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deltas-writing-corner · 3 years

Text

Courtship (4): The Gargoyle Graveyard

Fandom: Twisted Wonderland (Malleus x GN!reader)

Author note: Again, thank you all for being patient with me and I apologize for having a very inconsistent writing schedule. I'm going to make it my goal to update on a bi weekly basis instead of leaving you all in silent limbo. Also a reminder I suck at figuring out which warnings to put so if there's something that needs to be forewarned that I failed to disclose please lmk!

Warnings: Mentions of heavy bodily injuries | childhood trauma/neglect | discussions/mentions of discrimination | mentions of virginity/sexual history

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AO3 version

Clay. Stone. Porcelain. Plaster. Metal. There are even gargoyles carved entirely of wood! Some statues are stand-alone works of art while others are part of a clear collection or series of similar inspiration. They even come in all sorts of shapes and sizes; as small as an apple or a towering height to rival Malleus himself. No matter what, each grotesque has been crafted with the utmost consideration, by well seasoned and knowing hands. Even the ones that have clear defects and cannot serve their intended purpose are free of overabundant ivy, weeds, or dust. There’s a clear degree of love and care the family who makes these statues has for their craft that makes him feel less alone in his interest in an uncherished form of art.

“It should be around here somewhere,” you muse aloud. Ever since he expressed interest in seeing more sculptures made with non-traditional materials, you’ve been keeping your eye out for a particular one that would fulfill his yearning. You eventually find it and eagerly point to it. “There it is!”

Malleus watches as you approach a massive-sized statue covered with a thick and half-wet tarp. He helps you remove the cover, revealing a winged and slightly humanoid canine. There are many more grotesques with a similar design, but what makes this one stand out the most is the material it’s made out of.

“Amazing!” Malleus awes. “I’ve never seen a grotesque of this size made entirely of glass! They’ve even managed to maintain their attention to detail despite such an abnormal material choice.”

“You can even see the inner channel where the water would flow in and redirect out of its mouth,” you notice.

“They even went out of their way to make it functional despite it being unfit for actual installation?” Malleus inquires with disbelief. “Such a shame.”

“If you’re looking to buy anything here, I’m afraid it's a lost cause. One of the first warnings the grandfather gave me is that none of these are for sale.”

“What was his second warning?”

“If we damage anything, even as small as a scratch, he’ll kill us.”

“How charming,” he chuckles. “I cannot blame him. These statues must take weeks to complete. Time is a human’s greatest enemy.”

“For some, sure. But when I went to visit the family and talked to the old man, he was lunging around all this heavy equipment like he was still in his prime,” you recall. “He lives for his craft. If there’s anything humans are at risk of their entire lives, it’s a lack of motivation and reason to live.”

“I suppose that’s true, but the lifespan of humans and the inevitable effects of aging is difficult to live with, especially once it begins to hinder one’s ability to do what one could previously do without issue. ”

“You’re not wrong,” you acknowledge. “But I think I’d rather live a short life with fulfillment than a dull, long-as-shit life.”

To show that he’s entirely on your side, Gunter lets out a guttural bark while his tail rapidly wags and thumps the damp ground, coating the ends of his bushy tail in specs of dirt and dirtied, remnant snow of the north that has managed to stay frozen on the isles warmer south end.

“You’re only agreeing with them because you’ve been promised food,” Malleus chastises. “Don’t think I didn’t pick up on your grumbling stomach.”

“And don't think I didn't pick up on your stomach rumbling either your highness," you quip back at him. "The family has a small cottage nearby we can use. We'll settle down for a bit and eat before sightseeing some more."

Before you turn and walk in the direction towards the aforementioned lodgings, you reach your hand out for Malleus to take and he latches onto you with restrained enthusiasm. He's taller than you, but he takes care not to take his normal strides as to not leave you struggling to keep up with him. Gunter doesn't know the way, so he trots beside you every step of the way up until the destination is in plain view. The cottage is small but well-attended. There’s a rustic flair to its construction that makes it feel familiar and safe despite never stepping foot in it before.

"Those gargoyles were something, huh?" you remark to him while you tap and shake off the gunk wedged into the soles of your heavy boots against the frame of the door.

"Indeed," he nods, taking your cloak off for you and hanging it on the wooden rack nearby. "I don't think I've ever seen that many gargoyles in one day. Just when my eyes land upon an intriguing one, there's several more that catch my attention."

The way he gets all wide-eyed is outright adorable. It makes you grin just as enthusiastically too. "I bet your club is going to have a field day once you tell them about this!"

His child-like smile turns into one of disappointment. "I'm certain they would, if I wasn't the sole member that is."

Your hands halt from pulling out and setting down all the premade food out of your pack. "Seriously? You're the only one?"

When he nods his head, you feel a twinge of hurt in your heart. Poor guy. You can only imagine how disappointing it must be to go through all those lengths to start a club (you would know since you're technically a staff member of the school and have been given a rundown on some of the school's functions and regulations) only for no one to show interest. Of course, you completely understand that gargoyles aren't exactly all the rage within the minds of teenage boys. Still! He goes through so much effort to build relationships with his peers but they always cower away, either due to his status or even because of the way he looks. You won’t deny that he does come off as rather intimidating at first glance, but he's a sweet guy once you give him the chance to speak.

But to expect teenagers going through social pressures and demanding academics to be as understanding and willing to understand someone like Malleus is an impossible demand. Given that everyone in the school can be a bunch of self-centered and easily agitated bunch of pricks, it's understandable that most of the student body isn't keen on trying to take into consideration the proper etiquette one needs to consider in the presence of a young and noble fae. Deuce has met and talked briefly with Malleus on one occasion, but even he visibly shakes whenever his name is mentioned, even in casual passing.

Wait until they found out who you've gone and gotten buddy-buddy with behind their back. They probably think they're slick or that their intentions are well swept under the rug, but it's clear they feel some semblance of responsibility for your well-being, as both a magicless individual as well as a close, albeit older, friend. You dread the day people begin to make the connections between Malleus and you, but you still can’t help but wonder what their reactions might be. You also dread the high probability those two idiots are going to find out and embarrass the living hell out of you, which you know you do not have the patience or tolerance for.

Gunter jumps up and sits himself down in one of the wooden dining chairs, pushing the small ceramic plate towards you with his nose, as if telling you "Alright, I’ve done what I said I'd do, now feed me what I'm owed." You tell him that you'll give him what he's well earned after you get a small fire started in the brick fireplace. Just because it's warmer near the southern half of the island and not as heavily blanketed with snow, doesn't mean the cold has completely vanished, Winter is still winter after all.

"Where did these scars come from?"

Malleus' unexpected question and closeness nearly make you drop the iron rod you've been using to stoke the growing fire. You've since taken off your boots and rolled up the bottoms of your pants just above your knee as the room starts to warm up enough for a thin layer of perspiration to accumulate and roll down your skin. The scars he's referring to are the ones on your right leg, both side by side at an awkward angle and discolored. You have a lot more scars than these, some much more gruesome in appearance than these two. Malleus has never asked about your scars, but sometimes you catch him looking in the general area of some that peak through your clothes. He likely keeps quiet about their existence out of courtesy.

Yet out of all the markings on your body, why did these two stand out enough that he'd finally ask about them?

"It's a long story," you say in an effort to stall the topic. "Sit. I'll feed you two once the fire is stable."

He doesn’t push you for an answer, instead simply doing as you say and lets you poke at the burning logs until they're properly aflame on their own. You made mostly some of your morning favorites; Creamy and thick potato stew with diced carrots and peas and some eggs, ham, and crispy hash browns sandwich between homemade halved croissants. You teased him about having picky taste buds earlier, but Malleus is content to eat anything you serve him so long as it is not comparable to the likes of Lilia's atrocious cooking.

(Seriously, how does a man as old as Lilia not know the basic fundamentals of cooking? And why does everything he makes end up burnt and tasting like something rotten? You will never understand.)

"Don't eat too quickly," you warn Gunter as you pour a bit of light-colored soup onto his designated plate. Your words are ignored, as the equally marred wolf sloppily slurps and munches on the few bits of potatoes and vegetables you generously scraped out of the thermos. His food is gone as quickly as it’s put in front of him and he looks at you expecting more.

"No. The rest is mine," you scold. "And don't beg Malleus for some either! I know you do it behind my back, you little shit!"

He turns to look at Malleus with an accusatory glare, thinking that he ratted him out to you. Malleus’s response towards the silent imputation is to turn and look out the window as if something caught his interest all of a sudden, cup raised to his lips as he politely sips away at his meal without an air of calmness. You have to slap a hand over your mouth to hide the amusement that overtakes your senses.

"Malleus, stop that!"

"Stop what?" he innocently asks.

"Stop making me want to laugh!"

He sets his cup down onto its matching serving dish. "It's not my fault you have an easily satiable sense of humor."

"Wow!" you say incredulously and put your arms up in offense. "And here I was thinking we were friends!"

His distant demeanor breaks and you both devolve into a fit of laughter together. Gunter unfortunately takes advantage of your joint distraction and slips away with a warm sandwich between his jaw, your sandwich in particular.

"That damn wolf!" you curse. "I knew I should have trusted my gut and pack extras.”

Malleus pities your distress before moving over to sit closer. "Worry not. I'll split mine in half with you,” he reassures.

"No, it's fine," you immediately dismiss his offer. "Have it for yourself."

"I'm not taking no for an answer," he firmly states. “Don’t be stubborn. It’s far too early for that.”

"I thought you liked it when I was stubborn?” you pout.

He shakes his head with a smile. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t”

"At least someone likes my attitude,” you say after chewing and swallowing a mouthful of soup. “Sebek certainly doesn’t."

"The boy is stubborn as well. When two equally stubborn individuals cross paths, you will witness nothing but discord between the two."

"Add the fact I'm human into the mix, and we'll be exchanging fists instead of words sooner or later," you scoff. "I get that some faes don't like humans, but what's his deal with acting like he’s got a vendetta against me?"

"Sebek doesn't hate humans for the reasons you might think," Malleus admits. "It’s more like he finds them difficult to think that highly of. Did you know that he is half-human?"

You nearly choke on your own breath over the sudden revelation. "Really?"

"Indeed," Malleus finds amusement at your disbelief. "Have you ever wondered why his ears aren't pointed like Silver, but his eyes are like mine and Lilia’s?"

"Damn,” you scratch the back of your head with embarrassment. “Now I feel stupid.”

"You aren't. Given the way he speaks, not many would assume he had human blood in his veins. His mother was highly regarded within her social circle, but her marriage to a human man tarnished her reputation a great deal. She's happy and does not seem to care what others think of her these days. However, when Sebek set out to be a knight, his mother's marriage and his lineage were often brought up as a way to scrutinize his character and capabilities rather than any of his actual shortcomings as an individual."

"Poor kid," you sigh. "Lilia told me those sorts of things still happen in The Valley, but it sounds so outlandish that I couldn’t take it that seriously."

"Many faes hold old traditions above all else, to a degree that the purity of one's blood stands above all other merits." His eyebrows pressed together in annoyance. "Even my grandmother thinks it's archaic, but as the reigning queen she has to embody a persona of neutrality between the social divide."

"It sounds like you have your work cut out for you in the future," you say, almost apologetically. "What do you plan to do about it once you're the king?"

There's a brief flash of surprise over your question, but Malleus easily answers it as usual. "I think my first course of action as king would be to properly knight Sebek and Silver."

"Bet my rifle that Sebek is going to cry the entire ceremony!" you remark with certainty. "That's all he ever goes on about, being a knight and all."

"He's devoted countless hours and efforts since he was a child. If there's anyone who deserves to join the knighthood, it's him."

"Definitely," you nod to further cement your agreement with him. "He could stand to lower his voice a bit. He'll give you tinnitus before long.”

"At least we won't have to worry about losing him in a crowd," Malleus jests.

"That's to say we'll lose sight of him to begin with," you remark. "He'll gladly lose me in a crowd. You? You'd be lucky to get out of arm's length."

"You underestimate me, dearest," Malleus smirks. "Ever since I've met you, I've perfected the art of avoiding Sebek's insistent searches."

"Have you now?" you razz back. "Don't let him catch onto the fact. He'll have my head."

He reaches over and tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. Each second his skin touches yours makes you tingle. Time slows down ever so briefly if only to savor the small instance of physical connection for as long as possible. "What of your aunts?" he inquires. "Are they as overprotective of you as Sebek is of myself?"

"They’re a trio of mama bears," you proudly admit. "I'm old enough to drink and well equipped to fend for myself, but in their minds, I'll always be the little tyke that couldn't even eat their meals without looking at them for approval. Especially my aunt Gia."

You have three aunts. There's your aunt Marisol, the mother of most of your cousins and the main caretaker of the household. Your second aunt Lucia was well into her studies at university when you came to live with them, but her stress and long hours of mulling over her course materials paid off in the long run. Your gardening skills wouldn't be what they are now without her expertise in agricultural botany.

Then there's your aunt Gia. Oldest of the three. An absolute tank of a woman. No spouse. No kids of her own. She lived off the land like an absolute titan. The woman raised you as if she was the one that carried you for nine months and not your actual birth mother.

How would you describe your parents? If your parents were told to list out their priorities in life, their careers would be at the top of the list and you would be put at the very bottom. Why they carried you to term is beyond your understanding. You later learned that Gia had even offered to take you under her care well before your birth, knowing that your parents might not be well-suited to take care of you in the way she thinks would be beneficial for you. It was a convenient offer that would have saved everyone the trouble years down the line when you had your accident. They worked in a cutthroat industry and were constantly moving up the executive echelons. They had no time for you, yet their pride as a pair of young, successful business magnates made them incapable of seeing past the reality of the situation. That left you mostly in the care of last-minute caretakers and your aunts, but only if they had time from their own busy and preoccupied lives to come out into the city and visit.

You were eight years old when things started to get better, but it was upstarted in the worst possible way. Your parents had to go away for the upcoming weekend for work and left you in the care of a babysitter as per the norm. The babysitter never showed up however and your parents apparently couldn’t be bothered to check up on you even once the entire trip. Their silence wasn’t surprising. You just went on about your business for the next three days on your own like nothing was wrong. Your aunt Gia had even called at one point to check up on you, but you didn’t bother to tell her that your parents had left you to fend for yourself. She would have exploded if you did, but not as much as she did when you woke up in the hospital after falling down the stairs and lying helplessly on the ground for several hours with a dislocated shoulder and a compound-fractured leg. You were lulling in and out of consciousness due to all the medication pumped into you, but what little you do remember seeing and hearing when you regained consciousness will forever stick with you for the rest of your life.

If people think your level of swearing is bad, they should have heard your aunt that day. She swore so viciously that it could set an innocent bystander's eardrums on fire. What will forever stand out the most to you was the fact that your parents didn’t even look the least bit apologetic or regretful. They didn’t even approach you once your aunt was done giving them a piece of her mind to check up on you. They simply talked with the awaiting social worker and doctors and then left. It was for the better, but the small part of you that continued to hold onto the desperate belief that your parents would come around one day sent you into a thrashing frenzy and you had to be sedated before you could hurt yourself anymore.

The next year was spent recovering from your injuries, meeting regularly with your caseworker, and going through therapists like a pack of cigarettes. By the time you were back on your feet and the legal proceedings of your custody case were concluded, all you wanted was to move on with it all. Nearly a decade of neglect left you this unattentive, uncertain husk of a person who couldn’t take a single step forward without looking for some sort of guidance or assurance. Your family was exhausted by the entire ordeal and over speaking with third parties. Your aunts took it upon themselves to help you regain your sense of self in the comfort of your new home, no matter how difficult or demanding it was going to be.

“It took some time, but eventually it clicked in my mind that I was in a better place and I started to get better. As for my parents, I have no clue what they’re up to these days.” You lean back into your chair and let out a shaking yawn. “I like to think they’re getting on well like I am.”

“I don’t understand.” Malleus looks at you with unbelievable confusion. “Your parents treated you poorly, yet you don’t sound the least bit resentful. Why is that?”

You shrug your shoulders. “What’s the point? I'm in a better place now, so I've let bygones be bygones. 'Doesn't mean I don't harbor any anger against them anymore. I do, but getting upset won't change what's happened to me."

Gunter, having sensed your discomfort over the matter, trots over and rests his head on your lap. You gratefully rub the top of his head, carding your hands through his thick, coarse hair. "I'm just glad they let me go without a fuss. Family court was hell for my family.” Your eyebrows knit together. “Expensive too.”

Crackling wood fills the momentary silence that befalls the small cottage. What you've recollected to Malleus is a lot to take in, and if you're being quite honest you'd prefer if he just dropped the subject and talked about literally anything else right now. You hope he doesn't say he's sorry or any other type of apologetic comment. That's all you were ever told that entire year it all happened, during court proceedings, your rehabilitation, by both strangers and distant family members alike.

"I'm so sorry. What happened to you was unfortunate. You didn't deserve it."

No shit you didn't deserve any of that. You were a kid. You don’t need one pity party after another to realize that what took place then had fucked you forever. But as you said earlier, you're in a better place now, with a loving and supportive family that's moved on alongside you. A family you need to get back to as soon as possible.

"I love you."

Well, if he was hoping to take your mind off the past. that certainly did it. How can it not? It came out of nowhere and as good as you are at holding your composure when need be, you're sure you look no less like a gaping fish when warm and plush softness presses right against the corner of your lips. A kiss. His kiss.

"What's wrong?" Your voice sounds shaky. You’re nervous.

"Nothing," he smiles reassuringly. "I simply said what I felt needed to be said."

"Fair enough" you concede easily. He was going to say it sooner or later. He already has actually, now that you think about it. Yet here you are trying to process his words like it’s rocket science.

"Am I going about this too fast perhaps?" he genuinely asks. His hands that have been busy massaging your calves that have settled across his lap somewhere during your long retelling gradually slow down, but his hands never go completely still. "This is my first time experiencing something like this."

"What?" You sit up a bit straighter. "A relationship?"

"Yes."

Your head tilts to the side. "Really?"

He nods hesitantly "Yes?"

For a moment, you go completely quiet. "I don't believe you,” you doubtfully say, head shaking to further showcase your refusal to believe him.

He must not have liked your remark, frowning with clear offense in his eyes. When he dislikes something, the vertical slits in his eyes contract into a thin line. "I cannot lie, yet you still doubt me?"

"I know you can't lie, but I find it hard to believe you haven't been with anyone else before," you explain. Before you can consider the appropriateness that was your newfound curiosity about Malleus's apparently non-existent love life, you blurt out, "Are you still a virgin?"

You slap your hand over your mouth the moment those words come out of it. He's equally caught off guard and nearly drops his warm cup of coffee. Even Gunter is surprised by your question, olive-colored eyes looking at you as if you've lost your mind. It's an invasive question, inappropriate even. You and Malleus have been dating for a little over two days. A question like that is way too early to bring up just yet.

"You don't have to answer that," you tell him behind your palm. "I shouldn't have even asked it. Forget I ever brought it up-”

"I'm not," he interrupts you, leaving you even more shocked than you already are. You’re practically gaping like a fish by now. "I'm not a virgin,” he further insinuates.

A deafening silence, but it’s eventually broken by yourself. “I still don’t believe you.”

Malleus gets further annoyed at your refusal to accept his truth. "I'm not lying!" he insists.

"Bullshit!"

"Do you want me to recount my history to you?" he asks, exasperated as you are at the shift the conversation is taking. "Will that satisfy your doubts?"

"You know what? It will!" you loudly declare. "Who'd you sleep with?"

"He was a young page at the time,” he reminisced. “It happened before I was a century old.”

Your eyebrows raise with intrigue. "Was he cute?"

"Yes," he hushedly agrees. The disconcerting admittance paints his face a pinkish-red glow. "But that's not why I bedded him."

"But surely his looks are what made you interested in the first place?” you make blatant regard of the fact.

“You’re not wrong,” he acknowledges, expertly avoiding agreeing with you outright. “But his looks aren't the sole reason I was drawn to him. He was bright-eyed and ambitious, to the point you’d think him insane given his position in the court. It was also the first time I ever truly met with a group of humans, and my young mind was eager to get a more accurate perspective of humans that wasn’t through the lens of my tutors.”

“An ‘accurate perspective’?” You make playful air quotes, eyebrows wiggling because you know the fact that he knows what you’re implying. The playful comment is met with a sharp pinch on your leg that makes you jump and shriek out in pain. Did he have to dig his nails into you? Apparently so, and now you have small crescent indents on your skin. “I bet Lilia had a good laugh when he found out.”

“He doesn’t know, actually,” he admits to you with what is obviously a proud smile.

“Now I know you’re lying to me,” you scoff. “Nothing escapes the old man’s radar.”

His hands begin to rub out the marks he’s left on you as a form of apology. “Lilia is sharp, but he had lost most of his vigor by the time I was born.”

You go wide-eyed again. “You mean his hearing and eyesight was better than it is now?”

He nods affirmatively. “From what I’ve been told, terrifyingly so.”

Lilia is already frightening as is. His short stature and boyish looks make him perfectly unassuming to those who don’t know any better. You once watched him beat up a couple of bulky, twice-his-height students from Savanaclaw without breaking a sweat, yet moments before he was jokingly scolding himself for dozing off so easily. You never once thought he was ever out of his elements. A cold chill runs down your spine thinking how much more perceptive the older fae may have been back during his prime years.

“Wonder what Lilia’s gonna think,” you ponder out loud in a quick effort to banish out the skin-prickling mental imagery your mind was invoking. “About us, I mean.”

Malleus seems surprised that you would change the topic to that of all things, but his initial shock goes away as quickly as it came. “As you may have guessed, he’s an open-minded individual, but he’s also very realistic and unafraid to say what’s on his mind.”

“So what does that mean for you and me?” you question with a bit of hesitation.

“Well,” he trails off and ponders for a moment. “He’ll surely like the scandal our relationship would invoke. However, as my caretaker and mentor, he won’t hesitate to put an end to it if he feels it necessary.”

Had it been anyone else sitting beside you, you’d have found that comment way too extreme and outright ridiculous. However, you are not speaking to anyone ordinary. You are not sitting before someone normal. It doesn't matter how well you get along with him. It sure as hell doesn't matter how deeply in love you are with him, and him of you. The moment you have been deemed a shortcoming, the outings, the closeness, it all stops. All of it will come crashing down and both you and him will be left wondering what could have been done differently.

Malleus is truly your best friend, because already he can tell that your mind is beginning to spiral even when you go quiet. He calls for your attention by gripping his hand around your bare ankle and carefully tugging the end of your limb. “Don’t fret over it too much,” he soothes, yet also sounding like he’s scolding you for letting your mind wander off so negatively. “Lilia is an exceptional judge of character. From what I’ve gathered, you’ve well exceeded all his marks. He trusts you, and to gain such a thing from someone as old and wise as him is an extraordinary feat.”

You brew over the attempted compliment he tried to pay to you. Unfortunately, it doesn’t snub out all these festering thoughts in your head. It doesn’t even give you temporary relief. Perhaps it would have brought you a sense of peace a few months ago, but with everything that has happened thus far, you doubt even Malleus can alleviate the storm that rattles inside you, even if what he speaks is without a doubt nothing but the truth.

Surely he can see that you are still having some hangups. When you lift his hand and plant a chaste kiss on the back of his hand, you hope he can decipher the gesture as a pitiful request for his forgiveness for dampening the once energetic mood. He is not at fault for your loss and inability to think optimistically at the moment and you need to make sure he knows it.

Today is about him, not you. Even if it’s just for today, you’ll put on a pleasant facade and worry about the rest at a later date. It’s just you and him, and for now, that’s enough.

You do a mental countdown starting from three, before finally giving him a late response to the three words he uttered in confidence to you earlier. “I love you too, by the way.”

You love him. You love him. You love him. That’s all his mind can think of for the rest of the day. He replays your reciprocation over and over like it’s sacred and all-powerful.

He had planned to return to his dorm before the sun began to set, but he found the mere idea of detaching from you deeply unwanted and made the last-minute decision to spend the evening at the Ramshackle dorm. He already has a few articles of clothing and personal essentials set up in one of the many empty rooms, so neither Lilia nor you had any objections at his sudden request.

“Don’t worry!” You shout across the room so that Lilia can hear you over his phone. “I’ll make sure he gets to bed on time!”

“You have my gratitude!” Lilia’s muffled voice responds gratefully. “Don’t cause too much trouble now, you two.”

“No promises~” you sing in jest before Malleus hangs up. Once the call ends Johnny, Benji, Franky, and you turn their attention back to their ongoing game of poker. Malleus watches and occasionally laughs to himself over the friendly banter shared between the quartet. At the end of every round, the winner is assaulted with colorful profanities whilst they take their newly won gambling chips with ebullience. Yet with each new dealing of cards, the animosity goes away and they’re all back to being friendly. He finds your interactions with your incorporeal roommates more entertaining than the book he’s been reading to pass the time.

“Hey, fairy boy,” Franky informally calls out toward him. “Don’t be a stranger now. Play a few rounds with us.”

“I’m afraid I’m not well versed in card games,” he admits, yet he still finds himself setting his literature aside and moving over to join them.

“Don’t worry,” you give him a reassuring smile. “They’ll go easy on you.”

“For how long?” he knowingly asks.

You give him an impressed smirk at his quick uptake. “I give it three rounds before they start to pull back their sleeves.”

Malleus is well-adjusted to the need to quickly learn a new topic and the expectation for him to fully comprehend it in full. None of them are harsh on him for his minor mistakes like some of the tutors he’s had in the past. Answers that he believes may be obvious or not as complicated as he thinks they are being answered with enthusiastic patience. The smallest achievements he makes are met with a proud response. When he makes a surprise turnabout and wins his first game, he’s rewarded with an encouraging round of applause by everyone.

“Not bad,” Benji praises as he shuffles the deck of cards. “You’re a fast learner.”

“So I’ve been told,” he humbly replies. “Is this the part where you all stop going easy on me now?”

“Don’t provoke them,” you half-heartedly warn. “Otherwise we’ll be up all night duking it out otherwise.”

Franky sets his glass of iced liquor down on the edge of the table. “Don’t you little lovebirds worry. We won’t take up too much of your well-needed time together.”

Annoyed at the clear jab at his relationship with you, you throw one of your chips towards his head. It passes through his body and clatters on the floor behind him. Your fawn Blossom jumps down from their spot on the couch and goes to sniff it, thinking it to be food, but walks away with a disappointed strut when he realizes it isn’t anything edible.

“I didn’t tell them a damn thing,” you defensively clarify. “It was so obvious what was going on between us that they figured it all out before we made it official.”

He lets out a deep breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “That’s...I can’t say I’m too pleased to hear about that.”

“We won’t say anything,” Franky reassures. “Just make sure to put a sock on the door whenever you guys want some alone time.”

“Franky!” you hiss at him. “What the hell?!”

“What?” he looks at you, unbothered by your clear embarrassment. “Do you honestly expect us to think you guys went out just to look at a bunch of statues?”

“Oh, I’m sure they were looking at something,” Johnny smirks. “It wasn’t made of stone though.”

“I hate you guys,” you growl out, arms crossing and leaning back into your seat with an angry huff. You don’t mean it. He can see the tremble of your lips as you try to contain the urge to grin. “Even if we did end up rolling around in the sheets, I wouldn’t be yapping about it for all to hear, much less you guys!”

“What happens in the gargoyle graveyard stays in the gargoyle graveyard, eh?” Franky winks at both Malleus and you, nudging you with his elbow.

“Exactly!” you affirm, batting the large ghost away from you for some much-needed distance. “Now stop being so damn nosy.”

They cackle one last time and everyone seamlessly goes back to their ongoing game. Conversations like the one that just concluded are commonplace in your dormitory. Even if he contributed next to nothing to the discussion, he enjoys watching them interact. You come from a world where ghosts are hardly as overt as the ones in this world. Ghosts are said to entertain themselves by picking on the living, to the point that it can be fatal. Your ability to come up with witticisms at a moment's notice is something he enjoys seeing in action. He feels great satisfaction not only knowing that he has secured your love but to also see you in a state of tranquility and within your elements.

As Benji and you have a hushed conversation on the sidelines, he reaches over and places his hand on your knee beneath the table. You quietly reach over and put your hand over his, stroking the back of his hand with your thumb like it’s instinctual. Unfortunately, the heart-fluttering moment is ruined by the sudden buzzing of his phone. He has half a mind to ignore it, but when he gives the screen a glance he realizes ignoring the caller is not an option.

“I’ll be out for a moment,” he excuses himself once he sets his hand down and stands himself upright. “This shouldn’t take that long, hopefully.”

They all stop to look up at him inquisitively for half a second. In unison, they ask, “Sebek?”

“Sebek,” he affirms.

There are simultaneous displays of annoyance, pity, and silent wishes of good luck directed at him. He’s tempted to ask where all this contempt for the boy comes from, but then he remembers the many times Sebek barges his way into their dorm at the worst possible moments. It is either when everyone is beginning to settle down after a long day or in the middle of an important house project, the former more so than the latter now that the dorm is much more stable and in need of less restoration. Malleus learned the hard way how ill you and the ghosts will react when your peace is unwantedly interrupted and your space invaded by an unwanted guest.

Sebek is also quick to scrutinize whatever he sees out loud without a filter. You never seem to mind half of the time, merely rolling your eyes and moving past Sebek’s ill-meaning remarks as if you never heard them. As you are someone Malleus highly regards and holds close to his bosom, he hopes Sebek can one day set aside his strife with humankind and give you the due diligence you deserve.

...Though, he completely understands that reaching that point will take time. While you can endure Sebek to a certain degree, there are times where he, unfortunately, pushes you past that threshold and, without flinching, you will tell him to “Shut the fuck up”. Your words, not his.

“Young master!” Sebek's transmitted voice peaks and he has to half pull it away to give his pained eardrums some relief. “I was informed by Lord Lilia that you will be spending the night over at the Human’s dorm. Have you all your accommodations at their estate? If not, I will swiftly-”

“That won’t be necessary,” he half laughs at his enthusiasm over such a small task. “I have enough to keep me comfortable and well for a few days. Your offer is still very much appreciated.”

“Y-Yes, of course,” he stutters. “If there’s anything you should ever find a need for, please inform me at once! I will fulfill your every wishes no matter the hour!”

He’s enthusiastic and ready to act at a moment’s notice, even during the middle of a cold and dark hour. Malleus doesn’t necessarily dislike this part of Sebek, but he’s starting to understand why someone like you would find such subservience difficult to deal with. At any moment, Malleus could ask Sebek to grab some insignificant item of his and tread through the thick snow to deliver it to him, and the boy would do so with jubilation and utmost timeliness. You on the other hand wouldn’t be caught dead ordering someone to do something on your behalf when you believe you are well and capable of doing it yourself.

You don’t put expectations onto the backs of others, choosing to trust yourself first before anyone else. He knows now that it’s a result of the one instance where you expected something from someone, only to be thoroughly let down and left wondering if it was you who did something wrong.

Malleus cannot make up for the pain you’ve been subjected to, but he hopes that he can become the outlier in your life that surpasses any preconceived notions you may hold onto others. He hopes...No, he absolutely will be the one who brings you your well-earned and deserved joy and repose, just as you have done for him and continue to do so.

You love him, and he will ensure he is worthy of every last drop of your fidelity.

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland imagines #malleus draconia #twst malleus #malleus x reader #malleus draconia x reader #twst writing #twst fanfic #fanfic: courtship #reader insert #reader insert fanfic #reader insert fanfiction #gender neutral reader #gender neutral pronouns #x reader

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fayeimara · 4 years

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Miya Atsumu || Solita

*Song Scenario | Inspired by Solita by PRETTYMUCH*

PAIRING. Miya Atsumu x you

GENRE. Fluff; A little angst, if you squint?

WARNINGS. Incredibly suggestive, probably sexual innuendos and references, swearing, implications of drinking, angst.. (from my perspective, which probably means nothing because I think I can't handle writing it)

The lavish, vast pool glitters under the sun, surface disturbed by the partygoers splashing around in the water without a care in the world. Atsumu stands at the edge, quickly checking over the various faces but doesn't find you or his brother among them.

"She's not inside." Suna's voice comes from behind him and he looks back to see the middle blocker walking back up to him. His usually neutral expression is disturbed with just the slightest indent between his eyebrow and before Atsumu looks away he catches the slightest twitch in his jaw.

So he's a little worried too. They both know trouble always finds you if you don't find it first. And at a party of this scale, it's an inevitability.

How did they manage to lose you already? You'd all only been here about twenty minutes when Atsumu and Suna decide to refresh your group's drinks and left you with Osamu but the both of you aren't anywhere to be seen now.

Backing away from the pool, Atsumu looks over past the green metal fence that blocks off the pool and its surrounding stone patio from the manicured lawn, crowded with people dancing to the music blasting from speakers that surround the entire backyard.

They'll have to wade in there but it's just as likely he and Suna might miss you entirely if you're in that crush of people. Where's twin telepathy when he needs it?

Suna's already headed over, deciding to try his luck and probably because they have to do something since neither you or 'Samu have answered the multiple texts they've sent asking for your location in this overcrowded fucking mansion.

The only concern is if they're wasting time by looking for you out here, but there's no way you would be inside, in one of the rooms, right? No, not unless you were in real trouble and 'Samu definitely wouldn't let anything happen to you.

So Atsumu follows after his teammate and pushes past the creaky gate to move onto the grassy area of the large backyard. Suna's already found Aran, at the edge of the crowd, and Atsumu walks up to hear him ask if he's seen either you or Osamu.

"Sure, just a couple minutes ago," The tall ace responds, "They should be hear somewhere."

And with that, he salutes them with his drink and moves away towards the set of double doors that lead into the kitchen of the house.

"Do you want to take the left while I go in from the right? Text once we find them?" Suna offers, already starting to head over to one side of the large crowd.

But Atsumu stops him with a hand to his shoulder, "Nah, I think we should just go through the middle. If she's in there, that's where she'll be."

Suna smirks and doesn't respond, knowing 'Tsumu's most likely correct. This time it's Suna following Atsumu as they wade into the mess of swaying bodies, thankfully, not as tightly packed as they would be in a different setting.

It doesn't take them long now, with the confirmation that you're here, to finally catch sight of you. You are, in fact, dead center of the crowd and steadily holding the attention of many as you sway slowly to the music.

As soon as his eyes land on you, Atsumu feels a burn take root and start to grow in his chest. It's not exactly the way your hips move, seductively swinging to the beat, or your arms held in the air as you dance enticingly to the melody, locks of your hair softly flying with your moves and the breeze. It's not even that it's his brother you're with, standing there like an enraptured guardian, holding both your drinks and watching over you while you dance with one of your friends.

What completely combusts Atsumu is that as you dance so prettily, the center of fucking attention with your unconscious sensuality, you're doing so in what is unmistakably his jacket, the material shifting with and sliding over your body, almost covering the racy black bikini you're wearing.

You're dancing there among everyone, yet somehow looking like his personal, intimate show, in the jacket he gave you to wear when you were slightly chilly after a quick dip in the pool but that you'd ended up just holding in your hand instead while you asked him to go grab you a new drink.

Torn between dragging you away from the beautiful spectacle you're making for all the undeserving fuckers to see but not wanting the incredible dream to end, Atsumu watches a little longer. He watches until the song spirals up higher and higher and with every rise he feels like he's falling deeper instead.

A brush against his arm brings him back to the reality of the crowd, but it's only Suna, passing by and moving toward you with a piercing look in his narrow eyes. Before Atsumu can even register what he's doing, he grabs his friend's elbow, yanking him to a sudden stop.

"What're ya doin'?"

Those piercing eyes turn his way, with firm intensity, and the fox-eyed boy responds, "I'm getting some dirt off of a jewel."

"Don't ya fucking dare."

"You're going to want to let go off me before I deck you."

"So what," Atsumu raises an eyebrow, "You're gonna go over and forcibly remove the clothes off a girl?"

With his hand still on Suna's tense arm, Atsumu can literally feel when his friend decides to back down and continues through to the kill, "Yeah, that'll go over real well, especially with her, don't ya think?"

Eyes narrowed on him, Suna bites out a low, angry, "Fuck." before turning away and shoving back through the crowd until it's swallowed him up.

Yeah, he wouldn't want to watch you dance in Suna's jacket either, if the positions were reversed. But you're not wearing the middle blocker's name right now, you're wearing his. And it looks divine on you, as if both he and his name were made simply for you to exist and finally own them.

Atsumu turns back to watch you, moving ever so slightly closer, mesmerized by your movements but even more so by the thought of you being his. He's trapped in the suggestion of the moment, watching you and dreaming, until your eyes open again, only this time on a twirl that ends directly facing him, and your gaze catches immediately on his.

He watches as your eyes widen in surprise for a split second before delight pulls your lips into a wide, joyful grin. He feels like he's been pierced through the heart and he only wants to dig the arrow in deeper. He wants to grab you and take you away from all the eyes watching you and he wants to parade you around in his jacket for everyone to see.

What he does instead is walk up to you, eyes never leaving yours once, with a wide, happy grin on his own face. As he nears, he watches your left hand trace a sensuous path down over your other arm still up in the air, stroking through your hair before brushing briefly and every so lightly against your neck, only to stretch out to him, him. He reaches out when he's finally standing just in front of you, to connect his hand to yours, and gently pulls it to rest on his chest before sliding it up to the side of, and then around, his neck, pulling you flush against him in the process.

All the while, you keep dancing, even as your other hand flutters down from it's summit in the air, landing gently to brush down the back of his hair, before meeting the first and intertwining together at his neck. You keep your eyes and smile on him as he slowly matches your pace and rhythm, moving both with and against you. His own eyes burn back into yours, even his smile scorches, more a smirk now as his hands slide down your arms, leaving a trail of heat in their wake, moving further still until you feel the material around you shift and then his hands are like hot brands, under the jacket you're wearing, on your bare waist.

Your heartbeat picks up, more than it already had when you opened your eyes to see him watching you with that familiar possessive, covetous look on his face. You feel like you're burning while electric currents simultaneously race through you. The music sounds hollow, as if you might faint, so you get closer still and tighten your fingers together briefly in reassurance that you're okay, before loosening your grip again.

Neither of you have looked away since the moment you first caught and held his eyes. It's incredibly overwhelming, this awareness, the delicate bubble you're in with him. And it lasts for an eternal moment, forever seared in your memory.

Atsumu still watches, as you finally break your gaze to close your eyes. Even still, he can see the smile on your face, a small, delicate echo of the happy grin he first received when you saw him. He looks at you, the entirety of his world, and thinks of everything he could and wants to be for you.

It's in that moment he decides that the things holding him back from making this dream his eternal reality don't matter. Dancing together with you amidst the moving crowd, with the sun streaming down on the two of you and the beat of the music wrapping you together in this intimate embrace, Miya Atsumu knows beyond a shadow of doubt, that if you decide to give him even the slightest chance, he'll forever be yours.

Meant to Be Masterlist .. if anyone cares about what fic this scenario might end up a part of...

A/N (moved from above) : So... I planned and started writing this as a Haikyuu scenario unrelated to my SMAU series, instead as part of a bunch of fandom scenarios I have planned inspired by certain songs on my playlist. I also planned and started writing this with a completely different idea for direction it was supposed to go, to a completely different ending. Now...

I'm literally heartbroken because I'm conflicted with what to do with this scenario... do I add it to MTB (it can fit for Pt 2 with some edits) or leave it as an unrelated short scenario? If it's a separate scenario (I do also have a 2nd part / continuation already planned btw) then... do I keep it just an Atsumu scenario (which was unplanned, he wasn't supposed to get so.. close with reader when he found her :/) and let my heart stay broken for the rest of my life, or just decide to make it poly too because it's easier to let everyone have reciprocated love than experiencing the secondhand angst for Suna and Osamu? Like... I don't think it's a secret that Suna comes just before the Miyas' for me but, it's like, just barely sometimes :'( Can I do this to my baby??? Maybe I should just do the same scenario but with different endings for each of them so you can... pick your character/ending??? They can all be happy in their own parallel universes? I want to have a good cry... Atsumu baby, why did you put me in this situation??

Anyways, if I haven't ruined it for you by now, please read and let me know your opinion(s). Please.

A/N.. again (If you ended up reading this garbage) : So this is not the edited version, please don't lynch me over any mistakes or choices. I might come back to edit or even completely overhaul this. I'm literally posting it to get an opinion from an incredible, life-saving, heart-repairing friend.

@delusivist

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itsbenedict · 3 years

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Two-Faced Jewel: Session 1-A

I've been playing tabletop games for TOO LONG without actually playing any D&D, and the time for that to change is now.

Zero and @eternalfarnham are Looseleaf and Saelhen du Fishercrown, a mothfolk animist and a half-elf conwoman whose travels take them to Blacksky University, where the discovery of an unknown magical artifact sets them on the path to discovering the secrets of a shattered world.

Oyashio, 親潮市, is known as the Crossroad City. It sits on the closest point between the two major continents of the world, alongside the swift currents of the fierce river-ocean that separates the two. People from all over the Jewel come here to find their fortunes.

Looseleaf is a new arrival to Blacksky University, the institution of higher learning that terrorizes the city with its warball hooligans and dangerous magical experiments. She's left her reclusive village to learn more about the cultures and peoples of the world, and has enrolled in the School of Natural Arts to pursue her dream.

The Lady Noeru de la Surplus is the down-on-her-luck scion of an elven noble family, here to complete her rite of succession and restore the good name of her clan.

Saelhen du Fishercrown is a half-elf disgrace who fled the stifling elven capital of Kanzentokai to escape its byzantine social order- and strike it rich by pretending to be the down-on-her-luck scion of an elven noble family and conning a bunch of elfaboo suckers out of their hard-earned gold. She's out to get rich and prove that elves can be assholes too, dammit!

Looseleaf leaves her room to discover- not her roommate, but a large half-orc woman rummaging through her oven.

She asks where Looseleaf keeps the swords.

It becomes clear that Bud Chestplate, here, is a friend of Oyobi Yamatake, Looseleaf's roommate, and Oyobi sent her to pick up some swords from the dorm. They make some small talk while searching, but Looseleaf fails her Investigation roll and can't find the swords for her. She leaves Bud to her business, since she needs to catch her meeting with the Dean.

Benedict I. (GM): So... you get to the Dean's office. It's a pretty large room- not because the Dean is particularly showoffy, but because Dean Mogher is a loxodon, and his office sort of needs to be big. Them elephant people, y'know. You've been asked to meet for an "academic consultation", and aren't sure what to expect.

Seems like Looseleaf needs to do some sort of independent study- and the Dean has something lined up for her, if she's interested. It's an artifact they recently got their hands on thanks to a rich donor, who wanted to learn more about it. It's super magic, so he had to pull some strings to keep it out of the hands of the School of Arcane Arts.

Looseleaf is excited about this!

Looseleaf: Looseleaf vibrates, shaking her wings kind of in the way that a dog might shake their body to remove dirt. This is moth body language for 'FUCK YES I AM SO READY FOR THIS I WAS BORN FOR THIS'.

Meanwhile... Saelhen has arrived in town. She's set herself up with a room in the city, made some public appearances to sell the story, and...

Saelhen has a plan. She'll pretend that this object is rightfully hers, as part of an arcane elven ritual to succeed the headship of her family- and hopefully badger the school into letting her get her hands on it.

She enters the school grounds via the student village, and meets a half-orc woman carrying a bunch of swords around for some reason- who she asks for directions. Bud obliges, despite being preoccupied.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were occupied by all those weapons." She bows at the prescribed angle for a small favor asked from a foreigner. "Your words are as 出鱈目外人向け. Thank you." Benedict I. (GM):出鱈目 is like, nonsense, bullshit, 外人 is gaijin, 向け is a suffix that means "for" bullshit for foreigners i love it

(Elven is Japanese here, for reasons.)

Saelhen follows the directions to the School of Arcane arts, and asks the receptionist- a tired-looking goblin girl named Two-Brains- where the Dean's office is.

Two-Brains directs her to the Moon Annex, a wing of the building identifiable by the river of moon symbols flowing along the floor. She reaches what is clearly the Dean's office, and hears a conversation within, that she opts to sneakily listen in on.

Benedict I. (GM): That'll do- you hear a whispered argument, fairly clearly. "...is he blackmailing you? Bribing you? This is clearly our department!" The voice is old and slightly screechy. A younger but still mature voice replies. "Please don't attack my character, Variable. Is my reasoning really that hard to understand?" "Yes," the older voice says. "It's the most magically powerful artifact that's ever come into our possession! How is this not of immediate concern to our department?" "You're failing to consider Coast's concerns, and those of our continuing research," the younger voice says. "Yes, this object is powerful- but learning its magic will scarcely tell us where it comes from. If we could find its source, we could find many more specimens of its kind for study."

It seems like Dean Variable Velocity of Arcane Arts (an elderly owl aarakocra in a wheelchair) really wanted to get her hands on the magic item, but Dean Coast Mogher of Natural Arts got this person to decide in his favor, instead.

Saelhen eventually opts to knock, and sees in the room with the Dean... an elf. Very tall, adorned in jewels, and wearing a very very large hoop dress that goes all the way down to the floor. This would be a problem for Saelhen, because actual elven nobility would see right through her disguise- but luckily, this woman- the provost of the university- is a drow, and not exactly welcome in the circles of elven high society.

The provost takes her leave, and Saelhen spins her sob story for Dean Velocity:

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Madam Dean, I am sure that any matter requiring your attention might very well overrule my own. If your affairs require that you delay our discussion of the provenance of your college's recent acquisition, then my honor demands that I comply." Benedict I. (GM): "The provenance of our recent acquisiton?" "Wait- are you here about that thing?" "The bracer?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Ah, yes." Saelhen ducks her head a bit sheepishly. "I can come back." "Perhaps I have misunderstood what time I was meant to arrive." Benedict I. (GM): "No, no, come in! Come in, I'm sure we can address your concerns." "What time you were- you mentioned an appointment, who told you there was an appointment?" "Never mind, no, it's- please, come in." Saelhen du Fishercrown: "I spoke with a Madam Two-Brains? But information may have been lost in the shuffle -- I gather it was a busy day." Saelhen sits. Benedict I. (GM): "...The student receptionist? Why would- no, never mind. What's this about the bracer?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: Whoops. "I have neglected to introduce myself, and for that I apologize. I am the Lady Noeru de la Surplus, sixth of her name." Saelhen lowers her head. "Your... bracer is an item of some significance to my family." Benedict I. (GM): Her eyes light up. "Is that so?" "What significance, would you say?"

After a little more bullshitting and some great Deception rolls, she has the dean completely sold on her story. It helps that she quite badly wanted to believe it- since if it were true, her rival wouldn't have legitimate claim to it. Dean Velocity offers to help recover the item, if Lady Noeru would agree to let her study it briefly.

Meanwhile, below the School of Arcane Arts, Looseleaf is shown a special hands-free containment device for the magical item.

Benedict I. (GM): Inside the glass case hovers what looks like a stone bracer. It's inset with thirteen large sapphires, at seemingly random locations, little rhyme or reason. There's one region of the bracer that doesn't have sapphires- a flat, circular raised bit with a symbol engraved on it. It's not one you're familiar with, but matches the pattern of the emblems of the gods. Looseleaf: Is it a divine symbol? Yeeeep. Benedict I. (GM): A circle, with horizontal lines across it, growing denser towards the wearer.

Looseleaf makes some investigation and history checks to find out more about it. She observes that the sapphires are connected to one another, and that its craftsmanship doesn't match anything she's ever seen or read about. She's still taking a look at it when Saelhen and Dean Velocity show up.

Dean Velocity badgers Dean Mogher into hearing Saelhen out, and she continues to knock her deception checks out of the park. He doesn't want to give it up without a fight, but he believes her intentions are true. He proposes a compromise: Looseleaf will represent both schools (as she's taking courses in both and is undecided on a major) and accompany Saelhen on her supposed succession rite, asking lots of questions and writing a report that they might be able to publish.

This compromise is more or less amenable to all, and Saelhen is allowed to touch the bracer.

It immediately jumps onto her arm and sticks there, and projects a holographic wayfinding arrow out of one of the sapphires. The bracer begins pulling her arm in that direction. She can't get it off- and can't just run. She's forced to keep up the charade, and let Looseleaf try some magic on it.

Looseleaf is a homebrew class Zero found called the Animist, a caster themed around the idea that all things have "spirits". One of the things it can do is called Soul Glean, which basically lets you... read the mind of an inanimate object.

Lesser Soul Glean: You may peer into the things the soul of an object has witnessed. Make an int (arcana) check to determine the amount of information gleaned from the object. The more recent or emotionally volatile the event, the easier it is to glean information from, while the more distance the harder it is. Senses of emotions, vague intentions, and the sight of auras of can generally be gleaned from this reading.

And what she gets from that is...

Looseleaf:“It’s lost,” Looseleaf says. “It has a purpose and has been unable to fulfill that purpose for a very long time. It’s not epistemologically correct to assign emotions to items through divinations, I think, but if this thing had an emotion I imagine it would be sad.” ”Most importantly, it does not feel fulfilled. It is not behaving the way that objects reunited with their lost owners would be have.” “Given this, I hope you will forgive me for my indiscretion in this next act.” Looseleaf... shifts her arm, the arm touching the bracer, sliding off it and onto the elvish lady’s arm, and Lesser Soul Reads her.

Now Soul Read is for living things, and only sort of gets you mood and general intentions- for now. Saelhen, though, won't be having any of that- she passes her dex save to pull away before Looseleaf can read her. (This, of course, only makes Looseleaf more suspicious.)

Tumblr has new post restrictions that force me to keep these posts short, so here's:

[Part B]

#twofaced jewel #tfj log

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haven-raven012591 · 4 years

Text

Familiar and New

Pairing: Familiar! Yoongi X OC Witch! Lily (friendship) familiar! Yoongi X familiar Jungkook X OC Witch! Lily

Warning: Angst, mild fighting.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 2.5

The way this book read she could do a simple spell and see the red strand of fate. "Yoongi, have you ever heard of this?" Lily asked as she sat next to him. He looked over her shoulder and nodded. "Yeah, I've heard of it." Yoongi said bitterly. "What is it?" Lily asked. "The spell or the red strand?" Yoongi asked curiously. "The red strand." Lily said as she put the book down looking at him. He sighed and leaned back closing his eyes. "If you'd rather not say I can look it up." Lily said. His tongue darted out as he licked his lips.

"They say the strand connects you to your soul mate, the strand will never break it'll get longer or shorter, it may have knots in it but it never breaks." Yoongi said. She saw the distant look in his eyes and knew he was looking through her and not at her. The light he normally had in his eyes was gone. "Yoongi, what's wrong?" Lily asked softly. His hands were balled into fists as his chest rose and fell rapidly. She ran her hands through her hair. "Yoongi." Lily breathed.

He wanted to get out of his skin. She watched his eyes go green and then he started growling. She bit her lip nervously as she watched his skin sprout fur and his tail twitch like crazy. She closed her eyes and thought about him feeling the link between them. She wrapped her hand around the cord sending calming energy through it.

It was like he was fighting an old painful memory that threatened to swallow him. "Yoongi, take my hand right now." Lily panted as the memory swallowed him. He hissed and snapped the link. She gripped the couch and looked at him. Her body hurt but it was her heart that hurt the most. "I'm not giving up on you, Yoongi." Lily vowed. She sat on her knees and put her hands over his fists.

"Don't come closer, you'll be unhappy." Yoongi chanted. "Shh no I won't, I want to be closer to you." Lily said. Her hands ran up his forearms and hit the pressure points which made his hands relax. "Don't Lily, please don't." Yoongi whispered his voice horse. "I'm sorry Yoongi this time I can't listen." Lily said. She laced both their hands and gasped. Her mind linked with his and she closed her eyes letting it wash over her.

The energy swirled around them and as it hit them both they both blacked out.

"Yoongi, I have an idea." Jessica said as she bounced into the living room. "What is it baby?" Yoongi asked smiling at her. "I just created a spell to show you, your soulmate." Jessica said. She kissed his cheek as she sat next to him watching him play the keyboard. "How?" Yoongi asked as he looked over to her. "It'll show you the red strand of fate." Jessica said happily.

Yoongi turned to her and took her hand. "Don't do this, we're not meant to find it until we're ready." Yoongi said. "I'm ready, I know who my stand is connected to." Jessica said and kissed him. He caressed her cheek and laid his forehead to hers. "Alright let's do it." Yoongi said. They went to the herb shoppe and got what they needed. She wrote down the spell and he cut up the herbs and started mixing them.

"Ok, last but not least bless this." Jessica said. She handed him a rose quartz crystal. He took it and blessed it tuning it to his vibrations. "Jess, are you positive?" Yoongi asked. "Absolutely." Jessica said. She blessed her rose quartz. Then she put them together in a bag and put the in the pot. "Sit close, it shouldn't take long." Jessica said. He nodded and sat on the stool.

She closed her eyes and put in the last herb. "Show me the way, the way to my fate, show me the way, the way to my soulmate." Jessica chanted. The bag glowed and a puff of smoke came from the pot. She opened her eyes and clapped her hands together. "It worked!" Jessica squealed in pure joy. She took the bag out and picked up her stone. As she held it the red strand appeared. Yoongi took his stone and his strand appeared. "Ok, now let's look." Jessica said. He lifted his hand and so did she.

"What?" Jessica breathed. Yoongi closed his eyes and threw his stone to the table. "No, Yoongi it has to be you!" Jessica whined. "It's not, I'm just your familiar, the way it should be." Yoongi growled. "B..but I love you." Jessica said. "Puppy love." Yoongi said bitterly. He walked out.

The energy lifted from them and everything was silent, eerily silent. Yoongi's eyes were still closed. He was so handsome to her. The way his lips formed a pout. His cute little freckles under his eye and beside his nose. She loved his eyes and how they were shaped. As that thought crossed her mind his eyes opened. First they were green then they cooled to brown.

Lily looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Witches never learn, I asked you, I begged you not to!" Yoongi yelled and walked out. Lily rubbed her chest and shut the book. "Yoon, I'm so sorry." Lily whispered to the empty house. She got up and started cooking his favorite meal. Yoongi sat in the park with his head in his hands. "Hyung?" Jungkook asked. Yoongi's head snapped up as he heard that familiar voice. "Jungkook?" Yoongi asked. The young man before him looked different.

"It's me Hyung, I guess I've changed." Jungkook laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck. The smile he gave Yoongi was happy and bright. "Still the same happy pup." Yoongi said shaking his head. "It's my nature!" Jungkook said. He sat beside Yoongi and looked at him. "Are you ok, you look drained." Jungkook said. "I feel drained." Yoongi admitted. "Where's your witch?" Jungkook asked. "Home." Yoongi said bitterly.

"Uhmm, Yoongi." Lily said softly. He got up and turned to her. "What are you doing here?" Yoongi snapped. "I br...brought you your coat, I know you don't like cold, dinner is almost ready too I made your favorite." Lily said. Jungkook looked between the two of them and Lily smiled at him. "Aren't you a handsome husky, what's your name?" Lily asked. Yoongi knew the smile was forced, he also saw her eyes and felt how weak she was.

"I'm Jungkook." Jungkook said. "Hello Jungkook, it's nice to meet you, I'm Lily." Lily said. "She's my witch." Yoongi said. The way he said witch sounded more like bitch. Lily quickly looked down then up as she licked her lips. "I made enough if you and your witch want to come, I can see the friendship bond you two have." Lily said. The tear that rolled down her cheek was only one, the rest were in her voice.

Jungkook tilted his head and jumped over the rail. His tail was going wild and she giggled. "He's not a stray, you can't go around trying to take others familiars!" Yoongi snapped. Lily handed Jungkook, Yoongi's coat and bowed. "I'm sorry, I have to make sure dinner isn't burned." Lily said and ran off. "Hyung." Jungkook breathed. "What!?" Yoongi growled his eyes bright green. Jungkook's flashed ice blue and Yoongi blinked. "She thinks we're pets." Yoongi said. Jungkook tilted his head deep in thought.

"You're lying to yourself Hyung, Lily treats us or you like a person and would any familiar." Jungkook said. "She said you where a handsome husky not a handsome man!" Yoongi snapped. "I am a husky Hyung." Jungkook said matter of factlly. "She should have said you were a handsome man!" Yoongi said. "Hyung, she didn't say that because she likes you." Jungkook said.

Yoongi laughed at him and sat down. "Lily is pretty and sweet, much better than Jessica." Jungkook said. "Don't say that witches name!" Yoongi growled. "What happened between you and Lily?" Jungkook asked. He looked at Jungkook and then what was in his hands. She'd brought him his jacket. She'd seen what happened and hadn't said anything and he'd yelled at her.

"She saw what happened between I and Jessica, I was having a panic attack and she took my hands and wanted to comfort me, she'd sent me warm energy and it over took her." Yoongi said. "Hyung, she's a new witch she just wanted to help you." Jungkook said. Yoongi looked away and sat down again his head was spinning. "Hyung, at least you have a home and a friend." Jungkook said. Yoongi looked at him as Jungkook gave him his coat.

Yoongi sighed and looked at him. "Where's your stuff?" Yoongi asked. "I have to go get it." Jungkook said. "Go get it, you're coming home with me." Yoongi said. Jungkook's tail wagged hard. "Thank you, Hyung!" Jungkook said and ran off. Yoongi called Lily. "Can Jungkook stay with us?" Yoongi asked. "Yoongi, this house is yours if you want him to stay then he stays." Lily said. "Then he stays." Yoongi said firmly. "I'll go make up the guest room." Lily said. "We'll be home soon, Lily." Yoongi said. "Dinner is ready, I already set another place." Lily said.

He hung up and she let a few more tears fall as she went to the linen closet and found good sheets. She made up the bed and then went to living room. Yoongi and Jungkook walked in laughing and smiling. It took her breath away to see his bright and easy smile. "Welcome home." Lily said. They looked at her and she licked her lips.

Yoongi looked away and she turned away. Jungkook went to her and she looked up at him. "You're so tall." Lily laughed. "Thank you for allowing me into your home." Jungkook said. "It's Yoongi's home too, I didn't allow anything." Lily said. Yoongi went to her and took her hand. "I'm sorry." Yoongi breathed. "It's ok." Lily said and walked into the kitchen. He walked after her. "Lily stop I need to apologise." Yoongi said. "Listen, Yoongi it's ok I'm sorry I meddled into your past it won't happen again." Lily said turning to him.

He pulled her into his arms and she pushed him away. "Don't, I messed up ok, I wanted to help you and I messed up more." Lily said. He took her hand and she went to pull her hand away when he tightened his grip. "Please let go." Lily whispered breathlessly. He saw the fear in her eyes and let go. "His room is beside yours." Lily said. "I'd never hurt you." Yoongi said. She blinked and nodded. "I know." Lily whimpered.

He brought her close and she gripped his shirt. "I'm so sorry." Lily sobbed. He held her close as he stroked her hair. Jungkook walked into the kitchen and smiled. "Told you so." Jungkook said. Yoongi laughed and shook his head. Lily straightened up and wiped her eyes. "Follow me Jungkook, your rooms this way." Lily said smiling. "I'll put dinner on the table." Yoongi said. "Thank you, Yoongi." Lily said and kissed his cheek.

"Here it is, I picked the sheets but if you don't like them I can find some you'd like." Lily said. He put his stuff down and looked at the bed. "I...I don't need a room I can sleep on the couch." Jungkook said. "You need a bed Jungkook." Lily said. He sat down and she watched him closely. "I apologise for you having to come into the house when Yoongi and I had a fight." Lily said. "People fight." Jungkook said.

"I meddled into his life." Lily said. "You were trying to help." Yoongi said. She turned and looked down. "I shouldn't ha...have been so eager." Lily stumbled. "Lil, did you get hurt?" Yoongi asked softly. "Hurt?" Lily asked. She wobbled and hit her knees panting. "Lily!" Jungkook said as he moved to her. "It's not pain." Lily whispered. Jungkook looked up at Yoongi. "What do you see?" Yoongi asked as he sat with them.

"Red." Lily whispered. "Blood?" Jungkook asked. "Not sure." Lily breathed. "Can we see?" Yoongi asked softly. She took their hands and Yoongi closed his eyes. Jungkook followed suit and they all saw what Lily saw. Jungkook opened his eyes and saw it blink into existence. "Hyung." Jungkook called.

Yoongi opened his eyes and looked at his hand then Lily's. "Lily." Yoongi breathed. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "What is it?" Lily asked. He held up their hands and she saw it. "No, I didn't cast that spell!" Lily shook her head. "I know, this is what I was trying to tell Jess, it happens naturally." Yoongi said. The strand vanished as she took her hand away. "Does that mean you two love each other?" Jungkook asked. "No, just that we're meant to." Yoongi said.

Lily got up and went down to the kitchen getting water. The boys followed her. "Let's eat." Lily said. They all sat down and ate. "You're a good cook, Lily." Jungkook said as he finished off his third plate. "Thank you, Jungkook." Lily smiled as she took the dishes to the sink. Yoongi followed her and she jumped as she turned. "You scared me." Lily giggled. "We have to talk." Yoongi said. "Not tonight, Yoon." Lily said softly. He hugged her tightly. "Don't pull away Lily there's people in the yard." Yoongi breathed. She wrapped her arms around him. He nuzzled her neck and she shivered. "Yoongi I'm scared." Lily breathed. "I'll protect you." Yoongi vowed. "Not about those people, about our connection you're my familiar." Lily said. "That's why I'm your familiar Lily, and you're special." Yoongi said. She looked at him.

The windows blew out and they ran to the dinning room. "Jungkook are you ok?" Lily asked. "He's bleeding." Yoongi said. She ran to the hutch and grabbed a potion. "It'll heal you." Lily said. He took it and was healed in seconds. "Thank you." Jungkook said. She helped him up. "My pleasure." Lily said. She licked her lips and chanted a spell over him. "What did you just do?" Jungkook asked feeling invincible. "She protected you." Yoongi said. She did the same for Yoongi and he rolled his neck.

"Look at you three, aww it's a little family!" Katie said. Lily threw her out into the grass as the vines wrapped around her. Kate laughed and the vines exploded into fire. "Too bad." Katie said. "Lily get back!" Yoongi growled. His eyes went green and Jungkook's went ice blue as he rolled his shoulders back.

Jungkook's left ear that was partially folded over now stood straight up with his right one. Yoongi's ears were back and his tail was straight up. Claws extended from both Yoongi's and Jungkook's nails. "Don't fight us, you won't win!" Katie said. "All I see is you and I can beat you." Lily snapped. Katie laughed and John stepped out of the shadows and Yoongi jumped out of the busted window and stood with Lily.

John threw a throwing star and Lily reversed the air flow and it hit a tree. "Bitch." Katie said as she put her hand over her arm. John healed her and looked over at Lily. "Looks like you've improved." John said. Lily rolled her eyes and looked at Jungkook as he stepped beside her. John threw another star and Lily threw it back at him again. "It's not gonna work!" Katie said.

John snapped and three more guys came up behind them. "Shit." Yoongi breathed. Lily took out a metal spike and looked at Yoongi. "Jump!" Lily whispered in Yoongi's mind. He did and grabbed Jungkook in the process. She sent a shock through the ground to the other spikes and trapped them. "Lil!" Yoongi yelled as one guy stepped from behind her and bit her. Her hand slid from the spike and she passed out. "Jungkook get her." Yoongi's said softly.

Yoongi went after the snake and grabbed him putting him into a trance. "Damnit I hate black cat magic!" John spat. Jungkook took Lily into the house laying her on the couch. "I'll protect you." Jungkook said. "Yoon..."Lily trailed off. Jungkook ran out to the yard and attacked Katie pinning her to the ground trying to tie her up. "Kook!" Yoongi yelled. John grabbed him and knocked him out.

Lily got up and ran to the window panting hard fighting against the poison. She ran to Jungkook and then looked around. "Yoongi!" Lily yelled. She panted harder as she walked around the yard. "Yoongi!" Lily called. "He's gone." A male voice said. Lily turned and hit the ground shaking and panting.

"Wh...who are you?" Lily groaned. "Pardon me, I'm Kim SeokJin, but you can call me Jin." Jin said. "Where's Yoo...Yoongi?" Lily stumbled. "They took him." Jin said. "No, why didn't you stop them?" Lily snapped. "I just got here and found this." Jin said handing her a note. She opened it and tears ran down her cheeks. "No." Lily breathed. She looked at Jin and he knelt to her. "Allow me to help." Jin said. "You're human like me, but also not." Lily said softly. "I'm a little hard to explain." Jin laughed. "I can't feel anything." Lily said passing out.

The red strand is always there! Meaning love is always there just let it happen and feel it.

@alternateafterthought @demonslunacy @scuzmunkie @alexnine @dolphinpink310 @soulofaravenheartofawolf @lauri3strode @adriennegabriella @ladylucksposts @briqueenofthenorth @2sweetqueen @meremaidqueen @susanleann1 @bjjackson38 @ariana-winchester95

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ton-e · 4 years

Text

Helheim is a land of peace.

The layers of agonized wails and woeful imploring she prepared her ears for was lost in the breeze of the melancholic melody of nature. Naked humming voices flowed serenely amidst the gradient of indigo blue leaves, dry and wrinkly, singing the ballads of lost souls attached to skinny tree branches, rinsed of color at the roots, blending smoothly with the pale greenery surrounding the wide meadow that grew to be her most favored solace.

Flowers, prey to decaying, small in stature but mighty in resistance, veiled the piece of soil that parted the center of the dark Kingdom in two, catching vines in the heart core of the spot her beloved boy once clawed his way to freedom, from a grave that came too early for a boy too gentle, too youthful, too much of a man before his time.

Her ghost Prince, her youngest; Stolen and crowned the King of Death, with a rain of tears on his cheeks and a cloak of swords in his back.

'Crowned, ' she spits, imagining it rippling through the dead earth and fell right onto Borr's bald head. Time failed to sweeten her bitterness as she thought, yes, this is how their history beautified the terrible incident. Time didn't heal her pain, neither did it gentled the sharpness of her teeth.

They had deceived him, betrayed him, punished him, stole his life away, and called it a reward.

After that dreadful day, She spent more nights weeping to slumber, eyes buried in the cushions of Hel's frigid chambers, burning brighter, hotter, than the hard oak feeding red-orange flames in the fireplace of her bedroom.

The phantom ice caressing the silver of her skin was more comfort than suffering, painless mercy she sunk into little by little every day until the light of day became unfamiliar. The cold here shares that quality, she ponders, a soft touch of unburnt ice to keep you from perishing.

Its a lot like her son, she thinks.

Yet, Bestla doesn't feel its presence permanently. A long, stone shaded cloak fell upon her shoulders, showering her back in a misty warmth provided by the thick velvet of the garment. Her eyes observe a silhouette shadowing the pale sun, the single leak of blight light hanging above the smoke sky.

"I was hoping to find you here, " Estrid wears a smile radiant enough to pale all gold in the 9 realms. "Peaceful up here, is it not? Hel liked hiding here, as a boy. Said the breeze was nice."

Bestla, for a moment, allows her eye to inspect the other woman for the first time. Her shoulders are round and solid, strong as a soldier, complemented by the stunning danger of a shieldmaiden. Bestla tracks night-dark locks brushing over creamy skin, long and curly. She's as much warrior as she is woman, it's as if she only now observes.

Her arms are an impressive addition, boxy as much as lean, holding closely on her shield and sword. A sword that, doubtlessly, claimed a long string of lives. She's not as fearful as it would be wiser to be. Estrid has been nothing but pleasant, as much as one could be when encountering their circumstance, her presence never frightening her as much as it saddened her.

"For someone carrying such heavy armor, you move with great stealth, Lady Sigurdsson, " If the other woman peaked at the too feather-soft timber of her voice, she had enough cheek to act differently. " I suppose you'd want an explanation as to why I'm avoiding my son?"

" Forgive me, your Grace, but Lord Hellison was never included in the conversation, " Bestla thought she spotted a bloom of red dusting her cheeks as she grinned gently, taking a spot none to tight to the former Queen, but close enough to leave some space had the smaller woman want to fill it. "I thought you would, after..."

"...It's unwise to polish hard truths. They cut harder that way, " The Queen's words were dressed in both honesty and advice, chapters of her life unfolding beneath her eyes as if to pledge truth to the statement. Estrid studied each word with expert attention.

Bestla raises, arms guarding her middle, eyes cast over the sea of flowers beneath her shoes.

"I'm grateful, for the kindness you showed him. I remain in your debt, in fact, though it escapes me how I can repay you here. "

"We don't believe in paying kindness, in the North. Goodness isn't traded in gold, " a quiet chuckle is swept by the breeze slashing through the grand mountains. Estrid inhales deeply and opens her arms when she lets her body fall upon the grass. "If it was, don't you think more people would practice it?"

The southerner's lips lift in a one-sided smile of her own, private and discreet. Debtless favors certainly sounded sweet to the ear.

" Aesir aren't precisely renewed for our gentle hearts, so I suppose not. I still mourn the stress you must have endured, however. Children are far from being a jolly affair. And the tales we hear as children don't exactly portray Titans as loving parents."

A stratum of blank seriousness shaped Estrid's features, graveness resting heavily on sharp boned cheeks and warm brown eyes. " I fell in love a day after meeting him, " Bestla swallowed hard at the admission. " I knew him for less than a sundown, but I knew he was mine. I was dead, alone and helpless and afraid, and he was too much like me to be a fateless coincidence. Words aren't enough to express it. He was just...Meant to fall, and I to catch him. "

The leafs sang to fill the edged hush musking around them. Estrid pimped the other's empty breathing as anger, for she heaved a sigh long enough to match the twin lack of words on both their parts, and excused her nerve. " Apologies. I don't dare name myself a mother, nor do I starve for anyone's approval, least of all yours. I only wished to say you raised a good son. A son lucky to have a mother like you, for as long as he did."

"...You helped him," Bestla started, chest light and comfortable, not cutting blades piercing her skin as she expected. "Kept food in his mouth, put clothes on his back. You loved him truthfully and protected him fiercely. You're not any less his mother than I."

"...It must be a sour thin all the same, for someone so beloved to greet you as a stranger. For that, I can't help but feel sorry still."

" That's a sentiment we can share. He... Hel, my child, my youngest son. Born at the edge of two worlds that never loved him. They aren't my own, not my blood, not him neither Odin, my kind hearted prince, my little lion boy. And yet, I was not their mother for the simple reason they didnt come from me. Everyone told me so.

They weren't my own, yet I held them at my chest, kissed their skinned knees and elbows, wiped their tears, and chased sickness with handpicked herbs and wet rags because I trusted nobody to do so. No language is enough to describe the love a mother has for their children.

No tongue is enough to put my love in words."

"...Even for Balder?"

Bestla laughs, an odde of heartache and sorrow. " Even him. Love gives no choices, last of all to parents. I still remember the day of his birth. A terrible storm broke the skies that evening, set fire to five houses, left a month's worth of reparations behind. He struggled, I've been told. He kicked and wailed and fought all the way.

I haven't had the chance to even hold him in my arms and he was so eager to run from me. My eyes never saw something more perfect than his tiny ears, his adorable little hands, and feet, his honey hair. He looked so much like me I hardly believed it.

But I felt no different with his brothers. There was a sickness in my mouth, when they were babes and I was forced to be departed from them. I couldn't bear to see them in another's arms, a wet nurse, or a squire, when asked to trust anyone else with them, I was faithless.

When Hel was born, he couldn't be convinced to let me go. He was so quiet, I thought perhaps this world claimed him already. His mother drew her last breath on that bed and I was the one he clung to, the one he hooked his fingers into. One of the King's guards present, he tried to prey him away, do you want to know what I did? I unsheathed a dagger from my thigh, slashed his throat, and watched him die." The confession was a river she scalded into freely.

"Would I insult your intelligence by asking if you're familiar with Sandr?" Bestla asked once Estrid wordlessly raised on her feet. She felt enough security to push her body forward. " Titans held mighty battles there."

A smirk pinched the taller woman's lips. " We were rowdy children, I'll confess. But yes, I know the location. You rebuild beautifully, " dark eyes shaped the bronze scorpio pendant suspended in the middle of Bestla's long neck. " Your family picked a Scorpio as their sigil. They made a fine legacy."

" Oh, it was. The finest. Beautiful, skillful, and yet, terribly lonely. I had 10 siblings. 5 brothers and sisters, however, I confess I felt more like an accessory than a member of a clan. We were strangers to each other. Foreigners with the same name, with our only common factor being our house.

Our country was gorgeous but very poor, you see. We trusted nobody, and in return, our distrust was repaid with hostility. Eventually, when our skin touched bone and we ran out of livestock, we opened the gates to trade. Naturally, we were invaded, our lands stolen, our necks had shackles only we could see.

And I held the key for everyone.

I want you to picture the most powerful man in the world, asking me to marry him," a bitter laughs cracks in her throat, and the wind whips away the water from her eyes. " He had a crown on his head and 50 thousand banner men behind him, with more gold than he could ever need or deserve and 100,000 spikes for our heads alone. What else could I have said?"

Her legs shift, stepping closer to Estrid, eyes as flat as her tone. " What I did, I did because I had to. To defend my people. To defend my family. To defend my blood. Every sacrifice, every drop of blood I've spilled, I did it so the people I love could live the peace I never did."

She advances, every step that's forward to her is one back for Estrid, eyes concentrated intensely on one another with enough fire to make Fire Giants sweat.

"All the sins that I have done. Or had done at my orders? The truths my children don't know, the truths a narrow number of people lived to keep the secret. The kind vicious enough to make fine warriors as yourself lose sleep, if they came to know them.

Perhaps this is my justice. A punishment for survival in a world where living is no bed of roses. But I won't stop helping my children, heart beating or otherwise.

There's a storm coming, My Lady. And I have every intention of ensuring everyone walks dry."

#I LOVE BESTLA SO MUCH THIS IS NOT A JOKE SKSKSK #earth 513 #bestla #hel hellison #estrid siggurson #Balder #odin borson #borr #(mentioned)#thunderfam #scene #fic #Spotify

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misc-headcanons · 4 years

Text

(As the three of them leave, Maple puts a finger to her lips and motions for the group to follow her. They make their way to a nearby forested area, and once they're out of earshot Maple breathes a sigh of relief before waving the fan to clear away the smoke around them.)

Maple: Okay. You can talk now that nobody's nearby.

Dochi: What WAS that?

Maple: A spell, obviously. One that made us invisible.

Ube: Man, you think fast. I was like, two seconds away from taking out my sword if that guy took another step towards us!

Vanilla: Fritter? Hey, you okay?

(Fritter clings to her and sniffles, crying while holding her tightly)

Fritter: That was the killer, 'Nilla! He was right THERE! If he'd seen us, he would've...

(The others immediately go to comfort him, putting a hand on him and making a big group hug)

Ube: Hey, it's okay! Look, we're all here and we're fine thanks to Maple. We're not gonna let you and Vanilla get hurt by any bad guys.

Fritter: What about you guys? I don't want you to get hurt, either!

Dochi: We'll be alright. Big brothers and sisters are tougher than most people. It's why we're...you know, BIG brothers and sisters. We're big and strong! (Flexes her arms)

Maple: And we're smart, too. Which is why we're not going to stand around here, in case some of the townspeople come near here. Look, there's an old pathway up that hill that looks like it hasn't been used in a while. Why don't we go up there and try to set up camp on the mountain?

Fritter: Um...okay. (sniffs and wipes his sleeve) That sounds like a good idea.

Vanilla: Ooh, I think I can see a roof up there. Maybe we can spend the night in there instead of sleeping outside.

Dochi: If the path looks like it hasn't been used in a while, then what's up there? If it's an abandoned house, then it'd be easier to stay there without anyone noticing us.

Maple: It might be abandoned for a reason...But it's the best option I can think of. Come on, let's start walking; the more distance we put between that murderer and us, the more comfortable I'll be.

(The five of them climb the winding path up the mountain, and are more quiet after their close encounter with the murderous ronin. Dochi, Maple, and Ube take turns carrying the younger two kids whenever they get tired, and after a while they arrive near the top of the mountain. The building Vanilla saw is now fully visible; it's the crumbling ruins of an old castle. Near where they're walking is a set of gravestones along the path leading to the castle's entrance.)

Fritter: Hey...Hey, hang on a second, we gotta stop walking.

Dochi: You need me to carry you again?

Fritter: No, we have to be good guests. If we're gonna stay at this house when we don't live there, we need to be nice about it.

(Maple seems to realize what Fritter's getting at and nods slightly. She sets Vanilla down and takes a few items out from the knapsack she's carrying, and motions for the others to do the same.)

Maple: For the spirits of the people who used to live here. Fritter's right, we need to leave them a gift as payment for staying in their home uninvited.

Dochi: Ohhh, right. Mom says that you should be kind to your host--even if it's a ghost host!

(The siblings each take out some spare food and place them near the four gravestones. Vanilla tugs on Maple's sleeve and points at her pipe.)

Vanilla: Can I do the flower spell? I wanna give the ghost hosts flowers as my present.

Maple: (smiles) Go ahead. You remember the words?

Vanilla: Yup!

(Vanilla takes the pipe and quietly murmurs to herself as she holds it out in front of the grave stones.)

I summon the boun-ti-ful jewels of spring, bloom here for me and make the earth sing.

(The marks on Vanilla's cheeks glow faintly as smoke billows from the pipe and settles on the ground, thickening and swirling until a handful of seedlings begin to sprout and grow at a rapid pace. After a few seconds, a cluster of flowers bloom and sway gently in the breeze. Maple takes the pipe back and pats Vanilla on the back.)

Maple: Great work, 'Nilla.

Ube: Hey...Maple, Mom's used magic to talk to ghosts before, right? Has she ever taught you to do it?

Maple: A little bit. I mean, she won't let me study necromancy until I'm older, though...I have taken a peek at some of her spellbooks on it. But speaking with spirits is something we've practiced together.

Ube: So could you speak to the people who lived in this castle? That way we can actually ask permission to spend the night.

Maple: Hmm...I guess I could try. I wonder if they could tell us more about Wano's history. It'd be a rare opportunity to learn about it. I mean, there aren't any books about Wano you can just pick up and read.

(She reads the names on each stone before taking the pipe out and blowing a swirling trail of smoke that circles around the graves.)

Echo of life, shadow of death. Kin'emon, Momonosuke, Raizo, Kanjuro...Let your echoes reach us, let your shadows appear to us.

(The smoke continues to circle around the graves, but nothing else happens.)

Fritter: Did you say it right?

Maple: I'm sure I did. Once you say the incantation, you should be able to sense a spirit and then it'll take shape. With the pipe, it should be easy for them take a form we can see with the smoke.

Vanilla: Maybe they don't like smoke. Should we try something else they can use as a shape, like the flowers?

Maple: I...I don't understand, I've done that spell perfectly before. Why isn't it...wait a minute. (She peers intently at the smoke circling around the grave, watching it slowly begin to fade and drift away) I...don't think anyone's been buried here.

Fritter: Maybe they're shy and don't want to talk to strangers?

Maple: No, that can't be it. Even if they didn't want to appear, I used enough power to summon them here. They would have started to take form before leaving if they didn't want to speak to us. I don't think there's anything here to be summoned.

Ube: Then why are there graves here?

Maple: That's a good question.

(As they stare at the graves in confusion, the sound of voices causes them to freeze up. The people approaching sound as if they're coming from the path the kids had taken from the bottom of the mountain by Okobore, and the siblings immediately see their clothes and recognize them as the adults from the town.)

Luffy: Why did you want to come with us to this castle, anyway?

Kiku: I'll explain once our allies have all arrived.

(The adults see the children near the graves, and both groups stare at each other in surprise for a moment. The one in the red robe looks even more familiar to the children, and they wonder if they'd seen him before they had ever come to Wano. The green-haired swordsman is the first to speak up.)

Zoro: Oh, it's those kids from earlier.

(When his gaze lands on Fritter, Ube and Dochi immediately raise their weapons while Maple takes her youngest brother's hand. Vanilla hides behind Maple and grabs Fritter's other hand.)

Ube: Stay back, murderer!

Dochi: Don't take another step towards my siblings, or I'll cut you in half, right along that scar on your chest!

Law: Murderer? I told all of you to keep a low profile!

Luffy: No, Zoro told me that was just a misunderstanding. He didn't kill anyone, he just slashed the guy who framed him and ran off!

Kiku: You really do have a talent for causing a ruckus...

(Vanilla steps out from behind Maple to get a better look at the man in red.)

Maple: 'Nilla! Get back behind me, we don't know who these people are.

Vanilla: But... (she peers at Luffy, and when she recognizes him she beams at him) That's not a stranger! That's Luffy, he's Papa's friend!

Ube: Wait, what? Oh. Ohhhhh, you're right! It is!

Dochi: Holy crap, it is!

Law: You know these kids, Luffy?

Maple: We haven't actually met, but we know OF him. (She relaxes a bit, but is still holding Fritter's hand as she walks up to Luffy and holds out her other hand in greeting) We're Katakuri's children. Um...we first saw you when you ruined Aunt Pudding's wedding and caused our Grandma to have a mental breakdown, but I doubt you noticed us during all of that.

Luffy: Ohhh! I didn't know Katakuri had kids. Huh, you even have his mouth marks. (He shakes Maple's hand.)

Dochi: Also, we don't blame you for all that either! I mean, we were mad at first. But then Papa told us you did it to save Sanji. So wait, are these guys part of your crew too? (She glances at Zoro, Law, and Kiku)

Ube: Oh, whoops. (He smiles sheepishly at Zoro) Sorry for threatening to kill you, mister. We thought you were a crazy killer or something, but if you're with Luffy then you can't be too bad.

Kiku: Wait, what are you all doing here in Wano? And why are you by yourselves?

Vanilla: Oh! Dochi and Ube stole mama's magic scissors and made a portal, 'cause they wanted to meet up with our aunties and uncles and grandma here. But then Maple saw us and tried to take them back, and then the portal ripped, and we all fell through it and now we're here!

Kiku: That...isn't what I expected.

Law: Wait, your grandmother...Big Mom's already in Wano?

Maple: That's--um, confidential. We can't reveal where our family is to another pirate crew. (She looks sternly at Vanilla, who pouts.)

Vanilla: Yeah, but they're friends with Luffy! And Luffy is Papa's friend, so we won't be called traitors if we tell them, right?

Law: We're ALLIES, not friends.

Vanilla: Huh? Aren't those the same thing?

Luffy: Yeah! We're friends, Law.

Law: I don't want to have this conversation again...So. You five are lost in Wano, and nobody in your family knows that you're here.

Dochi: Mama and Papa probably know by now. Papa's got really good Observation Haki, and Mama knows how to use magic, so they should've figured out we're gone and where we are. They'd probably want us to stick with Luffy, since he's Papa's friend; we dunno where our aunts and uncles are, so he's the only grown-up we know that we can trust here.

Ube: OH! Let's be allies! Me and Dochi can fight, Maple's the best of us at magic, 'Nilla is good with healing spells and knows some stuff about medicine, and...um, Fritter's a really good cook! I mean, he's 7, and he's really good for a 7 year old.

Luffy: Hmm...Alright!

Maple: This is NOT going to go over well if our family finds out. Look, if we're really going to be allies, we need you to keep this a secret from them. The only one who wouldn't call us traitors for this are Mama and Papa, and Big Mom would KILL us if she found out we were allies with you of all people. Um, no offense.

Luffy: No problem! I'm pretty good at keeping secrets.

Law: You're joking. Please tell me you're joking.

Kiku: I admit, I normally wouldn't approve of involving children in this. But...we can't just leave them on their own.

Ube: Plus, we wouldn't take no for an answer and we'd just follow you guys anyway. My mom says we're "tenacious to a fault."

Law: You'll fit right in with Luffy, then.

Luffy: Hey, since you guys got here before us, have you seen some of our other friends? A guy named Kin'emon, a kid named Momonosuke...

Maple: (frowns) Wait...you mean...them? (She points to the gravestones.)

#one piece #one piece oc #oc #dochi #maple #ube #vanilla #fritter #queue

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bookishtickles · 5 years

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Okay so I have finished all the Harry Potter books, so here is my ranking of them. Please note there isn't a bad book in the bunch so if your favorite is low, I'm not saying it isn't good

7) Half Blood Prince

So, some book had to be last, and for me it's quite easy to pick this one. It has really good moments; when this book gets it right, it gets it really right, but the thing is is that this book is far too light hearted for this point in the series. It's basically just a romantic comedy with the occasional murder and Voldemort's backstory. Some people defend it by saying that it doesn't matter if there's a war going on, teenagers will still worry about who is kissing who. And that's a solid point to make, but Harry shouldn't be worries about it. Not after all he has been through. Speaking of Harry;

The thing that disappoints me the most in this book is how they just forgot about Harry's trauma. With everything this boy goes through, he should have a lot trauma, and this is the only book they forgot about it. I know, a huge part of Harry's character is that despite all he has been through he remains as pure as he was when he was 11, and how much he loves is remarkable because of all he has been through. But he can still be pure and traumatized at the same time and the other books had him be both beautifully. This book really just kind of made Harry a one dimensional character. And what doesn't help is how Ron and Hermione arguably should be traumatized too following the end of Order of the Phoenix. And they should not be so against the idea that Draco could be a death eater

6) Chamber of Secrets

This book kinda just feels like Sorcerer's (Philosopher if you aren't American like me) stone but not as good. The trio are still at the age where they can't handle anything too too dark, but the petrifying of people was a bit unoriginal to be honest. But! The quieter more character driven moments are great and this is the first time we see a horcrux (that isn't Harry) even though we don't know it

5) Sorcerer's Stone

The writing is a bit childish in this one, but it's a perfect first entry. It's magical and fun and really just classic. Little 11 year old Harry not believing he is a wizard and thinking they must have the wrong Harry is iconic

4) Order of the Phoenix

This book is a sad read between Harry's trauma, no one believing him, the connection between him and Voldemort coming on full swing, and obviously Sirius' death and than Harry's subsequent breakdown after. It just gets it so right though. It drags on at times but it's so good it's hard to care, the occulemency lessons to be amazing as well. It's just so interesting

I also like how this book brings in the horcrux inside Harry starting to influence him. Of course the horcruxes take the negative feelings the closes soul to it is feeling and exaggerates it and emphasizes it, making the soul do things they wouldn't normally do, so Harry when he is angry always did things he wouldn't normally do, but this is the first time it starts to really impact him when he is angry because of trauma from goblet of Fire, he angers easily, and it's written so well

3) Prisoner of Azkaban

A lot of people have this at number one, I see why, the dementors and the patronus spell are soooo cool and this is the book that brings in Sirius who lots of people, including me, love. I adore this book so much but the thing is is that I don't quite love it as much as my top 2

2) Deathly Hallows

This pains me so much to put this at 2 and not 1, but the camping bit dragged on for way too damn long. But this book is absolutely incredible. The feeling of insafety sets in right a fucking way with Voldemort deciding that he is going to kill Harry in the most brutal way possible and that feeling of unsafety doesn't let up until the end. The Gringotts breakin is amazing. Harry, Hermione, and Ron's capture at Malfoy Manor is amazing. The battle of Hogwarts is amazing. Snape's backstory is amazing. Harry sacrificing himself is the most emotionally devastating thing I have ever read in fiction and I have never cried more at a work of fiction. Harry coming back is amazing and even how he tells Voldemort to feel remorse so he will be redeemed shows how pure and loving Harry is, even after what he has been through to the series he STILL isn't consumed with the hatred to want to kill him. And than he doesn't even kill Voldemort, he disarms him and the curse bounces back and hits Voldemort instead of Harry. This book is so harrowing and uplifting at the same time, I don't think I have ever read anything like it and that's why it pains me so much to put it second, but the camping bit is just too long

1) Goblet of Fire

The book where the series famously takes a dark turn is also its best. This is the book that has such a great mystery, with how we don't know who put Harry's name in to the goblet or why, we don't know at this point whether Harry's dreams about Voldemort are real or not, and dark things keep happening up until the moment Voldemort's kidnap of Harry is successful and he kills Cedric along the way. But this is also a really fun story with the Triwizard Tournament and the Yule Ball, it is such a perfect blend of darkness and fun

And it also has amazing emotional moments like the hospital scene once Dumbledore saves Harry. That is probably my favorite Harry Potter scene, the hospital after Harry's capture with the minister not believing Harry, and all these people who are unlikely allies deciding to work together to stop Voldemort and death eaters and protect Harry, and Mrs Weasley hugging Harry in particular is a standout in the scene. This book is just what I will instantly think of when I hear Harry Potter

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amseralto · 4 years

Text

This is a comic me and my team have been working on for a while. The story is called Tide Peak.

Synopsis:

The story is a fantasy/adventure about a young girl named Koroi who is enjoying the simple life with her grandmother before learning that her mental health is declining. She decides to talk her friend Jene about a myth about a magical fish that could give the person the one thing they desire. They decide to go on a adventure to find it and save Koroi’s grandmother

Here is a sample of our story:

Koroi was standing on the wooden dock looking at the rising sun. On one of her hands was a fishing pole, and on the other one was a wicker basket with white and blue lining, the same as her outfit. Beyond the dock was a wooden bridge and a rock path on the right side. The sun was illuminating the wooden bridge with almost blinding bright yellow light. The clouds had a slight orange hue to them being reflected by the sun. Looking at the height of the water she could tell it was high tide.

She pulled down her white straw hat and tied it so it wouldn't get swept away by the wind. She tensed her shoulders and looked at the ground to see if there were any cracks in the woods. She heard the sound of the water splashing louder and louder as she walked further in. Her pace naturally got slower and more careful hearing the wood creak. She slowly started noticing more and more holes in the bridge allowing some water to get on the bridge. On some parts water droplets and sea foam could be seen sparkling on top of the bridge. The tide was so high that some of the sides were wet and had a few barnacles.

The people were starting to come out of their houses and setting up for fishing at the dock. They go along the rock path and along the border of the platform. They look over at Koroi at the distance. The bridge looks like a portal to another world and the sun, it's like the entrance. It's almost like she was walking into the light.

She sat down near the edge of the bridge and slowly sat down with her legs crossed. She put down the basket close to her and took the bait. Once the bait was on the hook, she reeled it out into the ocean. She was there for some time but eventually caught four fish. Most of them were grayish and were the length of half her arm. The fourth one was roundish and about the size of her head.

By that time, the sun could be seen a few inches over the horizon. She wrapped the fish in a cloth and slowly moved to dip her foot in the water. She heard a sound right as her foot was about to touch the water. She moved her foot back up and looked back

She saw that it was Jene and smiled brightly. Jene was wearing an emerald green outfit and a dark straw hat. Her skin was tan with a bright orange undertone, and she had dark brown wavy hair and green eyes. Koroi adjusted her hat so her face could be seen and slowly stood up. Jene looked at her disappointed and helped her carry her basket all the way back to the dock.

"What were you doing here?" Jene asks in a worried tone

Koroi sighs "I was just getting some fish for my grandma, wait till you see how big they are" They walk to the main platform and she takes out the big red fish excitedly.

Jene sighs and pauses to maintain her calm "You worry me a lot, you know that?".

Koroi shakes her head, "Stop nagging me, look I caught a big fish".

Jene sighs again "Why did you walk on that dock?"

"I wanted to get some fish for my grandma, they are a lot bigger in that area" Koroi

exclaimed excitedly looking inside her basket

"You really do worry me, don't ever do that again, you could have gotten pulled by a sea monster" she says firmly

"Why can't you be proud of me?, I caught a big fish" Koroi pouts

"I'll be happy when you don't put yourself in danger" Jene sighs

"Come on Jene, those are just legends" koroi says

"Then why do so many people disappear in this town?" Jene says

Koroi shrubs "I don't know, it could be anything, isn't the forest dangerous too Jene? "

"At least we know what's in the forest, who knows what's under that blue blanket?" She makes a funny motion with her hands

Koroi chuckles hearing that word "Are there ghosts in the forests Jene?"

"No they aren't real"

She looks at her in disbelief "Come on Jene, you heard the screaming lady in the forest" Koroi exclaims.

Jene thinks for a minute "I can tell you what that is"

Koroi gulps.

Jene smiles lightly "Just promise me you won't ever walk down that bridge again"

Koroi nods and then scratches her head "Wait isn't the forest dangerous?" Jene starts walking on the platform to where the floating houses are. "Not as dangerous as were you were before, aren't you scared the bridge would collapse" She exclaims

"Lets just drop it ok?" Koroi pouts and follows

She holds onto the rails of the bridge and looks back to see if koroi is near her. The bridge rocked softly side to side as the underneath moved. There were a few other bridges connecting to floating houses.

The houses were made of wood and flowed in harmony with the movements of the ocean. At this point the sun was already out and it just looked like a regular sunny day with a few clouds.They walked to dry land where the rocks were and walked up the huge stone cliff. Along the way there were farmers markets and neighborhoods full of slightly run down looking houses. The farmer markets were selling fish and crops. There was a fresh meat booth that was empty and had a lot of papers stuck to it. On the top of the hill was her grandma's house. It was bigger than all the other houses and looked simplistic. It had an old looking yellow paint job on the outside and a muted red roof.

Jene: "If she asks you to fish them on the platform" Koroi pouts and shakes her head "Isn't lying bad Jene?" Jene sighs "You won't need to lie if you don't do it again"

Koroi gives her grandma the basket with the fish and the fishing pole and then runs back to Jene. "Wait where are we going?" She asks curiously "Were going to the forest" Jene smiles and Koroi gulps nervously

They walk down to the foot of the stone and enter the forest path directly across it. On the left and right side of the stone they could see the floating villages. In front of the forest path was a sign with drawings of animals. One of them was a fox looking animal, another one a huge bird with teeth and strange looking huge dogs. They walk down the cleared path seeing green everywhere. Suddenly there were some flowers on some trees and they could see colorful berry bushes.

The berries were the same that they were selling at the marketplace. Koroi stays close to Jene looking around in wonder. She starts to wander off to explore and Jene guides her back towards her a few times. One tree had red berries with green spikes on the outside and another free had huge yellow fruit. Jene looked around and took Korois hand "Follow me closely we're going to go off the path, just close your eyes" Koroi closes her eyes but opens them a little bit to take a sneak peak.

She closed them again immediately hearing the scream.It was the same pitch but not as loud as the night before. Jene says quietly "Well there's your ghost" Koroi peeked from behind the Bush they were and saw two foxes playing around. They were tackling each other and running their faces together.They were eating what looked like a grey rabbit with horns. Their bright red color shone brightly against the green background and shines even brighter when the light from above the trees hit them.

They walked slightly closer and noticed claw markings on the trees. The foxes growled and jumped towards them. Jene quickly climbed up a tree and helped Koroi get up as well. One of the foxes was jumping trying to grab Koroi's dangling foot but Jene pulled her up. They pant leaning against some branches and Koroi smiles "Can I get one Jene they're beautiful"

Jene laughs and let's her hands rest behind her head "No chance you don't know anything about the..”

Koroi looks with an annoyed expression"Why do you always have to ruin it?, a ghost would have been cooler."

Jene smiles "I'll do it as much as I want to"

Koroi smiles and leans closer with a pleading look"Ok explain"

Jene clears her throat and leans slightly forward on the big branch "Well that's the vixen call, the girls do it to attract a mate, looks like she found a boyfriend pretty quickly" Below them they could see the foxes picking up the rabbit and intertwining their tails. The animals run off into the distance pretty quickly.

Koroi thinks "Can you explain that claw mark on that tree?"

Jene nods "Easy, that's the foxes marking their territory."

She says. "What about seven finger claw marks?"

Jene thinks for a second "You're making that up aren't you?"

Koroi nods and sighs "Do you have to know everything?"

Jene smirks, bragging "Yes, I'm very experienced".

"What about the ocean? Do you believe all those crazy rumors the people say?" Koroi asks.

"Well they have to come from somewhere,at least part of it must be true" Jene says.

Koroi shakes her head "Come on those people will believe anything" Koroi says. "What if there's a legend of a fish that can cure anything, would you believe that?" Jene says. Korois eyes widen and she leans forward "I hope that's true, that sounds amazing"

Jene sighs "I'm thinking of going to find it swim,"she says.

"I want to come too" Koroi says excitedly

"You're too reckless, besides you don't even know how to swim" jene says

"Easy I'll learn, but you're not going alone" Koroi says happily

"Tomorrow we'll find out more about it and see if it's safe, if not you're not coming with me" Jene says firmly

Koroi nods "Deal" They slowly get down from the tree and walk back towards the path. They explore a bit more and then go back up the hill to Koroi’s house. As they walk up to the house a quote can be seen engraved on the side of a house. It says "Fear can be beat with knowledge, but curiosity will always be satisfied" As they're about to enter Korois house the bright full moon can be seen outside and there is a bright gradient of yellow to purple in the sky.

The story is written/designed by: https://instagram.com/amseralto?igshid=1s3stgy5q03kg

https://instagram.com/mary.ann.margaret?igshid=1gd2tkagn7u9y

And illustrated by our artist: Rhyzi

Read more for updates on : https://instagram.com/tide_peak_project?igshid=2wux0w48yyvc

Please comment, and give criticism down below of what you thought! We hope you enjoy!

#comics #artists on tumblr #writer #graphic novel #fantasy #adventure #story

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