feelings, Lina.’ Anne quips.

‘Don’t call me that.’ Catalina snarls. ‘And answer the question.”

Anne gets serious. ‘This is what brings me here.’ She once again shows the necklace.

‘Why do you have it?’ Catalina looks between it, Anne and Katherine.

‘She took it from me.’ Cathy spits out, still upset about it.

‘You gave it to her?’ Catalina turns surprised towards Katherine. She knows how important it is to her. ‘But that’s the only thing-’ she stops. It suddenly makes sense. Kat giving Cathy the most precious and important thing she owned…the girl would give her goddaughter the world if she could.

‘Where did you get it?’ Anne turns to Kat.

‘I always had it.’ The younger girl answers reluctantly. There is no hurting doing that, right? ‘And I would appreciate having it back.’ She holds her hand out.

‘Spunky.’ Anne nods, appreciative. ‘But not yet.’

Kat huffs. ‘What?’ She grinds out.

‘Do you know what this is?’ Anne fishes out from her shirt another similar necklace, but with a K instead of an A.

The girl shakes her head.

‘I had it made because you loved mine. So I commissioned one for you. But you still insisted on wearing mine so I kept yours.’

‘I don’t understand what you’re saying.’

‘The K is for Kitty.’ Anne carries on.

‘Nobody called me Kitty since-’ Kat stops in her tracks as her brain catches up with what her mouth is saying. She had honestly forgot about anyone ever using that nickname.

‘Since you used to throw tantrums about losing at cards.’

‘Jane always cheats!’ Again, Kat surprises herself as she replies without thinking.

‘I do not!’

Anne, Anna and even Cathy, look at Jane in disbelief. She had seen her playing at the tavern at the only stop they had on shore while on their way back to the island, cleaning out the locals because they needed funds...

‘Okay, maybe I do now, but not at the time!’ Jane amends.

‘I don’t understand.’ Kat repeats, her voice wobbling.

Anne explains how they grew up together, inseparable cousins until the moment their family’s ship they had been on had been attacked. In the chaos they had lost sight of the younger cousin and when they got rescued, all except Kat, they all thought that she had died in the shipwreck.

Anne, consumed by desire of vengeance, had joined a crew hoping to find out which pirate was responsible for the attack. Only to find out that it had not been pirates but government masquerading as pirates, hoping to get their families’ riches in a quicker and easier way. So Anne had decided to harass, rob and destroy government ships as revenge. Jane had joined her soon after, a life on the sea better than the prospect of a lifetime serving men at home. Anne had met Anna in her first crew and when Anne left to form her own, some of them, including Anna, Maggie and Joan, had joined her. They are the only ones, besides Jane, to know why Anne had chosen the pirate life.  

‘And then we met your girl and I saw the necklace and here we are.’ Anne concludes her tale.

‘Met.’ Cathy snorts.

‘Not mine.’ Kat comments dolefully at the same time.

‘Engaged to Seymour, right?’ Anne turns to Catalina. ‘I expected better.’

‘Not my choice. Henry arranged it. Can’t refuse without a diplomatic incident. And enraging him. The Seymour family is a powerful one and I know that he will say he found the best for Cathy, and who knows what he’d do, whom he’d choose, just to spite me, if I were to refuse.’

‘What if you could do better?’

‘What do you mean?’ Catalina looks at the pirate captain, who appears deep in thought.

‘It would be reasonable to break off the engagement if a better opportunity arises, right? Even for… Henry?’ she spats out the name.

‘In theory. But in practice? Hard to find better.’ Catalina sighs. She had thought about it, of course. ‘I mean, better name. I’m sure there are lots of better people than Thomas Seymour.’

‘Definitely.’ Jane confirms.

‘What about marrying into the Howard family?’

‘Howard? Like those Howards?’ Catalina asks in confirmation. They are even more powerful and rich than the Seymour.

‘As a captain I can marry you off tomorrow.’

‘What?’ The girls had been silently resigned. Cathy knew she had no voice or choice in her marriage, and Kat knew she could not stop it. All they could do was enjoying their time together before the inevitable separation.

‘You’re a Howard, Katherine.’ Anne tells her. ‘We,’ she gestures to herself and Jane, ‘might have been disowned by the Boleyn and Seymour families, but not you.’ She adds after a bit. ‘Mostly because we thought you were dead, but you know, not important right now.’

‘Seymour?’

Jane waves at Cathy. ‘Trust me, dodging a bullet with my brother.’

Kat and Cathy get married, and once Catalina’s retire as governor, they take over albeit always unofficially. Central government can’t be bothered with that little island almost lost in the sea as long as it doesn’t cause problems.

Anne and Jane are torn because on one side they want to be with Kat after finding her again, but they also took a liking to life on the sea, so Catalina pardons Anne and her crew in exchange for them working for her, patrolling the waters around the island and keeping the ships carrying and trading goods safe from pirates...and anyone else.

                                                      _____________

Yes, I was going full fantasy with gay marriage being accepted and recognized, pirates getting pardoned, women governing islands and ship captains marrying people (looked it up, they mostly can’t unless already invested/ordained with power to do so).

[smmahamazing]

InuKag Week 2020 - Acceptance

Set in the universe of my modern AU “Cowboy Blues”, but you don’t have tohave read that to know whats going on!

FFN or AO3

Inuyasha slammed the door to his apartment shut. He didn’t quite understand why he was so angry. This wasn’t the first time he had lost a bit of business because of ignorant people with a prejudice against hanyous, although this one was a lot more dramatic than most. The missed business wasn’t even that big of a deal to him - it wasn’t like Inuyasha didn’t do well enough for himself that one customer deciding to take their money elsewhere would break his business. It had happened before, and would happen again; that way just the way the world worked. If anything, Inuyasha grew more angry by not knowing why he was so angry in the first place. 

Although, if he thought about it rationally for just a moment, not being able to see Kagome all week might have had a little to do with it. There had been a huge power outage in the area where she worked - unbeknownst to her or the elderly couple that ran the diner - and a lot of food wound up spoiled. To top it all off, they had several catering events planned for that week, which meant triple the work for his poor girlfriend. Kagome was so tired that she could barely keep herself awake to shower and pop a frozen meal in the microwave before utterly passing out. Inuyasha had offered to come over to cook her dinners and take care of her this week, but she was adamant that she would fine and that he wouldn’t see her for very long anyways since she crashed almost as soon as she got home, and that they could wait until the following weekend when they both had days off to truly spend quality time together. That was basically code for Kagome not wanting to put him out because of a rough work week.

Which Inuyasha thought was bullshit, but he wasn’t about to start an unnecessary fight over it. Sure, they had still taken the time to text every night before bed, but it just wasn’t the same as actually getting to see her, to touch her soft skin, and take in her absolutely ravishing scent.

If Inuyasha was honest with himself, he found himself needing Kagome more and more each day. They had been dating for a few months now, and it scared him a little with how happy he was. Kagome was like a bubble of sunshine; she filled his life with a warmth and happiness that Inuyasha hadn’t seen in a long time. However, bubbles were fragile, and easily popped. Everything was good, for now, but how long will that happiness last? When will she finally see the monster she’s dating, and decide she’s better off without him?

Perhaps the reason Inuyasha was so on edge wasn’t due to the altercation at work today, but his own insecurities. Back in feudal times, hanyous were a scourge of the Earth; hated by demons for bearing the weak blood of humans, and feared for their demonic attributes by humans. There was no place for a hanyou to live in peace. Times changed as the youkai and humans learned to co-mingle - in more ways than one- which resulted in the population of hanyous to slowly rise. Soon enough, hanyous became a tolerated breed as fewer people continued to care about an outdated prejudice. But just because most people stopped caring if Inuyasha was a hanyou didn’t mean they weren’t leery of him. Or that they’d ever want to associate with a hanyou like that. And who was to say that Kagome couldn’t become one of those people? Someone who would just take her leave of him when she came to her senses.

Inuyasha desperately didn’t want Kagome to become another Kikyo. He wanted to spend all his free time with her, cooking and watching their favourite television shows together. Meeting Sango and Miroku for dinner and drinks. He wanted to watch the sun rise and set with her each and every single day.

These were scary thoughts for him, because he was becoming so attached to her in such a short time, and truthfully, Inuyasha didn’t know if she felt the same way. She always seemed to enjoy their time together, even when they’d fight a little.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and took a deep breath in to try and exhale the tension from his shoulders. He was greeted, firstly and foremostly, with the sweet scent that was Kagome. Despite the fact that he spent more time over at her apartment, Kagome had been over enough times for her scent to linger, which was great for when they slept in their own beds. Kagome’s scent was even more prominent today, chiseling away at his sour disposition until his more natural gruff temperament washed over him. Inuyasha shot his eyes open as another scent wafted in from the kitchen; the smell of cooked food.

Inuyasha immediately tensed up at the prospect of an intruder in his apartment. Normally, intruders broke in to rob people of their worldly possessions, not their fridge. The intruder hadn't seemed to notice the front door slam - something Inuyasha found odd. He slowly knelt down to slip his shoes off his feet when he noticed another pair of shoes set off to the side. One look at the primrose coloured flats was all Inuyasha needed to know who his intruder was, although he became more confused than before. The clock on the wall read 2:45, when Kagome should have still been at work.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha called out, wondering what was going on.

"Inuyasha! I'm in the kitchen!"

Inuyasha shuffled into the kitchen towards her voice, the smell of caramelized onions and simmering meat flooding his nose. The sight before him, though, was far more intriguing than the delectable food she was cooking. She was dressed simply in yoga pants, her ebony locks were tied up in a messy bun, although the bright pink chef's coat she sported drew most of his attention.

Kagome had a rainbow of chef coats, one in practically every colour. They were almost exclusively worn at work - Kagome had her own cooking apron at home that her mother had made for her - but Kagome would don the jacket whenever she was making an important dish.

Looking over her shoulder, she gave him a warm smile. "You're home early, was it a slow day?"

Inuyasha was puzzled to see her standing there, but he'd be lying if seeing her didn't immediately lessen the weight in his chest. Damn if he was starting to think that he was falling for this woman. Hard. 

"Naw, just a rough day. Decided to split early before I decided to start knocking heads," Inuyasha grunted, his voice coming out more gravely and low than he expected, and he winced slightly as the smile that had lit Kagome's face fell. She gave her pan a quick stir before walking to the fridge. She pulled out a beer and handed it to him.

"Well, first things first: have a beer. Why don't you go get dressed into something more comfortable and you can tell me all about it afterwards."

He took the beer from her with zeal, giving her a quick kiss before heading off to his bedroom to change. Inuyasha had no plans to talk about his day with her, but he would make himself look more presentable for his girl so she could entertain him with her day. He sauntered back into the kitchen about ten minutes later, donned in a pair of clean sweats with a freshly washed face, feeling immensely better than he had when he got home. Somehow in such a short period of time, whatever Kagome was cooking had managed to smell even better, causing his mouth to water.

"Whatchu makin'?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her waist to embrace her from behind. She hummed a little at his question, resting the back of her head against his chest.

"Nothing special, just a stew. My local market had the meat on sale, so I thought I would treat my wonderful boyfriend to a good home cooked meal."

"Woman, everything you make is special." Inuyasha grinned at the blush he knew covered her face. He placed a kiss on the top of her head before letting her go to have a seat at the bar that separated the living room and kitchen. "So how come you're here and not at work? Did things finally slow down?"

"A little. Things are back to normal anyways. My boss surprised me this morning and gave me the day off!" She turned from the stove to look at Inuyasha, her gaze softening. “I really missed you this week.”

“Me, too,” he agreed, warmth flooding his chest at the soft look she was giving him. She turned away to add the onions to the stock pot before lidding the pot and joining him at the bar.

“This is actually an apology dinner of sorts.”

“Apology for what?” he asked, a small sense of dread poking it’s way through.

“I sort of blew you off this week about coming over to help take care of me when I should have just taken you up on your offer,” she began, her eyes darting around as if she was afraid to look directly at him. “ I just felt like it would be selfish of me to shove all of my own responsibilities on you just because I was busy with work. I didn’t put any consideration into the fact that you actually wanted to come take care of me, and not that I was a burden.

“You were right. This week sucked, and I would have been a much more tolerable person to be around if I had my big, strong hanyou helping me out.” Kagome lifted the corners of her lips in a smirk that was very reminiscent of the silver-haired hanyou sitting beside her.

Inuyasha was floored. He wouldn’t deny that Kagome’s refusal to help her this week had irritated him in more ways than one, but he never would have expected an apology from her. She was a grown woman who was more than capable of taking care of herself, and no matter how much he would rather do that job himself, he would never try and take her independence away from her.

“Kags,” he started, not quite knowing how to respond. One one hand, he didn’t want her apologizing, but he decided that not accepting her apology would be just as bad as her not accepting his help this week. “It’s alright. You’re here now, and that’s all that matters.”

He took her hand, pressing his lips to her knuckles. Kagome smiled at him, thankful that she didn’t have to force her apology on him. She was slowly starting to learn that Inuyasha was the type to brush off any form of apology, no matter how much he deserved it. She had a feeling that Inuyasha ended up giving apologies more than receiving them, which left a doleful emotion in her heart. It was the same impression she got from him when she heard him slam the front door, and now that talking about her day was out of the way, she fully planned on ascertaining what happened to him today.

“Now, let’s talk about your day,” Kagome said, standing up to grab herself a glass of wine before they opened up the proverbial can of worms. She noticed how Inuyasha instantly tensed out of the corner of her eye and made the quick decision to grab him another beer from the fridge. She had a feeling he would need it in the next couple of minutes.

Inuyasha sighed as he watched her grab her drink and a bottle of beer - the latter he assumed for him. He really didn't want to talk about what happened today; the thought of sharing a delicious home-cooked meal and maybe watching a movie sounded far more appealing to him. But if he knew anything about Kagome by now, it was that she was stubborn as hell. No doubt she would poke and prod until he was singing like a canary, so he gave in to her request, downing what was left of his first beer to give him some sea legs to stand on.

"Today, we had a customer come to the shop to get his brake pads looked at. I was in my office at the time when he came in and spoke to Takai at the front desk."

Inuyasha paused, keeping his eyes locked on his beer. She might want to know what happened, but that didn't mean she needed a play-by-play. He just needed to keep it short and simple. "He was just about done talking with Takai when I stepped out of the office, and as soon as he saw me all hell broke loose."

"What did he do?" She asked.

"Had a hissy fit. Spotted my ears and immediately knew what I was. Demanded to speak with the manager, and when I told him I was the owner he got all huffy and walked out. It's not that big of a deal. Takai told me he'd lock up tonight so I could come home early."

Kagome furrowed her brows. "I don't understand. Why did he make such a fuss? Did he know you from somewhere?"

Inuyasha looked up from his drink at her. Did she really not know why that asshole freaked out? He didn't really take Kagome for being a naive girl, but could see her confusion as he stared into her eyes. 

"Kags...he saw that I was a hanyou," he muttered, hoping he wouldn't have to elaborate anymore on the subject. She stared at him for another minute, the wheels slowly turning in her head.

"So," she started, gazing into her drink. "He walked out because he didn't want a hanyou working on his car?"

Inuyasha didn't respond to her. He didn't need to anyways. Everything suddenly clicked into place in Kagome's mind as her confusion turned into anger. She couldn't believe that someone would be so petty as to walk out of an establishment because of something so….archaic. So what if Inuyasha was a hanyou? His heritage had nothing to do with his work. He ran a respectable auto shop with fair prices and good online reviews; what more could you ask for? She was about to let her thoughts on that sorry excuse for a human fly when her mind fully processed a part of his story.

"What do you mean 'it's not a big deal'?" She rounded back at him, fire burning in her eyes.

"I mean, it's not a big deal, Kagome. It ain't like he's the first asshole to tell me how pond scum are better than me, and he sure won't be the last!"

"But that's awful! He doesn't even know you, how could he just - "

"The don't have to know me Kagome, that's the fucking point!" Inuyasha shouted, causing Kagome to flinch at the sudden loudness that permeated the air. He instantly regretted his sudden outburst, feeling himself get sick, his stomach wrapping itself in an endless knot. He didn't want to fight with Kagome - or scare her, if her reaction to his shouting told him anything. All he wanted was to forget about what happened today. "Look, I'm sorry - "

It was Inuyasha's turn to get cut off as Kagome reached out and took his hand, giving it a gentle, but firm squeeze. 

"Don't apologize Yash. We don't have to talk about it anymore," she spoke quietly, her thumb caressing the top of his hand as Inuyasha let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry that this happened to you today. I've never seen youkai or hanyou as different. At least, not in the negative sense. I forget that there are still prejudiced people in the world."

Kagome brought her other hand up to hold onto his own as they sat in companionable silence. Inuyasha wasn’t very good at expressing his feelings, so Kagome focused on his body language. Inuyasha’s eyes were trained on their interlocked hands. He maintained a gentle grip on her hands, every now and then giving them a harder squeeze in an almost reflexive sort of way. Other than the miniscule muscle movements of his hand, Inuyasha was still as a stone.

‘It’s almost as if he’s afraid…’

“Inuyasha,” Kagome said fondly. “You know I accept you as you are, right?”

Inuyasha balked at her, finally taking his gaze off their hands. She gave him a warm smile and one last squeeze before standing to go check on the stew, leaving him with no time to answer her question. She didn’t need them to have a long, drawn out conversation about it - unless he wanted to, of course. As long as Inuyasha took her words to heart, she would be content. There would be time for words later; tonight was for good food and snuggling up on the couch, holding each other until sleep came for them.

Inuyasha watched Kagome putz around the stove, stirring the stew and adding spices here and there. To hear her say those words, I accept you, was almost more than he could bear. And in that moment, Inuyasha decided he could care less about the asshole from earlier, and wasn’t about to let him take up any more of his time or thoughts from his girl.

Kagome accepted him, and that’s all that mattered.

[theshijlegacy]

6.2 thoughts & stuff

J’iro once again got the honor of being my first toon through the latest content.  Spoiler city below the cut!

Okay.  Anyone at Bioware or any Bioware-adjacent companies, if you’re listening or can get this message to them somehow:

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GROGU CAN WE STOP FIGHTING THE SAME TWO GUYS FOR A WHILE?  I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE EMPEROR AND DARTH MALGUS TO LAST ME A LIFETIME.  IT’S BEEN 9 FUCKING YEARS.  CAN WE *PLEASE* MOVE ON?!?!?!????

*ahem*

Now that I got that out of the way...

Yeah, I am totally over Tenebrae/Vitiate/Valkorian popping up in Yet Another Goddamn Form Because He’s The Emperor And Fuck You.  All of the cameos at the end of the final-no-really-we-mean-it-this-time fight (Syo!  Suri!  Master Surro!  etc!) were cool, but I’m so done with this guy I all I could think was “oh hey it’s GamemasterAnthony’s Birthday again.”  And killing every form of the Emperor at once felt a lot like the ending of Season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow, when they had to kill Vandal Savage in three time periods to finally get rid of him.  (...maybe that’s not the best analogy, since he popped up again in a later season.   oh fuck now I’ve done it)

As far as other reappearances go:

Revan. I actually said “this motherfucker AGAIN?” out loud when he showed up.  Not quite as tired of him as I am of the Emperor, but let’s give this dude a rest, PLEASE.

DARTH MARR!  One of the few characters I don’t mind seeing pop up again, because he’s always been way too good for everyone around him.

Meetra Surik!  In non-ghost form!  I am down for this.

Vaylin/Thexan.  Mixed reviews on these two.  First impression, “didn’t we settle their shit in KOTET Ch 9?”  Thought it was really nice that you could finally apologize to Vaylin; doesn’t quite make up for how badly she got treated but it’s something.  Seeing Arcann and Thexan fight together was pretty cool.  And of course I took the [Flirt] option with Vaylin.

Satele.  The only one we knew would come back.  Nothing unexpected, I guess, but THANK YOU for not killing her off.

That final fight, when you get all those temporary abilities for your buddies?  I got click-happy and just hit whichever one was off cooldown.  XD  Way too much happening for me to do much other than “take cover, shoot, shoot, Hightail It to get out of shit, repeat.”  I’ll have to take a closer look at the abilities on a later run.

Disregarding my feelings about That Fucking Guy coming back again, the story was pretty good.  The ship that Satele and her students were on was appropriately creepy, and I do like that the Hand and the Scions - possibly the most fanatical of That Fucking Guy’s followers (aside from those poor Zealots stuck on Nathema) - were the ones to find it.  And then we got to trip balls inside Satele’s head!  Another appropriately creepy locale.  Between the ship and the mindscape I spent damn near the whole run waiting for some creepy shit to jump out.  A+ mood, can’t wait to freak myself out again.

The new flashpoint definitely had me hooked (despite the excessive trash mobs) - it’s really too bad that it’s bugged, I want to see how things go with Marshal Kol!  Cool concept, cool layout, cool new character.  A bit of platforming to get your heart rate up, and later an intentional huge drop to REALLY get your heart rate up, and lol I’m a Gunslinger so I’ll just Hightail It away from the tentacles.

The best part about the new stuff?  The visuals.  The look of everything was fucking top-notch. 

The creepy-ass ship that had a lot of STUFF in it, crates and supplies and a whole crapton of other things you’d expect in a ship that’s on a journey of indeterminate length.  The members and minions of The Hand, lots of distinctive looks in faces and armor yet still unified.  The overall feeling that something here has gone horribly wrong.  

Satele’s mindscape that was its own unique thing, and still had echoes of other places - KOTET Ch 9 of course, but also KOTFE Ch 2, KOTFE Ch 12, and the Raptus & Calphayus fights in Dread Palace.  The stark contrast between the dim rocky landscape and bright memories of Tython.  The creepy mobs.  Lots of places to fall to your death, several times.  Even the little glowing bits (fungi?) felt not quite right.

The ships in the Spirit of Vengeance!  More ships that felt lived-in; lots of supplies and weapons and mobs (even if you have to fight a billion of them.)  Again, a super-cool layout overall.  And I could have spent hours just looking around The Fortune’s Folly!  (To-do for future runs - cheevo hunting!)

Overall, mostly good, and as always I’m eager to see how things turn out with different characters.  J’iro romanced Akaavi, sided with the Republic on Iokath & Ossus, and rejoined the Republic at the end of Onslaught so he’s now Commodore.  It’ll be fun to see how this goes with a Force-user, a Saboteur, an Imperial-aligned toon, a Theron/Lana/Kira/Scourge romancer, etc.

[pooktales]

My Life For My Prince

Tempted by a magical addiction, his overwhelming sorrow, powerful anger, and The Betrayer, Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider has one last chance to redeem himself. Redemption has arrived at the Black Temple in the form of a woman Bloodknight named Saturna Whiteblade. (By pooktales, originally posted on fanfiction.net)

Prologue

Saturna Whiteblade loosened the sword called Ashbringer from across her back and dismounted. The other three Bloodknights watched her with grudging patience. They held their tongues, held everything back while she took consciously graceful strides. This is what their commander did when she had terrible news. Saturna placed both hands on the enormous sword. The delicate seductive walk of a female Blood Elf and the intense mean of a Bloodknight caused her to look like a fairy wielding death. The laughing skull that bore itself into the perfect blade belched putrid green fel magic in silent open jowls. It trailed down the hilt Saturna's sword and up her arms��� but somehow the woman was not affected by the evil. As always, Saturna was more beautiful than even her blades.

"We are going to him." She announced to the men in her party.

Sunthraze the Sly cocked an irritated fiery eyebrow. Even for an elf, his hair was a comical orange, like rancid apple cider. "We have not only heard rumors, but now have seen that Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider is consorting with demons… first from travelers in Hellfire Peninsula, then in Zangarmarsh and it was on every tongue in Shatthrath City—how many duels did we start with Scryers that resulted in our banishment—and now we can see The Black Temple in the distance, the black demons flying about the turrets where we know our monarch is holding up… and we're doing WHAT?"

Saturna stopped pacing. She hefted the corrupted Ashbringer up onto her shoulder. The sharp edge shone melancholy in the sallow light of Shadowmoon Valley.

"That is our mission, to protect him."

Pyorin, who always carried a shield, indicated that he would speak next with a reluctant sigh. He was the loyal one with a heart made of steel as unbreakable as the shield he used. When they first set out from Azeroth, he was using a crest inlaid with a fiery flaming skull. They'd been traveling for some months now. These days, he'd picked up a frightening aegis with three petals—like a club found in a deck of Darkmoon Faire cards—and a sharpened spike that ripped up from the center of the shield where the three pieces joined. Pyorin wouldn't look at their commander but settled his concerned gaze on her Thalassian charger instead. Scourgebane lowered its head as if to graze, then perked up abruptly. Ears turned to one of many noises in the forest that chilled one's bones.

"Our mission seems exceptionally bleak." Pyorin respectfully disagreed. "It is clearly not what we first set out to do… what Lady Liadrin bade us to do when we were called together in Silvermoon City. If the Prince does in fact work for The Betrayer Illidan, then we can't possibly woo him on behalf of our Order. The courtly conversations we prepared to have, the demonstration of Bloodknight strength… are now irrelevant. It is not just about Silvermoon politics now."

"But it is our sworn duty as Bloodknights to safeguard the Prince no matter what—"

"You cannot seduce a man enslaved to demons! It would be madness to try, Saturna, and we've already risked our necks too far, learned too much."

Saturna's pale green eyes flared and she turned on Sunthraze immediately. "How dare you speak to your commander thus—"

"Mistress, please." Fennore was a priest before he became a Bloodknight a few years ago. Though he wore plate and rode a Bloodknight's war mount like the rest of them, he rarely spoke save to counsel someone. He still felt to the others like a priest. "Certainly you aren't naïve. I'm sure Lady Liadrin asked you to take full advantage of all your assets in the Prince's presence." Then, he hesitated awkwardly. "That is to say… you are a very beautiful woman, sexy even…" he stumbled along further, "I mean that you are an exceptional fighter, a clever tactician, the very best of Lady Liadrin's handpicked pupils. Of course you would…" he blushed, then blurt out, "Why would you spare anything to displace the Rangers, or worse the Magisters in the Sunspire? Clearly, Rommath is corrupt and favoring his own. Bloodknights are the true masters of the Light. We should be leading our people. We came all this way to deliver this message to Prince Kael'thas ourselves, since Rommath would never give Lady Liadrin an audience, or hardly the time of day… along with your retributive powers, I'm sure putting those good elven looks to work was also on the Lady's list."

Saturna couldn't face Fennore. He was a strange one… no longer bound by priestly vows of celibacy but refusing to act on any of his urges. It caused him to spurt forth repressed behavior from time to time. His old habit of treating everyone in a paternal fashion persisted, regardless of his new flirtatious tendencies. As a result, he revealed far more about his desires than the others ever wished to know. It was more than disturbing.

Saturna opened her mouth to say something else, but Fennore leaned forward in the saddle and his twisted smile gave the woman pause. "You are very lovely, commander. It can be done to us men very easily," he gestured to Pyorin and Sunthraze, but both made resistant gestures to indicate that they did not think of their commander in the way Fennore suggested. Self-conscious, Fennore glanced back over his shoulder to see Pyorin and Sunthraze looking innocent. The old ex-priest went on. "But even you can't seduce a man to our side, not under such circumstances, and within the Black Temple of all places…" then his perverted smile widened, "unless… you have some demon fetish we don't yet know about." He winked at Saturna.

Why some succubus hadn't stolen Fennore off to her lair months ago back in Hellfire Peninsula baffled the other three Bloodknights. Saturna, Sunthraze and Pyorin shared a cautious look. It was a joke they'd made before when Fennore was sleeping… Sunthraze was right that the only reason the ex-priest was still with them was because Fennore would have to be the one convincing the succubus.

"It is a bad idea to continue." Pyorin smoothly changed the subject. He shrugged his shoulders to balance the weight of his massive shield. "Even if we get past The Betrayer's guards, how do we know that Prince Kael'thas will welcome our services? Perhaps he does not want to be found… he must know that his people are obsessed with his celebrity, as they always have been and are making pilgrimages across Outland just to see his face."

And those naïve Blood Elves were not much different than they. Saturna didn't say as much in response to Pyorin's correct observations, but she didn't need to. The others paused awkwardly afterwards, feeling the devotion to their Prince gnaw on their consciences. Loving Silvermoon City and the homeland was akin to loving the Prince.

Saturna walked over and stroked her horse's muzzle, just under the burnished gold face plate. "He could be in danger with… The Betrayer." The demon lord of Outland was no longer a mystery to them. All four Bloodknights understood his role in the nefarious doings in this strange world. They knew more than Lady Liadrin and perhaps Grand Magister Rommath even.

Offering to protect Prince Kael'thas, wherever he was, was supposed to be their in… then once impressed with the strength of Thalassian paladins, called Bloodknights, they could share Lady Liadrin's political goals with the Prince, ask him for favors. But, if Prince Kael'thas really was in danger, then they had absolutely no choice. Regardless of what Lady Liadrin instructed them to do, protecting the prince would now take priority. The four of Bloodknights looked over the precipice, into the foreboding region called … where the Black Temple resided. How many bloody wars had been fought over that sacred and now profane place? Draenor had been ripped apart because of it, the pathetic remnants only fitting of a name just as vague and pitiful as was the fate of this world: Outland.

Seeing the Blood Elf Scryers and the Draenei Aldor work together with the Naaru while they spent time in Shatthrath city made the universal nature of the Legion's threat clear to the Bloodknights. Outland was a place that the Draenei had fled to join the Alliance on Azeroth. They hoped to fight the Legion with that help. Almost simultaneously on Azeroth, the Alliance betrayed the Blood Elves and they joined the Horde. The Blood Elves now raced across space and time itself to take what the destitute inhabitants of Outland left behind, all to escape the Scourge and the Legion. They did not have time to go back and ask Lady Liadrin what to do now. It was very possible that they might not survive the journey back through Outland. And sending a messenger was out of the question. The information they learned was dangerous and could not be risked leaking to the Horde or the Alliance. And even if one of them went back with the message… the four Blood Elves had been hand-picked for this mission because they had such complimentary skills. It would be foolish or dangerous to break the group. Perhaps in Azeroth one of them could be strong against any test, but Outland was far more dangerous. Even Lady Liadrin could never have imagined… Now the four Bloodknights, a new sect of paladin, knew that their' people's race to leave Eversong Woods and Azeroth behind for Outland was a mad one. And, if their rough journey so far was any indication, the man they were sent to have an audience with-by slyly offering to protect him-must be even worse off… for living so close to the vile source of that madness.

Saturna re-slung her sword and mounted up again. She turned her steed Scourgebane to the east. One could see the black turrets of the temple from where they were atop the cliff. Saturna sat up straight on her mount and Scourgebane nickered to himself. Each netherworldly Thalassian charger had an odd hollow undertone to its neigh. "If we need to gain the Prince's trust, we will simply have to do something clever to earn it." A daring smile stretched across perfect lips, then faded. "From now on, when we speak of the Lord of Outland…" Her rich commanding voice grew soft. "We will call him Lord Illidan. For, to serve our Prince, we must honor his alliance. We will have no choice." She urged Scourgebane forward. "Furthermore… if anyone can truly help Prince Kael'thas, it would be a Master of the Light. He has four saviors now…" her voice trailed off as she descended.

Pyorin, their dutiful tank was exceptionally loyal and fell in behind Saturna immediately. Fennore sighed and guided his charger along as well. Sunthraze delayed the longest. Bright green eyes flashed angry at the putrid chartreuse of the fel sunset.

"Oh lovely Saturna. If I didn't enjoy watching you ride so much…" he forced himself to joke against the sinking feeling in his gut. Sunthraze the Sly clucked his tongue at the Thalassian charger underneath him to follow suit.

That evening at the Black Temple...

Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider floated in and out of the painful but brilliant arcane haze. His strong body now felt heavy and sloven. The magic pushed at his skin from the inside, threatened to erupt out of every pore in his body. He smiled and laughed. Then Lianna bit his neck and he wanted to scream. It would not be an unwelcome sound in the Black Temple...

Read the full story at fanfiction.net

[mobius-prime]

233. Sonic the Hedgehog #165

Look! Look! It's that eye thing again! Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante, stop this madness!

Leak

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

This issue is honestly a fantastic one. There's so many great character interactions that as a writer myself, I live for. We begin by learning that Rouge arrived at Knothole about an hour ago, and in light of her most recent actions in the town, she's been taken into custody, with Knuckles, Julie-Su, and Vector in charge of her interrogation. Vector takes to his role with gusto, clicking on a lightbulb above her head and generally trying to play bad cop, but Rouge seems mostly amused by the proceedings, taking a particular interest in Knuckles and speaking to him directly. She arrived via warp ring, and seeing as that's technology unique to Angel Island (…dunno when that was ever established, but okay), they're very interested to know where she acquired it. When she acts flippant, Vector threatens to just throw her in jail, and when she protests that she's innocent of any wrongdoing Vector reveals that mere minutes after she arrived, the other members of the Chaotix went to Fiona for dirt on her. Fiona was shy and reluctant about sharing any information, obviously embarrassed of her shady past, but with Sonic's encouragement she opened up, explaining just how skilled Rouge is as an operative, as well as how she's not above getting her hands dirty to accomplish her objectives.

Irritated at being called out, Rouge agrees to explain what happened in between her last visit and now. She was uncertain about allying with Finitevus, but stuck with him for the first part of his plan, which involved breaking Eggman's most recent prisoners out of the Egg Grapes. Many of them were already dead, but Finitevus managed to save the Destructix, and took them to the same base where Shadow met Isaac. This is where we learn that Isaac was heavily malfunctioning all along, as the ancient, pre-Xorda Robotnik in cryostasis has apparently been dead for a long time, though Isaac still thinks he's alive and giving him orders. Finitevus planned to use the large store of nuclear missiles in the base for some unknown purpose, and when Rouge found out, her moral side kicked in and she destroyed them, which naturally pissed Finitevus off. She stole a warp ring to escape, and now here she is, looking for protection from Knothole - though she adds that she was likely followed. Sure enough, while Sonic and Fiona are walking out of their own interrogation room, they spot Tails looking incredibly nervous next to a tree. When they approach, Sleuth Dawg steps out from behind the tree, holding a gun to Tails' head.

Of course he's back! Scourge and Sonic immediately take off running, leaving Fiona behind to try to talk down Sleuth, who says he's here for the "traitor." Fiona calls him a hypocrite given his betrayal of the Freedom Fighters in the past, but Sleuth slyly insinuates that it's ironic for Fiona herself to be calling anyone else a traitor. Well that's suspicious… While they fight, Sonic asks Scourge why he's here, and of course first on his list of reasons is revenge. However, apparently that's not all.

Things are getting a little spicy, aren't they? They end up back near the others, and Fiona tells them to stop fighting as she's negotiated a deal - the crooks will give Tails back and leave if Rouge returns the stolen warp ring. Sonic immediately zips away and comes back with it, and satisfied, Sleuth and Scourge leave, with the latter giving Fiona a wink as he disappears through the ring.

You know what, Sonic? I don't think it is. Something is definitely fishy here. With the crisis averted, Rouge is free to go, but Julie-Su has one last word for her. I'm gonna let these last two pages speak for themselves, because this is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned great character interaction.

Damn, even Kenders wasn't edgy enough for the almost-swear. I love this, though. Granted, I'm not actually much of a fan of the interpretation that Rouge is into Knuckles, but I can see her as the type to want to steal something - or in this case, someone - just to prove she can. Certainly, this version of Rouge is a little more ruthless and less morally-centered compared to her counterpart in the games, particularly with how she's characterized in Heroes and beyond. As for Julie-Su, her explanation of her relationship with Knuckles right here is why I think the Soultouch was never a necessary thing to begin with. It's such a weird thing to include - I mean, most of the time in fiction when there's some kind of deus ex machina plot device that mandates that two characters fall in love with each other, the characters really don't feel like they have any real chemistry to begin with, hence the necessity of such a plot device. It's a forced love story, if you will. But Knuckles and Julie-Su? They already had that chemistry, from the beginning. They're alike in many ways, including their rough upbringings and their hot tempers, and those things they have in common often bring them together, as they understand each other more than others can. There was simply no need for a magical soulmate-bond-thingy to explain their falling for each other - Julie-Su's little speech up there is proof enough of that.

Call of Duty

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

Speaking of Knuckles and Echidna Matters, later that day Rotor calls Knuckles to his lab, baffled at getting a call from Locke despite the call not having any signal he can recognize. Knuckles is unfazed, knowing that his father is using the mystical energies of the Master Emerald to contact him, and steps up. Locke doesn't waste time, ordering him to come back to the island immediately. Knuckles refuses, continuing to insist as before that the only way to properly protect Angel Island is to defeat Eggman first, but Locke informs him that things haven't been going very smoothly on the island since Echidnaopolis was retaken.

Well, that's interesting. Another new villain, perhaps? Knuckles is surprised that his father hasn't figured out who the new guy is yet, but Locke says he's been too busy looking for the missing members of the Brotherhood. Knuckles asks if he's bothering to look for Charmy's family as hard as he is his own, but Locke evades the question, instead insisting that he needs Knuckles to come back to help him look. Knuckles, quite angry by now, repeats that he won't, and when Locke tries to go all "What did you just say to me, young man?" on him, Knuckles calls back to the very training Locke gave him as a child that taught him to always go for the source of a problem, and again reiterates that he plans to stay in Knothole to help fight Eggman.

SMASH! Knuckles punches the screen, instantly shattering it and ending the connection, and stands there panting furiously, unable to believe that his father would even think of threatening to let his family be hurt. He collects himself after a moment and curtly apologizes for breaking Rotor's equipment and begins to leave, though everyone is mostly just concerned for his wellbeing. Tails tries to follow him, and tells him that he thinks he's doing the right thing, that he's essentially graduated from protecting one island to protecting the whole planet. Knuckles is still upset though, and leaves to go talk to Julie-Su to clear his head, though he quietly promises to himself that he will return someday, when all this is over.

Now, I absolutely love this. Because under Ian's writership, Locke is no longer treated as this wholly sympathetic, infallible being. Locke and Knuckles got along while Knuckles was still content to merely go along with his father's various plans, but now that he's starting to assert himself and go in a different direction than Locke intends, their relationship is starting to show its cracks. As we've seen before, Locke is someone who really doesn't hesitate to go all in on his plans, even if doing so will end up hurting someone. He created his own son to be a superpowered mutant, just because of a premonition he had. I mentioned before how Locke would have been so much more interesting as the well-intentioned extremist type of antagonist, rather than as the bland "father knows best" character he was under Penders, and I think Ian has finally started to steer the character in that direction. Unfortunately by now it's a little too late to make him truly interesting and complex, but Ian still does an admirable job with what he's been handed to work with.

[theonyxpath]

Our Legendlore KS only has days left to run, and actually ends on Thursday this week, so as my final push for folks to check it out, I’m not going to try and convince you like last week. I’m going to let two excellent writers do that!

Here’s a great description of Legendlore, written, as only he can, by our own Matthew Dawkins:

But why should you back it? Well, in this time where some gamers are clinging on to the notion that “all orcs are evil from birth”, “disability has no place in fantasy adventures” and “there’s no such thing as a good drow” (they haven’t heard of Drizzt), Legendlore says the opposite.

Legendlore is a fantasy setting where diversity is a strength, we don’t shy away from complex societies and cultures, and where you can damn well buy yourself a wheelchair especially designed for dungeon crawling, or sit on a bloody floating disc! This is a game that embraces the fact that it’s magical, it’s wondrous, and yes, there’s evil out there in need of vanquishing, but there’s also a brilliant world to discover and enlightenment and wisdom to be found.

I’m in love with the art, the writing, and skilful design of this game, which uses the 5th Edition system to amazing effect. I’m impressed by the effort and energy Steffie De Vaan and her entire team of writers have poured into it. It’s a game I want to play, and if you feel orcs are better only as black and white villains, I invite you to read the manuscript – which is available as a free download from DriveThruRPG.com – and feel as impressed as I do.

And here’s developer Steffie De Vann’s excellent take on why she loves the game:

Legendlore offers a rich and layered world. No one is born good or evil, nor does it have ‘evil races.’ People come in all colors, genders, orientations, and alignments. You can be a black trans feminine elf & be right at home in the Realm. Our iconics put our ‘money where our mouth is’ – our elf is a trans black woman, our pixie a non-binary person, our dwarf is a combat veteran in a wheelchair, and I could go on. This is a game that believes diversity is strength. It’s an isekai/portal game, and we created Backgrounds ranging from ‘Activist’ and ‘RPG Aficionado’ to ‘Working Poor.’

The world of Legendlore is home to a sentient 1974’s Ford Mustang, parasite mushrooms that try to kill you by YELLING VERY LOUDLY (trust me, it’s effective), sacred Chipmunks, and the descendants of Amelia Earhart running an aviation nation. It pairs this whimsy with a genuinely complex world. For example, the orcs used to live in what’s now the nation of Drohm. Orcs ambassadors are petitioning the other nations to recognize their sovereignty, but doing so would give Drohm the excuse it needs to go to war – and make no mistake, Darkoth the Darklord *wants* to go to war. Are the orcs right? YES. Should the other nations help them out? HECK YES. Is it understandable that the nations are dragging their feet because war is good for no one except the Generals? Also yes. If that sounds like a conundrum you want to tackle, and sway the fate of Azoth, this is a game for you.

If that sound good to you, go check us out on KS. And if you’re still on the fence – there’s a link in there to a free preview manuscript.

In fact, Steffie has been posting examples of the Legendlore characters she mentions above:

This is Aaliyah, our elven iconic. She’s a Black trans woman who uses a mix of ASL and forestspeak signs to communicate. She’s a peaceful ambassador foremost, but doesn’t back down from a fight when it comes to that.

This is Najda, our dwarven iconic. She is a Muslim army vet who was wounded during her tour in Afghanistan. She now works in a Los Angeles comic book store, where she discovered a crossing into the world of Legendlore.

Here’s Jada, our pixie iconic. Pixies are born agender, and choose a gender as they grow up. Feminine pixies have 2 antenna, masculine pixies have 0, and non-binary pixies have 1. Pixies are as fierce as they are small, they love laughing and hate bullies.

There you go, and here’s the link to the Legendlore Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0

Let the Streets Run Red art by Oliver Specht

Besides Legendlore, What Else?

Just a warning, and it may just be a short-term issue, but right now it seems that we can’t ship anything to Canada or Mexico. We haven’t yet heard whether we can receive packages from those countries, but since our most prolific printers are based in Canada, we may experience some delays in our traditionally printed projects.

Right now, we’re only having issues with getting the physical printer proofs sent back and forth for approvals, and not the actual books themselves.

You’d think after all the panels and Actual Playing I did during the Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Con a few weeks ago that I’d be all talked out. Well, that does not seem to be the case. Ever.

Naw, I love telling folks about what Onyx Path is and the game worlds we make! I just can’t help myself, we have so many exciting and fun things going on!

Last week, Mike and the gang over at the This Week In Geek podcast interviewed me about WW and Onyx Path, and it turned into a sort of oral history of how the companies transformed into each successive version, and just where game lines branched off to different companies and editions.

If that sort of stuff is interesting for you, here ya go: http://thisweekingeek.net/news/interviews/fan-service-interview-rich-thomas-onyx-path-june-2020

Then this weekend, I sat in on a retrospective of the Art of Mage at Ascension Con 2020 along with Satyros Phil Brucato and artists Mark Jackson and Echo Chernik. Echo took on the slideshow duties and we all discussed the Mage art that came up as it appeared.

That was pretty great, and it was certainly a treat to chat with folks I haven’t talked to in years. Hopefully, that recording will show up on YouTube soon and we’ll get you all a link.

Cults of the Blood Gods art by Thomas Denmark

What wasn’t great last week were a couple of issues that we needed to deal with. While we dealt with them as best as we could, we realized that at core our little crew of folks here are simply not HR experts. And more importantly, we shouldn’t try to be.

We need to concentrate on making great games and amazing worlds, like we do.

Which means that tomorrow, I’m interviewing our current best prospect for an HR point-of-contact for the company. Someone who is HR trained and has worked in HR at other companies. And very important for us, someone who is unconnected to Onyx Path and has never been a gamer or in the TTRPG business.

We need someone who doesn’t have the connections or baggage that might make it hard to be objective when they review HR concerns. Hopefully, my interview is the one, and once everything is good to go we’ll include info concerning them prominently on our website so folks know who to contact.

I mean, it’s important that our worlds are all about excitement, and fear, and victory, and defeat. What our creators and community go through in the real world shouldn’t also require all those moments. We want everyone playing our games and reading our books to be safe while they explore our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

Blurbs!

Kickstarter!

The Legendlore Kickstarter is in its last few days and ends this Thursday, and now we’re really building towards Stretch Goals: the GM’s Screen, and starting the Legendlore Companion book PDF!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0

Grab your friends and escape to another world!

You’ve found an enchanted portal — a transition point — between worlds. The portal, called a Crossing, takes you to a world you thought only existed in novels and films: a magical land where dragons roam the skies, orcs and hobgoblins terrorize weary travelers, and unicorns prance through the forest. It is a world where humans join other peoples such as elves, trolls, dwarves, changelings, and the dreaded creatures who steal the night. It is a world of fantasy — of imagination.

It is the Realm.

It is Legendlore.

Next Up On Kickstarter: They Came From Beyond the Grave!

Onyx Path Media!

This week: the return of the return of the Scion Actual Play as Eddy and Dixie’s characters dig further into the machinations of the gods!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

All our panels and games from Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention are still available on twitch.tv/theonyxpath! All you need to do is head on over to the website and subscribe. If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can do so for free and access our entire catalogue of videos!

Legendlore‘s Kickstarter is coming to an end, but Jen Vaughn’s actual play is still going on our Twitch channel every week on Friday night! Lost in the Crossing is an amazing story played through by a fantastic GM and excellent roleplayers, and handles the Legendlore world from the perspective of visitors and native inhabitants of the Realm! Make sure you’re tuning in every Friday or catching up afterwards by subscribing.

That’s not all for Legendlore, as we have actual plays by Steffie de Vaan and Corinne McCrory over on our YouTube channel, which you can find here https://youtu.be/UaQXSlEatDw and here https://youtu.be/RRvnJOrmNzM! Please give our GMs some support and tune in!

This week on Twitch, expect to see:

V5 – Chicago by Night

Realms of Pugmire – Paws & Claws

Legendlore – The Metal Scourge

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – Thieves of Old York

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – They Came from Devil’s Reef!

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale

Mage: The Awakening – Occultists Anonymous

Legendlore – Lost in the Crossing

Scarred Lands – Purge of the Serpentholds

Chronicles of Darkness – Tooth and Claw

Deviant: The Renegades – A Cautionary Tale

Get watching for some fantastic insight into how to run these wonderful games.

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more, including:

Legendlore – The Metal Scourge: https://youtu.be/ECRrErPLm64

Storytellers with Coffee – Safety Tools: https://youtu.be/FjG-YbG_Q1k

Mage: The Ascension – Technocracy Reloaded: https://youtu.be/9Al7ZdkLGiM

Even more Legendlore – The Metal Scourge: https://youtu.be/RRvnJOrmNzM

#OnyxPathCon | How to Write for TTRPGs [Panel]: https://youtu.be/UKmJQEhInP8

Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

Occultists Anonymous continues right here with their excellent Mage: The Awakening chronicle:

Episode 108: Car-V Heist While Songbird prepares for a dangerous summoning, Atratus and Wyrd hit the junkyards with an overly elaborate plan to make an overly elaborate gift. How very Mage of them… https://youtu.be/wSy3c74jkfM

Episode 109: Crown of Blood Wyrd and Atratus enjoy the joy of a well-made gift and the good vibes that comes with that. Songbird joins together with Hadramiel to summon an Angel of Death to anoint a Vampire Prince in power. https://youtu.be/QxB6Ml6uStY

A Bunch of Gamers continue their actual play of They Came from Beneath the Sea! and conclude it with a mini review: https://youtu.be/qIMwcOZmR8k

The Botch Pit have released a wonderful new guide for Changeling: The Lost right here. Do give them a like and a subscribe: https://youtu.be/Bd0UZQZt2OM

Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

Available this Wednesday, we present Dystopia Rising: Evolution shirts and posters on our RedBubble store!

Conventions!

Though dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, here’s what’s left of our current list of upcoming conventions (and really, we’re just waiting for this last one to be cancelled even though it’s Nov/Dec). Instead, keep an eye out here for more virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with:

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

And now, the new project status updates!

Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Anima

M20 Technocracy Operative’s Dossier (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

CtL 2e Novella Collection: Hollow Courts (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Second Draft

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

V5 Forbidden Religions (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

V5 Children of the Blood (was The Faithful Undead) (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Development

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

V5 Trails of Ash and Bone (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Manuscript Approval

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Under Alien Skies (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Post-Approval Development

Editing

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

LARP Rules (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)

Post-Editing Development

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Indexing

Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

Tales of Aquatic Terror – Handing off to Meredith to AD.

WoD Ghost Hunters (KS) – Prepping KS assets.

Aberrant – AD’d. Sketches from HIVE in.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Mummy 2

Deviant

Legendlore – KS running.

Technocracy Reloaded (KS)

Cults of the Blood God – Rolling along.

Scion: Dragon (KS) – Waiting on art notes.

Masks of the Mythos (KS) – Pinging potential cover and fulls artist.

Scion: Demigod (KS) – Art rolling. KS assets AD’d.

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (KS) – Prepping KS assets.

TC: Adventure! (KS) – Shen Fei cover art finishing.

Geist: One Foot In the Grave – AD’d.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

TC Aeon Terra Firma

V5 Let the Streets Run Red – working layout now.

Pugmire Adventure

Scion Titanomachy

Proofing

Trinity Aeon Jumpstart – Errata gathering.

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate – Page XXs.

Contagion Chronicle – Backer PDF out to backers, gathering errata.

Cavaliers of Mars: City of the Towered Tombs

Magic Item Decks (Scarred Lands)

Yugman’s Guide Support Decks (Scarred Lands)

Dark Eras 2 Screen and booklet

At Press

Scion Companion – Awaiting errata from devs.

TCFBTS Heroic Land Dwellers – PoD files uploaded.

TCFBTS Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Press proofs signed off on, PoD files uploaded.

Creature Collection 5e – PoD proof ordered. Traditional files sent to printer.

Pirates of Pugmire – Files at press. PoD proofs ordered.

Pirates of Pugmire Screen – Files at press.

Pugmire Buried Bones – PoD files uploaded.

Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition Dark Eras Compilation – Creating PoD file.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

This coming week is a big one for our household with the birthdays of two of our widdle kiddies (really not widdle at all any more), and the July 4th celebration of the American colonies’ independence from Great Britain! “And just as Tom here has written, we say To Hell With Great Britain!” Sorry, Matthew…

In sadder news, we acknowledge the passing of Jim Holloway, noted artist for Paranoia and Star Frontiers and many early issues of Dragon Magazine. Personally, I very much enjoyed his style, and he brought a technical expertise and a sense of humor to the early TTRPG business that it sorely needed.

[toaarcan]

I think you're putting too much on Fiona's "purpose" being in relation to other characters. A big complaint was that she wasn't really ANYTHING. She was resentful about Sonic and Mighty, and then next time we see her she's part of the FFs with no explanation or role. She was sometimes a medic, and then part of the Brain Trust for no reason (never really showing those skills), and then she was suddenly Sonic's gf...while he was still saying he and Sally were meant to be. Villain = direction.

I mean, there was an explanation for her, but it came almost two years after the fact: Her belief that Sonic was a selfish glory-hound was rattled by his selfless sacrifice to save the world, something that she personally witnessed, and therefore, she tried to make amends. Not only that, but it was a quick moment too, with her even attending Sonic’s “funeral” in Issue 125.

The problem with the story is that it was written by Bollers, and unfortunately that means that Penders completely ignored what happened in it no more than two issues later. 

Bollers’ Fiona: Not interested in Sonic, but trusts him and respects him, though she acknowledges that he isn’t perfect and does have a selfish streak. Made aware of Tails’ feelings for her, and chastises “Sonic” for hitting on her despite that knowledge. 

Penders’ Fiona: Very much interested in Sonic, completely unaware of Tails’ feelings, completely uncaring about the whole debacle.

Her position as a medic is likewise something that was there with Bollers, and then absent once Penders took over. Admittedly, a medic is a somewhat difficult character type to use in a book where characters don’t regularly get injured, so I can see why it could fall by the wayside, but one must keep Penders’ inability to keep anyone consistent in mind. When it comes to Fiona, Penders couldn’t even keep consistent with himself. Look at the very-obviously-preteen Fiona from the Knuckles book vs. the sixteen year old he portrays her as in the main title.

Believe me, I’ve done this song and dance many a time. There’s this perception that the villainous version of Fiona is automatically a better character because Ian did something with major with her, but the fact of the matter is that it’s entirely possible to do something major with her without taking a torch to everything except that one single issue of the Knuckles comic where she was kind of a jerk to Mighty for mostly understandable reasons.

It’s been a long while since I’ve reread any of the comic, and I’ve been immersed in the fandom’s perception of things a whole lot more than that, so I legitimately forgot a lot of  what was there, but one thing that sticks out from seeing the old stuff again on Thanks Ken Penders is how compassionate Fiona is, she’s portrayed as very frequently being the one to voice concern for her comrades’ safety (A fitting trait for a medic character), and it jars so heavily with Ian’s decision that she should be a self-centred, “Survival of the best” character who cares about nobody except herself and her abusive boyfriend.

As I said in my post “Fiona Fox: Depth vs. Prominence”, summing up Fiona’s personality before she was sacrificed on the altar of Sleazy the Recolour takes a whole lot more than summing up her personality afterwards, and even then that relates more to her relationship with Scourge than it does to herself.

Now that’s not to say that Fiona as a villain couldn’t work. In my most recent post on this topic, I even said directly that she could’ve been a really darn good villain, if her status as a traitor actually mattered. A traitor should be an intensely personal antagonist, someone who can get inside the heads of the heroes and damage them emotionally just as much as they can physically. The interactions between her and her former friends should be brutal, knife-twisting, and send them reeling. The fact that Fiona’s villainy is arguably something that Sonic created can only add to that, as she is living proof that sometimes the hero can fail.

Buuut she’s none of that. Sonic is more bothered about her harming Tails than anything she does to him directly, and the second (and final) time they interact, Sonic dismantles her arguments without flinching and leaves her to run off crying. 

Tails’ faith isn’t shaken at all by her, he finishes 172 stating unflinchingly that she’s wrong (And her philosophy never made sense anyway, so Tails is correct there), and within six issues he’s physically attacking Sonic primarily out of envy over the Fiona situation, and outright states that he doesn’t care that she went with Scourge. 

Sally... never liked her in the first place, but gets no vindication from it. She neither gets a moment where she feels explicitly proven right, nor is frustrated that the others went to bat for Fiona and had that trust rejected. Like with Sonic, it seems to be way more about how Fiona treated Tails than it is about how Sally herself was affected. 

Amy actually gets the most out of it, with Fiona’s mockery of her at the start of Issue 172 being used as motivation for her to train to be a better fighter... but... it’s all positive. The idea that the other FF don’t take Amy seriously is barely relevant, and it’s used as motivation for her to improve herself, and then that’s it.

None of the other characters get any word on it, save for Antoine using it as a prompt to skip over all that emotional development and reconciliation after a year apart and immediately propose to Bunnie, because Ian’s got to cram something happy into this set of issues before he blows up Knothole, plays the “Villain could win whenever he wants, he just doesn’t want to” stupidity card, and gives Charmy brain damage to make him more like SEGA’s version.

And that’s it. Fiona exists primarily to be Scourge’s girlfriend. In a way, it’s fitting that Amy is the only character that gets an appropriate “Hero vs. traitor” scene, because like the then-current official depiction of Amy, Fiona’s life is defined entirely by her relationship to her respective Sonic.

Ian’s Fiona is, in every sense of the word, a satellite love interest for Scourge. Even the sole arc she has apart from him is spent building a team to get him back. 

She’s just Scourge’s girlfriend, despite him yelling at her, screaming at her, resoundingly failing to live up to his own promises, undermining her, and, if her reaction to his threats in Issue 190 is anything to go by, physically attacking her as well. 

I won’t deny that Fiona, as a character, had become listless, and needed a strong new direction. She had a lot of substance to her, and a surprisingly uplifting story when stripped down to the basic structure, but she was being painfully underutilised. 

I will, however, strongly oppose the idea that Ian’s decision on that front was the correct one. It was a lateral move at best, a step backwards at worst. He didn’t really fix her as much as make her a different brand of underdone, and that uplifting story was gone. Now all it said was “If you did bad in the past, you’ll always lapse back to it and nobody should trust you”, combined with none-too-subtle abuse (In a ship that Ian made popular with thousands of teenagers, very smooth) and a new design that sexed her up for no good reason. 

Good Fiona had all the ingredients and not enough time in the oven, but villain Fiona was missing half the recipe.

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Winner’s Curse Ch. 8

CJ stalked the cold, gloomy alleyways that lined the street to the docks with a brazen whistle and jaunty step. A proverbial sore thumb compared to the adults and small Vks who scurried about with shuffling steps using the shadows as cover from the watchful eyes of the Coven.

“As if they would care about the doings of cowards and sidekicks.” CJ thought to herself. She had only been back in the Isle for a few days, possibly weeks, time was never a sure thing for CJ, and she had pieced together a little of what had happened when she was gone.

Some big name villains had gotten their magic back and were ruling the Isle with an iron fist, no one was allowed to do anything without their permission, children and sidekicks were punching bags for others, some sort of new hierarchy, etc.

CJ didn’t particularly care. She wasn’t going to stay here for long anyway. She was meant to live on the high seas and after seeing all the booty that she could plunder from places like Camelot Heights and Charmington, she had a growing desire to return to Auradon. A land filled with gold and magic and all sorts of princess to scare and seduce unlike this island of delusional madpeople.

And she was going to plunder and steal on the Seven Seas on the Jolly Roger. Her birthright.

Just as the golden compass that she took from its’ hidden, crocodile-ridden vault on Neverland that used to belong to the once glorious Captain James Hook, that Jolly Roger was another piece of her great legacy. It would aid her in her acts of treachery and it would be a sign to all her future enemies that her scourge was coming. iT would strike fear into their hearts even before they saw a glimpse of her.

She wanted to be the most vile, bloodiest pirate that ever lived. More dangerous than her father, more wanted than Calico Jack, people would say Blackbeard was the male CJ Hook. She was dangerous in her own right despite what these idiots on the Isle thought. She was always third. Behind Harriet even though Harriet hardly did anything but keep up the Jolly Roger and occasionally entered a bar brawl, and behind Harry who was practically Uma’s whipping boy.

Voluntarily Uma’s whipping boy and first mate. It was disgusting.

When she was young she had envied and idolized her brother for his fierceness and the hook he used to slash people’s throats for daring to not follow his orders. But ever since he fell for Uma and pledged his life to serve her, she lost her respect for him. Why be a first mate when you could be a leader and take the best share of booty for yourself.

It was a universal rule not to fall for anyone on the Isle. It made you dependent and weak. Yet Harry was clearly hook over his head devoted to Uma and that seemed to make him stronger. Harry fought like an untamed animal with Uma by his side whenever someone treaded on their turf or insulted their gang. People feared him more now than ever, not daring to speak a bad word about Uma or him. They said he was insane. They said he killed for fun, a true sadist.

She hijacked her way to Auradon, she stole a whole roomful of treasure, she’s been living the good life on the seas without a tie to anyone, a leader unto herself. And she was still second-place to Harry, a pirate who was no leader, just a first mate.

It was just like that when they were kids. Her father treated Harriet more or less with respect or left her alone since she took care of things when he was off drinking until he could see and defeat his hallucinations of Peter Pan. He more or less ignored Harry seeing too much of himself in the boy, seeing his failure in the future. Her, she was his favorite, she knew that. Sure, he didn’t like it when she talked to him, he wasn’t a fan of kids talking or kids in general, but he would treat her mildly better like teaching her the proper way to stab someone. But it was clear that he had no hopes for her to grow into her pirate legacy or any of her capabilities. 

Apparently, he thought her siblings had more raw skill and she had too much of his obsessiveness.

Fine, he was right she was obsessed. Obsessed with treasure, with being a pirate, with being great. She was going to get her own treasure. Steal it from her own father. Like a true treacherous pirate.

He would hate her.

Good, she hated him.

Hook was a greedy man. Wouldn’t be such a fearsome pirate otherwise. He refused to give up any of his possessions to his children. They hadn’t “earned” it. Or as he usually yelled at them, “You’re supposed to be fucking pirates! Get your own treasure!” That declaration led to the bitterest resentment in her piled near the times he forgot her existence in favor of talking to her siblings, doubting her, agreeing with the rest of the Isle. Placing her fourth behind the rest of the family.

She would prove them all wrong, and make them pay.

Her angry thoughts echoed with her pounding footsteps as she kicked the hollow wooden wall behind Madame Medusa’s casino that had formerly been the diamond plunder’s basement, now Lady Caine’s lair.

CJ would have liked to make a dramatic entrance, much like the one she did at the Auradonians silly Neon Lights Ball  but she sadly didn’t not see any vines or ropes to swing from so she settled for bounding down the stairs and brandishing a sword.

Brandishing her sword in a dark, empty room apparently, the only light coming from a small window.

The basement was much larger than she thought basements were supposed to be until she realized she was in a small entrance room and she had to go through another door. The door led through a stone hallways, it’s only light coming from the cracks of the wooden ceiling which CJ figured must be the floor of the casino. Some stones had been chipped and the place reeked with mildew and dust but it was also decorated to intimidate.

There were blood splatters and spare limb joints wedged in corners of the walls, rusty swords bent with decay that had been stuck to the wall and unable to be removed. Posters buxom female pirates and males with broad chests holding knives in their mouths were crudely tacked up alongside “Wanted” signs of Lady Caine’s gang.

CJ recognized some of the pirates from the stories Harriet used to tell. The heartless Blackbeard, the infamous Davy Jones, and CJ’s favorites, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, Grace O’Malley, Ching Shih..

“Hmmm I like her too.” A female voice purred, sidling up to her side. It took most of CJ’s composure not to jump at the sudden presence of whom she instinctively knew to be Lady Caine and forced herself to smooth her face into a wicked grin as she faced the self-proclaimed “Queen of Thieves.” 

The older pirate was a bit shorter than her, reaching to her nose but that didn’t lessen her intimidating presence. In fact it just made CJ even more on guard knowing that it was likely Lady Caine would find a sneaky advantage like hitting her in the crotch or some other unprecedented move using the dagger at her belt. 

The rest of her body was less intimidating since toll of the Isle showed. She was skinnier than CJ so it made her corset look like it was hanging limply from her body rather than pushing up ‘the goods.’ Her hair was limp too, and straggly from lack of clean water and constant sea mist.There was an uneven spread of muscles on her arms tempered with some new and healed-over scars, one that even went through her skull and roses tattoo on her right shoulder. Her left leg was clearly injured since she favored to lean on her right and CJ could see the spread of blood seeping through her tent-canvas pants. The one piece of jewelry, a skull necklace was cracked and rusting over making it look more like a demented clown. 

What really brought the scare factor was Lady Caine’s face. Her mouth was set into an unnerving casual smirk. The kind that implied she was the type of person to arrange for someone ‘to swim with the fishes’ simply because she needed something to do to fill her time. Yet her smile didn’t reach to her eyes. No, her eyes were too guarded, menacing, immediately telling CJ that if she tried to double cross her, than Lady Caine would return the favor. Ten-fold. 

“Yes, she has quite the treasure chest.” CJ commented. 

“Heh, I meant I wouldn’t mind taking over her nine hundred squadron fleet to raise a little hell,” Lady Caine raised an eyebrow, her brown and shoddily red-dyed bangs brushed against CJ’s cheek as the older women got into her personal space. “But I can share your admiration for her figure too. Would she be any competition for that voodoo sorceress you’ve been with?”

CJ forced herself to breath normally through her mouth despite her sudden wildly thumping heart. Unexpected and unwelcome memories filled her mind, pushing the faded poster of Ching Shih away. 

Freddie’s dark lips, stained with purple berries that brought out the highlights of her kelp green eyes. Those same lips who created enticing and persuasive arguments with her ‘velvety’ voice coaxing new sounds out of her as they glided across her body. 

Her nimble hands easily able to pickpocket and grope with none the wiser than she, but CJ always knew because she knew that girl. Her tricks of trade, her facial tics, what sent her over the edge in the most pleasurable sense of the world.

That was until CJ had been totally blindsided when Freddie decided to become independent. She knew Freddie had a stubborn streak, which Freddie would retort that she wasn’t stubborn, she was practical, not carrying the obsessive Hook madness. But for Freddie to abruptly tear away from her to have her own dreams was something CJ never thought would happen. Freddie had always seemed to content in helping her with her own schemes, she said she found keeping CJ under control to be entertaining which would be followed by a night of dark magic and ecstasy.

“Of course not.” CJ barked out a hearty laugh and tried to move the conversation to safer, less complicated, emotional areas as well as keep her mind off the stunning spawn of Facilier.

“The girl is my sidekick. My pet. My Auradon pet since she insists on becoming a famous singing star for those goody goodies. She’s not at all like Ching Shih. What I would give for a nine hundred boat squadron which brings me to the important thing. How am I getting the Jolly Roger?”

“We’re getting the Jolly Roger.” Lady Caine corrected leading her toward a bigger room which CJ could tell had used to be used for storage due to the familiar musty smell of aged alcohol. The large boxes had been shifted and carved to form makeshift chairs, weapons were hung or stabbed haphazardly around the place and in the center was a wooden throne which Lady Caine lazily slouched upon, looking at CJ up and down with amusement.

CJ pulled out her sword again, glaring at Caine threw slitted eyes. “Not the deal. The Jolly Rogers mine.”

“Relax. I don’t want that ship, I have my own. I just have my own plans for your father once we steal it in front of bloodshot eyes.” Lady Caine smirked malevolently, “He still drinks, doesn’t he?”

CJ faltered a little when she realized that wasn’t a rhetorical question, “Uh maybe. I don’t associate with him. I’ve been Auradon.”

“I’ve heard about that. Now that is something people should talk about more. You got into Auradon on your own. No pitying help from Prince Furrball. No ‘turning good,’ turning their backs on us so we could rot in hell while their mushy goodhearted brains sleep on pillows. You lived up to your wickedness, CJ.” Lady Caine cocked her head, looking oddly at CJ. Her eyes glinted with a strange happiness and her mouth curved in a genuine smile like when Captain Hook envisioned himself killing that dratted green boy. So proud of his imaginary accomplishment.

Proud. That was what Lady Caine looked like. Not proud of herself but proud for CJ.

CJ’s staggering realization that someone was actually proud of her was tempered by the words sinking in, “No one talks about me and my accomplishments? I have stolen loot from Merlin!”

“Exactly. They still speak of your brother and his violence, but not your greatness. It’s ridiculous. Descended from two great pirates..well I’m a great pirate, your dad-” Lady Caine waved her hand as if she couldn’t quite describe the numerous fatal flaws of Captain Hook in words.

“Yeah…” CJ wasn’t sure how to continue, another odd feeling, she had always remained sure and in control most of her life, “How did-How are you my mother? Dad despises you. He has dreamed of you and Pan being crushed under his stern.”

“And I despise him as well. It’s complicated. I wasn’t in the right mind when I did it. I was drunk, we were fighting, his Hook slipped and instead of scratching me it kind of went the hot and sexy route..huh? That actually wasn’t very complicated now that I say it out loud.” Lady Caine shrugged, wiping a hand over eye and smudging her heavy eyeliner. It sort of reminded her of Harry. 

Truthfully as she looked longer at Lady Caine she found it difficult to see the resemblance between her and her supposed mother. Lady Caine’s brown hair matched more with Harriet and the eye-liner, totally a trademark of her brother. Maybe..just maybe if Lady Caine ate more and filled out, CJ would be able to see if they have the same slender figure, and if she wiped away the magenta lipstick, maybe they had the same lips.... 

“And you’re not Harriet’s or Harry’s-” “No.” Lady Caine vehemently denied, “I would remember if I slept with that son of a bitch more than once, especially if I was pregnant afterwards. Just once is enough for me. What else do you think the C in your name means?”

CJ hadn’t meant to look so shocked but she lost her control, her eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped, “The C is for Caine?!”

Lady Caine burst out laughing, getting off her chair and back to CJ’s side, “No again. Your dad named you and he would never choose something that referenced me. You should have seen the look on your face though. Ha!”

Once CJ’s heart resumed its normal rhythm, she managed a weak laugh, “Okay great. But seriously, the Jolly Roger. What’s the plan? I want that boat.”

Lady Caine looked like she was about to laugh again, but she refrained seeing the seriousness in CJ’s eyes. “There’s no official plan...yet. But you will be in charge of it since you know Hook’s turf better than I do.” A part of CJ’s gut pinged at Caine’s words. It felt wrong somehow. Too easy that the “Queen of Thieves,” known for her hard will and controlling way would just hand over the plan to CJ, even if she was her child. Yet CJ swelled with ambitious excitement. She was finally getting the respect her reputation deserved. She could totally plan and execute a way to take the Jolly Roger.

“What do you want with all this?” CJ questioned, giving in a little to her gut feeling and eyeing Lady Caine warily.

“Like I said, I have my own score to settle with Hook. And a small favor. I want to use the Jolly Roger to storm Corona.” “You see, CJ, long before you were born. Before Auradon or the Isle or any of this existed. I lived in Corona. My father was a petty thief that King Fredric jailed because he couldn’t stand any sort of criminal. Murderers in cells with domestic abusers and first time offenders. It was Corona’s own version of the Isle. The first one. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Beast took the idea from him.

My father died in that prison since he couldn’t compete with the big guns. I grew up on the streets which was for the best I suppose ‘cause look at me now.  

But that self-righteous King Fredric has the balls to send me with common criminals and louses all over again. Off with his head along all the rest of those do-good bastards.”

“Off with their heads?” CJ laughed, giving the moment some levity, “You sound like the Queen of Hearts.”

Lady Caine glared at her, visions of anger and blood quite evident on her face, “Tie them to the rack, firing squad, crucifixion. Whatever you want. The point is those Auradonians will suffer, and they will not live.” 

———————————————————————————————————

Jordan inhaled deeply before knocking on Ben’s office door.

This was it, today was the day, no turning back.

After getting those cliches out of her head, Jordan paused to make sure that the rumbling of her stomach was just hunger from being too nervous to eat dinner and not impending throw up out of nervousness.

Yet before Jordan could knock on the door, Ben flung it wide open. She was starting to wonder if Ben was some door opening psychic for the past five times she visited this week to go over Operation: Defeat the Coven (official more badass title still in progress), he always opened the door before she knocked. Either she was a very loud presence or Ben was always waiting for someone to bother him.

She had a feeling it was the latter since he was King of Auradon and all, which seemed sad. She knew she would go crazy if she had people constantly knocking on her lamp all the time asking to fix some crisis or other.

Well, people used to do that to her lamp, but after sending those people off in a sandstorm, almost everyone learned to leave her alone. Just how she liked it.

"Hi, Jordan! Are you ready to beat some baddies?" Ben enthused, sounding unusually chirpy and breathless.

"Baddies? Really? No wonder you got caught so quickly on the Isle." Jordan shook her head with amusement.

"Yep, that's me." Ben said, pushing her back so he could close the door behind him, smiling way too brightly and nervously swishing his bangs out of his face as if that would make him look more casual.

Yeah, he was hiding a girl, or he was watching porn. She had seen Aziz act with this sort of bad nonchalantless plenty of times whenever she popped by his room unannounced. And since Ben was way too innocent to even know of the dark side of the internet and he did possess a girlfriend, she could bet he and Mal were having some alone time.

Ben leaned firmly against the door in a move that would prevent anyone from being able to open the door without getting through him, "Do you need any last minute supplies?"

As he said this, Jordan finally spotted the tell-tale bite mark on his neck that confirmed her suspicions.

Jordan was tempted to make a comment about how it looked like a certain purple dragon had marked him as part of her hoard, but refrained. Auradonians were still on edge about Vks even though they had been around for a year, and even more were up in arms about Ben promoting Mal to be his future queen. 

If anyone had gotten wind that Mal was in Ben's room, alone, giving him love bites and who knows what else when he was supposed to be doing kingly duties, the scrutiny would be worse than ever on Ben. She might as well let them have their private moment.

Even though that private moment just showed how relaxed Ben was about Operation Defeat the Coven while she still wanted to throw up.

And that's exactly why she needed to talk to Ben. It was clear he had too much faith in her and her abilities and so he needed to be given a reality check of how they could all die and the world that they know it would be taken over by every villain on the Isle imaginable.

"Ben, I promise I'm not backing out. I mean, it is really too late for me to back out anyway so I can't. But I don't feel prepared for this at all. I'm a genie. I'm a sidekick. I don't really make tough decisions, I just entertain people with my magic powers, not fight them. The Coven have a millennium of experience over me and in dark magic which a completely different sort of power, and-"

"I understand how you feel." Ben put a comforting hand on her shoulder while her mouth dropped rather unattractively.

"You do?"

"Hey, I turned king when I was 16. I read a lot about politics and policy making, but it is completely different when I was thrown into ruling. It was like everything I studied and read meant nothing at all when it came to dealing with people and trying to listen to all their problems and think of plausible solutions on a deadline. I can't say I know what I'm doing most of the time."

Well that was very reassuring knowledge.

"But one major thing I have learned when it comes to leadership is that we all develop our own style. You can't prepare for it, you can't learn it. It just comes to you as you learn and grow. You just have to take your time."

"But I CAN'T take my time!" Jordan retorted, "This mission has a short deadline with snap decisions. I can't grow from this."

"It's adventure. People always grow and develop during an adventure like all our parents in their stories." Ben answered back with irritating calmness.

Jordan felt her eye twitch. She should have known that knocking some reality into the eternal optimist wouldn't work.

At least the eternal optimist had eyes so he could see her clear annoyance and distress because Ben said something else, "Besides Jordan, you may be the leader of the mission, but you have your friends to help you. That's why I have a Council. I don't know everything, but I surround myself with people who do and who will help guide me to making the right choices. You're not alone in this."

Jordan exhaled, surprised by how that little nugget of advice actually eased some of her nerves. She did feel pretty confident about her team. Aziz and Jay were excellent with parkour and other athletics so they could be counted on in the case of an attack, and Calix had the magical skills to go up against the sorcerers with her. Plus she had adventured with Aziz and Calix enough times to insticively know when to act in sync. It was too bad Jay was left in the cold in that respect, but he knew his way around the Isle so he had an advantage over all of them.

Additionally, Ben, Carlos Jane and Evie volunteered to alternate in keeping contact with them via magically-enhanced ear chip so they could research useful information in the library if needed.

She trusted them to know what they were doing, and she supposed with so much back-up if she did make a mistake then they could resolve it quickly before any real damage ensued.

"Thanks, Ben. I think I'm ready to go." Jordan said, brushing his hand off her shoulder.

"Right. I'll meet you there. I should go get Mal." Ben said, fixing his collar and rushed into his room.

Jordan sing-songed to the door before leaving, "Ben, I'm pretty sure Mal's room is on the other side of the castle."

She walked quickly to the front of Auradon Prep by the Beast statue where Evie, Aziz, Jay and Calix were already waiting and the moon was high above them all.

Since Ben had arranged the excuse to FG that she, Jay and Aziz were taking a field trip to Agrabah for a week to research illusions in connection with desert mirages so the two boys were dressed in loose pants and shirts that concealed the thick leather body armor underneath as well as the shafrah and scimitar strapped to their legs.

She had copied that look in a flowing black sundress with a two straps filled to the teeth with daggers criss-crossing her chest.

Truthfully, she never used a dagger before, but like with leadership, she hoped she would catch on. How hard could it be to stab someone?

Calix, on the other hand, was looking far too casual with a one shouldered toga that showed off most of his chest and no way to hide weapons anywhere on his body. Apparently he ignored her lecture that you can’t flirt someone to death in mortal combat. 

"Good luck." Evie hugged Jay once she saw Jordan arrive. "Avoid Harry and the Gastons. And any of your exes."

"I don't have exes. We didn't date on the Isle, remember." Jay said, mock punching Evie on the shoulder, "I just have enemies that I slept with and never talked to again."

Ben and Mal joined the group before anyone could comment on that topic, not that Jordan knew exactly what to make of that piece of information, and they started their official goodbyes.

"We're only an ear chip away." Evie said handing each of them a small metallic chip that Carlos had made to place in their ear drum, "All you have to do is press and it turns on and off, and since Mal spelled it. It is guaranteed to work even when you close the barrier."

"Alright. Now where are we going first? Maleficent's castle? Ursula's fish and chips?” Jay clapped his hands together, clenching his fists for the undoubtedly upcoming fights.

"The jungle." Aziz, Calix and Jordan said in unison.

What?" Jay, and Mal looked utterly confused by the answer.

"Do you not check the group messages?" Jordan snorted derisively, "Anyway, we are going to the jungle first to fix some of the holes in the barrier. Since Evie said the jungle is unoccupied by humans, we won't be noticed and attacked by the Vks immediately. Calix and I will fix the holes so the Coven won't be able to have an escape route. Then we'll work our way inland to the Coven's laier and do battle."

"Oh, okay. But you’re wrong though on the jungle being unoccupied. Some people live in the jungle. Mainly hunters who wanted some fresh meat rather than the leftovers you give us." Jay corrected.

All the Aks tensed at that and Ben looked shamefaced to the floor.

Jay hadn't said the comment in a bitter or accusatory way, but matter of factly. Which made it sound worse. It was simply a fact of the Isle that if one got tired of rotten and disgusted food from the overprivilged that you had to face the dangerous wild jungle and kill for raw meat.

"You’ll fight those VKs off we meet them." Jordan instructed after an awkward silence. Then nodded to the others. "We're going now."

Aziz took the cue and rubbed her lamp that was snugly strapped to his hip. She hated the fact that she had to bring it to the Isle, but she had no choice. While she could do magic to in transporting herself places, when it came to performing magic on others it required a wish.

"I wish to transport to the jungle of the Isle."

Shimmery pink smoke enveloped them, wind rushing past their ears and moving their bodies even though it felt like their feet were still firmly on the ground. Once the smoke cleared, all they could see was shades of green and brown.

The green came from the leafy canopy and thickets of thorns that blocked the view of the sea while the brown was the dead grass that crumpled underfoot, the dead trees that fallen over to their left in a small pile and the holes of dirt.

Jay crouched by one of the holes, studying the edges. Standing up he informed them a hyena probably created it.

"Are hyenas nocturnal?" Calix eyed the hole nervously, looking around as if to find some sort of protective cave even though there was nothing but trees.

"Yes, but I wouldn't worry. Usually the leapords take care of them." Jay said ignoring Calix’s more distressed look and motioned for them to follow him into the trees. "Since we are near the coast, the cliffs should be close by here."

And so their journey began. 

[lassluna]

CSJJ Day 27: Because of the Cat Part 2

We’re sleeping together but you got kidnapped? Guess I gotta save you.

AN:  My second contribution to @csjanuaryjoy this year, it's been an absolute blast taking part in this event once again. Thank you so much @ultraluckycatnd for taking a look at this in my time of need.

Ao3 FFn

“Are you alright Emma?” Elsa says, gently pushing the door open.

Her quarters are neat and grand, bright blue bedding; a perfect image of the horizon from her bedroom. It even feels cool despite the horrible heatwave.

But she isn’t alright. Not even a bit. How can she be when her heart is actually breaking?

“Did they hurt you?” Elsa asks. She can tell her friend is worried. Emma has barely spoken since she arrived. She just said the bare minimum, and refused to let go of Henry. She can’t bear to lose the cat right now, not after already losing something so important to her.

Someone.

“No.” she says eventually, but that’s a lie. Her wrists had been red and swollen from the ropes, and her head had had a deep cut on it. The people who took her had hurt her, taken her to Oz, stuck her in a dungeon and when they thought she was ‘desperate’ enough, brought her to Walsh.

Walsh who wanted to make a deal with her, who wanted to marry her, wanted to try to bully her into it. Make her seem like a slut for abandoning her people so that no one would ever respect her rule or marry him; those were her choices.

Emma was glad she got those hits in to the sniveling little man. Emma was glad someone else was there, someone who knew her enough to know that was never like her.

“Did the pirates hurt you? Did Captain Hook hurt you?” Elsa repeated, touching her still healing wrists, making her flinch slightly.

No, he saved me.

“No,” she repeats, trying to regain her composure, trying to heal her heart break. She wasn’t supposed to be broken hearted about the man that had supposedly kidnapped her. Emma gives Henry a small pat on the head. He mews happily rubbing against her, settled happily in her lap. “I just want to go home,” she says slowly. “I need to go home as soon as possible.”

//

‘She’s been through a trauma’ they say. ‘She’s gone mad’ others whisper.

It hurts to know they speak about her, think her mad to be turning down Walsh’s marriage proposal time and time again. But it makes sense. That’s what Emma needs: something that makes sense.

Her mother gives her all the time she needs, and promises that it doesn’t matter what happened. As long as she’s safe and happy Oz can be as annoyed as they want.

“You never explained about the cat,” her mother says one evening during tea, Henry rubbing against her legs. He’s grown quite comfortable in the palace, keeping the kitchen free of mice, and her bedroom free of loneliness.

He introduced me to Captain Hook one evening when I thought he was too skinny. I kept visiting him and his captain any chance I could. I feel in love with Captain Hook; Killian. When I had to say good bye, he gave me Henry so I could believe I would see him again.

“He helped me escape,” she says simply, reading her book. “Is Dad still trying to find him?”

“You mean the pirates who kidnapped you sweetie?” Snow asks. She nods. Her father has been in an outrage since she returned. He’s been mad about her ‘secret love’ and about the kidnapping.

“Of course. Your father is devastated that this happened right under his nose, possibly ruined your love, which I wish you told me about might I add.” Emma nods. “But I did have my suspicion.”

That catches Emma’s attention. “Your suspicion?” Emma repeats.

“You were always disappearing, coming back looking happier than I’ve ever seen you. I tried inviting anyone visiting anywhere close to the ball and your father told me you danced with Walsh and after the ball you seemed so happy…and then when he left, you got very sad…” she trails off.

It wasn’t Walsh, it was Killian she wants to scream. But she doesn’t. That would just make everything worse.

“I could never hide anything from you Mom.” she says, but her voice sounds hollow to her ears.

//

Emma is having a really bad day. Like seriously, she was a mess. She’d messed up at the war meeting, not that they actually were in a war; her father just likes to be prepared.

She’d called one of the advisor’s plans dumb, because it was dumb. It was a stupid use of resources and it showed how much they didn’t care about their people. Her father had been so proud of her. For once, Emma thought she could do this. For once, Emma didn’t think she would screw up the entire kingdom when she became queen. But then the advisor had pushed back at her, asking for a better idea which she fumbled at. Apparently it was rude to shoot down someone’s plan without having a better idea.

To make matters worse, she overheard them talking after the meeting, calling her a foolish child. They thought she was reckless and loose. They thought she would never ever amount to anything more than a frigid royal. They laughed at the idea of her ever marrying anyone.

Emma doesn’t care about their opinions, really she doesn’t. Her father always calls them old fuddy-duddies, always so behind on the times, but it still hurt. Hearing the words still hurt.

So maybe she doesn’t have the best head space going down to the docks, she feels like she ruins everything she touches. She always feels inferior and she can never figure out why.

She was never as graceful as her mother, never as noble as her father. So what if she’s had flings with some of the castle guards. She is human and shouldn’t be judged like that by her own court.

Emma isn’t frigid, she isn’t loose. She’s a princess. Emma’s more than a princess. She knows that really. Her parents always tell her so. She was supposed to be The Savior if the Queen had cast her curse. She was supposed to save everyone.

So why can’t she do any of this right?

Then she hears a small sound. It grabs her attention away from the horizon, and her problems. It takes Emma a moment to realize what it is.

It’s a cat. It’s a small, skinny grey cat. It looked hungry and sad. It wasn’t one of the ships she recognized, so she didn’t directly board and tend to it. She knew ship captains didn’t treat their animals right. Emma wanted to fix that. Usually she wasn’t a big animal lover, but seeing that pitiful thing made her want to help it. More than wanting to, she needed to. It was one thing she could fix; maybe she just wanted to fix one damn thing.

Then she saw the captain, disguised as a deckhand for some odd reason, but she knew instantly with those piercing blue eyes and curious smile that he was a man in charge.

Emma did board the ship to help the cat. She did, truly, but she did get a little distracted along the way.

//

“You have a letter,” Ruby announces, walking right into her room without knocking. Usually she appreciates her Godmother’s actions, not treating her like she’s damaged.

“If it’s from Walsh, just chuck it into the fire with the others,” she says sharply. It’s been months since she’s seen Killian and it hurts. She hears of all the places he’s going, running from the Misthaven and the Oz navies.

He’s in danger because he’s trying to protect her. Emma’s tried to fix it, tried to convince her father that she doesn’t want vengeance or justice; she wants to move past it. It doesn’t work.

“It’s from Prince Charles,” Ruby says, raising her brows into a wolfish grin.

Emma practically drops the book. “What?” she exclaims. Ruby’s grin widens.

“I knew it! This was the guy you danced with at least three times! Why in the world did you want to marry Walsh then?” she exclaims.

“Give me the letter Ruby,” she demands. She hands over the letter, leaving the room with a smirk that screams that it wasn’t over.

Dear Princess,

Having met you at the ball, I couldn’t stop thinking about you darling.

I hope I made an impression. I hope you have fond memories of that night.

I heard about your ordeal, I wish you a swift recovery.

Currently, I am traveling the realm, versing myself on the world before I settle down.

I hope to you see you soon.

Prince Charles.

Emma nearly broke into tears seeing his fancy script. She’d seen his writing on corners of books or on random scraps of papers. She never realized how soothing it could be until now.

Emma turns to Henry, who was fast asleep on her pillow. She presses a kiss into his sleek fur, causing him to roll onto his back and purr.

“It’s all going to be ok Henry.” For once she actually believes it.

It felt amazing to know he was ok. Better yet, it gave her a chance to write back to him.

//

I think of you fondly Prince. Perhaps you can come back to Misthaven someday. Currently, we have a pirate problem my father is trying hard to eradicate. I hear he suspects the scourge to be in Camelot. Is that close to where you are?

//

Camelot is a fascinating place. Full of rich history and even richer people, definitely a place a dashing pirate would hide. I, however, am residing with the fishes, or at least chatting up some mermaids. However, beautiful as they may be, none are as beautiful as you.

//

You’re such a charmer; I’m sure at least one mermaid caught your eye.

//

Only when they disguised themselves as you darling. I did manage to pick up a knickknack for you, though; a seashell. It’s supposed to let you communicate with your True Love every full moon.

//

Didn’t think you were one to believe in such things. Did you pick up one for yourself, hoping you’ll get lucky? Perhaps hoping little ol’ me will be on the other end? Maybe a handsome prince will be on the other end. You’ll just be introducing me to my soulmate.

//

I don’t think any prince could handle you, love. There’s a little pirate in you that’s for sure.

//

The letters come like clockwork and Ruby becomes more insistent with what was going on with her.

“Ever since the letters started, you’ve become more and more like your old self,” she presses, holding the next letter away from her reach. “But the funny thing is that Prince Charles had his invitation stolen for the ball.” Emma groans.

“It doesn’t matter, I know what I’m doing Ruby!” she exclaims impatiently, snatching the note away from her.

“Do you?” she responds. “You never even mentioned Walsh, and then I find out you ran away causing an international incident? How do I know you won’t do it again?”

Emma levels Ruby a glare. “Because I’m not a child Ruby; I learn from my mistakes,” she snaps.

“You’re lying about something,” Ruby scolds. “And I’m going to get to the bottom of it,” she declares, marching away seconds before Emma can slam the door on her face.

I’m on my way to Agrabah, currently, so I’ll be unable to get any messages from you for a bit darling. Messenger birds tend to get distracted by the smells of spices and herbs around these parts, but I’ll be thinking of you.

She smiles at it, and formulates her response.

//

“Emma!” her father announces at breakfast. He seems livelier than ever, and she smiles at his excitement. She hopes it means he’s found something better to occupy his time than catching Killian. Really, she’s just waiting for him to lose interest to just let it go.

She’s told him over and over again that she wants it dropped, that she wants to move on with her life.

With Killian.

She has no idea how to go about doing that, but getting her dad to drop the grudge would be a fantastic start.

“They caught him!” he exclaims. “The pirate, Captain Hook. Oz’s navy caught him leaving Agrabah!”

Emma swears she’s stopped breathing.

“You don’t have to say anything Emma,” her father says, his hands on her shoulders. “But we’ve got him. I promised you I’d get justice for you for him ruining your wedding.”

Emma is not someone who breaks easily. She’s tough as nails, her mother’s daughter. But just hearing her father say this, this lie? She just can’t.

Emma absolutely breaks into a sob. Her father pulls her into his embrace and she feels safe for a minute; in her father’s arms she feels safe and protected. “They’re hanging him for his crimes Emma. You’re safe. I promise. You’re safe.

She breaks away from her father with eyes wide. “E-Executing?” she realizes. She absolutely can’t breathe.

“He kidnapped you on top of all his other crimes of piracy,” her father explains, wiping away her tears, just like he always does. But he can’t.

“No!” she shouts. “Father, please you can’t let them do this.” It catches him completely off guard.

“Sweetie…I know executing is not how we do things in Misthaven, but in Oz it’s a just punishment, especially after-” she doesn’t let him finish, she can’t. She can’t hear it.

“Daddy please, tell them to stop this, to wait. Don’t let this happen. If you love me, you won’t let this happen!” she practically yells. By then her mother moves, trying to comfort her.

“Sweetie-” But Emma can’t. She doesn’t want comforting, she wants to fix this. She wants everything to stop spiraling out of control.

“I can’t do this!” she says, brushing off both their attempts to help and rushes out of the room.

//

She doesn’t let her parents in, nor Hopper with his claims that she was having an emotional connection with her kidnapper. Emma didn’t want to hear it. She wasn’t a basket case, she wasn’t a victim, but Emma couldn’t tell them that. She didn’t know what to tell them.

The only thing she wants to do is be here with Henry. He’s calmly sitting on her bed, playing with her as she taps her fingers on the bed.

“Emma let me in,” Ruby demands outside her door. “I’m not above breaking this door down, you know,” she adds.

Emma doesn’t care. Let her Emma thinks.

“I have a letter Emma,” she says softly. “Let me in.”

That gets her attention. She moves from her bed and from her position by Henry. He mews in displeasure from having her stop playing. She goes to the door opening it a bit.

“A letter?” she repeats dumbfounded.

“Oh honey,” Ruby says, but she holds out the parchment.  It causes Emma to gasp. “I heard what happened.” she says as she hands it over. Emma can’t believe what she’s holding. She walks back into the room. Her name’s on it, but the ink looks older than they usually seem.

Emma,

I instructed Smee to send this to you in the event that I got captured. I’m sorry Swan, so sorry I couldn’t keep my promise to you. But it’s worth it knowing you’re safe and happy. You should know our time together has meant the world to me.

Before you, I was obsessed with what I lost, with avenging those I loved. I didn’t care if that meant my death. You saved me darling. You brought me back.

Don’t worry about me Swan. Don’t come for me Swan. I have no regrets, not a bloody one. Find someone worthy love, find someone who thinks you’re beautiful, and admires your fire. Never settle for anything less.

I love you Swan.

And not because of the cat.

Quickly Emma folds up the note, desperate to get it away from her before her tears ruin the ink, and blurs his words.

Emma needs to fix this and she has no idea how. Ruby’s behind her and pulls her into a hug and she lets her. She holds onto her friend.

“It’s him isn’t it?” Ruby says as she strokes her hair. “The pirate, he’s the guy you’ve been seeing for all these months.”

She nods. It doesn’t matter anymore.

“He never took me Ruby, never. He would never hurt me. Walsh. He took me. I snubbed him at my party. He was rude and so he had his people grab me.”

She hears Ruby intake a sharp breath.

“He was trying to trap me, trying to ruin my reputation. But Killian came to get me. We came up with this plan to avoid a war. You know Dad, he would have demanded Walsh be punished. It was the only way Ruby. It was the only way.”

She feels Ruby nod against her.

“But I don’t want him to die. I-I can’t be responsible for k-killing him.” Ruby pulls away from her, hands on her shoulders.

“I get it Emma. Trust me, if anyone understands it’s me. But it’s not over yet. Your father already wrote to the King. He’s asking them not to execute him. It might buy us some time.”

“Us?”

“So Emma, I think it’s time you met my girlfriend.”

//

It’s not that Emma never knew about Ruby’s girlfriend it was just that Mulan was busy. She was a free spirit, a true soldier.  She came and went wherever she was needed, from small towns being overrun by outlaws, to infiltrating corrupt kingdoms and exposing their evil.

She is a warrior, which is why they had to go all the way down to the docks to meet with her. She was in one of the pubs that even Killian avoided. It was too full of drunks egging for a fight.

“Mulan’s been in town for these last few days,” Ruby introduces, placing a kiss on her cheek. “And I think she’s the one thing that can help fix this.”

Emma smiles at her. “Hi, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she says and Mulan smiles back, but Emma could tell she was uncomfortable. She was dressed to a T in armor, a blade at her hip.

“Ruby tells me you need to save a prisoner?” she asks, getting right down to business. That was perfectly fine with Emma.

“Yes. His name is Killian Jones,” she says. “He’s been captured by the Oz Navy.”

Mulan hesitates. “Do you mean the pirate?” she asks. “I heard they captured a ruthless pirate.” Now it’s Emma’s turn to hesitate.

“He’s changed,” she admits. “He’s a pirate, but he also saved my life; risked his own to help me protect my people, and avoid a needless war,” she expresses. “I can’t let him die.”

Mulan nods. “I understand. Now what exactly do you want me to do?” She asks simply.

What did Emma want her to do Emma thinks. She wants to fix this, she wants to save Killian; she wants things to go back to normal. No. Emma wants more than just normal.

“I want you to get me into Oz, and help me take down anyone in my way to save my pirate.”

//

Mulan, true to her word, gets her to Oz in the back of a supply ship. It was far less comfortable than the Jolly Roger.

She doesn’t tell Mulan that.

Ruby stays behind and pretends to be her, locking her door and refusing entrance as she’s done. It’s just a little bit of time. That’s all she needs.

The castle is massive; she knows this, plated in emerald with many heartless guards ensuring no one enters. Emma can tell that it’s far more secure this time around.

But Mulan is a professional. When she can’t sneak or fight her way inside, she buys her way with a stack of gold. She tells a guard a simple story about wanting to catch her cheating husband at work with a maid. It takes a bit of convincing but it works and they’re inside.

From there, it’s easy to get down to the dungeon. After all, she knows the way.

//

She finds him eventually, in the depth of the dungeon with barely any light to see. She uses the sound of his voice to find him. Emma can hear him muttering in between rasps. Complaining really about anything he could think of.

She nearly gasps in relief when she nears his cell.

When she finds him, the first thing Emma realizes is he’s immobilized. His arm is shackled above his head, forcing him into a kneeling V position. His blunted arm is shackled in a way that he can’t maneuver out of and his head is hanging limply, yet he’s still making low sounds.

“Hook?” she calls softly. It makes him stir, but he isn’t able to lift his head to look at her. She falls to her knees in front of him, talking in a mere whisper as she places a hand on his cheek lifting him up to look at her. “Killian?”

The whole right side of his face is badly bruised, eye swelled shut, the other looking glazed over and distant. “Swan?” he says, his good eye narrowed in question. He looks like he doesn’t believe she was actually there.

“We have got to stop meeting like this,” she teases, giving him a peck on the cheek. “First me, now you.” Killian rolls his eye.

“The lengths I’ll go to for a second date.”

“That was not a first date.” she insists. Mulan quickly unshackles his arm, causing his entire side to drop and Killian to groan.

“Let me guess, Henry missed me?” he teases as Emma goes to support him.

“Yeah, I’m totally here for the cat,” she says sarcastically.

“Knew it.”

“Will you two stop it? We need to get out of here,” Mulan snaps, undoing the final chain releasing Killian. But he’s obviously too sore to move.

“You really shouldn’t have come here,” he says seriously as she struggles to carry his body weight. He’s trying to stand, but she can feel his muscles strain and see his eyes skew shut.

“I have to agree with you there.” says a voice. Mulan moves instantly, getting in between them and the presence, drawing her blade.

Walsh steps into the light, guards at either side of him. “Emma darling, here I was trying to avenge you; trying to get justice on this menace for ruining our wedding,” he sneers.

Emma glares back.

“Don’t you want that darling?” he insists, getting closer. Mulan steps in front, glaring at him.

“Not another step,” she demands. He does stop, not even looking at the warrior in front of him.

“You don’t do you?” he says confidently. “I thought he looked rather familiar that day in my room, when he took you from me.” Emma feels Killian tense in her grasp. “All it took me was a while to realize, a while down here for him to admit where I knew him from,” he says with a laugh.

“Sadist,” Killian spits out. Walsh ignores him.

“He’s that prince who ruined our dance don’t you remember darling?” Emma doesn’t say a thing. She tries to hide how everything was unraveling and she was helpless to stop it. “Prince Charles I recall, except I know the real prince and he assured me he was nowhere near the palace that day. He masqueraded as a prince to deceive you darling.” Emma doesn’t even blink.

“And you think if he hadn’t I’d ever want to dance with you?” she asks. “Seriously? You are a piece of work Walsh. An egotistical fool that thinks being royal means you’re entitled to anything. News flash, but that’s not how things work in the real world.”

His grin widens. “You already knew that he wasn’t a prince.” He laughs. “This keeps getting better and better. You are going to marry me, or you’ll be ruined, Princess. Ruined. Screwing a pirate? No one will ever touch you.”

Killian jolts in her grip. “You leave her alone,” he snarls going for him despite his weakened state. “I swear I’ll bloody kill you if you even think about slandering her name.”

Walsh is laughing, cackling with glee. “Did you hear that guards? The prisoner is threatening me. Kill him and the warrior. Keep the princess alive.”

Emma doesn’t wait for the guards to move, grabbing Killian as Mulan deals with the approaching guards. “Run!” the warrior orders.

They do exactly that. She takes Killian, him staggering next to her, towards the back of the dungeon, the same way they entered. It leads to an exit that is supposed to be unguarded for a little while longer.

“Swan-” Killian starts, but she shakes her head.

“She’ll be fine,” Emma insists.

“We can’t let him tarnish you love,” he says. “Leave me here, get to safety, they’ll never know you were even here.”

Emma blinks at his insistence. She doesn’t understand. “If I die here Swan, it’ll be his word against yours. No one will believe him. Your reputation-”

“I don’t care!” she snaps. “I don’t care about any of that. Not if you’re dead. I don’t care about any other man wanting me as long as I have you.” Emma hesitates. “You do want me right?”

He kisses her, a gentle thing, his hand coming up to her cheek. His forehead presses against hers.

“Til the ends of the earth Emma, my love.” he vows with a grin. “Now, let’s get out of this bloody place.”

“Emma?!” Emma turns suddenly, forcing Killian behind her. Her eyes widen.

“Bloody hell,” Killian curses and he’s entirely right, because her parents were staring back at her, wide eyed and in shock.

“I can explain?”

//

She does explain, but not fully until after the death of Captain Hook; he dies in that Oz dungeon from his injuries sustained in captivity.

On their way back home, they do come across a sailor escaped from Neverland. Long thought dead Lieutenant Killian Jones returns from the dead, and to Misthaven of course.

He brings with him news of The King of Oz’s long sought cure to actually be a deadly poison. They all agree it was just a tragic mistake of course.

She does explain of course, that while treating the brave Lieutenant’s injuries she falls hard and fast for him.

It’s only a coincidence of course that he spills a good deal of wine on Prince Walsh at Ruby and Mulan’s wedding.

It’s not a coincidence at all that Walsh doesn’t even show up for their wedding; nor that they name their first child Henry because of the cat.