#and all he wants to do is help her heal

[sotvtaughtmehowtofeel]

Nothing Bad Here - Part 4

Joel jerked awake to Ellie’s scream. He flung himself out of his bed and across the hall. She was still asleep, whimpering softly, but she had definitely screamed this time.

He shook her gently, then released her, not wanting to restrain her as she woke up. She lashed out when she jolted awake, sitting up and punching him in the shoulder, but focused on his face and fell forward into him.

“It’s ok, babygirl, you’re safe.” He sat down on the side of the bed, tucking her into his arms, repeating that she was safe. Her sobs wrenched at his heart, but he just rocked her slightly, whispering reassurances. She clutched at his arms, whimpers escaping through sobs. Joel closed his eyes. He knew she was hurting, he knew she was traumatized, but what was she dreaming about? How often had she had dreams like this, and he hadn’t woken up? Hadn’t heard?

It took her a while to calm down. When she finally pushed away from him and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, he stared down at her, concerned. She turned away slightly, scrubbing the tears from her eyes and cheeks. He sat patiently, waiting to see if she’d say anything. She scooted away, settling back into her bed. He kept watching her.

“Do you have dreams like that a lot?” he asked quietly.

She nodded.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

She shook her head, pulling her blanket up to her chin.

He sat still for a moment. “All right. Offer stands whenever, ok?”

She glanced at him, averting her eyes immediately, but nodded.

“I’ll stay here until you fall back asleep. You’re safe, babygirl.”

She nodded, leaning back into his side, eyes still wide open. He put his arms around her, holding her to him. He didn’t leave her even after she fell asleep.

------------------------

Ellie bounded down the stairs the next morning, nearly running into Joel in the kitchen. He dodged around her, raising the pan in his hand.

“Hot pan, watch out!” That was his annoyed tone, but the one he only used with her that actually meant he wasn’t annoyed.

Ellie grinned, looking at him. “Whatchya making?” She grabbed something green from a bowl on the table and took a bite. She looked at it. “Whoaa, crunchy!”

Joel laughed, putting the pan back down on the stove. “Tommy came by this morning with a couple eggs and those sugar peas.”

Ellie sat at the table, looking at the green pod in her hand. “Peas,” she repeated, popping the rest of it in her mouth. “Wild.”

Joel shook his head, turning back to the egg on the stove. “I forget you never seen so many foods. You’d lose your mind if you saw a grocery store display from before,” he waved his hand across himself like he was presenting a display to her, “veggies in every color!”

She shook her head. “I can’t believe you used to have whole stores full of any food you might want. You must have been so fuckin’ spoiled.”

He grinned, flipping the egg onto a plate and putting it on the table in front of her. “We all took it for granted, that’s for sure.” He dropped the pan into the sink, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Tommy says they’ve got all kinds of things growing here. You’re gonna have to try them all.” He frowned to himself, sitting down across from her. “I hope you’re not allergic to anything.”

She laughed, picking up a fork. “You worry too much. Cordyceps doesn’t hurt me, I don’t think I’ll be taken out by a fuckin’ vegetable.” He looked down at the table, smiling to himself, and her face fell blank for a moment. She shook her head, stabbing her fork into the egg before Joel looked back at her. Yellow leaked out. “What! It’s yellow inside?! That’s so weird!” She pulled at the leak with the tines of the fork.

“Didn’t they teach you anything at that shitty school?”

“Yeah, how to kill and how to die, you know FEDRA.” She froze for a moment, staring past the egg. Joel frowned, watching her. She glanced up at him, her eyebrows drawing up and eyes widening slightly at his expression. She schooled her face and grinned at him again, shoving a bite of the egg into her mouth. She laughed, catching the yolk running down her chin and wiping it off.

He wouldn’t worry if he thought she was happy.

[puhpandas]

I think the reason beckory works well is that tony has a habit of getting self righteous and in his own head about things but Gregory isnt afraid to tell him off or call him out about things. the point of tony in ggy is that nobody ever told him that how hes treating other people isnt good, so that's why he got so bad. but tony would be close to Gregory and have every rational reason in the world to listen to Gregory so when he would say something like "you're treating ellis badly and that's not what a good friend does, you need to do better" hed actually listen and take it into account and improve himself

[angelnumber27]

It’s so embarrassing and heartbreaking being in so much pain over losing someone while knowing they don’t give a fuck if you live or die. Your favorite person becoming a stranger is a special kind of hell.

[t-u-i-t-c]

"Please... Take good care of him."

[musubiki]

at first i was thinking about oscars work with madam springs being in a secondary location from her bookstore but i think a cute idea would be putting the springs storefront in the same building as the bookshops...side by side store neighbors or something...

[edwinisms]

I know how it sounds at first, but I really gotta feel bad for the boys that sacrificed edwin; I mean even the term “sacrificed edwin” paints them in a more sinister light than they really deserve– considering that wasn’t really, actually their intention.

they were bullies, they were homophobic (and/or were self loathing gay boys themselves taking it out on edwin, or were equally likely peer pressured into acting a certain way), they planned something stupid and mean to do to an innocent, anxious boy with the goal of scaring the shit out of him, all because he was effeminate and an easy target. but they didn’t know or expect any of the ritual stuff to be real. they were all laughing and joking during the ritual because it was just that to them– a joke. a cruel joke, but a joke.

teenagers can be mean and stupid and they usually regret it as adults and grow out of it / grow from it. they were stifled the chance to grow out of it, at least while alive. none of those boys deserved to be instakilled and sent to hell; they’re really not that much less deserving than edwin himself. they were all just kids, after all.

[pickled-flowers]

Saw some of the grossest parenting today in the bus

[wolfnight2012]

The way the entire latter half of 5x06 leaves zero room for doubt about how much these asshole vampires truly care for each other.

Nadja and Nandor are both ready to risk their lives for their family members.

Nadja in particular was intensely protective of Guillermo, the entire last half of their plot is about how much Nadja (and Nandor) CARES

From the moment the doctor says he'll have to perform more tests, Nadja starts to worry. She seeks Guillermo out to sneak out of the hospital before his "secret" is revealed. This has no bearing on her, its solely to protect Guillermo from a hypothetical/possible threat.

She outright claims him, (TWICE) "he's our familiar" and the "he's mine"

She searches desperately for him, she sounds SCARED while calling for him, and it's 100% fear for him, Nadja is not on the hook (yet), the doctor doesn't blame her for Guillermo's freakish half-transformation

Fighting off several workers, putting herself between Guillermo & danger--putting herself IN danger (she does not let up/fly herself out of harm's way when the doctor turns on her, she calls for Guillermo's help but never Once does she rescind her claim on him) and claiming Guillermo in every way she can.

I really do think her "he's mine" is a personal claim. Guillermo is Nandor's bodyguard, her family's shared familiar, and he's her's.

She does say Nandor deserves to kill him, but that excuse immediately falls flat when the doctor starts trying to kill her, and yet she keeps herself between him & Guillermo.

Wwdits really said these guys will do anything for each other. Nandor would undergo a painful (and dangerous) energy transfer to save Colin Robinson. Nadja would fight off several vampires in order to protect Guillermo.

Laszlo would keep Guillermo's secret (even from his lovely lady wife) & ask her to implicate herself with him, all for Guillermo & Nandor's sake

They love each other your honor 🥺

[chatdae]

Grace FUMBLED Ryan! BAD parenting to preach respect and then act contrarily (ie saying she wants him to feel safe, then not allowing him any autonomy). She should've let him leave and come back... or at least explained why she didn't want him to leave before deciding (ex: 'Homelander will kidnap you', etc). She needed to let him make the decision for himself... agh. AAAAA.

And now Butcher's no use because he's committed to being evil and can't offer ANYTHING good to Ryan!!! He was so right, they NEEDED to give Ryan more space... I know the external pressures seemed impossible, but dammit, Grace, this was no way to beat the odds!

(this is about The Boys season four)

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

it's the way Ellie immediately starts screaming and crying when Sam attacks her and absolutely WAILS for Joel. that's what broke me.

[origamihoshi]

Help I played @oneknightstand-if's demo for their game and I can't stop thinking about the MC and how much I love them, so I drew my version of them.

Her name is Maika (but she's now going by Meika because names have power and there's noway she's going to tell an incubus her real name so why not just change one letter). She doesn't trust any of her allies, but to be fair one is a incubus and the other is a guy from her polo club she think is stalking her so she thinks she has some good reasons not to trust them, but it's okay because she has her beloved plant Audrey III and her magic 8 ball and surely they will never betray her.

I also didn't realize you can avoid getting possessed but when I think about it, it fits her very well that not be able to keep demons out of her head.

I love my weirdo amnesiac changeling who needs to stand out and make sure all eyes are on her, and wishes she could be a fairy princess instead of working in fast food.

[maegalkarven]

I'm thinking about Isobel who came back from the dead a hundred years later, who came back to the lands cursed and her father fallen into madness.

Who eminates a barely indistinguishable whiff of rot and Myrkul's power. Who was touched by the forces so repulsing she wishes she has never come back.

And who still has Moonmaiden's favor and her blessing.

Like by all means Selûne had every right to punish Isobel for her father's sins, esp considering what Isobel is, undeniably, the cause of Ketheric turning into the villain he became. Or rather, her death is.

Instead Selûne grants her enough power to battle the curse and create a small safe harbor amidst darkness. More power than the most have, as priest of Selune!Tav might comment.

Instead Selûne favors her, loves her.

Isobel is the indirect reason Aylin is enslaved and the lands are dying under the curse, and Selûne never turns her back on her.

Idk it just makes me emotional

[lavenderjewels]

I appreciate the love for Shoko but all the theories about her somehow resurrecting gojo from death is really setting her up for disappointment

[calamitydaze]

long tag ramble below u have been warned

[forcedhesitation]

watching astarion's horde of undead summons follow us around is the funniest thing to me. just another day in baldur's gate, citizens, nothing to worry about here! carry on and don't mind the smell of rotting flesh!

[acourtofquestions]

Kingdom of Ash Chapter 64

Chapter; Highlights

Hours later, Yrene was still shaking.

At the disaster they'd narrowly avoided, at the deaths she'd witnessed before that wave had struck, at the power of the queen on the plain. The power of the prince who had prevented the ensuing steam from boiling alive any caught in its path.

Yrene had thrown herself back into healing during the chaos since. Had left the royals and their commanders to oversee the aftermath, and had returned to the Great Hall. Healers drifted onto the battlefield, searching for those in need of help.

All of them, every single person in the keep or the skies or on the battlefield, kept glancing toward the now-empty gap between two mountain peaks. Toward the flooded, decimated city, and the demarcation line between life and death. Water and debris had destroyed most of Anielle, the former now trickling toward the Silver Lake.

A vision of what would have been left of them, were it not for Aelin Galathynius.

She'd been asked to inspect the queen when she'd been carried in to a private chamber by Prince Rowan, the two of them borne off the plain by Nesryn. Yrene hadn't been able to stop her hands from shaking as she'd hovered them over Aelin's unconscious body.

There had been no sign of harm beyond a few already-healing cuts and slices from the battle itself.

Nothing at all beyond a sleeping, tired woman.

Who held the might of a god within her veins.

Yrene had then inspected Prince Rowan, who looked in far worse shape, a sizable gash snaking down his thigh. But he'd waved her off, claiming he'd come too near a burnout, and just needed to rest as well.

So Yrene had left them, only to tend to another.

—

To Lorcan, whose injuries ... Yrene had needed to summon Hafiza to help her with some of it. To lend her power, since Yrene's had been so depleted.

The unconscious warrior, who had apparently tumbled right off Farasha as he and Elide had passed through the gates, didn't so much as stir while they worked on him.

That had been hours ago. Days ago, it felt.

Yes, she needed to rest.

But a horn, clear and bright, blared from outside.

Everyone halted-then rushed to the windows. Yrene's smile grew as she, too, found a place to peek out over the battlefield.

To where the rest of the khagan's army, Prince Kashin at its front, marched toward them.

Thank the gods. Everyone in the hall muttered similar words.

From the keep, an answering horn sang its welcome.

Not just one army had been spared here today, Yrene realized as she turned back to the water station. If that wave had reached Kashin.

…

Lucky. They had all been so, so very lucky.

Yet Yrene wondered how long that luck would last.

If it would see them through the brutal march northward, and to the walls of Orynth itself.

Lorcan let out a low groan as he surfaced from the warm, heavy embrace of darkness.

"You are one lucky bastard."

Too soon. Too damn soon after hovering near death to hear Fenrys's drawl.

Fenrys's smirk was a slash of white.

"You've been out for a day. I drew the short stick and had to look after you."

A lie. For whatever reason, Fenrys had chosen to be here.

Lorcan thumped his head back on the pillow. "Elide." Her name was a rasp on his tongue.

The last he remembered, they'd ridden through the gates, Aelin Galathynius's unholy power spent. Then oblivion had swept in.

"Helping with the healing in the Great Hall," Fenrys said, stretching out his legs before him.

Lorcan closed his eyes, something tight in his chest easing.

"Well, since you're not dead," Fenrys began, but Lorcan was already asleep.

Lorcan awoke later. Hours, days, he didn't know.

The candle was still burning on the narrow windowsill, down to its base. Hours, then.

He didn't care. Not when the dim light revealed the delicate woman lying facedown on the end of his cot, the lower half of her body still on the wooden chair where Fenrys had been. Her arms cradled her head, one outstretched toward him. Reaching for his hand, mere inches from hers.

Elide.

Her dark hair spilled across the blanket, across his shins, veiling much of her face.

Wincing at the lingering ache in his body, Lorcan stretched his arm just enough to touch her fingers. They were cold, their tips so much smaller than his. They contracted, pulling away as she sucked in a sharp, awakening breath.

Lorcan savored every feature as she grimaced at a crick in her neck. But her eyes settled on him. She went still as she found him staring at her, awake and utterly in awe of the woman who had ridden through hell to find him ...

Tired. She looked spent, yet her chin remained unbowed.

Lorcan had no words. He'd given her everything on the back of that horse anyway.

But Elide asked, "How do you feel?" Aching. Exhausted. Yet finding her sitting at his bedside... "Alive," he said, and meant it.

Her face remained unreadable, even as her eyes dipped to his body. The blanket had slid down enough to reveal most of his torso, though it still hid the scarred-over wound in his abdomen. Yet he'd never felt so keenly naked.

It was an effort to keep his breathing steady beneath her sharp-eyed gaze. "Yrene said you would have died, if they hadn't gotten to you when they did."

"I would have died," he said, voice like gravel, "if you hadn't braved hell to find me." Her gaze lifted to his. "I made you a promise."

"So you said."

Was that a hint of color stealing across her pale cheeks? But she didn't balk. "You said some interesting things, too."

Lorcan tried to sit up, but his body gave a burst of pain in protest.

Elide explained, "Yrene warned that though the wounds are healed, some soreness will linger."

Lorcan gritted his teeth around the sharp stab in his back, his stomach. He managed to get onto his elbows, and deemed that progress enough. "It's been a while since I was so gravely injured. I'd forgotten what an inconvenience it is."

A faint smile tugged on her mouth.

His heart halted. The first smile she had given him in months and months. Since that day on the ship, when he'd touched her hand as they'd swayed in their hammocks.

Her smile faded, but the color on her cheeks lingered. "Did you mean it? What you said." He held her stare. Let some inner wall within him come crumbling down. Only for her. For this sharp-eyed, cunning little liar who had slipped through every defense and ironclad rule he'd ever made for himself. He let her see that in his face. Let her see all of it, as no one had ever done before. "Yes."

Her mouth tightened, but not in displeasure.

So Lorcan said softly, "I meant every word." His heart thundered, so wildly it was a wonder she couldn't hear it. "And I will until the day I fade into the Afterworld."

Lorcan didn't breathe as Elide gently reached out her hand. And interlaced their fingers. "I love you," she whispered.

He was glad he was lying down. The words would have knocked him to his knees. Even now, he was half inclined to bow before her, the true owner of his ancient, wicked heart.

"I have loved you," she went on, "from the moment you came to fight for me against Vernon and the ilken." The light in her eyes stole his breath. "And when I heard you were somewhere on that battlefield, the only thing I wanted was to be able to tell you that. It was the only thing that mattered."

Once, he might have scoffed. Declared that far bigger things mattered, in this war especially. And yet the hand grasping his ... He'd never known anything more precious.

Lorcan ran his thumb over the back of her hand. "I am sorry, Elide. For all of it."

"I know," she said softly, and no regret or hurt dimmed her face. Only clear, unwavering calm shone there. The face of the mighty lady she was growing into, and had already become, and who would rule Perranth with wisdom in one hand and compassion in the other.

They stared at each other for minutes. For a blessed eternity.

Then Elide untangled their hands and rose. "I should return to help Yrene."

Lorcan caught her hand again. "Stay."

She arched a dark brow. "I'm only going to the Great Hall."

Lorcan caressed his thumb over the back of her hand once more. "Stay," he breathed.

For a heartbeat, he thought she'd say no, and was prepared to be fine with it, to accept these last few minutes as more of a gift than he'd deserved.

"Say it," she whispered, fingers stilling in his hair. Lorcan opened his eyes, finding her gaze. "I love you."

"Yrene said you might always have this," she said, her hand mercifully falling away.

"Then it will be the scar I treasure most."

Fenrys would laugh until he cried to hear him speak this way, but Lorcan didn't care. To hell with the rest of them.

Another one of those small smiles curved her lips, and Lorcan's hands tightened in the sheets with the effort it took not to taste that smile, to worship it with his own mouth.

But this new, fragile thing humming between them ... He would not risk it for all the world.

Elide, thank the gods, had no such worries.

None at all, it seemed, as she lifted a hand to his cheek and ran her thumb along it. Every breath was an effort of control.

Lorcan held absolutely still as she brought her mouth to his. Brushed her lips across his own.

She pulled back. "Rest, Lorcan. I'll be here again when you wake."

Anything she asked, he'd give her.

Anything at all.

Too shaken by that soft, beautiful kiss to bother with words, he lay back down.

But until then, he wanted her here. Sleeping at his side, where he might watch over her. As she had watched over him.

Elide seemed to read that on his face, and her cheeks reddened further. "Later, then," she breathed, limping to the door.

Lorcan sent a flicker of his power to wrap around her ankle. The limp vanished.

A hand on the knob, she gave him a small, grateful nod. "I missed that."

He heard the unspoken words as she disappeared into the busy hall.

I missed you.

Lorcan allowed himself a rare smile.