#also sorry about the delay i forgot tumblr existed

[off-the-rails-raccoon]

What do yo think about post-revival c!Allium Duo where c!Ranboo has to be touching c!Tommy all the time when he visits Snowchester? Leaning against c! Tommy, wrapping their tail around his leg, locking their fingers together. They're more or less paranoid c!Tommy could just disappear and isn't actually there if they aren't touching him.

Also, what about c!Ranboo always wagging their tail when c!Tommy came around, but after the prison they don’t anymore. Then c!Tommy asks what he did for c! Ranboo not to be happy around him anymore, and c! Ranboo just started crying.

I think this is my favorite headcanon of c!allium duo I've literally ever heard?? DUDE??? I'd die ten times over to hear more about this, I am not okay. And cRanboo just breaking down at that question?? UAGHGSDUGFI OHMYGOD?????

I think that at first cTommy might be a little off-put by the constant touch, having touch aversion after his revival and all that, but after a while he'd get used to it and even find it more comforting then he'd ever admit. Also I don't doubt that cRanboo would like wrap their tail around cTommy while glaring at someone over the shorter's shoulder in all their eldritch monster glory.

And I can vividly see cTommy freaking out around a sobbing cRanboo, desperately trying to figure out what he said wrong and what bothered the enderman to that degree, all while cRanboo clings to him and babbles incoherently about how cTommy DOES make them happy, and they DON'T hate him.

Also cRanboo gets the worst jumpscares of his life anytime cTommy abruptly wanders off to another room while they aren't looking (which happens surprisingly a lot and probably made the constant touching even worse).

[candied-cae]

And Who Are We At The End Of The World? - The Best Welcome Party

Chapter 14/? - - - Read it on AO3

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Word Count: 11,681

Summary: With Eddie conscious for the first time since "the earthquake," a lot has to happen. Notably, he needs to be questioned by the Hawkins Police. But, of course, there may just be a little bit to check on before they deal with that responsibility...

More ST Fics

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At Steve’s house, everyone was still milling around after he and Lucas left. Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair still had a lot of stuff they needed to wrap their head around, and Nancy and Robin were feeling a little stir-crazy in the busy house, so they got an idea. They could run back to their houses, take showers, get changed, and then take off to ask the drama and band directors for their statements on Eddie.

Which would both get them out of the stressful atmosphere of Steve’s living room and give them something to do. And having something to do about how hopeless everything felt seemed to be the only way to get through it.

So, the two of them stuck around just long enough to make Hop sit down with them and agree to be a source. And to grab a couple of quotes so it’d sound like his words, and if anyone bugged him about it he knew what to say. A little bit here about “All kids find their own outlets for rebellion, I’ve pulled over almost every student who’s gone through that high school at least once since I’ve been here.” A line to specify “But Eddie Munson’s never been a very big thorn in my side. Can’t see him having done all this without a good motive. Which nobody’s been able to find.” And then they just rounded it out with a note about circumstantial evidence and there not being enough of anything to make sense to pin it on him. All according to a guy who used to be the city's chief of police.

Then they were able to drive off for their next steps, Nancy obviously the one behind the wheel and dropping Robin off before she went back to her place.

When Nancy got back to her house her dad was, thankfully, back at work. So it was just Holly and Amber sitting around a plastic tea set in the living room while Amber’s mom watched the news. She was able to head right on upstairs without much fuss.

But, while it didn’t take long for Nancy to take care of her own business, Robin had a bit more of a headache to deal with.

Her mom was again not happy she ran off, but it was easier to settle her down when Robin had her call Steve’s house and a parent answered. Joyce had confirmed that there had been chaperones there all night, and there were a whole bunch of them over, not just Steve and Robin alone. As if that would’ve meant anything anyway. But one phone call later and she was able to slip away and clean up so she could get to her plans with Nancy.

When she climbed out of the shower, however, she was interrupted by her mother calling for her.

“Robin!”

The girl was squeezing a towel around the ends of her hair to pull the water out - she hadn’t washed her hair, but the ends got damp anyway - and she yelled back,“ Uh, yeah?”

“You’ve got a call!”

Robin considered trying to run to the wall phone half-dressed or letting her mom try to stall with small talk as she pulled on her jeans. She decided she didn’t really like either option,“ Just tell Nancy I’ll be ready for pickup whenever she gets here!”

“It’s not a Nancy!” Theresa said from the kitchen as Robin reached for her shirt,“ It’s a Vickie!”

And all at once, she felt her heart jump to her throat. She threw on the shirt, haphazardly yelling,“ I’ll be right there!”

Once she got the article over her head, she yanked it down and barreled out of the bathroom. Quickly stealing the phone from her mother’s hands and turning the corner away to be further away from her mother’s listening ears.

“Heeyyy…” She started. But, no way, that sounded so awkward. She coughed and tried again,” I mean, hey. Hey, Vickie. How are- How are you?”

“Hi, hi, and hi to you too, Robin,” she said with a light fluttery giggle that made Robin’s heart seize again,” I’m good. And you are?”

“Good! I am good also.”

Robin was failing at this, right? She was failing at their first phone call. She was all jumpy, and too excited, and not saying words in the right order, and she had to sound so ridiculous-

But she pushed through it anyway. Digging her nails into her palm to try and keep herself from getting all high-pitched from the nerves, she said,” So, uh, how’d you… track me down?”

“Looked you up in the phone book. There aren’t any other Buckleys in town, you know.” Vickie said it like it was obvious.

Because it kind of was. It was how Robin would’ve found Vickie’s number if she had felt so bold. Maybe if she and Steve had been able to find an hour alone, he would’ve built her up to it. But receiving the phone call felt pretty great too.

“Yeah, yeah.” Robin confirmed the very normal behavior,” So, did you need anything or- or what had you calling little ol’ me today?”

“I, um, sorta thought we could hang out? It was fun spending time with you at the high school the other day, and I’d like to do it some more. Unless you didn’t think it was fun and, instead, I’m just the kind of girl who’s nice for company when there’s literally no one else to talk to, and in that case, I’ll just hang up, and we don’t have to talk about this-”

“No!” Robin leaped in to correct Vickie’s unfounded concern,“ No, no, no, I do not think that. I would like to hang out. With you. Too. I had fun on Saturday too. So, yeah, I’d really like to make some plans to spend time together again.”

And there was Vickie’s cute little fluttery giggle again,“ Cool. Um, I know things are still sort of crazy in town, but my parents would give me the keys to the car if you wanted to come up with an errand to run or something, and we could get some lunch after?”

“Yeah, that sounds great. I’d love to- like to do that-”

Calm down, Robin, don’t freak her out.

And, just as Robin was taming her excitement, she remembered she was already expecting a girl to come by,” Oh, yeah... I kind of had plans to help Nance with something…”

Vickie got a little quieter,“ Oh, well, we can raincheck if you want to-”

“No! I, um… actually, if you wanted to help, we were going to talk to Mr. Thompson.”

“The band director?” the girl asked.

“Well, him and Ms. Reynolds. We wanted to get, like, a statement on Eddie’s character from them. See if they had anything nice to say for an article about how he didn’t do it.”

“Oh,” Vickie said it like she was trying to understand the idea. And that made sense. She wasn’t on the inside team, so she didn’t know everything they did. Didn’t know Eddie that well. She’s just been knee-deep in rumors the whole time.

So Robin supplied,“ Which, by the way, he didn’t. It’s a long story, but we were with him pretty much the whole time, and it was actually Jason! Not Eddie, and-”

“Jason? Jason Carver?”

“Yeah. Like I said, it’s a long story, and I can tell you some more about it later, but Eddie really is innocent. I swear. Thing is, even when he wakes up and can explain everything to get the police to drop the charges, a lot of people probably won’t believe it. They’ll say stuff about how he got away with it and make his life a living... nightmare," she barely caught herself from saying 'hell'. A mistake she usually didn't have much trouble avoiding, but she was just so focused on Vickie that she almost missed it," Anyway, Nancy wanted to write something for the school paper to help show people he’s a good guy.

“And he is? A good guy, I mean.” Vickie still asked, though she was beginning to sound like she believed it.

“Yeah. He is.” Robin asserted,” And, since we’re both in band, if you wanted to come, we could probably divide and conquer faster. We can check with Mr. Thompson, and she can go to Ms. Reynolds. So that could be our errand and then get some lunch after.”

“Then, yeah, I’d love to help. You sure Nancy will be okay with me just kinda hijacking you at the last minute?”

“Oh yeah! Definitely. I’ll just let her know what’s going on, and we can all meet up after to share notes.”

“Sounds good. You want to get together now, or do you want me to head over later?”

“Now’s fine. I just got done getting ready to head out with her anyway, so I am all good to go. I can give you the address-”

“It’s in the yellow pages right below the phone number.”

Robin nodded to herself,“ Yes, of course, it is, duh. Then I will see you in a few.”

“See you then, Robin.”

“Bye, Vickie.”

Robin bit into her bottom lip under her wide grin as she hung up the phone. It took everything in her to not stomp around her feet to get all the joyous energy out. Her cheeks were probably bright pink, and her hair had to be a mess, and she’d have to be sneaky to throw on some mascara and her favorite rings before she got out the door if she wanted to look even a little put together.

But it was Vickie. It was Vickie inviting her out for the day. It almost actually sounded like a date. And Robin dared to consider that Vickie’s voice and tone seemed like she knew how it sounded...

Which was insane. She still never thought the chance was real. Even after they volunteered together, and Steve tried so hard to hype her up, she was half-convinced that nothing would come of it besides his false hope. But it was real. And now she had something to work for.

And it was still scary.

But she tried to focus on what Steve told her between all his insisting that Vickie really liked her.

“Be yourself, and all that junk.”

Robin’s own advice thrown back at her. So Robin was just going to have to try to focus on being herself. And all that junk.

Worst-case scenario, she’ll at least be able to tease Steve about the fact that his idea was ridiculous and didn’t work. Which felt like a security blanket, honestly. At the end of the day, if the whole thing went horribly, she'd still find some way to laugh about it with her best friend...

“What was it?” her mother asked from around the corner where she had been reading the newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee that they both knew was mostly creamer.

Robin poked her head over to look at her and attempted to settle herself to answer casually,“ Oh! Vickie’s just gonna help me and Nance with something! We’re going to head out in a bit and ask the band teacher a few questions.”

“The band teacher? Mr. Thompson?” Theresa asked folding and setting down the paper on the kitchen table as she leaned back in the chair.

But even Robin could tell her mother must have done everything she could to eavesdrop. Probably sat so still that the chair didn’t squeak, didn’t drink from her mug so she could listen, and held the paper in loose fingers so it didn’t crinkle the whole time... So she already knew all about what she was asking about. Why they needed to play around it, Robin never understood, but they did. It’s what they did. If they didn’t - if Robin tried to skip the unnecessary explanation - it would turn into a conversation about her manners.

So, instead, Robin confirmed,“ Yeah, Mr. Thompson,” and waited for the next question.

“What do you girls need him for?”

“Well, Eddie was in the school band for a few years. Didn’t do pep band or anything, but Mr. Thompson should still know him.” she clarified,” So we wanted to see if he had anything nice to say about him for an article on Eddie’s innocence. Make sure he doesn’t get mounted on a stake in the town square the minute the police unlock his cuffs.”

Her mother nodded along and took another sip of her coffee,“ Alright. Make sure you’re home tonight or tell me ahead of time if something changes. Before it gets dark out so I know I don’t need to worry.”

“I will, Mom.”

Her mother began to pick back up her newspaper and held out an open hand. The signal Robin always returned by blowing a kiss that she’d pretend to snap her hand around and pat into her chest. Which was another comfort. That was also their thing. Besides any tenseness or misunderstandings, once things settled Robin’s mother would always silently ask for a kiss. And Robin would always send one her way.

And just as Robin was bounding back to the bathroom to brush out her hair and try to doll herself up, at least a little bit, the doorbell rang.

“Wow, Vickie must’ve been pretty close,” Theresa commented from her newspaper.

But when Robin opened the door, it wasn’t Vickie on her front doorstep, but Nancy.

Nancy lit up when she was met with the other girl, a light bounce on her feet that had her curls spring on her shoulders,“ Ready to go?”

“Oh, Nance….” Robin said as she realized she didn’t even have time to try and call ahead to let her know about the change in plans.

“Yes?” Nancy’s eyes brows quirked, and her smile went a little nervous,” Should I be hurt by that reaction?”

“No! Um, I just got a call from Vickie,” she began to explain.

Though, just that on its own didn’t mean much to Nancy.

“Vickie?”

“Yeah! She wanted to help out with the teachers.”

“She did?” Nancy asked.

She found that a little hard to believe, considering the two of them only just got the idea the night before themselves. How did Vickie Nelson hear about it, and why does she care all that much? Clearing Eddie’s name was their business. Not hers.

But Robin just simply smiled back,“ Yeah! So I thought it’d be faster if we split up! She and I could scope out the band director - since he already knows us so well - and you can take care of Ms. Reynolds with no problem. And then we can share the info later and see how useful any of it might be.”

“Oh.”

“That okay?”

Nancy wasn’t trying to seem sour about it. She wasn’t trying to guilt trip her or make a big deal out of it. Robin had seemed all cheery about the idea, Nancy didn’t want to rain on her parade. So she pulled herself together and snapped out of whatever funk she slipped into a moment ago.

“Uh, yeah, yeah. It’s fine. Just- here, take the questions we drew up last night. I’ll write myself a new copy, and we can get together later,” Nancy tore out a sheet of paper from her notebook and handed it over.

“Yeah, I’ll just be one walkie-away if anything comes up!” Robin nodded, accepting it with her easy-going grin still splayed across her face.

“Well, have fun,” Nancy wished her well as she began to turn back to her car.

“Thanks. You too!” Robin threw over her shoulder as she closed the door and was gone.

Okay. That stung.

The whole interaction stung.

Which was weird. Shouldn’t have really stung that much. Nancy and Robin were just new friends. Robin had other friends. It was fine. Maybe Nancy was just kind of put off since they made plans together, and now Robin was dropping them off for someone else. Yeah, anyone would be annoyed by that.

Yeah.

But either way, Nancy packed herself back into her car and breathed for a minute. Got her new notes jotted down. Then she saw Vickie park across the street. The other girl stepped out of the car. Looked around and sort of shook out her arms. Like she was nervous or something. But then she set her eyes on Robin’s front door and walked forward with a kind of determination Nancy supposed she’s worn when she was chasing a good story. Vickie made it up the steps and rang the doorbell, turned around, and shook out her arms again when she locked eyes with Nancy.

She froze. Her eyes were wide, her arms hanging off her a little awkwardly as she just stared back at Nancy in her station wagon. Like she’d been caught doing something wrong.

Nancy pulled her expression into a tightlipped smile. Something simple and polite but not exactly totally friendly. She was still a little annoyed about getting dumped- more like bailed on. Yeah, bailed on. But she gave a little wave anyway, and Vickie unfroze to wave back, wearing her own nervous smile.

And then the door opened, and Vickie spun around without hesitation. So Nancy started the car and drove off before she got a good look at Robin in her doorway again.

She had work to get to.

Robin and Vickie would climb into the Nelson’s hatchback and find Mr. Thompson, while Nancy picked up Jonathan to go with her for Ms. Reynolds.

The pair of girls took off for their director’s house and found themselves gigging a lot to the radio. Their music taste didn’t perfectly match up, but there was some notable overlap that they found entertaining for the drive. Vickie complimented Robin's jewelry, she did end up having just enough time to slip some on along with a coat of mascara before her doorbell rang again. Robin absolutely blushed and complimented Vickie. Said she liked the pale teal spirals she wore before, but the dangling green diamonds were great too.

When the drive was done, and they'd actually arrived to talk to Mr. Thompson, he had good things to say. Which was a real relief to Robin.

Turned out Eddie’s not only been in band since middle school, but he’d even stay after school for extra lessons when he was picking up guitar. Mr. Thompson had liked the kid. He was the kind of music student that every teacher wants to teach. The kind that loved it and had a knack for the ability. From piano to guitar, Eddie loved music with an intensity that most people never did. Loved it through his first senior year. He ended up not coming back in ‘84, even though he was still at the high school. Thompson had tried reaching out, but Eddie seemed different when he did.

Just said he had too much on his plate - his own band and trying to make money to help his uncle - and walked away.

Mr. Thompson let it go. He had other students to worry about.

But Eddie Munson, that was a good kid who loved music, even if he liked to find ways to play that weren’t entirely classical or conventional. Mr. Thompson remarked about some combative behavior sometimes. But it was more usually aimed at the other students when Eddie felt like they weren’t trying at all or didn’t care, less so at the director himself. At the end of the day, Mr. Thompson wondered what had happened to him when he stopped seeing Eddie loiter in the band hall, but he was never very sold on the idea that he had turned into a killer after less than two short years since they last spoke.

And the statements helped Vickie see Eddie as the good guy who was thrown into a bad situation that Robin knew he was.

The other pair were having a less fun time. Nancy was still wound up, and she wasn’t really sure why. Which only pissed her off more. Jonathan had something to say but didn’t want to spring it on her while she was in a bad mood. Not that it was the kind of news that should be used to ruin a good mood either…

Jonathan was in trouble. Really, really in trouble. He couldn't procrastinate for a few months again, but it was so much harder to say something when he was actually sitting next to her.

It was a quiet drive on their end.

Then they met with the teacher. Who also had pretty good stuff to say about Eddie. Turns out drama teachers usually couldn’t care less about “conventional”. Ms. Reynolds said she was always partial to more experimental fine arts anyway. And Eddie was loud and passionate in classes, that’s the sort of stuff that thrived in drama departments and drove creativity. He had presence and theatrics and was always paling around with Jeff in the back of her classroom. It was also apparently Eddie that had roped Gareth into helping out with set construction for the musical they just put on. And Josie was in the orchestra pit while Bruce helped with lights. Seemed all of Corroded Coffin had come together in her department at one point or another.

Which is how it had been so easy to convince her to sign off on letting them use the drama room for their Hellfire meetings anyway.

Their little crew was still a little divisive with some of the other drama kids. Their dark clothes and leather and metal set them apart. But Ms. Reynolds always liked them. Always appreciated the way they were willing to do whatever to help. And Eddie was the core, or leader, of that.

She had a few good things to say about the kid. He was weird, but unapologetically himself. And she was happy to go on the record that, as wild as he was, she believed that he didn’t do it.

All in all, Robin and Nancy’s mission could be considered a success.

Even if they didn’t do it together.

Now, Eddie himself was in a state of confusion.

He was still sort of reeling from the fact that Steve had been there at all. Steve Harrington had been there. Sat in the chair at his hospital bedside wearing stupid, boring jeans and a dusty, red sweatshirt like it was the most casual thing. The chair didn’t even look very comfortable. But Steve sat in it, more than once he sat there for a few hours and- that’s so weird.

Eddie wasn’t making it up, right?

He wasn’t going crazy from demobat rabies, right?

Steve had been there.

Right?

It was… it was just so weird.

Freaky, one could even say.

Yeah, they’d gotten mixed up in the same problem recently. But to come back for him, to sit at his bedside while he lay unconscious… It wasn't “right.” Didn’t make sense in the world Eddie Munson came from, even if he was starting to accept that place was long gone.

Steve… Steve Harrington was an enigma. For all four of Eddie’s years that they shared at high school together,

Steve Harrington was an enigma.

Even in Steve’s freshman year, he was the talk of the town. Good looking kid, with passable grades that were more easily accepted when everyone saw how he did in competitive sports. He was doing it all. Basketball, Baseball, Swim Team. And on top of that, his folks had crazy money and this big house he could sometimes swing parties at. He was adopted into the top dogs faster than anyone had ever seen.

In his sophomore year, he found his footing. Started to know exactly how he was fitting into things and how to take charge even though he was still an underclassman to most. Started to solidify the group of kids he hung out with along the upper crust. Started getting swarmed by girls. A whole slew of rumors were buzzing around after that about all the babes he was shmoozing between classes.

Though, his junior year might've been the height of it. He seemed like he was soaring in those days. Just basking in the awesomeness of everything in his life going right for him. And then he bagged little miss perfect. And then something happened to him before winter break. And he fell out with most of his old buddies. Focused a little harder on his classes. Fell into place wherever Nancy was.

And then his senior year was like watching him get snuffed out. All at once, he’d lost pretty much everything, except for his girlfriend. And then more shit happened just before winter break… and Steve Harrington didn’t even have that anymore. So he coasted by until he was out. Just sort of kept his head down and managed his social standing without some of the… previous assholery he was a part of. Even if Eddie didn’t believe it at the time. Kept trying to be a big man on campus, but most of his moves fell flat until he quietly graduated. And that was that.

And then… next time Eddie saw Steve up close, he was pushing him against the wall of his dealer's boat house. Trying to come to terms with all the truly insane stuff Henderson was telling him, Steve just nodded along. Then Eddie was fighting for his life alongside him, a fight he was pretty sure he’d lost. But he didn't. And Steve stuck around.

Freaky.

And that’s coming from “The Freak.”

But Eddie didn’t have much longer to dwell on it, because a slightly timid voice spoke from his doorway,“ Eddie…”

And looking over to see - instead of a nurse - one of his own little Hellions, his mouth open up into a wide smile instantly,“ Lucas! How’d you get here so fast? Harrington just left.”

Lucas took his bright expression as a sign to come on further in, so he took steps forward as he made his way to the chair Steve had previously occupied,“ I was just across the hall. I’ve been spending time with Max whenever I can.”

“Ahhhh…” Eddie nodded sagely, as if he wasn’t still playing catch up on what exactly those two had going on,” So, what’re you doing over here on my side then?”

“Wanted to see you up,” Lucas answered simply as he took his seat.

“Wish I could give you a show. I’d do a flip for you if it weren’t for these beauties.” Eddie teased with a jingle of his cuffs against the bed rail.

And then Lucas’s face went something sadder as he carefully asked,“ … so you’re really okay?"

Eddie shrugged, hoping it’d ease the kid a little. He looked kind of nervous for some reason,“ Yeah, man. I guess. I’m a little tender all over, but I’ll be fine. Not planning to abandon you kids any time soon. You’d all make a mess of my club if I didn’t finish up business myself before graduation.”

Eddie ended his line with a light chuckle, but Lucas didn’t respond. He looked a little gone, like his mind was elsewhere. And maybe Eddie should’ve assumed he was thinking about Max next door, but for some reason, he just had this nagging feeling that it was something else.

“Hey, you alright, Sinclair?” he wondered, letting his tone dip a little softer than he usually used it.

“Yeah. Yeah. It’s nothing.” Lucas tried to shake his expression off, but Eddie saw it. And then it clicked.

Oh.

Hellfire.

One of the last things Eddie did before his whole world changed, was exclude Lucas from Hellfire. And things have been so unbelievably crazy the entire time since that day that… he completely forgot.

Shit.

He was a bad friend on Friday, and he hasn’t said anything to Lucas about it.

“I’m sorry, Lucas.”

And Lucas flinched back into himself. So surprised by the out of nowhere apology he had to sit up and try to joke,“ For being in a coma? I know you didn’t do it on purpose-”

“No. For Hellfire,” Eddie corrected,” I’m sorry you weren’t at the last game.”

“Oh,” Lucas seemed to be struggling to figure out what to do with the words that he just moved to brush them away,” I… it’s fine. I was busy at the championship-“

Eddie stopped him from acting like it wasn’t a big deal,“ Lucas. Would you just let me apologize to you?”

And Lucas was tense and quiet for a minute. But eventually, he let out a breath and sat back deeper into the chair,“ Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

Eddie started it seriously. Let the words sit on their own for a second before he tried to explain himself.

“It feels silly now to think about how worked up I was on Friday. Okay? Like, there are way bigger things than me just wanting stuff to go the way I planned. And… at the end of the day, I wanted you to be there. I know you’ve been juggling Hellfire with basketball, and we usually made it work, but then Hawkins unexpectedly qualified for the big tournament, or whatever, and… I don’t know. I got pissed. I've always hated the basketball guys. Felt like you were different from them- and you are, for the record. You’re different than them in all the best ways. But I got disappointed when I thought about you being with the cool crowd instead of the freaks. Made me feel like you were rejecting us, or leaving us behind for popularity…”

Lucas was shaking his head,“ That’s not-“

“I know,” Eddie told him anyway,” I know that’s not something you’d do, Sinclair. I was just making myself mad when I could’ve been going about it another way. I’ve got a few faults, and quick to anger is one of ‘em. It was cool and all meeting the littler Sinclair - don’t get me wrong - but I do wish you’d been with us for the end of the campaign. And most of the reason you couldn’t be was my fault because I was being stubborn. So I’m sorry. Really.”

And Lucas looked so much lighter in that chair after Eddie was done. Like some secret fear he’d been harboring since Friday that Eddie hated him was just run off. He even looked a little misty-eyed as he brought back his smile.

“I forgive you,” he said, though after a moment. It took him a bit to realize Eddie was waiting for it.

And then Eddie smiled back at him,“ Thanks. Was it a good game at least?”

Well. That astounded the boy.

“You want to hear about my game? You? Eddie Munson? A basketball game?”

Eddie tossed his head side to side like he was mulling it over,“ Well, maybe skip all the boring sporty bits and just tell me the highlights. Final score and stuff. But yeah, tell me about it.”

“Well, um,” Lucas shifted a little closer as he tried to remember how it all happened now that it felt like forever ago,” We’d been kinda neck-in-neck with the last team all night, the Falcons. They’d score, we’d score, we’d score some more, they’d even it right out. It was back and forth the whole game. And then Adam got knocked down… so they pulled me off the bench.”

“Wait a minute, you're saying you actually made it on the floor?” Eddie noticed, which made Lucas light up a little brighter. Now more confident that Eddie was actually interested in listening to him talk about his game.

“Yeah.”

“Ain’t that the first time that’s happened all year?”

He let out a soft chuckle,“ Yeah. It was.”

“You’re kidding…” Eddie leaned back and shook his head, remembering all the times his freshman would complain to each other at the lunch table about Lucas not getting to do anything worth watching.

“Well, if you’re impressed by that, how do you feel about hearing that I made the buzzer beater that won the whole thing?” he tempted.

And then Eddie’s attention shot back up to him,“ What?”

“We were down by one point, just the one, and there were ten seconds left on the clock. Jason tried to make the shot, but the ball hit the rim and bounced off. And I was the one who caught it. I just- It was just in my hands, and I dove out of the huddle, and… there wasn’t any time to think about it. So I took the shot. And it spun around the rim, jumped back out, and hit the backboard, but then it sunk. We won. We beat ‘em, 70 to 69.”

“That’s… that’s incredible, Lucas.” Eddie sounded dumbfounded. He really wasn’t a sporty guy, but even he could picture it. He wasn’t dumbfounded out of confusion, he was just that amazed.

Lucas got a little bashful,“ It was just-“

“No. No, that’s really cool, man,” and then the realization hit,” And we stole your sister so she couldn’t cheer you on…”

“Yeah… I was a little mad about that,” he admitted.

“I’m sorry about that too. You shoulda had someone there.”

“I wasn’t alone. The team practically paraded me around. And Steve was there in the audience. Robin was with the band. Even Nancy was there for the school paper. They cheered pretty loud when it happened.”

He sighed a little wistfully,“ I wish I saw it too.”

And, well, Lucas knew Eddie was trying to make up for everything, but that had to have been an outright lie.

“You hate basketball.”

“Yeah, I do. But I like you, kid. You’re one of my little freaks, and it would have been nice to see you do something that cool. Watch the whole school cheer you on even though you’re a nerd like the rest of us in Hellfire.”

And that…

‘You’re one of my little freaks’

It did a lot for Lucas. He’d honestly been a little scared the whole time that the game would be the final straw. The thing that set him away from Hellfire completely. Until the club became something only Dustin and Mike got to be a part of. But Eddie still thought Lucas was one of his.

He wasn’t getting thrown away.

“Thanks, Eddie,” he finally said when he didn’t think his voice was going to crack.

“Thank you for letting me in on a little of it. Even though I was a dick on Friday.”

The boy tried to walk that back,“ I wouldn’t say-”

“You can say it. One-time free pass since I’m admitting my shortcomings and humbling myself right now.”

And so, through a warm laugh, Lucas agreed,“ Okay, yeah, you were kind of a dick.”

“Thank you,” Eddie laughed a little with him,“ Now, tell me something about this plan Harrington mentioned. Wanna make sure I’ll be able to play my part well.”

Lucas ran over the bare bones with him. Just spent enough time on it that Eddie would know what to say, and then he called a nurse in. Eddie played like he was a little loopy for a few minutes to pass as him off as having just woken up. She checked his vitals and then called in a doctor who told that same nurse to get on the phone with the police department and Eddie’s uncle.

That was when they kicked Lucas out and sent him back across the hall. To make sure the cops wouldn’t have any arguments about the honesty of his interrogation. They really underestimated this Party, if only they knew.

By the end of it, people were on the way and Eddie was getting worn out. Turned out it was hard work waking up from a coma and socializing. He’d fallen back asleep before anyone new arrived at the hospital, but the next time he woke up someone had arrived.

It was Wayne. His wrinkled uncle Wayne. Uncle Wayne, who just looked so exhausted with his eyebrows pinching together, carefully watching Eddie’s hand held within his. Wet eyes that didn't move or blink as he waited to see his boy come back to him.

So Eddie squeezed it and groaned out,“ Hey, old man.”

And the familiar sound of Wayne’s worn and lovingly gruff chuckle was like the sun after such a god-awful week. He took back one of his own hands to wipe under his eyes for a moment before putting it back and smiling at him,” There he is. The man of the hour.”

“Here I am.” Eddie smiled back at Wayne from under sleepy eyes.

His uncle squeezed his hand tighter,“ I got real scared there. Thought I wouldn’t ever see you again.”

“Aw, Wayne, you know you can’t get rid of me that easy. I’m still your problem just like I’ve always been.”

“No, never been a problem,” he corrected.

“Now, I know you’re getting too sappy and lying to me. I am nothing if not a headache.”

Wayne cracked a deeper smile and leaned in closer to brush his hand gently over Eddie’s dark curtain of hair.

“I’ll take the headache, kid.” He told him as he rested his thumb on his nephew’s cheek.

Which was such a Wayne thing to do and say. He was a man’s man. Working with his hands and watching westerns on his days off. That's the kind of classic man he was. They didn’t get all mushy on one another very often. It was an unspoken but entirely understood thing, that they loved each other.

But that line was such a Wayne way to say it.

And then Wayne mentioned,“ You know, you didn’t didn’t get to tell me how the story went.”

“The story?” Eddie wondered for a moment.

“The one you were finishin’ up on Friday. With the big twist surprise you were settin’ up for those kiddos.”

“Oh.”

Because, of course, Wayne would bring up his DnD campaign.

Eddie told him about every single one.

He never bothered with giving him stats or explaining the different dice rolls and how that all worked, but he would practice the story with him. He’d share the bits he’d assume Hellfire would work through during that week’s session while he got all his notes prepared, and - usually the next day Wayne was able - they’d sit down over breakfast, and he’d tell his uncle all about how the party actually played through it.

Wayne loved it. It was like listening to his own private movie told by his nephew. He’d get version one with how it was supposed to work, and then he’d get version two with all meandering and funny jabs from the characters and how they came around the problem. And Eddie would always light up while he talked about it.

But he never got to see Eddie after Friday night, after what was supposed to be the big finale.

“So, how’d it go?” he asked again.

And maybe it would’ve been wise of Eddie to spend the time with his uncle telling him what sort of week he’s just had. Answering all the questions and explaining how serious he was when he talked about monsters this time. But, strangely, it seemed so much more important to talk about the session.

“Well, those rugrats… they really pulled out all the stops.” Eddie told him, shifting around as he continued,” You see, Lucas has this big game come up suddenly. He couldn’t be there. And it would have meant they couldn’t play through the end of the campaign that night. So Dustin and Mike were running all over school trying to find someone to sub in for him. And then they showed up at Hellfire with Lucas’s kid sister! I’m not kidding! This little middle schooler named Erica struts in. And I’m looking at her, thinking there’s no way she’s hardcore enough. She’s practically a baby- and she probably doesn’t even know how DnD works- and she’s all pretty ‘n pink- so there’s just no way! She doesn’t have the metal for it, end of story. I was sure of it. But she busts in any way with this little monologue about just how hardcore she is… And it honestly blew me away a little. So we initiate her as an unofficial member and then we all sat down to start the game…”

And they just talked. Talked and talked about the game. Every second of it made Wayne feel a hundred times better. The longer Eddie spoke about one of his greatest passions, the more Wayne could be sure he wasn’t going to crumble to pieces in his hands.

After that was when Eddie knew he had to tell him about all the shit he’s been through. He couldn’t even imagine not telling his Wayne how crazy it really was. Not explaining why he came home Saturday morning to a body in their trailer. Not explaining why he so absolutely couldn’t go back to his uncle to ask for help. Not explaining that he climbed into hell and almost died in there for a chance at ending some great evil.

That just wasn’t something he could keep from him. Wayne would know he was bottling something up. He was always good at making him talk.

So he talked.

When they got through it all, Wayne just huffed and told him,“ You really did scare me, you know? I wasn’t sure if I’d get a call to identify a body, or if you’d just run away from everything here and I’d never know any better-”

“Sorry…”

“No. Don’t you say you're sorry. You didn’t do nothing wrong. We’re going to make sure they know that.”

Eddie rolled his eyes,“ I don’t think they’ll just take your word for it.”

And then, from the door came the phrase,“ It’s not just his word.”

And it was Dustin Henderson, his mother standing right behind him.

“Henderson,” Eddie’s relief swelled to see the kid alright, then he added,“ And Mrs. Henderson.”

Officer Callahan had been hot on their heels showing up behind them as he started saying something about them not being allowed to see Eddie until they questioned him, how they had been instructed to go wait in Max’s room with the others. So the others were there too. But the two of them walked in anyway, completely ignoring the officer. Claudia took Eddie’s free hand, similarly to how she had Steve’s just the other morning.

And Eddie was just shocked that someone who was effectively a stranger was looking at him with kind eyes. He hadn’t expected to get that kind of treatment.

“My Dusty-bun tells me you stuck with him through the… earthquake. Made sure he was okay, and stayed safe even though the goddamn world was falling to pieces. Is that true?” she asked him, already very sure of the answer but wanting to hear him say it himself.

And something was flickering in the way she said it. ‘The… earthquake.’ So she knew it wasn’t really an earthquake. Which - as he thought about it - he remembered hearing Steve mutter about some parents finding out.

So Eddie gripped the bedrail and pushed himself to sit up in his bed, trying to be just a little awestruck, and answered.

“Yes ma’am,” like how Wayne always wanted him to say to adults. He usually bucked against the whole respecting your elders and authority figures thing, but for Dustin’s mother, he’d make an exception.

Her sweet smile pressed further into her plush cheeks, and she reached up to gently pat his hair with her hand, so very similar to how Wayne had,” Thank you. I will never be able to thank you enough for helping watch out for my baby-”

“Mom-” the kid groaned as if he could possibly still be surprised by the way his mother coddled him.

“So if you ever need anything, you can always reach out to us. Don’t even bother asking first, just take what you need.”

“That’s…”

Ridiculous. It was ridiculous to receive an offer like that from some little suburban mom. Even if she shared Dustin’s DNA and contributed to the weirdness of the little guy, she was still… just some mom. Not his.

But she pressed on,“ You saved me from my greatest fear. So whatever you need. And all of us are going to make sure everyone knows what really happened, as much as we can-”

“Okay,” Callahan tried to step in,” You can’t talk about the investigation before we’ve been able to question him-”

But then Ms. Henderson raised her finger to silence him while she turned back to Eddie,“ Do you feel up for their questions, honey?”

And that stunned him a second time. To watch Claudia Henderson shut up a policeman with a single finger and wait for Eddie’s cue before she was going to let anything happen. It was just stunning.

“Uh- yeah. Yeah, sure,” he croaked out when words came back to him.

“Alright,” she looked back at the man in blue,” Then ask him your questions so you can uncuff him and leave the poor boy alone.”

Callahan was readying to tell her about how that’s not exactly how it works,“ Ma’am-”

When Powell entered the room and interrupted him with a warning tone,“ Callahan.”

“They-” he began sputtering and motioning his hands at the pair who weren’t supposed to be in the room.

But before he could really argue, the Chief spoke to the mother,“ Ms. Henderson, you know you were supposed to go across the hall-”

“Well, we got over here just fine.” she innocently shrugged.

Chief Powell looked back at the officer with a disappointed glare as Callahan attempted to excuse himself,“ I tried-”

But Ms. Henderson was absolutely not allowing the two of them to waste time on it,“ Are you going to question him and get it over with?”

“Yes. Okay? If we could have everyone clear the room now? He’s not a minor; he can do this on his own.”

And then Claudia Henderson had the gall to look back at Eddie and wait for his blessing. Again. Like she was really willing to put her foot down and argue some more with the cops. Which- okay- maybe that was pretty badass. Way more than he was expecting from some prim and proper suburban mom. So Eddie gave her the nod she was looking for, and she placed her hands around Dustin’s shoulders to steer him into the other room.

Wayne gave his hand another tight squeeze and said,” You just holler and I’ll knock that door down, you hear?”

“I’ll be fine. Get outta here already,” Eddie squeezed his hand back.

Then Wayne let him go, and it was the first time he wasn’t being held since he arrived. His palm felt a little cold now. But he was okay. He was going to be okay.

Wayne left the room and followed the rest into the Max’s. They hadn’t all arrived yet. So far it was Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Lucas, Erica, Mike, and now Dustin. They are also accompanied by Karen, The Sinclairs, Susan, and now Claudia and Wayne.

Hop and Joyce were on their way with Will, El, and Argyle. Murray said he’d stay behind “strategizing”. And Vickie was supposed to be dropping Robin off any minute. Apparently, they had just sat down to eat an early lunch together when Steve reached out to everyone. Which had been news to him. So he’d been waiting with a very specific kind of impatience ever since. If he didn’t get to squeeze every ounce of information about her first date - because he was absolutely calling this a date - by the end of the night, he was going to go crazy.

In the meantime, everyone mingled the best they could. Wayne thanked Claudia for her ferocity for his boy, she thanked him for raising such a good one. Mike was on the walkie asking for updates on how close the Hopper-Byers car was to the hospital every few minutes, going on and on about how excited he was for El and Will to meet Eddie. Nancy seemed tense but told everyone they had used the morning to make some progress in cleaning things up. And Dustin was talking to Lucas and Erica about how Eddie looked before he and his mother were kicked out.

The questioning went well.

At least, it felt like it did.

Eddie didn’t really have anything to compare it to, seeing as he’d always kept himself out of too much trouble before. But it seemed like it wasn’t awful. There wasn’t any yelling, and while they asked him to be more specific or clarify what he was saying, they hadn't argued against his claims. So maybe Steve was right when he said they were leaning his way. And maybe Robin and Nancy would be able to turn it all around for him somehow.

But he reminded himself not to get carried away and hope for too much while Chief Powell finished up.

“We’ve taken your statement, and will be going over it with the evidence and the other testimonies we have collected. We don’t have an answer for you now, but we’ll be back tomorrow with the final decision on how the Hawkins Police Department will be proceeding with the charges.”

“Okay.”

“In the meantime, the cuffs stay on. And the visitors can come back in, but we’ll be posting an officer to keep an eye on you-”

And that was when the door swung open. Seemed like the people around there really didn’t care about following the rules. Chief Powell’s face twitched as he braced himself to tear into whoever just barged in when he found himself looking at a dead man.

“Chief…?”

It was the only word that came to him after referring to the man by the title for so many years. He looked different now, but he was still so unmistakably Jim Hopper.

He stepped into the room and motioned,“ From what I hear, that’s your job now, Cal.”

“You… you’re… how are you…” he sputtered, Callahan next to him just standing in silent shock with a hand over his mouth.

“Long story. One I don’t really want to go over. How about we call it a kidnapping and move on?”

“Kidnapping?” Powell asked,” But you- eight months, Chie- Hop… Hop, it’s been eight months since… you ‘died’ in the mall fire. Did they all lie about you being there, or-”

“No, I was there. Don’t try to take away my Hero of Hawkins medal now. It was the dying part that just didn’t stick.” Hopper corrected.

Then Callahan found his voice,“ But what’re you…?”

Hop shrugged and looked at Eddie for a second, which was weird because they’d never really spoken, but now the guy was on his side, technically,“ Was listening by the door and thought I could ask about possibly forgoing some of that procedure.”

“What?”

“Look, the kid’s clearly been through hell enough already, Cal-”

“Hop…” Powell shook his head,” This case is already messy enough as is. Everything needs to be by the book from this point on-”

“Come on. Call it calling in a favor?” he tried.

Which pulled a small smile to the other’s face because it was just so much like him to ask,“ You have no favors to call in.”

“You’re right, I never stocked any up. But… what about it anyway?”

“Look… as soon as the choice has been made, you’ll know. We aren’t dragging our feet on this, but we can’t be caught making mistakes. I’ll assume you’ve seen the news?”

“Yes, I’ve seen the-”

“Then you know, this has to be done right. There are too many eyes on it, and too much has gone off the rails already.” He emphasized. Then he spared a glance back at Eddie, and the kid did seem kind of pathetic.

“But we can loosen the cuffs a notch. Looks like Daniels put ‘em on a little tight.” He gave, stepping up to unlock them and clicking them back in place more comfortably.

Hop came in close behind him to ask,“ Who’ll be assigned the babysitting duty?”

“I was going to give it to Nichols,” Powell answered.

“Okay…” Jim considered,” Yeah, Nichols is good…”

“Alright then. Go on and invite everyone else in and tell them the protocol. We have work to do back at the station.”

“Calvin?” he asked as the officers headed for the door.

“Jim?”

“Thank you.” He said,” Nichols is…”

“Nichols is good. I know. He’s good at his job and not an ass like some of them, so he shouldn’t make this next day of waiting too difficult on him.” Which was a phrase that made Eddie feel a whole lot better about the guy,” And even if you don’t want to explain where the hell you’ve been the last two-thirds of the year, least you could do is bring a cup of coffee by my new office and tell me what the hell you’re doing now.”

“Yeah. Least I could do.” Jim agreed.

Then Powell nodded and left. Just like that, Eddie had officially done all he could to clear up the mess, and then it was out of his hands. It felt weird, to be on the other side of the fear. He had been dreading it the entire time since he saw Chrissy die right in front of him. “How do I get out of this?” played over and over in his head whenever the world was too quiet. And now he faced it. And he just has to lie there and wait until there’s news.

But before he could stew in it any longer, there were all his kids - plus a few new faces - packed in the door of his room. The adults excused themselves, some heading off to pick up some food from the diner in town for everyone to eat for lunch while the rest just headed on home themselves. Each of them decided to let the youngsters reunite on their own for a little bit.

As soon as Eddie saw Michael Wheeler coming in, he broke out an excited,“ Hey! It’s Little Wheeler! Where have you been all week? Didn’t you hear we were all hanging out?”

Mike, who was just a moment ago beaming to see his DM awake, let his expression instantly drop at the nickname.

“Little Wheeler?” he questioned.

Eddie explained,“ Well, yeah, I can’t call you and your sister both ‘Wheeler’ after all.”

Mike argued,“ I should be the original ‘Wheeler’!”

“I’m not calling Nance ‘Big Wheeler’, dude.” Eddie rolled his eyes,“ Plus she’s cool. Way too cool to not be the standalone ‘Wheeler’. You know?”

Nancy was wearing a pretty smug look when Mike turned on her,“ You stole my DM.”

“What?”

“You stole my DM!” he repeated,” I leave for one week, and suddenly I’m ‘Little Wheeler’?”

She shrugged her shoulders at her brother,“ That’s not my fault. Stop being ‘Little Wheeler’ material.”

“I’m the taller one!”

Eddie reached out his hand to try and get in between them,“ Wheelers, Wheelers, you're both pretty. No need to fight for the affections of my heart-”

But Mike wasn’t even listening,“ Give it back!”

“Give it back?” she quoted back to him.

“Give it back!”

“I’m not ‘giving it back’, Mike. It’s a nickname. Earn a better one if you’re going to be so worked up about it. How about we give ‘Little Shit’ a try?” she offered.

They kept bickering between themselves as someone new stepped in a little closer to Eddie’s bedside.

He recognized her from the empty space in his head they’d met a few days ago, but he still didn’t really know her yet.

And then she looked at him with bashful eyes and began speaking,“ I like your hair. It’s… pretty.”

Eddie’s hair reminded her of her own before she woke up in that bed at the NINA project to see they'd cut it all off. She really liked having long hair. It was something that she was able to look at the mirror and say “It’s been so long since I was trapped there that now my hair goes past my shoulders.” She can’t say that anymore.

Because they caught her again.

And maybe she walked right into it but… she liked her long hair.

Missed it now.

And Eddie said, with a flourish,“ Why thank you, m’lady. Not exactly the style of flattery I usually aim for, but I am more than happy to accept it regardless.”

That’s right. Mike had said that Eddie was pretty “metal.” So maybe there was another word that fit him better.

“It’s also really… bitchin’.”

And Eddie just lit up. His eyes and smile widened at the soft-spoken girl,“ Oh my god, you’re my favorite now. Please, come closer, you little angel!”

He beckoned her with his hand as much as he could while still being restrained, and El’s own smile grew with her giggle as she stepped up to his bedside with more confidence. Her brother was just behind her, and Eddie had been about to greet him when two of the kids he already knew well enough yelled at him.

“Hey!” Mike and Dustin protested in unison. Both of them were clearly mad about the fact that he just called El his favorite, and he didn’t even know her name yet.

“Hey yourselves!” Eddie shot back,” This cutie saved my life and just gave me the greatest compliment I’ve ever received!”

“But that’s- That’s not-” Dustin sputtered before turning to one of the other older boys in the room,” STEVE!”

“What do you want me to do about it? I can’t magically make you his favorite again-“

To which Mike took offense,“ Hey!”

“Please, Mike, do you really think you were Eddie’s favorite?” Dustin asked him with that same tone Steve kept saying he’d do something about, yet hasn't,” It was obviously me. And it’s obviously going to be me again, once I retake my throne from this thief!”

El scrunched her eyebrows together at him,“ I did not steal it.”

“Yes, you did! With magic powers and sweet words!”

Eddie chimed in,“ Don’t forget the cute face.”

“And your cute face!” he added with an accusatory finger, though it just made El laugh again.

Lucas shrugged and sided,“ I’m on El’s team. You can’t not like her. I tried. Didn’t get very far.”

She gave him a courteous nod,” Thank you.”

However, Mike seethed “Traitor!” in the other boy's direction.

“So, El’s the name of the darling I owe my life to?” Eddie asked her, ignoring the boy’s play fighting.

“Yes. Short for Eleven.” She answered.

“Eleven?”

“There’s a lot we didn’t have time to explain fully the first time around,” Steve told him.

“I wasn’t even here when Eddie’s life went to shit! I think that means I get bonus points.” Mike got louder as he tried to argue.

Lucas was the one to disagree,“ That doesn’t make any sense. None of us screwed him over.”

“If anything, you weren’t even here to try and help him out of it. I think that means we deserve bonus points.” Dustin added.

“They are so immature.” Erica rolled her eyes and said to Steve.

“I know they are.” he agreed,” At least you behave when you aren’t too busy blackmailing us-”

“Eddie! You’re really awake!” Robin rushed in, finally arriving with the rest of them.

“Last one in, Robin?” Eddie asked.

“I was…” She spared a glance at Steve, who was already looking at her pretty intently, before she put her focus back on the one in the bed,” looking into something. For you!”

Erica leaned in closer to Steve and whispered while Robin rambled about her meeting with Mr. Thompson,“ It is not blackmailing when I am just insisting on the return of the goods and services that were pledged to me-”

“It’s a little blackmail-y, or like, at least blackmail-adjacent the way you do it,” Steve whispered back.

“And yet, I didn’t even need to apply the pressure for five minutes before you broke. Seems like you just knew I was right.”

Steve deadpanned at her,“ Okay, I take it back. You don’t behave. No one in The Party behaves.”

“Oh, that’s the truth.” Robin hastily agreed when she caught the back half of what he said.

“Oh, so this is The Party?” Eddie asked with a motion to the room.

Mike pipped up,“ Yeah. We’re The Party.”

Nancy gave a light shove to his head,“ It’s what they’ve been calling themselves since the day Dustin moved into town. And once we all got mixed up in everything together, we all kind of adopted it.”

"We're still the originals, though," Mike mentioned with a motion between the four boys.

“So that’s what the little angel meant. Not celebrating.” Eddie figured, finally connecting the dots. But should he really have expected the person he confused with God to be using fantasy terms that way? Can’t blame the guy for assuming she’d meant it by the normie definition.

“No, she was not referring to an actual party.” Will joked beside her.

“Good, because I was going to be pissed if you were all just having fun while I was dying.” He huffed.

Steve stepped forward,“ You weren’t dying-”

“Oh no, he absolutely was.” Robin interrupted him,” You heard El, she had to keep him together enough to even make it to the hospital-”

“What?”

And there was Wayne at the door, along with the other parents all holding to-go bags of food for everyone. Thus started the third - and hopefully last - explanation of what was actually going on. They couldn’t really pretend like everything was normal since Eddie had already told Wayne most of what happened to him. So they just explained it further. Went over the bits that Eddie didn’t know anything about or didn’t understand fully. They had the discussion over burgers and fries, and vending machine sodas and candies. Which made all the information go down a little bit easier.

Eddie learned why a child would be named Eleven.

Wayne learned that his boy’s innocence rests on the integrity of a mountain of lies.

Which was really scary to think about.

So they tried not to.

They all started getting to know one another a little better, seeing as how they’d be putting together more plans to fight off the end of the world. Wayne and Hopper noticed a few similar mannerisms between them. Eddie was more properly introduced to El and Will. And Jonathan and Argyle. And Joyce. Those were all the new faces he was getting a real conversation with. According to everyone, there was some guy who didn’t feel like coming in, two more on the way, and the other parents had headed off back to their homes until visiting hours were over. They didn't want to overwhelm Eddie and thought the kids should get to spend some time with him. Which was pretty sweet, considering he was a wanted man who had been on the run just a few days before.

It was about then that they were suddenly interrupted by a distressed woman in a pantsuit and sunglasses at their door.

But before she even got a word in, Nancy was standing up from her seat and very sharply telling her,” Out.”

The woman peeled off her sunglasses and responded through a clenched jaw,” I see you found our missing persons… and then some.”

She added that last bit while eyeing Jim.

“Get out.” Nancy insisted.

“Ms. Wheeler-”

“I said ‘Get out’. So get out of this room.”

“Nancy…?” Joyce asked, concerned. Nancy had never revisited her grudge against this particular government agent any of the times they ran over things.

The woman pushed,“ We have to talk about what happened.”

“I’m not saying a goddamn word to you people. Since we can’t trust you not to make it worse.”

Then it was Hopper trying to calm her down,“ Kid-”

“They handed her back to him.” Nancy said firmly, making strides around Eddie’s bed to put herself between the woman and the rest of the room, tucking El right behind her,” So no. They don’t get to get close to her again.”

“However you feel about things, we still need to get on the same page if we have any hope of cleaning things up around here.”

“It’s not happening. Not here, not today, and not anywhere near El. I don’t care what you say, it’s not.”

The woman seemed exacerbated,“ We have to-”

Finally, Nancy let out the yell she had been fighting back all day,“ Get out!”

Which was a sight. For everyone. To see her lose her cool like that.

It was different than the way she fought monsters.

It was… something else.

“Ms. Wheeler-”

“Tomorrow then? We all get together and discuss things tomorrow?” Joyce offered the compromise, still making up her mind on how exactly she felt about the situation but sure about wanting to get it taken care of.

Hopper answered for their guest in his own gruff voice,“ We’ll talk tomorrow.”

After a moment of silence, the agent decided to take the deal on the table,“ I’ll leave my card. There’s a number on it. Call and make plans for the meeting, or I’ll show up unannounced again. With backup.”

Nancy was gearing up to walk closer when Steve grabbed her shoulder,“ Get out-”

“I’m leaving. Make sure you call.” She said, pressing the slip on top of the light fixture by the door.

And then she was gone.

“You know… I was going to give this welcoming committee a five-star review in the paper until she showed up. Really soured the mood, you know?” Eddie joked, trying to relieve some tension.

Nancy huffed and returned to her seat,” Sorry. The news must’ve aired footage of the police arriving for questioning and were probably still running the cameras when everyone showed up, so…”

“We weren’t even thinking about that when we got here…” Jonathan muttered beside her.

“It’s okay. Still a pretty rockin’ day from my end. Being not dead and all.”

“That’s it, man. We just gotta focus on the positives.” Argyle smiled back at him.

“What’s the plan for the meeting?” Robin asked nervously.

“El’s not coming.” Nancy set the condition sternly.

“Agreed.” Hop nodded and crossed his arms.

“But-” the girl tried to argue.

“No. We have to assume she won’t be alone, and while Sam might’ve been on your side, we don’t know what they’re doing now on their own. We need to know how everything stands. If there are people who aren’t our allies, we aren’t giving them an opportunity to get ahold of you again.”

“We can’t just leave her alone, Hop,” Joyce noted.

“So, you don’t.” Wayne thought,” You bring her here on the way to the meeting. There are all the cameras at the entrance, an officer will be posted by the room, and this hospital is still full of people. If someone tried to break her out of her against her will, they wouldn’t get very far without drawing a lot of attention.”

Jim nodded some more,” Yes. Yes, that’s a good idea. El can stay here until we finish.”

“More time to hang out with my guardian angel? Sounds good to me.” Eddie agreed with a smile, hoping El wouldn’t be nervous about the idea.

“So then, tomorrow morning. Most of the rest of us. Some place public. Get this dealt with so we can figure out the next move.” Jim concluded.

And no one else said anything, but they all agreed. That was the plan.

There wasn’t much more to say the evening, so when four o’clock arrived and a nurse was kicking everyone besides Wayne out and introducing Officer Nichols, they all went their separate ways. Most of the kids' parents were pulled up by the hospital entrance for pickup. Except for Robin who Steve whisked away so they could spend a few hours doing some much-needed checking in. Robin just had her first date after all, so there was so much to talk about before he needed to drop her off at home.

She told him everything. All about the phone call and Vickie's new earrings. About all the ways Vickie made her laugh and how she could swear she’d noticed Vickie’s eyes lingering on her when she would get lost in her rambles. About the way that Vickie sat right next to her while they talked to Mr. Thompson on his front porch. About the way that Vickie leaned against her and touched her shoulder and seemed to be so close sometimes that Robin swore her head was spinning.

She talked about it all with Steve.

Because telling her best friend about her amazing day made it so much more real.

And that was the moment Steve decided Robin wasn’t coming with them to the meeting. He had already been pretty sure about it but watching her bursting with excitement about her first real chance at loving a girl made him certain.

There was probably going to be nothing major that happened. It would be stupid of the Feds to try and take out something like a dozen people in a small town where everyone knows each other. But he wasn’t going to risk it. Just couldn’t imagine risking Robin disappearing before she got to kiss Vickie for the first time and feel loved in that sweet special way that romance can hold.

With everything Steve knew about love and everything he didn’t, he knew that Robin deserved to have her chance to find out about it.

[infiniteimaginings]

Can you do a transmale!reader x Harry Hook/Uma

(if you do multiple characters)

Where reader is chosen with the main four in the first movie (kid of Jack Sparrow) and leaves. He’s part of Uma’s crew. And when he’s chosen in the first movie, he’s pre-T or anything like it.

Then the second movie comes along and reader goes back to the isle with the others to bring back Mal. But he really goes because he wants to see his pirates. Except now he’s been on T for about a year now and had his surgeries. So they don’t recognize him and kidnap him along with Ben.

Anddddd I can’t really think of anything else after that. So…have fun with it! Preferably a happy ending, with lots of fluff and sweetness.

Pre-established Uma/Harry and Reader didn’t come out to them before leaving so as far as Uma/Harry know, Reader is a cis woman. So it’s a surprise when he finally tells him who he really is.

And yeah, that’s all. It’s alright if you don’t write it, I’d understand. Thanks!

Are we supposed to know you? (Uma x TransMale!Reader x Harry Hook)

Summary: You were sent off with the other Vk's to Auradon and when you come back to retrieve Mal, you're changed. You of course go back for Mal, but it's mainly to see the people you left and to tell them you're home. What happens when they don't recognize you and see you as a threat, just like Ben. How will they know you're who you say you are? Pronouns: You/Yours, She/Her (In mentions from Uma and Harry), He/Him Warnings: None Word Count: 2.7k A/N: (Long A/N) Act like Jefferson doesn't exist, I forgot he existed lol. Also, I won't lie, I started this at one o'clock in the morning, and was contemplating how on earth I make this fluff when they don't recognize him and kidnap him. So, unfortunately I didn't get lots of fluff into it, I apologize, I will write a part two to this little thing just for you with only fluff in it. I hope I did the general idea justice, if I didn't, I apologize. Lots of love! <333 (Even if I explained it, you guys would not understand how frustrated I've been with tumblr and my computer. I'm so sorry for how late this is, I've been upset because I had to delay it. It's here now though.)

When Mal came to you , talking about the Isle, you couldn't help but get excited. Your eyes lit up and your smile got wider at the thought of discussing it. Mal noticed your obvious signs of wanting to continue the conversation so she sat down next to you on the bed, looking out the open curtains where the students of Auradon Prep walked. The blonde girl looked over to you, the tips of her hair their typical purple. She sighed and looked back down, messing with her fingers, “Do you ever feel like…” She paused, unable to express how she felt in words. It would’ve been easier for her if you were the first person she went to, but you weren’t.

She went to Evie, Jay, Carlos, but none of them could understand where she was coming from. It was as if everyone was happy with their new lives, but her.

Mal groaned, putting her head into her hands, unable to speak anymore.

You looked at her curiously, placing a hand on her back and rubbing small circles into it. “You wanted to talk about the island…right?” You asked her, tilting your head to see her expression. She removed her hands and nodded, not looking at you. “Yeah.”

“Is it because…you miss it?”

There was a pause, as if the room itself stilled, as if the world stopped. You moved your hand a bit just to make sure it wasn’t some sort of magic freezing everything. 

Mal sat up straight, swallowing hard, “I don’t miss the island itself.” She confessed, making eye contact with you, “I miss who I was.” She explained, taking a deep breath, “Do you get what I mean?”

You looked at her blankly, tilting your head as you looked down at yourself. 

As you did so, she opened her mouth before closing it immediately. She shook her head and laughed, slapping your arm lightly. “You know what I mean!”

“Hey, I didn’t even say anything!” You chuckled out, putting an arm around her, placing your head on hers. “But…” You began, rubbing her arm softly as she leaned into you, “I do get where you’re coming from.”

Mal looked up, her eyes a bit water, “You do?”

You nodded with a smile, “We went from a life of no no structure, doing whatever we want, enjoying life to…” You blew air out of your mouth, sighing heavily, “Rules, etiquette, expectations.” 

The girl next to you stiffened at the last word before she relaxed, leaning more into your shoulder. “I just miss….” She trailed off, shaking her head.

“You miss the freedom.”

“Yeah, I miss the freedom.”

You nodded, thinking for a moment. Soon enough, you removed your arm from her and turned to her, “Then, get it back.”

“What?”

“Show everyone that you still deserve your freedom.” You explained, moving your hands with your words. “We didn’t stop being villain kids just because we started going to Auradon.” You continued watching as her eyes got bigger, “You don’t have to fit into these boxes people are trying to force us into.” You told her, shaking your head, “If they don’t understand that, then they never really understood you.”

Your words seemed to have gotten to Mal as she stood up quickly, a small smile on her face. “I needed that, thank you.” She told you, inhaling softly as she turned to the door to walk out.

You waved and mumbled a small ‘you’re welcome’ once the door was closed since she gave you no time to. 

You didn’t think much of it, you just assumed she would do something to show people that she was still herself even if she wasn’t ‘evil’, or necessarily ‘good’. 

Well, you didn’t think much of it until the next day when the VK group and Ben bursted into your room. You jumped, shoving a paper under your pillow as you clutch your chest. “Last I checked, knocking wasn’t a foreign concept.”

Evie mumbled a small apology as the rest stood with apologetic but serious faces.

You sat up since the air was so tense, tossing your legs over the bed to stand in front of them, “What’s up?”

“Mal left for the Isle.” Carlos blurted out, blinking rapidly as he looked everywhere but you.

Ben looked down with a guilty face, a frown placed on his lips. “We had a fight…” He mumbled, “She said I didn’t understand how…” He paused, clearing his throat, “She said I didn’t understand her.”

Your eyes widened and your mouth fell open at the realization and of the conversation you had with her.

Jay noticed your expression and knitted his brows together, “What?”

A harsh cough left your throat as you looked away from them, “I might’ve had something to do with that.”

The group simultaneously yelled, “What?!”

Your hands raised in an automatic surrender, “Hey, she came to me talking about the Isle,” You began your explanation, “and I miss my

Evie wasn’t pleased to say the least, she crossed her arms with a raised brow. “We are your people.”

You almost laughed, but given the situation you decided not to. “I miss my people.” You specified, your words reminding the group that all of you weren’t exactly the bestest of friends back on the island.

They couldn’t say anything, they knew you were right. Ben didn’t exactly get the message, and that reminded you all of why you were gathered in the first place.

You agreed to go to the Isle to help Mal.

You agreed, but you weren’t really going to help Mal. She lived there her entire life, you knew she would be fine. She knows her way around the island, she practically ran it. You weren’t going to the Island to help Mal, you were going home.

Once all of you reached the island, you thought you would all spread out to find Mal…that wasn’t the case. You all went in a suspiciously large group to find the daughter of Maleficent, something you thought was stupid.

You thought it was stupid, but you all still found where she was hiding out and Ben went to talk to her.

Evie, Jay, and Carlos all talked to each other as you scanned the area, kicking the ground slightly as time passed by. You were barely on the island and now you all were going to leave. It wasn’t how you wanted things to go, nothing was how you wanted to go.

Ben walked out and before anyone could question him, he walked straight past you guys. Everyone looked at each other and you sighed, “I’ll get him.” You grumbled, jogging after him.

“Ben!” You yelled, trying to catch up to him. “Ben, wait up!” You yelled once again, finally reaching him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “What happened? Why are you so upset?”

“She doesn’t want to come with us, all of this was for nothing.” Ben spoke harshly, ripping his beanie off his head and throwing it to the ground.

You sighed, picking the beanie up, dusting it off. “Ben, do me a favor.”

“What!”

“Look around right now.” You told him, gripping the beanie tightly. He looked at you confused but you repeated, “Look around right now.”

Ben regulated his breathing, calming down enough to look around. It was cramped, cluttered, dirty even. It wasn’t properly cared for but the people around seemed to be having a good time nonetheless. 

When he looked back at you, you were looking at the children running around, trying to find a way to pick-pocket Ben. “This is how we grew up Ben…” You mumbled, finally making eye contact with Ben, “You can’t expect Mal, the daughter of the biggest villain who was on this island, to just snap into a princess.” You explained to him, shaking your head.

Ben turned, looking at the area around, “I didn’t realize…” He whispered, eyes flickering to something new the more he looked. 

When the son of Belle and the Beast turned around to face you again, you were nowhere to be found. He turned around quickly, breath picking up the pace as he looked for you, “Where’d you go?” He called out, spinning in a circle until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He let out a sigh of relief, “Come on, that wasn’t fun-” The next thing he knew, everything went black.

Blurry eyes opened, a dry throat let out a cough, and vision restored. Ben looked around for a moment before his gaze fell on you. You were sat with a blank expression, seemingly uninterested in your current situation.

Ben muttered a few incoherent sentences but you cut him off for a moment.

“Getting kidnapped was not on my vacation bucket list.”

Neither of you could even begin a conversation after your words when someone started laughing. The two of you looked up and saw someone had walked in, seemingly amused at your situations. 

“Absolutely hilarious, you’re quite funny.” The male said, looking you over a bit before turning his attention to Ben to do the same thing.

Your brows furrowed as you broke out of whatever ‘trance’ you were in. “Harry?” You asked aloud, adjusting yourself to get a closer look at him.

He pointed his fake hook to you, placing it under his chin. “How do you know my name?”

“How does who know your name?” A voice called from behind the boy, footsteps getting louder as they neared.

Harry tilted his head, “This one.” He spoke, moving his hook from under your chin to step back.

The person that walked in was a girl, she had light blue braids and brown eyes. She stood tall with the hat of a pirate on. 

Your brows furrowed once again, your mind still a little fuzzy from your current situation. “Uma?” You mumbled out, tilting your head.

“You know these people?” Ben suddenly spoke out, trying to get out the rope that tied his hands behind his back.

You looked over at him, a bit unimpressed. “I was raised here, I know everyone here.”

Harry gasped falsely, fake hook over his heart, “You’re a VK?” He asked, not expecting you to answer, since he didn't believe you.

You nodded, forgetting that you look different so they don’t recognize you. “Uh, yeah.” You spoke as if it were obvious, “Born and raised.” You spoke, trying to jog their memory. “Uma, I was in your shop every single da-”

“Oh, and are we supposed to know you because of that?” She asked with a straight face, squatting down to bore her eyes into yours.

You took a deep breath, closing your eyes before opening them again, “If you said you didn’t, I’d be questioning our friendship.”

Your captors both laughed, looking at each other, “Friendship?”

Ben decided to give up, still listening to the conversation. So much was running through his mind, he was trying to figure out how to get out of this situation until…he realized something. You knew these people, you guys were friends, they just didn’t recognize you. If Ben reminded them, maybe they would let you guys go.

He thought it over before blurting out, “He’s the child of Jack Sparrow, so yes he is a villain kid.” 

Everyone went silent, their laughs were quiet, and your breathing stopped at Bens sudden exclamation.

You looked over and Ben looked you up and down, and that is when you realized…they don’t know who you are. You had changed so much in the past year, even your voice was different. How did you just expect them to recognize you?

When you looked back at the two pirates, they were staring you down. If looks could kill, you would be six feet under.

Uma squatted down in front of you, glaring harshly, “Don’t you ever disrespect her like that ever again.” She whispered to you seriously, her head whipping to Ben, “Don’t you ever mention her in front of me, again.”

Harry took a few deep breaths, “She would’ve been fine here, and you took her.” He told Ben, poking his chest with his hook. “If you ever try to lie to us, I will gut you like a fish.”

Uma nodded to the statement, “You think we wouldn’t know her family?” She asked you, tilting her head. “Jack Sparrow had one child, a daughter, and she’s never coming back.” She paused, biting the inside of her cheek, “For you, a preppy, to just try to claim her father as your own for some sense of freedom…it’s disgusting.”

The blue haired girl stood slowly, keeping her eyes on you. You finally released the breath you were holding, when she removed herself from your space.

You blinked back a few tears as they turned to walk out the door. Harry gently took Umas hand, whispering some things that you couldn't hear.

They were so good together, they still defended your name even if they thought you weren't there. You didn't expect your chest to hurt so badly when they protected you, even if they believed you were gone for good.

“I would’ve joined your crew even if I lost that race.” You mumbled, looking at their backs with sad eyes.

The two paused before turning to you, “Excuse me?” Uma asked, standing in place.

“The race..” You trailed off, “If you won I would join your crew, if I won you would have to spend a week proving to me how much you wanted me to join and then I’d give you my answer.” You continued, nodding with your own words. You didn't notice how they continued to walk towards you. You continued on, “Unfortunately, I was dragged to Auradon before I could answer you, so I’m doing it now.” You told them, looking up to see both of them analyzing you with parted lips, “I was going to join your crew anyways.”

Umas eyes were focusing on each of your features before she cupped your face, looking at you more intensely.

Harry looked up, making eye contact with you, “You have her eyes…” He muttered, taking off his hook to trace your cheeks.

You swallowed harshly before breathing out a chuckle, your cheeks warming a bit. “I would hope so, I was born with my eyes, guys.”

Uma shook her head, “But she’s… you’re not…”

“A girl…I know.” You whispered out, looking down, or trying to. Harry picked your head back up swiftly.

His eyes were watering slightly, “You’re telling the truth aren’t you?”

You nodded as best as you could with his hands on your cheeks. “I know I don’t look the same…”

He shook his head, “But you’re still you…” 

Uma quickly untied the rope keeping you tied up, trying her best to go quickly. She had ordered her crew to tie your guys up from your arms to your legs, and now she was regretting it. Harry noticed her struggle and began to help untie you, muttering curses when he got to harder knots.

Once you were untied, you rubbed at your wrists, looking down for a moment at the burn. 

You looked up, finally, and were met with Harry and Uma on their knees, staring at you. Their eyes were teary, their chests were rising and falling deeper than ever, neither could speak.

You felt your own eyes begin to water as you rushed forward, wrapping your arms around the both of them.

Harry's arm immediately went around you, he began to cry into your shoulder, holding you tightly. “We thought we’d never see you again.” 

Uma, on the other hand, was hesitant. She slowly wrapped her arm around you. When she did, she felt a rush of familiar comfort, a heat rushing through her chest, something she only felt with Harry and…you. She bit her tongue so as to not cry as she buried her nose into your other shoulder, “We would’ve found a way to you anyways.”

The warmth of the two enveloped you as you finally got to be near them again, as you finally got to feel their comforting arms again. “I have no doubt in my mind that you would’ve found me again.” You whispered to them, trying to hold them tighter.

Harry rambled on about never leaving them again, Uma ran her fingers down your back, both of them weren't letting you go anytime soon.

Uma sniffled a bit, "We missed you so much."

"I missed you guys too, more than you'll ever know."

You were finally with your people again. Now, you didn’t have to stare at a picture of the three of you, wishing they were in your arms.

[hyperfixation-symposium]

Hey all, sorry for the delay in my overly sappy end of QSMP post but I've been so so busy and unable to work on it! (I will also be getting you all in the tag games soon, watch out >:) )

This project has made a huge impact on my life in many ways. I originally made this account because I was dealing with a lot of anxiety around being publicly in this fandom, but I've grown so much and I'm so lucky to have met so many amazing people.

This project allowed me to meet people from all over, expanding my community and understanding of other cultures in a way I couldn't have dreamed of before. I'm learning a second language seriously for the first time, with the help of those I love. I grew and learned a lot about myself and, sometimes, what the Internet had in communities I didn't even know existed.

Though the qsmp is over, and I will probably slow down on this blog, I never want to lose the connections I made. plus, who knows what the newest hyperfixation will bring?

Genuinely, though, this wouldn't have been nearly as incredible of an experience without qsmpblr being there through every bump in the road. For updates, for encouraging words, for.. everything. Thank you all.

Okay before I get too caught up in my own sappiness- special thanks below the cut!

Love to my fellow co-parents and egg children admins @shadowfloofster @angel-astre @qsmp-a1-updates @justpuppi @eyesofcrows @froggiest-multifanboy @finleyisgayforreal and everyone else I don't have the tag for. I don't have words for how much this silly server and all of you in it mean to me :)

To @Ridd for being such a cool friend the entire time (I can't find your Tumblr acc if you see this I'm hunting you for sport)

@heartkade I'll forever miss your theories and running back and forth in the tags

@zerosalt LITERALLY THE COOLEST EVER WHAT

@kays-artstuff Talking to you and seeing your art always did and always does make my day

@q-starhalo Holds the most correct opinions ever and I will not take criticism

@6flyingosprey6 MOST UNDERRATED QSMPBLR PERSON EVER

@iminyourbookshelf @lacavedalex @the-crimson @pokidragon @cosmic-d1ce @whoturnedgravityoff and else who made this experience so special

@tubborucho for always having correct opinions on everything

@soratsuart of course, for getting me into the server and @rannlwitch for all the amazing conversations we've had and your awesome storytelling in RLSMP

I'm very tired and I'm sure I forgot a million names but don't be afraid to reach out!!! I love you all, thank you for taking this journey with me.

This is not a goodbye, per say. A see you later seems more accurate :)

But for now,

Boa Notie, Buenas Noches, and Goodnight qsmpblr. Love you all

(I hope this is comprehendible I'm so tired)

[sockeye-run]

I'm still here!!!

If you've noticed my absence I apologize. Things have been wild and crazy for about two weeks now, but have finally started to settle. I look forward to catching up with all my Tumblr faves ❤️ (tldr at the end, sorry it's a novel!)

The tire incident was simple and manageable, thankfully. Just another random, painful expense, and reminder that life is chaotic-neutral and meaningless at best, but possibly chaotic-evil and maliciously masochistic at worst. 🙄

All the stress of the past few weeks or so reminded me that I may have an autoimmune disorder of sorts; it seems any time I experience a high stress load, my body creates extreme inflammation or something, which causes me intense and chronic pain in my muscles, joints, and bones, as well as extreme fatigue. My poor, ever patient and graceful husband reminded me that last year I was prescribed some Celebrex for the very same symptoms, and I should give it a try. It helped almost immediately; I have a telehealth appointment with my PCP today to discuss seeking a specialist's evaluation for this. I'm honestly quite tired of doctors, diagnoses, and medication, but I can't exist successfully in the prior state of pain, so I will do as I must.

We got the new stove installed, finally. The whole process only cost us nearly $2500 from start to finish though lol 😂😭. We had to hire an electrician to wire the correct wire gauge and outlet through the house. We had to hire a plumber to cap off the gas line. We had many delays and miscommunications. But it's finally here! And it's been amazing so far. It's like the electric car of ovens lol: all torque all the time. I've been relishing in simply being able to make myself whatever I want whenever I want. I think I forgot how integral cooking is in my lifestyle until it was no longer accessable. I'm beyond grateful for the ability again. We can also stop spending tons of money on takeout, and can have healthier meals and snacks again, which is a blessing 🙌

Work has been off the rails too lol. It's the busiest time of the year for the bee farm, and it's my first time experiencing it. We're really feeling the pressure, but I think we're all doing our best to make it work. We are simply chronically understaffed and stretched thin. We have a general policy of flexibility; they purposefully cross-train as much as possible so that we can jump back and forth across different responsibilities throughout the day, but there are some fundamental flaws with that. I have noticed a lack of monetary compensation for the added responsibilities and skills, and of course without proper coverage, when someone hops from one need to another, a different hole is created and a new situation can arise. So we're trying to find the balance between what we need as a company, and what the human body and mind are actually capable of lol.

Two weeks ago was supposed to be our first bee pick up of the year. It was pushed to this past weekend due to weather, so we had about 400 orders stacked for one weekend. We sell two types of bees: Italian bees, which we source from California and Florida breeders, and our own specialty, chemical-free bees, which we breed on site. Due to the poor weather (climate change, lets be real), the spring season had yet to kick off, and it was impossible to ship the Italian bees during freezes and floods, as well as initiate the queen breeding process in the cold. So this past weekend our pick up volume doubled.

To make things more interesting lol, we also hosted this year's Texas Mead Festival! It was a fun display of 6 different meaderies from all over the state (including our own meadery, Wildflyer), with samples and gifts and live music and food. All week up to the day of the event, it was down-pouring rain daily. Our farm is mostly grass and gravel. The location for the outdoor festival was now officially Woodstock 1999 lol: a mud pit. But they set up booths and tents nonetheless and we went for it.

On that day, I was meant to run the farm's cafe, and flex between retail/bee pick up as I was needed. They also pinned me with hosting the gourmet honey tastings, and the history tour for the day. Why we allowed these extra events during such a chaotic day is beyond me.

We were busy from hour one. The festival didn't start until noon, and pick ups weren't supposed to start until two, but our owner made the executive decision to start pick ups early since we were technically 'ready', so we were bombarded with already frustrated bee keepers out the gate. Bee folk are strange folk, too; trust me on that. Thankfully I was sequestered in the kitchen for coffee service until noon, when I ran across the yard to host the gourmet tasting. The group was friendly and it went well, but I left right at the start of lunch service, and came back to it in full swing. We were slammed until I had to leave again at two for the history tour, and it was painful to abandon the crew, but I did my due diligence. It was another great group of customers though, and it went well. But when I got back to retail to check in, chaos had broken loose; the shop was overrun with regular weekend customers, day drunk festival goers, and cranky beekeepers. There were only two people at retail trying to do the work of at least four. But I couldn't stay to help, as the cafe had a line out the door and were in the reeds to say the least. We cranked out orders until we literally ran out of everything, and I had to ask the people in line to leave for an hour so we could desperately scramble to prep more ingredients and continue service. People grumbled but I think the mead was playing the part of placater that day lol, and we were barely able to scrape it back together. We stayed open until seven; retail was only open until five. One of the retail gals came and helped us close, because she's an angel and easily my favorite coworker right now lol. We had over-prepped in preparation for the event, and it still took us by surprise, so it was a heavy lesson to learn in the moment. But we survived and probably even thrived; all the customers had positive feedback, and we left for the day feeling satisfied.

Selling delicate livestock has its drawbacks though. We've been fielding calls all week about unsuccessful transport and installation of colonies and queens. I've been playing customer service all week, trying to troubleshoot bee issues and manage replacements and refunds. It's kind of a case by case thing; we're responsible for the bees' wellness up to the point of leaving the property, and the customer must sign a waiver agreeing to such. But accidents can happen despite how seasoned and knowledgeable the beekeeper might be, so we try to be flexible and accommodating if the situation is right. It's been a bit stressful. I've also spent any free time I've had just trying to restock the absolutely obliterated equipment room of all its hive bodies, gear, tools, etc.

I had a nice debrief about the weekend with the owner though, and I think I succinctly communicated the reality of the flex ideology on me and my fellow workers, as well as the needs of the kitchen as an independent entity during big events like this. It was a fruitful talk and I think the next pick-up, this coming Friday and Saturday, will go much more smoothly, and not just because there won't be a festival cherry on top of the chaos pie lol. There will be many more large events at the farm this year, so I think Mead Fest was a harsh but necessary test run.

✨TLDR: It's been trial after tribulation, but I think I'm rounding a corner and coming out better for it.

I'm grateful for everything I've learned, the support of my loving friends, family, and husband, a safe home to come back to every day, a stable job with owners and coworkers whom I think genuinely care, and the general reclamation of my health lol. I'm beyond grateful for the stability and privilege in my life to be able to experience so much struggle at once and somehow bounce right back, possibly even stronger than before.

Thanks for sticking around 💖

[dirty-holy-things]

The Space Between (your heart & mine)

Chapter 17 has been posted to Ao3, and below to Tumblr.

Catch up on chapters 1-16 on Ao3.

Notes: This fic is 18+ and explicit. Chapter contains canon-typical violence and descriptions of injuries. Reference to past abuse. Please exercise caution if this is a sensitive subject for you. Also - I promise there's a happy ending, but it might take a bit of angst to get there. For those who have kept up with this fic, sorry for the delay in updating - grad school has kept me busy, but regular updates should resume.

Words: 5.1k update, 80.9k total.

There had been changes within yourself as well, even though you struggled to admit it after having spent so much of your life suppressing that which was now showing itself within you. Your safety had always depended on your ability to mask your powers, or at least conveniently use them, and now they were unexpectedly breaking through your barriers. Through observation and meditation, you had started to put together that your abilities and powers swelled whenever your emotions did, just as they had when you were younger. When Din was once running behind schedule for a bounty, your nerves and fear alone were able to entirely warp the canteen you had purchased for yourself, crushing it to the point that it was unusable junk. And when Din finally returned home to you, bruised and battered, and yet focused only on touching and kissing every inch of you — you found that his cuts and bruises began to disappear from underneath your fingertips without any direct focus or attention. There was an undercurrent of power that was growing within you and Grogu, and it was beginning to breach the walls that you had put in place to hold it back; and you had no way of predicting when that wall may cave in.

These ever-increasing powers and revelations were both fascinating and terrifying. You did not know what would happen from here if you and Grogu continued down this unmapped path. You could understand that power without training could be exceptionally dangerous, but how would you even go about learning how to control it all? You had once been able to suppress your connection to the Force, but you never actually learned how to master this connection; repression is not true mastery or control, as it only delays the chaos.

But who was there to learn from? The Jedi Order was no more, the grasp of the Sith had receded with the rise of the New Republic, and the civilizations that connected with the Force as a form of magic were incredibly closed-off and tight-lipped. You had been extraordinarily lucky to stumble unto the teachings of Ixxith as you had, but now that the seal had been broken, now that Pandora’s box had been opened, you were faced with an impossible question — where do you go from here?

Image credit to my love @knivesareout as she makes beautiful things and supports my writing.

An eternal thank you to @soyelfuegoquearde for beta'ing my baby and giving me constructive feedback.

And love to @bdavishiddlesbatch and @louderrthanthunderr for all of their love and support.

"We fall in love because we long to escape from ourselves with someone ideal as we area corrupt. But what if such a being were one day to turn around and love us back? We can only be shocked. How could they be divine as we had hoped when they have the bad taste to approve of someone like us? If in order to love, we must believe that the beloved surpasses us in some way, does not a cruel paradox emerge when we witness this love returned? If they are really so wonderful, how could they love someone like me?" - Alain de Botton

The universe felt brighter as you traveled through it now, suspended in space and time within the secure confines of your roaming home. You continued to watch the stars streak past you on every journey, still feeling just as entranced by them as you had on the first flight from Chandrila — but it was even more of a beautiful and brilliant thing, as you now had the incomparable comfort of being known, and being loved. For a brief moment, you had worried that your admission of love would make things complicated, awkward, unbalanced; but your fears had been completely dismissed and rendered unnecessary, as it had brought you and Din closer than you could have imagined.

It was the little gestures and moments throughout the day that allowed those fears to be quieted. His hands would brush along your body in passing; he brought you a blanket to the cockpit after seeing you wrapped tightly around yourself to fight off the chill; he would gently tuck away the stray pieces of hair that fell across your face. And you became less reserved in showing your affections as well; you would often drape yourself across the back of the pilot’s seat and over his expansive shoulders as he navigated the Razor Crest through the atmospheres of new planets and hyperspace. You would bring him food and water, reminding him to take care of himself in ways that he often forgot to. And the two of you spent more time encased in the security of darkness, to the point where you joked that you might develop night vision. Very few things can grow in the absence of light, and yet here you were, your love thriving in this unexpected place.

You found that you didn’t necessarily feel as though you were missing anything, by not being able to see his face. Your love felt whole, comprehensive, and possibly even more valuable as it was so unconditional in its nature; you would love him endlessly, and you didn’t need a face to assign that love to, as he was so much more than the anatomical structure that existed behind the helmet. Somehow, the darkness felt more freeing than the light. The comfort and security of the darkness offered you both the opportunity to be completely and entirely exposed; no helmet, no clothing, no beskar, no self-doubt. It was infinite in its nature, and allowed for infinite possibilities.

How beautiful, these little infinities you had created together.

And while you never held any regrets for the life you shared with Din, you understood that some things were not worth repeating. You didn’t offer to help with a job again after Corellia, and it was a decision that you had come to by yourself. Again, you held no regrets for what had transpired on the industrial planet as it had been the catalyst that had brought the truth to the surface, the truth about your love, but it had left some wreckage in the process. Your sense of self-preservation and fear had been reignited when the Twi’lek had made unwanted physical advances, and although you knew you were safe now, it was challenging to quiet that instinctual part of yourself that had risen up, desperately seeking to sustain your hard-won survival.

Following the events of Corellia, you started to have the occasional nightmare, your mind resurfacing old wounds and memories that you had worked to let go of and leave on Chandrila. You would have dreams of the torrential thunderstorms of Eadu, threatening to drown you as your family watched, making no effort to help you stay afloat. You would feel the radiating pain of Orron’s blows throughout your body, every old wound somehow reemerging and aching anew. Sometimes the terror and pain of the nightmare was quick to pass upon waking, but there were some occasions in which you woke up crying and thrashing, a scream trapped in your constricted throat. Sometimes, you would wake up shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm, chest heaving as the tears flowed; upon waking, you were always disoriented and scared for a moment, until you realized you were still at home and you were still wrapped securely in Din’s arms. You knew Din hated seeing you like that, tearful and distressed, and you didn’t want to cause any further hurt to yourself or to him. So you made the decision to no longer act as bait.

There was no sense in reopening old wounds, and creating new ones in the process. If you were to live with these pains, you could at least avoid inflicting them onto others.

Din had been supportive of your choice to no longer participate in bounties. He had reassured you that he still believed in your capabilities and value as a companion, but agreed that the reduction in stress would be worth the reduction in payouts. It had been tough to find a way to keep yourself occupied and still feel like a valuable, contributing asset; you knew you would never be content to simply exist here, offering nothing to Din except your body. While your originally agreed-upon partnership ended up not lending itself to you becoming a bounty hunter, you were not about to become a deadbeat, indolent passenger either.

The first few weeks after Corellia were alright, as you found odd jobs around the ship that you could tend to; repairing sagging panels, cleaning away the cobwebs, reorganizing equipment. These were tasks that you could manage, even with your limited mechanical and engineering knowledge. But eventually, as time wore on and your journeys carried you further along, you started to run out of tasks that could be done on the ship. Needing something to do, you then turned to managing additional business responsibilities, hoping to relieve Din of some of the stress that he carried on those broad shoulders. You kept a more organized, detailed record of his jobs and finances, and made sure there was an appropriate stock of supplies to support the Razor Crest’s three travelers.

And then there was the kid — you quite often found yourself managing him.

Following your journey to Bardotta, something had awoken in both you and Grogu; it was as if a creature that had laid dormant for many years had been awoken from its hibernation, and had returned with renewed strength. While you felt this change deeply within yourself, it presented itself most visibly in Grogu and his increasing abilities. You frequently had to search for him within the ship, as he had been working on learning how to cloak himself as you once had, adding this to his other skills. He was not able to fully vanish into his surroundings as you were, but he was decent enough at camouflaging himself to the point where you once had a panic attack that he had managed to escaped the ship into the wild forests of Dantooine while under your supervision. He was also experimenting with bringing larger and larger objects to his small green grasp, most noticeably larger and larger portions of food, or other comfort items like blankets. His growing curiosity and expansion of power hadn’t been allthat concerning until a particularly rough tantrum, during which he pushed both you and Din a good three feet back from him, without ever laying a hand on you. The changes occurring could no longer be denied or ignored, and you understood you would have to confront them at some point.

There had been changes within yourself as well, even though you struggled to admit it after having spent so much of your life suppressing that which was now showing itself within you. Your safety had always depended on your ability to mask your powers, or at least conveniently use them, and now they were unexpectedly breaking through your barriers. Through observation and meditation, you had started to put together that your abilities and powers swelled whenever your emotions did, just as they had when you were younger. When Din was once running behind schedule for a bounty, your nerves and fear alone were able to entirely warp the canteen you had purchased for yourself, crushing it to the point that it was unusable junk. And when Din finally returned home to you, bruised and battered, and yet focused only on touching and kissing every inch of you — you found that his cuts and bruises began to disappear from underneath your fingertips without any direct focus or attention. There was an undercurrent of power that was growing within you and Grogu, and it was beginning to breach the walls that you had put in place to hold it back; and you had no way of predicting when that wall may cave in.

These ever-increasing powers and revelations were both fascinating and terrifying. You did not know what would happen from here if you and Grogu continued down this unmapped path. You could understand that power without training could be exceptionally dangerous, but how would you even go about learning how to control it all? You had once been able to suppress your connection to the Force, but you never actually learned how to master this connection; repression is not true mastery or control, as it only delays the chaos.

But who was there to learn from? The Jedi Order was no more, the grasp of the Sith had receded with the rise of the New Republic, and the civilizations that connected with the Force as a form of magic were incredibly closed-off and tight-lipped. You had been extraordinarily lucky to stumble unto the teachings of Ixxith as you had, but now that the seal had been broken, now that Pandora’s box had been opened, you were faced with an impossible question — where do you go from here?

Your best attempt at navigating this next step was to seek out knowledge in a different format; as Din’s travels occasionally brought you to larger cities, you would spend a portion of the layover browsing the city’s libraries and book stores, if they existed, poring over the texts to see if there was any history, legends, instructions, or insights that could be obtained. You had very little success at finding anything that taught you about Force powers and how to use them, however you had managed to find several interesting texts that chronicled the historical power struggle between the Jedi and the Sith. You had heard whispered stories and legends as a child, tales of heroes and villains who carried out the unending battle of good versus evil.

And as you read of these wars and conflicts, you came to an interesting conclusion — depending on the perspective of the available source material, both Jedi and Sith could be considered good, or evil.

Thinking back to Ixxith’s teachings about the importance of balance, you could understand how these two diametrically opposed sides were continually fighting against the scale of the universe that sought balance. From your wide assortment of readings, you understood that the universe itself truly held no favor for good or evil, Jedi or Sith, and it only ever sought an equilibrium — and yet the universe’s occupants insisted on living within one extreme or the other, the scale never allowed to settle at a place of peace and balance.

You enjoyed studying the texts that you had managed to acquire, and learning more about the history of those with abilities like you, even though it may not have been the specific knowledge you had set out to find. Occasionally, you would talk with Din about the things that you discovered in these books, which prompted him to share more about the history of Mandalore and their role in the galaxy’s history and development. This newfound, strengthening point of connection between you was beautiful and valuable in its own right, even though it may not have offered much help for corralling yourself and the kid’s behaviors.

Reading had given you something to do during the down time while Din was working, and while the kid was self-contained or safely entertained. You had never had much time to dedicate to your own hobbies and interests before, and it was refreshing to be able to have your own passions that you could pursue as you desired.

Having few travel expenses of your own, you were still living quite comfortably off of the bounties you had profited from, and you were able to purchase the things that caught your eye or interest. This led to a steadily-expanding corner of the cabin that became yours as it was occupied with stacks of books, piles of blankets, an assortment of snacks, and a respectable wardrobe. The fresher also now showed evidence of your residency, as some of your specialty products had found their way to the shelves and the shower; silky lotions, a nice brush, hygiene products that didn’t exist in the shape of a bar. The Razor Crest was gradually becoming a shared space, a shared home, and were someone to step foot onto the ship, they would be able to determine that the fearsome Mandalorian was no longer maintaining a solitary existence.

This change in Din’s lifestyle was becoming more and more clear to outsiders as you now frequently accompanied him to his negotiations and trade-offs with Karga when on Nevarro. The older man had been excited by your reoccurring presence, and while he had teased Din for it in the beginning, he had since relaxed and always welcomed the two or three of you with a genuine smile. And with each visit to the volcanic planet, Din grew more comfortable with claiming your relationship openly; he almost always kept a hand on you, tracing pressured circles into your skin, or if you were seated with some degree of privacy, gently stroking the inside of your thigh from underneath the table as a tease for what was to come. There were rarely moments in which you were left alone, and you found you preferred it this way. While Orron had once insisted upon keeping you within arms reach, out of his own need for power and control, you understood Din’s motives to be different. He wanted to protect you, wanted to show you off, just genuinely wanted to be with you because he loved being with you. And you also knew that he would never deny you an opportunity to venture off on your own, to explore the town or take Grogu to play with the local children.

Today had been no exception to that truth; as Din and Karga haggled over upcoming bounties, you grew bored and restless, and decided you would prefer to stretch your legs with a walk around town, and feel some sunlight on your skin as it was a fairly nice day. You squeezed his knee gently, getting his attention before nodding your head to the door of the cantina, where the three of you had gathered for this business dealing. Din nodded wordlessly, trusting you to keep yourself safe and return to him when you were ready. This unconditional sense of trust was new to you, but you loved every moment of it, and loved Din for offering it so readily to you.

You excused yourself from the table and strolled out of the bar, knowing that Din’s eyes had followed your entire journey through the tables and patrons until you exited into the bustling town center. The sunlight felt nice on your skin, and the slight breeze kept the air from feeling heavy and stagnant around you; you stretched your limbs and you felt the cracking and popping of your joints. You needed breaks like this, to be able to physically stretch your body and keep it limber and in shape.

And yet, despite the small space of the Razor Crest, you had still found ways to keep your body moving; Din had certainly made physical exercise more enjoyable. You thought back to all of the nights that had now been spent on the floor of the Razor Crest, as your exhausted bodies had collapsed into one another; you loved every minute of the physical exertion the two of you created, but your body needed more. It needed to run, jump, stretch, bend, without the constraints of the small cabin space. But Maker, did making love with Din feel like the most glorious and exhilarating use of your body; you marveled at every moment of passion the two of you shared, holding nothing back in the pursuit of giving the other what they desired.

You were brought back to the moment by an oddly dressed man bumping into you; you turned to apologize, as you had been the one to have stopped in the middle of the street, but they had already run off by the time you looked for them. Shrugging, you carried on with your afternoon expedition. You had intentionally chosen comfortable and lightweight clothing today, knowing it would offer a nice opportunity to stretch your legs. As you strolled through town, you felt yourself start to pick up your pace gradually until you were jogging along at a decent speed, leaving the town behind you as you ascended the black volcanic hills that surrounded the area that had since become familiar to you. From atop the hills, you could see the cantina, the school, the marketplace, and off in the distance you could see the Razor Crest as it was undergoing refueling and maintenance.

Continuing to run for a while, just along the outskirts of the city, you relished the feeling of the breeze against your skin; while Nevarro was hot and the air somewhat sulfurous due to the volcanoes, it was still a nice change from the recycled air of the ship, and was certainly better than some of the atmospheres of other planets you had journeyed to. You could feel the lava rocks and ash shifting beneath your feet as you ran, offering just enough resistance to make your heart race and your lungs expand with forceful, concentrated inhalations.

Having now circled about half of the city, watching the landscape change from your position above it, you settled down onto a spot that offered some dry grass to sit comfortably on. You waited for your heart rate to slow back to a resting pace, and stretched your limbs out around you, loving the bit of soreness that came along as your muscles stretched and contracted. You allowed yourself to rest here for a while, clearing your mind as you worked to let the Force flow through you, just as Ixxith had taught you. You could feel the Force moving through you gently, almost like a breeze passing through an open window. You settled into this feeling, into the peace that it offered, as silence and tranquility had become rare within the steel confines of your home. Relaxing, you only barely noticed the breeze that seemed to push and pull the air through your lungs, as you sank into the comfortable silence for a while.

Sensing a growing chill in the air, your eyes opened to scene around you. The sun had begun its descent behind the volcanic hilltops and you knew it was time to be on your way, to return to Din and Grogu, to your home and to your bed. Pushing yourself up from the ground, you brushed off the dust and debris that had pressed into your body and clothing, before starting a comfortable pace down the hillside and back into the city.

As you passed some of the houses that made up the outskirts of the city, you could sense that something, or someone, was watching you; turning to look all around, you didn’t see anything unusual. You tried to shake off the feeling as you navigated yourself down a familiar city path, shifting your focus towards your upcoming reunion with Din; thinking of the way he had pinched the inside of your thigh earlier shot your heart rate right back up to its previously racing pace.

And yet there was a persistently odd feeling around you though, one that you couldn’t seem to shake, even with the thought of Din. Deciding to trust your gut, you stepped down what seemed to be a quiet alleyway to take better stock of the situation around you and determine what was causing this unsettling feeling of observation. No, observation wasn’t the right word. The word that came to mind was stalked. Like something was hiding in the shadows and corner of your vision, keeping in step with you but never being revealed. You scanned the street you had just been walking through, trying to find whatever was causing this unease, this growing sense of danger —

And then you felt a large hand grasping your forearm like a steel trap, crushing your wrist as whoever this was pulled you further into the alley and into the seclusion that it offered.

Whirling around as your free hand having found its way into a fist, you intended to punch this unexpected attacker in the face; but before you could complete your movement, a grey and leathery hand grabbed your entire fist and wrenched it away, but maintaining a tight hold on your hand to restrain you. Looking up, you saw a terrifyingly familiar humanoid face.

Maxir Bragant had been a close companion and business partner of Orron Jakar, and you had spent more time around this Delphidian man than you ever cared to recall. He had been a frequent visitor to your shop, and the individuals who he dumped onto your cot for healing rarely survived due to his brutal and unyielding attacks. Being quite fond of cleaving into others with his axe, there was generally very little you could do to improve his victim’s odds of survival; you were no miracle worker, and you recalled how you had been beaten mercilessly for your failures. As you looked down to see that very same black axe strapped to his belt, you felt bile and fear rise up in your throat, not confident that you would be able to escape the crushing grasp of this towering man who now had both of your arms restrained.

His voice hissed out coldly, as his pitch-black eyes stared into yours with the same kind of fury and hatred that you had often seen echoed in Orron’s icy blue ones. “What a surprise to find you here,” he laughed, and the sound turned the very blood pumping through your veins to acid, to ice. He sneered at you, lips curling back to reveal the same ugly grin that showed up in your nightmares. “Figured you’d know better than to show up in a town like this. But, you were never a very bright one, were you?”

You bit your tongue, trying not to snap at that bait that he had flung out to you; you knew he wanted you to respond, wanted you to get mouthy, so he would have an excuse to discipline you, just as Orron once had. He wanted an interesting fight — you knew that he thrived on crushing the life out of a terrified and desperate soul, and you were not going to give that to him. You needed to ignore his jabs, verbal and physical, and focus on how to get yourself out of this situation, how to alert Din, or the Marshal, or any bystander who could offer you some sort of reinforcement against what was surely about to be a horribly painful and ugly fight.

Bragant used his leverage to pull you in closely to him, and you could smell the putrid odor of sweat and blood that radiated from him. It was nauseating and made your head feel dizzy, but you couldn’t let this get to you, couldn’t let this throw you off. From this positioning, you knew that you wouldn’t be able to use your upper body to fight him off as he had your arms secured; making a quickly-calculated decision, you brought your knee up forcefully into his groin, and as he bent over in pain with a groan, he released one of your hands. Gods, was it satisfying to see this motherfucker writhing. Having some more leverage and momentum now, you kicked into his sternum forcefully, his massive body flying backwards into the stone wall behind him. You turned to run, willing your feet to move faster than the stars you had watched in hyperspace — but he recovered faster than you expected; you had only made it about four or five steps away when he wrapped his rough, scarred arm around your neck and brought your writhing, desperately fighting body up and into his, pressing his back into the wall to keep you out of sight.

“Stupid bitch,” he spit at you, and you could see the flecks of blood and saliva that landed in the dust around you, standing out in stark contrast to the dark volcanic ash. “Did you really think you’d get away with it, killing him?” You felt the cold and rough-hewn blade of his axe pressing into your chest, a jagged corner digging in just enough to make you gasp as it pierced your skin; the blade was pressed dangerously close to your heart, and you had seen the force with which he could swing his weapon.

“Still curious how the fuck you got out of there like you did, vanishing like that; but we’ll have plenty of time to ask questions when I bring you back home. There are a lot of people that have been missing you.”

You could sense the sick and cruel smile on his face as he pictured what would surely be a gruesome, horrific, and torturous death.

No. No, you were not going to go out that way. Not on his terms, not on Orron’s. Not like this.

You thought about the horrors that would await you if Bragant was able to bring you back to the cartel. You thought about the sickening fear and sadness that Din and Grogu would feel at your unplanned and unexplained departure. Thought about how Din would cut his way through each and every formidable cartel member trying to bring you back to him, to bring you back to safety, to bring you back home. Thought about how one man wouldn’t be enough to fight off an army, thought about how Din would die trying to bring you back, just as you had nearly died bringing him back on Bardotta.

Thought about how the love between the two of you would threaten to shatter the galaxy.

You thought about how Bragant had called the cartel home, and the anger that coursed through you felt as though it was moving through your very bloodstream, each desperate beat of your heart pushing that anger further and further into your body, fueling your muscles and your strength until it was threatening to burst forward from you like a seismic charge.

“Home?” You screeched, the words tearing their way through your throat with vitriol.

“Home?! You keep that word out of your goddamn fucking mouth!” You screamed forcefully, your voice echoing against the stone and clay walls; you heard a loud crack, and the wall that Bragant’s body was resting against collapsed in on itself.

This disruption and destruction caught Bragant by surprise, and he fell backwards into the pile of rubble that your anger alone had created, releasing you from his grasp in the process. Your chest was heaving as you inhaled deep lungfuls of air, feeling the oxygen feed more and more power to your body — you felt invincible, impossibly strong and powerful — and vengeful. Every violent revenge fantasy you had ever had came rushing back to you, as you saw the tidal wave of your abuser’s blood overtake the world around you.

Here was a man who had contributed to your pain and destruction, who had killed countless people with no mercy — and now, you didn’t have a single ounce of mercy to extend to him. And you were at peace with that.

A blinding hot, red wave of fury overtook your body, crashing around you and drowning out the fragile sense of humanity that was desperately clambering to stay afloat. It was as if you were possessed, as you watched your arm extend before you, muscles twitching beneath skin as your fingers pointed in Bragant’s direction, before your hand found itself curled into a tight fist. Your nails dug into the palm of your hand, and you could see redness dripping forth from it — and you saw Bragant’s writhing form being lifted from amongst the stones, until he was levitating in midair. His hands clawed desperately at his throat, and the sight of his now-bulging eyes filling with terror felt beautiful.

With a final, overwhelming rush of immense power, your wrist pulled your hand inwards to your body and you heard a nauseatingly satisfying crack reverberate through the alleyway as Bragant’s eyes went dark and his body went limp, collapsing onto the pile of rocks and clay beneath him with a dull thump.

Your head began to spin as the energy that had previously flowed through you was suddenly ripped away, and you felt as though every cell of your body was now collapsing in on itself in slow motion; the sky above you and the ground below you tumbled throughout your field of vision, spinning both together and apart as your body connected with the dusty floor of the alleyway.

You could vaguely see a blood red stain spreading in your field of vision. Whose blood was it?

Throughout all of the endless spinning and disorientation, your eyes eventually came to rest on one comforting and familiar sight — a tall figure clad in beskar rushed to your side, but you couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t feel the hands that you knew were on your body, couldn’t feel the shift in your form as you were hauled into his arms. Couldn’t feel the heavy breaths and terrified words that spilled around you, as your head lolled to the side in his arms. It felt as though the link between your mind and body had been snapped, like a harp string tuned too tightly, and as the universe continued to tumble through your field of vision, you closed your eyes tightly and prayed for it all to stop.

Stop. Stop.

Stop.

[srbachchan]

DAY 4414(i)

Jalsa, Mumbai                       Apr 7/8,  2020                   Tue/Wed 8:14 AM

Alright .. tempers cooled a bit though not entirely .. the Tumblr format has again changed and it is off putting .. but what .. an alternative is not available , so one endures .. 

Please find below the social media links for the film, you can retweet this link on twitter on Facebook and can share this link, however since the duration is longer you will have to upload the video natively on IGTV on Instagram.  Attached is a google drive link of the film from where you can download the video and then upload it on IGTV on Instagram.

Twitter- https://twitter.com/SonyTV/status/1247187306764619779 FB- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=983267872088458

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-pQ_7yFW7n/?igshid=i8f5n3jua5au

Google drive link with mp4 for IGTV

SO ... these be the links that were given to me by Sony PR and when displayed at various platforms gave the enthusiasm that was written about in the previous .. yes .. appreciation came in waves upon waves .. known and unknown alike .. connected and unconnected .. all .. from and without too .. pro and anti .. those in support and those in non support .. they that cooperated , and they that distanced themselves from support and the coop .. we are all mere beings .. the universe fills itself with so many .. many of difference and different kind .. when the grains on each leaf .. when the microscopic elements .. of virus shape size and disposition exist in natures creation .. what are humans .. ?

Blessed be all .. they all contributed .. contributed in applause and in reject .. reject is most important .. gives fight a chance .. without it fight would be an imbecile .. unarmed, weak and without prepare .. unpreparedness is a curse .. prepare .. keep ready for use .. it comes in use , anytime without warning .. so eń gardè  .. or whatever the correct French is  .. French , yes the beauty of its rendition .. the sweetest in the world .. next valued be Bengali , the tongue .. the delicacy of its existence, its presence in the many wondrous elements .. 

BUT .. I stray .. 

Yes the completion of the ‘film’ was a task .. a gentle idea shared by Prasoon Pandey, Director of Ad., films and with whom I had worked several times .. with him and his elder Piyush Pandey, head of that Ad., conglomerate O&M .. and when it came across to me , the thought of its extension in the format seen finally gave incentive to bring in greater value to it .. so I thought, I worked , I reacted, I shared , I got approval and then went to each of those stratospheric stars and celebrities with the idea .. calling them several times .. connecting them all .. all over the World all over the places they lived .. and then their agree .. the designing of the Demo by Prasoon .. the passing it on to the respective and in explanation , each one , each location .. convincing them .. and then the wait for their portion to arrive and putting it together .. the creatives all being followed up by the team .. each little protocol to be put in place .. diplomatically .. politically .. egoistically .. to be CORRECT and accepted .. yes .. all .. all done in this wonder world of internet wires and the mobility of the hand phone .. the modern day invention par excellence .. oh , done and covered with suitable time difference delays .. some within the time zone some not .. some really really far away .. but their love and support impeccable .. 

That done the negotiate with what to be done with it .. in times of trial it does not bode well to be seen in frivolous acts .. so consider who we are , how we are , and what we are .. and who they that make us who we are .. the workers and their plight in this locked out premise .. without a daily earning , without their normal existence , without the essentials .. 

We must give back to them .. so .. worked on sponsors TV outlets , personal contribution and arrived successfully .. TV shall be Sony .. sponsor shall be Kalyan Jewellers .. and the distribution shall be pan India , pan workers of all the Industries of film in the nation .. NSEW .. and which is why NSEW in the representation of the artists .. Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannad, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Punjabi .. pan India in representation .. pan India in language .. pan India in the work force .. just a pan India film .. a film titled ‘FAMILY’ .. for we are one and we are one family .. this film Industry of the country .. !!

NOW .. then .. as the tech readiness readies itself .. the promotion .. 

Promotion promotion .. back to the net and the con calls with concerned and with the GANG GANG .. gang gang .. the title given by the girls in house .. Navya Naveli and Shweta .. who find it amusing our confabulations on these con calls, hence an amusing title .. its accepted .. SO .. yes promo .. the written from the obvious sources ‘reeks of garlic from every pore’  .. it stinks .. and then a suggestion ans endeavour to do it by the self .. done and agreed upon after con calls and net issues with the masters .. no disrespect .. but yaa , it not happening people .. ok .. so do it yourself , fine .. sitting and designing it in the mind and WHAM ! .. got it .. now to shoot it in these conditions .. so Abhishek come on assist me with the camera work .. out in the back yard .. a quick shoot .. and a quick forwarding in sense first to all the concerned and then approval of it to be given final tech touches .. done .. 

So then put it out .. time running ot .. get the tech right .. net mobile and every other communication in use .. and done and out on the required platforms ..

BUT .. within all this, setting up the personal shoot of the film continues with able help again from the children .. re takes and re shoots .. and delivered to the tech team .. they work .. the ideas continue to improve or adjust or remove .. some have come in time others delayed , time running out again the 9Pm slot has been advertised .. 

FINALLY .. on air .. 

BUT .. and there are so many buts .. other works continue .. domestic pre cautionary checks on sanitation and sanitising .. staff reduced , staff homed within, staff looked after in excess .. 

.. and also the monitoring of the personal feeding that continues in various parts of the city .. 2000 packets of food each day .. lunch and dinner .. for the poor and needy .. and the bigger 3000 bags of essentials delivered to take care of 3000 families provisions for a month .. average of 4 per family works to the reach of approx 14,000 .. 

Working then for the FAMILY out reach and devising methodology of the distribution to the mentioned workers .. the data access with the Head of the Employees Nation wide Association .. retailer sought and fixed .. gift coupons and cash to be given out to the approx 100,000 of them, with the sponsor and personal fund collected .. to last them for month .. 

THEN .. back to the desk .. there is urgent need from the Capital on a campaign design and completion within urgent needs .. lat night getting that done .. 

AND .. also in simultaneous work on the poem of hope from Babu ji .. rendering it here .. con calls with recordist there .. music directors in another there .. they be two in respective homes and no studio set ups .. but the ingenious working force and minds successful .. it is after 72 attempts that it looks like going on platforms .. perhaps to day .. perhaps .. apprehensive for that too .. how what where and when .. ahhhh .. just let it be say the girls in the house .. the main girl stuck away from home in Delhi .. attending Parliament when the shut happened .. so she remain where she is .. and Face Time WhatsApp .. ZINDABAD !!

OH dear forgot .. another request for the voice rendition on the conditions we are in .. at it till 4 am .. and now from 6  .. rendered in rough waiting approval .. damn the files have not gone through .. WeTransfer warns .. damnnn .. 

Ok shall try resize and getting the email ID correct .. .. ahhahahahhhgggrr ..

this post is sounding like a brain damaged ‘haemoglobin of the country of the system’ devoured and entirely consumed by the chemical ChSo2 .. sorry that be a College insensitive linguaexpletiva .. !!!! Pardoń .. is the French right .. eh .. who cares .. 

BUT .. I tell you .. in all this mesmerising work schedule .. the imagery of Babuji his words his thoughts his books his voice keep me company in excess .. they bring the water in the eyes .. 

I must leave now .. cannot allow it to drip on the post pages ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[xxbyimm]

Enya’s unexpected journey - Chapter 21

For all other chapters, click the number: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16a, 16b, 17, 18, 19, 20 . 

OR: List of chapters

Hi.

It's been three months (yes, I feel SO FUCKING ashamed about that) but I finally found some energy to finish this chapter! I feel a bit anxious about posting again, but there we go... the damage is done. I have to admit I fucked this up by allowing Thorin and Enya to do their thing. And I'm not even sorry.

Please let me know what you think of the next chapter of their story!

Enjoy <3

PS. Gelek menu caragu rukhs = you smell like orc dung Uzfakuh = my greatest joy Ghivashel = treasure of all treasures.

Chapter 21

Summary:  Enya meets Bard the bowman. Will he allow her to leave Laketown? And will Thorin be happy to see her arriving in Erebor, or... not?

Taglist: @symphony25 @oakenshieldsmizimel, @nelswp, @bellastellaluna, @imagines-for-multiple-fandoms, @leah-halliwell92, @sassytyphoondetective, @jotink78, @armitageadoration, @patanghill17, @sweeticedtea, @evyiione, @fergrigori, @thegreyberet, @maeoneill, - Tumblr doesn’t want to tag some of you properly, I’m sorry!!! If you wish to be on this list, please let me know.

Warning: Enya’s swearing. Contains smut. Seriously. SMUT AHEAD. Proceed with caution.

‘Da, she’s not waking up!’

The sound of a honey-sweet voice in distress lured Enya from her slumber. Her body felt wrecked. She clenched her teeth when a burning sensation spread through her limbs, making her hiss softly. Good gods, what happened? She felt like she had a little (alright, a lot) too much to drink last night and then decided to run the marathon. Enya slowly opened her heavy eyelids, her senses still hazy from her recent unconscious state. Her surroundings seemed blurred and it took her vision a few seconds to adjust to the dimmed light. There was a wooden ceiling above her, the thick beams hoovering over her body. The room was warm though and Enya heard fire crackling in the distance. She was wrapped in a woolen blanket.

What the actual fuck?

The last thing she remembered was practicing her water skills on the docks… What happened? It seemed like she built a new habit in which she accidently woke up in all kind of places; not being able to recall how she got there in the first place.

‘She will wake up, sweetheart. Don’t you worry…’ The voice of a man hushed the little girl. ‘What if it’s the same as with mom?’ she answered. ‘What if she….’ There was a short silence between the two. ‘Don’t talk like that, Tilda. She’ll come around eventually, I’m sure of it. All we have to do is get her warm. Can you get some extra blankets from upstairs for me?’

Enya groaned softly as she attempted to get herself to sit up straight. How many hours had passed? For how long had she been like this? There was no time… The others must have reached the lonely mountain by now. She had to join them. She had to… ‘Hold it, my lady.’ Strong hands supported her sides and gently pushed her upright. Enya hissed again as a sharp pain shot through her spinal cord, a sign of her body to take it easy and let it be. She clenched her jaw, knowing she had to pull through. There was no time. She would kill for a heavy painkiller right now… Stupid damned middle earth!

‘Easy now…’ the man coaxed. ‘You’re lucky to be alive, my lady. You need some rest.’ ‘No time.’ Enya replied and looked up to see to which kind villager she owed her life, and probably her dignity as well.

‘Well hello there!’ her mind squealed and Enya bit her lip. If Thorin hadn’t been her one, if Mahal hadn’t designed them for each other… She would definitely not mind to hit that! This human male was very easy on the eye with raven black long locks and carefully trimmed facial hair. His hazelnut colored orbs were beautiful. The man himself was eyeing her in a friendly manner. He seemed intrigued by her appearance. Enya smiled faintly and sensed there probably was a lot of passion hidden below that kind surface. Yes, he was good-looking… But still… there was no way he could beat Thorin, nor could he best her king’s panties shredding gaze. ‘Jeez, how could we ever forget about that intense “sexual predator” stare our king can muster?’ her mind mused. ‘I mean, I know I lost my panties at some point… where are they anyway En?’

Well, since Thorin ripped them off her in the bedroom of the master of Laketown... Probably there. What if the master looked under his bed and found that shredded, lacy piece of underwear…

Oh god no.

She could only hope the master didn’t know what panties were… Or never found the need to search under his bed. Or be sexually active for that matter, because who would…? A giggle got stuck in her throat and pressed her lips together. This was no moment to get all jolly, god damnit.

‘Thank you.’ Enya murmured softly to the man as she tried to regain her composure. ‘I believe I owe you my life.’ The man shrugged. ‘It was nothing my lady. Allow me to carry you closer towards the fire.’ ‘I’m fine, I can walk.’ she muttered, scrambling herself together. The man inclined his head and took a step back. Enya took a deep breath and carefully lowered herself from the table. ‘See? I’m-’ she began, but then her surroundings became quite blurry again, making her grasp the table behind her. ‘No, you’re not fine. You’re as white as a sheet!’ He established. ‘Please…’ Enya nodded shortly, not liking the fact that this stranger was right. There was no way she was gonna walk towards the fireplace without collapsing down on the floor. She needed a break to catch her breath again. The man lifted her up and took her in his arms.

‘I found you on the docks. You were freezing cold and for a moment I thought you were dead.’ The man told her as he lowered her into a chair next to the hearth. ‘To be honest, I was a bit surprised to find a dwarrowdam like you. because I was under the impression all the dwarves of Erebor left this morning. Are you part of the company of Thorin Oakenshield?’ ‘Oh… Yes.. I-I was delayed.’ Enya answered, a little distracted by the fact that stranger knew the name of her one. ‘I meant to go after them as soon as possible, but something went very wrong.’ She stared in the distance and her brows furrowed together as she tried to remember what happened to her. ‘What’s your name?’ the man inclined as he studied her curiously. ‘Enya Blueheart.’ She said. ‘Princess of the firebeard clan.’ ‘I am Bard. Or Bard the bowman, as they like to call me around here.’ ‘Bowman? Now that’s an interesting name. What is your trade?’ ‘I’m a bargeman. I enable the trade between Laketown and the Woodland realm.’ ‘So where does the bow come in?’ Bard smiled faintly, not really looking forward to share his painful family history with a mere stranger. A dwarrowdam even. It puzzled him that this dam seemed genuinely interested. Every local was familiar with the story. Didn’t she know…? ‘The story is widely known around here, my lady.’ ‘I’m sorry.’ Enya said. ‘I didn’t mean to insult you. I grew up in...’ she paused, trying to figure out how much she wanted to share with this man. ‘The land I grew up in differs from here. I didn’t even know about my own heritage until I came to middle earth.’ ‘So you didn’t know you were a princess?’ Bard asked. Enya laughed. ‘Up until recently I believed I was a human. It was quite a shock when I learned that I am, in fact, a dwarf with royal background.’ ‘Nogrod…’ Bard muttered as he vaguely remembered something about the firebeard clan and the awful way they met their demise. It was a gruesome tale in which the last fire warlock of the clan died fighting a foul creature that served Morgoth: a dragon.

‘Miss Blueheart…’ Bard began as he handed her a drink. ‘May I ask how you ended up here?’ ‘Please, call me Enya.’ Enya replied and took a sip from the ale he had given her. ‘It’s a long story, I wouldn’t even know where to begin… Also…’ she grinned. ‘You successfully dodged my question about the bow, but that doesn’t mean I forgot it. Why the bow?’ ‘Alright. If you tell me your story, I tell you mine.’ The bargeman gave in. ‘Deal, but you start.’ ‘My family consists of a lineage of bowmen, but the people, or rather the master and deputy in this town like to call me by this name to give offend. My grandfather was Girion, the lord of Dale. He is the human who failed to take down Smaug with the precious black arrows when that wretched evilness came to take the lonely mountain. The city of Dale was destroyed because of this failure.’ Enya sensed the deep resentment Bard had for his forefather, but she decided not to pursue the matter. Instead she gave him a bright smile. ‘Mine died fighting a dragon too.’ ‘The warlock…?’ Bard immediately asked. ‘But your family was…’ ‘Yes. My grandfather was Emrak, the last fire warlock of the firebeard clan.’ Enya said, choosing her words carefully. There was no need to tell him more than he needed to know right now. Black holes, another dimensions, witch powers, memories that had been wiped away… it would be too much for a man who basically lived in the middles ages. Even a kind one. ‘My grandmother escaped from our city and got my mother elsewhere. I grew up thinking I was human.’ She laughed when she saw a frown appearing on Bard’s face. ‘A very tiny human.’ She added. ‘I just thought that my family was… different.’ ‘So you never met a dwarf before?’ Bard questioned, clearly puzzled by her story.

Well, shit. This one was clever, too. ‘All inhabitants in my country are men.’ Enya admitted. ‘Except for me and my family, of course.’ ‘What is this country you speak of?’ he asked. ‘It’s called America.’ Enya replied matter-of-factly. ‘A-me-ri-ca?’ Bard repeated slowly. ‘I’ve never heard of such a realm in middle earth.’ ‘And that’s why my grandmother Gigi chose to live there.’ Enya grinned. ‘Very few know of its existence. It’s quite a small country, and safe too.’

Lies, of course. Oh well, it wasn’t like Bard knew she was telling lies. She just alternated… the truth. ‘Whoooooop guuuurlll!!!!’ her mind cheered. ‘We dodged that question with style!!!’ ‘When I found out about my ancestry, I went looking for my roots.’ She continued. ‘And I ended up in the company to reclaim their homeland.’ Bard nodded, seeming to find her story reasonable enough, at least for now. ‘Yes, I heard about this quest. You support their mission?’ ‘I think they’ve got a noble cause.’ Enya smiled. ‘But something tells me you don’t.’ ‘No, I don’t.’ Bard agreed. He tried to keep his facial expression clear, but there was a flicker of anger in his eyes. ‘I seem to be the only one in this cursed town who thinks straight and thinks Thorin Oakenshield cannot enter the mountain. I tried to reason with the master but he wouldn’t listen.’ He ruffled his fingers through his hair, clearly upset by the subject. ‘The master is only thinking about the wealth that lies beneath those rocks, but he won’t consider the safety of his people. The dwarves will awake the dragon, I’m certain of that… and then what, Enya Blueheart? No one will be able to stop that evil thing. You and your company will die trying, leaving Laketown vulnerable to bear the consequences of their greed.’ ‘This is not about greed!’ Enya countered fiercely. ‘Erebor is their home, it’s the place where they belong! They just want to live in peace, don’t be-’ ‘As do we.’ Bard interrupted her. ‘Everyone in this town has lost someone that day in Dale. We don’t want any more trouble.’

Her blood started to boil as she heard this complete stranger judge the dwarves she had grown to love. He was harsh. He didn’t know how much they suffered, how much they were longing for their home… ‘But he lost things too.’ Her mind mused. ‘I bet he dreads the fact that our little journey towards Erebor will more or less force him to take his grandfather’s place. He’s just terrified. Cut him some slack.’

‘I understand you, I really do.’ Enya said, exhaling slowly to keep herself from yelling. She was in his home, after all. She’d better suck it up. ‘But don’t be harsh, you shouldn’t underestimate the dwarven race. We found a way to kill Smaug without him leaving Erebor.’ Bard shook his head. ‘I doubt that. Smaug is said to be huge and terrifying. And you’re telling me there is a way, INSIDE the mountain, to deal with such a great fire-drake?’ Enya tilted her head and her lips curved into a smile. ‘I’m certain of it. And I promise you I will do my best to make sure Smaug doesn’t leave Erebor, unless chopped up in pieces.’

There was a short silence between them, as they both pondered about the discussion that just had taken place. ‘What kind of weapon other than a black arrow can pierce a dragon’s hide?’ Bard mused while drinking his ale. ‘Do tell me: what does Thorin Oakenshield possess that is THAT powerful?’ Enya smirked. ‘I can’t tell you. It’s confidential.’ ‘Oh come on!’ Bard laughed. ‘It’s not like I’m going to tell Smaug about it.’ She pursed her lips. ‘Nope. I’m not spilling the secrets here.’ Bard shrugged and held up his cup of ale. ‘Alright, if you won’t tell this poor man how you plan to kill that fire-drake, let’s make a toast instead. To our grandfathers. Our ancestry.’ ‘To success.’ Enya approved and the cups clanked as they clashed against each other. ‘Thank you for saving my life, Bard.’ Enya repeated. ‘I don’t know how I can ever repay you for that.’ ‘You don’t-’

‘Da, is she a REAL dwarf?’

Both Bard and Enya almost jumped from their seats as a little girl appeared next to her, viewing her meticulously. She had the same brown eyes as her father, but her hair was much lighter; a more dark blonde color. She wore a blue dress and held a few heavy blankets in her arms. A teddy bear peeked from under the folds. She couldn’t be older than ten and Enya found her adorable. Bard wasn’t as taken with his daughter as Enya was, and he heaved a sigh. ‘That’s impolite, Tilda. You cannot ask that.’ ‘It’s okay.’ Enya reassured him. Bard smiled apologetically. ‘This is my youngest daughter, Tilda. Tilda, this is Enya Blueheart, princess of the firebeards. She belongs to the company of Thorin Oakenshield.’ ‘But.. where is your beard? And why isn’t it fiery?’ Tilda inquired. ‘Da always says that ALL dwarves have beards!’ A giggle escaped Enya’s mouth when she saw Bard’s humiliated face. ‘I know. But thank god, beards don’t run in my family.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘That is a very good question.’ Enya replied as she stood up, ignoring the pain in her back. ‘I will ask my fellow dwarves when I see them again.’ ‘I really think you should rest, because-’ Bard began, but he was interrupted by his daughter. ‘Where are you going?’ she asked as she stared up at Enya. ‘You just arrived here! I brought you blankets! Can you please stay and tell me more about your family?’ Enya shook her head. ‘I’m sorry Tilda, but I really have to get going. I’ve got things to do.’ But Tilda wasn’t having any of it and folded her arms, a haughty demanding expression displayed on her face. ‘Will you get back?’ ‘I might.’ Enya answered. ‘I can’t promise you anything.’ ‘But I never talked to a princess before!’ Tilda sulked. ‘Well, you talked to her just now.’ Bard told his daughter while sending her a warning glare. ‘Miss Blueheart has to be somewhere else, she doesn’t have time to chat with you.’ ‘I’m sorry, da.’ Tilda murmured. Enya tilted her head. ‘You know what, Tilda? When Erebor will be restored to its’ former glory, you are a welcomed guest and then I’ll show you all of my dresses.’ The child beamed. ‘Really?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Alright, then that’s settled.’ Bard said and turned to Tilda. ‘Will you put the blankets upstairs again?’

As the child ran upstairs the bowman eyed Enya curiously. ‘Do you even own a dress?’ he asked. ‘No.’ Enya granted. ‘But I have no doubt I will, in the future.’ ‘Let me get you one.’ Bard offered. ‘I still don’t think it’s wise for you to leave right away, but if you must… please let me find you other…’ A frown appeared on his face. ‘clothes.’ ‘Thank you, but I think I’ll be fine.’ ‘No, you’re not.’ Bard pressed. ‘Your clothing is still soaked and you’ll get sick if you travel like this.’ Hm, she knew he was probably right. Her skinny jeans hadn’t recovered yet from her recent adventure, and she doubted that they ever would. She knitted her brows together as she tried to regain the events of the previous day. She knew she had been practicing her water skills at the docks. And then something interrupted her, disturbing her. Wounded her.

But what?

The room started to spin around her and Enya took a deep breath as she tried to steady herself again. ‘You’re probably right.’ she muttered. ‘That would be most kind of you-’ A gasp left her mouth as Bard broke her fall by catching her in his arms. ‘See?’ he told her. ‘You’re exhausted. You’re not going anywhere before you have something to eat and I’ve found you some decent clothing to keep you warm.’ ‘There’s no time…’ Enya spluttered. A grin rose on Bard’s face, his eyes sparkling. ‘You’re not gonna kill a dragon like this, miss… Patience is a virtue.’

Finding her way towards Erebor was easy. The dark-brown colored breeches that Bard had given her were a bit too big, but one of Bain’s belts prevented them sliding down from her hips. The loose grey shirt and a blue coat she had put on weren’t perfect either, but it worked. Bard hadn’t been keen on the idea that Enya would have to cross the town like this, and he insisted she should wear some sort of dress above her clothing. He told her that the climate in the town already was unstable and that the master wouldn’t be too happy to find out that there still were dwarves in his territory. On the other hand, Enya insisted that she was fine; she could handle any situation. For a moment it didn’t look like they were going to find a satisfying compromise, until Sigrid came in and turned out to be a very resourceful young lady. She had wrapped a skirt around Enya’s breeches to mimic the presence of a dress. Enya shivered as the cold wind howled against her. It was surprisingly cold around the mountain and she suddenly felt very grateful that Bard had insisted on her wearing some sort of dress. Although it made the process of climbing the slopes a bit more complicated (she never wore those things anyway), she luckily didn’t have to worry about getting sick. She groaned as she lifted her skirt for the hundredth time to conquer the hill towards the old overlook where the company was supposed to meet Gandalf. If they still were there…

During her visit at Bard’s she learned that he had been very kind to the others in the company by smuggling them into town and delivering them some weapons. She didn’t understand why the town master and his creepy deputy Alfrid had decided to scrutinize the poor man’s every move. Although he was wrong about the quest- he was generous man, loyal to his neighbors and a hard working widower. They probably didn’t like him because he was a sight to behold, and they were… well… ‘Butt-ugly.’ Her mind commented. She smiled as she remembered Bard’s goodbye words as they parted their ways on the docks.

‘I do hope you succeed, Enya Blueheart. If you should fail, I’ll promise you I’ll take my grandfather’s place on the wind lance and shoot the last black arrow.’

It was a generous promise, because he didn’t owe her anything. He had done more for her than needed. In fact, her female intuition told her that Bard had been a little bit too kind. Enya shrugged away the thought. A groan escaped her as she finally reached the overlook and found it to be empty. The dwarves were nowhere to be seen, and even Gandalf (who was known to be notoriously late) wasn’t there. Had they managed to get inside Erebor? Enya closed her eyes and tried to remember the outline of the map Thorin had carried with him. She wished she had paid more attention to the destination of the journey instead of the dwarven king’s gorgeous features.

Well, at least it wasn’t entirely her fault. She couldn’t help it that her one was excruciatingly beautiful. Even Dolvira had noticed, right?

She continued her path northeast, making sure to keep the ruins of Dale on her right hand. Apart from the wind, a deadly silence reigned the slopes of the mountain. Enya almost felt like the bull in the china shop. What if she accidently woke the dragon? ‘That’s impossible.’ She huffed. ‘I’m pretty sure you’re less loud than thirteen dwarves…’ Well, to be fair that actually depended highly on her mood. She could, in fact, be a lot louder (screaming and cursing came to mind) than the others. A smile went across her face when she remembered Fíli and Kíli’s faces when they learned she was able to swear like a sailor. They weren’t that shocked though, they mostly seemed impressed anyway. She bit her lip. The rascals even asked her to learn them a few. In turn she learned some Khuzdul swearing words that had left even Bifur shocked. ‘Gelek menu caragu rukhs’ she muttered with a smile. ‘No… No.. don’t go there.’ She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to focus on the task that laid before her. She had to pay attention now. The secret door was on one of the mountain slopes. She scanned the area around here. The fact that there was a door, meant that there had to be a way to access it somewhere, a stairwell… or…

She stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth falling open in awe. A giant stone dwarf-soldier stood proudly against the mountain, carved directly from the mountain slope. It was magnificent in its own right, but once you looked closer… you could see the stairs carved in it. Enya gasped. Jesus, that was brilliant. Scary, but brilliant nevertheless.

‘I AIN’T CLIMBING THAT!’ her mind screamed. ‘I REFUSE! BLUEHEART, YOU’LL DIE IF YOU TRY!’

Enya heaved a sigh. So much for stunning self-confidence, eh? She walked up to the soldier and looked up. It was a pretty long distance to climb, and since she hated heights she probably should give the fire witch way of traveling a chance. She sat down on the rocks, making herself as comfortable as possible. She closed her eyes, focusing on the kilometers of earth stretching out beneath her feet. And all that she had to do was getting it to move upwards. She took a deep breath and smiled as there was something stirring under her. ‘Grow.’ She whispered. ‘Bring me to the platform I ought to be.’ The ground started shaking and she felt herself rising.

‘WE’RE GOING TO DIE!’ her mind howled. ‘STOP! STOP IT! OPEN YOUR EYES!’

Enya resisted the urge to do what her stupid inner voice suggested. There was no need to panic. She was totally safe, totally…

‘ENYA!!’ The voice of Dori happily greeting her reached her ears. The peeked through her eyelashes, and was relieved to see a platform. She quickly got on it and gave Dori a hug. ‘Glad to have you back again.’ He said with a big smile. ‘It’s a bad idea to try to kill a dragon without our fire witch…’ ‘You had instructions, Blueheart.’ Dwalin stood there watching her, his arms folded. ‘Well…’ she winked. ‘I’m bad at listening to my king anyway. I’m sure he’ll overlook the matter after he calms down.’ She looked around. ‘Where is he anyway? And where’s my favorite halfling?’ ‘Bilbo just went inside, but Thorin went in earlier.’ Balin replied, his face expressing genuine concern. ‘Are they both looking for the Arkenstone?’ Enya inquired. Dwalin shook his head. ‘No. Thorin went to the east wing, had to collect something before we go down.’ ‘But he’s gone for quite some time now, brother.’ Balin pressed, his tone worried. It seemed like they had been arguing about this subject for a while now. Dwalin gave his brother an ominous glare. ‘I still think we should go looking for him.’ Balin continued. ‘NO!’ Dwalin countered. ‘He told us explicitly not to follow him. He’ll be back. He’s our king and we should listen to him!’ ‘Which way?’ Enya mouthed at Balin while Dwalin continued yelling at him. The dwarf smiled at her and gestured with his head.

Turn right.

She nodded and slipped past Dwalin, through the secret door. She turned right and took a little sprint to make sure the dwarven warrior wouldn’t come after her to drag her back outside. Time to find her king.

‘Blueheart.’

She had wandered through the narrow corridors of Erebor for about twenty minutes when she heard his low voice calling her. It resonated through her body and evoked pleasant shivers that ran down her spine. She cocked a brow and turned around. ‘Oakenshield.’ He stood in the doorway of one of the many chambers in the hall, his arms leaning casually against the doorpost. The tension between them sparked and immediately became unbearable, the sparkles shooting between them almost visible to the naked eye. ‘Balin was concerned about you.’ She began. ‘He thought we should start looking for you.’ ‘I should have known that you would end up here anyway…’ Thorin grumbled, but his eyes twinkled as he spoke. ‘You never listen.’ ‘Mmm… You’re dodging my question, sir.’ Enya purred as her hands caressed his face, the coarse facial hair scratching her fingertips. ‘But alright... Does my presence here in Erebor make you mad?’ The dwarf king closed his eyes and sighed. ‘Yes. I want to protect you, I need you to be safe. And you won’t let me.’ Enya smiled and kissed him gently, earning a soft growl in return. ‘I was born to do this, Thorin.’ ‘I know.’ ‘And I can look after myself.’ ‘I know, but…’ His arms wound around her, pulling her closer to him. His lips brushed faintly over her cheek, finding their way to the pulse point under her ear. His breath tickled her neck and Enya’s brain, once again, stopped functioning. It was too easy for him to seduce her… Far too easy. ‘But what?’ she dared him, her voice sounding heavy with lust. She felt him smiling against her skin and she bit her lip. ‘But I want to take care of you.’ Thorin whispered in her ear. ‘You cannot deny me that.’ ‘I wouldn’t dare…’ she hummed softly against his lips. ‘Please take care of me.’ A low chuckle escaped his mouth, a faint smile opening up his face and his blue eyes already darkening with desire. He knew exactly what she meant, and it seemed that he had no problem with that at all. ‘Right here, my queen?’ A deep pink blush rose on her cheeks. ‘Yes.’

Thorin wasted no time and lifted her up, his arms sliding around her and his big sturdy hands covering her bottom. Their mouths clashed, hungrily taking in each other; like they had been apart for ages instead of twenty-four hours. Enya’s hands wandered over his torso, struggling to take off his heavy belt that held his clothing together. Thorin groaned and with one arm he steadied her against him, while leaving his other hand free to pull at the strings of her shirt. Enya pushed herself onto him, grinding against his hard length and Thorin hissed in response. They both gasped in surprise as the belt gave in and sprang open. It slipped down his body, landing on the floor with a loud clank.

‘Who gave you this clothing?’ Thorin inquired matter-of-factly, but the slightly tense undertone in his voice made Enya smile. Oh, she couldn’t help herself when he did the whole protective and jealous lover thing… It melted her heart. As if he ever would have to fear competition from others… Though it was really sweet to see how much he cared. ‘Bard.’ Enya replied, while kicking off one of her boots. ‘The bowman?’ the dwarven king muttered while knitting his brows together. ‘Oh Thorin, don’t be ridiculous!’ she giggled as she dropped the other boot on the floor. ‘I met him this morning in Laketown. He seems to be a nice guy.’ Thorin narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. Enya shook her head in disbelief. ‘Thorin…’ ‘As long as he doesn’t think you’re nice.’ He growled. ‘I will not-’ Enya put her lips on his before he could tell her the consequences the poor male would suffer for simply being kind to a future queen. ‘Are all dwarves this jealous and protective?’ she teased. ‘Yes.’ Thorin stated. ‘We are. And you’re no better.’ ‘No better?’ she countered. ‘Who says I’m-’ ‘Very.’ Thorin said in a low voice. A shiver went through her body and Enya bit her lip. He carried her into the room, towards a desk that stood in the corner of the room and put her on it. The dark-brown wood was cold against her bum and Enya was vaguely aware that the room must have been a private library once. The walls were covered with bookshelves and in the corner of her eye she saw a fireplace with a cozy chair, but.. At that moment she didn’t care where the fuck she was. Thorin was holding her and she needed him. She stripped him of his thick woolen vest and threw it in a corner. Her own blue coat followed seconds later. ‘And you… You stir things in me...’ He confessed while staring down at her, setting his hands on either of her sides. ‘Which makes thought of him eyeing you in ways he shouldn’t unbearable.’ His jaw was set in a harsh line, his lips pursed together, and his blue orbs were watching her fiercely. The red and blue undershirts he wore complimented him, the low V-necks revealing some bare skin and chest hair.

The sight was mouthwatering. Thank god her panties got lost hours ago, because with him looking like this, they would’ve come down on their own accord.

Enya couldn’t help herself and her hand traveled from his neck to his broad chest, her fingers unbuttoning the blue shirt. Thorin eyed her intently, his gaze fixed on her movements. She rucked the piece of clothing up and pulled it over his head. The red fabric followed the blue one on the floor shortly after. She bent forward and kissed him softly. Her nails trailed down over his abdomen, the muscles jolting under her touch. Thorin inhaled sharply as her hands went further down and cupped him through his breeches. A mischievous smile was displayed on her lips as she proceeded by undoing the laces and letting one her hand slip inside, stroking him slowly. Her other hand palm caressed his strong jaw, while her mouth left a pattern of kisses along his throat. Thorin’s head fell back and his lips formed a perfect ‘o’ shape when a moan escaped him. Enya dipped her tongue into his collarbone and trailed her way up to his jawbone. Thorin buckled his hips in response, pressing himself further in her hands. ‘Mesmerizing vixen!’ He hissed as his mouth searched for hers again. ‘Let me-’

He grasped her with force, but was alarmed when she whimpered in pain. ‘Are you alright?’ Thorin asked and he loosened his grip on her, careful not to strain her further. ‘Did I hurt you, uzfakuh?’ ‘No, not you. It happened… earlier.’ She said absent-mindedly as she gnawed on her bottom lip. His bared chest was very alluring to her, making the simple task of forming words difficult. Or remember the vague pain in her back. All she wanted was to go back to kissing his muscles, the scars, the… ‘Do enlighten me on this subject.’ he interrupted her train of thoughts. ‘Oh…’ Enya replied. ‘I hurt my back when I took a tumble from the docks into the water. That’s why I got other clothes…’ Thorin heaved a sigh while eyeing his queen with a soft smile. ‘And I thought you would be safe in Laketown…’ Enya laughed. ‘I told you- you’d better keep me close.’ ‘Perhaps I should...’ Thorin whispered, his breath tickling her face. Enya licked her lips in anticipation as he leaned in slightly, their lips almost touching. The air around them was so loaded, so strained, it made her head spin. He’d called her intoxicating many times before, but she was certain he himself was more tempting than she ever had been. ‘Let me do the work...’ He grumbled against her mouth. ‘You take it easy here.’ ‘You know that’s not in my nature…’ she hummed. ‘I’m not gonna take it laying down, if that’s what you mean.’ Her mouth curved into a smile. ‘In fact, I remember something you said about me being allowed to torment you once we’d be in Erebor…’ Thorin chuckled, lifted her up and on the other side of the room he lowered her on a soft rug before the fireplace. Enya moved her hand and five flames shot from her palms, ready to devour the carefully stacked logs that had lain there for… ages. Thorin hovered over her, his lips ghosting over her collarbone and making their way south in an antagonizing slow pace. His coarse beard caused her skin to burn slightly and his kisses left a tingly sensation. Enya’s cheeks reddened, her breathing changing rapidly. ‘I said that?’ he purred. ‘I don’t recall…’ ‘That damp prison wall we almost made love against…’ Enya blurted out. ‘Almost, yes…’ Thorin agreed. ‘But I think we caught up with that a few days later, don’t you?’ ‘Aye.’ She replied, as her mind went back to the long night in Laketown. Especially that round in which he had her pinned against the wall, slamming his hips against hers… The mere thought was enough to make her legs turn into jelly again. It had been perfect, he was simply perfect. She could’ve died a happy dwarrow that night…

Her thoughts stranded as Thorin pushed her shirt up, pulling it over her head and dropping it carelessly on the floor. His fingers loosened the skirt around her hips, stripping the cloth off. He undid her belt and slid her breeches down her body. He then kicked his own boots off and got rid of his trousers. ‘You’re so beautiful…’ he murmured while his hands traveled over her bared skin. ‘Mine.’ Enya groaned and their mouths met in a passionate kiss again, tongues swirling around each other. Her hands raked through his hair, tugging on the braids, her fingers memorizing the beads tied in it. Thorin broke the kiss but went on by caressing her face and leaving small bitemarks in her neck. His tongue journeyed south and dragged over her chest, flicking over both nipples before sucking on the sensitive skin. Her eyes rolled back when she felt his thick hand shoving between her thighs, parting her folds. One finger entered her while his thumb grazed her clit. A soft hiss escaped her mouth. ‘Fuck!’ Thorin sat up and with his free hand he lifted her right leg. Enya cried out as he kissed her foot and worked his way up; his beard deliciously scraping over her skin and leaving her with a slightly burning sensation. It was too much pleasure; his one hand still working her up and his mouth coming closer and closer towards her heated core… Her legs started to shiver in anticipation.

Oh god.

His hand pulled away from her, and her body arched up involuntary. Thorin chuckled and the low sound vibrated against her thighs, leaving her aching for his touch even more. ‘Oh god.’ She murmured softly. ‘Please..’ He leaned forward, placing featherlight kisses between her legs. She whined as the world stopped spinning, every nerve in her body focusing on the movements of his mouth. She cried out in agony as the tip of his tongue slipped briefly over her clit, the feeling leaving her begging for more. Thorin groaned softly as his hands moved under her ass, his fingers digging in the flesh of her buttocks. Enya bit back another moan as she felt him moving between her thighs, his beard setting the sensitive skin on fire. That damned beard was an absolute turn-on, a- Her breath hitched when his tongue lazily dragged over her entirely, swirling back to flick over her sensitive nub. Her fingers tangled into the rug beneath her, desperately seeking something to cling unto. Her teeth sunk in her lower lip as she gave in to all the remarkable pleasure he was giving her. Boy, he never stopped to amaze her. He knew exactly how to work her up and then to cool her down just enough to get her all crazy in seconds again. Her mind briefly wondered how he had become such a- She lost track of her thoughts when Thorin purred against her, the sound against her setting her off. Her body started shivering and Enya knew she wouldn’t survive long. Of course, she wanted more, in fact she wanted him to stay between her thighs forever, but she also wanted to last. And her treacherous body.. it would come undone far too soon for her liking, it had proven her that before.

‘Thorin, I NEED you!’ she demanded. ‘NOW!’

With ease, he pulled her on top of him. ‘Your pace. Ride me.’ He rasped as his fingers trailed over the curving of her hips. ‘Take me, my queen.’ ‘Your wish is my command.’ She breathed in his ear. ‘Alas I changed my mind… YOU can easily wait a little longer…’ ‘Cheater.’ Thorin husked while delivering a sharp smack to her ass. Enya shot up, her mouth opened wide in shock and her cheeks burning bright. ‘Excuse me sir!’ she exclaimed. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Thorin cocked a brow, arrogance all written over his face. ‘You asked for it.’ ‘Did I?’ With a smile she placed soft kisses on his neck, traveling down to his chest. She swirled her tongue over his nipples and playfully tugged on them with her teeth, earning a loud groan from him. Then she trailed further down south, her hands massaging his abdomen and her tongue delving over his hipbone. She then took his thick shaft in her hand and swirl her tongue over the head. ‘Enya...’ Thorin panted, his blue eyes wide open as he was watching her movements. Enya smiled coquettishly, her gaze burning though his while she took him in her mouth. Thorin made a strangled noise and his head fell back against the rug. The warm light of the fire brushed over his skin, making him even more irresistible. Enya went down on him, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked him hard. She flicked her tongue over the head, and her hands traveled just further down to caress his balls. A harsh, Khuzdul word left him and the sound echoed through the room. Enya smirked, feeling quite certain she was well on her way to drive him as insane as he had done to her before.

But it was not enough. They craved each other, the feeling of being united once again. She straddled his lap, lowering herself just enough to touch him. Her breath hitched as she grinded herself against him, the friction causing sparks of pleasure through her body. Thorin moaned, his hands gripping her hips and kneading the soft flesh. Their eyes connected as she allowed him to enter, his girth deliciously stretching her. Her eyes fell shut as she took in the feeling of him being entirely inside her. It was a powerful and addictive sensation, satisfying but then always leaving her hungry for more. She never knew she was even capable of being insatiable like this, but then she met Thorin, who’d easily complied with her wishes for hours… there were no limits. She never had wanted someone this badly, but he was her aphrodisiac, her life.

Thorin huffed, his hips surging forward and his fingers digging into her hips. ‘My pace.’ She growled while lifting herself up and eyeing down fiercely. A dirty smile crossed his lips, his eyes displaying pure desire. ‘I’m yours.’ He agreed. ‘Take me.’ Enya bent down and their mouth crashed. Her hips surged forward, making them both moan into the kiss.

Oh, she liked this, having all the control… Her view was absolutely stunning, her breathtaking king laying under her. She knew it wasn’t easy for him to let go, which made the meaning of their lovemaking so much more intense. A token of trust, of his love for her. She threw her head up when her hips found a circular rhythm that made him stroke the sweet spot inside of her.

It was all too much, and at the same time too little. She watched Thorin under her, his face displaying nothing but sheer pleasure. His eyes were darkened. Over his chest laid a thin layer of sweat, which made him even more desirable. She wanted to tell him how much she cared, how much she loved his stubborn and majestic ass, but her brain short-circuited and left her as a panting, sputtering mess. Thorin lurched up, taking her into his arms as she still rode him. The gesture was intimate, sexy as hell. And his eyes... she couldn’t bear to look into them, or to look away. He was intense, blazingly hot. She needed him more than life itself. ‘Mahal, Enya…’ he panted, his lips brushing over hers. ‘Ah!’ ‘Thorin!’ she moaned, rocking back and forth against him. He was incredibly close, she could feel him getting more rigid with every second. His breath hitched, coming in unsteady pants and fanning her ear. Waves of pleasure surged through her and every move of her hips took her higher. Her heart pounded in her chest, her vision became blurred. She was standing on the edge, she needed to… Thorin groaned and his mouth crashed on hers, they hopelessly clung onto each other while both seeking their impending release.

‘Enya, ghivashel!’ The sound of Thorin’s low voice in her ear, speaking in the language of their kin… It was enough to send her over the edge. Her nails dug into his back as she realized she had crossed the point of no return. She cried out as her orgasm peaked and took hold of her, shattering her body and numbing all of her other senses. Thorin stirred. A harsh growl left him as his own pleasure cracked; his shaft pulsated as he spilled his seed inside her.

He laid on his back and nuzzled her against his chest as they circled back to each other. ‘I wish we could stay like this forever.’ Enya whispered. Thorin smiled and caressed her hair. ‘I know.’ ‘How does it feel?’ she asked softly. ‘Being home again?’ ‘I can’t wait to show you everything’ Thorin confessed. ‘It’s confusing ... For a second I allowed myself to believe that it was alright. There was no dragon, just us... risking to be caught in my father’s study.’ Enya giggled and kissed his jawline, his beard tickling on her lips. ‘Now that would be something…’ Thorin smirked. ‘He’d probably kill us both if he found out.’ There was a short silence between them wherein they let their thoughts wander. ‘I’m sorry.’ Enya muttered. ‘For everything you’ve been through. I’m sorry for being such a pain in the ass sometimes.’ ‘Sometimes?!’ Thorin countered while biting his lip in an vain attempt not to laugh. ‘Would you imply that I’m always difficult?’ Enya sniggered and she moved her fingers to tickle his sides. Thorin burst into laughter and it was the most beautiful thing she heard. He didn’t laugh often, and she enjoyed the sound of his baritone voice vibrating through his chest. It was a warm sound, comforting and tempting at the same time. ‘Yes… you are.’ He breathed. ‘But you’re also incredibly sweet, kindhearted, witty and the most beautiful dwarrow I’ve ever seen. Every male envies me.’ He caught her gaze, a stunning smile displayed on his lips. ‘You match my temper, Blueheart. That’s good.’ He cleared his throat. ‘As for me, I owe you an apology. The way I acted towards you during the journey was unforgivable.’ ‘Hey’ she said. ‘I would have made myself very clear if you were really crossing hard boundaries. I understand you weren’t all too happy that I destroyed your self-control while you needed all of your strength to focus on the quest.’ ‘I kept insisting you were doing everything wrong. I wanted to keep myself sane, but you were so… alluring. Even when you... breathe.’ ‘Don’t worry.’ Enya smiled. ‘I understood your tirades as: you’re devilishly charming and I want you but I can’t lose my shit.’ Thorin chuckled. ‘Lose my shit...’ ‘I do have unusual ways of expressing myself.’ Enya admitted, biting back a giggle. ‘I assume I have to adjust my vocabulary once I become queen?’ ‘Perhaps.’ Thorin mused. ‘Although I wouldn’t mind watching you shock a few annoying and tedious nobles with your language.’ Enya grinned, picturing the scene in her head. ‘We have to go back.’ Thorin told her, his voice sounding full of regret. ‘Yes…’ Enya agreed as she sat up straight and grabbed her shirt. She threw it over her head and shot him a playful glance. ‘Now let’s go kill that dragon...’

[perfectlyrose]

a cup of sugar, a pinch of magic (3/?)

Summary: It’s just another night spent baking instead of sleeping for John Smith, owner of The Blue Box Bakery, when a mysterious blonde woman knocks on the bakery door hours before opening time. He never expected that letting her in would draw him into a world of magic and shadow organizations or be the start of a life-changing love.

Pairing: Nine x Rose ||  Word Count: 2931 || Rating: All Ages (for now)

Note: Weee I’m back with more three months later... sorry for the delay! - tagging @doctorroseprompts since this was originally for fantasy month :)

AO3 || tumblr

The lunch crowd was thick and kept John hopping. Rose stayed in the kitchen with the back door locked so that the only way in was through the shop and, consequently, through John.

He took her at her word that things she touched burned so he didn’t co-opt her as his assistant but she was hardly idle. She chopped nuts while he was working on something else and measured out dry ingredients for him to use later. John was also positive that his kitchen had never been cleaner in the middle of the day.

“You know you don’t actually have to wash dishes,” he commented when he walked through the door and found her scrubbing one of the stand mixer bowls in the sink.

“I would’ve walked out by now if I thought you were going to force me to be a dishwasher,” she shot back, smiling at him over her shoulder. “But figured I could make myself useful.”

“You’ve been making tea all afternoon, that’s more than useful,” he said, flopping down into one of the wooden chairs. “Closed up for the day.”

Rose turned to look at the clock. “It’s only four.”

John shrugged. “Everyone around here knows my hours are more like suggestions.”

“Perks of running your own business?”

“One of them. I think people have just accepted that I’m the neighborhood eccentric.”

“Works out well for you then.”

He made a noise of assent as he leaned back in his chair. “I’m going to do prep for tomorrow later this evening. I want to get in touch with an old friend of mine to see if she knows anything relevant to our mutual interests.”

Rose paused in drying one of clean dishes as she studied his face. “You know, you don’t talk much like a doctor or a soldier.”

John flashed a lopsided smile. “People never expect the accent. I think they forget that there are actually people who live up north instead of in London.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t talking about your accent, you git. I just meant you don’t condescend to me or try and order me about.”

“Wasn’t great with the whole listening to orders thing, myself,” he admitted.

“Me neither.”

John rather thought that time slowed for a moment as they smiled at each other across the kitchen but it was a different kind of magic than what Rose had demonstrated earlier.

He looked away first, hoping that the tops of his ears weren’t turning red. “I’m going to call my friend. If you want the flat to yourself for a bit to relax, you’re welcome to head back that way.”

Rose bit down on her bottom lip, considering. “Would you walk me up there? Just to make sure that…”

She trailed off before finishing her sentence but John knew she was worried that Torchwood might’ve come back to check up on him and compromised the flat.

“Course,” he said, standing. “I’ll finish the dishes up later, too.”

“You sure? I don’t mind finishing up.”

“There’s barely anything left. I like having something to do with my hands while I’m on the phone.”

“Well, I’m not going to fight you over it. I could probably do with a quick kip.” She quickly dried her hands off, leaving the rest of the dishes in the sink. “Ready when you are.”

John went out the door first and checked the back hallway to make sure it was clear before motioning to Rose that it was okay to follow. He startled when she slipped her hand into his but he instinctively curled his fingers around hers.

Rose stayed close to his side as they went up the stairs. She pulled the key he’d given her and unlocked the door before sticking it back in her pocket. John led the way into the flat. He squeezed her hand before dropping it to lock the door. He swept the flat with efficient motions, making  sure nothing had been disturbed. He noted a couple of signs of Rose having been here but no indication of intruders.

“All clear,” he said. “Lock the door after me. I should be back up here in an hour or so and will let you know what I’ve found out.”

Rose nodded, failing to fight back a yawn.

“Get some sleep, Rose. I’ll be back when I’m done downstairs. Don’t forget to hook the chain on the door.”

She rolled her eyes as she gave him a small smile. “I won’t forget. Go take care of what you need to do. I will lock everything up tight.”

“Course,” he agreed, smiling back. “I’ll just get out of your hair, then. Sleep well.”

He slipped back out the door before she said anything else and lingered in the hallway until he heard her engage all the locks and slip the chain in place.

John went back to the kitchen and locked the back door. He sat down at the worktable and pulled his mobile out of his pocket. He stared at it for a moment before navigating to the number he wanted, listed under a fake beekeeping company name. This was going to be an interesting conversation and he just hoped that his contact would be able to help.

He pressed the call button and listened to it ring for a moment.

“You know, people start to worry when you don’t contact them for a year, Spaceman,” Donna Noble said upon answering the phone, irritation foremost in her tone.

“How did you even know it was me?” John demanded. “I didn’t have this number last time I called.”

He could almost hear her roll her eyes. “I know everything.”

Donna Noble was the national treasure that no one knew existed. She was a high level analyst that coordinated information and agents across multiple British intelligence services and kept everything running smoothly. No one really knew what her position was or how she’d gotten it but she was terrifyingly competent and everyone was glad she was working with them instead of against them.

She was also one of the few people John truly considered a friend.

“What’s got you calling after so long? I don’t suppose you’ve remembered to send me pastries like you said you were going to last time and are calling to tell me when they’ll be here?”

He winced. “I forgot about that.”

“I know. You’re lucky that your bakery is on the opposite side of town or I’d be in there all the time just to get some of those croissants and macaroons you make.”

“You could always come visit,” he pointed out. “You’re always welcome.”

Donna snorted. “I would actually have to have free time to do that.”

“True.”

“So, you doing okay? I try to keep tabs on you but things have been busy lately and I highly doubt this is a social call.”

“I need a favor,” John admitted. His fingertips pressed hard against the table top as his tension rose almost to a breaking point.

“I owe you like three,” Donna said. “And you know there are probably people who would kill to have me owing me favors which is why I don’t owe them any.”

“Donna…”

“Right. Favor. What’s going on? And you never told me if you were okay.”

“I’m fine, but I’m trying to help someone who is in a spot of trouble and I need your help.”

Donna laughed. “I told you you’d get dragged back in somehow. I’ve never met someone who’s so intent on helping people.”

“It’s just this one thing, Donna. I’m not really getting back in the game.”

“I know. I damn well miss having you here to boss around but I’m glad you got out. What can I do to help?”

“I need some information. I’m going to email you with the information so you have it and then I thought, if you have time, we could meet at that café where we talked about the job offer you had for me in Prague to go over what you found.”

Donna sucked in a breath and he knew she picked up on the implication that his line might not be secure. “I remember the place. They have good paninis. I should be able to sneak away from my desk for a bit. Send me what you need and I’ll let you know when we can meet.”

“Thank you Donna. You’re the best,” he said sincerely, tension starting to drain from his frame.

“I know. Bring me something sweet if you really want to thank me, though.”

John laughed. “I’ll rustle something up for you.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you later then,” she said. “Take care.”

It was an order that he actually intended to follow.

“Yes ma’am. See you later.”

He rang off and immediately opened his email on his phone. He had so many layers of encryption built into it that he was more comfortable sending information that way than risking verbal communication that was more easily intercepted.

He gave a brief rundown of what Rose had told him of Torchwood without revealing anything about her specifically and requested any information she could dig up on the organization and its headquarters.

Once that was sent, he rolled up his sleeves and set to finishing the dishes, all the while planning the doughs he needed to get working sometime that evening and worrying about Rose upstairs on her own where only his security was protecting her.

He knew she was perfectly capable of defending herself if it came down to it but the urge to protect her had settled in bone-deep and there wasn’t any use denying that it was there.

John set the last dish in the drying rack, set the dishwasher to run and then turned out the lights and locked the back door as he left. He took the stairs two at a time and then knocked on the door of his flat.

It took a couple minutes and a few more knocks before he heard the chain sliding back. Within seconds, the door opened and Rose’s hand closed around his wrist and tugged him inside. She quickly locked the door back up and then turned to look at him.

She was a sight with her hair all mussed and eyes still half-glazed with sleep. She still wore his jumper and it was wrinkled and hanging down past her fingertips. He couldn’t look away.

“Tea. Then I’m going to ask how your phone call went,” she said, voice husky.

“Go sit,” John said with a smile. “I can handle some tea.”

Rose nodded and wandered over to the couch without protest. John put the kettle on and got down two mugs. He plopped tea bags in them and reached for the sugar, setting it by the mugs so it was ready for use.

“Milk and sugar for you, right?”

Rose made a noise that he was fairly sure was a yes. She apparently did not really wake up until she was caffeinated.

When the tea was ready, he took the mugs to the living room and handed one to Rose as he settled on the other side of the sofa. They sat silently sipping their tea until Rose was about halfway done with her cuppa. She locked eyes with him, looking much more alert and smiled.

“Sorry about that. I’m a bear when I first wake up.”

He grinned. “That’s what caffeine is for.”

Rose agreed wholeheartedly and took another big gulp of her tea. “So, what did you learn?”

“Nothing yet. I got in touch with my friend and asked her to look up information on Torchwood and their headquarters. When she’s finished researching, she’ll let me know and I’m going to go meet up with her so she can tell me what she knows,” he explained.

“And your friend will be able to find what you need, yeah?” Rose bit down on the side of her thumb, nervous now that they were discussing Torchwood again.

“Donna can find out anything. It’s what she does and she’s brilliant at it.”

Rose nodded and looked away, mouth suddenly pulled into a tight line.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“S’nothing. I just… you can trust her right? This Donna?”

“Absolutely. I trust her with my life, have done many times. She’s a good friend and I’m pretty sure this country would be in shambles if it wasn’t for her work,” John said, hoping that this information would reassure her. “You can trust her.”

“Pretty much the only person I trust right now is you,” she said, looking back up at him. “Just… be careful when you go to meet her, okay?”

“I will be,” he promised. “Hopefully you’ll get to meet her at some point. I think the two of you would get on like a house on fire.”

“You been friends with her a long time?”

“We used to work together back when I was in the service. She was one of my bosses and we became friends.” He shrugged and shot her a smile that made him look like a naughty school boy. “Neither of us had any patience for all the bureaucratic bullshit so we bonded over that.”

Rose laughed. “Sounds like the two of you were trouble.”

“We were,” he admitted.

“Were you just friends or…”

“Yes! Definitely just friends. Donna is one of my best mates and it’s always been fully platonic between us.” He practically tripped over his words as he tried to get them out quickly. It wasn’t the first time someone had thought he and Donna were a couple but he was fairly sure Donna almost ripped throat out of the last guy who had last asked. That had stopped the rumors pretty effectively and then John had left so that had killed any further whispers.

It looked like Rose was trying to fight back her smile but it stole over her face anyways. “That was a very emphatic answer.”

John just rolled his eyes. He was saved from answering further by his phone beeping. He pulled it out and quickly read the email from Donna.

“Donna wants to meet tonight in a couple of hours,” he said, still looking at his mobile.

“Isn’t that a bit fast?” Rose asked.

“Yeah. She said there was already a file on Torchwood in the system so she’s not having to compile everything from scratch.”

“Am I going to be here on my own for a bit, then?”

John nodded and then, thinking that she should have a way of contacting him if things went pear-shaped while he was out, stood and went over to his desk. He rummaged in one of the drawers for a moment before straightening with a triumphant grin.

“Extra mobile,” he explained when he returned to the couch. “Give me just a mo’ to get it up and running and I’ll program my number in it so that you can ring if something happens here.”

“You just happen to have an extra mobile lying around?” She asked, incredulous.

“Yeah. I like to be prepared.”

“I get the feeling that you were more than just a soldier,” Rose said, raising an eyebrow.

“Might’ve been,” he muttered, not looking up.

He finished activating the phone, making sure it was functional and had credit enough to work, and then handed it over. “If you could send a text to the number that’s in there that would be ideal. That way I have the number so I can contact you as well.”

Rose did that and he saved the number into his phone. “Thanks for this,” she said quietly. “I’ll feel better about being here on my own with a way to get in touch.”

“I’ll feel better about leaving you here, too,” he said. “Do you want me to grab dinner while I’m out? I’m meeting Donna at a café and can grab something to go.”

“That would be great.”

They chatted a bit longer before John decided he should get going so he wouldn’t be late to his meeting with Donna. He took their mugs back to the kitchen and set them in the sink.

Rose followed him and as soon as he turned back around she wrapped him in a hug. He froze for half a second before wrapping his arms around her and returning the hug.

“Please be careful, yeah?” Rose asked, face buried in his jumper.

“I will be,” he said, smoothing his hand up and down her back. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

She pulled back without completely letting go of him. “I doubt that but let me know if you are going to take longer than a few hours. I’m going to worry.”

“I’ll let you know if I’m delayed,” he promised.

“Okay.” Rose stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself now. “Be safe, John.”

“I will,” he promised again. He hesitated for a moment and then pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back soon.”

He didn’t look back as he grabbed his leather jacket and walked out the door but he waited once more until he heard her secure the locks. It wasn’t until the last one was engaged that he headed down the stairs to put together a box of treats for Donna.

John packed a variety of sweets  in one of the bakery’s signature blue boxes and then reached under his work table for the two throwing knives he kept secured there. Hopefully their meeting would be uneventful but he knew better than to go unprepared.

[cosmicsnowcryptid]

“Who Killed Markiplier?” is a novel being actively penned.

Sorry for the delay on this one, dears. The Nyquil knocked me out last night before I could make a proper post, so here we are. I’ll do my best to keep it short and sweet, but we all know it won’t be, because I have never been concise in my entire life. That being said, let’s dive straight in!

Who Killed Markiplier? is a murder mystery novel that is being penned by the Author/Host in real time. Every character is one of his real-life associates, plucked from the world and placed in his story as a different character. There were many theories suggesting that we are the Host, and that’s half true-- we are seeing things from his perspective, but we are not him. This novel is being written from a first-person perspective and we are merely readers, meaning that we are just observing from that character’s POV. Since that’s what the Author/Host is writing from, we are, by extension, seeing what he sees.

Whew! That’s a nice, long paragraph. Cool. Let’s corroborate it now.

Let’s start with what we know about the Host’s writing style. We don’t know much about him in his current state, but we observed him plenty as the Author, so we have a decent amount to work with. 

First of all, we know that he didn’t generally create his main characters from scratch. He picked pre-existing people and inserted them into his story. We observed this in both Danger in Fiction videos. Chapter 2, in particular, shows him inviting a character into the story.

Just like we were this time around.

Using real-life people is the reason we see so many similarities between previously established egos and the characters in this video: In Danger in Fiction Chapter 1, the Author struggles to come up with a name for Daniel, and as he crosses out the ones he doesn’t like and tries new ones, we see Daniel’s license physically change to accommodate his new name. When he uses a real person in his work, he has some control over their identity, at least for the duration of the story. So, yes, Dark IS Damien, and Wilford IS the Colonel; but it’s not just them in disguise. It is Dark being written as Damien, and Wilford being written as the Colonel. That’s also why we see the chef and the butler from A Date With Markiplier, but in a different context, and having a completely different relationship with Mark. 

Our dear author is also sampling from and paying homage to other famous literary works in his writing. When the Colonel mentions “being sucked into Jumanji”, and makes a sly reference to The Most Dangerous Game, it’s because his skill set and aesthetics are derivative of characters in each of those books. It’s a nod to his inspiration. 

This is why so many of our clues revolve around the sound of writing, particularly that audio post we received here on Tumblr. To solve the mystery, we have to step back from what we’re seeing and break the fourth wall for a moment. If we’re watching this story being written in real time, how do we know that the author of this novel even knows how it will end yet? He keeps introducing new characters in each chapter (side note: notice how these videos are not separated into “parts”, but into “chapters”), and while they add to the mystery, none of them have brought us any closer to figuring out who the killer is. Well, maybe that’s because our author isn’t even sure himself.

Who killed Markiplier? Good question. If you figure it out, please let the author of this adventure know, because he isn’t sure yet, either.

There is so much more I’d love to say. I have pages and pages of notes to back this up. But, as usual, Hamilton is right, and we’re running out of time. We can go deeper into this theory after the next chapter drops. For now, I’ll leave you with a few bullet points I have written down that support this idea. See you on the other side of Chapter 4, friends.

-When we are asked to show the Seer what we observed in our vision, she hands us a paper, but not a pen. We write on the paper with a quill pen that was already in our hand.

-Speculation: the Groundskeeper did not seem to exist in any capacity before we saw him in that vision, and he may have only started existing for everyone else after we drew him; in other words, the Groundskeeper only came to be once we put him down on paper.

-Speculation: The detective has a photo album in his wallet of all of his previous partners. This could suggest that he is a reoccurring character in the Author/Host’s novels. He picked us as his partner at the scene of the crime, and we have no reason not to believe that’s the way he picks all of his partners. Each photograph in that wallet may represent a past novel he was in. Think Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s novels, or even Sherlock Holmes, for examples of reoccurring detective characters. This book could just be one in a series featuring our investigator. 

  -This is also why we were able to hear some of the detective’s internal dialogue at one point. In scripts, what he’s doing is called an “aside”-- the audience can hear what the character is saying, but the other characters cannot. This is a pretty common storytelling device. 

-Oh, and hey, I almost forgot to mention one of the most important parts. When Mark was asked if the Author and the Host were the same person, he confirmed it. Do you remember what he said?

“The Author changed his name when he realized he was just a Host to the guests of his world.”

A Host to the guests of his world, the world that his novels are set in. And now, it seems, a Host to the guests of this party.

( @markired @lum1natrix @fear-is-nameless @caustic-synishade @hufflepufftrax )

[agentdagonet]

Echoes, Ch. 8

can’t believe I forgot to put the last 2 chapters of Echoes up here. Seeing as I’m about to upload chapter 9, I’ll put 7 and 8 up beforehand. Thanks for sticking around, guys!

Find it here on AO3

Find it here on tumblr:  1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Fic Summary: Feet dangling off the edge of the bed, hands still resting on the earpieces of his glasses, Eggsy opened his eyes.

        And promptly shut them again, screwing them shut like a child who had the distinct misfortune of biting into a raw lemon. Breathing harshly in his nose and out his mouth, trying to stave off whatever delusional panic had befallen him, Eggsy reopened his eyes.

‘Harry?’

Or: The Hologram Story Nobody Asked For

          'Why did we watch this again?' The credits are going, and a film Eggsy would love to erase from his memory is finally over. 'Rotten Tomatoes said it was good!'           'The popcorn was empty Rox, tha' means people didn't like it!' '40 percent isn't an awful rating, and we did say we were going to watch a shitty film.'           'There are limits! If I had a time machine the first thing I'd do is prevent this shit from existing!'

          'Really? The first thing you'd do with the ability to go back in time is stop this shitfest from existing?' He knows what she's getting at, but he can't think of that, not just then. He still needed time.           'It's called the butterfly effect, Rox, changin' one thing can affect a million others- who knows what erasing this film would do to the future! Imagine the good I could do!'           'Wow, Eggs' I'd never've guessed you knew about the butterfly effect- so full of surprises.'           'Oh, fuck off.' He shoves her off the arm of the couch, and she thumps to the ground with a yelp. He pretends he did it for comedic effect, but knows he did it to distract himself. He didn't need more will-o'-wisps of Harry in the house. 'Gotta have shit to impress the birds with, y'get me? An' alright some of the blokes, too; but I've always been wicked smart when I wanna be.'           'Sure you have, Eggsy. Whatever helps you sleep at night.' She pats his shoulder, nods sympathetically, and that's what pushes things from teasing to all out war.

          'Oi!' He throws a pillow in her general direction, sure to avoid the greasy pizza boxes sitting on the table in front of him. It knocks the glass from her hand, thankfully empty, and serves its purpose.           The night passes with relative ease, thankfully. The pillow war had resulted in them both being far too tired to move, and instead they had ended up cuddled up in the wreckage- JB curled up at their feet. Unfortunately, good things can't last, and they're woken by Roxy's glasses ringing from the coffee table.

          'Yes, Merlin?' She's stood up, all proper posture despite there being no one to impress, and faced the wall. He guesses it's a concentration thing, or maybe she (rightfully) thinks Eggsy would be making crass gestures and funny faces at her. Small pleasures.           'I'll be right in.' It's fucking weird to only hear half a conversation, but Eggsy's pretty sure he wouldn't have paid much attention even if he could hear. Being half asleep does that.           'I'm sorry to cut this short, Eggs-' She froze, mouth still open, eyes focused on something by the stairwell that he couldn't see. Sitting down on the floor made it difficult to see past couches and such.           'S'okay, Rox, Kingsman comes first- wouldn't have you withou' them now would I? ...Rox?' He waved a hand in front of her face, which wasn't such a smart idea because a startled Roxy is a dangerous Roxy, and she gripped his wrist so tightly he was certain it would bruise.           'How the fuck is Harry Hart in your house?'           'Oh, that don't you worry about it; it's just a thing Harry had that turned on after he died to show us his Will. You can ask Merlin and everythin'- why d'you think I don't wear my specs inside?' please don't ask anything else, please don't ask for details, I don't think I can say more without breaking, please, please, please... She looked at him for a moment, head tilted slightly, before she nodded.

          'Merlin's backing you up, so I guess I believe you; but, can't you just turn it off? I mean, Eggsy, avoiding a problem doesn't make it go away, you know? You've got to let him go; I don't like seeing you in pain.' She looks at him like one would look at a natural disaster from a distance- with pity and immeasurable sadness- and it takes everything in him not to scream. Can't you see I'm trying? But that wouldn't help anyone.

          'Dunno how to turn it off- not like Harry left instructions, we don't even know how it turned on. Or how it works, honestly. So I'm just working around it. We'll figure it out.' They're empty words, things he has no real intention of expanding on, but they placate Roxy into leaving. A mission can't be delayed for too long- they are, after all, usually matters of international importance- and he's incredibly glad to see her leave.           Roxy's an incredible mate, she is, but she had too much distance between herself and her emotions to really sympathise with him. Or maybe it was that Eggsy didn't have enough space between himself and his emotions. He was the one who was out of whack, not her. That made a fair bit more sense- she wasn't nearly as messed up as he was. It was probably just another defect of his.

          'Fuuuuuuuuuck.' Eggsy flopped backward onto the floor. He was messed up. He was living his life to the standard of a man who would never see the results. He was so set against actually working through his grief that he'd snapped at his mum and ran out on her.           (Though, honestly, it wasn't like she'd been all that sensitive in how she'd tried to tackle the issue, right? "Hey a guy you know came to tell me about how your dad died, also why are you crying about his dead mate over a year later?" is just not a tactful way to try to deal with an emotional situation. At least, he didn't think it was. Was it? He doubted a lot of things, at the moment)           He'd apologise, once he knew what to say. It wasn't like there was one of those self-help books "what to do when your mentor dies, you had to see the bullet come at you, and you may or may not have been in love with the idea of him" cos shit that would be a mouthful of a title. Probably wouldn't sell a lot of copies, neither, being so specific an' all.           'I fucked up... Mum def don't deserve that shit from me...' He hadn't meant to be so harsh with her- but he hadn't lied. He wouldn't lie to her like that- and, no (he told himself harshly) withholding the truth wasn't lying. She'd never asked if he'd known how his dad died, had she, so he hadn't lied to her. Not really. But that didn't excuse what he'd done- even if she was pushing a bit much. Honestly, he was a grown man with his own house and he could handle himself- had done for a long while now.

But was he actually handling himself?           He was living in the house of a dead man to keep alive yet somehow avoid his memory. He was avoiding the Hologram of said man, who had in fact spent the majority of their acquaintanceship (because, honestly, were they ever truly friends?) in a coma. A man he had barely known, but had nonetheless believed in him and seen something behind the grime that life in the estates had covered him in. Had seen someone worth something; not someone to rescue (at least, not solely) but someone to be given the tools to rescue himself. Someone to give a chance so that their overall success or failure couldn't be handed off to someone else; their results would be their own.           He'd never mourned Harry the way he deserved to be mourned, with laughter at his expense and drinks to his memory. He didn't have any stories. Oh, the drinks would be easy enough to procure, but drinking without a purpose and drinking to mourn were too close to the things his mum had done growing up; that was a road he did not want to walk down. He wasn't mourning Harry by living in this house, or by taking up his name, he wasn't honouring the memory of a dead man because... Eggsy didn't really believe he was dead. They hadn't ever been able to find his body, they'd buried an empty coffin, Merlin had basically taken over as Arthur, and Kingsman had moved on.           But Harry, the ghost of him or the live one whichever was the reality, wouldn't have wanted him to live like this. Wouldn't have wanted to see an Eggsy stagnated, operating on autopilot in the cenotaph of a man who (by his own measure) was undeserving of such sentiments.           'The fuck are you doing, Eggsy- pull yourself together,' Harry had looked at Eggsy and had seen potential and now Eggsy was squandering it by living in a past he was never actually a part of. Eggsy was still on the floor, flat on his back with the heels of his hands pressed to his eyes, hissing breaths through his teeth. Everything'd changed when he'd seen that Hologram what seems like a lifetime ago, but maybe- maybe it was stuff that needed changing.           It hurt, there weren't enough words in every language he'd heard of to describe the pain to think about this. Eggsy wanted to let go of Harry Hart about as much as he had wanted to leave the Marines. But, the needs of the many over the wants of the few (or one, in this case) and all that bullshit; he had a duty to Kingsman to be at his best, and this wasn't it.           Eggsy sat up slowly, pulling up the bottom of his shirt to wipe away the few tears that had escaped, giving himself a few more moments to pull himself together. He made his way upstairs to the guest room, pulling open the drawer that contained his specs before going back downstairs empty handed. Not tonight. Maybe not tomorrow and maybe not next week but soon he was going to face at least one of the ghosts that haunted him.

[feynavaley]

If I may add:

- In summer, quickly walking the whole length of the train from the outside and looking inside the wagons to see if there’s one with closed windows and people wearing sweaters – it means that it’s that mythical place where the air conditioning is working. There can’t be more than one per train, or the apocalypse would happen.

- 40 degrees outside, 45 inside the train. You manage to be the first to sit in the four seats, and as such you claim the right to open the window. Ten minutes later, the woman in front of you, with a nauseatingly sweet smile “Could you close that window? It’s too windy…” ‘No, you fucking bitch, I was here first!’ is what you want to screech, but that wouldn’t be socially acceptable, so you have to muster your best fake smile and resign yourself to spending the next hour inside an oven.

- The trains come with only two temperatures: +50 °C or -20 °C, depending on the season and whether the air conditioning/heating is on. There’s no in between. You have started wondering whether Trenitalia is all an elaborate cover for an illegal traffic of tropical animals or penguins, depending on the day.

- People chimney smoking all over the platform, slowly intoxicating you. You can’t move away far enough, but if you ask them to stop you’re the rude one.

- The train is so late that it gets the following one late, too.

- There’s a person without the ticket. The ticket inspector is willing to not fine them, if they get off at the following station. They refuse to. The police has to be called, the train is delayed. You’re going to murder that person with your own bare hands.

- People listening to music without headphones at 7 am, while you’re desperately trying to review for your exam.

- That one train, at that particular time on that particular day, that is going to be twenty minutes late. There are no exceptions.

Also, one of the most memorable things that ever happened to me was two summers ago. I was going home after my last exam, and the train had been on time at first, then it started slowly accumulating delay… until at one point, it just stopped at a station. About twenty minutes later, the dreaded announcement came “Because of technical problems, this train will have to stop for twenty minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience.” It was about lunchtime, so, amidst the general grumblings, people started getting off to get something to eat at the snack machines on the platform. I had thought about doing that too, but first I had to write my mother, who would pick me up at the station. I had just sent the message, when the train started moving again. I remember raising my head and locking eyes with the boy in front of me, his features perfectly mirroring my own confusion. It hadn’t been more than two minutes since the announcement. A lot of people were still outside the train.

Italian trains are so paradoxical that my train was late but I got to university earlier