#Second Love

[thewallofclaire]

we live in time (2024) cinema screening | photo taken by my best friend on nov 9, 2024.

best friend: ooh spicy sex scene. me: this feels so sad at the same time. best friend: sappy and spicy.

[thepenultimateword]

A continuation of @some-messed-up-writing-for-you's prompt #1211!

The human trudged through the snow, harsh wind billowing against them and biting at their skin. Frozen-over stairs nearly slipped from beneath them. At the last step, their exhaustion won.

They fell into the snow, just barely shielding the bundle in their arms. And between their frozen eyelashes, the human saw a sliver of light before a pair of clawed feet slowly approached them.

The end of a metal spear hovered in the air, ready to strike as the monster growled at them. With arms heavier than lead, the human unraveled the cloth in their hold.

A tiny snout poked out and scrunched up at the cold, yowling unhappily. The growling stopped.

"P-Plea-ase..." the human begged, teeth chattering relentlessly. "S-Save t-t-them..."

The monster pried the woman's frozen fingers from the child's blankets, cradling their little body close to his heart and the boiling blood coursing through it. The child immediately quieted.

"Th-thank you," the human woman murmured, slumping onto her hands.

The monster spared a flick of his tail as he climbed the first couple steps toward the wall. He hesitated. Too many questions. He swung his spear over his back, essentially holstering it, and crouched in front of her, impressed that she did not flinch. "Is it yours?"

"What?"

"The monster dipped his head meaningfully toward the bundle of fur and fangs. "Is. It. Yours?"

The woman's lashes and lids were already too frosted to produce tears, but her lip trembled. "Y-yes. B-but...please...he's half creature. H-he'll l-learn. H-he'll f-f-fit in. Please."

"No, that's not what I was..."

The woman swayed a little on her hands, head lolling. The monster still had so many questions, but obviously not much time to ask them. With a rumbling sigh, he looped an arm around her middle, eliciting a quiet whimper as he tucked her next to her child.

"They're going to suspend me from wall duty for this," he muttered. Well, he never much liked wall duty anyway.

***

" Magnum!" The woman shot upright, arm stretched out in front of her, reaching for the bleeding, wolf-scruffed figure she could still almost see behind her eyes. He faded as quickly in dream as in reality, replaced by the dusty floors and weapon-decorated walls of a bedroom. A crackling hearth illuminated the room in dim, orange light, stretching her shadow as she pulled back the roughspun covers and stepped one bare foot onto the hardwood.

As she turned around the room, a realization struck. Everything, from the twin-bed to the chipped armoire to the fireplace ledge, was enlarged or stretched. Unnaturally so. An image of Magnum, scrunched up in the bed at home, tail tucked tight, the odd limb dangling over the mattress, flashed across her mind, and everything cleared. This was no human bedroom.

On cue, the door squealed, and a tall, mawed creature, covered from head to toe in black feathers, stepped across the threshold. His eyes widened a fraction at the sight of her awake and standing.

"I wouldn't be on your feet just yet. You're badly frostbitten."

The human blinked, shifting her gaze down to her mottled toes, suddenly accosted by a warm, almost burning sensation beneath her skin. She slowly held her hands out in front of her, finding equal coloring as well as a mess of cracks and blisters. She could only imagine what her face looks like after such a trek.

She did not sit.

"Where's Finch?"

The creature stared a moment, then making the connection said, "I entrusted the child with a friend who knows much more of younglings than I. I will take you to him, but first, answers."

"Answers?" the human ignored her stinging soles and took a challenging step forward. "That should be my line. Where am I? Who are you? Why am I still alive? Where is my baby?"

The creature took an equally aggressive step, looming over her squared shoulders and raised chin with born fangs. "Beyond the wall, where I so graciously allowed you passage when you trespassed our land. My name Dionyus, aka, your savior. You're alive because I've allowed it, and you're baby is safe and sound two doors down. Satisifed?"

"I'm never satisfied."

"It shows. My turn. What possessed you to enter ada territory?"

She frowned. "Ada?"

"Your kind call us creatures."

"Oh." A thin wash of shame traveled over her. She hadn't realized there was a proper name for the people. Magnum hadn't told her. Magnum probably hadn't known. Another injustice to the long list of injustices that made up his short life. "I was searching for the wall. I heard creatures--er, adas--here take in refugees. And orphans. So I brought Finch. Who I'd like back now by the way."

Dionyus scoffed. "You were all too keen to pawn him off on the nearest bystander yesterday."

"Yes, when I thought I was about to die, but obviously, I did not, so give him back."

The feathers on the nape of Dionyus's neck and the backs of his arms stood on end. "Has anyone told you that you're a much different person when you're dying?"

"I wouldn't be caught dead dying." She swept passed him much more awkwardly and wobbly than she'd intended, but still managed a few steps toward the open door before the ada stopped her with a clawed hand. She briefly noted they did not match their opposite extremities, which were more like the dark, avian, feet of a crow, whereas these were something like paws.

"Is Finch really yours?"

The human jerked her arm free, and rather than digging in, the ada's claws skimmed off her. "Yes, he's mine! Look at his mouth! Look at his eyes!"

"Why does a human woman have an ada child?"

"Well, when two people love each other very much--"

"You know that's not what I mean!"

"None of your business!"

It all came out too harsh, but she'd been interrogated, shamed, and threatened over Finch too many times now for patience.

She dropped her raw face into her hands, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sorry. You helped us, helped him, and I'm acting horrible. I'm just... Do you have kids?"

"No." Dionyus's tufted ears flattened. "But I had littermates."

"Then you understand. What it's like to love someone too deep? Like a fire that burns too hot, willing to incinerate everything else around it? The fangs that come with the desire, no the need to protect them?"

He shifted. "I do."

"I will try to answer your questions later. But please, please take me to my son."

Dionyus's jaw clenched, but eventually, he nodded, stepping out of her way so she could hobble to the door.

"Last thing," he asked as he took the lead, barely looking at her. "What's your name?"

"Maeve."

Part Two

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[whatdoidowithallthislove]

[itskathstyle]

Second love

Day #1 @hashimada-week

Madara is in love with Hashirama, but he's busy loving someone else.

I'm so excited about Hashimada week and I'll doing somethings. My fic is in Spanish, use translator

[lavenderfairycow]

my whole life i felt like i was too old for my time.

at ten my town burned into ashes and i stood in front of it in my wool coat and holding a shard of my dead grandmother's ceramic christmas tree.

when i was eleven i wrote a three-part collection of trauma poems and watercolor portraits, but the portraits were never of me, but of the people i saw in the shadows that no one else could see.

twelve years old and i moved into an empty house. small. crowded. i met a girl. she was really beautiful in my eyes. but she was fifteen going on sixteen, too old for me. i did not know how i felt except good. i felt so safe with her. and i had an inkling she felt the same.

when i was thirteen the same girl broke my heart. i thought i had felt love for her, looking back now it was just the idea, the reverie of love. but part of it was real. she would hold me close when the curtain fell, and i painted her on the largest canvas in my possession. i wrote her my longest work yet, of adoration, of admiration. she showed me music that threw my world up in flames and threw it back down to burn my lips to black. but she told me she couldn't do it. she couldn't make this work because she didn't care about me all that much. and it was an event i should have seen coming. but i was thirteen. i was naive. i was not suited to be in a loving relationship with a sixteen year-old. and that was the only truth i couldn't see.

fourteen and i watched call me by your name for the first time. listened to sufjan stevens all day long, and phoebe bridgers at night. sad lesbian music. heartbreak hangover. i wanted to keep talking to the girl i loved but it was so hard to keep a safe distance while doing so. and so, that spring before she turned seventeen, i wrote her two letters one month apart. and instead of going back to our used-to-be-normal, she told me to fuck off and never speak to her again. her name was evie.

when i turned fifteen, i was a little happier. i wanted that elio and oliver type of love. not, the elio at the end of the film type. on the phone, crying, whispering her name over and over and over again. i met someone else just as my first "love" and i began to be on better terms again. but this new girl was straight as a board, and she was one of my best friends. and i don't know how it ended with her, though i really loved her, a true love, not just an idea. because when we graduated, i missed my opportunity to tell her how i really felt for her. but then there was a monday night in october when evie called me "babe." and i didn't know how to respond. because she was the one who cut things off with me, so i just smiled and resisted the urge to scream or cry or both all at the same time. it wasn't the place. it wasn't the right time either. and i didn't love her anymore, if i ever did at all. it really felt ... over.

and as father sufjan said once, blessed be the mystery of love.

[crutchlegcrutch]

This co-dependency is getting old....

When we met, I was a broken amputee...

needing you to hold me up, even though you can't...

A piece of me missing is the only thing my eyes could see...

feeling like a lost child just by the known fact; soon you will have to leave.

I observe you over time, loving and supporting me, allowing me to discover who I am meant to be.

I'm told in a million ways how you care. But my soul still cries in agony.

And as I let go of the need to understand. "Why me? Why me in this way?" I'm able to feel sexy being me, in this way.

My surroundings whisper sweet nothings to me, but all I can hear is the past screaming.

But when you have to go away because you bring home all the pay. My joy, it fades away...

Somedays I'm stronger. Somedays I can go and play while your away. But not today.

I have to wonder why I'm so sad? Maybe I'm just forever broken...

Today the soul-crushing sadness isn't what I want. And I don't want to comfort it. I want to....

Or maybe I have just fallen in love? Have you ever had that kind of love? The love is so intoxicating. it's the only thing you crave?

Post your answer:

[y3kdollz]

Guys!!! Can we talk about the reoccurring theme/topic and possibilities of second love in The Rings of power???

Bronwyn X Arondir

Elendil X Miriel

Galadriel X Halbrand

All three of pairings consist of characters that had experienced deep grief and loss/absence of a significant other( even tho what happened to Theo’s father is not explained yet).

Throughout season 1 we are seeing these pairing develop feelings for each other and establishing deep connections. It’s almost like the pairings are mirroring each other with themes of healing, faith, redemption and possibilities of a second love which is particularly interesting to me because such idea of love was never really in spotlight in Tolkien universe before. (Sorry I’m not a Tolkien expert but the impression I had before with romantic love in Tolkien world was more like one love for life and even with the loss or absence of one partner, it is not encouraged for the remaining one to ever move on)

I actually love the idea of finding and learning to love again as a possibility for human and elves in Tolkien settings. It would make the characters more multidimensional and interesting.

[sarahivess]

Found these and they are so INSANE. So extremely accurate to my own experiences, and I also noticed how many others there were who also found these accurate

[karihighman]

Day 6️⃣: creative day ft. Chenford inspired quote on second love ❤️ because Lucy is Tim’s second chance at love & Tim is Lucy’s first choice 🥺 and I think that’s beautiful

[lupa2003]

Again,again and again i am thinking of you. I told my mind to never look back and it won't listen. They surfs through those sweet yet painful memories. And all i can do is to embrace my throbbing heart. I miss you and i want you to have a good life even without me in ur life. For us, there was never a full stop bcs there wasn't a sentence to begin with. I removed me from ur life as i knw that we will remain as an incomplete story. I hurt you in a way that no one could and your words still echoes in me "The problem with me is that i dont forget things easily". I miss you. I wants to call you and ask how you're doing...whether you've got a girl who deserves your love but i am scared . I am scared that i will be reminding of things u might wanna forget and i am scared that i will get u into mess again ......i am sorry and i miss you .....i cant say it to you ...i can only write it here to relieve my aching heart.

[whatdoidowithallthislove]

Just stay

[chaoticpersontale]

Kdrama: The Matchmakers

[inthehoneymoonwithconnorrk800]

WRITTING CHALLENGE

PETYR BAELISH X READER: dragon chaos

nothing more exciting than being the true love of Petyr Baelish.

Warnings: petyr baelish x f! oc

I see with a strange feeling of sadness, melancholy and euphoria when I see how the sun says goodbye to the sea. I am alone, although guarded, I am a hostage after all. However, this moment of peace nothing can ruin it. When I was little, I always felt a strong connection to water. From a small pond, snowflakes falling on my face, the liquid in the bathtub, the sparkling and fresh rivers, the smell and the waves of the sea. I feel a lump in my throat. The pressure is so strong that it causes tears to threaten to stream down my face and destroy my façade as a submissive lady. "Lady Taryn, you was not supposed to be around." Shae's voice is concerned and she walks over to my side, checking for any injuries or injuries. I let myself be attended to, it is Shae's language of affection after all. Seeing that I have nothing, she looks at me doubtfully. "Sit by my side." I know she looks at me in alarm. But there is nothing to fear, it is normal for two company ladies to meet together in their free time because poor Sansa is being attended by another maid. I lightly pat it on the sweet-smelling grass that is delicate to the touch. "I feel lonely, Shae." "Why? Everyone surrounds you at parties…" she says in a tone that was meant to be mocking, but ends up being silent envy. "You know what I mean, my friend." Shae stays still for a second, I can see her doubts about what friendship in Kinds Landing consists of. She has grown up in a fairly low and harsh social barrier, contemplating prostitution from the Starks' point of view is purely disgusting. But I didn't think so. I saw them as victims of the system. But if I said that, Shae would punch me with the excuse of feeling sorry for her, nothing crazy. "Shae?" I ask, my throat cold. "Yes, my lady?" "How was the story of your parents? Her jaw immediately tensed. Her gaze is slightly less sweet. I know that she appreciates me, but there are lines that must not be crossed. But right now I just want to make others angry for everything they did to me. "Don't you dare ask me about that" her voice is threatening despite maintaining her lower class demeanor. Fleetingly as she turns around, I catch a glimpse of a dagger concealed in her skirt. I'll ask her that later, especially with Tyrion.