#a lot on my road that had been abandoned since I was a child had a house built on it 5 or so years ago

[seabeck]

There’s an hoa neighborhood down the road from me (it wasn’t there when I lived here as a kid, truly a weird place to put an hoa too..) and they have a large field for the hoa members to use that I have only ever seen in use once. I bet it’d be a good place to bring juniper and a herding ball.

[galedekarios]

what was i after all but a mortal plaything in sacred hands?

out of all the little glimpses into our companions' lives after the game events, i think i like this bit about shadowheart and gale, and the friendship they've seemingly retained after the game's events, the most:

Player: Tell me what you've been up to. Shadowheart: Wandering, mostly. The adventuring life is almost a tonic when you're not constantly threatened by brain monsters and cultists. I can finally see the world beyond the Cloister. Player: I thought you might crave a little peace and quiet, after all that happened. Shadowheart: Peace and quiet will still be there waiting once I've lived a little. Though don't get me wrong - I've got a little cottage with a garden and animals in mind already. Shadowheart: One of my first stops was the House of the Moon, in Waterdeep. It's the largest temple of Selûne in existence. Shadowheart: It seemed like the perfect spot to reflect on my parents, on where they came from - and where I came from too, I suppose. Shadowheart: Hard to imagine, isn't it? Me, of all people, in the lair of the 'Moon Witch' herself. Gods, your truest act of heroism was putting up with all that Sharran drivel I was spouting for so long. Player: Waterdeep you say? Did you bump into Gale? Shadowheart: We had tea on his balcony - Tara even deigned to sit on my lap for a while. You know, I think entire forests must have been felled to quench that man's thirst for books. Shadowheart: He seems to be doing well. In his element.

it's one of the few (if not the only) instance we have of companions keeping in touch with each other after the game ends and i love this for both for shadowheart and for gale.

both of their stories remind me of gale's early access line "what was i after all but a mortal plaything in sacred hands?" and i think they can understand and emphasise what the other went through before and during the game's events in ways the others simply cannot with the added layer of their abuser being a deity and their patron deity.

one taken from her family as a child, indoctrinated, weaponised and isolated, trying to take everything from her, but unable to erase the goodness of her heart. the other contacted by a god's chosen as a child, the very thing he loved for as long as he remembers governed and represented by her, the goddes who was first a mentor, then a teacher and finally a lover.

Shadowheart: Poor Gale. I hope he knows that a goddess abandoning him needn't be the end - I know from experience.

Gale: Poor Shadowheart. The gods are nothing if not vincdictive in their vengeance. devnote: Sympathetic - Gale feels the gods have also punished him

the idea of them helping each other, supporting each other to take another step towards healing old and new wounds through their shared understanding, is something i like a lot.

on a lighter note:

we know that gale values those he calls friends immensely and shadowheart does, despite her aloofness, crave connection, (re-)discovering who she is and what makes her her.

i like to imagine them sharing not only tea, but a glass of wine:

Gale: Sembian wine, Cormyrian ball, Waterdhavian conversation. It's the little things you miss while on the road. - Shadowheart: So Gale just consumes magical items like I do wine?

perhaps sharing the latest chapbook with her since he likely overheard wyll and shadowheart talking about 'the salty mermaid':

A chapbook was a short book which could contain about any content, from political opinions to crafting guides. In Waterdeep, chapbooks often contained memoirs or romantic stories. [x]

(thank you for reading my gale + shadowheart friendship propaganda post! 🖤)

[reelovesfictionalmen]

Single Dad Simon Riley

A request for Single Dad Simon from @buzzyb33 I hope this is what you wanted, I kinda just went with what my monkey brain came up with.

SINGLE DAD SIMON

Single Dad Simon has twins. A boy who is docile, shy and hides behind Simon's legs around new people. His daughter is bold and boisterous. Sometimes he swears she almost bounces off of the walls. Their mother has been out of the picture since not long after they were born, she pays child support but has otherwise severed all parental support and interactions with the twins. The boy twin is named Theo and the girl is April. The names are the only two things their mother left them with.

Single Dad Simon used to hate her for abandoning their children but in time he accepted it as being the best. Forcing her to stay would likely have just hurt the kids more. Simon gave up his career in the military to take care of his kids and be a present father. He works as a plumber, a pretty good one at that. He makes enough money to provide for his kiddos and put money aside for emergencies and/or their futures. He wants to have enough money put away for them if they decide to go to university. Giving up his career was difficult but it had to be done, he was all they had and he wants to give them a childhood so much better than his own.

Single Dad Simon finds being a dad almost as stressful as being in the SAS and doing all that sort of thing. Raising the twins on his own through their infancy to toddlerhood was mentally and physically exhausting. There were nights when both of the twins were teething, would not go to sleep and just kept screaming where he felt like running away. But he never did of course, our Simon aint a quitter ESPECIALLY when it comes to his kids.

Single Dad Simon is still in contact with 141, they come to visit when on leave. Soap and Gaz like to spoil the twins. April LOVES uncle Soap. She calls him a "pretty princess". She also makes takes Gaz, Soap and Theo out into the garden where she likes to play construction work barbie, digging up the garden and making "roads" for her and her brothers cars. Theo, the sweet little boy really opens up around Price. Something about Price brings out his bolder side. He's always tackle hugging Price and asking lots of questions about the cool planes and other vehicles he's been in. Neither of the twins really believe that their father was big and tough like their uncles. Simon honestly prefers that they don't believe that he was a big bad military man, he tries to keep as much of his personal military career from them.

Single Dad Simon who frets when the twins first go to primary school and after school care. He doesn't like being away from them for such long periods of time, deep down he knows that they will be just fine and they will be safe but the other part of him frets terribly. What if they get bullied? What if they hurt themselves? What if they get mean teachers? After the first year he calms down considerably with his worries but there is a side of him that will never relax and be wary for danger.

Single Dad Simon who finds himself getting lonely as the kids settle into school life and his business does well. He finds himself wishing for romantic companionship and a feminine influence for his children. He worries that only having military men for family will stunt their mental growth. He promises himself to open himself up to the possibility of meeting someone new.

When Single Dad Simon does find someone he clicks with, he doesn't hide that he has kids and is a single parent. But he makes clear that it will take an extended period of time before he introduces them to her. He needs to be sure that he can trust her around them. If she already knows them through some outside of school place, like the bakery they always go to on Sunday or the Librarian at the library where the after school program is held, he will be less wary of having her in their private lives but will still TAKE HIS TIME.

Single Dad Simon is a good dad. He struggles with the stress and isolation sometimes but he has 141 as his brothers and maybe one day soon he might have a lady in his life who will welcome his kids and him with open arms into her own life.

[aneurinallday]

Green Eyes

Chapter 29: Alec Shelby

Thomas had almost run out of cigarettes. He rolled one contemplatively between his fingers before changing his mind and returning it to the pack.

“Do you want a pint or not?” Polly said.

“No.”

“A shot of something, then?”

“I’m good, Pol.”

They were standing near their parked car by the side of a country road, outside an old pub with a crooked sign. The rain-clouds had long passed, and the sun was shining, but the ground remained soft and damp. Farmers and truckers were eating lunch and drinking cold beer, but Thomas had no appetite.

“We’ll find him,” he said, “Nobody vanishes into thin air. If he hitched a ride, someone’s bound to have seen him…”

“What if he doesn’t want to be found?” Polly interrupted, her patience wearing thin, “Nobody dragged him out the door - he left of his own free will. Let him do as he pleases. Let him go.”

“He didn’t want this. He thinks Clara and I will be safer without him. He’s wrong. The only thing he’s done is put himself in more danger. If we could just talk…”

“Let him go,” she repeated, “He won’t forgive you if you force him.”

Thomas realised how he must’ve sounded, and fell silent.

The week since Alec’s disappearance had been the longest of his life. Seven days of frantic searching of every hotel, tavern, and private guest-house where he thought Alec might be staying, knowing that each hour they were growing further and further apart.

On the second day, he’d found Queen Boudicea stabled at an inn near Northfield. According to the innkeeper, her rider had been a young man, well-dressed but rather dishevelled, seemingly in a great hurry. He’d had a lot of money but little luggage, and he’d tipped generously before disappearing out of the back door. He hadn’t returned, and there had been no leads since.

“What about Bragg?” Polly persisted, “We’re supposed to be at war right now. How long are you going to keep the world on hold?”

“Until I bring Alec home to his child.”

“Tommy, it’s been a fucking week,” she said sharply, “Bragg’s violence needs an answer. People are starting to wonder why you haven’t retaliated against him.”

“Forget about that bastard. I need to know that Alec is safe.”

“You have other responsibilities besides Alec. You can’t just put them all on the shelf. Every passing hour makes you look weak - makes the whole family look weak. People are waiting for you, Tommy.”

Thomas turned away. He sat on the mud-caked steps outside the inn, not caring if it left stains on his black three-piece.

“Clara knows something’s wrong,” he said, “Every morning she asks ‘will Daddy be home today?’ and every night she asks ‘will Daddy be home tomorrow?’. And every time I come home without him, I have to look her in the eye and pretend nothing’s wrong. I can’t fucking go on like this, Pol.”

She sat beside him, placing her gloved hand on his arm.

“Part of me is angry with him,” he continued, “Angry that he would leave us like this - leave Clara, knowing what it would do to her. But I know I’m being unfair. I know he would die for her in a heartbeat. He would never have abandoned her unless he thought it was for her own good.”

“He did what he thought was best. That’s all anyone can do.”

They stared out across the muddy fields.

“I might not come home. And neither might he. Whatever happens, I need you to promise that Clara won’t be alone. Look after her, Pol, please.”

Polly gripped his arm fiercely.

“She’ll be a Shelby,” she vowed, “With all the good that comes with it, but none of the bad. That, I can promise you.”

“Make sure she goes to school. To university, if she can. Make sure she knows how much Alec loved her. How much I loved her.”

“She’ll have the best education money can buy, and the best life too. And you’ll be right there beside her, watching her grow, watching her prosper. I feel it in my heart, so I know it’s true. But first, you’ve got business to attend to.”

She rose, brushing off her skirt.

“Let’s go.”

She headed back to the car, giving Thomas no choice but to follow.

He went home - not to Arrow House and Clara, but to the filth and smog of Small Heath. Polly was right - the war couldn’t wait forever. The crates full of munitions had already been distributed, and reinforcements from out of town had already assembled. The Peaky Blinders were ready for blood.

Yet when Bragg sent a man with a white flag and an invitation to parley, Thomas cautiously accepted. He doubted that a man like Bragg would make peace without hefty compensation, but whatever terms he had to offer, Thomas had a duty to listen. If there was a way to put this whole mess to bed with minimal bloodshed, he had to seize it with both hands. If peace could be bought, he was willing to pay, even at the cost of his pride.

It seemed that no matter how much time passed, and no matter how far they went in life, all roads led eventually back to the beginning - back to the place where Thomas and Alec had first met in a haze of cigarette smoke and sex, four years ago on a night that had changed both of them forever - back to the golden doors of the Arcadia.

There were no civilians in sight - upon catching wind that the Peaky Blinders were on the move, the streets had quickly cleared. To his surprise, Bragg wasn’t hiding behind a barricade, but waiting for him outside the club, smoking a fat cigar. Although his men were armed, his own hands were empty, suggesting that he hoped to avoid a fight. Strange for a man who, just a week ago, had been happy to shoot up Thomas’s home in the middle of the night.

“Surprised he’s showing his face,” John remarked, “I thought we’d have to smoke him out like the vermin he is.”

“I won’t complain,” Thomas replied, “Saves us the trouble.”

At either side of the street, the two gangs waited. Neither side approached, and neither side fired. Pigeons cooed from the eaves. Then Bragg shifted his weight, opening his posture, indicating that he was ready to talk.

“You know what to do?” Thomas said quietly.

“We’ve got your back, Tom,” Arthur assured him.

Thomas nodded and walked across the road towards Bragg, puffing on a cigarette. He could hear the piano playing inside - a discordant and aimless tune. Perhaps the pianist was frightened of the danger brewing outside.

“Talk first?” Thomas said.

“Yeah.”

Thomas leaned against the brick wall, and the two men stood smoking together.

“I’m going to kill you,” he said calmly, “I hope you know that, Mister Bragg.”

“I think once you hear what I’ve got to say, you’ll realise it’s better for both of us if we get along.”

“Why should I listen? What you did was a declaration of war. You attacked my home and endangered my family.”

“You shot me, so I shot back. It’s only fair.”

“My daughter could’ve died.”

“That’s a shame. Still…”

“What’s to stop me from dousing this place in petrol and setting a match to it, along with every other business you’ve tied your name to?”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. There are other people besides my men inside these walls. The girls who work for me call the Arcadia their home, and I keep a roof over them and their babies’ heads. Burning it to ash wouldn’t reflect well on you.”

“I can make them leave first.”

“Not before my men shoot them dead.”

“Is that all they are to you? Meat?”

“Not at all - they’re the backbone of my business and I value them greatly. I’m just being pragmatic. But we didn’t come here to talk about women, did we? We came here to talk about your boy and his trigger finger.”

Thomas turned to face him.

“The bullet Alec fired had nothing to do with me. But I think you know that already. I think you’ve envied me for a long time, and you’ve had your sights set on war since the first moment you came into power. But there was only one problem: I was the one who helped you seize power in the first place. I was the one who helped you overthrow Cobb. We had an agreement between us, and you were afraid that if you attacked me unprovoked, your other allies would start to doubt your trustworthiness. You felt handcuffed, like you were still living in Cobb’s shadow. But then Alec came along, and without even meaning to, he gave you the provocation you needed. He fired the first bullet in a war that might kill us all.”

“Congratulations, Shelby. You put it together.” Bragg smiled. “But there is one thing I’d like to clarify.”

“Oh?”

“This war was always going to happen. It was just a matter of time. When Alec Cobb walked into that audition, I saw the opportunity I’d been waiting for. I thought if I fucked him on the floor of my office, he’d go home crying to his protector, and you’d come marching down here in all your righteous fury to avenge him. Then we’d fight on even ground, and I’d kill you and take over your territory. And nobody would judge me for it, because you would look like a fucking fool for defending a whore’s honour. That was my plan, anyway.”

Bragg flicked his cigar into the gutter.

“I can’t lie, I wasn’t expecting him to fight back - he used to be so obedient in the old days. I was surprised when he shot me, and I was even more surprised when you didn’t show up at the hospital to finish me off. I was expecting a little more passion from you…It turned out you’re not as quick to anger as I thought. So I needed to give you a little extra push to send you over the edge.”

“By attacking my home.”

“Exactly. How is he, anyway? The whore?”

“He’s safe,” Thomas said curtly.

Bragg chuckled.

“You’re a poor liar, Shelby. I’m just playing with you - I know he ran away in the middle of the night. I know because he’s here.”

“You’re lying.”

“I don’t need to lie. You’ve been running around like a headless chicken, searching for your lost pet, and he’s been right here this whole time. Can’t you hear him at the piano?”

Thomas listened, but couldn’t imagine Alec’s nimble, clever fingers producing such dissonance.

“Don’t believe your ears? Maybe you’ll trust the evidence of your eyes. Come inside and see for yourself.”

“Alone?”

“I won’t spill blood inside the Arcadia. Not even Shelby blood. You have my word.”

Thomas looked up at the sky, squinting at the bright blue.

“Alright, then,” he said, “I’ve waited long enough for revenge - I can wait a little longer.”

Bragg smiled and walked inside.

“Come get your whore,” he said without looking back.

Thomas was given a thorough pat-down by Bragg’s cronies, disarmed, and led into the Arcadia. It seemed somehow smaller than he remembered, gloomier, less glamorous. Armed men watched him from around the place, sipping gin and playing cards to pass the time, their hands never straying far from their guns. Thomas glimpsed the frightened faces of several women peeping from behind a door near the back, before they saw him looking and quickly shut it.

“There he is,” Bragg said, pointing across the dance floor, “In the flesh.”

Elevated on the stage, exposed to everyone’s view, was Alec. He was sitting hunched over the piano, playing poorly, his clumsy fingers wandering lost over the keys. It was painful to listen to, but more painful to see.

“Where did you find him?” Thomas asked, managing to keep his voice steady.

“Oh, I didn’t find him. He came to me last week. He knew he was in trouble and he didn’t trust you to protect him, so he came crawling to my door, making all manner of apologies and peace offerings. You should’ve seen it. It was a sight to behold. Please, Mister Bragg, I don’t want anyone to die because of me. Just do what you want and forget about the whole thing. I’ll be good, I promise. See, he’s a smart boy. He knows when to give up.”

“If you’ve had him for a week, why didn’t you request a meeting with me sooner?”

“Because I wanted time to get reacquainted with him first.”

They arrived at a familiar table, and Bragg gestured for him to take a seat. They sat opposite each other on the leather couches.

“You’re a changed man, Shelby,” Bragg said, “Back in the day, you wouldn’t have sat down for a polite conversation with someone who fired a machine-gun into your child’s bedroom. You would’ve already cut me up with a razor and thrown the leftovers into the canal. It must be your age catching up with you.”

“There’s no harm in letting a dead man have his last words.”

Bragg laughed.

“Need a drink to calm your nerves? Or a woman?”

“No.”

“How about a boy, then? You! Enough of that racket.”

Alec stopped immediately, and the piano fell silent.

“Get down from there. Come and join us.” Bragg patted the seat next to him.

Alec rose unsteadily from the piano stool and descended from the stage, stumbling on the way down. Thomas wondered if he was drunk, and whether the drink had been forced upon him or if he’d drowned his sorrows willingly.

“I remember when I first joined Cobb’s Boys, back in the day,” Bragg said almost fondly, “That was the first time I saw him. He was this fragile little slip of a thing, crying over his dead mother, but he grew up hale and strong. Cobb worked him like a dog, but he always did as he was told. He knew his place. Then that baby came along and he started getting ideas. Refused to let Cobb anywhere near her, even though she was his granddaughter. Wouldn’t even let him hold her. Insisted on moving out of the club and getting his own flat in Saltley. It’s a shame, really. A waste of a good worker. But now he’s back where he belongs.”

Alec finally reached their table, and stood expectantly at Bragg’s side.

“Give us a kiss, then.”

Without a word, Alec leaned down and kissed his cheek. Bragg’s eyes didn’t leave Thomas’s face, perhaps hoping to see jealousy.

“Sit,” he commanded.

Alec lowered himself onto the couch beside Bragg, wincing in pain. His green eyes, half-hidden behind exhausted grey eyelids, stared dully at the ground, and at no point met Thomas’s.

Seeing him up-close, Thomas was overwhelmed by a sense of failure. He’d promised Alec that they would never set foot in this place again - that the Arcadia was a memory they would never have to re-live. Yet here they sat, at the same table where they’d first met four years ago, on the same couches where Alec had slid close and whispered ‘Come with me’ in his ear.

“Are you hurt?” Thomas asked.

Alec didn’t lift his head; his gaze didn’t stir from the floor.

“Don’t worry about him. We’ve been having a grand old time, haven’t we, Green Eyes?” Bragg put his arm around Alec’s unresisting shoulders. “Go on, tell Mister Shelby how much fun we’ve been having.”

Alec didn’t respond.

Expressionlessly, Thomas asked:

“What do you want?”

“A bigger slice of the pie. Cobb may have been afraid to step on your toes, but I’m not. I have my brothels and you have your betting shops, and that’s how it’ll stay, but I want to expand. I want Sparkbrook and Yardley, but most of all, I want Small Heath.”

“You want us to pack up and leave?”

“Precisely. Don’t fret, you’ll still have an empire - I hear you’re a big man down in London, and you even gave the Italians a run for their money. Ceding a bit of Birmingham won’t be much of a loss to you. In fact, I’d say you’ve rather out-grown the place. A man like you should be setting your sights a little higher than this shit-hole. So, let me give you a choice. Say yes, and the whore stays with me. I’ll take good care of him, I’ll pay him a fair wage in exchange for his hard work, and as long as you play nice, nothing bad will happen to him. Or…”

Bragg smiled, savouring in his newfound leverage.

“...Say no, and he dies here at my hands, knowing it was you who signed his death warrant. You’re no stranger to killing, but I know ways to destroy people that would turn even your stomach. My imagination stretches further than razor-blades.”

He squeezed his arm tighter around Alec’s shoulders, almost in a playful embrace. Alec’s head dipped lower; he leaned forwards slightly, hugging himself about the stomach.

“I know you care for him,” Bragg carried on, “You wouldn’t have kept him around this long if you didn’t. Question is, do you care enough to sacrifice a fraction of your income?”

“What about his daughter?” Thomas said, taking another puff of his cigarette, “Will he see her again?”

“She’s young. She’ll forget him.”

Alec started to raise his right hand, as if trying to interrupt the conversation. His arm wavered in the air, then gave up and fell limply back onto his lap. Thomas realised then that he’d been hurt, and that his clothes hid the proof of a multitude of beatings; but he didn’t allow the realisation to show on his face.

“Do you expect me to raise her as a stranger to her own father?” he said, “That’s not going to happen.”

Bragg shrugged.

“Well, when she’s older, she can always come and work for me. Then they’ll see each other every day.”

The anger vulcanising inside Thomas wasn’t red-hot, but ice-cold. He wondered if throwing himself across the table was really such a bad idea after all - if the hail of bullets might be worth it if he could, at least for a moment, enjoy the feel of his hands around Bragg’s throat. But then he looked at Alec, sitting mere inches from Bragg, and knew the risk was too high.

“It seems like you need a little more persuading,” Bragg said, and turned his attention to the young man. “Kneel,” he ordered.

With difficulty, Alec attempted to rise from the couch. Bragg gave him a push to hurry him along, causing him to stumble and - unable to catch himself in time - fall heavily onto his knees. Thomas flinched, knowing the hard floor would leave bruises.

“Look at that sweet face - you wouldn’t let him die, would you?” Bragg said, “Do as I ask, and you have my word: as long as he stays here, and you stay away, there’ll be no trouble.”

Thomas looked down at Alec’s bowed head, willing him to meet his gaze.

“Alec,” he said quietly, “Look at me.”

Alec finally looked up at him. His eyes were dazed, but his misery was crystal clear. And in that moment, in that look, Thomas could see everything: his pain, his shame, his bitterness. He’d sacrificed himself in the belief that he might assuage Bragg’s anger, hoping to protect his loved ones; yet his sacrifice had been for nothing, because here Thomas was, having walked directly into the lion’s den.

“I’m sorry,” Thomas said, not caring that they weren’t alone, not caring if his apology made him look weak. “I should’ve come sooner.”

“...I wish you hadn’t,” Alec said hoarsely, “I wish you’d stayed away.”

“I know.”

“Tommy, I want to leave…I want to go home.”

“Home?” Bragg scoffed, “That mansion isn’t your home. It never will be. No matter what fancy clothes you wear, no matter whose bed you keep warm, you’re still just a whore. You’re still just scum that Thomas Shelby scraped out of the gutter. Cobb’s unwanted bastard. Did you really think you could escape the name? Did you think he would make you Alec Shelby?”

Alec lowered his head again.

“So, Thomas Shelby - what’s your decision?”

Thomas reached for the ashtray in the centre of the table, and stubbed out his cigarette.

“Mind if I smoke another?”

“By all means.”

Thomas pulled out his almost-empty pack of Irish cigarettes, plucked out the last one, and placed it between his lips.

“Here’s the thing, Mister Bragg,” he said, “It doesn’t matter if I say yes or no. It doesn’t matter what terms you offer me, or what luck you’ve deceived yourself into thinking you have. Because regardless of what else happens, I’m taking Alec home today, and there’s nothing you can do to prevent it.”

“Come now, Shelby. Don’t be so tiresome. I’ve made you a perfectly good offer.”

“All you’ve made is a mistake. I told you I would kill you, and you thought I would leave without getting what I wanted. The only fool here is you.”

Thomas flicked open his golden lighter and, with careful deliberation, lit his final cigarette.

It was the signal that his men had been waiting for. A Mauser from a Pattern 1914 Enfield punched through one of the windows, causing the curtains to sway gracefully amid a shower of broken glass, and removing most of Bragg’s head from his neck.

In the same instant, Thomas dived from his seat and flung himself upon the kneeling Alec, knocking him down. Gunfire rang out, and he felt a heat passing through him, then a sharp pain. He knew he’d been shot, but didn’t particularly care. He shoved Alec beneath the table, crawling in after him.

Above them, Bragg flopped and spasmed uncontrollably, attempting to suck in air through what little was left of his face - the remainder of his brain working frantically to understand why he could no longer see or breathe. After a few arduous gurgles, he ceased to struggle. From this angle, his twitching legs were within Thomas’s reach. Thomas grabbed at his calves and ankles until he found the shape of a hidden snub-nosed pistol, and extricated it from its holster.

“Stay down!” he said, and shielded Alec with his body - both to protect him and so that he wouldn’t have to see what happened next.

When the worst had passed, Peaky Blinders were roaming around the club, firing off occasional rounds to silence the still-moving bodies on the ground. The women were being quickly shepherded out of a back door, still clutching their gaudy dresses about themselves, clutching in their arms all they had: a purse, a scarf, an old ragdoll.

Thomas sat down heavily on the floor, his back resting against the bloodstained couch, his legs stretched out in front of him. Bragg’s pistol was empty in his hand; he tossed it away.

Alec lay still and silent next to him, his open eyes glazed. He looked half-dead. Thomas placed a gentle hand on his back, reassuring himself that he could feel it rising and falling with his precious breaths.

“We need to leave,” he said softly. “There’s a car outside which can take us home. Home to Clara. But first, you need to get up and walk. Do you think you can manage that?”

He received no response.

“Tom?” he heard his brothers calling for him. “Tom, where are you?”

Thomas waved a weary arm, wincing at the pain it caused.

“Here,” he grunted.

John and Arthur weaved between the tables and arrived at his side.

“Well done, lad,” said Arthur, “Most of ‘em ran when they realised their boss was dead.”

“We’re not done here,” Thomas replied, “Bring petrol and burn the whole fucking place down. And then - and then - ”

He tried to stand up, but felt dizzy doing so. He put his hand inside his coat to see how much blood he would find. It was quite a lot of blood, he discovered. More than he’d expected.

“Shit. Tom, are you alright?”

“Don’t worry about me. Get Alec out of here.”

“Tom - ”

“Fucking get him out of here!”

Thomas slumped back onto the floor, feeling faint. Arthur crouched beside him, tearing open the front of his coat and waistcoat to expose the blood-soaked shirt underneath. John grabbed a nearby tablecloth, bundled it up, and pressed it firmly to the wound.

“Take it easy, Tom,” he said, “We’re gonna get you to a doctor.”

“Start finding the girls new jobs,” Thomas mumbled, “Pol and Ada will know where to look…”

It was suddenly, incredibly difficult to stay awake. He eased himself onto his side - sucking in his breath through his teeth to stifle his pain, feeling as he did so how wet his clothes were - until he was lying face-to-face with Alec. Up close, he could see how tired Alec was. Tired of hurting, of feeling, of living.

“I’m sorry,” Thomas said.

Alec’s eyes slowly focused on him, and on the blood.

“...You’re hurt…” he whispered, “…You’re hurt, Mister Shelby.”

His hand stretched out weakly. Thomas reached for it, and found it cold. He squeezed it, trying to impart warmth, but found that his own grip was weak.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“No…you got hurt…no…” Alec faded into unconsciousness.

The world had gone strangely quiet. Thomas forced his dimming eyes to stay open for as long as he could, clinging to the sight of Alec’s beloved face, not sure if he would ever awaken to see it again - not sure if either of them would ever awaken again. But after a time, he was unable to resist the darkness any longer, and the pair of them lay motionless on the bloodstained floor of the Arcadia.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep3 - Armand as Unreliable Narrator

I'm seeing a lot of posts defending AMC!Armand against fans thinking he's lying or untrustworthy or something. I've seen people point out valid things like AMC's deliberate twisting / reckless disregard of book canon; to bad takes stemming from shipping wars; to personal preferences & biases.

My reservations against AMC!Armand go all the way back to S1, when we saw those floating bookshelves and sliced pages in Claudia's diary. I've long since been of the suspicion that Armand's not necessarily forcing Louis against his will or anything THAT nefarious; but that he's definitely been taking advantage of Louis' need for someone to help stop him from going off the deep end--and more importantly, that he's been taking more than his fair share of autonomy over things Louis does/doesn't have access to--specifically: information/knowledge.

For me, GABRIELLE'S absence is the most telling red flag. Cuz the writers know good & well that they want S3/TVL; Rolin never shuts up about it. It's not that AMC isn't doing the books so we don't need to expect it to be 1:1--it's that THEY ARE doing the books! They're planting seeds through deliberate misdirection & omission.

Gab's arguably the most important/impactful person in Lestat's life b4 he meets Louis. She's Les' very first fledgling. She's there when Armand kidnaps Nicki; she's there when Alessandra explains the Devil's Road for the first time (a scene AMC was obvs inspired by with Daciana in 2x1); she's there when Les leaves the Theatre; she's everywhere.

And what's more:

Armand hates Gabrielle's GUTS.

Gabrielle's "useless" to Armand, but she was EVERYTHING to Les, and most of his emotional damage & abandonment issues come from her. Armand KNEW to weaponize Magnus' suicide & Gab's lackluster treatment of child!Les as the best way to seduce him!

Armand, like Claudia, is DESPERATE for someone to want & need him as their #1.

Louis is pretty good for this--if only he'd hurry up & get over Lestat (& Claudia) already.

In the book!IWTV/TVA, Armand dumped Louis when Lou gave up on being happy & got way too depressed for Armand to help him anymore. But Armand really wanted Lestat. Cuz Lestat is CLINGY--he doesn't pack & up leave (ie: give up) without a DARN good reason--and it's mighty sus that Armand didn't mention that Les & Gab left him to look for HIS MAKER, MARIUS, cuz Armand didn't know ISH, and doubted Marius was still alive--cuz if he was still alive, why had ARMAND been ABANDONED BY MARIUS for all those centuries, left for dead with the Children of Darkness/Satan? 👀💔

Lestat is a carbon copy of Marius, down to the blonde hair, blue eyes, and red velvet. Armand's Louis' rebound of Lestat, but Lestat's Armand's rebound of Marius.

Louis is not the only vampire who lives in a constant state of denial/delusion, running from his fears. They are both exact opposites of Lestat, who confronts his fears head-on.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that if Lestat IS asleep in the penthouse, Louis doesn't know--or he doesn't have all the correct info. Cuz Armand's been isolating Louis this whole time in their weird cage/penthouse, with its jail bars and floating bookcases. He is ACTIVELY AGAINST this entire interview; and he encourages any & all contradictory talk of Lestat being "dead"--

--so it makes sense that he wouldn't want Louis to know anything about Gabrielle, as that would be someone who KNOWS Lestat, and would probably know where to find him (IF he's not comatose in the penthouse somewhere).

So for Armand to leave Gab out and make it seem like Mama's Boy Lestat was this cavalier playboy who cared about nothing & no one but himself (as per Louis' words to Daniel) just smacks of a highly slanted angle, that even LOUIS is ignorant of--I don't think AMC!Louis knows anything about Gabrielle's existence whatsoever. 👀 Yes, "Lestat never told me ish!;" but clearly ARMAND never told him the whole story, either. 😬🤫🤐

Then, there's Nickistat....

Plenty of interviews/reviewers already said Armand's petty, so I'm not surprised that the Nicki info doesn't add up. First off, it's a great way to garner sympathy from Louis, and create a connection, and act as an effective stimulus for Louis' own unpleasant experiences being cucked by Lestat. If Armand can convince Louis that Lestat did to Louis what Lestat did to Nicki, it just makes Lestat look worse; legitimizing why Loumand is oh-so-much-better; which they're actively tryna pitch to Daniel.

But it's a risky gamble though, cuz it also puts Armand in the same spot as Antoinette--and we see how that went. 😬💀🔥 Only this time it won't be Armand who ends up in flames, but Louis, if AMC pulls a Merrick.

It helps that "Lestat never told him ish," either, cuz Louis CLEARLY has no idea that Nicki died--AND HOW. Lestat admitted that he & Nicki "parted ways," but if that's all Louis knows, then ofc Armand can tack on that Nicki was abandoned & hung out to dry--that Lestat was giving Armand money through Roget, not NICKI; that the Theatre was Nicki's, NOT Armand's--and neatly omit everything about what really happened: that Nicki was mentally insane, thoroughly hated & resented Lestat by that point, and was eventually tortured & killed BY ARMAND and his coven when THEY couldn't handle him anymore--a la PAUL'S treatment by the DPDLs.

Armand NEEDS to come across as sympathetically as possible; otherwise he loses Louis AND Daniel to this interview--only this time he won't be the one sitting back letting it happen.

For me, Armand's unreliable not cuz cuz I hate him--on the contrary, I've said 1000 times that he's my fave character in TVC; and Assad's doing an excellent job with him so far. But I don't trust him cuz I KNOW HIM--the fandom calls him a GREMLIN for a reason. I know the stunts he pulled in TVL (telling Daniel the Children of Darkness/Satan killed themselves, when in the book Armand killed them all (except for Eleni, Felix, and like 2 others IDER--they're all Rhoshamandes' fledglings IIRC). He's reduced Nicki's role significantly; making him seem like some desperate twink, while not mentioning how Nicki was half mad before Armand chopped his hands off & forced him to kill himself when he couldn't play violin anymore.

Armand is a MENACE in the early books, and he was originally supposed to be a main TVC villain before Anne Rice realized how much she liked him in QotD and toned him TF down--same way she did with Lestat's transition from IWTV to TVL.

THAT'S why Armand is both lovable/likable and also SUS AF. At least for me. I can't speak for other fans, ofc, cuz I know some folks approach Armand from totally different angles.

[annisassintchaska]

He Showed Up: Lewis Hamilton x Black!Caribbean!Reader

Y/n and Lewis had met at Coachella, where they were both in the same situation of being dragged there by their friends even though they wanted to stay home. Throughout the night, they talked and laughed, drank and danced until their fun exceeded to Lewis’ hotel room. The next morning Lewis woke up to the beautiful woman next to him that he hoped would be interested in dating him despite the circumstances of how they met and what they had already done. However, Y/n was the complete opposite as she woke up to the sound of Lewis having a shower and was entirely embarrassed as she quickly got dressed and left the room, leaving no traces of herself behind as she made her way home to wallow in shame and self pity. Lewis was now left heartbroken as he came to find that she left without even saying goodbye, luckily he had her social account that even though she restricted him from texting, he was still able to see her posts and stories.

Three months went by and Y/n was completely sick since the end of the first month after the interaction, yet she thought it was just something going on with her body and went on taking medications. Shocking to find out at her six months check up that happens twice a year, that she was pregnant, and that the medications she had been taking may or may not have caused harm to the fetus. Feeling every emotion under the sun, she broke down into tears worried of how she would look after both herself and her child, seeming that her family abandoned her and her friends are most of the times busy and unable to help.

Overtime of taking the prenatal vitamins and other prescribed medications, she was finally in the somewhat clear during her sixth month of pregnancy. Unbeknownst to her, Lewis had followed her on instagram using Roscoe’s account and had been watching every post she made and so he was aware that she was pregnant. He eventually got one of her female friends to meet with him, where she gave him further updates about Y/n’s pregnancy as he also would buy things things for the baby, delivering them straight to her address, confusing both the pregnant woman and delivery men as she knew she didn’t have the sources to purchase whatever came onto her doorstep. Lewis then went all out to plan for the friend to get Y/n out of the house so he could go in with Toto, Susie, Angela, George, Mick and Sebastian to quickly set up the surprise nursery that her friend had ‘planned’.

Moving up to the ninth month, Y/n was now in the hospital as her water had broke and contraction already started. Y/n’s friend excused herself with the reason of needing to use the bathroom as she went to call Lewis, informing him that Y/n was ready to give birth. Lewis was so excited as he told his family who told him to hurry on, as he sped off to the hospital. Upon arrival, Y/n friend was waiting for him at the entrance as he parked and strides across the road, they hurriedly made it to the room that Y/n was admitted into.

“Hi cutie how are you feeling?”Y/n’s friend tried to cheer her up as she noticed the pain and worry on her face. “I’m scared my baby may not be healthy and it would be all my fault. The worse part is that I have no support but you, as the father or my family aren’t here. How will I do this Anita? I’m struggling now and I’m gonna suffer even more after this. I don’t want anything to happen to us, especially not my baby. I can’t even feel my my baby moving anymore. I would never forgive myself if something goes wrong!”Y/n cried into Anita’s arms, her body weak and in pain as she awaits the arrival of her baby. “Listen, I know things are hard right now, but I promise you have a lot of support. You’ll get through this and nothing will happen to either of you. Just so you know, there’s someone outside that waiting to be by your side so I’m gonna go sit in the waiting room while you’re here and after the birth of my Godbaby, the person will come and call me when you decide that you allow visitors, ok?” Anita asked calmly as Y/n slowly nodded her head, feeling herself slip into sleep.

Anita walked out the door signalling for Lewis to go in as she went to the waiting room. Y/n was about to drift off into sleep when she heard the door open and turned her head to look at the intruder, only to find the father of her soon to be born baby smiling at her with flowers in his hand and a water bottle in the other. “Lewis? How did you find me?!” Y/n asked surprised as to how he could’ve known about this happening. “I found out through instagram and your friend Anita who I had been in touch with since your fifth month. How are you holding up? I got you some flowers” Lewis spoke to her softly and he placed the vases flowers on the table and sat next to her holding her hand. “I’m drained, scared, worried, sad, happy. I don’t know what to feel.” Y/n expresses as the tears started flowing once again. “You’ll be fine sweetheart, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing an amazing job and it’s not your fault for what happened, just know that I will love our baby either way” Lewis reassured as he placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

The process sped up as Y/n was now fully dilated and was ready to push, the fear, worry and extreme anxiety started rushing through Y/n veins as she cried for her baby to be ok, with Lewis whispering gentle words and prayers into her ears. “C’mon Y/n, you’ll be fine and our baby will be healthy. You’re strong and resilient, I know you can do this. Just one more push and we’re done” Lewis encouraged but was met with “No, I can’t do this anymore! It hurts Lew, it hurts! Please let them make it stop!”Y/n screamed into Lewis’ now tear soaked shirt as he rubbed her back and kissed her sweaty forehead. “Yes you can do it, the head is already out, we just need one last push and you’re done, the pain will not be so severe. Just take a deep breath and push when you’re ready, yeah?” Lewis encouraged once more, resulting in a war cry from Y/n that almost shook the room as their baby came sliding out fully into the world.

“Omg, congratulations Ms. Y/n. You’ve just welcome the most healthy and beautiful baby boy!” The doctor cheered as he placed the newborn onto her chest, Y/n and Lewis crying their eyes out at the sight of their son. The doctors then cleaned up and did all the necessary checks and paperwork for both Y/n and the baby before they were left to privacy.

“He’s adorable” Lewis sue as he held his son skin to skin on his bare chest. “I never thought I’d have kids this early, but I’m glad I did now. I guess I felt like I was too old to tart having kids no and I was originally gonna give up, but seeing what we created made me change my mind. I know you have a name for him, Anita told me it was special but I don’t know what it is?” Lewis asked as he placed the baby into the bassinet. “I don’t know if you’ll like it, I wanted to name him Milo Nicholas Anthony Hamilton” Y/n said with tears gathering in her eyes as he saw Lewis completely break down at the honour in his son’s name. “I love it, and I know that my dad and brother will love it too” Lewis said between sniffles as he hugged a postpartum Y/n who has fallen asleep.

Lewis then made his way back over to the bassinet, picking up his baby and walking around with him. “Hi Milo, I’m your daddy. I know you might be confused as you never heard my voice while you were in mummy’s tummy, but I promise you that I’m here now and you will never have to worry about not hearing me again. I promise to always be there to guide and protect both you and your mummy. I promise to try to be the best father that myself allows and to lows be there for you in any situation. I want you to know that I love you and mummy very much, I think I might ask her to marry me. What do you think bud? But anyways I know you’re sleeping soI’m gonna put you back down and let you rest. Good night my sweet boy” Lewis declared as he kissed the baby’s forehead and placed him back in the bassinet, scooting into the hospital bed to cuddle with Y/n as he fell asleep knowing that he now had a family of his own after years of waiting.

The next day, a post was made that informed everyone of the precious surprise that spun the world of its axis.

LewisHamilton: I wanted to inform you all that I welcomed my first child yesterday night. Milo Nicholas Anthony Hamilton is a blessing In my life and will now become my biggest priority (of course above F1) no doubt.

The comments for this post has been restricted.

[blacklegsanjiii]

North Blue Language CH. 1

Pairing: Dracule Mihawk x Vinsmoke Sora

Can also be read on AO3 here!

CH 2! CH 3! CH 4! CH 5! CH 6!

Sora holds herself with the grace of royalty and being from the North Blue, where much was in ruins at that moment, he could see it.

Sanji knows his mom has been through hell, he does. She poisoned herself to reverse what his father had done to him and his brothers when they were in the womb and it only worked on him. That's why he's stealing from the little boat, because he owes it to her to make sure they can eat since she's so sick. He chokes as a hand fists into his shirt and pulls him back and Sanji is eye to eye with Dracule Mihawk and oh he fucked up. 

“I'm sorry!” Sanji exclaims dropping what little he had grabbed, which was a loaf of bread and three cans of food. Mihawk looks over the dropped items and then the boy. He pulls the kid off the boat and keeping his hand fisted in his shirt pulls him onto the main road way near the docks. Sanji doesn't say anything and instead tries to follow as best he can lest the swordsman kills him or his mother.

“Where the hell is the orphanage on this damned island?” The man growls before heading off and dragging Sanji with. 

“I'm not an orphan.” Sanji replies weakly trying to look for the abandoned shack that held his mother. 

“Then perhaps your mother should have raised you better.” Mihawk mutters as the boy began twisting his hold. “Quit that.”

“Don't talk about my mother like that!” Sanji seethes. They continue walking, Sanji gripping Mihawk's hand to keep him from ripping the shirt more than it already was when Sanji sticks a finger out pointing. “I live there.” 

“And?” Mihawk growls, dragging the boy further still.

“My mother is there, she's sick, I have to get back to her.” Sanji says, struggling with a new vigor. Mihawk drags him to the derelict building and almost breaks the door as he slams it open and finds a woman, who looks a lot like the boy he has in his hand. They're both very light blond and have sea blue eyes and are very thin. She looks like she's on her way to death’s door if Mihawk is honest. 

“Sanji? What did you do?” She asks as Mihawk let him go and Sanji ran to her, arms wrapped around each other he mumbles his answer to her shoulder. “I'm sorry,” she looks to Mihawk, “I'll make sure he never does it again.” 

“Given the circumstances it’s understandable.” Mihawk states which is as close to forgiveness as he'll give, usually. “You're not from here.” He catches them off guard with that.

“No, we're from the North Blue.” She nods. 

“And what brought you to the East Blue?” Mihawk asks.

“I had to save my son.” She gave Mihawk a look and it stoked something inside the man. She held herself with the grace of royalty and being from the North Blue, where much was in ruins at that moment, he could see it.

“Come with me.” He says, shocking everyone in the shack.

“What?” The woman asked. “You don't even know us.” She argues.

“I can tell you'll both die here without help.” Mihawk says. “You called him Sanji earlier.” The woman and the boy looked at each other, the silent conversation ended with the woman nodding at him. “Then let's get going.” Mihawk orders. The boy stood and helps his mother who is fairly weak. They walk slowly back to the coffin ship, Mihawk glared down any onlookers who dared to simply whisper or gawk.

Once they were settled and Mihawk split the loaf of bread between them and got the ship moving did the woman speak again.

“Why?” Was all she asked and Mihawk took his eyes off the ocean to look.

“You know how to keep a secret.” Mihawk answers and she nods. They sail for two days before reaching an island that knew Mihawk well enough to not ask questions. He also learns Sanji and his mother, Sora, had been struggling for a good few months. They didn't explain much, other than that Sanji had been trying to work to keep them afloat but a child would never be paid much, even if they were better than an adult. 

“You said you had to save your son, why?” Mihawk asks, looking at her. 

“Why did I have to save him or why did I?” Sora asks back. Sanji is asleep, albeit fitfully with his head in his mother's lap. She pets his hair but it doesn't seem to help much. She receives no answer but shares look between the two. “I poisoned myself to save my children, but it only worked on one. He thought I was dead for two years before I managed to get us both out. He blamed himself because his siblings don't have the same faculties as he does.” Sora explains. 

“I see.” Mihawk replies. He doesn't understand it, not really but he guides the coffin ship to the dock. Sanji woke and tied the boat to the dock quickly. The knot was good and tight and Sanji stood on the dock double checking. Mihawk and Sora took some time getting onto land, she was weak but her determination was admirable. They walk for a while, gathering some supplies before heading to an inn where Mihawk got their rooms. “You both need a bath.” Mihawk says without thinking.

“As do you, Sir Mihawk.” Sora smiles at him. “Go take one in your room, we've got it.” 

The swordsman nods and they part ways. Mihawk takes his bath and cleanses himself and tries to pick apart what he had done. Sora certainly held herself like royalty, her posture immaculate and her pain well hidden. She also had more kids than Sanji. He didn't know what other ‘faculties’ his siblings were missing but chances are Sanji was singled out for not measuring up. He finishes his bath and put on fresh clothes when he realizes he had the bag of clothes he bought them in his room. He grabs it and walks to the room they were in, Sanji was nowhere to be found but he can hear humming. It's an old North Blue lullaby, one Mihawk remembers from his time traveling there when he was working to become what he is now.

“Sanji?” Sora calls from the bathroom.

“No.” Mihawk answers. “Are you alright?” He couldn't help but ask. The quiet lasted longer than a few moments and having not received an answer he opened to the door slowly and saw Sora in the bath. They were staring at each other, confusion and shock in both sea blue and ringed yellow eyes. 

“What are you-” Sora starts.

“Are you stuck?” Mihawk asks at the same time. They stare at each other again neither answering other than Sora shyly nodding after a moment. Mihawk helps her out and hands her a towel and rushes out of the bathroom quickly. He was not shy about nudity or sex or any of that, but Sora was not a pirate and had her son with her. She was certainly more shy about certain things than he was. He laid out the clothes he thought best on the bed as Sanji came back into the room.

“Oh, hi.” He whispers meekly as Mihawk nods to him. 

“I got you both some clothes. They'll hold up longer than the rags you both claim are clothes.” Mihawk says and Sanji nods.

“Thank you, sir.” Sanji mumbles. They don't talk and Sora comes out and she gives them both a look.

“Pray tell, what happened out here?” She asks as Sanji hurries past her, successfully dodging past her without bumping her and shutting the bathroom door.

“I brought clothes for you both.” Mihawk answers.

“You're being extremely kind for a pirate,” Sora hums out, "but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?” 

“The dress should be easiest to put on.” Mihawk replies instead and Sora nods. “I'll leave you to get dressed, I'll bring dinner soon.” 

Sora nods and Mihawk leaves. Later dinner is a quiet affair, Sora and Mihawk talk rarely and lightly and Sanji doesn't speak at all, despite Sora trying to get him to. Mihawk doesn't push one way or the other. Sora is pleasant company and Sanji is well behaved. Maybe a little too well behaved but Mihawk will tackle that beast later. After they're done Sanji quickly nabs the dishes and cutlery and bolts out of the room, Mihawk spares a glance that followed the boy.

“What time will we be leaving?” Sora asks as she gathers the spare clothes Mihawk had purchased.

“Before lunch.” Mihawk answers, moving to leave.

“I must thank you again, Sir Mihawk.” Sora says.

“You keep referring to me as ‘sir’ yet I am no knight nor am I remarkably honorable.” Mihawk responds looking at her. “Am I right to infer that you're royalty?” 

“Not anymore, though it's a force of habit I will try to break.” Sora answers. “Sleep well.” 

“And you.” Mihawk drawled leaving. Ex royalty then. Mihawk tries to think of any recently fallen kingdoms or kingdoms that lost members of their family and couldn't place any that looked like those two. Sanji's twirly brow would stand out everywhere. Mihawk tries not to dwell on it. Even to the next day as Sanji helps him load the coffin ship and Mihawk helps Sora in. They don't talk much, Mihawk warns them of the dangers on Kuraigana, possible bounty hunters or Marines but neither seemed to be concerned about either of those. There might be much worse after them then, Mihawk thinks, but nothing he couldn't handle most likely.

They're arrival is marked by Sanji taking the first items to the kitchen while Mihawk shows Sora to a room before going to help Sanji who has managed to find the kitchen and has brought in a good amount of the supplies already. The boy was quick so Mihawk follows to make sure they miss nothing and the humandrills won't bother the kid. They don't but Sanji's eyes flick through the trees enough to pique Mihawk's interest into what the boy could do.

[finalgirlmoment]

PJOTV Ep 4 + 5 (spoilers)

My brain is, and has been, rotted entirely! I feel like the TV show is such a treat because the new content adds layers to the story SO MUCH like the plot and character dynamics it makes me want to scream. Yes the differences are absolutely notable but the bottom line is that our main trio would find each other in any universe or storyline and would choose each other every time

-The opening scene of episode 4 broke me a bit: the lore that Percy actually did not take naturally to being in the water, he was actually afraid to be swimming! I feel like before we definitely characterized him as someone who felt at home in the water since he came out the womb but damn look how far he comes. How jarring it must be to later find out you're actually the son of the sea god :o

-Percy continually being angry about the system of the gods (not) interacting with their children, being so shocked that a parent wouldn't help or talk to their child. He's so sweet and I feel like his rage grows the more he gets to know Annabeth because he sees how amazing and loyal and cunning she is and wonders how her mother could ever ignore or abandon her

-Annabeth just in general, her badassery is so fucking perfect for this character, the way she draws her knife, her being so fucking in tune with Percy already....the way she knows exactly what Percy is going to do before he does it ((and the way he listens to her unconditionally i.e. cutting off Medusa's invisible head in episode 3 but I digress)), knowing he was alive and waiting for them somewhere at the beginning of episode 5. she is a LEGEND and she is LOCKED TF IN

-the hug <3 i won't make it weird if you won't <3 <3 we're like friends now <3<3<3 do u understand how i hurt

-trio walking down the side of the road like bums -_- i died lmfao. also them hiding when approached by some dude and just being like <3 we good ty tho!!

-Percy, again still acclimating to this fucking weird ass world where gods are real and can kill u easily, is shook when ares threatens to kill them. luckily, as a change of pace, grover is cool as a dang cucumber and saves the day af. this is what i mean like absolutely the characters are so different like yes grover has been nervous a lot but he also can turn it tf on and smooth talk when he needs to

-Annabeth has never seen a movie. Percy immediately insists that they watch one together. Look me in the fucking eyes and tell me that's not a date? Hello?

-The entirety of the tunnel scene/chair scene. Percy being the one to figure out the story illustrated Hephaestus' life. Percy ALREADY working to save Annabeth first and foremost! Percy continually sacrificing himself for her! Believing deep down she is capable of great, impossible things and being willing to set aside his life for her without question. Telling her she is better. "You just are. And you know it." Giving her Riptide, no second thoughts, no backing down.

-ANNABETH CHASE ALREADY ASSUMING PERCY'S PROMISE WOULD BE ABOUT HIS MOTHER. HIM BEING ASSURED SHE WILL SAVE HIS MOTHER, NO HESITATION. HIM ASKING HER TO COME BACK FOR HIM. HER BEING SURPRISED THAT HE THOUGHT HE HAD TO ASK. (THE ENEMY PHASE WAS SO SHORT LIVED. THEY HAVE BARELY GOTTEN IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK TRANSPORTING LIVE ANIMALS TOGETHER. WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY WOULD TALK ABOUT IN THERE NOW. I'M fine don't worry about me).

-On that note, the ending. Percy is like a loose cannon full of a deep rage and a lot (A LOT) of unrealized power; his problem is that he is not locked TF in like Annabeth (as of right now) and the ending really made me excited because it feels like he is finally catching on to what a big deal he actually is. All this anger he has inside him, all this rage at what he has lost and the suffering he has seen, .... i'm honestly beside myself at what is to come because this is already SO JUICY and I feel like we've barely started!

-side notes: the score is so amazing, I'm really enjoying it and I understand all the videos of the actors promoting the soundtrack!!! also my sister has never read the books but she loves the movies and we watch it together; she is very very excited for the casino scene so there is definitely hope for her in the near future. ((my nico loving ass will also be holding binoculars and twitching))

so yes a lot was changed but i am really liking the new content a lot because it just feels like added lore and, again, these guys can best the odds in any universe and help each other in every timeline. the most important plot points are there and i feel like they have already set up a lot of info for later on down the line. I do wish there was a bit more banter/conversation (because Percy is actually so quirky and I feel like this could be explored more) but the time we do have is amazing and feels super fresh! even when i've read the books to pieces! and again the convos they're having right now are setting shit up for later and maybe then they can play and have fun wit it. as always, i will be loyally sat, lurking, reblogging. kiss

[spiced-koi-friend]

False Sense Of Safety

It's supposed to be a quiet evening, with your newly appointed guards at the ready. But with one missing text, it all goes wrong, and you have to call the police. Unfortunately, their uniforms look a lot like burglar outfits.

Previous Chapter

Assassin!Goldbullet x Politician!F!Reader, TW: panic attack, suspected break-in Words: 1687 | Rating: R | AO3

After heading home for the evening, you decide to unwind for a bit before packing a small bag for the road. Settling in with a nice hot drink and closing the curtains. Part of you knows you should probably cook something for dinner, but your mind is far too busy to be thinking about food right now. Why is Ruze being such an ass right now? What does he know? Sometimes he can be downright infuriating, wanting to wrap your hands around his neck to strangle him if you knew it’d work. Scrolling on your phone doesn’t distract you like it normally does, and you end up screaming into your hands in flustered frustration.

“This is stupid, why am I acting like this? What’s wrong with me!? He’s just a pretty boy, nothing more. But Ruze can’t fucking mind his own business, and now I can’t even try to ignore these feelings since he keeps putting them on display…”

You throw a pillow at your couch, flopping on it to scream into the cushions again.

“I haven’t had a crush like this since I was a child… fucking hell…”

A knock on your door alerts you, and you immediately move to turn off the lights, staying out of sight of any windows and find your way towards your safe room. The knocking continues, turning to a pounding on your door. Not a word is spoken, and you pick up your pace to your safe room. You manage to get in, locking the door behind you and grabbing your landline phone in there.

“Ruze, Ruze please pick up…”

When you’re sent to voicemail, your heart drops into your stomach and you lean against the door, panicking. Your hands shake as you dial for the police, nearly hyperventilating as you wait for the operator to pick up. You hear multiple people yelling outside the door, muffled by the thick steel and insulation protecting you from whoever is out there. They’re certainly not careful with their footsteps, and you can hear them looking around for you.

“Hi, hello, I’d like to report a break-in… Yes I can stay on the line… At least two or three men, my head bodyguard is not picking up his phone… Yes I’m at my residence.”

Your eyes scan around the room, spotting the panic button you had installed. Your hand pushes it urgently, setting off your security system, faint blaring of sirens through the door. The operator instructs for you to stay on the line since you have no way of getting to the outside world without possibly endangering yourself. You just wish that they’d hurry up.

…

Gabriel came to your residence with a couple of the other guys, appointed by Ruze to guard you for the night. Shinri sits in the passenger seat, giving instructions on how to get there. When they pull in, your car is already parked. They clamber out of Gabriel’s car, stretching out and grabbing their stuff before knocking on the door. No answer. 

“That’s… weird.”

He stares at the door, knocking a bit harder, nearly pounding on it. He calls your name as Shinri calls Ruze, fumbling with the keys that the three of them were given for the locks. As they see the lights turn off inside the house, they realize something is terribly wrong.

“Here- unlock it, I’m gonna stay out here and wait for Ruze.”

Gabriel nods, quickly unlocking the door and entering, seeing your phone and mug left abandoned on the coffee table, pillows and blankets strewn about. The curtains are all closed, and the kitchen hasn’t been touched. No, no, Altare wouldn’t send another person after you for his failure, right? Surely not, he wouldn’t stoop that low. He still has time. He gestures to the other guards to start panning out, checking the house and the backyard for where you could have gone. His mind is racing as he goes to the back of the house, rushing and looking in all of the different rooms. He finds your bedroom, closet door thrown open in what looks like a rush. Clothes are on the floor, and he finds a door behind it all. Metal, with a keypad on the front. Is it a safe? It seems big enough to hold you, but he isn’t sure anymore.

As he goes out to talk to Shinri, the security system starts blaring and he covers his ears, moving to put on his ear protection before getting out to his car again.

“What’s going on? I haven’t been able to find her anywhere!”

“Ruze says that she may be in her safe room, but if she set off the alarm, the police are definitely on their way over here. He’s coming over to hopefully talk to them so we don’t get arrested for doing our job. You got your ID on you?”

“Shit- it’s either in my bag or I left it at home. Yeah, three dudes dressed in all black with matching duffle bags and earpieces definitely look like bodyguards instead of burglars… Fuck me…”

Gabriel takes off his hat, throwing it on the ground before rubbing his face. This is not how he had expected for this to go, even remotely. They’re even armed, they’re gonna seize all their weapons unless Ruze happens to magically arrive before they do, but the likelihood of that happening is slim, unless he suddenly doesn’t care about traffic laws.

“Well, happy first day to us, I guess.”

“I think I know where she is inside there, there’s a metal door in her closet with a keypad on it. But I couldn’t tell if it was a safe or a safe room since it’s on the smaller side.”

“Unless her pantry is suddenly bulletproof, I’d say it’s probably her safe room. But we just gotta wait this out, Gabriel. What are you so worried about?”

So many things. Such an numerous amount of things that he can’t tell you anything about because it’d technically make you an accomplice, Shinri. Or how about the fact that you admitted earlier that you thought he was pretty, and he ended up having to take a cold shower at his place before going and picking the other two of you up because he couldn’t stop thinking about how the mayor thinks he’s pretty. And it’s all wrapped up in a complicated bow of him being hired to kill said mayor, and the entirety of his resume that Bettel stumbled upon is essentially fabricated and he could go to jail if the police find out who he really is?

“I’m just, worried about her. I’m sure she’s freaking out thinking we were here to hurt her, and I wanna be able to go in there and tell her everything’s okay. But instead I’m out here waiting for my boss or the police to show up, whomever comes first.”

A car speeds into the driveway, and Ruze stumbles out, looking between his subordinates. 

“You don’t tell the police I was going one-twenty in a residential area, and I keep your asses out of jail, deal?”

All they can manage are nods as he pushes past them, making a beeline for your room. They follow closely, watching as he inputs the code. Gabriel makes a mental note of the code, putting it in his phone for good measure. Inside you’re on a corded landline, shaking in fear. Inside he feels a mixture of anger and shame, knowing that it was him that did this to you, whether he meant to or not. If he had never taken the shot, you wouldn’t be sobbing in a steel room, hoping that the people you thought were here to kill you would never find you. Ruze pulls you out, passing you off to Gabriel as he takes over the phone. He gets you to sit down on the bed with him, wrapping an arm around you as he tries to help you calm down.

Shinri kneels down in front of you while the other bodyguard stands in the doorway as another line of defense.

“Hey, you’re okay. It was only us, we should’ve texted you.”

“N-No, it’s-s oka-ay. I’m ju-ust, scar-red…”

“And that’s okay, you’ve been through a lot recently, and it’s okay to be scared about it all. But we’re gonna make it better, okay? You have my word. Have you eaten?”

Shinri holds your hands in his, and a pang of jealousy pops up in the back of Gabriel’s mind for a moment. You shake your head, and Shinri nods, getting up to move to the kitchen. When he’s let go of your hands, you lean a little more on Gabriel, making him freeze before pulling you closer.

“I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

Ruze pops out of the closet, running a hand through his hair.

“They’ve called off the troops, but I need a way to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I’m gonna set up in the living room and sort that out if you need me. You just, why don’t we leave the two of you here to calm down. C’mon Verdant.”

The other guard nods, following Ruze out of the room. Gabriel’s unsure of what to do for a moment, before picking you up and holding you against his chest a bit tighter, trying to make you feel more secure. When you don’t move, he wonders if he’s done something wrong, before you wrap your arms around his chest.

“I’m so glad it was you. I was so scared, Goldie.”

“I know, I’m so sorry. I don’t want to make you scared like that again. Make you ever feel unsafe to be around me, betray you like that.”

Something inside him is screaming for him to bite his tongue and retract the words he said, but he means every one of them. He can’t kill you. He just can’t. Which means he’ll have to try extra hard to keep you safe, since he knows what lurks in the shadows waiting for you.

“We’ll stay here as long as you need. I’m right here…”

[artemis-potnia-theron]

For the ask game, 📿, ❤️, and 🥂!

📿 - What are three things you're grateful to your deity(ies) for?

For Apollo(n): for teaching me how to listen to music. Art in general feels so much more alive and sacred since I became his devotee.

For Hekate: for teaching me how to not be afraid of the dark lol. This is a silly one but as a child I was terrified. Seeing how beautiful darkness and night actually are is something I will always be grateful to Hekate for.

For Artemis: for teaching me how to interact with nature in a meaningful way. Nature has so many of the answers to our questions, and worshiping her has taught me how to hear nature's voice much better.

❤️ - What's one memory of your practice that you reflect the most fondly on?

I have many, but recently I went on a brutal road trip with 9 - 12 hour days for almost a week 🙃 On one of the days, I was especially frustrated and exhausted. I was out walking my dog in a terrible mood (lol) and I came across this random little bit of forest in the middle of a city. There were these massive oak trees with Spanish moss and so many birds and squirrels. It felt so alive, like it was breathing as I walked through it. There was this particularly massive tree with a family of cats living inside of the trunk (I was also especially affected by the cats because I had been thinking a lot about Artemis' 'lioness' aspect). I felt her presence so strongly there. I was such a welcome little gift and reminds me how deity work makes the mundane divine.

(Some pics ⬇️)

🥂 - What is your favorite devotional act or offering to give?

For Apollo(n): Listing to especially sweeping classical music with him. That's where I feel his presence most.

For Hekate: Going for late night drives!! It's a chance to take a breather from day-to-day life and appericate the unappreciated. The beauty of abandoned buildings, nocturnal critters skittering around, the way evening air tastes...I love it all.

For Artemis: Meditating and being out in nature with her are my obvious ones. But also just living. She is breath and green and survival, and everyday that I keep myself upright feels like a devotional act for her.

Thanks for the ask my friend!!

- Taylor

[pandorias-box]

Two Hearts, Reunited

//picture credit: unknown (i tried reverse image search and nothing came up im sorry)

Altana led Pandoria to a secluded part of the hive where nobody would interfere with their long-awaited reunion. It was most definitely not how they intended to meet after all this time, but they had to make do with what they had. What Pandoria was not expecting was that there was another person among them. They had medium-length golden irises that were reflective of their hair color, wearing an outfit consisting of both a black hood and top: something clearly distinct from the typical garb worn by those of the hive-clans. Pandoria stepped back in hesitation as they approached them, but they didn’t do the same in response. Instead, they made a formal greeting gesture whilst a distinct insignia of a multi-pointed star emblazoned on the hood was faintly visible under the night sky. The emblem of the Revelry. This was the messenger. The one who relayed this mission to her to begin with.

“It is well to see you in person, Pandoria. I am Fallax. But, I needn’t dwell on introductions now, should I? You appear to have personal business with Altana considering she is of your kin and it is imperative that you relay any important information to her.” They spoke in a distinct accent, one that was far more rigid and structured than Pandoria’s own manner of speech. But Fallax was right, they did have a lot to catch up on considering it had been years since they last spoke. She swiftly nodded and approached her mother, who was gazing skyward at the sea of stars above her.

Altana sighed upon hearing her daughter’s footsteps get nearer and turned around.

“I…had not expected you to come so soon. Alone, no less.” She started.

“In what world would I have not answered your call, mother?” Pandoria replied.

“Mother…how long has it been since you have called me that? How long has it been since I left you behind?”

“You did not leave me. You were only trying to protect me from finding out wh-.”

“It was for naught. I…I wasn’t only trying to protect you but myself. I was so tired of running, so tired of having to hide the truth from you, and yet it all came back to this. All I wanted after all this time was to apologize. I have called out into the night eve after eve trying to send some message out to the myriad worlds that I still cared. But in my heart, I knew what I did was selfish.”

They both went silent. Yes, it was true that the last time they saw one another was when she got accepted into the URS and Altana seemingly left without warning, but if she had left sooner, she would have thought she was abandoned. Both mother and child wanted to forge a new path for one another, but each road led them in separate ways.

As for the matter of hiding the past from her, she could understand why Altana thought she loathed her. She was never told she was a hybrid outright. She was never told the circumstances of her early childhood. All of that was to protect her from the shadows of the ambitions of the man that caused so much pain for them both. And now, they were here on this planet, still seeking power and clinging onto foolish delusions of grandeur. Those circumstances were not on her to blame. She was a victim of them all the same.

Pandoria continued to walk towards Altana before she started to embrace her with tears welling up in her eyes.

“You did not abandon me. Do not say that to me, ever. I too wanted to know if you were out there, but I never knew how to address this longing. Even after all this time, I still fear being alone, yet I was not. I am not.”

She clung onto her even still. Altana’s gaze soften. She was full of recollection and regret for all that she had done, she had failed to see the most important thing of all quite literally stand in front of her.

They could have discussed how to approach bringing down the Primogenitor Project remnants trying to tear the planet apart, but in that moment, it did not matter. A bond once broken was now renewed. They discussed things that they missed; of highs and lows, of perils and bliss. After her mother had said her piece, Pandoria did the same in return. She told her that she knew about the Revelry hidden within the shadows of Ultra Megalopolis, and the operation that saved her life. She told her of journeys ventured unto other worlds and of the allies made in the process.

Pandoria lessened her embrace and gazed upward, looking to the twin moons, like eyes that looked down upon the planet. Closing her eyes, she started to hum a tune. Something that her mother immediately recognized.

That lullaby. She had never forgotten it after so many years. Altana joined her in the melody, starting to sing. What she sung were not words, but rather the tones of her heart becoming clear to the only other person across the myriad realms that would understand its meaning. Some would say it was mournful, but it was that of joy. This reunion was all that mattered in that fleeing night.

And once dawn came, their actual task would begin in earnest.

[the-badger-mole]

💭

Excerpt from Down the Road and Back Again Chapter 5

They fell into a comfortable silence as they continued their meal. Every so often, Katara or Tenzin would remark on Hakoda’s cooking, and Hakoda would preen and insist that it was nothing special. The tension from earlier seemed to have dissipated, at last, Katara noted with relief. As long as Tenzin refrained from mentioning Aang or his upcoming wedding, Katara thought the visit would pass pleasantly.

“There’s a lot that’s changed since the last time you were here, Ten,” Hakoda remarked. “Your uncle was working on some plans to incorporate more traditional Southern Water Tribe architecture into the main buildings, and your cousin Amaruq has been working with the designers to have them readied for all the modern amenities.” The mood changed as soon as Amaruq’s name was mentioned. Tenzin sat up straight, and his face became hard as stone. He had never looked more like Katara’s child than at that moment. 

“Granddad, I respectfully ask that you not mention Amaruq or Yue to me,” he said.

“Tenzin, what are you talking about?” Katara asked. “They’re your cousins.”

“And they insulted my father!” Tenzin snapped. Katara flinched back in surprise. She had never seen Tenzin so angry.

“It can’t have been that bad,” Katara tried to reason with him. “I said some...unkind things about your father, too.” 

“ You didn’t call him an abuser!” Tenzin’s face flushed again, but this time with anger. “Mom, after you left...the things they said! And Aunt Suki didn’t stop them either!”

“Oh…” Katara sank back into her chair. Tenzin watched here expectantly, waiting, Katara assumed, for her to contradict them.

“Mom,” he prompted her, “it’s all nonsense! Dad never hurt you.” Katara winced and lowered her gaze. 

“Tenzin, I don’t want to talk about this,” she said. “Yue and Amaruq shouldn’t have said what they did-”

“ No , they shouldn’t have,” Tenzin’s brows furrowed and he leaned forward. “Dad never put a hand on you!”

“Tenzin, your mother said she doesn’t want to discuss this,” Hakoda warned him. Tenzin rounded on his grandfather angrily. 

“It’s not just about her!” he reminded Hakoda. “My father went through this divorce, too!”

“Your father ,” Hakoda spat the word out like a curse, “is the reason the divorce happened in the first place!”

“Dad,” Katara tugged at Hakoda’s sleeve. “Calm down.” Hakoda took a deep breath, patting Katara’s hand. 

“Is that what everyone thinks?” Tenzin demanded. He slammed his hands down on the table and stood up. “That Dad is some kind of monster who...who brutalized you?” 

“Tenzin, that’s not what anyone thinks,” Katara tried to placate her son. “Things between your father and I were...unhealthy.”

“ Unhealthy ?” Tenzin gawped at Katara. “ Mom! Do you know what they’re accusing Dad of?”

“We’re accusing him of abandoning his family!” Hakoda told Tenzin. “We’re accusing him of neglecting your mother!”

“He didn’t abandon or neglect anyone!” Tenzin’s voice echoed off of the walls. 

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Katara said quietly. 

“Aang left your mother alone to raise three children on her own!” Hakoda countered angrily. “He kept such a tight grip on those purse strings that she had to take up healing part-time just to keep you all fed! That’s not even touching on all the women he carried on with!”

“Dad is the Avatar! If he left us behind sometimes , it’s because duty made him! And we never went hungry!”

“No,” Hakoda laughed. “You didn’t go hungry, because your mother wouldn’t have let that happen. Aang, on the other hand-”

“Stop talking about my father that way!”

“Stop fighting,” Katara raised her voice a bit louder.  Tenzin turned to her, a confused and wounded look in his eyes. 

“Mom, tell him that Dad never hurt you,” he pleaded. “I know you’re upset about the divorce, but the things they’re saying about him aren’t fair!”

“Tenzin, I told you, I don’t want to talk about it!” Katara balled her hands into fists and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. “ Both of you drop it, now!” Hakoda dropped his gaze contritely. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. Tenzin was still standing, his chest heaving and his bottom lip firmly between his teeth. 

“Is that really what you’re going to let people think?” Tenzin asked Katara. “You’re just going to let them think he treated you that badly?” 

“Tenzin-”

“ No, Mom! ” Tenzin’s face twisted in disgust. “Everyone in this family is treating Dad like he’s some sort of monster. Well...maybe he was right to leave you, if this is how you talk about him behind his back!”

“ That’s enough! ” Hakoda jumped in. 

“I deserve to know why you’re all jumping on my father like this!” Tenzin shouted. “I’m the only one he has left on his side! I deserve to know why you turned everyone against him, Mom!”

“It’s complicated.” It hurt to speak. Katara’s throat had constricted as tightly as the rest of her body. Her nails had dug into the palms of her hands, and Katara knew she’d have to heal the cuts later.  But Tenzin didn’t notice. 

“Explain it to me,” he demanded. He sat in his chair and pulled it up to the table, leaning across so Katara couldn’t avoid his eyes.

“Being married to your father was like being in a cage,” Katara told him. “He kept me so tight that I couldn’t breathe. There are a lot of ways to mistreat someone, Tenzin. You don’t have to be violent, just selfish. He put me in a position where I had to raise three children on my own and make sure his life was in order. He didn’t help. He just gave me more and more work until my entire world was him and you kids. Just because your father never intentionally hurt me physically doesn’t mean he didn’t hurt me.

Tenzin pulled away from his mother. He swallowed hard a few times before he could get his jaw working again. 

“I’m sorry,” he said at last, “that we were such a burden to you.” 

“That’s not what I meant,” Katara said firmly. 

“That’s what it sounds like from here!” Tenzin leaped out of his seat again. Katara stood up, too, reaching out for him, but not quite daring to touch him. 

“I love you kids! I loved raising you. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t need more from your father! I worked for him full time, you know! Even when he was gone, I was still working on his behalf, but he didn’t see a need to make sure I had enough money to feed us! I had to take on healing work because he wouldn’t make sure we had what we needed! And then he resented my work because it took my attention from him. ”

Tenzin drew his arms tightly around himself and shook his head. 

“We were fine,” he said quietly. “If Dad was so awful, then why do I only have good memories of him? Why do I remember him taking us with him whenever he could?” Katara lowered her eyes sadly and shook her head. 

“He took you with him,” she said quietly. 

Want to know what my favorite scenes from my stories are? Drop a 💭 in my asks!

[dovelydraws]

Tell me abt your ocs 👁👁👁👁

oh GOD I have so many asldjfljk um!!!

I'll start with my dnd/pathfinder character Revun, since I've been posting about them a lot recently!! I'm no longer concerned about sharing spoilers because I got all my party members to block campaign spoilers hehe 💕

^ Made this little icon of them for discord recently (he/they/she)

The backstory doc i originally handed to my GM was over 5k words long, (plus there's also been several nights of me rambling in their dms expanding on all the stuff I'd Already Written) so I'm gonna try my best to. condense this lmao

Revun's bio parents were both human; their mom made a deal with a daemon while she was pregnant to save her father's life from a severe illness that would have killed him, and as a consequence of that her child was born a tiefling.

The social stigma of having a tiefling child (everyone just immediately knows she made some kind of deal with a fiendish entity) became too much for them to handle, so their mom and grandfather chose to abandon them four years after they were born, and start a new life elsewhere where no one knew them. Revun spent the next seven years in an orphanage, until they ran away to go try and join a mercenary group that passed through town at one point.

Throughout Revun's life, they've been haunted by a spirit in the shape of a black wolf with gold eyes that match their own. It only appears when they are in the middle of having a near death experience- so far, that's been twice. The first was when they were 11, and they nearly froze/starved to death out in the woods after running away. The second was after a disagreement with their boss/somewhat father figure lead to him nearly killing them at 25.

While Revun never learned all the details of their mom's deal, they at least are somewhat aware that whatever she did saved their grandfather's life. They are convinced at this point that whatever happened must have created some sort of imbalance in the afterlife or something, and this wolf was expecting a new soul that day that never came. And now, it's stalking Revun waiting for them to drop dead, to take them as a replacement like some sort of debt collector. I'm unsure if this is actually the case since I decided to leave the details up to my GM, but this is what Revun believes and they are absolutely terrified of it.

Speaking of that mercenary group, they did take them in and save them that night, but it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Revun ended up spending the rest of their childhood in a pretty toxically masculine environment, and with an expectation placed on their shoulders to always follow orders and never try to argue, even if they may be uncomfortable or feel something was a bad idea.

A portion of the mercenary company was hired to act as bodyguards at a prestigious vineyard, of which had recently made some enemies with their business competition. Revun spent about a year and a half there, becoming very close friends with the winemaker's daughter, until the deal fell through and the company was offered more money to destroy the vineyard and kill the family/any workers on the property to make sure there were no witnesses. Revun nearly died getting their best friend to safety and trying to help any workers they could find, fighting against the only family they'd really had the chance to know.

They somehow managed to escape, and were found laying on the side of the road a couple miles away from the vineyard by some passing travelers, who were able to patch them up and drop them off at the next town. They'd been separated from everyone- their entire social safety net was gone, their worldview completely changed overnight. That was a Lot for them to handle, so they kind of just... Didn't.

They've decided to just try to move on, forget everything that happened and everyone that was ever important to them. Start a new life somewhere else. Don't think about it. Pretend it never happened.

All of this has ended up creating a guy with a lot of self loathing, abandonment issues, anxiety and paranoia, and a Very Stubborn "don't worry about it! :)" attitude.

I love them so much. They make me feel like this:

[izzylovesyou2022]

The Enchanted Ones (Chapter 1)

The stairs had never felt so unsteady nor had my breathing felt quite as stifled as they did at this moment. It didn’t help that the only light I could see was the Queen of Italy, my Aunt Allegra’s flashlight and even that was dimmed. I paused, my feet on two separate stairs, to readjust Aria in my arms. A small whine escaped from her lips and I gently hushed her before reclaiming my pace. My elf ears remained alert for any noise of alarm or anger or any of the negative feelings from way above me, but I didn’t need to worry. Aunt Allegra and I soon reached the bottom of the steps and she quickly flung open the castle door.

Goosebumps formed up my arms as the cool night air blasted me full force in the face, but I ignored it and kept following Aunt Allegra. She must have used some sort of secret silencing charm on her shoes, because even on the cobblestone we treaded on, her feet made no sound. The only sounds heard were the occasional neighing of one of the castle horses and my heavy breathing.

I nearly slammed into Aunt Allegra when she came to a sudden stop in front of the horse-drawn carriage in front of us. Living in modern Italy, we didn’t see a lot of horse-drawn carriages anymore, unless we were at plays or events put on by townsmen, but since our escape needed to be quiet and painless, we made the decision to use the less noisy horse and carriage mode of transportation.

Aunt Allegra turned to me and in the bright light of the moon and her flashlight, I could see pain and tears in her green eyes. She hadn’t been in my life for very long, only about six months, but she’d become my biggest protector against my uncle, King Dante. I could see her lips thinning, like I always do when I’m trying not to cry. She straightened and stared into my eyes.

“My child, you have been brave. You must take care of you and Aria. I will be fine.”

I used a finger to gesture for my driver and he raced towards me.

“Yes, your highness?”

I carefully placed Aria into his arms and gave a hard swallow as he cradled her to his chest. Aria was the main reason for my escape.  

“Please make her comfortable in the carriage. I will be there in a moment.”

He ducked his head in a bow and hurried off with Aria.

The smell of the roses my mother had once so carefully planted in her garden rushed and weaved through the air, only making my throat tighten. To the left of that garden, under the safety of an oak tree, lay her grave, her final resting place where she could finally be at peace.

“Your mother will understand, child,” Aunt Allegra whispered, gentleness covering every word, “you are not abandoning her.”

I swiped at my eyes and mentally scolded myself. 1,700 (or seventeen in human years) was too old to be crying, and yet, any mention of Mother was enough to send me to tears. The next thing I felt were Aunt Allegra’s arms wrapped around me and her soothing hum tickling my ears.

“I will never forget this,” I croaked, my throat feeling suddenly dry from the air and the thoughts roaming around my head, “and I will come back for you.”

Aunt Allegra straightened to her full height and pierced me with her green eyes. An elf-maid whose beauty just barely competed with my mother’s.

“Go now, Enzo.”

I swallowed my pride and tears and walked to the carriage. I climbed inside and forced myself not to look back. The driver slapped the reigns against the horse’s back and the carriage sped away. Only once we were on the road and speeding away from the castle did I breath normally again.

The clip-clop of the horse’s hooves soothed my spirit and I turned to my sleeping daughter, Aria. I wanted to cry out of thankfulness that she didn’t know what was going on. The most I’d told her was that we’d be going on an adventure to another country. Obviously, that excited her.

I kept one hand close to hers in case she suddenly woke up and glanced up at the night sky. The stars shone in their places, little pieces of fairy dust, as Mother called them. Mother studied the stars and taught me how to fall in love and stay in love with them. “The stars are our one constant, Enzo,” she’d once told me, “a way of guiding us when we most need it. Always follow the stars. You never know where they will lead.”

The carriage came to a sudden halt near a field. I didn’t see the moon, but my ears caught the sound of a plane engine. As part of the royal family, I had my own private plane. Well, more like my Uncle’s plane, but Aunt Allegra had arranged everything with the pilot. This plane would be taking me and Aria to America.

I scooped up my still-sleeping daughter into my lap and waited until my driver opened the carriage door. While I got out, my elf-guards and the pilot scrambled to get our luggage—4 large suitcases—onto the plane.

I got out of the carriage and handed Aria to the nearest guard. I watched for a moment as he hurried away, and then turned my attention to my driver.

“My friend,” I whispered, laying a hand on his shoulder, “you have been amazing. I owe so much to you. You and my aunt planned this out perfectly. I know she already paid you, but to give you my thanks, here is an additional 17 euros.”

I dropped the money in his hand. I saw him swallowing back the tears and the lump in his throat as he inclined his head at me.

“Do not worry about us, good Prince. Take care of yourself and the little one.” 

I gave him one final squeeze of his shoulder before hurrying across the field and scampering up the steps of the plane.

Soon, we were off, leaving my childhood home and everything I’d ever known before. Sadness and excitement mixed to form a pit in my stomach and I forced myself to look away from the window. I just stared at the back of my pilot’s seat and tried to breathe through my nose. I looked over my shoulder at the four suitcases neatly stacked and relaxed my shoulders. Everything Aria and I needed was in those cases. Thank goodness for quick planning.

“Dada?”

My eyes flickered over to Aria, who was rubbing hard at her eyes with her tiny fists and kicking her legs back and forth. I gently placed her in my lap and tucked her messy black hair behind her ears.

“Have a good nap?”

I’d hope she’d sleep through the night, but not all my prayers could be answered. I looked at her little elf-ears and wondered what sort of powers, if any, she’d grow up to have. I’d recently discovered that I had sky powers, which basically meant I could bring down lightning and cause massive storms to distract enemies. I hoped I wouldn’t have to use those powers in the near future, my sword did just fine, but with me being on the run, I knew I’d have to sooner or later. I was thankful that I’d learned relatively quick how to control my powers, because causing my pilot to fly in a storm wouldn’t look good to anyone.

Aria pushed herself up in my lap to look out the window and stuck out her lower lip when she realized it was nighttime.

“Where sun?”

I chuckled and scooted a little closer to the window with Aria. I pointed at the moon doing it’s job giving light to the pilot and the world below and then pointed at the stars, each one twinkling in it’s rightful place.

“The sun is sleeping, Aria, but see? The moon and the stars are doing their jobs. They are awake. They help protect the nighttime.”

Aria’s dark blue eyes looked at me in wonder and then glanced back out the window. Her hands wrapped tightly around the little dragon blanket she’d gotten for her birthday.

“Stars running,” she said.

I looked out the window and saw a star rushing across the heavens, leaving a trail of silver in it’s wake. My eyes stung as I realized that was Mother sending me a message. Shooting stars had always been Mother’s favorite, and my gut feeling announced to me that she was guiding our course.

“It’s a shooting star, Aria,” I whispered as she rubbed her eyes again and crawled back into my lap, “the luckiest stars of all.”

Soon enough, Aria traveled to dreamland and I placed her back on the plane seat, smiling as her hands tightened around her little dragon blanket. I stroked her hair and leaned back in my seat. I should feel tired but I truly wasn’t. I wasn’t sure if it was excitement or fear that kept me awake.

“Both,” I answered, “I’m feeling both.”

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, my stomach went into my throat, and I jerked awake to realize my pilot was descending. My eyes flickered over the rising sun, turning the sky orange and red, mixing together to create a moment in time. I glanced at Aria, who sat playing with her blanket, and reached over to place her in my lap.

“We’re descending, Aria. We’ve arrived.”

Aria tucked her head back against my chest and pointed at the flashing lights of the airport below. Private planes usually don’t land at airports but because we were in a different country, we had too. I wasn’t bothered by it though: different countries had different customs.

Once our feet were on the ground and all of our baggage unloaded, a silver car sped up to us. Two people hopped out and I realized with a start that they were both elves. I recognized the older elf as actor Ronan Canavan. I’d watched his movies many times and always thought of him as some sort of hero. Hurrying behind Ronan was an elf-maid who looked to be about my age. Her blue hair hung over her shoulder in a fishtail braid and in the morning light, she glowed.

“Prince Enzo,” Ronan intoned, bowing low to me as the elf-maid did the same, “we welcome you and the little one to America.” He nodded and smiled at Aria as he spoke.

“Thank you,” I said, placing one hand over my heart and then slowly holding out my arm. Mother had taught me that little gesture as a sign of gratitude.

Ronan repeated my gesture and then turned to the elf standing near him.

“This is my daughter, Aoife.”

Aoife considered me and I swore her eyes stared into my soul.

“Prince Enzo.”

 “Aoife, it’s nice to meet you.”

She held out her hand and, for a moment, I thought about doing the Italian greeting of touching my nose to her hand, but didn’t and instead shook it. I shifted Aria up onto my hip and watched as Ronan grabbed two of our suitcases. My mouth opened to protest, but Aoife laid her hand on my arm and shook her head.

 “Nay, Prince Enzo. You have a child in your arms. Let my Father do what must be done.”

I quickly snapped my mouth shut and turned to properly face her. Elves with a blue glow on their skin were a rarity in Europe. I wondered if they were common in America. Both Ronan and Aoife had the blue glow. I decided not to ask.  

“Do you have powers?”

The heat rose in my cheeks at the stupidity of that question, but Aoife only laughed and nodded.

“Yes, Prince, I have powers. Water powers.”

Well, that was interesting. I’d met a lot of elves but Aoife was the first one I’d come across who had water powers.

“Like, water bending?”

Another laugh, this one quiet and tinkling.

“Yes and no. I can make shapes with the water but I control the weather of the water. Meaning I can create hurricanes, floods, and even giant waves. Those are just the ‘bad’ parts of my powers. I can filter dirty water clean with just the snap of a hand or even fill an empty glass just by touching it if I focus hard enough, just to name a few good ones.”

My eyebrows shot all the way up. I couldn’t believe that I’d met someone who has these powers. It’s the coolest thing.

All those words stuck in my throat, however, as I followed her to the car and hopped inside. To my surprise, I find a car seat for Aria in the back. I shoot Aoife a sideways glance.

“Father bought it yesterday,” she explained, “it’s a magical car seat. It fits exactly to the size of the child. Try it out.”

I placed Aria in the seat and stared, transfixed, as it buckled her exactly how I always do. I didn’t think my eyes could widen much more. Why didn’t we have these back in Italy?

My face must’ve looked funny, because a snort and a giggle zoomed around the car as it pulled away from the airport.

“A lot of elves and even humans use car seats like this,” Ronan said from the front seat, catching my eye in the rearview mirror, “there are non-magical ones, of course, but the magical ones are considered safer. There was a lot of trial and error to get the magical ones right. Kids your little one’s age are lucky. When I was a kid, there were no magical car seats. Whoever invented them must have been a parent.”

“How do they work?”

Aoife pulled one leg close to her body and pulled a finger-file from her pocket.

“Well, you know, with non-magical ones, you have to play with the straps to fit it perfectly on your child. With the magical ones, it senses the height, weight, and gender of your child, and conforms the straps to fit your child just so. It does the work for you.” 

I didn’t think I could say another word. Everything that had gone on in the past...I don’t know. My brain can’t understand time anymore. The adrenaline faded from my system.

To calm myself, I rested my head on the window and watched the world go by. Tall buildings shone in the still-early morning. There wasn’t a lot of traffic for us to run into, but I could see owners hurrying to the doors of their businesses and people rushing into their offices. The orange and red of the sunrise faded and all I could see was blue skies and a few puffy white clouds.

After a while, I realized we were driving away from the city. Tall buildings turned into small houses and farm land. Flowers of every color grew along the road side.

“How far is your house from here?”

I rested my elbow up against the window as I spoke, studying Aoife. Her fingers were plaiting small braids into Aria’s hair.

She didn’t even look at me, but the corners of her mouth twitched upward.

“If we were driving at a normal speed, it’d take us about ten hours. But, Father and one of his friends did some magic on the car that allows it to go at high speed, but it doesn’t look that way to humans. I think we’ll be there quite shortly.”

Can someone really surprise you two times in less than two hours? The answer was yes. First with the magic car seat and now with this magic on the car. Was I really that cut off from the world or was Italy more old school than I remember?

“Besides,” she continued, her brown-hazel eyes finally meeting mine as her fingers continued to work on Aria’s hair, “it’s not really a house. I mean, it’s my home but it’s not like one of the houses you see out there.”

Before I could ask her what she meant, a strong smell floated through the window. Sea-salt. The ocean.  

I almost gave myself a whiplash turning my head to see the clear blue of the ocean crashing against the ivory sand of the beach. I hadn’t been to the ocean for so long, I’d nearly forgotten what it looked like. What threw me back even more, however, was coming up over the hill and seeing the huge castle. In the sunlight, the pure white bricks nearly blinded me. I turned to stare at Aoife.

“Are…are you a….are you a princess?”

“No, my friend. This castle was built by my grandfather for my grandmother. She’d always dreamed of living in a castle, so he had this built for her.”

Love makes you do some wonderful things

The large gated fence around the castle creaked open and we drove right through. The castle spiraled far above me. I counted two guard towers and studied the battlements. I didn’t see a drawbridge, but on the far left end, I saw two chapels. This castle was about the same size as the one I lived in back home. I liked this castle, however, because it was on the beach and miles and miles of space.

“Plenty of space for you, little one,” Aoife muttered to Aria, who giggled and grabbed at her fingers.

I’d forgotten that Ronan was in the car, so when his deep voice spoke, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“You will be safe here, Enzo. Your Aunt Allegra picked me because of this place.”

[iamthekaijuking]

God Children of Ana Short Story

A little short of Melalo coming home to find Tculo and Lilyi together and subsequently attacking them. Note: the detail of his body temperature rising is actually important.

I tried a writing trick to make the fight feel more pulse pounding so hopefully it worked.

Also don’t read if you can’t stand gore, cheating, or abuse.

Hopefully this will tide people until the next god child entry is complete.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hated father’s meetings. All the shareholders in suits complaining about money. It’s all so boring and feels so pointless, and nobody can agree on anything. At least it was over and I was on my way home. I could be done for the day and sleep underneath the orange smog filled sky with my wife in my car factory father had hallowed out for me.

I kept my wings folded tightly against my sides as I stepped carefully through the Megacity, ducking my two heads underneath multi layered highways suspended between skyscrapers every now and then. Father wanted me to be careful so as not to cause too much damage. I huge holiday was coming up and if I could avoid causing too many people to have to go to a hospital then it would maximize profits in the holiday sales. I found it annoying; having to keep myself so restrained and to move so slowly for the sake of weak commoners. But I’ll just get back at my father by lying to him next time he asks for advice.

As I rounded a street corner I came to a familiar sight. An abandoned skyscraper covered in claw marks that perfectly matched my talons. I walked up and put my wing claws into the grooves and eventually my toe claws. They fit like gloves. I scaled up the side of the building, occasionally using my beaks as extra support. As I climbed I passed a few highways, and some of the drivers on the road crashed as they got distracted by me. That wasn’t my problem. As I reached the top I steadied myself, unfurled my four wings, and took off. Instantly breaking the sound barrier and leaving a cloud of viral dander.

I flapped high up into the sky and through the clouds, the pollution and acidic water droplets causing my eight eyes to water and for me to blink rapidly to try and clear them. Once above the clouds I changed direction and began my cross continental flight home. It would only take an hour.

—————————————————-

I touched down in a crater I made as a landing zone. The force of the impact rattling surrounding structures and shaking off all my diseased dander while also kicking up the dander from yesterday’s landing. I ruffled my feathers and straightened up as approached my warehouse home. Hopefully I could talk more with Lilyi. I really liked her, and although she has a lot to learn since it hasn’t been long since her creation, I wanted to be there to experience everything with her. As I entered and prepared to telepathically call out to her, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks.

Tculo.

A lot of Tculo. More Tculo than I ever wanted to see.

And Lilyi.

My feathers flared up. My breathing increased. My body temperature rose. The feelings of betrayal and anger spiraled through to form a drill that dug right through my brain. I was seeing red when I shrieked and flapped my wings toward Tculo.

I hit him talons first. Ignoring the itch of his spines punching through my foot. The force of the impact created a shockwave and my momentum shot us straight out the side of the warehouse and into the underbelly of the city.

“Stay away from her!” I telepathically screamed in fury. Rubble raining down on my back and wings.

His two eyes furrowed and locked with mine. His prehensile tongue, which I did not want to touch after what I just saw, whipped around and smacked me in the chest. I spiraled through the air from the impact. Desperately flapping to right myself. He broke some bones and I could feel them already repairing. I smashed through a building and slammed into the side of a skyscraper behind it.

Tculo was already rolling towards me. Through the smoke he launched pus filled spines at the apex of his height. The velocity of his spin shot them so hard they skewered my wings and heads. Even some of them hit my torso eyes, and I felt the irritation of pus on my eye tissues.

I couldn’t even recover before he ramped right off me. The force of the impact shattered windows for several blocks and blew innocents and debris away. Several hundred thousand tons of force dislocated my leg from my hip and caved in my torso. His spines piercing through my skin and muscles to skewer my organs. Getting dangerously close to my heart. They took some of my skin with them. I felt a pull from one of my wings and realized some of the spines he fired hadn’t truly disconnected from his body. They were connected by tendrils. And while spinning he ripped a wing right off.

I steeled myself and pushed through. With a ruffle of my coat I released special dander. The cloud wafted right to where Tculo landed and with the spark of static electricity and the production of light it exploded and launched him several hundred feet into the air. I had my opportunity and took it. Rising from the rubble and focusing on my regeneration to mend my wounds while jumping into the air to grab him. With a flick of my wings I flipped and threw him face first at the ground. Cars and chunks of highway were flung into the air and the impact blew away all the surrounding dust. He shifted his internal skeleton. Switching from a wheel to a ball. Retracting his tongue and sliding his protective lips over his face. He pointed his spines up at me.

As I descended I swerved to the side and hit him at an angle. I pinned him beneath my talons and held down his spines before crushing. This stupid fucker got his grubby tongue on my wife! I felt my body temperature rise with the emotion as I griped him harder. Claws sliced through skin like butter and spines snapped, spilling thousands of gallons of blood and pus onto the streets. I flapped my wings for stability and pulled. I tore away his skin and tossed it aside before plunging back in for his bones and muscles. I brought down my beaks to grab his protective lips and rip them open. I wanted to look him in the eyes and see his fear as I tore him apart. My feet were reaching organs as my beaks were pulling at his tongue. I grabbed a footfull of lung and teared it away before tossing it. I disengaged one of my heads from his tongue to bury it in his intestines before flexing it back towards the sky. His intestines were flung all around us like a halo. Hitting buildings and streets. I shoved some down my central torso mouth. The rusty taste of hemoglobin ran down my throat as it rained and flooded the streets. Satisfaction and hunger joined the drill of emotions.

But from the corner of my eye I could see something through the dust.

It was Lilyi.

And she was smugly grinning.

Like she wanted this.

Tears stung my eyes as my body temperature skyrocketed. I felt like I was on fire.

With a dander spreading flap of my wings I abandoned Tculo and shot straight for her talons first. She gave a stunned look and tried to shuffle and slither away, but she didn’t get far before I grabbed her by the back of the neck. We barreled through several buildings before stopping with me pinning her face down. The dust and rubble from the collapsing buildings blew against us like a hurricane and got caught in the several thousand gallons of defensive slime she was secreting. I dug my claws in to keep her from wriggling away.

“Why!?” I screamed. Tears hit the back of her head as her tendrils spun around my foot to futilely try and pry me off.

“Why would you do this?! You’re supposed to be my wife!”

A particularly large piece of rubble hit my torso and made me stagger. I looked up and realized the damage we had caused.

My warehouse flattened. Several skyscrapers and highways collapsed. Fires spread through the city as blood pooled from where Tculo now stood, fully regenerated. I took deep breaths to try and calm down. My body temperature began to lower, the drill snapped and was replaced with shame, and I let go of Lilyi.

Father was going to give us a lecture for all the property damage.

[bladedhatsandstars]

@stellamortua

Strutting Down The Ogre Street continued from here . https://www.tumblr.com/stellamortua/766065844019167232/jonathan-sighed-internally-with-relief-upon-seeing

“None at all.” Robert replied cheerfully. “It’ll take more than a month’s holiday to shake my influence around here.”

He offered his good arm to help Jonathan up the stairs, but thankfully Jonathan managed alright.

“Now you see why we took the long way around to get to Wang Chen’s, eh? He’s on a normal road with the other shops, at least, but getting to the apothecary from the rookery ain’t easy for the ailing.”

He grinned wryly. He knew how gossip and fables worked. He’d used it for his own purposes many times. He didn’t call himself a meddler just because he liked fancy titles.

“All my life.” He answered quietly. “At least, when I was in town. I spent a lot of time hitchhiking on carts, ships, and even trains.”

He paused. “Do you want to greet everyone first or see more?”

He smiled ruefully. “Aight. I knew that answer already.

He turned down another street. “This here is where the story of Speedwagon the Meddler began.” He kicked a pebble without looking up at the rundown orphanage they ended up in front of. “Been on my own since I was four, though.”

“I only know my birthdate because I was sometimes addressed by my intake number instead of the name they gave me, and I was number 10-16-63-13. Thirteenth kid abandoned that year.”

He veered off to a church down the street. “I hid under the pews here after I ran away from the coal mine I was sold to. The cloister is bloody cold, but when all you’ve got is newspaper for a roof, any sturdy building seems like a potential home.” He grinned but behind the amusement was a deep loneliness and pain Jonathan couldn’t begin to unravel. Jonathan knew what it was like growing up isolated from his peers and distanced from the adults in his life, but he’d never know just how cold the world was to a child barely old enough to speak, who had been thrown away all of his life.

“The priest made me go to the bathhouse down the street and attend a few Sunday services to ‘earn my keep’. He considered making me the candle lighter. What’s it called. The acolyte?” He looked to his companion questioningly. “But I was tired of following rules. I started hiding from him, too, and finally gave up staying there. I probably wandered the streets for a whole summer. Maybe more.”

He stopped in front of a rookery. “This was my first real home…” He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and stared at one of the barred, shuttered windows. “An elderly lady dropped her groceries on the street down the lane that way. I was tempted to make off with them, but she was struggling to catch her breath, and couldn’t see real well…”

He fell silent for a few moments as he stared at the building’s façade, lost in memories.

“She was the first kind soul I met. I was just a scruffy little street urchin who barely knew how to tie his shoe and who’d outgrown his orphanage clothes. I’d stolen from people like her before. But because I helped her pick up her groceries and carried them to her apartment, she invited me to stay. She never made any demands or made me feel like I wasn’t good enough to be around her. I still felt awkward, so I slept on a rug in front of the stove for a while.”

He smiled sadly and started walking back the way they came. “She didn’t have much and I wasn’t about to crawl into bed with her. She snored and smelled weird. Old people, you know?

“She was still priceless in my book, though. She taught me how to read and write a little, and how to make tea, and some home basics.

“All that generosity. Nowhere to go. She couldn’t do much with her hands, so she couldn’t work at the mills any more. I never saw anyone else talk to her, or visit her. All either of us seemed to have was each other and that little apartment, but it was all I could have asked for in a family…

“In exchange for helping with cooking, errands, and cleaning, she got me clothes and made me a proper lad… She called me Edward for some reason. I never did ask. I wish I had...” He swallowed and moved on down the road.

If Jonathan pressed for more information, Robert would stop again and stare at the mud, his shoulders tense.

“She died in her sleep. I was dozing in her lap with the last book I was reading to her...” He shivered. He would never forget his first brush with death. “I skipped town to avoid being accused of robbing her… I didn’t know nothing about saying goodbye back then. All I knew was that my family and home were no longer mine.”

He reached for a hat brim that wasn’t there to hide his face anymore. Ugh. He’s really should try to find another before they leave London. He resumed walking, this time not leading them anywhere in particular. He’d answer questions about the area, if Jonathan asked, but his mind was far away.

“I stole away on a ship and learned the way of the sea real quick. I probably spent a couple of years hitchhiking on cargo ships. They were easier to hide in and less smelly than fishing trawlers. I eventually built enough of a reputation as a hardworking lad, some of me shipmates invited me to other jobs. There was just one problem…”

He grinned awkwardly. “I sunburn easily. Their sunscreen worked but I sweat too much and needed to reapply it just about every hour. I gave up and said I’d do my work after the sun goes down. I ended up swabbing the decks, learning how to chart the stars, and wind knots. We spent dinner time together though. They were always in good spirits after getting a pint in them, and a story. They were good company. I learned to count and haggle from them. Amongst other things, heh.

“I enjoyed seeing the world, but I never developed a love for seafood. After a storm made us lose half the cargo and all our provisions, I gave up the sea for the city. I picked up whatever odd job I could. Newspaper hawking, busboy, delivery boy, dishwasher.

“I hotwalked and groomed cab horses for a while, too. I still miss some of those leather mouthed nags. They’d walk into the broad side of a barn if you told them, and try to eat the stall, but I enjoyed talking to them. They always seemed to listen and state their own opinions, heh.” He grinned, clearly amused by the animals of his past.

“Aye. I lived in the hayloft for a few months until some plonker dropped his cigarette outside the barn. We’d just gotten a hay delivery that day. Some wisps caught on fire and next thing I knew I was choking on smoke. I got all the horses out safely but I lost my home and job again.

“I was getting old enough, people stopped feeling sorry for me and started suspecting me of stealing and other misdeeds, just for loitering too long while looking for something to eat or someplace to get warm or dry for a day. Even the poor suspected me. So I did what any self respecting teenager would do. I did that they accused me of. I ended up boxing and stealing for a living. Some store owners around here pay for higher quality goods. They don’t care how we fetch them. It’s how I met my first best friend here. You remember that horseless carriage me mates drove? Dirk made it.”

He took Jonathan to a blacksmith forge. “Here it is! The start of a new era for Speedwagon!” He

“I stole some sheet metal from him to use as a lean-to during one of the rainiest winters I can remember. I went back for more supplies and found a sandwich and cup sitting out, right here on this step.”

“You can imagine how unthinkable that was. Most kids like me dug through garbage for food. Nobody would leave a perfectly good sandwich sitting out like that. I knew it was a trap. But I thought I was fast enough. Hehehe. I did not name myself Speedwagon just because it sounds interesting.”

He flashed his friend a grin.

“Fastest feet on the street.

“But Dirk wasn’t out to beat me or chew me up. He just watched me from the window until I noticed him, and asked if I needed another sheet. I thought he was joking. I ran off, like the thief I was. But then, like that old lady, I saw him struggling to drag some scraps to his shop. Don’t know why, but I helped him.

“He offered me a cup of tea as thanks and jawed a while about his shop. He’s a fifth generation smithy. His family’s run that business longer than most of the neighborhood’s existed. There was always people in need of a horseshoe, a wagon part, stove repair, and whatnot. When smallpox started felling people left and right, and everyone was scrambling to survive, his family moved out to the countryside, but he stayed. He said people still need blacksmiths and tinkers, so as long as there was business, he’d keep it going. He’s been on his own for a decade now.

“I liked the smell of him. Good, honest, minds his own business, sticks up for himself when he needs to. He didn’t pick up the nickname Dirk for nothing, heh. But he’d rather not ruffle feathers unless he has to.

“I met a few kids about my age, too, and started doing odd jobs again. Ran errands for people in the neighborhood. Helped Dirk fix some pipes and stoves. Got revenge for some wrongs…”

He looked up at the murky sky. “We had a self appointed king back then. With so many rookeries emptied by Scarlet fever, the plague, Smallpox, cholera, and so forth, he decided he was going to charge the remaining people for living here. It was every man for himself those days. I was only fourteen then, but I knew he was going to get more people killed by denying them access to the bathhouse, the water pump, anything burnable, and alms. His goons even staked out places around the marketplace. It was slim pickings for the rest of us, and there was no way to make dosh without leaving the neighborhood, or selling what we had and paying him.”

Robert cracked his knuckles, eyes narrowed as he stared down the street, phantoms of the past playing across his memories. “People like that are worse than vomit. I already knew everyone in the neighborhood. I saw what those taxes did to them. There’s no way they’d make it another cold winter without coal or wood, or dosh to buy food and medicine. So I did what I do best.”

He shook his fist in the air. “I made allies. Lots of them. Even folks in neighborhoods outside of this one. I messaged my pals at the docks, too, and the cabbie company. I rallied all my new mates together and called that bastard out for a meeting. Told him to his face he was killing us. The blighter laughed.”

Robert smirked malevolently. “It was the last laugh he had on this street, I’ll tell you that much. His mates had to drag his arse out of town.”

“I laid down some new rules. I’d already spoken to my mates and polished those rules up. And that day, Ogre Street had a fifteen year old king.” His proud smile faded. “And then his bastard best friend knifed me in the face the next day. Just about killed me. If it weren’t for Tattoo, and Kempo, and Dirk, and Hugh, and Ms. Beverly our resident nurse, I wouldn’t be here today. Recovery was a-“ He started to utter a curse but he paused in remembrance of his company and cleared his throat.

“Let’s just say I wasn’t in my right mind for a while. The fever and nightmares were bloody awful. I couldn’t drink properly, or eat or talk for weeks. It went all the way through. Just about got my tongue if Kempo hadn’t kicked him back. I owe my mates everything for not only taking care of me, but sitting with me night and day, pulling me through the hallucinations and despair. I knew my life as a working man was over. Nobody in their right mind would ever hire a mug like this.” He stroked his scar. “But once I got back on my feet, I worked hard to prove I had what it takes to whip this place into shape. And that’s the story of Robert E. O. Speedwagon, the Meddler.”

He tugged his lapels and straightened proudly.