#because Onyx is SO flighty

[kedreeva]

The Gals(tm) are loaded for travel tomorrow! Bringing home 5 of the hens from Indie x Eclipse/Arcana, and transporting one yearling to a buyer for my friends.

The funniest thing about this is that I sent Eclipse and Arcana to this farm to get one (1) purple bs het leucistic MALE.

They produced seven chicks.

All hens.

[petrichorium]

it’s hardly subtle.

satoru doesn’t ease you into it; he isn’t coy. he all but storms into your chambers, after dark but before you’ve snuffed the candles keeping the room light enough for your reading.

he doesn’t bother to tell you why, but you know—instinctively, because you know him and you know his advisors and you’re well used to his moods when they’ve been particularly nagging about his duties as king—what’s set him off. the indication that it’s worse than typical is that he keeps that odd eye jewelry perched upon his nose, chain gleaming yellow in the light of the flames as he stalks over to your lounging form upon the bed.

his arm finds your legs over the nightclothes you wear, wraps around them firmly to move them just enough for him to perch on the edge of your mattress. they don’t leave, even as you set aside your book—you expect him to lay his head on it, anticipating the typical song and dance of his pouting and whining as you push him away only to relent and let him hold you as you both drift off into slumber.

instead he hovers. even sitting he looms over you, hand tightening on your thigh and thumb rubbing soft, meaningless patterns through the fabric of your dressing gown that soothe the nerves set on edge by your inability to see the look in his eyes.

a beat passes. you wonder if he’s calmed.

but when he speaks it’s terse, low, with the kind of simmering rage he keeps close to his chest for only those pitiable few he despises utterly, and he dips his head to look over the frames of those onyx lenses and regard you with irises dark with something terrible.

“i will not give you a child.”

the statement bowls you over. your breath hitches, if only because of the way he stares—deadly serious, royal blue eyes glowing in the candlelight.

“wh—what?”

“i will not allow you to bear my children. i might be amenable to a ward, if you so desire. but i will not seed you,” his grip tightens on your thigh, “and it should go without saying that once we marry neither will any other.”

you haven’t a clue how to respond to such a thing.

he speaks as if it’s a confession; as if he’s betrayed you somehow. he holds you like you’ll disappear, or flee—and perhaps, had he told you this months ago when you’d been flighty and diffident with his affections, your rigidity might have led you to. but it is now, and you haven’t fled yet, and your beloved is nothing if not unconventional and shameless in his eccentricity.

you ponder on that too long.

“say something,” he demands, sounding almost small.

“why?” spills from your lips without thought; not petulant, or angry, but confused. not just by him—by you. you ought to be devastated, no? you ought to be angry. you assuredly are not.

“my bloodline is a scourge,” he tells you readily. “i will do everything within my power to wipe it out. therefore, i cannot have an heir. not even one.”

not even one. not a single child. the thought washes over you like the temperate water of the lake on your grounds back home, the very one you’d once played in regularly as a child. the very one your mother had once mentioned taking your own children to, someday; children who you never fantasized about, children who never had faces or names, children for whom you never set aside letters or dresses or trinkets.

not even in those teenage years spent with your current betrothed, the only man you’d ever thought of kissing and caressing you, had you once envisioned a life with children. they’d only appeared once you’d been brutally introduced to reality, and had to accept the promise of a life with a rich man who doesn’t love you.

a life which your king has gallantly shattered, and replaced with something far brighter.

“i will bear the burden of prevention,” he tells you soothingly, as if your silence has been about the effort of this request. “you needn’t worry that pretty mind over it. over any of this, my queen—“

“i am not yet your queen,” you interrupt, instinct bidding you to speak where your mind remains miles away.

“my bride,” he amends, ”look at me.”

you do.

“i want you,” he says, as if it’s some known truth of the universe, written in the stars. “i want you fervently, ardently. i won’t have another. but i will not give you my children. if you cannot take that slight, then so be it.”

the emotion that has been welling within you since the first words he'd spoken has become so intense it’s impossible to listen properly. you cannot name it without ruminating; you lay beneath him, eyes widening, not quite seeing—or hearing the words he continues to say—as you let it all sink in.

but when his hands fly to cradle your face, you’re snapped from the daze, attention suddenly brought back to the man before you.

“oh, oh, precious girl, don’t cry.” cry? his thumbs wipe away tears from your cheeks. you hadn’t even realized they’d been falling. “don’t cry”—he almost laughs, yet his voice breaks—“you’ll break my heart.“

“no,” you gasp, “no, my king, i’m hardly sad, i’m… relieved.”

that’s it. you’re relieved. he’s removed a heavy weight from your chest and you hadn’t even known of it. you will not have to bear him children. the assurance floods through your veins like liquid joy. not ten, not five, nor two nor even one; none whatsoever.

“relieved?” he repeats, blinking in surprise.

you’d never even considered the possibility. from the moment you’d known of your place in this world you’d resigned yourself to the role of childbearing. only now do you realize how much you had been dreading such a thing. only now do you understand the fear, and the relief.

“i… don’t believe i want children either.” the statement feels so final it ought to be terrifying, but it settles into your bones with a tangible rightness.

your betrothed regards you in shock. his hands fall from your face—and then they latch to your body, one on your thigh again and the other behind your neck, pulling you up and flush against him as he kisses you harshly.

“you’re so perfect,” he breathes into your mouth, unreactive yet pliant against him. “made for me, just for me, i swear—“

you kiss back, making his rambling cut off in a strangled growl as he only tugs you in closer and deepens the embrace. he’s still speaking, but it’s unintelligible; praise, certainly, muffled compliments and manic devotion. he’s relieved too, you realize. foolish to think him confident in this declaration. foolish, you’re coming to understand, to think him sane in any circumstance which might take you from him.

(if you are made for him then he is made for you, surely. this relief would be impossible for any other to give you.)

he pulls away when he realizes you’re still crying. you catch your breath, blink back the tears, let him fuss over you until your voice is solid enough to speak.

despite the relief, there is lingering hesitance; lingering fear. “you say you will bear the burden of prevention, but what of the burden of blame? they will talk, as the months go by. they will call me barren, unfit to be by your side; they will demand you take on a mistress—“

“i won’t,” your betrothed snarls, grip on your thigh almost painful with how fiercely his fingers tighten, “i would never, and i’ll cut down all those who speak ill of you.”

your laughter is disbelieving, wet with the traces of saltwater. “hardly a sound plan to run a court, my king. unless its intent is for running it to the ground.”

“for you, my heart? anything. i would raze this kingdom if it spoke your name without awe.”

that shouldn’t be comforting. it ought to be terrifying. instead you reach up to hold his cheek, and his eyes flutter closed at the contact.

“kiss me again,” you command.

usurper!gojo masterlist

[svndrenched]

what jewel are your bones made of?

OPAL

oh you are everything! ❍ indecisive, chamelonistic, flighty ❍ multitalented, innovative, extraordinary ❍ jack of all trades and master of all you touch ❍ containing multitudes ❍ you catch the light in different ways and all of them are you ❍ you get more selves than the rest of us, my darling. take this gift and use it well.

ONYX

reserved (by choice), decisive, self-sure and self-contained, selective, resolved, close-minded, intuitive, deliberate ⍚ opaque - my secrets are not for you ⍚ scrying - i can see more than you know ⍚ sharp - i know where to cut

STAR SAPPHIRE

well hello, beautiful. ✦ how does it feel to have their eyes on you all the time? ✦ do you like to perform? do you like the way their hands reach for you as you turn in the spotlight? ✦ do you wish they would stop? ✦ they won’t. they can’t help it. ✦ is that the reaction you wanted? you want them to laugh, to cry, to moan, to yell at you maybe. ✦ you only exist in the lines spreading across the faces of others, right? ✦ if nobody thinks of you, you aren’t. so you make yourself headline news and they won’t look away ✦ attention won’t solidify you when the sun comes up and love won’t fill that hole inside. ✦ you might want to install an alarm system. just because they want you, doesn’t mean you have to give yourself.

tagged by: @sunbentsky & @redridcr

tagging: @satanicstfrancis, @vampiric-bite, @sozokami, @vileincarnations, @copiied, and you!

[saturn7162]

Finishing a quotev story, Part 6.

Yeehaw, It's a filler chapter.

Amethyst sighed as she watched Onyx's chest rise and fall from his spot by the door. She walked up to his resting spot and looked at him sadly. 

“What happened to you, man…?” She muttered as she sat down at his abdomen, running a hand through his warm mane. 

“You used to be so cuddly. But now, you're so flighty. You never were this timid.. Even around… Me..” She began to tear up, letting out a quiet, choked sob. 

“We'd lay down and cuddle for days, even after Pearl, Garnet, and Rose found us… Pearl got so upset whenever she found us lying around.” She laughed despite the tears rolling down her face. 

“Do you remember that? Do you remember how we'd do nothing? We'd just lay down in the grass, and hold each other like nothing else mattered. Nothing mattered when we were together…” She curled up into his stomach, gripping onto clumps of his fur. 

“Was it my fault you left? Was it because of what I did all those years ago? I pleaded for you to come back everyday… And now you're back. But, you're not…. back.” She yelped when she looked up to see Onyx’s two large orange eyes peering at her, a hint of sadness and regret present in them. 

“I-I’m sorry! I-I didn't mean to wake you!” She sniffled and wiped her face on her shirt, getting up to leave. She gasped softly when she felt a large hand grab hers, and she turned to see Onyx laying on his side, belly fully exposed, almost like he was welcoming her. He tugged at her, pulling her over. She sobbed loudly and threw herself into his stomach, grabbing onto him like he'd leave if her grip loosened. Onyx sighed, sounding almost relieved as she buried herself into him. He curled his body around hers, holding her in his arms and bringing her to his chest where she cried and cried until she fell asleep, soft hiccups escaping her mouth as she drifted.

I don't know who this is. But, I do at the same time. It's confusing. I know that I'm supposed to know her. It's frustrating that I can't remember much of anything, but I remember she's important to me. Just like the boy. This feels familiar too, holding each other like this. She's so small in my arms, she's putting all her trust in me. 

I'll protect her with my life. 

Steven awoke to find the two gems curled up, asleep but holding each other like their gems depended on it. Steven's brows raised up in slight pity as he saw tear tracks running down Amethyst's face. They were smudged, like someone had rubbed her tears away. Amethyst was like a baby in Onyx's arms, her small frame being engulfed in his fur. He stared at them for a while, only being shaken from his stupor when Garnet and Pearl had exited their rooms. 

Pearl cooed when her eyes landed on the sight before her. The two gems snuggled up against each other, Onyx's thumb in-between his teeth. His chin was nestled into Amethyst's hair, and he was very audibly purring. Steven quickly fished his phone out from his pocket and snapped a picture, marveling at the adorable scene. At the sudden flash the camera made, Onyx's eyes flared open and he sat up quickly, holding Amethyst, who stirred at the sudden movement, close to his chest. Onyx blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked around, observing the expressions of the people in front of him. He began to blush slightly as he regained his senses, putting Amethyst down on her feet and standing up himself. The room was silent until Steven ran up and hugged him, erupting in cheers about how he ‘made a new friend’ He smiled and hugged him back, his tail wagging at the embrace. 

“Let's go Onyx! The day awaits!” Yelled Steven, tugging the large gem out the door. 

That was nice. I really, really enjoyed that prolonged hold me and the quartz shared. I didn't like how upset she was, and I figured that holding her, the way I remember doing, was the best way to make her happy again. The boy says that maybe my memories are coming back, and maybe I'll remember the other gems too. I don't have the heart to tell him I don't remember the Amethyst. 

“So…. What was that…?” Pearl pried, leaning forward to a blushing Amethyst. 

“W-well… I-I just… I just wanted to…. I never really got over when Onyx left s-so, I was just watching him…. And one thing led to another and we were snuggling like best buds again!” The purple gem explained shyly. 

“Oh, Amethyst.” Garnet teased, crossing her arms playfully. 

“Hey! I know you guys miss him too!” Amethyst shot back, looking down with a hand on her arm. 

“True. But you were the first one to have him experience one of his old habits.” Garnet kept on, earning a giggle from Pearl. 

“Garnet! I know you're not talking, I know how much you liked training together! Getting all physical-” Pearl snickered as Garnet leapt to clasp a hand over her mouth, her own face heating up in embarrassment. 

“What are you guys doing?” Steven asked, raising a brow at the silly actions of his housemates. Onyx looked at the image, Garnet’s palm pressed hard against Amethyst's mouth, her other hand holding onto her arm, blushing hard. Amethyst with a teasing expression on her face, using her free arm to try and push Garnet off. And Pearl, just standing politely with a hand to her mouth, snickering. 

“Just here to get… Steven… dressed.” Onyx informed them, sending the boy to get dressed with a tap on the shoulder. 

“He's so.. He's so much like him…” Pearl said sadly as Onyx and Steven left the temple. 

“He mimics his movements, his speech, his responses. I-I mean, it's basically just him but, in a different body. And.. without his memories… How did he even get like that?! Now all he really cares about is Steven.” Amethyst groaned, kicking her feet and rolling off the couch. 

“While it is… upsetting… I'm sure he will get his memories back soon.” Garnet rubbed at her shoulders. 

“How’d you get him to … lay with you?” Pearl asked, crossing her legs. Amethyst shrugged, looking down at the floor she was laying on.

“I dunno.. It just happened. He saw something was wrong and it unlocked something. He never let us get too close most of the time, not even me. Only if one of us is in danger does he ever let us get near him.” Amethyst pouted. 

“Well, he’s not himself, so he probably doesn’t remember much..” Pearl responded, helping her back up.

The day went on, Onyx hanging out with Steven, the gems trying to figure out what’s up with Onyx. As soon as the sun set, Onyx got Steven into bed and told him a story of when he first emerged. When Steven fell asleep, he scampered down the stairs and over to the seats by the door, sprawling his limbs out across the quilt that he spread out on the floor. That night, he dreamt. 

“Hello, my little Onyx.” A sweet voice called out to him. Onyx’s eyes shot open, and he found himself lying in a field of beautiful pink roses. He sat up, looking around for the person talking to him. 

“It’s been so long. Too long.” His tail thumped against the ground, and he sprang to his feet instantly. 

“Hello?” He knows this voice, he should know this voice. Why was it so hard to recall who this is? 

“You’ve forgotten so much… I just hope you can remember everything in time.”

“In time? In time for what? Am I supposed to know something? Who are you? Why do I feel like I know you…... What... What happened to me?” Onyx looked down at his hands, watching them morph from their usual pitch-black color with yellow and orange patterns racing across the fur, to larger, black paws, ever-so-slightly tinted with a dark pink. Instead of the fiery colors that usually donned his pelt, an off-white took their place, wrapping around his body. He looked at himself, and there was barely any fire color left to him. It was all white. White bands across his tail, limbs, fingers, toes, snout. The fur on his chin was no longer subtle, and it jutted out.

“What…?” He said to nobody as he observed himself flickering back and forth. He knows who this is. It’s him. Or it’s supposed to be. But he just doesn't think it really is.

“You’ll remember. But I need you to start to try. Remember them. Remember me. Remember him.” The voice came again, and he turned to see a puddle of pink water. He crouched down and looked at his face. Replacing his usual reflection was one scarred by the consequences of war. His mug was scared, an ear was gone. His jaw was slightly off-kilter. And his eyes. His eyes were white, with sharp orange pupils. They knew that he wasn’t supposed to be in this body. They were upset that he was in this body. They wanted him out of this body. They glared at him with a fierceness like no other. The reflection leaped out at him, mouth open wide and filled with dangerous teeth. He screamed and was thrown into a sea of darkness.

“Just remember. Remember who you were. For me, please.” He gasped loudly as he shot up, his mane wild and fraying. He raced to the bathroom down the hall, slamming the door open and gazing into the mirror. He sighed in relief to find all his features still there. His orange eyes, his chin fluff, his patterns. He groaned and collapsed onto the bathroom floor, tugging the shower curtain over him as he curled up into a ball. He wasn’t that gem in the puddle. At least, he thinks so.  

What’s happening to me? Why did that happen? Who was that voice? Who was in the reflection? Why is this all so confusing! This place is getting to me. I know I’m supposed to be doing something here. Why must everything be so different... Why can’t I just remember….

[yes-prisoner]

what jewel are your bones made of?

@grapecaseschoices i have to thank you for making me remember this quiz lol I did it months ago and forgot the name when i searched for it. So thank you : D

Anyway, some ocs and their stones.

❍ Sybil - OPAL

oh you are everything! ❍ indecisive, chamelonistic, flighty ❍ multitalented, innovative, extraordinary ❍ jack of all trades and master of all you touch ❍ containing multitudes ❍ you catch the light in different ways and all of them are you ❍ you get more selves than the rest of us, my darling. take this gift and use it well.

✦ Tristan - STAR SAPPHIRE

well hello, beautiful. ✦ how does it feel to have their eyes on you all the time? ✦ do you like to perform? do you like the way their hands reach for you as you turn in the spotlight? ✦ do you wish they would stop? ✦ they won’t. they can’t help it. ✦ is that the reaction you wanted? you want them to laugh, to cry, to moan, to yell at you maybe. ✦ you only exist in the lines spreading across the faces of others, right? ✦ if nobody thinks of you, you aren’t. so you make yourself headline news and they won’t look away ✦ attention won’t solidify you when the sun comes up and love won’t fill that hole inside. ✦ you might want to install an alarm system. just because they want you, doesn’t mean you have to give yourself.

⍚ Claire - ONYX

reserved (by choice), decisive, self-sure and self-contained, selective, resolved, close-minded, intuitive, deliberate ⍚ opaque - my secrets are not for you ⍚ scrying - i can see more than you know ⍚ sharp - i know where to cut

⌾ Dalian - AMBER

you hold in your heart fragments of everything that has ever passed through you. the good, the bad, the utterly mundane. ⌾ you catch it all and keep it. ⌾ you have a singular talent for holding on tight ⌾ collector, scavenger, hoarder, keeper ⌾ core: memory

Yan - PEARL

you are a bit of an open wound. ⍜ the pain won’t kill you like you think it will, let yourself bear it and you’ll find you can ⍜ you might even find that the world is a lot more than your oyster. ⍜ reticent (unwillingly so), passive, introverted ⍜ resilient, generative, adaptable ⍜ you hold the ability to create and recreate the world around yourself

[livesinthebalance]

WHAT JEWEL ARE YOUR BONES MADE OUT OF?

[ just for my loudest muses at present, because I’m curious ]

AJ WARREN

STAR SAPPHIRE well hello, beautiful. ✦ how does it feel to have their eyes on you all the time? ✦ do you like to perform? do you like the way their hands reach for you as you turn in the spotlight? ✦ do you wish they would stop? ✦ they won’t. they can’t help it. ✦ is that the reaction you wanted? you want them to laugh, to cry, to moan, to yell at you maybe. ✦ you only exist in the lines spreading across the faces of others, right? ✦ if nobody thinks of you, you aren’t. so you make yourself headline news and they won’t look away ✦ attention won’t solidify you when the sun comes up and love won’t fill that hole inside. ✦ you might want to install an alarm system. just because they want you, doesn’t mean you have to give yourself.

ABBY DEKKER

PEARL you are a bit of an open wound. ⍜ the pain won’t kill you like you think it will, let yourself bear it and you’ll find you can ⍜ you might even find that the world is a lot more than your oyster. ⍜ reticent (unwillingly so), passive, introverted ⍜ resilient, generative, adaptable ⍜ you hold the ability to create and recreate the world around yourself

ATHENA

OPAL oh you are everything! ❍ indecisive, chamelonistic, flighty ❍ multitalented, innovative, extraordinary ❍ jack of all trades and master of all you touch ❍ containing multitudes ❍ you catch the light in different ways and all of them are you ❍ you get more selves than the rest of us, my darling. take this gift and use it well.

CARLOS REYES

AMBER you hold in your heart fragments of everything that has ever passed through you. the good, the bad, the utterly mundane. ⌾ you catch it all and keep it. ⌾ you have a singular talent for holding on tight ⌾ collector, scavenger, hoarder, keeper ⌾ core: memory

DR. JAKOB HOOD

AMBER you hold in your heart fragments of everything that has ever passed through you. the good, the bad, the utterly mundane. ⌾ you catch it all and keep it. ⌾ you have a singular talent for holding on tight ⌾ collector, scavenger, hoarder, keeper ⌾ core: memory

JAMES VALDEZ

AMBER you hold in your heart fragments of everything that has ever passed through you. the good, the bad, the utterly mundane. ⌾ you catch it all and keep it. ⌾ you have a singular talent for holding on tight ⌾ collector, scavenger, hoarder, keeper ⌾ core: memory

LE CHIFFRE

ONYX reserved (by choice), decisive, self-sure and self-contained, selective, resolved, close-minded, intuitive, deliberate ⍚ opaque - my secrets are not for you ⍚ scrying - i can see more than you know ⍚ sharp - i know where to cut

LEONARD SNART

PEARL you are a bit of an open wound. ⍜ the pain won’t kill you like you think it will, let yourself bear it and you’ll find you can ⍜ you might even find that the world is a lot more than your oyster. ⍜ reticent (unwillingly so), passive, introverted ⍜ resilient, generative, adaptable ⍜ you hold the ability to create and recreate the world around yourself

TAZA

OPAL oh you are everything! ❍ indecisive, chamelonistic, flighty ❍ multitalented, innovative, extraordinary ❍ jack of all trades and master of all you touch ❍ containing multitudes ❍ you catch the light in different ways and all of them are you ❍ you get more selves than the rest of us, my darling. take this gift and use it well.

[pluviophile-imagines]

i can't help but wonder about the "i'm gonna marry you but i don't want kids" with gojo. because he probably would be the one to bring it up

omg im sorry this took so long but,,,,, here we are 👀 as always linking the usurper!gojo tag and the masterlist for this au warnings: the no kids talk!

it’s hardly subtle.

he doesn’t ease you into it; he isn’t coy. he all but storms into your chambers, after dark but before you’ve snuffed the candles keeping the room light enough for your reading.

he doesn’t bother to tell you why, but you know—instinctively, because you know him and you know his advisors and you’re well used to his moods when they’ve been particularly nagging about his duties as king—what’s set him off. the indication that it’s worse than typical is that he keeps that odd eye jewelry perched upon his nose, chain gleaming yellow in the light of the flames as he stalks over to your lounging form upon the bed.

his arm finds your legs over the nightclothes you wear, wraps around them firmly to move them just enough for him to perch on the edge of your mattress. they don’t leave, even as you set aside your book—you expect him to lay his head on it, anticipating the typical song and dance of his pouting and whining as you push him away only to relent and let him hold you as you both drift off into slumber.

instead he hovers. even sitting he looms over you, hand tightening on your thigh and thumb rubbing soft, meaningless patterns through the fabric of your dressing gown that soothe the nerves set on edge by your inability to see the look in his eyes.

a beat passes. you wonder if he’s calmed.

but when he speaks it’s terse, low, with the kind of simmering rage he keeps close to his chest for only those pitiable few he despises utterly, and he dips his head to look over the frames of those onyx lenses and regard you with irises dark with something terrible.

“i will not give you a child.”

the statement bowls you over. your breath hitches, if only because of the way he stares—deadly serious,

“wh—what?”

“i will not allow you to bear my children. i might be amenable to a ward, if you so desire. but i will not seed you,” his grip tightens on your thigh, “and it should go without saying that once we marry neither will any other.”

you haven’t a clue how to respond to such a thing.

he speaks as if it’s a confession; as if he’s betrayed you somehow. he holds you like you’ll disappear, or flee—and perhaps, had he told you this months ago when you’d been flighty and diffident with his affections, your rigidity might have led you to. but it is now, and you haven’t fled yet, and your beloved is nothing if not unconventional and shameless in his eccentricity.

you ponder on that too long.

“say something,” he demands, sounding almost small.

“why?” spills from your lips without thought; not petulant, or angry, but confused. not just by him—by you. you ought to be devastated, no? you ought to be angry. you assuredly are not.

“my bloodline as it has been for generations is a scourge,” he tells you readily. “i will do everything within my power to wipe it out. therefore, i cannot have an heir. not even one.”

not even one. not a single child. the thought washes over you like the temperate water of the lake on your grounds back home, the very one you’d once played in regularly as a child. the very one your mother had once mentioned taking your own children to, someday; children who you never fantasized about, children who never had faces or names, children who you never set aside letters or dresses or trinkets for to gift on birthdays.

not even in those teenage years spent with your current betrothed, the only man you’d ever thought of kissing and caressing you, had you once envisioned a life with children. they’d only appeared once you’d been brutally introduced to reality, and had to accept the promise of a life with a rich man who doesn’t love you.

a life which your king has gallantly shattered, and replaced with something far brighter.

“i will bear the burden of prevention,” he tells you soothingly, as if your silence has been about the effort of this request. “you needn’t worry that pretty mind over it. over any of this, my queen—“

“i am not yet your queen,” you interrupt, instinct bidding you to speak where your mind remains miles away.

“my bride,” he amends, ”look at me.”

you do.

“i want you,” he says, as if it’s some known truth of the universe, written in the stars. “i want you fervently, ardently. i won’t have another. but i will not give you my children. if you cannot take that slight, then so be it.”

the emotion that has been welling within you since the first words he'd spoken has become so intense it’s impossible to listen properly. you cannot name it without ruminating; you lay beneath him, eyes widening, not quite seeing—or hearing the words he continues to say—as you let it all sink in.

but when his hands fly to cradle your face, you’re snapped from the daze, attention suddenly brought back to the man before you.

“oh, oh, precious girl, don’t cry.” cry? his thumbs wipe away tears from your cheeks. you hadn’t even realized they’d been falling. “don’t cry”—he almost laughs, yet his voice breaks—“you’ll break my heart.“

“no,” you gasp, “no, my king, i’m hardly sad, i’m… relieved.”

that’s it. you’re relieved. he’s removed a heavy weight from your chest and you hadn’t even known of it. you will not have to bear him children. the assurance floods through your veins like liquid joy. not ten, not five, nor two nor even one; none whatsoever.

“relieved?” he repeats, blinking in surprise.

you’d never even considered the possibility. from the moment you’d known of your place in this world you’d resigned yourself to the role of childbearing. only now do you realize how much you had been dreading such a thing. only now do you understand the fear, and the relief.

“i… don’t believe i want children either.” the statement feels so final it ought to be terrifying, but it settles into your bones with a tangible rightness.

your betrothed regards you in shock. his hands fall from your face—and then they latch to your body, one on your thigh again and the other behind your neck, pulling you up and flush against him as he kisses you harshly.

“you’re so perfect,” he breathes into your mouth, unreactive yet pliant against him. “made for me, just for me, i swear—“

you kiss back, making his rambling cut off in a strangled growl as he only tugs you in closer and deepens the embrace. he’s still speaking, but it’s unintelligible; praise, certainly, muffled compliments and manic devotion. he’s relieved too, you realize. foolish to think him confident in this declaration. foolish, you’re coming to understand, to think him sane in any circumstance which might take you from him.

(if you are made for him then he is made for you, surely. this relief would be impossible for any other to give you.)

he pulls away when he realizes you’re still crying. you catch your breath, blink back the tears, let him fuss over you until your voice is solid enough to speak.

despite the relief, there is lingering hesitance; lingering fear. “you say you will bear the burden of prevention, but what of the burden of blame? they will talk, as the months go by. they will call me barren, unfit to be by your side; they will demand you take on a mistress—“

“i won’t,” your betrothed snarls, grip on your thigh almost painful with how fiercely his fingers tighten, “i would never, and i’ll cut down all those who speak ill of you.”

your laughter is disbelieving, wet with the traces of saltwater. “hardly a sound plan to run a court, my king. unless its intent is for running it to the ground.”

“for you, my heart? anything. i would raze this kingdom if it spoke your name without awe.”

that shouldn’t be comforting. it ought to be terrifying. instead you reach up to hold his cheek, and his eyes flutter closed at the contact.

“kiss me again,” you command.

[the-bloody-sadist]

Dancing With Death Chapter 6: The Golden One

Notes: FINALLY 😩✌️Yes, sorry that it took me so long to get this one out. It's 1) because it's such a fucking long chapter that needed a lot of world building and proof-reading, 2) because I'm writing like four different fan-fictions, a big story of my own besides this one, and also writing for my actual JOB, 3) because I have a second job, and 4) because I also do art both on Patreon and in general so like-- help me, I am a workaholic. Anyways BUHUHUH have fun 😉

The harem was located behind Taushin’s great tent, a marble-walled, elaborate building full of rooms, chambers for pleasures and chambers for punishments, halls for display and baths for recovery. It was a place Pets could only hate and love in the same breath. There was no in-between. The harem carried their nightmares and their comforts as one and could be anything their masters desired it to be. It was their home and their prison, a place they could never leave—perhaps a place they never wanted to leave, because they knew no other home and felt worthy of nothing outside those walls.

The filigreed wooden doors were ordered open in the dead of the night, giving way to a pair of bulky, looming figures with a slender one between them. Their shoes clacked and rattled on polished marble floors, echoing in the empty atrium that had been abandoned of their scurrying little Pets upon the noise at the gates. Guards often heralded the presence of Regals, after all.

But this night, it was only the boy—the limp, trembling boy, whose hair of fine white-gold shone in the moonlight from the windows. His feet made a skidding, papery sound as they dragged behind him, and the ragged panting of his breath filled the silence otherwise.

“Come into the light, you flighty creatures,” one of the guards called gruffly, his face inked by shadows under the scarf on his brow. He turned his head about in slow, sweeping gestures, the gems of his eyes glittering like onyx as he searched for their figures. “We’ve brought you your Golden One.”

The atrium was not as empty as it would seem. The Pets were not absent, only hiding behind silks and tapestries and pillars, keeping out of the light of the candelabras on the wall. Like the crawling, wary materialization of tiny forest nymphs, they emerged from these places now with craned necks and wide eyes.

“Angel,” passed the whisper about the group, behind painted hands and the jingle of jewelries. “It’s Angel!”

Among them was Minx, coming forward with a start, his usual meekness gone under the wake of concern for his friend. The guards regarded him neutrally enough, handing over their burden as soon as the boy opened his arms.

“My poor Angel, my poor Angel,” he said in hushed distress, taking the Golden One in both arms and using all of his strength to support him as he slumped forward, groaning. “He has turned you away tonight? He has sent you to me?”

Angel was hardly more than coherent, clinging to Minx and dazed with weakness. He could not bring words to answer his friend, and only pressed closer into his bare, warm shoulder, to hide his face inside of his neck. His arms were bruised from where the guards had gripped him, and now they throbbed with release of that pressure, aching to the bone and tender when Minx touched them.

“Thank you,” Minx meekly greeted the guards, bowing with Angel’s body clasped to his chest, the fine chains of his outfit tinkling.

The barefooted figures of the other Pets shifted about, every eye on the guards for tricks or deception. But there was none, only the grunt and retreat as they turned for the exit.

Angel did not lift his face, only heard the clack of their boots as they left. He made a soft noise, half to communicate with Minx, half to hear his own relief. Now, he was safe, he was truly, truly safe.

“I’m sorry, Angel,” Minx murmured, and there was an urgency and desperation to his tone that made him tingle. “I tried to hold my tongue. Please, believe me. I promise I did.”

Minx thought he was responsible for this? He should know by now that Angel would never blame him. Angel knew Taushin’s ways. He knew the things the man did to Minx.

No, he would never, never blame him.

Angel grasped his hand with some difficulty and rubbed his thumb over Minx’s knuckles, nodding his head against the boy’s soft skin.

He felt Minx’s tightened muscles relax a bit, but he was struggling with Angel’s weight, and Angel tried with all his might to stand. But everything in him was too exhausted. He only collapsed again, causing his friend to lose balance and stagger back.

“Can’t…m-move…sorry…” he whispered.

“No, no!” Minx reassured him, struggling to keep them upright. “It’ll be alright. Someone—Jaguar—help me with him?”

Angel heard a scuff of feet. The strong shape of the Pet named Jaguar was there in seconds, tilting his head at Angel and not smiling, as usual. His hair was black, falling straight and carelessly across metal-colored eyes. His muscles were toned and firm—not overly bulging, as Taushin did not prefer bulky Pets—but a lean, fit athleticism that gave him a fighting chance at winning Ring games. His skin was a rich amber, marking him as an imported Pet from Isles further south. There were tattoos engraving his shoulders, a curling, flowery pattern of lines that had been cut into him and filled with ink.

Angel went gratefully as Minx transferred him over to Jaguar’s care, falling back. The strong arms picked him up with support under his knees and middle-back, which brought both a shuddering cry from Angel at the smart of his wounds and a replying distress from Minx.

“Gods, Jaguar, careful where you touch! He’s injured!”

Angel’s dropped his head back, eyes screwed in pain. His breath rasped in quick pants, but Jaguar only pulled him a little closer, murmuring, “I don’t want him to fall. It’s hard carrying dead weight.”

“Please be gentle,” Minx implored him, and Angel felt his soft hands along his body, tickling his side and thigh. “I’m sorry, Angel. I’m so sorry.”

Angel couldn’t speak for the pain, blinking at the bleary, upside-down shapes of other the Pets watching him. His limbs felt leaden and dead.

“We should take him to the baths,” Jaguar said lowly, “we can tend to him best there.”

“We’ll take care of him,” Minx told all the others, “there’s no need to worry.”

Murmurs of disdain and concern alike filled the atrium as Angel was carried from it, Minx coaching Jaguar with every step, making him go slow and carefully through the halls. Angel could hear it all as if underwater, feeling the sensations on his skin only from a great distance.

“It’s not going to help anything,” Jaguar was arguing, “he’s bleeding out all over the place and we need to hurry.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, he’s not bleeding out! You’re making it worse. Slow down, slow down.”

“Minx, he’s heavy. The blood makes him slippery—I’m going to drop him if I don’t hurry.”

A cry of distress from Minx, and then his little hands leaving Angel’s body. “Go, then, go!”

Angel wasn’t sure if he lost consciousness at that point or simply pulled away from the throbbing agony, but he only roused again when he felt the cloying moisture of the bath chambers, humid with steam and fragrant with rose petals.

His body was lowered until there was liquid lapping around his feet and ankles, hot enough to make him inhale. “Mmh—” He tried to lift his head. He saw the blurry picture of veils and white pillars about him, the rectangular pools of water reflecting stars.

Minx’s soft, cold-fingered hands were on his ribs again, guiding him as Jaguar lowered his form into the water up to his waist, resting his seat against a marble step.

It hurt, but there was so much pain to be had already that it didn’t quite matter that it did, and Angel could only whimper and sink towards Minx’s waiting arms, resting against his friend’s chest. Being in the water was relieving. It made his arms light, and sitting wasn’t as difficult with the weightlessness that supported him. With breaths rasping in his throat, he tried to relax as much as he could, undoing the knots of tension from his muscles one by one while Minx stroked his face and fingered his hair with wet, tender hands.

“You’re safe,” he whispered, again and again—the same mantra that Angel repeated to himself when Minx wasn’t around to say it. But only when he was truly safe. The moments were rare, they were not to be missed, and it was the portions of time like this that Angel had to work to give his mind a rest, so that it would not break under the pressure of his life. “You’re safe…”

He heard Jaguar behind him, preparing dressings and salves—he heard the jars clink against the floor and the swish of cloth bandages. He saw the water, poisoned crimson with his blood where Minx’s slender body disappeared in refracted images of the night sky. The agony caused by the dark Pet’s touch was nearly unbearable, when it inevitably came—not because it was a worser pain than what he’d suffered within the recent days, but because he knew that this pain did not serve to please anyone. And what was the use in pain that did not make others smile? What was the use in suffering for himself? He was fashioned ever so carefully to suffer for others, to live for others, to be miserable so that others might be joyful.

His pain only made Minx sniffle and Jaguar curse under his breath. So Angel tried—he tried as hard as he could—to hold it back. He clenched his fists in the water until they shook; he gritted his teeth and focused on the fingers that danced along his face. Safe. You’re safe. You’re safe.

He was not worthy of crying out when his Master was not here to indulge in it.

Water was scooped over his wounds, his hair—Minx even cupped it against his face, kissing Angel’s brow and cheeks and washing away the sweat of torment with empathetic, pink eyes. All the while, the mantra was repeated, safety, security, the false sense of comfort in the arms of his friend.

Soon enough, they had finished with him, and Angel was exhausted enough to begin to weep.

“Angel, Angel,” Minx soothed, wrapping him with lithe arms around the golden collar, “my Angel, how he must have wounded you tonight…” There were kisses at his ear, beneath his curls, too soft to be given to Angel, and more painful than the wounds Minx spoke of.

He shook his head into Minx’s neck, whispering, “No matter…”

“I wish that he would choose some other soul to torment.”

Angel did not wish to think about such things. He did not wish for anyone to have the burden that he could handle well enough.

Touching Minx’s slick thighs beneath the water, he murmured, “Burns…?”

He felt Minx’s hands tremble a bit against his whipped shoulder blades, and the tremulous sound that left his friends lips fell against his ears. “Not as many as I should have taken to protect you,” he mourned, and Angel’s chest tightened as more tears came.

“Please,” he begged the boy, doing his best to pull back so that he could look into Minx’s eyes and communicate his insistency.

Minx was hesitant to meet his gaze, white lashes flicking about over the pink orbs. Angel could see the memory of fire inside of them, burning and tormenting his friend even now. “I know, Angel,” he said softly. “I knew that you would want me to tell him quickly.”

Angel weakened again, sinking back to embrace Minx, head tucked below the boy’s chin. “Good-d…”

Minx absently rested careful hands over Angel’s bandages in return, speaking to Jaguar—who sat on the edge of the bath, hands in his lap as he dangled his legs in the water.

“Jaguar could handle it so much better, if Taushin would have him. Jaguar has a heart of stone.”

Angel’s eyes slid to find the metal-colored ones, shimmering with the reflected starlight. The pools of water sent wavering ripples of it along his features. He scoffed a little and shook his head, making the piercings in his ear jingle. “Taushin prefers the sensitive ones, the ones who make plenty of noise.”

Angel dropped his gaze. He was right. Jaguar had been imported and trained here, but he’d been designated for the market, and had the high prospect to be the Pet of another Regal who was a close partner of Taushin’s. He was not particularly of Taushin’s taste. He hardly made a sound when he was beaten.

Minx stroked his hair, shifting them and murmuring, “You are sleeping with me tonight, Angel? Yes?”

He nodded sluggishly. It had been some time since he’d been back to the harem, though, and there was someone he desperately wanted to see. “Khoi…” he croaked.

There was a hesitant silence, and Minx helped Angel rise out of the water with Jaguar standing to assist before he answered. “He’s alright.”

Angel’s legs burned; his back was tight with medicine and wrappings, his lower half still exposed due to the nature of the injuries being unable to be bandaged. “I want to see him,” he said shakily.

Jaguar and Minx traded a glance, each one taking an arm to keep Angel steady. Their height difference—Jaguar being at least a head taller than both of them—made it lopsided. Angel’s fingers began to tingle as they seemed to debate telling him something awful. Was Khoi alright? Had someone injured him further? Had someone mistreated him? Had he died?

“I want to see him,” Angel said with blurry desperation, looking between them with widened eyes. He felt a little breathless.

“I think that you should rest now, Angel,” Minx said gently, “and see him in the morning.”

“No,” Angel begged. What was wrong? Taushin had bade him to return in the morning. He had to see him now.

Jaguar wrapped an arm around Angel’s back, making him turn to the darker boy, frantic. “Nothing is wrong,” he intoned. “But you look only half-coherent right now, and it would be best for you to lie down. Neither of us know what Taushin will demand of you, come morning.”

“No!” The words scraped at his throat. Angel was insistent on this matter, his throat tight and aching. All he asked was that they let him see Khoi. He did not want to sleep—he would not sleep—without seeing him.

Jaguar’s eyes fluttered, and he sent Minx a helpless glance, sighing.

“Angel—” Minx tried.

“No, no, no,” Angel whined softly, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. “Please. Khoi. I want to see Khoi.”

“It’s alright, Minx,” Jaguar said. “We’ll take you, Angel. Hold on.”

“It’s not good for him,” Minx argued.

“He’ll be fine.”

A sigh of frustration. “You’re not the one who holds him when he weeps through the night afterwards, and soothes him when he wakes up screaming!”

The words echoed in the bath chamber, bouncing off the water. Angel winced just hearing it aloud, shrinking in their grips and hiding his face in shame. “Sorry,” he whimpered, shoulders around his ears, “I’m sorry.”

“Minx, you ass,” Jaguar hissed.

Minx caught Angel up against him, crying out, “No, no, I don’t mean it like that! Oh, Angel, no…I just don’t want you to put yourself through such things.”

With his face hugged against Minx’s shoulder, Angel made a soft noise, unable to shake the guilt that it caused.

“We’re going, Angel. You have my word,” Jaguar said kindly.

“Mmh…”

<<••>>

Khoi was lying on the same padded, embroidered cot that he was always lying on, amongst the draperies of silks that veiled his sickly white body like crimson and gold fog. They had given him his own private chambers out of reverence and care. They all treasured Khoi, but Angel more than any of them.

He softly asked Jaguar and Minx to let him go in alone, and—used to the ritual that Angel never failed to adhere to—they respectfully bowed their heads and steadied Angel on his feet, before unlatching the heavy drapery that served as the chamber’s door.

Angel kept a hand on the wall to steady himself, squinting in the low, filtered orange candlelight. There were heady fragrances burning in jars on mounted shelves, white lilies sprinkled about the floor, and the gentle, plucking hum of a melancholy lyre, strummed by a young Pet who sat in a shadowed corner.

It was arranged nearly as a grave or a shrine to the dead, and it fit the figure who lied amongst it, asleep—or so it would seem to the unobservant eye. But Khoi was not asleep, as his dark lashes moved here and there with sluggish, heavy blinks, and the tiniest shimmer of his milk-white eyes could be seen beneath them.

His skin was a translucent white, ocean-green veins showing along the wrists and forearms that draped against his frail, bare torso. There was a sheet pulled up to his hips, covering the rest of him in white like a burial shroud. His hair was dark, streaked with greys and whites that did not belong to a boy of his age—yes, only a boy, still, of twenty-three years, and dying. His lips were fine and parted to take in rasping breaths, but when he heard the swish of Angel’s unsteady feet on the stone, the white irises turned to him, and the faintest shadow of a smile fell over his drawn, hollowed features. “Angel,” he said, sweetly, though his voice was hardly a voice at all anymore, rubbed raw to the very chords from years of screaming.

“Hello,” Angel greeted him quietly, brows skewing with concern as he leaned against the bedside, taking a seat on the plush cot. It felt much better to sit down, and he found he had a bit more strength to last him a cursory drift of fingers through Khoi’s hair, soft and well-groomed by the Pets who took care of him. The dark pupils of his eyes were full as they fixed on Angel. Many had considered Khoi blind on first glance, seeing the milky glisten of his irises. But it was only a rare strain of genetics that made them that color, and if Khoi struggled with anything, it certainly wasn’t his eyesight.

A cold, bony set of fingers slid over Angel’s hand as it rested on the bed, and he turned it palm-up to accept Khoi’s, closing it inside of both his warmer ones.

“Thank you,” Khoi croaked, “for coming to see me.”

Angel looked down at his fragile hand, tracing the pronounced tendons and knuckles with a practiced, soothing motion that he knew Khoi found relaxing. “I’m sorry that it’s been a while.”

“No matter,” Khoi dismissed him, shaking his head slightly. A cough, gurgling with what must be blood, wracked the Pet’s fragile body, then, sending Angel’s heart into a panicking flutter. “The days…ngh, are all the same…to me.” It seemed he tried to smile again, after this, but then his eyes flickered quite suddenly over the expanse of Angel’s body, taking in the bandaging and the washed cuts and widening with alarm.

Empathy, Angel knew.

“What has he done to you this time, my sweet?” Khoi whispered, touching Angel’s thigh so very gently that it made Angel wince.

He kept his face lowered, fidgeting with Khoi’s fingers and keeping his shoulders arched near his ears. “Nothing compared to what he’s done to you.”

“No,” Khoi murmured, “tell me, Angel. Tell me what he has done with my darling sapphire. You look so sad, today.”

That Khoi would ask so earnestly about Angel when he was like this—it tore through his heart like the claws of scrabbling foxes. More than any words of Taushin’s, worse than the Regals he’d been given to for sport, Khoi’s words always struck him the deepest pain. Because Khoi cared for him. Khoi knew more than anyone else. Khoi heard all of Angel’s deepest, most terrifying thoughts, all his sins, all his fears. Khoi knew enough to destroy Angel with the flick of a finger, and yet he kept all these things hidden in his heart, away from any Master that would twist it into torment.

Angel spoke to no one like he did to Khoi. Only Khoi heard all the little words he expressed through his body language in public.

“He was angry with me. There is a visitor here from the North, a 2nd Emissary.”

“Oh? How far North? As far as Minx’s home?”

“Not so far,” Angel said, “Dorne.”

“Dorne…” A wistful, nostalgic aura took Khoi’s eyes into the past for a moment. Yes, even he had dreamt of Dorne, just as much as the other Pets. It was near enough to heaven, compared to Gailda. “There are such kind people up there.”

“He is very kind,” Angel said, softer now, and turning his gaze more intently to their hands.

“But not kinder than you deserve,” Khoi whispered in a rattle, his eyes darkening as Angel shied away from it. It was a common practice of his to dole out opposites of Taushin’s derogatory statements, something that Angel could not bear to hear—something that Khoi refused to stop doing.

“I do not think it will last,” Angel told him.

“But why was he angry with you, my sweet?” he pressed, with some trepidation.

“Minx was given to him the first night. And when he came back, he was not bruised or bleeding. He was smiling. Smiling, Khoi…s-so…so I asked him—I asked him if the Emissary had been kind. If he’d been…gentle.”

Khoi’s dark lashes drooped. He shifted his head to look past Angel, at the far wall where the incense burned on the protruding shelves. “That is all, then? The only reason he would punish you so harshly? Perhaps he has gotten worse, after all.”

“No, Khoi,” Angel whispered, beginning to feel the familiar burn of shame in his cheeks and throat. “No, he is the same. He is only—he was still angry. I…I ran away again, a fortnight ago.”

Khoi turned back to him sharply, quick enough to trigger another bout of gurgling, sickening coughs. When it was done, he was wheezing, and Angel’s chest was tight with phantom pain. “Oh, darling sapphire…” He feebly squeezed Angel’s fingers, and Angel felt cold stretching through the pit of his stomach. “Why must you do that to yourself? Why?”

“I don’t know,” Angel said tremulously, shifting on the bed and looking elsewhere. “He likes th-the game. It…it keeps him focused on me, so he won’t hurt…” Angel fought to keep his voice steady, to keep speaking. “…so he won’t hurt the others.”

He could feel Khoi gazing at him with those milky eyes, he could see in his head how the dark brows skewed with anguish over Angel’s awful decisions.

“You are already his Golden One,” Khoi said, “he hurts you enough. You must stop. You must, Angel. Please.”

“I can’t,” Angel nearly spat out, and then touched his mouth with his hand, as if to punish the act himself, for daring to utter something not honeyed and sweet. “There is something about it that I like, too. He wants me back. He wants me so badly that he sends all of his men after me, and he gets so…so angry, Khoi, the look in his eyes—” Angel went silent momentarily, his mouth parted still with the words sticking to his tongue, seeing the murderous flash of golden eyes in his head, as sharp as the end of the blade he dragged across Angel’s skin. “—there is nothing like it,” he whispered. “And when I go, I feel so empty without him. I don’t know what to do with myself. There is nothing, nothing for me but to wait for the guards to find me. And then he hurts me, and I remember what it is like to love him when I am my weakest, and I feel…” He blinked rapidly. “…I feel right again.”

Khoi’s eyes were fixed on their hands when Angel finally found the courage to look at him. There were tears clinging to his eyes and lashes.

“Khoi,” Angel mourned, starting forward with pain in his lungs, “What is it, what have I said to upset you?” He took the Pet’s face in both of his hands, bending to press his lips against the hollowed-out cheeks again and again in frantic apology.

Khoi raised his hand to cover Angel’s, pushing against his chin so that he could look him in the eyes. “I know, Angel,” he said. The skin beneath his eyes tightened. “I know.”

I know what it feels like.

Khoi remembered. He remembered the feeling of being Taushin’s Pet. It made the tension leak out of Angel’s muscles when he heard it, dragging down his limbs and pulling him towards the bed, where he lay quietly for a long time against Khoi’s thin shoulder, gazing at the silks that hung about them while Khoi absently stroked the fine lines of his tummy.

“Sometimes, he forgives me, Khoi,” he breathed, watching his words float away among the incense in the air. “He has mercy. He breaks down, sometimes. He holds me very close to him, sometimes, and says things that Masters should not say. And the more that I run, the more chances I have that he’ll do it again. I think that it makes him just a little desperate.”

Khoi continued to move his fingers soothingly, humming under his breath in sorrowful understanding.

The lyre strummed on, the only other sound for a long, long while. They dozed beneath the blanketed warmth of the music, mingling inside of one another’s thoughts, their shared experiences, their similar torments.

“It will never be enough, my darling sapphire,” Khoi rasped eventually, and his voice was more frail than it had been before. “It will never last.”

Angel’s lip trembled and he screwed his eyes shut. Just let me pretend that it will. Let me dream that it can.

It was the one thing that Angel clung to for dear life.

<<••>>

Minx was there to hold Angel when he came from Khoi���s room, the drapery swinging behind him, every limb in his body melting like butter from his spine.

With Minx’s soft embrace and the tender voice in his ear, Angel should have felt better. But he did not.

“Come, my Angel,” he cooed, “let us go, now. Let us sleep and forget.”

Angel did not speak or lift his head. He did not nod or move. He hardly even opened his eyes. He just let his friend pull him along down the long, sparkling halls, past the whispering, colored silks, the jingling, nimble footsteps of other Pets.

Sleeping quarters were spacious, but the darkness there Angel feared would swallow him up, devouring his soul before morning. Coming back to the harem always put his mind in the past, among the draconic silhouettes of blackened Trainers who no longer had faces in his mind, among the restricting chains and the debilitating agony, among the continuous screams and the unending fight just to remember who he was. To remember why he was fighting, why he was alive, why they would not let him die.

And now, being Taushin’s Golden One, it only garnered him pockets of opened space around the hanging cot Minx would share with him, Pets scurrying away either in reverence or disdain—neither of which mattered to him. It was only that they did make space, as if he were different from them. Some of them looked on in guarded pity, others in abject suspicion. He knew most feared that he was only sent here to relay their actions to the 1st Regal, a spy and a tattletongue who would not hesitate to give them up.

It made him droop even more in their presence, sinking towards Minx’s protective guidance. He could hear the whispers passing about like the hiss of slithering snakes, silenced only at the sharp behest of a few of the older boys. Angel did not blame them. He blamed only their Trainers and their Regals. He blamed only Taushin, for he was certain it was a deliberate isolation, to assure that Angel would not gain some kind of following, of boys who would turn on their Masters and cause an uprising. Thus, it was necessary that Angel remain a sort of fugitive among them.

Minx was gentle and careful in helping Angel into the hanging blue cocoon that served as his cot. There was a small bedding made up inside it to flatten out the base so it would not cling so tightly to their bodies.

Angel held his breath while trying to pull himself into it, stifling any sounds that the others would hear. He settled into the cool pillow with a shuddering sigh of relief, wrapping his arms around his naked, bandaged body.

Minx quietly undid the bits of drying tulle from his own waist and arms, undressing in utter silence.

The other boys in the murky, humming chamber began to settle down themselves, eyes glittering out of the dark towards Angel and Minx in wary, narrowed glances. They would haunt him all the night, Angel knew. He dreaded it.

He had more that kept him from shutting his eyes when Minx crawled into bed behind him, shushing Angel’s mewling sounds with gentle kisses and wrapping his body inside of warmer, kinder arms. It stung his back to have it pressed against Minx’s chest, but he was used to such discomforts, and it was nothing in the wake of his friend’s soothing coo, the words spoken mutedly against the shell of his ear to distract Angel from his own thoughts.

“Shall I tell you about him again?” Minx pulled up a soft blanket until it was covering their waists. The touch of their skin—Minx’s heated against his cold—served as a good sensation to focus on while Angel tried to loosen his stiff muscles. While he tried to think of something other than the fragile skin of his forearms and wrists. How they might tear. How they might release him.

“Shall I tell you what it was like?”

Angel felt dull as he stared into the glittering eyes of the boys in the darkness, seeing only what Minx’s smile must look like. He let out a faint, weary keen of affirmation.

“He was gentle and strong, and didn’t use a thing that Taushin sent him in the box.” Fingers found their way up Angel’s arm, his shoulder, his neck, until they stroked the line of his jaw and his cheekbone, tickling over the rim of his ear. “He spoke only sweetly, and when he took me, he didn’t force me into the sheets, or suffocate me, or grip me by the neck.” Minx played with his earrings, tugging ever so slightly at times. It made pleasant blooms of sensation down Angel’s spine.

Minx went on with his tale like a mother might sing a lullaby, sweetly and hushed for Angel’s ears alone. “His voice only encouraged me, his kisses only warmed me, and he was so sorry, so sorry, he said, when it was over…and I feared that I had not been enough…”

Angel felt his mouth begin to twist and tremble. He inhaled a soft, shuddering breath. He thought of Khoi, broken and dying on that bed among the incense, never knowing a kind noble, never hearing such sickening, wonderful words. That must be his end, too, he knew, as Emery could say all that he liked from a distance, but would never be near him like he’d been with Minx.

Taushin would never let him, as much as he teased and flaunted Angel before him. Taushin would never let Angel grow attached.

Minx’s voice purred on in the stillness. “…but it was not that I had not pleased him, and so strange, Angel, so strange…it was only that he wanted me to like it too. He wanted me to be pleased more than he wanted pleasure for himself. He wanted me to be safe, and go unharmed…. And his eyes, Angel, how you should have seen his dark eyes fill with concern for me. For me, can you imagine it? Ah, what a thing…”

All that Angel saw were the golden eyes of his Master, flashing and furious, the way that he’d described it all to Khoi. They were his cage, as visible to him as the collar that was locked about his neck. The most he could do was gaze between the bars, reaching out for the watery hallucination of Emery of Dorne, smiling down at him as if he were truly a human being, something to be valued, something to be protected.

He looked at Angel as if there were some chance in all the hells that a Pet could yearn for something his Master could not give him, a hope that he could perhaps touch, if not accept, a mercy from someone else, someone who would not award that mercy only after so much pain—but freely, right away, demanding nothing in return.

Angel began to weep, unbidden, and Minx—used to it by now, after so many revisits to the harem that ended in the same way—buried his mouth against Angel’s shoulder and held him very close, murmuring comforts against his skin. This pain in his lungs went on for some time, his thoughts plagued by the anxieties of what the morning would bring him.

Master was displeased. Master was disappointed. Master was irritated.

He could not—he could never—take respite in the nights without him. And it distressed him so greatly that this was so. Being away from Taushin only made him nauseous with anticipation, counting down the moments until he was back in those gloved hands, screaming for mercy that would not come. Pain could not be had without him to oversee it, and pleasure could not be felt if he wasn’t giving it.

And so, all that Angel could do was drown in his own misery, trying to claw into the skin of his arms and refrained from even that release by his friend’s restrictive grasp.

He wasn’t sure when his waking mind blurred with the realm of sleep, but it did not last more than an infinite stretch of darkness before it was eaten up with the terror of nightmares. His Trainers became the monstrous shadows on the wall, pulling him every direction and stretching his limbs apart, forcing things through and inside and across and around him until he could only thrash and scream awful, soundless screams. And Taushin, with his eyes of gold burning in the darkness, stood before them all and watched like a malignant cobra, deadened to his Pet’s anguish and too far to cling to.

When he burst from it shrieking in inconsolable terror, it was Minx, only Minx, with his arms around Angel, but he felt there was nothing else but to shriek and sob his voice away, so that he’d no longer have to hear the voices in his dreams, and the suffocating silence of his Master.

(Next) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yey. :) Hope you liked. Nice to meet you, Khoi. You'll get to learn specifics about him soon, so I hope you're looking forward to it! <3 For now, mystery boi Khoi. (and originally his name was spelled Koi but then I saw the way the English VA for Albedo in Genshin spelled it and I just...really liked it.) Tags! Did you miss me?: @hackles-up (I believe this is who was previously @what-a-whump ?) @boxboysandotherwhump @seasaltandcopper @abitefullofwhump @whump-cravings @thats-my-type-writer @darklyria @ashintheairlikesnow @luna-rein @whumptywhumpdump @whatgoeswhumpinthenight @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @dragonninjavampire @whumpy-writings @shameless-whumper @also-finder-of-rings @ohwhumpydays @whump-world @outofangband @whump-cravings @10000ducks-whump @whumpiary @sadomasochistic-whump @insaneinthepaingame @straight-to-the-pain @whumpwillow @gatheringofsuffering @sideblogformindtrash @newbornwhumperfly @sadistgalore @yet-another-heathen @peterrose @cupcakes-and-pain @writingbackwards @i-gently-open-the-door @bloodandbandages @ocean-blue-whump @wingedwhump @meetmeinhellcroutons @jcwriting @kiretto-laorentze @thatonekidnamedrin @whumpawink @nicolepascaline @zoewhumps @mylifeisonthebookshelf @wolfeyedwitch @whumpfessional @batfacedliar @whump-tr0pes

@meetmeinhellcroutons and @whumpkinpie I think you’re the two whose names have changed. Let me know :)

If you’d like to be added/removed, just ask! :D

[titlemewickedwonderland]

His Starlight Her Firefly (Chapter 7)

AN: This story has officially hit #1 in Matt Smith fanfiction on Wattpad! Just so you guys now; I'm lowkey really proud of this story so far and even though you guys don't have any sort of rating like that on tumblr I just feel like thanking everyone for the support and love given to this story so far! As always, don't forget to comment, like, and reblog this for others to enjoy! Much love guys!

Workshop

Previous

As a child, Astraea always loved the moments that she got to spend with Daemon when it was just the two of them. She remembered such fond memories and how she'd find comfort in his lap on days her mind would not settle. She loved the feel of his unyielding body warm and solid beneath her as she'd curl herself against his frame and feel the security of his strong arms wrap around her holding her close; as a little girl that was everything to her. Knowing that she was not alone and that she was loved even if she was different. Those were the moments she loved the most in her childhood. But that was years ago and she was no longer a child needing protection. Not since Daemon abandoned her two years prior and she took shelter under someone else's wing - and most certainly when she got her dragon, at last.

But Astraea wasn't petty, or she was not raised to be at least. She knew by all rights she should be angry and resentful that the man who was 'supposedly' raising her would often leave her astray when off to war or disappear without a word for months on end; Daemon had a good habit of doing that. She really should hate that about him. But as she grew older she'd realized that there was a world beyond just the spectrum of that insufferable man. She'd gained a stronger bond with her uncle because of it. She'd gotten a mother figure from Queen Aemma's attentive care because of it. She'd grown to have allies in the house of Valerion, and she had grown strength within herself as she learned to be a dragon rider and what it truly meant to be a Targaryen. She may not have truly known what happiness meant but she surely was content where she was at with or without Daemon at her side.

So why was it that Astraea felt the growing pangs of longing as strong as the phantom caress of his eyes along her skin? She was no longer a child and she no longer needed his attention as she once did. But this was Daemon. Her Daemon. And she realized she'd always need that man even if he was as unpredictable and flighty as a dragonling.  

"I gained myself a dragon while you were away." she broke the silence as she lightly traced the spines of the books in the library. "His name is Noimrai. I haven't ridden him, though; he's not quite ready for that yet but the keeper believes soon he will be; I am excited to finally take him to the sky." 

Daemon watched the young woman from where he leaned against the banister of the fireplace within the library. The sun had long gone in the sky and most of the Red Keep was fast asleep. But history seemed to enjoy repeating itself in the form of two insomniacs that were destined to cling to each other late at night when neither could sleep-they simply always sought each other on nights such as this one. He admired the way her long hair had been left uncut even after all these years and braided down the back with intricate craftsmanship so clean that he would have thought she had done her hair for an outing. The silk of onyx fell down to her knees and trimmed with white lace looking far too pretty to be placed on a mere nightgown and her feet were as bare as they normally were despite the cold stone of the keep. Her robe was left untied and hanging on either side of her as if she had no qualms about covering herself for modesty - as if she had no worries that dressing like that would not attract the attention of a man, particularly him.

"Your hair looks pretty. I don't remember you braiding your hair for bed." his words made her turn her head over her shoulder to look at him and a small smile tugged at her naturally red-tinted lips

"Ah, yes. I usually just wear it down but Gilthunder enjoys braiding it for me before bed; he says it helps keep my natural curls from being ruined." a little hushed laugh escaped her. "I just think he gives me any excuse he can think of to touch my hair. He even let me try braiding his one day but I'm no good at it. It's a blessing he is so patient or else I swear that man would have cut my fingers off with how much hair I'd pulled from his head." 

Daemon pushed off the fireplace mantel in favor of joining her by the bookshelves and made a show of looking at the titles of the books even when his violet eyes drifted to the side to look down at her from the corner of his eye with that playful smirk tugging at his mouth.

"Your hair has always been lovely; I can see why he'd be fascinated by it," he replied casually before leaning over to bump shoulders with her. 

  Astraea smiled a little shyly before returning the playful shove. "Well, I'd have cut it long ago but I fear far too many people would be displeased if I did." she shrugged and plucked a book from the shelf before holding it up with a sweet smile. "Read it to me?" she asked

Daemon smiled slightly as he plucked the volume from her hands and swept his free hand out towards the sofa in front of the fireplace. "As you wish." 

She was happy to oblige as she moved past him and sat on the soft warm fabric of the couch leaving enough room for Daemon to sit down beside her. As he got comfortable she scooted closer and curled her feet up on the couch; too big to curl into his lap as she did as a child so instead she leaned her weight against his side - relaxing as his arm draped over the back of the sofa behind her head after a brief moment of hesitation. Daemon opened the book to the first chapter to begin reading. His voice was soft and it was lulling with the background sounds of the fire crackling giving a homey ambiance. When Astraea grew still and silent Daemon thought perhaps she'd fallen asleep as she often did in his presence but when he looked down at her he noticed her eyes were fixated on the flames; so lost in thought she hadn't realized he had stopped reading to her. 

"What are you thinking of, Dōna mēre?" he asked resting his lips against the crown of her head and breathing in her scent. 

"I am just wondering why you have returned to the Red Keep." her voice was soft but she did not look at him.

"Do you not wish for me to be here?" Daemon's brows pinched slightly. "I came to see you. And my brother to speak to him about my findings."

"Of course, I love it when you are home. But, I feel as if you do not see this place as home anymore as you rather find yourself elsewhere than here. I mean," she pulled away from him to sit up

"I understand. A lot has changed over the course of a few years but I feel as if you are running away from something."

He frowned at this "I am not running away from anything, Astraea. I am working on finding the reasoning behind your attempted murder-"

"Stop it!" she suddenly rose from the couch. "Stop saying it like it was yesterday! It was years ago Daemon! No further attempts have been made on my life and no more coups have arisen. Our realm is in peace within these walls. So why must you act as if you are running off trying to be my hero and save me from something that isn't even there?!" she demanded.

"Why can't you just come home and stay home? Why must it always be you leaving? Is it because you think I no longer need you now that I am grown? Is that it?" she questioned tilting her head to stare at the man with a hurt expression pinching her brows. 

Daemon rose slowly from the sofa to stand at her front so close she had to tip her chin up to stare at him with troubled crimson eyes that reflected the gleam of the flickering fire. He studied the way her brows were pressed together and her eyes wide- searching but her lips were pursed together in a thin line and her chin set in a stubborn way he was not used to seeing. Gazing at her features he was harshly reminded that Astraea was not the little babe that he had once found at the breast of his dragon years prior. 

"I'm not running from anything, little one." he raised a hand to brush his knuckles along her cheek. "Nothing but my own thoughts."

"Everyone is afraid and confused about their own thoughts." the girl huffed and crossed her arms in front of her - the action forcing Daemon to take a marginal step back in the process and he instantly felt cold. "That is hardly an excuse; I never pinned you to be a coward, my prince."

"Look if you don't want to be an adult and tell me what's going on with you that's fine. But don't expect me to be there for you when you need me to." she gritted out feeding the fire that was starting to rage inside of her. "I'm not a little girl anymore you can just distract or brush aside when duty calls Daemon, especially now that I have a dragon and a presence within the court. I'm no longer a shadow needing to be kept safe from the light." 

"Is that so?" there was amusement glittering in his violet eyes now as his lips curled up into his lips. "You're a proper lady now, hmm?" he added tipping his head to the side and Astraea shoved at his chest

"You're an idiot."

"But you adore me anyways. I wonder who the idiot here is then." Daemon chuckled but it died quickly as Astraea's face flushed slightly and she looked away. "What is it?"

"Nothing..."

"No, tell me. You cannot hide from me." he grabbed her chin to pull her gaze to his that stared at her in a serious manner.

"I don't adore you Daemon." her laugh came with a bit of irony. "I think I'm past adoration for you."

"Past adoration-" Daemon let out a little huff of a breath trying to smile but her pointed look wiped it away

"Daemon..." she said softly and swallowed before looking away from his gaze to somewhere on his chest

"Oh." realization hit him like a stone to the head and he felt his blood run cold. 

"Yeah. Oh." Astraea allowed her head to fall limply against the planes of his chest soaking up his heat through the thin material of his sleep shirt. "And I am a bloody idiot. A big fat moron for even thinking of such a thing because you're family and even if you did...feel that way Uncle would murder you and lock me away in a high tower or something until the day I die." she pulled away with a breath and turned away; nervously pulling her hair over her shoulder and playing with the soft entwined locks as her teeth sank into her bottom lip with nerves. 

"Don't worry about it; pretend I didn't say anything. I'm sorry Daemon." her hand was quickly snatched as she attempted to flee the room.

She spun around on her bare feet until her chest hit straight into Daemon's whose free hand gripped her upper arm to steady her balance. She could feel the cool breath on every exhale flutter the baby hairs around her face as she stared at Daemon's mouth that was oh so close. If she dared to rise to her tip toes their mouths would touch she was sure of it. But she did not have the courage to make the first move and instead her gaze rose to his eyes seeing the doubt and turmoil clashing within them.

"Tell me you don't want this. Tell me this is wrong and that we need to stop whatever the fuck this is." Daemon's voice was pitched low; almost threatening in the way he stared her down - like a hungry beast between wanting to sink his teeth into her and running away from her.

She swallowed as her eyes flickered from one eye to the next before she saw what she feared the most shining in them - the doubt. Her lips parted wanting to tell him to kiss her. Wanting to tell him that she'd be his if he wanted her. But instead, she raised a hand that trembled slightly as she touched his lips; they were soft beneath the pads of her fingers and for a split second she rose on her toes to follow through with her desire to feel his mouth against hers and see if his lips would be as soft against her own as they were beneath her touch right now. But she didn't - a decision she was sure to regret as she turned her head to press her lips to the corner of his mouth with a soft one that spoke of strong longing.

"The question isn't if I want to stop Daemon. The question is if you want this," she whispered, and when he said nothing she lifted her gaze from his mouth to find that his eyes were pinched shut and his brows knitted as if he was in pain.

"You have been everything to me for all my life." her hands reached up to rest on his cheeks. "And you have given me more in this life than I had a right to. Because of this, I will not force you to betray your lady wife with the likes of me; even if you do not love her and ruin your future," she confessed allowing her hands to drop to her sides. 

"I won't take advantage of you when you yourself don't know what your heart wants. But when it does; you know where to find me." she gave him a sad smile  - one the man had yet to see as he kept his gaze shut completely

It was only when he heard the door open and then softly click shut did his eyes opened and he was met with an empty room that suddenly felt too large and too empty - too cold despite the fire burning in the fireplace.

~

She could feel the strength of the beast even through the saddle and his restless shifting made her sway where she sat. But she gathered the reigns; feeling the weight of them in her palms heavy and clunky. She looked down at Viserys who stood by an anxious-looking Aemma at his side as she clutched at her large and rounded belly and for a moment Astraea wished the queen would return to bedrest - It would be not long yet till her babe would be born and everyone in the castle was waiting with bated breath; she should not be here to send her adopted kin out on her first dragon ride. Viserys met the young woman's gaze with a tight smile that didn't help the stress that pinched at his features. 

"Just remember, you are making your journey around the keep and returning straight here; if it gets too much for you or Daemon will be right there with Caraxes if anything is to go wrong." he studied her perched in the large saddle on the great beast 

Noimrai was not the largest of dragons; not larger than the ancient Vaghar but probably around the same size if not a tad bigger than Caraxes who was clicking away beside her with his rider ready to go. Today was the first flight Astraea and Noimrai would share and silently Astraea felt the weight of panic; it was an exciting thing to imagine but terrifying to be faced with the reality that's for certain but she could not hide forever nor could she ground her dragon forever either. So she put an easy smile on her face and reached down the pat the onyx scales. 

"It'll be fine Uncle, Noimrai will not fail me. You best get the queen back to her chambers before she pops out your child right here and now." the raven-haired woman jested tossing a teasing smile Aemma way. 

Viserys nodded at her and drew his wife closer to him and away from the beasts as the riders sent forth their beasts into the air. Watching as the forms drew smaller in the sky the farther they flew and the king silently prayed for the princess's safe trip.

Astraea had never felt such freedom before as the vastness of the sky spread across her and the clouds cold and damp kissed her cheeks. Despite it being a pretty day out for a flying lesson the princess couldn't help the knot of nerves that rumbled in her stomach as she dared to look down at the sea below rushing beneath the large black beast. Noimrai was excellent to handle; something Astraea was grateful for as the dragon seemed to be more in tuned with her and her commands then most - she chalked it up to the fact she spent far too much time with him as a youngling fresh from his egg. Now it was coming in handy as she shifted the reigns in her hands to bank sideways; knees tucking into the saddle to keep her balance. It was not so different as riding a horse which she had done many times before except for what she rode was much larger and well...could kill her if he so chose to in more than one way but the point still stands.

Her eyes shifted when the screech of Caraxes echoed in her ears and moments later the red Blood Wyrm broke through the clouds to rush over her head making her laugh as she met Daemon's gaze with teasing mirth. As if sensing her playful mood Noimrai tucked his large onyx wings in to make her nose dive until he sharply jerked upwards until they were skyrocketing into the clouds following Caraxes path until it was he was cast his shadow over Daemon and his dragon. Astraea laughed in delight and flung her hands out feeling the wind rush through the plaits in her leather riding gear making her feel as light as a feather and eliciting a little laugh of delight from her only for it to turn into a squeal when Noimrai banked to the left as Caraxes swooped upwards making her lose her balance ever so slightly and have her scrambling for the reigns with her heart pounding in her chest at the close call. 

Daemon smirked over at her before he was flying Caraxes over her and ducking low - leading the way towards the far ends of Westeros where the beachfront lay by the seaports. Following his lead, Astraea shifted her dragon to follow the man until both beasts landed in the warm sand. Pumped with adrenaline Astraea slid from her saddle with a laugh of delight as her boots landed in the sand with a crunch; the sound of the content grumbling of the dragons paired with the beach did nothing but heightened Astraea's rush that flowed through her body. She turned and spun around Noimrai's form to find that Daemon had already dismounted Caraxes. 

"By the gods, I didn't realize how exhilarating flying could be!" she laughed in a carefree way as she looked up at the sky still feeling the rush of having been up there moments before. When her head finally dropped it was to find Daemon standing there staring at her with an expression she could not decipher straight away

"What is it?" her smile faltered slightly. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked suddenly feeling as if perhaps she overstepped a boundary of some sort. 

But instead of answering the silver-haired prince stalked across the sand until he was an inch from touching her. His gloved hands rose quickly to take hold of her face and jerked it up until her startling red eyes met the ferocity of his violet. She would have thought perhaps that he was angry with her but that thought got thrown out the window real quick when his head dipped forwards and the hot press of his mouth claimed hers.

Chapter 8

Taglist: @lizajane2 @111melo @luluga @thatsmysteriousblog @saramarvel01

Just a few people I wished to tag for giving so much love and interest in my story! If you wish to be added to the tag feel free to comment below!

[creaturefeaster]

How many pets do you have and can we see some some of the lesser shown ones?

There's another ask from someone who wants me to talk about my pets, but I feel like that's a little hard when you don't know what any of them look like!!! So I'll answer this one for right now because I have tons of pictures >:3

I have five geese and two ducks, and I think 18 chickens. Then a couple dogs and a spider.

These are some of my geese. I have another brown one (chinese swangoose) that isn't in frame. The chinese swangeese' names are Gertrude (Gertie!) and Humphrey, and the white ones are Gertie's and Sebastian's offspring from earlier this year, Lottie and Louie.

I'm sure plenty of you know Sebastian by now too, my gander.

There's also Puddles, my sole pekin duck. She is a total sweet heart.

This is Dahlia, I don't have many pictures of her but she's a little flighty. She is a muscovy duck.

Here's a video of her though, and you can see some of my bantam chickens as well. Silkies and frizzles.

Unfortunately Tumblr doesnt want me to upload a video I have of all my bigger chickens, and I have too many to send individual pics of all of them. You can have this pic of my roo Bandito, though.

There's also two old pug chihuahua mixes that live upstairs, Misty and Jasper. They're nice though I'm not really a small dog person so I cant say that I have many pics of them ^^;.

And then my fiance has a tarantula:

She's pretty silly, she is always so determined to climb things she can't get back down from. Her name is Pepper.

We're thinking about getting our own dog or cat soon, since my old cat Onyx passed last year. But that's all we have right now.

[keepsakesloft]

Not the best photos due to the background clutter but I am continually astounded by how shiny Cosmo is. Where he has an absence of lace on his wings and chest, he is iridescent from crest to rump. His wing feathers on his shields (or lack thereof) even have faint hems of iridescence around the edges.

He’s rather shy, though. He startles if you even look at him. So, it’s entirely possible that there’s Arch Angel on his mama Barrow’s side (Arch Angels are known to be particularly flighty). We haven’t had issue with his siblings’ confidence, however! Opal, Onyx, and Morganite have all been very brave and outgoing as they emerge from pigeon-puberty. So part of it might be genetics, part of it might be personality.

He’s been feeling more brave lately, partially because I think he wants to impress Galahad. I’m sure with patience and consistence, he’ll come around.

[c-atm]

I am absolutely floored by the Djinn!Connie AU! Can you tell me more about it? Your content is amazing!

First of All, thank you for the interest, (makes me think my writing worth something and Valid as fuck😁)

Second, this was a spur of a moment thing..but I do have a few things I can say so far.

Setting and Timeline

This is story takes place in Empire city rather Beach City, but it will still incorporate well know BC location ( Big donut, temple, ECT.)

This is a slight retelling of SU ..it follows canon on some terms but mostly it's an original AU.

Story begins with it version of Bubble budies/mirror gem hybrid(The one shot)

The world

The world is a modern world with a Magi-technological underbelly.

While Magic is very much alive, most humans has wrote it off as myth and have forgotten about it and anything involving it. There are some human who know how to use magic as fuel and or energy. Furtherless who know how to use magic in the mythical way.

There are more than gem, human, demon, and Djinn in this au. With the exception of Gem, most disguise themselves as human or like Gems, can pass for human regularly.

There are two types of Corrupted gems. The Beast type (Common,Canon) and The reverted type. The reverted are capable of speech and intelligence but are still prone to destruction.

Species

Humanity: In the past humans were magically attuned just as any other race. They utilized magic in the forms of Spell, conjuring, and such. After the Corruption event, Humans lost their ability to use magic and turned their sights toward industrialization and technological advancement. Still there are humans who have gain magical ability though such things as Martial arts, and technological infusions.

Demons: Nighmarish and twisted Magical beings. While some are naturally born, many of them were gentle and kind beings warped through corruption. Their forms varies and not all are malicious.

Arcana: Beings from a different realm that govern the magic of earth, The arcana of magic origin. Immensely powerful The main purpose of the arcana is to keep and preserve the balance and magic of this realm. Felt but never seen, these beings are unable manifest physical form. As such, they passed the responsibility of magic preservation to their descendants, the Genie.

Genie: The descendants of Arcana. These being are in essence a small peice of the the Arcana existence given form on earth. Forever chained to the will of the Arcana, they are benevolent and emotionless beings, only made to be used as tools for the preservation of magic, and grant wishes for them lucky enough to find their lamp or to the Genie themselves, they did so with a smile. That was until the corruption gave birth to the Djinn.

Djinn: The 'corrupted' genie. Genie corruption ran more along the line of humans. The corruption changed the Genie point of view. While they still preserved magic in the world, they were no longer slaves to the arcana. No longer tools to grant the wishes of others. They now craved to experience all life had to offer. Complex emotions like love, hate, jealousy, pride, lust. What it was like to give birth, to die, and to be resurrected, they was able to grow into their own beings fully. This affected their power making it as chaotic as the life they now sought and allowing it to grow continuously.

Because of this, the arcana saw the Djinn as possible threats and in doing so, planned the 'Djinn desolation' event. This event dwindle the numbers of 'living' djinn from a thousand to a mere thirty five. The bodies and lamps of the dead Djinn were destroyed and repurposed to use the Djinn unfathomable power as sources of magic for the planet.

As for the remaining thirty five, They too were sought after for their immense power, but was also feared for it. Unlike the first generation genie, Djinn were actually quite volatile when feel threatened. A one on one fight with a Djinn was/is a foolish endeavor. As time went by the thirty-five vanished Either by being repurposed as sources of magic, finding new lamps and retiring indefinitely or disguising and integrating themselves into other species society. Djinn had all but fell into are myth even among demon, magical creatures and even Gem kind... until Connie's rebirth.

Main characters

The Bonded Duo

Steven Nero Universe

Precocious High school student

Member of the Crescent gems

lives with his father and mother in a city brownstone

has a bedroom in the beach house as well as a 'room's in the temple

Knows of the magical side of life and wishes to explore it.

trains with the Crescent gems

Had exhibited Gem physicality since her was an a toddler( Strenth, speed, endurance, reflexes, agility and self healing)

Martial-pacifist

Gem hybrid (Had a hard imprint or birthmark, instead of a full gem)

Retroactively Immortal since bonding (Life-linking) with Connie, becoming her Lamp.

is infactuted and slightly physically affectionate Connie

"FEED ME MUSIC"

Connie Sheva Maheswaran

Has died twice, repurposed once

19 years of age (as of Second death/rebirth)

GLUTTON FOR KNOWLEDGE

Very protective of Steven, Greg, and Garnet

Wanderlust loner, tends to go off on her own at times(Usually when her emotions get the best of her, arguements with Steven )

Flighty, Free-spirited, and Flirty.

Curious about the modern world, both the industrial and magical. Always up to explore it Usually with Steven, Garnet and/or Amethyst.

Holds no grudge against Amethyst for her part in her repurposing.

Holds a slight grudge for Black and Pearl for killing and repurposing her.

Infactuted and physically affectionate with Steven, her 'precious' bonded.

Given Steven immortality as well as access to her powers, ever since making him her 'lamp'

Kahanni of the Maheswaran Blood.

Has an azure lion familiar.

Crescent gems

Black Diamond/Onyx Universe

Creator the Crescent gems. led the war against Homeworld for earth independence as black diamond, she renounced her status after the corruption event. She took on the name of one of her old friends; Onyx, after another event lead to her self-dissipation.

Fell in love with earth, its supernatural magic and it creatures especially Humanity and genies. Post Corruption that love is crippled with hidden guilt and pity.

Regrets what her race and 'estranged ' Family had done to earth.

Regrets her part in Kahanni death and repurposing (Sef-dissipation)

is less involved in corrupted gem missions, but more involved in 'non-human' issues and conflicts.

Loves her husband, son, and Crescent gems.

Mama bear!

Most earthly Crescent gem.

Semi-active Crescent gem.

Pearl

Older than Black

was considered defective for cracking a quartz and overloading SHELL

escaped to earth before Black

was once a protector of a small sect of non-violent magical beings.

Fought Black a few times before joining the war

Joins the war and the Crescent gems, a quater into it, convinced by Amethyst

Got Black together with Greg, Is Steven's offical God mother.

Sees Black as a younger sibling and mentee, as opposed to a leader.

Is wary of Connie, and harbors some guilt.

Respect humanity for its advancement in technology and industrialization, but is wary of the speed of it.

Amethyst

Current leader of the Crescent gems

oldest gem on earth

Small for an Amethyst ( 4'9)

started the Crescent gems with Black

First gem to cross fuse, was partnered with black

Black and Pearls first fusion partner.

Steven's auntie and primary mentor

most human gem( appearance, attitude, personality, mannerisms,ect)

Gets along well with Connie.

Pearl's Primary fusion partner

Didn't know she helped repurposed Kahanni.

Garnet

Components both came out shortly after the war on another colony.

First permafusion

Found their way to earth, discovered by Amethyst and Duruga

Youngest crescent gem, before Steven. views him as a younger brother

Wisest gem

Chill gem

Most adventurous gem.

Didn't know about Kahanni death and repurposing

Not always together (they prefer dates as both an individual and a couple)

Looked up to a certain Djinn

approves of Connie and Steven relationship.

Greg Universe

Inactive Crescent gem

Human Crescent gem

DJ at a local radio station and part time producer

Knows about the magical side of earth

loves his family ( Including the CG and Connie)

giver of advice, shoulder to cry on.

Voice of reason, keeps his family for getting ahead if themselves

Music man

Heart of the family

[sailoryue]

I want to share pictures of our cats. Most are ones we just found

Dabs. Aka, the cleverest dumbass. We have to keep him on a leash cuz he's a flight risk. Constantly escaping the house, but because his leash is lashed on a hook inside, he will get it wrapped around the furniture, and get stuck tied to a table leg, or the steering wheel of the RV cabin. And rather than call for help, just lay down and sleep.

He is a good daddy tho, often loves grooming his kits when they are near by.

Madie. A good momma, loves her kids. A sweetheart tho still likes trying to kick Dabs ass in a fight. Often tho she tries to hide her babies under the couch. She was a young mama, but is very protective of her babies. She's also very intelligent, getting into places we have no idea how.

Onyx (pure black, loud and biggest of the babies. He's a greedy one always hungry.) Purrberous, the black with silver markings, fast, good climber, loves to fight his brothers. Gandalf (pure grey, softest quietest meows, smallest of his brothers, often eating last cuz his brothers are greedy)

And our newest baby:

Skittles. We found her under another RV, she's very shy, flighty and sometimes fighty. Not used to the new people around her, but she's very reserved. We've only known her a few days, so we don't know her personality yet. She's a better hider than Madie tho, she hid under the toilet on top of the black tank when we brought her home.

[the-universe-in-our-mind]

OCs art quiz / OCs quizzes

Thank you @nuclearstorms for tagging me! 😌 I sadly have no one to tag but if anyone wants to do it, please do and tag me in it!!!

ART QUIZZ (here)

1- Samiel:

poetry

you choose your words carefully and your words will be heard. you’re smart as hell. you know it and so does everyone else and you carry yourself with a sort of confidence. you’re a bit of an artist yourself, even if unintentional. you can find beauty in mundanity but you also know when to be a realist. people fall in love with you because you are a confident mystery and they're dying to find out more. you fear that this attraction that people have to you is based purely in curiosity and nothing else.

2- Diana:

novels

you fall in love easily and hard, and you are the image that pops into someone’s brain when they think of a love interest. you are a romantic and find yourself falling in love a hundred times a day because your imagination is wild and certainly knows how to get the best of you. you are soft and delicate and need to be handled with care, because a heartbreak would break you into a million pieces. you don’t want much else except to be loved and to love. you want to live out your wildest dreams, and the person that loves you can't help but let their imagination run wild with you.

3- Theo:

paintings

everything you do is a work of art. you are beautiful without even trying, simply lounging around looks like you’re posing and waiting for someone to sketch you. you come off as light and easy but you are often misunderstood. people don’t tend to see you for who you really are, and focus too much on how effortlessly you appear to navigate the world. there's some kind of darkness behind your eyes that only some can see under all the layers of paint.

4- Lilly

music

you are a breath of fresh air. you are soft and free. you disappear as quickly as you appear, and everyone wishes you had stayed around longer than you did. your voice is what makes people fall in love. everything you say is in harmonies and codes, and only the most experienced listeners can fully understand you. your presence is always enjoyed but you aren’t always given the praise you deserve; people will let you stay in the background. all you want is for someone to really listen to you.

JEWEL QUIZZ (Here)

1- Matthias/Prissy

STAR SAPPHIRE

well hello, beautiful. ✦ how does it feel to have their eyes on you all the time? ✦ do you like to perform? do you like the way their hands reach for you as you turn in the spotlight? ✦ do you wish they would stop? ✦ they won’t. they can’t help it. ✦ is that the reaction you wanted? you want them to laugh, to cry, to moan, to yell at you maybe. ✦ you only exist in the lines spreading across the faces of others, right? ✦ if nobody thinks of you, you aren’t. so you make yourself headline news and they won’t look away ✦ attention won’t solidify you when the sun comes up and love won’t fill that hole inside. ✦ you might want to install an alarm system. just because they want you, doesn’t mean you have to give yourself.

2- Isa/Hazel

OPAL

oh you are everything! ❍ indecisive, chamelonistic, flighty ❍ multitalented, innovative, extraordinary ❍ jack of all trades and master of all you touch ❍ containing multitudes ❍ you catch the light in different ways and all of them are you ❍ you get more selves than the rest of us, my darling. take this gift and use it well.

3- Jules

ONYX

reserved (by choice), decisive, self-sure and self-contained, selective, resolved, close-minded, intuitive, deliberate ⍚ opaque - my secrets are not for you ⍚ scrying - i can see more than you know ⍚ sharp - i know where to cut

GREEK GOD VIBES QUIZZ (Here)

1- Alizée:

Apollo

honestly im much kinder in all the other ones but you have... such bottom energy. I mean really. you've got the whole homosexual tragic romance thing going on. Its not bad! its just i feel like you invented tragic relationships. congrats on being good at literally everything though, its totally fair that you get music, poetry, culture, truth, prophesy etc etc etc. oh yeah and the epitome of beauty. leave something for the rest of us huh?

2- Abigail:

Aphrodite

You honestly have the hardest energy to pin down. 'oh aphrodite is just some love/sex god' WRONG the spartans worshipped her as a war goddess. you can be found anywhere and nowhere, you are mysterious, you are etherial, many probably love you.

3- Nora/Maïa (funny enough, both of them are bisexual HHHHHHHHHHHHH)

Artemis

i mean this in the kindest way possible, you give off huge autistic lesbian vibes. oh you're living in the isolated wilderness? hmm. only with women? yes uh huh. if we're following myths as metaphors you have literal trans egg cracking energy so doubly good for you.

4- Caliah:

Hecate

double, double toil and trouble. yeah you don't really get much facetime in the myths but you're literally the god of magic and dogs so stay winning. mysterious goth energy, does she really do complete dark rituals or is that just her vibe. no one knows and you're not telling

[iliyovunjika]

‘ you are starlight incarnate, from the grand way you sway your hips to the wide mysterious way you think. blessed are any to be loved by you. ’ // hope you don't mind me sending two!!

@spacerought | Lights && Shadows ;; 

               May the gods have mercy on him, he wasn’t sure where that sudden string of compliments came from but now he was trying his best to hide the heightening red on his features. If it weren’t for his heart racing so quickly, he was certain he wouldn’t be thinking about how it would love to escape the confides of his rib cage to greet Matt like a flighty little hummingbird. Yet here he was, wondering when it would jump out to say hello. There wasn’t a thought in his head that wasn’t some kind of screaming and at this point he was wondering where the other obtained his silver tongue and how he could turn it to bronze to escape. And just why were his hips involved?! Please for the love of all that is good and beautiful in this universe, just let the heat escape from his face at least so he could retain some of his sense.

“That’s entirely unfair,” he muttered the words out between the balls of his palms as he peeked through onyx digits. How in the world could he dare to say anything now without the fear of making a right good fool of himself? Well, fools often did have the best way of being carefree, so he shook off his embarrassment as best as he could and decided it was time for a retaliation. One that he didn’t give himself much time to think on, otherwise he was sure it’d just be some cheesy pun. He shifted forward, marred digits grasping Matt’s hand to pull him closer. “There’s no mysteries in the way I think because I’m always thinking of you. If I’m starlight incarnate then surely you’ve noticed that you are nothing short of a quasar in brightness and warmth. I’d love you any day but that is only because you’ve blessed me, not the other way around. Where you get this silly idea that anyone’d be blessed to be loved by me is beyond me, but I assure you..”

His lingering words were left in the air for a moment as those brown hues, alight with warmth and radiance, trained on that beautiful citrine. “I’d only write soliloquies about you. I think I’ve caught feelings and in them I’ve found a damned amount of love to give to you.” 

[quintinefowler-blog]

Top 10 Crystals for Winter

Winter is the time for being introspective and meditative. Winter is our time to rest and replenish. Because winter is a time of less light and colder conditions, it can also be a difficult time for many people.

Crystals can play a part in brightening our nights, improving our outlook and encouraging us to look within, peacefully.

Here are my top 10 choices for Winter

Angelite:

Properties: This stone is excellent at balancing, polarizing and aligning the physical body with the Aura or ethereal network. It is very calming and its shade of blue refreshes the eyes and spirit. This crystal helps us to be in touch with angels and animal guides, as well as assisting in distant communication with other humans. Most effective on the Throat Chakra, Angelite helps in self expression, communication and allows us to speak our mind, helping us to become more assertive.

Its soothing effects on the Throat Chakra works beautifully in calming and soothing anxiety or overactive children. Use this stone to call your Angels for guidance and support. Angelite is often used for psychic connection to oneness with the Universe, the angelic realm and for spiritual guidance. Angelite is utilized for heightened sensory awareness, which also makes it great for Astral travel. Angelite helps us to see paths to surmount challenges. It dispels anger, renews connections with Universal knowledge, and reduces the “upstream struggle” during new endeavors.

Azurite:

Properties: Referred to as the jewel of wisdom or Stone of Heaven. Azurite symbolizes insight and discovery. It is said to increase psychic abilities. Azurite activates the Brow and Throat Chakra for more assertive communication and alertness. It allows for quite, deep access to the subconscious and as a seeing stone offers access to other times, places and lives.

Therefore, it is a great stone to assist in astral travel. This great balancer helps those who talk too much and allows for those who to be expressive when they have a tendency to hold back. This opens our psychic intuition and gets us acquainted with our inner selves. It is a stone that stimulates creativity, giving access to a fountain of ideas, images and awareness of things around us. This is a wonderful stone for decisiveness and decision making.

Black Onyx:

Properties: Balances and grounds. Reduces sex drive. Promotes fidelity. Absorbs and flattens emotional intensity. Androgynous. Excellent for centering/aligning total person with higher powers. Banish grief, enhance self control, wise decision-making, encourages happiness and good fortune. Can be used to provide a “peek” into the future, helps one to follow the path alone, promotes personal strength, understand the reality of the moment, become the master of one's own future. Helps with disorders of soft tissue, bone marrow and the feet.

Black: Root Chakra. Grounding. Green: Heart Chakra. Yellow: 3rd Seriousness, logic. Blue: 5th Chakra. Found in Italy, US, and in Mexico. The shapes or patterns that Onyx holds inside it have led some to suggest that Onyx has a picture in it that tells a story or carries a lesson. An Onyx will retain memory of the physical occurrences surrounding a person.

A strong stone to use in psychometry because it tells the story of the wearer. A strength-giving stone. A good stone for athletes or people under extreme mental and emotional stress. It brings balance to mind or body as well as strength of mind. Good stone for those who are flighty by nature. A strengthening stone that can help you approach a lesson or task with greater self-confidence. Said to be good for the teeth and bones. It is highly recommended that Onyx be used in conjunction with Pearl and Diamond.

Blue Chalcedony:

Properties: A type of Quartz that heads a family which includes Agate, Carnelian, Jasper, Tiger's Eye, and Onyx. Found in the US, Sri Lanka, USSR, Mexico and Brazil. Chelcedony helps ease self-doubts, makes one more reflective. It is used to eases bad dreams and problems related to the eye, gall bladder, bones, spleen, blood, and circulatory organs.

Cleansing in nature, this stone will promote healing. It needn't be cleaned afterward since it has such strong cleansing qualities of its own. Chelcedony fosters the maternal instinct and is said to assist lactation. Blue is used to open the throat Chakra and helps with communication and self expression.

Citrine:

Properties: This stone is very versatile and is used for mental and emotional clarity, problem solving, memory issues, will power, optimism, confidence and self-discipline. It reduces anxiety, fear and depression. Citrine is one of two crystals which never have to be cleansed of negative energy. An energizing and highly beneficial crystal, citrine absorbs, transmutes, grounds and dissolves negative energy, which makes it a very protective stone. Citrine crystals are invigorating and positive.

They can surround and fill anyone with its brilliant color, energizing every aspect of life. Increases motivation and Persons involved with education or business will especially benefit. Can guide you to harness and utilize your creative energy. Helps us analyze events and steer them in a positive direction. Develops inner calm and security, and makes us less sensitive and more open to constructive criticism. Can dispel negative feelings and help us to accept the flow of events.

Petalite:

Properties: Petalite, also known as Castorite, is highly spiritual. It has been called the “stone of the Angels” (not to be confused with Angelite) and will help one connect with one's guides and enhances your angelic connection. It is also said to dissolve negativity and black magic spells. Petalite has been used on vision quests for strength, protection, and peace.

It will balance one's yin/yang qualities as well as one's mind, body, and spirit. It also enhances one's ability to feel energy in stones. Known as an aura calmer, this stone works on the Throat, Third Eye and Crown Chakra in particular. This environmental stone enhances it surroundings. It is a strong generator of positive, higher energy.

Quartz: “Rock Crystal”

Properties:Quartz is the Master Healer and the “stone of power”! This crystal has the appearance of frozen water and clear quartz appears to look like ice! Probably the most versatile multipurpose healing stone. Easy to cleanse, store information/energy in, program or amplify energy and is used as a healing instrument. The natural tendency for quartz is for harmony.

Quartz can both draw and send energy therefore it is effective for sending/receiving guidance. Quartz is used for transformation in healing and in all levels of change (mentally/emotionally, physically and spiritually). Quartz stimulates the natural crystal in body tissues and fluids to resonate at the highest healing frequency. Quartz works with All Chakra and master gland for balancing, cleansing and healing. It is the perfect stone for complete Aura balancing.

Selenite:

Properties: This crystal is Gypsum. This white/clear striated crystal can look like snowy mountains or tumbled snowballs! Selenite is wonderful for mental focus, growth, luck, immunity, kundalini. These are centuries-old record keepers of events and information. Smooths emotions.

Holding this crystal can help with visualizing and bringing white light/energy (higher ideas/consciousness) from a transpersonal point above your head down through body, out through feet into the earth/physical plane. May help physical and emotional letting go. This crystal is great for emotional and athletic flexibility. It helps to send healing to the earth expands your sensitivity and field of awareness.

Snowflake Obsidian:

Properties: This obsidian stone, which has inclusions of phynocryst, gives it the snowflake pattern on it's surface, and allows us to recognize unnecessary patterns in our lives. Promotes self-esteem and confidence. Clairaudience and owning our lower aspects for growth; Healthy balance. Allows us to be more sensitive and aware of the beauty and love that is around us.

This is a strong grounding stone and is known as “the protector”. It is said to “mirror one's soul. This stone brings about objectivity, dis-attachment and is grounding. It reduces fantasy and escapism. Absorbs and dissolves anger, criticism, fear, and therefore is protective. This unusual black stone absorbs darkness and converts it to white light energy, which is used at the Root Chakra, encouraging ones survival instincts and is grounding. This stone is used for transformation.

Snow River Quartz:

Properties: This amazing quartz crystal is used for seeing into the future and discovering our congenital past. These clear quartz balls are amazing in their clarity on the inside and covered with a beautiful white frost on the outside. The ends are sliced off so that you can see into it's deep translucent center.

These “picture window” crystals are originally from the riverbeds of Brazil. The crystals are washed down out of the mountains and tumbled over and over by violent surging waters. This natural process gives the crystals their frosted look. They are the “gazing” stone, also called “seer quartz”. These stone evoke clarity, clear thinking and renowned insight.

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