#all that glitters is not gold fanfic

[christinescupofcoffee]

All That Glitters is Not Gold

Chapter Ten: Pick Your Poison

The escarpment seemed to extend forth for miles on end, and Octavius wondered as to when they would get there. He hoped it would be soon as every gust of wind right then billowed a thick cloud of dust and sand over their heads. From that alone, the very first day on the trail seemed to drag on, and more so when the sun hung low over the desert sands off to their left. If there was any reassurance whatsoever, it was that the river meandered alongside them. Every so often, Octavius caught views of vast fields containing wheat, barley, and lentils all along the river banks, and every so often, he spotted the backs of the crocodiles and the hippos down in the water: as long as they kept their distance, they would coexist with them. 

Indeed, when night began to fall, they were met with groves of sycamore and fig trees; there came a point in which he reached up and picked a pair of figs from a low branch next to their caravan. He handed one over to Ahkmenrah.

“Oh, thank you,” he said. “We have plenty to eat, but sometimes all we need is something as fresh as possible.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Octavius said in a soft voice. All the while, he flashed back on the time he and Jedediah fed one another figs and pomegranate seeds. It felt so long ago, but it also didn’t.

The two of them ate their figs and watched the sunset in silence, that is until the pharaoh cleared his throat.

“You have these little plumes of gray peppered all around your head,” Ahkmenrah observed, and he lightly touched the left side of Octavius’ head.

“Indeed, I do,” he said with a run of his hand over the crown of his head. “Such is being the general and being in a powerful position.”

“I never went gray, though,” Ahkmenrah pointed out with a furrowing of his brow. “Even at my family’s worst, I never sprouted one.”

“Any secrets?” Octavius asked, nonplussed.

“Relax and… don’t fall in love, especially with someone who will break you,” Ahkmenrah replied in a small voice. “Harsh as that is, and I apologize in advance.”

Octavius sighed through his nose at the sound of that, and he raised his gaze over to the horizon on the left. The sky was painted bright orange and pink, and he knew that they had to stop at some point and give the camels a break after all of that trekking about.

Indeed, with the light of their lanterns, the Bedouins offered to help them set up camp, complete with a roaring fire and a pair of bunks surrounded by netting to protect them from mosquitoes and scorpions. Octavius knew they had posted up on the river banks, but he hadn’t a clue as to how close they were to the water’s edge.

He took his spot on a makeshift bench of driftwood next to the fire: all the while, he kept his back towards the river. Ahkmenrah meanwhile sat down to his left with a ceramic jug and a pair of white glasses in his hands.

“Care for some wine?” Ahkmenrah offered him.

“I would love some wine,” Octavius replied with a run of his fingers through his hair. “Especially after a day out in the desert like we have.”

Ahkmenrah pried the cap off and poured them a glass each, and the unmistakable aroma of yeast as well as some earthy spices flooded the air all around them.

“Oh, my goodness, that is potent, I can tell,” Octavius remarked as he took the first glass in Ahkmenrah’s hand.

“It’s got nothing on you guys and your mulling, but it’s the pride of the Nile, though.” The pharaoh raised his glass to him for a toast, and they clinked the edges together. They drank it down in unison: the yeast hit Octavius right between the eyes, but the taste of the grapes caressed his tongue and quenched his thirst.

“Wow, that is—” He put his head down and cleared his throat.

“It’ll put some hair on your chest,” Ahkmenrah said with a smirk: with that, Octavius lifted up his collar and looked down inside of his tunic, such that Ahkmenrah snickered at that.

“When we get there, I should probably tell you that you should put your armor back on,” he advised him.

“It would make perfect sense after all,” Octavius said with a shrug of his shoulders. He held onto the cup with both hands as he took another drink. “I remember that army of the dead that your brother inflicted onto all of us.”

“That was nothing,” Ahkmenrah promised him. “Really, that was only a fraction of it all. There’s that plus the agony he inflicted upon our parents as well as the rest of our family. To make matters worse, he is… completely blind to his own actions.”

He sipped on his wine some more and they watched the flames flicker about before them in silence: the Bedouins had turned in for the night but the camels still shuffled about on the sands behind them. It was rather jarring to feel the heat from the fire on their faces and the cool of the riverbed on their backs: the dance of hot and cold, much like the union between Octavius and Jedediah.

“You definitely miss him, don’t you,” Ahkmenrah said in a soft voice, but Octavius shook his head.

“Not when I am here, no,” he assured him. “I would rather be alone with my own thoughts for the time being.” He gazed up into the inky black sky over their heads. The stars resembled to glitter as they poked their heads out for the night: Octavius made out the shape of a pattern which appeared to be the Northern Cross up over the horizon. Somewhere below that constellation was Rome itself. They would be home soon enough: he would be home.

“His obsession with his own gold and his own goods really does feel like something of a stake in the heart,” he confessed in a single breath. “Being out here helps a great deal, however. As much as the sand hurts, as hot as it is… this was a good plan.”

“During the thick of my family’s fighting, I found solace in roaming about the place,” Ahkmenrah told him. “Both in sticking my head into books as well as traveling to places.”

“Like Britain, for example?” Octavius glanced back at him with a smirk on his face.

“Like Britain, oh by the way,” Ahkmenrah echoed in a singsong voice.

“Maybe I should have a go at the maiden in scarlet,” he suggested, and he downed the rest of the wine in one fell swoop. He pinched his eyes shut and rigorously shook his head, much to Ahkmenrah’s amusement. “It’s not that funny,” he scoffed.

“There’s just one problem,” Ahkmenrah started again, his expression serious once again.

“What’s that?”

“She is much larger than you,” he pointed out. “How in the world would you court her?”

“Good question,” Octavius said, and he paused right in his tracks. “I ask myself how did I court Jedediah.”

“How did you do that?”

The two men looked on at one another in silence, silence save for the crackling of the fire and the shuffling of the camels behind them.

“I don’t really remember,” Octavius confessed. “Golden hair and peacock blue eyes do not exist in Rome. The sole time I found myself in the northern territories, away from the Mediterranean and away from the peninsula, I met all manner of people who looked like him, and I did find myself enamored with some of them as I did with him. When I think back, my memory is rather foggy. But the maiden in scarlet, though… she’s—she’s special. The body of Venus with her prowess as well.”

Ahkmenrah downed the rest of his glass as well, and then he lifted up the jug once again.

“Wine?”

“Please.” Octavius raised his cup for a second helping of the rich Egyptian wine. He took a big swig with his eyes closed, and Ahkmenrah followed suit as well.

“What kind of creatures are around here?” Octavius asked him. “I do know about the hippos and the crocodiles. You know, I saw them at points on the way here.”

“Snakes,” Ahkmenrah replied with a straight face. “Particularly deadly ones like the black mamba, all manner of Saharan vipers, and two kinds of cobras. One you should watch out for is the red spitting cobra.”

“Spitting?” Octavius raised a single eyebrow and wrinkled his nose at that, and Ahkmenrah nodded.

“The number of farmers who die from that one in particular,” he noted. “The snake raises its head and then opens its mouth, and spits it out onto their bodies. It’s incredibly sticky, too, so not even washing it in the river waters will rid of it.”

“God’s truth…” Octavius straightened out his spine and shuddered at the thought of being covered and potentially suffocated by sticky, lethal venom.

“The black mamba is particularly nefarious as well,” Ahkmenrah continued. “Thin white snake with a black mouth. Aggressive when cornered. You don’t have to worry about them in this particular region of the Nile.”

“Still of concern, however…” Octavius’ voice trailed off, and he took another big swig of his wine. He then took a glimpse over his shoulder to the cool river banks behind him. He had no idea as to how close they were to the water’s edge, but when he looked out there, he was only met with the darkness of the night right behind him.

“God Almighty,” Octavius breathed out.

“What’s wrong?”

“It is blacker than the blackest night I have ever experienced out there,” he remarked, and he returned his attention to Ahkmenrah, who seemed unmoved by the observation.

“Welcome to Egypt,” he told him. “The days are hot and sandy, and the nights are as black as holes within a memory. As long as we do not lose sight of the river, we shall be fine, my Roman friend. We start bright and early tomorrow morning, and we make as much progress as we can. We shall begin to see the pyramids within the next day or two.”

“You are that confident,” Octavius remarked, and he couldn’t resist the smile on his face. Ahkmenrah shrugged his shoulders.

“I know this place like the back of my hand,” he promised him.

Octavius downed the rest of his glass of wine, and he coaxed a third helping out of the jug. Ahkmenrah set his glass down on the bench and he seemed to let Octavius drink to his heart’s content.

He had no memory of what happened after that: the next thing he knew, he woke up to a pale violet sky and the protective netting around him. Octavius had sprawled over the bunk, flat on his back with a thin pillow under his head, and he knew that he had fallen asleep that way.

Carefully, he rolled over onto his side, but when he realized he was only two inches from the ground, his head began to spin.

“Oh, god…” His head pounded, and he knew he shouldn’t have taken that third glass of wine. He held his fingertips to his temples in hopes to ease the throbbing pain, but it was futile. Carefully so as to not make his head spin on top of the pounding headache, he sat upright in the little makeshift hammock. Ahkmenrah was still sound asleep right next to him with a thin blanket covering his body. Octavius held a hand to his head, but the pain surmounted around the sides of his head.

It felt as though he was being pelted in the head with a hammer. If he even moved his foot a little bit, it made his stomach churn.

He wanted to tell Ahkmenrah that he didn’t feel good, but he wondered if the pharaoh had had a rough night as well.

Gingerly, he stood up. His head not only pounded, but it felt as though the ground was spinning one way and the horizon spun the other way. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt that awful, or even the last time his head spun that much.

Still holding onto the side of his head, he staggered away from their camp, away from the Bedouins as well. He could feel it coming. He didn’t want to think about it but it was coming whether he wanted to admit it or not—

He reached the edge of the escarpment, dropped to his hands and knees and vomited right there on the soil. At least it was going downhill.

Octavius coughed and let loose some more onto the slope before him. There wasn’t much but at least he was in a safe spot.

Breathing hard, he looked down the gentle slope before him: a thick thatch of reeds sprouted up from the idyllic waters before him, and next to that stood a pool of clean water.

Something to wash that horrid taste from his mouth.

His otherwise sinewy arms trembled as he lifted himself off the sand and dusted himself off. His head still ached, and now his whole body was now in pain, but at least that sickly feeling had gone away. He staggered down the sand towards the water’s edge, and no sooner had he reached the wetter of the sand when he fell to his hands and knees again and dunked his whole head into the cool, comforting waters.

He lifted his head and shook his hair about just enough to rid of the extraneous water. Curly little tendrils plastered to the sides of his face and his neck: a little silver bit stuck onto the corner of his eye like the vein of silver in a mountain.

“Ah… yes…” He cupped his hands together and scooped up some of the clean water for a good drink. The small bit left on his palms went onto the back of his neck and his shoulders, both of which ached from throwing up.

“Bloody hell,” he groaned. He cupped his hands together and picked up some more of the clean water from the river when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Octavius lifted his head only to be met with beady little black eyes, thick leathery silver skin, and a massive hulking body that dwarfed him. It loomed there before him in the waters, glaring at him, menacing him.

It was just like with the squirrel but far worse, especially when it opened its gargantuan mouth for a yawn.

This creature had a mouthful of enormous, razor sharp teeth that looked as though they could dismember him and leave him as a bloodstain on the alluvial plain in a flash.

His sword was back at the camp as well.

The best thing he could do was hold still once it closed its mouth and glared at him again.

“Please don’t hurt me,” he whimpered. The hippo made a noise that sounded like something of a warning growl, but it moved back into the waters behind it. Its hulking body submerged before him to the point he could only see its eyes and tiny ears.

Octavius let out a low whistle, which was accompanied with a pain in his chest. He had been holding his breath that whole time.

Without further hesitation, he ducked on away from the water’s edge and back up to the top of the ridge. It was there he realized that they had pitched their caravan right within the habitat for the hippopotami as he spotted a whole cluster of them lumbering out of the waters on his right.

Luckily, however, he reached the camp right as Ahkmenrah looked to be waking up.

“What the—oh,” he sputtered out, and Octavius fell to his knees before him. Ahkmenrah rubbed his eyes and gaped at him.

“What’s the matter?”

Octavius spotted three of them right behind him, all of them massive. It was then he realized that the noises they were hearing the night before were not from the camels, but from them mulling about at nightfall. 

How the Bedouins missed this was beyond his comprehension.

“Octavius, what’s wrong?” Ahkmenrah asked him again, and he frowned. “Why is your hair wet?”

“It’s—it’s!” Octavius could hardly speak.

“What?” Ahkmenrah demanded. “What!”

Octavius held out his hands before him with his index fingers up. He bowed his head a bit, and then he held still.

“Look—over—there,” Octavius said through gritted teeth. Very slowly, Ahkmenrah peered over his shoulder to behold the hippos behind them, right behind their campsite.

“Sweet merciful Lord,” Ahkmenrah gasped out as he returned his attention to Octavius, his eyes wide and his skin the color of the bleached sands behind them.

“What do we do?” Octavius asked him in a hushed voice, and he kept his hands up before his chest. He noticed the hippos, in particular the biggest one of the bunch, were lumbering towards them and the path down to the water.

“Stay still,” Ahkmenrah advised him in a low whisper. He looked over to their right with nothing more than his eyes. Octavius could feel his bottom lip trembling as the hippo came on closer to them. The creature was so huge that he could reach out and stroke its leathery skin without having to lean over,

“Do not make a sound,” Ahkmenrah whispered to him in the softest whisper possible. Octavius pursed his lips as the hippo lumbered along past them. It left behind the biggest imprints in the sand, bigger than Octavius’ head with the war helmet on. The other two very slowly trotted on past them, after the king-sized one, down into the waters behind them. Once the trio had settled down in those placid waters behind them, Octavius put down his hands and bowed his head with relief.

“Breathe,” Ahkmenrah told him.

But breathing was something of a bad idea as Octavius’ head began to spin again. He fell onto his back on the sand only to be met with a loud hissing sound. He looked up to find it coiled on the sand: its frilled head unmistakable even upside down.

Octavius rolled over and scrambled back onto his hands and knees.

“Oh, dear,” he gasped. The cobra raised its head up at him. Its beautiful black and red markings glistened in the light of the sunrise, but Octavius didn’t have to see it open its mouth at him to know that it was going to spit its sticky venom at him. He had no idea if other hippos were behind them. 

Nowhere to run.

Ahkmenrah ducked around him and scooped up the snake by the tail. He chucked it over the ridge and down into the waters with the hippos.

All the while, the snake never released its venom as Octavius clasped his hands to his face.

“Are you okay?” Ahkmenrah asked him, slightly concerned.

“I think so,” Octavius replied, and he breathed in deep.

“Be careful—those guys are especially deadly,” Ahkmenrah advised him in a singsong voice.

“You saved my life,” he breathed out with a clearing of his throat. “Twice, actually.”

“Actually, you saved your own life the first time. It was there that I saved you.”

Octavius bowed his head and leaned back onto his knees. He had nothing left inside of him to throw up but he knew that he would do it again.

“Welcome to Egypt,” Ahkmenrah repeated, and he gently patted Octavius on the shoulders with both hands. It was going to be a long day yet again, but at least they were headed in the right direction.

[cupidologys]

hi guys !! i have a short chapter of all that glitters is not gold finished (~1.5k words). just wondering if you would rather i just post that now or wait until i have the time to write more :) either way, it is already posted on my ao3 (hoshify) if you are interested in reading it <33

[josiebelladonna]

tomorrow, i’m going to be baking and prepping for dinner on wednesday (i.e., i’ll be in the kitchen most of the day).

HOWEVER

i’m working on a new chapter of love is not enough at the moment.

if i have time on wednesday (i’m making beef wellington, it’s mostly prep work), i’ll try and get a new chapter of midnight oil up in time for the first night of hanukkah.

boxing day, i’m thinking about a new one for all that glitters and maybe dark months of april and may.

and friday going into the weekend… maybe a new one for one of the o.g. fics? i’ll have to feel it out a little more.

there’s no queue this week so imma speak now or forever hold my peace.

[kurtsvonneslut]

Wait... what was the swanqueen fic recs? ...and are there more (...esp if theyre smutty) 👀👀👀

oh there are more!!!

first of all i'm just going to plug myself because why not. i have 78 swan queen works up - mostly oneshots, a couple longfics, including the fic i'm currently writing, change with the seasons. a lot of my fics are older (for example my 52 weeks of swan queen series was written in 2015) and i was a teenager when i wrote them, but i still find a lot of joy in them!!

now for the rest of the recs, i'm going to organize them as best i can into a few categories. also, a lot of these recs will be a bit older as i've been away from the fandom for a while, and am only just now coming back again. this is an open question if anyone else has recommendations to add in the reblogs!!!

longfics:

satin town by @coalitiongirl is probably my all time favorite fanfic, period. everything she's written for the fandom is incredible, but this one has always stuck with me. the dynamic between emma and regina (who is in full on evil queen mode) is just DELICIOUS and i love how she worked henry into the story. an absolute must as far as i'm concerned. PLUS she has a whole NOVEL out now, so go support that if you like the fic!!!!

the secret's in the telling by @the-pyrophoric-one is another classic in the fandom, and for good reason. the characterization is so spot on, and i absolutely love the arc of this story. the chapters are suuuuuper long though so it's a time investment!!

somewhere, someone must know the ending by maleficently who is not on tumblr as far as i'm aware is a divorce au. lots of angst with a happy ending. the same author also wrote an incredible three-part series called the fatal plunge, which remains, tragically, unfinished.

you gotta play dirty by amycarey who i'm not tagging because they don't write fic anymore. there's so many fics by amycarey that i absolutely adore (temporary distractions and keep the wolves outside by living well are also up there!!) but i chose this one because it's so unique to me. it's an au in which emma and regina are in a concert band together. i was a band kid myself, specifically a clarinetist, so i was pretty geeked over this!!

all that glitters is not (olypmic) gold by @queststar is another super niche but super fun and well-written au. in this one, emma and regina are olympic speed skaters. i just love the competitive energy between the two of them and the arc as they grow closer and eventually fall for each other. the author even got elizabeth mitchell to read some of it which is just. next level.

one fine star away by @bytherosebushlaughing is another au that gets a little meta, but it's sooooo much fun. in this fic, once upon a time is a tv show that regina, emma, and the others starred in. 20 some years later, the cast is reuniting, and the reunion is being covered by none other than one henry mills. it's such a clever fic, and i absolutely love it so far!!

oneshots:

of love and loss and love again by @snowivyimconfusi oh this one. this one is so bittersweet. emma and regina, grieving the losses of their partners, find comfort in each other. and more. it's so beautifully done, and i just adore ivy's writing style!!

what you thought you had to do by hoovahhoopah is the very first fic i read after making my ao3 account and it's still one that i love!! it's part of a six part series of oneshots called ill fitting pieces, but it also stands on its own just as well. just a beautiful, classic, canon-but-make-it-better kind of fic.

a woman moves when her heart has been broken by etotheswan because who among us wasn't absolutely destroyed by the season 3 finale???? this offered a lot of swan queen based catharsis while we waited for season 4.

monster-in-law by seriousfic is just a funny, light-hearted little oneshot about mary margaret trying to stop emma and regina's wedding by reminding them that they're all sort of related. a big departure from the seriousfic work we all know and miss dearly..... but enjoyable nonetheless thanks to their talent!!

and now, the moment we've all been waiting for, smut:

top of the list is, of course, our prophet of swan queen smut @angstbotfic. the making amends series is my all time favorite, and one that i recommended to my dear friend 27, but you can't go wrong with literally anything they've written.

wicked games by @starsthatburn is so. is so. it left me basically speechless. also recommended this one to 27, and i believe this is the one referenced in the ask they sent. it's the most insanely hot BDSM fantasy. if you like domme regina, look no further.

the thing she won't admit by beattheodds if you like butt stuff, here's swan queen butt stuff. need i say more?

paint it black by wily_one24 heed the warnings, this one is pretty dark. but if that's what you're into, this is the one. it's like if 50 shades of grey was swan queen and also good.

of love and loathing by morganlegaye and its sequel, transgressions of the heart are a hatefuck lover's dream. transgressions of the heart remains unfinished, but god is it good.

fealty by standbackufools you like throne sex? you like honorifics? you like D/s dynamic? enjoy :)

thank god it's BDSM friday by carrotlucky13 this one covers soooooo many kinks. emma and regina enter into a 24/7 BDSM lifestyle. for 95k words. i don't know what else to say but WOWOWOWOW. even if you're not into every kink in here it's still hot af.

emma's little problem by juicecup it's a magic!cock story with a slight humiliation kink if you squint, but otherwise mostly vanilla sex to round out a very kinky rec list.

go give these incredible creators some love!!! and remember, nothing motivates a fic writer quite like a nice comment :)

[ssweeterthanfiction]

Hii, I'm new here but I loved your profile!!

Can you do a fanfic of finnick?As if he and the reader had met at one of the capital's parties? And she's from the same district as him and unfortunately she's also used by Snow.

hello my lovely and welcome!!

of course I can! you ask and you shall receive!

Gold Rush

finnick odair x victor fem reader content warnings: angst, yearning, mentions of trafficking of victors

masterlist.

The party was in full swing.

Gleaming and glittering lights, the suffocating smell of expensive perfume, the loud chatter of the capitolites filled the hall.

You got lucky tonight, no Capitol citizens wanted your company so you were off the hook for once. But you still had to be here, at this party, in a lavish golden gown. You stood by a wall, observing everything around you, and then your eyes landed on a group of people across the dance floor.

And then your eyes landed on him.

Finnick Odair.

He stood out from the people that surrounded him. His bronze hair that fell into place on his face perfectly, his sea green eyes that twinkled under the light, his boyish smile that made his eyes crinkle with practiced amusement.

He entertained the crowd around him perfectly, the men all laughing, the women clinging onto his every word, their laughter mixed together like a symphony of adoration.

But you could see through it. You could see how he tensed up when one of the women would get too close to him, you could see how his smile would falter for a second and how he would mask it with a smile or a flirty remark, you could see through it all.

As you kept watching, your eyes met his. For a moment, you felt the world stop.

The gilded walls, the clinking of glasses, the fake laughter, it all melted into nothing. It was just him.

But the feeling came crashing down once one of the women leaned closer to him.

You watched as she draped herself over his arm, you watched as she whispered something to him and as a flicker of discomfort washed over him before he smoothed it over with his charm.

Your heart tightened as you looked away, the familiar ache settling in.

They all wanted him. Everybody wants him.

You want to know what it would be like to love him.

You shifted against the wall, fingers curling around the delicate stem of your champagne glass. You fought back a few tears as your chest tightened again.

No matter what, you knew you couldn't have him. You knew you couldn't love him.

You knew it would be dangerous. Even when you were both back in four, in the comfort of your homes, you knew it would be dangerous.

Unable to stop yourself, you looked back at him.

But he was already looking at you.

His gaze was steady, cutting through the chaos of the room again as if the two of you existed in a world of your own.

But the moment couldn’t last.

The woman from before called out is name and his charming smile slipped effortlessly back into place as he approached her.

You didn't see him much after that. The party continued on, you had to mingle in with the crowd, but your thoughts always came back to him.

It wasn't until the final toast of the evening came.

You were standing in the crowd, watching as everyone clamored to find a partner to toast with.

That's when you heard his voice call out your name.

When you turned around, he was standing there holding two glasses in his hand.

"Finnick, hello" you say, nodding politely.

"Do you have anyone to toast with?" he says, taking a step towards you.

You shake your head.

"Well," he starts, holding out a glass to you, smiling, "Now you do"

You feel your heart skip a beat, "What about...the woman from earlier?"

He shrugs, "What about her?"

You smile, and nervously take the glass from his hand.

You both stand together as the host gives the final toast to end the party.

Once he finishes, everyone cheers.

You turn to Finnick, clink glasses, intertwine arms and drink the gold liquid.

Your eyes never leave each other's as you do.

You both stand there for a moment as the crowd disperses, gazing into each other's eyes. His eyes are so warm, so inviting. He opens his mouth to say something, but then he hears the woman from earlier call out his name.

He turns his attention to her, and you look down.

"You should go, Finnick" you whisper, not looking him in the eye.

He looks down at you and sighs.

Before he fully turns away from you, he leans close to your ear.

"You look beautiful by the way..."

You finally pick your head up as he walks away. Your fingers tightened again around the empty glass in your hand as you watched him weave his way through the dispersing crowd, his every movement graceful, yet burdened with a heaviness only you seemed to notice.

You finally made your way outside of the party, where everyone was saying their goodbyes and good nights. You were about to leave, you stood in the cool night air, thoughts of Finnick still rushing through your mind.

You felt someone's shoulder brush against you, before you could move, you felt the person squeeze your hand.

You looked up and Finnick was standing beside you.

The woman from earlier was draped on his arm, you felt a pit in your stomach form because you knew what she was with Finnick for.

He didn't look at you, he just held your hand as the woman leaned closer to him.

The woman tugged on his arm, her nails digging into his sleeve. "Finnick, darling, we really must go. I have the most wonderful surprise waiting for you," she cooed, her voice syrupy sweet.

You felt him squeeze yours one last time before he let go.

The pit in your stomach grew more as you watched him walk away.

You knew it was stupid to want to know how it would be to love him.

But it hasn't stopped you in the past, and it will never stop you now.

part 2…

[fuqnia]

STICKY

stan marsh x reader

(❁´◡`❁) | [A/N] this oneshot was inspired by Tyler the Creator's "Sticky". also this oneshot ties into my long fanfic!

(❁´◡`❁) | Warning(s) : slight home-wrecking ? 💀

(❁´◡`❁) | Synopsis : At Homecoming, you boldly steal a dance—and a kiss—from Stan under Wendy’s furious gaze. Chaos erupts, but for one brief moment, he was yours.

The gym is a swirl of gold and silver, of polished smiles and glittering lights, but all you can feel is the weight in your chest. The music booms loud, the bass rattling in your ribs, but it doesn’t drown out the voices in your head. Voices that whisper things you shouldn’t think, things that cling to you like gum on your shoe.

He’s here.

Stan Marsh, standing at the center of it all, like he was made to be in the spotlight. His suit fits him perfectly—crisp and dark, with his tie hanging loose in a way that feels unfairly effortless. He’s laughing at something, his head tilted toward her. Wendy Testaburger. The queen to his king. The perfect match. Her dress shines under the fairy lights, her every move calculated to draw attention. And it works. Everyone’s watching them, murmuring about how perfect they are, how right they look.

You watch too, and it’s like trying to rip duct tape off your skin. You know you shouldn’t. You know it’s going to hurt. But you can’t stop.

You hate her, but not in the simple way. It’s deeper, messier, sticking to the edges of everything you do. It’s in the way she looks at you, that smug little curl of her lips when she catches you staring. It’s in the way her laugh feels like a taunt, like a knife she twists just to see if it hurts. And it does.

But mostly, you hate her because she has him. And you want him.

The air feels sticky, heavy with unspoken things. You grip your drink tighter, the condensation making it slick in your hand, and force your gaze away. You’re not supposed to care this much. He’s not supposed to matter this much. But then—

“Hey.”

His voice slides through the noise, low and hesitant, and you hate how it makes your heart stutter. Slowly, you turn, and there he is, standing right in front of you. His hair is slightly tousled, strands falling across his forehead, and his eyes—soft, uncertain—lock onto yours like he’s searching for something.

“What do you want, Stan?” you ask, the words sharper than you intended. Your defenses snap into place like armor, but it’s not enough to block the way his presence pulls at you, clings to you like static.

He frowns, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I just wanted to check on you.”

“Check on me?” You laugh, but it’s bitter, cutting. “Why? Because I’ve been standing in the shadows while you and Wendy play royalty?”

“It’s not like that,” he says quickly, his voice steady but quiet. “I just—” He glances away, his jaw tightening. “I don’t know. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

Your chest tightens, heat rising in your face. You hate how earnest he sounds, how he looks at you like you matter, like you’re not some afterthought in the story he’s starring in with Wendy. It’s maddening, the way he seems to care but never enough to do something about it.

“You’ve got everything you want, Stan,” you say, your tone biting. “The crown, the girl, the applause. Why do you care how I feel?”

His gaze snaps back to yours, and there’s something in his expression—something raw, like he’s torn between explaining everything and saying nothing at all. For a second, you think he might finally tell you the truth, but then his shoulders slump, and he looks away.

“It’s complicated,” he mutters.

“Yeah,” you scoff, crossing your arms over your chest. “It always is with you, isn’t it?”

The microphone crackles to life before he can respond. “Alright, everyone!” The student council vice president’s voice booms over the speakers. “It’s time to crown this year’s Homecoming King and Queen!”

Stan glances toward the stage, his lips parting like he wants to say something, but then Wendy waves him over, her smile wide and bright and suffocating. He hesitates, looking back at you with something like regret, before turning to join her.

You don’t watch as they’re crowned. You can’t. You hear their names, the applause, the cheers, but the details blur together, muffled by the static in your head. When you finally look up, they’re in the center of the dance floor, moving together to a slow, romantic melody.

They look beautiful. Perfect. But there’s something about the way Stan holds her—something careful, distant, like he’s not really there. You cling to that, even as you tell yourself it’s foolish.

Then, he looks at you.

It’s brief—just a flicker—but it’s enough to ignite something reckless in your chest. You don’t think. You just move, pushing through the crowd until you’re standing in front of him.

“Dance with me,” you say, loud enough for Wendy to hear. Your gaze doesn’t leave hers, a small, defiant smile tugging at your lips.

Stan blinks, startled. “What?”

“I said dance with me,” you repeat, your tone firm, daring. You raise an eyebrow, glancing briefly at Wendy before meeting his eyes again. “Unless you’re too scared.”

The air feels heavy, thick with tension. Stan glances at Wendy, who’s staring at you like she wants to set you on fire with her mind. But she doesn’t say anything. Not yet.

Stan sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Fine,” he mutters, stepping forward.

You grab his hand, pulling him onto the dance floor before he can change his mind. The spotlight shifts, catching you both in its glow as the next song begins. Your hand rests on his shoulder, his on your waist, and for a moment, it feels like the rest of the world doesn’t exist.

But it does. You can feel Wendy’s eyes on you, the weight of the crowd’s stares. You glance over your shoulder, meeting her furious gaze, and the satisfaction that blooms in your chest is sharp and bitter.

“Why are you doing this?” Stan asks quietly, his voice pulling your attention back to him.

“Why not?” you reply, your tone light but laced with something darker. “Why should she get everything, Stan? Why should she get you?”

He stiffens slightly, surprise flickering across his face, and for a moment, you wonder if you’ve gone too far. But then his grip on your waist tightens, and he doesn’t pull away.

The music swells, and before you can stop yourself, you lean in and kiss him.

It’s quick, but it’s deliberate. His lips are warm, hesitant, and for a second, he kisses you back, his hand curling against your waist. The world feels like it’s holding its breath, like time has stopped just for you.

Then the moment shatters.

“STAN!” Wendy’s voice slices through the air, sharp and furious.

The noise rushes back in—gasps, murmurs, laughter. Kyle’s voice rises above the chaos, incredulous. “Dude, are you kidding me?!”

Eric’s cackle booms across the room. “This is the best thing I’ve ever seen!”

Kenny whistles, long and exaggerated, while the crowd buzzes with shocked excitement.

Stan pulls back, his face pale, his eyes wide as he stares at you. “What the hell, [Y/N]?” he whispers, but you barely hear him.

Because for one fleeting, sticky moment, you had him.

And that’s enough.

[weird-obsessed-girl]

Bagginshield Fic Rec

I can’t believe I’ve had such an intense revival into The Hobbit Fandom after being obsessed with the movies when they came out just over 10 years ago now. There’s just some fandoms that have consistently amazing fanfics that are written beautifully and with such interesting concepts.

Some of these are a bit silly and cracky but i think that’s the appeal of The Hobbit, it’s a bit more cheerful than LOTR (vehemently ignoring Battle of the Five Armies)

So below is a list of fics I have loved reading organised by word count smallest to largest.

If you have any fics that you’ve read and don’t see here please share them with me! P.S, if you need more fics to read after these please check out the author’s other works.

Fanfiction Title - Author

Tags, description of fic | word count | rating

And Down the Road I Goes - pibroch (littleblackdog)

Kid!fic, mpreg, humour, dwobbits, beard problems | 1.3k | T

All That Glitters - BeautifulFiction

Everyone lives, post-BAFTA, Dwarven culture and customs, Dwarven jewellery | 1.5k | G

Truth - alkjira

Body image issues, post-BAFTA, everybody lives, Dwarven beauty standards | 1.9k | T

Brethren, Braids and a Bothersome Burglar - Frankensteins_Monster

Unintentional Dwarven courting, and then intentional after communication is cleared up, Hair Braiding | 2.3k | T

There is A Child - smileybagel

Foresight, canonical character death, Thorin POV | 2.7k | T

Of the King and Consort’s Portraits - undomiel (dolcewrites)

Cultural differences, painting portraits, Erebor and Shire Parallels, domestic fluff | 3.4K | T

Shorn - Avelera

Mourning ritual, Dwarf culture and customs, misunderstandings, pre-slash, Long-beards mentioned! 3.5k | G

A Chance to Make It Right - smileybagel

Thorin is offered a second chance, magical dreams of future children, second part to “There is A Child” | 3.6k | G

The Proper Way To Call You Mine - Fantasyinallforms

Hair braiding, post-BAFTA, misunderstandings, Fili and Kili meddling, getting together, jealous Thorin | 3.6k | T

And in our love u see golden things - Seungshi03

Goldsickness as a mental health condition, domestic fluff, consort Bilbo | 3.7k | G

Riddles in the Dark Brought into the Light - Lucigoo89

Everyone lives, post-BAFTA, PTSD, loooove fics where the trauma from the journey is included, background Dwalin/Nori | 3.8k | G

In More than the Wisdom of Years - jezebel_rising

Dis POV, everyone lives, reunions, Dis and Bilbo friendship | 4.2k | Not rated

A Dwarven Beauty - bevel_bee

Dwarven beauty standards, Bilbo is considered very attractive, but he’s very oblivious to the compliments, post-BAFTA | 4.6k | G

The Seven Gifts - snowmissus (soul_of_blaze)

Dwarf and hobbit courting, awkwardness, Bilbo remains in Erebor, miscommunication | 5.1k | G

The Stone’s Gift - SilverSkiesAtMidnight

Established relationship, consort Bilbo, “the Dwarven equivalent of cabbage patch hobbits”, dwarves made from literal stone, unplanned pregnancy | 5.2k | T

One Remedy for Gold Sickness (or maybe two) - randi2204

Bilbo uses an ancient hobbit remedy for greedy folks, flabbergasted dwarves | 5.8k | T * need to have an Ao3 account

Better an ugly face than an ugly mind - unpeumacabre

Dwarven beauty standards (and hobbit ones), Thorin POV | 6.1k | T

A Minor Problem - fideliant

Smut, thorin finds out Bilbo’s age, obliviousness to different species’ life expectancies | 6.4K | E

Bruises on the Heart - thehufflepuffhobbit

5 + 1 times, soulmate au, Thorin POV, bruises, sharing a bed, during the journey | 7.8k | E

Clue-finder - TheGrayKnight

Post-BAFTA, Dwarven courting, cultural differences | 9k | G

Queen Under the Mountain - benny_Laur

Character death (not really), Dis POV, I LOVE DIS, Requited love, Kili definitely should not be in charge of communications | 11k | Not rating

Call You Home - northerntrash

Hobbit culture, including hidden names (I like the hobbit side as it’s a popular trope that dwarves have hidden names), Thorin’s puppy-eyes, the company | 11.9K | Not rated

Planting a Hobbit - northerntrash

Everyone lives, post-BAFTA, homesickness, domestic fluff, Thorin builds Bilbo a garden trope! 13k | Not rated

Forget-Me-Not - kerkusa, LordOfTheRazzles

Established relationship, post-BAFTA, healing Thorin causes temporary amnesia, Dwarf and Hobbit courting (again) | 14k | G

Defying Death (or at least the ones in charge) - Lucigoo89

I have yet to read this yet but it looks very promising! Bilbo has died and now it’s time for him to smuggle himself into Mahalia Halls to see his love again | 15.1k | T

Ere Break of Day - alexaprilgarden

During the journey, falling in love, Dwarven Ones, soulmates, everyone lives, angst | 15.6k | E

The Different Shades of Bilbo’s Love - SunnyRose

Kid Bilbo wants to be friends with Thorin, consenting adult romance later on, friends to lovers, flower language, Belladonna Took! 17.5k | G

I have loved you and you have not known it - KaavyaWriting

Miscommunication, the company come up with a way of making friends with a hobbit that is inaccurate, jealous Thorin, during the journey | 17.7k | G

You Got Me - drunkonwriting

Company-centric, dwarf culture, fluff, during the journey, friendship fic | 18.9k | G

Gardening - The Feels Whale (miscellea)

Bilbo returns to Shire, Kid!fic, cabbage patch hobbits, Bilbo’s under the impression Thorin died (he’s wrong) | 19.7k | T

My Princess, My Love, Marry Me! - mordelle

Alt universe, Princess Thorin visits the Shire, pinning Bilbo, Thorin is considered ugly by Dwarven beauty standards, smut | 36.3k | E

[kittyball23]

Any chance of a quick fic of Branch's bros showing and telling Poppy Branch's embarrassing baby photos all while he's a embarrassed grumpy pants about it? I feel we need more embarrassing loving big brothers moments.

Hi, Anon, I apologize for this being delayed. I wrote out a few drafts to this story, but was unsatisfied with the turnout until now. I do hope you enjoy :)

Show and Tell (a Trolls fanfic)

By the time that Branch had gotten his drink at the bar - a concoction his older brother called the Tropical Refresh, composed of a variety of fresh, fruity juices  - and walked over to the backstage area of the karaoke stage to find Poppy, he could already hear the bouts of giggling coming from his girlfriend. Branch had come across this type of situation a few times already, and he didn’t need to ask what had gotten her in such a lighthearted mood.

“Don’t you ever get tired of looking at that?” he asked, gesturing at the clue board that she was unashamedly ogling over.

“Nope!” Poppy chirped. “How can you ever get tired of looking at this cutie-patootie face, huh?” She reached into her pocket and showed him a little wallet-size photograph of him in his signature perm.

Branch gasped. “Hey! Who gave you that?”

“I did!” The blue Troll turned to find John Dory approaching them, looking quite proud of himself. “Don’t worry bro, I got copies for you, too!” he said, pulling out three more from his dark, aquamarine hair.

Branch groaned. “Seriously?”

“What do you mean ‘seriously’? What’s so embarrassing about a baby photo? You totally rocked the look!” JD asked, confused. Then he chuckled, nudging Branch with his elbow and speaking hushedly so Poppy couldn’t hear. “At least I didn’t show her the other box, right?”

But Poppy had heard him. She perked up and faced John Dory with curiosity. “What other box?”

JD beamed at her. “Ohoho, girl, if you like these photos, just wait till you see what I got in store for you.” Whistling Rhonda over, he entered his caterbus and pulled out a heavy-looking trunk. He struggled dragging it out for a moment, and then gave a short cry.

“Ouch! There goes my back,” he whined with a grimace, having strained himself too hard and rubbing the affected area. But the smile returned to his face a moment later. “Feast your eyes on le pièce de résistance, Poppy Seed!” he declared grandly, and then opened the trunk with a dramatic flair.

For a second light almost seemed to emit from the trunk, like it had been filled with glittering gold. When Poppy managed to focus in and see what it actually was, well, it was as good as gold to her.

“EEEE! Oh my GOSH!!” She grabbed Branch’s arm and leapt up and down with tears of joy while her boyfriend grumbled in dismay. “This is the best day of my life!”

“OOooo, really! Why’s that?” It had been Viva who’d spoken, neither one of them having heard her approaching with all the commotion Poppy was making. She noticed the trunk and grinned. “Is there a lifetime supply of candy in there? I know that would be the best day of my life!”

“Even better!” Poppy cried, stepping aside so her sister could see. Viva tucked her hands under her chin and gushed.

“Awwww…. That’s so sweet!”

Suddenly Poppy whirled on John Dory, grabbing him by the vest and shaking him hard. “John Dory! And just how long were you going to wait before you told me about this?!?!”

“You gotta ask to receive!” JD answered simply.

“Well, I guess,” Poppy grumbled, “Okay, but no more dillydallying, you have GOT to spill everything to me about these!”

But to her surprise, John Dory shook his head. “No can do, Miss Poppy…”

The Pop Queen’s jaw dropped. “WHAT?”

While also surprised to hear this answer come from his brother, Branch was actually relieved. “Oh, good.” The less embarrassment he had to endure in front of his girlfriend, the better!

But it seemed JD wasn’t done explaining. “...Not without the others to help,” he finished with a sly smile.

Now it was Branch’s turn to exclaim “What?”

And before he could stop him, John Dory had cupped his hands around his mouth and called out in the direction of the cantina. “YO, BRUCE! CLAY! FLOYD! GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE, PRONTO!”

A few seconds later, all three Trolls had hightailed their way over.

“What’s up John Dory?” Floyd asked.

“Why you sounding like there’s a big emergency or something?” Clay questioned with suspicion, knowing how JD had a tendency to overexaggerate matters.

“And why does Poppy look like she’s about to faint?” Bruce asked, pointing at the overwhelmed Pop Queen who was being held up by Viva and fanned.

John Dory presented the trunk to the three of them. “Does this answer your question?”

Three identical ear-to-ear smiles stretched across their faces.

“Awwww, that’s nice,” Clay cooed.

“Wow,” Floyd whispered, tears pooling in his eyes, “I really had thought these were all gone…”

“Well they’re not!” Bruce chuckled happily. “This is great!”

“You’re telling me,” Poppy mumbled, just about ready to collapse. “And speaking of telling me…” She gestured at the trunk meaningfully.

But Branch intervened, putting a hand up. “Now wait, wait a second, hold on. Must we do this?”

John Dory rubbed his chin. “Hmm. Alright, those who aren’t in favor, raise your hands,” he said, putting the decision up to vote.

As it turned out, Branch was the only one among the seven who followed through on that.

“‘Kay. Now, all in favor of sharing Branch’s totally brodacious and all-around awesome Bitty-B-baby photographs, put ‘em up!”

Six hands flew up into the air without hesitation.

Branch rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

“YAY!” Poppy cheered, clapping her hands with Viva and giving her boyfriend a great big hug in gratitude.

John Dory grinned as he reached into the trunk - full to the brim with Branch-centered memorabilia, cut-outs, magazine-clippings, and pictures - and pulled out the first item to share. Poppy squealed as he began to explain.

“Hehehe, this one” - he started, gesturing at a photograph of Baby Branch suspended on a glitter wire - “was when we were deciding how Branch was gonna make his first live appearance. We thought about having him lower down onto the stage from above, but, hehehe, he was kinda afraid of heights.”

“I was a baby, John Dory. Everything around me looked big! So… yeah,” Branch said in his defense, crossing his arms.

Bruce had a turn picking next, and gave a knowing “Ohhh,” when he saw what it was. “Debut outfit idea that, of course, didn’t work because of, well… the obvious.” When he showed the photo, it was Baby Branch with his head barely peeking out of the top of a puffy blue vest, BroZone’s signature white slacks on his bottom and trailing behind him like a gown’s train.

“I wasn’t the same size as you all back then,” Branch said with a tone in his voice that exhibited a “duh!”

“Aw, but at least you’ll fit in it now, right, sweetie?” Poppy cooed lovingly to him.

He had to smirk at his girlfriend’s neverending optimism. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Clay laughed when he pulled out the next photograph. “Ohhh, man… Grandma’s birthday,” he said fondly. “Each of us had a hand in getting together her special Fluffleberry cake. Bruce and I made the batter. John Dory and Floyd took care of the baking. And Branch, hehehe… he helped decorate. Although, I think he might’ve ended up decorating himself more than the cake.” He turned the photo around so the others could see the little blue Troll baby covered from head to toe in colorful icing and sprinkles.

“It was my first time!” Branch wailed. “And believe me, I had icing in places I didn’t even know I had.” He shuddered to remember. “It was unpleasant.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we took you to the bath right after,” Floyd said with a little grin. The grin became wider when he pulled out the next photo. “Oh my, and speaking of baths… can’t forget your first shower, can we?”

Branch’s cheeks turned red from embarrassment when the baby photo depicted him pictured from behind, the soap bubbles barely hiding his birthday suit.

“Whoaho!” JD cracked up., “Now there’s something you don’t see everyday!”

“I guess you could say it happens only once in a blue moon, am I right?” Clay joked, Bruce laughing alongside him.

“OH!” Poppy squeaked in surprise, blushing, while Viva gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

“This just goes to showcase a whole new meaning to ‘junk in the trunk!’” Branch humphed with whatever dignity he had left, referring to John Dory’s trunk of memorabilia. Although, his older brother didn’t interpret the statement that way.

“I’ll say!” he hollered, stooping down to slap Branch in the rear.

“OUCH! JD!”

The goggled Troll giggled in response to his shout.

Branch huffed and plopped down to the ground, both as a way to ensure that John Dory wouldn’t do that again and as a way to make himself comfortable. Because - as the elder Troll took his turn sifting through the trunk for another good photograph and story attached to it, and his brothers eagerly awaited their next turns, and his girlfriend sat there nearly panting in anticipation - Branch realized that he would be there for quite some time.

Yep. A nice loooong time.

[kisskisstine]

Once Upon a Time in Fairywood - Chapter 2

2 - The Conflict at the Soirée!

Go to Index | Chapter 1 <- Previous | Next -> Chapter 3

Fanfic Summary: Once Upon a Time in Fairywood, FOPANW fanfic featuring the pop idol and actress Goldie Goldenglow and Peri (the unemployed), featuring Irep (super employed), as they run away from the Fairywood award festivities and explore the city altogether!

Chapter 2 Summary: Goldie and Blonda entertain the Fairywood Award attendees at the opening night soiree. but at the dinner table, Blonda showing distain for Goldie's naiveté coming into her newfound megafame, as Goldie encounters an conflict at the soirée sending her to tears.

--

The Enchanted Palace Hall was a glittering dining room flushed with imperial arches garnished with corinthian columns and high ceilings decorated with chandeliers illuminating the art deco detailing against warm marble.

White-clothed round tables, embellished the hall seating the celebrated guests and attendees for the Fairywood Awards. Paintings of enchanted creatures from times passed distinguished the walls in gold frames, giving the feeling they too were part of the ceremony. All while Goldie stood front and center stage at the podium under the beaming spotlights, sharing the stage with her co-star Blonda Fairywinkle as they announced they were both picked to co-host this years awards ceremony.

Goldie finished her welcome speech with exceptional poise and grace alongside Blonda as the dining hall roared in applause and cheer. It’s not everyday she gets to speak to such a prominent group of enchanted beings. Blonda was exceptionally dazzling this evening. Her ice-blonde hair styled in an elegant up-do, showcased her brilliant aquamarine gemstone earrings. A white, plush fur-wrap draped her shoulders complimenting her glacier blue, fitted silk gown, embroidered with the finest diamonds and silver threadings. She wanted everyone to know who was queen and just by Blonda’s presence herself, made the entire hall give their reverence and full attention.

Goldie and Blonda’s welcome speech was charming and playful. They easily flowed back and forth, just as in their movies where they frequently played the roles of mother and daughter. Goldie really enjoyed Blonda’s character and cherished every moment of their onstage relationship. Blonda was the warm and patient parental figure that Goldie needed through this overwhelming stage in her life. But as they started heading back to their tables as the band came back to take over the stage, Blonda’s real personality showed through.

“Ugh, you should have let me say that last line, Goldie, you know everyone is really only here to see ME host the awards. Blonda scoffed as she took a sip of her olive martini. “You’re just here to pull that new crowd of younger fairies born after that silly fairy baby ban was lifted. Sure you may have larger ratings right now but remember that I span GENERATIONS of fans. Everyone loves me, and I’m sure people will love you too… you know, eventually.”

“Sorry Blonda– Ma’am. I didn’t mean to! I was just trying to riff–”, Goldie stuttered as she nervously tried to sip her pina-colada mocktail.

“Sweetie, your drink is spilling on your face.” Blonda stated, with a smirk.

“Ah! Sorry! Sorry!�� Goldie patted her mouth with the dinner napkin. The band started playing a new song and the attention was thankfully shifted away from that embarrassing interaction.

It was often that Blonda was hard on her. It made sense as legendary as she was. Goldie was just a newbie and what legend would want to work this much with a newbie? Blonda is probably embarrassed being around her. Since their lead casting in their first film, they were paired endlessly together. Talk shows, stage cameos, theatre specials, day time and prime time shows, celebrity events, even MORE movie roles! –the list goes on. Goldie was sure that Blonda was just tired of carrying the weight of a newbie around. She would do her best to be on Blonda’s good side even when it came with snarky remarks and heavy criticism, Blonda was just giving her strong learnings as a newbie… right? Regardless, Goldie tried her best to see Blonda as her on-stage warm, motherly persona and was happy that Blonda was also co-hosting the awards with her.

The dinner was finished just shortly after dessert and the dining hall was magically turned into the soiree’s cocktail lounge for after-dinner drinks. Tall tables, velvet curtains draping the walls, twinkling fairy lights, bartenders on call for cocktails, and a lively band, transformed the hall into a jazz lounge only rivaling the Caveau de la Huchette lounge in Paris.

A couple well known actors came by Blonda’s side to greet her and thank her for the speech. She giggled with them so elegantly as they exchanged kisses on the cheek and went their way while Blonda stayed at the tall table with Goldie. Male attention always enthralled Blonda, and it put her in a better mood than before, to which relieved Goldie. Blonda’s new dry martini arrived as she brought it up to cheers. Goldie, on the other hand, was still working on her previous pina colada mocktail and politely asked Blonda how she knew the two gentlemen who stopped by.

“Oh we are just old friends from back in the day! We used to be so close while we were still working on our acting careers. We only really catch up on events like this that can bring us back together.” Blonda took a pause to reflect, smiled, and took another sip of her martini. “So Goldie, darling, did you bring anyone special to this weekend’s awards show? I didn’t see Cupid or Nmsic Phairy. Don’t tell me you’re alone!”

Blonda had an unexplainable way of gut-wrenching Goldie while staying elegant and lovely. Again, Goldie knew it’s just because she’s just a silly newbie and newbies probably deserved it like her.

“Ah, actually they might come later!” Goldie said meekly, finishing her pina colada mocktail and ordered another one from a passing waitress. “I got Bruno to reserve a room for them if– I mean, WHEN they do come. Haha!”

“Oh, how marvelous. Bruno sounds like he’s treating you well then. He’s new bodyguarding but seems like he’s been a great help!”

“Yeah he’s great!” Goldie smiled, as her new drink arrived at her table. She took it from the waitress’ tray and looked up to thank the waitress but was surprised to see a familiar face!

“Luma?! Is that you?!” Goldie exclaimed. She put down her drink and went to hug Luma, but Luma didn’t hug her back. Must have been because she’s carrying a drinks tray, Goldie thought. “Blonda, this is my friend, Luma Glitterwings! She and I were trainees in the same idol talent agency!”

“Nice to meet you Ma’am. And Hello, Goldie.” Luma said very matter-of-factly. She was a petite fairy with sparkling eyes who stood at Goldie’s same height. Her long, pink hair pulled tightly into a bun that served to keep it out of the way while waitressing. One could imagine Luma dawning a dazzling iridescent pop-idol outfit with mic in hand singing under the spotlight, but no, she was here just waitressing.

“This waitress outfit is so cute on you! Blonda and I wore one for a TV show we just shot for last week. How’s life?! How are you?!” Goldie excitedly rambled.

“Look, Goldie. I don’t think you should call me your friend.”

“Wait– why not?”

“I’m not the only one who also thinks this but ever since you became this big shot you’ve become so self-centered and a terrible person, that I don’t want to associate myself with you anymore.”

“Uhh.. I don’t think that’s true?” Goldie replied in confusion.

Why would Luma think this way of her? Luma was probably going through a tough time and Goldie just so happened to be the punching bag for it. Luma’s words hurt a lot but Goldie tried her best to be neutral and understanding.

Unfortunately, Goldie’s response didn’t turn out for the better. “Luma, I’m sorry you’ve been feeling this way. You know we were close at the talent agency. I just don’t understand how you can come to that conclusion?”

“Don’t gaslight me! I’ve seen you on TV. You’ve truly become a selfish person!” Luma raised her voice in pure resentment and the whole hall fell into silence, as all the attention was on both of them. “I was let go by the idol talent agency and I had nowhere to go! You never even bothered to see what was happening in my life.” Luma trembled with anger. “All I needed to hear was ‘I’m sorry that happened to you’ that’s it. That’s all I needed to hear, Goldie! But no! I heard nothing from you!”

“Luma, I am truly, truly sorry that happened to you.” Goldie's heart dropped, as she held her hands to her chest pleading to her friend. “You should have contacted me too and told me how much it was affecting you! I would have loved to hear from you while I was working non-stop for months! Luma, if you would’ve just let me know, I would have–”

“Too late. You had your chance, Goldie.”

“Luma,” tears started bubbling up in Goldie’s eyes, but she tried her best to push them back. “That’s not fair.. I didn’t know–”

“‘Not fair?’ ” Luma taunted as her anger went fully unleashed. “Give me a break, Goldie! If you wanna see the receipts of what’s NOT fair I got that list right here for you!”

As Luma went to raise her wand, a poof of clouds all of a sudden came between Goldie and Luma as Bruno appeared, his broad shoulders in his black tux separated them two.

“That’s enough now, miss. Let’s get you a spot to work away from the hall.” Bruno rested his hand on Luma’s shoulder, and started gently escorting her towards the exit, nodding to Goldie as a sign of ��the situation has been handled’.

“Oh so now you let your bodyguards handle your ‘friends’ now? Jeez, that’s so pathetic.” Luma snarked back.

Goldie was left vulnerable and petrified from the encounterment. Guilt and sadness enveloped her body and it didn’t help that all eyes in the entire hall were on her, but her feelings were so intense that she felt numb to being a spectacle.

Blonda was apparently thrilled to see this entire happening. “Ha! Oh Goldie, don’t blame her. This is just what happens when you get big. Friends just get madly jealous of you, that’s all.”

Petrified, Goldie was only half listening to Blonda. Tears finally broke from Goldie’s eyes and streamed down her face. A sudden fluster came from her heart and moved her almost involuntarily as she broke from her state and raised her voice for Luma to hear.

“Luma, I love you and you’re going to do well in everything you do! I miss you and remember I love you and I’ll always love you!” Goldie exclaimed, her face dripping with tears. Just before Luma had any chance to respond, Goldie took out her wand and poofed out of the hall disappearing in front of everyone.

She returned just in front of her hotel room, as fairy hotels have strict privacy enchantments on their rooms, and felt relieved to see that she was alone in the corridor. She wiped her face and tried to keep herself from breaking down but kept fumbling with the keys as she struggled to unlock the door. She was finally able to turn the key to open the door as she closed it abruptly behind her.

Goldie paused to look around the room. It was a large, circular hotel suite with Victorian furnishing and ginkgo leaf wallpaper. The tall ceilings were garnished with meticulous crown moldings and chandeliers that illuminated the space. A canopy bed sat on the opposite side of the room, framed by a window and french glass doors that led out to a juliette balcony. The hotel staff took care of unloading Goldie’s luggages and as she turned around to look back at the wall behind her, she saw that the staff took an extra step in setting up her movie and idol group posters, awards, achievement plaques, and medals all along the same wall of the door behind her.

For a moment she looked in awe at them all as if she didn’t even know this person despite them all having her name and the images bearing her semblance. Then suddenly, as if all the anxiety and sadness of the evening's events bubbled up at once like a boiling water spilling over, she broke down with tears streaming down her face and crumpled to the floor.

—-

Go to Index

Chapter 1 <- Previous

[kanatacs]

man I can’t wait for episode fifteen to come out :D

anyways this was actually made for like- a cover of my fanfic soo like uh- you can read it if you want,

(Cover:)

(Just has the title lol)

[christinescupofcoffee]

All That Glitters is Not Gold

Chapter Nine: Where the River Goes

Jed trekked along the pathway with his new noble steeds on either side of him, and as long as they were following the escarpment of the Andes down, he knew that they were head3d south. All the while, he was still baffled by the behavior of those farmers and why they seemed so fearful of him even as he approached them in a benevolent sense. There was no way they could have known that he carried a medallion, or even an iota of gold for that matter. But he was already walking, alone, and with two horses and two donkeys to help him out.

On either side of him stood tall towering trees as well as rocky cataracts that seemed to extend high up into the clouds. It was wild to him that no one had said a word about this place to him back at the museum, and it was even more wild when he wondered if there was anyone else in the Old West who even so much as wandered off and found themselves in the high plateaus of the Andes Mountains. He was that close to finding a way down through the mountains as well as the spine of South America, and no one ever told him about it. To think that he had been that shallow, that nearsighted, so far gone with the thought of Octavius, that whole entire time.

At the same time, however, he couldn’t hold it against Octavius. The two of them were chasing each other all across those dioramas as well as the five and a half minute hallway: they both had neglected the worlds which lay around them, from the Andes to the place Ahkmenrah whisked Octavius away to, wherever they had gone. Perhaps there was something good to come out of the breakup after all.

A gust of cold alpine wind caused Jed to bow his head and hunch his shoulders. He had on his hat as well as two layers of thick denim, but something told him that he needed more than that, especially if he was headed southwards along the escarpment and with a river off to the side that seemed to be growing wider with each passing step. He had no idea what resided down at the southern end of South America, other than a place called Cape Horn. He had no idea where he was going, other than the fact that he was looking for his gold through the proverbial haystack.

Despite the cold of the mountains, everything around him was lush and green: the trees blanketed a part of the sky off to the left of him with thick heavy green leaves the size of dinner plates. On the right stood the rest of the mountain pass itself as well as the high plateau: whenever he even so much as took a glimpse up towards the summits to see the snow caps or a plume of what appeared to be fog, his head began to spin. All the while, the sound of the river babbling rang through the trees as it snaked down away from the top of the plateau and the trailhead through the mountain pass, and it wasn’t until the forest cleared out somewhat and beheld a flat plain of scraggly brush and more trees when they were met with the river’s edge itself.

At least he was down away from Machu Picchu and the even higher plateau back there, and thus he could potentially think straight again. It also helped that the alcohol had flushed on out of his system at that point, and he could walk about with nothing but the thought of the search firmly in mind.

Jed stepped over a long flat rock and onto a patch of lush green grass. Within the grass was soft thick dark soil: he stopped the horses in their tracks and held still in his place. He exerted all of his weight on the soil, and he knew that it wasn’t just from the rain. Something about that soil gave him a good feeling.

He let go of the reins and crouched down to the ground for a brushing back of the soil: he could tell right away that the soil had been disturbed, as if whoever was there before him had done some digging.

“I wish I had a shovel,” he confessed aloud. Augusta huffed and shook her head about, and he took a look up at her there on his right. He let his eyes wander over to the scraggly shrubs on the side of the mountain pass, where he spotted a handful of more long, low fence wires as well as more square stones which jutted up from the earth. He knitted his eyebrows together at the sight of it, especially since the stones reminded him of the ones back at Machu Picchu.

“Wait here, boys and girls,” he advised the horses and the donkeys, and he stood to his feet and walked on over to the pasture and the monument. Indeed, the stones seemed to be arranged about in a perfect circle, and one that extended out into the brush: the stones themselves were perfectly flat and level, as if the Incans who were in the process of building Machu Picchu had given the same treatment upon these stones before him; indeed, the first thought that ran through his mind was that this right here was originally Machu Picchu and the one behind him had been moved up there for more of a means of prowess. It almost looked like a prayer circle, or the beginnings of a brand-new building tucked up there in the mountains.

The brush inside the circle remained untouched, and yet he could tell that the earth there had been perturbed as well at some point by another. Jed turned to the stone to his left, only to find something engraved on the surface. He brushed away some extraneous soil from the grooves, only to find a larger version of the sun pattern from the medallion on the top, all the way down to the skull shape in the center: this sun was about the size of the head of one of the Roman catapults, and something that could potentially lead him back there if he was willing.

He turned his attention to the stone right behind him to find what appeared to be a crescent moon, also of the same size: two perfect circles to create the moon shape surrounded by what appeared to be smoke and a circle of stars. Jed doubled back towards the sun as well as the next stone over, which to have a trio of stars lined up in straight fashion; above the trio were two more stars followed by another two over them. An arrowhead jutted out from the side of the top two stars.

The next stone over had markings he didn’t recognize, with concentric circles as well as more stars. He had a faint memory of Octavius once talking about the Roman gods, from Sol Invictus to Luna as well as Jupiter and Saturn.

The Inca had bestowed him with a strange monument as well as all manner of gold coins, and no one would talk to him, either. It all felt so strange and yet everything about it seemed to add up to him. He was going in the right direction with it all as he reached the stone furthest away from where he had congregated with the horses and the donkeys. Something about the markings seemed oddly familiar to him, with the man at the center with his arms jutted out as if to direct the other men around him. It reminded him of the old papyrus back in pharaoh’s tomb in the museum.

“It’s hieroglyphics,” he muttered under his breath.

He knew of the intent: he wondered if it was really intended for him, however. But he knew hieroglyphics when he saw them: all those times of looking down the five and a half minute hallway for a glimpse of the golden tablet in Ahkmenrah’s tomb. He also knew papyrus when he saw it as well even if there wasn’t any around so to speak: the whole ordeal of having lost the book of the dead was still fresh in memory. He was making educated guesses as best as he could, even if his education wasn’t all that much to come from.

Jed was about to turn on back for the horses and the donkeys when he felt the muzzle of one of them rest upon the crest of his shoulder. He took a glimpse back to find it was Dora, and Augusta milled up right next to him.

“I think we done gone found ourselves a clue, girls,” he announced, and he could scarcely keep the smile from crossing his face. The donkeys joined them from behind with their hooves silently flopping on the soil around them. “I think, anyways. I’m gonna need to make myself a map of sorts here at some point. I can see us getting lost on the way back towards the museum… that is if we go on back. That is, if I can take you four back with me.”

Augusta shook her head and huffed, and her long mane fluttered about.

“You thirsty, girl?” he asked her with a stroke of her snout. “I reckon that ya are. Let’s go on back to the cave.”

Jed guided the horses and the donkeys back towards the trailhead as well as the edge of the river: another cold gust of wind sent shivers down his spin, and more so when the horses put their heads down to the water for a good long drink. Though it was still morning, he knew he had to prepare himself for when night fell again, and he also knew that he wasn’t going to get very far on foot, especially when he had such strong, hearty horses on either side of him.

“Let’s see if we can get you girls a couple of saddles,” he told the horses once they reached the trailhead again.

There was something about the way in which the trail snaked along through the trees that struck him as peculiar, as if he and Octavius had gone down a trail like that once before. They probably did: when Ahkmenrah had his book of the dead stolen, the two of them made their way down a trail through some trees down in Washington, D.C., and it brought them to the first clue which beheld the lost pile of papyrus. Jed however had kicked back a bit of the old white lightning to help with the feeling of bravery, and thus, he had a vague memory of it. It wasn’t like he could readily ask Octavius about it, either, who had gone with Ahkmenrah somewhere.

Something about the thought of that left a sinking feeling in his stomach, a feeling that he didn’t want to know, either.

“This old cowpoke doesn’t want to think about it,” he muttered to himself; the word “cowpoke” had slipped out from his lips, and he had no idea why, either, especially since the scotch had long been flushed out of his system. The word made him stop right in his tracks, and he took the medallion out from his shirt pocket for a better look: even with horses and donkeys, he had to distract himself from the thought which he had just experienced.

One of the donkeys, a little matte gray one with a little white potbelly and black markings on his ears as well as his muzzle, ambled up to him and brought his fuzzy lips up to Jed’s fingers. It was right then he realized that he never gave the donkeys a name as he took off his gloves to give him a feeling of familiarity.

He brought his snout to the medallion and Jed’s bare hand for a good long sniff, and the feeling of the fur on his skin tickled him a bit.

“Gold?” he asked the donkey, which fluttered its nostrils some more at the face of the medallion. It could have been that it was very well in the thick of smelling the scotch as it had washed away the extra dirt in the grooves, but it seemed to be fascinated by the gold nestled in Jed’s hand. Indeed, it brought its flat front teeth down onto the face of the medallion as if to bite it, but it couldn’t do it. It was there that Jed realized that the donkey was trying familiarize himself with him, or that perhaps he was hungry.

“I’m hungry, too,” he assured the donkey. “We’re with the Inca, though. Surely, they have things for us to eat, especially you.” The donkey moved his head up towards the back of Jed’s hand as if he wanted to be petted.

“I think I’ll call you Silver,” he told the donkey in a low voice. “The five of us are headed to the land of silver, so you get to be Silver.”

The other donkey huffed and padded up to him for some attention as well. He was the color of cinnamon and had a little white spot around his eye as if he wore an eye patch: his left ear had a slight kink to it, like he had it clipped prior to their meeting.

“I’ll call you Marley,” he said to the donkey. “I dunno, I just kinda feel that one.”

Dora whinnied, and Jed turned his attention to her as she lifted her head from the river waters. He let his eyes wander on over to the other side of the river, where he caught the view of some smaller trees, some with smaller leaves and little red and yellow spots up in the branches.

“Apples,” he remarked. “And looks like lemons, too? It ain’t Rocky Mountain oysters…” He shrugged his shoulders. “…but it’ll do, especially if y’all get to eat ‘em.” He glanced about the river to see if there was a way of going on over there. It wasn’t a big river, nor was it a raging one given the level ground, but he knew that it could be deep in some spots, and if he lost anything on the way over, it would be too much to even so much as think about. Jed spotted something up in the trees, back in the direction in which they came.

He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, and he guided the horses and the donkeys back along the edge of the river and to the trees. It was an older bridge suspended right over the waters, over what appeared to be the beginnings of a cataract. It wasn’t a huge waterfall, but it rained down enough upon the sharp rocks to create the beginnings of a white froth: if it rained more than it had the night before, it could possibly turn into a big one. The bridge itself was comprised of older planks suspended down from the overhanging trees.

“There’s our bridge, gang,” he announced to them. “It ain’t much, but she’ll do.”

The bridge itself looked to be wide enough for him as well as each of the horses and donkeys, which meant he was going to have to guide them one at a time over there to the other side. He was alone, however, and he had to have them all together with him over there. He held onto Augusta’s reins first and gently nudged her towards the head of the bridge. He took one step on the first plank; when he saw that the wood was supportive of his weight, he guided her towards the same one. When he saw that it was holding her, he began walking.

“Come on,” he gently coaxed her. “I got you, too.” Gingerly and with some direction, Augusta made her way over the bridge first with Jed at the helm. Her hooves weighed down on the wood, but the bridge bent with each step, which meant they could readily walk across without the fear of any plank breaking apart. It was still a daunting task as Jed had to watch his step over the aged wood lest any part of it break apart, as well as guide the horse across, as well as watch where he was going. He held onto the reins with one hand and the banister of the bridge with the other hand, and he took a glimpse down to his feet: the water babbled underneath him with thick white foam; through the pillars of foam, he noticed the smooth but sharp rocks embedded within there. Augusta followed him along the bridge, and he could see the fear in her eyes all the while.

But they reached the other side of the bridge, and he relaxed his shoulders once she stood on the grass there on the other side.

“Wait for me,” he advised her with a look into her eyes and a stroke of her snout once more. She huffed as if in affirmation, and he returned to the other side of the bridge to fetch Dora next. It was the same process as before, except she moved forth at a quicker pace along the bridge.

It was almost easy with Marley, who hobbled along as if business as usual. But Silver was wary about crossing the bridge: he had crossed over with three hoofed animals, and now one had been left there. He clopped his hooves on the ground and moved away from the mouth of the bridge, which in turn made Jed look down into his eyes as the start of a pep talk.

“Tell you what,” he began, “let’s ride together over the bridge. If something gives out underneath us, we’ll go down together. You and me, ‘cause I ain’t quitting you.” Silver blinked his eyes at Jed, who then rounded him and nudged him from behind. He plodded along the grass towards the mouth of the bridge, and Jed climbed aboard him, and he lay down flat over his back to give him a feeling of security.

“Easy… easy…” He held onto the back of Silver’s scraggly hair as he padded over the bridge. The aged wood creaked under the donkey’s hooves, and it didn’t help that the water sprayed up over his head and shoulders in a thick curtain at that point. Silver gingerly took one step, and his hoof missed the edge of the wood by about a hair. Jed let out a low whistle out of relief, and another one when they reached the other side. He climbed off and wiped his brow with the back of his hand even though he hadn’t even so much as broken out a sweat.

“Gonna get you two apples for that,” he assured Silver with a gentle pat on either side of his body.

Marley brayed right then, and Jed lifted his head for a look over to the trees. Indeed, there was another trail there on the other side of the river, one which led down towards those apple and lemon trees, and he led the four animals down there. Not only were there those trees clustered about on the edge of the river amongst the other deciduous trees, but there was a small, partially collapsed wooden shed and some heavy burlap sacks piled up on the outside.

“Looks like wheat,” he said in a low voice. ��It’s wheat, oats, and barley as well. And it looks like these have been stashed here, too, much like the gold coins.” But when Jed glanced over his shoulder once more, he wondered as to whom would leave all of this here, as well as the horses and the donkeys. He could only assume that it was all for his benefit, that all of this was falling out of the sky for him. Where he had lost his gold, as well as Octavius, he found an absolute treasure trove before him in the thick of the trees.

Silver and Marley were both more than happy to carry one bag of each the oats, the wheat, and the barley, and they were both more than happy to have apples picked from the trees as well. Dora and Augusta helped themselves to apples as well, and Jed picked a bunch and tucked them into a few empty sacks found in the shed. Once he tied up the sack, he spotted something else on the ground.

“Oh, yes! That’s what I need!”

It was an old leather saddle, and a small one at that, but he put it over Augusta’s back and she carried it as if it was made for her. He then tied the sacks onto the saddle so they all could have something to eat for the next stint of the trip.

“Alright, boys and girls, let’s move on outta here!” he declared with a tug of the reins on Augusta’s muzzle, and the horses began to gallop away from the river’s edge. Despite moving at a slow pace, Jed bowed down to protect himself from the cold, alpine winds; with one hand, he held onto his Stetson hat and bowed his head. Augusta’s long mane billowed about in his face, but he trusted the horse as to where she was going. Dora galloped alongside them along the trail, as did Silver and Marley.

They followed the river’s edge for quite a while, all the way until the next sheet of clouds began to creep in over the plateau off to the right. Jed spotted another cave in the rock off to the left, a much bigger one that time around, and he could keep those four animals in there with him without any problems. He remembered that he had the scotch bottle still with him, but he remembered to make little cups in the ground for the four of them. But then again, the river was right there; nevertheless, he dug out little holes in the earth for them there at the mouth of the cave.

Once he finished the last hole, something caught his attention again, and he looked up to the pasture across the river: several black and white alpacas congregated in the grass over there, all looking as though they wanted to eat something, and all looking extra fuzzy as if the rain was about to come with a vengeance at any moment. As a result, Jed left his bottle out in the open and retreated to the cave with Dora, Augusta, Silver, and Marley.

It was surprisingly warm in that cave, but he knew that at some point or another, he would have to scrounge for some firewood and build a fire for the five of them.

“Let me tell y’all about this man I once knew,” he began again, that time in a low voice so they could hear him over the echo of the wind through the cave. Silver and Marley knelt down next to him to keep warm: they, too, we’re looking rather fuzzy from the moisture in the air.

“He was the best guy I ever knew,” he stated. “I loved him to death. Then… well, I’m not too sure what had happened. We slipped away from one another and broke up. And if I’m honest, I’m still raw about it.”

Silver inched up next to him, and his chubby little body almost felt like a pillow.

“I don’t really know how to feel about all of this, if’n I’m being completely honest,” he said. Dora rested her snout upon his shoulder, and he reached up and stroked her soft fine fur with his gloved fingers. Her dark eyes locked onto him, and he showed her a little smile.

“Do you know what I mean?” he asked her in a near whisper. She huffed and breathed a little harder as he stroked her some more. “I thought I could love a woman as well as a man, but now I’m watching him go and love a woman and yet I dunno if he still would like me at all. I wonder if he even still thinks of me.”

Dora huffed again, and then she crouched down onto her front legs right next to him. She curled up right next to him.

“He went off with Pharaoh into his own tomb,” Jed continued, and he began stroking her snout once again. “I dunno what they were doing back in there, either.” He closed his eyes as he felt his heart sink and his stomach churn. “I hate ta assume the worst, too. But I am. I dunno if he ever did love me like he said he did.” Dora then leaned into him as if to keep him warm and safe against the cold high altitude winds. Augusta took her spot on his other side: both horses were protecting him from the wind and the cold. Indeed, he shivered from the feeling, and he hoped that it wouldn’t rain on the alpacas out there.

[redtsundere-writes]

Tyrant's Favorite | Sukuna Ryomen

Chapter 10 “Killers” is available now!

King!SukunaRyomen x Servant!FemReader

Summary: You used to be just another servant among the army of humans operating under the command of the terrible king, Sukuna Ryomen. An ordinary human who only knows how to wash, clean and cook. Until one day, he notices something in you that you hadn't seen before.

PICK YOUR FAVORITE!

AO3 or Wattpad?

Preview ↆ

King Sukuna was ready to start choosing who would be the new servants to join the castle. Even though his only job was to kill useless people and sit in the comfort of his throne, he still found it tedious and boring at times. Killing people in one cut for him is as simple as cutting a piece of paper with a pair of scissors. Amidst the gloom provided by the veils, he settled into his stately seat and yawned. “How much longer will they make me wait?” he wondered. Uraume had informed him that the number of people had increased by 30% since last year, which meant that this time he had to take care of more useless parasites. 

The faint sound of the door to his left brought him out of his thoughts. He arched an eyebrow when he saw you slowly entering the room. You looked more nervous and shy than usual, looking down at the floor in case you had already killed someone. Your yellow dress trailed softly against the marble floor until you reached the curtains that sheltered the king. Seeing him that way from, so close brought back memories. 

For him too. He couldn't believe it had been a whole year since he first saw you. A beggar he thought he would kill instantly when he saw the lousy state you had arrived in. Malnourished, dirty and with dried tears on your cheeks. You just screamed “unseemly” with your appearance. She was glad she had given you a chance. You looked like a completely different person now. If I had known you as you currently look, I would even think you were a princess from a family rotten in gold. 

“What the fuck are you doing here? You should be in class,” Sukuna scolded you with a stern tone even though on the inside he liked to see you. 

“Kenjaku told me that to get used to death, I must see it. He said it would help me to be able to kill someone like you asked,” you explained as you looked around. The room looked glittering. The massacre had not yet begun. You didn't know if you had arrived at the right or wrong time. 

“Is that what he said?” He asked skeptically. You nodded as you returned your gaze to his four eyes. “Not a bad idea….” He thought aloud as he scratched his chin. 

Not only will you get used to seeing him in action, you'll also become familiar with the new servants. Plus it was a great excuse to spend time with you alone. It was true that they had started archery lessons a couple of days ago, but he was so busy that he sometimes relegated that task to Kenjaku. It bothered him, but he would never admit it, not even to himself. 

“All right. Come closer then.” 

You didn't really want to, but you were already there. You stepped through the translucent fabrics until you finally faced him. You were planning to stand next to him while you watched everything, but Sukuna had other plans. He yanked you up by the waist to make you sit on his lap. Her hands gripped your body to hold you in place. It was lucky they were in the shadows because you didn't want Sukuna to see how flushed you were. It was as if every time they met, he tried to get closer to your body and each time he was more and more direct. You could hear your own heart beating like crazy from the illusion, but that couldn't be right. 

“You better not do anything stupid, you understand?” He growled in your face. You turned your face away at the intimidation. “You know what will happen if you do.” You swallowed dryly before nodding quickly.

Open fanfic commissions!

Masterlist.

[iiposblog]

for the fanfics,

on wattpad

behind the screen- taco and nickel get stuck in a tadc esque world

on ao3

room 43- adorable lightbrush (and slight fantube) college au

hall 17- similar to exp 21, ver good read if you are looking to cry

living millennium- only 1 chapter so far, but its 20k words, very interesting au where taco, lb, fan and apple get brought over from their medieval universe to modern universe of the rest of the ii cast

all i wanna do is go to a (cast) party- college au, vialfile, they all are starring in a play

it cant be that hard.. right?- ii is a very popular show and bot has to go to school while being famous

object show hosts in a content house, what will they do- object show hosts get trapped in a house

we winning inanimate insanity with this one- taco, mepad, toilet and mephone4 (later mic) are in a discord server

crying, my guardian angel is crying- the most heartbreaking tacomic fic out there

battle for rotting my brain out of my skull (series) - bfb and ii crossover, very deep lore.

all that glitters isnt gold- amazing ii au abt mephone

uncovering meeple- taco returns back to america, but meeple is rather suspicious (only around 4 chapters)

honorable mention goes to Crowned, Your puppets, my puppets and Wake up; Stay awake

.

[afterhyundelight]

The Mentalist – Fanfiction Masterlist ☕︎

Last update: 12/12/24 ┃ Sources: ArchiveOfOurOwn, Fanfiction.net

Collection of The Mentalist fanfics I’ve enjoyed, based on my personal preference. Most of these focus on Jisbon ship, set after the series, with a few canon-compliant, canon-divergent, and alternate universe stories mixed in. Don’t forget to check the ratings and tags as preferences can vary.

POST-SERIES

Fanfics set after the The Mentalist series ends, featuring the Janes. Mostly domestic and fluff Jisbon married life. These are stories I've enjoyed based on my personal preferences. Don’t forget to check the ratings and tags, as preferences can vary.

Oneshot

A Trip Down Memory Lane – donkeydomination

Finally – angrylittleprincess

Her Beauty – fan4000

I just thought I'd tell you – lastavica

Injuries – mentalagent13

The Mentalist: Bear Claws – donnamour1969

Well time has a way of throwing it all in your face – littleyellowhouse

Yellow Sand Beneath Your Feet – autumn0689

Multi-chapter

I sang for you the softest tune – stxrdustwidow

Irreplacable – glindalovesshoes

Letters to Teresa – idan*

Threads – lisbon

CANON

Here’s a list of fanfics I’ve enjoyed, including both canon-compliant and canon-divergent ones. Don’t forget to check the ratings and tags, as preferences can vary.

Season 1

Bagheera and the Little Prince – idan

Blind Faith – idan

Dawn – chibinoyume

Impromptu Lullabies – hardly loquacious

Season 2

And It Tasted of Fear – a testament to improvement

Ruddy Drops that Warm My Heart – aquila1

Victimology – idan

Season 3

Assurance – laury the latrator

Blood for Blood, 3x14 – donnamour1969

Calculation – idan

Checks and Balances – idan

Red Gold, 3x15 – donnamour1969

Red Lightning – castiello

Strawberries with Chocolate - kushiro

Season 4

After the Fugue – hlj137

Lay your head down for me darlin' – brittwho

Little Red Book, 4x2 – donnamour1969

Ruby Slippers, 4x21 – donnamour1969

Shatter – ruuger

Silent Promise – polarnightFox

We stand in stillness – brittwho

Where in the World? 4x6 – donnamour1969

Season 5

A Bad Idea – inkstainedfingers97

Missing scene: 5x16 – scarfeza

Boiling Blood – easilyobsessed

Episode Tag 5x14: Ew – Colourful Glitter New!

New Years Resolution – calladragon

Reversal – mtm

Speechless – idan

Tag to 'Red Dawn' – jacketandboots

The Picadors – hayseed socrates

Season 6

72 Hours – easilyobsessed

Accidental Confessions – lestrangle

Blue hyacinth (for constancy of love) – lemoncellbros

Black-Winged Red Bird, 6x2 – donnamour1969

The Wizard of Oz – littleyellowhouse

Unexplained Endings – scriiibble ×

Season 7

Black Market – kykkio

Drifting – vinividivinci

Does anyone know who you are? – vixx2pointoh

Of All the Beds I’ve Made – excelsiors

Stay – lisbon

The Dollhouse – lizzabet ×

Wedding Gifts – idan

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

List of fan fictions set in alternate universe or similar settings. Don’t forget to check the ratings and tags, as preferences can vary.

Red Violin – inkstainedfingers97

» annotations: *~personal fave ; ×~not updated

» tags:

[fantasyinallforms]

Fanfic Author Interview Game

Thank you to the few people that tagged me that I can't find anymore because I wanted too long to do that. So sorry, I've been ridiculously busy!

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 37

What's your total AO3 word count?

356,687 words

Top 5 stories by kudos:

You Should Be Safe With Me The Proper Way To Call You Mine Not Yours To Touch The Heart Remembers What The Mind Forgets Not All That Glitters Is Gold 

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I try to respond to every single one. I want to show you how much I appreciate them!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Remembrance, no contest. It's set 30 years after the events of The Hobbit when Bilbo visits Thorin's grave.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

With the exception of the above, all my fics have happy endings. I would say The Burden Of Choice or A Most Unlikely Dance Partner have the happiest endings.

Do you write crossovers?

I've never written one, and I have no plans for one.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Oh yes. I have fairly famously received hate on some of my heavier kinktober stuff. I mean, you put Thorin in a maid outfit one time.... Seriously, though, it happens from time to time, especially the longer you're in one fandom.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, and ALL kinds. Over half my fics are E-rated, and my first Bagginshield fic was E-rated.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Several attempted unfortunately. A few fic concepts shameless ripped as well.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I have! Happy Accidents was translated into Russian. Счастливые Случайности by when_you_top

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Recently yes! Until Our Next Encounter, co-written with the amazing @sunnyrosewritesstuff

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Bagginshield, forever and always.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I always meant to write more of Reputation be Damned, and I got halfway, but it's been so long that I don't know if I'll go back to that. I have so many other projects that take priority.

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I have good characterization and story pacing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm dyslexic, so it's always going to be my grammar.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I love to see it! Just please give me a translation in the notes or something. I actually write in Khuzdul in my fics frequently. A few times I've written in elvish as well.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I want to write more Jayvik for SURE. Other than that, any other writing I'm focusing on at the moment is original fiction.

What's your favorite fic you've written?

The Burden Of Choice 56K {E}. I basically wrote a book in less than 3 months, and it turned out better than I dreamed. It was a labour of love and will always be dear to me. That said, choosing a favourite of my fics is like choosing a favourite child. I love them all, and each one is a piece of me.

[iamnotyourgodsherald]

A Great Night, A Dragon Age: The Veilguard Fanfic: Chapter 1.

Edit: Alright, so this might become broken up into chapters, because I don’t know about you, but I am fiending for the romance of Lucanis and Rook. Especially my boy! (he was made in the BG3 CC because Bioware wont release the CC early, so! I made him as close as I could to how Demitrix would look like in this story! Feel free to check him out at the bottom of the story!) (Edit: I updated it with Veilguard 💕) I hope you all enjoy this rendition of their steamy adventure~ Please feel free to tell me what you think about this chapter!

Warning: 18+ ONLY! 🔞

These Chapters Contain: Heavy Flirting, Sexual and Romantic Tension, Soft Moments, Breaking into A Library, Combat, Magic, Heavy Making Out, Neck Biting, Hair Grabbing, Shy Moments and Tense Moments.

“This is stupid.”

“It’ll be fine. Quit messing with your tie! You’ll mess up my hard work!” I laughed.

“I look like… My cousin.” Lucanis said with a sigh.

I looked back into the mirror, staring at us and admired the handsome men standing before it with a very satisfied grin.

I started fixing up part of my long curly hair, tucking in some loose black strands. I then placed a gold bow towards the ends of my hair, making it into a loose ponytail. I watched the light catch the bluish tints of my black hair and make it pop and brighten. Lucanis’s hair almost seemed to glow with a slight purpleish tint in the candle light, the spark dancing on the tips that were slicked back against the side of his head.

I went out to Treviso the day before and got us nice looking outfits to wear on our night out from a tailor who owed me a favor. I was very specific with my wants, and Creators, did he deliver. Both outfits were lightweight but durable, and beautiful to look at.

I had a white shirt with gold detailings on the ruffles that ran down my chest and at the end of my arms. The shirt opened, exposing a bit of my chest and upper stomach. My gold face tattoos were almost glittering in the light reflected in the mirror.

Lucanis has a plain black shirt with purple details around the collar and the edges of the sleeves. He had it buttoned up all the way and tucked it inside of his pants, looking dashing and poised. A small purple tie hung down from his collar, swaying a bit with his movement. His dark eyes danced around the mirror. They never seemed to take a break from searching, never not moving.

Both of us were wearing black leather pants, with a thin black belt around our waist. Lucanis insisted on them so we could stow our weapons during the evening. Understandable compromise. He, however, lined his entire belt with small knives. And two daggers at his side.

I just had some poison vials and two daggers hanging off of my side. I did argue that that many knives were unnecessary but Lucanis said you could never have too many.

I chose to let it be and just let him do what made him more comfortable. After all, I wanted him to have a good time tonight. I just wished he didn’t look like a walking armory while we were out.

He does deserve a break after two months of working. I figured I should be the one to ask him on this night out, since we had been working closely with each other. We would have had more company but Taash kept calling it a date and refused to come and Davrin just gave me a small smirk when I asked him to come along followed by him saying: “Have fun with Lucanis.”

I shook their words and sly expressions from my head and just continued my smile towards Lucanis. After all, this was not a date. It's a simple night out.

“Your cousin has good taste in fashion then!”

“I am glad he is not here to hear you say that.”

Lucanis scoffed and continued to mess with the tie. I just sighed and turned him towards me.

“Let me fix it.” I huffed, my hands twitching as I smelled his cologne on him. “I thought you would be used to ties. You are always so nicely dressed.”

Lucanis jolted a bit as I touched him, his dark eyes watching me extremely close, but slowly put his hands down as I fixed his tie.

“Is this night out really necessary? We have work to do.” Lucanis yawned, blinking his dark eyes slowly. “Besides, I need coffee…”

“We deserve a break. Come on, I know you aren’t sociable, buuuttt it might be nice! To get out and enjoy Treviso! We haven’t been home in so long, we should enjoy it while we’re here! Get into trouble! Get some drinks! Tear it up!”

“Treviso has been torn up enough.” Lucanis said bluntly, before gently grabbing my shoulders. “If you think this is wise, then let's go, but I will keep up my guard. You should as well.”

“Well…” I began, looking into his dark eyes and I almost felt myself melting. “Try to have fun, even on guard. For me, okay?”

I saw Lucanis’s eyes soften as I asked, before Spite flew out of Lucanis’s back and spun towards me.

“Ha! Have fun?! Not this guy. Doesn’t know fun if it STABBED HIM IN THE BACK.”

Lucanis groaned in annoyance and was about to say something but I cut him off, laughing. I then pointed at Spite, walking up to him.

“You. Take a break tonight, alright? Trust me. You’ll get some action. Plenty of action! You won't be bored. Just let Lucanis have some quiet time. Okay?”

Spite growled a bit, looking back at Lucanis before looking back at me.

“You promise? That I won't be bored? Don’t lie to me, Little Crow.” He growled back at me.

“I swear.” I said, smiling back.

He looked back at Lucanis and scoffed before disappearing. Lucanis held his head for a moment before groaning.

“You handle him well. I thought, maybe, he’d prove… too much for you. He proves almost too much for me sometimes.”

“Oh gods no. Nothing is too much for me. Trust me, I can handle the ghast. This one job had me…Well, let's just say I am used to dealing with difficult people.” I said confidently.

Lucanis cracked a small smile. “Good to know.”

I felt my face get slightly hot, and I faced the mirror once more.

“Well look at us! Two handsome men who are about to have a nice night for themselves. Can't wait to see where the night takes us!”

Lucanis just looked in the mirror and sighed defeatedly, walking out of the room.

I laughed and followed right behind him, eager to see my home again.

——————————————

This is a bad idea.

No it isn’t, Solas.

The elven gods wreak havoc and you are just-

Getting yelled at by you. I am trying to have fun. More fun than I have had in a while with a guy I like being around. Taking a moment away to enjoy the views and enjoy my life while I still have it.

You won't have a life long if you continue to ignore them.

And I won't have a life at all if I bust my ass all the time, working. I need a break. Just relax for a bit, okay?

“Solas talking to you?” Lucanis spoke up.

I didn’t realize that as we were walking down the streets of Treviso that Lucanis got really close to my ear, whispering into it.

I jolted and blushed from his closeness, tucking some stray hair behind my ear. The tips of my ears feeling hot.

“Y-yes.” I coughed and straightened up, putting on my confident swagger. “A heated discussion, but it’s alright. I'd rather focus on the real world right now. You, especially, are something I’d rather focus on.~”

Lucanis seemed to look away, his face tilting down before facing forward, his thumbs tucked into his belt.

“I cannot be that interesting to you.” he said quietly.

“I’ll have to disagree with you, my friend. You are so handsome and mysterious, I just want to delve into your cavern of secrets.” I purred.

Lucanis only huffed and looked off to the side, walking alongside me. Some people walked by us and smiled. Some I winked at and even blew a kiss to. Some returned them as they walked on past. Others stopped to talk and flirt with us as we traveled into the busy shopping area in Treviso. However, One person stopped us in particular and motioned for us to come into a nearby alleyway and handed me a note. They were wearing dark garb and staying in the shadows, away from any light. The Antivan Crow symbol on the front of the note in fresh black ink.

“Contract.” They said delicately.

“Right now?” I huffed, annoyed.

“They will be in town for a few nights. Do not waste time, Demitrix.” They said, baring teeth. “You are still a Crow.”

Lucanis spoke up. “We will take it.”

The figure then nodded and left quickly. Leaving us to return to the light of the sidewalks lanterns.

“Look, I said no work. This is our rest night. We need a break.”

“I never said I’d do it right now.” Lucanis corrected, his eyes narrowing down at me. “I agreed to your ‘rest night’ and I am not properly dressed for a job. Let’s get this night over with and then I can work on it.”

I looked away, steeling myself against the sting of his words. I then let out a smile and looked at him.

“Whatever you want, Lucanis.”

Although he obviously didn’t see any negative expressions, something about my mannerisms and voice let slip that I was upset, because his eyes seemed to have softened. His body was not as tense as before. I saw his hand twitch but then balled up into a fist and looked forward walking.

“Come. Show me this bar we’re supposed to be going to.”

Shit. How could he tell? I must be slipping. Can't let him see that I was upset. Gotta show him I am unaffected. Focus, Demitrix.

I kept up my charm, pointing out the different places as we walked past.

“Well there's lots of fun little dives around here that could offer a ton of entertainment! This place over here-“

I stopped and turned, Lucanis gone from my side. A quick little search though was enough to see where he was.

Outside of a small library, Lucanis was peeking inside at a small figurine of what looked like a dragon sitting on a rock. I walked over softly to see that the label said “Wyvern”.

“You like Dragons?” I asked gently.

“I love wyverns.” He said with a smile.

He then frowned looking at the statue.

“You’re frowning.”

“Because that's a dragon figurine.”

“So?”

“It’s not a wyvern. They don’t even look similar.”

Lucanis’s hands itched for a moment. He looked like he really didn’t like that label, almost painful  for him to see it. I really wanted to make him happy tonight, and I tended to go against my better judgment anyway. I started running into the alleyway right next to the building, a concerned Lucanis following after me.

“Demitrix?!” He yelled following after me. “What are you doing? The bars are-“

“We should fix that label.” I said with a smirk looking for a backdoor. “People are going to think that's a wyvern.”

“Some will, but it is clearly a Dragon. Wyverns don’t look like that though. They have little webbed flaps that stick out from their joints that help them glide. They can't fully fly, though.”

“You really like wyverns.”

“I don’t like wyverns.” He turned to me with the most deadpan expression. “I LOVE wyverns.”

I did find a side door near the end of the building but it was locked.

“Damn. I didn’t bring my lockpicks.”

I looked up the building, and started to scale up the wall, grabbing onto jutted out parts of stone and rock. Lucanis started following after me, cursing under his breath.

“Demitrix! Meirda…” he sighed as I started climbing over the side onto the roof. “Is all this necessary?”

“Sí.” I shot back.

He then paused a moment before chuckling.

“Fine. Let's make it quick.”

We managed to climb up to the roof where we searched for a way in. Lucanis ended up finding an unlocked ceiling hatch and opened it up quietly.

“Quickly. Let's go.”

“How are we getting back out?”

“You’ll see. Go in.”

“I do love mysterious types. So exciting.” I purred.

I jumped down, staying still for a moment to let my eyes adjust to my surroundings. The light from the hatch shone down on me and cast a bit of light around the spot.

Definitely just a standard library after hours. The whole place smelled of old parchment and aged leather. No candles lit and no people around too. I listened for any noises that didn’t come from outside just to see if we were truly alone and once I determined that nobody was here, I signaled Lucanis to come down and he landed right next to me with feline grace.

“This is fun.” I whispered.

Lucanis then shushed me and started walking towards the front, crawling on his hands and knees to keep out of sight from the window.

I climbed up on a nearby bookcase and crouched on the top of it, watching Lucanis from afar. Even as he moved, he was as silent as a mouse. It was very impressive to watch him, especially from the back of him. Though, I need to determine if we could get back out easier with the hatch. I turned to look at the hatch and the height of the bookcases and hopped to the closest one nimbly, staying quiet. When I got back over to it, it looked a bit tall for us to leap back up to it and climb out. Just in case if we need a plan B, I decided to try and look for some lock picks to try and open the back door out of here. Sometimes, people DO have them just to make sure they can get into doors they accidentally lock themselves out of and with some luck, I was hoping I could find some.

I crawled back down and started up towards what I perceived as a counter and started sifting through as I got behind it, feeling for lock picks in the small cupboards.

As I searched, I suddenly felt a body press up against me from behind, pinning me to the cupboards and covering my mouth. I looked up to see Lucanis hunkering down with me, shushing me silently.

I blushed hard and my pants suddenly felt tighter, dirty thoughts filling my head.

“I hear something. Something down below.” He whispered in my ear.

I pulled my mouth away from his hand.

“Lucanis, You can't… just grab my mouth and… press up-“

He silenced me again with his hand, this time holding me tighter against his chest.

“Stop. Talking.”

I shuddered, feeling his hips against mine.

Yes sir~

A light suddenly appeared in the back of the library around the corner where we were hunkered down. A couple of figures walked past the counter with lanterns, wearing the cloaks and outfits of Venatori thugs.

I felt Lucanis’s grip on my mouth tightened, his eyes starting to flicker with purple light. His arm shook with anger. I shook my head to get him to notice me, to stop him from summoning spite, which seemed to work.

He slowly let go of me, and nodded towards them.

“They die.” He whispered softly.

“They die.” I nodded.

We both drew our daggers, sneaking out from behind the counter. Lucanis went to the left side of the library where I went to the right side, watching and following the Venatori nutcases like a wolf stalking its prey. Lucanis positioned himself on the opposite side of me as they searched, watching the two lackeys shine the lantern around, while we were easily avoiding the light.

“I know I heard something.” One of them said.

It was a maskless Venatori, their eyes darting around in fear.

“Why would anyone suspect us here? Or even break into a library? Look, there's obviously no one here, let’s just leave.”

Lucanis slipped some of the small knives into his hand, putting them between his fingers, ready to throw.

I started to move towards them but Lucanis saw me moving closer and put up a hand to get me to wait.

As they walked away from us, that's when he signaled for us to strike.

Lucanis quickly threw his blade into the back of the left one’s neck while I ran up and stuck one of my blades into the right one's back, twisting and covering his exposed mouth with my other hand. While Lucanis’s guy went down easily, the right one whirled around with the lantern, screaming into my hand and swung me around.

“Lucanis! Little help!” I yelled.

Lucanis ran over, ready to throw another knife but the guy reached back and threw me into Lucanis, both of us toppling onto the floor landing on top of each other.

The Venatori however, screamed, before falling over and dropping the lantern.

“Next time, sink your blade deeper!” Lucanis yelled.

“Thanks for the tip, Master Crow!” I yelled back.

We quickly got up, running to the shadows once more as two more came up and into the library, one obviously a mage and another a rogue. The rogue stepped in front of the mage, brandishing daggers, looking around. His eyes, darting around.

“Stay behind me, Sylvia. They are still here.” The rogue spoke quickly.

“They won't be hidden for long.“ Sylvia said.

She then waved her staff as it glowed with greenish yellow light and all the candles and torches in the library flickered on with Veilfire.

Fuck.

The rogue saw me first and ran towards me, trying to dual strike me from the front but I brought up both my blades and parried. The hilts of our daggers catching and holding us there.

“You worthless little elf… I’ll cut off your ears and make you scream for death!” He snarled.

“Oh you Venatori really know how to talk dirty~” I purred back.

I shoved myself forward, to knock him off balance, knocking us both into the ground, and barely dodging a shot of lightning going past my head. 

“Kill the damn elf!” Sylvia screamed.

I knew Lucanis could handle the mage, all I was worried about was killing this rogue. As we wrestled around on the ground. I ended up using one of my dirty tactics to place a well aimed knee to his crotch, which caused him to yell in agony and loosen his grip on me.

I took the moment to then quickly grab his throat while he remained on top of me, roll on top of him, and then bring my blade across his neck. Quickly, I got off of him before any blood began to spray on me.

Sylvia, however, had Lucanis pinned. She was aiming at Lucanis who was dodging behind the book cases as she fired lightning at him, getting closer and closer to hitting him.

Not thinking, I ran over and picked her up from behind, lifting her into the air to give Lucanis time to run in and finish her off.

I, however, forgot for a moment that she was a mage.

She grabbed my arms as I hoisted her into the air and shocked me good. A thousand pinpricks ran through my arms and into my chest, causing my whole body to feel like it was on fire from how strong the shock was, my body becoming numb and then paralyzed.

My head felt dizzy from the damage, making the room spin around me. I fell to the floor with a thud, dropping Sylvia as well and passing out.

When I came to, Lucanis was shaking me awake. His face splattered with blood.

“Demitrix?!” He gasped.

“Yeah…” I wheezed, my joints stiff for a moment. “I just needed a nap… Still alive…”

He laughed, sighing a breath of relief.

“Maker, you are an idiot.” He sighed, moving hair out of my face. “I thought you were dead!”

“What? Missed me already?” I flirted, winking up at him. “I could never leave you behind.”

His eyes got big, a bright flush spread across his face and then a softer smile appeared.

That's when he leaned down and kissed me deeply, his lips pressed hard against mine.

My whole body went stiff again. I could feel my face flush and my lips twitch. In my weakened state, I just easily melted back into his kiss. Not a care in my mind.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and pulled him onto me, our shared kiss becoming more passionate and more crazed as my tongue wrapped around his.

He then reached up, grabbing at my scalp and gripping my roots, and pulled my head back. My neck became exposed to him and he quickly bit into it. Moaning longingly into my flesh.

“L-Lucanis…!” I cried out as I clawed into his back. “Maker, you’re going crazy… I love it!”

I arched my back as he bit harder, my heart racing in my chest.

This is really happening. It’s really happening. Lucanis is about to fuck me.

Before we got too wild, we heard knocking at the front door.

“This is the Antivan Guard! Open up this door! Or we will break it open!”

Lucanis quickly got off of me, pulling me up off the floor, motioning to the hatch. I nodded and climbed up the bookcase after him and watched him leap up the hatch and climb onto the roof. Just as I leaped and caught the edge of the hatch, the door started being kicked open.

I quickly scampered up onto the roof, and closed the latch quietly, before Lucanis and I took off, darting across the rooftops of Treviso and away from the sight of the guard.

We finally slowed down on a roof overlooking a market square. Both of us panting and then slowly started laughing.

“You… Moron! All that for a mislabeled dragon statue?” Lucanis struggled to get out.

A wild smile spread across his face.

“It looked like it really bothered you!” I chuckled, taking a deep breath. “I wanted to fix the problem.”

“You are sweet…” He said sheepishly.

“I know~ oh Lucanis… you have blood on you.”

I started to use my hand to wipe the blood from his face, but he grabbed my hand and gently held it there for a moment, almost like… he was enjoying it.

I blushed but didn’t move. I didn’t want him to let go of me, but I felt fear crawl up my spine from this new feeling… like butterflies in my stomach and I gently moved my hand.

“Lucanis…?”

He almost snapped back to reality so quickly, standing up, looking as poised as before. It was almost… disheartening? I almost felt disappointed? I pushed them down for the moment and looked up at him with a smile.

“Whats up, handsome?~”

Lucanis’s face blushed brightly but quickly looked away, clearing his throat.

“Well. Now that we’re out of that little bind.” He said, looking down at me. “Let’s…continue with our night.”

(Stay tuned for Chapter 2!)