#all we’ve ever done is ask that he return the tools he stole

[hookahpop]

yearly beef w the neighbor is reaching all time highs. he blamed us for knocking down his mailbox (thanks for that heat, amazon), he added a fucking spotlight to his absurd xmas light monstrosity and i swear he pointed it right at our house on purpose the little shit, and he placed his candy canes right on the road so when we park in the street it’s a struggle to not run them over. of course i accidentally knocked one down the other day and now i’m just waiting for that little fallout

[bitchwhoreofastorm]

At the start of it all, before the first snow fell and, aye, before there was even a Nirn for the snow to fall on, Shor sat in the throne of Sovngarde and all was good.

Now, we all know Sovngarde: it's a great hall of feasting and fighting and... loving, where all great warriors will some day go. Shor is its king and always he has reigned. His days were spent feasting, and fighting, and ahem; he hunted great stags in the fields and quaffed great mugs of mead and sang a great number of songs at great volumes. His hall was always full, and all loved him greatly, and all was good.

But one day Shor woke up, aye, as I'm sure we've all woken up, with a head that felt cleaved by an axe. He peeled his face out the puddle of mead he'd been sleeping in and looked around him at his hall, and he saw Sovngarde, of course, where all is good. Clutching his splitting head, he climbed to his feet and he said:

"What am I doing? What is the point of this all? Where is the challenge against which I might prove myself? Where is the failure that lets me triumph? Where is the disgrace against which my glory shines? By me! What am I doing?"

For he saw true that day (although I'm sure the light hurt his eyes): Sovngarde was not good. How could it be, when there was no such thing as bad! How could Shor be glorious, when he lived such an easy life!

So around the hall Shor went, rousing all his companions. He kicked Tsun in the ribs, pulled Stuhn from the rafters, shook Kyne out her bed and Dibella out Kyne's bed and Mara out Kyne's bed too. He doused water on Herma-Mora's face and pulled Dagon out a barrel and even roused sleepless Jhunal from his scribbling. And he told them what he had seen, and that this could not go on. And because Shor is Shor, and he's quite persuasive, all agreed with him.

So all the gods and all the people of Shor's mead-hall set about building. Because there was no Nirn yet (and aye, this is what they were building), all their material had to come from Shor's hall. They cut down the rafters for lumber, used whale-bones as supports, chipped away at the mantle for stones, and scooped up ash from the hearth as mortar. From these things they crafted trees, and mountains, and plains, and tundras, and glaciers, and auroras, and the moons, and the sun. Herma-Mora even spun their memories into water to make rivers and oceans. They worked and they labored and they stripped Sovngarde bare and they built something new and by the end they all stepped back and looked at what they'd done. And they thought it was very, very good.

But there was one group who didn't help build Nirn, and this is the dragons. Now, make no mistake, in those days Alduin and his brothers were welcome in Sovngarde and reveled like the rest of them. But dragons are lazy, which is why they take slaves. While the others were building, Alduin and his ilk would just lay around and stuff their faces. "Why are they working so hard?" asked they (though it sounded funny for all the meat in their gobs). "Don't they see Sovngarde is already good? Hey, you, put down your tools and come feast with us!" But the gods heeded not their calls, and even Shor, who they loved to feast with most, ignored them. So the dragons grew very bitter, and none more bitter than Alduin.

Then came the day when Nirn was finished. Men, I need not tell you how glorious Nirn is, for we all see it with our own eyes. The gods all gathered around to admire it: how imperfect! How perilous! How fraught with danger! There was much badness in Nirn, just as they dreamed of. And in a place with so much badness, they could all finally see what was good.

But just as they were admiring their handiwork, Alduin came floating over with his brothers. "What's this, Shor!" cried Alduin. "I have just been into your Hall, and there is no meat in the hearths, no barrels of mead, no roasting oxen to feast upon!"

"Yes, brother," said Shor proudly. "We've taken them and used them to build something new! There's going to be a change around here-- this is my new Hall, which is Nirn, and we will no longer live our lives in easy luxury, but struggle and earn those good things."

But Alduin was furious, he stomped his feet and flapped his wings. "I HATE change!" cried he. "I want to feast and revel! And if this new world of yours stops me from doing so, I will destroy it all!"

So Alduin and his dragons rushed forwards and began to destroy Shor's new Hall! They ripped up the mountains, tore up the plains, shattered the tundra and burned down the forest and melted the glaciers with a fiery yol.

Shor and all his gods rushed forwards to defend Nirn, and a great war happened, of which all Nords know, and of which I shan't speak here. And at the end of it the dragons were defeated, but not before they had broken and ruined Nirn! Even mighty Shor fell in the fighting, ripped in half by Alduin's claws, and Tsun fell by his side.

Weeping, the gods gathered round the ruins of this new thing they'd made. They could repair it, they knew, if only they had materials! But they had stripped Shor's hall to the bone and nothing was left with which to build. They wept and were in despair.

Then mother-Kyne stepped forwards. In her grief she sheared off her hair, which became thunder-clouds. And she pulled her breath from her lungs, which became wind. And her tears for her husband fell to the ground and became the first snow. And she said to her fellow-gods, "I will use my body to rebuild this thing Shor made."

And one by one the people of Shor's hall came forwards. They laid themselves down to become trees in the forest, and curled up in balls to become mountains, and fell between the hills to become glaciers, and stretched their arms wide to become plains and tundras. So many of Shor's people gave themselves up that soon Nirn was even more vast and more splendid and more surprising than it had ever been before. The volunteers were so many that some couldn't fit, and instead they became trees and mushrooms and foxes and deer and bears. And others still gave themselves to Nirn in wonder, and became the new revelers of Shor's Hall, the first men.

But Alduin, who was stricken but not defeated, saw this act of love and he hated it. So, while nobody was looking, he went to Shor's corpse and pulled out his heart. And, wickedly, he stole away into Shor's new Hall, and hid the heart somewhere deep and secret, so that no funeral-rites could be done, and Shor could never return to Sovngarde. Then he flew away, vowing to one day return and devour Shor's creation as payment for the feasting Shor had stolen to create it.

So now we live on Nirn, which is full of a great number of things. We walk on the bones of those who used themselves to build Shor's creation. We struggle and we face great adversary, and when we die, we will enter Sovngarde, and build it anew, and, having known badness, we will see that all is good.

[bravobeavo]

Bonnie & Clyde AU Drabble!

@megglepie - I promised you a first kiss, didn’t I? Let’s set the scene - Hizashi & Shouta have gotten separated from Oboro & Nemuri, who had gotten away in their original vehicle after a relatively successful heist.

Hizashi stole the first car they could get their hands on - only to find when he hot-wires it that one of the headlights is out! No worries, the other headlight still works so they hightail it out of the town they’d traveled to and begin driving on the dark, empty highways through the desert back toward Shouta’s hometown/their rendezvous point.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Hizashi cursed loudly as the remaining headlight sputtered and then went dark with an audible ‘crack!’ of electricity.

As they were plunged into darkness, Hizashi kept the wheel steady and slowed down to a stop in the middle of the desolate road, muttering under his breath.

Shouta shifted in the passenger seat and glanced over, “The other headlight?”

“Yep,” Hizashi’s face was barely visible in the sudden darkness, but the lines across his forehead had drawn tight with frustration. He huffed loudly before wrenching the driver’s side door open and climbing out into the open road.

Shouta blinked as he watched the tall blonde stomp up to the front of the car, hands braced on his hips in a telltale sign of annoyance.

He disappeared from sight when he knelt down in front of the car’s darkened headlights and Shouta shifted to brace his feet against the dash, letting his head loll back onto the top of the seat.

He sighed and tapped one foot against the dashboard idly.

He could get out to offer help, but unlike Nemuri and Oboro he knew next to nothing about cars so it was probably better to just let Hizashi look over the problem without getting in the way.

A shimmer in the lapsing moonlight caught his eye and he turned his head slightly to peer over into the back seat, shifting completely to get a better look.

On the floorboard of the backseat, next to the bag of stolen goods and the jacket that Nemuri had dropped, was a single golden earring; one of the heavy diamond ones that Oboro had stolen from a pawn shop a mere month ago.

He’d initially stolen them for Hizashi, but Hizashi had sheepishly grinned and cited the fact that he preferred to only wear silver jewelry. Shouta and Oboro had both scoffed loudly while Hizashi insisted that gold looked tacky with his blonde hair - which had even gotten a laugh from Hitoshi, who usually tended to ignore their antics.

Shouta thought Oboro would have worn them himself if Nemuri hadn’t snatched them up and tried them on, falling in love with the pair.

They were exact type of fancy earrings that she saw on high-class ladies - the ones who turned their noses up at her when she walked by the high-end salons in downtown.

The ones that Nemuri hated, envied... wearing them made her powerful. He could respect that out of his sister.

It must have been in the pocket of the jacket that he had grabbed, after all it had been her jacket that she’d dropped in the chaos of trying to get away. He reached down and slipped the earring pocket, knowing that she’d be wanting it back.

He twirled it between his thumb and index finger in his jacket pocket, still tapping his foot. His feet that were clad in shoes without holes in them for the first in as long as he could remember.

So much had changed over the past few months... all thanks to two men careening into their lives by pure coincidence.

Hitoshi had even done well on his last pop quiz because he’d been able to make flash cards out of some of the paper that Shouta had stolen for him.

He smiled as his heart ached.

Then his gaze drifted, to the object of his thoughts.

Hizashi was still at the front of the car, cursing loud enough that Shouta could hear him even through the closed doors.

His frustration seemed to crest as he stood back to his full height and delivered an angry kick to the burned out headlight, subsequently busting the glass.

Shouta chuckled and pushed his way out of the car, “Well, I suppose that answers my question about whether or not it can be fixed.”

Hizashi gave a weary sigh and then shot him a sheepish grin, “Yeah... piece o’ shit.”

Shouta laughed again and shuffled up to the hood of the car, walking around so that he could lean against the front of the car on Hizashi’s left side - the side he knew the blonde had better hearing in.

He tilted his head up to take in the view of the night sky stretched out above them, feeling Hizashi’s shoulder brush his own. 

“The moon might be bright enough to drive without the headlights,” Hizashi observed, gaze drifting up as well.

Shouta pushed his shoulder lightly against the blonde’s, “Are you kidding me? There are too many clouds coming and going.” 

“Aw, c’mon, what’s the worst that could happen?” Hizashi whined, sticking out his lower lip even as the corners of his mouth twitched in amusement. 

Shouta scoffed, “Hmm, we crash and burn? I don’t know yet if your eyesight is as bad as your hearing.” 

“Ch,” Hizashi rolled his eyes dramatically, “Shou~ you’re the last person I expected to underestimate me! Nemuri I could understand, but you?” 

“Why don’t we stay here and look at the constellations instead?” Shouta looked back up and drew in a slow breath, “The view here is so much better than it is at home... less trees.”

“Constellations?” Hizashi’s voice was lilted with genuine curiosity as Shouta shot him a glance.

Shouta blinked, “Er, yeah - they’re like... pictures in the stars? I don’t really know how to explain it... they’re stars that form a pattern or picture.” 

“Pictures?” Hizashi’s eyes had gone wide with child-like wonder, the look that always made Shouta’s heart skip a beat, “Well then don’t tell me, show me!” 

“Sure, we’ll start with one that’s easy to spot,” Shouta chuckled lightly and pressed closer so that the blonde could follow his pointed finger, “See that line of stars right there, the one that curves down? That’s the handle for the big dipper.”

Hizashi was looking up with avid concentration, “Oh! Ha! It looks just like a big scoop, huh?” 

“Yeah, exactly,” Shouta hummed, smiling lightly as he watched Hizashi’s lips part in awe.

They stayed there for what felt like hours as Shouta showed the blonde constellation after constellation, sometimes explaining vague origins and other times listening to whatever tangent it sparked from Hizashi.

Finally after watching most of the clouds let up and the moon got bright enough to easily see the road ahead of them, Shouta let the conversation die down as he listed the last constellation that he knew in sight.

“Where’d you learn all this anyway?” Hizashi asked, his tone warm with amusement as he turned to look at the dark-haired man.

“Oh, ah...” Shouta reached up to rub the back of his neck, “I read it in a book when I was younger.”

“A book, huh?” Hizashi’s tone grew heavy with revelry, “I never learned how to read... not very well, at least.”

“Oh,” Shouta shrugged lightly, almost embarrassed at the admission, but relaxing a bit when he registered the sheer admiration in Hizashi’s gaze, “My Ma taught me.”

“Mm,” Hizashi nodded and braced his hands behind himself against the still warm hood of the car as he stared up at the night sky, “I had a... friend who tried to teach me. But he wasn’t around much and... it’s not like I had the stuff to practice on my own.”

Shouta sighed, already familiar with the sad reality, “Nemuri grew up that way. By the time I came around, my Ma had saved up enough for some school supplies... they’re expensive.”

“They’re a luxury,” Hizashi agreed, his voice tight as he shrugged slightly.

Shouta looked away from the stars and at the blonde, “Too many kids can’t get by cause they don’t have the right tools. Pisses me off.”

“That’s why you take the things you do when we raid corner stores, yeah? Pencils, erasers, books...” Hizashi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, “So no one else has to grow up like that.”

“Mm,” Shouta hummed in agreement and nodded once, returning his gaze to the stars.

They stood there in simple silence for a few minutes, sharing each other’s warmth as they stared up at the night sky.

“What do you think it would look like? If we... were up there, looking down here?” Shouta asked, the low rumble of his voice sounding loud even to him in the silence of the night.

Hizashi was quiet for a moment as he tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, “I dunno, never really thought about.”

Shouta continued to stare up at the vast open sky, eyes flitting between the memorized constellations that his mother used to read about, “I think everything would look awfully small... insignificant.”

“Hm,” Hizashi huffed an almost laugh and leaned closer to follow Shouta’s gaze as the dark-haired man lifted a finger and traced Orion’s Belt, “Well, I certainly wouldn’t mind things seeming small and insignificant for once.”

“Why’s that?” Shouta asked, turning partially and nearly jolting in surprise when his nose brushed against the blonde’s due to their close proximity.

Jade green eyes blinked back at him as Hizashi stayed in place, “Well, problems down here seem so out-of-proportion sometimes, ya know? Overthinking things and... and such.”

Shouta swallowed, feeling a distinct warmth spread through his chest despite the relatively chilly night air, “You overthinking things? I thought that was my job.”

His joke felt hollow and flat, breath shallow with anticipation as Hizashi’s gaze flickered down to his parted lips just briefly.

“I only overthink one thing,” Hizashi said with a weak shrug, his voice coming out barely above a hushed whisper - so light that the faintest breeze might have carried it away before it ever reached Shouta’s ears.

“Care to share with the class?” Shouta leaned impossibly closer, their shoulders pressed flush together.

Hizashi stared at him unwaveringly, “We’ve got a good thing going, the four of us and Hitoshi. Oboro and I, we... we consider you lot to be the closest thing to family that we’ve got.”

“You know Nem and I feel the same,” Shouta answered, a wry smile twisting at his lips, “And Toshi’ll come around... we’re a family now.”

“Mm... I’d be a damned fool if I went and ruined that, huh?” Hizashi said finally, a faint tone of remorse ringing in his quiet voice.

Shouta’s heart stuttered in his chest and for a moment, he just breathed. The desert around them was dry and desolate, the crisp night air sharp with the musty smell of gasoline from the car and the sweetness of the cactus blossoms scattered across the sandy hillside.

“Ruined it?” Shouta breathed, his dark eyes going half-lidded, “What would ruin it?”

He knew the answer, had felt it himself, but god he wanted nothing more than to hear it said aloud in Hizashi’s raspy, melodic tones.

Hizashi exhaled slowly, his warm breath ghosting over Shouta’s parted lips as he inched closer, “The way I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Closer, closer until their noses brushed and Hizashi’s lashes fluttered closed as he inhaled sharply in anticipation.

The corners of Shouta’s lips quirked into a smile.

“Then I guess I’m a damned fool too,” Shouta murmured as he finally closed the gap between them, their lips meeting in a dry, chaste kiss that both of them melted into.

Shouta couldn’t help the reflex to raise both hands and tangle his fingers in Hizashi’s long hair, grinning into the kiss when he realized that it was just as silky smooth as he’d always imagined it to be.

They kissed until they were light-headed, grinning dopily as they pulled apart to gasp for breath, but stayed close enough to press their foreheads together.

Hizashi’s emerald gaze sparkled with amusement, “Clouds are gone... it’s light enough to drive again.”

“Is it?” Shouta asked with an equal air of mischievousness.

Hizashi chuckled warmly, then pressed forward for another brief kiss before he spun them around to reverse their positions and began pulling Shouta around the car by his loose tie. The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow as the blonde bypassed the driver’s seat and opened the back door.

“Probably safer if we wait till morning, though.” Hizashi winked at him, and Shouta laughed aloud as he clambered into the cramped back seat with the blonde.

It felt like they were the only two beings that existed in the entire world in that moment, under the stars. And Shouta would have been a damned fool if he didn’t cling to every moment that he could get.  

[imjustthemechanic]

The Price of a Soul

Part 1/? - Agent Russel Part 2/? - The Letter Part 3/? - Miss Lake Part 4/? - The Stewardess Part 5/? - An Assassination Part 6/? - Fallout Part 7/? - Face to Face Part 8/? - Deals, Details, and Other Devils Part 9/? - Baggage Part 10/? - Private Funding Part 11/? - Just Passing Through Part 12/? - Party of Four

A stowaway!

-

In the morning they rose bright and early. There’d been a bit more rain overnight, but it had stopped and the sky had cleared, and everything was fresh and sparkling with dew.  They packed up, and then Jason proudly showed Peggy the equipment he’d been working on.

“I got the gyros and dampeners worked out, I think,” he said, “so unless we’ve got major turbulence it ought to stay pretty level underneath the aircraft.  The readout will be here.”

In the middle of the plane was a device that resembled a polygraph, though without the parts to connect it to the person under interrogation.  Instead, the wires passed through a hole in the floor to the sonar mounted beneath the belly of the aircraft.  Three pens were ready to trace out lines on the roll of paper.

“The blue one will be the top of the ice,” said Jason, “the green will be the bottom, and the black will be the seafloor underneath. Ice, water, and stone all affect the frequency of sounds in different ways, so the timing tells us which is which.”

“What if we encounter something else?” asked Peggy.

“Like metal, or wood?” Jason asked with a smile. “That’ll confuse it.  We won’t be able to immediately identify what we’ve found, but we’ll know we’ve found something.”

So they wouldn’t know if it were a crashed plane or a secret Russian base, thought Peggy… but they could do a wide circle and check it out from above.  If it were worrying, they could return to civilization and alert Daniel.  Peggy knew there was no such thing as a foolproof plan – fools were far too inventive for that – but this one was solid as long as they took no unnecessary risks.

“Well done,” she said.  “This should be just what we need.”

“He was wasted at Isodyne,” said Howard.  He sat down in the pilot’s seat, leaving the door between cockpit and cargo area open, and zipped up his flying jacket.  “Shall we get this show on the road?”

“I’m dying to know what the big secret is,” Jason admitted.

“You may be disappointed,” Peggy warned him.

She and Jason made one last check that their equipment and supplies were secure, and then took their places on the troop benches and did up their safety harnesses.  The propellers whirled to life, and the Skytrain took off into a beautiful blue sky.

“All right,” said Peggy once they were at altitude. “I now have things to explain to both of you… and neither of you are likely to be pleased.  I’m sorry, Jason, but we’re not looking for the Franklin Expedition, although I suppose we may find it by accident.”

Jason nodded, a little disappointed but not particularly surprised.  “You’re looking for the wreck of the Valkyrie,” he said.

“That’s right.  Unfortunately, we’re quite unlikely to find it.  Our source was not a particularly reliable one.”  Peggy paused to arrange the story in her head, but before she could speak, something under Jason’s seat went clunk.

The interior of the plane was open down the middle, so that it could transport vehicles and equipment as well as troops.  The men were meant to sit where Peggy and Jason were now, on benches at the sides.  Below the benches were lockers, and it was from one of these that the sound had just come. Jason undid his harness and moved to the side as one of the doors banged open, and a human being wiggled out.

“No,” said Peggy out loud, as a head of blonde hair appeared.  “Oh, no, no, no.”  This was not allowed to happen!

But it was.  Miss Lake got up and brushed herself off.  She was wearing a knee-length wool wrap coat in black, and as she sat down on the bench next to Jason, she pulled out a matching felt hat from one of the pockets, unfolded it, and put it on her head.

“Hi,” she said to Jason.

“What’s going on back there?” Howard demanded from up front.  He could not see them from the cockpit, although he could hear a little of the conversation.

“Turn around, Howard!”  Peggy stood up and went to the cockpit door.  “Find a place to land, now.”

“I’ve got a bomb,” said Lake.

Peggy turned and looked at her.  “Excuse me?”

“I put a bomb on this plane,” Lake repeated.  “I have the detonator.  If you land somewhere I don’t approve of, or otherwise try to get rid of me, I’ll set it off.”

It was all Peggy could do not to gape at her like a fish. “You’re bluffing,” she said.

“Bet your life?” asked Lake.  She glanced at Jason.  “Bet his life?”

“Who is that?” Howard wanted to know.  He craned his head over his shoulder to try to see through the doorway.

“That is our source,” said Peggy tiredly.  “What do you want, Miss Lake?”

“I want to help you find Captain America,” Lake told her, as if this were the most reasonable thing in the world.  “When Ned got back from lunch, he told me that you’d said he should apologize to me and promise to be less creepy to women in bars. I knew if you were back in town there had to be a reason, so I hitchhiked out here and found you guys working on the plane.  After you went to bed I stowed away, and here I am.”

“How did you know we’d be at Howard’s airfield?” asked Peggy.  “How… how did you even know he had an airfield up here?”

“I guessed,” said Lake.

“You guessed he had an airfield?”

“No, that I already knew.”

“How did you escape from the SSR?” Peggy asked.  She felt like her head was spinning.  She was going to kill Agent Russel, she thought… he hadn’t revealed a single secret and yet he’d still told Lake everything she needed to know.  “Don’t tell me Thompson put you in a hotel or something instead of back in your cell…”

“No, no.  Thompson is smarter than you think he is, but not nearly as smart as he thinks he is,” Lake assured her.  “I tried to seduce him just to see if he’d go for it.  He didn’t, but he also didn’t pay enough attention to realize I was doing it to distract him from me putting Barbital in his chicken soup.”

“What is going on?” Howard demanded from the cockpit.  “Am I landing or not?”

“No landing!” said Lake cheerfully.

“We’re gonna have to land eventually,” Howard protested. “It’s already in the flight plan! We have to land up by Fort Severn to refuel!”

“Then you’re allowed to do that, but not to kick me off,” said Lake.  She got up and went to the cockpit door herself , to take a look at their pilot. “So you’re Howard Stark, are you?”

This was the first time Howard had been able to see their guest.  When he realized she was an attractive blonde, he sat up a little straighter and gave her a charming smile, much to Peggy’s disgust.  “My reputation precedes me?” he asked.

“Oh, yes,” said Lake.  “Marie said you fell asleep right after and left her high and dry.  Ksenia said you have the ugliest, wrinkliest testicles she has ever seen on a man, and Olga… not Barynova, the other Olga… said that in the middle of things you kept calling her ‘Steve’.”

Peggy raised an eyebrow.

“That is not true,” said Howard, and added, to Peggy, “I don’t remember any of those women.”

“I didn’t expect you to,” Peggy said.  “Howard, Jason, this is Miss Katherine Lake, which is the only name she’ll tell us.”

“Now, that is not true,” Lake said.  “When I first met you I told you my name was Nadine Russel.”

“Yes, but you stole that one from somebody else,” said Peggy.  “Miss Lake is another Soviet agent, like Dottie Underwood but far, far worse. Dottie is merely a madwoman, but Miss Lake has a plan.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Lake said, and went to sit down again.

Peggy remained standing by the door so that Howard would hear what she had to say.  “At any rate, I’m afraid Miss Lake is correct – she was our source.  She dropped the coordinates off in a letter she slipped into my purse while she was impersonating an FBI agent.  Daniel and I discussed it and decided we had to at least take a look, if only to make sure the Soviets have not found the crash site before we did.  Miss Lake is supposed to be in New York, helping Chief Thompson find Dottie Underwood.”

“He’ll be fine,” Lake assured her.  “He’ll have her the moment she tries to sell Vivien Leigh’s diamond bracelet.”

“The one I gave her?” Howard asked.

“Dottie wouldn’t steal that,” said Peggy. “She’s got one of her own already.”

With all the bad news delivered, Peggy sat heavily back down in her seat and folded her arms across her chest.  In the space of moments, her solid plan had turned into a circus.  She was now quite certain they would find something up on Cornwallis Island, but it wasn’t going to be the Valkyrie… and whatever it was, Peggy wasn’t going to like it very much.

- 

They landed in Fort Severn as planned.  The weather there was dreadful, with a silvery overcast sky that hurt to look at, and tiny sharp crystals of snow swirling down to bite into any exposed skin.  Jason stayed on board to check the equipment one more time, while Howard gritted his teeth, tied his scarf tight, and headed out into the cold to arrange for their refueling.  Miss Lake seemed happy enough just to sit in the plane and wait, so Peggy announced a desire to stretch her legs and headed out for a walk.

The wind was bitter, which gave her a perfect excuse to confine her walk to no more than a dozen feet from the Skytrain.  She circled the plane twice, examining the engines, the landing gear, and even Jason’s sonar – anywhere somebody could have inserted something that did not belong.  She found nothing.  Peggy didn’t know as much about planes as Howard did but she knew plenty about bombs, and she was confident that if it were in one of those places, she would have spotted it.

“That was a short walk,” Miss Lake said, when Peggy came back inside.

“It’s colder out there than I thought,” Peggy replied.

She stepped over Jason’s tools and headed up into the cockpit, where she took another look around.  Under the seats?  Behind them? In the floor, where there was a hatch to access the landing gear?  Behind the instrument panels?

“Find anything?” asked Lake.

Peggy was sitting on the floor examining the underside of the dashboard.  She looked up to find Lake in the doorway, looking casually interested.  As if this were anything but a life-or-death situation that she had herself put them in.

“What do you want?” Peggy demanded crossly, only to change her mind a moment later and shake her head.  “Actually, forget I asked… I know you won’t give me an answer.”

“I want you to trust me,” Lake replied.

Peggy took a moment to consider that.  “You want me to trust you, so that’s why you lied to me, sprayed me in the face with a kitchen spice, and are now threatening to blow up an airplane while I’m on board?”

“We were raised to be spies and assassins.”  Lake shrugged.  “They never taught us how to make friends.”

“I’m not laughing,” said Peggy.

“I’m not joking.”  Lake offered Peggy a hand to help her up.  “When we find Steve, I’m going to need you to trust me.”

Peggy had been reaching for the hand, but hearing that, she grabbed the arm of the pilot’s seat instead.  “You may use my name, Kay,” she said as she got to her feet.  “You may not use his.”

When Howard got back on board, the first thing he said was, “did you find it?”

Peggy shook her head.  Jason did likewise.

“What do you want to do?” Howard asked.

“I think the only thing Miss Lake will allow us to do is go on,” Peggy said.

“Kind of a long walk home, otherwise,” said Lake with a nod.

“May Jason leave?” Peggy asked.  “It would be an expression of your good intentions, to let one of your hostages go.”  Jason had been traumatized enough by his previous involvement in SSR affairs.  He didn’t deserve to get mixed up in such a mess a second time.

But it was Jason himself who refused.  “I have to stay to mind the sonar,” he said. “Howard can’t do that while he’s flying the plane, and you ladies don’t know how to fix it if it breaks.”

“All right,” said Peggy.  “Then we go on.”  She wondered what she was going to tell Thompson when they brought Miss Lake back to New York, or whether they’d even have the opportunity to.

[chimaerakitten]

(via https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2eF2BW8QhNO2UesloUNkuk?si=SfOWQO6CTQy28MPE0ndjMA)

so, now that I am officially free of both finals and my work on the TQT title sequence animation, I thought it would be a good time to turn to my other bit project for this fandom, Chi’s crazy-long chronological playlist. I started this. One week after ROTT came out. ONE WEEK. I thought I’d get it done and written up in two or three days. It is now. December the 15th. Two months. TWO MONTHS, THIS HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY DRAFTS

Bellow the cut: A writeup explaining the position of each song + a little bit more commentary on it from me (spoilers. everything is spoilers all the way through ROTT below the cut):

This is a mix of some pretty typical fanplaylist fare (there is. A lot of Bastille on here) some Queen’s Thief must-haves (can you really have a Queen of Attolia playlist without Achilles Come Down?) and my own really weird music taste (Filk like Tin Soldier and Courage Knows No Bounds)

Some of the ones I’m most proud of are Monster by Starset for the Mede camp scenes in ROTT (I mean, it starts with “Under the knife I surrendered” It’s kinda perfect) Laughter Lines for Relius and Teleus (I have it on good authority that that caused a lot of heart pain for other fans) and Soft to be Strong for Irene and Relius.

without further ado, the song list:

“Eddis”—Warriors

“Thief!”—Second Child, Restless Child

The Thief

Whatever it takes—“I can steal anything”

Tin Soldier—“Nobody would mistake you for anything but a tool, Gen.”

Centuries—“His name would be carved in stone on a stele outside the basilica, and mine would be written in the dust.”

Everybody Wants To Rule the World—“He doesn’t want the queen…He just wants the pass through the mountains so that he can invade Attolia.”

Patron Saint o’ Thieves—Eugenides and the Sky God’s Thunderbolts (I will be honest. This one was chosen based on title and Vibes, tm, not lyrics)

The Only Exception—“But if there hadn’t been one that I loved, I wouldn’t have landed myself in the king’s prison.”

Thief—Before braving the temple of the Aracthus.

Come Wayward Souls—Inside the temple.

History Has Its Eyes On You—The answered prayer for silence.

The Queen and the Soldier—“You are more beautiful, Your majesty... But she is more kind.”

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)—Walking to Eddis.

Stand By Me—“Oh, It’s you, Eugenides.”

Family—Helen, Eugenides, and the Minister of War.

“Destruction”—Dread Sovereign

The Queen of Attolia

Run Boy Run—The chase through the palace.

Icarus—Eugenides, caught.

When the Chips are Down—“I still think tradition might hold the best solution to my problems with you.”

Achilles Come Down—Eugenides, after returning to Eddis.

Heroes—The Secret War and the expectation that Eugenides will die soon.

Burn It Down—Burning Sounis’s navy.

Sit Still Look Pretty—“It was her fiancé who gave her the name shadow princess.”

Heroes and Thieves— “She pulled the bedclothes up as far as they would go and suppressed a perverse wish to have her old nurse come to chase away the darkness, perverse because she didn’t know if she wanted the shadows to be empty or not.”

Thousand Eyes—The plan to take Ephrata.

We Remain—“There’s an easier way for a man to become king,”

Black Water—“She reached up to push the wet hair out of her face, wondering when she had sunk so low that she had begun torturing boys.”

Simple Song—"I watched you walking between the rows of cabbages and then dancing under the orange trees. I was above you, in one of the trees.”

She’s Always a Woman—"Eugenides had accepted gladly and read carefully, trying to see whether Attolia could be the monster in human guise she was accused of being, or only a woman who ruled without the support of her barons.”

Queen of Peace—“Just asleep,” Eddis reassured her.”

I’m Not Calling You A Liar—“I sometimes believe his lies are the truth, but I have never mistaken his truth for a lie.”

Losing My Religion—“You made a mistake,” Attolia agreed. “You trusted your gods. That was your mistake.”

Pompeii—The vision of the volcano.

All I’ve Ever Known—“Love I am not familiar with.”

Love Love Love—"Who am I, that you should love me?

A Healing In This Night—“And she believed him.”

The King of Attolia

Bow to the Crown— “He dropped to his knees before his queen and lowered his head almost to the floor.”

Shut up and Dance—"Her queen danced like a flame in the wind”

Carry Your Throne— It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and a groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife.”

It’s Alright—"If it was embarrassing to wake like a child screaming from a nightmare, how much more embarrassing to be the reason your husband woke screaming.”

Believer—“like a god revealed” and the fall of the house of Erondites.

I CHOOSE YOU— “He was very likable—Eddis would have married him.”

Hunger— “I did not say that I am afraid. He is, though, I think. Afraid of his own desire for power.”

Soft to Be Strong—"I have learned that there is a flaw in your philosophy. If we truly trust no one, we cannot survive.”

Gold—Eugenides on the crenellations.

True & Destined Prince—“He is an Annux, a king of kings.”

“Knife Dance”—Human

A Conspiracy of Kings

Things We Lost In The Fire—The raid on the villa.

Constellations—Sophos and Moira in the dream library.

Welcome Home, Son—“I didn’t want a choice; I wanted to stay right where I was and build walls and share poetry with an avid audience and enjoy a swim with friends, but I didn’t want it to be my choice.”

Words as Weapons— “Eugenides looked me in the eye as if I were a complete stranger and said, “The simplest way to end a war is to admit you have lost it.”

Share Your Address— “You made a proposal in your previous letter. Perhaps it was only hypothetical?” “It was not.”

I Love You—“When I was working in the fields, I knew how unfounded my hopes were,” he said. “I was a poor excuse for an heir of Sounis when I made the proposal and then became even less than that.”

Iron—“I will go to Melenze. And hope to delay the Medes long enough to find some other solution to their imperial expansion. Of course, that assumes the king and queen of Attolia intend to honor the laws of hospitality and allow me to travel safely to the border.”

Young Volcanoes—“Just what makes you think you can get away with that?” he asked the young man standing over him with a butter-won’t-melt-in-my-mouth expression incongruous on his scarred face.”

The Fates—Sophos’s naïve speech before the first vote.

Handmade Heaven—Shooting Hanaktos and Akretenesh, lifting a hand to the sky for a lightning bolt that will not come.

I Bet My Life—"There is no reason I can see that I would not be honored to join Eddis to you.”

Flaws—“Eddis stared at him for a long time, knowing that forgiving someone because you have to is not forgiving him at all.”

For The Dancing And The Dreaming—“Are you certain that you want to be my wife?” “Absolutely,” said Eddis, quietly. “Eternally certain.”

Blood Brothers—"He had been saved by the men Eugenides sent, though he did not yet know the ferocity with which the king of Attolia had stripped those men from other posts, the capital he had expended, the secrets that had been revealed in order to send help to Sounis.”

Thick as Thieves

I’ll Believe In Anything—"If there had been any alternative, I would have taken it, but I could see none, and there was no time for hesitation.”

You’ve Got A Friend In Me—“Head wounds bleed, but we can stitch it up, I’ve done it before, don’t be afraid. Kamet, I wouldn’t tell you this if it weren’t true. I swear to you, I am not going to leave your dead body beside the road to Perf. I didn’t come all the way to this godsforsaken cesspit so that I could go home and tell my king I failed him.”

Desert Song—Costis and Kamet crossing the empire, eating caggi.

Empire—"It would be possible, I supposed, for an outsider to see disruption and think the empire might collapse, but it was too all encompassing, too well sewn together to come apart. As each smaller nation was absorbed, it was integrated into the whole, enjoying all the benefits of being in the empire.”

Fell In Love With A Girl—Kamet’s story of Marin the dancing girl.

Foreigner’s God—Kamet’s encounter with Ennikar while Costis is in the well.

The Hell If I Go Home—Kamet trying to leave in Sukir.

Stray Italian Greyhound—“If you had told me in Sukir, I would have let you go.” / “Costis,” I said, using his name for the first time since he had told it to me, on board the riverboat at the start of our journey. “Costis, I’m sorry.”

Poet—"I began this narrative in the palace of Attolia but have only recently neared its completion. I will eventually send it to Relius, when I am sure it can be delivered without interception, and I hope he will be satisfied with my account, as I would be honored to have it added to his library.”

All This And Heaven Too—“Immakuk and Ennikar,” he said. “Where?” I snapped my head around to scan the dock, and he nudged me with his elbow. “Idiot. Us,” he said.”

Return of the Thief

How Far We’ve Come—Exordium.

The Great Escape—Pheris finding a place for himself.

The Heart Is a Muscle—“Someone loves me very much, even with all my faults”

I Will Wait—“His heart is unlikely to be in his work.”

Laughter Lines—Relius and Teleus saying goodbye.

Stole You Away—“Attolia says she leaves with you”

Poison & Wine—“I think they have to show their worst selves sometimes”

United at War—“Sounis will not run…nor Eddis.”

This is War—Arrival at Leonyla.

No Light, No Light—“All wars make men monsters, all wars and all men.”

Survivor’s Song—The Etisian winds came early.

Daniel in the Den—The ambush and the Mede Camp.

Monster—“Nahuseresh tells me I am not king. We’ll see if he really prefers the Thief.”

Natural—“Once, when I said he had saved me, you said I had saved him. From what?”

Tomorrow I Leave For Battle—Before the Naupent.

March of Cambreadth—The Naupent.

Courage Knows No Bounds—A pyre that burned for three days.

Bad Blood—The pardon of Sejanus.

Call the Names—The naming of Hector and Eugenia.

Here’s To Us—Dancing on the Roof.

I lived—Pheris, and the gods were pleased.

“Alyta’s Missing Earring”—Falling and Empire

final note: I did my best to have songs have at least one meaning in the pace they were put, plus more meaning when considering the series as a whole—for example, “Tin Soldier” appears early on in the context of the king of Sounis and the Magus using Gen as a tool, but if you loop back around to it after Return of the Thief, Gen being “weapon more than child” gains a whole new meaning. "She’s always a woman” is an Irene song in the context of QOA, but the more we learn about Helen, the more it applies to her, etc. etc. Not every song is like that, but I wanted to give the playlist at least a bit of re-listen value, in the spirit of the books’ reread value.

[freddiesaysalright]

Blessed Part 4

The Peace Like a River Sequel

Summary: Gwilym and Y/N are married. Violet is six years old. Baby number two is on the way. There are still some shadows that plague Y/N in her marriage to Gwil, and Violet is suddenly resentful of her parents. The Lee family tries to stick together.

Word Count: 2.5k

Tag List:  @psychosupernatural​, @someone-get-a-medic​, @bensrhapsody​, @deakyclicks, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession​, @minigranger​, @simmisblog​, @assembledherethevolunteers​, @lookuptotheskiesandsee​, @readinghorn​, @riddikuluslypotter​, @doingalrightt​, @misslolasworld​, @lemurian-starship​, @ravenedges-lies, @painkiller80​, @imgonnabeyourslave​, @crazyweirdocalledfriday​, @ixchel-9275​, @sincerelygmg, @lv7867​, @unicorn-princess-1999​, @delilahmay39​, @chlobo6​, @dragon-out-of-water​, @radio-hoo-ha​, @agentmalfoy24601​, @thigh-your-mother-down​, @im-an-adult-ish​, @anotherhystericalqueen​ If you’d like to be added, let me know!

A/N: The second to last part of this series! Some drama ensues, of course.

Haven’t read Peace Like a River? Start here!

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  

Part 4 here we go!!!

Due to scheduling conflicts, you didn’t actually get to go until almost a month later. Sybil’s due date was within the week, but you were at last able to book an appointment. You just hoped you didn’t go into labor before then. When the day arrived, and you had no labor pains or anything, you actually thanked your baby for holding off.

Unexplainable nerves came over you as you and Gwilym walked into the therapist’s office. Her name was Dr. McHale, and she was a sweet woman who made you feel comfortable talking about what you had been through with Henry. You were honest with Gwilym when you said you felt better after the appointment, but you weren’t sure how it would go this time with him there. They introduced themselves to each other and then all three of you went into her office.

“Welcome back, Y/N,” Dr. McHale said as you all took your seats. “So glad you could join us today, Gwilym. Y/N, how have you been since I saw you last?”

“Pretty good,” you told her. “I’m more anxious than ever for the baby, for sure.”

“That’s normal,” she returned with an understanding smile. “Have you had any more issues with relying on your husband?”

Gwilym looked at you, but you couldn’t meet his gaze.

“I’m trying really hard to,” you said. “But I feel like I can’t help it. I’ve had to do things myself since I was sixteen. It’s a big adjustment for me.”

“Do you trust your husband?” she asked.

“With my life,” you answered quickly. “And my daughters’ lives.”

“Did you ever have that kind of faith in Henry?” she continued.

“Yes,” you told her. “He didn’t start physically abusing me until after we were married.”

“But you feel that he emotionally abused you before and then into your marriage?”

“Sort of, but he was mostly a good guy,” you said. “Things just...intensified once we were married.”

“So, do you think your problem now is that you feel like you’re still waiting for the other shoe to drop?” she asked. “That one day Gwilym might suddenly turn on you?”

Once again, you felt the need to crack a joke. Make light of the situation so the room didn’t feel like it was closing in on you. You stole a glance at Gwilym to try and glean what he was feeling. You expected him to be angry. That you’d upset him and he might just walk out of the room or start shouting at you. But he wasn’t. His face looked as kind as ever as he patiently waited for you to answer. You looked at Dr. McHale.

“Yes, I think that’s exactly what’s going on.”

She looked at Gwil. “And you reassure her of your dedication to her?”

“I do,” he answered. “We’ve talked at length about it.”

“With Y/N, it’s going to take more than words,” she replied. “Words are powerful tools, but action is what makes tools useful.”

“He does reassure me with his actions,” you said, becoming a little defensive. “He adopted my daughter, he spends time with her, he helps me with lots of things before I even ask and -”

Dr. McHale smiled and held up a hand to stop you. “Relax, Y/N. I’m not saying he’s done anything wrong. It actually sounds like he’s on the right track with you.”

You sighed and sat back into your chair again. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize,” she returned. “I’m not angry with you.”

You opened your mouth to apologize again, but quickly closed it. You nodded instead.

“Y/N, I want you to be totally honest when you answer this question,” she said. “Do you think Gwilym would ever hit you?”

That took you aback. It wasn’t something you had thought hard about. But it made sense. It was what Henry had instilled in you. Tension, disagreement, anything he didn’t like, ended in violence. If he was drunk, it would happen completely unprovoked. You remembered seeing Gwilym drunk the day after the first Dear Friend meeting.

“I...I don’t know,” you said. “I didn’t think Henry ever would, but he did.”

You looked at Gwilym and saw a flicker of hurt behind his eyes.

“Y/N, I…” he trailed off, speechless.

You didn’t know what to say.

“I want to try something,” Dr. McHale said. “Y/N, take Gwilym’s hands in yours.”

He offered you his hands. You tried to smile at him, but it quickly faltered. You hated that he was wounded by what you said, but you had to work through all of this. And that meant being completely honest. Ultimately, you were sure that was what Gwilym wanted as well. 

“Close your eyes,” Dr. McHale instructed, and you did so. “I want you to recall everything your husband does with his hands. On a day-to-day basis or anything in particular that sticks out to you.”

You nodded and a whole sea of thoughts pushed their way to the front of your mind. You thought of how Gwilym held Violet, scooping her up and tickling her. The gentle way he touched her face. You thought of the way he touched you, every tender caress of your cheek or running his fingers through your hair. And when he made love to you, you thought of how his hands explored your body, showing his adoration of every inch of your skin. You thought of how he rubbed your baby bump, especially the first day it was really visible. His touch was feather-light, as if he were afraid he might crush her beneath him. 

“Now, can you imagine them striking you?” Dr. McHale asked.

You tried, but with everything you just remembered, nothing came up. The idea of Gwilym hitting you was so impossible, you couldn’t even conjure a mental picture of it.

Gwilym watched you, his heart pounding. He had no idea what you thought of upon Dr. McHale’s instructions. Had Henry’s fists been so bruising that they were embedded on your skin forever? Did it matter now that someone else was touching you? Someone who wanted desperately to heal where you had been hurt?

“No,” you said shaking your head. “I can’t imagine it.”

He released a breath he had not even realized he’d been holding. You opened your eyes and met his and he saw relief there that matched his own. You watched as a smile stretched across his face.

“Thank God,” he sighed.

You laughed with contentment. “I know.”

“Y/N, I want you to remember this any time you start to feel that anxiety that forms from dissention in your relationships,” Dr. McHale said. “Remember this feeling and that the thought of violence from Gwilym was unimaginable.”

You tore your eyes away from Gwilym’s and looked gratefully at her.

“I will,” you said with a nod.

“Now, I know words are only tools like I said, but they are effective,” she went on. “Look back at your husband.” 

You did so. Gwilym’s bright blue eyes were shining with his love for you.

“Repeat after me,” Dr. McHale said. “I trust you.”

You held his gaze.

“I trust you,” you said.

He smiled and squeezed your hand.

“I rely on you,” she said.

“I rely on you,” you repeated.

“I need you in my life.”

You swallowed and then smiled back at him. “I need you in my life.”

“Okay, Gwilym, your turn,” she said. “Keep looking at Y/N and repeat after me. I respect you.”

“I respect you,” he said.

“I care for you,” she went on.

“I care for you,” he repeated.

“I need you in my life.”

He scooted his chair closer to you and brought your hand to his lips. He kissed the tops of your fingers and it warmed you to your toes.

“I need you in my life,” he told you.

For a moment, nothing else mattered. It was just you and Gwilym in this moment together. A moment that might have lasted a second or one hundred years. You had no idea. You were certain you had never felt more loved than you did now. 

“That was excellent, you two,” Dr. McHale praised. “You actually communicate with each other very well, and I can see your willingness to work to make your marriage as successful as possible. I’m very impressed. You should repeat these affirmations to each other daily.”

You both turned eyes on her and thanked her.

“Is there anything else you want to say to each other?” she asked.

You and Gwil locked eyes again. 

“I love you,” you said in unison, and you both chuckled.

“Wonderful,” she praised. “Now, Y/N, could you step out for a few minutes? There are some things I’d like to discuss with Gwilym.”

You frowned. After sharing this with him, you wanted to be close to him. How you didn’t kiss the life out of him just now, you had no idea, but you hated to have such a breakthrough only to be separated right after. Gwilym looked similarly disappointed.

“It won’t be for too long,” she told you. “I just want to get more clarity on his story.”

“Alright, then,” you sighed. You looked at Gwil. “Help me up?”

“Of course,” he answered.

He got to his feet, beaming that you’d asked him, and he assisted you out of the chair. Getting up and down was incredibly difficult now that your belly was so round. Gwilym kissed your cheek as he opened the door for you and you giggled. With one last look at Dr. McHale, you left. Gwilym closed the door behind you with a wistful smile. He missed you already.

“So, Gwilym,” Dr. McHale said, pulling him back from his reverie. “How are you feeling in your marriage to Y/N?”

“Excellent, thanks to you,” he replied.

She smiled and looked at the floor. Pink rose to her cheeks.

“You flatter me,” she said.

“No, really, thank you for getting her to that place,” he went on.

She smirked. “Well, how were you feeling before coming today? Was there a part of you that resented Y/N?”

“No,” he answered, brow furrowing. “Why would I resent her?”

“Well, she’s allowed her experience to come between you,” she explained. “She even stood you up when you were supposed to meet. Weren’t you angry?”

“I was hurt,” he explained. “But I understood. So no, I wasn’t angry.”

“You have a healthy way of dealing with things,” she said. “I like that in a man.”

Gwilym blinked before shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He cleared his throat.

“Thanks, I suppose.”

A beat passed.

“But to be clear, Y/N didn’t let her experience come between us, she was abused,” he said. “Brutally so. She can’t help her trauma.”

“I know that,” she answered. “But that doesn’t mean you should be an emotional dumping ground. Your feelings should be catered to as well.”

“Y/N cares deeply about my feelings,” he protested.

“Yes, but is she allowing you to fully express them? Are your…” She placed her hand on his thigh. “Are your needs being met?”

Gwilym scowled at her and shoved her hand away.

“I don’t believe this,” he snapped, getting to his feet. “You just witnessed how much I love my wife. Did you honestly think this would work?”

“Can’t hurt to try,” she returned with a shrug.

Anger surged in his chest and he took a breath to keep from yelling.

“It could hurt a lot of people!” he shot back. “Y/N, our daughters, myself! You’re a family counselor, dammit, you know that better than anyone!”

She looked away, stung, but he didn’t care in the least that he’d hurt her feelings. What she was doing was so fucked up, he barely had the words for it.

“My wife has been betrayed by a lot of people,” he said levelly. “I don’t know how she’ll trust anyone after this.”

He left the office, slamming the door behind him. He stormed out to the waiting room, where he found you browsing through a magazine. You started to smile, but it disappeared quickly when you saw his face.

“What happened?” you wondered, worry suddenly coursing through you.

“We’re leaving,” he said firmly, heading straight for the door.

“Gwil, wait!” you cried, struggling to get up from the chair. 

You managed to get to your feet and you waddled out the door as fast as you could go, but your husband’s long strides had him waiting for you by the car at least thirty seconds before you caught up to him. You were out of breath as he helped you into the passenger seat. You watched nervously as he crossed to the drivers side, climbed in, and shut the door harshly. A million questions went through your mind.

“Gwilym, please,” you said. “What happened?”

“She made a pass at me,” he returned as he whipped out of the parking lot.

You felt like you’d been punched in the chest. The woman who was supposed to make your family strong had tried to ruin it.

“W...what?” you breathed out.

“I’m sorry,” he said with a sigh. “It happened quickly, and I -”

“Gwilym,” you cut across him, voice trembling with the emotions lodged in your throat. “I need you to tell me exactly what the fuck happened in that room.”

He relayed the whole thing to you. You listened carefully, trying not to cry. How could this be? It was beyond wrong. As you pulled into the driveway, you were still speechless.

“I don’t think this nullifies what we accomplished in there,” he said, cutting the engine.

“Are you kidding?” you returned. “Of course it nullifies that.”

“Why?” he argued. “She was still doing her job while you were in the room.”

“Yeah, all while thinking about doing a totally different kind of job on my husband!” you countered.

To your surprise, Gwilym laughed.

“That might be the worst joke you’ve ever told,” he said lightly.

You rolled your eyes. “Oh, shut up.”

He took your hand. “Listen, darling. I still think she gave you a powerful way of thinking about things. I can’t tell you how much it meant that you couldn’t imagine...violence from me.”

You looked down at your lap, doubtful.

“I dunno, Gwil,” you said. “I feel like it was one step forward and two steps back.”

“That’s still one step forward,” he replied. “Let’s work with it, okay?”

“I’ll try,” you promised.

Skepticism seeped into your heart. Could you really trust the words from a woman who tried to sleep with your husband the moment you were out the door? You weren’t sure you could. As you and Gwilym went to bed that night, you considered asking him to go through the affirmations once more. But then the hurt of what Dr. McHale did blocked any further desire to do it. So you just kissed his cheek and curled up beside him to go to sleep, hoping things would be better in the morning.

[jocazep]

In the Whole Wide Train | Chapter 7

Pairing: Curtis Everett x Reader (Jo, OFC), slight Edgar x Reader

Warnings: Major spoilers for SNOWPIERCER, dystopian society and its countless problems, mentions of forced abortions, language, violence, deaths, slow burn, eventual smut

Synopsis: Having grown up in the Front Sections of the Snowpiercer, you venture down the train when a rare opportunity presents itself, but the excursion quickly changes flavor when you arrive in the Tail Section.

Taglist: Open until March 20th

Series Masterlist

Chapter Seven - Changing Gear

You stared at your own reflection in the mirror, your chest heaving, your eyes still slightly red. Having just gotten most of the blood and sick off your hands and faces with furious scrubbing, you ran the back of your hand across your mouth to wipe off any remaining water. Your mind wandered back to when you first found yourself in this cramped bathroom, when you changed into these shabby clothes. You felt like a different person.

Well maybe not 100% different. Your eyes fell on the neatly folded pile of clothes on the counter. You decided it’s time to start changing gear.

You peeled off the dusty coat, the itchy sweater, and the short cargo pants. But your hands wavered as they came to the oversized shirt you were wearing--this was Curtis’s shirt. But then you decided better, and took it off as well. Now is not the time to dwell.

You could hear the bustling crowd of tail-sectioners outside the door. Well, technically they were tal-sectioners no more, given where you stood. Revolters then. Time to call them what they are. Namgoong eventually opened the first door just as you had finished patching up the wounded guard. As Curtis and the other revolters flooded into the guards’ quarters, you spotted Namgoong and Yuna snuffing their newly-earned Kronole blocks in a dark corner of the section--the train was going through a tunnel just then, and the normally bright space was as dimly-lit as the tail section.

When the light pierced through the windows, even you had to shield your eyes for a little bit. It was almost a completely novel thing to the revolters. But to be fair, living in a windowless steel tube for almost 18 years usually tends to have that effect on people. You would probably never forget the look on Curtis and Gilliam’s faces when they laid eyes on the frozen world whipping past.

“Still cold.“ Gilliam said with a hint of resignation. In your heart, you thought it would be foolish to expect anything different, but you didn’t say anything.

As the revolters marveled at the world outside, Curtis reminded everyone to push on. You dug out a small set of tools from the nose-breaker guard’s bunk--he had used them to maintain the cart and their “useless guns”--and supplied it to Namgoong, who quickly opened the next gate.

And here you were. The Protein Block Section. Another never-before-seen sight for the revolters as they witnessed their only sustenance roll off the conveyor belt, steaming hot.

A deep breath in as you fought off another wave of nausea at the thought of the protein blocks. The churning of the gigantic cauldron vibrated through the floor. You closed your eyes, only to reopen them almost immediately--the image of a million cockroaches tumbling around was still burned into your brain.

Half of you wished that you had taken up Paul’s offer to check out the cauldron before going down to the tail section. So you would have known better. So that you wouldn’t have been so utterly shaken when you saw it with Curtis and Painter, that you virtually fell off the last few steps of the ladder, cutting yourself on your way to the bathroom to throw up.

But only half of you. Because what could you have done? Chosen not to eat the protein blocks when you were in the tail section? Warned the revolters not to eat it, when there’s nothing else available to them as a substitute?

It’s moments like this that you found your conviction crumbling bit by bit. Is there really any hope for a system so deeply deeply problematic?

Shaking your head, you picked up your notebook, and flipped it to the last page you had written. The letter from Edgar fell out onto the sink. You picked it up and put it into your pocket.

Looking back to notebook, you took one last look at the notes taken from your time in the tail section. Resolution setting in your eyes, you ripped out the pages and flushed them down the toilet.

At the end of the day, that won’t completely be your call.

---

A loud bang as Curtis pushed Paul into the side of the gigantic cauldron.

“All this time we’ve been eating this shit.” Curtis was so furious that he didn’t notice the rest of the revolters having a free-for-all with the freshly made protein blocks. Nor did he notice Jo stepping out of the bathroom and observing his exchange with Paul close by.

“Hey, I eat them too, you know.” Paul didn’t really right back. In fact, he didn’t seem to think there’s anything wrong with eating protein blocks made of cockroaches, “Every single day.”

As Paul raised up his own chunk of protein block, something fell and clanked onto the floor.

Curtis scooped it up before realizing what it was--an empty bullet casing, same as the previous ones containing the red letters. Questions exploded in Curtis’s head. Why was he so trusting of these tiny red slips of paper before?

“Where did you get this? Have you been the one writing these?”

Paul didn’t really know what to say beyond “I don’t write them”, and a shrug.

“Why do you have this? Who gave this to you?” Each question Curtis asked ate away at his confidence in the revolt.

“Curtis, cut him some slack--”

He turned to see Jo stepping up. She had changed into presumably her own clothes--a grey tailored wool coat on top of a white silk shirt, and jeans that hugged her legs perfectly. And for a split second there, Curtis forgot what he was so anxious about.

But only just a split second.

Jo took the bullet casing, twisting it open, and shook out a small red scroll.

“There’s no way Paul knows who wrote these, and where they came from. I’m the surveyor and I don’t even know,” she said as she handed Curtis the small paper, “Here, why don’t you read it first.”

Curtis smoothed the paper out, and true to form, there was only one word written--water.

“Water supply section.” Gilliam was quick to realize the meaning behind this latest clue as Curtis convened with him.

“Yeah, it’s a few cars up,” Paul said, “it’s where the water is cleansed and recycled.”

Gilliam looked up at Paul, “It’s one of the most crucial sections on the train...”

“If we take it, we have the upper hand？” Finally a sense of direction returned to Curtis.

“We don’t even have to go to the front...” Gilliam mused, “We control the water, we control the negotiation.”

“Why don’t we ask Jo? She’s the one that actually knows the front section,“ Edgar chimed in. For once his suggestion was actually pretty good.

When Curtis and Edgar found Jo, she was squatting next to Yuna, trying to strike up a conversation with her.

“How long were you in the prison section?”

Yuna raised up seven digits. Holy shit, Curtis thought.

“Do you still remember your mother?” Jo asked gingerly.

Yuna shook her head.

Curtis found himself remembering a similar conversation he had with Edgar, suddenly feeling sorry for Yuna despite her Kronole addiction.

He stole a guilty glance at Edgar but realized that Edgar was looking at Jo with a longing in his eyes. Oh.

“Jo...” Edgar interrupted with the quietest voice Curtis had ever heard, “what do you know about the water section?”

---

One of the few memories you had of the water section didn’t come from your surveyor trip, but from your father.

“I just don’t understand your logic--” you were probably 16 at the time, so naturally you believed you had all the answers, “if the water section is where all our water supply is cleansed and distributed, isn’t this the most important section?”

Your father chuckled, “It’s not THE most important section, but sure.”

“Then why put it in the middle, not the front?” Edgar asked the same question you had before.

“It’s a buffer,” you said absent-mindedly, your father’s words echoing through you.

“There’re only so many sections to work with, and originally the train was designed specifically for luxurious globe-trotting travels. When we became the last sanctuary to humanity... well, let’s just say we needed some distance between the different strata of society.”

You more or less bought your father’s argument, as you were a member of the upper stratum.

“Those bastards.” Edgar, however, was put off by the answer. And rightly so, you thought as you watched Namgoong pull out the colorful wirings beneath the floor.

“But if we control the water section, the front will have to come to the table, right?” Curtis was ever thinking about the revolt, “We can cut of their water supply?”

Your eyes dodged around, “I think so.”

“Are you sure, Jo? This could end the fight once and for all.” Gilliam asked you, a meaningful gaze in his eyes.

Which is when you realized that Gilliam didn’t know everything you knew. But you played along for now.

“There’s only one way to find out. Even if we don’t force them to the table, we would at least control one more section. And if we do, all the better.”

You felt your chest tightening as you remembered the remainder of your conversation with your father, which you would never, ever share with the revolters.

“Do you know why we need the buffer?”

You shook your head.

“Because when the tail-sectioners eventually become too dissatisfied to contain, the buffers will buy us precious time.”

It sounded like an impossibility back then, but now you were living it.

“All right. Let’s get ready for the next section,” Curtis put an end to the discussion, and the crowd dispersed to whatever tasks they were given. Edgar got Namgoong his toolkit, Curtis lined up the revolters, and Tanya handed out additional weapons they found in the guard’s quarters. As for you, you pulled yourself from the reverie, and looked for Paul.

“Paul!” You called out to him as he dangled from a tube up high, turning what used to be an automatic valve. He had already decided not to join the revolters on their way to the front.

“Oh hey!” He hopped down, and wiped his greasy hands on his overalls nervously, “What are you doing with Curtis and them?”

He lowered his voice, “are you taken hostage?”

“No, no. I’m with them actually,” You couldn’t help but smile. Paul’s sweet. “I just wanted to return the clothes I borrowed.”

You handed him the neatly folded coat, sweater, and cargo pants. “Sorry I lost your shirt... I had to use it as bandage for one of the tail-sectioners.”

“Oh, that’s all right!” Paul took the clothes, stuffed them back into where he first took them out, and went back to his tinkering, humming happily.

You then went back to Yuna, who was sitting in the corner close by Namgoong, clutching the two Kronole cubes.

“Hey, Yuna, I got a gift for you.”

“Kronole?”

“Something better.” You took out your notebook and pencil, and handed it to her. Yuna’s eyes lit up as she accepted the gift.

“I will teach you to write whenever I can. But before that, you can draw. I know I only have a black pencil but--“

Suddenly, Yuna’s countenance shifted. She stuffed the notebook into her pocket, and crawled to the front gate, where Curtis, Edgar, and Tanya stood, waiting for the gate to open.

You caught up to her, “What’s wrong, Yuna?”

Yuna stared intensely at the steel gates, as if her eyes could penetrate and see the other side.

Behind you, Namgoong mumbled in Korean, “this should be it. You better have my Kronole ready.”

“Yuna, are you OK?” Curtis noticed the strange behavior and joined you.

Her eyes widened as she mumbled, “Don’t open it.”

Before you could understand what she meant, a crackle sounded as Namgoong finally connected the wires.

Black masks, black leather coat, black leather shoes. As the gates inched open, a brutal gang of thugs appeared in front of your eyes. The cold glint of sharp weapons danced across your faces ominously.

“Precious time to do what?” your 16-year-old voice was the only thing in your mind. That and the piercing blue eyes of your father as he gave you a straight answer.

“To nip the revolution in the bud, silly child.”

Taglist: @torntaltos @emmalbg @ajosieface 

[firenationember]

Destruction, Everywhere (OC Fic)

4/?

Previous Chapters

Authors note: My story takes place in Book 3 BUT  Ba Sing Se Tea/Shop Zuko is underrated. He’s so soft and his hair !!! so anyway yea that’s why I chose this gif lol also this chapter is v short, I’m sorry about that

I was pacing back and forth in a random hallway, dreading the conversation I had to have with my friends. I paused at the thought. Friends. I knew I had to do it sooner rather than later, and hopefully be done before Zuko showed up. I took a deep breath and made my way to the courtyard. I saw Aang and Toph earthbending, Katara watching from the side. She smiled and waved when she saw me.

“Draya finally! Here for our daily training lessons?” She asked, hopping to her feet, probably hoping to spar, boredom clear on her face. A sad smile spread across my face as I shook my head. Noticing my expression, Aang told Toph he wanted to take a break.

“Is everything okay Draya?” He asked, concern in his voice. Sokka was already bounding over and I realized it was now or never. I rubbed my hands together, knowing I just had to get this over with as fast as I could.

“I know this is probably the worst time to do something like this, but when I first joined Team Avatar, we agreed that I could leave when I’m ready. I’ve been ready for a while now, I just never knew when the right moment to do it would be. I realized there would never be a right moment. Aang, I’m sorry, but I’ve taught you what I can. You should reconsider Zuko’s offer, he’s the only chance you have to stand up to Fire Lord Ozai.” My words came out so fast, I was surprised I didn’t have steam spilling out with them. I could see the different emotions dancing across my friends’ faces- confusion, anger, hurt. Aang opened his mouth to say something before he was interrupted by Toph.

“Your timing couldn’t be more perfect, firecracker.” I look over to see Zuko walking up behind everyone, the overwhelming urge to cry suddenly gone. Zuko caught my gaze first, a small smile on his face before he greeted everyone else, leaving Toph for last.

“I didn’t realize we were already on a nickname basis uhhh...” Zuko was drowned out by Sokka, angry confusion clear on his face.

“Toph was obviously talking to Draya, Zuko. We still don’t want you here.” He looked at him, never breaking his fighting stance.

“Aang needs his help, Sokka. If you want Aang to defeat the Fire Lord, he’ll have to stay.” I say, jumping in to Zuko’s defense. Aang looked between Zuko and I, holding my gaze before nodding his head.

“If you think Zuko should teach me, I believe you. It’s been an honor learning from you, Draya. I wish you the best on your journey.” Aang says softly, clear that he was trying to control the sadness in his voice. He bowed his head to me and turned to Zuko. “You can join us to teach me firebending. If Draya trusts you to teach me, I can learn to trust you too.” Aang bowed to Zuko before turning to his friends. Everyone reluctantly agreed, knowing they were running out of time.  

Katara walked up to me, even though I was avoiding everyone as best as I could. She hovered next to me before pulling me into a hug, catching me by surprise.

“I am going to miss you so much. It was nice having someone else other than Sokka around who’s close to my age. You’re like the firebending sister I never had.” She laughed, hugging me tighter. “I never thought I would say something like that.” I wrapped my arms around her and smiled.

“I’m going to miss you too, and everyone else, so much. You’ve all shown me nothing but kindness. Thank you.” I looked at the others, who have now gathered around to also say goodbye.

“Friends don’t have to say thank you. We did it because we care.” Sokka said, holding his arms open for a hug. When I pulled away, I saw Zuko’s expression and I could tell the wheels were turning in his head and he was trying to figure something out. My heart sank when his face lit up with recognition as he looked me in the eyes.

“Wait, Draya… I remember now. You were one of those children training with my fathers’ army, weren’t you? I… I remember training with a few of you once or twice before…” Zuko paused, his voice falling quiet as his face filled with regret when he noticed my panicked expression. He realized he said too much.

“Draya, what is Zuko talking about?” Aang asked, everyone looking at you with confusion. I shook my head, heat rushing to my face; I could feel the flames threatening to spill out of my palms.

“I- I don’t know. You’re confused Zuko… you’re wrong…” I said, backing away, trying to figure out a way out without the use of Appa. Tears filled my eyes as I started running, not sure where to go. I could hear everyone running after me, their footsteps heavy and voices calling out. I found a small space in the wall and crawled in, trying to control the tears now rushing down my face.

“She’s over here!” I hear Toph say, cursing her superior bending. I didn’t bother getting up to run, there was no point. I was out of options. Everyone gathered around me, and I was surprised to see Zuko sidle up next to me, apology dripping in his eyes before spilling out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry. Last night, I couldn’t remember where else I’ve seen you. I was just so surprised when I realized who you were that… I mean, what are the odds that we’ve ran into each other twice before?” Zuko said quietly, seeming to have forgotten our audience. Sokka cleared his throat before Katara sat next to me.

“What have you been keeping from us Draya?” She asked, sounding more concerned than angry. I took a deep breath and sighed, realizing I couldn’t hide everything from them anymore.

“When I met you guys, I wasn’t just running away from those guards because I stole some food… I couldn’t risk being caught by Fire Nation soldiers. I’ve been, successfully, trying to avoid them for years. I knew once I disappeared, they’d just think I died like the others. Fire Lord Ozai wanted to recruit smaller, younger benders to carry out some “simpler tasks” for him.” I looked over at Zuko, seeing a range of emotions on his face. “I was one of the first young firebenders they recruited, never letting me forget how… disposable I am. ‘Fire Lord Ozai wants to save his best soldiers for real war, you’re nothing but a distraction.’ As if I wanted to be involved with the war at all.” I scoff, shaking my head before continuing. “The idea was that they would send us in, with the plan for us to always get captured while the real soldiers took the opportunity to strike.” I choke out a sob, remembering everything we had to endure between trainings. “They taught me how to fight, sure. They also taught me how to be tortured, how no matter what happened to me I wasn’t to speak ill of the Fire Lord, give up his plan.” I didn’t want to say more, the pain in my voice slicing through the air. I felt Zuko’s body tense next to me before I felt his hand on my shoulder, giving a firm and reassuring squeeze. I reached up, grabbing his hand, and returning the gesture before looking over to give him a small smile. “I’m surprised you remember my face from the time we trained at the palace, there were just so many of us. The Fire Lord had asked the general who oversaw us at the time to take us to the palace to make sure we were getting proper training. I remember seeing Queen Ursa yelling at him, although I couldn’t make out anything she was saying. All I could remember was how… hurt she looked. I’m kind of happy they took us to the palace though because after that, I knew I had to find a way out.”

“Draya… If I knew you had such negative memories tied to your bending, I never would have asked you to relive it by teaching me.” Aang reached his hand out in solidarity, and I smiled as I reached for it. I shook my head.

“You had no way of knowing, I never talked about it. I never wanted to, and honestly I’m not sure if I ever want to.” I said, glancing at Zuko to make sure he understood I wasn’t just talking to Aang. A soft nod gave me his answer. “Besides, it’s not like I can avoid firebending forever just because of what happened. I was able to teach the Avatar how to fight Lord Ozai back, with his own training. That feels pretty positive to me.” I say, noticing the forced, almost reluctant chuckle that escaped Aang’s throat. After a long pause of silence, Sokka clasps his hands together.

“Well I think I can speak for everyone when I say you should stay with us, Draya. Why not have two firebenders on our side?” He smiled at me, hoping I would agree to his words. I opened my mouth to reply when I was cut off by Zuko.

“I’d be more than happy to teach you, too. Firebending to protect yourself as well as fight, not just as a weapon but as a tool.” Aang’s face lit up and he sprang with excitement.

“We can learn together! I can finally study with someone else again!” His arms wrap around me, his excitement clearly building, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Yea okay, I’ll stay.” I finally said, a smile spreading across my tear streaked face. Katara gave me one final hug before standing up, Zuko extending a hand to help me get back on my feet. I could feel the heat building in my palm as our skin touched and I felt my cheeks blush. I’ve never been happier to be hiding in the dark. We all made our way back to the courtyard, and I couldn’t help by sigh with content. I bought myself more time with my friends, knowing I still had to leave eventually.

Chapter 5

[damienthepious]

[send me a 👀 (and a fandom if you want) and I’ll post a snippet of writing that i never got around to finishing this year!]

@skunkoon​ i hope you do not regret asking me for nine of these goddamn things. I’ll try to keep this tidy. we’ve got two penumbra, two megamind, one inn between, one from that novel i pulled from earlier, and then one each from my 2018 and 2017 NaNo’s

so.

1. I’ll start with another penumbra one. i won’t say exactly what it is but honestly it’s probably obvious.

“If you do intend do shoot me, honeysuckle, you will need to do so before I am too close to shoot,” Arum says, mildly, and the tip of the arrow is mere inches from his chest. “Or, you may dance with me again, and perhaps when we are done I will give you what you request. I will show you my face, and then you may decide if you intend to follow through and loose your arrow at last.”

The arrowhead scrapes the purple of his cape, tickles his scales through the fabric, and Damien is looking up at him with such uncertainty that Arum can nearly hear the shouting in his mind. He can certainly hear the shouting of his heart, hammering away in that chest, and the sweet sharpness of his breath.

“I stole a dance from you downstairs, honeysuckle,” Arum says, quite softly, and then he lifts a hand. “Would you give one to me freely, now?”

2. more penumbra. oof. i have so many partially published wips send me to jail.

“I would have done it,” he mutters. “Left to my own devices, I would rather have nothing to do with either humans or monsters, but- but they offered the contract, and I knew that the end result would have theoretically destroyed humanity. I would have done it, without a second thought. If it would protect… I would have done it.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Damien repeats, and his suspicion is morphing by degrees into anger.

“They did not allow me that choice. They plucked it from me and then attempted to discard me. And then-” he inhales, lip curling into something like a smile. “And then Amaryllis. The monster collective dismisses my skills and attempts to destroy me rather than allowing me to create that which should destroy humanity, and then the waters bring me here, and then a human-”

(the waters bring me here)

“Monster,” Damien snarls, his heart hammering in his chest, “why are you telling me this?”

3. someday i will fucking finish this. megamind accidentally pulls a bunch of versions himself from different close parallel dimensions and now we have to deal with that.

“Well, this is perfect, isn’t it?” the youngest of the Megaminds said. “Whatever solution we come up with, we can test out on the meddling reporter before we risk our own skins.”

The room went- Roxanne couldn’t call it dead silent, but it certainly was unpleasantly quiet. Not a single Megamind looked any degree of pleased at that suggestion, but the one in the button-down looked positively venomous. He didn’t step any closer to the young version of himself, but the angle of his body shifted in a way that looked dangerous, poised.

“I am going to give you a pass on that, because I remember when I was that young and stupid and scared and liked to make that everyone else’s problem,” button-down says, utterly even and quiet. “But I will remind you not to bullshit a bullshitter. I know what you really feel.” He grinned, wide and feral. “We all do.”

4. another megamind one??? one of the love stories set, it’s been on the back burner for a while. set a long ways before the movie.

He frowned, looking profoundly uncomfortable. “I think- I think it was worth a shot, but you and I- we're really not going anywhere, are we? And we both know it.” He sighed. “I don’t even know if I’m- built for human relationships. And I feel- I feel like we were only doing this in the first place because everyone expected it. And because-” he winced, cutting himself off, but she saw the moment he decided to say it anyway. “I feel like we were both pretending to be dating for him.”

Roxanne blinked, face carefully blank, and Wayne sighed.

“Our entire relationship is about Megamind. I think it’s probably… better, for both of us, if we just… admit that.”

5. i will fucking finish this fic. I will finish this fic. I fucking love Inn Between. i will finish this fic.

Marie is thirteen, and so is Lydda. Lydda, who knows strange things like how to predict the day’s weather by the sight of the clouds and the direction of the wind. Lydda, who is polite but speaks her mind regardless, who writes nearly as well in common as Marie does, who purses her lips and squints when she’s unsure, who can scoop her youngest sister into a piggyback without needing to look at her to do it.

Lydda, thrown into the dungeon with her sisters because Marie’s father is so steeped in fear that it is the only tool he still understands how to use.

6. more of from that novel i’m never gonna fuckin finish, the elementals!verse story, because hhhh i remembered it exists now and oh myg od my babies... my babies..... (also rip i used to write in past tense hhhh fuck)

Lerato gave the smallest of laughs, a huff of breath escaping through her smile, but it had been so long since Enna had seen even that much mirth out of her. She fought to keep her own face from crumpling.

She always struggled to understand Lerato, but she never seemed at any pains to know exactly what Enna was thinking in return. Lerato saw Enna’s face; she knew.

“Oh,” she said, dropping the clothes to the side. She stepped closer and lifted her hands, hesitating just short of settling them on Enna’s shoulders. “Oh, Enna. Don’t. Don’t be…”

Everyone always called her Phoenix, these past few lives. She covered her mouth with her hand and her breath hitched.

7. this is from my NaNo project from last year. basically: it’s just found family. it’s just. found family. but also all your parents were in a cult together, oops. 

“Can I hug you? Would that be okay?” Rosa asked gently, still hesitating just shy of reaching out for him completely, and he instantly peeled one of his hands from in front of his face and reached for her, and she unbuckled and slung her arm across his chest, the angle of the seats only really allowing a mismatched, sideways sort of hug.

He squeezed her tight, like he thought she was going to disappear if he wasn’t careful, and after just a moment the shaking seemed to subside, though his breathing was still a bit unsteady. He knocked his head against hers- for a moment she thought it was an accidental collision in an attempt to retreat from the hug, but he tightened the hug for another moment before he let go and she realized it was- some sort of affectionate headbutt, like he was a feral cat that had decided he liked her.

“Shit,” he said dully, rubbing his nose and not looking at her as she slipped back entirely into the driver’s seat. “Sorry about that.”

“Stop,” she said, gentle but firm, and his lip pulled to the side. 

“Fine, fine. Just- kind of hard to wrap my head around- this whole damn time. The last ten years- I’ve had family just- just sitting there, a few hours north, completely unaware. This whole time. You would have been a fucking killer sister, too. You would have probably made me do my homework.”

“And you would have convinced me to actually make some friends,” she said wryly. “But we can’t change any of it now. We can only try to- to deal with what we have now. And right now what we have is a Billie who is feeling very awkward in the back seat by herself, I bet,” she said, and Billie flinched behind them.

8. last but not least, my NaNo project from 2017. ya ever wanna kiss a mermaid a lot, and you’re both girls, 

“Your daughter is courting me, you know. Do you intend to treat me so unkindly when we could soon be family?” She grinned, pretending not to notice the tear tracks on her cheeks.

The clanmother’s head lowered, her shoulders going up. “Courting. Surely not. Surely you don’t-”

“She used that exact word. Not some curious fumbling or experimentation of youth. Not even dating, like I would have said. No, this is a courtship.” She tilted her head, grin turning into a smirk. “Does that give me any rights, then?”

“Liar,” the clanmother said, not a snarl or a growl, but a dismissive statement of fact. She wasn’t going to believe anything else that Amelia said on the subject.

And she could say a lot, she realized. Kissing your daughter feels like swallowing the moon, it’s cool and bright and silver and it makes me feel like all my insides are lit up with her, she could say. She wanted to say, and everything she wanted to say was so focused, like the truth had crystallized in her brain under this new pressure. She makes me feel like I could be brave too, she wanted to say. Or even, she looks at me and she sees me, and even that is a revelation. Your daughter’s eyes are dark and clear as a moonless night and they can actually, really see me. No one ever has before.

She wanted to say- and her mouth opened without her thought, “How did a person as good and kind as Lor come from such a cruel mother as you?”

[pigeontheoneandonly]

The Rescue

A Dragon Age / Mass Effect crossover, because that’s apparently what my brain wanted to work on today. (Part 2)

Kaidan Alenko was twenty-two years old when he started awake to the rattling of the iron window frame nearest his bed, one of several in the mage barracks of Kinloch Hold. Though less than thirty feet above the ground, it was rare for anything more than the breeze to trouble it; once, shortly after he first moved to this room, a bird flew into the panes and he hadn’t been able to sleep for a week.

But now something scrabbled at it.  He reached for his staff, trying not to make a sound.  The cords supporting his straw-stuffed mattress creaked as he sat up. Wishing for a fleeting moment he had his full robes on, instead of only the linen chemise, feeling defenseless without the layers of wool.  But that was ridiculous.  Not a stitch of it was enchanted.  The only item he owned that had such expensive work was the wooden staff.  He carved it himself and affixed the lyrium-inscribed crystal, issued with great solemnity from the senior enchanter’s stores a few years after his Harrowing.  All mages were entitled to a staff, if only because they couldn’t do the Circle’s work without one.

Kaidan held it now, pointed at the window, unable to see more than a flicker of a dark form in the night beyond its glass.  Waiting.

The lock snicked. The window swung inward.  He gripped the wood tightly, a spell rising on his lips—

A face appeared. Brown and weathered, blue eyes bright even in the faint torchlight from the hall, lockpicks in its mouth and a flag of red hair tied up in a scarf.  

“Mmmph!” it said, eyes widening at the sight of the staff.

Kaidan half-strangled himself pulling back the magic.  Still holding the staff out in shock.  More than a dozen years, and somehow he still knew her instantly.  It shouldn’t be possible.  They’d been children.

She saw his flicker of recognition, and relaxed into a smile, levering herself into the room and spitting out her tools so she could talk.  “Excellent, this is the right room.  For what I paid the information should’ve been good, but you never know with templar types—”

“Nathaly?” A hoarse whisper.  Not believing what he saw, and not wanting any of the other mages sleeping nearby to notice regardless of whether this was real. Much less the templar guard half-dozing beyond the doorway.  

She padded into the room, enough to peer out beyond the walls of his cubby, checking to see if anyone else had noticed her arrival.  Her clothes had changed.  No more the coarse homespun of a herder’s daughter; she wore well-fitted leather armor over dyed shirt and leggings, the brightness of their colors telling the expense, and carried a sword and bow on her back with all evidence of frequent use. He stared at her back, disconcerted.

Nathaly returned, her voice low.  “Nobody’s heard us.  Get dressed. We’re leaving.”

He finally managed to lower his staff. Stammering to his feet.  “I— what— you—”

She flashed him a broad smile, smug and almost giddy.  His stomach fluttered.  “I promised I’d come and get you out.  Just took a little longer than I planned, is all.”

They’d been eight and and nine, respectively.  Fetching water in the village.  She’d attacked the templars who grabbed him, bashing her fists bloody against their armor because futility only encouraged her.  Jumping up one’s back after they brushed her aside and hanging onto his hair like a burr.  It took both of the others to remove her, and the baker and his wife to restrain her so they could leave.  He remembered it well because it was the last nice thing anyone had done for him.  His own parents hadn’t fought; in a village that size, the Chantry’s orders might as well be the word of the Maker Himself.

And she had screamed reassurances, as the templars loaded him onto a horse and carried him off. Just sit tight, I’m coming.  

He never believed it.  And yet here she was.

Nathaly touched his shoulder, gave him a shake.  “Kaidan, we have to go.  It’s not safe here.”

Not safe here. A hysterical laugh bubbled up his throat.  He clamped a hand over his mouth.  She couldn’t know the half of it.  “It’s not safe out there, either.  They steal children, but they kill apostates.”

Her brow furrowed. “You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

“Some apostate in Kirkwall blew up their Chantry.  Not the little ones down in the districts— the big one, gilded up by the high mucks.”  She took a breath.  “It’s all going to come apart, sooner rather than later.  I’m not leaving you here to twist in the wind.”

Kaidan’s knees failed him and he sat back on the bed, heavily enough to make her wince at the noise.  Her hand straying to a dagger on her belt as she glanced again at the other cubbies. If that was true… if the Chantry decided mages were an active threat rather than a mere danger… But apostates would find no refuge anywhere.  There wouldn’t be an option to come back and face whatever punishment awaited. Sleeping in various chambers on this floor and one above it were the only people he’d known for most of his life, and if he did this, he’d never see any of them again.

The indecision must have shown on his face, because Nathaly crouched in front of him, and took both his hands in hers.  Her face nearly level squatting on the floor, she’d gotten so tall.  “Kaidan, I will protect you.  I’ll take you out of Ferelden, or to Tevinter, or across the Amaranthine Ocean if I have to.  If this tower is what you want, I’ll go, but if you want more than this… Do you trust me?”

He stared into her eyes.  On the Circle’s best days, he’d never wanted this.  And in the face of all sanity, he believed her, every word, because even at eight years old Nathaly was still the strongest person he’d ever known, strong enough to keep an impossible vow across more than a decade.  “I trust you.”

“Then let’s go. We don’t have much time.  I have a boat waiting, but we have to be across before the moon rises.”

“Right.”  He pulled his robe off its hook and over his head, and then found his cloak in the trunk.  He’d rarely needed it and it remained like new, deep blue wool lacking all insignia, a small blessing.  Belting on a pouch with his meager stash of coin and throwing a handful of useful or sentimental items into a knapsack, and then at last grabbed his staff, because he was damned if he was leaving his only real defense behind.  “My phylactery—”

“A friend’s taking care of it.  Owes me a favor.  We’ll give the signal when we’re clear.”

He wanted to ask how, but realized it didn’t matter.  His mind was made up.  “I don’t know how I’m getting down.”

“I’ve got a rope.” Again that smile. “All you have to do is hang on.  Then I’ll untie it up here and climb down to you.”

The next bell had just started to ring when she dropped lightly onto the grass beside him, and took his arm.  “Come on. It’s this way.”

They stole across the open field surrounding the Circle Tower.  Kaidan’s shoulders itched, as if he could feel a hundred templar eyes fixed on him through the stone walls.  So distracted he found the boat with his shins and had to stop himself from cursing aloud.  

It sloshed gently in the water.  A tall, spare man reached out to help him in.  “Easy there.  So, you’re Kaidan, huh?”

“Yes?”  The man talked as if he recognized him, but Kaidan never saw him before in his life.

“We can do introductions later,” Nathaly interrupted, grasping the rowboat by its prow and pushing off from the shore.  “Garrus.”

“I’ve got it.” He stood up straight and cupped his hands around his mouth.  A sound emerged, a birdcall, nothing native to this area.  So loud that Kaidan cringed down into the boat.

Her hand rubbed his back.  And he was almost more surprised by that small act of thoughtless comfort than the noise. “It’s just the signal.  Telling our friends we’re ready.”

“Do we wait for them, or…?”  

She shook her head and swung herself into the boat, boots soaked.  “They’re getting out another way.  Our part here’s done.  We’ll meet them at the rendezvous in Crestwood in three days.”  Then, catching his expression, “Don’t worry.  We’re not going into the village proper.  Or at least, you’re not and they’re not. Garrus and I will go for supplies and hear the news.  That’ll decide what we do next.”

They settled in the boat, Garrus drawing a paddle out from beneath the seats and cutting into the surface with barely a ripple.  Tonight, Lake Calenhad was smooth as glass, and quiet as a graveyard.  Kaidan glanced at the stars.  “We’re not headed towards the mainland docks.”

Nathaly nodded. “We’ll take the coast on foot and range north until we reach the Imperial Highway.  From there, we’ll be another group of travelers.  We’ve got clothes stashed for you on the shore.  I had to guess the sizing, but they’ll do for now.”

“Quiet,” Garrus said.  For the first time, Kaidan noticed the massive compound bow under his cloak, and the way his drab brown-gray clothes melded into the dark.  “Night like this, voices carry.”

Good sense prevailed, and they made the rest of the journey in silence.  At some point, Nathaly reached over and took his hand. He clung to her fingers and watched the tower and his life of thirteen years grow small on the horizon until the night swallowed them both.

[fortunatowrites]

Journey of the Mimic

Writing Prompt: A group of adventures return home to find out that their pet is missing. Their pet is a Mimic.

“What’s a mimic?” asked Charlie, the newest addition to the fateful band of adventurers.

She was a cleric and had decided to join up with this band of a fighter, barbarian, and mage when they came to the rescue of her city from an evil sorcerer.

“It’s a little hard to explain,” spoke the fighter known as Theobes.

Theobes turned his head to the half-orc barbarian, Grognock.

“Mimic is creature that change to objects. It look like chest, but full of teeth and a tongue.”

“Yeah, that’s good description,” spoke Annabelle, “Now where the hell did it get off to?”

The four adventurers were returning to their base, a small fort in the middle of some hill lands, and were now actively searching the place for a treasure chest that drags itself across the floor. After combing through their entire base, they finally concluded that the mimic was gone.

“I found these keys on the seat,” spoke Charlie.

“Oh great, the door was left open and the keys were left out,” Annabelle said angrily.

“Well, let’s just be glad only our mimic is gone?” asked Theobes, trying to hide his guilt.

“Alright, this could be a horrible situation and we’ve gotta fix it,” spoke Annabelle.

“Why’s that, boss?” asked Grognock.

“We’re just outside the city of Hillgrand, Grognock.” “They think we’re heroes,” spoke Theobes.

“They don’t know mimic from us.” “That’s a good point!” Theobes said excitedly. “Then we can immediately forgive whoever left the base door opened and unlocked!”

Charlie and Annabelle exchanged looks of disbelief before reaffirming they were going to find this mimic before it wreaked havoc on the city. As they got ready to leave, Charlie noticed a pool of blood seeping from beneath a closet door.

“Uh… guys?” she asked.

Grognock stomped over to the closet and put his hand around the doorknob. Charlie could swear she saw a sadistic smile on his face as he ripped the door open, destroying the doorframe. Inside there was a large wooden chest, blood dripping from the closed lid. It opened up to reveal a set of teeth and let out a small bark.

“Chomper is home!” declared Grognock as he pet the mimic.

“Thank goodness that’s resolved!” Theobes said, miming the act of wiping sweat away from his forehead. “Time for a deserved rest.” “Alright, crisis averted. I wonder how he ended up in the closet though.” “Maybe he chase rat.”

-

Some time earlier...

The sounds of a lock being undone clicked through the silent hall.

“Presto,” a voice declared.

Five unruly men and a large half-orc woman entered the base: a band of rogues. Chomper sat in the corner, absolutely still and assuming the usual shape of a treasure chest. Anticipation almost made him quiver as he watched his would-be meals wander through the base.

“Damn, look at that, Gabryell!” said a short man with tan skin and equipped with several swords.

Gabryell, a tiefling with red skin and a pair of short horns that poked out from under his hair, looked over at the large chest. “Wow, these morons just leave their valuables out for us. They’re just asking us to rob them, aren’t they, Saffron Double-Threat?”

They gave a surly chuckle and started walking over to the chest. They stopped short as another man ran in front of them.

“Guys, wait! What if they’ve got dogs here?” asked Demontooth.

He was a dependable fighter and great for their operations, but had the unfortunate downfall of suffering from a phobia of dogs. “Well I don’t smell any,” replied Gabryell with a sneer.

“You can’t smell anything at all!” declared Hantrus.

“Then I guess there’s nothing here!” joked Saffron.

Everyone but Demontooth roared with laughter. Hantrus lugged up some chains and set them on the ground. Looking at the feet of who he spoke to, he declared their next actions.

“Let’s be quick. Demontooth, chain up the chest. Double, let’s search for any guards. People or dogs. Gabryell, help him Demontooth with the chest.”

“Uhm, my eyes are up here,” declared Saffron. “Double-Threat,” spoke Arii Squawk, “Don’t give yourself to the reaper too soon. I need you still.”

The four of them stood at attention while the boss walked over to a chair and sat down. The fifth man trailed right behind her. “What do you require, mistress?” asked Wartdragon.

“Fill the wagon for the boys while I make myself at home.” “Right away, mistress.”

Chomper got ready to attack as Demontooth timidly approached the chest, watching for dogs. Unfortunately, he was faster and threw the chains on the mimic. It stunned Chomper and in his daze, he was chained up. He tried to morph away but there was magic on the chains, something to help move chests that had been magically sealed or locked. It also had the side effect of preventing Chomper’s shapeshifting.

As Chomper was carried out by Demontooth and Gabryell, he saw the rest of the rogues looking through the base. Set on the back of a carriage amongst other wares, Chomper could do nothing but wait. Chomper wasn’t intelligent enough to formulate big plans, but he understood that the base was his home and he didn’t like being taken away. That was also the home of his friends and he hoped the three of them would return soon. Unfortunately, they had recently set out and were in the middle of trying to survive the dungeon of a mad sorcerer.

About half a day later, the wagon was being parked back at the rogues’ base of operations. “Why does Wart get to stay behind with the boss?” complained Gabryell as he unloaded the cart. “You ever notice he’s missing an ear and fingers?” asked Hantrus.

“Yeah. Clumsy guy shouldn’t have blades, right?”

Saffron laughed before answering for Hantrus, “Dude’s got a gambling problem, idiot.” “So?” “So, he owes his life to the boss. He used to be a noble or some crap before he got himself into so much trouble. Now he’s been trained to be her living weapon.”

“Oh,” Gabryell said as he began moving the unloaded stuff inside.

Demontooth grabbed the chest and began dragging it in. “Where do you want this, Hantrus?” he asked, looking directly at the man. Hantrus, avoiding eye contact, turned his head towards Demontooth and pointed to a corner. “I’ll start cracking it open while you guys lay out the loot.”

It took some time for Hantrus to gather his thieves’ tools and return to the room with the chest. As he approached, suddenly Saffron called out. With a sigh, Hantrus set down his tools and went across the hall to their room. Chomper could faintly hear them conversing.

“Wow, that is an interesting relic. Demontooth, you’ll have to use your connections to find a fence to get a price on this. I’ll check it for anything special, just grab it when you’re done in here.” “How come Demontooth always gets to do this stuff?” asked Saffron. “Cause I grew up in an underground city, idiot,” retorted Demontooth. “Ah. Well I came from the desert and we did tons of trading there. My dad can tell us where to fence it.” “Fine! Both of you do it,” Hantrus said with a huff.

Returning to the room, Hantrus set the strange statue in the corner of the room. Gabryell shut the door to the loot room with a slam, yelling something about Saffron’s dad. Finally, Hantrus picked up his tools and began to remove the chains from the chest.

Suddenly, the chest had two eyes that stared directly into Hantrus’ eyes. Hantrus froze with fear and anger as there was nothing more in this world he hated than eye contact. “FOUL DEMON!” he cried and lunged forward to stab it with a lock pick.

Chomper’s mouth opened wide and Hantrus tried to scream with terror as he fell into the mouth. Nothing would be heard as Chomper’s large tentacle-like tongue wrapped around his head to silence him and pull him in. Chomper’s eyes turned to the statue. He used his tongue to grab it and fling it at the front door. Through sheer luck, he hit the door directly on the doorknob and in a critical spot, causing the door to break and swing open. The statue rolled away under the cart.

Gabryell threw open the loot door and ran into the room.

“The chest is gone!” he called.

Demontooth and Saffron came running out and looked around.

“Do you think Hantrus stole it?” asked Demontooth. “Impossible,” replied Saffron. “Clearly he took it to some fence, the lock must have been too hard. Look, he even kicked the statue over.” Saffron pointed to the relic that was laying on its side, near where the chest had been moments ago.

“Well, let’s go take care of that then.”

Saffron and Demontooth hopped in the wagon while Gabryell began walking over to a stable to grab a horse.

“Where are you going?” asked Demontooth. “I’ve gotta report to the boss.” “Just ride with us, we’ll go there after getting rid of this statue.” “Fine,I guess.”

The three of them began to ride into town. A few moments later, Saffron brought them to a stop.

“My dad says there’s an old trader here.” “Good lord,” Gabryell began. “He’s real, dammit!” shouted Saffron. “I’m the Double-Threat because my ghost dad is haunting me!” Demontooth just sat quietly and stared forward, hoping this wouldn’t take long.

“Fine, go follow Ghost Dad. Hope you don’t get killed in a back alley.” Saffron took the statue and walked off into the back alley. There was the sound of a scuffle and a scream. Demontooth and Gabryell looked at each other for a minute. “Dad, what do you mean you hated me? Oh god, no!” Demontooth jumped out of the carriage and ran down the alley. There was blood strewn about, a bloody knife, and the statue sitting on the ground. “Oh no,” Demontooth said as he looked around. “I think he really did get jumped and killed.” Gabryell pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and stayed out of the alley. He fumed for a moment and then told Demontooth to just grab the statue and get out of here. When Gabryell went back for the statue, it was now the shape of a dog. He yelped and fell over. Frozen with fear, he quickly tried to draw his sword. It was already too late as Chomper’s tongue wrapped around his leg.

Gabryell ran down the alley upon hearing the screaming again and saw almost exactly what Demontooth saw the first time.

“I’ll kill you guys for this,” he called out as he grabbed the statue and ran. “Damn it...  I gotta go back to the boss!”

Less than half a day later, they returned to the base. Gabryell picked up the statue and proceeded to go inside. As soon as he stepped in, Wart lunged out at him with a dagger. Instinctively, Gabryell backhanded him and kicked him aside.

“Oh. My bad, man.” “No… It’s okay,” Wart replied as he got up.

The boss came walking out from down the hall, swinging around a ring of keys.

“Looks like we should just upgrade by moving all our stuff to here,” she told Gabryell. “Where’s the other three?”

“Hantrus ran off with that chest,” he said slowly, judging Arii’s face as he talked, “Saffron’s Ghost-Dad got him and Demontooth kidnapped by some thugs while trying to pawn this stupid statue.”

“We’ll find them and make them pay,” Arii responded. “Hantrus will return with an opened chest, for sure.” “Where should I put this statue?” asked Gabryell. “Well, it’ll look out of place if they walk in and see it. I want to take them by surprise. Set it in the kitchen.”

“Yes, m’am.”

As Gabryell stepped into the kitchen, the statue had a tongue reach out and spill cooking oil. Unable to smell it, Gabryell walked right into it and slipped, falling on the stone flooring and cracking his skull. His scream of pain rang out and through the base.

Wart poked his head in to see the statue had taken the form of the chest again and was eating Gabryell. He screamed and ran.

“Arii! It’s a mimic!”

“Damn it all! We’ve got to kill it. It won’t fight us if we stick together.”

Wart nodded and ran besides her. She equipped her crossbow and they walked towards the kitchen. As they walked in, they simply saw blood and oil on the floor. They looked around as they investigated the kitchen, trying to spot anything out of place.

Suddenly, a chest with large spider-like legs fell from the ceiling onto Wart, knocking him to the floor. Arii pointed her crossbow at it and it skittered back into the main entrance room. Lifting Wart back to his feet, Arii chased behind it. They both entered the room but Arii immediately noticed the extra chair by the closet.

“Damn it,” she bluffed, “It must have gotten away. I’m going to hang my crossbow in the closet. Wart, grab a seat.”

“You want me to sit and relax, mistress?” he asked.

“Yes,” she growled. “But not in my seat.”

Wart began to walk towards the mimic and then he realized what he she meant. As she opened the closet door and turned her back, the mimic lunged at Wart. Quickly, he dodged out of the way as it stumbled across the floor, the legs skittering out from underneath it again. Arii whipped around and tried to shoot it, but it used its tongue to grab her arm and shake the crossbow away. Using her orcish strength, she pulled the creature and slammed it into the closet. Before she could free her arm, it bit off her hand. Ignoring the pain, she yanked her arm free of the monster and slammed the door. Using the keyring, she then locked the closet.

“Stupid monster!” she said cradling her wound.

Wart walked up to her and ripped off his shirt for bandaging. They wrapped up her arm and she handed him the crossbow. “Watch the closet. I’m going to get some medicine. Wait here, Wart.”

As she walked away from the base, an arrow thunked into her back. She turned back, more angry than surprised.

“My name is Elandrial Thorntree.”

He shot her several times and she collapsed in the doorway. Slowly unlocking the door and cracking it open, Elandrial saw nothing inside. The mimic was hiding. He quickly shoved Arii into the doorway and felt something pull her inside. Then he immediately shut and locked the door again. Throwing the keys on the seat, he then turned and left. As he walked down the road, he saw a band of adventurers returning home.

[certifiablyageek-blog]

Meriadoc Brandybuck x Reader

Can also be found on my quotev account -CertifiablyAGeek

The shire was alive and well on this delightful evening. The night was filled with music, laughter, and joy all around as every hobbit in the shire was gathered together in one spot for a very special occasion.

It was Bilbo Baggins’s eleventy-first birthday. Quite the admirable age for a hobbit. The old fellow was strange indeed. He went gallivanting off with an entire company of dwarves at the ripe age of fifty and didn’t come back for thirteen months. He was thought dead so all of his possessions were auctioned off as he had no last will and testament. In the middle of the auction though, the fellow appeared, bothered and flustered and carrying several strange, foreign objects with him. Once he got settled back into his hole at Bag-End, the old hobbit spoke of faraway lands filled with elves, dwarves, and men. He told the story of a great battle against herds of orcs and of the slaying of a great fire breathing beast, the slaying of Smaug the Terrible. He told these stories to the young hobbits as they grew, you being among those that listened intently, and they had stuck with you and just about every other hobbit to this day.

So now, whether or not you liked the old odd fellow would have been irrelevant as everyone still flocked to his hobbit hole at the prospect of free food and drink. You, for one, were there in the hopes of catching a dance with a certain young gentle-hobbit.

You had helped prepare for this party all day, running last minute errands, cooking, and stitching up Bilbo Baggins’s old wine red waist coat for him, while your brother had busily set to work on the grounds, ensuring they would be the envy of all. After working all day, it was good to enjoy your work for the night. Thus, you danced along to a light hearted jig with a random hobbit fellow close to your age, laughing and smiling at the joy all around you. The tempo and melody was infectious and your dress was so alluring that you had hardly been at a loss for company all night, however you only wanted the company of one hobbit in particular. As the last chords played and the band finished with a yell, you curtseyed to your random partner, who took your hand and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of it, and dismissed yourself from dancing. You were now, once agin I might add, looking for that certain fellow I keep mentioning.

Your (e/c) orbs turned in their sockets as you surveyed the large assembly of hobbits. But alas, this search yielded no news of your quarry. You huffed annoyedly.

“Where could that silly boy be?” You tapped your foot in frustration whilst crossing your arms like a stubborn child. Seeing no point in simply standing on the dance area, you located your brother in the throng of full and drunk hobbits. A mop of curly blonde hair was your indicator for where Samwise was, seated alone with his face in a mug of ale. You rolled your eyes before crossing towards the elder Gamgee child, being mindful of the other guests.

“This is one of the biggest parties we’ve ever been invited to and he chooses to spend it with his face in a mug of ale instead of going after Ms. Rosie Cotton. I’d like to not be the only parent this genera-hey!” While you were muttering to yourself, you were unaware of another hobbit sneaking up behind you until he had yanked you backwards. You were sent stumbling into the chest of whomever decided that move was a good idea.

“Excuse me, this is NOT how you ask a lady to dance, si-Frodo!” You shrieked out in shock as you looked up at your captor who was busily laughing as he yanked you into a new uplifting, dance. Frodo Baggins was your best friend (aside from Sam) and “wingman” in most cases. And, he was the only one who would dare to startle you like this.

“I’m sorry, (Y/n), but it was too funny!” The young hobbit laughed more causing you to roll your eyes again as you danced with him. The blue eyed male twirled you around while the other hobbits clapped and yelled in joy and merriment. When you returned to him, he started up a conversation.

“Tell me, (Y/n). I watched as you danced happily with just about every other eligible man here, willingly at that, then suddenly I turn to find you scowling and looking as though someone had destroyed your brother’s gardening tools. What happened?” You sighed but danced along with the young Baggins. An idea came to you suddenly.

“I have been enjoying myself all evening, despite not being able to locate a certain someone,” out of the corner of your eye, you saw Frodo smirk mischievously with a knowing look. “But, my brother has not. Look!” You pointed as Samwise Gamgee stood, cast a longing glance at Miss Rosie Cotton dancing nearby, then took off in the direction of the ale. Frodo groaned as he watched the spectacle and you made a gesture as if to say ‘you see what I mean?’ .

“Before you pulled me into another dance, I was heading over to speak to him and get him to go after Rosie. He’s done nothing but pine after her for months and it is maddening!” You joined hands with Frodo as you began partner dancing, in order to allow for easy conversation. Frodo nodded along.

“You’ve done the same as him though.” You glared up at the taller hobbit, stating that you at least intended to do something about your attraction tonight. Frodo smirked wider with a hint of pride at that and went back to your brother. “But, his is a worse case. It’s so very evident Rosie returns his feelings, Sam is too shy to ask her to court him though. Perhaps, we could do something to help them out?” Frodo looked to you as the song ended. He bowed and you curtseyed to him out of sheer politeness. Frodo and yourself continued to talk though as the band struck up another song, concocting a plan to get Sam and Rosie in close quarters for the night. With a plan hatched, the two of you made your way to Samwise. Frodo sat down on Sam’s left, facing the party, while you took the spot on his right, clasping your hands together on the table.

While Frodo quickly chatted with Sam, you stole your brother’s mug and drained the ale as quickly as you could without being too obvious about it. You sat the mug down with a light ‘tink’, causing Sam to look down at it and Frodo to wink at you.

“Ah think I’ll jus’ have ano’her ale.” Sam said whilst lightly glaring at you. All you did was scrunch up your nose and stick your tongue out in return. As the blonde hobbit went to stand and head off, you and Frodo caught his arms and spun him into the arms of Rosie Cotton who gladly started to dance with your older brother. You giggled behind your hand as Frodo laughed with you. You laughed out a ‘thank you’ and finally asked the ravenette where he had last seen Meriadoc Brandybuck. With a smirk and a teasing comment about being sure to invite him to the wedding, Frodo Baggins pointed you to your next search area. You bobbed and weaved between carts, tents, and pavilions as Gandalf sent off more firworks. At each one, you came up short. You padded past Gandalf’s firework cart for the third time before finally deciding to just sit and wait for Merry, and most likely Pippin too, to show themselves. You took a seat at a small table somewhat off by itself, where you sipped at your own ale and laughed as you watched Sam and Rosie twirl around. Suddenly, you heard a loud bang and the sound of a firework scream as it was launched high into the air. You turned to the sound and watched as a red explosion occurred in the sky.

Many of the gathered hobbits clapped at the display, you simply smiled, until the red lights morphed and took shape. It’s shape was that of a dragon. Your eyes widened in shock when the great display of pyrotechnics turned and came barreling towards yourself and the other party goers. You yelled in fright like many others and bolted out of your chair, immediately hitting the ground to avoid the burning display. As the great firework dragon swooped past, it seemed to light the air around it on fire as it continued forward. You looked up to watch its tail wisk past you and you caught a glimpse of Bilbo and Frodo mimicking your actions by hitting the ground.

But just as quick as it passed over head, the dragon soon swooped back into the sky where it then exploded several times and rained down red sparkles. You breathed a sigh of relief while sitting up as the other hobbits clapped and cheered once again. Now that the “danger” had passed, you burst out in a smile and began to laugh as you got to your feet, dusting the dirt off of your skirt. As your guffaws subsided, your lips were drawn into a smirk. You caught sight of Gandalf making for one of the spots where a tent had been previously near his cart and it all clicked with you. You allowed Gandalf a few minutes by capering towards where you had last seen Bilbo and Frodo. The latter was helping his uncle to his feet when you arrived and you quickly went to the other side of the elder hobbit to assist in stabilizing him.

“Oh-thank you, my dear!” Bilbo patted your forearm in appreciation and it was at that same moment that Frodo and you made eye contact. The blue eyed hobbit took in your smug expression, mimicking it with one of his own before asking,

“Merry and Pippin?” He questioned in reference to the firework dragon. You nodded, your smirk morphing into a bemused smile.

“Merry and Pippin.” You stated while gesturing with your head in the direction Gandalf had disappeared. Frodo shook his head, causing his curls to swish around erratically, before waving you off with his free hand, the other was still clapped on Bilbo’s shoulder. You giggled mirthfully and made your way back to the tents and pavilions, grabbing an apple along the way. Oh, you were going to have fun with this!

You paused beside Gandalf’s cart, thinking for a moment on where he would’ve sent the two trouble makers. With a snap of your fingers and another bite from your apple, you took off towards the tent for the dishes. You peeked around the fabric to spot Merry and Pippin begrudgingly but diligently working on cleaning the plates, bowls, forks, saucers, and everything in between that had been used up till now. Gandalf sat nearby, smoking his pipe whilst monitoring the two cousins. The gray wizard shifted his gaze from them for a brief moment as he blew smoke out of the corners of his mouth. He locked eyes with you and you sent him a small wave in return. Gandalf dipped his head in greeting, a smile forming at the edges of his lips, before looking at Merry then back to you, the same knowing look in his eyes that Frodo had earlier. Eru’s sake! Did everyone know? Your own brother hadn’t even caught on! The only people you had told were Frodo and Bilbo. Actually, the only person you had told was Frodo, Bilbo had been eavesdropping. When the older hobbit heard, he came charging out of his study, placed a firm hand on your shoulder, and wished you the best of luck. It was an odd thing to say, but you supposed you would need all the luck in the world when it came to the troublemaking Brandybuck.

You took in the singed look on Meriadoc, having to hold in your giggles at the sight of his lovely golden yellow locks standing on end and the soot covering his face. The black powder was even all over his waistcoat! That was a shame, you had been rather fond of that one, it was lovely and fun. Something you felt complimented his personality well. But it still gave him a distinguished and neat look, which you thought reflected the other side of Merry. You drew your lips together in discontent at the state of the waistcoat but brushed it aside and subconsciously licked your lips as butterflies began to take flight in your stomach. You ducked back behind the cloth and whispered a little pep talk to yourself.

“Breathe, (Y/n). You can do it. Just, be natural but fun and alluring and mysterious and playful and-this isn’t helping me.” You shook your head, and took another bite from your apple as you emerged from the other side of the tent and strolled into Pippin and Merry’s line of sight.

“Hello!” You chirped in a perky voice to catch their attention. Pippin responded with a dejected ‘hi’, continuing to scrub the plate he was working on. Merry paused in rinsing the dishes of soap to take in your appearance. His eyes trailed up from the bottom of the (f/c) dress you were wearing to your face before his lovely blue eyes locked with your own and his jaw went slack. The young Brandybuck was at a loss for words, you were stunning. Of course, he thought you looked stunning whenever he saw you, but there was something new about you tonight that really made it feel like the only word to describe you.

You stood poised for a greeting from the second hobbit but received none. You began to fidget as all Merry could do was stare. Under his gaze, you began to feel nervous. Pippin looked between your increasingly anxious form and the awe-struck Merry before elbowing his cousin in the side, causing him to huff as air was forced out of his lungs. Despite the jab in the side stealing even more of his breath away, it did the trick to get Merry to talk.

“(Y-Y/n)! Hi, uh, hello! You, ahem,” he cleared his throat before trying to continue. “You look...gorgeous!” Beneath the soot and powder, the Brandybuck began to blush and was suddenly very self aware of the state he was in. He felt as though he looked like a beggar before a queen. Merry looked at your face to gauge your reaction and was pleasantly surprised (and more than a little delighted) to find that you had a bright red blush painted across your cheeks and a small bashful smile you were attempting to hide playing on your lips. Those bright red, beautiful, soft looking, kissable lips...He shook his head to clear the, less then appropriate, thoughts from it. A lovely rouge color now flooded his face. Merry glanced down at his attire once more, taking in the unruly look that now adorned him and cringing as the weight of his actions tonight hit him. He had wanted to ask you to dance, woo you and sweep you off your feet before showering you in attention. When he was sure you would have been completely enamored by him and his charms, he was going to offer you the little ring he had picked out to ask you to court him-then he would have gone and messed with the fireworks. But no, his nerves had gotten the better of him and he had followed Pippin’s prompting into getting involved in mischief to take his mind off the anxiousness he inevitably felt around you. Anxiety mixed with glee, delight, and affection though. Ah, but now, here you were.

“-rry? Meriadoc? Did you hear me?” The hobbit was shaken out of his stupor by your gentle voice attempting to get his attention and Pippin grabbing his arm rather forcefully. Meriadoc looked up at you to see your hand reached out as if to cup his cheek and that you had taken three steps closer to him, leaning on the edge of the barrel he was working from. Merry was tempted to act as though he was still lost in his thoughts if it meant he could feel your hand against his cheek. However, the Brandybuck didn’t feel that to be any form of “right” so he attempted to respond to your questioning.

“Uh...yeah, I-well no. I didn’t hear you actually...” he cleared his throat nervously, glancing down at the slightly soapy water between you, “would you mind repeating it?” The normally confident Brandybuck was completely at your mercy as you raised your free hand to cover your mouth as you giggled. A sweet, melodic tune that sent the male hobbit’s head reeling. You stood up straight as Pippin handed you the apple you had tossed into his hands.

“Miss (Y/n) was asking if we were the ones behind the ‘display’ and if that’s why we’re doing the dishes.” Pippin piped up. Merry glanced between you and his cousin, his face growing warmer as you looked at him expectantly. He swallowed comically before answering your question with one of his own.

“Well, uh-that depends,” he began hesitantly. “Did you...like it?” The hobbit before you felt utterly foolish asking something like that but it was all he could think of.

“Welllll-“ you dragged out the ‘L’ until Pippin interrupted you.

“Were you impressed by it?” Merry felt his face flush even more at his cousin’s more direct route. He glared at the younger lad, ready to leave him behind in Farmer Maggot’s field the next time they went.

“I was, actually. Until it came barreling towards all of us that is...” Merry cringed internally and only now noticed that your hair was slightly disheveled and dirt was trapped under your nails where it hadn’t been before.

“Still, I dare say the whole incident was rather spectacular.” Eru, was it possible to blush anymore? If there was, Merry was certainly close to figuring out how. Said hobbit looked up at you with a lopsided grin. Suddenly regaining his confidence, the golden haired hobbit leaned forward on the barrel, getting slightly closer to your face. He angled his head down to meet your eyes due to your small stature, taking pride in the blush that crept up your neck, face, and stretched towards your ears. For a brief second, he thought he saw the same level intensity of his affection flash through your (e/c) eyes.

“Spectacular, huh? That’s what I-“Pippin cleared his throat in an annoyed fashion, prompting Merry to correct himself (but not without an eye roll and a laugh from you). “That’s what we were going for.”

Your eyebrow arched at that and your mouth twisted up in a smug yet playful smirk. Your words to Frodo earlier suddenly rang in your head. Unlike your brother, you were planning on putting your feelings out there, weren’t you? What better time to engage in a little flirting that pushes that agenda? You moved your hand from its resting place on your hip and gently messed with the ribbons on the bodice of your dress, it was both out of nerves and to feign non-chalance. You felt your heart pick up speed as your mind was set. You were doing this! No backing out! Your throat tried to close in on itself but you refused to let it, releasing a quiet sigh instead. you averted your eyes and attempted to ignore just how close Merry was.

“Really? Is that what you were going for? I thought you just wanted to see me lying down.” You had no clue where that comment had come from, but it did its job. The confident look on Merry’s face disappeared in an instant and you could see his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed in embarrassment. However, he didn’t move further away from you and he, albeit unsteadily, met your gaze when you continued.

“You know, Merry...” you trailed off slightly, lowering your hand to rest on the edge of the barrel again. Except, what your hand landed on, was not the barrel. You had accidentally placed your hand on top of Merry’s which was gripping the barrel with a vice grip. You flinched involuntary. Merry felt you pull your hand back slightly before hesitating, fingertips brushing ever so lightly against the back of his hand. It sent shivers up his arm and he considered grabbing your hand himself until you gently lowered your hand again and left it there. You resumed your sentence, a little more confident his time.

“If you wanted to get my attention-“ you slowly moved closer to the blue eyed hobbit before you, who mimicked your actions as if in a trance. If you were honest, that’s what it felt like. The two of you were trapped under some sort of spell that clouded your mind, heightened your senses, and made you act purely through instinct. It felt wonderful, especially knowing just by looking at Merry that he was under the same spell as you.

“You could’ve just asked me to dance.” Your noses bumped together slightly as your lips almost came together. Eru, you wanted to kiss him right now. You could do it too, he would not reject you. You knew that for a fact. It was so tempting...then you got a whiff of the soot and powder coating the hobbit and a wicked idea pushed itself to the forefront of your mind. It was tempting to kiss him, yes...but this would be funnier and was sure to keep him on his toes. Just before you put it into action, Merry spoke very softly, careful not to break the moment.

“(Y/n), may I kiss you?” Had his lips not been a millimeter away from yours, you probably would have missed it. You hummed in a questioning manner.

“Right now?” You asked, matching Merry’s tone.

“Preferably.” You hummed again in slight amusement, sliding your hand up Merry’s supporting arm till it rested on his forearm. You waited for Merry to take that as a nonverbal ‘yes’, and as soon as you felt his head move even slightly closer, you went into action. You smiled wide and pulled his arm out from under him. The poor fellow nearly planted his face in the dish water within the barrel. Pippin roared with laughter at his friend’s misfortune while Gandalf sat chucking to himself. Goodness, you’d forgotten they were there. Merry caught himself, looking at you incredulously. You grabbed his chin with the same hand you had toppled him with and held him in place as you got closer to him, partially stooping down. You giggled uncontrollably as you explained your “reasoning” to him.

“I’m sorry, Meriadoc Brandybuck, but until your face is clean; your lips shall not touch mine.” With that, you released his chin, took another bite of your apple (purposefully licking the juice off your lips as Merry watched) then you turned to leave the trio alone. You had only taken a few steps when Merry came to his wits, puffing and sputtering up a storm as he tried to go around Pippin and past the plates to catch you.

“Why you- I’ll get you for that, you tease!” Merry called after you when Gandalf stopped him from running to you. You cocked your head to the left, letting a coy smile grace your lips.

“Oh, I’m sure you will, Merry!” You scampered towards the edge of the tent, turning around the corner before replying once more. You poked your head around the edge of the tent, and made eye contact with the darling blue eyed hobbit.

“In fact, I’ll be looking forward to it!” You winked at him and ran off to rejoin the gathered hobbits of the night. As you ran off, Gandalf pointed Merry in the direction of the, by now, dry dishes. Merry sighed and went to move them, though not before pausing at the edge of the tent to spot you running over to your brother and Rosie Cotton who were enjoying a nice chat. You missed the wonderful, wide grin that stretched out over his face and you were not close enough to hear him laughing under his breath while he thought to himself.

“I’ll have you yet, you tease!”

[forzalando]

Good Enough ~ Sirius Black

oh boy here we go with insecure!Sirius...my heart broke writing this. this is an AU set in October of 1982 so Sirius and reader are about 22/23 years old. sorry, I just live for AUs because I can pretend everyone lived and that Sirius never went to Azkaban :) it’s the only way I survive :) so anyway, this was a request sent in by @huflerin ! I hope you like it, love! 

Pairing: Sirius Black x Reader

Request: I’m sorry, can you do Sirius Black x Fem reader with 4. “Do you know how it feels when the person you love most tells you that you shouldn’t love them?” And 45? Where Sirius and the reader get into a huge fight and some words are said (like the one in 4) Can you end it on a happy note where they end back up together? Thank you!

Prompts: “Do you know how it feels when the person you love most tells you that you shouldn’t love them?” & “Don’t joke about that.”

Y/N: Your Name

Warnings: language, sad and insecure Sirius, crying, ugh so much sadness

Word Count: 1.7k

It was a Saturday afternoon, which meant that you and Sirius were at the Potter’s for your weekly get together.

Harry had just turned two a few weeks ago, and watching him grow up brought you so much joy, but it also brought you sadness. Lily noticed the glum look on your face, because she set her baking tools down and walked over to where you stood.

You were watching Sirius and James play with Harry in the living room, and your heart swelled at the sight of the man who owned your heart interacting with his godson.

“Y/N? Are you alright?”

Lily placed a comforting hand on your shoulder as you turned to face her.

“It’s just the same as usual, Lils. You know how much I love him, and I want commitment and children, but he’s still not ready. I don’t know if he’ll ever be ready, and that scares me to death.”

“Oh, Y/N, he loves you. He loves you so much, never doubt that.”

“I don’t doubt that he loves me, Lily, I just…sometimes I wonder if he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. I want what you and James have, Lils.”

With a frustrated sigh, you turned back towards the living room to see Harry in Sirius’s arms reaching out for you. You walked into the room and took Harry from Sirius, your eyes filling with tears as he snuggled up into your arms.

Even though you were distracted by your boyfriend and your godson, you noticed Lily call James into the kitchen and begin whispering to him. However, you were too entranced by the precious child in your arms to wonder what they were speaking about.

When James returned, Lily called for your help in the kitchen. You brought Harry with you at the urging of James, and when you exited the room he began what seemed to be a very serious conversation with your boyfriend.

“Lily? Is James doing what I think he’s doing? At your request?”

“If you’re wanting to know if James is asking Sirius why he hasn’t asked you to marry him, then the answer is yes.”

“Lily! Why would you do that? He’s going to have a fit when we get home!”

“Oh hush, he won’t know you ever said anything. James has been talking for months about when the two of you will finally tie the knot so it didn’t take much convincing. He’s as much on your side as I am!”

You shook your head at your best friend’s antics and stole a freshly baked cookie from the baking sheet in her hands.

The rest of the day was extremely pleasant; Remus stopped by for a bit and, as usual, the two of you ate most of the sweets Lily had prepared for her sugar obsessed friends.

However, much to your dismay, something had been off about Sirius ever since James had talked to him, and to say you were nervous about going home tonight was an understatement.

When Harry finally fell asleep, you and Sirius said goodbye to James and Lily, and walked back to your own flat just down the road.

Sirius sat down on the couch and motioned for you to come sit with him. He pulled you into his lap so that you were facing each other and wrapped his arms around your waist; the way he always did when the two of you sat together.

He took a deep breath and started to speak.

“This isn’t working, Y/N.”

The shocked look on your face didn’t seem to faze him at all; his eyes emotionless and expression stoic.

“Don’t joke about something like that, Sirius, it’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking, this isn’t working. We just don’t work together anymore.”

You shot up from the couch and stared directly into his stormy, grey eyes.

“If this is because you’re feeling pressured because of what James said, then you’re an absolute idiot Sirius Black.”

“No, it’s not because of James. Well, that was part of it, but it’s not the whole reason. He made me realize I can’t give you what you want, Y/N. I’m not good for you.”

“Who are you to decide what’s good for me?”

“Since the day I fell in love with you, for Merlin’s sake! I can’t decide what’s good for you, but I sure as hell can tell you what I think is or isn’t, and I’m definitely not. I’m not good for you. I’m not a man you should want to spend the rest of your life with, Y/N. I’m not a man you should love.”

The sharp sound of your palm hitting his cheek rang throughout your silent flat. After a few heavy breaths, you sank to the floor and wrapped your arms around your knees.

“Do you know how much that hurts, Sirius? Do you know how it feels, when the person you love most in this world, tells you that you shouldn’t love them? I know your parents did a hell of a number on you but goddamnit Sirius, you are worthy of love. You’re worthy of my love, and you’ll receive it until the day you die whether you want it or not. There will never be anyone else so if you say we’re done, just know that I’ll die alone and with a broken heart.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“Am I? Look into my eyes, Sirius, and tell me that I don’t mean every fucking word I’m saying to you. We’ve been together for seven years and you must be mad if you think I’m going to throw that away so easily.”

He stared at your tear stained, anger flushed face for what seemed like ages, and then he sunk to the floor next to you and let his head fall into your lap.

His shoulders shook as he cried; each choked sob that escaped his mouth sent a dagger straight through your heart. You tenderly wrapped your arms around him and let him release all the built up emotion inside of his body.

“I’m scared,” he whispered when he finally lifted his head up to meet your concerned gaze.

“Scared of what, Sirius?”

“I’m scared of not being enough for you. I’m scared of turning out to be a husband and a father like my own. I want everything with you, Y/N; I want a wedding and children, but I’m so afraid of disappointing you.”

Fresh tears spilled from your eyes as you heard his insecurities come tumbling from his trembling lips.

“You could never disappoint me, Sirius. I am so in love with you it scares me sometimes. You are the most wonderful boyfriend, and I know that your actions and behavior wouldn’t change if I put a ring on your finger and had the privilege of calling you my husband instead. Harry adores you, and I know that you would do anything for him. You love him more than your own life. What more could you ask for in a father? And he’s not even your son, he’s your godson! If you could see in yourself the man I see when I look at you, you would have no insecurities or doubts about anything.”

The two of you sat in silence for a while; your hands massaging his back while he rested his head in your lap again.

Eventually, he sat up and pulled you into his lap. His nimble fingers threaded themselves in your hair, and you sat in silence for a little while longer.

“I didn’t mean it, you know,” he whispered in your ear, “when I said things weren’t working anymore. I just want to make sure you know that in case you were planning on packing a trunk in the middle of the night and buying a train ticket to get away from me.”

“You’ve known me for eleven years, Sirius, you know damn well it would take a lot more than “this isn’t working” to get me to leave.”

“What would it take?”

You paused and took a deep, shuddering breath before answering him.

“Honestly? I don’t think there’s anything in this world that would make me leave you. I told you, Sirius, you’re it for me.”

He twisted your body so that you were facing one another, and his next words were whispered so quietly, you almost didn’t hear them.

“Marry me.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Sirius chuckled softly, and brought his hands to cup your cheeks.

“I said, marry me. Will you marry me, Y/N?”

“Didn’t we just have a massive row over the fact that you don’t want to get married?”

“If you don’t give me an answer, I’m withdrawing my question.”

“Of course I’ll marry you, are you stupid? Why the bloody hell would I be crying on our floor over the thought of you leaving if I didn’t want to marry you? Why did you even feel the need to ask?”

“Well, that’s the proper way, and you know me, I’m all about doing things properly. Except for the fact that I don’t have a ring, but we can deal with that tomorrow. Besides, you’re picky and I want to make sure you’re happy with it.”

“You could tie a piece of string around my finger and I would be happy, Sirius.”

“Really? That’s brilliant because that would save me a lot of money.”

You playfully smacked his shoulder and watched as tears filled his eyes for the second time that night.

“Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the one crying? I just got proposed to, not you!”

As you wiped the tears from his cheeks, he let out a bark of laughter and wrapped his arms tightly around you.

“You know, Sirius…I’ve always liked to work ahead, and since we just checked marriage proposal off my bucket list, what do you say we get a head start on baby number one?”

You swore you had never seen Sirius run faster in his life as he made his way to your bedroom. He threw his clothes every which way and yelled at you to get a move on because, according to all laws of love making, make-up sex was the best sex and he was very eager to prove that theory correct.

[friendlyunclej]

Proving My Worth

Prologue

     My brothers and I haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, especially when it comes to territory to take over. Bruuk, the oldest of the three of us, always placed his eyes on the icy north. He always believed that the flurries and blizzards would make any and all towns ripe for the taking. Thuul, the next oldest, kept track of the ridge that held the difference between the mountains that divided Kalldor. He claimed that the best places for camps were there, where we could easily traverse between either side of the continent. I, Shuulash, always kept close tabs on the forests in the south. With a grand amount of villages, towns, and even a few cities covered in fog and rain, it was obviously the best option to build a proper fortress. However, neither of my two brothers would ever side with me on the matter, as I seemed to be the only one of us who wasn’t worried about some green-skinned tusk bearers.      That issue past relatively soon, however, as some new owners of a town fought them directly. Proving to be more powerful than any of the Orcs forces, these “heroes”, as the townsfolk were calling them, drove them to the farthest reaches of the continent towards the south. Relaying this information to my brothers, they actually began to consider my proposition. Soon enough, I had convinced them that the forests surrounding the town would be perfect. Unbeknownst to them, I desired more than just simple wooden posts as a home. I had to prove to my brothers that I was more than just an angry Hobgoblin looking to earn his marks, so I set my sights on the one thing that would show them that. I wanted the town that the Orcs couldn’t take. I wanted C’Moira for myself.

New Acquisitions

     “Did you see what those hooded things did to that town?” I asked my brothers with a smirk.

     “Yes, we did,” Thuul responded, “we did give them the majority of our forces as support.”

     Bruuk, picking his teeth with a branch, said, “And it was a good thing we gave them the weak ones. I’m pretty sure that if any survived, those creeping pieces of shit would have just kept them for themselves.”

     “You say that as if not all of the goblins are weak,” Thuul snickered.

     “You’re right,” Bruuk agreed with a chuckle, “Still, we shouldn’t trust them too much. Those blasts were-”

     “They were incredible,” I interrupted, “Picture such power in our hands. If we could convince them to-”

     Bruuk spouted, “Shuul, wipe that smirk off your face. We’re done with them.”

     I stared at him dumbfounded as Thuul supported by saying, “He’s right. They’re not to be trusted, much less bargained with.”

     Enraged by their fear, I shouted, “Again with that fear of magic tying both of your hands behind your backs. If we can capture a single one of them and bend them to our will, we could-”

     My speech was interrupted by Bruuk’s fist. As I returned to my feet, he was reprimanding me with, “Again with your lack of respect wearing away at my nerves. It’s not fear that keeps us from parleying with them. It’s trust, Shuul.”

     “We trusted them with this and they delivered. I don’t see why we can’t trust them again,” I said, clearing the blood from my nose.

     Thuul interjected by saying, “We can’t trust them, because we never saw their faces, little brother. Those who are faceless are soulless. Those who are soulless can’t be bent to any will, no matter the methods used.”

     “Then what about those in the town who have similar abilities?” I asked, staring back sternly. “We’ve seen some practicing the art of magic, even a few children. If we take them, they should be just as powerful.”

     Bruuk snarled back, “And how would you keep them on our side?”

     I gestured to my bag of metal tools, consisting of various knives, daggers, rope, and pitons, as I answered, “As I always have.”

     For the first time for as long as I could remember, I saw Thuul chuckle, shrug, and side with me in a soft, “I agree.”

     Bruuk, surprised of Thuul’s reaction, questioned, “Do you really think a magician would make such a difference for us?”

     “Truthfully speaking,” Thuul said with a pause to consider the issue a bit further, “It would be a hell of a weapon. Additionally, if they’re not as potent a weapon as expected, one of my herd informed me of someone across the ocean seeking magicians in trade. We could obtain silver weaponry or even special armor for them.”

     Seeing the sincerity in Thuul’s eyes, Bruuk jaunted back over to me and stared down at me for a second. Locking eyes with him, I stood tall and certain with the streak of red down the front of my nose still fresh.

     Laughing a bit, he clasped me by the shoulder and said, “Well, alright, little Shuul. You want a magical pet, you can have it. We’ll need to refill our ranks with stronger creatures before trying to attack that town again. Once we do, you tell us how to get it. Deal?”

     He outstretched his hand to me as I glanced from his eyes and conniving smile down to his red paw. A bit angered still, I clasped is tight before saying, “That’s a deal, but, before we continue this...”

     Pausing for him to drop his guard, I smashed my forehead against the bridge of his nose. He reeled back as I growled, “My name’s ‘Shuulash’, brother. Not ‘Shuul’. It would benefit you to remember the difference.”

     I stepped over him towards my fortress as he chuckled at me. He responded, “It’s good to see that you’ve actually grown a pair, brother. We’ll see how useful your magical pets are before calling anything other than ‘little Shuul’, little Shuul.”

     Ignoring his teases, I continued walking towards my fortress, smiling to myself with the knowledge that I had kept a few barrels that those hooded figures used on the town.

     As the years pressed, my brothers and I witnessed the once scarce C’Moira transform into a bustling town with a growing population. As we gained greater numbers of goblins, they produced more children. While we gathered bugbears and lesser Hobgoblins, they recruited more guards. As I broke an ogre to my side, they found more magicians and warriors. I would always remind them that my brothers and I were still around, sending small patrols to interrupt their supply chains or even sneaking in personally to capture a magician or two to bargain for weapons or armor.

     Through the bargaining with the creatures from the other side of the world, we had obtained immaculate armor and weapons, some with special attributes or powers attached to them. We had never seen who was supplying us for such treasures, but their treasure was better than good so we had no desire to ask questions. After we had enough weapons and armor, my brothers and I held our forces from meddling in their affairs anymore. My brothers did it because they were waiting on my orders. I pulled my forces so as to better scout the town for one last attack, hoping to make C’Moira my own.

     Working behind my brothers’ backs, I spent months studying C’Moira’s traffic and supply lines, hoping to weaken them as much as possible. If I was to do this, I wanted to do this right. My first step was to slowly cut off their supplies. I had ambushes that would take out farmers, their cattle, and even some roaming traders who made an agreement with the town’s leaders. The second step was to sneakily plant the barrels I still had from the hooded figures we worked with many years ago. I waited for openings in their patrols and even snuck around in stolen garbs during the day to plant the barrels where I needed them to be. With everything in place, the third step was to send in my brothers and some goblins as I stole my prize weapon; a female magician who seemed to be the most powerful in the town. I told my brothers where to be and what to do, while I kept my weapon’s whereabouts to myself.

     Fortunately, some new troublemakers came into the town just a few days before the last step. A couple of them assassinated some people in a carriage while most others just seemed to be regular bystanders until they fought in the prison. Honestly, they seemed a bit powerful, at least powerful enough to give that head guard some issues. I may try to get something from them if I’m able to capture them. Otherwise, their heads would make decent trophies.

Epilogue

     “So, is that all, Shuulash?”

     “Yes, Bruuk, it is. We stick to this plan and we’ll have the strongest magician in the town in our grasp before tomorrow night. Do you have any concerns, Thuul?”

     “Only the newcomers in the city. The ones who you said were fighting in the prison.”

     “With the forces we’ve mustered, they won’t stand a chance.”

     “True, but we aren’t sending all of our forces tomorrow. We’re sending just enough to create a distraction for you to get your magician. Why is this specific one so important anyway?”

     “Neither of you need to know why the magician is important. You just need to know that it’s needed for my plans.”

     “Oh, so the magician is going to help us take out one of the cities?”

     “Something like that.”

     “I don’t like the sound of that. Bruuk, what about you?”

     “That sounds like you’re keeping more secrets than necessary, Shuulash.”

     “I’ve told you guys everything you need to know. Bruuk, you’re attacking the southeastern side. Thuul, you’ll be on the northern side. I’ll have mine sprawled throughout the center and western side of the city. Once the first bit of smoke begins to die, I’ll have my weapon in chains, and more for each of you and those across the water. Everyone wins at the end of this, except the damn elf head guard. Isn’t hurting an elf plenty worth a few measly goblins?”

     “Fine.” “Fine.” “Good.”

     “Well, then, Shuulash. I’ll be ready in the morning.”

     “Thank you, Thuul. Bruuk?”

     “After this, we’re discussing your love of secrets, but, before that, my troops will be in position.”

     “Hmph, that’s if you’re still around to discuss it.”

     “What was that?”

     “I said that we’ll all be together discuss it. But after this is done. Now, go and prepare.”

[themadpuppy85]

Dandy Shot Vol. 3 Translation

Dandy shot -Spending the night with an old bachelor- Volume 3 Detective VS Surgeon Volume CV: Seki Toshihiko & Fujiwara Keiji

A big thank you to vocaotome and yumegasaki for accepting my commission to translate this! Everyone, please enjoy! <3

(All tracks behind the cut!)

TRACK 1

-footsteps, sound of a chime-

Man 1: Ah, Doumeki-Sensei! It seems like a customer has come! Welcome!

Man 2 (called Doumeki): Please have this seat.

-footsteps, sits-

Man 1: Is this your first time in this shop?

Doumeki: Kodama-kun, what are you asking all on a sudden?

Man 1 (called Kodama): But if she has come before, she might be thinking that it’s strange how the Master is not present.

* "Master" is actually what Japanese people call bartenders in general

Doumeki: That being said, asking her something like that suddenly without even giving her a hot towel is rude, isn’t it?

* An oshibori or hot towel in English is a wet hand towel offered to customers in places such as restaurants or bars in China and Japan and in some Chinese and many Japanese restaurants worldwide. Oshibori are used to clean one's hands before eating.

Kodama: Is it, I wonder? Oh well, don’t sweat the details.

Doumeki: Pardon the rudeness. Please have this. Oh, sorry, I should’ve mentioned how hot they were. Are your hands okay?

Kodama: Doumeki-Sensei?

Doumeki: Ah, thank goodness. There aren’t any burns.

Kodama: What on earth?

Doumeki: Something wrong?

Kodama: Well the way you suddenly gripped the young lady’s hands I thought you were trying to hit on her.

Doumeki: There’s no way I’d do that. I was just looking at the state of her hands.

Kodama: As expected of Doumeki-Sensei.

Doumeki: Hmm?

Kodama: Nah, I just thought that Doctors are really something else. You know, Miss. Doumeki Haruomi-Sensei here normally works as a doctor. He’s a bartender only for today. Right, Sensei?

[01:51]

Doumeki: It isn’t that much of a big deal. We’re just watching the shop.

Kodama: Is that so? I think the bartender uniform really suits you though.

Doumeki: That’s not-

Kodama: And? Let’s get back to the subject. Is it your first time in this shop? I see! If this is your first time here, that means we must give you a thorough play-by-play of the charm of this shop tonight! This shop has delicious alcohol and snacks, and is a really soothing atmosphere, so I think Miss will also like it for sure.

Doumeki: Why are you so overly familiar with the customers, Kodama-Kun?

Kodama: I’m not ‘overly familiar’! Say I have an amicable nature or something.

Doumeki: Good grief, you’re an adult. Act your age.

Kodama: Ah, we’re pretty mature despite our appearance. I’m forty six years old and Doumeki-Sensei is forty seven. How old are you, Miss?

Doumeki: Kodama-Kun! It’s rude to ask a woman her age.

Kodama: Ooops, that really was rude of me!

Doumeki: My apologies. We’ve been rude without even asking you for your order…What would you like?

[03:05]

Kodama: (whispers) One moment, Sensei. Why are you asking something like that? Will you be able to make a cocktail if you’re asked?

Doumeki: There’s no way I would be, is there?

Kodama: Then why are you asking for an order?

Doumeki: Ah, I guess you’ve got a point.

Kodama: Don’t give me “I guess you’ve got a point”! You need to follow proper rules when making mixes, we can’t just play pretend at being the Master!

Doumeki: But is it okay for us to stand around?

Kodama: That’s…

Doumeki: Aren’t you the one who said you would show her the charm of this shop, Kodama-Kun? How do you plan to do that without even giving her a drink?

Kodama: I was thinking of keeping her occupied until the Master returned…

Doumeki: Are you serious?

Kodama: You’re right.

Doumeki: Accepting the Master’s request to man the shop means we also have to properly respond to the customers’ orders, right?

Kodama: You’re right, but…

Doumeki: If it’s Kodama-Kun, I bet you can do something by imitating what you’ve seen-

Kodama: No way, I can’t!....Ah!

[04:14]

Doumeki: What is it?

Kodama: Come to think of it, the Master’s recipe notes should be around somewhere! -rustle- Ah, there it was! This is it! -footsteps-

Doumeki: These notes seem to have seen a lot of years.

Kodama: These notes contain all the recipes the Master has developed so far. Master is pretty serious, right? Most of his cocktails and snacks have original recipes, and he probably noted them all down for a possible successor.

Doumeki: I see. Are there cocktail recipes in there?

Kodama: Ah, seems like there are! With this we have nothing to fear no matter what they order!

Doumeki: Have you decided on your order? Brandy Sour…Understood. One Brandy Sour.

Kodama: Eh?! I’ll have to make it?

Doumeki: Obviously! Who else is here except you?

Kodama: Eeeeh…Even though Doumeki-Sensei seems to be good with his hands…

Doumeki: Surgery and cooking are different things. I’m not good at cooking. On the other hand, you’re good at cooking, right, Kodama-Kun?

Kodama: That’s right, but there’s a delicate difference between cooking and making cocktails…

Doumeki: If you don’t want to, we’ll just be unable to present the Miss with her cocktail.

Kodama: Got it. But don’t blame me if I mess up, okay? -flips page, makes cocktail- Hey hey! I look like a bartender, don’t I?

Doumeki: It suits you.

Kodama: Right? I wonder if I really am better at this type of work!

[06:21]

Doumeki: -chuckles- That might be true. Ah, I didn’t tell you yet. He is Kodama Hideyaki, and in the police force. -laughs loudly- You think he doesn’t look it? I also thought it was a bad joke at first.

Kodama: I won’t make a joke like that! I do work hard to protect the people, you know!

Doumeki: Thank you for your hard work.

Kodama: It’s kind of embarrassing when you say it formally like that…

Doumeki: And he’s even an inspector despite appearances. Isn’t he great for being an inspector at this age?

Kodama: Buttering me up won’t do you any good!

Doumeki: Ah, I know. By the way, Kodama-Kun.

Kodama: Hmm?

Doumeki: How much longer do you plan to shake it?

Kodama: Ah! I wonder if the stuff inside is okay.

Doumeki: Let’s move it to the glass.

Kodama: -drops ice and pours- Oh! Seems good! Here you go, your Brandy Sour. The meaning of the cocktail is ‘perfect memories’.

Doumeki: Why must you be like this…

Kodama: Did you say something?

Doumeki: No, nothing.

Kodama: ?

Doumeki: You don’t have to force yourself to say it was tasty.

Kodama: Nah, Miss is surely saying that from her heart! I’m the one who made it after all. Right, Miss?

Doumeki: Kodama-Kun, that doesn’t look like the expression of someone who’s-

Kodama: No way! And if you’re really set on this, have a sip from her glass.

Doumeki: There’s no way I can do that.

Kodama: Haha, are you worried about an indirect kiss?

Doumeki: -cough- Kodama-Kun!

Kodama: I was just kidding! Even so, Miss is really lucky, you got to drink the first cocktail I’ve made ever since I was born.

Doumeki: Aren’t you a jolly one.

Kodama: That’s right! I’ll make one for Doumeki-Sensei too on this occasion.

Doumeki: I’ll have to decline.

Kodama: Don’t hold back!

Doumeki: We’re manning the shop right now, it’s not okay for us to drin-

Kodama: But Master also drinks when he’s on the job.

[08:40]

Doumeki: -groans-

Kodama: Keeping the customers company in drinking is also part of a bartender’s job. With that said, I’m going to make another shot of Brandy Sour! -clinking and pouring sounds-I might have potential as a bartender, hmm?

Doumeki: Maybe.

Kodama: Sensei said that working the shaker suits me, the young lady also said that my cocktail was tasty.

Doumeki: The young lady’s comment was lip service for the sake of Kodama-Kun’s mental wellbeing-

Kodama: Miss won’t do such a boring thing, I’m telling you! She won’t keep drinking it if it was bad, right?

Doumeki: Indeed, she has finished about half of it.

Kodama: And with that, we are done! -clink- Alright, here you go.

Doumeki: Thank you. -drinks-….Delicious.

Kodama: Right? I really have a knack for this!

Doumeki: I’ll admit that you did well. But…

Kodama: But?

Doumeki: Isn’t that because the Master’s recipe is excellent-

Kodama: Aaah you can’t say that!

[10:12]

Doumeki: I guess I shouldn’t. But being able to make it according to the recipe is also a sort of talent. There are people who end up making completely different things despite following a recipe.

Kodama: There can’t be people like that! Wait, could it be…

Doumeki: Yeah. In the past I got the Master to teach me the recipe of this delicious cocktail he had made, and even though I collected the necessary tools and liquor…

Kodama: Don’t tell me, you messed up?

Doumeki: Exactly. It was so bad that it amazed me. That’s when I realized that everyone has their strong points and weak points.

Kodama: This is unexpected! Doumeki-Sensei is good at massage, right? Surgery and massage, both things that normal people can’t do.

Doumeki: Cooking is also like that. Not everyone can do it.

Kodama: Ah, sorry! Once again we started talking among ourselves.

Doumeki: What about other drinks? What else do you want to drink next?

[11:14]

Kodama: You want to drink what we recommend? Even if you say that, we aren’t that knowledgeable about this…

Doumeki: This is troubling.

Kodama: That’s it! Let’s decide by the meaning of cocktails!

Doumeki: But how would that work?

Kodama: Ta-da! -flips pages-

Doumeki: All of the cocktails have meanings written under their names.

Kodama: Master really is a diligent one, he definitely should be the type that’s popular among women.

Doumeki: Which one are you planning to pick?

Kodama: How about this one?

Doumeki: Isn’t it fine?

Kodama: Then let’s go with this.

Doumeki: Please wait for a little bit.

-clinking, pouring, shaking sounds- 

[12:51]

Kodama: Apricot Fizz.

Doumeki: -chuckles- You’re curious about the meaning of the cocktail? That’s…hmm.

Kodama: That’s still a secret.

Doumeki: Let’s see, I’ll tell you if you keep me company tonight.

Kodama: Aaah, that’s unfair! Doumeki-Sensei stole the march on me!

Doumeki: Stealing the march, you say? It’s your fault for letting it happen.

Kodama: What?!

Doumeki: Wanting to spend a lovely night with a lovely young lady is natural, don’t you think so?

Kodama: That’s true, but…Miss! Rather than Doumeki-Sensei, spend it with me!

Doumeki: Now then, whom do you want to spend tonight with?

Kodama and Domeki: Of course it’s me, right?

TRACK 2 (You chose Kodama)

Going to the amusement park late at night is great! Don’t you think it’s lucky that it’s open all night today?! You see, we’re able to have a date at the amusement park right now! 

I usually can’t come because I’m working.

Well... There aren’t any women who’d go with me either.

Hmm? I’m acting strange?

Ah... Hmm...

I know I was the one who invited you... But I’m actually afraid of the dark. There aren’t many lights  around here either. So... Can I hold your hand?

Thank you! You’re so kind, Miss! 

[01:00]

Your hands are so small and cute! It’s adorable how they fit right inside my hands!

Don’t let go. I really don’t like the dark.

Alright! Here we are!

Thrill rides really are popular. They’re the main attraction at this amusement park too.

I wonder if we look like lovers when we’re waiting in line like this.

[02:00]

Hmm? We might not have looked that way if we were waiting in line normally, but we do because we’re holding hands?

Now that you mention it... So how about we hold hands like this?

Ta-da! Holding hands with our fingers interlocked! This is warmer and it feels like you’re closer to me this way. Is that okay?

I’m glad it’s okay! I thought I might have gone too far, considering we’ve only just met. I’m happy you accepted it.

I’m sorry! I’m getting carried away. I feel as if I can’t keep my cool when I’m not like this. It’s okay though! You’re holding my hand, you see.

[03:01]

You want to know why I’m scared of the dark? It’s a long story, but a long time ago I was trapped somewhere... I couldn’t get out, even though I wanted to. After that...

Let’s talk about something else! Otherwise it’ll ruin the good time we’re having.

It’s our turn now. I’m excited!

I’d be happy if the suspension bridge effect made you fall in love with me!

Ah, it’s started moving! 

[04:08]

Ah, that was fun! Did you enjoy it?

Haha. That’s good! It looks like we’re going to get on well.

What do you want to ride next?

What? The teacups?

No... I was just thinking that I haven’t been on the teacups since I was a child.

Alright. Shall we go then?

We didn’t have to wait in line to ride on the teacups.

[05:06]

We’ve started moving. You spin faster if you turn the handle in the middle, don’t you? Let’s try it!

Hahaha. Was that too much?

But isn’t seeing how fast you can spin the most fun thing about the teacups?

You join in too, Miss!

You really do have a cute smile!

I can see you still have a childlike side when you smile and I’m seriously happy to be the one you’re smiling at! I want to see more of that smile.

I’m smiling in the same way? That’s because I’ve grown into an adult who is a child at heart!

[06:02]

Hey, Miss! Aren’t you spinning it too much?

I feel sick... It looks like we spun the teacup too much.

No, I was spinning it quite a lot too!

But it might be a little tough to go on another thrill ride after this. I think something more relaxing would be good. 

Hmm... How about the Ferris wheel, Miss? We can rest a little while we’re on it and I’m sure there’ll be a beautiful view at this time.

Thank you. I’m happy you offered your hand to me.

Ah, I’m fine! I can walk.

It seems like I’m always going to feel happy when I’m with you.

TRACK 3

I’m fine now. I’ve calmed down.

I can’t remember the last time I rode on a Ferris wheel!

How was your day today? Did you enjoy your first visit to the bar?

I see. I’m glad to hear that.

I was sorry that you had to drink one of my cocktails, so I’m relieved to hear that. The cocktails the bar owner makes are much more delicious. You should come and have a drink when he’s there.

Of course, you can go there with me too.

Okay! Let’s find time to go there soon then.

But you’re asking if I’m busy at work?

It’s true that I’ll have work on my days off if there’s an incident...

[01:04]

But I risk my life to help people who are in trouble. Saving the lives of people who are in danger isn’t something just anyone can do. I enjoy being a policeman and I’m proud of my job too.

There are a lot of reasons that it’s difficult to find a partner though. I think getting another person to understand my job is one of the more challenging reasons.

I don’t have to go if it’s too difficult? It’s not that difficult.

We’ve come up quite high. It takes 15 minutes for this Ferris wheel to go all the way round.

Ah, it was written on the sign.

I was looking carefully? I suppose I just can’t help it because of my work.

[02:01]

I got into the habit of paying attention to my surroundings, and I even notice the little things.

I can’t tell whether that’s good or bad though.

Look outside the window.

Isn’t the scenery beautiful? Don’t you think slowly approaching the sky like this is quite romantic?

Especially because I’m alone with you...

Hey... Sitting opposite you is nice, but would it be okay if I sat beside you instead?

Thank you.

Ah, I’m sorry! It shook quite a lot, didn’t it? Are you okay?

You even look cute when you’re scared.

It’s okay if you keep holding onto me like that. I’m happy that way too. If it’s you, then I’d welcome that anytime.

[03:06]

Of course you’re not bothering me!

There isn’t a man who’d hate to be embraced by a cute girl. Since you’re getting close to me, I think that means you don’t dislike me. Maybe you actually like me.

Ah... You’re blushing.

We’re almost at the top.

I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.

When I saw how cute your face was, I wanted to make you mine.

[04:05]

You were surprised, weren’t you? I’m sorry.

But that’s honestly how I feel right now. It might be selfish, but I don’t want to hide my feelings.

To tell the truth, I thought of you as nothing more than a cute girl when you came to the bar. But when we spent time together and I experienced your kindness, I noticed myself being drawn to you.

How about you? What do you think of me?

I’m sorry. It’s troublesome to be asked something like that all of a sudden, isn’t it?

Forget what I said just now.

I’m not sorry that I kissed you though.

That was how I really felt, you see.

[05:06]

Eh? Is that true?

After spending time with me, you had the feeling that you might like me?

But... Are you sure you’re not forcing yourself to say that? 

You see... You’re a kind person!

I thought you might be saying that so I wouldn’t get hurt...

I see... I’m happy to hear your true feelings too!

Being able to embrace you feels like a dream.

I’ve never wanted someone else in this way before.

Even I don’t really understand why, but when you were scared and held my hand, it felt really warm.

[06:06]

It might be because you felt calm. I was glad that you held my hand without looking unhappy about it. At that time, I didn’t ever want to let go of your hand.

Eh? You held out your hand because it was me? When you say it like that, it makes me too happy!

I’m not embarrassed at all! I’m not cute either! You’re much cuter than me!

I really am happy though. Thank you, Miss.

Will you keep holding hands with me from now on?

You’re also cute when you nod while blushing!

[07:03]

The Ferris wheel is slowly going back down, isn’t it? It’s a bit disappointing because it feels like I’m waking up from a dream!

We won’t be alone together once we leave the Ferris wheel, you see.

Hey... Can I do it one more time?

Maybe I’ve kissed you a little too much. But you’re so cute that I can’t help wanting to do it.

If only the Ferris wheel could stop right now... If it did, then we’d be able to stay like this for a long time.

[08:00]

I want to keep holding you. I want to kiss you too.

Although I said that... We’ve come pretty close to the ground.

I suppose I’ll have to save the third kiss for later. I’d actually like to kiss you right now though.

TRACK 4

The last train has already gone, hasn’t it?

We did a lot of fun things! I haven’t done that many since I was a child.

Let’s come here again. It’s a promise.

I suppose the next time we’ll meet is when we go to the bar together. I haven’t had any proper dates before, so I don’t know the kind of place that’d make you happy. It’s embarrassing not to know that even though I’m older than you. Don’t hesitate to tell me if there’s somewhere you’d like to go. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.

Before we go to the bar, let’s have a proper date sometime soon. I’ll do my best to think up a plan for the date!

[01:03]

Eh? Are you that worried? It’s okay! I’ll ask the others at the bar if I get really stuck.

We’re at the entrance. A gentleman should probably send you home by taxi... But will you stay with me instead of going home?

I don’t want to let you go. I want us to stay together longer. I want to touch you again.

I’ll be honest. I want to do things that are even sweeter than a kiss.

[02:00]

I haven’t wanted anyone else this much before.

It can’t be helped if it seems things are moving too fast. But I want to make you mine and I just can’t bear it.

I’ve said how I feel. You can decide what happens next. If you think it’s too soon, then I’ll take you home today. But if you want to spend time with me too, then I’ll take you back to my place.

You don’t have to answer right away. Take your time thinking about it. I’ll wait for you. 

Of course you want that? You mean you want to come back to my place? Really?

[03:05]

Thank goodness!

Ah, I’m sorry! I was the one getting carried away again!

But no matter how old you get, inviting a woman to your place takes courage. 

Miss, let’s go back to my place together. I’m not going to let you sleep tonight. Make sure you’re ready for that.

[04:08]

Thank you for last night. I had a good time.

Sorry I can only take you as far as the station. I had to hurry because I didn’t wake up earlier. I’ve got to go now.

You want to know when we can see each other again? Well, I suppose that’ll be when you decide that you want to see me. I’m sure we’ll see each other again very soon.

TRACK 5 (You chose Doumeki)

It’s wonderful to be able to spend time with you like this. As you chose me instead of Kodama-kun, I won’t disappoint you.

Leave it to me. I’ll take you somewhere nice.

I’m sure you’ll like it. There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll make sure you have a good time.

Here we are. This is the place. As you can see, it’s a members only salon.

What were you expecting?

There’s also a spa here and you can enjoy a stone sauna too. Many different treatments such as beauty treatments, facials, body treatments and reflexology are available here.

[01:13]

I’m going to check whether we can be seen right away, so just wait a moment.

Sorry I kept you waiting. I went to check whether any of the therapists were available, but it unfortunately seems that they’re all busy.

I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to make do with some treatment from me.

Are you surprised that I’m going to do it?

My uncle owns this salon. This may be a surprise to you, but I worked in this salon as a therapist while I was at university. I was the most popular therapist during that time too.

Don’t worry. I’m sure of my skills.

[02:03]

It’s alright. I’m not going to do anything strange here. 

Come on, let’s go.

This is the room.

Put your bag and change of clothes in that cupboard.

You only need to take off what you’re wearing on top. When you’re ready, lay face down on that bed, put that towel on top and wait for me.

I’ll be doing a treatment using essential oils and I’ll prepare one that I recommend. Alright?

[03:01]

I’ll go and prepare for the treatment, so you get undressed before that.

Miss. May I come in?

Please excuse me.

The essential oil I’ll be using for your treatment is grapefruit. It has a refreshing effect and improves circulation.

I’m going to start now.

Your skin looks beautiful. I’ve given this treatment to many women before, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone so beautiful. 

[04:08]

Hmm? Are you embarrassed?

You can feel the oil being absorbed into your skin and my fingers gliding over your body, can’t you?

Even just moving your hands over someone’s skin is said to have a relaxing effect. That’s why I recommend aromatic treatments. You can be relaxed in three different ways. The aromatic treatment, the relaxing effect of someone else’s hands and the stiffness in your body being loosened up.

[05:02]

Does that feel good?

I’m happy to hear that. When I was working here, I really did think that relaxing and calmly receiving the treatment was something to be happy about.

Feeling calm is even important in the job I do now. If someone says to me “I’m glad you’re the one doing the surgery” before an operation, then I feel as if I’m being trusted and it makes me happy. 

Does that hurt? I pressed down a little hard, so I was worried.  

[06:03]

When I’m touching your body like this, I feel as if we’ve become very close. I’ve never felt this way when I’ve been with a customer, so I wonder why that is. I’m sure that your beauty is making me feel that way.

I’ve finished massaging your back.

I’ll turn around while you lie on your back. Tell me when you’re ready.

I’m going to turn around now.

I’ll lower the towel down to beneath where your collarbone is.

[07:16]

No... I was just thinking that your collarbone looks sexy. It’s nice how it isn’t too sharp and comes out just enough. It’s easy for lymph fluid to build up here, so you have to get it out this way.

I’m going to do your upper arms next. You might not expect this, but your upper arms can get quite stiff too.

Yes. They’re quite stiff, aren’t they?

[08:00]

People tend to forget about their upper arms, so make sure you pay careful attention to them from now on.

The treatment is finished now. 

[09:01]

I’ve wiped off the oil, so you should be fine as you are, but since there’s a spa here too, shall we have a look?

Alright. I’ll be waiting in the lounge then. You don’t have to hurry. You can take your time getting changed.

TRACK 6

This is the spa. The spa is in a private room too. It’s amazing, isn’t it?

Don’t worry. The water is a milky white colour and you can wear your towel in the bath, so there’s nothing for you to worry about.

Your face is red. Were you expecting something?

I’ll get changed here and you can get changed over there.

I’m ready, so I’ll get in first. You can come here whenever you’re ready.

[01:20]

Come here.

Were you satisfied with the treatment I gave you?

I’m glad to hear that.

Hmm? Did I ever think about working here?

My uncle had strongly suggested it, but as my father was a surgeon, I hadn’t considered following any other path.

Yes, I suppose it was because I grew up watching my father. I had no hesitation in becoming a surgeon.

[02:05]

I respect my father, but we just don’t get along. I suppose you could call it a feud.

But in the end, when I considered becoming a doctor, I ended up unconsciously following in his footsteps, despite my disagreement with him.

I’ve been talking about myself a little too much, haven’t I? 

You want to know more about me? I didn’t think you’d say that.

I want to know more about you too.

Of course I’m not joking.

[03:03]

I believe that this isn’t something you can say thoughtlessly when you’re my age...

But it seems that I’ve fallen in love with you. I suppose it was somewhat like love at first sight.

I was attracted by your charm when I began talking to you. When I touched your body, I ended up wanting to touch you again. Of course, just as I told you when we came here, I’m not going to do anything strange. Even now, I’m serious...

I suppose it troubles you to hear that all of a sudden, doesn’t it? I just wanted to tell you how I feel, but there’s no need for you to feel pressured because of that.

I’ll take it seriously if you say something like that.

[04:04]

In that case...

So even someone of my age can fall in love in a single moment. I didn’t think that I’d be this forward about romance. I’m even surprised at myself. Your charm is what makes me this way.

This might be the first time I’ve expressed my romantic feelings this much. When I met you at the bar, I felt as if I shouldn’t let you get away. That’s how attractive you were.

[05:03]

I’m surprised that touching your body and lips makes my heart beat so fast. I’d forgotten that feeling for a long time. You gave me many things in a short time. I’m sure that age doesn’t matter when it comes to love. You’re a precious person who makes me feel that way.

It makes me happy to see your honest gaze when you believe all the things I say, even though we’ve only just met.

You were a little suspicious at first?

I suppose that’s to be expected. I suddenly brought you to a salon and said I’d be the one taking care of your treatment.

Thank you though. I was relieved to hear that time doesn’t matter when it comes to the feeling of love.

[06:04]

I want to feel you closer to me. Is that alright? 

When I run my fingers over your smooth skin, I don’t want to stop touching you.

The effect of the aromatic treatment? I suppose that might be part of the reason, but your skin is smooth and beautiful anyway.

I’m going to give you another massage.

Of course I don’t do this for other women. I work as a surgeon. Even if I perform a surgery, I don’t do massages. Don’t worry about it.

[07:05]

But I suppose making someone jealous isn’t so bad. Perhaps it’s a sign that you don’t want to lose me to someone else.

Are you getting dizzy? Your face looks really red.

Mine does too? So that’s why I was feeling a little light-headed.

Shall we get out soon?

I’d actually like to push you down right now...

That’s how I really feel.

TRACK 7

Thank you. I had a good time.

You’re not going home now, are you?

I told you earlier, didn’t I? That I wanted to push you down right then...

You can say no if you want to. Do you have the courage to do that?

You want to spend the night with me too, don’t you?

I can tell by looking. I’m going to make you even more captivated.

Why’d you stop all of a sudden?

[01:00]

You’re nervous? It’ll only last for a moment. There’s nothing to worry about.

You don’t have to do this. I won’t force you.

You’re nervous, but you don’t want to be apart from me?

You’re a spoiled woman, aren’t you?

Don’t worry. I’ll help you relax. I don’t want to be apart from you either, you see.

I don’t want you to go home right now.

I’m being determined? I suppose so. But I won’t get an answer without doing that, will I? You’ll be spending the night with a man you just met, you see. It’s not as if I don’t feel nervous too. No matter how old they get, men lose courage in front of the person they love.

I’m always putting up a strong front, but I do wonder what I should do if I end up being disliked. 

[02:04]

It’s true that I want to be honest around you, no matter how afraid I am of being disliked.

If you see that I’m not acting naturally, then you’ll do the same.

I want to know more about the real you. So let’s go to my place.

I’ll make sure you have a good time tonight.

I think this night is going to be a long one.

Tell me more about yourself. I want to tell you more about myself too.

I’ll definitely make this into an unforgettable night.

[03:09]

Are you awake? It seems that you slept quite well.

You didn’t look nervous to me.

I’m teasing you? I was just telling the truth.

I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go to work soon.

Ah. It may not seem that way, but I’m busy.

You’re asking when we can see each other again?

I’m not sure. But when you want to see me again, I’ll want the same thing.

(Tracks 8 and 9 are not included since they are free talk.)

[pureirishnonsense]

Continuity

((A brief Horus Heresy ficlet I wanted to write about an old War Chieftess reminicsing about the Imperial Palace during the Heresy. Also, stealing @sisterofsilence‘s Tribune for this, cause I’m a Hack!))

--------------------------------------------

The cold air of the Himalazia  served to rouse her from sleep. She blinked awake, focusing with a murmur of the machinery that made up her eyes. Her vision flashed green for a moment, motion sensors agitating, and she glanced at the windows. The curtains, heavy velvet drapes that kept the weak Terran light from her room, flowed and rose in the winds, and Veral rose to sit up. Her body, lithe and ancient, had been kept strong by rejuvenant treatments and augmetics, but these bitter mornings in Terra’s highest reaches made her feel so very old.

And she was old, she reminded herself as she pushed herself from her bed, shifting the thick duvet off, and stepping onto the slippers by her bedside. The cut marble slabs that made up the palace floor were beautiful… but no one enjoyed stepping onto winter cold stone in the early hours of the morning.

With a red robe over her night wear, and her loose grey hair bound up into a tail, Lady Veral, a former Steppe-Chieftess of the Urals Region, took her morning walk along the Palace Parapet.

She had gotten used to what Dorn’s Fists had done to the once glorious Palace. Though she had seen the Palace Holy go from a stone bastion set at the seat of the Mountains, to a once grand expanse over the course of two centuries. The new vista of cannons and armoured towers left her somewhat disheartened. The Imperium had fallen so far.

She could still remember the day the Emperor and his Golden Warriors had come to her Clan’s Steppe-Fort, had brokered terms. She had heard word, brought by refugees, by war survivors and fleeing soldiers, that some Great Host had been conquering the barbarous warlords and dynasts of Terra, fighting with an army of Gene-bulked Killers, led by a Golden Company. This had been some centuries in, towards the last, latter years of Unification.

Chieftess Veral had safeguarded her people and carved a sanctuary for them far to the North West of the new Emperor’s domain, but He had not been blind to her Clan’s presence. Nor was He blind to the presence of nearly forty other Clans, all housed near the Urals. Veral had been one of seven Clans who had chosen to bend the knee before the Emperor- a memory that no longer carried shame, after two centuries of seeing His vision. The other thirty odd clans had faced warriors in armour of a seething, hissing make. She had not been surprised that none had survived, not when she had learned these were to become His Legions

She had seen the children of Clans be selected to undergo the Trials to become the Emperor’s Legionaries, seen mothers and fathers weeping as their children were taken. The words of this… aloof, distant Monarch did little to salve their fears and torments. Even she had found it hard to swallow this. No parent could ever bare to see the pain of another in losing their child

Veral’s own child, at the age of twelve, had been taken too… when she had next seen him, thirty years later, he was unrecognizable. Armoured in grey and white, with a collared hound etched upon his shoulder, she had not known it was her son until she had read the Lists of Honour. He had been proud faced, returned from the Compliances in the Outer Sol reaches, before being sent off into the vastness for the Great Crusade.

She had not wept. She was proud. He had lived, and was making this grand vision a reality. So she put her pain aside, and went on with her new duties, as offered by the Sigillite.

She was fond of Malcador, in a way. He was cunning, insightful and had a deep abiding respect for the other Ancients who had seen the Imperium rise. It was a comfort to think on, as she made her way along a once cloistered parapet, to stand at a balcony. It had once afforded her a view of the great minarets and spires and the lazulite decoration of Annapurna Gate. It had been something to take in when that grand gate had gone up, to see the way daylight would shine on it.

Now… now in Terra’s bleak morning, Dorn had replaced it with a great bastion gate of uncaring adamantium, veined with void shield generators, marked with gun cloches and cannon emplacements. Now, in place of a gemstone’s iridescence, there was the harsh glare of active shields being tested every half hour.

She sighed, and made her way to the Tranquil City. At least there, at least near that serene court, there was none of Dorn’s work.

----

Dressed in the crimson surcoat and quilted underarmour suit of household guard, Veral looked significantly more comfortable, more at ease. She downed the caffiene- some fine ground thing that she had made thick and sludgy with sugar- and began to make her way through the packed palace promenades to Malcador’s next lengthy, unnecessary meeting. They debated how best to defend against the Traitors, and Veral had taken to vouching for an unpopular decision.

She could hear, however, the sound of active Power Armour. Not the deep joint-snarl of Legion plate, but the waspish, imperious hum of Aurumite Battle Plate, the warsuits of the Legio Custodes.

Tribune Arlette, Wing Commander of the Custodes, and confidante of the Emperor, was pacing in frustration, marching along one of the cloistered sections of the Ennara tower walks. Her expression, whilst almost neutral, showed the Custodian’s quiet exasperation. The way her fingers clenched on the Guardian Spear, were all tells that the legendary patience of a Custodes had been worn down.

It may have been the stress of the Heresy that was unfolding, or the Secret War that the Ten Thousand and the Oblivion Knightesses were conducting under the Imperial Palace. Veral had no knowledge of it, save the number of Servitors, Mechanicus thralls and munition trains that had gone under the Palace. And she had rarely seen Custodes emerge from it, in armour rent and sundered in countless, impossible ways.

Arlette was a striking woman, and her position in the Golden Legion leant her a degree of autonomy. But she had been fighting that secret war for so long, it felt… wrong for her to be upon the parapets here. Veral could see some faint bruising, the discolouration of broken blood vessels and the marks of trauma upon Arlette’s face. It was as if something had struck her in the mouth.

Veral made the gesture of the Fist of Unity, which Arlette returned, gauntlet clammering to the ornate breastplate that was her authority. Towering over twice the height of the old Chieftess, Arlette stared down from the harsh, decorated gorget, meeting the gaze of the Ural’s old War Lady.

“Guard Captain,” Arlette said, her voice a little harsh, as if her throat had been worn raw. “It has been some time. Regent Malcador is convening the next Council in his personal chambers.”

Veral nodded, and finished her cup of Caffiene- nearly cold in the high air of the mountain palace- and she idled the cup between her fingers. “I am. The Household Guard are finding the Fists a difficult prospect to work with, and my proposals for the War are not… popular ones.”

In the light of dawn, Arlette’s smile gleamed, a knowing smirk. She rested her spear against her shoulder guard, and smiled. “Not many people are keen to overturn the Decree of Nikea, Captain. Some believe the Psyker may be the root of his Heresy.”

Veral glanced over the ruined Palace, at the bunkers and gun emplacements and batteries and void shields. She breathed in the cold air, and her fingers- augmetics of beautiful craftsmanship rather than flesh and bone- clenched on the stone. “But the reports we’ve read… Of Warp abominations, the enemy employing… profaned means of war. I believe Guilliman wrote in his treatises that we cannot shy away from any method, any tool or weapon, if its exclusion spells defeat,” the Old Chieftess said, leaning on the balcony, staring out over the grey scape of militant Imperial Defense.

Arlette ran a gloved thumb over her jawline, ignoring the faint throb of pain that throbbed through her bruised lips and cheek. “That is a pearl of wisdom from the Thirteenth,” she murmured. “One that would be easily open to abuse, and the quotes of another’s authority may not seem the strongest argument.” Arlette strode over to look at the ruin of her home.

“The wisdom behind the statement must be heeded though, Lady Tribune,” she breathed. “Lord Dorn and Architect Singh have followed that mentality, destroying the Palace so it may be made a fortress to spite Lupercal’s ambition.”

The Custodian had to catch the acid remark that had rolled up in response. But Veral had a point. One inelegantly underlined by the vista before them.

“I fear you may be right, Chieftess,” Arlette said, regarding the ancient Captain. 

In this clearer light, Veral turned to look at the Tribune, could see the damage, the scars on her armour. She could see clearly the faint blossom of healing bruises upon her face.

“The Secret War. How goes it?” she asked, in quiet, conspiratorial tones. She was… concerned for Arlette- and the notion of being worried over a Custodian seemed almost funny. It was the sorrow and the injuries that stole humour from it.

It seemed, for a moment, that Arlette would not speak of it. She seemed hesitant, as if speaking of it would somehow doom them. When she answered, it was soft, low and almost unheard.

“We still stand. We resist. We shall always hold,” she murmured. “Do not ask more. For this is Our War, Chieftess.” She smiled a little, and hefted up her spear.

“Sadly, I must bid you goodbye. An Imperial Fist officer is about deliver the ten thousandth request to access the Tranquil City, and I must deliver to him my firm dismissal of that motion.”

Veral’s laughter was a hearty bark, as solid as a bolter, and she pushed back from the balcony, hand on her sabre belt. “And I must endure several hours of boredom. I wish you victory in your battles, Tribune. “

“And I wish you luck with yours, Lady Veral.”