#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.

[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…”

[fatherentropy]

Because my tES roster has gotten large and complicated I thought I should make this and ramble a bit. And then tumblr ate my post so let's try to do this AGAIN but quicker because I started writing this at midnight and it's now 6 am SO!!

warning for child endangerment/death

Winter, Summer, Autumn and Spring are names given to girls kidnapped by this one man. There have been multiples of them but the last four are here. Winter was murdered before she could reclaim her name, Summer forgot hers and Spring...I just haven't named her. She's not that important outside Lily's story aah.

Lily is not coping well with anything going on in her life but is doing remarkably well for a girl who was orphaned at 11 and raised herself on the road. Largely because she's being personally supported by Sheogorath because she's his "Grand niece." Dedicated her life on Nirn to hunting Thalmor and Stormcloaks, blaming them for her parents' death.

Lulueith was raised by her mom in Valenwood but left to look for her dad after she passed from illness out of curiosity and nothing holding her where she grew up. She was disappointed because he's largely just a drunk content to drinking himself to death in peace. Just here to vibe now.

Part of Lulu's dad's angst is from Summer trying to kill him before abandoning him altogether. She was a very bad mom but she tried because she tries a lot of things seeing if it'll make her feel anything significant since growing up in constant fear has kind of fucked her brain up. She meant to destroy Tuveri's life specifically but her plan was foiled by Martin's kindness giving Tuveri the power to push her away. Fled Cyrodiil after Martin died because part of that seperation was Tuveri warning her that the next time he saw her he was going to kill her.

(I also drew Summer's line too dark but I think I'll keep this. I like it more than what I've been rolling with.)

Tuveri!! Is an Ashlander actually. His dad got sick and died and Tuveri was in the middle of making him a cairn when he got too close to the road and was pinched by the man and brought to Cyrodiil. Would have returned to Morrowind after escaping with the other two surviving girls but he kept dreaming of Cyrodiil and took that as a sign he had to stay. Thus him becoming HoK and then Sheogorath after that.

I have a lot of thoughts about Tuveri as Sheogorath but that's another rambly essay. To put it simply he's kind and caring to those who are "his" and malicious to those who aren't because that's typically the role they cast him and his in. Thus him targeting Ulfric and his scheme resulting in his son named both Martin (by Tuveri) and Yngve (by Ulfric).

Have a lot on Yngve's emotional state but not a lot of anything else just 'cause Todd willing I might plop him in the next game whenever tf that happens. (Y'know providing we don't go back the timeline/they don't add a super specific opening ala Fallout 4.)

detour to talk about Laury

He's named after the witch his parents managed to take down before they were murdered by the other three while trying to protect him. He was then raised by them to be Hermaeus' champion. Though large parts of that time is lost because his memory is swiss cheese between the alchemical shit he was forced to imbibe (Fun fact! Laury has taste only in one small part of his mouth) and depression.

There's math somewhere in the blank space of me trying to figure out Winter/Autumn's ages during Morrowind because I realized I could go the full nine yards and pull Laury into this weird mix above by doing this:

Nerevarine as dad or grandad? I dunno yet but next time I try and play that game... yeehaw. That man is gonna have a bad time.

Also think it's very tragic of Winter's mom to look to Hermaeus for answers and become one of his biggest shill holes when he sponsored her daughter's kidnapper.

(technically still thinking about whether I should but I'll probably do it. You've heard rule of cool, have you heard of rule of sad?)

I have other ESO alts besides Yorick and Illya but I tend to delete them on a whim so! Hypothetically, Yorick is actually like 50ish% human so a(n indirect) descendant of his could be the man but that's a lot of centuries between. Do you know how many bretons you could fit in there? At what point does it stop mattering.

Illya is just a dragon priest that saw the writing on the wall and fucked off. Kept the mask and became a vampire because can you imagine dying? Couldn't be him. He is my Miraak expy and I love him even if I do nothing with him ever.

[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.”

[deusluxuria]

uhh fanfiction preview to hopefully motivate me to actually finish this dang thing

(Whole fic working title: "Upside Down")

(Excerpt name: "It is happening again.")

(Spoilers: Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)

(Dio is a woman in this, and is named Dea)

(CW: Eating disorder implied, child abuse implied.)

~

[Vanessa and Jotaro are visiting Holly in Japan with baby Jolyne]

"Mom... Are you okay...?"

She wiped her tears. "It's just... I haven't seen you so happy since you were a little boy!"

My god...

I really was happy.

And then...

...it happened.

Him. The devil himself. That fucking nightmare, Sadao Kujo, showed up in the fucking doorway.

Fuck.

If only I had been seeing things. But if he had been a hallucination, he'd look a hell of a lot scarier. The way I pictured him. Who he really was; what Mom didn't have the slightest knowledge of, thank god.

"Mom... I thought you said dad would be away on tour for the whole month."

Even she looked annoyed, rising to her feet to Sadao's direction. "He didn't call me or anything..."

"No, I'll handle this," I told her. "Just stay inside."

Mom looked confused, obviously.

"We'll be right back, we just need to stop by the store..." I lied, holding Jolyne in one arm, and weaving my fingers tightly in Vanessa's hand.

Once we were outside and the door was shut behind us, I told Vanessa, "We need to get to the car. Fast."

"Hey." My dad called after us, "My next show is in Tokyo, so I thought I'd stop by to meet my grandchild!"

As soon as I got Jolyne set up in the car and closed the door, I went in with my teeth bared.

"Don't you fucking touch her!!" I roared. He jumped. "Stay the fuck away from her!!"

I had moved to the U.S. to get away from him.

Yes, it was mainly for Florida's marine biology program, but...

Of all the countries I could move to for school and where I knew the language, the states were the furthest from Japan.

And. Had I not moved there, I wouldn't have met Vanessa.

I told Noriaki before I moved that I had to get away from my father. He was upset, as I was his only friend in the whole country, but he understood.

He knew, just as well as I did, what my dad really was.

~

[jolyne is six]

[phone rings]

I was spending time with my family; what could be more important than that? I let it ring.

But then they called again.

Maybe it was an emergency?

Already fearing the worst, I stood up, crossed the room, and answered, "This is Jotaro Cantillo."

"This is Yorick, I'm an agent from the Speedwagon Foundation."

My heart sank. Nausea overtaking me.

It had to be bad news.

I turned towards the kitchen and watched Vanessa play with Jolyne.

"...Yes, what is it." I said flatly.

"We need your help. Even after Dea's defeat... It's happening again. We may have found more hostile Stand users. It may be that Dea's curse didn't die with her. We're afraid it's not over yet."

It is happening again.

It sunk in. What those words meant.

What they meant for my family.

My mind immediately flickered a scenario where, like what nearly happened in Egypt, I would see the ones I love slaughtered before my eyes.

My child daughter. My beloved wife. My dearest mother. Grandpa Joseph. Grandma Suzy. Jean. Mohammed. Noriaki.

The phone call meant... it was gone. All of it. The joy and the peace.

I would either watch them die, my wife and daughter... or I would abandon them to keep them safe.

Their happiness. Gone. Ripped away. And they wouldn't even know why.

The phone slipped out of my hand and clattered to the floor. But I couldn't move.

"...Jotaro...?" Vanessa called to me.

I couldn't speak.

"Jotaro??"

~

[driving away from home to the airport to japan]

Vanessa was calling me.

It had to be urgent. She knew I was on the road.

"Nessa...?" I answered.

"Jolyne is in handcuffs..." her voice shook.

Jolyne... is in handcuffs...?

"I didn't know what to do or who else to call. They said she tried to steal a car. But she's just a kid! And they put her in handcuffs!"

Fucking pigs. Fucking slimy, power-hungry pigs. Putting their hands on my fucking child.

"...Vanessa... Vanessa, you know this is life or death on my end..."

God, those weren't the words I wanted to say.

"Yes, I know! But... But I don't--... Please, just tell me; tell me it'll all be okay. I don't think I can do this..."

No. She couldn't. Her and Jolyne; they didn't deserve that. To be hunted by pigs and then abandoned.

I nearly crashed my damn car, I was so angry and desperate.

All I could fucking do was two words.

"...I'm sorry."

And I hung up.

It took me a while to start. But I could feel it swelling in me. The agony.

And then, two streets away, a horrible screech ripped out of my throat as the crying forced its way out.

I pulled over to the shoulder of the road.

I tapped my hands helplessly against the steering wheel as my mouth was open in a silent scream.

I brought my shaking hands up to my face, as if attempting to push the pain back in.

My sobbing broke through in a roar.

I cried harder than I ever had in my life.

Would I ever see them again!?

When I could... When I had the breath, I called her.

"Jotaro...?" Mom's voice came through. She already knew something was wrong.

"Mom..." I whimpered.

Would I ever see her again? Was that even safe for her?

~

Nothing will ever be as challenging as having a child.

Trying to make sure you're doing everything right and not harming them in any way. Trying to protect them from the world while also preparing them for it.

But nothing will ever be as rewarding.

Seeing her smile, hearing her laugh. Feeling her breath slow down when I hold her to comfort her when she cries. Every curious look at something new. Every time she makes a choice; what she wants to wear or what animal she wants to learn about first. Even seeing her eat, the simplest sign of life, is somehow the most wonderful thing I've ever seen.

Often, these things are enough to make me want to cry.

And the thing is... Nothing else is more important. Nothing matters to me more than her.

But the universe has decided that that's not allowed.

I wonder...

If I had let my mom die...

If I had made the family curse not my problem, and had let it end with her...

Would I have been able to stay?

Or would fate come for Jolyne next?

Was there ever a choice?

The thing is, it was supposed to be over.

I killed the problem.

But it had already left its mark around the Earth.

The curse's name was Dea.

She had limitless influence. Supposedly, because she had an electric personality. Like a cult leader. She could merely speak to someone and earn their devotion.

To the point where, years after her death, her followers would continue to kill for her and spread her influence, hypnotized.

Furthermore, nearly fifteen years after her downfall, I would learn she'd had children.

Only one of the four I heard about would end up being an arguably redeemable human being.

~

"How are you feeling right now...?" Mohammed asked.

"...Me...?" I shivered from the cold air snaking through my clothes and weaving through my bare bones. "...I've never felt better, actually..."

Mohammed was the only person who knew that was bullshit. The only person there who could see. Most people don't think I have a soul. Because of the way my emotions look.

I wonder what my soul looked like to Mohammed at that moment. Limp, emaciated, dying.

"...Because I got rid of it all..." I murmured. My mind was so loud that I couldn't tell which of my thoughts were actually spoken.

Jean finally looked at me like he knew I wasn't okay. So I guess I did actually say something.

"...Got rid of what...?" He pried.

Of the parts of me that my dad had touched. The flesh with his hands permanently burned into it. It had finally rotted off of me. And now wind and water could weave through my ribcage, purifying me.

Later that day, I saw Star Platinum. I hadn't brought him out consciously.

Scared the hell out of me. He looked nothing like his usual self.

Kneeling in a slumped pile on the floor, head hanging way down, long black hair stringy and thin and lifeless covering his face. Skeletal limbs. No glow around him whatsoever. I'd never seen him in the dark before; he usually had an aura of brilliant silvery light.

[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.

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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.