#and i didnt even like lay on the horn like i should have i never think to honk until im out of it cause in just focused on not crashing

[m-feys]

Almost got hit head on on my way to work. :|

[bloodycassian]

Branded - Az x no gender reader

Reader helps Az figure out where an artifact came from. No smut. 

Putrid stale air rose from the island off the spring court coast. The Illyirans all glanced at each other nervously. 

The rebellion when Tamlin had found out about Nyx had been...subtle. He began with calling a meeting, the first in his court in several years. Where he then proceeded to inform the rest of the courts about Nyx and his paranoia of the night court wanting total control of Prythian.

 “No different than the king that the drunk hellcat slew.” He had grimaced, leaning back in his chair at the head of the table. Cassian tensed, jaw clenching at the mention of his mate. Rhys shot him a look that had his general stay in place. The  meeting would not last long if Tamlin made many more remarks like that.

“The king that you allied yourself with, Tam?” Lucien cut, crossing his arms over his chest. His metal eye clicked - narrowing at his once friend and ally. 

Tamlin bared his teeth, the rage plain on his face. Rhys had no idea how deep the rage and pain went however. He shuddered as he circled lower with his brothers. The smell was getting worse. Rage and love were blinding effects to the mind but...enough to..torture people? To what end? 

The shanties and tents among the dead island were somehow in worse condition than the Illyrian camps. And the bodies… Azriel felt his stomach churn at the sight of the malnourished figures laying among piles of blankets. 

Trying to stay warm from the cool sea air. Tamlin never spelled the area to withstand more intense weather conditions. He had wanted them to suffer. Cassian was scouting ahead for any survivors. Azriel and Rhys walked up the creaky wooden steps to the biggest cottage in the makeshift town.

 “Mother above…” Rhys breathed as the door swung open into darkness. Azriel was next to him in an instant, letting his shadows take him over the steps. Quiet as the wind. 

His heart fell out of his body at the sight before him. Scattered in the dark room were pieces of bodies, tattered linens and blood. Cauldron, blood was everywhere. But that wasn’t what knocked the air from his lungs. In the center of the room, supported only by spikes and spears was the body of a horned wolf. Golden fur turned a dark brown from crusted blood. 

Tamlin was dead. 

Rhys was backing up, knocking into Azriel’s shoulder. Shock weighed both of them, making them numb. Rhys kept backing, down the steps until he fell on his ass into the mud next to a pile of dirty blankets. 

“Rhys-” 

“No, I dont… No.” His hands combed through his hair, pulling slightly. 

Cassian arrived then, his face a bit pale. “What-” His eyes went blank for a moment and his jaw dropped. He ran to the cottage to check for himself. Rhys couldnt even speak to him. Azriel took a breath, cracked his knuckles and grabbed Rhys’ arm. 

“Go back to her. Tell Elain-Nesta, whoever to watch Nyx and tell Feyre. She needs to know.” Azriel forced his high lord to make eye contact. His eyes were muted, but he nodded numbly. Azriel turned to follow Cassian to the bloody room. His shadows whispered to him that Rhys had gone. He breathed easier knowing Rhys was at least listening.

“Az, you see this?” Cassian called. 

He approached the wolf body apprehensively. He had never liked Tamlin, not since what he did to his almost-mother. Rhys’ mother. His head was spinning with the politics of other courts learning that Spring was now barren of a high lord. He prayed to the Cauldron that none would find it suspicious that the night court had found Tamlin. 

Cassian was pointing to the shoulder of the beast. The brand almost looked like a stamp with how deep it cut. An image of a lit torch, blood dripping from the edges of it. He didnt know if the blood was the design or if it was from the wound. 

“That’s not an insignia i know.” Azriel murmured. 

“The queens maybe?” Cassian wiped his hands on his trousers, fingers lingering towards his dagger for safety. 

“I think I know someone who may be able to help.” Azriel sent out his shadows, searching as far as he could. He would find what kind of metal made this.

+

“It’s Torvakian. Not rare but uncommon even on the continent.” You explained, weighing the metal in your hands. Azriel had it brought to you by his dark shadows before he had even arrived. 

By the time he did you were able to glean a sample of the piece and compare it to ones similar. 

“What does that mean?” 

“It means it’s from even further east than Rask. You’ll have to be more specific about what you’re asking.” You tossed the branding iron back to him. He wasn’t his normal… neutral self today. He was almost mad.

“Shouldnt you know this, being a spymaster and all?” You chided, turning from him and pulling another dark iron from the wall. It was similar to the piece he had brought you, but the forging was different. Like it was carved from an entire stone instead of being put together. 

He sighed and ignored you. “Do you know anything about the insignia? Are there other courts that this represents?” He was definitely in a  bad mood. You wished you could offer him a drink, but he had been non stop questioning the entire time. Really, Rhys should pay you as well. Being the go to mystery metal solver whenever any foreign courts tried attacking… it was job security you supposed. 

“I’ve never seen the insignia. Maybe you should go ask Clotho-” He cringed, his shadows gathering around his shoulders. “or maybe Gwyn, shadowsinger. She’s trained enough with the scholars to know” You clipped, knowing it would shake him. 

If he was going to be grumpy then you could be too. You knew about his late talks with the Valkyrie, yet he was always spending unnecessary amounts of time just around you. Joking, sharing lunch and stories from the continent. You had even roughly planned a ‘dream trip’ with him there. All theoretically, of course. 

His eyes smoldered, cheeks deepening in color. You felt yourself flush red and turned from him. Pretending to inspect a sword on the wall, you felt his presence shift. You knew where he would be before you turned. You swallowed. He was right beside you, not a word spoken.

“I dont want Gwyn-” He breathed, placing a scarred hand on your wrist gently. “I want you.”

He lowered your hand and his fingers slowly slid over the back of yours. The texture of his was interesting, firm but soft as well. His fingers interlaced with yours, as if asking permission. He was slow, so damned slow with this. As if you were going to run away. 

He brought your hand to his lips and kissed lightly. 

[bluehairedspidey]

who's next by the who? (going with this one since it was the first one i listened to all the way through)

send me an album & I’ll pick my favorite lyrics from every song

this was actually the first album of theirs that i listened to all the way through too! my brother got it on vinyl for me for christmas (as well as odds & sods)

Baba O'Riley: Sally, take my hand, we'll travel south 'cross land / Put out the fire and don't look past my shoulder

Bargain: I'd gladly lose me to find you / I'd gladly give up all I had / To find you, I'd suffer anything and be glad

Love Ain't for Keeping: Laying on my back / In the newly-mown grass / Rain is coming down / But I know the clouds will pass / You bring me tea / Say the babe's a-sleeping / Lay down beside me / Love ain't for keeping [a simple little song about sex. genuinely i tho i think its very sweet, also i'm a sucker for roger (and men in general) saying "darling" <3 ]

My Wife: And I'm oh-so tired of running / Gonna lay down on the floor / I've gotta rest some time / So I can get to run some more [ok while i love a lot of the more romantic and sentimental lyrics of the other songs, this is definitely still my favorite song on the album. i LOVE john's writing so much, his songs are never boring. the music is great (especially since they often heavily feature horns which, as a trombone player myself, i'm a huge fan of) and they always tell a clear and engaging story. i usually have a hard time picking favorites but at least as far as songwriting goes i'd probably have to go with john lol]

The Song Is Over: The song is over / I'm left with only tears / I must remember / Even if it takes a million years // The song is over / The song is over / Excepting one note, pure and easy / Playing so free, like a breath rippling by [another thing i'm always a sucker for in music is men sing about crying, just men being able to express pain in a vulnerable way rather than repressing it. i also included the outro as well as the last verse since i really like hearing pete and roger sing it together <3 ]

Getting in Tune: I'm singing this note 'cause it fits in well with the chords I'm playing / I can't pretend there's any meaning hidden in the things I'm saying

Going Mobile: Watch the police and the tax man miss me / I'm mobile [i should send this song to my mom, she lives in a van]

Behind Blue Eyes: When my fist clenches, crack it open / Before I use it and lose my cool / When I smile, tell me some bad news / Before I laugh and act like a fool / And if I swallow anything evil / Put your finger down my throat / And if I shiver, please give me a blanket / Keep me warm, let me wear your coat [i didnt realize til now i actually really like All the lyrics to this song. again, that masculine vulnerability really gets me, and the pleas to be protected and taken care of here arent helped by my already strong affection for roger (and pete) lol]

Won't Get Fooled Again: I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution / Take a bow for the new revolution / Smile and grin at the change all around / Pick up my guitar and play / Just like yesterday / Then I'll get on my knees and pray / We don't get fooled again

[modern-vellichor]

In Her Blood; Three

Summary: Steve's birthday gives plenty opportunity to play your little game. Bridges are being rebuilt between you and Steve when Sarah doesnt come home.

Pairing: DadsBestFriend!Bucky x Reader, Sam x Steve

Warnings: smoking, angst, drinking, alcohol use (not abuse), uncomfortable family dynamic, age gap relationship.

Previous Chapter || Masterlist

Sam, Sarah and Bucky are all standing around the kitchen counter, Steve is blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

You shoulder through the front door, carrying a large cardboard box on your hip. You place it on the counter in front of Steve, and you smile.

"happy birthday, Steve-o"

He looks a little confused at first, he's wary opening the box. He's faced with oil paints and synthetic brushes, canvases and a mole skin sketchbook.

"were these spare from school?", he asks her, trailing his finger down the spine of his notebook.

"nope, bought them in my supply shop before I flew back, been hiding it in my trunk", she smiles, sitting herself in the stool beside Bucky.

"well", he says, surprised. "Thank you"

You shoot him a kind smile and turn to Sarah as she explains the plans for the night; "we're going to a new place, it should be nice and quiet considering it is the fourth of July"

The next time you're all together, Sam and Steve are clad in suits and you and Sarah are tugging dresses along behind you. You climb into your car and shout to Sarah through an open window.

"I'll pick up Barnes and follow yall there, wait for us outside!"

She throws you a thumbs up and you pull up outside of Bucky's house, honking your horn.

When he opens his door you have to hurriedly pick your jaw from the floor before he slides in next to you, his suit hugging every muscle perfectly.

You throw a pack of Marlboro Golds at him and he knows what to do. Lighting one between his teeth, he passes it to your lips. You nod in thanks, and then he drops his hand to your thigh, giving it a light squeeze. Your breath catches in your throat.

It isn't long before you're parking on the curb next to your family and throwing your butt out the window. Bucky is opening your door and offering his hand before you even have your belt unplugged. You take his hand and graciously step into the humid summer night.

The bar is quaint, dimly lit. Your dress shimmers in the flickering candle light, warm and homely. Bucky's hand stays on the small of your back, rubbing hot circles on exposed skin.

You and Bucky are the last to slot into the curved bench around a large table, you only have to step over Bucky to escape, but he's got you trapped, right where he wants you.

You all drink the night away slowly, whiskeys and Manhattan's, a cranberry vodka soda for you, a dangerous drink.

Bucky's hand stays on your thigh the whole night, hidden under the table, the slit in your dress the perfect place to slip his hand to bare flesh.

It's just gone midnight when Sam and Steve are sauntering onto the dancefloor and swaying in eachothers arms.

Bucky turns to you with a mischievous grin and an outstretched hand, "would you like to dance, doll?", his tone mocks innocence and sincerity, enough so Sarah isn't suspicious of your secret rendezvous.

Your smile is equally as devilish, you take his hand, "Actually, I would"

He smirks as he leads you to the floor by the hand, its terribly intimate and the risk of being caught looms dangerously close, neither of your care. He spins and dips you, holding you close to him. You catch Sam's eye and he winks at you with a joking smile, you throw a thumbs up behind Bucky's back and smile.

"they're so clueless", you whisper into his ear, breath tickling his neck as you nibble at his earlobe.

"kitten", he growls, "stop that"

"you're so scary", you mock, but you stop nonetheless, parting from him and dragging him to the bar and then outside.

You hold your cigarette between your fingers and your glass is hanging lazy from your other grip. Bucky stands behind you, chin on your shoulder and arms iron-tight around your waist.

When you bring the smoke to your lips he allows you a long pull before taking it from you, placing it loosely between his oh-so-kissable lips.

He takes a drag for himself and then presses his lips to yours, sticky smoke fills your lungs and you smile, he pulls away and you blow a cloud in his face with a giggle.

Bucky and Steve are driving everyone home, their tolerance higher than everyone else's, and Sarah too tired to drive.

You rest your hand on Bucky's thigh as he pulls into your driveway, you're leaning on him as he walks you to your room. He's tucking you into bed and you're pulling him in next to you. He lays in your arms for a moment before he's making for the door. You let out a disappointed whine, but you stop at the click of a lock. You smile as he slips under the covers next to you. You press sweet kisses to his lips, tangled in each others arms.

He slips into the guest bedroom while you're still asleep. You and Sarah are the only two awake early the next morning, Steve already out for his run.

"god is real", you giggle into your coffee mug.

Sarah smiles back at you, she sees your stupid grin and blushing cheeks, "really?", she presses.

"he was sleeping in my bed night. God in jeans", you grin, sipping your strong coffee.

Steve comes in then, pouring himself a cup, you and Sarah stop talking.

"morning girls", you both mumble back a 'mornin'.

That afternoon, the five of you all gathered in the living room, Sarah excuses herself.

"I'm going out with Nate"

You all smile at her and wish get goodbye. Then you turn to your parents confused. Your head is resting on the armrest while your legs are thrown over Bucky's lap.

"who the fuck is Nate?", you question.

"language", Steve mumbles, not looking up from his fresh sketchbook.

"Nate is her boyfriend", Sam explains, you smile knowingly, shooting Bucky a discreet wink.

The day passes lazily, and soon you and Steve are the only ones awake. You stroll into the living room where he is sat, reading some old book.

"Sarah not home yet?", you ask as you make yourself comfortable in the armchair.

"no, not yet?"

It's already late, and so you turn to him. "why dont you go to bed, I'll wait up for Sarah"

"no it's okay, I'll stay up, why dont you get some sleep"

"I'll keep you company"

Its oddly comfortable, the two of you cozy in armchairs and warm lighting. You're curled up in a blanket, typing away on your laptop, Steve sprawled out across the room with his book.

The night rolls on and you both grow more worried.

"should we call the police?", he says, his back is straight, he's anxious.

"no", you say softly.

"arent the first 24 hours the most crucial in missing persons cases?", he stresses.

"that's missing children, Dad. She's almost nineteen", you both pause, that's the first time you've called him Dad since you turned 16. "if she's not hone by morning we'll call the police, and then we'll round up a gang and go looking"

You shut your laptop and settle next to him, you throw you arm over his broad shoulders and comfort him. Eventually the two of you fall asleep.

You're startled awake he next morning by the sound of the door opening, you both scramble up, expecting Sarah. Instead you find Sam and Bucky.

"is Sarah home?", you question, still groggy. Bucky smiles at your sleepy form.

But Sam looks worried, "I dont know, why?"

You shoot Steve an anxious look and bolt up the stairs, you find her bedroom empty, and jump back down the stairs. "she didnt come home last night"

At that moment, Sarah bustles in. Her makeup is smudged and her clothes wrinkled, dark circles prominent under her eyes. You and Steve's demeanors immediately change to angry and defensive.

"where we're you?", you say simultaneously.

"out with Nate, I told you"

You and Steve glance at each other before he's ordering Sarah into the kitchen. You follow after Steve, Sam leads Bucky away into the living room, distracting him.

You have always been able to tell you were Steve's daughter. You both tower over Sarah as she rubs her temple. You hold yourselves with the same power, the same dominance. Bucky and Sam watch discreetly from the hall, and Bucky cant deny the similarities.

When you talk you use the same rough tone, "where the fuck were you?", "what were you thinking?", "we were gonna call the cops, do you know how worried we were?". Its biting and cold, you're both furious.

"you would never do this if Y/N disappeared for a night", she snaps. You both freeze, Steve straightens up, you're shocked into silence.

"Y/N knows how to hold her own. Y/N is an adult, I trust Y/N to ge safe, and to keep herself safe incase anything were to happen", he states, tone unnervingly even and monotone.

"I'm an adult too", she whines.

"You're not even nineteen, Sarah", you snap. "We still have to order you coke and chips whenever we go out, you may be a legal adult but you sure as hell don't act like one"

At that Sarah storms up the stairs and slams her door. You and Steve sigh as Bucky and Sam amble into the kitchen. Steve pours everyone a cup of coffee, you all sit in comfortable silence.

"Hey, what if we all go up to the lake, its perfect this time round, I'm sure we can all fit in the cabin", Steve says after a while. You all nod in agreement, Sam starts up the stairs to tell Sarah.

"wha'd'ya think, Y/N?", Steve smiles, all of a sudden shy. He's not used to being so soft with you, the two of you hadn't properly gotten along since you were 14, and here you were, together, close.

"I'll start packing", you smile.

@vicmc624 @adriannajackson @zizzlekwum @chipilerendi @madaroni37

[bladekindeyewear]

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-08-23

More homestuuuuuck

I’m a little tired today so I don’t expect much intelligent analysis out of myself, but if anything classpecty happens I doubt I’ll be able to help myself regardless.

oh, always

(EDITS: added note on horn colors, link to ask on potential Blood powers reference)

> CHAPTER 12. Really Convoluted Metaphorical Horseshit

cuuute

In the bowels of a different ship, at a moment in time that is not pinpointable in either direction from the previous interaction, another Dave raps quietly to himself.

another dave raps quietly to himself.  i am glad that phrase exists it brings me joy

(LATER EDIT: A friend on Discord pointed out that throughout this entire update, Karkat's horns are #FF0000 red. They were normal candy-corn colors in previous glimpses at the ship crew, though they used a dark single-color shortcut typical of old Homestuck at one point... but THIS time it stays STARK red even when we zoom in close later. Is this just artistic liberty? Did Karkat color his horns for fashion? Does this happen to red-bloods like the Sufferer after a certain age? Just how much time has actually passed, here? We might have to wait for the commentary for this one.)

KARKAT: I WAS SAYING I THOUGHT WE MIGHT GO, I DUNNO, ANYWHERE ELSE ON THE ENTIRE SHIP WHILE THE CLOTHES WERE WASHING. KARKAT: SEEING AS THIS DECREPIT MACHINE WE WERE SO BLESSEDLY PROVIDED WITH MAKES A WHIRRING SOUND SO PANCHAFINGLY ARHYTHMIC THAT IT THREATENS TO ERADICATE THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF TEMPO FROM THE UNIVERSE.

Karkat really has chilled out hasnt he?  like this is surprisingly level for him, and that fact is hilarious.

KARKAT: AND YET SOMEHOW BASICALLY ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE WE STARTED THE LOAD IS THAT YOU’VE BEEN USING IT AS A FUCKED UP BEAT TO WHISPER TO YOURSELF ABOUT FLOWERS TO.

oh gosh that’s why he’s rapping

> ==>

DAVE: kanaya was telling me this kids story the other day about this dude who didnt cherish a flower enough until it peaced out to do flower stuff idk its not pertinent to the story DAVE: except the flower was a person DAVE: because it was a metaphor

Oh right, coming back to the Little Prince stuff I was too lazy to metaphor-deep-dive into, and literally asking the same questions we were asking about who the Little Prince’s story applies to mapped here if anyone at all, like Dirk and such, or what biases were in the retelling of it and the way Kanaya phrased it.  So now we’re practically mocking it by deep diving it here, hence the last page’s “DAVE: i was just thinking through some really convoluted metaphorical horseshit”, which means we’re both about to further explore AND shit all over the existence of this story metaphor until it doesn’t mean anything and most of the meaning we drew from it earlier is made a joke~

well, not “we”, cause I was too lazy, so... y’all

DAVE: anyway what goes down in the story is that once the flower lady is out of the picture DAVE: the main character goes around making all these connections between her and everything else in the universe until every damn thing feels like a symbol for how much he fucked up and how much he will never see her again KARKAT: THIS SEEMS PRETTY FUCKING INTENSE FOR A KID'S STORY DAVE: yea thats pretty much what i said

Oh holy shit.  That’s yet another way to put it.  Are we doing a whole moral takedown of the Light aspect today?  cause it sounds like we’re taking a dump on the Light aspect and RoboRose getting too obsessed and immersed in it, which would be excellent

DAVE: but i guess its not so much what the story was technically textually about but more like the version of it kanaya internalized and then told me when we were talkin about how she misses rose

exactly

DAVE: so like now im taking the story she told me she was projecting her feelings onto and projecting my feelings on top of that

yes absolutely, you just rephrased it a different way with that exact same bias

DAVE: this is just one big game of emotional projection telephone so feel free to go paraphrase it to roxy later and make it about whatever fuckin thing youre currently missing

perfect. i need an emoji for that Italian thing for when you pinch your thumb and forefinger together and kiss it

ah this’ll do:

its like the expression “choice” but in nonverbal form

[...] whatever fuckin thing youre currently missing KARKAT: YOUR ABILITY TO GET TO THE POINT DAVE: gotem DAVE: anyway you’re not gonna have to miss that skill of mine for long DAVE: get ready for this shit because i am about to slap you with the point so hard youll fall ass first into the washer DAVE: just scrambling around in there getting all sudsy DAVE: but your brain is gonna be so blasted from the mindfreak of a point im about to make that there wont be anything left to clean

Anytime dave is told to get to the point he is contractually obligated to spend at least 20 seconds talking about how he’ll get to the point in a way that is not getting to the point

DAVE: so its genuinely cool that kanaya can go around creating meaning that may or may not be actually present in every little thing DAVE: connecting every feeling she has to the idea of her wife existing out there DAVE: so i told her she should keep that shit up DAVE: but im having the opposite issue where im struggling to find anything to be that kind of tether because every single thing i could possibly consider about what it is were doing just reminds me of yet another thing to be afraid about

Great examples of Light being good and bad!  Attaching strands of connective meaning to everything.  --though, in Dave’s case AND Kanaya’s case you could argue it’s both bad in terms of effects.  That it’s great for Kanaya to care, but that she should be able to divest herself and live on her own terms without idealizing Rose literally everywhere she looks, personal growth which would be useful in helping bring Rose back to her in the first place.  The struggle they’re looking forward to is largely philosophical, not just physical, and until Rosebot acknowledges that she was wrong it’s not over.

DAVE: everything fuckin sucks huge cosmic donkey sack and im terrified KARKAT: OK, SO I FEEL LIKE YOU SKIPPED A COUPLE NECESSARY STEPS IN YOUR POINT CLARIFICATION PROCESS.

Pretty sure Dave was on the same page as most Epilogue and start-of-HS2 readers.  This situation is pretty bleak to dump our heroes into, no matter how much we believe will be resolved in the long run.

DAVE: ok but were you going with sweet or savory please give me that much at least KARKAT: YEAH IT WAS GOING TO BE SUNDAE-BASED. DAVE: nice KARKAT: YEAH. KARKAT: DO YOU WANNA WATCH MORE GBBO AFTER THIS? DAVE: absolutely

--ah, Great British Bake-Off, can’t say I’ve indulged

do they still have that?? did they save it from old Earth?  or did they go where unflooded Britain used to be and say hey, new show reboot

KARKAT: GREAT. ANYWAY, LIKE I WAS SAYING, FOR THE LOVE OF SWEET HUMAN CHRIST, PLEASE BACK UP TO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU’RE ACTUALLY SCARED OF. KARKAT: ALSO COME HERE, IDIOT.

That last line is like, exactly as fucking sweet and awesome as we imagined their relationship to be.  :)

> ==>

OH MY GOD THAT’S ADORABLE

DAVE: ok yeah this is a better position to unleash all my inner fears n anxieties from

indisputably.

DAVE: those times its like my mouth was saying words about the situation wherein our friends are AWOL and maybe dead but my brain wasnt fully letting me experience the emotion that goes along with them DAVE: man its like i cant even start genuinely thinking about how afraid i actually am for rose and john without my brain flippin its wad and whiting out DAVE: like haha fuck i hope theyre ok DAVE: now i better make a fuckin joke before i succumb to the gaping mouth of despair waiting for me to fall in it as soon as i look down and acknowledge that its there ogling how juicy my ass looks as it trembles with terror

I really hope that the writers of HS2 know full well that this feeling? the one Dave is describing here? is what many of us who got way overinvested in the well-being of Homestuck’s surviving characters felt reading the Epilogues and Homestuck^2.  So I really hope they’re working through it in a way that will result in a preponderance of GOOD THINGS happening and hope-filled situations.  Cause that “can’t even think about X” feeling is too familiar, and if they understand it as well as it LOOKS like they’re getting to, I’d really like them to give us a helping hand healing.

I think that’s what they’re going for?  Seems hopeful for me to think so, but they HAVE been doing better as HS2 has been going forward, from an emotional standpoint anyway; definitely better than the Epilogues.  And I’ve worked through some of that stuff with the help of that, because it’s MUCH easier nowadays to think about Homestuck without my gut clenching.

DAVE: i guess im just fucked up about how to worry about dirk and be angry at him at the same time DAVE: because if i get as unholy pissed at him as i sometimes wanna be i also gotta admit to myself that maybe i coulda done something different there

Mhmm, Karkat’s potentially a pretty good person to speak with here since he’s done so much work trying not to feel responsible for everything that’s ever gone wrong.

DAVE: also like DAVE: and this by the way adds a whole other layer of guilt on there that i dont really know how to fuckin reckon with but DAVE: even with all the shit hes pulled and the fact that we are more or less heading toward having to take him down DAVE: whatever that is gonna mean and whether or not he planned it like that DAVE: i just DAVE: me and him had come so far with each other and it was really cool for a while to have him and i DAVE: ugh DAVE: i dont WANT to hate him

Yeah, Dirk and Jane’s heel-turns were really shitty for anyone who was a fan of them in the fanbase, as well.

KARKAT: WELL THEN QUIT FUCKING PICKING AT THE SEAM ON MY SHORTS AND SPIT IT OUT. THEY'RE BARELY HANGING ON TO THE DEFINITION OF "SHORTS" AS IT IS.

That is an adorably real boyfriend-laying-in-boyfriend’s-lap thing to do

DAVE: the part i mentioned before about how we really have no goddamn clue how long this trip is even gonna take DAVE: i cant help but feel like its barely getting revved up DAVE: and for me and roxy and jade and callie and kan thats normal shit at best and boring at worst but we all have our immortality to thank for that DAVE: we can just dick around in space for near-eternity waiting to catch up to our friends who may or may not be our enemies now and itll be fine DAVE: i mean no itll be categorically miserable DAVE: but well survive it KARKAT: HOLD THE FUCK ON. DAVE: but you KARKAT: DAVE. DAVE: no lemme say this

Oh god damnit.  Karkat’s limited lifespan.  As if we hadn’t ALREADY covered a nauseatingly extensive gamut of disheartening topics of conversation.  We really have to confront every shred of misery in their past, present and future one after the other after the other in the Epilogues and HS2, don’t we?  >:(

I guess it had to be discussed, though.

DAVE: we dont talk about it much and i got shit to say about it DAVE: its not like i never thought about how youre mortal before but i just thought wed be able to figure it out before it mattered DAVE: come up with some kind of plan DAVE: i was just distracted being happy with you i fucking guess and so i didnt think up a way to fix it DAVE: and now thanks to dirk we have to work it out right the fuck now DAVE: because i cant spend this trip just sitting around watching you get old and die

Jesus.  I mean, WE know(?) that it’s not gonna be THAT many years, but THEY don’t know that.

Unless it really IS going to be that many years and HS2 is going to shamelessly take a fucking sledgehammer to our feelings for no goddamn good reason.  Which it won’t!  Right???  >:T

> ==>

Dishwasher ding

> Dave: Grapple with the clean, soggy consequences of the passage of time.

Hey, don’t make it a metaphor here. --though, fuck.  I suppose we are dealing with everyones dirty laundry.  God damnit.  SURE, deal with it all story but then GET IT OUT OF THE WAY AND PUT SOME SERIOUS FUN AND LAUGHS IN HERE so we don’t feel like we’re wading through an entire garbage dump!!!  *click*

Karkat’s eyebrows-only mouthless frown is really cute.

> ==>

okay Karkat explain the nope you’re lodging

> ==>

*put*

> ==>

*foot*

> ==>

DAVE: ok go on

I mean I at least appreciate the time investment in adorable boyfriends.  That’s definitely something of SOME good value they’re giving us in exchange for this misery

> ==>

That Karkat image makes me wanna do that red-shaky-gif-thing with it

KARKAT: IT'S NOT LIKE I'M NEW TO THE PARTICULAR MOOBEAST WRANGLING EVENT OF SOMEONE I PREVIOUSLY LOVED BRUTALLY TURNING ON ME AND LEAVING ME TO TRY AND CRAM MY FEELINGS ABOUT THE SITUATION BACK TOGETHER ALL ON MY OWN.

True

KARKAT: HE DID THAT ON HIS OWN. AND WE MADE THE CHOICE TO GO AFTER HIM ON OUR OWN.

Yes, and you’ll possibly convince him more of that over time, though not in this short conversation

KARKAT: I WAS FOLLOWING YOUR LITTLE TRAIL OF COOKIE CRUMB FEARS UNTIL IT LEAD TO THE BIG SNACK FINALE OF WORRY ABOUT MY FRAGILE MORTAL MEATSACK. KARKAT: IF I HAVE SOMEHOW NOT BEEN CLEAR ABOUT THIS WITH YOU YET, LET ME GO AHEAD AND RECTIFY THE SITUATION RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. KARKAT: HANGING OUT WITH YOU ON THIS LONG TRIP TO WHO THE SHITTING FUCK KNOWS WHERE IS QUITE LITERALLY THE HAPPIEST I HAVE EVER BEEN IN MY ENTIRE MEAGER EXISTENCE. KARKAT: I'M SO ABSOLUTELY BLISSED THE FUCK OUT OF MY MIND TO BE ABLE TO LOOK AT YOUR STUPID IMMORTALLY SMOOTH HUMAN FACE SKIN EVERY DAY AND NOT HAVE A COMPLEX ABOUT IT.

D’AWWW

And with that darkly angry expression too, that’s PERFECT

I mean it’s true.  What exactly would they be doing DIFFERENTLY on Earth C other than enjoying each other like this?  It’s pretty fucking great.

...hm.  Isn’t this journey-not-the-destination stuff pretty Breathy?  Karkat’s proving more balanced by the moment.

KARKAT: AND I'LL BE STRAIGHT WITH YOU. IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVEN'T BEEN EXPERIENCING SOME COMPLICATED GUILT, MYSELF. KARKAT: THE FACT THAT I'M HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE JUST FUCKING CHILLAXING AND BEING IN LOVE IN SPACE IS A CLEARLY INCONGRUOUS WITH THE REASON I'M ACTUALLY HERE CHILLAXING TO BEGIN WITH, AND I'M NOT LETTING MYSELF FORGET THAT, EITHER.

Pff.  He feels guilty for ENJOYING IT so much.  <3

KARKAT: BUT I RESENT THE IMPLICATION THAT MY HAPPINESS IS REGISTERING FOR YOU AS YOU HAVING TO JUST "SIT AROUND AND WATCH ME GET OLD," BECAUSE I KNOW YOU KNOW IT'S MORE THAN THAT.

I’m glad Karkat knows that DAVE knows somewhere in him that it’s more than that, because yeah, if Karkat thought he DIDN’T know that at some level that’d be a reason to take MUCH MORE SERIOUS offense.

KARKAT: LIKE, JESUS, DAVE. YOU KNOW I'M AFRAID FOR YOU, TOO, RIGHT? KARKAT: OR DID YOU FORGET THE WHOLE HEROIC DEATH THING? KARKAT: I WORRY ABOUT LOSING YOU FAIRLY FUCKING REGULARLY.

Hah!!!  Point taken.  Karkat must view Dave as practically more fragile than HIM.

KARKAT: ONE: WE'VE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH HELLACIOUS PANWARPING TRAUMA THAT I REFUSE TO NOT ENJOY THIS SHIT WHEN I FINALLY FUCKING GET IT, NO MATTER HOW LONG IT MAY OR MAY NOT LAST. KARKAT: TWO: IT'S NOT LIKE WE'RE DOING NOTHING. WE’RE MOVING. WE’RE WORKING. WE’RE HEADED SPECIFICALLY TO A PLACE WHERE WE WILL UNDOUBTLEDLY ENDURE YET MORE FUCKING HELLACIOUS PANWARPING TRAUMA. KARKAT: AND THREE: WE'RE DOING THAT BECAUSE WE HAVE FRIENDS WHO WE CARE ABOUT THAT NEED US. THAT IS OUR FOCUS, HERE. NOT OUR FEAR. IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE WE HAVE TO SAVE. KARKAT: SO DON'T FUCKING WORRY ABOUT ME, DAVE. I'M FINE.

Okay, this is great and wholesome.  I am now retroactively GLAD that this topic got brought up.  :)

> ==>

Dave is still afraid. There is a part of him that will always be, he thinks. He has accepted this about himself. There is another feeling coursing through him too, though. It’s something he's felt before, though never quite so intensely. He looks up at Karkat and understands, viscerally, the simple power his words have. They pump through Dave’s own body, alive and warm and true.

He wonders if Karkat realizes it, or if he’s just, as always, saying what he feels as he feels it. Dave doesn’t attempt to dissect it further. There will be time for that later.

Every really loving moment like this is sort of undercut by the fact that it’s also, in some senses, part of alt!Calliope’s narration and, by extension, her fanfiction.

EDIT 2: There's also either a hint to potential Blood powers or even an explicit Blood power use here that I didn't recognize. I'm leaning towards it's-laying-the-groundwork-for-future-use-of-Blood-powers-but-isnt-magical-in-this-case.

> ==>

Smooooch!

That was nice.  Still gonna wait on doing any commentary til next time or a Bonus update or two, cause I’m beat.  See y’all next time!

[hellswolfie]

The Mark of Athena Review

Ok so once again i continue reading “The Heroes of Olympus” and once again i need to vent so Tadaaaaa !!

So before I start, here is a  more general Review : I really REALLY liked this book. Favorite of the serie so far. Also, obviously, SPOILERS !!

THINGS I DIDNT LIKE : 

- The role of Frank : I can maybe forgive that, because with 7 main characters i  understand it’s difficult to give them all an important role in one single book. But I really loved him in “The Son of Neptune” and I really wanted to see more of him, and the most of what we got was him being the Jealous Boyfriend. It was kind of disappointing so I hope it’ll change in the next books. 

- Piper : it costs me a lot to put her there because I really really loved her in “The Lost Hero” but I have to admit I didn’t like one single chapter of hers in “The Mark of Athena”. Or at least not completely. In the first book there was the relationship with her dad, her culture, her dealing with the fact she was an Aphrodite children, the begining of a friendship with Annabeth and Leo... But in this book ? It’s only about Jason. Endlessly. And it’s so tiring and eyeroll worthy, especially when we compare her “issues” over JASON with the others’. And even without that, she was really not a great person in this book and not in the interesting way : she was ready to put the whole World in danger just so Jason wouldnt stay in New Rome, kept Charming Up her friends just for convenience (like srsly i know thats not supposed to be a Big Deal but thats still mind control so yikes), and when it came down to it, no matter what she said about how Leo is like her little brother or Annabeth is her BFF, she only gave a crap about Jason Jason Jason...There was barely a scene of her with the other two. And I find it frustrasting that it didn’t even feel like the plot during her chapters were about her, but more about Jason and her being a support for him, even though they were HER chapters !!

- Jasiper : Well I guess that’s not really a surprise lol. I never liked this pairing and this book didn’t change my mind on that at all. Piper keeps clinging to the three months THAT NEVER HAPPENED (and that apparently weren’t faithful to Jason’s character like srsly is she even really in love with HIM or the idea of him she had in her mind ?) instead of the 8 real months they spent together, thinks it’s a miracle when Jason appologizes (he’s a real catch huh ?) and is so so sure he’ll leave her to go to New Rome which first : wow you really have faith in this relationship huh ? But also second : why is this such a Big Deal ?? Even if he did go to New Rome she could still follow him (she made it pretty clear she’d leave all of her friends in Camp Half Blood to be with him), it’s not like he’s a whole new different person when he’s there !! And my baby Reyna was so hurt by that, like Jason was a reall asshole here, even if he was oblivious and didn’t realize her feelings for him she’s still supposed to be his friend and the first thing he asks after 8 months of disappearing is if he can spend alone time with his gf ? And I found it kind of frustrating that in the end, all the others left on their own to do their own things (yk, to save the fucking world ?) while literaly risking their life and Jasiper just...went on a date. Like seriously ? So yeah. Not a fan. 

- The whole Frank x Leo “rivalery” : Why make another older character be attracted to 13 years old ?? Can you stop that ??? Leo could also be a real ass sometimes, even tho I still love him and Frank well...I already talked about that. This book had enough pissing contests between guys as it is. 

- Percy apparently forgetting all the Hercules stuff  he learned in “The Titan Curse”. I know it might not seem like THAT much of a deal but it was a really important thing for his character ? That he learned how Heroes, especially Hercules, were real assholes too and that he had to learn to not be like them ? That Zoe, his friend who sacrificiced herself to save the world, was treated like shit by this guy but now he was still like “omg this is Hercules I SO want to meet this guy he seems great !!” ???. It was just one sentence but I hated it. 

- The focus on the Romantic relationships. Look I have nothing against romance and ships. I love romantic love in stories !! But I also love friendships and I really wish this book would have given us more of that instead of spending so much time on romantic relationships. I mean it is pretty well illustrated in the end of the book when they all separate : all the groups are romantic pairings. Percabeth, Jiper, and Frazel with Leo who has kind of a crush on Hazel. And as much as I love Frazel and Percabeth, where are the friendships ?? Percy and Jason’s relationship was supposed to be very important in this book so why didn’t we see more of that ?? What about the friendships that were already established like Percy with Frank and Hazel, Leo with Piper and Jason, Piper and Anabeth,...And all the new friendships that could have had more screen time like Annabeth and Frank or something !! So yeah that was disappointing. 

THINGS I LOVED : 

- the River God scene. Ok so yes I kind of lied : I enjoyed this chapter of Piper. Well this scene at least. And only kind off, because it is still a Jasiper moment but anyway. In my last review of “the Son of Neptune”, I mentionned how it always annoyed me that the heroes have a habit of always making the Good Moral Decision, without any hesitation, even if the fate of the world is in the balance. I was like “Give me morally conflicted characters damn it” !! And that’s what I got here. Piper having to lie to the God, taking his horn that was so important to him, even tho he was just a very tragic dude, to save Jason and the World, realizing that even if it is bad and she feels like shit after doing it, she still had to do it...YES !!! THANK YOU !! I LOVED THAT !!!

- The LEO X NICO INTERACTIONS !!!!!! After spending 2 books shipping them (they’d fit so well together i will die on this hill) they finally talked !!! Well once, and about the fact that Percabeth just fell into fucking Tartarus but like !!! TALKING !!!! And the first thing Nico tell him is to reassure him <3 (look I know it won’t be canon but the POTIENTIAL!!!)

- Annabeth’s chapters. I can���t imagine anyone who wouldn’t like them like we finally got her point of view people !!! And it was awesome !!! I loved seeing her on a quest, the way she thinks and sees the world, how she uses her intelligence,... Like she’s so brave and smart but also so sentimental even tho she’d never admit it (like getting emo about having lost the white hair because it was a connection with Percy ? My baby is so fucking precious). And obviously we already knew that but to actually be in her head ??? It was so fucking good !! And it really succeeded to make me feel so much for her, like she’s just a kid and her mother literaly sent her to her death and she was so scared but she still kept going (only to end up in Tartarus WHYYYYYY) and I’m so proud of her. I love this character so much !!

- Percabeth : The reunion !!!! FINALLY !!!! That’s my first ever OTP right there and they’re so in love !! They’re such a badass power couple and they love eachother so fucking much !! God i missed them X( I loved every Percabeth scenes, they were so adorable and beautiful. I loved how even tho they are differents and are not always in the same page, they still know eachother so well and the communication was just so cheff’s kiss. And omg their lasts scenes together ?? Chills !! Like when Percy almost begged the (kind of?) gods to let him stay just a few more moments with her because he was so scared of never seeing her again almost brought tears to my eyes and then of course their final scene when they fall together into Tartarus, because all that matter is that they’re together...MY HEART !!!

- Percy’s and Leo’s chapters. I put them together because I don’t have much  to say except that I love them so much and that I would literaly lay down my life for this two. Their chapters are always such joy to read, and after one whole book without him, I was really glad to get back with Leo. Probably the funniest chapters too. 

- The Crazy Dolphins scene. This scene was fucking hilarious. Pic comedy ^^

- The crumb of friendhips dynamics we got. So much potential I want to see more !! Like Percy x Jason, Annabeth x Frank (so much Hermione x Neville vibes), Leo x Frank, Hazel x Annabeth, Percy x Frank, Annabeth x Leo (Leo who is so scared of and impressed by her as he should lol),...That’s probably one of the reasons I was so bitter about the romantic relationships getting so much more time, like ALL the friendhships that were so interestings like come on !!

- Percy thinking about LUKE !!! hjfgjehgfjhsegf !!! The fact that he still considers Luke as his fighting teacher, still thinks about his training and his advices !!! Even going as far as thinking he totally understood where he came from for doing all this horrible things !!! That was so awesome !! And such a character development !!! And that makes Percy even more of an interesting character !!! Anyway I loved that ^^

- All the mythological aspect like Rick can be such a genius sometimes with how he uses them, managing to stay faithful to them while sill adapting them to a more modern setting and that works so well !! Well its there in every single one of the PJO series book, but I just wanted to put it out there so here. 

- Hazel story. Look I didn’t like the whole weird kind off “love triangle” thing with Leo and Frank. But I love Hazel and I LOVED knowing more about her and also knowing more about Leo’s ancestor (who was awesome btw). That was such an interesting story, how she discovered that her only friend back then and first love spent his whole life thinking her disappearence was his fault.  And the flackback was so cute too ^^ Also Loved her being so desperate finding her brother because that’s what Nico deserves and that was adorable. I really hope we’ll get to see more of their bond. 

- The end. Such an amazing cliffhanger. I could feel the tension in the scene, I could’t stop reading and then the last chapter were everyone was just so in chock but Nico still believed that Percy would come back out of it alive because he admires him so much. It was SO !!! FUCKING !!! GREAT !!! Amazing way to end this book.

And that’s also how I will end this review ^^ Feel free to comment on it (respectfully) in the comments if you want. 

[faunusrights]

OFFAL HUNT REMASTERED LIVEBLOG //CHAPTER 20

i mispelt the title as ‘oofal hunt’ which, i mean, mood,

IN THIS EPISODE OF DEPRESSION TO THE MAX:

"Fuck you."

THAT’S IT. THAT’S-- THERE’S THE CHAPTER.

/looks at the chosen lyrics for this chap :hrm:

do i still have to a little introduction to this liveblog? twenty chapters in? methinks not so lets just get right Tew It shall we

“We’re here, Ms. Fall.”

/marks this next section down on the tally of cinder’s mistakes. we’re somewhere in the high thousands.

An old Dust extraction point, quietly rotting. Cinder’s mouth pulled. There was an abysmal dearth of kindling.

cinder: you know you could at least take me somewhere better suited for me to kick your ass. this is VERY rude. am NOT a fan. my yelp review will NOT be kind.

i love cinder counting up the numbers. you know honestly id be deeply charmed if someone saw it fit to bring half an army out to take me on. i mean, would it be a pain in my ass? yes. but also. awh. thanks lads! love how many of you blocked out this evening just for me x

"Sienna Khan!" Cinder could barely hear herself between the claws of that strange laughter. "Sienna Khan! It’s really—really—you!"

uh-oh sisters,

oh man sienna and cinder is just. look. WOOF. theres a lot here. a lot going on. a lot that HAD gone on. but also im gay so this tension is peak for me PLEASE lay it on thick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LETS GO!

Cinder stopped laughing.

"Overkill," she repeated, and in the same breath, crossed the tarmac in full immolation.

HELL YEAH BABEY. but also was the more the implication that cinder is an easy kill OR the implication that glynda’s the bigger threat that’s more annoying,,,,,,,,,,,,, well!!!!!!!! too late to find out now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They clashed: once, twice, three times, steel on Aura, flitting through space, but—he wasn't faster than Glynda.

wait it’s the former i forgot cinder’s gay nvm

“Cinder. I mean it. I want to talk.” Sienna’s face revealed nothing. Her gaze stayed fixed on Cinder, as if she were searching for something.

What it could be, Cinder had her guesses, and all of them repulsed her utterly. She spat, “Well, I was only planning on sending your Lieutenant’s head to you in a box signed Love Cinder, so I didn’t really come with a speech prepared.”

SDHJGHJGSKFD SORRY IM LIKE. tryna liveblog but im also just :EYES: at everything here.......... im SO PUMPED for this cause im just SO CURIOUS,,,,,, WE’VE HAD SO MANY SNIPPETS,,,,,,,,, BUT IM HONGRY FOR MORE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

that said i feel like cinder’s the type of person who revisits arguments in her head hours later with new, better points, so i think she does have a speech prepared. in fact i think she has many words stored up in the ol’ meatspace, and all of them are very rude,

The Sienna Khan that Cinder remembered still had baby-fat in her cheeks and hadn’t learned to keep her thoughts off her face. The one she saw now had weaponized distance.

/stage whisper hang on that visual is cute dont put it in HERE where the TENSION IS

Quietly, Sienna went for her belt, pulling away something the same polished silver as her whip. It might have been an arrow tip, except that it was lethally barbed and looked like it had been modified to chamber Dust. Pale blue glinted within it.

Cinder darkened. "Ice Dust?"

sienna: i wanna talk sienna: with violence!

GOD ITS REAL INTERESTING CAUSE,,,,,,,,,, THERE’S A LOT HAPPENING HERE. glynda didnt Know cinder in any sense so we’ve very much been on the ‘let’s figure cinder out with glynda’ train like the whole. the rain! and the desert! etc! all very much thru the lens of glynda ‘i dont remember shit’ goodwitch! so now we have seinna who Knows Shit cause there’s so much history here and im like blease wait talk more first i want the KNOWLEDGE

[...] "Roman Torchwick is holed up in Vytal with your warehouses, and those two teens haven’t been sighted in months... But you wouldn't send them that far north, would you?”

“I wouldn’t send them anywhere you could get your claws in them.”

“The White Fang isn’t like that anymore. We don’t strong-arm children into our ranks. That girl—the snake Faunus—”

“If you say one more word about her,” Cinder said. “I’m going to do something drastic to every single person here.”

ACTUALLY TALK LESS TALK LESS LETS FIGHT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!! AND NOT TALK!!!!!!!! A T A L L

Sienna's shoulders leveled. "This is not Hróðvitnir's White Fang anymore."

me: huh why do i recognise that name,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, me: oh yeah!!!!!!! that bitch,

HJGDSJKHGFDS we Love a homage to a classic au and to a cinder so good that id die for her. i mean id die for this cinder too but like that was another level of Die For. anyway. back to the au at hand,

“If I didn’t know better, I might believe you," Cinder snapped, and her old scars throbbed in tandem. “But I do know better. I found one of your parasites, sucking the life out of a town near the wastes. Bringing the White Fang’s protection. You should have seen how he protected them. There wasn't a child there without a fang or an antler missing."

hang on a sec, lets LEAP BACK in time for just a moment

okay so i nipped back to chapter five for just a hot second to see if there was a line that was particular pertinent, but also i found smthng else...

Violence collected at her twitching fingers, old scars across her body flaring with phantom pain. (Chapter 5)

“If I didn’t know better, I might believe you," Cinder snapped, and her old scars throbbed in tandem. (Chapter 20)

HM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, man. cinder. you got real fucked up huh. ANYWAY THAT WASNT WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR I JUST LINED THE CONTINUITY (because im jealous). what i was ACTUALLY looking for was THIS:

There would be another overseer, the inhabitants would resume their harried lives, and Cinder wouldn’t spare this town a second thought.

i said at the time in an emotional fit of pain that this was a straight-up lie but cinder is nothing if not a melting pot of emotional reckoning, and I WAS RIGHT. LET IT BE INSCRIBED UNTO THE STONES!!!! SHE DID SPARE IT A SECOND THOUGHT!!!!!!!! HELD IN HER MIND LONG ENOUGH TO RECALL THE DETAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST 2 SPIT IT IN SIENNA’S FACE!!!!!!!!! im telling you that cinder has SO MUCH MORE GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!! and heres my PROOF. PROOF OF WHY SHES AN ANGEL (ONLY ON TUESDAYS THOUGH [10AM-1PM])!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then: "Why don't you say," Sienna responded slowly, her expression slotting into place like a bullet chambering, "precisely what you mean, Cinder."

"Fuck you."

:’3c

cinder has such a way with words. i love her eloquence. remember that time glynda thought she was taking the piss out of the fact she was autistic at dinner? cinder yr a maestro. never change.

“You brought Beowolves to heel. You could turn a Goliath with a word!"

“I had—no—Aura! Nothing to protect me!”

:eyes: :thinking:

HM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, INTERESTING??????? i feel like this is the first time we’ve heard of cinder w/o aura implicitly? unless im Stupit and dont remember a Got Dang Thing but HUH. does this. hm. huh. am i stupid. someone tell me if i missed a thing.

“This isn’t a diplomatic mission, Cinder. I simply wanted to know what their lives were worth to you—before we wipe our hands of each other for good.”

“That’s a funny way of saying only one of us is walking away from this.”

GOD,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i LOVE this scene a lot the interplay between sienna and cinder is absolutely PEAK,,,,,,,, PEAQUE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, im rly enjoying this. also im dying. but im enjoy it a LOT.

“The White Fang you and I grew up in doesn't exist anymore. We’re changing. But you… When did you stop caring? Was it when you cut your horns to be one of them instead?"

Dragonfire scorched Cinder's lungs, blackening every word: "I was never—your—people."

feels like its been a good goddamn whilst since i got to do one of these 👈😎👈, so let’s savour the moment

👈👈👈👈👈👈😎👈👈👈👈👈👈

aaaaaand savoured. lets continue.

Shaking with the effort of holding her strike, Sienna grit, "I won't relish this."

And Cinder howled, "I will!”

ah shit i shouldve said lets RELISH this to tie the whole theme together and-- and fuck it, combat scene. never good at liveblogging these. sdfjhgsdfghj

Gunfire sparked against her, but she honed in on him with single-minded intent, the kind she’d whetted to a razor’s edge against Glynda.

for a chapter following cinder escaping glynda, she’s thought about her TWICE now. huh. huh. interesting. gay. and interesting,,,,,,

It was nothing like fighting Glynda. This was bleak and repetitive: the second drove forward and Sienna covered his openings, stopping Cinder before she could rip his heart from his chest, and all the while, the gunfire whittled away at her Aura. It was a joyless tactic, no flair or heart, and yet—

HUH. GAY AND INTERESTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO FLAIR OR HEART,,,,,,,,,, i cant believe every time they fought cinder was actually just doing a shit job of flirting. the more you know.

The world erupted into flames. They grew massive, swirling around her like a hurricane—Cinder’s Aura exploded outward in desperation, like a dying star defiantly spending the last of itself on a supernova; one final flare, brighter than entire galaxies, if only for a single moment. Cinder felt flashes of bright pain through her muscles as if the fire was burning her from inside.

MAN,,,,,,,,,,,,, I COULD TALK ABT SOME UH,,,,,,,,,,,,, well. i could talk abt a few things here. but theyre kinda 👈😎👈 so i WONT,,,,,,,,,,,,,, but kno that i am having some Thoughts on the matter. hm.

“Prove it!” Death was thrumming in her veins. It had never made her brave before. It did now, the memory of Glynda’s blind, resolute stare heady in her skull. “Come and prove it! Do it, or I’ll hunt you to your last, miserable breath, Sienna!”

so remember when glynda had her little outburst at winter and i said that i love how cinder rubbed off on glynda in the worst way? i cant believe glynda ALSO rubbed off on cinder ALSO in the WORST WAY!!!! this is how u know this truly is a soulmates thing.

“It’s a shame you outgrew your swords, Cinder Fall. I would have taken them as a trophy,”

it’s with great disappointment that i must say: i agree with adam. the swords were hot. they should come back.

Sienna’s footsteps were whispers at Cinder’s back. The trap was closing. Cinder pooled flame in one palm. The other hand was useless, limp at her side. Impotent rage tasted like blood in her mouth. “I don’t even remember your fucking name.”

HJGKDSFKJHGFSDJDHGF GOD IM SORRY BUT THIS MADE ME LAUGH. WHAT A LINE. WHAT A LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i may actually have to draw this scene that image is SO wonderful. just cinder, staggering, exhausted, and she still manages to just spit that out. im screaming. shes a champion. i think she won this battle literally just there pack it up her burns come in more flavours than one.

Beneath Cinder, Hati turned, scanning for an escape, but she didn’t drop Sienna’s gaze. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she said, “I’m told I’m something of a menace.”

firstly: AAAAAAAAA HATI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BABY BOY OH NO THATS NO GOOD BAD TIMES AWFUL FEELS MY GUY!!!!!!!!!!!! secondly: CINDER THESE ZINGERS ARE UNREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JESUS CHRIST. I KNEW YOU LIED WHEN YOU DIDNT HAVE A SPEECH HOW MUCH MATERIAL HAVE YOU GOT IN THERE?????????

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

WAIT WHAT HANG ON

WHAT

WAIT

W H AT

okay wait hold on lets dial back i read ahead and dint live blog wait rthereghsdfgjhdffd HOLD ON

Cinder buried her face in Hati’s mane, hating them, hating, hating, hating. Black ichor clotted in Hati’s fur, tacky against her palms. Grimm didn’t have Auras to protect them, and exit wounds riddled Hati’s mighty body. Cinder’s heart lurched with fury. She could have screamed.

i read this bit and got STRESSED because hati is PEAK like hati didnt even fucking SHOW UP in og but i LOVE HIM and i knew shit would happen because its fucking offal hunt BUT

It should have been impossible at this distance, but Cinder could feel her gaze like traded blows, even nestled among the black of Hati’s pelt.

Sienna’s eyes shone like coins. They were cool, detached. Prepared.

She twisted her wrist and the whip flickered through the air in tight wheels. Its end glittered pale blue.

UH OH

Adrenaline cooled to permafrost in Cinder’s body, as though the Dust had already found its home between her ribs.

Cinder whispered, “Don’t.”

UH OH

Expressionless, Sienna gave a wide lash, and the jagged end of her whip released with a click. Silver sliced through the air, then through feathers and fur, with a sickening sound—wet and meaty as the arrowhead dagger buried itself deep into flesh. Hati’s whole body shuddered and Cinder only had a moment more before ice exploded from his ribs, ripping out through his pelt, even slicing into Cinder’s own skin. It speared him from deep inside, where the cartridge had sunk, impaling everything and rending him asunder.

JESUS JESUS CHRIST AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

JESUS CHRIST WHAT A VISCERAL DEATH SCENE HOLY SHIT OH MY GOD OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! O H N O T H A T S A N O G O O D V E R Y B A D T I M E

Cinder’s stomach jumped into her throat, and she held on tight to Hati, her bastion, her sanctuary, her family—held on tight like it would make any difference at all—like she could hold her family together with just her own two hands.

Hati dissolved right between her fingertips, and she plummeted alone.

like she could hold her family together with just her own two hands

OUGH what the FUCK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HEY THIS. HEY THIS SUCKED HEY THIS WAS A BAD CHAPTER WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS HATI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS MY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EXCUSE ME????????? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?????????? HELLO??????????? WHAT THE FUCK????????? SIENNA???????? BITCH?????????? GO TO H E L L

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[artemisnightingale216]

Love and What We Do in its Name: Ch 6- The Belly of the Beast

Authors Note: This chapter gets a little violent. You have been warned.

Prologue

Chapter 1- Unemployed

Chapter 2- A New Beginning

Chapter 3- Hopeful

Ch 4- Predator

Ch 5- Come Out and Play

Alastor was quiet as he stepped into the only occupied room on the fifth floor. The door didn’t even creak as he softly closed it behind him and his footfalls couldn’t be heard as he walked across the carpeted floor. His shadow fell over the sleeping form of the blue skinned demoness as he came to the bedside, her body nearly completely buried under the covers as it lay turned on its side in a slight fetal position, only from her shoulders up visible to him. Her expression was soft, not at all like the gloomy, black one she usually wore. She was muttering something in her sleep, but it was only incoherent babbling, even to his highly tuned ears.

He cocked his head as he watched her. It baffled him how something so small and insignificant could rile him up so much. She was a puzzle, one he was keen on solving before he brought her to her end. He found it somewhat of a pity. She was rather entertaining and worth a good laugh, but she knew too much. If she decided to call his bluff and tell Charlie or Vaggie about his goings on at the hotel, it would ruin everything he’d set out to achieve.

Even Vaggie herself was becoming a hindrance. She was always questioning his actions and whispering things to Charlie when she thought he couldn’t hear, but there wasn’t much going on at the hotel he didn’t know about. Perhaps he would dispose of her as well. Ottilie would be easy with all the previous maids having ‘disappeared’ before, but Vaggie would be a tricky one. He’d have to be careful with her or the others would start asking too many questions. Things might not end so well for him if he didn’t plan everything down to the last detail.

He stopped right beside Ottilie, towering over her sleeping form in a domineering way. He raised a hand and reached out towards her head, but paused when she moaned and adjusted herself so her face was buried further into the pillow. He continued, but changed course at the last second so his claws were beside her horns. Bringing his middle finger and thumb together, he snapped them once a bit loudly. When she didn’t stir, he knew she wouldn’t wake while he was in there.

His smile broadened. It would be oh so easy to attack her as she was now. She wouldn’t even see it coming. He had no doubt she would try to scream, but he’d have removed her vocal cords before she could even try; he imagined her screams would be quite lovely, but he couldn’t risk anyone hearing. He’d have to settle with slowly watching the light leave her eyes as he devoured her piece by piece, her eyes never leaving his the entire time. Her fear would be delicious, like a spice that only served to add more flavor to her already delectable flesh.

Her scent alone was driving him mad. Against his better judgement, he leaned over and breathed in deeply through his nose, something he couldn’t do when she was awake and they were in such close proximity. He could feel his mouth watering as he took in that aroma again. He was so tempted to have a taste of her that he found himself leaning down further, his lips peeled back to reveal his razor sharp teeth. He stopped himself, however, his jaw snapping shut as he regained control of himself. If he wasn’t careful, this girl would no doubt be his undoing.

He leaned back and stood up straight, distancing himself from her before he did anything too drastic. He would have her, but not yet. He wasn’t done playing. Despite having always been told not to play with his food, he simply couldn’t resist. It was entirely too much fun.

Now he simply had to figure out what to do first. There were so many ways to mess with her head that it was leaving him giddy with excitement. He considered leaving a snake or spider somewhere for her to find, which usually got the women riled up, but she didn't seem like the type to be affected by such things; he highly doubted she'd be immune to the sight of a genuine skull or two, though. Perhaps he'd hide a few sharp objects and see how long it took her to stick herself with them and how hard; he wondered how much she'd bleed, especially after having watched one of the other maids nearly slice her hand clean off when he stuck a blade to a doorknob. He could also cut a hole in the cord of her vacuum and one way or another she'd eventually get a bit of an electric shock. So much to do, so little time.

Perhaps it was because he hadn't messed with anyone on such a personal level in a good while, not since the last maid had been in service, but he was definitely looking forward to this hunt. He'd never encountered a woman so emotionless before. It would be such a thrill to be the one to make her squirm like a worm on a hook.

He stepped away from the bed and began to walk around the room, his mind working like a well oiled machine as he pieced everything together in his head.

*****

Ottilie had been grateful for her restful nights of sleep the last few days. She so rarely slept for more than six hours, if she even made it that long, so getting up to eight felt like a godsend. Somehow, she'd managed to sleep for nearly nine hours straight.

It was for that specific reason that she nearly throttled Angel when he woke her up. It had been dreamless and restful, which might have been because she'd worked so hard the day before; she hated to admit it, but the shoes had been so comfortable that she couldn't seem to stop working. Vaggie and Charlie had to physically stop her and it was only then that she realized how tired she was. Even so, Angel snuck into her room, tiptoeing across the floor as she lay sound asleep.

“Pst, hey, toots,” Angel whispered in a hushed tone when he reached the bed. She didn't even stir, still laying on her side as she had been hours before, buried beneath the covers like they were a cocoon. “Hey, toots! Wake up!” He spoke a little louder and tried poking her face for good measure, but she only grumbled under her breath and burrowed further into the comforter, her cheeks now covered, too. He growled now, done trying to wake her up gently. “Wake up, you sleeping hoe!”

That appeared to have done the trick as she jumped quicker than he'd ever seen her move, making him jump as well, her eyes wide as they darted around frantically. Blinking a few times to clear her mind, she realized what had happened. Looking around again but seeing no one, she called, “Angel Dust?”

“Up here,” Angel called back.

She looked toward the sound of his voice only to see him stuck to the ceiling, his hands and the balls of his feet pressed up against it. She'd seen him do things like this before, but never quite so high. “What on earth are you doing up there?”

“What the Hell are you doin’ snappin’ up like that? Nearly gave me a heart attack!” he retorted as he flipped around so he was facing her. “I almost died! Again!”

“What are you even doing in here?” she asked as she rubbed the sleep from her visible eye and looked at the clock. “I still have a few more hours before I have to get ready for work.”

“Really?” he smiled before detaching himself from the ceiling, landing on the floor with a rather loud ‘thud’. He rushed over to where she sat on the bed, making her flinch, and clasped his hands beneath his chin. “Then will you give me a bath?”

She blinked once in confusion. “You woke me up this early to give you a bath?” Her face was just as blank as it always was, but he could tell she wasn't happy at all.

“Uh huh,” he nodded. She just continued to stare at him. “Com'on, please? Oh, please? Oh, please? Oh, please?” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Pwease~?”

A long sigh escaped her, her shoulders sagging with the action. “Go to the bathroom.”

“Yay!” he practically squealed in delight as he jumped up from his kneeling position and bounced his way toward the bathroom, acting like a child on Christmas morning.

Knowing he would get antsy if she took too long, she climbed out of bed and placed her slippers on her feet before shrugging on her robe. As she was tying the sash around her waist and made to follow after him, she happened to glance over at her sitting area and frowned. Something was definitely wrong.

Her furniture had been switched around. Where it had once sat previously, it was now on the opposite side of the room. Not just in her sitting area, but everything that wasn't stationary had been as well. She thought she was just imagining it at first, but she knew for a fact that everything had been just the opposite when she went to bed the night before. She wondered if Angel had done it just to mess with her, but moving around heavy furniture would be too much work for him. Neither Vaggie nor Charlie seemed like the types to play childish pranks and Husk definitely wouldn’t be behind this. From what Angel had told her, it very well could have been Alastor, but she very much doubted he’d come into her room just to move things around; she’d probably in a world of pain if he had in fact come into her room at all. That just left her with the rest of the inhabitants, all of whom she’d yet to meet, meaning it could have been any of them.

“Hey, toots! Get the lead out of your feet!” Angel called impatiently, his tone both mocking and serious at the same time.

Realizing she’d been thinking on this for too long as she stared at her misplaced furniture, she turned toward the bathroom again and called, “Coming!” as she walked as quickly as she could to the door. Hesitating a moment, she buried her hands deep into the pockets of her robe to make sure all of the skin of her arms was covered and stepped inside. Angel had already stripped out of his clothes and was sitting on the sink countertop, his body shamelessly on full display; he’d already set the water running as well, knowing that the way they liked their temperatures was vastly different. “Do you want me to add the bubbles?”

“You should already know the answer to that one, baby,” he replied, his legs kicking back and forth slightly as he waited for the tub to fill.

“You know the drill,” she said as she gestured to his hands with a nod of her head, to which he complied by using them to cover his eyes. Once his vision was impaired and she was sure he wasn’t peaking, she pulled her hands out and crouched down to look in the cabinet underneath the sink. Easily finding a bottle of bath soap stowed away in the back, she pulled it out and took it over to the tub, applying a generous amount to the already half filled water.

The scent mixed with the steam and Angel sniffed the air curiously. “Vanilla? Why did you use the vanilla one?”

“I thought you liked it?” she pondered as she placed the cap back on the bottle and put it back under the sink.

“I do, but you usually use the grape scented one,” he recalled with a slight pout, like the slight break in the routine had left him sullen.

“The grape one is back in your dressing room, so I can’t use that one, but trust me,” she smirked ever so slightly even though he couldn’t see. “You’ll like this one better.”

“Well, if you say so,” he shrugged.

Once the claw footed tub was two-thirds of the way full and the bubbles had sufficiently covered the surface of the water, she shut off the faucet and placed her hands back inside her pockets. “Alright, you can get in now.”

He smiled happily as he uncovered his eyes and stood up, even more excited now than he had been. After stepping into the lukewarm water, he placed his hands on either side of the shining white porcelain and lowered himself into it. A deep sigh escaped him as he leaned back and let his feet dangle out of the water, his legs a bit too long to fit all the way inside as the angle he was at. “You know, this is one of the things I missed about us working together. No one gives baths like you do.”

“Surely the new girl gives you baths,” she commented as she rolled up her sleeves out of his line of sight and pulled a stool up behind his head.

“Yeah, right. Like I’d ever let that good-for-nothing, talent-less hack anywhere near me like this. She’d probably bleach my hair white and then call it art,” he scoffed as she took a seat behind him. He dipped his head back into the water just enough so that his hair was wet but his face was still above the surface and sat back up again.

“The studio must like her if they’ve kept her on this long, though.” She picked up a bottle of shampoo and squeezed some out into the palm of her hand before putting it back down. The floral aroma surrounded them both as she started scrubbing it into his light pink hair, her fingers massaging his scalp at the same time.

“Of course the studio likes her! She’s given handouts to the producers!” he said in exasperation as his hands went flying up, sending water and bubbles all about. He put his hands back down and started playing with the bubbles, making odd shapes and towers out of them.

“Need I remind you that you do that sometimes, too,” she chuckled lightly, messing around with his hair a bit in the same matter he was the bubbles.

“Yeah, but at least I don’t use it as way to further my career! She’s just doin’ it cause she knows she can’t do nothin’ right!” he said accusingly. “I’m tellin’ ya, that’s the only reason they let you go. Why, I have half a mind to-.”

“Careful now. That’s reaching a bit too far, don’t you think?” she laughed.

“You little shit!” he half heartedly growled at her as he scooped up a handful of bubbles and shoved them in her face, making her cry out in laughter.

A sense of nostalgia overcame them as they continued to laugh and talk. It had been commonplace for her to give him a bath every now and again when they were working together. She wouldn’t do it every day, but that was mostly because he would usually have a date or two for after the shooting and he didn’t want to have to reapply his makeup or hair. Doing this once again made them feel as if they hadn’t been separated at all. While it was true that being apart had made them both miss each other terribly, being together again only served to remind them how strong of a bond they really had. He never seemed to mind how cold her touch was, either, despite the fact that she was touching him without so much as a glove between them. Instead of recoiling like most others did, he welcomed her touch and even seemed to find some comfort in it, looking more relaxed than she’d ever seen him whenever she bathed him.

Once he was clean and satisfied, she stood behind him and helped him out of the tub, his head facing the ceiling so he couldn’t see her hands. After he wrapped a towel around himself, he informed her he’d meet her down at breakfast and left the room with the pajamas he’d been wearing. Anyone else might have questioned the fact he was running around the hotel practically naked, but she knew better; he’d never been afraid to show off what he had.

Once she was alone again and the bathroom had been straightened up, she only had about an hour before she had to get to work, so she began to get ready for the day. She hadn’t had any time to make herself a new work dress yet, so she was still wearing a pair of the work pants and smock Charlie had given her, glad now that she’d insisted she take a few extra pairs. She also slipped on her work boots, which she still wasn’t quite used to wearing.

The previous day had left her somewhat angry, having returned to her room for her other pair of shoes only to find that they were gone as well, leaving her with only the ones she had in hand. She’d searched high and low for her other shoes, wondering if she’d somehow misplaced them or if they’d simply been hidden, but they were nowhere to be found. The new shoes were certainly easier to work in and for that she was grateful, but at the same time she was angry that the choice had been taken away from her about whether or not to wear them added to the fact that both pairs of her shoes were now gone, seemingly for good. Who did this person think they were to force her to wear them, she thought angrily. Without knowing who’d given them to her, however, she had no one to direct that anger towards, so she simply couldn’t hold on to it. It disappeared, just as her other shoes had.

After tying her hair back so it hung loosely down her back in a low ponytail, she left her room and headed towards the dining room, assuming that if she didn’t head that way that Charlie would come looking for her. She’d been able to talk her way out of eating dinner with them, but Charlie had practically demanded she join them for breakfast, especially after having also refused it the day before. She didn’t eat very often, not feeling the need or want to, but today she was feeling somewhat hungry. Perhaps all of the moving around was starting to give her a bit of an appetite.

Finally getting used to the layout of the hotel after a few days, she found the dining room easily and found that she was one of the first people there aside from two others. The first was the small one eyed demoness who looked like a child and the other was a woman of ample size who was dressed like she’d just stepped out of a casino. The two turned to look at her as she stepped in, one regarding her with cheerful delight and the other in indifference. “Um… hello.”

“Hi, there!” the smaller one said cheerfully as she jumped out of her chair, her poodle her red and yellow polka dotted skirt swaying as she rushed over to see her up close. “You must be the new maid! Gee! You're kind of tall! Then again, a lot of people are tall to me! I'm just so short, aren't I?” She took a quick pause to giggle, not giving Ottilie any time to respond as she prattled on. “You're really pretty, too! I bet you get a lot of attention from men! All the men most flock to you like a rooster to a chicken! My mom used to be the same way! Pretty and good with the men! You must adore all that attention, don't you? Gosh, I wish I were as pretty as you!”

Ottilie blinked down at her, unsure if she was finished or not. After a few seconds, it appeared she was done for now. “Um… thank you, but you're much prettier than I am.” She truly believed that the shorter girl was better looking than she was, though that was the case with most people she met.

“Wow! That's so sweet of you! You're really nice! I bet you've got lots of friends! Mimzy over there is my bestest friend!” she turned and pointed towards the other woman sitting at the table, who gave an unenthusiastic wave, her fingers wiggling slightly. “Oh! And I'm Nifty, by the way! What's your name? I bet you've got a name just as pretty as you are! I hope you do! It would stink if someone so pretty had an ugly name! Oh, please, won't you tell me? I've just got to know! What's your name?”

“Will you just tell her? She won't stop until you do,” Mimzy sighed.

“Ottilie,” she replied after another few seconds.

“Oh, wow! I love that name so much! It’s so unique and wonderful! It fits you so well!” Nifty gushed before bounding over to Mimzy. “Didn’t I say that her name would be pretty? And I was so right! Have you ever heard of a name like that? And her voice! I bet you she came from England! People from England were all the rage when I was alive! So formal and polite and-!” She was cut off when Mimzy picked up a napkin and shoved it in her mouth, silencing her for the moment.

“You know the rules, sweetcheeks. Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee,” Mimzy reminded her as she leaned into her hand and continued to not-so-patiently wait for breakfast.

Nifty and Mimzy certainly wasn’t what Ottilie had been expecting at all. From the way people talked about them, they were as inseparable as the moon and stars, but from where she stood, they couldn’t be any more different than night and day. The way they talked, acted, and even the way they dressed were nothing alike each other.

Mimzy, who appeared to be from the time Ottilie recalled being called the Roaring Twenties, was a rather stout and stocky woman not much taller than Nifty was. She had platinum blonde hair styled in a side part with the ends twirling around in a single curl, thin lips painted the same color of red as her irises and cheeks, dark red lashes that contrasted with her entirely black scleras, a small nose that was just a little too pointy, and ashen white skin that stood out against the dark hues of her attire. She wore a dark purple strapless flapper dress that left little to the imagination and put the tops plus the sides of her ample bosom on display for the world to see; there were small strips of white around her hips, almost making it look like she was wearing a belt or a top and skirt, and the tassels at the bottom were colored white with streaks of the same dark purple. Around the top of her head and over her hair was a was a dark purple headband with a matching feather and faux gemstone that matched the color of her eyes. A beaded necklace with the same type of stone hung around her neck and her hands were covered by dark purple gloves that reached past her elbows. Her feet, which were, like her hands, very small compared to the rest of her body and protected by tiny heeled shoes that went with the rest of her clothing.

Nifty, on the other hand, was as skinny as a twig, the only curves on her being her rather tiny breasts. The skin of her head and neck was a milky white and a stark contrast to the bright colors of her clothing while her needle like arms and legs were a deep purple, her cheeks were dotted by small points of fuschia, the frizzy hair atop her head was cut short above her shoulders and colored the same shade as her cheeks with a large streak of light orange beneath her bangs, and the single eye in the middle of her head was a match to her hair with a ring of orange around her fuschia scleras. Aside from her polka dotted poodle skirt, she wore a short sleeved white blouse spotted with fuschia that had poofy sleeves and a fuschia and orange colored scarf tied loosely around her neck. If the small woman was wearing shoes, it was hard to tell. The wide smile that seemed to be constantly spread across her face sported two rows of razor sharp teeth, something that most demons in Hell seemed to have, which seemed a little odd given the fact she didn’t seem to have a malicious nature, but looks could be deceiving.

Aside from their physical differences, Mimzy also seemed to lack Nifty’s bubbly personality and talkative nature. Though not reserved, she didn’t seem to want to talk unless something caught her interest or it benefited her in some way. Ottilie couldn’t help but wonder why the two were even friends to begin with, being so different, but she supposed she didn’t have much room to talk; she and Angel were completely different as well, but they were practically inseparable, too. Perhaps their relationship was strange to her because she was finally seeing it from the other side and not just her own perspective.

After Nifty managed to get the napkin dislodged from her mouth, she bounced back over to Ottilie. “So are you going to join us for breakfast today? You’ve missed the last couple of meals! You really should join us more often! We have so much fun! We laugh, we talk, we eat!” She giggled a bit at herself. “Listen to me! Of course we eat! What else would you do during a meal!” She giggled again. “But really, though, I think you would enjoy it! Most everyone does!”

“Well, I, um-,” Ottilie started before Nifty reached up and took her hand, her small limbs high above her head to reach it.

“You can sit right next to me, then! The cleaning lady who worked here before used to sit there, but she doesn’t come around anymore! Alastor said she simply had to go!” Nifty said as she tugged Ottilie over to the side of the table where her chair sat waiting.

“Alastor? Why would Alastor say that?” Ottilie pressed, feeling a bit nervous on the subject, but feeling like there was something more to that statement.

Niftys eye widened and her smile turned strained as her tiny grip on Ottilies hand turned into a rather tight squeeze, almost cutting off what little blood flow the taller woman had. Ottilie glanced over at Mimzy only to find her looking at Nifty like she’d just blown the cover on a top secret operation. Of course Ottilie already knew what had happened to the maids who had come before her, but the two of them clearly didn’t know that. However much Alastor appeared to have told them about the situation, he apparently hadn’t felt the need to inform them of her knowledge on it; quite franckly, she was surprised they’d been told at all, Niftys ramblings making it clear that it was probably something they shouldn’t have been.

Mimzy suddenly burst out laughing, the sound obviously forced, but to her credit she was doing her best. “Nifty, you silly girl! I told you that, not Alastor! Remember? I said it was because she couldn’t make the beds right!” She turned her gaze to Ottilie, but the smile she offered was just as forced as her laugh had been. “Don’t mind her. She gets details wrong all the time. I keep telling her that slip ups like that will get her into trouble… don’t I, Nifty?”

Nifty looked down at the floor, the expression almost looking shameful if not for the fact that she was shaking slightly, the vibrations traveling up into Ottilies arm. “Yeah…” she was quiet for a moment before she returned to her bubbly self and her head shot up to look at Ottilie as she continued to lead her towards the chair. “Gee, your hand sure is cold! Were you holding something before you came in here? I can feel it even through your glove! Whatever you had must have been mighty cold!”

“No… this is just my normal body temperature,” Ottilie said somewhat bashfully, letting the subject of Alastor drop, if not for their sake but her own.

“Wow! That’s so neat! I’ll bet you stay really cool in all this heat! I wish I could be that cold, then I wouldn’t have to worry! It must be so nice! Do you have-?” Nifty continued on, talking as if nothing had happened barely even two minutes ago. Ottilie let her go on, however, as she was practically pushed into a chair and listened to the girl prattle on for a good ten minutes or so, actually somewhat glad that she didn’t have to participate much in the conversation. It wasn’t until Mimzy complained that the food was taking too long that she jumped up from the table again and hopped onto the floor. “I’ll go check on it!” She turned to looked up at Ottilie again. “Don’t go anywhere! I’ll be right back!” She scampered off, disappearing faster than rain down a storm drain.

It was silent for a moment, reminding Ottilie of just how talkative Nifty could be, before she glanced over at Mimzy again only to find her watching her from the corner of her eye. Her gaze was set into a slight glare, as if she were both sizing her up and giving her a warning. Ottilie had only just met Mimzy, but she somehow got the feeling that the other woman wasn’t much of a threat. Something about her simply screamed ‘all bark and no bite’. If Mimzy had something to do with Alastor, however, perhaps she was someone to at least watch out for.

Averting her gaze, Ottilie looked down at the table, trying so hard not to look the other womans way that she didn’t even notice when other people started to pile in one by one. The seats at the table were all so nearly full that by the time Angel Dust sat down in the seat across from her and had to nudge her with his foot to get her attention when she wouldn’t reply to him she was shocked when she looked up. Only the seats on either side of her, the one next to Angel Dust, and two others were empty at that point and some mild chatter had begun to take place. Another quick glance at Mimzy showed that she’d lost interest for the time being and Ottilie could relax a bit.

Ottilie and Angel talked about this and that while they all waited. She did her best to not let on how nervous she was around so many people, but it was evident in the way she fidgeted that she was uncomfortable. Angel tried to take her mind off of the fact that she was around strangers, though it only helped a little. Even so, no one else paid her any mind; in their eyes, she was just another maid who would likely up and quit, just like the others had. After a few minutes, though, she seemed a bit more at ease when she focused more on the conversation and less on the people around her; it pleased Angel to see her finally coming out of her shell, if only just a little. That was, at least, until three figures walked into the room.

One could almost feel sorry for Husk, who looked like he’d barely gotten any sleep if any at all, but he also had Nifty dangling off of one arm, her feet barely touching the floor as she held onto his forearm like he was a jungle gym, while Alastor had his arms wrapped around his shoulders, his feet dragging slightly and slowing the shorter man down. “Will you get off of me?” he asked in an annoyed tone, probably not the first time he’d said it.

“Not until you do it,” Alastor smirked, leaning his head on Husks shoulder and putting more of his body weight down. Husk grumbled something in reply, but the words were inaudible.

“You know we can’t let go until you do it!” Nifty laughed as she climbed further up his arm, wrapping around it like a snake on a branch.

“You’re hurting me,” Husk staggered slightly, the added weight of two bodies nearly throwing him off balance.

“You’re only hurting yourself!” Alastor remarked, his smile widening slightly. “Come now. It’ll make your day brighter!” Husk turned his head slightly and glared at him. “Well, it can’t hurt you any more than this does!”

Husk let out a long sigh, his shoulders sagging with the action. He looked around the room, finding most of the eyes on him, and rolled his own. With a great bit of reluctance, he flashed a very small and quick smile, the frown he always wore returning to his face just as quickly.

“Yay! He did it!” Nifty cheered as she let herself drop to the floor and raced over to her seat, looking happily up at Ottilie before striking up a conversation with Mimzy.

“See now, was that so hard?” Alastor playfully chided as he released Husks shoulders and stood up straight, pinching the cat demons cheek just a little too hard and shaking it as he passed. Husks face contorted in anger at the action, but he said nothing to him as he took the open seat next to Angel, knowing he would have a fit if he didn’t.

Husk sat there a moment, looking a bit perturbed, when his nose started to twitch slightly. His head rose up from the hand that had been propping it up as he sniffed the air a little harder, turning his nose this way and that. He leaned a little closer to Angel gave him a few good sniffs before squinting his eyes at him. Angel looked at him in confusion before Husk said, “You smell nice.”

Angel was caught off guard for a moment before a wide smile spread across his face. No one had ever seen him look so elated before. He turned to look at Ottilie, knowing it was thanks to her that he’d received the compliment, but her attention was elsewhere.

Ottilie had gotten noticeably tense when the three of them walked in; Angel had seen this and what about to ask what was wrong, but that small compliment had him too distracted and the small detail for the moment as he became a little too touchy for Husks liking. She went practically rigid, however, when she noticed Alastor coming to her side of the table, his eyes on her and a smirk on his face as they both realized the seat next to her was empty. She was about to get up and excuse herself, but he beat her to it with the strides his long legs provided as he placed his hand on the back of her chair and pushed it back in, the action just subtle enough that it looked like he was using it for support as he lowered himself into his seat. She nearly jumped when his claws intentionally brushed against her back, but refrained from doing so in favor of not causing a scene.

Ottilie had a feeling this was going to be a long breakfast.

***

Vaggie and Charlie had come in with the food and beverages not long after everyone was seated. Breakfast consisted of biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, and an assortment of all sorts of other foods while there was also orange juice, milk, and hot tea to drink. Everyone dug in at their own pace, enjoying the meal like most of them did every morning. Mimzy couldn’t seem to handle herself and ate like a man starved for days as she tried just about everything there was to eat, Angels plate was full of sausage links and eggs, Husk was just having sausage and a bowl of milk, Vaggie had mixed the eggs, sausage, and bacon together to make a breakfast bowl of sorts, Charlie partook upon the fruit, Nifty was making a bit of a mess with her toast and jam, and the others Ottilie had yet to formally meet ate their own mix of food while she had simply chosen for herself a biscuit with a light layer of butter and a small plate of fruit. Alastor, however, did not eat a single bite; much like the day before, he had a simple cup of tea and that was all. No one else seemed to find it strange except for Ottilie, so she kept to herself about it.

Ottilie had tried to distract herself by focussing on her food or listening as Nifty continued on about this and that, but it was hard when she could feel Alastors eyes on her when she wasn’t looking. His gaze seemed to sear into her like fire, almost hot enough to burn even her, but whenever she would look out of the corner of her eye he would either have his eyes closed like he was enjoying his time there or his eyes would be somewhere else entirely, but he never turned his head towards or away from her. She had also tried more than once to excuse herself again, but he always seemed to know when she was going to and found some way to stop her. He would turn to Nifty and ask her to pass him something and, seeing how she was between them, would have to hand it to him; it was always simple things like cream or sugar for his tea that he could easily reach himself, but it was bad manners to reach across someone at the table and they both knew this, so he used it to his advantage. Even Nifty and Mimzy seemed to somehow be in on it, asking him to pass things along back and forth, somehow successfully trapping her between the lot of them. It was infuriating, to say the least, but still she said nothing.

It wasn’t until Mimzy and Nifty along with everyone else were distracted by Angel trying to impress Husk by placing the thicker sausages in his mouth and swallowing them whole that she was able to slip away. Only Alastor seemed to have noticed, unamused by the display, at least until Angel started to choke as he tried to swallow five at once and got a bit of glee out of it as Charlie jumped up to help him. Having seen Angel get out of worse situations, she knew he would be fine and went about her business, glad to be out of the deer demons presence, at least for the time being.

Once again distracted by the comfort of work, she delved right into it and started with her normal routine. First, she would go and collect all of the sheets, something that was much easier now with the new pair of boots she begrudgingly wore, no longer worried about walking up and down the long flights of stairs. Next, she would run them through the washer and fetch new sets to put on the beds, having already found a sack she could use to carry them so she wouldn’t have to climb up and down each floor again and again. After the beds were remade, she would then set about cleaning the rooms. It was at this point that she began to notice cleaning supplies were missing; in their places were photos of the missing items and another photo beneath of where they had been moved to, but every time she went there she would find another photo leading to another location until she eventually found what she was looking for. It slowed her down considerably and she was none too happy about it, especially when it continued on for days after. The first time it had been all of the vacuum cleaners, the second the brooms, the third the cleaning sprays, and so on until everything all of the supply closets had been hidden at some point.

When that was finally over, then came the strange happenings that would go on while she was cleaning. Things would randomly fall over when no one was anywhere near them, sometimes breaking in the process, and she was forced to go and tell Charlie or Vaggie what happened; she was beginning to suspect that Vaggie was believing her less and less that it wasn’t her fault each time it happened, no doubt thinking she was clumsy and didn’t want to admit it. Electronic devices would switch on as well, many a times on full volume and nearly making her jump out of her own skin. She would hear laughter behind her or voices she didn’t recognize whispering things to her, but each time she would turn there would be no one there. Phones would ring in rooms when she was nearby and she would rush to answer them in case it was something important, but they would always stop before she could reach them. More than once she had found signs taped to her back that said, ‘I’m hungry and underpaid’, or something of that nature; Vaggie had seen it once and asked if she was trying to get more money out of them while Charlie saw it as a cry for help.

All of this only added to the fact that Alastor was still trapping her beside him each morning at breakfast. She would always find a way to avoid dinner, feeling grateful that everyone was left to their own devices for lunch, but Charlie always managed to talk her into breakfast. No matter where she sat or who was beside her, he always found a way to take their spot and make her exceedingly uncomfortable. Most of the time it was simply staring when she wasn’t looking, but other times he would resort to more drastic measures when she tried to make it clear she was ignoring him. Sometimes he would switch out her cup with another, watching as she went to take a drink and stopping herself before she could taste whatever it was after noticing it wasn’t hers; more often than not it would be bleach or some other type of cleaner, but once it had been a cup full of blood. Other times, he would try to rile her up by poking her in the side or nudging her with his foot when she wasn’t paying attention, making her jump in surprise and get a few looks from around the table; fingers would be one thing, but the tips of his claws were rather sharp and she was worried he might actually cut into her one day.

The thing that really took the cake, however, was the day she, Charlie, and Vaggie finally got around to cleaning out the laundry chute. She’d been there for nearly a month now and they still couldn’t figure out exactly what had gotten stuck in there. Still, though, she was happy they were attempting to unclog it because that meant she’d be able to use them instead of walking up and down the stairs.

“So what do you think is up there?” Charlie asked as Vaggie turned on a flashlight and stuck her head into the opening in the basement.

“I’m still pretty sure it’s a wad of sheets,” Vaggie explained, squinting her eyes a bit up into the darkness and letting out a groan of annoyance. “It’s too high up. I can’t see what it is.”

“What does it look like?” Charlie questioned, standing just behind her and trying to see in as well, but the opening was only big enough for one person.

Vaggie looked harder for a moment. “Like a wad of sheets.” She climbed out of the opening and handed the flashlight to Charlie. “I’ll go up and see if I can dislodge it.” Looking over at Ottilie, she asked, “You have Angel Dust up there, right?”

“Yes. I sent him up to the sixth floor since it seems to be between there and five in the other chute,” Ottilie confirmed.

As if on cue, Angels voice came blaring from the walkie-talkie sitting on the table. “These chutes stink like ass! What did them bitches do? Send ‘em down wet?”

“Yeah, same with this one,” Vaggie nodded to Ottilie, ignoring Angels comment as she grabbed two broomsticks and headed for the door. “I’ll go up and we’ll see about getting those sheets out. You two stay down here and wait to see what comes out.”

“Can do!” Charlie playfully saluted while Ottilie just nodded in agreement. Once they were alone, she turned back to Ottilie and smiled. “I’ll bet you’ll be happy once this is done. It’ll make your job so much easier.”

“Yes, it will,” Ottilie concurred. “Not that I find it hard to do to begin with, but it has been much easier since I got these new shoes.” She was doing her best to make the conversation seem casual, but in reality she was trying to see if she could get Charlie to admit the shoes had been from her. She’d had her suspicions since she’d left them in Charlies office only to have them returned to her, but at least if she confirmed it she might be able to get the other woman to tell her where her other shoes were and return her current pair again, still not wanting to accept such an extravagant gift.

Charlie glanced down at Ottilies feet then back up again. “Oh yeah! I noticed you got new shoes a while back! They’re really cute! Where did you get them?”

Not ready to give up just yet, Ottilie pushed a little further. “They were a gift. I tried to return them but… they were given back.”

“I see. Well, maybe it’s a good thing they did, if they make working easier,” Charlie pointed out. “Who gave them to you?”

Ottilie, not sure what else to say, went with, “I thought you did.”

Charlie looked taken back. “Me? Well, I’m flattered you would think I did something so nice, but I can’t take the credit for it. I wasn’t even aware you needed new shoes. I do hope you figure out who gave them to you, though. Whoever did deserves a big thank you!”

Having confirmed her original suspicion that Charlie wouldn’t have hidden the fact that they were from her, Ottilie was back to square one with them. Perhaps it was for the best she didn’t know, however. Going back to her original pairs would mean having her feet hurt all day and it was improper for her to be running around in only socks. She would simply have to make due with what she’d been given and leave it at that.

“Geez, it really stinks in here! And this thing is lodged in there good! Them girls should have been prostitutes, cause they sure know how to fill a hole!” Angels voice came over the walkie again, sounding a bit ticked off at having to waste his time on such a thing.

“Just get over it and get it out of there! It stinks over here too and I don’t want it getting into the rest of the hotel!” Vaggies voice followed, clearly not too happy about it, either.

“It’s really squishy, too! It feels like it’s falling apart whenever I poke it!” Angel went on. Charlie and Ottilie heard banging from the chute the latter of the two was standing in front of, like he was beating at whatever was in there.

Ottilie walked over to the table and picked up the walkie, confused on how to use it until Charlie told her to press the button on the side. “What do you mean it’s squishy? Sheets shouldn’t be squishy.”

“Hold on, I think I almost got it!” Angel stated, his voice sounding strained as he hit at the thing with more force.

“Me too,” Vaggies voice crackled from the walkie. Bangs followed from Charlies chute now as they waited below.

Almost simultaneously, they heard the sound of something sliding against the metal of the chutes, a few pieces of cloth falling from above in Charlies chute. She looked at them in confusion, having expected entire sheets to fall instead of just pieces. She also noticed the material was black rather than white and a bit too thick to be a bedsheet. Stepping closer, she picked it up and felt a dry, crusty material on it that left red flakes on her fingers. “Is this blood?”

Charlie and Ottilie had to scramble back from the openings as something large and heavy began to fall down them at high speed, crashing against the metal in an almost deafening sound. Something came falling out of Charlies chute and tumbled to the floor in front of her while Ottilies came just seconds later, but neither of them were bundles of tangled up sheets.

It was the smell of the bodies that hit them first. Ottilie had always heard that decaying flesh smelled awful, but she never knew it could be this bad. She and Charlie had to plug their noses against the stench as their faces wrinkled in disgust and it took them a few seconds to realize what they were looking at. Once it dawned on them, however, Ottilie could only stare in shock while Charlie was in hysterics.

“Persila, Annabelle, no!” Charlie cried out, sinking to the floor as her fingers tangled into her hair.

Ottilie was confused has to how Charlie knew who they were. Though clearly female, neither body had a head with which to identify them from. She then noticed, however, the black and red colored uniformed dress they were both wearing and the nametags pinned to them, one reading ‘Annabelle’ and the other ‘Persila’. She’d always wondered what exactly had happened to the maids that came before her, but had thought it better not to ask Alastor such a question if she wanted to keep both her sanity and her head on its shoulders. Annabelle and Persila seemed not to have faired so lucky.

Ottilie was pulled from her thoughts as Charlie began to dry heave, the sound mixing with her cries. She brought the walkie back up and spoke into it. “Vaggie? Where are you?”

“Headed downstairs to meet back up with you guys. Why?” Vaggie replied.

“I think you might want to hurry,” Ottilie commented, unsure what to do for Charlie.

“Why?” Vaggie asked again. “And what was in the chutes?”

“Is one of you two crying? Sounds like someone died in there,” Angel cut in jokingly, letting out a noise of surprise when the wails only got louder. “Geez, what did I say?”

“We’re on our way!” Vaggie said worriedly.

***

Needless to say, Vaggie was none too pleased when she came into the laundry room to find a sobbing Charlie and two dead headless bodies that belonged to two former employees. After getting Charlie away from the bodies and up to the penthouse, she went through the entire hotel and sent everyone to their rooms until she said otherwise or they got everything straightened out, whichever came first. She knew it couldn’t have been Ottilie who finished them off, but Ottilie had decided it would be best to head back there to escape the chaos. No one bothered to ask how the two had died; headlessness aside, there was only one true way to kill a demon.

Ottilie was in no real hurry to go back to her room, however. For once, the halls were quiet and she could think to herself for a bit. Aside from that, there wasn’t much for her to do in her room. She contemplated reading or sewing to pass the time, but she knew she was much too distracted for that.

Her thoughts kept going to Annabelle and Persila. She’d never met the two, but she did feel bad for them. She needn’t bother wondering who killed them, having already known the answer for a long time, but could only hope they didn’t suffer too much. It was hard to tell just from the bodies whether they had or not. There were many deep gashes and claw marks, but the deepest of them had been in their hearts, and that had likely been the blow that killed them, meaning their heads were likely cut off after they were completely dead. It was possible they had been cut off before the stab to the heart seeing how the heads would just grow back given enough time, but she hoped that wasn’t the case because she’d heard regrowing limbs was quite painful.

She fought with herself to keep them from her mind. It wouldn’t do her any good to dwell on them now and the bodies would be gone by tomorrow, Vaggie having already said she would have them taken to the disposal sight that was specifically for circumstances such as these, but she doubted she would be able to use the chutes now without thinking about those two women stuffed inside like discarded waste. She briefly wondered why Alastor had put them there in the first place rather than dispose of them himself or hide them somewhere better and even tried to figure out what he must have done with the heads, but thought it better not to find out.

A headache began to throb beneath her skull and she rubbed at her temples as she closed her eyes, able to navigate the halls now even without looking. She was typically a calm person, but even she could get stressed out. All of the goings on had really begun to affect her. Between Alastors antics and the strange goings on, it was starting to get to her. She wasn’t going to give up, however, and was more than willing to stick it out. Alastor and everything else aside, she enjoyed the work and most of the people there were nice to her. There was no way she was going to give it up.

As she was rubbing at her temple, she could swear she heard a light crackling noise. Assuming it was a side effect of her headache, she ignored it and kept walking. The noise persited, however, and was only getting louder. The crackling was followed by the sound of constant static and that made her stop dead in her tracks as a sense of deja vu washed over her. She’d heard both sounds accompanying her before and knew she’d never forget where it came from. Ever so slowly, she turned and looked down the hallway.

All the color drained from her face and her eyes went wide as she saw the thing standing in the middle of the hallway.

It was at least nine to ten feet tall and the tips of its ears brushed against the ceiling, the long antlers that sprouted from its head branching out like the limbs on a tree. Its claws were longer and much sharper, no doubt able to rip apart anything they came into contact with, and the skin at the corners of its smiling mouth were frayed and torn apart to reveal a mouthful of teeth just as deadly as its claws, the jaw open slightly with a tongue slightering about like a serpent between it. The face was just an empty black hole with stark white eye sockets and that mutilated mouth, its gaze boring into her and body bent forward like a deranged animal ready to strike. Tendrils of dark power manifested around its body, infesting the floor and walls around them as they sought to snuff out the light, the shear force of it causing the frayed tail of its suit jacket to whip about. The thing wore the same clothes as Alastor, but it was clear that, though they both shared the same body, they were not of the same mind.

Her blood felt like it had completely turned to ice while she and the creature stared at each other. The sound of static and crackling continued to assault her ears, turning almost deafening now and nearly throwing her off balance, but her stance held fast and she remained still, not wanted to make any sudden movements. Over the sound of the static she could hear its ragged breathing and the occasional low growl, like it wanted her to move but getting angry when she didn’t budge. Her expression was finally showing fear, but it wanted more than that. It wanted to hunt.

Ever so slowly, it cocked its head at her and its jaw extended, unmoving as it began to speak. “Ottilie.” A shiver ran down her spine and she thought she was about to piss herself as the voice of monster spoke her name. It held its long arms out to the side, like it was welcoming her in an embrace, and there was almost a sing-song quality to the way it called out to her. “Won’t you come here? I just want to talk.” She slowly shook her head, still afraid to move too quickly. It moved so it was standing on all fours and straightened out its spine, its tongue slithering faster now. “That hurts my feelings, Ottilie. You never want to talk to me. You just scurry away and leave me all alone. Don’t you like me?” It started to take slow, deliberate steps towards her, each one matched by her taking one away from it. “I like you, you know. I like it when you’re near... I like the way you smell… and I think I’ll especially like the way you taste!”

She barely had any time to react when the thing lunged at her, using all for limbs to propel it across the space between them. She turned and ran just as it landed in the spot she’d been standing in, narrowly missing the claws that swiped at her, the air that whooshed past her causing her to stagger a bit as she thought they were going to hit her. Her heart pounded in her chest, beating painfully against her rib cage as she sprinted faster than she ever had in her life. Adrenaline pushed her forward as the thing followed after her, easily keeping pace behind her but not ready to catch her just yet; the beast was finally getting what it wanted and it wanted to chase.

She had no idea where she was going. There was no where she could go that would keep her safe from this thing. It seemed hopeless, but even so she kept running. Something inside of her simply wouldn’t let this thing have the satisfaction of taking her down. Until she was completely drained of energy and couldn’t run another step, she would survive.

It wasn’t until she saw the door to the stairwell that she had an idea. Her chance was slim, but it was something to go with. Sucking in a large breath, which was a bit difficult as her lungs burned, she used it to give herself a burst of momentum and shot towards the door. It didn’t think twice about speeding up as well and she could hear its heavy steps behind her, but she had been counting on that as it didn’t have time to stop. She burst through the door and onto the landing of the stairway while it crashed into the door frame, its shoulders just slightly too wide to fit through.

It was unharmed but nonetheless roared in anger, the sound echoing through the stairway. It reached an arm through the doorway, trying to grab her as it clawed in her direction. She scrambled back until she hit the railing, her spine hurting as she pressed into it. Its claws were just centimeters from reaching her, but those centimeters were enough to keep her out of its grasp. It tried to force its way through the doorway, but its anger was causing it to thrash about too wildly to squeeze through properly.

It stopped thrashing as it stared her down, its large hand slamming down on the floor in front of her, the tendrils returning now to slink their way slowly around the stairwell; now closer to them, she could swear she heard screams and cries of anguish emanating from their inky black depths. Its ears twitched as it cocked its head again, regarding her with interest. “Such a smart girl you are. I’ll tell you what. I’ll make you a deal since you were able to outsmart me like that. Come out of there now and I promise to make it quick. You’ll won’t even feel a thing.”

Not believing him for a second, she shook her head. “No.” Her voice was shaky as she tried to catch her breath, using that moment to steady herself for when she would have to run again.

“Come now. Think rationally, dear. Do you really think you can get away?” It asked, its head tilting further to the side.

“Maybe not,” she replied. “But I’m certainly not going to make it easy on you.”

It chuckled a dark and sinister laugh, the sound making her knees quake. “Easy? Darling, you’re only making this fun for me. I simply wanted to give you an easy out… I’ll even give you one more, since I’m such a good sport. Come here and I’ll be gentle with you.” It lifted its hand and turned its palm toward her, like it expected her to take it.

“Do you really expect me to believe you? People like you never keep your word,” she retorted, unsure where it had come from feeling like it was true nonetheless.

It let out a long sigh, like it really had wished she would take the bargain. “Have it your way.” It pulled the hand back and it disappeared from sight as it let the door close between them.

She didn’t hesitate to run down the stairs as soon as she heard the click of it closing. She didn’t care where she was going or how long she had to run, she just knew that she had to get as far away from the hotel as possible. She doubted anyone there would be able to help her. None of them could stand up to the might of the Radio Demon and she didn’t want to put them in harms way for her sake. It broke her heart, but she’d have to leave Angel and the friends she’d made there behind or risk seeing them hurt so Alastor could get to her nor did she want to test how far he was willing to go.

As she was descending the stairs, she saw a blur of red leap down from over the railing above her head. She turned to run back up, but this proved to be a mistake as the blur landed right in front of her. A gasp escaped her lips just before a hand grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back, sending her falling backwards. Pain shot through her as her multiple times as her spine hit the corners of the stairs and her head bashed against one as well, leaving a few trickles of blood behind as she tumbled down. Only when she slammed against the wall of the next landing did she stop, groaning as she lay face down.

She was given no time to recover as hands harshly grabbed hold of her and flipped her over so she was lying on her back. She tried to fight them off, but her assailant sat on top of her so he was straddling her and pinned her hands above her head, easily keeping her in place.

She needn’t guess that it was Alastor, but this time he was back to his regular form, smiling down at her in all of his wicked glory. His expression showed remorse, but it was only in mockery; he felt no sympathy as he stared down at her. “Poor little thing. I really wish you had taken my deal when I gave all those chances. You know, that’s more than I’ve ever given anyone else. It just goes to show how much I really did like you, but that’s all over now. I’m afraid I can’t make it quick for you in this form. The one you just saw, well… I have a bit of trouble controlling it, so you really wouldn’t have felt anything. This one, however, you’ll feel every… little… thing.”

She was shaking now, unable to stop her limbs from trembling like they did. “Why are you doing this?”

He chuckled again. “You know, I get that question a lot. I got it when I was alive and I even get it here in Hell. The blunt of it that I simply can’t let you run about freely anymore, knowing what you know. I simply can’t having you tell any of the others. Of course I have most of them under my thumb, but I’ve put too much effort into my plans to have you ruin them if word gets out I was the one who killed the other maids.”

“Mimzy and Nifty know. Are you going to kill them, too?”

“Mimzy does whatever I ask and Nifty does as she’s told. I don’t have to worry about them. You, on the other hand,” he grabbed both her wrists in one hand, still easily able to pin them down even though she pulled with all of her might, and used the now free one to run his claw down the length of her face, grabbing it roughly so she was still looking at him when she tried to turn away, “have been a thorn in my side ever since you came here. You’ll simply have to go.” The hand slipped down so it was around her throat and wasted no time as it began to squeeze tightly. “Don’t worry, though. You and I will have oodles of fun together. And as a reward, I’ll tell Angel Dust you said goodbye.”

Her vision was already starting to blur as she struggled for air, the hand around her throat not letting even the tiniest bit through. Her legs kicked back and forth, trying to land a blow, but it was all in vain as he only laughed at her meager attempts to harm him. His smile was cruel and sadistic, just as she imagined it would be if he ever got his hands on her.

As her vision began to blur and black spots dancing in front of her eye, the form looming over began to shift and change. Confusion washed over her as she was no longer staring at Alastor, but a man she did not know yet seemed all too familiar. His hand was still around her throat and he was smiling at her like he was enjoying the action all too much. His voice spoke to her, sending hate coursing through her veins as he said, ‘My lovely little doll.’

All at once, she went completely numb. The hand around her throat no longer mattered and whoever was above her was inconsequential. Her body went slack, no longer straining against him nor desperate for air. Her face, now blank of emotion, stared up with a glassy expression, like no one had ever inhabited the body in the first place.

***

Alastors brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed. The all consuming, delicious scent of her fear was now completely gone and he was left with nothing but the shell of a prey. This wasn’t what he wanted at all. He couldn’t possibly taste her as she was now. She would be too bland. He leaned down closer to her as he pulled her face toward him, his hand still around her throat. “If you think pulling that little stunt is going to help you live, you’ve got another thing coming.” There was no response. “You’re going to die. You know that, right?” She didn’t even bat an eye. “I won’t even tell Angel Dust you said goodbye! He’ll think you left without giving him a second thought! He’ll hate you by the time I’m through with him!” It was like talking to a brick wall.

Anger bubbled and festered inside of him, threatening to make him act irrationally, but he had to stay in control. She was his to control and he simply had to remind her of that, but something stirred deep down inside of him as he stared into those lifeless eyes and pushed its way to the surface, escaping him in the form of an ear piercing screech, the sound odd when coupled with his smile. Even then, there was nothing from her. He could see her consciousness slipping away as her eyes began to droop, but he felt no satisfaction in it. He lost satisfaction in everything about this.

***

All at once, Ottilie could breathe again as the weight was lifted off of her and the hand around her throat was gone, Alastor nowhere to be seen. She was no longer numb as she took a deep gasp of air, filling her lungs until they couldn’t hold any more, her chest arching toward the ceiling all the while. She coughed and sputtered as spit coated her chin, everything beginning to ache with pain once again. Turning on her side, her fingers clawed at the ground as she desperately tried to regain control of her breathing. Her entire body trembled, shaking violently and painfully as she curled into herself.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that, but eventually she picked herself up from the floor and made her way to her room, her body protesting the entire way there. She fought back tears all the while, not wanting to cry over this but the urge so overwhelming that it was a wonder how she didn’t. Once in the safety of her bedroom, she shut the door and locked it behind her; she knew such a simple thing wouldn’t keep Alastor out if he came for her again, but it was a small comfort to know it was at least locked. She sank to the floor again, her back against the door as she wrapped her arms around herself, feeling so cold and wishing she could get warm as she rubbed her hands along her arms, but she was never warm. She had only ever known the cold.

As she sniffled and rubbed against her eye, still fighting tears, she heard a gust of wind before she felt the breeze that came with it. Confused, she looked up to see that her balcony door was wide open, the curtains on either side billowing in the open air. She knew she’d left it closed when she left, having never actually gone out on the balcony. Fear gripped at her once again as she thought Alastor had indeed come back to finish her off, but the more rational part of her brain told her that he wouldn’t have bothered coming through the balcony. He could tear the door off its hinges like it was made of paper while barely lifting a finger, so she was simply left confused again.

Standing up on shaky limbs, she slowly and carefully made her way to the door, unaware that she would come to wish it had been Alastor waiting out there for her.

[genderfluidmollymauks]

highlights from last nights session

a continuation from this campaign

the dm, before even fucking starting: i would like one of you to roll a d20 me: i’ll do it. just a straight d20? dm: yah me: i got a nat one the entire party: *laughing* dm: i- ok, so there was a mechanic involved that you had to roll literally anything but that.

also, since i rolled the first nat 1, i have to make the highlights reel. buckle up.

the bard woke up first, and tried to make breakfast. rolled a 3 to make breakfast. we all wake up to the smell of smoke and i, thinking quickly, throw a rock at the fire the bard made

bard: what are you doing! me: it was on fire! bard: i made the fire! that was for breakfast! me: ... oh

the bard braids my hair and several things happen during this time

i ask if she stole a hankerchief

she gets blue hair dye all over her hands

we realize “oh, where’s the ranger, you know, your half brother”

the bard freaks the fuck out when we realize the ranger is missing bc they are. siblings.

me: i call for bambi (the ranger’s deer companion) dm: bambi is right there me: great, can you lead us to febey? dm: bambi looks exasperated. she just goes to a tree and lays down.

the ranger was asleep in the tree. 

the bard threw a rock at him

lots of rocks being thrown this session, as you can tell

after this rock throwing session, we all kept following the trail from yesterday to find the person we were hired to find and then out of nowhere, the dm goes :) roll a perception check

the ranger got a NAT ONE and heard a wounded animal. fun!

there was no wounded animal. just a swamp. 

which we got stuck in

me: fuck me: that was in character

i did that several times throughout the session

me: we need to go to that swamp.  carter: we need to follow the markings me: no, i remember, specifically, loki said to go to the swamp. they said the guy we’re rescuing was stuck in a swamp, and it would be kinda funny if i got stuck too, but that isn’t the point, we’re supposed to go to the swamp. so unless i remembered wrong, or my dm fucked up-

oh, by the way, i was RIGHT, the markings did lead to the swamp :)

we enter a scary hole in the swamp, and we hear a scary disembodied voice ask “WHO GOES THERE”

the artificer, trying to be practical: carter. me, being myself: i’m a paladin the bard, trying so hard to get us safely out of here: we’re the circus 

scary voice: A PALADIN? WHO DO YOU SERVER, PALADIN me, realizing my mistakes: loki scary voice: TELL ME, HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE ROTTING GOD? me, very aware of my mistakes: uh, no, but i always like to keep my options open scary voice: ARE YOU READY TO COMMIT YOUR SOUL TO THE ROTTING GOD? me, so so very aware of my many, many mistakes: im not ready to commit to anything, but if you have an hour long power point presentation-

me, ooc: in the back of my head im just going “loki loki loki help help loki help” dm: loki doesn’t respond me, who knows loki has never shut the fuck up a day in their life, comforted me when i cried, and has always made a point to be there for me when i need them: oh no

a tiefling in a big goopy sack descends from the ceiling and the entire party basically goes “this is either florian or rose’s romancable npc”

me: jeremy i swear to GOD if this is my girlfriend-

it was florian, all is well

the scary disembodied voice turned out to be a lady with wings, a tail, and horns, who looked vaguely fiendish, and we all kind just went “hot” and referred to her solely as “hot lady”

the bard almost seduced her. almost.

during the fight florian was a BADASS with all kinds of fire spells

dm: florian goes up to you and touches your shoulder and says “flame on” me: i ask him if he’s a flaming bisexual dm: he gives you a wink

i, the paladin with a chronic inability to hit anything, ever, got a NAT 20 to hit

dm: i’m giving you a free divine smite for that

dm: roleb, you can’t see this, but the rest of you see their sword light up with a soft green light as they hit the hot lady, and she screams me, in character, after I hit her: yah. i’m a paladin.

after the bard sang a CUSTOM BARDIC INSPIRATION SONG FOR CARTER i took the opportunity to hand the lady (who had at some point ceased to be hot and was now just an old woman screaming at us) a poster about loki

dm: she’s going to take a swipe at you with her nasty claws me: wha- oh right, her turn is right after dorami’s. dm: you take 4 points slashing and 6 points of acid damage me: what the FUCK me, in character, to the lady: i guess you’re not a fan.

after the battle:

florian: so simon sent you to save me the other members of the party: yah me: nope, loki sent me. me, handing florian a poster about loki: you’ve been saved by the paladin of loki! congratulations! i’m not asking you to convert or anything, but a little gold thrown their way wouldn’t hurt

im basically just like “unless theres loot anywhere around here, i want to get the fuck out” bc im scared as fuck and cant contact my deity, who literally never stops giving me unprompted advice

we find a chest, and when i open it, i, bad dex mcgee, had to make a dex save. i failed, and took a dart to the shoulder. i kept the dart.

we all also rolled ridiculously high perception checks, so:

dm: you pull out the linens, and the three of you look at it, and you all at once kind of go “false bottom”

we find 420 gold

florian: i think i was useful in that fight, and i deserve a share of the gold carter, not having that bullshit:  if you want me to help, i get my fair share, which does not include paying the damsel in distress

we also find a fancy dagger (i took it) a fancy ring (the bard took it) and the fucking rock (which the artificer took)

i need to explain something about this rock.

this is the rock that when we tried to roll arcana for it, with a NAT 20, we couldn’t understand it, and it just felt old. this is the rock that we found in the domain of a woman proclaiming shit about a rotting god taking my fucking soul. this is a rock we found in a place i could not reach my deity.

tHIS IS THE ROCK THAT WHEN CARTER TRIED TO SKIP IT, SHE HAD TO ROLL A WISDOM SAVING THROW, AND THE ROCK TOLD HER NOT TO THROW IT AWAY.

I HATE THIS FUCKING ROCK

me, literally at half health, running around after the battle: does anyone need healing :)

i use my lay on hands points to heal 2 points of damage to florian, 3 points for dorami, ANOTHER POINT FOR FLORIAN AFTER CARTER SLAPS HIM, and five points healing a disease florian had, that the dm later revealed he DIDNT ACTUALLY HAVE

meanwhile i’m basically bleeding out going :) this is fine :)

me: i run out dm: where to? me: the exit

me: as i go to the path i’m just going “loki? loki? loki?” dm: as soon as you get to the path, you hear in your ear, loki going “rose? caleb? ROLEB?”

loki: i couldn’t hear you, i couldn’t see you. i have been around for a very long time, and that was the most scared i’ve ever been me: yah but you’re the all powerful god, try being the squishy mortal

loki: you should heal yourself, you should- me: what what no no i’m fine, listen have you heard of the rotting god? loki: you know i hear your friends telling you to take care of yourself, and i agree, you should me: i’m fine but i feel like you’re dodging the question. do you know anything about the rotting god, because that scared me loki: you know whats even scarier? i don’t know anything about that.

artificer, ooc: are you talking to loki out loud? me, ooc: yes. bard, ooc: dorami is just like “is this normal paladin behavior??” loki: you should probably go, you’re freaking out your friends me: no i’m not! bard: uh, yes, sweetie, you kinda are 

we are officially booking it back to town, and the bard and florian are hanging in the back flirting grossly the entire time

me, yelling back: IF YOU TWO WANT TO HAVE AN EVENING ROMP IN THE WOODS, BE MY GUEST, BUT WE’RE TRYING TO GET BACK TO TOWN bard, yelling back: I CAN DO BOTH

we also had to roll perception checks on the way back to town, and i got the highest, and i was the only one who saw a fucking shadow in the forest beside us

like i cannot stress this enough i think we accidentally stole an unholy relic from a rotting god and its the GODDAMN ROCK

we all start playing with matches on the way back, because i’m a pyromaniac, florian is a fire magician, and the bard has pyrotechnics

fireworks were made

dm: you get back to town and you realize it’s been overrun by mandated soldiers the party, currently consisted of an ex-soldier who deserted, a professional liar, the ex criminal we just rescued, an actual criminal, and a sixteen year old with a sword: oh shit

[whereamipanicingandwhy-blog]

Peter Hayes x reader Divergent

In this imagine, Peter is an instructor and you are his initiate. He is 17 and you are 16. I assume you know the abriviations already. When I joined Dauntless, I had no idea it would be like this. I was from Erudite. I kinda hated it there. Logic this, logic that, blah, blah, blah. When I went for my aptitude test, they told me I was something called divergent. My results were Amity, Dauntless, and Erudite. I didnt know what to choose. Should I have stayed with my family in Erudite? No. I thought with my heart more than my brain. I was smart, but I didnt want to spend my life in a library. Maybe amity? No. I'm too sarcastic. They'd probably drug me with that peace serum crap. So I chose dauntless. Now here I am, standing at the edge of an abandoned building, staring at the mangled lip of a massive hole leading to the Dauntless compound. I'm not brave enough to jump first, so I let two others go before me, both Dauntless horns. I stand in my Erudite clothes. I wanted to dress most like dauntless as I could. I wore dangerously short light denim shorts, and a blue top that kept falling off my shoulder. I'm taller than the other girls here. I shake my long (h/c) hair out of its side braid anf let it blow in the wind. Its my turn. Four, one of the leaders, stands right on the edge, so close I'm afraid he'll fall if the wind blows hard enough. I jump, listening to the wind screaming in my ears. I his the net hard, not able to breathe. I smile. I may be able to fit in after all. Im pulled out of the net by someone, and right as I'm about to object, those eyes gaze into mine amd I stop thinking. A boy looks at me, like he's staring into my soul. His dark hair is shiny an swooped back. He doesn't look much older than me, maybe one or two years. "Looks like we've got our first transfer. What your name?" The boy asks. I keep staring until im snapped out of my daze "Um...(y/n)" " Welcome to dauntless." He winks at me and I dont know to respond. The rest of the initiates jump and the boy who caught me speaks up. "My name is Peter. This" he gestures to the boy on his left "is Uriah . We are your instructors. Dauntless borns with Uriah, transfers with me." My heart beats faster. I'm going to be taught by this gorgeous stranger and I don't know how I'll get through it alive. ------------time skip, initiation, blah blah blah-------------------- During capture the flag, I was on Peter's team. Yay. Just kidding. He kept me , of all people, by his side the whole time. His reasoning was 'You're tall, smart and fast, so you'll provide many necisary tools.' Yeah, okay. Then why keep me cooped up? Actually, I love this. Not only am I on his team, but I'm by his side the whole time. I dont know why he treats me so much better than everyone else, but I'm not complaining. Peter waves his hand in front of my face, interruptung my thoughts. "So we're going to split up for a moment. You're going to be fine on your own, I know it. Stay safe and I'll see you in a minute." He winks at me again. I can't help but smile. I walk around the corner when three guys and a girl stand there. Their guns are empty and the tallest one mutters under his breath. They throw the guns yo the ground. "You," he growls "are done." He lunges at me, and I try to run, but two others hold me from behind. The girl and one of the boys stand in front of me, while the other two kick at me as hard as they can. I can't tell who they are, as they all wear dark masks. Apparently being attacked is a thing here in Dauntless. I dont know who it was last year, but it caused an upset. I cry out, even though no one will care. "Peter! Help me!"Just then he turns the corner, and a wave of relief runs through me. He kicks at everyone around me, all four either running off or at Peter's mercy. It kinda scares me that he's so good at that. I lay on the ground, clutching my head and knees. They went right for my weak points. I couldn't walk. Someone from our team found the flag and we won. Once I knew the game was over, I slumped down into the mud, the thick ooze mixing with my own blood and covering my dauntless clothes. Then I feel two strong arms wrap around me. My vision is blurry, so it takes my eyes a second to focus, especially since whoever is carrying me is running. Then I see his green eyes and dark hair, and I know exactly who it is. We hop on the trains, and after a while, everyone gets off but us. "Where are we going?" I ask, my voice hoarse from the screaming. " Somewhere you'll be safe." I dont ask what that means. We get off at the next possible place, and he still carries me. I think my knees are stable enough, but he refuses to let me down. He takes me around the Dauntless compound into a long room with beds and bathrooms along the wall. It looks a lot like the dormitory, but unused. "This is the old dormitory. They stopped using it after my initiation year. After that, they built a new one. Your class is the first to use it." I'm confused as to why he brought me here. "Why are we here?" He looks at me with sadness in his eyes. "Your attackers were initiates. I refuse to let them see you like that, (y/n). I just can't do it. Not after...." He trails off. Then I realize who last years attack was. Tris Prior....and ...Peter Hayes. "Peter...it..it was...you? The attack last year?" He nods slowly. I'm not as afraid as I should be. Instead, I wrap my arms around him. He's tense at first, but I feel his arms around my waist, and I ease into his touch. I dont want this moment to ever end. "It was stupid, and I swear, I will never do that ever again. I... I can't. I fell in love with someone and I can't let her think badly of me." My heart sinks. I don't know why I thought he might like me. I look at my hands. They're callused from training. "I think I'm going to try to sleep now." I lay on the nearest bed, alone and fall asleep. I wake up in a cold sweat, looking around to see pitch black darkness. Peter lays on the bed a few feet away from mine. I breathe heavily. He jolts up, and looks at me with a scared look in his eyes. "Are you alright? What's happening?" Hes frantic. "Nothing. Just," I press a hand to my head. "Nothing. Nightmare, thats all." He gets up from his cot and walks over to me. He sits on the edge of my bed, and I scoot over, just in case he wants so lay next to me. He lays there for a moment, and I soon after feel him playing with my hair. The slow movement calms me, until I remember that he's in love with someone else. I feel his strong arms around me again, a feeling I'm getting used to. One arm around my waist, the other near my head, outstretched, his long hand dangling off the mattress. He buries his head in my neck. I'm stiff for a moment (no I'm not, I'm erudite to dauntless) and he begins talking, his lips brushing against my skin. "(Y/n), can I ask you something?" "Yeah," I say, my voice small. "Do you like me?" That took me by surprise. My heart races, and I play it off casually. "Yeah, you're a good instructor, and you're nice to me." I'm nervous. I hope he can't tell. He chuckles. "That's not what I mean. I mean do you love me." I freeze. "Yes, Peter. I am in love with you. I highly doubt you love me back though." I sigh. I didnt want him to know that. Especially since hes crushing on someone else. "You know that girl I was talking about earlier? The one I fell in love with?" A pit forms in my stomach at his question. I nod. "You didnt know I was talking about you?" A wave of surprise runs through me. I wasn't expecting that. I turn around, his eyes meeting mine. The next thing I know, his lips are on mine, and nothing else matters.

[happys-crazy-queen22]

Warmer

Gif credit to @lolly9358

My first Ubbe imagine and its smut! 🙊

I may have gotten somethings wrong, sorry.

Hope you all enjoy. Happy Reading Dollies.

Wrapping your fur around you tighter as the winter wind blew through you. Your teeth chattering. You couldn't seem to get warm. Standing near a fire or having three furs on, nothing could keep you warm.   Opening the door to the main hall, you bumped in to Ubbe. He was standing with Sigurd, while he whined about how Ivar is mommy's favorite. Ubbe rolling his eyes and smiling at you. His warm smile. "Y/N someone I can talk to and have a real conversation with". He wrapped his arm around you. Melting into his arm, you couldn't help but notice you felt warmer. Couldn't decide whether it was from his heat that radiated off his body or that he turned you on when you saw him? Giggling at him. "Oh Ubbe, your brother sulking again"? "Maybe you should find him a slave to keep him company"? "That is a good idea Y/N, he'll tell her everything that Ivar has done to take his mother's attention from him". "She'll want to die after". His remark getting Sigurd gave him a stink eye. "That will not happen, she will kill him first". You replied laughing at the two brothers as they made faces at each other. "You both act like children sometimes". "But you love us, now don't you". Ubbe said as he took a drink from his cup. Ubbe and you sat down at the table beside the fire, so you could get warm. You shivered as Ubbe removed his arm. "Are you cold"? "Alittle". Ubbe nodding, pouring you a horn of ale. "Thank you". "Then I shall get you warm, I can not have you freezing". His sultry voice came out and took you by surprise. "Umm... what do you have in mind Ubbe"? You spoke nervously, not taking your eyes from his. "Well we could stay here and sit by the fire or we could go back to my tent". His hand inched up your thigh,while the other hand moved a piece of hair from your eyes. Gasping at the sudden touch. "What about Sigurd"? "He'll get angry that you'd leave him in his state". Ubbe looked around and saw Sigurd with a slave. He took her hand, running off somewhere. "I think Sigurd will be fine on his own". He said as he turned back to you, you blushed as you saw Sigurd take off leaving you alone with Ubbe. "I think so too". You bit your lip. "Shall we then"? He stood up and placed out his hand. You gently placed your hand in his, as you stood up Ubbe kissed it softly. Ubbe threw his fur around you, huddling together as you stepped outside. It had started to snow. While walking Ubbe was telling tales of when he was little with his brothers, you had heard these stories over and over. But you still laughed. How could you not, he made great impression of his brothers. Walking up to the tent Ubbe held the tent flap open for you to enter. The smoke from the fire making you cough. "Sorry about that, I forget sometimes that I need to let it breath". You waved him off. "Come sit, I'll get us something to drink".  You sat on his bed as he fumbled with the cups. Ubbe walked over , he handed you your drink and sat  beside you. His smile never leaving his face. "Are you getting warmer"? "Alttle, yes". He hummed. "Ubbe"? "Yes". He looked at you. You looked at his lips as you licked your, slowly leaning in you where now inches away from him. Sucking in a breath you smashed your lips to his. Ubbe took this as a sign to pull you closer. Ubbe's tongue was demanding entrance, you obeyed. Your tongues dancing as his hands went to your hips. Pulling you into his lap. Feeling yourself grow wet as you felt his erection poking through his pants.The tip of his cock pressed on your clit. Grinding hard, feeling him grip your hips harder and making you both moan out. Your hands clawed his shoulders, holding on to the fabric. "Ubbe please". You stopped him. "What, did I do something"? His voice trembled with fear. He never wanted to hurt you. "No my love, but this is torture". "I need you now". Kissing him roughly. Hopping off his lap you slowly undid your dress, it fell to the ground. Ubbe sat there with his mouth opened and a tent in his pants, growing harder by the second. Ubbe quickly took off his tunic and undid his pants.  Stepping close to you, you felt the heat that made you melt. You hand wondered down his torso, taking his length in your hand and gave it a few pumps. Ubbe's head went back as he was enjoying your touch. You suddenly stopped. Ubbe growled as he hoisted you up, the tip of his cock running up and down your slit. Laying you on the bed, he opened you legs so he could see you better. "Very wet". He said as he took his fingers ,wiped some of your juices up ,took them to his mouth and sucked. "Gods that was so delicious". He moved on top of you, lined himself up and with one rapid thrust he entered you. "Oh Ubbe". Arching your back. Ubbe flicked his tongue on your swollen nipples, sucking on them making it harder for you not to come. His grunts filled the room as you bit down on his shoulder to muffle your moans. Not wanting people passing by to hear, especially his brother. "Y/N you're so beautiful". He said as his kissed your neck, leaving little purple marks. Ubbe's thrust became deep and hard. Your nails clawing up and down his back, drawing blood at moments. Your legs wrapped around him, making him stay inside you. "Gods please Oh Gods". You screamed out as you started to tremble, your first orgasm hitting you hard. You came seeing shooting stars and fire roaring. Ubbe didnt stop, his thrusted started to become sloppy. "Y/N I'm going to come". His grunts warning you. "Not in me please". You moaned out. Your eyes rolling back as he hit your g-spot. "Fuck". He said as he pulled out, coming on your stomach. He jerked as he came. Falling beside, his hand resting on your breast. "That was wonderful". "That it was". "I've never came like that before". He chuckled. You smiled. Knowing that you could bring him much delightment. "Not even with your favorite slave"? "Not even close". He pulled you closer to him, kissing your temple he nuzzled in the crease of your neck. As you  played with his long braid, you slowly started to drift off to sleep. "Y/N"? "Hmm". "Are you warm"? "Yes, I could actually go for some cool air". He chuckled "Want to step outside"? "Maybe later, I dont think I could walk". You looked at Ubbe, he had a big grin on his face. Knowing that he could cause you so much pleasure. The two of you spent the rest of the night sleeping and making love. Not a care in the world, just being with each other and staying warm in the winter. Perfect winter activity.

[exowolf-reactions]

If we are not allowed to see the light

Genre: Lay Demon!AU Fluff Yype: drabble/scenario Characters: Lay reader Do not re-post without permission or use in any way, this is my work. Sorry it took this long! Xo, Ara~

He was annoying. I could not stand him. Every time I saw him I wanted to leave the room. I didn’t even see what others saw in him. All the girls seemed to love the cold and dangerous guy but I didn’t. I hated him and he hated me too.

“Are you coming to the party tonight?” My friend asked me after school. “I don’t know, you?” “Well, of course! The boys are going! I can’t miss a party where Chanyeol will be at. You know what they say, he’s like the soul of parties!” “Chanyeol hm? So that means...” I rolled my eyes just by the thought.  “Yes, Lay is coming. But don’t worry! It’s a big house, lots of people. I bet you won’t even see him” “Ugh I want to believe you but...” “Oh come on Y/N. Come! We’ll have fun!” “Fine” I promised her, before I arrived home. “I’ll go for a couple of hours”

Of course I regretted my decision the moment I arrived. It was true, it was a big house and it was really crowded. But there was a reason why I never went to parties, a lot of people always made me feel uncomfortable, unprotected, watched. Not to mention that I had to wear a dress.

“You came!” My friend came out of nowhere, holding two cups. “Here, drink this!” “What is it?” “Just drink Y/N! It’ll made you forget why you didn’t want to come!” I took one of the cups from her hands and sipped it. It made me feel sick so I only pretended to drink it. My friend was probably to lost to even remember I had been there that night so I didn’t worry that much. Problem was that she was the only one I knew at that party. Well, not exactly. 

“Never thought I would see you here, girl” I heard someone whispering into my ear. “You don’t look like the kind of girl that comes to parties” How had he spotted me with so many people around me, was a complete mystery to me. “And... what kind of girl do I look like... Lay I tried really hard to not yell at him in that moment. I gave my cup another sip, not even that hideous liquid was as bad as he was. “Like the kind of girl that loves to runaway from me”

It took me a while to realize what he had said. I’m not sure if it was the music, the crowd, the drink or the three of them but for a moment it looked like he hated this hate-relationship we had. “If I remember correctly, you were the one who made me runaway. Now... if you excuse me” Lay grabbed my hand before I could go anywhere, stopped me from running away, again. “Let’s talk” He said. It didn’t look like he was joking, didn’t look like he was going to make fun of me again. But I didn’t trust him, I couldn’t. I knew his secret. “Why not staying out of each other’s lives? It was working fine...” “You are so cold Y/N” “You are the cold one Lay... now please” But he grabbed me tighter. He wasn’t hurting me but I knew he wouldn’t loosen up his grip no matter how much I tried to leave.  “No one will see us, they are too busy... too distracted... come. Let’s go to the rooftop”

He was right, no one had turned to see us while we walked upstairs. No one had even bothered to talk to him, not when he had that don’t mess with me expression on his face. So there I was, with the guy I least wanted to be, alone at the rooftop.  “Don’t drink that” He took my cup and threw it away. “Xiumin was in charge of the drinks” “So this is really a party from hell hm?” “We need to have some fun too, Y/N” I sighed, he wasn’t any different. He was still the boy I had found at the woods years ago. The boy that bleed black blood and had horns and wings. “What do you want Lay” “If you knew I was going to be here, why did you even bother to come?” Cold. No matter how hard he tried to be nice, he was always cold. “I thought I wouldn’t-” “See me? Come on Y/N, I’m always following your shadow” “You should stop Lay”

We stood there in silence for a couple of minutes without saying anything. Well, I didnt’ leave because he was still grabbing me but he just stood there, thinking of something that brought shadows to his face. “Why do you hate me?” Despise the fun everyone was having downstairs, he looked in pain. He always did, he always looked miserable. “You know why Lay “Because I am a demon? If I remember correctly, that didn’t stop you from saving me that day, years ago” He wasn’t staring at the horizon like I originally thought, he was looking into the past, into his memories. For years I had wished that day had never happened, wished the memory would just vanish. But it just became stronger, so strong I could even perceive his scent when I thought of that day. “I hate you, because you broke my heart, Yixing.”

I didn’t realize what had happened until I felt his warm tears on my cheeks. Didn’t realize he had pressed his lips against mine, pulled me closer to his chest and held me tightly so I wouldn’t escape from his arms, again. I didn’t feel sick thought, didn’t feel like running away. I wasn’t scared of him, wasn’t scared of his cold heart. But I hated him, for what he had done to me. For the excuse he had given me.

I’m a demon.

But I kissed him, I kissed him because I had missed it. The way he kissed me, I had missed it. No one had ever made me feel more loved than he had. I knew that deep inside that cold shell, a boy with very deep and strong feelings was waiting to see the light. “That’s the problem” He whispered between kisses. “I can’t accept it Y/N, because we are not allowed to see the light” “Then what’s the point of your whole existence Yixing? Stay in the shadows forever? I doubt it” “Why? Why do you believe I can change” “I don’t think you can change. A demon, you will always be. But it’s funny how there are things you do or feel that are even more human-like than us” “Y/N... I can’t be saved” “I doubt it, you don’t want to be saved, that’s different. You are scared, because you’ve never seen the light”

He kissed me again, this time we both were crying. It was not like we had been waiting for this moment. Probably the both of us had blocked any feelings we had for each other and tried to live on, but being there like this, made it all come back. Made us remember how forbidden our love or whatever that we had, was. “I had seen it once” He admitted. Lay held me closer to his chest, hugged me tightly. “That day, when you found me. I saw a ray of light” “Yixing...” “Maybe I’m just scared... maybe I think I don’t deserve this” “Why?” “Because, Y/N, how are we supposed to want something when we aren’t allowed to even think of it” "Then... you should stop chasing me” “I can’t... and I never will. even if we aren’t allowed to see the light" “Yixing...” “You had called me by my real name Y/N... I belong to you”

[johnnythirteenguns]

just seen justice league (this isnt spoiler free at all)

also went to thor: ragnarok for the third time to wash the taste out.

so i went to go see it for miller, momoa, and mera in that order. i was super impressed with mera. i thought they were gonna go the like easy way and give her an Accent like the amazons, but they didnt. even though her cadence was different like idk man i know very little about dc but i picked up a one-shot earlier this year where mera neatly beats the fuck out of the justice league on her own and she’s a semi-jerk who kind of hates surface dwellers and you know what for the thirty seconds we had her onscreen i believed it and she was powerful and felt like a character with backstory and i COMPLETELY didnt hear what aquaman was saying i just heard her side of the conversation

man ben affleck really doesnt wanna be here huh anyway we should recast him at the earliest convenience

also why was batman 90% CGI like fine i get it no one can be a gymnast in a 50 lb rubber suit but like every single one of his moves that required any bending had to have been cgi

speaking of which the cgi isnt like bad in and of itself it’s just typical like it’s the cgi youre used to seeing. it doesnt blend seamlessly into anything and the characters dont blend seamlessly into it. the cornfield looks fake as can fucking be and i dont really know why? what else there was another fucking weird cgi moment. anyway, steppenwolf is ugly as sin and has no emotion and is all one color and is??? generally weird looking

speaking of which. he is not frightening at all. the New Gods isnt something casual dc fans are gonna be familiar with (i am barely familiar with it) and like? apparently, darkseid was supposed to have scenes in this but didnt? anyway go see thor ragnarok which features 1) a horned villain that is legitimately terrifying and powerful, that you fully believe can do the things she does, and who is beautifully designed and 2) features glow-y eyed masses of disposable soldiers that are cool but goofy and dont take themselves too seriously but were still frightening and made for thrilling fights because you believed they could actually pose a threat to the characters they were attacking

the beginning... uh i think like three scenes of the film looked pretty good, but they looked like cutscenes. very GOOD cutscenes, but honestly... if i wanted it to look like this id have played... a video game. like, i want it to look like a real place even if it’s heavily stylized. uh but the first showdown where batman is luring a parademon out looks beautiful if fake as shit. the scene with wondy in the bank (which features a group of girls from an all-girls school... at a bank?) and terrorists wearing cheap pinstripe suits (like, this is fine! it’s nonsensical and stupid but fine it’s a comic book movie) was kind of cool because for once i felt like... maybe diana was a creative person who goes in wit ha strategy? like picking the dude up with the lasso and holding him up was fun i was like oh!!! thats not something a typical movie would do! it was the first time she felt like Wonder Woman to me (ive seen the wondy movie itself, it was... eh). uh and idk what was up with the standing on the scales of justice or whatever idk the hilarity of gal gadot on that statue which sits on top of a bank like. it was funny.

hey question what the uh... fuck was the “what are you” “a believer” line about it made zero sense in context at all

dont quote me on the order of scenes i dont remember fuck all of this movie in order because literally, the pacing was so weird. so... it was very obvious there were parts missing from the movie. not like, cuts made where you could be like oh there was something there or maybe there'll be a deleted scene no like you Knew there was stuff that was necessary that was gone. the football scenes with victor from the trailers were gone!!! i think the movie was trying to set up a really strong friendship with wonder woman and cyborg but it never really went anywhere? and i suspect because it all got cut! and i dont understand why because ray did a really good job and he sold cyborg to me so well i loved his take! 

also... i dont know if theyre saving it for the aquaman movie next year but did Arthur get a bunch of his stuff cut too? because i like jason momoa, and i like his arthur and so im sort of torn because, like, he didnt have much to do. like, he has the bit where he sits on wonder woman’s lasso of thruth and tells them all this stuff but you dont know enough about him for any of it to land? but i really wanted to know more (at some point i did give up on, this was a very passive viewing experience). my friend was saying that like literally why did they try to make arthur so Cool he’s already jason momoa he is by default cool now you can do whatever you want with him we’re all going to love him.

speaking of the lasso scene... was the entire last half of the movie re-writen and re-shot by whedon because like? the lasso scene is a whedon. the bit at the end where wondy goes “children. i work with children” is a whedon (THERE’S NO REASON FOR HER TO SAY THIS? I THINK THIS WHEN SHE HAS TWO TEAM MEMBERS LIKE LAYING ON THE GROUND AFTER NEARLY BEING BLON UP? IT WAS FUCKING WEIRD). i genuinely cant tell if all of barry’s dialogue was written by whedon or if that was ezra improvising but uh... man he’s... he needs to practice if that’s hm. if it’s just whedon i mean fine but he also doesnt have the shitty RDJ quality thats let’s him say those lines with believability.

speaking of which, going to see barry was my priority because apparently im gay for miller rn so like. uh. man he wasnt funny like there were a couple parts where he was cute and the line landed and it was fine but generally he just... wasnt funny? because the movie wasnt funny? like... idk man ezra really acting his heart out and ive said like cool i wanna follow his career and see if he does good stuff and gets even better at his stupid art but maybe he peaked with credence barebone i dont know. the first scene where we meet barry, with the flash pad and the pizza, that was good, that was funny. the bit at the prison was good. he has very soft eyes and thats nice. the panic attack is cute in the clip and the beginning like rhrgrh moment he has is good but then idk the pacing falls apart again

why is his character like this? i just dont think ezra’s... funny enough yet. (tbh i think he takes it too seriously even if he’s trying to be light-hearted man sometimes jokes is just jokes). there’s a bit where theyre digging up superman’s body and it’s JUST HIM AND CYBORG FOR UH? SOME REASON? maybe they explained why they sent the two babies but i didnt hear it and it’s literally just them two. and he tries to fistbump victor but vic is like “no” and tbh barry is annoying? like maybe u think he’s cute and an audience member but he’s uh... you can tell he’s annoying in the story and anyway then the flash says “right, racially charged” ABOUT A FISTBUMP? WHICH? LITERALLY MADE NO SENSE? WAS THIS LINE IMPROVISED? WAS IT WRITTEN? IM GONNA PUT MONEY ON IMPROVISED BECAUSE HE IS EXACTLY THAT KIND OF STUPID BITCH

if they were breaking into the lab why even bother going through the front door? barry drives the thing in (theyre trying to smuggle superman’s body into star labs) disguised a soldier (the literally most unconvincing thing, not to me as an audience member, because it was cute and funny to me,, but that a guy with THAT FACE is military like yeah sure, why did that guard believe him) but then they get to like the normal ass parking inside and the other three are standing there in full costume in full grey DC-brand daylight? are you telling me between 5/6ths of the justice league they couldnt sneak in a fucking pine box when wonder woman can lift a fucking tank on her own? like.

speaking of which uh.... superman is stupidly overpowered. like i said i read an issue of JL where mera hands every one of the justice league members their own gently roasted ass in hand on her fucking own. diana regularly kicks superman in the head. why was she not able to take him down? when theyre fighting steppenwolf for real it’s not until superman shows up that they even have a real fighting chance. they dont fight as team, they dont even fight as people casually unified in a common cause. theyre playing high-stakes legos and cyborg gets pulled away from them like three times?? and it gets fucking annoying? and then supes shows up and literally wipes the floor with him. it is so completely bizarre and stupid.

here’s a problem i still have with wonder woman: why is she so thin? the other amazons (except Hippolyta and maybe one other one) look built as FUCK? LIKE THESE WOMEN COULD EASILY TOSS ME ACROSS THE ROOM. wonder woman has serious fucking arms, where are they

also those amazon bikinis were bad. the whole styling of this movie is bad, but especially the amazons. everything is red and gold, for some reasons? the outfits dont looks heavy like armor, they look heavy like bullshit material. there is no reason for the fucking bikinis. the gold cloak hippolyta wears is??? heavy and looks like? like drapes like window dressing like thats the weight of it. additionally, there is no reason for their hair to be SO STYLED. it’s really like prom night hair it’s like shiny and muss free and always loose and in perfect clearly salon-styled curls. also, why are they so heavily made up? it’s really prominent. wondy herself has the same issue going on, she looks much more heavily made up (why is everyone’s blush so PINK, like it's distracting, is this a side effect of the recoloring process) and her hair isnt loose and doing its thing like in BVS or Wonder Woman it’s like... idk she looks really. Pretty when she’s on the field and it makes no sense.

the amazon fighting style is still ugly and makes no sense ive never seen such a wasteful fighting style it made sense exactly once during Wonder Woman

why is themyscira entirely the ugliest cgi i have ever fucking scene

why does the camera INSIST ON MOVING LIKE THAT. the action is super hard to track, the cgi is ugly as fuck (it really cannot be overstated)... i made it to about... i want to say when theyre on the way to the big fight and then the combined everything gave me a heaache that o had for the rest of the movie

i mentioned earlier that the pacing is weird the transitions are also weird. you get cuts to and from places that never fade into each other, it’s always a hard jump cut but it’s never the right cut to make? like, in thor ragnarok for example, there are a bunch of scene changes that happen via the bifrost, via people going through doors. there are wide shots that jump to wide shots in other places, so youre not suddenly on a close-up. there are a lot of people emerging from something into view, and there are a lof of people being alone in the center of the frame. it’s a very smooth and easy to watch movie. JL is the opposite of this in every way. I SUSPECT. AGAIN. THAT WHILE THIS WOULDNT HAVE BEEN FIXED ENTIRELY. THAT THOSE EXTRA TWENTY MINUTES THAT WERE CUT WERE PROBABLY REALLY IMPORTANT

the lois lane bit where she calms supes down just reminded me of the age of ultron and i quoted “sun’s going down” at my friends who were with me and they shit themselves laughing

ma kent calls lois lane “thirsty” in a Hilarious Teen Humor Gag thanks joss whedon you fucking hack

bruce wayne is fucking useless he could have got barry ANY JOB EVER and like... my god whatever.

also i still dont understand how how voice sounds like that when he’s batmanuh the after after credits scene is setting up, according to my friend, a sinister six movie. deathstroke isnt played by manu bennett so it’s fucking usless thanks for coming to my ted talk

[courtinggrievances]

temptingannihilation

replied to your

post

:

HEY, I’M TOO BURNT OUT FROM *~*~RUNNING FROM THE...

woah what the fuck??

> Karkat; Send the log to your omniquad. You need to jam with him about this bullshit.

> Not just about the state of the log, but about.. some of the things you said in it.

Today at 1:03 PM

courtinggrievances HEY, HOW IS THE SHIT SHOOTING GOING?

eridacnis the wwhat god i evven forgot you existed

courtinggrievances THAT WAS A CONVENIANT WAY FOR ME TO ASK YOU HOW YOU'RE DOING WITHOUT SEEMING OVERLY CONCERNED OR WHATEVER, BECAUSE I'M A PIECE OF SHIT WHO DOESN'T CURRENTLY FEEL LIKE TRYING TO GIVE OFF THE IMPRESSION OF A STOIC INDIVIDUAL. ALSO THAT'S. WOW. ALRIGHT, I'M NOT GOING TO FUCKING LIE, THAT KIND OF HURTS.

eridacnis hurts less wwhen i remind you that i havve the wworst possible memory and from time to time forget im married to cas

eridacnis but also i dont think theres evver a situation wwhere im not feeling like utter shit

courtinggrievances I MEAN, I GUESS. HOLY FUCKING SHIT THOUGH, I FEEL IT. IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR REASON YOU FEEL LIKE SHIT TODAY?

eridacnis wwell this time its just nightmares hauntin me constantly and me just not bein able to sleep normally at all for the past twwo wweeks and im slowwly at the end of my nervves

courtinggrievances HOLY SHIT, YOU AND ME BOTH. WHAT ARE YOUR NIGHTMARES OF, I'M CURIOUS HONESTLY. LET'S SEE IF THEY'RE SIMILIAR TOO.

courtinggrievances MINE ARE JUST, YOU KNOW, THE CASUAL BLOODSHED AND OBLITERATION OF TROLLMANITY THAT PLAGUES NEARLY EVERY TROLLS DREAMS, BUT AS RECENT AS LAST NIGHT THEY KIND OF GOT... WORSE.

eridacnis shrug trauma dreamin of exes wwho treated me awwful failin to take care of people and things and some other i just forgot

courtinggrievances ):B

eridacnis yeah Today at 2:59 PM

eridacnis so is that all you got to say

courtinggrievances SORT OF? I JUST WANTED TO CHECK IN AND SEE HOW YOU WERE, I KNOW THINGS SUCKED EARLIER. FAR BE IT FROM ME TO ACTUALLY SHOW SOME GENUINE FUCKING CONCERN BUT, IT IS WHAT IT IS I FUCKING GUESS.

eridacnis wwell thanks for nothin then

courtinggrievances I THINK YOU MAY HAVE MISREAD THE TONE OF MY TEXT. WHAT I'M SAYING HERE IS THAT I'M SHOWING CONCERN FOR YOUR WELL-BEING EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT IN MY NATURE TO REALLY DO SO. IT'S A TESTAMENT TO US BEING FRIENDS THAT I EVEN SAID SO, YOU KNOW?

eridacnis you showwin me your concern by sendin me a stupid sad emoticon and then fuckin off isnt gonna make me feel any better so no i dont think theres somethin i understood wwrong there

courtinggrievances ALRIGHT, SO WHAT THE FUCK WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DO, THEN. GO INTO YOUR PAN AND STOP THE NIGHTMARES FROM OCCURRING? MY DUDE, IF I COULD DO THAT, I WOULDN'T BE HAVING SO MUCH SHIT IN MY OWN DREAMS.

courtinggrievances I'M SORRY YOUR EXES WERE SHIT, I DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE ANY, BUT THAT SHIT SOUNDS LIKE IT SUCKS GLOBESPHERES AND I HEAR IT HAPPENING SO MUCH ALL THE GODAMN TIME, BUT I'D LIKE TO JUST NOD MY HEAD AND LET YOU KNOW I HOLD SOME GENUINE FUCKING CONCERN FOR YOU WITHOUT IT SEEMING FAKE AS FUCK. I CAN'T EMPATHIZE BUT I SYMPATHIZE.

eridacnis yeah wwell you done evverythin you could to seem fake as all fuckin hell so good job wwith that you really suck at this

courtinggrievances THANKS FOR THE NOTE OF ENCOURAGEMENT.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE WANTING TO ACCOMPLISH BY INVALIDATING MY CONCERN, BUT IF IT WAS YOU STOPPING ME FROM REACHING OUT TO ANYONE EVER AGAIN, CONGRATU-FUCKING-LATIONS, YOU SURE FUCKING SUCCEEDED! SURE STOPPED ME FROM WANTING TO REACH OUT TO PEOPLE I CONSIDER TO BE FRIENDS!! YOU REALLY SHOWED ME!! WOW!! I'M *FUCKING* IMPRESSED!! YOU REALLY BOOSTED MY FAITH IN MYSELF OF MY CURRENT 'BE A GOOD FRIEND' CAPABILITIES!!!

I'M GLAD I COULD LEARN THAT I'M A SUCKY FRIEND TO YOU AND PROBABLY TO EVERYONE I TALK TO ABOUT HAVING **GENUINE FUCKING CONCERNED FEELINGS**, BECAUSE HEY, FOR YOUR FUCKING INFORMATION, THAT'S HOW I ASK PEOPLE HOW THEY'RE DOING WITHOUT SEEING FUCKING CLINGY, BUT YOU KNOW, WHATEVER.

I'M GLAD YOU SHOWED ME THE ERROR OF MY GODAMN WAYS!! I'LL CERTAINLY NEVER TROLL YOU AGAIN TO ASK ***HOW YOU'RE FUCKING DOING*** BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY I SUCK TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AMOUNTS AT BEING A ****GOOD FRIEND****.

THANKS!!! I'LL REMEMBER THIS. FOREVER. YOU'VE CHANGED MY LIFE.

courtinggrievances BREAKING NEWS FLASH; KARKAT "COURT" VANTAS SUCKS AT BEING A FRIEND. HIS EFFORTS AT REACHING OUT RESULT IN HIM GETTING HIS *~**~FEELINGS~~**~* HURT. MORE AT ELEVEN!!

eridacnis thanks for the slice of guilt trippin after me not bein happy wwith somethin you did to me

courtinggrievances HEY, I'M NOT GUILT TRIPPING YOU AFTER YOU INVALIDATED MY EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS AND GENERAL STATE OF BEING FRIENDS WITH YOU.

I'M TELLING YOU, STRAIGHT UP (WHILE BEING SARCASTIC AS FUCK BECAUSE THAT'S WHO I AM) THAT YOU HURT MY FEELINGS BY TELLING ME, IN NOT SO MANY WORDS, THAT YOU THINK MY CONCERN IS STUPID, THAT I DIDN'T HELP, AND THAT I SUCK AT HELPING FRIENDS SO I SHOULDN'T EVEN TRY.

eridacnis i mean you didnt evven try wwith me is all im gettin at and if a friends not wworth the effort then yeah you suck at keepin friends

eridacnis god i cant believve im the one havvin to givve you a lesson there

courtinggrievances HOW THE FUCK YOU EXPECT ME TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT DREAMS ABOUT YOUR EXES IS BEYOND ME. LIKE I SAID, I DON'T HAVE ANY, AND I SAID THAT TO AVOID THE AGE OLD ARGUMENT OF PEOPLE GOING 'YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL!!' BECAUSE I FUCKING DON'T, BUT I'M STILL HERE TO TALK ABOUT IT WITH YOU.

eridacnis if someones upset you dont just send them an emoticon and leavve it at that its not that fuckin easy you talk to em try to figure out wwhat you can do for em like talkin about the shit that happened or just simply distractin em

courtinggrievances IF SOMEONE'S UPSET, I SEND THEM AN EMOTICON TO JUDGE HOW MUCH THEY WANT TO TALK. SOME FUCKS JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE.

eridacnis its sad enough that me eridan ampora has to teach you that more like you wwanted to be left alone cause you didnt care enough as soon as i said is that all you wwere like yeah thats all like if my question wwasnt enough to tell you that i awwaited more then i dont knoww wwhat to tell you buddy

courtinggrievances HOW THE FUCK DO I WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE, I'M THE ONE THAT TROLLED YOU. ALSO, I DIDN'T JUST SAY 'YEAH'. I SAID, SORT OF, AND A HUGE PARAGRAPH OF WHAT I WANTED.

eridacnis yeah you started the convversation but you cut it off too in the middle of me talkin about my problems wwhich is the most awwful fuckin thing to do

courtinggrievances I'M SORRY. I GUESS I DIDN'T REALIZE I WAS DOING THAT. TOO BLINDED BY OWN OWN FUCKERY AND HURT FEELINGS BULLSHIT TO REALIZE I STEERED THIS CONVERSATION IN A DIRECTION THAT WAS ABOUT ME. IT'S NOT FINE AND I GUESS I'LL FUCK OFF. MAYBE I'LL TRY TO SLEEP.

eridacnis yeah wwell maybe next time actually think about other people wwhen you wwanna help em oh yeah and noww you wwanna run from it great just great

courtinggrievances YOU EVER TRY TO SLEEP WITH SYMPTOMS OF A CONCUSSION? FUCKING SUCKS.

eridacnis oh no poor you all about you again

courtinggrievances HEY, NEWS FLASH, I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING MOIRAIL.

eridacnis yeah and not my friend either

courtinggrievances I WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR PROBLEMS BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU, BUT WHEN YOU GET ALL CAGEY ABOUT THEM AND TELL ME I SUCK AT LISTENING, I WANT TO LEAVE. I JUST WANTED YOU TO TELL ME ABOUT THEM!! I WAS TRYING TO STEER THE CONVERSATION INTO THE DIRECTION OF "BEING UNABLE TO SLEEP" AGAIN BUT, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER. I DIDN'T EXPECT YOU TO GO "BOO HOO YOU WHINY BRAT, YOU'RE JUST LEAVING" YOU KNOW WHAT? LET ME GO THE FULL FUCKING MILE HERE, IF I'M GOING TO MAKE THE CONVERSATION ABOUT ME.

eridacnis oh boy

courtinggrievances FIRST OFF, I'M FUCKING SORRY YOU CAN'T SEE THAT I ACTUALLY WAS TRYING TO SHOW SOME CONCERN.

I'M SORRY THAT'S A BIT HARD FOR ME, BECAUSE HONESTLY OUT OF THE (2) TWO!! PEOPLE I COME TO SEE HERE ON TUMBLR, YOU'RE PROBABLY THE ONLY!! ONE!! I ACTUALLY MAKE IT A POINT TO ASK HOW THEY'RE DOING. I'M SORRY I COULDN'T SEEM MORE ENERGETIC ABOUT SHOWING "KINDNESS" AND "COMPASSION" AND BULLSHIT LIKE THAT, I'VE GOT A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER MALARKEY ON MY PLATE RIGHT NOW!!

SPEAKING OF WHICH, LETS TALK ABOUT THAT, AND ENERGY LEVELS, WHICH IS SOMETHING I DON'T REALLY SEEM TO HAVE, WHICH IS AS I SAID, A FUCKING PROBLEM FOR ME. I MEAN, IT'S NOT LIKE I FUCKING CHOSE TO NOT HAVE ANY ENERGY. IT'S NOT LIKE I WANT TO HAVE ZERO ENERGY TO TALK TO MY SUPPOSED 'FRIENDS', I JUST REALLY DON'T HAVE A FUCKING CHOICE RIGHT NOW.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE DONE FOR THE PAST TWO PERIGEES? I'VE  WALKED. I'VE WALKED THROUGH SCRUBLAND AND BRAMBLES AND ALL SORTS OF THE MOST HORRENDOUS TERRAIN YOU COULD THINK OF. AND I SAY 'WALKED' LIGHTLY, BECAUSE YOU KNOW, WE COULD BE BEING FOLLOWED, AND WE EITHER HAVE TO MAKE TRACKS QUICK OR JUST FUCKING LAY DOWN AND DIE.

THOUGH, YOU KNOW, I THINK THE DRONES HAVE THEIR SIGHTS ON OTHER THINGS, SINCE I'M FAIRLY SURE THEY THINK US DEAD SINCE THEY RAIDED OUR LAST SAFE PLACE AND BURNT IT TO THE FUCKING GROUND! BUT YOU KNOW, I WOULDN'T KNOW! I DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO THAT SHIT MUCH RIGHT NOW, MOSTLY BECAUSE I'M TOO BUSY TRYING TO KEEP TEMP FROM FREAKING OUT AND NAYA FROM BECOMING EMOTIONALLY DISTANT, KEEP THEM FROM JUST FUCKING LEAVING THE EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL DEADWEIGHT BEHIND FOR THE DRONES!!

AND YOU KNOW, I'M REAL FUCKING SORRY I CAN'T REALLY HELP YOU ABOUT THE TRAUMATIC NIGHTMARE BULLSHIT, BECAUSE, PERSONALLY, I HAVEN'T SLEPT MORE THAN SIX HOURS IN SIX DAYS, BECAUSE, HAHA!! WELL, EVERY TIME **I** CLOSE MY EYES I SEE INDIGO CLOWNS RIPPING TROLLS HEADS IN HALF BY THEIR HORNS, AND HEAR THE SOUND OF MY PANMATTER HITTING MY SKULL FROM WHEN I GOT TOSSED INTO A WALL BY AN IMPERIAL DRONE TWICE AS TALL AS I AM!! I WISH I COULD HELP YOU ABOUT YOUR EXES TOO, AND I FEEL LIKE THAT'S SOMETHING I SHOULD BE ABLE OT FUCKING DO, BUT I DON'T HAVE THE ENERGY TO PULL SOME RELATIONSHIP ADVICE OUT OF MY ASS CURRENTLY, BECAUSE YOU KNOW, I'M TOO BUSY ***RUNNING FOR MY LIFE FROM THE GODAMN EMPIRE*** OR DID YOU FUCKING FORGET THAT WAS A THING THAT WAS HAPPENING?

YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT ONE THING THOUGH, I DIDN'T SEEM LIKE I CARED, AND I KNOW IT'S ONLY AT FACE VALUE, BUT I DO, YOU KNOW? I'M SORRY, REALLY AND TRULY ACTUALLY, AND I FUCKING HATE IT, BUT I JUST DON'T APPARENTLY HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY TO CARE *~~PROPERLY**~* ABOUT MY FRIENDS, BUT HEY, AT LEAST I FUCKING TRIED, YOU KNOW? TO SEE HOW YOU WERE DOING. NOT THAT IT MATTERS MUCH BECAUSE IF I FORM ANY FRIENDSHIPS WITH ANYONE, THEY'LL PROBABLY ALL GET CULLED, HAHAH, BECAUSE I'M BURNT OUT AND FUCKING WORTHLESS AT CARING FOR MY FRIENDS, SO YOU KNOW, FUCKING WHATEVER!!

IT'S NOT LIKE YOU CARE ABOUT ME ANYWAY, YOU JUST WANT ME TO LISTEN TO YOU AND WHILE HEY, I'M ALL READY TO LISTEN, I'M REALLY JUST THINKING ABOUT HOW NICE IT WOULD BE TO CLOSE MY EYES AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT GETTING AMBUSHED AND CULLED, BUT THE LAST 'SAFE' PLACE WE WERE IN WAS LIKE FIVE FUCKING PERIGEES AGO AND IT'S REALLY!! REALLY!!! GETTING TO ME THAT I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO SEEMS TO GIVE A SHIT IF WE'RE CAUGHT, BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE SEEMS TOO FUCKING NIHILISTIC TO CARE IF I BECOME PAINT FOR THE FLAGSHIP MY OMNIQUAD WILL HELM IF THEY CATCH US.

YOURS **~*FUCKING*~* TRULY, KARKAT "RUNS HIMSELF INTO THE GROUND FROM WANTING AND FAILING TO BE ABLE TO HELP THE PEOPLE HE CONSIDERS HIS FRIENDS, ONLY THAT NUMBER IS MINUS ONE NOW SO I GUESS HE DOESN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THAT FRIEND ANYMORE, BUT HE'S GOING TO BECAUSE HE'S (KARKAT, ME) AN ABSOLUTE CHUMP" VANTAS.

[waywardmarauder]

Of Pirates and Storms

Yet another short story for a Cannith NPC. This time featuring Captain Cela Vance as her and her crew of would-be pirates steal their prized ship.(I did not have time to proof read so there might be some typos here and there)

The night air was calm on the shores of the Urden port city of Takmeth. A city famed for many things throughout the empire but nothing more than for its masterful shipwrights. A tradition of near perfection reaching back to the earliest records of the empire Takmethian dry docks were things of beauty, commonly catching the eyes of General's and merchants alike; as well as the occasional thief.

The tale of this calm night is that of one such aspiring thief. A small woman by the name Cela Vance struggling to find a suitable place in the world for herself and those that have for whatever reason decided to follow her down into one of Takmeth's central dry docks that night. She dressed herself in common enough garb; loosely fitted pants that's legs flowed a bit with each step, a shirt ripped at the bottom she's grown too fond of to replace, a thin red leather vest left unbuttoned and allowed to hang freely on shoulders and a bandana tied around her forehead to keep a wild tussle of hair at bay. The grand scheme that had drawn the attention of these men and women to her back? Steal what was meant to be the new pride of the local General's fleet, a Frigate crafted by some of Takmeth's finest hands that had just touched the salt of the ocean a mere few hours ago.

Among those at Cela's back that night was the massive and masculine figure of the Dragonborn known to Cela as Krenik. His scaled skin gleaming a dull copper whenever a faint lamp light touched it, a long and stiff drape of scaled tendril like horn laid flat over Krenik's back. His attire was similar to  Cela's, loose pants and a worn red leather vest, a bandana of similar color to her's was tied about his bare forearm and he didnt bother himself with any sort of shirt. The pair of Krenik and Cela moved ahead of their would-be crew mates in the dark. Moving between crates and other supplies left to the side of the dock by the builders. Hiding from the light and vigilant eyes of the small force of guard patrolling the area.

As they neared Krenik placed a hand on Cela's shoulder halting her step. He pointed past her to a single guard standing still by the only visible ramp leading to the new ships deck. His colors were of dull blacks and yellow, indicating him of a low ranking Urden Trooper. “Its now or never Captain.” Krenik's rough voice whispered behind her head.

Cela's eyes closed with a bit of a grimace. “It's too late to change the plan isn't it?” A low grumble from Krenik was her answer. “Can't I just stab him or something? I'm awful at this sort of thing...” Krenik's clawed hand pressed against her back giving her a gentle shove forward. Cela spun to slap his hand away. “Alright alright...just...I don't know...look away or something.” She sighed as the large Dragonborn rolled his eyes and turned awkwardly in the tight space between the crates. Cela pulled her vest closed, leaving the top exposed and pulling her shirt down to leave as much of her chest visible as she could. With a downward tug on her pants to show more of her hip line she took a deep breath and struck a confident sashay into the light.

“Hey, excuse me sir?” She called to the guard in a softer voice than she normally felt comfortable with. “I seem to be lost. I was supposed to meet my friends but I can't seem to find them anywhere.”

“That's a shame miss.” The guard said after noticeably swallowing a lump in his throat. “Perhaps I could uh...” His voice trailed off when Cela's thumbs hooked into the line of her pants, pulling their edge down ever so slightly. “I could maybe flag down one of the patrols to help you?”

“Oh but I was hoping that you...” While not paying attention to where her feet where Cela's foot caught a stray line of rope left out on the group causing her to stumble. “That uh...maybe you could help? Maybe?” She began to lose composure as the moment she dreaded came closer. “Your...uh...Big strong...man....ness.” She watched as the guard became less aroused and more confused the more she talked.

“Um...Maybe you should go home miss.” He said slowly, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

Cela stopped within a few steps of him eyes closed, head slowly tilting downward. “Oh screw it. I'm never doing this again.” She said reaching a hand into a pouch on her waist. Before the guard could even question what she said she pulled a fist full of powder up and blew it into his face. Instantly the man began to stumble in place sputtering half formed words before Cela gripped him by the head and pulled him down to bash his forehead against a nearby lamp post.

As the guard crumpled to the ground the heavy steps of Krenik came up behind Cela. “Big strong manness huh?” He said dryly.

Cela had already knelt down to tie the guards hands to the post. “Shut it. I told you I'm not good at that.”

“Seemed to be doing fine until you opened your mouth.” Krenik added with a teasing smirk.

“Keep yours shut and go get the others. We're already behind schedule.” At that the Dragonborn left wordlessly back into the dark to signal the rest waiting for them. Within a few short moments a group of just over twenty people all wearing similar red leather vests boarded the deck of the ship.

Over the next few minutes they scoured the ship, giving it a quick once over of supplies before several of the crew reported to Cela that most of the ships cargo had indeed already been loaded in anticipation of the Urden General's arrive meant for the next day. There they waited in silence for the next few hours. Each hiding in their new posts, Cela and Krenik laying near the helm, watching the starry skies above slowly fill with dense clouds. A thin, wiry smile tugged at the edges of her mouth when the first drops of rain hit her face. She slapped Krenik's leg to get his attention and the Dragonborn jumped to his feet. He began ringing a warning bell and with it each and every crew member got to their feet and set to getting the ship set to sail. The plank to the deck splashed into the water just before a patrol of guard were able to rush up it. The sail fell into place and mooring ropes were cut free.

With a groan the new ship caught the growing wind and pulled out of its dock. Warning bells began to ring through the docks, soldiers both of full dress and those that seemed to have just rolled out of a bunk rushed to posts. Other ships began to gather their muster in an attempt to give chase. “Krenik!” Cela called from the helm. “Its not picking up fast enough! Do your thing!” Without a word Krenik ran to stand at the back of sail. Standing firm on the deck he took a deep breath and held both arms out to sides. Visible currents of wind quickly formed around his wrists and palms until he thrust arms up toward the sail, hurling a powerful, sustained gust of wind into the sails.

With this short boost their ship was able to gain considerable distance from the port before any other ship was able to give chase. Cela aimed the ship directly into the building storm around them, the storm she knew was coming. For hours they sailed, until they lost sight of any pursuit.

Once the storm showed signs of clearing and the crew relaxed they turned to cheer up at their new Captain, shouting her praises and congratulating her and themselves on their theft. Among all the cheering a question was finally asked. “What shall we call her ma'am?”

To which Cela quickly replied. “The Lonely of Crimson. And with her help we're gonna show Urden that they can't push us around any more! That little folks like us have got one hell of a voice! And more importantly! We've got cannons now!” The crew erupted in wild cheering. Breaking open casks of whatever wine and rums the intended captain of this vessel had stored aboard and settled into a celebration.

After her short speech Krenik approached Cela, giving the edge of his vest a tug in an attempt to draw attention to it. “Is that why you got everyone these?” Cela only gave him a shrug and grin before hoping the rail down onto the deck to join in with the rest of the crew.

[yarnings]

Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning

There was renewed discussion about the lack of Bree/Roger fics. I may have tripped and fallen, hitting the keyboard on the way down and this popped out.

As my frivolity suggests, this has not been beta’d, edited or even checked against the timeline. Any and all mistakes and places where things don’t make sense should be assumed to be errors that I would appreciate having my attention drawn to so I can fix them.

Roger groaned, tired from trying to keep up with his father-in-law all day, and walked through the cabin door. To his disappointment, the table had no food on it, being covered instead with Bree’s workbook and a bunch of loose sheets full of sketches and notes in Bree’s distinctive hand. As he stood, blinking to help his eyes adjust to the relative dimness inside, he noticed a pile of charcoal- smeared boards discarded beside Bree’s chair, presumably her even-rougher work that she did before consigning designs and calculations to expensive paper. It wasn’t the first time that Bree had managed to carve out some free time from the toil of trying to take care of the house entirely by hand, and spent the afternoon designing. However, and Roger frowned as he noticed that the hearth was cold, normally when she did this there was a pot of stew ready for the evening meal.

Just then Roger heard a noise outside, and turned back, squinting his newly-adjusted eyes against the bright sunlight. Bree was coming back from the big house carrying Jemmy, with a basket over her other arm. He stepped out to meet her and relieve her of her burdens. She handed him the basket with a kiss as Jemmy snuggled himself more securely against her side.

“He’s being a little clingy since I neglectfully abandoned him to be spoiled by Mrs. Bug all afternoon. Apparently he’s worried I’ll leave him to get stuffed full of sweets again.”

Roger wisely didn’t say anything, and peeked instead into the basket, finding a loaf of fresh bread inside.

“They were firing the big oven, and I was offered a loaf of bread so that I wouldn’t have to bother with the dutch oven today. I figured we could have sandwiches for dinner tonight. We have some pickle and I mixed up a bit of mustard to go with the sausage.”

Roger’s mouth watered at the thought. He resolutely pushed memories of sandwiches he’d had in the twentieth century from his mind as he followed Bree inside. He wasn’t about to suggest that mayonnaise would be a nice addition, as he had no desire to find himself assigned to the job of whisking it up himself.

Once inside, Roger washed up and set to slicing the bread while Bree picked up her notes and stuck them on the bed in a haphazard pile for organizing later. Jemmy was bribed with a chunk of hard sausage to sit in his chair. He gnawed on the sausage and banged his horn cup on the table as he watched his parents prepare the meal. In addition to the pickle and mustard, Bree brought out some butter and a small basket of greens that her mother had thinned from the garden that morning. Despite his enthusiasm for the meal, Jem had clearly had a full day of running around with his mother in the morning and exploring the big house in the afternoon, because part way through his eyes closed and he narrowly missed falling asleep in his dinner. Bree coaxed him into enough wakefulness to get ready for bed. When she tucked him into his cot he didn’t even make a token protest, just closed his eyes and went to sleep. Roger watched her from the table, not feeling energetic enough to take advantage of Jem’s early bedtime, but still appreciative of how she moved and the occasional tantalizing glimpses of skin that he got.

Bree looked up and caught Roger’s gaze, giving him a smile that celebrated everything they were to each other. She came back to the table, and they sat together for a while, finishing their meal in silence, enjoying simply being in each other’s presence with no urgent tasks to draw their attention away. Roger broke the silence first.

“What were you working on this afternoon? You seem to have made some progress.”

“I want to make a treadle spinning wheel. You know the kind where you can sit down, and work a foot pedal to spin the machine, rather than needing to walk back and forth like Marsali is always doing?”

Roger was vaguely aware of the fact that spinning was done on the ridge, and had a fuzzy memory of seeing what he persisted in thinking of as “modern” spinning wheels on a school trip to the museum as a child. He nodded anyhow, secure in the knowledge that Bree would give enough detail in her explanation to fill in any gaps in his understanding.

“The thing is that there’s a reason you have to walk back and forth with the wheels now. I could put a treadle on it easily, but it wouldn’t work. The hard part is spinning the yarn. You have to walk back and forth, because it’s done in two stages, so unless I can get it down to a single continuous process there’s no point.”

“Well, can ye?”

“I know it’s possible, that’s the hardest part. I’ve seen one at a historic site before, and while they didn’t go into details, I don’t think it was a very complex thing to make, so we should be able to do it here.”

Roger smiled at Bree’s confidence. She never accepted the idea that there might be something too difficult for her. Of course, that was why there were here.

He gathered what dishes there were, and gave them a wash in cold water while Bree cleared the leftovers into their pantry. By the time he was done, she had retrieved her work and spread it back over the now-clean table. But rather than trying to keep working, she just organized her notes to put away until she had another chance to work on the design.

By unspoken agreement, when she and Roger had both finished and put everything away, they lay together in the growing darkness. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as they drifted off to sleep.