#Troy needs to come back obviously

[4barbatos]

✦ forgive me, father (for i came)

venti x dahlia x fem!reader

then had a ménage à trois ...last friday night .ᐟ

cw: threesome (dom!venti & dom!dahlia x sub!fem!reader), spit-roasting, overstimulation, light dumbification, degradation and praise, blasphemous religious themes, rough sex, oral (receiving + giving), light choking, name-calling, drunken decisions, semi-public buildup, reader being very very down bad. idek atp it’s unholy.

a/n: jesus. this fic nearly took me out 😭 had to do actual research on what goes down at an american party bc obviously i’m not american (if u thought i was…… respectfully get out). also i was gonna post this at 2am but i deadass fell asleep mid-edit while “last friday night” was blasting in my left ear.

had this festering in my drafts for like a week because my brain refused to cooperate. finishing it felt like fighting for my life in the trenches, but i’m glad i pushed through bc i kinda love it??? dahlia being a repressed religious perv is sooo real to me. venti has a god complex and i’m not stopping him. man thinks he invented pleasure. praise be. 

also! modern college au, everyone’s legal and consenting, and ready to make terrible decisions <3 

you didn’t even wanna come to this party. 

like, genuinely. you had an exam next week, a half-written paper, and a half-dead social battery. the last thing you needed was to be shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of horny undergrads blasting katy perry like it was 2010 and shame didn’t exist.

but your roommate was hot and persuasive and already four shots in when she started dragging you by the wrist.

“i swear,” she slurred, her glitter eyeshadow half-smudged and confidence turned all the way up to eleven, “you need to get dicked down or at least dance, girl.”

you brought a water bottle and wore a thrifted denim short. crop top optional, dignity minimal. you figured you’d hover around the snacks, say no to three drinks, and dip early with your gpa intact.

you weren’t expecting to find god.

or rather — two boys who made you forget him completely.

it started off normal. crowded house, colored leds, somebody grinding to a weeknd remix in the living room. your roommate disappeared ten minutes in, presumably to go make out with that guy from her econ class who looked like he cried after sex.

you were posted by the kitchen counter with your “water” (spiked, probably) and a vague plan to ghost as soon as someone tried to rope you into flip cup.

suddenly you heard a familiar voice, buried under the bass and drunk laughter. something warm and deep, with a laugh you remembered a little too well — like the echo of a bad idea, like the first sip of communion wine that was definitely not grape juice.

you turned your head, scanning through the haze of neon lights and sweaty bodies until you saw him.

“wait,” you said, freezing mid-step. “is that—”

you blinked through the crowd. tilted your head. no fucking way.

“dahlia?”

and like some kind of divine punishment, he looked up right as you said it. head tilted. curls a little longer now. smile the same. pretty as always, just older — more grown into himself. less sunday choir, more sunday morning regret.

you stared. he stared back.

and he smiled. slow. familiar.

“holy shit,” you mumbled. “literal church boy dahlia. the pervert.”

your friend turned her head, already halfway through her third drink. “the what?”

you grinned, cheeks flushed. “he used to moan during prayer.”

she choked. “you’re kidding.”

“senior youth retreat. i was there. it was dark.”

you didn’t mean to talk to him again. not really.

you were supposed to be getting more water — in the loosest sense of the word — and maybe scoping out the snacks before your roommate dared someone to dance on the dining table. but somehow, you ended up pressed near the kitchen counter with him, sipping vodka-disguised hydration and laughing a little too easily against the tune of an early-2000s party playlist.

like the past didn’t hum under your skin.

like you hadn’t spent whole years pretending you didn’t think about his lips when you closed your eyes.

“you still go to church?” you asked, voice looser now, a little slow from the alcohol. your eyes flicked down to the rosary slung around his neck, a glint of silver nestled above exposed collarbones. the chain dipped beneath his half-unbuttoned shirt — a silk one, of course, because dahlia didn’t know how to dress normally.

“every sunday,” he said, tilting his head, elbow resting behind you like he always needed to trap you somewhere. “confession, too.”

you raised a brow. “must be a long-ass session.”

he grinned. “only when i think of you.”

you choked. coughed. wiped your mouth with the back of your hand.

“you’re disgusting,” you muttered, trying not to smile. “jesus wept.”

“probably because you wore that skirt to sunday school.”

you gave him a look. “you wore fishnets to a baptism.”

“we all have our moments.”

you snorted, flicking his arm. “blasphemous freak.”

he leaned in, mouth close to your ear, voice low: “missed you too, sweetheart.”

you were about to recover — really — when a new voice cut in. higher, smoother, soaked in flirt and casual sin.

“hey,” someone drawled, “who’s your friend?”

you turned your head.

and immediately forgot how to breathe.

the boy standing there looked like temptation had crawled out of a lana del rey song and decided to make itself fashion. crop top riding dangerously high on his waist. eyeliner smudged like he’d fucked and cried in it. messy red eyeshadow painted over his lids like sin. earrings glinting with every lazy tilt of his head. thigh chains. layered necklaces. a smile like he already knew every filthy thought in your head and was ready to make it worse.

he looked at you like a cat watching something twitch.

“venti,” dahlia muttered beside you, voice already tight. “this is y/n.”

venti’s eyes didn’t leave your face. “oh. hi.”

your brain short-circuited.

he tilted his head, smile curling. slow. knowing.

your heart did a little skip. then maybe a cartwheel. maybe a confessional-level sin.

you didn’t answer. you couldn’t. you blinked, twice, trying to remember how words worked.

venti’s gaze dragged down and up in one unashamed sweep — not even pretending to be subtle. when his eyes met yours again, they sparkled. and then he smiled wider.

dahlia rolled his eyes so hard it looked like a prayer for patience. “she’s mine.”

you scoffed immediately. “she’s not,” you said, turning fully toward him — maybe too quick. maybe too flustered.

venti was still watching you, smug like he’d already won. 

your knees wobbled. traitors.

dahlia noticed. of course he did. he stepped in closer, hand ghosting over your hip like he had to remind both of you where you used to belong.

“you’re drunk,” he muttered, low.

“so are you,” you shot back, voice breathier than you wanted.

venti’s grin sharpened like a knife. “i’m sober enough to know i’d make her feel better than your holy hands ever could.”

he took a sip from his red solo cup, and when a drop slipped past his lip, he caught it with his tongue.

your soul left your body.

dahlia made a sound halfway between a scoff and a growl. “you’re going to hell.”

venti shrugged, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “with her? gladly.”

you exhaled. shaky. already fucked in the head. already thinking about what it’d be like to be ruined between them — choir boy and chaos incarnate.

you had a paper due monday. a hangover waiting to ambush you. a party full of strangers that wouldn’t notice you disappearing.

and god definitely wasn’t here tonight. 

“so,” venti said, stepping closer — dangerously closer — until your shoulder nearly brushed his. he smelled like wine and spearmint and something sweet you couldn’t name. “what brings a girl like you to a party like this?”

“roommate dragged me,” you replied, trying to sound casual. your voice came out thinner than expected. “i have an exam next week.”

“mm. you study hard?”

“i try to.”

he smiled like you just handed him ammunition. “you look like you need a break.”

“she doesn’t need your kind of break,” dahlia muttered, shifting beside you. his palm skimmed the curve of your waist, familiar and territorial.

venti, unbothered, leaned past you to grab a bottle off the counter — something green and half-empty — and poured a finger of it into his cup. he offered it to you with a smirk.

you didn’t take it.

“i’m already drunk,” you said.

“so am i,” he replied, “and yet i’m still making excellent choices.”

“this isn’t an excellent choice,” dahlia said, tugging you a little closer.

“what, sharing a drink or stealing your girl?”

you almost choked.

“i’m not his girl,” you said.

dahlia’s fingers tensed.

venti’s eyes glittered. “well, if you’re not his… can i have you?”

you blinked at him.

and maybe it was the alcohol. maybe it was the way he was smiling like he’d already won. maybe it was the ghost of dahlia’s breath on your neck, the memory of his hands under your skirt at sixteen, the fact that you felt so alive for the first time in weeks —

but you said it. blame the devil, the vodka, the look in venti’s eyes. you said it anyway.

“are you two gonna keep talking,” you asked, voice low, “or are you gonna fuck me?”

a beat of stunned silence.

then —

“dibs,” venti said, instantly, voice light but laced with something that made your spine straighten. “i call dibs.”

“you can’t call dibs,” dahlia snapped, sharp and bristling. “she’s not some fucking prize.”

venti only smiled, stepping closer with that same lazy, dangerous charm. “sure feels like i’m winning something.”

“i talked to her first.”

“you also tried to claim her like a parking space,” venti shot back, glancing at you with a knowing gleam. “she said no, remember?”

you blinked up at them, half amused, half unhinged, stomach doing flips and thighs already pressing tight.

“jesus,” you muttered, “this is the worst threesome negotiation ever.”

venti leaned down a little, voice dropping as he looked you straight in the eye. “oh, love. this isn’t negotiation. this is foreplay.”

you might’ve blacked out for a second. just a little.

then dahlia was suddenly behind you, crowding close enough for his chest to press against your back, one hand low on your waist, mouth right next to your ear.

“say the word,” he murmured, “and i’ll take you upstairs right now. don’t even have to look at him.”

venti hummed. “but she wants to. don’t you, pretty thing?”

you turned to look at him.

his tongue was running along the edge of his bottom lip, slow and knowing, fingers playing with one of his necklaces. he was watching you like a dare. like he already knew what decision you were going to make.

your mouth went dry. your body didn’t.

“you’re both,” you said, exhaling, “so fucking annoying.”

“but hot,” venti reminded, cocky.

“and talented,” dahlia added, already pulling you subtly toward the hallway. “you remember.”

venti’s hand was on your other wrist before you realized it, cool and confident. “i promise i’m better.”

you didn’t even know who led you up the stairs — one of them pushed the door open, the other tugged you inside, both of them crowding close as the music faded behind a slam and the click of a lock.

heat. hands.

someone’s mouth on your neck. someone else’s fingers at the hem of your shorts.

“dibs on her mouth,” venti said, already dropping to his knees, smiling like the devil as he looked up at you.

“you’re such a slut,” dahlia muttered — but he let go.

“i am,” venti grinned, tugging your hips closer. “and she’s about to be, too.”

you barely had time to breathe.

venti’s hands were already gliding up your thighs, warm and smooth, dragging your shorts and underwear down in one practiced, greedy motion. the grin never left his face. not even when he kissed the inside of your knee and said, in the sweetest voice you’d ever heard:

“hold still for me, baby. gonna make you sing.”

you almost said something smart — almost — but then his mouth was on you, and the words evaporated. tongue hot, slow, teasing. his thumbs held your thighs open with a surprisingly firm grip, and then he moaned into your pussy like he’d just tasted something divine.

your knees buckled.

“fuck,” you gasped, one hand shooting out blindly until it hit dahlia’s arm. you curled your fingers into his shirt. “oh my god—”

“told you she’d sound pretty,” venti murmured against your cunt, before licking another long stripe up the center and flicking your clit with his tongue.

“and i told you to shut up,” dahlia muttered, but his voice was hoarse. his hand found the back of your neck, thumb stroking the edge of your jaw as he leaned in to kiss your temple. “you like his mouth, baby?”

you whimpered, nodding helplessly.

“yeah, she does,” venti said smugly. “she’s dripping. such a good girl for me, aren’t you?”

you would’ve protested — maybe — but then he sucked, lips wrapping around your clit and tugging just right, and the pleasure hit like lightning.

your hips jerked forward. dahlia caught you.

“venti,” you whimpered, “fuck—i can’t—”

“yes, you can,” he said sweetly. “let go for me, pretty thing. cum all over my tongue.”

you did.

shaking, gasping, clinging to dahlia’s shirt like a lifeline while your thighs trembled around venti’s head. he groaned, licking you through it, hands firm on your ass to keep you steady.

when it was over, he kissed the inside of your thigh like a reward.

“so sweet,” he murmured, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “might get addicted.”

you were still trying to catch your breath when dahlia gently tilted your face toward his.

his eyes were dark.

“my turn,” he said.

you didn’t realize you were grinding against venti’s mouth until he groaned, loud and thrilled, hands squeezing your thighs to keep you there. your head spun. your hips jerked. he loved it.

“needy girl,” he gasped against you, tongue flicking quick and sharp. “use me.”

you whimpered.

behind you, dahlia cursed under his breath, pushing your bra up to mouth at your tits, teeth grazing your nipple just rough enough to make you jolt. “fuck, baby. so sensitive. you’re gonna cum already, aren’t you?”

venti pulled back just enough to grin against your skin. “she’s close.”

“she always was easy.” “she’s perfect.” “she’s mine.”

you gasped, nearly choking on your own breath.

“then why’s she whining on my tongue?” venti said, smug, dragging it over you again — and god, it was filthy the way he moaned like he’d been starved for this, like the taste of you was his favorite kind of poison.

you cried out, trembling hard enough that dahlia had to grip your hips tighter to keep you upright.

“venti—venti—fuck—”

“cum for me,” he said sweetly. “be good and make a mess on my face.”

and you did.

with a cry that split the air, you came hard — shaking, hips bucking, vision dark at the edges. venti didn’t stop. he ate it up, humming, licking through your orgasm like he was trying to memorize it. like he wanted seconds.

maybe thirds.

you barely had time to catch your breath before dahlia was spinning you, lips crashing into yours — rough, messy, starved.

“still mine,” he muttered against your mouth. “she might’ve got you first, but i get to fuck you.”

venti wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes shining. “we get to fuck her.”

dahlia didn’t argue this time.

you were dizzy, your knees barely holding, your pulse still too fast. but you didn’t care.

not when dahlia was walking you back toward the bed, pushing you gently down, stripping you slow like you were something precious and ruined all at once. not when venti crawled up beside you, kissing your neck, your jaw, your collarbone — every inch dahlia wasn’t touching.

“gonna take care of you,” venti whispered, fingers ghosting down your stomach. “you’ll let us, won’t you?”

you nodded. breathless.

“use your words, baby,” dahlia said, already undoing his belt. “what do you want?”

you looked between them — wrecked and warm and starving — lips parted, thighs trembling, mouth slick with spit and want and everything you weren’t supposed to be.

your voice barely came out a whisper.

“…both of you.”

venti beamed. radiant. unholy. like a prayer turned inside out.

“god bless.”

“god hates us,” dahlia muttered, already pushing your thighs further apart, climbing over you like he owned you. “and i’m about to make you forget every prayer you’ve ever known.”

your breath hitched. your whole body keened.

then came the first thrust — deep, deliberate — and the air punched out of your lungs in a messy, wrecked sound.

you didn’t even know whose hands were on you anymore. one gripped your throat just enough to make your vision blur at the edges, another curled around your hip, dragging you back against their pace like you were made for it. venti was saying something — words you couldn’t catch, not when your brain was sliding like honey through your skull — but his mouth was wet and hot and everywhere, his tongue licking into your teeth like he wanted to taste the exact second you broke.

dahlia growled in your ear, low and dark, his grip bruising.

“say it,” he rasped. “say who’s making you feel this good.”

“y-you both—” you gasped, hands scrabbling for anything to hold onto. “fuck, please—”

“aw, look at her,” venti cooed, voice syrupy, cocky, cruel. “can’t even think straight. how many times has she cum already?”

“four,” dahlia grunted. “maybe five.”

“mm. not enough.”

you whimpered as venti dipped between your legs again, tongue unrelenting, too much — too much — but god, you didn’t want it to stop. didn’t want to breathe if it meant they’d stop touching you like this, worshipping you like the altar you were never meant to be.

you moaned — high and helpless — when dahlia’s pace picked up, slamming into you like he was trying to fuck his name into your spine.

venti grinned up at you from between your thighs, lips wet and swollen.

“gonna make her forget the alphabet.”

“already did,” dahlia panted. “she went stupid after the second orgasm.”

you didn’t deny it.

you couldn’t. your brain had been fucked clean out of your head, scrambled like eggs, your only thoughts left were their names and the way they made you feel — raw, perfect, ruined.

and still they kept going. and you let them.

you let them, because you were already too far gone. because your body begged for more even when your mind shattered. because you’d never felt this good. this full. this taken.

because whatever sins you’d committed to get here?

you’d do them all again. twice. in heels.

god was gone. and you were still moaning.

it didn’t matter anymore. not with your legs trembling open, cunt puffy and dripping, drool sliding from the corner of your mouth as you moaned pathetically around venti’s cock.

“ohh, look at her,” venti cooed, breath shaky, voice teasing and airy as he fisted your hair. “baby’s all fucked out already, and we haven’t even finished.”

“slut,” dahlia muttered behind you, hands digging into your hips as he snapped his into yours. “you came again, didn’t you? just now. again. fuck—your pussy’s still squeezing like she wants more.”

you whined around venti’s length, eyelids fluttering. your arms couldn’t hold you up anymore. your thighs had given out ages ago. they kept you upright between them — barely — venti’s cock hitting the back of your throat while dahlia was still pounding into your soaked, overstimulated cunt like he was trying to fuck the brain out of you.

maybe he already had.

venti moaned, hips twitching as your lips hollowed around him. “you’re drooling, pretty girl,” he gasped. “so messy. god, i love it. she’s not even blinking, look—she’s gone, dahlia.”

“good,” dahlia growled, pace still brutal. “she wanted to act like she didn’t want either of us earlier. needed a reminder.”

venti chuckled, breathless. “she’ll forget her name at this rate.”

you tried to answer — to say fuck you or i hate you or please or more or something, anything — but your voice was gone, throat raw, thoughts mush.

“mm-mm,” venti murmured, noticing the twitch of your brows. “don’t think. just feel.”

you whined again — this time, deeper. desperate.

dahlia leaned forward, hand sliding up to wrap around your throat from behind. “you gonna cum again for us, sweetheart?” he rasped into your ear, hips still slamming into you. “gonna cream all over my cock like a needy little toy?”

you gasped around venti, tears finally slipping from your lashes.

venti groaned, tilting your head up to look at him. “god, she’s crying,” he whispered. “you’re so fucking pretty like this, y’know that?”

you made a wrecked little noise, drool sliding past your lips as you nodded.

dahlia grunted. “fucking knew she liked it. knew you were a dirty girl the second i saw you in that church dress.”

your cunt clenched violently.

“fuck—again?” dahlia moaned. “she’s—she’s gonna—”

you broke.

legs kicking, arms trembling, a scream caught in your throat around venti’s cock as your body convulsed, heat flashing white as you came hard — your sixth? seventh? you couldn’t tell — clenching so tight around dahlia it made him swear, hips jerking once, twice, before he buried himself to the hilt with a groan.

venti whimpered. “ohh, fuck, baby—fuck—gonna—gonna—”

he pulled out just in time, coming hot and fast across your tongue and lips, his hand under your chin to tilt your face up, make you take it. you let your mouth fall open, drool and spit and come spilling messily down your chin.

“that’s it,” he gasped, voice sweet and fucked. “good girl. good fucking girl.”

you whimpered — barely conscious, twitching.

dahlia pulled out slow, watching your slick drip down your thighs. “fuck, look at that mess,” he muttered, thumb brushing your clit just to watch you flinch. “soaked the sheets. hope your roommate’s proud.”

venti collapsed beside you, sweaty and blissed out, grabbing your hand and pressing a kiss to your knuckles.

you blinked at him, dazed. “mmnnh.”

he grinned. “no thoughts. just cock.”

“mission accomplished,” dahlia muttered, flopping beside you on the other side.

you weren’t even sure which of them kissed your shoulder.

you just knew your legs didn’t work, your soul had left your body, and if god had been here tonight —

he definitely left mid-threesome.

you woke up to the sound of someone snoring and someone else — singing.

acoustic. badly. with feeling.

“…living in a material wooorld, and i am a material giiirl—”

your brain hurt. your legs hurt. your entire existence hurt.

you cracked one eye open.

and immediately regretted everything.

venti was sitting cross-legged on the floor, wrapped in a blanket like some sleep-deprived prophet, strumming an actual guitar (???) you swore nobody had brought to the party. eyeliner smudged halfway to his temples, red eyeshadow still smeared across one cheek like war paint. his lips were shiny — glossy, even. god only knew why.

he grinned when he saw you awake.

“morning, sunshine! you moaned like a pornstar in your sleep.”

you blinked.

rolled over.

and immediately saw dahlia, shirtless, face buried in a pillow, groaning like he had just been born into suffering.

“kill me,” he rasped.

you sat up slowly, blanket clutched to your chest, realizing three things at once:

1. you were wearing dahlia’s shirt. inside out. 

2. venti was definitely wearing your bra like a headband.

3. someone had written “slut sandwich” on the fogged-up mirror in lipstick.

“what the actual hell happened,” you croaked, throat wrecked, dignity in shambles, and your legs about two steps away from quitting the entire concept of balance.

“sex,” venti answered brightly from the bed, still shirtless, still smug. “lots of it. possibly illegal in some countries.”

“definitely illegal in a church parking lot,” dahlia added, not even opening his eyes. “and probably a few states.”

you flipped them both off with shaky fingers as you stumbled toward the bathroom, every muscle in your body filing a complaint.

“don’t forget to hydrate!” venti called after you, far too cheerful for a man who’d literally begged to cum in your mouth five hours ago.

you grumbled something about exorcisms and shoved the bathroom door open, clinging to the sink like a war veteran. mascara smudged. knees bruised. bite marks blooming like artwork down your collarbone. you didn’t even want to check your hair.

you’d barely closed the door behind you when you heard:

“hey dahlia?”

“what.”

“did we actually high-five while spit-roasting her or was that just something i dreamed about?”

a pause.

“nah. we definitely high-fived. you yelled ‘teamwork makes the cream work.’”

venti wheezed. “oh my god. i’m hilarious.”

you slammed the bathroom door shut like it owed you money.

god, give me strength, you prayed silently. and maybe a therapist. and a gallon of electrolytes.

…also maybe another round after brunch. if they behave.

a/n: guys imma be honest this only got finished bc of @ventisslut <3 ily mother. bless 🙏 if it weren’t for u i’d probably still be staring at my docs unfinished and untouched (like me)

[kneelanders]

sid x late 20s!gf x first trip to cole harbour

a/n: writing this tipsy as shit in the bar but i hate seafood so i wrote this also this is NOT EDITED AND I'M SORRY

you're both sitting on the back deck of sid's lakefront house. natemac is there with his girl, obviously, along with sid's entire family and nate's too. you're feeling so intimidated by everyone; everyone is so nice, but you're a bit overwhelmed.

troy calls everyone to the picnic tables out back for dinner, and that's when you realize: oh god. every single dish is seafood based. it makes sense, this is coastal nova scotia, but oh my god you do not do seafood. you're a picky eater at the best of times, and this is decidedly not the best of times, so you're feeling like if you have to choke down a piece of crab meat on top of all the meeting and greeting you've done today, you'll pass out.

sid notices your apprehension, of course -- he's observant like that. always one step ahead of you; knowing when you're uncomfy before you even do.

"hey," he murmurs in your ear, hand still warm on your thigh. he begins rubbing circles into the meat of your leg with his thumb. "you good?"

you swallow, loudly, you feel like everyone can hear it. "of course, why wouldn't i be?" you smile at him, fake as can be, and he immediately sees the fear in your eyes.

"babe, seriously, what's wrong? are you not hungry? i haven't seen you eat anything since breakfast, are you feeling sick?" sid begins his sid-terrogation, as you call it, he's just trying to get to the bottom of the problem. he always wants to get to the bottom of the problem. he's a problem solver. always has been. probably always will be.

"no, i'm fine, swear," you try to smile normally at him, but you've never been good at hiding your emotions. you feel overwhelmed and kind of freaked out and you definitely won't be able to take a bite of fish without gagging in front of all these people. "let's just go sit, huh?"

"no way," sid says, standing up abruptly. "c'mon, come inside for a sec," he pulls you up out of your adirondack chair, motioning to his dad who's manning the scallops on the grill, "dad, we'll be right back, just need to grab something."

troy smirks at him like he knows something you don't. i'm not running off for a quickie with your son! you want to shout, but of course that would be insane.

sid pulls you inside the sliding doors, sliding them shut behind you and pulling you into the open concept kitchen. he grabs your waist as you let out a squeak and hoists you onto the counter, no problem. dating a professional athlete who lifts five times a week has its perks, you think.

"tell me what's wrong, please," sid demands. he's a man used to getting what he wants.

you wilt under his strong gaze. "you're going to think i'm being ridiculous," you mutter in warning.

sid frowns, serious as ever. "i would never think that," he says emphatically. "i always think the world of you."

you roll your eyes. "okay but i am being ridiculous...right now," you mutter.

"okay..." sid says, confused furrow taking over his brow. "then tell me anyway."

"i just," you sigh. "sid, i don't eat seafood! like at all! i'm a vegetarian! i've been a vegetarian for the last year and a half we've been together! and the twelve years before that!"

sid's eyes widen. "oh jesus," he murmurs to himself. now he looks dumbfounded, like he knows he forgot something. "baby..." he reaches for you, putting his hands on your hips and rubbing soothing circles into the flesh. "baby, i'm so sorry, i didn't even think about that. i'm an ass."

you shake your head, immediate, people-pleaser-mode initiated. "no, no, it's not a big deal. i just...i'm so overstimulated right now i don't think i can fake it in front of all these people. i don't know what to do," you whine a little, not afraid to leverage your big pouty eyes to get sid to do your bidding. (he'd do it anyway. he lives to do your bidding.)

sid shakes his head, determination back in his features. "don't worry about it," he says. "i've got you. stay here."

sid leaves you sitting on the counter and slips outside. you can see through the window that he's talking to his father, but you can't tell what they're saying. troy claps sid on the back before sid nods and heads back inside.

"c'mon," he says simply, jerking his head toward the front of the house.

you're confused. "what do you mean? we're leaving?"

"just for a little while," sid says with a smirk. "c'mon, trust me."

you do. of course. you trust sidney crosby with your life.

he drives the two of you all the way into downtown halifax to a cute little vegetarian restaurant and juice bar. he buys you a bowl and himself a green juice (health freak), and the two of you sit in the car with your spoils.

"you did not have to bail on your family barbecue to buy me a rice bowl, sidney," you say sternly. "i wish you hadn't, actually, because holy shit they probably think i'm such a brat now!"

"they don't think you're a brat," sid rolls his eyes. "i told them you didn't feel good and we needed to go to the pharmacy to get you some dayquil. not a big deal, okay?"

you stare at him. "why did you do that?"

he stares back, unblinking. "because you were uncomfortable and you said you were overstimulated and i wanted to fix it?" he says it with an unspoken duh at the end of the sentence.

you carefully put the lid on your rice bowl, place it in the footwell of the car, and launch yourself at sid in the driver's seat.

"you're my favorite, you know that?" you murmur in his ear, arms wrapped around broad shoulders.

"i know," sid chuckles. "you're mine too."

[defectivegembrain]

See the end tags with Troy and Abed just made them undeniably special to each other. Like there's a lot in the main show that does that too, but even when they're not spending most of the episode together the end tag is often like okay so obviously they had some special time between them after all that. It just establishes them as the person for each other that they come back to every time. Sure Abed can have dinner with Jeff but he's gotta go back to that restaurant with Troy later (without having learned a thing about the prices). Sure Troy can get back into football but then he needs to go pull a prank with Abed. They always need their quality time together.

[synchodai]

When I say Tyland Lannister is my favorite character...

I am being 100% dead serious. Here is why I prefer this seemingly average nobleman over the many many many fan favorites in Fire and Blood.

Tyland Lannister is a second son in a story about second sons. Whether his feelings on this are as strong as Aemond's or Daemon's, we never know for sure in the books, but it's obvious that he's subservient to a mirror image of himself who only has more authority because of a few seconds separation between twins. It's a great display of both the arbitrariness and rigidity of succession.

His initial role in the Dance is as the master of coin for the greens. He's depicted as a typical Lannister: charming, comely, and cunning. He did what any savvy accountant would do and divided the crown's treasury amongst different allied regions for safe-keeping, ensuring that if King's Landing were sacked, their enemies wouldn't loot their coffers dry and they'd still have plenty of gold for their war efforts.

And of course, King's Landing gets sacked. Tyland is put in the black cells and ordered to be tortured by Rhaenyra to extract the gold's whereabouts. Winter is coming, people are starving and rioting, her army is dwindling, so she desperately needs that gold. Tyland is gelded, maimed, disfigured, and blinded but the torturers get nothing out of him.

Mind you, this man has been a rich, pampered bureaucrat all his life and he endured all that without breaking. When Aegon II releases Tyland from those cells, he has no fingernails, his eyes have been gouged out and/or sewn shut, this man who was once known for his good looks doesn't look human anymore — but he still manages to maintain his wits so much so that he plays an important role after the Dance.

Even with Rhaenyra dead, there are still armies raising their banners for her eldest surviving son, Aegon Trois. Tyland tells Adult Aegon to kill Child Aegon because obviously, the latter threatens the former's claim and Tyland's understandably angry over what his mom did. Aegon Dos is like, nah, I'll keep the boy hostage instead — that'll keep the armies at bay more than outright killing him.

So Tyland volunteers to go to Myr to hire sellswords for Aegon 2 since their armies are pretty much kaput after six years of this civil war. Tyland is blind at this point I remind you — there is a huge chance this man will never get to go home again. But he does it anyway, because even after years of fighting, he keeps his unwavering loyalty to the monarch he declared for.

Aegon II dies while Tyland is in Myr, and Tyland goes back to Westeros just in time to see Cregan Stark use his powers as the new Hand to marry Aegon III and Princess Jaehaera to unite the green and black sides. Cregan dusts off his hands, says my work here is done, warns the boy king not to trust anyone, then leaves for the North for everyone else to sort this mess out.

Now comes the part where Tyland shines as a character. He becomes the Hand of Aegon III and when you see his policies detailed in the book, it's clear that his goal is focused on repairs and renumerations. After what happened to him, he has every right to be spiteful and bitter against the blacks, but instead he "claimed a curious failure of memory, insisting that he could not recall who had been black and who had been green." He abolished the heavy taxes imposed on the smallfolk, sent out gold to lords whose holdings had been devastated during war, and set out to rebuild the Realm's granaries and fleet. Cleaning up is a tedious, unglamorous job — and because of his monstrous appearance and former allegiances, Tyland was looked upon with distrust.

And yet, while other regents grasped for power and tried taking advantage of the 13-year-old King Aegon III, Tyland seemed to be different. If he wanted power he could have married his twin brother's widow and convinced the boy-king to route more resources towards Casterly Rock and the Westerlands. But he didn't.

Instead, he genuinely seemed to be a father figure to Aegon III.

Tyland Lannister, blind and crippled, had always treated the king with deference, speaking to him gently, seeking to guide rather than command.

And for that, many lords saw him as a weak Hand. But Aegon, who cared for very little and never laughed and was always sullen, seemed to care for Tyland.

When the plague ravaged King's Landing, Tyland dutifully prioritized it over quashing the Ironborn raids at Lannisport. He was the last person to become afflicted with the Winter Fever, and the king sat by his Hand's side during his final hours. When the council starts discussing who should be the new Hand, Aegon (the boy who rarely ever speaks) says:

I would have Lord Rowan as my Hand. Ser Tyland thought well enough of him to offer him my sister’s hand in marriage, so I know he can be trusted.

This boy trusted Tyland, the man who only years ago wanted him dead.

So it's easy to imagine that this man saw Aegon III as the boy he was responsible for, as the son he could never have because of what the war had done to him. Tyland Lannister was a broken man who despite losing everything, his king and his brother and himself, kept a broken Realm and broken boy together when everyone else swarmed like vultures just trying to pick at carcasses.

What motivated this man's loyalty for a boy whose mother mutilated him? Did he regret pushing for the death of an innocent child and this was his penance? Did this man who gave everything for his cause think that this boy was something that could still give all that sacrifice and tragedy meaning? Was the mercy and kindness he afforded an apology for the horrifying trauma that scarred this boy — did he feel responsible for his mother's downfall and the failure to save his uncle? Did his disfigurement and blindness allow him to let go of the man he once was and become someone capable of seeing the folly of pride and power?

Here is his obituary in Fire and Blood:

Ser Tyland Lannister had never been beloved. After the death of Queen Rhaenyra, he had urged Aegon II to put her son Aegon to death as well, and certain blacks hated him for that. Yet after the death of Aegon II, he had remained to serve Aegon III, and certain greens hated him for that. Coming second from his mother’s womb, a few heartbeats after his twin brother, Jason, had denied him the glory of lordship and the gold of Casterly Rock, leaving him to make his own place in the world. Ser Tyland never married nor fathered children, so there were few to mourn him when he was carried off. The veil he wore to conceal his disfigured face gave rise to the tale that the visage underneath was monstrous and evil. Some called him craven for keeping Westeros out of the Daughters’ War and doing so little to curb the Greyjoys in the west. By moving three-quarters of the Crown’s gold from King’s Landing whilst Aegon II’s master of coin, Tyland Lannister had sown the seeds of Queen Rhaenyra’s downfall, a stroke of cunning that would in the end cost him his eyes, ears, and health, and cost the queen her throne and her very life. Yet it must be said that he served Rhaenyra’s son well and faithfully as Hand.

Tyland wasn't extraordinarily badass, noble, or even skilled. He was an excellent politician but no way the best. But I think that's what makes him compelling to me — that he's this down-to-earth depiction of a POW, a war veteran by all accounts, trying to pick up the pieces and slowly glue what remains of the Realm and himself back into something vaguely human.

We tell so many stories about the glory, the tragedy, and the losses of war. But I think it's important and beautiful to tell stories of those bravely and optimistically choosing to keep living in the aftermath as well.

[donnatroia]

Curious about Donna Troy, what are some of her defining characteristics?

ohhhhh buddy. you have come to the RIGHT place.

donna troy is the kindest, most earnest, most honest, most understanding character in dc comics which is really great until you realize that because she’s so sweet all the time and seems to have it all together, you don’t notice that she’s a COMPLETE MESS. but I also don’t want to make it seem like she’s some adorable soft damsel from those descriptions, she has INCREDIBLE strength, she’s just very secure in her emotions and is always there when people need her. unfortunately this comes back to bite her because donna is obsessed with being perfect, and seeming like the perfect young woman who has it all together to the rest of the world. she does a lot of shit (most significantly: GETTING MARRIED AND HAVING A BABY) to try and approximate what she thinks is a normal perfect life. a lot of this is because she Does Not Know Where She Came From. which she is very very insecure about. this is where all the multiversal identity shenanigans come in; donna’s origin story is so complicated and has been retconned so many times that it has become an in-universe canon trait that she has CRAZY personhood identity issues. she does not know who she is or if she’s real or where she came from and she has Issues about it. which i think is one of the most interesting parts of donna as a character<3

what else should i mention.. um, she’s an amazon obviously, she’s a very strong warrior & teammate, she’s super dependable. everyone loves her she’s the universe’s specialest princess etc. she has gone through SO much tragedy and always risen from it, though not always gracefully. she’s a titan before she’s anything else<3

I rambled more about her here, if this was nonsensical or you have more specific questions come back and i’ll try to help🥰

[randomfoggytiger]

do you have any good mulder hurt/comfort fic recs? Specifically scully comforting mulder? I feel like most fics on ao3 are mulder comforting scully

Collector's Edition: A Tormented Man, At Last, Is Comforted

Sorry this took so long, anon! These recs are nowhere near all.

If you want an entire catalog of fics in that genre, I'd highly suggest reading through @baronessblixen's work-- hurt/comfort and fluff are her specialties; and she writes incredible an Hurt!Mulder (or Mulder post-latest-shenanigans) and Caring!Scully. (I've rec-ed a lot of her fics in the past, so if you search up #BaronessBlixen on my page, they should all pop up.)

I also recommend the "Mulder, Scully, and Season 8 Healing" and Dad!Mulder rec lists on my pinned page; but Injured but In-Charge Scully is practically required reading for this topic (@sarie-fairy's Skamania County is the first that comes to mind.)

Loose chronological order below~

@thursdayinspace's

the ginger invasion

He just about manages to lift his head and there she is, Scully, in his bedroom doorway; she turns on the light and it hurts his eyes, but even as he squints against it the glow of her red hair in the sudden brightness is enough to make him let out a relieved breath. "Hi." He hates to admit when he needs help. But he needs help. And help just showed up.

Early partnership Scully helps Mulder recover from an illness.

travel in style (Tumblr)

She lifts her head and twists around trying to look at him, and when that doesn’t work, she sits up and rubs her eyes, yawning. “That doesn’t look comfortable.”

He sighs. “That’s probably because it isn’t.”

She looks at him for a long moment, obviously thinking.

Scully helps Mulder sleep in the car.

Beshter's Seasons: Second: Chapter 118

"No, come on. I want you to lie down." She tried directing him to her bedroom, but her steering threatened to tumble him over. "Whoa, come on I want you to lie down, let me take your coat off." She began to work off the long sleeve of the jacket he wore. It was summertime in DC, sticky and humid outside. What did he need with a coat in the first place?

Anasazi Scully cares for Mulder's fever after his father's death.

@bytethehand/homecomingserf's fragility

Scully can hear him pacing through the wall. Back and forth, back and forth on the creaky motel floors. He’s got a tendency to pace at night, of course, she knows this, but never this long and never this late and never this fast and loud and anxious-sounding. 

Post One Breath Mulder finally lets Scully in.

@welsharcher's The X-Files: The Field Where I Died 

With a sigh, Scully walked over and dropped the plastic evidence bag on his desk, savoring the resounding thud it made. Mulder casually looked up; his apathy undisturbed.

Another sigh escaped as she pulled out the book, “Sarah Kavanaugh’s journal was found hidden under a loose floorboard in Melissa’s room.”

Post TFWID Scully attempts to give Mulder comfort.

@officialmulder/specialagentpao's broken hearts, paper hearts

He buried his face in his hands. Scully sat in front of him on the coffee table. “We can talk about it if you want.” Her voice barely a whisper.

AU-- Paper Hearts Mulder finds Samantha's body.

@agent-troi/AgentTroi's Still Walking Into That Room

Mulder remained limp and passive throughout all of this, not reacting in any way except to follow numbly as Scully led him out of the house and back to her car. He sat down when she opened the passenger side door and gently nudged him inside, but he made no move to buckle his seat belt, so she did it for him.

Post Demons Scully needs to know that Mulder will be okay without her.

@seek-its-opposite/seek_its_opposite's

photosensitivity (Tumblr)

“You don’t have to stay in here,” he tells her, trying to sound casual. “If anything happens I’ll just scream in agony.” He doesn’t pull off the joke.

“I’m good,” she soothes.

He called her in the middle of the night with blood down his shirt and she came to find him. It’s been too late to leave for years.

Post Demons Scully and Mulder are confronted by his seizures and her mortality, his past and her present.

folie imposée (Tumblr)

He’s straining, struggling against his restraints to reach her. She unhooks the belt across his chest and he grasps for her, pulling at the straps around his wrists. When she takes his arm in her hands his skin burns hot and pink, rubbed raw by cheap canvas.

She could play his scrapes on a turntable and the vinyl would sing a slow tragedy, a myth reborn in jazz. Cassandra the cursed prophet, reincarnated as a boy who believes in aliens.

Folie a Deux Scully spirits Mulder away.

@amplifyme/wonderland/Lydia Bower's

Affinity/Affinity 01

"Scully. You really thought it was me that night. Right?"

We've covered this ground before. It's one of the few questions he's allowed himself to ask, and one of the queries he continues to make. It's like he's stuck on these few questions like a needle in the groove of an old record.

"Yes, Mulder." I wait for the question that will inevitably follow, the one that never directly addresses what he saw when he burst through the door. He can afford to be vague: we both know what almost happened, what he interrupted.

"And you… you were okay with that."

Second verse same as the first.

"Yeah, Mulder. I was okay with that."

He nods. I haven't changed the answer to that one, either. I think he finds that reassuring, in some odd Mulderish way.

AU-- Post Small Potatoes Scully and Mulder redo that night.

Burning in Heaven

No, not asleep. Her head swung around and he was greeted with a smile. "Mulder. You're still here."

He took another step into the room and stopped. A small part of his brain got busy trying to figure out what it was about Scully that calmed him. Simply walking into her room had settled and centered him. He could feel the threat of shattering begin to reverse itself, his pieces coming back together to make a whole. Scully was his glue.

Post Redux II Mulder and Scully process their raw emotions.

@settle-down-frohike/settledownfrohike's

Missing Scenes (1/3, 2/3, 3/3)

“Mulder…are you sure you shouldn’t have someone examine you?“ he waved her off, scanning the floor for her shoes, doing his best not to appear frantic.

Mulder's journey through the final days of the cancer arc. (Scully comforts him in Part 3.)

120 for the drabble prompt

When he returns Scully is ensconced in pale pink silk, drunkenly slurring at her mother that she’s fine. She attempts to reach for the stack of drenched journals, winces, and that is just about enough for Maggie Scully. She enters the bedroom, raises a hereditary eyebrow at the hulking figure trying to decipher a fitted sheet from flat. 

“Fox. Thank you. I think I can take it from here on out.” 

It’s not Maggie’s style to be brutish or cruel, but she’s tired, and her tone is a bit more clipped than usual. Mulder remains mute, and nods a yes m’am. He gathers the empty Macy’s bag and passes her as she resumes the preparation of the bed. When she exits, he’s sitting crosslegged on the floor, coffee table askew to make room, trying to peel apart pages from The Lancet mumbling, “just a second, I’ll find it...”. 

Her daughter’s hands are roving the top of his scalp, petting and combing through his hair like a beloved dog.

Post Tithonus Scully is not exasperated with Mulder's efforts.

Luctus

She looks over at his sleeping form, studies the exaggerated bow of his upper lip, and thinks what a nursing blister it must’ve made. She gazes back down at the somber toddler in the faded image clutching his mother’s leg and sucking his thumb, her with one hand on his scalp, the other cradling her belly. His humanity is real and disconcerting at this moment. All this time, it felt as though she were merely patching up this omnipotent, otherworldly force, acting as an aid to propel him toward an epic destiny. There’s proof before her now that somewhere, he had a beginning. 

Post Sein und Zeit Scully cares for Mulder in the aftermath.

5 Pt. AU Prompts

The words “small cell” are anything but small. They are Goliath, and David is no where to be found. She feels the words rather than hears them. Malignant, it feels like quicksand.

AU-- Mulder has cancer; and Scully is ready for war.

Headcanon (Tumblr)

It started after her first disappearance, on a flight to nowhere North Dakota. She was flipping through a dossier and he was dozing, as per usual. She heard a mumbled version of her name and threw a distracted “Hm?” his way without glancing up. “Scully.” Firmer, more forceful this time. She looked over, annoyed, and spat “What Mu-“ and realized he was still asleep, but fitfully so. His breathing was coming in pants, nostrils flared and his brow was beaded with perspiration. 

Mulder's name is a comfort to Scully.

@o6666666's (Ao3)

8, 52, or 89!! 

“I think you should go home.”

He shrugged, but in the way small boys do when they are lying, and his eyes were wet. 

“You need sleep.” 

She knew, and he knew, that he had not been sleeping. She pet his hair and he blinked like it hurt to be treated gently.

He shrugged again. 

“Don’t lie to me,” she admonished, and pinched his ear so he knew it was only that she cared for him tremendously. 

He laughed but it knocked loose some piece of the great thing inside him that hurt and hurt, and in a moment he was crying. 

Post Paper Hearts Scully tries to call in Tena Mulder for support.

AU where Mulder is the one who gets sick in season 4 instead of Scully and Is... is it cruel to request more of the Sick Mulder story?

She wipes his mouth with her sleeve.

“Open your eyes,” she whispers, and he blinks and blinks.

“It’s blurry,” he sniffs.

She wraps herself all around him and lays her cheek to his, adopting his vantage point.

“I don’t wanna wrestle,” he says.

“In a second you’ll see the cabinet,” she says. “Just the plain brown cabinet. And our feet, and my other shoes.”

He sniffles.

“Tell me when you see it.”

AU-- Post Terma Mulder has cancer.

I love you prompt 14?

If you asked Scully whether she crashed Mulder’s disciplinary hearing to be his hype man, she’d tell you no.

But she did.

Scully refuses to let Mulder feel chastised.

@mulder-fight-him's Spiderwebs and Butterflies

She doesn’t know what exactly woke her, but blue eyes snap open suddenly and quickly fill with confusion, suprise, and maybe a little hint of love.  

Less than two feet away her lanky partner is sprawled out on her bed. At least she thinks it’s her bed. That’s where she fell asleep last night. She gently lifts her head and takes a quick inventory.  Yes. Her bed.

S5 Scully lets Mulder stay after a nightmare.

Anne Haynes's (xf-redux) Irrevocable

I watch her walk away from me, and I try to comfort myself with the picture of how life would have been for her had she not been thrust into my world. I try to see myself, sitting on one of the benches outside the Hoover Building, maybe eating lunch on a sunny day, and looking up to see Dana Scully walking down the sidewalk, a beautiful little tow- head little girl clinging to her hand, laughing and whole. I want to see this. I need to see this.

But I can't.

Because in this future, I don't exist. In this future, I am dead a thousand times over because Dana Scully wasn't there to save me.

There is no comfort to be found.

Scully finds Mulder mourning Emily's death.

Chibiness87's Seeing is Believing

He blinks harshly, gaze trapped by her intense stare. Four points of sensation appear on his neck, and he suddenly realises she is digging her nails in, making him focus.

Chocking, he manages to gasp out, “I can’t stop.”

Scully nods, tightening her grip on the nape of his neck. “Can you keep your eyes open for me?”

He squeezes his eyes closed, feeling his chest tighten. “I can’t… I can’t calm down.”

Her voice is the only anchor he has, and he latches on to it. “I’m not asking you to calm down. I’m asking you to look at me.” Her grip changes, making his face tilt more towards her. Her voice is still gentle, but firm. “Look at me, Mulder. Come on.”

Post Kitsunegari Scully guides Mulder through a panic attack.

DanaScully77's Night Hags and Restless Sleep

“Scully, is it bad the pills didn’t work?”

“Yes.” Scully admits, not wanting to lie to him. Her palm strokes through his hair, a normal occurrence for her when she’s tending to him and worried about his health. Much like his hand on her back, his hair is her calming space. “If you don’t sleep within the next twenty-four hours, you’ll need to be admitted to the hospital.”

“ Scully .”

The whine in his voice is almost childish, but Scully doesn’t comment on it. With how little rest he’s gotten, it’s only natural to resort to young behaviors. “I know, Mulder. But your body can’t survive with no sleep.”

Post-case Mulder cannot fall asleep.

saltringangell's the time it would take (to fix my heart)

He doesn’t stop, doesn’t look back.

“Mulder, slow down.”

He swings open the front door to the FBI building, wind whipping his hair back and causing her to practically stumble across the threshold. She lets the cool air sting her face, a nice change from the smoke and fire that licked at her skin just moments prior. Mulder continues down the pathway to his car, a little slower now, but still just enough steps ahead so she can’t see his face.

“Mulder, please, just let me-”

“Just get in the car, Scully.”

Post The End Mulder falls apart.

Emeraldsoleil's Beginning to Thaw

His body rippled against hers as he attempted to put distance between then, but a gasp of pain arrested his progress and he relaxed back against her.  "I realize this is an awkward position we find ourselves in, partner, but I, uh...I can't move." 

"I'm not surprised.  Your muscles are tied in knots.  I'll try to get the nurse in her to give you a muscle relaxer.  Until then, don't try to move to much.  You might tear something." She tugged on his hair again.  "Doctor's orders."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered.  The silence grew heavy, curling around them in a cloud of frustration.

"What is it, Mulder?" she asked.  "What's wrong?"

Fight the Future Scully and Mulder have a conversation at the bottom of the world.

@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls’s 

mondays on an endless loop (Tumblr)

“Scu… ly,” says Mulder. He takes another breath, and he sounds horrible, inches away. His eyes are half-closed.

“Don't try to talk, Mulder,” she whispers. She moves her hand back to his face, brushing his sweaty hair away, touching his cheek, his forehead. She's forgotten everyone else in the bank; it's just the two of them. “Just… just keep breathing, Mulder,” she says. “Hang on, okay? Keep breathing, Mulder, please.”

He doesn't listen, because of course he doesn't. He rasps, “I'm… sorry,” and then his mouth shuts and he says no more. Heartbeats slowing, slowing.

Mulder, Scully, and the endless Mondays that could be (and were.)

Foxsong 's Ruego

The words were easier to say than she had expected, not shattering as she'd thought they'd be. They were sweet in her mouth. "I love you, Mulder," she said again, marveling at how freely it left her lips. "I love you, love you..." It became a chant, a prayer. She whispered it over and over into his ear and felt how it calmed him, how he steadied against her, how his trembling eased. "I love you." It seemed so important to tell him. Why had she waited so long?

He had finally stopped crying, and was still; and she became aware that he was praying with her, echoing her whispered words. "I love you, Scully... I love you. I love you..."

Post Milagro Scully and Mulder alternate their breakdowns and caregiving.

@baronessblixen/Baroness_Blixen's Lucky

I know what I’m doing, Scully,” he told her, amusement apparent in his voice – famous last words,

“I grew up around here, you know.” If only he hadn’t tried to look good while climbing down the steep trail from the cliffs to the beach. Scully told him to take the long, official way. Of course Mulder dismissed her idea as silly and unnecessary. He insisted on walking ahead, naturally, and Scully let him. He was telling her something about crabs when it happened. One moment she watched his head bob up and down while she tried to find the best, least dangerous path, and in the next instant he slipped.

S6 Scully nearly laughs over Mulder's tumble.

@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys/Slippin' Mickeys's

How about a super shippy MSR fic?

Amongst the pain and the fear and the sensory overload, hers is the mind that shines like a beacon in the night.

It is a revelation.

Biogenesis Mulder is comforted amidst the chaos.

@nowwhateinstein's (Ao3) things you said that made me feel real

He pauses, worrying his bottom lip, as if searching for the right words. “It’s what led me to start looking for her. The desire to find her was my coping mechanism, I suppose. Knowing that she’s out there, somewhere, keeps my fear at bay.”

Something - perhaps it’s intuition - urges me to glance at clock on the nightstand. Of course, I realize with a sinking feeling. 11:21pm, November 27, 1998. The anniversary of Samantha’s abduction. Twenty-five years later, and he’s still searching for her.

Scully realizes her partner is "off."

@greekowl87's (Ao3) No One Is Perfect (Tumblr)

She opened the door and saw the television had gone to a late night infomercial with playing in the background on mute. Mulder was wide awake, laying across his couch with legs crossed, staring at some unknown fixed point. She recognized that look. He was lost in his own thoughts, mulling something over, and he needed to be brought back to Earth. 

Post Orison Scully assuages Mulder's guilt.

aRcaDIaNFall$'s Longest Night

"I feel lost." It's the first he's spoken in almost forty minutes. I've been silent, too.

I don't speak, just wait for him to go on.

Sein und Zeit Mulder has a hard night.

@incidental-ao3/incidental's Verlust

She held his head against her chest, fingers stroking his hair, and rocked with him. It was instinct, an act buried deep within her, as she breathed in the smell of him and kissed the crown of his head. He hung onto her like a life raft, his weight bearing down on her as she crouched on the floor in front of his chair. When her shoulders and knees began to scream for relief, she gently extricated herself from him and took his hands in hers, encouraging him up out of his seat. He followed without words or hesitation, letting her lead him across his apartment and into the bedroom. 

He sat on the edge of the bed with a vacant expression on his face, his eyes a million miles elsewhere. It scared her, seeing him that way, so completely drawn into himself.

Sein und Zeit Scully opens up to help Mulder process.

@bohoartist/Bohoartist's The Healing Power of Touch

Mulder adjusts his body so he is facing ahead and she turns her face to look at him. She can see the shininess in his eyes and understands perfectly well how the grief of losing a loved one creeps up on you in the most random of times. She thinks of the days and weeks after losing Ahab and how her eyes would well up with tears for no discernible reason as the weight of her loss would crash down on her. She thinks of how he would notice her grief but knew better than to say a word in an attempt to comfort her, instead choosing to brush his hand across her back a little more than necessary, or to push a stray strand of hair out of her eyes.

Sein und Zeit Scully keeps vigil.

@writingwell/RocketMan's (xffics) I'll Be Waiting for You

I creep slowly to the sound; I think it's coming from the bathroom.

The door is closed.

I hear . . . the shower running.

I scramble back to my window, the one overlooking the parking lot, and see with relief that Mulder's car is right next to mine.

I must have been too preoccupied to notice it.

Mulder distances himself when emotionally troubled.

@brenayla's (Ao3) 6. He has a nightmare

Scully’s voice says, “Mulder?” She’s groggy; there’s a small, warm hand against his flexed bicep.

He whips around. “Scully?” He echoes, frantically pressing the length of his finger into the divot under her nose.

Scully comforts her partner after his nightmare.

@sigritandtheelves/DarlaBlack's If She'd Known

 Is it a miracle from God or a gift from the devil? Some hellish combination of mad science and corporate greed conspire to rip his lungs to shreds and in doing so, strap him down to a North Carolina hospital bed. Scully is tracking down his other records, his brain scans, when they administer the nicotine or it never would have happened. She’s not there when he is poisoned back to life, but first to death. She never would have left him but… His heart stops for a moment. For a moment he is dead. A moment. Then a minute. A full minute. And then it beats again.

AU-- Scully works hard to save Mulder from his brain disease.

Lolabeegood's (mulderscreek) Five Months Lost (Ao3)

"Mulder," she said softly as she walked toward him and stopped his forward motion. She grabbed his wrists and made him look her in the eyes. "I have been, we all have been, looking for you for over five months."

"Five months?" he said disbelieving.

"You didn't go to the conference in Philadelphia, or spend time with the Gunmen, or feel the baby kick until you put your hand on my stomach this morning," she said softly.

AU-- Post Requiem Mulder is returned with false memories.

@monikafilefan/MonikaFileFan's

Pre-IWTB at the unremarkable house

“Doctor Dana Scully?” he asks, head bowed. “I’m here to see Dr. Scully.”

He knows Scully’s shift ends in twenty minutes so they can leave together after she pokes and prods him to her liking, but the waiting room is packed full with injured people. A man with a rag covering a bloody hand sits by a woman with a red welt on the side of her face where half her hair is singed off. Fireworks are as dangerous as lovesick men on ladders.

The intake nurse arches a bleached brow. “And you are?”

Mulder tugs the brim of his Knicks hat lower on his forehead, a niggle of paranoia creeping up his neck.

A familiar voice interrupts, “I’ll take it from here, Margo, thanks.”

Pre-IWTB Mulder's best laid plans go awry.

@greycoupon's (Ao3) Hello Teacher

“Mulder, if you don’t open up I’m calling 911!” That he knew she wouldn’t actually do...would she? THEY were still looking for him. They had been in the house for almost a year and Mulder had left it exactly twice. They weren’t running his profile on America’s Most Wanted anymore but he was still a wanted man. Scully would never risk exposing him like that unless she had to save his life.

Slowly, as his limbs felt like they weighed 200 pounds, he dragged himself to his feet.

“Mulder!” He could hear her sobbing through the door. Quickly he unlocked and opened it. She had been leaning against it and fell into the bathroom in her rush to get to him.

Scully grabbed him and hugged him tightly.

Pre-IWTB deeply depressed Mulder locks himself in the bathroom.

@msrafterdark's (Ao3)

Can you write a fic where Mulder finds some gray hairs

“I feel old,” He confesses, “I feel…like I’m less of what I used to be, like there’s even less to offer you.”

The teasing is gone; the spark of honesty that always frightened yet thrilled him when they were younger is now alight in her eyes. He can’t help but smile softly at her.

“I love your gray hairs, Mulder,” she murmurs, “I love your frown lines, I love your laugh lines, I even love your achy back.”

Scully catches her partner checking for gray hairs.

@oceanofthesky/noifsandsorbees's open door. (Tumblr)

she leaves the key, leaves a way for him to know that if he can ever do what she couldn’t, if he can pull himself out of his head, that she is still right there.

it’s three months before he uses it. she comes home from a long day of work in the height of summer to him in her bed, snoring lightly under the sheets. she thinks she should be annoyed, that she should tell him that she can’t handle the emotional toll that has become their relationship tonight, but instead she is just grateful to have his warmth to crawl in beside.

Breakup Scully leaves the door open for her partner.

@audriesfic/audries's battle scars

it’s a cry of pain and then her name, curving up at the end to become a near pitiful whine. she’s out of the bathroom and taking the stairs two at a time before he even gets past the the first syllable. she’s never been the creative one, in her family or her marriage, but her mind conjures impressive images of sniper bullets through windows and sudden cardiac arrest. she’s breathless by the time her feet hit the cool tile of the kitchen.

his name is on her lips as he turns to her, one hand covering half his face. he fixes her with one puppy dog eye and pouts, points an accusatory finger at the cabinet where she keeps the glasses. it’s eye level, (because who puts glasses on the top shelf, mulder. how do you expect me to reach?) and he looks as though he’s been terribly wronged.

Revival Scully "heals" Mulder's cabinet injury.

BONUS

The Emergency Room is a site compiling Mulder in distress and Scully taking care of him fics.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[katerinaaqu]

I was reading some of your Odysseus's analysis and I love how you brought up his religious facet because I really think is a big part of who he is as an person and how it affects his decisions, specially during the war. To me Odysseus had always been the king of Compartmentalization; he is the one that is able to push his emotions down in order to act accordingly to whatever he thinks can please the Gods at any given moment, and thus save himself and his allies at the process- the problem is that he is human and Compartmentalization can only bring you so far so ofc it would eventually come to eat on him... that is essentially what a big chunk of the Odessy is for. Particularly when he was with Calypso- like OBVIOUSLY the constant abuse played a huge role on his dumpster fire of an mental health but the fact he was completely stagnant without the capacity to jump from one task to the other couldn't had helped matters either....

☝️☝️☝️ THIS MY DEAR ANON SIMPLY THIS ☝️☝️☝️

For starters I am really honored that you liked my analysis and that you saw exactly what I wanted to convey with that potential of Odysseus and that part of his character that everyone seems to forget; his religious nature and how he is literally living his life in the religious piousness

And I couldn't have said it better myself! Yes he does push his emotions down, suppresses them even, when gods speak. When gods demand, humans should shut the fuck up and respond accordingly, that seems to be Odysseus's motto in life. The gods demanded Iphigenia, the gods should have Iphigenia, no matter how bad Odysseus might feel or not feel so his emotions of sorrow or regret come second before his need to obey the gods. Then the gods demanded that they stop attacking the walls of Troy? Odysseus would turn the heel around and run! It doesn't matter if Diomedes is there. If he chooses to disobey the gods is his problem and his choice. Circe demands this price to set his men free? Yeah he would sell his body to get it. Calypso had to have him in order to secure his survival? Yeah Odysseus would do it. The gods demand from him to do a trip to the ends of the world to repent his hubris? Odysseus will damn well be on a new ship and sail there or walk there for all the world is concerned he has to see that thing through no matter what.

This is why he did what he did in the times before or during the war. This is why he chose to stay behind for retribution sacrifices to the gods and why he came back for Agamemnon even if he desired nothing else than go home with his fleet but is also this blind faith that has him being beloved by the gods like Athena or Zeus.

However like it happens with someone who has way too much religious zeal obviously the results can be catastrophic to yourself and to others in a practical manner. I mean Odysseus too paid the price for he was always hated secretly by his peers for his behavior to please the gods because in the eyes of everyone he did it just to get glory or just because he is who he is. Odysseus might have had some ulterior motive about himself or the others but it seems that his religious beliefs play a huge part in the way he conducts himself in regards to the interactions he has with others which is another reason why I am sad that I do not see more people talk about it or representing in their stories and work or that makes me happy when more people see the potential of!!!

As for the last part I am actually very intrigued by this interpretation indeed!!!! And if I am allowed an addition, it is also why he is desperate. He is paying the price, he is pleasing the goddess...and yet he cannot escape. As you said he remains stagnant. Unlike his case with Circe where he receives her trust and her knowledge and later her help with Calypso he just receives his survival for another day. The price he pays will not get him anywhere and that is definitely NOT a good thing for his already crumbling psyche indeed and it COULD be another reason why death seems his only way out at that point.

Because nothing he used to go by in his life works anymore

His piousness was stained by hubris. His decisions to please the gods did nothing for him (or so it seemed to him) and his unpleasant sacrifices brought the fate upon him. He is desperate and he is alone. If I dare use the parallel "he opened his legs for her" and has nothing in return out of his situation. And he has no way out. His brains, his wisdom, his tactics or even his schemes are not doing anything for him and neither are his prayers or his sacrifices and attempts to please this goddess work! It DEFINITELY has a lot of potential as a line of thought and adds even more confusion to his already confused mind!

Thank you Anon for this great addition!

[ladykailitha]

Not All That Glitters is Gold Part 8

Hello! This story is just cruising on through. I'm about four chapters ahead now and I know it's weird to say with that much story left, I do feel like it's coming to a close.

Today we have Robin taking a bit of initiative regarding Steve's date to the Gala, Steve getting some fun jobs and Chrissy being cute.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @redfreckledwolf @emly03 @lingeringmirth

****

Robin arrived bright and early the next morning to find two very hungover omegas passed out Steve’s sofa, a bucket of mostly eaten glob of goo that was once ice cream, two wine glasses and three empty bottles of wine.

She looked down at the two of them and wondered if this was a pity party or a celebration, it really could have gone either way. She tidied everything away and got water and painkillers for Steve and Chrissy when they woke up.

She settled in a nearby armchair and went through Steve’s requests for his services. She quickly dismissed those on his black list. There were always those that thought the rules didn’t apply to them. She noted the new addition that Troy made and went through his notes on the matter. They were thorough and raised both eyebrows.

Robin knew that the omega escorts that were the cream of the Starcourt crop didn’t like Troy because he came off as a creep, but other handlers loved him. Because Troy was meticulous in his notes. Every person that spared more than a passing glance to Steve got a note. Because that was another thing that set Troy apart from other handlers.

He didn’t believe social events were hands off. Even Robin tended to spend it in the car with Xander unless it was a new client. But not Troy. He got dressed up and stayed on hand in case his omega needed to get out.

But that intensity was why he was only a substitute handler. Starcourt had yet to find an omega that could stand it for long periods of time.

Troy had catalogued every little god damned thing. From the mirco-aggressions from the guests toward the band, the meet-cute of the century, the posturing and bullying from the senator afterwards. He noted that he almost interfered twice.

Once when the alpha bullied his way to Steve’s side when he was talking to the drummer. An alpha who had on his arm a pretty male omega who was obviously his date.

The other was when Lombard had pulled Steve away from talking to Joyce Hopper, another congressman’s bondmate.

But each time, Steve was able to calm the raging alpha, so Troy stayed his hand. But Robin could tell from his notes it was a near thing both times.

Robin licked her lips slowly. She almost wanted to put Troy on Steve for his next event.

She didn’t like how everyone looked down on both Steve and the band. Both were gross separately, but together it raised some serious red flags.

She made a note to talk to Steve about it. His instincts were really good.

She then pulled up Steve’s job requests and wasn’t surprised to see that Senator Lombard was on it. She quickly declined it and sent of the usual black orchids and cutting note.

Usually Steve dictated the note, but Robin didn’t want him pulled back into black hole that was this asshole senator. Plus there was the fact that Steve had put him on the pre-check list and Robin had overridden that.

Succinctly put she sent:

I’m no one’s property.

S. Harrington

She went through the list looking for other black listed members to fob off their requests back to management where they would find someone else or black list them from the company all together.

She went back to her list and gasped and giggled when she saw not one, not two, but three requests that would make Steve giddy as fuck.

She did frown a little at the final request. She would have call him and work out all the specifics because it could cause a lot of problems if mishandled.

Steve would want to do it regardless, if Troy’s notes were anything to go by, but it was Robin’s job to make sure everything was fun for all those involved.

She called the number.

“Hello?” the sleep rough voice answered.

“Hello,” Robin said brightly. “I’m sorry if I woke you, but I’m Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington’s handler.”

She suppressed a grin as she heard him scramble to get up. He cleared his throat.

“Um, yeah,” he mumbled. “How can I help you?”

“Yes,” Robin said. “I saw you had some particular requests for your rut servicing and I wanted to ask some questions about that.”

“Oh!” he said with a grin. “I would be happy to answer any questions you have.”

They spoke for almost twenty minutes but at the end of it, Robin signed off on all three requests.

She was adding them to Steve’s schedule when the man of the hour raised his head from the sofa and blinked at her, sleep rumpled and cute.

Steve mumbled his good morning before padding over to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. Once he was sufficiently caffeinated he sat back down on the sofa, careful not jostle the still sleeping Chrissy.

“You two look like you had lots of fun,” Robin said with a big grin.

Steve flipped her off.

Chrissy raised her head and blinked bleary eyed at Robin. When her vision cleared, she squeaked and ran for the bathroom.

Robin raised an eyebrow, but Steve just shrugged. He wasn’t going to tell her shit about the omega’s crush on her.

“Troy left some pretty hair-raising notes about last night,” Robin said wagging her eyebrows, “by the way.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah? What about?”

“A hot rockstar alpha got the ultra professional Steve Harrington to scent in a room full of the elite on heavy scent blockers no less.”

Steve blushed. “The only thing I can think of is that I must have sweated straight through it.”

Robin cocked her head. “Or he was just that hot.”

He took a deep sip of his coffee and looked away.

“Which is why,” she said with a feral grin, “you’ll be happy to note that Eddie Munson has requested you three times for three separate events and three separate jobs.”

Steve straightened up. “There is no way.”

Robin wagged her eyebrows again.

“What did he want?” Steve asked, aiming for nonchalant and missing it by a mile.

Robin pulled out her tablet. “The first one is for next Friday. He wants to do a roleplay. One of your favorites, in fact.”

Steve was suddenly on the other side of the sofa, leaning into her space.

She laughed out loud. “Not the BDSM one, you animal.”

“As if!” Steve huffed swatting at her playfully.

“The meet-cute in crowded hotel bar that leads to sex,” Robin clarified.

Steve gasped, clasping his hands to his chest dramatically. “I haven’t done one of those in so long!”

“And he wants you to wear the dress from last night,” she said with a sly grin. She read the note directly from her tablet. “‘I want to see if the dress drops to floor the way you said it does.’ You want to explain that one to me?”

He blushed to the tips of his ears. “He was asking if it was hard to get in and out of.”

Robin cackled. “You sly dog. No wonder you burst through your scent blockers with a line like that one.”

Steve coughed and looked away. “What’s next?”

“The Grammy’s,” she said, looking back at her tablet. “He wants you to wear something black and slinky. Your choice on suit or dress.”

He raised his eyebrows at that one. Most of the time alphas wanted their dates to be wearing dresses to an event like the Grammy’s.

Instantly he had two outfits enter his head. The first was a short sheath dress with strappy heels and minimal jewelry. The second was tight leather pants, a black suit coat with a mess top underneath and ‘fuck me’ killer heels.

He licked his lips thoughtfully. He would send both to Eddie to see which one he’d prefer.

“Sounds like fun,” Steve said honestly with a small smile.

Robin smiled back. “The last one is a rut servicing with a couple of strange stipulations.”

Steve cocked his head to the side. “Like what?”

“He wants you to go on birth control, for starters,” she said.

Steve frowned. It wasn’t that unusual of a request. There had been more than a few clients who didn’t believe that all the omegas were infertile and wanted extra protections.

“And no barebacking,” she added with a wince.

“Now that’s just insulting,” Steve huffed. “I can’t pup. It’s an actual thing.”

Robin chewed on her bottom lip. “Look, I wouldn’t have agreed to it if I thought he was being an ass about it. You know I wouldn’t.”

He let out a long shuddering breath. “Did he say why?”

She nodded. “I even looked it up and there was this whole thing. But the TL;dr is that he shared a rut with a non-escort omega who said they were infertile and they weren’t. The female omega tried to get him on the hook for child support, but when they did a paternity test, it wasn’t his. So the court ruled in favor of Eddie, but it was a near thing.”

It was Steve’s turn to wince. Yeah, all right. He had to admit that if he had had that happen to him, he’d be triply sure too.

“Fine.”

“There are a couple other things I just need to go over with you,” she said, “and then you’re all good to go.”

Steve nodded.

“He wants to pay for you to play at being his boyfriend until after the rut servicing,” Robin said.

Steve’s eyebrows went up. “And management is okay with that?”

He had done the boyfriend thing a few times but never with someone as high profile as Eddie Munson.

“According to the notes on the request his new management and Starcourt went over all the details and it’s going to be great publicity for both the band and us.”

Steve frowned, rearing back his head in confusion. “New management? What happened to his old management?”

“Do you remember the creepy gang bang?” Robins asked with a blush.

Steve’s frown deepened. “Yeah, of course. The band was pissed and fired their management...” he said trailing off. “Holy shit!”

She grimaced. “Yeah. Their new manager is Benny Hammond. I can’t imagine what dealing with the other guy would have been like.”

They went over the rest of the stipulations and by the time they were done, Chrissy poked her head out of the bathroom. “Hey, Steve can I borrow some clothes? I got ice cream all down the one side. Somehow.”

Steve laughed. “Sure thing. You know the drawer to pick from. You take from anywhere else and I will hunt you down.”

Chrissy rolled her eyes. “I know, I know. The rest is for clients only. I’ve got the same set up in my place, you know.”

He just grinned at her.

She huffed and dashed to Steve’s bedroom with just a towel wrapped around her slender form.

He looked over at Robin, who was looking dis-repectively. He threw a pillow at her head and she squawked.

“May I remind you,” he said with a glare, “that you have a girlfriend now?”

Robin sighed. “I know, I know. But you know how I am around hot women, I can’t help but look.”

“I do,” Steve said, “but does Vickie?”

Robin looked down, visibly chastised.

Five minutes later, Chrissy came back out wearing shorts that would have barely covered Steve’s ass, but went down to a respectable length on her and a crop top that hung off one shoulder and again went to her waist.

“It’s really not fair,” Robin said throwing her arms in the air, “how you escorts can look hot in the most basic of clothes. Clothes that would look sloppy on anyone else.”

Steve and Chrissy shared a glance with a grin.

“It’s an art, darling,” Chrissy drawled, tossing her hair back seductively.

Steve giggled.

Chrissy kissed his cheek and waved goodbye to Robin and soon they were alone at last.

“All right,” Robin said, “tell me everything.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Let me get another cup of coffee, and then I’ll spill the tea.”

“Deal.”

****

Oops! This is the chapter I realized I had Hopper as both a Congressman and management at Starcourt! Sorry about that. Hopper has been changed in the earlier chapter (not on here) to being Powell so that when I post it to AO3, it won't have the continuity error.

Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

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[amevinil239]

Something old, something new, and something lost.

They were gone.

It was supposed to be a time of celebration, after four years they had an heir!. Penelope was radiant in her new motherhood; the exhaustion of childbirth had vanished the moment she held her baby in her arms. Her joy lit up the palace as she nursed and sang to him until he fell asleep. Her cheeks must have hurt from smiling so much, day after day.

And don’t even get her started on her brother, Odysseus was practically bouncing off the walls with pure euphoria, holding his wife and newborn like there was no tomorrow, throwing any responsibility as king out the window just to be with his family as much as he could.

Thankfully, Ctimene had arrived in Ithaca to meet her nephew just in time. Her mother desperately needed help running the kingdom and receiving all the well-wishers and gifts pouring in for the newborn prince during her brother’s license. The day his name was formally announced and Icarius’ presents began arriving by the dozens was certainly a memorable one.

When little Telemachus turned one month old and his father stomped back to court like a sulking child forced to do chores, Ctimene and Eurylochus decided Same could wait a little longer. They stayed to enjoy the new family dynamic, where everything revolved around the tiny human her brother and sister-in-law had created and whom they obviously would never shut up about.

And for a moment, the tapestry was perfect. But the next thread was already stained red. And Clotho did not blink.

When news of Penelope’s cousin Helen being abducted reached Ithaca, Ctimene didn’t think much of it beyond offering Penelope support during such unfortunate news. She didn’t notice how tense her brother had grown, tight as his bowstring. She didn’t realize Penelope’s distress wasn’t only for her cousin. She didn’t notice how both stared at the sea with growing anxiety, nor how tightly they clung to each other and to their child as if warding off a storm.

Ctimene wasn’t there, but what happened that day spread across the kingdom like fire through dry grass. Three important kings had come to recruit Odysseus and found him plowing the fields with a donkey and an ox, sowing salt as he went. Then, one of the kings, Palamedes, her brother would later spit, called Penelope to help with something supposedly happening in the fields. He ripped baby Telemachus from her arms and laid him in the path of the plow, forcing Odysseus to drop the act.

But worse was yet to come. Before Odysseus had a chance to resign himself to joining the war in Troy, Menelaus, husband to the abducted Helen, told them they weren’t only there for the king and his men.

“A prophecy has been given to us”, said the King of Sparta. “Before we left, the seer Calchas spoke the will of the gods.”

“The tower of Ilion shall not fall

until the daughter of Icarius forsakes the root of her house,

and the son of Laertes takes the path over bottomless waters.

When thought and will are no longer two,

the field of oaths shall open,

and dawn shall rise, drenched in blood.”*

Prophecy still under review*

Her brother’s roars of rage echoed through all of Ithaca. He cursed the gods for dragging his wife into the same doomed fate as him. The kings were driven from the island without a clear answer regarding Odysseus’ oath or Penelope’s divine fate.

“...What oath?” “Ctimene, not now, my dear.”

The next morning, the king’s fury had softened into resignation, and the queen, so joyful the day before, now stood tall and solemn in her sorrow. They called the troops. They said goodbye to their family. They held their child until the last possible moment. And they took her husband with them.

And just like that, they were gone.

Their daughter had promised to stay as long as she could to help them adjust to their new reality.

Even two weeks later, Anticlea still hadn’t processed what had happened. One day they were a happy and prosperous family, the next they were a fractured front in a war that had nothing to do with them, ordered by the gods.

Maybe it was because she still held out hope for a peaceful resolution that her heart and mind kept rejecting their new reality. Surely her cunning son would stop the war before it even started with his silver tongue and bring everyone home. He had his charming wife by his side. Those two couldn’t be stopped by anything or anyone.

In the meantime, she had to maintain a healthy kingdom and keep a happy grandson for them to return to. Thankfully, her husband had recovered most of his sharpness over the years when their son ruled and had returned to being the capable and attentive king he had once been in his prime.

It was curious, she too felt like she was back in her golden years. A wise and healthy husband at her side ruling over the kingdom, with a healthy, happy baby in her arms. Then she’d look down at the child and see Penelope mixed in with her son’s features, and the illusion would shatter, crashing her back to reality; where the baby’s parents were across the sea fighting in a war, where her husband still struggled with madness as he led a kingdom depleted by war and lacking most of its men, where she was missing the vitality of her youth and relied on her daughter’s temporary help to act as a mother to a child this small again, where she had to be a mother again instead of a grandmother.

But they endured, for those who left and for those who stayed. They endured.

Eurycleia could no longer act as a nursemaid due to her age, but she was tasked with finding someone trustworthy. Her daughter hadn’t yet had the chance to be a mother herself, so Anticlea had to guide her through most of the care a baby needed; changing him, feeding him, soothing him, all of it.

Anticlea preferred to keep the walks with Telemachus in her arms for herself, whispering softly to him about his mother and father and how much they loved him, and left the rougher play with the wooden toys Odysseus had carved during Penelope’s pregnancy to Ctimene.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that the prince loved bath time. As the grandson of the nereid Periboea, being near fresh water soothed him like nothing else after his parents’ departure. Her daughter claimed she had discovered that taking him to the Kalamos spring calmed his nightly cries, lulled by the running water and comforted by the naiad who dwelled at the spring.

Weeks turned into months, many months. Little Telemachus grew every day, no longer needing to be held all the time and soon to be ready for solid food.

And the thread pulled taut.

In the end, Ctimene couldn’t stay in Ithaca any longer. Her home needed her, so they had one last dinner with the little family still nearby before parting ways for who knew how long. And with her daughter went her hope that things might return to the way they were any time soon.

And with great sorrow, she knew the only thing she could do was keep on waiting.

Disclaimer: English is not my first language, nor is it a language I typically write in. Everything here was translated with the help of ChatGPT. If anything doesn’t make sense to the reader, it’s entirely their fault 😊

You can also read it in Spanish here.

Read the next part here!

[xjulixred45x]

I was making some drawings with the story of the Trojan War in the background, when I just got to the part of the sacrifice of Iphigenia (Agamemnon's daughter) so that the ships would march towards Troy.

and it gave me a little idea for this little drabble.

Imagine that the reader is a lover of one of the 3 main members of the house of Hades (Zagreus, Thanatos, Megaera) and one day their family tells them to go to a specific place for a matter of EXTREME importance.

Without knowing it, the reader goes to where they plan to sacrifice them to the gods (you decide the reason).

What the family does not take into account when this happens is that using the Aid of the gods, reader calls their lover to help them (could it be possible? I would be upset if it were).

Can you imagine the reactions of each person when they see that mortals want to sacrifice their partner?

Thanatos is definitely against this sacrifice being made with his partner obviously, and he protects them, but he is the most aware of the situation, that if there is a sacrifice, some god asked for it, and he knows that something that would be worse (especially for his partner) than dealing with mortals, would be dealing with a GOD/GODDESS.

Therefore, Thanatos would try to use diplomacy as much as possible, although he would use force if necessary to defend his partner (if they needs it) and would try to fix the situation without bothering any higher entity.

He is the clumsiest when it comes to comforting his partner, but he doesn't want them to feel bad in the long run, so even after the situation is under control, he takes them somewhere nice to make them feel better.

Zagreus is definitely LIVID with anger when he finds out what is happening, I think he would try at first to say that it makes no sense for them to ask for a sacrifice because the gods usually DON'T LIKE THEM (like what happened with Pelops) but as soon as he sees that that It doesn't work, he goes directly to violence.

Do they want a sacrifice to the gods? Well, let them be it themselves. Besides he gets to show off a little with His partner lol.

although he definitely tries to comfort them emotionally after that kind of betrayal while he can be on the surface (or even offer them some time in the house of Hades, if they want). Good and unusual Badass/angry Zagreus.

Megaera....OF...she jumps right into violence. They don't even have to tell her what's happening, she sees her partner in trouble and distressed and she sees RED. brings out her most violent side.

When it's all over she goes to check on her partner and asks what happened and it only makes her even angrier. Of course it was deadly stupid. But she's glad they're okay. she's not as emotionally good as Zagreus, but at least she comforts her partner because she knows what it's like to feel so disconnected from your "family."

She is definitely going to take the time in Tartarus to torment her partner's family or at least she leaves it to her sisters :)

BONUS:

POLY THAN/ZAG/MEG is a weird mix of all of the above. probably having Thanatos trying to make things "right" Megaera and Zagreus try not to go straight to violence. THEY WOULD TRY.

although as soon as they see that there is not going to be a real negotiation, that they ignore them or, gods forbid, they try to kill their partner EVEN WITH THEM IN FRONT OF THEM Zagreus and Megaera will no longer hold back and will go for BLOOD.

Thanatos, seeing that diplomacy failed, would only dedicate himself to checking on his partner to see if they were hurt or if they are feeling well in general. The man wants ANSWERS of how this happened.

When it's all over, probably the three of them (especially Zagreus and Meg) would be much more vigilant with their partner, it was just a big scare. Besides, lots of hugs and cuddles. I don't make the rules.

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

This was fun to write:D

[agentcalypso]

my (mostly) coherent thoughts on the vengeance saga

spoilers obviously (and once again written during the livestream because i once again have shit to do tmrw)

🩸NOT SORRY FOR LOVING YOU🩸

lol so remember how in my wisdom saga post i said there were over 100k ppl in the livestream by the time the wisdom saga started and i thought that was a record? yea theres 167k ppl in the stream rn

already i am in love with the color pallette

love the steel pan also its a very nice touch

lowkey the percussion kinda sounds like the percussion in monster but idk if that means anything

i can already tell this is going in my audition binder

GIGI ANIMATIC HELL YEA

ok shes a horrible person but i kinda feel bad for her tbh (and you can tell ody does at least a little)

10/10

🩸DANGEROUS🩸

FULL SPEED AHEAD JUMPSCARE JESUS

HERMEEEEESSSSSSSS

this animation is EATING holy shit

troy never ceases to amaze me with his vocals omg

ODY IS BACK BABEY

bro is fighting for his life and hermes is just groovin

bringing back the wind bag is just *chefs kiss*

also confirmation that it was rigged is nice

11/10

🩸CHARYBDIS🩸

well he uh. certainly needs luck for THAT

ALL OF THESE ANIMATICS ARE FUCKING EATING HOLY SHIT

not much to say but holy SHIT HES BACK BABEYYYYYY

god fucking dammit poseidon

9/10

🩸GET IN THE WATER🩸

THE ORGAN????? HELLO???????

ALSO WELCOME BACK STEVEN ONE HELL OF A FUCKIN ENTRANCE

this song was already great in the snippet but its EVEN FUCKING BETTER MY FUCKING GOD

oh i. forgot he threatened to do that to telemachus

god odys part is so. idk. soft? either way i love it

SHATTER THE MOTHERFUCKING OCEAN

welp hes certainly afraid of the water now

NOT AGAIN GODDAMMIT

15/10

🩸SIX HUNDRED STRIKE🩸

WIND BAG COMING IN CLUTCH AGAIN

3D???????

BRO IS LITERALLY USING IT AS A JETPACK

"I WILL GET BACK TO MY WIIIIIIIIIFFEEEE"

THE FUCKING ANIME BATTLE

BRO IS CASUALLY BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF A GOD

poseidon what the fuck do you mean

AND NOW HES JUST THREATENING A GOD????? BRO IS FUCKING FERAL

OH GOD THE DIFFERENT BEAST HORN

OH SHIT WHAT IS HE DOING

I MEAN I CANT RLY BLAME HIM BUT JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

"HOW WILL YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT" "NEXT TO MY WIFE" FUCK YEA GO GET YOUR GIRL

175K FUCKING PEOPLE

45013534058/10

in conclusion AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[lyngracetalksnwritesnstuff]

MDZS Epic the Musical AU

Ok, ok, ok. So, first, I promise I'm still writing my Yilling Wei Sect AU, I promise. I might not even write this at all, so if you want to go ahead! If I do, it'll be after I'm about halfway done with my Yilling Wei Sect AU. This is just my basic thoughts and brainworms about it.

Ok, so first, ✨casting✨

Troy Saga:

Odysseus: Both Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan.

Okay, hear me out here. They both get sent out to war against the Wens (Troy) and share captainship after too much confusion from the crew, who thought Wei Wuxian was the captain when technically Zixuan is the captain so they eventually come to be friends and decide they work better as a team on the same station. They also both have spouses and children at home, and I really didn't want to kill off Xuanli and not include Jin Ling. Also, there are some things I genuinely don't think I could get Wei Wuxian to do (like sacrifice his crew for himself so he can see Lan Zhan), but I could maybe work it into JZX.

Eurylochus: Jin Guangyao

I wasn't sure who to put here, as I was originally going to put JGY as Aphrodite, but then I was like, Jiggy as Eurylochus would be so much juicier, so he is the reliable second in command now. I'm honestly surprised I didn't immediately put him here, it fits his character so well.

Polites: Mo Xuanyu

I also wasn't sure who to put here after I made both WWX and JZX Odysseus, cause Yanli was going to be him at first, but then I made her Penelope. Then I was re-listening to Open Arms (I'm on God Games right now, I've been re-listening to it for days, lol. I think I'm on my third re-listen.) And I was like, "hey, Xuanyu would be perfect for this, especially cause he's JZX & JGY's baby brother. I'd age him up for this obviously, but I think he deserves to be a happy lil guy.

Penelope: Jiang Yanli & Lan Wangji

Yanli would be the one who is being drowned in suitors, LWJ's just waiting with A-Yuan, who's good friends with Jin Ling. Honestly, LWJ wouldn't have a huge part in this, sorry, cause The Challenge and Hold Them Down would mainly feature Yanli, though he does appear to kidnap his Wei Ying back home at the end and little parenting snippets. I may add more stuff with him, cause now I'm sad he's a minor character in this. Obviously, WWX thinks about him a lot and he's mentioned a lot, but actual appearances are rare in the idea I'm working with rn. I'm probably going to change this.

Athena: Jiang Cheng

Ok, ok, ok. Stay with me here. In one of my early ideas for this, only JZX was Ody, and I considered WWX for Athena, mainly cause of Little Wolf, then I was like, hang on, who's Jin Ling's favorite Jiujiu? Jiang Cheng! And I like the complicated relationship it gives him with WWX and JZX. He ascended a few centuries ago and is JYL's ancestor. He's good friends with both WWX & JYL, though he drifts away after The Argument. He's also cordial with JZX, though they're not as good friends.

The Cyclops Saga:

Cyclops: Wen Chao

He's like... been cursed or something, so now he's huge and dumb. Idk man, I just want him to get stabby stabbed a little as a cyclops. Also I wanted Wen Rouhan to be Posiden and I already have plans for Wen Xu

The Ocean Saga:

Aeolus: Mianmian

I was actually going to have her be Calypso until I was like y'know what, my girl needs to have some cool wind powers so here we are. She may still end up being Calypso, but I also could have Qin Su be her too, so.

Posiden: Wen Rouhan

I know there was the whole war against the Wens, but let's pretend they were ancestors of the Wens who were in the war and somehow ascend because corruption. This also gives him another reason to be angry at WWX and JZX.

The Circe Saga:

Circe: Wen Qing

I know, I know, this is a bit of a stretch, but think about it. Strong independent woman protecting her people from outsiders? Is that not Wen Qing? I know the "true nature is revealed in acts of lust" is a bit OOC for her, but I'm doing my best to make them fit.

Hermes: Nie Huaisang

Honestly, this one explains itself. Who else could do Hermes better? Come on, people.

The Underworld Saga:

Ody's Mom: Canse Sanren

This one is also pretty self-explainatory. I already have plans for MDM Jin and I wanted something to draw WWX away from the group so he can get stuck in the Underworld (The Burial Mounds) for a while for plot reasons I'll explain after the casting.

The Prophet: Wen Ning

I wasn't actually sure who to put here at first, but then after I put Wen Qing as Circe, I was like, hey, where's Wen Ning? Then I re-listened to There Are Other Ways, and I thought "I know a prophet" could be interpreted as siblings if you squint hard enough. It helps that he's dead.

The Thunder Saga:

Zeus: Yu Ziyuan

I am WELL AWARE that this is unconventional. Hear me out here. For God Games to work with Jiang Cheng as Athena, because there has to be some kind of familial attachment there, Madam Yu works best. For one, she's always angry and has many problems with all her children. Also, Jiang Fengmian wouldn't have worked, so.

The Wisdom Saga:

Telemachus: Lan Sizhui & Jin Ling

Because the Odysseus/Penelope roles are getting split, so is Telemachus's! I was gonna give Legendary to Sizhui and Little Wold to Jin Ling cause he needs Jiujiu time and the title. What else was I supposed to do?

Calypso: Qin Su

Honestly, I was originally planning Mianmian for this role cause of the whole "you like Mianmian" misunderstanding with Wangxian, cause yes, WWX will be the one on her island. Qin Su works too, I guess, though Ima be honest, I didn't put much thought into it. Other suggestions would be welcome!

Apollo: Lan Xichen?

I don't want to make Lan Wangji Xiongzhang-less, but I don't really know of anyone else who could fit this role. Suggestions would be welcome!

Hephestus: Nie Mingjue

I kinda wanted to make him Ares at one point, but I decided Hephestus would work better for him cause of the whole justice thing and also being super huge.

Aphrodite: Wang Lijao

I know, okay? I'm running dry on MDZS women. Not my fault, take it up with mxtx. Mostly this is because I wanted Ares to be Wen Xu and Aphrodite had to be someone Jiang Cheng could credibly call Ares's lover, so lets pretend Wang Lijao is Wen Xu's lover and not Wen Chao's, okay? Also, it gives her more depth than "evil concubine," though she's still not great.

Ares: Wen Xu

Mostly this is cause Jiang Cheng was occupied and I needed an angry war-crazy character for this. It also makes sense cause Jiang Cheng doesn't like Wens so...

Hera: Madam Jin

I know Zeus is Madam Yu and not Jin Guangshan, but I'd like to think she's JZX's ancestor who ascended. She was married to JGS while she was a mortal, so she still has a thing about cheating, and yes, she and Madam Yu are married because they both deserve partners that don't dismiss them or cheat on them, or that they were forced to marry.

That one suitor guy: Jin Zixun

Idk, man, he made the most sense here. I needed someone to be him and I thought, "who better than the random asshole cousin?"

Anyways, that's all for the casting. I think I got everyone, but tell me if I missed someone! I always welcome suggestions for better casting!

Ok, so here's what I'm thinking plot-wise.

Wei Wuxian is the one to kill the infant. While JZX has been hardened by the war, I don't think he would go that far.

JZX & WWX share captainship after multiple misunderstandings over who was in charge.

WWX is the one who goes with Mo Xuanyu to the island of the Lotus Eaters. Yes, he does die in Wen Chao's cave, unfortunately.

WWX and Jiang Cheng argue after they escape Wen Chao's cave (this is where I am on my fourth re-listen lol) and their friendship ends.

Both JZX and WWX go up to the sky island and meet Mianmian.

They get sent to Circe's island after running afoul of Wen Rouhan. Wei Wuxian goes with the men, and Jin Zixuan is the one who rescues them.

Circe sends then to the Burial Mounds to meet Wen Ning (the Prophet) and WWX is separated from the group after seeing his mother's ghost. Everyone else assumes him dead and leaves without him, stranding him in the Burial Mounds.

JZX is tempted by a siren who tells him to go towards the Xuanwu (Scylla) to avoid Wen Rouhan. He, tired and desperate to get home to his wife and son, sacrifices six men to get past it, and JGY leads a mutiny against him.

They end up near the sun god's cows and JGY, hungry and tired, kills one, leading to JZX sacrificing the crew to get home to Yanli. After this, he's set adrift on the sea.

Meanwhile, WWX has climbed out of the Burial Mounds and winds up trapped on Qin Su's island, where she falls in love with him. Nie Huaisang frees him and sets him to find JZX.

While that's happening, Lan Sizhui dreams of becoming a hero to find his baba, and Jin Ling is fighting off suitors who are trying to get to his mom. Jiang Cheng decides to give him a visit, cause he kinda misses WWX and JYL and helps him fight off a persistend suitor. They're friends now, and Jin Ling decided to call him Jiujiu and shows him off to Sizhui, who also takes to calling him uncle. (Much to JC's excitement, he loves being an uncle)

Then, Jiang Cheng decided to check on JZX & WWX and found WWX trapped on Qin Su's island. He goes and petitions the gods for his freedom and wins, leading to WWX's release and reunion with JZX, who is happily surprised to learn he's alive.

When they're almost home, Wen Rouhan meets them there and tries to drown them, so they torture him to get back.

They go to the Jin first because of the suitors, and WWX wants to see his sister as much as JZX wants to see his wife and son. They are agast to find the castle in complete dissaray with suitors plotting to rape Yanli and kill Jin Ling. They immediately take action, massacring all the suitors until Jin Ling returns with Sizhui in tow. They try to help, but get captured. WWX kills the guys who had them and they all have a nice reunion with their spouses and with JC because I couldn't just leave them like that.

The end.

I hope you liked this! Feel free to use this if you want, I'd love to read it! I may write it, but if I do, it's not going to be soon, and it'll probably be in detailed outline form like Four's Mad Scientist WWX AU and Deity Jester AU. Have a good day! (Yes Yilling Wei Sect AU Chapter Three is coming soon)

[dracomusic325]

⚠️ SPOILERS FOR WONDERLUST EPISODE 16 ⚠️

FUCK IT, I'll just copy and paste my shit because that's just easier, so enjoy my notes for Wonderlust! Apologies for not posting for the last episode, I've been busy irl, BUT I AM BACK WITH IT! Also, I love WD and Ripley, I need them to kiss at least once in this campaign or I will call Bizly homophobic (/hj). Enjoy!

Troy Lougferd (He/Him)

- His real name is Tramilton Lougferd

- Presumably captured by Aeon (Bizly said 'she' for the person who captured Troy), who forces him to stay with Blink

- How does Aeon know his real name?

- If he fails to stay with Blink, he can't go home

- Perhaps that's why he clings to Blink's side, out of fear of what will happen to him if he fails

- There are theories that he's clockwork, just like the soldiers

- He doesn't have a good relationship with his father

- Troy has committed war crimes??

- He has ulterior motives

- I feel like he knows more than he's letting on

- I don't trust him

- Dislikes snakes

- Charlie has mentioned that he will get worse as the campaign continues, but just how bad will he get?

- Dangerous and always seems to do reckless things that get other people hurt, including his teammates

- He doesn't care about the consequences of his actions (i.e., getting Runt, Blink, and Ripley banned from Oasis Flora)

- Did not hesitate to harass Lint after coming back just because he did something to become popular

- Dumb as fuck

- He licked fucking acid, wtf is wrong with him (he blamed Runt lmao)

- He's able to override the clockwork soldiers with a command

- "Lougferd Override: Level 3/4/5/6"

- Genuinely insane, holy shit

- Motherfucker thinks he's a Disney princess with all the animals he's collecting lol

- Envies Grey's relationship with his father (daddy issues, let's goooo)

- Bro downed a potion that made him grow, oh my god-

- He fucking pissed on a fire elemental because he thought it was funny, I genuinely wonder what is wrong with this man (a lot, obviously)

- The weird creature he got in Oasis Flora is now attached to his body

- That isn't concerning at all, nope, totally not /sar

- He is not a girls girl

- Bro's in his male wife era, awesome

- He has a spoiler on his sled now :0

Runt (She/Her)

- She has cousins in the Street Rats, Doppler, and Pinch (he's the leader, I think)

- She lives with her Uncle Threestrings, and her grandmother works at the apothecary

- Doppler gets captured when they go up to the surface and disappears

- Troy tells her that the clockwork soldiers just throw stuff back into the hole, so why hasn't Doppler turned up?

- Due to her failing the mission, she is kicked out of the Street Rats and is no longer allowed to visit their headquarters

- She found a purple crystal known as Wonder Coal while she was on the surface

- Distrusting of Troy after finding out both he and Blink lied about who he truly is (specifically, that he's not Yort or from Reclaim/Cogtopolis)

- Claims to be Is the smartest girl in the city

- Scared of Troy because of his actions and how he's constantly putting everyone in danger

- Hates being called little or anything to do with the fact that she's different

- Needs a doctor (will be discussed in a later episode)

- Her leg braces help her walk, run, and jump better

- She coughed up blood at the end of episode 10 (holy shit, don't kill my gal, I will begin sobbing)

- Her grandma knows that she's ill

- It might be a disease either in her lungs or in her throat

- Her condition began to worsen about 2 months before episode 1

- That's also when she started trying to join the Street Rats

- She's essentially dying (if she dies, I will not be okay)

- The cold does not help her condition (obviously lol)

- Grey admires her strength and her will to keep going, despite her illness (awwww)

- There's an herb on the mountain that can help treat her illness, but it won't cure it

- It lowered the DC of Con Saves and can override a point of exhaustion 3 times

- Found admiration in what Troy can do (I love her so much)

- I think Troy turned her religious-

- I'm so confused TwT

- Nevermind, she's good now

- SHE QUOTED TAL FROM THE BALDUR'S GATE 3 VIDEO, LET'S GOOOO

- She has made it to Cogtopolis, let's go! Time to find the Inventor!

- She referenced Troy's "You dude!" Oh mah gaw

- Nobody believes her when she says that Apollo brought her to Cogtopolis

- She thinks Apollo is very pretty (that's so sweet, aw)

Blink (He/Him)

- Has a history with Aeon, the leader of the Vixens

- They used to be friends, so what the hell caused them to have a falling out?

- Their mutual friend, Candle, was killed because Blink made a mistake

- Knows a lot of people in the Sorting District

- Lives a life of struggle (evidently, he doesn't even have a house, and Graphite lets him spend nights at his place)

- He's very willing to help people out, no matter what (Granny Granite, Troy, etc.)

- Very paranoid and cautious all the time, probably because of the Vixens

- Knows of and (probably) works for The Inventor, but has no knowledge about him

- At risk for a heart attack because of his device and from getting electrocuted

- In a situationship with the Overseer?? Maybe?

- He doesn't have a thing for feet (as Condi said so aggressively lmao)

- Bro is fucking done with Troy (based lol)

- Medusa gave him the confidence to stand up to Troy

- She trained his ass to beat Troy's ass, awesome

- They're besties now, I love that (they do be shit talking Troy)

WD (She/Her)

- She is a fox-hybrid played by Milo :0

- She lives in Cogtopolis and is working on a way out by getting rid of the cave-in

- She's old friends with Ripley, but they got separated because of the cave-in

- She called Ripley really pretty, so I have a feeling that they might be gay :3

- Friends with a koala hybrid named Carpet

- Knows her way around Cogtopolis pretty easily and knows a lot of people

- She works for The Inventor in his secondary lab in Cogtopolis

- A lot of her tools were made by Ripley (we love lesbians)

- She definitely seems to have feelings for Ripley (yippee, lesbians!)

- She hasn't seen Ripley for a while and is desperate to get out of Cogtopolis and find her

Other:

- Clockwork soldiers are patrolling more frequently and can now speak

- Mai is missing after going back home to The Hole

- There are no more races until she is found

- She was in the dungeon that Troy was sent down

- The Inventor is missing after using the teleporter

- The Street Rats are referred to as Relicites by the citizens of Wonder

- People say that they aren't real

- Mai, and Doppler, are at this "Overseer Island"

- Borris mentions The Overseer, but who the hell is that?

- The Overseer is obtaining information from the Street Rats. He has sketches of The Inventor, Ripley, Professor Cross, and Troy

- Why does he have sketches of those people??

- How does he know about the civilization in the hole??

- The Overseer needs The Inventor and needs Ripley captured

- He needs The Inventor because The Inventor will give him power

- The Overseer is suspicious, the way he acts and speaks seems very calculated. It freaks me out

- The Overseer wants Aeon removed from her position of power

- Pinch is working for The Overseer???

- The Overseer hired him to find the Inventor

- He struck a deal with The Overseer to keep Doppler safe

- The Overseer and his soldiers know everything about the Street Rats, including where they live

- It could also be that he has known this entire time that there is a city below his very feet

- Mai is from Reclaim, a bunny-human hybrid

- The Mountaineers are a group of people who live near a mountain that is seemingly very dangerous. They also harvest the Wonderous Coal that is used for power

- The Mountain has 4 tiers, each different from each other. The first tier is a warm, forest area that gave the group 1d10 temporary hit points

- I wonder what the other tiers are like

- There's a chance that since the Wonderous Coal powers everything in Wonder and Reclaim, the forest on the first tier of the Mountain is magical from the coal's properties

- The forest has vague remnants of a place called Farindell (probably spelled that wrong lmao). None of the party has heard of that place

- They also don't know what elves are

- Dark Elves fought Farindell, their place was called Holdstead

- The Wonderous Coal isn't natural, it just appeared out of nowhere. When it originally showed up, no one knew what to do with it

- Fire, Water, and Earth elementals exist in a cave within the forest :0

- There's a stone that controls them

- THEY'RE AT THE PRIME DEFENDERS BASE, TF?? (I need to watch Prime Defenders-)

- Fartbo is there and there's a hologram of Tide talking about the Prime Force

- The statues are of Dakota Cole, William Wisp, Vyncent Sol, and Ashe Winters (I need to get a job and watch this show, wtf-)

- The layers in order are: Prime Defenders, Blood In The Bayou, (to be added to in the next episode)

- APOLLO??? LIKE THE GREEK GOD?? HOLY SHIT, LET'S GOO

- Medusa is here, yippee! We love Medusa

- She is so done with Troy (real)

- She gave Blink a brace that can cast Mage Armor, let's goooo

- She's a girls girl fr

- She's so fucking cool

- GRIZZLY HAS A NEW CHARACTER?! WTF?!

- His name is Julius :0

- He better not replace mah girl (he probably won't, it's most likely just like Goobleck)

- Full name: Damian Augustus Julius Caesar (:0 reference holy shit)

- He ded (I got attached to him TwT)

- Julius and Medusa are both cursed to remain within the maze until one of them can best the other and win the Gods' favor to set them free

- Aeon is at the University of Dreamers and Doers

- H O W?!

- Cogtopolis is entirely within the clock in Airhart. It extends down to Reclaim and this is where the Future Thinkers reside

- It seems like the cave-in has prevented food from getting into the city

- There are mostly Reclaim citizens, as far as Runt can tell

- The people are angry with the Future Thinkers because they are so focused on getting out without causing another cave-in

- Ripley is human, so would that mean the Inventor could be too?

- The Future Thinkers believe there is only one right way to do things and disregard anything or anyone that says otherwise, such as Ripley (she deserves better 😤)

[littlesparklight]

do we know how Helen reacted to Paris’ death? and how did her reunion with Menelaus go?

Very few of the sources we know that might have touched on it (like the Little Iliad) have survived intact. (Or survived at all, in cases of other treatments of the war that we know about, or don't know about.) We only have a couple late sources, as far as I am aware, that say anything - but whether they're representative in any way, we don't know.

Paris' death Dares: "Helen took part in the funeral with loud lamentations. Alexander, she said, had treated her kindly; [...]" and "Helen, returning home with Menelaus, her husband, was grieved more deeply than when she had come."

Dictys makes no specific mention of how Helen reacted to Paris' death.

Quintus of Smyrna and his Posthomerica: "[...] but long and loud lamented Helen; yet those wails were but for Trojan ears; her soul with other thoughts was busy, as she cried[...] (skipping the actual speech here) So cried she: but for him far less she mourned than for herself, remembering her own sin."

So I guess that depends on if you'd say this means no honest grieving at all, or some. Or if Quintus means there to be some, in truth, or none; he also specifies that no one but Oinone grieves Paris in earnest, despite that, compared to the qualifiers he gives Helen's lamenting, Hecuba gets no such and she seems to be in earnest if it weren't for that comment. (Quintus is also, like often happens later, writing very moralising. Obviously Paris is then not going to get much from him.)

The reclamation of Helen The most usual, and perhaps until late only version of Helen and Menelaos' reunion, involves Menelaos threatening her life (and Aphrodite interfering). Ibycus and the Little Iliad both seem to have had this, and it's possible (neither the summary nor the surviving fragments say anything about this) Iliou Persis had it as well. Some want to claim a lack of attempted violence on Menelaos' part in the Sack's version, but we have no proof of that either.

Vase art has a couple variants, which generally are on a line of Helen either fleeing from Menelaos/Menelaos dropping his sword, or already leading Helen away, sword in hand. Generally this is pointed at her (an obvious threat) or merely held, but as I understand it from the academics I've read, in this case the sword is still an implicit threat towards Helen, and not, and some may want to claim "meant to secure their safe leave from Troy". Aeneas, for example, as he leads his family away, is never shown wielding a sword (no matter which way it might be pointed), despite that he, surely more than Menelaos, would need one.

(Guy Hedreen is a good jumping off point if you want to read more.)

As for what our late surviving sources say, Dares makes no mention of their immediate meeting during the sack. The only reference is the same one I quoted up above under the death of Paris.

Dictys: "First of all, Helen was freely given to Menelaus;" and "When Troy had been taken, Ajax had been the first to propose that she should be killed because of the troubles and sufferings she had caused for so long a time. Many good men had assented. But Menelaus, still loving his wife, had gone the rounds, and plead for her life, and finally, through the intercession of Ulysses, had won her back unharmed."

So the situation seems similar to Euripides' Trojan Women, in that Helen was treated as a captive to be handed over, but, here we have seeming break from the version of Menelaos attempting to murder Helen. Dictys says nothing about how Menelaos reacted to Helen when he found her during the sack, merely that he tortured Deiphobos to death. And despite the apparent situation of Helen being treated as a captive, compared to TW Menelaos acts to keep Helen safe - but, as we see, a threat to Helen's life post-sack, if not from Menelaos then all the Achaeans, clearly remains a feature.

Quintus of Smyrna: "Menelaus mid the inner chambers found at last his wife, there cowering from the wrath of her bold-hearted lord. He glared on her, hungering to slay her in his jealous rage. But winsome Aphrodite curbed him, struck out of his hand the sword, his onrush reined, jealousy's dark cloud swept she away, and stirred love's deep sweet well-springs in his heart and eyes."

There's more after this, Menelaos pretending to continue the attack after Aphrodite has turned his heart and Agamemnon stopping him. Then later as Menelaos leads her out, though Helen fears being attacked by the Achaeans, Aphrodite intervenes again, making sure they're all struck, basically as Menelaos already was.

So in Quintus the threat to Helen is really emphasised. There's not just the intended intimate revenge from Menelaos, but also a potential general one from the Achaean forces as a whole.

What we basically have, then, is that Helen's survival isn't a given. Aphrodite will ensure she survives, of course. But from the mortal end of things in most sources, from threats during the sack (by Menelaos) to post-sack threats from either Menelaos (Trojan Women) or the Achaeans as a whole, Helen's survival isn't seen as a necessary condition for the victory. In fact, in some ways, Helen paying for her life (for the apparent, in the case of kidnapping, or actual, where she was willing, adultery) seem to be intimately bound together with the Achaeans' victory.

Only divine intervention (via Aphrodite giving Helen sanctuary and inspiring Menelaos' former love) in most sources, until we get to Dictys' and Dares' realistic and godless versions, saves Helen.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hot take, I would disagree that Lily and Antoinette are a fair comparison. True enough they both were friends and outlets to their respective men, however, Lily was not actively interfering with someone else’s relationship. I sympathize with Antoinette to an extent, but she did know Lestat was in a relationship with Louis and still chose to get involved with him. Lestat also appeared very transparent with where his love lied. That fact in itself made her less sympathetic because it wasn’t like Lestat was lying and misleading her and she didn’t know the extent of the relationship. She comes off like she was actively trying to get Lestat to choose her as indicated by asking Lestat to go away with her and telling him they didn’t deserve him and he didn’t need them. Though I think she did love Lestat to some extent, I also think there was some indication in the show that she was a bit self-serving (“promises were made”) so again, it reduces her level of sympathy because she wasn’t exactly blinded by love, so to speak.  I know many in the fandom do not consider the sexual relationship cheating, however, it was framed as such when Lestat did not kill her. I understand why Lestat needed her, however, that did create problems in their relationship. Daniel states “there were three of you” so she was very much framed as the other woman, which is a vast contrast from Lily. 

Regarding Lily, I suppose one could look at it like she violated Louis’ trust. But didn't the show give some indication she was aware of their attraction and supported it? Is it possible that Lestat had already been inquiring about Louis and Lily was aware of his intentions? It was always odd to me that Lily would ask a client to sit while already working with another client, especially with the racial dynamics, unless she possibly already knew Lestat would be okay with that. Also, Lestat shamelessly flirted with Lily in front of her and she didn't appear taken back in the slightest, almost like she expected it. She also appeared supportive when she told him “you're his destiny, Louis”. She was well aware of Lestat’s attraction to Louis and his intentions by the time their ménage à trois rolled around,  At that point, she knew they were both queer and obviously interested in each other because they were spending time together.  Is it possible that her telling Louis “I told Mr. Lioncourt you and me mostly talk” could have been her version of playing matchmaker and indicating it was a safe space? She was speaking to Lestat about Louis knowing they both were both already interested in each other; it's not exactly like she was spreading their business around town so I’m not sure they could be considered blowing his cover because that cover was already blown between Lestat and Louis.

All this to say it is understandable why most people are less receptive to Antoinette than Lily. In my unimportant opinion, the dynamics between both relationships are too different to be considered a double standard when people view one more harshlythan the other. I will agree the fandom gives them both too much importance. Neither Lestat or Louis seemed too bothered, or bothered for long, when they were killed.

[…] the fandom gives them both too much importance. Neither Lestat or Louis seemed too bothered, or bothered for long, when they were killed.

👆 That.

[sombrashe]

strawberries dealer!troy x camgirl!reader

content smut, pornhub comments, not edited, lowercase intended

∧＿∧

　 (｡･ω･｡)つ━☆・*。

⊂/　 /　 ・゜

　しーＪ　　　 °。+ * 。　

　　　　　 .・゜

　　　　　 ゜letting out a practiced moan, you lift your chin so you can look deeper into the camera. troy's movements are slow and deliberate. his hand reaches around to hook in the front of your bra and pop a tit out. twisting at your nipple, he gives the camera a small wave before repeating his actions. you fight back a genuine whine and catch your lower lip between teeth. your eyelashes flutter and you tilt your head as you seduce the camera. the tendons in his hand flex as he rubs his fingers over each bump of your spine, over the swell of your hip and around to rub small circles into your clit. your head drops for a moment before you remain your composure.

wetting your lips you huff out in annoyance. his job was to simply fuck you and let you preform for the camera. his plan on the other hand obviously involves breaking you. his soft thrusts begin to hasten and he watches in the finder as your tits bounce with each sharp slam of his hips against your ass. you plant your hands and grip the comforter tighter. he does that thing where he pulls out, thrusts in, and grinds a few times against your backside. each time is worse than the last and you start to falter. your practiced moans turn into needy whines as you try and chase your high.

"Fuck, right there."

you throw your head back, your eyes fluttering. fuck, fuck, fuck. he gets lost in the moment and suffers through maintaining his silence despite how hard you squeeze around him. your noises and the wet sounds of your pussy fill the room. unclasping your bra he pushes in over your shoulders so it pools around your wrists. a fistful of hair and he's yanking your head back further so all they can see is each thick swallow. your moans come choked out as your struggle against his hold. your orgasm rips through you and your full body shutters. it's painful and catches you completely off guard as you shout out for him to not stop. to his credit he doesn't and after a few more sloppy thrusts shoots cum into you. you can feel him fill you and the moment he pulls out your thighs end up covered in slick. in the back of your mind you make a mental note to cut this part out as you both pant. he takes a minute to recuperate before walking over and clicking off the camera. your half laying down, your ass fully in the air while your pussy squeezes around air. running his fingers through your hair he coos down at you.

"Tired there superstar?"

"Fuck off, Troy. You fucked up my video."

"You always say that."

"And I mean it every time."

johndoe69 today

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous

nut1maul today

I choose 1:12 to cum and the only thing that you had to do was to film this beautiful person getting slowly fucked and what have you done? You fuck them until they can't even speak to us anymore. Finally I just cum because I can't stand to watch the whole video... fuck you, angel !

princess_of_the_afterlife today

can we just get a video of the man? you're beautiful but i need more of him 😍